FlashForge Finder 3D Printer: Un-boxing, setup and first print 

Arnfinn Rian I know nothing about 3D printers but am saving to get this one hopefully. Would you recommend it?

Frankly I'm not the right guy to ask. Too inexperienced. I have trouble with plastic not sticking.to the printbed. It's probably dust but I really don't know and there's no support in Scandinavia to my knowledge. But I have printed and it is wonderful when it works. Really easy to use.

@@thewestoner7299 lol just saw your post, as I'm checking out this printer... buying one second hand for about GBP200 now.

+Scullcom Hobby Electronics It is lots of fun, thanks for the comment. The flashforge finder is a single extruder printer which means you can only have one material at a time. The Finder is actually only £400 now www.imakr.com/en/home/580-flashforge-finder.html so worth a go if you can afford it. The flashforge dreamer is a dual extruder model that allows printing in two different materials but it is, of course, more expensive.

+Hari Wiguna Thanks mate, I will take a look at OpenSCAD, I want to make some gears :-) I am very familiar with SketchUp but I will have to grab a copy of TinkerCAD.

+Hari Wiguna Sitting in a box, we have a printer we haven't got around to assembling just yet. I'll have to remember these when I get that far :)

In my experience it is negligible if noticeable at all.

I usually leave it in until I decide if I want to use another filament, my printer is usually used every other day. A couple of tips, don't turn off the printer until the cooling fan stops so thast the filament doesn't cook for too long in the nozzle. The filament can may just be stuck in the nozzle so a fine needle might dislodge it when heated.

You can use 3d Builder in windows 10 or like I do use Fusion 360.

Anything that can output a 3d model in STL, or GX I think

It will accept g and gx files straight from the supplied slicer software.

From the way it looks, you might be able to get away with a bigger bed, but the slicer it comes with only uses the original size. and I don't think you can use a heated one either, unless you can figure out how to rewrite it's programing

Hi! Congrats on the new printer. Adhesion is a little dependent on temperature, the warmer it is in the room the better adhesion in my experience. That said, I use blue painters tape on my buildplate and it works 95% of the time to keep the models stuck down.

thanks for your help

Did you unscrew then in the following step?

@@DavidWatts yep. turns out two of the springs were stuck and needed to be popped away from the plate. thanks for the great vid and quick response!

200m

Yeah I still like it, coming up to two years.... sort of, I think I would like one with a larger bed though. Still, you just have to get creative with design if you want larger parts. I have never had a heated bed but blue painters tape works well for me. The WiFi is actually great from my laptop but I don't have it on my PC, so I either use the cable if I want to remote control it or I just use USB for throwing g code across.

David Watts ahh ok cool! Thanks

As far as I know it is 0.1mm as the minimum resolution so to me that is accurate and yes the flash forge software can use obj or stl. Did I quote something incorrectly?

You can use STL files in the printing software, I am sure Solidworks can export them.

You can use anything you like as far as I know, it is just G code.

@@DavidWatts actually no,... it is a variant To those that do not like the closed source I have some information. There is a serial port unconnected on the main PCB, I have succeeded in hacking into the PCB by buying an FTDI and connector from amazon. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072VMD6JP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075N82CDL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If you do this do not connect the 3.3V rather just GND, Tx & Rx. The login is without a password. The system is embedded linux, booted by Uboot. I am not a embedded linux expert, so I have not yet done anything useful with this information, but that will come. Good luck. Respond to me here if you want to correspond and we will connect. Dan

You can do it in the included software.

@@DavidWatts yeah

Too long ago to recall exactly but I have an odd feeling it was 36 minutes on that quality setting.

Thanks for the response and answer, I don't think I realized the date when I asked lol thanks

I got a jam in the hot end and had to replace it (£5) after 2 years and I have had to oil the runners but that's it. The printer is still great, the user is still rubbish though, I don't print enough.

@@DavidWatts Thanks bro.How to turn off the cooler in the flashprint in cool days? I I did leveling but I'm having warp!Thanks!

A quarter is _much_ smaller than 14cm in diameter so you should be fine :D

@@muskit_ i hope so! Wantin to do cosplay shop for them

I don't recall mine coming with a glue stick but people use that kind of glue on the bed to help prints stick. I used blue painters tape these days.

Yeah, it has been really really great. Easy to use and pretty low maintenance . You can use an external filament holder to get around the weird spool size issue.

PLA mostly, it doesn't have a heated bed for some of the more advanced materials.

Not a single piece one, the print bed is too small.

@@DavidWatts Couldn't you do is at an angle? If you arranged it on its side and diagonaly across the build plate?

No problems but there are more affordable printers around these days. The CR-10 is a good choice.

14cm x 14cm x 14cm I believe

Select raft as an option when you print, it will help it stick. I use blue painters tape on the bed and it works perfectly.

Thank you for responding quickly, I didn’t expect that! I will try out your tips Thanks again!

+Dirk Herrendoerfer I am really happy with it, if you recall, I definitely didn't want to get a kit. You are right about this thing looking a bit star trek, I was very tempted to request tea, earl grey, hot!

+Dirk Herrendoerfer I bought some new filament! Glow in the dark red and some translucent stuff. Pretty excited about both.

David Watts Yeah, glow-in-the-dark is great ! I have some of the white, green-glowing stuff, It's kind-of hard to get to stick down sometimes. Transparent is cool too, used it for the LEDs on my 3D printed computer case.

+David Watts awesome video man.. i am thinking buying this 3d printer to start with all this 3d printing thing.. i've never before done anything related.. would you recommend this model for a starter or finding a cheaper one?

+Brian Gehre Mendoza Flashforge is a good brand to start out with. I have 2 of them and they both work great. I have a Dreamer and a Creator X. I bought mine from amazon so I get support from Tang who is pretty awesome. I haven't tried this particular model, but have been looking at it a while. It looks like a good one to start out with to me if you are printing with PLA.

***** It will print ABS but without a heated bed you will have a tough time. The Finder prints consistently well with PLA.

Good to know that the People's Liberation Army print consistently!

the adhesion to the build plate is what you want man. TRUST ME! you want the print to stick firmly to the build plate. That is a good quality in 3d printers you don't want your prints to be warping.

lol no you'd have to print it in different parts.

Computerfrenzy Yeah, I understand that now. Lmao. I watched a couple of videos then found out.

Seriously, 2k? For that kinda money I would hope it can print a full copy of itself.

@@DavidWatts Make that 2.5K...

You insert the filament of your choice into the Cartage. You can also 3D print or order a filament holder for the flash forge Finder.

Paul Cumber 499 on amazon

I think you will find that is a beautiful 1970's monstrosity.

I am sure they did 2 and a half years ago when I posted the video. Hopefully you can find another source on amazon or elsewhere.