rwillett

Only some have phones in their hand. I suppose the ones without are desparately hoping nobody asks a question of them.

I'd buy an Ender 3 Pro or similar. get the latest version as it's cheap and does a good job for the price. They are between £200 and £300 depending on the version and the functionality. Get a magentic mat so you aren't messing around with glass beds for your first printer. Some people will argue that it teaches you about the basics of printing, so does winding your own bass strings, make it easy for yourself. If you can afford a printer with automatic bed levelling, thats the one to go for. Do not be fooled by adverts of bikini clad men and women (I'm not sexist) oozing about these incredible prints. They might not be telling the truth. Also do not be seduced by no name brands. Get a few rolls of the same brand of filament, preferably PLA or PLA+. Ignore PETG, ABS, TPU, CF and anything else. Some of these are difficult to print, some of these are very difficult to print and some of these are toxic to print with. get the same brand so you can learn what temperatures work. 3d printing is very temperature sensitive. My printign values in my house on my Prusa are going to be different to yours on a different printer and bed. Get the same brand as you have a fighting chance of doing the same print twice. Ask questions, ask lots of questions in this thread. I think this is the main thread for this sort of thing on Basschat unless I'm told otherwise. When you think you have asked far too many questions, keep asking. You can make a lot of simple mistakes doing all this, I know as I made most of all of them. I may have even invented some new mistakes all on my own. I'm good like that. Start small and learn. Learn how to bed level, learn about temperatures for PLA and PLA+, learn the workglow of going from a model to something printed. You will need a printer, a slice (new term, this takes a model and slices it into layers for your printer to print. Your printer is pretty dumb, until recently your microwave could probably outthink it. You dumb phone certainly could and your smartphone is at Einstein level. The slice takes a complex 3d model and converts this into information that your coffee machine can understand. (and thats more intelligent than your printer). Your slicer has to communicate with your printer so use an SD card that you know works. If you are lucky your new printer may have an Ethernet port or WiFi port. This makes life a little easier. Once you have a sliced model, you load it into your printer, tell it to print (you have read the instruction manual that appears to be written in something that looks and resembles English but isn't quite). Get another good book, something big and heavy and wait. And wait, and wait and wait. 3d printing is not for the impatient. Models take a long time to print, big models take the cube of a small model to print. 8-10 hours, a mere blink of an eye, 20-30 hours, thats not bad, 50-70 hours. Thats serious printing. Start small and stay small is my advice. Only go big when you need to. Ask questions, did I say that before? Ask and ask and ask and watch videos. 90% of the videos on 3d printing are self congratulatory middle aged bearded bankers (spelling mistake) showing you their latest Ironman mask. These are often recorded in a dark basement where they still live with their parents. These are badly filmed, unedited, an awful lot of bad facial hair, bad dress sense with bad 2000's black t-shirts advertising bands no one has ever heard of in Seattle, Wisconsin or Immingham. These are a waste of your life, 20 mins of watching somebody attempt to speak a cohrent sentence with 7 consecutive umms or ahh's, severe camera shake, that could be condensed to 45 seconds is 20 mins you will never get back. Choose your videos carefully, if they have less than 500 followers, go elsewhere. Learn to use a design package. There are loads of free ones. Good ones take time to learn. I am still learning Fusion 360 after nearly four years. In my defence this is not my primary job. Ask questions and put the time in. You do not need to be a programmer or devops to learn Fusion460 or OnShape or FreeCad or SCAD or whatever, you need to learn to think the way they think and sometimes thats hard. Keep trying, it will take time but you'll get there. Ask questions (I might have mentioned that) and keep trying things out. never stop learning, I haven't. Thanks Rob

I think for the cost of an accelerometer (£9 or so and a decent touch screen £40+) I can test all of this out and see how it works. I can actually do it for £250 but happy to try Klipper out and revert if needed. Rib

The taper of the body towards the end significantly reduces the body withd from 38mm down to around 25mm, but its easy to change (I think)

Also been testing out how strong PLA glues are. I have loads and loads and loads of test pieces so I thought I'd see how strong my preferred glue of choice, FloPlast is. Glued two flat bits together at right angles and put a lot of effort in to breaking the joint. The joint held and the plastic broke. Thats good, so I feel comfortable with using FloPlast as a glue. Just for information. Rob

After a lot of thinking, I have decided to keep the MK4. The issues I had/have are: 1. Display integration with Octoprint is a joke, but by putting a cheap TFT display and case on the Raspberry Pi, that replaces the MK4 display screen. I just don't look at the MK4 display now. Simple and cheap fix. Need to tidy desk as well 2. Using the TFT means I don't use PrusaLink which is not fit for purpose. 3. I still have problems with the filament sensor not detecting that I have removed the filament when it runs out. What actually happens is that the filament sensor is at the top of the extruder, it detects that the filament has finished, but there is still circa 10cm of filament past the sensor on the way to the hot end. This seems to work very well and I haven't had more than one problem. Once the sensor has detected no more filament, it moves the head to the bottom right corner and will retract the remaining filament, about 10cm, back out of the top of the extruder. This works fine. I then have to put new filament in, the sensor keeps saying that there is still filament in the extruder when its ejected it, I have to put in and pull out a strand of filament 5x to 50x before its acknowledges there is no filament actually there. It thinks there is but there isn't. Tried blowed compressed air and made sod all difference. It does work but it's annoying constantly pushing in the filament and taking it out. 4. The other issue, the BIG one, is that Prisa have not implemented the Gcode command to inform Octoprint that the filament is out. I have an Octoprint plugin that detects this command then emails me so I can having dinner downstairs and get a simple message to change filament. No need to keep my eyes glued to the printer. This is unacceptable from Prusa as it's just a firmware update. I'll be writing words to Josef Prusa on this. The upside to the Mk4 is the speed and quality. Its 2.6x faster than my MK3 due to the Input Shaping. I used the six pieces of my V3 headless as samples and used PrusaSlicer to work out how long each piece would take on a MK3S+, a MK4 (without Input Shaping) and a Mk4 with Input Shaping. So TR, Top Right, would take 794 mins, 766 mins and 295 mins below. The speed of the Mk4 without Input Shaping is pretty much the same as the MK3S+, its about 5-6% faster, which is not worth an upgrade. When you turn on Input Shaping, the difference is dramatic, it's all software (apart from a tiny accelerometer) and suddenly the MK4 is 2.6x faster, so an 88hr print (yep thats how long some things take, and I have done things that take even longer) now takes 33.5 hours. The quality is still excellent as well. A 50 hour timesaving is fantastic. I now time the long ones overnight and can do 2-3 pieces during a (long) day. When it took 88 hours, everything had to be perfect and I had to be around to change the parts, no longer. The other thing that I now know, thanks @SamIAm, is that I have a chance to upgrade my MK3S+ to use Input Shaping and possibly get the same speed up. Still investigating that one, but if so, it's a no brainer. Quality is also high, I am now printing at 0.1mm because it's so fast. Rob

Thanks, thats quite deep at a time when I've just made this bass a lot thinner To be honest it's no big deal, I'd change the taper on the bottom to be significantly shallower as its 32mm at the deepest down to 20mm at the shallowest. Not the worlds biggest problem, and probably less than an hours work. The configurable model works. Anyway, this is all hypothetical, I still need to finish off this bass. 1. Sort out pickguard mounting holes. Not quite as simple as it sounds. The new design makes it difficult but I have some thoughts. The original design was clunky and required you to take strings off or really loosen them to remove it. Bad design. 2. Work out the height of the bridge and top of neck. This is getting it right by about 0.5 or so mm. It makes setting up easier. 3. Work out how to put strap mounting on. The thinner design makes it a little tricky. Again, have thoughts, but need to test (again). 4. Print drill guides and make notes as to what happens where. There's a lot of tapped pickup mounting holes at M2.5 and a lot of untapped M3 holes. Some are holes to allow longer screws to fit. I have to get every single one right 😩 5. Work out what pickups to use and what electrics to use. The current headless has Wilkinson pickups and Amazon's cheapest control panel as it was Weds before the NW Bass bash and I ran out of time. The quality of the pots leave a lot to be desired, though the knobs are nice (though heavy).I love the idea of variety in the sound but is it really going to be much different, I note that @ossyrocks uses a single pickup precision and it seems to work well enough. Mmmm.... I'm printing off the six pieces now, have ordered some more aluminum plate and will spend the next week drilling and tapping

So the Boss pickup is the thin thing right next to the bridge, it has two small screw holes OR double sided tape holding it down. I'll read up on how it works and what it can do. What's the depth of the cutout in the Sei Flamboyant please? Looks awfully crowded in there 😊

@Richard R Now that's an interesting idea. How wide are the hex pickups? Currently the middle channel is 115mm, you can see that below. Which is good as thats what it's designed to be That accommodates just about all the pickups I've seen and checked, I have not looked at the Boss GK-B pickups though as they looked expensive, and TBH, I had no idea about them. Do they mount to the body or to the pickguard? The drill pattern below in the middle is for a Precision bass in the middle (split pickups) and also for a Jazz style setup either side. Its not a problem to add more or different drill patterns depending on size. The holes below are all M2.5 threaded (or they will be once I sit down and do them). Pickguard mounting systems are easier, I have designed a couple of adapters to make body fixing pickups work suspended from the pickguard. There's nothing to stop me making that 115mm channel wider or smaller. I've changed one parameter down to 110mm and get this. There's something not quite right with my parametric design as it should "just work", but I'll find out why its 0.56mm out, but not tonight. Also whats the size of the electronics that need to go in the guitar, if any? The chamber below can be made bigger left to right by changing the Voroni shape. It can't get much bigger top to bottom as it would look odd. The chamber is 33.8mm deep at the side closest to the bridge and 21mm deep at the bottom. These can be relatively easily changed and I suspect it's bigger than any mass production bass. Thanks Rob

Nah, they're all in the same room and might actually be, just possibly, talking to each other. None of the nerds I know talk to other people... Thats just uncool. Rob

I think you need two USB ports to do the job properly, one USB looks like it goes to the accelerometer, this apears to be mounted on the extruder head, no idea how, and the other USB to the newly flashed Klipper board. You *might* be able to drive the newly flashed Klipper board through the UART via the GPIO. One of the videos talks about that, Can you do this? Is a UART exposed via that way? My hardware knowledge here is extremely sketchy. Methinks, you're going to need another Pi.

The instructions say you can use pi2w do go for it

Let me see what's in the stock cupboard....

Scim read the guides. Very, very interesting. Will pull a spare pi out now and will play over the week. I will need to pull the foam out for the calibration but if I can upgrade one of the MK3S+ to more or less MK4 spec, that's a goer

Ooooohhhh. Do you need a PI? Might have a spare one for this. Looking now at link

Easy fix with a 3d printer and epoxy resin 😊

I've just calculated how much faster the Prusa MK4 using Input Shaping is over a Mk4 without Input Shaping and also against a Prusa MK3S+. I've used six pieces and sliced them each using different printer profiles. All other settings are identical. So if I printed all six pieces on a single Prusa Mk3S+ it would take 88 hours. The same work on a Prusa Mk4 without Input Shaping is much the same, 84 hours. If we throw Input Shaping into the mix, the time take drops to 33.5 hours (ish). Thats a 2.5x speed up which is insane. The Mk4 without Input Shaping and with Input Shaping is the same printer with the same hardware, just driven differently. The quality seems to be identical. If I had a Prusa print farm where time is money, I'd get a lot of Prusa Mk4's. I currently have 2 x MK3S+, one of which is supposed to go for free to local school (but if they don't move their 4r5es, that offer may get pulled). I thought I'd easily use three printers, but the Mk4 is so fast, I'm doing everything on it now. I may even decide not to keep the second MK3S+ at the moment. Rob

Though the amount of alcohol I drank when younger should have preserved the brain in a peak state...

Longer than my addled brains though...

A lot of plastic died for this project...

Got a few last things to do. 1. Sort out pickguard mounting holes. Not quite as simple as it sounds. The new design makes it difficult but I have some thoughts. The original design was clunky and required you to take strings off or really loosen them to remove it. Bad design. 2. Work out the height of the bridge and top of neck. This is getting it right by about 0.5 or so mm. It makes setting up easier. 3. Work out how to put strap mounting on. The thinner design makes it a little tricky. Again, have thoughts, but need to test (again). 4. Print drill guides and make notes as to what happens where. There's a lot of tapped pickup mounting holes at M2.5 and a lot of untapped M3 holes. Some are holes to allow longer screws to fit. I have to get every single one right 😩 5. Work out what pickups to use and what electrics to use. The current headless has Wilkinson pickups and Amazon's cheapest control panel as it was Weds before the NW Bass bash and I ran out of time. I love the idea of variety in the sound but is it really going to be much different, I note that @ossyrocks uses a single pickup precision and it seems to work well enough. Mmmm.... And other stuff I haven't thought of. Rob

I live in the Yorkshire Dales. There's very little near me apart from sheep and grass. No machine shops at all. I do have a decent pillar drill but it would be nice to just program all the drilling and tapping in and leave it. Around here it's all farms and delicate work is anything less than an m12 nut or smaller than a club hammer. It's just a case of printing the two drill guides up, getting it all ready in the garage and following my notes to make it quick. Nothing difficult just long

Where exactly is your garden? Asking for a friend....😊

Finally broke the back of V3 of the headless bass. I know it looks very similar to the last one but every single piece has been purposefully redesigned. Changes are: 1. Everything hangs off a T-shaped backbone. This simplifies the top and bottom body. It's also a lot stronger. It's also a lot quicker to make, suspect I can print and make this in 50-60% of the time of the last one. 2. The body is no longer a Telecaster slab, but is contoured and rounded. This took a long time to design. It sounds simple but probably took five to six weeks just to get the curves right and then a new printer to work out how to print it. I probably went through ten rolls of filament to try and get it right. I can also print at 5% infill with no fears of bending. This makes it thinner and lighter, so it's 38mm rather than 45mm. I might also be able to get another 3mm off it as well. This should reduce pressure on the forearm. The only supports are around the edge for the bottom curve and thats it. As it's thinner and lighter, its quicker to print. 3. The Ventori are significantly larger. The strength is still there, I can't bend it, but it's quicker to print and looks nice (at least to me). The pictures below are the same size (ish), just different zoom settings. 4. The internal construction has changed to make it easier to print. I can now print it and leave it to print for 24 hours as opposed to having to do things to it. I use plastic dowels to ensure things line up now. This should make glueing things not quite the exciting venture into the unknown as it used to be. 5. The accuracy and quality is massively better with the new printer (which is still a pain in parts). I'm now printing down at 0.1mm which is 3x thinner than before. I don't actually need to sand anything now 6. A lot of prints were printed to test. This is all of the same sodding piece to test various wrong ideas out, there's a lot more of these as well. Now to order some more aluminium for the backbone. I really could do with a CNC pillar drill, but am not doing that. Need to finalise the electrics. @neepheid and @JohnH89 I might be picking your brains if thats OK? Good progress though Rob