Anycubic Kobra Max

[SmokyMtnRed]

I added this to my shop and hope to have it today so that I can set it up tonight. The first 3D printer after wanting one for years.

[plasmanewbie]

Checked it out. That is a nice tidy looking setup for a reasonable price!

[acourtjester]

Very nice with a large bed/work size, I have 2 Anycubic printers, they have produced many models. I have modified both with mainly converting to a direct extruder. Having one will greatly expand the project you will look at, adds more fun to the DIY world. have fun
Tom

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[adbuch]

Those look like some very nice printers, particularly for the price. If I didn't already have my little Voxel mp3, I would probably consider buying one.
David

[OTHill]

I'm getting ready to bight the bullet on 3d printing. I'm leaning towards Anycubic due to Tom and David's recommendations above and also price reduction now for a few days. A few questions as I'm brand new to this. I have spent the last 14 years with Corel draw 6 and have a fairly late version of Alibre Design. I was fairly proficient with it at one time. Do I understand right can I do my 2d drawing with CD and extrude with Alibre and than slice with something else? I think the newest version of Anycube now has direct injection and automatic bed leveling. Both of which I don't understand but at least direct injection is recommended by Tom I think? I'm intrigued by the possibilities of various holders and brackets that I see you guys printing. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[acourtjester]

For project development the software I use (123DDesign) will take a 2-D DFX file and shape/extrude to create a STL file (3-D type). Then you take that and run it though a Slicer program ( similar to SheetCam) to complete it for the printer. There are many programs that will do the same they are easy to learn. For a slicer I use ideaMaker, Cura is another one these. It has a similar thing to a Postprocessor that is geared to the printer you get. The direct injection is how the filament is feed into the Hot End (extruder) this is done with a stepper motor. The other type has a plastic tube between the extruder motor and the Hot End which can cause a feeder problem, this is original type design and the direct inject is the newer. The Bed Leveling is another improvement and deals with the alignment of the Hot End and the print bed. The original way was to manually adjusted as a Maintenance type thing to insure the printed item is laid on the print bed correctly. the auto bed leveling works like Ohmic sensing and is controlled with a software operation. It moves in a pattern around the print bed and checks the Hot End to bed clearance and record it into the printers configuration file. This is done as a maintenance only when you determine it is needed. Another nice feature is the filament un-load and install which software controls the change of filament as needed. have fun
There are many places to get free STL files to use on the web to download, Printer are a very handy tool to have.
File transfer is done with a SD card or you can also setup a WIFI link to another computer to remotely transfer files and watch the printing process.

[OTHill]

Thanks for your reply Tom! My Anycubic Kobra Max 2 should be arriving today. I'm looking forward to a little more learning. Grrr! Why do I do it? A few more questions. You mention 123DDesign. I searched a little online and it seems to have been discontinued a few years ago but is still dowloadable from some sites. You also mention that it will take a dxf and extrude it to 3D. Can you also use it for drawing the dxf? It seems at my age I need to take the shortest distance to success possible. I do not learn new software easily. I started cold turkey into computers and cnc 14 years ago at age 64. I do have Coreldraw 6 and can draw anything I need in it. I also have Alibre design which I used some and kinda got the hang of it a few years ago. ( I spelled that a few tears ago first).
Is 123DDesign for commercial use? It looks like Fusion 360 free version is not for commercial use. Any suggestions from you or David or anyone else is greatly appreciated. You both are doing us all great favours.

[OTHill]

Just checked Alibre will create stl files. Will probably go with that.

[acourtjester]

123d design is a very simple and non commercial program, if you can do what you want with Alibre I would stay with it, some software programs call functions by different names. I need to learn Fusion 360 to advance my abilities for new designs when I need them.
If I can help with getting you going with the Kobra I will be happy to do it. Working with CNC will give you a great start for the big picture work flow.
One main thing is the filament I have used PLA and PETG mainly and the difference is in the hot end temps so it extrudes as it should. That is plainly shown on the label attached on the roll. It is set in the slicers configuration.
have fun

[OTHill]

Thanks! So what are the physical property's regards strength, wear,Crack and break resistance, etc.of the different filaments?

[OTHill]

Also do you have some favorite 3D printing forums that you use?

[acourtjester]

I use mostly Thingiverse, they have a search function that helps when looking for project files. I don't do much blogging like here there are some sites around. PETG is a little stronger then PLA, I have not used nylon or some of the others, I have used a flex filament a small amount works good too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnycubicOffici ... &rdt=63055
https://www.reddit.com/r/anycubic/
there are others for the slicers too

[adbuch]

Do I understand right can I do my 2d drawing with CD and extrude with Alibre and than slice with something else? I think the newest version of Anycube now has direct injection and automatic bed leveling. Both of which I don't understand but at least direct injection is recommended by Tom I think? I'm intrigued by the possibilities of various holders and brackets that I see you guys printing. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Automatic bed leveling is a convenient feature to have, although not a necessity. My larger 3d printer does have automatic bed leveling, while my smaller printer relies on manual leveling - as I recall.

Yes - you can create your 2d drawing using CorelDraw, AutoCad, etc. - basically any drawing program which will allow export as dxf or svg. I am not familiar with Alibre, but Fusion 360 will import both dxf and svg formats. I prefer Fusion 360 for it's simplicity and ease of use. Sometimes I draw the entire part using Fusion 360, and other times I will create a design using Design Edge (similar to CorelDraw for drawing) and save as dxf for import to Fusion 360 for extruding to a solid model and creating the stl file required for 3d printing. I then process the stl file using the standard slicer that came with my particular 3d printers.

Most of the time, once the basic 2d drawing has been extruded - other modifications will be required such as adding holes, slots, etc. which are not in the original 2D plane. This is very easy to do with Fusion 360 by simply creating a new sketch plane at the appropriate orientation and then drawing your desired features and extruding/cutting to produce holes, slots, etc.

[adbuch]

Is 123DDesign for commercial use? It looks like Fusion 360 free version is not for commercial use. Any suggestions from you or David or anyone else is greatly appreciated. You both are doing us all great favours.

I use the free (non-commercial) version of Fusion 360 and it has all the features I need for my hobby use - 3d printing, solid modeling, etc. From the Fusion 360 website:

"Fusion 360 for personal use is a limited, free version that includes basic functionality for qualifying users who generate less than $1,000 USD in annual revenue and use for home-based, non-commercial projects only."

I expect that most of us hobby users meet those requirements.

I do have a full commercial use version of SolidWorks (perpetual license) I purchased back around 2016. I switched to Fusion 360 several years ago as I find the Fusion 360 user interface much simpler and easier to use.

[adbuch]

Here is a quick example showing a simple flanged hub: drawing created using CorelDraw, imported to Fusion 360 in dxf format, extruded to desired heights, and saved as STL file for 3D printing.

flanged hub 1.jpg

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[adbuch]

Thanks! So what are the physical property's regards strength, wear,Crack and break resistance, etc.of the different filaments?

I use PLA filament for my projects. When printed at 100% infill, PLA approaches the strength/wear resistance of nylon. Here are some replacement gears I recently printed to fit some of the older Craftsman band saws. The originals were nylon or equivalent, and replacements are commercially available printed from nylon.

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[adbuch]

And here is a bench mount clamp assembly I recently printed from pla at a 15% fill density for use in bench mounting a hand held planishing hammer. This is amazingly strong and rigid, and very comparable to a metal mount I previously made.

hammer 1.jpg

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hammer 3.jpg

[acourtjester]

there are many features you can do after the original 2-D drawing when creating the STL file. Soften the edges or corners with fillets, chamfer, radius. add holes on another plane. I have taped holes for 10-32 machine screws in the plastic or you can use heat inserts (threaded brass) too. Allow your mind to wonder, you now can print all kinds of things. Here is parts for a dust shoe for my CNC router. Some knobs for bolt heads. have fun

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dust shoe finished combined top revised 7-20.JPG

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[acourtjester]

In the slicer you can watch how the print progresses using the preview function, here are some images of that. Just some fun stuff to show to others.
You just move the slider to see different layers after the G-code has been generated.

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[robertspark]

I use mostly Thingiverse,

try Thangs.... they search all (a lot) of 3d printer sites at the same time, including thingiverse

https://thangs.com/

[OTHill]

Thanks Tom and David and all others. It will be a little while now before I receive my printer and get working with it. Here's a photo of the box I received.

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I just had to stand there and
They thoughtfully included the roll of filament I had ordered in a separate package.

[OTHill]

Just a bit of an update. Printer delivered a few days ago. Set it up and did the trial shark bottle opener and a few of the little tug boat benchies with Incredible results. Still don't know anything about slicing or importing files into the printer. I've decided to try to learn Freecad simply because I'm working with a couple of young grandsons and Alibre licsence is to restrictive for more than one computer. So tearing my hair out watching videos etc.etc. The grands are working at it at home. One is 11 and the other ones 14 .Both rarin to go so I let them go. Every few days we get together and learn from each other.

[acourtjester]

Great start have fun. As to the slicer it is much like SheetCam as it is where the G-code is generated. What came with the printer should be set to go as is. The main thing you may need to change is the filament temps if you change types (PLA PETG ect). Attached are a few screen shots showing things that are helpful for printing different things, mainly for positioning or adding supports. You can add other items to the plan and print them together if needed. In the images you can see moving around the print bed, and rotating the part with different options. Adding support to the part where needed can be manual or automatic (shown in Yellow) when the over hang of a part may droop. You can also move the display image around for a better view with the cursor movements.

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[plasmanewbie]

Just a bit of an update. Printer delivered a few days ago. Set it up and did the trial shark bottle opener and a few of the little tug boat benchies with Incredible results. Still don't know anything about slicing or importing files into the printer. I've decided to try to learn Freecad simply because I'm working with a couple of young grandsons and Alibre licsence is to restrictive for more than one computer. So tearing my hair out watching videos etc.etc. The grands are working at it at home. One is 11 and the other ones 14 .Both rarin to go so I let them go. Every few days we get together and learn from each other.

Thats awesome. Glad to hear your trial projects products great results and super cool the grandkids are into it and working with you. Interested to see what you are a le to make!

[OTHill]

Another update! Here's the first parts I've drawn up myself in Freecad and sliced with Prusa slicer. My wife likes to knit what we call Toques here in the great white north and you southerners call stocking caps? Or something like that. She has been making her forms for the top tassels out of cardboard but now she has a pair of lifetime forms printed from PLA. The printer works really well but the finish needs tweaking. I have no idea what to expect for finish or what to start changing. I appreciate the past help on here tremendously. Thanks everyone. Especially David and Tom! Here's a few pics.

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First the old cardboard ones than the new printed ones.. You can see the surface finish is not very good. I built a steel table with 2x2 sq. Tubing and a 10 ga.44 in.x 76 in. Top for the printer and computer. When the printer gets jiggling back and forth it shakes the table quite a bit almost resonating. Might be part of the problem?