Overview of 3D printer Hercules from the company 3Dtool

Welcome, dear readers Geektimes!


Today in our review we will talk about Hercules compact and inexpensive 3D printer from the Russian company Imprinta.

In addition to the text review, please watch the video review with lots of additional information about the printer (recommended).


The model was released in June 2016

This is the younger brother of the big Hercules Strong 2017. Hercules comes in several colors to choose from, and is perfect for any office or home interior. We would like to note that the entire line of new 3D printers from the Imprinta company looks very cool.

Appearance




Hercules has a hard metal frame of 2 mm steel, and this has a positive effect on print quality. After all, in the absence of vibration, the surface of your model will be even and smooth. Externally, the housing is lined with painted aluminum. It is worth noting that the paint is used as a shockproof Hercules Strong 17. The

dimensions of the 3D printer are 365 x 355 x 430 mm, and the weight of the order of 15 kg is enough to ensure the absence of vibrations of the printer, with 3D printing.

With such compact dimensions, the coil mount is located on the back of the printer, and this does not cause inconvenience. This is a fairly common solution.

Consider the case of Hercules 3D printer in more detail:

The front door is made of translucent acrylic that allows you to follow the seal. The door protects not only from drafts, but also the hands of curious little engineers. The door is mounted on 4 magnets, which allows it to securely fasten and remove effortlessly.

The top of the 3D printer housing is open. This is not a critical point when printing with high shrinkage type ABS plastic. Since the working area is not large. And due to the heated desktop, all moments are compensated with shrinkage.

Control screen


The printer is equipped with an LCD screen with all the necessary information. The selection of items is done using a standard, rotating selector control. Everything is completely in Russian. And next is the SD card slot for offline printing. Recall that offline printing is more stable than printing from a computer.



Desktop


And now let's look inside. The dimensions of the working area of ​​this model are 180 x 180 x 180 mm. The printer is equipped with a heated table with a maximum temperature of up to 125 ° C. This temperature is sufficient for most plastics used in printing.



On the desktop is a removable glass surface, which is fixed with special clips. If necessary, you can remove the table with the model after 3D printing for further processing.



Calibration of the distance between the desktop and the nozzle is carried out at three points by hand and is not difficult. In manual mode, you need to move the extruder to three points and using the handles on the table to set the desired distance between the nozzle and the desktop. But if you still have questions, the instruction is sent to the printer, in which everything is clearly shown. You can also contact the technical support company 3DTOOL .

Kinematics


The kinematic scheme of this printer is based on the H-Bot scheme.



The Z axis uses a ball screw and double 16 mm shafts, which adds to this, in the appearance of a small printer, brutality. However, apart from the appearance, this technological solution ensures the smoothness and stability of the desktop travel along the Z axis.



Along the X and Y axes we see rail guides and a toothed belt driven by stepper motors.



This kinematics allows the printer to print a layer of a thickness of 20 microns and maximum positioning accuracy, about 1.25 microns.

Extruder


This is already familiar to us UniHOT in a metal case, with heating up to 260С, direct feed of the filament with a thread diameter of 1.75 mm.



The extruder is absolutely omnivorous, and without any problems prints all kinds of plastic from rubber to nylon, and the declared print speed reaches 150mm per second.



UniHOT is equipped with an efficient PLA plastic blower system.



A nozzle 0.5 mm in size is pre-installed; nozzles can be changed from 0.2 mm to 1 mm. That allows you to choose the optimal printing time. And with ease to carry out both large, and small details with the maximum accuracy.

Software


Pre-installed software (Repetier-Host, Slic3r, Cura) for a 3D printer is supplied on an SD card. Using this software, you can import files in STL or OBJ format, for later outputting a 3D model to print. The program allows you to make all sorts of manipulations with the 3D model - select print options, cut into several parts and locate details on the working area. Connecting to a computer via USB port.

Impressions and conclusions


The printer showed itself from the best side in the printing of parts of various sizes and various materials. And in the printing of products with flexible plastics - Rubber and Flex to this day, it has no equal.

The printer makes a good impression due to its design and build quality. Working with him is quite simple and convenient. This is facilitated by perfectly assembled kinematics and a magnificent extruder capable of printing with a large amount of materials.

Hercules is ideal for manufacturing, small business and educational institutions. The ability to quickly change nozzles makes it a versatile tool for any task.

You can buy Hercules 3D printer in our company 3Dtool .

Also popular now: