To my surprise, my Crane Quad just shipped...

Danal

On FitForLaunch, I funded a printer a LONG time ago. Crane Quad, mixing printer, can either switch between four inputs very rapidly, or mix them. They make CMYK calibrated filament, theoretically allowing 50,000+ mix colors.

FitForLaunch, KickStarter, etc. are notorious for never shipping printer projects... so I am a little surprised.

And... best of all... the Crane Quad uses a Duet controller!!

Should be here Saturday. We'll see...

Phaedrux

I was wondering whatever happened with those.

droftarts

@Danal Check the bed wiring! https://forum.duet3d.com/post/134922

Ian

deckingman

@Danal Best of luck - the only one I saw "working" was soooo slow. BTW, it doesn't mix. It just combines filaments like every other "mixing" hot end that is on the market. So what you get is akin to stripey toothpaste (albeit a claimed 50,00 varieties of stripes). So don't waste your money buying "calibrated" CYMK filaments because unless you actually mix them together, you'll never get the colour you expect. Oh and the "K" is either black or white but you can't have both. And be careful setting the mixing ratios - I know of one beta tester that got it wrong and the hot end exploded! Other than that, it's probably a wonderful machine.

chas2706

@Danal said in To my surprise, my Crane Quad just shipped...:

Should be here Saturday. We'll see...

Hope you enjoy your new printer and have fun!

Danal

@droftarts said in To my surprise, my Crane Quad just shipped...:

@Danal Check the bed wiring! https://forum.duet3d.com/post/134922

Ian

Thank you!! VERY much. I had not "Connected the dots" on the brand vs. the specific printer name. I will check, and mitigate as required, before I power.

THANK YOU.

Danal

@deckingman said in To my surprise, my Crane Quad just shipped...:

@Danal Best of luck - the only one I saw "working" was soooo slow. BTW, it doesn't mix. It just combines filaments like every other "mixing" hot end that is on the market. So what you get is akin to stripey toothpaste (albeit a claimed 50,00 varieties of stripes). So don't waste your money buying "calibrated" CYMK filaments because unless you actually mix them together, you'll never get the colour you expect. Oh and the "K" is either black or white but you can't have both. And be careful setting the mixing ratios - I know of one beta tester that got it wrong and the hot end exploded! Other than that, it's probably a wonderful machine.

Yeah, in all honesty, I don't expect much. Kick/Fit, etc have not, to my knowledge, every produced a 'revolution' in 3D Printing.

If it simply multi-materials cleanly, it will be useful to me.

DocTrucker

Is that a bit of a dodgy belt line on the x axis? Ok, I appreciate the effect on accuracy is negligable.

Edit: Photo source - a zoomed in image from their website: https://store.printm3d.com/products/the-crane-quad-3d-printer#

Danal

Yeah, that photo certainly looks like the geometry is wrong.

DocTrucker

Hopefully it clamps top side and lower is just passing over an idler.

Phaedrux

They copied the Ender 3 so completely they even got the bad belt arrangements. Nice. Totally negligible for such a short axis, but still...

DocTrucker

@Phaedrux there is something ironic about a western company copying an eastern one like that!

Phaedrux

Well I guess they didn't copy it completely. The base has a square frame, whereas the Ender has a cross shape.

DocTrucker

CR10?

I made a similar mistake on my y-axis belt line in an early version of my flavour of the P3Steels. I went and calculated the effect it had and was surprised how little it was. Fixed it all the time as watching the machine run with the belt angle waving at me was like listening to a bearing squeaking its way toward not being a bearing any more!

Phaedrux

Ah yes, the Cr10 has a square base.

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if they were just upgraded CR10s. The secret sauce is the mixing hotend and maestro anyway. Hard to break new ground on an i3 design these days.

DocTrucker

My next P3Steel build is underway at the moment and ideas are brewing for the final pile of bits that I haven't completed. Belt z (not particularly original!) was one thought, but last thought was Core XZ (slightly fewer of these), but need to look very closely at resolution and drop on power down.

I was wondering the same thing (regarding buying in and building on Creality machines). Tidy markup if so, but I guess creality have cut price with both having a very wide quality control and buying from suppliers that employ similar techniques. Therefore I bet someone building on their machines would buy 10 and get 7 or 8 usable machines worth of parts!

Danal

Well, sure enough, the bed connection is just a blown mosfet waiting to happen. I think I'm just going to put a couple of coats of "liquid tape" on that area.

Danal

Also, the eccentric on the carriage couldn't be tightened. The bracket is bent, "spreading" the wheels apart. The eccentric wheel mounts it that tab that is sticking down, bent.

Easy enough to bend back... but... the way it was all packed, there's no way this happened in shipping. Very poor QC.

DocTrucker

Does it look like a modified Creality in the flesh? Isn't that machine supposed to retail at $1k+?

Danal

@DocTrucker said in To my surprise, my Crane Quad just shipped...:

Does it look like a modified Creality in the flesh? Isn't that machine supposed to retail at $1k+?

Yeah, if you didn't pre-fund, they are $750.

Creality looking? Sort of. I have an S10 that I bought to evaluate for a friend. In my eyes, that S10 (with dual Z) was an OK printer, particularly with upgraded firmware. It did/does produce reasonably decent prints. About is only downside is a long-ish bowden.

The Crane Quad is loosely similar, but much flimsier and cheaper looking/feeling. All 3 wheel with eccentric, but the two wheel side spacing is minimal, and even when properly adjusted, there is still not a lot of rigidity. Classic bottom frame with inverted U arch, and absolutely no bracing, just some cap head screws joining that 90. No belt tensioners. And so forth. Just incredibly cheap all the way around.

If anyone wants to experiment with the Quad head, I'd recommend getting just the head and mounting it on whatever platform you have laying around.

It is driven by a Duet Maestro, and I can post the config.g. I haven't looked at that config yet; still, I'm sure we can make almost any Duet (with enough drivers) work.