Anyone heard more about the Ekocycle 3D printer?

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by IronBenderII

Why are you assuming they are trying to make the students consumers?

I would assume the goal is to make the schools and the tax money that operates the schools the consumers.

Originally Posted by IronBenderII

Who in their right minds would think giving a bunch of 3D printers to robotics teams would make them consumers?

The same sort of people that sell oscilloscopes for $50 to the U.S. Government and then charge $100 a nylon case screw which 'happen' to break in multiples at mandated calibration

Why are we being so negative about a company that gave away a great tool to a bunch of kids?

On this we agree. The Cube printer that MORT was given has been the most trouble free to setup and use of all the printers either Team 11 or the school owns. I include the Prusa I donated with the understanding that I expected them to build the Prusa and that always meant they would have to work the build out before they could print.

Assuming the goal was to take a 3D printer out of the box and start printing the Cube printer won that challenge hands down of those between Team 11 and the school. However I own an Up! printer and not only is the resolution much better than the Cube but it does print just fine with common materials I can buy and with little easy modification I can easily expand that range of materials.

So if I was looking to replicate the experience and I could handle the smaller print area of the Up! I would say the Up! was just a better choice of the ones I've unpacked and tried. I own more than 10 3D printers including SoliDoodle 3, Prusa, Mendel and others that are projects from various RepRap timelines.

Then again I like building my printers such that I know the maximum amount about what I am getting into and can source parts and modifications.

Also it's fair to mention that not all formulations of PLA are the same. A lot of people do not understand that certain formulations of PLA will fail to extrude unless specific settings and changes are made for that formulation. As a result there are whole piles of materials at places like MicroCenter that will print fine in a MakerBot but not on a Bukito. On the other hand if you part that pile sooner or later you will find the spools that contain the proper compatible formulation for the Bukito (or whatever your 3D printer is) and then noting that part number you can order proper materials. This matters because even though the chipped materials are more expensive - at least there is the assumption the printer maker gave you the right materials.

On that note I printed 200 pieces for a game for the school. When I did that I needed the right materials. Given the job scale and time frame I could afford to sort the proper materials and corresponding part numbers out. If that was a small batch of parts it would have not been worth the effort. Now I know what PLA sold by MicroCenter works properly in which of my printers (that was....fun).

[IronBenderII]

Well, I suppose my default setting is such that I assume the best in people unless proven otherwise. I'll go on assuming that will.i.am pushed hard to get us these printers because he saw how big of an impact they can make. I'll also assume that the company hooked us up with 3D printers because they know the more prevalent they are, the better off we all are.

Happy printing for those that have them, for those who don't, be patient! Mine just came in about 20 minutes ago!

[nixiebunny]

Originally Posted by IronBenderII

Why must it be in line with the maker credo? Why are you assuming they are trying to make the students consumers? Who in their right minds would think giving a bunch of 3D printers to robotics teams would make them consumers? Why are we being so negative about a company that gave away a great tool to a bunch of kids?

I am still trying to figure out the angle that 3D Systems was after. I assume that it's a PR move by a NYSE corporation trying to broaden their reach. I am basing this on the FRC grant agreement that wants all users to publish photos of their students using the machine.

I don't think that 3D Systems intended to turn the robotics kids into consumers; that's just who they want to sell to. I suspect that the unintended side effect of this FRC 3D printer grant is that the robot kids will work like heck to subvert the "pay for the razor blades" business model that is being pushed here.

[IronBenderII]

Well, we got ours in today and w/in about 30 minutes of unboxing it our first print was underway. Easy and good quality!

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Source? We've got a Cube3D in 125's lab that works pretty well when we use it. We just don't use it all that often as we have access to more advanced printers.

Source - me. The glue on the platform came off auto leveling didn't work. The cartridges would read empty when they were full and it fell apart so we had to hold the thing together with duct tape

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Source - me. The glue on the platform came off auto leveling didn't work. The cartridges would read empty when they were full and it fell apart so we had to hold the thing together with duct tape

So we've got two conflicting outcomes, given that I've never heard any other teams having this issue I'm chalking it up to either you got a lemon or user error.

Did you contact support?

[Taylor]

We're working through difficulties with our EKOCYCLE as well - almost identical to what Sperkowsky has stated. I'm in contact with their support, I'm thinking we also got a lemon, but I'm also grateful for their donation to the team.

[Paperclips]

Ours came about 4 days ago, and has been put to use already- printing some good quality battery plugs to distinguish the charged batteries from uncharged.
So far, everything's working great, and hopefully will continue to!

[FTC4360]

How do we print with two colors in the same object?

[IronBenderII]

We have printed several parts that would be very difficult to make - so far it's been great! There is a learning curve but it's been great so far!

[jman4747]

Ours has worked very well so far too. Encoder mounts, Jigs for hole patterns, Jetson TK1 mount, custom electronics mounts. And more to come. Also haven't needed anymore filament. Also if you want clearance for #8 screws use .190" for the hole diameter. For 1/4"-20 use .280".

Note; It's usually cold in our shop (40-60deg F)

[ksanger]

Was able to get ours activated and a sample part printed. However cubify.exe gives me an error message;

An erro rhas occurred in the script on this page
line 1
char 10226
Error invalid argument
Code 0
URL: http://css3-mediaqueries-js.googleco...ediaqueries.js

I can log in.
I uploaded an stl file exported from autodesk inventor.
when I select the part and hit print I get "Cubify has stopped working".

Also when I select my part and hit settings I get no settings about how its going to print as the manual suggests. Well help

Also when I restart cubify I get an error login failed for user no user present. Please try again.

I get another software error: from cubify.exe;
An error has occurred in the script on this page
Line 1
char 11895
[$injector.modulerr] http://errors.angularjs.org/1.2.3/...

https://dud5umgikjidx.cloudfront.net...2fdXHxZCWyHgY1


It looks like in cubify.exe I'm not getting the printer settings icon either. Argh.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by jman4747

Ours has worked very well so far too. Encoder mounts, Jigs for hole patterns, Jetson TK1 mount, custom electronics mounts. And more to come. Also haven't needed anymore filament. Also if you want clearance for #8 screws use .190" for the hole diameter. For 1/4"-20 use .280".

Note; It's usually cold in our shop (40-60deg F)

40-60f and that's "cold" I wish our shop was that "cold". We barely get heat in our shop so we get down to single digits at some points.