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Ender 3 X-axis values are not correct So I just got the Ender 3 and have been trying to print out a part. However, I noticed the printer is trying to print the part, which should be centered in the bed, on the left side. I performed the auto home, leveling procedures, prior to execution, but it still wants to print it on the left side. I checked the values it thinks it has for X, but they are about 60 mm to high (i.e. from the control/move axis menu, I move it towards the zero position and when it touches the switch, it still thinks its around 65-70 mm in the positive direction). I have tried the good old power cycle, but each time it seems to get worse printing closer and closer to the edge. I am sure that I must have fudged something up. Anyone know how to fix the mismatched position? Thanks for any advice!

So the issues with the digital display values, was caused by the X-axis binding up and not advancing. I had to move the axis via the control panel in the positive direction and noticed once it got about half-way out, it wouldn't advance for like two or more steps. On the control panel, it said I was 235 mm out from the home position, but in reality I was more around the midway point. When I would move it back to the home position the read-out still displayed that I was offset from the home position in the positive direction. To fix it I tore it down and reconstructed it (made sure everything was plumb and level), I also flipped the belt in the opposite direction (teeth down, so that the stepper pulley grips the belt teeth).

Measuring Z positioning accuracy I'm looking for a methodology to easily measure/evaluate Z positioning accuracy, using equipment on hand or easily obtainable such as a high-precision digital caliper. In particular I want to be able to evaluate whether steps (actual motor steps, or some other chosen unit of increment) are uniformly the nominal step height, or whether some are larger than others, and if so whether the irregularity is reproducible. Has anyone worked out a way to attach a caliper or equivalent measurement device sufficiently rigidly to both a fixed point and a moving-in-Z point (e.g. the bed and the gantry on a typical cartesian machine) that the magnitude of individual steps can be read off? Or maybe a high precision laser range finder/interferometer solution is more appropriate, but I'm not sure about cost/availability. I ask this in the context of recurring concerns about a common overconstained Z axis design (Ender 3 and nearly everything else with V rollers), but this question is intended to be about measuring not mitigations/fixes. I'd also be interested in opinions on the necessary measurement precision for this measurement to be meaningful. Almost surely errors as small as 5% of the layer height will lead to some visual surface inconsistency, XY dimensional accuracy problems, and weak points for part to break at, which you'd need 10 micro resolution for 0.2 mm layers to see, but I suspect the reality is much worse for lots of printers and even 20 micron resolution or worse might aid in making serious improvements.

In the world of hobbyist milling machines, a DRO accessory is extremely valuable for improving work flow and accuracy of project builds. The Digital Read Out devices run the gamut from affordable to astonishingly expensive and cover one, two and three axis readouts. For single axis purposes, some hobbyists will simply find a means to attach a digital caliper, as you've suggested, to the machine with appropriately fabricated brackets. That's one option. For a few dollars more, there are off-the-shelf digital read-outs, such as this one from Amazon: Six, twelve and twenty-four inch travel options are available with the pictured six inch unit priced at US$39.95, a reasonable figure for 0.01 mm accuracy. One can purchase pricier models with higher resolution if required. Brackets included with the device may not fit well to your application and may require modification. Some DRO devices, such as the one installed on my mini-mill, use physical contact (gears) to read the position information, which means friction and loading of your printer. Other models use micro-engraved glass scales and have minimal friction, but will likely be a bit more expensive.

Slic3r top layer issues, small gaps, weird extruder paths When slicing with Slic3r Prusa edition the top layer of most models turns out pretty bad. There are usually small gaps or weird patterns. This does not happen with Ultimaker Cura, it will have a nice smooth top layer. Is there anything settings wise that I can do in Slic3r to get the same quality of top layer as Ultimaker Cura?

To have a very smooth finish on top layer, I usually act on these settings : in Print Settings : Layers & Perimeters : Horizontal shells : 3 / 3 Infill: Infill, Top/bottom fill patterns : Archimedean Chords ; Speed: .for print moves : Top solid infill : 20 (mm/s) Advanced: Extrusion width, Top solid infill : 0.2 (mm) = This gives very slow movement in a circular way, the small extrusion creates an ironing effect, thus very nice finish. Considering your slicer behavior, have you tried changing number of top shelves & Infill type ?

How do I give 3D-printed parts in PLA a shiny smooth finish? The surfaces of my printed parts using PLA plastic look rough and uneven. Would changing filament to a better one make any difference? If not, what kind of methods can I use to achieve a smoother finish for my for 3D-printed objects?

PLA parts can be finished with a coat of epoxy like XTC-3D from Smooth-On. This will smooth out the part and give it a pretty nice shine. I've also had a fair amount of success sanding prints, giving them a coat of automotive filler primer, and using glossy spray paint. You can also get great results with an acetone vapor finish if you're willing to switch to ABS. Though that will require a heated bed and can be a bit more finicky to work with than PLA.

What alternatives are there to sanding resin parts with fine details? I have some transparent resin parts printed with a polyjet printer. Where the support contacted the part it has a matte finish. The recommended finishing technique for these parts is to sand them with sandpaper, but the geometry of my part makes that very difficult. What alternatives to sanding do I have, to give these parts a glossy finish? I'm looking for techniques appropriate to a home or small office environment. A technique that needs special equipment bigger than a desk is probably not going to work for me.

desktop tumbler/brass polisher, rotary rock tumblers are probably a better option than a small sandblasting cabinet. choose your abrasive material from there, a coarse sand is probably not what you want but there are walnut based things and finer grit materials that should be able to get a nice shine. if you would rather do it manually and geometry allows you can try a dremel-type rotary tool with a buffing wheel or similar

Can I replace hotend on Lulzbot Mini 2 with upcoming E3D Hermes? I've seen articles about the Hermes (now rebranded to Hemera) hotend coming soon from E3D, and was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to replace the stock Aerostruder on Lulzbot Mini 2 with it. The Aero has been giving me some issues and the printer is currently unusable... I've been printing for a few years but am still pretty new to mods so I don't really know what I'm doing there.

Yes, E3D has a guide "LulzBot Taz6 Hemera Upgrade" if you'd like to make your own. The upgrade requires you to print parts beforehand which are found here; note that: We recommend printing the Hemera Mount in PETG, and the Fan Duct in ABS/ ASA or another high-temperature material. Use an infill percentage of 25 % or higher. The Hemera (the new name for the Hermes) toolheads are also available for purchase, e.g. here.

How can I create PNG image files from STL files? I need to add some simple image renders of STL files to a document. I currently open the STL files in Preview or one of the slicers and grab a screen shot. Is there an easier or automatic way to generate PNG images from STL files on a Mac?

If you have OpenSCAD installed, this shell script will generate 100x100 pixel PNG images for each STL file in your current directory. for i in *.stl; do T=__tmp__$i b=`basename $i` echo import\(\"$i\"\)\; >$T /Applications/OpenSCAD.app/Contents/MacOS/OpenSCAD -o $b.png --imgsize=100,100 $T rm $T done Credit to 0scar for pointing out STL files can be imported into OpenSCAD. Update: This code does the same, and generates an html file with annotated images of the files rendered. When I printed a batch of spare parts for my 3D printer I made a hardcopy and stuck it in the box so I could identify the parts later. n=-1 H=00-catalog.html echo >$H '<table>' echo >>$H ' <tr>' for i in $*; do n=`expr $n + 1` if test $n = 4; then n=0 echo >>$H ' </tr>' echo >>$H ' <tr>' fi echo $i T=__tmp__$i B=`basename $i .stl` echo import\(\"$i\"\)\; >$T /Applications/OpenSCAD.app//Contents/MacOS/OpenSCAD -o $B.png --imgsize=200,200 $T echo >>$H echo >>$H ' <td>'$i'<br><img src="'$B'.png"></td>' rm $T done echo >>$H ' </tr>' echo >>$H '</table>'

Printer changing temperature after selecting file I have just got a Monoprice Maker Select 3d printer (which is really just a Wanhao Duplicator i3). I want to print a model that came on the included SD card (1.gcode) with ABS filament. I first press "Preheat ABS" and wait for the display to show the correct temperatures, 245°C for the extruder and 90°C for the print bed. Then, I mount the SD card and select the file to print. However, once I do that, the "goal" temperatures change to 195°C for the extruder and 50°C for the print bed, and the temperatures reported by the printer gradually go down as the printer waits for it to match the "goal" temperature. This results in a failed print, with the filament sticking to the extruder in a clump. What is going on here? I am trying PLA with the same file, and it seems to work fine, although the temperature change still occurs.

The demo files are gcode files generated for use with the sample PLA that comes with the printer. If you want to print it with ABS select the file and set the temperature manually afterwards.

What is this material? In the context of a personal project I would like to reproduce the appearance of a commercial product of which I send you a cropped image. I would also like to point out that I do not have the object in question, but it would seem that it is made from a polymer. The product is a case with an embedded electronical card, so heat dissipation is important. I'm interested by what kind of plastic is really used here. I plan to have the part manufactured by a company, so I think the method used will be SLS I therefore rely on your expertise in the field of 3D printing to try to identify the material used. Thanks

Surface finish does not really map to the substrate material, Visually, what you have shown could be glass, ceramic, plastic, epoxy or metal. The surface finish is a combination of the shaping process, any post processing, and any surface finishing. Most significantly, there are a wide variety of custom paints which are designed to mimic specific surface finishes. This means you could carve an object out of clay, then spray it to give the appearance of being sand-blasted steel (to give a specific example). The underlying material is mostly irrelevant to the appearance. It will be driven by mechanical/thermal considerations (is this a mock-up, or does it need to have functional wall-thickness), and production volume/cost considerations (is it a one off, or are you making hundreds/millions)?

Orientation of long thin rod on P3Steel v4 I have a derivative of the P3Steel v4, which is not the Irobri design but another version (I'm not entirely sure which), from Poland: Frame Prusa I3 P3Steel v4.0 +RODS. I have assembled the frame, following this guide, manual_p3steel_xl, only to be left with one part, which is the long thin rod, which has a small hole, only in one end (the hole is marked by the big arrow in the image below): This part obviously goes into the slots at the bottom of the Z axis arms, as shown by the curved arrows. However: Which way around does the part go? Should the small hole be on the left or the right hand side, when looking at the printer from the front? Also, what exactly is the hole for? Is it just for a zip tie, and to be used to keep the cables (maybe from the heated bed (power and thermistor)) tidy? I have looked at a number of other photos and videos for the P3Steel frame, and none of them clarify which way around, or how, the rod should be fitted. The bar is either omitted completely, or the image is not clear enough to show the correct orientation. The guide does not show this part being used, although it clearly shows the slots for it in the Z axis arms, in a number of the pictures, such as here:

This is half of an answer. I have finally received an answer from my supplier, which says: Long thin rod is mounted as in the photo. I do not know what is a small hole. So the small hole is still a mystery. Here is the photo that was included with the message (which confirms my placement, just not the orientation): Update As tjb1 points out in his comment, the hole can be clearly seen on the right hand side of the bar, in the eBay photo:

Water does not flow through 4 mm hole when there is a small amount, how to let water flow through small hole even when there is low pressure? I have a 3D print where there are 5 holes with a diameter of 4 mm in a cup, and I would like liquid to flow through all 5 holes at once while slowly draining the cup (by slowly I mean: just take a few seconds and not drain instantly). Therefore the holes can not be very large. When I fill water in the cup it drains fine until there is a small amount of water left, and then it just stops with a small layer of water flowing over the holes. I'm guessing it is due to surface tension and not enough pressure from water above to push the water through... Is there a hole design that fixes this problem? I don't know what to Google or if this is the right place to ask the question. It just takes too long to guess my way through and print every attempt at the right size or shape of hole (which I have done so far and still got nothing).

What you encounter there is a combination of Adhesion, Cohesion, and Capillary Force. Cohesion is what holds the water together. Adhesion is the force to retain water against a wall or hanging from a pen's end, it is proportional to the surface wetted. Capillary Force is the resulting effect where water moves up through a thin tube, it is anti-proportional to the diameter and in the opposite direction of the weight (force). Their relation can be shown in this picture, where a droplet hangs on the end of a glass rod, which has a capillary in it: How to reduce the water sticking in the cup then? Make the straight part of the bore as short as possible. This can be done by having a thin cup. The shorter the hole, the less surface there is the water can adhere to vertically, and you might overcome capillary force. Smooth the hole. Maybe print it 3.5 mm and drill it up to your 4 mm diameter. This reduces adhesion. Smooth the inside surface. Reducing the adhesion to the inside by having less steps. Chamfer the inside of the holes. This alters the whole geometry and flow setup in the very low water level case, especially when the surface separates into several areas, above each hole. Then the larger volume belonging to each hole on the inner side means there is a little more pressure and you can get out some more water - and it also shortens the distance the hole has to bridge. make sure there is some slope everywhere inside so that the water will collect in one of the holes. An example for a (non measured) design which relies heavily on chamfering to guide the water to the already chamfered holes and then keeps the straight section as short as possible could look like this: the central hole has a very wide chamfer, the whole plate directs water to the center and each of the other holes has a chamfer to guide out water. However, there is a lower limit to where just tweaking the design will workd, which is based on cohesion. Cohesion is what results in surface tension and viscosity. You can only shift those limiting factors by altering the properties of the liquid, for example by adding an agent that lowers the surface tension and viscosity (soap).

Ender 3 Extruder First Layer Perfect But Then Starts Clicking Afterwards All of a sudden I seem to be having a lot of issues with under extruding on my Ender 3. The bottom layer (of height 0.1 mm) prints perfectly fine. This is done at 15 mm/s speed. However, The moment the print moves to layer 2 and above (at the default speed of 60 mm/s), I start hearing a lot of clicking noise on the extruder. So far I have tried the following Replace nozzle to eliminate clogs Cleaned the inside of the hot end assembly Calibrated extruder steps/mm Reduced the layer height from 0.3 mm to 0.2 mm Reduced feed rate to as low at 50 % Cleaned the filament feeder assembly and verified that it is able to push the filament properly (Extruding when the print is not happening works just fine with no clicking) Even with all the above, the issue is still persisting. I am not what else could be causing this. I am printing with PLA at 200 C

Not allowed to comment, so have to answer: The temperature sensor is a thermally sensitive resistor. Unfortunately, the temperature is near the high limit of that sensor, and the manufacturing tolerances are very significant. That is why a temperature tower is important for each printer, as well as each filament. (I have 4 printers and each requires a different temperature for the same filament. My worst-case is out by 25 degrees! - it's the one I bought second-hand because the original purchaser couldn't get it to work. I could replace the NTC, but it is easier just to have settings to suit that printer.) Filament does change over time. Lots of theories about why, but the practical response is to tune settings to suit the filament. The alternative is to modify the filament (eg drying, adding oil to surface, etc.), but even with really old filament, I've found adjusting settings (in the slicer, like Cura) to be the most generally workable solution. Bottom line is to test, adjust settings and repeat until the system achieves the result you need. Treat most recommendations as serving suggestions, so use them as clues (but not rules) for the puzzles presented as 3D printing.

BLTouch calibrated, nozzle still dives into the bed I am having a few problems with my BLTouch. I have calibrated it several times using different methods and get the nozzle being 1.3 mm lower than the BLTouch pin so a Z offset of -1.3 mm. This works fine for auto homing, bed levelling and using code G1 Z0 to lower to where needed. However when using Cura to print the nozzle homes exactly as it should then drives the nozzle in to the bed as it starts or tries to start to print and not just a little bit either. Anyone have any ideas? Start G-code is: G28 ;Home G29 ;Probe G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move Platform down 15 mm G92 E0 G1 F200 E3 G92 E0

This answer is intended to be a generic answer for Z-offset determination. The question is not clear on how the Z-offset has been determined. It appears as if this distance is measured, while in reality this cannot be measured. A touch (or a inductive or capacitive) probe uses a trigger point to determine the distance of the probe trigger point to the bed print surface. Correct installation is trivial, as is the determination of the nozzle to trigger point definition. For a touch sensor, the probing element is either stowed, fully deployed, or pushed in during leveling up to the point that the trigger point is reached and the probe stowes the rest of the pin, see figure: The M851 Zxx.xx offset is determined by lowering the nozzle beyond the trigger point until the nozzle hits a paper sheet. If the stowed position to nozzle distance is used, the distance is too large and the nozzle will dive into the bed on printing.

How can I convert STL files into PDF drawings? Does anyone know of an easy and free way to convert my STL models to a PDF drawing for CAD and metal CNC machining? I've created some great designs that are all STL files and want to somehow send them to a CNC/milling machine to make my designs in metal parts.

I've had good results with using the free web-based program known as Onshape which allows you to import/create 3D models. One of the features built into Onshape is a drawing tab. You can select the views desired or use a standard layout, as well as add dimensions to the individual drawing views. This image above was of a model created in and exported from Tinkercad. No dimensions have been added in this example, but it's available as part of the software. Being browser based, the program will work for any platform. In order to make this answer more accurate, I attempted to duplicate the results shown in the drawing. I've discovered that I used Fusion 360 to import the STL. The next step involved turning off history feature, then converting the STL to BREP. Once in BREP form, the no-longer-STL file can be exported as .step, which is accepted by Onshape. Fusion 360 is a free-to-hobbyists program, but does not run in a browser. There may be other programs which will convert STL to .step and there may even be a browser converter-specific site to accomplish this. I recognize that this is a convoluted solution, but it's not particularly burdensome, overall.

Open Source 3D scanning I am trying to make a structured light 3D scanner using single camera, light projector and a turntable. After days on Google I did not find any reliable open source project which I can get to work. SLStudio really seemed a good choice but did not compile properly. I was wondering if anyone knows a good open source which they have used with the same kind of setup? Any help would be really appreciated. I am blocked here.

I did find only one 3d scanner which uses structured light. There is many projects using a laser diode. And these systems are completely opensource. Structured Light Structured Light 3D Scanning by kylemcdonald http://www.instructables.com/id/Structured-Light-3D-Scanning/?ALLSTEPS Laser diode Sardauscan http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-30-laser/?ALLSTEPS https://github.com/Sardau/Sardauscan http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:702470 ATLAS 3D Scanner http://www.freelss.org http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1280901 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1545315380/atlas-3d-the-3d-scanner-you-print-and-build-yourse/posts/1475722 Ciclop http://diwo.bq.com/en/tag/ciclop/ https://github.com/bqlabs/ciclop 3D(ollar) Scanner https://hackaday.io/project/2021-3dollar-scanner http://www.instructables.com/id/Lets-cook-3D-scanner-based-on-Arduino-and-Proces/?ALLSTEPS "Super Make Something" Tutorial On How To Build a Simple 3D Scanner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qeD2__yK4c http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1413891 http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.de/2016/04/super-make-something-tutorial-on-how-to.html Different method $15 3D scanner consists of a tub of milk and a smartphone Interesting idea of using milk and phone. http://www.instructables.com/id/GotMesh-the-Most-Cheap-and-Simplistic-3D-Scanner/ http://www.3ders.org/articles/20160423-this-3d-scanner-consists-of-a-tub-of-milk-and-a-smartphone.html

TinkerCAD Align to Odd Shaped Object I have an odd-shaped object (I'll call it "A") that I have imported into a TinkerCAD drawing. Its dimensions do not align to any specific size, and therefore I can't really use the grid lock to help. However, I need to get some other objects (called "B+") a specific and precise distance from the outside edge of "A". I was trying to get the ruler to lock to the edge of "A", but I can only get close. Is there a way to do this so that I can get "B" perfectly positioned from the edge of "A"?

Consider to construct an object of any suitable shape that will properly align with the edge of "A." The attached image is certainly an odd-shaped object (from a previous test project). Add a regular/symmetrical object such as a cube and size it appropriately for your purpose. It would not have to be a cube, although such a shape provides for convenient alignment in this case: Use the alignment tools feature in Tinkercad to align the desired edge(s). In this case, alignment is common right side, centered top to bottom. After clicking on the alignment button, lower right corner: Group the two objects using the Group feature. I created a sample alignment reference in this image and placed it in contact with the group. Move the group or reference item the desired distance: Select the group and ungroup it. Select the initial alignment item and delete it. Objective completed.

Reinforce screw holes I made some 3D printed supports for tools, using screws to fix it to the wall, some of them broken because of the screw forces. Is there a way to reinforce only the screw holes where it will have more stress/compress? I am using PLA, Fusion 360 and Ultimaker Cura.

You can test different print settings. Trying to visualize, but I believe you can increase the perimeter lines, since there is a hole, this will increase the resistance in that area. Or try to change the orientation with which the part will be printed

Is there an easy way to split models in OpenSCAD? I'm wondering if I can take one OpenSCAD object, and cut/splice/split it into two different objects that can then be manipulated independently? One approach is to duplicate the object, difference it along the cut border with a 3rd object, and then difference the result with itself. This seems overly complex and I suspect I'm missing something PS - the point of this is that I have a nicely designed part where I need to create an interlock. I want to first cut the part in half, and then create some interlock mechanism

Rather than differencing a copy of the object from itself, which is subject to numerical instability, choose a box ("cube" in OpenSCAD terminology), and intersect it with one copy of the object, then difference it from the other copy of the object. This is all easy if you use modules to encapsulate your parts, and it also works with imported STL files. Specifically, it should look something like this: module mycut() { translate([x,y,z]) cube([w,l,h]); } difference() { myobject(); mycut(); } translate([u,v,w]) intersection() { myobject(); mycut(); }

mjpg_streamer, Octopi, Kubuntu Running my Flsun 3D Cube from a Kubuntu PC using Octopi, and trying to get my webcam to work with it. I've followed the instructions on Github for mjpg_streamer to the letter. Everything I've read says, "Sure! The Raspberry PI directions will work with Linux, you bet!" but they don't, at least, not for me, a beginning level Linux user. I know that my webcam works with Kubuntu since I can load it and view it using VLC, but I've been unable to figure out how to get Octopi to read the stream from VLC (the documentation could use some improvement) or even confirm if the stream works. Back to mjpg_streamer: when I issue the command export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./mjpg_streamer -o "output_http.so -w ./www" -i "input_raspicam.so" I get bash: export: 'mjpg_streamer': not a valid identifier bash: export: '-o:' not a valid identifier bash: export: 'output_http.so -w ./www': not a valid identifier bash: export: '-i': not a valid identifier bash: export: 'input_raspicam.so': not a valid identifier I don't know what I don't know, and I don't know how to proceed. The goal is to view my webcam in Octopi/Octolapse on a Kubuntu PC. (Windows with Yawcam, no brainer; Linux, not so much.)

Going to post the answer here for posterity and for those, like me, trying to cope with Linux after making a career in Windows. I'm running Kubuntu 18 because I didn't want to have to buy an operating system or install a bootleg copy of Windows. The most important thing for a Windows user to know is that the readme.md file is important. Think of it as a .chm file, or a series of linked help documents. What you want to know is THERE, not on the github page. Using the following command in the mjpg-streamer-experimental directory got me where I needed to go. mjpg_streamer -i 'input_uvc.so -d /dev/video0 -r SVGA -f 30' -o 'output_http.so' e.g. webcam, 800x600, 30fps to http (port 8080 is the default) The MD files break it down. I also found two web pages very useful: http://skillfulness.blogspot.com/2010/03/mjpg-streamer-documentation.html https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/MJPG-Streamer/ In OctoPrint the streaming setting is then: http://127.0.0.1:8080/?action=stream In my case, I use the network IP rather than local host so I can monitor the print from my upstairs PC. For snapshots: http://127.0.0.1:8080/?action=snapshot I'll admit that Octolapse doesn't work for me yet because I'm still trying to work out ffmpeg, but that's another issue. EDIT: got that done, too. Useful command: whereis ffmpeg

Artillery Sidewinder X1 3DTouch not working The printer I am working on is an Artillery Sidewinder X1. I have fitted it with a 3DTouch (BLTouch clone) bed leveling probe purchased from Bangood. I have printed a mount for it and plugged it into the main board. Once that was done, I edited the firmware and enabled all settings for the 3DTouch roughly following the directions from Teaching Tech's video here. After flashing the firmware, an error message appears on every boot saying: Failed to enable Bed Leveling echo: Bed Leveling off echo: Fade Height Off ok After pressing confirm, ABL routine does not work. It homes the X-axis, then the Y-axis, deploys and stows the 3DTouch probe once. It also will show an error message for a split second (so I am unable to know what it says) the comes up with an EEPROM message. Auto homing does the same thing as ABL routine but with a different error: STOP called because of BLTouch error - restart with M999 Error:Printer stopped due to errors. Fix the error and use M999 to restart. (Temperature is reset. Set it after res[e]t I have also zipped up my Marlin firmware configuration I am currently using. They can be found here: here. My servo pin is connected to D11 and my two wire pin is connected to the ZMAX endstop. Here is a diagram:

Ok so I did a bit of testing with the wiring and it turns out I just had the 3DTouch in the Z- socket instead of Z+ :-) . Another idiot mistake from me!

ABS or PLA for structural printed parts? TL;DR Is ABS a better material to use for structural parts of a 3D printer, as opposed to PLA? I have been looking at various suppliers of printed parts for a Wilson II, on eBay. One supplier supplies all of the parts printed in ABS, whereas another supplier provides the structural parts, which form part of the frame, in PLA, and the remaining (non-structural) parts in ABS. The second supplier states the following: This kit is printed in two materials, the structural parts are printed on high-quality PLA to provide the necessary rigidity, and the others in premium ABS. MJRice, who developed the printer, also supplies the printed parts, which are made of PLA. Is PLA really a better choice for structural components? A quick google lead me to ABS or PLA: Which 3D printing filament should you use? ABS is going to give your projects better structural integrity and will be more suited to mechanical use given the material can better withstand the elements, but it will also require specific types of printers and printing surfaces. On the flip side, PLA will give you more precise prints and better aesthetic quality, as well as more flexibility with printing conditions if you can do without the strength and resilience of ABS. Another link, What's stronger? PLA or ABS?, also implies that ABS is stronger than PLA: The strongest ABS is stronger than the strongest PLA and ABS is much less brittle than PLA although warpage could be an issue... I choose ABS for it's strength over PLA. I would love to avoid the warpage/shrinkage problems of ABS. Heat seems to affect PLA more than ABS (obviously, due to the lower melting point), FWIW, I know a guy who had a reprap using PLA-printed parts. He was taking his machine around to do demos and he left it in the car mid-day once. It melted the parts enough that prints were coming out very poorly even after his best effort at recalibrating the machine. and as I am in Thailand, my room gets up to 50°C some days (it is unbearable), I wonder if that would be cause for concern? So, from the above nuggets of information, wouldn't ABS be a better choice? I am surely missing something, as both the second supplier, and MJRice, use PLA.

To answer the main question "Is ABS better for structural parts of a 3D printer as opposed to PLA". The answer, unfortunately is it depends. ABS has lower yield and ultimate strengths compared to PLA. This means that at room temperatures, ABS is weaker than PLA. However the difference between yield and ultimate for ABS is much larger than PLA, meaning that ABS parts will deform, noticeably so before breaking. This can be a good thing. If your ABS part is highly loaded, you may want to be able to inspect it for overloading. The plastic deformation that occurs in ABS may be sufficient for you to identify, and modify your parts before a catastrophic failure. With PLA though since the two strengths are quite close, your part would more than likely fail completely without any warning or deformation before it. So in terms of strength, it's a design consideration. Would you rather have a slightly weaker part that shows signs of load failure, or is a catastrophic failure acceptable. There are use cases where either may be better. As Ecnerwal pointed out, PLA has a lower Tg (glass transition temperature) compared to ABS. If your printed parts are going on a 3D printer and aren't sufficiently isolated from the hot parts (print bed or extruder) then you may end up having some localized deformation. That being said, the extruder is generally pretty localized and likely won't cause you too many issues assuming you're using any of the already available 3D printer designs out there, same for the print bed. However by the sounds of it your 'room' temperature is a fair bit higher than here in North America, by a factor of almost 2! This could cause you some issues if you're printing parts in the high heat with PLA. Your best option would be ABS, but even with it's higher Tg (roughly 90C if I remember correctly) you may still run into issues. The warping and shrinkage issues mentioned in the question seem to be more about parts being built by a 3D printer. Once the parts are built warpage and shrinkage are essentially a non-issue unless you've heated parts back to within their melting temperatures. Depending on where you're getting your plastic parts, there may be a third option. By the sounds of it you're looking at building your own printer. You may be able to get the STL files of the printed parts you need and then have someone print them for you in a stronger material such as Nylon. Assuming alternative materials aren't an option I would personally suggest going with ABS for your use case. My reasoning is purely due to the potential operating temperatures. While 50C is below the Tg for PLA it's getting very close.

Setup Creality CR-10 in Cura Can anyone help me find/confirm the information needed to setup the CR-10 in the Cura Software I have following settings from research: Printer Settings x = 300 mm y = 300 mm z = 400 mm Build Plate = Rectangular Machine Center is Zero = Checked Heated Bed = Checked G-code Flavor = RepRap (Marlin/Sprinter) -- Uncertain - please help confirm this Print Head Settings X min = Unclear where this comes from Y min = Unclear where this comes from X max = Unclear where this comes from Y max = Unclear where this comes from Gantry Height = Unclear where this is measured from Number of Extruders = 1 Material Diameter - 1.75 mm Nozzle size = 0.4 mm

GCode flavor: the firmware your machine uses. Google tells me CR-10 uses Marlin, so you should select that. Volumetric Marlin is not very common. Print Head Settings X/Y min/max define the bounding box of the area your print head takes up. Measure the distance from the centre of the nozzle to the left-most point of the print head and do the same for the right-most, front-most and back-most. Gantry Height is the distance from the tip of the nozzle to the lowest point of the gantry, which is the axle on which the print head is mounted. These print head settings are only used for one-at-a-time printing.

Marlin Firmware Auto Leveling only re-centers the XY-axis (Delta printer) I'm trying to get my printer to auto level its bed, with Marlin firmware using the following: Printer: Kossel Linear plus (Delta 3D printer) Board: MKS Base V1.5 Firmware: Marlin customized I go into the menu on my LCD, and go to the prepare screen. The screen has the following options: Auto home Level Bed Bed leveling: off When I select the "Auto home" function, the printer uses the stops at the top of the delta to zero itself. When I select the "Level bed" function, the printer once again uses the end stops to level itself. If I turn the Bed leveling to ON, then the Level Bed function will do the exact same thing. My auto-leveling device is connected to the Z-axis end-stop, and looks like so: I have the #define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR line in my config.h, as well as the #define Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN line. I'm not sure why the printer doesn't actually lower the head to the plate and press the endstop. Any clues as to how to make the printer level the bed and not home the XY axis?

You are correct to define the constants AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR and Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN, be sure to define the following also: #define Z_MAX_POS MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS and #define MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS 300 // Distance between the nozzle to printbed after homing Note that 300 should be the distance from nozzle to bed after homing. Please look into the configuration files of this Kossel Linear Plus and compare them with your own configuration files, you may have missed something.

How can you both reliably print and remove your item, without breaking it when detaching it? I have had problems with items sticking on the build plate, especially when they were big (as they didn't stick well, they corners warped -> all kind of problems). I also wanted to upgrade my printer (Scratch XYCore-Bowden) to have the ability to use flexible filament so first I modified my extruder motor/cog-wheel so it pushes the filament straight into the Bowden tube (classic modification). This worked okay for small parts (as was the case with PLA). The heat-bed seems to flex when heating in an uniform manner so it's not perfectly flat which means the Marlin 3-point test doesn't work out. To alleviate this I added a borosilicate glass on top of the heat bed for perfect 'flatness', but the inductive sensor didn't reach through those extra 3 mm of the glass, so I bought another inductive sensor (old was 4 mm LJ12A3-4-Z/BY PNP with a voltage divider, new is 8 mm NPN) and this started to function somehow: As the sensor doesn't sense the surface (or the glass at all), but senses the heatbed under, which isn't either flat nor stable according to temperature, I added aluminium tape under the glass pane. This actually works perfectly well! Now I am able to tune in the first layer distance really well, but still the flex filament floats around on the glass so I added blue painters tape which makes it work, very very well! All well for flex printing! Switched to PLA (which always worked okay whatever some small errors in print height, and not too wide items) and I have all pieces sticking to the bed in a manner I just cant get them off... They get big scratches from the pincers, get broken, etc.,... I have tried: Pincers (works for some items, doesn't work for some. About always makes marks); Ripping off the blue painter tape (the tape was removed everywhere except where the item was stuck. Plus now I have to add new tape); Chuck the build plate in the freezer for an hour. It helps a lot but: Still not easy to remove without making marks; It's a serious hassle; It's also a time waster. My question is: How can you both reliably print and remove your item without breaking it? Little image of the last part that I broke (the square impact in the middle is after ripping of the "hook" from this hanger when I tried to detach it from the heat bed), as it didn't work at all I had to put it in the freezer for an hour or so to be able to remove the rest:

If your print is sticking too well, try printing directly onto the glass. If then, your print isn't sticking well enough, try using something like a glue stick instead. Most people use a paint scraper (a small one, like this) to remove prints from build surfaces.

Looking for information on modifying Boots Industries 3D printers About two years ago I purchased a Boots Industries v.2.5 3D printer in a delta configuration. The wiki is still up at this location where you can see what the printer looked like. The printer is prone to break and slip because the design uses thin wire to move the carriages up and down. I'd like to convert my printer over to using a belt like the one on this page, but the conversion kit is no longer available. I believe I can 3D print the carriages, but would anyone be able to point me toward the resources to convert my printer over to using a toothed belt?

Contact Brian or Lykle. We all have Boots Industries printers and have heavily modified it to belt drive and magnetic effectors. The print quality has improved drastically. The old Boots support group has since moved on to Slack and we are in constant contact everyday. https://biv25.slack.com/messages/@slackbot/ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1843195

How thick does an aluminum print bed need to be I am extending the bed of my TronXY X3 FDM RepRap printer. I am extending the bed from 220 mm x 220 mm to 220 mm x 300 mm. For now, I will keep the existing bed and add and aluminum sheet on top. That leaves 40mm on front and back of the original bed. Right now I only plan on running PLA; but, I do plan on heating the bed. How thick does the aluminum sheet need to be?

Main factors that control the process of the print bed selection are weight: too thick plate increases inertial force, limiting maximum acceleration/jerk (decreased print speed) stiffness: too thin plate will warp when heated or bend during calibration (decreased print quality/printer reliability) For table sizes around 400x400mm I would think of 4mm plate, but it still can warp if heated unevenly. Sometimes it makes sense to use a sandwich-type table: lower level is MDF, cork panel for heat insulation and thin (1.5-2mm) aluminum heated bed on top.

Not Heated Build Plate Glue Amount and Dry Duration Background: I am using the Flux Delta 3d Printer, and it arrived with a glue stick. Now on their forums it said to apply 2 layers of glue and let it dry, there's supposed to be a link there on how long it should dry. However that link is broken. My question: On a not heated bed, how much glue-stick should I apply and for how long should I let it dry?

As a fellow Flux Delta owner, I can answer this question with certainty. Two layers is sufficient. Be sure to consider the size of the model being printed and the additional area covered if you are using skirts or rafts. If you apply the glue stick at the moment you turn on the printer, it will be dry enough to work properly. The printer "uses time" to initialize and to calibrate which provides enough drying time. You will also "use time" to load the software and import the model. It is not necessary to remove the glue from the plate after a print. For succeeding model printing, ensure that you've filled in the areas missing glue from removing the previous model. You will want to remove the glue (hot water works good, but the build plate gets hot!) when you feel that the glue build-up changes the texture of the bottom layers. You may have already learned from the forums that you print on the non-grid side of the build plate.

Nozzle height adjusting for every print I'm new to the 3D printing world and got my first Ender 3 (with the 32-bit controller board). I have a problem with every single print. I've upgraded to the newest Marlin firmware, did the mesh leveling then started printing and fix the Z bed option in "Tune - Z bed" during the print (so the first layer is perfect). Please note that I save all the data of the mesh before end of the print. Then, when I start the same print again, the nozzle height is wrong. This happens every single print. The strange thing is that I need to adjust the height differently after every print. Like, the first print was -0.055 mm, second print was 0.30 mm, then it was +0.25 mm somehow. I really like to print without these constant adjustments.

It sounds like your bed is unstable. This is what I had to do with my Tronxy X1, and I fixed it by installing a decent bed stabiliser. Now that I have a stable bed, I only have to re-level it occasionally. However, the Tronxy X1 is a cantilever printer with a single rail for the bed, not an Ender 3. I would suggest that you tighten the bed-levelling springs as far as they will go whilst still leaving sufficient movement for bed levelling, and re-position the end-stop switch. Then re-level the bed. If that doesn't work, try fitting stiffer springs. Upgrades are available for the Ender 3. If that still doesn't work, look for bed stabilisation solutions for your printer. Note also that the bed-levelling knobs have a reputation for coming loose on the Ender 3. Tightening the springs (or fitting stiffer springs) may cure this, but some users fit locking nuts to stop the knobs moving.

Ender 3 Power Problem: Not starting up I have a Creality Ender 3, I've had it for just under 2 years and during a print one morning it suddenly stopped and powered itself off. After checking the fuse and other electronic components it still didn't power on. I purchased a new switch as I thought the problem was there but after replacing it is still did not turn on. The printer has been working fine and there were no visible or audible anomalies. I urgently need this to be fixed.

@trish Thankyou for your help. I did purchased the new power supply and everything works fine now.

Will RAMPS able to control 4 stepper motors I am making a DIY 3D printer based on the prusa mini. So, I doubt is if RAMPS can only control 4 stepper motors as it has slots for 5 stepper motor slots and one will not be used in my case, if I can in what order should I connect the drivers and also ho will Marlin figure out which slot the extruder is connected? Sorry for the lack of knowledge if fit is really obvious :|

There is no problem with using 4 motors instead of 5. The 5th slot is provided to enable use of a second extruders, but many people only have a single extruder printer and leave the 5th slot unused. how will Marlin figure out which slot the extruder is connected Which stepper motor is in which slot is something you can configure in the firmware. There is no way for the firmware to "figure it out" without help. It is quite involved to change it in the firmware, so it is best to follow the default placement. You can easily find wiring diagrams for RAMPS (showing the default assignment of motors to slots) on various resources such as the RepRap wiki.

Is a dual extruder a reasonable choice for all-purpose printing I'm new to 3D printing and I recently got a LulzBot Taz 6 printer. I'm interested in doing dual extrusion printing (especially with dissolvable supports), but I'm also interested in doing single extrusion prints. In particular, I would like to experiment with printing flexible filament. The LulzBot TAZ Dual Extruder v3 Tool Head says that it can handle all the filament types that I am interested in. Here is the question: can I use a dual extruder (in particular, the LulzBot TAZ Dual Extruder v3 Tool Head) for general purpose printing (read single extrusion) or do I need to use a single extrusion head for single extrusion print jobs. If you can use a dual for single use, why buy single extruders (I've been looking at LulzBot TAZ Aerostruder Tool Head for flexy prints) if you can get the same performance out of a dual head? If you should use a single extruder for non-dual prints, please explain the shortcomings of using a dual print head for general purpose use.

Not an expert by any means but I can’t see any reason you couldn’t use one half of a dual extruder. The benefits of not using one though would be decreased extruder weight. Especially given that this is a direct drive so there will be two stepper motors I believe. Reduced weight means faster print times and a reduction in certain print artifacts such as ringing etc. Short answer, if your only ever going to need one extruder probably avoid a dual but if you want the flexibility this should work when a single extruder is required.

How to display images on DLP using HDMI for 3D printing? I am working on a DLP based 3D printer. I already sliced my STL file to multiple layers. Each layer is saved as a SVG file. Because its an SVG file, I can always convert each layer to PNG/JPG file if desired. I have a TI DLP Lightcrafter 4500 module connected to my laptop using the HDMI. The DLP shows up as a second monitor on my laptop. I am using LabVIEW to control all components of the printer. Question 1: How I can programmatically display my desired image file on the DLP projector. I would prefer to use Python or LabVIEW to display my desired image onto the entire screen of the DLP. Is there any way to achieve this on Windows? I also have the option of using Raspberry Pi + LabVIEW using LINX (http://www.labviewmakerhub.com/). I looked at nanoDLP (http://www.nanodlp.com/), which is a control software for DLP based 3D printers. However, I can't figure out how they manage to display the desired images to the DLP. Question 2: Is it possible to display a SVG file to the DLP instead of PNG/JPG/BMP? If not, how do I know which resolution to use when converting SVG to PNG/JPG/BMP?

Q1: Printrun is 3D printer host software written in Python with limited DLP support. You can checkout how it display layers. NanoDLP directly talk to GPU through Dispmanx which makes it Raspberry Pi only. Q2: Printrun supports SVG. To convert SVG (multi-layer) to PNG you can use ImageMagick cli tools, you should consider your projector resolution too.

Adjusting Bed Temp values on Monoprice/Wanhao I3 (Repetier Firmware) I have a Monoprice Maker Select, which is a rebranded Wanhao Duplicator I3 V2 (Prusa clone). I've found that the heated bed temperature values on the LCD are incorrect. The heater works, and the controller maintains the bed temp just fine, but the temperature reported isn't the true temperature. When using the PLA preset, with the bed set for 60°C, once the temperature stabilizes at 60°C on the display, I can measure it with a laser thermometer and get a consistent 54°C across the buildplate. With the ABS preset of 90°C, I read 80°C. And with the bed set for the maximum value of 120°C, I'm only reading 102-104°C. I've checked these values with the bare aluminum build plate, and I've allowed the temps to stabilize for at least 10 minutes to ensure that I have consistent readings. I believe the the firmware is using the wrong temperature curve for the thermistor in my device. I had hoped that there was a simple scaling constant that I could adjust, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've researched enough to learn that my device is running Repetier 0.91 firmware, and this page on temperature control on the Repetier wiki says that each type of thermistor needs a custom voltage->temp lookup table, and talks about building a custom table in "configuration.h". I've tried to follow this line of research but I feel like I'm going around in circles. It sounds like I could build a custom version of the firmware to install on my printer, and in doing so I could potentially specify a better conversion table. This gives me pause for several reasons: I haven't found any online reference to other people installing a custom Repetier build on a Wanhao I3. I have no idea what values to use for the temp conversion table. I can't even find anyone else reporting my issue. I'm fairly new to this; I rather not brick my printer, and I haven't found any good guides to installing firmware on the device either. I'm not convinced this is the right option. Should I be looking at replacing the thermistor instead? And if so, what's the correct part? I've also looked into the Melzi board inside the printer hoping for a variable resistor to tweak the thermistor voltage divider, but no such luck, at least in the schematics. I could just live with it; I've been using a 67°C setting to achieve a true 60°C bed temp for PLA, but I'm starting to work with ABS and I'd like the option to get above 100°C bed temp. Am I on the right track? Suggestions? I'm still pretty new to the device and 3D printing in general, so I may have overlooked something obvious. Update: additional question in light of Tom's answer: what is the expected max actual bed temp achievable on a Wanhao/Monoprice I3? I'm measuring 100°C with an LCD reading of 120°C, but I'd like to get to 110°C if possible.

It is completely normal for the surface of the bed to be cooler than the indicated temperature. The thermistor goes on the underside of the bed, near the heating traces. The top of the bed (which is further away from the heating traces) will naturally be cooler. It would be possible, though a lot of work, to build a custom thermistor table that more accurately reflects the surface of the bed, though that means your thermistor table will no longer reflect the characteristics of your thermistor, but instead reflect the particular circumstances under which you build your custom table (which would be affected by ambient temperature, any drafts, ...). The accuracy of an infrared laser thermometer depends on the characteristics of the surface you're measuring for, so unless you adjusted the thermometer specifically to measure the aluminium surface of the bed, it's possible your thermometer is off as well. The exact temperature of your bed doesn't matter anyways (you just need it approximately in the right ballpark) so I would suggest to just live with it. The 60C/90C figures are not supposed to be for the surface of the bed. They're meant to reflect the temperature reported by the printer. That said, 90C is a bit low for printing ABS (but the bed/power supply on your printer might not be powerful enough to get any higher).

How to concave a cylinder with Onshape? If I have a 3D cylindrical extrusion (in Onshape), how can I scoop, carve, or indent a concave/parabolic curve in one of the ends? The yellow surface is the target. Here is the basic shape I'm trying to bore out (like a satellite dish, parabolic antenna, or even a contact lens.. You get the idea).

As is typical with many CAD type programs, a feature in Onshape known as revolve may be your solution. As you have a clear formula for the cross-section, half of the work is complete. You would generate a sketch representing the curve, then use the Revolve feature with the axis oriented to vertical. According to the Onshape video, you can generate a solid or a surface from the options that appear when selecting that feature. As you can see in the images above, the axis selected in the tutorial video is horizontal. Other features of revolve are covered in the video. Your post suggests it will also be necessary to perform a subtraction action on the assembly in order to get the scoop/concave result.

Curated resin size shrink (and methods to reduce it) I've recently purchased an Elegoo Mars Pro 3D printer. I've read about that percentage of resin shapes going smaller and I understand that. But are slicers (or software which help with the joints) already taking that into consideration? Resines vary, and with them that percentage varies too, so is the software applying that error margin or am I the one responsible on this? Also, is that shrink percentage constant? Like everytime I print 5 mm it will shrink to 4.7 mm, or it depends on how is curated and other random values so it could be one 4.6 mm and the next printed shape to be 4.8 mm? It depends on the curation process, or the printing process? If I print 2 separated parts alltogether in one single print session, both will have the same shrinkage, or it will depend on the curation process of each of them individually? If it's not constant... How can I ensure that all parts printed separately will fit together when joined later on and it won't create a sort of Frankenstein figure where nothing fits? Is there any process to reduce that shrinking to a minimum, even if it takes longer for each shape to cure? I'm not referring to "clipping parts", but edges and so. If I join two separate parts together, and one of them is smaller than the other because of the shrink of the resin, then the edges won't fit and won't be a clean join.

Generally, this behavior isn't well reearched as of this moment, and it would be dependant on your specific resin. While I can't tell you if your resin is affected by shrink or even uneven shrink, I can give you the method of how to investigate: Download or design a cube with a well-known dimension. I'd suggest a cube of 20 mm side length. It's best to indent the orientation onto the surfaces. One such model would be thing 3090144, which has a version that is hollow and has a hole to let out resin, but there are others. Align the X, Y and Z with the letter into the positive side of the axis in your slicer. Print. After Printing, clean and cure Only after curing, measure the X and Y and Z dimensions with calipers. Calculate shrinkage: Measurement divided by 20 gets you the shrinkage or expansion, multiply by 100 for percent.

Help fixing Prusa i3 MK3 print jams While printing a paint rack from thingiverse I keep getting jams. Other prints (shorter) work fine. Can anyone give me a clue? Here's a video of the printer I thought it was heat creep so I increased the speed and decreased the hot end temperature. It generally prints for several hours then jams.

When I started printing ABS with my Prusa i3 MK3 MMU2+ printer, I started experiencing jams on some longer prints, which was heat creap, possibly combined with old filament. I improved the cooling by filling the gap between the sides of the heat sink and the plastic extruder body. I think I stuffed it with some soft foam rubber, but anything that can handle the (what should be fairly cool) temperature should work. My hypothesis is that with gap allowed too much of the air to pass without engaging the heat sink, compromising the cooling. With that change, I haven't had heat-creap jams. You aren't printing ABS, but the temperature is high, and PLA softens as a low temperature. IMO, it would still be worth making the change. It is the gap on the front and rear sides that I blocked. The heatsink fins are fully open for air flow. Some people here have changed out the Noctua fan for one that is noisier and pushes more air, which should also work. I appreciate the quiet fan, so I tried to get more work out of the fan I had.

Using extruder motor as 4th axis I am currently working with a hobbyist robotic arm (uArm Swift Pro) which runs a modified version of Marlin 3D printing firmware. The arm can be used as a 3D printer as well thus it has an extruder motor. I am not using it as a 3D printer, instead I am reusing the extruder motor as 4th axis to move the arm along a rail. The problem I have run into is that the extruder motor is accelerating in steps, that is accelerating up to a certain speed holds that speed for a while (1-2 s) and then accelerates up to a higher speed holds that for a while. It then decelerates in the same fashion. So my question is where in the Marlin code is planing made for the E-axis and is it any different from planing the speed of the other axis?

Movement of the steppers is controlled by the jerk and acceleration settings. Both are controlled/set in the Marlin configuration file. /** * Default Max Acceleration (change/s) change = mm/s * (Maximum start speed for accelerated moves) * Override with M201 * X, Y, Z, E0 [, E1[, E2[, E3[, E4]]]] */ #define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION { 3000, 3000, 100, 10000 } /** * Default Acceleration (change/s) change = mm/s * Override with M204 * * M204 P Acceleration * M204 R Retract Acceleration * M204 T Travel Acceleration */ #define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z and E acceleration for printing moves #define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 3000 // E acceleration for retracts #define DEFAULT_TRAVEL_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z acceleration for travel (non printing) moves /** * Default Jerk (mm/s) * Override with M205 X Y Z E * * "Jerk" specifies the minimum speed change that requires acceleration. * When changing speed and direction, if the difference is less than the * value set here, it may happen instantaneously. */ #define DEFAULT_XJERK 10.0 #define DEFAULT_YJERK 10.0 #define DEFAULT_ZJERK 0.3 #define DEFAULT_EJERK 5.0 /**

What does the velocity profile of the motors look like when they change direction? The stepper motors usually have a constant acceleration profile (trapezoidal profile) of an even jerk limit profile (S-curve profile). In linear motion, it seems possible to conserve proportion between x and y speed as shown My confusion starts when the direction of motion changed so the proportion of speed must change too. That impossible to join two velocity profiles except we decrease the speed of both axis down to zero then start ramping up with a new profile which means the 3D printer will stop and move for every G-Code segment that apparently not true. So my question is how does the firmware deal with these problems joining velocity profile?

The answer depends on the kinematics model in use. In Marlin there are at least: Classic jerk The "jerk", in units of mm/s not the expected mm/s³, is actually a "maximum instantaneous change" in velocity. Without any jerk (set to 0), your analysis would be correct, and all changes in direction would require slowing down to 0 velocity. However, with jerk, it's only necessary to slow down enough to make the necessary instantaneous change in velocity components less than the jerk limit. For a very slight change in direction (e.g. going around a curve approximated by line segments) this amounts to no slowdown at all. However, in this naive model, arbitrarily many bounded instantaneous velocity changes can happen in an arbitrarily small amount of time, essentially requiring unbounded acceleration capability and leading to missed steps/layer shifts. Junction deviation At each junction between segments where direction changes, the acceleration profile is executed as if the motion were cutting the corner in an arc, deviating from the exact corner by a distance of the configured junction deviation parameter. The actual step path still follows the sharp corner. Others I'm not really familiar with S-curve acceleration, but as I understand it it's a more advanced model fitting smooth curves to the travel path so that velocity can vary continuously, with bounded acceleration, rather than having jump discontinuities. Klipper firmware also has a model very close to junction deviation, which its documentation explains clearly.

Can't print on Wanhao Duplicator i3 Mini After unboxing and setting up my brand-new Wanhao Duplicator i3 Mini, I can't seem to print. When selecting a model to print, the extruder does not heat up and the whole printer does nothing, yet the progress bar moves from 0 to 100 in a few seconds time (VIDEO LINK). Please note that the extruder does heat up when adding filament and does extrude a small amount when adding filament the servos all seem to work, as the extruder moves around just fine when leveling the bed using the wizard I have done the following as per the manual: Removed the cable ties which held the bed for transport Attached the spool holder Connected power and switched it On leveled the bed using the wizard multiple times Added a spool of 1.75 PLA filament as instructed by the manual/firmware The included SD card wasn't recognized, copied the files to a new one, which was recognized. This is the link to the file I'm trying to print. I have flashed the firmware as described here but it didn't change anything I can print using the Wanhao Cura software and a USB connection. For the time being, this is an acceptable workaround. The nozzle size is 0.4 mm

Please note this is not a full answer, but it does address a problem pointed out in the question. The linked file does contain some strange information. Although in the comments it is said to use a layer thickness of 0.2 mm, see: ; layerHeight,0.2 with a first layer being 90% of this size: ; firstLayerHeightPercentage,90 it actually does not. The actual sliced layers are measured in 0.5 mm and 0.222 mm and 0.45 mm for the first layer!?! The first layer is at: G1 Z0.450 F1000 ; process Process1 ; layer 1, Z = 0.450 the next layer is 0.5 mm, so 0.95 for layer 2: ; layer 2, Z = 0.950 M106 S255 G1 X65.347 Y84.268 F4800 G1 Z0.950 F1000 And then it becomes strange, ; layer 3, Z = 1.172 for layer 3 (so a 0.222 mm layer height), and 0.222 mm for layer 4 and so forth. This is a pretty odd sliced file, which basically is not possible to be printed with a 0.4 mm nozzle (you should never exceed a layer height of about 75% of the nozzle width, so max. 0.3 mm for a 0.4 mm nozzle). I don't know the firmware, but I find it hard to believe that the firmware knows what kind of nozzle is present (although Ultimaker does know that with their nozzle core concept they launched from the Ultimaker 3 series). It could be that your firmware does know the nozzle size and does not let you print these layer sizes. It is therefore recommended to reslice the print and other objects and take a closer look at the G-code files.

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

Some quick research shows me that ABS can be slightly affected by the composition of polyester resin. Automotive body repair filler, commonly called Bondo (brand name) is mostly polyester resin. I've found in my reading that some consider the "slightly affected" aspect to mean that it adheres well, others believe that the material will weaken and damage the ABS. You could, of course, purchase some body filler and perform tests. It sands well and would certainly remove the layer lines. If you determine that such material is not a good solution or would rather not take the gamble or perform the tests, you have an option with another product called microballoons or microspheres. It is a product that has an accurate description. The material is hollow spheres of glass of such tiny dimensions that they will blow away if you breathe on them. The primary purpose of this product is to fill gaps, create fillets and similar structures without adding appreciable weight. One would use them with thin epoxy resin and mix to desired consistency. Some descriptions include "mayonnaise or peanut butter" depending on the application. With both of these products, easily sanded is also in the description, although your choice of epoxy will also contribute to that aspect. Because the microballoons are mostly air, they do sand quite cleanly when mixed to heavy or thick consistency.

How To Trace The Line Of A Print With The Nozzle (With No Plastic Printed) I want to calibrate my printer for my new BLTouch (Ender 3 using Marlins 1.1.9), every time I adjust the values in the configuration.h and send it to the printer I end up having to wait for the nozzle and the bed to heat up, it also wastes plastic. Is there a way to take out the values in the code that make the extruder turn without causing any damage. the slicer that I am using is Cura and the print that I want to trace is this calibration crosshair. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Sure. Comment out your E values and the temp set/wait lines: ... M109 S245 M190 S120 ... G1 X123.113 Y95.644 E12.81357 F250 G1 X125.613 Y94.214 E13.06364 ; skirt G1 X128.409 Y93.523 E13.31370 ; skirt G1 X131.287 Y93.624 E13.56377 ; skirt G1 X133.471 Y94.259 E13.76129 F250 G1 X133.771 Y94.384 E13.78949 ; skirt ... Becomes: ... ;M109 S245 ;M190 S120 ... G1 X123.113 Y95.644 F250 ; E12.81357 G1 X125.613 Y94.214 ; E13.06364 ; skirt G1 X128.409 Y93.523 ; E13.31370 ; skirt G1 X131.287 Y93.624 ; E13.56377 ; skirt G1 X133.471 Y94.259 ; E13.76129 F250 G1 X133.771 Y94.384 ; E13.78949 ; skirt ... Now the printer won't wait for any temperatures, and won't dispense any material.

Printrboard Rev. D. 3.3 V source I am looking for a 3.3 V power source in the Printrboard Rev. D pins. I think there should be one somewhere... I do not know how to read the schematics that well. Also, I am going to connect an HC-06, which draws 45 mA or less during operation. So, I need to know if it safe to get the power from the 3.3 V rail (if I find it). So, the questions are: Which one is the 3.3 V pin? And how much current can I draw from it?

On the schematic, the 3.3v is marked as "U7" and pointed out here: The 3.3v is marked as pin #2. You can find the three pints from U7 here on the board (blue circle): I'm not exactly sure if the pins are accessed from the other side of the board, or even if they are marked at all on there. You can always check them with a multimeter to see what their output is. More than likely the bottom single pin is the ground and the top two are one or the other (5v & 3.3v). As far as amperage draw, I'm thinking 45mA is not a lot of draw, but I'm not an expert. I'd think it should be able to handle it, but again, I really don't know.

CubePro Alternative Slicer So, having bought this cube pro duo 3d printer a few days ago I have come to see how significantly limiting the default slicer software that comes with the machine is. For the prints that I am doing I've been looking around at alternative slicers however the cube pro has its own file format for builds and I'm not sure if any other software has the option to export those specifically and I also have no idea id the CubePro can read any files other than its own. On top of this whenever I download some other slicer it gets to the printer setup and there's a whole bunch of settings and parameters for the printer that I haven't been able to find, stuff like Firmware or Nozzle Diameter (Something that id expect to be easy to find). In particularly a software called IdeaMaker is what I'm interested in since I've seen that you can make custom supports and that would be very useful for what I'm doing. Does anyone know what I can do? Or is this a case of there's nothing I can do without some serious modification that I'd rather not do? Any help is appreciated thanks! :D

As far as I understand, the CubePro 3D printers use their own format: .cubepro or .cubex. It appears that a: .cubepro file format and found out that it only does a Blowfish ECB encryption of the .bfb file This implies that you need to find a slicer that outputs .bfb tool path files (similar like G-code files) and a tool to encrypt the tool path file. The dubious CodeX tool and this alternative can do that for you.

What are the long term material properties of VeroWhitePlus 3D printer material? I have been 3D printing parts with an Objet 30 Polyjet 3D printer for about a year now, primarily using Stratasys VeroWhitePlus UV cured model material. In general, the parts seem to become more brittle over time, which I assume is due to the parts continuing to cure due to exposure to light. However, I have also noticed that when exposed to moisture for extended periods of time the parts are prone to warping even under little strain at room temperature. I know that the material does display thermoplastic properties to some extent, but I was wondering if someone might be able to provide me with some additional information about the long-term material properties of either this particular material or similar UV cured 3D printed plastics. The deformation of the parts in the presence of moisture, in particular, has me really confused, so any information about why this would occur would be greatly appreciated.

In our experience, the parts will continue to cure. I don't have the chemical science background to provide proof or evidence, but I operate from an assumption that if the part requires UV rays to cure, it will continue to be reactive to UV rays after it is considered "cured". I too have found the same brittleness over long periods of time. The only experience I have with the moisture issue would be a small component designed and built for a cable pulley in the tail section of an aircraft as a temporary solution (acting on a non-critical trim control surface). The aircraft is based down here in Houston, Texas where we get some pretty gnarly humidity. The part did begin warping after a few months but we don't have definitive information indicating it was a moisture problem, or something more structural. I do know however, that if you aren't absolutely meticulous about cleaning ALL of that gelatin-like support material off of the part, it does wind up being more susceptible to slight deformities, and when you DO remove it all thoroughly, it is then slightly more susceptible to the brittleness issue. Not sure if I'm the only one finding this, and apologies for not having the chemical background to provide more quantitative support.

Clean or wipe move for delta 3D printers I own a delta 3D printer. The problem is that, at the beginning of a print the extruder outputs dirty filament. I want a clean filament flow at the start of my prints! How can I make the hotend exit the print surface (glass plate) by 10mm, extrude the bad filament and go back to printing again? Can this be done with G-code? My Z high is 190 mm and the glass plate diameter is 120 mm. I'm using Marlin + Ramps 1.4. I'm using Repetier-Host and CuraEngine as Slicer, but I really would like a G-code that can work on multiple environments like Cura and Repetier. I just want to add it to the start G-code and print!

Slic3r, and all other slicers that I saw, have an option called Skirt that enables your printer to print a number of lines around your object before it starts printing the object itself. This should ensure that both the nozzle is filled with filament and the printer got rid of any burned / dirty filament when it starts printing your object. If you use Slic3r as standalone, you have to activate expert mode in the preferences. If you use it through Repetier-host it should already be in expert mode. You can see all available options in the Slic3r documentation for Skirt.

Wanhao Duplicator i3 ABS settings I am looking to others who have successfully printed in ABS using a Wanhao Duplicator i3. I have tried and get a lot of warping and delamination. I tried putting a large box over the printer which did help with the warping some but I am still getting some layer separation. I used 235 °C for the extruder and 100 °C for the bed. I am printing at 40 mm/s and 0.2 mm layer height. If someone has ABS and PETG settings for this printer, your help would be appreciated.

I am an official Wanhao Distributor By experience I can recommend you to print with this settings: Extruder 230 °C Heated Bed 65 °C Have a glass surface Use hairspray over the glass Continue to enclose the printer or at least put it where there is almost no wind Print at 45 mm/s Note that this settings vary a lot depending on humidity and other factors related to where you are printing, so it would be very useful to know where in the globe are you experimenting. Also note that humidity is very very bad for 3D Printing Filaments so keep them sealed while not using them. Please do comment if you have any more doubts.

Problem printing bigger models in the Ender 5 In all the bigger prints I print on my Ender 5 with PETG I have problems with warping and raft detachment during printing. I have a glass bed and I'm using Ultimaker Cura 4.6.1 standard printing settings for PETG (Recently I had some success using 245 °C nozzle temperature and 80 °C build plate). Any ideas how to reduce those problems?

This sounds like a bed leveling issue. As reported by others, I get much less warping with PETG than with ABS or even PLA, and deal with too much adhesion with PETG rather than too little. With a Reprap x400, I printed a faceplate for the extruder to hold a electronic drop indicator. This gives me much higher precision leveling. Of course, I remove the drop indicator after leveling. If leveling isn't the issue, then you may be printing too fast. The recommendations I've seen are to print PETG at 50 mm/s or less. I print a a lower speed than that.

Displayed temperature jumping while printing for a long time I have a Felix Tec 4 (Single Extruder) and at the moment I print for a relatively long time compared to my other prints. Recently I noticed that after a few hours of continuous printing the displayed temperature jumped by up to 10 °C, which is almost certainly not true. Since it is the temperature that jumps, it will probably be the thermistor that is broken, but what is broken that this only happens after several hours and not immediately? I think it does not have to do something with the G-code, because the temperature makes jumps of up to 10 °C in one second and back again. I had 2 pretty big prints to do. It happend on both of them, but I forgot to take screenshots on the first print which was much worse that the second one. Here is how it looked in OctoPrint on second print: For comparison I have entered the temparatures manually in OctoPrint and made a screenshot of the temparature I searched the GCode for M104, M109, M140 and M190, but only found M190 one time at the beginning, which I think is normal.

Your temperature is not just bumping up 10 °C. Your hotend is fluctuating in temperature, it drops under and increases over the "set" temperature. The hotend temperature is a result of the amount heat you put into it and how much heat you pull from it (e.g. filament heats up and draws energy from the heater block), apart from a too large printing speed for the heater to follow the energy off-take, this can be the result of one of the following (or combined) issues: Your print cooling fan position is too high/not low enough, it cools the heater block/nozzle Your PID settings are not correct Many hotend designs come with silicone "socks" insulating the heater block and to shield airflow from cooling the heater block.

Apply X-offset to gcode (re-slicing not possible) I am currently printing the QTrainer aircraft from 3DLabPrint on my Anet A8, via the supplied i3-compatible gcode files. So far, everything has printed fine, but the main undercarriage part tries to print off the left hand side of the bed by about 5mm. I have tried manually adding an M206 X-10 line to the gcode file, just after G28 ; home all, however this has not had any effect: G90 M83 M106 S0 M140 S65 M190 S65 M104 S220 T0 M109 S220 T0 G28 ; home all M206 X-10 ; added by me G1 E-0.8000 F1800 G1 Z0.200 F1002 ; layer 1, Z = 0.2 T0 ; tool H0.200 W0.450 ; skirt G1 X9.382 Y10.533 F6000 G1 E0.8000 F540 G1 X10.536 Y10.537 E0.0388 F1440 ... However this does not work and I'm not clear on whether I am using this gcode command correctly, or whether my printer simply doesn't support that command. Is there another way I can apply an X-offset to the gcode file (or printer) to move it a few cm to the right of the print area? As I do not own Simplify3D and cannot currently afford it, re-slicing the STL files is unfortunately not an option. Unfortunately there is no X-adjustment on the X limit switch (although I suppose I could temporarily tape something to the print head, so that it activates the switch sooner?). My Anet A8 currently runs stock firmware, hooked up to OctoPrint and I have access to a Macintosh desktop computer.

You can use G92 to change the coordinates the machine "thinks" it's at. If just after homing, you apply G92 X-10 the machine now thinks it's at X = -10, while in reality it's at X = 0. This results in everything thereafter behaving as if it is shifted in the positive X direction by 10 mm (since if you then commanded a move to X = 1 the machine would move to what is physically X = 11).

Alternative 3d molding techniques at home i have seen formbox http://golem13.fr/formbox/ and it uses heat and many materials like PVC. Is there any way to do this with paper or paper derivatives(like egg carton)? If the answer is yes, how can i do that?

Forming kinda blister out of paper is possible but not the way it's formed out of plastic. Paper is not elastic, it's bendable but not strechable. It's the issue of how cellulose fibers are formed and how are they entangled. Anyway - you can create a form out of wet mixed paper pulp. Wrap it around your model and then wait until it's dry. It will form amazingly stiff form. You can do it also out of wet handkerchiefs. You could build a vacuum machine as in the formbox to squeeze the paper pulp the get water out of the material but the cover should be done out of light silicone film so it would be treated by vacuum.

Are there any software packages that can open and edit 3MF? I am trying to find programs that can import and export 3MF file formats. I know that Cura 15.10 beta can open 3MF formats, but I am looking for a program that open, edit and save 3MF files. I am very interested in finding a more portable file format for my 3D designs. If you are not aware the 3MF format promises to provide a "replacement" for STL files that contains the complete model information, theoretically allowing us to slice and edit the same file. http://3mf.io/

Microsoft 3D Builder should have support for this format. Solidworks 2015 has support too. A software adoption list is placed on 3mf pages.

What infill settings and material type do I need? I’m trying to have this bracket printed, but I don’t know what settings I should use. The project details say 50% for infill, but is there a reason why I wouldn’t get 100% for making it sturdier? I imagine the developer used 50% because he used his own printer and wanted to preserve more material. The 3D printer service I’m using doesn’t charge more for 100%. But I’m more concerned about the material I should select. Should I select PLA or ABS? The developer didn’t specify this.

For such a small item and the small load it will carry, even 50 percent is substantial. Keep in mind that one hundred percent infill is not necessarily stronger. If you need to know why, consider a 'net search for "why not use 100% infill" for more detailed information. The primary foundation for not using 100% infill is that the stress is better distributed over the structure of a non-100% part, while the completely filled part has more intra-layer stress failure. Another link suggests that there's a possibility of increased warping with full infill. Because the load is small, it matters very little if you select PLA over ABS. PLA is more brittle compared to ABS and will crack or fracture or break under loads that might otherwise cause the same part in ABS to bend. If you need yet more strength, select PETG or nylon, although I suspect either one would be more expensive from a service. If you select ABS, you can use acetone smoothing later to make a shiny surface, but that's cosmetic, not structural.

BL-Touch bed leveling seems to produce tilted bed level around Y-axis I have a Tevo Tornado that I've outfitted with an official BL-Touch auto level sensor. I can see the bed probing run, and I can see the Z axis slowly adjust during x/y moves, so it's doing something. However, you can see that there appears to be a systematic tilt: Any ideas what could be causing this? The bed, gantry and print head is tight, no wobble. Here's my start code: G28 ; home all axes G29 G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle I have mesh leveling enabled with a 5x5 grid and correct probe offsets. The bed itself is on PETG printed standoffs instead of springs to eliminate any jitter.

The problem with the Tevo Tornado design is that the design is as such that the Z-axis is powered by a single stepper (under the assumption that you have not added a second Z stepper). This means that the level relies on the rigidity of the X-axis assembly, more specific the play on the guide wheels. Apparently the BL-Touch level determination suffers (the up and down movement while probing) from this design as can be seen from the tilt around the Y-axis direction. This effect causing the tilted level plane is called hysteresis. Now that the Z-axis moves up and down you experience much more problems than using a mechanical switch. The effect is more pronounced when the mass of the hot end carriage is furthest from the Z-axis lead screw. Note that an extra stepper can also cause tilted level when the second stepper does not move in sync (e.g. missing steps). In such designs, a single stepper (geared) belt driven 2 lead screw has better performance in that respect.

Nozzle heats up past the setpoint and increases I made a few successful prints since I got my CR-10 two weeks ago and I didn't run into any major trouble. The printer is new. Today I set it to "preheat" mode while I was preparing the SD card with the settings being 210°C for the nozzle and 60°C for the bed. When I wanted to start the print I noticed that the temperature showed as "actual temperature" on the printer's screen showed 233°C and it was going up steadily while the "requested" temperature was still 210°C. Thiking it might be a mis-manipulation on my part I powered it down for a few minutes (I got scared by the high-temp) and then powered it back on. I then immediately requested the print to start. The CR-10 heated up to the proper value, started printing and kept heating the nozzle. I stopped it at 217°C. I looked for an answer on the internet but all I could find is people having trouble with the nozzle not heating at all ...

This is not an easy one to solve, the firmware of the printer should be keeping the printer at a certain temperature depending on the temperature setting and the current value. If the firmware is not able to keep the temperature at the requested level, but goes beyond that level, that could be considered "strange". As it measures the temperature (and reports it on your display) it must know that it is over the limit and thus should not power the hotend. In this process there are a few possible candidates for you to look at: Check for a faulty MOSFET (sort of an electronic switch) on your controller board (is it leaking current to the hotend?). Check and or update the current settings for the PID values (settings for the control loop of the hotend). The PID values control the overshoot of the temperature. E.g. is this is very large overshoot? When incorrectly configured the temperature can get higher, but normally should never increase to infinity, are you sure it keeps rising? The determination of the new values is called PID tuning. Important commands (that need to be send over a USB connected printer with a 3D printer terminal application like Repetier Host, OctoPrint or Pronterface): The M503 G-code command shows the current settings (somewhere in the heap of all settings). The M303 G-code command can determine the values. Reflash the firmware Replace the printer controller board You could replace the thermistor and the heater cartridge (just to be sure, most definitely not the problem, but they are really cheap to replace). The thermistor works as it reports the temperature, and the heater element doesn't get powered by itself. As suggested below the most likely candidate for your problem is the MOSFET. These are pretty easy to replace (depending on your board) or replaceable by an external MOSFET module (if you happen to have one lying around).

Commercially available 3D printer fume and UFP extractor Is there a commercially available fume and nano particle extractor for a 3D printer, like the Ultimaker3 extended? I'm looking for a safe solution, to use at home, for around $800.

Following on from Harvey Lim's answer, to give a concrete example of a DIY filter, which uses active carbon, see ABS 3d Printer Nanoparticle and Chemical Exhaust Air Filter: ###Description Enclose your 3d printer and use this exhaust air filter along with a recirculating air filter to eliminate nanoparticles and chemical fumes. 95 to 99.5% of partilces up to 0.1 micron in size are filtered before air is exhausted into your 3d printing room. This is 3 times better than HEPA filtration. Chemical fumes such as phenols, hydrogen bromide, hydrogen cyanide, and styrene are also filtered out. The amount of chemicals filtered out depends on the amount of carbon filtration media you put into the unit and the strength of the fan you install on the unit. If you are using this for business purposes, you'll have to experiment a bit to have it pass inspection. If you are using it for personal purposes, know that the human nose is extremely sensitive. People who have the gene for hydrogen cyanide detection can smell it down to a concentration of 2 to 10 ppm. Suffice it to say, that if you can smell no evil, you are probably not experiencing evil. This has totally cleared my 3d printing room of nasty fumes. I invite you to try it out for yourself as the cost is very low since I've designed it to use surgical masks and aquarium activated carbon filtration media, which is very affordable. You should change the filtration media and surgical mask every month or 50 hours of printing, whichever comes first. I offer no warranty of any kind as this is an experimental device. This filter is mentioned in tbm0115's answer to What are the best air filtration options for enclosures?

Z-offset issues with Slic3r and Da Vinci Nano I was attempting to use Slic3r 1.3.0 to print to my Da Vinci Nano, using MiniMover (a replacement for xyzprint) to load the G-code. The print seemed to be a couple of millimeters off of the bed, but adding neither 2 or -2 offset in Slic3r worked. Neither did adding the following to the g-code. G92 Z2 G0 Z0 Anyone have a solution? The start of my G-code is: ; generated by Slic3r 1.3.0-dev on 2020-06-28 at 10:37:50 ; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.55mm (3.04mm^3/s) ; perimeters extrusion width = 0.70mm (7.88mm^3/s) ; infill extrusion width = 0.62mm (9.31mm^3/s) ; solid infill extrusion width = 0.70mm (2.63mm^3/s) ; top infill extrusion width = 0.70mm (1.97mm^3/s) M107 ; disable fan M104 S220 ; set temperature G28 ; home all axes G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle ; Filament gcode M109 S220 ; set temperature and wait for it to be reached G21 ; set units to millimeters G90 ; use absolute coordinates M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance G1 Z0.300 F7800.000 ; move to next layer (0) G1 E-2.00000 F2400.00000 ; retract extruder 0 G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance G1 X40.004 Y40.786 Z0.300 F7800.000 ; move to first skirt point G1 E2.00000 F2400.00000 ; unretract extruder 0 G1 F1800 G1 X41.753 Y39.328 Z0.300 E2.46602 ; skirt G1 X45.000 Y38.464 Z0.300 E3.15334 ; skirt G1 X75.000 Y38.464 Z0.300 E9.29109 ; skirt G1 X77.243 Y38.861 Z0.300 E9.75711 ; skirt

Behavioral analysis To find out what is actually wrong, let's do a simple series of test commands first: a G-code that homes the printhead, moves it up 100 mm (10 cm), then zeroes there, moves up 20 more and back to the new 0 at 100 mm above the bed. Make sure not a single offset is active anywhere when sending/loading the G-code as this is to test for the actual movement. G28 G1 Z100 G92 Z0 G90 G1 Z20 G1 Z0 Measuring the distance to the bed should give us something hopefully close to 100 mm. If it is longer or shorter, we have a problem with the bed position to the endstop, even if the bed itself is level to the machine. A releveling is advised unless there is a reason to home to a position widely outside of the printing height or if leveling proves to be impossible. Why is the error experienced?! The culprit seems to be that the Z-offset parameter in slic3r is not updated properly when altering it. I just tested this with a ludicrous offset and it took several saving and slicing attempts to register that Z0 was supposed to be 200 mm over the endstop via the offset setting. Compare these two blocks: G90 ; use absolute coordinates M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion G92 E0 G1 Z0.350 F7800.000 And this one: G90 ; use absolute coordinates M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion G92 E0 G1 Z-199.650 F7800.000 The offset only appears factored in starting with the actual print's G1 commands. But how did I eventually manage to make it update? Forcing the update To force an update of all the settings, I did create a secondary printer profile (just saved the same one and in the new one set the offset back to 0) and then swapped between the two back and forth twice and then the correct offset one. This seems to be a very reliable way to force an update of this setting, as it did register every swap after the first one. Workarounds manual Offsetting via Filament parameter But there is a way around that is always taken into account: we can add a custom Filament Start Code, which contains the needed offset under Filament Settings tab > Custom G-Code: G1 Z<offset we need to be exactly at layer 0 height> G92 Z0.3 But this is a rather clumsy way and should only be made if nothing else helps and not in conjunction with any offset in the machine setting! Tackle the problem by the root The problem isn't usually the offset but a bed leveled to the wrong height. To level the bed the printer should be brought to Z0 via G28 and then leveled again. If this proves futile, setting the offset and forcing an update in slic3r is needed.

3D printer test troubles (M999 error, motors do not move) I've been recently building a 3D printer and I'm having issues testing it. This is my hardware: RAMPS 1.4 Arduino Mega 2560 4x Pololu Motor shields A4988 1x Nema 17 extruder 2x floppy stepper motor 1x DVD stepper motor Generic hotend with 0,4 mm nozzle Then I assembled everything and I started testing... I tried the RAMPS test code and it didn't work (motors did not move, but I'm sure they are OK), then I tried using Marlin and Pronterface; it showed hotend temperature stuck at 150°C, but the hotend was not hot. Moreover the motors would not move. I also tried Repetier host and it returned an M999 error without any further explanation. I had no problem installing firmware on the Arduino and the fan of the hotend is working. I also tried changing baud rate but it seemed not to work.

Two immediate issues I can think of are: Do the floppy drive and DVD drive stepper motors have sufficient torque to turn whatever you have connected them to? You don't say what sort of printer you have built, but a holding toque of 44 N·cm (62oz·in, 4.5kg·cm) or more, is desirable. Maybe you should consider upgrading your floppy ad DVD drive motors to Nema 17 motors... See RepRapWiki - Nema 17 for more details. Do you have the correct thermistor selected in the firmware? Check your firmware configuration file. To further check the thermistor, disconnect it from the RAMPS board, and using a multimeter, check its resistance at room temperature. Then compare it with the temperature characteristic graph of your thermistor type. A general 10K thermistor has the following response curve (source): Does the reading that your multimeter gives, seem reasonable? Also check the RAMPS thermistor input, by shorting the thermistor pins on the RAMPS board (using a jumper). What is the temperature reading now? It should be whatever MAX_TEMP is defined as, typically around 400°C. Again, check your firmware configuration file. In addition, M999 is not an error, but a command used to reset the firmware/printer, after an error has occurred.

101Hero 3D Printer - Printed object is tilted I am facing a problem with my 3D print. Whenever I am printing any object, the print from the top is shifting to the right hand side - it is symmetric at the bottom but not at the top. Checkout the photo below:

You appear to have a couple of issues here, First off your nozzle appears to be a bit hot for your filament (you can see this be the drooping and sagginess of the layers on the outer shell) Second issue is it appears as though your belts are loose. You can tell if your belts are loose if your parts seem to be shifted in one way. Third issue (maybe). You may want to try slowing down your nozzle speed slightly. The faster the extruder moves, the more inertia that is generated which in effect makes your belt act as a spring and will cause it to bounce along the axis while it's printing. Slowing it down will result in your belt acting more like a rigid member and help to clean up the outer layers of your print. Also, it's easier on your belts. The downside is that your parts will take a bit longer to print. In my experience, parts that look great but take a bit longer are well worth the wait.

Custom 3D printer printing dimensions has changed because of a .gcode file A couple weeks before, I bought a custom 3D printer that has an Ultimaker 2 motherboard in it. However, the dimensions of the printer is not same with Ultimaker 2 (X and Y same, a bit smaller on Z). The printer had tinkerfirmware installed in it. Today, I tried to print a premade .gcode file (Which was for another 3D printer I guess) and after pressing print, The machine told me the file will overwrite machine settings, and I pressed yes for it. After that, the dimensions of my 3D printer has changed in it's firmware. The bed is raising more than it should while starting calibrating, and not setting it's position precisely. (To make the 1mm gap, I had to move the bed down 4-5mm away from where it should be.) Now the question is, what can I do to fix this problem ? I also tried reinstalling original firmware which didn't really worked. (All the parts are orginal except the frame, which is a bit more smaller on height) How should I measure the height of printing area?

Your printer is an Ultimaker clone or something else? All of the original firmwares located on TinkerGnome's Github are configured for Ultimaker printers so if you are using them on something different you will need to configure it before using it. The easiest option would be editing this print file that changed your settings to your desired settings and then reloading it. How to find your actual Z? Well that's a bit difficult without more information. I'm guessing from your description that your printer homes at Z max? If it's homing at Z max you need to home the machine, jog the Z axis to where you want 0 to be (usually using a piece of paper between the nozzle and bed), then record the Z axis position and enter that as your travel limit in the firmware. If your printer homes at Z min this could be as simple as changing the homing offset.

Does acid dissolve PETG 3D prints? I want to print a lemon squeezer and I would prefer to use PET-G. I don't know if it is safe to use, because lemons contain lots of citric acid. Does it dissolve PETG? I haven't found an answer anywhere on the Internet. There are generally few things that dissolve PETG. These are aromatic compounds like toluene, phenol etc. I know my model will be food safe, as PETG is food safe, I'm using one without a dye and my nozzle is made out of steel, not brass. I think bacteria growth inside little gaps/between layers is impossible, because the citric acid is quite strong and will kill nearly all of the germs.

According to kmac-plastics, PETG is stable at temperatures below 50°C specifically for citric acid (also acetic acid) and others on the linked list. It is also safe with diesel oil and many alcohols. The list is illuminating with respect to the variation of tested compounds.

Laser engraving software for Boxzy 3D printer I have a laser-engraving "head" for one of my 3D printers (a Boxzy, so it's designed for it, not just strapping a random laser onto something), and I'd like to try using it to, well, engrave something. So: Can anyone point me to some control software for this? The Boxzy came with a license to Fusion360, but I found that nearly impossible to use (or maybe understand), and it wasn't clear how to apply it to engraving anyway (as opposed to milling or regular FDM printing). I suppose I could just sketch out a thin 3D extrusion of the text or design, and print it in the usual way, setting the layer-height and/or scaling so it only "prints" one or 2 layers. I guess turning the laser on and off counts as turning the extruder motor on and off... But that's clearly a hack. Any "real" software for this sort of thing? Any other hints are also welcome. I'm thinking of writing my own software to generate G-code for this, though rasterizing fonts sounds painful in something like OpenScad... Must be a better way...

Autodesk must have been reading your mind. A brand new video just got posted today from Autodesk on how to do this in F360.

Hollow wing for rc plane I am trying to print a wing for a rc plane with my 3D printer. In order to make the wing as light as possible I need to hollow it (and afterwards put some stable structure there). I've tried the Blender Solidify modifier to do this but without success. The material on the sharp edge on the rear part of the wing gets thinner and thinner although the "Even Thickness" option is checked (see picture). When preparing this for printing, the slicer puts only one line of filament there instead of two. What I need is a brim on the inner side of the stl file with a constant spacing. I've also tried the Meshmixer Hollow and Extrude modifiers. They both had problems with those sharp edges (see picture). The third program I've tested was FreeCAD. But it crashed at all :-( Can someone please help me? I would appreciate any suggestion or other programs which can handle this problem. Remodeling is no option for me as I have even more complex objects to hollow for example the fuselage. The stl file of the wing can be found here: https://files.fm/u/5futezwj Thanks so much for your help!

I am sorry to inform you, that the answer to "How do I fix the thickness" is "Remodel them" - especially in this case as the whole design is... awkward. But you don't necessarily need to resign them from scratch, if you can fix it... But beware, fixing does only work sometimes... First of all, Blender is NOT a good modeling software for designing parts that shall be printed, Blender is a 3D Artist program, not a CAD program. It can serve its course, but it can and will ruin your day. I suggest grabbing Autodesk Fusion 360, since it is mighty and free for small makers. Step 1: Transfer into CAD software For our first step, we want to take the surface of the Wing and export it as an STL. To do this, remove all interior vertices. ALL. Save as a work-project. Look for "BAD" areas - try to have as little vertices as possible. If several are in the same flat area feel free to remove some. The simpler, the better - compare these two pictures - left the bad side, right the good. Export via File > Export > .stl. Open Fusion 360 and import via the process outlined here: Insert > Mesh. Now we need to turn our Mesh into a BRep like described here: Deactivate the pickup of model history by right-clicking the project in the left, then "Don't capture design history" Modify > Mesh > Mesh tp BRep choose your object and OK reactivate the model history by right-clicking the project in the left, then "Don't capture design history" Step 2: assigning Thickness We got a surface now... or rather several that are stitched together. We want to give them thickness... create > thicken click on one area, choose the thickness as a negative value. For example -1 mm click on the body's lightbulb to make it visible again rinse and repeat for each area not yet thickened Hint: rightclick opens a context menu that offers repeat ..., where ... is the last used operation, in this case: thicken. This considerably can speed it up. Step 3: Combining thickened parts Now, we have several thickened parts, all of them intersecting or touching. like, what usually looks like this... actually is these different parts (which I colored for showing only - it is totally unnecessary!) It's easy to see these all intersect. And luckily, intersecting parts can be easily merged! Modify > Combine click one, then another. OK. rinse and repeat as much as you can - some pieces will throw an "inconsistent edge-face-relationship" error. If these crop up, you need to start over, fixing the Mesh. To state it clear after wasting 2 hours on this: Your files needs to be done again from scratch. In a proper CAD modeling software. Because what you have there is not fixable easily.

Managing LEDs with NanoDLP I'm building my own DLP printer with UV LEDs. I use a 20A relay to power them on, since they require high power and can't be directly driven by arduino or Raspberry. I'm planning to use them with NanoDLP on Raspberry + GRBL on Arduino. Is it possible to make NanoDLP tell GRBL to power on (send digital 1/+5V) the relay when the print starts and power it off (send digital 0/GND) when the print ends? The other way would be to just install an on/off switch and do it manually, but I feel this step should be automated somehow. Is there a way to do it?

I have no experience with either GRBL or DLP printers, but the M7 M8 M9 coolant control codes should be able to be sent by NanoDLP to GRBL. Those seem to allow for direct digital output. Apparently you can set the pin you want them to use in the cpu_map.h file, with the standard being Analog Pins 3 and 4 for the M8 and M7 commands respectively. // Define flood and mist coolant enable output pins. #define COOLANT_FLOOD_DDR DDRC #define COOLANT_FLOOD_PORT PORTC #define COOLANT_FLOOD_BIT 3 // Uno Analog Pin 3 #define COOLANT_MIST_DDR DDRC #define COOLANT_MIST_PORT PORTC #define COOLANT_MIST_BIT 4 // Uno Analog Pin 4 Hope this helps! Source: https://github.com/gnea/grbl

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

You should not look at the relative dimensional differences, you should be looking at the absolute differences. Multiplying the undersized dimensions in percentage with the cylinder diameter gives you a value of 0.4  mm for each cylinder give or take a few hundreds. So, basically your printer works very consistent it is just suffering from a systematic offset. Basically, the printing process needs to adjust the X-Y dimensions to compensate for plastic flow effects. An option or setting in Ultimaker Cura to counteract this is called Horizontal Expansion. Slic3r and Simplify3d have similar settings. In Slic3r it is called XY size compensation.

Can I use a multimeter to test the outgoing voltage of this power supply? I don't want to blow out my multimeter or my electronics, so is it safe to test the DC output voltage with a multimeter on my OEM power supply?

If your multimeter can handle the voltage, it should be safe. 12 V should be in the capability range of common multimeters, so I would tend to say yes, - but make sure that your multimeter can handle the voltage and be sure it is set to voltage mode in the appropriate range (if set to current measurement mode for example, it will not survive). Also take the typical precautions when measuring with a multimeter, as described in, for example, Safety equipment and precautions for DC circuit experimentation and development.

Tevo Tarantula I3 filament clogging up I have just finished assembling a TT I3, with a large heated bed 220x280, a couple of weeks ago and my first print went well. After a few initial experiments I noticed that the filament will not stick. I have manually leveled the bed over and over again, added a glass sheet over the bed, applied masking-tape and what-not. The filament still will not stick, it will curl up on the nozzle, clog the nozzle and all sorts of other issues... Everything functions properly but it seems like the extruder is trying to push more then the nozzle is actually putting out. My filament is 1.75 mm. Can anyone help with all this so I can get something printed decently? I am printing with PLA, I started off with 50 °C, raised it to 60 °C, and last time I tried to print a filament spool holder with 70 °C (twice), still if layer is thin it will not stick. After cleaning the bed with alcohol 70%, you can see the issue in these videos: Tevo Tarantula i3 filament sticking then coming off Tevo Tarantula i3 filament not sticking

Getting that first layer to stick is sometimes pretty hard, you just need to find a good combination of settings. Clearly your filament does not stick too well as the brim comes off after been laid down after a while. Parameters that affect adhesion are: Bed temperature; a temperature close to the glass temperature is favorable as the filament is soft at that temperature, the stresses are low due to this softness and the smaller temperature difference. You already tried to increase bed temperature: 50 - 60 °C should be fine for PLA, there is no need to go higher than 60 °C, Hotend temperature; the temperature of the filament deposition could be increased for the initial layer, usually a 5 °C increase over the standard temperature should be enough, Overextrusion; a small over-extrusion on the first layer (filament flow scale factor larger than 100 %) could sometimes help to better adhere the first layer, but usually this means that the nozzle to bed distance is too large, Correct leveling and correct nozzle to bed distance; level the bed as good as possible or scan the bed and use mesh leveling if the build platform does not have a uniform (flat) shape, also make sure the distance between the nozzle is correct: too small or too big cause the filament not to stick very well. Debris in nozzle; debris in nozzle can cause non-uniform extrusion, cleaning the nozzle with the atomic method (heating up the nozzle, inserting filament, cooling down the nozzle and finally yanking out the filament cleaning all the cooked stuff inside), Cleanness of the bed; make sure the bed is not greasy, Tack of the bed; the use of a PVA based substance on the bed like e.g. gluestick, hairspray or specific printer sprays like 3DLAC increase the bed adhesion considerably, Bed preparation; sanding the bed to roughen the platform, using tape, etc. are all tricks to get the filament to stick better. Either one of the suggested parameters or a selection of these are the answer to your question, just figure out what works best for your printer.

Safely Hooking a Switch up to an OEM Power Supply? I ordered an OEM Power Supply and I intend to hook up with this rocker switch I believe it's like the one specified in the Power Supply Documentation which reads: In the US, IEC320 C14 plug connections are common, but use your preferred standard. I've also seen where this was attached in this thingiverse project. Inside the switch I've also added an F4AL250V fuse. Now what's confusing me is, that the this rocker switch on the back reads 10A 250V~ so I'm wondering if it's safe to use. The switch will be connected to the house mains via a plug and wired just like in the this thingiverse project, so it can be the input into my OEM Power Supply via the black (hot - L), white (Common - N) and Green (Ground) wires. For the connecting wires I stripped a black PC Tower wire to get at the black, white, and ground wires inside it. http://reprap.org/wiki/Power_Supply#OEM_type_PSU

At 250V a rating for 10A means 2500 Watts, which is fairly enough to use with a typical 3D printer. Make sure that the wire you use to connect the switch to the power supply can also take the current you need. Easiest way to get a cable that is safe to use is salvaging a mains cable from other devices. I would not use wires that were made for low power use and with unsolid connections. *edit: I'm still not sure which cable you intended to use from this tower PC. If it is a mains cable like this https://www.google.com/search?q=mains+power+cable&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL6Y23l9zLAhUCrRoKHXvsArsQ_AUIBygB&biw=1421&bih=922 you should be on the safe side.

Looking for CAD files of basic crystal structures I'm looking for basic models of crystal chemical structures. The most basic example would be a cube, it gets harder though as I next need polyhedrons with one of three angles < 90°, then two, etc. Is there a database of these out there somewhere? Or is the fastest way to make them myself?

You may find that OpenSCAD regular polyhedron library may serve your requirements. From the linked site: All polyhedra are centered at the origin and have an edge length of 1. From the linked site: Included polyhedra: tetrahedron octahedron hexahedron icosahedron dodecahedron cubeoctahedron truncated_tetrahedron snub_cube rhombicuboctahedron truncated_hexahedron truncated_octahedron icosidodecahedron snub_dodecahedron rhombicosidodecahedron truncated_cuboctahedron truncated_icosahedron truncated_dodecahedron truncated_icosidodecahedron OpenSCAD is a reasonably easy "description coding" program at the base level. I suspect that for something such as this, it might not qualify for the easy reference. My search also linked up a few Thingiverse entries, but they weren't as sophisticated as the above and may be a subset of the library link.

Acetone Smoothing an ABS Cone - (New to 3D printing) Today marked my first time using a 3D printer - have to admit I was originally skeptical but am now incredibly impressed and am having to hold myself back from purchasing one for myself! Was a great experience. Anyway, I build rockets, and decided to 3D print a bespoke nose cone (Link 1) to fit my rocket. However the sliced layers probably won't do great for aerodynamics, so I've looked into ways to smooth the cone out. I was wondering, using an acetone vapour bath as seen in Link 2, is it possible to smooth the surface of my print without loosing shape? It's only small (12x4x4 cm), and I'm worried that the acetone that smooths the surface could misshape the cone (which I would rather keep perfectly symmetrical!) or cause ABS to melt and pool around the base. Will the acetone disfigure the print, or is it possible to give it a vapour bath without it pooling and melting? Link 1: Thingiverse - Ogive Nose Cone Link 2: Simple way to make ultra-smooth 3D prints at home

is it possible to smooth the surface of my print without loosing shape? That is by definition impossible. Smoothing the surface implies that the geometry is changed. Rather, the question is: how much does acetone smoothing change the shape, and is that change within the tolerances of your application? Acetone smoothing is a fickle process, and how (much) the geometry is changed depends on a lot of factors, such as the concentration of the acetone vapor, the amount of time the print is exposed to it, the exact composition of the plastic, geometry of the print, etc... It is definitely possible to overdo it and melt your print into a puddle, but it is also possible to smooth it out without affecting the geometry significantly. I would recommend experimenting with the process and seeing whether you can tune the process (time/concentration) so that you get a smooth enough part without affecting the geometry too much.

Ender 3 Pro with BLtouch + BigTreeTech Auto level not compensating As the title says, I have an Ender 3 Pro + BLtouch v3.1 and BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 v2.0. I have the SKR loaded with "firmware-bltouch-for-z-homing.bin" but my printer does not seem to be auto leveling. I'm fairly new to 3D printing and I have no idea what I am missing. My bed seems pretty warped but that isn't an issue for small print. For larger prints I think I think I need to enable mesh bed leveling but I'm not sure how. I have my start G-code setup as: ; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature M104 S160; start warming extruder to 160 G28 ; Home all axes G29 ; Auto bed-level (BL-Touch) M420 S1; enable auto bed-level? G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature ; G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed ; End of custom start GCode It heats up the bed, does the 5x5 auto level and then heats the extruder but when printing I do not see the Z axis moving throughout the first layer to compensate for the warped bed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Should I be using "firmware-bltouch.bin" instead and reinstall my Z switch?

Again another nightmare for 3d printer users - it took me days to figure it out. My Ender 3 bed was warped in the middle. I got a glass bed, which helped. I installed the BLTouch and used the Ender 3 Pro firmware. It gives you the options in the menu. I also added the G29 code to G-code. But it's not perfect. I needed to manually adjust the Z-probe.

Enclosure Ventilation I am building an enclosure for my 3D printer (Anycubic i3 Mega) and I'm wondering about heat and ventilation for my machine. My enclosure is is build from five 50x50x50 cm Plexiglass frames glued together. Currently I'm using only PLA for printing. Does my enclosure need ventilation so my 3D printer would not overheat? If yes, what type of ventilation? Is only drilling holes enough? or Do I need to add some ventilator? If I would print with ABS in the future would it change the answer?

When printing PLA you do not require an enclosure! PLA does not shrink as much as e.g. ABS. When printing PLA you should definitely ventilate your casing. I guess your steppers are also located in the enclosure, so you should be careful of not overheating the enclosure. Not only the steppers, but also think of the cold end cooling, too much heat in the enclosure means that the cold end cannot cool enough to prevent the filament to melt prematurely; this can lead to clogs. Also note that the printer electronics board may become too hot too (too hot stepper drivers will cause steppers to miss steps). I once tried a towel over a Ultimaker 3 Extended to print a difficult filament to keep some heat in the enclosure; I encountered the above problems when I was young(er) and inexperienced :) We learn by trial and error some times! However, ABS, requires control over the temperature during printing. Draft or uneven temperatures may lead to problems related to layer separation or heat bed separation. Many of the high-end box printers have doors available to enclose the front, this results in an enclosure with an open top (sometimes even for the top there are covers available). The heat of the bed then heats up the enclosure. A constant temperature of 45°C should not be too high to cause problems. When boxing it up completely, you could use a temperature sensor to monitor the enclosure temperature and schedule a fan to ventilate when it gets too hot.

My printer is printing a messy ball. CTC prusa from Ebay I bought this cheap prusa i3 variation from eBay. I setup everything and now I'm trying to print some gcode file from the SD card. Using PLA. Here is a video of the mess! How can so fix this situation?: https://youtu.be/Vz46tCcrtMI I have no clue about how to generate gcode files, so I just took the ones from the manufacturer CD. Are there any gcode files I can download for correctly tuning and calibrating my printer. I would like to know that my hardware setup is right, before getting into the software stuff Thanks.

Looks like you need to adjust the print bed level. When z=0, the nozzle should be 0.1mm above the printing surface - and that needs to be at every point of the printing area. Instructions on how to adjust this should come with your printer. Essentially, the procedure is as follows (you should be able to issue these commands directly on your printer, so no gcode is needed): auto home, i.e. all axes go to 0. disable steppers, so you are able to move the print bed and the x-axis put a sheet of paper on the print table. The thickness of ordinary paper is around 0.1mm, so that's good for calibrating. now move the nozzle around the print bed. There should be a slight (!) friction between the paper and the nozzle and this friction should be the same everywhere. If not, use the screws on the four corners to adjust the level of the print bed. Do not attempt to fully correct any deviation at once, because this might bend the print bed. Make several rounds and adjust the screws by 1/2 turn only on each round. This is a tedious procedure but it is really required. Finally, when the nozzle is at 0.1mm above the print bed in z=0, you should be able to print and the filament should adhere to the bed. A heated bed also helps. P.S.: For generating gcode files, you need a slicer. For the very first steps, I found Cura quite easy to use: you feed it with .stl files and it will slice it internally. Currently, I am using slic3r (and pronterface for controlling the printer itself).

Filament doesn't retract for some travel movements using PrusaSlicer The printer does not retract the filament for some travel moves result in scrape printing part as shown in picture. This is my printer setting. Not sure which part be the problem. I want my printer to retract the filament as I have set it to. Where to check and what could be the problem?

Minimum Travel after Retraction is exactly what it says on the tin: if the travel after a retraction would be less than 2 mm, it does not retract. You'll want that to be short, but not 0, because retraction can lead to under extrusion at the start of a new line, and every swap from one shell to the next shell right next to it is classed as travel.

Is using a hair dryer on my M3D build plate safe? I often have trouble with prints being especially difficult to remove from the build plate on my Micro3D printer. My wife suggested using a hair dryer on the underside of the plate. I was initially appalled at the idea, but now I think she may be on to something. Is this safe? Good idea? Bad idea? Heresay?

Typically, people cool down their build plates to get parts to release, rather than heat them up. That said, I doubt a hair drier will get hot enough to do any damage to the build plate. You could try it with no harm done.

See G-code before exporting When using Slic3r I noticed that Slice now and Export G-Code do different things. While Slice now is nice, it does not show any tool paths etc. Is there an actual way to generate and visualize the G-code in Slic3r without saving the exported G-Code first? When aligning seams etc., it is quite annoying to always save the file to see a difference because Slice now seems to make little difference.

Using Repetier Host V2.1.2 and slicing with Slic3r (or with CuraEngine), there is an "edit Gcode" button under the Print Preview tab. It is located at the top right of the screen. With that button you can access, examine and change the Gcode of the project you are working on.

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

In general, resin printers can provide a level of detail that has to be viewed with a magnification device. The technology used in the printer will limit the resolution of the printed object. Laser based SLA printers will give the smallest resolution, while LCD panel based printers can be slightly more coarse. The specifications on the web site for that printer indicate an X/Y resolution of 57 microns, which is 0.057 millimeters. One-sixteenth of a millimeter is quite a high resolution when it comes to 3D models. According to the 'net HO scale is 1:87, described as 3.5 mm per foot, a peculiar comparison. Directly related to the resolution of the printer, 0.057 mm becomes 0.20 inches approximately. I suspect that an HO scale model does not require one-fifth of an inch detail level. OO scale is slightly larger and would pose even less of a concern regarding fine resolution objects.

Replicator+ Experimental Extruder Filament Slipping Error I'm experimenting with MakerBot's new "Experimental Extruder" which essentially opens their software (MakerBot Print) to change traditionally "behind-the-scenes" settings like retract rate/distance, nozzle diameter, etc. I am currently attempting to print with the following conditions: 0.8mm nozzle (brass) 0.6mm layer height 2 shells 5% infill 212 °C-215 °C extruder temperature The part is pretty much all an outer shell (see image) I know that the results of testing the Experimental Extruder with a larger nozzle often required a lower extrusion temperature and the retract rate/distance to be increased. While testing the Experimental Extruder, personally, I found success increasing the retract distance to 0.850mm. I know that this issue can be resolved by adjusting the extruder profile, but I'm continually running into issues with self-resolving "Filament Slip" errors which inevitably result in "Filament Jam" errors. So, I'm obviously not making adjustments to the correct settings. Here's the PrintMode file for reference: { "version": "0.1.0", "name": "TBM0115 Draft 0.8mm Nozzle 0.6mm LH", "settings": { "brimsModelOffset": 0.02, "doBrims": true, "doRaft": false, "extruderProfiles>0>defaultTemperature": 215, "extruderProfiles>0>extrusionProfiles>bridges>feedrate": 50, "extruderProfiles>0>extrusionProfiles>floorSurfaceFills>fanSpeed": 0.2, "extruderProfiles>0>extrusionProfiles>floorSurfaceFills>feedrate": 50, "extruderProfiles>0>extrusionProfiles>roofSurfaceFills>feedrate": 60, "extruderProfiles>0>extrusionVolumeMultiplier": 1, "extruderProfiles>0>nozzleDiameter": 0.8, "floorThickness": 1.2, "layerHeight": 0.6, "maxSparseFillThickness": 0.4, "modelFillProfiles>sparse>density": 0.05, "modelFillProfiles>sparse>pattern": "linear", "extruderProfiles>0>retractDistance": 0.9, "extruderProfiles>0>restartExtraDistance": 0.15, "doFixedShellStart": false, "extruderProfiles>0>extrusionProfiles>outlines>feedrate": 30, "numberOfBrims": 3, "numberOfInternalBrims": 3 } }

As the comment section doesn't allow to use too many characters, I've converted the comment into a proper answer. In the question is stated that: ... results of testing the Experimental Extruder with a larger nozzle often required a lower extrusion temperature... This is in contradiction with expectations. When the filament feed rate or volume increases, generally a higher temperature is required to heat up the filament because the resident time of the filament in the heatbreak and nozzle decreases. As the filament heat up time is shortened by the increased feed rate you should either: increase the temperature to get the filament center to also heat up. In fact, all your problems could be related to not heating up the filament too fast (filament jam or slip). When the center of the filament is not soft enough, it will be harder to push through the nozzle, hence the slip and the clogging, or decrease the print speed, decreasing the print speed will increase the filament resident time. As an example, a nozzle/layer height combo of respectively 0.4/0.3 lays down 4 mm³ per 100 mm, a 0.8/0.6 combo delivers about 30 mm³ for that same distance! This is a lot of heat that is dissipated and needs to be replenished. A reduction of print speed by a factor of 7.5 (30/4) will also address the increase in heat up time.

How do I calibrate the extruder of my printer? For my DIY coreXY printer I use 2.85 mm filament that is fed into an E3D clone hotend using a Bowden tube and a custom designed extruder with belt reduction centered around an Aluminium Bulldog extruder with an MK8 extruder gear. The reduction is necessary to create more torque to feed the filament correctly to prevent skipping and filament slipping and grinding. The prints show under-extrusion (e.g. shell lines and bottom layer lines not or barely touching). How can I calibrate my extruder to extrude just enough filament?

Basic process To calibrate the extruder you would need to verify that the requested amount of filament is actually what is being moved by the extruder. Structural or temporary problem A first thing to check when under or over-extrusion is encountered for a fresh spool of filament on a normally good working printer is to check the diameter of the filament with a caliper (see image below) and change this value accordingly in the slicer software of your choice and make a test print. If the problem persists or is present from the start of your purchase or build, please proceed. Note that there are two ways to change the extrusion, a simple solution is changing the extrusion multiplier in the slicer software, the better one is to fix the extrusion rate in the firmware. Please note that you should measure the filament diameter at several positions 3D printer There is a difference between DIY and commercial printers. Usually a commercial printer of decent quality rarely needs to be adjusted (as this is the job of the manufacturer). But cheap, commercial clones of well known printers, may need adjusting. Depending on the ability to change the settings of the software/firmware (closed or open source, or type of firmware), the user may (or may not) be allowed to change the values through configuration files or G-code commands. For DIY printers, the builder is responsible for the printer as a whole and thus entrusted with the software/firmware setup of the printer controller board. The chosen printer firmware and its configuration should be done based on the printer layout and used hardware (also electronics like stepper drivers, remember the micro steps setting) which e.g. determines the amount of steps that are required to move an axis a certain amount of millimeters (steps/mm). This also applies to the extruder stepper. To start with a value of steps per mm, you could search the internet for your extruder type and recalculate the steps/mm roughly keeping your specifically used micro step value of the used stepper driver (which is set by dip switches or jumper caps an the printer board) in mind. With this basic setting you will be able to do a test. Calibrate extruder (hot or cold) When you have a printer, or build a printer and uploaded a rough setting for the extruder steps per mm, please test the amount of extruded filament. It is customary to mark the filament with respect to a certain reference point, then extrude e.g. 100 mm, and then check the distance the mark on the filament has traveled. The distance should be 100 mm, if not, you should change the value of the steps/mm in the firmware. To extrude 100 mm you will need to send instructions to your printer over USB connection using a terminal or graphical user interface typically found in freeware applications as Pronterface, Repetier-Host, OctoPrint, etc. or by creating .gcode text files with specific instructions and load the models through the menu of the printer from e.g. SD-card. The G-code G1 E100 F100 commands the extruder stepper to move 100 mm in 100 mm per minute (please lookup if these G-codes are supported by your firmware!). Be sure that you have preheated the nozzle prior to extruding, many firmware's have built in protection to disallow extrusion below a certain temperature of the nozzle. For SD-card printing, e.g. for PLA you should preheat the nozzle to e.g. 195 °C with M109 S195 and as such must be placed before the actual extrusion command. If the measured distance is different than the instructed length, a simple calculation will determine your follow up actions. E.g. if the instructed length of 100 mm is in reality 95 mm, the extruder should extrude (100 - 95) / 95) * 100 = 5.2 % more, or similarly said, the extrusion needs to be multiplied by 1.052. This could be applied in the slicer, but when this is a structural problem you should fix this in the firmware itself. This can be done by adjusting the printer configuration file and uploading new firmware (and settings) or for some printer firmware solutions use the same method as previously used to instruct to extrude filament. The G-code for setting the extruder steps in Marlin firmware is M92 if done with codes. If the original value (can be obtained with the command M503) is e.g. 400 steps per mm, the value should be changed to 100/95 * 400 = 421 steps/mm. The command M92 E421 will set the new value which can be saved to memory (so that it is available after a printer power off/on cycle) using M500. When the configuration file approach is used, the following line in the configuration: /** * Default Axis Steps Per Unit (steps/mm) * Override with M92 * X, Y, Z, E0 [, E1[, E2[, E3[, E4]]]] */ #define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 100, 100, 200, 400 } needs to be adjusted to: #define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 100, 100, 200, 421 } You can do this a few times to fine tune the extrusion process. For people that have a Bowden setup and firmware that supports altering the minimum extrusion temperature, you could disconnect the Bowden tube to ignore the hotend heat up by temporarily disabling the cold extrusion limit (M302 will display the current value) with M302 S0. After calibration please remember to set it back, e.g. M302 S170. Do note that temperature and extrusion speed do influence the extrusion process, so you might want to fine tune the extrusion process at temperature. Now you printer extruder is tuned and should extrude the exact amount as instructed. Fine tuning Although the extruder may now be correctly tuned to extrude exactly the amount as instructed, the slicer may have a different view. Be sure to set the slicer extrusion multiplier to 1.0 when fine tuning the extruder/slicer combination. The ultimate fine tuning starts with printing an object with zero bottom and top layers and a single perimeter with a fine layer height (0.1 or 0.15 mm). Measure the thickness of the wall and adjust your slicer extrusion multiplier accordingly. The rationale behind this is that the extrusion of a hot polymer through a nozzle suffers from an effect called die swell where the extruded polymer diameter is larger than the nozzle diameter (see figure below); decreasing the multiplier counteracts this effect. Now your extruder and slicer should be optimally fine-tuned!

How to get rid of deforming small prints? When printing a big base on the bed, I got no warping, but once I print small part (3 or less inches wide), there is a bit of warping on my piece as I remove it. It is 2 inches wide by 1 mm thick by the base. It seems to be well sticked to the bed while printing, but once removed, it bends a bit. I tried multiple times and it bends at a different place. I was wondering if it may be thicker if it won't bend at all. Can you guys help me with it? Here my Slic3r settings: # generated by PrusaSlicer 2.1.0+win64 on 2019-10-19 at 11:38:38 UTC avoid_crossing_perimeters = 0 bed_temperature = 60 bottom_fill_pattern = rectilinear bottom_solid_layers = 7 brim_width = 5 cooling = 1 end_filament_gcode = "; Filament-specific end gcode \n;END gcode for filament\n" end_gcode = M104 S0 ; turn off temperature\nG28 X0 Y0 ; home X and Y axis\nG1 Z210 F5000 ; Send Z to top\nM84 ; disable motors\n ensure_vertical_shell_thickness = 1 external_perimeter_extrusion_width = 0.45 external_perimeter_speed = 50% extrusion_multiplier = 1 extrusion_width = 0.45 fan_always_on = 1 filament_diameter = 1.75 filament_settings_id = "FlyingBear Ghost 4" filament_type = PLA fill_angle = 45 fill_density = 20% fill_pattern = stars first_layer_bed_temperature = 65 first_layer_extrusion_width = 0.42 first_layer_height = 0.2 first_layer_speed = 30 first_layer_temperature = 200 infill_extrusion_width = 0.45 infill_overlap = 25% infill_speed = 80 layer_height = 0.1 nozzle_diameter = 0.4 perimeter_extruder = 1 perimeter_extrusion_width = 0.45 perimeter_speed = 45 print_settings_id = FlyingBear Ghost 4 printer_settings_id = FlyingBear Ghost 4 printer_technology = FFF retract_before_travel = 1 retract_before_wipe = 0% retract_layer_change = 1 retract_length = 0.8 retract_length_toolchange = 10 retract_lift = 0 retract_lift_above = 0 retract_lift_below = 209 retract_restart_extra = 0 retract_restart_extra_toolchange = 0 retract_speed = 40 seam_position = aligned As I said, I got no problem adhering to the bed, it's when I remove it from the bed it becomes deformed.

Pla is flexible and can be shaped at temperatures as low as 50 deg C. To prevent deforming your prints in removing them, you should wait for the bed to reach room temperature. This takes about 5 minutes after a print ended.

Ender 5 hotend and bed cooling down while auto bed leveling I have an Ender 5 with an auto bed leveling sensor (TRU-LEV 600). It is working fine, however, as the sensor probes the bed, the nozzle and the bed cool down and are not staying heated as it is getting the points, even though they were heated up in the first place. How do I stop the bed and hotend from cooling down while the bed is being probed? Here is my start G-code: M75; Start Print Timer and Engage Fil Sensor if USB Printing G92 E0; Reset Extruder distance to 0 G1 E-2; Retracts filament to prevent blobs during probing M84 E; Disable E Motor for probe accuracy on direct drive systems G28; home all axes G28 Z; home Z to get more accurate Z position G29; TRULEV mesh generation G4 S10; wait for heaters to recover M117 Purge extruder G92 E0; reset extruder G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0; move to start-line position G1 Z1.0 F3000; move z up little G1 X0.1 Y100.0 Z0.3 F750.0 E15; draw 1st line G1 X0.4 Y100.0 Z0.3 F5000.0; move to side a little G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F750.0 E30; draw 2nd line G92 E0; reset extruder G1 Z1.0 F3000; move z up little M117 Printing.....

For Marlin firmware, you should check the setting PROBING_HEATERS_OFF in Configuration.h file: //#define PROBING_HEATERS_OFF // Turn heaters off when probing #if ENABLED(PROBING_HEATERS_OFF) //#define WAIT_FOR_BED_HEATER // Wait for bed to heat back up between probes (to improve accuracy) #endif //#define PROBING_FANS_OFF // Turn fans off when probing //#define PROBING_STEPPERS_OFF // Turn steppers off (unless needed to hold position) when probing //#define DELAY_BEFORE_PROBING 200 // (ms) To prevent vibrations from triggering piezo sensors It is probably enabled in your case. You may want to switch this off and reinstall firmware to maintain constant heating during probing. However, you may want to take into account possibility of electrical or magnetic intereferences during probing from heaters and their circuits. Disabling them for a while may eliminate these influences and give more reliable measurements. Unless the bed ot hotend are unable to maintain stable temperature for a while and cool down too much (e.g. bed changing shape). So may want to experiment what works the best in your case, maybe including other settings listed in given section.

What do you do If the whole extruder is clogged? I have a prusa 13 that's shipping in the mail, and I intend to make good use of it, one also own a da vinci jr. and the one time it got so clogged that the extruder itself was filled with pla, with that said I replace the extruder, for the da vinci, but besides that, as for my a prusa, what should I do if the extruder, not the nozzle gets clogged that badly?

The extruder is not a single component, but a collection of components. From the top, you may have a bowden tube or a direct feed type of design. If the former, there's the bowden tube which extends into the heat sink. If it is a direct feed and not an all-metal design, there will be PTFE tubing inside the heat sink. The heat sink is a finned assembly, usually cylindrical, sometimes other shapes. Attached below that will be a threaded coupling called a heat break. Both the heat sink and heat break will be configured to have the same inside diameter, to allow the filament to pass through to the next stage. The heat break passes into the heater block. The nozzle passes into the heater block from the opposite side. The two items contact each other when properly assembled. If your nozzle is not blocked, but there is a blockage somewhere else, it would indicate that the PTFE tubing has become damaged or a piece of debris has managed to fall into the opening when filament was removed. The items are easily disassembled and the pathway for the filament can be cleared with a suitable tool. If a portion of the extruder assembly has previously filled with filament, the nozzle was not solidly secured to the heat break, or the PTFE filament had slipped back or was not fully inserted into the heat sink.

Fusion 360 Design Best Practices Question (Am I on the right track?) So I've designed a few components in Fusion 360, but I'm kinda new to CAD. I did the tutorials AutoDesk have on YouTube, modelled an Arduino enclosure, a shampoo bottle, a lamp shade, etc. but what I'm doing now isn't as straightforward... Before I used to create solids, but what I'm doing right now is essentially a flimsy plastic part, just a sheet of plastic with a rim, and some other "rib" features, and doing solids you have to make a sketch, and every line has to be doubled because of the thickness of the material. Today I'm trying surfaces after being clued by the "Thicken" command, I figured maybe that was more efficient, but I'm not sure if I'm on the right track. When I work with solids, I end-up with the option to join whatever new feature to the main body, but with surfaces I end-up with a bunch of bodies that are essentially supposed to be one, and I don't know how to join them together after. I guess they could be put together in a "component", but I think components are more like a nut is a solid, a bolt is a solid, and a component is a nut and a bolt, not a bolt head, and a threaded cylinder... So the way the software is made right now at this point, while it clued me to use surfaces, now it's cluing me that there's something I'm missing, or nor doing right... There's no CAD Stack Exchange site, and I realize this might be a bit specific, but the part is to be 3D printed, I bought a new 3D printer not long ago for a project, but I need to get better at CAD before I can make it... Attached is a screenshot of what I worked on, it's paths that I've extruded to create surfaces (tall edges), thickened those surfaces to create bodies, patched some surfaces to fill areas, thickened those as well (ended-up with stair-shaped corners that I fixed somehow), then I cut some bodies from the bodies below to end-up with that you see now... I think I'm on the right path with surfaces, but I don't think my workflow is right, and I was wondering if anyone could help me... Right now, there's supposed to be two screw wells in two corners of the circle, essentially wells with a hole in the bottom for a thumbtack to go through, and there's going to be a cap to cap it off, it's kind of the same process as what I've done so far, but like I said, I don't think I'm doing it right...

Ok, let's go down the main two ways to a part, and in practice you usually use both to design for 3D printing. Only for machining, you try to keep to the cutting method only. Cutting Method Building Method Cutting Method You start with a piece of "stock". A cube or cylinder created by extruding the simple shape. Now you go and create profiles that you either extrude into the part or rotate around the axis - your profile "cuts" the "stock". When doing this, you think of parts like a machinist: you remove the material as a mill or lathe would. Buildup Method You start with the profile of the piece, then extrude it, then add the next detail and so on. I work a lot with that, and you can have a lot of sketches in the end:

Cooling time query ABS I printed Thingiverse "Benchy" at the default Anet settings for ABS, hot end and bed, as a first test. The result was fair but needs a bit of tweeking. The model was removed from the "hot bed" and set aside to cool (room temp 23degC). However when I took the model to work next day (to show off obviously) the poor wee soul looked more like the wreck of the Hesparus with cracking across many of the layers. Any thoughts? Splitting was on the side closest to the fan.

As you may already know, ABS is one of the trickiest materials to print with, partly because of its high thermal coefficient, which in turns leads with warping and cracks when not dealt with properly. The keys to successfully deal with this aspect of ABS are two: cooling it slowly and cooling it uniformly. Typically you achieve this by using an enclosure. Enclosures can range in quality and price dramatically: there are professional grade ones that are fire and sound proof, maintain a negative pressure, filter the exhaust air and cost a few thousands euros... or you could get away with something as simple as using a cardboard box. Probably, one of the most common solutions is to use an IKEA lack table and some acrylic or wooden panes as it provides a durable, effective solution at a very low cost. Anyway: the reason why an enclosure works is because it traps the air that has been heated by your heating bed, thus "immersing" the full print (not just the bottom layer) in it. In turn, this means that: The difference between the extruded temperature and the final one is less. The gradient of temperatures across the height of the printer volume is also less. The print is shielded by random air drafts, like the one you would generate by approaching the printer to check it When you stop applying heat (print is over, heating bed off) the print will cool very gently. Now, about that fan... Using a fan actually increases the speed at which your part cools, so - intuitively - one may believe a fan is a bad idea with ABS. However a fan is essential if your print has any type of non-trivial overhangs, and - in general - prints done using a fan (in any material) have better details. Again, with an enclosure, using a fan is seldom a problem as your fan will cool the ABS rapidly but only down to the temperature of the air in the enclosure (most commonly somewhere between 50°C and 80°C). If your print is very small (like a benchy) and you don't want to try with an enclosure, you could still try to improve your situation by: simply reducing the speed of the fan (so to only "partially cool" the part) using a fan duct that distributes the air jet more heavenly around the extruded filament. Typically these are 3D printable parts that you find in forums and groups of a given printer model users. Here's a semi-circular one for the Anet A8, for example.

Is there a more efficient methods of removing support in a model? Is there a way of reducing the amount and strength of Model support when slicing in Cura? Cleaning a model with large amounts of support can consume large amounts of time.

There's a lot that can be done to improve the removability of supports, and much of this is not widely known/published. One big wrong default in Cura that contributes to problems with support is Limit Support Retractions, which defaults to on. This causes heavy stringing between components of the support structure that should be separate, and poor layer adhesion between layers of the support and between layers of whatever is printed right after the support (!!), making support more brittle and difficult to remove in clean chunks. This setting should be turned off. I find Enable Support Brim is also useful. Its nominal purpose is to make supports adhere to the bed better, but it also gives them more of a solid bottom so that the structure is rigid and admits snapping off as a chunk. A nonzero Support Wall Line Count (it's zero by default for zigzag and most support patterns, but one by default for support tree and others) can make chunks of support easier to remove by making them more rigid. Connect Support Lines (also called zig_zaggify_infill) helps with rigidity too, and with reducing time wasted on retractions once you turn off Limit Support Retractions. Aside from these less-well-known tunables, the obvious ones are Support Z Distance and Support X/Y Distance, especially Z. You can increase this slightly from the default to make supports easier to remove, but it will hurt the quality of the surface just above the support (making it less flat, more stringy like a bridge). And the biggest one of all is Support Angle. Generally increase it as high as you can go, after doing some test prints to determine the maximum overhang angle you can print without support. This will save material and make it easier to remove what supports remain. Finally, aside from support options, you want to make sure you don't have underlying print problems causing oozing, bulging, or other dimensional-accuracy/extrusion-accuracy issues. This is because any material that is printed or expands into the wrong place will, if it's adjacent to support material, bond to the support material and make it hard to remove.

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

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

Pause, rehome X/Y, resume Every now and then I'll have a problem with layer shift. Solving this is a separate issue, but it occurred to me: most of the time when this happens I notice right away because of the noise. What if there were an easy to to pause the print, re-home the X/Y axis (not Z), and then resume. I'd only have one layer that was a bit off. Sometimes that's enough to ruin the print but sometimes I could clean up with a razor knife later and just live with the small scarring and weakness. Is there a way to do this during a print? I suspect it might require support within the printer (or print tool like OctoPrint), and might also depend on how the print is sliced in terms of knowing absolute vs relative coordinates at any given moment.

Have you tried this? It should just work, at least if you're using software like Octoprint to control the printer over serial interface rather than print-from-SD-card on the printer itself. In such a setup you're free to submit whatever commands (in particular, G28 X Y) you like while the print is paused. You'll need it setup to save and restore position across pause/resume, or the next command executed might start from the wrong starting position; this would be no problem if it's a travel command, but if it's an extrusion move it would make a mess. If you're using the printer's builtin pause/resume functionality, I'm not sure whether it will work. It mainly depends on whether it lets you access the homing function while paused. If not this is more of a logic limitation than any fundamental incapability, and could be fixed in the firmware.

Delta printer nozzle not moving square with a perfectly level bed (as if the bed is bent... but it isn't) I've been having this problem with my delta 3D printer where my nozzle isn't moving flat with my print bed (as if the bed is bent) but I have used the edge of my steel ruler and it seems to be perfectly flat. I have properly leveled my bed with a piece of paper and have checked the whole printer to make sure it's square but the problem continues. What else could be the problem? Addition info (from comments) The gap grows and shrinks in a parabolic manner and it makes it impossible to get a good first layer. the printer is a FLsun Delta Kossel. The links don't appear to be loose. Is there a way I could share a video? Upon further inspection I found a bit of play in one of the links, I tightened the bolt and the play is gone but it didn't fix the problem. I have been playing around a bit and I found that the nozzle is closer to the bed in the center than it is near the edge. I did some research and it's a calibration issue but I have no idea how to fix it. Does anyone know a quick and easy way to calibrate a Kossel Delta 3D printer?

Delta radius controls how the print head moves from the outside to the center. From the comment you posted, it sounds like your radius is too large which is causing it to hit in the center and you need to make it smaller to bring the center up. This is not always a number you can directly change as it is sometimes calculated using other offsets so you will need to find that in your firmware. Also after doing this you're likely going to need to adjust endstops for each tower again or the Z travel to fix your 0 point. I would recommend following the steps listed here for your calibration.

Order of a HEPA filter and Carbon filter in a filter-stack I am going to make a filter for the enclosure of a 3D printer and want to remove both VOC's (with activated carbon) and Ultra Fine Particles (with a HEPA filter). But in what order should the filters be? I am thinking that if I put the HEPA first, one will get carbon dust into the air (and that is probably not harmful), and if I put the carbon filter first the carbon will be clogged up with UFP faster and the HEPA will be clogged up with carbon dust.

The easiest way is to look at a profesional dry filter stack first to learn how a filter stack is usually made. So, let me grab my Dyson vacuum cleaner. On the intake side I get the following stack: large particle trap foam filter for medium particles HEPA filter Incidentally, that's the same setup as my Shop-Vaccum has (though the foam filter gets replaced by a paper bag) When I googled other dry filters, I found these filter stacks as common: large particle wavy paper filter then combined Carbon-HEPA filter (carbon first) 2 x Nylon-Mesh, Carbon, HEPA The idea is to reduce the particulate grain the deeper you go into the filter. The rough filter is cleanable, the carbon filter traps chemicals and odor that might damage the HEPA filter, the HEPA filter catches any remaining particles. If you want to know more about various filter types and applications, you might want to read an article on engineering 360. Safety pointer Carbon dust is not not harmful - it is both flammable to explosive, as well as resulting in Black Lung (Coalworker's pneumoconiosis) if it is thrown into the air like in a mine. However, commercially produced carbon filters don't usually release any coal dust: after making the activated coal, the product is shaped (as you can see in this manufacturer video) and sorted into various grains, like in the photo below. These granulate are then put into the carbon filter and trapped in a mesh that is small enough to keep them even after having been broken apart some. Very fine grains like the Bead Barbon are usually used in wet applications. In a kitchen, you have sticks of 3-4 mm diameter, often trapped in a metal mesh. ABC-Mask filters usually use very porous carbon-grains in the half to millimeter grain size, trapped between paper sheets.

Bonding PETG to glass I'm thinking of trying my hand at fabricating microfluidic devices. I'll be using a filament based on PETG (Zortrax's Z-glass filament, which is translucent and resistant to acids and bases). For my plan to work, I'll need to find a good way to bond the PETG model onto a glass microscope slide. What is the best technique for doing this? Should I use epoxy resin or some other adhesive, or can I solvent bond it? I've heard stories about PETG permanently bonding to a glass print bed, so it seems plausible that solvent bonding might work. Will it work, and if so, what solvent should I use?

The solvents that can dissolve PET are pretty nasty -- I wouldn't personally handle any of them outside a lab fume hood. If you have that, a 50/50 mix of MEK and methylene chloride should work. (Increase MEK ratio if you want faster adhesion / less working time, and vice versa.) First thing I would try is printing directly onto the (super clean) glass. Print the first layer at high temp to try to get a good bond. Then over-extrude to get watertight perimeters. It MIGHT be better to print on a cold bed to keep the PET from popping off when the glass cools, but you would need to do some experimenting. You could also try heating the slide to the melting temp of PET on a hot plate and then attaching the printed part. Failing that, a transparent superglue could be a good approach.

Choosing the most high quality, reliable 3D printer I work in a biological laboratory where we have been using the FABtotum personal fabricator for several months now. The machine is good, however not flawless, and has set us back from doing experiments. I have overcome many common 3D printing issues, which I find necessary to do when becoming proficient in this technique. However the printer has also had its own personal mechanical and software issues. Our lab is seeking a printer that is more reliable, can produce parts relatively quick, good resolution, and it is nice if it has multiple modes (i.e FDM, SLA, and even 3D scanning is nice). This is what we figured we were getting with the FABtotum, but as I mentioned it has produced setbacks. Now I would love to tinker with the printer and modify it to my needs, but unfortunately our lab is strapped for time, however we have funding for a higher quality printer if there is one. Can you anyone recommend a printer fitting these needs in these budget categories?: 3000 USD 5000 USD 8000 USD or more I know price doesn't equate quality, but I am saying that we are willing to pay more if that is where the quality lies. For example, I have come across the Form 2, Ultimaker, and BCN3D sigma printers which seem quite nice. Any opinions are very appreciated.

At work we have a Stratasys Polyjet. It prints using UV cured gel; so, it is kind of a cross between FDM and SLA. I have not used it personally, it is mostly used byt the ME group. The parts I have seen that it produces are VERY good and it support different materials and even multiple materials. They have a lot of different product levels so they can support different price points. The only complaint I have heard is the material cost. It can print some amazing stuff Here is a nice video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMMJnn_gHWw

How to calculate the strength of a printed object? If I'm working with standard PLA, and I want to print a box that I can stand on without any risk of it breaking, is there any good way to calculate the appropriate print settings? I know that structural strength comes from the infill. Knowing this, and knowing the dimensions of the box, the weight of my body, the surface area of my shoes, and the material I'm working with, is there any good way to determine the minimum infill percentage I'd want to use in order to safely bear my weight?

Strictly speaking, it is difficult to do calculations on these materials, but not impossible (I've heard about a few commercial analysis tools that do that). The FDM process (Fused Deposition Modeling) creates a product based of fused slices of material causing an anisotropic material (this means that the properties of the material are different in different dimensions). Basically, your product will be quite strong and similar in the X and Y directions, but fragile in the Z direction (layering direction). You can imagine that every layer may be a seed for cracks to grow when you're pulling at the part. When applying a compression load on a product like in your example, the walls need to be strong enough to hold the pressure (not all of the load as, based on the type of infill, the infill also can/should take part of the load!) and need to be of sufficiently high percentage, not only to take part of the load, but also support the walls to prevent buckling. I remember that stress calculations for buckling are difficult and require FEA (Finite Element Analysis) for more complex objects other than bars or beams. I think it is difficult to determine or calculate the infill percentage based on the compression load beforehand as you do not know the exact material properties and the buckling behavior. You do know that a 100% infill will give you enough strength and support, you could try to print at a lower infill, e.g. 75%, and test if that works for you.

How to make a steel mold from a 3D print in high detailed resin? I'm looking for information on how to make a steel mold from 3D print model using high detailed Resin. My model is a custom made figurine/mininature of 6 inch. Can anyone share companies that can make high detailed steel molds either in US or China. Thanks, -Uday.

Unless you have proven demand, you should start with aluminum tooling. It's much cheaper than steel, and (I'm assuming you want this for injection molding) you can produce quite a decent amount of parts from aluminum tooling if you handle it carefully. Why do you want your tooling to be based on a 3D print model? Typically, for greatest accuracy, the tool and die company works from your original CAD work that you printed the 3D model from. In terms of companies, Protolabs does plastic injection molding: https://www.protolabs.com/injection-molding/plastic-injection-molding/

Is it possible to attach a laser engraver to a SLA / resin 3D printer? While trying to figure out if I should start 3D printing with FDM (Creality Ender 3) or with SLA (Elegoo Mars), I got hooked on the bonus feature of attaching a laser upgrade on the 3d printer to make paper cutouts and cards. I read that its quite easy for the Ender 3 and dozens of other FDM printer, but I could not find anything about adding a laser to resin printers. Question: Is it possible at all to attach a laser engraving module to a SLA 3D Printer like it can be done to FDM? Additional information about pro/cons regarding this topic would be nice and are truly welcome.

Not with consumer equipment. FDM printers are functionally three-axis motion control machines: "extrude quantity W material at position X Y Z, continue to next W, X, Y, and Z." Adapting it to control a laser position is a relatively simple task, because most of the logic is the same. "fire laser for W duration" instead of "extrude quantity W material". Moving the laser around is functionally similar to moving the print head around. Consumer SLA (aka "DLP" or "mSLA") is an entirely different logic, a different process. It is effectively layer-by-layer snapshots, rather than multi-axis motion control. They do a whole layer at a time, then lift the whole object up for the next layer: "flash layer 1 for W duration, lift bed Z, proceed to layer 2." Professional/industrial SLA printers that use lasers exist (like SLS), but they're tuned to precisely cure photopolymer resins, not cut things.

Why is glass a widely recommended option for the print bed? Glass is really bad at transferring heat. Therefore using it with heated bed seems to be a strange solution since it will not be transferring heat from bed to the print. However every article I see says it is actually good solution for printing. The reason I am concerned is that I have pretty large bed (500x500 mm) which is pretty hard to keep flat. And in this case glass would be a good top surface that will keep bed rather flat. But same time I am concerned that it will kill the benefit of heated bed (PCB style) and will require higher bed temperature to get glass surface to equal temperature.

I suggest to look at a similar question, but just the glass question here: Glass is a very smooth surface Glass shrinks when cooling to a degree it pops the print free on itself Glass is virtually impossible to scratch with metal scrapers Glass stays fairly flat under heating Refurbishing of the bed isn't needed but for applying your adhesion solution (Woodglue, Gluestick, Hairspray, 3DLac, ABS-Slurry... pretty much ANY glue can work Glass is one of the few surfaces upon which almost all materials can be printed without risking ruining your print surface on removal PETG is one of the few that demands some sort of extra adhesion material with glass, most others don't need anything. POM and some other materials love to rip PEI apart I had a huge PLA-print stick so well to a BuildTak that I had to cut the sheet off the bed to get it off The problems are fairly evident on the other hand: Glass is brittle and shatters on impact or thermal stress. Good glass can become rather expensive if you want a super flat sheet in non-standard sizing and a specific type. Large glass sheets need a very even heater to prevent thermal stress. Borosilicate? Borosilicate glass ("labware" glass) is more resistant to thermal stress but also does not pop free from the print the same way as normal glass does. It is also more sturdy but MUCH more expensive. It also comes with its own problems: Some people have experienced spalling in combination with PETG, as it created a perfect airtight seal, making an adhesive as a separation layer mandatory. This behavior was also reported for normal glass, which is why an adhesive material is strongly suggested for this material.

OpenSCAD render (F6) fails with "ERROR: CGAL error in CGAL_Nef_polyhedron3()" I built a model and it previewed correctly. When rendering for STL export (F6), I got an assertion error: ERROR: CGAL error in CGAL_Nef_polyhedron3(): CGAL ERROR: assertion violation! Expr: e->incident_sface() != SFace_const_handle() File: /mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.static.posix/include/CGAL/Nef_S2/SM_const_decorator.h Line: 329 Most of the model rendered correctly, but one component disappeared. Moving the object didn't change the problem, but isolating just the disappearing part gave me a correct render of that part.

Reading between the lines on other forums, I found that the GCAL renderer will render a malformed object, but it will fail when a binary operator, such as union or intersection, is applied to that object. There was a discussion about degenerate points (two points in a polygon list that were the (nearly) the same values. I had this situation, but fixing it did not solve the problem. I rederived the face lists, and found that for one face the vertices were listed in the opposite order from the others. Rather then using right-hand-rule, I had used left-hand-rule. Reordering the vertices for the one face fixed the problem. There was no way to see the problem from the preview. A more useful diagnostic message would have been helpful, or a tool for checking polyhedra for being manifolds could have saved me hours of experimenting and failing.

Getting better support than Slic3r generates I found a nice model for a ship from the game "Eve". It doesn't have a flat bottom, so it needs support material. But Slic3r generates several dozen tiny support pillars, and one by one they break loose from the build plate. As they get tall, the leverage of course increases, and since they're so tiny they don't have much area in contact with the bed, so they separate. Eventually the whole model broke free, turned a bit, and since I had gone to dinner it kept printing... see below. I think the main problem is the poor support material geometry, but the controls in Slic3r for support material don't seem to give many options. How can I get better support material layout? Oh, this is PLA, by the way. (appending to question to be able to put in the picture) I tried a bunch of things, and the MeshMixer support, plus fiddling with several settings, got it to come out pretty well. Thanks to all, esp. @Tormod!

I know many Slic3r users - myself included - add support material to the model itself before importing it into Slic3r. I personally favour MeshMixer for support generation, as the supports are much more predictable and easily removable. In complicated cases I also add supports in my CAD software. Although a not free, the support generation in Simplify3D is supposed to be great, allowing for custom placement. I also found this review that compares support settings in Meshmixer, Slic3r and Cura fairly well. Here is the summary: Meshmixer This support was the most efficient in material use however it required the most manual tweaking to print properly. In addition the marks it left once removed were more noticeable than Cura and (sometimes) Slic3r. While the settings could probably be further modified to improve the performance this support type appears the most limited for future improvements. Slic3r The support's performance was variable - by far the best in some situations (fox's head and tale) however the worst to remove with the most obvious marks in other areas of the same model. This may be down to my chosen settings and with some more tweaking I may get better results. The most obvious general flaw is that it does not leave a big enough gap between the support and the unsupported areas of the model (like the foxes legs or the lower roots of the planter) Cura While some of the support left marks, overall it was the easiest to generate support which performed consistently well. Once again though slight tweaks could improve this further for specific models. Overall Cura wins my "no time to tweak - got to make it work now" award.

At which point does a delta 3d printer change the G-code in order to work in its non-cartesian design? For example, to make a DIY cartesian 3d printer you could use/do the following: Create G-code using a program of your choice. Load it into Universal G-code Sender (GRBL). Pass it into an Arduino with GRBL. The arduino can pass the instructions to the drivers through a GRBL arduino uno shield. The drivers will control the steppers. If you want to make a DYI delta 3d printer, which point of this whole process needs to be altered in order for the delta printer to work properly? Is there an existing open source software for delta printers/cncs? EDIT: This question could be asked about any kind of non-cartesian 3d printer, including Delta, SCARA, Polar, etc.

The short answer is that the handling of the non-cartesian design is done by the motion-control firmware running on the Arduino. The long answer: I don't believe GRBL supports non-cartesian designs, and it is not commonly used for printers. It is more often used for mills, routers, or laser machines. 3D printers will typically use a firmware such as Marlin, which supports several printer designs, including Delta machines. At no point is the g-code itself changed. The motion control firmware running on the Arduino or other controller interprets the g-code and determines which way and when to step each motor to accomplish the motion. With a simple cartesian machine, commands for the X-axis only relate to the X-axis motor, but for a non-cartesian machine the axis and motors have complex relationships. The firmware must be programmed and configured to control the motors correctly. The g-code itself is never passed to the drivers. The commands to the driver are simple electrical signals to "enable" (to energize the motor power - even to just hold position), "direction" (which way to rotate the motor shaft), and "step" (which causes the motor to rotate by one step in the selected direction).

What is the difference between STL and OBJ files and which one should I use? One of the CAD programs I use is called TinkerCAD, which lets you export your design in either STL or OBJ form. What is the difference between these two file types? And which one is better to use?

STL is the de facto standard in consumer-grade 3D printing. It is a bare-bone format that describes the shape of the object by defining the coordinates of all the vertices of all triangles that a surface may be subdivided into. This means that in STL any curved surface is represented with an approximation of many very small faces. OBJ is also somewhat common, but it was originally developed for computer graphics, not manufacturing, and as such is capaple to store information like the texture images to be applied to the surface, which are of no use in the 3D printing world. In terms of geometry description, OBJ is more capable than STL, as it can describe "real" curves, without the need to approximate them to a series of polygons. The benefit of this feature is however more theoretic than practical, as: most entry-level CAD software don't make use of that feature and create a STL-equivalent OBJ file (so, still with polygons) a typical STL model for 3D printing will have enough resolution to give the illusion of perfect curves (the same way a high-res screen gives the illusion of perfect curves, despite its pixels being arranged in a squared matrix), the slicer/printer's firmware may themselves approximate an accurate curve to a series of segments Short said, I would suggest you use STL unless you have a specific reason not to. If you would find yourself in need to accurately describe curves I would rather use the STEP file format, as that has been specifically created for manufacturing, rather than "borrowed" from computer graphics.

Cleaning E3D hotend and tuning with Cura? I just received my E3D v6 hotend and I am installing it on the open source design of a Prusa i3. How do I clean my hotend after each print and after using different filaments?

Usually there is no need to clean the hotend, as filament sticks well to itself rather than to the inside of the hotend. If there are remains - the simplest way to clean it up is to extrude 5-10 cm of new filament, which will gather all remainings clean the hotend. The above concerns changing filament in the same group of plastic. So if you print PLA you can switch colors/manufacturers and so on without issues. The same goes for ABS. There is also usually no problem when switching from PLA to ABS. The worst scenario is to switch from ABS to PLA. This is because the extruding temperature of these two materials is different. Unfortunately ABS can have such a high melting temperature that the PLA will burn. So having a dirty hotend with ABS remainings, there is no way to extrude PLA to clean the hotend because the PLA temperature will not result in melting ABS. It can eventually lead to total plug of HE. So what can you do when you are in such a situation (ABS -> PLA)? You can clean the hotend first with ABS. Extrude some, wait until it is cold, ease the springs and pull or tear out the filament from the hotend. If you are stuck you can use special drills to clean the nozzle. But to totally omit the issue you can have two hotends :) One for ABS and one for PLA ;) But I think you can manage cleaning if you apply what I've written above.

Software to record hot end temperature? Is there a software package that when I have my printer connected directly to my PC via USB could record and export hot end temperature data overtime? Ideally this data would be recorded in a way that I could export it and manipulate it in the likes of Excel. E.g. I see Pronterface has a temperature graph but it doesn't seem possible to export this. I know Simplify3D has a temperature plot in the machine control panel, anyone know if you can export from this?

I don't know if using OctoPrint is an option. If so, there is a plugin that claims to do exactly this. And you could probably find a few more if you looked for them. Note that I have no first hand experience with this plugin, but I can vouch for OctoPrint being convenient and by default it shows a temperature graph. It might even be relatively easy to write your own plugin to accomplish this. This will mostly depend on your comfort with coding in Python/JavaScript. As a sidenote: if your printer is connected directly to your computer via USB, chances are pretty high it is a simple serial connection. Having multiple programs use this connection at once is not possible as far as I know. This implies that you will not be able to have your current software send it G-code lines while having another one recording the temperature values sent back from the printer.