First experience with the M200 Plus.

Hi All,

After deciding to buy an M200 from a local reseller (inspired by the availability of Z-ESD and Z-ASA), i dicovered (just in time) that the M200 Plus was introduced with additional Z-Semiflex capability.

So ordered the M200 Plus directly from Zortrax (27 march) and received it 30 march in the Netherlands.
We will try it in our development (and production, if possible) of small-ish electronic devices, not so much for experimenting with 3D printing itself.
 
First impression with Z-Ultrat is very good. I printed the bearing and a test piece to check the
thinness of walls. Both flawless (except i had to download the bearing because the file on the included USB stick printed without support).
Tried also a one-thick spiral-mode tube of 12 cm diameter. That came out also great, except for a 3 mm high "elephant foot" effect at the base (locally increasing the diameter of the tube with approx. 0.4 mm).
In between, cleaned the build plate with a cloth lightly wetted with 1% ammonia. That may have been a mistake because adhesion was mostly gone in the next print.
Applied sparsely some ABS-juice (1 gram per 25 ml acetone), and adhesion was restored.
 
We don't expect this printer to do "carbon" etc. as a supported Z-material, but it does need a non-beta Mac version of Z-Suite.
Documentation could also be a bit more complete. E.g. i cannot figure out what the button next to the USB stick is for. When i press it, the screen goes dark but the printer keeps running.
The Z-Semiflex roll has not yet arrived, but that will of course be really exiting to try out.
 
 
Regards,
Roel de Jong

Thank you for your first impressions Roel. I'd love to see some pictures of the bearing, one-thick spiral-mode tube etc. Kind Regards, - David Barwin

Ok, here are a few pictures.
 
- bearing: outer diameter: ~5 cm, layer height: .14, quality: high, infill 30%
- spiral tube: diameter: 12 cm, layer height: .19, quality: normal, no bottom
tube with diameter 12 cm was modelled using a cylinder with 64 straight circle segments
- wall thinkness test: layer height .09 mm, quality: high, infill 50%
the fins are each 10 mm long, modelled thickness from .5 to 2.0 mm
thingiverse nr. 184723: "Wall thickness test for Zortrax M200"
a few stray strings removed and not on photo
- nozzle & hotend
 
4751

IMG_2881.JPG

Fantastic! Thank you!

Hello,

Thank you for these first returns.

 

One question : I just saw that the filament goes through a case on the back of the printer that controls "Material End Detection".

What happens if the filament does not go through this case when we put the coil with the filament on the side of the printer ?

Can we disconnect the "Material End Detection "in the firmware via the printer screen ?

Another question :

Where do you turn on ( and off) the printer ?

By pressing the button on the front ?

Or on the left side at the back (as on the M200) ?

Hello,

Thank you for these first returns.

 

One question : I just saw that the filament goes through a case on the back of the printer that controls "Material End Detection".

What happens if the filament does not go through this case when we put the coil with the filament on the side of the printer ?

Can we disconnect the "Material End Detection "in the firmware via the printer screen ?

I don't see a setting in Z-Suite (Mac version 2.5 beta) to disable the Material End Detection. But you could of course fool the printer by sticking a loose piece of material in the detector. A disadvantage would be that the printer cannot keep track of the filament loaded/unloaded state. The printer remembers filament when power is switched off.

Why not (try to) use the detector even if the spool is placed on the side? The entry hole of the detector block is relatively large and has a rounded edge.
 

Another question :

Where do you turn on ( and off) the printer ?

By pressing the button on the front ?

Or on the left side at the back (as on the M200) ?

The main power switch is on the left side at the back.

The purpose of the switch on the front is still unclear to me. May have something to do with remote operation?
 
 
 
Regards
Roel

Thanks for the quick answers !

Maybe you can disconnect the “end stop material” via the printer screen (the printer firmware) ?

 

My coils are hanging over the printer at the front because the entire printer is locked in a insulated  and heated box

in this case, it will be difficult to send the filament via this box.

you say : "A disadvantage would be that the printer cannot keep track of the filament loaded/unloaded state. The printer remembers filament when power is switched off."

is it a problem to load and unload the filament?

a picture of my isolated box

Nice box axel! Is it possible to keep the "ambient temperature" below 30 deg. C?

 
 
There is no setting in the M200 Plus menus (firmware 1.0.1) to switch off the filament end stop detector.
Honestly, i do not know the exact logic how the firmware determines the filament loaded state and type. There may be even a "filament run out" state. Many sequences of events could influence it: load/unload, power-up/down, current endstop signal, endstop opens/closes, ... 
More possibilities than i can try out quickly, and it might change in future firmware versions.
 
I did try this: Load while there is Z-Ultrat in the extruder and endstop.
The Load command is accepted (nozzle starts heating) if i choose something else than Z-Ultrat, otherwise ignored.
 
Also tried: Unload while there is no filament in the extruder and endstop.
Nozzle starts heating while firmware displays "Unknown Material Type". When temperature is reached (which temperature?), you can press continue, whereupon the extruder motor ejects (non-present) filament. After that, it prompts "Please remove material from endstop", but you can skip this using the screen.
 
 
Regards,
Roel
 

My 2 M200 are installed in a room whose T ° is very low in winter (+/- 10 ° to 15 °): too little to print correctly.

I made insulated boxes with booster heater (250w) + T ° controller set to 30 °.

Extruded polystyrene panels of 3cm and Plexiglas door.

- in winter, I reach without problem 35 ° inside the box, also thanks to the heating plate!

The radiator does not turn much.

- In summer, the heating is almost non-existent and I have to open the doors a bit !

Many thanks for all this information and all these tests for filament loading and unloading.

This will help me a lot to make the right decision for a fifth printer (I also have two Witbox)

Axel

One question ... if "Material End Detection" detects when printing that there is no material left, does the M200 + pause and can I continue printing after inserting new material? Does an acoustic signal sound?

WHEN does the M300 PLUS come ???

One question ... if "Material End Detection" detects when printing that there is no material left, does the M200 + pause and can I continue printing after inserting new material? Does an acoustic signal sound?

WHEN does the M300 PLUS come ???

Korni, I have not yet used up a spool, but have not noticed any beeping so far from the machine.

 
On https://zortrax.com/stories/blog/zortrax-m200-plus-3d-printing-next-big-thing/ It says: "When the material runs out, the M200 Plus will pause the print and notify the user about the need to load up a new spool."
 
Expectedly it will notify on screen and via Z-Suite since the latter is where you can conveniently keep an eye on the printing job(s).
 
 
Roel

Surprise! The M200 Plus just autonomously updated its firmware to 1.0.2 via WiFi, after i chose "refresh" (without Z-Suite running).

It forgot the installed filament type though.