Comparison of JGAurora A5S and A1

Samuel Pinches

Quick 3D Printer Comparison: JGAurora A5S vs JGAurora A1

Samuel Pinches

Here's some photos of the back of the JGAurora A1:

Richy_T

OK, I'm looking for a little advice here. It was down to the A1 and the A5S for me. I was leaning toward the A1 but the A5S was about 100 cheaper that I could find so I had resigned myself to that. Just waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger. But then I saw you mention the tronxy x5s and started looking into that and suddenly it was between the A5S and the x5s but now I just saw that the A1 is at a comparable price on aliexpress so it's now the A1 vs the x5s.

Sorry for the long story but I thought it was worth laying out. So, all else being equal, which should I pick? I know the x5s will be more assembly but I'm not afraid of that (I assembled my printrbot over a couple of evenings). It looks like the x5s comes with some issues that need to be fixed, most notably the heated bed (I print with ABS often) and belt upgrades but I like that the bed moves on the axis and the frame looks fairly rigid with the box design. The print area is not an issue as either is sufficient (for my current needs). Adding auto-bed leveling looks to be more easily accomplished also. Barring any show stoppers, print quality is the most important consideration (something I've had problems with on my Printrbot), most particularly, the ability to do small layer height.

Samuel Pinches

It really depends on what you are after. If you just want to get started with 3D printing, get the A1. If you have already got a 3D printer the X5S is a fairly poor 3D printer built around cheap parts - but, one that can serve as an excellent platform to start from and upgrade over time. However, the X5S will end up being significantly more expensive by the time you are happy, so if you are budget constrained, again I recommend the A1. I’ve got links where to buy the A1 on the wiki, for any other printer feel free to message me if you’re hunting down a good deal, as I have access to coupons from Gearbest and Banggood.

Richy_T

Well, it was a hectic Christmas period but I finally managed to get time to unbox the A1 and I am now printing the sample buddha on the SD card. Wiring was a little confusing. Not overly so but there was no reason it shouldn't have been a doddle. Liked the bed levelling. One of the problems I would have with my printrbot was getting a persistent level. I wish there was a default Cura profile or two on the SD card but I guess I'm just going to have to deal with this. I might try and get a couple together if you'd want to throw them on the wiki. I do a fair bit of ABS printing so I'll be trying to dial that in at some point. I'm looking forward to seeing how a stiffer frame does for me.

The bearings are definitely noisy per your video. I'll have to replace them quickly. 

Richy_T

Well, my orange guy printed out great. So I'm analyzing the gcode for that to build a profile that works along similar lines. This site http://gcode.ws/ lets you poke inside gcode and so I can pull out speeds etc.

Interestingly though, the site thinks it was ABS. Though it was just the orange PLA that comes in the box. It printed at 200C which is a little high for PLA but a bit low for ABS. The layer height was 0.1 which is great and something I was not able to obtain on my Printrbot so I'm happy so far. Hopefully I'll get a profile built up so far (or at least the info to build a profile) and I'll post it here.

Temperature extruder=200 bed=50 (all layers)

1st layer:
0.2mm
Extrude=20.0mm/s
Move=35mm/s, 20mm/s (One possible crossing perimeters?)
Retract=60mm/s

Other layers:
0.1mm
Extrude=30mm/s
Move=70mm/s, 30mm/s
Retract=60mm/s

There appears to be some slowdown when the print speed gets below about 10s per layer but I'm not sure what factors in here.

There are some additional settings listed in the comments at the bottom of the file.

;End of Gcode

;SETTING_3 {"global_quality": "[general]\\nversion = 2\\nname = empty\\ndefiniti

;SETTING_3 on = A_8\\n\\n[metadata]\\nquality_type = pla_high_two\\ntype = quali

;SETTING_3 ty_changes\\n\\n[values]\\nadhesion_type = brim\\ninfill_pattern = tr

;SETTING_3 iangles\\ninfill_sparse_density = 20\\nlayer_height_0 = 0.2\\nmateria

;SETTING_3 l_print_temperature = 200\\nspeed_print = 40\\nsupport_angle = 60\\ns

;SETTING_3 upport_infill_rate = 20\\nsupport_interface_density = 70\\nsupport_in

;SETTING_3 terface_enable = True\\nsupport_interface_height = 1.5\\nxy_offset = 

;SETTING_3 0.2\\n\\n"}

Richy_T

Well, bummer.

I tried slicing a 3d benchy with Cura and what should be reasonable settings and the machine heats the bed and extruder and then just sits there. I tried changing the type from Marlin to Reprap (the Buddha guy gcode was reprap) and no deal. I was able to start a print of the Buddha guy again so it's not the machine. It has to be the settings. Unfortunately, I can't give this my full attention right now so it's going to have to wait.

Richy_T

Ugh. Now it corrupted my SD card

Or maybe not. Dug out an old SD card and used that and now it's printing. So dodgy card? Maybe a fake 8GB? Unfortunately, it looks like I lost all the files off it.

Samuel Pinches

Sorry to hear your card failed... what kind of card did you receive? I got a Sandisk EDGE 8GB Card with the A1, and a Blue regular Sandisk 8GB with the A5S. Both only class 4.

I've uploaded the A1 SD card contents here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fsqn86e8sfr3o3a/AACWuWIv6IJRgXWQyq-CeAofa?dl=0

Just need to give it some time for the files to sync

Richy_T

Thanks. I was thinking about either asking you or just on the forum and you are way ahead of me. I don't think I absolutely need anything on the card but I would like to have it. Do the cura installs on the card come with pre-existing profiles for the JGAurora? I just installed Cura from the web but had to guess at a few of the settings. I printed a 3Dbenchy and I think it came out pretty well. As good as the Buddha guy and definitely better than anything I turned out before. I'm currently trying the NASA wrench which didn't work for me before.

The card I have looks like a very generic 8GB SanDisk in black. I had written to it from Cura and Ejected it then I took it and put it in the A1 before turning it on. At that point, it didn't list any files and returning it to the Windows machine asked if I wanted to format it. I didn't just in case I needed to try to recover the files but if I can grab them from your dropbox, I'll see what I can find out about the card. I have some software which is supposed to detect fakes (I have ended up with one before). I'd probably just put it down to bad luck and corruption but the fact I was unable to print several times before the corruption makes me go "hmmm". Ironically, I was planning on copying the contents of the card off for backup but I didn't think I'd hit issues so quickly and was keen to run a print.

Definitely liking it so far. I felt like I had to babysit the Printrbot to get a good first layer but this is just fire and forget pretty much. 

Samuel Pinches

Glad things are improving for you. I think there are some settings in JGCreat, but there's no secret sauce, and dialling in your printer in Cura I think is a better way to start, especially as this is not your first printer.

That SD card does sound sketchy... would be interested to see a photo if you have a moment. I got a microSD card from another 3D manufacturer that was completely blank - no label at all, no capacity printed, just solid black! So yeah, I don't think these are standard retail quality cards...

Feel free to post some photos of your prints when they're done too!
 

Richy_T

Well, ran the test on the card and it checks out OK. Think I'll just copy the files back over onto it and then put it away in a drawer somewhere.

Richy_T

FWIW, the white card reader that came with the device is completely and utterly dead. So I'm thinking that it may have been responsible for my issues. Luckily I have a few alternatives lying around. Though I'm moving to Octoprint anyway.

I do hope to have some pictures of prints soon. I have made several but my photography area is a bit cluttered at the moment.

dc99

I am new to 3D printing and got an A1 to start. It came with what appears to be blue painters tape on the bed. Well to make a long story short it got torn. Does it need to be there because the prints wont stick now that its gone

Samuel Pinches

It's just there to practice on better the blue tape to be torn, than the bed to be scratched on your first try. Even so, bed scratching is inevitable and does not affect bed performance. However, grinding the nozzle on the bed will affect the nozzle orifice and can reduce print quality as a result.

Samuel Pinches

Oh, and welcome @dc99 !

Please see this page for tips to get the prints to stick to the diamond bed coating: https://jgaurorawiki.com/a5/bed-adhesion

spooknik

Sorry to drag up an older post. I didn't see or hear it mentioned but JG lists the A1 has having a smaller power supply than t he A5S. Can anyone confirm?

A5S: 350W @ 24V = 14.5A

A1: 24V X 10.5A = 252W

Samuel Pinches

@spooknik - it's the same PSU on the A1 as the A5S   (350W in both)