Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Solidoodle 2
ABS filament. (The Solidoodle will also take
PLA, but ABS is recommended.)
There are a few pain points, however. You
can't load or change filament with the metal
enclosure in place, so grab your screwdriver,
and be careful—tilt too much as you're re-
moving the top, and you'll tweak the USB
connector on the electronics sitting exposed
on the back of the machine.
So how does it print? Not too bad, though a
bit more tuning could go a long way. The
single profile included with the Solidoodle
resulted in prints that were below average
for the printers we tested. Extruder temper-
ature seemed very high, despite nominally
being set to a low 190°C. The output was wa-
vy, and overhangs dropped a bit: the owl
feathers were among the worst of the bunch.
Dialing down the temperature improved
things, but we could have spent a lot more
time tweaking. On the upside, the machine
was fast and reliable; once we figured out
that the build plate temperature has to be
set manually, we had no trouble. The build
plate was well leveled from the factory.
Visit the websites associated with the printer,
and you'll see that the community is hard at
work improving the default profiles. For ex-
abounds with tweaks.
Solidoodle is the company started by Sam
Cervantes, an early MakerBot alumnus. Sol-
idoodle has adopted what's become a pop-
ular standard:
Sanguinololu electronics
and
Repetier Host.
To keep the price low, it cut some corners,
and for the most part, they were the right
ones. The frame is a basic welded box. Rods
are secured by hose clamps. A number of
brackets and parts are 3D printed and ugly,
though this is standard practice for RepRaps.
(We'd like to see designs for these made
available, just in case.) The Solidoodle isn't
the prettiest, but none of this should have
any functional impact: score one for
frugality.
While it's doubtful that unboxing will gener-
ate the sort of loving pictorials given to new
Apple products, the basics are there: assem-
bled printer, USB cable, printed startup
guide, one replacement Kapton sheet for the
build surface, and a tiny supply of 1.75 mm
