The Ultimate 3D Printer is capable of professional quality 3D printing with a fine layer resolution as low as 20 microns (0.02 mm). The rigid all-metal frame design results in Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3D Printer - MK11 DirectDrive Extruder / 24V Power System - Monoprice.com. Today I received my Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3D Printer. It is a rebranded Wanhao Duplicator 6 for reference. I am using the default settings for a Wanhao Duplicator 6 in Simplify3D. Here is the Start G-Code that Simplify3D has setup for me via the Configuration Assistant.
Monoprice Maker Ultimate Review
- While this printer is compatible with many popular 3D printing software packages, the preferred software is Cura. A special version of Cura, with information about this printer already setup, is available for download from our website. To download the software, use your browser to go to www.monoprice.com, type 15710 into the search bar, then scroll.
- @SkyLorin as far as I can tell, no version of Cura has an MP10 profile, despite what the instructions from Monoprice lead you to believe. I'd recommend using the printer settings for the Creality CR-10, they work on the MP10 without any modification (although I think I bumped up the print temp to 205).
The first experiment in PETG was printing a servo coupler. It was small, printed at 0.1mm layer height. After the success of that initial experiment, I set the printer to work on a Sawppy rover wheel overnight at 0.3mm layer height. It did not turn out well.
Little bits of extraneous PETG strings all over the place! Stringing is usually credited to poor retraction settings, but that's not the whole story here. Once this print gets above the first 20mm and no longer printing the center hub, it no longer performs any retracts – the wheel is printed in a continuous motion without retracts.
What these strings actually demonstrate is not poor retraction, but very poor layer adhesion. As the print head circles the perimeter laying down filament, it's not all sticking and instead dragging along little bits of PETG causing these strings. It's not very visible from this camera angle, but there are visible gaps between layers. And the layers came apart with only minor physical handling.
The layers came apart more easily in the middle sections. This was puzzling – what problem would be worse in the middle of the night but magically recover by morning? The answer: ambient air temperature. Apparently PETG needs more time than PLA to properly bond with the previous layer, and when cooled too quickly it won't bond. I can't change the weather on command, but I could turn off the print cooling fan.
The layers came apart more easily in the middle sections. This was puzzling – what problem would be worse in the middle of the night but magically recover by morning? The answer: ambient air temperature. Apparently PETG needs more time than PLA to properly bond with the previous layer, and when cooled too quickly it won't bond. I can't change the weather on command, but I could turn off the print cooling fan.
Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3d Printer Cura Settings Windows 10
Turning off print cooling helped somewhat, but it was not the whole solution. PETG melts less easily than PLA, which is a desired feature when it comes to rover parts that don't deform under heat. But that attribute also creates printing headaches. The 0.1mm layer height print bonded well but the 0.3mm print did not, leading to the hypothesis that the print nozzle couldn't melt PETG fast enough to deliver triple the volume of plastic.
To test this hypothesis, the print speed was cut to 1/3 of previous speed. The test object worked well, but this print speed is not acceptable. It would turn a rover wheel from an 8-hour print project to an all-day 24 hour print!
Another test is to turn up the heat on the nozzle, hopefully a hotter nozzle will melt PETG more quickly. This worked… briefly. It got too hot for the liner and it deformed, jamming the print path.
The liner was original so perhaps it was just time for a replacement anyway. But when the replacement liner also jammed up within a few prints, I knew this was not going to work.
Given these data points, the hypothesis of 'hot end couldn't melt PETG fast enough' has merit. We know slowing down works, but is unacceptably slow. We know heating up works, until the liner quits.
I was not willing to accept the slowdown, so the alternative is to upgrade the hardware.
So the version that comes with the Ultimate gets the job done, but it is old and doesn't have many features. The new version of Cura doesn't work out of the box, and needs to be tweaked to work properly. Anime voice synthesizer. So here you're going to learn what you need to do to make Cura work perfectly with this printer!
Firstly, you're going to need to go into the Cura machine settings and add a new custom printer.
Here's an image of what your settings should look like: http://imgur.com/a/kyDjg
Then you're going to want to replace those START/STOP Gcode lines in the machine settings with a custom set of codes in to the appropriate panel. You put the start gcode in the left panel, and the stop gcode in the right panel. Easy enough. Make sure to erase anything that was there previously. .
;START GCODE
;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops
G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
G1 F140 E30 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock
G1 X20 Y0 F140 E30
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F{travel_speed}
M117 Printing..
;END GCODE
M104 S0 ;extruder heater off
M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it)
G91 ;relative positioning
G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure
G1 Z+0.5 E-5 X-20 Y-20 F{travel_speed} ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more
G28 X0 Y0
G90
G1 Z160 ;move X/Y to min endstops, so the head is out of the way
M84 ;steppers off
G90 ;absolute positioning
Now here are the final guideline settings: http://imgur.com/a/jUAoo
Some of these can be changed to user preference, like print speed, layer height, etc..these settings are primarily meant to give you the proper raft settings, since the default raft settings in Cura do not work properly at all with this printer. These settings will make a really good raft for when you need one. The other settings, like travel speed and print speed, are what I personally consider a good middle ground that doesn't push things too much and doesn't produce quality issues for basic prints. These settings could very well be bumped up, or lowered, as needed, so only take them as a guide rather than a limit.
