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Ender 5 Slant or Leaning when printing multiple parts | If you want a more detailed answer, you need to give more details, e.g.; "What filament are you using?" "How old is the printer?" "What mods have you made to it?"
I can tell you two possibilities. Either your x or y axis is slipping which could be because of worn out belts, belts that need to be tightened, or because of too much jerk. The other is overheating of the stepper drivers so make sure the board is getting enough air over it. |
Is there a technique for turning an image into a 2d model? | As you are already familiar with OpenSCAD, consider to use the projection() function to accomplish your goal.
If you allow for an interpretation that one can cast a shadow of the part on a surface below, it becomes a 2D representation of the part. This is effectively how projection works in OpenSCAD.
Note that the part image below is centered in x, y, z and the cut/projection action takes place at the z = 0 plane:
When the function is applied to this model, the result is a non-contiguous 2d image:
When the cut parameter is ignored or set to false, the image which results is effectively an orthogonal shadow of the entire object, rather than a selected slice:
It gets better, of course. In OpenSCAD, the translate, rotate and scale functions apply. One can tip a model over, resize it, spin it around, combine with the cut parameter and get any combination of 2d image from the original model:
It's important to note that OpenSCAD does provide non-zero thickness to these projections when rendered, or maybe when previewed. I always get those two swapped around. As your objective is a 2D result, you may be able to select from PNG (save as image) or Export as DXF or SVG.
Re-reading your post, I also missed part of a more useful answer. Once you have the profile you desire, you can use the rotate_extrude function on the profile you generate. Despite the non-zero thickness, it uses the zero-thickness aspect to create the model from that function.
That aspect of the answer is left as an exercise for the reader, as the options are many and results can be complex. |
How does 3D printing over USB work? | This is just a stub answer. I will try to expand on it later.
The 8-bit microcontrollers used on many 3D printers do not have a USB interface, and so a USB to serial interface chip is used to allow a computer to communicate with the serial port (UART) on the microcontroller. In order for the computer to communicate with the printer, a device driver is needed to allow the operating system to communicate with the interface chip.
The appropriate device drivers should be supplied with your printer, and you should install these drivers before you try to do anything else. The drivers will make the printer look as if it has a serial interface, and the highest speed that most 8-bit microcontrollers can manage is 112800bps.
If the software that you are using has a terminal interface, you can send any G-code commands to the printer. For a list of G-code commands, see here. Note that this list includes commands for CNC machines as well as 3D printers.
For normal printing, G-code commands are sent to the printer using a print manager, such as Repetier-Host. Some slicers may have built-in print managers. |
Ultimaker Cura not always telling extruder to retract when traveling | You probably have the "Combing Mode" option under the "Travel" options enabled for each layer (All). Combing reduces print time by leaving out the retraction, but leads to ugly first and top layers by leaving "scars" on the surface. It can be disabled by excluding the bottom and top layer by changing the setting to Not in Skin or for all layers by choosing Off. The latter will increase printing time drastically!
Please note that as of version 3.5 of Ultimaker Cura the options of the combing setting have an additional setting. As of Ultimaker Cure 3.5.0 the options are named:
Off
All
Not in Skin (used to be No Skin a few versions ago)
Within Infill (new setting) |
Ender 3 under extrusion | OK, I have my Ender 3 back to printing nice looking objects. It turns out at some point since the original bad E-stepper I must have pushed the "load settings" menu item. I set my E steps to 98 from 93. and then did a "save settings". I have no idea why going from 93 to 98.03 increased my extrusion from 40mm to 100mm (trial and error, because the formula said I needed to go to 232.5!).
For those that don't know, the "save settings" stores the current settings in EEPROM. These setting override the factory configuration setting when you reboot. If while you are messing with setting and you lose track of things you can do a "load settings" to get your previous settings back to start again. The "initialize EEPROM" reloads the stored configuration settings including the settings that you saved.
More intelligent explanation here: |
The bottom of the printed objects has waves after replacing the nozzle | Without more detail is difficult to say with certainty what the root cause of the problem is, but it looks like too much material is being deposited on the bed.
A few things to try/check:
Make sure the nozzle is not leaking. If it is, you should see fused plastic coming out from the seal nozzle/hot-end and/or hot-end/heat break and trickling down. This is often the case when the nozzle hasn't been tightened enough, or it has been changed with the hot-end being cold, or if the internal PTFE tube has been dislodged upwards (does not apply to all-metal hot-ends).
Make sure you changed the appropriate setting for the nozzle diameter. This is not "flow" it is a separate setting. If you haven't, your printer is now extruding ~4 times as much filament as it ought.
Recalibrate your nozzle height. This should be done at each nozzle change, as each nozzle is slightly different from the other, and it is possible your new nozzle now sits too close to the bed.
EDIT: also, the picture is too low-res to be sure, but looking at the skirt, it looks like the extruded plastic comes out in blobs. If it is not due to leakage, then I would suggest to also check that the filament is not slipping through the gears of the extruder. If you have access to a suitable thermometer, you could also check that the hot-end temperature is stable at the level it should.
Final thought: have you ever succeeded printing with that filament spool? It is unlikely, but it may be for example a defective one, or a mis-labelled one (so your printing temperature may be wrong). |
Relation between layer height and bond strength | My3dmatter.com performed a series of tests with PLA, using "a universal testing machine". They conclude:
Layer height influences the strength of a printed part when it becomes
thin. A printed part at 0.1mm shows a max stress of only 29MPa, as
opposed to 35MPa for 0.2mm (21% increase).
Past 0.2mm, the max stress remains fairly constant around 36 MPa (we
confirmed this conclusion with an extra test at 0.4mm, not shown here
because it was not part of the same batch).
Note: It is recommended to read the full article to comprehend the complexity of the subject matter. |
Ender 3 Z-limit now unreliable - possible causes and solutions? | I've just bought an Ender 3 Pro and as a guess I would look at the Z axis stepper motor to see if it is not holding position once it stops... the stepper motor has power on it all the time it is stopped to hold it in position.
I would check the plug that feeds power to see if it is damaged or not making good contact. |
Moving the Z-axis stepper motors below Z 0.0 | To allow negative axis values, usually, the way is to use G1 S1 to disable boundary checks and G1 S0 to enable them.
Another way is to force homing Z, which means moving till an endstop triggers and then moving back up the specified motion via G28 Z
Another alternative would be to send G92 Z50 to set the Z-hight to 50, then G1 Z-50 F200 to move that much down, rinse and repeat. |
Using KISSlicer from command line on Linux? | Apparently you require a PRO license for using the command line interface.
As of version 1.6 the following command line options are implemented: |
Sudden deterioration of print quality on Prusa i3MK3S+ | Figured it out. One of the grub screws that hold the motor shaft onto the belt drive pulley for the Y-axis had come loose, and the other had fallen out altogether. I've tightened the remaining one (and ordered replacements), and my prints are perfect again. Well, as good as I can expect, given that I'm using cheap filament.
Two points that might be useful to bear in mind; firstly, the printer was consistently reporting that the belt tension was fine, but clearly it was not. I'm not sure if this is an issue with these printers in general or mine in particular. Secondly, the printer was able to figure out that the pulley was slipping, but did not do so as part of its standard test/setup wizard. It's under Calibration > Self Test. |
Layer Separation Where A Previous Layer Ends | Almost certainly the material that was supposed to be deposited there was lost (oozed out) somewhere else during travel moves due to no retraction, insufficient retraction, or retraction being skipped due to combing. Make sure retraction is on, at least 6 mm, and try disabling combing or setting the max combing distance very low, around 2 mm or less.
If your new firmware is Marlin 2.0, you can try enabling linear advance too. If tuned correctly, it will largely correct for this along with improving lots of other things. |
How to make menus more responsive in Marlin 1.1.9 | Supposedly, it's no longer necessary in a recent Marlin version, already the inline bool handle_adc_keypad() function from ultralcd.cpp has implemented a smaller (100 ms) time delay. You could lower the value of #define ADC_MIN_KEY_DELAY 100 to #define ADC_MIN_KEY_DELAY 50 to see if that has any effect.
Also, look for next_button_update_ms = now + 300; (4 instances) which employs a 300 ms time delay after buttons are pressed. Try lowering the 300 ms time delay. |
One corner never sticks | This is very likely caused by an uneven bed. It's probably lower in that particular corner: the nozzle is further from the bed, so the filament isn't squished down as much and therefore releases more easily from the bed.
Your bed should have 3 or 4 screws that you can adjust, you should loosen the screw in the corner that is giving you trouble. |
how to get infill on self created stl via onshapes | I don't use either of the two piece of software, but the first things to pop to mind:
Inspect the slicing preview: it should be self-evident if your GCODE is being generated correctly. In my slicer the infill is red and you can discern the typical pattern within:
Check your settings: your shell thickness should be something reasonable (like 0.8mm / 2 shells) and your infill should also be below 100% if you don't want to print it solid. For maximum strength, it doesn't help go much over 60%, typical values for light-duty parts are 20% and 30%.
Check your STL file: your mesh should be a closed surface, a "shell". Or the slicer won't be able to know what is "inside" and "outside". Many slicers verify this for you automatically and have a built-in utility to attempt to "repair" a broken mesh. I use slic3r Prusa Edition and this information is visualised at the bottom right:
Let the print finish: the wording of your question is ambiguous, but it sounds like you may have stopped the printer before the part finished. Certain combination of settings can be deceitful. For example, a layer height of 0.05mm and a shell thickness of 2mm means you will see the printer making 40 (forty!) layers of solid printing, before starting to create the infill.
Try another slicer: in case your slicer went berserk because of a bug (unlikely but possible), this should fix it.
On an unrelated note: the use of infill has a lot of different reasons besides "saving filament", for example:
relative to an empty print, even a very light infill (5%) provides a lot of added rigidity,
relative to a solid print, infill reduces weight and relief the tensions that are trapped in the FDM/FFF printing process
certain infill patterns allow to provide different responses to stressed in different directions (like for example a crash box that needs to give way in one direction but bear a load in another, or a wing that need to flex on its length but not on its chord)
infill provide support for top layers and other concave structures that may otherwise be non-printable
... |
How can you calibrate extrusion multiplier value in Slic3r WITHOUT changing printer settings in memory? | Divide the amount overextruded by the desired amount. If you wanted 100mm but got 101mm, that's 1mm extra, or 1% over. Use an extrusion multiplier of 0.99 (1% under) to compensate - AND THEN DO ANOTHER TEST to confirm.
This modifier will be used by Slic3r to generate E values in your gcode without flashing anything.
I recommend saving this recipe with an intuitive name, like Acme Green PLA. |
Is 3D printing feasible for a coaxial rotational joint? | Have you considered to use a service to have the part printed? You can print almost anything in one "pass" using selective laser sintering, typically done in nylon. I am currently un-boxing an SLS printer, so I cannot currently offer to print it, but the capabilities of SLS are substantial for parts of this nature. I've read of entire planetary gearboxes being printed, fully assembled, with appropriate clearances for operation, once removed and "dusted," or cleaned of residual powder.
The printer I hope to be assembling soon has 80 micron powder, so the resolution is quite high, although I forget at the moment the x/y/z figures.
Do you think such a method would suit your purposes?
Edit (add):
because FDM printing by nature causes "oozing" especially in the x/y directions, I would not be surprised to learn that your outer piece has a smaller inside diameter than your design has specified. You may have to make adjustments to the design to compensate. Those adjustments would be specific to a particular printer/filament combination as well. Calibration prints would make the task slightly easier. |
How do I calculate the cost of a 3D print once it's done? | For FDM printing:
Both Cura and Makerbot Desktop (and perhaps others I'm not as familiar with) will give you a preview of both the length and weight of your print, including supports/rafts. Once the print is done you can weigh it on a kitchen scale.
PLA Filament currently runs about \$23/kg on Amazon, which works out to \$0.023/g. Multiplication can then give you a good estimate of materials costs for a print.
Only experience with your specific printer will give you an idea of how often you're going to hit a failed print, and how often you're going to need to replace parts. For wear and tear you could try using a depreciation model of 2-3 years, but that's only an estimate. |
First time assemble of Anet A6 printer. Only fan works | This definitely sounds like a problem with your wiring if you have a genuine Anet A6, the genuine A6 comes with a 12864 full graphic display. For sure, you are missing 1 flat ribbon cable (see below). Maybe this is causing the LCD not to light up and the SD card not functioning. As the "fan 2" is working, the board is powered by the power supply (this fan is using the constant power feed of the supply of the board). What you are actually describing as a boot sequence is the actual boot sequence of a printer. Once you power the printer, the fan that is cooling the cold end of the extruder should start spinning and keep spinning while the part cooling fan usually spins up but then powers down to standstill. While this is happening, the LCD should come alive and show the boot screen and finally the printer menu. If your screen is not showing any light, this implies that your screen is either broken, not powered or wrongly connected.
You could connect the printer over USB and control the printer from an external program, e.g. Pronterface, OctoPrint, Repetier-host, etc. and see if the printer works (then you know that the display is broken).
From a search on AliExpress I found that there are auto leveling printers sold with the Anet A6 branding that differ from the standard Anet A6 as written in Chinglish:
Different Auto leveling A6 and Normal A6:
1.The auto-leveling version uses a proximity sensor to detect the aluminum print bed where the normal version of the printer uses a
micro-switch to detect the end of travel for the Z-Axis movement
(vertical limits).
2.Auto leveling A6-L work with LCD2004 screen, A6 work with LCD12864 screen
The second remark from the quote above suggests that there is a 2004 LCD version that is only used by the Anet A6-L version (probably because they need a free pin for the auto leveling sensor). Such a display only has a single connection socket and needs to be connected to a single socket on the Anet printer board (named "LCD", not "J3")
Note that automatic bed levelling is not magic, and a little more complicated to start with, if you order a printer without an auto bed levelling sensor, you will be able to update to one later. E.g. from here:
It uses the "LED pin" which is an unused pin on the A8 (using the
stock 5 button 2004 LCD). That is the third wire counted from below
(where the red marker is on the cable). I simply spliced the cable and
cut that wire. This will be the servo signal (yellow).
If you have an Anet A6 adapted for auto levelling with a 2004 display
When the LCD does not light up, this could be caused by incorrect placement of the flat cable, be sure to use the correct socket on the printer board and take care of the orientation. Once you have checked this, and it does not work and you are in the possession of a multimeter, you could measure the voltage over the "VSS" and the "VDD" pin; also look into the voltage over the "VSS" and the "VE" (see pin layout below).
If there is power, but no light, the LCD is probably defective. You could try to hook up a computer to the board using a USB cable and use a program like Pronterface to interface with the printer to see if it works at all, the display is not required for printing (e.i. if you can access the printer over USB).
If you have a genuine Anet A6
It is advised to install an extra flat ribbon cable and check all the wires, please do check for correct polarity and correct installment.
Please do note the the installation of the Anet A6 LCD display (see this movie and the screenshot from this video below) requires 2 flat ribbon cables to function properly.
Sidemark on fan ducts:
Both the stock and most ring type ducts are not aerodynamically designed fan ducts. The stock fan converges too much, this narrowing of the duct causes extra pressure build-up which these fans are not able to handle, so they stall, causing a reduced flow output of the fan. The (semi) circular fan ducts usually also have a design problem. The (semi) circular ones all (but one that I have seen) have the same deficiency that the main passage area does not decrease when the duct loses air through a slot/ejector; this means that the velocity in the main ring decreases after each bleed slot! Note that these fans move air and do not build up a high pressure difference that is large enough to overcome the friction of those designs. |
Big cracks on the Layer view in the Preview mode of Cura | You have coasting turned on. Cura shows the coasting locations (where extrusion is switched off) as gaps. The actual print may be fine. |
Anet A8 reading 739°C from the extruder thermistor! | I had the same issue. Hot-end temperature reading stuck at 209 degrees even with hot-end thermistor disconnected or swapped with bed thermistor on the Anet A8 mainboard.
After ordering and swapping the AtMega1284p (using jtagice3 and hot-air soldering station) and the 4.7 Kohm resistor (which measured 2.06Kohm on the board and 4.7kohm off the board) to no avail, the only component left in the circuit that could cause the failure was the capacitor.
Swapping the capacitor C47 fixed the stuck reading for me. I used a 10uF instead of a 15uF capacitor as indicated in the schematic. I do not believe it makes much of a difference, and they are much more common. Make sure the capacitor can withstand at least 10V, but I got a 30V one, because the price was similar.
To any body that runs into this issue, before spending time and money swapping components like I did, measure the voltage of the node between R41 and C47 with respect to ground. This is labeled T56 or test point 56. Compare this voltage to T54, T60, T58, and T62 where similar circuits are placed. You should get a voltage of around 5V ( the pull-up voltage) in the functioning circuits, since we are talking about DC voltage, the capacitor should charge up nearly instantly when the the board is powered, and behave as an open-circuit.
In my case, C47 was almost in full short-circuit, and I read a low voltage on T56 ( ~0.5v).
Since the capacitor was in a low impedance failure mode, the 5V supply voltage of the voltage divider circuit was not enough to power it, hence the fixed temperature readings of the hot-end thermistor ADC channel regardless of the thermistor being connected or not.
Good luck! |
Ringing with Ultimakers, what is the cause? | have been used quite a lot for the past three years
The problem, even if belts and such seem ok, might be that other parts start to wear out. The part that contributes te most to ringing is the motion system. Grooves in rails or worn out bearings are a classic way that introduces some freedom in the system that can result in rattle and ringing. A photo of the rails and bearings might help to identify wear. Remember that most bearings need some sort of lubricant to work properly and reduce the wear in them, which should be part of the maintenance cycle!
Another source for the errors could be found in the extrusion system. For example, there might be an increased play in the gearing as springs under constant pressure can lose some tension, resulting in too little pressure on the filament, which typically would show up as under extrusion if the pressure is lost completely. On the other side, the hobbled gear that pushes the filament might be worn, resulting in a lack of responsiveness of the filament movement, again resulting in under extrusion after some point. Once more, photos of this area could help to indicate wear and tear.
Another source might be the mounting of the printer - it has been shown beneficial to put printers on a slab of concrete that itself is dampened on a medium density foam, resulting in even dampening that is usually better than the rubber feet of many printers. |
Why did my print fall off its raft? | Your trouble lies within the presliced G-code: the temperatures are rather low for PLA and upping both by 10 degrees would be advisable:
200 °C for the Hotend
60 °C for the Bed
Atop that, printing a raft for PLA is usually not advisable.
Get yourself a slicer (the most common free ones I am comfortable with using are Cura, Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa Edition) and either import a fitting profile and create your own profile, then slice the .stl-model yoruself. |
First layer prints too thin causing gaps everywhere | From the picture it is clearly seen that the filament is not flattened properly. This implies that your nozzle bed distance is too large. Try decreasing the gap by leveling the bed at temperature and have a piece of "A4" or "Letter" print paper between the nozzle and bed have a little friction when pulled.
Also reduce the temperature, 230 °C is too hot for PLA (unless your printer temperature is way off, but that is not very likely), try 200 °C.
Another thing that you could check is if the extruded length is exactly what is instructed to be extruded; i.e. calibrate the extruder. |
Ender 3 v2 Cura Profiles - Anyone willing to help/share? | Use the profile for any Ender 3 model, or better yet just start from scratch and put in the important properties that actually vary per machine - bed size, temperatures needed, etc.
Cura profiles for specific printers, especially the ones Youtubers are promoting, are almost always misguided if not outright wrong. They're a mix something like 5-10% settings that are actually physical characteristics of the machine, and another 5-10% dubious settings that are tradeoffs that might help avoid common problems for the machine at the expense of making other (often worse) problems, and the remaining 80-90% personal preferences of the person who made the profile. For instance, looking at Cura's base Creality profile:
Machine max accelerations are all wrong, at 500 mm/s². The machine can actually handle at least 3000 mm/s², and unless you've updated firmware to have Linear Advance, increasing acceleration is the only way to avoid inconsistent extrusion.
Z speed limit and acceleration are very low. This makes seam more severe and has no benefit.
Print speeds are random and differ per type (outer wall, inner wall, skin, infill, etc.) which doesn't work right on a bowden machine without Linear Advance firmware.
Z seam type is overridden. This is purely personal preference and has nothing to do with the type of printer.
Gaps filling settings are overridden. Same issue.
Retraction settings are botched, especially increase of window for max retraction count from 4.5 mm (default) to 10 mm, which will cause severe omission of retractions (thus stringing, oozing, and failed adhesion) in any print with thin layers and fine detail.
Enabling skirt. This is purely preference.
Lots of support settings. What's needed here is 90% of a function of the object you're printing and 10% a function of your machine's properties and there's no indication that the settings in the profile have anything to do with properties of Creality machines.
Etc. etc. etc. Most of the above dubious/wrong stuff was added fairly recently in Cura, taken from the "Creawsome" profile popular on Youtube and Reddit. Before that they had a more minimal profile that at least wasn't wrong.
The actual properties you need to set in the profile for your particular machine are:
Bed size/print volume
Heated bed
Filament diameter
Nozzle size
Retraction length (depends on hotend and extruder type, bowden tube length if bowden)
Retraction speeds (depends on extruder capability & friction in path, etc.)
Fan speeds (depends on how powerful your fan is)
Setting max speeds and accelerations is also useful to get more accurate print time predictions, but not necessary. |
Writing G-code : swiping at start of print | What code we have so far
The code already made by Ultimaker Cura 3 (and then commented on) can be explained a little more:
G28 ;Home
This homes your machine to hit end stop positions, from now on your printer knows the coordinates of the print volume. This place it knows as <0-0-0> - check where that is: above the print surface or next to it!
G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the Gantry up 15mm going fast
Instruct the build plate to move down, or in your case lift the head up 15 mm at 6000 mm/min
;Prime the extruder
This is a comment that the nex code will deal with priming the nozzle
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
G92 sets the position of the extruder by resetting the current position to the specified value of zero
G1 F200 E3 ; extrude 3mm of feed stock
This will extrude 3 mm of filament at a feedrate of 200 mm/min
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
This will reset the extruder length again to zero
Result of the code
Basically you will have some filament dangling on your nozzle now, or falling of as the nozzle is hot creating a fine string. You now are facing the possibility that the primed material will be dragged along the build plate to the start of the print.
Nozzle Preparation: Priming sequences
Ultimaker 3: 'blob'&swipe
An alternative I really like is the priming sequence of the Ultimaker 3. The hot end is instructed near the origin of the printer at about a height of 2 mm above the build plate when it starts to extrude plastic, once the extruded plastic becomes a puddle of about 6 mm in diameter the build plate lowers a few mm's and keep extruding for a bit. It then moves in positive Y direction (to the back) and raises the platform (this is the swipe action), then retracts and starts to move to the print start. Now the puddle of filament stays near the origin and will not be dragged.
You can easily make a similar schematic for your printer, I've done so also for various printers. Try and experiment what works best for you. The swipe action is the movement where the nozzle will be instructed to move near the build plate while moving in a certain direction (Y or X), a height of a few tenths is enough to swipe.
I don't have my exact profile here, but you could add (skipping feedrates):
G1 Y15 Z0.2 ; moves the nozzle backwards and down from 15 mm to 0.2 mm
G1 Y20 Z0.2 ; swipes the nozzle, this should cut off the "worm"
G1 Z1 ; raise for movement to start of print to add a little space to travel |
How to prevent layer separation, when printing tall vase-like (tube) objects? | The best thing you can do for a large ABS print is to have an enclosure heated to 50C or better. For example, see this, this, this, and other search results. |
3D printing for storage card shell? | With the experience I have with my 3d printer you can make (almost) everything you can draw with it.
0.6mm parts can be 3d printed but will not be very strong though.
For joining the 2 halves when they are so thin, I think the best solution is to glue them together. With the things I make for myself I mostly use small screws or small nuts and bolts but with 0.6mm parts I guess this wil not be possible. |
MKS GEN L unknown motherboard error | The MKS GEN L board was added in Marlin release 1.1.7 .
According to the configuration file you've linked and previous Marlin releases, your copy of Marlin is release 1.1.6. While all Marlin releases before 1.1.7 had "010100" as "CONFIGURATION_H_VERSION", earlier versions had less features than listed in your configuration file.
In Marlin 2.0.x, the MKS GEN L is also available.
Since you said it was also unavailable in 2.0.x, please provide a copy of your entire 2.0.x setup. |
What is a good strategy for removing 3d prints from an UNheated Glass bed? | Because you will be printing on unheated glass, you will be using some form of adhesive material. If you use an off-the-shelf glue stick, you will likely find it is water soluble. If the bed is removable, immersing it in warm water for a relaxing soak will provide easier model removal.
I don't have experience with various tapes, so will avoid recommendations regarding masking tapes or similar material.
Thermal cycling will also provide release. Not a heat gun, as that will break the glass, but a hair dryer applied to the underside near the model, then cooling. Repeat until it releases.
I have used the Fleks3D print plate on my Flux Delta printer in the past, and it releases "like magic" but I don't think they make monster sheets of your printer size. I had also purchased a pair of 20" square Fleks3D plates for a similarly sized printer that never materialized. I'd be happy to sell you the pair, but I think they are too small for your full plate.
It has been said that one can use sand-blasted acrylic, which I believe is the construction of the aforementioned Fleks3D plates. If you have access to 1/8" or 3mm acrylic and can apply a uniform blast of abrasive, you may be able to construct your own easy-release build plate.
It is practical to consider to use a raft for your large builds. Rafts are useful for small items, to provide a greater bonding surface and avoid release, but it also provides a "wedging" location for your release tool. You can more easily slice away the middle of the raft and deal with a thinner layer after the model is completely freed.
EDIT ADD: If the bed is not removable, one can build a dam around the model with clay to hold the water for dissolving the glue. |
3d printer recommendations that can print fidgets? | Pretty much any recent commercially available 3D printer should be able to print that model. Only really old stuff, or poorly built DIY machines, might have trouble. It may take some tuning of slicing settings to avoid problems with the rings bonding together during printing, but a more expensive printer is unlikely to make the tuning any easier.
The printers you listed in the question are probably all decent choices. I have an Ender 3 and like it but it's a little over \$200. There are some printers well under \$200, like the Monoprice Mini Delta, but I don't have any experience with them and product recommendations are off-topic here anyway. Also keep in mind that you'll have to spend a little bit on consumables, at least one spool of filament that's typically around \$20 (slightly cheaper for no-name brands, much higher for fancy color/shine/etc. or special materials, but simple PLA should be fine for what you want). |
Functional object in low poly - program and tutorial | Yes, you can accomplish threading easily with something like 3Ds Max, Blender, Maya etc. I use Maya personally so, in Maya, all you have to do is:
Create a cylinder. This will be the main body of your 'screw'.
To make the thread, you need to create a helix primitive. You can edit the number of coils and the coil thickness in the Maya GUI.
Once you have the thread, it is a simple matter of performing a couple of boolean operations. The first boolean (union) operation will unite the screw made in step 1 with the thread made in step 2. The second boolean (subtract) operation will cut out the thread from the object within which you want your screw to be driven into. When you print the two models, you should find that the screw nicely turns into the object from which you cut out the thread.
The point is: yes, it is easy to do such things in most 3D software packages. Maya comes with a nice selection of default objects you can use, so essentially you need to do no 'modeling' yourself to create something like the example you showed us.
Your next question, about editing models on Thingiverse. The reason why you cannot edit them easily is because most models there have been decimated and triangulated, which makes them very difficult to reshape or edit because the topology is no longer strictly manifold -- it is just a big mess of triangles!
If you want to edit Thingiverse models, I recommend something like ZBrush. You can import triangulated models and then rebuild the geometry into quads (using DynaMesh, for example), which you can then edit to your liking. Once done, you can simply decimate and re-export as STL or whatever extension you need.
Finally, low/high poly is not so relevant in 3D print outs, especially in mechanically functioning parts. This is because most models are created in high resolution (high polygon count) and then decimated + triangulated down to truncate file sizes. But the functionality and physical feel of the model should not change due to this process - it just takes practice and lots of experimentation.
Hope this helps :)
Hassan |
Configuring of MKS_GEN_L V1.0 | The motherboard definition in configuration.h should be written like:
#define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_MKS_GEN_L
actually the word MOTHERBOARD was missing and there is no need to write 53 //MKS GEN L at the end.
The number definition is declared in boards.h - you just confused the two files, indeed you should not forget to define the motherboard constant itself. Do note that this is basically a RAMPS board, see pins_MKS_GEN_L.h. |
Software for 3d model to arc/curve gcode? | I have been looking at this also. But I can't find a STEP to GCODE software. So the answer to your question is no, not that I'm aware of.
Using STL files, which are approximations of the actual model using triangular shapes, slicers will generate GCODE not including arc codes. I understand that either the printer controller should take care of creating the arc gcode by reading multiple lines in advance and calculate if certain consecutive "straight gcodes" could be replaced by "arc gcodes" or the generated gcode file needs to be pre-processed off-line by separate software, or post processing scripts of slicers.
With respect to reading multiple lines in advance, the 8-bit controller boards are not powerful enough to do all these extra calculations as the different firmwares already utilize the full potential of these boards. |
Export STL from OpenSCAD command line, calling module within script? | OpenSCAD doesn't have such an option on the command line, but the general idiom I believe you want to use is have .scad source files which are modules include invocations of the module(s) at the top-level controllable by variables you can set on the command line or GUI customizer interface. Any such invocations will be ignored if the file is used (via use directive) in another file so they don't hurt its status as a library and make it easier to preview/test. So for example you could have:
wantOne = false;
if (wantOne) One();
and then set wantOne to true from the command line. |
Tevo Tarantula auto bed leveling config | An NPN sensor is wired differently from a PNP sensor. The signal wire is the black wire, blue is the ground wire.
According to this posting, Don’t trust the internet (and how to add an Inductive Proximity Sensor to your 3D printer the proper and easiest way, you need to insert a 6.8 kΩ resistor in between the black and the blue wire, I quote:
...Indeed, all we need to do is add a single 6.8 kΩ resistor between BLACK and BLUE and all should work fine.
Alternatively, a diode in the black wire would also work, I quote:
... So I did test using a diode and that also works perfectly fine, simply because the direction in which the 12 V current would like to flow when the sensor is open will be blocked by the diode. The internal (or hardware) pull-up still pulls the Atmega’s sensor pin to HIGH however.
...
But as soon as the sensor is closed, the diode would allow the 5 V current to flow in the opposite direction towards ground, which pulls the Atmega’s sensor pin to LOW. |
Print speed and settings for printing below 0.1mm resolution on PLA | To answer this question for anyone who will find this of use, I printed this calibration cube at 25mm to a side (125% scale in Cura) with my Kossel Plus using the following settings:
0.08 mm layer height
45 mm/s print speed
200°C extruder temperature with PLA
Based on articles I read, I wanted to play it safe with the speed, staying well below the printer's rated speed of 60 mm/s, but still keeping the speed reasonably high to avoid any nozzle flow issues as describe in the linked question. The results were pretty good for a first test; the deviations, as measured with calipers:
X: -0.09 mm
Y: +0.38 mm
Z: +0.11 mm
This makes the average deviation across all axes about 0.13 mm, which is better than what I was hoping for, as that is about 5/3 of a layer's thickness. Whether or not running slower (or faster) or modifying temperature will result in better accuracy, I cannot be sure - but in this case, running the speed conservatively yielded positive results. |
Marlin: Switch Y to E1 | If you followed the answer to switch steppers in firmware to the letter, but changing X for Y, this should work.
I've looked into the pins files for you and concluded that your proposed changes should work.
This leaves you with the following questions:
Is the stepper driver for E1 working?
Is there a stepper driver installed?
Is the cable working/not damaged?
Swap drivers and cables to troubleshoot the problem. |
Heat bed wires get hot (12 V connected to RAMPS 1.4 shield) | The PCB heatbed Mk2B has a reported resistance between 1.0-1.2 Ω. The current that is drawn from the power supply equals about 12/(1.0 or 1.2) = 10-12 A. Note that this amount of current requires cables that can carry that load, too thin cables heat up.
Note that you have wired the bed correctly for 12 V (see image below), the wires might have a too-small cross-section, try thicker wires. Personally I use AWG 12-14 silicone wires depending on the bed resistance.
AWG 12-14 size silicone, multiple threads (these are the best for the bed because they are more flexible), should be able to handle the load fine. Note that cables also have resistance; if there are heat spots in the cable or the connection, this indicates that the cable may be broken or the connection has too much resistance. |
What are the pros and cons of writing nozzle size vs using e3d style dots on nozzle? | dots
First of all, reading the dot pattern: for all but the 0.15, the total number of dots is read, and there is only 1 dot per side. So a .5 nozzle has dimples on all sides. The only outlier where the dots are not all one next to another is 0.15, which has 2 dots but they are interspaced by one blank side.
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.6
0.8
0.5 (which was added after the .6 and .8 had already been established)
2 interspaced ones - 0.15, also added after the 0 to 5-dot group had been established.
dots vs. inscription
The inscription is, compared to the dot pattern, much more shallow and can vanish under scratches. Also, the dots are easier to recover from being caked in plastic.
On the flipside, the dot pattern isn't easy to read intuitively, it doesn't follow an easy pattern (the 6 and 2-interspaced-dots are later additions into the setup). |
How to change temperature every 25 layers (or 5 mm) in Ultimaker Cura or G-code? | Every time you see a Z movement that matches the layer height (eg. 0.20 mm) you can assume that is the end/start of one "layer".
It should have a line like:
;Layer count: 17
;LAYER:0. ; mine has this as the first layer
M107
G0 F2400 X67.175 Y61.730 Z0.250. ; moves to Z0.250 mm for the first layer, with layer thickness 0.25 mm
Then later:
;LAYER:1
M106 S255
G0 F2400 X78.078 Y69.627 Z0.550 ; 2nd layer.
So search for "Z" or "Layer" and once you've seen 25 of these "small" movements (comparing to previous Z movement?), insert your line of code at the end of the layer commands. Don't confuse it with large Z-movements, that may correspond to move up/retract filaments.
Depending on your goals for the print, maybe you also want to insert a wait time - say a minute or two for the new temp to stabilize? Here is the line for that:
G4 P200 ; Sit still doing nothing for 200 milliseconds. |
OpenSCAD linear_extrude from multiple path svg import | Lame solution: creating stepped pyramid with offset. I realized that scale will not worked for motives with holes inside. Offset seems then more appropriate than scale for my application (creation of stamps)
It takes ages to render, but it could be enough for simple patterns. Any better solution are still welcome...
module buildPyramidalExtrude(height,maxOffset,nSlices){
heightIncrement = height/nSlices;
offsetIncrement = maxOffset/(nSlices-1);
for(i=[1:nSlices])
linear_extrude(height=i*heightIncrement)
offset(r = maxOffset-(i-1)*offsetIncrement)
children();
}
buildPyramidalExtrude(4,2.5,20)
import(file = "Farm/cow.svg", center = true); |
Where to enable user interface encoder in Marlin? | It seems that ULTIPANEL must be defined. The code for the encoder was included long ago with the Ultipanel (display and encoder) and does not exist on its own.
#define LCD_SAINSMART_I2C_2004 // I2C LCD
#define ULTIPANEL // enable code for encoder.
//encoder pins
#define BTN_EN1 37
#define BTN_EN2 35
#define BTN_ENC 31 |
What material should I upgrade the teflon tube to? | The Ender 3 (original, pro, or v2) does not need any modifications/upgrades to print PETG. Temperatures of 230-235 °C are sufficient for PETG and well under the 250 °C that's not recommended to be exceeded on a machine with PTFE lining all the way to the hotend. PTFE doesn't melt above these temperatures, but it does start to break down and release chemicals that can be harmful. Note that teflon pans achieve temperatures comparable to or exceeding what you'd print PETG at all the time while cooking, and especially if you burn food. The smoke point of peanut oil is roughly the same as the temperature you print PETG at.
If you did want to change it (I wouldn't recommend this) there is no different tube you can "upgrade" to. Instead, users who want to be able to print higher temperatures switch to an "all metal" hotend, which means the tube doesn't extend through the heatbreak to the hotend, but instead stops in the cold part, with a metal passageway for the rest of the filament's path to the hotend/nozzle. You still use the same PTFE before that, though. All-metal hotends are not necessarily an upgrade; they're a tradeoff. The PTFE tube all the way through is a highly desirable feature because it has very low friction and no ridge/boundary between materials for semi-molten filament to get caught on when retracting and unretracting. |
SLA resin post-processing: gluing parts together | You can definitely use glue - however you can also brush some of the liquid resin along the edges of the two pieces, push them together and cure them, this will fuse them together.
You don't need much, and you need to watch for drip out while curing (don't your fingers in it) |
Is inconsistent vertex density a bad thing? | For the most part, the exact level of vertex density doesn't matter too much. But it does depend on the slicer and settings. Some slicers (like Slic3r) will auto-decimate toolpaths to ensure that the rate of motion commands isn't too difficult for the old, slow 8bit processors in most consumer/hobbyist 3d printers. Having a large number of very small motion commands can bog down these motion controllers and cause pause-stuttering that creates little zits on the print. Most slicers simply reduce model detail level to safeguard the motion controller. Because the contours are decimated to a minimum motion segment length, very small model triangles are irrelevant to printer performance. At the most, they might add a marginal amount of slicing time.
On the other hand, some slicers (like Simplify3d) assume you have the correct level of detail you want in your model, and will pretty faithfully reproduce the model file's contours in the sliced toolpath. If your entire model is very high mesh density / poly count in general, or if your high-density mesh regions are crossed by a layer slice, this can produce a series of very, very short motion commands. Sometimes the motion commands are even smaller than the motion resolution of the printer, and simply take up processor time (to evaluate and drop from the queue) with no benefit to print fidelity.
In a more general sense, high-poly models are dramatically more difficult for the 3d printer to reproduce accurately. There are two big issues:
Each motion segment requires some processor time to read/receive, parse, and execute. But the shorter the segment lengths are, the faster the printer runs through them. A short move takes little time to perform but still has the same processor load as a long move. At a certain point, the processor can't keep up, and performance suffers. The printer may run out of queued moves to execute and pause in place, or it may violate acceleration limits and violently clunk through corners (or even lose position) because it didn't have enough time to iterate through the calculations that determine how fast it should move.
The algorithms used by most consumer/hobbyist 3d printer firmwares (Marlin, Repetier, Sailfish, Smoothieware, etc) are based on GRBL. And without getting into the math, GRBL uses the sharpness of the corners between motion segments to decide how fast to travel through the corner. So a 90 degree turn will trigger a considerable slowdown, while a series of small angles (such as many small segments comprising a curved surface) is not recognized by the algorithm, and it will try to barrel through the curve at full speed. On long, gentle curves, this is fine, but high-poly tight curves (such as a filleted edge or organic model detail) are traversed far too fast because no slowdowns are triggered. This means high-poly models must be printed at much lower feedrates / target speeds, because the acceleration algorithm can't figure out when to go fast or slow. Whereas a blocky, low-poly model can be printed much faster and the acceleration code will speed up and slow down as needed for good quality.
These are primarily issues with high vertex density versus low vertex density, not variable density. Small pockets of high detail are usually not problematic, as long as they are small enough that the motion planner queue (say, 16 segments) doesn't get filled with too many very small movements. A few small segments in a row is ok, but a few dozen is not.
These are limitations baked into the algorithms used by today's slicers and motion controllers. In the future, they may not be so problematic. |
How do I give 3D-printed parts in ABS a shiny smooth finish? | Acetone can be used to smooth ABS.
The left has been smoothed by an acetone bath and the right is the original model. (Image credit: Andrew Sink)
Take note: acetone is dangerous to breathe in, so work in a well ventilated area. It is also flammable.
Warm acetone vapour bath using stove
This method involves suspending the model in a glass jar of boiling acetone that is heated up by a pot of boiling water.
Attach the model to the lid of the jar with some string, keep the string short, so the model is close to the lid.
Put a few centimetres of water in a pot
Place a rag at the bottom of the pot (to keep the jar stable).
Place the glass jar in the pot, on top of the rag.
Place the pot on the stove and heat to 110°C.
When the acetone is boiling place the dangling model into the jar.
After a few seconds, remove the model.
See here for a step-by-step guide with pictures.
Warm acetone vapour bath using printer bed
This method elevating the model in a glass jar of acetone that is heated up by the printer's heatbed.
Find a non-soluble object that the 3D model can stand on.
Put a teaspoon of acetone in jar.
Place the jar on the heatbed and heat to 110°C.
Place the stand into the jar.
Place the model on the stand, the stand should not let the acetone touch the model.
After a few minutes, remove the model.
See here for an example. |
Should I vary the first layer height | Default settings for first layer height in Slic3r Prusa Edition print profiles regardless layer height is 0.2 mm.
If you need to improve bed adhesion then try tips from this video 3D Prints not sticking anymore? Watch this! 3DP101 by Maker's Muse. It's about using glue stick and spreading it using paper towel and isopropyl alcohol.
There are other possibilities how to improve bed adhesion, e.g. Ultem sheet or other printing surface like BuildTak. |
Selecting G-code files from SD with serial | You can send the G Codes to select and print a file over the serial connection.
List the files
M20
Select a file name
M23 filename.gco
Start/Resue the print
M24
See https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code for more information M20 through M39 are the ones for interfacing with SD Card files. |
Can I use a material other than PTFE to print PETG? | PETG does not need an all-metal hotend or alternate bowden/lining material. Unless you're trying to print at #speedboatrace-competitive speeds, the recommended print temperature range for PETG is 230-250 °C, and the temperature above which you should not use a PTFE-lined hotend is 250 °C. |
Can this part be 3D printed? | Dimension-wise it's probably ok.
If you want to print it as a single piece it would be quite challenging because of the cylinders, overhangs and bridges present in multiple directions: overhangs and bridges result in lower quality and precision, while cylinders can be printed nicely only when their axis is vertical.
However I see that you could easily split the component into multiple parts, each one of which could be printed optimally.
You can glue the different parts together and you are done, see What glues for PLA? and What glues to use for PETG? |
Tinkerine 3D Printer | The issue occurring here is similar to a question asked over here. It looks as though this is a result of a hardware fault related to the stepper drivers. @DarthPixel recommended placing heatsinks on the stepper driver(s) and/or properly placed fans.
Depending on the design of your machine, some stepper drivers are going to be worked harder than others. For example, a MakerBot Replicator will work the X-Axis stepper driver more than the Z-Axis stepper driver. Therefore, you have a higher chance of overheating your X-Axis stepper driver.(Images are of A4988 Stepper Driver, not directly compatible with MakerBot Replicator)
Alternatively, I personally have seen the issue repeated by manually triggering one of the limit switches. The effects seemed to take effect on the next layer. |
Filament sticks to nozzle | I believe the problem is not so much that the filament is sticking to the nozzle; it's that the filament is not sticking to the bed.
You've confirmed that you have correct clearance for the nozzle to bed distance. The next considerations are bed temperature and nozzle temperature. New brands often require new parameters.
Consider to raise the bed temperature 5 °C. If you're not using any adhesive medium, perhaps a bit of glue stick will help to have the filament stick better/properly.
It's unlikely that the nozzle temperature is incorrect, as too low would result in a nozzle clog, while too high would "drizzle out" and be everywhere, but don't reject too-high entirely.
If you can get the bed adhesion correct, your nozzle should remain clear. |
Nail polish remover that won't dissolve ABS? | First of all, Nail Polish comes in 2 types: Acetone based, and acetone-free. The latter is based on Ethyl Acetate filled up with alcohol and water. Sadly, Ethyl Acetate also dissolves ABS, so it is not an option. However, the acetone-free nail polish remover can be used to smooth PLA to some degree. Anyhow, we look for something that is putting Nail polish into solution but not ABS, so it can neither be among the able ketones (like acetone), nor an acetate ester, nor be aniline.
Next up, Turpentine. Turpentine is a crazy mix of chemicals that we know to be able to turn most glues to goop and remove nail polish too. Sadly, Turpentine too can dissolve ABS, and it has been used in this fashion to create ABS Slurry/Cement as a bonding agent.
But what do we actually have in nail polish that needs to be put in solution? Well, to a good part, most nail polishes are a Nitrocellulose lacquer. To keep it in solution, Ethyl Acetate (already ruled out) and Butyl Acetate are used. Sadly, that is an acetate ester, so nope, no gains here.
So, we are left with one way: Mechanical removal. Nail polish is known to bond quite ok, but conventional nail polish lacquer (not the gel stuff) also is known to chip, and we can use that. Letting the lacquer harden and then using a sharp knife o remove most of the surplus, then polishing it up to very fine 1000 grit sandpaper is a possible way to go without needing to open the chemical toolbox. For the last postprocessing step, very short exposure to acetone vapor should restore the surface and put it to shine, including the lacquer.
Other fillers?
An alternative might be other filler materials. For a white filling, white Valejo putty might work, which is an acrylic bound marble dust filler, which can be wiped away with a wet cloth. It doesn't shrink, so gives flat surfaces. It could be colored with other acrylic paints, but the base color is marble-white.
Tamiya Basic Putty is based on Ethylbenzene and often used with ABS models as a gap filler. It is available in several colors. As a downside, it does shrink a little during bonding. Ethylbenzene is not a solvent but incidentally, the same stuff that is used for making ABS so should be safe for the model. |
Extruder motor does spin - but not while printing | Extruder stops to spin
The problem you described seem to be reported elsewhere for TMC in relation to stealthChop mode (unsure, see below) and linear advance. For details look at this comment in Extruder stops during print (Bugfix-2.0.x) #17944. An advice from there is to supplement the G-code with (my interpretation):
M569 S0 E ; disable stealthChop for extruder (use spreadCycle)
M900 K0 ; disable linear advance
There is also another discussion TMC2208 extruder driver shuts itself off in spreadcycle mode with pressure advance enabled #1774 for Klipper. Above summary is just a result of my quick look through, I suggest to re-read these articles with more insight.
Also I propose to do following to doublecheck:
execute M503 (without parameters) before and after print, compare reports (especially: M92, M203, M204)
verify EXTRUDE_MINTEMP parameter in Configuration.h (I am not sure how does it behave during the print)
I also saw the remedy: "Then I changed the extruder stepper motor wires and the problem is now fixed", but it is the edge case.
Extrusion mode
I personally prefer to use extrusion in relative mode, because it allows to manipulate G-code or restart the print from any line. You would need to put M83 in starting G-code instead of current M82, together with enabling Cura setting (Special Modes > Relative Extrusion). I am not sure what happens currently with your filament between in your file's:
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
G1 Y60.0 Z0 E9.0 F500.0;intro line
G1 Y100.0 E21.5 F500.0 ;continue line
...
G1 F1500 E0
For me it looks like it's retreating 21 mm of filament just at the start of print? So it cannot really print for several consecutive G-code lines, does it?
Marlin settings vs EEPROM
When updating settings in Marlin like steps/mm you should be aware, that values stored in EEPROM take precedence. Reinstalling firmware will not clear the EEPROM settings. If you want to make persistent change, save to EEPROM and alter the firmware config, to have these values secured for future as "defaults". |
LCD for SLA 3D printer resin curing | Hmm I seen videos off people pealing filters off of lcd screens to let uv pass through.
I believe the sharp unit maybe popular because not all lcds have square pixels and have poor pixel alignment towards the edges, (the focus of the eye can only take in so much information why waste materials producing inperceptable rises in quality, much like having a 8k small screen unless the picture is static your hard pushed to notice difference).
There is also diffraction to think about, crystal size in the resin, oxygen membrane or delamination layer to stop cured resin sticking to lcd, I think there are projects of floating resin on another liquid (fluorinated oils work).
Even with better resolution(4k,) the voxel size does not increase in a linear manner, unless the uv light source is focused an colimated like in a lazer.
I don't know much its just info I've gleaned whilst browsing, I'm sure someone will correct any inaccuracies. |
Do I need to manually enter in gcode to turn off the bed and nozzle? | Using Cura 3.0.3 to create the GCODE and OctoPi/OctoPrint 1.2.7 to print: By default the printer turned off the nozzle and bed, and also homed the X and Y axises.
You can set start and end GCODE in the preferences for the machine, like so: |
Photogrammetry using pure rotation? | This is not a problem specific to Visual SFM, but a general technical problem. The software cannot accurately determine the depth of the pieces which approach perpendicularity with the camera lens. The software uses those varying measurements and estimated angles to calculate the geometry. Check out the law of cosines. |
Anycubic i3 Mega incorrect Heated Bed temperature Reading | The first value, which is in your pictures 179 and 184 °C, is the measured value. The 0 °C value is the set value. It looks like the temperature reading from the hotbed is not working correctly. So there are two possible issues:
The cable on the backside leading to the hotplate might be damaged. This seems to be a common issue with this printer. You could check if the cables show any obvious damage.
The hotbed thermistor is broken. On the leads on the backside you can measure with a multimeter the resistance between the green an blue cables. Typical readings are in the range of 100 kΩ. If you touch the thermistor, usually it is placed in the mid area of the heatbed, the resistance should change. |
Slicer software capable of working with large filaments | After checking it up, Ultimaker Cura (and possibly most other slicers capable of multi-extruder setups) is able to handle multiple extruders of varying nozzle size and seems to be ok with 25 mm Nozzles or something ludicrous such as 200 mm filament. You should aid its slicing in some way:
Dedicate one nozzle to the support structure, that's easy.
Design your parts with 2 shells:
One is the main body with corners cut to the main nozzle's extrusion diameter.
The other is the corners and details. |
Using the end of a spool | Weld the fragment to the beginning of a new spool and use it that
way. Most are made from metal so they aren't that easy to make
at home. Here is another answer that lists other methods to
weld filament including using heat shrink tubing.
As you mentioned, you can use it for friction welding.
Use it for pin/studs/rivets/hinges in prints.
Throw it away. 1.75mm * 1Kg is about 330m of filament, 3mm * 1Kg is
about 110m of filament. The leftover isn't worth much when you
consider how much is on a spool. |
Drop in temperature after couple layers | I had a similar problem with an Anet A8 once. The problem was, that the thermistor wasn't mounted right in the heat block, so the air flow cooled it while the print head was moving. You can check, whether this is a problem at your printer. |
Is this very large flat panel printable in ABS? | ABS would be fine, as a material, for the application.
The problem, given the scale, would be the printing device used. I would suggest that you have the piece cut to spec for you using a polycarbonate.
If you have access to a workshop you could do so yourself if you set up proper fencing using a larger sized bandsaw(with a very fine toothed blade), had rollers to help support the size of your piece(as it would not fit on the tool's platform) and likely need a second set of hands to help control the outfeed. You would also need to drill access for the cut out then cut the perimetre.
You could also consider printing(ABS) in smaller sections then fusing each section together edge to edge(solvent welding of ABS is very strong and permanent), if you were really dead set on using a typical 3D printer for this. It would, in theory, be possible, but it would be very tedious. The adhesives, and cleaner, would be available from any plumbing supply and/or (home depot, lowes, walmart et al.). If you go this route be sure to have ample ventilation and plan your work space well in advance. I would not recommend this option but it is "possible".
Given the scale of the piece though, and for sake of accuracy, going to a shop with CNC equipment and using polycarbonate would be your best bet. |
PETG and Clear Aligner? | No
PETG is a material that can only be used in FDM machines. This precludes any internal medical use, as FDM prints can't be made sterile or even hygienic - the sterilization processes would destroy the print, and FDM layers create many spots for germs to grow. Atop that, you can't get the needed precision with FDM - which means any FDM prints are at best waste at worst endangering the patient!
In contrast, 3D printed metals and laser-printed nylon can be created and post-processed in ways that do not have layer lines. Resin prints do not have layer lines that offer these discrete hiding spots for germs. They all are made in a fashion that kills germs or disallows them from being embedded and they can be properly sterilized or made hygienic.
No!
PETG can't be printed completely clear in FDM. By the processing method, air and layer boundaries are included, making prints at least somewhat opaque.
Only Resin prints can be fully transparent as they contain neither boundaries nor air.
NO!!!
STL files contain only surface data and need to be processed into printer readable format. G-code is one of those formats, commonly used in FDM machines and CNC machines.
The processing from STL or other surface data into FDM-3D-printer G-code is done by a program called a slicer. Examples are Cura, PrusaSlicer, Slic3r, and many others.
Resin printers using DLP use different slicers that create images of the model's crossections together with some sort of machine code for the movement. For SLA machines, the code is entirely different again.
Further Reading
I highly suggest you read more about 3D printing dental applications before trying anything for dental use, and especially anything that is printed for any medical application! |
Ultimaker 3 printing area? | Yes that happens! It finds its source in various possible reasons.
The print bed is not square! There are cutouts caused by the print head;
The Ultimaker 3 has 2 nozzles, when you have 2 active, the effective print bed is smaller than with 1 nozzle active;
Using a brim or a skirt also makes the effective print area smaller.
In re-creating your example, the settings in your projects are not correct (but even if done properly, you will not be able to print it flat on the bed). Take a look at the image below, as can be seen your example still has a brim/skirt reservation, be sure to disable the second extruder (as shown by a cross X before "Generic PLA" at the top).
The only solution to print this on this machine is to print it upright: |
What type of plastic can be used to produce your own filament? | Filament manufacturers (for example, Colorfabb) also sell pellets, price per kilo would be about 10 times less than the same plastic in filament form.
Out of household garbage only ABS can be easily extruded into filament with Filabot-grade machine. PET AKA plastic bottles looks promising as well.
You can also use certain products "off-label". For example, string trimmer string (line) is simply a nylon filament and can be used as-is in modern diameter-agnostic hot end. |
Problems with X axis movement | After many hours tinkering, pulling things apart, testing them and re-assembling them, it turned out that the problem was a broken wire for the X_Min endstop. This has now been replaced and the problem is resolved. |
Tronxy X5S-400 Marlin stuck at splash-screen | It looked like the firmware wasn't flashed correctly in the factory. What I did was to flash a bootloader using an Arduino compatible board and to flash the Marlin software e.g. according to videos from this guy.
Next, the menu wasn't displayed correctly so I added, in the Configuration.h the following lines:
#define ST7920_DELAY_1 DELAY_NS(63)
#define ST7920_DELAY_2 DELAY_NS(100)
#define ST7920_DELAY_3 DELAY_NS(125)
Now the display is working fine, and the Marlin firmware can be directly flashed from the computer because the bootloader remains there.
I also had a problem with the heating bed which was heating very slow and I had to raise consistently the TEMP_BED_RESIDENCY_TIME and decrease TEMP_BED_HYSTERESIS to 1. |
Klipper doesn't seem to adjust Z after BED_MESH_CALIBRATE | I have identified the problem as lead screw backlash!
Bed calibration and Z-axis offset compensation appear to be working as intended, but there is enough backlash in the Ender 3 stock lead screw that the corrections in Z-axis movement commanded by Klipper result in almost no actual nozzle movement.
I'm measuring about 0.35 mm of backlash in my lead screw. With differences between the lowest and highest points of my bed being only 0.6 mm the best case scenario (which would only happen if I was using my entire bed) is that the actual nozzle movement would only be about 42 % of what Klipper commanded. The fix for this is to change out the lead screw for a ball screw. The problem could also be mitigated in Klipper if Klipper implemented backlash compensation, but from what I've read on GitHub it doesn't seem like that is a feature the developer of Klipper wants to implement.
Update:
I installed this anti-backlash nut and it greatly reduced the backlash, but didn't eliminate it. I've uninstalled my solid bed mounts and reinstalled springs until I upgrade to a ball-screw for the Z axis. The auto bed leveling compensation still does something, but the adjustment allowed by having springs is what is really doing most of the leveling work. |
How do I get circles on small interior holes to adhere to the bed? | are you using hairspray or tape to help with bed adhesion? If not that might help.
Also try printing the first layer slower or try adjusting the bed level offset so you are squishing the first layer down a bit more. |
Maker Select Plus 3D Printer Head Size Settings for Cura | TL;DR
The settings that you seem to need can be found here: Print One At a time settings? CURA:
You actually can!
Providing that none of your object is too tall (taller than the Gantry
clearance). Also the objects cannot be too close from each other (when
you activate the option and move objects on the bed, you see a gray
box around them showing this limit).
The reason you cannot use it at the moment is probably because you
didn't filled the printer head size parameters (Menu "Machine ->
Machine Settings..."). You will have to measure them, but on mine
(Australian clone of the i3) I use those values and it works fine:
Head size toward X min: 30
Head size toward Y min: 70
Head size toward X max: 60
Head size toward Y max: 50
Printer gantry height: 35
Those are "conservative" values (a little bigger than the actual
values). It means I'm losing a little bed space, but I prefer that to
the risk of having the print head knocking out previous prints if one
of the measurements is too low :o).
PS: The option will automatically disable itself if some object
dimension are too big to avoid collisions
To be fair, the rest of the thread is people debating whether you can successfully achieve sequential printing, or not, with the Wanhao Duplicator I3.
However, the setting above seem to be the settings that you are looking for. Apart from Head size toward X max, they also correlate, pretty much, to the settings that you have already determined. As the poster notes, their settings are, somewhat, on the conservative side, which would explain the difference.
Extra detail
If this is so that you can achieve sequential printing1, then this may not be suitable for your printer, unfortunately. Sequential printing works best for printers with a long nozzle with nothing (fans, X-axis gantry, etc.) around it, for example a delta printer with a low hanging nozzle would be ideal. Your printer type has a wide head with attachments, as well as an X-axis gantry, and so the clearance is less than that of an (ideal) delta.
See WanHao Duplicator i3 Printer Head Size Settings for Cura for more details.
If you wish to go ahead and still try it, then from the same link:
The way to measure is lower the nozzle to the bed.
Then measure the space taken up around the nozzle by the heater block, fans, mounting, the motor, and finally, the distance between the X axis rods and the bed "WHEN the nozzle is touching the bed".
That gives you some idea of the clearance you have where an ALREADY printed object can exist on the bed and NOT get slammed into the gantry or moving head when printing a second sequential part.
Just a visual with a moving bed printer and it's not promising.
Not impossible, but in a 200mm square build area, you might really only get 4 objects at a time in the 4 quadrants.
Even that is height limited because the gantry will slam into it at a certain height.
Maybe some weird staggering pattern.
Also, of use, for obtaining your own measurements, from Ultimaker - Cura 14.07 Printer Head Size:
If I'm not mistaken all measurements are taken from the nozzle tip. So, for the first one, measure the size of your head from the nozzle tip towards the direction in X to where your machine homes.
and
There's a tooltip when you mouse over these settings which describes what they mean.
Gantry height is the vertical clearance between the build plate and your x-y gantry (on the Ultimaker, these are the 6mm shafts which hold the head).
If you print two objects - one after another - then the first object must be shorter in height than the gantry height. Otherwise, the gantry would crash into the first part while printing the second part.
In more detail, paying attention to the placing of the objects can aid with any issues that you have with a low gantry:
If you place multiple parts in a diagonal line across the build-plate so the gantry and head never intersects earlier parts after printing them, you can set the gantry height to an artificially high value, to ignore it, without problems.
I place pieces along a diagonal from right-front to left-rear, to avoid conflict when the head homes after finishing the print. I can fit 3 to 4 small but tall pieces on the build plate that way for sequential printing.
The purpose of these Printer head size settings is to enable Cura to determine the order in which the objects are printed:
... none of those settings are important as long as you only print one STL file at a time. It's when you want to print multiple objects "one at a time" that these numbers have a purpose - it allows Cura to figure out which order to print them in and if it can do them one at a time or if it has to print them all at once.
Footnote
1 Sequential Printing is where one object is completely printed, before moving on to the next object, instead of the usual method of printing all objects simultaneously one layer at a time. This method can give superior quality prints, but not always. The main advantage appears to be reduced "stringing" of filament between objects, and a cleaner surface finish, due to reduced print head movement between objects. The process is detailed in Multi-part printing. |
Printer is over extruding for the first few layers | Depending on your slicer, there might be settings that modify the flow ratio, First layer height or extrusion width for the first few layers. If those are different from the modifiers for the rest of the print you might be able to play around with these variables. |
Cura messes up my print. How can I make it print what I see in Blender? | It's common for modeling software to flip normals, causing what you describe. You said,
I only care about the externally facing faces.
But are you sure they are truly externally facing? Turn on normals in Blender and ensure that all the arrows/pointers are external.
Another problem that can generate the results you're seeing are self-intersecting surfaces, non-manifold edges, and a couple others that are explained in a 3dhubs article. Correcting those problems involve a bit more examination and trouble shooting.
The slicing software prefers to have clean, well defined triangular surfaces in order to create a print file. When something is amiss, you get results you've presented.
With the STL in hand, I opened it in Meshmixer (free) and immediately was given a clue.
The zebra-stripes are reversed normals.
Here's another error point, difficult to see clearly in flat 2D image, but panning and zooming and orbiting and all those 3D manipulating things shows there's nothing there:
The other end of this not-joined area shows a bit better:
After selecting all I could find/locate, I did the reverse normals and here's a slightly improved result:
Unfortunately, the other borked up portions prevented meshmixer from performing a suitable auto-repair, completely destroying the model in the process.
Those joint corners and any other colored lines have to be addressed individually. |
Cannot configure default E step for extruder on TH3D | Initializing
After changing your firmware, you always need to overwrite the old values in the SRAM and EEPROM with those from the Firmware. Which you do with M502 & M500:
Installing firmware does not by itself alter the EEPROM, so these settings needed to be seeded into SRAM via M502 and then saved into EEPROM via M500.
You could also run a G-code that has only these two lines:
M502
M500
Altering the EEPROM
Via command
Alternatively, you could access the printer via a terminal and send the command M92 E415 to overwrite the SRAM directly, then M500 to save the new setting to EEPROM. The associated G-code that only alters the E-steps/mm would read
M92 E415
M500
Via Software
Or you use a terminal that supports direct alteration of the EEPROM, like Repetier Host. |
Can a sandstone 3D print be printed as a solid object? | Yes, you can just print it solid. However, it might be significantly more expensive to print your object entirely solid. For instance, Shapeways charges \$0.75 per cm³ of material for their full-color sandstone. A solid cube of 5x5x5 cm would cost \$96 to print, whereas it would only cost around \$6 if you printed it hollow with 2mm walls. |
Layershifting near windows | That's a retraction issue, not layer shift.
Your nozzle starts printing a new line in those areas but doesn't extrude enough plastic at the first moments, resulting in a weak line. |
Dead thermister or dead board on Ender 5? | "Heater core" wires are not the same as thermistor wires, are they?
Check if thermistor is properly connected?
Reading -14 C in my case always pointed a disconnection of thermistor. (I didn't had a case of broken one so far.) In case of short it would probably show som max temperature (my guess, I dont want to try), but it is always good to check if wires are do not touch each other and are properly insulated?
Measure thermistor's resistance
If you are able to use multimeter, then:
disconnect thermistor from the printer board
set multimeter to resistance measurement (200k Ohms)
connect thermistor and multimeter using wires - the ones having aligator clips would be the best
read resistance measurent
My spare shows 97k Ohms in room conditions. So value should be high (you may refer to specs sheet of given type when in doubt).
Check that hotend is actually powered
If thermistor is OK, then indeed the hotend powering may be broken. Ths definitely require skills and may introduce many risks to electronics and maybe even to your health - but if you are skilled enough, you may measure with voltmeter if there is correct voltage provided to the hotend. For example the MOSFET on the board may be broken (I already replaced one in the past for my heated bed). |
Marlin keeps restarting when I push the LCD controller button | If the trouble was just a short between 5 V and ground, the board probably would restart whenever you pushed the button, with all kind of power sources.
The fact that the Arduino restarts only when powered from RAMPS makes me wonder another cause for this problem.
It's well known that most of Arduino clones don't have a good voltage regulator onboard. This causes trouble when you power Arduino from RAMPS, because RAMPS sends 12 V to Arduino through Arduino's Vin pin, and this 12 V goes to Arduino's voltage regulator, which should reduce it to the 5 V used by ATMega MCU.
The question is, probably the Arduino's onboard voltage is running almost at its capacity and, when you press the button, the extra processing load or the redrawing of the display makes Arduino reset.
The solution would be disconnect diode D1 in RAMPS, and power Arduino from USB, or feeding 5V directly to Arduino's 5 V pin (not Vin).
A third option (more complex) would be feed about 7 V to Arduino barrel power-connector. This lower voltage would reduce the task of Arduino's onboard regulator. My 3D-printer uses an Arduino clone, but, as I discovered about this problem before building it, I've never powered it from RAMPS. I dessoldered D1 on RAMPS and, since the first day, Arduino was powered from USB, or from a DC-DC buck converter that reduces 12 V to 7.2 V. |
Are there white filaments, that are not so translucent? | Most of the plastics used for filament are inherently transparent and largely colorless. Color is achieved by adding pigment. Translucent and transparent colors are easy, but opaque colors require large amounts of opaque pigments, and even then, their opacity has its limits - even with black filament!
You can probably find very opaque white filament, but beware - too much pigment will affect the raw properties of the filament itself, either in terms of print temperature or things like layer adhesion or stringing/clogging etc. |
How to edit Cura profile in Octoprint? | As far as I know, this is currently not possible. |
Considerations for placing STL on build plate | Orienting items
Orienting items on the build plate should consider:
overhangs - many hangning fragments will need additional support to be printed (cost of time and material, risk of failure); gravity and colling process will affect loose/hanging plastic in this or that way
layered structure - parts will be stronger in X-Y directions, and weaker in Z direction
adhesion - it is good to have wide foot to touch and stick to the bed, then only thin base growing big upwards, which may easily fail by any accident
space - if the thing is big, it may have to be rotated diagonally to fit the printing surface
So most of it comes from particular shape. Try to look at thing from different sides, spatial awareness helps a lot.
Placing items
Also, placing items on the build plate should consider:
heating system - heated bed surface may be warmer at center; even if the bed is heated evenly, than surface will cool down faster at sides, which may affect adhesion (e.g. ABS will wrap more often)
cooling system - sometimes printer has better cooling from one side (depending on location of fans or construction of cooling ducts), so any overhangs (fragments which have to cool down very quickly) should be properly exposed, otherwise they will wrap
environment (external influences) - they may affect heating / cooling as well; also mutual position of few objects may affect cooling or act as wall for wind
printer construction - e.g. backside of Prusa Air 2 frame is shrinking going up, and anything mounted behing extruder will hit the frame - so high prints should be X-centered/narrow, and rather wide along Y axis
multiple extrusion - if you use dual extruder, then mixed fragments may not be located on edges, because one of nozzles just cannot reach it
surface quality - e.g. I print ABS on Kapton tape; sometimes the tape gets small holes or tearing from hotend accidents or forceful part detachment - then I just avoid damaged areas
other issues - e.g. my Y axis is louder than X, therefore I rather try to use X axis more often (especially when printing late evenings)
view point - easthetics of printing: which objects, which sides you want to observe during printing?
acessability - if you may want to influence area during print, put something inside the part during printing?
So most of it comes from the experiences with particular printer - its technical parameters and observations. Many times it is only a choice - like simple PLA prints sticking well. |
Printing coarse threads | There are some software tools that let you manually design support structures so you can target the areas that need them, and avoid others.
For example, Meshmixer can be used to add supports into your STL. I believe you still use a separate slicer.
Some slicers also have the ability to manually add support. I have found that CraftWare and Simplify3D have this kind of feature. |
Spindle DC motor and drill bit specifications for Circuit etching CNC machine | There are several sources of PCB "etching" bits. They tend to be single straight flutes and high angle, very pointy bits.
For the motor, high speed is good. Look for 30k+ RPM. The main thing to be concerned about is the amount of runout, or wobble in the tip. With a tiny tip, you can't afford much runout at all. It will broaden the gap you are cutting and put stress on the bit, probably snapping it.
The key to low runout is very careful alignment of the chuck that holds the tip with the shaft of the motor, and a collet chuck to hold the tool.
The power needs aren't high since the speed is high and the cuts are light. I would think that a 250 watt motor should be way more than sufficient.
The question now asks for drilling and routing, which should work better with the high-speed spindle. 30k is better for the tiny drills than a much slower spindle. These are hurt by run out.
Usually the drill bits are made of carbide. For cutting, carbide router or file bits are used. All drill-bits and router bits and copper cutting bits I have seen for sale have 1/8" or 3mm shank. |
Auto bed levelling with Rumba board - Servo not deploying | For future reference.
My issue about the servo not moving was caused by a wiring mistake.
The Exp. 3 has 14 pins has per this diagram.
However when phisically looking at the board, what you see is this:
I took the first 2 pins on the right of such connector and the 3rd one of the first row thinking that I was connecting pins 2-4-5 of Exp. 3.
I was wrong, because the first 2 (1-2) pins are not part of Exp. 3.
The right way to connect the servo is as following:
Then use PWM1 (pin 5 Ext.3)
I decided to leave trace of this issue and the relevant solution for someone that may experience the same issue. |
How to correctly clean the Lacquer from bed? | The Ender 3 does not come with a lacquered surface at all.The bed should have a rough build surface that is a clone of the BuildTak build surface. It is intended to be rough and satin-gloss in its native state. I do not remember if there was a thin protective plastic foil on my Ender-3 bed on delivery, but if there was, it should have been removed during assembly.
A BuildTak surface can be easily cleaned with isopropyl or ethyl alcohol of grease and fingerprints. The odd discoloration at the edges seems to be a layer of grease and dust, which can be easily cleaned away by soaking it in Isopropyl alcohol and then wiped with a microfiber cloth.
If the bed surface is destroyed by chipping holes into it, sanding it or otherwise ruining it (like melting plastic rap into it), you will need to replace it. Replacement surfaces come about 5 bucks on Amazon. Doing this, you might find How to clean up my buildpate for a new build surface? helpful. |
What material best to use for press fit parts? | A flexible material, such as PETG or ABS, is probably the best. PLA is brittle, especially after absorbing moisture, and probably would crack under continued use.
Nylon is good, but not easy to use. With PETG in an enclosure, I end up running fans to avoid heat creep; so PETG may actually do better without an enclosure.
If you're printing to flex your print, keep in mind the the x and y axes are stronger than the z-axis, which depends on how well the layers stick together. PETG tends to stick to the print surface too well; so I use an Elmer's glue stick for it to pull up the glue layer instead of damaging my print surface. |
UBL Marlin settings to cover whole bed | PROBING_MARGIN and MESH_INSET make the effective probing area smaller, so if you want to have more area, you should reduce the value of these constants.
As of Marlin 2.x, the probing area isn't defined directly by the firmware configuration settings, but calculated, based on the probe offset settings. The constants you mention are reducing the probing area to keep the carriage/nozzle on the build surface.
If you have enough space on your printer to accommodate probing the whole bed, you could minimize the marging and define edges:
#if PROBE_SELECTED && !IS_KINEMATIC
#define PROBING_MARGIN_LEFT PROBING_MARGIN
#define PROBING_MARGIN_RIGHT PROBING_MARGIN
#define PROBING_MARGIN_FRONT PROBING_MARGIN
#define PROBING_MARGIN_BACK PROBING_MARGIN
#endif |
Can OctoPrint web interface be turned off during a print? | Assuming the OctoPrint server is running on your Raspberry Pi, which is the usual "OctoPi" setup, then yes, once you have uploaded the G-code to OctoPrint, you no longer need to leave the web interface open.
For example, one could upload code from their desktop running the slicing software to OctoPrint, walk to the printer to turn it on, then use a different device (a phone, for example) to connect OctoPrint to the printer and begin the print. At no point does the device accessing the web interface matter. The Raspberry Pi is in control of the printer, not the device that started the print. |
What is the MakerBot Grip Surface lifespan? | There's no quantitative formula for the lifespan of any grip material, be it tape, glue, or PEI sheet. If you find a lack of stiction and it's not due to small changes in the Z-origin (50 microns can make a big difference in the way the first layer grabs the bed!), then replace the tape. It's cheap.
Just to be pedantic, torn and scarred tape should be replaced :-) |
Can anyone suggest what technology and 3D printing material is most suitable for printing of dental models? | If resolution is your upmost concern then resin 3d printers are the way to go. They use a liquid resin that does not harden until a UV laser is shined through them. Apparently they get ultra high resolution and smooth finishes right out of the box. The downside is they are generally more expensive machines and the resin material itself is also a higher cost. but if you are in the dental field then money is not a problem. Look into resin 3d printers.
otherwise if you want to try FDM printers then try looking into .1mm brass nozzles which will increase resolution but vastly increase print time. Not sure what material would be best. ABS has toxic smelling fumes, but is the same as LEGOS and is able to be easily smoothed (if necessary) with Acetone fumes. PLA might work well at .1mm nozzle resolution though and is a starch/dextrin based non-toxic biodegradable filament. |
How do I 3D-print fair dice? | This is going to become a 3-step answer, as 3D Printing uses 3 different steps:
Design, Slicing & Material choice before I elaborate alternate ways to some fair dice. Yet, we start with the material, as we need to know about it first. In this case it does impact everything from design to slicing and the print.
Variant A: Printed perfect(?)
Step 1: Know your material
Let's face it: most materials used in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) face an non-homogenous shrinking between XY plane and Z axis. But if you know these specific properties for your printer/filament/temperature combo, you can compensate for that. Know your material - you will need that for slicing. Run a test print of a 10x10x10 mm cube and measure - the offset of the 10mm on each axis is what you need to compensate for via your slicer.
Step 2: Design fairly
Platonic bodies
When designing your STL, try to design as fair as you can. Either indent the numbers as little as you can while maintaining readability, or, if you have a 2 color printer, fill the numbers with same density material but from the other color.
Another thing to consider: indent the same surface area on each face of the body. That way you remove the same volume and thus same weight from each face, making it somewhat fair in the design, as the Center of Mass should be mostly in the center of the body now.
Prism-"dice"
A cylindrical (or rather: prism) design that is rolled over its "cylinder" surfaces might be the most easy to be designed fairly and be reasonably easy to slice, without having to resort to specialist slicing methods and tons of different compensations to keep in mind or having to assemble the object after print. It might be made with or without a "fall over" cone/elipsoid shape at both ends. Or it might be made like a dreidl, having only one conical/elipsoid tip for easy printing, possibly even havign the 'stem' printed as a different object and then assembled after print.
Step 3: Slicing
Now, there is a pretty fair design... but what settings to use when printing it?!
Infill will make it wonky, so there are 2 options: solid (100% infill) and fully hollow (0% infill). Solid is easier to print and heavier. Hollow saves (depending on surface sides) 95% or more of the material in contrast to solid but can fall victim to sagging flat surfaces or wall thickness being not the same as flat area thickness.
Now, after we chose the infill settings, we need to choose some other things. We want to print fairly delicate stuff, so we should use a smaller layer height than normally (0.05 mm, for example), and better a smaller nozzle - 0.2 mm or even less, if available. This again means, calibrating the printer/material combo for these two settings (XY / Z shrinking).
After calibration, finally print! The dice should be pretty ok in fairness with that, but they are still not totally fair...
Extra-step: Postprocessing
You might make a test for bias by floating it on a salt water layer under tap water... if you managed to get it solid enough to reduce the air inside it to make it sink between these layers. That way you can slightly sand the heavier side until it is unbiased.
If you manage to print somewhat fair and hollow, you might consider filling the cavity with some kind of resin (for example epoxy) to give the objects a bit of weight. This has some caveats on its own though: you'll have to leave a filling hole and you'll have to coat the inside equally or refill it several times to ensure a complete fill as most resins shrink when curing. Also, most resins heat up in curing, though usually not to the degree it melts FDM. As you work with resin, Wear gloves as it is aggressive to skin!
BUT! 3D printink can do more!
Variant B: Printed Perfection
FDM is home printer stuff, but maybe you have access to something more... industrial. They are tricky in their own way, and you better know what you do with them.
SLS (solid laser sintering) You just need to know your material shrinking coefficients in that case... and no, you don't need to think about infill, you only can do solid, 100% filled objects this way. But you will also have virtually no air in your print. Having SLS at home is rare though. This is however likely what you get when you order printed... but remember: the SLS powder is highly hygroscopic and will need to be sealed. Also, it does turn yellowish over time if it starts white. Using reused powder to a large degree degrades print quality also. And never look into the working machine.
DLMS (Direct Laser Metal Smelting) is quite new and pretty much the metal variant of SLS. If you make your dice in that way and get them almost indistinguishable from cast metal. Polish the surfaces a little, don't sniff the breath the powder and don't look into the laser.
DLP/SLA (Direct Light Processing/Stereo Lithography) Printing the thing from curing resin actually is pretty much close to SLS, but it has some resemblence to FDM in parts... biggest benefit: you can make very delicate details, and your layer heights get really thin - and you have a huge array of colors to choose from. But you have to take in mind, that you might want to either make the dice solid or design them with a hole in each of the sides or corners to allow surplus resin to flow out. You get perfect surfaces and can reuse the resin for quite a bitdepending on printer and storeage, but remember: SLA is a stinky thing, never look into the printing machine & the resins are very agressive to skin, so use gloves when working with the printing and the print until properly cleaned.
Variant C: Lost Print
But wait, what if you don't actually print the dice but just print a positive of the dice and then make a negative mold from that?
Yes, that can be done. You know lost wax casting? There you go. Here's your step by step:
Print your dice.
maybe even puzzle the positive together from several faces printed all in the same orientation for maximum equality in the print.
Add a casting inlet and air outlet to the print.
cast the positive in either a clay material or gypsum. Allow it to dry/set.
Burn/melt out the positive, you get a hot and empty negative form.
cast in liquid metal or a resin
break mold, remove the inlets, polish some and... voila!
If you are good at green sand casting, you might use that instead of lost wax casting - and reuse the positive for a second casting. Or, if you are good, you can make two-part molds that are reuseable.
Variant 3b: mold it!
If we can print a positive and make a mold from that, we might as well print a mold directly. We can just cast in "cold" materials then, but if you have something that can be cast that way (some resins or wax) you can make either the dice or casting sprues for lost wax casting that way. Designing here will be different on the last steps though: after doing your wanted object, use this as a "tool" to cut out from a more or less square block that surrounds it. cut out the inlet/outlet for material and air from the block. Then cut up to your liking, if you want a reusable multi-part mold. You might want to add a roove to add wire or a rubber band around the print to keep the mold together while casting.
Or we go industrial with that model, grab a CNC and make the mold halves that way and give up on printing the dice...
tl;dr:
Know your printer, know your material, design for your printer's requirements, design fairly, maybe avoid printing the actual dice but print a positive to be molded and cast or print a mold. |
da Vinci Jr. nozzle diagram | After watching the video, it looks this is a Bowden style extruder. The extruder assembly is encased in the black box the OP mentions. The assembly is user removable. It appears they also include two cleaning tools
Small (0.4mm?) wire to clean the nozzle tip
Large (1.7mm?) rod for pushing filament down that is stuck in the cold end
It appears the OP tried accessing the filament in the cold end by removing the fitting at the top of the assembly without opening the assembly. Unfortunately that caused the nut holding the fitting on from the inside fell off. At that point he was in a bit of a mess.
I believe the manufacture's intent is to "ram" any broken pieces in the cold end through the hot extruder by using the provided rod and pushing while the extruder is on. It seems that it should work but would not be easy to do if the filament broke off outside the extruder (which seems to be the case).
At the point he left it, it would seem that he would either have to do surgery or replace the extruder assembly. |
Three-phase stepper motors? | Three phase stepper motors are superior in several ways: see this advertising literature. Unfortunately for using this with simple stepper drivers, they have an extra coil of wire that simple drivers have no way to control. Two phase motors have two isolated coils, while three phase motors have three coils connected in a star configuration.
Texas Instruments offers this design suggestion for using three-phase motors: TI White Paper. Ultimately, it is driven by three synchronized PWM signals connected to three H-bridges, each driving one of the three motor wires. One could build a board with a micro-controller that accepted step and direction pulses and output the three-phase drive. At that level, you could substitute the micro-control-plus-H-bridge board for the Pololu-style driver in an existing 3D printer framework. You would need to configure the steps-per-mm correctly for the new drive system.
If you did this, and the sales literature is correct, you should get quieter operation with higher torque. How that would affect operation would depend on the torque of the motor, the rotating mass of the motor, and the gearing or belt drive you use.
Like two-phase motors, high torque at high speed requires driving the motor with a voltage much higher than the "specified" steady-state motor voltage. |
Nintendo Cartridge Print? | If I were to print one on my own, what is the cheapest price point I could obtain a printer that could do enough detail to make it hard to tell the difference from the real thing.
Around 15.000 US$.
FDM printers (the most common consumer-grade ones, the ones with the roll of filament beside them) all print with distinctive layer marks. Next are resin printers, but resins tend to have a very peculiar feeling to it, that is difficult to mistake for ABS or other injection-molding plastics, when you hold them, plus they typically struggle with largish objects. So you would probably be looking at a sintering printer, melting nylon powder with a laser. That is expensive to buy and very expensive to operate.
Now, while the above is all technically true, it is only half the story...
In fact prints done on a cheap FDM printer can be post-processed to look almost indistinguishable from an injection molded model. That takes probably more work to accomplish than modelling the object in cad and printing it though, so it's a matter of setting your expectations correctly (don't think to your print as "the product" but as the "base material" for your finished product).
I would say that you essentially have two options:
if you are looking at picking up a new hobby, and do a lot of sanding and polishing in the process, then: "welcome to the club!". There are plenty of relatively cheap printers that can print acceptably well (more on this below).
if your interest is not towards 3d printing in general but is really limited to getting project done, than you could consider having a printing service doing that for you instead (basically you send them the file with your design and choose what kind of printer and material you want them to use, and they send you back the end result). It will be cheaper and probably of a higher quality than what you could achieve yourself. Certainly it will require less time investment from your side.
If you go with option one, an affordable printer that got very good reviews from trustworthy reviewers is the cetus. It is 299 US$, have quality components and is very very silent. The build volume is not huge but should be more than enough for your project.
However don't take my suggestion as "this is the best you can buy for your money": there are plenty of models out there that will get the job done in the price range 300-500 US$, and if you are wishing to spend a bit more, you could get an Original Prusa MKIIs (the printer that topped the charts last year) for 600US$ as a kit or slightly more fully assembled.
Should you go for using a printing service instead, there are a lot of them. Two among the most well known are 3dhubs and shapeways. |
Horizontal lines on feature/geometry/density change | This is varying underextrusion due to loss of material to oozing in the interior of the model.
When printing the infill pattern, the nozzle doesn't follow a single continuous extrusion path, but moves from the end of one path to the beginning of the next, and under Cura defaults, does this without retracting the filament. This causes unpredictable amounts to ooze out during travel from one to the next, thereby desynchronizing the planned/intended amount of material extruded so far and the actual amount. This means, when the next outer-wall extrusion starts, there's an unpredictable deficiency between the amount of material at the nozzle to extrude, and the amount the slicer intended to extrude. The result is what you're seeing.
To fix it, you need to eliminate oozing, not just outside the model where it appears as visible stringing, but inside too. Either disable "Combing" entirely in Cura, or set "Max Comb Distance With No Retract" to something very low (0.8 mm or less). Also set "Minimum Extrusion Distance Window" to 0 to ensure Cura doesn't skip retractions for other reasons.
You may also want to play with extrusion length and speed. Too short or too long can be bad; 5-7 mm is the reasonable range for PLA with a bowden. Higher speed generally helps too; the printer should be able to handle 50 mm/s or faster. |
Does moisture cause warping? | Warping is caused by the plastic shrinking as it cools and inadequate bed adhesion is usually the what lets it warp. Either cleaning your print surface very thoroughly with rubbing alcohol or using something like a glue stick on your print bed will mitigate that warping enough that you won't suffer problems with your print. Printing too hot can also be a problem because the plastic will need to even cool more after it is extruded and could possibly lead to more stresses buildup in the plastic.
The dimensional stability of PLA really depends on the quality of the plastic. Storage conditions come into play as well, but it is mostly the quality of the material you need to worry about; I have some cheaper PLA that has gotten brittle due to having absorbed moisture despite being in a (albeit somewhat loosely closed) package with desiccants, and I also have a different brand of PLA that is of much higher quality that I just leave out in the open; this PLA doesn't exibit signs of moisture damage. Higher quality filaments are designed to resist moisture better and be more stable in terms of dimensions. With the cheaper brand of PLA, I have also experienced warping, but that is not due to moisture in the filament; that was actually from a new roll.
When a filament absorbs too much moisture, it can become brittle but still print. Excessive moisture will cause any water in the filament to vaporize when passing through the hotend and form bubbles that will ruin the finish quality of a print. You'll know if filament is excessively wet because you will hear quiet and sharp snapping sounds as the result of the bubbles that are formed in the plastic popping. You will also be able to see steam if you examine your hotend with a bright light as it is extruding.
I'd suggest trying a different brand of filament if possible, cleaning the print surface / adding glue, or at the very least, a new roll of filament.
(When using a glue stick to increase first layer adhesion, it could be worth noting something unusual I found; adding glue to the build plate of a Prusa i3 MK3S actually reduces bed adhesion in my experience. It might be worth playing around to see if super clean works for you, or if super sticky does. The build plate is coated in a very finely textured PEI if that is some information that could help your case.) |
Safety precautions when using acetone | There are a few main safety precautions you should consider.
Make sure the area is well-ventilated. Acetone is flammable. A buildup of acetone gas could quickly get concentrated, meaning that a single spark could lead to disaster. Using a fan is good; angle it towards an open window. This is also to prevent exposure to acetone because of its toxicity.
Be prepared to fight a fire. Should vapor ignite, you may need to fight the fire. If it is large enough, then you should clearly evacuate the area. If it appears to be small, use dry chemical powder to snuff out the fire. Alcohol foam, water spray, and/or fog may be used on slightly larger fires. Acetone is not likely to cause a large inferno to rip through the building. But there's always the chance of a small fire. Be careful.
Create a vapor chamber. This is another way to stop a potential fire from spreading. It can also reduce contamination.
Wear gloves. This can minimize any potential transfer toxic effects. However, skin exposure is unlikely to cause major issues.
Acetone is toxic, as I mentioned before, but it is not highly toxic. Exposure via the eyes and nose/mouth is the main risk. Skin effects may occur (e.g. mild irritation), but they are minor and generally arise only after long-term exposure (hence the recommendation of gloves in some cases).
Acetone exposure is only a serious problem when a person is repeatedly exposed to levels greater than 1,000 ppm (severe effects only arise at much higher levels). It seems unlikely, given a proper ventilation system, that this will be an issue
In addition to all this, basic safety precautions such as wearing a ventilator mask and goggles should definitely be taken. When working with any such chemicals with the potential for bodily harm, these should absolutely be used. |
Wanhao Duplicator i3 ABS settings | I am an official Wanhao Distributor
By experience I can recommend you to print with this settings:
Extruder 230 °C
Heated Bed 65 °C
Have a glass surface
Use hairspray over the glass
Continue to enclose the printer or at least put it where there is almost no wind
Print at 45 mm/s
Note that this settings vary a lot depending on humidity and other factors related to where you are printing, so it would be very useful to know where in the globe are you experimenting.
Also note that humidity is very very bad for 3D Printing Filaments so keep them sealed while not using them.
Please do comment if you have any more doubts. |
How can I print a 1 cm overhang with minimal supports? | Three ideas
If either side of the red ring can have a chamfer to meet the cylinder, add the chamfer and print with the chamfer side down.
If both sides of the red ring must be perpendicular to the axis of
the cylinder, can you print the cylinder lying on its side? You
might get good enough print quality, especially if printing with
thinner layers toward the top.
If that is unsatisfactory, try explicitly adding an inner support
ring as part of the model. Don't depend on the slicer to do what
you want, do it yourself. You would then be bridging to make the
red disk, but that can work surprisingly well with a good cooling
fan and printer.
In all three cases, consider the slot holes you have in the red ring. For case 3 you may need to add a support around those holes as well. In case 2, they would want to be pointed vertically. In case 1, the chamfer would be modified to have holes of cavities matching the slot holes. |
What tweaks do slicers use to get rafts to stick? | You could experiment with the 'cleaning' part of the startup gcode shown here
G1 X100 Y0 F4000 ; move half way along the front edge
G1 Z1 ; move nozzle close to bed
M109 S200 ; heat nozzle to 200 degC and wait until reached
G4 P10000 ; wait 10 seconds for nozzle length to stabilize
G1 E10 ; extrude 10 mm of filament
G1 z15 F12000 E5 ; move 15 mm up, fast, while extruding 5mm
G92 E0 ; reset extruder
I'm not completely persuaded that it helps a lot, but the idea is to fill the extruder (with some pressure from the bed at a 1mm gap) right before starting the skirt. Typically, I still find the first line of skirt may be quite blobby, but a 2nd line of skirt seems much better. Obviously you need the bed alignment right too. A raft seems to have enough 'extra' extrusion to mask these issues a little bit.
Later reflection suggests that these introductory G-code snippets (I've now started using the PRUSA one of a line along the edge of the bed) risk problems with flexible filament, so it might be best to err on the side of conservative for the extrude volume rather than assume that more is better here.
You can find other similar solutions in this question: Writing G-code : swiping at start of print |
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