Sample Print Request

#1
Hello everyone,

First off, please forgive me if this is the wrong location to post this, or if there is already a place to make such requests - I did some searching but didn't find anything.

Brand new here. I stumbled upon the gMax Printer while surfing Instagram. My office (architecture) currently has a Formlabs Form2 printer which we love and hate. Love it due to the ease of use, high success rate, non-fussy settings and software use, etc. we only have two issues with it, 1) size of printed parts (roughly 6"x6"x7") and 2) the cleanup of the resin takes additional time and can be messy. Otherwise it has great resolution and is fairly autonomous, not requiring playing with settings to get a good print.

We are currently looking at the gMax to get the benefit of larger print volume. Our idea is to use the gMax for lower quality but larger prints and use the Formlabs for finer detail smaller prints. As such, we are really hoping to get a sample part printed before we hit the purchase button. Are any of you fine printing people open to print something for us and ship it to us (we will gladly pay you for your time/materials/shipping). We can provide you with a STL file for printing as we'd like to print something we'd typically print in-house to compare it with our printer.

Beyond the sample request, I'm hoping some of you experienced users and beginners alike could chime in on a few questions. In the past I've used a Prusa to various levels of success. I found that if I spent the time to do a lot of test printing and dialed in the settings I could get a few good prints, but I'd say our success rate was around 50%. How does the gMax compare in terms of setup and settings? I've read on the forums of people having issues related to retraction and temperatures, etc - all issues we had with the Prusa. Is the gMax a printer that I can have an intern with little to no experience jump on and get a decent successful print the first time, or does it need more attention and hand holding?

Thanks again for everyone input on this. I've found forums to be the best places to get real reviews and information.

-Geoff
 
#2
The gmax 1.5 is a great printer if you understand how to set it up. The quality that I am getting is superb. The retraction settings and the stringing is a function of how you tune your settings in the slicer. If you are going to use this printer in a professional environment, then invest in the Simplify 3D slicer as it is more refined in compare to the free open source software.

Please understand that a free sample cost time and money for anyone to do, depending how big the print is. So naturally it is not going to be easy for one to volunteer their own printer for something like that. Keep it mind that gCreate now are also a printing hub. I am sure they sell their service at the best of representative quality of the gmax printer.

I have been using the gMax printer since they were first on Kickstarter with their version 1.0. Now I have their latest 1.5 XT+. I am personally very happy. I have done some improvements for the machine, but that is a matter of personal preference. Keep in mind that no matter what you will need to fine tune your slicer settings to work best for the material and print that you will be working with. If you are concerned with quality, make sure to use good quality filament. It is more expensive, but the results and consistency of the print reflect that.

I personally use Colorfab, Hatchbox and recently Esun (their plus line).

Best of luck with your selection.
 
#3
Below is a link to a video printing parts for an electric ducted fan RC airplane. As you can see there are no strings, whiskers or unintended plastic runs. The print is crisp and it does not require post processing. The parts need to be that way since extra weight is not a good thing for the RC planes as the goal is to get them to be as light and strong as possible. The percent infill is only 1%. I invested quite some time in developing the right retraction slicer settings to print with this Esun PLA+3D filament.

FFF printing has a steep learning curve. With that said, there are plenty of people that can offer suggestions and help to get you going and perhaps share printer settings and files. I personally do not have any experience with SLA printers, but for what little I understand they are messy and the prints are more expensive per given weight. The finish is of higher quality than FFF printing, but like you said you can print bigger stuff with FFF, thus the gMax printer.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzN2m8-J9pU&feature=em-upload_owner


If you have any questions let us know.

Thanks