Teaching Tech

Creality K2 Plus Patreon preview

During my break, I made sure to get testing for this underway. Then all of the Bambu drama happened, so a test on an alternative will be timely.

Here is an exclusive behind the scenes video of my testing so far. It prints PLA really well, and will do PETG and ASA well with an appropriate bed. TPU was not so hot.

In some ways it's a really weird printer. It's desperately trying to look and feel like a Bambu, just it has Klipper under the skin. You can load a Fluidd web interface or...

Merry Christmas 2024 + 2025

Dear Patrons,

Thank you for another great year. As the video mentions, your support is vital to me and my channel is multiple ways. Whether you're a patron for a day or for years, I really appreciate your support.

One thing I forgot to mention in the video. I hope to make more behind the scenes videos next year, and the pursuit of completing those longer videos should provide an ideal opportunity to do so.

Also, please remember that the forum is where the action is. The comm...

Happy New Year and thank you!

Dear Patrons,

Just a quick thank you video to close out 2023 and welcome in 2024. It's amazing that this can be my job, and it wouldn't be possible without your generous support.

Our forum can be found here: https://teachingtech.discourse.group

The sign up with Patreon option sh9ould have you in quickly.

I hope you all like puppies!

Michael

Announcing a 2nd channel!

Dear Patrons,

This has been in works for about half a year. I just had to be really patient in waiting for some things to sell. In the video above, I explain all of this, exactly what the new channel is and how it will impact Teaching Tech.

A reminder that everything happens in our forum, including TT videos posted early each week, plus exclusive videos from time to time. We have a friendly, knowledgeable and thriving community, so please consider following the link to a thread on...

Happy Holidays!

Dear Patrons,

I just wanted to wish you all a safe and restful holidays and new year. Teaching Tech has just turned five years old, with three of them working full time. This wouldn't be possible without your generous support, which I really appreciate.

A reminder that all of the action happens on our exclusive forum: https://teachingtech.discourse.group

That's where every video goes up early and ad...

Exclusive videos on our forum + away for a couple of days

Hello Patrons!

In case you didn't know, we have a section on our forum where all of the TT YouTube videos are posted early without ads. This also gives you a chance to comment and discuss your thoughts without them being lost in the vast and sometimes frustrating YouTube comment section.

I also just published a 2nd behind the scenes video of my efforts to convert the bottom of a delta printer to have a conveyor belt for automatic part ejection. I've picked this system because the ...

Wishing you all a safe and happy holidays!

Dear Patrons,

Christmas day is coming to a close in Aus and I guess it's about to start for those of you in the Americas. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe holidays and New Year. Unfortunately the world is still a crazy place so I hope you are able to spend time with loved ones, or at least enjoy some downtime.

I myself have prepared four videos that are complete apart from editing, giving myself some more time with the family over the next month. I'll still be check...

TT videos now early and ad free!

Dear Patrons,

It's been a while since I posted on the main site, but that doesn't mean I haven't been active on Patreon. In case you didn't know, almost all of the behind the scenes action occurs on our exclusive forum: https://teachingtech.discourse.group

The instructions to join were previously posted and emailed, but in case you missed them, here they are again. You should be on in less than a minute:<...

Feedback wanted for upcoming video: What do you want in future 3D printers?

I’m tired of manufacturers contacting me to review cut-price clone 3D printers. These are typically Ender 3 clones with filament runout, a colour display, silent steppers, and sometimes ABL. All welcome features but in the end these printers are almost the same.

I’m interested in innovation from manufacturers, but what interests you? I’m planning a “Dear 3D printer manufacturers, this is what the community actually wants” video, so have your say!

IDEX, tool changing, Ras...

New Discourse section: The Marketplace

Dear Patrons,

There is a new section in the Teaching Tech Patreon Discourse forum called the Marketplace: https://teachingtech.discourse.group/c/marketplace/12

 In short, it is for private selling between patrons. As such, personal messaging on Discourse have been enabled so you do not have to publicly post up addresses, etc when agreeing on terms for a sale.

Please only use th...

Snapmaking 2.0 unboxing and setup - Behind the scenes

Dear Patrons,

This week on working on a 3018 CNC upgrade video but I've also commenced work on the Snapmaker 2.0 review. This is the A350 model, top of the range and so far I'm stupidly impressed. As far as a polished, nice to look at and pleasure to use piece of tech goes, it's as good as any product I've ever used in my life. So far the only down sides are a heated bed that's slow to heat up and it's a bit noisy (loud fans and non silent stepper motor drivers). Everything else is droo...

Merry Christmas, Q&A, what's to come and thank you

Dear Patrons,

I just wanted to express my gratitude for your support and enabling me to work full time in this field. It's certainly not something I take for granted and I hope to serve you and the community as best as I can.

Please leave any questions you want answered below as a comment.

Here is a list of some of the upcoming videos/projects:

- Testing new Bondtech/Slice Engineering LG-X extruder/hot end on the Prusa MK3 and Artillery3D X1

- Multi episode build...

Teaching Tech x Mighty Car Mods

Dear Patrons,

I'm writing to give notice that the Partner's Hangout 1 for November will be moved from the 3rd to the 10th, because I will be out most of this week assisting on a build for Mighty Car Mods.

If you are unaware of this channel, they are fellow Aussies that have exploded in popularity over the years: https://www.youtube.com/user/mightycarmods

My task is to help with a James Bond st...

Thank you and what's to come

Dear Patrons,

Thanks for your kind responses after my post this week.  I believe YouTube has a rule in the works on creator harassment and I think this may be a good example of that. It would be easy to make a comprehensive video with some facts that completely cleared my name but that would bring him more traffic so this other avenue is probably a better way to go.

I thought it might be a good time to post some behind the scenes updates of what is to come on the channel.

He's back

Dear Patrons,

My old friend DPT is at it again. Previously, we had this: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31004592

Now this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-h3jdD3bF0

His points:

- I make two videos a week because I have my students do all of the research and grunt work on each video. Then complete the other "...

Creality 32 bit mainboard guide preview

Dear Patrons,

As I started to make the requested Ender 3 V2 BLtouch guide this week, it became clear there is a lot of confusion over the new Creality V4 32 bit boards (for me too). Creality have actually started shipping Ender 3s with this as standard recently, and there is also a silent V4.2.7 board available as an upgrade (you will get this even if you try to order an 8 bit silent board). To clear things up I spoke to my contact at Creality to make sure all of the details are correct...

New delta project: Tevo Little Monster + other upcoming stuff

Dear Patrons,

It has been rightly suggested that I don't have much delta printer content on the channel. I have only ever featured the Monoprice Mini Delta and beyond that back when I was a teacher we built an enormous HE3D K280 delta with my STEAM group.

Since then, I have been looking for another large delta as a project, and as of yesterday I have it. A friend had lost interest in their Tevo Little Monster so we traded some things and here we are. Seven year old provided for sc...

Feedback wanted on 3D printer calibration website

Dear Patrons,

Chris (Magruder13) had a popular suggestion in our forum. A 3D printer calibration summary/checklist video to avoid the need to go through many older videos:  https://teachingtech.discourse.group/t/calibration-summary-video/774

Rather than just rehash what I've already done my aim was to try and do something a lot more useful. The video will have a compan...

Ender 3 V2 vs BIQU B1

Dear Patrons,

The Ender 3 V2 has finally arrived, and I'll be testing it against the BIQU B1, which is like an Ender 3 clone with BTT upgrades already fitted. Expect a first impressions video in the next week or so with a full side by side review at a later date. If there is anything specific you want to know please comment below.

I'm also going to be on a family trip from Monday to Wednesday, which means the next video might be a day behind in the having the correct names in the ...

RepRap firmware on SKR V1.4

Dear Patrons,

A little something I've been working on following this blog post and the links within:  https://www.jayuk.org/compiling-and-running-reprapfirmware-on-an-skr-1-4-and-other-lp17xx-boards/ 

RepRap firmware is found on Duet 3D boards, which are quite expensive. There is now a port of RRF to run it on SKR V1.3 and SKR V1.4 (tu...

Creality CR-6 SE questions please

Dear Patrons,

The CR-6 SE from Creality arrived. Are there any questions about it you would like answered in the video?

Michael

Palette 2 gets a second chance - behind the scenes

Dear Patrons,

I've been testing the Palette 2 'S' upgrade kit non stop over the last few days to see if it makes the product more reliable than before. My experience was pretty consistent with what I saw on their forums, where half of the users were nailing awesome prints and the other half were getting garbled garbage.

The verdict so far: the colour sync seems much improved, so most of my failures are coming from brittle filament splices snapping. In this case it's just like when...

New end credits

Dear Patrons,

I've finally found some time to properly fix the end credits. You may have noticed they had gotten really fast to fit the names in. Previously I made the font smaller to assist this, but now I've removed my face and doubled to four columns so every name should be on screen for twice as long.

There was also an issue with my video editor not accepting UTF-8 encoded text files and some characters being garbled in names. I've managed to tweak my script to force ANSI enco...

Upcoming content + fast internet

Dear Patrons,

Just a quick update video on some upcoming content. I know two of these have been discussed here and I imagine the kay3d coreXY kit will be of great interest too.

I am really excited by my new internet connection. My upload speed has been 0.8 Mbits, which means 5-6 hours upload time overnight. Sometimes the upload doesn't finish in time and it really ruin my schedule. I should be able to get videos up in 10-15 minutes. This video uploaded in about 30 seconds.

A...

Discourse is official + return of internet

Dear Patrons,

I have updated the pledge tiers, page description and welcome message with details of the Discourse forum and some instructions around that.

Please note, it is Discourse (a message board), not Discord (chat). Please see the screenshot for reference.

 The Teaching Tech Discourse forum can be found here: teachingtech.discourse.group
$1+ Supporters have access to the Show an...

Prusa Mini

 Dear Patrons,

Firstly, the discourse message board is starting to gather momentum. It is far superior to the community section or messages here. You can drag and drop multimedia onto the screen for a start, no need to upload elsewhere and link. Any links you do post get the automatic preview too. From an admin point of view, I just click 'unread' - bliss!

I've just posted to start organising the first video hangout for the Partner tier.

I will be updating the tier desc...

How to update Marlin config files/BLtouch changes + Discourse launch!

Dear Patrons,

I've had no internet for a couple of weeks now, surviving on mobile phone hot spots. It's been challenging to say the least and a far cry from the new and fast NBN that was meant to happen at the start of the month. Still going to be a week until I'm back online properly, and who knows how long until I finally get the NBN.

Nevertheless, things have been progressing in the background. Above is a Patreon exclusive video I promised recently. The link for the software is...

New Intro and Discourse updates

Dear Patrons,

Thanks for the feedback on the last post. My main take home points:

- People like the sound of the tier structure

- But only if it's not onerous and detracting from my time and impacting videos.

I'd just like to reassure that I proposed those tiers as an improvement in my current workflow and an increase in efficiency. I already tend to the community section here daily and the discourse forum will replace that, but with greater ease of use. In January I w...

Restructure: Feedback wanted

Dear Patrons,

Now that the family have gone back to school doing this full time is sinking in. Thanks to all of your for your generous support and making it possible. It's time to move things along with the previously mentioned restructure. A summary of the video:

$1 tier

Name in the credits, behind the scenes posts and videos here.

$5 tier

Access to Discourse message board. This is Patron connected and automated. Post up your projects or your issues for communit...

New Ender 3 thermal runaway? - The answer is yes!

Ordered a new Ender 3 from the Creality to help me film some mods where I don't want to change my current one from the config it's in.

Picked the Australian website and it came in half a week. Good start.

Today I will be assembling it for a beginner's first 3D printer video.

My question is: will it have working thermal runaway protection?

UPDATE: It has a 1.1.4 board, no silent stepper drivers, with confirmed working thermal runaway. Both heating from cold with heater ...