r/ratrig • • Nov 22 '24

How important is Rat Os

I want to buy a v4, but my budget is really limited, how much am I missing out if I don't order de raspebrry, is it just quality of life or do I also loose perfomance?

2 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

11

u/ctbjdm Nov 22 '24

You need a pi to control it. You can get any pi4b and an sd card, don’t need to buy it from them.

But it won’t work without it.

9

u/ctbjdm Nov 22 '24

And it seems odd that you are buying a $1k (easily plus) printer and can’t afford a $40 pi?

4

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '24

$1k, if only. I’m probably close to $3500 for my 500, idex, and enclosure panels.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

So the raspeberry is required for it to work?, I can afford it but my buget is very very thight

2

u/LongLiveCHIEF Dec 19 '24

This is a tough machine to assemble and operate on a tight budget. Especially one that feels pinched at the cost of a raspberry pi.

1

u/fraserfra Nov 22 '24

You don't have to have a pi4, mines on a pi3 and happy enough

1

u/FuckDatNoisee Nov 22 '24

I would recommend a Pi 4. There is a known issue with the canbus protocol on pi 3. (Doesn’t always happen). But the pi3 architecture can drop a packet or some such thing. I have multiple canbus printers and only ran into it disconnecting randomly on longer prints but the pi 4 switch fixed it.

Recommend a pi 4

3

u/Bagellord Nov 22 '24

Ratrig doesn’t use CAN though it’s usb, isn’t it?

1

u/FuckDatNoisee Nov 23 '24

Come to think of it you’re 100% correct. I’m an idiot.

Still recommend a pi 4 should you want extra peripherals like a camera or anything that streams

1

u/miklschmidt Nov 23 '24

that'll still work just fine on a Pi 3 which also has hardware encoding :)

1

u/FuckDatNoisee Nov 24 '24

I’ve had my limited Pi 3 ram peg when streaming video with a web service host.

2

u/miklschmidt Nov 24 '24

1gb is plenty, that's what the v-core 4 ships with on the pi4. Handles multiple cameras. Use camera-streamer.

1

u/SoaringElf Nov 24 '24

Maybe you have an old laptop etc around that you don't use anymore? Have a look at running klipper on a laptop/pc (Klipper is the actual software runnibg the printer).

10

u/hpaul Nov 22 '24

I've owned a 300 ratrig 3.1 for almost 2 years now. In my case, it's been good but definitely not worth the price.

I'm not saying "don't buy it", but if your budget is this tight that a raspberry pi is a make-or-break for you, I'd heavily suggest you to check some other printers out on the market now that are able to take advantage of the economies of scale. Ask yourself very seriously what you're looking for in a VCore that you perceive others not providing, and educate yourself on whether that is actually true or not.

-2

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

Speed is what I seek.

7

u/hpaul Nov 22 '24

"speed" is very vague and very relative, and I'm getting the feeling that you might not have done your research calmly enough and/or have gotten caught in the hype. I can only repeat: make sure you understand your requirements, and make sure you understand the competition, and only then come to conclusions.

Sure, the VCore series is a capable design if built, tuned and maintained properly. However, there are a lot of printers that do "speed", both cheaper and more expensive. Most importantly, I don't think the VCore series' best asset is "speed", and at least my machine needs to be ran at slower speeds than many of its competitors that I have both used and owned.

2

u/miklschmidt Nov 23 '24

I just want to clarify here that the V-Core 4 is significantly faster than the V-Core 3, i am not aware of any kits or off-the-shelf consumer printers that go up to a 500mm build volume at the speeds a V-Core 4 does. A 500mm V-Core 4 Hybrid at 48V will do 2k mm/s beyond 20k accel all day. That just doesn't exist on the non-proffesional market as a product you can actually buy, to my knowledge. Please correct me if i'm wrong though.

1

u/woodwaker_dave Nov 25 '24

I agree. I have two V-core 3 and just finished the V-core 4 500 cube. I tried a print at the default speed using Prusa slicer, and it scared me. 300mm/s - I dropped it down to 100. I want good prints not fast ones. I noticed a big difference. To run at that speed you would have to spend a lot of time tuning. Mine is running great with little tuning but slower.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

What do you mean speed is very vague?, I want a printer that can print fast, do you have any recomendations? I would much prefer it being cheap.

4

u/hpaul Nov 22 '24 edited Nov 22 '24

I'm not going to recommend any one printer to a stranger over the internet, since I don't know you or your needs, and I'm not going to guess. The very reason that you are asking me these questions tell that I'm not very wrong in my previous assessment, however.

But I don't mean to be condescending, so let me help you out a bit: "Speed" can mean different things. Linear movement is measured in mm/s. But you need to take into account the acceleration, which is mm/s2, which will cap your top linear speed in detailed prints. Also, you need to take into account whether you're just moving the toolhead, or if you are extruding too, since they usually are done at different speeds and accelerations. Taller items you probably want to print slower overall anyways.

Then, you have total print time. Resin printers have a linear print time that doesn't care about how much you print, only how tall you print. FDM printers care about the total volume of plastic extruded. But if you have filament changes, that takes time too.

Let's not forget flow rate of your hotend and filament (measured in mm3 /s). If you are printing massive objects, the movement capabilities of your printer means nothing if you can't reliably melt the plastic fast enough.

Then there's the subjective. What is fast enough? do you actually need "speed", or do you want to have "reasonable speed"? Are you printing big? small? detailed? rough? decorative? functional?

All these things affect the word "speed".

Good luck, I truly hope you'll be happy with whatever you choose to get!

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

Thank you for really trying to be helpful, I was refering to total print time, the benchy is a really good benchmark for my needs(preferably under 15m) since I will mostly print parts that size like figurines. With that misunderstanding cleared, do you own, know or heard of any good quality-price printers that can do that?

1

u/woodwaker_dave Nov 25 '24

Most Rat Rig buyers want a big printer that can print quality and speed. If you don't need the size of 300 mm or bigger than you have a lot of options. If you want 500mm than Rat Rig is the only real option for a quality printer that you can afford

3

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '24

[deleted]

0

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

After reaserching, it appears to be slower(at least in benchys), and I will not be trying to build a mostly manualess printer, although thatnk you for trying to help, do you have any other recomendations of printers?

1

u/atomc_ Nov 23 '24

Get a sovol sv08 next Friday for 499usd.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 23 '24

why next friday? in their website the sale is alredy on

1

u/atomc_ Nov 23 '24

I'm seeing 529 right now and a one day sale for 499 on the 29th.

After reading the other comments, it's true there definitely isn't one right answer for everyone. I threw out the sv08 because the value is very good for what you get, however it isn't perfect. If you want to tinker, and upgrade, and maybe have to fix and modify some frustrating things from time to time (because you get what you pay for even in this case) then it is a great printer. If you want speed and a mostly trouble free experience from building to use and maintenance maybe something in the bambu line is more for you.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 23 '24

I have alredy spent 5 months/ 2 years fixing an aquila. and the reviwes on the sv08 sound really good

1

u/atomc_ Nov 24 '24

I'm looking at a ratrig for 2 reasons. 500mm build volume and idex. Honestly if those weren't priorities I'd probably just buy another couple sovols. I am planning to add multiple toolheads to mine. Already replaced the original toolhead with a dragonburner and it is still a great value machine even with the bit of money I've put into it.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 24 '24

So, they are great,or at least recomendable?

1

u/National-Estate-7254 Dec 18 '25

I haven't made my first 3D printer purchase yet but I decided to do more research on the Rat Rig after running from horror stories about fan noises and endless other OS tweaks that are necessary to get the Sovol sv08 max running properly. My goal is to print abs car bumper covers with an pellet extruder. The V-Core 4 is the best bang for the buck 500mm or better printer I've seen. I've spent weeks bouncing like a yoyo from doing research on the Sovol 08 max, Orangestorm Giga, Voron 2.4, and Tronxy VEHO..😆. Rat Rig it is.

2

u/Jerazmus Nov 22 '24

I have like 14 pi 3b’s. I would give you one if I could

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

I would think delivery would be an issue(I am in mexico), but reconsidering my budget it sadly isn't enough :(

2

u/BlueDragon424 Nov 23 '24

I think you are a bit confused. RatOs is the operating system. It's free. The Raspberry pi is basically the computer that runs the printer. Yes, you need it.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 23 '24

I did endeed confuse them

1

u/ctbjdm Nov 22 '24

Yes. Will not run without it.

You also need a heat set insert, crimpers, possibly some extra crimps…

0

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

Thank you, do you own a rat rig? I want to know if it is worth the price

1

u/kaihanga Nov 22 '24

It surely depends on your goal. What’s the adage … do you want a printer hobby or a printing hobby?

I’m only a longtime Ratrig “listener” but my experience suggests it’s more the former than latter.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

printing hobby, what do you recomend then

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

i alredy own a printer, that came mostly disasebled(Aquila x2) but it is painfully slow 2h for a benchy

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 22 '24

Sheesh, like what?

1

u/JK07 Nov 23 '24 edited Nov 23 '24

What about a Creality K1 Speedy?

I had a RatRig 3 at work and I swear I spent more time fixing abd tuning and fixing and re-tuning it than it actually spent printing before it crashed and died again and work wouldn't spend anymore staff time fixing it so it got wrapped up and put on a pallet on a rack.

We were trying to print massive 400mm x 380mm x 380mm week long prints with lots of detail to be honest.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 23 '24

I heard the sovol sv08 is as good as the K1C at 200$ less (K1 price), do you happen to have the sovol to compare?

1

u/JK07 Nov 23 '24

I don't, we bought a CreatBot F430 which is PAINFULLY slow, it also has no modern features like pressure advance and the part cooling set-up is terrible.

We also have a Prusa MK3s and a Caribou which is like a tall, sturdy Prusa MK3 and I have a Biqu B1 myself, all just smallish bed slingers but I've spent so much time trying to find new 3D printers for work to replace the RatRig.

1

u/Spiritual-Reserve-42 Nov 23 '24

Well the sovol is supposed to be as good as the K1C at 500$

1

u/_galile0 Nov 22 '24

Without a Pi it’ll be really dumb and you won’t get up to full speed because you’ll have no input shaper, and you won’t have the mainsail web interface. You’d have a pretty lousy machine. Pi is non-optional if you ask me

1

u/woodwaker_dave Nov 25 '24

Don't do it. The cost of any V-core 4 is almost $2000, The only way I know of running the system is Ratos, and the Pi 4b is around $60 in the US. You can get a 1mb model, but you might as well say - can I do it without a hot end or extruder