Building a 3D printer is easy. Getting the details right to build a great 3D printer is hard, as this is where most companies fail. Why?
For example, on this printer, the bed is a three-point mount (two wheels for adjustment at the front of the printbed) and the printer’s bed levelling dialogue doesn’t show the height difference that needs to be adjusted (which most 3D printers do). It does show how much it needs to be turned, and the bed levelling wheels have 1/8th turn indicators, making it easy to get it perfect.
In short, instead of an arbitrary number like 0.3mm that has no meaning to the user, they tell the user to turn this knob 1/4 of a turn. An instruction the user can follow.
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Why is this so outstanding? It doesn’t cost much, but it improves the user experience. Are companies blind to these improvements because the engineers are experienced, or is there a lack of testing during development?**
It’s extremely expensive to produce things with tight tolerances. Cheap 3D printers have gotten away with it by making things “good enough”. Which why you got this the other way around;
In short, instead of an arbitrary number like 0.3mm that has no meaning to the user, they tell the user to turn this knob 1/4 of a turn. An instruction the user can follow.
0.3mm is easy to measure with the right tool like digital indicator. On the other hand, quarter turn on a knob might adjust 0.3mm on one bolt, but 0.5mm on another.
Also as mentioned, ABL, cheap and can be DIYed. Cheap / printed parts can warped over time, bolts can shaken loose, etc. ABL just put these out of the equation.
I largely agree with what you’re saying, but was surprised to see that you called out that much variation in thread pitch. I would absolutely expect a lot of variation in the ability to measure z - especially since most printers rely on microstepping here. Thread pitch on the other hand is generally way more consistent. I am not a machinist, but it would be interesting if one chimes in. I don’t know what to ask Google to get some data here, but I strongly suspect there’s a term to use.
If micro stepping varies that much then FDM printers (and CNC machines) wouldn’t have worked so well. Also, you can tune the micro steps, if you need 410 steps to move exactly 10mm instead of the default 400, just change it. (I just pull a random number btw, it’s been at least 5 years since I touched my Marlin firmware)
If you’re familiar with coffee grinders, they’re basically using thread to adjust distance between 2 burrs. Even there (mid to upper-mid range ones) can’t guarantee the same grind size on the same setting for different unit of the same model, eg. setting 11 on grinder A will have slightly different result compared to another unit of grinder A on setting 11. Can it be done? Yes, one example is Commandante, that is a $300 hand grinder.
Tight tolerances will exponentially skyrocket production cost, period.
How much do you need to turn the knob for 0.3mm? Most people don’t know the answer so they make a guess which is likley wrong.
If the firmware converts 0.3mm to 1/2 rotation it is clear what they should do. This particular printer probs itself after the adjustments and if it isn’t right it shows once more the dialog/instruction with the adjusted rotation value. After 2 rounds, you would already have accounted for the manufacturing tolerances.
This process can be ontop of ABL and z-offset dialog (eyeball it with a shim, testprint, tell the printer which looked the best, the firmware knows what z-offset was each of the 5 prints/lines).
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It’s extremely expensive to produce things with tight tolerances. Cheap 3D printers have gotten away with it by making things “good enough”. Which why you got this the other way around;
0.3mm is easy to measure with the right tool like digital indicator. On the other hand, quarter turn on a knob might adjust 0.3mm on one bolt, but 0.5mm on another.
Also as mentioned, ABL, cheap and can be DIYed. Cheap / printed parts can warped over time, bolts can shaken loose, etc. ABL just put these out of the equation.
I largely agree with what you’re saying, but was surprised to see that you called out that much variation in thread pitch. I would absolutely expect a lot of variation in the ability to measure z - especially since most printers rely on microstepping here. Thread pitch on the other hand is generally way more consistent. I am not a machinist, but it would be interesting if one chimes in. I don’t know what to ask Google to get some data here, but I strongly suspect there’s a term to use.
Tight tolerances will exponentially skyrocket production cost, period.
How much do you need to turn the knob for 0.3mm? Most people don’t know the answer so they make a guess which is likley wrong.
If the firmware converts 0.3mm to 1/2 rotation it is clear what they should do. This particular printer probs itself after the adjustments and if it isn’t right it shows once more the dialog/instruction with the adjusted rotation value. After 2 rounds, you would already have accounted for the manufacturing tolerances.
This process can be ontop of ABL and z-offset dialog (eyeball it with a shim, testprint, tell the printer which looked the best, the firmware knows what z-offset was each of the 5 prints/lines).