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15667 | Why would all of the Ender 5 Pro's axis motors (X, Y and Z) stop being able to move (all at once)?
I have a Creality Ender 5 Pro which has been working properly for some time. During my last print, the axis motors just suddenly stopped working while the extruder motor continued to work properly.
In fact, when I connect the extruder motor wire to any of the axis motors, they respond correctly (mimicking the extruder motor) but neither works or moves when connected to its own wire(s). As a result the printer does not print anymore.
Here's what I've tried:
Switching the wires around to check if any motors are damaged (none are).
Restarting the Creality
Checking the output on the power source (which is 24 V and about 14 A)
Checking to make sure all motor wires are connected correctly on the SKR MINI CONTROLLER (all seem fine) and checking that the board is powered.
All external connections also seem fine.
I'm quite confused why the axis motors would not be working all of a sudden. I'll appreciate your help if you've faced this problem before.
could be a fried board, bd firmware (if you updated it) or just bad G-code... Does Homing work?
No... Anything that requires use of axis motors does not work. including homing.
can you measure the voltage to the motors on a given command?
@Trish was right. The Creality V1.1.5 board was fried. I replaced it with a BIGTREETECH SKR MINI E3 V2.0 32BIT CONTROLLER. After struggling to find a corresponding firmware for the Ender 5 pro, the axis motors worked correctly.
The Creality V1.1.5 board was fried. I replaced it with a BIGTREETECH SKR MINI E3 V2.0 32BIT CONTROLLER. After struggling to find a corresponding firmware for the Ender 5 pro, the axis motors worked correctly.
Usually, steppers not working can be found when the lines are broken. Often this is an unplugged Stepper, but OP checked that.
That 3 steppers at once failed could indicate a bad firmware update, which OP didn't do. So it is sadly a case of blue smoke from the board. Most likely the stepper drivers are either shortened out or get no signal.
I am sorry, but replacement seems necessary.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.785648 | 2021-02-17T07:32:48 | {
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15932 | What am I doing wrong with my M3D Micro?
So I recently got an M3D Micro+ and have had 2 years of experience in 3D printing. I've had some issues with the printer and the prints produced and would like to know how I can fix them.
The issues include:
Thick layer lines
Bad first layers / adhesion
wobbly extruder head
Here is a screenshot of one of the prints:
The tolerances are also pretty bad. I would like to know recommended settings and such to help me get to actually printing. As of yet, I have not yet gotten a successful print.
If you have a wobbly extruder - all bets are off. Get that fixed first.
@SiHa that's a flaw of the design.
@Trish - really? Wow.
It's not you - it's the printer!
The M3D Micro is not a very sturdy setup. The X-axis is a single pair of thin rods, hung up on a pair of similarly thin rods in Y and mounted on 3 very thin pillars in Z. While the idea is good, the execution is not particularly well: The rods are too thin and the design is virtually unchanged since 2015 and thus this review from 2016 still applies. As does this from 2018:
The extruder having problems to extrude reliable and steadily was not fixed since at least 2015.
The mounting of the motion system is not very sturdy and the system itself is under-designed. This means it is particularly vulnerable to oscillation - which your print shows.
The extruder is mounted flexibly on the motion system, which amplifies all those errors. But that is designed for bed leveling - so there is little you can do to gett the needed stiffness
The motors are underpowered. This leads especially to trouble with movement accuracy unless you print super slow. And that print you showed shows that you print with more normal print settings for a 2021 machine. This also shows in your print.
If a professional in 2018 can spend 2 days calibrating and get no results with the owner's proprietary slicer, then that slicer is not worth the disk space it uses. If you need to hack Cura to get the proprietary g-code derivate and you need to do that to get even decent prints, it's a bad design.
All in all, you might squeak out better prints with a lot of calibration work, but the printer suffers so heavy from the design flaws that it would be a labor of love.
Thanks but are you sure there aren't any fixes? Like 3d printing some sort of carriage holder or wobble prevention?
@Dcybroz You can make it better, but that's a labor of love. There might be fixes on the printer's facebook community, but that does not fix that a lot of the parts might need strengthening, the whole probing mechanism needs a different setup (e.g. a separate sensor from the whole printhead) and that the firmware is proprietary.
Good idea but I 3d printed a benchy and saw that my retraction settings were off and that temp was too low so the layers weren't adhering. Also of course I would give love to my printers. It took a lot of effort to get it here.
@Dcybroz Please note that a Benchy print is not a dedicated calibration test, it is a means to see if after altering and testing/tuning the printer, the printer is able to get a decent print out. For temperature determination and retraction you need to do some dedicated printing tests first.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.786115 | 2021-03-23T16:17:56 | {
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15771 | What type of 3D printer is this?
I have found a video about Invisalign. I saw a 3D printer in the video but I did not understand its type. Can you help me? Do you share a brief piece of information about its type?
Below is the video on YouTube.
this is an industrial machine, not a "desktop" machine, but it's a good question!
In the video, there is this still from 0:32:
The labeling is iPro 8000, which is a 3dSystems resin printer using SLA technology.
Good eye, Trish!
If you look at the video at 37 seconds, it appears to be SLA or DLP.
Further reading: https://www.solidprint3d.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SLA_vs_DLP.pdf
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.786393 | 2021-03-01T16:03:20 | {
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10883 | Nozzle cleaning
A few minutes after finishing a print job, the filament is solidified in the nozzle and the nozzle-throat. When I start another print job a while later, the filament is not sufficiently melted and the nozzle is obstructed. Do I need to clean the nozzle after every print job ? or is there a practical method to overcome this difficulty ?
Which printer or which hotend are you using? This sounds as an all metal hotend problem (heat creep), or an insufficient warm up time problem.
The nozzle may be partly blocked, or your print temp is too low. When doesn’t it extrude enough?
Does the hot end fan run all the time (it should)?
I use a home made 3D printer and I buy the hotend in a 3D shop i.e. it's an ordinary one. Yes, it is all metal hotend. I use PLA and set the temperature to 220°C. I have an extruder fan that helps cool the extruder drive mechanism (running all the time) but I don't have an external cooling fan that is pointed towards the part that I am printing.
To start a print, the printer has first get up to print temperature, re-melting the plastic in the nozzle and hotend. To get better results, it is usually a very good idea to "prime" the nozzle to make sure we have nicely melted plastic in the nozzle and pushed out the old. Some priming methods have been discussed here.
I had this issue until I started doing the following:
If you are going to print subsequent jobs (one after the other), then ensure you keep the extruder end at print temperature while you are preparing the next job. For me on my Anet A8, I'd just tell the printer to preheat for PLA (or directly set a temp for the filament being used). This keeps the heat up in the hot end and should allow you to start printing right away when everything is ready. Please note, this will usually cause the nozzle to ooze a little bit of filament as it sits. Just ensure you swipe it clean before you actually start the next print to alleviate and stringing issues when you press the "GO" button. As an alternative, you could attach a line at the end of your print which would send the G-code to keep the printer up to temperature instead of cooling off after a print is finished. If you do this, though, you have to ensure you actually do allow it to shut down when you aren't printing so as to not waste resources.
If you are not going to print subsequent jobs, pull the filament out of the extruder. On my Anet A8, right after the print has finished, but before things start cooling, I will press the spring loaded part of the extruder head (the part which captures the filament against the extruder gear), then push the filament into the extruder and quickly out. This usually ensures you don't leave a lot of filament languishing in the extruder head and will make it easier to load the filament the next time you want to print.
Or you could put in some Gcode right after the temperature set commands to extrude a few mm to "clear" the nozzle before starting the print. Heck, I often add a brim or skirt just to do this sort of thing.
@CarlWitthoft Skirt or Brim is, as I realized in my starting days (and discussed in my answer's linked answer), the "lazy man's priming" and can be super effective
However, I'm not talking about priming, and neither do I believe is the OP taking about a priming issue. What the OP is talking about is a problem whereby the nozzle clogs between prints, which priming (or attempting to prime) will not cure. Once the nozzle cools down, the filament left in the nozzle clogs it and no amount of pre-heating, priming, or what have you, will clear the clog. The only way I have been able to overcome the clog is to pull it apart and clear the nozzle physically. Since I've been doing as I describe above, I've not had this issue.
@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 and yet, with my AnetA8 clone, I have yet to clog by way of leftover cooled filament. Maybe your hotend doesn't heat the entire nozzle? Or you're using some particular filament which leaves chemically altered (or charred) material behind?
@CarlWitthoft - I didn't say it happened every time, however, once is enough. Having to pull the hotend apart so you can print again is a PITB. By doing what I stated above, I've not had the issue again. It works as a preventative measure. I use good filament. I don't have problems when I print (in fact it seems I have far fewer than most) with extrusion or with how the filament lays, so I have to believe the hot end works just fine as far as heating. It's good you don't have any issues. That's the best anyone can ask for.
I am cleaning both the nozzle and the barrel (inside the heat-sink) physically every time, as Paulster2 but this is a time and effort consuming job and also harming the parts being removed and reassembled.
Skirt and brim work once the nozzle is clean. I am looking for a method without physically cleaning the nozzle. I will try to add a few lines in the Gcode as suggested by Carl Witthoft.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.786524 | 2019-08-28T08:40:00 | {
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10437 | Problem in 3D printing of an empty model
I'm new to 3D printing. I modeled an empty bird in Blender (the stl file of model is presented). I tested the model in Blender (using 3D printing tool) and also the Netfabb software. They don't show any error. However, when I load this model in Ultimaker Cura for printing, as shown in the last image, the result is only a cylinder shape bird. I have seen many 3D printed empty models on internet. Why can't my model be printed correctly?
the download link of the model
by empty you mean hollow? Or is your object just a top surface? Did you close the bottom of the object so it has one contiguous surface all over?
I named the model empty because i didnt close the bottom of the object. I would like to use the printed object as a mold. Therefore the bottom of the model should not be closed.
The STL does not slice at all in Ultimaker Cura 4.0. This is most probably an invalid model.
Thank you. I have seen this problem. Sometimes the ultimaker cura can slice the model incorrect as shown in figures. But most of the times it is considered as an invalid model in cura and can not be sliced. I used netfabb to repair stl file. It shows the file as a valid stl file. However it can not be printed using cura. I think this a simple model and i cant realize what is the problem.
You have modeled your bird. So far so good, but you likely only modeled a single surface and not a closed surface body. The crucial step was forgotten, as your pictures 1 and 2 show: you have designed a single surface for most of the object, not a body. To turn the bird into a printable object needs it not to be a single surface but a surface enclosing a volume that has some thickness.
At the moment, it looks like this: 640 vertices, NO enclosed space.
To achieve an even thickness object in blender:
A to choose the whole model
E for extrude Region
Z Z to constrain movement to Z axis
type in the wanted thickness
remember, that the grid in Blender is usually in cm, while slicing programs reference in mm!
close the edges by creating faces there (chose 3 and F)
A to grab everything
W then R to remove doubles, increase the merging distance to 0.05 (it takes away hundreds of superfluous, slightly shifted vertices!)
CTRL+N to recalculate normals
Make sure to check the slicer, because we have some strays, visible in red... where are those? They are faces hidden in the body!
Hide the underside (Select nothing, allow viewing through the object, 3 > B > draw a box around the lowest layer > H)
If you have the normals visible, you'll see the iffy areas now. Fix them by removing the superfluous faces and flipping those that are not superfuous but just inside out (W>F). One example area I highlight in the next picture
In the end, it should look like this in cura:
Make sure to check layer view and possibly thicken some areas manually - or make a box-part for the top, so you can ensure printability. As you'll see, at some scales, some walls are too thin due to how we extruded along Z only.
Alternate ways
As noted in the comments, instead of the Z-Extrude, a model with very vertical walls could benefit from using the solidify modifier. You will have to add it via object mode, modifiers and then choosing solidify and setting a positive thickness. To properly convert the visible modifier into an actual change of the model for the export, you will have to Apply the modifier.
Afterwards, go back to hunting stray internal surfaces and flipped faces.
For thickness, wouldn't you want the extrusion to be "Normal" rather than "Z axis" ? I'm not familiar with Blender but that's where I'd be headed in MeshMixer.
I used solidify modifire in blender to add thickness to the model. However, my model can not be printed correctly.
@CarlWitthoft extruding along the normals in blender does not create a single body but one body per face.
To address the point raised by Carl, after the extrude-Z (by desired layer thickness, around 1mm), I would scale in X-Y (shift-Z) which isn't quite the right transformation. @sara, did you 'apply' the solidify? I think blender needs this when exporting as stl.
you need to apply solidify first, yes.
Thank you so much. Did you check the preview of the model in cura? After these changes, it can be printed correctly? I was almost disappointed in printing this model :)
@sara according to cura, it should print with the fixes - you might want to tweak the "upper" in some areas to beef up the walls in some areas as the last picture shows.
@anaximander added a path for that.
after a lot of search, i used the autodesk Meshmixer to add thickness to the model. I used the blender only for modeling and didn't use the solidify modifier to add thickness to the model. Then in autodesk Meshmixer, using select→ edit → Extrude, i added thickness to the model (the new stl file is presented). It seems that the new model can be printed. However, the blue lines can be seen in the print preview of Ultimaker Cura and i dont know how to remove them. Unfortunately, i haven't a 3d printer to test the model, but it seems that it is printable.
the link of repaired stl file
The blue lines are moves, there is a tiny gap at the tail end though (the same area I had without throwing a fix over the top part), otherwise, it's a good and working fix. Good job finding a way that works for you!
Slicers don't do well with "empty" (hollow) bodies, or bodies with secret holes in it. You need to supply a filled body1, the slicer will make it mostly empty anyways (depending on the infill percentage). Also, you need to have infill, else the top cannot be printed as it does not have any support.
Footnote
1 This means the body has to have one continuous surface without gaps or holes that encloses a volume. Among the most simple examples are spheres and cubes.
Thank you. I'm new to 3d printing. Could you please give me more guidance? In blender, i can not supply a filled model. I only can change the infill parameter in ultimaker cura.Based on the last image, it seems that the software can not detect the walls of my model and only it fills the middle of the model. Can i solve my problem by increasing the infill percantage in cura?
@sara Blender is not an optimal tool for creating models for printing. Blender support should be asked elsewhere, e.g. Blender forum? Similar issues have come along the past years, you could try to search for Blender specific questions. I'm not a Blender user; I just share slicer specific issues with hollow bodies. I have had issues with hollow bodies created in other tools.
@0scar (and Sara) - as well as the Blender forum (link?), don't forget that there is also an excellent Blender Q&A site here on Stack Exchange.
Secret holes are no problem. I'm also critical of the comment about blender being non-optimal.
Blender can be a very powerful tool to fix errors or design organic looking, smoothed parts if you know how to use it.
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10444 | PETG on Ender 3
I've been trying to print some eSun PETG on my Ender 3 with some questionable results. I am experiencing severe stringing. Attached is a photo of my first layer. My settings are:
250 °C hotend
80 °C bed
0.15 mm first layer
0.2 mm layer height
No Z-hop/retraction
40 mm/s print speed
50 % fan speed
Any suggestions?
Increase the first layer, PETG usually requires a larger height for the first layer.
Ok I will try that later
Furthermore, rpm has to be low to get PETG layers to bond properly. This depends on the used fan, 50 % can be a lot or not much depending on the fan duct and fan. An additional Z-offset (like leveling the bed with a thicker piece or multiple pieces of paper) is reported to work for many people (note that some slicers can add a Z-offset, e.g. through a plugin).
From my experience, stringing like that is due to a restricted filament path. Have you taken a look at the feeder setup: extruder gear, boden tube, and nozzle? Look for clogs.
The bed may also be too high. The texture for the skin fill makes it looks like that's a possibility, and it would restrict flow, making the stringing more likely.
It looks to me like you're using Cura with the default Ender 3 custom start gcode. The priming line there tries to cram about twice the amount of filament through the nozzle as what it should, so unless your material and temperature can handle really fast flow, you'll build up pressure in the bowden, the retraction before the move to start printing will fail to actually back the filament out enough to stop flow, and you'll get a string. This will continue until sufficient oozing has happened to dump all the excess filament.
Going back and forth over the same line is also problematic, as it will pick up any blobs that got dropped off the first time over, melt them on the nozzle, and drag them into the print area. PETG really hates that. Whereas with PLA it just tends to leave the junk stuck to the model somewhere, with PETG it'll get dragged around and break things off the build plate or the model.
I replaced the priming part of the start gcode with:
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F750.0 E18 ; Draw the first line
Note that there is no second line.
I also reduced the final retraction in the end gcode from 3mm to 1mm so that the filament is left in a position where it doesn't require a lot of advancement to start priming, comparable to what you get after loading filament manually. Otherwise, you need extra priming at the start to make up for the difference, and then after loading new filament you'll over-extrude during priming.
Oh, you also need retraction, regardless of material. I missed that you had it off. Anyone telling you to turn off retraction for your general settings is wrong as that will always cause stringing; it's just a matter of how much1.
1 - see discussion in comments.
a little confrontional on the retraction side: under some circumstances (flex filaments) it can be better to turn it off.
@Trish: I disagree strongly. I've seen that claim plenty of times, and turning it off can be a mitigation vs extruder mechanisms where the flex filament gets stuck, but turning it off with flex filaments will result in extremely bad print quality (and hard to fix in postproc due to properties of the material) unless your print has single components in all layers. The right solution is adapting the extruder to accommodate the material.
Getting started with flex materials and with 3d printing in general, bad advice about turning retraction off was one of the most frustrating things I hit and wasted lots of time on. So if I'm a little bit confrontational over it, there's at least a reason.
It's highly circumstancial, and in most cases, retraction is good or better, but for some small cases. As a general advice: yes, turn it on. However, one should be aware that there are some small cases where turning it off can help. I suggest turnign the Anything into an Anything* with a notion about some fringe cases - in those cases Stringing will happen, but you take the stringing to fight other, bigger issues.
@Trish: Yes, I think that's right that it can be an intentional tradeoff to mitigate other issues. But general advice to turn off retraction that's not tailored to a specific situation and that's not framing it as a tradeoff, but rather "what you need to do to print this material" or similar, is what I'd call wrong advice. The only way "retraction off" could be generally right for a material is if the material had essentially zero compressability and zero flow without an applied force, and that's exactly the opposite of the properties it typically gets recommended for.
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10377 | What alternatives are there to sanding resin parts with fine details?
I have some transparent resin parts printed with a polyjet printer. Where the support contacted the part it has a matte finish. The recommended finishing technique for these parts is to sand them with sandpaper, but the geometry of my part makes that very difficult. What alternatives to sanding do I have, to give these parts a glossy finish?
I'm looking for techniques appropriate to a home or small office environment. A technique that needs special equipment bigger than a desk is probably not going to work for me.
"paint" with a solvent? or, paint a thin layer of resin and re-expose?
i've used a rock tumbler to smooth prints, but that smooths the whole thing. maybe you could tape over the areas that need detail preserved...
@dandavis A tumbler is a good idea, but what i'm trying to do is turn my small, flat, matte surfaces into glossy surfaces, so taping over those surfaces in the tumbler won't help with that.
desktop tumbler/brass polisher, rotary rock tumblers are probably a better option than a small sandblasting cabinet. choose your abrasive material from there, a coarse sand is probably not what you want but there are walnut based things and finer grit materials that should be able to get a nice shine. if you would rather do it manually and geometry allows you can try a dremel-type rotary tool with a buffing wheel or similar
The rotary rock tumbler method has not worked for me, neither has the acetone bath
@KMmmm, Try different media until you get a result you can live with. Some people use Silicon Carbide in their tumbler.
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10248 | CR-10 randomly pauses for a few seconds
I thought I have already had and fixed every problem one could possibly have with a 3D printer. Guess I was wrong.
I haven't used my Creality CR-10 for a few weeks, everything was working the last time I tried. Today I wanted to print something minor and the printer just randomly paused a few times in the middle of the print.
To be exact, it seems that after a few G-code commands have been executed the printer just freezes for like 10 seconds and then continues like nothing happened. This occurred a few times and every time the nozzle is melting the surrounding plastic and extruding a little which ruins the print.
I have tried:
Print from SD Card
Print from Laptop via USB connection to Ultimaker Cura
Print different models at different settings
My theory is that either there is a core problem with how Ultimaker Cura exports the G-code files or something is wrong with the printer software. I thought that maybe re-installing the firmware might fix it but I heard that that is a risky process. What do I do?
Is there any real problem with the print itself or does the printer miss steps when it does this?
Is it randomly pausing, or after each layer? Maybe the minimum layer time setting has been changed by accident.
Ok I fixed it by using Cura 4.0.0 instead of Cura 4.1. I checked again and found that the delay of ~10 seconds occurred every time right before the print head would go to a new object and again when it arrived. So when finishing the skirt it stops, when arriving at the new object it stops. I haven't found any setting that would cause this so I will try to make a bug report.
Have you examined the G-code? If there is a long sequence of "no-op" g-codes, or a pause command (G4) there would be a stop. Are you sure it has stopped? Perhaps it is moving slowly? The g-code would tell the tale. Is it possible that you have z-hopping turned on, and that the z velocity is extremely slow? I guess in summary I would examine the g-code. It is likely that the printer is behaving correctly, but the slicer is slightly misconfigured.
@EVARATE before reporting a bug, make sure that all the preferences and configuration values are the same in both versions of Cura that you're trying out.
I also looked through the gcode and neither "G4" or "no-op" was anywhere in the file. The steppers don't seem to move at all, not even slowly. Also I always used factory settings of 4.1 and 4.0 and only made changed in layer height and enabled ironing but nothing else. I haven't made the bug report yet because I didn't have time to make a deeper comparison anyways. Thanks for all the answers though.
I suggest you use Pronterface or Octoprint to read out a graphical output of the hotend temperature. If it is inconsistent and drops too low at times, it might cause safety halts, as it waits for the hotend to heat up again.
I am seemingly having the same issue only on Cura 4.3. There is no "Maximum Z Speed" anywhere on 4.3 so how can I fix this? As talked about above I just checked my "minimum layer time" and it is set to 10. I have also used another slicer and this same issue keeps happening it just messes up differently. I've also tried printing from SD card and OctoPrint. Same issue... How could this be my slicer if this same thing is happening on a different slicer than Cura? Please see also CR-10S Pro pausing and starting again.
Edit: The z-hop problem has been fixed in Cura 4.2.
This is a known issue with Cura 4.1 when z-hop is enabled.
If you touch the z-axis motor frame while it is apparently stationary, you may feel it is actually moving.
The solution is to set a value (I used something like 250 in conjunction with an Ender 3) for the "Maximum Z Speed".
First you need to get the setting to be visible, so go to the "Settings" menu and choose "Configure setting visibility...":
Then in the "Print settings" panel:
The full story is available on GitHub at [4.1 - current master branch] Z feed rates #5753.
I experienced the same with 4.1. Everything went back to normal after going back to 4.0 despite that all settings were identical as far as I could see. I compared the two g-code files using a simple file comparison tool. They were very different, hardly anything was the same. I still need to figure out what they mean. The model and thus the g-code files are far to large to go through. So, I will have to use a simple and small model to start unraveling what those differences mean.
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10339 | DLP build plate adhesion
Does anyone have tips on improving build plate adhesion in DLP printers? I've heard a thin layer of resin or UV glue applied to the plate will help, but we're not sure if we leave the resin/glue wet, or cure it before we start the print. Apologies for the ignorance here, but I'm just trying to avoid gluing my build plate to the bottom of the resin vat! Any advice would be appreciated.
Update
I had a product called ProtoGlass recommended to me in another forum, that apparently works as a good build plate primer for the resin we're trying to grow (BlueCast x5). Ordering today, and I'll update further with the results.
How about roughening the plate (with very fine grit) so as to produce more surface area "grab"? I do not know whether this leads to other problems.
The plate on this machine (B9 Core) has a black coating (maybe anodizing, but not entirely sure). They warn against scratching the surface.
You do not need to use any glue or any other adhesion modifier to increase your build plate adhesion.
Take these steps instead:
Make sure your build plate is level
Use proper attachment layer (raft) - see 3D printing raft in resin 3D printing: what you need to know.
Increase bottom layer exposure
Make sure your resin is not cold (25+ °C works best)
Make sure your build plate is flat and even. Sometimes they come faulty from the factory. Lay it flat on the glass and see if all corners touch it evenly.
Sand your build plate
Make sure to use high quality FEP. If it get's scratched or cloudy - change it.
Make sure the tension of your FEP is right. Not too tight, not too
loose.
I have heard that adding a few pieces of masking tape to the print surface improves adhesion.
DLP printers are resin based. You can not add tape in that application.
You can still use the masking tape though. I've done it on a DLP printer before.
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10322 | Ender 5 Slant or Leaning when printing multiple parts
Getting slanted or leaning prints when printing multiple parts.
I checked the eccentric nuts and belts aren't rubbing anything. All works well when printing a single part. But multiple parts:
What am I missing?
If you want a more detailed answer, you need to give more details, e.g.; "What filament are you using?" "How old is the printer?" "What mods have you made to it?"
I can tell you two possibilities. Either your x or y axis is slipping which could be because of worn out belts, belts that need to be tightened, or because of too much jerk. The other is overheating of the stepper drivers so make sure the board is getting enough air over it.
It could also be backlash in the system. Your belts aren't tight enough. Apparently the Y belt is not tight enough. That's a pretty awesome effect though.
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10167 | High temperature flexible filament
I need to cool some liquid (250 °C) while it’s flowing through a tube which has to be able to bend and flex.
My idea is to make a flexible tube with a second tube spiraling around it through which coolant will flow.
I’d like to 3D print this tube if possible so I wonder if there is some printable filament that:
doesn’t melt at 250 °C
is flexible enough that it can print some tube that can bend (bending radius of 30 cm)
optimally also has good heat conductivity
Is there any 3D printer filament available that has these properties?
Are you looking to print the first straight tube, or the second spiral tube, or an object with both? It matters because a filament with supports a 250°C operating temperature will be hard to print on most printers. If you want the spiral tube to be printed, that is easier since it is not exposed to the 250°C liquid.
Googling "high temperature TPU" suggests that there are forms that withstand up to 300°C or higher, but I'm not aware of any printable filament, and you'd need an extreme hotend to print it.
simple: no, not even close, at least in the consumer/maker sphere; it's possible that the military or specialized industries have a proprietary method, but certainly not something we can order.
Is there a reason you can't use a PTFE tube?
Ok, so to answer the primary question: What flexible filament will operate consistently at 250 °C?
Man, this is a tough one. Some filaments, like PEEK and ULTEM 1010 can operate up in the 200 °C range, but they're not flexible at all.
Silicon might be able to work, but you're still pushing boundaries.
Now, I'm lucky to be in a 3D printing company and we're testing a super-high-temp flexible material, very similar in temperatures to ULTEM. I'll definitely check back and let you know how it goes, but...
Honestly, that's so hot! Readily available thermoplastics may not be an option unless you're in aerospace with an unlimited budget which, based on the requirements, would make sense, lol!
I'd say the most readily available way to get this done would be 3D printing a mold, in which to put your silicone, and bam -- you've got the part.
3D printing nerd showed a couple of filaments that fits this in his latest video "Printers at RAPID + TCT 2019":
Firstly a Nylon 6 high temperature filament:
Another part of the video shows another flexible print, created on a four axis 3D printer, using TPU filament:
Whilst your answer may be technically correct, it is rather terse, and, as such, it has been recommended for deletion, unfortunately. If you could expand it then you may get a more positive response, add some screenshots & text explaining the process. I would recommend that in addition to reading some highly voted answers to gauge the standard expected, that you take a look at the help section relating to answering questions, in particular [answer], and take the [tour] for more information on how stack exchange works. Thx
Are you sure these filaments are able to withstand 250 °C without deforming?
To support the comment of @TomvanderZanden, the last edit you made (@Greenonline) included normal TPU but printed on a 4th axis (ideal to withstand the hoop stresses and prevent printing of support material if printed upright), I don't know if this answers the question. I'm still in doubt if the first part of the answer answers the question. 250 ºC is pretty high, even Nylon would not take that IIRC that stops at about 120 ºC, higher temp thermoplastics exist, but the question is: "Are they printable and flexible?".
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10264 | Possible causes of print defects?
I'd like some advice regarding defects on my print :
Here some details :
Printer CR-10 S, nozzle 0.4
Material PLA
Bed 60, Hotend 215, 50 mm/s speed
SLiced with cura 4.1, 5 walls (i can provide more detail of the profile if needed)
Layer height 0.1
modeled on fusion 360
The surface where the defect sits is actually tilted 45 degres
Thanks !
This could be a problem with the filament rather than the printer.
If the filament contains air bubbles, they will heat and pressurize. The additional pressure can increase the flow rate for a moment as the molten material in front of the bubble is expelled. The flow rate decreases after the bubble pops through the nozzle because the now-empty space needs to be filled by the extruder pressing new filament into the melt zone.
If this is happening, you might hear little pops.
Alternatively, the filament may have absorbed water, which can convert to steam and explode out the nozzle like a bubble would.
Drying filament isn't hard. I use my household oven at it's lowest temperature, which is typically about 160 degrees Farenheit. This is high enough to slightly soften PLA, so don't go any high than you must. Bake the filament for an hour, let it cool before handling it and try again.
The filament may not be quite as round after baking, but the cross-sectional area shouldn't change.
If the problem is from bubbles, there isn't anything you can do to fix it. If it is from water, you can fix the filament. I'd suggest baking the filament and seeing if anything changes.
My roll is almost done, if the next one have the same issue i'll try baking the filament (have to be discrete, not quite sur the wife apreciate filament in the oven :) thanks !
I'm sure you can make a good explanation for the plastic in the oven. By now she must realize that you aren't an evil genius. Don't do it on the grill. Controlling the low temperature may be much harder.
There are many possible causes for printing defects, but the easiest one to eliminate is dirt. Always use a filament cleaner to prevent dirt from entering the extruder. There are plenty of designs available on Thingiverse. Always keep your nozzle clean. After pre-heating mine, I clean it (carefully) with a folded paper kitchen towel. It may also be worthwhile doing a "cold pull", if you suspect that you have dirt in your nozzle. Finally, you should check that filament is not leaking out between the nozzle and the heater block.
It's true that the filament littly scrub against soft wood, maybe some bit got dragged along, i will add a filament cleaner, it can't hurt anyway ! Thanks for your help
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10590 | Activating heated bed through a switch, or D-pin and TIP31 transistor
Recently the connection between the heated bed and my board blew out. I was able to solder a new connector onto the board and it worked for a day, but now it seems the SMT pad has come off the board bottom.
Another option I have seen to have the heated bed is to put it directly into the 12V power supply. But when I do this the bed gets very hot almost as soon as I turn it on.
I would like to be able to have the bed not get hot as soon as I turn the printer on. Ideally, it could be directly put in to the power supply if:
I could find a mechanical switch capable of handling that much current
Or, I could use a TIP31 transistor and a servos pin to control the bed.
I know if I add resistance to the wire then all the heat will just end up in that part of the connection (right?). So I'm wondering if it's even possible to use something like a switch or a transistor. Will all the bed heat just go into the transistor or mechanical switch that's soldered on? Should I be using some kind of high temperature solder for this?
I am not trying to "control" the heated bed so much as just "Activate" it. It is annoying to have the heat blasting up from the bed when I want to do a simple thing like just move the motors. But it is convenient to have the bed remain hot when I do something else like disconnect a USB or move into upper layers of a print.
It seems like the TIP31 transistor (https://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/datasheets/TIP31.pdf) can only handle up to 5A of current? or maybe 1A? In that case, it wouldn't work without adding a resistor, which would make the heated bed itself nonfunctional? It seems like the heated bed currently has a resistance of 0.7 Ohms. What is the ampere limit for the power supplies that most 3D printers use? (The silver box used by the Lulzbot Mini as well).
And then do I need to wire the GND of the servos pin to the heated bed pin as well? Won't that send heat to the board?
If you look where the SMT pad is, can you see any other component which is on the same circuit that you could solder the wire to? If you tell us what the control board is, we might be able to find a photo of the PCB and a circuit diagram - or you could link to them.
The temperature of the bed is likely controlled by switching the heater on and off frequently. That can be done with an FET transistor which will have very low "on" resistance when driven with the correct sufficiently high voltage. With a control feedback loop, the on-off intervals can be set in a PWM fashion.
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10509 | How would you clean/prepare a flexible/magnetic mat (e.g. Ender 5) as compared to a glass bed?
I have started printing about a month ago on an Ender 5 (using mostly PLA but recently also PETG) and it seems it's about time to give the print bed a more thorough cleaning than what I usually do after most prints. I'm using the flexible magnetic mat that came with the printer which has a slightly rough surface, but all of the cleaning suggestions I found so far either did not mention the bed material or were specifically for glass beds.
Can/should I use stuff like acetone or rubbing alcohol on this? Or should I stick to warm soap water?
I have had some fairly decent results with spectacle cleaning tissues but that will only remove grease, not filament residue.
Also, I am occasionally having some first layer adhesion issues (especially with the PETG or when printing things with a circular base) and I was wondering whether common suggestions like glue sticks or hairspray to prepare the bed for printing can also be applied to the flex mat?
I have the WhamBam system which uses a PEX layer over flex steel (which sticks to a magnetic sheet on the printer bed). To clean old material off, I use a "brass sponge" intended for cleaning soldering iron tips to remove the old plastic, then give it a wipe with a paper towel with some isopropyl alchohol (I have 99.99 anhydrous on hand as I use that for cleaning printed circuit boards as well).
The brass sponge is fairly soft, does a good job of grabbing the old plastic without tearing up the PEX layer.
Would steel wool do the trick? I have some fairly fine grade stuff to hand.
Try it on a small spot in a corner, see how it looks.
Just about every reference I've seen for non-glass beds is to stay away from acetone. Denatured alcohol is likely a safe bet for beds with surfaces that are not impenetrable. If you can identify the bed material, you'll have a better shot at getting a definitive answer.
If you have filament residue, you won't get it clear without some mechanical effort, unless you had an adhesive layer between the bed and the filament. Even a plastic scraper can be effective in clearing the debris.
I think I read somewhere that methylated spirits leaves a residue - should I avoid it?
The denatured alcohol in our area is not dyed, which means such an additive is not a problem in that respect. The other additive can be methanol, which evaporates at nearly the same temperature, leaving nothing behind, if properly swabbed. The research I've done shows some countries use a colorant, which may leave a residue that could be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol.
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10477 | 3D Print Enclosure
Developing an electronic product for which I'll need an enclosure. It's about 50x30x20mm and should survive higher temperatures (50-60 degrees). Because of the low volume (under 500 required per year), I'd like to go for an enclosure option that doesn't require a huge upfront cost. So ended up at 3d printing. As the product will retail for around 500$, the surface finish needs to be up to a higher quality than the standard pla prints that I've seen. From my own research (3d printing noob), the best material for this would be ABS. Maybe with some manual polishing at the end. Then I'd either buy a 3d printer and do it myself or find a company to do it.
What am I missing? :)
Anything I'm missing? Thanks a lot.
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! When you say "enclosure", I take it you mean you're asking about the case for which you'll be installing the electronic parts into?
Yes, I know it's used a lot to mean the enclosure around the 3d printer itself as well
the [tag:enclosure] means "Printer enclosure" or "printer chamber". It does not apply to an item that you might want to print to enclose electronics (aka: housing).
Hire someone on fiver or upwork to design it for you, and then hire a company to make them for you out of ABS. Then you can do the smoothing yourself. If you're getting into 3d printing so that you can be cost effective on just one design, the outsource it. If you are planning to do different designs over that year, then pick it up yourself. If you want quality now, however, then outsource.
Thanks. I'll probably need to do different designs and iterate until I get the desired combination between shape and function.
@Alex, well good luck then.
I recently started using ABS - while easily printable, you'll really want to use a filter or make sure to use the printer in a well ventilated area because of the fumes.
With your required temperature range of only 60°C, PETG would also be a viable as an easier and safer to print alternative. However, it is not smoothable with acetone like ABS is, though you can get very high-quality surface finish from the raw print if you build a decent printer.
ABS should be able to handle the the temperatures you describe. ABS will have a similar finish to PLA when it first comes off the printer, but you can refine and smooth your results via an acetone vapor treatment. This only takes a few minutes per piece, and can cost as little as a $1 bottle of fingernail polish remover, a used coffee can, a bit of wire, and some paper towels.
What you're missing is the hobby-level 3D printers ($1000 and below) can be extremely finicky. You're not gonna get the kind of quality you need the first print out of the gate. Or the second. Probably not the third or fourth, either. And then you'll find every now and then something isn't quite right any more, and you'll need to troubleshoot why.
You certainly can make this work... just be prepared for what you're getting into.
So I could potentially avoid the hobby level printer downsides by having manufacturing done by a company that specialises in 3d printing? Did I understand it correctly?
Or injection molding or similar.
note that acetone smoothing also increases inter layer bonding, making the parts more sturdy.
@JoelCoehoorn well Prusa produces parts for their prints routinely. A good printer can work very well for long time, but indeed every 1000-2000 hours of operation (three times a year?) some minor maintenance is required.
ABS would be ok for these temperatures. But 3d-printing, cleaning up the print and smoothing the surface to get a marketable device takes time and effort.
So I guess that for a few hundred enclosures you'd be far better/cheaper off having them manufactured (in China?) than trying to print them yourself.
Unless the design changes often of course.
I'm a bit concerned with the quality if I go straight to China. I know that finding a reliable supplier there is very tricky. I'll probably try and do it in Europe first .
What you could also try is ASA. It is similar to ABS and is really strong.
Hi, could you expand upon your answer somewhat, as it is a little terse. It has been flagged as NAA and should be converted to a comment. I thought I'd give you a chance to expand it first, otherwise it probably will be converted to a comment to the question.
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10505 | Rough surface when printing
Is there a specific name for that problem? What causes this, and is there a way how to solve it?
Printed with PLA, 2 mm nozzle diameter, 0.2 mm layer height, 20-60 mm/s, 200 °C extruder, 60 °C bed.
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! What does the bed side look like? Is it as you'd expect? You state the print speed is 20-60mm/s ... It looks like to my untrained eye the travel speed is too fast. If the base is printing at 20mm/s and looks fine, then goes to 60mm/s after the base layer, you may need to slow the other-than-base-layer down to 40mm/s and see if it helps.
Bottom looks nice, pretty smooth (img attached). Will try to print non-first layers with slower speed. thx
Looks like poor bed adhesion in your first layer. Try printing first layer with the bed at 70C, then setting the bed to 60C after first layer.
@PerryWebb - I'm not seeing that at all. The first layer is flat and smooth. How did you come to that conclusion?
That looks to me like overextrusion
A 2 mm nozzle diameter is quite large, what filament diameter are you using 1.75 mm or 2.85 mm filament? I expect this is a typo.
Overextrusion or bed too high.
What printer/slicer are you using? FWIW, I thought I'd have a quick google last night, and presumably you've seen these threads: Rough surface-bad quality, Rough surface with PLA/PVA and Why do my prints have rough surface patches? which points to shell. Maybe it's a Cura pattern setting?
Hello user236012. Please fill in the [placeholders] in the template I added and then remove the leading < afterward. This will turn it visible and help us help you find the actual problem.
Looks to me like the hot end is too cold. Try turning your cooling fan down. I've encountered this problem many times myself with PETG. Turning down the cooling helped. So did turning up the heat.
I've gotten 1st layer prints like when the bed wasn't level enough causing the extruder to be too high in the rough area.
I have experienced this problem. This picture is one that I could have taken.
It has always been because I was putting too much plastic into the available space.
This has been caused two things: overextrusion -- squirting out too much plastic for the intended layer height, and the bed being too "high" so that the gap between the nozzle and the bed is too thin.
In both cases, too much plastic is trying to be placed in too small a volume. The plastic has to go somewhere, and ripples follow. Because the nozzle rubs against the adjacent lines which have already been deposited, an up-bump pushes up the nozzle on the line beside the bump, and a coherent pattern of ripples can form.
The "bump up" is a real effect from the elasticity of the Z-axis, including all the resulting strains of twisting and lifting the nozzle.
@Oscar's thought about belts could be part of the problem. Measure the X-Y size of the object you printed and compare that with the design. Adjust the steps/mm for X and Y until that is right. If the object is printing too small, that would also create the "too much plastic in the volume" problem.
Thanks for the thorough explanation! I was looking for an explanation as I was having the same issues on my Ender 3. I lowered the bed just a little bit (thus increasing the distance between nozzle and bed) and the first test print comes out waaays better.
This could be a number of things, I personally think it could be either over extrusion or an issue with one of the belts. Depending on the printer, you may need to manually go in and adjust your steps per millimeter, which you should be able to find a guide on. If that doesn't work, then look into belt tension adjustment. Hope this is able to help! I like to use the Simplify3D Print Quality Guide for situations like this, it tends to be very useful.
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10486 | Sketchup designed object printing first layer incorrectly
I am a 3D printing beginner but wanted to get stuck in straight away and design my own 3D objects. I used Sketchup to design a badge of one of my logos. I make sure that all faces of my object are not inside out and show a white face in Sketchup. I also make my entire object a component before exporting into a .stl file. However, when I import into Ultimaker Cura, the base of the object is red. This to my understanding means there is an issue with that face.I have played around with Sketchup several times by not creating a component, reversing the face and I still have no luck. When I reverse the base face in Sketchup so that it is grey, it then shows up in Ultimaker Cura as okay (not red). But when I 3D print it, it still prints it very strangely. I would like to note I am 3D printing with a raft and when I do not use a raft, the object prints fine. Also I have tested printing a small 3D cube with the same settings and the results are exactly the same. Surely you can design objects in Sketchup and print with a raft?
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! I don't know for sure, but it sounds as though the base of your object is off of the print bed, or rather that there is a gap between the printer bed and the base of the print itself. There is a snap-to option within Cura which automatically places the base on the printer bed ... you might see if that helps.
FYI, SketchUp hasn't been a Google product for at least five years.
@DanHulme Thanks. Apologies, that last time I used Sketchup was when it was owned by Google.
@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Thanks, I already have this option enabled but still have no luck.
Snap-to won't help if there's some stray junk part protruding just slightly from the bottom of your model. That may be the problem. I've explained how to look for it in my answer.
The smoother print looks like it was printed with a higher temperature for the extruder and/or bed. Because you are printing a short object, you shouldn't have trouble with a higher bed temperature (70C for PLA and 110 for ABS).
In Sketchup I remove all unnecessary lines on each face, then use x-ray view to remove unnecessary internal lines and objects.
A red surface coloring is normal for the bottom when viewed in Ultimaker Cura, nothing to worry about that (e.i. when that face is touching the build plate; if it is unsupported, you should add support structures but a raft is generally not necessary for PLA).
Rafts are useful when you print high temperature materials that have a large shrinkage when cooled from print to bed temperature (this somewhat mitigates the problems of curling up corners or warping prints), for PLA it is not needed. As seen from the print that is printed on the raft, it's clear that the print to raft distance is to large, the first print object layer is not adhering to the top raft layer very well.
The print that is printed without a raft doesn't look too bad. Some printer extruder calibration could further improve the quality.
Note: This answer is curently wrong because I mentally reversed your "with raft" and "without raft" columns. I'll attempt to fix it soon.
This doesn't look like a problem with your model, but rather a problem with your bed height or slicer settings (possibly both) that may be affecting your particular model worse than others. It's clear from the photo of the bottom of your print that the extrusions that were supposed to be circular failed to adhere to the bed, and instead got pulled to chords between points they happened to adhere at. This could be caused by a mix of:
Excessive print speed for the first layer. Generally I would limit it to 30 mm/s or less to give the material the best chance to stick.
Excess space between the nozzle and bed. Could be caused by improper adjustment of bed height ("leveling"), or by using a layer thickness that's too high (roughly, more than 75-80% of nozzle width).
Underextrusion, possibly caused by insufficient print temperature, incorrect filament diameter setting, or poor quality filament with wrong diameter, among other things.
Using a raft mitigates these things by moving the potential problem to the interface between the raft and the bed; once there's a raft sticking to the bed, printing of the model can ignore the problem. But you should never need a raft. It's a waste of plastic and a workaround for problems that have better fixes, not a necessary part of 3D printing.
The "red" in Cura is not a problem; as I understand it, Cura shows all parts of the model that aren't supported by other parts of the model in red, and this includes the base. However, it is possible that your model has some stray part extruding below the bottom, causing the whole thing (except that stray part) to be printed starting one layer above the print bed with nothing to adhere to. You can check if this is the case in Cura by switching to layer view and looking at the first layer. You should see the whole surface that you want to adhere to the bed; if instead you see just one or a few small blobs, that's your problem.
I thought something was "odd", hence the addition of my answer, please do update as it contains valuable information (e.g. your explanation of the red layer is very useful).
it seems to me that the oddities and bad adhesion is from raft to print...
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10719 | Chalk objects: 3D Printed or Molds?
I am thinking about making something from chalk. But can chalk be printed into shapes directly or is it better to shape it with printed molds? What kind of material would be suitable for a mold for the chalk so I can ensure the mold releases after the chalk solution cures?
Asking for "recommendations" don't make particular good SE questions as it can be read as "what is the best solution for ...". You should only ask practical, reasonably scoped, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Please help us help you by updating the question to include what you already found about chalk printing and ask a specific question on release agents of such printing techniques. Are you e.g. hinting on printing with chalk containing filament called LAYBRICK?
Have you considered printing your mold in a flexible TPE or TPU?
Chalk, as a ceramic substance, could be printed with a paste printer and if the substance can hold its shape during drying for a couple of hours.
It might be easier to use a flexible filament like TPE or TPU to print a mold in which the paste can cure slowly to a point it can be safely removed. These filaments make release easier as one can flex them away from the printed object.
Another option could be vapor smoothed ABS and a tapered shape so that the object has no undercuts and easy paths only. If one adds a pusher rod place, which is closed by a plug during casting the chalk and can remove from the back after casting, removal gets easier as air can flow in from the back through the removed plug. It can also be used to use a pen or similar obect to gently release the item with light taps.
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10622 | Is there a way to configure printer extruder to go all way up when printing finishes in Ender 3?
With Ender 3 is there a way to configure printer extruder to go all way up when the printing finishes?
Or even with the Ultimaker Cura software?
I want this, because i'm going to put a switch on the top of the printer that will switch it off when the printer finishes (if i can make the arm with the extruder go all the way up when printing finishes.)
How can this be done?
Have you tried adding a G0 Z(proper location) move before the end of the gcode file?
@Davo no i didnt, and i never edited a gcode file, is it safe?
Might not be the best idea to shut the printer off right after it finishes https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10271/should-i-cooldown-before-shutdown/10274
@Nmaster88 Yes, is safe to edit your G Code for adding code that safe your prints and your printer, also for helping to get a better adhesion and auto levels. many recommends not turn off the printer after finishing but I don't see any problem; My printers some times stops on blackouts and nothing happens. (one per month).
@FernandoBaltazar: Indeed, but you're more likely to get a clogged hotend from heat creep if you shut it off right away, because the material still above the melt zone may heat up (without a fan to keep that part cool) and slightly melt, expanding enough that it can't be pushed down into the melt zone next time you go to print. I've never experienced this, but it's the failure mode people cite and it seems plausible.
@R.. Clogged nozzles are because some users (me) forgets to preheat the extruder or while preheating the cooling fan on the feed chamber is off, this creates the worm. the clogged nozzles many times can be unclogged just by preheating the hotend an extra time to allow the plastics flows by gravity. I use this process, I haven't had a clogged nozzle in 3 years, when I started was one per week :D
@FernandoBaltazar from what you say my idea seems safe to implement. Thanks :D
The most safe way to move the printer up to the maximum print height is to use a concept known as "keywords" (sort of constants that are filled by the correct value when slicing) in Ultimaker Cura, certainly if you have multiple printers with different print area sizes.
To use these keywords, just add these in between curly braces and insert them into your slicer "End G-code" script. These keywords will be substituted with actual numbers from the printer settings or slicing configuration parameters. In this case we need to use the maximum print height which is specified by the keyword machine_height. This keyword takes its value from the printer settings, set for the printer in the graphical user interface of the printer settings, see image below (this is a configuration of an Ultimaker 3 Extended, it also shows the Start G-code and End G-code which you can tweak yourself, as seen by the additional G-code line G0 F10000 Z{machine_height} that has been added for this demonstration).
E.g. similar to this answer, you could solve this with a keyword. Now when you slice for a certain printer (e.g. with the printer settings of the image above), the correct value will be filled in automatically when slicing the print object as can be seen from this snippet of G-code:
...
G91 ;Relative movement
G0 F15000 X8.0 Z0.5 E-4.5 ;Wiping+material retraction
G0 F10000 Z1.5 E4.5 ;Compensation for the retraction
G90 ;Disable relative movement
G0 F10000 Z300 ; <------------ note to see {machine_height} be resolved to 300 mm
...
This is specifically for Ultimaker Cura. Do note that e.g. Slic3r even takes the keyword concept further by allowing arithmetic and logic, similar as you could do in programming languages!
In Ultimaker Cura (and pretty much any slicer), you can easily modify the end code of the Ender 3. To go all the way up, you could add the following in the end:
G90 ;absolute positioning
G1 Z300 ;goto height 300 ; Move to 300 mm = 30 cm.
G91 ;back to relative positioning
If you use OctoPrint, there is a plugin that will allow you to take action on certain events, such as print completion. The action that it can take would allow you to turn of a TP-link smart plug; which would turn off the printer. You could then use the phone app to turn it back on.
while you could turn off the printer that way, it does not answer the question OP asks: how to get the gantry to top out after a print
"I want this, because i'm going to put a switch on the top of the printer that will switch it off when the printer finishes" - This is the OP's objective.
they might have other reasons why they want a mechanical switch.
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10860 | Creality CR-10 extruder clicking and/or nozzle clogging
So I am fairly competent with 3D printing, but this problem has got me stumped. I use a Creality CR-10 and I hadn't printed anything off for quite a while (maybe 5 or 6 months?) and I just recently starting printing again. I got a roll of somewhat cheap, but highly reviewed, filament that I have had for around a year that had just been sitting in a cupboard and went through the process of levelling and setup before starting a print.
I started to print a model and left it, expecting it to work as it usually does, but came back later and it had failed halfway; it stopped clean with no spaghetti or continuous extrusion. I started the print again and watched it for a few layers to make sure everything was working fine, and found that it printed the first layer off perfectly fine, but as soon as it started the second layer the extruder gear starting making a clicking noise like it was slipping and the filament wasn't being extruded any further.
I thought this could be because the extruder gear was worn, as it is only brass, and the teeth weren't biting the filament, so I bought a steel one and replaced it; but it's still clicking. I then thought it could be because the nozzle was getting clogged, so I took off the hotend and cleaned it thoroughly but that didn't fix the problem; even if this was the case, it wouldn't make sense that it is regularly completing the first layer before getting 'clogged'. I also tried printing at hotter and cooler temperatures, with and without the heated bed, and printing at slower speeds, but all of these attempts fail to fix the problem.
I did have a brief thought that it COULD be a problem with the model or gcode, as I did print of a spacer for the spring in the feeder which printed off without any clicks, and I also printed off a smaller version of my model (33% scale) which made the clicking noise intermittently and was affecting the filament but printed off fine in the end after I left it.
My final thought is that it could be the filament, as it isn't exactly new or expensive and was left for over 6 months, but before I buy a better roll I want to know if this is a viable reason for the clicking and slipping in the extruder. If anyone could help me out of give me any solutions I would be incredibly grateful. Thanks.
These are all my current settings in Slic3r:
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Can you tell us what type of filament you are using (PLA, PETG, etc) as well as what temps you are using to print it? And anything else which might be usable in helping to diagnose?
I'm printing pla and tried the temperatures from 190 to 210 in 5 degree intervals, also using the heated bed at 40 and 50 degrees. I also replaced the Bowden tube as I thought it was too short, but none of this fixed it.
I think you need to slow down random changes and try to identify the actual cause. Are you sure the nozzle is actually hot when it happens? My guess would be that it's stopped heating.
Another "d'oh" thing to check: your filament spool isn't sticking or cross-wrapped so the feed is stuck?
I've tried changing the speed of the second layer from 60mms to 30mms and it still happens, even changing the printer to 50% speed. Also the filament is free and not tangled, but I'm pretty sure the problem is that the filament is getting stuck at the nozzle as after it started clicking, I tried pushing the filament through (while holding down the spring of course) and it wasn't extruding; I haven't checked the nozzle temperature after it happens and never thought to, so thanks for that suggestion.
This all happened before I cleaned the nozzle and I pulled out a quite substantial block of filament from the nozzle. But as soon as I printed again, it clicked. Any other suggestions?
How did you clean the nozzle? Is it possible you damaged it in a manner that caused it to keep clogging? After it starts clicking, can you manually force more material out of the nozzle by pushing it through the extruder with the gear/idler released? (Do this with the nozzle still heated.) Can you confirm by pressing a piece of filament against the nozzle and watching it melt that it's actually still at the nominal temperature?
Please check and post basic settings like retraction settings and temperatures, cooling fan percentage, etc. and insert by [edit]. See this template topic for example. Thanks!
Someone also had a similar problem and managed to fix theirs by heating up the hotend and tightening their nozzle a lot more than they thought; could anyone explain why this could be a problem?
New questions should be new questions, but probably because it's easier to tighten fittings and displace molten plastic than hardened plastic.
Turns out the filament was the problem, I tried printing a model with a high quality sample PLA filament I had and it printed perfectly; one of the cleanest prints I've had. Never skimp on filament.
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9961 | Anycubic Chiron does not print correctly
I recently got my Anycubic Chiron.
First I was very exited and set up the printer. I started the first manual leveling as described in the instuctions. After that I did the Autoleveling and started the test print - so far so good.
After adjusting by 2 mm, further down I saw the round circle in the middle is not round and it seems that in some areas the printer does not position the nozzle correctly. As I printed a cylinder I saw the circle has two flat areas opposing each other when the build plate moves towards its end position.
Does anybody now how to fix this? Is there anybody with a Cura 4.0 Machine setting and a 0.05 mm with 0.4 mm nozzle profile?
Hi Sebastian, and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! I would recommend that in addition to reading some highly voted questions to gauge the standard expected, that you take a look at the [help] section relating to asking questions, in particular [ask], and take the [tour] for more information on how stack exchange works. Thanks :-) E.g. this question might be closed as unclear what you ask and would benefit a lot from correct punctuation and addition of photos to support your text. Please update your question by [edit]. We all love to help out!
A photo or diagram would be a very helpful addition to the question.
Thanks I will take a Pic and post it. I check the belt and it seems that they are a bit loose I will correct this and try again.
It is impossible to give a definitive answer without photographic evidence, since your description of the problem does not give enough information. The most common causes of "circular objects not printing correctly" are loose belts and loose grub screws on the belt drive pulleys.
However, you should note that the printer's firmware will not allow the print head to be moved outside the defined maximum printing area under software (g-code) control. This will cause large objects to be truncated if they extend outside of the defined maximum printing area, and I suspect that this is what is happening.
Cura denies to slice objects that are in any part out of bounds.
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9876 | Printer LCD controller required when using a Raspberry Pi + LCD?
When using a Raspberry Pi and an LCD to run the printer, can the LCD controller that comes on the printer be removed or does it need to be used also?
Why remove it? It's not in the way and it's hardly a power pig.
@CarlWitthoft Those flat cables are generally in the way when you want to nicely route the cables for some proper cable management... ;)
No, when you run the print jobs from a Raspberry Pi, e.g. using the OctoPrint print server, you do not need the display of the printer as you can control the printer from the Pi screen or from a browser of any other device. Do note that not all functionality of the LCD controller is built-in in those printer servers, but you normally have a terminal to interface using G-code with the printer, or you can make macros to do that.
In some cases it might be handy to leave it on the printer for small adjustments, homing an axis, or feeding some filament; it saves you some time opening a browser to control the printer when you operate the printer remotely and allows to troubleshoot the machine manually.
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9898 | How to effectively eliminate stringing in 3D print
I'm having this stringing problem that happens when the machine moves and when it's not supposed to print that I still haven't effectively solved. I will try exemplify with the following image.
We can see it leaves some prints when it's not supposed to.
I know we can try to solve it with the retraction properties, but is there a way to calculate the right levels of it?
How do you guys do it?
My setup is:
Ender3 printer
Ultimaker Cura sw
BQ filament
Info about this particular filament, from store.bq.com
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT
Weight - 1 kg
Filament diameter - 1.75 mm
Coil size (diameter x width) - 175 x 77 mm
Spool axle diameter - 44 mm
Enclosure - 187 x 187 x 83 mm
MATERIAL
Composition - 100% PLA (Polylactic acid).
PRINTING FEATURES
Optimum printing temperature - 205 ºC
Printing temperature range - 200-220 ºC
Add which material you are printing to your question by [edit]. Is this PETG? PETG is known for its stringing properties and is hard to completely get rid of. I've printed kilometers of 2.85 mm PETG and have reduced stringing to a minimum, but some models still show very fine strings.
Now that the image has changed, this question has turned in a "help me fight stringing" which has been asked multiple times. Please look into other questions and answers and try to define what is different to your situation. E.g. those very fine strings are common for PETG.
This is getting confusing, due to the image change and probably should be closed as a duplicate now (unless the image gets reverted back and the question edited to address the issue in the original question). However, close it as a duplicate against which question, as there are a number to chose from?
@Greenonline sorry i could only provide the info now. The problem is that when i created the post i didnt had the right image to provide, but i said it on parentesis.
Excellent, thanks for the update. Yeah, it is true you did state that in the parentheses. Just out of interest, w.r.t. the original image, were those random thick orthogonal lines intentional?
Note: The image in the question was changed after the question was asked. This answer is out-of-date with respect to how the question has changed; I'll update it when more information is available.
These don't look like strings, which I'd define as material deposited outside of the model, but rather damage done by moving the hotend through already-printed material without retracting. In Cura, this is called "retraction combing", and it defaults to "all", which is way too aggressive and visibly harms the surface finish. Switching it to "noskin" or even "infill" only will make this go away and greatly improve your print quality, at the cost of some speed. The cost can be severe in worst case with certain kinds of fine detail, but usually "noskin" is cheap and suffices.
OK, this new image looks completely different from the old one and largely invalidates my answer. I may update it later.
Thanks, that might be another problem, I switched to an image where I show the stringing that is happening
You should reply to Oscar's comment asking about the material, and provide as much information as you can about your settings.
@Nmaster88 - IMHO, I think you should revert the image, via a roll back, and let this answer answer the original question, as it is a little unfair to change the question after someone has taken the time to answer it. Meanwhile, check the other stringing questions (provided by 0scar's link above) to see if they address your issue and if not, post an new different question. It's just a suggestion, but seems to make sense, given the current situation.
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10027 | Qiditech not working
I have a QIDITECH Dual Extruder Desktop 3D Printer which I purchased from Amazon in November 2017.
Until today it has been working fine and I've printed lots of models, today I set it printing and went out, when I arrived home the printing had stopped, the LCD display was still lit but not progressing, no filament was extruding and the extruders and bed had gone cold.
I removed the print from the bed, cleaned it up then tried to print again. The LCD displayed the correct display showing the extruders and bed, but none of them were heating up, the extruder temperatures did not change neither did the bed.
It seems to have developed a fault and I have no clue as to why or how this has happened or what I can do to fix it? I've sent an email to the supplier but so far no reply.
Can anyone help me please?
Will the printer work if you set the bed temperature to 0°C (I.e. no heated bed)?
@Mick, Haven't tried that...I was wrong about the extruders not heating they are, its only the bed that isn't heating.
are you able to access the board and measure the voltage the printer provides to the bed when you send a print command? Can you disconnect the bed and measure its resistance? it should be non-0 and non-infinite
Sorry I don't really want to start dismantling the printer, it may void any warranty. As far as I an concerned its still under warranty...
In that case, there's not a lot that we can do to help you. Good luck with your warranty claim.
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10132 | Set the overhang parameter in Blender 3D printing tool box
I'm working on a cube in Blender. I just deleted one of the faces (the top face) of the cube and added solidify to avoid non manifold edges.
In this case, when I check the design it shows that the bottom face is an overhang face (shown with yellow color). However, if I change the overhang parameter in 3D printing tool box from 45 to 90° and then check the model, it doesn't show any overhang faces and it seems that everything is okay. I don't think increasing the overhang parameter could be a good idea. However, this is my first time that I'm trying to design a model for 3D printing. Can this model with the overhang parameter equal to 90° be printed using a 3D printer? How can I fix the overhang problem in this simple model.
Today I tested another simple model. I used a fill circle and added solidify to the model. Although the model is really simple, check the model shows the same as the previous design - the bottom face is an overhang face. It seems that adding solidify to a shape leads to this problem. I don't know how can I fix this problem. Changing the overhang parameter fixes the overhang problem but it seems that this not a good idea for printing models.
Unfortunately, I can not test the print myself as I do not have a printer myself and I need to outsource the print job.
welcome to the 3D Printing Stack Exchange site. I hope you find find this a valuable location both for questions, and to help others with answers. Your question woule be better if you added a picture of the model. I am not a Blender user, and although your description may be perfect, I have trouble visualizing the model you are asking about.
It may not be a problem. Technically, the bottom face is an overhang face, but if it is sitting on the print bed, it doesn't matter. Have you tried printing a model?
Unfortunately, I do not have a printer myself and I need to outsource the print job.
Hi Sara, and welcome to SE.3DP. Do you know that there is a Blender Stack Exchange site..? Should I migrate your question there for you? However, after re-reading, your question is actually about printing an overhang, so maybe it is better suited here. Let me know what you think :-) Also, when you take a screen shot, maybe zoom in closer so that the model isn't so small. Also, please add information in the question and not the comments. I have put the additional info from the comments into the question.
Thank you very much for making changes. I did not know the blender stack exchang. But so far I have received good answers in 3d printing stack exchange and I am very grateful for that :).
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about modeling, not printing.
You are looking at overhangs in the design tool. What matters are overhangs when printing.
When designing the object, the coordinate system is convenient for working with the object. Before slicing, the object can be rotated and repositioned for better printing. Only after is it positioned for printing can the actual overhangs and bridges determined.
Unless you wish to limit yourself to the design tools coordinate system, I wouldn't have the design tool generate support material, and I would ignore its comments about overhang angles. First, bring the object into your slicer, position it on the print bed, and only then evaluate the need for support material.
To be honest, I often have a printing strategy in mind while I am designing an object, but when the object hits the printer I sometimes completely change my plan.
I'm a regular user of Blender and the 3D Printing add-on to design and print stuff. It will always consider the bottom of your model as an overhang, and it should pose no problem when you send it to print.
The add-on will say the bottom is an overhang because, in the virtuality of Blender, the object you're designing, like the cube in your picture, is floating in an empty void and the add-on has no setting to tell it 'this face is a bottom, don't check it for overhang'. I guess it could be programmed, but I'm not sure that it would be a good idea since it would then keep considering this face as the bottom even if you turn the object 180°.
You can safely ignore that particular warning from the 3D printing add-on when you send your object to be printed, as long as it is printed with the same orientation than in Blender. And it should be, since the export in STL will keep the orientation of the object along the X, Y and Z axis.
Overhangs that are substantially greater than 45° to the vertical generally require supports, and overhangs of 90° will definitely require supports, unless they are bridges (supported at both ends). Depending on how well you have your printer and filament "dialled in", it is possible to print overhangs up to 70° without supports. However, if your model is a simple cube, it will have no overhangs, so it doesn't really matter what value you give the overhang parameter. Supports are usually generated when the model is sliced, but some modelling software will generate supports as part of the model.
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8758 | How to connect optocoupler module to ABL sensor and Ender 3 board
I am trying to figure out how to wire up Auto Bed Leveling (ABL) on my Ender 3 using the optocoupler and inductive proximity sensor below.
I cannot figure out how to wire it all together, all the tutorials I have found are for 2 and 3 wire per side of the optocoupler.
VERY related: https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6358/inductive-sensor-in-24-v-machine
Connecting is pretty straightforward like the other modules, difference is an extra input lead.
From e.g. here: Module interface description:
DC+: Positive DC power supply.
DC- : Negative DC power supply.
PWM: Signal input (connect MCU port, PLC interface, DC power supply, etc.)
GND: The negative terminal of the signal
OUT+: Positive output terminal (connected to the device positive)
OUT-: Negative output terminal (connected to device negative)
So, 1 and 2 connect to your power supply that matches the voltage of the logic of your microprocessor (5 V) as this must be linked to 5 and 6 which are connected to the endstop signal and ground respectively.
As for the sensor, blue is GND, black is signal (PWM) and brown is power as seen in e.g. this answer.
Blue is GND?! Well I never. Completely contrary to convention. Utter madness! LOL... ;-)
This is a bit of an addendum to 0scar's answer, as I didn't want to edit it in to his post.
For completion, the sensor's internal schematic is on the side of the sensor itself1:
where:
PNP - 1 BN - Brown - VSUPPLY
N/O - 4 BK - Black - Sensor output
4 mm - 3 BU - Blue - GND
However, the complete diagram, taken from Instructables - Enable Auto Leveling for Your 3D Printer With an Inductive Sensor (Marlin Firmware), can be seen here:
Footnotes
1 Taken from this image, which was on this product page, 4mm Inductive Proximity Approach Sensor Switch PNP NO DC 6-36V 200mA Cylinder:
There is a bit more to the schematic, which can be glimpsed here (on the left hand side):
A fuller, but blurry, view of the left hand side can be seen here, from this product page:
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8717 | Polypropylene Bed Adhesion
I recently upgraded to a Polypropylene print bed, but I haven't actually been able to complete a print.
Adhesion seems incredibly inconsistent, even on the same spot. Sometimes it goes down great, and sometimes it just curls up and clumps on the nozzle. I even cranked the temp up to 220 °C for the PLA and 70 °C for the bed in an effort to get it to stick for an initial layer, and it still isn't sticking.
Any tips? I've been cleaning with rubbing alcohol, but I don't know if there's any trick. Clean when hot? Cold? Let sit after cleaning before using? Is it just a matter of incredibly precise bed leveling?
Before going into details of getting print to stick, first address the bed material in the question. Polypropylene (PP) bed? PP is very slippery (so difficult to get something to stick), isn't it PEI (Polyetherimide)? Or is it a Buildtak (or clone) bed surface?
@0scar I'm really not sure what you're asking, I meant Polypropylene bed material. This one specifically:link Is that what you were wondering?
I asked because Polypropylene is an uncommon bed material, AFAIK it is only used when you want to print PP. Thanks for the link!
When you updated the print bed, you may have affected either the manual or auto calibration of the bed height and bed leveling.
First layer adhesion is depends critically on an accurate first layer thickness, which depends on the bed height calibration. Adding or, perhaps more critically, removing any bed surface thickness could cause a problem.
With many forms of auto bed calibration, a sensor detects a steel or metallic reference under the surface. The thickness from that reference to the surface of the bed is not automatically detected or compensated. Changing the bed surface, even renewing the surface with another sheet of the same material, may alter the bed thickness enough to affect the adhesion fo the first layer.
If the bed is properly adjusted, the problem may be the surface of the polypropylene. I see that some instructions for cleaning polypropylene build surfaces suggest isopropyl alcohol and/or a mild soap solution. I find that with a PEI build plate, it is sometimes necessary to clean the surface with acetone.
Acetone is superior at removing oils and films from the surface and will do better than multiple isopropanol cleanings. I checked a table of chemical compatibility, and polypropylene is highly compatible with acetone, so a thorough cleaning will not degrade it.
Nope, I remembered that part. Been using this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3235018 to try to level, but putting the bed close enough to stick leads to layers being pulled up as the nozzle travels.
Have you resolved this? Have you tried changing the temperature, especially trying a higher temperature? If the head contacts the filament deposited on the same layer, there could be other problems, some of which may be helped by extruding with a higher temperature (and thus more flowing plastic).
Nope. As I said, I'd already cranked up the temperature. I just gave up, because the standard plate works better without any fiddling. Wasn't worth the money and headaches, frankly.
If you are using PLA, 200 for the extruder sticks the best for me. The other issue with adhesion is the greater the difference between the extruder temperature and the bed the poorer adhesion. There are other things can help with this. Using a higher bed temperature for the first layer can help. A slower extrusion speed allows the extrusion to cool more before getting as long of a length to for the contraction force; thus improving adhesion.
Problem is, even after I level the bed using https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3235018, the filament still refuses to stick without additional adhesion. Even with a high temp. And going slow won't help, since the filament just bunches up around the tip.
Have you tried putting a Kapton (polyimide) sheet on your bed? https://www.amazon.com/s?k=3d+printer+bed+surface+polyimide&ref=nb_sb_noss
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8673 | New use for extruder port
Is there a way to change the use of an extruder port on a 3D printer motherboard to move stepper motors (on y axis) on a 3D printer?
This is for a school project, and we have replaced the extruder with a laser for cutting material.
We were tasked with converting a 3D printer into LOM 3D printer, the laser is set using the fan port, however we still need two stepper motors to move material from one side of the printer to the other after each layer of material is cut.
The mother board we are using is WitBot MKS Gen L V1.0 Controller Board Integrated mainboard Compatible Ramps1.4/Mega2560 R3 with A4988 Motor Driver for 3D.
What firmware are you using?
I'm not sure I understand: converting a 3DP to a LASER engraver implies switching the hot-end for the diode driver and the Z axis becomes less valuable. Why are you messing around with the Y axis?!?
If you're doing a laser you can use the fan PWM output to control the laser.
What do you want to use the extra motor for? The answer is yes, if you manage to redesign your slicer and firmware
This is a huge addition that actually explains a lot. As LOM is rare, you should update your question with the additions and how it works and which motor you set up for which. In this case I would put the extruder to control 1 & 8, use X for moving 2, and Y for 4. Z is 7.
If you are planning to use the printer via GCode entirely, then I don't believe it would be too complicated. For example, Marlin treats the extruder as another axis and uses absolute values for it (if absolute mode is on, of course). Since you want to have two steppers, you would have to connect them in either series or parallel (usually the Z motors are wired in parallel on RAMPS type boards, but many people are going for series since it has some benefits, one of them being that the torque will be much more similar between the two motors). Of course lower the stepper driver current to the minimum before connecting, then adjust it to whatever value you need.
I don't think it will work too well if it has to keep the roll tight - in that case, you could be better off by using only one stepper and some kind of force to hold it tight... maybe a small DC motor at low currents?
You can modify your printer firmware and set your own pin assignments for everything, for example in Marlin you have the pins.h file where every pin from the Mega is mapped to different headers and drivers. I don't know if there is any LOM slicer or firmware available, but you could just use GRBL.
With the picture shown, the LOM printer could be almost controlled entirely with a standard printer's hardware and almost no changes to the firmware:
Z controls stay the same, they control 7
X & Y will be used for the laser mirror 4 needs to be controlled by 2 motors to follow 2D Contours. I would not use a swiveling one but a steady laser that targets a 90° mirror mounted so it moves with one of the axis that reflects it to the second 90° mirror that aims it down on the workpiece and is mounted on the second axis. This would be pretty much a Core-XY setup.
Turning the laser on and off can - as said - easily be done with the part cooling fan control
The E0 signal could be used to turn the material feed on both sides, though I would use only one motor. This stepper should for speed consistency be mounted springloaded and use a roller to transfer movement to the film coil 8, best on an area that is off-limits for the laser to cut in. As a result, I would let 1 spin on itself against some resistance like a spring-loaded bar keeping the film tightened, keeping electronic complexity to a minimum.
Powering the heater can be done via the heater out of the board.
To actually move the heater, I would use the E1 signal on a long axle, pulling the mounting for it from both sides.
This would create a simple order of operations:
T0 # Choose the material Feed
E100 F100 # Pull 100 mm of new material via the roller 8 from 1
Do XY movements with cut
T1 to choose the heater movement
E100 F100
E-100 F100 # Fuse the film with an E1 movement back and forth (or alternate between these two lines to rest the heater on either side, speeding up the process)
GOTO 1
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8666 | Ultimaker 3 Extended prints pores in walls
We have a fairly new Ultimaker 3 Extended.
When printing ABS with the AA0.8 nozzle and the recommended settings (up-to-date CURA) we receive a very poor wall quality that exposes some kind of pores. I've attached an image of those pores.
I assume those pores are dragged by the nozzle when it moves inwards to print the infill.
I already tried to increase the wall thickness or increase the layer height to 0.3 mm. Are there other settings I might be able to tweak to eliminate those pores?
What Z seam option do you use?
While no expert, I'm wondering if you're going the wrong way with tweaking your parameters.
If I'm reading your question correct, you have a fairly large nozzle (it's a 0.8 mm?) and then you're using ABS which requires more heat (230 °C nozzle temp) than say PLA does (typically 190 °C). Along with that you are using a fairly thick print layer of 0.3 mm, where I've normally only used a 0.1 mm layer height. You add all this stuff up and it seems to me the nozzle temps are probably not keeping up with the amount of filament you are trying to extrude, and due to these things, you're seeing the gaps in the print.
My thinking on this to fix your issue is to do a couple of things. You can slow down your print speed to allow the heating element to keep up. Secondly, use a smaller layer height. Both of these things should help, but will increase print times dramatically. You could also go to a smaller print orifice. Lowering the orifice size to 0.4 mm would again, increase print time, but would mean less filament extrusion and the chance for the nozzle temps to keep up with extrusion needs.
At work we print a lot with .8 nozzle in even higher layer heights, that shouldn't be a problem for an Ultimaker 3. I do think you're right about the tweaking part. This looks more like an extrusion start or end problem if the Z seam is random that is.
First of all, I agree with the other answer, which suggests slowing the print and increasing the temperature (upvoted). I also see some evidence of de-lamination between layers in the photo, which lends weight to that idea.
But I want to address this:
I assume those pores are dragged by the nozzle when it moves inwards to print the infill.
Perhaps. There's also a chance these gaps are the result of the nozzle as you suggest...
... however, if that's true, it's almost certainly not the nozzle itself. For the nozzle to cause this problem, the z-axis would actually have to descend as the layer tries to adjust upwards.
Instead, I'd look for a clump of material stuck to the nozzle edge, either during a priming phase in the machine beginning g-code or picked up from the first layer where an early part of a brim/raft/skirt may not have completely stuck to the print bed.
This happens commonly with my printer now that the nozzle has aged some, and I tend to watch the printer carefully while it warms up for a new print so I can remove the priming material with a putty knife before it can cause a problem.
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9853 | Does the X/Y bed orientation of a model affect the print detail quality?
My FDM printer bed moves on the Y-axis and the print head moves on the X-axis and raises on the Z-axis. When printing rectangular objects (a model of Notre Dame in this case), are there print detail quality advantages to aligning the model perpendicular to the X or Y axis, or at 45 degrees? Part strength is not an issue and support is not needed.
Thanks.
Bowden or direct drive extruder? You know, it’s all about inertia...
Also cooling air flow could influence the quality. windward usually looks better than leeward as the filament cools quicker
@darthpixel this could easily be solved by using a 360 degree cooler like the DiiCooler (or CiiCooler) https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1025471/
@RobertoLoGiacco If you use a Prusa style printer with the bed as constantly moving Y axis, bowden vs. direct drive is the least of your inertia worries.
@towe I’m not sure I agree, stepper motors are quite heavy... Aluminum is not that much
@RobertoLoGiacco I still got some 330x330 heated beds laying around. I'll put them on scale later, maybe you're right. My Titan clone hardly weighed more than the metal extruder cage that came stock on my X5S though.
Let me know what are going to be your results, I’m curious
In short: Not really.
longer version: It depends.
The main culprit of losing details in this case would be the weight and speed of the thing moving. So if you have a heavy X-axis carriage, acceleration and decelerating the carriage won't be instant. Same with the bed (Y-axis).
Another culprit can be slop in the system, so check your linear bearings and belt tension.
Also keep in mind that you are printing on the bed, so the weight of the Y-axis increases while the print progresses. This shouldn't be a problem for small prints, but if your print becomes bigger it can decrease the quality. Another factor is that every print will bend a little the higher it gets, so if you print a tall slender object, don't accelerate the bed too fast ;)
To summarize, for high detailed prints:
Lower the speed
Check the system for slop (tighten belts, and align linear bearings)
Take the lightest axis for the highest detail (keep the weight of the print in mind)
One thing that you can do to test your machine is to test the ghosting on each axis (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:277394).
I'm under the impression that your question hints on rectilinear motion by aligning the print part to the axes motion of the printer. So, placing it under 45° would suggest movement of both steppers to make a straight line opposed to one stepper movement for a straight line.
Basically, the weight of the carriage and the play in the system determine the quality of the details. Not how much steppers are involved to print the part. As an example, CoreXY or H-bot style printers use 2 steppers to print a straight line and a single stepper to print diagonally. These printers are capable of producing very accurate prints.
On a Prusa i3 style printer it is not expected to see large differences unless you print very fast so that the inertia or play take a predominant role in the quality.
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8488 | Auto bed leveling: systematic slope
I have a heavily modified DiscoEasy 200 from Dagoma, see picture:
The heatbed is mounted on 4 springs, on top of the original plate. I made sure the X carriage was parallel to the table. I then tried to level the bed manually, with the 4 springs: I pushed the nozzle into each corner of the bed, and used the paper-gauge method to adjust the springs so that the bed would always be at the same distance of the nozzle. I then setup the Z-offset on the machine and tried to print a mainstream bed leveling test from thingiverse. I use a 4 points auto bed leveling.
And I have a systematic problem. Every time I try the bed leveling test, it seems the right side of the bed is lower than the left one. The front and rear right corners seem to be lower than on the left side. I tried to expand the springs of the front and rear right corners, but the auto bed leveling at the beginning of my prints re-introduces the problem.
The right side seems to be ~100 µm lower than what it should be. It's not a lot, but it's enough for prints to fail.
I can't figure out what the problem is. Do you have any idea? it's driving me crazy to not understand where the problem comes from.
Did you check if your bed is parallel to the gantry?
It can happen that after leveling one side and moving to the other the adjustment there puts the first side out of alignment - I level my bed by doing some couple turns
Did you check if your bed is parallel to the gantry?
Not to the gantry no, but the bed is parallel to the table (more or less, checked it with a caliper, but quickly). How do I check relatively to the gantry? I also do a couple of turns. Also, if I disable auto leveling, the leveling seems all right everywhere.
@JPFrancoia the hotend is a known length. if you level the bed, you actually try to make it parallel to the gantry. You should just repeat the process some times for left-right-front-back again and again, so the error gets reduced with each itteration
@JPFrancoia Though nice, leveling the bed with respect to the table is completely unnecessary unless the X axis is parallel to the table. The bed should be parallel to the X axis movement.
As I understand your question:
You manually go through a leveling process and have it set up well.
You allow the printer to "auto-level".
You print, and the right side is too low by about 0.1mm.
Is it possible that the filament (which is on the left side) pulls up on the extruder when the extruder is on the right side? A small tug could lift the extruder making it appear the same as if the bed were too low.
If this seems possible, check for the extruder being vertically loose or wobbly. I've had filament pull forces cause slight head offsets on a home-brew printer.
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8564 | Can I use Araldite to stick PLA to metal frame?
I have a PLA base, that the MOSFETs are sitting on. I don't want to drill through the base of the printer, I was thinking of using Araldite to stick the PLA base to the metal frame. The PLA base will be stuck to the base of the 3D printer upside down.
Do you think this will work long term? I don't want the plastic falling off and the MOSFETs hitting the metal base.
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Why not use superglue? It will hold to both surfaces without issue.
I tried it seems to stick ok. hope it lasts for a long time. since my printer is now working i will just print a plastic guard.
This is the reason I suggested superglue.
@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 I guess that the base of the MOSFETs are not flat (component pins); Araldite is an epoxy which has better filling properties.
@0scar Araldite can be epoxy or PU or Cyanoacrylic
@Trish Thanks! I only know it as epoxy, which appears the best adhesive for this application.
Araldite is a brand that refers to a range of structural epoxy, acrylic and polyurethane adhesives. Among the vast number of products marketed under the name are also "metal repair" paste and what seems to be silicone based glues. Depending on what Araldite you have on hand, all of these types can be useful for PLA and any other 3D-printing material, as I had elaborated here. I suggest grabbing either an epoxy or PU variant or some kind of silicone for this use. You should make sure several things though if you go with epoxy or PU:
make a small sample print and clamp down one side, then put a small weight on the other side. Apply the glue in the center of it. If it sags considerably during the bonding, the heat of the glue curing is warm enough to soften the print. If this happens, you should take precautions to prevent it from deforming during the bonding, e.g. not apply too much pressure onto the bond.
The MOSFET can get rather hot. Make sure that the clamp holding the MOSFET still holds the item as it gets hot, as PLA starts to get malleable enough to deform under stress at 50 °C and usually fails quickly at about 100 °C.
Silicone-based glues depend on an area to force ratio to stick but offer a flexible bond that is somewhat thermal resistant and very gap filling.
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8175 | The bottom few layers printed on Ender 3 are extruded wrong
For some reason, the bottom few layers printed on my Ender 3 are distorted. Used the benchy from http://www.3dbenchy.com/ and Cura 3.6.0, sliced with default settings for Ender 3 on the draft preset. The material is Hatchbox PLA. I think the bed is leveled pretty well, but there might be some adjustments I could make.
Please post an image of the bottom, usually this effect is caused by a too large of a nozzle to bed distance, this question, and the printed result, looks very much like asked here.
It may not be a duplicate as the dup's OP determined that the solution didn't actually resolve the issue.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.796293 | 2019-02-06T05:23:15 | {
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8296 | PETG Sticking to Nozzle
For a while now, my AmazonBasics PETG filament has been working like a charm. Now, it is balling up on my nozzle. I've tried slowing it down, re-leveling the bed, etc. I don't want to go through the hassle of replacing my nozzle with a Micro-Swiss all metal 0.4 mm nozzle. I've tried the other extruder which I know works with PLA, but same results. I'm using a Flashforge Creator Pro(2016).
Please add pictures and more information (by [edit]) when this happens, e.g. on the first layer or after a few layers. If it is a layer adhesion problem, maybe this question may help you.
It could be that you're having issues now due to the filament absorbing moisture. I had a big problem with it doing that when I had waited for a few months after opening my filament. Dehydrated it using just my heated plate and a foil lined box over the top and it fixed it right up. If that's something you haven't tried yet perhaps that is what is causing you some grief.
Welcome at 3D Printing.SE Kaleb! You must have had a ventilation hole or something to get rid of the moist air?
PETG does this. PETG is like glue when soft this is why when you level the bed you have to add an additional 0.1 mm distance for PETG. PETG should not be as close as PLA, but futher away. It will stick to the hotend so preferably change the hotend from brass to a nickle plated nozzle (e.g. Micro Swiss, PETG does not stick to that nozzle at all).
I've printed kilometers of 2.85 mm PETG filament, but never needed an increased first layer height or an extra clearance between nozzle and bed. I guess it is depending on your setup. It may help, but it could be it also works without such measures.
Nice, I will change my nozzles I have a bunch of them since one year ago waiting to assembly my third printer and the new ones.
Its the makeup of PETG, it is a stickier thermal plastic and you get better results if you increase the distance, slightly, between the nozzle and bed. Maker Muse and Tom both suggest the same thing in their YouTube videos. When I print with PETG, I never get any stringing at all and it prints just like PLA. I get near perfect prints with zero cleanup or stringing at the end. When I do figures of any kind I use PETG instead of PLA.
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8306 | CubePro Duo Filament Cartridge Replacment Problem
So I just got this CubePro Duo and the guy we bought it off had 3 filament cartridges to go with it, two installed and one spare. The one spare was white PLA while the two installed were colored ABS so I wanted to try out the white PLA for printing so I followed all the instructions on the printer up to put the cartridge in and now its stuck on "Material Validation" step and just isn't doing anything. I followed everything as closely as I could and even started over again in case I did something wrong but it still won't "validate" the material?
I have no idea what's going on and I would really appreciate some help, thanks in advance!
The CubePro Duo is a discontinued 3d-systems printer. It uses their standard proprietary cartridges to prevent to use other filaments. In comparison to other printer filaments, their filaments range between 100 and 150$ per spool, which is listed as "1 kg" (though if that is with or without casing is not clear).
From what I could find out about the cartridges, they should contain some kind of identification method to the printer. That it is stuck in Validation means, that it might not be able to read this. So let's try installing the cartridge again, following the handbook p.17!
Take out the cartridge
boot the machine
wait for the machine to ask for filament
remove the thumbscrew so the filament spool inside the cartridge can turn
pull out the 30 cm
cut 5 cm off the end
insert the material into the Bowden tube of slot 1
push the material till you get some goop coming out
mount the cartridge into the slot, make sure it is clamped in tightly.
This should start the validation of the material, at which point you might get told that the colors don't match the print defined colors. Should the cartridge not be validated again but works on the ABS cartridges, the validation method might be broken on this cartridge. Should it not recognize either, the firmware or the detector might be broken.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.796596 | 2019-02-20T14:13:03 | {
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8264 | OpenSCAD editor font is unreadable
I am a new OpenSCAD user. My screen editor window is using a very strange font that I cannot read. How can I fix it? I just installed OpenSCAD on my Linux Manjaro computer.
This is a screen shot of my screen for the first example in the examples folder.
Have you tried to change the font via:
Edit -> Preferences -> Editor -> Change to a different font using the combo drop down box?
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8265 | Delta Printer: After Calibration X and Y Axis are slightly different
I noticed that my x axis is slightly longer than my y axis (~0.6%) if I print an object. What parameter in Marlin can be tuned to correct such issues? The rod length parameter seems to rather influence the overall scaling of the object. The other parameters such as Txyz and Exyz influence the flatness according to the bed. I noticed, on the firmware of the Duet there is a gcode command for this particular issue, which I haven't found in Marlin yet.
I have the feeling (after reading the config file) it might be DELTA_DIAGONAL_ROD_TRIM_TOWER in https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/bugfix-2.0.x/Marlin/src/config/examples/delta/kossel_xl/Configuration.h#L626
I guess there is no info whether this value can be tuned via menu ..
This might be a duplicate of Delta printer nozzle not moving square with a perfectly level bed (as if the bed is bent... but it isn't), but I'm not sure. Is yours a different issue?
I think that you probably need to adjust the following two parameters in the Marlin firmware, in configuration.h:
MANUAL_HOME_Z_POS, and;
DELTA_SMOOTH_ROD_OFFSET
See my answer to Delta printer nozzle not moving square with a perfectly level bed (as if the bed is bent... but it isn't).
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8289 | Linear guideway with Ball screw for X, Y ,& Z axes
I'm building a 3D printer for bio medical application and looking for different opinions on motion system. Build volume 400x300x250 mm
I'm thinking about using Linear guide way with ball screw Linear guide way with ball screw
Would this mechanism be good for a 3D printer.
I'm als0 thinking about using Closed loop stepper motor and Closed loop driver
There'll be two X axes and Y will be mounted on that.
Z axis will be able to move Up and Down
good is always together with a certain application: as X or Y or Z drive? Do you need to enclose the drive system or not? do you need fast printing or is slow ok? What level of precision you need? All these determine what kind of motion system you need. A rough sketch of the drive system would be nice too - as a note there are 2 common ways that are proven: Core-XY (the bed lowers along Z, the printhead moves in the XY plane) and Portal designs (the bed moves in Y, the printhead on an X gantry, the gantry moves up in Z)
In my design, Bed is mounted on Z axis, which can Up and Down, and extruder moves X & Y direction. As per the specifications of linear guide way + Ball screw, if I use 1610 ball screw it can reach up to 160 mm/sec.
That's a Core-XY setup (or similar to it).
What's your suggesion for using something like this for X & Y axis
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8227 | Boolean operation on two objects in Blender
I'm trying to draw a strange cup, with a kind of empty handle (actually, it's not a cup, but it looks like one).
I need to print this object with a 3D printer, so I exported the model to 3D printing software (Simplify3D) to obtain relative G-code for the printer.
I can correctly export (in .stl) both parts separately (cup [a] and handle [b]), and obtain a good G-code. But when I try to match the two parts with a boolean operation, the result becomes chaotic.
I've added a (G-code) picture to show how the slicer creates strange triangles inside the cup; I really can't understand how to prevent it.
I'm designing the print using the Blender 3D software modelling tool.
I've uploaded my file for reference.
The file has the bezier curves from witch I do screws in the origin. the result that I'm trying to export in stl is on the side.
Note: to have correct dimensions, I scale the model after 90° rotation on x-axis (base on bottom for printing), I then change the scale to 1:10 (bigger model), before exporting as stl.
I would obtain a sort of vase with an empty handle (the cylinder should work as an hole).
here what I do:
I convert curves to meshes
I screw the cup (360° y-axis)
I screw the handle (60° after rotation -30° on y-axis)
I solidify the handle
I add 2 operations to cup, (a) solidify, (b) boolean
to match the two solid I adjust the solidify (a) looking to boolean result of an intersection (cup to handle).
when I have the right overlapping I apply (a) solidify and then (b) union-boolean (cup to handle).
at the end I apply a difference-boolean modificator to cup/handle with cone, to create the hole.
I hope someone should explain me what I am doing wrong. I have made a somewhat simpler version here.
Answers could be better if you share the messed up model and G-code btw.
Make sure there are no "rogue" vertices in your handle part before combining. I don't know Blender, but I do know that in MeshMIxer, Boolean operations only work after running the "Make Solid" command on the parts to ensure proper Boolean logic.
Check your settings in the slicer software you use: if you look at the sliced print carefully, you see only one line in each layer that crosses the inner section. The lines are also yellow, not green. This strongly hints that these are movement commands, not actual print commands.
On the other hand, you might want to carefully check in blender: at times, the normals in places get swapped inside out and then mess up the whole geometry without being visible in blender. Recalculate Normals can fix that at times, other times choose the messed up vertices and flip normals.
Make sure not to include voids in the model.
The model in question
Looking at the model, I also spotted that there was a lingering solidify modifier. Applying that resulted in this:
This is a particularly bad thing. Fixing is easy though: remove the offending inner vertices.
Atop that, the center points are a clustered mess of vertices - surely you want to merge them into just two vertices.
Applying the Boolean modifier now created a solid shell.
Before exporting, all other items had to be removed (deleted), then the export gives this nice model:
I cheked the slice, they are not only movement, infact they are filled iside.
I also recalculated normals but it still remain the error.. I have no idea, I drawed this project so many times.. please help.. (and tank you for suggestions)
@Marco then please share the model
I added a link at the end of question.
@Marco I did what I could... and came up with a perfectly fine model with just a few little tweaks.
tank you for your support. I did double solidify (I had a mesh with 2 lines), so I had the first "bad thing" you notified. excluding this, I had no problem to slice the model. I don't see the clustered meshes (Verts: 1/464). a part that, I'll retry the model to understand if the error was only the double lines-screw. tank you a lot, there was a long time that i tried to understand.
@Marco the inner shell was connected to the outer via those vertex clusters, which made the object non-manifold. It was mainly the fix of the non-manifold that eased the problems, but the simplification of the surface does yield better slicing times.
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8268 | Main board heated bed connectors aren't powering up
Flsun 3D Cube; Marlin 1.1.1; main board: Makerbase MKS Gen_L V1.0; running from either Repetier or OctoPrint.
I was recently obliged to replace the main board when it stopped powering the heated bed. I got the new main board - same make, version, etc - got everything setup just as it was before, but the bed still doesn't heat. Multimeter shows zero across the board's heat bed contacts, whether using G-code from the terminal (in both Repetier and Octoprint), G-code in the print file, or the control panel on the front of the printer. The thermistor works: if I shine a heat lamp on the bed, it registers the temp change.
Bad board? Something in the Merlin config I missed? Is the board smart enough to not power it on if the bed heater itself is bad?
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! You state "Marlin 1.1.1" ... is that correct? Marlin 1.1.9 is the most current stable version. You might try loading it and seeing if the issue still exists.
One of the prime rules of problem-solving: don't assume a cause. In this case, that means don't replace a board until you know it is actually the reason you're not heating.
Do any other outputs (e.g. xyz drives) work?
@CarlWitthoft 1. Good advice for any situation. Not replacing the board (in other words: spending more money) until I'm sure.
All other outputs work: the printer functions normally otherwise. My prints are curling on the corners, so I am motivated to fix the bed.
have you solve Your problem? I have the same issue with bed heating in the same printer. Everything works great till today. When I set up heating the LED on board turn on, but I don't have any voltage on pins.
I solved it by switching to an MKS GEN L v1.4 with an external mosfet. The MKS boards just don't have the oomph to drive a heated bed for any length of time.
Considering:
Multimeter shows zero across the board's heat bed contacts
this implies that
If you measured resistance, the heated bed has no resistance. Basically this implies that the bed has a short. This might be the reason why it is not working. If you would power it as such you create a short. Instead of replacing the board, you need to replace the heated bed. Typical values for a heated bed of about 200 x 200 mm are in the order of 1.2 Ω (measurements between 0.9 and 1.5 Ω are reasonable to be expected).
If you measured voltage, the heated bed does not receive power for heating, or the power does not reach the bed (not turned on or broken wire?). It would then be wise to measure the resistance (of the bed and the wires). If the resistance is in the order of about 1.2 Ω (see above) for the bed, you could try to connect the heated bed directly to the PSU to see if it gets warm, if so, please disconnect immediately to prevent damage. From this experiment you can find whether the heated bed is broken (or the cables), or that the board is not functioning correctly, this is, however, strange as you tried 2 boards. A possible suspect could be the MOSFET that schedules the powering of the heated bed if you use an external MOSFET board that it.
If you measured current, then you found out that no power is delivered to the board, but you also might have broken your board in the process, as measuring current is a (close to) 0 Ω connection and has to be done in line of a circuit.
Perhaps the multimeter was in voltage measuring mode. The question doesn't say they were measuring resistance.
@TomvanderZanden Good point! Updated the answer to include both.
But it's unlikely the same MOSFET would be bad on both boards (if the power MOSFET isn't on the board he replaced, then ignore this comment)
@CarlWitthoft The question does not state the use of an external MOSFET, good to make that clear
1: The MKS GenL is a purpose-built board, nothing external.
2: With the bed (supposedly) heating (issued M140 S60, response OK), I measured DC voltage on the board's heated bed connector, as shown in this image: postimg.cc/jD5Sbhtj
More info: put 12V to the bed and it began heating. Multimeter on 200Ω measured .5. Anything higher than that was zero.
Since the bed was warm when you connected to 12 V that means the bed and the wiring are good. It sounds like your multimeter is not too accurate, with a reading of 0.5 Ω (or you measured accidentally some other circuit), but no worries.
Since both boards do not power the bed, it seems like it could be a firmware setting. To help with that, a look at your config file, and possibly the pins_ramps.h file can help.
As a first check, your mks_gen_L.h file should look like this;
#if HOTENDS > 2 || E_STEPPERS > 2
#error "MKS GEN L supports up to 2 hotends / E-steppers. Comment out this line to continue."
#endif
#define BOARD_NAME "MKS GEN L"
//
// Heaters / Fans
//
// Power outputs EFBF or EFBE
#define MOSFET_D_PIN 7
//
// CS Pins wired to avoid conflict with the LCD
// See https://www.thingiverse.com/asset:66604
//
#ifndef X_CS_PIN
#define X_CS_PIN 59
#endif
#ifndef Y_CS_PIN
#define Y_CS_PIN 63
#endif
#include "pins_RAMPS.h"
Now all you need to confirm is that your bed is hooked to D7.
the main part is good, but I have experienced a lot of people just having problems how to measure the resistance correctly.
@yellow I'm grateful for the firmware comment: when I upgrade to the latest version of Marlin (in about a week when I get new stepper drivers; I'm going to do everything at once) I may well have to know that. However, the original board WAS powering the bed, and then stopped; I can see on the board where the connection failed. At the time it was still running the original firmware, and no other changes had been made.
@Trish This is quite likely. I'm currently attending the University of Google, and the class content isn't always clear. "A Beginner's Guide To..." articles are rarely vetted by actual beginners.
@BillinKansasCity how about having a talk about that in [chat]?
@Trish At your convenience. I'm back at my desk and available.
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8269 | Upgrade main board or straight-across replace?
Flsun 3D Cube; main board, MKS GEN L V1.0
I think I need to replace the main board and I don't know enough about 3D printer components yet to judge whether a 1:1 replacement would be better than selecting a different board, or keep the same board but with upgraded stepper drivers?
I've been able to do everything I've wanted with the printer as it was out of the box, so I have no complaints about the main board (aside from no longer heating the bed). I don't need the biggest-baddest board out there. I just don't know how to judge the pros and cons of my choices here.
Are you asking about replacement of the board or seek troubleshooting advice to conclude that you need to replace the board? You wrote a lot, but I guess the most interesting part is that the heated bed is not working anymore.
The heated bed is being dealt with in another post. I'm thinking about upgrading or replacing or something regardless. I just don't know how to make my choices.
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8235 | Wrong Z-Axis movement in G-Code
Alright so I bought a broken UP mini. There was only a defect on the board so I connected the components to a Duet 2 Wifi.
Everything is fully operational and I can manually move all axes correctly using the interface as well as homing them.
The problem is that when I try to slice a model (I am using Slic3r) and upload the G-Code the bed will be raised instead of lowered during printing.
How do I change it so the direction of the Z-Axis goes correctly?
Additional information:
The Z endstop is at the bottom
When homed the Z coordinate is on 0 mm
When placing the bed under the extruder the Z coordinate is 170 mm
Did it work before you messed up the board?
You could put the z endstop at the top, and flip the motor connector to make it move the other direction. This should make it home to the top near the nozzle, and then move downward during the print.
Otherwise, you'll have to tweak the firmware configuration and reflash.
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8279 | My 3D prints don't end up the same as the model
I'm trying to print a very simple item that I created in blender:
However, the print always ends up being a simple "plane" with some scribbely stuff on top
Please add (by [edit] of your question) an image of the stl in a slicer software and a photo of the end-product. Please note that Blender has proven (from other questions at 3DPrinting.SE) to be not a very good tool for designing parts.
I will add the requested parts when I get back home. Can you recommend software for designing parts?
This is not a recommendations site, but if you are prepared to learn how to use Blender, maybe you should look at Fusion 360.
@Anton Let me reevaluate 0scar's note a little: Blender has been proven to be at times problematic when it comes to creating non-manifold objects, but if used carefully can be perfectly fine to make modeling. However, for dimensional designing, you may want to use something like a CAD Program. I personally like Fusion 360, which is at times a little complicated, but have worked with Design Spark Mechanical, which is a little simpler and liked it. also, angus has one more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuqao90C76U&t=0s
@Anton If Fusion360 isn't your thing and you're into programing, you may feel comfortable with OpensCAD.
Sorry I did not intend to break the rules, but the conversation was going that way. My primary question really is though, that the 3d stl file that I've created looks the same in all visualizaiton softwares, and even the printer software. But the outcome is not what is represented in these programs.
Anton, you should view the results of your slicing tool in "Layer mode" . That will at least show you whether the slicing algorithm was able to interpret your STL model correctly.
"Scribbely stuff" sounds like you have a layer adhesion problem with the printer, rather than a problem with your STL file. Can you [edit] your question and include a photo of the print, and details about your printer: what printer, what material, what slicer, slicer settings, etc.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:54:44.798326 | 2019-02-15T08:59:08 | {
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8280 | Slicer settings for easy support material removal
What are the best settings for Ultimaker Cura to have support material that's easy to remove for my Anet A8. I have printed an object with two different spools of PLA (same manufacturer just different color). The black print was printed with 200 °C, the grey one with 210 °C both a flow of 100 %. Thee black print seems like it has a little over-extrusion while the grey print has some under-extrusion artifacts despite the higher printing temperature. The grey support was really hard to remove and looks super messy the black one not so much...
What would be better settings?
Could it be that the material is so much different despite same manufacturer? The black one seems to flow much better than the grey one. Both have suggested temperature of 210 °C
BTW the thing is 33x25 mm in size. It's rather tiny that makes printing it somewhat awkward...
I have finished another print with a brim and a different support setting (Cross with 50 %) and at 195 °C and an infill rate of 100 %. The support came off much better, the under-extrusion is minimal on the layers however for some reason the top layer does get messed up with open spots and the little nob at the corner was just a a mere stringy stumb that fell off instantly and the walls of the holes came out spongy while the layers of the ring and the long side are smooth and fine...
settings are pretty much printer and material dependant.
The grey supports are much harder to remove because of the higher temperature caused the support to fuse to the print. You need to adjust the gap between support and print and print at lower temperatures.
@0scar do you happen to know where the settings for support gap in Cura are?
You should also include your support settings. I find that the default settings work fine and require little-to-no post processing.
What speed do you print?
@0scar various 30, 50, 60 mm/s
Cura has some settings for the support structure which may help. Somewhere in the full Preferences menu is a setting for "gap at top" or equivalent wording. If you increase that gap slightly, the support material will be less strongly bonded to the part. Be careful, since a huge gap could lead to bridging problems.
Note that the gap is in increments of layer height
From the picture, I suggest printing with 200 °C, as the grey print lost its cohesion at a higher temperature.
Why higher = worse
A filament is a solid that turns into a highly viscous fluid under heating and the more you heat it, the less viscous it gets. However, it also has a very high surface tension, which means, that as it extrudes and if it is not pressed down immediately, then the filament goop will thin as the head moves, resulting in under extrusion and stringiness. Print temperatures from manufacturers have to be seen with a grain of salt, as the measurements are calibrated to their test printer, which is not your printer.
Support Structures
To get good support structures, the support needs to:
have enough surface to not topple over
in case of thin towers, use a brim
The density should be enough to carry but not enough to stick too well
I have had best experiences with 5 to 10% support
don't support angles that don't need it
45° is safe, 70° is on the very hard side. I go with 50 to 60° usually.
In a related manner, make sure that the minimum layer time is set to at about 5 to 10 seconds, which allows the single tip to cool down a little and get better prints
Print Geometry Analysis
The part you want to print is quite complicated with the different Z-heights to start at. It might be possible to increase printability by including "sacrifice blocks" of material about 1 or 2 layer heights below the print, pretty much including a support structure into the print design itself. This way the bottom might get better supported.
Well the model needs support almost everywhere. On the one side there is this center ring (it's sort of a holder for a button) which is lower than the frame, on the other side there's this small rod. So the frame is always lifted above the surface. But since it's laying flat, the support doesn't need a brim or raft. The problem is just, that the support sticks too much to the frame and I can't get it removed clean. That problem did not happen with the black model so I wonder if it's the filament...
I'd suggest trying at 195 C as well -- might find somewhat cleaner layers.
@user6329530 can you show the model in 3D? sometimes there is a better rotation than first thought - and yes, 195 can be worth a shot
I added a screenshot from blender
@user6329530 what's your infil and top layer pattern? I would use concentric only for the top skin, and the levels below in a criss-cross pattern, 5 tops
The infill is just 100% with line pattern. The top layer pattern I didn't change at all (lines), I just made the top line to 0.5 to have a thicker top wall. The top thickness is 0.8 What would be a better setting?
Could it be that a greater layer hight gives less holes? I printed it with 0.1...
@user6329530 For that thing I actually would include predefined support into the print design...
@Trish What do you mean with predefined support? I have the support being generated by Cura using their Cross preset.
@user6329530 as in designed in blocks that have a clearance to the object. It is a trick that sometimes generates better adhesion and print - include a waste object that has one layer height clearance to the actual object and covers the whole base under the object.
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8435 | Extruder Motor Not working during Printing
I am a newbie trying to setup and configure a 3D printer following online YouTube videos and tutorials. I am trying to configure a Hypercube Evolution 3D printer.
I followed Tech2C videos (on YouTube) and was able to configure Marlin firmware to some extent. I am using Pronterface to send test codes and taking files from thingiverse.com for testing.
Configuration :
CoreXY
Board : Ramps 1.4
Extruder Setup Type : Direct drive using Titan e3D
All end stops, temperature sensors, heaters configured and verified.
What is working :
X,Y,Z axis movement directly from panel.
Homing is ok.
Temperature sensors, heating bed and hot end as expected.
Extruder motor working with direct on panel command.
What is not working :
When I send a print file (taken from thingiverse.com), the X,Y,Z axis work but there is no extrusion what so ever. I have tried a lot of things but using files from thingiverse, the extrusion of filament is not there whatsoever. It's been 2 months trying to figure out whether the issue is in firmware or the file, however to no use.
Can anyone help me get out of this or point out where I can be going wrong?
Hi Mandeesh welcome to 3D Printing.SE! I've built a HyperCube Evolution, maybe you could share your configuration.h file (a link to it please) so we can have a look for you!
What slicer are you using to convert the STL files into g-code? Most printers cannot handle STL files directly. Also, is Pronterface communicating with the printer? Can you home the head from Pronterface, for example?
Check that the printer is not in debug (dry-run) mode.
Did you unzip the file, then slice the .stl into a .gcode?
Thanks for the response.
@0scar Link to configuration.h file (https://1drv.ms/f/s!AmYgCJyTo4vUjib-2QzINY1czbpe)
@Mick Yeah I guess I took g codes direcly from online websites without slicing as per my printer. Now I am using Slic3r for the same. I have attached the sample file above which I am trying to print. Yes homing is working fine.
@Trish Yeah I figured this our quite late actually and this may be the problem.
Never use someone else's g-code (except for manufacturer's test files supplied with the printer). Always create your own. Treat every printer as if it is unique, because it is.
I'm voting to close this question as special unclear because it seems to be abandoned and some rather vial questions (like the slicer) have not been addressed. As such it is impossible to answer thoroughly.
If the extruder extrudes fine from the control panel, chances are there's a configuration problem somewhere. For example, check your extruder steps/mm in the firmware to make sure it's not a nonsensical value; check the slicer settings to make sure that the filament diameter, line width, and layer height are all correct; make sure you're not trying to extrude in volumetric mode without having configured volumetric printing in your firmware and slicer correctly; and finally check your temperature control settings. When I first set up my fleabay 3d printer, I couldn't get my printer to work because the hotend minimum shutoff temp (thermistor disconnect protection basically) was set to something like 195C and the print temperature was 180C. I had an almost identical issue when I changed my fan assembly and it started blowing on the wrong part of the hotend, causing the firmware to register that entirely too much energy was being put into the extruder. Check the minimum temps for both hotend and heated bed and see if one of them is tripping your failsafes and stopping the extruder before printing even begins.
wth the process described, OP might have forgotten to slice the object too... though then it should not work at all...
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8410 | Premium heated bed upgrade options?
The stock heated bed which came on my Creality printer is significantly warped beyond any simple leveling with the screws. Lets say I want to upgrade the stock bed to a premium heated bed, does such a thing even exist? None of the beds I see list any specs or tolerances regarding flatness or deviation.
What should I be looking for to ensure I am looking at a superior bed?
I have an ender 3, my heating bed is working perfectly fine. We don't endorse in bashing, we don't endorse in product recommendations as those are not allowed as per stack policy.
+1 I have the same problem and am looking at junking my whole CR10 as a result; any cheaper suggestion/solution would be welcome.
How about an aluminium heated bed? This might be a useful question for you, although it doesn't deal with warping directly, Do aluminium PCB heatbeds reduce hotspots? I could turn this comment into an answer, if it is useful and relevant...
If you are only trying to upgrade the "flatness" of the bed and are okay with the heating times you can just put a peice of glass on top. Otherwise you can look into getting a milled tool plate which will be much flatter than a rolled or stamped plate, but you will have to attach your own heating element to this.
also note that a milled plate is usually a custom ordered part and can be quite expensive, especially if you want to use a really good heat conductor. Copper is about twice as good as aluminium, Steel about half as good (but cheaper)
My creality printer came with glass. warped. Flipping the glass upside-down helped slightly, but
wasn't great. I tried replacing with a 12" mirrored tile, but the metal bed that the glass attaches to is slightly convex (+/- 0.35mm), so when you clamp down the glass to achieve good heat transfer, it bends any glass on the bed.
@davdavis what are you clamping the glass down with?
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8412 | Steppers don't work as expected while printing
I have a problem with my steppers of a RepRap 3D printer I'm making.
I assembled the machine and performed the endswitch calibrations. when the machine is not printing, the steppers are moving as expected. But, when I start printing, only the z-axis moves. it is also moving very fast; X and Y axis don't move. I'm using a RAMPS 1.4 board, NEMA 17 steppers and A4988 stepper drivers. My configuration file can be found here.
Does somebody know what could be the problem?
Hi Duz1Adam, I've cleaned up the question a bit. Please describe how you move the steppers when you are not printing; e.g. are you using Pronterface and if you command for 10 mm in X or Y, it actually moves 10 mm in X or Y direction. If so, this could hint to a slicing problem, not a firmware/hardware problem.
Can you add the g-code that you are testing with?
I've looked into your configuration file of your firmware but cannot find anything that describes this odd behavior. You have used some conservative settings regarding printing acceleration. What cannot be assessed is the amount of steps required per millimeter movement of every axis, that is left for you to re-check.
Note that when the steppers are working as expected when the printer is at idle and you command the printer with an external printer software (e.g. Pronterface from the PrintRun software suite, Repetier-Host, OctoPrint, etc.), the problem could well be caused by the slicer and/or the options used for slicing the print part.
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8372 | Sealing PLA & oil-based art supplies?
I will be printing an item that's usually made out of resin, but my version will be made out of PLA. Here are some questions I have:
Usually, people seal the resin with brands such as Testor's, Liquitex, or Mr. Super Clear, to create a layer that prevents paint or materials from bleeding into the resin over time. Is this necessary for items made out of PLA? Will the same sealant brands work?
On these resin items, people steer clear of oil-based art supplies, like oil pastels, because the they will also stain the resin. Does the same concept apply to PLA?
Sometimes, certain dyed fabrics or synthetic materials will stain resin. Do these materials also have the potential to stain PLA?
Thanks for the help!
I have worked with PLA and paints before. I use mainly acryl-based paints as well as spray lacquers.
Sealent is not necessary.
While a sealant is not necessary, you might prefer to use a spray on, smooth drying lacquer to get a smooth surface. PLA does not "soak in" paints or colors like resins.
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8016 | Vibration marks when printing slowly on Y-axis
My Anet A8 prints come out with vibration marks when I print under 80 mm/s.
Above that value, it's fine.
Has anyone experienced something like this with any axis?
The Y-axis motor also vibrates when the belt is removed, so I'm not sure if it's a board, motor or frame problem.
I haven't changed the motor yet, I just finished checking the linear rods and ran some tests.
Any ideas?
Please provide images, preferably calibration cubes and post them online by [edit]. Know that 80 mm/s is pretty fast, it should do better at lower speeds. Are the belts properly tightened?
in this case you might want to print some kind of oscillation test - a wall with a 0.5mm cut in it
@Oscar: I don't have a part right now that show that significantly. It's like ringing, lasting 100mm in the part. I noticed it printing some L shaped brackets to support the middle section of a plexiglass sheet. The belts are ok, and I think I notice the vibration when I run the stepper without the belt.
@Trish: that's a nice idea, I'll do that. First I'm going to swap the stepper motor, and see how it goes. Thank you.
@avc actually, if it is ghosting changing the stepper nothing will change. try https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2855929 - that tests pretty much all ghosting variatons.
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8002 | After market bed heater for Intamsys Funmat HT 3D Printer
I am in college and am doing a team competition to print PPSU filament, and get the best results. This is being put on by the Solvay company, who makes the material. Our team signed up and the university bought us an Intamsys Funmat HT 3D Printer, which said it was capable of printing PPSU. However, the company doing the competition did not release the information that the bed plate must be a high temperature to avoid warping (Greater than 200 °C). However, our plate only reaches a temperature of 160. Does anyone know of any aftermarket heaters that would work with this printer?
Maximum temperatures according to Intamys: Chamber 90 °C, Magnetic Build Plate 160 °C, Extruder 450 °C
No, but we print with Solvay PPSU. I can give some parameters if you ask for them in a new question.
After research, Intamsys is a closed, high industrial grade producer of 3D Printers. To even learn prices, you have to request a quote, hinting they cost in the 5000 $ up range. Some of these machines come with service contracts and modifying can break them. It's 'brother', the FUNMAT PRO 610 HT, can achieve 300 °C build chamber and bed though.
If you're a brave individual you might try insulating the bottom of your heated bed. You're going to want to get fiberglass or something that can actually withstand the temperatures you're trying to reach; anything past about 230 °C and you'll get organic things like cork and cotton starting to smoke. 200 °C is pretty absurd for a print bed temperature unless you're printing some pretty exotic materials.
Aside from insulating the bottom of the bed to aid in heat retention, you might also try getting an external FET chip for your heated bed, like is recommended for the RAMPS1.4 boards since their connectors don't handle high amperage loads well. External FET plus a 24 V PSU might give you the kind of temperature range you're apparently aiming for. Best of luck with that, and try not to set your entire setup on fire, 200 °C really is kind of absurd for an entire print plate.
TL;DR:
Insulate
External FET chip
24V PSU
24V PSU on a heatbed designed for 12V will result in a 4x power increase. This could easily cause localised overheating. I feel 15 or 16V would be safer to over-drive the bed.
I don't disagree that's a pretty massive power jump, a slightly lower voltage might be a better option, but if he's got an aluminum heated bed and/or a glass plate up top I think he'd be fine.
Inspired by the answer from Nach0z, according to my back of the notepad radiative emission approximation, you need about a 3x increase in bed dissipation to get from $ \Delta T$ of 130 °C up to 170 °C. So that would correspond to an increase from 12 V at the bed to 18 V. As the current increases, the wire losses would also increase.
Sounds like a high power laptop charger could possibly fit the bill at 19V. Obviously this leaves a risk that the bed will be damaged, but I think it is better to aim for a steady load rather than pwm and a higher peak energy than necessary.
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7759 | Failing y-axis home with loud rattling
I have an Anet A8 and I currently try to improve the y-axis (with a tensioner and a frame to support the structure). Now after I dis- and reassembled the y-axis, I get a loud rattling noise when homing the y-axis (and also when moving it stepwise from within the firmware). After the rattling goes on for a second or two, the printer halts and asks to reset. During the rattling, the print bed moves much slower. It appears to only rattle at the end of the axis, close to the endstop, however the point at which it starts to rattle appears random.
I tried a tighter and looser belt and aligning the frame. When moving the bed manually, it does require some force, but it does not appear to be tighter at the back side of the axis. Also nothing seems to block the path of movement.
I noticed that with a tighter belt the rattling starts only closer to the end stop, however it appears like I have to overtighten it to work properly. I got it to hit the end stop this way without halting, however it still produced the rattling sound. Also the y-stepper motor made a high pitched humming noise after this operation.
What else could I check or do about it?
This is a video showing the print bed with the rattling sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Xhz2GtUYQ
View from below:
https://youtu.be/oTEuZUWD0ZM
This is the motor mount:
And this is the tensioner with the support frame:
I added a video of the setup and the sound. The belt does not appear to rub on the frame. When pulling the belt, I get various sounds, like I said, I tried different belt tensions.
Added the pictures. Also I noticed that with a tighter belt, I can control the rattling, however it does not disappear. I added a section on this in the question.
The belt makes noise like a guitar string. Currently it is at around 100Hz. Like I said, I tried various tensions. At this tightness the rattling is less that with a looser belt.
With the original Anet A8 kit.
Let us continue this discussion in chat.
The upper and lower part of the belt need to be parallel to the bed, the standard attachment is a design flaw, see a correct attachment here.
From your video, it sounds to me as though the stepper motor is fighting against the bed movement. That would indicate to me the bed rails on the X-axis are not square to the bed movement, which would cause binding of the linear bearings on the bed.
To see if this is the issue, loosen the threaded rods in all six places (three placed times two rods). Loosen the belt tensioner so it is not causing any issues. Then see how the bed moves. If the bed is freed up, tighten the nuts on the threaded rods two at a time on the same plane (each plate of the frame). At each tightening, ensure the bed continues to move freely. Measure the distance as accurately as possible to ensure the frame continues to stay square and are parallel to each other. Once you have tightened all of the nuts on the threaded rod, then re-tighten the belt tensioner.
If none of this solves it, it could also be an issue with your linear bearings. If your Anet A8 is a Chinesium clone, the bearings are not what I'd call "top notch". I replaced mine with Igus Drylin bearings and have not regretted the $10 investment. There are other printed options you could go with as well, which you can find on thingiverse.com.
With the second video and the photos I could identify, that the sound in part stems from the belt:
It is too loose and swing sideways as it pulls.
Tighten the belt till it sounds at least like a C3 or D3 (130/146 Hz) and possibly higher. My Ender3 is tuned to something like A3 (220 Hz). It should be tight and show no sideways swinging on using the motor.
It seems also, that the belt is not running parallel but skewed - that would induce sideways swing too. Make sure the axis of the motor and the pully are parallel and the mounting point of the carriage is not sideways of the belt path, as this will rub the belt against the gear.
Where at the belt should I pull? I measure and pull on the longer end, i.e. the one directly connecting the tensioner and the motor, not the one where the carriage is mounted.
I test my long arm, with the carriage at the far side. it is not exact, it is just what I like to hear for my tension: both up and low close to one another and around A3
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7842 | Why is Print Adhesion almost good, but still not right?
It feels like my print is almost there, I spent a long time fine tuning the calibration with a fantastic set of G-code files from Chuck Hellebuyck.
I am using an Ender 3, on which I have modified the heatbed to carry a glass sheet, otherwise factory standard. The prints are done on the bare glass. When I printed a window some 14 feet (~4.5 meters) away was open to the cold New York winter. The cooling fan on the Ender 3 is mounted on the right side of the hotend and uses a simple declector, it can be seen in picture 2.
However, my print is not perfect yet. I'm using 1.75 mm PLA at a temperature of 200 °C for the 0.4 mm nozzle and a bed temperature of 60 °C. Out of the 4 corners, 3 printed perfectly, the back-left one did lift.
What do I need to do to fix the bed adhesion issue?
This looks like delamination, which is a bit strange with PLA... What's the layer height used and your nozzle size? Also, have you run the calibration process to make sure that your nozzle isn't too far from the print bed and ensure proper adhesion?
Please add by [edit] of your question how the corner fails, e.g. does the brim not stick, or do you have a delamination, etc. You could also add a photo taken from a different angle.
@hunterp So basically this means you have an adhesion problem. This has been asked many times before and very complete answers have been given. Possible duplicate of Filament lifts from the hot bed while printing
Is there a reason you don't just use the original bed? I'd consider it highly preferable to glass in almost every way.
Based on the pictures, this looks like the bed wasn't clean enough, thus why it didn't adhere correctly in some spots. The lifted corner is the worst, but I can see a couple more spots where the PLA didn't stick well enough, though the brim prevented it to completely lift off the bed.
I would advise you to not print with the window open, even if it's only slightly ajar. Weather conditions and temperature will affect the quality of the print, even if it's only a small variation in temperature. I've had enough failed prints due to a shift in temperature to know that, even though PLA isn't affected as much than ABS by temperature changes through a print.
You might also try to increase the bed temperature a bit, up to 70°C or 80°C. I've looked at the recommended temperature for PLA with my UM3E and it says 80°C for the glass bed.
You should always make sure that the glass bed is clean: ie no dust on it and no grease. Yes, touching it with your fingers will leave a thin greasy residue in the form of fingerprints, and even one fingerprint can prevent good adhesion and result in the problem you had.
There are various products to clean glass beds, I've personally found out that the cheap yellow-colored window cleaner from Karcher works wonder. Do not use the standard blue colored window cleaner products: the blue one has a chemical in it that is made with the express intent to prevent anything to adhere to the glass, which is obviously not what we want. The yellow-colored cleaner doesn't have that chemical, and it cleans without depositing an anti-adhesion film on the glass.
If a thorough cleaning isn't sufficient, you can look into various adhesive products. While there is quite a lot of adhesive solutions marketed as being specifically for 3D printing, with insane prices most of the time, I've found that a simple UHU glue stick works wonders. I usually do not need glue when printing PLA, but I use it for Nylon, ABS and other filament that absolutely require it and it's a breeze to work with, and it cleans easily with soap and warm water.
This is a standard adhesion problem with glass beds:
Glass beds are super level, but they transfer heat less good than metal and BuildTak. This also means that not every spot always has the exact same temperature, which can come from a lot of things, for example, a draft from the open window jitting that corner and causing lifting.
There are some super easy and cheap solutions:
Painters Tape adds a little bite to the surface, but you need to level to its top.
a thin PVA (Gluestick, wood glue, hairspray, or specifically designed sprays for 3D printing) bonds the first layers much better to the glass
for ABS, ABS-in-acetone-slurry is a known bed adhesive
measure the top of the bed temperature - you will find out that the increased thermal capacity of the bed+glass sheet means that your set bed temperature is not reached on the bed surface. Adjust as needed!
prevent any and all draft (close windows and doors)
When you have glass, why use painters tape? You give up the perfect level and shiny surface. Furthermore, tape has it's own issues. A more elaborate answer on bed adhesion is found here on 3D Printing.SE.
@0scar some parts have an incredible warping capability because of their design - which can make tape a necessity even on glass. PVA is much preferred though.
Despite all advice to the contrary, I've had no luck with glue or masking tape. I print directly onto a glass bed.
The glass is much thicker than the surface that was originally on the heat plate, because of this heat takes longer to reach the surface of the glass and the temperature probe on the plate is even more inaccurate than it was originally.
Using a laser thermometer, I found that pre-heating the plate before the build starts solves the problem as this give the temperature time to even out.
Clamp the glass firmly to the heat plate with as many plastic clamps as you can fit (metal ones are too heavy those post office crocodile clips might work). This will give it a better thermal connection.
If that do any work, increase the bed heat to 60° and/or nozzle to 210°.
Also, clean the glass with washing up liquid and then window cleaner and only hold it with a clean tissue after.
I work with a glass surface on my machine and use a drop of superglue to attach the
corners after the first layer is complete. The biggest contributors to not sticking are :
Bed not level.
Temperature of filament not hot enough.
First layer print speed is too fast.
Heated Bed not hot enough to compensate for cold room. Try enclosing print area.
Head is snagging on print edges (no retraction when moving) and ripping print loose.
Print bed surface is not clean. Use acetone or ammonia for cleaning glass. Alcohol leaves an oily residue.
If you are printing on painters tape, make sure the bed is very clean when you put the tape
down. Then make sure you rub the tape down well so it doesn't pull off of the print bed
surface during printing. Then clean the tape surface to get the oil from your hands off of
the tape.
I use Glass Build Plate Wizard spray for delicate prints and a heated bed. It releases after the print plate cools down. That eliminates the need to chip the print loose. It releases itself after a few minutes.
Is this a GeekBox advertisement?
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7812 | Can a 3D printer make a 3D printer?
Could you use a 3D printer to make a 3D printer's parts? What is the most of a 3D printer that can be made this way? Could parts that break be replaced this way?
Yes, you can print most of the parts (electronics, linear guide rails, ball bearings and nuts and bolts, etc cannot be printed). Actually this was exactly the purpose of RepRap.org:
RepRap is humanity's first general-purpose self-replicating
manufacturing machine.
and:
Since many parts of RepRap are made from plastic and RepRap prints
those parts, RepRap self-replicates by making a kit of itself - a kit
that anyone can assemble given time and materials.
There have been attempts in the past to even replicate the frames of printers (e.g. Dollo 3D or Snappy, but such designs are not very successful, printed frames are more flexible than metal frames.
I have built 2 custom printers myself using other printers to print parts and printed all printer parts for several others. It is possible to print your own linear bearings from POM, I prefer these over the noisy metal bearings.
Can a 3D printer make a 3D printer?
Not without a bunch of other parts
Could you use a 3D printer to make 3D printers parts?
To some extent.
What is the most of a 3D printer that can be built this way
Basically you you can't print the precision mechanical guides, you can't print the electronics, you can't print the parts that need to get hot, you can't print the motors, you can't print the lead-screws or toothed belts. Printing the whole main frame doesn't seem to be very practical either.
Afaict what you are left with is mostly printing the pieces that join all the functional elements of the printer together.
Yes, printers can print printer parts. With the right design, all non-metal/non-electronic parts can be printed on an FDM printer, and a laser-sintering based printer (SLS/DMLS) can even produce metal parts, as long as they fit the printbed. The fact, that a printer can create all the fastenings to build a new printer with just the electronics and linger extrusions/rods/rails is actually the core of the RepRap philosophy.
Some early printers, like the Mendel, did use just materials from home depot and printed joiners together with the electronics.
As a result, all joiners can be printed as replacements or improvements. There is a second limit though: Very small printers might not be able to print parts of the size needed to replicate the parts that they are made from. A common 200x200x200 mm printer can replicate almost all fasteners that comprise it, but the frame will have to be made from sheets of metal, wood, extrusions or rods and the movement system will need rails, rods or extrusions.
You can print some of it but not all, as 3d printers can't print metal or silicon to make the boards and frame.
a laser-sinter printer can print metal and ceramics, and TPU is a printable material close to silicon (the flexible material!). Some filaments are even conductive. But you can not print complex electronics.
Also, you can't make the nozzle or any other metal parts
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7813 | Z-Axis does not appear to be working on Ender-3 Pro
So, the wife got me a Creality Ender-3 Pro 3d Printer for Christmas.
Assembly was easy, axis movements are all solid... when I go to print the test-dog.gcode file provided with the machine, it comes out looking... flat.
Not kind of flat. TOTALLY flat.
The Z-Axis motor works - I can move it with the machine's control panel - and it moves on it's own for repositioning of the head for printing purposes, but it doesn't seem to be moving 'up' for each new layer. Layer height is set for 0.1 mm, nozzle is .4 mm. No settings changed in the G-code, or on the machine (and I did a "reset to failsafe" before attempting to print anything).
I'm relatively new to additive manufacturing, can someone help out here?
I always shiver when G-code files are distributed for printing, I'd rather be in control myself. Have you looked into the G-code file? There should be codes like G1 Z x.xx, where x.xx denotes a value. If you see Z increasing in the file, the file could be okay, but I'd rather see you slice it yourself. Does the machine home correctly?
Your first layer appears to not adhere too well, it looks as though the lower right corner of the bed is lower than the other corners. Please re-level the bed, slice a calibration cube yourself and post the result. It is far easier for others to help you based on a simple print rather then a complex object none or few of us printed.
"It is far easier for others to help you based on a simple print rather then a complex object none or few of us printed." Thanks Oscar, but the issue was that the original gcode file distributed with the printer wasn't printing anything other than on a single layer.
Exactly why I posted the comments to help you figure it out yourself, good job! Keep the questions coming!
It turned out that there's something wrong with the G-code file that came with my printer.
I downloaded a calibration cube from Thingiverse and printed it - while it wasn't 100%, it did print viable. Now I need to get into details as to quality, and I suspect that too will be a factor for the G-code used in the printer. I'm looking at "Ultimaker Cura" to figure out the changes in G-code based on option changes.
most of the quality issiues can be fixed with cura - show us your cube and we can help you fix it up. They must have changed the g-code between your and my distriburtion - mine rinted perfectly.
Check the following:
Is the lead screw bent? remove it from the assembly and have it roll down a very slightly angled plate - if it rolls at uneven speed, it is bent.
are the motor perfectly aligned with the brass nut? The lead screw needs to slot into the coupling without any force or need to move it just from gravity alone.
is the Z-axis nut spin easily? I gave mine a droplet or two of machine oil, motor it up and down the whole length twice. Some residue grease from the factory can bind up the motor.
If all the physical side is known to be OK: re-slice your object, you might have faulty g-code.
No, the lead screw is not bent. Per my original post, "Z-Axis motor works - I can move it with the machine's control panel - and it moves on it's own for repositioning of the head for printing purposes"
No, the motor isn't 'perfectly' aligned however, it's close enough that z-axis movement is viable. I addressed this in my first post, again, see above.
"Z-axis nut spin easily" Do you mean the z-axis screw guide? Yes, the screw spins through that.
I had the same problem on an Ender 3. Totally bewildering, because G-code commands G0 & G1 moved Z as expected, as did Pronterface commands, but Z did not advance during printing.
It turned out to be binding in the Z-axis lead screw caused by installing a BondTech style extruder. Previously, it had caused no problems but reinstallation saw it interfering with the screw. A quick workout on the Dremel created sufficient clearance.
The clear conclusion is that during printing power to the Z-motor decreases for whatever reason.
Check your machine's alignment. The Z screw should turn easily by hand, the nylon wheels of the X gantry the same. The bracket mounting the extruder and lead screw is well known to be non-square. Check by releasing the lead screw from motor coupling and seeing where its 'natural' position is vs the coupling. If it won't fall close to the coupling naturally that could be the cause.
Then RTFM or punish yourself with 1000 YouTube instructionals.
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7733 | Moving Extruder Gear Assembly
So I am getting a Creality CR-10S which has a similar print frame with a lot of other printers. Eventually I'm sure I will want to print using flexible materials, but the bowden system is not optimal since you're basically trying to push cooked spaghetti through a tube. I could replace the bowden with a direct drive but that can be expensive (and potentially shave off 15 mm from one of my axes). Not to mention that the print head is now heavier which can affect print speeds and quality.
That's when I thought about moving the extruder gear and motor from the side of my printer to the top. The tube then goes down the Z axis so the flexible filaments are pulled by gravity and controlled by the gear instead of just being pushed by the gear. (Please refer to my wonderful sketch)
I can't be the only one to think of this, but I've only seen one website that has talked about this issue and thinks that the solution is a second gantry to follow the hot end. If you're interested, here's the link.
Are there any potential issues with this new setup? Though I would mount the servo above the cross beam instead of to the side so that there's full range of motion along the z axis. (sadly that thought came to me AFTER making the picture in paint)
Hanging up the Bowden system won't fix the problems with printing flexible filament: the filament will still press into the bends of the tube and thus lead to under extrusion. Another issue is, that the flexible filament can compress - and the longer way it has to the melt-zone, the more filament it can "store" on the way to it. These bunched up zones will release suddenly, resulting in pulses of high output and between those under extrusion.
Direct drive (like in a Prusa i3) is pretty much the only way to reliably print flexible materials. You could, with some engineering, move your existing motor to the carriage and turn your Bowden into a direct drive.
I don't see bends happening, or as extreme at least. At least as long as prints stay below, say, 200mm. I don't think that I've seen anyone print anything substantially tall so the bending would be nominal maybe? A capricorn tube could maybe resolve that issue? (I think it's called capricorn, that really slick blue tube)
@LuxClaridge the bowden tube will not hang straight, it will always bend to the left and right in some way to accommodate movement of the print head, thus the flexible material will rub against the inside. Even Capricorn tubing is not frictionless.
Regarding your second paragraph and comment. I'm trying to avoid added extra mass to the carriage. Unless I'm mixing up the terms "carriage" and "print head" as they seem synonymous to me.
@LuxClaridge they are. but you can't have light and flexible materials. Just like the engineering mantra: Engineering mantra: cheap, good and fast, choose at most 2.
At the risk of turning this into an extended discussion, what if I forewent the bowden tube altogether (maybe engineer a short funnel into the hot end)? There's nothing to bunch up in. Granted, I've never heard of a tubeless design so it's probably a really bad idea. :)
@LuxClaridge Tubeless Bowden? impossible. Without pressure from the extruder, nothing will push the filament into the hot-end. Without the tube, the extruder does not apply pressure on the filament.
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7720 | Hotend does not reach set temperature
If I set the temperature of my hotend with pronterface to 200 °C, the temperature never reaches that value. For instance, it almost reaches the target with a temperate of 196/197 °C and then starts to drop to 184/85 °C before it starts to rise again to 196/197 °C. It remains in this loop forever and thus I'm not able to start any print because the temperature never stabilizes enough.
I've tried to configure the PID (M303 E0 S200 C8) with 8, 12, 15 intervals not help the issue continue.
I've tried to change heatblock and thermistor not help
Its important to refer this behaviour occur in any tempurate if I fix 150º it never reaches 150º it go to 146/147º and then drops again 10/15º and restart the loop. Same thing if I fix the tempurature to 210º.
Also I've tested this in multiple versions of marlin 1.1.8 and 1.1.9.The version of marlin 1.1.8 have worked in the same print in the past.
I'm have not clue about what can cause this issue, maybe its a board malfunctions (mosfet) or a powersupply malfunction.
Somebody can help me on this?
Did you change the Heater Block (square metal block) or the Heater Cartrige (the actual heating element)? What is your Printer? What kind of hotend you use? Did you save your settings after PID tuning?
Can you go higher than 200 °C when you set the temperature to 235 °C for instance?
Yes my printer could reaches higher temp then 200º easy. I've a heat cartrige of 50w the problem is stabilize that temp. I'm using 3dv6 clone with Trianglelab Thermistor Cartridge 260 from ali
Your description sounds indeed as if the PID is not correct. You can try autotune with M303 only if your heating cartridge is not absolutely overpowered. However, in such a case you typically also have an overshoot, which you don't mention in your description.
In that case you need to lower your duty cycle (by the BANG_MAX parameter in the firmware) a bit. Otherwise autotune fails, because your heating cartridge overshoots even at small gains.
Out of the box I would suggest you to increase your D-term and decrease your I term if it cycles like that. For most printers, I used, a ratio like that is sufficient: 4/1.5/25.
Many thanks for your reply I not mention but have update my termistor (Trianglelab Thermistor Cartridge 260) and heat Cartrige to a new 50w aswell as the heat block. How I can check if the PID routine was failed? Because I'm using the value that came out of that routine.
When heating up, do you have overshoots? Typically, in such cases and after Autotune you will just get PIDs leading to overshoot-undershoot-loops which indicate that the D-Term is too low. At least it was like this for me. Just set your Bang_MAX to 64 and try again.
During autotune PID I'm seeing overshoots, tempurature raise over the setted temperature. But in print's never get overshots only undershoots. In case never have overshoots should I increase or decrease D-Term in PID parameters?? I'll set my bang_max to 64 now its setted 255. I'll drecrease
your tip have solve my issue I reduce the BANG_MAX from 255 to 240 and them I've run the M303 whiout any parameters that have run the PID with round temp of 160 and gave me parameters which work for me. Many thanks for your help
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7721 | Prusa i3 pro W - not extruding
I'm trying to do my first ever print with my Geeetech prusa i3 pro.
When I try to print that printer seems to work, x,y,z axis all moving ok.
What isn't working is that little to no plastic is being extruded.
The nozzle appears to be getting to temperature, and some plastic comes out whilst it's heating, but then when it starts to move and print, no plastic comes out.
My thoughts are:
Have I not loaded the plastic properly
Is the extruder engine not working i.e. not pulling the plastic through
Any hints on what I can try would be appreciated.
What did you do to troubleshoot already? What exactly does not happen? Do the Gears turn or not? Is the motor connected?
I've wired the motor in as per the build instructions. How would I know if the gears are turning are they not internal ? I suspect this is the case - it does not look like it is feeding the filament in at all.
There is exactly 1 gear on the extruder stepper motor: the one that tries to push the filament. As a good test, remove the filament.
OK, I've removed the fan and heatsink so I can get a better view of what is going on. Using the repetier-host I'm trying to drive the extruder motor - but I'm getting no movement. If I've wired it in correctly (and I think I have) does this imply an issue with the motor itself ?
Is the extruder gear turning into the right direction?
Problem identified.
I took of the fan and heat sink so I could see what was going on in the mechanism that should pull through the filament.
Using repetier-host software I tried to manually drive the motor - nothing happening.
I swapped the A4988 stepper motor driver for the extruder with another (and my x,y,z axis motors work) to see what would happen - and it worked!
So just a faulty A4988 on the extruder motor.
I also manually pushed filament through the hot end to ensure there was no blockage and it worked fine.
So hopefully GEEETECH can send me a replacement and I'm good to go!
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7699 | How to fix Y layer shift on Creality Ender 3?
While printing a simple model, my printer starts to layer-shift the build in a direction suddenly. I used the default setting for ultimaker Cura 3.4.1. It has done this same thing for multiple different prints. I would guess it is the software.
How do I fix the issue?
Terminology: that is not offset, that is layer shift
Please specify if it is X or Y, it is clearly not both as shown in the image. Considering the markings on the bed, this appears to be a Y axis layer shift. Please acknowledge!
You have a case of layer shift. Layer shifts happened to me in 3 ways:
The movement of the axis is hindered. Check if all cables run freely and without any chance to catch! improper cable chains can cause binding and stop the printhead or bed in movement and thus induce a shift.
The acceleration might be too fast. Shift the acceleration of the printer movements down a notch. Don't print faster than ~60 to keep the acceleration in check, as the printer will try to reach the top speed as fast as possible, thus limiting top speed also limits acceleration.
The model might be broken. Re-slice the model just in case.
In addition to the other answer to complete the overview, your stepper motor may not get enough power and misses steps, increasing the current by adjusting the stepper driver voltage could also solve the issue (when the current is too low that is! never just increase this to try out, you could damage the stepper, the drivers or the board, so beware).
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7714 | Stepper motors making noise after steps/when idle
Why is it that if I execute a gcode command that causes the stepper motor to turn in reverse (any negative move on the X axis), after the step it will emit a high pitched whine until it gets another command to rotate in its forward direction?
Executing multiple reverse commands will cause the tone to vary in frequency each step, and always it goes away after another step in the opposite (forward) direction.
Sometimes.
And other times it does it in both directions, but only on every other step. One step +X its there, next step its gone, next step its back, and so on...
Then they also make a different noise when idle, before I disable them with the "disable steppers" command.
What are these noises?
And is it bad to leave the motors in this state? Will it burn them out?
what kind of printer you got? Does the sound really originate in all or just one steppers?
Ender 3 pro, late-2018 model (only 3d-printed part is the power supply lower cover)
Mainly the X and Y, but not at the same time. It is random
that would be... desing 3 or 4, one of them has a detatchable magnetic printing surface (which I am not a fan of as you can't print ABS without demagnetizing it)
When idle, the stepper is stationary, no rotation.
Normal standard electric motors will start spinning as soon as you apply power to them. However, steppers only rotate when a magnetic field is applied1):
Stepper motors effectively have multiple "toothed" electromagnets
arranged around a central gear-shaped piece of iron. The
electromagnets are energized by an external driver circuit or a micro
controller. To make the motor shaft turn, first, one electromagnet is
given power, which magnetically attracts the gear's teeth. When the
gear's teeth are aligned to the first electromagnet, they are slightly
offset from the next electromagnet. This means that when the next
electromagnet is turned on and the first is turned off, the gear
rotates slightly to align with the next one. From there the process is
repeated. Each of those rotations is called a "step", with an integer
number of steps making a full rotation. In that way, the motor can be
turned by a precise angle.
The motor's position can then be commanded to move and hold at one of
these steps without any position sensor for feedback (an open-loop
controller), as long as the motor is carefully sized to the
application in respect to torque and speed.
When you power the printer and energyze the steppers there is no movement, but, the magnetic coils in the stepper are activated to hold the rotor in position. This is controlled by the stepper driver. The creation of the signal for the magnetic coils is causing the noise. It is a function of the driver type, micro-stepping setting, the stepper motor inductance, current setting and supply voltage.
If the stepper motor, stepper driver and power supply can take it, increasing the current setting of the driver may lower the noise.
Turning off the steppers (disabling them with G-code using M2, M18, or M84 depending on your firmware) will stop the noise, but you will easily lose the current position as it is not hold into place anymore.
1) source Wikipedia
this is normalISH for stepper motors. they have a fair ammount of current pulsing through them at relatively high frequencies, coils and other parts that will vibrate. if it quite loud you can look into the boards that drive them, depending on your printer they are replaceable, and better 'drivers' send cleaner signals that make less noise. however: if your motors get hot or start making clicking noises, or stop randomly, or acting up more significantly, you should look adjusting how much current they are getting. search for stepper motor calibration, basically you need to adjust the ammount of current the motors are getting, but if the machine prints normally, then this is not something you want to play with. you can also probably find the data sheet for your motor, they are usually rated to operate up to about 50C
Would you please look onto this again, [edit] and fix up your grammar?
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7662 | Marlin firmware function call location for menu commands?
I found the pause_print() function in Marlin_main.cpp but when I search the rest of the files I cannot find the file that calls this function. I expected to find it somewhere in the file that controls the LCD menu but it only exists in main.
What file has the function calls that happen when I select a menu option from the LCD?
And why isn't pause_print() showing up elsewhere as a function call?
That is because this function has nothing to do with pausing the printer from the display menu. This function is used by the functionality that pauses the printer as part of filament changing or parking head on pause. Used by M125 and M600.
Ahhh. Thank you; my mistake. I foolishly thought that the function that pauses the printer would be called "pause". Would you happen to know where that function call is located? thanks
Why did you delete your other question (adding menu items)? It was a valid one, I already started an answer for that one!
This function is called by the g-codes M125 and M600
I could find ADVANCED_PAUSE_FEATURE defined in configuration_adv.h and called in Conditionals_post.h, trice in Marlin.h, referenced as needed for M600 in Marlin_Main.ccp and mentioned 2 times.
In Marlin_Main.ccp it also declares the function pause_print in line 6482 to 6571. Its start and end are these:
static bool pause_print(const float &retract, const point_t &park_point, const float &unload_length = 0,
const int8_t max_beep_count = 0, const bool show_lcd = false
) {
if (move_away_flag) return false; // already paused
#ifdef ACTION_ON_PAUSE
SERIAL_ECHOLNPGM("//action:" ACTION_ON_PAUSE);
#endif
[...]
HOTEND_LOOP()
thermalManager.start_heater_idle_timer(e, nozzle_timeout);
return true;
}
This function does define the pause state, and relies on the ADVANCED_PAUSE_FEATURE in some cases. But what calls it? Simple enough, both calls are in the same Marlin_Main.ccp that defines it. The calls are in the functions that are used for filament change:
gcode_M125line 8534 (Save current position and move to filament change position)
gcode_M600line 9939 (Pause for filament change: "M600 X Y Z E L")
Thank you! The reason I ask is that my Ender 3 used to park the nozzle assembly when I pause, which allowed me to inspect my print. Now after I flash with generic marlin it does not, it just stops printing but the nozzle doesn't move ......................................................................................................................................................... I figured I would just edit one of the parameters passed from the function call but if I cant find where it is called when accessed from the menu then I cannot do that. So how would I fix that? Thanks
@cds333 tha is a different question. Open a new question for that.
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7692 | Stepper motor for CR10-S5 Y-axis
I need to replace this stepper motor with the following product identification:
It’s a Y-axis for CR10-S5 and labeled as JD42HS60-1500A-02F. What type of stepper motor is this?
Hi Peter, and welcome to 3D Printing.SE!
I have found the motor in Ebay, check the following link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creality-3D-Two-Phase-42-60-RepRap-60mm-Y-axis-Stepper-Motor-For-CR-10-400-500-3/163335682211?hash=item260790b8a3:g:lE0AAOSwlxxb0kqd
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.
Would a voltage rating be relevant ("gives us no voltage for this motor")? I thought that for magnetism it is the current which matters.
@Andrew, yes current matters in magnetism. Any voltage specified on the datasheets is "Tested at" voltages.
@AndrewMorton operation voltage does matter. If you run a machine designed for 12V with 24V you burn it out. If you run it at 6V, you might not operate it at all.
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7665 | Correct wiring Arduino Uno and GT2560 to install bootloader
Can anyone help me with the correct wiring between an Arduino Uno and a GT2560 board to install the bootloader using the Arduinio as the ISP.
I'm trying to follow this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N1zgX8Gv54
But crucially the wiring diagram provided shows 5 connections, but the video shows 6 and they're obscured so it's not clear what was done.
At present I'm getting the following error
avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000
Would appreciate any help offered.
Update.
Based on advice received, here is my wiring - I'm still getting the same error. I've checked this several times so apologies if I can't follow basic instructions!
The full error log is as follows:
Arduino: 1.6.8 (Linux), Board: "Arduino/Genuino Mega or Mega 2560, ATmega2560 (Mega 2560)"
/home/andy/Desktop/arduino-1.6.8/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/home/andy/Desktop/arduino-1.6.8/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega2560 -cstk500v1 -P/dev/ttyACM0 -b19200 >-e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xD8:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m
avrdude: Version 6.0.1, compiled on Apr 14 2015 at 19:04:16
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "/home/andy/Desktop/arduino-1.6.8/hardware/tools/avr/etc/>avrdude.conf"
User configuration file is "/home/andy/.avrduderc"
User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
Using Port : /dev/ttyACM0
Using Programmer : stk500v1
Overriding Baud Rate : 19200
AVR Part : ATmega2560
Chip Erase delay : 9000 us
PAGEL : PD7
BS2 : PA0
RESET disposition : dedicated
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :
Block Poll Page Polled
Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
eeprom 65 10 8 0 no 4096 8 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
flash 65 10 256 0 yes 262144 256 1024 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
calibration 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
Programmer Type : STK500
Description : Atmel STK500 Version 1.x firmware
Hardware Version: 2
Firmware Version: 1.18
Topcard : Unknown
Vtarget : 0.0 V
Varef : 0.0 V
Oscillator : Off
SCK period : 0.1 us
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000 (retrying)
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000 (retrying)
Error while burning bootloader.
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000
avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.
avrdude done. Thank you.
This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
option enabled in File -> Preferences.
Related to How to install new ATMEGA firmware via the ISP pins
would you provide the error log?
I found another pinning variant... It is a pain that the GT2560 does not come with ICSP interface.
The video shows 6 in the wiring diagram, but missing one line between 1 and 5V. You can see all the pins used at this moment and a little better in this moment. The first is always the connector, the second the Arduino Uno side:
1 to 5V
2 to Ground (GND)
3 to 10
5 to 11
10 to 12
9 to 13
Note that the revision 3e of the genuine Arduino Uno demands to connect to different pin hoes on the left than the model in the video, let the labeling guide you! Instead of 2nd (5V) and 6th (GND) pin-hole on the left side, you'd use the 5th (5V) and 6th or 7th (GND) on the left (counting from the power connection side) or the GND pin on the right, next to digital output 13.
According to the Arduino Forum, you might also need a Capacity between Reset and GND on the Arduino Uno.
EDIT: According to Geeetech we need a different Pinning:
LCD 1 to 5V
LCD 2 to GND
SD 2 to GND
SD 3 to 10 (RESET)
SD 5 to 11 (MOSI)
SD 10 to 12 (MISO)
SD 9 to 13 (SCK)
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21460 | Any good way to recycle filament?
With a good amount of failed prints, I now have a bunch of filament that is... trash.
Is there a good way to recycle it, or any services that you send them your lost filament to then melt it back into a new filament?
I kinda hate the amount of trash im producing with 3d printing.
You mean just failed prints that are in printed shape or rests of filament spools?
Does this answer your question? How to recycle filament material from printed parts? & Uses for PLA scraps?
I throw fails in the hidden corner of my backyard. They are gone in a year.
Many makers will reuse the filament from spaghetti prints as filler material when joining print sections together. Usually by heating it along the seams.
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20950 | Interlocking and joints for 3D printed structure, tips&types
I'm a student and I need to 3D print a structure for a research. I know nothing about mechanic parts, joints and interlocking so I hope someone could help.
The diameter of the whole structure is about 44 cm while the diameter of the tubular has to be 1.5/2 cm.
I need to divide the structure into different pieces:
The part that fits the black tubular: I can't put it there from the top but it has to be 2 different pieces that I can tighten with a bolt in order to assemble and disassemble.
Then, I have to divide the arms from the little circular "plate"
I know nothing about interlocking and parts.
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23600 | Crafting Perspex
I'm making fan art, Wheelie Yellow, (kid friendly) for 3D printing, based upon a cheap kid-friendly (scanned 3D) RC car.
To give you an impression of the current phase of the 3D drawing see the left:
I'm thinking though that I want to add perspex glass in it, for the windows.
And while I am handy with 3D printers and drawing.
I'm less familiar with handling Perspex.
I know i can cut a large plate in half.
But how do you work with small pieces? To get round corners etc.?
I’m voting to close this question because does not appear to be about tools and applications of 3D printing, within the scope defined in the help center but may fit better on another site in the Stack Exchange network, i.e. Arts & Crafts.
I think this is very open towards thinker es , this is just another material used in our builds. and a kind of plastic as well, i think helpfull to others as well
I'm not saying that it is not helpful, this is just not the right site for the question. The post is asking about the acrylic itself whereas the mention of 3D printing is describing where the acrylic will be used.
Perspex is very easy to work with, while large cuts, like cutting in half, can be precut with a knife and bend to break at the line. For smaller pieces, a manual jigsaw works fine.
Perspex is pretty easy to mechanically machine, provided you keep the temperature low. This guide from https://www.theplasticshop.co.uk has some tips on machining Perspex.
Note that Perspex can also be laser cut. In the early printer days, frames of some kits were made from laser cut Perspex/acrylic (usually cheapest acrylic they could source); e.g. the Anet A8/A6.
To get this question on topic and related to 3D Printing, you could add a laser module or something like a Dremel and attach this to the print head or replace the print head, you could CNC the part you require.
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22993 | Can a PLA print be laser engraved?
Is it possible to laser engrave an object that was 3D printed with PLA or will the structure of the whole object simply melt and fail?
How does PLA behave when being engraved? Does it require special treatment of the PLA first or is, for example, more infill required?
ColorFabb used to sell laser marking PLA, not actively sold anymore... This filament was modified to be easily laser engraved.
Yes, it is possible
Jered Adams shared, in a Youtube Video from 2023, that he could, in fact, engrave prints with a laser, and his method. The problems he encountered were mostly related to getting good reference points and affixing the part. He did use a large industrial-size machine with a 40 W CO2 laser module. For the positioning, he used a printed block of known height to adjust the laser module. After making an initial high-power pass with air assist, he added powder-coat paints to the depth to make the engraving easier to see and turned off the air.
During first engraving with 12 %, notice the thin white smoke at the center where the laser impacts, getting pulled away by the air assist. The engraving itself is visible as a slightly different color.
After adding the powder and burning it in with a lower power setting (9 %), the result is very legible:
Power settings
Mr. Adams used 12 % power on the initial pass and 9 % on the "inking" pass. Taking his 40 W Diode as a base, that'd correspond to 4.8 W and 3.6 W respectively, so could be done with a 5 W laser module.
Do note that the initial pass power could also depend on the color of the laser and the exact composition of your polymer. This is because some colors and materials absorb wavelengths from the laser differently, so it is hard to say for sure the same setting will work for all colors the same.
Print settings
The engraving, with the right settings, should at most be one wall thickness deep, which would compromise that one wall's carrying capacity. A 2-wall print might see significant weakness due to the engraving, but with 3 or more walls, the impact would be massively reduced.
The engraving depends on the colour of the part and on the material. It also depends on the type of laser used (CO2, diode).
PLA works, in general.
You can see the following three videos, all testing various materials, laser colours.
Yes, you can laser engrave objects 3D printed with PLA, but there are important considerations to keep in mind to avoid damaging the entire structure.
PLA has a relatively low melting point (around 180-220°C). Therefore, if the laser power is too high or the engraving speed is too slow, there is a risk of melting or distorting the PLA structure.
With appropriate settings, laser engraving can selectively remove material from the surface without compromising the overall integrity of the object. The process typically results in a clean and precise engraving.
Required Settings:
Laser Type: CO2 lasers are commonly used for engraving PLA due to their effectiveness with plastics.
Power Settings: Lower power settings (10-30 watts) are generally recommended to avoid excessive melting.
Speed: Higher speeds help to minimize heat buildup, reducing the risk of deformation.
Passes: Multiple light passes can achieve deeper engravings without generating excessive heat in a single pass.
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21588 | Ability to O-ring seal SLM 3D printed part
I am thinking of 3D printing a metal part from JLC PCB's metal 3D printing service. The part will be used in a compressed air application. I need to be able to statically seal the part using an O-ring.
Will the part be smooth enough to seal with an O-ring or is there any post-processing I need to do? If I do need to post-process the part, what steps should I take?
As to how smooth the part will be, that would probably be a question for JLC PCB.
It depends
You will get a metal printed part. Typically, the process to create these is either laser sintering or laser smelting. In both applications, the powder is heated by a laser in a very small area, and by the application of heat forms a little half-sphere of connected material. By moving the work zone of the laser, the object is created in layers.
As a direct result of slight inhomogeneities in heating behavior due to particle size, the surface will have certain irregularities and a certain roughness. For example, the Manifold shown by 3dspro on their website shows this section, followed by a paragraph I will quote:
Additionally, SLM may produce parts with residual stresses and distortion in the final part, which can affect its mechanical properties and dimensional accuracy. This can be mitigated by carefully selecting process parameters and performing post-processing operations such as stress relieving or machining. SLM may also produce parts with a rough surface finish that requires additional post-processing to achieve the desired surface quality.
Depending on the tolerances you planned for and the required air tightness, you may or may not require post-processing. If you are in doubt, contact your print shop, and if you determine that you need post-processing, make sure to have extra material in the affected areas. SLM prints can be machined if you remember that your print contains possible stresses. As such, turning or milling the surfaces for the O-rings should be possible, if you are careful.
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21625 | How should I restore an old build plate?
I have an Elegoo Saturn with a factory original built plate.
The plate was improperly cleaned and then left out. Causing a thin but uneven layer of cured resin to form on one corner. This effectively makes it impossible to level as one corner will always be a fraction of a MM out.
What is the best way to clean the resin off wile maintaining the surface?
Removal of cured resin only works in mechanical ways, as the chemicals that can remove it are very aggressive and will eat at the base plate. Using a scraper or very sharp chisel to very carefully chip off the resin without scratching the surface is the standard solution.
If you damage the build plate, it can be re-ground, if you have food intact reference surfaces using a surface grinder.
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23059 | Transparent material
I am searching for some material, that can be turned (even with post-processing) into a "glass" like texture.
Additionally, it should withstand some pressure (0.5 MPa in approximately 30 mm diameter canals) so PLA does not fit my case... Mostly, I would appreciate some CFR, since its mechanical properties are amazing, but it doesn't have to be that way.
I own Markforged FX20, Mark two and Ultimaker S5.
Could we please have some more information regarding the finished product that you have at the end of this process. For example, are you going to produce a viewing window to be included as a component of some other practical part?
Print problems
Only very few FDM materials are truly transparent. When printing a line next to line, inclusions of air can and will create outer boundaries that would be visible, so it is paramount to print in such a fashion that prints are as tight as possible. Another problem is, that under normal conditions the extrusion-extrusion boundaries are quite visible and that have different refraction indices inside the part. To remove those boundaries and gaps, it needs special printing parameters that result not only in filling every gap but also partially melt all adjacent lines to create a truly solid part. As such, FDM prints with multiple layers for walls are extremely hard to make fully transparent.
With extreme tuning, the internal voids can be reduced to almost none or truly none, and inter-wall bonding increased to be nigh invisible, but this leaves outer walls.
Extreme settings for clarity
Stefan from CNC-Kitchen had a whole talk about these specialty print parameters with which he achieved very low-opacity prints in some, but not always all directions. As a baseline, he used settings proposed by Rygar1432. He started using a very transparent PCTG, with already very good results, and then experimented with PETG, which had a slightly less transparent look to it after optimizing the settings.
The exact composition of the print material was found to have tremendous effects on the transparency, thus different manufacturers and even rolls from different batches might behave differently and require different settings. Further, some filaments absorb moisture over time, which will degrade the print result by creating voids of entrapped water vapor. As printers also heat slightly differently due to the variance of the heater cartridges' resistance, your settings might not be perfectly applicable to another printer of the same type and might require adjustment. The most important basic settings discussed were:
extrusion width & layer height
Compared to the standard 0.4 mm or 0.45 mm, a wider extrusion of 0.5 mm was used, but the layer height was significantly reduced to 0.12 mm at the same time, resulting in the plastic getting pressed tighter against the previous print and allowing fusion to other walls
perimeters
Using only a single outer perimeter made the print mainly composed of infill and reduced the different geometries that could create pockets
printing speed & part cooling.
Compared to classic prints, the printing speeds had to go way down to 15 mm/s, which is about 1/4 of typical print speeds. The slower print speed assists with keeping the extruded plastic hotter in the area of the nozzle, assisting with inter-extrusion bonding. This was further assisted by disabling part cooling. However, this resulted in very bad results of bridging material.
Infill Geometry
An aligned rectilinear infill pattern was necessary to remove almost all voids, which was coupled with no top and bottom surfaces to again, reduce different print geometries that could create voids in the print.
The most important factor was the extrusion multiplier, which for Stefan's machine was best at about 101 %, as above that he started to experience some deformation of the part's outer shape, mostly in the shape of rough surfaces.
A slight bit of polishing and cleanup was at times required, as Stefan retold. Also, again, the outer perimeter clearly shows in different alignments of the print, best shown with this shot. While you can see almost undisturbed through the part down like, sideways the outer perimeters are very opaque.
All in all, you could get a very well-transparent print in some directions, but the outer surfaces are always somewhat rough.
Specialty Filaments
Some filaments can be treated after printing to create a single, well-fused outer surface that is nigh fully transparent. This precludes prints with many walls unless the interior is already clear, but the results are known to be stunning for prints with a single or few walls. Do note that the order of filaments mentioned here is by the toxicity of their solvents, so the higher up in the list, the less dangerous it is.
PVB
The Hourglass by Mageb uses a chemical quirk of polyvinyl butyral (PVB): it is soluble in isopropyl alcohol to a good degree, resulting in softening and smoothening of the surface if the right exposure time is used. It's hard to predict if and where the IPA can creep into the walls to remove cavities without destroying the print's shape, so this effect is generally best used on Vase-mode prints. This of course limits the wall thickness and strength of the print.
ABS
It's well known that Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) dissolves in Acetone. In a similar fashion to PVB, Acetone liquid or vapors thus can be used to smooth out the outer deformities of a print and create a smooth surface, though not only is Acetone much more dangerous than Isopropanol due to toxicity, ABS itself is a more challenging printing material to PVB and can emit some dangerous fumes in printing. Since ABS has lost ist appeal to most hobbyists, I could not find any report on possible clouding issues from the treatment.
PETG
Yes, Polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified [copolymer] PETG is chemically smoothable. However, the chemicals that can dissolve PETG are even more toxic than for ABS: Dichloromethane, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), toluene, and cyclohexanone are extremely toxic and nobody would guarantee you that the print will stay clear and that the prints won't cloud from the chemicals penetrating the print.
To be honest,3D printing has a poor reputation when it comes to transparent parts as resin tends to discolor when exposed to UV light, and need to be coated with another material such as a clearcoat in order to maintain their glass like finish for any time.
Filament is even worse, it yellows quickly and will have visible layer lines no matter how much you tune your printer.
With machines of the quality that you're mentioning, you would be best going with the manufacturer's own brand PETG, turning the extrusion up to the maximum and the cooling off, then the speed down. Ironically, thicker layers are best as they bond together better and so form less pronounced layer lines.
My personal recommendation would be use your printer to create a part in an opaque material, and then use that part to create a mold so that you can create your part out of two part epoxy resin, or create a blank that can be used in a vacuum former.
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23021 | Does anyone know why Meshmixer does this when I bring a brush to a figure?
Does anyone know why Meshmixer does this when I bring a brush to a figure?
I do not know what I am looking at there. You need to be more elaborate in explaining your problem.
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23115 | Issues getting an image texture to print on a Statasys J750
I'm trying to print out a digital elevation model of a landscape with a satellite image of the landscape overlayed on it as a texture. I've been working with the makerspace at my University, who have a Statasys J750 polyjet 3D printer. However, my file prints without the texture, just as a totally black model. The folks at the makerspace have been helpful, but they aren't really sure what the issue is.
Here's my workflow:
Import my STL file for the DEM into Blender
Reduce the poly count of the model by dissolving all coplanar surfaces
Create materials for the base and for the terrain. For the base, assign a solid color (brown). For the terrain, assign a .png texture of a satellite image of the terrain, and project it onto the terrain from above using a UV mapping
Bake on the textures using "combined" bake type, with "direct," "indirect," and "diffuse" lighting and contributions (I'm not sure why this is necessary, but the makerspace staff told me that it is).
Export the project to a .obj file, selecting the "UV Coordinates," "Normals," "Colors," and "Triangulated Mesh" options.
Import the resulting .OBJ/.MTL/.PNG files into GrabCAD and print.
When viewing the model in GrabCAD, my model displays properly, with the .png texture displaying properly on the model, similarly to the screenshot from blender I included below. Even then, my model ends up printing without any color; just as a black piece of plastic. When printing other people's projects using the same settings in GrabCAD, things seem to work fine. The staff at the makerspace aren't really sure what the issue is, and say it is likely an issue with my model.
Is anyone willing to help me troubleshoot this issue? Thanks.
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23343 | Why is my Ender 3 v2 Neo bed overheating without any interaction?
I have just purchased my third Ender 3 V2, this time a Neo. After unpacking and assembling it, then switching it on, without any prompt from me the bed starts heating, and carries on heating until it reaches 110 °C when a warning "bed overheating" flashes on the screen.
The hot end reacts correctly to the input on the display but even when I set the bed temperature to 55 °C it ignores that command and carries on to 110 °C.
How can I rectify this?
Get this back to your supplier and claim the warranty, don't tinker with it, you should get a replacement. Without input, the bed should never heat up, something is obviously broken or installed incorrectly.
When there is no connection between the bed thermistor contacts, the Ender3 runs into thermal runaway protection.
Two small white wires should run from your motherboard to the heated bed and is probably disconnected somewhere.
The Ender3 has some places where this fragile cable can be pulled by the gantry, so look out for a break in the wire and also at the contacts of the (glass) thermistor)
A replacement thermistor is cheap, but look out for the right one as there are many different resistor values available.
If you have a multimeter, you can try measuring the resistor between the contacts of the thermistor wire and compare the values to the ones you measure on the wires of the hotend thermistor. They should be in the same ballpark.
RETURN THIS DANGER
For whatever reason, the bed is getting power. That means it heats. That means it is DANGEROUS. Turn it off, separate it from mains power, don't use it, and return to seller as dangerously defective.
Possible reasons
Among many other reasons, these seem to be possible but can't easily be fixed without knowing exactly what you do:
The heater control chip is burnt out and does not trigger off.
The firmware is botched and sets a print temperature from the launch.
A wire is connected to the "high" voltage supply instead of the heater port.
That’s weird. It’s could be a broken thermistor or connection with your mb. Try seeing if these are good and also contact support, bc this is really weird.
Welcome to 3D Printing! and thank you for your contribution. When you get a chance, please take the [tour] to understand how the site works and how it is different than others.
Could you [edit] and expand upon your answer, because, as it stands, your answer could seem to be more of a comment rather than a full answer? Also, please don't use text abbreviations (mb, bc), as their meaning may not be obvious to non-native English speaking readers.
The bed showing a wrong temperature? yes, might be a broken thermosensor. But heating?! DANGER.
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11679 | Wavy lines on 1st layer only
I'm getting wavy lines on the first layer only in both the x and y direction identically. The first layer is 0.4 mm with a 0.4 mm tip. The other layers are 0.2 mm. I've tried changing the Z offset all the way from -1.2 to 0.5 mm. I've tried changing the hot end leveling the heated bed. None of these changes affected the wavy lines. The waves have about a 1 mm period. The printer is a German RipRap. The material is ABS. The heated bed is 110 °C. I've tried the hot end at 220 °C and 240 °C. So far, nothing has changed the waves.
Are you sure they're actually supposed to be straight lines?
You have a too thick layer: to get straight lines, the plastic has to be squished together to some degree as it is pushed out of the nozzle. The result is a shape similar to a circle with the top and bottom cut. This works well until your layer thickness is more than 3 quarters of the nozzle diameter - above the "squishing" is practically nonexistent, and if you go above the nozzle diameter, there is almost no way to get the desired thickness out of the nozzle at all.
To aid in depositing the layers, it is also advised to demand a line width that is about 10 % larger than the nozzle diameter. As illustration, this is roughly what 0.4 mm extrusion width with 0.4 mm layer height (blue) and 0.45 mm extrusion width with 0.3 mm extrusion height (yellow) look like:
Now that's some awesome graphics! +1
I would also check this answer as resolving the problem, but only one is allowed and I checked the one who answered first.
@PerryWebb the guideline is to check the answer which you think is the most helpful.
Where did you get the images for this? They're awesome!!!!
@Diesel I made them with Fusion360
They're awesome, I'll have to start playing with Fusion360 more!
The general recommendation for layer height is to go no thicker than 75% of the nozzle diameter. Your post states 0.4 mm layer height with a 0.4 nozzle, exceeding the recommendation.
If your first layer is dropped to 0.3 mm, you'll fall into the recommendation, but the thickness is a reference for ALL layers.
I'll try this out tomorrow. Hopefully, this is the answer.
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11658 | Does having more curvier corners help warping more then smaller curves
I was experimenting with building an enclosure using fusion 360.
I was wondering if a part with rounded corners of a larger radius would warp less than smaller ones?
Also, any recommendation on reading material would be appreciated!
The context of this question is hard to guess. Please add more information to help us estimate what you might need as an answer.
In short, yes, it helps a little. Curves provide less surface area per unit volume (a sphere has the least possible surface area relative to the volume of the solid), and that reduces the rate at which the material in that corner will cool relative to elsewhere in the print, and also changes how the material can deform if and when it does cool unevenly. Uneven cooling of fine features, including sharp corners, is what causes warpage, as these areas typically cool faster than others. The curve also helps with bed adhesion, as the more rounded corner is more easily kept down on the bed by the various forces within the object and in the bed adhesion. Sharper corners depend more on the surface area under the corner itself to keep the piece properly stuck to the bed.
However, it's not a panacea. It's not always possible, for one; it's usually an option when CADing a "green field" design for a household item or other standalone product, but if you're making a replacement part for an existing device, or printing a figurine or other detailed model, you usually have to take the curves (and edges) that design gives you. Also, if you radius an outer edge of a hollow shape, but don't radius the inner corner to keep the material thickness constant, you'll end up with similar cooling problems as the apex of that edge cools fastest.
Strategies for avoiding warping are along a couple common lines, but exactly how you implement that strategy depends on the material and on the printer. One overarching strategy is to increase print surface adhesion; the stronger the part sticks to the bed everywhere on its first layer, the harder it will be for corners to lift. Exact techniques depend on the print material, but many of them, like blue painter's tape, Elmer's glue and hairspray, work well for several filament types. Adjusting the printed shape, to print a brim around the shape's base or even a raft under the entire object, are also common anti-warping strategies. The tradeoff is that the stronger the bed adhesion, the harder the part will be to remove from the build surface when complete, which depending on your print bed construction can cause more problems than the warping.
Blue tape is nice because it's cheap to buy and easy to apply to the bed surface, both of which mean you don't have to worry too much about damaging the tape as you remove the part, just strip the tape and put down another layer. But, it doesn't work for all filament materials; the only thing I've found that really works well for ABS, for instance, is kapton tape, which is significantly more expensive and takes a lot of effort to lay down a wrinkle-free, bubble-free layer over the entire print bed for a large part (especially on my MakerBot, which doesn't have a removable build surface on it, so I'm laying this tape down in cramped quarters within the printer enclosure). A glass surface painted with ABS slurry is an option I've not yet had opportunity to try for ABS printing, but plenty of people swear by it.
Cooling, especially uneven cooling rates, are another major contributor, but again, exactly how you deal with cooling depends on the material. Most plastics, especially PLA, tend to work best when you keep things as cool as possible; the coolest extruder temp that reliably feeds fil, the coolest bed temp that reliably sticks, part cooling fan turned up, and even a standing or box fan blowing through the entire work area to put as much air over the part as possible. What this does is to get the PLA down onto the print surface as a hot "putty", then immediately "freeze" that bead of plastic as a solid as the heat's removed, so the bead can't shrink as it cools more gradually.
Now, with ABS, this cooling strategy doesn't work, and in fact it's the worst thing you can do to an ABS print. The material is much more elastic than PLA, which is quite brittle, and has no true melting temperature, with a very hot glass transition temp. So, as it's laid down, the extruded beads quickly put the part under elastic tension as it cools. Shrinkage is a fact of life with ABS; the only thing you can do is to control the shrinkage by controlling the part cooling, so the part cools and shrinks evenly. ABS calls for a hot print bed for good adhesion, which will keep the first few layers warmer longer, but higher layers of the print will be further from that heat source, so if there's air moving over or within the work volume, these higher layers will cool more rapidly, at which point it really doesn't matter how good your surface adhesion is (I've seen prints split halfway up the model to relieve the tension by warping). So for ABS, a heat enclosure is pretty much a must. My MakerBot is built that way (in fact it's designed for ABS printing and works better with ABS than with PLA, which is supposed to be the more user-friendly material of the two), but most of your open-gantry RepRap-type designs will need something built around it, usually with a separate heating element to heat the work volume more than the bed is capable of doing.
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11829 | What filament material is safe to use as in-wall housing (US)?
Which type of filament material(s) is safe to use as an in-wall box for regular, 120v wiring? For instance, an electrical outlet box.
In case it matters, location is the state of Washington, USA.
safe, or legal? you would have to get your boxes tested and approved by an underwriting lab in order to legally use them in-wall. I don't think you can (realistically for most) even DIY the plate covers, much less the boxes. On the practical side, filament that doesn't sustain a flame or emit toxic smoke when burned would be wise.
I'd concur with @dandavis on this. Something to consider, though, is it really worth your time/effort to print something which is readily available and for the most part, rather cheap to just buy on the economy? (Lowe's is showing it available for $.32/ea) You can get contractor packs from Lowe's/Home Depot real easy/cheap. Printing a single box would cost you hours of time. If that doesn't dissuade you, standard wall boxes are made of PVC ... I don't know if that's available in a filament, though.
A link in case you care.
Thanks for the input, but the outlet box was simply an example. There are use-cases in building a custom, in-wall gang box that is not commercially available. It's hardly ever cheaper to 3D print something when there is already a commercially available product.
My understanding, in terms of safety, is that it must not catch fire or emit smoke/embers in the event that there is an electrical fire. To @dandavis's point, probably why you would need it tested and approved. But, my question still remains, what 3D printing material would be suitable for such an application?
If you need to make a gang box that's big enough that it doesn't exist, use a metal box designed to be built up into whatever size you need. Something like a Raco #519. The sides unscrew and you can put together as many as you want until you run out of room in the stud bay.
Safety is not the same as legality
Something might be perfectly safe, but it doesn't make it legal to do or allowed to use. Parking your car over double-yellow lines is one example that is perfectly safe but violates the traffic codes.
Any 3D printed box would violate for example WAC 296-46B-300, as it isn't in compliance with NEC Class 3 Standard.
(1) Cables and raceways for power limited, NEC Class 2 and Class 3 conductors must be installed in compliance with Chapter 3 NEC unless other methods are specifically required elsewhere in the NEC, chapter 19.28 RCW, or this chapter.
The NEC is also known as NFPA 70, and availeable at the Website of the National Fire Protection Agency. You will need to look in Article 725.3 for the exact, current specifications that a cable box would need to follow.
725.3 Other Articles. Circuits and equipment shall comply with the articles or sections listed in 725.3(A) through (N). Only those sections of Article 300 referenced in this article shall apply to Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 circuits.
Also note, that mains wire work is usually regulated in how it has to be done and you might (in some areas) not even be allowed to do it yourself! Even if you may do it, it might be inadvisable to do so due to insurance reasons: non-professional wiring or non-standard parts can be usually excluded from coverage.
In the US, homeowners are generally allowed (regulations vary by locale) to do electrical work on their own homes. Most importantly, if there's a fire and the insurance company discovers your 3D-printed electrical box, they'll have grounds for denying your claim.
I haven't tested the commercial "blue boxes" used to hold 120/240 V electrical outlets, switches, and splices to see how they behave when heated. As such, this argument is based on intuition, which is intrinsically flawed as a logic device. Never-the-less, I think the no extruded molten plastic (FFF) 3D printing filament will work.
The purpose of the junction box is to contain an overheating connection or switch and prevent it from causing a fire in the wall. Any FFF filament will have a melting point below the ignition point of wood, and would therefore flow away from the overheating point. It seems that any thermoplastic with a "normal" melting point would have this problem.
You might look at UV polymerized printing resins, such as are used in the Stratasys Objet, Form Labs, and Prusa SL1. These printing processes aren't constrained to use plastics that can be melted or heat softened. Because the polymerization can involve more aggressive crosslinking (polymerization) that FFF materials, they have the potential to be good for a higher temperature.
As an example of a high-temperature, non-melting plastic which could perhaps have an analogue in SLS resin, polyester "casting compound" is cross linked by a methyl-ethyl-ketone-peroxide catalyst to form clear solid. 24 hours after the polymerization starts, the solid does not melt under the influence of a hot air gun. I tried to melt it and it would not melt. It slightly softened, but the plastic cup I had cast it in was dripping away -- but the polyester was not melting.
I looked through the Stratasys materials and Form Labs materials and did not see a much higher temperature material.
Underwriters Laboratory, Inc (UL) or other NRTLs fully test all boxes (plastic and metal) for fire containment. A box won't get certified if it doesn't meet standards. Even if you print your own box out of the exact same plastic that a UL listed box is made of, it won't come with UL certification, and your insurance company could have grounds for denying your claim if/when they find it.
Agreed. I should have pointed out that, as the manufacturer of the boxes, the OP would need to obtain certifications for use in the intended applications.
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11800 | FDM printer first layer infill swell upward
My Kossel Mini printer was working well. Recently I made some changes including replacing the nozzle and throat, adding a silicone heater cover. Now it has the problem of first layer adhesion.
The perimeter sticks well but the infill line swells upward in the middle, while start and end has no problem.
In my experience the adhesion problem only occurs at corner but never in the middle. So I don't know what configuration needs to be changed to fix it.
Delta calibration has been done before the print. PVP glue was used on the bed.
that's not a swell up, that's just really poor adhesion. Have you ever cleaned your bed with alcohol or Isopropanol? if not, try it. ; The silicone around a heater block is called a "silicone sock"
@Trish: Are you sure? It looks like it could be a mechanical problem with the delta configuration.
@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE It's an unheated glass bed. It might also be that he swapped gluestick brand. not all sticks are equal!
@Trish I'll try to clean the bed and also try another gluestick. There is one think I don't understand: PLA shrinks when it cools down. The shrinking won't make the middle of infill move upward. It looks like that I need to double check the delta configuration as well though I don't think I had changed it.
Had tried below and didn't work:
Clean the bed
Use a brand new glue stick
Verify delta configuration and make sure z-plane is flat and parallel to bed
Adjust z height to minimize the distance between nozzle and bed when z=0
Increase first layer extrude width
Printed again and watched carefully, then found that it was pull up because the printed PLA slice shrank. I realized that the problem was related to my change on the fan duct. Before, the fan blowed directly to the tip of nozzle; after changed it blows around.
Tried to turn off the fan on first layer, the problem was solved.
I suspect that the fan duct change made the extruded material not cooling down immediately. It shrank when the air blew on it. I need further test to verify it.
Of course! Cooling the first layer is a classic that results in failed prints... The effect is amplified by your bed being unheated glass. Turn cooling fan to turn on on layer 2.
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11809 | Hotend doesn't maintain temperature
I got an Anycubic Predator last month, and after resolving a few mechanical problems, I was able to get it printing decently well. The only significant modification I've made so far is a set of 8-diode TL Smoothers, and I'm now mostly operating it via Octoprint.
However, during the last few prints, I've noticed the temperature dropping midway through the print. It warms up and cools down fine, but for some reason it's not able to sustain the temperature throughout the print.
In this case, the print started out at the correct temperature (200 °C), held that temp for around 2 hours, then it dropped to a lower temp (174 °C). It eventually went back up to the target temp, then dropped again 5 minutes later. I tried manually adjusting it to see if that could fix it, but no luck.
After this print completed, I restarted it to show how it is easily able to reach the target temp and hold it at the start of the print:
Any tips on diagnosing and resolving this issue?
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! In the 2nd image, it looks as though it is being commanded to drop the temps down to zero ... your line for "Target T" and Target Bed" show it dropping at ~(-23)mins, which in turn allows your extruder and bed temps to drop, until they are commanded to bring the temps up again at ~(-9)mins for bed and ~(-8)mins for extruder. is this what you are trying to explain? You'd need to see why this is being commanded to do so, but it appears the temps are following exactly along the lines of what it is being told to do.
@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 What you're describing is correct, but not the issue I'm having. I allowed the print to complete (since it was almost done by the time I noticed the issue). I cleaned the bed and let it cool to close to room temp and restarted it. The range ~(-10) min on is how it should look -- I Included that image to show that this does not appear to be the same problem described here. The problem is the drop in temps shown in the first image.
That makes sense then for the 2nd image. In the first image is it just the heating element isn't keeping up with the print requirements?
@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Correct. It heats up correctly at first, maintains temp for a while, then at some point, it drops to around 170~180°C.
Have you altered the flow rate? Does air from either fan brush over the heater block?
@Trish Flow for this model is at 100%. This model has two part cooling fans, and the factory duct isn't great; one of them could be blowing on the heat block. I can try a print without part cooling to see if that helps.
If you can, add some tinfoil over the heater block to prevent air from the coolend cooling fan.
@Trish Thanks, I will try both of those ideas. This seems to happen well into a print so it may be a while before I can post the results.
As I look at the graphs, I realize: your printer comes without Thermal Runaway Protection!
@Trish This is definitely it. I started a print without part cooling fans and allowed it to run for nearly an hour -- it had no problem keeping at the target temp throughout that time. I then tried turning the fans on by manually through octoprint, and immediately saw the temp start dropping; turned them off again, and it returned to the target temp quickly. Thank you so much for the pointers. I can look into the aluminum foil idea, but I'll probably want to invest in silicon socks at some point. Feel free to write this up as an answer, and I'll accept it.
And yes, I agree that this printer doesn't have Thermal Runaway Protection, and if this were supported, it would likely have notified me of a problem sooner. I am not sure if the firmware supports it and it's just turned off by default, or if there's no support for it all. I'll investigate this further as well.
Done! You could very easily use Marlin with the right size settings. But that would be an excellent question: how to set up my custom Marlin 2.0?
Safety First
Let's look at the graphs. First: you should swap firmware for one that has Thermal Runaway, as, as it is, running about 15 minutes with 28 K less than the printer is ordered to work at is a clear indication that there is no Thermal runaway protection in place - it should have tripped over that long ago! But there is more!
Problem
But this graph and the lack of Thermal Runaway Protection also are typical for printers that have a design flaw: If the airflow from the part cooling fans or the coldend-cooling fan (that's the fan that always runs) brushes over the heater block, it cools it. This limits the achievable temperature.
Luckily, such is easily remedied in one of several ways:
Changing the airducts for ones that does not hit the heater block
Adding a silicone sock around the heater block
Kapton-tape and ceramic wool can be used to make a heater-sock too
Adding an air-shield in the shape of a bit of tinfoil can redirect the airflow away from the heater block, but make positively sure it is mounted Fire-Safe and can't be lost into the print!
Based on your picture from Octoprint I can assume that you may have the wrong heater.
Why? Because heating hotend to 215 takes quite a lot of time (3 minutes) in your case. If you have an appropriate heater it should take around 1 minute
You need to check the resistance of the heater and then calculate the power based on voltage.
Current = Voltage / measured resistance
Power = Current * voltage
For a good working hotend, you need to have at least a 35 W to 40 W heater.
Some shops sell 40 W heaters but these heaters are for 24 V systems, so in your case, if you have 12 V system it may be the case why the temperature drops because the heater will work like it has 10 W of power
But even if you swap the heater, you need to be sure that your power supply/board will be able to deliver appropriate current without damaging itself - MOSFET/SSR (solid state relay) could be helpful sometimes.
As someone mentioned in a different response it's good to have cooling protection like silicone socks or any other protection material.
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11778 | What precautions to take when flashing Marlin 2.0?
I was just informed via a comment that the TH3D Unified firmware a version of Marlin that's no longer updated and considered obsolete (1.9.X in this case) and that, since I'm flashing my firmware to fix my default e-step settings, I might as well flash a non-obsolete firmware.
However, something in the back of my mind is telling me that I can't use Marlin 2.0 because of some hardware limitation.
I'm using the Creality CR-10S printer (with the Creality 2.0 board, I believe) which is an 8-bit CPU. What should I look out for before upgrading to Marlin 2.0?
Marlin's Install website suggests that 8-bit AVR printers can use it (flashing via Arduino IDE). SO I guess I'm double checking before I do something that could potentially brick my printer.
@Trish I've edited my question to include that info. Thanks!
Not sufficient for an answer, but I'd start by backing up the existing firmware in case you find that the new one doesn't work or has bugs/misfeatures you don't like.
It wasn't advised to use the version 2.x because it was in development for 32-bit micro processors. Now that it has been released as the official version, you can use it for 8-bit micro processors.
But, it totally depends on the amount of options in Marlin you activate (bed leveling, advanced menu, M5xx, etc.). Luckily you can see how large the installation is after you have built it e.g. in PlatformIO. Also, in the configuration files frequently is mentioned how much extra storage activating an option costs (search for PROGMEM in the Marlin sources). Unless you want all options active, you'll be fine. I'm running it on an AVR (MEGA2560) for a CoreXY with bed leveling and some more options; it runs fine.
It always worked well for 8-bit controllers too. I found that, using the example config files for the same printer, Marlin 2.0 also compiles to about 7% less space - but that was just one data point.
@towe Yes it always worked, but it was not advised as it was a development version! :-)
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11462 | Clearance between moving parts
I am using a Prusa printer to print parts for prototyping. The project I am currently working on needs parts to be able to slide against each other and they need to be printed together. A bit like these gears, where the whole construction needs to be printed in one go and the gears need to be free to move afterwards. What clearance should one use between such moving/sliding parts to make it snug but not unmovable?
Maybe this answer answers your question?
Each printer will have different "print in place" tolerances, but you can find such a model with which to determine the numbers you seek.
One such item is on Thingiverse:
Thanks, I'll try one print to see what clearance I need.
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11595 | Cura 4.4 missing object parts
I have this image in STL
But it seems cura skipped the lower panel entirely when slicing the STL.
The base is thick, as you can see here, but it is still missing in Preview, and Cura seems to ignore the base.
I have tried to decrease to 0.1mm for width or initial layer, but cura still ignored the base panel.
I also found this odd behaviour in a number of my models.. such as this:
or this
Notice those missing parts? It is like some parts are floating in the air.
Can someone help me out here? What kind of setting I have to modify?
often, such models have inverted faces in these areas. look at this and this answer
Using the preview feature as you have is a good method to determine that the original model is flawed. It's not unusual to discover detailed models have reversed normals or non-contiguous surfaces, which will not print.
In a simple example, consider a cube for which five of the six faces are properly described by the design software. This would result in all eight vertices being present, allowing the software to present the "missing" face, but the slicer is unable to create this aspect. The cube is no longer solid and is presented as seven zero-thickness panels, which can't be printed.
It is necessary to repair the broken models, by closing gaps and reverting/recalculating normals, but that requires skill in other software.
Some slicers will attempt to repair damaged models, but some are so severe, the results you've experienced are the result.
If you want a confirmation of a failed model, load it into free Meshmixer, run Analysis/Inspector and expect a "pincushion" of highlighted failures.
among the softwares that can do so are: Blender (by just doing a recalculate normals) and Meshmixer (which has an automation)
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11433 | In Fusion360, how do I align components according to their a midplane?
In Fusion360, how do I align components according to their a midplane?
I have 2 complex objects. They have no midpoint defined (is that even possible). How do I align them according to their mid points?
There are several ways to lock items together.
Designed in position
When you design the parts from the base up, you should lock the very first sketch to the origin in some way or another. Fusion shows this by making any "well defined" line as black in contrast to blue, like shown here:
Using Components
Once you have bodies, you can pretty much move them around in the timeflow. You then can start to define them as components. Let's assume we have these parts, a bolt, and a part into which it hinges. Of course, these two are modeled "in place" but that hasn't to be:
Now, we want to lock them together... well, first, let's start and put them into components! Highlight one, then choose the "new component" command, and make sure it stays highlighted, from bodies is chosen then hit enter.
Repeat for the other part, so your tree should show 2 components now.
Combine Components as modeled
Now we want to combine them as modeled, right? Ok, let's do that, it's easy! get out the dropdown from the combine menu and press combine as modeled (Ctrl + J)
Now, click both components and at first it will start to shake the screen, having chosen "Stiff" combination. This means the parts don't shift one against the other. If you had them in the right position in the first place, they will stay that way. But there are other ways, which are in the menu that popped up:
If for example, I choose "rotation", I can choose a rotation center by placing a node as seen here:
Creating Joints between Components
Now, what if the components are not in position like the bolt is in the wrong position entirely? Well, start with components, as shown above, then we'll see:
Now, we should use the joint function:
Choose the first Component, then seek the point which face-position (or for cylinders: position on centerline) shall be the first component's joint-point shall be. For our part, let's take the big part's hole. Click the face, then choose one of the available points. For cylinders that's the ends and the center, for faces, it's the corners, center points of the edges and the center. If you hit the possible alignment points in the first place, it skips the second click to choose it. Once that is done, the body turns transparent.
Repeat the same process for part 2 and the magic starts: Both parts suddenly move till the alignment points are in the same position, the screen shakes and BAM! We are at stiff joint again! The menu changes and we can start to define offsets!
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11980 | What level of detail can be expected from a consumer-grade SLS printer?
I'd like to prefix this question with the fact that I know virtually nothing about 3D printers, aside from the general principles of how they work.
I've recently seen that SLS printers have become more affordable, to the point where in a few years they might be a compelling investment. I'm mainly interested in 3D printing miniatures for painting, and as such this one:
For scale, the miniature is about 150 mm long. I'm mainly worried about smaller details, such as the faces of the Gunner or Driver. Will a consumer-grade SLS printer be able to print to such level of detail?
note that GW is VERY protective of its IP and Trademarks, and very much hates the mere existance of resin printers that can print their stuff. Which is all of them. Also Note that SLS is Nylon powder and most definitly not consumer grade; mSLA/SLA/DLP is Resin based and has become very much affordable.
Consumer Market?
While there are no "consumer level" SLS printers on the market currently, the question in itself is very interesting on a scientific level. The pricing edges for the consumer market for 3D printers can be somewhat estimated from the consumer electronics segment. This puts a maximum price tag of about 2000-2500 \$ onto it, comparable to a high-end PC.
CurrentlyFeb. 2020, most SLS machines come with 'inquire for price' or with prices of 5000 \$ or larger price tags, which indicates they are intended for professional or industrial use. Most SLS printers in consumer hands seem to be phased out older systems from second hand. So while there are for sure tries to get SLS more affordable, it is not there yet.
Resolution of SLS
SLS printers have resolutions based on two factors1:
grain size
laser diameter
Generally speaking, the finer the grain and more focussed the laser, the better the resolution. Current industrial machines - even cheap ones - work with particle sizes between 20 and 80 µm, with the bulk being around 40 to 60 µm2.
The laser focus point ranges generally in the "tens of µm"1, and is listed with values between 50 and 300 µm for most ceramic powders in that paper.
Conclusion
As a rule of thumb, 50 µm seems to be the average nylon spot size, which is very much comparable with resin printers using SLA/mSLA/DLP technology. Details on miniatures are usually in the area of 100-200 µm, so are well achieveable with either.
Comparison SLS to SLA/mSLA/DLP
Resin technology has the benefit of being easier accessible with some entry level printes between 200 and 500 \$. Nylon SLS prints do demand a sealant but prints without any supports, Resin does at times need support.
Printing times for DLP/mSLA is not dependant on the ammount of space used, making packing the build surface with as many models as possible benefitial, while SLS, like FDM, works with a moving spot, so the ammount of models increases print time.
Both Technologies work with hazardous material - resin and very fine powders respecively - and demand proper PPE to handle them.
Thank you, this answers the question whether or not SLS printers are capable of what I am aiming to do. It's still a long way before I could afford myself such a printer, and resin is a material I dislike working with. I hope in the coming years SLS printers will become more affordable.
MechMK1 I just bought a resin printer and the industry has made it very easy to handle and in strength, resins are in the same realm as my FDM ABS parts. I also do a lot of 2 part silicones and urethanes for casting and that stuff is annoying - pouring some 1 part resin in a small vat is so simple.
It's difficult to tell from your photo the level of detail required. A scale reference in the form of a metric ruler would be valuable. If, for example, the metallic eye on the gunner is 2 mm diameter, that would be 40 layers of 50 micron grains, allowing for substantial detail.
Consumer level SLS printers, such as the Sinterit Kit, use fifty micron nylon powder and is subject to some shrinking. This implies one can expect slightly smaller than fifty micron detail to appear.
One of our makerspace members purchased an SLS model from Shapeways. The surface is layer-free and one can see the individual granules under magnification. If you required a level of certainty of this detail, consider that you can create a model containing various levels of detail, then commission Shapeways to create it.
It's certain that they use a production level system, but one can inquire of Shapeways of the size of the powder that is used.
As I said in the question body, the oval base is 150 mm long. Thank you very much for the idea of creating a test-model.
@MechMK1 There is no end-user SLS machine around. The cheapest SLS machine I could find is "please inquire for a price" for new ones and several grand for used ones.
@Trish According to this website, the Sintratec Kit is an SLS 3D Printer that costs 5000€.Sure, it is not cheap, but certainly within the realms of "affordable for enthusiasts".
@MechMK1 It's not consumer but industrial grade however. The consumer market is, traditionally speaking, defined by prices at ca. 2000 and less.
@Trish I wasn't aware of specific cutoff points such as 2000€. That's why I also mentioned in my question that SLS printers are currently in the process of becoming more affordable for consumers. It's very well possible that in 5 years, we'll see SLS printers at 2000€. My question was simply what I could expect from such a printer.
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11898 | creating support for a surface
I created an stl file of bathymetry using Matlab and the results can be seen in the two pictures below in Blender. The problem I have is that it is very thin with overhangs. I would like to add some kind of support. For example put a solid block underneath it like in the third picture.
I can't seem to figure out how to do this in Blender and if I try to fix the stl file in Blender it puts a surface through my original surface. I also tried to use Microsoft 3D printing repair but it takes hours to queue.
How to I change my stl file so it has enough support to be printed?
You generated a simple surface. You do however need a closed body to print. You might get away with using that surface as a cutter for a block and removing the top half, but there is an easier way using blender:
Select the whole ara with A
Extrude with E then Z to constrain direction
pull until you have an item that is fully thick everywhere
Scale the currently selected, extruded vertices with S then Z then 0 to force them all into the same plane
possibly move the vertices down till they all are below the bottom surface
Now you have a positive thickness, solid body! Run a simple "remove double vertices" on this bottom if you want to reduce file size, but there you go! Export as STL and print!
This was a huge help. The first three steps were easy to follow. It was a bit difficult to scale it into the same plane, so I just added a cube and put that underneath it so it would support all.
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10681 | Export Revit file for Fusion 360 3D Print
I have a 3D printer hooked up with Fusion 360. I have a 3D drawing in Revit. What format should I export to in order get from Revit to Fusion 360?
In Revit
Use STL Exporter 2019 to customize and export your Revit model to an STL file.
Click Add-in tab -> STL Exporter panel -> STL Exporter.
On the General tab, specify your STL file options.
On the Categories tab, specify which element categories will export to the STL file.
Click Save to create the STL file.
In Fusion 360
Click on a valid project then click the Upload button. Then, click the Select files button and navigate to the STL you wish to import.
After selecting the STL file you want to convert, click the Upload button, this time the one in the lower-right corner of the file upload window. Then, the STL file you selected will be imported into Fusion 360. The process can take a few minutes.
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12258 | .STEP/.F3D to .SCAD file?
I work with Fusion360 for designing lots of things. Recently I learned how to work with parameters that I can easily modify all at once, allowing to pretty much make easily customizable pieces.
Now, Thingiverse wants customizer pieces in the shape of .SCAD files, and some people just can't work with Fusion360 (.F3D) or proper .STEP files that can be imported by most CAD programs.
I have no experience with OpenSCAD. Can I import my .STEP into openSCAD, retain my parameters and export it as a .SCAD, and if yes, how?
Even though OpenSCAD can import a variety of formats, the file structure will not be accepted by Thingiverse in the manner presented by the OP.
OpenSCAD is a text-based description language. One creates parameters assigned to specific aspects of a model and implements those parameters to create the desired shapes/components by typing in a text editor. The native editor for OpenSCAD provides for some management, but notepad or equivalent would work just as well.
The file format of OpenSCAD is text. None of the CAD type modeling programs will provide equivalent text output.
For your objective, you'd have to learn the basics of OpenSCAD (not particularly difficult) and reference the parameters in the STEP files, then assign them to the appropriate labels in OpenSCAD.
If you have particularly complex designs, it can be a handful. It can also be rewarding when you change a parameter as a test and the complete model follows as expected.
I find pure text based input a PITA - and never worth the effort.
I find anything I can't edit as pure text a PITA and never worth the effort - the effort ends up being all wasted when you want to change something and have to start over.
WIth that said, though, I think there should be some reasonable way to automate conversion of these formats into clean, editable OpenSCAD source. It just might (or rather almost certainly will) take some programming (in whatever language you prefer) to do it.
Actually there's a solution, albeit not directly from within openscad.
I've just found this:
https://github.com/agordon/openscad-step-reader/tree/master
You will need to install or build yourself opencascade, and then it's a matter of running a command line tool to convert a .step to a .scad file.
I've just done it to be able to import a Thorlabs designed optomechanical item into scad and it works swell.
./openscad-step-reader --stl-scad RM1B-Step.step > RM1B-Step.scad
Then open the converted .scad file.
If you want to try, the item can be seen here, get the step file from the list of document.
The result in openscad:
I managed to get openscad-step-reader to compile, but I had to jump through a few hoops:
Run the apt-get install command from the beginning of the Makefile:
apt-get install libocct-data-exchange-dev libocct-draw-dev libocct-foundation-dev libocct-modeling-algorithms-dev libocct-modeling-data-dev libocct-ocaf-dev libocct-visualization-dev libtbb-dev
Ignore anything to do with cmake. I can get cmake to work by creating a CMakeLists.txt file, but I couldn't get the Makefile it generates to work.
Edit triangle.h and replace
ostream with std::ostream [2 changes]
endl with std::endl [3 changes]
Edit openscad-step-reader.cpp and replace
endl with std::endl [1 change]
Edit explore-shape.cpp and add
#include <GeomAbs_SurfaceType.hxx>
#include <BRepAdaptor_Surface.hxx>
Edit the Makefile and change
7.3.0 to 7.5.2 [2 changes]
(I realise a better solution would be desirable for this!)
Run make. The .o files should be created, but the cc command will fail (after a longish time), citing 'undefined reference' 783 times
Copy the cc command that was printed whilst running make, and put all the .o files before all the -l arguments, like this:
cc openscad-step-reader.o tessellation.o openscad-triangle-writer.o explore-shape.o -lTKSTL -lTKXDESTEP -lTKBinXCAF -lTKXmlXCAF -lTKXDEIGES -lTKXCAF -lTKIGES -lTKSTEP -lTKSTEP209 -lTKSTEPAttr -lTKSTEPBase -lTKXSBase -lTKStd -lTKStdL -lTKXml -lTKBin -lTKXmlL -lTKBinL -lTKCAF -lTKXCAF -lTKLCAF -lTKCDF -lTKMeshVS -lTKOpenGl -lTKV3d -lTKService -lTKXMesh -lTKMesh -lTKOffset -lTKFeat -lTKFillet -lTKHLR -lTKBool -lTKBO -lTKShHealing -lTKPrim -lTKTopAlgo -lTKGeomAlgo -lTKBRep -lTKGeomBase -lTKG3d -lTKG2d -lTKIGES -lTKSTEP -lTKSTEP209 -lTKSTEPAttr -lTKSTEPBase -lTKXSBase -lTKStd -lTKStdL -lTKXml -lTKBin -lTKXmlL -lTKBinL -lTKCAF -lTKLCAF -lTKCDF -lTKMeshVS -lTKOpenGl -lTKV3d -lTKService -lTKXMesh -lTKMesh -lTKOffset -lTKFeat -lTKFillet -lTKHLR -lTKBool -lTKBO -lTKShHealing -lTKPrim -lTKTopAlgo -lTKGeomAlgo -lTKBRep -lTKGeomBase -lTKG3d -lTKG2d /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libTKMath.so.7.5.2 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libTKernel.so.7.5.2 -lfreetype -lpthread -lrt -lstdc++ -ldl -lm -o openscad-step-reader
Now, for me, the program will compile. My system is running Ubuntu Focal Fossa 20.04.6 LTS. I contacted the author (Gordon Assaf) but he said he was no longer working on the project. For me, this has been a godsend, since it allows me to import .step files downloaded from the Swagelok website into my OpenSCAD design.
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10298 | How to avoid nozzle from hitting the model?
When printing objects higher than approximately 8-10 cm, sometimes nozzle hits the printed model and knocks over it. After 7-8 hours of printing that's really annoying. I'm using Creality Ender 3 Pro with Ultimaker Cura. How can I avoid this problem?
As a note; it happens with thick, wide models without support structure too. I'm using Ender 3 Pro's stock magnetic bed.
Here are some photos of printed model.
I use Esun PLA+, the part was on baseplate without any loss of contact. It was like one layer missed its coordinates and then all corrupted.
I think it's not related with bed adhesion because for example for this model, it didn't knock over the model.
There is no roof for the model, I think it doesn't need any support structure. Here you can see the expected finished one:
Can you give examples of some models it happens with? You probably have both warping problems (bringing material above the nominal Z) and bed adhesion problems. Up to the point that printed, there should be no travel moves because the layers are simply connected. Is there a roof like the base that's getting started when it fails? If so the problem is likely failed bridging without support - the failed bridge creates string junk that curls randomly (sometimes up) for the print head (not just the nozzle) to catch on and drag.
What material are you using? Often this "knock over" is due to warping or loss of contact with the baseplate, so that the nozzle isn't hitting the part but the filament itself is dragging the part along with the nozzle. Every photo there sure looks like the part moved, as you can see strings which should have been over the end-edge. As one layer was skipped then that suggests a possible skip in the X or Y-drive. Not to be a buzzkill, but Ender machines do seem to produce more 'failed print' questions here than any other brand.
WIth a base like that, it should take some serious force to remove the part from the build plate, and I'd even worry about damaging the build surface if I didn't use a blade to separate it. I wonder if you have way too much distance between the nozzle at height 0 and the build surface resulting in poor adhesion. It's possible that you also have an issue like stepper skips/layer shift, as Carl suggested, but it's not clear which came first, the separation of the print from the build surface, or the misaligned attempted layers on top, and either could have caused the other.
Folks voting to close this, it's not a duplicate; rather OP's question is misstated. The underlying problem here is not the nozzle hitting the model but something else (either breaking off the build plate, or a layer shift or other problem causing junk material that the print head can hit).
If the Z axis is not level, it's likely that the screws holding the gantry to the roller structure on one or both sides are either loose or not square with the gantry. The ones on the right are easy to see and adjust, but the ones on the left are somewhat hidden between the gantry and the vertical rail, and only accessible after removing the whole assembly from the vertical rails, and only then with the short end of an allen wrench. Both sides have significant play if not tightened...
For the ones on the right you can let them naturally align with the tension of the system, and tighten them down once it's aligned. But for the ones on the left, you have to just get them as square as you can with the X axis gantry removed, either eyeballing it or using some shims and straight reference to hold the bracket in place while you tighten it down.
Unfortunately Ender 3's gantrys on Z axis are 3 wheeled gantry and it's almost impossible to level them with precision. There is always difference around 1mm
It seems the problem was because of Z-axis leveling (level of the X-axis), I found out that the right side was more than 3-4 mm below the left side when the Z-axis height exceeds around 8-10 cm. Below 8-10 cm, the two sides were even. I calibrated the X-axis by turning the eccentric nuts of the wheels and tighten them. I will try printing soon with some test objects.
There is a clear scar in the print that looks like the print head has hit it. The scar is about 1/3 of the way up the straight return segment on the right side of the photo.
The OP has provided enough information to show that it isn't an overhang or bridging problem.
I don't see any cracks in the print where part of it may have separated and bent upwards. I accept the OP's statement that the item is well attached to the bed.
What problems could there be?
The printer may have a Z-axis problem at that height. Perhaps it exceeds the maximum Z-height, or perhaps there is some obstruction or debris in a lead screw that is preventing it from freely moving above that height. The obstruction could be a cable that is too tight or an errant tie-wrap that hits something, or almost anything that interferes with motion at that height.
There is always the possibility of a bad wire (such as to the nozzle heater) that causes problems when the height reaches a critical level.
There may be a parameter change in the slicing software that is set for that height (or layer count). There shouldn't be, but a default profile may have been changed.
There are options in Cura to avoid that the extruder hovers over printed parts when traveling. There is also an option to lift Z axis while traveling. Those options are hidden by default. You can only enable them in advanced settings mode.
This is true, but z-hop especially creates other problems - stringing, and/or blobs above the nominal printed height so far that the nozzle can hit while printing the next layer.
I wouldn't recommend this until we've verified that his parts are properly affixed to the bed and that his printer isn't failing to maintain proper z-position.
@CarlWitthoft how would you suggest to verify those?
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10390 | How to solve spillage problem?
I've done calibration test with "Concentric circle test" (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11895) and at specific points there are little bumped points on the print. Also Thingiverse page of the test mentions about these.
How can I solve this problem?
My printer is Creality Ender 3 Pro, I use Esun PLA+ with 210 celcius extruder and 60 celcius bed temperature.
Here is the printed object, both are same print, just took photo on different base.
Interesting question. Now I want to try that test piece and possibly Marlin 1.1.9.
Sure looks like overextrusion
It looks like you have the bed adjusted too high, smashing the layers together and causing "elephant foot" not just on the bed but also on features - the rings - near the bottom of the print. You might also have over-extrusion, due to an increased material flow setting, actual filament diameter greater than the setting in the slicer, or miscalibration of the E axis steps per mm.
From the second image, it looks like you might have another problem: I think I'm seeing infill lines through the gaps between the rings, rather than seeing top-surface skin in the bottom of the grooves. If so, this is a bug in Cura's default settings where "skin" in narrow regions is completely lost due to "preshrink". The skin preshrink values should be set no larger than the nozzle/line width, possibly zero, and skin expansion can be lowered by the same amount or more as long as it remains greater than or equal to the preshrink value. If my assessment of what I'm seeing is correct, fixing it should result in the grooves being supported properly rather than resting on infill lines.
What you're seeing is definitely not normal or expected from this printer. Here's what you should be seeing:
Bed could be a little high, I'll check that. My nozzle is 0.4mm and I print with 0.15mm , could this be the reason for increased flow? Should I change nozzle for more precise prints like that?
For the second problem, I'll try that, in fact this is the first nice, smooth first layer of my all prints (I'm newbie), I guess it's corrected after leveling X-axis but if you say it can be better, I'll surely try your recommendations.. Thank you :)
Oh, I missed that you're the same poster with the gantry problem. I suspect you may still have an issue with it and inability to level the bed; that can cause layers getting smashed together when Z moves are unreliable.
My bed is a little warped on the center, it seems that's common problem for Ender 3 beds, I'm thinking about buying a glass bed. But for this print, I don't think it's related to bed leveling (except high bed) because diameter of the circle is just 4 cm.
Well if the center is significantly higher than the corners and you leveled based on the corners, that could do it. Make sure you can drag a sheet of paper under the nozzle at Z=0 near the center of the bed with only slight drag.
Today I tried again with lowered bed and it printed absolutely much better. Thank you :)
I've not sliced the part in question, but the over extrusion mentioned in the third point (at change of direction/layers) is referring to ooze.
This is a result of the hydraulic pressure in the melt zone, and results in over extrusion at any point when the print head is moving slowly (and a corresponding under-extrusion once motion resumes). It can be compensated for by retraction and coasting settings.
This effect will probably not be visible in the print you have here, there are other effects which are causing more significant defects.
We had some prints like that recently. Turns out it was caused by the bed not being "level" or "trammed". Basically the nozzle was too far off the bed when printing started for the first layer. Check yours - a piece of paper should slide between the nozzle and the bed surface, with a little bit of resistance. If it slides freely, the bed needs to be raised some. Check it at the corners and in the middle of the bed.
It looks like the opposite to me.
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10426 | Damaged overhang
I have issues with this overhang:
The whole part always breaks in this overhang during the print.
I tried to increase the count of wall lines and decrease printing speed, but none of those things help. Do you have any idea how to fix it? Is possible to create support inside a model to print this overhang?
(I´m using Cura 4.1.0.)
I´m using 3 wall´s lines and 15% gyroid infill. My bed has 70 °C and nozzle 205 °C. I am using PLA Prusament galaxy black. The part is oriented the right way. By overhang I mean damaged part above holes.
I would imagine the infill handling that, but maybe some number of top layers setting is 1 and the slicer counts those as top?
When you get upwards facing things failing it can be because the slicer has too few top layers which makes angled faces have gaps. While you may think it is a wall the slicer sees it as top layer. Try increasing the number of top layers and check in the preview how it appears.
Infill will normally support those faces so no separate support is needed. Just make sure you have enough top layers that no gaps form, 3-5 layers should be alright.
As @r-ahlskog pointed out, it was due to the top layers count being too low. Adding some, now it looks perfect:
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10595 | Bevel gears 3D model
Goal : create a pair of bevel gears for 90 degrees angle axles.
Context : the gears are designed with an OpenSCAD library (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1604369, function 'pfeilkegelradpaar'), then I try to modify them using TinkerCAD.
The problem : When printing the STL exported from OpenSCAD, everything seems fine. But when I import the STL in TinkerCAD, there is a separation where the angle changes, and I cannot seem to find a configuration that works.
Also, when previewing with Cura (tried with the older v14 as well as the latest v4), I get the same behavior : the exported STL creates a solid object, while the STL from TinkerCAD (even if not modified, just imported and exported) has a 'gap' of about 8 layers.
And, of course, everything fails afterwards.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Are you using herringbone gears? I'm trying to see why the angle changes.
Yes, there is a 20-degree angle; it's one of the parameters of the OpenSCAD library.
But even with no angles, the problem persists; probably because the library creates the gear in two parts.
I don't know how to explain how the problem is occurring with the STL post-processing tools you are using.
Try loading the STL directly into a slicer and view the result, then slice and view the toolpath. It is always helpful to eliminate steps in an attempt to narrow down where the problem is generated.
Were I to try to patch the OpenSCAD model, I would create a hub component that overlays where the crack is found. This would be small cylinder with a hole that overlays the hub.
I have had success adding elements and holes to existing OpenSCAD models and imported STL files using OpenSCAD.
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10540 | Printing non-commercial model to make money
If a customer sends me a non-commercial 3D model to print, am I allowed to charge money for the 3D printing process? I understand I cannot charge anything for the model nor offer it as a part of my business.
I cannot download the model myself, print and sell it, but if the customer downloads it and sends it to me for me to print it, is it a violation of the license or not?
Consider looking for alternatives or recreating the object from scratch - designers who license their creations as "non-commercial" or - even worse - "no derivates" should not be supported, whether you end up taking money for the print or not.
How different is what you are wanting to do from 3D print services?
Very difficult to answer, what if your customer prints it on your machines himself by hiring 3D Printer time (and actually print himself by sending it to the printer), would he violate the legal license restriction...
@0scar that would be not commercial for the customer, who has the model. He acquires a printer for some time. you printing for someone is him acquiring an expert and a printer for some time...
@Trish The question I posed was meant rhetorical. What I meant to say is that this is very difficult, if you hire 3D printing time, also profit for the company is in the hiring price, you would be printing yourself, but the outcome and price identical to being printed by the 3D print service...
related https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7786
I agree that intellectual property is complex. I am not a lawyer, but have been in the middle of patent and copyright actions.
In my non-legal opinion, you are providing a printing service for which you are free to charge your customer whatever you agree on. You are not responsible for the disposition of the resulting objects. You do not know how your customer intends to use them. They may be using them for commercial or non-commercial activities. They may have a license to use them in a way that is unknown to you, and, again IMO, they have no obligation to disclose their relationship with the IP holder. That license could be part of their trade advantage.
If the customer asks you to work with the design to make changes, and the license prohibits derivative works, I would be careful.
Never-the-less, the smell test always applies. If it seems to be illegal, unethical, or immoral, you might choose to forgo the customer and avoid any possibility of being tainted by their activities, if it should turn out that they are behaving badly.
I do not intend to participate in a large production of models or anything "smelly" nor I don't want to make derivative works. I just want to know, if I am allowed to charge money for the printing (material, printing time,...) when someone comes to me and asks me to print a non-commercial model they found on the internet that they like. The way you have put it suggests it should be legal as long as other conditions are fulfilled.
I am not a lawyer. I would feel comfortable print a non-commercial design under one-off conditions and charging a fair fee for doing so. You are charging for the printing service, not for the object or the design. In case I forgot to mention, I am not a lawyer.
Intellectual property law is complex, so you might want to consider getting proper legal advice. However, to respect the original designer's intent you need to look at what their license permits and try not to find a loophole in the process. There is nothing to stop you asking the designer (in public or private) to clarify their intent.
The biggest 'non-commercial' restriction reason is to protect the design idea, and stop someone mass-producing a clever design for profit. This applies irrespective of the original designer's intent to monetise their work.
Another big reason might be to 'hold back' the time invested in the design. Maybe the designer wants to share something they spent a lot of time on, for individuals to appreciate rather than profit from. The designer would presumably gain reputation as a result of wider knowledge of their work.
Sometimes, a design inherits licensing restrictions from a 3rd party (even maybe from the design tools used). For example, Fusion360 can be used for free by small companies, students, or for hobbies and personal learning, but has restrictions on commercial, professional or for-profit use. In that case, you would need to ask clarification from the tool provider.
The case you describe is complicated. You can't sell the printed part, but a 3rd party can probably contract you to print the part (or rent time/access to a printer). However, your contract rate can't include any element of value derived from the model. Assuming there is no explicit license condition, you should be OK if you charge for your direct costs. As soon as you include time, profit, or any modification to the model, you are on less solid ground.
To consider a non-obvious use-case of the Fusion 360 license, a student may well not have their own printer (particularly for an exotic material, or living in university accommodation). Can they contract a fabrication company to commercially produce or evaluate their model for the purposes of education or not?
I don't expect you will find a definitive answer to this question since there are too many variables. Creative Commons have a page about their Non Commercial license which identifies some things to consider when you interpret a license.
As noted in the comments, you can divide your time and professional contribution (and thus billable items) into several steps. By providing a model, the customer skips step 1:
making the digital model
preproduction (slicing)
printing
postproduction (cleaning off support)
A clear license would refer to all of these.
An option would be to contact the designer and try to resolve this, maybe a small fee which you impose onto the direct operating costs can be paid to the developer. I wonder how current 3D printing services deal with this (not the community ones, but regular businesses).
As a side note: the free licenses of F360 are not limited in any way.
Seeing this just confirms my worries that the answer to this question depends on the interpretation. I have some lawers in the family so better to ask them. I hesitate because I think they are more familiar with local laws rather than international.
The conditions on the software that the model creator used to create it have no bearing on anything you do with it. The software publisher has no relationship with you and no claim to copyright over the model. It's remotely plausible that the software publisher could have a legal claim against the model creator on the basis that they way they licensed it to you was contrary to a contract between them, but this doesn't invalidate the license or have any bearing on you, and seems unlikely anyway as long as the creator is not themselves deriving some sort of compensation from the arrangement.
Obligatory disclaimer: IANAL. If you want a real legal answer to this you should consult one or at least ask on law.SE or even opensource.SE.
@R.. I don't see anything that I wrote as requiring a disclaimer, law.SE does not provide advice either. Your comment about software is contrary to the expectations that I have when using software in a commercial environment - as an IP developer.
I was following up my own comment above not claiming your answer needs a disclaimer.
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10754 | Ender 5: Bowden tube shifts in/out of extruder during retractions
I have an Ender 5 with an aluminum extruder that was printing beautifully for a few days after building it. I received a Capricorn bowden tube and new couplings as a gift, and replaced those, and now I have stringing issues I can't solve.
I've been all over the map with settings (temps, speeds, z-hop, retraction, etc. etc.), I've swapped the tubes, the couplings, the filament, I've checked for clogs, and put clamps on the collars, but no matter what I do, the tube shifts in and out during retractions by about .25 - .5 mm. I suspect that has something to do with the stringing, as nothing else has solved it.
Any suggestions are appreciated. I haven't made adjustments to the extruder, but I don't know if that's possible or necessary. I've never had a system using the bowden, so that part of 3d printing is new to me. I'm using 3d Solutech PLA.
Is it just the pressure fitting on the brass coupler that shifts in/out? That's not a problem unless it causes the PTFE tube to come out entirely, and you can use the blue clips that should have come with the printer to stop it if it is a problem. If switching the bowden tube has caused stringing, it's likely something else about the new tube setup that's' the problem. Can you show some pics of it? Is the length the same as the old bowden tube?
Unfortunately, it's the tube itself that slips back and forth. I have used the blue clips and also small zip ties. It feels like the teeth in the coupler catches well, but the retraction is..."overpowering" it? I swapped the old tube back in and get the same issue (same length, etc.) It's just the basic white PTFE one versus the blue Capricorn.
If the tube slips in the coupler by .25-.5 mm, that's fine as long as it doesn't actually fall out. Effectively, you just lose that much length from your retractions, since part of the retraction goes into pulling the tube back into the coupler. When the retraction is reversed, the effective filament position should go back to what it was before the retraction.
OK, good. It's a really small amount. Just wanted to rule it out as causing anything else that crops up. If you want to post this as the answer, I'll accept.
If you're happy with the scope of the question being "is this shift in/out the source of my problems", I'm happy to post "probably not" with the above explanation as an answer. You may need a new question to identify the source of your problem then.
Yep, I totally agree. I had been concerned about the tube shift anyway, but I don't think it's contributing to the stringing.
If it's just the pressure fitting on the brass coupler that shifts in/out, or the PTFE tube shifting slightly in/out but remaining in the coupler, that shouldn't be a problem unless it's so loose it can come out entirely. The blue clips which should have come with the printer are intended to stop this motion or at least provide enough pressure to prevent it from falling all the way out.
Regarding the small 0.25 - 0.5 mm of play, effectively it just means you lose that much length from your retractions, since part of the retraction goes into pulling the tube back into the coupler. When the retraction is reversed, the effective filament position should go back to what it was before the retraction. As long as your retraction amount is sufficient after the loss, it should not cause stringing.
You probably need to look for another cause of your stringing.
I didn't get any blue clips with my Ender 5, and the little grey thing moves on mine. Will a zippy-tie work?
I don't think a zip-tie is what you want, but you can just print the clip. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2994683 matches the factory design.
Ah yes, of course I can now!
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10636 | How to decide print orientation?
Please Note: This question is not about the design. It's about deciding print orientation after the design.
I have a small, but complex piece which I need to print. Here are two images of different orientation for you:
No matter how I orient it, it will require a support structure. Any which way I print it, I believe there will be pros/cons to doing so. My question is, Is there a thought process for how to orient the part for printing? What are some of the things to consider when deciding print orientation?
Note-1: For a size reference of the part, looking at the second image, it is approximately 60 mm from the top of the long bottom part with the two "claws" point down, to the top of the vertical piece which has the two larger chamfered holes in it. In the same image, the left part will be at the bottom when put into use, though will be suspended (the chamfered holes will have wood screws in them, with a block of wood on the other side from the chamfers.
Note-2: For this example, I will be using Priline PLA filament on an Anet-A8 printer.
@AndrewMorton - There are constraints for the print. The part you're talking about is the width of the piece of wood. The "L" portion with the "T" in it is there for support. I've printed out several other pieces with this same configuration and they turned out rather strong. The big difference is, those other parts I were able to print with a large flat portion right on the bed.
Related, but not duplicate: https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6726/what-special-considerations-must-be-taken-when-designing-parts-for-3d-printing
@Trish - That Q/A thread is quite a repository of information ... thanks for sharing :o)
(Love the question and here is my 2 cents).
Firstly, you want to minimize supports. Even if you have dissolvable supports, you would still want to minimize the usage.
For Example:
At first glance of the finished object, it is not obvious at what angle it was printed. Upon close inspection the overhang in the part is designed such that it can be printed without supports. This brings me to my first point:
Design with fabrication in mind
I've often designed myself into a corner with parts that are complex and are impossible to print properly; or they use up too much filament in the supports. To this end I try to think about the shadow that the part will cast on the bed if there was a light source directly over head. I often orient the part so that it will
Cast the smallest possible shadow.
Then there are the features. Does the hole need to be round? Does this flange need to be strong? If so then I try to ensure that the feature is oriented in the XY plane as much as possible, because the Z axis is the weakest. Therefore if you have a hole, and it needs to be strong, then it should be printed perpendicular to the Z axis.
To answer the generic question "Is there a thought process for how to orient the part for printing?", I would say "Yes there absolutely is such a process!".
Part of this though process can be aesthetics, structural strength, limiting filament waste, print duration, etc.
For the given example I would try to think of the load case (if it has to bear a load) that subjects the part and prevent a perpendicular load to the deposition plane. If the load is low or non existent, you could orientate the print such that you minimize wasting material, or get the best aesthetics (removing supports can leave its scars).
This part is quite complex and there are 3 orientations it could be printed at. I will assume picture 1 shows the item in orthonormal XYZ orientation: Z up, X to the front(-rightish) corner, Y to the (backish-)right. Using these we can chose have an XY (Pic 1), XZ (Pic 2) and YZ (Unpictured) plane of the build to touch on the build plate. Luckily this object is symmetric along the middles, so we won't need to look at two cases each.
To evaluate the best print orientation, we can look at the loads that will come to the part, the aesthetic (we get better resolutions in the Z than the XY on printers!) and of course the need for support structures and thus waste material.
Aesthetics are probably not an issue for this structural part, so let's take this part as an example and look at the three orientations and how to reason which orientation might be best.
XY
Using the lowest XY plane as build contact we will need to support the upper arc of the bracket and the back-branch with the T-support also needs support. So we need quite some support material, which is a con.
Also, the layers in the C-Clamp are aligned in such a way that the clamp might easily break in its long line, but due to the length, it might be able to bend quite some. Remember that PLA is brittle though, but you could post-process the part by baking it to generate better inter-layer bonding.
On the upside, the T-stiffening is in its most sturdy orientation and the back extension has the most stable print orientation. You might want to add extra bottom layers to fight the loss of layers that are printed on the support structure though.
XZ
The Orientation in the 2nd Picture has moved the interlayer boundaries to be on the short arms of the C-clamp, making it more fragile than the XY orientation.
The T-stiffing and back-branch are also significantly weakened and might break on stresses into the direction we had defined as Y in the premise.
It also needs to support the whole back of the C-Clamp during print, which is a considerable amount, though probably lower than in the XY orientation.
YZ
The unshown orientation puts the C-clamp in such an orientation that each layer has a complete C. This makes the clamp as sturdy as it could be.
The back-branch is quite solid along its length (Y) and the stiffening T comes as an integral part of the perimeters, making it good to take loads from the branch. It does suffer from weakening the long part against forces splitting it along the long axis, which would be directed in the X-axis of our premise.
This orientation also reduces the needed support to a minimum, as we don't necessarily need to support the "bridging" part of the T-support.
Conclusion
I would choose the YZ orientation based on both material need as well as the physical benefits of achieving the least weak configuration.
Optimisation
The print object could be slightly optimized to reduce the needed support at the cost of increasing the part weight in the YZ orientation:
As suggested, widening the T to touch the build plate and the accompanying part to do too would make the part larger and would turn the support into an integral part of the print.
One could also turn the T into a Y structure with an overline for a shorter bridge and longer stretches of the shell that can dissipate the forces on the T-bar to the clamp more effectively.
First of all, if it were me, I'd split this into two parts at the "obvious" place (where one protrudes from a large flat surface of the other) and connect them after printing, with a push fit and glue (or solvent welding if it works for your material), or holes for threaded fasteners.
With that said, if you opt to print it as one part, this interface is going to be the weak point of the whole print if you use the second orientation, with the "T"-like bracket part sticking up from a flat top surface of the "C" part. This is because the walls of the top part will be sitting on infill or skin, not matching walls going all the way down; even with 100% infill the walls won't be aligned and bonded with coresponding extrusion lines below them.
I would print this either with the lightest-gray faces facing us in the second image against the bed, or with the dark gray rectangle face in the lower-right of the second image against the bed (same orientation as the first image, as I interpret it). Both of these will require significant support structure, and I'd be tempted to model the support rather than auto-generating it, but Cura's "experimental" "support tree" feature works very well for this kind of situation and might do just as well or better.
Either of these orientations makes the above interface simply part of the layer contours, rather than two parts loosely stuck to each other. The holes should print fine either way - bridging works well for holes - and the pegs will need support one way but not the other.
Andrew Morton noted in a comment:
Could the part with the screw holes be the same width as the other part?
And indeed I would also think about modifications you could make to the part that would facilitate easier and stronger prints.
This is good stuff for my current print, however the gist of the question is: What is the line of thinking for orientation of any part you're going to print? I'm not sure your answer covers this?
@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2: I framed the answer around the particular part, but I think it at least partly shows the line of thinking. Avoiding having subparts joined at a horizontal surface, instead joining them as combined layer contours. Etc.
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10683 | Why keep the bed heated after initial layer(s) with PLA (or PETG)?
I'm printing on an Ender 5 with the default flex/magnetic build surface.
I read that PLA and PETG may sometimes be printed without any bed heating at all and also that bed heating is the main contributor to the power consumption of a printer.
As I do see that bed heating definitely helps with the first layer adhesion I did not want to turn it off completely, but I did start experimenting with turning off bed heating after all solid bottom layers have printed (using the ChangeAtZ script in Cura) and so far I haven't seen any negative effects, especially no warping (I am usually printing with a brim or raft; I think that might also help in that regard).
Am I missing something? Why is anyone keeping the bed heated for an entire print?
3D printing has a lot of variables, and it may work for one setup but not for the other to switch off heating. Anecdotally it works fine for me in the summer, but not so good in the winter. Also I have some glow in the dark PLA that just doesn't want to stick very well at all..
I print the first layer at 70 degrees to ensure a good fit then lower it to 40 degrees for PLA. Proved to be the most efficient strategy. With CF Nylon the bed can be turned off completely after the first layer, other materials require 50-60 degrees.
There are three reasons (I can think of):
A large problem you'd face with allowing the bed to cool after first layer is you stand the chance of losing adhesion after it cools. When you heat the bed, it expands somewhat. When it cools it contracts. It has been known for parts to actually pop off the bed if left on there to cool (after a print). If you allow the bed to cool fully, you could ruin a print due to it losing the adhesion, popping off the bed, then the printer keeps on going.
When you're dealing with 0.1 mm layer height, that's not a lot of wiggle room. When you level your bed before printing, it should be done after everything is heated. If you were to turn off the bed after you start printing, you could very easily shift the bed enough to take up the worth of an entire layer, which means your print has adjusted and will then have major imperfections. This isn't a given, but definitely a concern ... especially for larger or taller prints.
Whether PLA or PETG, the extruded filament needs to have heat in order to stay. This is not only heat in the extruder, but heat in the print itself. If the print cools off, this could affect subsequent adhesion for the filament getting laid down. If you turn the bed heater off after print start, you'll lose that heated environment. The print will cool off and you'll start seeing variations in the print, which, if the print is large enough, would most likely be more noticable. Think of it as a heated environment, not just putting piling host plastic on top of each other.
There may be other reasons, but I believe these are very good reasons not to turn your bed off after print start. If you are worried your power supply isn't providing enough power, then get a bigger power supply. If you're worried about power consumption overall, once the bed is heated, consumption goes way down (as @r_ahlskog stated in their answer).
At the risk of getting snarky, Changing the layer height to the max possible (depending on nozzle size and aesthetics of product) reduces the total print time & thus reduces the total energy consumption.
Another way to reduce the power consumption of the heated bed is to insulate the underside, e.g. with a cork mat and adhesive/sticky tape that will withstand the temperature.
Depending on the printer, reason 2 may be very important. I've gotten very different "bed leveling" settings depending on the temperature state of the bed.
Absolutely correct about the power to initially heat and reheat the bed being equal. However, during re heating the printer will only be adjusting the temperature a degree or so every few seconds. When the heated bed is first turned on the difference between the target temperature and the actual temperature is much larger than when re heating. Therefore, power consumption will be cut way down after the target temperature is met due to the fact that the heating element will only be activated for a short amount of time every few seconds rather than being on continuously.
For long prints, if turning off bed heating saves money, throwing out the filament from a detached print costs you more. The risk to gain ratio is very skewed. The “savings” in turning off the bed are considerably negative, and, as pointed out, the risk of losing the print is increased.
PETG requires a heated bed otherwise it will shrink, detach from the platform and begin curling at the edges.
PLA, however in some situations does not require a heated build platform. It depends on the build surface. Some surfaces need to be hot to work, and some do not. Keeping it on helps stop the part from cooling too quickly as well. However with the correct first layer height, this tends to be less of an issue.
I've had PLA parts stick so well to a PVA coated glass bed, that picking it up also lifted the printer. Once the bed cools on PET-G however, it practically detaches from the bed itself.
PLA doesn't require a heated bed, but if bed temp drops after the first layer, all the corners will curl up due to uneven cooling rate. You want either unheated or consistently heated.
All the valid points of bed shrinking and dislocating your parts when cooling from the other answer aside there is also the added complexities both in testing reliability of such a thing that may or may not be applicable to all materials.
The added complexity to the slicers to figure out when it is safe to turn off the bed which I would imagine depends on part footprint. I also sometimes print several parts sequentially in the same job so then it would need to know that and time the bed heating correctly or pause and wait for bed between parts.
I would also categorize printer power use as trivial (order of three 60W lightbulbs), but considering millions of machines worldwide economics of scale does kick in.
Well, my print jobs usually run over night (or actually over several days), so I'm typically not there when a print finishes to start a new one before the bed had a chance to cool down. It's especially the multi-day, tall prints where constant bed heating feels wasteful... Apart from that you make a good point. Also, thanks for pointing out that power consumption for bed heating mainly applies to heating up, rather than maintaining heat...
It is incorrect to suggest that it takes more power to re-heat the bed vs. maintaining the temperature throughout the "first" print. This is basic Thermodynamics. The amount of energy per unit volume per unit temperature doesn't change.
You are absolutely right, I should have known that.
In my experience, watching the temperature curve with constant energy input, it is not the case that keeping the bed hot is relatively incidental. There are substantial heat losses from the hot bed, and these must be constantly overcome to maintain temperature. Keeping the bed hot only consumes energy. There is no condition where it saves energy compared to turning off the bed heater.
Lets edit out my thermodynamics violating statements, keeping a bed warm uses energy, heating it uses the amount required to to reach that equilibrium but since we don't want to wait approx infinite time we expend more over a shorter time to reach it and the optimal strategy is to heat as quickly as possible, maintain temperature and then cut heat as soon as it is not needed. Up to the point where powersupply and mosfet losses start to exceed design capacity.
A way to save energy would be use a pretty tight enclosure around the printer, I think a pretty thin layer of insulation would be enough to reduce power usage by a large factor. I've not build one myself yet but there seems to be so many benefits.
That won't give you a large power saving, it will heat up the enclosure, also this may introduce other problems like hotend cooling and electronics cooling.
OK, I had the impression if you want to do any serious printing you use an enclosure? The air in the enclosure will be the same temp as the bed, I guess around 50-70C, don't think that will damage the electronics. The air will not be warmer than that if you have some little ventilation, so my guess is that this will be pretty ideal conditions for printing and pretty power efficient. But this is all in theory :-)
Oh, and you say the power saving won't be large, I would say it will be proportional to the quality of the insulation.
its up to you do some own test and see how its working for you:
yesterday decrease temp to 50* after some time no issue
today decrease temp to 30* some small disform but its keep printing ok
also you can add paper glue to bed
keep in mind that when temperature decrease bed is moving down due to lost heat
if is large print then its stay on bed, small print can detach when decrease temperature
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10858 | first layer tearing
I have an Anet A8 and have a problem with my first layer. I printed nice prints but starting today the first layer is tearing in the middle:
Any idea how to fix this?
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! You don't state what filament you're using or any of your settings. This looks to be a heat problem ... as in too much of it.
Hi, I'm using pla and the bed is 60 and the head 210. Strange thing is I didnt change anything of the settings and suddenly it started doing this
210° is a bit hot for PLA ... you should try and turn it down some, like into the 190° arena. The bed at 60° should be okay, I'd think.
210 is very reasonable for PLA. 190 will heavily limit the speed you can print. I suspect it's a bed height problem.
Strange, It was indeed a bed problem, could have sworn I checked it. A well thnx anyway :)
@Zeepblok: Glad that helped! I'll write it up as an answer.
The great pics really help with the answerability of this question. From how catastrophic the failure is, and how it's clearly independent of any specialty needs for the particular print such as tiny bed-adhesion contacts, sharp overhangs, bridges, etc. this is definitely not a problem with temperature. Different people recommend different temperatures for PLA, but I find that 210°C works well for me, and if you go much lower you'll hit problems getting the needed extrusion rate for anything but slow print speeds.
I've seen nearly this exact phenomenon before, so I knew it was probably a matter of the bed being too high, blocking extrusion of the first layer and forcing what little material can escape out to the sides of the nozzle, then tearing into it when the next adjacent line is laid out.
If I didn't know that, though, I'd still start looking for a source of the problem that's related to extrusion rate. Something was clearly wrong with getting the right amount of material in the right space, which indicates to me that there's either too much material (overextrusion/wrong filament diameter selected) or too little space (bed to high).
I found the solution to be the exact opposite. My bed was too low (as in too far from the hotend). All the above mentioned aside, I did also drop the flow rate on the brim and initial layer by roughly 2-3 %. Now it prints perfectly again. (your mileage may vary)
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11182 | Why does hairspray work as an adhesive for ABS?
Since I have a 3D printer, I worked primarily with printing ABS. I tried multiple methods for adhesion (various soluble glues, ABS juice) but always had the most success with hairspray on clean borosilicate glass, as long as I print with a bed temperature above 75 °C and inside an enclosure.
So I wonder, if it is known, why and based on which chemicals the hairspray method works so well?
Hairspray is not ABS specific - it is just in need of a very strong bond.
First of all, not all hairsprays work. The chemicals in hairspray that causes the bonding is "VA/Crotonates Copolymer", it is also called "vinyl acetate/crotonic acid copolymer". Most commonly known as PVA, which is also a filament used as water soluble support material. This is a synthetic polymer created from monomers.
When heated to a certain temperature this ingredient becomes sticky, this makes the filament stick to the plate. It is the double bonded Oxygen molecule that makes this happen. This is not only present in chemicals you put onto the bed, but also the chemistry of certain bed materials. Quoting our own Ryan Carlyle from this thread, A replacement for Aquanet Hair Spray?? Wolfbite by Airwolf:
Most of the popular build surfaces have very similar underlying chemistry. That's because they all rely on diffusion welding for adhesion. The molecular chains at the interface slightly dissolve into each other.
Gluestick active ingredient - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinylpyrrolidone
Aquanet and liquid PVA glue active ingredient - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_acetate
If you're familiar with organic chemistry, what you see here is an identical polyvinyl backbone chain, and functional groups that both have a ketone/ester double-bonded oxygen adjacent to a space-filling component. (The space-filling component probably decreases adhesion so the print can be released.) And guess what? Permanent build plate surfaces rely on the same underlying chemistry:
Lexan also has exposed double-bonded oxygen on a polymer backbone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycarbonate
Kapton also has exposed double-bonded oxygen on a polymer backbone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapton
Acrylic also has exposed double-bonded oxygen on a polymer backbone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly(methyl_methacrylate)
PET also has exposed double-bonded oxygen on a polymer backbone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate
Now, if you look at some common solvents for filaments, what do you often see? Double-bonded oxygen on small molecules. Here's ethyl acetate (dissolves PLA) and acetone (dissolves ABS):
These molecules are still diffusing into the filament polymer, but they're so small and mobile that they are able to completely liquefy and dissolve the plastic.
Isn't chemistry great?
Isn't PVA what's in common white school glue (Elmer's in the US)?
@T.J.L.Yes, white wood glue and white school glue also contain PVA (polyvinyl acetate), it is a PVA dispersion in water.
Very old article (comparatively) I know, but there are two plastics called PVA. Polyvinyl acetate, the glue, and polyvinyl alcohol, the dissovable-in-water filameant. Very different beasts.
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11187 | Sealant to increase Water-Resistance of SLS print
We are attempting to print some single-use prototypes using an SLS printer. The parts must be somewhat water-resistant for short-term usage, but do not have to been waterproof entirely.
According to this page, Post processing for SLS printed parts - Water tightness, any silicone type or vinyl-acrylate sealant should work well, but I was hoping that the Stack users here might have some specific suggestions.
Does anybody have specific recommendations for sealing SLS prints?
I think it's going to depend on two things: what is the material made out of (for the print) and what are you trying to seal it against? Water is going to be different from alcohol which would be different from oil. If you wanted to seal it against acid, that'd be an ever bigger challenge.
All of these prototypes will be tested in water. Further prototypes will be constructed of cement and used with an oil-based fluid. Material is “Versatile Plastic” from Shapeways. I believe it is a Nylon.
clear spray acrylic sticks to most things and is completely waterproof once dry.
Most SLA resins are water resistant, while nylon SLS could be dunked in resin to get it into all the print.
@Trish Wouldn’t a resin bath require a UV laser to harden it? We opted to use SLS over SLA due to a 300% price difference.
@dandavis Something skin to this? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001K65K26/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KYiQDbZ2BCYNR
@JPeroutek no, most Resins are actually not UV curing: Most resins that are mixed with hardeners, which then could be used as coating. Epoxy, polyester and Styrene-acrylonitrile Resins are such options. Another option could be Polyurethane.
yes, that would work, but seems vastly overpriced. Rustoleum clear "spray paint" is the same thing, but imho, better than krylon, who seem to be marketing it as something more special than what it is, clear coat, that you can buy for $5/can at walmart or home depot. Clear nail polish works too btw, i use it as conformal coating in outdoor projects.
@Trish some of our geometries are quite small, with around .6 mm gaps that need water-proofing. Picture a small 1” diameter fan with about 15 overlapping tilted blades. Will the resin block those fluid paths? In my experience, epoxies are very viscous thick fluids.
@dandavis Perhaps repost your comments as an answer?
@JPeroutek it could, but the viscosity is dependant on the ammount of hardener and the exact mixture. Some resins change viscosity based on temperature. 0.6 mm is very tiny though... 1 component Resin-laquer, thinned a little, could be an option.
@Trish could you possibly submit that as an answer?
SLS prints from nylon are somewhat porous. This means, that they will let a stabilizer soak into the outer surface to some degree.
What kind of stabilizer is needed is depending somewhat on the properties you want, but generally I believe these might be useable depending on the viscosity:
2-component resins could be used, but they are usually very viscous. Their viscosity, however, is dependent on the exact type and mixture and could be altered by temperature.
1-component (air-hardening) resins or resin lacquers can be thinned to achieve a solution into which the item is then dunked and dripped off. How much thinner is adviseable depends on the exact material
Nitrocellulose lacquer, like it is used in guitar building, is extremely fluid and could be used for treatment via dunking.
PU lacquer could be used too.
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11116 | Anet A6 ERR MAXTEMP BED error
Out of the blue my A6 printer displays a ERR MAXTEMP BED error and shows about 100 degrees on the bed even when just powered on.
A quick thermistor check shows that it's working properly : about 80 kOhm at room temperature, similar to other units (didn't bother to really check the specs).
Swapping the bed thermistor for the head thermistor connector does not change the temperature readings : the one connected to the bed input gets 100 degrees, while the other one works as expected, proving that the connector and thermosensor are ok.
It has to be in the board. How do I fix it?
the question clearly established the error is the board: the sensors in the bed were fine and the board refused to acknowledge so. Firmware also was fine because it triggered the maxtemp that is expected in case of a broken connection
I'm posting the answer here hoping that will help anyone that encounters a similar issue. A post on another site indicated that these boards are known to be problematic.
After some digging, I came up with the schematics of this part of the mainboard :
I'm not an electronics genius, but clearly it's not the capacitor; so that leaves the pull-up resistor or the microcontroller.
Since the printer is already unusable, no harm in trying to replace the resistor, which is located just next to the connectors; for the bed it was the second from left, but if you encounter the same issue with another input, you may need to locate the proper one.
Make sure you have the proper tools and knowledge for removing and soldering SMD components; in my case it was a 4k7 resistor in 0805 footprint.
Bottomline : replacing a less-than-one-cent resistor saves a month of waiting for the delivery of a $25 board.
For note: The C43 is the capacitor belonging to the defunct R37 resistor that was replaced. Search for the labeling.
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11272 | How to wire for AC mains voltage relay, when printer board is connected to AC-charging laptop computer?
I know this will be a really obvious question to some people, but I have bricked about 3 boards doing this so I want to be certain before I brick a fourth. I don't have a lot of experience working with AC voltage, especially crimping / hacking it like what's going on here. Trust me it was my last resort to ask this.
Basically, as a chamber heater I'm using some 120V heat lamps (here in the U.S.). The problem seems to be that when I connect my laptop to the board (if the laptop is plugged in, which it has to be for long-term serial control), sometimes I:
Hear an electric shock sound -- the board is fried
Don't hear an electric shock sound -- the board is fried, though
What I interpret from this is that I'm stupidly wiring the 120V heat lamps incorrectly relative to my 3D printer board, such that when I connect it to my charging laptop via USB, the AC voltages are out of phase, causing my board to be fried. Alternatively, it's the 12V/24V power supply that's wired wrong relative to everything else, which also needs to be wired to the same polarity.
I was on the understanding that when crimping a three-wire male electrical cord:
White = Neutral
Black = Hot (or Load)
Green = Ground
... reinforced on the left side of the below image as well:
So, I know that much already. The question is, when I connect this AC outlet to a relay like this, I got NO, COM, NC on one side and IN, DC+, DC- on the other. Which wire goes to COM, and which goes to D-? The board uses COM to denote the voltage that is switched 'on' by the relay, and D- to denote whatever the shared ground is among, the 3D printer, heat lamp, printer board, etc... (For more info, see link to relay)
This 5V relay says it supports AC loads being managed by an arduino / 3D printer, so I was under the impression that I could connect the white wire to its D- pin (which also should receive the "GND" for my 3D printer board) and the black wire to its COM pin. However, what do I do about the green wire? Nothing? Also, was it wrong for me to assume it would support this function when the Arduino is connected to a charging laptop via USB?
Basically, I just need to be sure that my laptop (3-prong), power supply (3-prong), heat lamps (2 or 3 prong) and relay (only 2-prong) all have matching polarities and don't cause an electric shock or fry my board. But I am getting really conflicting results and frying a lot of boards, probably by overthinking this.
Please add a diagram showing how it is all connected up. Also, do the mains outlets which are being used have a ground connection, and are they on the same circuit from the circuit breaker panel?
You mention a 5 V relay but the link shows a 12 V relay - is it just that the link ended up showing the wrong one?
Be aware that those relays may not be labeled correctly, I have a pack of those exact relays from Amazon and the NC and NO are inverted. Use a multimeter to see if COM and NO are connected when nothing is connected.
I linked the 12V relay accidentally - but the 5V relay looks exactly the same visibly
In effect, the ground (from mains) does not need to be connected to the relay, the relay interrupts the "hot" or "neutral" (preferably the "hot", but that is not possible for all plugs, e.g. some European plugs can be inserted 180° turned into the sockets). You connect one of the interrupted wires to the COM, the other interrupted wire (that goes to the lamps) to the NO (or the NC, depending on safety, the logic and/or preference). The ground wire from the mains power socket is not necessary at all (some lamp amratures require this to be connected though). See a schematic below, it uses an Arduino Uno, but you can think of it being the printer board. Note to never connect the ground from mains to the printer board directly!
Image based on source: osoyoo.com
The logic (low voltage side of the relay) needs to be wired as follows:
DC+ is the voltage power supply of the relay module, this is frequently +5 V, but some modules use +3.3 V (sometimes there is a jumper cap to select the voltage)
DC- is the ground from the printer board
IN is the trigger that needs to be connected to the port on the printer board that electronically switches the relay
Nice picture, like it a lot.
That's how you do it electrically. Mechanical execution of it, however, is serious business, and decides whether the setup is safe or dangerous.
Note that OP uses a 12V module
^ was mistake, meant to link to 5V relay
You need to take a step back and think about what you are doing. From what I read there you are connecting the neutral to the low voltage. You should definitely not mix connections between your high and low voltage side. I think you are lucky to not have broken more things than the logic board.
I quickly drafted this to show the idea.
The relay provides isolation so you do not want any connections crossing over that electrically connects the sides. So you keep the 120V mains stuff on one side and the other side you connect to your logic board and printer supply.
The grounds you can join to a common point or printer frame. I would never join L or N from different cables because at least here in Northern Europe our outlets are not keyed and can be rotated 180-degrees swapping L & N which would create a dead short.
Mains electric specialist here. When working in mains power, mechanical execution of work is everything.
The first rule is do not casually mess around with mains power -- it will kill you! If you've done a lot of low-voltage tinkering with jury-rigged wires splayed all over the place -- do not do that with mains wiring. Ever. Break that habit with mains!
The second rule is hard separation. It is absolutely forbidden, for instance, to have low voltage wires intermingled with mains in a jumble, even inside a metal box.
A "Chinese wall" between mains and low-voltage
By which I don't mean low quality. Generally all wires associated with mains should be inside a grounded metal enclosure, and all low-voltage wires should be outside that enclosure, or separated by a physical divider.
Here is an ideal setup that will pass muster.
A standard square drawn steel junction box, with knockout holes, \$1
a #10-32 ground screw for that hole on the bump
A cover plate, \$1, made to take ....
... two common receptacles, but get the higher quality screw-and-clamp type - $2.50 each so we can use stranded wire. I'm assuming you have more than 2 lights. If not, you can wire this thing so half the sockets are always-on.
a couple feet of #12 stranded THHN wire, each red, black and white (20 cents/foot)
A relay-transformer that mounts to a knockout hole.
For now just imagine 3 mains wires coming in: black hot, white neutral and green earth. Earth goes to that #10-32 screw hole on the bump, and the metal case grounds everything else.
I pigtail wires on receptacles because it's easier, but it's also clearer for a novice (than using a receptacle as a splice block). On the receptacles, pigtail neutral with white. Hot gets a red pigtail if switched, and black if always-on.
Fit the relay into a knockout hole, mains wires inward.
Now you have a bunch of black, red, and white wires. Join them by color! Easy peasy! This is why I made such a fuss about getting 3 colors of THHN wire.
Button it all up, and the mains work is done.
Getting power into our box
I glossed over bringing mains supply into this box. Let's review that further.
That junction box is made to mount on a wall. It's a code violation to use it as a portable box (but lots of people do). However you must use cordage (SJOW, SJOOW etc.) not in-wall wiring (NM, THHN, UF). I just buy a 14 AWG extension cord and lop the socket off. Visit the electrical supply house (Greybar, not Mouser) and get a strain relief that'll fit that cord and a knockout hole.
If you want to mount it on the wall over another box, they make special 4" square boxes for that. If the existing box is a similar box, they make "extension boxes" with open backs. They also make ones designed to go over top of a 1-gang box that is metal or plastic.
If you need the existing outlet space on the wall, you can use surface conduit systems like Legrand Wiremold (not to be confused with cable organizers intended for low-voltage cables only). You extend off an existing outlet, leaving that with its original function, then run surface conduit to another box, where you mount these items.
Make the system talk to it
That was a lot of heavy lifting, but the rest is downhill.
On the above relay, you simply attach 2 wires to W and R. (in fact, common thermostat cable is "W"hite and "R"ed, coincidence: not). If you short those wires to each other, the relay operates and the lights turn on. Use an appropriate relay if needed. There is low voltage AC on these wires (24VAC between them, 34V peak, isolated from earth and mains) which means you can route these wires without mains-level protection.
They make other relay-transformers, but I really like how this one puts the low-voltage on opposite sides of the knockout from the mains. They also make cheaper relays that accept 24VDC or even 12VDC, but then you have to supply that.
Note that most 3D printers are connected to Mains wire using C13 connectors into a fused C14 plug, which then connects to the inlet of the Power supply.
I would plug this into a separate mains socket @Trish . If an unswitched socket is needed to plug in the 3-D printer, I would add it (as discussed). It could be done more elegantly with C13/14 connectors, but I am avoiding this to stay within equipment readily available at any hardware store or electrical supply. Good point that it either needs to be fused or large enough wire to be protected by the distribution panel's circuit breaker.
Let's look at the notes on the relay first, as these tell us what to connect the terminals to.
Powered side
NO/NC - Normally Open/Normally Closed lead. Which you use determines the switching behavior: open line on signal (NC) or closed line on signal (NO). Connect this to the powered component.
For heater components it is best to use NO, as a failure of a signal automatically stops heating, making this a safety means! If any of the supply wires are ripped or pulled from the terminals or the board is fried, the power of the heater doesn't come through.
COM - Common. This is the other lead of the switch part of the component, the line that transports the power to the switch. Connect this to the power supply.
Low Voltage signal side
IN - Input. Here the switch signal goes in
This is a 5 V Signal
DC+/DC- - This is the power supply for the switch and should be the same as the power supply for the Board. Check your Rating!
Red "High" on DC+
Black "Low" on DC-
Note I used European colors to differentiate the 5 V side from the mains-power side better. You have your Neutral in white, Phase in black, Ground in green on your Power Supply picture. This color conversion can be handy.
If the heater lamp has a connection for the ground wire, use it! This should be the same ground wire the power supply is connected to, to ensure safety.
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11316 | What causes leaking between the heat break and the heat block?
During long prints, my heat block becomes covered in whatever material I am printing. The plastic leaks from the junction between the heat break and the heat block, and runs down towards the nozzle.
I frequently have problems with grinding of filament by the Bowden extruder. However, on the E3D Kraken with a Volcano block, if I use water cooling and a fan positioned just above the heat block, there is no grinding, and everything comes out fine. But the heat block grows a beard of plastic regardless if there is a fan over the heat break or not.
I check my prints once every 2 hours and can wipe the heat block beard, but for overnight prints this isn't possible, so sometimes my prints will have random blobs from when the plastic leaks onto the print.
I have tried multiple nozzles and filaments! I print at only 60 mm/s. Does the volcano block need faster print speeds to prevent this from happening?
I cant really figure out the root of the issue. If the rest of the print comes out fine, then why is there an issue?
Can you show some pictures?
Leakage can be caused by untight connection. How do you tighten the heat break in the heater block? This is best done at high temperature, not room temperature.
What kind of hotend design are we talking about?
@Trish it is just a work in progress as I iron out the kinks.. An E3D kraken, water cooled, with a fan, all Bowden extruders -- only using/testing with one of the four available bowdens on the krakens right now. I'm considering that for a while, rather than doing cold pulls, i'll just use a different kraken slot for each material when i need to change materials
A video I recently viewed (YouTube link) regarding installing a hot end assembly references the proper sequence of parts placement. Starting with the nozzle, thread it into the heater block until it is proud of the surface by a half of a millimeter, perhaps slightly more. The heat break is then threaded into the heater block until it contacts the nozzle. If not already in place, attach the heat sink.
The next step is to bring the assembly up to maximum temperature and re-tighten the nozzle assembly, obviously using great care due to the high temp.
The video specified that performing this sequence incorrectly would result in leakage from the assembly, which describes your troubles.
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11193 | Ender 3 Power Problem: Not starting up
I have a Creality Ender 3, I've had it for just under 2 years and during a print one morning it suddenly stopped and powered itself off. After checking the fuse and other electronic components it still didn't power on. I purchased a new switch as I thought the problem was there but after replacing it is still did not turn on.
The printer has been working fine and there were no visible or audible anomalies. I urgently need this to be fixed.
This might be a broken Power supply as much as a broken board. To test: keep the mains power unplugged, connect the front USB port to a PC. If you get a screen, the board is ok. Just get a new Power supply in that case.
Ok, I will try that.
Is anything abnormal here: the power supply?
Is anything abnormal: Power supply - link to google drive as image too big : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4i3vetngZX0VUQyc21HZkR2bzF3amFuQkViLUN5azM0NnNN/view?usp=sharing
I am not an electrician, but the 8A/230V fuse of the Power supply seems to be intact. Do NOT work with mains voltage unless you have undergone the necessary training to do so! Take all the necessary precautions as you need to work with electricity under mains voltage! Thomas has a tutorial on what might be needed to repair them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHBpDxf6eVA
I think it may be wise to invest in a multimeter, you would then be able to check if the PSU outputs 12/24 V (depending on the output voltage).
Does the outlet that you're plugging it into have power? (Yea this happened to me once with my Anet A8)
@TimLi When you buy a multimeter, note that although many 3D printers work from 12 V (as mentioned by 0scar), an Ender 3 uses a 24 V PSU. A convenient place to measure is found by disconnecting (with the PSU switched off) the yellow connector.
Purchased new power supply after testing he board. Thanks for your help.
@trish Thankyou for your help.
I did purchased the new power supply and everything works fine now.
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