I’ve wanted one of these for a while, decided to bite the bullet a couple days ago! Seeing as I was somewhat familiar with CAD software (from engineering classes several years ago) it seemed fairly straightforward.

As someone completely new to this, there have been a TON of things I’ve learned from binging 3d printing channels…

  • First layer adhesion 😭
  • Bed levelling
  • Types of extruders (bowden/direct) and how they affect what materials you can print
  • Tons of printing materials, personally will be using PETG and PLA
  • Keeping filament dry in a vacuum bag

And soo much more - but there is still a lot that I have absolutely no idea about.

The printer is a second-hand Flsun Q5, the seller sent it fully assembled (very, very brave of them, but it arrived unharmed). I had a brief look around at other options, but for the price of an easythreed, this was a no brainer.

I think the seller had some issues with bed adhesion, as there was a ton of slimy stuff on the print bed when it arrived. Used some isopropyl alcohol and a dish sponge to scrub it off, seems all fine now!

I had some issues with the Z-offset but got it good enough to where there is some first layer adhesion.

Model finished printing while I was drafting this post, I sprayed some contact cleaner onto the glass bed to take it off (is that bad?). There’s some stringing:

  • TIL there is electronic contact cleaner, I thought what you sprayed was a cleaning/solution for eye contacts. The cooling statement still stands, and I still do not think it is necessary to remove a print from the bed.

    • TIL there was a cleaning solution for contact lenses - I thought they were only available as single use consumables…

      I would agree that it’s not necessary - I only really use it when I’m feeling impatient or doing rapid prototyping of small parts 😅

      Definitely isn’t good for the bed though, on some occasions I’ve seen pieces of the bed material on printed parts that have been removed this way