Datasets:

bshada

/

3dprinting.stackexchange.com

like 1

2019-02-22T22:19:48.703

|electronics|

<p>I am looking for a 3.3&nbsp;V power source in the Printrboard Rev. D pins. </p> <p>I think there should be one somewhere... I do not know how to read the schematics that well. </p> <p>Also, I am going to connect an HC-06, which draws 45&nbsp;mA or less during operation. So, I need to know if it safe to get the power from the 3.3&nbsp;V rail (if I find it).</p> <p>So, the questions are: </p> <ul> <li>Which one is the 3.3&nbsp;V pin? </li> <li>And how much current can I draw from it?</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BIb3p.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BIb3p.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XkjmG.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XkjmG.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

8325

Printrboard Rev. D. 3.3 V source

<p>On the schematic, the 3.3v is marked as "U7" and pointed out here:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/j69dh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/j69dh.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>The 3.3v is marked as pin #2. You can find the three pints from U7 here on the board (blue circle):</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sUykU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sUykU.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>I'm not exactly sure if the pins are accessed from the other side of the board, or even if they are marked at all on there. You can always check them with a multimeter to see what their output is. More than likely the bottom single pin is the ground and the top two are one or the other (5v &amp; 3.3v). </p> <p>As far as amperage draw, I'm thinking 45mA is not a lot of draw, but I'm not an expert. I'd think it <em>should</em> be able to handle it, but again, I really don't know. </p>

2019-02-23T17:25:40.430

|print-quality|anet-a8|

<p>Here is an extreme example of notches caused by the printer. They go along all sides but are the strongest on the Y faces. They also happen quite randomly sometimes they are tiny sometimes they are strong. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VQ7Sr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VQ7Sr.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>I have tightened the belts already and while that reduced the ghosting on the X face a lot, it did nothing on the Y and actually never helped with the notches. This test cube has notches and ripples too but not that strong (the skirting on the bottom of that cube is my fault I set the bed level a little too low).</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZJDG4.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZJDG4.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/968jC.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/968jC.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>All models have been sliced with Ultimaker Cura and printed on an Anet A8. Flow = 110&nbsp;%, layer height of 0.1&nbsp;mm for the first example and 0.2&nbsp;mm for the cube, printing temperature = 195&nbsp;°C, no change on jerking and acceleration from default settings. Cube size = 20x20x20&nbsp;mm.</p> <p>The printer has frame support <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1672959" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1672959</a> but no other upgrades yet.</p>

8328

Why does my printer create notches on the Y surface?

<p>While you may very well be having temperature issues, I see two other issues:</p> <p>First, I think the "notches" are z-wobble. Z-wobble is often caused by bent z-axis threaded rods.</p> <p>I have a very similar Geeetech I3 printer. A lot of my z-wobble was cleaned up by removing the threaded rods and making them more straight. You can find videos to help you do that, just search for "threaded rod straightening".</p> <p>The other thing I did was decouple the nut on the threaded rod from the x-carriage assembly, allowing it to float in the X-Y plane as it pushes the x-carriage up. The x-carriage ought to be guided up by the smooth rods/bearings. Unfortunately, if the nut is fixed to the x-carriage, the bent threaded rods are strong enough to over-power the smooth rods/bearings and make the whole assembly wobble.</p> <p>The other problem I see is that your printer seems to be extruding too much filament. That is likely causing the little pyramid flair at the base of your print. If you tell the printer to extrude 100mm, it ought to extrude 100mm, not 110mm. Again, a search for "extruder calibration" will tell you how to do it. For me it involved extruding, measuring, a bit of math, adjusting some variables in Marlin, compiling and uploading the with Arduino IDE. Repeat until 100mm extrudes 100mm.</p>

2019-02-24T18:00:25.323

|ultimaker-cura|anet-a8|troubleshooting|print-failure|bug|

<p>I have an issue with my Anet A8 printer and how it interlocks with Ultimaker Cura. </p> <p>I want to print this file named <code>Loki_hörner_v2.stl</code>and Cura slices it fine, but when it comes to printing all the preheat happens, but then it stops, not going on at all. What might be wrong here?</p>

8334

Anet A8 stops printing

<p>Special characters like <code>Ä</code> <code>Ö</code> or <code>Ü</code> in the stl-filename resulted in Ultimaker Cura creating a comment of the filename in the g-code that read like </p> <pre><code>;MESH:Loki_hörner_v2.stl </code></pre> <p>This apparently could not be parsed by the Anet A8, leading to an error and halt.</p>

2019-02-26T18:14:11.010

|makerbot|replicator+|

<p>I'm currently trying to implement a data collector on my Replicator+ by utilizing JSON-RPC. Is there an <strong>official</strong> reference for this? MakerBot used to host a <a href="http://wiki.makerbot.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wiki site</a>, but that seems to be gone for their "troubleshooting" pages.</p>

8350

MakerBot JSON-RPC Command List

<p>It took some digging, but I was able to start scripting a wrapper in C# for the RPC commands.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/TrueAnalyticsSolutions/MakerBotAgentAdapterCore#api" rel="nofollow noreferrer">C# Wrapper</a> (MTConnect Implementation)</li> <li>Unofficial <a href="https://github.com/TrueAnalyticsSolutions/MakerBotAgentAdapterCore/wiki/JSON-RPC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">JSON-RPC Reference</a></li> </ul> <p>I still don't understand what every method does to the machine or necessarily what the results are, so a number of the methods are marked as obsolete until I can test them.</p>

2019-02-26T18:43:25.330

|ultimaker-cura|troubleshooting|creality-ender-3|bed-leveling|

<p>Issue: My Ender 3 is creating distorted prints with layer separation and deformations.</p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yYDwP.jpg" alt="Example Here" /></p> <p>Can anyone point me in the right direction?</p> <p>Setup:</p> <ul> <li>Ender 3</li> <li><a href="https://www.th3dstudio.com/ezabl-kit/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TH3D EZABL Auto Bed Leveling</a></li> <li>1.75 mm ABS filament (245 °C)</li> <li>Heated Bed (100 °C)</li> <li>Sliced in Ultimaker Cura (with 1.75 mm filament diameter and 0.2 mm layer height)</li> </ul> <p>What I have tried:</p> <ol> <li>Tightening Z axis screw</li> <li>Tightening Y axis belt</li> <li>Tightening X axis belt</li> <li>Switching to a different spool of ABS</li> <li>Printing a temperature tower (same problem across different temperatures)</li> <li>Turning off the auto bed leveling.</li> </ol> <p>Update:</p> <ol> <li>I've measured the temperature of the hot end, it is reading around 205°C +- 20°C</li> <li>As per suggestion from the TH3D support team, I tuned the PID of my hot end. Unfortunately the results did not turn out much better (<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZdRuP.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a>,<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/f8HDl.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a>) and the support technician is suggesting(a long with many people from the comments) that I should try to replace the thermistor. As per suggestion from @Trish, I measured the impedence of the thermistor and it does seem to be somewhat off from stock (118kΩ vs <a href="https://www.th3dstudio.com/product/3-pack-100k-thermistor-cr-10-tornado-ender-2-and-most-3d-printers/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">100kΩ</a>). Will update again once the replacement arrives.</li> <li>As requested, here are some more photos <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PiM2p.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">front</a>, <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nq1aj.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">back</a>, <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J7apd.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">left side</a>, <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9LoUN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">right side</a>. The cube isn't hollowed out just to save material while I calibrate the dimensions.</li> <li>I printed the same cube out, rotated 90 degrees. I got similar results though: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TWlS7.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">front</a>, <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IsADD.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">back</a>, <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TSaCy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">left side</a>, <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rz5ZY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">right side</a>.</li> <li><strong>Swapping the nozzle out solved the issue</strong>! Thanks for the help everyone!</li> </ol>

8351

Ender 3 Distorted Calibration Cube

<p><strong>Resolution</strong>: After many trials and errors, I finally replaced the nozzle with one that that was not partially blocked by filament at its entrance. </p> <hr> <p><strong>Likely cause</strong>: A careful examination of the old part hints, that the repeated blockage in the nozzle seems to have been caused by a gap between the PTFE tube and the nozzle, which has considerably moved backwards under the stress of printing as one can see <em><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BDHmw.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a></em> in a photo of the PTFE tube.</p> <hr> <p>It took me about a month and I went down a few rabbit holes until <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/12857/user77232">@user77232</a> made a great suggestion to check the nozzle and see if it needs to be cleaned. Thanks for helping me out everyone!</p>

2019-02-26T20:07:07.140

|3d-models|stl|fusion360|

<p>I currently have a model in fusion 360 of cylinders with the largest being 40" diameter in a specific pattern as seen below. My printer is a Ender-3x with the build plate dimensions of 8.7" x 8.7" x 9.8"</p> <p>I need to break this model into 5 pieces of exactly equivalent length so I can print same piece 5 times to equal a full cylinder </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vp61T.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vp61T.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> </p>

8353

how to split a 40" model into 5 parts to print seperate

<p>You've got several options:</p> <h2>Generate full-size STL, cut via software later</h2> <p>If you just have an STL, you can use software such as Meshmixer to modify it. In this case, a plain <code>plane cut</code> would suffice.</p> <h2>Modifiy the design file</h2> <p>A better way is to go into the design file (in your case fusion) and modify it there. In your case, it's rather easy:</p> <ul> <li>add a construction plane <ul> <li>choose the right constraints, e.g. an angle to the XZ plane or a distance to the XY plane</li> </ul></li> <li>choose the model <ul> <li><code>Edit &gt; split model</code></li> <li>choose the construction plane you made</li> </ul></li> <li>rinse and repeat</li> </ul> <p>If you want to get rid of parts that became superfluous after this, use the <code>remove</code> option, not the <code>delete</code> option, as the later tries to make sure that the object never was made in the workflow.</p>

2019-02-28T14:43:50.433

|pla|support-structures|flashforge-creator|

<p>I am using a Flash Forge Creator, and when I print big parts (only in this case) I have about 25% of the bottom of the printed object sticking very hard to its support layer. And I spend a lot of time removing it with a cutter.</p> <p>Is there any clue or good practice to avoid that?</p> <p>I use ReplicatorG for my printing settings.</p>

8369

3D printed part sticking to the support layer

<p>I finally found out two causes:</p> <ol> <li><p>The 3D printer has default settings for ABS, and since there is no printer bed settings in ReplicatorG, the bed temperature was set to 110&nbsp;°C instead of &nbsp;60°C. I fixed the setting directly on the printer itself.</p></li> <li><p>It seems that one side of the printer bed was little closer to the nozzle than other sides (relatively to the extruder) and this added a pressure on the support layer. I found this by observing the structure of the support layer that was little more compressed in one side. That was easy to fix by iteratively tightening/loosening the screw of that side and observing the support layer (and canceling the print if it is not homogeneous).</p></li> </ol> <p>I installed Ultimaker Cura and Slic3r to try them and I found that Ultimaker Cura was not adapted to my printer (I did not found a complying model), Slic3r seems to be okay but I was not able to fit my big part inside of it. I am trying to use the maximum available space for my part, perhaps I need to change some settings for Slic3r and anyway it is already working on ReplicatorG.</p>

2019-02-28T19:08:22.303

|extruder|bowden|e3d-v6|

<p>I'm struggling with an upgrade I made to my Creality CR-10. I upgraded the extruder to an E3D V6 hotend. The extruder mount and cooling fans are installed and working, however, I'm doing something wrong with installing the bowden tube into the hotend. Inevitably after I print a few layers, the extruder jambs and the issue is always the same: the bowden tube has backed itself out a few tenths of a millimeter, and the filament has mushroomed into the vacant space and hardened so that the filament cannot go forward or backwards.</p> <p>I've tried several things to fix the issue including:</p> <ul> <li>Trying various pneumatic fittings from various suppliers</li> <li>Recutting the end of the bowden tube to attempt to make it more flush</li> <li>Replacing the bowden tube </li> <li>Three different E3D heat-breaks from different supplier</li> <li>Various ways of inserting the bowden tube including: pushing it after the fitting was screwed in, pushing it into a fitting that was back out a couple turns and then screwing the fitting in</li> </ul> <p>The only thing that has (partially) worked was when I would ductape and hot-glue the bowden tube into the fitting so it couldn't back out. However, since I'm still tweaking things, I inevitably have to disassemble things and I'm back to square one.</p> <p>I'm trying to figure out what mistake I am making to keep causing this issue. As an example, originally I used the pneumatic fittings wrong and thought I was supposed to pull the plastic part out to release the tube, rather than simply pushing it in to release the tube. (Needless to say, I wrecked a lot of fittings that way.)</p> <p>What else might I be doing wrong to keep causing this issue? What are other culprits to this issue happening repeatedly? Are there firmware settings that may help (or be aggravating the issue)?</p>

8373

Installing bowden tube into E3D V6

<p>You may need to secure the pneumatic coupling in the closed position with a small plastic clip (which should be supplied with the hot end).</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/h3ljP.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/h3ljP.jpg" alt="Pneumatic coupling with retaining clip"></a></p> <p>You can print your own, providing that your printer will work for long enough (a paper clip might do the trick):</p> <p><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2798864" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse: Bowden Tube Clip v3</a></p> <p><strong>Addendum:</strong></p> <p>Some pneumatic couplers are sprung, so that you have to depress the coupling ring in order to release the tubing. In this case, no clip is usually required. Other pneumatic couplers (such as the one on an E3D V6) are unsprung. This makes it easier to secure and release the tube using the supplied clip. The disadvantage is that you may lose the clip. Sprung couplers sometimes lose their springiness, in which case a clip can be used to secure them in the closed position</p> <p>It's "swings and roundabouts", really. You can to choose between the awkwardness of sprung couplers, or the risk of losing a clip. Either way, print some spare clips. You may need them one day.</p>

2019-03-01T08:02:50.363

|prusa-i3|troubleshooting|

<p>Recently started using my kit Prusa I3 Mk3 and noticed that with large horizontal surfaces a wrinkling pattern is emerging.</p> <p>As you can see in the image the wrinkles seem to run parallel, the surface is 10&nbsp;mm above the build plate with all bridges fully supported.</p> <p>Has anyone seen this before? All other areas seem to be doing well.</p> <p>This print uses PLA filament @ 235&nbsp;&deg;C hotend temperature and clearly shows a wrinkled pattern on the top layer</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/a8luU.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Print showing wrinkled top layer print issue"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/a8luU.jpg" alt="Print showing wrinkled top layer print issue" title="Print showing wrinkled top layer print issue"></a></p> <hr> <p>If it helps, I haven't changed the settings from the normal Prusa Slic3r 0.15 profile.</p> <p><em>The problem reduced to an acceptable level by reducing the temperature to 205&nbsp;&deg;C but keeping the fan speed 100&nbsp;%, I am printing PLA. I might reduce the fan speed if I feel troubled by the result.</em></p>

8380

Prusa i3 Mk3 - Top layer wrinkles (not on buildplate)

<p><em>Waves in printed surfaces with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_filament_fabrication" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FFF</a> are observed at either the bottom layer (common) or the top layer (less common).</em></p> <h2>Waves in bottom layer</h2> <p>Rippling/wave generation/wrinkling is a common problem for first layer to occur and has a direct relation to the print nozzle to bed distance; a too short of a distance or over-extrusion can lead to this effect. However, this effect is less commonly observed in top layer finishes. Bottom layer waves are described in more detail in <a href="/a/7232">this answer</a>.</p> <h2>Waves in top layer</h2> <p>I have seen this defect before. It is caused by a <em>combination of incorrect <strong>hotend temperature</strong> and <strong>print cooling fan</strong> settings</em>. Please reduce the hotend temperature and reduce the fan cooling. The image below clearly shows the differences of such measures.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/10XmG.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/10XmG.jpg" alt="Solving waves in top layer of print" /></a></p>

2019-03-01T20:32:51.040

|ultimaker-cura|g-code|extrusion|

<p>I am new to 3D printing and recently got a second hand RF1000 and am busy calibrating it. For this I want to print a basic <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278865" rel="nofollow noreferrer">calibration cube</a>. I noticed the print doesn't always start with enough filament in the nozzle. To make sure the starting point for all prints are the same I added this G-Code in the CuraEngine settings:</p> <pre><code>G92 E0 ; start line G1 F300 E-0.5 G1 X230 Y22 Z0.35 F5000 G1 F800 E13 G1 X20 E25 F1000 </code></pre> <p>This works however after this the slicer automatically adds G-Code to move the extruder to the skirt location. This should be fine however I noticed that during the last part of this movement it retracts filament. This causes the start of the actual print to fail. What causes this and how can I change my settings to prevent this?</p> <p>Thanks for any help or advice you can give!</p> <p>Below is the G-Code from start until the end of the skirt.</p> <pre><code>;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 15.01 ; Default start code G28 ; Home extruder G1 Z15 F100 M107 ; Turn off fan G90 ; Absolute positioning M82 ; Extruder in absolute mode M190 S60 ; Activate all used extruder M104 T0 S210 G92 E0 ; Reset extruder position ; Wait for all used extruders to reach temperature M109 T0 S210 G92 E0 ; start line G1 F300 E-0.5 G1 X230 Y22 Z0.35 F5000 G1 F800 E13 G1 X20 E25 F1000 ;Layer count: 199 ;LAYER:0 M106 S127 G0 F9000 X80.200 Y80.200 Z0.200 ;TYPE:SKIRT G1 F1800 X119.800 Y80.200 E0.44818 G1 X119.800 Y119.800 E0.89636 G1 X80.200 Y119.800 E1.34454 G1 X80.200 Y80.200 E1.79272 G0 F9000 X80.600 Y80.600 G1 F1800 X119.400 Y80.600 E2.23185 G1 X119.400 Y119.400 E2.67097 G1 X80.600 Y119.400 E3.11010 G1 X80.600 Y80.600 E3.54923 G0 F9000 X81.000 Y81.000 G1 F1800 X119.000 Y81.000 E3.97930 G1 X119.000 Y119.000 E4.40937 G1 X81.000 Y119.000 E4.83944 G1 X81.000 Y81.000 E5.26951 G0 F9000 X81.400 Y81.400 G1 F1800 X118.600 Y81.400 E5.69053 G1 X118.600 Y118.600 E6.11155 G1 X81.400 Y118.600 E6.53257 G1 X81.400 Y81.400 E6.95359 G0 F9000 X81.800 Y81.800 G1 F1800 X118.200 Y81.800 E7.36555 G1 X118.200 Y118.200 E7.77751 G1 X81.800 Y118.200 E8.18948 G1 X81.800 Y81.800 E8.60144 G0 F9000 X82.200 Y82.200 G1 F1800 X117.800 Y82.200 E9.00435 G1 X117.800 Y117.800 E9.40726 G1 X82.200 Y117.800 E9.81017 G1 X82.200 Y82.200 E10.21308 G0 F9000 X82.600 Y82.600 G1 F1800 X117.400 Y82.600 E10.60693 G1 X117.400 Y117.400 E11.00079 G1 X82.600 Y117.400 E11.39465 G1 X82.600 Y82.600 E11.78850 G0 F9000 X83.000 Y83.000 G1 F1800 X117.000 Y83.000 E12.17330 G1 X117.000 Y117.000 E12.55810 G1 X83.000 Y117.000 E12.94290 G1 X83.000 Y83.000 E13.32771 G0 F9000 X83.400 Y83.400 G1 F1800 X116.600 Y83.400 E13.70345 G1 X116.600 Y116.600 E14.07920 G1 X83.400 Y116.600 E14.45495 G1 X83.400 Y83.400 E14.83069 G0 F9000 X83.800 Y83.800 G1 F1800 X116.200 Y83.800 E15.19739 G1 X116.200 Y116.200 E15.56408 G1 X83.800 Y116.200 E15.93077 G1 X83.800 Y83.800 E16.29747 G0 F9000 X84.200 Y84.200 G1 F1800 X115.800 Y84.200 E16.65511 G1 X115.800 Y115.800 E17.01274 G1 X84.200 Y115.800 E17.37038 G1 X84.200 Y84.200 E17.72802 G0 F9000 X84.600 Y84.600 G1 F1800 X115.400 Y84.600 E18.07661 G1 X115.400 Y115.400 E18.42519 G1 X84.600 Y115.400 E18.77378 G1 X84.600 Y84.600 E19.12236 G0 F9000 X85.000 Y85.000 G1 F1800 X115.000 Y85.000 E19.46189 G1 X115.000 Y115.000 E19.80142 G1 X85.000 Y115.000 E20.14095 G1 X85.000 Y85.000 E20.48048 G0 F9000 X85.400 Y85.400 G1 F1800 X114.600 Y85.400 E20.81096 G1 X114.600 Y114.600 E21.14144 G1 X85.400 Y114.600 E21.47191 G1 X85.400 Y85.400 E21.80239 G0 F9000 X85.800 Y85.800 G1 F1800 X114.200 Y85.800 E22.12381 G1 X114.200 Y114.200 E22.44523 G1 X85.800 Y114.200 E22.76665 G1 X85.800 Y85.800 E23.08808 G0 F9000 X86.200 Y86.200 G1 F1800 X113.800 Y86.200 E23.40045 G1 X113.800 Y113.800 E23.71281 G1 X86.200 Y113.800 E24.02518 G1 X86.200 Y86.200 E24.33755 G0 F9000 X86.600 Y86.600 G1 F1800 X113.400 Y86.600 E24.64086 G1 X113.400 Y113.400 E24.94418 G1 X86.600 Y113.400 E25.24749 G1 X86.600 Y86.600 E25.55081 G0 F9000 X87.000 Y87.000 G1 F1800 X113.000 Y87.000 E25.84507 G1 X113.000 Y113.000 E26.13932 G1 X87.000 Y113.000 E26.43358 G1 X87.000 Y87.000 E26.72784 G0 F9000 X87.400 Y87.400 G1 F1800 X112.600 Y87.400 E27.01305 G1 X112.600 Y112.600 E27.29826 G1 X87.400 Y112.600 E27.58346 G1 X87.400 Y87.400 E27.86867 G0 F9000 X87.800 Y87.800 G1 F1800 X112.200 Y87.800 E28.14482 G1 X112.200 Y112.200 E28.42097 G1 X87.800 Y112.200 E28.69712 G1 X87.800 Y87.800 E28.97327 G0 F9000 X88.200 Y88.200 G1 F1800 X111.800 Y88.200 E29.24037 G1 X111.800 Y111.800 E29.50747 G1 X88.200 Y111.800 E29.77457 G1 X88.200 Y88.200 E30.04166 G0 F9000 X88.600 Y88.600 G1 F1800 X111.400 Y88.600 E30.29971 G1 X111.400 Y111.400 E30.55775 G1 X88.600 Y111.400 E30.81579 G1 X88.600 Y88.600 E31.07384 G0 F9000 X89.000 Y89.000 G1 F1800 X111.000 Y89.000 E31.32282 G1 X111.000 Y111.000 E31.57181 G1 X89.000 Y111.000 E31.82080 G1 X89.000 Y89.000 E32.06979 G0 F9000 X89.400 Y89.400 G1 F1800 X110.600 Y89.400 E32.30973 G1 X110.600 Y110.600 E32.54966 G1 X89.400 Y110.600 E32.78960 G1 X89.400 Y89.400 E33.02953 G0 F9000 X89.800 Y89.800 G1 F1800 X110.200 Y89.800 E33.26041 G1 X110.200 Y110.200 E33.49129 G1 X89.800 Y110.200 E33.72217 G1 X89.800 Y89.800 E33.95305 G0 F9000 X90.600 Y90.600 </code></pre>

8387

Extruder retracts filament while moving from default start line to actual object location

<p><strong>The problem is that you prime the nozzle, but don't reset the filament length.</strong></p> <p>With your last priming action:</p> <p><code>G1 X20 E25 F1000</code></p> <p>You deposit a line that is followed by a move to the start of the skirt:</p> <p><code>G0 F9000 X80.200 Y80.200 Z0.200</code></p> <p>The printing of the start of the skirt is done by:</p> <p><code>G1 F1800 X119.800 Y80.200 E0.44818</code></p> <p>Notice the <code>E</code> term in your final priming line and the skirt print command; it goes from <strong><code>E25</code></strong> to <strong><code>E0.44818</code></strong>, as these specify absolute movement, this results in a retraction of about 24.5&nbsp;mm. What you should do is implement a <code>G92 E0</code> after your last priming command to fix this incorrect retraction behavior.</p> <hr> <p>_{<em>Please also do note that you are using a very old version of the CuraEngine, maybe it is possible to update to a newer version as well; depending on the slicer you use.</em>}</p>

2019-03-02T05:11:23.023

|print-quality|troubleshooting|creality-ender-3|

<p>I bought an Ender 3, and after assembling it following the description and some YouTube videos and after correct leveling, I printed the test dog gcode on the micro SD card that comes with the printer. PLA 1.75&nbsp;mm. Attached the image of the printing result. What went wrong? I didn't change or modify any settings what so ever, I just assembled the printer, and printed the test dog. Please help me, I am a beginner in 3D printing. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CisP7.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CisP7.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

8388

Ender3 printing tilted layers

<p>Ender 3's have a reputation to be not quite square on the base. Make sure that your X, Y, and X axis' are all perfectly squared.</p>

2019-03-03T23:37:04.290

|enclosure|

<p>I am looking for the temperature rating for hardboard. I want to use that as the base for my printer enclosure. </p> <p>It has proven incredible hard get a ball-park figure from Google. </p> <p>So, what is the maximum safe temperature for a hardboard panel at long term? (considering a print job can easily take 6 hours).</p> <p>PS: if you have used a hardboard to build your enclosure, your experience might be helpful.</p>

8397

Using hardboard for 3D printer enclosure; what is the temperature rating of hardboard?

<p>Masonite or hardboard is a high-density board without a resin. It is <a href="https://www.chromaluxe.com/wp-content/uploads/SDS-Hardboard-Universal-Woods.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">listed</a> at around 200 to 275 °C for its autoignition temperature. Just for comparison, let's look at similar products.</p> <p>Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is similar to hardboard but bonded with a resin, offering a smoother surface and is <a href="https://www.westfraser.com/sites/default/files/products/MDF/WP-GoldPlus%202013.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">listed</a> at 200 to 275 °C, so pretty close.</p> <p>The heavier High-density fiberboard variant is <a href="http://www.clarionindustries.com/assets/files/Clarion-msds-hdf.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">listed</a> with about the same temperatures of about 200 to 275 °C.</p> <p>Oriented Strand Board (OSB) is <a href="http://www.langboard.com/osb/data/osb_msds.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">listed</a> at 200 to 260 °C.</p> <h2>Conclusion</h2> <p>All the materials have very similar autoignition temperatures, so none of them particularly shines over the other. Using a proper fire safety procedure is highly encouraged, even though the ambient temperature in the enclosure should not reach even close to the 200 °C unless the printer has a freak accident and catches fire itself.</p> <ul> <li>A smoke detector is a must.</li> <li>Some kind of cooling method that keeps the inside at a temperature down is highly encouraged. A simple temperature activated fan might help in this.</li> <li>Lining the inside of the box with a thicker aluminium or copper tape can help to even out the temperature over the surfaces faster, preventing the formation of hotspots that might otherwise reach dangerous temperatures. <a href="https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/adhesives-sealants-tapes/tapes/copper-tapes/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Copper tapes</a> are more expensive than <a href="https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/adhesives-sealants-tapes/tapes/aluminium-tapes/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Aluminium tapes</a> but have a better heat transfer coefficient.¹</li> <li>Including an automatic fire suppression system could be an option.</li> </ul> <p>^{1 - The RS Catalogue was just chosen for ease of navigation. <a href="https://www.mcmaster.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">McMaster Carr</a> does list special <a href="https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/125/3591" rel="nofollow noreferrer">heat shielding tape</a> in both thin and aluminium as well as <a href="https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/125/3587" rel="nofollow noreferrer">copper and aluminium foil</a> tapes. I am not affiliated to either.}</p>

2019-03-06T20:35:26.030

|makerbot|replicator+|

<p>What is the make/model of a <a href="https://www.makerbot.com/3d-printers/replicator/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MakerBot Replicator+</a> motherboard? </p> <p>I'm assuming that the make is now MakerBot since they are now closed-source.</p>

8421

Replicator+ Motherboard Model

<p>It might be this board, <a href="https://www.shropshire3dprinters.co.uk/makerbot-5th-generation-motherboard.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MakerBot 5th Generation motherboard</a>, (<a href="https://www.shropshire3dprinters.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/a/makerbot-ersatzteil-motherboard-replicator-5.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">original image</a>)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wFUb3.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wFUb3.jpg" alt="MakerBot 5th Generation motherboard"></a></p> <p>The image was very small, so it is rather blurry, I'm afraid.</p> <p>I have contacted the suppliers for confirmation, and will update this answer, when/if I get a reply.</p> <p>However, according to this eBay item, <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/Makerbot-Replicator-Motherboard-Carriage-/322836559222" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Makerbot Replicator Motherboard Carriage</a>, it <em>could</em> be inferred¹ that the same motherboard (<strong>MP6292</strong>) is used in the Fifth Generation <em>and</em> the Replicator+ </p> <blockquote> <p>This part is the aluminum carriage that attaches the main board to the printer frame.</p> <p>Compatible with Makerbot Replicator Fifth Generation (5th Gen) and Replicator+ (Plus).</p> <p>NOTE: Motherboard show here is for illustration purposes only! Motherboard (MP6292) is NOT included.</p> <p>Main board presses right onto the carriage. No special tools are needed for assembly. Retaining screw is included.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lztuL.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Makerbot Replicator Motherboard Carriage"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lztuL.jpg" alt="Makerbot Replicator Motherboard Carriage" title="Makerbot Replicator Motherboard Carriage"></a></p> <p>A much clearer shot of the MP6292 Motherboard</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SXJfy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="MP6292 Motherboard"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SXJfy.jpg" alt="MP6292 Motherboard" title="MP6292 Motherboard"></a></p> <hr> <p>¹ However, that depends on whether you want to trust eBay descriptions.</p>

2019-03-08T16:51:49.983

|safety|food|

<p>I want to 3d print my own icing smoothers, but I'm not sure if its safe to have plastic from a 3D printer in contact with cake icing. Is there any harm in this?</p>

8430

Is it safe to use a 3D printed icing smoother?

<p>As mentioned, FDM 3D printed parts are flawed for food service and prep use regardless of the material, because of the small gaps between lines where bacteria can grow, and because your printer isn't used in a way to keep it from introducing contaminants into otherwise clean material.</p> <p>However, there are some ways around this.</p> <h3>Single-use</h3> <p>I'm pretty comfortable using my printer to make items for <strong>one time use</strong>. If I wanted an icing smoother with a fancy shape for a special cake that I'm not likely to need again soon, I'd go ahead and do that. I would apply all the icing at one time, and then I'd <em>discard the piece</em>, rather than try to clean and save it. Also note that I'm not talking about a commercial kitchen; this would be for a cake I'd eat myself with friends, rather than sell.</p> <p>The big thing I've done this way so far (I've had my printer less than a year) is make shaped cookie cutters. I'll print the cutters, use them, and then throw them away. If I want the same shape again some time, I'll re-print.</p> <h3>Lining</h3> <p>The other thing you can do with food prep items is print them with the intent to use liners. For example, <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1782268" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here is a 3D-printable taco train</a>, where a train car has grooves to hold tacos (yum!). It wouldn't be good to put a taco directly in here, but you could use napkins or similar food-safe liner to separate the 3D part from the food. In the case of the icing smoother, you might be able to print the part and wrap it in aluminum foil.</p>

2019-03-09T23:12:47.037

|extruder|motor|

<p>I saw on a popular site simple indicators for attaching to the axle of an extruder motor (Prusa printers). Those gadgets are spinning due to movement of motor, both clockwise (pulling filament) or counterclockwise (retracting). But all of those things are attached to motor axis by small neodymium magnet (<strong>round, 8x3 mm</strong>). I searched informations how such magnets affects for stepper motors and I read that magnet field can significantly change magnetic field of the motor. On presented movies for gadgets which I saw, the motor seems to have no trouble with rotating but AFAIK neodymium magnets have really strong magnetic field and I am curious how its centric orientation due to motor axis:</p> <ul> <li>inhibits rotation</li> <li>if yes, how much it raises the temperature of motor?</li> <li>how it affects for electronic of filament sensor?</li> </ul> <p>Currently I use Prusa i3 MK3 printer and during long (~10h) printings an extruder motor is enough hot and I don't want make it hotter. I want to print and attach such "rotation indicator" but the fact of used magnets made me started to thinking about magnetic field of motor. Or maybe those changes are so marginal to think about them?</p>

8436

How neodymium magnet affect (if any) on extruder motor

<p>The best way to know is placing the magnet on the shaft; if you see that motor starts shaking or stops this mean that you affects the motor operation, but I think if any magnet interference can be deprecated due internal coils of the motor during operation. </p> <p>The motor works with some coils in the rotor and some magnets in the stator (motor frame). But the shaft is to far from the coils to be affected for the magnetism of one small neodimiun magnet which needs at least 7mm to trap another small metal objet or for induction sensing and 2mm as maximum for creating electrical flows (generation); this values are afected if the magnet is placed over other metal part reducing his atraction field, and the armor is too big for an small magnet 8x3mm.</p> <p>You can attach some indicator with a double sided adhesive tape (3M) if still are worried about affecting your extruder.</p> <p>If your motor extruder is heating during extended usage periods you should adjust the motor current, for example: you motors is rated 0.5A you should calibarte the current for 0.48A or 0.45; this could reduce the torque force of the motor by a little. Or maybe the current current :D is calibrated above 0.5A thats way you are getting over heating.</p>

2019-03-10T18:38:49.920

|print-quality|ultimaker-cura|slic3r|creality-ender-3|

<p>I've been using my Ender 3 for about four months now and it's been working wonderfully. The print quality is amazing and all the prints are very strong. Then about three weeks ago, my entire system crashed while Ultimaker Cura was open and it lost the profile for my 3D printer. I recreated the profile to the best of my ability with other people's working profiles online, but none of them worked right. I've been getting severe under extrusion in all my prints, and they're incredibly fragile. For now, I've just been printing a 1"x1"x1" test cube. I've tried many steps from other people's posts online to fix the problem, including:</p> <ol> <li><p>Raising the print temperature for PLA to 200&nbsp;&deg;C.</p></li> <li><p>Checking the extruder for signs of too little tension or too much tension. I checked, and the PLA has light tooth imprints on it, and no grinding or damage to the filament.</p></li> <li><p>Clearing out the extruder. I disassembled the whole extruder assemble, and flushed all the plastic from each part with a heat gun, and metal pick, and then tried reprinting, but it didn't work.</p></li> <li><p>Trying a newer Ultimaker Cura version. At the time, I was using Ultimaker Cura 3.1 and hadn't updated because it was working well. I then tried the newest stable release of Ultimaker Cura 3.6, with a few different profiles, and then I also tried the beta version of Ultimaker Cura 4.0, but none of these worked.</p></li> <li><p>Increasing the extrusion rate. I incrementally increased the extrusion rate from 100&nbsp;% all the way up to 130&nbsp;%. The prints looked a little better and were a lot stronger, but this still didn't fix it.</p></li> <li><p>Trying a different slicer. I then downloaded Slic3r and created a new profile in that. The prints turned out a lot better, but there was still significant under extruding.</p></li> <li><p>Checking the filament tube for any burns or damage, and ensuring it's inside the extruder assembly all the way.</p></li> </ol> <p>If anyone can help me figure out what's going on with my printer, I'd really appreciate it!</p> <p>Here are some pictures of the prints I've been getting: These were made in Ultimaker Cura with different small changes to the profile made</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zZDWV.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zZDWV.jpg" alt="Ultimaker Cura Settings Under Extrusion"></a></p> <p>These were made in slic3r with a flow rate adjusted up to 130% <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rV2sO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rV2sO.jpg" alt="Slic3r Under Extrusion"></a></p> <p>These were prints I made before I lost all my settings in Ultimaker Cura. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/V7hie.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/V7hie.jpg" alt="Good Prints"></a></p> <p>Here's some of the material I read/watched and checked before posting myself:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/2931/i-am-experiencing-some-severe-under-extrusion">I am experiencing some severe under extrusion</a></li> <li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6807/sudden-underextrusion-on-ender3">Sudden underextrusion on Ender3</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/8vxttn/under_extrusion_on_ender_3_sharing_my_mistake_and/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">r/3DPrinting: Under extrusion on Ender 3</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x35aWmnZ_A0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fixing a Filament Flow Problem on CR-10 mini, CR-10 or Ender 3 by CHEP</a></li> </ul> <p>Edit: Here's my printer profile: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sn2d9IWmpEiSsuOhOJTkYu7RPEc8xjO1/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ender 3 Profile Google Drive</a></p>

8439

Ender 3 severe under-extrusion

<p>My Man, The Ender 3 Marlin firmware saves your E-Steps on the SD Card and you basically have to check the E-Steps every startup because the Firmware sets back the E-Steps Value every shutdown to the minimum 93. Thats a known issue of the Enders and still on the Mk.3 aka Ender 3v2 present. It's an easy fix.</p>

2019-03-11T07:41:45.090

|anet-a6|wiring|

<p>As an electrician newbie I have a question..</p> <h2>Short question</h2> <p>My power plug is attached to the wall outlet and three wires are at the end of it.. the blue, the brown and the green/yellow oen.</p> <p>How to determine which is the live, zero and ground wire WITHOUT depending on the colouring? I want to know this to always be able to check the wiring, if I don't trust it.</p> <p>Also, I have these sub questions that follow from my situation:</p> <ul> <li>Why does the test screwdriver lit up when connected to the apparant zero line?</li> <li>How can I determine the live/zero line using a multimeter</li> </ul> <h2>Situation</h2> <p>My tools:</p> <ul> <li>a test screw driver</li> <li>a multimeter</li> <li>the ANET A6 manual</li> </ul> <p>In the manual it states that</p> <ul> <li>brown is the live wire</li> <li>blue is the zero wire</li> <li>green/yellow is the ground wire</li> </ul> <p>I know that in some countries this colour coding is the standard and can be trusted. I just want to be able to check it.</p> <p>So, my first hypothesis would be.. if I put the test screw driver on the live (brown) wire, lay my thumb on the end, the internal bulb would glow. This did not happen. It did happen when I put it on the zero (blue) wire. So I am a bit confused by this.</p> <p>My second trick was using the multimeter. Using the positive and negative probes to determine the polarity and therefore decide how the current was flowing. But there was no sign of polarity... duh.. because I was of course on AC, which is always Alternating.. hence no sign information from a multimeter. So, how CAN I use a multimeter to determine the live/zero line? Maybe measure the current from live/zero to ground? Is that a safe option?</p> <p>PS: my first post on this forum.. so please correct me where needed</p>

8443

Anet A6 stock power wires.. the live, the zero and the ground. Which is which

<p>This picture shows the correct wiring for a British 13A mains plug:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/W4EqF.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/W4EqF.jpg" alt="UK 13-amp mains plug with wiring"></a></p> <p>The green/yellow wire must <strong>always</strong> be connected to the earth terminal (at the top of the plug). This is most important, and will prevent electrocution if something goes wrong.</p> <p>The brown (live) wire should be connected to the fuse, and the blue wire to the remaining terminal. It is true that, since alternating current is being used, the device will likely work if the blue and brown wires are swapped, but it is better to stick with standard practices to avoid confusion.</p> <p>I would not use a "test" screwdriver to determine which terminal is "live" in this instance, simply because it is unnecessary. <strong>The live terminal is always the one that the fuse is connected to.</strong> This is done for safety reasons since the device is automatically disconnected from the live side of the circuit if the fuse blows.</p> <p>How to wire mains plugs is really beyond the scope of this stack. Watch appropriate YouTube videos if you want to make a competent job of it. The only advice that I will give is to always use a proper fuse of the correct rating for the device. Never use something like a paper-clip. Also, don't use the 13 Amp fuse that comes with the plug. The fuse is there to protect the cable, rather than the device. Most printers will draw less than 5 Amps, and will be supplied with a 5 Amp cable, so use a 5 Amp fuse.</p> <p>Also, <strong>never work on a plug while it is connected to the power socket</strong>. This is most foolhardy, even if the socket appears to be switched off.</p>

2019-03-11T12:38:14.827

|prusa-i3|

<p>Over the last two days I have tried everything I could come up with to fix the following issues.</p> <p>It all started with bad bed adhesion.(pic.1) Solutions for these problems are readily available, so I calibrated my Z-axis (did the whole wizard from start to finish again) and started a calibration print over the whole buildplate, getting an interesting result.(pic.2) As you can see some area's are squashed nicely whilst others come off directly.</p> <p>I then started looking for alternative Z-levelling solutions and came across an alternative calibration file (link1), at first glance the results seemed allright, -0,8mm seem to provide the best results (pic.3) however notice the darkened area to the left (could be the high temp of this test? 225c?).</p> <p>To validate the number I did a full print on -0,8 and this is where it gets weird, the result shows a non uniform transparancy (pic.4) the mechanical properties are also a lot less. I used my caliper to check the printer and all seems to be well within expected ranges. The bed is also flat, checked with a ruler for deformaties.</p> <p>Printing with the first spool of Prusa fillament, do notice some changes in the Z-level calibration print, the edges now bend upwards, this is done with the same Gcode and spool as previous (pic.5). </p> <p>Any advice on what to do next? Printing on 210c with fan off for the first layer, test square on 225c, all PLA. Cleaned the bed with Acetone (99% pure) before each attempt.</p> <p>Picture 1: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BEr9G.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BEr9G.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> Picture 2: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jh52H.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jh52H.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> Picture 3: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/d4wtl.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/d4wtl.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> Picture 4: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUwgq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WUwgq.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> Picture 5: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tqd5r.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tqd5r.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>EDIT: So Mick mentioned cleaning the nozzle which helped with the inconsistent first layer. In the end it was me being unaware that Aceton doesn't help with grease, a thorough scrubbing of the buildplate with soap and really hot water helped.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Speny.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Speny.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

8447

Prusa I3 mk3 - Not your average inconsistent first layer

<p>The Prusa i3 is coated with a PEI sheet. PEI and other build plates stick to the build but don't like to be dirty. Fingerprints can build up and create an interference layer of fats that lessen the adhesion to a point the pieces spontaneously pop off.</p> <p>A good cleaning is often needed. For PEI Isopropylic Alcohol is a fast cleaner, but if you can remove the build plate soap and water work too - but take care not to go too hot as PEI can get damaged. For BuildTak and similar, Acetone also can do the job.</p> <p>When using Gluestick to create a deliberate destroyable adhesion layer (for filaments fusing with PEI that can result in chipping out chunks) clean the surface afterward with a little water. In the choice of gluestick, make sure you get a PVA based one.</p>

2019-03-14T12:58:11.420

|marlin|firmware|safety|knowledgebase|

<p>What is Thermal Runaway Protection (TRP) and why should I enable it?</p> <p>How does one do so in Marlin?</p>

8466

What is Thermal Runaway Protection?

<h2>What is Thermal Runaway?</h2> <p>Let's look at a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVjWg2vuWzk" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thermal Runaway Test (#2)</a> performed by one Chris Bate.</p> <p>In this video the experimenter drove the heating element non-stop until disaster. The Nichrome wire in the heating element melts at about 1,400 °C. Only once it melts, will the circuit will break and the current stop. The aluminum heating block however, melts at 660.3 °C; long before the nichrome melts.</p> <h2>Thermal Runaway Protection</h2> <p>Thermal runaway protection is a piece of code in the firmware of the printer that checks to make sure that once power is being applied to the heater, the thermistor's resistance is changing within a specified frame (time and amount). This is the basic form of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_loop" rel="nofollow noreferrer">control loop</a>.</p> <p>If the control system is implemented mechanically then it is called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostat" rel="nofollow noreferrer">thermostat</a>, usually via a bimetal strip.</p>

2019-03-14T15:27:39.700

|safety|

<p>This <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/8466/13883">question</a> 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.</p> <p>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.</p>

8470

Are there printers that don't have thermal runaway protection?

<p>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).</p> <p>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. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQ9UWlmdVA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thomas Sanladerer</a> 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.</p> <p>Among the printers that come with Thermal Runaway Protection enabled are the PrusaResearch builds of the Original Prusa i3.</p> <p>To test if it is enabled on your printer, you could disconnect the heater elements prior or during printing, see <a href="/a/8467/">this answer</a> or the process explained in Thomas Sanladerer's Video above or from the start of his <a href="https://toms3d.org/2018/05/09/make-your-3d-printer-safer-marlin-configuration/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">safety tutorial</a>:</p> <blockquote> <h2>How to test if TRP is active on my printer?</h2> <p>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.</p> </blockquote>

2019-03-16T20:13:59.513

|marlin|troubleshooting|pronterface|

<p>When printing cube.gcode using Pronterface I get:</p> <pre><code>Print started at: 23:07:31 </code></pre> <p>After 8 seconds I get:</p> <pre><code>Error:Printer halted. kill() called! Error:Printer halted. kill() called! </code></pre> <p>What is the reason? How can I see logs?</p> <p>Additional information:</p> <p>I connected only three motors, and set the following in Configuration.h of Marlin Firmware:</p> <pre><code>#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 999 ... #define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 999 ... #define X_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING true // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. ... </code></pre> <p>(Also for min max for XYZ)</p> <p>In 8 second X motor and Z motor were running.</p> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ePtdnp2bPZXrOXZcE9inYSxHUbInyVnb" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> is the link to G-Code print file (cube.gcode).</p> <p>I'm using Marlin 1.1.x on a Arduino Mega 2560 + RAMPS 1.4 without endstops.</p>

8480

Error:Printer halted. kill() called!

<p>Your G-code file contains the <code>G28</code> command to home the printer, as you do not have endstops, execution of this command fails. If you do not use endstops, you should never home the printer, instead you must position the print head at the origin yourself (generally this would be at coordinate [x=0, y=0, z="paper thickness"]) and remove homing commands from your G-code file.</p>

2019-03-17T02:26:19.157

|marlin|diy-3d-printer|troubleshooting|ramps-1.4|

<p>I have three stepper motors. One Nema 17 - 2.4 ohm, the second smaller noname from color printer - 9.5 ohm and third the smallest noname from cdrom - 10.5 ohm.</p> <p>I have connected them to arduino mega 2560 with ramps 1.4(set to 1/32 micro stepping) and drivers drv8825. <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/8480/errorprinter-halted-kill-called">See my previous question.</a></p> <p>After some time (less than one minute) the first is cold. The second motor is hot. And the third is very hot. I can not even touch it.</p> <p>What can I do to fix it.</p>

8482

After some time stepper motor is hot

<p>Unless you have changed the factory stepper driver settings, they will all be set to deliver the same CURRENT to the motors. Stepper drivers operate as constant current supplies, so the voltage supply does not determine the power sent to the motor.</p> <p>The power dissipation in a circuit is the current squared times the resistance. <span class="math-container">$P = I^2 R$</span>. Because the current is constant, the 10.5-ohm motor will dissipate over four (4) times the power of the 2.4-ohm motor and will get much hotter more quickly.</p>

2019-03-20T07:54:06.297

|octoprint|

<p>I want to know if it is possible to schedule a 3D Print to start at a specified time so that I don't have to press start. <br/> My 3D Printer has an Arduino mega based RAMPS 1.4 control board &amp; is connected to a Raspberry Pi 3B running OctoPi 0.15.1</p>

8504

Can I schedule prints to start at a specified time?

<p>There are a few options to delay starting using either the OctoPrint environment or directly use G-code for this.</p> <p>The use of G-code is probably the most simple for you to implement. The <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#G4:_Dwell" rel="noreferrer"><code>G4</code></a> command defines a "dwell" or pausing period for the next command to start:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZRBGP.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZRBGP.png" alt="G4 Dwell G-code"></a></p> <p>Depending on the firmware you use, you can use the <code>P</code> or <code>S</code> parameter to specify the pausing period.</p> <p>To pause the print job (for 1 hour) you need to insert the following line as the first line of your G-code print file:</p> <pre><code>G4 P3600000 // One hour pausing; defined in milliseconds </code></pre> <p>or (if your firmware supports)</p> <pre><code>G4 S3600 // One hour pausing; defined in seconds </code></pre> <p>Other solutions may include the adaption of the OctoPrint <a href="https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/wiki/Cookbook:-Custom-Controls" rel="noreferrer">controls</a> menu structure or use of the <a href="http://docs.octoprint.org/en/master/api/job.html" rel="noreferrer">REST API</a> of OctoPrint. These options are more difficult to implement.</p>

2019-03-20T12:43:03.293

|ultimaker-cura|speed|

<p>I'm trying to figure out why the print speed changes at one point in this model.</p> <p>I'm using Ultimaker Cura 3.6 and, as shown in the picture, I set the speed to be the same across the entire print. Is there a setting I'm missing?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/47jrL.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/47jrL.png" alt="Screenshot of Ultimaker Cura 3.6 with sliced model"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hfntK.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hfntK.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>0scar is right. Changing the minimum time per layer to 1s (from 3s), makes the entire print print at the same speed, as per settings. However, it's probably a bad idea: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yr6yI.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yr6yI.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

8506

Why does the print speed change at specific height? (Using Ultimaker Cura slicer)

<p>Not being able to see the rest of the model (from the first image), if looks as if the light green sliced area displaying a lower speed for the top of the cylinder, is the only part that need to be printed to that height (now confirmed in the second image). This speed reduction is done by the slicer and is not specifically caused by Ultimaker Cura (other slicers do result in similar behavior). Note this is a good thing! Lets explain.</p> <p>Filament needs an amount of time to cool before the next layer is deposited onto the previous layer. When the layers get small (surface area) and there are no other layers the print head shifts to, the print process is slowed down to allow the filament to cool down; hence you see a decrease in print speed. If you deposit too fast, the last part of your print will become too hot and will deform.</p> <p>A print parameter that influences the behavior is the <code>Minimal Layer Time</code> parameter in Ultimaker Cura, please read the hint information of this parameter:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jzd89.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jzd89.png" alt="Hint text of Minimal Layer Time parameter of Ultimaker Cura"></a></p>

2019-03-21T01:31:57.710

|print-quality|filament|flexible|

<p>I have some flexible PLA filament (<a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00VKSSA4E" rel="noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VKSSA4E/</a>, presumably a mix of PLA with some platicizer) that's supposed to be easy to print with settings similar to regular PLA. I've seen recommendations to disable retraction, and indeed I get huge failures to extrude at all for a while after retraction if it's enabled. But with retraction disabled, I get stringing all over the place, and since the material isn't brittle, it's really difficult to remove.</p> <p>I'm using a bed temp of 60 and print temp of 220, increased from 210 for normal PLA since I had trouble getting it to adhere at lower temp. Printer is Creality Ender 3. Using CuraEngine for slicing. The extruder is feeding the material fine; there's no kinking going on or anything.</p> <p>Where should I start trying to improve this? Might retraction work with a really really slow print speed or greatly reduced retraction distance? Or are there other ways to avoid stringing?</p>

8512

Avoiding stringing with flexible filament

<p>OK, this turned out to be really idiotic. The main source of the problem was Cura's custom start gcode for my printer (Ender 3), maybe duplicated for other printers too: it crams a massive amount of filament through the extruder to prime it. With flexible filament, this doesn't actually extrude most of it; rather, it just builds up as pressure in the bowden, which makes the first few [tens of] layers ooze like crazy, and then the hot nozzle picks up the ooze and drags it all over the place, and yay, stringing everywhere!</p> <p>A previous version of this answer (see edit history) described a lot of options I was using to try to improve things, some of them rather dubious. Really, the core of the matter, which can manifest in lots of ways, is that if pressure builds up in the extruder due compression of the material being easier than forcing it through the nozzle, it will ooze during travel, or as a glob prior to travel during ineffective retraction, and either way it will eventually lead to catastrophic stringing. So to solve this, I needed to address all the ways it could happen.</p> <ul> <li><p>First was the start gcode. I dropped the extruded material amount over 200mm for the priming from 15mm to 9mm (about 90% nominal material needed rather than 150%) and edited the custom end gcode to revert all but 1mm of the retraction it does, after homing. This reduces the need for wacky over-priming at print start, and makes the state after printing roughly match the state after loading filament, so that print results are independent of whether filament was just loaded or not.</p></li> <li><p>Second, pressure can build up again if the extrusion rate is too high for the material, nozzle size, and temperature. At 30 mm/s print rate and 0.3 mm layers, I found I need a ridiculously high temperature like 235 °C to keep it flowing. This in turn produced a lot of sagging of overhangs, so really 0.3 mm layers seem to need significantly slower printing, defeating the purpose. 0.2-0.25 mm seems to flow marginally ok at 30 mm/s and 215°C, which is better behaved with regard to overhangs, and fine at 225 °C.</p></li> <li><p>I'd noticed previously (in the previous version of this answer) a problem with layer adhesion with temperatures lower than 225 °C. This was not actually a layer adhesion problem but rather an underextrusion problem, the same one causing stringing.</p></li> <li><p>The retraction amount still needs to be sufficient to account for the compression of the material in the bowden, plus enough to get it backed out of the hotend. I seem to need at least 15 mm, compared to 5 mm for plain PLA. Note that retraction min travel needs to be disabled (set to 0) to prevent skipping retraction for short moves, where stringing will be the worst.</p></li> <li><p>Higher retraction speeds seem to work better, and without them the 15 mm retraction is miserably slow. However, I found that my printer's default limits on extruder feedrate and jerk were very low. Adding <code>M203 E200</code> and <code>M205 E25</code> to the custom start gcode made it honor my requests for faster retraction, and doesn't seem to have any ill effects.</p></li> </ul> <p>In summary, the settings that work for me are:</p> <ul> <li>All print speed settings: 30 mm/s or less</li> <li>Travel speed: 250 mm/s</li> <li>Retraction amount 15 mm</li> <li>Retraction speed: 150 mm/s</li> <li>Retraction combing: all</li> <li>Retraction hop: disabled</li> <li>Retraction min travel: 0 mm</li> <li>Temperature: 235 for 0.3 mm layers, 215 for 0.2 mm layers</li> </ul> <p>And the results:</p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/w23Fq.jpg" alt="test print with no stringing"></p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LbRXP.jpg" alt="frog with support, no stringing"></p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/R3hqk.jpg" alt="frog with support removed"></p>

2019-03-21T03:38:17.487

|extruder|software|anet-a8|hardware|print-failure|

<p>So I got my 3D printer (Anet A8) a few years ago and put it together. I couldn't figure out how to use it. Then about a month ago I decided to try again now that I am older and got it to work. I know more than I did by far. I have printed about 15-20 different times now, but then this problem occurred just now that I have never seen before. I tried looking up what it could be and google results in nothing and this exchange leads to one thread that is close to what I am having difficulty with but doesn't really help. I got the stl file from the internet on thingverse, so I am fairly certain they must have clicked the center and arrange when in the cad software to make the item, which is a phone stand. So my print all of a sudden starting printing in air. Here is a picture and thanks for the help. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xxoaQ.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xxoaQ.png" alt="Printer Anet A8 prints in the air"></a></p>

8513

Printer is Confused-Printing in Air Literally

<p><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2737639" rel="noreferrer">Here's the pattern.</a></p> <p>The problem is, you didn't slice the g-code using support. It won't print right without it.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zk8sU.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zk8sU.jpg" alt="From Thingiverse.com from blecheimer"></a></p>

2019-03-22T01:14:22.780

|retraction|

<p>I'm using Ultimaker Cura 3.6.0 and I am getting some annoying "stringing" on the first layer. This isn't new to 3.6.0 as I have seen it on pretty much every version I have used.</p> <p>What appears to be happening is that as it is laying down the first layer, it doesn't retract as it moves from one area to another. This leaves a trail of filament which then shows up as an unattractive line embedded in the print. (ignore the other extrusion issues in the example below)</p> <p>A similar thing happens on the top layer. It ruins the look of the nice smooth bottom I get from a glass bed. </p> <p>I don't have stringing issues elsewhere on my prints.</p> <p>I thought at one time I had seen a setting to control it, like "retraction during travel" or something, but now I can't seem to find anything that sounds like it in the dizzying array of settings. </p> <p>Does anyone know of a way to get rid it these lines?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kuQ4f.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kuQ4f.png" alt="Example Travel Lines"></a></p>

8519

Stringing during travel on first layer with Ultimaker Cura

<p>Yes, if you are using the <code>Combing Mode</code> option, please ensure it doesn't do this in the skin, for a leak/string free first layer, it is required to set the <code>Combing Mode</code> to <code>Not in Skin</code>.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SFuUy.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SFuUy.png" alt="Ultimaker Cura &quot;Combing Mode&quot; option &quot;Not in Skin&quot;"></a></p> <p>When the mode of the option is set to <code>Not in Skin</code>, combing is "off" for the skin; this implies that the material will retract and move in a straight line to the next print area. When material is retracted (and when properly tuned for your printer), the nozzle will not leak filament causing those (deposited) travel movement lines as indicated by the OP.</p>

2019-03-23T05:29:42.700

|openscad|

<p>Recently I have been doing more complicated math in OpenSCAD and I have run into something that I find strange. Take a simple math expression: <code>2 / 2 / 2</code>. By any programming language this will equal 0.5 (1/2), and OpenSCAD agrees. Something like this: <code>2 / -2 / 2</code> should also be -0.5 for the same reason. However, OpenSCAD thinks this is -2. That is <code>echo(2 / -2 / 2);</code> gives <code>ECHO: -2</code>. My calculator, other programming languages (and myself) all say its -0.5.</p> <p>Is this a quirk of OpenSCAD, or am I missing something obvious?</p>

8534

Why is 2 / -2 / 2 equal to -2 in OpenSCAD? (Mathematical Order of Operations)

<p>I <a href="https://github.com/openscad/openscad/issues/2894" rel="nofollow noreferrer">filed this issue as a bug with the OpenSCAD project</a>, and there is now <a href="https://github.com/openscad/openscad/pull/2895" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a fix merged into master</a>, as well as a test case to prevent regression. The latest nightly builds should handle this correctly from here on out.</p>

2019-03-25T02:17:45.767

|prusa-i3|ultimaker-cura|slic3r|geeetech|

<p>3D-printing newbie here. I have a Geeetech's Prusa i3 mk2 B.</p> <p>I'm trying to print this: <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1358311" rel="noreferrer">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1358311</a></p> <p>That's a mold, with 2 external parts and a core. The exterior prints wonderful. But the core is too messy. Take a look at this: </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HrrKz.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HrrKz.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>What riddles me is that the side parts, and the pole's base, print fine; so this does not look like a bad calibrated printer, but something else entirely. My guess is this is some precise tuning I don't know yet. </p> <p>I've been trying to print that little pole without success for over a week now. Tried all this:</p> <ul> <li>Changing the slicer program (I've used Ultimaker Cura and Slic3r prusa edition)</li> <li>Tuning the e-steps for avoiding over-extrusion.</li> <li>Tuning the z-steps, so the nozzle doesn't melt the last layer when printing a new one.</li> <li>In the same sense, changed the nozzle heat.</li> <li>Tried lots of different layering, speed, walls, bridging, and quirks configurations.</li> </ul> <p>So far, the best I got is a little pole not-too-deformed so I can make my part anyway, even when the pole is not well printed. But after seeing lots of videos and reading lots of tips online, I still don't understand how to tune my print for that simple little pole.</p> <p>Other that tips, what I would really like to ask is if somebody has a name for that problem I'm facing, so it would be much more easy to search for my tuning options.</p> <p>So... any clue how to fix this? </p>

8539

Trouble printing small thin pole

<p>I'm sorry for the long time I took to answer, but the ammount of NEW problems I faced since started this question was so big that wanted to write a list of them before answering my own question. I've finally also desisted from the list, as the problems tends towards infinity. </p> <p>Simple version: printing more than a single item did the trick, as several people proposed here. But then the piece broke when tried to remove it from the hot bed, as somebody else also warned me here. By that time I tried a temp tower, had to recalibrate almost the whole printer, had to also relubricate it, had to learn some tricks about sticking and de-sticking pieces from the bed, tried several different glues, started to fine-tune my slicings, and so on and so on... man, 3D printing is laborious.</p> <p>But I wanted to let this link here for all the fellow newbies out there reading this. </p> <p><a href="https://all3dp.com/1/common-3d-printing-problems-troubleshooting-3d-printer-issues/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://all3dp.com/1/common-3d-printing-problems-troubleshooting-3d-printer-issues/</a></p> <p>That was exactly the kind of document I was looking for online as a newcomer to this world, and I'm sure it will be useful for a lot of people.</p> <p>Thanks everybody.</p>

2019-03-25T10:20:22.043

|prusa-i3|hotend|anycubic-i3-mega|

<p>I have an Anycubic i3 Mega-S and when I'm printing something (especially when it's hotter) the temperature increases and decreases by around 3 degrees during the print. Is this normal?</p> <p>I was worried this is a loose thermistor and if it comes out during a print my house will probably catch fire! I have no idea how to tighten it though.</p>

8545

Temperature fluctuations, is it normal?

<p>All printers will have some fluctuation and it's not a concern. This is similar to the fluctuation you'll see in your home temperature around the thermostat setting. There are a couple reasons. One is that the feedback loop (thermistor to control board to heater to extruder block) will always have some lag. Another is that most systems have built-in "hysteresis," i.e. set the "turn off heat" a couple degrees above the "turn on heat" thresholds. This avoids "chatter" from on to off right at the setpoint.<br> Some thermistors (e.g. my AnetA8 clone) can be held in place with a setscrew. If yours doesn't have a similar capability, use Kapton tape to hold it in. This tape is designed for high temperature operations so it won't age or collapse, and it has good holding strength.</p>

2019-03-25T11:29:23.553

|filament|quality|petg|

<p>At the moment the outside surface temperature is around 30 °C. Can I put my PETG spools outside with a fan in order to dry them cheaply?</p>

8548

Can I dry PETG filament under sun?

<p>Here is my suggestion for a cheap, well and temperature accurate drying manner of a filament. I've done it several times for PETG that is actually a very moisture absorbing filament and pops it up when using by ruining the job. Why not using your own printer's heat bed to dry the filament (PETG about 6 hours in 65 degrees of Celsius)? I can guarantee that it works: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uvtPo.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uvtPo.jpg" alt="PETGs Drying On a Heatbed"></a></p>

2019-03-25T17:45:23.737

|heated-bed|power-supply|mosfet|

<p>I am currently running my Tronxy X5s with a MKS Gen L board. So far I have not ran the heat bed over 50 degrees C since I have only printed with PLA so far. I plan to try PETG and/or ABS in the near future and I have a spare power supply 12V/360W laying around. </p> <p>When I first got my printer I purchased <a href="http://www.lerdge.com/prod_view.aspx?TypeId=12&amp;Id=212&amp;FId=t3:12:3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> external MOSFET board after reading about X5s "upgrades", but so far have not used it.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6M16.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6M16.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QiqlH.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QiqlH.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>My plan is to now run the heat bed using a separate power supply than the one running my control board using the external MOSFET to switch it. Since this power supply will only be powering the bed, I would like to bump up the voltage, via trim-pot somewhere from 12V-15V, to gain some watts per square inch on my heat bed. </p> <p>Will this MOSFET isolate the heat bed circuit from my control board to allow it be ran at a higher voltage? Is it safe to run the power supply/heat bed at a higher voltage than it is rated for a significant amount of time?</p>

8553

Will this MOSFET allow the heat bed to run at a different voltage than the control board

<p>For reference,I done tracing this module as shown. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ols3z.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ols3z.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/r8ao6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/r8ao6.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a> So you can use isolated power supply for load. Also you can use up to 24V without any problem. Edit: This module still work with higher voltage up to 24V. But according to question. Using higher voltage supply more than rated is same as my question <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/15263/can-we-apply-more-voltage-to-a-pcb-heated-bed-to-get-faster-heating">here</a>. For summary. Adding more voltage to resistive load results to higher current flow. Recheck your wire and connectors for current rate so you will know the limit of voltage you can go with. One more thing, mosfet can fail like short circuit. At this situation the temperature of bed cannot be controlled. At normal voltage rate even we left the bed connected to power supply the temperature will rising to about 100C if you add more voltage it will go higher than that can the heated bed will broken or burned or start to fires</p>

2019-03-28T04:58:13.313

|ramps-1.4|print-fan|fans|

<p>The question is simple - I have a RAMPS 1.4 running Marlin 1.1.9 with the three MOSFETs being used (end, fan, bed), but I'd like to have a couple other Marlin-controlled fans. One of them would be a 4-pin, 6000RPM cooler I got from a dead graphics card. Seeing how it runs perfectly at 12V 350 mA if I keep the control pin disconnected (and ignore the sense pin too, of course), Could I connect 12V and GND directly to the PSU (or RAMPS 12V header) and the CONTROL pin to one of the pwm servo control pins like D11? Or do I need a resistor? </p> <p>I could add some info about the fan if needed, but it's a FirstD 4-pin, 12V 0.35A fan that can run up to 6000 RPM. </p>

8568

4pin fan on RAMPS board - direct?

<p>Yes, this should work.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://www.glkinst.com/cables/cable_pics/4_Wire_PWM_Spec.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this 4-pin fan specification</a>, such fans use a 5V PWM signal. You would have to make sure the PWM frequency on the pin you use satisfies that 21-28 kHz range specified in the document.</p> <p>According to 3.3 and 3.4 in the document, you may not be able to turn the fan off completely when using the PWM input signal.</p>

2019-03-30T21:40:57.987

|prusa-i3|heated-bed|mosfet|

<p>My printer (Prusa i3 Mk3 rework clone, with a 200 x 200 <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Heatbed#MK3_ALU-Heatbed_Dual_Power" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MK3 ALU-heatbed</a>, RAMPS 1.4) has a car relay for heated bed control. It works just fine using bang-bang on Marlin, but I would like to replace it with a MOSFET anyways. The specialized MOSFET heating modules are way too expensive in my country, so I was thinking about buying a MOSFET that's good enough to handle my 12&nbsp;V 10&nbsp;A bed with Marlin's PWM. </p> <p>Would a MOSFET like the STP80NF70 be enough (0.01&nbsp;Ω at vgs 10&nbsp;V, 68&nbsp;V 100&nbsp;A) or would one of the bigger ones, e.g. in TO-3P encapsulation be needed?</p> <p>It would go in a proper heatsink and ran at 12&nbsp;V with an optocoupler</p>

8585

Minimum MOSFET rating for MK3 heatbed

<p>and welcome to the Stack Exchange 3D Printing site.</p> <p>Let's look at the specs compared with the requirements.</p> <p>How much power is used by the heated bed? You have specified 120W (12V, 10A). That information makes it easy! On my homebrew printer it is higher, but that seems like a good high limit for a typical i3-style design.</p> <p>So, the MOSFET you propose, assuming you completely turn it on, will dissipate 0.01 ohms * 10A^2, or 1 watt. This will warm the part, and you probably should attach it to a heat sink, which could be as simple as the existing extrusions. There is a much more complete answer to this exact question on the Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange site: <a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/16882/dissipating-1w-on-a-to-220-without-heatsink">Dissipating 1W on a TO-220 without heatsink?</a></p> <p>I doubt the PID frequency is higher than 40 KHz. Since the Vgs rating you referenced is specified with 10V on the gate, you can't drive that directly from an Arduino pin. You need another driver transistor (NPN or FET) to drive the power FET gate. The turn-on time for the power FET will be determined (in the simplest circuit) by the pull-up resistor to +12v connected to the output of the transistor and the gate of the FET.</p>

2019-04-01T18:37:48.310

|safety|sla|enclosure|resin|

<p>I know I did something stupid. I just had to have a SLA 3d printer. The issue being I live in a one bedroom apartment. In the months of owning it I have made lots of amazing pieces, I also for the first time in my life have not only allergies, but sever allergies. I thought I had the flu, and has been most of the last 2-3 months. After making the connection to the symptoms appearing after I got the printer, I sealed the resin vat and removed all cleaning station items from my living space. I had thought I had done "enough" by sealing the printers door, and making sure I could not smell any chemicals, and getting a chemical grade air filter. </p> <p>It's been 2 days, and I'm instantly recovering from my symptoms, and have discontinued allergy medication. </p> <p>Other than not own this type of printer, what kind of setup do I need so that I can safely use this printer? Does anyone sell enclosures or setups for businesses or homes that will solve this issue? </p> <p>I can move the cleaning station to my balcony, as it also has a sink and space. Placing the printer even in an enclosure outside would be hard due to the humidity and extreme pollen we get here. </p>

8594

Best way to deal with Resin Printers in your living space

<p>First things first: Resin is very aggressive. It can very easily make you hypersensitive, even to the fumes of it. So step 1 is easy:</p> <h2>Limit exposure</h2> <p>Wear gloves when working with resin. As you live with your printer in the same room, bottle up the resin right after use and only open it during use to prevent buildup over time and exposure. To further reduce the exposure, leave the room while printing if possible and ventilate the room after bottling the resin again. Possibly even wear breathing protection during operation.</p> <h2>Enclose and seal the machine</h2> <p>To keep the vapors away from you, the machine needs to be enclosed airtight. Any lids need to get a seal, non-opening joints of the frame need to be sealed with a sealant like silicone. Often it is hard to retrofit an enclosure to seal up the workspace.</p> <p>If you want to enclose the full machine, I suggest using glass sheets and silicone sealant for the whole inside. Brace the construction from the outside with L-profiles along the corners and joints. The most tricky part will be the opening hatch and wiring/ducting access hole. The opening seal needs a sealing lid all around that gets compressed on closing the machine up and some kind of lock to keep it this way. The air filtration and wire access are just hard to make because of their circular shape. You might want to use a wooden or metal base plate, so it is best to put ventilation through the base. In case of wood, afterward coat the inside surface with a thin layer of an airtight material, such as epoxy resin or silicone.</p> <h2>Low presssure operation by ventilating the machine</h2> <p>The next best thing to isolating the machine workspace from the air completely is to make it a low-pressure operation. This means that you evacuate the air from the machine. The imperfect seals now work against a high pressure outside and low pressure inside, meaning that the flow in any non-sealed spot only knows one direction: into the machine.</p> <h3>Ventilation outside...</h3> <p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/8595/8884">Fred's answer</a> provides good basics on how to do this in general by using parts for Laser evacuation. This is also the most space-economic way.</p> <h3>...and filtering.</h3> <p>But there are (partial) indoor solutions even, based on ventilating the air from the printer into a multi-stage air filter could reduce or eliminate the amount of chemical exposure. This is not a slim piece of foam, it is a boxy setup with about 3 to 6 stages of filtering. Among dry-filters, a paint-filter in combination with an active coal one should eliminate a large portion of irritants from the stream, but might still need to be vented outside to reduce exposure even more. A 'wet' air filter, where the exhaust of the machine is pearled through a basin of a cleaning liquid (often water or a solvent like isopropylic alcohol) like in an aquarium could help to catch even more chemicals but is bulky.</p>

2019-04-02T21:07:45.463

|print-quality|calibration|creality-ender-3|

<p>I'm having a problem where the relative dimensional error of cylinders is rapidly increasing as the absolute size decreases. Printing a calibration stack of cylinders of diameters 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3 mm, they come out undersized by 5%, 5.3%, 7%, 8%, 10%, and 13%, respectively, as measured by a digital caliper. Cubes exhibit a less severe version of the same pattern: 2.5%, 3%, 5%, 4%, 5%, 7%. The cylinders are generated with OpenSCAD using <code>$fn=180</code>, i.e. they're actually extrusions of 180-gons, so the error should not be caused by poor chord approximation; indeed, measuring projections of the model, or reading the gcode and accounting for nozzle width, everything looks right.</p> <p>Printer is Ender 3, using PLA at 210. Slicing with CuraEngine.</p> <p>Could this be caused by underextrusion or print speed issues - or some effect where the material pulls itself together under tight curvature? What techniques might be able to compensate for it, short of fudging the model?</p> <p>Some additional information: As noted by Trish in the comments, the consistency of the absolute error, which is 0.4 for cylinders and 0.2 for cubes, is likely important. I've also subsequently tested with 110% extrusion rate and the errors for the cylinders dropped to consistently 0.2 mm (still a significant increasing relative error), but the skin layers at the top of the 3 mm cylinder bulged, suggesting the increased extrusion is wrong - an excessive total volume of material.</p>

8605

Progressively worse relative size error at smaller absolute sizes

<p>I've had this problem recurringly after marking this solved before, so I'm writing a new answer to revisit it.</p> <p>Based on the magnitude of the error being absolute rather than relative, and not being direction-dependent (i.e. not backlash), it can't be caused by the motion system. I further ruled out inward warping of the material by running tests with 100% infill. When, even at 100% infill, the diameter (thus volume of material) was too low, the only remaining explanation was underextrusion.</p> <p>Measuring the theoretical rotation distance of my extruder hob (now a different extruder from the original Ender 3 one), accounting for approximate tooth depth along with a precise hob diameter measurement, I got a value 15% lower than my configured value (E-steps 15% higher). I was already aware there was a discrepency here, just not the magnitude, and had purposefully kept it lower because of concerns that the full value would lead to parts that don't fit, due to imperfections in the walls, and especially that it might make the undersized holes problem worse.</p> <p>In reality, it's done the opposite. The best explanation I can come up with for fixing holes is that, for extrusion widths narrower than the nozzle (which a 15% under-extruded 0.4 mm line is, since it's only about 0.34 mm), the line does not stay centered well, but gets dragged with the direction of curvature. I think I still have some problems with holes being slightly undersized, but they're at least no worse, and seem slightly better.</p> <p>As for positive cylinders, at 5 mm, printed diameter is nearly perfect, only under by about 40-50 µm, which is very acceptable and better than being over. Getting this result does depend on having a 100% solid part, though; as soon as infill comes into play, the cylinder is undersized again. Setting Cura's &quot;Minimum Infill Area&quot; high enough, or using enough walls to ensure the cylinder will be solid, can ensure 100% fill without printing the whole part at 100% infill.</p> <p>So, I think I can conclusively say the main likely cause for this problem is underextrusion due to inaccurate E-steps.</p>

2019-04-04T03:14:38.240

|slicing|slic3r|speed|

<p>The expert mode of Slic3r PE has almost a dozen speed values:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GqkFo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GqkFo.png" alt="Expert mode speed settings in Slic3r PE"></a></p> <p>I understand that ultimately print speed at a particular temperature correlates with bond strength, so things like bridges and the first layer having different speeds are reasonable. </p> <p>What about the rest? Why does infill have 3 variations? How are the different categories listed impacted distinctly from any other form of layer/path bonding?</p>

8610

Why are there so many print speed parameters in slicers?

<p>There are multiple parameters because of the trade-off at print speeds. Slow printing will have less ghosting and a better overall quality, but it takes way more time.</p> <p>Fast printing will be fast (oh thank you, Captain Obvious), but you will get stronger ghostings and poorer line quality overall. Maybe some strange artifacts.</p> <p>But you don't need a good print quality in areas that are not visible at all, but you do need it for the outer shell. Also, is the travel mostly just something that you want done as fast as possible but maybe not so fast that that the whole printer starts shaking?</p> <p>So, you want to set different parameters for different parts.</p> <p>Next reason: most slicers are used for a large variation of printers, and every printer is a litte bit different—even the same printer type with different addons (like a vanilla Anet A8 vs. a beefed up Anet A8). For the slicer to be able to be used by all these printers, it is necessary to be able to set multiple parameters.</p> <p>To get deeper into your question about the different infill speeds: if you print a solid infill you will also need to give the printed material more time to cool down, because it is packed tightly and there is not much surface area for heat to get away. If you print these areas too fast you will end up with a part that is too warm and warps and deforms all the time while the next layers were printed on already, inserting even more heat into the part and isolating the warm parts from the outside. You can observe similar behavior when printing overhanging areas with thick walls: there the part will stay in a semi-solid state, and deforms all the time.</p> <p>But how fast you have to go depends on the cooling system you have on your printer.</p>

2019-04-06T19:11:09.137

|print-material|concrete-printers|

<p>When houses are printed with concrete cement what replaces the steel rebar for reinforcement?</p> <p>Here's a link referencing printing concrete: <a href="https://www.aniwaa.com/house-3d-printer-construction/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.aniwaa.com/house-3d-printer-construction/</a></p> <blockquote> <p>House 3D printers use extrusion technology. Some construction 3D printers look like super-sized desktop FFF/FDM 3D printers (gantry style), whereas others consist of a rotating mechanical arm.</p> <p>In both cases, paste-type components such as concrete are used as filament. The material is pushed out of a special nozzle to form layers. To put it (very) simply, paste extrusion is similar using a piping bag to spread frosting on a cake.</p> <p>The printer creates the foundations and walls of the house or building, layer by layer. The ground is literally the printer’s build plate. Some concrete 3D printers, however, are used to 3D print brick molds. When molded, the bricks are then piled atop each other manually (or with a robotic arm).</p> </blockquote> <p>Like most of the people here my experience is with a printer (RepRap) that can use PLA or ABS. With all the materials normally put into concrete, using an extrusion printer to print concrete is puzzling.</p>

8635

What is the reinforcement for 3D printing concrete cement?

<p>To answer your question, they use steel or fiber glass.</p> <p>Why does concrete need reinforcement? Concrete is very useful to absorb compression loads, but breaks and cracks very easily when subjected to tension loads. Rebar, or steel constructions are added to strengthen the concrete to bear the tension loads. My house has walls that are littered with steel wires/fibers of about 10 cm (about 4 inches) and about 1.5 mm in diameter close to the surface (drilling holes into the wall frequently means hitting such a fiber which comes out and leaves a scar on the wall...). My walls are constructed in a factory flat on the ground, those fibers are added to prevent shrink cracks in the first layer of the wall (the side you always look at); after that, rebar is added and the rest of the wall is cast and after drying the wall is put upright and transported to the build site.</p> <p>Injection of fibers is not new to 3D printing; it is already possible to print short fibers embedded in filament, or continuous where filament and thermoplastic material join together in the nozzle. The company I work for creates molds and aerospace parts this way.</p> <p>You can imagine that it would be possible to print concrete with fibers/wires or continuously with wires. Technically this should be feasible, but I guess that larger diameter wire (rebar) is actually needed instead of relatively small diameter wires. Also, fibers can only be laid down in the direction of travel of the nozzle, not perpendicular to. Rebar often shows strengthening in multiple (three) dimensions, that is not possible with 3D printing.</p> <p>There is some reported success on printing reinforced concrete:</p> <p>According to <a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/news/news-overview/17-10-2017-worlds-first-3d-printed-reinforced-concrete-bridge-opened/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BAM Infra</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>“They have succeeded in developing a process to also print the steel reinforcement at the same time. When laying a strip of concrete the concrete printer adds a steel cable so that the slab is ‘prestressed’ so that no tensile stress can occur in the concrete.”</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4xHou.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4xHou.png" alt="Concrete bridge element with rebar for pretension"></a></p> <p>But this means that the print is a part printed at another location, not on location.</p> <p>There is also some success with using horizontal fiberglass reinforcements within the walls during the printing process.</p> <p>See e.g. <a href="https://www.engineering.com/BIM/ArticleID/17459/Study-Explores-3D-Printing-Reinforcement-Possibilities.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this reference</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322168435_3D_Printing_Concrete_with_Reinforcement" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this reference</a> for more information on reinforced concrete printing. </p>

2019-04-08T01:05:38.823

|sla|knowledgebase|resin|

<p>I've been wondering this for a while, and have searched for hours and have found nothing except undetailed explanations and projects.</p> <p>How does a UV LCD 3D resin printer cure resin exactly? I understand there is an LCD screen, but where does the UV light come from? Where is it placed?</p>

8641

How does a UV LCD 3D resin printer work?

<p>I'm surprised your research hasn't answered your question, as the concept is relatively simple. You have most of the answer in the question. The missing item is a light source. Usually the source is an array of ultraviolet LED modules. There are resin printers that would not be called LCD printers, as they use computer display projectors to generate both the image and the UV to cure the resin.</p> <p>A rather extensive list of various resin printers can be found at <a href="https://www.aniwaa.com/the-best-resin-3d-printer-sla-and-dlp/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">aniwaa.com</a> along with a clear explanation of the technologies.</p> <p>The image below is courtesy of the link in the previous paragraph.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LSzPW.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LSzPW.jpg" alt="printer diagram"></a></p> <p>The light source that answers your question is visible in the third picture. As noted, the LCD panel blocks the light based on the image to be cured. I think the "uses its own light" is somewhat misleading, unless the builder has found a high-UV output LED LCD panel or is using daylight resins and has configured for long burn-in times.</p>

2019-04-11T14:39:30.423

|pla|material|

<p>I'm interested in 3d printed reaction chambers, but can't find any good information on chemical resistances of PLA, just vague claims that it "might not be" "because it's biodegradable" or that it depends on additives (likely true, but it would be nice to know if there's hope of finding PLA without problematic additives if the PLA itself is okay). Is there any published research or even anecdotes (which could suggest it's worth spending effort to investigate further) on this topic?</p>

8662

PLA chemical resistances? Especially HCl, other acids

<p>See this as well:</p> <p><a href="https://www.filamentive.com/chemical-resistance-of-3d-printing-filament/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chemical Resistance of 3D Printing Filament</a> by Ravi Toor</p> <blockquote> <p>Summarised chemical resistance per material below (<em><strong>H</strong>= High Resistance, <strong>VH</strong> = Very High Resistance</em>).</p> <p><strong>Water</strong> – PLA (H) PETg (VH), CF-PETg (VH), ASA (VH), ABS (VH), ePLA (H), ONE PET (H)</p> <p><strong>Acids</strong> – PETg (VH), ASA (VH), ABS (H)</p> <p><strong>Bases</strong>– PETg (VH), CF-PETG (VH), ASA (VH)</p> <p><strong>Alcohols</strong> –PETg (H), CF-PETG (VH), ASA (VH), ABS (H)</p> <p><strong>Hydrocarbons</strong> – N/A</p> <p><strong>Ketones</strong> –N/A</p> <p><strong>Ethers</strong> –N/A</p> <p><strong>Fuels</strong> –PETg (H), CF-PETG (H)</p> <p><strong>Salts</strong> – PLA (H), ASA (VH), ABS (VH), ePLA (H)</p> <p><strong>UV</strong> –PLA (H), ASA (VH), ABS (H), ePLA (H)</p> <p><strong>Oils</strong> – PLA (H), PETg (VH), CF-PETg (VH), ASA (H), ePLA (H)</p> </blockquote>

2019-04-14T15:19:04.527

|ultimaker-cura|anycubic-i3-mega|anycubic-ultrabase|

<p>My first layers started to have these "seams" in them. I am printing on the Anycubic Ultrabase.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3l9WN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Seams in first layers"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3l9WN.jpg" alt="Seams in first layers" title="Seams in first layers"></a></p> <p>Any other layer is fine.</p> <p>Has anyone else experienced similar problems or an idea of how to debug this issue?</p> <p>The picture is of PLA (BQ Easy Black) printed at 215 °C on the Ultrabase. The the same issue with BQ Easy PLA red, turquoise and white (205 °C), Zaper PETG Brown 230 °C and HobbyKing translucent ABS Red (245 °C).</p> <p>Changing the nozzle did not change anything.</p>

8682

"Seams" in first layer

<p>Normally, such patterns are caused by too close printing to the bed (nozzle to bed distance too small), but considering the not fully flattened out extrusion lines (on glass I get a mirror shine fully closed surface) this does not seem to be the reason; you could try to increase the gap a little, in Ultimaker Cura this is very easily done with the Z Offset Setting plugin. Alternatively, you could use a little thicker paper to calibrate the bed levelling.</p>

2019-04-14T20:53:48.570

|print-quality|change-filament|

<p>I changed the filament, and to adjust filament temperature, I printed a test model and it looked good: </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/90rop.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/90rop.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>But printing another part did not go so well: </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kDVQa.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kDVQa.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vYSJy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vYSJy.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>After the failed print I ran another test: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vp0Pk.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vp0Pk.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>Еverything is done with the same settings. And I think the temperature and settings are okay.</p> <p>Is it possible to have a missed step on the Z axis, and this has caused the crushing of the layers or bad filament quality.</p> <p>Where does the problem come from?</p>

8690

Strange problem with quality, what might be the reason for these bubbles?

<p>From third picture - moisture!</p> <p>Is new filament cheap? I guess it was too long on stash and/or bad package.</p> <p>Look for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxQbYGpbdrh-b2ND-AfIybg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Maker's Muse</a>'s video on Youtube about this topic. </p>

2019-04-15T12:57:30.940

|prusa-i3|troubleshooting|abs|

<p>I'm trying to set up an enclosed (custom enclosure) Prusa i3 style printer for ABS, but having a fair amount of difficulty preventing the part corners from curling.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/k9YT6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Example of curling at part corners"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/k9YT6.png" alt="Example of curling at part corners" title="Example of curling at part corners"></a></p> <p>Detailed specs:</p> <ul> <li>Geetech A10 (generic Prusa clone) w/ PEI heatbed</li> <li>Custom enclosure</li> <li>Slic3r software</li> <li>ABS filament (obviously!)</li> <li>247&nbsp;°C hotend temp</li> <li>115&nbsp;°C heated bed first layer, 110&nbsp;°C for others</li> <li>Fan on for layer 3 and above</li> </ul> <p>Verified heatbed temperature with calibrated IR imager.</p> <p>Thus far I have been unable to prevent parts from separating from the heatbed during print, primarily at the corners where stress is concentrated. I've tried various heatbed temperatures from 90&nbsp;°C to 115&nbsp;°C, lower hotend temperatures (which just made the problem worse and caused complete print failure), cleaning the PEI surface with alcohol, etc. to no avail. I'm even seeing this to some extent with Benchy, it shows up as a lift to the stern and bow (slight bend parallel to the keel) -- the print is otherwise basically perfect.</p> <p>I've attached an image of the more extreme curling -- yes, I should probably be using mouse ears on a part like this, but I see the same thing on parts that shouldn't require mouse ears.</p> <p>What is the best way to fix this particular problem? Temperature adjustments, brims, rafts, something else?</p>

8694

Best way to fix ABS corner curling on enclosed Prusa style printer with PEI heatbed?

<p>A tall skirt (like 1 cm tall or more, even as tall as the part) few millimetres from the part would shield the corners and the outer parts from colder air and keep the part temperature high, reducing curling. </p> <p>It is in principle better than mouse ears, because these just pull the corners, which will still have a lot of internal stress when cooled, but if you keep the part warm as I suggest, the corner will stay flat(ter) by themselves, resulting in a stronger and better print with less internal stresses.</p>

2019-04-15T18:03:11.117

|heated-bed|anet-a8|glass-bed|

<p>I have an Anet A8 clone printer with a heated aluminum print bed. I'm considering purchasing a glass bed to add on top of the aluminum. When adding a glass bed on top:</p> <ul> <li>How would I go about installing the glass onto the aluminum bed? Is the major concern here just affixing it?</li> <li>How do you adjust for the added thickness of the bed in the printer? Is this just through a limit switch adjustment or something firmware/software related?</li> <li>How much do you adjust your heat (if at all)? Does it take a longer warm-up time due to having to heat the glass?</li> </ul>

8696

When installing a glass bed, what do you change?

<p>The most common way to install a glass bed (assuming it's literally a piece of borosilicate glass) is with binder clips. Glass <em>is</em> an insulator, so you may need to adjust your bed temps by a few degrees, and it will take somewhat longer to warm up.</p> <p>You shouldn't need any firmware changes, but will need to adjust whatever z homing you do. If you have a limit switch currently, you'll need to move it by the thickness of the glass. If you have an inductive probe, it should still continue to work, but your z-offset will need to be adjusted. If you have BLTouch or a piezo, nothing should need to change there.</p>

2019-04-15T20:11:55.320

|g-code|slic3r|

<p>I had problems printing parts and I figured out that my children have turned the knob of my Prusa i3 MK3 and set the printing speed to 112%.</p> <p>Since I'm not experimenting much yet, I'm not printing at different speeds than the original speed. I wonder whether there's a G-Code command that I could let Slic3r insert at the beginning of each print to ensure the print starts with 100% speed.</p>

8699

G-Code for resetting to 100% speed

<p>You can put the speed to 100&nbsp;% by G-code command: <code>M220 S100</code>.</p> <p>The <code>M220</code>command is described <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M220:_Set_speed_factor_override_percentage" rel="noreferrer">here</a>.</p> <p>Know that speed changes sent to the printer have an effect on the next printed layer, it first finishes the current layer at the speed commanded before starting printing the layer.</p>

2019-04-16T19:40:00.770

|print-quality|pla|rafts|

<p>I was asked to print something with ESD PLA and the first layer, on a raft, is coming out like this:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/t4QTU.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Badly printed ESD PLA first layer on raft"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/t4QTU.jpg" alt="Badly printed ESD PLA first layer on raft" title="Badly printed ESD PLA first layer on raft"></a></p> <p>Nozzle temperature was 220&nbsp;&deg;C and I'm using the default Cura draft profile.</p> <p>Can you provide any tips on how to get a good print with this?</p>

8706

Ender 3 first layer of ESD PLA printing on raft fails

<p>The gap between the raft and the first layer is too large (you need to switch to expert mode in Ultimaker Cura to see the values of the option before you can change them) and the hotend is too hot (normal PLA generally prints at 190&nbsp;&deg;C, ESD PLA prints at higher temperatures; you could aim for 210&nbsp;&deg;C as a start), This makes it difficult to precisely deposition the first layer on the raft as the nozzle drags the hot filament causing inaccurate first layer deposition.</p> <p>Furthermore, PLA generally doesn't require a raft to print the part. The Creality Ender 3 has a rough bed (like a BuildTak surface), you could print directly onto the bed surface.</p> <p><a href="https://www.3dxtech.com/3dxstat-esd-pla-3d-printing-filament/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source</a> states:</p> <blockquote> <p>Extruder Temp: Typically 210-220°C. ESD PLA is a filled product and has a higher melt viscosity vs. unfilled PLA. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary to print at higher temperatures than your standard PLA to allow the resin to flow properly.</p> </blockquote> <p>This implies that a hotend of 220&nbsp;&deg;C mot not be hot enough, in that case the filament is too cold and viscous and gets dragged because the gap is too large.</p>

2019-04-17T00:04:58.017

|print-quality|acetone|pei|chemistry|

<p>The <a href="https://help.prusa3d.com/article/6Gtws6Yqjg-pei-print-surface-preparation" rel="noreferrer">Prusa3d knowledge base</a> mentions that acetone will "rejuvenate" PEI in addition to cleaning oil and grease from the surface.</p> <blockquote> <p>About once a week, or when <strong>prints stop sticking</strong>, use <strong>ACETONE</strong> to clean the bed. It removes grease better than IPA or Windex. It also <strong>rejuvenates</strong> the print surface. However, if you use acetone every day, PEI will become brittle and start cracking.</p> </blockquote> <p>From a chemical or physical perspective, how does acetone affect the PEI surface?</p>

8712

How does acetone "rejuvenate" PEI?

<p>Rejuvenate is probably a bit of an exaggerated term. The number one adhesion suppressor is grease. The stuff that comes off of the fingers used to handle the sheet. Even if you are careful and only handle the sides, the grease will be carried to the center of the plate next time its cleaned with less aggressive solvents.</p> <p>Isopropyl alchohol does break down grease but not to the extent that acetone does. Acetone also attacks plastic particles that accumulate on the print surface over time.</p> <p>PEI is resistant to a wide array of chemicals[1] including acetone but it can become brittle if exposed to it too much especially when hot so acetone is not recommended for daily cleaning. </p> <p>[1] <a href="https://www.emcoplastics.com/assets/pdf/ultem/ULTEM%20Product%20Brochure%20GE.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Ultem Product Broshure</a> table 4-3</p>

2019-04-17T10:44:42.763

|pla|print-material|

<p>I'm using the default Ultimaker Cura draft profile but with the nozzle temp at 220&nbsp;&deg;C because this is a special ESD filament.</p> <p>All was going well after some troubleshooting thanks to some users on 3DPrinting.SE but this happened over night:</p> <p>What would cause an entire layer to lift off the main body, continue to print and then turn to spaghetti?</p> <p>The red circled part was supposed to be part of the blue outline. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lcWXV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lcWXV.png" alt="failed print detail"></a></p>

8713

Layer lifted and separated from ESD PLA

<p>The spool kept getting caught on itself and tightening. I unrolled some of it and rewound it and the print came out perfect. @anttix was almost correct with the clog theory.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RKyY5.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RKyY5.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

2019-04-17T19:00:44.430

|print-quality|resolution|

<p>I work in a teaching hospital and we have a research project we're interested in pursuing. We'd like to 3D Print tubes we'd implant into rats to help with nerve regeneration. We're interested in the shape of the tubes right now, more so than what material it is or whether it's biocompatible etc.. </p> <p>So this question isn't necessarily about what type of plastic or whatever we should print in. My question is more so:</p> <blockquote> <p>We'd like to print a tube that's 1&nbsp;mm in diameter, about 1&nbsp;cm long and has as many micro "tubes" crammed through it as possible, something like this:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ry5X1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Tube containing micro tubes"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ry5X1.png" alt="Tube containing micro tubes" title="Tube containing micro tubes"></a></p> </blockquote> <p>I currently have a Stratasys j750 in my lab, a UPrint Se and a Prusa i3 Mk3s. They all work well but for the detail I'm looking for, come up a bit short. They have advertised accuracies of 14 microns (well, the j750) but thats just in the z direction, x and y are more like 200. If I went to get PRECISE, what technology should I look into?</p>

8715

Ultra high precision and accuracy printing

<p>Update on this:</p> <p>Per this article: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29570458" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3D printing strategies for peripheral nerve regeneration</a></p> <p>There are a few 3d printing technologies beyond your typical FDM/SLA/Polyjet that can get this small.</p> <ul> <li>Melt Microextrusion</li> <li>two photon polymerization</li> <li>Something called MEW</li> <li>continuous liquid interface production</li> </ul> <p>I found various articles where someone "printed" that small, but it was often kind of a misnomer where technically something was made additively, but it wasn't a "printer" that you could go buy. I think two photon polymerization may be the "best" actual printing method for what I want, though the price tag associated with that style of printers may be out of my range. But it can definitely get that small, this technology can apparently get down into the nanometer range.</p>

2019-04-18T05:51:05.557

|marlin|anet-a8|

<p>This question concerns an Anet A8 with customized Marlin Firmware 1.1.9.</p> <p>I need to generate an additional digital output to signal move complete to trigger some data acquisition process. The extruder is not connected and was planning to use those outputs.</p> <p>Which section handles G-code processing and is there an already available option to get the job done?</p> <p>Basically, I'm trying to use the Anet A8 as a computer-controlled positioning system. It involves some other elements which need to be triggered in a stationary state. The requirement is: <code>G0 X10 Y10</code> after this is complete: set a pin high and low after a 10&nbsp;ms delay. this after every move. Additionally if I could add my own G-code to preserve the original operation would be ideal.</p>

8719

Marlin customization; additional output after G0/G1 move

<blockquote> <p>Which section handles G-code processing?</p> </blockquote> <p>In Marlin Firmware, G-code is processed by procedure <code>void process_parsed_command()</code> in file <a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/bugfix-1.1.x/Marlin/Marlin_main.cpp" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>Marlin_main.cpp</code></a></p> <blockquote> <p>I need to generate an additional digital output</p> </blockquote> <p>A G-code that is able to set a port value is <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M42:_Switch_I.2FO_pin" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M42</code></a>.</p> <p>You could write a procedure that schedules certain port after a <code>G0</code> or <code>G1</code> move, recompile and upload the firmware.</p>

2019-04-18T10:42:32.927

|marlin|arduino-mega-2650|ramps|

<p>I've bought a new "MKS GEN_L V1.0" and I'm trying to configure it with Marlin 1.1.X. I changed motherboard in <code>configuration.h</code> from previous:</p> <p><code>#define BOARD_RAMPS_13_EFB 33 //RAMPS 1.3 (Power outputs:Hotend,Fan,Bed)</code> </p> <p>to </p> <p><code>#define BOARD_MKS_GEN_L 53 //MKS GEN L</code>. </p> <p>I'm getting this error:</p> <pre><code>pins.h:268: error: #error "**Unknown MOTHERBOARD value set in Configuration.h**" #error "Unknown MOTHERBOARD value set in Configuration.h" ^ In file included from sketch\MarlinConfig.h:42:0, from sketch\G26_Mesh_Validation_Tool.cpp:27: SanityCheck.h:58: error: #error "MOTHERBOARD is required. Please update your configuration." #error "MOTHERBOARD is required. Please update your configuration." ^ SanityCheck.h:786: error: #error "**Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN requires the Z_MIN_PIN to be defined.**" #error "Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN requires the Z_MIN_PIN to be defined." ^ SanityCheck.h:942: error: #error "**LCD_BED_LEVELING requires an LCD controller.**" #error "LCD_BED_LEVELING requires an LCD controller." ^ SanityCheck.h:1084: error: #error "**HEATER_0_PIN not defined for this board.**" #error "HEATER_0_PIN not defined for this board." ^ exit status 1 #error "Unknown MOTHERBOARD value set in Configuration.h" </code></pre> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/84l1J.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="MKS_GEN_L V1.0"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/84l1J.jpg" alt="MKS_GEN_L V1.0" title="MKS_GEN_L V1.0"></a></p>

8721

Configuring of MKS_GEN_L V1.0

<p>The motherboard definition in <code>configuration.h</code> should be written like:</p> <pre><code>#define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_MKS_GEN_L </code></pre> <p>actually the word <code>MOTHERBOARD</code> was missing and there is no need to write <code>53 //MKS GEN L</code> at the end.</p> <p>The number definition is declared in <code>boards.h</code> - you just confused the two files, indeed you should not forget to define the motherboard constant itself. Do note that this is basically a RAMPS board, see <code>pins_MKS_GEN_L.h</code>.</p>

2019-04-18T21:02:41.060

|marlin|firmware|

<p>I got a Tronxy X5S-400, I assembled it and when I power it on, I see on the screen one of the below images and gets stuck there.</p> <p>Is the firmware broken? If yes, where can I get a <code>configuration.h</code> file?</p> <p>I verified that the two buses between the screen and the mainboard are not loose or incorrectly connected.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ilwaq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Marlin splash screen"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ilwaq.jpg" alt="Marlin splash screen" title="Marlin splash screen"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IIkog.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Screen corruption"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IIkog.jpg" alt="Screen corruption" title="Screen corruption"></a></p> <p>The board is a MKS Melzi v2.0 clone</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hhtaw.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Controller"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hhtaw.jpg" alt="Controller" title="Controller"></a></p>

8729

Tronxy X5S-400 Marlin stuck at splash-screen

<p>It looked like the firmware wasn't flashed correctly in the factory. What I did was to flash a bootloader using an Arduino compatible board and to flash the Marlin software e.g. according to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwWVFtdg-4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">videos from this guy</a>.</p> <p>Next, the menu wasn't displayed correctly so I added, in the <code>Configuration.h</code> the following lines:</p> <pre><code>#define ST7920_DELAY_1 DELAY_NS(63) #define ST7920_DELAY_2 DELAY_NS(100) #define ST7920_DELAY_3 DELAY_NS(125) </code></pre> <p>Now the display is working fine, and the Marlin firmware can be directly flashed from the computer because the bootloader remains there.</p> <p>I also had a problem with the heating bed which was heating very slow and I had to raise consistently the <code>TEMP_BED_RESIDENCY_TIME</code> and decrease <code>TEMP_BED_HYSTERESIS</code> to 1.</p>

2019-04-19T18:01:26.497

|stepper|motor|

<p>Last week, my X-axis stepper motor died. It was a 42SHD0217-24B model. I ordered the same online, but the vendor made a "mistake" and sent me the 17HS3401S model.</p> <p>I know these motors use a different voltage, so I adjusted the screw on the stepper driver and managed to get a smooth rotation with the new model. I know that these 2 motors have a rotation of 1.8° per step.</p> <p>My questions are the following:</p> <ul> <li>Since they have the same rotation angle per step, I shouldn't have to calibrate the new model, right? (I'll use the original wheel)</li> <li>Did the vendor send me a motor with inferior performances?</li> <li>Will my performances degrade if I use the new motor? (Lecture on motors appreciated). By that I mean: will my top moving speed be affected? Will the motor miss more steps at high speed?</li> </ul>

8735

Replace X axis motor with different model

<blockquote> <p>Since they have the same rotation angle per step, I shouldn't have to calibrate the new model, right? (I'll use the original wheel)</p> </blockquote> <p>Yes, you do not have to change anything, other than the Vref of the stepper driver.</p> <blockquote> <p>Did the vendor send me a motor with inferior performances?</p> </blockquote> <p>Yes, the one you received has a lower height, so smaller coils and smaller permanent magnets; basically lower torque.</p> <blockquote> <p>Will my performances degrade if I use the new motor?</p> </blockquote> <p>That depends on the loading of the carriage of the X-axis, it could if it is heavy; you now have less torque available to move the carriage. But, this type is frequently found in 3D printer kits and should work.</p>

2019-04-20T14:52:14.167

|ultimaker-cura|troubleshooting|anycubic-chiron|

<p>I acquired an Anycubic Chiron yesterday. I went through the leveling procedure and I think the level test print came out okay so I printed a 20&nbsp;mm calibration cube and a benchy. Both of these came out with a sort of spongy consistency.</p> <p>I have no idea what could be causing this so some advice would be appreciated.</p> <p>I'm using Ultimaker Cura 4.0.0 and printing in PLA.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/s3Gs0.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Spongy Print"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/s3Gs0.jpg" alt="Spongy Print" title="Spongy Print"></a></p>

8741

Test print coming out spongy

<p>It turned out I had the wrong filament size set in Ultimaker Cura. Fixing this resolved the issue. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3KFlw.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3KFlw.jpg" alt="under extruded calibration cube"></a></p>

2019-04-24T19:20:24.317

|ramps-1.4|pronterface|

<p>I'm assembling a 3D printer with the RAMPS 1.4 shield (board) and an Arduino Mega. I have assembled the structure and the electronics (set drivers, placed the jumpers, connected stepper motors, etc.) and have uploaded Marlin firmware (configuring: thermistor, etc.) on to the Arduino Mega.</p> <p>At first I tested my printer without end stops and at that time it worked perfectly.</p> <p>Today I added three end stops and tested again. First it worked fine but after couple of minutes Pronterface gave this error:</p> <pre><code>&gt; Connecting... Traceback (most recent call last): File "printrun\pronterface.pyc", line 1053, in connect File "printrun\pronsole.pyc", line 720, in connect_to_printer File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 46, in inner File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 197, in connect File "serial\serialwin32.pyc", line 31, in __init__ File "serial\serialutil.pyc", line 261, in __init__ File "serial\serialwin32.pyc", line 71, in open File "serial\serialwin32.pyc", line 186, in _reconfigurePort **ValueError: Cannot configure port, some setting was wrong. Original message: [Error 31] A device attached to the system is not functioning.** </code></pre> <p>I tried removing end stops, re-wiring, removing all cables from the RAMPS shield except power cables. Still it gives that error. Although Pronterface connects to the Arduino board when the RAMPS shield isn't powered up. Also the Arduino's regulator is heating up.</p> <p>Do I need to buy a new RAMPS shield? </p>

9771

Pronterface not connecting ERROR: A device attached to the system is not functioning

<p>Finally, I found the solution after frying up a Mega board. The problem is with the Mega board. <strong>Part of the board is not functioning properly</strong> or <strong>not connecting with the RAMPS 1.4 shield properly</strong>. So I tried with a new Arduino Mega board and it worked. Also removing the D1 diode is the solution for the voltage regulator overheating on Arduino mega board as mentioned in question "<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3278/arduino-mega-voltage-regulator-overheats-with-ramps-board?rq=1">Arduino Mega voltage regulator overheats with RAMPS board</a>".</p>

2019-04-25T16:27:29.330

|print-material|nylon|

<p>Can Nylon 6,10 be used for 3D FDM printing? What range of temperatures be used to print with it? How does it compare to the standard 3D printing Nylon material (I think it is 6,6).</p>

9779

Printing with Nylon 6,10

<p>Based on the information from a Quorra question about <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-nylon-6-6-and-nylon-6-10" rel="nofollow noreferrer">what the difference between Nylon 6,10 and Nylon 6,6</a> is and a <a href="https://knowledge.ulprospector.com/8404/pe-difference-between-nylon-6-and-nylon-66/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ULprospector article</a>, we can establish:</p> <ul> <li>6,6 is a smaller molecule than 6,10.</li> <li>Base materials are different - hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid (6,6) compared to hexamethylene diamine and sebacic acid (6,10)</li> <li>6,6 has a stronger tensile and compressive strength as it is more densely interlocked, but it also has a higher melting point. This means also that 6,6 is more heat tolerant.</li> <li>6,6 is also known to have the least degradation of strength under moisture, compared to other Polyamides.</li> <li>HOWEVER, 6,6 has a lesser resistance to weak acids compared to 6,10, it is also the most sensitive to UV-light and degradation from air exposure.</li> <li>6,10 also bests 6,6 in regards to absorbing less moisture (a large problem with 6,6), but is more expensive than it.</li> <li>Recently 6,12 is replacing 6,10 for it has very similar or better properties while being cheaper.</li> </ul> <p>While I see no problem with the technical ability to make a Nylon 6,10 or Nylon 6,12 filament and print with it (the lower hygroscopic of the larger molecules might make that even easier), you will make a compromise in other areas of the material, most liekly cost and availability - to my knowledge no filament that claims to be Nylon 6,10 or Nylon 6,12 is on the market at the time of this writing (April 2019), and as such there are no known benchmarks for print settings needed are available. I would expect the print temperature to be slightly lower than that of Nylon 6,6 though.</p>

2019-04-25T16:38:27.463

|print-quality|adhesion|

<p>Following advice I read elsewhere, I have covered my (heated) print bed with blue painter's tape, and before each print I apply an Elmer's purple washable glue stick to improve bed adhesion.</p> <p>After the print finishes and I remove the part from the bed, the bottom is covered with a white residue. I'm fairly certain this is the dried glue. It turns purple again when I wet it.</p> <p>Is there an easy way to clean off this residue, or is there a better technique?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bizFY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bizFY.jpg" alt="example part with residue"></a></p>

9780

Removing glue residue on part after printing

<p>I have two different makes of masking tape. The print stick so well to one of them that I end up ripping the tape up to get it off and the bottom of the print has the tape suck to it. The other roll was the complete opposite, nothing would stick to it. I ended up using the non-stick tape and applied a diluted (30% PVA - 70% water) glue to the (tape covered) hot bed. Works wonderfully.</p> <p>Mike.</p>

2019-04-25T20:32:56.457

|diy-3d-printer|firmware|

<p>I have acquired a second hand 3D printer, the GEEETECH I3 Pro B. The previous owner tried to change the firmware but he made a mistake and he bricked the board. </p> <p>I want to substitute the firmware of the board (which is an Arduino Mega 2560 based board). Do you think is possible if the board doesn't respond to the controls?</p> <p>I have inquired and found an open source software called Marlin I want to use to restore the printer.</p> <p>If you have an advice or you think that I can do it in any ways tell me.</p>

9783

Can I replace a damaged firmware of a 3D printer based on Arduino Mega?

<p>It is hard to diagnose the board without hands on experience. It is even more difficult if you get a board that has been "updated/upgraded" by a previous owner leaving it not in working condition.</p> <p>But, there are at least 2 solutions.</p> <ol> <li><p>You could buy a new printer controller board, upload new firmware and connect all connectors.</p></li> <li><p>You could try to <a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/7777">burn a new bootloader</a> onto your current board and <a href="http://marlinfw.org/docs/basics/install.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">upload a new version of the firmware</a>.</p></li> </ol>

2019-04-26T15:16:45.453

|3d-models|slicing|fdm|knowledgebase|

<p>I'm still new to 3D printing and I want to print something. I expect that I'll mess it up since I find nothing to adjust it but it is now laying around for 4 months and I'm sick of it.</p> <p>So my question is where do I find Windows software to print something and of course where do I get a 3D model?</p> <p>I own a Geeetech i3 Pro W.</p>

9792

Which software do I need to start print something?

<p>If you're just starting out then Tinkercad (website) is a good place to start designing your own objects. Later you can get to grips with OpenScad for more complex shapes. Both are free.</p>

2019-04-26T17:56:10.070

|openscad|

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-fighting" rel="noreferrer">Z-fighting</a> is a 3D rendering artifact of coplanar surfaces (means, of triangles located in exactly the same plane and overlapping each other).</p> <p>It can happen in OpenSCAD's preview mode when doing a <code>difference()</code> or <code>union()</code> operation. In case of <code>difference()</code>, the rendering artifacts can prevent seeing into a hole in the object. The &quot;compile and render&quot; mode in OpenSCAD does not have z-fighting issues. But since it can take some time to render an object in that mode, it is not a practical solution during development.</p> <p>How best to avoid z-fighting?</p> <p>If the answer involves changes to my OpenSCAD code, I would love to see an idiomatic answer / established convention of OpenSCAD coders, if that exists.</p>

9794

How to prevent z-fighting in OpenSCAD?

<p>The general advice in the OpenSCAD community is to "extend your cuts and embed your joins" (<a href="http://forum.openscad.org/id-tp20439p20460.html" rel="noreferrer">source</a>). The rendering artifacts are one thing but rather just an annoyance; however z-fighting can also cause unexpected errors during STL export (I did not experience that myself so far, just read this somewhere).</p> <p>So you would change the dimensions of your objects very slightly (<code>0.01</code> mm works fine) so that:</p> <ul> <li>for a <code>union()</code>, there is overlap volume between the parts </li> <li>for a <code>difference()</code>, the intersector has volume both inside and outside of the intersected part</li> </ul> <p>Now you could adjust both the size <em>and</em> position of your parts to keep the mathematically exact dimensions for the resulting part. But I found that for the purposes of 3D printing, such accuracy is not worth it because it complicates the formulas so much.</p> <p>Instead, I adjust <em>either</em> position or size of a part, depending on what is simpler in each case. A measure in the final design will be off by 0.01 mm, which does not matter.</p> <p>And I keep the 0.01 mm offset in a variable called <code>nothing</code> (picked that up somewhere and liked it …). This keeps the calculations intuitively understandable.</p> <h2>Example</h2> <p>To create a cylinder and cut a hole to half of its depth, I would do this:</p> <pre><code>//!OpenSCAD nothing=0.01; height=40; difference(){ cylinder(h=height, r=20, center=true); translate([0, 0, height/4 + <b>nothing</b>]) cylinder(h=height/2, r=15, center=true); } </code></pre> <p>Now the hole is <code>nothing=0.01</code> less deep than half of the cylinder – that's the inaccuracy I accept.</p> <p><em>(Note: If you don't have OpenSCAD installed, you can also try the above code online by copy &amp; pasting it into <a href="https://openjscad.org/" rel="noreferrer">OpenJSCAD</a>. Include the magic comment in the first line to switch it to OpenSCAD syntax.)</em></p>

2019-04-27T20:12:39.200

|prusa-i3|quality|geeetech|

<p>I own a Geeetech i3 Pro W and I started printing today. Amazing how it works.</p> <p>I just recognized while printing my first bigger model something very strange: At the beginning some parts are missing and there are huge holes. However when I keep it printing the following layers "fix" the issue. I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.</p> <p>I almost forgot to mention that I think I'm using that PLA, the bed has a temperature of 60&nbsp;°C and the extruder 200&nbsp;°C.</p> <p>Here are two pictures after about 1 layer and after about 4 layers:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HSD7N.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HSD7N.jpg" alt="first layer"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qqprz.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qqprz.jpg" alt="fourth layer"></a></p>

9804

The first layers while printing look strange

<p>From the first layer image it can be seen that your nozzle to bed distance is just too large:</p> <ol> <li>the lines of deposited filament e.g. in the brim are not touching,</li> <li>deposited filament lines are not "squished" or "flattened" to the build plate,</li> <li>filament is cutting off corners as it is dragged while being hot and not stuck to the bed,</li> <li>filament leaves the nozzle in "blobs"; it sort of free flows from the nozzle as the bed is too far to give resistance.</li> </ol> <p>Use the plain paper technique while levelling the bed. The paper should give a slight drag/resistance when pulled/pushed. Proper levelling and a proper nozzle to bed distance for the first layer are essential for successful prints. </p> <p>There is also an option to integrally lower the print level in the slicer software, but it is advised to properly level the bed (hardware solution) instead of using software tricks to sort out the problem.</p>

2019-04-29T00:55:38.327

|creality-ender-3|material|bed|

<p>The original bed surface of my Ender 3 has become brittle and finally cracked, requiring replacement. I'm trying to figure out what the cause might have been to avoid it happening again. It seems to have started after using "flex PLA", which involves both high temperatures (225&nbsp;&deg;C) and plasticizers mixed in the PLA. Could either of these have contributed to the problem? I'm not sure what material the bed surface is - it's the new one that's removable and held on by clips. If it's PEI, the glass transition temperature is supposedly 217&nbsp;&deg;C, just above what I use for normal PLA but well below what I'm using for the flex, so perhaps that's the cause?</p> <p>Image of the damage: <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wXWW4.jpg" alt="Image of the damage"></p>

9807

Damage to bed surface from heat or chemical or..?

<p>The build surface on the Ender3 is a BuildTak clone. The picture is a bit unclear, but given my experience with BuildTak (clones) this certainly damage because of heat. You can, as suggested before, replace the bed surface, but I do not think it is necessary at this stage. </p> <p>Normally these surfaces do not get damaged that easily but to prolong the life try to keep the following points in mind:</p> <ul> <li>Correct height between nozzle and bed.</li> <li>Don't let the nozzle heat up/cool down close to the bed (for example after a failed first layer).</li> <li>When using sharp tools to remove prints be careful nut to dig into the surface.</li> <li>Don't use too high of a bed temperature (my BuildTak clone once had bubbles forming because the layers separated)</li> <li>Clean/degrease the bed, although this is more to ensure proper bed adhesion.</li> <li>I found out that if the bed stops sticking you can revive it by sanding it a bit.</li> </ul>

2019-04-30T02:39:39.480

|marlin|calibration|firmware|z-probe|

<p>I need to set a Z offset for the Flying bear P902. I calculated the offset (-2.98). But, every time when I try to input this using the LCD screen of my 3D printer, the value jumps to either -2.99 or -2.97. As -2.97 is just a little bit too far from the bed and -2.99 is just a little bit too close to the bed (and -2.98 is perfect), I really want to input this specific value. I have tried many times on the LCD screen and also in the firmware itself. </p> <p>But, even after uploading the firmware, it still displays -2.97. </p> <p>This is the line of code I was changing: </p> <pre><code>#define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -2.98 // Z offset: -below +above [the nozzle] </code></pre> <p>Is there a way I can input -2.98?</p>

9820

Specifying Z offset in Marlin firmware

<h3>Z-offset persitently stored in memory?</h3> <p>Maybe the value of <code>-2.97</code> for the <code>Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER </code> is retained in the EEPROM memory when you upload new firmware.</p> <p>You could try to send the G-code <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M502:_Read_parameters_from_.22configuration.h.22" rel="noreferrer"><code>M502</code></a> to the machine to re-load the values from the firmware overwriting currently stored values.</p> <h3>Alternative Z-offset using G-code commands</h3> <p>Note that there is a different (and more common) solution to set the Z-offset using G-code <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M851:_Set_Z-Probe_Offset" rel="noreferrer"><code>M851</code></a>, you can do this after you uploaded the firmware to the printer. Sending G-code commands can be done using printer software and a USB connection to the printer through a so-called <strong>terminal</strong> interface. This can be done in OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, Pronterface (Printrun software suite), and probably many more. Alternatively, you could make seperate G-code (basically text files with extension <code>.g</code>) files with each step in a single file and &quot;print&quot; the files through the SD interface of the printer menu.</p> <p>The following strategy must be followed to specify the Z offset:</p> <ul> <li>Heat your printer up to your printing temperature and allow a few minutes for it to expand and settle</li> <li>Reset the existing Z-offset to zero <code>M851 Z0</code></li> <li>Home all axes <code>G28</code></li> <li>Move the nozzle to the middle of the bed <code>G1 X110 Y110</code> (if your bed is 220 x 220)</li> <li>Turn off the software endstops with <code>M211 S0</code></li> <li>Move the nozzle down so it is just gripping a piece of standard printer paper</li> <li>Set the Z-offset to the displayed value. E.g. if the printer displays a Z-Value of <code>-1.23</code> enter <code>M851 Z-1.23</code></li> <li>Store it to the EEPROM <code>M500</code></li> <li><strong>Important notice!</strong> Enable the endstops again with <code>M211 S1</code> or the printer head will collide with the bed on the next <code>G28</code> command</li> </ul>

2019-04-30T02:57:45.477

|print-quality|ultimaker-cura|extrusion|

<p>I'm not sure how else to describe it. There's probably a name for this but I just don't know it. But the bottom few layers came out great, but the rest came out kind of like a triscuit. Below are pics of my print and settings. I am using a delta style printer. Can someone tell me what this issue is called and how to fix it?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LIC5X.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LIC5X.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YQtFj.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YQtFj.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nMsYs.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nMsYs.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EdEbV.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EdEbV.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vph9a.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vph9a.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MCqXD.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MCqXD.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

9821

Print came out like a wafer

<p>Just to add to the already made answers:</p> <p>Check out <strong>heat-creep!</strong></p> <p>When heat from the hot-end creeps up in the filament, it melts and blocks the extrusion (more or less severely), and under extrusion results.</p> <p>It's basic characteristic is that the print <strong>starts out great</strong>, and then <strong>some time in</strong>, under extrusion happens.</p> <p>The solution is to cool down the cold part of the hot-end which is usually done with a small fan directed onto the cold part, e.g the top part where the filament enters the hot-end.</p> <p>Most hot-ends have a heat sink on the cold part, but in my experience this is not enough and for me a fan has always been needed.</p>

2019-05-01T17:56:17.063

|3d-models|simplify3d|speed|

<p>Trying to print a 3D model for my mobile phone, but I see that when printing the sides, being thin, increases the retraction and the recoil seems a little abrupt and makes a coarse sound.</p> <p>I would like to know if it is possible to know what speed and temperature is recommended to print a model.</p> <p>In my case I use Simplify3D, and when I'm going to save the file in <code>.gcode</code> format, I see that there are some ranges shown in colors, how does this apply to the models?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Ysqr.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Screenshot of Simplify3D"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Ysqr.png" alt="Screenshot of Simplify3D" title="Screenshot of Simplify3D"></a></p>

9833

Is it possible to know which is the correct temperature range and speed for any model?

<p>So as someone else on here mention, those settings shouldn't be for the model but for the filament. Sadly, you will need to test 99% of filaments to really figure this out. I have a modify tester, and on the description it tells you how to set your temp. <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3347967" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3347967</a></p> <p>You can look at the remix if you want to grab the blank model and put your own numbers on it. It should be noted that things like water in the filament can mess with how the filament reacts to speed and temp. If you have questionable prints coming out of a filament that sat there for a long time. You can easily run it through the test to figure out the temp.</p> <p>Anything else I could add is would just repeat what most of 0scar said.</p>

2019-05-03T16:20:34.980

|prusa-i3|diy-3d-printer|printer-building|delta|

<p>I have a generic <a href="https://reprapguru.com/collections/3d-printers/products/reprap-guru-diy-prusa-i3-v2-3d-printer-kit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa clone</a> that I'm not using (my primary issue with it is the lack of rigidity in the frame housing as built). Will the motors (<a href="https://protosupplies.com/product/stepper-motor-nema-17-1-2a-ks42sth40-1204a/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ks42sth40-1204a</a>) and controller that come with it be good for a large-ish Kossel? Something no smaller than 200x200, preferably closer to 300x300? How do I reason about this?</p> <p>Also - I know the Duet board seems to be recommended for Deltas, but can I use the RAMPS board that I already have here?</p> <p>I don't have a design finalized, but have been looking at this Kossel, <a href="https://www.norwegiancreations.com/2017/01/building-a-large-kossel-delta-printer-pt-1-parts-and-planning/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Building a Large Kossel Delta Printer – pt. 1: Parts and Planning</a>, which uses a <a href="https://flex3drive.com/flex3drive/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Flex3Drive effector</a>.</p>

9838

Can I repurpose most of the components of this Prusa clone for a Delta?

<h3>Stepper motors</h3> <p>For equivalence, 4.8 kg⋅cm is 0.471 N⋅m or 47 N⋅cm.</p> <p>Looking at the RepRapWiki - <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/NEMA_17_Stepper_motor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nema17</a>, the most common steppers are:</p> <ul> <li>Kysan 1124090/42BYGH4803 (54.0 N⋅cm),</li> <li>Rattm 17HS8401 (52 N⋅cm), and</li> <li>Wantai 42BYGHW609 (<a href="https://www.my-home-fab.de/en/documentations/technical-descriptions/technical-data-for-nema-17-42byghw609" rel="nofollow noreferrer">39.2 N⋅cm</a>).</li> </ul> <p>The Kossel that you refer to is of a similar size to the Kossel XL. Again looking at the RepRapWiki - <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/Kossel" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kossel</a>, the recommended stepper is the <a href="https://ultimachine.com/products/kysan-1124090-nema-17-stepper-motor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kysan 1124090 Nema 17 Stepper Motor</a> which has a Holding Torque of 5.5 kg⋅cm.</p> <p>So, without knowing the exact make and model of your stepper motors and assuming that the specifications for your stepper motors given in the <a href="https://reprapguru.com/collections/3d-printers/products/reprap-guru-diy-prusa-i3-v2-3d-printer-kit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa clone</a> are correct, your steppers are not as strong as those recommended (apart from the Wantai). However, the recommended steppers may be over-engineered and provide [much?] more torque than is strictly necessary. After all, the holding torque of your steppers isn't <em>that much</em> below the recommended values.</p> <p>If I were you I'd build the Kossel using your steppers and it might, in all likely hood, work out fine. FWIW, I have used the Rattm 17HS8401 in my Kossel Mini and Kossel XL. I got them on eBay and were quite reasonably priced.</p> <p>You should probably read this article, RepRapWiki - <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/Choosing_stepper_for_a_delta" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Choosing stepper for a delta</a>. Whilst no concrete values for holding torque are given, this is interesting:</p> <blockquote> <h3>A good practical setup</h3> <p>The Fisher, a small delta printer was designed by late RRP company. As for all their printers, they were using small and compact steppers with a torque of 2.2 kg.cm. This is lower than most repraps but is sufficient if there is no mechanical problem (friction).</p> <p>These small motors have a low nominal static torque, but they also have a low inductance (2.5 mH), while due to their small size, the nominal current remains reasonable (1.2A).</p> </blockquote> <p>as is</p> <blockquote> <h3>High inductance motors</h3> <p>You find on the market steppers sold for 3D printers, with a torque ranging from 2.6 to 4.4 kg.cm and a current of 0.4 A. This low current appeal builders as it make the electronic driver heating much less.</p> <p>However, it came at a cost, which is a very high inductance which varies from 30 to 35 mH. That means these motors are totally incapable of any speed. They are unusable for a delta and a bad choice for another printer. As an example, a 4.4 kg.cm motor wired for this low current, while having a static torque twice the Fisher motors, simply cannot reach the maximum speed used by the Fisher, effectively having a near zero torque over a given speed. Same motors with a winding giving a nominal current of 1.5 to 2 A will be more usable.</p> </blockquote> <h3>Controller</h3> <p>Also, yes, RAMPS is fine for the Kossel, although the firmware calibration is obviously different, as it is a delta and not cartesian printer. For calibration, refer to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6798/how-do-you-calibrate-a-delta-robot-3d-printer">How do you calibrate a delta robot 3D printer?</a>.</p> <p>Although, as Scott Lahteine <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJx75PWE6dQ&amp;t=84" rel="nofollow noreferrer">states early on</a> in this video, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJx75PWE6dQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How it's Made: The Marlin Firmware!</a>, using an 8-bit controller for delta printers is pushing their capabilities somewhat.</p> <h3>Extruder</h3> <p>I'm not familiar with the Flex3Drive, but it certainly looks interesting. I have used the <a href="http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=3325" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3325_0</a>, this NEMA-17 motor has an integrated Planetary gearbox with a 52/11:1 ratio. It generates 16.2 kg⋅cm of torque at 1.68 A. I wrote a short blog about it here, <a href="https://gr33nonline.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/the-extraordinary-extruder/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The extraordinary extruder</a>.</p> <h3>Building Tips</h3> <p>Also, if you are planning on building a Delta/Kossel, then I'd seriously recommend watching the series of videos on YouTube from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIB6RIygkQMvwiRskL22p6w" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BuildA3DPrinter.eu</a> as they are extremely informative and helped me a lot, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXy1OFMEUTg&amp;list=PLvkxDPeJpn0WRw8BBw0L_j8BxFcuTKI8N" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Build manual Kossel XL &amp; Kossel Mini</a>. I just checked their website to try to see which make and model of steppers they use, in order to get an idea of the holding torque, but they seem to have stopped trading. However, their <a href="http://builda3dprinter.eu/product/nema-17-stepper-motor/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">stepper motor page</a> states the following:</p> <blockquote> <p>The standard motor for most 3D printers including ours, the 42byghw811 from Wantai Motors.</p> <p>Holding torque is 4.8 kg⋅cm or 47.1 N⋅cm. Shaft diameter is 5 mm and stepping angle is 1.8 degrees.</p> </blockquote> <p>So, to sum up, your steppers <em>should</em> be fine.</p>

2019-05-03T17:11:34.603

|sla|filament-choice|

<p>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). </p> <p>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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>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.</p>

9839

What materials would be appropriate for pool parts (chlorine & UV exposure) using SLA or FDM?

<p>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. </p> <p>Here are some links that might be helpful :</p> <ul> <li><p><a href="https://3dinsider.com/asa-filament/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UV-Resistant ASA Filament: Properties, How to Use, and Best Brands</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/175845063-the-difference-between-abs-and-asa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Want to Use ABS in Hot Sun? We Compare ABS vs ASA Filaments</a></p></li> </ul> <p>Hope this is helpful. </p>

2019-05-03T20:25:15.183

|prusa-i3|octoprint|power-supply|geeetech|

<p>I'm wondering if there is some trick to power my OctoPi with the power supply of my 3D printer. I'm using an Geeetech I3 Pro W.</p> <p>The power supply itself should be able, but the output is as far as I'm aware of 3.3 volts. Not my desired 5&nbsp;V for USB, it would be a shame if I really would need to buy a new power supply when I have a strong one actually running. My current power supply causes a lot of "Under-voltage detected!" warnings.</p> <p>After thinking a little about the specs, there are cigarette lighter adapter for cars they use 12&nbsp;V. Has anyone experience with using that on his printer?</p>

9842

Power OctoPi from printer

<p>I’ve been using a buck converter for quite awhile with no problems. However just as importantly as proper voltage and amperage is using a good cable. I had my step down properly set, but was still getting low voltage warnings until I switched to a thicker cable.</p>

2019-05-06T00:59:38.303

|3d-models|3d-design|simplify3d|

<p>I printed a case for my phone, a Motorola G4 Plus. I found the model of the casing on <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2482011" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a></p> <p>I just downloaded the model, used Meshmixer to check for issues, after that, opened Simplify3d and saved it for printing using an SD Card. The printed size of the model was smaller than expected.</p> <p>The model designer, says in the description that he used flexible filament. Is it possible than if I change to that filament, the model result is completely different? </p> <p>Print result - phone casing:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/T6V14.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/T6V14.jpg" alt="1"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nDTld.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nDTld.jpg" alt="2"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/S71JO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/S71JO.jpg" alt="3"></a></p>

9862

Can a model change size when using a different filament type?

<p>Of course it can change size... but definitely not in scale you've presented.</p> <p>Filament as same as many other materials can subject something called shrinkage. It depends on physical properties of the material and as its name suggests cause the dimensions to shrink.</p> <p>Here is wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casting_(metalworking)#Shrinkage" rel="noreferrer">article</a>.</p> <p>The same happens to almost all plastics. But this phenomenon is almost unnoticeable in terms of PLA... well not really...</p> <p>Bending is mostly caused by shrinkage. We have heated beds (among others) to prevent it. And we use adhesives also to prevent bending so to prevent effects of shrinkage.</p> <p>It can be also noticed when you print specific volume (and/or specific base surface) and you left the model on the HB until it cools down - the model can come off the HB on it's own even when adhesive was used.</p> <p>But your "shrinkage" is definitely not that one.</p>

2019-05-06T11:11:55.830

|slicing|infill|flexible|

<p>I try to print a stamp with flexible filaments. The problem I encounter is that the filament is flexible, but not soft. This leads to small differences in height to parts of the stamp not working.</p> <p>One solution would be to add a small 'cushion' to add some squishyness to the stamp. I designed the stamp and the 'cushion' but now the question arises: "Which infill will provide the best uniform squishyness (in one axis)?"</p> <p>I did a test with cubic infill of Cura, and although it becomes quite squishy, some parts are squishier than other parts of the block.</p> <p>TLDR; Trying to print a squishy cube, where in one axis all areas of the cube have the same squishyness.</p>

9865

Uniform squishy infill

<p>Sinusoidal infill provides great squishiness in the infill direction, but you'll still have the problem that where the infill meets the perimeter wall, it'll be less squishy than where the perimeter wall isn't touching any infill. You can reduce this effect by using a stiffer filament for that wall (if you can print with multiple filaments), by adding more perimeters, and by reducing the gap between infills (i.e. increasing the infill density). You can even explicitly design an extra-thick wall on the face that takes the pressure (the engraved face of the stamp), and then a section behind that with the squishy infill.</p> <p>TBH, I'm not sure that flexible filament is really what you need for a stamp. Soft materials are commonly used for traditional stamp-making more because they're easy to etch than because the stamping works better that way. Print-making uses wooden or metal plates (the equivalent to the stamp) and produces better, more repeatable images than rubber stamps. When you're printing a stamp, you don't need to etch it, so the softness of rubber isn't an advantage for you. My outsider recommendation would be to try using a normal, rigid filament, and sand the surface to the smoothness you need. If you print with the stamp face on the bed, and your first-layer quality is really good on a smooth build plate, you can probably get better results without sanding.</p>

2019-05-07T10:34:34.253

|marlin|diy-3d-printer|thermistor|

<p>Sometimes I use a DIY 3D printer running Marlin firmware and I have a hard time to set my heat bed temperature. when I set it to 70&nbsp;&deg;C for PLA, after a few minutes it decreases to 67&nbsp;&deg;C and I see these error:</p> <pre><code>READ: Error:Thermal Runaway, system stopped! Heater_ID: bed READ: Error:Printer halted. kill() called! </code></pre> <p>Since then the communication with printer is lost, the printing process stops and I have to reconnect to serial port... It's a disaster. I guess I need to lower the sensitivity to 3 degrees at least. I don't know how!?</p>

9870

How to decrease sensitivity to heat-bed temperature?

<p>For people from google: Go to configuration_adv.h in the marlin firmware source code, and search for &quot;THERMAL_PROTECTION_HYSTERESIS&quot;. Then increase the number. The number is how much degress celsius the temperature can be off before thermal runaway</p>

2019-05-08T14:48:36.270

|diy-3d-printer|printer-building|desktop-printer|

<p>I have seen that many 3D printers have only one limit switch for each axis, how does it know where to stop on the other end?</p> <p>My first guess is that the machine knows how big the plate is, and calculates it accordingly.</p> <p>If this is true, then if I were to use a RAMPS, I would have to modify the software to figure out the build plate, it won't have the hardware to autocalculate.</p>

9878

Why do 3D printers have only one limit switch?

<p>In principle you only need the minimum axis position (or the maximum), the offset to the bed and the size of the bed in the direction of the axes. Fortunately, you can specify this in the firmware:</p> <p>E.g. in Marlin Firmware offsets are defined as travel limits:</p> <pre> // Travel limits (mm) after homing, corresponding to endstop positions. #define X_MIN_POS -33 #define Y_MIN_POS -10 #define Z_MIN_POS 0 #define Z_MAX_POS 240 </pre> <p>Bed size:</p> <pre> // The size of the print bed #define X_BED_SIZE 200 #define Y_BED_SIZE 200 </pre> <p>Do note that some printers do have maximum endstops on top of minimum endstops. This is handy in case of layer shifting (e.g. caused by the nozzle catching the print as such that the belt skips notches and as such redefining the reference frame) to prevent the carriage from destroying the printer at the maximum of the axis.</p>

2019-05-08T17:10:45.653

|print-quality|resin|sparkmaker|

<p>I don't want this to be a specific producer question, but I would like to know if the Sparkmaker is good enough to print small details in OO/HO scale objects. I'm referring here to objects like furniture, and other house appliances at scale. I wasn't able to find any visuals with very small objects for this printer.</p>

9883

Is the Sparkmaker good enough to print OO/HO small detail objects?

<p>I own a Sparkmaker <strong>FHD</strong> whose X/Y resolution is 57µm. Z resolution (layer height) is up to the user, 25, 50 or 100µm being typical values. I have limited experience with it but the level of detail seems to be coherent with the specification.</p> <p>The more popular (but less powerful in therm of UV light, so slower) Anycubic printers have a 2k screen and reach a X/Y resolution of 47µm. I think some printers with a 4k screen can reach down to 37µm X/Y resolution, even if the practical resolution is probably larger, due to some horizontal light diffusion in the screen upper layers and in the FEP film.</p>

2019-05-11T13:42:51.217

|marlin|terminology|history|

<p>Does anyone know how the developers of Marlin decided to name it that?</p>

9899

Where did Marlin get its name?

<p>As far as I know Erik van der Zalm started Marlin. He is from the Netherlands and Zalm translates to "salmon". One of the design goals of Marlin was to make it faster than the other firmware available at that time. And a marlin is a very fast swimming fish.</p> <p>Some firmwares developed after Marlin also joined this fish theme: Sailfish, Minnow, ...</p>

2019-05-12T14:27:38.080

|filament|extruder|motor|alunar-m508|

<p><strong>Model:</strong> Infitary M508</p> <p><strong>Details:</strong> The filament is stuck in the extruder preheated for PLA (the filament is PLA 1.75 white). The extruder's motor works and the filament is in the hole of the extruder (not somewhere else). I took the fan covering the motor apart, to show what is inside, so you might see it on the attached image:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/znCxG.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/znCxG.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>You might also see this video for details: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8rYGhuYWvc" rel="noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8rYGhuYWvc</a></p> <p>I'm able to pull the filament out, when I uncouple the motor's gear, but it doesn't go through the extruder when I push it in.</p> <p>What can I do to fix this? Thanks!</p> <p>P.S. It's the first start of the printer.</p>

9904

Stuck filament in the extruder of Infitary M508

<p>The hot end can clog in two places.</p> <ol> <li>Heat distortion can cause the filament above the nozzle, at the level of the cooling fins, to melt, expand and prevent further passage.</li> <li>The nozzle itself may be clogged by impurities.</li> </ol> <p>There are two methods available, depending on the type of clogging.</p> <ol> <li><p>If the hot end is blocked at the level of the cooling fins, a so-called "Atomic Pull" helps. This is also a convenient method of changing filaments. The hot end is heated to approx. 90°C and the filament is pulled out of the hot end with a bold jerk. The filament does not melt completely and remains tough. Thus the complete plastic is pulled out of the hot end.</p></li> <li><p>If the nozzle is clogged, an "Atomic Pull" only helps to a limited extent. To clean a nozzle, the hot end should be removed from the holder and the heating block unscrewed. You need a gas burner. With the gas burner the brass nozzle is heated until the plastic is completely carbonized. Wait until it has cooled down and reassemble the hotend.</p></li> </ol> <p>Post-cleaning advice: Be sure that the hotend is cooled enough that no heat can creep up the hotend and melt the plastic before it enters the heat block. Without sufficient cooling clogging pre-nozzle is very likely.</p>

2019-05-13T13:57:16.847

|nozzle|e3d|knowledgebase|

<p>There is pretty much an ecosystem of two Nozzle designs out there that share the M6 thread on the coupler to the Heating block: </p> <ul> <li>the e3D "snub nose" or "shouldered" design.</li> <li>the "Chinesium" nozzle that is often claimed to be some "MK8" or "MK10" without naming what item of which manufacturer is actually iterated there. <ul> <li>They seem to be derived from the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/7366/8884">Makerbot MK8 Hotend</a> which uses M6 threading and not the MK10, as that uses M7 threading.</li> </ul></li> </ul> <p><strong>What differentiates the two and can one swap one for the other?</strong></p>

9912

What is the functional difference between an e3D-Style nozzle, Makerbot MK8 and M6 Chinesium Nozzles?

<h2>Differentiation</h2> <p>The main differences between the e3D-Nozzle family and the &quot;simple&quot; Nozzle are the <em>wrench size</em>, <em>body length</em> and <em>thread length</em> of the nozzle. In fact, I have come across 2 different &quot;Chinese&quot; styles of nozzle, a &quot;big&quot; and a &quot;small&quot; one.</p> <h2>Comparison</h2> <p>For comparison, take a look at this photo, where I aligned the lower ends of the bodies to line up under the wrench needed to handle them.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GTqgH.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GTqgH.jpg" alt="Chinesium Big, Small and e3D styles" /></a></p> <p>In words, left to right:</p> <ul> <li>Chinese Big M6 Nozzle - Aka &quot;Creality Mk8&quot; <ul> <li>size 8 metric wrench, 4 mm M6x1 thread length, 1 mm clearance, extends a minimum of 8 mm from the heater block</li> </ul> </li> <li>Chinese Small M6 Nozzle <ul> <li>size 7 metric wrench, 4 mm M6x1 thread length, 1 mm clearance, extends a minimum of 8 mm from the heater block</li> </ul> </li> <li>e3D v6 normal (aka NOT volcano etc) <ul> <li>size 7 metric wrench, 6 mm M6x1 thread length, 2 mm clearance, extends a minimum of 5 mm from the heater block</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>To differentiate from Makerbot nozzles:</p> <ul> <li>Makerbot Mk6 <ul> <li>size unspecified wrench, 7 mm M6x1 thread + clearance, extends a minimum of 5.5 mm from the heater block, 12.5 mm overall.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Makerbot Mk7 <ul> <li>size 1/4 inch imperial wrench (6.36 mm), 5 mm M6x1 thread + clearance, extends a minimum of 8 mm from the heater block.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Makerbot Mk8 <ul> <li>size 7 mm metric wrench, otherwise as Mk7 - making this <em>almost</em> identical to Creality Mk8 but for no specified clearance between thread and head</li> </ul> </li> <li>Makerbot Mk10 <ul> <li>size 9 mm metric wrench, 4.5 mm M7x1 thread, 1.5 mm clearing + dia 7.5 mm shelf, extends a minimum of 7 mm from the heater block</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h2>Replaceability</h2> <h3>Chinese big to Chinese small nozzles in either hotend</h3> <p>Due to the dimensions, one can easily swap the big and small Chinese nozzles for one another. They are virtually interchangeable but differ in the wear patterns.</p> <h3>Chinese nozzles in e3D Hotend</h3> <p>The 3 mm shorter snout and deeper butting with the heatbreak of the e3D nozzle in its designed hotend make it hard to swap a Chinese nozzle into an e3D setup: neither does the thread allow to screw the nozzle in the right length sometimes, it also extends much further. To accommodate, the whole heater block has to be screwed about 3 mm more onto the heatbreak, then the nozzle gets screwed in. The result is equal in overall length.</p> <h3>Makerbot Mk7/Mk8 to Chinese Nozzles</h3> <p>But for the different wrench, those generally will fit, but</p> <p>###e3D Nozzle in Chinese Hotend However, the long thread of the e3D Nozzle allows it to be mounted in a hotend designed to hold a Chinese nozzle without trouble - the 3 mm of difference in the body are used for a longer thread and clearance between thread and body, resulting in the same overall length without changing the mounting position of the heater block on the heatbreak.</p> <h2>Internals</h2> <p>Stefan of CNC-Kitchen recently tortured a couple of nozzles for science and investigating wear and tear (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvlMeTnjriQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">video</a>). He found out a couple of differences on the internals:</p> <ul> <li>The Chinese nozzle had a non-straight pattern on the inside</li> <li>The angle in the feeding cone is 60° in an e3D and 90° in the Chinese sample</li> </ul> <h2>Conclusion</h2> <p>The Chinese Style nozzles can be interchanged for one another. an e3D style nozzle with standard length (aka not-volcano) can be swapped in for any Chinese Style nozzle. A Chinese Style nozzle needs to have the heater block shifted if mounted into an e3D hotend.</p>

2019-05-13T14:44:58.110

|printer-building|creality-ender-3|

<p>I am not very used to 3D printers and I just bought my first 3D printer today (Creality3D Ender 3). But I am unable to assemble it. The 3D printer doesn't contain instruction on how to built it which I found very weird. I searched a couple of things on the Internet and I found this website, but after some steps I couldn't read it , I didn't understand what I was reading.</p>

9914

3d printer set up

<p>The website you looked at is for an entirely different printer and in general.</p> <p><strong>Your instructions are in a PDF file on the mini-SD card that came with the printer.</strong> The official Ender 3 support site is <a href="https://creality3d.cn/download/produktdatei_c0002" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://creality3d.cn/download/produktdatei_c0002</a> and it also contains the Official Assembly Instructions (to me, the lower right corner). An alternate setup instruction is in <a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1N3oS2crrS.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a PDF distributed by Sain Smart</a>.</p>

2019-05-13T16:31:52.817

|print-material|part-identification|autodesk|concrete-printers|

<p>The ArchDaily article <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/916888/ai-spacefactory-wins-nasas-3d-printed-mars-habitat-challenge" rel="noreferrer">AI SpaceFactory Wins NASA's 3D-Printed Mars Habitat Challenge</a> shows a working 3D printing apparatus using an unusual material containing </p> <blockquote> <p>basalt fiber extracted from Marian rock (simulant) and renewable plant-based bioplastic.</p> </blockquote> <p>The photo below shows part of the printer. Is this printer just leaving a slurry to dry, or does the mixture somehow catalyze or harden spontaneously? I'm also wondering what the (looks like) twelve black hoses are around the central nozzle.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EpsQP.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EpsQP.jpg" alt="AI SpaceFactory NASA Centennial Challenge"></a> </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tRbVz.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tRbVz.jpg" alt="AI SpaceFactory NASA Centennial Challenge"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/A0MRJ.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/A0MRJ.jpg" alt="AI SpaceFactory NASA Centennial Challenge"></a></p>

9918

How does this Martian habitat 3D printer built for NASA work?

<p>Let's start with the general design look and feel: This printer contains a robotic arm with a toolhead, pretty similar to a welding robot, and probably is controlled with a similar CAM software.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SrNy6.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SrNy6.jpg" alt="a welding robot" /></a> Picture by <a href="https://www.robotics.org/blog-article.cfm/Improving-Safety-in-Robotic-Welding-Applications/47" rel="noreferrer">Robotics.org</a></p> <h2>Tool head</h2> <p>The really interesting part here is the tool head. So let's look at it and try to reverse engineer the use of some parts by how they are placed and what one can see about them, together with the information given by OP.</p> <h3>Black pipes</h3> <p>There's a bundle of 12 black pipes that go from the main body to the print head, ending at the side of some distance disk. To me, these look suspiciously like a system to deliver an airstream, so most likely some sort of cooling system. This is further supported by the huge fans at the base of the machine, pumping air into the flexible pipe.</p> <h3>Silver Tank</h3> <p>The first picture shows a silver tank with the label V7 (version 7?) or VT (as in Virginia Tech) or something similar on it. This is connected via a grey hose to the base of the printer. The mounting of it over the extruder hints, that this is a hopper, most likely holding the print material in pelletized or powder form, and that it is fed via the grey hose. From the information given in the question, it might be some sort of PLA (synthesized from cornstarch) or other bioplastic using the <em>Martian</em> dust as a filler material. From here, the print material falls into the central column...</p> <h3>Central Column</h3> <p>...which goes down through the distance disk into the thick nozzle, so it must be the extruder and heater combo. At its top, there is a large stepper motor in Z orientation, which hints that inside of the matte grey tube is an arbor, pressing down the melting pellets past a heating element into the nozzle below.</p> <h3>Print material and further information</h3> <p>The last picture shows proudly &quot;Autodesk&quot; on the side of the printer. Autodesk has an own article about <a href="https://www.autodesk.com/redshift/3d-printing-in-space/" rel="noreferrer">printing in space</a> from August 2018, where Nathan Golino of the NASA owned GMRO states this:</p> <blockquote> <p>Abrasion has been an issue with the 3D printer we use. It’s very rough on the feed screw and the barrel and nozzle as the material is extruded through the system.</p> </blockquote> <p>This confirms the general makeup akin to a pellet-style extruder.</p> <blockquote> <p>Combining a small amount of waste plastic with crushed rock known as regolith can form an additive construction material that’s stronger than concrete. (on a picture caption)</p> <p>The material we’ve been using in our additive-construction experiments is regolith mixed with waste polymers. You can get polymers in the form of astronaut trash and shipping containers, or you can synthesize polymers. You can use that as a binder for regolith, with a relatively low ratio of polymer to regolith, to make a construction material pretty similar to Portland cement in compression and 20 times stronger in tensile strength.</p> </blockquote> <p>&quot;Waste polymer&quot; could be anything from ABS to PETG, from ASA over PC to PLA, but it seems that the plastic-to-regolith mix is on the high regolith side. It seems that it behaves more like a plastic than concrete, hardening/solidifying from a molten paste to its hard concrete as it cools.</p> <p>As an interesting extra tidbit: Golino also states, that the mars-printers are at the moment on level 2 to 3, where 0 is &quot;general concept&quot; and 9 &quot;ready to fly&quot;, so in early development.</p> <p><a href="https://www.digitalengineering247.com/article/autodesk-nasa-explores-3d-printing-mars/" rel="noreferrer">Further reading</a> into the background of the project - a design competition in 2015 - hinted, that the software for the arm might even be <a href="https://www.autodesk.com/products/powermill/overview" rel="noreferrer">Autodesk PowerMill.</a></p> <p>Looking back at the question if that is V7 or VT on the printer's hopper, an <a href="https://archdesign.caus.vt.edu/news/virginia-tech-research-and-students-on-the-interplanetary-stage-with-competition-winner-ai-space-factory-at-the-finals-of-the-nasa-3d-printed-habitat-challenge/" rel="noreferrer">article</a> with the same dome printed in OP's question popped up: Virginia Tech had been part of the crews that were taken to the finals of the aforementioned <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&amp;v=PNPg6pqNYg8" rel="noreferrer">design competition</a> and was part of the finals. They worked with the <a href="https://www.aispacefactory.com/" rel="noreferrer">AI Space Factory</a> team, which came out winning. In a <a href="https://archdesign.caus.vt.edu/news/cdr-design-robotics-laboratory-nasa-competition/" rel="noreferrer">related article</a>, the printer OP showed us can be seen from a different angle and stripped of the cooling pipes and with a different, longer extruder. It tells us a little more about the work distribution of the teams and participants:</p> <blockquote> <p>Large format vessel printed by AI SpaceFactory in the Autodesk BUILD Space for the construction phase of the competition. The tooling was developed in collaboration with Virginia Tech and Autodesk.</p> </blockquote> <p>The main company behind it, <a href="https://www.aispacefactory.com/post/level-2-initiated-3d-printing-is-nominal" rel="noreferrer">AI SpaceFactory</a>, showed a different version - the one without cooling pipes - in motion on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifftUszK8zg" rel="noreferrer">YouTube video on April 10th 2019</a> and the performance of the air-cooled version during the competition finals on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7u5fm2sCY" rel="noreferrer">May 3rd 2019</a> (warning, 10 hours of 3D printing galore!) At <a href="https://youtu.be/Sm7u5fm2sCY?t=35532" rel="noreferrer">9:52:12</a> we also start to learn what that disk is in picture 1: It is the endcap of the structure which sadly fell through the hole due to navigation issues.</p> <p>In the following <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axnuLepJufs" rel="noreferrer">shorter and commented video</a>, we see that the printer also contains some sort of gripper to place the window frames and skylight just as well as the load bearing test performed after the print. Apparently, the material they use is engineered to a point where it can be reused after regrinding it to dust again.</p>

2019-05-13T23:18:44.857

|stl|meshmixer|

<p>I am trying to do some edits on an STL file. I am trying to use meshmixer for this. I am essentially trying to move a hole in the following picture <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zMAYk.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zMAYk.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> and widen the hole on the bottom of the part. I was playing around with meshmixer and it seems that it can do this by sculpting rather than precise measures. I would appreciate comments if my observation is correct and if so, what other STL editor would you suggest to do these edits. Thanks!</p>

9927

precise transformation using meshmixer

<p>It's possible to close over a hole using Meshmixer. I've done exactly that recently, although the "hole" was a depression, the process would be the same. As you've discovered, Meshmixer can be considered somewhat imprecise.</p> <p>Fusion 360 will import the model you wish to modify. You would then turn off edit history, convert the model to BREP, then perform the edits you require.</p> <p>Once you are satisfied with the results, it's an easy matter to export the model as an STL file.</p> <p>I've summarized the steps, which are almost as easy as my description. You'd have to combine Google-Fu with the summary for the detailed portions, but it's something I've done in the past. </p> <p><a href="https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fusion 360</a> is free for hobbyists, renewable each year. There are many YouTube tutorials and text-referenced solutions for the steps required to accomplish your edit.</p> <p>Some will consider <a href="https://www.blender.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Blender</a> to be an alternative method and I agree that it's a viable option, but it's not quite as intuitive as Fusion 360 and was more challenging for me to embrace.</p>

2019-05-14T09:59:03.603

|sls|slm|

<p>I recently asked a question in the space section of stackexchange as to if Martian soil, with its decent iron oxide content, could be mined (with magnets) for its iron oxide and the iron oxide used as building material for an SLS/SLM 3d printer.</p> <p>Is this possible? The final result doesn't have to be pure iron, I'm just looking to see if iron oxide is a suitable building material for a SLS/SLM 3d printer.</p>

9932

Is iron oxide a suitable material for use in SLS/SLM 3d printing?

<p>First of all, let's start with the basics:</p> <h2>Iron oxide aka rust</h2> <p>The University of Illinois hosts a &quot;Ask the Van&quot;, where the question <a href="https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=374&amp;t=rusty-metal-and-magnetism" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;is rust magnetic&quot;</a> has been asked, and I will quote from Tom J. and Mike W.:</p> <blockquote> <p>There are several different oxides of iron, with different fractions of oxygen. They are Fe0, Fe2O3, and Fe3O4. Rust consists mostly of Fe2O3, with additional water molecules attached. There are several forms of Fe2O3, and a common mineral composed of Fe2O3 is called hematite, which is a shiny-blackish mineral. Hematite is not ferromagnetic, but it does still respond to a magnetic field and will be attracted to the poles of a permanent magnet.[...] FeO is also not ferromagnetic, but it is pulled about twice as much as Fe2O3 towards the poles of a magnet. Magnetite, Fe3O4, is ferromagnetic, and is about 1/4 as strong as pure iron.</p> </blockquote> <p>In a followup answer by Mike W., it gets more explicit:</p> <blockquote> <p>Rust (a collection of some iron oxides) is virtually non-magnetic, unlike plain iron or most types of steel.</p> </blockquote> <p>This means pretty much, that unlike pure iron, you can't pick up (most) rust particles with a magnet. From all that we know about the Martian soil, we know for sure that it has a very fine grain, so the particles in itself are tiny. This again hints that any exposed iron on Mars has been thoroughly rusted through over the last million years, leaving only non-magnetic rust dust on the surface - dust that is not suitable to be mined with magnets.</p> <p>We have an analysis of the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/JB087iB12p10059" rel="nofollow noreferrer">chemical composition of Mars</a> from some landers, hinting that Martian regolith indeed is colored from its high content of iron in various bonds. So, what we do with that data? We create Maritan regolith simulant, which has been <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC98/pdf/1690.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">checked back against the findings of the probes</a>. And low and behold: there is not a single percentile of iron in either the findings or the probes or the regolith simulants. Just about 16-18 % rust.</p> <h2>Regolith for SLS?</h2> <p>Now, we have regolith with a somewhat even distribution of rust in it. And we have a stimulant that can be acquired from Huston. To my knowledge, it has not yet been tested for SLM, but it has been used in powder based extruders, as explored in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/9918/how-does-this-martian-habitat-3d-printer-built-for-nasa-work">How does this Martian habitat 3D printer built for NASA work?</a></p> <p>With the lack of testing and the relatively low iron oxide content, I am hesitant to say that it will work to print in the usual way. However, with the addition of some polymer, one could create a fast regolith-plastic compound that shows similar behavior to concrete. This material could be made suitable for 3D printing in SLS machines. Another idea might be to go from SLM (selective laser melting) to the older SLS (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering" rel="nofollow noreferrer">selective laser sintering</a>) or even simple sintering, in which a compound is pretty much &quot;baked&quot; into shape without fully melting it. We understand well how to sinter materials we have trouble with melting otherwise, and one of the prime examples is tungsten carbide.</p> <h2>Conclusion</h2> <p>While I see problems with mining iron from Martian regolith without a chemical refining process or refining it akin to iron sand, I don't see how martian regolith can't be refined into a suitable SLM or SLS material by addition of some kind of polymer or a thermal and mechanical process to achieve sinterable material. Instead of a polymer, a pure metal (magnesium or aluminium) could be added as a binder too. With the availability of regolith simulant for research, it only takes a research group that is interested in researching the suitability of this material for such applications.</p>

2019-05-14T11:40:41.190

|creality-cr-10|

<p>During a print a lot of plastic ended up ripping the nozzle's yellow insulation strap. </p> <p>Can printing without this insulation around the fusion chamber damage the printer?</p> <p>If there is no chance of damaging the printer, how likely is it that the prints will be affected by the absence of this insulation </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CYGI7.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CYGI7.jpg" alt="highlight of the insulation strap"></a></p>

9935

Nozzle insulation gone, can the printer be damaged?

<p>Insulation of the nozzle is crucial. I removed it and put a silicon sock on a CR-10. I constantly got heat creeps even at 10C lower temp. Then I removed the sock and printed a 12 hour part with significant quality loss. It did finish the job. With silicon it stopped after 5-6 hours. I suppose that with the sock the upper part of the heat block which is uninsulated leaves more energy go up than without a silicon sock. Then I put cotton all around the heat block. I even put the cotton at the side of the thermistor. And kapton tape. The results are really really perfect. Always talking for the CR-10 stock nozzle and fans. If you don't have insulation you need better fans. All the heat goes up to the heatbreak and softens the fillament. </p>

2019-05-16T02:35:43.567

|bed-leveling|bltouch|

<p>I have a Tevo Tornado that I've outfitted with an official BL-Touch auto level sensor. I can see the bed probing run, and I can see the Z axis slowly adjust during x/y moves, so it's doing <em>something</em>. However, you can see that there appears to be a systematic tilt:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sacY6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sacY6.jpg" alt="BL-Touch tilted bed plane"></a></p> <p>Any ideas what could be causing this? The bed, gantry and print head is tight, no wobble. Here's my start code:</p> <pre><code>G28 ; home all axes G29 G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle </code></pre> <p>I have mesh leveling enabled with a 5x5 grid and correct probe offsets. The bed itself is on PETG printed standoffs instead of springs to eliminate any jitter.</p>

9956

BL-Touch bed leveling seems to produce tilted bed level around Y-axis

<p>I know this is incredibly old at this point, but in case anyone stumbles upon this post like I did, I wanted to point out that there is no semicolon behind your G29 code, so it's not being read properly</p>

2019-05-17T20:19:47.090

|prusa-i3|g-code|ramps-1.4|wiring|laser|

<p>I have a Reprap Guru Prusa i3 v2 3D printer. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4A3jLWIXeoFUVhJa25lcGl6Rzg/view" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here</a> is a link to the 192&nbsp;MB manual. And <a href="https://reprapguru.com/pages/resources" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> is the link to the resources page for the Reprap Guru. Page 58 of the manual discusses electronics.</p> <p>I purchased a 5.5&nbsp;W laser from an online resource (AliExpress). It has its own controller module. It has one connector with 3 pins</p> <ol> <li>12&nbsp;V</li> <li>Gnd</li> <li>PWM</li> </ol> <p>I want to now connect the laser module in-place of the 3D printer nozzle. I have been able to install it physically, but not sure how to connect it to the Reprap Guru Prusa i3 board.</p> <p>I am not an electrical engineer, but I am capable of connecting wires with clear instructions. Any pointers on how to connect this module to the 3D printer board is appreciated.</p> <p>Updates:</p> <ol> <li>The board of my 3D printer is an Arduino Mega 2560 board.</li> <li>I have been able to power the laser on using the fan connections and it can burn stuff (so it works). I have connected to the D9 pins</li> <li>Now need to figure out where to connect the PWM from the laser module to the Arduino Mega 2560 board</li> </ol>

9970

Add a laser module to Reprap Guru Prusa i3

<p>By connecting to the D9 output header (see RAMPS 1.4 shield schematic below) you only have 2 wires that represent a scheduled load and ground. You actually need to connect the positive (red) lead to the power supply 12&nbsp;V and the negative (black) lead to the ground. The third wire (usually a different color) needs to be connected to the actual D9 in your example; note that this one is connected to the MOSFET! And as such not readily available, it is far more easy to use an other free pin.</p> <hr> <p>Just use the PWM pin (attached to the MOSFET) of the print cooling fan (that schedules the MOSFET), you can then schedule the laser power with G-code <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M106:_Fan_On" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M106</a>, e.g. <code>M106 S127</code> to select half the power (<code>S255</code> would be max power). Alternatively, and probably a much better solution is that you can use any free (but exposed) pin of your microprocessor; you can set the value of that pin using G-code <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M42:_Switch_I.2FO_pin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M42</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p>M42 switches a general purpose I/O pin. Use M42 Px Sy to set pin x to value y, when omitting Px the LEDPIN will be used.</p> </blockquote> <p>The only electrical wiring you need to do is to attach a wire (solder or connect to a header) to bundle that with a power and ground wire and route that to the laser module.</p> <p>Note that the PWM pins of the Mega are numbered D2 through D13. Also, D44, D45 and D46 are also PWM capable. Checking the RAMPS 1.4 (the board/shield of the Reprap Guru) pinout, you will see that D8, D9 and D10 are used for the MOSFETs (and as such not easily available and would require soldering). E.g. D2 and D3 are used by the X max/min endstops (note that most printers don't use an X-max, so pin D2 may be free on your machine). </p> <p>For your purpose, any of the following pins can be used: D2, D4-7, D<strike>11</strike>12-13 and D44-46.</p> <p>Best option would be the <strike>D11</strike> pin (on second thoughts, D4 might be a much better option as the <a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?147,651203" rel="nofollow noreferrer">timer associated with PWM on pin D11 is internally used</a> in Marlin for generating interrupts); it has a pin you can connect to the SERVO header pin.</p> <p>The image shows the location of the pins:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/L83Ji.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/L83Ji.png" alt="RAMPS pin layout"></a></p> <p>An example to connect a laser module is seen in this image: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iCuKU.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iCuKU.jpg" alt="Wiring laser module to RAMPS D4 pin on AUX2"></a></p>

2019-05-19T13:27:15.653

|sls|slm|

<p>I've been thinking, SLS/SLM printers currently use a roller to spread 3d printing substrate, but wouldn't ultrasonic vibrations spread the substrate more cleanly, accurately, and with greater density than a roller?</p>

9975

Could you use ultrasonic vibrations instead of a roller with an SLS/SLM printer?

<h1>No</h1> <p>The problem is twofold. Resonance and Granular convection</p> <h2>Resonance</h2> <p>Let's start with an empty box. We toss in some powder to create the first layer and use an ultrasonic to create a first layer. What happens? The bed starts to resonate depending on the sound you send into it in patterns - and the powder starts to form valleys and ridges along them as one can see in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJAgrUBF4w" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this video</a>.</p> <h2>Granular Convection</h2> <p>What happens if one shakes a box of fine granulate that contains larger items? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_convection" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Granular convection</a> happens! All items raise simultaneously and the small items start to fall first, resulting in them getting under the larger ones, so as a result end up pushing the large items up.</p> <p>Because of both effects, there won't be an even layer <strong>and</strong> it would raise the items printed, even if we managed to get good layers.</p>

2019-05-20T00:35:25.887

|adhesion|masking-tape|

<p>I have been looking at getting some painters tape to use on the glass plate for better print adhesion, and everything I read suggests the <em>blue</em> painters tape, such as this:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WNCHm.jpg" rel="noreferrer" title="Blue painters tape"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WNCHm.jpg" alt="Blue painters tape" title="Blue painters tape"></a></p> <p>However, this white tape is considerably cheaper:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kp92s.jpg" rel="noreferrer" title="White painters tape"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kp92s.jpg" alt="White painters tape" title="White painters tape"></a></p> <p>This looks like normal masking tape to me.</p> <p>Is masking tape ok, or is the blue painter's tape preferable? If the latter, then why is that so? What is so special about the blue tape? Is it a different material?</p>

9981

Why does the painters tape have to be blue?

<p>The second image isn't exactly painter's tape. Both images are types of masking tape, but the common manila/cream-colored masking tape vs the blue or green painter's tape <em>typically</em> has three features that make it less desirable for bed adhesion:</p> <ol> <li>Stronger glue holding the tape to the bed, that will make it harder to change later.</li> <li>Narrower strips, so it's harder and takes longer to place the tape on the bed.</li> <li>Thicker, softer material. This is <em>good</em> for filament adhesion, but bad for separating from the filament after the print and accurately leveling the bed.</li> </ol> <p>Again: those are only typical arrangements. You can get blue painters tape at the same narrow width as manila masking tape, and you can get wider or thin manila tape. It's more a matter of what you'll commonly find for sale, and in all probability the manila/cream-colored tape will work just fine.</p>

2019-05-20T22:21:36.067

|filament-choice|

<p>I’m designing a part that will need to be autoclaved—it will be under steam at 121°C for about 15 min per job and I will want it to be able to go through the autoclave repeatedly. I ran a test PLA part through the autoclave and it warped noticeably; based on their glass transition temperatures, ABS (105ºC) and PETG (80ºC) would probably also not hold up. For a consumer-grade FDM printer, what filament materials that could be used for parts that could be autoclaved?</p>

9991

Material for autoclave-able part

<p>You need to order the part printed by an SLA machine in PA, preferably with 10&nbsp;% mineral or glass content. The heat deflection temperature is suitably high for any autoclaving you'll do, and the material will resist most every that your lab and throw at it. I also went down this road with a part for my own lab and found no reasonable solution from a consumer level FDM printer. </p>

2019-05-21T13:26:03.870

|filament|extruder|ultimaker-cura|extrusion|repetier|

<p>I just bought and build my first 3d printer (HE3D K280 with Marlin) and I'm encountering some problems with Cura 4 and Repetier. When I load and slice a part, the printer does not extrude anything during printing. However, when I manually extrude like 100mm (G1 F100 E100) it does work. Now I'm suspecting the problem lies with the gcode file which is generated with Cura since it contains very small values for E:</p> <pre><code> ;Layer height: 0.2 ;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 4.0.0 M140 S60 M105 M190 S60 M104 S200 M105 M109 S200 M82 ;absolute extrusion mode G28 ;Home G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the platform down 15mm ;Prime the extruder G92 E0 G1 F200 E3 G92 E0 G92 E0 G1 F1500 E-6.5 ;LAYER_COUNT:250 ;LAYER:0 M107 G0 F3600 X-7.753 Y4.378 Z0.3 ;TYPE:SKIRT G1 F1500 E0 G1 F1800 X-8.127 Y3.918 E0.01115 G1 X-8.35 Y3.57 E0.01893 G1 X-9.088 Y2.287 E0.04677 G1 X-9.348 Y1.754 E0.05792 G1 X-9.483 Y1.376 E0.06547 G1 X-11.413 Y-4.956 E0.18999 G1 X-11.547 Y-5.534 E0.20115 G1 X-11.602 Y-6.124 E0.2123 Etc... </code></pre> <p>Does anyone know how to fix this? </p>

9994

No extrusion, but manual extrusion works

<p>I think that you have the incorrect diameter specified (e.g. 2.85 mm instead of 1.75 mm) in your slicer; this also appears from a calculation, see below. Note that you can calculate from extruded volume entering the hotend, or deposited volume. For the first you could calculate the line width of the deposited line and verify that with the settings; from the second you can verify if the volume for the extruded filament equals filament volume based on extruded filament going into the hotend for an assumed line width. Do note that (<a href="/a/10184/">certainly for first layers!</a>) modifiers may be in place. This is merely to get a ballpark feeling for the chosen filament diameter.</p> <p>If you look at the first move from:</p> <pre><code>G0 F3600 X-7.753 Y4.378 Z0.3 </code></pre> <p>to:</p> <pre><code>G1 F1800 X-8.127 Y3.918 E0.01115 </code></pre> <p>You can calculate the travelled distance <span class="math-container">$ s = \sqrt{{\Delta X}^2+{\Delta Y}^2} = 0.59\ mm$</span>. Also, from these moves you can see that <span class="math-container">$0.01115\ mm$</span> of filament enters the extruder <span class="math-container">$(E)$</span>.</p> <p>The deposited volume (<span class="math-container">$V_{extruded_filament}$</span>) of the printed line equals the <code>cross sectional area</code> <span class="math-container">$\times$</span> <code>length of the deposited filament path</code>. Area could be defined as taken from e.g. <a href="https://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/flow-math" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the Slic3r reference manual</a> to be: </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gmcm5.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gmcm5.png" alt="Area of a deposited thermoplastic line"></a></p> <p>Basically (as we apply <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass" rel="nofollow noreferrer">conservation of mass</a>) the filament volume <span class="math-container">$(V_{filament})$</span> entering the hotend need to be the same as the extruded filament volume <span class="math-container">$(V_{extruded_filament})$</span> leaving the nozzle; so <span class="math-container">$ A_{filament}\times E = A_{extruded\ filament}\times s $</span>.</p> <p>This latter equation can be solved for <span class="math-container">$w$</span> by filling out the known parameters. From this calculation follows that for <span class="math-container">$1.75\ mm$</span> filament you get a calculated line width of about <span class="math-container">$0.22\ mm$</span>, and respectively for <span class="math-container">$2.85\ mm$</span> filament you get <span class="math-container">$0.46\ mm$</span> line widths.</p> <p>As the nozzle diameter has not been specified in the question, but most commonly used nozzle diameter often is <span class="math-container">$0.4\ mm$</span>, and modifiers for the first layer are at play to print thicker lines; you most probably have the have the wrong filament diameter set if you have a <span class="math-container">$1.75\ mm$</span> extruder setup. Basically it under-extrudes.</p>

2019-05-21T17:35:11.247

|prusa-i3|hotend|pid|

<p>I got some Prusa i3 clones with Melzi boards with Marlin, or nearly so. One of them performed very well (considering that the board would reboot whenever power was applied to the build plate. But I digress) until finally the hot end failed, possibly due to me running it for two days with little respite. The replacement, a typical MK8 clone, installed almost painlessly but failed to start due to over-temperature conditions (we're talking as much as 45&nbsp;&deg;C over set temperature). I tried the known solutions, continually reducing my P value (got down to 7 before I gave up) and attempting autotune. I also tried autotuning to both higher (230&nbsp;&deg;C) and lower (150&nbsp;&deg;C) temperatures.</p> <p>None of these seemed to produce an autotune successfully, and the same error message <code>temp to[sic] high</code> appeared in all cases. Can anyone suggest something besides a new hot end (I have one on order, but what if I have the same problem with another new one)?</p>

9996

PID autotune fails under all conditions so far. Any ideas I haven't tried?

<p>Turns out I'm using a 12V hot end and should be using 24V. I looked up the resistance to be sure; so no amount of tuning the PID would fix that.</p>

2019-05-24T01:30:45.453

|g-code|laser|

<p>I am using LightBurn to laser engrave on wood. I am just trying to print some letters. </p> <p>In the softwares preview the output looks correct. The black part is where the laser should burn and the red part are traversal/scan lines <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nLs8P.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nLs8P.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>When i actually print it the negative space is burnt by the laser (basically where the traversal/scan lines are shown in the preview above)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/DjRPw.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/DjRPw.png" alt=""></a></p> <hr> <p>What I was able to figure out is that:</p> <ul> <li><code>M42 P4 S255</code> properly turns on the laser when I send this command on its own,</li> <li><code>M42 P4 S0</code> properly turns off the laser.</li> </ul> <p>But the issue is when I send the following G-code, the following happens:</p> <pre><code>M42 P4 S255 &lt;--- Laser turns on for a flash of a second G1 X15 &lt;--- By the time the movement starts the laser is already off. M42 P4 S0 </code></pre> <p>When i stopped using PWM (via the D11) and instead connected directly to D9 (which is for the fan) this issue stops occurring. So this issue is only occurring when I use PWM. Any Guidance on what to check</p> <p><strong>Update:</strong> I read the following on another forum. This might be the root cause here.</p> <blockquote> <p>M42 is an immediate command and would turn on the laser before it reached its intended start point, M106 and M107 are buffered so the on/off can happen in its intended locations.</p> </blockquote>

10010

laser is engraving the negative space

<p><code>M42</code> command is an immediate command. This means that it will run before the move GCode commands finish. This is exactly what I was facing. </p> <p>This video has the walk-through of solving the issue: <div class="youtube-embed"><div> <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LEjgp77TIy4?start=625"></iframe> </div></div></p> <p>Here is the relevant PDF it talks about: <a href="https://www.v1engineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/MPCNC-laser-add-on-walk-through-Rev2.0.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The 2.8 watt, $100 Laser Upgrade for MPCNC</a>.</p> <p>Here is the relevant section on page 7 of the PDF:</p> <blockquote> <ol> <li><p>The laser driver requires a 5 volt TTL input control signal. The Marlin fan control Mcodes (M106 and M107) will be used to control the laser .Unfortunately, the Ramps fan output (D9) is a 12 volt signal so we can’t use it. We'll need a quick firmware edit to remap the fan output from pin D9 (12v) to pin 44(5v).</p></li> <li><p>Make a backup copy of your Marlin firmware folder first. Open the pins_RAMPS_13.h file in your Marlin firmware folder with a text editor (Wordpad). Search for the line where the fan pin is assigned and change it from pin 9 to pin 44.</p></li> <li><p>Save the changes and flash the revised firmware back onto your Mega board. </p></li> </ol> </blockquote>

2019-05-24T07:56:30.933

|print-quality|creality-ender-3|

<p>Please check following image, Dog looks smooth from left side but its rough from right side , similar on back too.</p> <p>What could have caused this ?</p> <p></p> <p>Can it be due to moisture due to Air Conditioner in my room ? <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/u3VOP.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/u3VOP.jpg" alt="dog pic"></a></p>

10013

Ender 3 first print some area is smooth but some is rough?

<p>I was making following mistakes </p> <p>a) X-axis belt needed a tightening ( I calibrated all X,Y,Z and they were perfect)</p> <p>b) There was under extrusion . ( I had to increase number of steps per mm for extruder motor and store the setting) </p> <p>XYZ calibration cube was really helpful in debugging the problems .</p>

2019-05-26T20:16:06.960

|print-material|adhesion|petg|

<p>I've been playing around with PETG for the first time, and everything seemingly worked right just from the start - clean prints, no stringing, no bed adhesion problems, no warping or dimensional accuracy problems, etc. As expected it prints a lot like PLA, and as expected, it's less brittle/stands up much better to crushing/impact, <strong>except</strong> that it's really brittle when it comes to inter-layer adhesion. Vertical cylinders that were fairly strong in PLA just snap with no effort as PETG.</p> <p>My particular PETG filament is Sunlu, with recommended print temperature 230-250 °C. I started out with 235 and am now using 250, which does somewhat better. I've used layer heights 0.125 - 0.2 mm.</p> <p>Are these kind of results normal? Is there anything I should be doing to get better adhesion between layers?</p>

10035

PETG layer adhesion

<p>While 0scar was right that cooling fan hurts layer adhesion, I've continued to have problems with PETG even with no fan, regardless of temperature. I went looking for advice on the topic, and found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qif070PErNU" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a video by CNC Kitchen</a> emphasizing the importance of tuning extrusion rate because of the compressibility of the material in the extruder gear. I'd already found this was a huge issue with TPU and other flexible filaments, so it seemed compelling, and sure enough I just measured that a nominal extrusion of 180 mm only moved the filament by 173.5 mm.</p> <p>OK. Having extrusion rate off by about 3.5% is plenty to make prints brittle with PLA - I've experimented with this before just to see what would happen. A longer more precise extruder calibration showed more like 4% error. After correcting this, things were better, but I was still getting severe brittleness in some parts of the print but not others.</p> <p>For a long time, I was able to mitigate most of the remaining problem with reduced speed. I had already reduced travel speeds down from 120 mm/s to 60 mm/s (my normal print speed) because PETG is sticky fast travel over it with the nozzle in contact will tear up the already-printed surface and inhibit adhesion of the next layer. (This <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/13808/11157">seems to be</a> soft PETG acting as a non-Newtonian fluid. Disabling combing, which I'd done for other reasons already with all materials, probably helped with this too.) After also reducing print speed to 40 mm/s, things seemed mostly ok. But I found recently I was still getting serious localized underextrusion in the form of entire lines nearly missing, especially after complex retractions.</p> <p>I traced this problem down to some extreme extruder speed and jerk, which I'd allowed to mitigate the cost of lots of retractions and linear advance extruder moves. PLA and especially flex materials (where this matters most) can handle ridiculously high extruder speed (150 mm/s) and jerk (25 mm/s &quot;instantaneous&quot; velocity change), but PETG quickly starts slipping in the extruder gear when you do that, and making it easy to &quot;lose&quot; several mm of filament when unretracting. With this fixed (reverted to default 25 mm/s speed and 5 mm/s jerk; 10 mm/s seems to work ok too and performs a lot better), I finally have really strong PETG parts, comparable to PLA.</p> <p>In the process I also tuned linear advance K factor for PETG, which could impact adhesion. I started with 2.0 which was too high, and dropped to 1.2 which was slightly too low; around 1.4 seems to be ideal. Having this too low could reduce layer adhesion right after acceleration due to localized underextrusion; having it too high could reintroduce extruder gear slippage by putting the filament under more pressure than the gear can reliably hold it to. (If a higher value is needed to get consistent extrusion, this would mean a limit on the speed would also be needed, and going at higher speeds would require an extruder upgrade. For reference, at 0.4 mm line width and 0.2 mm layer height, a K value of 1.2 requires the extruder to be able to compress the filament by about 2.4 mm to print at 60 mm/s.)</p> <p>TL;DR: <strong>Fan completely off</strong>, <strong>tune extrusion rate</strong> to account for compression of PETG in the extruder gear, <strong>avoid travel over already-printed material</strong> especially at high speeds (<strong>limit travel speed to print speed</strong>), and keep extruder speed/acceleration/jerk profile conservative.</p> <p><strong>Update:</strong> Almost all of the issues described in this answer seem to stem from the Ender 3's abysmally bad extruder. Some are probably slipping due to really poor grip from the gear; others might be common to all bowden extruders. With the extruder I'm now using (Flex3drive G5) on the otherwise-same printer, I can print PETG at same speed or faster than PLA, with no under- or inconsistent extrusion issues. Cooling does seem to affect layer adhesion, but mostly on very thin (single-wall) parts; otherwise even with fan on at 100% I get better adhesion than I could reliably get with the original extruder. So I think the biggest issue was underextrusion, not over-cooling.</p>

2019-05-28T04:01:33.180

|prusa-i3|3d-design|

<p>I'm not really sure where to ask this question as I think it is a design question, but also a printing question. So if there is a better place to post, I'd be happy to harass someone else.<br> I'm (re)designing a sprinkler manifold for a dripper system because the stupid pegs for this <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00M0UG9SK" rel="nofollow noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">stupid manifold</a> are on top of the manifold, which is a prime spot for any old postal person/dog/raindrop to break off. Of course the pegs aren't sold separately so you have to buy a whole new manifold. Seems like a great use for a 3D printer. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/t5VuH.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/t5VuH.jpg" alt="sprinkler pegs"></a></p> <p>I designed a new manifold and decided the pegs were useful in case they broke off. I was thinking having them screw in would be a better design, but for the life of me I can't get them to actually screw in after I print. <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/9cy2vbtc8r8j47g/MushroomManifold%20FO%20real-%20i2%20v4.f3d?dl=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here</a> is the fusion 360 file. This is generally what it looks like: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gam5D.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gam5D.jpg" alt="MushroomManifold"></a> And <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1edw8pbpw64j20/MushroomManifold.stl?dl=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> is the resulting stl file. </p> <p>After several prints, the pegs won't screw into the manifold base. I push and I turn and turn but the threads just won't bite. The 3/4" pipe threads fit just fine, so I know threads can be printed, but these pegs are stubborn. </p> <p>I guess my question is, what's a good design for a peg thingy that needs to attach into a manifold, but also pass water? Should I try to replicate the cantilever thing they have going on, or is a screw better? Any ideas why my pegs won't screw into the base of my mushroom? This is my first attempt at 3d modeling so I'm not totally familiar with all the terminology, so any pointers there would be helpful. Thanks!</p>

10040

Advice for 3D modeling peg for sprinkler dripper

<p>With the suggestions from @R.., I played with a couple of different screw profiles that come with fusion 360, and found these settings to be helpful:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gMx1l.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gMx1l.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>After cutting the hole with these screw settings, I selected all the faces of the hole and off set them by <code>-0.1 mm</code>. Originally, I was offsetting the hole by like <code>-0.02 mm</code> and the peg wouldn't screw. After learning a bit about tolerances of printers, I expanded this to the <code>.1</code> value and it screwed in magically! I haven't yet worked out if the pegs are water tight, so I may have to revert back to the previous thread settings that seem like they would be tighter, or maybe I'll invest in an o-ring. Suggestions welcome. </p> <p>Thanks to everyone for their input. </p>

2019-05-28T18:57:20.927

|electronics|ramps|ramps-1.6|

<p>I have a RAMPS 1.6 board. After soldering my stepper drivers, I probed them for bridging and found a short where none should be. Digging deaper into it, my multimeter shows continuity between the 12V +/- connectors (on occasion).</p> <p>I have scanned the whole board repeatedly for solder bridges, but could not find any. Are there any known weaknesses that I should look for or any specific place I should look at to repair it?</p>

10045

Short circuit on RAMPS 1.6 board?

<p>Your multimeter showing continuity doesn't necessarily mean there is a short.</p> <p>All your multimeter is doing is applying a small voltage and then, if the current that flows is over a certain threshold, reporting that there is continuity.</p> <p>The components (stepper drivers, microprocessor) on the board, draw current. That's normal. The current draw might be enough for your multimeter to report continuity. Because the multimeter is only using a small voltage to test (and not the required 12V), the current draw may be intermittent (not enough voltage for the microprocessor to actually start working), and capacitors getting (dis-)charged may also affect things.</p> <p>The multimeter <em>not</em> reporting continuity is a guarantee of no short. However, the multimeter reporting continuity does not mean there is a short. The only way to find out is to apply 12V. If you use a current-limited power supply the possibility of damage if there is a short circuit is limited.</p>

2019-05-29T17:28:17.730

|calibration|creality-ender-3|x-axis|

<p>I've been aware ever since I got it that my Ender 3's X-axis isn't level. Measuring from the top of it to the top of the frame, the right-hand (positive) side is about 4.7mm higher than the left.</p> <p>During assembly, the vertical rails were not entirely parallel, and had to be pulled together to get the X axis on and to bolt the cross beam on the top. I suspect this is related, but I'm not sure.</p> <p>Anyway, aside from the bed having to be tilted to be level with respect to the X axis, this never seemed to cause any problem, so I've left it alone until now. However I have measured almost exactly a 1% dimensional error in the X direction that I've now compensated for by setting the steps per mm, and wonder if the tilted axis could be the cause. Doing the trig, that doesn't make sense - a 4.7 mm error across the width of the bed should translate to something like one part in 2000, not 1%. But maybe something's wrong in my analysis so I'd like second opinions.</p> <p>Aside from that, is this something I should try to correct, or just let be? I suspect it's the base that's warped or tapped/cut incorrectly where the vertical rails bolt on, in which case it seems unlikely there's any way to fix it without replacing that part, which is something I'd rather not get into as long as the printer is working. But if there are other possibilities that are non-invasive to try, I might.</p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mLJ7a.jpg" alt="whole printer with x axis at low z"></p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AGc09.jpg" alt="x axis raised to top of frame"></p> <p>Further update: if this is the cause of the dimensional error (which turned out to be more like 0.41% than 1%, thus closer to plausible) I probably need to fix it. Using firmware steps/mm adjustment is not viable because it produces aliasing patterns in skin layers presumably due to step width no longer dividing nozzle size/line width.</p>

10059

Ender 3 X axis not level

<p>So I disassembled the printer and first found something very suspicious: the left (Z-motor side) vertical rail was not mounted flush against the base, because the edge of the control board cover panel was under the edge of it. Fixing this made the vertical rails parallel and made the X-axis unit easily slide back on, but it did not fix the issue; the X-axis was still non-level.</p> <p>Next, I started playing with eccentric nuts, which was probably a mistake. They were already the appropriate tightness, and I might have messed them up, in which case I'll have to go back and tune them more later. I then found a second point of adjustment: the attachment of the roughly-triangular bracket that holds the three roller wheels on the right side to the X-axis aluminum extrusion rail. I as soon as I loosened the bolts, I was able to get a plenty play to level the axis. In order to get it level, with the top beam mounted, I raised both sides so that the top outer wheels would hit the plastic end caps of the top beam. This relied on a dubious assumption that the triangular roller wheel arrangements on both sides are symmetric, but it seems correct, and after re-tightening the bracket, lowering it to the bed, and re-leveling the bed, everything seems fully level.</p> <p>Further, after the fix, my dimensional accuracy test piece is 119.6 mm instead of 119.5 mm, which works out to the difference before the fix being undersized by 0.084%, very close to my "1 part in 2000" estimate of the error that the non-level axis should cause. Sadly it still wasn't 120.0 mm like it should be, so I went looking for another source of the inaccuracy. Tensioning the X-axis belt seems to have done the job, and I'm now getting 120.0 mm.</p> <p>I took some pictures in the process, which I'll try to attach later to improve this answer for others who may hit the same problem.</p> <p><strong>Caveats:</strong> In the process of doing this, I badly messed up the Z axis. I was getting prints coming out almost 1mm shorter than they should be and having to relevel the bed continually. The whole system is "over-constrained" by all the points at which it can be tightened, so if anything is inconsistent when it's tightened, everything goes catastrophically wrong. <a href="https://makersteve.com/2018/10/07/a-tale-of-two-enders-gantry-alignment/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This entry on Maker Steve's blog</a> was very helpful in figuring out how to get it back in order. After making the adjustments, however, I still had a problem: a horrible grinding squeal whenever the Z motor moved in the negative direction. It turned out I'd also over-tightened the screws holding the Z lead screw nut on the carriage (after mistakenly removing it during all this), forgetting that the assembly instructions specify that it shouldn't be tightened down. loosening both screws by about half a turn finally got everything working right again.</p>

2019-05-29T21:13:49.873

|diy-3d-printer|lead-screw|

<p>After a few months of printing with my Prusa Mk3 (with plans to get a second one soon), I have been wondering about making my third printer a home-built one was a larger print bed than the Mk3. One thing I wondered about is perfectly expressed in the title question.</p> <p>Are there practical reasons to <strong>not</strong> use a stepper motor with lead screw for the X and or Y axes?</p> <p>I am certainly happy with the GT2 belts used in my current printer, but I wonder if the design might be simpler with lead-screws on all three axes.</p>

10061

Are there practical reasons to NOT use a stepper motor with lead screw for the X and or Y axes?

<p>It is possible to use lead screws; specifically 4 start leadscrews. The only drawback is that you need to be wary of heat.</p> <p>Let's breakdown the concerns</p> <ul> <li><p>Cost. Yes it costs more than belts, and it will last longer at higher speeds, whereas a belt <em>may</em> stretch. If cost is a factor then stick to belts.</p></li> <li><p>Speed. Multi start screws offer a lower pitch than single start ones. As a result you less of a turn reduction. This can bring them on part with belts. The drivers you use will determine how fast you can spin your stepper motor. Voltage mode drivers are as used in 3d printers are good at high torque at low speed (sub 1000rpm). Current mode drivers are better at high rpm (e.g. STMicro's powerStep01)</p></li> <li><p>Heat. When the lead screw heats, the metal expands. When the metal expands your positional accuracy disappears. Using a metal that has a low <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">coefficient of thermal expansion</a> would be best, however they may cost more.</p></li> </ul> <p>Just from changing the drivers you should be able to get a speed increase without needing to resort to the heavier multi start lead screw. Increasing the voltage will also help, however you would need a driver that can let you vary the holding current, otherwise the motor will heat up and burn when it is not moving.</p>

2019-05-30T03:13:06.703

|marlin|heated-bed|firmware|tronxy|

<p>I have two Tronxy 2.0 V5 Marlin boards that reboot whenever heat is applied to the bed. The bed has been swapped (because I thought that was the problem) for a new shiny one. The thermistors, too, of course. The same boards (both) work when the beds remain unheated (setpoint = 0&nbsp;&deg;C).</p> <p>Any ideas what might be causing this, or what I might do to figure it out?</p> <p>Note: I really have no idea which Tronxy board this is; the "2.0" is stenciled on the board, so that's all I can figure out. I shamefully admit I tagged it with Tronxy x1 to see if I could generate any interest, and because a "Tronxy" tag is not available.</p>

10081

Tronxy Marlin boards (two of them) reboot when asked to heat bed

<p>First, check the power supply. Although it may be specified to deliver the required power, it is possible that the power supply has failed in a way that it can not deliver the rated power. At lower load, the voltage may be correct, but under higher load, it either droops or cuts out completely.</p> <p>To check this, use a voltmeter on the power as it enters the CPU board, not where it leaves the power supply. This accomplishes one additional check. If the voltage droops rather than cuts off, it may be that the connections have corroded and have a higher resistance.</p> <p>If you have any kind of oscilloscope, I would recommend it over a simple voltmeter, because the power interruption or droop time may be very short. When the CPU resets it will switch off the load that causes the problem, and the power may quickly resume the correct value.</p> <p>Second, check that there is not a short in the bed wiring. You might detect that with an ohm meter. You have used two different CPU boards, to it is unlikely to be a common fault on both boards, but you might be using the same wiring.</p> <p>Third, check the routing of the bed heater wires to see that they are not near other wires which connect with the CPU, including thermistor wires and wires to the UI. High-current switching in the bed wires could be coupling into other wires and conducting a RESET signal to the CPU. Ideally, the heater wires will be twisted together with about 3 (or more) twists per inch, and not twisted together with other wires.</p>

2019-06-01T06:08:38.777

|octoprint|

<p>I'm trying to upload a file using Octoprint REST API - it seems to be possible as per the document described here, <a href="http://docs.octoprint.org/en/master/api/files.html#upload-file-or-create-folder" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Upload file or create folder</a>, but I can't figure it out how to do it with the Python request lib.</p> <p>Currently what I'm doing is </p> <pre><code> import requests def def Upload_File(): fle={'location':"j:/max.gcode"} url='http://localhost:5000/api/files/{}'.format('local') payload={'select': 'true','print': 'false' } header={'content-type': 'multipart/form-data','X-Api-Key': 'FD550BD4DA2442BA906AD1850539D6DB' } response = requests.post(url, files=fle,data=payload,headers=header) print(response) if __name__=='__main__': Upload_File() </code></pre> <p>The response returns status is 400</p> <p>My working env is:</p> <ul> <li>Windows 10 and Octoprint running on virtual environment.</li> </ul>

10142

Uploading files using Octoprint REST API

<p>I installed octoprint locally to help debug this problem.</p> <ol> <li>Your code snippet says "def def Upload_File" which is a syntax error.</li> <li>If you go into Octoprint, under Settings -> Logging, and download octoprint.log, you'll notice it says "WARNING - 400 POST /api/files/local (::1): No multipart boundary supplied". A quick google search led me to <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17415084/multipart-data-post-using-python-requests-no-multipart-boundary-was-found">this StackOverflow</a> question, which states to remove the custom content-type header to fix this problem.</li> <li>You actually need to open() the file, and assign that value to the 'file' field in the fle object definition, not just tell it where it's currently at on your machine. Additionally, you need to provide a filename field in the fle object. </li> </ol> <p>I got your code snippet working as below, went ahead and swapped your API key back into it. You'll need to point the open() call to the actual location of your file on your hard drive, which I assume is j:/max.gcode, rather than mine which is just opening max.gcode from the running directory of the script.</p> <pre><code>import requests def Upload_File(): fle={'file': open('max.gcode', 'rb'), 'filename': 'max.gcode'} url='http://localhost:5000/api/files/{}'.format('local') payload={'select': 'true','print': 'false' } header={'X-Api-Key': 'FD550BD4DA2442BA906AD1850539D6DB' } response = requests.post(url, files=fle,data=payload,headers=header) print(response) if __name__=='__main__': Upload_File() </code></pre> <p>Finally, if you're going to be doing a whole lot of REST API shenanigans with your Octoprint server, <a href="https://github.com/dougbrion/OctoRest" rel="nofollow noreferrer">may I offer a prebuilt library?</a></p>

2019-06-01T14:22:34.160

|delta|multi-material|open-source|

<p>I now own the Prusa3D MMU2. The benefits, costs, and experience others have had is well documented. I am interested in rebuilding my large, home-designed delta machine to be multi-material, and don't want to overlook strategies I haven't considered.</p> <p>My original implementation used an E3D Kraken as the hot-end, and handled the inevitable delta tilt by adding two additional degrees of freedom to the head to lower the selected nozzle to the bed. I've been through three generations of mechanisms, and I think the third will work.</p> <p>But, I feel that I am not seeing obvious and better alternatives.</p> <p>So, the question: Through what methods and mechanisms can a multi-material (different polymers, different temperatures) FDM printer operate, and are there available designs or examples of best practices for those methods?</p>

10143

Through what methods and mechanisms can a multi-material FDM printer operate?

<p>Another way to combine the simpler geometry of a single nozzle, and to get the reduced mass of a single extrusion tool would be to make it like a CNC machine with a tool changer. One material is printed, then the hot end, extruder, and feed tube are swapped out for another which is primed and ready with the next material.</p> <p>Lots of mechanical precision problems exist for arranging for the nozzles to be in the very same place, plus or minus a small tolerance. This is worsened by the presence of filament bits and strings which seem to eventually pollute the workspace.</p> <p>If that could be worked out, one could have a plethora of extrusion tools, nozzle sizes, materials, multi-material mixing chambers, and other complexities.</p> <p>E3D was talking about such a printer, but I haven't seen a product... only an invitation to send money as a show of interest in such a printer.</p>

2019-06-03T05:58:00.617

|3d-design|diy-3d-printer|support-structures|open-source|

<p>Do you have any specific process recommendations to achieve support for the parts hanging above 45 degrees, using open source software?</p>

10159

How to create supports for the parts hanging above 45 degrees?

<p>PrusaSlicer has <strong>support enforcers</strong> you can place on areas that need support.</p> <p>See this video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMXfvWA-aY" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa Slicer Support Enforcers</a>.</p> <h3>Automatic supports</h3> <p>There are automatic supports, in the <strong>Supports</strong> dropdown menu, select <strong>Everywhere</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/09AEt.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Supports menu - Everywhere is selected"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/09AEt.png" alt="Supports menu - Everywhere is selected" title="Supports menu - Everywhere is selected" /></a></p> <p>Click <strong>Yes</strong> in the resulting dialog:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xvlso.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Click Yes in the dialog"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xvlso.png" alt="Click Yes in the dialog" title="Click Yes in the dialog" /></a></p> <p>Click on the <strong>Slice</strong> icon in the bottom left:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/fervx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Click the Slice icon"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/fervx.png" alt="Click the Slice icon" title="Click the Slice icon" /></a></p> <p>You will end up with a <em>lot</em> of supports:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XWT28.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Resulting print with supports"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XWT28.png" alt="Resulting print with supports" title="Resulting print with supports" /></a></p> <p>However, this method generally results in too much support...</p> <h3>Custom Suport Enforcers</h3> <p>So turn off <strong>Supports</strong> in the drop down menu, select <strong>None</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ag82L.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Supports menu - None is selected"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ag82L.png" alt="Supports menu - None is selected" title="Supports menu - None is selected" /></a></p> <p>Now, in the <strong>Print Settings</strong> tab, under <strong>Support Material</strong>, disable <strong>Auto Generated Supports</strong> and enable <strong>Generate Support Material</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EDA09.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Print Settings - Support Material"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EDA09.png" alt="Print Settings - Support Material settings" title="Print Settings - Support Material" /></a></p> <p>Then right click on the model and select <strong>Box</strong> from the <strong>Add Support Enforcer</strong> menu item:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/90MJS.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Add Support Enforcer menu"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/90MJS.png" alt="Add Support Enforcer - Box menu" title="Add Support Enforcer menu" /></a></p> <p>You can move by clicking the <strong>Move</strong> button in the left hand palette,</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MbJWh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Move button"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MbJWh.png" alt="Move button" title="Move button" /></a></p> <p>resize by clicking the <strong>Resize</strong> button</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dtu7r.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Resize button"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Dtu7r.png" alt="Resize button" title="Resize button" /></a></p> <p>and re-shape the <strong>Box</strong> as necessary, to support the difficult overhanging parts parts only. Here we can see three boxes have been added - pale blue for the previously added boxes and green for the current box:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rfp9h.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Three Support Enforcer Boxes added"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Rfp9h.png" alt="Three Support Enforcer Boxes added" title="Three Support Enforcer Boxes added" /></a></p> <p>And a fourth final <strong>Box</strong> for the tail:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mDB4I.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Fourth Support Enforcer Boxes added"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mDB4I.png" alt="Fourth Support Enforcer Boxes added" title="Fourth Support Enforcer Boxes added" /></a></p> <p>Now, when you hit the <strong>Slice</strong> button, there will be much less support structure than when using Automatic supports:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/oc4sE.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Reduced amount of support structure"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/oc4sE.png" alt="Reduced amount of support structure" title="Reduced amount of support structure" /></a></p> <p>Parts of the model that the slicer thinks still needs support will be highlighted in dark blue (such as the elbow and back of the head):</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kUqpg.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Unsupported parts highlighted in dark blue"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kUqpg.png" alt="Unsupported parts highlighted in dark blue" title="Unsupported parts highlighted in dark blue" /></a></p> <p>Add a cylinder support enforcer:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6kUih.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Add Support Enforcer - Cylinder menu"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6kUih.png" alt="Add Support Enforcer - Cylinder menu" title="Add Support Enforcer - Cylinder menu" /></a></p> <p>Resize and re-shape as before and move into position below the elbow:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7rhWo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Putting cylinder support enforcer in place"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7rhWo.png" alt="Putting cylinder support enforcer in place" title="Putting cylinder support enforcer in place" /></a></p> <p>Adding a second cylinder as a support enforcer</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4hZvV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Putting second cylinder support enforcer in place"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4hZvV.png" alt="Putting second cylinder support enforcer in place" title="Putting second cylinder support enforcer in place" /></a></p> <p>Upon hitting <strong>Slice</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/K1Qrp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Final supports"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/K1Qrp.png" alt="Final supports" title="Final supports" /></a></p> <p>Now in <strong>Print Settings</strong> - <strong>Support Material</strong> - <strong>Pattern</strong> change it from <strong>Rectilinear</strong> to <strong>Rectilinear Grid</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1zJOr.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Print Settings - Support Material - Pattern settings"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1zJOr.png" alt="Print Settings - Support Material - Pattern settings" title="Print Settings - Support Material - Pattern settings" /></a></p> <p>For prints with curves and details <strong>Rectilinear Grid</strong> works better, than <strong>Rectilinear</strong> (which is fine for supporting a plain cube in the air). It is easier to break the support off the print.</p> <p>Now save your hard work as an AMF file:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3pFls.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Save the enforcers as AMF"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3pFls.png" alt="Save the enforcers as AMF" title="Save the enforcers as AMF" /></a></p> <p>This file maintains all of the support enforcers so that they can be modified if the actual print needs some adjustments - without having to re-add all of the support enforcers all over again.</p>

2019-06-04T04:22:43.570

|slicing|extrusion|slic3r|

<p>I want to know the math behind how Slic3r calculates E values. <span class="math-container">$E_{value}$</span> represents amount of filament in mm (unless volumetric extrusion is selected) that has to be fed into the hotend to obtain a road of specific extrusion width.</p> <p>Consider an example with following parameters: </p> <ul> <li>Nozzle diameter = 0.6 mm </li> <li>Layer height = 0.35 mm </li> <li>Extrusion width = 0.61 mm (for external perimeter) </li> <li>Length of the line segment (distance of the deposition path) = 98.2 mm </li> <li>Diameter of filament = 1.75 mm</li> </ul> <p><strong>First part of the question</strong>: How is <span class="math-container">$E_{value}$</span> calculated for this case? </p> <p><strong>Second part of the question</strong>: How is velocity of extruder motor calculated for this case?</p> <p>The Slic3r manual has limited information on flow math but is not comprehensive.</p> <p>Let's assume volume of plastic fed in equal volume of plastic comes out</p> <p><span class="math-container">$$Volume_{in} = \pi\times{(\frac{d}{2})}^2 \times E \times x = \frac{\pi\cdot d^2}{4}\times E \times x$$</span></p> <p>Where, </p> <ul> <li><span class="math-container">$d$</span> = diameter of the filament</li> <li><span class="math-container">$x$</span> = extrusion multiplier</li> <li><span class="math-container">$E$</span> = <span class="math-container">$E_{value}$</span> to solve for</li> </ul> <p><span class="math-container">$$Volume_{out} = (A_{road} \times L)$$</span> </p> <ul> <li><p>Length of path, <span class="math-container">$L$</span>, is obtained from start and end coordinates</p></li> <li><p>Area of the road, <span class="math-container">$A_{road}$</span>, is calculated according to this <a href="https://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/flow-math" rel="noreferrer">link</a> (Slic3r flow math; Section: Extruding on top of a surface). The formula for area of the road according to Slic3r manual is:</p></li> </ul> <p><span class="math-container">$$A_{road} = (w - h)\times h + \pi\times{(\frac{h}{2})}^2 $$</span></p> <p>Where, </p> <ul> <li><span class="math-container">$w$</span> = Extrusion width </li> <li><span class="math-container">$h$</span> = layer height</li> </ul> <p>Seems like I am missing something. Math doesn't yield me same result as Slic3r <span class="math-container">$E$</span> value.</p> <hr> <p>Many of you have marked this question duplicate. I know the first question is similar to what has asked before (calculating E value) but the answer doesn't match actual E value in G-code. </p> <p>Also there is a second question on how to calculate extrusion speed given an E value</p> <p>I have added G-code from actual Slic3r with the same settings as above to check the math.</p> <p>The advance extrusion width settings in slic3r are as shown in the picture below: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vdm10.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vdm10.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> The settings are from a Prusa config for 0.6 mm nozzle</p> <p>Consider a 100 mm x 100 mm x 5 mm part (X x Y x Z dimensions). Following is the output G-code from Slic3r:</p> <pre><code>; generated by Slic3r 1.3.0 on 2019-06-04 at 16:36:24 ; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.61mm (6.55mm^3/s) ; perimeters extrusion width = 0.65mm (10.54mm^3/s) ; infill extrusion width = 0.70mm (15.25mm^3/s) ; solid infill extrusion width = 0.65mm (8.78mm^3/s) ; top infill extrusion width = 0.60mm (6.43mm^3/s) </code></pre> <p>------ Values of parameters defined in Slic3r -------</p> <ul> <li>first_layer_acceleration = 1000</li> <li>first_layer_bed_temperature = 60</li> <li>first_layer_extrusion_width = 0.65</li> <li>first_layer_speed = 30</li> <li>first_layer_temperature = 215</li> <li>first_layer_height = 0.35</li> <li>max_print_speed = 100</li> <li>nozzle_diameter = 0.6 </li> <li>external_perimeter_extrusion_width = 0.61</li> </ul> <p>------ some initialization lines above --------</p> <pre><code>G1 F1800 G1 X78.400 Y169.100 E8.21483 ; perimeter **G1 X78.400 Y70.900 E8.21483 ; perimeter** G1 X176.600 Y70.900 E8.21483 ; perimeter G1 X176.600 Y169.010 E8.20731 ; perimeter G1 X177.175 Y169.675 F10800.000 ; move to first perimeter point </code></pre> <p>The above code snippet refers to the perimeter of the very first layer in the print. Let us consider the highlighted line in above G-code. According to equations we have above, the values of the variables are:</p> <ul> <li><span class="math-container">$d$</span> = 1.75</li> <li><span class="math-container">$x$</span> = 1</li> <li><span class="math-container">$E$</span> = <span class="math-container">$E_{value}$</span> to solve for</li> <li><span class="math-container">$w$</span> = 0.61</li> <li><span class="math-container">$h$</span> = 0.35</li> <li><span class="math-container">$L$</span> = 169.100 - 70.900 = 98.2</li> </ul> <p>Area of the depositied road is:</p> <p><span class="math-container">$$A_{road} = (0.61 - 0.35)\times 0.35 + \pi\times{(\frac{0.35}{2})}^2 $$</span> <span class="math-container">$$A_{road} = 0.187211 mm^2 $$</span></p> <p>For calculating <span class="math-container">$E_{value}$</span>, We use volume equality</p> <p><span class="math-container">$$Volume_{in} = Volume_{out}$$</span></p> <p><span class="math-container">$$E_{value} = \frac{A\times L \times 4} {\pi\times d^2 \times x} = \frac{0.187211 \times 98.2 \times 4} {\pi \times 1.75^2 \times 1} = 7.6432 $$</span> </p> <p>The <span class="math-container">$E_{value}$</span> in the G-code is 8.214</p> <p>This is a big difference isn't it? I know about the die swell effect and expansion of molten plastic at the tip, but there seems to be no uniform compensation factor for this!</p>

10171

How is E value calculated in Slic3r?

<p><strong>To answer your first question</strong>:</p> <p>Your calculations are not wrong, they are correct for a <strong>normal layer</strong> (uncorrected) layer. These calculations should get you very near the solution. The problem is that there are <strong>default modifiers at play</strong> that modify the extrusion process which become apparent when you change them or look at the hoover hint in the advanced printer settings section. E.g. see the image below of the "Print Settings" graphical user interface; specifically look at the hoovering hint:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/eUGy7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/eUGy7.png" alt="Slic3r Print Settings GUI"></a></p> <p>The hoovering hint tells you that there is a 200&nbsp;% modifier at play. <strong><em>What! a default modifier without me knowing?</em></strong> Well...., if we had looked at the Slic3r Manual (<a href="https://manual.slic3r.org/first-print/first-layer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Important First Layer</a>) a little better, we read that:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Fatter extrusion width.</strong> <br>The more material touching the bed, the better the object will adhere to it, and this can be achieved by increasing the extrusion width of the first layer, either by a percentage or a fixed amount. Any spaces between the extrusions are adjusted accordingly.</p> <p>A value of approximately 200&nbsp;% is usually recommended, but note that the value is calculated from the layer height and so the value should only be set if the layer height is the highest possible. For example, if the layer height is 0.1&nbsp;mm, and the extrusion width is set to 200&nbsp;%, then the actual extruded width will only be 0.2&nbsp;mm, which is smaller than the nozzle. This would cause poor flow and lead to a failed print. It is therefore highly recommended to combine the high first layer height technique recommended above with this one. Setting the first layer height to 0.35&nbsp;mm and the first extrusion width to 200&nbsp;% would result in a nice fat extrusion 0.65&nbsp;mm wide.</p> </blockquote> <p>Tada! There we have the modifier from the screenshot; 200&nbsp;% (this is expressed as a percentage over the layer height, and causes that an additional filament scale factor bigger than 1 is at play; the <span class="math-container">$x$</span> in your equations).</p> <p><strong>To answer the second question</strong>:</p> <p>That should be rather straight forward, you know how long the path is and at which speed the head is moving (either at constant speed, decelerating or accelerating) and how much of filament you need to deposit, at the end point all filament needs to be deposited so you can calculate how fast the extrusion needs to be to accomplish that.</p> <hr> <p><em>If you calculate back from a volume of 8.214 mm² and solve for unknown <span class="math-container">$w$</span> you see that this yields <span class="math-container">$ w = 0.65\ mm $</span>, and that is exactly what is stated as first layer width in your Slic3r settings; I quote:</em></p> <blockquote> <p>first_layer_extrusion_width = 0.65</p> </blockquote> <hr> <p><em>P.S. When you look into the source code of <a href="https://github.com/slic3r/Slic3r" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a>, if you dig deep, you find that extrusion width is bound by minimum and maximum values, it could well be that that is causing the value to differ from 0.70 mm (200 % of 0.35).</em></p>