Felix 2.0 3D printer
Introduction
We got the Felix 2.0 on october 25 2013 and we never got around providing more documentation. We bought it assembled and it worked out of the box. As of november 2015 it is still working fine.
See also:
- Category: Felix 3D printer (includes all Felix related articles plus some links)
- Configuration imprimante 3D Felix 2.0 (in french, some tips for beginners)
In Oct 2013 it was the printer we recommend for educational settings and for four reasons:
- It prints as well as any other good printer
- It's light-weight and easily transportable (as opposed to some heavy no better models that seem to popular in the print media)
- It prints with PLA. ABS fumes may not be too healthy.
- It's reliable
As of January 2016, we recommend the Felix Pro 1 3D printer. Of course, we cannot guarantee that it is the best choice. Since there is no universal benchmark test covering all types of use cases, buying the best printer becomes a question of picking the right priorities. Our recommendation is based on the fact that after 2 weeks of using it, we consider it a reliable, easy to use machine with a good print quality that is up to current standards. With respect to other machines, it has self-calibration of the print bed that works (calibration is the #1 reasons why beginners cannot print on other machines), a smart dual-head system, strong extruders, and a removable platform
Although we don't own a Felix 3.x we can recommend it too. See also the Felix 3D printer article. It describes a model we bought in 2012 and that it is still working fine. The 3.1 is basically the same design improved in several aspects. Daniel K. Schneider (talk) 23:22, 5 November 2015 (CET)
Slicer and control software
As for the 1.0 model, Felix distributes its own packaged distribution of Slicers and user interfaces for 3D printers, i.e. the Repetierhost software and two includes slicers. The slicers include several settings, e.g. "normal" and "quality" as well as a setting for printing spare parts.
As I argued in many other contexts, there is no such thing as universal settings. Some types of model require adjustments of the slicing parameters (not done so far). That being said, the printer does print out of the box...
First adjustments
After the first print, we decided that the platform needed some recalibration. X/Y=0 was higher than X/Y=max which is not good when printing large objects. Therefore we lowered the X/Y=0 corner. After homing the printhead it was really close and we should have adjusted the Z-sensor a bit. Since the first layer is mission critical to the kinds of objects we want to print, we left the setting as is (some tiny fraction of mm). That scratched the Kapton tape and we then (only) adjusted the screw that lowers/raises the Z-position homing sensors.
To the right is a little video of the first print.
Pictures of the next two prints (after adjusting the print bed)
2nd print using Felix SFACT settings
1st, 2nd and 3rd print using Felix SFACT settings
As you can see, the slicing is not totally optimal, and we will have to import our old Lego styles and also play with temperature. Both creating Legos and 3D lettering is tricky...
Use of the printer
Since the printer uses the same design as the Felix 1, we were not motivated to add any sort of documentation to this page. Overall, we found the printer very reliable and practical, in particular compared to other designs that our colleagues bought in the University...
From 2013 to 2016 we used the printer for various projects. Most of our own simple "designs" are on thingiverse. Sometimes, the printer went unused for several month. Both the printer and the PLA roll were left in open then collected dust. After such a long period we suggest doing a large, simple print to used dusted plastic and to "clean" out the nozzle.
Design problems (in particular the way the print bed is fixed and the somewhat fragile extruder) were addressed by the Felix 3.0. For instance, sometimes in 2015 we decided to play with an old roll of Arnitel. Since I had trouble having it stuck to the printbed I heated it quite a lot. This caused the extruder to melt down a bit and we put it back in position with a heat gun. However, as of Jan 2016 the extruder has fissures and needs to be replaced (probably an hour of work.... but I didn't get around doing it). The 3.0 extruder cannot melt like this.
The printer was extensively used in Fall 2015 semester for student projects and it survived :) Some of pictures of the prints can be found in the project pages of STIC IV