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In Cura, can I make my top and bottom layer be all perimiters? I'm using Cura to slice my prints. I've noticed that when printing the bottom layer (and also the top layer, if it's flat), it first prints three walls, then fills in the middle by moving back and forth in straight lines. I've noticed that for my parts, the walls look much nicer than the zig-zag pattern in the middle, and it also seems that the zig-zag part detaches from the bed quite easily, whereas the walls don't. My parts would look much better, and possibly also stick better to the bed, if I set the number of walls to 100 or so, so that the parts would be entirely filled in with walls. But then the parts would be completely solid, which isn't what I want. So what I want to achieve is that the bottom layer (and if possible also the top layer) are printed as if the part was composed entirely of walls, but the other layers are printed with three walls as normal. Is this possible in Cura?

I found the answer myself just after posting - I'm posting it because it might be helpful to other Cura novices. There is a setting for this, it's just that it's not shown by default. In print settings, you have to click on the three lines next to the search box, and select "Show All Settings". Then you can find a setting called "Top/Bottom Pattern". Setting this to "concentric" does what I described. Actually this setting affects not just the top and bottom layers, but all layers that are part of the top and bottom shell. This seems like a good thing, but if you really want to affect just the bottom layer, there's a setting "Bottom Pattern Initial Layer" that does this. There is also a setting under "Experimental" called "Top Surface Skin Pattern" that I think does the same for just the top layer. In addition to "Concentric" there is also a "Zig Zag" option that's quite similar to the default "Lines" mode. You can also change the visibility of settings in the preferences menu, to make these settings show up by default.

Extruder clicking issue with MKS Board v1.5 So I know there have been several clicking Extruder threads but have not found any solutions to the one I am having. Background: I have a custom Prusa like 3d printer fitted with an MKS board (v1.5) and an MK3 Extruder. The issue: While i can extrude fine when ordering some extrusion, as soon as i start to print an object the extruder just starts "clicking". What I have tried so far: Changing motors: I have tried using a new motor which I know it works and the problem persists. I have adjusted the stepper driver voltages, and the problem persists. I have changed the PSU and the problem persists. Changing the whole board: I have changed the whole board with a brand new one and the problem persists. I am out of options here. So now the only logical explanation is that the both boards (the old and new) have exactly the same problem, i.e. the extruder stepper driver is bad in some way. Yet again, it works fine when simply extruding... Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

There is one reason why extruders "click": the material can't be melted and advanced fast enough. There are two likely reasons why your extruder works when used manually, but not during a print: 1. The temperature is not hot enough for the speed (volume per second) demanded by the print. Have you verified that you're using the proper temperature, and that the head is reaching the proper temperature? 2. There is too much resistance on the delivery. Have you verified that the Z positioning is not too close, causing back pressure and interfering with the deposition?

Correct nozzle replacement I have a Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3D Printer and have tried to replace the nozzle. The nozzles I bought turned out to be too small. What are the important specifications of a nozzle? Thread size Thread length That plastic tube thing? Monoprice is very bad at publishing the specs, can I work it out with a caliper?

This is a so-called MK10 nozzle, it is larger than the normal nozzles you find (as you found out). There are quite a few questions on this nozzle, with e.g. this answer or this answer. This nozzle uses M7 (metric threads of 7 mm) to have more room to fit the PTFE tube (white tube) in the nozzle itself. This tube forms the barrier between the heating source and the filament feed so that it does not melt too soon. You can find these nozzles on those typical auction websites by searching for "MK10 and M7". When you have ordered the correct nozzle you could reuse the existing PTFE liner if it has not degraded or damaged, or buy replacement PTFE tube of 4 mm outer diameter and 1.9 or 2 mm inner diameter and cut a similar sized replacement liner.

Very low strength of HIPS prints - Why? I'm using a Prusa i3 MK3S printer. After ~8 months of printing PLA, PET-G, ABS I decided to buy some HIPS and print something with it. I cannot print >1 filaments at once, so I'm not using it as a support for ABS, I want to create some high durability working models, like gears, robot parts etc. While the quality of my models is perfect, unfortunately their strength is disappointingly low. They easily undergo plastic deformation or break. I've tried lots of settings, some yielding better or worse results, but the problem is present regardless. My settings: Printer: Prusa i3 MK3S Nozzle: Default 0.4 mm nozzle for Prusa Layer Height: 0.2-0.3 mm Temperature: 230-240 °C nozzle, 100-110 °C bed Slicer: PrusaSlicer 2.0.0 I've read lots of tutorials regarding HIPS printing and they did not give me the answer to my question... Am I doing something wrong or is it normal for High Impact PolyStyrene? At this point, the High Impact Polystyrene seems less High Impact than generic PLA.

It might. If HIPS is a single material with consistent properties, it might have a narrower temperature range. Online references suggest up to 240 °C. Try that, then 245 and 250 °C. Maybe higher.

MKS GEN L unknown motherboard error This is my first time asking for some help on here and I have Googled, but only found a few reference to this issue. I know I am doing something dumb but I have no clue what it is. I get an unknown motherboard error every time I try to setup my MKS GEN L. At first I found that in the boards.h file there was no reference to this board and the pins.h file was not there either. I have added both of these in and still nothing. I have checked the configuration.h and as far as I can tell I cannot find the error. I have tried this in 1.1.9 and 2.x of marlin and get the same error. The message is: Arduino: 1.8.9 (Windows 10), Board: "Arduino Mega or Mega 2560, ATmega2560 (Mega 2560)" In file included from sketch\MarlinConfig.h:33:0, from C:\Users\name\OneDrive\Desktop\Ender 5 1.1.61 version (1)\Ender 5 1.1.61 version\Marlin\Marlin.ino:31: pins.h:235:4: error: #error "Unknown MOTHERBOARD value set in Configuration.h" #error "Unknown MOTHERBOARD value set in Configuration.h" ^~~~~ In file included from sketch\MarlinConfig.h:39:0, from C:\Users\jcgra\OneDrive\Desktop\Ender 5 1.1.61 version (1)\Ender 5 1.1.61 version\Marlin\Marlin.ino:31: SanityCheck.h:311:6: error: #error "BABYSTEP_ZPROBE_OFFSET requires a probe." #error "BABYSTEP_ZPROBE_OFFSET requires a probe." ^~~~~ SanityCheck.h:624:8: error: #error "Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN requires the Z_MIN_PIN to be defined." #error "Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN requires the Z_MIN_PIN to be defined." ^~~~~ SanityCheck.h:909:4: error: #error "HEATER_0_PIN not defined for this board." #error "HEATER_0_PIN not defined for this board." ^~~~~ exit status 1 #error "Unknown MOTHERBOARD value set in Configuration.h" This report would have more information with "Show verbose output during compilation" option enabled in File -> Preferences. My config file is as follows Config.h. Please let me know if there is anything else you might need to help with this matter and thank you for your time and attention.

The MKS GEN L board was added in Marlin release 1.1.7 . According to the configuration file you've linked and previous Marlin releases, your copy of Marlin is release 1.1.6. While all Marlin releases before 1.1.7 had "010100" as "CONFIGURATION_H_VERSION", earlier versions had less features than listed in your configuration file. In Marlin 2.0.x, the MKS GEN L is also available. Since you said it was also unavailable in 2.0.x, please provide a copy of your entire 2.0.x setup.

Good (preferably free) Beginner Software for Part Creation? What software is best for the basest of n00bs when it comes to 3D parts creation? I have a heavy math background and know how to create explicit functions of volume, surface area, center of mass, etc. Ideally, I'd like a program that uses those strengths but I realize that most n00bs have a crippling math phobia so I'm not holding my breath. I tried freeCAD once and made some headway but the next time I turned my computer on, it refused to open. It was just a weakling netbook that I don't even have in my possession anymore but the computer I'm currently using is rather slow and doesn't seem to have much memory left either, so I still need something lightweight. tl;dr: Seeking a free, lightweight program to create .stl files that is good for n00bs that are not afraid of math.

I don't have a heavy math background, but enjoy using such skills when applicable. If you've not yet explored OpenSCAD, you may find that it meets your qualifications. It's more or less a scripting/descriptive language "compiler" that takes ordinary text and converts it to your model design. I use quotes, because I'm not skilled enough to qualify it as a true compiler, although it works in a similar manner and may indeed be a compiler. It meets another qualification of yours in that it's free and there's quite a supportive mailing list/forum for any questions or difficulties that arise. If you look on Thingiverse using OpenSCAD as a search term, you'll find others' code available for examination and integration into your own models. For the folks who are not so much into the math and text and logic, there's a GUI of sorts for OpenSCAD called BlocksCAD that allows drag and drop of various modules in a manner akin to Scratch programming. I'd been using OpenSCAD long enough that I found BlocksCAD to overly complicate the creation of models by obscuring details. It may be better suited for younger model makers in that respect. Syntax and punctuation errors would be eliminated with BlocksCAD, while it's far too easy to create such errors in the editor for OpenSCAD. One gets used to it and error count quickly is reduced.

Proper way to power down a FDM printer I just got my first 3D printer today, QIDI X-ONE[2], and so far so good with the setup and getting my 1st print. I wanted to power off the printer, but I don't see any instructions on how to properly power off the machine. Does anyone know how long I should wait, or what the minimum temperature would be safe to power down the machine?

[TL:DR] - If you can comfortably hold the nozzle with your fingers, you are good to go In order to understand how long one should wait, it is important to understand why one has to wait. All modern consumer-grade FDM printers have their printing head made of two assemblies: the cold end, where the extruder stepper motor is located and the filament must be in solid state, and the hot end, where the filament is actually melted and pushed through the nozzle. Between the two there is a thin-walled length of pipe called heat break, whose purpose is to keep the two separate and make difficult for heat to reach the cold end by conduction. However, the heat break is not "watertight", and heat also transmits via the convecting motion of air and IR radiation, so the cold end is actively cooled (most commonly with a fan). The reason you want to wait before switching off the printer is that you want to keep that fan spinning until there is no chance for the heat to creep up and melt the filament in the cold end. If the filament were to melt in the cold end, the extruder would clog and you would probably need to disassemble it. In order to make sure the cooling happens, you have to make sure that your G-code tells the printer to stop heating the nozzle, after the print is done. All slicers that I know of have a specific configuration setting called "end G-code" or something similar where you can manually insert the code you want to execute at the end of each print. The part relevant to your question could look like this: M104 S0 ; turn off heating block If you want to get fancy and your hardware has a beeper you may also try: M109 S60 ; wait for nozzle temp to drop to 60 °C M300 S300 P1000 ; make a beep sound Typically "end G-code" has other stuff too (move the head out of the way, switch off the heated bed, disable the idle hold of the steppers...) Just make sure to move the nozzle away from the printer as your first action: you don't want the hot nozzle to linger idle above the print and ruin its top layer!

Underextrusion after travel moves with PETG/Colorfab XT I came across several issues which seem to have been lowered. Firstly, I changed from a 0.4 to a 0.5 mm nozzle. Because of the backpressure I was not able to print my PETG (Colorfabb XT filament) below 270°C which caused unresolvable oozing. After that I was able to extrude till 230°C. The left print below shows the result. I disassembled the hotend, there was no leak or whatsoever. Maybe it was too cold for printing. However, the temperature displayed was 250°C. Then I replaced the cheap aluminum heat block with a copper alloy based one. After that my PIDs did not work anymore. I had to greatly enhance the d-term, otherwise there was a big overshoot. Guess there was a serious heat conducting issue with the old BQ hotend. Anyway, from there it became better. However, I noticed that I still have severe underextrusion after travel moves (second piece, first picture, first piece, second picture). I use Cura, so I activated retraction with the feature to prime after travel moves. I got the wall closed just after 0.35 mm³. My Question: Is this underextrusion after travel moves normal for PETG/XT? I did not discover such behavior with PLA or ABS in the past. Current Site Advice: Despite the weight, copper heat blocks seem to be worth the upgrade.

Have you tried adjusting the Extra Restart Distance in Simplify3D or Retraction Extra Prime in Ultimaker Cura? Most slicers should have a similar setting, perhaps named just slightly differently. A small positive value can help prime the nozzle after a long travel when you've lost back pressure or oozed a little.

Outputting an STL file that contains multiple objects for import into Blender I want to print a object that looks like a flat board with a set of matchbox-like lumps on top of it. I have written a script that outputs an STL file. To keep the script simple, it creates an object that includes non-manifold edges. To be precise, the board and the boxes are a single model, but each has 6 faces made from 2 triangles. The underside of each matchbox rests on the top of the larger flat board. If I understand correctly, the top face of the board should be broken up into many smaller triangles to take into account the position of the matchboxes, but coding this by hand (although it might be an interesting Exercise For The Reader) would not be a good use of time. Well-written code that already does this is built into FOSS applications like Blender. However, Blender cannot merge or fuse shapes that are part of the same object. My current understanding is that I will need to: Provide Blender with multiple objects Select all the objects Use Ctrl-J to merge them Export the world in STL format Is this a valid approach? If so, my key question is: how do I format the STL file so that Blender will recognize that it contains multiple separate objects? (I have found references to STL files containing multiple objects, but I have seen nothing in any of the STL files that I have examined that tells me: here is the end of one object and the beginning of another.) Or should I just be clunky and export two STL files — one for the board and one for all the matchboxes — and then import both into Blender? NOTE: I know that there are free services like Netfabb that will correct my simple files for me, but I would prefer not to include that in my workflow if possible.

Blender imports all STL files as if they are a single object. If you have multiple meshes in the object that you want to be separated, you can press tab to enter edit mode, select the parts that need to be separated, then hit P and separate by selected. If you want to print those pieces as one part you have to get rid of any internal faces. The easiest way to do that is to select an object and then use the boolean modifier in union mode. Once you have the object that you want to fuse selected and in place, apply the modifier, that should leave you with an object without internal faces.

It seems my filament is burnt when I use PETG I use the Cura; nylon default(recommended) settings for PETG. Upon my filament's box is written 200-240 for nozzle and 75-85 for bed. So I tried 245/80 - 220/80 - 220/60 - 245/60. But I got same result as you can see in the pics: My printer is PrusaI3 (actually a chinese kit that I assembled it myself). Also I had good print results with PLA before this. I was using 190/50 for PLA).

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

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

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

How to identify, use, and replace the Copperhead Bowden coupler? After attempting to remove my Bowden tube for maintenance I have managed to break the coupler used to secure the Bowden tube in my Slice Engineering Copperhead heat sink. I'm having significant trouble identifying the proper name of and source for a replacement coupler. I've located others which seem to be similar in design but not the same size. I'm finding conflicting name and type information and am unsure which is correct. It's a small black plastic coupler with a blue ring clip used to secure it. To prevent future issue I also would like to know the proper procedure for use... i.e. the methods for securing and removing the Bowden tube without damage.

It's an embedded Bowden collet. Also called a Bowden clip which is a much more vague and overloeaded term. E3D (UK) and MicroSwiss (US) have their own branded versions but they're likely not made in house, they're prbably reselling what they buy in. Youtubers appear to pronounce this Bowden collect which does not help.

Printing 3D letters in any font? I am looking at printing a fair amount of text, ideally using some custom fonts. I quite like Stay Classy but will likely have to consider change if it causes issues. I am a little stuck on where to start with using these in some tools. I have tried creating an SVG using the font and importing to Tinkercad however that always fails. I only want to print the text, nothing else. How do I properly convert my font into .svg and import that so I can make my bodies? While I have tried Tinkercad I am open to alternative tools if this can be achieved more easily.

I think @Trish answered your question more specifically, but an alternate route (that I think its simpler assuming you don't mind the learning curve) is using Blender. Rather than creating an svg in a different software and having to go from something like photoshop to inkscape to tinkercad to your printer software... Blender could do most of that in one step, and its free. In Blender, add text: Hit tab to go into "Edit" mode and in edit mode you can simply backspace and type whatever you want. In the "Font" menu, you can choose from any font on your computer. And you can make it "3D" by extruding it: When it looks good and you're ready to print it, make sure to convert it to a mesh, then export as .stl for your printing software. (Cura/Slic3r/etc.)

Threads for nozzle (Anet A6 extruder) How do I know what nozzle to get for my Anet A6 printer? I want to get some hardened nozzles because I would love to print with some glow in the dark filament, but I know that eats up brass nozzles fast. But there is so many thread differences so I don't know which one to get, or even what thread the Anet A6 is. Could I have some help finding the thread type and what hardened nozzles would be recommended?

The Anet A6 uses the mk8 extruder (also used by the Anet A8). Please search for mk8 nozzles (for 1.75 mm filament). These nozzles use M6 threads. Standard nozzle size is 0.4 mm.

Is there a method or S/W available to stitch together a DLP projector's output into a "moving picture" to SLA print in a larger area than its output? I'm popping my cherry here, so to speak. Refer to my Hackaday project for system details & pictures: Sciclone 3D Printer Conversion Repurposing a lab-grade liquid handling system to a 3D printer featuring 3 axis, 20 micron bi-directional repeatability on a 14 cubic foot build platform. https://hackaday.io/project/3212-sciclone-3d-printer-conversion I have an opportunity to repurpose a high-dollar lab machine into a 3D printer with very high performance capabilities and 14 cubic feet of production volume. Although FDM is certainly a realistic "no-brainer" capability for this setup, I believe this level of accuracy, speed and volume - not to mention the original cost being well over $100K - justifies a finer level of output and I believe Stereolithography (SLA) is what I'd like to concentrate on. With such a large printing surface/volume (37"X x 24"Y x 28"Z), I don't know how I would implement a DLP projector to cover such a large surface and still maintain the level of accuracy and resolution. This system is already equipped with the highest quality stepper motors and a "staccato" high-speed driver-controller, an on-board pneumatic & electrical 6-channel controller that could be used for selecting colors, resin injection/flow, resin tank elevation, curing LEDs, temperature/ventilation fans, laser scanning, router speed, etc. The X & Y movement guide bars are located in the upper deck, moving the Z axis component assembly. That assembly requires simplification to enable it to be downsized to allow for the printer output to reach closer to the perimeter of the output area, but the weight & bulk of the assembly is greater than any DLP projector that would take its place so this system can reliably perform with a heavier projector if necessary. Basically, I think I'm looking for a software-defined method of coordinating the X & Y movement of the projector's output to the printing surface (presumable a tray of photo-sensitive SLA resin). Since the projector's proximity to the printing surface must remain relatively close, the output will be constrained to an area significantly smaller than this platform's entire printable surface, the projector's output will have to "play a movie" of the model and instead of projecting still images, I believe it would require an animated output that exposes the resin to build models. Sort of like a silk screen process but with UV light. I'm slightly familiar with the concept of manipulating laser beams using micro mirror aiming devices to draw on SLA resin beds - and this is a possible solution if I knew where to find such a component and how to control it, but that kind of printing would be far too slow for making large-scale models because it would essentially almost as slow as a pen plotter. Is anyone aware of an existing method of integrating the "moving picture" method I'm thinking of, or have I envisioned something that hasn't been invented yet? Cheers!

Cool Idea. I know using a projector sounds like solution; but, I in practice, think it is going to be difficult. My concern with trying to use a projector would be two-fold. It would have to project on a large flat surface. Since basic optics wants to focus on a sphere, when projecting on a flat surface you have to adjust for a focus distance that varies with angle and also deal with keysoning. I know this is a common problem fro projectors; but, there is no perfect solution so either. The focus issue may be solvable with custom optics; but, that is not something that is easy to DIY. The keystoning could be corrected for with optics and/or in software; but even then you are going to have inconsistent resolution. Not only that; but, the problem gets worse the wider and closer you are, which is EXACLY what you want to do. I would be concerned that the frequency range that the SLA resin cures at will be outside the normal range of projector so you would require A LOT more power/time to get it to cure. On the other hand, lasers light projectors are a well established technology. They moved into the entertainment space quite a few years ago; so, I suspect you could get one that covers the space you are interested in for a reasonable price. Since laser beams are very narrow, focus should not be an issue. Keysoning can be easily accounted for in the sweep algorithm. You could choose the frequency of the laser to that it in the most efficient curing frequency for the resin you want to use.

Is it possible with current 3D printers to print a sound trace? Is it possible with the accuracy of current 3D printers to print a sound trace? On a vinyl record the grooves in the record are an encoded sound. Is something like this doable with 3D printers? If Vinyl-like isn't possible, could a sound be printed at desktop scale? I mean printing the waves out that if you ran your finger along it it would reproduce the encoded sound? Examples would be Rumble Strips, the Musical Roads or highway rumble strips.

Sound Encoding basics Sound is a compression wave, and any depiction of it has to be an encoding of it. You can encode it so you can recreate the sound using a contraption that oscillates in the right way to compress air again in the right pattern, but you can't just "print it out" like you can scale up a lightwave from the nanometer scale to a visible one as a representation. Let's take a simple example: a 440 Hz tune is generally considered to be the A4, aka concert pitch a or A440. It could be encoded in a various ways. The probably oldest is to encode it as a note in violin notation, which then could be reproduced by anyone using a properly tuned instrument. The actual result depends on the instrument used as much as on the skill of the player. Each instrument thus might decode this encoded note differently, based on the physical setup of the instrument. Each instrument automatically creates the appropriate overtones. In Midi, it is encoded as Note 69 and any machine that can decode a midi file could use this instruction, paired with an instrument to use, to create the A4 that is set for it. In Midi, the mere instruction of Note 69 does cut out skill, but how it sounds and feels comes from the instrument setup - which contains information about what overtones are to be created when playing this note. For a physicist, the pure sound is encoded as just the notion of 440 Hz and some amplitude to balance how loud it is. With those instructions, he'd be able to set up a device that has these creates a 440 Hz tune. To generate the sound and feel of an instrument, the encoding for a physicist would need to contain all the overtones that are to swing with this one sound. History of sound recording Let's look at the very first way of recording sound: The Phonautograph of 1857 used a piece of paper or a sheet of glass blackened and then a membrane move a needle. When the plate would be moved, the needle left a written path. The encoding was done via 2 factors: the setup of the stylus (mainly how long is the arm) and the speed of the movement of the plate. Changing either changed the encoding. A longer arm would record a larger amplitude (making fainter sounds recordable) while faster movement would alter the timescale recorded, allowing to look at short instances and better compare them. These vibration-pattern records could be used to measure and compare sounds but not be used to recreate the sound, as lines on paper nor scratches in soot are a good way to keep a reading needle in boundaries. it took till 2000 and the use of scanners as well as digital processing to recreate these recorded sounds. The solution to recreate sounds was found by the Edison Laps in 1877 with the phonograph, which used a piece of thick tinfoil to record the motion pattern of the membrane. Again, then encoding was done via the arm setup and the speed at which the tinfoil clad cylinder moved (or rather rotated). It would till the 1880s develop to a wax cylinder, which was easier to inscribe and reproduce from. One such machine was used by Carl Orff. The first Gramophone came in 1889, mainly altering the shape of the recording medium from cylinders to the well-known shape of vinyl records but made from hard plastics and shellac. Around 1901, a 12-inch gramophone disk held only a 4 minutes track, speaking volumes about the problems of encoding the complex patterns of sound onto a disk. At the same time, an Edison Amberol Cylinder held 4 minutes 30 seconds but would spin at 160 rpm. Soon after, celluloid would become the recording medium of its time, and the disk the de-facto "standard" as it was much better storable. In 1925 finally, a real standard was developed to record at around $78^{+0.26}_{-0.08}$ rpm, which lead to only a 0.34 rpm difference between areas of 60 or 50 Hz mains voltage (though they needed different encoder rings), making records interchangeable between both machine types. All these recordings were encoded naturally: the vibrations of the membrane in the recording tool would be 1:1 transmitted to the vibrating stylus that would then do the encoding in such a way that a machine would reproduce what the recording one "heard" quite accurately. When Vinyl came to the playing field as a recording medium at the end of world war II, so came a swap in the reading needle type: instead of a needle that would agitate a membrane directily, sapphire needles that would agitate an electrical pickup which in turn would activate a speaker. But while the recording technology advanced, the track length of a 12-inch disk was still limited to about 4 minutes at 78 rpm. It would only reach more than this in the last years of its use by applying LP technologies to pack the track tighter in the 1950s, achieving 17 minutes. 1948 came the LP, what we know as a classic vinyl record. At its introduction it could cram 23 minutes onto one side, making this possible by only using 33.5 rpm as the recording speed and thinner, much tighter coiled groves, increasing the information density by a factor of 5.75 for a 12-inch disk. 7-inch 45 rpm "singles" came out 4 years later. Within 10 years, the 33.5 and 45 rpm encoded variants had almost completely replaced the 78 rpm market. Vinyl As the history of analogous recordings shows, encoding a sound signal is rather easy in theory, hard in practice. A typical 12-inch LP Vinyl record of 20 minutes is a grove that is 427 meters long and coiled up 667 times. That means a single groove is between 0.04 and 0.08 mm wide - with an equally thin wall between. That means, that to achieve a printed phonograph record, you'd have to print accurately down to 40 microns to get an empty track. However, we also need to add the signal atop. And here comes the real problem: An empty track has some 22 µm deviations, which the needle will usually not pick up at all. Dust, which creates the crackling at times, is in the same area (1-100 µm). The actual sound signal is encoded to have features as small as 75 nanometers. That is 3 magnitudes lower than the mere geometry of the grove, and equally much lower than any printer - including SLS - can achieve today, as 50 µm is often considered a lower limit in 2019. To show how much tiny defects would ruin the sound quality, look at this rapid cast of a vinyl record. The resolution of the negative and the subsequently cast record is good enough to recognize the music, but the resin cast did contain so many gas bubbles that the noise level of the copy is very high. Bonus: Unlike on cylinders the encoding of the signal on disks changes from the start to the end! The vinyl spins at a constant rate, but the radius from the center changes, leading in the speed on any part of the grove to be different as $|v|=|\omega \vec r \sin(\theta)|$, where omega is the speed in rad per second, theta is the angle of the reeding, so in this case, the sinus term becomes 1 and vanishes. This factor has to be taken into account for encoding so the pitch of the record doesn't change if the record is not created naturally by inscribing the signal onto a spinning disk. Other encoding Rumble Strips However, it is quite easy to create a structure that creates sounds based on interaction with another body. Highway Sound Strips create sounds as the car tire bumps up and down, turning the car and tires into resonance bodies while the street "beats" upon it. In the case of a large percussion instrument like a car, we are talking centimeter scale. Peg-Cylinder A very simple method would be to go back to encoding and check out the note notation but limiting the length of notes to one unit. Encoding music this way results in pegs or ridges on a cylinder, which then can be used to actuate a mechanism to decode the music and create sounds like in a music box. In a music box of this kind, the demand for accuracy is about 3 to 5 magnitudes lower than in vinyl records: we speak about a tenth of a millimeter to centimeter scale. Such a Musical box or noisemaker can be easily printed and is pretty much a rumble strip coiled around a cylinder. The length of the sample is determined by the resolution, playback speed and diameter of the cylinder while the complexity is determined by the rows of pegs of it: a noisemaker is pretty much a 1-note, high speed, music box. Typically, one rotation stores about 25 to 30 seconds. Typical examples would be the first part of Für Elise, or the Marble Machine (Between second 30 and 35 the encoding wheel rotates 1 fifth). Some barrel organs also use the peg method, like one can see here. With some trickery, one cylinder could be used to encode multiple parts that play one after another once a rotation is done by and silencing some parts of the machine depending on an extra encoder, like this 3-part Für Elise music box. Hole-Plate(-strip) A different method would be to encode the music as holes in a continuous strip and use air as a decoding method. If the air then gets directed into pipes, we have a street organ. Typically, one would use a paper strip as the encoded message, but it could be printed just as well, especially if one uses a setup that uses plates hinged to one another instead of a rolled-up paper as in this example. With such a way to stash away the extra length, the upper limit for music length rises from a couple of seconds to several minutes easily even with such a "bad" encoding.

Underextrusion after long travels I'm having problems when printing small parts over big areas. I'm currently printing quite big casing (~180 mm x 100 mm), which has hexagonal holes on the corners. On the first layer the printer prints, in order: Supports inside the holes, Borders around the holes Border of the whole casing and finally Infill (since it is first layer, infill is solid) When printing borders around holes, printer's head travels between all holes (so that's around 90 % of the whole bed width), what results in filament oozing and the hole borders being underextruded (sometimes to the point, that filament doesn't stick to the bed). My setup is CReality3D Ender 3 with Ultimaker Cura 3. Most important settings: Print speed 40 mm/s Nozzle temperature 215 °C Bed temperature 60 °C Retraction on travel turned on Retraction additional prime amount set to 0.05 mm3. Outer walls printed after inner ones What would help (I guess) is slowing down the print after long travels or priming more filament, but proportionally to the travel distance. There are no such settings in Ultimaker Cura though. How can I deal with such problem?

it seems like retraction issue i would say you should experiment with retraction length - so it would retract more extra extrusion after retraction - so the printer could put some material before it will start your next hole :) unfortunately there is no good guide how much it should retract and how much it should additionally extrude as it depends on "all your printing circumstances" but here is my arbitrary list in order of importance filament (density - type and producer) temperature (viscosity - hotter filament flows easier) nozzle diam (as filament escapes easier through big hole ;) heat barrier (cooling efficiency - filament should be cool as long as possible up to (or down to) the nozzle) extruder gearing quality (good coupling makes precise retraction and extra-extrusion) cooling (fan and duct should cool your printing right after it sticks to the surface) and one more thing worth to mention usually the first layer is not cooled which makes whole system hotter (so filament flows easier) you could experiment with it too especially for big printouts so overextrude first layer AND turn on cooling first layer it seems like there is a bunch of things you can do to master it :) good luck - it's definitely manageable

First Layer problems? I am using the E3D v6 hotend with the titan extruder. Everytime I go to do a test print, just enough stringy filament oozes comes out of the hotend "right before" it lays down the first layer. I have no idea why it oozes out the little bit of filament before it prints.... The unwanted filament builds up while some of the first layer is done. As a result, what has been printed or about to be printed get stuck together as it tries to do the rest of the print....

As the filament in the melt chamber heats up, it's going to inevitably ooze a little bit. Make sure you watch for this and clean it off as the hot-end heats up, and setup you slicing software to print a skirt, which will print a few loops around the outside of your print, separated by a few mm, to deal with ooze and get filament flowing properly. If it oozes a lot, try reducing your print temperature a bit.

Ender 5 Pro print quality issue I got my 3D printer from Creality 1 day ago. My dog off the SD card came perfectly, Benchy was also printed almost flawlessly. I used standard Benchy settings on all my prints. Now I tried making a mask and it failed mid-print. When I saw it failing I stopped the print. What do you guys think is the cause of this? I printed with the following settings: Resolution: 0.20 mm Infill: 20 % 3 walls with a line width of 0.4 mm each 50 mm/s first time i printed it and 40 mm/s second time. Combing OFF Retraction enabled Retraction distance:6 mm 25 mm/s all retraction speeds retraction extra prime amount 0 retraction minimum travel 1.5 maximum retraction count 100 Edit: I printed the mask again. this time I changed Z Seam alignment in Cura from user specified to random. It improved it a bit but it was not a successful print.

I was told to not even bother using the white filament which came with the Ender 5 as it was very low quality. I used an orange filament from Hatchbox and, once I have learned to adjust my settings (I found it works better at 210-215 °C), it seems to be great.

I have bad print quality, what should i do? So I have an issue, every time I try to print anything it basically looks like a comb. All around the model there are just holes and holes everywhere. I dont know what to do about it. I don't have any infill, but honestly, this is just all stacked ontop of itself, so it shouldnt need to be filled in. Please help me figure out how to make sure that the layers are actually layers, not just sticks standing up into the air.

The images that you show are typical for heavy under extruded prints. The "comb like structure" is caused by extrusion of too little filament which balls up to a certain point in time that it sticks to something previously printed, then balls up again, etc... Under extrusion can be caused by many things, but this much is usually caused by an incorrect filament diameter set in your slicer. But, it can also be caused by a mechanical (or electronic) defect like a slipping extruder caused by a loose gear or missing steps. I'm operating 2.85 mm and 1.75 mm 3D printing machines (both have pros an cons) and occasionally I've experienced exactly the same results (you call it a "comb" like print). E.g. the slicer Cura (Ultimaker software product) is known/used to be known to reset the filament diameter to the default of 2.85 mm after an upgrade of the software, which is the filament diameter used by Ultimaker printers. If you add more details to your question, we can tailor the answer to your specific issue, but it certainly is under extrusion.

G2 / G3 command in Cura I'm using Cura for my 3D printing (an ultimaker S5 printer) and in order to understand 3D printing I'm trying to learn G-code. I've noticed that even when the model is full of circles, the G-code is full with the G1 command. I haven't seen the G2 or G3 command at all! How could this be?

The .stl files most commonly used for printing do not have any circles in them at all! .stl files describe the surface of the things they represent with lots and lots of triangles: That also means that your slicer doesn't really know which parts of the model are supposed to be round (where G2 and G3 might be applicable). And, another consideration, though historical: Most 3D printers were (and are) based on relatively weak 8-bit microcontrollers. It's much easier for those microcontrollers to calculate the movements needed for the print if it's just straight lines, rather than elaborate curves. One issue that can arise with this is when your model is of high quality, and your slicers uses all of that quality - a simple circle can then become hundreds or thousands of tiny segments, which all need to be transmitted, parsed and executed - which may lead to stuttering.

Convert ball-stick model to STL from the command line I regularly have 3D models that consist of a Boolean union of balls and cylinders (molecule models, star maps, mathematical designs), that I then want to convert to a STL model for printing at Shapeways. But I don't know how to easily do that! I already have the model as a series of floating point numbers (four for each ball, and seven for each cylinder), so I don't want to have to go into a graphical interface to click/drag points. Instead I want to convert my lists of floating point numbers to STL from the command line. I thought this would be a trivial thing, but I cannot find what is the best tool for this. All I need, I think, is a pointer to what tools are most appropriate (although more detailed help will be appreciated :-)) I thought that "gmsh" might be good for this, but it is not immediately clear to me how to use it for that. I would like the software for this to be "free", in the sense that it does not cost money. Also, I am not a Windows user, so I would like to be able to run this under Linux or macOS.

I would suggest using OpenSCAD for this. OpenSCAD does not natively support reading data files that aren't 3D/2D models or images, but you can write a simple program to generate OpenSCAD code. I would suggest first writing an OpenSCAD file that implements your chosen type of "ball" and "stick", perhaps like: module ball(x, y, z) { translate([x, y, z]) sphere(d=10, $fn=60); } module stick(x, y, z, length, rx, ry, rz) { translate([x, y, z]) rotate([rx, ry, rz]) cylinder(d=5, length=length, $fn=60, center=true); } Then, take your data file — let's suppose it's a CSV — ball,0,0,0 ball,100,0,0 stick,50,0,0,100,0,90,0 and convert it into OpenSCAD by adding the appropriate syntax (this could even be done using a basic find-and-replace tool): import <ball-and-stick-definitions.scad> ball(0,0,0); ball(100,0,0); stick(50,0,0,100,0,90,0); Then, producing the STL is just a matter of running the openscad command on your generated OpenSCAD source code. If your stick parameters are not Euler angles but "start point" and "end point" you'll have to add the "rotate to point at…" math yourself, but that is within OpenSCAD's capabilities as it has vector math operations and multmatrix, or trigonometry if you prefer to generate Euler angles; you don't need to do that math at the file-conversion stage.

PETG filament doesn't stick reliably to fake Buildtak surface I just got my first spool of PETG and tried to calibrate an Ultimaker Cura profile for it on my Ender 3 today with limited success. I've had severe issues with the filament not sticking to the build surface, instead balling up around the edges of the nozzle tip. (rather like this post) Sometimes it sticks alright, but that happens properly > 50 % of the time. I've never seen this behavior with my PLA materials. So far, I've only been trying to print this calibration part. Relevant Profile Params: (let me know if I need to post more, I think these are the relevant ones) Layer Height: 0.2 mm Temp Nozzle: 240 °C Bed: 60 °C Print Speed: 60 mm/s (more specific params left to auto calculation) Travel Speed: 300 mm/s (max) Cooling fan Initial: 0 % Fan Speed: 100 % Retraction Distance: 5 mm Speed: 50 mm/s Skirt min length: 250 mm I was initially going by advice from Thomas Sanlanderer's video on PETG, starting with 230 °C/70 °C, but when that really didn't work, I then tried the advice of a Reddit user (can't relocate thread) that said to try a lower bed temp. I then experimented with different bed temps in the 50's to mixed avail. Most other threads are talking about PETG + glass, which seems to work well with a PVA glue stick surface finish. I'm getting a glass build surface soon (as soon as GearBest can ship it from across the pond), and I hear that will help, but in the meantime, I want to find a way to make it work with the fake Buildtak. What can I do to try to make this work better? My thinking is that the issue is with the bed config (temp, surface, etc.) and not with the nozzle temp, but I could be wrong.

I have printed kilometers of PETG and found the sweet-spot for my brand to be 240 °C for the hotend and 70 °C for the build plate (for my Ultimaker 3 that is, the extruder temp is 5 °C higher for my home build HyperCube Evolution). The reason for the 70 °C is that the glass temperature of PETG is around 70 °C. The PETG is flexible at that temperature such that there are no stresses because of shrinkage causing the PETG to keep attached to the heat bed surface (aluminium, glass, Buildtak, etc.). A little PVA based glue (stick) or spray (hair or specific print sprays) can even further improve the adhesion. A slow first layer also helps adhering better. Note that the hotend temperature should be calibrated to the speed you are printing. If you print faster, a higher hotend tempearture is required. To determine the sweet spot for your filament you can print typical calibration towers that can be found on e.g. Thingiverse. Note that you need to manually change the G-code file after slicing of the tower or use plugins of your slicer to change the temperature at a certain level. Furthermore, PETG does not like to be cooled by the print fan, so keep cooling fan rpm low to prevent layers not to bond (else you get a sort of string cheese print). Edit: I use parametric stair case style calibration prints that include the slicer print settings that are to determine the best settings for temperature, print cooling, layer size and print speed.

Klipper doesn't seem to adjust Z after BED_MESH_CALIBRATE My rig: Ender 3 BLTouch Octopi Klipper Solid bed mounts I've updated my start G-code from Cura to include a G29 right after G28 and my Klipper config has the following override for G29: [gcode_macro G29] gcode: BED_MESH_CLEAR BED_MESH_CALIBRATE BED_MESH_PROFILE LOAD=default Every print now goes through BED_MESH_CALIBRATE sequence and the Bed Visualizer plugin yields this result: Based on the info here, Klipper: G-code commands - Mesh Bed Leveling I would expect Klipper to adjust for the differences seen in the visualization above, but the initial layers of my prints are very squished on the right and rear of bed (right and rear of image) and not squished on the left and front of the bed (left and front of image) which make it seem like BED_MESH_CALIBRATE measured the differences in the bed level, but didn't actually do anything about it. Isn't the point of BED_MESH_CALIBRATE to adjust for these differences? You can see in the first pic below that the final move on the initial layer from the outside edge of the print (right front corner) to the inside has the nozzle so low that it melted a line in the first layer as it skidded across. In the second pic below you can see that the left front edge of the print didn't squish properly so it has detached from the bed. What am I missing?

I have identified the problem as lead screw backlash! Bed calibration and Z-axis offset compensation appear to be working as intended, but there is enough backlash in the Ender 3 stock lead screw that the corrections in Z-axis movement commanded by Klipper result in almost no actual nozzle movement. I'm measuring about 0.35 mm of backlash in my lead screw. With differences between the lowest and highest points of my bed being only 0.6 mm the best case scenario (which would only happen if I was using my entire bed) is that the actual nozzle movement would only be about 42 % of what Klipper commanded. The fix for this is to change out the lead screw for a ball screw. The problem could also be mitigated in Klipper if Klipper implemented backlash compensation, but from what I've read on GitHub it doesn't seem like that is a feature the developer of Klipper wants to implement. Update: I installed this anti-backlash nut and it greatly reduced the backlash, but didn't eliminate it. I've uninstalled my solid bed mounts and reinstalled springs until I upgrade to a ball-screw for the Z axis. The auto bed leveling compensation still does something, but the adjustment allowed by having springs is what is really doing most of the leveling work.

Rule of thumb for small type Is there a good rule of thumb for small type on 3d printed pieces? Minimum type size? Good typeface for accurate reproduction?

I've had better luck with fonts that are heavier, usually sans-serif, and usually bold-face. All-caps can help, too, if it makes sense at all for the text. Impact is one widely-available example, though it's far from perfect and rarely has the look I want. I also usually need to turn on the "Print Thin Walls" setting in Cura when handling smaller text. When looking at how small you can get, we'll start with font sizes. It would be easy to get lost here in a discussion of points and measurements. The thing is, font sizes describe the vertical height of the characters. For 3D printing, I believe you'll do better paying more attention to the horizontal width of your text. Most characters are taller than they are wide, so if you can produce legible horizontal features, you can probably handle the vertical features, too. I'll use the letter "H" as an example here, because it shows the full size of the box for a typical character. Specifically, since I'm talking about horizontal features if you look at the bottom of the H, it has a three sections: leg, then gap, then leg. Also notice the gap is about 3 times the size of the legs (you can see this better if you zoom in close). This varies by font, but 3:1 is good average ratio. That gives us 5 units of width for the character itself. Additionally, you want to allow some spacing between individual characters; not every character needs it next to every other character, but I find it useful to allocate a 6th unit here. Now consider those 6 units in the context of your nozzle size. With a typical .4 mm nozzle, that means the smallest size character you can legibly produce is about 2.4 mm across. Of course, most fonts are not monospace, where a character might be larger or smaller, but I believe this makes a useful average. Count the number of letters in a line of text you want to print, multiply by 2.4 mm, and that's the minimum amount of horizontal space you need. If you really want to push things, a font specifically designed for 3D printing should theoretically be able to work in terms of 3 nozzle units wide + an extra gap between certain letters. But this is all theory, and for the minimum of what's possible. When you also start to think about what actually looks good, especially if you want to show features like serifs, the real world can really mess this up. In practice, I've found I need to go significantly larger even than the 6 unit / 2.4 mm option... but maybe I've just used the wrong font. You can always try a test print of your text in a small rectangle, to make sure it will be legible before using in a larger object.

Connecting Anet 8 2004 display with Ramps 1.4 to Aux2 can't seem to figure it out I've heard about switching out some connectors, but can't seem to figure out which ones and can't seem to find a diagram out there that is much help. Does anyone know which connectors I should switch to achieve this?

This answer clearly describes that you need to switch pins 1 and 2. It also describes that the MKS board is similar to a RAMPS board. First thing to look for is the layout of the AUX2 header: The pin layout reveals that pin 1 is VCC and pin 2 is GND. These need to be switched to be able to connect the display on AUX2.

Cause of slicing artifacts layers not connecting diagonal errors Sometimes my meshes turn out with artifacts Which can be seen in the bottom image. What is the cause? The first image shows my mesh which its generated from. I've tried multiple slicers. This tends to occur sometimes. Any help appreciated. Is there something going over my head???

The artifacts you spot in your slices do not come from the slicer, they are actually present in the STL file you export. I suggest checking your model for problems like vertices that share a position or edges that are parallel but not joined. Use the remove doubles function in blender to merge up these vertices. Then make sure that your surface consists of only squares and triangles to aid the stl generation.

How to minimize damage when removing an ABS print from a heated glass print bed? Usually it will either will rip the tape, or break the print somehow. Currently using ABS on a taped glass bed with a layer of hairspray for adhesion.

I moved to a plain glass heated bed with a brush applied acetone and ABS mixture. Using an old emptied nail polish bottle with brush, I added some acetone and then threw in ABS pieces until it reached a brush-able consistency. I then brush it on the glass build plate where I believe the print will occur, and it works very well. On removal of the part the coating comes with it. I just found previously that ABS would adhere to my kapton taped heated bed too strongly to use, and so while this involves a little work before each print, it's overall better than kapton for me. I did experiment with sheet metal beds coated with kapton, but they curl during printing due to the ABS thermal stress, allowing my parts to be concave on the bottom side. Easy to remove from the plate, though, since it flexed. There may be a good middle ground material but I didn't experiment further.

Thermal runaway with specific prints I have been experimenting with PETG on my CR-10 upgraded with an E3D all-metal hot end and Marlin firmware on the controller. I am printing with 0.8 mm nozzle at 250 °C and an 85 °C bed. When I print in vase mode, the prints come out beautifully (and quickly with the 0.8 mm nozzle). However, with solid-body prints, I routinely get a thermal runaway fault at about the third layer (the fault references E1). Can anyone suggest how to solve this and why the thermal runaway protection only trips with solid-body prints? For context, when I tried to print the same solid-body print in PLA (205 °C hot end and 50 °C bed) I did not get the thermal runaway fault.

Thermal runaway protection (see What is Thermal Runaway Protection?) is triggered when the scheduled voltage to the heater element does not result in a specified increase in temperature within a specified timeframe. The exit of hot filament from the nozzle and the loss of heat of the heater block and the conduction heat loss through the heat break to the cold end need to be supplied by the heater element. When the filament melting temperature is high, heat losses are relatively high as well, this means that the software needs to compensate by scheduling the heater element more quickly/activated sooner (there is some heat capacity in the heater block) and longer. If it is unable to provide enough heat than is being used, the temperature cannot be maintained and the printer notices that scheduling power doesn't result in a temperature rise. This will trigger the thermal runaway protection in the firmware. This can imply that too much heat leaves the nozzle in the form of hot filament, and as such, your printing speed may be too high (or the printing temperature too high). Note that you are using a 0.8 mm nozzle diameter, this means a flow increase of $ \frac{0.8^2}{0.4^2}=4 $ with respect to a "standard" 0.4 mm nozzle! A slower print speed is therefore advised anyways. To solve this, you can either: Insulate the heater block, e.g. with a silicone sock Install a different type of heat block, e.g. a E3D Volcano which has a larger heat input zone Print slower Print at a lower temperature Change the firmware settings of your TRP (should be done with care!) To explain the latter option, from the Configuration.h you can read that if you encounter these problems, you can tune this in the Configuration_adv.h Excerpt from Configuration.h: * If you get "Thermal Runaway" or "Heating failed" errors the * details can be tuned in Configuration_adv.h Excerpt from Configuration_adv.h: * If you get false positives for "Thermal Runaway", increase * THERMAL_PROTECTION_HYSTERESIS and/or THERMAL_PROTECTION_PERIOD So you need to change these constants: #define THERMAL_PROTECTION_PERIOD 40 // Seconds #define THERMAL_PROTECTION_HYSTERESIS 4 // Degrees Celsius The most effective solution for your problem will be limiting print speed and experiment with printing at slightly lower temperatures.

How to control 4 thermistors in a heated bed? My print area is ~ 17x16 inches (431.8 mm x 406.4 mm = 175,158.4 mm/2). To that end I need four (4) 200mm square heaters, and associated mosfets to run it. Each heater has it's own thermistor and can potentially reach the target temp independently (theoretically they could, since there will be deviations in manufacturing). My mainboard (the SKR Pro) has support for 4 thermistors; however my solution in this configuration has 5. When I double the size of the printer later this year, I expect that I will need 8 heaters. Is there a solution to control that many heaters such that non of them over shoot their temps, or am I going to have to design and build a dedicated thermal management board to control beds of this nature?

You can use the Klipper firmware which accepts an arbitrary number of heaters. Then you can write a Klipper macro which takes one input and applies it to each heated bed (or not, as you prefer). With Klipper you can also add another Arduino and connect it to klipper as well, in case you don't have enough pins on your board: klipper is not limited to controlling one single board per printer. Check the docs.

How to estimate the printing time of a 3D printer from an STL file? My local library has a 3D printer (Lulzbot Mini) for patrons to use. The prints are limited to 4 hours and if I go after work I really only have two hours before the Library closes. The software at the Library will give an estimated time, but I would like to be able to estimate the time before I get there. Currently I have been creating my designs in TinkerCad and then I export the STL file. From the STL file I can find online estimators that will tell me how much material but nothing that says how long it will take to print. Is there a way of calculating the estimated printing time from a STL file for a given printer?

There is no way to estimate the print time of an STL file directly. The print time is based on the number of instructions in the g-code file plus the time it takes to move the effector (the hot end) around the build area. The only way to compute that is to know what settings their slicer is using and then slice your stl the way they will; and this is assuming that you have the same slicer software. If you manage to do that, then the slicer software will give you an estimate. Here is what you would need to do: Get access to the same slicing software, and obtain a copy of the profile that they use to slice with. The nozzle diameter, feed rate, layer height, and infill settings will affect the print time. Import your stl into the sofware and "slice it" There will usually be a large button that is used to generate the g-code. There are quite a few slicers that will output the print time into the text of the g-code. They may also show the print time on the UI during slicing. alternatively: Email the stl to the staff at the library, and them to generate an estimate for you. They might just do it. However, that estimate could be incorrect. It will depend on the printer itself. As an example: the time it takes to heat the bed and the hot end is never included in the time estimate the slicer gives.

Efficient way to create a "mold" of a solid object in Meshmixer? Currently I have a model of a fingertip finished in my project, however, I would like to create some sort of "cap" that if printed would fit on top of that finger. Is there a good way to achieve this in meshmixer?

Surely! First of all, a mold is, simply put, the negative of the item. So we need to make such a negative and give it some thickness. I have this funnel model... We start Meshmixer, import our funnel and then go into Meshmix and pull a cylinder into the frame. We size and align it to hide the funnel but for a tiny part at the top (or however much you need to have covered in the mold) We click the cylinder, press SHIFT and the funnel top. In the top corner a menu pops up: We choose "Boolean Difference", the menu changes to show this: Next we alter the Target Edge Scale till we see the top corner (0.6 seems to work) then accept. The result is this mold: But that's a REALLY snug fit at this moment. 0.0 mm space. We can use that to cast our funnel... but we might want to make this a box for our funnel or we know that our casting material shrinks some 4 to 5 % when curing. So we need some space in the mold or box. So we need to shift the faces some. What happens to holes if we scale the whole thing up by... say 5 %? They become 5 % larger of course! So let's just do that! Edit Transform hook Uniform Scaling pull X, Y and Z out by 1 mm (which happens to be 4 % in case of a 25 mm item.) Use those square boxes marked with green dots to pull Accept and... DONE! Last to do: export as STL and here you go! a Mold that is 4% larger and could be a cap for the funnel.

Ender 3 build surface is sticking up in the middle I have had my Ender 3 for a few months now and have loved it! I recently noticed that the build plate, the black removable part of the print bed, is sticking up in the middle. If I poke it, it goes back into place, but will not stay there. It shows especially when I print my leveling squares and find the the corners are near-perfect, but the center is crazy thin. I am using a stock Ender 3 with Cura 4.5.0. For those who may find this to be helpful, I am looking to find a good replacement build plate. In the meantime, I managed to get mine (without the sticky back) to lay flat by increasing the temperature of the bed from 50 Celsius to 60.

So your (clone) BuildTak bed surface is not sticking to the bed anymore, time to remove the surface and clean the heatbed and apply a new one. These build surfaces (usually) have a sticky 3M sticker to stick it to the bed (or the surface bottom is covered with a sticky surface). When this sticking layer fails of subsequent heating cycles you need to replace the build surface. The higher the temperature the more the build surface expands the higher the surface gets when it doesn't stick in certain places. Note that the build surface is a consumable, it needs to be replaced once in a while.

Am I allowed to publish a 3d scan of a statue/thing I bought? I bought a buddha statue and I would like to scan it using photogrammetry and publish the result. Am I allowed to do that? Is this the same like scanning a book and publishing it? Sketchfab on the other hand is full of 3d models of commercial products.

If the design was made from an artist and is not public domain, than you should not upload that scan without the (written) permission of the creator of the design. Espacially a scan of a decorative object will likely be protected, so costumers buy the original instead of printing itself or buy a printed version. If you would design a deco object and sell copies of it, you also don't want that others just scan it and print it.

Hotend does not reach set temperature If I set the temperature of my hotend with pronterface to 200 °C, the temperature never reaches that value. For instance, it almost reaches the target with a temperate of 196/197 °C and then starts to drop to 184/85 °C before it starts to rise again to 196/197 °C. It remains in this loop forever and thus I'm not able to start any print because the temperature never stabilizes enough. I've tried to configure the PID (M303 E0 S200 C8) with 8, 12, 15 intervals not help the issue continue. I've tried to change heatblock and thermistor not help Its important to refer this behaviour occur in any tempurate if I fix 150º it never reaches 150º it go to 146/147º and then drops again 10/15º and restart the loop. Same thing if I fix the tempurature to 210º. Also I've tested this in multiple versions of marlin 1.1.8 and 1.1.9.The version of marlin 1.1.8 have worked in the same print in the past. I'm have not clue about what can cause this issue, maybe its a board malfunctions (mosfet) or a powersupply malfunction. Somebody can help me on this?

Your description sounds indeed as if the PID is not correct. You can try autotune with M303 only if your heating cartridge is not absolutely overpowered. However, in such a case you typically also have an overshoot, which you don't mention in your description. In that case you need to lower your duty cycle (by the BANG_MAX parameter in the firmware) a bit. Otherwise autotune fails, because your heating cartridge overshoots even at small gains. Out of the box I would suggest you to increase your D-term and decrease your I term if it cycles like that. For most printers, I used, a ratio like that is sufficient: 4/1.5/25.

Why does MakerBot software shows holes in the wall of a 3d model? I made a simple extrude on a sketch in Fusion 360: But what MakerBot software shows me in the preview is Can someone explain how to make it print a smooth wall? Mesh of the model also seems to be okay. Configuration is in the high preset.

I guess you are referring to the corner of the part facing you in the first figure, and the sliced corner on the left in the second figure and not the white lines on the wall facing you. This latter effect is called Moiré or moiré pattern which is an optical illusion created by interference. This appears to be a slicer error or a rendering error, the walls are not finished. Furthermore from your sparse question it is noteworthy to say that you have sliced the model on a raft. Why not print the model, it will start a raft and when you come to the part it will clearly show whether it is a slicing or a rendering problem! If it is a rendering problem, keep continuing printing, if not, stop the print and download a most recent version of any other free available slicer tool. The most commonly used free slicer tools are Ultimaker Cura and Slic3r. Setup a printer profile and select and modify material and slicing properties to create a new G-code file for you to print. You can now compare the rendering of used new tool to your current rendering and print the model to see if the part now prints well.

Failing slow extrusion after upgrade to E3D hotend I recently upgraded to a E3D full hotend and I started to have problems with slowly printed parts. After I print first object and start next one, then the first layer has serious issue. The first two test were extruded around 10mm/s, the right one around 15mm/s. The material is PLA (fillamentum.com) at temperature 210°C and nozzle diameter is 0.4mm. The Rebel II RepRap printer uses RAMPS with marlin firmware. I use Slic3r and Pronterface SW. I didn't find answer in following troubleshooting guides: Simplify3D - Print Quality Troubleshooting Guide A visual Ultimaker troubleshooting guide RepRap - Print Troubleshooting Pictorial Guide all3dp.com - 16 Common 3D Printing Problems (And Solutions) Do you have an idea what can cause this issue? Update I did a new print, where I just heat the hotend and start printing immediately. This is the result:

I bet your old and new extruders have different hobbed pulley/bolt effective diameter. It looks like your new extruder has smaller hobbed diameter that's why it pushes too less material. In MatterControl application there is a slider which allows user to tuneup extrude ratio on the fly (while printing). You coud check it so it would confirm the issue. In Slic3r you could go to Printer Settings > Advanced > Extrusion width and experiment with it (especially with Default extrusion width) Both (Slic3r and MC) could answer your question if it's extrusion ratio issue. If you confirm that - you can proceed with calibration. Here is method to calibrate extruder flow and general calibration article here.

Finishing sunken text in 3D prints On several occasions I've wanted lettering/numbering printed as part of a design, but with the ability to make it stand out more effectively in the printed object without having to do detailed manual finishing. Is there a good material which can catch in and fill sunken (depth 0.4 mm, width 0.6-1.0 mm) lines/strokes of alphanumeric characters without sticking to the surface (including fine layer ridges) of the print? My best result so far has been with crayon wax, but I wonder if there are more suitable materials. (Polymer clay, perhaps?) Results with crayons: Durability is nice (and essential for some applications), but for many uses I have in mind it's not such a big deal. For example another place I've wanted clear text is on test panels to check nut/bolt thread sizes, in which case the text is unlikely to receive harsh treatment but any heat-based curing processes might effect the dimensional accuracy negatively. So both durable and non-durable solutions are interesting to me.

I think your instinct is good. The trick is finding the right modeling compound, with the right curing properties, that will stick to your polymer dice, and will be available in colors you like. Amazon has some epoxy-based clays that appear to be either terra-cotta or black. If these colors work, this may be the right choice. Most epoxies will cling well, and it seems to have minimal shrinkage when hardening. You could probably add some pigment and alter the color, but I doubt you could get a white, yellow, or any light color. There are some air-drying clays, but the reviews show that these have higher shrinkage. There are some bake-to-harden clays that harden between 250 and 300 degrees Farenheit. If you printed with ABS or a high temperature plastic, it might work. You would have to try it to know. 300 F is only 149 C, so maybe. PLA wouldn't stand a chance. If you can print polycarbonate, it might work better. This material looks interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Modelling-Modeling-Tutorials-Accessories/dp/B0716D1VDM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_6 There are lots of colors, and it can be cured in a 275 Farenheit oven, with a hot-air gun, or by boiling in water.

Anet A8 ignores extruder temperature? I don't understand what's wrong with my G-code. I have set the printing temperature to 195 °C but when I try to print, the target temperature is always 0 °C and printing never starts. I have tried changing material preset to different PLA profiles but that didn't help at all. G-code: ;FLAVOR:RepRap ;TIME:1736 ;Filament used: 0.676205m ;Layer height: 0.1 ;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 3.4.1 T0 M190 S50 M104 S195 M109 S195 M82 ;absolute extrusion mode G21 ;metric values G90 ;absolute positioning M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode M107 ;start with the fan off G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops G1 Z15.0 F9000 ;move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F9000 M117 Print0ng... M83 ;relative extrusion mode G1 F1500 E-6.5 ;LAYER_COUNT:96 ;LAYER:0 M107 G0 F600 X90.425 Y93.152 Z0.3 ;TYPE:SKIRT G1 F1500 E6.5 ... In addition, the extruder and heat sensor are working. An older G-code file correctly sets 200 °C as the target temperature for the extruder. This G-code prints just fine ;FLAVOR:RepRap ;TIME:4628 ;Filament used: 1.44191m ;Layer height: 0.15 ;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 3.4.1 T0 M190 S60 M104 S200 M109 S200 M82 ;absolute extrusion mode G21 ;metric values G90 ;absolute positioning M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode M107 ;start with the fan off G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops G1 Z15.0 F9000 ;move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F9000 M117 Print0ng... M83 ;relative extrusion mode G1 F1500 E-6.5 ;LAYER_COUNT:80 ;LAYER:0 M107 G0 F4800 X72.96 Y99.484 Z0.3 ;TYPE:SKIRT --- Note, I have never modified the firmware or changed anything except what I can change with the frontpanel.

There is nothing wrong with the G-code, M109 S195 sets and waits for the temperature to reach the set point. There must be a different reason, other than G-code, why the temperature is not set correctly. After updating your question by adding another G-code script, the conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with the G-code itself. The problem is that the printer cannot set the 195 °C temperature. Could it be that the minimum temperature is 200 °C and that it doesn't set a temperature lower than the minimum value? If you are comfortable enough to flash a new firmware (which you should always do with an Anet A8 as it has no thermal runaway protection) you could try to see if this is a firmware problem.

Where to find "Heat deflection temperature" , "Impact resistance Charpy" and "Tensile strength" for a specific brand Filament PLA? I have an MK3S 3D printer, and I use this table as a reference on how to tune my printer for a specific Filament brand. https://help.prusa3d.com/en/materials I am trying to find a few missing parameters for a specific brand Filament PLA in the table. The missing parameters are listed and shown in the image below. Heat deflection temperature Impact resistance Charpy Tensile strength Where is the best place or reference to find such missing data?

Unless the Manufacturer offers them, you have to extrapolate from other brands. Most PLAs are very close and hit within 10% of one another.

Cura is printing support on nothing? I am new on 3D printing, but I cannot understand how support structures (in Ultimaker Cura 4.4.1) can stand if they do not lay on anything, but air. Throwing everything away after 9 hours of printing is not a good experience, did I do anything wrong? In the attached screenshots images of the sliced model and Cura settings for support structures are shown. Demonstration of the issue Here some pics of the real printing results at 50 %-60 % of the work done. One of the two critical supports was barely done while other one, the same encircled in the slicer model, was not. I saved the printing attaching with some glue an "L" shaped piece of cardboard. UPDATE 11/01/2020 The tree support option greatly failed, but if anybody could suggest different settings I will be happy to try and report here an update. These are some screenshots: I've highlighted with red pencil the horizontal pieces of structure supported by nothing. I have to say anyway that the resulting model is worth to Moebius, could be an alien spaceship it-self!!! I have partially fixed the problem setting the support horizontal expansion to 3 instead 0 mm as suggested by a more skilled friend. Anyway, this is clearly a workaround of an intrinsic bug that appears just with Anycubic printer setting and not with other printers configuration. The drawback of using 3mm instead 0mm is that the supports become too strong and some of them completely envelop model parts.

The image of the sliced print part is not very clear but printing support on air is a feature of Ultimaker Cura. This is done when support is laid on top of your print part if you enabled Support Placement to Everywhere, which you did. The default Cura setting for Support Bottom Distance (which is a sub-setting of Support Z Distance) is the layer thickness specified in Layer Height. If you have a layer height of 0.2 mm, the Support Bottom Distance is also 0.2 mm. For the top, option Support Top Distance this is two layer heights, so 0.4 mm in this example. These options are visible in the expert mode, you can search for them in the search box, see image below. Why should you want air in between your part and the support? You'll soon find out when you want to remove supports, if no gap is used, the support will fuse to the print part. This is only interesting (no gap between print part and support structure) when you use a different filament for support like PVA or break-away filament; e.g. PVA dissolves in water. Note on the updated printed part images, you seem to have a stringing issue that needs to be resolved first. Note that it tries to print support on top of inner side of the toroid. Maybe fusing the support will help you to slice better supports, or alternatively set option Support Placement to Touching Buildplate and use an experimental option called Tree Support. You can also try to change the print orientation by rotating the print. Last resort is to design the supports yourself in a 3D model software program.

Uneven layers- Ender 3 I got my ender 3 about a month ago, it was working fine. Tried a new brand, overture, this is when I started experiencing problems. First, I was clogging nozzles left and right, then I went back to hatchbox, and my layers are messed up...

I wonder if this problem is unrelated to your material or printer, and purely a matter of slicer breakage. Have you tried printing gcode files you created before the problem appeared? If you use Cura and upgraded it, you might have hit one of the bugs where it assumes by default you have 2.85 mm filament, even though your printer actually uses 1.75 mm. That will create underextrusion that has the whole printed object coming apart like an unravelling mummy. When I've seen it happen, it looks very similar to your picture.

How to avoid nozzle from hitting the model? When printing objects higher than approximately 8-10 cm, sometimes nozzle hits the printed model and knocks over it. After 7-8 hours of printing that's really annoying. I'm using Creality Ender 3 Pro with Ultimaker Cura. How can I avoid this problem? As a note; it happens with thick, wide models without support structure too. I'm using Ender 3 Pro's stock magnetic bed. Here are some photos of printed model. I use Esun PLA+, the part was on baseplate without any loss of contact. It was like one layer missed its coordinates and then all corrupted. I think it's not related with bed adhesion because for example for this model, it didn't knock over the model. There is no roof for the model, I think it doesn't need any support structure. Here you can see the expected finished one:

It seems the problem was because of Z-axis leveling (level of the X-axis), I found out that the right side was more than 3-4 mm below the left side when the Z-axis height exceeds around 8-10 cm. Below 8-10 cm, the two sides were even. I calibrated the X-axis by turning the eccentric nuts of the wheels and tighten them. I will try printing soon with some test objects.

Ender 5: Bowden tube shifts in/out of extruder during retractions I have an Ender 5 with an aluminum extruder that was printing beautifully for a few days after building it. I received a Capricorn bowden tube and new couplings as a gift, and replaced those, and now I have stringing issues I can't solve. I've been all over the map with settings (temps, speeds, z-hop, retraction, etc. etc.), I've swapped the tubes, the couplings, the filament, I've checked for clogs, and put clamps on the collars, but no matter what I do, the tube shifts in and out during retractions by about .25 - .5 mm. I suspect that has something to do with the stringing, as nothing else has solved it. Any suggestions are appreciated. I haven't made adjustments to the extruder, but I don't know if that's possible or necessary. I've never had a system using the bowden, so that part of 3d printing is new to me. I'm using 3d Solutech PLA.

If it's just the pressure fitting on the brass coupler that shifts in/out, or the PTFE tube shifting slightly in/out but remaining in the coupler, that shouldn't be a problem unless it's so loose it can come out entirely. The blue clips which should have come with the printer are intended to stop this motion or at least provide enough pressure to prevent it from falling all the way out. Regarding the small 0.25 - 0.5 mm of play, effectively it just means you lose that much length from your retractions, since part of the retraction goes into pulling the tube back into the coupler. When the retraction is reversed, the effective filament position should go back to what it was before the retraction. As long as your retraction amount is sufficient after the loss, it should not cause stringing. You probably need to look for another cause of your stringing.

Wear resistant nozzles I recently purchased some glow-in-the-dark PLA filament (just "because"). Being new to 3D printing, I didn't realize you shouldn't run this type of filament through a standard brass nozzle and should replace it using a "wear resistant" type nozzle. This is true of carbon fiber type filament as well. My questions are: What types of nozzle material are considered "wear resistant" and are some materials better than others? Can I use this type of nozzle all the time (ie: are there any downsides for regular use)? What types of filament should you use a wear resistant nozzle with?

E3D have a blog post on the subject of hardened nozzles. The common abrasive materials are carbon fibre, wood impregnated filament (or any other particulate fill), and some pigments. The blog describes that as little as 250g of the more abrasive filaments can wreck a brass nozzle. For wear resistance, different manufacturers will have different options. Stainless steel is a little harder than brass, and hardened steel is a big step forward. If you fancy spending more money, aluminium oxide (i.e. Ruby) is an option. The downside is printability and cost. Specifically thermal conductivity of brass (or copper) is very good when compared to steel. However, this may not be the limiting factor for your printing unless you're running a very large machine. The various materials may also give different friction/wetting performance which can affect jams. Depending on the printer and the type of hardened nozzle, it probably makes sense to avoid swapping between hardened and standard nozzles most of the time. Hardened nozzles cost between 3 and 20 times what you will pay for a branded brass nozzle (and arguably a bag of no-name brass nozzles can be treated as near enough free disposables in comparison).

Bed leveling method? Is there a good method or tool to level the bed of 3D printers? I find myself making small adjustments a lot and it's mostly just trial-and-error. A normal bubble level is of limited help and trying to figure out if the head is the thickness of a sheet of paper from the bed in all corners is beyond the capability of my vision.

There are several ways. 1) Simplest is the business card/paper method. This video shows how simple it is: Leveling the platform You should feel the same amount of resistance between the hotend and the bed on all sides. On some 3D printers there are 3 screws holding the bed (eg. Solidoodle) and on others there are 4 screws on each edge (e.g. Prusa i3). On some 3D printers you need to rotate a screw with a screwdriver to adjust it (e.g. Solidoodle 3) and on some you have a nut (mostly wing nut) (e.g. Solidoodle 4). I find most people move the extruder around when adjusting the bed by controlling the motors. I think the quicker way is stopping the motors (in Repetier Host it's the "Stop Motor" button) and moving the gantry by hand. Tutorial: 3D printing guides - Bed leveling 2) Second one is just more advanced version of the above. You use a dial indicator/ micrometer attached to your extruder and make sure the number on the dial is as close as possible on all edges. Level the Print Bed on a RepRap / RepStrap 3D Printer with a Mitutoyo Dial Test Indicator Micrometer op 3D printer There are also digital versions of this tool. You might need to print or make some other way a piece to be able to attach a micrometer to the extruder (there might be one for your 3D printer on Thingiverse already). Now, remember I mentioned that you adjust the height of the edges of the print bed with a screw/nut? Well, since there is a lot of vibration during print those tend to get out of place and that might explain why you end up readjusting it over and over again. What I have found to solve this is to use a single drop of Loctite (cyanocrylate glue) in the middle of the nut/screw. A single drop will secure it in place but also not make it impossible to unscrew in the future. 3) Setting up auto-bed leveling on your 3D printer if it's modable enough: 3D printing guides: Setting up auto bed tramming leveling tilt compensation!. Finally, if you can't get the bed leveled no matter what, it might be uneven. That's usually caused by warping. Both PCB beds and aluminum beds can get warped. With the former just sandwich a glass bed on top of it and it should be fine. Warped aluminum is pretty hard to flatten. In this extreme situation you might need to get a new aluminum sheet cut and drilled, preferably a mm thicker one which is less likely to warp under the same conditions. I think this happens when you either set the bed temp too high and/or the thickness of the aluminum bed is too small (bad or cheap 3D printer design).

missing small sections of layers after a retraction So I am missing small sections of a layer when it prints, after a retraction for a layer change or a move, the extruder stops moving (no it isn't clicking or anything else. Just not moving). Which is fine for a few millimeters because the pressure inside the Bowden setup keeps pushing enough filament through. However, once that isn't enough it starts to make very thin lines with beads of plastic just barely holding things together. Basically this ends up as a good 2 cm or more at times of highly under extruded lines. This happens in the slowdown after the retraction when it is restarting. it simply doesn't move the extruder at all. The reason I know this is because I can see the extruder not moving, in that brief period. I know it is not the extruder clicking or anything else because I can disengage the extruder spring and push filament through manually during this time with no issues. I am using Ideamaker currently because I like it. I have looked at this Holes/ missing layers (after retraction) in 3d printed objects which is somewhat similar in appearance, but not in reason. EDIT: So I figure it is some form of coasting that IdeaMaker has implemented for their Raise printers. I am going to try and reduce the length of the coaster attempt to convert my Bowden to a direct drive with titan extruder. I have the Titan already, but it has been giving me issues with not having enough power to push filament without ripping it to shreds. That's another thing I have to look at at some point when I have the time.

Try lowering your retraction settings further. I have had this issue before as well, but you need to experiment with your retraction settings in order to get it right. I would suggest placing 2 one cm blocks side by side and starting with a retraction of 2 mm and working your way up from there until you get the lowest stringiness with the least amount of under extrusion.

Setup for a firefighting solution inside a heated chamber that doesn't destroy the printer? Heated chambers, especially homebrew ones, might pose a fire risk if the printer inside has a really bad day and its TRP is defective or - oh horror - deactivated. We are dealing with a class A fire if it ever starts to smolder, so water is out. Many other firefighting measures - like an ABC extinguisher might destroy the printer. On a ferry, I saw signs that they had Halon firefighting in the machine room. But that stuff is near unavailable, the more fancy replacements expensive and a typical, pre made deployment system costs thousands. Is there a way how one might set up a firefighting solution oneselves, using somewhat readily available parts?

Firefighting Agent One Halon alternative is the rather simple and cheap gas CO2. It is neither toxic nor hard to get: "60 liter" water-carbonation bottles are readily available over the counter to create soda water and contain some 200-300 liters CO2 Alternatives are Argon and Nitrogen, but those don't come in these small canisters and dissipate more quickly, but they also need the chamber to be gas-sealed. Because non-flammable gases act by smothering the flames, it is vital that rooms in which such a gas firefighting system is installed are not rooms in which people are usually, and in case of a workshop, it might be required to disarm the automatic trigger while the door is opened! Deployment System Such a soda water machine also would deliver the most crucial parts of a deployment system: the valve. To activate it, a solenoid can be used - once current flows through the solenoid, the valve is pushed open and the CO2 will shoot out into tubing or piping leading into the build chamber. The gas canister should under no circumstances be inside the build chamber's heated compartment but somewhat close. Release System Now we need a way to trigger the solenoid. I propose to use at least some redundancy in construction. Manual Mechanical Override. This can be as simple as a lever that bypasses the solenoid and activates the valve manually. Also useful for functionality tests. Manual Electric Override. Using a 9V block battery and some sort of latching switch/button. The solenoid is directly powered from the "reserve" battery now. Automatic via a microcontroller. Using a small programmable chip, one could use a spare thermosensor inside the chamber to detect temperatures of dangerous levels. As a direct response, it triggers the solenoid to release the gas into the chamber and continue to do so for at least long enough to fully flush the chamber, even as the temperature drops with the injected firefighting agent. It might be best to also trigger an alarm, for example, a repurposed doorbell. If one goes for such a solution, an output of the current chamber temperature could also be integrated, though I strongly discourage from integrating the fire suppression as a part of the printer board! Automatic via a thermal switch. More simple in design, a Normally Open Thermostat Switch could be used instead of a whole microcontroller. Such a switch could use the same power source as a manual electric override switch, and indeed, be mounted parallel to the same switch. The downside of a hard-wired thermostat switch is, that it sets a hardwired maximum chamber temperature. It'd be best to choose a switch with a reset-temperature that is as far from the trigger temperature as possible to ensure that the chamber contains as little O2 as possible. The availability of switch types here dictates the voltage of the system. What about the chamber heat control? Once the firefighting system engages, the chamber should no longer get access to fresh air. This could possibly be made by having a different solenoid push a shutter in front of the air intakes and/or by de-powering any chamber cooling fans. Door Safety A magnetic switch in the door should cut power to the solenoid, ensuring that only the mechanical manual override can fire the system.

How to work with PETG? Settings, caveats, etc We've been doing some printing with PETG filament on Ender 3 Pro printer and the result were awful: Here are settings we used: Extruder: 240 °C Bed: ~70 °C (± 10 °C) Speed: 80 mm/sec There are a few types of problems that we had: Initially filament did not stick to the bed - those 3 items in the middle of the picture are example of this issue. This got fixed by increasing temperature of bed to 80 °C. At some point a piece would get dis-attached from the bed and would move around together with the extruder around - two prints in the upper right corner of the picture were cancelled for this reason. Models are very rough, like a cheaply made snowball - that tiny model in the upper left is suppose to be a cattle-bell. Could you tell? Additional info Filament that we used indicated extruder temperature 230-240 °C printing speed 40-90 mm/sec no info about bed temperature Question(s): What are some optimal, tried and tested options for printing PETG? (Temperatures, speed, etc) What are some caveats/difficulties of working with PETG to look out for? (For example, I've read that PETG likes slower speeds. Is that true?) Is it possible that the model of 3D printer does not work well with this type of filament? (I don't have much experience printing so I can't know)

Slow down! 80 mm/s is much too fast for PETG. Try 45 or 50 mm/s instead, even for infill, supports, and other less-visible areas.

Why does my model stop printing at the same spot? I have a Monoprice Maker Select v2 printer which has a printing height of 7". I tried to print this trophy. The first time I printed, it stopped about 3/4 of the way (about 5.5"). I use Ultimaker Cura to move the model's z-position down, effectively splitting it in half to print the top half. But on the 2nd print, it seems to have stopped at the same point. There was a lot of extra PLA filament curled up at the end. Did my printer just jam or am I missing a setting that allows it to print the remaining top portion?

The answer is that you have not used support structures. The printing fails as a result of missing support structures. If you look closely to the Ace of Clubs card at the top, you will see that the lower point is being printed from out of nothing, this corner needs to be supported. When unsupported, the extruded filament flows freely and where it deposits is unknown. Usually this extruded filament sticks to the nozzle or ends up stuck at the next piece of the printed layer building up. This build-up can cause the head to hit the print and ruin the print. To enable support in Ultimaker Cura configure your setting accordingly: These settings are accessible when you select custom settings: If the options aren't visible, use: and type in the option. Please do note that using supports does not guarantee that the print will not fail! Especially when using long slender support structures, the chance that a support structure fails increases with the amount of support structures and the length of the structure. Sometimes long slender support structures are knocked over. Sidenote: Your printer has more issues, if you look at the brim, it is not a continuous bed adhesion layer, it looks like it does not adhere too well, see also the bottom of your trophy.

3D printing a boat hull I am wondering if it would it be feasible (at an affordable price) to 3D print a boat hull (small dimensions, maybe something like 60x40x20 cm). I am mostly concerned about: durability (against salty water, UV rays, extreme temperatures (under the sun or in a cold ocean) strength (the material should be able to resist some chocs and maybe a little bit of pressure if a wave was to smash on it). waterproofness Those characteristics should last during extended periods of time in water (at least several months, maybe more, about a year or two). Is there any easily accessible 3D printing material that would match those characteristics?

You will really need to specify your constraints better because the short answer is yes, what you describe is entirely possible, but without knowing whether you are limited to a particular budget, process, or aesthetic, it's not a particularly useful answer. Some machines (ex. Stratasys Connex 1000) will print models up to 1m in length, so sure, you could print an entire hull with the dimensions you specify. Pros: Monohull construction Excellent surface finish Many resin options are UV and salt water resistant with decent enough durability Cons: Ridiculously expensive machine with decently expensive resins It will waste plenty of support material in printing (which means added cost too) Not really easily accessible, but some design studios will have them and will print things for you, for a cost Other machines (ex. Ultimaker 2 Extended) will print models up to 30cm along the vertical axis. It would require some assembly in the end, but you could segment your build and get a boat hull in the end. Pros: Easily accessible Fairly low cost (Maybe under \$1000 for the machine vs nearly \$1M and many filaments cost 1/10th that of polyjet resins or sintering powders) The materials themselves can be UV resistant and salt water resistant Cons: Joinery and seams create passageways for water ingress, so you'd need secondary sealant The FDM process itself isn't always watertight, so you'd need sealant anyway Low interlayer adhesion limits the tensile strength along one axis and the shear strength in one plane, so you'd either need composite hull panels with varying print orientations (in which case, just do a composite layup instead) or a fairly careful analysis of principle hydrodynamic stresses There's significantly more to the discussion as well, but without really understanding your design constraints, it's difficult to give any concrete advice.

Removing pla from extruder I read that the best way of removing ABS was to let the temperature at the hot end to drop to around 190deg c then a sharp pull. This worked really well. I am trying to print with PLA but no matter what temperature I drop the hot end to I get left with a length of PLA in the feeder tube. OK I can heat the hot end and poke the excess down with a wire but that is a pain. I think the technique is right but the temperature is wrong. Any help great fully appreciated.

One resource you can use is called the nylon cleaning method. It works by setting nylon filament temperatures, pushing nylon filament into the nozzle until only nylon is extruding, then cooling the hot end to a specific temperature. The page linked suggests a hard yank, but I disagree. Brutality is not a recommended action for 3D printers, in my opinion. When I use the NCM and the hot end reaches the correct cooler temperature, I use pliers and lever them against a suitable surface. The lever action is slower, yet the mechanical advantage is increased, making removal easier. Some 3D printer users disagree with the expense of nylon, which is, on the surface, excessive. I've found that I am able to see light through the hot-end after using this method, however, so I find the expense justified by a completely clean filament path. The above linked page also includes the modification of this method for use with the same type of filament to be cleaned, in your case PLA. Consider that you should be able to use ABS to pull PLA from the nozzle. Heat the nozzle to the lower end of your ABS filament temperature and push or extrude until you get the ABS color. Allow the hot end to cool to the low end of PLA temperatures and reverse the extruder/pull out the filament. If you use contrasting color filament (for example, white PLA, black ABS) you should be able to see the ABS collecting the other color as you remove it. Eventually, you would have no contrasting color, indicating that the previous filament has been removed.

Laser Engraver with Smoothie, RAMPS 1.4 or AWC708C? I have an old laser engraver that runs from Windows 98SE and DOS-6. Yup, still works fine but a pain as I regularly have to open it up and unplug and re-seat all the ribbon connectors. Fifteen of them and I tire of that fast. I am thinking of pulling out all the electronics and installing a TB6600 stepper drivers and Arduino to run G-code. My order of desire is based on price, RAMPS, Smoothie and the AWC708C. I'd actually like to stay away from the AWC as it is closed source and I would be stuck with whatever it has. With the existing NEMA 17 steppers I can get rapids to 400 mm/s. Will a RAMPS system drive this fast enough? It doesn't have to be that fast, but close to and certainly not below about 200 mm/sec. I have been searching but cannot find any actual figures achieved. If not then I guess my second option is the smoothie.

Marlin supports a stepping frequency of up to 40kHz. For a pretty typical setup with 100 steps/mm, this translates to 400 mm/s - obviously, if you use higher microstepping settings or use finer pitched belts you will get a lower maximum speed.

Build plate cools during print I am using a Flashforge Creator Dual Extrusion 3D Printer with RepG (ReplicatorG), and tonight a print completely detached from the build plate. I reset everything and watched it closely. It is a simple abs print at 230/110 degrees. A few seconds after start of print, I noticed that the print bed temp had dropped to 109... and kept dropping. This is new behavior. I haven't started to troubleshoot yet. I am looking for suggestions on how to troubleshoot the issue. Edit 1: Tonight RepG would not connect to the printer. I reseated the USB cord and now it does. The test print is ABS at 230/110 from this open scad. difference() { cylinder(d = 10, h = 2); cylinder(d = 9, h = 2); } Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2/Oscar Once the print starts the print bed begins cooling. It is cooling before any filament is laid down. Edit 2: Examination of the gcode shows the root cause. It does contain M104 S230 T1 (set extruder temperature) It does not contain a M109 S110 (set build plate temperature) When I manually add the M109 to the gcode file, the model prints normally, and the build plate temperature holds for the duration of the print. The drop in temperature last week is due to the fact that I tend to preheat the printer before actually starting the print. Since there was no M109 the bed plate cooled to ambient temperature. There isn't a hardware issue here. Most likely it is a Rep G configuration error of some sort. Edit 3: I resolved the issue by a fresh install of the latest Rep G. I rebuilt the profiles from scratch with G Code to set the correct bed temp. Thank you for your suggestions.

Your bed is obviously capable of heating up, so I would double check your cable for any kinks, cuts, blow-outs, or general connection issues both where your machine rests during warm-up and Z0 where your machine begins printing. Most likely there is a poor connector or kinked/cut wire for the build plate. If that doesn't appear to be the issue, I might also suggest checking your power supply. I've heard of other similar machines' power supplies not being quite strong enough to support two extruders AND a heated bed.

What is the lifespan of a SLA Resin Tray? As far as I know resin trays have a Teflon coat that allows prints to stick to the build plate easier than the resin tray but this Teflon coat wears over time. I am new to the SLA scene and am currently troubleshooting a Draken Facture and trying to hone in my setting but my print keep sticking to the bottom of the resin vat. How often should these trays be swapped out to allow for smooth printing?

It depends on tray and resin type you are using. PDMS If you are using PDMS (eg. sylgard 184) coating for your tray. (B9 and similar printers using this type of tray). Life of tray PDMS coating depends mainly on: How long you print without breathing floor. How reactive is your resin. You could get 2 3 prints up to 15 20 prints. It is suitable for printing delicate pieces. FEP Large number of manufacturers using FEP. Life of tray largely depends on. Thickness of FEP Piece sizes and movement speed during early layers. Usually you could use same tray for couple of hundreds of prints. Optical quality is not comparable to other alternatives but without human error factor you could get almost unlimited prints. Delicate pieces require tough resin. Teflon It is halfway between PDMS and FEP. There are other tray alternatives: Envision uses special glass you could print on average 50 prints. Carbon 3D uses super expensive oxygen-permeable window.

Can functional hinges be built with food printer? In trying to understand 3D printers, I have watched some YouTube videos where the crafters make items with hinges. That in itself blows my mind. It is hard to grasp how something with moving parts can be printed. But specifically I am wondering if the concept can be extended to food printers to make, for example, a sugar or chocolate telescoping lollipop (sucker)?

I don't know much about food printers. But at the very least, you should be able to print similar moving parts like hinges as you would with a standard FDM printer. When printing things like hinges with a single extruder printer, the machine will typically be configured to include support structures. This is basically very thin scaffolding that higher layers of the print can sit on. As Tom van der Zanden pointed out, though, this highly depends on the food medium you wish to use. With plastic, the material is heated to a less than liquid point, usually allowing the material to "bridge" across gaps. If your food medium is too thin (or close to liquid) you will not be able to effectively print supports as the medium will fall between the gaps. If you are able to effectively print the supports for overhanging features, you should be able to knock off the supports with a small knife or toothpick. If it's a moving part, sometimes "shimmying" the part will knock the supports off.

Printer randomly moves to home during printing, then resumes as normal During printing, my printer occasionally makes some mystery moves: it will very slowly move either the X or Y axis all the way to the left/front, before very slowly moving back to its original position and resuming the print as normal. I've checked my G-code files, and the moves are definitely not part of the G-code. What could be causing this? I'm printing from an SD card on a Cartesian printer.

The issue was due to a corrupt SD-card, which was occasionally having some garbage read from it. It turns out that Marlin will try interpret a corrupt move command like G0 X1q3.54 and still read as many numbers as it can. In this example, it would be interpreted as G0 X1 rather than (as might have been intended) G0 X103.54. This explains my symptoms perfectly: X and Y always moved to (approximately) their home positions, but it was always only one of them (it's quite unlikely that both moves are corrupted). Z was not affected because Z moves are much rarer in the G-code (only on layer change) and thus it was very unlikely that a Z move would be affected. E was not affected since a request to move E to near 0 would be prevented by Marlin's long extrusion prevention.

Out-gassing of printed material when heated We know from this answer, 3d printed materials continue to outgas after printing and being cured. My question relates to this: How much does heating the printed object after printing (or being cured) affect out-gassing? Does the continued out-gassing degrade the stability/quality of the print?

This is not an answer to your question, but it relates to outgassing so I am sharing it here. I have used the acetone vapor method of smoothing the surface of ABS prints. It works really well, and the surface becomes much smoother and glassy. I printed a large coffee mug (lets, for the moment, ignore food safety issues) and made it very smooth. After a couple of weeks to allow the acetone to fully evaporate, I poured a nice, hot cup of tea. Unfortunately, the acetone had not fully left the print, and the surface was immediately covered with dozens of bubbles as the acetone evaporated and pushed against the ABS. This effect was only because of the acetone. Another cup that had not been vapor smoothed worked perfectly and was unaffected by the hot water. I have not seen similar outgassing from PLA, ABS, Nylon, or PETG. If I may hazard an opinion about the substance of your question... I don't think that outgassing is the biggest contributor to the aging of prints and their properties changing. I suspect that (perhaps not in order) these are larger factors: exposure to UV light. UV light breaks polymer bonds and reduces the strength of plastic. absorption of water vapor, which can both expand the material which causes stress, and chemically break polymer bonds. long-term crystallization of the material fatigue from repeated sub-failure stress NASA used to have resources that spoke to outgassing rates related to suitability for space applications.

Bed too close to nozzle? I've been having some bed adhesion problems that I have been trying to solve by leveling the bed. I think that it's pretty level now but when I start a print the lines seem pretty flat. Is this true? I used a feeler gauge to have a 0.2 mm gap between the bed and nozzle, but the center feels as though there's more space, despite the tape (ie I didn't feel any resistance when leveling the center) so I'm not sure if the plastic is too squished or not. I am printing PLA with 210 °C at Nozzle and 60 °C on bed. I also used a 130% extrusion factor for the first layer on a Creality CR-10S. It did come without a black print surface but with a glass sheet and a roll of painters tape instead, so I opted for Blue-tape. Also, I see some stringing, which seems to happen with skirts and brims (this is my first brim) and a bit of under extrusion in the center. But those are probably concerns fit for a separate question.

No, the bed does not look too close to the nozzle, it could well be that it is too far from the nozzle. However, the brim looks okay, but the method you follow is questionable. Using a feeler gauge of 0.2 mm is larger than the recommended paper method which is in the order of half that value (0.1 mm). You compensate this larger leveling gap with an over-extrusion of 130 %. The preferred method is using a thinner feeler gauge or a sheet of paper without over-extrusion. The reasoning is that if you have a 0.2 mm to start with, adding the first layer thickness (e.g. 0.2 mm) would imply that you are already starting at a 0.4 mm gap on your first layer. You now try to push out more filament to fill that gap (resulting in not really pressing the filament to the plate). Furthermore, your tape does not look like it is laid down next to each other, it looks as though it is laid over each other. This creates an uneven bed surface. Finalizing, you should do whatever you do to get the filament to stick to the build plate, if it works for you, use it. If it doesn't produce viable prints, or you are not satisfied with the surface finish, change it.

Unable to Determine Proper Print Scale of STL model I am new to 3D printing and have a Monoprice MP Select Mini 3D Printer V2. I wanted to be able to 3D-print this VR Adapter from Thingiverse. Before downloading the Cura software, I tried opening the model in Print 3D, and as you can see in this picture, it appears that the model is just under 100 mm, which is well under the 120 mm limit of the MP Select Mini’s 120 mm×120 mm build plate: However, when I downloaded Cura and input the specs for the printer (120 mm for x, y, and z dimensions), the model appears to be much larger than the 120×120×120 area. The program tells me that the model is 132.5 mm × 180.6 mm × 36.6 mm: I need the model to fit the controller for the Oculus Quest, so I can’t just scale it down. Can anyone tell me why I am seeing this discrepancy and how I can still print this model?

The STL format does not define unit information. So there is no way of knowing, from a STL file alone, what size it should be. However there are only a handful of units people design with. So the unit is most likely one of inches, cm or mm. So if you inverse convert between those combinations you'll likely find the real size. Your image is somewhat inconclusive. But it seems to indicate your object is in fact larger than your bed. As it it is 18-19 pips of height and i would interpret each as 10 mm from the image. Which would indicate your model is correct. Split and glue? Print corner to corner you should have 207 mm length that way (but not necessarily width).

Increase Z-homing probe number I'm using latest stable Marlin 1.1.9.1 with BLTouch. The BLTouch seems a bit damaged so I want to increase its accuracy with multiple measurements. I've increased #define MULTIPLE_PROBING to 3 but it seems it applies only to mesh ABL and doesn't work with single center homing. I want to get something like fastprobe + average for two or three slow probes. Am I missing something? Or it is not possible?

Homing and mesh probing are 2 separate actions, by setting #define MULTIPLE_PROBING to 3, you inherently create 3 slow probing points for the mesh probing (not the homing probing), with 2 you get a fast/slow probing action. Everything is possible, but, that means that you need to dig into the sources; not changing the configuration constants. That is not for the faint hearted. I've seen the responses of fast and slow probing in action, usually the difference is not existent or very very small, like one or two hundredths of a millimeter, I seriously wonder if it makes sense to use more than 2 probing points. Please note that a damaged bed may benefit more from increasing the probing array amount (from 3 x 3 to 4 x 4 / 5 x 5). The number of probing points discussed earlier only dictates the amount of probing actions in a single point; if the sensor hits the bed the probe measurement is done, if it hits again, the value should more or less be the same (give or take the accuracy of the sensor), I do not see what damage to a bed would imply more probing measurements in a single spot. The only rationale would be if the sensor itself has a large inaccuracy with an error that is not systematic, but random. My BLTouch (original) is pretty accurate and repeatable, I've had more issues with all those cheap knock-offs.

How to move Z-axis to a specificic position (Z-max) after printing? I have a Cartesian printer in a cubic format (the bed moves vertically) with Marlin 2.x I am not finding a way to make it move to Z-max (23 cm) when finishing the printing. The idea is to lower the bed all the way to the max, to make easy removal of the printed piece.

To move the bed down, you simply instruct the bed to do so after the print. The best way to do that is add a G-code line to your "end G-code" script you find in your slicer you use. Just add the line: G1 Z230 F500 With this command you instruct the bed to lower to your maximum Z height at speed (feed rate) 500 mm per minute.

Extruder prints fine up until further down the print So I recently installed a genuine E3D V6 (direct) on my AM8 (Anet a8 with upgraded frame). I have already been able to fix most of the print quality problems. But the last one is a hard one for me. It prints super fine up until a certain height. Then the extruder starts slipping and starts making weird noises like its clogged but I will be able to push through filament properly after cancelling the print. I thought it was heat creep but when touching the spiral heat break it is just a tad warm. I can comfortably put my finger on it and keep it there. I also tried two different brands of filament and it seems to happen roughly at the same spot. I tried PID tuning (the temps are literally perfect and super straight with no fluctuations), I tried cleaning the extruder gear and checked if it was worn or anything. Then I tightened everything on the extruder, making sure everything was nice and snug. I am not exactly a newbie when it comes to fixing my own printer and troubleshooting the problems but this one I have never seen or had before. Do you guys have any tips for me to point me in the right direction? Running Marlin 1.1.8. I have a BLTouch on it and an AnyCubic UltraBase.

I used a different heat break with a PFTE lining inside. After that it ran smoothly. Probably what was happening was that my filament was getting too hot and started to stick on the full metal heat break.

Build plate adhesion, PLA Am just wondering if any conclusions can be drawn from this: Three corners are solid, but not the one in the centre of the plate. The bed was levelled before printing (and checked afterwards also). Even though the photo may appear to show a slant or lower corner (where the print is coming off), there is not. The bed is level, relative to the extruder, at room temperature. The temperature of the bed is about 70 °C. I get inconsistent readings (with laser thermometer) but to the finger it feels about the same everywhere. It's a glass bed, presumably with some coating. Is it degraded? Local temperature variation? Any ideas anyone?

From here: https://io3dprint.com/review-anycubic-i3-mega-ultrabase/ Ultrabase Bed The Anycubic i3 Mega Ultrabase is the latest version in the Anycubic i3 family. As hinted in the name, the main upgrade from the previous version is the Ultrabase bed. This is a textured coating on the Borosilicate glass bed that means you don’t need to apply any glue or tape to the bed to make your prints stick to it. Ultrabase is similar to the popular BuildTak beds except unlike BuildTak it doesn’t wear off and the most significant benefit is that parts are exceptionally easy to remove once the bed has cooled. The Ultrabase surface has a Moh’s hardness of over 7. This means you can safely use metal scrapers and blades to clean it without risk of it scratching! Perhaps it was just not cleaned sufficiently from a prior print.

What is causing these artifacts when the extruder moves in one direction? I have a Prusa i3 that I am mostly happy with. However, I am seeing these strange artifacts when the extruder moves along one axis in one direction - in particular from the back of the printer towards the front. The extruded lines look uneven and the surface is quite rough, but only in that area and only while the extruder moves in that direction. Here is a recent print that shows this happen. The pieces were printed side by side, and both of them show this on the left hand side, while the right is okay. I am thinking maybe the extruder tip is slanted (not perpendicular to the bed), which causes some sort of scraping while extruding? What do you think?

In case of such difference in printing in different directions you can check if; for x and partially z axis filament is blocked and cannot be pulled as it should spool is blocked for x and y axis rods on which caret/HB is sliding are parallel timing belt idlers are parallel and they are in a line Shape of the nozzle or its perpendicularity should not be the case as it's hot and it wipes layer itself. You can also check if it's not an issue of cooling fan. It can vibrate as such. Eventually it could be an issue of cooling itself. Let's assume you have cooling fan at the back and it pushes air to the front then when caret moves from the front to the back then cooling time is longer than when the fan goes in opposite direction.

Can a dual extruder printer print with multiple filament types? I was looking at purchasing the Creality CR-X or another similar dual extruder (note, NOT dual nozzle) printer. I know it was designed to print two colors of the same filament, but is it able to print two different filaments? I would be printing HIPS with ABS or PVA with PLA, so the two filaments would have very similar characteristics. It's ok if the printer doesn't know there's two different filaments, I can make it work by playing with the slicing settings.

Yes and No Yes, if you have two full hotends, you can easily print with two filament types. Yes, if you have one hotend and both filaments melt at a very similar temperature or are the same polymer, then you can use a Prusa MMU style or splicing machine. No, if you have only one hotend and the two materials are very dissimilar in their print temperatures (PLA with 200 °C and ABS with 235 °C), then you can't use a MMU/splicing style printing. This does preclude PLA and PVA from the same nozzle: PVA needs about 230 °C according to my data.

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

Looking at the infill pattern visible through the tears in the top layer, it looks as if you have unreliable extrusion on the infill layers also. The solid fill layer is lifted and torn, so it is unlikely that one or two more layers of solid fill will make the result better. In my experience, bumps lead to taller bumps and print failure. These diagnostic steps have helped me: Print a 3 layer solid fill version, the top surface should be smooth and free of bumps; Print a single layer version, it should be smooth, well attached to the print bed, of even thickness, and a good surface for the next layer. Given your results, I am suspicious that you may have one of these problems, which I've listed in the order of likelihood: Partially blocked nozzle Excessive drag from the filament supply, such as a spool with crossed filament which jams itself, preventing unwrapping; Extruder feed roller slipping (perhaps full of dust), often a side effect of 1 and 2; G-code error dropping the temperature; Bad heater or thermistor, perhaps intermittent short of the thermistor, causing under heating even though the "average" indicated temperature is correct. Printing gliders is a cool application. It shows off the weight advantage extrusion 3-D printing can deliver. Nice.

Horizontal line z-axis not printing correctly I have just started with the FlashForge Creator Pro using the FlashPrint slicer software. I have gotten some nice prints but I am having an issue with a certain print from this model of a knife. See image below: Everything prints fine up to where the blade starts. As you can see, there is horizontal portion of the blade that juts out and, as I predicted, when it tries to print this, there is nothing for it to adhere to so it hangs there and when the extruder moves, it just pulls the filament around with it and creates a mess. The object file from Thingiverse is designed that way (with it standing upright) and there are pictures on the Thingiverse page of a successfully printed knife. As I am new to this, I am wracking my brain trying to figure out how to print this. I tried to cut the design and print the handle and blade separately (laying the blade down flat on the print surface) but the blade isn't perfectly flat on the sides so it doesn't lay flat. I suppose I could also just cut the blade and lay it vertically on the print surface but it seems as though it was designed to print in full in one piece. Any help or any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You'll notice in the screen capture that there is an icon marked "supports." This is precisely the solution required. When selected, the software should construct a series of vertical pillars in the locations required to properly print the horizontal portion of the knife blade. It's common for Thingiverse models to have a notation Supports (yes/no) to indicate that this feature should be activated. Depending on the capability of your printer, some angles may require supports that are not required on someone else's printer model. There may also be an adjustment for angle reference to cease supports or to require. My printer will handle up to a 50° from vertical without support. Beyond that, more filament is used, but the result is superior to printing without it, as you've discovered. Note also that support is typically categorized as "from the bed only" or "everywhere." The former prevents support from being generated between vertically separated parts of the model, while the latter permits it. Some models may have, for example, a foot on the bed not requiring support, but the arm directly above the foot does. "From the bed only" means the arm would droop/fail as no support would be generated above that portion of the model. If you are using the ReplicatorG 0400 software, referenced from the manufacturer's web site, page 11 of the manual will have additional information regarding support within the program.

Why would one choose 12 V from 24 V, from a safety standpoint? I have seen many people saying on this site and many other 3D printing websites that 24 V systems are safer, compared to 12 V systems. By safer, I am talking in terms of fires or other electrical and component failures. Why would a 24 V system cause less danger? I would think that 12 V would be safer because it is very common (automotive) and many parts have been around for a while that use it. Although there are an increasingly amount of boards that support 24 V, many don't or need fuses or other parts that do support 24 V. Also, many parts that I have used are rated for 12 - 24 V. A 12 V power supply can go a bit over fairly comfortably. A 24 V power supply can't without partially going over the rating. If I had to build a printer designed with safety as a main priority, what voltage would be best?

The most important "safety" advantage when using 24V (compared to 12V) is that to get the same power, you only need half the current. A 192W heated bed would need 16A at 12V, but only 8A at 24V. Since one of the most common safety issues is underrated screw terminals being used for the heated bed (just search for "3d printer fire"; you'll find quite a few pictures of charred plastic around screw terminals). For example, the screw terminals on RAMPs board are only rated for up to 12A. That would be okay at 24V, but well over the limit at 12V. Since the wire gauge is dependent on current, you can also use somewhat thinner wires with a 24V system (or equivalently: wires that would melt in a 12V setup won't in a 24V setup). The power dissipated in a wire scales quadratically with current, so the same wire being used in a 24V setup would only waste a quarter of the heat of that wire in a 12V setup. There is also less strain on switching devices (such as MOSFETs or relays). The same applies here: power loss is quadratic with current.

Can a common 3D printer be used to print masks for PCBs which use SMD components? Common 3D printers (read "cheap") may be used to print masks for PCBs (printed-circuit boards) which use PTH (through-hole) components. But can they be used to print PCBs which use SMD components? I'd like to make boards at least for Arduino-like SMD chips.

In addition to the thermal issues Tormod raised, there is a conductivity issue. Present conductive filaments are much less conductive than copper. The power loss may be enough to affect functionality. Also, the lost power goes to heat, making the thermal problems worse. For bulk materials, "volume resistivity" is measured in "Ohm-cm", which is the resistance of a 1 cm cube of the material, measured from one entire face to the opposite entire face (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity). Copper has a volume resistivity of about 1.68 microOhm-cm. Proto-pasta conductive PLA filament claims 15 ohm-cm (http://www.proto-pasta.com/pages/conductive-pla). Functionalize F-Electic™ claims 0.75 ohm-cm (http://functionalize.com/about/functionalize-f-electric-highly-conductive-filament/). Printing itself significantly raises resistivity. Proto-pasta claims 30 ohm-cm along X and Y, 115 along Z. More intuitively, each cm of length of a 2.5mm wide printed trace, 0.4mm thick, should add several hundred ohms with the Proto-pasta, or several tens of ohms with the F-electric. That may be enough to matter. It's probably worth mentioning that there's a specialized PCB printer (the "Voltera") that uses (pricey) conductive ink, and can also dispense solder paste: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2885188/3d-circuit-board-printer-a-smash-hit-on-kickstarter.html

Adding a battery backup power supply So apparently the wiring in my home is... questionable. Very rarely, plugging or unplugging things will cause a power dip. This is almost always the result of turning on a fan or something, is only for a moment before coming back, but its long enough to cause my printer to reset. I want to add a backup battery supply using either the 12v cell pulled out of an old apc ups (before the suggestion of just plugging it into that... I did, somethings fried in it and it will ALSO power cycle everything connected to it every few hours) or an old car battery. Is there any reason I shouldn't use this circuit, which was originally intended for amateur radio equipment? Also is there anything else i should be considering?

There are a couple of points to consider with this question. First, you will need to make sure the PSU is correctly adjusted to the float charge voltage of the 12V battery. SLA should be safe to float charge, but over voltage will damage it over time. One alternative solution (since powering the heaters will limit your run time) is to detect power failure, cut the heaters immediately, and save state to EEPROM in the firmware. This is the approach taken in the latest Prusa printers, and is a bit more complex, but might turn out to be more reliable. If the problem you are solving really is brown-outs, then a simpler solution might be to isolate the high current and control sides of the circuit. The MCU will be run from a regulated 5V or 3V3, so a large capacitor (with diode isolation) on that regulator's input would do the trick.

How can I upgrade the drivers in the Printrboard rev. D? I have a Printrboard rev. D which includes Allegro A4982 drivers. I would like to replace them, but it appears that newer TMC drivers all require several pins for proper operation. How can I upgrade the drivers in the Printrboard rev. D?

The developers from the Klipper firmware confirmed that Klipper doesn't care about the native functions of each pin, therefore it is indeed possible to use the expansion pins for controlling (including UART) TMC stepper drivers. At this point I cannot confirm, but maybe Marlin allows the same by updating the pin assignments in the source code.

ASA and BVOH adhesion I am printing a mechanical part for my printer. It's a new mount for my extruders and I have been attempting to use BVOH as a support filament so that when my print is done it will cut down on the need to finish the part and possible mistakes. My problem is I can get the BVOH to adhere to the bed with no problem and no warping of any kind, but I can't get the ASA to adhere to the BVOH supports. I run the BVOH at 220 °C and the ASA at 250 °C with my fan at 10 % and I am using a Flashforge Creator Pro printer which is mostly enclosed. Does anyone know of a way to get the ASA to adhere to the BVOH?

Can you tell by looking at the de-adhesion what isn't sticking? It may be that printing the ASA at higher temperature is melting the BVOH enough that it doesn't stick, being molten. If so, then it may be possible to print the first layer of ASA at a cooler temperature, slower if necessary to still succeed at extrusion, with fans blowing. Then, print the next layer of ASA at a higher temperature, also with fans flowing. A test might be to print the BVOH, then a layer of ASA, and stop. Let it cool and test the adhesion. If it sticks under these conditions, then a better command of the temperature profile may offer a way forward.

Can 3d printers be operated at voltages above 24 volts? Going from 12V electronics to 24V produces a reduction in the overall amount of heat generated in the electronics (that are not intended to get hot). These include the motors, drivers, mosfets and pcb traces. Why then given that 48V power supplies and electronic components cost exactly the same as their 24v counterparts, are there no 48V 3d printers? Is there a saftey aspect to 48V that needs to be considered? EDIT: Yes 48V fans cost a little more but it's not exorbitant. It seems odd to move from 12 to 24 to get half as much heat, when you could move from 12 to 48v and get a quarter as much heat.

I believe the main issue is the voltage regulators and capacitors on your standard print main board are not rated for 48V. You can find some CNC shields that can handle up to 36V but these are lacking 3d printer features such as heater ports and only have 4 stepper slots.

Ender 5 (Plus) - Gantry not square to frame, how to fix? How would one go about squaring the gantry relative to the frame? Referring to the image below, distance A and distance B are not equal. Also would this account for the reason why when I attempt to print a circle it is not perfectly circular, and when I try to print a square, it is tilted?

How would one go about squaring the gantry relative to the frame? You first need to make sure that the cube/box frame is square. Once this is done, you need to check whether the gantry is still not perpendicular/parallel to the top frame. If not, you need to loosen the couplers at the front that control the Y movement of the printer. See if you can reposition the gantry to be square to the frame. If that doesn't work, you need to fiddle with the bolts that hold the wheels of the X-Y carriages so that the gantry will become aligned with the top of the frame. Also would this account for the reason why when I attempt to print a circle it is not perfectly circular, and when I try to print a square, it is tilted? Yes, a skew gantry causes skew prints, i.e. squares become parallelograms, and circles become oval. There is another solution to fix this in firmware, but, the preferred method is to mechanically fix the issue.

Is the 8mm x 20mm bearing axle for the X-axis idler (of a P3Steel) a custom part? Here is the X-axis of the P3Steel: The X-axis idler end of a P3Steel printer, employs an 8 mm diameter rod for the axle on which a 608zz bearing is mounted for the GT2 belt. This 8 mm rod is approximately 20 - 24 mm in length, with grooves at either end, for circlips. A photo of the assembled idler, with the rod and circlips highlighted: My question is: Does this part need to be custom made? The short rod didn't come with the frame kit that I purchased (nor was it listed in the parts list, or shown in the photo of the parts - so it not as if it was omitted with my order). I have searched on eBay for it, using various search terms, and I am unable to find one. As I was not trained in mechanical engineering, I am not sure if this part has a special name, or is it just called a "smooth rod, with grooved ends"? I have also done a fair amount of googling, and although I have found some people who have constructed this particular frame, no one makes mention of this axle, nor any difficulties in sourcing it. I have contacted the supplier of the frame, Frame Prusa I3 P3Steel v4.0 +RODS, and I am awaiting a reply. This missing part is holding up my build progress - I already have the 608zz bearing and circlips. Additional images This image shows the "exploded view" and the 8mm rod can be clearly seen: Here are images of the assembled idler, showing the bearing inside - Front view: Side view: This images are a little blurry, as they are screen shots taken from the video, I3 Steel CORDOBESA con extrusor/with extruder.

You could look up a Clevis pin with one groove. You could look up a Clevis pin with a hole for a split pin. Perhaps a Shoulder screw with a ground shank and a low profile head. Use a plain rod with Dome caps if you will not need to remove often. If available an internal threaded Standoff would work. A Slotted spring pin may work if the hole dimensions are suitable. EDIT: You could also cut the grooves yourself pretty easily. Cut a section of 8mm rod to length and mount it into a drill chuck so it stick out 2-3mm 1/8". Hold a hacksaw at the edge of the chuck and run the drill for a minute with gentle pressure, try hacksaw on other side or reverse direction if nothing is happening. A hardened rod will cut better with a Dremel type cut-off disk

But ... skateboard bearings have OIL in them, and oil is ... bad? I see plans for various spool holders, either for PLA in the open, or for whatever filament in a dry box, that use 608 bearings. Elsewhere, I see warnings not to oil your filament to make it go through the extruder better, because problems going through mean something else is wrong, and it's better to fix the other thing. So, if I use the 608's, will oil leak on the filament, and is this bad?

Typically, oiling a filament would mean to use a vegetable based or non-petroleum type of lubricant, possibly even PTFE (teflon) or silicone. Those materials will not damage PLA filament. Oiling filament is not the haphazard application of lubricant, however. One drop on the filament sponge guide will last a rather long time and should be given sufficient time to distribute itself in the sponge, helping it along by alternately squeezing and releasing the sponge. Ball bearings of the type you've described will not have oil, unless otherwise modified by the user/owner. The bearings are packed with grease which will not leak out under normal circumstances. Running the bearings at high speed will cause the grease to thin a bit and perhaps drip or if hot enough will "sludge up." If your bearing grease turns to sludge, the bearing has already gotten hot enough to melt out of your plastic fitting. For spool holder applications, you can clean the grease from the bearing with a suitable solvent (denatured alcohol, acetone, soap and hot water in a pinch) and expect little impact on the drag. The spools rotate at such slow speeds and under such small load that the bearings alone will work nearly forever. This recommendation is void in dusty environments. With respect to oiling the filament, it's not a bad idea to have a sponge dust catcher that has no oil just as the filament enters the last open location. My bowden extruder system is nearly enclosed and the sponge sits at the very edge of the spool, while a direct extrusion system would have the sponge at the entry to the extruder gears.

How to find correct part cooling fans? I have a 2-pin 40 mm axial fan as part cooling fan. I don't post a link because I would like a general answer. It runs on 12 V and when I start it at less than 40% it doesn't start. Even if I start at 100% and then I reduce the speed, at about 30% it stops. When I read reviews online, I see people use fan speeds down to 10%, which no fan I have ever used can achieve. How can I pick and connect a correct fan for part cooling, so that I can freely set the speed down to 10%?

If the fan you are using is not defective and if you test another fan that behaves in a similar manner, it's possible your firmware or hardware are the root cause of the problem. The controller directs the driver to vary the power provided to the fan. It's a method called pulse wave modulation, aka PWM. Full voltage is applied to the fan one hundred percent of the time, for full speed operation. For fifty percent performance, half of the time full voltage is sent, while half of the time no voltage is sent. The time period is rather short, but I didn't determine that aspect of this answer. One can find a clear explanation of PWM online but one word is worth one one-thousandth of a picture: If your fans are not performing properly, either the program embedded into the controller is buggy, or the driver module for that unit is bugging out.

Intermittent Y-shift print issue only with multiple items I have an issue with a Y-shift every few lines only when printing multiple items at once. If I print the exact same models individually, they each print fine. Notice the shift only happens a few times, about every 4 lines, and then stops happening. I’m printing PLA on an Ender 3 Pro, slicing with Cura 4.8 (Mac). Any ideas on how to troubleshoot?

I initially tightened the tensioner for the x-axis belt pulley, which seemed to help. Then I double-checked my installation, and realized the belt for the x-axis was on upside down (belt teeth go in, smooth side of belt out). So I guess it’s actually more surprising it’s been working well until now...

Is Marlin capable to work with binary G-code? I want to use a binary protocol like Repetier uses. Can Marlin work with this/such a protocol?

No. Marlin only supports ASCII G-code, and does not (currently) support binary format. According to the List of Firmware, Repetier is the only firmware that supports binary G-code. Moreover, verifying with Marlin's source code, shows that the G-code parser can only handle traditional G-code.

3D printing template material I want to print a structure that I can embed in a resin and later dissolve. I know that some fancy 3D printing systems have raft materials etc., that can be printed and later removed easily. Can any one suggest a 3D printing material that can be dissolved in say water or another readily available solvent?

Wash-away filament used for support in PLA printing is typically PVA, which is completely water soluble and may serve your purpose. It is easily 3D printed as the primary filament and attaches well to the build plate. Many 3D printer filament suppliers will carry this type of support material. It is important to keep it in a sealed bag with desiccant as it will absorb moisture from the air, rendering it useless for printing. One such resource is MatterHackers which prices a half-kilogram at US$45. The link provides suitably appropriate information: PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) is a water-soluble material that is often used as a support material, but can also be used to print independently. PVA supports are useful for complex designs where removing support material manually is difficult or impossible, but leaving the part in a water bath overnight will completely dissolve this material.

What should I think about if I want to design something modular? For a while now, I have been thinking about designing things such as small bedside tables, game/dvd/bluray racks for 3d printing. I've always thought that making them modular would be a good way to go about doing this as well. Modular design would help to create an end result that is vastly larger than the print volume of my 3d printer. I might even be able to recycle models for use in other projects. However, I'm not sure of what I need to think about if I decide to go ahead with these ideas I have floating around in my head. I'm assuming that certain joints (dovetail, etc), tolerances for different types of plastic due to shrinkage, and print settings (% infill, in particular) would be important to have thought about and evaluated to some extent, but I'm not sure about what else I might be missing. So my question is to anyone who has designed anything to be modularly printed. Have you really had to think carefully about the engineering side of the print? Or am I simply overthinking this? Should I just design what I want and give it reasonable infill, walls and whatnot, and just go for a trial and error approach? I'm sure there is a method to this madness, but is a concrete understanding of this type of engineering absolutely paramount when it comes to this sort of stuff? EDIT: Although I've marked darth pixel's answer as accepted, I'm still going to follow JKEngineer's advise and check out that book as well since I feel as though proper engineering techniques alongside a good mentality towards how I would tackle the problem (as outlined in darth pixel's answer) would prove to yield better results in the long run.

All printers are designed with an idea of WYSIWYG for sure. Depending on: printer - type/quality/settings/configuration/assembly precission filament - type/quality/shrinkage user skills - manual/using app proficiency model complexity environment conditions and so on you can get different results. I venture to say users know their printers (after some time and by trials and errors) so they know how to manage dimensions to compensate all above so you will get this knowledge too. Mathematical formula can describe shrinkage of the material, all other elements are very hard to describe (mathematically) in a general way. Of course someone can simplify it and say: more money you spend better effects you'll get. It's sometimes true ;) So all your modular things will be better and better if you will increase (what is to be increased) in above points especially "user skills". Is engineering paramount? It depends of whay you gonna create. If your modular things have to lock itself, have to have threads, screws and such stuff then this is engineering. Is it the most important part of the design? Not necessarily. I would say 3D printing moved engineering to next level. I'm talking about this or this. Is it still art or engineering? :) This is my receipt: think > imagine > design > rethink > redesign > give it a try > get back to thinking good luck

Limit Switch problems on RAMPS 1.4 and custom built 3D Printer running Marlin 1.1.0-rc6 So I am trying to fix a custom built 3D printer for my institute and am running into a problem I can't wrap my head around. So the limit switches for Y-axis and Z-Axis work just fine, but the X-Axis does not. All three switches are Makerbot (3-pin), and all three light up the LED when they get pressed. However the X-axis does not get recognized by Marlin. When I diagnose with M119 command it does not show as triggered even though the LED is on. All the other ones do. All three switches are connected to min (X-min, Y-min, and Z-min). Could this be a firmware problem? Or perhaps my RAMPS 1.4 has burned out the X-axis signaling? (I doubt this because the LED on the switch still turns on). Let me know if you need any more info to diagnose the problem. P.S. I have also replaced the X-Axis limit switch with a brand new one and the same result happens: LED turns on upon activation but it doesn't get recognized by the machine.

Considering you're having issues with the board, and the limit switches appear to be registering, but the board isn't doing anything about it, a first good step would be to update the firmware to 1.1.9 as @0scar states. If the update in the firmware doesn't do the trick, then move on to doing as he suggests with changing the Xmax/min stuff around. This just seems like a good first logical step to getting it fixed.

How to fix bad extrusion on my printer Around 30% into a large print I had to cancel as the layers of the print were not full layers and looked very stringy. Here's a couple pictures of what it looked like. I have a feeling that it may be because of my retraction settings either being too high or too fast as this section it was printing had to use a lot of retraction. My retraction settings are 40mm/s for 4.5mm. I was printing at a pretty slow speed (around 55mm/s), and I'm sure confused on why it's not extruding properly at certain times. If anyone has any idea on what is happening and how to fix it it will be gladly appreciated! I have an Anycubic Delta linear printer with a Bowden extruder, I use white 1.75 mm PLA at 200C, .4mm nozzle

It appears that at a certain point, you're running into issues with the extrusion being a bit too viscous / melted causing it to over-deposit or string (fail to retract completely). It also looks like this issue gradually gets worse as you go. This really feels like nozzle over-heating to me. My troubleshooting steps would go like this: Make sure my cooling it set correctly and fan is working properly. The nozzle doesn't adjust its temp for changes in extrusion speed. At times the printer has to rely on the cooling to get the extrusion leaving the nozzle to an ideal deposition temp, which is far lower than the temperate of the nozzle. Check my tool paths to make sure I'm not starting to return to the same X/Y position too immediately when I reach certain layers, not allowing the previous layer to fully solidify. Consider tweaking the slicer or printing at a lower temperate. Check if there's a lot of variance in print speeds for different tasks (shell, infill, etc). It can be hard for some printers to maintain the right temp for the extrusion about to be deposited if the speed changes too rapidly. If your printer has been heating extrusion rapidly for quick movements and then the speed slows way down, it can struggle to keep the subsequent slow filament from getting overcooked, as it can't instantly cool the nozzle even with proper cooling. Bring the various extrusion speeds closer together.

Marlin: possible to set ZMin limit when ZProbing? Question: Can a "ZMin-while-probing" be set? Meaning a minimum Z height the printer bed can move to, while Z Probing. Purpose: For safety reasons should the probe switch not fire for some reason. -- in Marlin Configuration.h, I see you can set the height of the Z Axis before deploying the ZProbe: #define Z_PROBE_DEPLOY_HEIGHT 35 In the context of this question, this is effectively a "ZMax-while-probing", i.e the lowest possible the print bed will be before Z Probing commences. I am looking for a "ZMin-while-probing" equivalent. The reason for this is just an added safety check - I know that if the probe switch doesn't fire by Z<=25, then it is not going to, and with this particular printer configuration, that would result in the Z Probe being driven into the printer bed. Does a setting already exist to create a sanity-check here?

You have not stated the version of Marlin you are using. I will assume we are discussing the latest Marlin 1.1 RC8. There is no longer any Z_PROBE_DEPLOY_HEIGHT but in earlier Marlin versions it did not function as you think; it was used to signify the amount of Z travel to execute prior to Z probe deployement. This is to ensure available space for servo-mounted, sled, or other types of "stowed" probes. This was not a limit to the Z travel, but the amount of Z travel to always execute before begining homing. If a printer without Z_MAX_ENDSTOP is left at maximum travel position, using non-zero Z_PROBE_DEPLOY_HEIGHT could crash a bot into the Z maximum end position. In these previous versions of Marlin, the homing height was computed by a combination of the above constant adding and subtracting to/from some others, which has since been replaced by the simpler and singular Z_HOMEING_HEIGHT (which works indpendant from the new Z_CLEARANCE_DEPLOY_PROBE): //#define Z_HOMING_HEIGHT 4 // (in mm) Minimal z height before homing (G28) for Z clearance above the bed, clamps, ... #define Z_CLEARANCE_DEPLOY_PROBE 10 // Z Clearance for Deploy/Stow The absolute value of the maximum bed positions are used in Marlin as sanity check to ensure no axis moves greater than this amount in one movement in either positive or negative direction: #define Z_MAX_POS 200 If your probe does not function correctly, no ficticious Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING will prevent a faulty probe from causing a head crash into the bed, so it is not implemented, allowing the Z_MAX_POS sanity check to prevent the Z axis stepper from continuing to run indefinitely during a fauly probe condition. If your Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING were implemented, if the printer were powered off (or Marlin crashed, etc) with the head at any Z distance greater than Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING there would be no mechanism to begin a print on the next poweron, since Marlin will never move in the negative Z axis except during G28 probing and after probing completes successfully. The only way to recover in this case would be for someone to continually attempt to both home the printer then power-cycle, moving the head Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING closer to the bed each iteration. This would be an unacceptable user exerience. Further, if Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING were implemented, the only percieved safety measure it would add is that during probe failure, the Z stepper would crash into the bed and continue to run for only Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING stepper rotations instead of Z_MAX_POS rotations. Regardless, the bed would be impacted so there is hardly any additonal safety added and a stepper driver should not overheat or cause any more damage (other than what was already done to the bed) in a single Z_MAX_POS length of rotations. For more piece of mind during homing, you may use the Z_MIN_PROBE_ENDSTOP feature with a normally-closed limit switch wired to an available pin on your control board: // Enable Z_MIN_PROBE_ENDSTOP to use _both_ a Z Probe and a Z-min-endstop on the same machine. // With this option the Z_MIN_PROBE_PIN will only be used for probing, never for homing. // //#define Z_MIN_PROBE_ENDSTOP Then use the Z_MIN_WHILE_PROBING feature to move the head above the Z_MIN_PROBE_ENDSTOP home position to perform probing. This will ensure that the printer will crash for only Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER Z stepper rotations if the probe malfunctions: #define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER 0 // Z offset: -below +above [the nozzle] In summary, to prevent the head from crashing into the bed, you must ensure your Z probe is functioning correctly :)

Mystery filament cleaning fluid Whilst looking to fix a different problem I had I came across this video. It's a filament reel holder, but at 02:40 the person uses a mysterious fluid. I haven't seen anything like this before (though had wondered). Mystery cleaning fluid. What practical problems would this cleaning fluid mitigate?

That's a filament cleaner/oiler combo. The black bottle is a variety of machine oil. The effect of oilers on prints is heavily disputed in the community. The suggestion of plant oils is a very bad one as they can create residue that stays in the hotend and create clogs.

PETG grinding with direct drive extruder I've been wrestling with a filament grinding problem for a few weeks now and I'm stuck. The problem manifests itself as starting a print alright then extrusion stops while the printer keeps moving. When I pull the filament out I see indents from the gear then a depression where it ground down the filament. Filament used is 1.75 mm Spool3D PETG on a Hictop printer, which is a clone of a Prusa i3. I don't know the exact part number though. The extruder is direct drive, and the 28 mm heatbreak is connected to a heatsink block rather than something with fins. Nozzle is standard 0.4 mm. My print settings are quite conservative. Speed is 20 mm/s, retraction is 20 mm/s (though it never grinds on retraction), temperature is 255 °C, which is 10 °C higher than what works in my other printers. No print cooling. At first I thought there was a clog, but I can push the filament though by hand quite well. I also use cleaning filament frequently and it never pulls out any debris. Heatbreak and nozzle have been changed to fresh items. Does anybody have any other ideas of things I can try, or should I just get a new extruder?

This does sound a lot like you are experiencing the effects of heat creep (How is heat creep characterized?). You should lower the temperature of the hotend and increase the printing speed and retraction speed and possibly lower the retraction length. If this is heat creep, a new extruder will not help you until you solve the heat creep first. A new hotend that can be cooled better might be a better solution.

Can I have a glass bed with only the center heated? I have a 15x15 cm heating resistor from my current printer (printing area: 12x12 cm). I would like to switch to a glass bed and to rework my printer to increase the printing area to 20 cm (22x22 cm glass plate). Would it be possible to use the old heating resistor placed only in the centre? this way I would have a smaller heated bed for ABS and a bigger one for PLA. Would the glass crack due to non uniform heating? This is because glass has a conductivity of less than 5 W/mK, therefore the hot area will stay hot and basically never really spread the heat to the surrounding area. So the frame will be cold and the center hot, causing stresses. Related: https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/31842/how-much-an-unevenly-heated-glass-plate-bows

If you're using borosilicate glass (aka pyrex) then it won't crack. You can get squares of ~20x20 cheaply off aliexpress. If you're using window glass, picture frame class etc then you might have issues with cracking, it will depend on lots of factors like the wattage of your heater and the temperature of the room. Your biggest problem will be that the bed heats very non-uniformly, which is unlike to give good print adhesion. I'd suggest a sheet of aluminium underneath the glass if possible, it will allow much more even heating.

Under extrusion with Cura 3.1 I upgraded from Cura 2.7 to 3.1.0 and I'm getting horrible under extrusion, I'm sure this is the software because I rolled back to 2.7 and everything is working fine again. My printing is a Robo3D R1+ using the "custom FDM printer" profile. Is there any new setting or a setting that isn't migrated properly that causes this?

Some users have reported upgrades to Cura changing the filament size to the default 2.85 mm. If you are using 1.75 mm filament (which most printers do), you will get extreme under-extrusion.

Extruder feedrate when loading and unloading filament I have an MKS Base 1.4 board with a TFT28 touch screen and a Titan Aero setup. When I use the load filament command from the touch screen the motor turns at a crazy speed to load filament, whereas if I plug in my laptop and use Repetier host and send a load command it turns at a normal speed. Is there a section in the Marlin firmware that allows me to set the actual extruding speed during load and unload?

Loading and unloading filament through the LCD options is taking care of by G-code command M600. The options used when executing the M600 command define where the head goes and how much filament is extruded of which extruder. Apparently, there is a difference in calling the M600 command via the LCD menu or (un)loading filament through the Repetier application. The Firmware-based and LCD-controlled retract options are defined in Marlin Firmware file Configuration_adv.cfg (Advanced Pause). The settings for Repetier are probably differently defined than in the advanced configuration file; you should look them up in Repetier. It could well be that separate G-codes (or scripts) are used for this. E.g. G10 is used to retract filament as set by M207 (both length and feed rate!). G-code G11 does the opposite, it unretracts the filament as specified by M208. To answer your question, yes, you need to alter the values of the constants in Configuration_adv.h for changing the speed when using the LCD to change the filament: // (mm/s) Unload filament feedrate. This can be pretty fast. #define FILAMENT_CHANGE_UNLOAD_FEEDRATE 10 // (mm/s) Load filament feedrate. This can be pretty fast. #define FILAMENT_CHANGE_FAST_LOAD_FEEDRATE 6

How to make symmetric Low-Poly objects in meshmixer? I've made low-poly objects using Reduce function in Meshmixer. My objects are symmetric and I want to keep the symmetry in the low-poly because it's more beautiful, But the software doesn't necessary keep the symmetry. using mirror function results in losing flat faces and many problems... Is there any specific way to make a symmetric low-poly?

The best way would be to follow a four-step workflow: Reduce complexity. Cut the object along the symmetry plane. Discard one half of the object. Mirror the cut object along the cut symmetry plane.

What G-code commands tell the printer to change nozzle on a dual extruder printer? I have been playing around with creating scripts to generate some custom G-code for a Malyan M180 and I am having trouble understand what commands to use to switch nozzles. Sometimes I can get the nozzles to switch and it doesn't recenter but sometimes it does. I have been using: G54 M108 T0; switch to left and G55 M108 T1; switch to right Has anyone else looked into this and have any idea what commands or sequence of commands should be used to change nozzles?

No, M108 does not do that. You are looking for T#, where # is the tool position you want: T1 ; switch to tool position 1 T3 ; switch to tool position 3 This tells the processor to send all heating, cooling and flow commands to this tool until another tool change is specified, and invokes the X/Y(/Z) offset for the new tool position. See http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#T:_Select_Tool

Inductive Sensor Causes Print To Stop Just added inductive sensor to my printer (MKS Gen L Board) using Marlin 1.1.9 After some tweaking it works great! The problem is when it starts print the sensor detects the bed and stops the print because it gets triggered. Can I tell Marlin to ignore the Z-min readings while printing?

Solved the problem, I was missing this line: #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE Apparently the sensor required a pull-up to better define the signal.

Uneven wall thickness with test cube I noticed that one edge (which is also the starting point of the print) is always bigger than the other three. Additionally, the walls do not have the same thickness as well. The wall thickness (starting from the thick edge) starts very thin and gets thicker till reaching the thick edge again. Does anyone have a clue whats the issue?

As Fernando suggests, the problem is likely with your source file. One easy way to verify this is to slice twice, rotating the STL by 90 degrees. If both prints produce fat/thin sides in the same dimension on the print bed, then it's a printer problem. If the fat side rotated with the STL orientation, then the STL is at fault.

Ender 3 Random Axis Shift My printer has been doing weird things lately. It used to print fine, but now it's like the Y or X axis after a certain percentage time. ie on a 24 hour print: it got off at 5 hours on a 42 print it got off at 16% Thoughts?

The usual suspects are overheating stepper motor drivers and over-tight belts. It can also be caused by belts coming loose in their mounts.

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

Try using TinkerCAD! I'm not advertising here - I have used TinkerCAD in the past for 3D printing. TinkerCAD allows you to easily build and create simple shapes by the press of a button. (I assume this is what you mean by generation) It is great for testing if your homebrew 3D printer works. Link: https://www.tinkercad.com/

Makerbot Replicator (5th generation) poor print quality Current main problem is that at various points during a print, one layer doesn’t attach well to the layer below it. That is what appears to be causing the artifacts in the second picture below, but the picture may not show it clearly. Background I have a Makerbot Replicator 5th generation printer. This is the one that is very locked down. As far as I know it can only use the slicer it comes with, Makerbot print, but I'd be happy to be told otherwise. It only prints in PLA and @Trish gave some good advice on drying out the filament. I've also leveled the print bed. Prints have improved from where they couldn't even finish to now where they just aren't very good quality. The issue I'm having now seems to be primarily that one build layer sometimes doesn't stick to the one below it very well. Then they peel up and the nozzle pulls them and re-melts them into a blob. I've attached two pictures. It's worse in the first one, then I lowered the first model layer fan setting from 50% to 45% and it improved and I was able to get the print in the second picture. Any help on what settings I can change would be great. Is this because it is underextruding? I think I'm stuck with whatever setting options are available in the Makerbot.print software. Print settings The default print temp for this printer is 215. This is at 210 degrees, but those blobs aren't actually burned they are a mix of the previous red filament that was on the outside of the nozzle. The travel speed is 150 mm/s, First model layer print speed is 30mm/s, Raft to model shell vertical offset is 0.26mm, Raft to model vertical offset is 0.33mm (I can't tell what the different between those is), z-offset is 0 (default), Layer height is 0.14mm. In the second picture the print was attached but separated easily from the raft. A couple more settings that might matter is the Print speed: Outlines is 20mm/s, and the Print Speed: Infill is 90mm/s Update 3/15/19 I made several of the changes suggested including lowering the temperature, leveling the bed, adjusting the Z-offset, and lowering the infill speed. I also continued to dry the filament in a dry box with a lot of desicant that I dry periodically. The desicant seemed to make much more difference than drying the filament at 50C for a couple hours. Print quality has improved a lot, but isn't great. I'm coming to the conclusion that the filament has been damaged by poor storage. It has been left in a drawer in a humid, hot room over the past summer or more. I'm still using a raft because prints fail completely without it and work reasonably well with one so I have no problem using a raft. Now most of my problem is blobs of filament that I think are running down the nozzle from the heater core. I may have to take some timelapse video to figure that part out. I'm also having some stringing which may be a filament quality issue and some layer shifting.

Your printer is improperly leveled with respect to the distance of the nozzle to the bed. This, and a high raft to print part distance, causes consecutive layers to not adhere well. PLA should not need that high temperatures to print nor does it need a raft. Rafts are interesting when printing filaments that have high shrinkage. Furthermore, a 90 mm/s infill speed is pretty high, and do not use the part cooling fan for the first few layers (if you cool too much it can curl up). You need to re-level the bed and make sure that the nozzle to build plate distance is the thickness of a sheet of A4 paper when Z = 0.

Attach handle on a loose screw The handle of a micro wave oven broke. I can't just order a replacement part because I can't even attach the new one. The problem is that the screw heads are somewhere on the interior side of the door, which cannot be disassembled (non destructively at least). I wouldn't even do it because of safety reasons. I have access to the threads of two loose and captive screws to work with (indicated by the two red lines on picture one). The screws are not machine screws, but screws for plastic like in the attached picture. The plan is to 3d print the plastic part of the handle and reuse the front aluminum cover. I don't want the handle to be loose, so I'm looking for suggestions to attach the new handle. I have a lot of ideas, maybe I will share them later if they are not mentioned at some point. The main problem is: how to attach something when all I have to work with is a loose, non machine screw ?

You are facing 2 problems in this case: Material choice Design Material choice As far as I can see, this is an oven that can heat its interior to roundabout 250 °C, which means that the door will radiate a lot of heat. This needs special high-temperature plastics to withstand - PLA and ABS are not an option for this! I would suggest looking for PEEK (stable at ~260°C) or a high-temperature resin print in this case, as there are some resins which can withstand much higher temperatures after curing. Note that PEEK is traded usually for above 100 €/kg and needs a specialty printer. Even the less stable PEI filament (works under 170 °C) needs a specialty printer: All metal hotend and 350-380 °C extruder are needed! Design The plastic screws you show are self-cutting plastic screws. if their head is accessible, they get screwed into holes that have a bore large enough for the center. If the screw head isn't accessible, for turning but can be pressed down, then one could opt to use high-temperature resin to cure inside oversized holes over the screw. This is not an option if the screw can't be pressed into the part though, as then the handle always will rattle. Repair?! Note that you might be able to access the screws with a little work, if you have the right tools and manual.

Filament isn't going into the Bowden tube, instead it goes "into the room" The pictures explain my problem. I have already tried to reduce the retraction but that showed no effect. Thank you for your help. The effect is a total stop of the print (no material is extruded). Creality CR 10 Cura 3.4.1 I recently added this new feeder aluminium block because the 3D printed stock version was bad quality.

This is typically caused by resistance in the tube or hotend but in your case it appears to be mostly caused by a very poorly designed extruder. The filament needs to be constrained closer to the drive gear. You may be able to drill out the PTC connector to allow the PTFE tube to reach closer to the gears or print a spacer to fit in between but you need to support the filament in that gap. You can try raising the hotend temperature as a band-aid until you can fix the problem, do not exceed 240 C if you have a PTFE lined hotend. Long retractions can also pull molten filament into the cold zone where it solidifies and make extrusion harder. As an example, here is a picture of a Bondtech BMG extruder. Note how the extruder constrains the filament path all the way from the drive gear to the hotend entrance. While this example is extreme for normal PLA/PETG/ABS, it is required for flexible filament. A 4mm gap (or closer) should be fine for PLA/PETG/ABS or other hard filaments.

What can cause a sudden and dramatic loss in the inter-layer registration of my prints? Suddenly, my printer has started producing prints that have a very pronounced layering. Normally, the alignment between layers is very good, and the prints look very smooth. Suddenly, the prints have become much worse and the layers are misaligned with respect to each other. The part on the left is my "normal" quality, while the part on the right show the deterioration. Here is another picture (in which the good part is on the right): The parts are both printed with 0.1mm layer height, and identical slicer settings/filament. I am printing on a custom-built FDM printer; the mechanism is roughly similar to that of an Ultimaker.

There are many factors, here are a few things to check: I'd first suspect filament feeding. This type of ridging can be caused by a filament coil that is binding occasionally, or a filament that doesn't have an even diameter or volume per length. Binding within the filament feeder and feeder tubes can also be a cause. Bubbles in the filament, or sometimes a mismatch between the filament ideal temperature and the head temperature could create results like this, but it probably wouldn't vary so much between the layers. Next I'd look at the print head. If it has blockages, or poor temperature control this could result. Lastly, I'd check the mechanisms - disconnect the motors and see if all the carriages slide smoothly without any binding, particularly the Z axis. It doesn't look like you're missing steps, but binding here may result in greater backlash, which could result in similar ridges. Make sure any belts and gears are tight.