Gidget
1
Anyone using the clay extruder on a Deltawasp 2040? I am getting mixed results, some good some not so good. Any advice? Need help on the ceramic mixture consistency and on the distance from the print tip to print bed. Also any tips on Cura setting for this ceramic material?
1 Like
We spent some time with these machines , and you could spend some gcode for you to have the required profile .
hi eli. i might not be able to help you, but would buy your extruder. i´m looking for a not new one. so just in case…
How is it going with your extruder? Have you been able to get better results? I am considering the 20 40 as I have much interest in the clay extruder myself. However, it looks like they’re completely at the moment.
Hi We have that printer is the best in the market…
Gidget
6
I have got it going really well these days. It took some effort and patience but it is really making nice prints now. The clay mixture consistency is tough to get just right but with trials it can be done. The clay extruder is a little fragile and you need to take care when cleaning it. Also you need to learn to make models that are right for clay printing. Overall I love the machine. I only use the clay extruder now but my test prints with PLA were also superior.
Cool. That’s great to hear. Thanks for sharing. I’ve been wanting to go with the DeltaWASP for the ceramics ability but I’ve also been thinking hard about the TAZ. There aren’t too many Wasp users on the forums out there like there is with the TAZ so I appreciate your response.
Thanks. Just curious, are there a lot of forums for WASP users in Spain? Not so much here in the US.
Not for now, just a few groups of people who used deltawasp 2040.
Best regards
dara
10
Hello,
great to see someone has found a balance for getting smooth prints out of this setup, its hard to find information on using the clay kit correctly…
I’m currently beginning the proccess myself and have a few questions if you don’t mind.
On the WASP setup video for the clay kit it shows the user changing the Z distance to the build plate : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DjVC5MxJr4
at 3:21 in this video you see the user select the “Modify Z Max” that brings up a “Z Correct” screen allowing him to input a -16.5 value.
On my 2040, when I’ve followed this video I don’t get a “Z Correct” screen
when I press “Modify Z Max”…I get a screen with a “Z home: +442.00” so I can’t input the Z Correct value and when I run a test print the print heads nossle
will crash into the build plate…did your printer have the “Z Correct” screen as in their video or was like mine and you found a fix?
Another issue I have is the clay isn’t coming to the print head on my machine even when I have the air pressure at 6 bar, it takes a long time to travel through the tube and seems to stop at the extruder opening, have you experienced this, could you share what air pressure, water, Ethenol mixtures you’ve found to work best to give the type of surface finish you show in that print photo?
Any and all info appreciated & thanks for your time,
Dara.
Gidget
11
Okay, so for the Z correct I followed the numbers on the printed instructions that came with my extruder. It says set the Z correct to +425.5. That worked for me. I have smashed a few tips in the process of getting the set up right. If the clay mix is too dry it can push the nozzle down a bit. You can also start the print with the bed significantly lower than the nozzle then adjust the level on the fly… then once it is nice re start the print. I still do a lot of small adjustment at the start of most of my prints.
For the clay mixture, I spent many frustrating weeks experimenting and finally got a good mix that is much wetter than I had thought it needed to be. It is almost like creamy peanut butter or nutella. I add water as well as the alcohol. Also I mix the layers as I put them into the canister to make sure the mixture is consistent throughout. I use a wood dowel to clear out any clay in the hose when I start a new batch, this helps the mix move through the tube faster as there is no air pressure blocking it. Once all the clay has moved through the extruder the new stuff should get sucked through the tube pretty quickly. If it does not move well it is probably too dry of a mix. Start too wet and work back to a good mix is what I did.
Also, I pretty much mix a new batch for each print (re mixing any extra stuff in the canister) as I find the mix gets a little dry even after 1 day. It is a lot of work but it is better than the aggravation of bad prints.
Good luck, don’t give up I almost killed myself trying but it eventually worked out.
Gidget
12
One more tip about the clay that was helpful for me, even though he uses a different machine, were Jonathan Keep’s videos. I don’t have a link but look for his demonstration videos online. The one where he is printing a rabbit has a good explanation of a good mixture.
dara
13
Hey Gidget, brilliant…thanks so much for that info! I’ve spent the day on it and didn’t have a printed instruction manual so tomorrow I’ll try your soloution, sounds good.
Thanks again on the secret sauce recipe, I recon you’ve saved a few people a lot of time sharing those tips, it gives me confidence I’m not wasting time with it. I hope you get a lot of fun/return for your endevours whatever the application.
All the best,)
A happy man in a shed in Dublin.
dara
14
Thanks, Jonathan Keep’s videos are great although I’d not seen one involving a rabbit yet,
I’ll check for that and his mixture ratios. Nice one.
hey guys.
i got my wasp 2040 yesterday with the clay extruder. also compressor, the right valves etc. now i start. just a quick question: what is the alcohol for you mentioned?
thanks for sharing thoughts. i will be here now daily to share my results and learnings aswell!
best
christian
hi guys,
i got the clay perfectly. the nutella way is great.
but, the print stops with out signal at 20% or so. at a z value of 15
and it says: out of plate
can anybody tell me, what it is!?
thanks
christian
dara
17
Hey Chrisitan,
alcohol wise I bough some ethnol to use in the mix but havn’t tried it yet, it can be expensive depending on what its labled
as (either for industry “ethol” or a high percentage drinking alcohol works too), I think its all the same for our purpose, I used vodka and water before with a good result but it depends on how much water is existing in the clay body so every mix will be a little different. I think they reccomend around 5 percent alcohol to help it move along.
I haven’t had that failure at 20% yet, best open a support ticket from the WASP site. Try setting the zmax value to the values they
provide in the manual :
Change the Z eight of the printer following this procedure:
menu » prepare » modify Zmax » Zcorrect -16.50
or:
menu » prepare » modify Zmax » Z home + 425.5 (for Delta 4070: +752.5)
regards.
hey hey fellas.
i got my wasp delta working nicely. i love it.
in the delivered firmware for cure are two plug ins installed. one is twaek at Z. i disabled it, becaus eit leads to stop at a certain z height, that is markd in the plug in. so this was it with my initial problem.
i also have another question: the extrusion tips seem to be common supply for other usages. i would love to have a bunch of them, so when one is stuffed or broken, i can have a lot of spare ones. anybody knowing where to get them. i guess it´s penny things and not worth to buy at wasp directly.
many greetings from berlin
christian
hello hubbers,
i´m quite successful now with the 3d printing of ceramics. but come to the next level and see there might be problems with the firing. because of the infill structure, i create air infills in my object. that propably leads to explosions during the firing, because the air chambers widen, and crahs the ceramics. anybody experiences with that allready?
thanks
c
dara
20
Hey Christian,
I though the same and bought some tips on ebay, arrived today and they look to be the same standard.
I paid about 30euro for a 21 pack, including delivery. So expensive but hopefully they will work well.
All the best.
