Hello from CubePro Trio owner

[Cubical]

Hello all, just wanted to introduce myself. I have a CubePro Trio that I purchased, I think, in 2014. We are a Konica Minolta copier dealership so I purchased it at the time that they had a relationship with 3D Systems and 3D printing was going to be the new hot thing

Anywho, I toyed with it for a while, tried my best to sell them in our rural market (not surprisingly with no success). I made a few useful things for myself and then it sat for years in our back office.

Just recently I fired it back up to make parts for some projects I'm working on. It had been so long since I used it, I had to re-learn all the little tricks I used. I found this site and it has helped me out quite a bit so far. I was happy to see that there has been some progress made in aftermarket/hobbyist support of this printer.

FYI I am using SketchUp Make 2016 and Simplyfy3D 4.1.2 for my workflow.

Cheers!

[TommyDee]

Welcome to the forum Cubical. Can you share your experience using Simplify3D with your Trio? Glad to see these come out of mothballs

[Cubical]

Sure thing

I'm using the CubePro profile and it seems to work pretty decently but with two issues with the prints:

For one thing, the parts seem exceptionally hard to separate from the build platform. Harder than I remember when using the CubePro software to create the print file.

The other thing is that the bottom solid layers don't seem to be fully fused to the rest of the part where the infill beings. So when I'm struggling to scrape the part of the bed, if I put more than just a slight bit of lifting force on the part, I can hear cracking which is the bottom layers separating. I've already had the entire part break away leaving the bottom layers still attached to the platform.

I figure there are some settings I can tweak improve those issues but I don't know what they'd be.

One final thing is that it only ever prints with the #1 extruder, even when I select others. One time I manually edited the print file to try and change the extruder #. I thought I changed it in the correct spot, but the edited file made the printer go all wacky -- the platform would continuously cycle up and down about an inch and as the print head moved around spewing melted filament all over.

[TommyDee]

I do not know if people working on these is still paying attention but I believe you can email support and get a quick answer on accessing those other nozzles.

That sounds like very old 3DS ABS. Yes, that is exactly what happens. Crispy on the stuck end. Fresh ABS filament - dial the temp down 5C-10C and try again. This is universal on the ancient stock.

[Cubical]

I do not know if people working on these is still paying attention but I believe you can email support and get a quick answer on accessing those other nozzles.

Do mean 3DS support or Simplify3D support?

That sounds like very old 3DS ABS. Yes, that is exactly what happens. Crispy on the stuck end. Fresh ABS filament - dial the temp down 5C-10C and try again. This is universal on the ancient stock.

Are you saying the problem is because it's 3DS brand filament? Because it's old? Or both? I'd hate to have to discard that filament (it was expensive!) If I could just tweak the print settings to get it to not adhere so strongly I think it'd be usable for my purposes.

But if I do have to buy new filament, do you have any recommendations? I can't get the OEM cartridges anymore so I'll have to buy bulk and refill them. I'd like to have ABS, PLA (for loss casting) and Nylon for functional parts.

Thanks!

[TommyDee]

Yes, Simplify3D will tell you if there is support for nozzle 2 and nozzle 3.

The 3D Systems ABS is old and this is what makes the first layer brittle and stick like nobody's business.
One way to help manage this is to use blue tape as a build surface as that is easier to remove. Not always foolproof but it can help.
I am not sure what parameter would change this behavior.

I do not have a favorite ABS supplier. I have a ton of old 3DS ABS too. I am running it from Cube3 cartridges as they are a couple of years fresher.

[Cubical]

One way to help manage this is to use blue take as a build surface as that is easier to remove. Not always foolproof but it can help.
I am not sure what parameter would change this behavior.

I do not have a favorite ABS supplier. I have a ton of old 3DS ABS too. I am running it from Cube3 cartridges as they are a couple of years fresher.

Did you mean blue tape as in painters masking tape? I'd be willing to try that. For a parameter, I'm thinking if I increase the first layer speed or reduce the first layer width/height. It says to adjust these to increase adhesion so I figure adjusting them in the reverse might help with my problem of it sticking like a sonofabeech

[TommyDee]

Yea, corrected that. Let us know what you come up with.

[Cubical]

Well, after several experiments and several fails, I think I got a pretty good combo of settings to work with my old ABS cartridges. My last model printed very well, no perfect, but totally acceptable for my purposes, and when it came time to remove it from the plate I dumped some hot water on it, let it set for a minute and then it literally popped right off with just a little pry of the scraper. Before, my models were breaking apart and I had to struggle to scrape the base off with a razor blade!

bottom.jpgtop.jpg

It popped off the plate so easy I was amazed. It never came off that easy even when everything was brand new. If you look close, you'll see it's not perfect -- there are some little strings here and there, but strength is decent.

To get these results, in Simplify3D I used the CubePro "Fast" profile as a starting point and made these changes:

Infill Extrusion Width: 102%
Extruder temperature: Layer 1 = 230, Layer 2+ = 245
Global G-Code offset - Z-axis = +0.20mm
Default print speed: 3500 mm/min
Outline underspeed: 75%
Infill = 12% / Rectilinear

I'm pretty sure those are the only changes I made from the original CubePro profile but not 100% positive because I was tweaking some other settings.`

[dougk12]

Interesting... lower 1st layer temp. I'll have to try that. I always start hot and then lower to normal within the first few layers but looks like positive results for ABS to me.

I never use a scraper any more, either. A little water and a couple of minutes = easy removal. Good stuff!