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Periodical under extrusion with Slic3r | What you experience is temporary under-extrusion. This could be a typical result of friction in the supply of filament to the extruder. I've run into this also a week ago when the shaft of the spool holder caught a plastic bag next to it which wrapped around the shaft creating a lot of friction. Friction can also be caused by filament that gets entangled on the spool, this is usually a problem if the spool unrolls too freely on the holder (too less friction);it unrolls a few windings, and then tightens those entangling the filament. Also, if you use 2.85 mm filament on small diameter spools, the last stretch of filament has the smallest curvature and as such requires the most force to pull it to the extruder (this can go in steps).
Furthermore, slipping of the extruder gear is also a (rare) possibility (when using a stepper directly to drive the extruder gear, a flat spot on the stepper shaft should prevent this).
Be sure to inspect the filament release from spool to extruder and try to see (and listen!) what happens when you print a part when you experience the under-extrusion. |
Tips for making parts that push/snap together | There are many different ways too approach this and the question may be too broad, but here's a stab at it...
Here are a few different ways that I've made parts that connect in the past:
Example 1: Utilize the elasticity of the plastic by creating a semi circle to fit around another object. When fitting the part to the other object, the "wings" will flex out and relax around the back end of the object.
Example 2: T-Slot style designs are a nice choice for semi-permanent or interchangeable parts. The key here is just using trapezoids and make sure the "female" end is slightly larger and/or tapered to make it easier to insert the slides.
Example 3: Create snaps. This can be a bit more difficult, but can provide a more professional look to your design. It's best to start off by designing on L-Shaped slot on the parent part and a smaller L-Shaped extrusion on the child part. Then you can add a taper to the bottom area of the "L" to make it easier to insert into the slot.
Example 4: Creating plugs are similar to snaps, they're just circular. Try starting off with a cylinder and joining either a sphere or a slightly larger diameter and tapered cylinder on top. Then you should be able to snap the assembly into a hole that is slightly smaller than the "top" of the plug.
It's important to weigh the usefulness of some design choices against the purpose of your part. For me, if I'm designing something for the shop or something that I think I'm going to be swapping out often, I'll use the T-Slot idea. Other things that "looking pretty" is more important, I'll try to hide the connections by designing a type of snap that can go into the walls of the part.
The T-Slot designs seem to print quite easily with no need for supports (depending on how gradual the angles of your trapezoid are) and provides a lot of structural strength.
Printing snaps has been difficult for me in the past and its best not to try to unsnap the part too much as you run the risk of shearing the snap upon removal. Printing such a small feature means that it is usually not marginally strong. However, including multiple snaps in an area and designing them with tight clearances can provide a very neat/clean connection that is appealing for consumer products (for example, phone cases). |
What do you use to keep your blue tape from lifting? | The tape probably would stick better to the Aluminum bed than the BuildTak clone sheet you have as it would have had more surface area to bond to.
What I found that works best is to print on the bare aluminum bed using a PVA based spray, this can be hairspray or a specific 3D printer product like 3DLAC, or just glue stick. I ditched tape after day one (for reasons you mention) and solely print on aluminium or on glass without a problem, sometimes it sticks too well and the bed needs to cool down to room temperature before I can remove the print. This has been described as an answer to: Should you use hairspray on a metal bed 3D printer?
.
Removing the BuildTak clone sheet may be quite laborious if a very sticky adhesive is used (it took me a long time and lots of solvents to remove the goo/glue from a PEI sheet I used once) it is better to try and print on the BuildTak sheet, maybe use PVA based (hair)spray or glue stick.
Furthermore, ABS is more difficult to print than PLA or PETG. Printing ABS is difficult because of the relative large shrinkage when the filament cools. It therefore requires careful heat management (no part cooling, no draft, enclosure, etc.). This filament needs a good surface to build on and requires brims, "mouse ears", adhesive spray or glue to get the first layer to stick and not curl up. Tape at temperatures of 100 °C will become soft and loose its power to stick. Kapton tape might work better. |
What is the correct Marlin firmware setting for Tevo Tarantula with MKS Base V1.2 board | The MKS Base v1.2 is basically an Arduino MEGA2560 and a RAMPS1.4 on a single board.
You can use the RAMPS pin designation.
Note that the endstop to origin distances is explained in question How to center my prints on the build platform? (Re-calibrate homing offset).
In Jims Marlin fork you can find this at:
#define X_MIN_POS 0 - XTRA_BED_LEFT
and
#define Y_MIN_POS 0 - XTRA_BED_BACK
Unfortunately, XTRA_BED_LEFT and XTRA_BED_BACK are defined as zero; this implies that the endstops define the origin (not likely) or it is left as an excercise for you to find out. This answer explains how you figure that out. |
Disable Marlin PID, and start print manual | You can edit the temperature control commands out of your gcode, or just tell your slicer to omit them, typically by setting temperature to 0. Then, as you suggested, start the print manually once your industrial PID tells you it's at-temperature. |
How to increase the amount of probing points for a BLTouch sensor in Marlin firmware? | You need to change the constant value(s) in your Configuration.h file of your Marlin version from:
// Set the number of grid points per dimension.
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 3
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y GRID_MAX_POINTS_X
to:
// Set the number of grid points per dimension.
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 5
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y GRID_MAX_POINTS_X
This shows that to go from a 3x3 grid to a 5x5 grid you only need to change one value. Do note that you can set GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y to any value other than GRID_MAX_POINTS_X; replacing GRID_MAX_POINTS_X in the line with GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y to 4 would yield a 5x4 probe grid:
// Set the number of grid points per dimension.
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 5
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y 4 |
Determining exposure time for resin | Short answer: Use a calibration test.
Long answer: There are a bunch of calibration test files out there you can run. Ameralabs has a guide on how to read one of them and they have a link to download the STL at the bottom of the website. In short, the test file will print with a bunch of features that are hard for the printer to handle (thin posts, angles, small gaps, etc). You can try printing a test file like you would any other file while just guessing at the exposure time. But some printers have a setting just for this where you can run the printer once and print 8 copies of the same object each with a different exposure time. This is the best way to go if you can. either way, you will need to look at the prints when you are done and compare it to what it was supposed to look like. Pick the print that does the best in all types of features on the test.
here is a video showing how to do the test with multiple prints at once. Anycubic Photon S - Resin Exposure Test - R_E_R_F with custom timing
running these calibration tests can be useful even when you have a data sheet for your printer, it can account for other variables such a temperature. I don't usually bother but if you want to spend the time to get the best print you can it's a good idea. |
Any family of plastics / filaments that bend and keep their shape? | To have a material be "flexible" and retain the shape after the "flexing", you need to apply a stress in excess of the elastic deformation stress. You will want a material that has the elastic deformation limit that is much lower than the ultimate tensile strength. Unfortunately, for plastics, this is difficult to find.
Most plastics are made up of tightly bound, long-chain molecules. Flexing beyond the elastic limit requires breaking these bonds, which introduces weak points in the plastic. You can see this by bending almost any plastic. Either it will snap in two, or you will see a light or white colored line along the fold. The lighter color comes from light scattering from the broken bonds.
"Flexible" structural plastics such as ABS are a copolymer (more than one type of molecule) in which one of the polymers is rubbery. The rubbery bits provide places within the bulk material where the stress can create strain that doesn't require breaking bonds.
I doubt that any 3D-printer FDM compatible filaments will satisfy your needs. A filament must keep its shape during printing, if for no other reason than to permit the extruder drive mechanism to apply pressure to the filament. There are 3D-printable filaments, but they are very elastic and return to their shape when the stress is released.
Some metals can respond to stress with by flowing rather than by elastic strain. Lead comes to mind. Someone suggested copper. There are several degrees of hardness of copper depending on the alloy and the annealing schedule after it was formed. Copper also work-hardens, becoming harder and more likely break under stress the more the copper flows under stress. |
Continuing a failed print when you have Auto Mesh Bed Leveling | Continuing a failed print has nothing to do with automatic bed leveling. It has everything to do with knowing which line failed, repositioning to resume from that point, and resuming from that line of code. |
Can't get Y-Axis to move with Marlin firmware | There is a problem in the Megatronics default config file. I used an other default config file and it worked! |
Heatercartridge bolt stuck | Don't Panic!
First of all, a printhead caked in PLA is usually not a death sentence, it is often a temporary setback. Let's start in steps!
Step 1: remove the extruder
We want to work on the hotend, so we remove the extruder feed first. For direct drive, we unload it, then remove it depending on your printer, so the cooling of the hotend remains. For a Bowden, unload and, if possible, remove the Bowden tube from the cooling block. If not disconnect it from the extruder.
Step 2: remove from the carriage
Now that we have the whole hotend assembly bared, we remove it from the carriage. Usually, it is 2 to 3 bolts, more if the cooling solution is mounted separately and has to be removed to access it.
Step 3: remove the cool-end
If you can, remove the cooling fins - we want to have the heatbreak to hold on to.
Step 4: Clamp it up
Take a fire-proof surface (ceramic tile!) and put down the hotend. Rig it up that it can't jump away, best with a small vise. Don't bend the cables!
Step 5: Free the thermosensor
Let's start to clean! If your cartridge still works, get 12V onto the heater and let the stuff melt a little. Use pliers and a scraping tool to clean the thermistor cartridge.
As you have no heat control only heat in short bursts to prevent fire and destroying the cartridge too.
As an alternative and if you can't get the cartridge to work, use a hot air gun or a hot-air soldering station. A soldering iron with a broad tip also works well to scrape off the plastic with controlled heat an as a scraper to remove large chunks.
If you use an external heat source, free the heater cartridge first and remove it, hoping that it is not also dead.
As soon as you can, get the thermosensor out. If you run on the heater cartridge, install a fresh Thermosensor, even into the goopy heater block, and wire it to the board to regain temperature control and use the board to provide the power.
Step 6: Finish cleaning
I usually clean up the final stretch (and as far as I can: all steps) under board controlled heat:
Make sure that heater cartridge and thermosensor are installed well and working. Set the hotend to 170 to 180°C and do the last cleaning under the use of regulated temperatre.
Step 7: Do steps 1 to 4 in reverse order.
Reassemble, following the steps backwards.
Step 8: Hot Tighten!
Heat the assembled hotend to 240°C, then tighten the nozzle against the heatbreak to ensure tightness. Let cool, done.
Alternative
Replacement/Upgrade!
One could go down to step 3 and replace the hotend assembly (Heaterblock, Thermosensor, heatbreak, nozzle) with fresh parts and reassemble. This is much more expensive than reusing but cleaner and faster - if you need to print now, you might want to keep one hotend assembly on hand as spare and clean the one replaced while the machine runs.
External heat sources
As mentioned, a hot air gun or soldering iron can provide heat to remove the plastic caking.
The soldering iron has the benefit of doubling as a scraping tool and providing localized heat, allowing to possibly free the thermosensor without unsoldering anything in it, and it won't melt the heater block.
A heat gun provides gentle, overall heating of the beater block, but needs extra care where the hot air is going - it can easily char wood and might remove the solder from the heater cartridge.
A gas torch might be used to burn off any residue on a totally stripped heater block, but it also would be able to melt and deform an aluminium heater block! Do not use it on a still assembled heater block, or it will melt any solder in the heater cartridge and destroy it.
In any case, working on a fireproof surface is mandatory!
Chemically cleaning (for non-PLA)
PLA can be removed chemically, but the solvents are rather nasty and some take quite some time to work. Very toxic dichloromethane was used to make a solution of PLA to create thin layers used in this paper, and most other solvents the study mentions are at least equally nasty. The available working options - ethyl acetate and propylene carbonate - have high price tags associated with them. So chemically cleaning PLA from cheap nozzles is not an economically viable option. However, it is a viable option to use acetone if you have your hotend caked in ABS. |
What and how much does coloring in the filament affect in the print? | At this point in time I don't think there is a need to be concerned with purity of filaments based on pigmentation.
For the most part, variations in filament quality due to coloring should be the least of your concerns compared to some of the other variables such as quality of the pellets, extrusion temperature (when manufactured), cooling rate (after extrusion), handling/storage, etc.
Also, assuming your focused on consumer 3D printer use, the typical hardware components aren't equipped to be accurate enough to make fine adjustments with regard to the quality range driven by filament color. Even if there were capable, accurate extruder(s) installed, I think you would need a well designed feedback loop to ensure that you're reading temperatures along the full extrusion process (drive, melt, extrude, etc).
I believe what you're asking involves more material science expertise, from a design aspect.
However, I believe that the more "color" you have obviously reduces the purity of the material and thusly the material properties can suffer. Such properties as thermal resistance found in PLA and ABS. So theoretically if you have Black filament, you'll want to extrude with a lower temperature than you would with a natural "White" filament. I would think that the necessary difference in temperature would be a few degrees (Celsius). However, there are many other factors, such as moisture and manufacturing techniques that can take precedence over color differences.
My advice, figure out how to "cheaply" analyze your material and ensure you have an accurate temperature feedback loop. If can you do that, you'll be able to drastically change the quality of consumer 3D printing. |
Pause, rehome X/Y, resume | Have you tried this? It should just work, at least if you're using software like Octoprint to control the printer over serial interface rather than print-from-SD-card on the printer itself. In such a setup you're free to submit whatever commands (in particular, G28 X Y) you like while the print is paused. You'll need it setup to save and restore position across pause/resume, or the next command executed might start from the wrong starting position; this would be no problem if it's a travel command, but if it's an extrusion move it would make a mess.
If you're using the printer's builtin pause/resume functionality, I'm not sure whether it will work. It mainly depends on whether it lets you access the homing function while paused. If not this is more of a logic limitation than any fundamental incapability, and could be fixed in the firmware. |
Drift and stuttering on prints | I shook off my laziness and disassembled the mounts holding the stepper motors and tightened the belts. After doing so the drift was resolved. |
Extruder driver not working | Found the solution, I had to swap the cables on the board, now they are working. |
Printer head too low when printing | Did you verify the Cura z-offset actually changed the corresponding G-Codes?
I had the opposite problem on my RF1000. To fix the problem I added the following 2 lines to my start G-Codes:
M3001 ; Activate Z-Compensation
M206 Z-0.3 ; Set z offset 0.3mm closer to the nozzle
The first line was default in some example prints and is (as far as I know) only used by Renkforce printers. The second line moves the nozzle closer to the bed. In your case you'd have to move it further away and would need a positive Z value. |
Stringing during travel on first layer with Ultimaker Cura | Yes, if you are using the Combing Mode option, please ensure it doesn't do this in the skin, for a leak/string free first layer, it is required to set the Combing Mode to Not in Skin.
When the mode of the option is set to Not in Skin, combing is "off" for the skin; this implies that the material will retract and move in a straight line to the next print area. When material is retracted (and when properly tuned for your printer), the nozzle will not leak filament causing those (deposited) travel movement lines as indicated by the OP. |
Anet A8 Wrong Hotend Temp | You are sitting on a fire risk!
If you are using the stock/original firmware, you should immediately stop printing. The stock firmware of the Anet A8 has no thermal runaway protection (see also this answer), this means it will keep heating until the thermistor senses 200 °C, even if it cannot do that for some reason or another.
When a hotend temperature does not read the correct value, your thermistor in the hotend may not be making correct contact (as you say that it goes up and down). Please ensure that the thermistor is correctly positioned, it makes good contact and the wires correctly fastened.
Similarly applies to the heater cartridge, which can fall out and causing a fire if not properly fastened. Ensure the heater cartridge is properly positioned and held in the heater block.
Fluctuations in temperature sometimes are induced by a wrongly positioned fan duct (but generally not that much). The reason why this is not the case here is that you can still push the filament through while it reads about 120 °C; this temperature is generally too low to push filament through. Apparently the hotend is still hot enough to push filament through while registering a low temperature. |
How to re-program NEW Prusa MK3 MMU2 to accept taller Z axis | Basically, the answer on your previous question is still valid, but your specific questions will be addressed below.
To answer where the setting has gone by answering:
However, the layout is different for the new firmware v. 3.4.1, and I
have no idea where the Z axis settings have gone, if they are even
still there. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find the Z
MAX POS settings, please?
To find where the setting is, you need to go to the source code repository of Prusa firmware (which is based on Marlin firmware) or download the zip file with the sources and use a "grep" search utility to search in files.
The setting Z_MAX_POS is located in the board configuration file (so in 1_75mm_MK3-EINSy10a-E3Dv6full.h if you have the MK3). This can be found in the online sources (the github page). The online repository is located here. Using the search functionality to search within the source code files on that page you are able to find any setting you need to find. If you type in "Z_MAX_POS" and scroll down till you see
#define Z_MAX_POS 210
You have found what you where looking for if you located the MK3 board.
To solve your problem by answering:
How to re-program NEW Prusa MK3 MMU2 to accept taller Z axis?
Prusa development team has got rid of Configuration_prusa.h, you will not find this file in the repository anymore!
Instead, it is you that has to rename one of the board variant files (from the "Firmware/variants" folder) corresponding to the machine you have to "Configuration_prusa.h" and place it in the "Firmware" folder prior to compiling (note that these are simple actions that you can do on any operating system; i.e. copy file, paste file, rename file). Before you compile the sources, you need to change the value of Z_MAX_POS 210 to Z_MAX_POS 350. Please read the README file as this describes exactly in more detail than worded above what you need to do (e.g. use the correct Arduino IDE, e.g. 1.6.9 as this is used by Prusa development team themselves).
Quoting from the README file:
section describing the renaming of the file:
in the subdirectory "Firmware/variants/" select the configuration file
(.h) corresponding to your printer model, make copy named
"Configuration_prusa.h" (or make simple renaming) and copy them into
"Firmware/" directory
section describing the compiling:
run "Arduino IDE"; select the file "Firmware.ino" from the
subdirectory "Firmware/" at the location, where you placed the source
codes File->Open make the desired code customizations; all changes are
on your own risk!
select the target board "RAMBo" Tools->Board->RAMBo note: it is not
possible to use any of the variants "Arduino Mega …", even though it
is the same MCU
run the compilation Sketch->Verify/Compile
upload the result code into the connected printer Sketch->Upload
or you can also save the output code to the file (in so called
HEX-format) "Firmware.ino.rambo.hex": Sketch->ExportCompiledBinary and
then upload it to the printer using the program "FirmwareUpdater"
note: this file is created in the directory "Firmware/"
To compile the sources correctly please take care in using the correct
software versions and libraries (Arduino IDE 1.6.9, RepRap
Arduino-compatible Mother Board RAMBo by Ultimachine v. 1.0.1, Arduino
AVR Boards Built-in by Arduino updated to v.1.6.23)
Sidenote:
A little more in depth for those who are interested to know (and have some programming skills) why you need to change the name of one of the variants configuration files. Basically, Prusa uses different boards with different settings for the different printers they sell. All the settings for these printer variations are stored in the Firmware/variants folder. When you rename the variant file and put it a folder layer higher to Configuration_prusa.h (e.g.Firmware/variants/1_75mm_MK3-EINSy10a-E3Dv6full.htoFirmware/Configuration_prusa.h), these specific printer and board settings are included into the Configuration.h file (line 43 to be precise) by the C-code include statement:
#include "Configuration_prusa.h"
This include statement will basically insert (like copy in memory) the statements from the Configuration_prusa.h file and thus set important constants like:
#define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_EINSY_1_0a
and many more. |
Silver Solder specifications for hot end heating element | The first is not suitable. ASTM96TS Sn96Ag4 has a melting point of 221–229 °C according to Wikipedia. Pb96Ag4 would be OK, but that is not lead free so doesn't seem to match your description. Update from comment to explain the letters and numbers: the data comes from wikipedia, the numbers are Tin(Sn) 62%, Pb(Lead) 36%, Ag(Silver) 2%, for example, see below for an electronics solder compound.
Sn62Pb36Ag2 is an ordinary expensive electronics solder (but not lead free), with an even lower melting point.
You need to find a high temperature silver solder, with a melting point of about 305 °C (which confusingly might be a soft silver solder), for example one of these. Hard silver solders melt at 600 °C, that would be excessive in this application.
The nomenclature 'silver solder' came about before lead-free electronics solder was introduced, since when more alloys containing silver have become popular as general purpose solders. |
How to create a support structure in tinkercad? | If you're using the term "supports" to mean the extra material that the 3D printer needs to allow material to be deposited in "mid-air," your slicer will have a setting that permits this. Knowing which slicer is going to be used would enable someone to advise you directly of the location of the settings.
If you are going to be using a 3D printing service, you need not address those types of supports. The printing service will have qualified operators who will select the correct settings for your specific model. |
Access Temperature sensor data of 3D printer via Serial connection | Assuming your printer accepts conventional G-code flavor, extruder and bed temperature can be retrieved by sending M105 through the serial port. The printer will respond with ok T:XXX.X B:XXX.X where T is the nozzle temperature and B is the bed temperature.
You can read more about the specific G-code in the RepRap wiki.
EDIT:
I am editing the answer to include information for connecting to the printer using a simple python script.
The following script, first opens a serial connection to the printer. For Marlin firmware, when you first connect to the printer, it needs some time to initialize and respond back. That is why some delay is needed before reading the response. After printing the response, the script sends the M105 command, waits for 100ms, then reads the response of the serial buffer and prints it on the screen.
Note /dev/ttyUSB0 is the serial port name and in your case it may be different. Also 250000 is the baud rate of the connection; 250000 is the default value of my printer so you need to replace this with the baud rate that your printer uses.
import serial
import time
ser_printer = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 250000)
print "Connecting to printer..."
time.sleep(30) # Allow time for response
buffer_bytes = ser_printer.inWaiting()
response = ser_printer.read(buffer_bytes) # Read data in the buffer
print "Connection response from printer:"
print response
print "Asking for temperatures (M105)..."
ser_printer.write('M105\n')
time.sleep(0.1) # Allow time for response
print "Temperature response from printer:"
response = ser_printer.readline()
print response |
Temperature problems after switching to RAMPS 1.4 | For the overheating, you may need to turn the juice down a little on your Power Supply. Typically, there is a potentiometer inside that trims the voltage level coming from there. Some things can heat up if it's over-volting and needing to drop more voltage for the board.
For the temperature reading stuff, make sure the thermistor is plugged in all way and not possibly dangling near the hot-end block. I have had that happen before and it will report improper temperatures as it goes along, and often results in the hot-end getting too hot and messing with the filament. If it's properly secured it might be just crappy or broken in some other way and you would need to replace it. It's reasonable practice to have a few extra thermistors lying around as having them go out at lousy times will bum you out. |
What criteria do I need to be aware of when buying a 3D printer for personal use? | Here are few things to consider from my point of view
Printing technology
The first thing that you need to take into account is printing technology. The most common[citation needed] right now is Fused Filament Fabrication. "Liquid light-sensitive resin" is being used in Stereolitography and Digital Light Processing - the SLA printers I found are less common and more expensive than FFF ones.
Price
Need to decide on budget. You can buy printer for 60k USD and 400 USD. Quality is somehow linked to price but that's not a rule. You can buy a shitty printer for a lot of money.
Printing area
Bigger allows you to print bigger things. You need to ask yourself how big things you really want to print. Remember that 3d printing is quite slow process - how often you will want to print big things that will take 60hrs+ to finish?
Printing materials
What kind of materials you want to print with? Some materials will need higher temperatures so check the max hot-end temperature, some will require heated bed.
Assembled or DIY kit
You can usually get kits for self-assembly cheaper than Ready-To-Print machines. However, it will require additional skills (i.e. soldering), tools and time to assemble. I am not sure if I would buy DIY kit for commercial use, but as an enthusiast I immensely enjoyed putting my Rostock Max together.
Reviews and reputation
It is generally safe to buy printer that already has some users. Beware of new magical Kickstarter printers which will "change the 3d printing forever".
Reddit /r/3dprinting suggests that your new printer should meet 3 criteria:
Printer passes the youtube test - has lots of youtube evidence that this particular printer is working.
Printer is out of the pre-order phase. This means that all pre-orders have been delivered.
Printer has a reputation of working well among current users.
I found it to be a very good set of rules.
Upgrade capabilities
That's very user-dependent, but this point is very important to me. I want to be able to change and improve certain parts of my printer. Check if you can switch the extruder, replace the hot-end etc.
Support
I think one of the most important points. See if you can find a forum for your printer and how active community is. It will be immensely helpful if something goes wrong (and it will).
Also, company support is very important. What will happen if you need a replacement part or your printer will stop working altogether?
This list is definitely not complete.
There are many more things that might be taken into account like configuration (delta or XY), multiple extruders, closed cases etc. |
I need an acetone substitute | The answer really depends on what you are using it for. Is it for dissolving ABS? A quick google search should show you what you want.
The thread, Could you recommend me a suitable alternative to acetone as solvent?, has a good many points that are worth considering:
For example, you may need to consider the Polarity Index
Burdick & Jackson solvents are arranged in order of increasing
polarity index, a relative measure of the degree of interaction of the
solvent with various polar test solutes.
If you are using it to dissolve a polymer other than ABS, then the family/class of polymer may need to be considered:
Apart from your desired solvent qualities (non-flammability and low boiling point), the choice will be totally dependent on the family/ class which the polymer belongs. Based on the principal that 'like dissolves like, the attached document will provide you with good ideas on which solvent to use when a particular repeating unit of the polymer is involved.
Butanone is a possibility:
One alternative is butanone (button-2-one) - this is similar to acetone, but has a much higher boiling point. It is often used for alkylations etc. It has a boiling point of 79-80°C compared to 56°C of acetone.
or NMP:
N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) can be used. It is a polar aprotic solvent and dissolves many polymers. It has high boiling point ( >200 degree centigrade) It is soluble in water and easy to dispose which is a great advantage during work up of reactions.
However, some other alternative chemicals are listed here (from Any good alternative to Acetone?:
Butyl alcohol
methyl isobutyl keytone (MIBK)
denatured alcohol
MEK (methyl,ethyl,ketone), i.e. Kleen-Strip MEK Alternative
Ethyl Acetate
Some branded items, from Alternatives to Acetone:
Surfasolve
Surfasolve is a 100 percent biodegradable acetone replacement that removes adhesives, degreases tools and works as a resin solvent.
Surfasolve is a non-regulated product.
Bio-Solv
Bio-Solv is an acetone replacement that is 100 percent biodegradable. It is not deemed a hazmat, so shipping will not cost
you more. This acetone alternative is not listed on California
Proposition 65, a law passed in 1986 to keep substances that cause
cancer and birth defects out of drinking water. Nevertheless, you want
to use Bio-Solv in a well-ventilated area because of an unpleasant
odor. It is not, however, a hazardous air pollutant. Bio-Solv is not
petroleum based.
Replacetone
Replacetone is another acetone alternative. It is nonflammable and nonvolatile. It can be used as an acetone or MEK (methyl ethyl ketone,
an industrial solvent) replacement that is biodegradable. Both
Replacetone and Bio-Solv are referred to as green acetone.
Methyl Acetate
Methyl acetate is offered as an acetone replacement. Manufactured by the Eastman Chemical Company, it is utilized in industrial
applications. It is biodegradable, volatile organic compound exempt
and non-HAP (hazardous air pollutant)
Important note
However, some of these items may also be banned in your country, so check first. As you do not say which country that you are from, it is not possible to qualify this statement.
It is worth remembering that some of these substances are not as safe as acetone, and the fumes may be more toxic, so they should always be used in well ventilated spaces. |
Does the Da Vinci line of 3D printers come with a heated bed? | Yes. The Da Vinci Duo 2 (most common one) has a heated bed. |
Marlin bed autoleveling confusion | When the printer ignores the scanned topology (grid) of the bed this means that the levelling is not active. G29 activates the M420 to enable the grid. A G28 after scanning the bed will reset this.
You need to make sure that the start G-code (this is an optional script that is pasted before the sliced object) contains both the G28 and the G29, where the G28 is placed above the G29 on separate lines.
For each slicer this is defined in different places, bit if you use Pronterface for slicing, a good chance is that it uses the Slic3r engine. If I open an STL for slicing in Pronterface, it starts loading Slic3r.exe; this brings up the GUI for Slic3r which has options to define/modify the start G-code. |
What types of pigments can be used when making your own filaments? | The normal way pigment is added to filament (or any other extruded plastic product) is by mixing "masterbatch" pellets containing a high concentration of dye with the raw resin pellets. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterbatch) This is significantly easier and more reliable than trying to mix raw pigments into the plastic -- the likelihood of clumping and other issues is greatly reduced.
You can buy these masterbatch pellets and mix up colors in whatever ratios you want to achieve specific output colors. Just make sure the masterbatch pellet carrier material is compatible with your resin. There are a wide variety of vendors, including ebay. |
Maintaining fine details while applying smoothing methods | A technique I've used in the past is to make a acetone slurry of the same filament used to print your object, and carefully paint the details you need to smooth. You must be careful and only do a very thin coat or you may damage your print. You can add extra coat if needed to make sure the acetone has evaporatored from the previous coat of ABS filaments slurry. |
Slicer reports 1000s of errors not seen in Cura; Render is missing big chunks | Cura and Slic3r are very different programs. You will not get the exact same print between the two. I find that of late slic3r will try to fill holes when older versions do not. So even versions will not behave the same. I will say I have less issues with simplify 3d, but the price is very high.
Following. When this happens I attempt to repair the model. There is obviously some unresolved issues in the model. I use Netfabb which has been exported to this online tool.
Really though. I would ask for my money back ;-) |
Can't control printer via USB | Good morning, and welcome to 3D Printing SE.
You said: "I can see information from the printer via USB in RepG and through OctoPrint, but can't send any prints, commands or upgrade firmware (I wanted to flash Sailfish 7.7 eventually)." This means that the USB communication is working fine. It isn't a question of drivers or the FTDI interface chip. That must be working fine or you wouldn't have any USB communication.
I would look toward a problem with slight dialect differences in the firmware that is flashed compared with the expectations of the host software.
I am not an expert regarding the differences in firmware G-code dialects, but there are at least: Marlin, Repetier, Mach3, LinuxCNC, Machinekit, Smoothie, Makerware, Sailfish. I got this list from the "about" page for Slic3r.
I would start by trying to slice files with different dialects and seeing if one of the resulting G-code files prints. You may also find a description of the firmware you have flashed with references one of these names, which would save a lot of time.
For flashing, you could try dropping back to the Arduino level and use those flashing tools.
More answer in response to the information you have added to the question.
X3G files are not G-code files. If you are using a control program that expects G-code, it will not be able to handle X3G code. Similarly, if the printer expects X3G, it may not understand G-code.
Octoprint has an adapter layer that seems to interconvert between g-code and GPX. You are running this layer. At about line 11 of the log file you added to the question:
Recv: echo: gcode to x3g translation by GPX
The GPX add-in may be perfect, and it may cover all version of firmware and all functions. I don't use it and am unfamiliar with it.
To flash your board, I would be reluctant to assume that Octoprint/GPX new how to run that protocol. I would use the host software supplied by the vendor. Flashing is an infrequent operation, and add-on software is less likely to have it 100% correct. If I were writing GPX, I would intentionally make flashing be out-of-scope, since the consequences of doing it wrong could easily be to brick the printer.
Since Octoprint/GPX claims to be able to print to the printer, I would being all software up the respective current versions. Flash current Sailfish firmware using the supplied host tools. Update to the current/best version of Octoprint/GPX. Read the release notes of Octoprint/GPX for known issues.
It seems that X3D files are fairly limited in their use, which will constrain your options to be within the scope of the community that uses X3D files. I tried to add the X3D tag to your question, but so far no one has created the X3D tag.
Makerbot is part of Stratasys, and should be well supported. It may be well supported mostly within its ecosystem. You have a clone of a Makerbot machine, so, even though most or all of the printer parts are open source, you may not be able to use the genuine Makerbot host control software.
Your question asked if your controller board was working. It almost certainly is. I think you have a software/firmware compatibility problem. |
I am looking for the aluminum profile parts specs for this prusa i3 printer? | They are 2020 (20mm x 20mm) T-slot extrusions. They should not be confused with V-slot extrusions, which are similar to T-slot, but have a 45-degree slot profile to accommodate V-slot wheels.
If you are contemplating a new build, I would recommend using V-slot. Note that T-slot and V-slot come in a number of sizes (in multiples of 20mm). A 2040 profile is 20mm x 40mm, and will have two slots on the wider sides. Other sizes are available, such as 2060, 2080, 4040, and even C-shaped profiles.
You may want to use 2040 profiles for greater rigidity, especially if you are contemplating a large build volume.
Note that there are imperial as well as metric T-slot profiles. RepRap uses metric profiles.
ReRap Wiki: T-slot
OpenBuilds: V-slot |
Meaning of G1 -2.000 F2400.000 | G1 -2.000 F2400.000
Is not valid G-code. As you note, -2.000 should be prefixed with an axis (X,Y,Z or E).
Marlin would ignore the -2.000 bit and simply treat the command as equivalent to
G1 F2400.000
which doesn't perform any movement, but sets the feedrate for any future moves to 2400mm/min.
x and y shouldnt have negative
Not necessarily. Even though normally printing is done in the positive quadrant, negative values can be valid. Not only in relative movement mode, but even in absolute mode (for instance, if you set the center of your bed as (0,0) or if you use a negative z-axis offset the bring the nozzle closer to the bed). |
Problem in X and Y-axis dimensions | Usually uneven dimensions in X and Y directions are a result of improper belt tension of one of your belts. With improper belt tension, the positioning of the printer head is less accurate and typically results in non-circular prints. You should check the belt tension and adjust the tension, not too sloppy, and not too much tension (as it stresses the stepper motor which can lead to missing micro steps).
Furthermore, the uneven dimensional differences you mention (are these values you mention for similar sized dimensions? e.g. is this measured on a test cube print), if they are smaller than the design, and if it is a complex design, can also be related to shrinkage, e.g. ABS is a well known material that shrinks. Plastic shrinkage is basically the same in all directions, but complex shapes could introduce stresses preventing even shrinkage in all directions. To counteract shrinkage, you should slice your model scaled, e.g. scale to 102% to counteract a 2% shrinkage.
If the belts check out right and you are printing in PLA, you may want to check the steps per mm value. This calibration is only useful when you print a test cube at e.g. 200%, the inaccuracies also increase with the same ratio. If not, than it is a positioning error, caused by some play in the machine. Please check the bearings. |
What are main differences between rafts, skirts and brims? | Rafts:
Rafts are a few layers of plastic a placed on the printing surface before the object is printed. If non water dissoluble filament is used, a bit of an air gap will be placed between the raft and the print itself so it can be removed easily. A raft can help a print stick to the printing surface as it normally has a larger surface area than the bottom of the print. It also allows the bottom layers of the print to contact another layer of plastic so there is less spreading compared to printing on the printing bed itself.
Skirts:
Skirts are loops of plastic that are extruded around the object that is being printed. On the first layer this allows the filament to get pushed through the extruder so that a steady flow can be established. A multiple layer skirt can be used to create a blockage around the print so there is less air movement on the print and the print can cool slower.
Brims:
A brim is a layer of plastic that is placed on the first layer of the print go allow for better adhesion to the printing surface. It does not extend under the print as a raft does, but only goes from the edge of the print to a set distance away.
Credits: Images from Slic3r |
Botched firmware upgrade - did I destroy the stepper drivers? | About 15 minutes after posting this, it started working again. Either the driver had badly overheated and recovered after cooling down, or was never messed up and the firmware was just refusing to operate it with the nozzle cold. For the latter possibility, the stock firmware never had that behavior before, but maybe it's possible that some saved configuration to ignore nozzle-cold got lost in the flashing? |
How does a UV LCD 3D resin printer work? | I'm surprised your research hasn't answered your question, as the concept is relatively simple. You have most of the answer in the question. The missing item is a light source. Usually the source is an array of ultraviolet LED modules. There are resin printers that would not be called LCD printers, as they use computer display projectors to generate both the image and the UV to cure the resin.
A rather extensive list of various resin printers can be found at aniwaa.com along with a clear explanation of the technologies.
The image below is courtesy of the link in the previous paragraph.
The light source that answers your question is visible in the third picture. As noted, the LCD panel blocks the light based on the image to be cured. I think the "uses its own light" is somewhat misleading, unless the builder has found a high-UV output LED LCD panel or is using daylight resins and has configured for long burn-in times. |
Optimal ratio of fresh to used nylon powder | I currently use the 60/40 recycling mix ratio and find that it works very well. I do however wonder if there is an even more effective ratio in order to recycle used powder. I currently discard all "cake" powder (powder remaining in the build piston) and am only "recycling" the push off powder. I found this paper but it's unclear if they are reusing just the push off or both push off and cake. Any further opinions/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org/IJME/2015/Volume2-Issue7/IJME-V2I7P106.pdf |
Calibrating steps/order | How to Calibrate. Oh man that is a good 2-3 page long blog post.. So I will try to give you the bullet point section.
High level
Mechanical
Firmware
Software
repeat
Mechanical
Level everything. Bed. The X axis. Make sure there is no binding, etc. Also make sure the surface you are on is flat before leveling the printer by it.
Firmware
Get that printer moving. This is where you do you Steps per MM. I like Triffids guide.
Now is when you go into the software and start setting your slicer settings. This includes your filament measurements etc. You should go back 2-3 times between this step and the previous to make sure your extruding EXACTLY what you think you are. As mentioned by others filament calculation is hard. You need to measure across a lot of material. Take the averages. You will never get it perfect as the plastic is never perfect. Picking a solid supplier is a factor here too.
Once you think you have that all working. Repeat. Start at step one.
After your done looping though you will start with the slicer calibrations. Which is the meat of your question. You will take collections like this one or this one and tweak settings until you can pass each test. Do your tests in this order
single wall test
hollow cube
solid cube Here is a Bonus solid cube
bridging test (honestly I rarely do this one..)
part fitting test
Now for testing when switching material. Honestly its best to start with their settings, and tweak them. I like to have a spread sheet of xy speed, Z lift, temps. Massage it till you are happy. The firmware settings like jerk and acceleration will be less of a factor between materials. Get it perfect once and don't touch it (till you decide it is not perfect).
You will be testing the new material with the same STLs as I mentioned in the precious section. You also might want to look into Simplify 3d (no affiliation) if you get really into it. Also SAVE THE SETTINGS. Nothing sucks more then losing all this work and having to recreate these profiles for materials. Do not trust slic3r to back them up, or to not randomly delete them. Hard lesson there.
Far as max speeds and accelleration..
Max speed will really be a function of how fast can you hear up plastic. If you have a e3d with Volcano mod you can really crank the speed up. So you go to the point where your extruder just cannot hit target temps AND you are unable to print solid infill. Far as acceleration and jerk. When you knock your extruder causing your print to shift, then you know it is accelerating / jerking too hard.
Best of luck! Let me know if I can clear up a section for you. |
Incorrect inner dimensions of 3D prints with Ender 3 | There are 3 effects at work, and you misread your micrometer: the measurement is 19.35 in the picture.
You have a little lip
There's a little lip at the top and bottom of the print. You'd need to clean that up with a sharp knife or sandpaper. That is the biggest part of the error you measure.
Movement errors accumulate
Errors also collect on the center of holes due to the order in which walls are usually placed, resulting in outer walls having the correct diameters but inner holes having a small offset.
Plastic shrinks when it cools
A smaller part of the error is the plastic shrinking as it cools, but that can be compensated for by the slicer - if your printer allows for it: Under Materials, there is a Shrinkage Ratio setting.
There's compensation for that in Cura
The option is under Shell and called Hole Horizontal Expansion. Setting that value to 0.6 mm to 0.7 mm should solve the hole sizing error. |
Does right handed radial fan exist? | https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/120mm-Small-Squirrel-Cage-Exhaust-Plastic_653850349.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.14.23834341IiKFAu&s=p
After quite a bit of searching the above link from Alibaba was all I could find. I suspect that they don't make them like that because of the direction of the rotation of the blades. Perhaps they are made so that the rotor can be swapped around if necessary.
(https://i1.wp.com/www.homeintheearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CentrifugalFanTypes.jpg)
The different curving of the blades affects either the volume or the pressure of the airflow (or both).
Alternatively how about one that is more agnostic:
https://www.amazon.com/2Packs-Wathai-40x40x10mm-Brushless-Centrifugal/dp/B07RNZF97F/
Or just 3d print your own housing! |
Can I use a 2D photo to get a 3D printing model? | With just 1 2D photo, you can never get a 100% accurate 3D object. That is because you don't really know about the hidden parts. Think of a photo of a smiling mischievous child that is facing you, and you can't see that they are holding a sling shot behind their back. However, with multiple 2D photos, one can reconstruct a 3D object, provided all the parts are seen. This is called photogrammetry. You can search wikipedia and youtube for in-depth discussion about this. It is an entire science. There are applications that do this for you, but I can't recall the details right now. |
How should I make my PTFE tube smaller? | I would advise buying a new tube for a few reasons:
PTFE tubes should be either 4 or 6 mm external diameter (for 1.75 or 3 mm filament respectively). Chances are that if your external diameter is that much off from the nominal value, the inner diameter will also be inaccurate, and this could cause a lot of problems during printing, as the filament will likely bend slightly and unpredictably within the tube and the pressure in the nozzle will be unstable, as well as retraction may work inconsistently.
A non all-metal extruder is designed with the assumption that the inner and external sections of the PTFE tube are concentric. This may or may not be the case for your tube, but it is likely that any hand-made modification to the tube will cause the above not to be true.
PTFE tubes are pretty cheap (around 2€ per metre or less, when bought online).
That said, should you still want to manually modify your tube, I would proceed like this (beware: untested!):
Insert the end of the tube onto a drill bit that fits snugly into it.
Insert the drill bit into a drill press or a drill held in a vice or otherwise immobilised.
Let the drill spin the bit/tube at a moderate speed
Move a piece of fine grit paper up and down the portion of the tube on the bit, trying to apply consistent pressure.
Check your progress with a caliper or a micrometer often, and reduce increase the grit while approaching the desired result.
Best luck! :) |
Melzi v3b firmware flash | I have had trouble before not using spacing between arguments. I think no spacing between -b and 57600 is causing the problem. Try
avrdude -p m1284p -b 57600 -c arduino -P COM%x% -e -U flash:w:%filename%.hex |
How to design a DIY printer | There are lots of ways from mere specifications to designs. Most follow several of the principles below, but designing a printer is not a light undertaking. it's HUGE.
Copy and adapt
The most easy way is to take a known design, for example from the RepRap wiki, and copy it verbatim. But it can easily undergo some adaptions, like different hotends or bed sizes.
Paper sketch & notes
Writing down the specs of some parts is very important to make sure these stay consistent. Paper is also the tool of choice for initial sketches or even finished designs to guide building the actual parts.
CAD
CAD is an almost indispensable tool to map out the placement of parts and combine them. Or later design parts to print. A CAD design doesn't need to be detailed, it can use stand in rough outlines. Only where parts need to be custom-made, details are essential.
Prototype
All projects go through prototyping when groups of parts are built and tested on their own and combined piece by piece. Also, this step is where you finalize the firmware. |
Filament long term storage | In theory, most filaments don't go bad.
It is however always a good idea to store filament dry. To enforce this, some use racks in a well-heated room, others are blessed with very dry weather overall. And others are forced to use dryboxes. Dryboxes can keep the filament reasonably isolated from the surrounding air and so prevent moisture interacting with them. It is also a good idea to store them out of direct sunlight, as UV light might destroy color and/or the plastic.
More information on why to use them is for example at the question Which filaments actually do need to be stored in a drybox?
A couple construction videos using an IKEA box and a bit of foam were offered by Tom (Thomas Sanladerer) and CNC Kitchen (Stefan Hermann) in the last year.
But fear not: most filaments - PLA included - can be freshened up again! Just bake them at a low temperature or store them in a dehumidifier. For PLA, keep the temperature at below 80°C. A couple hours should get all the moisture that has seeped in out again. The Quality might not get back to that of fresh filament in all cases, but you might at least regain reasonable to good printability. |
Is nozzle no longer heating up correctly related to hotend insulation being pulled off? | Yes I had this same problem myself.
You will need to re-insulate it using a silicone block and next time don't leave the window open while printing. Just keep the fan or AC on to circulate the air. |
Problem with first and last layers | You may want to ensure that your filament diameter is correctly set in your printer's CURA profile, and that your hot end is at the correct temperature for the material you are using. Additionally, you should not need a raft to print the cube, and should be able to do without a raft or brim. |
Are SLA prints also susceptible to say microbes like FFF prints are with the microscopic flaws? | The best information I could find was this article from Formlabs about food safe 3d printing. It has a fairly detailed discussion of the different food safe requirements and the conclusion basically is that SLA prints are not food safe by default and can create conditions for mold and bacteria growth. SLA resins are toxic when uncured.
The article goes on to list a few options that can increase the food safety of printed objects.
Dipping in a food safe coating such as a food grade epoxy or polyurethane. But it does note that this may not make the object food safe as the coating may be compromised.
Making a mold from the 3d printed part and using the mold for food contact.
Electroplating the printed object with metal.
Printing with ceramic filled resins, burning out the resin in a kiln, and glazing the part with food safe glaze. |
What printer is this? | Yes, it is a "Sells Mendel" in reference to Edward Sells. As noted on the RepRap wiki:
Ed Sells, a student of Dr. Adrian Bowyer, designed and built the first Mendel printer, sometimes called a "Sells Mendel" to distinguish the original design from later tweaks. |
How to create a web-based PHP that can print to multiple printer(when idle) using silent printing | I'd recommend starting with connecting your printer(s) to OctoPi. From there, try to find either an API or way to create your own plugin. Then just set up a workstation that will manage your print queue and delegate the prints using some form of web request.
I personally don't recommend creating your own slicing engine. If you want to do everything directly from "the workstation" try looking into Skeinforge (most popular from ReplicatorG slicer), Cura (I believe from Ultimaker), and/or Miracle Grue (from MakerWare) as your slicing engine. You can most documentation/source on GitHub.
In the meantime, try to narrow down the general sense of how you want to accomplish this and edit your question. As a reminder for more technical questions regarding code, please use Stack Overflow. For example, "How to create/use REST request?" |
Anet A8 right Z drops 2 mm during print | My guess is your Z guides are not strictly parallel because there's no instruction how to install X guides correctly. When you install X guides, you can easily make horizontal distance between two Z-mounts either too small or too large, which puts extra stress on one of the Z motors. Move your extruder to home position, measure distance between bottom ends of Z threaded rods and between top ends, and try to adjust right Z-mount position on X guides so that these two distances become equal. Use hammer, but be accurate with plastic. |
Connecting my OctoPrint to a Google drive folder | You could mount your google drive using gdrivefs on your pi following this tutorial: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=109587
However, I have to ask: why send the file to the internet? Is your printer/pi on a separate network than your desktop where you are slicing?
If they're on the same network, you'd be better off setting up a samba share on your raspberry pi (https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/samba-file-server/) and then mounting that directory from your desktop (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-connect-to-linux-samba-shares-from-windows-10/).
In either case, you could set the directory (the gdrive directory or the samba share) as the watched folder in octoprint's config.yaml (http://docs.octoprint.org/en/master/configuration/config_yaml.html#folder). |
Strange walls/faces when importing self made model from Blender to Cura 3 | It is quite common for modelling operations to result in 'non manifold geometry', meaning that some of the faces intersect or are not perfectly joined.
Although there is nothing obvious in your model, you can check in blender by going into edit mode, unselect all, selecting nodes, and 'select all by attribute/non manifold' Ctl-Alt-Shift-M (if I remember right).
Usually this happens with boolean operations where you merge the same object twice (i.e. union for the hole, then difference with the cut part). You would need to apply the boolean to see the non-manifold result.
Any of the standard mesh fixing tools will attempt to clean up your exported STL, and you could then import the model back into blender (but then it is a one way process, and you can't make updates to the base model). |
Random lines are being printed? | If the printer is printing, it is instructed to do so by the G-code file unless you are printing through an external software program that has extra G-code to print before your print starts. E.g. in OctoPrint print server it is possible to execute G-code before the print starts.
Left line = Priming
The straight line on the left is typically used to prime the printer nozzle to get the filament flow starting, this is typically seen in PrusaSlicer (Prusa's fork of Open Source toolpath generator for 3D printers Slic3r). This straight line is called priming line, purge line or intro line, and is typically (but not necessarily) printed outside or at the edge of the bed area. Furthermore, a prime line print routine will catch errant nozzle ooze, test extrusion (it is the first indication if the nozzle to bed distance is correct; if not you can abort with minimal material loss) and perform a final wipe action to avoid stringing between the prime line and start of the print. Note that this straight prime line is not a standard option in a custom profile of Cura, so this was part of the Ender-3 Preset you imported or possibly you have copied a starting G-code that includes this prime line.
A typical set of G-code lines to create a prime/purge/intro line is found in your start G-code and could look similar to:
G1 Y-3.0 F1000.0 ; go outside print area
G92 E0.0
G1 X60.0 E9.0 F1000.0 ; intro line
G1 X100.0 E12.5 F1000.0 ; intro line
G92 E0.0
After slicing your object, you will find such lines in the generated G-code file, but they are not displayed in the preview. Further information can be found in Writing G-code : swiping at start of print
Equidistant line = Skirt
The lines at distance from the print object is called the "skirt", the skirt is an option found under the "Build Plate Adhesion" options in your slicer. The function of the skirt is similar as described for the straight prime line, but it has additional effects that can be wanted. It also shows fairly fast if the bed is unleveled as a whole or if the bed is greasy. Please look into: "What are main differences between rafts, skirts and brims?
".
Note that it is usually superfluous to use both the prime/purge/intro line and the skirt, both have a similar function. The benefit of the skirt is that you can configure it within the slicer (e.g. length of the printed skirt, height to use as a shield for draft or ooze and distance to product). The downside is, that a skirt limits the useable build area by the distance and width of the skirt. |
Removed Nozzle, Plastic Still Backed Up after Cold Pull on Ender 3 | I have encountered this many times. This is how I solved it:
Sadly you have to disassemble the entire hotend. Remove the nozzle, remove the heatbreak and heatsink leaving the heater block in place, it does not need to be cleaned (unless I am mistaken). If there are any plastic pieces in those parts, remove them as well.
Now for the cleaning. Use hot air gun to heat the nozzle/heatbreak/heatsink hot enough so the filament starts to melt. Then you can use a thin screwdriver (or metal wire) to push the stuck filament out.
Alternatively, you can use blow torch (or gas soldering iron with the soldering tip removed) to melt and burn away the stuck plastic. However, when the plastic burns it transforms into a solid dirt which you have to manually remove. But it does not stick as well as the original filament.
I advise against using q-tips because they are made out of plastic which can stick to the surface as well. Instead, use a piece of old cotton cloth (old sock or t-shirt will do) to wipe the surface or threads after heating the part.
When doing so, use needle nose pliers to hold the part in one hand, with the other hand use hot air gun or blow torch to head it up. Then remove the source of heat and with the same hand use screw driver or piece of cloth to clean the part to your liking.
It is ugly and messy and you will most likely burn yourself several times. But it solves the problem quite reliably, unlike cold-pulls and other methods (at least in my experience).
Bathing the parts in acetone will most likely do nothing (unless the stuck filament is ABS) because most filaments in use are resistant against dissolving in acetone. If you need to remove filament from anywhere, use heat not chemicals. It is easier and works almost 100% time.
Good luck.
Note: The solution above for heatbreaks and heatsinks concerns only full metal hotends. Hotends with PTFE lining (such as on Ender 3 Pro - I do not own one, cannot confirm) need to wory about filament being stuck in the nozzle and/or in the PTFE tube, not in the heatbreak and/or heatsink. |
Mushy small top layers? | Layer Times
See my answer to this question and pay particular attention to my suggestion about a minimum layer print time. I'm not sure if all slicing engines provide this option, but I know MakerWare/MakerBot Desktop and (possibly) Slic3r allow this setting.
Basically, when you're extruding smaller features like this, the previous layer(s) are still very hot and possibly very pliable. So, as your nozzle moves around above the previous layer, the nozzle may (and probably will) push some of this molten plastic around. Chances are you can see it to a certain degree while it's printing. You can definitely see this in a most drastic state if you print a tall and small diameter cylinder. You'll notice that the part will become almost exponentially unstable the higher it goes.
By increasing the time your printer takes to print a single layer, you are allowing the previous layer(s) to cool closer to the ambient temperature of the build space, and hopefully not as molten.
Please refer to this calculator or a similar one for material cooling times. For a standard shell setting of about 2-3 (0.4mm nozzle) will yield about 130sec to cool down to room temperature. I would recommend (for ABS/PLA at least) about a 15second minimum for each layer, possibly longer depending on the size and spread out of the features.
Also note that this can be cheated by simply printing multiple items in the same build plate with the same heights (ie. multiples of the same part). Naturally, it will take longer for the machine to print the rest of the parts and therefore allow each layer to cool slightly before being printed over.
Active Cooling
Again, some slicing engines have an Active Cooling setting. I don't personally have this option setup on my machine, but I believe it regulates the flow of air directed at your nozzle (usually by use of a mounted fan). This can help cool the layers a bit faster. With ABS, this might result in some pretty bad warping mid-print.
Feedrates
Try bringing down your feedrates to provide the printed portions of the current layer more time to cool if the above options aren't available. Note that you might also bring down your hotend temp to shorten the time it takes to cool the plastic.
All else fails
My only other suggestion is stated above, try printing duplicates on the same plate. My diagnosis is that the previous layers aren't cooling down enough before the next layer begins. |
Is there any commercial supplier of 3D printed parts made from acrylic (PMMA)? | While I don't know of PMMA as a standard offering, I do know that a lot of the smaller entities will gladly accommodate custom requirements for the right price and an understanding that results may be inferior to their tried and true.
My recommendation is to google "3D Printing Service" and find what's local. Local will hopefully mean you don't have to wait for a shipment to review the quality. |
Are silicone socks safe? | Silicone socks are safe to use, provided your printer is safely operating and you are using the silicone socks in their operating temperature range.
Your current setup is NOT SAFE!
When the heater element falls out of the heater block (that should not happen in the first place, please secure it correctly) and heats up to about 800 °C this means that the printer has no active Thermal Runaway Protection (TRP) enabled. Basically, when the thermistor doesn't measure a temperature rise while the voltage to the heater element is being scheduled, the firmware should shut down the voltage to the heater element. When this fails, the heater element can reach dangerously high temperatures to start burning anything that can catch a flame on touch. In deliberate tests, heaters have been able to melt the aluminium of the hotend:
You should be worried at this point as you see from the link you provided what happens if the heater is not shut off when the heater element is disconnected from the heater block:
Please fix your printer ASAP by uploading a proper firmware with enabled TRP protection before proceeding to print anything or at least don't let it print without supervision and proper smoke/fire detection devices. |
How to build Cura on Windows? | The repository's README.md includes a section titled "Build Scripts", with a link to another repository: https://github.com/Ultimaker/cura-build
This includes dependencies and instructions for building Cura on Windows. |
Can I reuse 3D printed parts? | I ground up some prints and extruded them into new filament. The quality of recycled filament is not very high so I would not recommend it.
As pointed out earlier, the shredded bulk material you would create from your old prints would cost more in time and energy to produce than buying new raw material (pellets, not filament), and you still need to extrude it into filament to be able to use it in a printer. |
Problems with support interface since cura 3.1 | In Cura 3.1 to 3.2.1 (date today is 2018-Feb-24): The Support Z Distance only changes the Support Bottom Distance and NOT the Support Top Distance. By activating the two sub-options you can configure this again. |
Gaps in top layer of prints | This is probably caused by too few top layers in combination with a too low infill percentage. Increase skin layers and increase infill percentage.
If you have multiple layers already (at least about 4 for 0.2 mm layer height, for smaller layer heights even more), you might be printing at a too high temperature and or too few part cooling percentage and a too low infill percentage. |
SkyNet3D firmware home settings | Please note that Skynet3D is OBSOLETE, this was a fork from Marlin Firmware that was created to support the "odd" displays (due to alternative pin layout) Anet use on their printers and has been completely integrated in Marlin.
Note that homing is used to hit the end stops to determine the positioning of the head. There is no such thing as homing in the center of the bed (apart from the Z-axis). How would the head know where it is just after switching the printer on?
When using the constant:
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING
the printer is instructed to move the head to (in this case to the middle of the bed):
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING_X_POINT (X_BED_SIZE / 2) // X point for Z homing when homing all axis (G28).
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING_Y_POINT (Y_BED_SIZE / 2) // Y point for Z homing when homing all axis (G28).
after sending the G28 homing command.
Basically it wil home X and Y, then move to the instructed position (in the example the middle of the bed) and then home Z. |
Prints falling off the bed towards the end of the print | Even though knowing the model of printer is slightly helpful, it's not critical to making your print work. Your PLA manufacturer should have recommendations for both the bed temperature and the nozzle temperature. Is your print bed glass or metal?
As an example, my bed is glass and I set the temperature to 70°C for PLA, but the real temperature at the bed is slightly lower than that.
I'm using 3M brand blue painters tape. What type of tape are you using? It will make a difference. I originally used cleaner on the tape, but found it was not needed. Blue tape means parts stick so well that you have to get them free before the bed cools too much, or you'll have to remove the tape to get the part free.
My PLA nozzle temperature settings range from 190°C to 230°C, depending on the filament. I use the manufacturer's figures and vary them five to ten degrees depending on the results.
Too hot at the nozzle will burn the filament possibly causing a clog, while too cold will cause extruder feeding problems. You did not reference having feeding problems, which implies your nozzle settings are acceptable.
Consider to change your tape and to increase the bed temperature. At a 55°C starting point, you could jump five degrees at a time until you get a good bond.
Also be certain that your bed is level and properly calibrated. The first layer should apply in a slightly "squashed" manner. Too close and the nozzle tears up the tape, but too far and the filament will sit on top and not properly adhere. |
Stepper motor for CR10-S5 Y-axis | This is a NEMA 17 motor. It is virtually identical to the NEMA 17 motors Creality uses in most of their 12V products.
In contrast to other companies, Creality uses a different connector with a flat ribbon cable instead of color-coded wires.
The upper line of the label identifies it more clearly:
JD Identifies the factory/manufacturer
42 identifies the faceplate size as 42mm square, so a NEMA17
HS identifies how the holes are shaped
60 is the height of the motor as 60 mm.
1500 identifies how much power is OK for it, here: 1500mA = 1.5A
A specifies our motor has a maximum safe temperature of 104°C
- gives us no voltage for this motor, but as you have a CR10, it should be 12V
02F is supposed to tell us something about the wiring and steps per rotation, but I can't find out what.
Side Note: the Creality Ender3 uses 34mm high stepper motors. |
Filament suitable for direct burial | I would recommend PETG - only because it is structurally similar to the plastic used in the bottles that last forever, and most PETG is food grade - implying that its chemical stability should be reasonably good... |
Ender 5 (Plus) - Gantry not square to frame, how to fix? | How would one go about squaring the gantry relative to the frame?
You first need to make sure that the cube/box frame is square. Once this is done, you need to check whether the gantry is still not perpendicular/parallel to the top frame. If not, you need to loosen the couplers at the front that control the Y movement of the printer. See if you can reposition the gantry to be square to the frame. If that doesn't work, you need to fiddle with the bolts that hold the wheels of the X-Y carriages so that the gantry will become aligned with the top of the frame.
Also would this account for the reason why when I attempt to print a circle it is not perfectly circular, and when I try to print a square, it is tilted?
Yes, a skew gantry causes skew prints, i.e. squares become parallelograms, and circles become oval. There is another solution to fix this in firmware, but, the preferred method is to mechanically fix the issue. |
Print bed moves way up for printing | It is normal for an Ultimaker print bed to move up. But it should be stopped before the nozzle.
As it doesn't stop the end stop doesn't work. So either the end stop is not connected to the right connector or it is triggering too late.
The Z end stop must be screwed at the right hight. If you mount it too far up it will not trigger. The bed assembly has a small wooden peace that sticks up. The idea is that that wooden peace pushes the end stop at the right hight.
So instead of configuring the hight in the firmware you need to mount the Z end stop at the exact right hight. You can make the fine adjustments(Bed Leveling) with the screws that hold the bed.
You can test the end stop by manually triggering while the bed moves up. It needs to stop immediately once you trigger the end stop. If the bed does not stop, then check the connection or exchange the switch.
It can happen that the switch itself malfunctions if you screwed it in too tightly. So loosening up the screws a bit is a final test. |
BLTouch error causing bed and nozzle temp setpoints to change to zero | I was wondering if it had something to do with my Z axis and BLTouch. When I unplugged the Z Axis on the printer the extruder wouldn't lower only raise so I plugged it back in and it moves in the right directions. The mother board I'm using is a SKR E3 Mini V2 and the BLTouch is 3.1 On that version motherboard the BLTouch plug has all 5 wires combined in one plug, where on other versions it has a three wire plug for the BLTouch and the wires for the Z axis from the BLTouch has a seperate two wire plug with it's own plug in spot, but I've read about instances where users had to plug those two wires into the motherboards default plug for the printers Z axis which is usually unplugged. I decided to depin the BLTouch Z axis wires from the 5 wire plug and depin the printers z axis two wires and repin that plug with the Z axis from the BLTouch and plug into the spot on the motherboard that is normally used by the printers wires, and that fixed the problem. Here's the link on Github that board manufacturer posted about the issue, https://github.com/bigtreetech/BIGTREETECH-SKR-mini-E3/tree/master/firmware/V2.0 and thankfully that was my exact problem. |
What kind of paint and varnish can be used with ABS? | ABS is more soluble in solvents than is PLA. Acetone will dissolve it, which can be a benefit because it allows vapor smoothing, but can be a problem with some paints which have solvents other than water. Try out any new paint on a scrap piece. Apply a thick dot of the paint, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then wipe it off. If there is a change in the shape or color where the dot had been, the paint may be dissolving the ABS.
Acrylic has a water base and does not attack ABS.
A paint that attacks ABS may be fine, but there may be some color bleeding of the ABS color into the paint. A translucent (or clear) ABS would minimize the problem, since does not contain any pigment.
Spray painting may work better because the paint is undisturbed once applied. Brushing on paint will mix the dissolved layer with the unaltered paint. |
Ultimaker Cura 3.6 choosing to fill in narrow walls with diagonal striping | All slicers have their own peculiarities, and one of Cura's peccadilloes seems to be that It likes to generate an even number of shells for narrow structures, even if an odd number of shells would work nicely. Slic3r and Simplify3D have no problem with this, and will automatically generate an odd number of shells if they will fit the model.
Cura, on the other hand, will reduce the number of shells and generate infill. If you have set the infill percentage to less than 100%, it will try its best to fulfil that requirement, and in your case, generate zigzag infill. However, if you set the infill to 100%, it will, in effect, create an additional shell, although it is really infill that follows the direction of the walls as far as Cura is concerned, since there is no space to generate the specified infill pattern pattern. |
Given a viscosity is it possible to calculate required pressure for desired output? | The answer hews close to the famous cliche "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." That is to say, yes, there is a nonlinear but repeatable relationship between viscosity and pressure and feed rate. However, it's strongly dependent on temperature, and further the apparent viscosity is a function of the pressure (think oobleck).
In the end, it depends mostly on whether a couple percent variation matters to the final product. (and if it did, nearly all hobbyist extrusion printers would fail) |
Simulation tool software for 4D Printing | I am going to say that this probably is a whole dimension out of scope for this group ;-)
That said this new type of 3d printing is still at the University level. Also 4d is not necessarily 3d printing related at all. All it has to be is self assembling. Like http://www.selfassemblylab.net/4DPrinting.php
Unless you have a connect with MIT. Then you aren't going to be simulating any 4d models.
But if you HAD to do this, then you should write a paper about it and become a researcher. You could get published. You might need a PHD in material science. There might be some simulation in solid works.. but I would say you are mostly on your own and have to develop the models as they simply do not exist, especially outside of academia and stratasys.
That said if you take the "4d" part and use models based on the current understanding of the raw material you would have more success. |
How to improve face that are printed on support? | The basic answer to your question is to create better bridging or overhangs on your machine. Bridging is when you are printing between two solid pieces (like a bridge). Overhangs occur when printing off of a single solid piece and coming back. Most slicing engines allow extra settings for speed, fan power, etc for these parameters, just refer to this terminology.
A very common and simple solution in getting features to 3D print properly is to just slow down! If you're not a in a rush to get the part done, you bring down all of the feedrates in your slicing engine. MakerWare has mine at 90/150 mm/s for print and rapid. Typically I'll bring that down to about 50/90. My reasoning is the more time you give the plastic to cool, both while and after printing the layer, the more rigid that layer will be for the next one. When briding or overhanging, there will typically be a sagged area in the print. You can minimize this by providing the plastic more time to cool. Also keep in mind that printing on supports is still technically bridging (printing between two solid pieces).
Another thing to keep in mind is adhesion from one layer to the next matter just as much between the current layer and the previous as the current strand to the one next to it. So, in some cases, increasing your shell could possibly make it easier for the infill/roof/floor strands. |
Unable to install auto-bed levelling sensor into my Anet A8 | The sensor is working correctly, but the signal is inverted.
Take the obvious solution: invert the endstop from being normally open to normally closed or vice-versa in your firmware.
If you still want to use your existing limit switch in parallel with the sensor (as shown in the video), you will need to switch that one over as well (usually limit switches have 3 contact points, one common, one NC, one NO, so you'd need to move the wire from the NC contact to NO or vice-versa). |
Some steppers only rotate one way on RAMPS 1.4 | As towe said, it could be a dir pin ( can be checked by metering the dir connection), but in my experience this behavior has usually been a limit switch issue (as 0scar pointed out). Try seeing if you have a limit switch setting somewhere that expects normally closed (assuming no limit switches are connected).
There is also another possibility that has to do with microstepping on some drivers, but i'm guessing you are going for a rudimentary no microstepping test right now (and have configured jumpers appropriately). |
Using CAT6 cables for 3D printer motor / sensors / fans | The ampacity question is not completely answerable because CAT6 does not specify wire gauge, so the current limit will depend on the specific gauge you get. CAT6 can be anywhere from 22 AWG to 24 AWG, and depending on who you ask this can be good for as much as 7A or as little as 0.5A. Given that you will have a bunch of wires in a bundle, this may cause them to heat up more than if they were in free air. For the steppers (1-2A) a single wire should suffice, but for the heater (around 3-4A) you might want to double up.
EMI will likely not cause any problems regardless of how you wire things up. CAT6 cables have the wires twisted in pairs of 2. Some people recommend to take advantage of these pairs: the +12V and GND of the heater should use a pair, each of the two coils of the steppers should have their own separate pairs. The reasoning behind this is that with equal current flowing in opposite directions in each wire of the pair, the generated electromagnetic fields will cancel out.
Twisted pairs are usually used when dealing with multiple pairs of wires that are carrying high frequency signals that might affect each other. The main concern for crosstalk in this application is if the stepper motor might cause the endstop to be erroneously triggered, but this is only a concern during homing when the feedrate (and thus frequency of the signal) is low anyways. |
What does the stainless steel plug do in the E3D Kraken cooler block? | The connecting channel between the two brass barbed hose fittings needs to be drilled out. To open that channel, a hole is drilled into the side to connect the two top holes (which have the brass fittings screwed into them). The hole doesn't need to penetrate both sides, but it must get through one side.
The grub screw seals the hole.
Instead of using epoxy to seal in the screw, you could use the PTFE (Teflon) white plumbing tape. It is specifically designed to seal threads.
If I remember, you can thread it in as tightly as you like. It won't interfere with the water channel.
I have a Kraken, and I looked at how to make another one. |
What are the downsides and aftereffects of using a smaller nozzle? | Here are some things to look out for when switching to a smaller nozzle size:
Curling (out of the nozzle): Make sure the nozzle is clear of any debris to avoid the extruded filament from catching and therefore curling around the nozzle.
Warping: You might experience more warping on the build plate and delamination between layers as a result of the smaller surface area of the layers.
Reduce speeds: You should reduce your print speeds anyways when printing fine-detail objects. However, the smaller nozzle size will need a bit more time to adhere to other objects (see above).
Standoff distance: The distance between the nozzle and build plate, a.k.a standoff, should be a bit smaller with the nozzle size. Typically people use the paper reference (using a piece of paper to "calibrate" the standoff), which is about 0.004".
Make sure your slicing engine knows the change! Most slicing software will allow you to adjust the nozzle size. This can also be used to fine-tune your machine.
Beware of clogging: Clogging is usually a result of poor cooling between your heater block and your drive gear, poor filament quality, and/or incorrect extrusion rates. You might want to perform a benchmark print with the new nozzle to "rediscover" which temperatures work best with the new "basin" volume in the nozzle.
I'm sure there are many others, but this should help get you started. |
Should I remove Cmagnet base for installing glass bed? | The more layers, the higher the temperature you need to set the heated bed to reach the same print surface temperature as before (air is an insulator, so when entrapping air between your layer you insulate the heated bed).
I do not know the weight of the magnet base, but, keeping adding weight is not a very good idea unless your bed goes up and down (movement in Z direction is generally much more slower than in Y direction), but the Enders 3 bed goes back and forth. The more mass the axis needs to displace the less accurate the print. |
Why does the prusa i3 sometimes put the layer more right or left as they should be? | I'm not sure if I read your question correctly, but if I do, what you are referring to is called "layer shifting" and looks like this:
This happens when the stepper motors fail to perform a step upon receiving the signal from the firmware. Since stepper motors do not have any way to know their actual position (differently, for example, than servos) they will keep on printing as if nothing happened, and thus the subsequent layers will be shifted of the amount of steps they missed to perform.
Moving on to why this happens in sth... I don't own a MK3, but I take it that sth is short for stealth mode, the new silent mode that has been widely showcased in reviews and articles on the printer.
That mode of operation is made possible by the Trinamic TMC2130 stepper drivers. Normally these drivers monitor the power consumption of the steppers and are capable of deduce a missed step by sudden changes in that. If they do, the MK3 will actually re-home the X and Y axis to fix the problem and resume printing normally.
However when operating in their StealthChop mode, the TMC drivers provide less energy to the motor themselves (to keep them operating quietly) and - more importantly - are unable to detect missed steps. Less power will make much more likely that any sort of resistance to the print head movement will cause missed steps, the absence of detection will cause the printer to not even notice and cause layer shifting.
Again, I don't own a MK3 and I have no direct experience with it, but I would suggest updating the firmware to the very last version: I read in an article some weeks ago that a recent version addressed exactly your problem, by progressively increasing the power output along the Z axis (as the likelihood of layer shifting increases with the height of the print). |
My extruder does not reach the set temperature | Two common problems to look out for in this situation:
Make sure that your part fan (the fan that is supposed to cool the filament you just extruded, and that does not start spinning until the print starts) do not blow air on the hot end of your extruder.
Make sure that your hot end is well insulated. If available for your printer, silicone sleeves are the best:
otherwise the most common, universal and low-cost solution are cotton pads: |
How to tell if a nozzle is truly stainless steel? | Let's preface, that there are a LOT of metal identification methods. For example, I found this guide helpful and I had been at the scrapyard lately, where I have been told that 90+% of the time, steel objects that are non-magnetic are the more valuable stainless steels. The kitchen sink I dropped off? Stainless, non-magnetic steel.
Tempering/Annealing behavior
The very fact that the nozzles do change color to a brassy color that is commonly called straw is proof that it is indeed steel: heating up a piece of steel does alter the steel and also alters the surface color in a process called tempering. The color is only the surface, and the mild straw color would become orange-brown, purple, pale blue teal and yellow if you were to heat it higher. Take a look at the tempering colors of steel here:
In contrast, brass acts differently when heated and tempering is somewhat different. Subjecting the piece of brass to heat you will not temper but anneal it and you get colors differently. Instead of becoming straw before blue, Brass becomes dark, starting with its pale gold to go over a dark "antique" look to before going green, teal, purple-blue, red and then losing its color like this piece of a polished brass plate shows:
Hardness/Chip
Another test that would be easy to conduct is hardness. The base idea of hardness is: An item can scratch a piece of equal or lower hardness, but not of higher hardness. If you have a chisel handy, then you have a piece of steel at hand. Most chisels are rated as HRC 58-62 - which is the Rockwell hardness scale. Brass could be all over the place, depending on work hardening. But the identification is not by the hardness but by how the chisel - or better a graver - cuts.
We expect Brass to get a smooth cut with saw tooth edges while stainless cuts smoothly and has sharp edges to the cut.
Sparktest
If you want to scrap one, get an angle grinder or another power tool to grind at the nozzle. Steel sparks red-orange to whitish and depend on the mix, Carbide sparks very short and orange. Stainless creates a HUGE shower of sparks, yellow-white and dense, no burstes and branching. Copper, aluminium and Brass do not spark. Titanium is very bright white. It can tell you what kind of steel you have.
Drilltest
As we are at destroying a pair of nozzles, why not drill them? we should have done that before subjecting it to heattreating and the grinding, but alas... Basically, we clamp the piece down and take an HSS drill to drill out the center.
Brass needs a different drill type but can be drilled and machined without coolant. Typical HSS drills from the home depot have a positive rake, brass wants neutral or negative rake to drill or machine smoothly. If the piece grabs, creates short spials and dusty small flakes with an unmodified, new drill (or under positive rake machining), it drills like brass, as you see here from a Clickspring video on drilling brass:
In contrast, stainless steel doesn't want to be machined without cooling at all and using high speed creates smoke quickly and nearly no chips at all. A moment later your tool starts to glow and gets a dull edge. If your drilling experiment turns a new drill blunt on high speeds or uncooled, you have stainless at your hands. To get chips, you need to work slow and have some sort of cooling. It is still a painfully slow process that needs a lot of pressure, but it gets larger, nesting chips like seen here from a Wayne Canning steel drilling tutorial: |
Ender 3 BLTouch first layer problems | I manage to get the printer working, it was an hotend issue. Was clogged, replaced nozzle and working as expected.
Thank you all for the guidance! |
Is FabLab a registered trademark? | Sorry, I needed to learn to use the site. This site shows Fablab as a word mark, the same way it shows Apple: https://www.trademarkengine.com/free-trademark-search/trademark-search |
Bed Heating Failed, Printer Halted, Please Reset | Check that your heated bed is still working:
Measure the resistance of your heated bed. It depends an the power
rating of the bed, but 12V beds usually have values <3 Ohms. That's
hard to measure for cheap multimeters, but you just need to check
that it's not MOhms which would indicate a broken heated bed.
Your heated bed could also have a short. That's hard to measure, as <3Ohms are already 'almost a short'. You'll only notice because your
bed will not get warm, but the wires, connectors and elements on the
RAMPS will get even hotter. Marlin should detect this and switch off
after a few seconds.
Check your thermistor. Seems you already did that.
Check your RAMPS by measuring the voltage on the bed connector while setting the bed to heat up. You should see 12V, at least in the
frist few seconds. |
Z-axes out of sync with Simplify3D | What you are describing is not possible as a result of changing slicers, this must be an intermittent hardware issue.
The slicer has no knowledge of the hardware layout of your machine (other than the build volume and gantry dimensions; if properly configured), it just creates slices of the model you present which are found in the G-code file as Z movements. In case multiple Z steppers are used to move the X gantry, these are usually driven by a single driver, but if they are separately controlled, even in the G-code file the instruction would be to move up Z in total, not per stepper. It is the firmware of the 3D printer that translates this Z level in movement for your 3D printer based on the layout of the machine and the firmware settings.
The CraftWare G-code file does show some inconsistencies with respect to the Simplify3D file in that it does not use G29 and has a too large first layer height of 0.45 mm (this is larger than you nozzle diameter of 0.40 mm, you should always limit that to about 75 % of your nozzle diameter).
For an X gantry to become unlevel/skew, there must be a mechanical issue that is causing it to miss steps/prevent advancing at one side. It is possible that one of the shafts or lead screws has some more friction than the other (generally it is not a good idea to grease the screws as dirt easily stick to the grease, a light oil may be better suited). This is not uncommon for Prusa i3 clones and is usually fixed by resettling the leadscrew nut by loosening and tightening the screws which attach the nut to the X gantry idler. It is unclear if this is your problem here with this specific machine.
To be fair, uneven displacement of any axis powered by 2 separate motors (driven by separate drivers) could be induced by the slicer when unrealistic high accelerations and incorrect hardware/electronic settings are employed. |
Resin printer build plate scratches/ damage | One of the resources I've found is a forum with a discussion of the impact of scratches.
The general consensus is that scratches are not a problem, as long as there are no burrs above the surface of the plate that would damage the bottom of the vat. One posting party has used 36 grit on a palm sander followed by scotchbrite pad to resurface his plate, but one takes the risk of creating an out-of-plane surface.
A better method to sand a plate would be to place the sandpaper on a glass surface or something equally flat and planar and pass the build plate repeatedly over that.
Another aspect of the discussion was that scratches are good, as the rough surface provides a better bond to the resin.
You're likely to note that your build plate is not a polished smooth surface for the same reason. |
Ambient Temperature Range for Printer Storage/Usage | Printers are electrical machines. They don't like water, so they also don't like condensation in them. If you can keep your garage dry and prevent a sheet of metal inside it from rusting, then your printer might survive the problems the shifting temperatures induce by condensing water vapor on the electronics.
Another thing to consider is, that at negative degrees Celsius, your printer might trigger a mintemp error, as the minimum temperature allowable is usually defined as 0 °C or higher. On the other hand, low temperatures might allow to bridge further than other days, as the cold air absorbs the heat from the prints faster. It could cause other problems like clogging or under extrusion due to low temperature though.
High summer temperatures might impact the print quality, causing quite some extra sagging.
The Filament on the machine in a garage might be impacted because of the humidity changes, but might be mitigated with a drybox. |
Where or who could I hire to assemble a 3d printer that came in a kit for me? | If you have a makerspace in your area, you'll likely find individuals with reasonable mechanical skills suitable for simple kit assembly. Most kits are engineered to be reasonable assembly, not rocket surgery. Makers are by nature capable of construction, often from raw materials, and kits are typically not particularly challenging comparatively speaking.
Resin 3D printers are also simple in construction, as the component count is less than that of an FDM printer, or quite close in count. SLA designs involve laser modules, mirrors and alignment, while DLP designs involve light projection and light masking. Both designs involve vats and movement mechanics.
Even if you do not have a makerspace local to you, consider to contact one that might be nearer than farther away, as those spaces may have leads for you to locate a suitable victim/candidate.
Our local library makerspace often farms out contacts to me or other makers with the necessary skills to meet a patron's requirements. |
Connecting (Anet A8) 2004 display to MKS GEN L V2.0 | It probably can be done, but, it requires some splicing of your LCD cables (or using some Dupont male-female cables) and altering of the firmware pins header files.
The MKS GEN L v2.0 lacks the AUX-2 port that is present on the v1.0 controller boards. The reason for this is that they implemented support for more modern stepper drivers like the trinamic drivers that are capable of using UART to set stepper options.
The old v1.0 pin layout is displayed below:
The new v2.0 pin layout is dislayed below:
The Anet A8 2004 graphical display (so-called ZONESTAR_LCD) uses (at least one as the buttons are suited with different resistors) analog pin that is used to detect which buttons are pushed.
#elif ENABLED(ZONESTAR_LCD)
#define ADC_KEYPAD_PIN 12
Pins A5 and A9-12, D40, D42 and D44 are used according to the pin layout.
In the pins_RAMPS.h header file the display usage is coded as:
#elif ENABLED(ZONESTAR_LCD)
#define LCD_PINS_RS 64
#define LCD_PINS_ENABLE 44
#define LCD_PINS_D4 63
#define LCD_PINS_D5 40
#define LCD_PINS_D6 42
#define LCD_PINS_D7 65
In order for this to work on the MKS GEN L v2.0, you need to source for free pins that can mimic these pins and alter the header file and create a spliced LCD cable.
It might be much easier to buy a new reprap discount display controller for about 10 bucks/euros and connect it to the dedicated EXP1/2 headers. Stay away from the Anet A6 graphical display. |
z-axis hard to move in some areas - what could be faults, how to improve? | X stage binding like this is almost always caused by parallelism issues with the rods and/or screw. The two-rod-plus-screw arrangement is quite over-constrained and thus requires good alignment to move smoothly.
Some basic troubleshooting steps:
Make sure the screw is not constrained at both ends. It is very difficult to manufacture a screw that is perfectly straight and then mount it so precisely that it can rotate with zero runout. Screws in light-duty linear motion applications should be allowed to "wobble" freely so any bend or runout doesn't apply side-load forces to the Z stage. This can be accomplished by putting a misalignment-tolerant coupler (like an Oldham coupler) on the driven end, and/or leaving the non-driven end free without any support bearing. A motor mount with a small amount of compliance (like a rubber stepper damper) can help when the screw is captive to the motor.
Lubricate the screw and bearings and make sure everything is clean and in good condition.
Allow the Z carriage to self-align the rods and screw. The proper technique for this will depend on the Z stage, but the basic idea is to loosen the rod and screw mounts on either end, run the Z carriage back and forth a few times to push the rods into position, and then only re-tighten the top and bottom hardware when the carriage is at that end. It may also be necessary to loosen the screw nut and bearings on the carriage to get everything aligned properly and smooth-running, but that does not enforce parallelism like loosening the rod and screw mounts, so is really a secondary step. It may be necessary to leave some "float" in one rod or the bearings on one rod (with gravity preloading out any resultant slop) if the hardware has major alignment issues.
If the stage still binds after doing the above, it may be necessary to check if the linear hardware is bent (such as by rolling rods on a flat table) or use a file or Dremel to loosen up the mounts or whatever feature is causing the misalignment. |
What nozzle size should I use for filament containing glitter? | Fact is that you encounter clogs with this filament, so trying a larger diameter nozzle is an option to solve this. Nozzles are very cheaply found in various sizes, so buy a few and experiment. Commonly found larger nozzle sizes are 0.5, 0.6 and 0.8 mm nozzles, even larger nozzles exist, like e.g. 1.0 mm or even larger, but keep in mind that the hot end needs to keep up heating of the extruded filament, so deposition speed may need to be reduced for larger nozzle diameters.
Alternatively, you could fight clogs the usual way by playing with temperature, layer height, retract settings, oiling filament, purging nozzle from previous filament or cooked up residue, etc, etc.
Quoting someone's experience:
As far as differences, here has been my experience:
0.5 mm low back pressure (High speed), and very hard to clog,
0.4 mm medium back pressure, rarely clogs,
0.35 mm high back pressure and very easy to clog.
Edit: According to Proto-pasta, concerning filament with glitter, a 0.4 mm nozzle should not be a problem as the glitter particles are smaller, the print layer thickness definitely can be a problem. However, they state that a larger diameter nozzle will result in more sparkle as the glitter is not laid too flat. |
How do you 3d print from an existing part when you have no CAD drawings? | You can't print without a 3D model first. There are various ways you can go about this (or pay someone to do the same for you, ignoring any IP issues).
It is possible to generate a 3D model from a sequence of 2D photographs (there is even software which will allow you to do this freehand on a phone). Equipment exists which is specifically designed for this process, and you have likely heard of the services which allow you to get a 3D print of your own body.
You can take a 2D photo and import this into a 3D drawing package. Copy the features into a mesh, and extrude it. This might be a good approach for a complex shape, particularly if appearance is more important than precision.
For the shape you show here, the simplest approach for anyone with modeling experience is maybe to just draw it from scratch (with a few key dimensions). Your shape is only made up of a handful of primitive shapes.
Experiment in TinkerCad which is an online 3D editor to see if you can handle this yourself. It's not clear if you have your own printer, but this sort of part should cost less than $1 to print.
Strength might be a problem if they are already breaking... |
Is there lead in brass 3D printer nozzles? | It's very likely that leaded brass is used in the manufacture of nozzles for 3D printers -- as noted by @AndrewMorton, this is done to improve machinability (the same is true of some steels, by the way) -- and when you're going to have to drill a hole potentially as small as 0.1 mm diameter, you want all the machinability you can get (I can say from experience that brass without the lead is very annoying to machine and likely to produce unacceptably high rates of broken tools and destroyed parts during that drilling operation).
That said, the amount of lead found in a single nozzle is very small, generally between 1.5% and 2.5% by mass -- a typical nozzle is only a few grams, so the lead content would be a few tens of milligrams. Further, ingested lead (as metal) is not a major toxicity issue, because stomach acid reacts to form insoluble lead chloride, which then passes through the gut almost unchanged (some lead will still be absorbed, but swallowing a whole lead bullet raises bodily lead loading less than breathing in a shooting range for an hour or two each week for a year, where lead compounds float in the air as smoke, both from primers and from unjacketed lead bullets).
If you, a child, or a pet ingested a used nozzle (say, you dropped it and couldn't find it and worry about your dog), it would be more likely to do harm by abrading the intestinal lining as it passes than by the toxicity of the tiny amount of lead in the metal. If this is a "today or yesterday" event, you should promptly consult an appropriate health care professional (physician, pediatrician, or veterinarian), who will likely want to take x-rays or CT scans to ensure the item passes through the gut rather than lodging somewhere along the way, as well as monitoring for symptoms of a complication (a perforated intestine is life-threatening, but relatively easy to repair if caught promptly; the surgery needed is similar to an appendectomy). |
Can't print the top part of a circle | You are trying to print an unsupported edge up there - the top edge has nothing to rest on and thus sags down. As a result, the print failed.
To remedy this, activate printing with support. With a support angle of 80° or tree support, you could minimize the needed material. |
How small may I design objects for the Prusa i3 MK3? | This is dependent on the slicer and the nozzle diameter. Typically, you cannot print a wall smaller than twice the nozzle diameter because walls need an inner and outer line. Therefore, your slicer will make some cutoff and won't print walls below a certain threshold, in order to try to faithfully replicate your model.
Slic3r, I believe, will automatically go down to single line walls, but if you turn on "Detect thin walls" in Slic3r's Print Settings, more of the thin walls will be printed. Slic3r will actually reduce the plastic extruded to attempt to make even thinner walls, but there's still a limit.
With a 0.4 mm nozzle, you should design walls no smaller than 0.8 mm, or 0.4 mm at the very smallest. |
Inconsistent vertical walls on a Robo 3D R1+ | Mmm... you've tried lots of obvious things. I don't have a printer the same as yours, so my help is generic.
How about a thorough check of extruder and filament path, since it may be just inconsistent filament feed? I've seen something similar happen when the filament reel was not rolling freely. Less likely, but also check that the frame is still solid and nothing has come loose. |
Z motors only working manual, do not home correctly | Jogging the Z axis may be a sequence of very short moves, happening relatively slowly.
Homing may be a longer, faster move. The homing move would depend more heavily on the maximum velocity, maximum acceleration, and jerk parameters. If there are too high the z axis won't operate properly since the motors will attempt to move faster than is supported by the torque, and the rotating magnetic field will lose control of the permanent magnet rotor.
To fix this, find how the motion limit parameters are controlled for your software, and reduce them all by a factor of 50. It should work, although perhaps too slowly.
I would also reduce the current setting. Microstepping motors doesn't work when the magnetic field is driven to saturation. |
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