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TPU Filament in Dremel 3D20? I recently got a Dremel 3D20, and I understand it only takes PLA filament according to the Dremel site. However, I was wondering if anyone has successfully used TPU filament or knows it will work fine. I’m more than happy to use other software to change the temperature, I just don’t want to gunk up or otherwise ruin my printer.

TPU wants in general two things of your printer: A Printing Temperature of (over many makers) 195-230 °C A Direct Drive (extruder on the printhead) Bowden extruders are not ideal for printing flexible filaments such as NinjaFlex due to the excessive distance between the stepper motor and the extruder head. However, some users have generated successful prints using reduced speeds.ninjaflex handout Check the temperature you can reach, and you are lucky, as some of the smaller Dremels use Bowden but the 3d20 is apparently direct drive. If you want to try to run a Bowden with flexible filaments, dial down speed down really low (20-30 mm/s at most) and pray.

What do you recommend for removing prints from Monoprice Maker Select bed? I've been making some ABS prints, but it's really hard to remove it afterwards. I've read a lot of different ways of removing it, including using the included chisel/spatula, using air duster, 50/50 alcohol/water, reheating the bed... I've also read about using a flexible bed that can flex it out. I'm eager to try this approach but don't know what magnetic bed I should get that's compatible with it. But if you have other tricks for it, please let me know. Thanks!

When all other things have failed, I chuck the build plate in the freezer for half an hour. The glassplate and the plastic changes size differently when changing temperature and 'pop' it just snaps off easily.

What parameters affect cylinder regularity? I'm printing cylindrical pins for a spool holder, but all my pins have irregularities on the external surface of the cylinders (see photo for partially printed pin with irregularities). It's hard to tell for sure, but it appears that the hot end will occasionally move a piece of soft plastic it previously laid down. I've tried decreasing print speed, travel speed, and layer height but I still get the irregularities. What parameters are most likely to effect cylinder regularity?

This is probably a result of bad quality filament. If you haven't changed much in your setups, haven't changed slicers, but may have changed spools, then this might be the result. I would try using another spool and perhaps switch suppliers. I know it's expensive and there seems to be a stigma around it, but MakerBot Industries provides quality PLA (some ABS also). Other than that, you've done some of what I would suggest in this case which are the following: Speeds Layer height My only other suggestions would be: Check how level your build plate is Check material requirements. ie ABS is ideal between 230-240C according to MSDS with about 110C build plate temp, PLA between 210-230C. Sometimes too hot of a hotend can result in overextrusion or ooze. If the cylinder is smaller, try changing your slicing settings to have a time minimum for each layer. In my experience, a material like ABS will begin to flare out with variations in the print environment. When the material flares out, as the nozzle comes across the area again, the flared areas will be pushed aside. If you adjust your slicing settings to about 15 seconds (refer to this calculator), then the material will have time to cool slightly from its plastic state. You can cheat this slightly by adding another object somewhere further on the plate with the same height, since the time it takes to rapid to the area and print the layer might be enough time for cooling. I would also recommend doing some in depth maintenance to eliminate in obvious problems (such as cleaning your nozzle, rods, belts, etc.)

Printing copyrighted objects as a print shop for a customer If a person is running a print shop where there are given STL files by customers, and they print the part for them, does the legality of the printed object matter? The customer would be supplying the file so the print shop would not know if it was legally obtained (or even what the object is). Could the print shop get in trouble with the law for this?

There are two aspects to this question that probably should be addressed separately. This is not legal advice and I'm not a lawyer, so consult with an experienced IP attorney. Copyright law may apply, and other IP laws, such as patents and trademarks, may apply. They each have different requirements and restrictions. Notably, IP law varies from country to country. WIPO has made significant inroads into regularizing IP law across many countries, but this answer will still focus on a US-centric reading of US IP law. Copyright law It's already established that printed works, such as photographs, texts, and similar works will result in prosecution against the person and the company that the person outsourced the copying of the copyrighted work to. Attempt to copy a book or copyrighted photo at a paper copy shop and they will typically refuse to reduce their liability. Even if you show that you have rights to the work, through educational use laws, for instance, they may still refuse because they may be putting themselves in danger of a lawsuit by a particularly aggressive copyright holder. This applies to 3D printing shops in a similar manner. If you don't know the source of the 3D model, and that the person has a right to the model, you may find yourself liable for copyright infringement. Even if you are sure, a lawsuit can financially ruin your business if it comes from a large corporation. Patents Patents apply even if you were unaware of them. So any model you print that contains patented techniques, technology, or concepts may also pull you, as the print shop, into a lawsuit for patent infringement. Reducing liability A suitable contract with the person requesting the 3D print, as written by an IP lawyer, may reduce, but not eliminate, your liability. It won't completely absolve you of all responsibility, but may reduce your exposure to such lawsuits, and give you some leverage in court should someone prosecute you.

What are the parts that make up a hotend, and what do they do? My first and only 3D printer is a Printrbot Simple Metal, which has a hotend that doesn't expose any of its internal parts. Easy for beginners, I suppose: "The hotend is that tube that heats up the plastic and deposits it on the print bed." But I've been trying to learn more, and many hotends out there don't look quite as simple. My Printrbot hotend probably isn't as simple as it looks, either. What are the parts that make up a hotend, and what do they do? (PS: This is a general question, not specifically about the two example hotends above.)

This varies by hotend design. The following is a list of components which you might find in a typical hotend, but note that different designs may integrate these components to some extent. For instance, on the J-head the heat block, nozzle and heatbreak are all one and the same component whereas on the E3D hotends these are all separate parts. Nozzle: This is the part where the filament comes out. It takes in the molten filament (typically as a bead of 1.75mm/3mm) and tapers down to the nozzle size (typically around 0.4mm). These are typically made of brass for its good heat conductivity, but brass is not suitable for printing abrasive materials (such as glow in the dark and metal-filled filaments) so sometimes (hardened) stainless steel is used. Heater Block: Usually made from aluminium, the heater block joins the nozzle to the heat break and holds the heater cartridge and thermistor. Heater Cartridge: most hotends use a ceramic heater cartridge, though some older designs use power resistors or nichrome wire. This component is, as the name suggests, responsible for heating up the hotend. The heat block usually clamps around the heater cartridge to provide good contact. Thermistor: This part senses the temperature of the heat block. It is usually a small glass bead with two wires attached (which are typically insulated with glass fiber or teflon). For high-temperature printing, a thermocouple may be used in stead. Heat Break: this is the part where hot meets cold. It usually takes the form of a thin tube and is made of stainless steel for its low thermal conductivity. The goal is generally to have the transition be as short as possible so as little of the filament is in a molten state as possible. It connects the heat block to the heat sink. Heat Sink: the purpose of the heat sink is to cool down the cold side of the heat break. It is typically cooled with a fan. Most heat sinks also have a standard groove-mount for mounting to your printer. The heat sink usually has grooves to increase its surface area and cooling capability. Teflon Liner: some hotends have a PTFE liner that guides the filament through the heat break into the nozzle. This makes it easier to print PLA, but compared to an all-metal hotend, limits the temperatures at which you can print (making it difficult to print PETG and impossible to print polycarbonate). The ubis hotend you mentioned is a bit simpler than this, and simply uses a big chunk of PEEK in place of the heat break/sink. PEEK has very low thermal conductivity and thus passive cooling is sufficient. However, PEEK limits the temperatures at which you can print. Here is an illustration outlining these components on an E3D V6 hotend: Note that in this image the Teflon liner only goes into the heat sink, and not into the heat break or block. This means the maximum temperature is not limited by the Teflon, but if it did go all the way in (as is the case with, for instance, the Lite6) then it would be.

Improving print speed by adding holes Let's say, I want to print a box for putting game tokens in. It is an empty cube, but the top layer is missing. I do not need full walls. It could have holes in it resulting in a mesh structured wall, like a fence or a shopping cart. What pattern should I use for the best object stability and print speed? What programs can I use to design this? (I do not want to manually add 100 holes in my design).

Holes in vertical walls will make it take significantly more time to print, not less. Rather than being able to make a continuous path around the box on each layer, keeping the print head at the desired speed the whole time, the printer will have to run around each connected component of the layer separately, slowing down, retracting, speeding up to travel, slowing down at the destination, unretracting, and speeding back up each time.

What causes leaking between the heat break and the heat block? During long prints, my heat block becomes covered in whatever material I am printing. The plastic leaks from the junction between the heat break and the heat block, and runs down towards the nozzle. I frequently have problems with grinding of filament by the Bowden extruder. However, on the E3D Kraken with a Volcano block, if I use water cooling and a fan positioned just above the heat block, there is no grinding, and everything comes out fine. But the heat block grows a beard of plastic regardless if there is a fan over the heat break or not. I check my prints once every 2 hours and can wipe the heat block beard, but for overnight prints this isn't possible, so sometimes my prints will have random blobs from when the plastic leaks onto the print. I have tried multiple nozzles and filaments! I print at only 60 mm/s. Does the volcano block need faster print speeds to prevent this from happening? I cant really figure out the root of the issue. If the rest of the print comes out fine, then why is there an issue?

A video I recently viewed (YouTube link) regarding installing a hot end assembly references the proper sequence of parts placement. Starting with the nozzle, thread it into the heater block until it is proud of the surface by a half of a millimeter, perhaps slightly more. The heat break is then threaded into the heater block until it contacts the nozzle. If not already in place, attach the heat sink. The next step is to bring the assembly up to maximum temperature and re-tighten the nozzle assembly, obviously using great care due to the high temp. The video specified that performing this sequence incorrectly would result in leakage from the assembly, which describes your troubles.

Running costs of 3D printing In the year that I have had my Flashforge Adventurer 3 I have just had a second extruder head break. The replacement cost (in AUD) is 135.00. But, I'll also need a new nozzle and a replacement ribbon cable for the extruder head. That will add another $40.00. Apart from filament costs, that brings the cost of "consumables" for my printer in the last year close to $350.00 I'm beginning to think this makes the running costs for my 3D printing very high, but I have nothing to compare this with. Does anyone care to share what it costs them to keep a 3D printer operational per year? Do my costs seem high?

I have a Prusa I3M3+MMU2, which I have had for a year. During the first year, the display failed under warranty and replaced for free. The power supply also failed, and although Prusa replaced it, I was in a hurry and bought another supply to use as a backup for about \$60.00. I have used two rolls of paper towels, a bottle of acetone, and a quart of isopropanol, for maybe \$5.00. I have bought a spare thermister for about \$10.00, but haven't installed it yet. I bought a couple of new nozzles for specialized materials for \$35.00, but the nozzle I got with the machine isn't worn. I bought the textured build plate (when it was finally available) for about $30.00. So, my running cost, exclusive of electricity, is about \$140.00, including buying accessories which haven't been consumed. I have also bought way too much filament, which you aren't counting. Filament cost has dwarfed my other expenses.

Has anyone encountered this type of strange print patterns? I am noticing strange print patterns ever since I upgraded to the Prusa multi material print head. The patterns are consistent printing upwards but inconsistent amongst each face. I am using original Prusa PLA filament, and have tried to different extruder temperature settings (200C, 205C, 210C, and 215C) but they all have similar patterns. A different color and roll of Prusa filament is doing the same thing. Any ideas or suggestions as to what to check next? Thanks for any input!

It is always very difficult to debug a printer remotely, but here's my best shot. I may be totally wrong though! Zooming-in your picture seems to show like little bumps (inwards or outwards) that offset the extrusion in the XY plane. The fact the bumps occur on both the X and Y axis, and both inwards and outwards, and that the patterns are not fully regular make me think the problem could be as simple as the new printing head having some play, and some combination of forces waking bumping it momentarily off its intended position. Any ideas or suggestions as to what to check next? Check for play. Play which is due to a static feature (like a loose bolt, a clamp not holding firmly enugh or a cracked heat break) can be usually be detected with the printer switched off, by holding the nozzle between your fingers and shacking it gently. Play that is dynamic in nature (for example a roller with an irregular diameter or screwed parts becoming loose only when hot) can be more tricky to detect. The procedure is the same, but tou may have to heat the extruder (and use gloves, doh!) or to repeat it at different positions on the X and Y axis.

PTFE pulled into extruder gears I have a Tevo Tarantula, the problem is that PTFE is getting pulled back to the extruder gears and stopping filament extrusion, do you know how to solve this? Image: One hypothesis I have is that there is a cooling problem in the hot end while a retraction is made, causing the extruder motor to pull the PTFE in it. Suggestions appreciated!

You are probably right, I have a Tarantula as well, and this happened many times to me. The reason is mostly because the hotend fan gets too hot, stops working, then, the filament in the aluminium heat sink melts and sticks the filament inside the PTFE tube. Then, on the retraction, the PTFE is pulled into the gears just like on your picture. Also, the filament stops getting extruded a few moments later. One solution for that was to buy a new PTFE tube with a pneumatic connector that doesn't allow it to slide into the gears. However, the diameter of the screw thread (of the one that I bought) was too large, so I had to design a new static block for the extruder to fit it. I chose this type of 1mm PTFE teflon tubing from aliexpress for my replacement. Maybe you can find a pneumatic connector with the proper diameter. However the real solution is to check why the heat sink is getting too hot. I bought a few other fans and printed an additional support for them on the hotend and I am making sure the fan stays on all the time. I hope it helps!

Is this what a 0.1 layer height should look like? I've done 0.1 before and I think I've gotten better and more smooth results than this: I think that my printer is having some sort of problem, or the print bed it too low because this was printed at a 0.1 layer height. I think the print should look a lot more smooth than that. I'm using the Monoprice Select Mini.

This may be an effect of the not using a "Magic Number" for your layer height. The Monoprice Select Mini has a z-resolution of 0.04375mm, so layer heights should be multiples of that. (See What are the “magic numbers” on a Monoprice Select Mini?) If you slice with a layer height of 0.1mm, each layer will be a little smaller (0.0875mm) or bigger (0.13125mm) to get close the the ideal height. The extrusion won't change, causing some layers to be thin and overextruded and others to be thick and underextruded.

Vertical lines with no layer adhesion I have an Ender 3 Pro which I use together with Cura 4.2.1 (and Octoprint). I print in PLA at 180°C. The print bed is set to 70°C. The Bed temperature is lower though, since I use a glas bed on top of the heated bed. I use a print cooling fan at 100%. The layer height is set to 0.2 mm, the line width 0.4mm from the 0.4mm nozzle. My retraction is 5mm at 50mm/s. Prints come out with heavy vertical lines and no layer adhesion at these lines. I can easily break the print apart. In other spots the print is fine. Any ideas on what could cause this problem?

The Ender-3 has a problem that stems from the way the X-axis is mounted and which can often be a source for "jumping" in the Z area. Seeing the upper photo, you can see that the bad printing seems to be on one side more than the other, leading me to believe this might be the reason: Check if the X gantry is orthogonal to the frame on both sides and make sure the eccentric nuts are not too tight so that the wheels roll easily on it, but not spin freely. A little drop of oil on the Z-rod might also help to remove any binding, making sure that it moves smoothly. If your layers are bad repeatedly, it also might be a problem with the extruder. Check if the extruder arm is all intact. When I had such an issue that was recurring every 10 layers, I found the lever arm holding the wheel on it broken and occasionally loosing contact. If it is broken, I suggest swapping the extruder assembly for a metallic one.

Smaller outer layer height? I am printing minis and other very detailes stuff and I find that 0.04 mm layer height gives the best looking (smoothest) result. However it takes a long time, so I am looking for ways to speed it up. Is there any slicer which offers different layer heights for the outer perimiter? So you can print your model at 0.12 mm or so, but the outer layer gets printer first 3 times at 0.04 mm?

In Ultimaker Cura, unless you print a single perimeter outline and add extra wall infill support you are not going to have different outer perimeter layer heights. However, Cura is able to reduce the printing time, E.g. you can have fine layers for the wall (all perimeters), and coarse layers for the infill. The option is called "Infill Layer Thickness": Infill layer thickness Since the layer height of the infill is not important for visual quality, you can use thicker layers on the infill to reduce the print time. When adjusting this setting, always make sure that it is a multiple of the layer height, otherwise Ultimaker Cura will round it up to a multiple of the layer height. This means that you can, for example, print with an infill thickness of 0.2 mm while the layer height is 0.1 mm. The printer will first print the walls for two layers, and then it will print one thicker infill layer. Note that this is not a standard option, you need to put Cura in the "Custom" mode and filter/search for the option using the search bar. Below you'll find the upper right corner of the Cura Graphical User Interface where I searched for the option: Note that there are 2 options, one for regular infill of your product and one for infill of the support structures. An other department at work is working together with a start-up university company to 3D print PEEK molds (from pellets) using 2 nozzles/extruders (to create resin injection parts), one has a large nozzle, the other has a fine nozzle. They use their own developed slicer software to use the fine nozzle for the outer contours and the coarse nozzle for infill and support. It could be that they developed this because it was not available in commercial slicers. For the 2 most common free slicers, Cura and Slic3r, there is no option to have just the outer perimeter of different height than the inner perimeters. If you think of it, it is also pretty difficult to execute, you either get: (which does not improve the quality of the product, it will make the outside more coarse) or you'll get gaps: Note that both upper images do not include infill, only 1 outer and 3 inner perimeters. The image below is probably what is possible with Cura, so all perimeters the same; green is infill now:

What is this weird support line doing in this print? I am a newbie to 3D printing and ran into a weird infill line on my second 3D printing object on a new Qidi X-Pro machine (which works great). I've included a screenshot of the infill line, which is deliberately printed the full height of the object. I'm thinking this line has been deliberately inserted by the Qidi slicer for some reason, but I have no idea why. Do all slicers generate these kinds of lines? If so, why?

I do not know the Qidi slicer, but if you look closely, you will see this line is thinner than the normal support infill lines. You could try to visualize the G-code in a viewer, usually this can be done in the slicer itself, but online viewers are available. The viewer will not only show the printed lines, but also show moves by the print head (usually in a different color). You can check whether this extra line is actually printed or a move. If it is a move, this extra line is caused by your hotend which is leaking when it moves. You need to properly tune the hotend with respect to the retraction settings and temperature. There are numerous retraction test print objects to find on the internet. Depending on your slicer settings, some slicers are able to define where each layer starts printing (e.g. random, or start at sharp corner). The fact you see a support structure "printed the full height of the object" tells you that each layer starts at the same position. It is not uncommon in uniform simple parts where each layer starts at the same position (X/Y) as this is instructed by the slicer setting. In Ultimaker Cura such an option is called Z Seam Alignment. Bottom line, all slicers will do this when your printer is improperly tuned (incorrect settings for e.g. print temperature, retraction, coasting, travel speed). It is up to you to find the correct settings, test print objects help you with that.

Stepper motor moving only to one side after reset I come through this post, rescue a problem with my printer. It uses Arduino 2560 Mega, RAMPS 1.4, and Marlin 1.1.9, which had configured it left it working as follows: on the RAMPS the Y-axis is connected to the Z-axis pins, as it has two stepper motors on the Y-axis and the Z-axis is connected to the pins of E1. I did all the basic and necessary configurations in the firmware and sent it to the Arduino, eliminating the previous configuration, so that I can configure the steps of the motor correctly, as they were out of calibration. Before the reset, the motors moved to both sides, positive and negative. However, when I sent the firmware to the Arduino, I can only rotate the motors on all axes only to one side. On the printer display, I go to the option to move the axis, rotate it 10 mm and the axis moves. However when I move it backwards, it does not come back, it is stopped. This happens with all the axes after I did the reset. Is there any way to configure the rotation of the motors by the firmware in relation to pins A1, A2, B1, and B2 in the same way that the axis change on the RAMPS was configured? I apologize for the mistakes, I speak Portuguese and I used a translator. I executed the command M119 on the console of the Marlin IDE and the printer did nothing, it is correctly connected to the PC via the USB cable this appeared on the console screen: x_min: TRIGGERED y_min: TRIGGERED z_min: open ok

Assuming that your M119 command has been executed for non-depressed endstop switches, it could be concluded tht the firmware is incorrectly configured. If you execute the M119 G-code command and get TRIGGERED status values for endstops, even when the nozzle head is not pressing the endstop switches, then you have incorrectly configured the endstops in the Marlin configuration.h file. The most common setup is to have the COM go to ground and NC to Signal, this requires the following values to be false, otherwise you need to use true. #define X_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING true// Set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. #define Y_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING true// Set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. When an endstop is reported to be triggered while the switch is not depressed, the logic needs to be reversed. Marlin firmware will only allow movement to go away from the endstop when it is triggered, never against a triggered endstop (as this might damage the printer).

Anet A6 install bed leveling sensor After lots of hassle, I finally made the printer work. I also got myself one bed leveling sensor from eBay, LJ18A3-8-Z/BX 3D Printer Inductive Sensor Bed Auto Level +Plug For Anet A8 A2 A6. I'm not sure how to setup it. Should I print some holders for it first? Where are they? Should I somehow update the firmware?

You need to do two or three things: Print a holder or bracket for the probe, if your probe did not come with one, and looking at the eBay item listing, it doesn't appear to include a bracket. There are a number of designs out there, take a look at thingiverse, for example: Installing the BLtouch on Anet A6 - This one includes a PDF guide. Anet A6 Autolevel Sensor Support 18mm Change the firmware - SkyNet 3D, Marlin is a good choice, or Anet's own You may need to change the Z-stops There is a step by step guide here, Autolevel for the A8 Anet 3D Printer. It is for the A8 but most, if not all, of the steps will apply to the A6

Acetone making white stains on heat bed I recently tried cleaning my CR-10S Pro heat bed with acetone and it made this white stain on it. Anyone have any solutions to this?

Acetone is quite an aggressive solvent, so white residue could be part of your heatbed print surface that is dissolved, and then when the acetone evaporates the dissolved part crystalise on the heatbed again. Acetone should only be used on PEI sparingly, not at all on powder coated surfaces. Use IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to clean of residue between prints. If you have problems with adhesion, you can also start by washing the build plate or surface with water and dish soap (with no other additives). The surfactant in the soap traps oils and other impurities and flush them away, instead of dissolving them temporarily and then depositing it on the build surface again when the solvent evaporates. Like mentioned in other comments, use IPA or water/dish soap to clean off any residue.

Monoprice Select Mini - Detached Filament Feeder fitting The $200 Monoprice Select is inexpensive but also cheap, so experiences I've seen appear to involve lots of repairs. In spite of that, I've bought one, as I'm able to fix things (sometimes) and the first few prints have been pretty good quality. ( I hear this unit is also sold as a Wanhao I3 ) First repair was that the control knob only worked in one direction (fix: bad encoder-PCB connector cable. Repaired) Upon trying to change filament, the feeder fitting that enters the hot-end heatsink has come off. This fitting has a thread, but strangely the heatsink does not seem to. As I tried to unscrew it, to check for a feed blockage, it just let go, and I see no part that could have held it in place. (See pic) I'm guessing that it was just epoxy-glued to the heatsink. Sounds kludgy but possible. Does anyone know? Can any other owner verify how theirs is attached? [ Also, posted as a caution for someone else who tries to do this. :( ] Thanks in advance.

Solution - there is a set-screw and a square nut in that T-slot which holds the feeder fitting in place on the heat sink. One may well think (as I did) that the fitting is threaded into the heatsink, since it does have a big hex-head for a wrench. A small turn an the set screw lets go, the nut sliding down the slot with it. Thus when you inspect it, you don't realize they are involved 'cuz they aren't around. Simply slide back up and you're in business. Mystery solved - thx to Mark on Twitter. :)

How to enlarge a Sketchup Model I have moved forward with the whole .max thing. Its on the back burner. But not as critical now. I have found a sketchup model of the model I want. But it is ridiculously small (0.17 m long by 0.10 m wide!). How do I enlarge it to fit my dimensions as a whole? Thanks

Use Cura middle button in bottom

Do SLA printers have open source slicers available to use? Does anyone know of a (manufacturer independent) software that supports different types of SLA printers? Since there are many different SLA type printers around, I was wondering if there are any unified or open source methods for slicing in case the manufacturer drops support for the printer software (or my OS upgrades on me overnight and breaks compatability).

From what I have researched, each brand of printer has their own method of slicing objects for their printer to parse. For example: Peopoly Uses a profile for Cura Creality, Elegoo and Phrozen use CHITUBOX Anycubic uses their Photon Workshop There doesn't appear to be any golden ticket type of method (like G-Code) for slicing and providing instructions.

My endstops have 4 female plugs, but the examples on the RepRap Prusa i3 Site have 3; what are each of them for? The Sainsmart Endstops I picked up are different from the ones described in the RepRap Prusa i3 Rework electronics assembly wiki; they have 4 female plugs that go into the RAMPS 1.4 board instead of 3: Since these endstops are different, how do I hook them up, and what do the markings on them mean?

The website shows exactly what each wire is for. Both middle wires are ground, the wire on the same side as the lever is the signal wire and the last wire is the power wire.

Why is support printed over shell if layer preview doesn't show it? When I check the Cura preview, then there isn't support over the shell, but when the part is printed, then there is support over the shell and it makes it look ugly. It happens only for front and back but the left and right sides are without support over the shell. When you open the .gcode file in Cura then you also can't see support over the shell. What could cause this problem? Added view from "Line Type"

The picture of the line types and the accompanying comment helps to clear this up: they are "Travel" lines, but why material is printed during travel? Yes, the dark blue is travel. But if material is deposited during them, then that is not printing, that is material oozing out of the nozzle - which is called stringing most often. Usually, this is an issue with retraction: your length is possibly a little short. However, retraction also only is turned on for moves over a given length, so there might be no retraction happening. And, in Cura support structure generally is printed without retraction due to toggle Limit Support Retractions. Toggling that off can help. You might also turn on one of the two Avoid modes in the movement (Avoid Printed Parts when Traveling & Avoid Supports When Traveling) to get the movement paths in a way so they don't go over the model and prevent any stringing/oozing onto it or knocking off delicate parts. Possibly increasing retraction a little might help, and so might Z-hop to try to "rip" the strings.

Makerbot Replicator 2 switches off and restarts automatically My Makerbot replicator 2 stops and restarts automatically. I lose the print and the extruder head does not move from the position. (obviously). We have checked wiring a few times. Have not seen any issues so far. Maybe I am missing something. We have recently changed the ceramic tapes, fans etc. just recently. It happens once in a while. But once it starts, it continuous, and it doesnt stop unless we shut it down for a few hours. or sometimes even days. Any ideas what the issue could be. Or are more details required.

I've heard of a few issues like this, always relating to hardware problems. If you feel comfortable opening up the hardware on your machine, confirm that all of your connections are firmly connected to your printers Circuit Cards. The issues i've dealt with I determined came from a loose connection and the gantry running would shake the connections enough to cause a loss of signal.

Belt driven axis question I'm currently attempting to make a repstrap using paper printed parts, like this guy : http://www.mariolukas.de/2012/05/repstrap-3d-drucker-aus-computerschrott-teil-1/ I replaced the DC motor in a paper printer carriage assembly with a stepper motor (NEMA17). But there was not enough space to fit the axis of the nema 17 at the exact spot of the older DC motor axis, in short, the axis are not in the same place. The question is : if the axis is not in the exact same spot, will it affect the movement of the carriage or not at all ? I supposed it would but i'm not sure since the carriage is limited in movement by the rails and that we still move the belt around.

Axis should definitely be at proper position. Otherwise you will get at least 2 issues. Carriage will be pulled up which will cause stresses on rollers or slides and it will stress your belt The way the carriage will go will change but because carriage itself is fixed then it will change the speed 3D printing is a precise process. Both issues will have impact on printouts and all your printouts will have broken dimension in the axis in which carriage moves. Have a look on the picture (it is big to show details) fig A shows a situation where carriage is far from the axis In such situation the distance between vertical line of black cross and pink circle is almost unnoticable so both - the force and the distance (so speed) change are very small. fig B shows a situation where carriage is relatively close to the axis Then both - the force and the distance change is noticable

Recalibrating Home-position I got myself the Ender 3. The Home position is about 1 mm left and 2 mm in front of the front left corner. Now, the hotend center axis is 11 mm from the carrier plate with the "Mk 10" cooler mounted right onto a pair of 5 mm pegs that are part of the plate. As I want to change to an e3D v6, which has a diameter of 22 mm, I will have to move out some distance (ca. 13 mm) to the current Z axis. This means, that any Y command will be off by this distance. How do I reconfigure the Home position to have an offset to the 0-positions gained from the limit switches? According to Repetier Host it runs on Marlin 1.0. Creality offers the firmware on their website as a .hex file - which is hard to edit.

When homing the printer, the hot end carriage will be instructed to hit the (mechanical or optical) end stops. From this point a well configured firmware knows where to find the origin of the heat bed. For the printer to know the origin of the bed, offsets are defined in the firmware from the end stop locations to the actual origin of the heat bed. E.g. in Marlin Firmware this is defined by #define X_MIN_POS -35 ; move the head 35 mm to the right to place the ; nozzle at X = 0 #define Y_MIN_POS -8 ; move the head 8 mm to the back (or the plate ; forward) to place the nozzle at Y = 0 When you change the hardware (e.g. carriage), you need to re-calibrate the movement from the end stop location to the origin of the bed. Note that any arbitrary point on the heat bed can be used to re-calibrate this. E.g. the center of the bed can also be used, and is frequently much more easy to re-calibrate as the heated beds usually have rounded corners or are slightly larger than the actual print area (e.g. I have a 300 x 300 mm heat bed that actually measures 315 x 315 mm). Printing a large square on the heat bed will therefore give you a good impression of the offset of the nozzle due to your new carriage design. Note that, if you cannot or will not flash new firmware, an alternative solution exists to set new incremental offset values using the M206 command IF your current firmware supports this. A detailed description to re-calibrate is found in answer How to center my prints on the build platform? or in external link Bed center calibration.

Meshlab creates weird bubbles when using poisson surface reconstruction my task is to create a watertight surface out of a point-cloud (It's the model of a dam). For this I'm using MeshLab. First thing I did was importing the .ply-file into Meshlab and normalize it. This looked like this: So far so good. For Remeshing and creating the surface I wanted to use Poisson Surface Reconstruction. I tried different parameters but this is my best result: As you can see it creates some weird bubbles in the lower right part of the model. And I can't figure out why this happens when the rest of my model gets modeled in the way I want it to be. Thanks for your help!

Solution: After trying a lot of different filters with different tools, I came up with simplifying the point-cloud. After that, using the poisson surface reconstruction filter worked just fine without creating any weird bubbles.

Does moving the z-endstop upwards affect the maximum height of the printable object? As moving the endstop upwards reduces the range of the z-axis, I was wondering whether it reduces the maximum height of the printable object, by the distance the endstop was moved. Or is this somehow (to a certain extent) beeing counterbalanced? (Follow-up question of this question)

If you move up the end stop such that it raises the nozzle with respect to the build platform you lose height, so basically the answer is yes. But, as seen in your referenced question, your nozzle location is determined by the mechanical layout of the printer and the end stop had to be raised in order to print at all. This means that although you have less height to move the Z gantry, it can now actually print the full range the printer is designed for (the max Z to print is fixed in the configuration of the firmware of the printer and is always smaller than the maximum Z of the mechanical layout). Theoretically, if you ever make a lower profile hotend head, you would be able to lower the end stop and gain a little in height and adjust the firmware maximum Z height. E.g. in Marlin firmware, for an Anet A8 3D printer, #define Z_MAX_POS 240 in the Configuration.h file defines the maximum print height of 240 mm. If you would deliberately increase the Z end stop height and platform by let's say 50 mm, the printer thinks it still can print 240 mm, but in reality the gantry will crash against the top mounts and thus limit your printing height.

Rather than stiffer springs, can I preserve my fine-tuned bed height using Nyloc nuts? I've read a bunch of articles about getting better springs for my bed levelling screws so that I don't have to adjust it as often because standard springs vibrate loose as it prints. However, would it be simpler and more effective to just use Nyloc nuts tightened against the adjustment wheels so that the wheels cannot rotate? Or some other form of mechanical prevention of the wheels turning? For example, tie a piece of string between the spokes in opposite wheels, so they cannot rotate much relative to each other.

It's because the bed heats up. Since the bed can heat up to the point that locktite or nylon can soften, using those products to keep the screws from turning will have exactly the opposite effect.

How do I convert point cloud data to DICOM? How can I convert 3D point cloud data to DICOM format (specifying slice width) or an equally scrollable sharp 2D image format? Which software (preferably opensource or free) can I use to do this? I've searched on Google and can't find anything. Chris

This answer is actually based on combining answers from 2 other questions (this and that). The process isn't a single step and would be to as follows: The point cloud data needs to be converted to a 3d mesh. Convert the mesh to STL. Slice the STL into SVG. For step one, the type of point cloud data would decide the software to use (for example, if it is GIS point cloud data, or 3D scanner point cloud data). A good end result of step 1 would be a VRML file. As you've not specified the type of point cloud data, I cannot suggest a software for it. Step 2 would be to convert the mesh to STL which is easily doable using Meshlab. For step 3, Slic3r itself will work just fine to generate the SVG output you're looking for.

Software for 3d model to arc/curve gcode? Is there software that can take a solid model, e.g. in STEP format, and generate gcode that includes arc/curve commands (G2, G3, G5) when possible?

I have been looking at this also. But I can't find a STEP to GCODE software. So the answer to your question is no, not that I'm aware of. Using STL files, which are approximations of the actual model using triangular shapes, slicers will generate GCODE not including arc codes. I understand that either the printer controller should take care of creating the arc gcode by reading multiple lines in advance and calculate if certain consecutive "straight gcodes" could be replaced by "arc gcodes" or the generated gcode file needs to be pre-processed off-line by separate software, or post processing scripts of slicers. With respect to reading multiple lines in advance, the 8-bit controller boards are not powerful enough to do all these extra calculations as the different firmwares already utilize the full potential of these boards.

Print box bigger than the printer bed I am trying to make a box that is 420 mm wide by 86 mm tall by 100 mm long, I wonder if there is a good technique to design, cut, print and fit all parts together to be safe and hard.

Are you making a simple box? Or does it have some kind of detail or structure? The photo below exemplifies a structure attached to connectors that have been created outside of Fusion, but you can also use it as an idea to create your own! Link to OPENSCAD LIBRARY If you are thinking of cutting into parts, you can also create a kind of male / female (puzzle) in the parts that fit. Something like that ... Here is some interesting information to study How to design Snap-fit Joints for 3D Printing

Loose brass heater block I recently changes the nozzle on my Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3D printer (first time). The brass block that the nozzle screws into is free to rotate around an is wobbly. Loose block video I can't see any obvious nut/screw that's come loose though. It could well be that it's not important, but it was definitely tightly attached before it twisted when I removed the nozzle. I've taken the assembly apart: Silver bit removed:

The silver looking cylindrical nut (with the flat faces) between the brass block and the black metal plate is the heat break of the assembly. The brass block should be tightly fit to this heat break. You could turn the brass block to get a close fit again. The heat break itself can move in the upper part, black plate, the cold end by the set screw on the side. Some hotend assembly types allow that, this screw is then used to fixate the orientation of the brass block. This type of hotend is not very common, it is a MK10. Without the brass block it looks like this: Maybe this clears it up how the block is attached in between the heat break and the nozzle; it is positioned where you see the threads. The screw to position the brass heater block and the heat break is clearly visible. Don't try to wobble the brass block any further as you will wear out the threads, there appears to be a lot of play already.

Under extrusion, looking for specific information Have a Monoprice maker select with a Micro Swiss hotend, and am using Cura IIIP. Edit: plus Janbex PLA 1.75mm filament. Trying to print a Pi camera mount, but am getting (I believe) under extrusion, as seen here. My Cura settings are these. Does anybody see any obvious problems? What should I try to change? Edit: have played around with different temperatures, and some other settings (eg the filament diameter), but lost track of the reasons. Was following various instructions on web pages.

Your filament is 1.75 mm, but you specified 1.6 mm in the Filament option Diameter (mm). Furthermore, your layer thickness is very small (0.06 mm), why not try 0.20 mm first; a thicker layer will cause a higher extrusion flow. It could be that the print speed is too high for the low layer size. Your initial layer 0.3 mm is also high, the maximum for a 0.4 mm nozzle. Why did you change so many parameters? The standard values work pretty well.

Why did my printer's nozzle dig itself into my print? I just completed my first print on my Ender-3 and when the print finalized itself the nozzle didn't elevate itself to clear away from the piece. I watched as the nozzle slowly lowered itself into my print and destroy it. Here is the gcode generated by Slic3r used: ; Filament-specific end gcode G4 ; wait M221 S100 M106 S0 ; turn off cooling fan M104 S0 ; turn off extruder M140 S0 ; turn off bed G91 G1 F1800 E-3 G90 G1 Z{z_offset+min(layer_z+30, max_print_height)}{endif} ; Move print head up G28 X0 ; home x and y axis G1 Y180; Remove Print Position M84 ; disable motors M300 S2600 P100; Beep ; filament used = 24040.5mm (57.8cm3) ; total filament cost = 0.0

You are using incorrect commands in your end-code for the incorrect tool with respect to the print head raise. Slic3r has no knowledge of the maximum printer height (as in variable max_print_height) because there is no input field to specify this, as can be seen in this partial screenshot: However, in Slic3r PE (Prusa Edition), there is a possibility to enter such a value, as seen in the following partial screenshot: Note that in both editions, the Bed shape interface is equivalent when Set... is pressed: To use the raising of the head, respecting the maximum print height, in Slic3r PE, you need to add the following line: {if layer_z < max_print_height}G1 Z{z_offset+min(layer_z+60, max_print_height)}{endif} This will parse fine in Slic3r PE, but not in Slic3r (as max_print_height is not known). If you want such a command in Slic3r, you need to enter (for a printer with a maximum print height of 240 mm): G1 Z{[z_offset]+min([layer_z]+3, 240)} results in Slic3r for a 20x20x20 mm calibration cube with a zero z_offset to: G1 Z23

Use inkjet cartridge to color filiment? Is it possible to use a standard color inkjet cartridge to color filament for full color 3D printing? It seems like a natural next step to me, but I haven't seen much of anything on this. (Just a few ancient experiments on reprap wiki.) I've learned that some inkjet printers have the heads built into the cartridge whereas others it's part of the printer. I think the former would be more appropriate. Unfortunately I haven't seen anything on actually how to drive the cartridges. I'm guessing the mfgr's treat this as a trade secret (?) Still, there's got to be some overseas reverse-engineer... something... on this, right? Anybody have resources/notes they'd like to share?

I don't think it makes a lot of sense - you don't need that kind of resolution, and getting a sufficient amount of ink that way to coat the filament would be hard. If you're going to be switching colors rapidly, you'd need a long purge between colors anyway. I also doubt the type of ink is suitable for sticking to filament materials. If you really want an automated filament coloring system, I would do it with Sharpies and actuators to move individual ones on/off of the filament as it passes through. Coloring PLA with Sharpies prior to printing is a known-working technique, and there are even models available on Thingiverse for holders to keep them in place while the filament runs through. Designing the actuators to switch individual ones on/off, and the firmware controls for them, would be the natural next step. Here are some examples I did with manual coloring of natural translucent PLA (from left to right: uncolored, silver Sharpie, and red Sharpie): I didn't color a long enough segment of filament or properly purge for any of them, which is why the coloring is inconsistent/incomplete. But the technique definitely works.

Extending extruder heater and thermistor wires I wanted to extend the E3D V6's extruder heater and the thermistor wires. Is it ok to solder extension wires or does it have to be crimp only! Also are regular wires ok or does it have to be some special cable?

Soldering is fine, both for the thermistor wires as for the heater. The wires don't need to be particularly special, though there are some things you should keep in mind: Current. The heater can draw up to 3-4A, the wires need to be able to handle this. The wires for the thermistor can be thinner. Flexibility. The hotend (presumably) moves, so the wires should be able to withstand frequent movement. Use stranded (rather than solid) wire.

Moving the Z-axis stepper motors below Z 0.0 My Prusa i3 MK3 forgot his home position and it now assumes that the Z 0.0 position is right at the top of the printer. I've asked about this in the Prusa forum before and at that time, I accidentally found a solution using Pronterface. So I am now in the same situation again. The printer head is at the very top. It assumes that this is Z 0.0, so I can't move it down. Calibrating Z does not help. It will always display Some problem encounteres, Z-leveling enforced ... and some time later, it calibrates Z again, resulting in the same problem and so on (endless loop). The Pronterface trick (pressing the home button) does not work any more. However, Pronterface seems to accept raw G-Code. Which G-Code command would I need to send to the printer to let the head move down? That would need to be a command that just rotates the stepper motor and does not consider the Z-axis value, so that the head effectively moves to negative Z values. I have also tried: moving the head down manually while the printer was turned off. I'd like to avoid that. It just doesn't feel right. However, it worked after the third attempt and I was able to do a XYZ calibration. However, during bed leveling, it failed and went into the "some problem encountered" state again.

To allow negative axis values, usually, the way is to use G1 S1 to disable boundary checks and G1 S0 to enable them. Another way is to force homing Z, which means moving till an endstop triggers and then moving back up the specified motion via G28 Z Another alternative would be to send G92 Z50 to set the Z-hight to 50, then G1 Z-50 F200 to move that much down, rinse and repeat.

MKS 12864OLED Display setup I've bought MKS 12864OLED and connected to my DIY 3d printer with Mega/RAMPS combination. In Marlin's configuration.h file there are these lines to uncomment: // MKS OLED 1.3" 128 × 64 FULL GRAPHICS CONTROLLER // http://reprap.org/wiki/MKS_12864OLED // // Tiny, but very sharp OLED display // //#define MKS_12864OLED // Uses the SH1106 controller (default) //#define MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306 // Uses the SSD1306 controller I'm not sure to choose between 'SH1106' or 'SSD1306'... either way, the LCD module is not working.

First of all let me state that I do not own the module! The analysis below is based on old patches that worked in a version of Marlin in 2015, and translated to the latest version of Marlin of the 1.1.x branch. This is 1.1.9; this is the last version of the 1.1.x branch, all new development takes place in branch bugfix-2.0.x (dated May 2019). The reported patches are compatible with an earlier version of Marlin Firmware (a version from 2015). Clearly this doesn't work anymore, but that should not be a problem, if it worked then it should work now provided we configure it correctly. The display you have requires U8GLIB_SSD1306, so the U8GLIB library need to be installed in your Arduino IDE! Let's follow this installation guide for the older version as an example. First, from patch 1 it becomes clear that you'll need to define that you are using a display that is identified by its name/type, you should uncomment the following line in your configuration.h in the section: //============================================================================= //======================== LCD / Controller Selection ========================= //======================== (Character-based LCDs) ========================= //============================================================================= //#define MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306 // Uses the SSD1306 controller to: #define MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306 // Uses the SSD1306 controller as you are using the SSD1306 controller according to this reference. That is about the only thing you add in the configuration.h file! You only activate the name of the controller type (as in defining a constant) so that it is caught in other source or header files to do/trigger something. With this change, you automatically activated the rest of patch as that is implemented in Conditionals_LCD.h! Next, we need to address patch 2. This is addressed in ultralcd_impl_DOGM.h; here you will find: #elif ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306) // MKS 128x64 (SSD1306) OLED I2C LCD U8GLIB_SSD1306_128X64 u8g(DOGLCD_SCK, DOGLCD_MOSI, DOGLCD_CS, DOGLCD_A0); // 8 stripes //U8GLIB_SSD1306_128X64_2X u8g(DOGLCD_SCK, DOGLCD_MOSI, DOGLCD_CS, DOGLCD_A0); // 4 stripes which clearly differs from the patch: U8GLIB_SSD1306_128X64 u8g(23, 17, 16, 25); // SW SPI Com: SCK = 23, MOSI = 17, CS = 16, A0 = 25 as such that it uses numbers instead of constants. So we need to define these constants first. These constants are defined by the board you are using, more specifically the pin layout. Looking at the pin layout of your RAMPS board: #if ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED) || ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306) #define LCD_PINS_DC 25 // Set as output on init #define LCD_PINS_RS 27 // Pull low for 1s to init // DOGM SPI LCD Support #define DOGLCD_CS 16 #define DOGLCD_MOSI 17 #define DOGLCD_SCK 23 #define DOGLCD_A0 LCD_PINS_DC you'll find that the pins are correctly configured with the fore mentioned: U8GLIB_SSD1306_128X64 u8g(DOGLCD_SCK, DOGLCD_MOSI, DOGLCD_CS, DOGLCD_A0); // 8 stripes We move on to patch 3. This patch deals with the reset/initialization of the OLED display. This is also already taken care of in ultralcd_impl_DOGM.h: #if PIN_EXISTS(LCD_RESET) OUT_WRITE(LCD_RESET_PIN, LOW); // perform a clean hardware reset _delay_ms(5); OUT_WRITE(LCD_RESET_PIN, HIGH); _delay_ms(5); // delay to allow the display to initalize #endif Next to patch 4, in pins_RAMPS.h you see that pin 25 and 27 are correctly defined (apart from the name LCD_PINS_RST, now without T, but that is fine!): #if ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED) || ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306) #define LCD_PINS_DC 25 // Set as output on init #define LCD_PINS_RS 27 // Pull low for 1s to init The only difference is that pins #define LCD_PINS_D5 #define LCD_PINS_D6 are not set to -1, so to be consistent, you should change pins_RAMPS.h to: #if ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED) || ENABLED(MKS_12864OLED_SSD1306) #define LCD_PINS_DC 25 // Set as output on init #define LCD_PINS_RS 27 // Pull low for 1s to init // DOGM SPI LCD Support #define DOGLCD_CS 16 #define DOGLCD_MOSI 17 #define DOGLCD_SCK 23 #define DOGLCD_A0 LCD_PINS_DC #define LCD_PINS_D5 -1 #define LCD_PINS_D6 -1 #else #define LCD_PINS_RS 16 #define LCD_PINS_ENABLE 17 #define LCD_PINS_D4 23 #define LCD_PINS_D5 25 #define LCD_PINS_D6 27 #endif A conclusion from the analysis above is that you enable the display in your configuration file and add the 2 values of -1 for D5 and D6, but I don't think they cause problems if they're not initialized to -1. Be sure that the cables are connected correctly. Some modules have reported upside down connectors.

Filament suitable for direct burial I'm working on a project with will be buried in soil. It's an enclosure for a sensor that will be potted inside the 3D printed part. What filament will give me the longest life in soil? ETA: burial will be permanent, and I'd like it to last at least five years. ETA: The printed part will provide mechanical support for the sensor, so it needs to retain most of its mechanical properties.

I would recommend PETG - only because it is structurally similar to the plastic used in the bottles that last forever, and most PETG is food grade - implying that its chemical stability should be reasonably good...

Issue with rim of first 5-8 layers of my Prints I have this issue with my 3D prints on my Ender 3 printer bed. The first 5-8 layers are wider than the rest (exaggerated illustration shown in the 3D rendering below), I think this is because the 3D nozzle is so close to the bed during the first few layers of the print, thus creating a rim/bulge out at the bottom. However, I can't lower the bed any further, else the model will not stick to the bed like it is supposed to. How do I fix this issue and still allow the nozzle to stay close enough to the bed to make the model stick properly? Additional information: I am using a glass bed printing with PLA, that I print at around 185-200 °C and for the bed, I heat it at about 50C °C. I Tried: I have tried lowering the bed. Outcome: the print doesn't stick to the bed as it should and just falls off. Lowering the heat of the bed. Outcome: The same thing. Increasing the initial layer height. Outcome: The same plus the additional layers on top all go out of wack.

The bed and filament temperatures you are using are the usual ones for PLA, so it probably is not the case that the filament is flowing too much and oozing out of place (*). So most likely the problem is with the slicer. Things to look for: Most slicers print the first layer in a slightly different way than all other layers (to improve adherence to the bed) and some parameters may be off: Easiest check: repeat the print with a different slicer; if it goes better it was a slicer setting that needs finetuning. More involved check: For Cura make sure "initial layer height", "initial layer line width", "initial layer horizontal expansion" and "initial layer flow" have the default values. For Prusa Slicer reset "first layer height", "first layer extrusion width" and "elephant foot compensation" to their default values. Additionally, most slicers will disable the fan for the first few layers. Change the setting so that the fan is only disabled for the first layer. (*) That is of course unless you got a bad batch of filament. Less probable than the slicer settings being off, but check with a completely different PLA filament to verify.

For making V6 or Mk8 nozzle what tolerance specification we've to follow? Both nozzles use M6 threads, which ISO thread specification do these nozzles use? And what should be the tolerance and surface finish (internal/external) of the nozzle bore? I found the drawings but nothing about the tolerances. I've found the V6 nozzle drawing here and the Mk8 nozzle dimensions as depicted below:

The short answer is it really doesn't matter. None of these surfaces are interfacing with other rigid parts. They're conducting filament that's being melted. The specifications are likely optimized for favorable flow properties, and following them as closely as your tooling allows is probably a good idea, but there's no hard tolerance cutoff. CNC Kitchen has a video producing a working nozzle with a mini lathe and had good luck without any rigorous process for tolerances. It should be noted that the exactness of the nozzle orifice size and other dimensions are for the most part not relevant to the accuracy of extrusion; that's pretty much all on the filament diameter and extruder motor motion, which determine the volume of material extruded. In practice you can produce 0.4 mm extrusions pretty much equally well with an 0.3 mm orifice or an 0.5 mm orifice; at most you'll have some minor differences in behavior on overhangs. And presumably your error is not going to be anywhere near 25%. As Trish noted, the threads do have to interface with another rigid part. However they're governed by ISO standards for metric threads not this particular design. I use this tolerance calculator site: https://amesweb.info/Screws/metric-thread-dimensions-calculator.aspx

"configuration files" issue when trying to run Ultimaker Cura on RPI 4 I have installed Cura on my RPI 4 by using the "sudo apt-get install cura" terminal command. Whenever I try to run the application, however, I get this: Is there something wrong with the configuration files? I have tried clicking the "Backup and reset configuration", and even deleting the configuration files folder. But it doesn't help.

The regular version of Cura has system requirements that the Raspberry Pi cannot meet, including the GPU required to run it. However, it looks like you can try an experimental version of Cura here.

Proper hotend heater for Reprap x400 Pro V3 I'm trying to verify the correct hotend heater for a Reprap x400 Pro V3. I know a 12 V 40 W doesn't work. A working heater measures 4.4 Ω, so I'm guessing it is a 12 V 30 W heater. When I tried replacing a non-functioning hotend heater on a German Reprap X400 V3 with a new 12V 40W heater that heater also wouldn't heat. My guess is the circuitry shut off due to overcurrent. The thermistor temperature didn't change from room temperature, and the heater was not hot to the touch. Afterward, I plugged in the heater measuring 4.4 Ω and it worked. The 100k sensors worked properly. A functioning heater resistance measured 4.4 Ω. The non-functioning heater measured 3.6 Ω. The new 12 V 40 W heater measured 2.6 Ω. Apparently, this model Reprap won't apply power to the heater if the resistance is wrong. I'm assuming this model needs a 12 V 30 W heater, but am trying to confirm this since I can't find a parts bill of material for this model. Used the following equation to estimate heater resistance (voltage^2)/power = resistance. This gives 4.8 Ω for 12 V 30 W and 3.6 Ω for 12 V 40 W.

The part causing the hot point failure was the connector for the heater and sensor. The connector showed no sign of burns on the heater pins, but the square tubes (see attached image) accommodating pins from the other connector had started to straighten out toward its original sheet metal state due to heating from current. Bending the tubes back in place allowed the connector to work temporarily and confirmed the failure cause. Details: After getting a 12 V 30 W heater, it also didn’t work. The hot point had stopped working because a wire brush had shorted across the heater terminals. Because a spare hot point worked, the failure wasn’t in the circuitry. The spare was a 12 V 30 W heater (from resistance measurements), while the heater on the failing hot point was a 12 V 40 W heater (from resistance measurements). This made me suspect that the heater resistance had shifted, and the circuitry shut off the heater. However, apparently both 12 V 30 W and 12 V 40 W heaters work on RepRap x400 V3. The brief short caused the bent sheet metal of the connector to start straightening back out of the bend.

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

M42 command is an immediate command. This means that it will run before the move GCode commands finish. This is exactly what I was facing. This video has the walk-through of solving the issue: Here is the relevant PDF it talks about: The 2.8 watt, $100 Laser Upgrade for MPCNC. Here is the relevant section on page 7 of the PDF: The laser driver requires a 5 volt TTL input control signal. The Marlin fan control Mcodes (M106 and M107) will be used to control the laser .Unfortunately, the Ramps fan output (D9) is a 12 volt signal so we can’t use it. We'll need a quick firmware edit to remap the fan output from pin D9 (12v) to pin 44(5v). Make a backup copy of your Marlin firmware folder first. Open the pins_RAMPS_13.h file in your Marlin firmware folder with a text editor (Wordpad). Search for the line where the fan pin is assigned and change it from pin 9 to pin 44. Save the changes and flash the revised firmware back onto your Mega board.

Extusion rate limiting and firmware retract One frustration I have with Cura is that it has no way to set print speed in terms of a volumetric extrusion rate, when extrusion rate is the main physical limiting factor for how fast you can print. It's a pain having to have different speed profiles for different layer heights (and doesn't work with adaptive layers!), different line widths, different materials, etc. I'd like to just set a feedrate limit on the extruder axis, which would achieve this and make it easy to switch already-sliced models between different materials. However, having a low extruder feedrate limit would make retraction and recovery from retraction incredibly slow, to the point of being unusable - since I've found quality so much better without combing, I now have a lot of retractions. I'm thinking about building Marlin with support for firmware retraction in hopes that the firmware-retract command can ignore the configured extruder feedrate limit to still do rapid retract/restore, but I don't want to waste a lot of time on it if that doesn't work. Can anyone with experience with this feature confirm whether it ignores the normal extruder feedrate limit? Or, if you have experience with a similar configuration, can you share results on how well it worked?

Sadly this does not work at present. Setting an M203 E3 resulted in 6 mm retractions via G10 taking 2 seconds each vs the fraction of a second they're supposed to take. Since it seems desirable for this to work, I've filed a Marlin issue to see if it's intentional or something that can be fixed. In principle, G10 firmware retractions still make it easier to script a soluton (replacing each G10 or G11 by a sequence of M203, G10/G11, M203 to set E-axis speed then reset it around the operation) but this is less friendly to direct usage of same sliced files with different extrusion speed limits.

Printing refusing to print, citing non-genuine cartridges? So I just got a Da-Vinci 3-in-1 Junior Pro 3D Printer, and was excited to start printing my first model. When I open my .STL File in the XYZWare that comes with the printer, and click print, it says that the cartridge inserted into my printer in not genuine, and that it won't print until I order a genuine cartridge. What is interesting is that the cartridge loaded into this printer came with the printer itself, so it is genuine. Is there something I am doing wrong? Here is a picture of the cartridge in my printer --> A Google search about this issue doesn't come up with any results that are of any use to me.

A quick search on the internet showed that your experiences are shared by others. Apparently, it has something to do with a faulty chip or the software. From this thread: I had the same thing, the cop on the underside of the cartridge wasn’t programmed properly, if you have the latest firmware update and it still doesn’t work contact the seller and they should send you a replacement chip I had this happen 2x. It ended up being that I had xyzware open. Xyzware needs to restart in order to detect the new serial number of the filament. You could ask for support from your supplier or restart the XYZ software. You could also hack the NFC chip that is inside the spool. (DISCLAIMER: Do it at your own risk!)

Heat bed wires get hot (12 V connected to RAMPS 1.4 shield) I'm using a 200x200 mm PCB Mk2B which connects to the MOSFET of the D8 pin on a RAMPS 1.4 shield. I used 12 V power source for heat bed so I connected positive to pin 1 and negative to both pin 2 & 3 of the bed. Heat bed worked properly. But the wires that connects power source to power supply pin on RAMPS were being heated badly. I think the problem is come from heat bed because when I unplugged heat bed, wires were cool down instantly. Can someone helps me with this problem. I'm just a newbie in this area.

The PCB heatbed Mk2B has a reported resistance between 1.0-1.2 Ω. The current that is drawn from the power supply equals about 12/(1.0 or 1.2) = 10-12 A. Note that this amount of current requires cables that can carry that load, too thin cables heat up. Note that you have wired the bed correctly for 12 V (see image below), the wires might have a too-small cross-section, try thicker wires. Personally I use AWG 12-14 silicone wires depending on the bed resistance. AWG 12-14 size silicone, multiple threads (these are the best for the bed because they are more flexible), should be able to handle the load fine. Note that cables also have resistance; if there are heat spots in the cable or the connection, this indicates that the cable may be broken or the connection has too much resistance.

What voltage does the Creality Ender-3 run at? I am pondering about buying a Creality Ender-3, and I am honestly confused about some reviews. Some claim it is running 24 V, one did claim it was 12 V, most don't mention it. Since I know about some issues with the clamps, if I get myself an Ender-3, I want to replace the hotend with a proper one from day one. So knowing its voltage is needed to order the right parts.

Bearing in mind that the specifications on Amazon's page are sometimes not 100% (even though they are in this case), it is always best to check on the manufacturer's website. From Creality3D's own website, Creality3D.shop, on the Creality3D Ender-3 product page, Creality3D Ender-3 3D Printer Economic Ender DIY KITS, the specifications are given as (emphasis is mine): ##ender-3 Machine Parameter: Modeling Technology：FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling） Printing Size：220220250mm Machine Size：440410465mm Package weight：8kg Max Traveling Speed：180mm/s Filament：1.75mm PLA,TPU,ABS Input：AC 100-265V 50-60Hz Output：DC 24V 15A 360W Layer Thickness：0.1-0.4mm Nozzle diameter：0.4mm Precision：±0.1mm File Format：STL,OBJ,G-Code Working Mode：Online or SD offline Max Nozzle Temperature：255℃ Max Hot bed Temperature：110℃

Anet A8 hard to insert filament I had been printing with ABS and took the advice to alter the fan so I can see the filament when I am loading it into the cold end. It was tricky but doable. I am now trying with PLA and getting it to line up with the whole is a nightmare. Can the driving cog and guide wheel be moved? A couple of mm would stop the driving cog pushing the filament off line.

I was having the same issue as you and know what you are talking about and there is a file that you should print that will help you (I have printed this). While the file says for the Anet A6, I think the extrude are the same on the Anet A8. It goes under the gear and bearing and guides the filament to the hole. Should work well for you. Other things that you can do is straighten out the filament. That is what I do, it helps that much more. You can also cut the end at a angle to sharpen the end with a pencil sharpener, also helps find the hole. So try the file, I think it will help you would. File --> https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2242903

Bridging islands in my stencil I am using the MatterHackers MatterControl software. MatterControl has an option to convert an image into a 3d object. The image converter converts any image into an STL. I was wondering what program would work for bridging the islands? I tried SOLIDWORKS and I think the export messed up the file.

You should know that there will be no such functionality anywhere because "make a bridge between islands" causes some questions: what do you mean be bridge where this bridge should be how it should look like Application cannot answer these questions automatically. Conver image to 3D object is (almost) only to create logo-like-objects or text-like-objects. If your image will consist more than one separate elements then MC will convert it into separate objects and these objects will be treated as separate islands. There will be no way to bridge them on certain level/layer. The only thing you can achieve is a solid "connection" between islands if they will be connected with line on the image. I'm sure it's not what you expect. Almost all 3D apps have a functionality to create 3D obj out of image but it will always be a perimeter or surface which you can extrude. You can create bridges in your app by creating additional 3D object according to your expectations or you can use sculpting app to extend a form. It means you won't add extra object but sculpt existing objects by extruding/extending/pulling faces. For such sculpting you can use Meshmixer for example.

How to convert .obj file to .stl so I can slice to G-code? I am a beginning maker using an Ender 3. Someone sent me a .obj file from Thingiverse to print for them. I use an online slicer called IceSL as a slicer. As experts on here know, I cannot use my slicer to slice .obj to G-code. How do I convert this .obj file to a .stl file so I can slice and then print it?

One can import an OBJ file into free program Meshmixer, then export it to STL format. There are other programs that are free and paid (such as Fusion 360) that will perform similar tasks. As noted by user agarza, Prusa Slicer will import an OBJ and will also export to STL format. PrusaSlicer is also free.

Resources for making 3d scans of electrically conductive materials? I would like to make a 3d scanner for accurately modeling very small metal parts. I figured I might be able to take advantage of the fact that metal conducts electricity, and avoid using light. This might be cheaper, easier to make, and wouldn't get thrown off by shiny surfaces. Basically, I am imagining an object on a rotating stage, and a movable "feeler" probe. The probe is moved towards the object, and when the probe touches the metal object, a circuit is closed. The distance and angle of the probe and object are then recorded, and used to model a cross section of the object. My question is: Is this technique already being used? If so, where? Is there a name for this technique? What resources should I look at for researching this?

I have heard of similar scanning not using the electrical connecting but using the capacitance of the metal object to detect it. Capacitive Scanning works by detecting a metal object near the prob so the prob doesn't have to touch the object being scanned

Is the weather a problem for MDF frames? I've acquired all the parts to build a Reprap Prusa i3 rework, the only missing part is the frame. I'm in doubt between a MDF cut (cheaper) or acrylic (more expensive), of course a cheaper one is my preferred option until I see any disadvantage on making it of wood. I thought about variables like heat and humidity and the possibility of expansion/contraction of the frame, is this a valid concern? Will I have more precision buying the acrylic one or is it irrelevant?

I want to add the following to the already direct and very good answer of @Dani Epstein. It does not answer your question, but hopefully may help many people who are reading the question when choosing between the two materials. Acrylic is less stable and will probably wear off faster than a well-built MDF frame for a 3D printer! I will address the points separately. An MDF frame has much(!) more mass than acrylic, which will reduce vibrations immediately. Almost more important, a box frame, as typical for the Prusa i3 for example, stabilizes itself intrinsically more by its 'redundant wall' design (don't beat me up over the wording here, I didn't find a better way to describe the property that results from the towers.) Compare these two images taken from reprap wiki Prusa i3: You will probably not find an acrylic frame with this design. Shear stress as produced by the moving carriages, as well as z-wobble from the rods should theoretically be much less. The acrylic might not wear by 'natural causes' since it is not a biologic material as wood is, but it will wear much faster due to handling the material, maintenance and human errors. The material is very brittle. You can find lots of reports on the web where the frame cracked or broke during setup. Here is my favorite example from someone with a lot of experience (1:20-2:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkkVk8c8XoU Acrylic is a bad choice in terms of its mechanical properties: It is soft (I found low tensile strength as a number to compare in the given database), has lots of thermal expansion (5 times higher than stainless steel) and melts at 160 C (so beware of anything touching your hotend). Feel free to compare it to other materials here (no MDF or plywood in that database, though ;-) ): http://www.goodfellow.com/E/Polymethylmethacrylate.html This altogether makes acrylic a very bad choice for a 3d printer frame material in my opinion. Choose MDF or plywood, you can make it look cool by painting it, too.

Why is PEEK filament so expensive? High performance polymers are becoming available for specific applications. One of such materials is PEEK (PolyEther Ether Ketone), a thermoplastic polymer in the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family. PEEK competes with certain Aluminium alloys but is half the weight of Aluminium. For aerospace application this sounds very promising! NASA has shown that printing these types of polymers is feasible using low-cost, open source hardware. Does anybody know why the prices of PEEK are so high? Depending on the supplier/manufacturer you're looking at about 700 - 900 Euro per kg.

My assumptions about PEEK filament price are: Raw material is more expensive. Compare price of ABS with PEEK pellets. Demand is much lower. There are not many printers able to print peek. If you manufacture PEEK filament you have to store a filament batch for longer time. Manufacturer has to calculate into price storage space, material degradation, ... Filament machine tuning. You have to tune filament extrude machine for PEEK, which takes time because it's a totally different plastic. Maybe there is a cleanup needed after finishing a batch and switching to another material. Working conditions. PEEK is quite smelly and I am not sure if you have to improve work conditions like better ventilation. Research costs. You have to distribute research costs to a filament production where demand is low.

How to unload filament without cancelling print I have a Prusa MK3s MMU2s which I was running a 7-hour print job on. It had two spools of filament in, a blue one (primary, very little left) and a gold one (secondary, quite a lot left). It ran out of blue filament approximately 75% through the print job and rather than simply using the remainder of the blue and switching to the gold, the blue was bent and caught on the output nozzle of my spool container. It says that: MMU needs user attention, fix issue then press button on MMU unit. I have fixed the issue (snipped the bent part of the blue filament), however, I can't figure out how to make it continue printing. After fiddling a little bit, the red and green lights are all flashing, but no matter what MMU buttons I press, it doesn't continue printing. How should I fix this without cancelling the print job?

This condition is covered in the MMU2S manual's section on troubleshooting: 13.4 All five LEDs blinking red and green MMU2S unit can now deal with a state in which the Trinamic drivers were not able to provide enough power for steppers. A possible cause can be a broken MMU2S power supply wiring, connectors etc. Please check that all connectors are properly plugged into the MMU2S board and make sure that the cables are in good condition. Also, make sure that the screws on the Einsy terminal box for the power cables are properly tightened. If this state is detected, the MMU2S unit rehomes and automatically continues printing. If the problem occurs three times in a row, the MMU2S unit stops printing and starts flashing continuously with red and green LEDs. Printing can be restored by restarting MMU2S unit using the button on the right side of MMU2S unit. So, once you have fixed the problem which prevented the filament from moving, press the reset button on the MMU2S. It is recessed, so you will need a tool to push it (such as the 2.5 mm Allen key included with the printer). You will then need to wait a few seconds for the MMU2 to complete its reboot and be ready to communicate, before telling the printer to continue. Note that the filament may have been chewed by the MMU2 or extruder drive gears and unable to feed properly. Be prepared to — if you haven't already — disassemble the tubing and manually pull out the remaining filament sections. I find this modified holder for the MMU2's filament tubes that uses push-in couplings instead of a clamp very useful to allow quick access when there's a problem or even when inserting new filament.

Retuning a very delicate and tricky print after print failure I recently leveled my bed on my Monoprice Select Mini v2 and tried printing this object with family: Pentagonal Hexacontahedron Bracelet by mathgrrl - Thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:288182 The symptoms were as follows: the print footings did not stick to the bed during the print some of the footings looked misshapen Eventually everything lost cohesion and looked like a mess of silly string the insulating tape on the heating block started to come off Immediately after the insulating tape came off we aborted the print. Here are the steps we followed to convert, slice and print the object. We loaded the STL file into Ultimaker Cura 4.8.0, using a preset in the wizard for the Monoprice Select Mini v2 We opened the STL for the small bracelet, chose ‘Slice’, and copied the resulting .gcode to a microSD. We popped the SD into the printer, preheated the nozzle and extruded a small amount of PLA (we used the PLA for a demo print of a cat hours earlier and it worked great for the demo) We went to print and chose the .gcode for the small bracelet and let it start to operate. The heating settings for the bracelet .gcode from Cura were a bit different different than those used for the demo cat .gcode that came with the machine. Both had the nozzle heated to 190 °C. The bed heating setting for the bracelet was 5 degrees hotter than the cat at 65 °C. Any tips are appreciated. I don’t know what happened or if it possible to print this object successfully with the Monoprice Select Mini v2.

The print is extremely challenging, as it has a lot of thin diameter items growing up, a lot of overhangs and a rather small surface to hold to the bed. So you need a Brim and support: As OP found, a Brim is a setting that adds extra material in the first layer around the print to increase adhesion. Support Structures are to give an overhang something to rest upon. Removing them can be tricky, but they make some things printable at all. Like this bracelet. You'll have to finetune your settings, best by learning with less complex models first or mimicking the settings of others that made the bracelet. The thin vertical parts can make the print fail nevertheless - you can possibly fix some of the vertical adhesion issues by printing slower. If these parts are too thin, you might be unable to print them at all with a 0.4 mm nozzle! As a rule of thumb, it is really tricky to print pillars slimmer than 2.5 nozzle diameters and almost impossible to print them nicely under 2 nozzle diameters. My settings I print my PLA at 200 °C, the bed at 60 °C, but then again I don't have a glass bed.

Is it possible to use an aftermarket controller on a MakerBot? I've got a dead MakerBot Replicator Dual and I'm not really interested in fixing it with about half the parts being proprietary, discontinued, and therefore very expensive. So, I'm wondering if it's possible to use a controller board used on some of the other RepRap machines. I'd assume that it's all relatively the same, mostly need a means of routing/regulating power to the servos/fans/etc. based on a g-code. If that's true, then I'm also assuming the next step is ensuring the slicing engine spits out the right format for the board (.s3g, .x3g, .gcode, etc.) and that the slicing engine knows the proper bounds for the machine. Side question, if I used an another controller board, would I be able to still run MakerWare/MakerBot Desktop? So far, I've preferred the MiracleGrue slicer, but I've used Cura on Octopi and it'd suffice.

You can put pretty much any controller in pretty much any printer, with a few noteworthy details you need to keep in mind for a Replicator 1. Makerbots use thermocouples. Most RepRap style 3d printers use thermistors. So you would need to replace the extruder temp sensors, or choose a new controller with thermocouple support. Makerbots use 24v heaters and fans and PSUs. Most RepRap style 3d printers run on 12v (although this is slowly changing because 24v is better for performance and safety.) You can either pick a new controller that is known to be compatible with 24v, or replace all 24v-rated components with equivalent 12v-rated components. The existing heatbed thermistor circuit is probably not the same kind of circuit that your new controller will expect. Older Makerbots use a small voltage divider circuit on the HBP PCB to convert the thermistor resistance to a voltage signal, whereas RepRap style controllers typically have this circuit on the mainboard and thus need only a simple thermistor hookup. You could add a new thermistor, or modify the existing circuit, or get an entirely new heatbed. The existing endstops are full +5v,GND,Signal style mechanical switches with debounce capacitors and LED indicators. These should be compatible with most controller boards given proper firmware setting, but you may need to do some creative wiring if there isn't a suitable three-pin endstop port on your chosen board. The LCD and 5-button panel will not work with other boards. You'll need to replace that or just run a remote host via USB. Connectors may be different, of course. That's always an issue with any board swap. You will need to export RepRap style gcode instead of .x3g files. Makerware/Desktop can export gcode but there may be some minor differences in Mcode assignments from what most RepRap style firmware will expect. I couldn't tell you offhand whether this will work, but to be safe, it would probably be best to use a more traditional RepRap slicer (Slic3r, Cura) or Simplify3D. So that's a healthy to-do list. At a certain point you're practically building a new printer. But there is a significantly easier approach than installing a RepRap style controller: replace the dead Makerbot Mightyboard with a compatible community-designed Sailfish board like the Azteeg x3 by Panucatt or new CloneBoard Mini by Carl Raffle. Or, if you're ok with Chinese sourcing, a FlashForge Mightyboard will be a near 100% drop-fit replacement for your Makerbot Mightyboard. Any of these options will give you fresh new electronics with minimal hardware changes in the rest of the printer. Either way is fine and you'll end up with a working printer. Using another Sailfish board will certainly be easier, if you don't object to staying within the Sailfish/x3g toolchain and Makerbot/Clone parts ecosystem. Makerbot does have a very bad community reputation these days, but it's important to remember that the Replicator 1 Dual is a completely open-source machine from the "pre-evil" days, and compatible spare parts are widely available from literally dozens of vendors. The Rep1-derived Makerbots and Clones collectively comprise the most popular single "flavor" of 3d printer in the world (totaling as much as perhaps a quarter of all consumer/hobbyist 3d printers sold to date) and many/most of the spare parts for Replicator 2/2x's and clones will also fit in a genuine Rep1.

Retraction Jamming Problem! Recently I had this problem where I needed to change filament from PLA to PET-G or similar. And... filament jam. After playing around with different settings and speeds and still getting the same results I had to clean everything. And again during a print, it jammed. I brought a new nozzle, heating cartage, Teflon (PTFE) tube and some additional components(fans, new wires and so on) but still was the same. Now I'm waiting for a new set of hotend Mk8Design Needed kit. A week after the order and still waiting, I played with retraction a little. By default, it was set to 0.8 mm on Sli3er but I had set it to 4-6 mm because it gives the best results and no stringing. I changed it again to 1.5-2 mm and... no more jamming at the cost of getting stringing. I'm using PLA which I never had experienced strings before. So, in summary, the problem occurs due my retraction setting. Either I have to live with strings and no jam problems or no strings but jamming problems during printing. Have someone had same problem as me? How did you fixed it? Printer AlfaWise U30(bowden type) but it's no longer the same. Motherboard: MKS 1.4 Gen A4988 + DRV8825 Stepper drivers(no problems here) PID(Autotune), Calibrations and so on done correctly. Firmware latest marlin 1.1.9 (Tried bugfix but the same) Sofware for slicing PE Sli3er (Tried Ultimaker Cura with same model and same problem)

I had problems with jamming PETG due to retraction. My model had many retraction moves, such that the amount of filament used during a printing move was less than the retraction distance. I found that several trips through the feed gear flattened the filament, which caused two problems. The flattened (or ovaled) filament had trouble fitting through the round holes and tubes, and Since it was thinner, the filament was not gripped as tightly so there was less force pushing it. I reduced my feed gear pressure and the problem stopped. PETG is not as stiff as PLA. The multiple trips through mangle flattened it.

Inland PLA+ stringing badly at manufacturer-recommended temperature ranges I've seen conflicting advice on the correct printing temperature for Microcenter's house-brand Inland PLA+, particularly after a supplier change announced in April 2018. There's an official post from Microcenter, where they state that their PLA+ from both the suppliers they use prints best from 215-225 °C. (The label on the spool specifies 205-225 °C). However, I've run a series of Benchy prints with recently-purchased white inland PLA+ at different temperatures (with a Lulzbot SL toolhead and 0.1 mm layer depth, slicing by Cura LE 3.6.10 after repairing the STL with Microsoft's repair tool, movement 30 mm/sec), and my experience is very different: 220 °C has very severe stringing and blobbing, including blobbing on top surfaces. The text on the base is not visible at all. 215 °C has substantial stringing and blobbing, particularly on inside surfaces, but not on the roof of the boat (except the prow). The text on the base is partially visible. 210 °C looks very good; there are some tiny blobs on the nameplate and the inside door, and no stringing. This was the first one that didn't require a razor blade to remove from the PEI surface. The text on the base is very clear. 205 °C looks great. Is something wrong with my equipment, such that it's printing with a higher temperature than it reads? Is Microcenter's advice off? Could I have a batch that behaves differently than is expected for the same filament in general? More to the point -- what advice do others have to get good results with Inland PLA+?

A portion of information missing from the manufacturer's specifications and in the question is the print speed. You could have slower speeds than the manufacturer used to perform the tests, which requires lower temperatures to reduce the "flow rate" of the plastic to an acceptable level. In some cases, I use as low as 20 mm per second print speed, others can be as high as 60 mm per second. At the higher speeds, I will increase the temperature five degrees C to ensure that the hot end can keep up with the increased filament extrusion. Alternatively, slower speeds need lower temperatures. The variation may not be larger as described for your system. You've already experienced a substantial difference based on your posted numbers. It would be unrealistic to collect others' experiences with a specific brand unless color choice, print speed, printer model/hot end model, etc are also collected. Let's include part cooling fan settings as well to complicate the task even more. You can consider to check the great Thingiverse library for temperature test models. These files are used to print various segments at different temperatures. Due to the above noted factors, you may find your result can be clustered or may find they cannot, based on color, manufacturer, age, etc. It is a valuable resource to improve your printing results, however.

Why did my print fall off its raft? I just set up a refurbished MP Select Mini V2 and tried to print the test file included by the manufacturer, cat.gcode, from the included SD card. I printed in PLA (I think; the unlabeled sample included with the printer) at the default extruder temperature, 190 °C. The print bed was set to 50 °C. It appeared to print the raft fine, and then a couple of layers of the cat. At this point I walked away, and when I came back a few minutes later here's what I found: The raft is still stuck to the bed, but the layers of cat that were printed fell off the base and onto the floor. Here's what I picked up off the floor, (next to the detached raft): The raft was stuck on the bed just fine, so I don't think it's an adhesion issue. The bed and the desk the printer is sitting on are both very close to level (things don't slide or roll off). There's no breeze and I'm certain nothing bumped or touched the printer while it was running. This is my first attempt at a print so I obviously have no idea what I'm doing. I'm planning to set up a camera to record the next attempt. What other troubleshooting can I do? What is the likely cause of this problem?

Your trouble lies within the presliced G-code: the temperatures are rather low for PLA and upping both by 10 degrees would be advisable: 200 °C for the Hotend 60 °C for the Bed Atop that, printing a raft for PLA is usually not advisable. Get yourself a slicer (the most common free ones I am comfortable with using are Cura, Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa Edition) and either import a fitting profile and create your own profile, then slice the .stl-model yoruself.

Is there a way to print with ABS without enclosure? ABS is a very strong material, but it also has some downsides. One of them, which is the necessity of having a printer with enclosure, completely discouraged me from using it, as it would be a waste of money. This is quite sad, because I cannot make prints that will be able to withstand a large load of tension without breaking. Is there any way to print ABS without any enclosure? Maybe there are several types of this material and some are easier to print?

There is no requirement for an enclosure when printing ABS. Like many things in FDM, there are improvements to be made, but there is a scale of what is possible. A heated bed is much more necessary (for similar reasons, the thermal expansion is significant and without a heated bed you have very high risk of warping). An enclosure is important for high quality, large ABS prints. Otherwise, a warm location which is free of drafts will be fine, particularly for parts which are only a few cm high. If you're not using an enclosure, the part cooling fan should probably not be used to print ABS. You should also be aware that ABS tends to generate more noticeable fumes than PLA (although this varies with product, and how sensitive you are).

Adjusting the Z end stop? I have adjusted my z axis end stop via the paper test. However when I press to home all the axis the z axis hits the print bed moves it down slightly then goes to the postion I describe. Is this how its supose to be if not what do I need to do?

Typically a machine will rapid to find its software stop(s), retract and slowly find its mechanical end stop. Please regard the RepRap Wiki for general troubleshooting and basic technical information.

Do stepper motors require any maintenance? I've had my printer for almost a year now. Is there something I should be doing to maintain the motors?

The stepper motor itself does not. You may want to inspect the motors for debris or dust. Depending on your configuration you may want to check on parts of your printer that connect to your stepper motor such as shaft couplings, pulleys, lead screws/threaded rods and belts. The stepper motor wires should occasionally be inspected for wear and strain.

3d print aluminum valve cover for car I am interested in 3d printing from aluminum valve cover for car SAAB valve cover I am thinking of creating 3d scan and the placing order with i.materialize or similar online services. I am curios if this is feasible at all, since I am interested in 3d printing functional part not just a souvenir. Also since 3d part does not have smooth surface, will sand blasting help without affecting dimensions? Also what would be an approximate cost of 3d scanning and printing? I really do not know where to start and would appreciate any directions.

This is a very large part. My estimate for the cost would be a few thousand to get this printed in metal, if not tens of thousands (assuming it even fits the maximum build volume of the printer, which is only 440mm on its longest axis). 3D scanning also isn't a very reliable way to reproduce parts, especially for something mechanical that needs to be precise. You can not just scan something and then print it like making a photocopy. A lot of manual design and reverse engineering work would be involved.

How to install new ATmega firmware via the ISP pins? While uploading .hex firmware directly onto boards that allow this via CURA, this is not always an option for all machines (for lack of a functioning USB-connectable port for example). On both my TronXY X1 board (Melzi 2.0 V5 with ATMEGA1284P) and the Creality Ender 3 (Creality 3D v.1.1.2 with Δ ATMEL ATMEGA1284P AU 1726) I spotted these 6 pins labeled ISP that are supposed to allow to connect an Arduino or similar to flash firmware. According to the RepRap Wiki, Melzi is a derivative of the Sanguinololu and both are Sanguino Compatible. After creating the new firmware in Arduino IDE and making sure it compiles for the correct chip in the board, how can I use an Arduino Uno or other microcontroller to flash the new firmware via the ISP to my printer? This is asking specifically about ATmega based controller boards, using the Arduino toolchain.

Considering AVR based controller boards... You might not need an additional Arduino, to serve as an ISP. It really depends upon the board. There are basically three scenarios: Controller board which is Arduino based - Arduino Mega 2560 with a RAMPS 1.4 - with a bootloader Controller board which is Arduino based - Arduino Mega 2560 with a RAMPS 1.4 - without a bootloader Controller board which is AVR based board (no separate Arduino board) - as is the case with an Ender-3 and the TronXY board1 - without a bootloader Option 1 is the easiest, and you simply upload with the USB cable, directly from the Arduino IDE. Options 2 and 3 is where you would require an In-circuit Serial Programmer (ISP). Such as a USBasp: USBasp - USB programmer for Atmel AVR controllers or you can use another Arduino, see Arduino as ISP and Arduino Bootloaders. An ISP device basically converts the USB to TTL signals (along with a serial protocol (JTAG or derivative)) which then connects to the ICSP2 interface on the controller board: Scenario 1 As stated above, you simply connect the board to the PC/Mac using the USB cable and, within the Arduino IDE, you hit Upload - ensuring that you have the correct Board (i.e. Mega2560) and Port selected in the Tools menu. Scenario 2 For the Mega2560 the pins the MOSI, MISO and SCK are broken out on to are: Arduino / Genuino Board MOSI MISO SCK Level Mega1280 or Mega2560 51 or ICSP-4 50 or ICSP-1 52 or ICSP-3 5V To program the Mega2560 using an Uno, connect as follows: or using the ISP connector (in this diagram the electrolytic capacitor3 is not shown): Take note of the electrolytic capacitor3 on the programming device: The 10 µF electrolytic capacitor connected to RESET and GND of the programming board is needed only for the boards that have an interface between the microcontroller and the computer's USB, like Mega, Uno, Mini, Nano. Boards like Leonardo, Esplora and Micro, with the USB directly managed by the microcontroller, don't need the capacitor. or using the Mega's ICSP connector, from Atmega bootloader programmer (see original image): Note D10 is used, not RESET4 Scenario 3 So, to use an Arduino Uno on your controller board, which is scenario 3 (an AVR based board, but not an Arduino board per se), you would need to connect the Uno to the ICSP of the controller board like this: ICSP Uno MOSI D11 MISO D12 SCK D13 GND GND 5V 5V RESET D10 or, like this, from Chaos Drucker - CREALITY ENDER3 MIT MARLIN AUSSTATTEN (see original image): There is an error in the image and the red line should go to D10 and not D9 as shown Note, again, that the RESET on the Arduino Uno's ISP connector is not used (and Pin 10 is used to connect to the controller's ICSP's RESET pin instead)4. Configure the Arduino IDE Then in the Arduino IDE you will need to select the Programmer to be used, in this case Uno as an ISP, like so: Once you have connected correctly, and selected the programmer, then you should be able to hit compile and upload as usual. Footnotes 1 Which both use the same board - see this answer to What voltage does the Creality Ender-3 run at? 2 In case you are wondering, see What's the difference between ICSP vs ISP?: The difference between ISP and ICSP is a hyphen. ISP stands for In-circuit Serial Programming, and ICSP stands for In Circuit Serial Programming. Any arrangement that allows you to program a microcontroller while it is in a circuit using a serial protocol can be called ISP or ICSP. See also Wikipedia - In-system programming. 3 See When using an Arduino as an ISP, is the capacitor required or not? 4 Why? From Can the Arduino Uno become an AVR programmer and use the ICSP header to program the target board: First of all, as configured, the RESET pin can not be used as an output pin. In order to use it as an I/O pin, you would have to program the RSTDISBL fuse. But once you do that, as jippie said, it becomes near-impossible to reprogram your Arduino (if you have the socketed through hole variety of the MCU, you could pull it out and put it into a high voltage programmer; in all other cases, it's effectively impossible). So in theory, you can use the ICSP header the way you suggest. In practice, it's under almost any conceivable circumstance a terrible idea.

ABS de-layering on Ender 3 I feel like I’ve tried everything. I’ve had an Ender 3 for seven months now printing in PLA. I’ve modded it plenty including BLTouch. I’m now doing a project that really requires ABS so I have the white hatch box ABS. It wasn’t sticking at first but I got that well under control with glue tape and proper leveling with an enclosure. And I’m assuming this is important. I do indeed have an enclosure. Anyone I’m printing this part that has two long but thin-sideways protrusions coming out. Each one keeps de-laying at two specific points. I’ve tried everything including temperature and everything in Cura settings. I’m up to four failed prints now. I also tried other prints with the ABS and they also delayered in specific spots over and over. Please help I’m close to completely giving up on my projects. The de-layerings are all the same with this one being the worse of them.

Welcome Fox_89 to the SE 3D Printing site. Thank you for bringing your question, and I hope you contribute both questions and answers in the years ahead. I understand that you've tried everything, so I have nothing new to suggest. Never the less, I would suggest some possibilities, perhaps one of which you haven't yet tried: Extrude hotter filament. Increase the nozzle temperature. My printer (Pruse3D i3m3s) prints ABS at 255 degrees C. Give the layers a better chance to melt together. Print slower, so that the layers have a longer time to melt together, and they have a longer time to cool before the next layer reheats them. Use a cooling fan to bring the part to equilibrium more quickly. Try a different filament. Not all filaments have the same shrinkage. Hatchbox has worked pretty well for me, but try another manufacturer. Try another color, like transparent. White can be a difficult color because it must carry a high pigment load. Black can carry less pigment, and might be easier to print. "Transparent" or "natural" carries no pigment. Check for anything that might increase the strain on the part at that layer. It could be a geometry change on the other side of the part, since that changes the thermal profile of the whole layer. Must it be ABS? PETG has a higher working temperature than PLA, but will print differently than ABS.

Why are delta bots so finicky? I've had my anycubic kossel for a good while now, and whenever I print something, it seems like it falls out of calibration very quickly. The biggest example is that the prints tend to scale up as the print progresses, or maybe the print starts to drift, and comes out slanted. This seems to never happen in any similarly priced XYZ printers. Why is this? Do XYZ printers just have an inherent advantage over deltas? Perhaps Deltas have some precision loss?

user77232's points are valid but I have done several things to mitigate these issues on my Anycubic Deltas. First, both of my deltas have linear slide bearings. If your's has the bearing trucks that run in the extrusion slots this will lead to less precise operation and also is a source of wear over time. Second, be sure that the end stop micro switches are positioned precisely and that their fasteners are tight. You may also want to use a mild strength Loctite on their fasteners. When operated at high extrusion rates all components are subject to significant vibration. Third, I found that the universal joints are also a significant source of play. I remedied this to some degree by placing rubber bands across the arms at both ends so that the play was minimized. The rubber bands should be wrapped fairly tightly to perform this function. Forth, I try to tune the belt tension so that all of the belts have the same note when plucked. There are smart phone apps that will help do this. I believe that one that I use is from Gates, a premium manufacturer of drive belts. Also, over time belts stretch so you will need to retension them periodically. Fifth, run through the firmware calibration process regularly for both positional accuracy and for filament extrusion and retraction variables. I don't use my deltas much any more since purchasing a popular XYZ type printer but it cost me three times what they did and it still has issues from time to time.

Kossel accumulates error along Z axis I have a Mini Kossel and I am going through calibration. I can home carriages and find the bed with paper-test getting some Z value with M114. Then I run the effector almost full height up and then down - and now Z value for the bed is greater! If I repeat the process I get greater and greater values in paper-test. It seems that travel per step is different moving in different directions. How can I fix that? I am using RAMPS 1.4 with Marlin firmware. UPDATE: Z values near bed after subsequent runs of five passes of G1 X100 G1 X10 100% speed: 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 1.0 20% speed: 0.1 0.4 0.9 1.4 4.6 6.6 300% speed: 0.0 0.7 1.0 1.3

After some more testing I checked that the problem shows up only on Z tower and is not related with current. Examining the tower I found very dumb mistake. Pulley on the motor didn't have a setscrew! Don't know how could I missed that. The fact that it could somehow run is even more amazing. Thanks @tom-van-der-zanden and @darthpixel for help. It is for sure that such synchronization failure could have been caused by current shortage as well. UPDATE: Oh! Y tower pulley doesn't have setscrew as well! But it was running smoothly and in sync with X (which has that screw). Amazing. - UPDATE2. Not really. After closer look only Z tower misses the screw, which explains all. UPDATE3: After setting a srew into pulley the problem is completely gone!)

Prints get really messy for no apparent reason I have a serious problem and I can't find a way to solve it because I have no idea why is it happening. For some reason the things I print get really messy, like a mountain range growing on the print. It looks like overflow but it can't be because I'm already using 0.82 flow modifier and if I go any lower the printout will fall apart as the extrusions won't touch at all. I've double checked my extruder steps and my filament and also my nozzle width, all are set up correctly. The whole thing looks like the printer is over-extruding just in some parts of the print.

It definitely looks like over extruding. But similar effect can appear with proper extruding (or not too much exceeded) but with too high temperature. If it appears only on some parts of the first layer then it can be: bed leveling issue (or eventually bed is bent) caret mechanism issue (dispositioned/bent) You can also check different speeds just to be sure.

Hotend temperature reading limited After doing some repairs and upgrades on my Ultimaker Original, I found my temperature readings to be weird. The reading is not incorrect, as long as the temperature is above 110°C. When the real temparature is below 110°C, the sensor will always read 110°C, with only subtle changes around 0.1°C. This will cause the printer to abort heating, because it does not see a change in temparature for the first 30 seconds (when the temperature is below 110°C). Here you can see a screenshot of Pronterface, showing how the temperature (blue line) starts increasing when my printer already aborted heating (violet line). I am certain that the reading is incorrect because at the beginning the hotend actually feels cold to touch. I am also certain that the reading above 110°C is more or less accurate. What could this be caused by? What parts should I replace? If I should replace the TC2, will a TC1 do too? I can't seem to find any store selling the TC2. If I should replace the sensor, what kind of sensor should I search for? Or is there a drop-in sensor-chip-combination that I can buy?

The fact that the temperature reading stays steady while heating and changes once it stops heating makes me thing that you might have a short between your heater wires and sensor wires or somehow have them interconnected. Especially if it shows the same temperature when it's actually below 110°C and heating but shows correct when not heating. I would try to separate the heater wires from the sensor wires and make sure they are not touching, also check that the sensor wires are not touching the heating block.

Can't seem to fix over extrusion I'm struggling to get my printer up and running for a few days now. The problem is as follows. I got a test model of a cube (40x40 mm) and everytime I try to print it, the nozzle creates these 'lines' on the print which is caused by over extrusion I think? See image: This goes on for every bottom layer and ultimately when it starts printing the infill the nozzle starts digging into the print and I'm forced to stop the printer, see image: What I have tried so far: Calibrating my extruder (by marking 100 mm on filament and command extruding 100 mm, check difference and adjust E step/mm accordingly) Performed an auto bed leveling I even halved my flow rate in the slicer (Ultimaker Cura), this gave signs of under extrusion of the first layer but the second layer looks over extruded again Tried different temperatures in the range of 190-210 °C (I'm using PLA), made no significant difference My settings and gear: HE3D K280 Delta 3D printer E3D V6 Volcano hot end (original, not chinese) E3D Titan Extruder (original) Marlin 1.1.8 using Ultimaker Cura as slicer Nozzle 0.6 mm, layer height 0.2 mm, print speed 50 mm/s 1.75 mm PLA If anyone could help me fixing this that would be great!

Your images look as if your initial nozzle to heat bed offset is too large. This causes the filament not to be squished. Try re-levelling and have a piece of plain printing paper have a little drag when pulled.

Z-Axis zero/home position is higher than the actual print starting position I'm having an issue with my very first printer, a Monoprice Select Mini V2. After doing about 20 successful prints on it, the Z axis is suddenly acting very odd. When I 'home' the Z axis and move the nozzle on the X and Y, I can do the paper test on all four corners of the bed without issue - the leveling is near-perfect. But when I start a print job, the nozzle is much lower - by at least 1-2 mm. This causes the print head to grind against the print bed, which I unfortunately need to replace as it's pretty much destroyed. The nozzle is so much lower at the start of a print job than it is at the home position that it ground a permanent line on the bed. It's trying to go so low, there's enough pressure on the nozzle to not let any filament escape - leaving a bad gouge like I dragged a screwdriver across the print surface. Not good. It's not the Z-axis limiter switch. I confirmed that is both working and secured tightly to the printer body. When homing the Z axis, I can hear the switch click and the printer stops at that position correctly. It's only when I start a print job that it ends up lower, almost as if it's ignoring the switch. I also eliminated my slicer software from the equation by printing something I had printed successfully just a couple hours prior - without reslicing or modifying the GCODE file at all. I'm at the point now where I can't print anything that I could before, without having this problem. My heat and speed settings remained untouched. How can I solve this? The issue popped up just after doing a successful print. What gives? I've heard of the opposite problem (Z-Axis 'too high'), especially after changing nozzles, but not 'too low', and I've never seen it where the print job actually starts lower than the true zero position. Help!

Check the Z-drive for any component looseness. Look at belts, gears, anything with screws. Wiggle things mercilessly checking for play. At the start of a normal print run, the the print head typically rises up very high as the head warms up (depends on software) and then lowers to print. If your homing paper test happened with the head near the limit switch, then the difference between those two use cases is the Z-distance traveled to get to the same place. You have eliminated software and electrical considerations, which leaves mechanical considerations. A slipping gear or belt might contribute to this odd behavior you describe.

How to make menus more responsive in Marlin 1.1.9 I have an AM8 with an MKS GEN 1.4 board with a Bowden extruder at the moment. What I would like to do is to make my menus a bit more responsive, similar to what the guy at Lokster Space has done with ver 1.1.5 of Marlin with a tutorial how to do so. I've been through the file ultralcd.cpp but nothing matches what the tutorial is telling you to change. The following link is the details for the upgrade: How to make the Marlin menus more responsive on Anet A8 Could anyone please help with my situation.

Supposedly, it's no longer necessary in a recent Marlin version, already the inline bool handle_adc_keypad() function from ultralcd.cpp has implemented a smaller (100 ms) time delay. You could lower the value of #define ADC_MIN_KEY_DELAY 100 to #define ADC_MIN_KEY_DELAY 50 to see if that has any effect. Also, look for next_button_update_ms = now + 300; (4 instances) which employs a 300 ms time delay after buttons are pressed. Try lowering the 300 ms time delay.

Sloped bridges in Cura I'm trying to print this model of a boat: It has 2 keels joined by 5 bridges, but the top of each keel is curved, so while the middle part is mostly flat, the bridge on the back has a bit of a slope (as you can see with the "stair" effect). The problem I have is that I can't get Cura to properly bridge that specific part: It creates a bridge for the first layer, but on the next layer (where there's a part that needs bridging), it just starts drawing a surface: In this picture you can see layer 86 it has drawn a bridge between both keels, but on layer 87 it tries to print a surface larger than posible. That results in this happening: and this causes big gaps in the top surface. I've been trying to play a bit with the settings in Cura, but I can't find anything that would fix this... Is there anything that can help me? (maybe even the model has a design problem)

Cura has some options in this area that might or might not help. I've had mixed results. You should make sure Enable Bridge Settings is on, and try adjusting Bridge Skin Support Threshold. By default bridge settings are only used if 50% or more of the area is unsupported. Area is an utterly ridiculous/meaningless metric for whether bridging is needed, so you probably need to set this to just a really high value like 90% or 95%. You may also want to check that Bridge Has Multiple Layers is on. With that said, for your model I would just use supports with a support interface (roof) below the bridges. You could reduce the material cost of them with Support Tree mode. But there are of course places where you can't use supports in similar models (bridge is over another part of the model and there's no access to remove the support material), so having working bridge settings is still desirable.

Sketchup Free STL import in FreeCAD not working with Fasteners Workbench Hoping to get some help with something I'm trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, due to my being a noob with 3D modeling in general, I'm coming here for hopefully more direct help. Env. Details: OS: Windows 10 Word size of OS: 64-bit Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit Version: 0.17.13541 (Git) Build type: Release Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-17 Hash: 9948ee4f1570df9216862a79705afb367b2c6ffb Python version: 2.7.14 Qt version: 4.8.7 Coin version: 4.0.0a OCC version: 7.2.0 Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US) Essentially, I have a need to design some housing for a small electornics board. Due to the nature of 3D printing being less than ideal for bending/snapping locks, I've decided to use small screws to hold multiple layers of housing together. SketchUp Free proved to be a super intuitive, easy to understand 3D modeling software, tho is limited in functionality due to paid tiers. Unfortunately, FreeCAD felt like a confusing cross between early 2000s Microsoft Paint and Eclipse (Java). However as the open source alternative, I understand it's incredibly powerful and can/should be able to do what most 3D modeling software is capable of, if you know how to use it properly - and that's where my lack of understanding shines through. Research into my use case revealed a plugin (Fasteners Workbench) which seemed purpose built for dealing with screws/threads, and I greatly prefer this approach due to being able to select standardized sizes. On to the problem: I decided to sketch out the main design for the housing in Sketchup, and am happy with it, though I am missing the holes in the four corners. To add this, I decided to export the file from Sketchup as STL and import it to FreeCAD. Once in FreeCAD, I switched to the fasteners workbench and created a screwtap of arbitrary length. Now, from most tutorials I've watched, removing one piece from another is a boolean operation, often a cut or an intersection. However, when I highlight both the part object and the screwtap and select the CUT boolean operation, what I expect to happen (the screwtap was "cut" or carved out of the part object) did not. I'm wondering if: - My understanding of the boolean operation is wrong. There is a different function that is used for "boring" threaded holes? - My process is wrong. Does exporting an STL from sketchup free not work for certain operations when importing to FreeCAD? - My models are off. I have an understanding that "grouping" parts of models is big when putting a model together from parts, so as to simplify life. I'm wondering if it's also required in these cases? Attempting to do the boolean operation in sketchup failed but did require having grouped components. I'm not sure this is the case in FreeCAD, or if I'm already doing this? Would appreciate any help with this. Attaching the FreeCAD file here.

Stls may not properly import as solids. This is likely what is happening in your case. Stl format is ultimately just a bunch of triangles without a proper definition of a solid. The boolean Difference found faces to attach to the circle so it used them. The trouble is, there were even more faces at the same location (not uncommon). You could manually delete and repatch the triangles in Mesh Design or if the shape is simple enough (I think your box fits the bill), redraw it. I don't know how far sketchup has come with file formats, but a different format may convey your solid better between software. That said, in your shoes, I'd be making cylindrical and hexagonal cutouts and gluing a nut into my part.

true color printing with CMYK+White (not 3-in-1 diamond head RGB) There is this great hotend called a diamond hotend, which can be used to print in 3 colors and mix them into hundreds? of colors. This can for example be used with Red, Green and Blue filament to mix a RGB palette. They don't have to be these colors, but I believe RGB would give the maximum range of colors when constrained to 3. However true RGB in physical printing would use separate colored voxels to create the appearance of a color, just like monitors display colors. As far as I know only HP Jet Fusion 3D printer uses this process, but it uses a process vastly different from normal diy 3D FDM printers. CMYK is mixed physically like you would mix watercolors together to make new colors. It is used for printing on paper by all laserjet and inkjet printers (and in printing presses). So that means even the 3 input diamond hotend is actually mixed like CMYK. Repetier firmware v92.9 has this built in with support up to 16 inputs for a nozzle, but Marlin firmware v1.0.x only supports 4 inputs per nozzle at this time. Using RGB for the 3 inputs of a hotend, means the printing color palette lacks White and also it seems that CMYK would give a bigger range of colors. That brings our tally to 4 inputs. It still needs a white filament to print white, so that means 5 inputs. And while we are at it, probably a 6th input would be useful: like for printing black infill (to save using CMYK to mix into black) or for using transparent filament or elastic filament. So why isn't there a nozzle with 5-6 inputs already? Could it be done? Are there such hotends already? P.S These are just theoretical assumptions. I just discovered 3D printing and I am in the planning phase of building my first 3D printer, so I am a total n00b in this. Please correct any assumptions I got wrong.

You may be a bit misled here. First of all, you do not want "RGB" , as those are additive colors such as used when combining light sources. You do want "RYB" (red-yellow-blue) or the more accurate CMY(plus K just to get a 'truer' black) for subtractive colors. Next, there's really no reason to attempt pixel-mixing. What should happen, ideally, is that pigments get fully mixed upon extrusion so that the desired color is actually in place. Pretty much any pixel-based setup will not "blend" into the desired visual perception. And as you propose, you really need a White and a Black to adjust the saturation (take a look at the Wikipedia pages on Hue and Saturation color maps). So I'm not convinced that separate extrusion heads will ever get you a decent color continuum. I don't know if anyone has, or is planning, a multi-input, single-output head but I'd sure like one.

Printing and slicing big pieces with Elegoo Mars (Pro) I'm pretty new in the 3D printing world, and there are some doubts that have come my way and I've not been able to find anywhere. Usually, I'm going to try to print pieces bigger than the bed of my Elegoo Mars Pro (which is 115 x 65 x 150 mm, so it's pretty small). Everywhere I try to look at this they are talking about Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) printers, and I guess that material will make the answer to these questions to be different, that's why I'm asking here. All of these questions are focused on SLA printers. Is there any kind of technique / slicer software to be able to print those pieces by parts? I've read about slicers, but there seem to be a bunch of them, and some of them work best with some printers than others, and have different features but I haven't seen any that helps in this matter. Also, I've seen the typical plane cut, but this doesn't make it easy later on to "fit" pieces. I would need some kind of female - male joint. Is there any (free) slicer that helps in that, and makes those joints to be accurate and solid? Thank you! I removed the "shrink size" part in the question and published it as a separate question. Also moved to a different question "gluing separate pieces" part.*

With so many questions, I'll provide a suggestion for your first one, the alignment option. There's a 12 minute YouTube video showing how to use Meshmixer (free, multi-platform) to create alignment pins and holes while segmenting a model for printing large items. The process involves making the cut, keeping both sections. A pin is created and sized, then placed in one of the faces, while the other segment visibility is turned off. The pin is then triplicated, with one pin moved away for printing. One of the two remaining pins (overlapped) is selected and is used for a Boolean subtract operation, creating a hole that is matching in size and location. The first segment visibility is turned off, the second segment is turned on and the pin is selected again. The sequence is duplicated, creating a second, matching hole. I didn't watch the entire video, but if it is not suggested, one should reduce the third pin size, at least the diameter, sufficiently to allow it to fit the holes created by the above process. Note that the video has some inconsistencies from my experience. Some terms are changed from the video to the program, but should not cause problems.

FreeCAD: Scene doesn't look 3D I finished a 3D object for 4 wheels, but something seems wrong with the final scene to me: The nearer wheels (#1 and #2) appear smaller than the far one (#3 and #4), and the distance between wheel #3 an #4 seems longer than between (1) and (2), like you can see in this picture: I want to achieve the scene like this: How to do that in FreeCAD?

FreeCAD, like many other 3D programs (including blender) does use Isometric/Orthographic display as the default displaying option as it allows to see on one view if some lengths or angles are "equal". In many cases, a perspective view can be toggled on to allow visualization in a room, especially for architectural one. In the case of FreeCAD with all its options, this option gets swamped out of the user's field of view sometimes, and the documentation is not that easy to navigate without a proper keyword, making the right thing slightly hidden in the documentation. But once you know it, it should be obvious: View > Perspective View toggles to perspective view. View > Orthographic View toggles back to isometric.

Is my 3D printer totally dead? The last few days my 3D printer has not been working, despite the fact that the LCD Screen has been working perfectly (since the problem the LCD bright potentiometer went very sensitive, so the brightness set to the maximum although before the problem it was perfectly calibrated). The problem arrived when I was unplugging the fan from the board because it wasn't working while the printer was on, suddenly the LCDs brightness set to the maximum so I turned the printer off as fast as I could. When I turned it on again, I had to recalibrate the LCDs brightness and when I tried to move the steppers the weren't working, some of them made strange noises and didn't move. I have to say that now every time I turn on my printer, an orange LED flashes, but I cannot remember if it was normal or not. My 3D printer: Geeetech I3 Pro B 3D Printer DIY Kit - Black US Plug 1 The board I'm using: XCSOURCE® Kit de impresora 3D con RAMPS 1.4 Controlador + Mega 2560 Board + 5pcs A4988 Controlador de motor de pasos con disipador de calor + LCD 12864 Controlador gráfico de visualización inteligente con adaptador para Arduino TE621

I would have posted this as a comment, since it is not a definitive answer to the question, but it was too long for a comment. Since you were unplugging the fan when the problem started, I would suggest that it is a wiring problem. The first place I would look is to check the ground connection between the processor board (probably the ATMEGA Arduino), and the board that carries the stepper motor drivers. If the ground connection is faulty, the board may still work due to sneak ground paths through signal lines. A simple way to check is to measure the voltage from the GND pin on the ATMEGA to the ground of the driver board. That voltage should be very close to 0.0 Volts. You might also check the resistance (using an ohm meter) with the power turned off. The resistance should be 0.0 ohms, or if the meter is not perfectly calibrated, it should be the same as you measure with the probes connected together. If either of these readings isn't zero, search for a broken connection. One sign that ground may be broken is the LCD brightness control sensitivity. I don't have the schematic to refer to, but if the ground reference for the pot is broken, the output of the pot will be too high. Another sign is that the stepper motors still make some sounds when they should move. If you don't find a problem there, check through the other power and ground connections. Be sure that all GND lines are well connected, all +5 lines are well connected, and that all +12 lines are well connected.

Printing PLA on PEX surface - is heated bed needed? I have a WhamBam build system on order. A magnet attaches (glues down I think) to the Aluminium printing bed (or add a glass sheet? Separate question), then PEX material on flexible steel sheet gets slapped down for the print surface. I have been printing PLA on a cold PEI sheet from Vertex, using 4 binder clips to hold it in place vs peeling the backing off and sticking it down. The print job wants to keep heating the bed to 60 °C, I turn it down, a couple minutes into a job it cranks it back to 60 °C and I turn it down again. A few times I missed the second turn on, and the PEI has been kinda warped now (or maybe it's just the plastic over the sticky backing), and has also peeled off some surface chunks in the middle, so we've been trying to print around the damaged section. The warping has now made the PEI unusable, so I'm hoping the WhamBam arrives soon. We've been printing for a couple of weeks now (I printed a chess set, largest has 4 cm diameter and is 10 cm tall, some pieces on blue tape, some on the PEI) and are starting to venture into our own designs. Intended project is box tops & bottoms that are ~90 mm x 65 mm x different heights with openings. We tried one on blue tape (a bottom with no openings) and ended up chiseling it off the bed with a steel putty knife (I don't recall if heat was on or not). We tried a top with openings on the PEI, missed that the heat had turned back on, but between the bed not quite level (forgot to re-check it) and the PEI being warped we killed it after the openings were printed around. It was not going to be usable, but we did print enough to be able to confirm the opening spacings (needs work still) so it was not a total loss. Came off the PEI easily (<2 mm thick when we stopped), we managed to miss the damaged parts mostly. So the question: when the WhamBam arrives, is it better to print PLA at 60 °C, or do I keep playing the game of turning it down (and saving the waiting time of it heating up)?

I print PLA on a PEI bed at 60°C. I have also printed PLA on an aluminum bed at 60°C with Elmer's Glue Stick for bonding, which worked better for me than PLA. I recently switched to Aqua Net Hairspray on the aluminum bed at 60°C, which also worked well. I have found no reason to avoid bed heating with PLA. If the object is stuck too tightly on the PEI bed, you could try adding hairspray. It acts as a glue, but also as a release agent, and, being soluble in water, you can help release the object with a few water drops.

Good profile for slicing ABS in Slic3r? Does anyone know of a good slicer profile (i.e., an .ini file.) for Slic3r for printing ABS for a Prusa i3 MK3S printer?

ABS is a plastic type that has a relatively large shrinkage when cooling down compared to other filaments;e.g. much more than the popular replacement PETG (which prints similarly as PLA but has properties like ABS). As of this shrinkage, it is the operator of the slicer to produce an environment to properly print ABS. This not only implies that correct settings for the slicer itself need to be chosen (depending on the brand: high hotend temperature; about 220-240 °C, high heated bed temperature; 90-110 °C, using a large brim), but also that the printing environment is optimally setup to allow printing successful prints. You should think of adhesion to the build plate, modifying parts to include so-called Mickey Mouse ears and an enclosed printer space to regulate the temperature. ABS doesn't like temperature changes as that will result in split layers. This is why ABS is difficult to print for most people, it is best not to choose this when you just starting printing, nowadays much better alternatives are available called Co-polymers like PETG.

Print from SD and connect to serial host at the same time I am wondering if it is possible to print with a 3D printer from an SD card and connect to a serial host at the same time. I want to use the Marlin M118 serial print command to trigger custom functions running on a Raspberry Pi. The RPi would be connected to the printer over serial but would not be sending G-code. Is this possible? My printer is the Monoprice Mini Delta. It runs a Marlin based firmware and I can install standard Marlin on it if necessary.

This can be done, but you need to have the right order of operations. Octoprint relies on such a setup. Set up the serial connection first, as sending the connect signal from your terminal or Raspberry to Marlin triggers the printer to reboot. After having the connection established, start the printjob either via the control buttons or the remote console (for example: Octoprint or Repetier Server, running on your Raspberry) Note that you have to make sure not to dis- and reconnect the raspberry during print, as that might trigger a reboot of the printer!

Is 22-Guage Stranded Hookup Wire the correct wire to connect the Switching Powersupply to RAMPs 1.4? I obtained the following wire 22 Gauge Stranded Hookup Wire from Radio Shack: Type/Style: AWM/1007 Wire Gauge: 22 AWG Insulation Thickness: AVE. 0.42 mm Rated Voltage: 300V Temperature Rating: 80°C / 176°F Use Limitation: Internal wiring of appliances; or where exposed to oil at a temperature not exceeding 60°C or 80°C, whichever is applicable.. Tags may indicate the following: 600V Peak - For Electronic Use Only. I'd like to be able to hook up RAMPs 1.4 to my switching power supply with this wire. Will this work okay?

22awg wiring is good for a max of 7A in this usage case. Your power supply can provide 30A. So it is definitely not large enough wire gauge for good wiring practice -- in the event of a short, you want the PSU's over-current protection to kick in before the wiring overheats. That would mean 14ga between the PSU and board. 16ga would probably cover your actual load requirements just fine, but we need to know a lot more about your printer to say that for sure. 12v systems need heavy duty wiring, at least on the main supply lines. You can use 22ga for individual power consumers, such as fans, extruder heaters, etc. (No heatbeds.)

What is the least expensive 3D printer? What is the least expensive 3D printer available today? I am looking for something suitable for general use in a home office.

Depends on your definition of "available" and your definition of "suitable for general use." The cheapest 3D printers are mostly Kickstarter promises that take a year or more to ship, if they ever do. For example, the Peachy 3D printer Kickstarter just imploded and failed. There have been many other failed low-cost 3D printer crowdfunding campaigns. Another low cost Kickstarter printer, the 101Hero, is ongoing now (May 2016), but most competent observers I've talked to don't believe it will succeed at delivering working printers to all backers at that price point. If they do deliver, it will be painfully low-cost components and the printer will not perform well or last long. Stay away from crowdfunding campaigns for your first printer. At best, you get a beta product with lots of kinks to work out. At worst, you get nothing and lose your money. For actual products you can purchase today, there's a wide spectrum of quality/cost tradeoffs. Under \$200 there's nothing credible. The Tiko (\$179) might deliver, but post-Kickstarter units are widely expected to cost more. Around \$200-300 you get into low-quality Prusa i3 kits from China. These aren't a great value -- most people end up spending another few hundred dollars on upgrades to get them working reliably and with high quality. Around \$300-400 you can get an ok 3D printer, often with "chipped" proprietary filament so the vendor can make high profits on locked-in consumables. ("Razors and blades" model.) For example, the XYZPrinting Da Vinci Jr is \$350 but locks you into high-cost chipped filament. The Wanhao Duplicator i3 is currently a community favorite for value-for-money at \$399. The Printrbot Play is much higher quality/reliability but much smaller at the same price. If you get up around \$600, a big range of decent printers opens up. But this is no longer the "least expensive" option, so I won't get into it. If you want to tinker, the Duplicator i3 is a good choice. If you want a machine that just prints, the Play is a good choice. There are other printers and cheaper printers, but most of what you'll find below $400 is going to end up causing pain unless your goal is simply to tinker with printer troubleshooting and upgrades.

How to print a two color part with only one extruder I'm planning my first project. I want to print an iPhone case with a flush letter on the back, but I want the letter in a different color (single extruder printer). The thing is the two colors will be on the same level. Do I create two separate models, import them to a single model, mesh the parts and somehow specify which one to start on, then just change the filament when it's done with the first section? Will the letter be loose fitting in the cut out? Or will I need to print them separately and glue them together? What is a good slicing software to accomplish this?

What you ask may be easier than you think. The slicing software is unimportant, generally speaking. Consider especially that your requirements fit the solution spot on. Take a look at this thingiverse snowman. Each of the colors is a separate model. Each of the colors is only one layer thick (0.200 mm). Each of the colors is placed with zero overlap to the adjacent colors, as the extrusion multiplier will allow enough "squish" to cause a bond to its neighbor. You would create a model with the necessary shape for your lettering and insert the appropriate color for them. Print that model but leave it on the bed. If the bed is heated, all the better, but don't let it cool to the point of release. If it's not heated, the adhesive should hold it until project completion. For the main background color, your model would be normal but with a single layer subtracted at the base. The subtraction would have to be the shape of the lettering. Consider that you're creating indented or recessed lettering. Use appropriate modeling techniques to perform this action. Keep in mind that you'll want the lettering to be mirrored, as you're printing it "upside down" on the build plate. Swap out the filament to the main color and print. You are color limited only by your determination and patience, as you have to swap out filament and also have to create appropriate models with recesses to take the first layer, of which you'll also have to create models. I've created at least one of the snowman pictured and it came out quite good. The layman will not be as astonished as someone familiar with 3D modeling and printing, however. You get a better appreciation when you know what goes into the project to get this result. EDIT to add more info, rather than fill the comments: The above method works only because the inlay is a single layer deep. If your slicer supports changing layer thickness during a print, you could print the first layer at the max for your nozzle, say 0.3 mm then set layer 2 and upwards to the resolution you desire for the majority of your print. I use Simplify3D which supports such actions. I'm not sure of the others. Relevant to the questions posed in the comments, your modeling software may be a factor in this process. The modeling software will create/assign a pivot point or some other name to a location of reference in the model. The slicer will use that to position the model on the bed. Here's a concept I would use to perform this task. Start with your single layer lettering, ensuring that the thickness of the letters will match your first layer height. Save the model as an STL file. Leave the lettering on the screen in your modeling software. Create or import the case file. Position it as you wish relative to the letters. Of course, both models will be flat on the build plane or all bets are off. Use the lettering in a boolean subtraction to remove the shapes from the phone case model. If the above does not remove the lettering model, delete that and you have the recess. Save this model in STL. When you load the models in the slicer, they should drop into the same location relative to each other. When you print the letters, they will be on layer one. When you print the remaining model, the cut-out portion will be on layer one, while the rest is placed atop the two color portion. The print head will move up one layer to adjust for the extra depth. If you require the letters to be thicker than a single layer, one of the options you have is also in your question. Create the letters in the thickness you wish, use them to create the recess in the case and print separately. In so doing, you will be counting on the printer's ability to make clean bridges. The letters may fit cleanly, may have some play or slop, or be too large to fit easily. It would behoove you to make a test piece or two, perhaps a simple slab with one or two letters to see how that concept works in the real world. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the public library's genuine Prusa i3 MK2S performed a challenging bridging operation. I apologize for overlooking the reference to first project. With that in mind, I would consider that this is a slightly advanced project. Your modeling software and modeling software skills will obviously come into play here and is a separate subject/question/topic for discussion.

How can I remove my print from the bed safely I have printed two objects with my new 3D printer (Anycubic Mega S) and everytime, my prints are stuck to my bed (sort of glued to it). I cannot remove them by hand. I have tried waiting until it cools off, but the only thing that works is scraping really hard the bed with the spatula. I'm scared that if I have to do that for my next prints, I will break the bed (maybe peel off the element that keeps the plastic and the bed glued together while printing). What is the safest way to remove a print from the bed ?

One method that works at our makerspace and also has worked for a user on another 3d printing forum is to use a 50:50 mix of water and denatured alcohol. While the print bed is warm, apply some to the perimeter of the print at the bed surface. Allow it to cool, try to remove the print. If it does not work, reheat the bed and repeat until you are able to release it.

How to create 3D printing file (e.g. STL, OBJ and IGES etc.) from DEM? I have DEM with 1 m resolution, how can I create 3D printing file (e.g. STL, OBJ and IGES etc.) from DEM?

This question has been answered on a sister site, GIS Stack Exchange. It's a rather comprehensive answer posted, which means it's impractical to summarize here. GIS answer The answer does indicate that a plug-in for QGIS software is needed in order to accomplish this objective. If you do not use/have the QGIS software, my answer is invalid. All three answers to the question linked above appear to point to the same program/plugin.

Padded Sketch comprises too many solids (FreeCAD) Under FreeCAD, I sketched on the face of a solid as follows : My problem is, when I use "Pad a selected sketch", the solid created comprises also the original solid. It prevents me, for instance, to get the difference with the first one. Any idea what may be causing this? How to prevent it? MyFreeCAD config: OS: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS Word size of OS: 64-bit Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit Version: 0.15.4671 (Git) Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-15 Hash: 244b3aef360841646cbfe80a1b225c8b39c8380c Python version: 2.7.11 Qt version: 4.8.7 Coin version: 4.0.0a OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.17

Ok, I got help on this forum thread Using Part Extrude instead of Pad a selected sketch on the sketch will create an independent solid. It also turns out that, instead of creating the second solid to do a boolean difference, the good way to "cut" my solid is using the PartDesign Pocket tool.

What tweaks do slicers use to get rafts to stick? I've always had trouble getting prints to stick directly on my bed, but had great reliability when use rafts. This didn't present a problem when I was using PLA, but I recently got a roll of PETG and it is very hard to remove rafts, so I am once again trying to figure out whats wrong. I am printing the same file (currently a simple square for testing) with the same settings, except I am turning rafts on/off. When rafts are on, my print sticks perfectly. When rafts are off, my print doesn't stick at all - not even the skirt (which sticks fine on the raft print). With rafts on, I can watch my printer lay down a nice line for the skirt / first layer. With rafts off, I watched plastic ooze out of the nozzle and ride along with the print head, not sticking to the plate at all. I have a stock Monoprice Maker Select v2 with the PEI surface it shipped with. I haven't tried any bed additions/changes to get better adhesion, since I know rafts stick fine with what I have. I figure there must be some settings I can change to make my first layer stick too. I am using Simplify3D & have tried a few basic tweaks, but I am largely stabbing in the dark. What are the specific characteristics of a first layer raft, in comparison to a first layer of my print, that might make it stick better?

You could experiment with the 'cleaning' part of the startup gcode shown here G1 X100 Y0 F4000 ; move half way along the front edge G1 Z1 ; move nozzle close to bed M109 S200 ; heat nozzle to 200 degC and wait until reached G4 P10000 ; wait 10 seconds for nozzle length to stabilize G1 E10 ; extrude 10 mm of filament G1 z15 F12000 E5 ; move 15 mm up, fast, while extruding 5mm G92 E0 ; reset extruder I'm not completely persuaded that it helps a lot, but the idea is to fill the extruder (with some pressure from the bed at a 1mm gap) right before starting the skirt. Typically, I still find the first line of skirt may be quite blobby, but a 2nd line of skirt seems much better. Obviously you need the bed alignment right too. A raft seems to have enough 'extra' extrusion to mask these issues a little bit. Later reflection suggests that these introductory G-code snippets (I've now started using the PRUSA one of a line along the edge of the bed) risk problems with flexible filament, so it might be best to err on the side of conservative for the extrude volume rather than assume that more is better here. You can find other similar solutions in this question: Writing G-code : swiping at start of print

How to properly read dimensions for a 3D printer? I'm trying to find the correct way to read and understand the dimensions of a 3D printer. For example, if I read the following dimensions for the Robo 3D R1 Plus as 10x9x8 Inch - I want to know what 10 stands for (does it mean print height?), 9 (depth?), and 8 (width?); etc. I'm not sure if I'm assuming correctly. I know this should be simple, but I'm not sure where to reference the proper ordering, respective to each aforementioned dimension. UPDATE While looking at Makerbot's Replicator technical specifications, I see them listing their dimensions as follows: Build Volume 29.5 L X 19.5 W X 16.5 H CM [11.6 X 7.6 X 6.5 IN] So, if I'm reading this correctly, can I infer that 11.6 IN is referring to the length/depth, 7.6 IN is referring to the width, and 6.5 IN is referring to the height. Would this be the universal/standard way of referring to build specifications for all 3D printers?

Having the dimensions of your 3D printer ordered in Length x Width x Height is a common way, but nobody actually decided it. I think it has something to do with the 3rd dimension being the "new" dimension for printing things, that's why it's appended at the end. Additionally, the first axis on a 2D-coordinate system usually is the horizontal one, so writing Length x Width makes sense for me. If you are unsure you can always test your printer (if you have one) by writing your own G-Code that moves the printhead on a defined axis.

PLA Filament Not Softening During Load w/ FlashForge Creator Pro Recently, after printing fine for several weeks, I've gone to load in white PLA filament into the right extruder on my FlashForge Creator Pro and the extruder is not pulling the white PLA filament through. The gears grab the filament and pull it down but it never makes it out the other end. I have successfully used this filament through this same extruder as recently as yesterday. The steps I have taken are: • Remove the extruder motor and cleaned the gears. There was no noticeable issues or clogs. • Turned the heat on and used the skinny metal unclogging tool that came with the printer to drive any excess filament out of the nozzle. • Removed the nozzle and cleaned as best as I could. To be clear, this does not appear to be a nozzle clog because I have removed the nozzle, leaving the plastic tube that's under it in the extruder and I can run the unclogging tool all the way through the tube and out the top of extruder when the nozzle is not on. The line appears to be clear. • I then tried to load the filament without the nozzle on (but with the plastic tube still in the extruder; which I confirmed in the last step does not have a clog in it). Same problem. • I unloading the black PLA filament from the left extruder and then took the white PLA filament (which wouldn't load into the right extruder) and tried to load it into the left one. Same problem. I then took the black PLA filament and went to load it back into the left extruder and it worked fine. The white filament seems to be the problem but I cannot figure out what the problem would be. It's the same size as the black filament and the black filament works fine through the extruders that the white one does not. As mentioned, this filament worked fine yesterday. I took the fan off and watched the filament get gripped by the motor gears and pulled down until it is entered into the hole below the motor. That is the point at which is gets stuck. It appears the filament simply is not being softened/melted enough to start feeding through the smaller hole. I researched this and saw that this could be the result of a faulty reading by the machine due to thermocouple problems (?) but it seems doubtful now that I've tested successfully with black filament. My settings are as follows: FlashForge Creator Pro PLA Filament Extruder - 210C (I started a 200C but then increased) Any thoughts or pointers would be great. Thank you!

After all of this trial and error it was a simple solution. I did not snip off the end of the filament after unloading. The filament had been tapered after unloading because of the way it was extruded previously. I don't know exactly why (please feel free to add to this answer) but when I made a clean cut on the end of the filament and then fed it through, it extruded with no problem.

How to tell if PLA temp is too hot/cold I was having an issue with flat sheets raising up during initial layers. I had my bed at 80 °C and kept raising it thinking it was an issue with cold. After reducing the temperature to 50 °C the sheets sit flat now but sometimes sections come loose. I ended up using masking tape and a glue stick and everything finally seems to print flat and keep adhesion. I am using 210 °C hotend but I might try lowering it to 205 °C. How do you check if your printing temperature is too hot/cold or if your bed temperature is too hot/cold? None of the articles I read ever said that a bed too hot would cause PLA to rise but that's what happened.

Too Hot If you're printing too hot (with any filament, not just PLA) you're going to see stringing and blobs/oozing because the material is getting runny and exiting the nozzle in an uncontrolled manner. Because it's uncontrolled, you will also likely see artifacts showing up in your prints. You might also see your filament burning. Instead of coming out of the nozzle as whatever color it should be, it will look brown or discolored because it was overcooked. If your bed is too hot, you might start to see "elephant's feet" where the lowest layer(s) are being heated to the point of becoming soft and the weight of layers on top of them are pushing down, causing that layer to "pooch out." You might also have problems removing the print from the print bed's surface because the plastic has seeped into the details of the print surface and hardened, essentially welding the part to the surface. Too Cold If you're printing filament that is too cold, you're going to run into an issue where the material being pushed into the hot end is not getting melted sufficiently. This means that pressure will build up in the hot end that can't be released through extruding material through the nozzle. If you've ever tried to pipe frosting using a bag/tip and the frosting was too thick, you'll know what I'm talking about. When material is being fed into the hot end but not being allowed to flow out of it, something has to give. That thing is your extruder. It has a wheel with little teeth on it to grip the filament and feed it into the hot end (or bowden tube which leads to the hot end). It can exert a certain amount of force on that filament. When the hot end's back pressure builds to the point that it becomes greater than the extruder's force, it will start skipping. Imagine trying to push a large, heavy object. Your feet will begin to slip as your the force of your exertion overcomes the friction between your feet and the ground. That's what will happen to your extruder. It will make clicking/clunking noises as the extruder unsuccessfully tries to push the filament through and the friction between the teeth of the gear and the filament is overcome. This is called grinding. If your bed is too cold, you simply just end up with problems getting the print to adhere to the surface. Warping In your particular case, you're describing warping. Remember from physics 101 that cold things contract and warm things expand. Your print bed is warm, and so, too, are the first layers that are near it because the bed's heat is transferring up into them and keeping them warm. Obviously, your active (topmost) layer will also be a bit warmer as it as just come out of the hot end. However, in general as you move higher up away from the printed bed, the printed layers get colder. Because they are getting colder, they are undergoing thermal contraction. This creates a thermal gradient where layers go from greater thermal expansion to greater thermal contraction. The combination means that the bottom of the print will start to curl up (away from the expansion and towards the contraction). This is not an issue with your printing temperature. It's a problem with your ambient temperature. The easiest way to fix this issue is to put your printer in an enclosure. This isolates the air immediately around the printer from the rest of the air in the room. Because your heater's bed and nozzle are throwing out a lot of heat, they will heat up the print chamber quite a bit (mine typically runs over 30 degrees celsius, even in the dead of winter). Because the ambient temperature in the print chamber is so much warmer than the outside air, that temperature gradient is much, much smaller. As a result, warping will stop becoming a problem.

Screeching Noise when moving the Z-Axis Down I have had my Prusa i3 clone for about two years and it has always made a screeching sound when the z-axis is moving down. I have tried many solutions for this problem like greasing the z-rods, printing a new top part (the holder at the top z-rods end) with a bearing to prevent the threaded rod from swaying, and even hot glueing bearing to the stock top piece. However, none of this has worked. I am not sure if it is affecting the print quality but the sound is very annoying when it is doing a lot of hops and I would like to fix it. Here is a video (with sound) of the rod moving up and down. Video

I had this same problem. I attributed it to the linear bearings which ride on the 8mm travel rods. I did two things which ultimately eliminated the issue (since I did both at the same time, I'm not sure which solved the issue, but believe it's #1 below): I replaced all of my ball type (stock) linear bearings with Igus Drylin linear bearings. I'm pretty sure the metal ball bearings were screeching along the 8mm metal rods. The Drylin bearings pretty much eliminated any noise on the rods. I replaced all of them for X, Y, & Z axis rods at the same time. I used white lithium grease (just a small amount) on the Z-axis screw rod. This helped everything travel better. It should also help it last longer by preventing wear. Since I've done this, I've not had any screeching anymore. You don't have to use Drylin linear bearings, as there are other printable options on Thingiverse.com.

Printer goes beyond the bed when auto leveling I am trying to add auto bed leveling to my Prusa i3. When I run G28 my printer hits the X and Y end stops properly, then it assumes X=25, Y=99 position on the bed and performs Z homing, after which it stays there. The problem is when I run G29 then it starts following the grid points from this position and tries to go out of bed. My settings for the grid are: #define LEFT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 10 #define RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 140 #define BACK_PROBE_BED_POSITION 140 #define FRONT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 20 And travel limits are set to this: #define X_MAX_POS 150 #define X_MIN_POS 0 #define Y_MAX_POS 150 #define Y_MIN_POS 0 #define Z_MAX_POS 220 #define Z_MIN_POS 0 I guess this might be relevant too: #ifdef Z_SAFE_HOMING #define Z_SAFE_HOMING_X_POINT (X_MAX_LENGTH/2) #define Z_SAFE_HOMING_Y_POINT (Y_MAX_LENGTH/2) #endif

I don't know how your firmware load handles G29 ,but here's a guess, based on information at the reprap wiki . Try using FBLR to force the travel limits. Parameters P Set the size of the grid that will be probed (P x P points). Not supported by non-linear delta printer bed leveling. Example: G29 P4 S Set the XY travel speed between probe points (in units/min) D Dry-Run mode. Just evaluate the bed Topology - Don't apply or clean the rotation Matrix. Useful to check the topology after a first run of G29. V Set the verbose level (0-4). Example: G29 V3 T Generate a Bed Topology Report. Example: G29 P5 T for a detailed report. This is useful for manual bed leveling and finding flaws in the bed (to assist with part placement). Not supported by non-linear delta printer bed leveling. F Set the Front limit of the probing grid B Set the Back limit of the probing grid. L Set the Left limit of the probing grid R Set the Right limit of the probing grid

Z-step pulses too short (Marlin 2.0.x) I was replacing a stepper driver on my Melzi 2.0 board with a A4988 Pololu module and for some reason, it won't cooperate with Marlin. For reference, I'm using a Melzi 2.0 TRONXY with a ZONESTAR-style 5-button LCD. This LCD may be related to my problem. I'm using a custom configuration of Marlin 2.0.x since I replaced the main board and it's been giving me a lot of problems. When testing the printer with an Arduino sketch, the Z-axis moves flawlessly. However, when I uploaded my Marlin configuration, the printer once again refused to move. Upon probing the Step and Direction pins with my oscilloscope, I found what I think is the problem. I was giving step commands from the LCD and from Pronterface when I saw this on the Z-Step pin: Apologies for the blurry picture. The timescale is 20 μs/square and the voltage is 1V/square. What I'm supposed to see is a series of discrete 5 V pulses that tell the stepper to move, but what I got was a handful of tiny ~5 μs blips instead. What I've taken this to mean is that the pin (digital 3, for those curious) is being set to pulse by the step request, but is being reset by something else. Everything points to the firmware as far as I can tell. Again, I've confirmed that the 1284p, the A4988, and the motor itself all work when programmed correctly with an Arduino sketch. I've also tried swapping the pin definitions for Step and Direction (switched 2 and 3), but I had the same problem. A possible cause for this I think could be my LCD: It requires the user to define an analog pin for reading the buttons (a quirk of the LCD design). In my pins_MELZI_TRONXY.h and pins_SANGUINOLOLU_11.h files, Marlin defaults to using #define ADC_KEYPAD_PIN 1 (analog pin 1) with the ZONESTAR_LCD selected. On the 1284p, pin 3 (the Z-Step pin) is also listed as AIN1. On the PCB layout for the Melzi 2.0, this pin isn't connected to the 10-pin LCD header. The pin the LCD is actually using is the A1 header pin, which goes to PA1/ADC1 on the 1284p. But perhaps this definition has caused some confusion in the firmware? To be clear, the relevant parts of my firmware look like this: #define ADC_KEYPAD_PIN 1 //from pins_SANGUINOLOLU_11.h, which is - as far as I know - the only place this is defined. #define LCD_PINS_RS 28 //RS 28 #define LCD_PINS_ENABLE 29 //EN 29 #define LCD_PINS_D4 10 //D4 -> RX1 -> 10 #define LCD_PINS_D5 11 //D5 -> TX1 -> 11 #define LCD_PINS_D6 16 //D6 -> SCL -> 16 #define LCD_PINS_D7 17 //D7 -> SDA -> 17 //the rest of the LCD pin definitions from pins_MELZI_TRONXY.h #define Z_STEP_PIN 3 #define Z_DIR_PIN 2 //my Z-stepper settings from pins_SANGUINOLOLU_11.h, which I'm pretty sure is normal for all Melzi boards If anyone can provide any insight into this, it would be hugely appreciated! I'm very new to 3D printer configuration and repair, so I'll gladly take any help you can provide!

By avoiding pin 3 entirely, the Z-axis steppers have started to move correctly. My bed heater went out a while ago, so I redefined the connections in Marlin to use that pin (pin 12) as the Z-step pin, connecting it to the A4988 accordingly. This has caused no issues other than small noise problems so far. Unfortunately, I can't speak to any potential issues pin 3 may have had to cause this behavior, all I have is this one potential solution.

How can I run two instances (or equivalent) of Slic3r on OS X? I am modifying some Slic3r config parameters and comparing the results. How can I have two instances (or equivalent: I would like to see two model windows with their associated configuration screens) of Slic3r at the same time? I'm on OS X, but if there is a generic (e.g. within Slic3r) solution that will be preferrable.

You could duplicate the application by clicking on the application and pressing Command (⌘) + D, and then run both - although I'm not sure if that would mess with the preferences. I haven't fully tested it, but both instances opened up and worked, seemingly ok. You could even rename them to something other than "Slic3r" and "Slic3r copy" to remind you which application is slicing which model, for example: "TestCube" and "Benchy", or; "Slic3r-TestCube" and "Slic3r-Benchy", or whatever. However, Mark's answer seems much more elegant.

Inexpensive 3D printer for medical applications 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. 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.

I am not an expert but I think you will find that because 3D printers use a layer by layer construction method, and the boundary between the layers creates grooves along the surface or leaves a rough texture on the surface. That the textured surface left by 3D printer construction would trap microbes and make 3D printed objects not suitable for medical applications where you need the product to be sterile. It might be possible to treat the printed object or post process it. By vapor smoothing or painting/coating, but I doing think this would work for flexible materials. If you are considering 3D printing because of the ability to customize the design, then I would suggest considering combining 3D printing with molding or casting. You could then use a cheap 3D printer to create the mold and use a flexible resin to create the object you want. I have heard of SLA 3D printing being used to create molds for casting fake teeth. There 3D printing is used to create a custom shape and the print is used to make a mold and the final product is cast using the mold to get the quality and finish needed. And I have head of FDM printing being used in used in remote areas to print clamps for umbilical cords. But I believe this was because not no other option was available.

Extruder doing the shimmy, How can I fix? Printer: Monoprice Maker Select V2 3D Printer Problem: Extruder not working History: My extruder was clogged and I didn't realize it at first and I opened the extruder and pulled out the stuck piece but later I realized it still was not working. When I put pressure on it the motor rotates and the filament comes out but does not work by it self. Try 1: Thought something was wrong with the gears so I reseated them, Didn't work. Try 2: Thought the extruder motor broke, so I replace the NEMA 17 motor, Didn't work. Try 3: Plugged the motor into the x-axis plug the motor works as shown here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/kY4okR4oqkYSyzhN8 This is how the motor behaves when pluged into the [original] extruder plug- https://photos.app.goo.gl/QPo7RNeB6AFi6KsM6 Any help is appreciated, Thank you :)

It was the stepper driver, Replacing the motherboard fixed the issue.

Automatic leveling probe offset; adjusting for one side ruins the other When I adjust the probe offset to get the proper layer height and adhesion, one side is set right but the other doesn't work. If I decrease the probe offset (say -1.100 to -1.050) the right side seems to print better; if I increase the probe offset (-1.050 to -1.125) the left side will adhere to the plate properly. Before I added the BLTouch and upgraded the firmware to Marlin 1.1.9 I was able to print a perimeter square (with a little manual adjustment). My Printer is the Ender 3 and I am using a glass bed and the model is this centre crosshair

I have had exactly the same experiences as you did with a inductive sensor on a Prusa i3 clone. It looks as though the bed leveling is not executed, or the level/mesh tilted. Please do note that automatic bed leveling is not magic, you still need to provide a build platform as level (and flat) as possible. A slate of glass is a good build platform surface as the glass production process ensures that the glass is very flat and easy to level. What I did to solve the problem is that I re-leveled the bed and send the M420 S1 command over USB to the printer to enable bed leveling as I was under the impression that it did not use the grid obtained with G29. On my CoreXY I also use a touch sensor (3DTouch, which is a BLTouch clone) like you do, even with that sensor I sometimes see that the automatic level is uneven (one side of the skirt has very thin/see through deposition, while the other side appears normal), this is most probably caused by the sensor accuracy (or an obstruction under the probe needle). There is a way to increase the probing accuracy by using double probing where the second probe is advancing slower to the build platform as can be seen in the Marlin Configuration.h file: // Feedrate (mm/m) for the first approach when double-probing (MULTIPLE_PROBING == 2) #define Z_PROBE_SPEED_FAST HOMING_FEEDRATE_Z // Feedrate (mm/m) for the "accurate" probe of each point #define Z_PROBE_SPEED_SLOW (Z_PROBE_SPEED_FAST / 2) For double probing you require to set: // The number of probes to perform at each point. // Set to 2 for a fast/slow probe, using the second probe result. // Set to 3 or more for slow probes, averaging the results. #define MULTIPLE_PROBING 2 Side note: From an earlier posting it appears that you are using the #define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER in the configuration file to set the offset. It is much more convenient to set that through the LCD menu (Bed Leveling -> Z Probe Offset: -–-) or send the M851 Zx.xx directly over USB or load through a .gcode file from SD card to prevent numerous flashing the firmware with alternative parameters. Make sure that you enable: #define EEPROM_SETTINGS // Enable for M500 and M501 commands in the Configuration.h file and execute M500 to store the new setting set by M851.

Prevent stopping and heating in the middle of the print In my latest 3D model, the Prusa i3 MK3 stops, heats and then continues the print. However, there's no noticeable drop in temperature. The display shows 210 °C/90 °C (nozzle/bed) as expected. I have printed the same part 3 times now and the behavior is similar. I've seen a maximum of 211 °C/90 °C and a minimum of 209 °C/89 °C. Unfortunatly, it seems that stopping the head seems no good idea. The nozzle is very close to the object and it seems as if either there's a bit of filament leaking, causing too much filament, or the existing filament is melting. The irregularities are always in the same XYZ positions. The print is still usable for my needs, but I'd like to understand this behavior better and find a fix, if possible. My meterial is HDGlass (PETG) and I'm printing with default settings, 20 % infill and first layer 200 °C, following layers 210 °C. I've looked up the print quality troubleshooting guide. It looks a bit like blobs and zits, just much less and much more subtle than in the example there. Also, the solution is not applicable, because Slic3r does not show a planned retraction in those positions. My model is available online and the issue appears near the large bottom layers and the large top layers. My questions are: what is the problem called / what problem category do I have here? what is a potential fix? since the filament also extrudes at 200 °C, can I prevent the printer from stopping the movements unless the nozzle temperature drops below e.g. 207 °C, although the nominal temperature should be 210 °C?

Your allowable temperature tolerance might be too low. You have seen what I call emergency-halt the print on getting too far away from the set print-temperature. As described, the allowable tolerance seems to be 1 degree, which means pretty much any variation in the printer head's temperature will trigger the stop before the software even can counteract it. To counteract this, you might try to increase your allowable range slightly, for example to about 2.5 of more degrees, either way, giving the printer time to compensate without halting the print. How the tolerance area works Let's assume the printer has 210 degrees with a stable heat input from the cartridge and monitored by the thermosensor. conditions are met to start printing. Filament is pushed into the nozzle, picking up heat energy from the heater block. The temperature of the heater block drops, as the thermal energy (=heat) input from the cartridge did not yet include the new thermal energy drain in the shape of the filament. The Thermosensor registers the thermal drop a little bit later and notifies the chip The chip increases the voltage on the heater cartridge with a little time difference With a very low tolerance, it is possible to fall below the threshold before the cartridge could heat up to compensate the cartridge pumps in way more heat than needed, raising the temperature rapidly back into the print-temperature tolerance area... ...and overshoots the aimed for 210 degrees. The thermosensor only registers the aimed temperature with a short delay the chip cuts the voltage to the heater cartridge lower but there is still a lot of extra thermal energy banked in the heater cartridge, heating the block over the aimed 210 degrees which again can trigger the stop for the temperature rose over the allowable tolerance.