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thread-13423 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13423 | Poor adhesion on new layer - Monoprice mini select | 2020-04-15T21:05:03.660 | # Question
Title: Poor adhesion on new layer - Monoprice mini select
On my Monoprice Mini Select v2 there is poor adhesion when the print head goes to put down a new layer on the bed as seen in the photo. Does anyone have a fix for this?
# Answer
You could try a higher bed temp, but also check to make sure bed is levelled all round as this can sometimes cause this to happen
> 1 votes
# Answer
If you have already used alcohol to eliminate grease and fingerprints, sometimes scrubbing the print surface with a regular green scotchbrite pad can restore adhesion. It micro-scratches the surface and seriously increases the surface area of contact.
This all assumes you have properly calibrated the bed, reduced first layer print speed by at least 50%, increased first layer print thickness By \>= 50%...
> 1 votes
# Answer
Things you need to check or do:
1. Use adhesion layers
2. Set lower speeds at first layer.
3. Increase bed temperature (try 5 degrees steps)
4. Clean the bed
5. Check if the bed is completely leveled up.
6. Increase the thickness of the first layer.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: troubleshooting, adhesion, monoprice-select-mini
--- |
thread-10314 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10314 | Choice of lead for lead screw | 2019-06-19T23:50:50.143 | # Question
Title: Choice of lead for lead screw
This video brought to my attention the 8 mm lead of the Ender 3's Z axis screw, which seems like an exceedingly bad choice from a standpoint of accuracy with respect to common grid alignments in the Z direction. In particular, with the stepper having 200 full steps per rotation, the 8 mm lead consumes all the powers of two out of 200, leaving 25 full steps per mm - and 25ths of a mm are not a typical unit that layer heights/feature heights are going to be in. It seems like a 5 mm lead would be ideal, giving you 40 steps per mm, evenly divisible by 3 powers of 2 and one power of 5, for exact tenths and exact eights.
Is there a motivation behind the choice of 8 mm lead? Is this common for other printers, and are there printers that use a 5 mm lead, or 5 mm replacements that work well?
# Answer
I've not seen trapezoid lead screws with 5 mm lead, you can get 5 mm lead ball screws though.
On one printer I use 4 mm lead screws to get native 0.02 mm resolution (so 5 full steps for 0.1 mm, 10 for 0.2 mm, etc.). I also geared down 8 mm lead screws with a 2:1 ratio (e.g. to use a single Z-stepper driving a belt that drives 2 lead screws), works fine.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Direct-drive, 8mm-pitch Z-axis screws is a very common configuration. Although it results in low z-axis resolution, apparently it works well enough for most FFF applications.
Like you, I noticed this curious design as soon as I got into 3D printing. Based on normal design principles, the resolution of the Z-axis of most printers is technically inadequate or barely adequate, at least based on normal principles from CNC machines and other motion applications (my background is semiconductor industry robots).
Printers cut a lot of corners for cost reasons. That's why they cost hundreds of dollars instead of many thousands of dollars like CNC machines. My printer, like many others, has 8mm-pitch screws and no gear reduction. Sticking an 8mm-pitch lead-screw directly onto a stepper is simply a cheap and easy design. You could get better resolution with a shallower-pitch leadscrew, or with stepper gearboxes, or with belt-and-pulley reduction. But it would add cost and complexity, and modern stepper drivers help to band-aid the low mechanical resolution.
The divisibility of the layer heights into stepper motor revolutions is not that big of a problem in the context. Z-axis resolution is just plain low, and evenly-dividable layers may or may not make an actual improvement. I think if you are concerned about Z-axis resolution then increasing the mechanical resolution should be a far higher priority than worrying about even divisibility.
It still sort of bothers me that the Z-axis resolution is so low. But we see that printers like mine tend to work fine with the 8mm leadscrews, even in vase mode, and even with auto-bed-leveling. And I never pay attention to "magic" z-axis numbers, either. I'm sure the Trinamic stepper drivers are a big part of the reason it works so well. Sure, I could buy 2mm-pitch lead-screws and nuts to increase my Z-axis resolution by 4X. Or, I could install planetary reducers to increase it 10X. But the problem I would be solving is apparently pretty minor in practice.
Also: most of these 8mm-pitch screws are 4-start threads. The reason the pitch is 8mm is partly to do with the lead-angle of the threads, and partly to do with the fact that it's a 4-start thread. The more starts a thread has, the higher the effective pitch; other things being equal, a 2-start thread will have twice the pitch, and a 4-start thread will have 4 times the pitch. So why use multi-start threads, if it reduces resolution? Technically, multi-start threads are better for lead-screw applications because they reduce binding forces. Single-start threads, like the normal UNC threads, are unbalanced, and they "push" from only one part of the diameter, so the nut tends to tilt and bind when loaded axially. This is normally fine for bolts which need to wedge in order to stay tight, but it adds friction and play when operating as a lead-screw. Using 2-start threads, the nut is "pushed" from opposite sides of the diameter, so the nut doesn't have the default tendency to tilt and bind. 3-start threads are even better because the nut is stabilized at 3 points, resisting binding forces from any direction. 4-start threads are better still but maybe a bit overkill. All this is to say that the downsides of the high effective thread pitch are somewhat compensated for by the benefits of using mult-start threads. Switching to a single-start 1mm thread would increase the resolution by 4X but would introduce some other downsides of using single-start threads, which technically could cause some other inefficiencies. It's not practical to make 4-start, 1mm thread or if it were, it wouldn't be a common part and thus probably even more expensive than just using gear reduction.
> 3 votes
# Answer
I expect a T8 with 8 mm pitch to be cheaper (in large quantities) than a T8 with 2 mm pitch (which also exists).
I think that if you have T8x8 you can use 4 milling heads (the screw has 4 starts) and therefore cut away the material faster. With a T8x2 mm you can use only a milling head at time.
This is speculation, since my local supplier prices them the same.
Also, microstepping is always used, especially if bed leveling is active, therefore you get at least 4x the resolution you think: 10 um per microstep. More than 4x microstepping may not be reliable, given the reduced additional torque provided by the motor and the higher torque required by a T8x8 mm lead screw (higher angle of attack, or what is that called).
Summary: it may be cheaper, and surely provides enough accuracy for the printers which use them. It's 4x faster than a T8x2 mm lead screw and 8x faster than a M8 threaded rod. This affects print times too.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Well, you can use the screw with the size you can get easily, but sometimes can be messy at the time to mount to the printer, for example I'm using on two printers a standard thread 1/4 which measures 6.35 mm so is a little hard to coupling.
However milling the thread this can be mounted correctly, but the screw is soft and can be bent or warped easily making your printer wobbly and and produces failed prints.
However I´m satisfied with the printing quality and I can set prints with 0.1 and can increase 0.05 by 0.05
Now I want to mount an screw of 10 mm to minimize wobbling generated by those warped (bow) that repeats variation on size (x,y) on every cycle or every revolution. The 10mm screw are completely straight. I don't think that the stepper motors can be compromised with an extra weight.
So, Z layers can be at 0.05 mm but it can be achieved 0.02 mm tested until now. But wider diameter can achieve smooth edges.
> 0 votes
# Answer
You are delving into the darker recesses of 3D printing here!
ACME threads, anti-backlash nuts, ball-screws, etc. will ALL follow...
The simple answer is that the Z-axis screw on all the cheaper 3D printers are pure crap! They use 8mm With triangular threads because it they are cheap and most software works with it.
The first major upgrade most folks make to a printer (after the print bed surface) is to replace the Z-axis screw and nut. Many are poorly mounted and/or warped, resulting in Z-axis wobble. Most suffer major backlash - offset only by the fact that most printing only ever goes upwards...
The ideal upgrade would be to replace the rod and nut with a good quality ball-screw assembly that is properly mounted. But, if you do change the pitch, make sure you can alter the software to account for it...
That said, if your prints are good, enjoy, and don’t sweat the details!
> -1 votes
---
Tags: printer-building, lead-screw
--- |
thread-13864 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13864 | BLTouch with TH3D Ender 3 pro | 2020-06-12T19:33:21.343 | # Question
Title: BLTouch with TH3D Ender 3 pro
I installed TH3D to my stock mainboard via this guide, but BLTouch does not work properly.
It does not check all 9 points before point it just go middle then check z then start printing. BLTouch normally needs to check all 9 points before printing or with autobedleveling but somehow mine do not work like this.
# Answer
After setting up the BLTouch in firmware, you need to activate the leveling function for every print by inserting the leveling G-code 'G29' in the start G-code script of your slicer. The code should be placed directly after command `G28`.
Note that you can test the working of the sensor from the printer display: sensor can be deployed, stowed, reset and tested.
An alternative is to use the `G29` and `M500` command once in a while (for beds that don't change, don't get handled by excessive force and/or are operated at the same temperature) or store the shape of the bed through the display interface and put the command `M420 S1` in your start G-code instead.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, bltouch, th3d
--- |
thread-13865 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13865 | Are there white filaments, that are not so translucent? | 2020-06-12T22:30:18.707 | # Question
Title: Are there white filaments, that are not so translucent?
I find that white filaments are quite translucent and printing 5 layers of white filament onto 2 layers of black filament (at 0.2 mm layers, the white layers being 100% infilled and the underlying black layer covering about 85% of the whole area) produces a slightly grey color on the top.
Is that a limitation of the white colour (or the actual material used)?
Are there materials, that address this issue to some extent?
Adjusting layer thickness while keeping the overall height won't change things, right?
# Answer
PLA filaments are pretty transparent in their pure state. Other filaments, especially fiber-filled ones, are opaque in nature. But in the end, the color is determined a lot by the colorful pigments added and the amount of pigments directly correlates to the opacity. The more pigment is added, the more opaque it becomes. There are several screws for the color though: Ammount and type of pigments. For transparent filaments.
Not all pigments are the same. For example, white greatly differs between different brands. For example, my second-favorite brand's white is a little more in the "cream" color range, the filament sample that came with my TronXY X1 was very satin gloss and the first spool I ordered was a very white-opaque white. This all is because of the type of pigment used and the amount.
How can you tell the amount? From the print properties and the looks of a printed filament: a filament that is very laden with pigments tends to print hotter than one that has few to none, but it also blocks light much better. I have experienced up to 20 °C between a transparent and the very heavily pigment laden white filament for the sweetspot. The same white filament was completely opaque after 1.6 mm in walls but most prints are!
Remember: walls are generally thicker than roofs. If you really need to make the white covering fully, you'll need to make more white thickness, but thinner layers can help a slight bit as the included air in each layer helps a little.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Most of the plastics used for filament are inherently transparent and largely colorless. Color is achieved by adding pigment. Translucent and transparent colors are easy, but opaque colors require large amounts of opaque pigments, and even then, their opacity has its limits - even with black filament!
You can probably find very opaque white filament, but beware - too much pigment will affect the raw properties of the filament itself, either in terms of print temperature or things like layer adhesion or stringing/clogging etc.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: print-material, filament-choice, color
--- |
thread-13653 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13653 | Optimum ratio of line width to layer thickness for overhang performance? | 2020-05-13T20:27:11.113 | # Question
Title: Optimum ratio of line width to layer thickness for overhang performance?
When I have overhangs in my model, Cura colors them red. However, I noticed if I make layer thickness thinner, the red area is reduced or disappears.
This could mean that thinner layer thickness is better for overhang, but it could also mean that a larger ratio of line width to layer thickness is better. It makes sense that if line width is 4X the layer thickness (such as 0.15 layers with 0.6 line width), overhang performance should be better than if line width is only 2X (such as 0.3 layers with the same 0.6 line width.
Is there a model that explains the optimum ratio of line thickness to layer height? Is only the ratio important, or is layer height also important by itself?
# Answer
A wide line works if there is something below it to squeeze the filament against, but if you don't have a full layer below it, it will stay thinner and it will droop. I would not use extreme ratios on overhangs. Still, do a parametric test: a overhang tower (a compact one) at different line widths and layer heights. If you test 3 layer heights and 3 line widths, it's only 9 short prints.
However, as you can see in filament reviews, different materials behave differently. I think there is no *a priori* optimal value.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Cura high-lights overhangs in red if the printer would end up printing completely into thin air.
If your overhang is angled instead of being a purely vertical-to-horizontal transition, a much thinner layer height can increase the chances that enough of the prior layer exists to support the next layer being printed.
Basically, the thinner the layer (within reason), the greater the allowable angle of overhang that is safe to print.
> 1 votes
# Answer
In terms of Cura's model for showing overhangs, I'm nearly sure it's just the ratio - rise over run, or rather run over rise. And indeed that's what makes sense mathematically:
At least some portion of the wall extrusion in layer N+1 needs to sit on top of the corresponding wall extrusion in layer N. For a given 3D surface slope, the "run" - the distance the cross-section moves from one layer to the next, which needs to be bounded by some fraction of the line width - varies proportionally to the "rise" - the layer height.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: extrusion, bridging
--- |
thread-13874 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13874 | Cannot configure default E step for extruder on TH3D | 2020-06-13T16:09:58.300 | # Question
Title: Cannot configure default E step for extruder on TH3D
I installed the TH3D firmware to my Ender 3 Pro yesterday and today I am trying to configure the extruder rate because I am not using the stock extruder on my printer but have swapped in a BMG extruder. I edited these values and upload it to my board
```
#define CUSTOM_ESTEPS
//#define REVERSE_E_MOTOR_DIRECTION
#define CUSTOM_ESTEPS_VALUE 415
```
But these values do not change when I start to print something and because of that I need to edit it manually by going in to tune menu and editing flow to 415. How can I fix this issue?
# Answer
## Initializing
After changing your firmware, you always need to overwrite the old values in the SRAM and EEPROM with those from the Firmware. Which you do with **`M502 & M500`**:
> Installing firmware does not by itself alter the EEPROM, so these settings needed to be *seeded into* SRAM via `M502` and then *saved* into EEPROM via `M500`.
You could also run a G-code that has only these two lines:
```
M502
M500
```
## Altering the EEPROM
### Via command
Alternatively, you could access the printer via a terminal and send the command `M92 E415` to overwrite the SRAM directly, then `M500` to save the new setting to EEPROM. The associated G-code that only alters the E-steps/mm would read
```
M92 E415
M500
```
### Via Software
Or you use a terminal that supports direct alteration of the EEPROM, like Repetier Host.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: marlin, creality-ender-3, firmware, th3d
--- |
thread-13883 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13883 | Severe regression in print quality after adding Z probe | 2020-06-14T19:43:41.457 | # Question
Title: Severe regression in print quality after adding Z probe
I installed a BLTouch on my printer (Wanhao Duplicator i3) with Marlin 2.0.5.3 and enabled `AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR`.
However, the results are disastrous when I print. The first few layers do not adhere to the build plate at all. It is much worse with the probe than when I was leveling by hand.
In my Marlin configuration, I left the probe's Z offset from the nozzle at 0. Then I went through the Z offset calibration process to set Z=0 to barely touching the build plate. Then I ran the bed leveling process.
How can I diagnose what's going wrong?
When I run `G30 X100 Y100` to probe the center of the bed, I get a measurement of Z=1.18. I'm assuming that represents the true Z offset between the probe and the nozzle tip?
---
Here's another thing I tried. I probed with `G30 X100 Y100` which output a measurement like this:
```
Recv: Bed X: 100.00 Y: 100.00 Z: 0.06
```
I tweaked the Z offset with `M851 Z...` repeatedly until a probe yielded `Z: 0.00` (the offset was -1.07). Then I ran `G29` to run bed leveling, which gave me this grid:
```
Bilinear Leveling Grid:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0 -0.403 -0.313 -0.258 -0.210 -0.178 -0.138 -0.128 -0.085 -0.058
1 -0.285 -0.223 -0.178 -0.145 -0.103 -0.060 -0.050 -0.023 -0.045
2 -0.178 -0.128 -0.080 -0.083 -0.078 -0.053 -0.045 -0.048 -0.038
3 -0.103 -0.058 -0.028 -0.030 -0.018 -0.015 -0.018 -0.000 -0.030
4 -0.020 +0.015 +0.015 +0.002 -0.000 -0.013 -0.035 -0.060 -0.088
5 +0.030 +0.055 +0.037 +0.020 +0.035 -0.015 -0.023 -0.073 -0.140
6 +0.060 +0.082 +0.087 +0.020 -0.000 -0.055 -0.103 -0.160 -0.210
7 +0.097 +0.102 +0.082 +0.055 +0.002 -0.035 -0.105 -0.138 -0.265
8 +0.145 +0.130 +0.102 +0.077 -0.045 -0.108 -0.183 -0.193 -0.263
```
You can see at (4,4), the center of the bed is 0.0.
Then I saved the mesh and Z-offset with `M500`. I confirmed repeatedly that `G28` puts the nozzle just touching the build plate and not pushing on it.
This strategy seems to be work alright. I'm not sure if it's the correct way to do it. I'd welcome any feedback. If anything, I think I should probably raise the nozzle a fraction of a millimeter higher off the bed.
# Answer
Even with Auto Mesh Bed Leveling, you need to level the bed as good as you can. Your leveling grid show it varies between -0.403 and +0.145, that is about 0.55 mm or about 2-3 layers of filament (0.2 or 0.3 mm per layer). That **can't** be compensated for reasonably.
* Re-level your bed so that the corners only have an absolute error of at max 0.1 mm around their average 0 - that's half what I consider the *standard* layer 1 height of 0.2 mm, regardless of other settings.
* Make sure the 0 of the extended probe is a sliver under the nozzle, just to prevent piercing your bed on probing
* `G28` should bring the nozzle a hair sliver above the bed - if you move the head in X or Y direction (by hand after disabling the steppers, or move the carriage using the LCD) it should not make contact.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: marlin, bed-leveling, bltouch, z-probe
--- |
thread-13877 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13877 | Y-min stay triggered | 2020-06-14T08:00:20.580 | # Question
Title: Y-min stay triggered
I have a FLSUN i3 220x220x240 with:
* an 2004 LCD (RepRap Discount Smart Controller)
* an MKS-gen-L-v1.0 printer board running Marlin firmware 2.0.5.x
* 3D touch sensor,
* a filament runout sensor.
Everything works fine but for the mechanical Y-min switch: it stays triggered.
(`M119`) YMIN worked under Marlin 1.1.2; everything is connected correctly and is physically working.
I don't know what to do... Does maybe someone have an idea of what I can do?
These are my config files:
# Answer
This MKS-GEN-L board is in essence a plain RAMPS board, and as such it uses the same pinout apart from some specific pins. Do note the include of the RAMPS pinout in the MKS-GEN-L at the end of the file.
From your comment you have changed the pins 14 and 15, in doing so, you need to plug the Y-min endstop in the Y-max socket after uploading the modified firmware. With the unmodified firmware (no pin switch), if the Y-endstop works in the Y-max socket, this means that you have a hardware issue. The pin labeled 14 is connected to the Y-max instead of the Y-min. If you did the pinout switch and left the endstop in the Y-min socket, then you can conclude that the 15 pin is not connected to the Y-min socket. Basically you don't have a 15 pin that is exposed. Could be that there is an issue on the board with the traces or the soldering.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: marlin, troubleshooting, endstop
--- |
thread-380 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/380 | Drilling 3D-printed plastic | 2016-01-23T04:38:20.710 | # Question
Title: Drilling 3D-printed plastic
I need to do some post processing of my 3D-printed models that includes adding some holes. For each of PLA, ABS, PETG and other 3D-printing materials:
In what ways is drilling a hole in a model made from that material like or unlike drilling wood? Is it worth getting special "plastic drilling bits" that cost tons of money or can I use regular high speed drill bits? Do these plastics have grain that they will split on when drilled into, and if so, what are ways to avoid such splitting? Are higher speeds better, or lower speeds, or should I only use a finger-twirled bit holder?
Are some 3D-printing materials easier to drill than others?
What other methods also work for creating a hole in the different types of plastics?
# Answer
Have to get this out of the way... Can you just print the hole into the part instead of drilling? That's usually best, when possible.
If you need to drill, you'll definitely want to print an undersized hole and then ream it out with the drill. This both provides alignment for the drill and adds extra plastic around the region you'll be weakening. If you don't know where the hole needs to go in advance, fill the model with a hex pattern of tiny holes in the general region of the future drilling. This is an easy way to strengthen the area with more plastic without making the entire part solid. (Using a slicer that allows localized print settings will also work.)
The hole should be aligned more or less vertical or "across the grain" (+/-45 degrees aligned with the Z axis) to ensure there are nice, strong hoops of plastic around the hole to keep it from splitting. Drilling into a printed part (particularly PLA) from the side / parallel to the XY plane is highly likely to split it. It may even be ok at first but crack later under load or due to creep.
Regular wood drill bits work ok, but you need to go slow and take nibbles, leaving the plastic time to cool so it doesn't melt and stick to the bit. (Coolant is an option.) Use a pilot hole, piloted bit, or step drill to remove less plastic per pass. A really sharp bit will perform dramatically better than a dull bit.
Put something hard and drillable like wood behind the plastic part to help avoid breakage and bit-jamming when you break through the opposite side.
> 15 votes
# Answer
I wouldn't recommend drilling a hole in a 3D printed part in a traditional sense like with wood. Instead, I would merely ream a 3D printed part.
I've done this quite a bit where I'll print my holes at a slightly smaller than nominal size and use a standard carbide drill to ream the hole.
Things to consider:
* Printing the holes smaller than nominal will ensure your hole is not printed larger than nominal
* Printing with a higher shell will ensure you can remove the material without exposing the infill
Note that drilling directly into (or thru) an infill area of the part could lead to cracking of the part later, depending on the hole's functionality. In general, a printed hole (even if reamed) will be significantly stronger than one drilled through an infill area.
> 10 votes
# Answer
In addition to the good answers already given, I'd like to add: Use a sharp drill bit, and don't go too fast. Dull drill bits and fast rotation are more likely to heat up the plastic (especially PLA) to a point where it gets soft again, and then you're usually in trouble because instead of a clean round cut, the material will start to bend and tear. And if you allow it to cool around the drill bit - well, I destroyed a thread tap this way...
> 8 votes
# Answer
Drilling is indeed possible, but as stated in previous answers you should preferably do this along the vertical from the print bed for maximum strength, and if possible use an undersized hole as a starting point/guide. Drilling horizontally may cause the layers to separate but if you clamp down in the z-direction you're much more likely to succeed. It's likely to start cracking if even a relatively small torque is applied (one layer with bad adhesion is enough to make it surprisingly weak). If you still need to apply torque from the horizontal consider reinforcing the structure in the z-direction or splitting your print and gluing/fusing the pieces together to get some strength in both directions. Two holes of decent strength (one along the vertical and one along the horizontal) can also be achieved by adding vertical holes and bolt the layers together. When drilling take care not to apply too much force and make sure the excess doesn't get stuck in the drill bit. Any drill bit should work but I find that wood ones have a slight higher tendency to make the bit jam.
> 5 votes
# Answer
The primary difference between drilling FDM printed plastic and wood is that the plastic part is not solid the entire way through, and that plastic will melt or burn at much lower temperatures than wood.
If you know before printing that you're going to want to drill the part or potentially need to, then you'll want to modify the design of the part such that there will be sufficient internal reinforcement and material in the location of the drill site. The way I've done this in the past is put a through hole through the the entire part and slightly undersize the hole. Then I also increase the number of shells on the part so that the threads will have some extra material to bite into.
If you know you're going to need a hole in the part but not sure where then I'd suggest using the highest level of infill possible on the print so that your part will be as close as possible to being solid plastic. Or if there are a few areas you think might need to be drilled you can build your own internal structure but that can take a lot of time.
If you didn't know your part was going to need to be drilled AND you printed with minimal infill then be very careful about drilling and only use minimal pressure to cut through the top layer to avoid crushing the part. Then once the part is drilled all the way through consider filling the part with an epoxy to reinforce the hole location (if necessary).
Best case scenario though is knowing where and how big you need the hole to be before print. Of course though specs change on the daily.
As for the heat generated from the drilling process I haven't had much trouble with dissipating it. My 'method' for drilling a printed part (technically reaming) is that after I align my hole with my drill press, I then tap the drill-bit cutting only a millimeter at a time, then retract, wait a few seconds then repeat until all the way through. A little time consuming but my reasoning is to minimize burning and overheating of the hole due to the cutting friction.
In all honesty I think my drilling approach is overkill. But, every time I've needed to do it has been due to an error in modelling. I didn't have the time to reprint and was under a time crunch. My post processing step therefore did not have the option to fail so I was extra careful. Whether it was overkill or not it definitely worked, and it's always better to be a little more cautious than late.
> 5 votes
# Answer
I realize this is an old post .. but playing around with drilling PLA myself .. 100 % infill .. and use dish soap for a lubricant .. it seemed to work really well .. I am a hobby machinist .. had a lathe and mill years back and used all the proper oils etc .. but in this case didnt want to expose the pla to oils and I did that once on a part I was trying to wet sand .. and it appeared as though the pla absorbed some of the oil .. Well that just gave me all kinds of thoughts and ideas as far as oil absorption goes .. lol Maybe need to experiment with how much a piece of PLA will absorb if its even measureable .. Anyways .. agree with all above .. and could give the dish soup a try in hopes that it will help lessen the amount of heat generated ..
> 3 votes
---
Tags: post-processing
--- |
thread-13710 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13710 | Longer LK4 Pro moving to corner mid print | 2020-05-20T03:04:33.517 | # Question
Title: Longer LK4 Pro moving to corner mid print
My printer is the Longer LK4 Pro, and I just got it 2 days ago. When I started to print some objects, on a certain layer, the printer would stop and move to the far right corner of my bed. What can I do to fix this?
# Answer
> 1 votes
It's possible that the slicer is using a minimum cooling time per layer and the corner is set as its home coordinates. In the settings of your printer you can set the home coordinates and in the slicer you can reduce/remove the time between layers.
---
Tags: extruder
--- |
thread-10583 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10583 | How do you solve PLA corner-curling short of printing really, REALLY slow? | 2019-07-14T02:53:25.627 | # Question
Title: How do you solve PLA corner-curling short of printing really, REALLY slow?
I've been trying a lot of different things to combat corners curling upward in the first few tens of layers after the bottom skin. To be clear, I'm not talking about corners of the first layer printed on the bed, but rather the points of the outline in layers above the base where direction of print motion changes discontinuously (discrete corner) or abruptly (turn with very tight curvature). Here's an image I found (not mine) that demonstrates:
And a pic during print of the type of curling I'm talking about:
And some previous worse prints:
My go-to worst test case for this now is a 20mm tall hollow dodecahedron with 0.8mm shell (hollow geometry, not just empty infill; 0% infill on a non-hollow model does even worse, shown above). For everything else I've tried, I've mostly been able to sovle the problem with combinations of
* Improved cooling fan duct
* Lowered bed temperature or unheated bed (but this is a tradeoff; it seriously hurts first layer quality and increases risk of non-adhesion)
* Disabling Cura's overhang detection mode (non-uniform print speed causes a **huge** increase in the curling due to latency of extrusion rate response)
* Increasing motion acceleration limits or decreasing speed limits (also mitigating the latency in extrusion rate response)
but I can't get all 5 edges of the worst-case dodecahedron completely warping-free without just heavily slowing down the print; during print it's obvious that the curling at the corners in each layer is the source of the warping. Increasing Cura's `cool_min_layer_time` to 10 seconds (default is 6, and I usually get by fine with 3-4.5 for most things) mostly but not entirely solved it, and going much slower than that seems likely to introduce other surface artifacts from extremely slow extrusion.
Are there any additional tricks I'm missing for solving this? I'd like something that's easy to leave on all the time or at least to automate, as opposed to hacks like adding in a junk tower off to the side to waste time between layers.
My printer is an Ender 3 with stock gear except for improved fan duct. The problem was worse with the stock fan duct.
# Answer
While I tried a lot of things to solve this, including tuning temperature, fan, speed, etc., ultimately the single biggest factor that causes or prevents it is the state of Cura's *Outer Before Inner Walls* (`outer_inset_first`) option. With outer walls first, I don't have the problem at all. With the default (inner walls first), I have it to varying degrees depending on geometry and a lot of other factors.
I don't have a good explanation for why this happens so I'm asking a new question about it.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Cura has an additional setting that you can make visible called "Lift Head". My recommendation is that you do the following:
1. Set your minimum print speed to something actually reasonable like 30mm/s or higher. Printing too slowly negates the following two settings and is not beneficial to printing small features.
2. Set your minimum layer time to something higher, like 15s or so. The slower you print, the higher this number needs to be. Using too small of a minimum print time prevents adequate layer cooling.
3. Enable "Lift Head". This must be used to allow the small features on your print to properly cool. Without the "Lift Head" setting, your nozzle will remain parked on your print and provide both radiant and convective heat which prevents cooling and causes sagging of small features.
The combination of these settings will rapidly deposit the layer, then move the nozzle high and away from the print until the minimum layer time is reached, such that the radiant heat from the nozzle doesn't continue to heat the soft PLA while it's trying to cool.
Enabling all three is how I got perfect tiny features on all of the printers here at my office - a fleabay i3 clone, an Anet A8, and a couple Monoprice printers of various levels.
*Edit:*
I forgot to mention, keep your bed temperature at a reasonable setting too. For PLA, normally people may recommend up to 70C, but realistically, for very small prints, you can keep your bed much colder without detrimental effects. For tiny items, my PLA prints used to use a bed temperature of about 30-40 C depending on the specific filament. Very tiny prints are unlikely to warp even with a cold bed.
Basically, the colder the bed is, the less heat is getting conducted up through the print to the top layers that are molten, and the faster those layers cool. Keep the bed temp down and it'll benefit your layer cooling.
> 3 votes
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Tags: print-quality, pla, warping
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thread-13886 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13886 | Printing dental temporary crowns | 2020-06-15T13:58:45.843 | # Question
Title: Printing dental temporary crowns
If the right filament material is available, it seems practical for dentist to 3D print temporary crowns. Multiple images of the tooth to crown could be used for a 3D scan. Custom software or settings would probably make the software finish in less time. A 3D-printed temporary crown would probably take less work to get it to fit properly. Anyone know of development to do this? This probably would take a series of clinical trials to get FDA approval.
# Answer
> 4 votes
You ask about "filament", so I assume you expect fused-filament technologies. These are however not accurate enough, besides being prone to gaps and crevices which are problematic in crowns. The smallest viable nozzle, 0.2 mm, is still too rough for that.
Dental 3D printers need to be very accurate, so the most common technologies used are stereolithography (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP).
Crowns can be made using resin printing. It is possible to use also CNC machining of porcelain, but it's not part of 3D printing.
More info can be found on https://all3dp.com/2/dental-3d-printing-guide/
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Tags: health, medical
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thread-11726 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/11726 | AnyCubic D (aka Predator) - Z-zeroing and first layer issues | 2020-01-08T18:37:19.107 | # Question
Title: AnyCubic D (aka Predator) - Z-zeroing and first layer issues
Long story short, my wife and I are now the proud owners of an AnyCubic D, also known as the Predator. This is not our first 3D printer, but it is our first "delta" design, with the circular build plate and the extruder suspended by stepper-controlled tie rods (as opposed to the IMO more intuitive Cartesian designs like the MakerBot R2X and Ender 3 Pro we already have).
Got it all put together last night and ran all the basic setups including an auto bed leveling. This feature is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because the actual leveling is a matter of fitting the probe, hitting a button and walking away as it maps the build plate, and the results in terms of a consistent extrusion thickness around the plate are excellent each and every time.
It's a curse because the printer *depends* on auto-leveling due to the build plate being bolted directly to the base; with no manual adjustment possible, probing is the only form of leveling you can do, and that leveling is dependent on an accurate "zeroing" of the extruder above the center of the plate, which has to be done using the steppers to bring the extruder down from "home" to the typical paper-thin clearance over the plate surface.
Thus the problem; the zeroing procedure has a minimum adjustment of 0.1mm. Getting the clearance *just right* for a solid first layer requires at least another order of magnitude finer adjustment. For now, I have it "good enough" to stick the first layer onto the plate, but the resulting prints show pretty classic plate clearance issues:
You can see the lines of the bottom layer aren't connecting horizontally, and the extrusions are thin and tubular, which are the textbook symptoms of excessive build plate clearance (not enough "squish" of the filament between extruder and plate). It's close, but this is a game of just tens of microns, and the printer simply does not give me that level of control; one more step down at 0.1mm and I hit the plate. The manual says you can babystep the Z offset at 0.04mm while actually running a print, but I have run several (including the leveling test GCode included on the printer's SD card) and have never seen that option enabled in the leveling menu.
I was wondering if there were any AnyCubic D/Predator owners with insight into how they really dial in the proper zero height on these printers. I do have Cura's features to work with; theoretically I could send a relative-positioned `G0 Z-0.04 F100` command from its remote control panel as the last step down in zero height adjustment (assuming the printer is listening to USB input while running the leveling procedure), or I could put a similar command in the start Gcode followed by a `G92 Z0` which will re-zero the extruder height at the new level (assuming the printer accepts a relative move below its known zero; Marlin 1.1.0 actively prevents that, but indications are the AnyCubic firmware is proprietary, so who knows). I could also leave the extruder height as-is and bump Cura's first layer flow rate setting in the material profile, to push more filament into the taller space on the first layer and so get more squish.
However, none of these strike me as something I should *have* to do to dial in a printer, given that extruder clearance is a problem trivially solved on either of the other printers, and these fairly kludgy fixes would have to be repeated every time the bed was re-leveled (such as after any disassembly for maintenance or any move to a new location, including one beyond USB cable distance of the slicing computer).
# Answer
> 2 votes
I recently corrected a similar problem on a Robo3D R1+ printer. It is described as the z-offset setting.
An entry in the Thingiverse forum appears to reference this problem as well. The sensor provides reference information to the board, but the compensation is not always as it should be.
For the Robo, the command sequence was M565 Z0.7 in this specific instance, followed by M500 to store the value.
I'm not certain this is the answer for the Predator as the above is specific to the Robo3d.
An answer in this SE suggests that one can use M206 Zxx followed by the M500 storage command.
Further research regarding the z-offset for your particular board is warranted.
# Answer
> 0 votes
The owners manual tells how to micro adjust the z while it is printing the 1st layer. See page 23. I did this and it works perfectly.
# Answer
> 0 votes
May I suggest as far as pushing the Z below 0 on a printer that won't allow it, just reset the Z a second time? In other words to set it 0.1mm lower when it's already at Z=0:
G92 Z5
G0 Z4.9
G92 Z0
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Tags: z-axis, bed-leveling, delta
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thread-13903 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13903 | Why is glass a widely recommended option for the print bed? | 2020-06-18T08:54:37.597 | # Question
Title: Why is glass a widely recommended option for the print bed?
Glass is really bad at transferring heat. Therefore using it with heated bed seems to be a strange solution since it will not be transferring heat from bed to the print.
However every article I see says it is actually good solution for printing.
The reason I am concerned is that I have pretty large bed (500x500 mm) which is pretty hard to keep flat. And in this case glass would be a good top surface that will keep bed rather flat. But same time I am concerned that it will kill the benefit of heated bed (PCB style) and will require higher bed temperature to get glass surface to equal temperature.
# Answer
> 7 votes
I suggest to look at a similar question, but just the glass question here:
* Glass is a very smooth surface
* Glass shrinks when cooling to a degree it pops the print free on itself
* Glass is virtually impossible to scratch with metal scrapers
* Glass stays fairly flat under heating
* Refurbishing of the bed isn't needed but for applying your adhesion solution (Woodglue, Gluestick, Hairspray, 3DLac, ABS-Slurry... pretty much ANY glue can work
* Glass is one of the few surfaces upon which almost all materials can be printed without risking ruining your print surface on removal
+ PETG is one of the few that demands some sort of extra adhesion material with glass, most others don't need anything.
+ POM and some other materials love to rip PEI apart
+ I had a huge PLA-print stick so well to a BuildTak that I had to cut the sheet off the bed to get it off
The problems are fairly evident on the other hand:
* Glass is brittle and shatters on impact or thermal stress.
* Good glass can become rather expensive if you want a super flat sheet in non-standard sizing and a specific type.
* Large glass sheets need a very even heater to prevent thermal stress.
## Borosilicate?
Borosilicate glass ("labware" glass) is more resistant to thermal stress but also does not pop free from the print the same way as normal glass does. It is also more sturdy but MUCH more expensive. It also comes with its own problems:
Some people have experienced spalling in combination with PETG, as it created a perfect airtight seal, making an adhesive as a separation layer mandatory. This behavior was also reported for normal glass, which is why an adhesive material is strongly suggested for this material.
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Tags: heated-bed, glass-bed
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thread-13909 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13909 | Is there a slicer that can set the print speed for each layer as a function of the layer area? | 2020-06-19T13:26:03.193 | # Question
Title: Is there a slicer that can set the print speed for each layer as a function of the layer area?
Is there a slicer that can set the print speed for each layer as a function of the layer area? Larger areas give the layer a longer time to cool off before the next print layer. When the layer areas start to get small (usually at toward the end of a print if so) the layer may need a slower speed to cool off.
# Answer
Most slicers have a feature in their cooling settings to "slow down if layer print time is below xxx".
Setting this to a higher value should ensure that small / short layers aren't printed too fast, so that cooling is still reliable.
Shorter layers are slowed down linearly to reach the specified minimum time - unless a "minimum print speed" is also set.
> 4 votes
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Tags: slicing, speed
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thread-13913 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13913 | How to find pure PLA filament? | 2020-06-20T17:07:24.340 | # Question
Title: How to find pure PLA filament?
Prompted by discussion in comments of a recent question whether PLA is suitable for parts that need to be in contact with acetone, I did some casual experiments and found that my clear/"natural" 3D Solutech PLA is mostly but not entirely resistant to acetone, while my blue Hatchbox PLA is quickly softened and deformed by it. This got me wondering: how do you go about finding PLA that's **actually PLA** (and nothing else)? Just "clear/natural" in product description does not seem to suffice.
I know this is close to a shopping question, so please make suggestions on how it could be improved if it's too close. It'd be great if there were keywords that worked, but an answer is probably going to be more along the lines of how to go about inquiring with manufacturers or where to find places where manufacturers might advertise that their products as pure.
# Answer
There's only two ways to make sure it is pure PLA without color and additives:
* Make it yourself. Order PLA-pellets for manufacturing and put them into a filament extrusion machine
* Contact your manufacturer and ask them to do the above for you.
Note though that the pure PLA might have undesirable attributes for pritability that are fought with fillers and additives.
> 2 votes
# Answer
If acetone resistance is what you are after, try PETG:
"While the chemical resistance of PETG is one of its most desirable characteristics, it is also one of the reasons why smoothing PETG prints is challenging. Since dissolving PETG with a solvent, smoothing via solvent application (like acetone smoothing for ABS) is not a very good option." See 2. Chemical Resistance in https://3dinsider.com/how-to-smooth-petg-prints/
> 0 votes
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Tags: filament, pla, print-material
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thread-13906 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13906 | Ender 3 display stopped working, how to test if need to replace | 2020-06-18T23:53:28.500 | # Question
Title: Ender 3 display stopped working, how to test if need to replace
My Ender 3 LCD display was working ok, I went to turn it on recently but is not showing any signal of life anymore...
I have tried unplugging and plugging again, is there a way to test if the screen still works?
What is the issue? Or should I just buy and install a new LCD?
# Answer
> 2 votes
This is hard to answer, it depends on your skills if you can can repair it or not. As you haven't changed the firmware, it is unlikely that this is a software issue. If the display doesn't light up, the power to the module may be broken.
If you have an Arduino Uno or similar you can try to upload a sketch and connect the display to see if it works, there are plenty of sites explaining how you should do that (software sketch and hardware connections) based on the pins exposed on the EXP port. Note that you can forget the EXP port that controls the SD card.
Personally, I would just buy a new controller, they are cheap (found on those typical Chinese vendor or auction sites).
What you can do is check whether the printer board still works, if you connect a USB cable directly to the board and connect it to a PC, you could see if the printer responds using a printer application such as Pronterface (part of the PrintRun suite).
# Answer
> 2 votes
Can you tell if the fans are turning on for your Ender 3? If not then the problem may be with your power supply or main board. If you can hear your power supply is on (listen for the fan near where you plug in the 120/230 V power plug), then the issue may be with either your main board or LCD screen.
If this post on reddit is accurate, the Ender 3 uses a standard Reprap 12864 LCD module. If you have a breadboard and a 5 volt power source, you can try connecting pin 1 to the power supply and pin 2 to the ground. If the LCD turns on then the issue is most likely with the main board.
Alternatively, @0scar♦ suggestion is good too, a cheap LCD screen can potentially save a bunch of diagnostic time.
*Pin Diagram for 12864 LCD Panel:*
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Tags: creality-ender-3, full-graphic-smart-controller, lcd-screen
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thread-7713 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7713 | How to make physical buttons send G-code? | 2018-12-20T05:00:59.027 | # Question
Title: How to make physical buttons send G-code?
I want to hook up an Arduino to my Creality printer running Marlin firmware, such that I can have a few physical buttons mounted on the machine that will execute commands such as preheat, home, disable steppers, and so on, so that I don't have to navigate through the clunky LCD screen.
Ideally it would work in addition to the normal LCD and serial functionality, so it would not impede me from using Ultimaker Cura to print via USB, etc.
What is the best way to do this?
# Answer
One option would be to have your printer controlled by an Octoprint server. You would then use the Octoprint Api plugin to use your arduino to send commands to octoprint - and from there, your printer. Octoprint has a fairly fully-featured rest api that allows you to send arbitrary GCODE to your printer (see here). You would then hook up your buttons to some code that sends the gcode commands to the printer when pressed. It's certainly not as simple as installing a plugin - you'll have to write some interface code, but it looks like those APIs should be able to do what you want, without interfering with the standard controls at all.
> 4 votes
# Answer
There's already Arduino inside the printer (to be precise: the printer board with spare pins). Im sure its possible to hook up a switch then change firmware to send G-codes; 1 pin per series of commands?
> 0 votes
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Tags: marlin, diy-3d-printer, firmware, arduino
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thread-13933 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13933 | Will I brick my Ender 3 if I try flashing without a bootloader? | 2020-06-23T17:10:58.707 | # Question
Title: Will I brick my Ender 3 if I try flashing without a bootloader?
I have a recently purchased Ender 3 Pro, and it may well already have a bootloader on it. I don't have the various adapters to flash one yet.
Is it destructive to try flashing over USB without the bootloader? Does it fail in a non destructive way?
I have watch some tutorials which claim that it's fine to just try it, but I'd like to be more sure about that.
# Answer
> 1 votes
My understanding is that if there is no bootloader, you can't flash over USB; you need an ISP programmer attached to the board. So if you're able to flash over USB, that means there is a bootloader, and updating via the bootloader should leave the bootloader in place and just overwrite the rest of the firmware. I'm not sure how strongly this is enforced, though, so you may want to wait for supporting comments/answers from others.
Of course it's always possible to damage your printer in ways that require replacement of the board or at least some parts on it if you flash *bad firmware*, so you need to be cautious anyway.
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Tags: creality-ender-3, firmware
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thread-4826 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4826 | What is G92 used for in G-code | 2017-10-29T01:55:39.243 | # Question
Title: What is G92 used for in G-code
On the reprap wiki it says using Znnn it sets a new axis position. But then it says "No physical motion will occur". What would the line `G92 E0` be used for?
# Answer
> 13 votes
The `G92` command is used to set the start position (origin) of one of more axes (including the current extruder) to any arbitrary value. The command `G92 E0` is often used to perform retraction and nozzle priming. For example, the following commands are often used in start-gcode sequences (prologues) to prime the current extruder by extruding a small amount of filament:
```
G92 E0 ; Reset the extruder's origin
G1 F200 E3 ; Extrude 3 millimetres of filament
G92 E0 ; Reset the extruder's origin
```
RepRap Wiki: G92: Set Position
# Answer
> 6 votes
To supplement the accepted answer, and answer a question in the answer's comments (which should not be there), consider the E value as another axis - the axis of the filament.
If you executed:
```
G92 E0 ; Reset the extruder's origin
G1 F200 E3 ; Extrude 3 millimetres of filament at a rate of 200 units per second
```
and then went on to printing, the first filament move would have to take you from E3 to whatever E value the next move specified.
If the next move assumed starting at E0, you'd already be 3 mm further along, and the first move would probably be a retract, so for example, if the next printing move was:
```
G1 Xnnn Ynnn E0.5 ; Extrude 0.5 millimetres of filament
```
then **instead of extruding 0.5 mm, you would actually retract 2.5 mm**, to get from 3.0 to 0.5. Just like moving in a negative direction on any other axis.
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Tags: g-code
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thread-13937 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13937 | 3D printing source material and superglue | 2020-06-24T01:37:39.060 | # Question
Title: 3D printing source material and superglue
I've seen there are several different types of source material for 3D printing. My question is: Which of those would hold up under regular Loctite superglue or plastic model glue?
I'm asking because I want to try 3D printing, and I have a project in mind. But I don't want to spend too much, so I'm looking to get a small 3D printer. I want to make a clock, and I can design the step down gears to make in a small printer, but I'd need a large base for so many smaller gears. I want to print pieces of the base, and superglue them together.
# Answer
> 2 votes
CA glue works on PLA, especially if you're gluing parts that fit together rather than small surfaces that just touch, but I'd encourage you to consider alternatives just because there are so many more ways to attach things when you have freedom to design the parts, and non-glue approaches admit disassembly, repair, etc.
Some possibilities include:
* snap fits
* parts sliding into grooves
* threaded holes and bolts
* threaded interfaces.
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Tags: 3d-design, print-material
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thread-3661 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3661 | Would 3D printing multiple copies at once saves time? | 2017-02-27T23:39:34.063 | # Question
Title: Would 3D printing multiple copies at once saves time?
I am wondering - of course if the 3D printer's bed big enough - printing multiple copies of the same print could save me significant amount of time in a small production line, excluding minor wastage such as setup time, post-processing time, etc.
e.g. if my foo print takes 10 hours, printing 2x copies at the same time would take 2x times more, increasing linearly or it would be significantly less?
# Answer
> 12 votes
Actually no. It will take slightly more for each addition. You also then have the point of failure, where one gets knocked off and ruins all the prints.
The fastest way to print multiple objects is one at a time. In fact slic3r lets you do just that with their sequential printing feature.
The reason is, the time it takes to lift 0.5mm, travel the few MM over to the next object, lower the 0.5mm back down.. Repeat for inner shells, outer shells, infill.. all add time. Doesn't seem like much till you do it 14,000 times.
In the case of your example, it would be negligible. In more complicated or well spaced prints its another story.
For extra extra fast, look into loss PLA casting...
# Answer
> 8 votes
Printing multiple parts *can* save you time.
The issues pointed out by the other posters are all bang on, but one factor that has been neglected is the time it takes you to clear the build plate and restart the print. I found for smaller parts (under 1 inch cube) printing several parts at a time was more convenient, and minimally faster. The time saved came more from the fact that I could leave the printer for several hours and work on other tasks without having to babysit the printer waiting for it to finish each part. I printed about 100-200 parts in this manner. I did end up losing one 'batch' when one part came loose and started causing problems, but I found that was a small price to pay for being able to get a lot of other things done.
It'll come down to the criticality of your deadline on the parts. If you're making parts for giggles and you don't need them done immediately, then i'd say one at a time. Less risk of failure, less wasted material and the time isn't super critical. If you're making parts for a prototype product that needs to be field tested in a few weeks, then i'd go with small batches of multiple parts. It'll give you more time to work on other things, less releveling, and you can check in once in a while to confirm it's okay usually without having to do anything assuming all is going well.
# Answer
> 5 votes
Yes, and no. It depends.
For FDM printing, the printing time *mostly* scales linearly with the number of objects. However, some printers have a "minimum layer time" whereby smaller layers are printed more slowly, to ensure each layer takes at least this minimum time. This gives the print enough time to cool.
Since the model shown in your example is quite small, it's quite likely that it will hit the minimum layer time. This means that printing one copy will take exactly as long as printing two copies, which will take exactly as long as printing three copies, until you hit the minimum layer time. At this point, adding more models will just add some constant number of minutes to your print time.
If the model is large enough for minimum layer time not to be a factor, then printing the objects one at a time is generally faster because you save on travel moves between the layers of the two objects (and also results in better quality print, since the inter-object travel moves may leave behind stringing).
This only holds for FDM printing. For DLP printing, the printing time for a (set of) models only depends on their total height and thus the number of layers required, since each layer requires the same amount of time regardless of the amount of material printed. Thus, the time for 1, 2, 3,...n models is exactly the same.
There are many other types of printing process where the number of layers is much more important than the amount of material used, such as binder jetting, SLA and SLS,... Here there usually is some time cost involved for material printed, but the main factor in the print time is the number of layers (and for SLS, the amount of time it takes for the build volume to cool down after each print, which is quite significant.).
# Answer
> 2 votes
The proportion of production improvement is dependent on the size of the items being printed, generally speaking. Unfortunately, it's variable enough to make a precise answer difficult.
Consider a single unit print. I'll use my printer as an example. Other printers may have similar sequences. The print is begun and the bed has to heat up to temperature. Once the set level is reached, the print head(s) also have to reach temperature. Ignoring for the moment the print duration, one then considers that the printer bed has to cool to release the print.
If you have ten items to print, you gain nine times the above elapsed time. That can be a substantial portion of production time.
On the flip side, there isn't going to be much benefit in time from ten prints opposed to one. You may lose some post-processing time if you have stringing between the items.
Directly related to quantity printing is yet another complication. If you have a single print fail, you've lost that time. As an example, one print may take 18 minutes. Twelve minutes into the print, you have a nozzle clog and have to abort the job. That's an unfortunate loss.
With ten prints on the bed, you are two hours into the print and have a failure. Much worse loss of time and productivity.
Obviously, one would prefer to have a properly fully working printer and be able to operate with the confidence that these failures won't appear.
Hobby grade printers can't provide that level of confidence, but industrial/commercial grade printers should, further improving the productivity time for printing multiple items on a bed.
If you have hot-swappable print beds, maybe combined with the ability to pre-heat the incoming bed, you gain time-wise. I don't know enough of the commercial grade printers to suggest that such a feature exists. My printer bed is attached with magnets and could be hot-swapped if I exercised care. The bed would begin to cool quickly, making a pre-heated plate all the more valuable. I'll just print multiple items and hope for the best, instead.
# Answer
> 1 votes
It generally takes **longer** to complete the actual prints because of extra travel moves, but it **does save you time** in one important way: if you trust your printer, you can start a large batch and then just *walk away*. Instead of resetting every hour or so, you can come back after several hours, or over night.
In this way, printing in batches can allow you to put more items through your printer in the same amount of time.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Actually the answer is yes and no. So I had to print 12 of the same small objects for a science experiment. Just some rocks I made from domes with some displaced faces, anyway my printers minimum wall width is 0.5 mm. The objects were 2 cm³. The first print failed because of them being disconnected but then I connected the 12 items by 1×1×5 mm solidified cylinders in blender and ran it through my cutter and it printed no problem. Afterwards I jusy clipped off the cylinder and was good to go. Just make sure you're object is connected at every point facing another. Based on your picture it should be connected something like this:
# Answer
> 0 votes
It will save you and the machine time if done properly.
Simplify 3D has a setting that lets you do multiple layers at once; as most slicers do. Therefore if the part is 10cm tall, then you can set it to move to the next one after 10 cm. The machine would then build each one in turn on the build plate in sequence. You won't have to remove the parts very often, and the machine won't have to take the time to heat up after each print. If done incorrectly, as in moving from one part to another for each layer, then yes it will require a large number of slow retraction and Z-axis moves, costing you more overall time.
---
Tags: diy-3d-printer
--- |
thread-13856 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13856 | Bad quality at horizontal faces | 2020-06-11T15:06:22.703 | # Question
Title: Bad quality at horizontal faces
I'm newbie at this stackexchange and I have a "FlashForge Finder"; lately there are many problems with the horizontal surfaces quality (Bottom and Top at the same time).
As some issue guides suggests, I changed: number of solid layers, % of filling and extrusion multiplier; I use "Flashprint", so some concepts must be translated from Cura in the options menu.
P.S: All filaments are PLA.
Without any change:
After all changes (the "best")
My settings for last black disk:
# Answer
> 0 votes
Finally, I solved all faillures today.
-When the bed is too close from the hotend:
I cheat the machine with a cutter patterns board over the bed at the first extruder calibration; the distance increases several times and then You can do it shorter.
-The another half part of bad quality \[low maintenance of the hotend\]:
As a good newbie, I didn't know the periods of maintenance and the hotend had much plastic waste the PTFE tube welded and burned at internal, so the only option was to replace it for another same or to upgrade to "All Metal"; I chosen to upgrade with the replacement and I'll more maintenance to this zone.
First attempt of trial piece: ...PANIC!
But then and FINALLY! Almost all correct, I can continue with my printings.
THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL, for your apportations and patience.
# Answer
> 1 votes
This could be caused by under extrusion, often caused by the bed being too close to the hot end / extruder nozzle. You could try to relevel the bed, or change the screws so that the bed moves down slightly. Often when levelling, you want to feel slight resistance when sliding a piece of paper between the bed an the nozzle. You should do this for all 4 corners. Be careful though, you dont want the bed too far away from the nozzle, or problems maybe arise with the print not sticking to the bed.
Hope this helps, Luke.
---
Tags: pla, quality, surface, flashforge-finder
--- |
thread-13945 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13945 | Visible lines along Y-axis on Ender 3 Pro | 2020-06-24T18:12:01.233 | # Question
Title: Visible lines along Y-axis on Ender 3 Pro
I have a model that's placed on the bed exactly like on this picture:
I have constant quality degradation as the bed moves down to print in the upper left corner **(1)**.
Everything is fine on the X **(2)-(3)** side. It does not have any visible artifacts. All hell goes along the **(1)-(3)** curve:
Top left corner **(1)**:
On the way from **(1)** to **(2)** lines seem to disappear almost completely.
I used Cura slicer and these printing settings:
* stock ender firmware
* 0.2 mm layer height
* supports
* 2 bottom & top layers
* PETG 235 °C nozzle
* 80 °C bed
* walls x2
* 10 % infill gyroid
* ironing
* seam smart hiding
* 50 mm/s print speed
* 500 / 50 mm/s^2 acceleration / jerks
It looks like a mechanical issue, so I tried tightening/untightening bed bolts. It didn't help. They are a little bit tight, but not too much. The bed does not seem to be wobbling. Also, I tried the bed for wobbling in its top/bottom position. It looks fine along all the way.
What should I try next?
Extruder steps/mm are tweaked for this filament. Extruder produces exactly 97 mm of 100 mm of filament.
### UPD
I decided to change my software/hardware settings step by step. This time I changed only my software settings to these:
* Speed: 30 mm/s
* Acceleration: 3000 mm/s^2
* Retract: 4 mm
* Combing: Not in Skin (previous print had the same value)
* Overhanging wall speed 100% (same as the previous print)
Corners have become much sharper and there is a lot less of bulging on the arc.
However, by X-axis **(2) - (3)** I see more artifacts:
Y-axis has become better:
Currently, I don't have any visible or sensible bed / X play. I tuned rollers to have enough tension not to slip if rotate them separately. So, if I rotate the roller, it moves the whole bed or X carriage. I'll try increasing the tension a little bit and then I'll share the result.
### UPD2
I've made belts a little bit tighter and decided to print a new model. The layer height is 0.3 mm. Also, I tried increasing temperature up to **240 °C** and changed the stock vent with a circular vent. The wall count is 50 to make the model solid. Coasting is off.
Now all artifacts are along the X-axis. There are many fewer of them at (1) than at (2). The model is a doorstep. On the build plate it's placed like this:
Now I think the problem has nothing to do with X/Y play and these two factors can be eliminated. I'll revert belt tensions back to their previous values and decrease the printing temperature down to 225-230 °C.
PS. USBASP is still in customs, so I'm doing all this on the stock firmware.
### UPD3
I have finally figured out what was wrong. It was insufficient Z-belt tension on both sides. A close look at a DSLR camera shot gave me a clue: there was almost always a straight segment followed by a visible additional step down between layers.
There are still some artifacts but everything looks relatively tolerable now.
Thanks to all of you guys!
# Answer
> 2 votes
There are a lot of different print quality problems going on here, but the biggest I see is the bulging and sagging at the corners of each layer. This is a result of extrusion not being a zero-delay linear function of extruder motor motion, but subject to compression/pressure. This causes excess extrusion when printing slows down (approaching and rounding a corner) and underextrusion just after speeding back up. There are several possible fixes:
* Upgrade to firmware with Linear Advance and calibrate it for your material. I find PETG needs about K=1.4 on an Ender 3.
* Increase your acceleration limits (up to 3000 mm/s² should be ok for Ender 3) so that far less time is spent moving slow. You need to adjust the per-axis limits in config menu, not just the single acceleration setting in your slicer.
* Decrease your print speed so that there's less difference in cornering speed and nominal speed (50 mm/s is too high for PETG anyway in my experience; you'll get underextrusion and bad layer bonding).
Also make sure you don't have your slicer set to slowdown on overhangs, as it makes this phenomenon **far** worse.
The other surface artifacts I'm less sure about, and you should probably look for other answers about resolving them. Trish is right that the lines look like a retraction problem - material intended to be there got lost somewhere else. It's probably due to combing (skipping retraction inside the model and letting material ooze out there). I would set combing to "not in skin" and set the max combing distance to something very small (around or slightly less than 1 mm) and see if that fixes the problem. Combing is especially bad with PETG in my experience.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I see some possible issues at work here:
1. Retraction issues on the arc. You might need to decrease your retraction length a little.
2. Your bed might have a little play. tighten the eccentric nuts a tiny bit.
3. As you are at it, check your X-belt, because accuracy on the Y move is affected by the accuracy of the X-head's position.
---
Tags: print-quality, creality-ender-3, petg, y-axis
--- |
thread-13948 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13948 | Top Layer/Solid Infill Bulge | 2020-06-25T01:02:51.430 | # Question
Title: Top Layer/Solid Infill Bulge
Whenever the print reaches a layer with top/solid infill, it bulges out. It is not on the same layer for every print, which rules out Z-binding. Here are things I have tried:
* Different slicers
* Updated firmware
* Smaller K value for linear advance
* Lower temperature
* Slower walls and top layers
* More perimeters
* Tightened belts
* Different filaments
* Different jerk and acceleration values
My problem is similar to what these people are experiencing: https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk3s-mk3-how-do-i-print-this-printing-help/buldge-when-print-reaches-solid-layers/
These pictures show my problem. The lip in the second picture is supposed to be parallel with the body of the model, not stick out to the right like in the picture.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I'm not sure about other slicers, but Cura has an option called Skin Overlap that defaults to 5% and causes excess material to be extruded beyond what actually fits in the skin (top/bottom "solid infill" surface) area. If you only have a few top layers it probably won't push the outer walls out and will just build up a rough top surface, but with more than a couple it's likely to start making the walls bulge out because there's nowhere else for the excess material to go. I've gotten dramatically better print quality since turning this setting off (0) and doing the same for Infill Overlap.
---
Tags: print-quality, troubleshooting
--- |
thread-13950 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13950 | Minimum Solid Figure traced by a Delta 3D Printer | 2020-06-25T01:58:12.597 | # Question
Title: Minimum Solid Figure traced by a Delta 3D Printer
In Cartesian printers, the extruder is moving along the X axis, Y axis and/or Z axis. Every axes has its own resolution, this is the minimum length that is possible to achieve in that axis and is related with the number of steps that the stepper motors can do.
So, if we trace the solid figure with the minimum volume that the printer can achieve based on its axis resolutions we obtained some sort of a cuboid
The length of the cuboid in X is the resolution of the printer in the X axis, the same logic applies for Y axis and Z axis.
In the figure it is possible to see 27 (3x3x3) cuboids genarated:
if the resolution of the printer in X axis is 0.1 mm, in the Y axis: 0.1 mm and in the Z axis: 0.1 mm, the volume of these cuboids is going to be 0.1 mm x 0.1 mm x 0.1 mm
Now, consider a Delta printer:
What is the solid figure with the minimun volume that can be traced with it?
# Answer
I think you misunderstand. It's the nozzle width and extruder step size, not the axis step sizes, that limit detail. Positioning resolution on a typical printer is on the order of 0.01 mm, but nozzle size is at least 0.1 mm and typically 0.4 mm. Also, lack of perfect rigidity in the mechanical parts will produce gradually increasing error as you try to go smaller and smaller in detail. So, it really makes no difference to the achievable detail whether the printer is a Cartesian or a Delta.
> 1 votes
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Tags: delta, resolution
--- |
thread-13957 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13957 | Some procedures to improve 1st layer | 2020-06-26T16:10:14.930 | # Question
Title: Some procedures to improve 1st layer
I'm wondering if anyone can confirm this improves the success rate of the first layer by doing this before starting print. My case is using ABS with a Reprap. In may work on other 3D printers and materials.
1. Heat up the bed and extruder to the starting temperature long enough to stabilize, so that the printer sets a more accurate z-height at the start. While your printer may wait until temperatures are reached, it will usually start immediately without waiting.
2. After the extruder reaches starting temperature, wait until the filament material stops extruding from the extruder. Remove extruded material. This reduces failures due to material extruding before the print, but after the start, ending up in the wrong place.
# Answer
1. You don't get a more accurate Z height when you heat the printer and let it settle. You get a different value that will work perfectly. E.g. I've got printers that do bed leveling cold but print with the correct initial Z height to get a perfect first layer. This is also valid for manually trammed beds. The only settling you might need if for thick glass beds so that the heat can be spread evenly, but operating thick glass beds I've never had to settle the bed, just heat up and start. But since ABS is prone to shrink, heating the bed first and then the hotend might prove valuable, at the time the hotend reaches it's temperature, the bed had time to evenly distribute the heat.
2. Oozing isn't good, maybe retracting filament at the end of a print might stop oozing for the next print. Most higher end printers therefore have a purge/prime, wipe and retract procedure prior to printing.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: print-preparation, stability, start
--- |
thread-13962 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13962 | Z-offset issues with Slic3r and Da Vinci Nano | 2020-06-27T21:01:24.703 | # Question
Title: Z-offset issues with Slic3r and Da Vinci Nano
I was attempting to use Slic3r 1.3.0 to print to my Da Vinci Nano, using MiniMover (a replacement for xyzprint) to load the G-code.
The print seemed to be a couple of millimeters off of the bed, but adding neither 2 or -2 offset in Slic3r worked.
Neither did adding the following to the g-code.
```
G92 Z2
G0 Z0
```
Anyone have a solution?
The start of my G-code is:
```
; generated by Slic3r 1.3.0-dev on 2020-06-28 at 10:37:50
; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.55mm (3.04mm^3/s)
; perimeters extrusion width = 0.70mm (7.88mm^3/s)
; infill extrusion width = 0.62mm (9.31mm^3/s)
; solid infill extrusion width = 0.70mm (2.63mm^3/s)
; top infill extrusion width = 0.70mm (1.97mm^3/s)
M107 ; disable fan
M104 S220 ; set temperature
G28 ; home all axes
G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle
; Filament gcode
M109 S220 ; set temperature and wait for it to be reached
G21 ; set units to millimeters
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
G1 Z0.300 F7800.000 ; move to next layer (0)
G1 E-2.00000 F2400.00000 ; retract extruder 0
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
G1 X40.004 Y40.786 Z0.300 F7800.000 ; move to first skirt point
G1 E2.00000 F2400.00000 ; unretract extruder 0
G1 F1800
G1 X41.753 Y39.328 Z0.300 E2.46602 ; skirt
G1 X45.000 Y38.464 Z0.300 E3.15334 ; skirt
G1 X75.000 Y38.464 Z0.300 E9.29109 ; skirt
G1 X77.243 Y38.861 Z0.300 E9.75711 ; skirt
```
# Answer
> 1 votes
# Behavioral analysis
To find out what is actually wrong, let's do a simple series of test commands first: a G-code that homes the printhead, moves it up 100 mm (10 cm), then zeroes there, moves up 20 more and back to the new 0 at 100 mm above the bed. Make sure not a single offset is active anywhere when sending/loading the G-code as this is to test for the actual movement.
```
G28
G1 Z100
G92 Z0
G90
G1 Z20
G1 Z0
```
Measuring the distance to the bed should give us something hopefully close to 100 mm. If it is longer or shorter, we have a problem with the bed position to the endstop, even if the bed itself is level to the machine. A releveling is advised unless there is a reason to home to a position widely outside of the printing height or if leveling proves to be impossible.
# Why is the error experienced?!
The culprit seems to be that the Z-offset parameter in slic3r is not updated properly when altering it. I just tested this with a ludicrous offset and it took several saving and slicing attempts to register that Z0 was supposed to be 200 mm over the endstop via the offset setting. Compare these two blocks:
```
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
G92 E0
G1 Z0.350 F7800.000
```
And this one:
```
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
G92 E0
G1 Z-199.650 F7800.000
```
The offset only appears factored in starting with the actual print's G1 commands. But how did I eventually manage to make it update?
## Forcing the update
To force an update of all the settings, I did create a secondary printer profile (just saved the same one and in the new one set the offset back to 0) and then swapped between the two back and forth twice and then the correct offset one. This seems to be a very reliable way to force an update of this setting, as it did register every swap after the first one.
# Workarounds
## manual Offsetting via Filament parameter
But there is a way around that is always taken into account: we can add a custom Filament Start Code, which contains the needed offset under `Filament Settings` tab \> `Custom G-Code`:
```
G1 Z<offset we need to be exactly at layer 0 height>
G92 Z0.3
```
But this is a rather clumsy way and should only be made if nothing else helps and **not in conjunction with any offset in the machine setting**!
# Tackle the problem by the root
The problem isn't usually the offset but a bed leveled to the wrong height. To level the bed the printer should be brought to Z0 via `G28` and then leveled again. If this proves futile, setting the offset and forcing an update in slic3r is needed.
---
Tags: z-axis, slic3r, print-axis-offset
--- |
thread-13968 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13968 | Add brim everywhere, not just around the outermost line | 2020-06-28T16:40:47.150 | # Question
Title: Add brim everywhere, not just around the outermost line
I have a repair part that I need to print with ABS and I know that I have warping problems with ABS.
I'm now trying to mitigate this by printing a circle around my object and use more brim. You can consider this as a manually designed skirt, but I want the brim to be on both sides of the skirt.
However, when slicing the repair part with the ring, I get brim only outside the "skirt", not inside of it. How would I get brim also in the area marked here?
# Answer
When there's a cut in the outer ring (the manual skirt), Slic3r will fill the area as expected:
> 1 votes
# Answer
Prusa Slicer 2.2.0 in print settings skirt and brim, set distance from object to zero
Other slicers should have same capability. As long as you have two parts on the bed that are not distinctly separated, you'll get only one brim.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: slic3r, brims
--- |
thread-13971 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13971 | How to create a support structure in tinkercad? | 2020-06-28T21:45:17.747 | # Question
Title: How to create a support structure in tinkercad?
I've created a case for my Raspberry Pi in Tinkercad and would like to 3d print it. However, I don't know how to create supports! I tried looking it up, but I got a model that I don't know how to import, and some best practices for supports. So how should I create them using Tinkercad?
# Answer
> 1 votes
If you're using the term "supports" to mean the extra material that the 3D printer needs to allow material to be deposited in "mid-air," your slicer will have a setting that permits this. Knowing which slicer is going to be used would enable someone to advise you directly of the location of the settings.
If you are going to be using a 3D printing service, you need not address those types of supports. The printing service will have qualified operators who will select the correct settings for your specific model.
---
Tags: 3d-models, support-structures, raspberry-pi, tinkercad
--- |
thread-513 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/513 | What air filtration options exist for enclosures? | 2016-02-06T18:36:22.797 | # Question
Title: What air filtration options exist for enclosures?
**Given the emissions that 3d printing gives off (ABS = styrene and other chemicals, PLA give some off, etc), what options are there to filter the air in the enclosure other than venting the air out of a window?**
More information on the chemicals 3d printing emit:
It looks like activated carbon filters would be a strong performer for ABS (styrene) and PLA (lactide):
**Are there better filtering materials or processes for filtering the air in an enclosure?**
Here's an example filter setup:
# Answer
My residential materials expert referred me to these links (3D Printing Fume Extraction Solutions, and ABS 3d Printer Nanoparticle and Chemical Exhaust Air Filter) and thinks that you're pretty much on track with the idea of using activated carbon.
We both primarily print with ABS with my Replicator Dual and what's worked enough for me (in the past 5 years) is to keep my printer next to a window or vent in my den at home. The window is obviously a good ventilation option, but the variability that it creates in the ambient temperature screwed with my prints. Later, I moved my machine into its own hutch, which, if it is an option, would greatly help the overall environment for both the machine and any stored filament.
We'll keep poking around, but hopefully that helps in the mean time.
> 12 votes
# Answer
It depends on how often you use your printer, meaning how many particles does your printer emit for time-unit. If you print nonstop with 5 printers then it's a different situation, opposite to one print per week.
Best material for passive filtering is carbon foam. It has the ability to capture chemical fumes. See this filter comparison. Having an enclosure with such a filter would be a good start.
For example BuzzBox.
I have to say that I don't know the particle size of 3d printing emission and how good the filtering ability of carbon foam is.
A step above is to bind such an enclosure bundled with an air purifier.
The best option would be laboratory equipment. But it is the most expensive one. It is designed to filter toxic vapours, fumes, gases and particles.
# Update
If you decide to build an enclosure on your own, take a look on Prusa's video on a DIY version build from Ikea table. There is no filtration system, but it should be simple enough to integrate a carbon foam with a ventilation.
## Update:
Here is an article about DIY enclosures: https://all3dp.com/2/3d-printer-enclosure-5-cheap-diy-options/
> 11 votes
# Answer
I have looked into this a lot. Especially when I had a phd chem engineer girlfriend who kept talking about how the fumes might give me cancer.. Frankly the system you need just costs too much. Lab equipment can run 20k easily. Not to mention the noise. What you really need is a backyard shed, but as one who lives where it snows I understand that is rarely a realistic option.
The Buzzbox looks cool and there are other brands. However their prices are usually as much as a flashforge, and usually cannot even hold a flashforge. More importantly there are parts where you can DIY your own. 300 for a plexiglass case that can only hold a mini printer is not good enough by far.
Take a product like this air scrubber Or build your own this like this hard core one designed for a laser cutter.
The local hackerspace should have a large laser cutter. Plastic should run 100 - 200 depending on how thick of a sheet you want. I personally buy scrap pieces. Designing a square box, adding hinges, then coating the edges with silicon sealant. Evacuate the chamber when done printing. Also should double as a heat chamber..
For me, I can easily run 5 printers at a time. So I might take a metal Cabinet, seal it up. test it with a fog machine. Cut out a hole for the evacuation hose, and wire up camera. But I am far from having that much free time.
Also if I manage to make it air tight it should reduce fire hazard.
Taking that laser cutting fume extractor. There is nothing that will perform better than that. I hear you might get some smell, but that was in regards to laser cutters.
> 6 votes
# Answer
I was very concerned about this issue when I bought my own 3d printer, so I decided to design fumes extraction solution for this. It is tailored only for my Zortrax M200 but I hope that it is good example of how to solve this problem with limited budget.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1158639
> 5 votes
# Answer
I designed this self-printable filter enclosure.
Rather than vent any air outside the printer enclosure, this will recirculate the air within, constantly running the air through the filter while at the same time conserving the heat needed for ABS prints. It's simple, and you can employ more than one of these or, using my design files, extend the size of the cabinet to stack more layers of carbon filtration material. It only employs one inexpensive PC fan to move air. I've found it effective for my purposes, never having to smell ABS prints or suffer eye irritation from them again.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2209222
> 3 votes
# Answer
Anybody consider using a Grow Box Fan and filter inside an enclosure. They come cheap with 180 cfm fan and / carbon filters.
Seems like it would work well, just wondering if they are really noisy.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: ventilation, enclosure
--- |
thread-13972 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13972 | Bolt hole terminology for "tight" and "loose" bolt holes | 2020-06-29T00:28:41.437 | # Question
Title: Bolt hole terminology for "tight" and "loose" bolt holes
When a hole is created for a bolt, it might be "tight"; the intent is for the hole to be tapped. Or it might be "loose", and the intent is for the bolt to slide into the hole and attached to a nut on the other side.
What is the terminology for these two kinds of holes?
# Answer
> 1 votes
A hole designed for a screw/bolt to slide freely through is called a clearance hole. A hole that is designed to be tapped could be called a pilot hole.
---
Tags: terminology
--- |
thread-13981 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13981 | Do SLA printers have open source slicers available to use? | 2020-06-29T20:33:34.190 | # Question
Title: Do SLA printers have open source slicers available to use?
Does anyone know of a (manufacturer independent) software that supports different types of SLA printers?
Since there are many different SLA type printers around, I was wondering if there are any unified or open source methods for slicing in case the manufacturer drops support for the printer software (or my OS upgrades on me overnight and breaks compatability).
# Answer
> 3 votes
From what I have researched, each brand of printer has their own method of slicing objects for their printer to parse. For example:
There doesn't appear to be any golden ticket type of method (like G-Code) for slicing and providing instructions.
---
Tags: slicing, sla
--- |
thread-13975 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13975 | Any possible issues with adding heat/cool down cycle in the end of print (PLA) | 2020-06-29T02:30:05.760 | # Question
Title: Any possible issues with adding heat/cool down cycle in the end of print (PLA)
I'm printing with anycubic i3 mega on an ultrabase bed. When I first got the printer the prints were easy to remove from the bed after it cools down, I didn't need to put any extra effort. However after I used 70% isopropyl to clean it it seems I removed some kind of extra coating as all next prints were sticking to the bed firmly even after the bed cools down. So I tried to heat the bed up to 100 degrees and then cool it down and wait until it gets to something like 35, at that point print comes off quite easily (really helped me with some big parts with huge initial layer) so I wonder if I should just add that extra heating cycle to the end of each print job.
Is there any possible problems with that?
PS my understanding is that PLA should be okay with short temperature spike since it is being melted with twice as high heat. However long exposure to that temperature might cause some deformation (eg if I throw the printed part into dishwasher). Another possible concern is that extra heating cycle could potentially shorten life of the ultrabase, but not sure if it is the case.
UPDATE
so after some experiments I printed at least a dozen calibration cubes adjusting several parameters along the way as it seems each of them contributed to the issue
* I decided to reset initial layer thickness which I noticed was set to `0.25` when normal layer was `0.2`. Since it was thicker for better adhesion I thought I don't need it since I don't have problem with sticking to the bed :)
* second thing was the flow adjustment and enabling some layer filling settings in cura (filtering small holes etc). Ended up at `91%` flow rate which gave me much cleaner top layers as well as the bottom ones.
* and finally I played with `Z offset`, I did bed leveling recently so it was flat (did single layer tests to check that) but it might have been a little bit too high, so adding an offset seems like a good way to compensate for it. The thing I was looking after as a feedback here is the squeezing bottom layers issue, so I stopped once I got initial layers a bit smaller than the ones on top, went back a few values and ended up with `0.125 mm` which sounds quite big to me but it allowed to get initial layer very clean and consistent with next layer so I think I got it right.
I can say it is easier to remove the cube from the bed now (used to be very difficult and I was using a mallet almost every time in the beginning) but it still doesn't come off on its own. I also noticed that now all three dimensions are almost identical (Z was about `0.5` less). And all X/Y/Z are ~19mm after cube cools down (the model is 20mm) so I wonder if I need to fix that one now
# Answer
Heating PLA even to 60°C will make it pliable and may affect dimensional accuracy; 100°C is likely to make that severe. Being stuck to the bed and thus constrained by it might help some, but I think it's a bad idea.
If your PLA is hard to remove, you probably have bed leveling issues. PLA should remove easily after cooling from reasonable print-time bed temperatures of 40-60°C to room temperature as long as it has not been extruded against the bed with excessive force (from being too close and having nowhere else to go).
> 1 votes
# Answer
You did exactly the right thing:
1. look,
2. see,
3. think,
4. evaluate and adapt
5. test
6. Back to 1. or continue to 7.
7. Solution found and applied!
Congrats! Johan
Ps: I use the tape in paper, used to mask before paint jobs, I was not that keen as you! It always comes off, and I restart every time with a clean glass, no hairspray, glue or others. They cost nothing, and if you are handy, you can use 100mm wide stripes. (or just the amount needed for your part.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: adhesion, anycubic-i3-mega, anycubic-ultrabase
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thread-13988 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13988 | Why is cupping bad in SLA prints? | 2020-06-30T17:18:47.347 | # Question
Title: Why is cupping bad in SLA prints?
Why is cupping bad? (I don't mean hollow parts)
### Example:
Lets say that I want to print a simple cup without a handle.
There are two obvious orientations:
* In one orientation it won't require any support, which I quite like, but it will then form a 'cup' which my 3D program tells me is bad.
* In the opposite orientation it needs to be filled with support, but the resin can freely run out.
I don't want to add a drainage hole to my cup for obvious reasons :) Also, I am using a formlabs form 3, if it makes a difference.
A cup:
# Answer
The printer prints, then moves up, then down again. The print surface stays inside the resin vat at all times. As a result, we have this experiment:
The "bottle" is resting in a vat of liquid. As we raise it more and more, it does not drain until the lower lid is free of the liquid surface or some point of the shell delaminates. The release of the resin can happen in a rather violent way - which in turn could deform the print in the making. Delamination rips through the part till air can enter the enclosed space, destroying the print in the process.
Even if printing the mouth against the plate you'll have cupping if you have a solid plate to print against. This can be mitigated with a little angle but trap liquid in the print at the end or including a couple of small gaps close to the surface to allow air to get into the print - yet unless the resin can flow out at the bottom some will be trapped in any case.
To prevent cupping, I would turn the cup to print sideways, that way resin and air can be exchanged.
> 6 votes
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Tags: sla, resin, print-orientation
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thread-13993 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13993 | In FreeCAD, how do you copy a sketch from one plane to another? | 2020-07-01T17:59:40.483 | # Question
Title: In FreeCAD, how do you copy a sketch from one plane to another?
I'm using FreeCAD, and I would like to duplicate a 2D sketch on another plane, but I can't seem to find an obvious way to do this.
# Answer
> 8 votes
I’m assuming you are working in the Part Design workbench. Select the sketch and click **Edit** \> **Duplicate selected object**. Make sure that only the sketch is copied (depending on the version, either deselect the plane or click don’t include dependent objects). This will produce a duplicate sketch in the active body (if you want the duplicate in a different body, make sure it’s active first by double-clicking it if necessary). You can then click **Sketch** \> **Reorient Sketch** to move it to a different plane.
By the way, FreeCAD has a very active and helpful forum at https://freecadweb.org. I highly recommend asking FreeCAD questions there.
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Tags: cad, freecad
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thread-14010 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14010 | I mistakenly used 90% ethyl alchool to scrape some PLA off my bed; did I ruin it? | 2020-07-04T11:50:06.563 | # Question
Title: I mistakenly used 90% ethyl alchool to scrape some PLA off my bed; did I ruin it?
I just printed my first cube from my newly arrived Artillery Sidewinder X1. I am totally new to 3D printing but I managed to correctly unbox, assemble and prepare it for printing. I used PLA filament and the cube ended up great. I removed it using a cutter gently pulling it up from the first layer and it popped right off.
A little layer of material was still stuck on the bed and, I don't know why, my dumb brain decided to use ethyl alchool 90 % to scrub it off on that little surface. I immediately used some water to wipe the alchool off but it was too late. Now on that portion of the bad all I see is a matte area that I can't fix.
Did I irremediably ruin my bed? I am so bummed I can't even describe it. All went great but I decided to do this on my own and I failed. I do know that the bed is replaceable but I just hope is not very expensive.
Here's a couple of pictures to give you a look of the damage.
# Answer
First of all, let's look at what kind of bed you have. According to a review, it is a "porous ceramic coated glass surface."
## Your bed is fine...
Glass and almost all ceramics are virtually impervious to most liquids, be them alcohol or even most acids unless that acid is hydrofluoric acid. So on a chemical standpoint, your bed is most likely ok, just the alcohol managed to leech some of the coloration or deposit dust in the surface - which is no problem usually. The matte might even just be PLA stuck in the surface, so if this happens if you print in a different area, you know that is not *damage* per see it's a normal sign of *use*.
So from that standpoint, I see no problem.
## ...but there are safety issues with the bed design
Where I see a problem though is the construction of the bed itself: it runs on mains voltage and is heated directly, which can cause all kind of problems, especially breaking off the cable as there is no proper strain relief on the cable! Atop that, the review points out that the bed heats uneven, which can very quickly lead to stress and breaking of the bed.
Because of this construction, **I strongly advise to refit a strain relief and use utmost care no to touch the bed during operation**. Make sure not to hammer onto it and don't overheat it to prevent thermal cracking.
> 2 votes
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Tags: adhesion, glass-bed, artillery-sidewinder-x1
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thread-14007 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14007 | How does an H-bot printer work? | 2020-07-03T19:43:47.467 | # Question
Title: How does an H-bot printer work?
I’m thinking of building a diy H-bot printer but I have some questions...
1. How can I tell the firmware that the printer is an H-bot one? I just need to uncomment the CoreXY option? Is it the same?
2. Does the print bed need to be square (for example 300x300) or it can be also a rectangle?
3. Are the steps/mm the same of the ones on a Cartesian 3D printer?
4. How can I recognize which motor goes on which connector on the motherboard? (The X and Y connectors I mean).
# Answer
> 2 votes
The CoreXY kinematics can be seen as an evolution of the H-bot kinematics. In Marlin, you both need to configure the printer as a CoreXY machine. Note that your steps are determined by the pulleys in the steppers and need to be the same for the steppers. With testing you will find out if you have the correct value.
There are many popular designs out there; e.g. the Hypercube and the Hypercube Evolution (I have built the latter myself).
I would not recommend building an H-bot, these have an inherent design flaw in that the load is asymmetrical causing the carriage to be stressed by a torque causing racking. To minimize this racking, you would require more expensive tight tolerance hardware like proper linear rails (usually not the kind that you find on typical auction or Asian vending sites, but actual pricy Japanese or German hardware). The CoreXY kinematics stress the carriage symmetrically. Note that the difference between an H-bot and a CoreXY printer is only the length of the belts, nowadays good quality belts can be bought for any length you need.
Note that a square or rectangular bed is a non-issue, just specify the dimensions in the configuration. The only thing you need to find out is how to wire the steppers. I connect one stepper to one driver and the other stepper to the other driver. I then did some tests and found out I had to flip one stepper motors connector to get the correct movement. I could have reversed this in firmware as well.
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Tags: diy-3d-printer, corexy
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thread-14014 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14014 | Extruder increase temperature | 2020-07-05T05:46:46.427 | # Question
Title: Extruder increase temperature
I bought a month ago the Artillery Genius. Everything was pretty good until today, I was printing a test cube and it stopped pulling out filament, when I looked the temperature it was -15 °C, a few seconds after the thermistor sensor broke and got stuck on the extruder creating a little bit of smoke. I had bought a thermistor sensor and a heater cartridge original replacement. I changed both and turn the printer back on. As soon I turn it on the extruder start to increase the temperature, almost 300 °C and then change to -15 °C. I checked the connections multiple times, I even change the sensor with another one, but nothing works. I checked the boards, cables but everything looks great. Don't know what else can be. I already contacted customer support but just want to look for another opinion while waiting for there answer.
# Answer
Your printer does seem to have a firmware problem and lack important safety features - it should have stopped the moment it went 300°C measurement, beeped like hell, and shut down with an error message about Thermal Runaway Protection. **Immediately stop using the printer!**
Before you try to print again, you need to make a proper firmware for your printer, one that has both Mintemp, Maxtemp as well as Thermal Runaway Protection actiive and flash that. While setting up your firmware, make sure you use the right temperature table for your thermosensor. How to do that is detailed here.
> 1 votes
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Tags: safety, thermistor
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thread-14021 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14021 | MK8 versus E3d V6 nozzle | 2020-07-06T11:48:37.067 | # Question
Title: MK8 versus E3d V6 nozzle
I have an Ender 3 and Prusa MK3S using MK8 and E3D V6 nozzles respectively.
I've read some difference between these two nozzles in question "E3D V6 nozzle vs MK8 nozzle, first layer adhesion".
Can I use an MK8 nozzle in the v6 heater block and vice versa? I know both have same M6 thread but what tolerance do they follow?
# Answer
To be successful you would need to ensure that the geometry of the two nozzles are compatible. It is not just the external thread. It includes thread length, internal diameter of the nozzle, whether the hot-end is configured for a PTFE liner, or is an all-metal hot-end, how the back end of the nozzle couples back to the heat-break, how the internal geometry of the nozzle sits in relation to the heater block etc.
The original designs that spawned many of the clones were usually highly researched and sophisticated holistic balances of thermal and mechanical properties designed to prevent clogging with the widest range of filaments within the design spec of the hot end.
Randomly swapping parts could alter that balance and cause all sorts of printing problems - including leaks, burned filament within the nozzle, clogging, oozing, poor retraction control, poor thermal control etc.
But, if the geometries of the two nozzles are close enough, you might be ok...
> 0 votes
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Tags: nozzle
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thread-14024 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14024 | What are the pros and cons of writing nozzle size vs using e3d style dots on nozzle? | 2020-07-06T16:25:13.690 | # Question
Title: What are the pros and cons of writing nozzle size vs using e3d style dots on nozzle?
e3d uses this scheme to mark the size of their nozzle:
How do I read this scheme? Do we read the second row of dots after completing the first row of dots or we read 1 dot from row 1 and second dot from row 2 the again 3rd dot from row 1 and 4th dot from row 2?
It can be seen here in the nozzle:
Other nozzles usually have size engraved on the hex flat face:
Which one of these is a better scheme to designate a nozzle? is one cheaper to machine than other?
# Answer
## dots
First of all, reading the dot pattern: for all but the 0.15, the *total* number of dots is read, and there is only 1 dot per side. So a .5 nozzle has dimples on *all* sides. The only outlier where the dots are not all one next to another is 0.15, which has 2 dots but they are interspaced by one blank side.
0. 0.25
1. 0.3
2. 0.35
3. 0.4
4. 0.6
5. 0.8
6. 0.5 (which was added after the .6 and .8 had already been established)
* 2 interspaced ones - 0.15, also added after the 0 to 5-dot group had been established.
## dots vs. inscription
The inscription is, compared to the dot pattern, much more shallow and can vanish under scratches. Also, the dots are easier to recover from being caked in plastic.
On the flipside, the dot pattern isn't easy to read intuitively, it doesn't follow an easy pattern (the 6 and 2-interspaced-dots are later additions into the setup).
> 2 votes
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Tags: nozzle
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thread-14008 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14008 | What is the thinnest hotend? | 2020-07-03T22:52:46.573 | # Question
Title: What is the thinnest hotend?
I have a few 3D printers and now want to start building a custom 3D printer. I want to build a 3D printer with multiple nozzles, and I want to make the hotend thin so the nozzles can be closer together. What is the thinnest nozzle avalible to buy? Are there any guides or details on how I could make a custom nozzle or modify a nozzle if I can't buy a thin nozzle?
# Answer
> 1 votes
The size of the nozzle usually isn't the main factor for how close you can put nozzles together. To keep the filament drive gear system from being the limiting factor, you would need Bowden extruders. "Then, the heat sinks and fans would be your limiting factor. Have you considered a single nozzle with three extruders? Otherwise, you need custom angled heat sinks similar to the three heat sinks on a single nozzle, and still a way to orient the nozzles at the same Z-height. That would be difficult if all the nozzles are on the same heater block. It still seems that nozzle size is the least of the issues of putting nozzles close together.
If you search for smaller nozzle sizes, you will get nozzles with smaller openings, not smaller overall size. The threads on the nozzles are a standard size. Thus, the smaller opening size can't be put closer together than the larger opening size. Otherwise, you have only small variations between different types of nozzles and need room to screw them in to the heater block if you put all of them into one block. You can get a nozzle using a 6 mm hex wrench that is smaller than one using a 7 mm hex (E3D).
# Answer
> 1 votes
One of the thinnest hotends I've seen are those from a Chinese factory Mellow Store, the heatsink is smaller than the top flange to mount the hotend. I don't know the quality of these hotends, the image below shows the basic layouts of available options:
Ultimaker uses high quality hotends which are pretty small 2.85 mm hotends they call "cores", they house 2 next to each other and use a lifting mechanism:
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Tags: hotend
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thread-14028 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14028 | For making V6 or Mk8 nozzle what tolerance specification we've to follow? | 2020-07-07T02:53:56.223 | # Question
Title: For making V6 or Mk8 nozzle what tolerance specification we've to follow?
Both nozzles use M6 threads, which ISO thread specification do these nozzles use?
And what should be the tolerance and surface finish (internal/external) of the nozzle bore?
I found the drawings but nothing about the tolerances.
I've found the V6 nozzle drawing here and the Mk8 nozzle dimensions as depicted below:
# Answer
The short answer is it really doesn't matter. None of these surfaces are interfacing with other rigid parts. They're conducting filament that's being melted. The specifications are likely optimized for favorable flow properties, and following them as closely as your tooling allows is probably a good idea, but there's no hard tolerance cutoff.
CNC Kitchen has a video producing a working nozzle with a mini lathe and had good luck without any rigorous process for tolerances.
It should be noted that the exactness of the nozzle orifice size and other dimensions are for the most part *not relevant* to the accuracy of extrusion; that's pretty much all on the filament diameter and extruder motor motion, which determine the volume of material extruded. In practice you can produce 0.4 mm extrusions pretty much equally well with an 0.3 mm orifice or an 0.5 mm orifice; at most you'll have some minor differences in behavior on overhangs. And presumably your error is not going to be anywhere near 25%.
As Trish noted, the threads do have to interface with another rigid part. However they're governed by ISO standards for metric threads not this particular design. I use this tolerance calculator site: https://amesweb.info/Screws/metric-thread-dimensions-calculator.aspx
> 1 votes
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Tags: nozzle
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thread-7603 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7603 | Messy top layer with PETG filament? | 2018-12-09T02:55:54.710 | # Question
Title: Messy top layer with PETG filament?
I'm having issues getting PETG to print nicely. I have encountered pretty much every issue because when I fix one thing another issue pops up. I see people saying that you should "just copy your PLA settings", but that *definitely* did not work for me, with issues from bed adhesion, stringing, globbing, and especially issues with the top layers. At the moment I am getting very decent quality prints from PETG, however the one issue that remains is the top of the print.
Infill looks fine, it is printing fast, so that is where I would expect the filament to glob to the extruder. But that happens on the very first top layer. The printer goes over the honeycomb, and the filament gets oozy and starts forming in globs on the edge of each inner wall. This takes a few layers to print over, and even after 5 layers at 0.25 mm layer height it has holes.
**Software:** I am using Slic3r PE 1.41.2, on Repetier Host 2.1.3.
**Printer:** Wanhao DI3 or Monoprice Maker Select Plus.
**Filament:** Amazon Basics branded Navy Blue PETG.
**Settings:**
* 40 mm/s print speed,
* 0.2 mm layer height,
* 70 °C heat bed,
* 235 °C hot end,
* 15 % honeycomb infill,
* 20 % - 50 % automatic fan speed.
I would like to solve this without increasing infill percentage because the parts are already quite dense with 15 % honeycomb and I don't want to waste material and time.
# Answer
Five top layers should normally be more than enough to create a seamless top layer.
Indeed, PETG prints a little differently than PLA. It requires a higher hot end temperature, less part cooling (to improve sticking to previous layers), a higher build plate temperature and usually care in choosing the right initial layer height. Once the printer needs to create the top surface layers, too much temperature, too less cooling and too low of an infill percentage can cause the top bridging over the infill to fail. Your settings seem to be fine except for the low percentage of infill, 15% is very low.
Other possible causes could be under-extrusion and too fast printing, but in this case the low infill percentage is probably the main reason. To get a better top layer you could first try to increase the infill percentage. If you go to 20 or 30 % infill, you would only marginally "waste" filament. More filament and time is wasted when whole prints fail as of a bad top layer.
> 4 votes
# Answer
I have been having the same issue with PETG when printing but I have found that if I slow the printer down to 50% speed that left me with a perfect top layer. I have a 20% infill with 4 top layers and at 50% speed I am printing at roughly 32mm/m. I am sure that will help give you better top layers.
> 0 votes
# Answer
If you're using Slic3r, check what line widths it's using. By default it extrudes with dynamic widths up to considerably wider than the nozzle size. PETG is only borderline-printable at 40 mm/s with 0.4 mm line width and 0.2 mm layer height. If Slic3r increased some of the line widths to 0.55 mm or so like it typically does, you're likely getting underextrusion, and need to either go slower, constraint the line width narrower, use thinner layers, or find some way to increase the amount of material you can push through the nozzle per unit time (maybe going hotter or using a higher-power hotend).
> 0 votes
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Tags: filament, slicing, calibration, slic3r, petg
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thread-14002 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14002 | Is the Vref trimmer relevant on TMC2208 in UART mode? | 2020-07-02T19:28:53.050 | # Question
Title: Is the Vref trimmer relevant on TMC2208 in UART mode?
I'm going to use TMC2208 stepstick in a printer and the firmware can control via UART the current during printing and during holding (static, no movement): the firmware has an explicit setting for running current and for holding current.
In this case, should I care about the physical trimmer which controls the Vref?
I tried to understand the TMC2208 datasheet (page 50) when it's talking about current control but I don't understand whether the Vref becomes superfluous or it still acts as a maximum value which the UART must obey.
# Answer
> 1 votes
The potmeter does not work in UART operation, see e.g. this quote:
> You don't have to fiddle with jumpers to set your micro-steps, just change it in the firmware, and you can dynamically change the amount of current going to each stepper motor (no more adjusting that small potentiometer on the driver board) just by sending a GCode command (M906).
So, you cannot change the Vref of a UART operated stepper driver, setting the current directly is the way to go on UART operated stepper drivers; in fact that is actually what you are doing on non-UART operated stepper drivers, you change the Vref to change the current through the stepper motor, the higher the voltage the higher the current through the stepper the more torque the stepper has.
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Tags: stepper-driver, tmc2208
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thread-14041 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14041 | Can I use different sized steppers for different axes? | 2020-07-07T20:04:17.993 | # Question
Title: Can I use different sized steppers for different axes?
So basically, I have 3 different types of steppers.
* A NEMA 23 stepper for the Z-axis,
* a good quality NEMA 17 for Y-axis and
* another lower quality NEMA 17 for X-axis.
This setup should work right?. I'm using TMC2209's stepper drivers and all are well within the drivers rated phase current limit.
# Answer
Each axis is fine using a different stepper size and/or quality. You will still need to tune their operating current and steps/mm for each of course. Make sure your motor mounts fit too.
Where it might become challenging is if you wanted two different steppers on the SAME axis. As in, a NEMA17 + NEMA23 for a dual Z axis. I don't think this is what you intend though.
> 2 votes
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Tags: diy-3d-printer, stepper, nema-17, tmc2209
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thread-14042 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14042 | Smoothers for TEVO Tornado printer | 2020-07-08T01:32:45.770 | # Question
Title: Smoothers for TEVO Tornado printer
I have a TEVO Tornado (bought quite recently) and I want to know what is the best type of smoothers MKS smoothers or TL smoothers? Are they the same thing?
# Answer
> 2 votes
The use of smoothers totally depends on the stepper drivers you are using! Note that the TL and MKS smoothers do exactly the same thing. Both use an arrangement of 4 or 8 diodes. Details of the problems with drivers and the working of the smoothers is explained in this blog post. The problem is that some stepper drivers are not able to produce low currents as of the present dead-zone.
> if we had a way to modify the motor so that with a voltage of 1.4 V there would be no current flowing, then the driver would be able to generate all the currents because it would always be spitting out more than the minimum voltage
The diodes prevent current to flow at the cost of a voltage drop; a 1.4 V voltage drop (2 diodes) would prevent current to flow, as such you see diodes in series on the smoother boards.
These MKS/TL smoothers help with smoothing out the signal going through stepper motors; e.g. the notoriously noisy DRV8825 motor drivers are known for a stepped sine curve rather than a smooth output.
More modern chipsets such as the TMC21xx, TMC22xx, and TMC51xx do a much better job at providing smooth signals, and surprisingly, so do the cheaper drivers like the A4988s!
So if you are using stepper drivers that do not produce a smooth sine wave, like the DRV8825 stepper drivers, you could potentially benefit from installing smoothers. This could help with salmon/zebra skin/moire and ringing print artifacts/defects.
To quote the popular All3DP 3D printing site from "TL Smoother: Should I Add One to My 3D Printer?":
> It’s a **yes** if you’re running DRV8825 stepper drivers. This was what TL smoothers were designed to do: fix a design flaw in the DRV8825. Your mileage may vary based on your printer’s power supply, but you’ll likely see noticeable improvements in print quality.
>
> It’s a **no** if you’re running newer Trinamic stepper drivers. Trinamic drivers have many “smart” features built in that don’t suffer from the same issues as the DRV8825 and already counter electrical noise. As a post from Trinamic notes, adding TL smoothers doesn’t provide any significant benefit; it only increases power consumption and heat generation.
>
> It’s a **maybe** if you’re running other drivers. Other stepper drivers might not have the DRV8825’s design flaws, but they may benefit from the slight electrical dampening created by the TL smoother’s circuit. Considering the smoothers’ low cost (~\\$8-15 for packs of 3 or 4), it doesn’t hurt to try it out and let the results speak for themselves.
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Tags: stepper-driver, smoothing, tevo-tornado
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thread-14047 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14047 | What is the next step after measuring the bed levels? | 2020-07-08T10:08:43.587 | # Question
Title: What is the next step after measuring the bed levels?
My Creality CR-10 Max is equipped with a BL Touch sensor for bed leveling.
The bed size is 450 mm x 450 mm.
Here is the 16 measurement points taken from a 4x4 grid:
```
float v[] = {-1.15625, -0.7625, 0.1525, 1.13,
-1.1150, -0.5150, 0.2125, 1.650,
-0.8525, -0.215, 0.510, 1.4425,
-0.4125, 0.2649, 1.0350, 1.9050};
```
Which looks like this:
The bed doesn't look flat or level. To what extent should I try to make the bed flat and level?
It's now a day later, and the bed looks like this (image below) after turning the four knobs using AUX leveling (a helper to locate the nozzle above the knobs), so that the nozzle barely scratches a sheet of paper:
```
float v[] = {0.0849, 0.0599, 0.1549, 0.2874,
0.2674, 0.0624, -0.0425, 0.0699,
0.3374, 0.1199, -0.0150, 0.0199,
0.5399, 0.3349, 0.1899, 0.2074};
```
I also notice that the bed is slightly concave in its center: using a straight edge (a steel ruler on its side), there is enough room in middle ninth (center square) under the ruler for one sheet of paper.
# Answer
Now that you have leveled the bed you are ready to start printing. To enable leveling for printing, you need to add G-code `G29` directly after `G28` in your start G-code of your slicer.
The array values you reported are just for information or visualisation of the level of the bed. Although you have ABL you always need to provide a bed that is as level as best as you can, the ABL will take care of the final dents or skewness.
> 0 votes
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Tags: bed-leveling, creality-cr-10, bltouch
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thread-14048 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14048 | Displayed temperature jumping while printing for a long time | 2020-07-08T17:54:14.560 | # Question
Title: Displayed temperature jumping while printing for a long time
I have a Felix Tec 4 (Single Extruder) and at the moment I print for a relatively long time compared to my other prints. Recently I noticed that after a few hours of continuous printing the displayed temperature jumped by up to 10 °C, which is almost certainly not true. Since it is the temperature that jumps, it will probably be the thermistor that is broken, but what is broken that this only happens after several hours and not immediately?
I think it does not have to do something with the G-code, because the temperature makes jumps of up to 10 °C in one second and back again. I had 2 pretty big prints to do. It happend on both of them, but I forgot to take screenshots on the first print which was much worse that the second one. Here is how it looked in OctoPrint on second print:
For comparison I have entered the temparatures manually in OctoPrint and made a screenshot of the temparature
I searched the GCode for `M104`, `M109`, `M140` and `M190`, but only found `M190` one time at the beginning, which I think is normal.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Your temperature is not just bumping up 10 °C. Your hotend is fluctuating in temperature, it drops under and increases over the "set" temperature. The hotend temperature is a result of the amount heat you put into it and how much heat you pull from it (e.g. filament heats up and draws energy from the heater block), apart from a too large printing speed for the heater to follow the energy off-take, this can be the result of one of the following (or combined) issues:
* Your print cooling fan position is too high/not low enough, it cools the heater block/nozzle
* Your PID settings are not correct
Many hotend designs come with silicone "socks" insulating the heater block and to shield airflow from cooling the heater block.
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Tags: hotend, heat-management, thermistor
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thread-14052 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14052 | What type of kinamatics is 3D Gence One using? | 2020-07-09T18:07:38.317 | # Question
Title: What type of kinamatics is 3D Gence One using?
I was looking at some end high 3D printers (drooling just a little bit) when I found this.
Now, this was a 3500 \\$ printer when new back in 2016. I'm relatively to the 3D printing (well... kind of) and have not seen this type of design before. What is it? Cartesian? CoreXY? This style, from my limited knowledge, looks like a best of both worlds kind of scenario because if you look at it - it has that traditional simple Cartesian design, but with a light head of a CoreXY type printer (Exclude the circuitry behind the stepper, that is something else). This was designed to be used in a mechanical application, so it has to be precise. Is this a good configuration and does Marlin support it?
# Answer
I'm can't say for sure, since this is my first time seeing this type of 3D printer configuration too, but I think this is a cartesian style printer. If you think about it, it is similar to a Prusa-style printer, but instead of an x-gantry being raised and lowered by a leadscrew, the heated bed is being lowered and raised with two leadscrews. Software-wise, the printer you mentioned should be configured exactly like a Prusa-style printer, but with a reversed Z-axis, since to make the heated bed move closer to the hotend, it must be raised instead of lowered.
I personally do not think this printer is a CoreXY configuration since a CoreXY printer relies on two motors that work simultaneously to move the X and Y axis, while the printer you showed has the X and Y-axis moving independently of each other (as can be seen by the belt under the heated bed and the belt that moves the hotend left and right). At least, in my opinion, the way the X and Y-axis operate on a CoreXY is what makes the CoreXY unique, instead of the raising and lowering of the heated bed.
You can read about the variations of Cartesian 3D printers here. If you are interested in other styles of 3D printers, you can check the Delta and Polar style printer section of this article.
Hope I piqued your interest in 3D printing :D
Feel free to comment on this if you have more things to ask, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can :)
> 2 votes
---
Tags: diy-3d-printer, linear-motion
--- |
thread-14064 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14064 | OpenSCAD / FreeCAD splitting, hollowing and threading model | 2020-07-12T16:30:32.700 | # Question
Title: OpenSCAD / FreeCAD splitting, hollowing and threading model
I had a thought the other day that it's 100 % waste to have either a solid or hollow 3D-printed model in relation to utilizing the space inside of it for different modules, e.g. secret compartments, modules like salt/pepper shakers, etc.
So I thought the best way of achieving this in a streamlined semi-automated manner is creating a simple script in OpenSCAD / FreeCAD and I would love some professional input on how to achieve this exact process:
1. Split any given model at X height with Y angle Z times (eg. slicing a model in half & keeping both parts separate)
2. Make a hollow compartment inside the model with working 3D-printable threads sticking out from one part fitting into the other with definable shape, tolerance & size in relation to the parts size (eg. a cylindrical hidden compartment or a space where specific user-made modules fits into)
I'm thinking a few simple yet potent lines of OpenSCAD code or a FreeCAD script should do the trick but my knowledge is limited in this field at the moment so any input is highly appreciated.
# Answer
OpenSCAD lacks any facilities to perform computations on the resulting geometry (derived from CSG or directly imported). It has a decent functional language for expressing geometry in terms of parameters and functions/modules, but the road is one way; geometry is an output only and doesn't loop back into input. So automation of this entirely in OpenSCAD is really not an option.
On the other hand, doing it manually is rather easy. You can use CSG operations (intersection or difference) to cut the model, cut a compartment out of it, cut threads in it, etc. as well as (union) attaching external threads. You just have to decide how to size and position them for your model yourself.
Note that there's no canonical module for doing threads in OpenSCAD. You can either derive the cross section for your thread profile (can be done with OpenSCAD code) then `linear_extrude` it with twist (needs really fine division to be accurate though) or skin a `polyhedron` for the thread. There are a few published modules for the latter and I have an unpublished one I prefer.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: 3d-design, openscad, freecad
--- |
thread-7385 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7385 | Problems with STL model in Ultimaker Cura | 2018-11-09T20:48:52.980 | # Question
Title: Problems with STL model in Ultimaker Cura
I want to print a piece of fruit modeled in Blender. It is an STL file. Please note that I am an absolute beginner at 3D printing models.
What do these red zones mean? What is wrong about the mesh in each case?
The fruit has some low-poly seeds. These used to be a particle system but I then changed them into individual objects.
This view shows the base of the fruit, why is it colored red?
# Answer
> 5 votes
3D printers cannot print in the air without a prior layer or a support structure supporting the new printed layer. For the picture showing the bottom of the fruit, the red area is the calculated area that requires support for printing, so please enable that in the slicer application.
For the top picture please post a detail or a zoomed in part. It is currently difficult to see what is the matter. It looks as though the STL model is incorrect and Ultimaker Cura thinks that the seeds are upside down, hence the red coloring also. This means that you need to fix the normals of the faces in the STL model. Please look into this answer and this answer for some hints.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Red is the color Cura uses to mark overhang areas. For the bottom that is normal, it can be fixed by using support.
For the top, the presence of red **atop** the seeds is a common tell of inverted normals in the seeds.
To fix, open your .blend file again, choose the seeds and `flip normals`. To make the whole thing even better, choose both the fruit and the seeds and then apply the `union` modifier on both.
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, 3d-models, blender
--- |
thread-13559 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13559 | My 3D model is printing with missing parts when sliced in Ultimaker Cura | 2020-04-30T06:37:04.533 | # Question
Title: My 3D model is printing with missing parts when sliced in Ultimaker Cura
I have been working hard the last year on the model below. I am new to everything 3D that is modeling and especially 3D printing. I have however successfully concluded quite a good number of 3D prints which I created in blender with my Creality Ender 3 Pro so I have a bit of experience.
All this new experience for me started with the desire to do this project I have been working on for all this year. A complex 3D model of a knight's tomb which I would like to print.
As you can see Cura is clearly indicating that there is a need for supports in these red areas. The model will be printed in a 15 cm size. I have also managed to resize the model from a 22 million face mesh full of holes to a 900k manifold model.
However, when I slice it I get this.
As you can see supports are only generated for the outer column part. None are generated for the arches which are totally absent when the model is sliced.
I have tried to alter the model's orientation but with no result. I will try to separate this mesh in parts but it would mean restarting all from scratch since I found no good software to slice it precisely.
I am quite sure that the main problem lies in the fact the Ender 3 pro is an FDM printer an that the vertical lines of the arches are too thin. Since I tried to upload my model on 3D printing services to see if it could be printed in other materials and could be printed in finely detailed resin.
I would like at least to know if I am right in my problem spotting or if there could be any solution to the present problem so that not to go wrong if I will redesign this part.
# Answer
> 0 votes
There's a setting in Cura to Print Thin Walls. It's turned off by default, and IIRC correctly there's a good reason it's off by default. But for this item, you should turn it on.
**Update**
Looking again, I see this is vertical, so I'm not sure how well this setting will help. Even if it does create the gcode to include the walls, this would be a tough print. If possible, you may want to rotate this 90° for printing, though I also see the gap on the right that would become a long bridge.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Why there is no support on the top is, that the top of the model, over the gothic arch, has not enough thickness to have any layer laid down there. Because it is too thin, it gets omitted. However, since the area that needs support is only very very small, this area technically doesn't need support and could be printed with bridging alone. Yet, you need to add at least 1 layer thickness to the height of the model by extruding the top surface in blender to make this area printable.
Another way is to knock down the layer height.
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, 3d-models, 3d-design, fdm, support-structures
--- |
thread-14073 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14073 | How to start a print in the center position after a change in parameters using M92 and M500 G-code | 2020-07-13T17:14:53.380 | # Question
Title: How to start a print in the center position after a change in parameters using M92 and M500 G-code
I have a **Core XY Custom DIY Printer**, but actually I have a problem with the measure in Axis X and Y. When a print a test cube with the measure 20 mm x 20 mm 20 mm, the object printed result with these dimensions.
Z = 20 mm X = 15 mm Y = 15 mm
Well, I know how solved this problem, because of long time ago have the same problem, do a question, and that was answered, and this moment solved my problem. answer old question
Now I use the same process
1. Connect the printer to my pc
2. Use **Simplify 3D** for send gcode to the machine
3. `M503` for get the set values
4. `M92` for change the values X and Y
5. `M500` for store the new values for default in the memory of the printer
6. `M503` for check the actual values, and these are the correct
So, I print the test cube, the measure are right, but with two problems
1. Every time I.m will go to print, if turn off the machine, the process to be need repeat, in other words, the gcode `M500` doesn't work.
2. the nozzle doesn't start the extrusion in the middle when the parameters were changed.
Send `M503` for known the parameters. These parameters are the set by default At this moment in the printer.
```
G21 ; (mm)
M149 C ; Units in Celsius
Filament settings: Disabled
M200 D1.75
M200 D0
Steps per unit:
M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z400.00 E100.00
Maximum feedrates (units/s):
M203 X100.00 Y100.00 Z2.00 E10.00
Maximum Acceleration (units/s2):
M201 X2000 Y2000 Z50 E5000
Acceleration (units/s2): P<print_accel> R<retract_accel> T<travel_accel>
M204 P2000.00 R2000.00 T2000.00
Advanced: Q<min_segment_time_us> S<min_feedrate> T<min_travel_feedrate> X<max_x_jerk> Y<max_y_jerk> Z<max_z_jerk> E<max_e_jerk>
M205 Q20000 S0.00 T0.00 X5.00 Y5.00 Z0.40 E5.00
Home offset:
M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
Material heatup parameters:
M145 S0 H180 B70 F0
M145 S1 H240 B110 F0
PID settings:
M301 P13.70 I0.71 D65.64
```
After sending code `M92 X106.64 Y106.64`
```
G21 ; (mm)
M149 C ; Units in Celsius
Filament settings: Disabled
M200 D1.75
M200 D0
Steps per unit:
M92 X106.64 Y106.64 Z400.00 E100.00
Maximum feedrates (units/s):
M203 X100.00 Y100.00 Z2.00 E10.00
Maximum Acceleration (units/s2):
M201 X2000 Y2000 Z50 E5000
Acceleration (units/s2): P<print_accel> R<retract_accel> T<travel_accel>
M204 P2000.00 R2000.00 T2000.00
Advanced: Q<min_segment_time_us> S<min_feedrate> T<min_travel_feedrate> X<max_x_jerk> Y<max_y_jerk> Z<max_z_jerk> E<max_e_jerk>
M205 Q20000 S0.00 T0.00 X5.00 Y5.00 Z0.40 E5.00
Home offset:
M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
Material heatup parameters:
M145 S0 H180 B70 F0
M145 S1 H240 B110 F0
PID settings:
M301 P13.70 I0.71 D65.64
```
* Red circle, the middle of the plate or surface printer, in this position, start to print with actual parameters by default, and respect the limits(black square), but, with the measure in axis X and Y wrong after printed the model.
* Green circle, the nozzle start in this position when changing the parameter in axis X and Y, printed with the measure correct, but by taking a position that is not the right one, it assumes other limits and spends almost half of the print surface area.
# Answer
> Every time I.m will go to print, if turn off the machine, the process to be need repeat, in other words, the gcode M500 doesn't work.
This tells me that your firmware has the EEPROM support needed for the `M500` command disabled.
# Fixing the firmware
You need to update your firmware to enable storing the information in the EEPROM: the line should read as follows without any leading `//`
```
#define EEPROM_SETTINGS // Enable for M500 and M501 commands
```
When you are already updating your firmware, you should also fix your firmware to have the correct steps/mm, as those are off in your build. An example for the line you look for is
```
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 106.64, 106.64, 4000, 500 }
```
# Workaround
## automatic setting of the Steps/mm fix
There's a way to fix it on the user side though: When slicing, your Start-G-code needs to include `M92 X106.64 Y106.64`, best before homing. That way you make sure that your printer sets the correct Steps/mm whenever you load a printjob.
## Home position
### via offset
If the home offset is wrong, you can fix it as the next line **before** `G28` \- if the home position is for example 10 mm of the trigger in both X and Y, you'd add `M206 X100.00 Y100.00 Z0.00` \- If your printer has "home" properly defined in the center of the build plate and your slicer is set up to respect that, this should do it. You need to
### via move and 0-ing
Another way to get the printhead to the center is to use **first** `G28`, then insert a movement to the center of the bed (`G0 X100 Y100` for a bed 200 mm across) and then order `G92 X0 Y0`, defining that point as the origin.
### necessary next line!
In either case, the setup of Marlin also prevents you to move to the "negative" area due to the software endstops by default. So you need to add `M121` after it to be allowed to go into the negative space.
## Start G-code in bulk
```
M92 X106.64 Y106.64
G28
G0 X100 Y100 ; move to center
G92 X0 Y0
M121
```
> 1 votes
---
Tags: diy-3d-printer, g-code, surface, corexy
--- |
thread-6051 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6051 | Hot end temperature varies during print | 2018-05-28T13:55:22.243 | # Question
Title: Hot end temperature varies during print
If I set temperature say 220 °C, printer heats up to it and it only varies +/- 0.5 °C under non operating condition. But if I start a print, there's a shift of +/- 15 °C.
I've already auto tuned PID parameters and when I run `M503`, the printer shows the updated PID values.
What could be the reason?
Electronics details:
* Firmware used: Marlin
* Controller board: Printrboard rev D
# Answer
There could be a number of reasons for that behaviour:
Please check following items:
1. part blower/fan cools down the nozzle - stop the fan
2. material is extruded at high speed and takes the heat
3. loose thermistor (when the move occurs as it moves a bit internally)
4. the power supply unit voltage varies - so temperature reading varies as well - measure voltage and see if there are significant drops
5. nozzle heater and thermistor cables can be loose as well (check screw terminals)
6. bed heater connection cables having not a good connection (check screw terminals)
> 6 votes
# Answer
Dropping hot end temperatures can be caused by the filament cooler blowing too much cold air onto the nozzle, or a too high of a print speed so that the nozzle is cooled by the filament (in combination with a heating element that cannot heat that fast to compensate).
To rule out the PSU you could try measuring the voltage of the PSU before and after powering the heat bed, if it drops dramatically when the heat bed starts change the PSU.
> 2 votes
# Answer
My problem was like yours and after several test I found bad PID tunning in heated bed disturb hotend temperature process.
Before heated bed PID tunning:
When I fixed PID values for heated bed everything works like a charm :)
> 1 votes
# Answer
Can you also show a "power output" graph (or something like that, which show PWD duty cycle output to the hot end)?
Have you noted any relation between temperature raise and fall and the printing position?
Looking at graph I can only suggest the heating is suddenly stops and then the same sudden resumes. It looks like you have a loose wire connection to the heater. When head is starting to move, it makes disturbance for the wiring, so heater occasionally stops to work. There are usual two weak points: first it is where cable is connected to the board. Check is connector heated? Are any noises/sparks from there? Another part: it is just at the point where wires going into the hot end. If wires are not secured to the printing head, then during printing those place experiences a lot of bending, which makes it weaker over the time.
> 0 votes
# Answer
Hello I have had the same issue, fluctuating thermistor temperature, all of them. Discarding the board, and accessories setup (loose the heater, thermistor and so on) the problem was on the PSU. When I have opened the PSU and touched gently all the parts then closed again and connected it to the printer: temperature readings were stable egain, however just for a time.
Fluctuations of temperature due to heating have in general low frequencies due to the heat transport phenomena in material such as plastic and metals especially if the amount of metal material is of the order of 100 grams.
Changes over the time with supplied power of about 500 watt over 100 grams of metal and plastic flow of a fewer grams per minute, seldom, cant cause temporal fluctuations in frequencies of the order of electrical fluctuations. It's possible but not in 3D printing case.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: marlin, hotend
--- |
thread-14066 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14066 | SeemeCNC Rostock V2 in 2020 | 2020-07-12T19:19:43.267 | # Question
Title: SeemeCNC Rostock V2 in 2020
Looking to get into 3D printing without spending too much up front for now. Found an assembled seemecnc Rostock V2 for sale at a very good price considering its MSRP is 1k for the kit pre-assembly.
My question is, will this 4 year old printer be significantly lacking in any way compared to a new lower-end printer from 2020? I know the technology moves so fast.
Thanks so much in advance, Alex
# Answer
I definitely wouldn't start with a Delta printer. Cartesian printers have become "the norm" for a good reason - they're very easy to use and tune, so I'd recommend getting an Ender 3 or Biqu B1.
It'll still print just fine, but that MSRP is in no way realistic in 2020. If it's offered under maybe 100$, it might be interesting as a secondary machine, but I wouldn't pay more than that.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: print-quality
--- |
thread-14078 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14078 | Ringing with Ultimakers, what is the cause? | 2020-07-14T06:32:52.903 | # Question
Title: Ringing with Ultimakers, what is the cause?
At my work, we have 3x Ultimaker 2+, 1x Ultimaker 3 and 1x PRUSA i3 mk3s. The Ultimakers have been used quite a lot for the past three years, but the belts and bearings seem ok.
I got heavy ringing with all Ultimakers, but the print on the PRUSA is neat even at a higher speed.
I have a Ultimaker 2+ which I use together with CURA. I print in PLA at 210°C. The print bed is set to 60 °C. I use a print cooling fan at 60 %. The layer height I set to 0.2 mm, the line width 0.8 from the 0.4 mm nozzle. The Printing Speed is set to 30 mm/s for walls and 50 mm/s for infill.
Is this a known issue with Ultimakers?
How can I fix it?
The comparison with what I get with the PRUSA is uncanny:
**EDIT**
I have tighten the screws on the extruding head and cleaned the machine, but I still notice a mechanical play. Therefore, the result is not satisfying...
.
# Answer
> 1 votes
> have been used quite a lot for the past three years
The problem, even if belts and such seem ok, might be that other parts start to wear out. The part that contributes te most to ringing is the motion system. Grooves in rails or worn out bearings are a classic way that introduces some freedom in the system that can result in rattle and ringing. A photo of the rails and bearings might help to identify wear. Remember that most bearings need some sort of lubricant to work properly and reduce the wear in them, which should be part of the maintenance cycle!
Another source for the errors could be found in the extrusion system. For example, there might be an increased play in the gearing as springs under constant pressure can lose some tension, resulting in too little pressure on the filament, which typically would show up as under extrusion if the pressure is lost completely. On the other side, the hobbled gear that pushes the filament might be worn, resulting in a lack of responsiveness of the filament movement, again resulting in under extrusion after some point. Once more, photos of this area could help to indicate wear and tear.
Another source might be the mounting of the printer - it has been shown beneficial to put printers on a slab of concrete that itself is dampened on a medium density foam, resulting in even dampening that is usually better than the rubber feet of many printers.
---
Tags: print-quality, prusa-i3, ultimaker
--- |
thread-14082 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14082 | Increase Z-homing probe number | 2020-07-15T03:00:07.590 | # Question
Title: 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?
# Answer
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.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: marlin, bltouch, z-probe, homing
--- |
thread-14084 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14084 | Eliminating unwanted internal surfaces | 2020-07-15T14:15:06.823 | # Question
Title: Eliminating unwanted internal surfaces
One of the biggest challenges with 3D-drawings is internal surfaces unintentionally formed that cause slicing not to work properly. This is using SketchUp Pro, slicing with Slic3r, and printing with a Reprap X400. Eliminating lines unnecessary to form the outside surfaces helps, but this may not eliminate all the internal surfaces which can be hard to see even with an x-ray view. It often takes deleting an external surface, looking for internal surfaces to select and delete, then adding the external surface back, being careful not to use a line that also adds the internal surface back.
This can be a huge issue when importing an STL file into SketchUP. The import seems to prefer using all triangles and thus the maximum number of lines with no attempt to see which are unnecessary, leaving it up to the user to eliminate lines.
What techniques do you have for eliminating or avoiding unwanted internal surfaces in drawings?
# Answer
> 2 votes
I am sorry to tell you that SketchUp is not a good software for printable 3D designs due to its exporting feature not properly reducing complexity. It creates unnecessary faces and vertices inside of items on a regular basis, which in the slicer creates artifacts.
To make a SketchUp created file well printable, a huge amount of careful re-engineering in a graphics program like Blender is needed, manually removing the excess vertices surfaces.
---
Tags: 3d-models, 3d-design, slic3r, sketchup
--- |
thread-14087 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14087 | How does wireless 3D printing work? | 2020-07-15T18:48:28.697 | # Question
Title: How does wireless 3D printing work?
I was wondering how WiFi based 3D Printing works since I want to start an open source project and need some information on this. I have done some research, I have now an understanding on how the printer interprets the G-code and how it acts upon the instructions. But what I couldn't find information on is how WiFi based 3D printing works
1. What is the communication between the slicer (such as Cura) and the board?
2. How are the commands sent to the printer from the slicer, line by line or the entire G-code?
3. How do I establish a connection between the slicer and the board?
I am well aware of the already existent Raspberry Pi idea compatible with Octoprint but I am making a much cheaper one
Thanks for any help
# Answer
> 6 votes
1. Slicers don't talk to the printer. Slicers analyze an STL file and generate a GCODE file, based on your parameters. A print manager sends the commands from the GCODE file to the printer board, which executes them sequentially.
2. They are not. Commands are sent to the printer from a print manager of some sort. This varies among printers; some printers can be managed by more than one manager, and some managers can handle many models of printer. Some printer-manager pairs are proprietary and exclusive.
3. You do not. See above.
Note, some programs *do* have an integrated slicer and print manager. - Thanks, Trish
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, g-code, wi-fi
--- |
thread-14076 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14076 | Unable to upload Marlin 2.0 to Melzi 2.0 board | 2020-07-14T03:03:48.837 | # Question
Title: Unable to upload Marlin 2.0 to Melzi 2.0 board
I need to set the `HOME_POS` manually since it isn't printing in the center of the bed. But whenever I try to upload it to the Melzi 2.0 board I get an `out of sync` error.
I am using Arduino IDE on Manjaro Linux, I was able to upload Marlin to the board on Windows 10 but I have since removed that OS. I have the correct settings for the board: Sanguino Atmega 1280 or 1280P (16mhz)
Here is what I have tried to get me this far:
* Running Arduino IDE as root (administrator) which fixed the `permission denied` error
* Changing the Board and the processor settings
* Uploading a fresh Marlin firmware with no changes
* **Uploading a simple program to my Arduino UNO which worked**
* Changing USB Ports (USB 3.0, USB 2.0)
* Changing the Baud Rate from 115200 to 57600
Here is the (verbose) error message
```
Arduino: 1.8.12 (Linux), Board: "Sanguino, ATmega1284 or ATmega1284P (16 MHz)"
Sketch uses 107854 bytes (82%) of program storage space. Maximum is 130048 bytes.
Global variables use 4054 bytes (24%) of dynamic memory, leaving 12330 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 16384 bytes.
/root/.arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude -C/root/.arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega1284p -carduino -P/dev/ttyUSB0 -b115200 -D -Uflash:w:/tmp/arduino_build_963029/Marlin.ino.hex:i
avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "/root/.arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"
User configuration file is "/root/.avrduderc"
User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0
Using Programmer : arduino
Overriding Baud Rate : 115200
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x73
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x74
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x61
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x72
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x74
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x0a
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x65
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x63
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x68
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x6f
avrdude done. Thank you.
An error occurred while uploading the sketch
```
# Answer
> 2 votes
Okay thanks to @towe for helping me I figured it out. my Baud Rate was set to 115200 but my board is using the old bootloader so it needed to be 57600. I Changed my boards.txt file to that but the verbose console printed: `Overriding Baud Rate : 115200` turns out you need to change it in the serial monitor as well (the little magnifying glass in the top corner of the IDE) after that everything worked great thanks for all the help!
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Tags: marlin, firmware, arduino, linux, melzi
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thread-14091 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14091 | Use SLA 3D printing to make a flexible mold | 2020-07-16T10:36:53.157 | # Question
Title: Use SLA 3D printing to make a flexible mold
I have seen some videos like this one, that uses 3D printing to make a piece that will be used to make a silicone mold that will then be used to make the final object made of some resin.
Isn't possible to make the mold directly from the 3D printing process?
I want to make an object (that's actually another mold to make tofu) using a flexible mold. Can I use 3D SLA printing with a flexible material such as this one and then use it to make my final mold made of some liquid resin? Also, do you have any suggestions about food grand liquid resin or similar?
# Answer
> 3 votes
# Background
SLA relies on the properties of UV-curing Resin. Most currently available UV Curing Resins harden to a solid, hard polymer, but that doesn't mean there are no other UV curing resins that are elastic. Most however will not be suitable for SLA or DLP systems!
Polyurethanes, which can be flexible if cured in the right way, have not come onto the market as suitable SLA/DLP printing material and up to now, I have only found one UV hardening resin on the market - the one offered by FormLabs and identified by OP
## Patent History
Indeed, elastic resins are actually quite new. The first patent I could find for an elastic resin was 2003 for an elastic epoxy resin, while subsequent elastic resins were brought to Patent are different like the 2007 elastic olefin resin. In fact, there is a 2013 US patent on SLA Resin, which is still in effect. As a result of such patents being still in effect or just out of protection times, the market is still very much limited because most manufacturers simply lack the knowledge of how to do it or the licenses to be allowed to do it. In fact, Formlabs is named on 43 patents for 3D printers and accessories, of which only 1 is expired as of July 2020. I could not identify the patent that might be in use for their flexible resin, but the marketing material is of May 2020, so it is relatively new on the market and might not have been updated into either the patent database or FormLabs did buy an exclusive license for the material from someone else, meaning they will not show up as Assignee in it. Or it is kept a trade secret.
# Material implications
The printed mold will probably be of a different stiffness than a cast mold as you work with a totally different material and your new molds might degrade at a different speed than urethane or latex cast molds. To get a feel for this this, you will need to run some experiments. As FormLabs hands out test specimens of their print materials, you might order the two flexible ones and then test their stiffness and suitability for your uses by having them interact with your casting resin and seeing if they break down and if you can remove them easily.
# Food grade
**Generally** don't consider anything that comes directly from a 3D printer *certifiable food safe*, as you need to have both a process and a material that is food rated. There are ways to use the resulting parts to manufacture food safe objects, but that's elaborated for example in some of the questions I suggest to look into
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Tags: sla, resin, molds, flexible
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thread-7740 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7740 | Evidence of a warped build plate? | 2018-12-21T13:05:11.170 | # Question
Title: Evidence of a warped build plate?
The first layer is very patchy indeed. I've calibrated the build plate pretty accurately but even if it was a badly calibrated build plate I don't think it would have this effect.
It doesn't *seem* to have a negative effect on the print.
1. Should I be concerned about this?
2. Is this due to a the build plate fault?
# Answer
> 6 votes
First things first:
# Don't Panic
Your heated bed is made from metal with some sort of Build-Tak-Clone surface. It is not broken from what I can see. Your print is **not failed**, however, the quality does suffer a little bit.
Your bed does warp a little under heating. That is perfectly **normal**, and you should actually calibrate your layer thickness against a hot heatbed, not a cold one as metal that is heatbed extends - especially over the heating elements. The main heating element is usually in the center, so it "bulges" a little there, and if the heat has not equalized everywhere, it can show a dimple around it. So it warps slightly. The extent of the warping is determined by a couple factors, but from what your print looks like, it is not in a worrisome amount - the second and third layers will even it out.
I can't tell how much time passed between reaching the print temperature of the bed and the start of the print, but you might want to make sure the heating behavior heats the bed *first* and the hotend *second*, allowing the heat energy in the bed to spread more evenly. A tiny `G4 P20000 ; wait 20 seconds` (see here)\` in the pre-print code, before cleaning & priming the nozzle might also help.
You can try to get more even first layers by positioning the parts in areas that do not suffer from warping.
As Tom mentioned, you might get better base layers if you increase the first layer thickness. I usually print with about 0.15 to 0.2 mm for the first layer, *regardless* of the following layer thickness to even out small miscalibrations and unevenness in the heating.
# Answer
> 7 votes
It looks like your first layer is way too close to the bed. The printer is trying to squash the plastic down very thinly, resulting in inconsistent extrusion. You will likely see better results if you move the nozzle away from the bed a little bit. Increasing the thickness of the first layer might help as well (this is a setting in your slicer).
Keep in mind that if you're trying to print (e.g.) a first layer with a thickness of 0.05mm then a 0.025mm variation in the height of the build plate will result in very strong variation in the thickness of the extrusion on the first layer; in some places it will only be half as thick as in other places. If instead you used a 0.2mm first layer, then the 0.025mm variation barely makes a difference.
# Answer
> 0 votes
## I'm having the same problem but worse.
Some parts of the print are squished and towards the middle I will have bad or no bed adhesion. I always have to print with a raft or else the first layer will fail.
### Borosilicate glass
From what I've read online the best solution it to replace the build plate or add a pad on top of your build surface. The most recommended one is borosilicate glass. It has good heat conductivity and is very stiff.
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Tags: print-quality, heated-bed, calibration, print-failure
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thread-14095 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14095 | How to measure the nozzle diameter? | 2020-07-17T10:12:54.680 | # Question
Title: How to measure the nozzle diameter?
On a Creality CR-10 Max, there is a bag of unidentified spares, which include three unmarked nozzles.
There is a needle that is exactly 0.4 mm in diameter, which needle fits exactly inside one of nozzles. It also fits loosely in the largest nozzle, which diameter looks like it's really close to 0.8 mm on my digital caliper. The smallest one has only room for the tip of the needle, and the digital caliper reads 0.34 mm on the tip of the needle when pushed from the inside of the nozzle.
I assume the sizes are: 0.8 mm, 0.4 mm and 0.3 mm.
Can you tell me how to measure the diameter with better accuracy?
# Answer
I have found that normal measuring devices are not particularly helpful with accurately measuring nozzle diameters. But you're already off to a great start.
What is helpful is to take them somewhere that has a wide assortment of drill bits, and find which two adjacent sizes will and will not fit in the (clean) nozzle; then convert the diameters to mm (if needed), and your nozzle is larger than the small bit, but smaller than the large bit. From that, you should be able to narrow it down to a standard dimension.
> 5 votes
# Answer
The *correct* tool for measuring a hole usually is a Bore Gauge, but that doesn't work for super small holes like nozzles and generally needs holes at least 5 mm in diameter. For those small holes, there's a different tool:
These are Thread Measuring Wires of known diameter. While generally used to find out the depth of thread you are dealing with in a threaded (or if your thread is correct depth), they are also useful for measuring small bores. In this capacity, You'll use them as follows: The diameter of a hole can accompany any *smaller* diameter, but never a *larger* diameter wire, so a clean nozzle of 0.4 mm should accompany a 0.3 and o.35 easy but not a 0.45. A 0.4 might or might not fit, depending on how accurate the hole is. You'll need a very fine set of thread gauges though, and wires, pins, and needles of known diameter are a suitable replacement for this.
> 5 votes
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Tags: nozzle, creality-cr-10
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thread-12119 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/12119 | Overhanging section of part turns into spaghetti | 2020-03-02T22:02:49.110 | # Question
Title: Overhanging section of part turns into spaghetti
A part I've printed (on a Monoprice Maker Select V2, sliced with Cura) has a small peg on it, which is an unsupported overhanging section of the model.
The first few layers of the peg end up a mess of PLA spaghetti. Here I've rotated the part to get a better shot, normally it would be printed on its side.
I've done test prints that contain L-shaped overhangs and they worked ok, so I'm not sure what's broken about this one.
One guess I have is that because the peg is relatively low to the heated build plate, the material isn't cooling as quickly, and it needs to be more rigid in order for subsequent layers to print.
I also tried with supports but I found it too hard to remove.
# Answer
Unsupported parts need to be printed with support. If your supports are too hard to remove, try the Tree Support setting and make sure that your support structure is set up with a gap to the actual print. As we don't know which slier you use, I can't go into more details here.
> 2 votes
# Answer
You could try printing slower and/or increase cooling ( possibly even a cooler bed temp) if you absolutely want to avoid supports, or just use supports with a support interface and tweak support distance.
> 1 votes
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Tags: print-quality, support-structures
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thread-14054 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14054 | How to address bed scratching on a Creality Ender 3 | 2020-07-09T19:39:17.947 | # Question
Title: How to address bed scratching on a Creality Ender 3
So bed scratching seems to be a real thing, and not a single post I've come across (I've looked at more than 30 by now) actually answers the question on exactly how to stop this.
Now, I have an Ender 3 and this is becoming enough of a headache that I want to just give it away. I thought that the old bed was just wrecked so spend £30 on a new glass bed .. Guess what .. Wrecked that too.
Please don't suggest I level the bed - it is levelled, not gravitationally, but mechanically. I have tightened everything up. I have tried altering the XYZ axis on the actual printer. I have tried adding some numbers to the Z axis in Cura, but it just snaps back down to zero. I have played with base layer thickness, with no difference. I have run **nine** different test prints, with every single one coming out perfectly. I have ABS at 250 °C and bed at 90 °C. Sticking to the bed is not a problem.
Why .. Why, why why, is it scratching the bed when I then go to print something? Nothing has changed!! I even zero'd the test prints in Cura the same way I did my parts prints.
Would seriously appreciate some help before I just toss this thing.
# Answer
Most likely your print surface is uneven. You can try rebuilding your firmware with mesh bed levelling that allows you to manually probe and store n\*n grid bed mesh setting the height offsets at each point manually (however, on stock setup you might need to disable certain features for the compiled firmware to fit). Other option would be to use some kind of ABL as mentioned above. You can also try installing Z offset plugin on Cura and raise it up a bit.
The last thing to check would be comparing the test gcode to your slicer generated ones (via any text editor) looking for differences in G0/G1 Z movement in the beginning of the gcode. If there are ant differences, that would give you a hint where to progress further.
> 2 votes
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Tags: creality-ender-3, bed-leveling
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thread-14105 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14105 | How do slicers convert an STL file to G-Code? | 2020-07-19T12:26:27.243 | # Question
Title: How do slicers convert an STL file to G-Code?
I was wondering how slicers work, how their code runs to generate a G-Code file. How is an STL file interpreted through a slicer.
How does the math work for generating supports, build plate adhesion?
I couldn't find any information, so can anyone help with this technical question
Ryan
# Answer
> 6 votes
# Slicing in General
An STL is a set of triangle surfaces. A Watertight STL - for slicing purposes - has surfaces that always create closed outlines if cut parallel to the XY plane.
A Slicer does exactly that: it creates plane-cuts at the indicated Z-heights, takes the plane-cut's outline(s), and decides a direction and order in which to follow the generated path. Then it uses this outline to generate the infill pattern, for example, as explained here.
The more paths there are and the smaller the triangles that are cut up, the more complex the solution process becomes and the longer it takes.
# Support calculation
A slicer usually identifies areas that need support by calculating at which angle an STL Surface cuts a given plane cut. Under standard settings, this would be about less than 60° to the XY-plane with the normal of the surface having a negative Z-component - which means that a needle poking out of that surface points towards the bed.
The most simple form of support generation simply generates a grid pattern between such areas and the bed or next surface below. Tree support on the other tries to generate a support structure that bends around the object without intersecting and only relying on the support of itself.
# Build Plate adhesion
A skirt and brim are just taking the outline of the build-plate intersection and surround that with outlines.
A Raft is generated like the simple support case, but taking the whole base of the object, adding a little edge around it and then generating the support grid there.
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Tags: slicing
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thread-14113 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14113 | Ready to use objects instead of 3D-printing them | 2020-07-21T17:32:00.113 | # Question
Title: Ready to use objects instead of 3D-printing them
I hope this kind of questions are tolerated here. Otherwise, please tell me in the comment and I will delete the question - no needs to downvote.
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For a new job I need to create a lot of objects like this one:
To have an idea of the dimensions:
* height: 60 mm
* cylinder diameter: 12 mm
* inner hole: 3 mm
* lateral slots width (2 at 90 degress): 3 mm
I'm able to make such an item with either a 3D printer or even a standard 4-axis CNC. But because I need to make 100+ of these items I wonder if there are something similar out there.
But I have no idea of how it might be called. I tried with "spacer with slots" without any useful results.
# Answer
If your printer is reliable enough I would suggest printing multiple parts in one go. Since the cylinders are only 12 mm in diameter you can easily fit over a hundred of them on a standard 20 x 20 cm built plate with a couple of millimeters spacing in between.
> 2 votes
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Tags: 3d-design, cnc
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thread-14100 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14100 | Thermal runaway when power on | 2020-07-18T11:45:41.173 | # Question
Title: Thermal runaway when power on
I get the error "`Thermal runaway on E1. Reset printer.`" today on my Tevo Tarantula when powering on the printer. The display shows the error and the speaker beeps loudly everytime I power on the printer or reset it.
I use the firmware https://github.com/JimBrown/MarlinTarantula, because I can switch E0 heat nozzle to E1 wires, without soldering; PID's for nozzle were configured, and works fine before I replaced the power supply.
Recently my power supply was broken, and today I installed new power supply, clean nozzle, several times start bed leveling, and on fourth time of homing error appeared.
Power supply voltage tested with a multimeter and the voltage of power supply is 12.06V.
Note: several times printer started bed leveling.
# Answer
Issue is solved!
Root cause was a broken thermistor circuit at board and broken thermistor.
I disconnected all wires and power, measured board and thermistors resistance: E0 = ~120 Ω, (E1 and Bed) = ~700 Ω. I swapped pins for `TEMP_0_PIN` and `TEMP_1_PIN` within Marlin for Tevo firmware at `pins_RAMPS.h` as described in answer on question Change hotend thermistor input in Marlin, changed thermistor and everything prints fine.
> 2 votes
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Tags: hotend, tevo-tarantula
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thread-14119 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14119 | Filament consistently jamming / clogging in Bowden tube on MP mini 3 | 2020-07-22T00:34:25.727 | # Question
Title: Filament consistently jamming / clogging in Bowden tube on MP mini 3
I've had this MP Select Mini III for years and years. Lately it's consistently jamming/clogging somewhere between the hot end and the PTFE tubing - but not right away, often when it starts getting to the infill layers.
If I don't catch it in time, the filament twists and twists until even the Bowden tube is clogged (and then it's a whole lot of trouble to clean out).
My temperature has been wobbly of late, so I bumped the temps higher than usual (200-210 °C for PLA) thinking perhaps it was dipping low for a spell and allowing it to cool.
Is this the end of the road for this cheap little guy that has been a solid workhorse or are there some known fixes that I should consider?
# Answer
> 1 votes
If you have it for years, have you ever replaced the Bowden tubes and hotend liner? This printer might be in need of some dire maintenance.
Also check if the Bowden tube is securely fixed, if infill starts, it might be retraction that is giving problems by lifting the tube alongside the rectracted filament.
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Tags: extrusion, bowden, monoprice-select-mini
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thread-14118 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14118 | Why is BLTouch Still Probing Off the Bed Even When `NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET` is Set? | 2020-07-21T23:48:50.900 | # Question
Title: Why is BLTouch Still Probing Off the Bed Even When `NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET` is Set?
So I am almost finished upgrading my CR10s with Hemera and BLTouch hardware, however I can't get past this one problem.
In the picture, you can see that the probe is to the left of the nozzle, and when homed it is not above the bed. The gantry will fall and eventually have the nozzle crash into the bed because the BLTouch will never hit the bed. I tried solving this by setting `NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET { -40, 0, 0 }` (I'm using Marlin 2.0, and those were the offsets I measured (except for the z)). This changed nothing, and the same thing happened again. I could not find a setting that tells Marlin where the nozzle is after it has been homed. Any ideas?
# Answer
> 3 votes
Did you load the values from firmware after the re-flash? Use `M502` to load the values you changed, otherwise it will keep using those from memory. Also set `#define Z_SAFE_HOMING`, then it will home in the middle of the bed.
Also, with a new carriage for the Hemera, your nozzle is not/might not be in exactly the same position as before as I learned from other adopters, you then should also need to redefine the offsets, see How to center my prints on the build platform? (Re-calibrate homing offset).
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Tags: marlin, creality-cr-10, bltouch
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thread-14059 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14059 | Updating an Ender 3 V2 | 2020-07-11T08:37:06.757 | # Question
Title: Updating an Ender 3 V2
I recently got an Ender 3 V2 and when I go to Info -\> Version it says V1.0.0. However online, there is V1.0.1 available.
How can I update the Ender 3 V2. It is different as it isn't a ATMEL chip like the ATMEGA 2560 but rather an ARM processor. I own many arduino boards but apparently the chip has the bootloader already on it.
So how can I update the board, through some uploader, specific software or what exactly.
# Answer
Just copy the firmware to a blank microsd card. Turn off the printer and turn it on. Board will flash it automatically and wait the screen to up.
Make sure the name of the firmware file always unique or different from the last one, otherwise you will get the blank screen. If you do, just re-flash by using a rename (different) file of firmware.
> 1 votes
# Answer
After looking around for a bit in Cura. You can update it via Cura.
Start by going to your printer -\> Manage printer
Then there is the option to update firmware. You must plug the printer in first.
> 1 votes
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Tags: creality-ender-3, firmware
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thread-13931 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13931 | Can PETG be used as support material for PLA? | 2020-06-23T13:38:58.787 | # Question
Title: Can PETG be used as support material for PLA?
Printing supports, either complete, or partially from PVA have not always resulted in successful prints according to my experience with the filament (used in a dual extruder Ultimaker 3 extended). But, when it works well, the surface finish is perfect as there is no gap between the PVA and PLA.
From my experience with PVA, I conclude it is prone to clog, the filament is very hygroscopic, resulting in popping sounds when printing if too moist which most probably also impacts on clogging. The clogs lead to failed support structures as the extruder grinds through the filament and as such failed prints.
I was wondering if PETG can be used for supports or for the interface layer of supports for printing supports for PLA prints? For example:
This is a sliced view of a print in line color (left or top on small screens) and material color (right or bottom on small screens); black PLA and cream colored PETG. This print contains a larger gap that needs support. Can you make the support from PETG, either the support as a whole or just the top interface.
* How does PLA-PETG or PETG-PLA bond or stick considering the 2 different print temperatures?
* What are the concerns using a single nozzle?
# Answer
PETG works as support material for PLA, see video
In theory, PLA printed on top of PETG will be fine because PETG softens and gets sticky at higher temperatures.
Printing PETG support on top of PLA may cause remelting of PLA, but if PETG is kept quite cold (220 °C) the issue will likely be minor. As shown in the video, it works.
PLA/PETG may still be better than using PLA/PLA because of this difference in extrusion temperatures that, for example in bridges where PLA is printed on top of PETG support, should result in very easily removable supports.
The type of supports used should be tested: tree supports could minimize the contact surface between the two and thus minimize marring by the hotter PETG being deposited onto the PLA at the expense of more PETG and normal supports could be used on a limited surface, so they can be removed easily. If the two materials really don't adhere much to each other, you may even be able to fake dissolvable supports, which increase the contact surface but provide a far better finish for bridges and bottom surfaces.
Using a single nozzle may require experimentation. In my experience, I print PLA at 230 °C so it wouldn't be an issue, and 220 °C would also work, but if PLA is printed cold, below 215 °C, you may need to heat/cool the nozzle. In any case, switching filament (especially PETG -\> PLA) requires quite some filament to be discarded, so there is time for the heating. It is however to be kept in mind that cleaning of the nozzle between PLA and PETG (or in fact after any material swap) is difficult: some residue can remain in small gaps or low flow areas of the hotend and will be blended into the stream for quite some time after the swap, resulting in hybrid materials of unknown properties.<sup>1</sup>
As I said, experimentation is needed for this kind of task: my experience, with a 2012-era hot end, may not even be representative of the behaviour of modern hot ends.
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<sup>1</sup> \- this effect is easily noticeable even with similar materials if switching from dark to light color filament, especially if not doing a cold pull to remove most of the material from the melt zone.
> 7 votes
# Answer
While it is most certainly possible to use PETG as a support material, you might run into some trouble when the first layer of PETG goes down on top of the PLA. Since PETG prints so much hotter than PLA, the PETG may bond too aggressively to the PLA causing it to become very difficult to remove after the print has finished. I would say the hassle involved in using PETG to print supports outweighs any perceivable benefits as opposed to using PLA.
> 1 votes
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Tags: pla, support-structures, petg, support-material
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thread-14117 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14117 | BLTouch doing poor job of levelling | 2020-07-21T21:53:24.333 | # Question
Title: BLTouch doing poor job of levelling
I'd appreciate any advice on this problem. I have and Ender 3 Pro with a glass bed. I have been using Marlin 2 with mesh bed levelling and it has been working really well. I have now installed a BLTouch version 3.1. I have used the TH3D Marlin V2.0.5.3 set to probe a 3 by 3 grid (same size I used with mesh bed levelling. My glass bed has a dip in the centre. When using mesh bed levelling this was found to be around 0.05 mm lower than the rest of the bed. However, the mesh bed levelling worked well and I got great first layers. Now with the BLTouch, I've set up my probe Z-offset, done with the bed and nozzle at full printing temperature. I've got a test print of 9 small squares and have sliced it in Cura at 0.12 mm. It's just one layer. No matter how much I fiddle/tune the Z-probe offset, I am getting poor results. The square at the front left of the bed is a complete load of spaghetti. The others are better but not perfect. It's as if the bed levelling process is not working properly. But it all looks like it's doing the right thing. Is there any way I can verify the measurements the probe has made? Is there anything else I should check? I'm really at a loss. I've also manually levelled the bed to make sure the four corners are level with each other. I'm completely stumped!
# Answer
> 2 votes
Found the cause of the gaps. it was one or both of the following:: he x-carraige belt was rather loose; I think I'd overtightened the x-carriage assembly with the print head on it and the motion had a couple of places where it was a tad tight. Adjusted both these things and all the problems went away. What's especially interesting is that I'm now getting better quality prints than I've ever had. It looks like it is worth checking the tightness of everything on a new Ender 3 Pro to ensure it is all as it should be!
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Tags: creality-ender-3, bltouch
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thread-14111 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14111 | Ultimaker Cura is not always retracting in exported G-Code | 2020-07-21T06:32:01.590 | # Question
Title: Ultimaker Cura is not always retracting in exported G-Code
**TL;DR: Upper layers of a stringing pyramid test are missing retractions in the G-code.**
Edit 1: added printer info and additional settings.
Edit 2: Clearing up confusing wording.
**Update:**
**I wrote a program to parse the G-code and count the retraction-extension pairs between layers. The first 17 layers (base) and 18-95 (pyramid start) have the appropriate number of extruder calls. I expect an extension at the start of the layer, retraction before moving to the second tower, extension to print the second tower, and a retraction before moving back to the first tower.**
**After layer 95 of 391 the number of retraction pairs starts to decrease from missing a pair every other layer to eventually almost no retraction pairs. The last 70-ish layers have a retraction pair every dozen or so layers.**
**Perhaps this is related somehow to the shrinking width of the pyramid since the missing retraction-extension pairs increase as the pyramid comes to a point**
**Disabling Z-Hop shows no difference in this behavior**
**Original question:**
After switching to a 0.2 mm nozzle I starting printing some calibration tests to find my stringing pyramids end up looking like a pair of trees. I suspect I've always had this issue, but it's much more evident now with a smaller nozzle that likes to ooze.
This is on an Ender 3, so using a Bowden tube, with a MicroSwiss all metal hot end and the extruder mechanism is aluminum with a pair of toothed drive gears. I'm seeing the problem in 1.75mm PLA of multiple well regarded manufacturers.
**Relevant Settings (let me know of other settings I should list):**
* enabled retraction
* combing mode 'off'
* enabled z-hop when retracted
* retraction distance 3.5mm
* retraction speed 50mm
* retraction minimum travel 1.5mm
* Infil 100%
Looking at the G-code, sometimes I see a retraction paired with the Z-hop, but sometimes it's missing. It seems pretty random for when it's missing, but the first quarter or so of the layers do not show the problem. Originally I thought it had something to do with extruder drift over time, or something crazy, until I looked at the G-code and saw it was missing commands.
**Snippit of retracting for Z-hop:**
```
G1 F1200 X204.632 Y161.781 E77.9224
G1 F3000 E74.4224
G1 F300 Z7.08
;MESH:NONMESH
G0 F9000 X190.179 Y161.901 Z7.08
;TIME_ELAPSED:2354.891407
;LAYER:171
;MESH:string_test_fast_pyramid.stl
G0 X190.179 Y161.901 Z7.12
;TYPE:WALL-INNER
G1 F300 Z6.92
G1 F3000 E77.9224
G1 F600 X190.179 Y161.555 E77.92356
```
**Snippit of not retracting for z-hop:**
```
G1 F1200 X204.473 Y161.666 E78.0239
G1 F300 Z7.12
;MESH:NONMESH
G0 F9000 X190.182 Y161.898 Z7.12
;TIME_ELAPSED:2359.620803
;LAYER:172
;MESH:string_test_fast_pyramid.stl
G0 X190.182 Y161.898 Z7.16
;TYPE:WALL-INNER
G1 F300 Z6.96
G1 F600 X190.182 Y161.558 E78.02503
```
Test on the left is done with 'Equalize filament rate' enabled, on the right side is done with the option disabled.
Any advice you can give as to what settings I am missing or misconfigured would be much appreciated.
# Answer
> 2 votes
It's likely that you're hitting Cura's Maximum Retraction Count (`retraction_count_max`) within the Minimum Extrusion Distance Window (`retraction_extrusion_window`). This is a misfeature supposedly designed to avoid grinding/flattening the filament, but of course acting on it will ruin your print in exactly the same way you're seeing. I think setting the window to 0 or the maximum count to some ridiculously high number like 1000000 will fix the problem.
Note that it's exacerbated by the thin nozzle making the number of retractions needed take place over a much smaller extruder-axis move distance than what you'd have with a normal 0.4 mm nozzle. This is probably why nobody has noticed and complained about the badness of Cura's defaults here.
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Tags: ultimaker-cura, slicing, retraction
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thread-14141 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14141 | How does 3D printing over USB work? | 2020-07-26T08:51:43.810 | # Question
Title: How does 3D printing over USB work?
In Cura, if you plug your favourite 3D Printer you will most likely get an option to Print via USB. If you have never heard of what I'm talking about, please see this video:
I wanted to know some information on how this works:
* Is the communication through UART or through Serial?
* How can I establish a connection to the 3D Printer?
* Is there a list of commands I am able to send?
* What is the default baudrate for 3D printers?
* How is the G-Code of the print sent to the 3D Printer?
# Answer
**This is just a stub answer. I will try to expand on it later.**
The 8-bit microcontrollers used on many 3D printers do not have a USB interface, and so a USB to serial interface chip is used to allow a computer to communicate with the serial port (UART) on the microcontroller. In order for the computer to communicate with the printer, a device driver is needed to allow the operating system to communicate with the **interface chip**.
The appropriate device drivers should be supplied with your printer, and you should install these drivers before you try to do anything else. The drivers will make the printer look as if it has a serial interface, and the highest speed that most 8-bit microcontrollers can manage is 112800bps.
If the software that you are using has a terminal interface, you can send any G-code commands to the printer. For a list of G-code commands, see **here**. Note that this list includes commands for CNC machines as well as 3D printers.
For normal printing, G-code commands are sent to the printer using a print manager, such as Repetier-Host. Some slicers may have built-in print managers.
> 4 votes
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Tags: g-code
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thread-4459 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4459 | Noise Reduction | 2017-08-04T11:58:07.950 | # Question
Title: Noise Reduction
I am looking for methods to reduce the amount of noise produced by my CR-10. I have the printer in my downstairs study and if I'm doing a long print job, you can hear it upstairs in my son's bedroom and I don't want it keep him awake.
I've seen there are noise reduction feet available on Thingiverse but apparently these can result quite significant vibrations of the printer itself, which could mess up the print.
I've also seen one guy using a paving block but I'm not sure how effective that would be and also don't think my cheap Ikea desk would cope very well with having a concrete block put on it.
I was wondering about trying an off-cut of carpet. Has anyone tried this or have any other suggestions?
# Answer
> 7 votes
I do know about your budget, but I would suggest to buy a silent 3d printer like Prusa i3 mk3 which is about $1k. If you decide to tinker your printer instead than take a look on other possibilities:
# Trinamic drivers
Most of the noise is created in motors.
Definitely switch to Trinamic stepper motor drivers. I have upgraded from Prusa i3 mk2 to mk3 last weekend and the noise reduction is significant, my estimate is 80-90%.
Take a look on this awesome blog post and video from Thomas Salanderer about the driver. Other good post is on instructables.
I would not suggest soldering unless you are a skilled hacker. Better option is switch to different board.
Prusa i3 mk3 is using Einsy Rambo 1.1 for $120: https://ultimachine.com/products/einsy-rambo-1-1 But there you have to switch to 24V Power Supply Unit and you have to also switch to 24V heated bed.
Another solution is to use RAMPS and buy trinamic drivers separate (RAMPS doesn't solder drivers on the board).
Additional info about trinamic drivers: https://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/hardware-firmware-and-software-help-f64/tmc2130-driver-infos-and-modifications-t15835.html
# Pad
Use a concrete paver as described in this youtube CNC Kitchen channel. It reduces noise by 20dB (not if you use trinamic drivers).
# Enclosure
An enclosure should also help to reduce noise.
How to build enclosure from Ikea table: https://www.prusaprinters.org/cheap-simple-3d-printer-enclosure/
# Dampers
Dampers help you reduce noise. There are two types of dampers:
Video about silencing the Prusa i3 MK2 & Horrible Vibrations:
# Answer
> 5 votes
Personally for vibration reduction I use a large mouse pad I cut to size, but I'd imagine the carpet would perform just fine. I would also recommend enclosing your printer (this had the most profound effect for me) and upgrading your stepper drivers.
# Answer
> 5 votes
I use a **paving block with rubber feet** underneath it **on the floor**. It is very effective: The 3D printer is sitting right beside a door, and you can't hear it printing from the other side of the door.
The low-frequency sounds are definitely absorbed by the paving block. What you can hear now are only the hissing sounds, when the extruder glides along the rods.
I wouldn't put the paving block on a table, though, or anything elevated, since that will only magnify the lever effect of the table legs and exacerbate vibrations.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Change DRV8825 / A49nn series on board stepper driver with Trinamics TM2100 ( in silentChop mode) will make your step motors almost silent. They are outstanding.
But there are couple of disadvantages:
* There is chance of losing steps in slientChop (Would not effect print quality in my experience)
* TMC2100 is 5-6x times more expensive than DRV8825
* Require soldering and electronic knowledge
* TMC2100 runs hotter
# Answer
> 2 votes
I have an Anet A8 and these vibration dampers do a great job:
Thingiverse: Vibration Damper for Anet A8
# Answer
> 2 votes
I had a similar problem, the neighbour started to complain. I solved the problem by putting scourers under the table where my printer was placed on top of.
They are mildly effective, but very cheap. They were 7 cents a piece at my local supermarket.
# Answer
> 1 votes
If you hear it from a floor to the other the only thing to change is the base of the printer. Nothing else matters.
CNC Kitchen performed measurements especially to avoid noise being transferred to other rooms, the result is that placing the printer not on elastic feet, but on a single slab of concrete which is placed on top of foam is the best solution and reduces the noise significantly.
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Tags: desktop-printer, creality-cr-10
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thread-13961 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13961 | X axis stops working sometimes on my Tronxy X5SA | 2020-06-27T15:53:20.677 | # Question
Title: X axis stops working sometimes on my Tronxy X5SA
This is regarding the circuit of my 3D printer Tronxy X5SA's stepper motor for X axis.
**I had an observation:** It has a cooling fan (40X10 24V) which is having issues lately - it stops working sometimes, and when pushed to rotate, spins back.
**Problem:** Now one of the stepper motors (NEMA 17 ~3.5kgfcm) in my core XY has been malfunctioning, where it misses rotation sometimes out of the blue, which shifts the whole print. I thought this is due to the driver limiting the current to the motor, so I rotated the screw terminal clockwise a bit more to allow more current for the motor. This works fine for a while, but the problem comes back.
Now, I also noticed a few times that this issue occurred when the cooling fan for the drivers stopped working.
Can the stopping of the cooling fan cause the stepper motor to falter?
Another observation is that the stepper motor which is faltering is placed close to another stepper motor. Although I know stepper motors can work in extreme conditions, can this cause the issue?
If you require any more info to investigate the issue, please do let me know
# Answer
> 0 votes
Yes, if the stepper motor drivers overheat, they shut down or skip steps, that is very possibly related to the failing stepper driver cooling fans.
# Answer
> 0 votes
It might be cross-talk with back-EMF from the fan confusing the stepper-motor driver. Do the cables run together, and have you tried separating them?
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Tags: stepper-driver, stepper, x-axis, fans, tronxy-x5
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thread-14148 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14148 | Looking for CAD files of basic crystal structures | 2020-07-28T20:51:52.180 | # Question
Title: Looking for CAD files of basic crystal structures
I'm looking for basic models of crystal chemical structures. The most basic example would be a cube, it gets harder though as I next need polyhedrons with one of three angles \< 90°, then two, etc.
Is there a database of these out there somewhere? Or is the fastest way to make them myself?
# Answer
> 5 votes
You may find that OpenSCAD regular polyhedron library may serve your requirements.
From the linked site: All polyhedra are centered at the origin and have an edge length of 1. From the linked site:
Included polyhedra:
```
tetrahedron
octahedron
hexahedron
icosahedron
dodecahedron
cubeoctahedron
truncated_tetrahedron
snub_cube
rhombicuboctahedron
truncated_hexahedron
truncated_octahedron
icosidodecahedron
snub_dodecahedron
rhombicosidodecahedron
truncated_cuboctahedron
truncated_icosahedron
truncated_dodecahedron
truncated_icosidodecahedron
```
OpenSCAD is a reasonably easy "description coding" program at the base level. I suspect that for something such as this, it might not qualify for the easy reference.
My search also linked up a few Thingiverse entries, but they weren't as sophisticated as the above and may be a subset of the library link.
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Tags: 3d-models
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thread-12099 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/12099 | Is E-axis steps/mm resolution limiting factor in print quality? | 2020-02-28T23:02:34.030 | # Question
Title: Is E-axis steps/mm resolution limiting factor in print quality?
I've been noticing in some of my linear advance test towers that the (very minor/fine) ripple pattern in walls varies with the K factor, which made me think that it isn't coming from any vibration in the print head motion, but rather from quantization of the extruder into discrete steps (i.e. wall gets slightly thicker right after a step, thins out afterwards until the next step, repeats).
By my math, with 1.75 mm filament and 93 steps per mm on my printer (Ender 3), each step is 0.02585 mm³ of material. At 0.4 mm line width and 0.2 mm layer height, there's 0.08 mm³ of material per linear mm, so that should give roughly 3 extruder steps per linear mm. That seems comparable to the ripple rate I see, although not exact; I suppose it varies somewhat because of linear advance and perhaps other reasons.
Anyway, to get to the question, am I missing something or is this the limiting factor in print resolution on my printer? It seems like isolated small details (smaller than 1/3 mm) won't be extrudable at all except as ooze, or over-extruded if they happen to cross a step threshold, and like things would be far worse if I tried to use a smaller nozzle and thinner layers. It seems that, ideally, you'd want the E-axis steps per mm to be sufficiently high that quantization is a non-issue (i.e. +-1 step is small relative error) for extrusions corresponding to a single X- or Y-axis microstep.
# Answer
Your calculations about the theoretical extruder resolution are spot on. I did a similar calculation to evaluate which extruder to use with different hot ends, I paste the results. The dark cells are the input cells, the rest is calculated. You can see that for some lines I entered directly the mm/microstep value, since I wanted not a theoretical but practical result for my printer (3 mm filament) or for known extruders (BMG).
Concerning the question, the resolution of the extruder matters, but it's a bit complicated to estimate exactly how much.
In general, this are the factors I can think about.
A poor resolution may not impact straight lines much, since the rotation of the extruder is continuous and the extruder is unlikely to snap exactly to the desired microstep position as soon as you ask for it: it's likely a bit behind all the time, that's how torque is obtained (more or less).
The issue may become smaller with drivers which interpolate microsteps up to 256x.
However, whenever there is a change of flow rate, poor resolution implies that you cannot control the exact location/moment where/when the flow changes. This matters mostly at the end and at the beginning or retractions/re-retractions. Maybe you get more ooze?
However, the extruder resolution is not, in practice, as good as you calculated. In fact, as we know, microsteps reduce the incremental torque to very low values. The extruder is a motor which requires quite a lot of torque, since pushing the filament is quite hard, and it is unlikely that you can achieve all the time the 16x microstep accuracy you assumed. For example, due to friction in Bowden, hot end, ... the filament (= the motor shaft) may at a certain point stay "back" more than average. This would cause an increase of effective torque, pushing the filament a bit faster, which would it bring to in sync or so with the desired position, but at that point it would slow down, and so on. Depending on the average speed, this oscillation may be dampened (and then no rippling is visible) or may oscillate constantly, and you see ripples also along straight lines.
This is why I placed the usteps column in my calculations: it is meant to calculate a more realistic resolution assuming that no accurate microstepping is achieved. I assumed higher achievable microsteps the lower the load on the motor is (this means gears, or thinner filament).
Having a high resolution to begin with clearly helps to reduce this issue. You can try to increase the current to the max your drivers and motor and cooling allow, and see if the ripples change. I think it will be reduced.
You may also try to build the Orbiter extruder (linked also in the table) and see how it goes.
> 5 votes
# Answer
## Short answer
*Usually* no.
## Long answer
There are several big factors that limit how small things you can print. The bigger ones are pretty much:
* Positional accuracy and settings (limited by steps/mm in X, Y, Z)
* Nozzle diameter
Now, why don't you need to care about steps/mm on the extruder that muchin the grand scale compared to the positional accuracy? Well, we have 1.8° per step, from which, with the diameter of the gear, 11mm, we get 0,1778 mm of filament extrusion or 0.428 mm³ of extruded plastic per full 1.8° step - which clearly is unsuitable to printing at all. But with the 16 micro-steps the shorter movements are possible and a single micro-step extrusion is in the area you calculated - I got to 0,0267 mm³, possibly the result of different rounding between us. With an assumed effective gear diameter of 11mm (usually the effective gear diameter is a little smaller, thus the 93 steps) we come to about 89.9 steps per mm of filament, which corresponds to about 2.4 mm³ of extruded plastic, or about 30 mm of line (with your given parameters), bringing us to about 3 microsteps per millimeter of line on the tray. So far, your math checks out. But that usually shouldn't be too much a limiting factor. We know from your given settings, that the *Configuration.h* will look like this, putting the microsteps into the steps/mm:
```
/**
* Default Axis Steps Per Unit (steps/mm)
* Override with M92
* X, Y, Z, E0 [, E1[, E2[, E3[, E4]]]]
*/
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 80, 80, 400, 93 }
```
As you don't have a micro-stepping driver, this part in *Configuration\_adv.h* is non-functional:
```
// Microstep setting (Only functional when stepper driver microstep pins are connected to MCU.
#define MICROSTEP_MODES {16,16,16,16,16} // [1,2,4,8,16]
```
With the proposed 0.4 mm/0.2 mm line, we are still somewhat on the good side, allowing us about 1/3rd of a millimeter as the shortest line printable as a single step extrusion. That's a consistent with printing a simple, circular dot being printable with these settings - 0.4 \> 1/3.
But once you get to smaller nozzle diameters, the limitation gets more noticeable: at a 0.2 mm nozzle and 0.22 mm line at 0.1 mm height, that's a 0.022 mm² crosssection, so the 1-step extrusion is equivalent to a full millimeter of line! That's much more bothersome in theory.
However, I haven't been able to witness the inability of showing that limit of lacking extrusion yet on my TronXY-X1 with a 0.2 mm nozzle - the steps/mm in it are also about 90-100 last I set them. The TronXY uses a very similar (virtually identical) extruder setup as the Ender 3, and it achieved printed lines of about 0.3 mm length at 0.1 mm layer height somewhat reliable, but the retraction made huge issues, which might also mask the problem.
I believe that it needs these smaller nozzles to amplify the problems to make them noticeable. It also should become more noticeable if you'd use 2.85 mm or 3 mm filament.
## Ways to improve resolution
However, if printing with smaller nozzles, it might be a good idea to think about how one could improve the accuracy of the extruder system.
The most-easy way would be to alter the extruder and swap the gear to one of a *smaller* effective diameter - That way a single step accounts to *less* extrusion, which means, in turn, a higher number of steps/mm, and thus allowing for shorter extrusions that can be still achieved.
Next one might think about getting a different motor/driver setup that might have either more microsteps or generally a smaller step size.
Quadrupling the effective (micros)steps/mm would allow us to print about a 0.25 mm line on the 0.22 mm nozzle I proposed, being pretty much a spot - if it wouldn't be partially masked in other issues as I experience.
> 1 votes
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Tags: print-quality, extruder, creality-ender-3, resolution
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thread-14149 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14149 | Rough vertical ridges | 2020-07-28T21:57:25.810 | # Question
Title: Rough vertical ridges
I sometimes have a problem with rough surfaces. This problem can show up any time on vertical surfaces.
In the linked picture of the problem, the area further from the camera has ridges that are sharp and clean. It is usually in one area on the outer surface of curving shapes. Could anyone tell me what the name of this effect is and how to avoid it? I'm using an Ender 3 and Cura.
# Answer
Looks like under extrusion, here's a extreme example.
I would check your feed rate by marking out 100 mm on the filament then manually extruding 100 mm. You can use this to verify if you are under extruding due to your feeder. If you find that the printer only fed say 90 mm when you asked for 100 mm, you will need to change your feed rate in Cura to 110 %.
If you confirm that the printer is pulling 100 mm through when you manually ask for that much, then it could be a combination of speed, cooling & jitter. I would slow down the print speed and see if it improves the print quality. I've experienced issues where the nozzle is moving fast around small bends and wobbling slightly, the filament is struggling to land on the previous layer and the resulting effect looked a bit like your photo.
I can't think of anything else that might be causing this issue.
> 1 votes
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Tags: print-quality, ultimaker-cura, creality-ender-3
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thread-14159 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14159 | Unable to Determine Proper Print Scale of STL model | 2020-07-31T22:08:51.527 | # Question
Title: 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?
# Answer
> 3 votes
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).
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Tags: 3d-models, slicing
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thread-14161 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14161 | X and Y axes don't move after upgrading to TMC2100 drivers | 2020-08-01T14:55:59.670 | # Question
Title: X and Y axes don't move after upgrading to TMC2100 drivers
I had noisy DRV8825 drivers for my extruder E0 and X, Y, Z axes. I upgraded all to LV8729 drivers but they were still noisy, so I bought two TMC2100 drivers for the X and Y axes and two LV8729 for the Z axis and extruder E0. I updated Marlin (reversing endstops logic and choosing driver types) and I removed the jumpers under the driver pins. But my X and Y axis don't move; eventually the printer halts. What could be wrong?
# Answer
Steps/unit also must be modified. In my case these values made the printer run silent and smooth.
```
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 100, 200, 6160, 884 }
```
I set Max feed rate and Max acceleration as below:
```
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE { 300, 300, 5, 25 }
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION { 300, 300, 100, 10000 }
```
> 0 votes
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Tags: stepper-driver, y-axis, x-axis, tmc2100
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thread-14162 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14162 | Does a teflon insert in an E3D V6 clone limit it's useable temperature so it can't print nylon? | 2020-08-02T01:11:22.560 | # Question
Title: Does a teflon insert in an E3D V6 clone limit it's useable temperature so it can't print nylon?
I'm new to this game, and recently upgraded the hotend on my Ender 3 Pro to a *clone* of an E3D V6, as I'm keen to do nylon prints at some point. I noticed however that this one I got has a teflon liner which seems to negate the advantage of a metal hotend entirely.
I'm wondering what temperature it's safe to run this hot end up to?
# Answer
There are many types of heatbreak clones. In cour case, your clone effectively turns your hotend into an e3d Lite6, not an all-metal e3d v6. To function properly, the PTFE liner needs to butt against the nozzle or you will quickly develop leak and clog issues.
This means, handle it like a Lite6, which has a max of 245 °C listed, but under usual operation should not exceed 230 °C.
> 2 votes
# Answer
It depends how *deep* it goes. If the teflon goes into the hotend then yes, it will limit the temperature end.
But: the teflon may just be something that ends *somewhere* in the cold side and sticks out so there is something to put into the extruder or higher up into the connector.
I cam currently setting up a Slice Mosquito for a Bondtech DDX. The Mosquito is full metal, but there is a (actually printed nylon) adapter for the DDS. In this adapter you put a teflon/capricorn tube, that ALSO sticks out only around 5 mm. Here is the point though: it never goes into the even cold side and is only there so the connection to the extruder on top has a width limitation.
So, it really depends how *long* this tube is (and no-one here will know because a v6 *clone* may be different internally from the original). I would suggest pulling it out (it should move out easily) and then seeing how deep it goes. As long as it stays on the cold side before the heatbreak, it never gets in touch with anything that is hot.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Long story short, you can print Nylon with a Teflon tube. I've done it. P.S. The nylon absorbs water like nothing you've ever seen. Even after the part is printed, it absorbs water, and expands!
> 0 votes
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Tags: creality-ender-3, hotend, e3d-v6, nylon
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thread-14171 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14171 | Gaps between perimeter walls; potential under extrusion? | 2020-08-03T10:21:58.633 | # Question
Title: Gaps between perimeter walls; potential under extrusion?
The cube is a 2 cm x 2 cm with infill at 30 % and layer height 0.2 mm, more details can be seen below.
I'm printing with PETG using an Ender 3 printer.
There seems to be a gap between the perimeter walls, I have already referred to other forums and specifically: " How to fix wall separation in 3D prints (gaps in between wall perimeters)? ", but I still can't find a solution for it.
Most would suggest to tighten up the pulleys, I've tried that, but that didn't work. Others also suggested tweaking to a higher temperature, again I've tried from a range of 230-250 °C, but this also failed.
Infill and initial/top layers seems to be strong and all lines are bonded except for the perimeter walls.
More details regarding the problem:
Here are my print settings:
# Answer
> 1 votes
PETG filament is not entirely rigid and compresses slightly in the Ender 3's extruder gear and Bowden extruder setup. Tightening it will only make this effect greater. Being compressed at the point where mm of extruder advance is applied means less than the desired advance of at-nominal-diameter filament will take place. I find I need a flow of 104% to compensate for this.
When adjusting flow in Cura, make sure you get the main flow setting not the first-layer one (which is an additional factor on top of the main one and can be left at 100%), *and* that all the derived flow settings for each type of extrustion (walls, top/bottom, infill, etc.) all come out matching the value you set. When I first tried fixing this with flow, they didn't propagate right and I ended up testing changes that weren't actually doing anything.
With that said, you may have something else going on too. The underextrusion looks pretty severe, *including* in the top layers which you said looked okay. You should not see deep grooves between the lines like that. I suspect they're only bonded to the layer below, not to their neighbors. This could be a result of tightening the extruder pulley, or some other problem.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I agree with @R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE, looks like under extrusion you could try a flow rate test print like this link to try and dial in the value.
But probably worth just trying a flow of 105% and see if it solves the problem. Another thing worth verifying is that your printer is feeding accurately. You can mark out 100mm from the feed hole, then manually command the printer to extrude 100mm, then measure the distance from the 100mm mark. This will tell you if you have a feed problem.
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Tags: print-quality, ultimaker-cura, extrusion
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thread-11549 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/11549 | What is the melting temperature of a 3D printed part? | 2019-12-13T10:00:11.567 | # Question
Title: What is the melting temperature of a 3D printed part?
**Here is the context**
I've got an old car for which I have a small plastic piece who is broken. As it's an old car and a very specific piece, I can't find it anymore. So I was thinking about 3D printing it.
My problem is this piece is on the carburetor, so close to the engine. This means, it can heat a lot, close to 90-100 °C.
**My question**
Do the pieces created with the common 3D printing techniques melt at 100 °C? If yes, what kind of other 3D printing technique can I use?
Here is the piece I want to recreate (sorry for the bad quality), the scale is in cm.
# Answer
> 13 votes
The number you're looking for is the glass transition temperature (the lowest temperature at which the material can flow or warp), not the melting point. This depends on what material you're using; approximate temperatures for common printable materials are:
* PLA: 60˚C
* PETG, high-temperature PLA: 95 ˚C
* ABS: 105˚C
* Nylon: typically 70˚C or above ("Nylon" is a large family of similar polymers)
* Polycarbonate: 145˚C
Any plastic under your hood is probably either nylon (for its durability, impact resistance, and chemical resistance) or ABS (for its strength and heat resistance). These are both difficult materials to print: ABS emits toxic fumes while printing, and tends to warp if you're not using a heated enclosure, while nylon readily absorbs water from the air, causing the filament to bubble as it's printed. Further, many printers can't handle the high temperatures needed to work with these materials.
If you're going to print this yourself, I recommend using PETG and inspecting the part after a few days of use to see if it's warping. PETG is reasonably easy to print and comes close to your target heat resistance.
If you're going to get someone else to print it, I recommend using ABS. It's probably what the original part was made of, and anyone willing to print ABS for you will have the heated enclosure and ventilation system to deal with printing it.
I'd avoid polycarbonate unless you know the original part was made of it. Although PC is strong and heat resistant, it's also somewhat brittle and vulnerable to scratching.
High-temperature PLA is also brittle, and requires a heat-treating step that will change the dimensions of the part. It will likely take several tries to get something that comes out the right size, and even then, you risk having the part break when your car hits a bump.
# Answer
> 8 votes
Depending on the exact mechanical load and material used to print, you might get away with 100 °C.
Next to the melting temperature required to print the material (which will always be substantially higher than the maximum useable temperature!), you probably also want to have a look at the glass temperature of your specific material. Around that temperature your material becomes soft (rubber like) and can deform permanently when cooling down again. Chances exist that under a considerable mechanical load, the part will deform at even lower temperatures.
Maybe it would help to post a picture or describe the exact component you're trying to replicate. It might help in finding an alternative solution. (E.g. carving out of say PEEK to say anything.)
# Answer
> 5 votes
I recommend this video by CNC Kitchen, as it shows an interesting, accurate and detailed, side-by-side comparison of heat deformation of custom 3D printed test samples, printed from various materials:
* PLA
* PETG
* ABS
* HT-PLA
* 3dkTOP
He even CNCs a custom, yet simple, test rig in order to carry out the test.
Well worth a watch.
The results for the various filaments can be seen in this graph, taken from the video:
In summary, the annealed 3dkTOP filaments perform very well, without failure, and annealing PLA helps considerably (although some shrinkage is incurred)
# Answer
> 4 votes
I only use an ingeo 850 or 870 PLA that have different melting temp and more resistant the normal PLA. It's a lot easier to print with a normal desktop consumer printer then ABS or NYLON Doesn't have the same characteristics as a nylon filament but it can be used inside a car, I have used to print some parts for my car.
https://www.natureworksllc.com/~/media/Files/NatureWorks/Technical-Documents/Technical-Data-Sheets/TechnicalDataSheet\_3D870\_monofilament\_pdf.pdf?la=en
(sorry but it's in spanish but a termal test)
Another option is to make a mold with the 3d printer and use a high temp resin
# Answer
> 2 votes
You might want to check out printing with nylon. It's not typical of most 3D printers but you could always have it printed with a printing service, since it's a one off part. They can withstand a good amount of heat.
# Answer
> 2 votes
**Have the part commercially printed in metal.**
I haven't used a commercial 3D print service so I can't recommend one, but I know there are many out there and the prices are reasonable. For example, I found that if their terms of service did not prohibit weapons, I could have had Shapeways print magazines for my FX air rifle in *gold plated, hand polished stainless steel* for less than FX charges for one machined out of aluminum.
So, print the part yourself in whatever material you have available to ensure that it fits and operates correctly. Then upload the file to a company that can print it in metal.
A possible DIY alternative, depending on the shape and size of the part, would be **lost PLA casting**. Hobbyists usually do this with aluminum.
# Answer
> 2 votes
> Do the pieces created with the common 3D printing techniques melt at 100 °C?
The problem here is the "common 3d printing techniques". If you mean END USER DESKTOP - yes. PLA, ABS etc. have all glass temperatures (where they get soft) around this number. Melting is not something you care about - because it will deform WAY earlier. Melting is when it gets liquid, you care when it looses stability.
If you talk NOT about desktop, then no - common 3d printing techniques THEN include laser syntering nylon as well as FDM printing materials like PEEK which have melting temperatures WAY higher. KEEP gets soft around 143 and melts around 343 degree, though some have sueful operating temperaratures up to 250 celsius. "Common" is a very vague definition in the higher end area because there are quite a number of main market different techniques that you basically never see in the consumer market due to price.
The problem is that those are expensive, so desktop users do not use them. They also require high temperature chambers AND special 3d printers. Nothing you can not do - Slice Engineering sells a hotend that can go up to 450 degree or so - but they are NOT common on the desktop side as they are (also) quite expensive. Heck, the are just now putting that into the Marlin firmware (you also need to measure this, and the thermistor table for their sensor was just added as #67 to marlin). I am reworking a printer with this technique (just for fun) and - the extruder / hotend combo costs around the same as the whole printer originally did.
> If yes, what kind of other 3D printing technique can I use?
Basically any that works with the temperature band, which does include FDM printing. That said:
* I think you really are wrong with the temperatures. Close to the engine may be higher than 100 degree, me thinks. If I am wrong (and that really depends on how close to the engine block it is), this may be ABS. ABS or PLA variants are available with glass transition temperatures above 130 degree, so this COULD work, depending on the exact material you use.
* I would basically print it in anything common (pla) to see that it fits (NOT use it), then have a 3d printing service make it out of some engineering material. They will also be able to choose the best material for you. This is for higher temperature and possibly not FRM process. They will know what to use.
Another problem is - we do not kknow anything about this part. is it under pressure? I ask for a number of reasons.
* 3d printing may be less stable in certain directions than in others. Generally LESS stable than parts that are injection molded, unless you use some special techniques not common in consumer laser printers (i.e. plasma fusing the layers, which Essentium does, or laser syntering where there are not real layers to see). You MAY be able to work around it, by making the part larger / heavier (the walls), but this is something to consider. You can get more information on Essentium's work i.e. here: https://3dprinting.com/news/essentiums-fusebox-plasma-3d-printing/ \- they bascially can reheat the plastic to fuse way better. They also print with speeds up to 1m/second, extremely impressive to see.
* Standard 3d printing may be leaking, particularly under pressure. This is a problem as above (the layers not being perfectly bonded). Again, more layering may solve this, as would a larger nozzle.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Although metal casting has been briefly mentioned, another approach to your problem would be to create a silicone mold from your print and cast the part using epoxy or polyurethane, both of which have the desired strength and heat properties.
Here is an example of this technique
# Answer
> 1 votes
I would take a different approach. I would use brass or copper, machine it on a lathe to get the two diameters (you need to start with a thick piece so you are left with reasonable wall thicknesses), or, alternatively, use spin-forming to enlarge it to the diameter needed (works with copper, and you can use normal thin-walled pipe because you are only re-forming it, not cutting anything away), drill a hole in the side, thread it, and use a die to create a thread on the insertion pipe. then I'd screw it it, and finally solder it into place with a high-strength (lead-free) solder. The threading helps reduce stress on the solder joint; I can imagine it would crack a straight solder-only join without much usage at all. That right-angle joint of small diameter is going to be the weak point. It is the most likely place to have it snap, or start delaminating. That part was probably injection-molded as a single piece, reducing the effects of stress and eliminating any consideration of delaminating.
Note also that some of these parts have been computer-designed to precise dimensions, and a slight change in the ID of the side-pipe, or even its OD, might make a drastic change in its behavior.
If your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Nylon is probably your best bet. It is resistant to some chemicals as well. Figure on printing it at around 250 °C.
It might do the job.
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Tags: desktop-printer
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thread-14140 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14140 | Under extrusion | 2020-07-26T08:21:24.513 | # Question
Title: Under extrusion
I have a Prusa i3 3D printer and am using Slic3r for slicing.
I've noticed that my extruder is underextruding. I've correctly set the nozzle diameter and the filament diameter and I've already tried to increment the extrusion multiplier (which is currently set to 1.1). As Slic3r suggests this is a maximum value, I'm wondering if there is something else wrong.
Does anybody a have suggestions on which settings I can look at?
# Answer
> 1 votes
I have a Prusa i3 pro b, and was having a similar issues. Turns out the spring for the plastic extruder feeder can be too slack. I printed these at 2 mm and put it under the spring and it solved my issue.
# Answer
> 0 votes
It looks like the nozzle is too far from the bed, try leveling the bed again - that should solve the problem.
# Answer
> 0 votes
It may also be, that your hotend temperature is too low and the extruder 'spins through', so that too little filament is extruded. In that case you would hear some clicking noise.
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Tags: prusa-i3, slic3r, underextrusion
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thread-14182 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14182 | Sliced object losing all detail in Cura | 2020-08-04T17:00:34.413 | # Question
Title: Sliced object losing all detail in Cura
I'm pretty new to 3D printing. I am using Repetier Host 2.6 with Slic3r (printer Geeetech i3 Pro B).
When I slice detailed models I get issues like this as the slice result:
This is the model in the example, Army Men flames of war single version.
I can slice simple objects fine, walls, cubes 2D logos etc.
Why is this doing this?
When I used Cura the slice is fine.
# Answer
> 1 votes
This is not "loosing details". What is is is this:
You can not print on air. So, certain things (like the backpack) require SUPPORTS that are removed after printing. Another example is the gun.
Your support setting force the slicer to set up quite a lot of supports and that is what you see - start removing them.
There ALSO is a problem with possibly you using too large a nozzle. Depending on that one you may loose details, but there is not even the basic form visible on your picuture because all I see are supports.
https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printing-support-structures/#:~:text=3D%20printing%20support%20structures%20are,added%20cost%20to%20the%20model. exokauns supports.
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Tags: slic3r, repetier
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thread-14184 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14184 | Bed wobbling on Ender 3 | 2020-08-05T04:06:47.540 | # Question
Title: Bed wobbling on Ender 3
I have an Ender 3 3d printer. It has a bed that wobbles because it came with only 1 bed support beam.
Every model I print, I must print vertically, because the closer it gets to the edges of the build plate, the less adhesion it has.
Is there anything I can to to fix this problem?
# Answer
> 5 votes
If the V roller wheels aren't tight on the Y axis beam, it means the eccentric nuts are not adjusted correctly. Two of the rollers are mounted centered on the holes in the carriage frame, but the other two are on eccentric nuts which displace them from center slightly depending on the orientation the nut is turned to, to allow tightening and loosening of the grip on the beam. Since the Y axis ones are hard to see under the bed, look at the X or Z ones to get an idea what to expect.
Note that the bolt through the whole roller assembly can loosen when adjusting the eccentric nut. You can probably avoid this by figuring out the right direction to turn it and only going that direction (continuing around just under 360 degrees if you go too far). If you do loosen the bolt then the eccentric nut will move on its own under vibration, so you need to re-tighten it. For the Y axis this might require taking off the bed or taking the carriage off the beam (by removing the belt and tensioner).
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Tags: creality-ender-3, bed-leveling, bed
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thread-14189 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14189 | CoreXY with 8 bit board problems | 2020-08-05T12:17:46.280 | # Question
Title: CoreXY with 8 bit board problems
I know that CoreXY kinematics is very complex and hard to calculate for the firmware making it better to use a 32-bit board. For some reason, I can't use any 32-bit board. What problems will occur if I use an 8-bit board like Arduino Mega with a CoreXY 3D printer?
Everything that I wrote in this question about hard kinematic calculations was referenced from this video, HyperCube 3D Printer 8-Bit Speed Wall, by Tech2c (the designer and builder of hypercube). After watching the video I doubted using an 8-bit board.
# Answer
> 1 votes
You can use an 8-bit controller board for a CoreXY kinematics 3D printer. The calculations are not so complicated opposed to those for a Delta.
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*My Hypercube Evolution uses a RUMBA controller board that hasn't failed me past years.*
# Answer
> 1 votes
CoreXY should not require calculations which can slow down a board. Also, a normal Marlin becomes CPU limited often before 100 mm/s on 8 bit boards due to arc interpolation and other processing.
However, if you use Klipper which runs on a Raspberry Pi, 8 bit boards are rarely a limiting factor. I could print at 100 mm/s on mine with only 30% CPU utilisation and without slowdowns of any kind.
See
and
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Tags: firmware, ramps-1.4, arduino-mega-2650, corexy
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thread-14018 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14018 | Should I Opt For Linear Rails With Belts OR Linear Rails With Ball Screws For A Cartesian Style Printer? | 2020-07-05T23:36:02.903 | # Question
Title: Should I Opt For Linear Rails With Belts OR Linear Rails With Ball Screws For A Cartesian Style Printer?
I am building a medium-sized printer which needs to produce super-precise parts at a moderately fast print time. I frankly don't want to deal with belts or their tension issues but on the other hand, having ball screws on each axis will increase inertia...right?. I'm using Rexroth rails and will use (depending on what I decide) name brand belts or name brand ball screws.
# Answer
In many years of building printers I only used ball screws for the Z-axis, and even then only for larger Makerbot and Ultimaker style designs that had a heavy platform.
Even for the Z-axis, a good thick trapezoid screw with the right anti-backlash configuration is often enough because most printers are light and most slicers only print upwards.
Modern belts are also very accurate, and if they are not load-bearing, and you stick to good closed-loop ones, they can be incredibly stable over time.
I tended to base my X-Y configuration around the available sizes of good quality closed-loop belts, and sized everything else to be compatible.
> 1 votes
# Answer
At the limit, precision is limited by the achievable positioning accuracy of the motors and the mechanical reflection of that precision into a linear position.
With a belt drive, the mechanical precision for a stepper-motor system is the circumference of the drive pulley divided by the number of distinct step positions. A 1.5 degree stepper with 10::1 microstepping (assuming everything works perfectly) with a 1 cm pulley gives a maximum precision of 0.013 mm.
The same stepper motor with a 5 turns/in ball screw has a maximum precision of 0.0021 mm. The precision is better.
Other advantages may include:
1. A stiffer drive system with a higher resonant frequency
2. Ability to transmit more force to the mechanism
3. More precise slow-motion controls
There are several disadvantages.
1. The rotating mass is increased.
2. Rotating ball screws have a maximum rotation rate depending on how the ends are supported. This limits the maximum movement speed.
3. The most economical ball screw size (at McMaster-Carr) is the 5/8"-5 ball screw with appropriate ball nuts. This is fairly high mass. It also stiffer than thinner ball screws, and will have a higher maximum spin rate for a given support system.
4. For a particular linear speed, the motors must spin faster. Unless a more complicated, variable micro-stepping drive method is used, the I/O load on the drive firmware will be higher -- about 5 times higher in this example.
Other advantages of ball screws are less relevant in a 3D printer application.
1. Ball screws can generate and support higher forces
2. Ball screws are not subject to the belt stretching and skipping a tooth
3. Ball screws work well with human-controlled knobs and hand-wheels
If this is a larger bed size then a typical printer, you will probably be printing larger objects. To keep the printing time reasonable, you may want to print faster, which means higher acceleration and higher extrusion rates.
For your particular application, you need to evaluate the tradeoffs. Either could be your answer. If the analysis is too complex, you could default to belt drive. You could put the money you would have spent on ball screws, ball nuts, and extra bearings into wider belts, higher torque motors with smaller step angles, and better (higher voltage, faster switching) motor drives.
> 1 votes
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Tags: diy-3d-printer, linear-motion
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thread-14186 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14186 | Which kinematic system has the highest quality? | 2020-08-05T10:35:49.190 | # Question
Title: Which kinematic system has the highest quality?
I am going to design and build a 3D printer. I want the highest quality and accuracy so nothing except that is important for me. Which cartesian design has the highest quality and accuracy? CoreXY, Prusa, or Gantry (Ultimaker)?
Also, is it better to have a nozzle that moves in just direction "X", directions "X and Y", or "X, Y and Z"?
# Answer
Just to clarify: Examples of kinematic systems would be Cartesian (which includes CoreXY), Delta, Scara, and Six-Axis. The quality of the system has less to do with the system and more to do with the implementation.
Furthermore, there are 2 main types of desktop/benchtop 3d printers that are commonly available: Fused Deposition Modelling (or fused filament fabrication depending on who you ask) and stereolithography; of which the latter, stereolithography, has better accuracy and quality.
In terms of FDM however, it can be easily argued that CoreXY cartesian printers offer the best quality and accuracy (both of which are subjective btw) than either delta or gantry designs (e.g. gantry would be the Prusa i3). The reason is that in order to get the CoreXY to work at all, the overall engineering and frame rigidity must be at a certain minimum. Once this minimum has been achieved, the quality of the prints typically meets or exceeds the quality/accuracy of even a well-tuned gantry printer; and you are going to see it in the cost of a CoreXY printer.
> 1 votes
# Answer
The tradeoffs in these systems are all about quality achievable at particular speed and acceleration profiles. If you really don't care about speed at all and want maximum accuracy, you probably want some type of Cartesian setup with no belts, only rigid lead screws which you can take to as fine a pitch as you like, and you can make all the parts as rigid as you like because mass doesn't matter (since acceleration doesn't).
Note however that extrusion accuracy is the limiting factor to quality and dimensional accuracy in even a half-decent printer. Rather than trying to design something with "perfect" spatial kinematics for quality from the outset, I think you should look at existing printers, figure out what about them isn't meeting your quality needs, and start from there to improve. You should also figure out what your speed constraints will be, even if they're only minimal.
> 2 votes
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Tags: printer-building, corexy
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thread-3788 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3788 | What makes 3D printing noncompetitive for medium production runs? | 2017-03-24T14:39:31.773 | # Question
Title: What makes 3D printing noncompetitive for medium production runs?
I've been 3D printing as a hobby for a couple of years now, and have always heard how 3D printing is great for prototyping, but once you get beyond 10 or 20 pieces it's just not cost competitive with other technologies. I just accepted this to be truth, and have even told some of the customers I've gotten through 3DHubs and other marketplaces the same thing.
Now I'm creating an item for resale and am 3D printing the case. As I'll need 40 - 50 cases at a time I thought I would shop around for other options. But I just received some quotes back on injection molding. The mold price (for half the case) was \\$15k, plus \\$10 per unit at a quantity of 50 and \\$4 per unit at a quantity of 500. Even in the case of the latter, the cost of tooling plus production is \\$34/piece. 3D printing the same part myself costs $7 in filament, and paying someone else to 3D print it cost \\$28.
Keeping in mind that 3D printing allows me to make changes to the design on the fly and print the exact number I need without having to worry about volume discounts, I now wonder if I've just been repeating a common misconception. Is 3D printing really noncompetitive for medium (10-500 pieces) production runs? If so, what makes it noncompetitive, given the extremely high up-front cost of IM?
# Answer
> 8 votes
# TL:DR
3D printing is great for low quantities of items, but terrible for large quantities of items. This is a continuous scale and as your quantity grows, the drawbacks of 3D printing become more pronounced. In your situation, you seem to be dancing in the nebulous zone where there isn't really a good answer as to which production method is better. It's more of a question of price vs speed.
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There are several factors that limit additive manufacturing technologies (in this answer I'll just talk about FDM since you're asking about a plastic item) from being practical in large scale manufacturing.
# Time
Compared to injection molding, 3D printing takes a very long time. An injection mold can make 72 plastic caps in 3 seconds. While I don't have a source, I would expect a similar item to take at least 5 minutes to be printed. In order to produce an average of 24 caps/second, you would need 7,200 3d printers working without down time. That doesn't take into consideration ...
# Labor
Every 3d printed object needs to be removed from the print bed by hand. That requires a person to be there ready to remove the item. It's possible to have automated print removal, but for now I've yet to see it as a standard option on any machine. An injection model machine can just pop the parts out into a box. Even with the capability to remove the parts extra labor is still required for 3d printing because ...
# Quality
Injection molded parts are as smooth as the mold they were made in. While failures still exist even for molded items, their relatively cheap production cost and very quick production time ensure that an occasional failure won't be problematic. 3D printing on the other hand is still prone to variations in the final product. For a few items, it's sensible to hand finish the parts with filing, sanding, or other reductive manufacturing techniques, but for many items this quickly become burdensome. Also, given the long production time compared to injection molding, even 1 discarded product will result in a long time required to produce a replacement.
# Answer
> 6 votes
# Short Version
3d Printing is generally the most expensive method for building things mainly because it takes a long time to do. Compared to other methods it's by far the slowest. The few machines that can do parts quickly typically have very small build volumes so they're limited to only a few parts. Compared with injection molded parts you can make a dozen parts in a few seconds 3D Printing is closer to a few hours for one or two parts. Unless there is a change in the process or the technology or philosophy of the process 3D printing will always be delegated to small runs.
# Unspecific Answer
You implied something in your post that you didn't explicitly ask for which I might be able to help. 3D printing is small scale, Injection molding is a large scale, but you've glossed over the medium scale production methods that might be worth considering given your project. If you're wanting to make small runs (20-500) units, your time could be well spent looking into cast-urethane parts. A mold will run around 200-500\\$ depending on manufacturer, complexity, and size of the mold each mold is typically good for about 20 parts and then materials are roughly 20-30\\$ for smaller sized parts. One of the more attractive aspects of cast urethane is that the material properties are very comparable to an injection molded part and the surface finish looks fantastic
In my experience, my workflow for a new part design is 3D print a few models to get from revision 0 to something you're confident should work, cast urethane a few batches to get functional field testing completed, and possibly even sell while the injection molding side gets set up. Injection molding takes 5-6 weeks about as a minimum for the first article, 3D printing is a few hours, and cast urethane is 2-3 weeks tops, less if you pay a bit more.
**edit** Forgot to mention that by using cast urethane as an intermediate you still have the flexibility to change your design without resulting in huge mold redesign costs. Because the mold is only good for about 20 parts modifying you can modify your part and update without incurring huge re-molding costs.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Some small start ups (mainly 3d printing companies) do in fact use 3D printed parts for the production printers they sell. So, at least in some instances, 3D printed parts may be satisfactory for production products.
That being said, other manufacturing methods (such as injection molding) currently have several advantages over 3D printing.
**Injection Molding**
**Pros:** It can produce parts of different sizes ranging from small, to rather large (like a plastic chair). It provides superior inter-material bonding, takes only a few seconds to produce a single part, and can huge quantities of parts (possibly millions) in a single week. Typically injection molding is often entirely automated, with few moving parts. Small details can be repeated well and parts can be made with many different polymers.
**Cons:** Some geometries (like a hollow sphere) which can easily be produced with 3D printing, are impossible to produce with injection molds. Start up costs very be high. A typical machine can cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Mold cavities are costly to produce and require injection molding artifacts to be designed into the part (like ejector pin notches). Also, the mold produces edge lines on the part where the two cavities meet. Defect trouble shooting can be very complex and the ability to produce satisfactory parts can depend on heat flow (which can be affected by things like the weather). This can require climate control to eliminate to reduce waste in scrap parts due to warping and other malfunctions. Sometimes advanced statistics are required to measure dimensions and detect developing problems too complex to deductively trouble shoot because they stem from a fluid thermodynamic issues.
Once 3D printing has time to develop further (as injection molding has), we may see it used more and more for production parts.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Break even points have always been dependent on the part. If the goal is to make a rod or filament-like piece of your extrusion nozzle diameter, your extruder may be pretty competitive. Additive manufacture has come a long way already so the break even points may have shifted. Interestingly a great use for additive is to produce tooling.
You could for example use the 3D printed part (with non-stick coating) to make a 600 deg F silicone mold from high temp RTV. Presuming you have the heating equipment, that mold can then be used to produce tens of the part at slightly lower quality. As silicone is flexible, it isnt good for high speed/pressure of injection molding.
If you are willing to accept lower quality (3d printing with filament is pretty low so that's likely a yes) and your injection molder is willing to go for DMLS molds with minor smoothing/drilling post-operations, your tooling costs may be significantly lower than your original estimate. Chances are this isn't happening unless the injection molder is also an additive enthusiast, and often will have to be one and the same as the person who designed at least some of the 3d printed part.
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Tags: cost
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thread-14200 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14200 | Chocolate printing vs casting? | 2020-08-06T15:06:06.747 | # Question
Title: Chocolate printing vs casting?
I need to make chocolate busts.
Is it better to make silicon reverse of the bust and cast the bust or directly print it using chocolate printer (I prefer cost and process speed over quality)? I don't have chocolate printer so if this method will be better I will need to use some 3D printing service.
I need to make quite a large amount of the busts.
# Answer
> 2 votes
For your application, you should 3d print a positive model, then make a silicone mould negative of that model. Then use the silicone mould to make the final chocolate. Clean the silicone thoroughly before initial use. Fill gaps in the 3d printed model with a light epoxy resin. Use mould release and ensure you wash and sterilize that silicon mould before using it with chocolate.
An actual chocolate printer is not easy to come by, as a normal 3d printer converted to use chocolate is not able to be sterilized for food use. The video in the link illustrates one person's attempt at this process.
# Answer
> 2 votes
In my experience, direct printing of chocolate is tedious because:
1. It has to be around 88 C to melt; and
2. It doesn't solidify very quickly at normal room temperature.
Unless you can print in a chilled environment (freezer is better than refrigerator), you will likely wind up printing a chocolate puddle. Even then, you have to heat not only the reservoir but also the entire nozzle (or it may solidify in the nozzle).
Also, some chocolates have issues if they freeze or become overheated, so it's a very tight tolerance with the temperatures.
# Answer
> 0 votes
> I prefer ... process speed
Printing is unlikely to win that battle. You might print a plastic mold once you can use for casts, but if you do make sure you use a liner of some kind. 3d-printed plastics are not considered food-safe.
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Tags: chocolate
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thread-14195 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14195 | Enclosed volumes with stereolithography 3D printers | 2020-08-05T18:36:17.163 | # Question
Title: Enclosed volumes with stereolithography 3D printers
I have no prior experience with stereolithography 3D printers. For a research application I am considering the SLA approach but I have a more basic question.
I would like to use SLA in order to print porous structures from ice cores. Using X ray tomography I have raw data of very high resolution 3D images of the cores. The idea is to use this information in order to print representations of these cores to perform a diffusion study. Some of these cores come from depths below 50 m thus the snow has compacted in such way that volumes of air are occluded.
My question is if it is possible for SLA printers to print in such enclosed volumes. Imagine for example a solid cube with a gas bubble in the middle. Is that possible for an SLA printer and if yes will the bubble contain air or the liquid resin of the printer?
# Answer
The bubble will contain air, but this will vary by printer. Most resin printers lift the printed part out of the bath slightly after each layer. Some printers, however, don't lift the piece completely out of the bath. This will cause the resin to become entrapped. Once those entrapped pockets of resin are exposed to light, they will also undergo photopolymerization. It may be possible however to program those printers to lift the part completely out of the resin for each layer.
> 1 votes
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Tags: sla, resin
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thread-11326 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/11326 | Can I replace hotend on Lulzbot Mini 2 with upcoming E3D Hermes? | 2019-11-09T16:46:13.840 | # Question
Title: Can I replace hotend on Lulzbot Mini 2 with upcoming E3D Hermes?
I've seen articles about the Hermes (now rebranded to Hemera) hotend coming soon from E3D, and was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to replace the stock Aerostruder on Lulzbot Mini 2 with it. The Aero has been giving me some issues and the printer is currently unusable... I've been printing for a few years but am still pretty new to mods so I don't really know what I'm doing there.
# Answer
Yes, E3D has a guide "LulzBot Taz6 Hemera Upgrade" if you'd like to make your own.
The upgrade requires you to print parts beforehand which are found here; note that:
> We recommend printing the Hemera Mount in PETG, and the Fan Duct in ABS/ ASA or another high-temperature material.
>
> Use an infill percentage of 25 % or higher.
The Hemera (the new name for the Hermes) toolheads are also available for purchase, e.g. here.
> 1 votes
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thread-14206 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14206 | Converting / measuring bottle threads for creating an adapter to it | 2020-08-07T08:15:38.650 | # Question
Title: Converting / measuring bottle threads for creating an adapter to it
I'm trying to model the threads of a "Poland Spring" 500 ml bottle so I can 3D print an adapter for it. But I can't find information about it. I emailed them but they said they didn't have the information.
How can I find this information out?
The bottle seems to use non standard threads. It uses 3 threads 120 degrees apart that does not go all the way around. Any information on how to get this information?
# Answer
> 3 votes
You can use a program known as OpenSCAD with the threads library to assist your objective.
The important aspects of a thread are the major diameter (outside diameter at the thread surface), the length of the bolt/nut and for your project, the start count. The noted library has a parameter called n-starts, which covers your triple start requirement.
It may require some trial and error processing, but you have a good foundation with OpenSCAD library.
Even if the bottle is manufactured with Imperial reference (unlikely), you'd probably have an easier time with metric threads. I just checked a Dasani water bottle, which measured at 27.27 mm major diameter, 10 mm length, thread pitch 2 mm. The thread pitch in metric is the distance between peaks (or valleys) from one to the next. This particular bottle has an interrupted thread, but that should not be a factor for creating an adapter.
This Dasani bottle does not have a multi-start thread. It's not a complete thread, but it is single start. Considering that a water bottle top has minimal length, you may also have an interrupted rather than a multi-start thread.
The code for the measured thread in OpenSCAD is relatively simple.
> use \<threads.scad\>;
> thread\_dia = 27.27;
> thread\_pitch = 2;
> thread\_length = 10;
> metric\_thread(thread\_dia, thread\_pitch, thread\_length, n\_starts = 3);
The above code would generate a 3-start thread in the form of a bolt. Using a difference() code would provide for the inverse required for your proposed adapter.
top image is single start, bottom is triple start.
Top view comparison:
# Answer
> 5 votes
It's really unlikely that a bottle is using nonstandard threads; the engineering and tooling cost for doing so would not make sense. Most plastic drink bottles use PCO 1881 or PCO 1810 threads. If not, it should be one of a number of other less widely used standards.
The industry term for drink bottle thread is "neck finish". Searching on that, or on one of the standard names like PCO 1881, will find you a lot of information. You can then try to find a match for your threads. Note that the breaks 120 degrees apart do not affect the thread design, and may or may not be part of the neck finish standard, so you can ignore them.
There are existing OpenSCAD libraries for some of these, including
And some related articles on Hackaday about their development and use:
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Tags: 3d-design, mechanics
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thread-14213 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14213 | Is there a more efficient methods of removing support in a model? | 2020-08-08T17:13:00.190 | # Question
Title: Is there a more efficient methods of removing support in a model?
Is there a way of reducing the amount and strength of Model support when slicing in Cura?
Cleaning a model with large amounts of support can consume large amounts of time.
# Answer
> 2 votes
There's a lot that can be done to improve the removability of supports, and much of this is not widely known/published.
One big wrong default in Cura that contributes to problems with support is *Limit Support Retractions*, which defaults to on. This causes heavy stringing between components of the support structure that should be separate, and poor layer adhesion between layers of the support *and between layers of whatever is printed right after the support* (!!), making support more brittle and difficult to remove in clean chunks. This setting should be turned off.
I find *Enable Support Brim* is also useful. Its nominal purpose is to make supports adhere to the bed better, but it also gives them more of a solid bottom so that the structure is rigid and admits snapping off as a chunk.
A nonzero *Support Wall Line Count* (it's zero by default for zigzag and most support patterns, but one by default for support tree and others) can make chunks of support easier to remove by making them more rigid.
*Connect Support Lines* (also called `zig_zaggify_infill`) helps with rigidity too, and with reducing time wasted on retractions once you turn off *Limit Support Retractions*.
Aside from these less-well-known tunables, the obvious ones are *Support Z Distance* and *Support X/Y Distance*, especially Z. You can increase this slightly from the default to make supports easier to remove, but it will hurt the quality of the surface just above the support (making it less flat, more stringy like a bridge). And the biggest one of all is *Support Angle*. Generally increase it as high as you can go, after doing some test prints to determine the maximum overhang angle you can print without support. This will save material and make it easier to remove what supports remain.
Finally, aside from support options, you want to make sure you don't have underlying print problems causing oozing, bulging, or other dimensional-accuracy/extrusion-accuracy issues. This is because any material that is printed or expands into the wrong place will, if it's adjacent to support material, bond to the support material and make it hard to remove.
# Answer
> 1 votes
You could reduce the `Support Density`:
> A higher value results in better overhangs, but the supports are harder to remove.
Furthermore read this answer on question: "Difficult to remove support material".
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Tags: ultimaker-cura, 3d-models, support-structures
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thread-3238 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3238 | Change 1.75 mm 3D printer to 3.0 mm printer | 2016-12-20T21:34:28.330 | # Question
Title: Change 1.75 mm 3D printer to 3.0 mm printer
I am planning on buying a cheap 3D printer to get into 3D printing, but the printer I'm planning to buy only takes 1.75 mm filament, I was wondering if it might be possible to change the hotend of that printer or something to take in 3.0 mm filament, the reason I want to use 3.0 mm filament is because it is cheaper than 1.75 mm filament.
# Answer
> 3 votes
First it really depends on your printer / extruder. That said generally 1.75 mm is cheaper and much more common.
If one were to change the hotend, likely you will need to replace most or all of the hot end. In the case of my personal hot ends, when I did this conversion I had to replace both the tube and the PETF lined mouth. I did not have to replace the tip, core, or the thermsister.
My advice is to pick a different printer. You see 3 mm on older extruders like J Head direct gear from around 2012-2013 and Bowden style (like the Ultimaker) use 3 mm (actually 2.85 mm).
Possible yes, advised, no.
# Answer
> 3 votes
It can be quite straightforward to convert from 1.75 mm to 2.85 or 3.0 mm, but it requires to buy hardware specifically for larger diameter filament. Nowadays, in 2020, Ultimaker is still using 2.85 mm filament which is not more expensive than the smaller diameter (at least not for the premium brands I'm using). I converted to the larger diameter filament years ago to be able to exchange filament with an Ultimaker 3E I maintain and manage.
To convert to a larger diameter, you need to be aware of
* the pros and cons of the various diameters
* increasing the stepper motor torque to be able to extrude the filament; larger diameter filament requires much more pressure than smaller diameter filament; the easiest way to do that is reducing the speed (and as such increasing the torque) of the extruder using a belt drive or gear reduction
* buying specific parts for your hotend, e.g. heat sink, heat break, etc.
* modify the steps per mm for the extruder
Thingiverse has always been a great starting point for me for larger diameter filament extruders; my own custom extruders are based on such designs. It is perfectly possible to convert to a different filament diameter, but, it requires some money, time, elbow grease and engineering from your side.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I had my printer Anycubic-Chiron converted from 1.75 mm filament to 3.00 mm, as it is big enough to handle bigger filament and the printer itself came with two sizes of the heatsink - the other fit to 3.00 mm filament.
In addition, I changed my extruder to a "Bulldog" extruder kit for 1.75 and 3 mm filament plus the PTFE tube and had to change the metal tube (heat break) between the heatsink and the hotend.
However, the conversion failed, the filament gets stuck on multiple points. I found many blogs describing this similar issue. The only possible solution is to increase the heat up to 270 °C at which my printer also fails. As the thickness of 3.00 mm filament prevents the heat to reach the middle of it. That's why it spools on the beginning only of printing then stop. There is no way to continue.
So, the problem is with the hotend, being mostly designed to suit 1.75 mm filament, not the printer itself.
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Tags: filament, hotend, nozzle
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thread-14226 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14226 | Resume print but no extrusion | 2020-08-11T04:29:11.153 | # Question
Title: Resume print but no extrusion
Had a print stop about 20 % through and read through some old questions (3+ years) so I'm posting again. Apologies if it's in here some where...
Found the layer to restart, deleted everything from layer 0 to layer 77 (in my case)
The set the E value to the value in layer 76, but still no extrusion. Using Ultimaker Cura. I can dump this but really want to know for future issues with larger prints...
*EDITED AFTER ANOTHER ATTEMPT: (Same effect) Sorry, I'm at a loss* also made change to G92 code subtracting 5
Here is the start sequence:
```
;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:41644
;Filament used: 21.0489m
;Layer height: 0.2
;MINX:29.678
;MINY:92.227
;MINZ:0.2
;MAXX:198.806
;MAXY:194.503
;MAXZ:65.6
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 4.6.1
M140 S50
M105
M190 S50
M104 S200
M105
M109 S200
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 ; Home all axes
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X5 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move over to prevent blob squish
G92 E0
G92 E0
G1 F2700 E-5
;LAYER_COUNT:328
G0 Z15.6
G92 E1744.14148
;was G92E1749.14148
;TIME_ELAPSED:19808.769206
;LAYER:77
;TYPE:SUPPORT
G1 F2700 E1754.14148
G1 F1500 X73.481 Y110.942 E1754.14217
G1 X74.078 Y110.968 E1754.16204
G1 X74.527 Y110.792 E1754.17808
G1 X75.311 Y110.007 E1754.21498
```
# Answer
> 1 votes
The line you added:
> ```
> G1 E1749.14148
>
> ```
asks the printer to extrude 1.7 **meters** of filament. The firmware likely has a feature to ignore such excessive requests as bogus. Then, subsequent extrusion amounts are also huge (1.7m+) relative to the current extruder position (0) and also get ignored. What you meant to do was:
> ```
> G92 E1749.14148
>
> ```
which means "set the logical extruder position for its current physical position to 1749.14148 mm" so that subsequent extruder positioning commands are interpreted relative to that initial position.
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Tags: extrusion
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