3D Printed Powerhead Guard for Jebao SW-8

S

Starvin Marvin

New member
Hey I made this 3D Printed Guard to try and prevent Anemone suicide in my 2 Jebao SW-8 powerheads.

It fits nice - a little loose but I'm ok with that, and I'm planning to just zip-tie it on at the bottom.

Only issue is all the "stringies" that need to be either cut off or burned off.

Anyone have experience printing this kind of "Coarse Mesh" and knows how to stop the strings?

I did recently calibrate my Extruder and it's set to 82% modifier now, and I have 3 mm retract.

I can make the plans available on Thingiverse but wanted to wait and make it for just a little snugger first.

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you probably need to lower nozzle temps just a bit to reduce that stringing since you are already using retract.. try dropping 5 deg and see how it does..

are you using a delta printer?
 
mcgyvr said:
try dropping 5 deg
Click to expand...


Hey, I did try dropping 5, 10, 15, and 20 (normally I print at 230 but my temp sensor isn't calibrated so I have no idea how hot it really is)

Even at 210 it was still doing it.

How hot do you print PLA and PETG?

Do you think you would be able to print this design without strings?




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Get a temperature gun, $20, measure the metal near the extrusion point.

Looks good, lowering the temp will help with the stringing. The printer have an extrusion fan?

I'm using a Taz 5, and yes can print without that much stringing...

Great idea though!
 
Hey yes I do have an extrusion fan, 2 actually running full time.

Ok I will play with the temperature thanks


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210 is still too hot...
and I've always run it at 185-190 I think..

Drop the temp down to 185-190 and see how that does...
 
If you're not able to get the stringing to stop when printing, you could try a hair dryer on high temp and slowly bring it closer to try to melt the strings away. They will melt before the thick pieces due to their high surface area/volume ratio. I don't know about that plastic, but I've used acetone vapor baths for similar purposes on some of our plastics with some luck. Not sure if I'd want to put it in a fish tank after that though.
 
devastator007 said:
you could try a hair dryer
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tip. I have tried quick exposure to flame torch. It doesn't work so good, depends on the piece, sometimes it cleans it up ok without melting the plastic again.

I have a few things to try. Last night I printed another one at 215'C with 1500 mm/min speed (normally 230 temp with 2500 speed).

It helped a lot.

Today I will try again with lower temp still.
Once I hit 180 or a temp that it no longer melts properly at, I'll try reducing speed further.

I have also reduced my retractor speed to 2500, from 3500. I could make it lower still.

So I have a few things to try.
Oh, I did also set my Wipe distance to 3mm from 2mm.



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I haven't 3D Printed anything for my reef, but I would be curious as to how the low resolution gaged surface does with algea growth. My worry would be the increased surface area would encourage algea growth and make it difficult to clean. plenty of others have 3D printed parts, so perhaps it's a non-issue?

a hair dryer, or industrial heat gun, can smooth out the jagged surfaces from the low resolution produced by residential quality 3D printers. Assuming you don't have access to industrial printers it can be a good compromise in the case that slight changes to dimensions are acceptable.
 
Ideally PETG would be best.

But I am not sure how long PLA will last and what will leach into the water. Is this conclusively shown somewhere? Do you know?


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I would really like to know if it's true. PLA is the only filament sold locally in my town.

PETG needs to be ordered in, and it's so stringy...

ABS I've not tried.

I have had PLA in my tank for about 2 months now and it appears to be structurally sound... also livestock looks ok.

I saw a post once indicating the byproducts of PLA likely were not chemically harmful or incompatible with a reef. I think I was a chemist saying it. Lol. Not exactly a compelling argument by me, I know.


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mcgyvr said:
No.. thats false information too I believe from back in the day..
I don't believe that to be true with todays resins..
Click to expand...

Care to elaborate? My understanding is that in the presence of water PLA decomposes over reasonably short time scales (months to years) into latic acid. A quick Google search seems to support this.

Is there something being included in PLA filaments to increase stability? And if so what?

I don't think the issue in the reef tank is the by product of decomposition, as I would expect latic acid to be something our tanks could readily deal with. My concerns would be related to what else is bound in the plastic and released during decomposition. I don't think I want the fine particulates from the colorant floating free in my tank; while I would expect most to be chemically inactive physical size could pose some real problems.

As to the actual question from OP regarding the strings, slowing things down and some work to optimize the retraction settings will help.
 
If PLA freaks someone out, ABS is stronger and more stable in water.

Keep working on the settings, speed being too high can definitely do it. Doesn't give the fans time to properly cool before moving to the next point. Anyway, I just copy settings most other people use.
 
Hi,

Would it be possible for you to put this design up on thingiverse please [MENTION=337876]Starvin Marvin[/MENTION] as it is exactly what I need :)

Cheers

Starvin Marvin said:
Hey I made this 3D Printed Guard to try and prevent Anemone suicide in my 2 Jebao SW-8 powerheads.

It fits nice - a little loose but I'm ok with that, and I'm planning to just zip-tie it on at the bottom.

Only issue is all the "stringies" that need to be either cut off or burned off.

Anyone have experience printing this kind of "Coarse Mesh" and knows how to stop the strings?

I did recently calibrate my Extruder and it's set to 82% modifier now, and I have 3 mm retract.

I can make the plans available on Thingiverse but wanted to wait and make it for just a little snugger first.

ed54b0a1ce1813c098d377fe99024bcf.jpg


dae2bfedc4941c40ea586122acd25678.jpg


876d0697f61ba333547eafdecedf5d75.jpg


a0b9fa8659bbc3b2827b9b68b3e1493a.jpg


03b182f53d07934f34f829500135eb99.jpg


aa95c5f2176b5fff08b8d54c9fa873de.jpg


c4c861463f12a22127bf815d3d86d138.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
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