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2016-05-01T06:42:46.247 | |3d-design|rapid-prototyping| | <p>Hey so theres a product we have been prototyping.
We cant do FDM. The item has a ball valve.
and the ball ~ 1.6-1.9mm
I cant seem to prototype it. I have tried SLS, SLA, Polyjet.
Anybody knows what could be wrong, or what should be the dimension i should be using?
I thought I would post this at engineering section, but since I have to prototype I thought its best if its in 3D Printing section</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0neFf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0neFf.png" alt="Ball is 2mm in dia. clearance of 0.1mm is used "></a></p>
<p>Update: </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Byftf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Byftf.png" alt="Figure explains the direction of air"></a></p>
<p>So heres a figure showing the direction of air flow. </p>
<p>Update:
Thanks both answers are helpful. though not a precise answer. Then again, there is no correct answer.
Thanks a bunch. Lets see how the coming months are. :p</p>
| 1065 | Ball valve to be prototyped | <p>Hey why to make it soooo sophisticated and poor?
Air valve cannot be designed with 2 stiff elements - it will never work.</p>
<p>Make the air your friend but not the enemy. Use old good rubber (silicone) "flake" instead. Especially when you have such small design.</p>
<p>Take a look on the picture.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sk4Lj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sk4Lj.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Here you have black element which is rubber or silicone. It's sticked on one side. When air goes from the pipe (goes up) then rubber is slack so the air can flow. When you suck then rubber seals the pipe.</p>
<p><strong>[edit]</strong></p>
<p>You can find such solution in for example bike pumps, inflatable matterss pumps also gas masks and so on. It's pretty fine for low pressure. </p>
<p>Of course ball valves are also widely use but then such device has to have "rubber" ball nest so ball lies on the rubber ring to seal it. There has to be a spring to tight the ball to the ring. Without such spring turning the device upside down would cause the valve would not work at all.
Ball solutions are intended to higher pressure.</p>
<p>Please note the spring which tights a ball creates kinda threshold on the pressure level which means that pressure has to exceed a spring force to reduce a pressure. This doesn't occure in rubber valve.</p>
<p>I don't know what device you are trying to prototype but I'm pretty sure a rubber valve will be just fine.</p>
<p>Please also note that sealing surface is very low in ball valve solution but in rubber valve it can be almost unlimited so it can seal quite well even when the surface is not perfect.</p>
|
2016-05-02T14:25:23.397 | |printer-building| | <p>I've been interested in 3D printing for the past month however, I have noticed that it's sort of a "reserved" topic. Meaning that everyone who talks about it, has already some basic knowledge about the topic. What are some good resources for someone who wants to start learning from zero? My main goal is to acquire enough knowledge in order to build my own 3D printer.</p>
| 1076 | What is a good book to read about 3D printers? | <p>If you really want to learn about three dimensional printing then "Mastering 3D Printing" by Joan Horvath, published by Apress, would be a good place to start. </p>
<p>It does not provide you the in depth knowledge about all the types of printers or materials but it is good enough to get a newbie like me or you get of the ground. </p>
|
2016-05-03T16:21:48.817 | |fdm|makerbot|abs|print-quality|delamination| | <p>I've printed mostly ABS in the past and encountered <a href="https://www.google.com/#q=3d+printing+layer+delamination">delamination</a> between layers many times. I've ensured the following conditions regularly:</p>
<ul>
<li>Build plate is level</li>
<li>Base of print isn't warped (using ABS slurry)</li>
<li>Prevent air draft. I've added acrylic panels to the sides of the machine and the machine is in a custom cupboard.</li>
<li>Nozzle temperature at about 225C</li>
<li>HBP temperature at about 112C (I live in NW USA, so the ambient temperature is typically fairly cool).</li>
<li>Using MakerBot filament</li>
</ul>
<p>What are some other variables to consider to help prevent delamination between layers?</p>
| 1083 | Layer delamination | <p>wall size and filling are also parameters.
If wall size is too thin delamination is more visible</p>
|
2016-05-03T18:08:00.367 | |filament|extruder|prusa-i3|pla| | <p>I'm using brand new PLA filament and am getting frequent clogs in my extruder.</p>
<p>I've had this problem with 2 different filaments from 2 different vendors.</p>
<p>It will be print just fine, then clog up. It doesn't ever seem to go more than 5 minutes before clogging. When it clogs, and I pull out the filament, it is always twisted in a spiral (helix) shape like a corkscrew. I have put a picture of 2 clogs below.</p>
<p>I have tried using temperature of 220 all the way down to 180 in increments of 5 degrees and seem to get the same result. it prints the base layer GREAT on the 70 degree heated bed. No warping or peeling off. However, after a few layers, it clogs up and stops extruding.</p>
<p>I am using an HIC PRUSA I3 printer with a single extruder head. I've only had the printer for a couple weeks. It had been printing fine with ABS, but the ABS would peel up from the heated bed, so somebody suggested that I use PLA and hairspray. Hairspray is AWESOME !! It sticks really well and removes easily as well (once the bed cools a bit).</p>
<p>Please let me know if you've had the same problem with the extruder just clogging up and twisting the filament into a corkscrew shape.</p>
<p>By the way, pay no attention to the black marks on the green filament below. That's just me marking every half inch or so with a sharpie marker to see if it's still being extruded.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qKNR5.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qKNR5.jpg" alt="Filament Helix"></a></p>
<p>I think I figured out the problem. Now, to figure out a solution...
Take a look at the image below. There is a 1 inch tube that goes from the heat element to the heat sink. This 1 inch of tubing is REALLY hot and larger than 1.75mm. So, the filament goes through that tube on its way to the head and gets soft in the tube because the tube is so hot all the way down to the head. When the filament gets hot, it melts and bends and curls which makes it NOT push itself into the heated tip and out onto whatever I'm printing.</p>
<p>The solution would be to find some way to cool this 1 inch shaft between the heat sink and the heated head so that the filament inside of it won't melt.</p>
<p>Any ideas??? </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hFkPM.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hFkPM.jpg" alt="Extruder Assembly"></a></p>
<p>Here is a picture of my heat tip. Note the shaft has about 1 inch sticking out of the heater. The top of that (above the white arrow) is inside the heat sink. But 3/4 inches of it are bare and uncovered. There is also no teflon tube inside the metal throat.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i05Vo.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i05Vo.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/08pZq.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/08pZq.png" alt="Another picture of the extruder"></a></p>
| 1085 | Why does my PLA filament form a spiral shape and clog my extruder? | <p>I've found that this happens on my prints on the first layer when it's a really big layer. If you have the initial fan speed on something really low, and it prints for a long time (ie giant first layer) it will twist up the filament. Thanks for the answers, I was confused too.</p>
|
2016-05-04T02:47:04.393 | |support-structures|support-material| | <p>I found a nice model for a ship from the game "Eve". It doesn't have a flat bottom, so it needs support material. But Slic3r generates several dozen tiny support pillars, and one by one they break loose from the build plate. As they get tall, the leverage of course increases, and since they're so tiny they don't have much area in contact with the bed, so they separate. Eventually the whole model broke free, turned a bit, and since I had gone to dinner it kept printing... see below. I think the main problem is the poor support material geometry, but the controls in Slic3r for support material don't seem to give many options.</p>
<p>How can I get better support material layout? Oh, this is PLA, by the way.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/d4sbr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/d4sbr.jpg" alt="Rifter fail"></a></p>
<p>(appending to question to be able to put in the picture)</p>
<p>I tried a bunch of things, and the MeshMixer support, plus fiddling with several settings, got it to come out pretty well. Thanks to all, esp. @Tormod!</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gwngu.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gwngu.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1089 | Getting better support than Slic3r generates | <p>In my point of view it seems that the bed offset not optimal.
I see that you are using the blue tape, which is better than any other tape. As a next step I would recommend to try different types of glue.</p>
<p>I agree with Tormod Haugene and can also recommend Cura. You can also experiment there with a lot of parameters and after a time you will get a feeling how to print your things successfully.
Just take a look at the download page at Ultimaker for the application and if there are problems with the software you can feel free to report issues at GitHub.</p>
<p>Regards</p>
|
2016-05-04T13:19:59.970 | |ramps-1.4|firmware| | <blockquote>
<p>You may want to use <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/File:RAMPSTestCode.pde" rel="noreferrer">this code</a> to test all the electronics before
installing any of the suggested firmwares.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm planning on:</p>
<ol>
<li>Flashing the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/File:RAMPSTestCode.pde" rel="noreferrer">test firmware</a> onto the Arduino Mega 2560, then unplugging it from the USB.</li>
<li>Connecting RAMPS 1.4</li>
<li>Connecting all 3 jumpers under the X-Axis (leaving the other jumpers disconnected).</li>
<li>Connecting a stepper driver to the X-Axis on the board.</li>
<li>Turning the trimpot down all the way, and then back up 1/4th of the way.</li>
<li>Plugging in 1 NEMA 17 motor to the X-Axis.</li>
<li>Connecting 5A DC input into RAMPS 1.4 (not plugged in).</li>
<li>Finally plugging it in and seeing if the motor moves for 5 seconds.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now my question is, if I'm going to do this to test out a single NEMA 17 motor, do I need to comment out the rest of the test code before loading the firmware?</p>
| 1098 | Should I comment out the code for what I am not testing when loading the test firmware for Ramps 1.4? | <p>There's no reason to comment anything out. It will work just fine without any modification, even if you're just testing a single motor. That said, I don't see the value of this "test firmware" over just installing Marlin.</p>
|
2016-05-04T15:35:03.997 | |filament|post-processing|filament-quality| | <p>Has anyone tried painting a PLA (or other) print with stone-look spray paints? In particular, how does the result look compared to printing with stone-fill filaments? It looks a lot cheaper, but will it look inferior?</p>
<p>One such paint: <a href="http://www.krylon.com/press-room/press-releases/2013/04/add-a-touch-of-nature-to-your-next-project-with-new-natural-stone-textured-finish/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.krylon.com/press-room/press-releases/2013/04/add-a-touch-of-nature-to-your-next-project-with-new-natural-stone-textured-finish/</a>?</p>
<p>One such filament: <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/store/3d-printer-filament?t=LAYBRICK" rel="noreferrer">https://www.matterhackers.com/store/3d-printer-filament?t=LAYBRICK</a></p>
| 1102 | Stone-look surface via painting? | <p>It's totally possible to achieve but the result vastly <strong>depends</strong> on your painting skills and your spray paint quality. </p>
<p>Your can look at <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Stone-Head/?ALLSTEPS" rel="noreferrer">this page</a> for a concrete example. </p>
<p>How it compares to stone filament is fairly subjective though. Painting a 3D print usually breaks down in 3 steps : </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Smoothing out the lines.</strong>
<em>Achieved by either sanding the print or using acetone</em></li>
<li><strong>Apply coating</strong>.
<em>Ensures a better adhesion for the paint</em></li>
<li><strong>Apply spray paint</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If any of these steps are neglected, the final result won't look as good as using stone filament. However, if the quality of you stone filament is really bad, painting will offer a better result.</p>
|
2016-05-05T20:20:01.943 | |software|slicing| | <p>I am very close to buying a 3D printer and have started to do some preliminary design work from the things I'd like to make, but I have a question: Which corner of the print bed corresponds to the origin (0,0,0) in slicer software? Is this the same across slicers and printers?</p>
<p>The reason I ask this is because of the difficulty some have in removing items from the bed. It seems to me like I'd want to print small items closer to the front of the printer to make access easier, but it looks like most slicer hosts only show a box representing the build volume with no real indication of what's "front".</p>
| 1113 | Slicer/Printer Origin | <p>On Cartesian printers, the origin is usually the front left corner.</p>
<p>On Delta printers, the origin is in the center.</p>
<p>If you are having trouble getting prints off the build plate, maybe consider a removable flexible build surface, such as the <a href="https://3d-easy.xyz/en-us" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Easy Peelzy</a>.</p>
|
2016-05-06T00:02:50.243 | |3d-models|material| | <p>i have seen formbox <a href="http://golem13.fr/formbox/" rel="nofollow">http://golem13.fr/formbox/</a> and it uses heat and many materials like PVC. Is there any way to do this with paper or paper derivatives(like egg carton)? If the answer is yes, how can i do that?</p>
| 1117 | Alternative 3d molding techniques at home | <p>Forming kinda blister out of paper is possible but not the way it's formed out of plastic. Paper is not elastic, it's bendable but not strechable. It's the issue of how cellulose fibers are formed and how are they entangled. </p>
<p>Anyway - you can create a form out of wet mixed paper pulp. Wrap it around your model and then wait until it's dry. It will form amazingly stiff form. You can do it also out of wet handkerchiefs.</p>
<p>You could build a vacuum machine as in the formbox to squeeze the paper pulp the get water out of the material but the cover should be done out of light silicone film so it would be treated by vacuum.</p>
|
2016-05-06T18:56:01.593 | |desktop-printer|octoprint| | <p>I'm trying to set up <a href="http://octoprint.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OctoPrint</a> on my Linux Ubuntu 16.04 desktop to work with my Micro3D printer. The printer works fine on Mac and Windows:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kmil9.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kmil9.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>I've installed OctoPrint with the <a href="https://github.com/donovan6000/M3D-Fio" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M3D Fio Plugin Manager</a>. I can see the files in <code>~/.octoprint/</code> fine and I can even turn the printer fan on/off, move the extruder, etc. through OctoPrint:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qyeCZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qyeCZ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>But when I press the blue "Print button", there is no response. Also the files in the "upload" section are greyed out. Must I download a slicing program or something? I'm new with 3D printing in general but not with Linux. Grateful for help!</p>
| 1120 | 3D printing using OctoPrint on Linux Ubuntu desktop | <p>For me it sounds like you've missed to install the CuraEngine for slicing, but I'm only guessing, as I'm not using OctoPrint at all.</p>
<p>Instead I'm using Cura directly and save gcode to a SD or use USB printing for quick/small prints.</p>
<p>Regrads ;)</p>
|
2016-05-08T14:30:46.043 | |software|slicing|mattercontrol| | <p>I've noticed that some of my prints (mostly square-ish objects) are coming out with gaps between the outside shells and the inner parts. This gap is visible even in the 2D sliced preview of the layers so I think it must have something to do with slicing settings, but I'm at a loss for what I need to change to fix it.</p>
<p>See below for images of the issue. On the orange piece near the right hand side you can see light shining through the gap. The black cube has it at the top, though it's not deep enough to let light through like with the orange one. There is also an image of the layer preview which shows the same gap.</p>
<p>I have a Rostock Max v2 (stock hot end). I am using Matter control using mostly stock settings, I've tweaked around layer height, speed, and temp but I don't think those are the cause.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p><strong>Images of the issue:</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7ir4.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7ir4.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cX6It.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cX6It.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kWthd.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kWthd.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1127 | What setting do I need to change to get rid of this gap between the shells and the inside? | <p>It's generally called infill overlap.
In terms of first layer it's good to set extrude rate to 120% or even more so infill will overlap perimeters and itself. There is also the issue of "overlapping" layers which is not managed by any specific parameter. it's the issue of layer thickness and HE temperature.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Matter Control has kinda bug or at least an issue with extrude rate. If you set higher extrude rate then overlap will be automatically reduced in some way. So it's good to increase extrude rate manually during printing and then set it back to normal. this will cheat slicer.</p>
|
2016-05-08T14:50:39.170 | |food| | <p>I have a 30ish year old travel mug from Sheetz that I intend to model and print using my OpenScad skills. The fact that it is an insulated mug means that the inside is hollow to an extent.</p>
<p>What reccomendations do you have toward turning this into a foodsafe, leakproof success?</p>
| 1128 | Travel Mug Woes | <p><strong>You cannot make a safe coffee cup using home FDM printers. There are no printable thermoplastics available to consumers/hobbyists that will reliably AND safely contain coffee/tea temperature beverages.</strong> </p>
<p>Even though some plastics may appear mechanically suitable at first sight, there are long-term issues with using thermoplastics for elevated temperature service. The material becomes weaker and less dimensionally stable under load as the temperature approaches the glass point of the polymer. For example, here is some Stratasys test data for ABS strength versus temperature:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PN3QJ.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PN3QJ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Even if the plastic survives a few uses, it may creep and warp over time. And that might be fine, depending on your needs! People have printed working coffee cups out of ABS before. For some definition of "working" you can make print a working coffee mug. It's just not going to work at the level of longevity and reliability that people typically expect from hot beverage containers. (Imagine if the handle breaks and pours scalding liquid in your lap.) PLA in particular tends to give out abruptly due to its unusual ability to creep to ultimate failure with very low elongations.</p>
<p>Then there is the question of whether ANY FDM printed part is ever safe for <em>repeated</em> food service use. One-time uses (such as throw-away cookie cutters) might be perfectly fine, but repeated use introduces additional problems because FDM parts are porous. They contain a microscopic void/grain structure that is perfect for trapping food debris and sheltering bacteria. Every FDM part is similar in that regard to an old, scratched, wooden cutting board. They are difficult to effectively sanitize. A high-temp dishwasher cycle will do the job, but that imposes significant thermal stress on thermoplastics. </p>
<p>Here's an example micrograph I took of voids in a printed part (strands all aligned the same way to highlight the shape):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wfYtx.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wfYtx.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>These voids will also allow liquids to leak unless careful print settings are used. Over-extruding with multiple perimeters, or doing some kind of post-print sealing can make water-tight parts. It's not hard, just takes some experimenting. </p>
<p>There is also considerable anecdotal evidence that much of the cheap filament from Asia is full of nasty, toxic substances that may leach into hot beverages. Heavy metals like lead, strontrium, and cadmium are often found in thermoplastics as processing aids, pigments, or simply from unscrupulous companies disposing of industrial ashes by mixing them into dark-colored filaments for export. US-made and EU-made filaments seem to be better in this regard. </p>
<p>Now that the basic issues are out of the way... Here is the breakdown of specific materials you might want to try:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>PLA</strong> blends used in 3d printing will soften and fail almost instantly on contact with hot beverages. (They contain melt-reducers and viscosity modifiers and polymer molecular weights specific to FDM filament and will perform differently from injection-molded PLA products.) It is <em>possible</em> to anneal PLA to survive higher temperatures, as this increases the crystallinity of the polymer and thus makes it more heat-stable. However, that is highly experimental and results will vary considerably with filament provider, color/pigment, and annealing process used. Even annealed PLA is unlikely to survive long-term against very hot beverages and dishwasher use.</li>
<li><strong>ABS</strong> will become fairly weak at hot beverage temperatures. It may survive use for a while, but is quite weak and will slowly creep with very hot beverages or in a high-temp dishwasher. ABS IS approved for food use in many contexts, despite what many people think, but hot beverages are not one of the approved uses.</li>
<li><strong>PET</strong> blends are chemically a pretty good choice -- soda bottles are PET -- but generally have glass points around 70-75C and thus will be weak or fail outright at hot beverage temperatures. It is also important to ask what is being blended into the PET. For example, PETG is "glycol modified" but filament vendors do not share any details about this or reveal how it may affect the polymer's leaching behavior.</li>
<li>Most <strong>nylons</strong> will creep under load at surprisingly low temperatures, perhaps 50-55C depending on the blend. Nylons are also attacked by acids and will absorb stains and smells from coffee. Nylons also tend to swell/shrink quite dramatically on exposure to water, so mechanical fit and general shape of nylon parts may not be stable enough even for cold beverage service. <strong>Taulman's 910 is probably a good candidate for hot beverage service due to its high working temperature</strong>, but acid attack from coffee exposure may still be an issue in the long run. It's worth trying. </li>
<li><strong>Polycarbonate</strong> is thermally stable even in boiling water, so mechanically it is fine, but PC leaches BPA (one of the monomers left over from manufacture) into hot liquids. </li>
<li>High-temp exotics like Ultem and PEEK aren't printable by consumer/hobbyist printers at the size scale required for a coffee mug. They simply warp too much unless you have an oven for a heated build chamber. </li>
</ul>
<p>In summary, you <em>can</em> make a working coffee mug via FDM printing, but it isn't a great idea. <strong>Your best bet for 3d printing a coffee mug is ordering ceramic printed from an online service bureau.</strong></p>
|
2016-05-09T16:28:22.077 | |3d-models|file-formats|123d-catch| | <p>I need help opening a <code>.max</code> file a friend sent me. The thing is, I don't have Alias Maya. Well, a copy of Alias Maya that works anyway.</p>
<p>Are there any other file openers that I can use? Or do I have to get Maya to open the file? Would Alias Maya open the file? I don't want to get download 1.3 GB and discover that there is 15 MB file opener.</p>
<p>Is there a file converter maybe? That converts <code>.max</code> to, maybe, <code>.obj</code>?</p>
| 1135 | How to open .max files | <p>You could try import it with <a href="https://www.blender.org/download/" rel="nofollow">blender</a>. It's a free software which should be able to import the files.</p>
<p>First thing is to go the the File->User Preferences->Add Ons tab. In the Import-Export section, enable the 3DS Add-on.</p>
<p>After that you can export it to the desired format. Before exporting you must select the model/mesh you want to export. Otherwise nothing will be exported. The obj exporter is enabled by default in blender.</p>
|
2016-05-09T17:46:43.240 | |3d-design|3d-models| | <p>So, have a plastic car part I want to duplicate because the driver side part is broken (I have the passenger side part) and It isn't sold anymore. It's a small piece that would be an excellent candidate for a 3D printed replacement. I know there are companies I can send a 3D model to that will happily print it for me, but I also need to create a 3D model from the part. Is there a company or service that I could mail the part to that would return it along with a 3D model of it?</p>
| 1136 | Are there any services that offer 3D scanning? | <p>The right <a href="https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=local%203d%20scanning%20services" rel="noreferrer">Google</a> (or other) search should do the trick. I've provided 3D Printing services via <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/" rel="noreferrer">3D Hubs</a> and <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/" rel="noreferrer">MakeXYZ</a> and some people do provide 3D scanning services. If you can't find 3D Scanning, you could try talking to a local machine shop. They might have the tools to be able to reverse-engineer the object, or know another place that can.</p>
|
2016-05-10T15:52:03.190 | |filament|recycling| | <p>I know there is a 3d printing technique, where sheet of papers are cut and glued. Like the ones <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/staples-mcor-easy-3d-printing/25284/" rel="nofollow">Staples</a> has in their stores. But this sort of paper isnt recyclable, because of the heavy use of glue.</p>
<p>Is anywhere filament available, which is made of cellulose or other recyclable and bio-degradable material? Or do you know if research is going on in this area?</p>
<p>edit: added bio-degradable</p>
| 1143 | Print paper or cellulose - any recyclable filament? | <p>Filament made of Polylactic acid (<a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/PLA" rel="nofollow">PLA</a>) is usually made of biological materials (such as corn), and can therefore be considered bio-degradable in most cases.</p>
<p>Whether the filament is 100% bio-degradable (and non-toxic for the surroundings) will depend on the specific formula used by each individual filament manufacturer. (Many manufacturers include various additives to achieve particular effects, such as <a href="http://3dprintingforbeginners.com/glow-in-the-dark-filament-review/" rel="nofollow">glow-in-the-dark</a>, <a href="http://colorfabb.com/bronzefill" rel="nofollow">metallic</a> finish or extra strengh.)</p>
<p><a href="http://colorfabb.com/woodfill-fine" rel="nofollow">Woodfill PLA</a>-like filament might be of extra interest to you, not only because it typically is bio-degradable, but also because it will give you the <em>look and feel</em> of being bio-degradable. </p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p><em>PS: there are multiple other filament types that are either recyclable, bio-degradable, or both, although PLA might be the most commonly available of them all.</em></p>
|
2016-05-11T06:45:35.900 | |3d-models|resolution|support-structures| | <p>I have moved forward with the whole <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/1135/how-to-open-max-files">.max thing</a>. It's on the back burner. But not as critical now. I have found a Sketchup model of the model I want. But it is ridiculously small (0.17 m long by 0.10 m wide!).</p>
<p>How do I enlarge it to fit my dimensions as a whole?</p>
| 1144 | How to enlarge a Sketchup Model | <p>Use Cura middle button in bottom
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hc1s8.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hc1s8.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
|
2016-05-11T20:46:53.420 | |3d-design|open-source|scanning| | <p>I am trying to make a structured light 3D scanner using single camera, light projector and a turntable.</p>
<p>After days on Google I did not find any reliable open source project which I can get to work. <a href="https://github.com/jakobwilm/slstudio" rel="noreferrer">SLStudio</a> really seemed a good choice but did not compile properly. </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone knows a good open source which they have used with the same kind of setup? Any help would be really appreciated. I am blocked here.</p>
| 1150 | Open Source 3D scanning | <p>You can use a Kinect sensor for Xbox 360 OR Kinect sensor for Xbox One. That sensor allows you to get a true 3D surface with its SDK. You can connect these devices directly to your PC using USB (I have one).</p>
<p>Even the Xbox One model, in its SDK, has an example that allows you export your captured mesh as STL files.</p>
|
2016-05-11T22:38:09.423 | |electronics|heat-management| | <p>After printing successfully for a while I received an error saying:</p>
<p>Tool 0 Failure!<br>
Temp limit reached <br>
Shutdown or restart.<br></p>
<p>The front panel is not responsive and doesn't allow the printer to print at all. If I quickly go to monitor mode it shows tool 0 temperature in the ~700°C range; which made me think it was the thermocouple.On the motherboard I unplugged the thermocouple and the same error occurred, I then swapped the other thermocouple and put it in its place and got the same error except the tool 1 temperature showed "NC". </p>
<p>I had recently taken apart the extruders to change out the nozzles and thought I had possibly smashed the wires when putting it together but now I don't think that's the case. </p>
<p>I'm on the phone with FlashForge's tech support but wanted to see if someone else has had the same experience for cross reference.</p>
<p>What's the underlying issue? Is there a quick solution to this that can get me printing right away (I'm under a deadline)? What's the end solution?</p>
| 1151 | FlashForge Creator Pro Tool Failure! Temp limit reached | <p>Oh yeah my printer had that. Specifically 2 Flash Forge Creator Pros, Replace the thermal couple. Done. Really fragile thermal couples they use.</p>
<p>Edit I see you tried shorting the TC. Wouldn't shorting the TC, produce the same error?</p>
|
2016-05-12T15:44:06.400 | |heated-bed| | <p>I have a Flashforge Creator Dual.</p>
<p>One corner of my print bed is warped down. I am thinking about having a steel print bed made so it would tend to stay flat. </p>
<p>Has anyone tried this?</p>
| 1156 | Would a steel, instead of an aluminium, plate be reasonable? | <p>Whether you should use steel or aluminum depends on the construction of your print bed stack. Either will work, but there are trade-offs involved.</p>
<p>Various considerations that may come into play:</p>
<ul>
<li>A flat sheet of aluminum has better <strong>stiffness/weight ratio</strong> than a flat sheet of steel. If weight/mass is a concern, such as with a Mendel style moving Y-bed, aluminum may be superior to an equivalent stiffness steel sheet. On the other hand, steel has the superior <strong>stiffness/thickness ratio</strong>, so if the total thickness of the plate is constrained, such as by the printer's mounting hardware, steel may be higher performance. In short, for sheets of equivalent stiffness, aluminum will be thicker but lighter. That may or may not matter for your specific printer. </li>
<li>Differential thermal expansion can be an issue, depending on what the plate is attached to. For example, rigidly bolting a steel sheet to an aluminum sub-frame will cause the structure to warp when its temperature changes. Likewise for bolting an aluminum sheet to a steel sub-frame. Bed mounts that "float" will not cause warping in either case. </li>
<li>All kinds of rolled sheet metal may have a tendency to warp when heated/cooled, due to residual stresses and grain alignment effects from manufacture. When people want extreme dimensional stability for the flattest and lowest-warp print bed possible, an aluminum cast tooling plate material such as MIC 6 is usually used. The MIC 6 sheet is then precision ground to be flat. Of course, that adds cost. </li>
<li>Neither aluminum nor steel is a particularly good <em>bare</em> print surface. Either will need some kind of adhesion layer, like Kapton tape or gluestick. The adhesion layer matters far more than the type of metal underneath.</li>
<li>Aluminum sheets are often used as <strong>heat-spreaders</strong> to even out the bed temperature of heated beds. This is very important when heaters are smaller than the total bed size, or have hot spots. (Most heaters do have hot spots.) Steel is a relatively poor conductor of heat, so the surface of the bed will take longer to heat up and will be less even. That may or may not be an issue, depending on the printer and desired materials. </li>
</ul>
<p>So, it's really a holistic design decision. Aluminum is far more common because of its thermal properties and lower weight, but steel print beds (particularly with permanent adhesion coatings) are often used too. </p>
|
2016-05-13T09:25:18.297 | |dual-nozzle| | <p>I use Prusa i3 with one extruder for some years and I would like to print from one material in two colors or from different materials for one model. Therefore I'm lookig for new printer with dual extruder.</p>
<p>Is there some way how to measure and/or compare quality of printers with dual extruder on the market?</p>
<p>For example to create 3d model - ask the seller(s) to print it - and then compare? - what details to focus on?</p>
| 1160 | How to choose printer with dual extruder? | <p>"Make" Magazine compares 3-D printers in a way that is as scientific as possible to help determine the strengths/weaknesses of each 3-D printer compared to others. The link to the November 2015 comparison test is available here: <a href="http://makezine.com/comparison/3dprinters/" rel="nofollow">http://makezine.com/comparison/3dprinters/</a> I was unable to find the ability to compare among dual-extruders, however. </p>
|
2016-05-13T13:12:06.020 | |software|slicing|extrusion|simplify3d| | <p>I recently started to use Simplify3D! It is great software, but I have a problem with adjustment of amount of plastic extruded. I have a slight under extrusion after I adjusted amount of plastic extruded using perimeter test (Printing a square with wall thickness of one layer, measuring, adjusting extrusion multiplier). I suggest that there is under extrusion by looking at top layer (there is distance between layers) and there are gaps around holes as well. I'm using Ultimaker two and colorFabb filament. I can resolve problems by increasing extrusion multiplier, but then I have incorrect layer width :/
I have also attached picture. <a href="http://postimg.org/image/keghmu075/" rel="noreferrer">http://postimg.org/image/keghmu075/</a> On a right side, there is a part with correct extrusion multiplier (under extrusion).
Maybe you guys have some ideas?</p>
| 1161 | Extrusion adjustment | <p><strong>SHORT ANSWER</strong></p>
<p>You're not supposed to do the single-wall perimeter thickness test to calibrate Simplify3D. That screws up the extrusion volume. The correct volume calibration procedure for S3D is: </p>
<ol>
<li>Measure actual average filament diameter and input that</li>
<li>Print a 100% infill calibration cubes</li>
<li>If the print is over-extruded (top or sides bulging), decrease Extrusion Multiplier by about 0.05 and try again. If the print is under-extruded or looks clean, increase Extrusion Multiplier by about 0.05 and try again.</li>
<li>Repeat as needed to dial it in. The correct value of Extrusion Multiplier is the largest value that does not produce over-extruded prints. This produces minimum void volume and strong parts.</li>
<li>In the future, that specific material+extruder combination will always have the same extrusion multiplier. You only need to measure and input filament diameter and you will always get accurate volume output. (And if you use high-quality filament with consistent diameter, you don't even really need to measure the diameter.)</li>
</ol>
<p>If you really want to measure perimeters, you can do 3 perimeters and divide the measurement by 3. That takes into account most of the overlap and will be much closer to accurate than a single-perimeter measurement.</p>
<p><strong>COMPLETE ANSWER</strong></p>
<p>The goal here is to fill the print volume as completely as possible (at least in the "solid" parts of the print like perimeters, roofs, and floors). Empty space between strands doesn't contribute to part strength. In fact, voids act as failure initiation sites by concentrating stresses. Because extruded strands come out with rounded edges, they have to be <strong>overlapped</strong> to squeeze plastic into gaps and minimize "corner voids." That looks like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mcSqs.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mcSqs.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Where the bulges overlap, the excess plastic gets pushed into the corners to <em>mostly</em> fill the voids. It's very difficult to get 100% packing density, but you can get pretty close if you calibrate volume correctly.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WyZkl.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WyZkl.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>You DO NOT want to space the strands without overlap. That makes very weak prints and looks like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QGKY6.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QGKY6.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>To get the right amount of strand overlap, the slicer has to do some math and make some assumptions about how you're calibrating it. This is not uniform between software packages. So it's important to understand what "extrusion width" means to different slicers. For a couple prominent examples:</p>
<ul>
<li>Slic3r treats "extrusion width" as the measured outside dimension of a stack of strands. Adjacent strands are then positioned closer together than the nominal width according to a somewhat complicated equation to get sufficient overlap for bonding.</li>
<li>S3D treats "extrusion width" as the average width of the stack of strands, which is the equivalent width if the plastic strands were extruded as ideal rectangles instead of a stack of ovals. Adjacent strands are positioned 1x nominal extrusion width apart. That provides the correct amount of overlap without any extra math. But each individual strand is really somewhat wider than the nominal "width."</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gtCAm.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gtCAm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Both of these techniques can produce the exact same output if calibrated properly, but they require different calibration techniques because they calculate the plastic volume and adjacent strand spacing different ways. </p>
<p>It's important to understand that S3D spaces its strands 1x extrusion width apart. When you use the measured perimeter thickness to calibrate Simplify3D for extrusion width setting = measured thickness, you get under-extruded prints with no strand overlap. <strong>S3D's strands must measure wider than the "width" setting to get the correct overlap.</strong> </p>
<p>In practice, S3D's code is smart enough to know how this affects print dimenions, and will adjust perimeter positions to get accurate overall dimensions. But single-wall test boxes will be thicker than expected. </p>
<p>The downside to the way Slic3r calculates volume is that it is only accurate for strands that are shaped like ovals. And that is only an accurate assumption when [extrusion width > nozzle width + layer height]. The strand must be wide enough for molten plastic to flow sideways and develop the circular bulge cross-section. So people almost always print with wider strands in Slic3r than is strictly necessary. The volume calculations don't work all that well with thin strands. Whereas S3D's volume calculation method works fine with pretty much any extrusion width greater than layer height and greater than nozzle diameter. </p>
<p>There are pros and cons to both systems. You just need to understand the correct calibration technique for each. </p>
|
2016-05-13T17:06:02.507 | |resin|sla|dlp|uv-printer| | <p>This is related to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/801/cons-to-uv-printing/">Cons to UV printing</a> and focused on <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/801/cons-to-uv-printing#816">Ryan Carlyle's answer</a>, mentioning:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>"...resin-curing SLA/DLP printers are industrial or commercial tools that are really not suitable for home desktop use."</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, my general question is what are the pros to using a DLP printer in an manufacturing environment?</p>
<p>My experience with 3D printing in manufacturing has shown me the necessity of understanding material strengths as well as how to utilize the 3D printing technology (FDM mostly) to produce a structurally strong part. Most of what I've made has been fixtures with small to moderate forces applied to them.</p>
<p>In short, are there any technological advantages to using a DLP printer in a manufacturing environment?</p>
| 1164 | Pros to UV printing | <p>When using a DLP 3D printer, a projector (or other UV light source) is shining on a layer of resin. As the light source shines on a whole layer at a time, it is able to print at a rather constant linear vertical rate. This rate is normally around 2.5 cm (1 inch)/hour</p>
<p>When comparing this to a standard FDM printer or a single laser system (such as the <a href="http://fslaser.com/Products/View/1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pegasus Touch</a>. The printer takes more time on more complicated layers. If a you were able to print the same 2.5 cm (1 inch), at 0.3 mm layer height, it would be a total of ~85 layers. This would allow for ~42 seconds per layer. Most layers would take longer from this (from personal experience).</p>
<p>With the constant layer rate, multiple objects can also be printed at once because if the printer has to print the layer for the first object, it is not taking more time for it to cure resin in another location on the print bed.</p>
<p>In addition to this, DLP printers can have much better resolutions than FDM printers. A DLP printer such as the <a href="http://www.kudo3d.com/products/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Titan 1</a> has a 37 μm XY resolution while a Prusa i3 has a resolution closer to 300 or 400 μm.</p>
|
2016-05-14T02:39:17.017 | |3d-models|3d-design|services| | <p>I have a 3D model that I'd like to print. This is my first project, so I'm trying to decide if I'm getting in over my head. Here's the model rendered with Blender:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/N1cVF.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/N1cVF.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>If I throw it at a commercial printing shoppe, is it going to be fairly straight forward? Or is it unlikely to be able to get the colours fitting together like this to work well?</p>
| 1165 | Is this model feasible to print? | <p>The simplest and cheapest method to have this object printed would be to have individual STL files for each part and give these to the print shop with the color of each piece.</p>
<p>Printing as a single piece would be much more expensive as more advance methods would be needed as mentioned in the other answers.</p>
|
2016-05-14T03:31:20.547 | |makerbot|print-quality|warping| | <p>I printed a big base for a model, but the corners of the bottom bent up, making the whole base rock when set on a table. Is there a quick fix for a makerbot2 without a heated plate?</p>
| 1167 | How could I keep the material on the print plate from bending up on a makerbot 2? | <p>Try printing with a raft, and adding "helper discs" to expand the size of the raft. You might also try lowering your extruder temperature a bit to reduce the cooling temperature differential.</p>
|
2016-05-16T02:05:59.790 | |3d-models| | <p>Do 3D printers prefer particular topology? In case I'm not using the word quite right, I'm specifically wondering if I should make the faces in my models:</p>
<ol>
<li>triangles</li>
<li>quads</li>
<li>n-gons.. </li>
</ol>
| 1180 | Do 3D Printers Prefer Particular Topology? | <p>The most common file format in 3D printing is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_(file_format)" rel="nofollow">STL</a>. This file format is using triangles only so when you export an object from your CAD application to STL then exporter has to transform all n-gon faces into triangles.</p>
<p>Once the file is created then it is usually imported by slicer application (or module) which performs slicing using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynomial_interpolation" rel="nofollow">polynomial calculation</a> to find intersection with next surfaces. Here is <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/jsclipper/" rel="nofollow">good example</a> of such intersection finding in javascript.</p>
<p>So answering your question:</p>
<ul>
<li>no - it doesn't matter as you usually use file format in which faces are triangles but</li>
<li>yes - it matters as all your n-gon faces needs to be transformed into triangles</li>
</ul>
|
2016-05-16T12:11:49.243 | |3d-models|3d-design|slicing| | <p>Will an inconsistent vertex density likely introduce artifacts in a print? Or is it OK as long as it's a smooth surface?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FmO9L.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FmO9L.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1187 | Is inconsistent vertex density a bad thing? | <p>For the most part, the exact level of vertex density doesn't matter too much. But it does depend on the slicer and settings. Some slicers (like Slic3r) will auto-decimate toolpaths to ensure that the rate of motion commands isn't too difficult for the old, slow 8bit processors in most consumer/hobbyist 3d printers. Having a large number of very small motion commands can bog down these motion controllers and cause pause-stuttering that creates little zits on the print. Most slicers simply reduce model detail level to safeguard the motion controller. Because the contours are decimated to a minimum motion segment length, very small model triangles are irrelevant to printer performance. At the most, they might add a marginal amount of slicing time. </p>
<p>On the other hand, some slicers (like Simplify3d) assume you have the correct level of detail you want in your model, and will pretty faithfully reproduce the model file's contours in the sliced toolpath. If your entire model is very high mesh density / poly count in general, or if your high-density mesh regions are crossed by a layer slice, this can produce a series of very, very short motion commands. Sometimes the motion commands are even smaller than the motion resolution of the printer, and simply take up processor time (to evaluate and drop from the queue) with no benefit to print fidelity. </p>
<p>In a more general sense, high-poly models are dramatically more difficult for the 3d printer to reproduce accurately. There are two big issues: </p>
<ul>
<li>Each motion segment requires some processor time to read/receive, parse, and execute. But the shorter the segment lengths are, the faster the printer runs through them. A short move takes little time to perform but still has the same processor load as a long move. At a certain point, the processor can't keep up, and performance suffers. The printer may run out of queued moves to execute and pause in place, or it may violate acceleration limits and violently clunk through corners (or even lose position) because it didn't have enough time to iterate through the calculations that determine how fast it should move.</li>
<li>The algorithms used by most consumer/hobbyist 3d printer firmwares (Marlin, Repetier, Sailfish, Smoothieware, etc) are based on GRBL. And without getting into the math, GRBL uses the sharpness of the corners between motion segments to decide how fast to travel through the corner. So a 90 degree turn will trigger a considerable slowdown, while a series of small angles (such as many small segments comprising a curved surface) is not recognized by the algorithm, and it will try to barrel through the curve at full speed. On long, gentle curves, this is fine, but high-poly <em>tight</em> curves (such as a filleted edge or organic model detail) are traversed far too fast because no slowdowns are triggered. This means high-poly models must be printed at much lower feedrates / target speeds, because the acceleration algorithm can't figure out when to go fast or slow. Whereas a blocky, low-poly model can be printed much faster and the acceleration code will speed up and slow down as needed for good quality. </li>
</ul>
<p>These are primarily issues with high vertex density versus low vertex density, not variable density. Small pockets of high detail are usually not problematic, as long as they are small enough that the motion planner queue (say, 16 segments) doesn't get filled with too many very small movements. A few small segments in a row is ok, but a few dozen is not. </p>
<p>These are limitations baked into the algorithms used by today's slicers and motion controllers. In the future, they may not be so problematic. </p>
|
2016-05-18T06:49:31.870 | |print-quality|marlin| | <p>I've built a a PrintrBot inspired printer with a moving printbed for the X-Axis movement. It's controlled by a RAMPS board running Marlin firmware. And there is a problem with the X-Axis positioning.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cIoZV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cIoZV.png" alt="Four S-Shaped blocks"></a></p>
<p>As can be seen in the image the X-Axis is not really stable. The blocks should be 10x10x10 mm, and the top and bottom are perfect. The waving does not appear in the Y-direction, it's only in the direction of the bed movement.<br>
Each block was printed at different speed, from medium to dead-slow. I limited the acceleration and in the last block I also limited the non-printing speed so the bed would never experience a higher acceleration than with the printing itself. But the wave effect remains. And it's also remarkably repeatable so it looks more like a synchronisation error somewhere. Does anyone has a clue, or experienced a similar effect ?</p>
| 1196 | 'Sine wave' deviation in X-Axis on moving bed printer. | <p>This is the issue of your z-axis rather than x- or y-axis because printing speed doesn't have any influence on the results.</p>
<p>I bet:</p>
<ul>
<li>your threded rods are bent or</li>
<li>nuts on these rods have too high clearance or</li>
<li>nuts on these rods have eccentricity or</li>
<li>couplings (between motor and threded rods) are bent or</li>
<li>these couplings are badly fitted</li>
</ul>
<p>All above suggestions concern z-axis.</p>
<p><strong>[edit]</strong> because it's PrintBot its z-axis has the following disadvantage</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/a6QGr.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/a6QGr.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
|
2016-05-20T14:36:50.827 | |filament| | <p>I have a FlashForge CreatorX (MakerBot clone) that's been working fine for about 15 months. Int he past month, I started noticing "thin" layers in some of my ABS prints. I finally tracked the issue down to the extruder gear grinding the filament (after a while, enough filament had ground off that the gear teeth were filled with plastic). I cleaned the gear twice before giving up on ABS and switching to PLA. Everything seemed ok until the PLA started doing the same thing during an overnight print (thin layers on prints, audible skipping during filament feed). </p>
<p>Raising the temperature on the extruder seems to fix the problem, but I'm now extruding PLA at 242 °C, much higher than I used to need. I worry that continued printing at this temperature will increase wear on the thermistor and increase my chances of clogging PLA in the gear (an issue I've had twice before). </p>
<p>Are there any common issues that cause this issue of filament not feeding properly? I've tried cleaning out the extruder head with wire and there don't seem to be any clogs…</p>
| 1205 | Increased issues with filament grinding | <p>After disassembling the extruder mechanism, I tracked the issue down to a clogged extruder… though not in the way I'd expected. A (previously?) common method to drop filament down to the hot end and create a heat-break between the heater and the extruder gear was the use of a PTFE (Teflon) sleeve. Over time, this sleeve can become clogged by filament that has melted and degraded/carbonized, sticking to the "nonstick" walls. This creates a bottleneck for the new filament, preventing smooth extrusion. </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lpbu5.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lpbu5.jpg" alt="Carbonized filament clogging tube."></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jh43z.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jh43z.jpg" alt="Location of heat-break on used tube."></a></p>
<p>My printer came with two replacement tubes. Swapping those in for the old, clogged tubes resulted in instantly improved printing… sorta like getting a new printer! Print temperatures are back to normal and everything operates fine. I was also able to drill out the carbonized filament from the old sleeve, though I doubt I'll reuse it. I found replacement sleeves on Amazon <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B01CUPV90M" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and an alternative, <a href="https://store.micro-swiss.com/pages/micro-swiss-all-metal-hotend" rel="nofollow noreferrer">all-metal extruder assembly</a> manufactured by Micro-Swiss. I'm not sure if you'd run into clogging issues on the all-metal one, so perhaps staying with the PTFE tubes and replacing them occasionally is a better way to go. </p>
|
2016-05-21T21:44:29.903 | |desktop-printer| | <p>What is the least expensive 3D printer available today? I am looking for something suitable for general use in a home office.</p>
| 1211 | What is the least expensive 3D printer? | <p>You can get an A8 3D printer on Gearbest at 149$, It's a version of an i3, with easy assemble and pre configured, and it have a suprising good quality.</p>
<p>I thinks is the best price/quality that you can find at the moment. It prints with a good quality by default and you can upgrade it if you need it without spending hundreds of dollars.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_337314.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_337314.html</a></p>
|
2016-05-29T10:44:52.647 | |pla|3d-models| | <p>I am attempting to construct model tank tracks with accompanying wheels and sprockets. All parts will be printed in PLA. The tracks will be driven by electric motors.</p>
<p>What would be a suitable grease for this project to minimize friction without damaging the plastics.</p>
| 1234 | Grease for PLA sprocket | <p>I have been using <em>sewing machine oil</em> for my 3D printed extruder gear for a couple of years, without any noticeable wear so far.</p>
<p>In general, I believe any kind of low viscosity oil would do, but then again, it also depends on the environment in which you plan to use the model. If you plan on using it outside, for instance, you probably should get some grease that does not attract dirt, as the dirt itself will grind down the gears quickly.</p>
|
2016-05-31T16:52:13.810 | |pla|abs|health| | <p>Should I consider health impact of ABS or PLA when printing cookie cutter similar to image below?</p>
<p>How safe it is to use ABS or PLA for kitchenware in general?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xKoaY.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xKoaY.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1242 | Should I consider health impact of ABS or PLA when printing cookie cutter? | <p>If it's one-time-use, both ABS and PLA are perfectly safe for use as a cookie cutter. </p>
<p>The "food safety" of 3D printed parts is fairly controversial. In fact, whether any particular material is approved by regulators (such as the US FDA) for food contact is much more complex than most people realize. Materials can be accepted for some uses and not others. But there are two major considerations:</p>
<ol>
<li>Does the material leach into the food, or does the food leach into the material?</li>
<li>Can the material be adequately cleaned and sterilized between repeated food exposures?</li>
</ol>
<p>Whether leaching is a concern will depend on the kind of contact. For example, nylon will absorb acids but is often used for potable water service. ABS is fine for cold foods but not hot foods. PLA (injection grade) is often used for disposable plastic forks and cold beverage cups, but rarely reusable containers. </p>
<p>There is some anecdotal evidence that lots of 3D printing filaments, particularly cheap Asian filaments, contain toxic chemicals in the pigments and additives. Heavy metals like lead, cadmium, strontium, and all sorts of nasty organic chemicals have been found. You probably WON'T get any meaningful leaching of these chemicals in the brief exposure with cookie dough, but to be safe I would only use reputable US and EU filament manufacturers for food contact. I would also stick to filament colors that use non-toxic pigments (eg plain white is almost always safe titanium dioxide) or no pigments at all ("natural" color). </p>
<p>When it comes to cleaning a cookie cutter for multiple uses, ABS is probably a much better choice than PLA, because ABS can withstand fairly hot water without losing shape. PLA probably won't survive a cycle through the dishwasher. PETG is perhaps a better choice than ABS for longer contact with wet foods, but may or may not survive the dishwasher. </p>
<p>However, the porous structure of 3D printed parts is a serious problem for cleanliness. The tiny grain structure and voids between extruded strands can act as a safe haven for bacteria between uses. This is particularly an issue with cookie dough containing raw egg. A porous surface for raw-food handling would not be acceptable in a commercial kitchen.</p>
<p>Now, the odds of actually transmitting salmonella via poorly-cleaned cookie cutter may be fairly low. Lots of people cut meat at home on wooden cutting boards (which are also porous) and never get sick. Properly cooking the food immediately after handling will go a long way towards reducing the odds of harmful cross-contamination. You'll have to decide for yourself whether the risk profile is worth it. One-time use is the conservative choice. </p>
|
2016-05-31T20:03:01.093 | |abs|fdm|rafts|fff| | <p>I've been having a hard time lately getting the raft off of my ABS prints.</p>
<p>Is that a symptom of either a nozzle or bed that are too hot? Or is there some other factor I should be looking in to?</p>
<p>I have an UP mini that I've modified both the nozzle and bed to customize the temperatures on.</p>
<p>Bed gets heated to 100˚C and nozzle is either 266˚C for UP ABS filament or 236˚C for off-brand ABS filament.</p>
| 1244 | Raft hard to remove? | <p>I haven't got a printer with a heated bed so have only tested this on PLA but I have found editing the G code so the printer cools the nozzle down and then heats it up again gives the raft enough time to cool down so that it peels off easier when the print is finished. </p>
|
2016-06-01T00:30:14.640 | |electronics|heat| | <p>Would I damage anything running 12 V on a 24 V cartridge heater? I know it wont reach a max temperature 300 °C? I am using the E3D hotend set up.</p>
| 1245 | Running 12 V on a 24 V heater cartridge? | <p>Applying 12 V to a 24 V heater cartridge won't damage anything, but you may have severe issues reaching and maintaining your target temp. A standard E3D heater cartridge is 40 W. When you run a 24 V cartridge on 12 V, you only get 10 W of heater power. Here are some rough estimates on where your hot block heat goes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Uninsulated hot block air losses: ~20 W depending on airflow</li>
<li>Insulated hot block air losses: ~5w depending on airflow</li>
<li>Filament melt power at typical print speeds: 0.3-3 W depending on filament and print speed</li>
<li>Heat conducted up the heat break: 1-3 W maybe, hard to quantify</li>
</ul>
<p>I've never heard of anyone using less than about 16 W to print. (Two 8 W power resistors.) 20 W is the lowest vaguely normal hot end power. I think you'll struggle to print.</p>
|
2016-06-02T15:05:32.857 | |print-quality|extruder|hotend|knowledgebase| | <p>From what I've been able to find out, online sources recommend around 205ºC for PLA and around 240ºC for ABS. But these are only guidelines, of course. Optimal printing temperature can be different depending on the printer, the filament, the model and other slicer settings.</p>
<p>For example, I've had success printing black PLA at 190ºC, but silver PLA of the same brand is giving me trouble. I'm having a hard time figuring out the general rules. So I would like to see a general guide for this, based on (at least) the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Which known factors before a print can help determine the right extrusion temperature? Obvious example: ABS vs PLA</p></li>
<li><p>What can happen during or after a print when the temperature is too low?</p></li>
<li><p>What can happen during or after a print when the temperature is too high?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>An answer to the first question could take the form of a lookup table, or similar. The second and third could help someone adjust their temperature based on the symptoms of a failed print.</p>
<p><em>I understand that the failure or success of a print can depend on many more factors than extrusion temperature, but I didn't want to make this question too general. I may later ask the same question for other settings (e.g., print speed). However, do let me know if this question should be expanded or improved to make it more useful.</em></p>
| 1251 | How to choose an extrusion temperature? | <h1>Printing temperature basics</h1>
<p>Manufacturers generally specify a somewhat wide range of printing temperatures, and what temperature you should actually need can only be determined by trial and error:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The thermistor in your hotend is not 100 % accurate and may have an offset of a few degrees compared to its actual temperature.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Your hotend has a small temperature gradient, the place where the plastic is melted may have a higher/lower temperature compared to the temperature of your thermistor.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>2 is further exacerbated by</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><p>As you print faster, you need more heat. The cold filament rapidly moving through your hotend will cool it down locally, meaning that the temperature will be cooler than what the thermistor measures. Faster prints equal bumps in the temperature up to 10 °C, and for a really slow print you might turn it down 10 °C from where you normally are.</p>
</li>
<li><p>This is a minor issue, but different colors of the same brand and material might work better at different temperatures. The pigments used can affect the melting point somewhat. Different brands also might have different temperatures.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Some symptoms may give you a guide as to how to adjust your temperature:</p>
<h1>Printing too hot</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Small/slow prints may not solidify quickly enough, leaving you with an ugly blob.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Stringing/bad bridging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Plastic in the heatbreak may soften, leading to clogging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>You might burn/degrade the material (but for this you would really need to go outside of the temperature range).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Printing too cool</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Too much force required to extrude, leading so skipping/grinding of the filament drive.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Layer delamination: the plastic needs to be hot enough to partially melt the layer below it and stick to it. Objects printed at a colder temperature tend to be weaker at the layer boundaries.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Furthermore, hot prints can sometimes have a more glossy finish than colder prints.</p>
|
2016-06-03T17:56:37.480 | |diy-3d-printer|printer-building|hdpe| | <p>I've been working on my own DIY 3-D printer recently, and I've been trying to experiment a little with different materials for the body. Someone suggested using HDPE (high-density polyethylene), since it works well on a CNC machine, which would make creating a number of prototypes easy. I know HDPE can also be used for filament, but I've never tried it before. Does anybody have any input on HDPE, or other potential materials for the body? I'm trying to avoid using wood, as I've had some poor experiences with it.</p>
| 1258 | HDPE as the body of a 3-D Printer? | <p>I've tried this material (8 mm thickness) for a Prusa i3 clone of my own design but needed to abandon using it as it doesn't allow to be cut by laser easily on my friends laser cutting machine (not a hobby laser cutting machine, it is his business). </p>
<p>HDPE requires lower speed than cutting Plexiglas or Acrylic resulting in more heat input and a small top cut and a large bottom cut width leaving the edges far from being straight.</p>
|
2016-06-05T14:24:14.600 | |3d-models|slicing| | <p>For a large scale project, I need a slicer which gives me the slices as image (BMP or vector).
I have a 3d model and want to assemble it manually using large printouts on cardboard. For this I need my 3d model somehow sliced into 2mm layers, get a silhouette of the outline for every layer and print it in cardboard. Later all cardboard layer will be cutted manually and glued in the right order.</p>
<p>Does somebody know a slicer, which gives me as output images for every slice?
Or any different idea how to geht my large cardboard 3d model?</p>
| 1262 | Slicer that exports vectors or pics for every slice | <p>Your approach is one of many and you may find that Slic3r will do as you require.</p>
<p>There's a direct reference to generating SVG files (vector) at this link:
<a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/svg-output" rel="nofollow">http://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/svg-output</a></p>
<p>You may have to create a printer profile based on irrational figures when compared to conventional 3d printers. Your 2mm "layer height" should be matched in the printer settings to an appropriate nozzle diameter for the desired result.</p>
<p>You may find also that Simplify3d will create such files, but it's not a free program.</p>
<p>An alternative to 3d printer slicing software would be to use OpenSCAD to import your model (or create it directly in code) and use the Projection command to generate the individual layers. I've done this and found it works well, but the process to learning the necessary code was time consuming, as I'm not a programmer.</p>
<p>You would also want to incorporate some form of registration in your model, cylindrical holes or external tabs to enable you to properly align each cardboard layer.</p>
<p>If you have a makerspace nearby or know someone with a suitably sized laser cutter, you may also save some labor cutting each panel, as the laser will accept the vector files easily.</p>
|
2016-06-06T04:59:03.687 | |filament|pla|abs|recycling| | <p>I am planning on getting a 3D printer soon and I was just wondering, what do you do with 3D prints that either failed or were prototypes that you no longer want?<br>
I tried looking online but the closest I got was effects on environment, turning prints back into filament, or restarting a failed print half-way, none of which were the information I was looking for. </p>
<p>The solution should be somewhat eco and just keeping unwanted prints in a box somewhere isn't a very good solution either.<br>
Finishing off failed prints isn't totally applicable because it wouldn't apply to prototype prints that you don't want to keep.</p>
<p>Is there anywhere to send failed 3D prints for professional recycling, or are there any recommendations for properly disposing 3D prints? </p>
<p>In case this is of any use, the printer I am planning to get uses filament that can be made of PLA, ABS, Nylon, and possibly other materials. The printer is this one specifically (<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/101hero/101hero-the-world-first-us49-3d-printer">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/101hero/101hero-the-world-first-us49-3d-printer</a>) from KickStarter.</p>
| 1266 | What to do with failed/unwanted 3D prints? | <p>If you have a few friends you could pitch in and use a recycling service like <a href="https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/zero_waste_boxes/3d-printing-materials" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Terracycle</a> where you can send your failed prints, rafts and scraps. No affiliation with Terracycle, it's just a service that I found and am considering.</p>
|
2016-06-06T13:33:48.803 | |3d-models|3d-design|software|blender| | <p>I have an object that I want to print in 3D. But I have a few questions about it. What are the things that I have to watch out for when 3D printing? </p>
<p>I know how to change the metric size etc. Some people said that it's best to set the thickness to a low amount and not make the object solid (to leave the inside empty/hollow) in order to save money when printing.</p>
<p>Is this true or does it not matter?</p>
<p>Also what if I want two parts of an object to be separate colours or materials? Do I have to change this in Blender? </p>
<p>Any advice and information would be helpful, thanks.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TG6Mg.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TG6Mg.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIEy1.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIEy1.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1271 | 3D printing with blender | <blockquote>
<p>What are the things that i have to watch out for when 3d printing? </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/7910/2816">non manifold geometry</a> : geometry that can not exist in the real world. </p>
<p>It's a good idea to check if the dimensions of your mesh are correct before exporting: </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cfYiB.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cfYiB.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<hr>
Turning on mesh analysis allows visual inspection of problems such as intersecting faces, sharp edges ,edges with thickness below a threshold and other criterias.<br>
<em>the inspection tool will color the faces with those problems.</em> </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BLGEK.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BLGEK.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<hr>
And lastly you can make selections by traits, such as loose geometry, interior faces or unconnected vertices. </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/phD8w.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/phD8w.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><em>note that those are just tools to help you find the problems , none of them will fix the mesh for 3d printing.</em> </p>
|
2016-06-07T15:06:01.907 | |heated-bed|thermistor| | <p>I just recently upgraded my Printrbot Simple Metal with a heated bed (and longer x-axis). I looked up some tutorials, and all of them placed the thermistor as in the picture on the left below, so I did too. However, the design of the heat plate seems to strongly suggest thermistor placement as in the picture on the right, inside the small hole near the center.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2nF92.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2nF92.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tzmTq.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tzmTq.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>I can certainly see the upside of that. The reported temperature may overshoot the average bed temperature (the reasoning used in the tutorials I read), but most of my prints are built in the center of the bed, and the center placement would surely make the temperature control system more responsive.</p>
<p>What are the pros and cons of these placements? And what would be the proper technique for putting the sensor in the center? Should I still use kapton tape? Do I need to make sure the thermistor makes physical contact with the aluminum of the print bed?</p>
| 1275 | Heated bed thermistor placement | <p>It doesn't make a great deal of difference where you place the thermistor; do whatever is most convenient for you. The temperature of the heated bed is not very critical, and some inaccuracy in the measurement is perfectly fine. The point is to keep the print from cooling down too fast, and whether the bed is at 95C or 93C makes little difference.</p>
<p>The pros and cons of thermistor placement are exactly as you describe: in either case the center of the bed will be hotter than the edges. Placing the thermistor in the center the temperature of the center will equal the setpoint, while the edges are cooler than the setpoint. Placing the thermistor at the edge the edge will be at the setpoint while the center will be hotter than the setpoint. Placing the sensor at the center you would need to use a slightly lower setpoint to get the same result compared to having the sensor at the edge.</p>
<p>It is possible the holes in the PCB are meant for if the PCB is used with a different printer. In any case, soldering the thermistor to the pads and placing it in the hole is acceptable, kapton tape wouldn't be required then (but can't hurt either). It would be best if the thermistor made good contact with the heated bed surface, using (non-conductive!) thermal paste would be convenient for this (but not strictly required).</p>
|
2016-06-07T20:00:05.497 | |calibration|z-axis|z-probe|layer-height| | <p>It occurs to me that I'm never really thinking about layer height when I calibrate my z-probe offset. This is obviously an oversight, because I'll want my nozzle to start higher for 0.3mm layers than for 0.1mm layers.</p>
<p>After this realization comes the question: Do I need to recalibrate every time I switch to a different layer height? Or can slicers store a reference layer height + probe offset and just deduce the proper starting height for every print? Or is it smartest to keep the 1st layer height constant throughout my prints to spare myself this frustration?</p>
<p>If it matters, my printer is the Printrbot Simple Metal, and my goto slicer is Cura.</p>
| 1277 | Do I need to recalibrate z-probe offset every time I switch to a different layer height? | <p>All modern slicers adjust the nozzle position for the first layer in accordance with your chosen layer height. You can see this in your gcode if you slice files with different layer heights. <em>Before you add special slicer settings and offsets,</em> if you print 0.1mm layers, the nozzle will start at Z=0.1mm, and if you print 0.3mm layers, the nozzle will start at Z=0.3mm.</p>
<p>There are two reasons this is more complex and less reliable than it seems:</p>
<p><strong>Different slicers assume different initial tramming gaps.</strong> And your actual tramming gap may not match that assumption. If the slicer thinks your nozzle is leveled at Z=0 with a real physical gap of 0.1mm to start with, that means gcode Z=0.1mm is actually a 0.2mm gap that must be filled with plastic. So the slicer must compensate by starting lower than the nominal layer height. </p>
<p>So what works perfectly for one slicer won't necessarily work correctly for another slicer. And if you tram with a thinner object than the slicer expects (say a post-it note instead of business card) then your first layer will be off. This is why I personally prefer physical build plate leveling mid-print using screws while watching the strands go down. It bypasses all the assumptions about tramming gaps and just gives you the correct result. (Or you can do the same thing with babystepping in firmware that supports that.)</p>
<p>The other issue is that <strong>people use lots of weird, ad hoc slicer tricks to get their first layer to stick</strong>. Things like printing the first layer much hotter, or at half speed, or squashed way down and over-extruded, or at 60% layer height, or at 200% extrusion width, will all affect the extrusion volume calibration and the space-filling behavior of the molten plastic flowing onto the bed. The slicer doesn't really have the ability to understand "your" first-layer adhesion recipe. </p>
<p>The combination of incorrect/unknown tramming gap and person-specific first-layer settings is why the slicer can't always get the first layer height and extrusion volume correct across all layer heights. Within some fairly reasonable assumptions, the slicer is smart enough to always correctly relate extruder flow and nozzle position so it fills the space between the nozzle and whatever surface you're printing onto. But if you break those assumptions, it may perform differently for different settings. </p>
|
2016-06-07T23:22:16.030 | |safety|food| | <p>First, a little background. A couple of years ago, I was researching making my own candy, and I came across this page: <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/LeGummies-brick-shaped-gummy-candies/" rel="nofollow">Lego brick shaped gummy candies</a>, describing how to use real Lego bricks as a positive to make silicone molds for Lego brick shaped candy. Now that I have a 3D printer, and inspired by the usual description of ABS filament ("It's the same plastic used to make Lego bricks") it occurs to me that I can now make any positive I want.</p>
<p>The question is, would that be safe? I know the filament I'm using is not food safe, but if I create positives for a food safe silicone mold, would toxins leech into the mold? And if so, is there a barrier I can use to prevent this, such as some kind of coating?</p>
| 1281 | Creating positives for a food-safe silicone mold: safe? | <p>In principle, ABS is safe for contact with (cold or room-temperature) food. The two main concerns specific to 3D printing are, assuming you start with a filament that is not itself contaminated:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Pores and holes in the printed part which may harbor bacteria</p></li>
<li><p>Impurities introduced into the plastic during the printing process</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I doubt that the silicone mold will capture the pores and holes with sufficient detail to be of any concern (it certainly won't capture the internal structure, only the surface).</p>
<p>That leaves us with 2. It has been noted that brass nozzles contain trace amounts of lead. This lead can contaminate the printed part, which may in turn contaminate your mold, which may in turn contaminate your food. I don't think this is of realistic concern, since we're looking at trace amounts of trace amounts of lead. The nozzle might also have burnt plastic stuck to it (which might be carcinogenic) so you should make sure to do the print with a very clean nozzle and at a temperature that is not too high.</p>
<p>ABS is food safe for contact with cold or room-temperature food. It is however not food safe for contact with hot food, because at higher temperatures the food may leach certain chemicals out of the plastic. Your application is one of low temperature, but silicone is not food and might perhaps leach some contaminants out of the plastic, regardless of temperature. However, this concern is not specific to 3D printing, as it applies to the method of making moulds out of Lego bricks as well. Therefore, making moulds from 3D printed positives does not appear to be different in a food safety perspective from making them out of LEGO blocks.</p>
|
2016-06-09T06:56:11.857 | |safety|mechanics| | <p>I need to transport my FDM 3D Printer because I am moving.</p>
<p>What are the precautions that one should take?<br> Should I dismount the motors and axes?<br> I would definitively unplug the electronics as far as reasonable and fix the motors to the frame so they don't slide during transport.<br> Should I have a housing to avoid dust and other mechanical issues?</p>
| 1286 | How to transport a 3D printer? Dismount needed? | <p>You just need to take basic security actions. like fixing all movable parts simple as that </p>
|
2016-06-10T04:09:11.657 | |reprap|cooling|knowledgebase|enclosure| | <p>I have a home built RepRap with all sides open..</p>
<p>Would there be any advantage to enclosing the print area in acrylic?</p>
| 1292 | Should I enclose my 3D Printer? | <p>Consider the environmental conditions where your printer is.</p>
<p>I have my printer in a garage, where the door is sometimes open, closed, or slightly ajar. This leads to gusts of wind, causing lifting and ruining multiple prints.</p>
<p>I surrounded the printer on three sides with walls made from the original packing foam, and my lifting problems have utterly vanished.</p>
<p>The top and front side are open, so I have a "four sided" box. Heat does not build up, but the variable wind gusts are minimised. Access is slightly reduced, but not a lot.</p>
<p>Ender 3 V2, printing the "Ender" brand of PLA from Creality. Bed is at 55 °C and print head is 200 °C.</p>
|
2016-06-10T18:35:07.770 | |software|slicing|ultimaker-cura| | <p>I've been trying to build <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine" rel="noreferrer">CuraEngine</a> on Ubuntu following the Github instructions.</p>
<p>The problem is that it lists some requirements:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Clone the CuraEngine repository;</p></li>
<li><p>Install Protobuf (see below);</p></li>
<li><p>Install <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/libArcus" rel="noreferrer">libArcus</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I'm not sure where should I install Protobuf and libArcus. After several tries and locations I've received several errors during the build process.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a more detailed guide on how to build this engine?</p>
| 1309 | How to build CuraEngine? | <p>I'm assuming you actually want to <em>build</em> Cura, rather than simply install Cura. If you instead want to install Cura, you can try <code>sudo apt-get install cura-engine</code></p>
<p><em>The following instructions were tested on my own Debian 8 (Jessie) distribution; they should be mostly, if not entirely, the same, for Ubuntu. Note that I <strong>did not follow the exact steps</strong> as described on the github/Ultimaker/CuraEngine README.</em></p>
<p>Before we begin, let's make a build directory and do everything in there.</p>
<pre><code>mkdir ~/Downloads/curabuild
cd ~/Downloads/curabuild
</code></pre>
<p>The instructions will be broken into </p>
<h1>1. Install dependencies</h1>
<p>Some or all of these may already be installed on your computer. To be sure, we install them anyways:</p>
<pre><code>sudo apt-get install git curl libtool dh-autoreconf cmake python3-setuptools python3-dev python3-sip sip-dev
</code></pre>
<h1>2. Install protobuf</h1>
<ol>
<li><p>Clone and enter the protobuf git repository:</p>
<pre><code>git clone https://github.com/google/protobuf
cd protobuf
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>Build and install for C++:</p>
<pre><code>./autogen.sh
./configure
make # this will take some time
sudo make install
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>Install for Python 3:</p>
<pre><code>cd python
sudo python3 setup.py install
</code></pre></li>
</ol>
<h1>3. Install libArcus</h1>
<ol>
<li><p>Clone and enter the libArcus repository:</p>
<pre><code>cd ../..
git clone https://github.com/Ultimaker/libArcus
cd libArcus
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>Build and install</p>
<pre><code>cmake .
make
sudo make install
</code></pre></li>
</ol>
<h1>4. Install CuraEngine</h1>
<ol>
<li><p>Clone and enter repository:</p>
<pre><code>cd ..
git clone https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine
cd CuraEngine
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>Build and install</p>
<pre><code>cmake .
make # grab a cup of coffee
sudo make install
</code></pre></li>
</ol>
<h1>5. Celebrate!</h1>
<p>If all went well, you're done! You can now use the Cura engine via <code>CuraEngine</code>. Enjoy.</p>
|
2016-06-11T12:19:06.190 | |desktop-printer|build-plate| | <p><strong>Background:</strong></p>
<p>I am using the Flux Delta 3d Printer, and it arrived with a glue stick. Now on their forums it said to apply 2 layers of glue and let it dry, there's supposed to be a link there on how long it should dry. However that link is broken. </p>
<p><strong>My question:</strong></p>
<p>On a not heated bed, how much glue-stick should I apply and for how long should I let it dry?</p>
| 1310 | Not Heated Build Plate Glue Amount and Dry Duration | <p>As a fellow Flux Delta owner, I can answer this question with certainty. Two layers is sufficient. Be sure to consider the size of the model being printed and the additional area covered if you are using skirts or rafts.</p>
<p>If you apply the glue stick at the moment you turn on the printer, it will be dry enough to work properly. The printer "uses time" to initialize and to calibrate which provides enough drying time. You will also "use time" to load the software and import the model.</p>
<p>It is not necessary to remove the glue from the plate after a print. For succeeding model printing, ensure that you've filled in the areas missing glue from removing the previous model.</p>
<p>You will want to remove the glue (hot water works good, but the build plate gets hot!) when you feel that the glue build-up changes the texture of the bottom layers.</p>
<p>You may have already learned from the forums that you print on the non-grid side of the build plate.</p>
|
2016-06-11T15:31:38.163 | |desktop-printer|heated-bed|build-plate| | <p>I am printing on a non-heated bed right now, but the question also applies to heated building plates. </p>
<p>How often should you replace the glue layers that's supposed to be applied before printing? Some say you can do up to a few prints, such as in this <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/community/19056-glue-stick-or" rel="noreferrer">forum</a>, while others say to replace it every print. What is the correct approach?</p>
| 1312 | How often should I replace the glue layers on the bed? | <p>Depends on the glue and on your tolerance for messy undersides on your prints. It's fairly common for some of the glue to come off with the print. Or you may have marks from scrapers or rafts. Do you want to touch up that spot and have some artifacts on the bottom of the next print, or clean and redo the bed to get everything flat?</p>
<p>Gluestick is pretty easy to wash and reapply. It can also be freshened up with a gentle spray of water, smeared flat, and redried, or more gluestick added on top. It will really come down to your preferred workflow. </p>
|
2016-06-12T01:30:25.640 | |filament|extruder|octoprint| | <p>I use OctoPrint on an Ubuntu system with a M3D printer.</p>
<p>Midway through a recent print, the filament just stopped extruding although the motor-functions of the printer were proceeding fine. Since then, every print I attempt has trouble extruding proper amounts of filament. It's always not enough. The output is stringy and not cohesive.</p>
<p>I'm thinking there may simply be a clog in the extruder and wondering the safest way to remove it.</p>
<p>The weird thing, though, is that when I use manual control and extrude at, say, 220C, the filament comes out fine.</p>
<p>You can see the raft definitely isn't printing right. Way too little output:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M4Ih4.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M4Ih4.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1316 | M3D filament not extruding well (anymore) | <p>You might have a case of clogged nozzle. You can check this easily by lifting the Z axis and running the extrusion motor. If it's grinding on filament or you notice extruded plastic is curling or going out slow, it's probably partial or total clog.</p>
<p>I have had the latter variant happen to myself recently, with the same symptoms as yours. Fixing it involved disassembly of the hotend and cleaning the clog manually using jet lighter (to heat up the nozzle) and guitar string to pull out clogged PLA.</p>
<p>You might have some other options available:</p>
<ol>
<li>Try pushing the filament through hotend by hand, it might clear the clog.</li>
<li>Other variant I've heard of is heating up the extruder to 130-150°C (PLA) and just yanking out the filament, and hopefully clog along with it. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't know what you're doing, as it might damage the printer.</li>
</ol>
<p>In my case things that were causing the clog were the big retraction distance and temperature being set too high.</p>
|
2016-06-13T18:08:39.310 | |3d-design|software|3d-models| | <p>I have this <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1381474" rel="noreferrer">GoPro mount for a quadcopter as STL file</a>. It looks as follows.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qcZOR.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qcZOR.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>How do I modify it so that it is wider and longer by a few millimeters but the screw holes stay the exact same size? Additionally the angle of the upper surface must stay the same. Please suggest the easiest solution for someone like me who as no idea about CAD software.</p>
<p>The perfect solution for me would be to just import it in Tinkercad and then modify it however I have no idea what the steps are.</p>
| 1334 | What is the easiest way to modify/resize an object inside a STL file? | <p>I like to use <a href="https://slic3r.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a> for simplest slicing and rearranging operations.</p>
|
2016-06-16T16:00:37.283 | |filament|3d-models|fdm| | <p>Is it possible to print toothbrush bristles using a common FDM 3D printer? I am particularly interested in the width of bristles, closeness together of each bristle, and the flexibility of each particular bristle.</p>
| 1355 | Can toothbrush bristles be printed? | <p>I have had a go at doing something for a <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:552770" rel="nofollow">christmass tree</a> using a drop loop technique. You could use the same method or somthing similar to try and create something that looks like toothbrush bristles, but I don't think you would want to try cleaning your teeth with it. </p>
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2016-06-16T19:58:12.030 | |ibox-nano| | <p>Since <a href="http://www.iboxprinters.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">iBox Nano</a> is the smallest public-production-available 3d Resin printer (and the cheapest so far), I assume it has a huge size limitation. So far I've only seen pictures of its outputs that are <a href="http://www.iboxprinters.com/ibox-nano-1/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">miniature things</a>. I've never tried it nor have I seen it in action in person so I'd like to be sure. </p>
<p><strong>For example</strong>, my 3D models are of the size of beads to figurines to a standard sized pencil cup holder.</p>
<p><strong>I want to know in inches or millimeters the dimension (width, length, height) of the biggest possible object the iBox Nano can print.</strong></p>
| 1357 | What is the biggest size of an object that iBox Nano can print? | <p>On their <a href="http://www.iboxprinters.com/ibox-nano-1/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">website</a>, I found the following picture, which states a build area of 40 mm x 20 mm x 90 mm (1.57" x 0,79" x 3.54").</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TYxa8.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="iBox Nano 3D printer specifications"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TYxa8.jpg" alt="iBox Nano 3D printer specifications" title="iBox Nano 3D printer specifications"></a></p>
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2016-06-16T20:03:39.133 | |calibration| | <p>How to check leveling of printer bed ?
What should be ideal values on x,y and z to ensure printer bed is flat and there is no angle between plane of nozzle and plane of printer bed ?</p>
| 1359 | CubePro 3D Printer | <p>The CubePro printer appears to have a comprehensive leveling system built into the menu. The direct instructions for this process can be found here:
<a href="http://infocenter.3dsystems.com/cubepro/user-guide/maintenance/calibrating-z-gap-and-print-pad-level" rel="nofollow">CubePro Calibration</a></p>
<p>I would suggest that "ideal values" are those created by the calibration process that confirms the necessary settings for a good print.</p>
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2016-06-17T00:00:34.130 | |print-quality|mechanics|build-plate| | <p>What are the differences, and pros & cons, between 3D printers with varying layouts for moving head vs. moving build plate?</p>
<p>Example layouts would include:</p>
<ul>
<li>X Head; YZ Bed; </li>
<li>XY Head; Z Bed; </li>
<li>XYZ Head; </li>
<li>etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>In particular, what are their respective strengths, weaknesses, specializations, maintenance considerations, etc.?</p>
| 1361 | Differences between moving build plate vs. extruder | <p>I think this is simple, breaking it into simple parts... It is much easier to calibrate a machine where each axis does one thing. For instance, the Ultimaker; one of the few XY-on-the-same-axis printers... It has such a crazy complicated pulley system. If one thing gets out of whack, everything will start binding. Thankfully this doesn't happen as they did a good job, but it comes at a price. All the double pulleys and double rods - that costs money.</p>
<p>However if you break it into smaller bits then less will go wrong. </p>
<p>When I upgraded my MendelMax 1.5 to use a PBC linear solid slide for the X axis, it instantly solved all my issues with the rods binding (two rods into one big slide).</p>
<p>To quote my coworker,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It's like balancing a stool. Is it easier to balance a 4 legged stool or a 3?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Following from that, there is probably a good hour's worth of mechanical engineering information that can be said in regards to the linear motion itself. I would rather calibrate one axis at at time, and not worry about weird behavior caused by a XYZ head.</p>
|
2016-06-17T19:28:37.910 | |filament|pla|print-quality|slic3r|marlin| | <p>I am using Slic3r to generate the GCode for my Marlin-based printer. For some reason with increasing height my print starts to get messed up. On another part it starts to act like this when there are small parts. Is this related to my Slic3r settings, maybe to much filament being extruded or is this due to something else?</p>
<p>Any help is highly appreciated and I can provide more pictures of messed up parts or slic3r config if necessary.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jTyk1.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jTyk1.jpg" alt="The filament is completely messed up"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J4Thr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J4Thr.jpg" alt="Another picture of the messed up print"></a></p>
| 1371 | Why is my print getting messed up mid-print? | <p>This can happen if your filament is having to be pulled off the spool and slipping in the extruder. Check if slippage is happening at the extruder, perhaps see if results change by providing some hand powered help. I have seen this with some glossy PLA I have used.</p>
|
2016-06-17T21:47:42.837 | |filament|extruder|drive-gear| | <p>I'm using a CraftBot original to print PLA, but some of the filament has become stuck in the teeth of the <a href="https://craftunique.com/item/craftbot-extruder-gear" rel="nofollow">extruder gear</a> on its way into the hot end. I'm having issues with the gear becoming stuck and "clicking" instead of turning, and I suspect it is because of the clogged teeth. I haven't changed materials in a long time. I've cleared several print head clogs, but each time the gear gets back around to the one spot, it seems to get stuck again.</p>
<p>Are there any good ways to clean this gear? I was thinking of putting it in a toaster oven and trying to melt the PLA off it, ideally without setting my house on fire in the process. Anyone have better ideas?</p>
| 1373 | Good methods to clean extruder gear (hobbed) from filament pieces? | <p>If your gear skips at the same place each time I have found on my machine that the gear does not fit the motor shaft properly and has a larger gap between the gear and the idler roller.</p>
<p>Check to see if there is a thicker buildup on one side of the gear than the other.</p>
<p>On my machine what I had to do was to use a spare motor cable and watch the gear as it turned, and at one point on the gear it would slip and shave off a small amount of filament. </p>
<p>If that turns out to be your problem use a good caliper to measure your motor shaft, and the inner diameter of the gear. </p>
<p>Sometimes the minimum shaft diameter and the maximum bore diameter of the gear are just enough to allow that small variance in the outer rotation diameter of the gear.</p>
<p>Sometimes just replacing the gear will solve the problem, and sometimes it will require a new motor and/or gear.</p>
<p>As an alternative you can clean the gear using Acetone and a toothbrush, but that will be required often and you will have buildup in the chamber below the gear which can also cause feed problems, and you must make sure that all Acetone has dried before using the extruder again.</p>
<p>I suggest starting with changing gears since they are the cheapest and using the Caliper to find the closet fit possible. </p>
<p>You can get gears on e-bay at very reasonable prices. and I bought several to get the best fit possible.</p>
<p>Good luck and consider if you want to make a more permanent repair or temporary repair when making your choice. I chose the more permanent one because the slippage was affecting some of my prints. </p>
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2016-06-18T04:11:16.817 | |desktop-printer| | <p>I noticed 3Dsystems has Multi Jet 3D printing where wax is used provide support and give users with high resolution 3D printed objects. I was wondering if there were cheaper and smaller Multi Jet 3D printing?</p>
<p>Can Form 1+ from FormLabs be considered to do the same job with resin?</p>
| 1379 | What are some cheaper versions of Multi Jet 3D printing? | <p>Objet by Stratasys is a comparable technology (they call it PolyJet). SolidScape is also somewhat comparable (they also use jetting).</p>
<p>The FormLabs printers are not comparable. They use a completely different process, which can only print in one material. With jetting, you can mix different materials in the same part.</p>
|
2016-06-18T09:54:45.630 | |3d-design| | <p>Is there any simple way of creating tappered thread in OpenSCAD? I need something like 10 mm in diameter at the end, 9 at the top and the height of 10 mm.</p>
| 1383 | How to create tappered thread in OpenSCAD? | <p>I have contacted Dan Kirshner (the author of openscad threads library) and he has updated the library. Now it supports tapered threads. Thanks, Dan!</p>
<p><a href="http://dkprojects.net/openscad-threads/" rel="nofollow">Thread-drawing modules for OpenSCAD</a></p>
|
2016-06-19T18:21:47.690 | |electronics|mechanics| | <p>I have an option to purchase a hobby multi-purpose device (lathe/mill/drill/grinder/cutter) which is manually controlled, but easily converted for driving by stepper motors (all 3 axis are controlled by turning knobs that can be replaced by gears, with convenient mount to couple each to a stepper motor). I have the right motors and can easily obtain drivers for them.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7zCMv.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7zCMv.jpg" alt="pic of various configurations of the machine"></a></p>
<p>That is the way to overcome the worst problem of converting Prusa to CNC: the flimsy mechanics not able to withstand stress and vibrations of machining. Then I can connect the drivers to the 3 axis of Prusa's electronics, optionally connect some driver of the spindle to the extruder output (or just control it manually), and it seems the hardware side of the device is done.</p>
<p>The problem is the rest - adapting the software. RepRap family of 3D printers being open source means their software and hardware <em>can</em> be adapted. It's only a matter of <em>how hard</em> it is.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience in that direction? What would such conversion involve? Just recalibration to the new gear/leadscrew ratios, or something more involved, like editing the sources to get rid of all the temperature safeguards and the likes?</p>
| 1389 | How much work would be converting Prusa firmware/software for CNC use? | <p>None, if I choose the right control board.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://smoothieware.org/" rel="nofollow">Smoothieboard</a> supports CNC "out of the box"; it requires initial configuration, which, while somewhat different, is actually easier than for a 3D printer. Boards supporting <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Grbl#Grbl" rel="nofollow">Grbl</a> or <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Teacup" rel="nofollow">Teacup</a> will be compatible for XYZ too, but may require some tinkering if you want to control the spindle.</p>
<p>You can use the same CAD software, but the set of <a href="http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cadcam.htm#cadcamsystems" rel="nofollow">CAM tools</a> will need to be considerably different.</p>
|
2016-06-20T20:13:11.347 | |print-quality|slicing|g-code| | <p>I am trying to print model for Prosthetic Hand
(File Here: <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:596966" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:596966</a>) using Tinkerine 3D Printer. It went smooth for first hour and after that it started messing up(attached image).
I checked the leveling of plate and it was fine. Also, the nozzle didn't get clogged anywhere. Can anyone suggest, what could be the reason for this or what should be inspected in order to overcome this?</p>
<p><strong>Expected Result</strong>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8RBym.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8RBym.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><strong>Actual Result</strong>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uufepm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uufepm.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1395 | Tinkerine 3D Printer | <p>The issue occurring here is similar to a question asked <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/899/why-is-my-print-displacing-along-the-y-axis-by-2-3-cm/901#901">over here</a>. It looks as though this is a result of a hardware fault related to the stepper drivers. @DarthPixel recommended placing heatsinks on the stepper driver(s) and/or properly placed fans.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ELJPns.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ELJPns.jpg" alt="A Stepper Driver"></a><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/OH24Zs.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/OH24Zs.jpg" alt="A Stepper Driver w/ Heatsink"></a></p>
<p>Depending on the design of your machine, some stepper drivers are going to be worked harder than others. For example, a MakerBot Replicator will work the X-Axis stepper driver more than the Z-Axis stepper driver. Therefore, you have a higher chance of overheating your X-Axis stepper driver.<sub>(Images are of A4988 Stepper Driver, not directly compatible with MakerBot Replicator)</sub></p>
<p>Alternatively, I personally have seen the issue repeated by manually triggering one of the limit switches. The effects seemed to take effect on the next layer.</p>
|
2016-06-21T19:54:41.557 | |filament|pla|print-quality|filament-quality| | <p>I've been printing small quantities from a PLA filament spool on a Craftbot printer for about two months now. Recently the printed objects have been coming out very brittle. Some structures that printed fine two months ago are now difficult to re-print. The print head gets clogged easily, and when the object does print, it's quite brittle and 1/4" to 1/8" rods will easily snap off if not handled gently.</p>
<p>I'll admit to not following the precautions for storage of PLA. It's much easier to just leave the filament installed rather than trying to remove it after each print, so this one spool has just been sitting on the back of the printer for all these weeks now. I'm sure it's been humid some of the days, we've had some rain here.</p>
<p>Has the spool of PLA been damaged just by leaving it exposed to room air for two months? Could that be the sole cause of the brittle prints, or are there other possible causes? Is there any way to fix the spool or future prints from this spool, or do I have to scrap it and get a new spool?</p>
| 1399 | Any fix for PLA prints getting more brittle over time? | <p>Increase nozzle temperature. When the filament is new it will print easier, requiring less heat to print well. So if you didn't store your filament properly to begin with, increasing print temperature will make it jam less and increase layer bonding. </p>
<p>The reason for this is because the moisture that accumulates in the filament will absorb heat and evaporate when printed, meaning that the filament itself isn't getting the same amount of heating as it used to.</p>
<p>That being said, the storage suggestions mentioned by tbm should be your first priority. I personally put my filament in Zip Lock plastic bags and store these in a dry location not exposed to sun or temperature changes.</p>
|
2016-06-22T10:39:23.163 | |maintenance| | <p>So I have a self build Mendel Reprap style 3d printer.</p>
<p>I've not used it in sometime after moving house but I'm looking to use it again. What should I pay attention to before calibrating and running it again?</p>
| 1403 | What should I pay attention to after taking a 3d printer from extended storage | <p>After storage you can check the following things before taking the machine into operation again:</p>
<ul>
<li>Are all cables intact? You wouldn't want lose cables shorting your circuits, nor cables that may have become brittle or loose to break the circuitry during operation.</li>
<li>Wipe off dust of the axes. Depending on your design, this might not be a big issue. However, it does not take too much time and doesn't hurt. If you're using bushings, you don't want the dust shortening the lifetime of your rods/bushings if it is that easily avoidable. (side-note: the lifetime of bushings in regular 3D Printing use is more than you can print)</li>
<li>Apply fresh grease/oil, depending on what design your printer follows. The old grease/oil might have come off or aged.</li>
<li>Wipe off dust from the bed. - No dust on the nozzle, no dust embedded in your print.</li>
<li>While they most likely will not change, there is a chance that your thermistors are off. This property should be given by the manufacturer as max. drift/year.</li>
<li>Check your belts and pulleys. The belts might have come loose - tighten them again. If they lost their elasticity (does the 'curve' it made around the pulley stay to some extent?) they might need to be replaced.</li>
<li>Check your fans when turning on the printer. You wouldn't want to lose electronics when you can cover this with a look, however unlikely it might be.</li>
</ul>
<p>Happy calibrating after that ;)</p>
<p>*edit:
As Tom already pointe out, most of these things are unlikely, due to the usually rigid construction of the printer. These are merely more or less likely possibilities of things that can go bad or worse in storage.
*/edit</p>
|
2016-06-22T12:35:46.923 | |filament|pla|repair| | <p>Inspired by another question and due to the fact that some of my filament will face the same problem when I will use them again, I wanted to know if there are proven recipies to get rid of water that has ben incorporated to PLA filament from humidity? One knows the filament had too much exposure to humidity when hearing tiny puffs during extrusion and/or more brittle prints.</p>
<p>I know about suggestions to heat the water out of the filament at a temperature well below the glass transition temperature, but can someone provide first hand knowledge or even evidence?</p>
| 1404 | Can aged PLA be refurbished? | <p>I have turned unusable PLA into filament that printed well by putting it in a dry oven for a couple of hours. I've used 90 degrees C (194 degrees F), which may be too hot as it distorts round filament to be flat sided as the filament softens and relieves stresses. It printed well. Perhaps 70 degrees C (158 degrees F) would less deform the filament.</p>
<p>Today I have a large plastic bin with rolls of filament and three color-changing rechargeable drying cartridges. As soon as they look other than absolutely dry, I plug them in to recharge. It may be insufficient for PETG and Nylon -- I don't yet have much experience.</p>
|
2016-06-23T04:24:21.237 | |layer-height| | <p>I have a 3D Printer with 0.4 mm (400 micron) nozzle length and the printer guide suggests that it can print up to a layer thickness of 60 micron and has a accuracy up to 100 micron. </p>
<p>What I'm trying to understand is that, how does the 0.4 mm nozzle output a filament size lesser than it? How does that process work? Does it reduce the speed at which the filament flows or something?</p>
| 1410 | How does the sizes of nozzle diameter and the Z-axis layer resolution work? | <p>Yes, they do reduce the speed. Basically, the speed at which you feed filament determines how large of a volume comes out, and the distance you move the extruder means this volume gets distributed over this distance. However, this is not the whole story.</p>
<p>The size of your nozzle determines only two things: the <em>maximum</em> layer height and the <em>minimum</em> feature size. It does not affect minimum layer height (and obviously doesn't affect maximum feature size) although there are some practical constraints (you wouldn't want to print 0.1 mm layers with a 5 mm nozzle).</p>
<p>The nozzle squishes the filament down as it is extruded; the filament is basically forced into the gap between the nozzle and the previous layer. There's no limit to how thin of a layer you can print (the 60 micron figure is just something the marketing department made up, you can likely print even thinner layers). So long as you can position your Z-axis with sufficient accuracy (which is usually no problem) you can print arbitrarily thin layers.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the nozzle size does determine the maximum layer height. Your need the filament to be squished a bit, or else it won't stick to the previous layer properly. You can't print layers thicker than your nozzle size, and it is generally recommended to print with a layer size that is at most 80 % of your nozzle size (e.g. with a 0.4 mm nozzle you shouldn't attempt to print layers thicker than 0.32 mm) but this is just a guideline.</p>
<p>Your extrusion width is the width of the line deposited by your nozzle. This is generally (due to the mentioned squishing) a bit larger than your nozzle size. With a 0.4 mm nozzle you should set your extrusion width to something slightly larger, like 0.5 mm. It is technically possible to print with an extrusion width that is the same as (or even smaller) than your nozzle size, but this results in very weak prints: as mentioned before, you want the plastic to get squished slightly.</p>
<p>They claim an accuracy up to 100 micron. This doesn't mean that you can print features as small as 100 micron (since you can't, due to the extrusion width being much larger). What this means, is for example, that if you print a 10 mm cube, you should expect its real size to be between 9.9 mm and 10.1 mm. Such a cube does not have any features that are smaller than your minimum feature size, but its outer walls can be positioned with greater precision than this minimum feature size.</p>
<p>I should caution you that the 100 micron figure is "up to" and in practice you will have a hard time achieving this.</p>
|
2016-06-28T17:06:18.597 | |3d-models|file-formats|materialise-magics| | <p>I created a new project in Materialise Magics, added a few parts (different STLs), moved them around in certain positions and now I want to export this project into another STL, containing my recent work.</p>
<p>The export menu seems to be all grey, like this function is not available. Do I have to do some repairing first or something similar? Or Magics needs other software in order to export a Magics Project to a STL file?</p>
| 1442 | How can I export a Materialise Magics Project as a STL file? | <p>I gather from your post that you are trying to export a build file containing multiple individual pieces, possibly to be printed. I suggest using the 'Merge' tool to join each of the individual STL's into one file. You can then save it as as single part or export it to a printer. This information comes from my experience as an Additive manufacturing technician. The following link is a Github repo containing a workflow on this process:</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/rp-mcguire/Magics-Build-File" rel="nofollow">Magic's Build File Creation</a></p>
|
2016-06-30T16:38:23.227 | |delta|repetier|kossel|z-probe|repetier-host| | <p>I homebuilt a delta 3D printer (like Kossel mini) with a Z probe near the hotend with manual deploy and RAMPS 1.4 board:</p>
<ul>
<li>I configured the Repetier firmware with the online tool;</li>
<li>All my endstops (included the Z probe endstop) work in reverse mode, so I reversed the endstops triggering option;</li>
<li>I enabled <em>Z-probing</em> and set the <code>BED_LEVELING_METHOD</code> to 1 (n*n grid);</li>
<li>I set <code>Z_PROBE_REPETITIONS</code> to 3, and;</li>
<li>Finally I downloaded it and uploaded to my Mega 2560.</li>
</ul>
<p>Then I tested it inside Repetier-Host and all seems to work well (homing, moving, extruding) except for the Autobed leveling method.</p>
<p>Specifically, it always starts measurement of <strong>3 Points</strong> (with 3 probe repetition each) even if I change the type of measurement.
It never does a <strong>grid measurement</strong> or a <strong>2 points mirror</strong> measurement.</p>
<p>I also tried to re-upload the firmware with <code>EEPROM_MODE</code> to 0 but didn't work.</p>
<p>Does anyone have the same issue, or can explain to me why this happens?</p>
| 1460 | Bed leveling method not working with Repetier firmware 0.92.9? | <p>As a guess, you are using the wrong command. If set for n x n grid, you get 3 point measurement with G29, but that is not auto leveling, it is just setting Z height - based on average height at 3 points.</p>
<p>What you need is <code>G32 S2</code> with <code>S2</code> to store result in EEPROM (and therefore you should have EEPROM enabled with auto leveling. It is also used to store endstop offsets).</p>
|
2016-07-01T10:11:45.450 | |firmware|chocolate|homing| | <p><strong>Before the question, here is my setup;</strong> </p>
<ul>
<li>Prusa i3 (with mainboard Mks Gen v1.2)</li>
<li>Repetier as slicer</li>
<li>Marlin source code </li>
</ul>
<p>My main task is to convert my 3D printer into a chocolate printer.
I have replaced the filament extruder with a chocolate extruder. And it is there that my issue began. Because, the new extruder is stopping slightly off the y-axis when homing. It is going out of the standard 20x20 cm bed. The other X and Z axes are OK.</p>
<p>So, I have played with the <code>#defines</code> explained below, but I couldn't even make any single mm difference by homing. They are all ignored when the printer is homing. It goes and rests on the hardware end-stops and stops there eventually.</p>
<p>All I want 10 mm offset for Y axis.</p>
<p><strong>Started with this;</strong> </p>
<pre><code>// Travel limits after homing
#define X_MAX_POS 200
#define X_MIN_POS 0
#define Y_MAX_POS 190 <<<< (tested with 190 and 210)
#define Y_MIN_POS 0
#define Z_MAX_POS 200
#define Z_MIN_POS 0
</code></pre>
<p><strong>and this;</strong></p>
<pre><code>// The position of the homing switches
#define MANUAL_HOME_POSITIONS // If defined, MANUAL_*_HOME_POS below will be used
//Manual homing switch locations:
// For deltabots this means top and center of the cartesian print volume.
#define MANUAL_X_HOME_POS 0
#define MANUAL_Y_HOME_POS 10 <<< (tested with 10 or -10)
#define MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS 0
</code></pre>
<p>I have also played with the <strong>slicer tool (Repetier)</strong> settings where homing related values are mentioned but no joy there as well.</p>
<p>Any input highly appreciated.</p>
| 1465 | How to set a new homing position using software and/or slicer without changing hardware end-stop? | <p>Now I've finally had time to look into this, since I knew it somehow existed, but wasn't sure how it worked:</p>
<p>Use the M206 G-code command in Marlin, Sprinter, Smoothie, or RepRap Firmware to offset the 0,0,0 coordinate of your printbed relative to the endstops.</p>
<p>The reprap.org wiki page says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The values specified are added to the endstop position when the axes
are referenced. The same can be achieved with a G92 right after homing
(G28, G161).</p>
<p>With Marlin firmware, this value can be saved to EEPROM using the M500
command.</p>
<p>A similar command is G10, aligning these two is subject to discussion.</p>
<p>With Marlin 1.0.0 RC2 a negative value for z lifts(!) your printhead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We see, this basically is the same suggested by @LarsPoetter, but it comes with the great advantage that it can be saved to EEPROM, hence you don't need to add it every time or into every different sliccer (if I understand it correctly, - I haven't yet tried it myself)</p>
<p>Let us know if this works for a permanent solution.</p>
|
2016-07-02T07:41:12.473 | |pla|print-strength| | <p>Is a 100 micron layer thickness object stronger than 300 micron layer thickness 3D printed object? Are there any rules to follow? </p>
<p>Filament type - PLA</p>
| 1468 | Does the layer thickness have any effect of the strength of the 3D printed object? | <p>3D Matter has published an <a href="http://my3dmatter.com/influence-infill-layer-height-pattern/">excellent article on the subject</a>. They find that thicker layers result in a stronger part, with 0.3mm layers giving a part that is around 24% stronger than the same part printed with 0.1mm layers.</p>
<p>One small issue with this study is that it did not look at the effects of temperature. Raising the temperature generally results in stronger parts because the layers will fuse better. It is possible that you could make a 0.1mm part just as strong as a 0.3mm part by raising the printing temperature.</p>
<p>Another consideration for inter-layer bonding is how much the next layer is "squished" onto the previous one. Using a wider extrusion width will improve strength.</p>
<p>The main issue with the strength of FDM parts is that they tend to break much easier along the layers, much like how wood is much stronger across the grain. You have to take this into account when making your design, and ensure that features that will be subjected to stress/strain are printed in the XY-plane.</p>
|
2016-07-04T03:51:53.017 | |repetier| | <p>I get nothing but black bars and "Unknown USB Device" from Windows 10. This is after a failed flash that was otherwise going directly according to plan.</p>
<p>This Davinci has been nothing but frustration for me, and I'm really tired of fruitless Google-Fu.</p>
<p>Much of what I see pretty much says it's bricked; attempting to jump the jp1 jumper any further does me no good.</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do to actually move forward, or are we in soldering-iron territory now?</p>
| 1474 | Trying to flash Davinci XYZ 1.0, nothing but black bars | <p>I had this occur on my <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/588/is-it-possible-to-use-an-aftermarket-controller-on-a-makerbot">MakerBot Replicator Dual after I tried repairing a blown voltage regulator</a>. If you refer to the previous link to my SE question, pay attention to the comments of Ryan's answer where it is explained that (in my case at least) the main processor was damaged and therefore couldn't properly load the firmware. The machine was able to load just enough to initialize the chip on the LCD screen, but since the main boards processor was blown, couldn't load the firmware to send commands to the screen and continue the boot sequence.</p>
<p>I'm not certain that you're encountering the same EXACT issue, but you have all of the same side effects that I did. Basically, if you're not pro with electronics, your board is bricked. Otherwise, you <strong><em>might</em></strong> be able to salvage the board by replacing the processor, but there's no guarantee that something else isn't wrong or that the new processor was installed correctly.</p>
|
2016-07-04T21:53:18.823 | |scanning| | <p>I would like to obtain a 3D model of my insoles. I tried to scan it with 123D catch but finding reference points is difficult because the insole is black.</p>
<p>How could I improve the scanning? I attach a photo of the insole to show its not easy shape.</p>
<p>I thought about placing a grid of white spots on the surface, but will it be enough?</p>
<p>Also, is it recommended to keep the camera still and rotate the object (I have a rotating stand) or should I move the camera? in the second case, the accuracy of the photos will be lower, while rotating 5-10 degrees the stand every time is extremely easy.</p>
<p>As background should I use a checkerboard or something else not repetitive?</p>
<p>I noticed that the insole has basically three different "levels", joined smoothly with each other. These "planes" are sloped the same way, so that if I change the pitch of the insole by about 10 degrees, they will be horizontal. Would it improve the accuracy?</p>
<p>Edit: the insole is perfectly new, newer worn before.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ziQp5.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ziQp5.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>I dotted the insole with white paint (the white eraser paint used in office and school) and I took a series of photos with the insole in top of a tripod, laying on a flat white cardboard support. 55 photos in total at 3 different elevations (side, medium, high). I also did a test with fixed camera and rotating object.</p>
<p>Photoscan did not work well in general. Keeping the object fixed produces the best results, but poor.</p>
<p>123D Catch did a much better job! again with fixed object and moving camera. Still, treating the resulting mesh was difficult and the accuracy could be improved.</p>
<p>Autodesk Remake 2017 worked VERY well, as you can see in the attached screenshot, and it allows the editing of the mesh to remove useless parts of the model. I haven't tried yet to process the photos with the camera fixed and the rotating object. I did the processing locally (it's slow!) with maximum details and resolution.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gKzja.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gKzja.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 1477 | How to optimally make a 3D model of an object using photos? | <p>I don't have enough reputation to comment. </p>
<p>This is a short pointer to another webpage: <a href="https://www.sculpteo.com/blog/2016/01/20/turning-a-picture-into-a-3d-model/" rel="nofollow">https://www.sculpteo.com/blog/2016/01/20/turning-a-picture-into-a-3d-model/</a><br>
It may be helpful. </p>
|
2016-07-04T22:48:21.577 | |ramps-1.4|prusa-i3-rework|marlin|firmware|endstop| | <p>I have <a href="http://www.sainsmart.com/sainsmart-mechanical-endstop-for-cnc-3d-printer-reprap-makerbot-prusa-mendel-ramps.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sainsmart Mechanical End Stops</a>, and I'm building a Prusa i3 Rework.</p>
<p>I've recently gotten the x-axis to move, but it needs to stop when it gets to the end and it does not do that; I end up having to pull the plug.</p>
<p>From what I understand, there are two ways to wire ends stops in general, but you have to change the settings in the firmware to make it work right.</p>
<p>There are 3 connectors on the board:</p>
<ul>
<li>S (signal)</li>
<li>- (ground)</li>
<li>+ (VCC)</li>
</ul>
<p>My Sainsmart Mechanical End Stops have 4 connectors!!!</p>
<p>According to their website, left to right with the white connector facing you, they are as follows:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HgjIA.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HgjIA.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<ol>
<li>S</li>
<li>Normally Closed (NC)</li>
<li>Normally Open (NO)</li>
<li>VCC</li>
</ol>
<p>Now it seems to me that if I take those connections and connect them as follows it should work...(ramps on the left, sainsmart end stop on the right):</p>
<ol>
<li>S (signal) -> S</li>
<li>- (ground) -> Normally Open (NO)</li>
<li>+ (VCC) -> VCC</li>
<li><em>nothing</em> -> Normally Closed (NC)</li>
</ol>
<p>...but! Screwing this up by either using the wrong firmware of selecting the wrong wire frys your board, so I thought I'd ask here. Sources please.</p>
| 1478 | Connecting Sain Smart Mechanical End Stops to Ramps 1.4? | <p>The multiple connections are redundant. Your picture indicates the wires labelled as "SIGNAL, GND, GND, VCC". This is correct if the board is a "standard" mechanical endstop v1.2. The two middle pins are both ground, but you only need to use one of them.</p>
<p>You can simply connect signal to signal and ground to ground. That is sufficient for the endstop to work. You only need to connect VVC to VVC if you want the LED that's on the board to function.</p>
|
2016-07-04T23:50:08.490 | |prusa-i3-rework|multi-meter|stepper-driver| | <p>I've been looking into this, but:</p>
<ol>
<li>I'm not certain how to configure my multimeter; </li>
<li>I don't know how to keep the voltage going, and;</li>
<li>I don't know how to keep the multimeter connected to the VMOT?</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm told you're supposed to aim for about 1 A.</p>
| 1480 | How do you make sure you have the right voltage on the trimpots on an A4988 stepper driver? | <p>I want to add some points and clarifications to the answer that @darthpixel already has given. Most information you need is in there, I want to give some more practical advice, since that is what I understand you're question is asking for. I'll start with some points on the more theoretical side, though:</p>
<ul>
<li>notice that the Vref is not a voltage that is passed on to your motor. The described pipe analogy is very good, but the Vref is outside of this analogy. The reference voltage Vref is only used to set the current limit. This seems confusing, but has electronic reasons. One can understand the major (side-)benefit easily: Voltages are very easy to measure externally, because you connect your voltmeter in parallel. If you wouldd want to measure the current, you would need to get your ammeter in series with the circuit.</li>
<li>The stepsticks work by supplying the needed current for movement of the motor (current, because it works by creating magnetic fields), the voltage the stepstick supplies is 'just' supplied as high as needed to feed the desired current through your motor (determined by its resistivity/impedance). This just as an add-on.</li>
</ul>
<p>Now to the practical side and the application of darthpixel's answer and the above:</p>
<p>You want to measure the reference voltage to limit the current that produces the torque, but also heats up the motor - let darthpixel's advice be your guide: if you can't touch it because it is too hot, then there is too much current, i.e. Vref is too high). To do so:</p>
<ol>
<li>Set your multimeter to volts, range can be autorange or something bigger than 2V.</li>
<li>Connect one lead of your multimeter to the ground of your Prusa i3 controller board's power input (I use the screw that fastens the ground input of the RAMPS). The other lead goes directly to the center of the trimpot on the Stepstick. I took the best of my paint skills to create an image showing the process: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6cCzl.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6cCzl.jpg" alt="measure Vref scheme" /></a></li>
<li>Note the value you read (12V power has to be on)</li>
<li>Use an insulated screwdriver and turn the trimpot slightly.</li>
<li>Get a new reading by repeating the measurement process.</li>
<li>Repeat the whole process until you get the desired Vref.</li>
</ol>
<p>Warning: While I've had no problems turning the trimpot while everything was switched on (with my DRV8825 drivers), you should switch the power supply off when doing so.</p>
<p>The described process allows only for a stepwise and rather slow setting of the Vref, but this is the easiest way I've found. I have read of people that use a crocodile clamp to attach the multimeter to the screwdriver for a readout while turning.</p>
<p>If you don't have any idea whether you need more or less current on the motor at the moment, check your resistors on the board and calculate the Vref you should need (see darthpixel's answer for the formula). I would however just do what darthpixel already suggested: figure out the trimpot position by ears and touch: klicking motor: go to higher Vref. Can't touch the motor for more than some seconds: go to lower Vref. It might be a lengthy process, but in the end you'd need to do it anyway to get the best out of the printer!</p>
|
2016-07-12T08:08:41.043 | |print-quality|heat-management|print-fan| | <p>At the moment, I am thinking about print fans that cool the plastic when printing. I am not asking about the design of the fanducts, which might be a whole book on its own. I would like to know how to find out the best application of print cooling for a given PLA filament, - that is fan speeds and setup in a slicer of your choice (to learn what the different options are).</p>
| 1503 | How to utilize/calibrate print fans for PLA? | <p>I use PLA and both my fans stopped working. I am not techy and couldn't figure out how to fix them so I set up a house fan that blew directly at the motor keeping it cool and it works as good if not better than the fans that came with the 3d printer. You cannot let your motors over heat because your filament will get curled up insize the nozzle.So try that before buying 3d printer fans.</p>
|
2016-07-12T10:31:05.890 | |electronics| | <p>I am using a BAUDrate of 115200 since I cannot make a connection to my printer with the advised 250000 rate. Are there any downsides or limits I reach earlier given by the lower BAUDrate?</p>
| 1505 | What is the influence of a lower BAUDrate? | <p>If a GCODE line is about 30 characters (which is about the norm), you can send at most 420 of them per second at 115200 bps.</p>
<p>If each GCODE prints 0.15 mm (for example in arcs), you would be limited to 63 mm/s in arcs/circles (straight lines are not an issue).</p>
<p>If that's limiting for you, then you should find a way to set 250 kbps.</p>
<p>You don't mention the firmware you use, but if you use Klipper, which compresses data over the serial line, connection speed is not an issue.</p>
|
2016-07-15T19:49:40.867 | |pla|print-quality|makerbot|makerware| | <p>I tried printing from an STL file on the <em>QIDI TECHNOLOGY 3DP-QDA16-01 Dual Extruder Desktop 3D Printer QIDI TECH I</em>. They recommend using the MakerBot software with the <em>Replicator(Dual)</em> profile. The 3D print that I tried is messed up.</p>
<p>The material used is <strong>PLA</strong>.</p>
<p>Could you help me determine the cause? The following pictures give more details:
(<em>All settings which are not shown are Makerware default settings</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Abvj2m.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a> <strong>The 3D model</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Abvj2m.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Abvj2m.png" alt="The 3D Model"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zmWnrm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a> <strong>The printed sample</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zmWnrm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zmWnrm.jpg" alt="The printed sample"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/viQoPm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3</a> <strong>The Settings</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/viQoPm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/viQoPm.png" alt="Settings"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/l3b7om.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/l3b7om.png" alt="Settings"></a></p>
| 1511 | Irregular 3D printed part | <p>I agree with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/1511/irregular-3d-printed-part/1513#1513">RyanCarlyle</a> on this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Your print isn't cooling fast enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Please regard <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/540/mushy-small-top-layers/541#541">this answer</a> of mine that covers a few options to help with the issue you're encountering. Pay particular attention to the <em>layer times</em>, and <em>active cooling</em>.</p>
<p>The essential take-away from my answer <sup>(linked above)</sup> is this:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Increase Layer Times</strong>. Increasing <strong>Minimum Layer Duration</strong> <sub>(Device Settings -> Minimum Layer Duration)</sub> will provide the material with more time to naturally cool down closer to its environment's temperature. What this does is ensure that the latest layer is <strong><em>mostly</em></strong> solid before the machine begins printing the next molten layer. If you don't let the previous layer of plastic solidify enough, then plastic gets pushed/pulled around when the machine moves, adding more plastic; thus resulting in the issue you see in your images. The caveat with this approach is the obvious impact on the overall runtime of your print and should ideally be done more or less as a last resort.</li>
<li><strong>Active Cooling</strong>. Active cooling is typically done using an additional fan, often times mounted directly in front of the extruder. The act of active cooling provides a quicker and more direct means of cooling the printed plastic. However, depending on machine design, you may see more variability on other places such as dependability in extrusion temperatures. This can be more detrimental with cheaper spools of PLA and especially poorly designed machines that can't properly maintain extruder temperatures. Active cooling is, however, very common and seems to work for the majority of 3D printer enthusiasts and doesn't impede on runtime.</li>
</ul>
|
2016-07-17T20:26:44.100 | |hotend| | <p>My first and only 3D printer is a Printrbot Simple Metal, which has a hotend that doesn't expose any of its internal parts. Easy for beginners, I suppose: "The hotend is that tube that heats up the plastic and deposits it on the print bed."</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7y1yy.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7y1yy.jpg" alt="Printrbot Simple Metal hotend"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SwwW1.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SwwW1.jpg" alt="More complex looking hotend"></a></p>
<p>But I've been trying to learn more, and many hotends out there don't look quite as simple. My Printrbot hotend probably isn't as simple as it looks, either.</p>
<p>What are the parts that make up a hotend, and what do they do?</p>
<p><em>(PS: This is a general question, not specifically about the two example hotends above.)</em></p>
| 1519 | What are the parts that make up a hotend, and what do they do? | <p>This varies by hotend design. The following is a list of components which you might find in a typical hotend, but note that different designs may integrate these components to some extent. For instance, on the J-head the heat block, nozzle and heatbreak are all one and the same component whereas on the E3D hotends these are all separate parts.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Nozzle</strong>: This is the part where the filament comes out. It takes in the molten filament (typically as a bead of 1.75mm/3mm) and tapers down to the nozzle size (typically around 0.4mm). These are typically made of brass for its good heat conductivity, but brass is not suitable for printing abrasive materials (such as glow in the dark and metal-filled filaments) so sometimes (hardened) stainless steel is used.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Heater Block</strong>: Usually made from aluminium, the heater block joins the nozzle to the heat break and holds the heater cartridge and thermistor.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Heater Cartridge</strong>: most hotends use a ceramic heater cartridge, though some older designs use power resistors or nichrome wire. This component is, as the name suggests, responsible for heating up the hotend. The heat block usually clamps around the heater cartridge to provide good contact.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Thermistor</strong>: This part senses the temperature of the heat block. It is usually a small glass bead with two wires attached (which are typically insulated with glass fiber or teflon). For high-temperature printing, a thermocouple may be used in stead.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Heat Break</strong>: this is the part where hot meets cold. It usually takes the form of a thin tube and is made of stainless steel for its low thermal conductivity. The goal is generally to have the transition be as short as possible so as little of the filament is in a molten state as possible. It connects the heat block to the heat sink.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Heat Sink</strong>: the purpose of the heat sink is to cool down the cold side of the heat break. It is typically cooled with a fan. Most heat sinks also have a standard groove-mount for mounting to your printer. The heat sink usually has grooves to increase its surface area and cooling capability.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Teflon Liner</strong>: some hotends have a PTFE liner that guides the filament through the heat break into the nozzle. This makes it easier to print PLA, but compared to an all-metal hotend, limits the temperatures at which you can print (making it difficult to print PETG and impossible to print polycarbonate).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The ubis hotend you mentioned is a bit simpler than this, and simply uses a big chunk of PEEK in place of the heat break/sink. PEEK has very low thermal conductivity and thus passive cooling is sufficient. However, PEEK limits the temperatures at which you can print.</p>
<p>Here is an illustration outlining these components on an E3D V6 hotend:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cjuNi.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cjuNi.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Note that in this image the Teflon liner only goes into the heat sink, and not into the heat break or block. This means the maximum temperature is not limited by the Teflon, but if it did go all the way in (as is the case with, for instance, the Lite6) then it would be.</p>
|
2016-07-18T02:43:22.077 | |prusa-i3|heated-bed|repetier| | <p>I have a Monoprice Maker Select, which is a rebranded Wanhao Duplicator I3 V2 (Prusa clone). I've found that the heated bed temperature values on the LCD are incorrect. The heater works, and the controller maintains the bed temp just fine, but the temperature reported isn't the true temperature. When using the PLA preset, with the bed set for 60°C, once the temperature stabilizes at 60°C on the display, I can measure it with a laser thermometer and get a consistent 54°C across the buildplate. With the ABS preset of 90°C, I read 80°C. And with the bed set for the maximum value of 120°C, I'm only reading 102-104°C. </p>
<p>I've checked these values with the bare aluminum build plate, and I've allowed the temps to stabilize for at least 10 minutes to ensure that I have consistent readings. I believe the the firmware is using the wrong temperature curve for the thermistor in my device. </p>
<p>I had hoped that there was a simple scaling constant that I could adjust, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've researched enough to learn that my device is running Repetier 0.91 firmware, and <a href="https://github.com/repetier/Repetier-Firmware/wiki/Temperature-control" rel="nofollow">this page on temperature control</a> on the Repetier wiki says that each type of thermistor needs a custom voltage->temp lookup table, and talks about building a custom table in "configuration.h". I've tried to follow this line of research but I feel like I'm going around in circles. It sounds like I <em>could</em> build a custom version of the firmware to install on my printer, and in doing so I could potentially specify a better conversion table. This gives me pause for several reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>I haven't found any online reference to other people installing a custom Repetier build on a Wanhao I3.</li>
<li>I have no idea what values to use for the temp conversion table.</li>
<li>I can't even find anyone else reporting my issue.</li>
<li>I'm fairly new to this; I rather not brick my printer, and I haven't found any good guides to installing firmware on the device either.</li>
<li>I'm not convinced this is the right option. Should I be looking at replacing the thermistor instead? And if so, what's the correct part?</li>
</ol>
<p>I've also looked into the Melzi board inside the printer hoping for a variable resistor to tweak the thermistor voltage divider, but no such luck, at least in the schematics.</p>
<p>I could just live with it; I've been using a 67°C setting to achieve a true 60°C bed temp for PLA, but I'm starting to work with ABS and I'd like the option to get above 100°C bed temp. Am I on the right track? Suggestions? I'm still pretty new to the device and 3D printing in general, so I may have overlooked something obvious.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong>: additional question in light of Tom's answer: what is the expected max actual bed temp achievable on a Wanhao/Monoprice I3? I'm measuring 100°C with an LCD reading of 120°C, but I'd like to get to 110°C if possible.</p>
| 1520 | Adjusting Bed Temp values on Monoprice/Wanhao I3 (Repetier Firmware) | <p>It is completely normal for the surface of the bed to be cooler than the indicated temperature. The thermistor goes on the underside of the bed, near the heating traces. The top of the bed (which is further away from the heating traces) will naturally be cooler.</p>
<p>It would be possible, though a lot of work, to build a custom thermistor table that more accurately reflects the surface of the bed, though that means your thermistor table will no longer reflect the characteristics of your thermistor, but instead reflect the particular circumstances under which you build your custom table (which would be affected by ambient temperature, any drafts, ...).</p>
<p>The accuracy of an infrared laser thermometer depends on the characteristics of the surface you're measuring for, so unless you adjusted the thermometer specifically to measure the aluminium surface of the bed, it's possible your thermometer is off as well.</p>
<p>The exact temperature of your bed doesn't matter anyways (you just need it approximately in the right ballpark) so I would suggest to just live with it. The 60C/90C figures are <em>not</em> supposed to be for the surface of the bed. They're meant to reflect the temperature reported by the printer. That said, 90C is a bit low for printing ABS (but the bed/power supply on your printer might not be powerful enough to get any higher).</p>
|
2016-07-19T13:45:51.487 | |cooling|fans| | <p>Can anyone tell me where to connect a cooling fan on the Sanguinololu v1.3a board? A few of the information pages mention three PWM outputs: Extruder, bed heater and fan, but none of the wiring diagrams that I can find, actually show the connections for the fan.</p>
| 1526 | Sanguinololu 1.3a fan connection | <p>It appears that there isn't an "out-of-the-box" solution to your request, but luck is with you. Someone with your board and objective has posted what appears to be a reasonable modification:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Add-a-Cooling-Fan-to-your-Rep-Rap-Sanguinololu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.instructables.com/id/Add-a-Cooling-Fan-to-your-Rep-Rap-Sanguinololu/</a></p>
|
2016-07-21T17:22:27.533 | |monoprice-select-mini|repair| | <p>The $200 Monoprice Select is inexpensive but also cheap, so experiences I've seen appear to involve lots of repairs. In spite of that, I've bought one, as I'm able to fix things (sometimes) and the first few prints have been pretty good quality. ( I hear this unit is also sold as a Wanhao I3 )</p>
<p>First repair was that the control knob only worked in one direction (fix: bad encoder-PCB connector cable. Repaired)</p>
<p>Upon trying to change filament, the feeder fitting that enters the hot-end heatsink has come off. This fitting has a thread, but strangely the heatsink does not seem to. As I tried to unscrew it, to check for a feed blockage, it just let go, and I see no part that could have held it in place. (See pic)</p>
<p>I'm guessing that it was just epoxy-glued to the heatsink. Sounds kludgy but possible. Does anyone know? </p>
<p>Can any other owner verify how theirs is attached? </p>
<p>[ Also, posted as a caution for someone else who tries to do this. :( ]</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vvUAQ.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vvUAQ.jpg" alt="broken hotend filament feeder"></a></p>
| 1535 | Monoprice Select Mini - Detached Filament Feeder fitting | <p>Solution - there is a set-screw and a square nut in that T-slot which holds the feeder fitting in place on the heat sink. </p>
<p>One may well think (as I did) that the fitting is threaded into the heatsink, since it does have a big hex-head for a wrench. A small turn an the set screw lets go, the nut sliding down the slot with it. Thus when you inspect it, you don't realize they are involved 'cuz they aren't around.</p>
<p>Simply slide back up and you're in business.</p>
<p>Mystery solved - thx to Mark on Twitter. :)</p>
|
2016-07-23T02:32:45.660 | |3d-models|scanning| | <p>I would like to use my old Xbox 360 Kinect as a scanner for 3D modeling and (hopefully) printing a few busts of friends/family members; however, my efforts have failed in each direction that I have taken. Has anyone had success with this, and if so, how do I fix the issues that I am facing?</p>
<p>What I have done so far and the problems that I have had:</p>
<ol>
<li>I have purchased a cable to supply 12V to the Kinect while also allowing USB to a PC.</li>
<li>I have installed the Kinect SDK as well as the Kinect Developers Toolkit on my Windows 10 Ultrabook.</li>
<li>I installed the Microsoft "3D Scan" app and the "Kinect Readiness" app (not the name, unsure of it at this point) provided by Microsoft.</li>
</ol>
<p>**Issue: ** Neither Microsoft app detects the Kinect when cable is plugged in. The Kinect's light slowly flashes green. Also, my cursor freezes when the Kinect is plugged in.</p>
<ol start="4">
<li>I checked the Hardware profiles and found a notification that I do not have the drivers for the Kinect motor and that no suitable drivers could be found. However, no other details about the Kinect showed up.</li>
<li>I uninstalled the SDK and developer toolkits and installed v1.7, ran them in compatibility mode (Windows 8) and same issues arose.</li>
<li>I then began looking into using a different program, found ReconstructMe. This too failed to detect the Kinect even when it was manually selected as the scanner.</li>
</ol>
<p>Any ideas? I also have a Linux Mint laptop that I will happily use for these efforts if I knew what software to capture the 3D scan with. It seems that there are several driver options out there, just unsure of what to use besides that. It seems that Blender can be used for some motion capture with Kinect; however, I am unsure of how this relates to my goals. </p>
| 1546 | Using Kinect 360 as 3D Scanner | <p>I tried the same setting old kinect (but for PC - actually with power supply and usb-cable) plug to my surface windows10.</p>
<p>After some troubles, it works now ;-)</p>
<p>The mentioned MS 3D scan and kinect readiness wont work. It is supposed for the new kinect2 model, because of the new driver. Best you deinstall both. Even the drivers and SDKs.</p>
<p>You need Kinect for Windows v1.8 for the old kinect. <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40278" rel="nofollow">https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40278</a></p>
<p>RecFusion is a software for using a single or multiple depth cams for getting 3d models. It works quite good with my kinect. It costs 99euros. <a href="http://recfusion.net/index.php/en/download" rel="nofollow">http://recfusion.net/index.php/en/download</a></p>
|
2016-07-24T21:40:34.267 | |extruder|heated-bed|nozzle| | <p>I want to access the bed and nozzle temperature sensor data of a 3D printer via serial connection. Could someone please guide me in the right direction?</p>
<p>Edit: Response from printer:</p>
<pre><code>Connecting to printer...
Connection response from printer:
6R7�P)��h>L�JO� � ��V�\��`�r��T �� SK�<ʪ� �>�Vw^<span class="math-container">$���|���R n�I, o�!����H>�
mx�}M#
�LYԣPh���^@ ��rp � TP�j�~1�� V6 6 � f� 6�k#���&�H".��k K2���ek�(��&��^K�k2����Ul�(� ���~N�ʈ*.�>Z��k#d$</span>�����(� ��
��(� ��� v��
���
Asking for temperatures (M105)...
Temperature response from printer:
^CTraceback (most recent call last):
File "printer_files/serialaccess.py", line 15, in <module>
response = ser_printer.readline()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/serial/serialposix.py", line 446, in read
ready,_,_ = select.select([self.fd],[],[], self._timeout)
KeyboardInterrupt
</code></pre>
<p>After the code asks the printer for temperature values, there is no output on the terminal anymore. I waited for a while and then killed it using control+c. It is clear that the printer is responding to the connection response but I am not sure why it is not returning the temperature values.</p>
| 1555 | Access Temperature sensor data of 3D printer via Serial connection | <p>Assuming your printer accepts conventional G-code flavor, extruder and bed temperature can be retrieved by sending <code>M105</code> through the serial port. The printer will respond with <code>ok T:XXX.X B:XXX.X</code> where <code>T</code> is the nozzle temperature and <code>B</code> is the bed temperature.</p>
<p>You can read more about the specific G-code in the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M105:_Get_Extruder_Temperature" rel="nofollow">RepRap wiki</a>.</p>
<p>EDIT:
I am editing the answer to include information for connecting to the printer using a simple python script.</p>
<p>The following script, first opens a serial connection to the printer. For Marlin firmware, when you first connect to the printer, it needs some time to initialize and respond back. That is why some delay is needed before reading the response. After printing the response, the script sends the <code>M105</code> command, waits for 100ms, then reads the response of the serial buffer and prints it on the screen. </p>
<p>Note <code>/dev/ttyUSB0</code> is the serial port name and in your case it may be different. Also <code>250000</code> is the baud rate of the connection; <code>250000</code> is the default value of my printer so you need to replace this with the baud rate that your printer uses.</p>
<pre><code>import serial
import time
ser_printer = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 250000)
print "Connecting to printer..."
time.sleep(30) # Allow time for response
buffer_bytes = ser_printer.inWaiting()
response = ser_printer.read(buffer_bytes) # Read data in the buffer
print "Connection response from printer:"
print response
print "Asking for temperatures (M105)..."
ser_printer.write('M105\n')
time.sleep(0.1) # Allow time for response
print "Temperature response from printer:"
response = ser_printer.readline()
print response
</code></pre>
|
2016-07-26T11:56:13.410 | |efficiency| | <p>A 3D printer can either print layer by layer or carve an object layer by layer to obtain an object. I heard somewhere that 3D printing technology isn't that accurate for printing minute details like fingerprints and iris patterns. Printing an iris pattern using a 3D printer would be a nice test to find this out. Can it print the iris pattern accurately? If not, then to what extent would be the accuracy of the 3D printed model of iris? Many commercial iris scanners can be easily fooled by high quality images of iris. Can a 3D printer print the these minute iris patterns with as much detail?</p>
| 1559 | Are 3D printers efficient for printing a detailed iris to bypass iris identification system? | <p>I take lectures in university and was asked to read a review paper on 3D printed organs by <em>Anthony Atala</em> (the most famous paper in printed organs research). The paper discussed about using several techniques to print the tissue we need at functional resolution. The review also cites detailed procedures to 3D print lung and skin tissues.</p>
<p>Coming back to your question, we have reached a point in time where we can scan a real Iris and print them! Yes. And people use this technique called self assembly to achieve this (Other design approaches like Biomimicry and MiniTissue assembly is also being used right now). To do this we first extract cells from the donor. Or We do a functional high res scan of the extracted cell/part that we want to replicate. This is done via FMT-CT-Fluorescence Imaging, etc. And we cultivate the cells in bio incubators (we can also print cells btw - If the exact environment and operational conditions are maintained, we can print cell-replicas that will later self assemble to form the Iris with the same resolution and functional properties as that of the real one). The cultivated/printed cell is used as the tissue forming material. Forming is done by the cells themselves and is thus christened Self assembly.</p>
<p>Although this may sound futuristic, Autonomous Self Assembly is something that's already being done in Labs! The method works by studying embryonic organ development. For instance, Early stage cellular components of a developing tissue makes their own ECM. Like mentioned before, if we use proper signalling, and environmental manipulation, we can create autonomous organization and patterning to make something we want. Advantage of this method is that we can work without scaffolds. This method relies on cell as primary driver of histogenesis. Knowledge of how an embryo grows into tissue (embroyo tissue genesis and organogenesis) is applied to achieve "real" cell dimensions/properties.</p>
<p>I would recommend you to read the paper for detailed information. The method I mentioned in this post is only <strong>one</strong> among three other methods that are being used currently in this domain.</p>
<p>So yeah. My answer is yes. You can print an Iris and fool the system.</p>
<p>--
Updates</p>
<ul>
<li>S. V. Murphy and A. Atala, “3D bioprinting of tissues and organs,” Nature Biotechnology, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 773–785, Aug. 2014. DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2958 </li>
<li>Withdrew my claim "any given resolution"</li>
<li>Details of the process</li>
</ul>
|
2016-07-26T17:40:49.773 | |abs|hdpe| | <p>There was a contest to develop 3D printable files for the International Space Station's 3D printer. The winner got a 3D printer ... runners up got Fluke DVOM's and all entrants got a t-shirt.</p>
<p>ISS 3D Print Contest</p>
<p>They offer 3 materials: ABS, HDPE, and PEI+PC ... I'm not familiar with the last one. Anyone know?</p>
<p>If found this material on Matweb: <a href="http://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.aspx?MatGUID=949ca0fa6b1742bea8e8d26ea2fd3d48t" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PEI+PC Alloy</a></p>
<p>These links are thought to last a very long time. I hope many of you decide to upload a project into contest site and compete for the grand prize ... A sweet John Fluke DVOM. If nothing else a free awesome T-shirt.</p>
| 1560 | What is PEI+PC 3D Print material? ISS 3D Print Contest | <p>Ultem 9085, the most common ultem resin used for AM, is a blend of PEI-PC, as seen here <a href="https://www.sabic-ip.com/gepapp/Plastics/servlet/ProductsAndServices/Product/series?sltPrdline=ULTEM&sltPrdseries=Aerospace%20and%20Transportation&search=Search#searchresults" rel="nofollow">https://www.sabic-ip.com/gepapp/Plastics/servlet/ProductsAndServices/Product/series?sltPrdline=ULTEM&sltPrdseries=Aerospace%20and%20Transportation&search=Search#searchresults</a>.</p>
<p>Ultem is a trade name for PEI alloys made by Sabic and 9085, used in filaments made by both Stratasys and 3dXtech as the two most visible suppliers are both made with this same alloy. It is used for high temperature resistance and strength and needs to be printed at upwards of 300C in a contained environment.</p>
<p>Source-Intern at Made in Space.</p>
|
2016-07-26T20:08:08.337 | |switching-power-supply|vitamins| | <p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/298/ryan-carlyle">Ryan Carlyle</a> seems to keep suggesting in my questions here, that using a 24 V power supply is safer than using a 12 V one. </p>
<p>Early on, I ordered the wrong power supply, obtaining a 24 V one instead of a 12 V; I found that it was incompatible with my RAMPs 1.4 board... unless of course you pull off all the components and replacement with 24 V compatible ones.</p>
<p>Now granted my board needs to be replaced if I am to use such a power supply, but are there any other components that need to be replaced if I'm going to use 24 V power, or am I safe with what I am using?</p>
| 1562 | Do I have to buy all new components if I were to get a RAMPS 1.4 that supports 24 V power? | <p>You need all components that are supplied voltage by the RAMPS board to be able to deal with a 24V input. Some of your parts are most likely compatible, as the stepper drivers. Others get the 5V from the Arduino, as the endstops. Some will most likely need replacement, as</p>
<ul>
<li>the Hotend heater cartridge. It will need to be exchanged. You can easily buy those in 12V and 24V versions and a 12V version should not get 24V.</li>
<li>the fans. Chances here are about as close to 100% as it gets that they need to be replaced. They are directly connected to the 12V, some are PWM regulated but that doesn't change that they need to be replaced with proper 24V fans.</li>
<li>the heated bed. Since it gets direct power from the board you cannot use your old 12V bed. This is unless you had your old bed switched by a solid state relay (SSR) before. Then you'd have to check the SSR's switching signal tolerances.</li>
<li>anything else you might have hooked up to your power supply directly (lights for example) should be checked for input tolerance.</li>
</ul>
|
2016-07-31T16:15:33.237 | |prusa-i3|firmware|arduino-mega-2650| | <p>I have a prusa i3 and have been trying to calibrate it. I have been trying to upload the new steps per mm and I get to done uploading. However when I go into Repetier host and type M503 to get the printers settings it still shows the steps as 100 for the y axis, it needs to be 96.1810. I am using ramps 1.4 I think, with Adrunio mega 2560. If I am remembering this correctly isn't there something you have to do when uploading a new sketch like hold the rest button or something?</p>
| 1577 | Uploading Repetier firmware to Arduino? | <p>If your firmware doesn't store values you modified after flashing, for example using Repetier's option "Firmware EEPROM configuration", you probably didn't define EEPROM setting in Marlin. </p>
<p>To do this you have to uncomment the option in Marlin's Configuration.h:</p>
<pre><code>// EEPROM
// The microcontroller can store settings in the EEPROM, e.g. max velocity...
// M500 - stores parameters in EEPROM
// M501 - reads parameters from EEPROM (if you need reset them after you changed them temporarily).
// M502 - reverts to the default "factory settings". You still need to store them in EEPROM afterwards if you want to.
//define this to enable EEPROM support
#define EEPROM_SETTINGS
#if ENABLED(EEPROM_SETTINGS)
// To disable EEPROM Serial responses and decrease program space by ~1700 byte: comment this out:
#define EEPROM_CHITCHAT // Please keep turned on if you can.
#endif
</code></pre>
<p>Check that the lines #define EEPROM_SETTINGS and #define EEPROM_CHITCHAT are both uncommented (i.e. defined)</p>
|
2016-07-31T19:53:18.623 | |marlin|reprap| | <p>I cloned the Marlin repository and changed all my settings in <code>configuration.h</code> to match my old settings. Now when the RC branch gets updated, is there a way to upstream pull the changes without losing my settings?</p>
| 1579 | Cloning the Marlin git repo while keeping my configuration.h settings? | <p>Based on <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/19216491/1417624">this</a> answer, you need the following procedure:</p>
<ol>
<li>Stash your local changes using <code>git stash</code></li>
<li>Pull from remote repository using <code>git pull</code></li>
<li>Merge your stashed configuration file using <code>git stash pop</code></li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, if there are changes in the <code>configuration.h</code> file on the remote repository and cause conflicts, you will need to resolve them, but it should be straight forward.</p>
|
2016-08-02T17:30:44.143 | |rafts| | <p>I use a Micro3D printer, running on OctoPi (yay!) (although this question should be relevant to any 3D printer that offers these features) and have options for raft and wave bonding. </p>
<p>Are there best case scenarios for when it is appropriate to use (or <em>not</em> use) either? Can/should they ever both be used at the same time?</p>
| 1581 | When to use Wave Bonding vs Raft on a 3D print? | <p>After additional research, it seems that using both at the same time is ill-advised (more like pointless).</p>
<p>Wave bonding is best suited for larger prints, primarily to prevent warping of the initial layer.</p>
<p>Rafts appear to be recommended regardless, other than for advanced users.</p>
|
2016-08-02T18:15:54.343 | |build-plate| | <p>I often have trouble with prints being especially difficult to remove from the build plate on my Micro3D printer. My wife suggested using a hair dryer on the underside of the plate. I was initially appalled at the idea, but now I think she may be on to something. Is this safe? Good idea? Bad idea? Heresay?</p>
| 1582 | Is using a hair dryer on my M3D build plate safe? | <p>cold wind can help to acceleratory cool down and dry the build plates to make it easy to part them.</p>
|
2016-08-03T21:47:25.763 | |arduino-mega-2650|wanhao| | <p>I just received my Wanhao Duplicator i3 PLUS. Everything prints and functions fine via SD card and the display but when connecting to my Mac computer the printer seems to restart.</p>
<ul>
<li>Baud Rate: 115200</li>
<li>Serial Port: <code>/dev/tty.wchusbserial1420</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Any ideas what it could be?</p>
| 1588 | Wanhao i3 PLUS restarts when connecting USB | <p>That is normal on most printers. They restart if you connect.</p>
<p>As you have an SD card slot I would recommend using it rather than your computer. If your connected computer goes to sleep it would also reset the connection after wakeup.</p>
|
2016-08-04T15:17:32.630 | |prusa-i3|reprap| | <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fpc5P.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Fpc5P.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>By what process does the Prusa i3 determine it's home position? </p>
<p>I have a feeling that it works like this, but I'm not entirely sure about it:</p>
<ol>
<li>If none of the end stops are activated; assume you are somewhere between Max-X, Max-Y, Max-Z and the point 0,0,0.</li>
<li>do
<ol>
<li>For axis in Axies
<ol>
<li>If axis endstop not signaling
<ol>
<li>subtract 100 steps from axis.</li>
</ol></li>
</ol></li>
</ol></li>
<li>while endstops are not signaling, or if point 0,0,0 not reached; </li>
</ol>
| 2593 | How does the home position work on a Prusa i3 RepRap Printer? | <p>You have the endstop which sends a on or off to the controller board.</p>
<p>The boards firmware knows if it is a close or open switch.</p>
<p>Lets assume pressed is on and unpressed is off.</p>
<p>When the axis is at home it will read as ON. The firmware then will not allow the axis to move in the direction you have designated is the Home direction. Now this is probably where you got confused. You in fact are the one to open a code file, and say what direction is home. When your turn it on the first time, chances are you have done it wrong on at least one. Then you will frantically go and manually press it yourself as your printers hotend crashes HARD into the bed.. All of us have been there !</p>
<p>Generally Prusas use ramps 1.4</p>
<p><a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4" rel="nofollow">http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4</a></p>
<p>Your code is your firmware. Usually you just edit a header file (single file). These files are heavily documented, depending which you use. Your seller might provider you with a preconfigured header file.</p>
<p>Will note that yes, if the endstop slips or is not position right, the printer will crash into it self. Usually no damage, but it is a very unpleasant thing to happen. </p>
<p>Also worth noting that some firmware will force you to home before you move. Others will let you crash the printer on the opposite side. Just a motor, will do whatever you tell it to.</p>
<p>In short. You tell it how the endstops work and what direction is home on a printer.</p>
|
2016-08-06T23:15:36.037 | |print-quality|marlin|delta| | <p>I own a delta 3D printer. The problem is that, at the beginning of a print the extruder outputs dirty filament. I want a clean filament flow at the start of my prints!</p>
<p>How can I make the hotend exit the print surface (glass plate) by 10mm, extrude the bad filament and go back to printing again? Can this be done with G-code?</p>
<p>My Z high is 190 mm and the glass plate diameter is 120 mm. I'm using Marlin + Ramps 1.4. </p>
<p>I'm using Repetier-Host and CuraEngine as Slicer, but I really would like a G-code that can work on multiple environments like Cura and Repetier. I just want to add it to the start G-code and print!</p>
| 2607 | Clean or wipe move for delta 3D printers | <p>Slic3r, and all other slicers that I saw, have an option called <code>Skirt</code> that enables your printer to print a number of lines around your object before it starts printing the object itself.</p>
<p>This should ensure that both the nozzle is filled with filament and the printer got rid of any burned / dirty filament when it starts printing your object.</p>
<p>If you use Slic3r as standalone, you have to activate expert mode in the preferences. If you use it through Repetier-host it should already be in expert mode.</p>
<p>You can see all available options in the <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/skirt" rel="noreferrer">Slic3r documentation for Skirt</a>.</p>
|
2016-08-07T02:49:14.600 | |filament| | <p>Are there any 3D printing filaments or specially designed desktop systems which can print soft <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_skin" rel="nofollow">artificial skin</a> for human-robot? For example made of soft silicone or something similar?</p>
| 2608 | Possible ways to print soft skin for human robot? | <p>Oh that is a tricky tricky question!</p>
<p>First you will probably need a good scan of the robot. You will have the cad of the robot but chances are scanning will make life easier.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20151201-kinect-easy-3d-printing-tool-with-release-of-3d-scan-app-for-windows.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.3ders.org/articles/20151201-kinect-easy-3d-printing-tool-with-release-of-3d-scan-app-for-windows.html</a></p>
<p>Also see Reprap for other options</p>
<p><a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/3D_scanning" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://reprap.org/wiki/3D_scanning</a></p>
<p>Following... it is not going to be that simple. If it was my project I would
Print a mold out of ABS. ABS reacts to acetone and you can vapor treat it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/blog/01366106156" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/blog/01366106156</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/erykC.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/erykC.jpg" alt="Example of acetone smooth print"></a></p>
<p>That said you might burn your house down. Also it is inconsistent. But would give you a smooth finish. </p>
<p>Next you can do just normal mold printing and be okay with the ribbing. Then you pour your silicon material</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ppTCY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ppTCY.png" alt="Example of a silicon mold made hand"></a></p>
<p>Next you can well just print with silicon. The ninjaflex guys have a ton of different types of flexible materials and new ones coming out. </p>
<p><a href="https://ninjatek.com/products/filaments/ninjaflex/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://ninjatek.com/products/filaments/ninjaflex/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/X4Btl.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/X4Btl.jpg" alt="Filaflex hand printed in a Caucasian skin tone"></a></p>
<p>On that topic I will mention a local company that I have no direct affiliation with. I just see them at the hacker space. They make a extruder just for flexibles. </p>
<p><a href="https://flexionextruder.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://flexionextruder.com/</a></p>
<p>Other areas to look at. More for making metal but it may be of use.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/From-3d-printed-part-to-metal-the-lost-plaabs-me/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.instructables.com/id/From-3d-printed-part-to-metal-the-lost-plaabs-me/</a></p>
<p>Last is again the mold but you make the molds on a expensive form 1. Or you make the skin on the form1 as they can do flexibles. Small build area. Material is around 100 a ltr or more</p>
<p><a href="http://formlabs.com/products/3d-printers/form-1-plus/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://formlabs.com/products/3d-printers/form-1-plus/</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Also check out this facebook group (no affiliation) </p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DPrintProps/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DPrintProps/</a></p>
<p>If anyone has done this it is those guys. Oh Wait No I take that back Look into these fellows. They have a very active group. (google group) not to mention that they are also directly doing what you are.</p>
<p><a href="http://inmoov.fr/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://inmoov.fr/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MzPsN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MzPsN.jpg" alt="InMoov Android"></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8pqOQ.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8pqOQ.jpg" alt="InMoov with skin"></a></p>
<p>Just don't be like this guy and make it look like a movie star...
<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-builds-scarlet-johansson-robot-7667715" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-builds-scarlet-johansson-robot-7667715</a></p>
|
2016-08-07T23:54:39.570 | |z-axis|ultimaker-original| | <p>I am new to 3D printing and I am assembling/calibrating an Ultimaker Original+ for my college.</p>
<p>I am done with all the assembling and the printer works fine except for one thing.</p>
<p>The print bed moves way up. It touches the extruder and pushes it upwards. So, the extruder cannot extrude any material.</p>
<p>I tried to set the Z axis value before string the print but as soon as I start the print the platform just moves up and blocks the extruder.</p>
<p>Please let me know if you need any more information from my side.</p>
| 2615 | Print bed moves way up for printing | <p>It is normal for an Ultimaker print bed to move up. But it should be stopped before the nozzle.</p>
<p>As it doesn't stop the end stop doesn't work. So either the end stop is not connected to the right connector or it is triggering too late.</p>
<p>The Z end stop must be screwed at the right hight. If you mount it too far up it will not trigger. The bed assembly has a small wooden peace that sticks up. The idea is that that wooden peace pushes the end stop at the right hight.</p>
<p>So instead of configuring the hight in the firmware you need to mount the Z end stop at the exact right hight. You can make the fine adjustments(Bed Leveling) with the screws that hold the bed.</p>
<p>You can test the end stop by manually triggering while the bed moves up. It needs to stop immediately once you trigger the end stop. If the bed does not stop, then check the connection or exchange the switch.</p>
<p>It can happen that the switch itself malfunctions if you screwed it in too tightly. So loosening up the screws a bit is a final test.</p>
|
2016-08-09T04:55:36.843 | |prusa-i3|marlin|firmware|z-axis| | <p><strong>Background</strong>:</p>
<p>I just successfully installed a RepRapDiscount Full Graphic Display on my Prusa i3; and in doing so, I've upgraded all of the firmware to the latest version of Marlin, 1.1.0-RC7. With my previous version of Marlin, 1.0.2-1, everything was working perfectly. I've transferred every parameter over from my older version to my newer one. There were some aspects of code that were written differently, but essentially everything works except the Z-Axis.</p>
<p><strong>Problem</strong>:</p>
<p>The one issue that I seem to be having is with any kind of movement with the Z-Axis. When it moves, whether from the LCD or Repetier, it appears to accelerate as it is supposed to, but then gets stuck/skips a bunch of steps, and then decelerates slowly as it's supposed to. Regardless of the distance I instruct it to move, it will accelerate normally for the same amount of time/distance/steps, go into this unholy mode for a period of time/distance/steps relative to what it was instructed, and then smoothly decelerates for the exact same amount of time every time. For example, if it is supposed to move 10000 steps, it will move 100 steps smoothly, then skip for 9800 steps, and finish with another 100 steps smoothly. If, for example, it needs to move 5000 steps, it will also move 100 steps smoothly, then skip for 4800 steps, and finish smoothly the last 100 steps. Keep in mind, these numbers are completely drawn from space; they are not accurate by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just trying to paint as clear of a picture as possible.</p>
<p><strong>Troubleshooting</strong>:</p>
<p>At first I checked to make sure everything is mechanically sound.</p>
<ul>
<li>The nuts move freely up and down the 5mm threaded rod. There are no points along the entire length of the rod that the nuts don't move very freely.</li>
<li>The stainless steel rods are well aligned and the entire Z/X-Axis carriage moves very freely along the vertical rails. The bearings appear to be fine.</li>
</ul>
<p>I then wanted to narrow it down to being the firmware, and not electrical. For the record, maybe I'm missing something obvious, so please let me know.</p>
<ul>
<li>I measured the voltage on my A4988 stepper drivers on the RAMPS 1.4 board, sitting on the Arduino Mega2560 R3, and it is reading 350mV. Even if I adjust the potentiometer to 550mV, I still get the same issue.</li>
<li>The jumpers underneath seem to be snugly in place, and all the pins on the A4988 appear to be fine as well.</li>
<li>The one thing I haven't checked in the section, logically analyzing, is the wires going from the board to the motors themselves, but based on the following, I don't believe that is the issue. (Although I have been wrong before)</li>
</ul>
<p>Moving onto the firmware. </p>
<p>I've played around with the default settings section in Configuration.h with no avail. Regardless of how low, or high, I go with any of the max acceleration settings, I cannot seem to fix the problem. It accelerates slower, but the overall effect is the same.</p>
<pre><code>#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,3840,90}
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {500, 500, 5, 25}
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {2000,2000,10,2000}
#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 1000
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 1000
#define DEFAULT_TRAVEL_ACCELERATION 1000
#define DEFAULT_XYJERK 20.0
#define DEFAULT_ZJERK 0.4
#define DEFAULT_EJERK 5.0
</code></pre>
<p><strong>Theory</strong>:</p>
<p>At this point, if I had to guess, it has something to do with the maximum speed setting, or the microstepping. These are some of the settings that I have on the new firmware.</p>
<pre><code>#if ENABLED(ULTIPANEL)
#define MANUAL_FEEDRATE {50*60, 50*60, 4*60, 60} // Feedrates for manual moves along X, Y, Z, E from panel
#define ULTIPANEL_FEEDMULTIPLY // Comment to disable setting feedrate multiplier via encoder
#endif
// minimum time in microseconds that a movement needs to take if the buffer is emptied.
#define DEFAULT_MINSEGMENTTIME 20000
// If defined the movements slow down when the look ahead buffer is only half full
#define SLOWDOWN
// Frequency limit
// See nophead's blog for more info
// Not working O
//#define XY_FREQUENCY_LIMIT 15
// Minimum planner junction speed. Sets the default minimum speed the planner plans for at the end
// of the buffer and all stops. This should not be much greater than zero and should only be changed
// if unwanted behavior is observed on a user's machine when running at very slow speeds.
#define MINIMUM_PLANNER_SPEED 0.05// (mm/sec)
// Microstep setting (Only functional when stepper driver microstep pins are connected to MCU.
#define MICROSTEP_MODES {16,16,16,16,16} // [1,2,4,8,16]
// Motor Current setting (Only functional when motor driver current ref pins are connected to a digital trimpot on supported boards)
#define DIGIPOT_MOTOR_CURRENT {135,135,135,135,135} // Values 0-255 (RAMBO 135 = ~0.75A, 185 = ~1A)
// Motor Current controlled via PWM (Overridable on supported boards with PWM-driven motor driver current)
//#define PWM_MOTOR_CURRENT {1300, 1300, 1250} // Values in milliamps
// uncomment to enable an I2C based DIGIPOT like on the Azteeg X3 Pro
//#define DIGIPOT_I2C
// Number of channels available for I2C digipot, For Azteeg X3 Pro we have 8
#define DIGIPOT_I2C_NUM_CHANNELS 8
// actual motor currents in Amps, need as many here as DIGIPOT_I2C_NUM_CHANNELS
#define DIGIPOT_I2C_MOTOR_CURRENTS {1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0}
</code></pre>
<p><strong>Solution</strong>:</p>
<p>If anybody could help me, or even point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. I'm getting desperate with this new firmware version. It has all these conditional tabs that didn't exist in my other one, and I can't quite figure it out.</p>
| 2619 | Z Axis getting stuck with Marlin 1.1.0-RC7 | <p>The problem is likely in the MAX_FEEDRATE. Initially the moves are smooth, indicating that acceleration is not a problem. However, you have your maximum speed set to 5mm/s, which, for m5 threaded rod (with 0.5mm pitch), translates to 10 revolusions/second for the threaded rod. That is quite fast, and the stepper probably can't keep up. Try reducing the feedrate.</p>
<p>The firmware microstepping and current settings have absolutely nothing to do with it, since these are not supported on your setup (which has physical potentiometers and microstepping jumpers).</p>
|
2016-08-09T15:33:03.320 | |extruder|fdm|hotend| | <p>Related to an issue I had in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/1205/increased-issues-with-filament-grinding">this question</a>, where the PTFE tube feeding my filament to the metal tip of the extruder clogged and became discolored: what are the advantages and disadvantages of changing out my extruder (Mk10 on a FlashForge Creator X) for an all-metal solution like the one advertised <a href="https://store.micro-swiss.com/products/micro-swiss-mk10-all-metal-hotend-kit" rel="noreferrer">here (by Micro-Swiss)</a>. </p>
<p>I understand that the conversion would allow me to print higher-temperature materials (like nylon), but I'm also trying to figure out the trade-offs with regard to printing PLA/ABS parts. </p>
| 2621 | What are the advantages and disadvantages of an all-metal hot end compared to one with a PTFE heat break? | <p>My Tevo Tarantula had an all metal hotend included and I never ran into any issues only printing PLA and PETG, most of the time I was even able to pull out the filament while the printer was cold.</p>
<p>After I upgraded to an E3Dv6 clone with PTFE lined heatbreak I started to have issues because of the filament getting stuck where the Bowden tube and the heatbreak connected, so I recently replaced it with an all metal heatbreak again and the issues instantly went away.</p>
|
2016-08-11T10:27:03.247 | |3d-models|software|rapid-prototyping| | <p>I'm currently using FSL3d's RetinaCreate to prepare 3d-files for printing for research purposes. In this, I am relying on their <a href="http://wiki.fsl3d.com/Part_3_-_Using_the_RetinaCreate_Software_to_Print#Find_Optimal_Rotation" rel="noreferrer">Optimal Rotation</a> feature which rotates the object by, as far as I can tell, judging models on their stability with regards to the printing direction. After rotating the model, <a href="http://wiki.fsl3d.com/Part_3_-_Using_the_RetinaCreate_Software_to_Print#Generate_Supports" rel="noreferrer">supportstructures</a> are generated to keep the model in place while printing without the bits and pieces floating about and to keep structural stability.</p>
<p>My question is, as I've neither found a manual nor any source-code (and admittedly I am terrrrrible at maths), how can I describe the kind of algorithm/logic used by the software here? This is essential for me, as I need to describe this in my research. Cheers, Jesse</p>
| 2629 | RetinaCreate Optimal Rotation | <p>Optimal rotation can be considered from different perspectives. For example</p>
<ul>
<li>as little support as possible. This way app tries to orient object so as much surface as possible doesn't overhang and doesn't need support</li>
<li>bed only support. App tries to orient object so all overhanging parts can be supported directly from the heatbed (not from the object itself)</li>
</ul>
<p>But have a look on Meshmixer as Ryan Carlyle suggested. In this app you can see 3 kinds of auto orientation procedures. Additionally Meshmixer can create angle support and tree-like support.</p>
<p>In terms of mathematics. </p>
<p>I cannot suggest any sources but you can imagine the way it calculates such optimal rotation. Let's say it will be dead simple explanation of the second approach:</p>
<p>Let's get all faces (facets) and let's project their center points on the "floor" (heatbed) or "ceiling". If imagined projection line slices any other faces then rotation is not optimal. App can calculate "a weight" of such orientation and then try to find the smallest weight of all possible orientations.</p>
<p>Of course it's not that simple. App has to manage concavity, which face requires support at all, and many other aspects but in general you can imagine the algorithm.</p>
<p><strong>edit</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>"as little support as possible" could be considered as easier to imagine "as little shaddow as possible" and the problem can be simplified to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projection_(mathematics)" rel="nofollow">projection</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_(graphics)" rel="nofollow">ray tracing</a></p></li>
<li><p>similarly "bed only support" could be simplified to "cast shaddows but not on itself"</p></li>
</ul>
|
2016-08-12T06:42:27.340 | |heated-bed| | <p>When using a heated bed with your printer, I have seen claims of running temperatures of 90c throughout the print.</p>
<p>That seems like a fairly high power use to keep a large slab of, say, aluminium at 90c for long print times (ie multiple hours).</p>
<p>Is there a common 'sweet spot' for operating temperature?</p>
<p>Does it depend on material?</p>
<p>Is a heated bed required?</p>
| 2637 | Heated bed - what are the benefits? Why use one? | <p>Heatbeds have two purposes:</p>
<ol>
<li>Increase surface energy of the print bed to improve bonding strength of the first layer (particularly important when using surfaces like PEI or Kapton)</li>
<li>Keep the bottom few millimeters of the print hot enough to provide a warp-free foundation for the rest of the print. </li>
</ol>
<p>The bit about surface energy is straightforward. Most materials are stickier when hot than cold. In comparison, pure mechanical-bonding bed surfaces like fibrous painter's tape and perfboard don't particularly benefit from bed heat.</p>
<p>Warping is a bit more complicated. The basic cause of warping is when the previous layer is allowed to cool and thermally contract before the next layer is deposited. When you stick hot, expanded material on top of cold, contracted material, large shear stresses are generated when the fresh material cools and contracts. Those inter-layer shear stresses then accumulate over many layers into large-scale bending stresses that try to lift the edges of the print off the bed.</p>
<p>So, to prevent warping, we should minimize the amount that the previous layer is allowed to cool before the next layer goes down. But we DO need it to cool solid so the print doesn't sag in a mushy mess. This is a balancing act: cooling the plastic solid without over-cooling it. The optimal temperature for the print is right around the glass point of the plastic: this is the temperature at which the plastic becomes fully solid and thermal contraction stresses start to accumulate. </p>
<p>The extruder pumps more heat into the print as it deposits molten plastic and radiates a little bit of heat. So we want to set the heatbed temp a little bit below the glass point to ensure the print is able to cool solid. Now, this gets a bit difficult, because everyone's print bed temperature sensor is different. What matters is bed surface temp. Many people have to set their bed temp quite a bit higher than the actual surface temp. It's just something you have to calibrate via print results. The exact filament glass point (Tg) also depends on the blend. </p>
<ul>
<li>ABS: Tg is around 105C, optimal bed temp 95C in a warm, low-airflow environment</li>
<li>PLA: Tg is around 55C, optimal bed temp is 55C in a cool, high-airflow environment because PLA holds heat and is slow to cool compared to other filaments</li>
<li>PETG: Tg is around 70C, optimal bed temp is 60-70C with mild airflow</li>
<li>Nylon doesn't really work with these rules because it's semi-crystalline, meaning it "freezes" far above its Tg and thus starts accumulating warping stress at fairly high temps... advice varies wildly, from printing cold to 120C bed</li>
<li>PC: Tg is around 150C, optimal bed temp is 130C</li>
</ul>
<p>There are other schools of thought, for example printing the first layer onto a surface much hotter than Tg for good adhesion, and then dropping the bed temp to a value somewhat below Tg to allow the print to solidify. That works fine too. </p>
<p>But, with all that said, it's important to understand that the heatbed only keeps the bottom of the print warm. A centimeter up from the build plate, the print is typically much closer to ambient temp than it is to the bed temp. Heated build chambers are thus much more effective for large prints. But heatbeds are still quite effective, because they allow building a strong, warp-free foundation that resists warping stresses induced by the cooler zones higher up in the print. </p>
|
2016-08-18T04:34:05.640 | |fdm|speed| | <p>I have a object to print for which I want the base to be printed very rapidly because it's just a cube but as the print reached around 70 % a complex circular structure needs to be printed at a slower speed. Is there any way I could control the speed at the given percentage of job done?</p>
<p>I want the cube to be printed at 50 mm/s and the complex circular structure at 40 mm/s.</p>
<p>Printer Type - FDM</p>
| 2654 | How to 3D print an object with variable printing speed? | <p>Cura has a plugin called "Tweak at Z" that lets you change the speed at a specific layer/height, I used it when printing an object that's basically a curved box for 100 mm and then has tiny features in the last 10 mm and it worked very well.</p>
|
2016-08-19T09:09:26.570 | |reprap|belt| | <p>I'm currently attempting to make a repstrap using paper printed parts, like this guy : <a href="http://www.mariolukas.de/2012/05/repstrap-3d-drucker-aus-computerschrott-teil-1/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.mariolukas.de/2012/05/repstrap-3d-drucker-aus-computerschrott-teil-1/</a>
I replaced the DC motor in a paper printer carriage assembly</p>
<p>with a stepper motor (NEMA17). But there was not enough space to fit the axis of the nema 17 at the exact spot of the older DC motor axis, in short, the axis are not in the same place. The question is : if the axis is not in the exact same spot, will it affect the movement of the carriage or not at all ?<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8A21q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8A21q.png" alt="new and old belt driven axis"></a></p>
<p>I supposed it would but i'm not sure since the carriage is limited in movement by the rails and that we still move the belt around.</p>
| 2658 | Belt driven axis question | <p>A rotation of the stepper motor 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise would move it more to the center. You would only need lengthen or shorten the belt.</p>
|
2016-08-21T14:31:02.263 | |3d-design|software|blender| | <p>My goal is to 3D print a 5 liter miniature barrel with a side stand, similar to <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B009K5DSJG" rel="noreferrer">this wooden one on Amazon</a>. I want it to have a removable top so that a boxed wine bladder may be put inside, and there should be a hole on the top as well so that the spigot may stick out and be used. I have no experience with 3D modeling or printing, but I have access to a public 3D printer at my local library. I know you can print parts individually (ex. curved wood-colored sides with staves and holes to interlock and make up the body of the barrel, the metal-colored hoops to go around the barrel). I don't know what software to use, though. I was thinking of starting to learn Blender? Would that be effective for this project? </p>
| 2665 | What is the best 3D modeling software for a beginner on a 3D printed mini barrel project? | <p>If you have any programming background at all, consider OpenScad. It is a functional type of programming language that lets you do a lot of things quite easily without art skills. OpenScad skills are useful for building customizable things on Thingiverse.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.openscad.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here is a place to start</a></p>
|
2016-08-22T13:51:44.837 | |print-material|printing-powder|metal-printing| | <p>Metal powders are the fastest-growing segment within the 3D printing materials market, and 3D printing with metal offers a range of highly-sought out characteristics, including immense strength, reduced weight, biocompatibility and corrosion or thermal resistance, making it ideal for high-demand industries such as aerospace, medical, etc.</p>
<p>Conventional methods require focusing a very intense energy source, such as a laser or electron beam, across a bed of metal powder, fusing the powder particles together in a pre-determined pattern to create the final 3D structure. </p>
<p>While this method does allow for incredibly strong metal 3D structures to be produced, it has its drawbacks, mainly: </p>
<ul>
<li>it is prohibitively expensive and time consuming; </li>
<li>it does not allow for certain types of architectures, such as those that are hollow and enclosed, and;</li>
<li>it is limited by the types of compatible metals and alloys that can be used.</li>
</ul>
<p>If we ignore the cost, why can't we do hollow or enclosed architectures to be printed with this technique?</p>
<p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20160817-a-closer-look-at-the-12-biggest-3d-printing-tech-innovations-of-the-first-half-of-2016.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A closer look at the 12 biggest 3D printing tech innovations of the first half of 2016</a>.</p>
| 2667 | Why can't powder-based 3D printing techniques create enclosed or hollow structures? | <p>It's not hollow <em>or</em> enclosed structures that are a problem. It's structures that are hollow <em>and</em> enclosed. Think about it. The machine lays down a thin layer of powder, and then a laser fuses some of that powder together to make a shape. Then, it repeats the process for the next layer. If you try to build, for example, a hollow ball, the ball gets created in the middle of the powder, meaning that there will be powder around the outside of the ball and in the <em>inside</em> of the ball, and with the ball completely enclosed, there is no way for the powder that ends up inside the ball to get out. That's why hollow objects printed in this manner must have a hole somewhere to let out the powder contained in the object.</p>
<p>This is not only true of metal powder, but any 3D printing process that uses a bed of powder or a volume of resin and fuses some of it into a shape. Fused deposition modelling (FDM), the process used by most consumer-level 3D printers, build models in thin air, so only air is trapped inside the printed objects, making the printing of hollow, enclosed objects less of a problem. Of course, one has to deal with gravity. A hollow object might collapse before the filament hardens enough to support its weight.</p>
|
2016-08-23T05:58:00.500 | |filament|hotend|color| | <p>This came up in one of my groups today. That we could not color bend, or mix 3d printing filaments. I have researched but I am not finding anything talking about Plastic mixing in an extruder.</p>
<p>Why is it that we cannot take say a Diamond hotend, or a hotend with 5+ inputs, and mix any color we want? (assuming all the same type, ABSm, PLA). I think it would be interesting to at the least get a gradient effect on prints.</p>
<p>The best I have seen is natural plastic and a marker system. Or a powder / advanced / out of hobbyist price range process that sprays ink. The only Color Bending I know of is with Recycled plastic that uses multi color. Not quite what I am looking for.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
| 2670 | What is stopping us from mixing 3D filament colors in an Extruder? | <p>If you clearly observe the geometry of the print it has printed in different colours .the part is designed in such a way that it has the small height gap between the each colour but we cannot seen this gap in one projection plane..
We can print only in direct drive extrusion .by changing the filament of different colours without pausing the print by immediately changing the material . It is printed in single nozzle. The above image clears your doubt.it is designed with different heights.<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/faCw2.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/faCw2.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
|