Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
Drop Refurbished
Like-new products you can trustDrop Rewards
Get $5 for every 500 points you earn! Learn more
Drop Keyboard Club
Become a member and expand your keycap collectionCollaborate With Us
For Brands & DesignersFollow Drop
I have not yet tested nylon or any flexible material, but I have some ridgid.ink flexible PLA that arrived today. What I can say is that a bowden setup (when the extruder isn't close to the hot end) is harder to use with flexibles but not impossible.
Acrylic replacements http://www.fankhauser.me aluminium http://www.mackers.it/ carbon fiber (lighter, less ripples in prints) There is also an improved aluminium set from someone in the tevo tarantula facebook group.
I'm about to install a BLTouch sensor but bought it from a local source in sweden. It is expensive but can level any bed since it touches it instead of sensing metal like tevos and my current sensor so you can use any print bed like glass.
Frame stiffeners I bought from http://ooznest.co.uk/ 10x 15cm and 3x 38cm long v-slot (openbuilds.com in america) but you could get this cheaper if you use normal 2020 extrusions, or print stiffeners from thingiverse.
PrintinZ plate was also bought localy but they are not hard to find. Glass is cheaper but requires glue or hairspray for some materials. The printinz plate have only tried PLA and PETG but they work just great.
E3D stuff from their site, I got a clone v6 hot end that I bought real parts for later from http://e3d-online.com/
There are many upgrades to print if you look at thingiverse, and the first one to print is a replacement Z-motor mount the printer breaks it if your sensor or z-stop fails.
Also to prolong the acrylic parts buy and install m4 and m5 washers where ever you can for the acrylic parts.
E3D-v6 can have a sock which makes it so your curled up or failed prints don't stick to your hot end and is also lighter which helps reduce ripples on your print surface. It is also more heat resistant so you can print more materials if you want to.
Auto leveling sensor is one of the best thing and is definitely worth it, even if you go for the cheapest sensor out there or a BLTouch it is worth it. Inductive sensors(like the stock tevo one) limit your choice of build surface. Manually leveling the bed many times to get a successful print really drains the fun of having a 3D printer, this gets amplified by that the acrylic flexes a bit when the print bed gets hot and you have to level the bed again...
I'm still waiting on my carbon fiber parts so I can't say if they are worth it or not. But some people in the facebook group that have almost perfect prints have those. They reduce ripples and enables higher print speeds if you want to go for that. And are also stiffer than acrylic. I don't like the acrylic parts and have had to print replacements for some parts that broke while I wait for my carbon fiber set.
Some cooling setup that blow on the print when printing some materials help with quality and improves overhangs and bridging. This is cheap and something that is almost a must.
Having a raspberry pi to host your 3d printer locally over the internet makes everything convenient like a normal printer, once you have got everything running okay and don't have to watch your first layer to see if it will work or not.
Upgrading the power supply is something I would recommend, the stock one has exposed wires that go from 120v/230v wall socket. You could get something like a 400w or more, computer power supply which is safer and quieter, but you will need some knowledge about how to wire things or you will have to do some research. I made a simple cover for the stock PSU http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2188356
I would recommend starting with cheaper upgrades like auto level sensor and cooling fans. Then fixing the PSU and move on from there with what bothers you with the resulting prints you are getting. To take advantage of upgrades the most you will also need some basic configuration of the printers firmware, which sounds advanced but it really is just changing some numbers in a file and enabling some options. If you have more questions I would recommend looking here https://www.facebook.com/groups/TEVO.3dprinter.owners/ I don't like facebook but this group has some really helpful people in it, some are trying to get this subreddit active again https://www.reddit.com/r/tevotarantula/ but as you can see it has some ways to go.
The motherboard on almost any 3D printer is ATmega2560 based and it handles up to 5v so any sensor that functions on 5 v is almost plug and play.
Also, I found the set of acrylic parts in CAD here: https://grabcad.com/library/tevo-tarantula-printer-parts-1 So I may have a local company CNC it for me cheaply... Or I can wait for my robotics team to get a CNC Router to get those made after I get my printer.
Those parts look modified from stock, but the author of those is active in the facebook group and is the owner of http://www.fankhauser.me The only thing I can see is that you will need some special thing to attach the X-limit switch(the part you see after the first image). But if you know someone who can do it for you with a CNC that will most likely be cheaper.
Within an hour, though I got an email that said my order was closed for security reasons.... It asks for more documentation of my identity. It really seems sketchy, and I don't know what to do!
Have you heard of this issue before?
I bought a FLsun detla mini for like $200 and nothing went smoothly. It was missing the stepper motor drivers and took like 3 more weeks to get them. Almost none of the firmware settings were correct for the printer so I had to re-measure tons of the parts and math out the correct values for some of the settings. Still have occasional issues with larger prints, but smallers ones are nearly perfect and this thing prints SO fast! All of the headaches aside, I learned soooooo much about how the printer works and about the firmware that expanding the print volume in the future will be much easier. Side note: the instructions that come with these chinese clones are beyond horrible. If you do buy a kit, find youtube videos or instructable.com walkthroughs or something before you buy. It will expedite your build and alleviate a ton of headache later.
Hope this helps!