I just ordered an A30T and it does appear to be an updated version of the A20. Not just triple extruder but also larger build volume. I got an incredible deal on it ($199 CDN shipped) so i couldn't say no. I fully expect I'll have to mess around with it and even do a few upgrades so if i don't have to that'll just be a bonus. I started in 3D printing with a second hand MP Select Mini that I've had to fiddle around with endlessly so it really doesn't bother me. I just assumed it's part of the hobby. I do fully intend to upgrade to linear rails and that along should make things much better. My second printer was a geeetech mizar and it's be amazing. Only real problem I've encountered was a minor filament jam causing under extrusion and this was resolved by upgrading to an all metal hot end. The thing is a solid workhorse now and runs perfectly. From what I can tell the Mizar is an upgraded version of the A10 so if the A30T I got is the upgraded version I'm expecting good things from it. I am NOT expecting a perfect "out of the box" plug and play experience however
Local school has a XYZ Da Vinci 2.0 Duo, it's a dual filament, but it's a heap of crap :P So the school hasn't used it in a couple of years now, plagued with issues. It's supposed to be able to do both ABS and PLA, it throws its heated glass bed out after every print and takes a good hour or so to re-level it (The level facility isn't even that intuitive, it's basically touch all 4 corners then come back with some stupid set of offsets, but the locations to apply the offsets don't even apply to the correct corners...) Not only that, but if you print PLA, it gets stuck inside the extruder, so ABS is all it can truly print. Looking online, it requires custom firmware to be able to make PLA work as you can't change the temperature settings with the standard firmware, you have to use the shitty XYZ printing software too. And, the cartridges for it are chipped, so several of the cartridges are now reporting as empty even though they have a good 100metres still left. They also have an XYZ Da Vinci Junior, an ALDI 3D Printer, and a Makerbot, those 3 work 10000x better than the Duo.
Looks like you had to faff around quite a lot with yours. Easiest thing to do is fix the bed at the lowest height possible but still try to level it physically, the BLTouch will take care of the rest. I would get the glass Superplate too - I had nothing but trouble with that stick-on bed. Mine is working really well and a fair bit quicker than the Creality printers at the expense of motor noise.
I got there in the end Steve, I just had a few quirks to deal with and learn, I just want to try and get a 0.2mm nozzle for it, I haven’t found one for it yet.
Just putting my a20m together nand mine also has the crappy wheels on the bed. i had some replacement wheels and swapped them out but the bearings actually fell out the wheels when i took them off, strangely the rest of the wheels seem ok.
If you mount your filament sensors upside down from the way you have them now, the filament will go straight into the sensors and you won't need to bend the holders.
If one reel holder leaned forward and the other leaned back, when the reels were equal weight all the force would be downward. So there's much less bending torque on the uprights. (But you might need to fit the filament extruders on the opposite sides of the top cross bar?)
seems that you had to jump through a load of hoops and still failed to get it working as you wanted, I am sure you will eventually but seems a lot of mucking about for a new machine??
Don’t forget some of it was me figuring out the 3D Touch sensor and it’s firmware upgrade, snd some of it was figuring out how to correctly setup its slicer settings to do the dual colours. Aside from that it was doing the initial adjustments and tightening up bolts as is normal on a new printer.
Its a new machine. Belts and eccentric nuts need to be fine tuned. The slicer will need to be adjusted. for the new machine. Will take about a week or two.
Thanks for showing us the way you handle the problems. This is very helpful. Mine works great, but it is slow when printing two colors.
I just ordered an A30T and it does appear to be an updated version of the A20. Not just triple extruder but also larger build volume. I got an incredible deal on it ($199 CDN shipped) so i couldn't say no. I fully expect I'll have to mess around with it and even do a few upgrades so if i don't have to that'll just be a bonus. I started in 3D printing with a second hand MP Select Mini that I've had to fiddle around with endlessly so it really doesn't bother me. I just assumed it's part of the hobby. I do fully intend to upgrade to linear rails and that along should make things much better. My second printer was a geeetech mizar and it's be amazing. Only real problem I've encountered was a minor filament jam causing under extrusion and this was resolved by upgrading to an all metal hot end. The thing is a solid workhorse now and runs perfectly. From what I can tell the Mizar is an upgraded version of the A10 so if the A30T I got is the upgraded version I'm expecting good things from it. I am NOT expecting a perfect "out of the box" plug and play experience however
Local school has a XYZ Da Vinci 2.0 Duo, it's a dual filament, but it's a heap of crap :P So the school hasn't used it in a couple of years now, plagued with issues.
It's supposed to be able to do both ABS and PLA, it throws its heated glass bed out after every print and takes a good hour or so to re-level it (The level facility isn't even that intuitive, it's basically touch all 4 corners then come back with some stupid set of offsets, but the locations to apply the offsets don't even apply to the correct corners...)
Not only that, but if you print PLA, it gets stuck inside the extruder, so ABS is all it can truly print.
Looking online, it requires custom firmware to be able to make PLA work as you can't change the temperature settings with the standard firmware, you have to use the shitty XYZ printing software too.
And, the cartridges for it are chipped, so several of the cartridges are now reporting as empty even though they have a good 100metres still left.
They also have an XYZ Da Vinci Junior, an ALDI 3D Printer, and a Makerbot, those 3 work 10000x better than the Duo.
Looks like you had to faff around quite a lot with yours. Easiest thing to do is fix the bed at the lowest height possible but still try to level it physically, the BLTouch will take care of the rest. I would get the glass Superplate too - I had nothing but trouble with that stick-on bed. Mine is working really well and a fair bit quicker than the Creality printers at the expense of motor noise.
I got there in the end Steve, I just had a few quirks to deal with and learn, I just want to try and get a 0.2mm nozzle for it, I haven’t found one for it yet.
Just putting my a20m together nand mine also has the crappy wheels on the bed. i had some replacement wheels and swapped them out but the bearings actually fell out the wheels when i took them off, strangely the rest of the wheels seem ok.
If you mount your filament sensors upside down from the way you have them now, the filament will go straight into the sensors and you won't need to bend the holders.
flying along is an understatement lol
If one reel holder leaned forward and the other leaned back, when the reels were equal weight all the force would be downward. So there's much less bending torque on the uprights. (But you might need to fit the filament extruders on the opposite sides of the top cross bar?)
Doesn't seem to be very good on tolerances??
Print bowden tube clips. Will help hold the bowden tube in.
Yeah I did that for my Ender 3
seems that you had to jump through a load of hoops and still failed to get it working as you wanted, I am sure you will eventually but seems a lot of mucking about for a new machine??
Thats true.....reminds me of my K40 laser when I first got it.
Don’t forget some of it was me figuring out the 3D Touch sensor and it’s firmware upgrade, snd some of it was figuring out how to correctly setup its slicer settings to do the dual colours. Aside from that it was doing the initial adjustments and tightening up bolts as is normal on a new printer.
Its a new machine. Belts and eccentric nuts need to be fine tuned. The slicer will need to be adjusted. for the new machine. Will take about a week or two.