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2017-08-04T06:41:29.940

|filament|extruder|print-material|

<p>I have an ANET A2 Prusa - which I've setup and performed a few prints on and they have various problems with the quality. I'm after some specific experience on what the flow of filament should look like or if my decription triggers someone </p> <p>I've been adjusting settings - In particular the temperature - as the filament seemed too fluid as I could easily cause a large spurt of molten plastic by manually pushing the filament with very little effort. </p> <p>So I reduced the head temperature to 195 and all seemed better </p> <p>However after a time - I noticed on a longer print that the feeding was sometimes failing with the filament jerking back as the feeder slipped off it </p> <p>The stepper did not appear to slip back just the gear skipped on the filament It appeared to cause a problem in the print with a few of the lines being missing before it started extruding normally again</p> <p>I increased the temperature back to 200 - however the issue continued intermittently however I left it and when I returned the head had become blocked with the final part of the succesful print consisting of very thin hair like extrusions and eventually stopping completely</p> <p>The head is flooded and I need to clean it out </p> <p>So my questions are - how runny should the filament look when the head is at the correct temperatures, is the extremely runny filament I saw at 200 obviously too hot - or is that normal or at least have people seen it looking like that when successfully printing?</p> <p>Initially , before I reduced the temperature, I doubled the skirt and that seem to make a good enough print </p> <p>Does anyone have experience of why it can seem to be printing but then slowly start failing until the head becomes blocked?</p>

4457

Filament not feeding then eventually blocked

<p>From my experience with few printer, Sometime it's happen because of the filament. Solution- If your printer have unload function or if you don't have that funstion select a printerable file and change temperature to 205-210 C and try to use long and thin hex key like this to push the filament out. -Make sure you extruder motor work accordingly to feed the nozzle. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/OrXhn.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/OrXhn.jpg" alt=" try to use long and thin hex key like this to push the filament out"></a> </p>

2017-08-04T14:34:58.773

|print-material|quality|

<p>I play a <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berimbau" rel="noreferrer">berimbau</a> for Capoeira. One of the most fragile (and most expensive) bits is the <em>cabaça</em>, a hollow gourd used as a resonator.</p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tRNcL.jpg" alt="cabaças"></p> <p>I'm not very familiar with the qualities of the resin used for 3d printing. If I were to take this to our local Maker Lab and have them scan and print a copy, how likely is it that it would work? My fear is that the plastic would be too sound deadening.</p> <p>If you want a less exotic parallel, imagine the body of a guitar. That's a resonating chamber.</p>

4460

Is it possible to print a resonator for a musical instrument?

<p>Following up on this, the answer is, yes, this works quite well. I printed <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2856128" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this <em>cabaça</em> model</a> from Thingiverse using PLA on a Lulzbot Mini and put it on my <em>berimbau</em> today to test it out. I can't make a direct comparison because the printed resonator is smaller than the gourd one that I own, but the sound is good. I am not certain whether it is actually cheaper (it used a fair amount of PLA because it's probably about a half-inch thick, and it took a few tries to get a good print due to it taking about 9 hours and needing to be monitored for the filament breaking), but it may be more accessible for people who can't ship a gourd in from Brazil. It is definitely more durable.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vupdy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vupdym.jpg" alt="Exterior view of *cabaça* on the printer"></a> (click to enlarge)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nJiTn.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nJiTnm.jpg" alt="Interior view of *cabaça* - Note some stringing on the inside"></a> (click to enlarge)</p>

2017-08-08T18:59:07.597

|3d-models|cad|

<p>I have a mesh of a bowl that has the perfect shape of half a sphere. I want to easily convert it to the containing sphere solid and a box solid that will be subtracted from it.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FlT0X.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Conversion process"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FlT0X.png" alt="Conversion process" title="Conversion process"></a></p> <p>Googling mesh to solid shows that in various tools such as 3ds Max, Fusion, etc., manual approximation of where the sphere might go is created manually by visually comparing to the mesh or the cross section when creating the solid but I am looking for the minimum enclosing sphere and box to be generated/calculated by the software.</p> <p>Source file format is of course not an issue, it can be any known mesh file.</p>

4471

Converting a mesh to constructive solid geometry

<p>The answers by @markshancock and @fred-dot-u describe the process of creating a CAD primitive sphere and subtracting a cube; this is a trivial task in most any 3D CAD program. You could manually measure the mesh to determine its dimensions, and frankly, I would recommend this approach. (If you have a large task like converting 100,000 half-sphere meshes, I'd re-think the approach and go to the source that generated the meshes in the first place!)</p> <p>However, these don't address converting the mesh to a primitive, which is normally not possible for arbitrary meshes (therefore a CAD program will not have such a function), and much more difficult than simply measuring and re-creating.</p> <p>You assert that your mesh file "has the perfect shape of half a sphere". A mesh is basically on a collection of vertices, joined by edges and faces. The vertices are defined by numeric coordinates, and in a computer will always have some rounding errors, and the linear edges and planar faces are most definitely not round. Therefore, it may be incredibly close, but it will most definitely not be perfect.</p> <p>In this <em>very</em> particular case, the diameter of the sphere is the same as the diameter of the circular face of your half-sphere. You could plausibly write a simple program that would locate the maximum distance between any two vertices in your mesh and use that for the diameter. The midpoint of the line between those two points would be the center of the sphere. This should produce a good result but may not be "exact" depending on the details of the mesh.</p> <p>I won't try to explain how to create the actual program as that is not in the scope of 3D printing.</p>

2017-08-08T20:51:19.497

|slicing|g-code|

<p>I am curious about the algorithm/principles behind the estimates that the slicing softwares provide. Is there a standard technique behind this and how accurate is it ?</p>

4472

How is the print time of an object to be printed estimated?

<p>Much of the software used in 3D printing is open-source, and so are some slicers. Cura, for instance, does (or did, this source code is from an older branch) its print time estimation in <a href="https://github.com/smorloc/Curation/blob/master/Cura/util/gcodeInterpreter.py" rel="noreferrer">gcodeInterpreter.py</a>.</p> <p>The relevant portion of the source code is (simplified and with many lines removed for clarity):</p> <pre><code> totalMoveTimeMinute = 0.0 pos = util3d.Vector3() for line in gcodeFile: G = self.getCodeInt(line, 'G') if G is not None: if G == 0 or G == 1: #Move x = self.getCodeFloat(line, 'X') y = self.getCodeFloat(line, 'Y') z = self.getCodeFloat(line, 'Z') e = self.getCodeFloat(line, 'E') f = self.getCodeFloat(line, 'F') oldPos = pos.copy() pos.x = x pos.y = y pos.z = z feedrate = f currentE = e totalMoveTimeMinute += (oldPos - pos).vsize() / feedRate </code></pre> <p>As you can see, (this version of) Cura simply:</p> <ul> <li><p>Loops over all the G-code instructions,</p></li> <li><p>Computes the length of each move (in X/Y/Z) and divides that by the feedrate to get the time that move will take,</p></li> <li><p>Sums this up over all the moves.</p></li> </ul> <p>and does not take into account:</p> <ul> <li><p>Acceleration or deceleration. It assumes the printer is always operating at the maximum feedrate,</p></li> <li><p>The length of filament extruded. The feedrate is the speed for the move in (X,Y,Z,E), but Cura only looks at (X,Y,Z).</p></li> <li><p>The time it takes to heat up the print bed/hotend or homing/autoleveling,</p></li> <li><p>The effects of the printer slowing down if moves can not be read (from USB/SD-card) sufficiently fast (though this would be rather hard to include in any estimate).</p></li> </ul> <p>The accuracy of this estimate can be arbitrarily bad if the feedrate is set to some unrealistic value.</p> <p>Newer versions of Cura use a much more advanced time estimate method, and it can be found in <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/blob/master/src/timeEstimate.cpp" rel="noreferrer">timeEstimate.cpp</a>. It is much more complicated, and actually takes jerk/acceleration/deceleration into account. It is much more accurate.</p> <p>We know <em>exactly</em> how 3D (open source) 3D printer firmwares work, so estimating print time is as easy as simulating execution of the G-code by your given firmware. There is no reason you can't get a really good estimation (if you take into account all of the intricacies of your given firmware's acceleration/deceleration techniques) but writing the code for it is rather involved.</p>

2017-08-13T01:31:20.750

|ultimaker-cura|

<p>On my Mac I've got two versions of Cura installed, in <code>/Applications/Cura250</code> and <code>/Applications/Cura262</code>.</p> <p>How can I copy my printer and profile settings from Cura 2.5 to Cura 2.6?</p>

4484

How do I upgrade (copy settings) from Cura 2.5 to Cura 2.6?

<p>From the <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/community/50751-how-to-copy-machine-and-profile-settings-from-cura-25-to-cura-26?page=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Forum</a>:</p> <ul> <li>Launch Cura 2.6 and go to Help -> Show Configuration folder. Now close Cura.</li> <li>These are the configuration files for Cura 2.6. They are in a folder named 2.6.</li> <li>On OSX, the configuration files for Cura 2.5 are one folder up (not in a folder named 2.5). You can copy files from that parent folder into the folder named 2.6, and Cura should update them as needed the next time it is started.</li> </ul>

2017-08-13T15:21:25.787

|pla|print-material|

<p>For personal usage, indoor, I'm doing some experiments with following lamp (v0.1):</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SrEhy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SrEhy.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>Lamp is a led bulb enclosed in a methacrylate tube and with a 3D printed finish at the top using PLA (my first 3d print ;-).</p> <p>In some www pages (by example, <a href="https://www.lifx.com/blogs/the-latest/19032975-how-hot-are-led-light-bulbs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>) I've read that the led buld radiator can reach 90º C. Experimentally, the methacrylate and the PLA feels only slightly hot, I suppose around 40ºC.</p> <p>According to www info, PLA has a melting point of 150ºC, far from this usage, but a continuous operative temperature of only 40ºC ( !? this made 3d printing unable in a country as my own one, where ambient in summer is around 40ºC).</p> <p>So, my question, is PLA a valid material for this application? If not, some other one better?</p> <p>Thanks a lot. </p>

4487

PLA continuous operative temperature

<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/4488/5740">EvilTeach's</a> answer is correct, ABS is a more reliable plastic for any kind of work which may get above what feels "hot to the touch." </p> <p>Just to elaborate on the why: the property you're looking for in the thermoplastic (which will determine the continuous operating temperature) is <strong>glass transition temperature</strong>. This is the point at which the plastic begins to flow, and becomes deformable as EvilTeach described. PLA reaches this state at around <strong>60&nbsp;°C</strong>, whereas ABS is around <strong>105&nbsp;°C</strong>, just suiting your specifications. To go a bit further, polycarbonate offers a glass transition temperature of around 150&nbsp;°C, and Ultem at 217&nbsp;°C. So there's a thermoplastic for everyone, you just need to know what you're looking for!</p>

2017-08-14T00:36:39.433

|monoprice-mini-delta|

<p>I just got a <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/monoprice-mini-delta-affordable-starter-3d-printer/x/4856770#/" rel="noreferrer">Monoprice MP Mini Delta</a> from an Indiegogo Campaign, but it came with no printed docs. </p> <p>How do I get started?</p>

4489

Monoprice MP Mini Delta - How to get started?

<h2>Updated Manual</h2> <ul> <li><p>Turns out an out of date manual was on the sd card that was included with the printer. But it was definitely out of date, as it referenced UI items that don't exist, and files that weren't on the SD card.</p> </li> <li><p>An updated manual can <a href="https://www.mpminidelta.com/users_manual" rel="noreferrer">be found here</a> or <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/gl5vka5un1mkp2g/mini_delta_manual.pdf?dl=0" rel="noreferrer">possibly out of date here</a></p> </li> </ul> <h2>Resources and sample files</h2> <ul> <li>A very helpful <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/mpminideltaowners/" rel="noreferrer">Facebook group</a> has a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/mpminideltaowners/files/" rel="noreferrer">bunch of files</a> that are good sample prints. If your manual says you can print a <code>cat.gcode</code> you've got an old manual.</li> <li>Note: Don't try and just google <code>cat.gcode</code> as I did. The model I found rammed the print head right into the bottom of the printer. The correct model works great (actually called auto00.g on the SD card)</li> <li>Another great reference site appears to be <a href="https://www.mpminidelta.com/" rel="noreferrer">https://www.mpminidelta.com/</a>, and this <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/mpminidelta/" rel="noreferrer">reddit</a></li> </ul> <h2>Common Problems and Solutions</h2> <p>The following are some problems I had and their solution</p> <h3>Can't print custom models</h3> <p>If you find you can print prebuilt gcodes fine (cat,viking,toothless), but can't seem to print any other models without the print head ramming into the bottom of the printer and going off to the side, you probably haven't setup the autoleveling gcode that's <strong>required</strong>. You can add something like the following line to your software, in a &quot;startup&quot; gcode section. This is detailed in the manual (just search for G29), and <a href="https://www.mpminidelta.com/g29" rel="noreferrer">more info can be found here</a></p> <pre><code>; auto-levels the build plate with a overall vertical ; offset of 0.3mm with a center offset of -0.8mm G29 C-0.8 Z0.3 </code></pre> <h3>First layer doesnt stick</h3> <p>If you find your first layer isn't sticking, or it seems like the plastic is balling up, you need to adjust your startup gcode line mentioned above , so it has a lower Z offset, like Z0.25 for example</p> <pre><code>G29 Z[offset] ; raises G29 Z-[offset] ; lowers </code></pre> Notes <ul> <li>Please try a positive offset value first.</li> <li>Each printer will require fine tuning in regards to the offset value.</li> <li>Start with a higher value and decrease as necessary to get good first layer adhesion.</li> <li>Using a negative offset value may send the nozzle digging into the build plate.</li> </ul>

2017-08-15T09:28:01.347

|prusa-i3|abs|simplify3d|

<p>I am experiencing a minor layer separation when printing a body for a tipping-bucket rain gauge, which is basically a hollow tube with thin walls (3 mm). I am using <strong>Prusa I3 MK2</strong> and a <strong>Fillamentum ABS</strong> white plastic. The model has been sliced in <strong>Siplify 3D</strong> with the following settings:</p> <ul> <li>layer height: 0.2 mm</li> <li>perimeter shells: 3 layers (almost entirely fills up the wall)</li> <li>extruder temperature: 230 °C</li> <li>printing speed: default - 50 mm/s, outline - 35 mm/s, infill - 35 mm/s</li> </ul> <p>Is it possible to prevent the irregular and layer separation by adjusting some of the settings, and not significantly increasing the printing time, which is already 13 hours?</p> <p>PICTURES:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vNvWx.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vNvWx.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/93hzZ.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/93hzZ.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4496

How to prevent layer separation, when printing tall vase-like (tube) objects?

<p>increasing the temperature by 5 to 10° as well as, increasing the layer thickness to "0.3" or "0.35" may assist ,additionally increasing the flow rate of the filament, by a small margin at most 10%. These options should improve the quality of the print as they improve the layer adhesion, however none of these options will completely solve the problem.</p> <p>alternatively you can repair the current print. In order to do this you will need to use something cot such as a soldering iron with a variable temperature, to melt and rejoined the layers. similarly you can use a 3d pen to apply additional plastic across the sections of separation in order to repair it.</p>

2017-08-18T22:17:44.267

|filament|print-quality|warping|pp|

<p>I am wondering if anyone can help me achieve a good 3d print using polypropylene. I am trying to print custom insoles for shoes and I'm getting some bad warping/lifting (see image).</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZKi1R.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZKi1R.jpg" alt="example of warping using polypropylene"></a></p> <p>Some details about the print and process:</p> <ul> <li>I have a Prusa i3 Mk2S with a Flexion extruder</li> <li>I am using what I believe is a good quality filament (Verbatim PP): <a href="https://www.verbatim.com.au/3d-printing/pp-filament/3d-pp-filament.html" rel="noreferrer">https://www.verbatim.com.au/3d-printing/pp-filament/3d-pp-filament.html</a></li> <li>I am coating my hotbead with clear packaging adhesive (OPP tape) as per the manufacturers instructions. This appears to help quite a bit.</li> <li>Bed heated to 75 degrees. I tried 100 but got hit with the "Heatbed Thermal Runaway" error which I believe indicates that not enough voltage is getting to the bed heater.</li> <li>I've tried printing at 220 degrees and 170 degrees.</li> <li>I've tried enclosing the printer in a makeshift enclosure to reduce the speed that the material is cooling at.</li> <li>Other settings: speed 40mm/s constant, 0.2mm layer height, 20% infill, 3 top bottom and side layers. </li> </ul> <p>The print takes about 5 hours and seems to stay down for an hour or two before starting to warp.</p> <p>Does anyone have any suggestions of things I should try?</p>

4508

Help preventing warping while 3d printing with polypropylene

<p>One thing that seemed to help is making sure the heated bed was 100C. I was able to do this on my Prusa by turning off the front fan (for the whole print). If I have both the fan on and the heated bed at 100C I get the "Heatbed Thermal Runaway" error.</p> <p>This produced a print that was better but still a bit warped.</p>

2017-08-19T13:27:50.473

|3d-models|cad|repair|

<p>before a mesh can be printed it needs to be 'repaired'. According to most tutorials that is including making the shape close and removing inner shapes. Reading through B-REP in Wikipedia there is no layman term or explanation how it differs form the traditional polygonal mesh create for example from scanning or exporting from CAD. Is B-REP a mesh that only represents a boundary and therefore ready to be printed?</p>

4509

Is B-REP a ready to print mesh

<p>a) about </p> <blockquote> <p>Is B-REP a mesh that only represents a boundary [..] ?</p> </blockquote> <p>B-Rep contains more information, see <a href="https://pages.mtu.edu/~shene/COURSES/cs3621/NOTES/model/b-rep.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>There are two types of information in a B-rep: topological and geometric. Topological information provide the relationships among vertices, edges and faces similar to that used in a wireframe model. In addition to connectivity, topological information also include orientation of edges and faces. Geometric information are usually equations of the edges and faces.</p> </blockquote> <p>b) about </p> <blockquote> <p>and therefore ready to be printed</p> </blockquote> <p>it is need not only check that the model is correct (no lack of a face, no wrong face normals, ...) but also that is valid for a 3d printer (no "floating" parts, addition of supports, ...).</p> <p>Finally, recall the model is not what drives the printer, the printer is controlled by the machine instructions, usually gcode. Thus, the usual evolution is: parts description (.scad, ...), model format (.stl, ...) and machine instructions (.gcode).</p>

2017-08-22T19:32:11.643

|print-quality|abs|desktop-printer|heat-management|

<p>I print my ABS at:</p> <ul> <li>240 °C;</li> <li>with a bedtemp of 80 °C; </li> <li>5 % rectilinear infill;</li> <li>0.25 mm layer height;</li> <li>2 solid layers top and bottom; </li> <li>Fan is completely disabled;</li> <li>0.25 mm extrusion width;</li> <li>50 mm/s perimeter print speed;</li> <li>60 mm/s infill speed;</li> <li>20 mm/s top solid and solid speed;</li> <li>No acceleration.</li> </ul> <p>When printing ABS, I place an aluminum foil lined cardboard box over my printer to help keep the ambient temps up for less warping and stronger prints. I've never actually measured the temperature inside, but the cardboard box insulates very well. </p> <p>I get this weird kind of tearing in my prints, I'm not sure if it's from too large of gaps in my infill, too fast print speeds, or not enough top layers. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/r0Y27.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Torn print"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/r0Y27.jpg" alt="Torn print" title="Torn print"></a></p> <p>Another guess is some kind of drooping because of the high ambient temps. </p> <p>The tearing only occurs on large top layer surfaces. </p>

4530

Weird ripping and warping of ABS print

<p>First of all, don't specify the extrusion width, the slicing software does the calculation for the optimal value by itself: if you watch <a href="https://youtu.be/9YaJ0wSKKHA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this video</a> about extrusion width and you cross the data with <a href="https://twitter.com/profsen/status/1187390019088113675?s=19" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this tweet</a> you will see that the standard value is already optimal.</p> <p>Second, if you put the printer in a box for insulation you should redo the temperature calibration tower to find out which temperature produces the best results.</p> <p>Once you do both you'll find the problem will disappear.</p>

2017-08-22T23:31:18.417

|print-quality|print-material|ventilation|

<p>I'm interested in printing small machine parts (gears, linkages, structural components) so I'm looking for accuracy and mechanical strength over speed and volume.</p> <p>I'm also somewhat concerned about harmful emissions so would like a solution with some sort of filtration, whether it's built into the machine or something added. I'm thinking I will run the machine in an unventilated garage, which is quite warm and humid during the summer in Texas.</p> <p>My price range is \$1500-\$2000 USD. I've looked at several options but I didn't really come across any scenarios like I've described and would like some advice from the experts before committing.</p> <p>Anyone in a similar boat have any suggestions?</p>

4533

Printer/Material/Setup recommendation for printing mechanical parts

<p>There is more than one question here. Which touches three topics: the choice of appropriate 3D printing technique, the choice of materials, and control of any hazardous, noxious, or annoying out-gassing. </p> <p>It is important to understand the limits of the 3D printing process you will choose. Each process has its own limits on repeatability and resolution of small features, such as gear teeth. A 10 pitch (teeth-per-inch) gear could print acceptably well with a low-cost printer, but the size of a 10-tooth gear would be 1/2" diameter. This could be a small part, or a huge part, depending on the use. To print an 1/8" diameter 10-tooth gear would require a 100 pitch gear likely would not, and would call for an optical process (laser sintering (SLS) or photo-polymerization (like the FormLabs Form 2)) or a dot-jetting process (such as the StrataSys Objet Connex machines). These are not in the budget you've suggested, but are available through service bureaus.</p> <p>Answers here <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3392/how-can-i-print-gears-using-very-high-resolution-material-like-nylon">another community question</a> give some hints for using a plastic-extrusion machine, and information about SLS.</p> <p>Each process has different environmental requirements, and impacts, but first should be to understand the requirements of the parts, based on those choose a process and material, and then mitigate the environmental factors.</p>

2017-08-24T00:37:58.567

|electronics|

<p>Today I installed an inductive sensor (4 mm sensing distance, NPN) on my printer to perform auto-bed leveling. The sensor works at 12 V and the board at 5 V, so I used a voltage divider (as suggested in many places online) using a 10kOhm and a 15kOhm resistor.</p> <p>In testing the sensor, I noticed that the sensor's LED turns on, but the printer (Anet A8) doesn't recognize the fact that the sensor is triggering. I'm running the Skynet3D firmware, though I still have not switched to the version with auto bed-leveling. Regardless, the inductive sensor should still act as a limit switch, yet the Z-Axis motor does not stop when the sensor triggers. Am I doing something wrong, or missing a step?</p> <p>I have also measured the voltage across the leads that connect to the board and the voltage is slightly over 5 V when the sensor is not triggered, and lowers to around 2.5 V when the sensor triggers. I get the feeling it should be closer to 0 V.</p> <p>Thank you very much for any help.</p>

4536

Auto Bed Levelling - Printer not detecting, but sensor is triggering

<p>Perhaps the culprit is a pull-up resistor on the board. Normally, endstops on 3D printers use the microcontroller's internal pullups. These have a resistance of around 50kΩ, which is far too high to be a problem. However, if lower value pull up resistors are used on your main board, this could cause a problem.</p> <p>The resistor of your voltage divider form, when the output of the sensor is low, a parallel pair of resistors to ground, with an effective resistance equal to <code>1/(1/10+1/15) = 6kΩ</code>. If there was (let's say) a 4.7k pull-up resistor on the board, you'd expect to see around 2.8V on the output (because the pull-up resistor, together with the two resistors of your voltage divider, forms another voltage divider).</p> <p>I don't have the Anet A8 main board myself, but on pictures I do see a set of 6 resistors suspiciously close to the thermistor and endstop connectors.</p> <p>You could verify my suspicions by unplugging the endstop, powering down the electronics and then measuring the resistance between the endstop signal and 5V pins.</p> <p>Possible solutions:</p> <ul> <li><p>Desolder the offending resistor. This is pretty easy with SMD parts: you just alternate between heating up both sides until it slides off.</p></li> <li><p>Use a diode in place of a voltage divider. Anode goes to the endstop connector, cathode to the signal of the probe. This prevents the high voltage of the probe from being seen by the electronics, while allowing the probe to drain the current from the pull-up resistor.</p></li> </ul> <p>With this last solution, make sure the reverse leakage current of the diode is not too high. If it has a reverse current of (let's say) 50uA, then 50uA flowing through the (supposed 4.7k) pull-up to ground would raise the voltage at the signal pin to 5.002V. This is unlikely to be a problem, but with higher value resistors or higher leakage you'd see the voltage raise higher above 5V (which the microcontroller won't like).</p>

2017-08-26T13:50:56.717

|prusa-i3|calibration|z-probe|

<p>I have been happily printing with my Original Prusa i3 MK2S for a few weeks now. I have been thinking about replacing the PINDA probe with a BLTouch tactile sensor.</p> <p>If I do so, how will I be able to do the XYZ calibration? I believe that the tactile sensor would only be able to do Z calibration. If I need to redo the XYZ calibration in the future for some reason, is it possible to do manually? Or would I need to remount an extruder with a PINDA probe temporarily?</p>

4552

XYZ calibration without PINDA probe

<p>If you want to replace the PINDA probe (whatever reason for) then you can go with the BLTouch Sensor but only for certain operations. </p> <p>It will be good for leveling the bed before printing because here, only the bed level is important and not the skew of the bed. </p> <p>If it comes to calibration of the skew itself, the BLTouch Sensor will not be usable because the PINDA Probe detects the boundaries of the copper circles on the print bed. The BLTouch cannot detect these copper areas.</p> <p>The PINDA Probe is a proximity sensor. </p> <p>If you want to do a recalibration you have to mount the PINDA again. </p> <p>Therefore, it is possible but not recommended. </p>

2017-08-26T14:39:26.787

|prusa-i3|electronics|prusa-i3-rework|wire-type|

<p>I am thinking about rewiring the extruder heater cartridge. What is the connector on the Rambo Mini? I'm thinking about putting a similar connector close to the extruder to make replacement easy. I tried looking through <a href="https://github.com/ultimachine/Mini-Rambo/blob/1.3a/board/Project%20Outputs%20for%20Mini-Rambo/Mini-Rambo.PDF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the schematic</a> but could find the part number for the connector (I believe on page 4?).</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wfQmh.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wfQmh.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4553

Heater cartridge connector for Original Prusa i3 MK2S

<p>This is referred to as a Terminal Block Connector. More specifically this is a 2-position pluggable terminal block connector commonly manufactured by Phoenix Contact and others.</p> <p><a href="http://www.newark.com/phoenix-contact/1757019/terminal-block-pluggable-2-position/dp/71C4152" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Newark.com Pluggable Terminal Block, 5.08 mm, 2 Positions, 24 AWG, 12 AWG, 2.5 mm², Screw">Newark.com Sale Page: Pluggable Terminal Block, 5.08 mm, 2 Positions, 24 AWG, 12 AWG, 2.5 mm², Screw </a></p> <p><a href="https://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/121313.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Large Picture">Larger Picture: 2-Position Terminal Block Connectors</a></p>

2017-08-27T10:16:41.047

|file-formats|scanning|

<p>can anyone explain in the simplest terms please what is the difference between a point cloud and a voxel mesh?</p>

4556

Layman term explanation of the difference between voxel and point cloud

<p>A point cloud is often derived by sampling. Each point represents an observation. Sometimes, a point cloud is turned into a surface by fitting triangles to the points in the form of an STL file.</p> <p>A raster is a 2D grid of pixels. It divides the area of an image into constant-sized little squares. Each of these squares has a value.</p> <p>A 3D raster is made of voxels. It divides 3-space into constant-sized little cubes. Each of these cubes has a value.</p> <p>Pixels and voxels are rendering techniques. A point cloud is a sampling technique.</p> <p>The Wikipedia article, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voxel" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voxel</a>, is helpful.</p> <p>In a real system the pixels may not be square or the voxels not strictly cubic, but in every system I've worked with, they do form a regular tiling of the plane for pixels, and fill 3d space for voxels.</p>

2017-08-31T23:17:18.843

|print-quality|

<p>I'm getting this printing where it's not laying the plastic down very well. What could be causing this? I've printed with these settings before, and it turned out just fine. If you need any other info to properly diagnose this, let me know.</p> <p>I'm using a Robo3D R1+</p> <p>[<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cT7dV.jpg" alt="Bad Print[1]"></p>

4575

What could be causing this spotty extrusion?

<p>I had this problem also. After a few hours of troubleshooting and changing the extruder temp, printing speed, layer height, and infill density. I realized that I had set the PLA diameter at 2.85 mm when it was 1.75 mm. Changing that fixed all my problems.</p>

2017-09-06T08:25:23.983

|print-quality|heated-bed|extrusion|adhesion|

<p>I am having some problems with bed adhesion and curling of the edges. Also my printer causes a lot of stringing when creating the first layer. This can cause the print to let go of the bed and then it just drags around with the nozzle.</p> <p>I have a Anet A8 and I tried multiple different amounts of force pressing down on the paper. However, what is the desired amount of force pushing down on the paper? Is it supposed to move freely, or is it supposed to be quite hard to move around under the nozzle?</p> <p>I'm using basic filament from Gearbest: <a href="https://www.gearbest.com/3d-printer-supplies/pp_367906.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Gearbest Filament</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AbVDV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Perfect Nozzle Level"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AbVDV.png" alt="Perfect Nozzle Level" title="Perfect Nozzle Level" /></a></p>

4590

Correct amount of force on piece of paper when leveling bed

<p>Actual task in your case is to find correct nozzle height for the first layer, so the force for pulling out the paper is not important. It just has to be the same every time you make calibration. Because of the different force you apply, different paper thickness and other factors, found position can only be treated as 'relative'.</p> <p>To complete the calibration you will have to make several test prints with different initial heights, starting from the lowest, adding 0.1-0.2mm (depending on the nozzle diameter) before you find the right value.</p> <p>Please note that 1) initial layer height is not the only factor, affecting adhesion 2) some slicer programs may add not the same amount of height that you specify</p>

2017-09-07T07:21:49.740

|kossel|endstop|

<p>My printer is kossel (delta 3d printer).</p> <p>I have a probe far away from the nozzle (offset -x45 y17),every time I run G29, the result is unacceptable, the z distance between points is over 0.5mm, it's not because of the probe's accuracy, I test repeatedly the result is the same.</p> <p>I cost much time level the bed, finally I realize maybe it's because not only my bed, but also my z max endstops are not horizontal.</p> <p>My question is </p> <ol> <li>how to level the z endstops? (now I think both bed and z endstops are not horizontal)</li> <li>is my analyzation correct? any other possible?</li> </ol>

4593

how to level kossel's endstops?

<p>First, you should make sure that printing surface is adjusted correctly: it must be perpendicular to all three delta columns, all other adjustable parts must be checked and adjusted if necessary (depending on actual printer design).</p> <p>Assuming that upper end-stops can be adjusted as well.</p> <ul> <li>Home effector with G28 command, then move it close to one column (some versions of Marlin have these commands hardcoded in the menu)</li> <li>Move Z-axis slowly until the nozzle touches the bed</li> <li>Record Z position</li> <li>Repeat above steps for two remaining columns</li> <li>Then adjust end stops: if you need to raise nozzle (it touches the bed too early), then you move endstop up. If nozzle is too high (it reaches Z0 and still toes not touch the bed), then move endstop down. Move endstops very gently because sometimes it it can be a matter of a fraction of millimeter.</li> <li>After endstops calibration is done, verify that nozzle is properly calibrated at the center of the bed. Or run G29 if you like.</li> </ul> <p>This procedure should make your endstops properly adjusted relative to the printing bed.</p>

2017-09-07T13:53:14.260

|print-quality|desktop-printer|hardware|

<p>I am currently looking to buy a 3D printer. I've done some research about which technologies and materials they use. I've seen some models seems good so far but my concern is 'Are they mechanically solid?'. I don't want it to become a scrap after some usage. Since there are a lot of enthusiasts here that use 3D printer regularly, I would like to get use of your experience with 3D printers and their producer brands. </p> <p>I am not buying it for hobby. I'll mostly use it to make cases for circuit boards. </p>

4594

What should I consider before buying a 3D printer?

<p>Not surprisingly, your question is a difficult one to pin down in a precise manner. I'm going to pull one line from your post as the focus for my answer.</p> <blockquote> <p>I would like to get use of your experience with 3D printers and their producer brands</p> </blockquote> <p>I would suggest that you isolate a few models (or more) that hold your interest. A good example of a popular, quality printer is the Prusa i3 MK2s, although some would consider it to be expensive. It's available in kit form, as well as fully assembled, another topic entirely.</p> <p>Find the forums specific to the printer models you've selected and read as many posts as you can. Look for user postings describing problems and suggested solutions. Look for user postings describing modifications which implies a problem that had to be solved by the user or community before the printer performed satisfactorily.</p> <p>I've assisted in the building of a Prusa i3 MK2s recently and am currently assisting in a home-spun design based on a number of other generic printers. The owner of this model is incorporating as many modifications as he can find. That tells me that this model, although not yet completed, is likely to be a handful to tune and operate to his/my satisfaction.</p> <p>On the flip side, everything I've read about the Prusa told me that for the public library for which it was destined, it would be the lowest level of trouble for any model I researched. I was asked to make a recommendation and performed the suggested research via all the forums I could find.</p> <p>The above sounds like a direct recommendation, and it could be, but you have not provided too many specifics. The Prusa i3 MK2s (genuine, not clone) would likely print well for your circuit board cases, but there certainly would be other models to do the same job well enough.</p> <p>Watch out for print bed size, based on your board size requirements. Heated beds usually mean more money, but greater variety of materials can be used as a result.</p> <p>If you plan to limit your use specifically to circuit board cases, you may not have to be concerned about "expandability" from a feature standpoint. Single extruder models are fine for almost all 3D printing, but it's handy sometimes to have dual nozzle capacity. That's another plus for the Prusa i3 MK2s with an add-on kit, but not a big deal for case building, I think.</p> <p>Look in the various forums that provide general support for 3D printing (such as this one) for other posts from people who use Brand X 3D printer and have had a problem with, for example, bed adhesion, filament quality, layer shifts, nozzle clogging, just about anything.</p> <p>As with many things, high quality usually means higher price. The library Prusa has been zero problems for me to support on a volunteer basis, hence my recommendation. The makerspace also enjoyed the building process by buying the kit, saving US$200 in the process and learning more about the printer.</p> <p>Keep an eye out for users who have experienced broken components or typically troublesome components. You would not want to buy a printer model that ships with a junky hot-end assembly if the suggested modification is to upgrade to an E3D V6 to make it work properly. A user who posts about a continuing belt breakage (rare!) could have a user-induced problem or a printer design problem, which means you'll want to cull out some of the information you see.</p> <p>Good luck, it's a tough decision, to be sure.</p>

2017-09-07T19:45:51.667

|printer-building|hotend|anet-a8|

<p>I've recently purchased Anet A8. First print went well, but now, the hot end temperature stays at ~230&nbsp;°C. When I touch it, it is still cold. I tried the thermistor, and it correctly changes resistance when I blow on it (from 100&nbsp;k&Omega; to ~70&nbsp;k&Omega;). The voltage in connector is about 300&nbsp;mV. </p> <p>Does anybody know what could be wrong?</p>

4597

Anet A8 - hot end temperature still same

<p>In my case, I had a bad resistor on my board. R41 had only 2.2 k&Omega; instead of 4.7. I replaced it and everything works now.</p>

2017-09-12T01:14:27.913

|print-quality|simplify3d|

<p>I like using "Vase Mode" (or single outline corkscrew printing mode) for quick nonfunctional prints, but it tends to leave gaps in horizontal or near horizontal surfaces. I understand why it does this, but is there a way (beyond printing with no infill*) to get a little more horizontal coverage out of it?</p> <p>*Is the answer to this literally just "Try to print without infill?"</p>

4609

Is there a way to get more horizontal coverage out of "Vase Mode" in Simplify3D?

<p>Version 4 allows you to have multi-process vase mode prints -- do the vertical surfaces in vase mode, then switch over to normal mode for the horizontals. This lets you have the best of both worlds in the same print. :)</p>

2017-09-12T16:15:10.160

|3d-models|

<p>Here's the model I'm trying to print, <a href="https://www.shapeways.com/product/DX4FZNAUW/truncated-icosahedron?optionId=8435791" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Truncated Icosahedron</a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RfRzY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Truncated Icosahedron"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RfRzY.png" alt="Truncated Icosahedron" title="Truncated Icosahedron" /></a></p> <p>But it must be 12&quot; in diameter and gray in color <code>rgb = #444444</code></p> <p>I also want two of the hexagons to be yellow in color: <code>rgb = #FFFF00</code></p> <p>Similar to <a href="http://i68.tinypic.com/altceq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this photo</a>:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JJtoO.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Coloured hexagon"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JJtoO.png" alt="Coloured hexagon" title="Coloured hexagon" /></a></p> <p>How to do this? I don't seem to be able to edit the shape on shapeways.</p> <hr /> <h3>UPDATE</h3> <p>Got it.</p> <p><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:308179/#files" rel="nofollow noreferrer">skeleton bucky ball</a></p>

4615

How can I make this model?

<p>Without any restrictions to your methodology, your objective is easily accomplished. Thingiverse has a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:608201" rel="nofollow noreferrer">truncated icosahedron model</a> available for download and printing.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uIwU5.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uIwU5.jpg" alt="icosahedron"></a></p> <p>Because the creator has included in the download the OpenSCAD source files, you could edit it to meet your bed limitations. I've downloaded the source, opened it and found the model is a single hexagon, until you change a parameter from 6 to 5 to get a pentagon. I suspect the assembly is up to the builder to figure out.</p> <p>It appears that the default is for a 50 mm diameter sphere. Change the 50 in the code to 300 or so to reach your 12" desired diameter.</p> <p>An alternative to friction welding would be just about any decent epoxy or even a 3D printing pen such as the 3Doodler.</p>

2017-09-13T15:08:12.017

|print-quality|marlin|desktop-printer|diy-3d-printer|

<p>I am having issue with my new printer it is not printing circles correctly although I have change firmware and stepping of motor advise if anyone know the solution. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7egRT.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7egRT.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4619

3d printer not printing circles correctly

<p>Possible causes for the printer not printing correct dimensions:</p> <ul> <li>Incorrect number of steps/mm in firmware settings</li> <li>Belts are not tight enough</li> <li>Pulley slips on the shaft</li> </ul> <p>Looking at the picture, I would go for the first case, because distortion looks regular. Try checking microstep settings on your board, and settings in the firmware.</p>

2017-09-16T14:40:53.563

|marlin|heated-bed|firmware|tevo-tarantula|

<p>I've been trying to get something decent printed for days but nothing works! I have a Tarantula Tevo i3 <code>MKS Base V1.4</code> and have done a lot of trial &amp; plenty of error. Still I am puzzled to get good prints.</p> <ol> <li>What is the stock firmware for a single extruder regular/large bed firmware &amp; how to configure a large bed (if needed to be configured)?</li> <li>Which is the auto bed leveling firmware?</li> </ol> <p>I need help sorting out what's out there. I did not manage to configure a large bed with a single extruder. But did manage to restore firmware with <a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Marlin-2.0.x</a></p> <ol> <li>So the <a href="https://tevo3dprinterstore.com/pages/tevo-tarantula-firmware" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tevo 3D Printing Store firmware link</a> directs to a <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndykfl1wkw8enpj/AACTlV5qC9dpaJA1PYYLACeha?dl=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">dropbox</a> - only dual extruders - both regular &amp; large bed,</li> <li>There is JimBrown's GitHub <a href="https://github.com/JimBrown/MarlinTarantula" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MarlinTarantula</a> - Optimized firmware for RepRap 3D printers based on the Arduino platform,</li> <li>JoelLisenby's GitHub <a href="https://github.com/JoelLisenby/TEVO-Tarantula-I3-Marlin-Firmware" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TEVO-Tarantula-I3-Marlin-Firmware</a>.</li> </ol> <p>I followed this, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93p5ziFiGqs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">YouTube - Setting Up Auto Bed Leveling (Tevo Tarantula)</a>, for setting up the auto bed leveling sensor but it just got me messed-up even more, see <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4624/tt-is-bed-auto-leveling">Tevo Tarantula incorrectly auto leveling of bed</a>. I'm just now in the process of trying to manually level the bed and I broke the hot end holder plastic plate...</p> <hr> <p><strong>EDIT</strong>: The sensor I'm using is <a href="https://www.phidgets.com/?tier=3&amp;catid=13&amp;pcid=11&amp;prodid=402" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN04-N Inductive Proximity Sensor - 5mm</a></p>

4632

Tevo Tarantula I3 firmware

<p>Tevo Tarantula i3 owners on FaceBook is where I got marlin 2.0. Other things I tried didn't work, but this is working fine if you just want to add auto bed leveling using the standard SN04 sensor.</p>

2017-09-18T17:57:17.290

|print-quality|calibration|delta|repetier|

<p>I have make a little test with 4 dots aligned with A tower, B and C tower. Distance W and S are the same in the stl but not in the print. I have tried diferent values of diagonal root but S always is smaller than W, and all S are equal (more or less 38.20mm) and all W are equal (more or less 40.80). I expect that W and S will be 40mm. How can fix this problem?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hkUAj.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hkUAj.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><strong>Update:</strong></p> <p>Here is the stl I use: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/2vwjbo387cmk5qa/DeltaCalibration%20v15.stl?dl=0" rel="noreferrer">https://www.dropbox.com/s/2vwjbo387cmk5qa/DeltaCalibration%20v15.stl?dl=0</a></p> <p><strong>Update:</strong> I have replaced the steper motor in tower B but same result.</p>

4637

Delta printer distortion

<p>I bet your towers are not standing straight (vertical) or your bed is not clearly horizontal</p> <p>I've recreated your picture with some assumptions (for example that your SW calculates properly and your steppers and motors act well).</p> <p>Take a look here: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/O4lKx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/O4lKx.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p> <p>If you deliver your printer dimensions</p> <ul> <li>tower height (from the base)</li> <li>tower distance from the center</li> <li>bed distance (height) from the base</li> </ul> <p>I can calculate what the inclination angle on all towers is, but, I suppose it's not really important.</p> <p>The important thing is to set them straight/vertical (perpendicular to the bed).</p> <p>We can see from the picture that tower A is the most inclined to the center or the bed highest point is next to tower A (and I bet one of those or both cause the issue).</p> <p>As an example, I've made some calculations based on imagined assuptions of the tower height here are details:</p> <pre><code> towerH | inclination -----------+---------------- 300 mm | 0.11° 400 mm | 0.08° 500 mm | 0.06° </code></pre> <p>It seems to be quite small but in fact your differences in dimensions are also small!</p> <p>The inclination of tower B is bigger as there is bigger difference in dimensions, so maybe the issue is more in bed &quot;horizontality&quot;.</p> <p>It would be good if you would check and measure these parameters.</p> <p>As for the explanation why bed the inclination causes dimension distortion:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4jfG1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4jfG1.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p> <p>This is exaggerated but it's just to show the issue.</p>

2017-09-22T08:38:02.017

|3d-models|slic3r|

<p>I have an STL-file that Slic3r thinks has errors. They are not visible in the 3D view. I have had them anazlyzed in both Blender and netfabb. Both of these programs say that the model is good. I don't want to leave this to chance. Since I sell STL-files I need the STL-file perfect.</p> <p>Is there any way I can find out what the problem is. I encounter this from time to time. Often I can go back into blender and find the error by analyzing the mesh. But not always. It would be very helpful to have slic3r tell me what it repaired.</p>

4644

How can I see what errors Slic3r have repaird?

<p>Slic3r uses <a href="https://github.com/admesh/admesh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ADMesh</a> internally to validate and fix mesh. You could try to use ADMesh directly to see a limited information about what was changed. Note that Slic3r bundles it's own copy of ADMesh and depending on your Slic3r version and edition, the behavior of it's ADMesh might slightly differ from the standalone one. (For example Slic3r Prusa Editon patches it's own ADMesh very heavily.)</p> <h1>Using ADMesh CLI:</h1> <pre><code>$ admesh cube_bad.stl ADMesh version 0.98.2, Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 Anthony D. Martin ADMesh comes with NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details. Opening cube_bad.stl Checking exact... Checking nearby. Tolerance= 1.000000 Iteration=1 of 2... Fixed 0 edges. Checking nearby. Tolerance= 1.000173 Iteration=2 of 2... Fixed 0 edges. Removing unconnected facets... Filling holes... Checking normal directions... Checking normal values... Calculating volume... Verifying neighbors... ================= Results produced by ADMesh version 0.98.2 ================ Input file : cube_bad.stl File type : ASCII STL file Header : solid cube (repaired) ============== Size ============== Min X = 0.000000, Max X = 1.000000 Min Y = 0.000000, Max Y = 1.000000 Min Z = 0.000000, Max Z = 1.000000 ========= Facet Status ========== Original ============ Final ==== Number of facets : 12 12 Facets with 1 disconnected edge : 3 0 Facets with 2 disconnected edges : 0 0 Facets with 3 disconnected edges : 1 0 Total disconnected facets : 4 0 === Processing Statistics === ===== Other Statistics ===== Number of parts : 1 Volume : 1.000000 Degenerate facets : 0 Edges fixed : 0 Facets removed : 1 Facets added : 1 Facets reversed : 2 Backwards edges : 0 Normals fixed : 2 </code></pre> <p>The statistics should give you some idea about what happened.</p> <h1>Using ADMeshGUI:</h1> <p>Find ADMeshGUI at <a href="https://github.com/admesh/ADMeshGUI/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">github.com/admesh/ADMeshGUI</a>.</p> <p>Open the file and click the <strong>REPAIR</strong> button in bottom right. See the changes.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bIKpm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bIKpm.png" alt="ADMeshGUI"></a></p>

2017-09-27T21:50:05.010

|repetier|post-processing|rafts|repetier-host|

<p>I have had a 3d printer for a while now, and I have a lot of the quality settings dialed in pretty well, but one thing that constantly bugs me is removing the raft from my finished prints. I am using Repetier and I have set the air gap to 0.2 mm. That led to much better results than the default 0, which were impossible to remove at all, but it is still not great. Are there any settings I should look at changing to get easier to remove rafts? Does the filament affect this? I am printing in Hatchbox PLA at high temps. I have a heated bed, and reducing the temp on that did seem to help. Maybe it keeps the layers on the raft from fusing with the layers on the part? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>

4664

How should I go about printing easily removable rafts?

<p>I have been able to get rafts that peel off by editing the g-code after the raft has finished and adding an M104 set temperature command telling my printer to cool the nozzle down to about 40 degrees and then another M104 command to tell the nozzle to heat back up again. This gives the raft enough time to cool and then the raft doesn't weld to the rest of the print. If you are using a heated bed I would suggest trying the M190 command and turning that off after the raft and then back on after the first layer as well. </p>

2017-09-28T21:44:19.737

|print-quality|

<p>Apologies, I'm a EE designer and software guy. We've been CNC'ing prototypes, and my office just bought a very cheap 3D printer.</p> <p>I'm using Cura as recomended, and wanted to print a piece that has features on both sides.</p> <p>Here is a screenshot of each side.</p> <p>So if you laid one side flat, you see how there is a subtractive portion underneath it?</p> <p>Is there a way to 3D print an object like this, and keep the details on each side?<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2T54.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2T54.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><strong>UPDATE</strong> I copied some Cura settings from guys and basically tipped this thing to a 45 degree. Here are the results. Pretty good! The finish has some zits and pops, but the surface details are quite accurate enough to fit a PCB board in there with confidence.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4jAWN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4jAWN.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4666

Printed 2 Sided Object?

<p>You can print it laying flat on the bed with supports. It will be very laborious to clean up, but it will probably work. supports usually are thin enough to strip away, but they leave marks which you need to cut off to get a clean result.</p> <p>You can also buy a printer with dual extruders and then use dissolvable supports. That would probably be easier to clean up and provide a cleaner result.</p> <p>If you're using PLA to print, you might get away with turning up the part cooling fan to the maximum level and hope for the best. Overhangs are very much prone to dropping though. I'm not sure if a stock MP Select mini will get the job done. You might want to consider an upgrade to the part cooling fan. You can look for fan duct related upgrades which allow you to mount bigger fans on <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a></p> <p>With PETG you can possibly get away with longer overhangs, as it cools quicker. However, PETG is much harder to print well, as it's much more prone to stringing, which can cause issues like artifacts and clogging.</p> <p>All in all I'd start out with getting a good benchy before you start on engineering projects. This will make sure that you have your printer calibrated to perform for your chosen filament. Every brand and type has their own quirks and differences, so you'll have to fine tune your settings to get the best result.</p> <p>A CNC-like finish will not be easy to achieve. A CNC type finish will be unachievable without extensive post processing if you're using supports. In any case, getting a good finish requires some practice with finding the right settings for your filament.</p> <p>Learn how to print and to get your printer dialled in to achieve the required result, which, in the case of it having to be CNC-like, is quite high-end. The fact you're laying down filament means that you'll be able to see lines, even at top quality. Maybe <a href="https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> guide will help you get on your way.</p> <p>Getting a $1000 printer mainly inproves reliability of the print. The quality of the print is in the skill of dialling in the right settings in your slicer for a given filament choice, plus recognising the type of supports necessary. This takes practice to achieve.</p>

2017-10-01T01:36:14.353

|3d-design|

<p>I am new to Fusion 360 and I think I'm going straight to something complicated. Is there a way to make a nose cone for a model rocket? What tools would one you to accomplish this?</p>

4681

Make a nose cone in Fusion 360

<p>Try model8ng the rocket into the workspace, and then you can extruder a nose cone from the top using a 30 degree angle</p>

2017-10-03T04:11:02.003

|print-quality|diy-3d-printer|calibration|z-axis|layer-height|

<p>I'm having a frustrating problem with my recent built custom 3D printer so every single print I made, from the third layer, the nozzle is &quot;rubbing&quot; on the already placed filament. This results in a complete mess, melting the previous layers with the nozzle / new extrusions coming, getting malformed and out of precision forms, if I leave this happening, my Y-axis motor (bed) start to jump steps (by the force of nozzle friction to cold material). To stop that symptom, at the beginning of this, I have to raise the Z-axis by hand turning about 1/8 rotation of T8 fuse. By doing this, every rest of my printing runs peaceful, nicely, and beautiful.</p> <p>I'm using Marlin firmware, the most recent version, and Ultimaker Cura. My nozzle size is 0.5 and I'm using Ultimaker Cura's Fine Preset (0.1 mm height)</p> <p>My stepper motors axis are very well calibrated (X, Y, Z and Extruder). I tried:</p> <ul> <li>lowering and raising the print bed to get spaced or shrunken first layers to see if something helps,</li> <li>tried to change Z home offset on display,</li> <li>tried the <code>M206</code> command to change the print zone of the Z-axis,</li> <li>tried to change the first layer height on Ultimaker Cura,</li> </ul> <p>but nothing seems to solve my problems.</p> <p>Due to my lack of experience, I don't know what I could try to solve this frustrating issue. I already check and rechecked my mechanical structure and everything was fine solid and very well balanced and square.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/erJNy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Photo of failed print - side"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/erJNy.jpg" alt="Photo of failed print - side" title="Photo of failed print - side" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YHGU5.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Photo of failed print - front"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YHGU5.jpg" alt="Photo of failed print - front" title="Photo of failed print - front" /></a></p> <p>From comment:</p> <ul> <li>Printing speed are 40 mm/s,</li> <li>Temps:</li> <li>Hotend: 220 °C;</li> <li>Hot Bed: 120 °C;</li> <li>I have also tried 110 °C,</li> <li>My Z-axis uses 800 steps per mm (1/32 micro stepping on DRV8825 at RAMPS).</li> </ul> <p>I'm thinking about over extrusion but I have fine tuned my stepper, checked and rechecked for it and seems normal</p>

4692

Nozzle rubs on previous layers

<p>^{Taken from a <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/12352">rejected suggested edit</a>. If the author (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/28867/gareth">Gareth</a>) posts their own answer, this can be deleted, or flagged for deletion}</p> <hr /> <p>My Ender 3 is not warped in any way but there are several issues I needed to address:</p> <ol> <li><p>Extrusion:</p> <p>Check your extruder and Z eSteps for accuracy, as detailed in numerous places. Test layer width: print a cube in vase mode (1 shell thick) and measure wall thickness. Adjust extrusion multiplier accordingly.</p> </li> <li><p>Bed Level:</p> <p>I was leveling with the '1 sheet of paper' method. I started using two sheets of paper. To compensate for reduced bed adhesion I use hairspray.</p> </li> <li><p>Mechanical 1:</p> <p>I found my X carriage was slightly loose: the hotend was pulled upwards or rode upwards during some moves then grinding on subsequent layers.</p> <p>Test: Grab the rail with your left hand then push with your thumb against the top left roller. If the roller rides up the groove then the carriage is loose.</p> <p>Fix: The carriage is held firm by an eccentric on the bottom roller. Loosen the bottom wheel bolt, adjust the eccentric nut until the carriage is firm on the rail. Then back off slightly until motion is free. This is best done with the belt loose or disconnected.</p> </li> <li><p>Mechanical 2: X rail sags on the right.</p> <p>I found the X rail assembly was not even height across the width. Again, the eccentric roller was loose. Test: Measure rail height on both sides.</p> <p>Fix: Adjust inside eccentric roller as above.</p> </li> <li><p>Mechanical 3: Tighten belts.</p> </li> </ol> <p>Obviously, this is brief. Check your manual or YouTube for anything you're unsure of.</p>

2017-10-03T15:26:56.933

|heated-bed|diy-3d-printer|

<p>I ordered a MOSFET module on eBay for my 3D printer and I did not get the one in the picture but I got this: </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EViOu.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="The thing I received"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EViOu.jpg" alt="The thing I received" title="The thing I received"></a></p> <p>If there is any way I could use this on my Anet A8 could someone tell me how, as it only has one input connector, DC in, and 12&nbsp;V out.</p>

4694

MOSFET problems!

<p>No, this module is completely useless for your intended purpose.</p> <p>The load side is marked with "5A 5-220VDC". This means it can only switch up to 5A, maximum. The heated bed draws more than twice this current.</p>

2017-10-05T14:04:49.993

|pla|color|smoothing|

<p>I would like to use nail polish to paint and smooth a PLA model. Could nail polish damage a model made out of pure PLA?</p>

4706

Could nail polish damage pure PLA?

<p>Nail polish will not damage your PLA model.</p> <p>1) Let's talk about "gel" nail polish. Gel polish self-levels, does not drip, is cheap, is much more health-friendly than many finishing methods, and only takes 30 seconds under a suitable strength UV/LED lamp to dry, providing a thick smooth coat (clear, color, glitter!, anything) that makes any layer lines disappear. </p> <p>2) The FDA regulates nail polish in its "cosmetics" category, so, not only are the ingredients known, they have to be printed on the bottle.</p> <p>3) Gel polish consists of various methacrylate monomers which undergo a radical (in the chemistry sense, although it is pretty darn cool too) polymerization process that is UV-activable. Filament is primarily polyactide, which is polymerized at room temperature. Polymerized polyactide reacts with methylacrylate at the ends of the long strands (not in the middle, which is what you would describe as "damage"). Methylacrylate actually makes the PLA ends less reactive (read: it makes it stronger). As an industrial material, this compound is known as "supertoughened" PLA.</p> <p>Hope that clears things up a bit. As an aside, if you're not familiar with the different families of nail polishes, and you want to try this, you can tell if the polish you're looking at is "gel" because the bottle will be opaque (keeps UV out).</p>

2017-10-14T10:44:39.993

|g-code|octoprint|

<p>A while ago, I created some simple command buttons in Octoprint to help with bed levelling, by hopping to particular points on the bed. I realised that what I actually want to do is move Z up 10mm, move, and then home Z though, to avoid ploughing the nozzle along the bed if the level is badly off.</p> <p>So I did this:</p> <pre><code> - commands: - G91 - G1 Z-10 - G90 - G1 X30 Y160 F9000 - G28 Z name: Back Left type: command </code></pre> <p>Which should be, switch to relative move, Move -10mm Z, switch back to absolute, go to the specified point and then home Z.</p> <p>Except there's no Z move. I get the feeling that something might be optimising the moves together into one, or something similar... how can I get my printer to move up, <em>then</em> across, <em>then</em> down?</p> <p>(printer is an quite modified Anet A8 i3 clone - I think the board is Melzi-based?)</p>

4735

gcode commands in octoprint: Z moves ignored?

<blockquote> <p>what I actually want to do is move Z up 10mm</p> </blockquote> <p>The command <code>G1 Z-10</code> tells the printer to <em>decrease</em> the Z-axis position, i.e., move the nozzle closer to the bed. You should use <code>G1 Z10</code> instead.</p>

2017-10-16T14:39:31.857

|ultimaker-cura|g-code|

<p>I'm having a Prusa i3 derivative printer with a capacitive sensor for the z-axis. It switches a tiny bit before the nozzle hits the print bed and hence needs a z-offset to be configured.</p> <p>In Slic3r I have configured the z-offset to <code>-0.1</code> on the <em>General</em> page of the <em>Printer Settings</em>, but currently I'm evaluating Cura and can't find such a setting. Slic3r seems to apply this setting directly to the generated z-values in the g-code, so it does not use a short version at the beginning of the g-code. My current (except of the auto-bed-leveling part default) g-code:</p> <pre><code>G28 ;Home G29 ; auto-bed-leveling G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 G1 F200 E3 G92 E0 </code></pre> <p>Is there a way to configure Cura, e.g. using the <em>Start Gcode</em> options, to apply the z-offset?</p>

4745

Cura: set z-offset

<p>I built my printer five years ago with a similar issue and I strongly suggest that the physical 0 will be the actual 0 instead of tweeking it into the system. Especially if you are exploring and testing new methods, i.e. Cura vs Slic3r settings. In Marlin, you can insert a z adjustment for the endstops but it can create future complications if you decide to upgrade the machine.</p> <p>Keep it as simple as possible, if a sensor is misplaced don't try to reverse calculate it, the pressure of the motors will nudge it and after a while you'll have the same problem...</p>

2017-10-16T15:28:02.170

|3d-design|kossel|

<p>I want to draw a corner piece for a Kossel delta 3D printer in Fusion 360 for 2040 aluminum extrusions like in the picture below, but I can't find a way to actually start. I draw a 3-sided polygon and a 20x40 mm rectangle but don't know where to go from there. Do you have any suggestions?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hxAR4.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hxAR4.jpg" alt="2D CAD drawing of corner geometry" /></a></p>

4747

How to draw a Kossel delta corner piece in Fusion 360?

<p>I love me a challenge so I just hacked this together: (a half waiting for mirror) <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z8Skx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z8Skx.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> As for strategy, I simply used the line tool to do a basic shape and then went to town with constraints and dimensions to see what I end up with. Can't fail. </p> <p>Clearly, you're missing information to constraint the sketch fully, but if you have the extrusions and the machine, you could just print a few tests to guess the missing values. </p> <p>(Like precise position of the circles, of the 20x40 rectangle...)</p> <p>You can download/ view my fusion model here: <a href="http://a360.co/2gJsdxB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://a360.co/2gJsdxB</a> </p> <p>Good luck. </p>

2017-10-17T07:21:56.447

|ultimaker-cura|g-code|support-structures|

<p>Is it possible to use Cura Engine (the command line tool) to generate a gcode with support?</p> <p>Here is what I do now: </p> <pre><code>CuraEngine slice -j /usr/share/cura/resources/definitions/ultimaker2.def.json -l my.stl -o my.gcode </code></pre>

4750

Adding support when generating g-code from Cura Engine (command line)?

<p>I found this in the fdrmprinter.def.json which you could might make a copy of and use instead for the -j option:</p> <pre><code>"support": { "label": "Support", "type": "category", "icon": "category_support", "description": "Support", "children": { "support_enable": { "label": "Enable Support", "description": "Enable support structures. These structures support$ "type": "bool", "default_value": false, "settable_per_mesh": true, "settable_per_extruder": false } } } </code></pre> <p>Change the "default_value" under "support_enable" to true and that could work.</p>

2017-10-17T19:58:04.243

|prusa-i3|pla|extruder|slic3r|prusa-i3-rework|

<p>I am building a Prusa i3 MK2 Clone and I am caught on this one. I have replaced the extruder with a MK8 adapted by myself to fit with most of the previous hardware from the E3D style extruder.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LzmiW.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LzmiW.jpg" alt="Here&#39;s the extruder conversion setup"></a></p> <p>My current problem is that the nozzle appears to be dragging on the top of the layers. I can't tell if it's over extrusion or a layer height issue or what. I am testing by printing the 20mm calibration cube. The dimensions appear to be spot-on, but the layers start building up too much filament such that it just gets re-melted and shuffled around:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yAqDT.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yAqDT.jpg" alt="just dragging lines through the print"></a></p> <p>Anyone have a clue what this could be? Software, Hardware, Slic3r Settings?</p> <p>I have: 0.5mm Nozzle Diameter. MK8 Direct Drive extruder.</p> <p>Anything else you want to know?</p> <p>Thanks!</p> <p>--- UPDATE ---</p> <p>Thanks everyone for your help. Turns out it was seriously over-extruding, like 3x what it should have been! I ran through this instructable: <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-calibrate-the-Extruder-on-your-3d-Printer/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-calibrate-the-Extruder-on-your-3d-Printer/</a> Which helped me with what I needed to do to fix the issue, but just re-flashed Marlin on the printer with the updated setting.</p> <p>Here's the result! WAY better, I still have some z-wobbling issues but i think the frame just needs more support than it has now and that should fix up the slightly jagged corners.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HfUNC.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HfUNC.jpg" alt="Steps per mm updated"></a></p>

4751

Print Nozzle Dragging and Smearing Filament while Printing

<p>You stated your print of a 20mm cube came out spot on so I will rule out any z-axis configuration issues. It clearly seems like you are extruding too much plastic.</p> <p>I use slic3r myself with repetier so I am familiar with the settings.</p> <p><strong>Print Settings</strong> - Advanced</p> <p>All the values should be 0 except first layer sometimes is 100%-200% depending on your personal setup. Increasing these values may cause more filament to leave the extruder.</p> <p><strong>Filament Settings</strong> - Diameter</p> <p>This should be set to 1.75 or 3 depending on your filament size. If you accidentally have it set to 1.75 when your filament is 3mm, it would probably be over-extruding since it pushing almost double the plastic with the same length.</p> <p><strong>Filament Settings</strong> - Extrusion multiplier</p> <p>This should be set to 1 or slowly adjust it 0.05 increments to reduce overall amount of plastic leaving the nozzle.</p> <p><strong>Printer Settings</strong> - Nozzle diameter</p> <p>This should be set to 0.5 since your nozzle is 0.5mm. Make sure your nozzle truly is this value.</p> <p><strong>EDITED 10/19/17 - OP has solved problem and his own answer made me realize I made mistake on how to measure and correct extrusion steps/mm. Ignore this below and see what OP wrote in their edit.</strong></p> <p>If all these Slic3r configurations fail or are correct and do not solve your problem, I think you may want to look into your motor step settings for the extruder. It may be too high pushing more filament than it should. To correct this, you need to do the length test where you will extrude 10mm or 50mm and measure the string of plastic. There might be some stretch so a 10mm may measure as 11mm but as long as your close it should be good. If you extrude 10mm and you measure 25mm, you need to recalculate your steps per mm.</p> <p>Also for your first layer, make sure it is not being smushed to the build plate. You want it to be flattened a little to provide good adhesion but not too close to the build plate where it would constrict the nozzle.</p> <p>Hope this helps, and good luck on your prints. May you never have to deal with thermal runaway error :)</p>

2017-10-18T20:04:26.710

|ultimaker-cura|

<p>I've printed a 2x2x2&nbsp;cm test cube with Slic3r (left) and Ultimaker Cura (right) and my Prusa i3 derivative machine with tight belts. The print settings should be quite equal (0.15&nbsp;mm layer height, 40&nbsp;mm/s outer wall speed, default accelerations/jerks). Though the top surface of the Ultimaker Cura-cube looks much better than the Slic3r-cube,</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/NjqvC.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/NjqvC.jpg" alt="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura" title="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura"></a></p> <p>the latter has much flatter vertical walls than the first. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bxs8l.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bxs8l.jpg" alt="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura" title="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/OUmz6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/OUmz6.jpg" alt="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura" title="Left: Slic3er, right: Ultimaker Cura"></a></p> <p>The front wall of the Ultimaker Cura-cube was printed from left to right which could explain the wavy result as some kind of vibration caused by the sharp y-stop at the left front corner.</p> <p>But what setting could have influenced this? Should I try to manual setting of lower accelerations in Ultimaker Cura?</p>

4762

Wavy walls with Ultimaker Cura

<p>It is difficult to see with the lighting and the shiny green, but try printing a more complex object, like the usual <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278865" rel="nofollow noreferrer">XYZ cube</a>. Does it look like this one? which means big waves after a change of direction, but then getting smaller?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/m8t6k.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/m8t6k.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p> <p>If so, it is &quot;ringing&quot; or &quot;ghosting&quot;, which means that the acceleration you set is too high for the mechanics of your printer and the machine vibrates too much.</p> <p>Does it look like this one? Which means, exactly aligned vertically, and everywhere, not only after changes of direction?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bujra.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bujra.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p> <p>Then it is NOT ringing, it is due</p> <ul> <li>too tight belt (almost always!)</li> <li>poor quality belt</li> <li>poor bearings or idlers (not common)</li> </ul> <p>I also had it and it was the belt, too tight. Loosen it, it can be much looser than you think before you get issues.</p> <p>Check <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/8020/how-to-fix-evenly-spaced-vertical-print-pattern">How to fix evenly spaced vertical print pattern</a> to get more information about the second issue.</p> <p>There is another potential cause for wavy walls, however I'm mentioning it for completeness, it is not the case of the question.</p> <p>If the waves repeat horizontally, but are not aligned vertically, and the extruder is a direct drive, it could be caused by the issue explained in this video, which shows that the dual gear of direct drives introduce periodic changes in flow, which are visible sometimes.</p> <p><div class="youtube-embed"><div> <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dL6u0UwPJOQ?start=0"></iframe> </div></div></p>

2017-10-18T22:13:55.230

|3d-design|

<p>Currently, 3D Builder is telling me "one or more objects are invalidly defined. Click here to repair." What is this and what does it mean? When I click it, it totally messes up my model (I can't tell what it even did due to the orthogonal camera). Model stats: </p> <ul> <li>Made with Sketchup</li> <li>Used STL Exporter to export it</li> <li>Last I knew what the repairing did to it was to remove my sinks and reduced them to holes in the floor</li> <li>I used ASCII encoding for my STL (I tried using Binary, but it didn't help)</li> <li>I tried subdividing it but it didn't help.</li> </ul> <p>Screenshots:</p> <p>This is a picture of the model before repairing: <a href="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/173c/2026o54i3pm7h1szg.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/173c/2026o54i3pm7h1szg.jpg" alt="This is a picture of the model before repairing"></a></p> <p>This is a picture of the model after repairing: <a href="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/cd41/uh5e97ak6j79zoyzg.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/cd41/uh5e97ak6j79zoyzg.jpg" alt="This is a picture of the model after repairing"></a></p> <p>(Just in case you wonder. I actually <strong>have</strong> to use STL for this project)</p>

4764

3D Builder is Saying "One or more objects is invalidly defined"

<p>SketchUp is notorious for creating non-manifold (non-3D-printable) models. You would be much better off to learn to use a different, better suited program for your purposes.</p> <p>Disregarding that aspect for the moment, your model prior to repair appears to be a general rectangular prismatic shape with dividers. Unfortunately, those dividers also appear to have zero wall thickness. One must create objects with thickness (minimum should be no lower than your nozzle diameter) in order to have that portion addressed.</p> <p>Other views of the object may confirm this.</p> <p>Back to the first reference, even a program as simple as <a href="https://www.tinkercad.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TinkerCAD</a> will give you SketchUp simplicity with a much smaller chance of this sort of failure. For more advanced model creation with parameters, <a href="https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fusion 360</a> offers hobbyist free license. I'm also quite fond of <a href="http://www.openscad.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OpenSCAD</a> ( also free ) for parameter-based model creation.</p>

2017-10-19T10:34:00.163

|scanning|

<p>My processor is running at 4.70 GHz and has 8 cores. I also have 32GB RAM. I have a USB 3.0 and a USB 3.1 xHCI hub, and Nvidia 1700 graphics card. </p> <p>Can I use the Kinect v2 and the adapter to scan rooms, and objects, quickly, without trouble with the USB?</p>

4770

Scanning 3D with a Kinect v2 on AMD Ryzen 7?

<p>In short with the hardware you have it should be no problem. In actuality your specific setup, how you move the scanner, how stable is the scanner, what software you are using, and how you've calibrated the kinect will most likely have the largest impact on the quality, and speed in which you can scan.</p>

2017-10-19T16:57:45.853

|fdm|carbon|

<p>So there is a company called impossible objects that use CBAM technology witch the description can be found here <a href="http://impossible-objects.com/technology/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://impossible-objects.com/technology/</a> I am pretty sure that they are the only ones using this process, I want to know why. CBAM makes stronger material out of carbon fiber in a very sophisticated process stronger than FDM(Fused Deposition Modeling). This is interesting and I want to know why. I understand the process but not the pros and cons.</p>

4771

How is FDM Better than CBAM?

<p>Well the CBAM stuff is SUPER new, requires a lot more work done by hand (currently), and is going to be WAY expensive compared to widely used FDM machines.</p> <p>Seems to me like a carbon fiber mixed filament is a cheaper way to go, with a possible annealing process to get the tensile strength up post-print.</p> <p>Try locating a CBAM printer for $200! Maybe if the process becomes quicker, and the machines/materials cheaper to purchase, we could be using this method more in the future. I feel that we will likely advance the materials we have with FDM much faster than this other process would catch on and become affordable.</p>

2017-10-20T02:19:53.487

|prusa-i3|ultimaker-cura|

<p>My first layer is suddenly not sticking for every new print I'm trying. When it lays down the first layer it has this weird jaggedness to it, doesn't firmly stick to the plate, and gets dragged by the nozzle. I've printed previously successful prints without an issue, but any new print I export from Cura is having this issue. I'm using the same profile that I do for the previously successful ones. </p> <p>My relevant print settings are:</p> <ul> <li>Material: PLA</li> <li>Layer height: .2mm</li> <li>Hotend: 205c</li> <li>Plate: 60c</li> <li>Fan cooling: 50%</li> <li>Speed: 60mm/s</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0EOPd.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0EOPd.jpg" alt="Problem print"></a></p>

4774

Prusa i3 - First layer does not stick and looks jagged

<p>Your nozzle is too far from the build plate. You should make some changes to bring the nozzle closer to the build plate for the first layer. There are a number of possibilities for doing this:</p> <ol> <li><p>Adjust the Z-axis endstop</p></li> <li><p>Loosen the bed leveling screws</p></li> <li><p>Add an offset in G-code</p></li> </ol> <p>This will squish the plastic down more, enabling it to stick to the build plate.</p> <p>With solution (3), you have to be careful that you don't crash into the endstop. This solution works best if your printer homes towards max (and not min) or if you have non-mechanical (hall or optical) endstops.</p>

2017-10-21T11:01:56.663

|ramps-1.4|

<p>I recently switched to a RAMPS 1.4 on an Arduino Mega 2560. Ever since I have extruder temperature swings a couple of minutes into the print, but it looks like a problem reading the temp rather than actual fluctuations in the temperature (as can be seen in the attached pic). Also, I've noticed that the MOSFET is getting really hot when I heat the heated bed.</p> <p>What is the problem and how can I fix it?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QETof.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QETof.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4778

Temperature problems after switching to RAMPS 1.4

<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ff4r7.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /> By my mistake 12v in heatbed Vout plug and then the temperature shows(ramps 1.6) Plase help me</p>

2017-10-23T03:18:07.403

|3d-models|pla|3d-design|

<p>Could I 3D model and print a working airbrush in PLA?</p>

4781

Could I 3D print an airbrush?

<p>The problem with this I see is that the PLA takes and holds paint super well. I have painted it with acrylic a lot and it works great for models you want painted after printing.</p> <p>I know next to nothing about airbrushing, but it seems to me like keeping a printed airbrush clean for re-use would be a big pain. It looks like they make the pro airbrushes with some kind of stainless steel most likely for the non-sticking purposes of re-use, which PLA just won't have.</p> <p>That being said, don't be afraid to model it and try! I would make a suggestion that you switch to ABS and then do a vapor bath on the result to smooth out the material and possibly make it easier to clean excess paint out of.</p>

2017-10-23T18:13:46.473

|software|

<p>So I've seen some very good design software, but almost all of it is very expensive. I'm just wondering if there's a good cheap design software out there.</p>

4784

Good Designing Software for cheap

<p>OnShape is free for students and the public and is very similar to Fusion 360. It works online on almost any device and was built by some of the engineers from Solidworks. Free accounts can not have any private documents so anyone can see your design. If you know how to use Solidworks/Inventor you will be able to pickup Fusion 360/OnShape very quickly.</p> <p>OpenSCAD is also free but works through its own programming language. It requires a strong math background and some understanding of programming to use as it has no GUI tools.</p>

2017-10-25T06:50:39.283

|ultimaker-cura|g-code|

<p>How can I center a model at the middle of the printing area of the printer when creating a g-code with CuraEngine. </p> <p>Are there any parameters I can add to <code>ultimaker2.def.json</code> to achieve this? Thanks.</p>

4792

Centering model with CuraEngine when creating g-code?

<p>Found a solution. This need to be applied under <code>"settings"</code></p> <pre><code>"command_line_settings": { "label": "Command Line Settings", "description": "Settings which are only used if CuraEngine isn't called from the Cura frontend.", "type": "category", "enabled": true, "children": { "center_object": { "description": "Whether to center the object on the middle of the build platform (0,0), instead of using the coordinate system in which the object was saved.", "type": "bool", "label": "Center object", "default_value": true, "enabled": true } } } </code></pre>

2017-10-25T18:31:24.267

|print-quality|

<p>I am re-writing this question because, well, it needs to be updated.</p> <p>I have the Anet A6, but in a general sense of things, what kind of threads can I produce before it no longer works? </p>

4804

Printing threads

<p>I don't have a printer like yours but it should not matter.</p> <p>Once you follow the calibration steps listed at <a href="https://github.com/AndrewEllis93/Print-Tuning-Guide/blob/main/articles/extrusion_multiplier.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/AndrewEllis93/Print-Tuning-Guide/blob/main/articles/extrusion_multiplier.md</a> and you set the slicer to 0.1 mm, you should be able to print working threads at the first attempt.</p> <p>I printed in PLA a thread (both screw and nut) with a 1.5 mm pitch and it worked immediately (it was a bit hard to turn, it got better after using it few times).</p> <p>A G 1/2 thread (pipe thread) in ASA (only nut) also worked immediately.</p> <p>I had more issues with deep threads: M30x1.5 worked immediately, but I couldn't get M30x3 mm to work. Basically printing threads with pitch from 0.8 to 1.5 mm should be fine if the axis is vertical.</p> <p>0.1 mm layer height is important to keep overhangs small, see video</p> <p><div class="youtube-embed"><div> <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPAXeBuq9qU?start=541"></iframe> </div></div></p> <p>The nozzle is not so important, you can use 0.4-0.6 without issues. I used 0.4 mm.</p>

2017-10-25T21:35:22.117

|3d-models|ultimaker-cura|slicing|

<p>Cura is slicing my object (a gear with text) with a partial top layer, and I believe it has to do with layer height and rounding issues. I have been able to solve this at specific heights 10-14mm using a layer height of 0.25 mm, however other heights will cause this issue to arise again. There must be a solution to this that doesn't require the user to constantly be adjusting layer height and object height in order to resolve what I perceive to be a rounding issue. </p> <p>Here is the model: <a href="https://filebin.ca/3f2g2s0dklzR/hackEly_v1.0_joined_text_2.stl" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://filebin.ca/3f2g2s0dklzR/hackEly_v1.0_joined_text_2.stl</a></p> <p>Here are my settings: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EBRnV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EBRnV.png" alt="Settings 1"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7oZZY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7oZZY.png" alt="Settings 2"></a></p> <p>Here is the model at a height of 10 mm: Note the diagonal line, this is the line between two layers. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hz3gz.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hz3gz.png" alt="Object 10mm"></a></p> <p>Here is the model at a height of 13 mm: Note the diagonal line again, and how it is farther to the right than the 10mm height view. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8SLTX.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8SLTX.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>I don't believe that this is not a non-manifold issue. I have also tested this using a gear without text.</p> <p>Like I mentioned, I can get rid of that layer division at certain layer heights and object heights (e.g. 0.25mm layer height), but I would like to find out how to get rid of this issue <em>regardless of object/layer height</em>. Thank you for your help.</p>

4807

Layer height issues creating partial top layer

<p>Even though you've selected an answer, here's another viewpoint. Ignoring the brim that I've added by default via my slicer, you can see the first few layers are not complete. This indicates a model that's a fraction of a degree off-plane. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VRCT.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VRCT.jpg" alt="slanted model image"></a></p> <p>Any number of methods can be used to correct this. Meshmixer has a great "align" function in the edit menu which will drop it on the bed. My slicer, S3D will work in that respect with "Place surface on bed" or some such terms.</p> <p>The image below represents the result of using Align in Meshmixer, Inspector (repair all) and export. The STL file imported to S3D presented exactly the same image on the first layer as in the image above. When I used "Place surface on bed and selected the horizontal cross-member as the reference surface, the first layer result is this:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/goSvf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/goSvf.png" alt="first layer after repair"></a></p> <p>The slicer completed the imaging with this result, clearly with no diagonal artifacts:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kAlU3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kAlU3.png" alt="last layer"></a></p>

2017-10-25T22:57:43.777

|g-code|

<p>I have built a 3D printer from salvaged/purchased parts. I am using an Arduino Uno and three easy driver stepper drivers with 3 CD-ROMs drives and a PC power unit. I ordered a 3D pen and have it mounted with a transistor to switch it on/off. Everything works but when I try to run code that I got from makercam.com it seems like it wants to fill in the shape rather than build up. </p> <p>I followed this tutorial <a href="https://youtu.be/anIy6eb1fW0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">YouTube - How To Make A Cheap 3D Printer</a> and after modifying the G-code I am unable to get any successful prints.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LgHI1.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Bad prints"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LgHI1.jpg" alt="Bad prints" title="Bad prints"></a></p>

4809

How to modify G-code or a better place to get it

<p>I would typically shy away from downloading gcode and printing it directly. Always slice it yourself since, inevitably, every printer is different. What happens if the gcode is setup for ABS (higher temps) and you are printing with PLA? If it's setup for a build platform larger than yours and you just hit endstops?</p> <p>Definitely go with Aaron's idea, download a model (Thingiverse is great, but there are SO many sites where you can get files), configure a slicer for your print settings (I prefer slic3r to Cura, but both are great), slice it and print away.</p>

2017-10-26T01:27:47.787

|diy-3d-printer|g-code|

<p>Ok so i have built a 3d printer from old cd rom drives. Before installing the 3d pen(extruder/hotend) i used www.makercam.com to export i file containing a star. With a marker attached the machone successfully drew a star. Now i have the 3d pen but using makercam i am not having any luck. Is there a better way to generate files for my new toy?</p>

4811

What is the best free source for generating g-code

<p>The g code is generated by a program like slic3r, skeinforge or cura. These programs import a CAD model slilce it into layers and output the gcode required to print each layer.</p>

2017-10-28T00:46:40.167

|diy-3d-printer|slic3r|

<p>I have a 3D printer that I built using CD-ROM drives. It's all set and ready to go but when I generate <code>.stl</code> or <code>.obj</code> files my G-code sender program cannot load it. I have found that Slic3r will export the <code>.stl</code> into G-code but it has the option of changing the <em>G-code flavour</em>, or <em>firmware</em>. </p> <p>My machine is running from an Arduino Uno with Grbl v0.8. </p> <p>So the question is, which firmware setting would be appropriate for my machine that would require the least amount of editing before I can print?</p>

4819

Which firmware to use on printer settings for DIY printer

<p>Slice your model... then edit the code in <strong>Notepad</strong>... where you will see that you will need to replace all <code>E</code> (extrude commands) with <code>M3</code> for Extrude on and/or <code>M5</code> for Extrude off.</p> <p>You must look at the code and figure out where:</p> <ul> <li>The code is telling the extruder to extrude; </li> <li>Then it makes a bunch of XY moves; t</li> <li>Then, where it tells the extruder to stop, you have to insert an <code>M5</code> command.</li> </ul> <p>I did this a year ago and got mine to work perfectly but it takes time to edit the code. Be patient and keep at it .</p>

2017-10-29T01:00:22.167

|g-code|

<p>I am writing some G-code for my DIY 3D printer. From what I understand, <code>G4</code> is dwell and its expressed in milliseconds. So my extruder takes about 30 seconds to heat up. Do I just type </p> <pre><code>G04 30000 </code></pre>

4824

How to express dwell time in G-code

<p>Depending on your G-code flavor you may be able to use <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M109:_Set_Extruder_Temperature_and_Wait" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M109</code></a> (heat and wait) instead. If supported M109 will wait until the target temperature is achieved.</p>

2017-10-29T01:55:39.243

|g-code|

<p>On the reprap wiki it says using Znnn it sets a new axis position. But then it says &quot;No physical motion will occur&quot;. What would the line <code>G92 E0</code> be used for?</p>

4826

What is G92 used for in G-code

<p>To supplement the accepted answer, and answer a question in the answer's comments (which should not be there), consider the E value as another axis - the axis of the filament.</p> <p>If you executed:</p> <pre><code>G92 E0 ; Reset the extruder's origin G1 F200 E3 ; Extrude 3 millimetres of filament at a rate of 200 units per second </code></pre> <p>and then went on to printing, the first filament move would have to take you from E3 to whatever E value the next move specified.</p> <p>If the next move assumed starting at E0, you'd already be 3 mm further along, and the first move would probably be a retract, so for example, if the next printing move was:</p> <pre><code>G1 Xnnn Ynnn E0.5 ; Extrude 0.5 millimetres of filament </code></pre> <p>then <strong>instead of extruding 0.5 mm, you would actually retract 2.5 mm</strong>, to get from 3.0 to 0.5. Just like moving in a negative direction on any other axis.</p>

2017-10-29T10:40:33.143

|prusa-i3|ramps-1.4|stepper|stepper-driver|

<p>Recently, I changed my RAMPS 1.4 card (because there was a problem with the power output).So I bought this new one, and an Arduino Mega.I didn'T change the code (Marlin 1.3.3).I used the same stepsticks (a4988).I plugged my motors to the Ramps card. When I give them the command to turn they started to turn but didn't stop.Stepsticks got hot.After some time I tried it again and they just vibrated.The stepsticks got insanely hot after just 5-6 seconds.I used a different stepstick RAMPS card and Mega, they worked perfectly.But when I plugged the stepstick to the new card, the motors did te same thing again. What can be causing this and how can I fix it? (I've measured the voltage input, it is 12V and stable)</p>

4831

Step motors vibrate, don't move at all (Prusa I3)

<p>Usually if they get too hot you have to adjust the amperage by turning the little potentiometer on the A4988 (turn left until you can move the motor by hand, turn right until you cant, add a little bit like 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn).</p> <p>But this:</p> <blockquote> <p>I used a different stepstick RAMPS card and Mega, they worked perfectly.</p> </blockquote> <p>it is not completely clear, so:</p> <ul> <li><p>the A4988 work on another board -> your new board is broken</p></li> <li><p>another A4988 worked -> the A4988 is broken</p></li> </ul> <p>HTH</p>

2017-10-29T20:01:20.977

|3d-models|3d-design|slicing|

<p>I recently got started in 3D printing but here's an issue I can't seem to find a solution for (I don't know what exactly to look for).</p> <p>Here's what I did:</p> <ul> <li>I used InkScape to convert an emoji in to a svg and imported it in to Blender</li> <li>Used the Solidify modifier to make the curve a solid and converted it in to a mesh</li> <li>Extruded the mesh a bit, fixed a few non-manifold vertices and erroneous faces and saved the whole shebang as STL</li> <li>Imported the STL in to my printers software: <img src="https://i.imgur.com/5xdXhPz.png" alt="1"></li> <li>After slicing it looks like this: <img src="https://i.imgur.com/Z966Ovw.png" alt="2"></li> </ul> <p>Is the software making a mistake during the slicing? Or is my mesh screwed up?</p> <p>I have a FlashForge Finder and using the software that came with it: FlashPrint.</p> <p>Edit: I uploaded everything to <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2616300" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a> for those who are interested.</p>

4835

Slicing adds holes/cracks to my object

<p>here is just a addenum to Tom van der Zanden's answer</p> <p>this is (an example of) what you may design - nice object with virtual outline, and virtual fill so this is what you see (and what you potentially expect)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/61gRm.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/61gRm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>but here is what you get (and probably not really expect)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5HdqS.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5HdqS.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>red parts are the areas which are not covered by fill because nozzle cannot reach there</p> <p>solution is </p> <ul> <li>to redesign your object in smart way or</li> <li>to use smaller nozzle or</li> <li>to use smarter app (like <a href="http://slic3r.org/" rel="noreferrer">Slic3r</a>)</li> </ul> <p>and of course you can use all 3 options together to get best results ;)</p> <p><strong>EDIT</strong> here is simple explanation why smarter app could do the thing <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VBrLW.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VBrLW.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>and here goes the difference</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3nNEN.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3nNEN.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>green parts are new covered areas</p> <p>not much but somthing extra</p>

2017-10-30T14:36:29.160

|3d-design|

<p>With some of the items I am designing I would love to put them through a simulation. Like crushing, for example. I want to know how well my object can handle any situation I put it through so I can make changes before I print out the object, only to find out there was a weak spot.</p> <p>I have been trying to learn ParaView but it is a little complicated off the bat, I would like something easy to use.</p> <p>If anybody knows of a program that would be fantastic!</p>

4843

A free simulation program

<p>Fusion 360 will do finite element analysis (simulation), although I haven't used it. Whether it will perform the type of analysis that you are looking for, I do not know. Check Autodesk's tutorials.</p> <p>One problem that you will encounter is that items printed using FDM technology are highly anisotropic. In other words, they have a grain, and are stronger/weaker in some directions than in others. I do not think that Fusion 360 can take account of that in its analysis.</p> <p><a href="http://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Autodesk: Fusion 360</a></p>

2017-10-30T16:55:58.880

|sla|dlp|services|

<p>I planning on getting a resin 3d printer kit, and I don't want to take any risks building it myself. Where, or who, could I hire a professional capable of constructing a 3D printer kit? They don't necessarily have to specialize in constructing 3d printers, I just need someone qualified with the mechanical and technical skills for the job.</p>

4845

Where or who could I hire to assemble a 3d printer that came in a kit for me?

<p>I agree that a local makerspace is a good option, but I will say this...</p> <p>Buying a kit and building it yourself, even with some frustration and learning curves, will help immensely with your ability to calibrate and troubleshoot issues later. If someone else builds it for you, chances are if something goes wrong, you'll need to seek out that person for help fixing things.</p> <p>I just recently bought my first 3D printer (FDM) as a kit. Building it was a slight learning curve - I'm a technophile and have built things with Arduino before, but never a printer and the specifics that come along with it. Getting it to actually print reliably took me about two weeks. However, I'm MUCH more confident now to take care of issues as they arise, and keep it running smoothly. The value of this experience can not be overstated.</p>

2017-10-30T16:47:28.023

|print-quality|3d-design|

<p>As 3D printers become more and more reliable, their prints get better and better. But FDM printers do have their problems too: you print tiny ovals that smooch together at the edges, and infill makes it awkward at times. So, how do I make a 3D-printed die fair (as in: not favoring one side too much)?</p>

4849

How do I 3D-print fair dice?

<h2>Honestly, I wouldn't.</h2> <p>You can find dice templates at places like <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">thingiverse</a>, but with my (admittedly limited) experience of affordable 3D printers, I would be highly skeptical that the machine tolerances are up to snuff for producing a fair die. </p> <p>See this <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3605/will-3d-printed-dice-be-fair">discussion</a> from the 3d printing exchange, especially these <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/3640">two</a> <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/3606">answers</a>. </p> <p>If you're really bound and determined to do this (we all have our geeky little passion projects!) I'd advise trying to find a template which the authors claim to have tested with chi-square, then find out what (type of) device they used. If you can replicate that, go for it... and then do the chi-square test yourself. It's ridiculously easy to set something up wrong, or forget something (like the possible effects of internal orientation.) </p>

2017-11-02T12:37:12.347

|print-quality|3d-models|

<p>I have an issue with implementing a G-code to print a large 3D object using the Creality CR-10 printer. The print went well for over 30 hours but the filament broke off during the print and stopped at a height of around 172&nbsp;mm of a total height of 256&nbsp;mm. 1753 layers total , stopped at layer 1170.</p> <p>I want to restart the print so the extruder begins printing at a height of 172&nbsp;mm rather that from the start. </p> <p>I have tried several sites online and had removed the previous 1169 layers and also changed the start position of the extruder to the code below:</p> <pre><code>G1 X20 Y20 Z385; Center extruder above bed </code></pre> <p>The problem I have is that when I start the print, the extruder moves to the middle of the plate and begins moving upwards but I need the extruder to stay near the edge of the build plate and move upwards past 172&nbsp;mm and <em>then</em> begin printing as it would have for layer 1169 and continue the print. At the moment the extruder moves upwards and towards the middle of the plate and will impact with the existing printed material (see picture attached) and this stops it from correctly positioning. </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Limic.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Existing printed material on build plate"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Limic.jpg" alt="Existing printed material on build plate" title="Existing printed material on build plate"></a></p> <p>Can anyone help with the start code for the G-code that I could use ? I just need the x,y,z to home and then for the extruder to stay near the edge of the build plate but move past 172&nbsp;mm in the z direction before then beginning to print. Any advice would really be appreciated , first question on this platform so apologies if the detail isn't there. If you need anything more please don't hesitate to get in touch. </p>

4868

How to edit G-code created in Cura to begin printing at a specified layer height?

<p>Well this is a little complicated since nozzle height could collides with the part if the line 1169 has had started to be printed (part of the line), so the overlap will be the main problem, however adding the initial parameters to heat the extruder and getting the <code>X0</code> and <code>Y0</code> with <code>G1 X0 y0 Z385</code> I recommend to <strong>increase Z by 3 or 5 mm</strong>, so the extruder will travel from a higher position <strong>to avoid the crash going for example, from <code>Z390</code> to <code>Z385</code></strong>.</p>

2017-11-03T13:12:05.397

|filament|pla|recycling|

<p>I've seen several Q&amp;As on recycling and reusing plastic from failed prints, but what have you done with the last few meters of filament? I've been keeping the ends of PLA (or sections I needed to cut) to maybe use for friction welding pieces together, but I only need so much for that. I've considered just shoving the last bit in the tube and using a new roll to push it through (so long as retractions aren't necessary).</p> <p>This is especially a concern for more exotic filaments where friction welding isn't useful and the price is higher for that 1m section (something like Copperfill).</p> <p>Note: I have a Bowden extruder. I imagine this is less of an issue with DD extruders.</p>

4873

Using the end of a spool

<p>The welding option is only appropriate if you have the tool needed for it, the lighter welding is really hard to do and if your printer allows it you could just watch for the moment the spool runs out and push the new filament as the last of the previous one gets extruded, that's what I used to do on my bowden extruder reprap and apart from a really negligible retraction problem on one layer it just works</p> <p>Or you could go the cool way:</p> <ul> <li>Use the last of the filament for friction/iron welding to fix or glue 3D printed parts together</li> <li>Use it as regular filament with a 3D printer pen to fix 3D printed parts</li> <li>"Use it for pin/studs/rivets/hinges in prints." as tjb1 said</li> <li>Stock it with your failed/ waste 3D printed parts and use them in a recyclebot later to make new filament or simply melt it in an oven to make plastic boards/injection molding material</li> <li>Throw it away but that would be a waste over time</li> </ul>

2017-11-04T02:49:45.947

|marlin|z-axis|ramps-1.4|monoprice-maker-select|

<p>My Monoprice maker select recently fried its melzi board. So I went out and purchased a ramps 1.4 kit. I've wired it all up and Flash the firmware with marlin(most recent build). When it boots up it boots up fine I go to prepare. And then I go to move axis I can move the X Y and Z axis and the access is moving in the correct direction. I go to auto home and the X and Y axis home properly but the z-axis does not move at all. Even though I can move it manually. Does anyone have any suggestions. I checked the end stop for the z-axis even though I know it probably has nothing to do with it and it has continuity when the end stop switch is depressed. </p>

4878

Z motor not moving during auto home

<p>Alright, I have figured everything out with the help of #reprap IRC community.</p> <p>Issue #1 - Z axis not moving during zero. Just as tjb1 suggested the issue was that it thought it was hitting the endstop, I needed to invert the logic of the endstop within the configuration.h</p> <pre><code>const bool Z_MAX_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = true; </code></pre> <p>Issue #2 - No Heated bed controls. The issue resided with the configuration of the heated bed within the configuration.h. The bed was not defined correctly(I do not have the solution for this one as I found a pre-configured configuration.h for the Monoprice maker Select and after loading the firmware it worked</p> <p>Issue #3 - The extruder motor would not move. This was the biggest issue and came down to it being a cheap RAMPS/Arduino. E0's pinouts were not working properly so I took off the driver and wiring from E0 and put it on E1 then altered the pins_RAMPS.h and swapped the values for E1 and E0 pinouts. after reloading the firmware the extruder then moved fine.</p> <pre><code>#define E0_STEP_PIN 36 #define E0_DIR_PIN 34 #define E0_ENABLE_PIN 30 #define E1_STEP_PIN 26 #define E1_DIR_PIN 28 #define E1_ENABLE_PIN 24 </code></pre>

2017-11-06T18:55:24.293

|octoprint|raspberry-pi|

<p>octoprint seems to have a setting that involves googles DNS server.</p> <p>my question is is that server used to access octoprint over the internet via printoid "android app" or via browser? if not then what does it mean? <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MWTnq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MWTnq.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4894

Octoprint “using Google's DNS server”

<p>That's just Google's DNS (name resolution) server. 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 are the Google values. Your ISP will also have a DNS server that you could use, which is what it says to use Google's "if you don't know what to set here".</p> <p>Using the Google values are your best bet since they'll pretty much absolutely always be online and available.</p>

2017-11-07T20:11:57.840

|prusa-i3|nozzle|

<p>I was looking at the prusa i3 3d(the original i3, not the mk2) on sale and I wanted to know how I could tell if it(and printers like it) had a replaceable nozzle, since I wanted to try out different nozzle sizes, and I need to be able to use a .1 mm nozzle for micro armor 3D printing(8mm height miniatures, I'm not too picky about their appearance) so anyways, does anyone know how to tell if a printer has a replaceable nozzle?</p>

4907

How to tell if A 3d printing kit has a replaceable nozzle

<p>Prusa has a replacable nozzle. Usually all printer does have an replacable nozzle. Since this is a part of a printer which could get jammed during a printer life. </p> <p>As written here: <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3-is-now-1-75-mm/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3-is-now-1-75-mm/</a> The Prusa i3 uses an E3D Hotend. This Hotend has many diffenez nozzles. You can search on E**ay for E3D V6 0.1mm nozzle and you will find a lot of offers. </p>

2017-11-07T21:18:06.827

|print-quality|anet-a8|layer-height|

<p>I just got an Anet A8 and I'm pretty happy with it except for one small detail:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1AFWX.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="First layers of a print"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1AFWX.jpg" alt="First layers of a print" title="First layers of a print"></a></p> <p>All my prints start like this. I tried to :</p> <ul> <li>pre-heat the printer ❌</li> <li>add a smaller height of the first layer ❌</li> </ul> <p>I’m kinda new to this and i did not find a correct answer to my problem so here’s my Cura configuration:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MD6mN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Cura config"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MD6mN.jpg" alt="Cura config" title="Cura config"></a></p>

4908

Anet A8 - first couple of layer are trash

<p>I think your issue is bed leveling.</p> <p>I recently got my Anet A8 and the biggest kill for my print quality is bed leveling. If its too far from the nozzle, I get something like your picture. You might want to try the paper test where you manually move the nozzle to each corner of the bed and adjust the bed till the paper cannot move freely between the bed and nozzle.</p>

2017-11-08T12:28:51.957

|abs|smoothing|vapor-smoothing|acetone|

<p>I am using a STRATASYS Fortus 250mc to 3D print some parts. I have read a lot on internet and also on some scientific literature that Acetone dissolves ABS and cold/hot vapor has been successfully used to smoothen the surfaces. But it doesn't work for me.</p> <p>I followed the instructions: soaking some papers with Acetone and putting the parts in a closed container with a fan for some time. But it had no effects. Then I tried dipping the parts in Acetone and I observed that they do not react to the substance at all!</p> <p>Has anybody ever had a similar experience? Maybe ABSPlus-p430 is not soluble with Acetone? in that case what is a solvent for it?</p> <p>I asked the same question <a href="https://goo.gl/HNvgYH" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here on Reddit</a>.</p>

4917

Acetone smoothing not working on ABSPlus-P430

<p>Make sure that your acetone is actually acetone. According to <a href="http://usglobalimages.stratasys.com/Main/Files/SDS/P430_ABS_M30_ABS_Model/400626_0002_REV_A_EN.pdf" rel="noreferrer">the MSDS</a>, ABSPlus-P430 is indeed "ABS resin" so acetone smoothing should work. Some companies sell confusingly-labeled products that might be mistaken for acetone, but are actually "eco-friendly" alternatives such as 2-butoxyethanol. While these alternatives work for some of the uses for which acetone is normally used (such as cleaning or degreasing), they don't work for smoothing ABS.</p>

2017-11-08T14:56:14.000

|material|medical|

<p>We need a 3D printer, that can print with plastic suitable for medical applications. We have about $5000 for the printer. What printers can we choose? I am not a specialist in 3D printing, so please answer in detail. </p> <p>We need to print breathing tubes with cuffs. The tubes should be flexible, but rigid enough in order not to collapse. The cuff material should be thin and collapsible, but very strong. Breathing tubes are inserted through the mouth and stay in contact with mucous membrane for many hours.</p>

4919

Inexpensive 3D printer for medical applications

<p>Find another medical facility that is doing it, and ask what equipment and filament they use. They may also have a source for medical related models.</p> <p>I would expect medical stuff to be regulated by the FDA, so there are probably limitations on what you can get.</p>

2017-11-09T16:37:45.607

|prusa-i3|

<p>We are using a Prusa i3 MK2 printer in a structural design firm to print the buildings we design as well as print individual panels and components. Projects can have 100s of pieces that need to be printed quickly, but the printer cools of quickly after the print finishes. When we go to start the next print we have to wait 10-15 minutes for the printer to warm up again. </p> <p>We tried preheating it using the built in function hoping that it would keep the heaters on after the print is complete but had no success. </p> <p>Is there any way to set the printer to stay warm after the print to be able to quickly print back to back?</p>

4924

Always keep printer hot and ready to print

<p>Just set values in your end code for your slicer. Set the bed to the temp you use, set the nozzle to roughly the Tg temp of the filament you use. Typically the bed heatup time is the worst offender here. I wouldn't keep the nozzle at extruding temps, though.</p>

2017-11-09T17:33:13.327

|diy-3d-printer|hotend|extrusion|nozzle|

<p>I have built a 3D printer out of parts from my tip, a ramps board, arduino mega, and a hot end. However, after doing a test extrusion some plastic was spewed out and then the print jammed un-expectantly and my homemade extruder no longer had the strength to push the filament. </p> <p>I took the filament out and what I found was that the filament going into the extruder had formed a cylinder at the end. Then after pushing the filament through by hand to eliminate the possibility of my weak extruder, I found that the filament was expanding coming out of the filament, and then cooling down unable to go through. I cut the filament, removing the bloated end, pushed it back into the extruder and then again after 30 seconds the same problem occurred. After researching, I came to the conclusion that maybe there is a gap allowing filament to go out of the heating area, expand and then cool down, or even my wooden direct to bowden adapter is stopping the filament cooling causing it to clog. However I am not sure.</p> <p>I am becoming frustrated as I am doing this for a school project, I only have two weeks left to finish and everything seems to be failing. Any help would be much appreciated. </p> <p>For reference this is my hotend: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074DRLGW9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1." rel="noreferrer">link to amazon</a> I brought the cheapest one available on amazon, so it has no fan and no way to connect a bowden tube. I have created a basic adapter between the thread and a bowden tube holder, out of wood. It's not good but it does the job.</p> <p>Here is a picture of my hot end and what the filament looks like after I removed it. There appears to be a spiral shape on some of them.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kNKgu.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kNKgu.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iXpBG.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iXpBG.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

4927

Hot end jamming very quickly

<p>Hello it's seems that your hotend's barrel get's too hot when your ar printing, have you try to make a heat sink on the barrell, with some washers and nuts? That worked for me, like this<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bmfpm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bmfpm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>I Took that idea from this video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvICpdVONXM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvICpdVONXM</a> </p> <p>Also make sure that the hotend's aluminum block is properly insulated, you could do this with some Kapton Tape.</p>

2017-11-10T16:45:53.553

|marlin|repetier|

<p>I'm struggling to connect a K8200 printer to a rpi3 running repetier-server 0.86.2 armhf.</p> <p>Everything works fine on a PC with the 0.86.2 windows version, but on the Rpi i'm stuck on the second step of the printer setup : </p> <p>I define my firmware, Marlin, my baudRate at 250000, then I tried every port that seems involved (/dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_FT231X_USB_UART_DA00DDXD-if00-port0, /dev/serial/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.2:1.0-port0, /dev/tty/USB0, /dev/tty/AMA0, ) but whatever I may try, I'm stuck on "En attente de connexion", that forbids me to go to step 3, as to see my printer connected.</p> <p>I tried to use the reset button on the printer board, as unplugging-plugging the USB, with no more luck. /var/lib/Repetier-Server/logs/server.log don't shown any error.</p> <p>Note : CartesianVirtual port still works fine...</p> <p>What else can I do ? Is there other relevant logs anywhere ?</p> <p>I'm unsure if this question should have been adressed to rpi, 3d printing or linux community, I'm sorry if I offend anyone :)</p>

4934

Can't connect printer to repetier-server on RPI3

<p>Thanks to the repetier team on git hub, we found that the problem came from a permission issue on /dev/ttyUSB0, as the user <code>repetierserver</code> couldn't access it.</p> <p>Other people reported that these commands solves the problem:<br> <code>sudo adduser repetierserver dialout</code><br> <code>sudo adduser repetierserver tty</code><br> but in my case it seems I need to run : <code>sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0</code> in order to solve this.</p>

2017-11-10T18:34:40.830

|marlin|ramps-1.4|y-axis|

<p>My Y-axis on my Monoprice maker select running ramps 1.4 and Marlin makes a thud noise when moving every now and then. I have noticed a 1 to 2 mm shift in the print when this occurs. I tighten the belts and alas no joy. I ordered new bearings which should be coming Monday. I also tried slowing the print down and still get the same result. Anyone have any ideas.</p>

4935

Y-axis slipping causing failed prints

<p>The issue was the X-axis top smooth rod came out. this caused the extruder to bang around and shift on the Y-axis when it shifted forward. thank everyone for their help. </p>

2017-11-11T01:24:13.490

|prusa-i3|pla|ramps-1.4|calibration|

<p>Recently my printer has been creating double images along the X-axis, I just printed a calibration cube after checking all of my rods to make sure nothing was catching and here was my result: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vAqB6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vAqB6.jpg" alt="Calibration Cube"></a> It looks like there is another X to the right of the X that is supposed to be, would this be a retraction problem, or could it be a problem with the filament because I printed a calibration cube with another filament a couple of weeks ago and there was no double X.</p>

4941

Double Image Along X Axis

<p>There are several problems, but lets start with a method for discovering them.</p> <p>The first thing to do is look for any looseness or slop in the mechanism. Try wiggling the hot end, looking for any free movement. Try moving along the axes that move. You haven't specified the machine, so I can't suggest the specific points to try moving. If the bed moves, try wiggling the bed. If the extruder moves, try wiggling the extruder on each movement axis. Nothing should move at all until the motors skip. </p> <p>If the mechanism is fully tight (and from this picture, I expect it to have some "wiggle room"), you could follow by slowing the machine, including reducing the acceleration settings. If you find something moving, you'll need to investigate why -- what is allowing the movement to happen. On a belt-driven machine, the belts can be loose, but one can also get movement from loose set screws, motor mounts, hot-ends which are coming apart, or loose thrust bearings or nuts on threaded shafts. Applying force to the parts that move during printing and watching for movement is the best diagnostic.</p> <p>In the future, when asking questions it can be helpful to include the type of machine, any modifications you've made, and information about the printing conditions.</p>

2017-11-11T11:22:26.400

|ramps-1.4|reprap|z-axis|

<p>I have a problem with Z direction. As you know it has two motors. And my problem is that one sometimes goes to the different direction (so basically one is screwing and another one unscrewing). It is like random, sometimes it is ok, sometimes this one goes to the different direction. Could you help me, please? Wiring is like in building tutorial. The tutorial is here <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/ToyREP_Build_Manual" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://reprap.org/wiki/ToyREP_Build_Manual</a> . I am using Marlin and Pronterface. Code I took here <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/ToyREP_User_Manual" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://reprap.org/wiki/ToyREP_User_Manual</a></p>

4944

Z motors work synchronously ToyRep

<p>The problem was in the wiring of the motor. According to different sources it says to check wiring, everything seemed ok, but I've found one wire was damaged.</p>

2017-11-12T14:23:07.923

|prusa-i3|

<p>I use the Cura; nylon default(recommended) settings for PETG. Upon my filament's box is written 200-240 for nozzle and 75-85 for bed. So I tried 245/80 - 220/80 - 220/60 - 245/60.</p> <p>But I got same result as you can see in the pics:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lKKgN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lKKgN.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J3CVi.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J3CVi.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>My printer is PrusaI3 (actually a chinese kit that I assembled it myself). Also I had good print results with PLA before this. I was using 190/50 for PLA).</p>

4948

It seems my filament is burnt when I use PETG

<p>It looks like you have a clogged nozzle/hot end. I use 225°C @ 40mm/s for PETG with 235°C @ 30mm/s for the first layer.</p> <p>If you print at 245°C, you risk burning the PTFE liner in your hot end. You really need an all-metal hot end to print at such temperatures.</p> <p>It is possible that you have already damaged the PTFE liner, and this may be the cause of your problem. However, I would check for a clogged nozzle first.</p>

2017-11-12T17:15:32.713

|heated-bed|

<p>I have a PrusaI3(Chinese kit that I assembled myself). my strange problem is that: when I try to leveling the bed, upper-left and bottom-right corners of the bed, are more far than the nozzle, respect to upper-right and bottom-left.</p> <p>I don't know why, but I can't level them with the screws(because upper-left and bottom-right screws goes to be free sooner than their opposite side screws!!). I thought maybe the heated bed is not flat but I use a glass upon it! and it's not possible both of them are not flat! </p> <p>EDIT: I can remember the last time I used my printer, there was a knocking sound when Y-AXIS was moving about the half of it's way. I very tried to find the cause of knocking sound but I couldn't. now, I have opened the heating bed and there is no sound when I move Y-Axis by hand. I hope you can understand me and help me too!</p> <p>EDIT2: I did measure the rods and bed corners, I found that this corner(pointed by finger) is about 2 millimeters lower than other 3 corners! (It seems the bed part is not flat). </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sGjix.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sGjix.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>How can I fix this?</p>

4950

Strange leveling problem by PrusaI3

<p>I could solve my problem by this strange system for both opposite sides but I couldn't find the really reson of this problem!:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XD2W8.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XD2W8.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

2017-11-13T16:09:55.073

|abs|post-processing|

<p>I want to paint my ABS parts. But I foresee a problem that will arise from 0.16mm layer - those layers will be perfectly visible, even with primer. Sanding them wouldn't be a good idea, because walls are just 0.8-1mm thick, and probably acetone bath isn't right thing too. I want to use some sort of cement or paste, and cover parts with it using some paint scraper or knife before painting. Do cements suitable for this task exist? Would they stick to ABS?</p>

4956

Cement or another solid pore filler suitable for ABS?

<p>Consider these moments:</p> <ul> <li>You can sand primer coating. Every layer adds about 0.1-0.2mm, and somewhat levels the surface by itself because surface tension forces primer to fill cavities more. Primers can be sanded after thorough drying and are guaranteed to stick to plastic if applicable for that sort of plastic. Though, with transparent primers it's hard to tell whether your surface is smooth even after sanding.</li> <li>Acetone vapor won't bend thin walls if applied shortly, but will make surface sticky. If you apply powder coats (say, cement) right after acetone vapor treatment, then it will create really good base for paint, primer, or basically any coating, because the powder will be embedded into surface. Clear ABS surface is quite tricky to paint, but if you contaminate it a bit, you might end up with better results.</li> </ul> <p>Hope this helps.</p>

2017-11-14T10:25:01.993

|diy-3d-printer|print-material|

<p>I have a Prusa i3 printer with mk8 extruder. I am using PETG with (200-240/75-85) degrees recommended temp on it's box. but when I do printing i hear some knocking sound that means there is a problem in extrusion. last time I did increase my temp up to 270 degrees!! maybe this sound solved! but it damaged my extruder's screw's inner Teflon and I forced to change it! </p> <p>Now I have a new nozzle and extruder's screw, but again I can hear this sound during the printing! I thought maybe it's because of very close distance between the nozzle and the bed, but when I increase the distance, the filament starts to warping!</p> <p>My nozzle is new and it can't be for clogging. so I decreased the print speed from it's default 60mm(in Cura software) to 50, but didn't solve this sound. Also when I use pronterface and do extrusion manually, it works nice with 200 degrees! but I can hear the sound in 190 degrees. But when I do printing I hear the sound even in 200 degrees! Is this mean I must increase the temperature for printing? how much?</p> <p>By knocking sound I mean the sound you can hear when you have a clogged nozzle and the extruder's stepper motor can't push the filament into it and rotates with knocking sound!</p>

4965

What is the meaning of extruder's knocking sound?

<p>It sounds like your filament is not hot enough to be extruded, which will cause the stepper motor to 'skip' (and produce a knocking or clicking sound). 200°C sounds rather low for PETG, and I do not get good extrusion below 215°C. I normally print at 225°C, with the first layer at 235°C. I also print slower than I do for PLA -- 40mm/s and 30mm/s for the first layer.</p> <p>Note that thermistors can be inaccurate, and may report temperatures several degrees lower or higher than are actually being achieved.</p>

2017-11-14T18:28:58.097

|diy-3d-printer|print-material|

<p>Here is a video about 30MB, that shows my printer and it's sound during printing: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wj5_Uwv4X8SoLaouxBi1FHFi4x4Uoegd/view?usp=drivesdk" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wj5_Uwv4X8SoLaouxBi1FHFi4x4Uoegd/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p> <p>I guess the reason of this sound is the bed. Because I couldn't level my bed with screws and upper=left and bottom-right corners of the bed were about 1.5mm lower than the opposite sides. So I added two nuts behind the springs of these two sides! I don't know really if it could help but know I can print almost good. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xZhIz.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xZhIz.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>So i think the knocking sound is because of these nuts and my bed carriage is not 100% flat(although it seems flat by eyes). Or maybe my rods aren't parallel(although they seems parallel by simple ruler measurement).</p> <p>By the way, I like to know does anyone experimented same problem? or can guess the real problem or suggest a way to solve it? </p> <p>And IMPORTANT question: May this problem break my heated-bed? Or causes new problems in future?</p>

4973

Knocking/Clicking sound when Y-Carriage passas trough the middle of rods

<p>I don't think the sound is coming from nuts and springs.</p> <p>I can think of 3 possible sources.</p> <p><strong>Y axis rod bearings</strong></p> <p>Those four bearings that are mounted onto your bed frame may be binding through rough spots on the smooth rods. Usually printer kits don't give you the best quality stuff and those rods may not be perfectly the same diameter throughout its length or may be bent so slightly. Your best bet to test if this is the problem is to remove the belt from your bed and slide the bed back and forth and see if you can recreate the sound trying different speeds and pressure while doing so.</p> <p><strong>Y axis pulley/idler</strong></p> <p>I think it's probably this because I have heard a similar noise and this part has failed on me. Usually these are either a plastic pulley, two bearings, two bearings inserted into a plastic pulley, or one larger bearing inserted into a plastic pulley. If your printer uses a bearing here, I recommend taking that part off and inspecting that bearing. I've had mine destroyed and the little balls went everywhere. You can test this by just trying to hear for it. Turn off the printer motors and move the bed manually, see if it sounds like it is coming from the idler.</p> <p><strong>Nozzle hitting print</strong></p> <p>I doubt this but sometimes when prints are over extruded or curl up, the nozzle hits the print as it passes over so maybe your hearing individual collisions clicking. Again I really doubt this.</p> <hr> <p>Will this break your heated bed? Probably not. Will it cause problems in the future? If it is a fault with the bearings, most likely they will fail eventually but nothing else should get damaged in the process. But no worries, parts are cheap and readily available online or even at some hardware stores.</p> <hr> <p><strong>Note</strong> : My mechanic taught me this when trying to figure out which bearing was making noise in a car. Take a long screw driver, preferably with a wooden handle, and place the tip on the part you think is making noise and place the handle to your ear. Usually this amplifies the noise when your making contact with the faulty part. Using this I was able to figure out which bearing was squeaking among the half dozen points where the belt would spin. Not sure how well this works for a printer and be careful not to have the mechanical moving parts(such as your printer bed) hit the screwdriver into your face.</p>

2017-11-14T18:49:29.200

|heated-bed|nozzle|

<p>Is this a leveling problem? or it's because the bed temperature isn't equal in everywhere? </p> <p>If it's because of leveling, it means the distance between nozzle and bed in this not-sticked corners are lot and should be decrease? </p> <p>EDIT: material is ABS, and it's recommended temp is 190-230/80-100. But I use Cura high quality ABS default settings with 225/80. (But I had this problem with PLA with 190/60 degrees too)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8jJkv.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8jJkv.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pc30D.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pc30D.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8sh5T.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/8sh5T.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iqWOP.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iqWOP.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>EDIT2: I have a cooling fan for my Arduino/ramps board. But there was a wire between it's blades and it didn't work. today I saw it and tried to fix but it's plastic duct broke. So I tried to put it by hand as how it's air can cool both the Electronics boars and the bed(you can see my fan in one of the pics in left side). And I got a nice printing results for the same part printing:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GlRIV.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GlRIV.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/X5ImW.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/X5ImW.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bNbJF.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bNbJF.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>So the cooling fan for printing part is very important to stick print to bed and I will print a duct for extra fan very soon!</p>

4974

Why some corners aren't sticked well?

<p>You can clearly print but there are also some problems it seems.</p> <p>To see if you're about okay when it comes to leveling, I recommend to activate the 'skirt' in your slicer soft. Slic3r has it and I think most others too, it just makes the printer do a big one-layer all-around 'perimeter' around what is going to be printed before starting. You'll see quickly if there is not enough or too much space between the bed and the nozzle. You might catch other problems too (I love it because when the hotend drips a bit when leveling it get's smeared out far away from where the print is going to happen). </p> <p>Your print looks like it is not optimal (overextrusion? no print-cooling? ...) so start with slowing down, first layer 20-25mm/s (Look at it when it's printed, it's very telling!). Then for the following ones, don't go over 40-50mm/s for starters.</p> <p>Last but not least, you are printing ABS (but you said you had the problem with PLA too, hence my post), I have never printed ABS but for what I have read, you'll need a heatbed and a heated chamber(enclosed printer) to not have this kind of problems.</p> <p>But for PLA especially; If you have a heat bed, don't put on too much heat when printing, I went from 60°C to 50°C, first layer, 30° then, and my prints now stick like they are melded onto my plate instead of skidding around.</p>

2017-11-14T19:34:29.083

|pla|print-quality|ultimaker-cura|anet-a8|

<p>I'm printing a cylindrical piece but at any moment it breaks down. I tried it two times, both have break down in different place. I'm using a 1.75&nbsp;mm PLA filament in my Anet A8. I'm using Cura 2.6.2 to export to a <code>.gcode</code> file.</p> <p>This is the original model: </p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mglT8.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Original model"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mglT8.png" alt="Original model" title="Original model"></a></p> <p>And this is the result:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mtYyb.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Printed result"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mtYyb.jpg" alt="Printed result" title="Printed result"></a></p> <p>Here is the <a href="https://mega.nz/#!1hkyhLBA!xmt7s38vrb7fEh9SkiSYWfgwLxg4WaYED1h6vzUpghg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">G-code file</a>.</p>

4975

Printing starts well but then it breaks down, Anet A8

<p>The <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4975/printing-starts-well-but-then-it-breaks-down-anet-a8#answer-4976">answer by fred_dot_u</a> is fine for small prints with relative low cost or batch producing, where a single part is needed several times. But if you print something big or unique it's not cost effective. Slowing down the complete print is also not very time efficient. </p> <p>In Cura there an option called <strong>Mininum layer time</strong>, which addresses this problem:</p> <pre><code>Cooling -&gt; Minimum Layer Time / Minimum Speed </code></pre> <p>This means that it will only slow down when the print distance for a particular layer is short. Giving the material some extra time to harden. Other layers will be printed at normal speed. Increased print time will be limited this way. </p> <p>For your situation I would advise you to increase the part cooling, if possible, in conjunction with configuring the <em>Minimum Layer Time</em> option mentioned above.</p>

2017-11-15T11:26:41.307

|pla|print-strength|

<p>I'm fairly new to 3D printing but I'm getting the steam up and I chug out pieces without much hassle. One thing though is that I have the impression that sometimes, parts are easily broken, and I suspect bad adhesion between layers.</p> <p>I'm printing eSun PLA at 208&nbsp;°C (212&nbsp;°C first layer), bed at 50&nbsp;°C first layer then 30&nbsp;°C.</p> <p>When I print the Benchy boat, it feels extremely sturdy (even the small chimney is unbreakable by hand), but if I make, say, a 50&nbsp;mm diameter cylinder with 4&nbsp;mm wall thickness, It breaks fairly easy along some layer. I don't see any specific error, it "looks" okay.</p> <p>So my question is:</p> <p>How do you assure that you print layers that bond enough?</p> <p>[Edit] I already know that might actually cause bad bonding (low heat, underextrusion, ...) but I'm looking for a way to see when it happens.</p> <p>Here is an image from when I stopped mid print (you can see the little ooze string just at the start at the crack) for checking dimensions. The next layer didn't bond well because, I guess, the already printed part had cooled down when I un-paused the print (say 1 minute later) or maybe the z-axis went off a bit when I touched the build plate.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v9shu.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v9shu.jpg" alt="Sorry for the bad quality, I forced a screwdriver in the crack for visibility"></a></p> <p>Is the only way of knowing layers bonded correctly, to try to break the part apart?</p>

4980

How do you assure that you print layers that bond correctly?

<p>(Note: I realize this question is old, but I came across it looking for information on related topics and it didn't seem to have any sufficiently good answers yet.)</p> <p>To me, this looks exactly like what I'd expect printing with layers almost as thick as the nozzle diameter and insufficient hotend temperature or excessive speed. I've had problems like this at sizes 0.3 to 1/3 mm using an 0.4 mm nozzle even at my usual PLA temperature of 210, and can imagine it would be much worse at lower temperatures. If you didn't see the problem on benchy with a smaller cylinder, it's probably either because acceleration limits (which will be dominant on small details) prevented reaching high speeds, or (less likely in my opinion) because the deposited material had not had as much time to cool before the next layer was reached.</p> <p>In order for layers to bond the newly deposited material needs to be pressed against the material already present, while melted, with sufficient heat transferred into the already-deposited material to make it amenable to bonding (naively I would guess this means it needs to reach around the glass transition temp, but that may be wrong). With layer thickness near the nozzle diameter, the nozzle will be putting less pressure on the existing material, making this harder. Also, if there has been underextrusion anywhere in the supporting wall below, the already-deposited material can simply compress downward into the gaps when new material is extruded against it, rather than them getting pressed together.</p> <p>For 0.3 mm layers, I'd go with the highest temperature the filament manufacturer rates it for, or even slightly higher if you have reason to believe the material is okay at higher temperatures. Some people say lowering the fan speed or turning it off is an option, but I've had really bad results with precision and/or stringing whenever I try that.</p> <p>Significantly lowering the print speed is also an option. That will greatly reduce the chance of underextrusion, and results in more heat transfer from the nozzle into already-deposited material. However lowering the speed generally defeats the purpose of 0.3 mm layers; you could instead just drop down to 0.25 mm or 0.2 mm and get much better quality at the same total print time.</p>

2017-11-15T12:06:11.210

|filament|pla|filament-choice|pla+|

<h2>Question</h2> <p>What is PLA+? How is it different than PLA? I'm looking for science, composition, formula, safety concerns (or lack thereof), etc.</p> <h2>Background</h2> <p>I picked up a roll of PLA+ at Microcenter (their in-house Inland brand) because it was on clearance. I didn't even notice the "+" until I decided to try that color, and then I noticed it on the sticker. It prints well, feels like ABS, smells like PLA when printing, and I can use PLA temps on my printer. It sands better than PLA, and if I I hadn't noticed the PLA+ sticker, and the smell, <strong>I would think it was ABS</strong>. It will break its line into my printer like PLA does; ABS doesn't break if left alone. However, PLA+ lasts longer than regular PLA before breaking.</p> <h2>Getting info from the Internet</h2> <p>Aside from a few discussions on reddit (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/4iqzop/pla_vs_pla_short_review/" rel="noreferrer">review</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/4huvoj/introducing_esun_pla_pro_pla/" rel="noreferrer">commercial introduction</a>), I can't find anything about it.</p> <h2>Getting info from the Manufacturer</h2> <p>I went back to Microcenter and the guy that was there working the 3d printing section did not know what I was talking about.</p> <p>I went to Microcenter another time and the guy in the filament area said that all of their PLA filament was now PLA+, and that the + meant it was to be used at a higher temperature. The boxes are labeled with 205 - 225°C. It seems that all the inland brand PLA I have is PLA+, save for the first roll I bought. It does not have any kind of temperature markings on it.</p> <h2>Flash forward 1.5+ years from the original question</h2> <p>This question got some recent attention, so I looked to find the answer again. I found <a href="https://all3dp.com/2/pla-vs-pla-3d-printer-filament-compared/" rel="noreferrer">this article</a>, which is a hot pile of !usefulness, giving no data, lots of opinion, and probably some direct insights from someone's marketing department.</p> <p><a href="http://forum.makergear.com/viewtopic.php?t=3345" rel="noreferrer">These guys</a> say it's good stuff, but nothing about the chemical or compositional difference between the two. When I find people talking about the difference (like on reddit), those are the details usually mentioned, which are vague, anecdotal, and opinionated, and could be clever marketing (could be, not guaranteed to be). One man's shiny is another man's matte for example.</p> <p><a href="https://monopricesupport.kayako.com/article/3-what-is-the-difference-between-the-filaments-offered" rel="noreferrer">Monoprice confirmed</a> what I already did by reading the label and printing with it, but does mention TPU, which might be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic_polyurethane" rel="noreferrer">Thermoplastic polyurethane</a>. No quantity or proportion or anything, and since they're the only manufacturer/reseller to officially say this, I consider it unconfirmed. One of the answers below says that PLA+ probably includes TPU or something like it, but that's conjecture or opinion by their own admission. </p> <blockquote> <p>PLA+ is a variation of PLA that has added material in order to make the filament less brittle, have a smoother surface finish, and less likely to absorb moisture. Typically, TPU is added into the filament in order to achieve this property. PLA+ will have the feel and functionality of ABS without the smell. If you didn’t know better, you would think it was ABS. We suggest printing with PLA+ at 205 to 210 degrees Celsius and with a bed temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. PLA+ responds very well to blue painter’s tape and a glue stick to hold properly and not peel up when printing.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://forum.makergear.com/viewtopic.php?t=1552" rel="noreferrer">These people</a> also ask what it is, but they're doing science about it circa 2014 to try to figure it out.</p> <p>I'm not sure what to think of <a href="https://duchofilla.com/product-category/filament/pla-plus/" rel="noreferrer">this manufacturer/seller's description</a>. It sounds like they are implying that PLA has a branding problem, so they added a plus to it for a new formula to fix their branding.</p> <blockquote> <p>PLA Plus is an enhanced version of our PLA that's less brittle and more durable. ‘Enhanced’ PLAs have a bad reputation, some are no better than PLA, some perform worse in some conditions. We’ve taken a different approach: our ‘regular’ PLA is regarded as the strongest pure PLA in the industry, it’s hard to improve on the best. But sometimes you need something a little more durable. Enter our specially formulated PLA Plus. Prints like PLA, but with better durability. Its available with their brighter color options!</p> </blockquote> <h2>Final thoughts</h2> <p>I find a lot of articles/posts talking about "eSun PLA+" specifically. I'm starting to think that this might be the OEM and that other companies are selling it with their own branding, but that all PLA+ comes from the same place. I found their <a href="http://www.esun3d.net/products/142.html" rel="noreferrer">product page</a>, and it says this, which mentions nothing about the formula:</p> <blockquote> <p>Characteristics：</p> <ul> <li>extracted and purified from corn grain;</li> <li>high rigidity, good glossiness and transparency;</li> <li>suitable for printing larger models;</li> <li>toughness is 2 times more than the PLA on the market;</li> <li>no wiredrawing problems, the surface of the printouts will be smoother and more delicate;</li> <li>no cracking problem.</li> </ul> </blockquote>

4982

What is PLA+? How is it different from PLA?

<p>Adding this as a new answer since it doesn't seem to be covered in existing ones:</p> <p>Despite &quot;PLA+&quot; being a marketing term without a specific definition, I've found that many (most?) filament vendors don't seem to be doing their own secret-sauce blending to make it, and most premium filament vendors who <em>do document</em> the source polymers they use are using roughly the same thing - most often one of the <a href="https://www.natureworksllc.com/Products/3D-series-for-3D-printing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Natureworks Ingeo 3D series of polymers</a>, obtained in pellet source form, often 3D850 or 3D870. As such, if you can verify that this is what you filament marketed as &quot;PLA+&quot; is made from (or just search out one that's well-documented) you can use the data sheets for the polymer to find out more about how it's formulated.</p>

2017-11-16T01:48:51.287

|ultimaker-cura|

<p>I'm relatively new to Cura, having just installed it a few weeks ago. I have 3.0.3 and I'm running on Windows 7 64 bit. I noticed the auto slicing setting while poking around the settings. Auto slice almost always works. </p> <p>A couple times now, Cura won't auto slice. I can't seem to find the slice button. How do I manually slice? I found <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/21345-cura-auto-slicing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an article</a> on how to disable auto slicing, but it doesn't show how to manually slice.</p> <p>Where the button "save to file" is is greyed out and just says "Print with Octoprint".</p> <p>Closing Cura and re-opening it will fix the issue.</p>

4985

Where is the "slice" button in Cura?

<p>If auto-slicing is disabled, the button in the bottom-right corner of the window toggles between "Prepare" and "Save to File" depending on whether the model needs to be re-sliced or not. While slicing is in progress, it changes to "Cancel".</p> <p>If auto-slicing is enabled, the button always reads "Save to File", and is greyed-out when slicing is being performed (it does not change to "Cancel").</p>

2017-11-19T02:07:12.230

|filament|food|

<p>I just backed a 3d printer on kickstarter, called "Mooz", and I was wondering about some of the possible applications of it. I realized it would be cool/helpful to be make cookie models, and bake cookies to that shape. The cookies can be baked as low as around 250 °F, <strong>So is there any food-safe and heat resistant filament that can withstand those temperatures?</strong> (I know many filaments are printed above those temps anyways, but in my case I don't want them to even warp.) Google has failed me on this one, so I hope someone here can answer it for me! -Thanks in advance :)</p> <p>P.S. My 3d printer will have a heated bed, so it can print more types of filaments. The highest bed temp is 100 °C, and the highest hot end temp is 250 °C. I don't really mind using some sealant, but I'd rather not use something toxic like ABS.</p> <p>P.P.S I'm a newbie to this stuff, so I apologize in advance if I asked a really stupid question.</p>

4999

Oven/Food safe Filament?

<p>Don't try to bake cookies inside a plastic mold; the plastic will smoke even if not melt. If you need to bake cookies use a cookie cutter made of plastic (your own design or copy) obviously printed on your new printer then bake normally. here is a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:1?q=cookie&amp;sa=&amp;dwh=525a11237f7ad40" rel="nofollow noreferrer">link from thingeverse</a> to get a cookie cutter .stl file</p> <p>:) enjoy cutting cookies these holidays</p> <p>Here is <a href="http://makefastworkshop.com/hacks/?p=20171116" rel="nofollow noreferrer">another link</a> from hacks from one person is making the same to show his idea.</p>

2017-11-19T09:17:31.420

|electronics|

<p>I know you should, like an infant, never leave your printer without surveillance.</p> <p>But sometimes we all do, trusting our double thermistors and heat runaway configurations. But electronics fry and who says there is no danger even after the print job has finished and it's cooling down, still hooked up?</p> <p>I have searched but smoke/fire detectors come in a wide range of varieties: </p> <p>They can be battery powered or hardwired, they detect different things: carbon monoxide, heat, smoke..., they thus also have different detectors like photoelectric sensors, ionization sensors or both. We also print with different materials...</p> <p>So what's the best safeguard for my 2 year old (CoreXY ^^)?</p>

5001

What type of fire alarm/smoke alarm should my printer have?

<p>According to <a href="http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/smoke-alarms/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/smoke-alarms/</a> you have these two choices:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Ionisation</strong>: These are the cheapest and cost very little to purchase. They are very sensitive to small particles of smoke produced by fast flaming fires, such as paper and wood, and will detect this type of fire before the smoke gets too thick. They are marginally less sensitive to slow burning and smouldering fires which give off larger quantities of smoke before flaming occurs. They can also be too over-sensitive near kitchens.</p> <p><strong>Optical</strong>: These are more expensive but more effective at detecting larger particles of smoke produced by slow-burning fires, such as smouldering foam-filled upholstery and overheated PVC wiring. They are marginally less sensitive to fast flaming fires. Optical alarms can be installed near (not in) kitchens, as they are less likely than ionisation alarms to go off when toast is burned.</p> </blockquote> <p>Although 'overheated PVC' might tend to point to the optical sensor being best, any fault on a printer is likely to be quite different to a domestic installation fault (I think you're less likely to detect the early warning from a damaged connector since the fault will be physically small).</p> <p>I have an ionisation sensor next to/above the printer, and the only time I had a false-alarm was when I temporarily placed it on the desk.</p>

2017-11-21T11:07:05.870

|prusa-i3|cad|

<p>I have this prusa i3 printer(I don't know what model is it):</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLKib.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLKib.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>My bed part is broken. And I am looking for the cads to laser cut them! this is my bed pic:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YKRtx.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YKRtx.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

5009

I am looking for laser cut cads for my prusa i3?

<p>This is not exactly my part, but the holes place are true. I think if someone measures the bed dimensions( for me it's 21.9mm * 21.9mm) and orders a plate in this size, he can also make holes later with drill(I did it before for another part of my plexi to attach the power supply).</p> <p><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1310778" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1310778</a></p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AE06h.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AE06h.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

2017-11-22T02:13:33.930

|filament|health|

<p>I recently backed a 3D printer on Kickstarter, and I would like to 3D print parts for high-temperature applications. So I have two questions; </p> <ol> <li><p>What's the highest temperature polycarbonate can be safely heated to without warping or releasing toxins?</p></li> <li><p>If there's a filament with better temp-resistance I can print could you tell me? (If you know the highest temperature it could reach safely, that would be helpful too.)</p></li> </ol> <p>My 3D printer will have a heated bed up to 100°C, and an extruder temp of up to 250°C.</p>

5013

What are the safest temperatures to heat different filaments to?

<p>All plastics have two temperatures to consider for operation and evaluation: </p> <ol> <li><p>Melting point = the temperature that plastics starts to get soft; this can be considered for maximum temperature operation.</p></li> <li><p>Flow temperature = normally used for molding process and this have a wide range of temperatures depending on PPM´s and mixtures to meet a purpose like coffee cups. <a href="https://filaments.ca/pages/temperature-guide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here</a> a link for filament temperature guides</p></li> </ol> <p>Polycarbonates are the most plastic used for industrial and kitchen appliances. Due higher temperatures support and hardness, so I think is not possible to use polycarbonates in 3D printers due its temperatures are from 250°C to 320°C.</p>

2017-11-26T18:29:55.927

|enclosure|

<p>I haven't purchased a 3D printer yet, I've been working on the software and electronics for my project and now I'm about ready to get a printer, haven't decide on which yet.</p> <p>Recommendations welcome.</p> <p>My project will put 3 rows of Neopixels on the windscreen of my car, attached to the top inside. I intend to print the container in sections that will slow together.</p> <p>I want to allow for the curvature of the windscreen in the design of the container and this is my question, I want to design a container that will hold 3 rows of Neopixel strips, thats the easy part, I want the container to fit neatly against the windscreen with no gaps, how do I work out the curve of the windscreen so I can put this onto the enclosure ready for printing?</p> <p>The enclose will be as wide as the read windscreen and split into printable sections that will slot together for installation.</p> <p>The car this is going into is an Audi A5 2012.</p>

5030

Project help, printing a Neopixel enclosure to secure to a car rear windscreen

<p>There's a handy tool for replicating curves that use a series of plastic or metal fingers in a sliding mount. One presses all the fingers to one side, then presses the bracket to the desired surface until all fingers are in contact. The opposite side now represents the measured curve and can be traced into a modeling program.</p> <p>For your purposes, that is unlikely to work, as the tool is perhaps six inches long, far too short to span your windscreen.</p> <p>Consider the following:</p> <p>Attach a string to each edge of the windscreen or wedge a thin rod from one side to the other. This provides you with a straight line reference. Measure as nearly as possible to perpendicular from the reference string to the windscreen surface. I have a laser measuring device that has 1/16" or 1 mm accuracy above certain distance, which would not work well in this case as you approach zero at the edges.</p> <p>Start in the center, record your measurement, and move an appropriate distance outward. I suggest you need only approximately 20-30 mm spacing as you are collecting points on a curve, which are likely to be relatively uniform and easily reproduced in software.</p> <p>Your graph now has zero, zero on the left, and say 750 mm, 40 mm on the right, with matching numbers in the middle. On real paper, turn it into a graph, or use a suitable vector editing software such as Inkscape and duplicate it there.</p> <p>Depending on the shape of your window, you may have to replicate the process at different heights in order to get a proper representation of the curve of the glass.</p> <p>Once you have the dots, run a Bezier curve through the dots. The resulting like can be extruded or otherwise converted into the segments necessary for your 3D printing project.</p>

2017-11-27T12:20:48.767

|marlin|anet-a8|cooling|

<p>I'm using an Anet A8 with Marlin 1.1.6.</p> <p>I've read countless guides on PID auto-tuning and never saw that the fan needed to be on, but when I look at the Marlin source code's ANet A8 configuration (here: <a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/1.1.x/Marlin/example_configurations/Anet/A8/Configuration.h" rel="nofollow noreferrer">example_configurations\ANet\A8\Configuration.h</a>) it states:</p> <pre><code> ... // ANET A8 Standard Extruder at 210 Degree Celsius and 100% Fan //(measured after M106 S255 with M303 E0 S210 C8) #define DEFAULT_Kp 21.0 #define DEFAULT_Ki 1.25 #define DEFAULT_Kd 86.0 #endif // PIDTEMP </code></pre> <p>So, should activate the fan before running the auto-test if I wish to update the PID values in Marlin for my Anet A8?</p>

5034

Should I be doing PID auto-tuning with my fan at 100% (Anet A8)

<p>You should run the fan at what you expect it to be at the majority of the time it is printing. If you tune at 100% fan and never use a fan then it will be too aggressive, if you tune at 0% fan and use the fan then you will struggle to maintain/reach temperature.</p>

2017-11-27T13:36:44.387

|3d-design|openscad|

<p>I am modelling a few cut templates to be used on an hexagonal grid (honeycomb) material using OpenSCAD. Basically, from a reference cell, I need to select all cells that are within a given range and given angle.</p> <p>I implemented this by creating an in memory grid that covers an area larger than what I need (extra range, 360 degrees), and then testing each cell for both the distance and angle requirements, extruding only those that test positive for both conditions.</p> <p>Everything works as expected...</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vzJD0.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vzJD0.png" alt="Range = 15, Angle = 60°"></a></p> <p>...but now I would also like to add the possibility to have the outer contour of the template without having each individual cell within it (so, a single thin line going around the whole "pizza slice" above).</p> <p>I'm pretty new to OpenSCAD: what would be the best approach here? (I'm happy even with a solution that requires to re-implement what done until now).</p>

5035

How to remove internal part of a hex grid

<p>I ended up finding a reasonable solution myself:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mp3ET.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mp3ET.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>Basically, I diffed two identical, non-hollow geometries, in which the first one had the cells larger than they needed to be (so overlapping with others), and the second one had them exactly of the right dimension:</p> <pre><code>difference() { base_geometry(range, angle, infill, extra_padding = 2); base_geometry(range, angle, infill, extra_padding = 0); } </code></pre> <p>This way the only portion of the solid remaining was the <code>extra_padding</code> on the outer edges of the geometry.</p>

2017-11-27T14:29:51.583

|3d-models|scanning|

<p>I made a scan and got a cloud point file, but the cloud point is not that good, but I need to print it in a 3d printer as soon as possible, just to see how it would look. </p> <p>Basically it's missing some points that were not scanned properly due to it being transparent at those points. I'd like to add those points manually (using meshlab preferably) and create a surface with them .. something that makes this file printable. </p> <p>I know I could edit this file manually since it is an ascii file with the values of xyz .. but that is a lot of trouble and certainly there is a faster way to do this with a free tool. </p>

5037

Adding points to a point cloud

<p>A good free tool for editing meshes would be <a href="https://www.blender.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Blender</a>. Linux, Windows, Mac are supported. It has a serious learning curve, and is somewhat counter-intuitive in use (right click object to select) unless you customize it.</p> <p>Plenty of online video tutorials to learn the basics, though, and if you have a membership for Lynda.com, those videos are the best (opinion).</p> <p>I've used it to pull edges and vertices together, to chop out pieces that weren't supposed to be there, etc. The flexibility and power of the program is amazing, considering the price.</p> <p>Many artists use the program for creating 3D animations and full length movies. Amazing talent, well beyond my capabilities, but it shows what the software can do.</p> <p>The website also has links to tutorials and the <a href="https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">manual</a>, which is also a work of art.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pfxcY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pfxcY.jpg" alt="blender manual pic"></a></p> <p>If you can devote the time to learn the program, anything 3D modeling related will be within reach.</p>

2017-11-28T18:09:44.930

|print-quality|extruder|diy-3d-printer|fdm|

<p>I have created a budget 3d printer using parts of old computers, specifically I used the CD drive mechanisms for the x,y and z axis. This printer is similar to the curiosity E-Waste printer, as seen here: <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Curiosity-120-eWaste-Educational-3D-Printer/" rel="noreferrer">Link</a></p> <p>After quite a bit of time working on it I have got to the point where my printer should be able to print, but unfortunately, I have encountered an issue. The layers in which the printer prints fluctuate in height, and so when the nozzle travels over the lower layers to do the next layer, it hits a bump, misses some steps and becomes mis-aligned. I have never owned a 3d printer before, but I think that it is likely that the problem I have which causes the prints to not be flat is likely a common 3d printer problem. However, with commercial 3D printers, these bumps would probably only cause a drop in the quality of the print and not a complete fail; it is only due to how weak my motors are that the nozzle will miss a step with even the slightest force against it.</p> <p>I have thought about why the layers may not be flat and I have come up with a few possibilities that I think are the problem. I do not know if these are in fact the source of the issue, but these are the things that I have considered so far.</p> <ol> <li>The nozzle height when starting the print. If I lower it then the layer height will be smaller, and so there is less chance for it to be higher in different places. However upon testing this I found that, due to the reduced height upon the first layer the nozzle would get stuck.</li> <li>When the nozzle changes direction, for example at the edges of the print, there is significant vibration and it is possible that this cause the filament to overlap and not be flat. The vibration is due to the nature of my printer and would be very hard to reduce. A solution could be some kind of software fix, but I do not know enough about this to do so.</li> <li>Maybe the speed at which I am printing is not good. I'm printing currently at an incredibly slow 40mm/s.I have tried different speeds but at low speeds there is over extrusion and at high speeds, the vibration is too much.</li> <li>I have tried experimenting with flow rate (100%,75%,and 50%) and at the moment I am using 50%. This is because my extruder motor is a bit weak and often misses steps, also the filament requires considerable force to push it through. Is this normal?. My idea is that maybe there is too much filament being extruded and so if I lower the flow rate the print will not create bumps.</li> <li>The filament curls slightly when it comes out of the nozzle and I have tried to fix this by cleaning it and printing faster but it is only reduced. I'm printing at 200° currently; Will higher or lower print temperatures cause the filament to curl less and be more easy to push through the hot end?</li> </ol> <p>As you can see there are a lot of factors in which I need to consider if I want my printer to be able to print correctly. And unfortunately, with my printer it is either perfect or a failed print; there is no in between. Due to the weak motors everything has to be exactly right, or the nozzle will get stuck.</p> <p>I am not sure how to add videos here so I will instead. add some photos of the prints, and three photos detailing how the prints fail.</p> <p>Below is an image containing the 6 most recent prints in which I played around with the different factors mentioned above. The top middle one is the most recent one. The object i am trying to print is a simple cuboid. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ySFX.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ySFX.jpg" alt="The 6 most recent prints in which I played around with the different factors mentioned above the top middle one is the most recent one" /></a></p> <p>This is what the first layer of my most recent print looked like. There is some kind of gap in the middle for some reason, but I don't think that is the source of the error. The print appears to have adhered well, at this point and it is relatively flat. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VTHqV.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VTHqV.png" alt="first layer of print" /></a></p> <p>This is what the second layer of the print looked like, notice how the lines are wobbly and not very neat. There is also a small area of higher height in the bottom left corner which inevitably causes the nozzle to get stuck. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v7cPZ.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v7cPZ.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p> <p>This is the print after the nozzle hit the now cooled down blob, missed some steps and then was misaligned. It then goes on to print the next layer in the wrong place and gets stuck very badly. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/n2hCS.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/n2hCS.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p> <p>Thank you, for reading this. Any help would be much appreciated</p>

5044

How can I prevent my nozzle catching on my print?

<p>A printer must be working very well to not have the problem with the head hitting against small verticle protuberances and losing control of the X and Y positions.</p> <p>Some factors I've found that make bigger bumps. If you have any of these, fixing them will make the problem better. From observation, it is ultimately the power of the motors, the ability fo the nozzle to melt through small bumps and the resilience of the mechanism (not something that is otherwise helpful) that let decent prints proceed.</p> <ol> <li>The first layer may not be the height you expect. First layers are typically 100% filled. If you are extruding too much plastic for the layer height, it has to go into a bump. To fix this, check your vertical height. Measure with calipers the height of the flat portions of a 1-layer print, and compare that with your slicer expectation. Adjust the vertical offset to make the actual meet the intended. </li> <li>You may be extruding too much plastic. Depending on your slicer, you can adjust this by tweaking. I user slic3r, and can adjust the filament diameter. Overstating the diameter causes under-extrusion. Understating the diameter will cause over extrusion. </li> <li>Sometimes the bumps come mostly at changes of direction. This is possibly caused by several things, but I'd look first for backlash. The mechanism should be tight, and not move under moderate side-to-side or front-to-back force. If it jiggles, it will can cause problems. Wiggle it. Look at what moves. Should it move? If belt driven, the belts should be tight. If driven with a lead screw, the nut should not move and the screw should not move. If they do, fix it somehow.</li> <li>If you are running the motors near the maximum speed and/or acceleration, their torque will be lower than if they are running slower. Try slowing everything down by a factor of two and see how the problem changes.</li> <li>It might help to print at a higher temperature, so the nozzle can melt through the bumps with less force. This could cause other problems, but if you are marginally cool now, warmer might work better.</li> </ol>

2017-11-29T05:59:45.217

|marlin|acceleration|

<p>I expected that the movement of an axis would start slowly, become faster and then run at a constant speed when reaching the maximum speed, then slow down slowly and arrive at the target point at the lowest speed.</p> <p>At my DIY machine, however, I achieve a constant, very low speed at the beginning, then jumpy change to the maximum speed, finally a also jumpy change to the low speed, which also happens at the beginning.</p> <p>I've been working on the Marlin settings for days, but I haven't had the slightest success.</p> <p>Why don't I get any rising and falling ramps, why the sudden change?</p> <p>These are my current Marlin settings:</p> <pre><code>G21 ; Units in mm M149 C ; Units in Celsius Filament settings: Disabled M200 D1.75 M200 T1 D1.75 M200 D0 Steps per unit: M92 X800.00 Y640.00 Z800.00 E500.00 Maximum feedrates (units/s): M203 X200.00 Y200.00 Z12.00 E25.00 Maximum Acceleration (units/s2): M201 X5000 Y5000 Z1000 E10000 Acceleration (units/s2): P&lt;print_accel&gt; R&lt;retract_accel&gt; T&lt;travel_accel&gt; M204 P3000.00 R3000.00 T3000.00 Advanced: S&lt;min_feedrate&gt; T&lt;min_travel_feedrate&gt; B&lt;min_segment_time_ms&gt; X&lt;max_xy_jerk&gt; Z&lt;max_z_jerk&gt; E&lt;max_e_jerk&gt; M205 S0.00 T1000.00 B20000 X10.00 Y10.00 Z1.00 E5.00 </code></pre> <p>What's the secret of a beautiful ramp?</p>

5049

Acceleration with Marlin

<p>Your steps/mm settings are very high. Assuming you are running an ATMEGA based controller, like RAMPS, you will only be able to move at very slow feed rates (&lt;20mm/s). There are also many <em>hardware</em> factors that influence your maximum speed at a given steps/mm (which is typically referred to a your maximum <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Step_rates" rel="nofollow noreferrer">step rate</a>):</p> <ul> <li><strong>Supplied voltage</strong>. Using too high/low voltage can cause poor stepper performance or create unexpected faults at high/low step rates.</li> <li><strong>Motor specifications</strong>. Stepper motors come in a dizzying number of models with varying specifications. This is because each one is tailored to a specific use case.</li> <li><strong>Stepper Driver</strong>. There are a bunch of driver designs and manufacturers out there and none of them should be considered equal. It also matters how you setup the driver in terms of current/voltage limits, microstepping, decay modes, heat syncing, etc.</li> <li><strong>Wiring</strong>. At high step rates the inductance of the wires between your controller and motors start to matter more, as does interference to/from other electrical devices.</li> </ul> <p>If you aren't sure how to set/select/tune the things above it's best to just mimic what is done on common printers like the Prusa i3, which have robust designs.</p> <p>In more direct regard to your Marlin settings, your acceleration and feedrate values are very high for an untested printer. It's best to start with conservative values (Accel ~500mm/s^2, Feedrate &lt;10mm/s) and work your way up 10% at a time until you start having issues, then back off ~20% from there.</p>

2017-11-29T16:07:25.517

|pla|abs|

<p>I’m trying to have <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2576121" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this bracket</a> printed, but I don’t know what settings I should use.</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yTFRkm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yTFRkm.jpg" alt="Google Home Mini Invisible Mount"></a></p> <p>The project details say 50% for infill, but is there a reason why I wouldn’t get 100% for making it sturdier? I imagine the developer used 50% because he used his own printer and wanted to preserve more material. The 3D printer service I’m using doesn’t charge more for 100%.</p> <p>But I’m more concerned about the material I should select. Should I select PLA or ABS? The developer didn’t specify this.</p>

5053

What infill settings and material type do I need?

<p>You should use PLA at 215 °C (for better layer adhesion) with 35 percent infill and a shell thickness of 2&nbsp;mm. Shell thickness is what's crucial here, not necessarily infill. The thicker the shell, the stronger the part. This has a much bigger influence on strength than infill does.</p>

2017-12-01T21:18:41.577

|3d-models|

<p>I have been working at converting game files into 3d files that can be printed, but many of the models have very thin or walls. I was wondering if there was a way to increase the thickness of the walls using meshmixer or meshlab.</p>

5062

How to make walls thicker using meshmixer or meshlab

<p>I figured out how to do it by using the make solid tool.</p> <p>Edit: I selected the whole model using control and selected make solid. Set the mode from fast to accurate. I set the solid accuracy and mesh density to anywhere from 300 to 500. Then I slowly increase offset distance until the holes are sealed. I leave the minimum thickness at 0 because it doesn't appear to help much. When I'm satisfied, I click accept. I usually use the reduce feature to make the file smaller, but it isn't required. Sorry about leaving an unhelpful answer. Hope this helps people.</p>

2017-12-02T19:39:42.413

|pla|extruder|heated-bed|ultimaker-cura|

<p>I recently bought an Anet A8 (<a href="https://pevly.com/anet-a8-3d-printer-review/" rel="noreferrer">https://pevly.com/anet-a8-3d-printer-review/</a>). I've managed to get everything up and running, leveled the board, but am now running into a problem.</p> <p>At the start of the print, the printer moves to 0,0,0, bumps into the switches a couple times (I assume to calibrate or so?), and then starts "printing". But the nozzle "randomly" moves to either an X of 0 or an Y of 0 before returning to the printing position. This movement seems to pull off any basis the printer managed to lay down, which then forms a nice "ball" on the nozzle, to which the rest gets stuck. (I'm still having some other issues with getting the filament to stick to the bed, but there's plenty I still have to try out for that.)</p> <p>During one attempt of printing a very simple small cube, I carefully pulled the filament "ball" from the nozzle while it did one of those movements to X 0, and afterwards it managed to lay down the bottom layer perfectly fine. This causes me to believe those movements are the biggest problem I'm facing right now.</p> <p>After it did the first layer, it moved up a bit, moved to X 0, back to the model, and got stuck on a piece of plastic that was standing upwards.</p> <p>These movements seem to happen at around the same phase in the print, and happen quite consistently. Is this normal behavior? If so, how do I make sure the filament does not get pulled off during these weird movements? If not, how do I get rid of them?</p> <p>(No, not a duplicate of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/962/printer-randomly-moves-to-home-during-printing-then-resumes-as-normal">Printer randomly moves to home during printing, then resumes as normal</a> as I print directly from PC.)</p> <hr> <p>Edit to add more information:</p> <p>I use Cura 3.0.4 for printing, the stock Anet A8 firmware, and am attempting to print the cube model that comes with Windows 10. (Yes, I've tried different models, same result.)</p> <p>I seem to have more issues, in the video it's visible that the feeding does not seem to work too great, but I think the random movements are the most clear and biggest problem right now, so I should tackle that first.</p> <p>In Cura I've used the Pruisa I3 printer, with the following G-codes:</p> <pre><code>G21 ;metric values G90 ;absolute positioning M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode M107 ;start with the fan off G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops G29 G1 Z15.0 F9000 ;move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F9000 M117 Printing... </code></pre> <p>and end</p> <pre><code>M104 S0 ;extruder heater off M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it) G91 ;relative positioning G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure G1 Z+0.5 E-5 X-20 Y-20 F9000 ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops, so the head is out of the way M84 ;steppers off G90 ;absolute positioning </code></pre> <p>(Yes, I added in the G29 in the start code manually, as I bought the official auto-leveling sensor. I'm not sure if it works though, but I read somewhere that I might need a different version of the firmware to support it properly.)</p> <p><a href="https://youtu.be/lrk8iG1H4ig" rel="noreferrer">And here's a video showing what my printer does do exactly.</a> It started printing from the center in this case, it seems to randomly either move to the middle or to 0,0,0 when I abort the print.</p>

5066

Nozzle always "randomly" moves to 0 during print, then resumes

<p>Formating SD card fixes issue for me. I think that writing many times to the same block of SD card corrupt some block of flash SD card memory.</p>

2017-12-02T21:52:21.840

|3d-models|ultimaker-cura|

<p>I drew a fairly simple model in Google SketchUp. I exported it as an STL. I imported it into Cura and exported as gcode. Then I printed the model.</p> <p>All of the bottom layers of the model cover the entire space instead of leaving the two open gaps that should exist. I don't know why it's happening. Do I have some weird setting in Cura? </p> <p>The section that is filled, but shouldn't be, isn't a raft. I printed without a raft because my model goes to the max extent that my printer can print and I don't have room for a raft around the edges. </p> <p>Here is what it looks like in SketchUp:</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EumMr.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EumMr.png" alt="SketchUp model"></a></p> <p>Here is what it looks like in Cura. The two empty areas are shaded darker than the other empty areas of the build plate. Is that an indication of my problem?</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GGgFE.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GGgFE.png" alt="Cura Build Plate"></a></p> <p>Here is what was printed. The empty areas are solid and filled in as if the center piece extended to the inner edges of that area. (The jacked up corners are due to the model warping a bit and no longer being in the right position for subsequent layers.)</p> <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4nQbY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4nQbY.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p> <p>Here is a video of the layers according to Cura, and Cura clearly knows the gaps should be there:</p> <p><a href="https://youtu.be/r0a9gGFerHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/r0a9gGFerHI</a></p>

5068

Empty space in model is getting filled

<p>You have a problem with your STL file. Check the orientation of the faces of your 3D model, if that is not the problem, search for a software to fix your stl file. Just a tip, give Fusion360 a try, it is the best!</p>

2017-12-08T02:11:42.683

|prusa-i3|firmware|

<p>I have seen that the new Prusa Mk3 design has a optical mouse sensor that can be used to detect if the filament jams. Optical mouse sensors are just a really low resolution camera with no color. I am interested in finding out if it is possible to get access to the image data coming from that sensor? Could I add a rgb led and interpolate the filament color by comparing pixel intensity under different lighting conditions? And I was interested in seeing if the image data could be used to measure the filament width?</p>

5087

Prusa Mk3 filament detection sensor, can you access the image data?

<blockquote> <p>I am interested in finding out if it is possible to get access to the image data coming from that sensor? And I was interested in seeing if the image data could be used to measure the filament width?</p> </blockquote> <p>No. The sensor is the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180920104941/https://www.pixart.com/upload/PAT9125EL_GDS_V1.2_31052017_20171011150843.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PAT9125EL</a>. The only output it provides is the movement in the X and Y directions. There is no way to get image data out of it.</p> <blockquote> <p>Could I add a rgb led and interpolate the filament color by comparing pixel intensity under different lighting conditions</p> </blockquote> <p>No. The sensor uses laser light of a specific wavelength. It's likely not sensitive to any other wavelengths. On a positive note, there is an &quot;average frame brightness&quot; register that can be read from the chip, but I don't think it's likely to work with RGB LEDs.</p>

2017-12-09T14:38:18.940

|filament|petg|

<p>I have just received my QIDITECH printer, I've have ABS, PLA and two reals of PETG. I printed a sample using the clear PETG and this worked find, I didn't have to change any of the default settings.</p> <p>Today I've tried three times to print a simple model using the black real of PETG. I've created which is essentially just a rectangle, but after a few minutes the extruder starts to drag around filament.</p> <p>What can I do? The filament is loaded ok, and it starts out ok, but very quickly messes up.</p>

5093

QIDITECH Dual Extruder and PETG

<p>It was a while back I created this post, since then I've have numerous problems / learning curves and now I'm very pleased to say I have a printer that prints perfectly and is set-up correctly.</p> <p>I must say that the support from QidiTech is first class and during my journey I was sent a new extruder assembly, new extruders and also new print matts, all completely free and covered by the warranty.</p> <p>I have now printed numerous models successfully.</p>

2017-12-09T19:35:44.960

|3d-models|

<p>I've printed the same model at least twice and both times it was impossible to separate from the base material it was printed on.</p> <p>I'm using a QIDITECH dual extruder, when I start the print it uses the right side extruder to print a base layer, which is not part of the original model, it seems MakerBot issues this instruction to the printer.</p> <p>Once the initial layer has been printed it then prints the model.</p> <p>Both extruders are loaded with PETG. In the left side I am printed with a transparent material. The model I am trying to print is a flat rectangle 2 mm thick.</p> <p>The problem is that once it has completed printing I'm finding it impossible to separate from the initial layer it put down.</p> <p>How do I solve this problem?</p>

5094

Model stuck on base

<p>The "base" you are referring to is normally called a "raft". It's not very common to print with a raft these days (it was originally used to help with bed adhesion, but the current-day standard is to use a heated bed if available in combination with some surface preparation (hair spray, PEI sheets, etc...) to aid adhesion); you might consider just disabling the raft.</p> <p>Alternatively, you could consider (since you have a dual extruder) to print the raft in a different material that is more easily removed from the main material. There exist materials that are specifically formulated to break away easily from your print, and another option is to use a (water-)soluble material for the raft and any supports.</p>