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Can toothbrush bristles be printed? Is it possible to print toothbrush bristles using a common FDM 3D printer? I am particularly interested in the width of bristles, closeness together of each bristle, and the flexibility of each particular bristle. | Actually last year a group did use a normal FDM printer to 3d print hair, brushed, etc. See the press release from Carnegie Mellon University
https://www.engadget.com/2015/10/29/3d-printing-hair-is-as-easy-as-using-a-hot-glue-gun/
http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/3d_printed_hair_by_Gierad_Laput_Xiang_Chen_Chris_Harrison_1.jpg
That said as far as I know you will not have access to this process, and is probably under a mountain of patents and other innovation killers.
Now how to do this outside of fancy software.
For a FDM printer the smallest nozzle I ever got was 0.1mm, it jammed instantly. One could print rows at this precision.
Now we have to move to something more advanced, such as DLP. Not the materials you want, but closer to the size you want. a formlabs can print at 25 microns. Which as a hair is 17 microns, you are "close enough" .. but a resin would be brittle and break. They do have other materials such as flexibles, but I am not familiar with them enough.
Also just going to mention. Tiny slivers of plastic is more likely to cut you than comb you. |
da Vinci 1.0 cannot print PLA filament I bought new yellow PLA filament from XYZ (1.75 mm).
Over the past I have printed many objects with my da Vinci 1.0 (ABS only). I found that while the brim is being printing (using default configuration of XYZWare; the da Vinci machines give the user very little control over print parameters, if I remember correctly the temperatures are controlled by the chip in the filament cassette), filament stopped extruding from my extruder immediately. However, ABS can be printed properly.
Could anyone tell me how can I work around ? | The answer to this specific instance appeared in the comments:
Also, a thorough cleaning of the nozzle/hotend might also be a good idea to get rid of all the stuck ABS residue inside. – 0scar Mar 26 at 8:44
The problem solved !, my ABS is stuck in nozzle !!! – 3ORZ Apr 25 at 6:52 |
How can I rotate a 3D model to be parallel with the build plate? I have an STL that has a flat surface which should contact the build place when 3D printing. The model has an unknown rotation. How can I rotate the 3D model to be flush with the build plate?
I am very comfortable with OpenSCAD, and I can use it to rotate the STL if I know the correct angle. Is there a tool that will let me analyze a single face (triangle) of a model to determine it's normal? If I can even get the coordinates from 3 points from the desired face I can calculate the normal and use that to calculate the rotation vector. | Some tools like Cura or Repetier Host have slicers that analyses and tell you if it is ok to print or not. Both of them allow rotations. |
Are these the right types of electrical connectors for hooking my Switching Power Supply up to a wall outlet? From what I understand, when you hook up the Switching Power Supply 12v Dc 30a 360w to the wall outlet, you have to be very careful; careful not to get the wires mixed up; careful not to have anyone or anything touch the leads (in fact the first proper project I intend to print out will be a casing to fit around the switching power supply), or just order one from someone.
Now there are three wires that go into the US wall of particular concern, and these wires come out of a standard PC cable with the female end cut off, and they hook the power supply. Like the external casing, these three wires are also insulated, and when you take the insulation off the bare wires and connect it to the power supply, you have to use Electrical connectors of some sort to connect them to the power supply's screw leads.
I bought some electrical connectors just for this purpose, but I'm not entirely certain they will be good for this purpose, so I thought I'd check here first.
There are specifications on the back:
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ ╬ AWG ╬ Wire Size ╬ Stud Size ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ Spade Terminals ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ YF1.25-35 (red) ╬ 22-16 ╬ 0.5-1.5 ╬ 3.7 ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ Ring Terminals ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ YF1.25-4 (red) ╬ 22-16 ╬ .5-1.5 ╬ 4.3 ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ Butt Splice ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ BF-1.2SS (red) ╬ 22-16 ╬ .5-1.5 ╬ n/a ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
Not sure if I should use ring or spade terminals, and I don't know what wire size to use; and I don't know what wire grade is inside a standard PC power cord or even if these are safe connectors to use for this. | It is okay to just use bare wires in the type of screw connector found on your power supply. They're designed for it; they have a little plate under the screw that prevents the wires from being frayed by the screw.
If you want neater wire termination, you should use one of the spade type ones. Pick the smallest size that fits your wires.
PC power cords are generally fitted with an IEC C13 plug, and those are rated for 10A (meaning also the wires themselves will be able to carry at least that much current). This is fine for any home 3D printer which usually draws a fraction of that. |
What is the best infill pattern for shearing strength? For practicality sake, I need to print a design such that there will be weight hanging parellel to the layer lines. Is there an infill pattern that would be better than others at handling this?
I realize that all kinds of infill will still have the same layer boundaries. Just wondering if choosing any given infill might provide better results. | Yes, some infill patterns are better than others for preventing separation of layers. Basically (modulo some assumptions about uniformity of distribution of force), the shearing strength of the part in the Z direction at a particular layer is going to be proportional to the surface area of bonding between successive layers. So infill patterns that stack identical infill extrusions on top of each other at each layer should be expected to be much stronger than patterns where successive layers make only partial contact. In other words, "2D infill patterns" - grid, lines, triangles, tri-hexagon - should be a lot stronger than "3D infill patterns" - cubic, octet, gyroid, ... This matches my experience printing bolts oriented along the Z-axis - ones printed with gyroid snap easily unless other measures are taken to strengthen them, while ones printed with triangles are fairly strong (though nowhere near as strong as ones printed oriented in the XY plane.
If you have other reason to prefer a "3D infill pattern", its weakness can be mitigated mostly by increasing the infill line width, so that the lines of successive layers which don't entirely overlap still touch on more surface area. (Just increasing the infill line width also works to make "2D infill patterns" even stronger.) However, be aware that with high print speed typically used for infill, increasing infill line width can easily exceed the capability of your hotend, resulting in underextrusion, extruder skipping, and stringing all over the place. |
Show Build date and time in Marlin 2.0 Is there a command to show the compile date and time of the Marlin 2.0 firmware? Also, is there a way to show this info at boot up? | You can show the compile date and time during bootup by changing the constant STRING_SPLASH_LINE2 in Configuration.h:
#define STRING_SPLASH_LINE2 __DATE__ " " __TIME__ |
Reasons for a PLA print not sticking to bed all the sudden? Plastic: Same Matterhacker PLA (filament I use every day)
Printer: Anycubic i3 Mega (the one I use every day)
Slicer: Ultimaker Cura 4.2.1
I don't know what's causing it, I haven't changed any slicer settings to my knowledge, I haven't changed anything on the printers end, and I'm using the same filament I've always used. But for some reason, the first layer is simply not sticking. At first I noticed when doing a print the nozzle seemed a little higher than normal for the first layer, but then it started having problems where 0 % of the filament would stick to the bed and it would all just come off and turn into a mess. I've checked and checked, but I see no reason the printer would just start doing this now all the sudden when it's worked perfectly for a year now.
EDIT: Something I've noticed since posting this is that older sliced models seem to print just fine, which means there's something about the newser slicer settings that's causing it. I don't know what I would have changed though and/or how to restore to my original settings. | There are 3 general factors about print adhesion you always have to keep in mind:
Have a sufficient surface for the print to stick. A pyramid printed on the tip can't print properly.
Check the leveling of your bed occasionally and relevel the bed. By removing prints, one can easily unlevel it over time without noticing it.
Clean your print bed from fingerprints and grease every so often. Fats are good separators between the print and the bed. Getting them off with Isopropyl alcohol or other solvents can restore print surfaces in an instant.
In this specific case, there are some hints that make the general things less of an issue though: Old sliced items print fine, newer not. This hints that you changed something in the print settings. Among the settings that are good for adhesion, check your old G-code for the following three:
Bed temperature. I use 60 °C bed temperature for PLA and have good results on bed adhesion. Others print with 50 °C. However, going too low can make the plastic not stick well anymore.
Extrusion temperature. When the plastic extrudes, it has to be molten enough to push out enough and cold enough to solidify within moments and stick to the surface of the bed. If it is too hot, it would be dragged along, if it's too cold it doesn't get to stick either. I use 190-200 °C for PLA.
The first layer height might be different. I usually use 0.2 mm for this setting, no matter what the actual layer height is, and get good adhesion and not too much trouble with tiny unevenness.
The reason might be a mechanical issue, in that the Z-endstops (in an Anycubic i3, there are two, hidden in the frame sides) might have bent, moved or misaligned over time. Check its positioning. If the mount is broken, there are replacement part designs. |
Snapping to Ground - 123D Design It's my first encounter with 123D Design, and first time playing around STL/3D printing in general. I can't find much information about the grid. But I noticed, while trying to move it, you can actually raise it from the grid. Does this affect how it will be printed? Does the print have to be snapped to the ground for it to print properly? Or is the grid relative, used for approximation? | The position matters a lot if you use the default STL file without doing anything in the slicer. I've used 123D extensively and when I've inadvertently left a gap between the part and bed (and not snapped it to the bed in the slicer), the printer tries to print in mid air. Use "d" to "drop" the object to the grid. Different slicers have similar commands that will attach a face to the bed. I use Simplify3D. |
Are there attempts to standardize G-code for FFF/FDM printers? Rep-Rap project wiki contains information about different G-Code dialects for FFF/FDM 3D printers.
I googled but couldn't find if there were any attempts in DIY community to standardize existing dialects more or less?
For example, M115 command should return meta-information about firmware version and capabilities. But almost each popular firmware doing it in a slightly different way: sometimes they are just using different separators, sometimes constants are structurally different as well.
The result (as I see it) is some standard subset of G-Code commands that can be extended with dialects from different firmware providers. Probably something similar (but better) to what's is SQL world.
Are there any major cons for doing this? | G-Code Is RS-274/NGC
There is no need to attempt to standardize G-Code, the G-code itself already is standardized: it is the NIST RS274/NGC, or often short AIN RS-274 and was not designed for just FDM printers but any moving tool. Power lathes, CNC and laser cutters all can run on RS-274! G0 and G1 always move, G28 is always the homing procedure and so on. To show how the RS-274 standard evolved over time, check out an older variant of the document, the NISTIR 597 Canonical Machining Commands.
Implementation is not standardized!
However, due to the design of a given machine, the exact procedure for these commands has to be different for different designs. For example in a carthesian, prusa style printer Homing is usually moving negatively in X, Y and Z, in that order, one after another. But in a Delta Printer, that would most likely get your printhead to an illegal position: the printhead would first be moved out of the print volume and then never hit any endstop as those are mounted at the top of the printer. Instead, all axis on a delta are moving up simultaneous on homing, stopping each axis as they hit their endstop at the top, then the whole setup moves down to the printbed in unison. On a mill, lathe or router, the G28 operation usually starts by backing the tool away from the work volume, then moving to the 0 and only then moving the tool back into the work area to avoid fixtures.
G & M-command gaps
Another caveat is, that the standardization via the NIST document only encompasses codes G0 to G99 and M0 to M49 - with gaps. Which brings us to the code block M - Miscellaneous. It is not fully defined in the document. FANUC setup uses a few more common M-commands but might contain more. The CNCcookbook has only 16 common M-commands, none of them a reporting one. Autodesk declares even only 11 M-block commands most common: M0 to M9 and M30. Of these the coolant related ones are usually irrelevant for FDM.
M115
M115 and M503 are reporting functions outside of the areas that were pretty much defined by the norming agency and thus have cropped up as development needed them until they formed undefined de-facto industry standards. This means that the standard itself does not contain them, but everybody and bob know that these commands are meant to report firmware and report settings respectively because some popular machines started with it.
These two commands are to inform a programmer what is the brains of the machine and settings, and as such, they are also subject to the style guide of the programming institution - the norm document does not contain a style guide, leaving it free for any implementation to chose style. A working example is Marlin's M115.
However, there are reasons why a programmer might disable M115 but keep M503: Industrial machines, especially such with maintenance contracts, usually don't allow users to access the firmware in some ways to on one hand keep them out from messing with the machine too much and on the other make sure that only a licensed technician can access some reporting functions by using proprietary commands. M503 on the other hand reports on the current status of settings that might be changed by the user or their service technician to account for different print requirements. |
Ender 3 V2 auto homing With my Ender 3 V2, to home the extruder, I have to choose Disable Stepper, manually move the extruder to the X-axis stop switch; then select Auto Home. After that point everything homes correctly.
My question, is there a way to get the extruder to automatically move to the X-axis stop switch and then proceed to auto home after Auto Home is selected without selecting Disable Stepper? | I figured this out...
It was a firmware issue. I went to Creality's Forums
and found the appropriate firmware and now it auto homes as I would expect it should. |
Reprap Ormerod 2 Duet web control not automatically starting, how can I fix? I have an Ormerod 2 which is controlled by an Duet board with original up to date firmware. When I power it on and try to use the web interface (web control) it seems to not have started. When I connect my printer to my laptop and use Pronterface (printer interface) to send t0 to the printer it replies
Starting network...
RepRapFirmware is up and running.
Starting DHCP
Network up, IP=censored
which leads me to the conclusion that the printer isn't starting its firmware and the web interface before that.
After sending t0 and waiting 10sec for these replies it works fine.
Every source says it should start automatically.
So my question is how do I fix that? or what even is the problem?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: For everyone wondering: One time I let the printer sit powered on for ~1h before trying to connect and use Pronterface, same story as above. | First thing I would do is to update firmware to the newest version: https://github.com/dc42/RepRapFirmware/releases
See details on Duet wiki page: https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Guide#Section_Updating_Firmware_and_Duet_Web_Control |
3d prints come up with ribbing on one side The right side of my prints always have the standard ribbing effect given by a bent z rod, however I have replaced the rod and there was no change. Here are pictures of one of my more recent prints:
and the left side of that same print:
As you can see the left is almost unaffected the right is the only side with the error. Anyone have any ideas about this? | Hmmmm In my experience when a printer has that bad of wobble it is still the Z axis. Your rods might be good, but are the two Z axis the exact correct distance and equal distance on the printer frame? Imagine that you had one a few millimeters too far out. How might the rods act? Mayhaps, over the course of several layers, they would slowly drift back and forth? Creating a period effect on your print? What do the top of the rods do over time? Do they move a lot if you go from height 0 to 100mm on z?
I have a few ideas. What happens if you loosen you Z motors so they can move around their mount? I had to do that on my Prusa back in the day. I think for that machine the Belt was actually too tight causing the issue. Current printers are usually better designed so its unlikely that is your issue. Also measure the distance between the top of the rods when the carriage is at 0, and at max. You should see very little variance.
If it was on both sides I would say it was bad PID calibration. IE this simplify 3d link
Though you can see on this forum the fellow had a bad coupler. So still mechanical.
Also could be back lash / belt lash.. but unlikely |
Unable to export all objects to a STL in AutoCAD I made a pressing stamp in AutoCAD 2013 for stamping letters, but I'm having difficulties to save the file. I can save it anyhow in any format, but when it comes to .STL, some parts just doesn't show.
I made a platform on bottom (25x25x3 mm cuboid) on which I put solids as they represent my logo. But when I export, I select all, but it saves me just 3 or 4 parts from 7 total. On many occasions I get saved different parts, but never all of them or more than 4.
I am also getting the error while saving, which says: "the boolean operation on solids failed" and "Failure in face-face intersection merging algorithm."
Anything I try to do (even copy to another file and do there, doesn't help at all. But the irony is, that I just created a simple text stamp, for which I had no difficulties at all to save to .STL. | Based on your error messages, it's likely you have created a non-manifold 3D object. As a simple example, let's start with a cube as suggested in your question. To keep things simple, you want to add a cylinder to the cube.
In other programs, one would create a sketch on the surface of that cube and extrude the circle into a cylinder. Because the circle is constructed on the surface, it become an integrated part of the model.
If you had created the cylinder independently, which can be done in AutoCAD and placed it on the surface of the cube, the resulting model would appear to be the same as the one created above.
The placement method may have resulted in the end of the cylinder "penetrating" the surface of the cube. Such a model may generate the face-face error you've received.
The quantity reference you've provided in your question indicates that the problem is contained in more than one intersection.
If you have patience, you can return to the original model and attempt to locate piercings or penetrations and adjust the locations to be joined properly. Selecting a wireframe view may assist you in those efforts.
Another option would be to import your .STL file into a program such as Meshmixer to attempt an automatic repair. Under Analysis/Inspector, errors will appear with flags which can be clicked to perform a repair.
Severe errors in construction, such as the one you describe, are more likely to destroy the model when using this method, however. |
Issue with the new heating cartridge of my 3D printer Recently I had an issue with my heating cartridge, and I decided to change it.
For my Anet A8, I needed a 12 V 40 W one. I ordered it but I received a 15 mm length instead of 20 mm length heater element, but as the characteristics where the same I thought that it should not be an issue!
When I finally tried it, it was not able to reach the commanded temperature. It's like 175 °C instead of 195 °C.
I don't understand why it's harder for the newer heating cartridge to reach the commanded temperature, is the length important even if it's the same power (12 V and 40 W) ? | If it is 40 W then it shouldn't matter what length it is. Note that the heater cartridge just contains a Nickel-Chrome wire-resistor (see image below for the construction), this resistor gives its heat to the metallic shell, the length of that shell shouldn't matter, it usually contains heat free/colder zones at the tip and root. Even if it is a 30 W heater cartridge it should be able to get to temperature, it would just take longer.
If it is a 24 V, 40 W cartridge, operating at 12 V, then the effective power would be $40[V] \times \frac{12[V]^2}{24[V]^2}=10 [W]$. This might be too low to reach the temperature. It is best to check the resistance of the heater element with a multitester; it should be about 4 Ω for a 12 V heater cartridge and about 14 Ω for a 24 V heater cartridge. |
First layer height problem after changing nozzle I have a problem with my first layer height. But lets start at the beginning:
I own a Tevo Tarantula Dual extruder printer with a endstop switch for Z axis.
No Auto bed level. 0.4mm nozzle.
Everything worked as it should. I home extruder with G28 command and level the bed using a piece of paper or a thickness gauge 0.1mm. In the slicer I set Initial layer height 0.2mm for layer height 0.1mm. The fisrt Layer looked perfect and sticked to the bed fine.
a few days ago it stopped in the middle of a print, nozzle clogged.
No problem i changed the nozzle to a spare one i had. It is not the first time i took it apart.
Here starts my problem:
After everything was build together again i home the extruder with G28, level the bed and start a print with the same settings i usualy used to print.
But either the first layer didn't stick to the bed at all or looks terrible.
i tried to level the bed again and also tried to get it to work with playing with the settings. But with no satisfactorily results.
Here is is the part my Question starts:
I noticed that the first layer is actually not at the same Z=0 if i use G28 to home and the Z0 it shows when i print a part.
For example:
Set G28 Level bed with 0.1mm thickness gauge.
Then start printing with layer height 0.1mm and initial layer height setting 0.2mm
The result should be 0.1+0.1+0.2 =0.4 real layer height (if i also count the 0.1 layer heigth(not sure if this is correct)) the printer shows here a Z of 0.2
But if i meassure it, it is around 0.7mm thats way to much.
I am confused why this is the case after i changed the nozzle. Considering i leveled the bed the exact same way i did before and used the same slicer.
The new nozzle is a little bit shorter but i made sure both nozzle of the dual extruder have the same height.
I do not understand why this happens. Is there a way to reset the Z?
I tried the M851 code but as far as i understand it, it i used for Auto-Bed leveling. It didn't work anyway, says unknown command.
I could work around the problem by adjust the endstop until it somehow works, but then if i want to level the bed and use the G28 code the nozzle would crash into the bed and that is not a satisfactory solution.
Would it suffice to set a z-offset in the firmware? I don't have much experience on that area.
;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:737
;Filament used: 0.351177m
;Layer height: 0.1
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 3.2.0
M190 S47
M104 S197
M109 S197
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops
G1 Z15.0 F9000 ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F9000
;Put printing message on LCD screen
M117 Printing...
;LAYER_COUNT:9
;LAYER:0
M107
M204 S2200
G0 F3000 X75.185 Y64.596 Z0.2
M204 S1750
;TYPE:SKIRT
G1 F1650 X76.267 Y63.316 E0.06132 | this is a common case in my TT....
Please check the y-carriage wheels - on the 2040 and 2020 profile.
Mostly you shall find a little wobble on one of the ends, that introduces instability in leveling, so you could level it, home it and another level is needed.
In my case, I decided to upgrade for dual-z drive - please see this
Another interesting Z upgrade:
option two
We can observe z-wobble by watching the x-axis on the left side (no lead screw), it will have a little delay in response when moving up/down comparing to the other side. |
After sitting for a week first layer won't adhere Last week I set up my Ender 3 V2 and it seemed to work perfectly out of the box. I leveled the bed, did a test print, and discovered that the nozzle was too low (successful print but elephant foot). Re-leveled at a slightly higher height (lower bed level) and was able to produce a very lovely benchy and dog.
Then I turned it off and let it sit a week until I had something to actually print. Now the first layer fails almost immediately. It will put down a line and when the nozzle comes back around it will knock it around producing a spaghetti monster. I've tried re-leveling, cleaning the bed with rubbing alcohol, using previous G-code that worked fine last week, positioning models in different spots on the bed when slicing, but no matter what I do, nothing seems to stick.
I've cleaned the bed as well. It is quite dusty here so it definitely needed that, but it doesn't seem to have fixed the issue. | If your having first layer adhesion issues:
Please try one (or more) of the following (Start with #1), and remember that all of them are equally important!
Make sure your bed is level (Maybe use a leaving stick (or whatever those bubble things are called))
Be sure the bed is clean (I recommend glass cleaner 1-3 squirts and then a light scrub of a paper towel)
Change the temperature of your heated bed (50 - 60 °C)
Check your nozzle height (.15 - .25 mm is what I use)
Lastly, use bed adhesion. Start with painter's tape (least damaging, easy to remove), then use a glue stick or even hair spray if necessary. |
How to make an object hold water I made a tea bowl, but it leaked when making it in PLA...
What are the key points to keep in mind when designing and printing an object that is intended to hold water using an FDM printer? | I've found that a double-walled base seems to give better results than trying to make the base very thick. Any imperfections in the print, or cracking caused by removing the print can lead to leaks - but if there is layer/infill/layer, the result seems to turn out better for me.
Vase mode can be effective (although won't be easy to combine with the above unless you slice your model in several parts), and I've had success whilst using 100% vase mode for vases to hold water. This demonstrates that a single wall thickness is sufficient to achieve a watertight print. |
Is Repetier host able to do multi-material printing? Can Repetier host run a multi-material printer such as the Prusa i3 MK2S? | Yes, it can. I have configured it for as many as four extruders. The problem may be in the slicing, as the slicer is responsible for generating the tool change commands.
One problem with the Repetier multi-extruder support is that, although the temperature of each extruder is reported by the RepRap firmware response, only the selected extruder is updated, and only one extruder is shown in the temperature graph. |
What does "Uses Mains Voltage" mean on this 200*200mm Square Silicone Heater Pad? I keep thinking it means that I can plug it directly into my power supply instead of running it though my RAMPs 1.4; is that correct?
Here is the link to it, 200*200mm Square Silicone Heater Pad. | "Mains voltage" is the alternating current provided by your wall outlets (eg 120v in USA). In order to use a mains voltage heatbed in a 3d printer, you will need to wire up your controller to switch an AC SSR. That way, your low-voltage-DC RAMPS board can control AC current.
If you plug a heatbed directly into a power supply, it will never stop heating, and may burn itself up or even cause a fire. Don't do that.
Because mains voltage has enough voltage to kill you, it should only be used for STATIONARY components, such as the PSU supply wiring and Delta heatbeds. With moving beds, particularly Mendel/i3 style Y-beds, wire fatigue and rubbing can expose the electrical conductors and create a serious safety hazard.
200x200mm is a very reasonable size for a DC bed heater, so there's really no good reason to use an AC heater here. It's more complex and less safe. I recommend getting a different heater. |
CR-10 Ignoring Z-Stop Switch, Keeps Trying to Lower I have a CR-10 with TH3D's most recent firmware on it and an EZABL (Plug & Print Auto Bed Leveling Kit) installed. My problem is that when I select "Auto Home", the printer ignores the Z-stop switch and keeps trying to lower the extruder, grinding and shuddering until I have to power it off. I can't seem to figure out what the problem is. | I had this same issue with my CR-10s. My black and white wires were reversed where I plugged them in to the motherboard in place of the stock z stop wires. I had to take apart the connector and swap them, as they came backwards from the mfg. Once I did that it worked perfectly.
The image I'm attaching helped me solve my issue. It is not mine, after much searching I found kenneycp's reply on this comment thread
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2975949/comments |
Problems with stock gear with no screw on Ender 3 pro I am very new in the 3D printing scene.
After a lot of searching for my specific problem (and didn't find any answers, of course) I decided to reach out.
I bought a Creality Ender 3 Pro in November and after a few days of lovely prints
I decided to upgrade the printer with a glass bed and "Aluminum Dual Gear Pulley Dual Drive Extruder Kit".
The Problem, as you might expected already, is with the installation of the dual gear extruder. I have watched a dozen of YouTube videos, and all of them have something I don't – a screw in the stock gold gear on the extruder motor.
How can I install the Aluminum Dual Gear Pulley Dual Drive Extruder Kit if I take the gear out? Should I try remove it with force?
Please if someone has come across the same situation, that there isn’t a screw In the stock gear on the extruder motor and mange to take it out, please tell me.
I'm adding a picture so you understand what I mean. | This is an older Ender 3 Pro, they at one point came with these press-fit gears, these are not intended to be removed which is a poor design decision. I would recommend buying a new motor than going through the hassle of removing it. |
Wanhao Duplicator i3 plus temperature out of control I have a reasonably new Wanhao Duplicator i3 plus that has been printing happily for a few weeks.
This morning it has developed a new error. When you hit pre-heat for PLA (target temperature 200 °C) it heats the extruder but never stops. It is like the extruder heater is permanently on. The set point doesn't make any difference. If you hit cooldown it still keeps heating up!
At 240 °C I turned the machine off for fear of what happens next.
It seems only to affect the extruder heater not the bed heater. That seems to be working and following the set point.
Any ideas what this is and how to fix it? | Thermal Runaway?!
The temperature should not go over the MAXTEMP variable set in the firmware, so permanent damage is probably avoided (when temperature doesn't exceed about 250 °C; that is about the max temperature for the PTFE liners in the hotend). In the factory setup, the Wanhao Duplicator i3 is running an instance of Marlin Firmware. In the configuration.h file the MAXTEMP is defined like:
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 275
for the first extruder where 275 °C is the default value, if Wanhao has changed this to a lower value (as they list their printer to print to max 240 °C) is not known.
Fixing the issue at hand
To expand on your question:
"Any ideas what this is and how to fix it?"
In order for you to fix the problem you need to do some troubleshooting. You need to find out if this problem persists when not using the pre-heat function of the firmware. E.g. When you do not pre-heat, but print a PLA object, does the temperature also keeps rising? Furthermore, try to hook up a computer/laptop over USB to the printer board and try pre-heating from a software application like OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, PronterFace, etc.
From the description alone, it appears as though the gain of the onboard MOSFET is opened once requested to preheat, but never closed. This could hint to a faulty MOSFET. If you are handy with software compiling for Arduino based microchips (please do note that this requires some thorough insight in compiling software for the Arduino platform), you could alter the printer configuration (not only hardware, by connecting the hotend heater and thermistor cables to the bed terminals, but also software, by switching pins in the board configuration file) to use the bed terminals to heat up the hotend (and not use the heated bed during the test, disconnect the cables of the bed), but that will most probably show that the hotend will stop at the requested temperature as the thermistor does not seem to be broken.
Simple tests that you could perform to check the functioning of the hotend/setup are:
Disconnecting the thermistor leadsThis will effectively result in a 0 Volt reading, this is to test the MINTEMP temperature limit of your setup.
Shorting the thermistor leadsThis will effectively result in a full 5 Volts signal resulting in the maximum temperature reading. This exceeds the MAXTEMP temperature by far, as such it should halt heating up the heating element once shortened. You can do this even without heating up or before it reaches 240 °C.
Disconnect the Heater cartridge orTake the heater cartridge out of the aluminium heater blockThis will effectively test the "Thermal Runaway Protection" (or short TRP) of your setup. If the thermistor does not register a temperature rise after a certain amount of seconds (in advanced configuration), the printer should detect there is something wrong and shut down/halt the printer. Disconnecting the heater cartridge is the safer way. Common TRP times are 120 seconds and less. |
Minimum Solid Figure traced by a Delta 3D Printer In Cartesian printers, the extruder is moving along the X axis, Y axis and/or Z axis. Every axes has its own resolution, this is the minimum length that is possible to achieve in that axis and is related with the number of steps that the stepper motors can do.
So, if we trace the solid figure with the minimum volume that the printer can achieve based on its axis resolutions we obtained some sort of a cuboid
The length of the cuboid in X is the resolution of the printer in the X axis, the same logic applies for Y axis and Z axis.
In the figure it is possible to see 27 (3x3x3) cuboids genarated:
if the resolution of the printer in X axis is 0.1 mm, in the Y axis: 0.1 mm and in the Z axis: 0.1 mm, the volume of these cuboids is going to be 0.1 mm x 0.1 mm x 0.1 mm
Now, consider a Delta printer:
What is the solid figure with the minimun volume that can be traced with it? | I think you misunderstand. It's the nozzle width and extruder step size, not the axis step sizes, that limit detail. Positioning resolution on a typical printer is on the order of 0.01 mm, but nozzle size is at least 0.1 mm and typically 0.4 mm. Also, lack of perfect rigidity in the mechanical parts will produce gradually increasing error as you try to go smaller and smaller in detail. So, it really makes no difference to the achievable detail whether the printer is a Cartesian or a Delta. |
Bed Heating Failed, Printer Halted, Please Reset A couple of weeks ago I have successfully built a 3D Printer and Printed an XYZ Calibration Cube with ABS material at bed temperature 80 °C.
Next Day I tried bed heating at bed temperature 80 °C,
Screen is blank
and it's not heating at all and showing Following error.
Bed Heating Failed
Printer Halted
Please Reset
Specification board
I use a RAMPS 1.4 running Marlin 1.1.X
Troubleshooting
I searched on Google and tried possible solutions but they are not working.
I changed the thermistor and nothing happened, the old thermistor is also showing the same temperature.
I connected 12V Supply Positive to SMPS (Switched-Mode Power Supply) and Negative to RAMPS 1.4 and not working
I checked the Voltage at heat bed it's showing zero in spite connecting to SMPS
Please let me know how can I fix the problem? | Check that your heated bed is still working:
Measure the resistance of your heated bed. It depends an the power
rating of the bed, but 12V beds usually have values <3 Ohms. That's
hard to measure for cheap multimeters, but you just need to check
that it's not MOhms which would indicate a broken heated bed.
Your heated bed could also have a short. That's hard to measure, as <3Ohms are already 'almost a short'. You'll only notice because your
bed will not get warm, but the wires, connectors and elements on the
RAMPS will get even hotter. Marlin should detect this and switch off
after a few seconds.
Check your thermistor. Seems you already did that.
Check your RAMPS by measuring the voltage on the bed connector while setting the bed to heat up. You should see 12V, at least in the
frist few seconds. |
Marlin (on RUMBA board) switch extruder fan automatically I have wired in a new extruder with its own cooling fan and I tried to change the Marlin firmware to switch it on automatically above a specific temperature (50 °C).
I did noting in the Configuration.h
I changed a line in the Configuration_adv.h
from
#define EXTRUDER_0_AUTO_FAN_PIN -1
to
#define EXTRUDER_0_AUTO_FAN_PIN 8
as described in this article.
But the fan is not starting when I bring the temperature above 50 °C (manually). However it starts if I switch the fan on manually from Repetier.
Am I missing something? How do I control the fan automatically on FAN0 output when the temperature reached the set limit? | The RUMBA board has two fan outputs. The primary fan output is switched by pin 7, the secondary one by pin 8. The reason your fan is not working when you set #define EXTRUDER_0_AUTO_FAN_PIN 8 is because it's switching the secondary fan. If you switch the wires over to the secondary fan output it will work correctly.
If you do want to use the primary fan output then you can achieve this by setting #define EXTRUDER_0_AUTO_FAN_PIN 7 but you will need to search for the #define FAN 8 in the appropriate pins.h file and change 8 to something else (-1 or 7, for example).
I would recommend the first solution, because you should have a controllable print cooling fan, and an automatic extruder cooling fan. |
Direct vs Bowden Extrusion when printing in temperature fluctuating environment I have a Bowden extrusion printer in my garage. (Printing PLA is smelly and is nothing I want to be exposed to for an extended period of time!)
I enclosed the printer within a plastic sheet housing to reduce the energy consumption of keeping the hot bed tempered. I noticed that a strong temperature fluctuation influence how the PLA part turns out.
If I start printing in the morning a print that takes 2 hours to print -- in a cold garage, cold filament, cold tube, I end up with a solid first 4 layers and lacy last 4 layers. The last 4 layer are so thin that they end up to be almost see through.
last layer
first layer
I am assuming that the PLA and tubing heat expansion difference is the reasoning for that undesired under extrusion phenomenon.
The cold Bowden tube is perhaps expanding more then the PLA filament and the tubing is warming up more quickly being directly exposed to the heat during the heating up of the unit; obviously, the PLA filament is inside the tube and is kept colder for much longer.
How can I solve this -- keeping the printer in the garage? And, would a direct extrusion mod remedy this under extrusion?
Most likely preheating the printer would help, but that would call for an insulation upgrade from plastic sheet to Styrofoam. Insulating the Bowden tube may also be worth trying. (Happy printing.) | I don't think your temperature based explanation makes sense. This looks to me just like a first layer smashed against the bed, possibly too much due to nozzle being too low, followed by underextrusion when there's actually the right amount of space to extrude into. If you have fewer than 3 top layers or less than 0.6 mm of top layer thickness, you will almost certainly have an underextruded top like this just from the first top layer sagging into the space between the infill lines. Since the walls look okay, this is my best guess; if the walls looked bad too I would suspect poorly tuned filament diameter/E-steps-per-mm. Also check that your infill is not too sparse; more than 4 mm or so between infill lines gives a lot of room for top layers to sag into and may increase the number of top layers you need.
I see you added in the comments that your layer height is 0.1 mm. At such thin layers, you probably need at least 5 or 6 top layers; the first 2-3 are expected to sag and not fill the space. |
How to interrupt long command with G-code? I was able to connect my terminal program (Putty) to my 3D Printer (Creality Ender 3 Pro) and was able to send G-code commands to my printer and it obeys.
Now suppose I sent long command like
G29 ; auto bed leveling
and it is still executing. Printer writes me
echo:busy: processing
How to interrupt it?
I tried to send M0, but it didn't work. | 3D Printers are pretty basic when it comes to g-code. There is no cycle start or cycle pause function on them. There is also no g-code command to interrupt the previous command. To get it to a halt you could turn it off. Or if the printer's firmware is configured to do so, you can touch one of the limit switches to get it to stop its movements. |
I am looking for laser cut cads for my prusa i3? I have this prusa i3 printer(I don't know what model is it):
My bed part is broken. And I am looking for the cads to laser cut them! this is my bed pic: | This is not exactly my part, but the holes place are true. I think if someone measures the bed dimensions( for me it's 21.9mm * 21.9mm) and orders a plate in this size, he can also make holes later with drill(I did it before for another part of my plexi to attach the power supply).
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1310778 |
Enclosure, things to pay attention to? I got an Anet A8 and want to build an enclosure for it. Since I'm currently only printing PLA, I would do it mainly for noise cancelling, because I have to run it in my room. I however want to have the possibility to upgrade it later with, say, an air filter etc., for example for ABS.
What do I have to pay attention to?
Do I need ventilation slits?
Would you put the filament inside or run it through a small hole from the top?
Any tips for making it especially noise cancelling?
Is wood the right material? | Sort of related, see the answers to:
Commercially available 3D printer fume and UFP extractor, and;
What are the best air filtration options for enclosures?
Addressing your points in turn:
Ventilation - Probably not, as you want to keep the print warm. However, when printing with filaments where well ventilated conditions are recommended1, to prevent the build up of noxious fumes, from ABS for example, you would need (active) filtration, see this answer.
Filament Placement - I have seen printers fully enclosed, including the filament. However, there is the potential issue, especially if using PLA, that if the temperature inside the enclosure reaches temperatures approaching those of a closed car, on a hot day, then the PLA filament could become damaged/melt, and not roll of the spool correctly. In that case, you could place the reel on to of the enclosure and feed it through a (small) hole in the top. Feeding it through the side, could add additional resistance to it being pulled from the reel, depending upon placement.
Noise cancellation - Line the enclosure with non-flammable foam, or some other non-flammable noise cancelling lining
Material - As Mark states in his answer, be extra careful of thermal runaway, as 3D printers run hot, and an enclosed printer, even hotter. Wood is the sort of material you probably want to avoid. Whilst it is cheap, and would probably work fine in most situations, in the case of an emergency (read, fire), then you are merely providing additional combustable material. It would be advisable to stick with an aluminium frame (non-combustable) and glass (non-combustable and insulating).
Additonal Points:
Electronics - You may want to consider placing the electronics (i.e. controller board) outside the enclosure, as the RAMPS board generally likes to be kept as cool as possible (especially the stepper drivers).
Display/Control - Along with the electronics, it could be a good idea to also place the LCD display, and conjoint control panel, outside the enclosure, so as to provide ease of access. You don't really want to have to keep removing/opening the enclosure to change a minor setting.
Access - Do you want a lift-off type enclosure, or have an access door? The latter is certainly more user friendly, or convenient.
Sturdiness - Do you want a light weight (flimsy?) enclosure, or a heavier, more robust, enclosure?
Safety - An air-tight fire box could be worth considering.
Note: After having stated that wood is not the best idea, it seems that IKEA tables are sometimes used, by stacking two on top of each other: New IKEA hack lets you create a 3D printer enclosure for cheap
A safer bet is this delta printer enclosure, which is, essentially, a larger delta frame, made from aluminium extrusion and acrylic, enclosing a smaller delta printer:
4 Simple Steps to Build Your Own 3D Printer Enclosure
For an example of a cheap, yet extremely flammable enclosure, made from plastic sheeting and piping, see How to build an enclosure for your 3D printer
1 See Davo's comment. |
What is the thinnest hotend? I have a few 3D printers and now want to start building a custom 3D printer.
I want to build a 3D printer with multiple nozzles, and I want to make the hotend thin so the nozzles can be closer together.
What is the thinnest nozzle avalible to buy?
Are there any guides or details on how I could make a custom nozzle or modify a nozzle if I can't buy a thin nozzle? | The size of the nozzle usually isn't the main factor for how close you can put nozzles together. To keep the filament drive gear system from being the limiting factor, you would need Bowden extruders. "Then, the heat sinks and fans would be your limiting factor. Have you considered a single nozzle with three extruders? Otherwise, you need custom angled heat sinks similar to the three heat sinks on a single nozzle, and still a way to orient the nozzles at the same Z-height. That would be difficult if all the nozzles are on the same heater block. It still seems that nozzle size is the least of the issues of putting nozzles close together.
If you search for smaller nozzle sizes, you will get nozzles with smaller openings, not smaller overall size. The threads on the nozzles are a standard size. Thus, the smaller opening size can't be put closer together than the larger opening size. Otherwise, you have only small variations between different types of nozzles and need room to screw them in to the heater block if you put all of them into one block. You can get a nozzle using a 6 mm hex wrench that is smaller than one using a 7 mm hex (E3D). |
Are there printers that don't have thermal runaway protection? This question asks about the reasoning behind thermal runaway protection and how to turn it on. However, how do I know if my printer does not have protection in the first place? Either because it is shut off by default or, if such printers exist, is not a feature of the printer.
For example, the Creality CR-10S, a popular family of printers, has TRP not enabled (or deactivated) for some reason. Since there are a handful of printers (Creality, Tevo, Anet, Prusa, Ultimaker, etc) that seem pretty ubiquitous in the community and are recommended for beginners, it seems like it'd be handy to know whether or not any given printer has this safety feature. | At the time of this writing (March 2019), many (if not most) cheap printers from the Far East are not delivered with Thermal Runaway Protection enabled as Marlin had this feature disabled as default for a long time (it was for certain so in April of 2018).
I know that Anet printers (A8 from experience) and the Creality Ender-3 printer (experience from another member) come with TRP disabled in the firmware when shipped from the factory. Thomas Sanladerer did a test on his machines and found that it was disabled on the Creality CR-10, Anet E-10 and A-8 had it disabled while the Mini Fabrikator v1 did have no Mintemp/Maxtemp but Thermal Runaway. Even the quite expensive BCN3D Sigma R17 had it disabled in April of 2018 on default.
Among the printers that come with Thermal Runaway Protection enabled are the PrusaResearch builds of the Original Prusa i3.
To test if it is enabled on your printer, you could disconnect the heater elements prior or during printing, see this answer or the process explained in Thomas Sanladerer's Video above or from the start of his safety tutorial:
How to test if TRP is active on my printer?
To test if thermal runaway protection is enabled on your printer, you
can disconnect the heater element of the hotend or the heated bed. You
can disconnect the heater element while the printer is cold (before
start) and also when the heater element is heating up. No heating of
the nozzle will take place, so after the period defined by the time
constant set in the firmware, the printer will halt if thermal runaway
protection is enabled. Power down the machine and reconnect the wires,
it is not advised to put them back in; when the printer halted, you
should power down or reset the printer anyways. If the printer did not
halt, power it down as quickly as possible. |
OctoPrint Unable to Connect to Lulzbot Mini We have a Lulzbot Mini at my office (i.e. it's not my personal printer). It's connected to an OctoPi and I've been able to get just one file to print on it (which I had to cancel due to leveling issues). Others have used it successfully in the past.
However, right now, every time I try to connect to it through OctoPrint, I just get gibberish back:
Connecting to: /dev/ttyACM0
Changing monitoring state from "Offline" to "Opening serial port"
Connected to: Serial<id=0x6f830510, open=True>(port='/dev/ttyACM0', baudrate=115200, bytesize=8, parity='N', stopbits=1, timeout=10.0, xonxoff=False, rtscts=False, dsrdtr=False), starting monitor
Changing monitoring state from "Opening serial port" to "Connecting"
Send: N0 M110 N0*125
Send: N0 M110 N0*125
Recv: �Np|\x04n6H\x15\x06'
Recv: \x10ONv�HO
Recv: J%�i�h�ON,=\x0c\x14\x07�|i�Mx86B~1~\x04g\x1a\x1e�HO
Recv: J%P|H~\x03�^�-\x08n6�M�w��K�'
Recv: \x08�^�;V7JO\x1e\x0b�\x08\�H^�Kqp|\x08\x13\x08H\x08\x04P|"]+X{\x16�\x08nl�P<\x08\x14\x08]�x�
Recv: �J�X�\x1a�H3H6F�J�J%�J/H\x08^�I\x08ZY\x08\x07:&h\x0f^\x17�}�$p|\x08\x14
Recv: ^HJ�J�\x08�J\x1b�*':f\x18�k\x1e>H]�Zf�J�Z�J�%\x08^\x08W�X�\x1a�\x0b\x1e\x1eH]�Z�Kq?N!KP�.N!Kka�.a\x0b'
Recv: �J�J�JH�I�JHJP|@_a\x13�\x16�/m\x7f\x1fy�\x16=�6\x1b�VO6�=�6\x1b�f>�K7f\x7f�K{f>�K\x1bf��+'J�z�J\x08@�\x08�J%�\x18%�(�J\x17�
Recv: \x07
Recv: �M!
Recv: gJ�j�I�j\x08N�x�\x1a\x7fB
�\x0b]F�J�J�x�
Recv: V
Recv: o\x16�F�J�Z�j\x0c.�\x08%�\x05\x07J�j�5�\x18HJ�J�X�*�\F]{L$P<\x08�\x08~5Ip|\x04}&@\x1faF�J�J�If�\x1a33l\x7f�N\x0bYp|\x088
No answer from the printer within the connection timeout, trying another hello
Send: N0 M110 N0*125
There was a timeout while trying to connect to the printer
Changing monitoring state from "Connecting" to "Offline"
Connection closed, closing down monitor
The only thing I can think of right now is refreshing the firmware, but before I do that, I figured I'd ask here. Does any one know what this gibberish is and how I can restore this printer to regular operation? | If the printer returns gibberish, the Baud rate of the connection is incorrect. You are using 115200 in the example above. For older Mini firmwares, it should indeed be 115200. For the newer 1.1.5.xx builds, it should be 250000. |
How easily can I remove/replace the nozzle of the prusa i3? I'm considering getting a prusa i3 after my da vinci jr. fiasco, with that said, how easily can I remove/replace the nozzle in order to clean it? | Assuming you have a typical setup: nozzle threaded into heater block, use a socket wrench on the nozzle and any wrench or vise-grip on the block, and unscrew the nozzle. Now, if your system is fully clogged, you may want to heat the head to melt all the residual gunk (which otherwise will strongly resist your unscrewing force). Obviously take care not to burn yourself if removing the nozzle while hot.
Alternatively, don't bother removing the nozzle. Raise the extruder as high (Z-axis) as you can, heat, and use a properly-sized stiff wire to ream out the nozzle. You can use the back end of a microdrill bit. Hot or cold, you can use the drill itself to ream, but be very cautious as you may widen the nozzle itself doing this.
I should add that you may well have gunk in the feeder tube, and that's considerably wider diameter. Remove the nozzle and gently drill out the feeder with a matching drill. |
PTFE detoriation temperature I read that PTFE starts to deteriorate past 260 °C. Does that mean heating to 250 °C is no problem at all, or will that destroy the PTFE material over time to? | Degradation starts at 260 °C and shifts towards full blown decomposition towards 350 °C. 250 °C is technically fine, but you should keep in mind that you've got little to no wiggle room for error at that temperature. Your thermistor and board may not be accurate enough to guarantee you'll never overshoot that temperature, and the way 3D printers often handle temperature adjustment exacerbates that risk. You can print at 250 °C, just be aware you've got basically no margin for error. |
Creality CR-10S Pro 3D printer heated bed turns off after first few layers: normal? When I run prints on my Creality CR-10S Pro 3D printer (using Ultimaker Cura as slicer), I set the heated bed to around 70 °C for PETG. after the first few layers, the heated bed set point changes to 0 °C.
Is it normal for a 3D printer to turn the heated bed off during a print, or is this a problem?
I have had some parts warping, and wonder if this is a potential cause. | Cr-10 S Pro has an eco mode make sure it's not turned on because this will turn your bed off after the first few layers have printed. |
Drilling 3D-printed plastic I need to do some post processing of my 3D-printed models that includes adding some holes. For each of PLA, ABS, PETG and other 3D-printing materials:
In what ways is drilling a hole in a model made from that material like or unlike drilling wood? Is it worth getting special "plastic drilling bits" that cost tons of money or can I use regular high speed drill bits? Do these plastics have grain that they will split on when drilled into, and if so, what are ways to avoid such splitting? Are higher speeds better, or lower speeds, or should I only use a finger-twirled bit holder?
Are some 3D-printing materials easier to drill than others?
What other methods also work for creating a hole in the different types of plastics? | Have to get this out of the way... Can you just print the hole into the part instead of drilling? That's usually best, when possible.
If you need to drill, you'll definitely want to print an undersized hole and then ream it out with the drill. This both provides alignment for the drill and adds extra plastic around the region you'll be weakening. If you don't know where the hole needs to go in advance, fill the model with a hex pattern of tiny holes in the general region of the future drilling. This is an easy way to strengthen the area with more plastic without making the entire part solid. (Using a slicer that allows localized print settings will also work.)
The hole should be aligned more or less vertical or "across the grain" (+/-45 degrees aligned with the Z axis) to ensure there are nice, strong hoops of plastic around the hole to keep it from splitting. Drilling into a printed part (particularly PLA) from the side / parallel to the XY plane is highly likely to split it. It may even be ok at first but crack later under load or due to creep.
Regular wood drill bits work ok, but you need to go slow and take nibbles, leaving the plastic time to cool so it doesn't melt and stick to the bit. (Coolant is an option.) Use a pilot hole, piloted bit, or step drill to remove less plastic per pass. A really sharp bit will perform dramatically better than a dull bit.
Put something hard and drillable like wood behind the plastic part to help avoid breakage and bit-jamming when you break through the opposite side. |
What's the advantage to deploy 3D printing on IaaS 3D printing is becoming more and more populated during the last few years. But still, only a few group of people can access the 3D printer and know how to use it. So it is reasonable to deploy 3D printing on the cloud, so that almost everyone can access it and finish their job in a few steps.
Basically, there are 3 types of service on the cloud, which are:
Iaas - Infrastructure as a Service;
PaaS - Platform as a Service;
SaaS - Service as a service.
It seems we can deploy 3D printing on all of these models. But specifically, what's the advantage to deploying 3D printing on IaaS? Under what condition we should use IaaS? | Most cloud models are based on virtual rather than physical services.
The closest thing I can think of as "IAAS" in the 3D printing space would be something like 3DHubs which connects people that have printer capacity with people that want to print.
The whole cloud 3D printing thing seem a bit questionable to how large/viable of a market it really is. I know there are a LOT of people out there that want to make money off of (or at least defer the cost of) the printer they bought; but, the market seems over-saturated. Heck, even UPS does it.
All the people that I know that use contract printing already have their own printer but contract out either for more volume, or a different material than they can print with their printer. At work we have a printer; but, we go outside if we want volume (hundreds of pieces) but are not yet ready to commit to a mold. When we go outside, we would only consider a trusted vetted supplier - not the cloud. |
Running laser on my printer I am trying to control a laser with the fan (D9) and ran into problems.
So I tried P44, no good then P6 also not good.\
What my problem is I am trying to "burn" a group of vertical lines spaced about 0.75" apart, and randomly the drive to the laser power supply is either "skipping" (missing the control pulse) or stretching the pulse.
This results in missed burns and/or "streaks" where the laser does not turn off.
I am using Marlin 1.1.4 on a RAMPS 1.4 board (clone) on an Arduino close also.
When I am not printing, the pulses are perfect and I can control the pulse width with M42 P6(or 44) S0 (to 255) and it follows just fine.
It is ONLY while I am printing and the steppers are moving that things go south.
This also occurs on D9 (fan) and that is why I am trying these other outputs.
These other outputs use different timers in the 2560 as well.
I have tried all sorts and combinations of firmware settings, different USB cable and different USB ports on my computer, with no change.
What might I be missing? | Thank you all for your suggestions and help.
It appears that I was just running the printer too fast and slowing it down to about 10% of my original speed "fixed" my problem.
I don't know where i got the rediculous speed from, but 1200 mm/min is WAY too fast.
More like 150 to maybe 200 mm/min is what it should have been.
Oh well.. comes under the heading "pay attention" I guess! |
How do you know when your SLA resin tray needs to be replaced? How do you know when your SLA print tray has lost its non-stick coating?
Are there visible or testable signs you can use to determine it is time to invest in a new resin tray?
Is it best to count prints and estimate? | Once the non stick coating wears off you'll notice degraded print quality over time and a more agressive sound from the print breaking free when switching layers as the print uses more and more force to break free from the tray with each layer when the non stick coating degrades. The good thing is this will not happen at once so you will start to notice telltale signs previously and you can lessen the wear at specific points of the non stick coating by using different parts of the build platform instead of printing exactly in the center each time. |
Increased issues with filament grinding I have a FlashForge CreatorX (MakerBot clone) that's been working fine for about 15 months. Int he past month, I started noticing "thin" layers in some of my ABS prints. I finally tracked the issue down to the extruder gear grinding the filament (after a while, enough filament had ground off that the gear teeth were filled with plastic). I cleaned the gear twice before giving up on ABS and switching to PLA. Everything seemed ok until the PLA started doing the same thing during an overnight print (thin layers on prints, audible skipping during filament feed).
Raising the temperature on the extruder seems to fix the problem, but I'm now extruding PLA at 242 °C, much higher than I used to need. I worry that continued printing at this temperature will increase wear on the thermistor and increase my chances of clogging PLA in the gear (an issue I've had twice before).
Are there any common issues that cause this issue of filament not feeding properly? I've tried cleaning out the extruder head with wire and there don't seem to be any clogs… | I've encountered this on my Replicator Dual in the past. I was only using MakerBot branded ABS filament, so it wasn't a quality issue for me.
What I found was that the delrin plunger design that "helps" keep the filament in contact with the drive gear wasn't actually helping. So, I installed the newer assemblies that use a spinning bearing to contact with the filament.
Install (or keep installed) a spring loaded extruder assembly.
When feeding filament, loosen the spring and gradually tighten until the filament begins feeding on its own.
Try to stay close to the recommended print temperatures for the material. ABS is typically somewhere around 225C, but it depends on the supplier.
Ensure your filament is stored in a dry place. This is way more of an issue for PLA, but it doesn't hurt to keep your material protected.
If it continues, perhaps swap out the drive gear itself. If you've dropped your motor or somehow a burr has developed on any of the teeth, naturally the burr will cut away the material. Gears are very temperamental and should be considered a consumable. |
Printed part problem, distortion on upper section containing hole I cannot generate the upper part of the solid properly which contain a hole (as in the picture). The solid part (bottom section) printed well.
What should I change to print the part with hole properly?
Is it a problem with machine or the design?
I am using Hydra 3D printer. | It appears that the upper part of your print contains less plastic than the lower. This would mean that as the printer begins to operate in that area, the previously deposited plastic has less time to cool.
The distortions are difficult to see from the distortions of the photograph, but I've experienced similar upper, smaller section failures.
You could consider to print more than one copy of the item on the bed, which will require the nozzle to move away from each layer, allowing more cooling time, or add a throw-away model.
I've also added an ooze shield using Simplify3D to create a single wall around the part, providing the same cooling time concept.
If you try these options and still experience a problem, please consider editing your post with material used (PLA, ABS, PETG, etc) as well as temperatures and speeds used for this print.
Your slicer is not likely the problem, but is often useful information. Printer name is sometimes helpful, but I think it's not critical in this circumstance.
It's also useful to orient the part in the photograph to match that of the print. It's apparent in this case that the top of the print is to the right and bottom is to the left. If that is not correct, please advise in edit. |
Meaning of G1 -2.000 F2400.000 I am working on g code for my homebrew 3d printer and i have found the line G1 -2.000 F2400.000. From what i understand there should be an axis before the number and x and y shouldnt have negative. I am using grbl which is for cnc milling but and i have been deleting this line with no problems but i am wondering what it does because i will be upgrading to a "real" 3d printer asap | G1 -2.000 F2400.000
Is not valid G-code. As you note, -2.000 should be prefixed with an axis (X,Y,Z or E).
Marlin would ignore the -2.000 bit and simply treat the command as equivalent to
G1 F2400.000
which doesn't perform any movement, but sets the feedrate for any future moves to 2400mm/min.
x and y shouldnt have negative
Not necessarily. Even though normally printing is done in the positive quadrant, negative values can be valid. Not only in relative movement mode, but even in absolute mode (for instance, if you set the center of your bed as (0,0) or if you use a negative z-axis offset the bring the nozzle closer to the bed). |
PLA does not stick to center of the bed anymore I have used my printer (Flying Bear Ghost 4) for the last year and a few days ago I noticed that the center of the heat bed does not stick like it used to.
I think it can be caused by the fact that I always print at the center of the bed (glass) and the center is now too much used.
Is there a way to fix it or will I need another bed? | Actually I washed my heat-bed with some dishes soap and dried it very well, releveled it and now all is fine. I guess it was greasy even if i cleaned it as usual. |
Why does Cura insert G0 commands between G1 commands while Slic3r doesn't? While looking into G-code I was wondering why Cura inserts G0 commands in between G1 commands every other line like this:
G1 F2400 X144.612 Y130.187 E1652.56358
G0 F6000 X144.612 Y129.621
G1 F2400 X72.905 Y57.914 E1654.16570
G0 F6000 X73.471 Y57.914
G1 F2400 X144.612 Y129.056 E1655.75518
G0 F6000 X144.612 Y128.490
G1 F2400 X74.036 Y57.914 E1657.33203
G0 F6000 X74.602 Y57.914
G1 F2400 X144.612 Y127.924 E1658.89623
G0 F6000 X144.612 Y127.359
It seems like it wants to move to a slightly offset starting position for the next extrusion. I dont understand why, though. It wants to have touching lines as a result, doesn't it?
I do see this making sense in a fill situation, - this section is called 'type: skin'. How does slic3r get away doing infill without this?
Am I correct to read slic3r gcode correctly to use G1 instead of G0 commands for this? | Formally, G0 is a rapid move and G1 is a coordinated move. A G1 will cause the printhead to move in a straight line from the begin to the end position, whereas a G0 allows the printhead to move in any curve, so long as it ends up in the target position. Because of acceleration and deceleration constraints, it can sometimes be faster to move in a curve rather than a straight line.
However, I don't think any actually firmware implements this, and a G0 behaves in the exact same way as a G1.
What the piece of G-code you posted is doing is creating a solid infill, which consists of a bunch of parallel lines, each slightly offset from the next:
It makes sense that no material is extruded when it moves from one line to the other, as otherwise too much material would get deposited at the edge. |
What materials would be appropriate for pool parts (chlorine & UV exposure) using SLA or FDM? I've got a printer on the way later this year that's supposed to be able to do both FDM and SLA (with the appropriate accessories). I'm interested in printing some parts for swimming pools (the types that generally cost fifty cents to make, but with markup and shipping end up costing thirty or more dollars).
I need to find a material that can withstand exposure to chlorine (up to 15ppm for the rare nuclear shock) and UV from the sun, hopefully for several years.
I think that I'd prefer an FDM filament initially in order to test, but understand that FDM processes may require more post-processing in order to keep water from penetrating layers.
What are some other considerations that I should be aware of? Having a white color would be preferable, but if it's available in other colors and would be suitable, it might be fun to make some different colored eyeball fittings. | Have you thought about using ASA filament? ASA filament is very strong. ASA filament is similar to ABS filament (if you have ever worked with that). When contrasting it to ABS filament, ASA has a higher resistance against UV and chemical exposure. It will also have no problem with the water. Both ASA and ABS filament print at about the same temperatures.
Here are some links that might be helpful :
UV-Resistant ASA Filament: Properties, How to Use, and Best Brands
Want to Use ABS in Hot Sun? We Compare ABS vs ASA Filaments
Hope this is helpful. |
e-steps are wrong only during printing moves I have two otherwise-identical machines (called "Lefty" and "Righty"), so I have a baseline to compare. I am running Marlin 2.0.7.2 on both machines. They are Creality CR-10 printers with BTT SKR e3 Mini v1.2 boards, with Marlin I compiled myself. Both machines are (as far as I know!) running the same exact firmware binary.
When running the same G-code on both printers, Lefty prints fine. But, Righty fires the plastic through -- I need to set the flow rate to 50 % (!) to be correct. I have checked the esteps, both are identical at 415, and this produces 39.5 mm of 40 mm commanded when bumped through 1 mm at a time via the extrusion menu, even on Righty. The XY movement on both machines is 100 % correct.
Volumetric extrusion is disabled in the firmware on both machines, and disabled in the slicer. Both machines are running TMC2209 drivers, set to Spread Spectrum at 650 mA for the extruder. Both machines are set to 1250 accel. The steppers are rated for 1 A, and they are not skipping steps.
The machines were working side-by-side perfectly until I killed Righty's stepper driver with static, and replaced the board. No other hardware was modified.
Why do both machines behave the same with identical G-code, until extrusion moves? Why does Righty try and extrude nearly double what it should be, only during printing, when Lefty works perfectly? | Annoyingly, this went away with a replacement board. I don't have a better fix. |
Is Creality Ender 3 V2 Supposed To Come With Board V 4.2.2? I recently purchased a Creality Ender 3 V2 ~1 month ago, and just yesterday installed a BLTouch. When looking at the motherboard, I noticed my board version is 4.2.2. Isn't the Ender 3 V2 supposed to come with a V 4.2.7 board? Did Creality mistakenly include the wrong board with my printer?
I did some googling but couldn't find a definitive answer. If anyone can, please let me know. My plan (if there was a mistake) is to email Creality customer service, but if any of you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears.
PS: I purchased this directly from Creality website, not Amazon or any other marketplace. Thanks, all. | Yes, they are shipping the v2 with the 4.2.2 board. My understanding is that the 4.2.7 board has a change in the stepper driver pinout but is otherwise the same as 4.2.2. The change in the pinout allowed them to change the stepper driver package as the stepper driver vendor appears to be changing that spec. I've used both boards in my V2 with no discernable difference. |
Help With PLA settings I’m just getting my feet wet with 3D printing, and I’ve had a few prints do this. Curious if anyone has any ideas for me that might help clean this up? (I don’t really have anyone in my personal circle who can help out, so hoping this community can :) )
Edit 5/23
The first layer of the print is inconsistent in the way it’s deposited. Some areas feel correct while others are very thin. Usually there are large gaps like in the pictures below. After the first layer, the rest of the print seems to be fine. I’m curious is anyone has any insight into what could be causing the inconsistency.
I try to level the bed before each print, but I’m not sure if it’s at the correct height as the instructions I got with the printer are pretty subjective: “use a piece of A4 paper and you should be able to pull it with some resistance”. | It looks like your nozzle is a little too close to the bed, if there is not enough space, you can see through the layer and pressure can build up and ooze out when there is a little more room in a different location (if the bed isn't completely flat/straight).
You could level with a thicker piece of paper or add a Z-offset to the whole print ( e.g. in your slicer, or change the G-code by redefining the Z height).
You could also increase the first layer a little when slicing. |
What triggers Marlin's "Click to resume..."? I have a long print that keeps aborting. At some random point mid-print the printer says "Click to resume...". There is nothing in the G-code that asks for user confirmation. What could it be that triggers this? I noticed that sometimes (not every time) there is a blob of plastic in the way that should not be there.
On one occasion, after the "Click to resume...", the LCD showed the message FY178.N16466 and again waited for a click.
The printer is an Anet A8 with Marlin 1.1.9. Slicer is Cura. I am printing via USB from Cura directly.
This is the error message: | To answer your question directly, this action (Click to resume...) is triggered by a buffer overflow of the Marlin firmware that is caused by the repetitive sending of M105 command by Ultimaker Cura (without checking the result).
This problem is a reported problem and fixed in the next release of Ultimaker Cura (please do note that as of posting this answer, the 3.6 Beta release is available for download). It appears to be a communication problem between Ultimaker Cura 3.4+ and 1.1.8+ versions of the Marlin firmware and has to to with polling of the temperature (M105). The link above also states it is fixed in the 3.6 release (which is the next release) as the fix has been integrated in the main code base.
This describes the problem:
To update the temperatures in the monitor, Cura sends M105 pings every
2 seconds. It seems that if this is done during a print without
waiting for an OK from the printer, the serial buffer on the printer
may still overflow eventually (causing Marlin to complain/pause).
and this describes the solution:
During some operations, such as preheating, the printer responds to
new commands with echo:busy. While it is busy, it does send
temperature messages, but these are not prepended with an ok,
because the ok is supposed to show that a command was received and
executed. So the two patches I wrote do the following:
the pattern matching no longer looks for ok messages, but looks for
temperature updates (this fixes the temperature updating while the
printer is preheating)
once the printer has said that it is busy, stop
asking for temperature updates until the next ok is received (this
prevents the serial buffer overflowing while preheating)
Old answer centered around the firmware (based on the text of the OP, no photo with the actual error message was added yet):
The text click to resume print cannot be found (with case insensitive search) in the latest sources of Marlin 1.1.9 down to Marlin 1.1.6. This means that you are using a different fork, an older version of Marlin or the message is not displayed as such.
The text message Resume print can be found, and is part of the message constant MSG_RESUME_PRINT
#define MSG_RESUME_PRINT _UxGT("Resume print")
But, this cannot be found in some sort of a concatenation using MSG_RESUME_PRINT! |
Do 3D printers really reach 50 micron (0.05 mm) accuracy? I've always been wondering about the actual accuracy of 3D printing devices. When looking for the perfect machine to buy, I looked at the speed, price, filaments supported etc, but also accuracy. I once asked somebody who could give me some advice on what to look at.
One of the things I was told about was that many printers don't necessarily have that crazy precision of 0.05 mm (50 micron). Another person told me something different - he said most of those printers actually were capable of putting out 50 micron layer height. How is it really?
Another thing is that the official slicers for those machines also claim that this precision is real, for instance the PrusaSlicer v2.0.
There are many high-end, very expensive machines and even they sometimes claim their resolution is worse than 50 microns. | There's not a simple answer to this question, or if there is, it's "no". However the situation is a lot more complicated. When printer specs cite accuracy like this, they're usually basing the claim on the nominal size of the smallest movements on each axis by one "microstep" of the stepper motors. There's a great article on Hackaday explaining the how this affects accuracy: How Accurate is Microstepping Really.
At the mechanical positioning level - putting the print head where it needs to be to extrude the material with the desired accuracy - you have at least these factors limiting your accuracy:
Microsteps are generally spaced roughly monotonically between whole steps, but do not necessarily divide the whole step into even portions. How well they do is a matter of the stepper drivers your printer's controller board uses. Generally, microsteps are 1/16 of a step (although there are drivers with 1/8, 1/32, or even 1/256, maybe others too), so if you see a rated accuracy of 0.05 mm, a whole step, which might be the minimum you can get reliable accuracy from, is likely 0.8 mm.
Stepper motors are deflected slightly - up to 2 whole steps but less than one step is more likely if they're not overloaded - under load. So are belts. How much this affects you depends on the design of the printer and how much mass each axis is moving. Direct drive extruders are much worse in this regard. Delta printers are probably best in it.
These can be mitigated somewhat, with tradeoffs, by using stepper motors with more steps per rotation, better stepper driver chips, reduction with gears, etc.
On top of that, you also have extrusion and properties of the print material limiting your accuracy:
The extruder motor is subject to the same accuracy issues as the positioning ones. If you extrude too much or too little material anywhere, you'll necessarily have accuracy issues. You can compute them based on the cross-sectional area of filament, size of extruder gear, extruder motor step and microstep size, etc.
If the filament diameter is not perfectly consistent, you'll also extrude too much or too little material.
If material is not cooled or kept warm appropriately as it's extruded (this varies by material), it will sag, warp, or curl, ending up in a different place from where you wanted it.
The more you vary the ratio between nozzle/extrusion width and layer height from an ideal ratio, the more the shape of the extruded material paths will differ from the model you're trying to print. With thick layers especially they'll become rounded rather than near-flat along the walls.
In theory, a lot of these issues probably could be mitigated a lot better than they are now just by better slicing - the logic that happens on a computer to convert the original 3D model into instructions for where to extrude material.
With all that said, you can get pretty amazing accuracy still, especially with a good or well-tuned so-so printer. On my cheap Ender 3, after dealing with some issues now and then that made glaringly obvious problems, I can get dimensional accuracy within 0.1 mm in the X and Y directions, at least for some models. So I think it's very plausible that a better, or better-tuned, printer could get 0.05 mm accuracy. |
Incorrect beginning Z movement I just bought an Ender 3 Max and from the start I knew something was wrong. I figured out the problem: it is with the first few millimeters of the Z axis movement.
I turn on my 3D printer, go to prepare, move axis, move Z, move 1 mm.
Then I tell the printer to move up 1 mm. But in reality it only moves up 0.3 mm. I then tell it to move up another millimeter, except it only moves up 0.4 mm. When I tell it to move up another millimeter, and it moves up only 0.45 mm. I then tell it to move up another millimeter and it moves up 0.6 mm. And then anytime after that when I say to move up a millimeter it actually moves up a millimeter. Below is a little chart to help you understand what is happening.
Set height | Actual height
--------------------------
0 | 0
1 | 0.3
2 | 0.7
3 | 1.15
4 | 1.75
5 | 2.75
6 | 3.75
7 | 4.75
8 | 5.75
9 | 6.75
10 | 7.75
As a result of this error on my printer, the test prints I have run so far are splayed out and uneven at the bottom, making my prints warped at the first 5 mm and several millimeters shorter than they should be. | Your printer probably has an issue with binding in the lower region (binding means extra friction possibly causing the Z stepper to skip steps). Disconnect the lead screw an manually move the X gantry up and down. If there is binding, you need to find why this happens, with the unfortunate design of the Ender, many people experience issues when the rollers on both posts are not correctly installed. |
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? | 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. |
What are the modifications on this Kossel? (This question is a kind of self-answer. I know who built this printer, he explained the modifications, and I thought it might be interesting for others too. I've asked him to answer this question, to keep this information on Stack Exchange. I realize this question in its current form may be "Too Broad", feel free to edit to make it more specific).
I saw this Kossel Mini printer, and noted that it has some modifications. I'm told this is to make it easier to transport, and would like to know how these modifications make it more robust and more transportable. | Cool you placed my Kossel Mini on Stackexchange!
What I have modified to the standard kit:
Retractable probe using RC Marlin (Rich Cattels Marlin with auto bed probe functionality). Never have to adjust endstops after it is once setup.
All can be done in firmware.
Made a transport case, in the picture the cover is missing which is a triangular case which fits over the printer.
You can clip it on and the carry it with the handle on top.
I just throw it in the car and bring it to the Hackerspace and Hackerevents/Makerfaires and when I feel to it, I can do an auto-probe to align it again (which is hardly needed BTW)
Another mod is the Vaeder extruder, which is really cool in the way it uses a GT2 timing belt to drive the filament. It uses a round wheel and it drives the filament over 1/4 of the diameter of the wheel, so there is a 3 to 4 cm area where the belt drives the filament.
Advantages:
Lots of retracts don't "eat" into the filament causing feed issues
Doesn't flatten the filament. Keeps it nice and round.
Disadvantages (at this moment):
Not possible/ very hard to do filament swaps on the fly (to experiment with multicolor prints).
First time assembly can be a head ache, once you have it assembled it really works and is easy going.
And last but not least. I made a foldable Roll holder.
It is mounted on top by two M8 screws with knobs. When I am done I undo these two screws, fold in the roll holder and it is then mounted to the side of the flight case. This way I can transport printer and roll holder carrying it only using 1 hand. So I use the other hand carrying the bag with accessories like rolls of filament, 3D spray, tweezers etc.
Maybe this info helps other people new to 3D printing improve their printers, or enables them to bring printers more easily to meets and events to inspire others to build more Delta printers. As it's just mesmerizing to see them print. I love watching the print come to reality because it such beautiful piece of engineering! |
Can PLA carry sound coming from a loud speaker? My goal is to have a speaker inside a PLA casing to produce a nice hearable sound from a submersible item.
I intended to produce that sound from a Piezo buzzer stuck on a membrane held tight in hollow place between two pieces, but the result is unsatisfactory as the sound gets muffled to inaudible levels.
Is there any known 3D printable methods to permit for a sound to be heard from PLA? | In space, no one can hear you scream. That's because there's no air to be vibrated, which is part of the definition of sound.
In the case of your model, the described diaphragm will generate sound because it is surrounded by air. The vibrations in the air will transfer (and reflect) from the PLA shell you've created.
In order to hear as much sound as possible, you have to have as thin a shell as possible and only one of them. It would be more effective if you could incorporate the membrane into the shell, which eliminates the sound damping effect of the plastic sphere.
Barring that option, one layer (vase mode, but probably not) would present the created sound with a much less massive amount of plastic to vibrate.
Additionally, PLA is not known for being water tight. One can apply epoxy or other sealants to make it so, but that will add mass to the overall equation. |
POM filament not sticking to the build plate? In the creation of the process of printing my own bearings to reduce noise, minimize play/tolerances and size the bearings to the actual size of the application, I obtained a spool of Polyoxymethylene (POM) or also known as Acetal or Delrin.
This polymer is a thermoplastic polymer that is frequently used in engineering precision parts that require high stiffness, low friction and dimensional stability. It has been chosen for these material properties to be used as bearing material for linear guide rails.
This image shows an example of the application of customized igus® bearing that is as long as the housing part it is going to fit in:
Prints frequently get knocked over as it does not stick well.
How do I get POM filament to stick to the build plate? | Great material but very hard to print as it does not stick easy to the build plate as it has a low friction coefficient to grip onto the heated bed. Also, the material sets quite fast, once the filament leaves the nozzle, it soon hardens so you need to be careful with retraction and Z-hop (leaving small peaks that will be hit later by the nozzle knocking over your print).
My experience with printing this material is based on printing with an Ultimaker 3 Extended (on glass) using a modified material profile (based on Nylon). It is printed at 240 °C (+5 °C for the first layer), no usage of the part cooling fan (if you do use cooling, the layers will not adhere well), a heated bed temperature of 80 °C, and a slow printing speed of 40 mm/s (20 mm/s for the first and second layer).
Ultimaker 3 Extended with printed POM bearing:
First thing I learned is to use quite large brim's (the image above shows a rather small one for this short bearing, for the longer bearings the brim size was more than doubled, e.g. 20 mm), brims enlarge the surface area so that there is more material that grabs hold of the heated bed. Also ensure to get it to stick long enough is heating the bed to 80 °C after smearing ABS juice (ABS dissolved in acetone) and spraying a PVA based spray over the dried ABS juice layer (3DLAC has been used, but other hairsprays or even gluesticks may work as well, as long as there is PVA in it). The temperature of 80 °C is chosen as this is the temperature where my PVA spray has the most tack/sticky-ness.
Other solutions like heating the bed up to 110 °C using 3DLAC or specifically designed sprays for higher temperature like e.g. Dimafix did not work well for me.
Note that complete infill may also give problems as filling out the whole surface area sometimes creates excess material that curls up, which is an easy target to be hit by the nozzle on the next layer.
This image shows an example of using the printed customized igus® POM bearing that is as long as the mount height:
Collection of POM printed bearings:
Another application of POM bearings:
CoreXY hot end carriage |
Is it possible to create a completely sealed box? I would like to create a case or a box which has two holes for incoming and exiting water. I want the box to be opened and closed. Therefore it is good to be something like a treasure box.
Is there a way to design the lid of the box to prevent water from leaking around the areas where the box and the lid are meeting without using glue? | "Completely" is always relative, but for water at the pressures involved it's probably achievable. Normally you need some sort of gasket (material that can bend/compress to slight imperfections in the mating surfaces), and a means of holding the two surfaces tight against the gasket, to get such a seal.
With 3D printing, it's plausible that the print itself could be sufficiently non-rigid to achieve this, if you have a way of keeping the lid and box pressed tightly against each other - bolts through the lid, clips around the edges, etc. But it's unlikely to work well.
I would either print I suitable gasket in TPU, or cut one from some suitable material if you don't have the capability to print with TPU. Either way you still need to design your box and lid so that they're pressed tightly against the gasket.
One possible frame challenge would be doing a round box instead, with a circular threaded lid. It's likely that you could achieve a decent seal for your purposes without any gasket just by tightening the threads, and if not, you still have a really good setup for use with an added gasket. |
Looking for a material so I can make ABS parts with rubber grips and feet Looking for something that offers a lot of friction in contact with human skin or when sitting on the surface of a table.
I was curious if any of the rubber/soft materials would be compatible with ABS so I could print them together using a dual-head setup? | Ninjaflex dual-extrudes great with ABS. I've done a fair amount of NF/ABS dualstrusion. Frankly, any TPU will probably work, since molten polyurethane sticks to practically anything.
The main challenge is ooze control since TPUs tend to ooze a lot. You're going to want to use a printing temp on the low end of the range for the flexible filament, and use some sort of wiper wall structure.
Another issue you might run into is re-priming the flexible filament after an extended idle time. It helps to use a large purge structure to ensure the nozzle gets re-primed fully. Don't use an excessively large toolchange retraction distance -- this will make it more likely that the flexible filament jams during reprime.
The best way to accomplish the above will depend on your slicer. Simplify3D is a good choice since it has good dualstrusion wiper and purge functions. Other slicers can be made to work as well. |
Tevo Tarantula incorrectly auto leveling of bed I decided to try and setup the bed auto level sensor.
I downloaded this firmware: TEVO-Tarantula-I3-Marlin-Firmware and followed this tutorial, YouTube - Setting Up Auto Bed Leveling (Tevo Tarantula).
Firmware Config files:
configuration.h
configuration_adv.h
A few things happened after that:
The bed will not level
The Z axis goes up to approx. the middle...
The printer is in no situation to print
I probably got something wrong...
The machine goes to the leveling points, but is approximately 10 cm above the bed. | From your configuration.h file you see that (in line 643):
#define MANUAL_HOME_POSITIONS
is not commented out, there is no // in front, so this means that manual homing with accompanying coordinates is enabled.
This should not be enabled, as this setting is used by Delta printers only. This may cause the problems you experience as there may be some sort of a conflict between manual and auto positioning. |
Gobs of filament during initial movement of extruder I have successfully printed a few models on my Maker Select V2 (Wanhao Duplicator i3) including 3D Benchy, but I'm seeing a consistent problem with a model that I've sliced with Cura.
The extruder starts by doing a little filament wipe at the origin, then moves to the center of the build plate where the part should be printed. During this move, it extrudes a big burst of filament (PLA), several centimeters worth, which completely ruins the print.
I debugged the initial G-code that Cura uses, and am able to reproduce the problem with this:
M104 S200 ; heat to 200 C
M109 S200 ; wait to reach temperature
G21 ; metric values
G90 ; absolute positioning
M82 ; set extruder to absolute mode
; move to home
G28 X0 Y0
G28 Z0
G1 Z15.0 F120 ; move up 15 mm
G92 E0 ; zero the extruded length
; problematic!
G1 F200 E6 ; extrude 6 mm of filament
What this is doing is moving to the origin position and pushing some filament through the extruder. | The G-code you posted indeed extrudes a blob of filament at the origin (6 mm). During this extrusion pressure is build up in the nozzle/heatbreak, if you command a move after this prime blob, the nozzle will leak filament releasing the leftover back pressure, it is normal to include a retraction before moving to the start of the print, e.g.:
; problematic!
G1 F200 E6 ; extrude 6 mm of filament
G92 E0
G1 F1500 E-1
... ; End of start G-code, move to skirt/brim etc.
An example Cura start G-code could look like:
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
G28 ; Auto Home All AXIS
M117 Heating bed 1st...
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0}
M117 Heating core 1st...
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0}
M117 Priming...
G1 X0 Y0 F2500
G1 Z2
G92 E0
G1 E15 F250
G1 Z4.0 F500
G92 E0
M117 Wiping...
G1 Y5 Z4.0 F500
G1 Y10 Z0.2
G1 Y15 Z0.2 F500
G92 E0
G1 F200
G1 E-3
M117 Printing... |
Changing raster angle, raster width and build orientation in Ultimaker Cura I want to try out different combinations of
raster angle,
raster width and
build orientation
in Ultimaker Cura.
I don't see any settings where I could change these. I am using Cura 2.3
Any suggestions how I could change that? | First: Update Ultimaker Cura. The latest is currently 3.5.1.
You can specify the angles and widths with the settings Infill Line Directions and Infill Line Width.
If you want them differently for different objects on the build plate you can specify those settings in the per-object settings menu on the left. |
Analytic equations to make algorithm of 3D printer I have a project in the 3D printing. the aim of the project is to realize the control of the 3D printing.
the type of the printer is a printer with cables.
the problem seems to have some development both in mechanical and robotics engineering.
first of all, as our tutor said, we should find the dynamical and the geometrical equations and from those equations, we can find the algorithm to control the system of the 3 D printing.
Well, my question is particularly about the dynamical equations in 2D as you can see in the picture above.
the idea is to find equations of :
- L1 and L2 in terms of xa and ya : which I already found as you can see in the picture
- xa and ya and teta in terms of L1 and L2: which I cannot find ! I would lilke you to help in this point.
thank you in advance
And here, I add the dynamic equations and I would like you to check if it is ok | As shown, the mechanics are under-constrained. You can't solve for theta because you have three degrees of freedom (X, Y, theta) and only two constraints (L1, L2). Gravity will tend to bias theta in a particular orientation, but the geometrical stiffness of this arrangement will be so low that it will not be possible to do 3D printing.
To calculate the free-hanging orientation of theta, you will need to know the center of gravity of the end-effector, and solve a system of equations to find the angles and tensions for each cable that produce force vectors which sum to equilibrium with the gravity force vector through the COG. Unfortunately, the tensions will be a function of the angles, so it's not trivial to solve. As a hint, the virtual intersection of the two cables will be coincident with or directly above the COG in all equilibrium positions, and the horizontal components of the tensions in the two cables will be equal. |
What causes the print heat to 'catch' on the part? What would cause this effect, and how can it be avoided?
This is a PLA print, and it should look like this. I tried 215 and 225°C and both had the same effect. An earlier similar print at 220°C was not as bad but it still had some catching- it seems hit and miss and not strongly related to extrusion temperature.
Outside:
Inside:
I'm using a QIDI dual extruder printer with Makerware 2.2.2.89 software and these parameters:
Speed is 60/80mm/s. | I think that you should first verify that you have the latest firmware and a newer version of MakerWare. I experienced similar issues around that version of MakerWare and remember a lot of print errors came with it.
I believe the MakerBot Dual firmware is somewhere around 7.? and is no longer in development.
MakerWare is also no longer in development as a standalone application and seems to have been ported over to the MakerBot Desktop. However I've personally found v2.4.1 to be substantially more stable than v2.2.
I have not tested it, but supposedly the new MakerBot Desktop (v3.10) is compatible with the Replicator Dual "Original". I had tried an earlier version of MakerBot Desktop and reverted back to MakerWare 2.4 because I ran into issues with connectivity. However, I'm not certain it was an issue with software so much as the exploding voltage regulator...
It might be best to give the new software a shot and/or try v2.4 of MakerWare, if you can find it.
Here's the link to the latest MakerBot Desktop
Here's the release notes for MakerWare/MakerBot Desktop v1.0-latest (v3.10+) |
BLTouch Probing Fails Intermittently I just installed my (v3) BLTouch with a vanilla version of Marlin (1.1.9) on my Ender 3 and everything seems to work fine (including auto home) except the probing. It repeatedly does the first three probes (successfully) but then tries the fourth and fails. Even when disabling the axis movement (X/Y stepper motors) the issue persists, which would indicate that it is not a bad connection or physical location dependent. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot?
On second thoughts, it seems that it now fails inconsistently, so it is probably a wiring issue, although there is still the issue of it not retracting before printing and not leveling well when it does (although those issues would be more appropriate for a separate question), among other things.
<Edit: Resolved, I both replaced the BLTouch and updated my firmware, but I believe it was the latter that fixed it.> | Is your BL Touch a v3 (likely if you've only just purchased it)? If so, make sure you're using the bugfix version of Marlin 1.1.9, which supposedly fixes the compatibility issues. I say supposedly because there's also a capacitor on the mainboard that can be removed to fix the issue, and once I removed it (and commented out the specific v3 bits in the firmware) the BLTouch performed noticeably better than when relying on the bugfix firmware alone.
Teaching Tech on YouTube has a few BLtouch Ender 3 videos, covering the changes for configuring the bugfix firmware and the removal of the capacitor. |
Filament Leaking During Automatic Bed Leveling Before the print has actually started I have set up Auto Bed Leveling using a BLTouch sensor, during the period that this runs I find that material leaks out of the nozzle and curls back onto itself and by the time it finishes it is substantial enough to cause problems when the nozzle is primed drawing the line to the left of the print. The material that leaks out catches on the material extruded to prime the nozzle, before printing the model so when the first line of the model are extruded to very quickly pulls up off the bed and becomes a massive tangle of material.
I try to catch it my self using various thin instruments to scrape it off the nozzle as it starts the priming but this isn't always successful and is far from ideal. I have also tried adding a retraction before the bed levelling starts suing the gcode commands added to the beginning of every print, at the moment however I find that a retraction large enough to stop the leaking material also means that material doesn't come out for the priming in time so the first lines of the print don't work.
The gcode at the beginning of the print is as follows:
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G28 ; Home all axes
G1 F1800 E-3 ; Retract filament 3 mm to prevent oozing
G29 ; BLTOUCH Mesh Generation
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
I am using an Ender 3 running Marlin 1.1.9 with BlTouch Auto Leveling, With slicing done by CURA 3.5.6
Any suggestions you have that would help to stop this would be greatly appreciated. | The oozing is due to hot-end getting hot before the bed leveling procedure: if you move the hot-end warm up command after the G29 line you avoid that oozing
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
G28 ; Home all axes
G29 ; BLTOUCH Mesh Generation
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G1 F1800 E-3 ; Retract filament 3 mm to prevent oozing
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
The above code will activate the heating elements but starts homing and leveling procedure without waiting for the elements to get up to temperature. Only after the bed leveling is finished the printer will pause and wait for the heating elements reach the desired temperature.
This will prevent oozing on a cold start, but you will still be affected if you start a print right after another print, when the hot-end is still close to melting temperature.
If you prefer to avoid that condition you might want to also move the M104 and M140 commands after the G29 bed leveling command. |
Using 2x CAT6 cable for 24 V hotend I'm looking to replace the troublesome ribbon cable of my Duplicator 6 with a 2xCAT6 arrangement for all things extruder.
Are 4 26AWG wires (2 sets of 2 twisted pairs) enough copper for 50W heater at 24 volts?
Are 2 26AWG wires (1 set of 2 twisted pair) enough copper for the ground connection of the heater?
Can I consolidate ground connections of the low power fans/sensors to free up more wires?
Is it okay if I have some pins be 24 volt like for the heater and others be 12 volt for the fans?
Should I get a lower gauge CAT6 cable like 24 AWG? 23 AWG seems to exist too. | Do not consolidate ground wires, use as many as the positive ones. In fact, use one wire of each twist for ground and one for the related positive, so that they balance each other.
Mixing voltages is fine, the CAT 6 cable will hold 24 V fine.
Concerning the number of wires, you should check the allowed current per wire and calculate the required number of wires.
Each pair can carry 0.36 A. 50 W is 2 A, you need 6 pairs for the heater.
You get two spare pairs, which can carry in total 0.7 A at the voltage you prefer. You could use two for the thermocouple and two for the fan, or two different fans. |
Sunlight powered metal 3D printer Could concentrated sunlight be used to build a metal 3D printer, sintering or melting metal powder?
Related question on physics stack exchange https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/143049/what-temperature-is-achieved-in-focus-point-by-5000-flat-1x1cm-mirrors-onto-a-sa | Let's start with the obvious: this printer would need to be really big. Not because of a large print volume, but because it needs to collect a lot of sunlight or needs a really big focussing array. The linked question states that the array there, about 0.6 m² large, has roundabout 600 W of power to focus on that one point.
Power draw needs
What powers are we dealing with?
A typical laser cutter uses a laser tube that at least 20 W for thin material and up to 300 W for thicker material. But we need to weld steel, so we need to be roughly equivalent to a cutting laser for the same material. We are not talking mere hundreds of watts, we are talking an industrial 2000 to 20000 W in a laser of less than a millimeter in diameter. Why do I say the later? Well, power need scales with the area, which scales with the square of the radius.
Let's use a ballpark, a nice round 10000 W Laser with a somewhat large 1 mm² crossection. We're talking about the ballpark of 100 Gigawatt per square meter.
$L=P/A=\frac{10000\ \text W}{0,001\times 0.001\ \text m^2}=10^{10}\frac{\text W}{\text m^2}$
Solar power harvester size
Luckily, we don't need to illuminate a whole square meter, so we only need some 10 Kilowatts of sunlight for our application. But we need this number to calculate how much sunlight we need to harvest in our smelting machine.
At the stratosphere, Earth gets about 1400 W/m², and on a sunny day, about 1 kW/m² makes it to the surface, we call this the solar constant $S$. Now, if we compare the ballparks, we get to quickly see the ballpark size of our machine:
$P/S=A=\frac{10 \text{ kW}}{1 \frac {\text{kW}} {\text m^2}} = 10\ \text m^2$
10 square meters of harvesting area gets us the same power. Incidentally, this scales linearly with the item discussed in the linked question, as that one already uses square meters.
Sizing down
But 10 square meters of mirrors into a focal point and then lenses to a focal point is huge, can we make it smaller? And to that I must say somewhat. First of all, we could get our focal point smaller: We need to get 10 Gigawatt per square meter for our $L$, but we can turn two screws here: what if we get from 1 mm² to only 0.1 mm²?
$P=L*A=10^{10}*(0.0001\times 0.0001)\ \text W=100 W$
100 Watts focussed on 0.1 mm² is a sixth of the power that array can deliver, so totally feasible in terms of power, as long as you can achieve such a small focal point.
Conclusion
Yes, with a focussing array good enough or a mirror array large enough you could achieve the powers needed to melt metals on a spot focus. Note though, that you need to have a really good focus setup that creates pretty much a solar-powered laser, which means that such a machine will be extremely expensive due to the high precision machinery needed for that - and that this focusing aperture will be most likely the largest part of your machine. We're talking building-size scale. I'd be cheaper and easier to just put lots of solar panels onto the roof of the building you run a conventional metal 3D printer in. |
Ball valve to be prototyped Hey so theres a product we have been prototyping.
We cant do FDM. The item has a ball valve.
and the ball ~ 1.6-1.9mm
I cant seem to prototype it. I have tried SLS, SLA, Polyjet.
Anybody knows what could be wrong, or what should be the dimension i should be using?
I thought I would post this at engineering section, but since I have to prototype I thought its best if its in 3D Printing section
Edit:
Update:
So heres a figure showing the direction of air flow.
Update:
Thanks both answers are helpful. though not a precise answer. Then again, there is no correct answer.
Thanks a bunch. Lets see how the coming months are. :p | Hey why to make it soooo sophisticated and poor?
Air valve cannot be designed with 2 stiff elements - it will never work.
Make the air your friend but not the enemy. Use old good rubber (silicone) "flake" instead. Especially when you have such small design.
Take a look on the picture.
Here you have black element which is rubber or silicone. It's sticked on one side. When air goes from the pipe (goes up) then rubber is slack so the air can flow. When you suck then rubber seals the pipe.
[edit]
You can find such solution in for example bike pumps, inflatable matterss pumps also gas masks and so on. It's pretty fine for low pressure.
Of course ball valves are also widely use but then such device has to have "rubber" ball nest so ball lies on the rubber ring to seal it. There has to be a spring to tight the ball to the ring. Without such spring turning the device upside down would cause the valve would not work at all.
Ball solutions are intended to higher pressure.
Please note the spring which tights a ball creates kinda threshold on the pressure level which means that pressure has to exceed a spring force to reduce a pressure. This doesn't occure in rubber valve.
I don't know what device you are trying to prototype but I'm pretty sure a rubber valve will be just fine.
Please also note that sealing surface is very low in ball valve solution but in rubber valve it can be almost unlimited so it can seal quite well even when the surface is not perfect. |
Is there any (relatively simple) way to determine whether a stepper is being directed to move by the voltage signal across its winding? This may be a long shot, but I was wondering if the signals seen across a stepper motor's windings could indicate whether the stepper was being told to move over some short time period. This is in particular for the stepper used on extruders.
I've read that PWM in used in stepper drivers and controls current patterns to move the motor. And that a current must also be maintained through the windings if the motor is to hold its position. So it would seem that there is always a pulsing waveform across the windings whenever the stepper is energized, correct? When the motor is holding its position, is there anything distinctive about the waveform?
This is for a filament sensor I'd like to make. The sensor would be located at the extruder motor. It would monitor movement/flow of the solid filament. A lack of filament flow could be because of filament runout, tangled or caught filament, or non-extruding travel moves. I'd like to be able to tell the first two causes from the last one (when it's not supposed to be extruding for some hundreds of milliseconds or so). It would also be nice to tell 'no directed movement' from 'very slow movement' which would happen with small nozzles, slow speed or other slow extrusion situations.
I watched the waveforms with an oscilloscope while printing, but travel moves were quick and relatively rare, so I couldn't definitely see if there was something I could use during those times. Could I just filter the pulse waveform (what corner frequency?) to get an approximation of the current waveform going through the coils -- on the idea that the waveform should resemble a DC level during non-extruding but still energized times. Perhaps another low-pass filtering of that DC level, or a high-pass of the waveform to indicate directed extrusion? Using DSP on a micro, of course.
Are there any experts here on the subject of low-level stepper motor control? | So it would seem that there is always a pulsing waveform across the windings whenever the stepper is energized, correct?
Correct.
When the motor is holding its position, is there anything distinctive about the waveform?
Yes there is. This video contains a short example of what the current waveforms would look like.
If I understand you correctly: You want to detect filament events based by doing current sensing on the phases of the stepper motor. The simple of it is that, if the motor is not turning then the Back ElectroMotive Force will be zero. As the speed increases the BEMF goes up, which causes the current levels to go down. Is this how stall detection in some driver systems work.
You may be able to determine if what you want to do is even practical by studying the fundamentals of stepper motor driving; both voltage mode and current mode.
Apart from that it may be just as practical to use a rotary encoder upstream of the extruder motor to detect the filament movement, or lack thereof.
In your case detecting if the filament is present but not moving calls for stall detection. If the PWM pulse occurs but the rate at which the voltage increased (the slope) did not change, then there was no BEMF event. The lack of such an event would indicate that the rotor did not move. If there is no filament to push, then when the rotor moves it will ring (overshoot it's target position and fluctuate back and forth until it settles into the electrical position that the controller intended), because the mechanical load has changed.
For a NEMA17 stepper, these would be very small change in a very brief event. I would start with installing current sensors on both phases, and then doing some signal processing on top of that. |
Infill is rough - how to enhance? My i3 MK3 is printing very well for solid parts of an object, but it messes up with infill.
As you can see in the image, the infill is broken into pieces and bends to that the surface becomes rough and the nozzle touches it next time it moves there, which probably does not make things better.
I've read the Prusa problem page, where they suggest three solutions:
change infill type
flexible filament (I'm using PETG, so this does not apply)
lower printing speed
I'm printing with 20% infill and I believe that this worked before at the same speed, so I'm tempted to say that both remaining options are options, but it should work without them.
It also seems to me as if the infill is thinner that ordinary walls. Is the extrusion speed lower in case of infill? Is there a way of changing the extrusion speed for infill?
Side note: my printer always tells me to upgrade to the latest firmware 3.5.1. Since I have just received the printer back from a warranty repair after the last firmware upgrade, I don't want to upgrade the firmware. Could the issue be related to firmware?
Infos requested from comments:
I'm basically using the Slic3r default settings for PETG. The only thing I adjusted is the temperature, since I'm using HDGlass PETG and there was a recommended temperature written on the spool. Relevant settings seem to be
Filament settings
fan speed min 30 % max 50 %
bridges fan speed 50 %
enable fan below 20 s
slow down below 20 s
min print speed 15 mm/s
Speed settings
Perimenters 45 mm/s
Small perimeters 25 mm/s
External perimeters 35 mm/s
Infill 200 mm/s
Solid infill 200 mm/s
Top solid infill 50 mm/s | From your comments can be read that you print infill at 200 mm/s.
Know that 200 mm/s is ridiculously fast (like high travelling speed), close to the limits of printing on certain machines (for an AtMega)! It is hard for the filament to keep up at this speed. A value of 60 mm/s would be a good value to start experimenting. Your infill is not rough, it just failed printing. I have printed kilometers of PETG, normal print speeds for my PETG are recommended at 30-50 mm/s by my manufacturer; I get good results at 50-60 mm/s. On my Ultimaker 3, 70 mm/s is also feasible.
Note that the filament you use seems to have rather low printing temperatures (195-225 °C) as opposed to the PETG filament (co-polymer) I'm used to. The manufacturer does not specify advised print speeds (other than "high", but what defines "high"?), but this user posted some of his print settings for this material. The overall speed of 60 mm/s seems to support lower than 200 mm/s print speeds. |
M3D Micro printer stops extruding but is not clogged I have an M3D Micro 3D printer that printed fine for a couple of weeks and then was plagued with issues afterward. I've done the fixes from the forum to get proper heating and cooling of the nozzle (I've added aluminum foil around the nozzle to make sure the hotend is fit snug against the nozzle and I've added an external fan, powered externally, to compensate for heat creep).
This works very well for short prints and it usually finishes successfully. When I do a longer print it always stops midway and usually at the same exact point.
I tried printing at 200 °C with black PLA and then again at 215 °C with the same filament and it stops at the same exact point. I also tried M3D brand white filament. I am using CURA slicer with Octoprint GCODE sender and M3D Fio.
I know it is not clogged because if I stop the print and press extrude without letting it cool down, it extrudes fine.
What is causing my printer to stop printing? | I'm not sure how similar the two systems are, but I use a Stratasys uPrint SE Plus and I've run into a similar problem.
There are two rollers in the head that pull the filament through to the extruder nozzle, and in one instance they appeared to have heated up, melted the filament enough to create two "indentions" on either side of the filament, making it such that the rollers had no purchase on the filament itself. There was never any clog, no material feed error, but it was still failing to print. Wound up having to replace the head altogether.
Again, not sure how similar the extrusion mechanics are in the M3D, but suggest checking the components that actually advance the filament, and the filament itself. |
Access uncapped 5 V output on 3D printer controller board Typically in Arduinos, most of the 5 V outputs that have a limited amount of current (40 mA).
Are there any 3D printer boards, or is there even a more usual spot, where you can get a 5 V output that isn't capped by the microcontroller?
I know that USB 2.0 is (typically) limited to 500 mA especally when connected to a laptop. Just wondering if there was a way to for e.g. get a 200 mA output from one of the 5 V pins, or more if there is a stronger power supply connected to the USB port. | Any pin that is labeled as "5 V" can supply the full amount of current. Looking at, for example, the Arduino MEGA pinout, we can see several pins labeled in red with "5 V". These are the pins you can use. Most 3D printer boards will expose the 5 V pins at several points. For example, the endstop connectors often have a 5 V pin that can be used.
The pins that are limited to 40 mA that you are thinking of are the digital pins, i.e. the pins that can be switched on/off by the microcontroller. These are actually more limited than this, and while in some cases drawing 40 mA from them may be possible, it is not a good idea. |
Calibrating steps/order Does anybody have an overview of what things should be calibrated (and in what order) for a certain 3d printer or after changing the printing material?
I only know about:
calibrating the extruder steps per mm, e.g. Tom's youtube tutorial
determining the print temperature, e.g. RepRap Neo's youtube tutorial
calibrating the extrusion multiplier (for each different filament), e.g. RepRap 101's youtube tutorial
How to calibrate/determine the maximum speeds or accelerations? | How to Calibrate. Oh man that is a good 2-3 page long blog post.. So I will try to give you the bullet point section.
High level
Mechanical
Firmware
Software
repeat
Mechanical
Level everything. Bed. The X axis. Make sure there is no binding, etc. Also make sure the surface you are on is flat before leveling the printer by it.
Firmware
Get that printer moving. This is where you do you Steps per MM. I like Triffids guide.
Now is when you go into the software and start setting your slicer settings. This includes your filament measurements etc. You should go back 2-3 times between this step and the previous to make sure your extruding EXACTLY what you think you are. As mentioned by others filament calculation is hard. You need to measure across a lot of material. Take the averages. You will never get it perfect as the plastic is never perfect. Picking a solid supplier is a factor here too.
Once you think you have that all working. Repeat. Start at step one.
After your done looping though you will start with the slicer calibrations. Which is the meat of your question. You will take collections like this one or this one and tweak settings until you can pass each test. Do your tests in this order
single wall test
hollow cube
solid cube Here is a Bonus solid cube
bridging test (honestly I rarely do this one..)
part fitting test
Now for testing when switching material. Honestly its best to start with their settings, and tweak them. I like to have a spread sheet of xy speed, Z lift, temps. Massage it till you are happy. The firmware settings like jerk and acceleration will be less of a factor between materials. Get it perfect once and don't touch it (till you decide it is not perfect).
You will be testing the new material with the same STLs as I mentioned in the precious section. You also might want to look into Simplify 3d (no affiliation) if you get really into it. Also SAVE THE SETTINGS. Nothing sucks more then losing all this work and having to recreate these profiles for materials. Do not trust slic3r to back them up, or to not randomly delete them. Hard lesson there.
Far as max speeds and accelleration..
Max speed will really be a function of how fast can you hear up plastic. If you have a e3d with Volcano mod you can really crank the speed up. So you go to the point where your extruder just cannot hit target temps AND you are unable to print solid infill. Far as acceleration and jerk. When you knock your extruder causing your print to shift, then you know it is accelerating / jerking too hard.
Best of luck! Let me know if I can clear up a section for you. |
How to prevent layer separation, when printing tall vase-like (tube) objects? I am experiencing a minor layer separation when printing a body for a tipping-bucket rain gauge, which is basically a hollow tube with thin walls (3 mm). I am using Prusa I3 MK2 and a Fillamentum ABS white plastic. The model has been sliced in Siplify 3D with the following settings:
layer height: 0.2 mm
perimeter shells: 3 layers (almost entirely
fills up the wall)
extruder temperature: 230 °C
printing speed: default - 50 mm/s, outline - 35 mm/s, infill - 35 mm/s
Is it possible to prevent the irregular and layer separation by adjusting some of the settings, and not significantly increasing the printing time, which is already 13 hours?
PICTURES: | The best thing you can do for a large ABS print is to have an enclosure heated to 50C or better. For example, see this, this, this, and other search results. |
What is the best method of printing joints for action figures? I'm interested in 3D printing toy action figures, but what I don't quite know how the joints should be designed to allow flexibility.
I could imagine maybe something like a screw and nut for the arms and legs that are separated with a hole in the middle that can join them, but I don't know how to get a wider range of motion on shoulders and hips. | (NOTE: Converting comments to an answer.)
An interference fit would probably work. There are a couple of styles I can think of which would do. Here are some ideas from thingiverse.com which may work for your needs.
(image taken from this design by OgoSport)
With this style of ball/socket, you'd have very good articulation. More than enough movement to allow for a posable action figure.
Another idea from thingiverse.com is this:
(image from this design by NEMO_from_saturn)
The idea behind this style of joint is to insert it into each part (part fits over the end). This is premade and would be easy to utilize. The thing about this is, they are covered by the licensing involved with patterns found on thingiverse.
As with anything printed or mechanical, it will wear over time. You won't ever get anything which doesn't wear. It's just a fact of how it works. Some printed filaments will have better wear properties than others, like ABS, NylonX (polyamide with chopped carbon fiber strands), nylon, PET (PETG/PETT), or polypropylene (this is not all inclusive). Each filament has its own printing properties and idiosyncrasies, so pay attention to what needs to be done to print with them. This doesn't mean all of the parts need to be printed out of this material, but rather if using a joint (like the second image), you could print it out of the better wear material and print the rest out of filament which is cheaper and is easier to work with. |
Best method to make dissolvable supports? Sometimes supports are very difficult to remove (physically) when I print with ABS. The image below, from Thingiverse - MOF-5 unit cell, is after significant effort to remove the yellow ABS supports from a black ABS model.
I've learned about polyvinylalcohol (PVA) as a 3D-printing filament which is soluble in water. It seems like a great option for dual-extruder printers, where you can print the model with ABS or PLA and the supports with PVA, then throw the whole thing in water and let the supports dissolve.
I've considered other options since PVA is ~4x more expensive than ABS.
Doing a PLA print with ABS supports, followed by dissolution of ABS with acetone, is my best idea currently.
Has anyone found success with another option? | I've had great success printing with HIPS (high-impact polystyrene) as a support for both PLA and ABS. Most sites recommend it for use with ABS because the materials melt at similar temperatures and work best with heated beds, but I've had good luck using it as a support material with PLA on a bed at 60°C. It doesn't stick as well to PLA as it does to ABS, so supports tend to peel away very readily. The downside is that, if you need the support to anchor your print at all, it doesn’t really stick well enough to accomplish this task. For that, you must pair HIPS with ABS.
When you print with ABS or have complicated interwoven support structures, HIPS can be dissolved with D-limonene, a citrus based cleaner sold under various names like Citrisolv (others exist), or with dipentene (a mixture of L and D-limonene that doesn't smell as pleasant).
Regarding cost: I've found HIPS to be slightly more expensive than PLA/ABS, but only 1.5x the cost, not 4x like PVA. Additionally, it isn't hydroscopic in the same way as PVA so it lasts longer out of the package. Since you're using it as support, you also tend to use far less filament than you do for the main print (sparse support structures as opposed to solid print structures).
Water-soluble alternatives: There are a few proprietary blends of polymers sold by the big commercial printer manufacturers (3DSystems, Stratasys) that only work in their machines… these are generally soluble in basic solutions (water + sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate). These are usually very expensive and you'd have to rewind the filament on a spool, as they come in cartridges made for specific printers. You'd also have to experiment with the right build conditions and solution blends to remove the material afterward. Airwolf has a support material called Hydrofill that purports to be soluble in plain water… I'm not sure how this is different from standard PVA, though I assume it is different. Hopefully more companies will work on developing water-soluble options to help us keep the 3D printing world full of renewable, less-environmentally-harmful options for filaments (both print and support).
Update:
Ultimaker now has a material called Ultimaker Breakaway. After using it for a few models, it works remarkably well, allowing me, for the first time, to print nice rounded surfaces on the bases of my prints. It really does just break away from the surface, much like HIPS but without the lack of adhesion problems between HIPS and PLA. |
Limit X axis due to direct drive Recently I printed this direct drive mod and installed into my Ender 3.
After installation, the stepper motor constantly bangs into the right Z frame of the printer. I have already set the bed X axis size to 190 mm within Cura slicer and my OctoPi printer profile but when homing, it will home to left and move towards right at a fairly fast speed and "BANG", I can hear the motor skipping a few steps, not sure how to proceed from here... | Try using a pancake stepper I heard those work quite well, they do have less torque but you can overcome that with gear ratio's like on the bondtech extruders. It should be thin enough so you can use the full volume again. If you dont think that's worth it you should move you X-axis endstop since the homing is where it goes wrong, as far as firmware goes I can't help you in that aspect as well as other would be able too. I hope this helps. |
What is the best way to adhere an old printed part to the bed? I am currently trying to print a company logo on another part I have printed in a different colour. To try and maximise the strength of the part, I need to print the part on a different orientation to what I intend on printing the logo on. As a result I need to in a sense re-adhere the part to the bed so I can print the logo. I am using PLA filament on a spring steel sheet (the default sheet with a Prusa Mini).
Any ideas would be appreciated before I accept defeat and just glue the parts together. | I have not done this, but I believe this is the best method and I want to test it at some point soon:
Model a negative for the footprint of the part you want to adhere to the bed, in the orientation you want to adhere it, with just a few mm of height, and clearance suitable for your printer (probably around 0.25 mm) in the XY plane, and print that with thick extrusions on the initial layer so that it adheres well to your bed. It should look exactly like a "thickened brim" for the part you want to re-adhere. Don't let the bed cool after printing it.
Now, you have a slot to insert your part into that will not only hold it to the bed, but holds it to particular coordinates you chose to print at, which you can align to the coordinates of the new model you want to print on top of it.
If you can't get the clearances right to hold without knocking off the negative footprint from the bed, you could try adding some threaded holes to it, so that you can put a couple set screws through it to hold the part in place. This technique can also be used if you want to avoid modeling a full negative (e.g. if you don't have the original in CAD form where you can easily negative it) - just print a few posts to hold set screws in approximately the right places on the bed. |
Can 3D printer models be used in video game engines and vs versa? If someone creates a 3D model of a character for 3D printing can I import that model into Unreal engine or Unity 3D for use in a video game? Also is the inverse true? Can I get 3D model of Mario and send that to a 3D printer?
Specifically, it’s more important to know if I can pull a 3D printer model into an unreal game project | Yes. You can import it into Blender, but it will need "bones" and "armature" if you want it to move at all. In Blender, you can manually add armature and "Rig" it, if you want animations.
You can probably convert whatever file type the 3D model is (probably STL) to fbx with Blender
For animating, start with a super basic 2-bone rig YouTube tutorial, then learn about vertex weights or automatic weighting.
But you'll have to UV map it too. The UV map tells textures where to go on the model, STL doesn't have those.
Your time is 100% better spent finding a model that's ready and moving on with your project.
Check Unreal Marketplace.
Also,
https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-model/free/low-poly/character
https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/character?polygons=lt_5k |
Why use G29 during a print? Why do printers, like the Ender 5 Plus, execute the G29 routine prior to every print? I understand the purpose of this step when MANUALLY leveling the bed since you are presented with the 16 measurements and can adjust the four corners of the bed. However, from what I can tell, there is no way any of the printers out there (Creality, and others) to actually level the bed. Since there are only TWO Z-axis motors... one on each SIDE of the bed... then, at most, the only thing the printer COULD do at this stage is to gradually TILT the bed from side to side to adjust the height of the left or right side.
Now, all of that aside, I guess, in theory, it WOULD be possible for the printer to use these 16 measurements to dynamically ADJUST the height DURING THE PRINT based on where the head is SUPPOSED to be versus where the ACTUAL height of that spot actually IS. However, I cannot find anything that claims this is what happens. From everything I find, the G29 routine is run and is done. This means you can only benefit from it during the manual leveling process.
Am I missing something? | Now, all of that aside, I guess, in theory, it WOULD be possible for the printer to use these 16 measurements to dynamically ADJUST the height DURING THE PRINT based on where the head is SUPPOSED to be versus where the ACTUAL height of that spot actually IS. However, I cannot find anything that claims this is what happens
This is actually what happens. This behavior is clearly specified in the firmware documentation:
Mesh leveling measures the height of the bed at several points to generate a 3D mesh representing bed imperfections. With compensation enabled, the nozzle follows the bed contours by dynamically adjusting the Z position (using bilinear interpolation between the measured points). The nozzle follows the contours of the bed more accurately with more mesh points and/or finer segmentation of moves. |
Which material should I use to print a mounting adapter for the y-carriage? I have purchased a replacement bed for my 3D printer. I wish to have it mounted on a single linear rail.
Currently I am unable to drill properly into aluminum (due to problems with my drill).
Therefore, I'd like to print and use an adapter piece/plate to fasten the Y-carriage to the linear rail block. The bed has a thermal insulation foam so the area around the bottom of the Y-carriage plate/bed assembly doesn't seem to go over 60 °C.
My question is:
Which material should I use for this adapter piece, and why? (I have access to PLA, PETG and ABS.)
Should I use threaded inserts or fasten the Y-carriage with nuts?
Please see the image below to have an idea as to what I mean by an adapter. | Any thermoplastic is a bad choice to carry a heated bed. For an unheated bed, monolithic (cast, not printed) acrylic plate of sufficient thickness can be used.
To get the needed stiffness and temperature resistance, steel plate of about 2+mm is the best choice, followed by aluminium of a higher thickness. The latter can be sawed with woodworking equipment, if done slowly. |
Are there biocompatible materials available to the general public? I am currently working on parts for a custom prosthesis.
My main concern at the moment is to find biocompatible materials that can be 3D printed from a UP or a Reprap.
The piece would need to be in contact with the skin for extended periods of time, probably around 17 hours a day on average.
The main concerns I have are:
Skin reactions caused by prolonged contact
Skin reactions and bruising caused by friction
Degradation of the materials due to prolonged exposure to skin secretions and sweat
Risks of toxicity in the compounds generated by the aforementioned material degradation
Which materials can you recommend?
Any extensive data (from testing) would be greatly appreciated. | There are printers designed for medical use, and the manufacturers supply them with varying levels of certification and testing, however I've not seen a filament manufacturer certify their material as bio-compatible separate from the printer. The printing process changes the material slightly in the best case (and significantly with poor temperature control or badly set parameters), so even if bio-compatible filament were found, the resulting product might not achieve the same level of bio-compatibility.
If your intent is to use hobbyist level machine for medical purposes, you might simply want to use an interface, such as a sock or a molded/cast polymer that you know to be bio-compatible between the printed part and the skin. |
What hairspray brands are known to contain PVA / PolyVinylpyrrolidone It's common to use hairspray, especially AquaNet, as a bed adhesive. My understanding is this works because the spray includes a chemical called polyvinylpyrrolidone, or PVA.
What other brands of hairspray are known to contain this chemical in sufficient concentrations to work as an effective adhesive in 3D printing applications? | From an MSDS for AquaNet hairspray:
Water (Aqua), Dimethyl Ether, SD Alcohol 40-B (Alcohol Denat.),
VA/Crotonates/Vinyl Neodecanoate Copolymer, Acrylates Copolymer,
Aminomethyl Propanol, Sodium Benzoate, Cyclohexylamine, Triethyl
Citrate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Sodium PCA, Masking Fragrance (Parfum)
The MSDS doesn't mention polyvinylpyrrolidone.
I suspect that the "PVA" here is the VA/Crotonates/Vinyl Neodecanoate Copolymer. A little googling indicates that this is a common ingredient of hair sprays, and works by forming a thin coating over hair to prevent it from adsorbing moisture.
I stumbled upon three types of Loreal(R) hairspray that have these ingredients. It seems likely that there are more.
Disclosure: I use AquaNet on an aluminum bed as a PLA bonding agent, and on my Prusa PEI covered bed as a PET-G release agent. |
Printing with HDPE plastic Just out of curiosity is it possible to print with HDPE?
Would it be easy or hard?
I know they don't make HDPE filament* but I know people with a filament extruder could make some HDPE because it is a common plastic, which means it can be given a second use or something.
*To my knowledge | It can be done, although PE is not the best material to 3D print, as it has very low melting point (HDPE is just over 100°C), it is unpleasantly waxy to the touch and needs specialised paints and glues.
I never tried myself, but I know the RecycleBot is supposed to be able to use PE waste to produce a filament. |
Will Mod Podge work with PLA prints? Looking for something to smooth out a PLA print. Would Mod Podge be a good solution? Will it stick? | From what I've read about Mod Podge, it is an adhesive with a vinyl acetate base. As such it is similar to both PVA (used for wash-away support) and ordinary white glue. One of the more common references to the product refers to it not being water proof, although the outdoor version of the product presents as being water-resistant.
As part of the research for this answer, I found references to overly-thick coats becoming milky. This follows a reference to applying thin multiple coats and allowing proper cure time between coats. That proper cure time is listed as 28 days.
Another set of posts suggest to cure the MP more rapidly than 28 days, one can heat the item in an oven to 175°F (80°C) which should not cause the PLA to melt, but may allow for sagging of unsupported parts. Testing is recommended.
MP is an adhesive, is known to stick to non-porous surfaces and would be no more harmful than glue stick for a PLA (or ABS) model.
Durability is uncertain. If you intend to paint the item after sealing/smoothing, you'll gain durability and water resistance. |
When I attempt to calibrate extruder steps the increased values don't correspond to physical increases I am attempting to follow these instructions to calibrate the extruder, however when I increase the value for DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT the change in physical output does not correspond with the changes.
I started by testing how much filament goes through the extruder when sending G1 E100 F100 to my printer, instead of the 100 mm I get about 38 mm (#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 80, 80, 400, 93 } in Marlin). I increased the value to DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 80, 80, 400, 149.73 } which should take it to 100 mm, when I tested the physical output the increase was only negligible so I repeated the calculation with DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 80, 80, 400, 387.8007 } as the new value. The new physical output is about 64 mm, I think this suggests a mechanical problem rather than a firmware configuration problem, but I am not sure where to go from here.
My printer is the Ender 3, running Marlin 1.1.9 with a BlTouch and an aluminium bowden extruder mod
(installed after the extrusion problem began).
Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. | Mechanical?
You basically answer your own question that there could be a mechanical issue.
If 93 steps gives you 38 mm, to get to 100 mm, you need to divide 100 by 38 = 2.63 times. This implies that you need 2.63 x 93 = 244.7 steps/mm (not 149.73).
You even tried close to 400 steps per mm to see you are not extruding 100 mm of filament. This implies that you are either missing a lot of steps (increasing the stepper current or increasing the temperature of the hotend would help out) or the extruder gear slips on the filament (increasing the pressure on the extruder gear and filament could solve this).
Or not mechanical?
Furthermore, it could be another issue than mechanical. If your extrusion rate is too fast, the stepper might not be able to cope the high speed and miss steps. I have had this before with a too high of a retraction speed. |
First layer prints too thin causing gaps everywhere I'd assume insufficient z offset but some areas of the first layer look fine. I've been struggling with this problem despite lots of attempts including z offset, infill overlap, belt retensioning, etc.
Anyone else experienced this type of issue and have suggestions to fix it properly?
I'm using polylite PLA and a E3D steel nozzle. 60 °C bed temp, 230 °C first layer.
Edit: Print speed is 30 mm/s first layer, 60 mm/s normal. This issue occurs on the first few layers then the rest get increasingly better, with the final layer being excellent.
Edit2: Despite lowering the temp to 205--210 and increasing the z offset downwards, the problem persists, though to a lesser degree. Just gaps at ends of infill lines and between straight and circular walls. But seems it only occurs on the lower left and upper right (birds eye view) of the print.
Edit3: The lower left and upper right being further from the nozzle coincides with my removal process using the knife on the lower left and upper right.. Maybe this part of the problem I'll have to bend back in place?
Nozzle bed measurements below:
Edit4: Optimizing the Z offset according to the first layer thickness remained only a partial solution especially as my bed unevenness (1mm+) was past the auto-leveling limitations (<0.5mm), but I found a great thread (link below) with a "correct" solution that worked for a lot of people! After I try this I will come back and write about my experience with the solution.
https://forum.lulzbot.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=7904&hilit=bed+leveling+SOLVED | From the picture it is clearly seen that the filament is not flattened properly. This implies that your nozzle bed distance is too large. Try decreasing the gap by leveling the bed at temperature and have a piece of "A4" or "Letter" print paper between the nozzle and bed have a little friction when pulled.
Also reduce the temperature, 230 °C is too hot for PLA (unless your printer temperature is way off, but that is not very likely), try 200 °C.
Another thing that you could check is if the extruded length is exactly what is instructed to be extruded; i.e. calibrate the extruder. |
Problems with elephant's foot I recently got an Ender 3 Pro for my birthday, and I am having some problems with elephant's foot (as the title suggests). I have tried several fixes; lowering the print speed, changing the print micron size (quality) in my slicer, and I have also tried the masking tape trick (it definitely does not work). I want to know if there are any other ways to prevent elephant's foot on my prints. I first noticed it on a game-cartridge holder. It was four and a half millimeters thick on the bottom. I think that it could be an issue with the design, but I'm not entirely sure. I can send the specs for the design if you want to look at them. | Elephant's foot can be caused by different causes.
Incorrect leveling or incorrect nozzle to bed distanceThis answer describes that it can be caused by a too low nozzle to bed distance.
Bed temperatureA too high bed temperature and weight of the print can cause bulging out of the bottom layers. This also frequently occurs as the result of an uncooled/too less cooled first layer.
Improved cooling, lowering bed temperature or adjusting nozzle to bed distance and proper leveling are the most obvious solutions to fight this problem. Other solution can be found in using chamfers on the bottom of the print (requires modifying the model) or printing on a raft, this latter solution does lead to losing the nice bottom layer finish. |
How to tell if A 3d printing kit has a replaceable nozzle I was looking at the prusa i3 3d(the original i3, not the mk2) on sale and I wanted to know how I could tell if it(and printers like it) had a replaceable nozzle, since I wanted to try out different nozzle sizes, and I need to be able to use a .1 mm nozzle for micro armor 3D printing(8mm height miniatures, I'm not too picky about their appearance) so anyways, does anyone know how to tell if a printer has a replaceable nozzle? | Prusa has a replacable nozzle. Usually all printer does have an replacable nozzle. Since this is a part of a printer which could get jammed during a printer life.
As written here: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3-is-now-1-75-mm/ The Prusa i3 uses an E3D Hotend. This Hotend has many diffenez nozzles. You can search on E**ay for E3D V6 0.1mm nozzle and you will find a lot of offers. |
PLA print warping on heated bed I am trying to print the 3 jaw lathe chuck on Thingiverse. This specific piece is the scroll.stl, but it applies on every big piece. The print material is (transparent) PLA, that I print on custom glass bed, which is heated by a regular heated bed at 65 °C. However, my print is warping on the external edges of a solid 2 mm for a 85 mm diameter print.
I didn't use the cooling fan. And I don't have an enclosure to keep the warmth inside the printing area. The nozzle temperature is around 200 °C.
What could be wrong?
The printer is a slightly modified Prusa i3 MK2. | Several things I've done to stop warping when it occurred:
Use a wider brim.
If the brim isn't sticking, use a higher bed temperature for the first layer.
If the brim comes up only on one side or warping is only on one side, make sure the bed is level.
Slowing down the print will keep you from having as long of a strand cooling down. This will lower the contraction force and reduce warping.
A hotter bed temperature will reduce the temperature difference between the extrusion and the bed, thus reducing the contraction force.
200 °C is a good temperature for getting PLA to stick. I've tried lower extrusion temperatures to reduce the temperature difference between the extruder and the bed, but this decreases adhesion to the bed and is counterproductive. |
Makerbot Smart extruder+ heat block and nozzle question I am looking for information on the smart extruder+ heat block and nozzle? I have looked online and from several forums come to the conclusion it is either a MK10 or MK11 assembly. Can anyone shed some details on the heat block and nozzles. | Caveat emptor: This answer is probably not what you're expecting.
As far as I can make out after looking at this un-jamming video on YouTube, where at time 00:01:24, the video shows a label that needs to be cut to open up the extruder. However, as mentioned at the end of the same video, cutting that label will void Makerbot's warranty cover on the extruder.
From that, I can make out that Makerbot will actively discourage any efforts to disseminate the kind of information you're looking for, at least until the product is discontinued. That would usually include a DMCA takedown notice to Google to remove search engine results, as well as similar takedown notices to other places where such information is hosted. I expect you will not find such information easily. |
On which board can 32 bit Marlin run? Does anyone know on which board that can be bought today is possible to run current Marlin x32 ? | The platformio.ini file, given in Zac's comment, does not seem to list all of the boards supported.
However, The Marlin 2.0 32-bit thread appears to have a table that is much more complete (at the time of writing):
Board MCU State To-Do
RAMPS, etc. Arduino AVR good
Due, RAMPS FD (v2.A!), etc. SAM3X8E good
Archim 1.0 SAM3X8E ❓unknown Only US$170!
Archim 2.0 SAM3X8E beta needs confirmation
Re-ARM LPC1768 beta NEOPIXEL_LED,M100,ENDSTOP_INTERRUPTS,Tones,etc.
MKS-SBASE LPC1768 beta NEOPIXEL_LED,M100,Tones, etc.
Smoothieboard LPC1769 beta NEOPIXEL_LED,M100,Tones, etc.
Azteeg X5 GT LPC1769 beta NEOPIXEL_LED,M100,Tones, etc.
Cohesion3D Remix LPC1769 beta NEOPIXEL_LED,M100,Tones, etc.
Selena Compact LPC1768 beta NEOPIXEL_LED,M100,Tones, etc.
Malyan M200 STM32F103C8 beta EMERGENCY_PARSER,NEOPIXEL_LED, etc.
Borg STM32F765ZGT6 ⚠️beta EMERGENCY_PARSER,NEOPIXEL_LED, etc.
Chitu3D V3.9 STM32F103ZET6 alpha EMERGENCY_PARSER,NEOPIXEL_LED, LCD, SDCard, MAX6675, etc.
Teensy 3.5 MK64FX alpha (need shields)
Teensy 3.6 MK66FX alpha (need shields)
STEVAL-3DP001V1 STM32F401VE alpha (need boards)
From [Question] Most promising 32 Bit Platform for Marlin 2.x
The reference platform IS Re-Arm with a RAMPS shield. You can find instructions for both obtaining it and getting setup with it at #7076
It appears the you have to use the bugfix branch:
Right now, there are two branches. Bugfix-v1.1.x and Bugfix-v2.0.0. They are almost identical from a feature set perspective. But Bugfix-v2.0.0 is modified to have a hierarchical file layout. That was needed to clean up the code and to support 32-bit.
The AVR code is fully debugged and working in both branches. The 32-bit code only exists (and works) in the Bugfix-v2.0.0 branch. And while the code does work... And some people are using it to print, it isn't entirely painless to get to that point.
You may also want to read Recommendations for a good 32 bit microprocessor to run Marlin. To list a few examples:
Atmel ATSAM3x8e on the Due board
Anyhow, there are a lot of 32bit Controller. Take a look at mbed.org for example.
You can use the arm-none-eabi-xxx for STM32, LPC, also the Arduino Due use it
Duet board (now called DuetWifi) is available for pre-order. It has a 120MHz Cortex M4 with hardware FPU
AZSMZ ARM 32bit controller board
RedBear: https://redbearlab.github.io/arduino/package_redbear_index.json
RedBear Duo (Cortex-M3, WiFi + BLE)
RedBear discussion forum
Konekt Dash/DashPro (Official): http://downloads.konekt.io/arduino/package_konekt_index.json
Cortex M4-based global cellular dev kits, support for all board variants, support for USB and over-the-air programming straight from within Arduino IDE
Another link that might be useful is Unofficial list of 3rd party boards support urls, although not all of these are 32 bit. |
Raised lines on top layer surface Ender 3 I have an Ender 3 for two weeks now, my first 3D printer. I think I have a problem with top layers. See the left 3 stones on the first picture. It looks like lines and it feels like raised lines. The outer lines (walls) are perfectly flat, but the surface in between has heavily raised lines. I started with the standard Cura profile for the Ender 3 and tried .2 and .12 mm layer height, 2-5 top layers, 1 to 2 top surface skin layers and 5-20 % infill, all gave similar results. The only setting that solved it is the ironing feature (the fourth stone). While this solved it, it feels like I'm hiding an error in my printing with this feature and I would like it to print decently without ironing. The cat shows that my printer prints fine if no top surface is present. I have an Ender 3, upgraded with some fan guards and bowden clips and use Cura 4.5. SKR mini E3 and upgraded bowden tubes are on the way.
Is this normal?
What could be wrong?
Is ironing a commonly used solution?
Any idea what might fix it (apart from ironing)? | I would firstly do a flow rate calibration:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2490893
print this using: 0.2 mm layer resolution;0.4 mm layer width; wall count= 2; infill=100%
print it at the same temperature you printed the cat.
measure the walls width a couple of times in different places, get the average and then do : 100*0.8/average. the result is your new flow rate or extrusion multiplier.
I would then do a E-step calibration, use this:
Once you have this two parameters, re-print the block. I would suggest to print not faster than 50 mm/s and raise it by 5 mm/s if you see the thing is going right. Try a typical grid-20 % infill with 3 top layers and 1 superficial layer (usually you shouldn't need more than one). For these trials try scaling the blocks by 50% so you don't waste that much material. Try not to use the ironing function yet, you should get a uniform surface without it.
The weird thing is the holes pattern you get in all the pieces. Just in case, tighten your x and y belts, re-level your bed and try moving the extruder with your hand (gently) to see it doesn't wobbles. |
Material for printing flowerpots I want to print a flowerpots, for advanced watering system.
Plants are going to be eaten.
What is the most suitable material, when we consider the fact, that we do not want to just make forms and do clay flowerpots(which may seem most healthier), but having them directly printed.
What are the temperatures that makes plastics emit dangerous components in surrounding water, and what are those components?
Is there some "totally safe" material out there? I was thinking of PLA or PETG, because I've already heard that ABS is not safe for edibles. | I printed some pots for sprouting seedlings this year from PLA. A square array of pots with tiny drainage holes in the bottom.
The array filled the bed of a Prusa3d i3m3.
The seeds sprouted, except for the ground cherries, which I think failed because the seeds were bad.
I had good germination rates for tomatoes and basil.
According to the FDA, ABS is generally safe for food, although like any filament the pigment and any added chemicals may be contraindicated for continued health. |
How to add internal supports/localized infill, preferably in Cura? I'm currently designing a very large and complicated model, because it's large and should be strong enough completely hollow I want to print it with no infill to save material.
However, there are some points in the model where there are indentations in the top shell.
The bottom of those indentations are lower then the surrounding shell (pretty mush the dictionary definition of indentation) and so they are printed earlier with nothing to connect to.
For example, in the image below from Cura's layer view you can see two round surfaces just hanging in mid air
Obviously this can't be printed.
What I'm currently doing is designing internal spaces inside the model where the internal space shell is holding the "detached" surfaces.
What I want is a mostly automatic process that will generate a support structure inside where needed or that will generate infill but only between the floating surface and the nearest solid shell below it.
Reorienting the model is not an option because a. it wouldn't fit on the build plate and b. even if it did it has a lot of internal parts with different orientations so it would just move the problem from one part of the model to another.
I usually use SketchUp for designing and Cura for slicing so I prefer something I can do in Cura - but since I strongly suspect this can't be done in Cura I'll accept answers that work with other tools | I'm not really sure if i get you right but it seems like you gotta switch on support material. That's all. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like very common situation where some parts are hanging like your yellow disks.
Otherwise if your model is going to be closed at the bottom and at the top you can mock support on your own to have better control of it. How? Just add hollow cylinders under your disk so in fact cylinder will stay on the bottom layer then its walls will be support and finally your yellow disk will be a top cover of the cylinder. I hopw you can imagine that properly.
Another way is to design support elements wich would grow out of walls and this way support your disks
Maybe if you would explain a bit more, what the model is then I could support you more.
[edit]
To make it more automatic, you could try to use parametric CAD apps. I would say, Autodesk Inventor is one which I can suggest. You can use for example its Ribs functionality as support (varsion C).
[edit2]
After Tormod Haugene's and tbm0115's comments I decided to fill some gaps in my answer. Here go pros and cons of options A, B and C.
option A
The simplest one and more or less automatic one. Which means when user add support then this option will be a result of it. Of course if user needs to have support only for the disk but over the disk there will be... a "ceiling" then option A cannot use regular support as it will generate a support also for the ceiling. For such situation user needs to add a cylinder manually (filled one) or
option B
User can add hollow cyliner (just its walls). This option can give similar or higher stiffness as regular support because solid walls increase endurance tahn thin support grid.
option C
This option (my personal choose) has some advantages unavailable in A or B option. First - support doesn't have to have "ground" base. It means the yellow disk can really hang even if there is no bottom layer at all. Second - it joins walls with disk and walls together so the stiffness concerns other surfaces.
Depending on needs the cylinder (option A or B) can be transformed into a cross or pillar (thinner than cylinder itself). It can be more taper expandint to the top or to the bottom.
There could be even option where the above one would be joined with option C. So these (3) ribs would raise from the bottom but not from the walls. |
Linear advance calibration technique Marlin has a Linear Advance calibration pattern generator, but I find it's hard to use because:
It only prints the initial layer on the bed, where bed irregularities interfere with accurate reading of it.
It doesn't do proper retraction and priming, so a mess of strings and underextruded initial segments/non-adhesion mess up the results.
It's hard to visually evaluate.
Getting a very wide range of K values involves multiple runs.
It's hard to clean up.
Is there a better procedure for calibration of K value for linear advance? | The same effect as Marlin's test pattern, with alternation between fast and slow segments, can be achieved with a skewed tower and Cura's overhang settings, providing the opportunity to interactively adjust K value during the print, or insert changes at particular layers in the gcode for automated test towers.
I'm using the following OpenSCAD to make a skewed cylinder:
multmatrix(
[[1,0,1/8,0],
[0,1,0,0],
[0,0,1,0],
[0,0,0,1]])
cylinder(d=40,h=40);
with Cura set to:
no top/bottom layers or infill
single walls
treat walls with 1° overhang as overhangs
print overhangs at 25% speed
These values can of course be tuned, but the extreme low overhang angle and 8/1 slope is to prevent actual physical overhang-printing considerations from messing up the test.
Vase mode might work even better for this if it supports overhang settings, since it would avoid the layer seam. |
Are Fusion 360 drawings sufficient to design and enforce tolerance in a hole of a solid? I uploaded a 3D object for this project to Fusion 360 and printed it out straightforward:
Yet its middle hole is too small for the stepper motor (Nema 17 Stepper-M) I am using so I wanted to increase its tolerance before reprinting it.
So, I followed the tutorial by Tyler Beck of Tech who lead me to drawings:
I was wondering if doing a drawing (sketch in Fusion 360) was sufficient to expect the shaft of the step motor to go through?
Here are the gear and the shaft before I add the drawing constraints: | Besides offsetting the clearances you want into models, you can and should also calibrate your printer to compensate for included holes - because often inner holes are solved to be smaller than actually designed out of necessity.
However, the option can also be used to fix problems that stem from the slicing and printing itself, and thus offers to fix some problems that are endemic to your setup or where you can't easily fix the model by setting an offset to create the wanted clearances in it.
In Ultimaker Cura, the option for this fix is called Hole horizontal expansion since 4.6 in April 2020, which only affects internal perimeters as I know from testing.
SuperSlicer, a PrusaSlicer branch offers hole_XY_compensation, though I can't quite pinpoint the time when it was added. I guesstimate sometime before October 2020.
PrusaSlicer offers XY size compensation, which does affect outer perimeters. A hole-only is requested almost since that option was available the first time. An attempt to implement a hole-only compensation again appears to be worked on since mid-2020. It seems that in the beginning of March some implementation has been tested.
The first work for such a function was tried by Slic3r before PrusaSlicer was started on, using an Arc-compensation formula in at latest 2009, but the function proved to be overcompensating. As Prusa-Slicer is a fork of Slic3r, some of this work might remain in the code. |
Adding custom M or G codes to Marlin 2.0 Adding custom M Codes to Marlin doesn't work for Marlin 2.0
How would one go about adding custom G codes or M Codes to Marlin 2.0? The Marlin_main.cpp file does not exist.
In general for Marlin 2.0, things are organized better, but split into more files. | The code in 2.0.x is similar to the old branch 1.1.x, G-code is parsed in gcode.cpp, specifically in process_parsed_command:
void GcodeSuite::process_parsed_command(const bool no_ok/*=false*/)
In the case statement the codes read from the G-code files are parsed (interpreted) and the appropriate method is called (e.g. G28() calls void GcodeSuite::G28())
If you want to create your own codes, it could be an idea to start there. Also think of using a different letter and/or codes in the 10,000 range so that it will not collide with new implemented G-codes. |
CoreXY Carriage moves on the Y when moving the X I have a custom designed and built CoreXY printer. I have noticed that when I order the X to move from one side to the other (right to left) that the Y axis moves back about 0.6 mm as well. When I move the X back (from left to right) the Y also moves forward approximately the same amount.
What property of the CoreXY system could be causing this? Note, I am using 608 bearings instead of toothed idler pulleys; which I hope to rectify soon.
Steps per mm from the Marlin configuration.h:
DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 475.79, 482.87, 468.66, 188.1 }
Note, they are not the same for X and Y. This is because I am trying to run a calibration cube test on the machine. | For a CoreXY printer to move an axis (X or Y) it requires both stepper motors to turn. If both turn the same direction (at the same speed with the same pulleys), the X-axis will move, if they rotate both in a different direction (at the same speed with the same pulleys) the Y axis will move (see image of CoreXY kinematics below). Rotation of a single stepper would cause a 45° printing pattern.
All four corner points (two top pulleys and two bottom steppers) are fixed to the CoreXY frame
It is therefore highly illogical that you need to use different values for your steps per mm (X = 475.79 steps/mm, Y = 482.87 steps/mm). If you need to use such values, this implies that your mechanical layout/mechanics is/are incorrect (skew frame, different pulley diameters, slip on pulley, incorrect tension of belts, etc.). It is advised to make them equal and check the mechanical layout and inspect all parts (pulley diameters) and make the tension equal (e.g. using a Belt Tension Gauge). If the head still moves in the perpendicular direction as commanded, you could try to calibrate from there. |
3D Printer seem to "Forget" Tool Path I've run into a strange error that keeps reoccurring my with my prints. Part way through the printing process, it appears that the printer "Forgets" the tool path and stops all together or starts to move in random patterns. It still extrudes material and the result is mess of wasted filament.
At first I thought this might be a levelling issue, but this does not appear to be the case. This only seems to occur on prints taking longer than maybe 2-3 hours. Does anyone have any idea whats going on and how to correct it?
I am running an Ultimaker 2 Extended with using Cura for slicing. | I believe what you are experiencing is the stepper motors getting offset during the print, usually due to the nozzle colliding into the model (but possibly also due to very high printing speeds).
Basically, the stepper motors used in most 3D printers will always make moves relative to their current position (as opposed to absolute positioning). In other words, the stepper will for example be told to move 10 steps left, regardless of where it is currently at. If you therefore forcefully move the printhead out of position during the print, the electronics will never know it happened, and continue with instructions that are no longer viable.
In order to fix this, do what you can to avoid the nozzle colliding into the model:
Make sure your printer does not leave large deposits of filament, typically due to over extrusion or too close Z-leveling of the first layer.
Make sure the model sticks to the bed, so that warped parts don't lift up, obstructing the toolpaths.
Add Z-lift in your slicer software, so that the printhead lifts slightly between travel moves.
Reduce travel speed (if it is set very high): the strength of stepper motors is lower at higher speeds, which means nozzle collisions at higher speeds most likely will offset the motors. |
How to connect a NEMA 17 stepper to RAMPS 1.4? I have an NEMA 17 stepper motor 17HS4401 and a RAMPS 1.4 driver unit.
The motor pinouts are:
RED A+
BLUE A-
GREEN B+
BLACK B-
while the RAMPS board has the following:
2B 2A 1A 1B
Could someone point me in the right direction? How can I connect the driver to the motor? I have a feeling I already messed things up. | There are very many combinations that will work. A bipolar stepper has 2 coils. Swapping the coils, or reversing the polarity of a coil, will simply cause the stepper to rotate in the opposite direction.
On RAMPS, one coil should connect to 1A and 1B, whereas the other coil should connect to 2A and 2B.
On the stepper, one coil is A+ and A-, the other coil is B+ and B-.
A possible wiring is A+ to 1A, A- to 1B and B+ to 2A and B- to 2B, but there are 15 other possibilities. The only "wrong" way is one that connects a coil of the stepper to two different coil outputs on the RAMPS (so connecting, for instance, A+ to 1A and A- to 2A wouldn't work). |
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