I agree. I have no idea how they justify prices like that. But all the official crimp tools are crazy expensive.
Even working in a lab for an engineering company, we have to think carefully about it. It takes a lot of crimps to reach $1000 if we can make a crimp the hard way in 20s. Even if you are a software engineer making cables.
@jeffeb3 software engineer making cables. Now that is funny. I worked in a place where we supported all of the IT operations. We had techs making all sorts of cables. Mostly Cat 5 patch cables. It was a nightmare. Once they found out you were good at it no matter what else you were doing or who you were, you got tons of requests to make them. So being a senior engineer than a PM, I acted dumb. I didn’t tell anyone I could actually make them better than any of our techs 
Due to some bad project management, or maybe some agile scheduling, I ended up making cables for a few weeks as a junior software engineer. It really made me appreciate the work our techs did for us and I learned a lot of good techniques. But those were some of the most expensive cables we’ve made (not just because I was paid well, but because I was bad at it and I took a long time).
I fully understand. I’ve done many menial jobs. I’ve always told my folks that they’re no better than the security guard, the janitor or anyone else so be kind to everyone. And if we didn’t have those folks they’d be cleaning out their own trash and wouldn’t be in a secure facility nor will they be able to get into places when they need to.
Having worked in a manufacturing industry that used such tools(and tested them to decide what to get). I can tell you how places afford them… they are free. If you buy 300000 of whatever ends are used. (So buy 300000 dupont plugs with a plan to use another 300000 a year) and they just give you a few of those tools for free.
Considering the plugs I buy are probably also not legit, that’s probably going to be tough.
So I have an Ender 3 Pro and have hated the bed springs since the beginning. I finally broke down and ordered the upgrade springs last week. They weren’t suppose to arrive until Friday, but showed up in the mail yesterday. I’m blown away at the difference in print quality that they make.
So I printed a jig to drill the Festool style clamping system holes in the soil board. I’m thrilled at how they came out!
I think I’m going to cut the tubing now!
So I spent some time today cleaning up my shop. One thing that was driving me nuts was not being able to find my label maker. Well after some cleaning and such I FOUND IT.
I also found batteries for it!
Now my shop isn’t what I’d call “clean”. But I have been working on organizing it, and it’s really coming along. So the batteries were EXACTLY where they were suppose to be!
The reason the label maker was so important was I built a rack to hold my HF small parts organizers. I build a variation of the Adam Savage inspired racks folks are building.
What’s cool is all of my misc nuts, bolts, screws, nails, etc all are getting homes. And labeling where they go is SO NICE.
Of course I ran out of label tape but it’s ok. It gave me time to reflect on how far I’ve come and how I love how the space is evolving. It also helped me see how I could fit in the MPCNC and how I should design the bench for it!
So another small step in journey. And while it’s not direct progress on the MPCNC it is in the big picture!
No new updates.
I’m planning on possibly getting the material to get the wood to build a table for the MPCNC this weekend.
I also need to find my grinder with the cutting disk. I can only find the one with the flap wheel and can’t find the thin cutting discs. So I’m not sure why two of three are hiding. I guess that’s the next part of cleaning up!
So once I find the missing grinders or some cut off discs I’ll cut the piping! And once I get the material I’ll build the table. pics to come of both
So my frustration with black filament has been well documented above. What I didn’t share is that my first core print came apart. I"m not sure why. But there was separation between a few layers, and I dropped it and it broke in half.
I made another attempt and 8 hours in the printer kept going but was printing blank lines. I’m not sure what was going on as any other color works fine. There was no clog and changing filament with the same settings, same brand, etc resulted in beautiful prints.
So I was going to just give up and oder a core from Ryan. But I figured since I had some white filament in and it worked on other prints I’d give it a try. Well guess what? It printed a core that seems fine! Go figure.
While I’d like to have a pretty MPCNC all color matched and all the reality is that this is a tool that will get dirty and be used. So I’m not too worry about it right now. Worse case, I load some blue filament and make it match the A parts if it starts to bother me, or I order a core.
Until then, I’m just going to go with the white core. I also have some white cable chain that doesn’t match anything on my Ender 3 Pro so I’ll probably use them two. Who knows maybe I’ll start a trend
Below is a pic of the completed core “hot off the press” I mean the printer
I just went out to the mailbox and in it this arrived!
So now I have connectors. I still need to get a crimp tool, and order the rest of the wiring, electronics, motors, etc.
Spray paint.
Mine is still very white, but that’s because I haven’t gotten to use it much. It’s a tool. It looks good because its form follows its function, and (at least to me) color is secondary.
Different colors can use different temp setting. So what was probably happening is that you are printing at a slightly to low of a temp or with to much cooling. Witch generaly is known to cause layer adhesion issues. Since I see you have the stock cooling indoubt your issue is too much cooling.Try printing the black at 10-15 degrees hotter and I bet it will work well. Other things to check for would be brittleness and noise in the filament. Moisture is known to cause issues like youbare describing as well. And when the filament absorbs too much moisture it gets brittle and in the worst cases you will hear popping and crackling as it prints.
can.
I agree with you but we also know that color and appearance almost as much as a tool feeling good and working well.
There are all sorts of psychological factors that come into play.
So if we like a tool we will tend to use it more and use it better, if we hate it we won’t use it and when we do will not be as effective with it.
The mind is a funny thing and how it impacts us is quite interesting. And yea I’ve done way too much studying on stuff like this.
That said, I’m going to use what I have for now, as new also is exciting and I’ll ride that as long as I
Thanks. Do you know if black is that much different than other colors?
And I’ll play with it a bit when I have a little extra time and am not so frustrated.
Could also be that the black filament is more dry or sth like that. I have a white filament for example, same brand, same day delivered etc. that needs 220°C instead of 210°C, otherwise it does not extrude enough. Very weird.
It all depends on the brand and how they make it the color it is. I have seen colors be different by more than 20 degrees (specifically I had a clear pla that I had to print at almost abs temps or it would cause problems)
And @Tokoloshe is right, it could be moisture, I thought I mentioned that but maybe i just said it in my head XD but I find printing at a higher temp helps too with that too (is that just me?). That is unless you hear popping, then it needs to be dried.
It’s why a lot of people do temp towers on each roll. I personally just watch it and adjust the temp for each print manually.
@Atom Yes I think we mentioned moisture. I questioned it as it’s brand new filament. But it also isn’t impossible.
I’ve yet to do a temp tower. I’ve done like you and experimented and found what has been working for my other filaments.
FYI, I’m already at 220 C.
