id
stringlengths 8
14
| url
stringlengths 40
58
| title
stringlengths 2
150
| date_created
stringdate 2008-09-06 22:17:14
2024-03-31 23:12:03
| text
stringlengths 149
7.14M
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
thread-19519 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19519 | Aside from aesthetics, are there any benefits to metal infused 3d printing filament? | 2022-06-06T10:17:35.353 | # Question
Title: Aside from aesthetics, are there any benefits to metal infused 3d printing filament?
I recently ripped a piece off of a nitro RC car I have. Seeing as I cannot find a direct replacement at the moment, I modeled it and it seems easy to 3d print.
My main concern is how heat resistant the replacement will be - this is a combined structural/exhaust heat deflector piece.
I've previously known about 30-40% steel infused PLA, but looking at the reviews/overviews everyone states there is no structural advantage to steel/metal infused PLA.
That being said, are there any benefits at all, aside from styling? Temperature resistance, conductivity, stiffness, toughness?
# Answer
As far as I know, the only mechanical gain from metal-bearing filament is that it is the basis for printing metal parts with a filament printer.
This works similarly to Metal Injection Molding: the part is printed with filament containing as large a percentage as practical of the chosen metal (usually stainless steel, bronze, or copper), with a suitable shrink factor applied to the dimensions; the plastic is then baked out in a vacuum oven, followed by a temperature increase to the sintering temperature of the incorporated metal to fuse the metal particles into a solid part.
This can produce parts with similar levels of accuracy to as-cast investment casting, but in shapes that would not be possible (for instance, hollow spaces that don't connect to the surface of the part) and in materials (stainless steel) that are difficult to cast, never mind investment cast.
Notable here is that in this case, the metal inclusion does nothing for mechanical properties of the part *as printed*, but rather is the final part; the plastic only serves as a carrier to allow the metal to be delivered by a common 3D printer.
> 1 votes
# Answer
The only advantage is the look (debatable, the copper infused filament I tried just looks like vaguely copper coloured plastic) and weight. It weighs more so if your model has a need for weight it's one way of achieving it, although there are other ways.
Personally I think it's worse than normal filament because it's actually not as strong. If you have 30 percent metal powder, then that means you have 30 percent LESS plastic to fuse together. So while it's fine for non complex parts, it struggles to print many others. So you need to design your model with the filament in mind. This is applicable to wood infused filament as well.
So structurally it's quite a big disadvantage, not an advantage.
Electrically it's not conductive, or at least not enough to be useful, I tried electroplating a model and after 2 hours there's wasn't a trace of it plating.
For an exhaust I wouldn't recommend any PLA. They deform under any sort of heat.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: filament, filament-choice
--- |
thread-19527 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19527 | Why is it more common to move the extruder on the Z-axis than the print bed, in consumer FDM printers? | 2022-06-08T10:13:47.963 | # Question
Title: Why is it more common to move the extruder on the Z-axis than the print bed, in consumer FDM printers?
Why is it more common for consumer level FDM printers to move the extruder on the Z-axis (For example, the Ender 3) while the bed remains at a fixed height, than to have a bed that moves up and down on the Z-axis?
# Answer
> 3 votes
The reason is economics, building cheap printers for the masses requires the use of as less material as possible; this keeps the price down.
A bed that moves up and down requires a sturdy construction and usually more and more expensive materials.
If you look at the Prusa i3 style printer, the bed moves in Y direction while the X-Z is a single plane perpendicular to the Y-axis. This allowed printer designs to have a single upright frame made from acrylic (not the best solution, but cheap) or steel plate (expensive due to the cutout and waste material) or aluminum profiles (value for money solution). If you need the bed to go up and down, you need to constrain the X-Y plane high above the build plate (e.g. Ultimaker printers, Hypercube, etc.); this requires a stiff frame and hence more material.
---
*Do note that e.g. the Voron 2.4 although a boxed up printer, has a fixed bed and a moving X-Y plane. This requires even more materials and is even more expensive.*
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, prusa-i3, desktop-printer, bed
--- |
thread-19522 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19522 | Stepper motor D shaft to Lego axle adapter | 2022-06-06T16:26:08.540 | # Question
Title: Stepper motor D shaft to Lego axle adapter
I am working on a prototype and I have a need for a motor shaft to Lego axle adapter for use with a stepper motor.
My overall project entails controlling a stepper motor using C# via USB connection to make very small rotations which will adjust the height of a specimen stage (constructed from Legos) for a stereo microscope.
I need adapters similar to 6mm D shaft to Lego axis adapter Free 3D print model but for 4 mm dia motor D shaft and 5 mm dia motor D shaft
The purpose of the adapter is to allow very small and slow rotations.
* I do not want to own the model designs, ideally they can be given away for free (similar to the link above).
* I need several of the adapter pieces; 3 of each (4 mm and 5 mm) printed and what would be a fair price for this?
* I have no idea what type of material should be used to print these, I think Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) would do.
# Answer
> 5 votes
OpenSCAD would be well suited for creating something made up of relatively simple shapes, where different dimensions are needed for some parts of the shapes - like the diameters and offsets of your stepper motor shafts.
A solution in OpenSCAD could look something like this:
```
outer_diameter = 8.5; //Outer diameter of the adapter
stepper_length = 12; //Length of the stepper shaft
stepper_diameter = 4; //Diameter of the stepper shaft
stepper_d_offset = 1.6; //Offset from the center of the shaft to the plane of the D
//4mm shaft: d = 4, offset = 1.6
//5mm shaft: d = 5, offset = 2
//6mm shaft: d = 6, offset = 2.5
thickness_mid = 2; //Thickness of the massive section between stepper and lego shafts
lego_length = 10; //Length of the lego shaft
lego_diameter = 4.9; //Outer diameter of the lego shaft
lego_internal_width = 1.9; //Width of the slots for the shaft
lego_corner_radius = 0.5;
cutout_size = lego_diameter;
cutout_translate = cutout_size / 2 + lego_internal_width / 2;
$fn = 128; //Accuracy / resolution of circles
eps = 0.01;
module fillet_square(width, radius) {
translate([radius - width / 2, radius - width / 2, 0])
minkowski() {
square(width - 2 * radius);
circle(radius);
}
}
color(0,0.5)
union(){
linear_extrude(height = stepper_length + eps) {
difference() {
circle(d = outer_diameter);
difference() {
circle(d = stepper_diameter);
translate([0, stepper_d_offset + stepper_diameter / 2, 0]) {
square(size = stepper_diameter, center = true);
}
}
}
}
translate([0, 0, stepper_length]) {
linear_extrude(height = thickness_mid) {
circle(d = outer_diameter);
}
}
translate([0, 0, stepper_length + thickness_mid - eps]) {
linear_extrude(height = lego_length + eps) {
difference() {
circle(d = outer_diameter);
difference() {
circle(d = lego_diameter);
translate([cutout_translate, cutout_translate, 0]) {
fillet_square(cutout_size, lego_corner_radius);
}
translate([cutout_translate, -cutout_translate, 0]) {
fillet_square(cutout_size, lego_corner_radius);
}
translate([-cutout_translate, cutout_translate, 0]) {
fillet_square(cutout_size, lego_corner_radius);
}
translate([-cutout_translate, -cutout_translate, 0]) {
fillet_square(cutout_size, lego_corner_radius);
}
}
}
}
}
}
```
You can then export your .stl file (or any other format) for 3D-printing from OpenSCAD.
---
Tags: 3d-models, 3d-design, bricks
--- |
thread-19534 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19534 | Ender 3 Thermal Runaway Error when booting up | 2022-06-10T13:17:05.983 | # Question
Title: Ender 3 Thermal Runaway Error when booting up
I am trying to fix my Ender 3 printer at work. Someone else had it before me and added a direct drive extruder, auto bed leveling, and changed the firmware. He claimed it worked fine, however when I started a print the nozzle was clogged beyond belief so it would not print.
I changed nozzles and had to clean up the heating block a little bit. Once I reassembled the printer and booted it up it shows the error message of Thermal Runaway for extruder 1 and tells me to reset it. I tried powering it off and back on to "reset" it but that did nothing. Within about 10 seconds of turning the printer on the error message shows up and it starts beeping obnoxiously.
Is this caused by something wrong with the thermistor? Everything I have read so far says to check for a faulty thermistor and see if the room temperature reading is 0 °C. However, I cannot do that because it gives the error instantly and will not leave that screen.
# Answer
I've found a single reference of the same issue you are experiencing. That Ender 3 also showed the thermal runaway error on startup.
This was caused by a hotend thermistor that was shorted out, replacing the thermistor solved the issue.
Quoting the reference, context:
> I installed a new Micro-Swiss hot end.Did a few prints with it, works great!When I wanted to do another one, the printer made a loud beeping noise, and gave a Thermal Runaway at E1 error at startup.
Solution:
> For people stumbling across this in the future, my issue was resolved by a shorted thermistor. After changing it to another one, the printer worked fine and gives a temp readout.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, firmware, thermistor, thermal-runaway
--- |
thread-19536 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19536 | Connecting controller fan on RAMPS 1.4 for Marlin | 2022-06-11T10:26:53.657 | # Question
Title: Connecting controller fan on RAMPS 1.4 for Marlin
I have radial fan with 2 pins connector and always kept it connected to `GND`/`5V` pins (marked J5 at the left bottom on pinout image for my controller board).
I've stumbled upon the `USE_CONTROLLER_FAN` feature of Marlin which allows setting some pin to be used for PWM-controlling a control board fan. I think `SERVO0_PIN` should do fine (`D11` at the bottom center on the pinout image), but I'm not sure how to connect it.
1. Should I split connector and use `GND` \+ `D11` pins?
2. Or should I use some proper PWM fan for that (which are always 4pin and then how would one connect THAT to those pins?)
3. Is it safe to run a fan directly from board pins or should I resort to using either unused MOSFET outputs (e.g. `FAN` MOSFET pin marked as `D9` on the left)?
4. Should I use dedicated MOSFET board to drive that fan using that SERVO0\_PIN?
# Answer
Servo pins are PWM pins, so yes `D11` can be used, but not directly connected to the fan as the pins only allow a very low current. You'll need a MOSFET to drive the fan. You don't need 4-pin fans, 2-pin fans will suffice.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: marlin, wiring, fans
--- |
thread-19537 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19537 | Printing half size after board replacement | 2022-06-11T15:31:06.663 | # Question
Title: Printing half size after board replacement
I recently burnt out one of the MOSFETS on my RAMPS 1.4 board on my Sintron Kossel clone so have upgraded it to a RAMPS 1.6. Now my printer seems to only print 50 % of the intended size.
After the machine homes it only comes down about 50 % of the distance and so starts printing in mid air.
I thought it might have been the driver steps? The DRV 8825 drivers are 32 steps instead of 16. I changed this value in the firmware but it didn't make any difference.
Any suggestions?
# Answer
> 2 votes
Data from Firmware is not written into EEPROM on its own after updating your firmware. You need to send a `M502` to "seed" the firmware numbers as that is restoring the "default" settings in it. If you are unsure what is currently the EEPROM setting, use `M503` first.
# Answer
> 1 votes
If you changed you stepper drivers here's a list to check:
1. Microstepping Jumpers
2. In Marlin Configuration.h:
* `X_DRIVER_TYPE`, `Y_DRIVER_TYPE`, `Z_DRIVER_TYPE` and
`E0_DRIVER_TYPE`
* `DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT`
* `INVERT_X_DIR`, `INVERT_Y_DIR`, `INVERT_Z_DIR` and `INVERT_E0_DIR`
3. In Marlin Configuration\_adv.h:
* `MINIMUM_STEPPER_POST_DIR_DELAY`, `MINIMUM_STEPPER_PRE_DIR_DELAY`, `MINIMUM_STEPPER_PULSE`, `MAXIMUM_STEPPER_RATE`
* Other driver-specific constants
4. EEPROM settings stored on the control board (use `M503` to read current settings).
---
Tags: kossel
--- |
thread-19541 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19541 | Is there a way to make my 3D prints airtight? | 2022-06-12T12:11:02.863 | # Question
Title: Is there a way to make my 3D prints airtight?
I printed a G1/8 thread in PLA where I can connect a compressor to have a small pressure container. Even though all measurements are correct and it screws in fine, it still leaks air.
Is there a way to make 3D prints airtight?
# Answer
> 4 votes
In theory, yes you can without any additional materials. But it requires a very high level of perfection for your 3D printer's output.
"Gaps between layers" are not the issue. There is no "gap" between the extrusion at layer N and an identical-path extrusion at layer N+1 if layer N+1 is extruded correctly and remelts the surface of layer N sufficiently to bond everywhere. There are *grooves* between layers from the extrusions not having perfectly rectangular cross-section and rather slighty rounded edges, but these are not "gaps".
Where gaps do come in to play is from inconsistent extrusion. If at any point the printer fails to resume extrusion where it's supposed to, or extrudes slightly less material than it's supposed to, there's a possibility that the complete remelt/bonding described above does not happen. It's also possible that grooves *turn into gaps* under high pressure, by providing a surface where the pressure can act like a wedge to separate weakly-bonded layers.
Also involved here are issues with the filament quality. If the filament contains air pockets or has absorbed moisture, there will be tiny bubbles bursting in the extrusions, making a potential path for air to pass through.
I have not succeeded in producing an air-tight container, especially not at high pressure, but I have made test containers for a vacuum that take several minutes to return to ambient atmospheric pressure after the pump is removed. This was using PLA with a non-high-temperature-capable hotend. I'm planning on revisiting this at some point with the temperature cranked way up (now with all-metal) with PLA and other materials to see if there's any practical viability to the theoretical possibility of getting it right.
Short of that, iblue's answer to use an airtight coating is a great option if you can deal with the dimensional changes or compensate for them in designing your parts.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Yes.
The issue is, that there are small gaps between the layers. But you can coat the print in an airtight material. While epoxy and similar materials work very well, they are somewhat too viscous and take a long time to cure.
My special recipe for coating PLA prints with a fast-curing airtight thin layer is:
1. Dissolve 1 g Paraloid B-72 in 20 ml acetone.
2. Dip or otherwise evenly coat the print and dry at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.
---
Tags: pla
--- |
thread-19544 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19544 | Are thick layer lines easier to sand and fill than thin layer lines for low detail objects | 2022-06-12T13:09:27.177 | # Question
Title: Are thick layer lines easier to sand and fill than thin layer lines for low detail objects
When printing an object on an FDM printer, is it easier to sand and fill thick layer lines than thin layer lines for low detail objects such as small plates for cosplay armor (Under 6 inches in size per print), in order to get a good finish?
PLA, Ender 5.
# Answer
> 4 votes
No. The outside of the layer has a round cross section, so the higher the layer, the larger the semi circle cross section and the deeper the valley is between layers.
Fine layers take forever to print large objects though, so for making costume parts I would go max layer height. To get a good painted finish you don’t need to sand to the bottom of the valleys though. Sand the high spots so about 50% of the layer edge is flat, then use automotive “high build primer”. Paint it on thick and don’t worry about runs. The high build makes the paint fill in the valleys. Sand it again, down to when it’s smooth, or when you’ve exposed the plastic of the high parts of the layers. Can do it again if it’s still bumpy. Then regular primer (recommend same brand/line as the high build for chemical compatibility), light sand, and paint. If you sand with fine grit between layers of paint you can get a very impressive finish.
The key ingredient for nice paint is the high build primer, it is a great companion for FDM printers. They generally have it at the auto parts store, rather than the hardware store.
---
Tags: layer-height, quality
--- |
thread-19547 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19547 | Filament end expanding and seizing | 2022-06-12T16:27:45.627 | # Question
Title: Filament end expanding and seizing
This is a continuation of this question where comments and answers were extremely helpful in diagnosing the issue, which I am still unable to solve.
I determined I have the problem shown in figure 3 on this question. How I confirmed that is I started a print and monitored it closely. As soon as the filament stopped coming out I paused the print and pulled out the filament - it looked like this:
I snipped the expanded part off and re-inserted the filament back in, hit resume print and it continued printing normally, except it had skipped a layer or two.
What I understand is there can be a few reasons for this problem:
1. Filament moving too fast and not being able to melt at the nozzle
2. Too much heat in the radiator block causes the filament to soften up and unable to be pushed by the incoming filament.
To combat case 1 I reduced the speed of the print using the knob down to 80 % which already felt like it is too slow, but that didn't seem to make a difference. I also tried printing at speeds of 85 %, 90 %, and 95 % as well and the problem occurred in all of them. So this leads me to believe that speed is probably not the issue.
I read that there could also be another thing causing case 1 and that is over-extrusion. To verify this I did the 100 mm extrusion test where I marked 0 mm and 100 mm and extruded 100 mm manually in steps of 0.1 mm. It took a while but eventually in the end I determined that it is under-extruding at 95 mm actual filament extruded which means there is less filament being pushed which should actually be working against the jam. I pulled the filament out after the test to see what it looks like and this was it:
Nevertheless, I adjusted my E-steps from 93 to 99 and repeated the 100 mm test again which this time was about 1 mm off (99 mm actual filament extruded) but I guess my markings could be off too so it should be good enough. I again checked the filament and it still had an expansion on the end.
At this point, I'm assuming that there is no issue with my extruder and print speed, so I'm on to case 2.
I tried printing at 180 °C but that had no effect.
I also tried printing without heating the bed as I read that could affect the cooling of the radiator as the fan will be blowing hot air, but that also didn't help and the filament seized.
I took the fan cover off and set the nozzle to 200 °C. After a few minutes, I measured the surface temperatures on the cooling block/radiator using a multimeter which showed 47 °C on the top-most fin and 65 °C on the bottom-most. I also tried reducing the nozzle to 180 °C and took measurements again which were pretty much the same with about a degree or 2 off. Ok so maybe something is fishy here because in this video you can see the temperatures he's reading are in the 35-40s range.
Just to confirm this was the problem I took quite a large home fan and directed it such that the stream is hitting the radiator from about 5 cm (this is while the hot end fan is not mounted with the screws but hanging on the side, which was also blowing at the radiator). I waited a couple of minutes and measured the temperatures again which this time showed 35 °C on the top and 50 °C on the bottom. That was as low as I could get it and the house fan was pretty strong. I extruded another 100 mm manually and this is what the filament looked like afterward:
It still had a blob on the end and I'm pretty confident given more time it would clog up again.
Honestly, at this point, I feel like I've put way too much time and effort into resolving this issue and that is frustrating me as I fail to see any results.
I'm even more confused by the fact that I have had a couple of 3h prints go flawless, then out of the blue, it starts doing this problem. Sometimes it doesn't happen, sometimes it happens 3-5 times per print. I had an 8h print which went very well until the last 30 min when it clogged, thankfully I was around and I did the snipping procedure so the print finished but it is visible where it skipped a bunch of layers and has a weak spot.
It is quite annoying to have to babysit the printer like that and I'm really reaching out to anyone who'd be able to help me.
# Answer
This is classic heat creep. What's happening is that you're getting softened material up inside the 2.0-mm-inner-diameter PTFE tube, and then, because it's soft, some of the extruding force causes it to deform and expand outward rather than go through the nozzle, because that's the path of lesser resistance.
So, where is the heat creep coming from? In my experience it's not common on an Ender 3, but there are at least 3 fairly likely possibilities:
1. Ambient temperature in your printing space is sufficiently high (perhaps driven by bed temperature if the space is somewhat enclosed) to make the hotend cooling fan insufficient.
2. Hotend cooling fan is damaged or wearing out and running at severely decreased flow.
3. Your retraction length is way too long, and on each retraction, you're pulling up molten, or at least softened, material into the PTFE tube, then squeezing it as soon as you unretract.
It's possible to be a combination of these things. For example if your retraction length is too long, things might go okay until the air warms up from printing, then eventually get to a point where the added ambient warmth keeps the material soft just long enough for it to jam.
Some things that could help:
* Make sure you printing space is well-ventilated and air conditioned if ambient temperature is warm (I'd say over 26°C is bad for printing PLA). If you can't do that, run a desk fan pointed at the printer.
* Try lowering your retraction length, especially if it's over 6 mm now, but be sure to perform retraction tests (stringing tests) to make sure it's still sufficient.
* Use faster travel speed/acceleration and faster retract/unretract so that you're not giving time for heat to transfer from the retracted filament into the cold side during travel.
Given the temperatures you measured, though, I wouldn't be surprised though if you have a bad fan that needs replacement.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Try another filament. I have this happen with bad filament. Baking it helps, but not always and it reverts to bad filament pretty quickly after baking. So my last attempt printed fine after baking then started having this intermittent issue on the third print.
I'd try changing filament before blaming the printer.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Another way to approach this problem is to increase the temperature of the hot end and increase the temperature gradient of the heat sink (better heat sink cooling). One can increase the air flow of the heat sink fan or run fans to increase air flow around the printing bed and hot end, so that the air is cooler circulating through the heat sink.
Here's an overall approach: What are ways to avoid heat creep?
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, filament, extrusion
--- |
thread-19551 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19551 | Where/how can I connect a physical Emergency Stop panic button directly to a RAMPS 1.4 board to quickly stop all stepper movement? | 2022-06-13T03:06:18.897 | # Question
Title: Where/how can I connect a physical Emergency Stop panic button directly to a RAMPS 1.4 board to quickly stop all stepper movement?
The printer is a Prusa I3. I'm running it directly from a PC with Repetier 2.2.4. Repetier has a soft Emergency Stop but that requires grabbing the mouse and getting the pointer to the hot spot on the screen. I'd be more comfortable with a physical button.
If all else fails I can rig a panic button to connect a 30 ohm resistor between hot and ground downstream of the GFI, causing it to trip. That seems a bit extreme. Also not sure if the capacitors in the power supply might keep a motor going for another few steps after the mains power goes away. Interrupting the stepper motor power just ahead of the motor drivers seems like the optimal way to go.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Just pull the main power on the machine if it bombs and goes haywire. It isn’t a computer that needs a soft shutdown.
The only thing you want to do is turn it back on quickly so the hotend fan goes back on and you don’t get heat creep with filament melting and then solidifying in the heat break.
Disconnecting motor power isn’t great, because the reason you are hitting the panic button is probably because the machine bombed is trying to wreck itself, in which case the processor needs to be reset. Could make a DC disconnect between the power supply and main board, but it should stay off for a few seconds for the caps to drain, so if it’s a momentary switch all users would have to know to hold it down for a spell. If it is an on/off switch you have a possible source of confusion, why the printer isn’t turning on, because now there are two power switches, and you wouldn’t want to use it as a general use power switch because the power supply would be left on all the time.
One alternative would be a reset button on the processor, if there is a breakout for that pin or a tact switch on the pcb you could wire a big, official momentary switch (normally open type) in parallel with. I would suggest some kind of shroud so it doesn’t get bumped accidentally.
---
Tags: ramps-1.4
--- |
thread-19553 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19553 | Can you 3D print an electrical connection | 2022-06-13T14:31:38.783 | # Question
Title: Can you 3D print an electrical connection
I am trying to create a two-piece snap-fit or joint using a 3D printer (Resin). After that, I plan to coat the joint with a conductive spray and create an electrical connection when the two pieces are joined together.
**Has this been done before? Are certain types of joint mechanism recommended?**
I will probably use carbon spray because it is cheaper than others. However, after the spray dries it can start to flake and thin, so I might need a couple of rounds of coating or something else. Any tips are appreciated.
However, more importantly is the joint mechanism - this is what I had in mind:
The signal would be a DC current only, in the µA range and the targeted resistance would be less than 20 Ω.
Can this work? If not, what are my alternatives?
# Answer
Electroforming is the process of applying a conductive paint to a non-conductive surface. Once dry, the object is subjected to a process similar to electroplating, in that molecules of a conductive, more durable metal are bonded to the conductive paint, which is bonded to the 3D printed part.
Typical metals would be nickel, which is quite conductive, as well as copper, known for conductivity. One could be somewhat absurd and perform the same process with silver and gold. The absurdity is related to the expense of those materials.
The link covers using copper, but I believe that nickel would be more durable.
Your joint selection is more related to the strength of the design and contact surface area and may be better suited for a more detailed separate question.
As usual, image from linked site.
> 2 votes
# Answer
For your task you basically have several options:
1. **Electroforming** (see @fred\_dot\_u answer). Pros: high electrical conductivity due to actual metal layer; very low friction between polished metal layers. Cons: the process is quite dirty and requires additional materials and processing, plus some skill to produce results of appropriate quality.
2. **Conductive filament** (e.h. PLA from Makerbot). Pros: direct printing of any form. Cons: high price, probably tricky to print with, high current resistance.
3. **Sliding electrical connections** (e.g. as in brushed motors or magnetic USB charging cables). Pros: when properly executed will be very durable and probably could even reuse parts from existing markets (brushed motors use this trick for very long time). Cons: requires additional engineering and redesign of your existing parts.
4. **Wireless connection** (e.g. parts use radio/Bluetooth/WiFi for communicating). Pros: independent functionality of each 'limb'. Cons: independent power sources required for each limb; complex communication means.
5. **Optical signalling**. Pros: no electrical connections; depending on your use-case might fall in-between *wireless connection* (without the need of additional power source) and *sliding/magnetic connections*. Cons: requires skills and tools to work with fiberoptics, which is totally different story.
Depending on your resources, requirements, skills and time you would chose one of above. You may also find some alternative solutions from engineering world.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: 3d-models, 3d-design, resin, electronics, carbon
--- |
thread-975 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/975 | Do the TW, THW and THHN or THWN wire insulation types matter in terms of powering RAMPS 1.4 or the MK2a Heat Bed? | 2016-04-13T01:05:20.973 | # Question
Title: Do the TW, THW and THHN or THWN wire insulation types matter in terms of powering RAMPS 1.4 or the MK2a Heat Bed?
I'm still looking at wires for my Prusa i3, to go between the power supply and RAMPS 1.4, and the power supply and the MK2a Heatbed.
I also recently found a 400 ft. Wire Storehouse that I bought from Harbor Freight which has wire sizes in it from AWG 10 through AWG 22 (and additionally speaker wire, Zip Cord and Bell).
I also bought some reading material, I picked up Wiring Simplified 44th edition, and in it on page 28, Table 4-1, there is a table with information about the Ampacity of copper wires including their maximum temp (C), and maximum carrying current (Amps) based on their insulation types.
Unfortunately, the 400 ft. Wire Storehouse does not provide any information in regards to the insulation type or quality and this makes it difficult for one to choose the correct wire based on the specification in the table.
Given that the thing only cost $30 for 400 Ft. of wire, it would lead me to believe that the cheapest grade of insulation was used; as I understand it, the TW type wire.
I also read a forum somewhere in which people were complaining about the cheapness of the wire in this kit, stating that one ought to wear gloves when working with it as there is probably lead in the insulation as well as the wire.
The largest copper wire I have found in the table that I have (AWG 10) says that it is rated at 30 AMP regardless of which type of insulation it has, should I be using the speakerwire instead? That isn't listed in the table. Also it should be noted that though the ratings for the Ampacity are 30 AMPs, the max temperatures are different; with the TW being at 60 C.
As far as I can tell if I use the AWG 10 (TW?) to connect everything it won't matter, but I just thought I'd check here to be sure first since my power supply is rated at 30 AMPs and that's probably the same as the wire....
# Answer
**THHN** wire is thermoplastic high heat-resistant nylon coated wire.
**THWN** is thermoplastic heat- and moisture-resistant nylon coated wire.
**"T"** stands for thermoplastic insulation covering the wire itself.
**"H"** stands for a heat resistance of the insulation max 167°F.
**"HH"** stands for a heat resistance, but increased max 194°F.
**"W"** is for moisture resistant.
**"N"** is for a nylon coating make the insulation oil and gas resistant.
In my opinion the Wire Storehouse is good for simple stuff, but I would not use it for something I consider important. It's quality is poor on the insulation rating and the number of strands is low. Higher strands number allows for more flexible wire.
If you get high end audiophile type speaker wire it could be considered as you can find high strand number with good quality insulation properties in heavier gauges.
Or your local auto parts store will carry 8 and 6 gauge wire with better insulation properties.
> 4 votes
# Answer
## No "mystery meat" wire in AC electrical
That kit is random Chinese "no-name" hookup wire and cannot be used for AC power. It's fine for low voltage hobbyist tinkering, which is what it's sold for. If it was better than that, *they'd say*.
**But who knows?** Maybe the boat didn't arrive and they needed some 12 AWG to finish some kits, so they ran to the electrical supply and bought bona-fide Southwire THHN. If so, the wire would be labeled "UL Listed" and "THHN/THWN-2". Then you can use it for AC power.
Without "UL Listed" or "UR Recognized" or other mark from a credible NRTL, any other labeling is lies. *CE is not an NRTL*.
## Proper THHN/THWN-2 is available locally, dirt cheap.
*Competent* hardware stores and lumberyards will cheerfully sell it by the foot. So like 6 feet for a dollar-ish.
(However they are often not located in strip malls, so some may need to rethink their shopping mindset if they want value).
Any good tinkerer/hacker ought to know the location of every good family-owned hardware store, real lumberyard, and electrical supply houses, bonus points for HVAC supply.
## TW, THW and THWN-2 are NOT "good, better, best".
More like the Ford Edsel, Thunderbird and Escape: "obsolete, obsolete, and currently sold product".
Why not keep making TW, THW and THWN? No money savings there. It would cost more to keep 4 separate production lines than to just make everything *dual-rated* THHN/THWN-2. So that's what they do.
> it would lead me to believe that the cheapest grade of insulation was used; as I understand it, the TW type wire.
No, wiring doesn't work that way. You can't even assume it's a "T" family - there are also XHHW and RHH/RHW and the "S" family cordage, just in NEC Chapter 3 wiring methods. And many other families **not approved** for AC power.
> Unfortunately, the 400 ft. Wire Storehouse does not provide any information in regards to the insulation type or quality and this makes it difficult for one to choose the correct wire based on the specification in the table.
Doesn't matter what the ad copy says, it matters what the markings on the wire say. **Wire that is unmarked is *literally nothing***.
Wire manufacturers know this. Chinese wire manufacturers don't care. But that Harbor Freight pack never claimed to be anything else, did it?
> 3 votes
---
Tags: ramps-1.4, switching-power-supply, wire-type, mk2a
--- |
thread-19559 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19559 | How to change the time format on LCD screen in Marlin 2.1? | 2022-06-15T15:11:28.510 | # Question
Title: How to change the time format on LCD screen in Marlin 2.1?
How can I replace the line in the time display with a dot? Using Marlin 2.1
# Answer
The apostrophe or single quote character is officially used to indicate minutes, if there are two, this indicates seconds (but, in the image from the question, the double quote cannot be seen).
Replacing the single quote for a decimal isn't a good idea to display the time as the following number is in seconds, not a fraction of a minute.
Either way, the remaining time is converted from a number into a human readable format by the toDigital() function of the `duration_t.h` file (referring to the Marlin 2.1 bugfix branch). Even with little programming skills if is easy to find where and what you want to change ( hint, see comment: `// 12'34`), the function is quoted for reference below:
```
uint8_t toDigital(char *buffer, bool with_days=false) const {
const uint16_t h = uint16_t(this->hour()),
m = uint16_t(this->minute() % 60UL);
if (with_days) {
const uint16_t d = this->day();
sprintf_P(buffer, PSTR("%hud %02hu:%02hu"), d, h % 24, m); // 1d 23:45
return d >= 10 ? 9 : 8;
}
else if (!h) {
const uint16_t s = uint16_t(this->second() % 60UL);
sprintf_P(buffer, PSTR("%02hu'%02hu"), m, s); // 12'34
return 5;
}
else if (h < 100) {
sprintf_P(buffer, PSTR("%02hu:%02hu"), h, m); // 12:34
return 5;
}
else {
sprintf_P(buffer, PSTR("%hu:%02hu"), h, m); // 123:45
return 6;
}
}
```
> 1 votes
---
Tags: marlin, firmware
--- |
thread-19450 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19450 | Thermal Runaway issues on Ender 3 Pro even after replacing thermistor and heater cartridge | 2022-05-27T23:36:42.800 | # Question
Title: Thermal Runaway issues on Ender 3 Pro even after replacing thermistor and heater cartridge
I have an Ender 3 Pro with the BTT SKR E3 V2.0 mini with Marlin firmware 2.0.8.2.x. I am trying to print PETG, which requires decently high temperatures.
I initially replaced the stock board after a thermal runaway event that seemed to have damaged it. After installing the new board and getting all the settings dialed in (typically 260 °C hotend and 90 °C bed), it worked great for about 2 weeks until I got the thermal runaway event error again.
Here is what I have tried so far
* replaced the thermistor with this
* replaced the heating cartridge with this
* replaced the hotend with this an all-metal one
* measured voltage coming from the power supply and coming out of the board going to heater cartridge (both ~24 V)
I PID tuned the printer using `M303 E0 S260 C10` and stored new PID values in EEPROM + firmware. A note, running this multiple times seemed to constantly increase the P and D values. I stuck with the initial values given (`kP 13.97 kI 0.84 kD 57.96`). I still continued to get thermal runaway events.
I then tested the heater cartridge and thermistor with my multimeter. The heater was 13.5 ohms which seems about right. I was unable to measure the thermistor value. Searching online shows I likely need a better multimeter to do so. It's possible it is bad, but I find that hard to believe considering this issue was happening prior to my replacing it.
Example log of the failure happening. All I did was heat the printer up, leave it on for a bit, set it to cool down briefly, then tell it to heat up again. The printer was heated for ~5-8 minutes before this log starts.
Could this be the board again, or is there something else I'm missing?
# Answer
> 3 votes
I'm fairly certain I have solved this issue, and it ended up having nothing to do with the printer and everything to do with what it was plugged into!
I had it on a smart outlet with some automations set up to kill the power if there was ever a fire. Unfortunately, the outlet I was using was only rated for 8A, while the Ender 3 Pro can draw up to 15 amps. When it was unable to draw more than 8A to heat the hotend, this likely caused the printer to think there was a problem, triggering the thermal runaway failsafe.
After moving it to an outlet with a higher amperage rating, I have had no more issues.
# Answer
> 0 votes
> Recv: T:224.24 /**260.00** B:88.95 /**90.00** @:127 B@:127
# You are trying to achieve too much!
The maximum rated temperature for an Ender3 is 260 °C, yes, but to achieve this you need to insulate the heater block with a silicon sock from losing heat to the surroundings and with some tinfoil from an airstream over it from the cooling fan. And even then, you are trying to work at the absolute maximum the printer can theoretically reach - which means it is above the temperature you can operate it while printing.
Likewise, you try to have the bed at 90 °C and that is too high to consistently reach with the heater installed.
To print at those elevated temperatures you need different gear:
* You absolutely need a heated chamber.
* You need a specialized hotend that does not suffer heatcreep and is rated to **at least** 275 °C
* The rest of the printer needs to be able to work at those elevated temperatures.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I run a small print farm made up of Ender 3's with SKR Mini 2.0 boards. We print ASA, ABS, and Nylon with Nozzle temps of 245-260 °C and bed temps of 105 °C. This is all done without a heated enclosure. There is no reason for your Ender 3 to not be able to do this as well.
My first check would be the attachment of the thermistor to the heat block. Any chance this got dislodged and isn't taking accurate measurements? Does it have a good thermal connection to the heat block? I haven't seen this type of thermistor before. How does it connect to the hotend?
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, marlin, troubleshooting, thermal-runaway
--- |
thread-19507 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19507 | When I print with a raft on my 3D printer, the raft will not peel off. What settings can I change to fix this? | 2022-06-04T22:36:18.227 | # Question
Title: When I print with a raft on my 3D printer, the raft will not peel off. What settings can I change to fix this?
I recently bought a Creality Ender 3 V2. I have heard that it is best to use a raft when printing. I have tried to use a raft a few different times using PLA, with different settings each time. When I try to peel the raft off of the print, it will snap around the bottom of the print. Are there any recommended slicer settings or printer tips to help this?
# Answer
> 1 votes
> I have heard that it is best to use a raft
Actually, it is not best to use a raft, a raft is an aid that can best be used in special cases, e.g. for filaments that shrink reasonably (PLA is not such a filament).
A raft always caused a rough bottom of your print and is frequently difficult to remove. A raft is an aid for adhesion if your print object geometry or choice of filament requires you to use it, but as far as printing PLA, a raft is generally not needed. You need to spend some time to level the bed properly and dial in the best nozzle to bed distance (the thickness of a sheet of plain printing paper like A4 or US Letter will work fine).
There are usually options available in slicer software to control the distance between the raft and the first layer of the print object. It is also reported that inserting a wait time to solidify/cool the raft is beneficial for creating less strong bonds between the raft and the print object.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Have a look at the distance of your nozzle / leveling of your bed. I experienced difficulties removing my prints when the nozzle is to close to the bed. Furthermore try different bed temperatures when removing the print.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I haven't run into this kind of issue, but I've found some tips that might help.
1. HAVE SOME PATIENCE
You have waited several hours for the print, but you have to wait a little more until the model is completely cool. After some cooling, the model may come off by itself. As the plastic cools, it hardens, losing the tackiness needed for the layers to adhere.
2. CLEAN THE PLATFORM
This may not help with current printing, but if your platform is clogged with old adhesive, then it's probably time to clean it out. Future prints may not adhere as firmly. If the print is still stuck, run it under a stream of hot (not boiling) water and carefully use a spatula to remove any adhesive on the surface.
After printing, make sure the platform is clean and inspect the surface of the steel. If there are indentations, turn the glass over and use the smooth side. If both sides show signs of pitting, replace the glass.
3. PUT IT INTO THE OVEN
There are times when hot water doesn't help if you have a glass or other heat-resistant surface with no plastic or electronics and you can take it off the printer, and put it in the oven. Set the temperature to 100º and then use a spatula to see if you can remove the model. If it does not work, increase the temperature to 120º, leave for five minutes and try again. Raise the temperature until you remove the model.
4. DO NOT USE CHEAP PLASTIC
In many cases, cheap plastic is a false economy.
5. MAKE SOME HOLES
By creating several holes in the surface of the print base, you can avoid sticking caused by too much surface contact.
Hope these tips help you :)
# Answer
> -1 votes
Rafts fuse with models because the filament gets overheated. To avoid this, keep the temperature in the room between between 23 and 28 °C. Malfunctioning extruder fans, a heater & thermocouple, extruder printed circuit board (PCB), extruder cable, and motherboard can be also to blame.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, pla, rafts
--- |
thread-13523 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13523 | Multiple objects on build plate | 2020-04-25T18:30:09.507 | # Question
Title: Multiple objects on build plate
I'm new to printing resin miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons and most of my prints are successful, i.e. one or more miniatures print as expected.
However when I have multiple minis on the build plate the one in the middle works okay but the ones on the edges don't adhere to the build plate.
Should I limit myself to one or two minis in the center of the build plate? Or should it work and I just need to get my settings correct?
Note I'm using a Beam 3D Prism printer.
# Answer
> 4 votes
You can definitely print full build plates of minis. You just need to find correct settings. If nothing sticks to the build plate - then you should increase bottom exposure time. Also check if the build plate is even. You can also sand your build plate a little bit to make adhesion better. Additionally, print with lower print speeds to increase success. Finally, if your FEP is worn out and scratched or hazy, you should replace it.
I own a company producing 3D printing resins. We also write extensive printing guides from time to time. You can read more on finding correct settings in this article of mine.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Check the plate and be sure that it is level. Also, you need to check that your model is level.
The problem will be in the settings if everything is level.
# Answer
> 2 votes
You can fill the plate as much as you want, as long as the playing figure is not at the edge of the plate (can create problems). The problem could be that the plate is too smooth or that it is not perfectly level. If the plate is too smooth you could use some sandpaper to make it rough.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I regularly print multiple models on the build plate of an Elegoo Saturn. If your built plate is level and your tank is firmly fastened down you should have no problems.
What I have found is the my slicer (Chitubox) will sometimes corrupt the base layer if I print multiple models. With me this usually causes the bottom layer to be deformed, and to have jutting protrusions that were not on the original layer, or for the slicer not to recognize the base layer as being flat.
The second picture shows an example of how the skate or one model was deformed. The small pieces of cured resin are corrupted data and aren't part of any model or support structure. They were not visible in Chitubox unless I manually rotated the object view and saw little visual glitches.
I would advice that you check your sliced files.
See the example image:
# Answer
> 1 votes
Open your file in your slicer, and set it to only view the bottom few layers. Spin the view around several times and view it from different angles. Look for odd shadows or lines.
If it looks anything like the below image then the problem isn't with your printer, it's with the file that you've just sliced.
For some reason the slicer no longer sees its own raft as being flat, and it is creating floating geometry that sometimes breaks loose.
I've found that I can sometimes resolve this problem by reducing the size of the raft. About 105% usually does it for me. Otherwise the problem might be the geometry of the models that you're printing. I tend to print off models that I've made myself, so it's quite possible that it's something that I've done, or the way that I've exported the STL files.
---
Tags: resin
--- |
thread-19568 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19568 | Meshmixer create solid | 2022-06-19T12:29:22.180 | # Question
Title: Meshmixer create solid
I have this .stl that I downloaded and I need to create a solid of this 3D. However, if I click "Make solid", it doesn't work.
How can I do? I think the problem is the black layer but I don't know how to resolve.
Before make solid:
After make solid:
I need to make solid and the black layer is deleted when I do it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g-YaF1k\_X5FU1Y-SgWiGCXC4k\_nADohk/view?usp=sharing
PS: The other object are different item, so if they are there or not is the same
# Answer
# Make solid requires an enclosed volume
To run the make solid operation, the selected parts need to enclose a volume. In case the volume is not fully enclosed, the program tries to solve a solution that closes the open surface.
The black layer is most likely failing to compute because its normals are flipped. This means it does not enclose a surface, it excludes anything between the surfaces from being inside the body defined by it - it is **everything but**. This is solved as "this surface does not enclose anything, so I cut it out" but for where it creates a valid solution in the area of the white surface before the operation.
This leaves you with the white retained part after the operation.
# To fix this is an in-depth project
Fixing such errors is quite involved. You will need to do the following steps, depending on your program to alter:
* flip the surfaces so that it shows outside
* make sure that the body is closed, possibly by adding missing surfaces
> 1 votes
---
Tags: 3d-models, 3d-design, meshmixer
--- |
thread-16281 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/16281 | Fill hollow part of body in the 3D model | 2021-05-12T21:07:32.383 | # Question
Title: Fill hollow part of body in the 3D model
Sorry, I'm new in 3D printing and modeling and I need help.
I bought a 3D model with a hollow part of the body that doesn't print on my printer normally (with very high resolution (layer is 0.12 mm, the nozzle is 0.4 mm) because the walls are very thin). I tried to make it as a solid in MeshMixer or ZBrush, but I can't. Can you help me, how I can fix this defect?
I use Cura for slicing.
I know, that I can take a thinner nozzle (0.2 mm) and Cura will slice it better, but I want to make this model solid so I could print it with nozzle 0.4 mm.
# Answer
The model clearly contains an enclosed surface, which is directed to the inside - in other words, it was modeled to contain a volume of air.
Those surfaces need to be removed to print the body solid. To do this, you could check if those surfaces constitute a separate shell for meshmixer. If yes, you can just go, run separate shells, remove those internal items, and then re-merge all other shells. Slicing that should result in the voids being filled.
If however the shell is meant to exist, then it should instead simply get its normals inverted. This is best done with modeling software such as blender. Some steps you need can be seen here
> 1 votes
# Answer
This is a problem with the model, you need to make sure that the model isn't hollow. You might be able to get around this though if you use scaffolding, it might recognize the overhand hand build supports for your print inside of your print, you just might have to mess around with the scaffolding settings a bit.
> 0 votes
# Answer
Print with Supports, Standard, Everywhere.
You'll get some external supports that may require sanding or scraping to smooth the attachment marks (it may be possible to use further Cura tricks to block those if this model normally doesn't need supports), but "Everywhere" will cause Cura to create supports that sit *on the model* -- hence inside the hollow body. I've seen them *inside a 3 mm diameter horizontal hole*. You can then adjust "support infill" to create what amounts to a (slightly inefficient) infill in the part of the model that's made as a hollow.
I'd recommend trying this first with a large nozzle and thick layers, to speed printing for the test ("draft mode"), but I have every reason to believe it will work.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: 3d-models, troubleshooting, meshmixer
--- |
thread-16643 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/16643 | Why is this central area of the STL being filled in? | 2021-06-27T23:08:41.503 | # Question
Title: Why is this central area of the STL being filled in?
We've been doing some work automatically generating STL files using Python. We've made a ring of cubes like so:
Importing it into Cura still makes it look valid, with a hole in the center:
However, post slicing it comes up with saying it will take 14 hours to print! A ludicrous time. Looking at the preview, it seems to be adding supports to the entire inside of the structure:
And also a top / bottom layer:
Why is this? You can tell it's adding supports to the center and is not filled in due to the differing structure midway through the block:
# Answer
The surfaces are clearly ill defined - it shows the top surface as a bottom one (those are marked red), and so the normals of that surface are pointing to the wrong direction.
> 3 votes
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, stl, python
--- |
thread-19582 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19582 | Creality Ender 6 Heating Failed | 2022-06-22T14:31:25.020 | # Question
Title: Creality Ender 6 Heating Failed
There is a message on my Ender 6 that is telling my that my heating failed. This happened last night in the middle of a print. I have cycled the power like the screen says but the nozzle does not heat up. The print bed heats up just fine. The nozzle stopped heating and just randomly started cooling, leading to a load of filament unable to go through the feeder. The printer has been just fine for the past year in a closet. I have changed rooms and tested again to no avail, so I believe it is not an ambient issue. I would appreciate any advice or solutions.
# Answer
If heating of the hot end fails, this is usually caused by the thermistor or the heating cartridge. You need to check the cables of these two or replace them altogether. It is advisable to keep spare heater cartridges and thermistors; these are very affordable parts to have in your inventory.
Once the thermistor doesn't register a temperature increase while the heater is on, a thermal runaway error should trigger the printer to stop to protect itself and you. That is, if the printer has this functionality enabled in the firmware. By removing the thermistor from the hotend and heating up the hotend you can test whether thermal runaway protection is enabled.
If the hotend drops in temperature, e.g. by a mispositioned cooling fan, the heater element should be commanded to heat up, if this doesn't happen, the protection should kick in as well.
> There is a message on my Ender 6 that is telling my that my heating failed
This means that the thermal protection is enabled and did its job! You now need to sort out what caused the protection to kick in, a faulty thermistor or a faulty heater cartridge (or even worse, a faulty controller board e.g. burned connectors); cables could be broken or are not properly seated in the controller board connectors.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: troubleshooting, nozzle, heat-management, creality, creality-ender-6
--- |
thread-19585 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19585 | What is the acceptable resistance of a functioning heater cartridge on my Creality Ender-5 Pro printer? | 2022-06-23T04:55:06.090 | # Question
Title: What is the acceptable resistance of a functioning heater cartridge on my Creality Ender-5 Pro printer?
It has been suggested that I measure the resistance of the nozzle heater on my printer since I've had some thermal runaway errors. The machine is brand new. I have done so by connecting my multimeter across the two pins on the connector. I get a value of 14.5 Ohms. Is this a reasonable value?
# Answer
Your printer uses a 24 V power supply, this implies that the peripherals also need to be for this voltage. Therefor a 24 V heater cartridge is needed.
From this answer on question Heater cartridge with 7.2 ohms - 12 or 24 V? gives you the answer:
> e3D Heater Cartridges are documented to be around 4.8 Ω for 12 V & 30 W, 3.6 Ω for 12 V & 40 W, 19.2 Ω for 24 V 30 W and 14.4 Ω for 24 V 40 W.
A heater cartridge of 14.5 Ω is a 24 V heater cartridge of 40 W, this is the correct heater cartridge for your printer.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-5, thermal-runaway
--- |
thread-19577 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19577 | What is causing the thermal runaway error E1? | 2022-06-22T02:09:19.957 | # Question
Title: What is causing the thermal runaway error E1?
I just acquired a new Creality Ender 5 Pro. It was assembled very easily. Today I tried my first print - the Dog demo that came on the MicroSD just to see how it worked. It is a 2.5 hour print.
While I was preheating there was a thermal runaway error while I was feeding the filament up through the tube. I restarted the machine and began the print. The error repeated 6 more times during the print. Each time I reset the machine by cycling the power (there were no instructions for a reset) and I was able to resume the printing.
I have been sitting here while this thing goes so as to be able to restart if necessary. It will be a real drag when I try to print anything larger. I feel as though I cannot leave the machine alone.
The bed seems to hold steady at 45 °C. The nozzle is set to 200 °C (the default on the display) for PLA. It seems to lag a bit sometimes going as low as 196 °C. I suspect this is normal as it is being fed cold filament. When I restart almost immediately, the nozzle starts with a temp of about 140 °C and takes a few minutes to get hot enough to resume the print.
What is going on?
# Answer
> 3 votes
Possible reasons for the error:
* Temperature sensor does not connect well;
* Wrong working (mains) voltage, and;
* Bed soldering.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Today, after several failed attempts at another part including "failure to heat" errors, I checked the voltage setting on the controller and found it to be at 230 V. I never looked at it when I assembled the machine 3 days ago. Shame on me!
Setting it to 115 V fixed the issue and my parts ran without interruption.
---
*Many thanks to wanderland1990 for the answer, this led me to the solution.*
---
Tags: creality-ender-5, thermal-runaway
--- |
thread-19592 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19592 | Large infill top layer almost immediately gets ruined trying to bridge | 2022-06-25T07:47:22.587 | # Question
Title: Large infill top layer almost immediately gets ruined trying to bridge
Info about the prints:
* Using PrusaSlicer with 0.1 mm layer height
* Using PETG, 1.75 mm
* 240 °C nozzle, 90 °C bed
* 0.4 mm hardened steel nozzle
* Printing at 40 mm/s
* 9 top layers, 7 bottom layers
* Using 15 % infill (slightly more than recommended, trying to keep this low for weight)
Here's a timelapse of the full print (I don't have footage of each individual layer being added, but this somewhat shows what's happening)
I've done some research, and I think the general term for this anomaly is called "pillowing", but I think what I've encountered seems to be a much more significant and harmful version. Essentially, it seems to nail the infill parts relatively well, not messing up any of the thin walls, but right as it tries to bridge over them, it seems to fail, creating these odd chunks of chaotic shards. This eventually gets refined as more top layers are added, but I don't want to simply add more top layers, as it seems that 0.9 mm should be enough for most applications. This would probably be a lot more inefficient w/ more top layers, so I'm just trying to figure out the root of the issue.
I've also seen some resources saying that the temperature used is too high and that the temperature is too low, but those seem to have different-looking problems. I'm not sure as well whether the hardened steel nozzle demands a higher temperature as this is one of my first couple prints w/ it. Other than this pillowing problem, the walls seem to be smooth and well-defined, so I'm not sure whether I should change temps.
# Answer
> 2 votes
From what you've seen, it's not a high enough value for the infill, as it results in the pillowing you are experiencing. As you are describing that bridging the infill is problematic, the two are directly related.
You may be able to mitigate the problem by increasing the infill value or by changing the infill to a different pattern.
If weight is that critical, something has to give way. I would expect very little increase in weight by changing from 15 percent to 30 percent. Your slicer will provide estimates, allowing you to compare the existing print weight in the slicer and existing print weight for increased infill (or different pattern) and determine more accurately the change.
Also consider to print a temperature tower for your printer with the steel nozzle. This will ensure that your bridging is being performed at the best temperatures.
---
Tags: troubleshooting, prusa-mini
--- |
thread-19523 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19523 | Filament not being extruded | 2022-06-06T18:09:16.807 | # Question
Title: Filament not being extruded
I'm pretty new to 3D printing, got my printer about 5 days ago and spent most of my time with it.
First off, it is an Ender 3 Pro with everything stock, haven't made any upgrades except I run it with OctoPrint from a Raspberry Pi Zero but I have determined that's not the source of the problem as it's well within 80 % idle on its CPU.
The issue I'm experiencing is that the extruder starts slipping at some point along the print. It's not the clicky type of slipping that appears to be the common issue but rather it's just spinning and grinding on the filament which is remaining stationary. When this happens the printer continues on about its business as it's unaware that filament is not coming out. I move the Z-axis up, squeeze the extruder lever and try to push on the filament which is not budging, which made me think I had a clogged nozzle. I was surprised as it's a brand new printer but the internet says that nozzles clog up so I disassembled and cleaned it just to find that it happens again on my very next print. I noticed that when I pull or push on the filament by hand while squeezing the extruder lever - relieving pressure from the gear, it is quite hard to do so, even partly impossible as my fingers start to slip, I have to squeeze extremely hard or use pliers. I pulled the filament out using quite a bit of force, then snapped off the piece that was already in the tubing and inserted fresh filament which slid very easily through the white tubing to the hot end and when reaching it by pushing very gently I start to see filament coming out as opposed to pushing really hard and barely anything coming out previously. If I do that and return the Z-axis to its position then resume the print it continues until that happens again.
My bed is leveled as best as I can, I downloaded the bed leveling G-codes that help a lot to achieve good adhesion, my prints look pretty much perfect, smooth lines very pleasing to the look and touch, until what I mentioned above happens.
I don't understand what could be the reason that my filament would just bind up like that and snipping it off and inserting a new piece there's no sign of the issue whatsoever.
Notes for what it's worth:
* I'm using cheap black PLA 1.75 mm
* Hotend temperature 200 °C
* Bed temperature 60 °C
* Printing speed 50 mm/s
* The extruder pulley (white wheel with the bearing) bolt is not tightened to the end as recommended on the internet
* The spring bolt on the extruder is not tightened also, as I see there are marks on the filament that went past the extruder wheel, anyway I tried tightening it for the sake of it and it didn't help
* My extruder arm is not cracked
* The gear (brass wheel) doesn't seem to be damaged
# Answer
> 1 votes
This is probably the filament. I've had the exact same issue on my Ender 3 Pro and solved it by baking the filament.
I suggest you try with another filament just to make sure. Or bake a length of the filament for a couple of hours at 50 degrees and try again.
The other possibility is that the filament is not consistent in diameter.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I experienced similar problems when I changed to other filament. The solution was to open my enclosure as the inside temperature was too hot and the filament got too soft for extraction.
Moreover have a look at the gear wheels position and maybe adjust the height a bit. At one time my wheel screws got loosened and the wheel was sitting too low resulting in irregular skipping.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I had a similar issue with my Ender 3, and it was a combination of things. First, the hot end (inside) was clogged. I took the entire thing apart, heated it up, and cleaned it out. There is also a method called a cold pull, I did that a few times.
I then also replaced the Bowden tube because it had gunk in it and cause the filament to not flow as it needed.
After doing those two things, the printer began extruding.
One thing I noticed is that those little brass wheels get worn down by the filament really quickly if the stuff isn't moving through the Bowden tube. The PLA just grinds the gear down. You should probably replace that wheel/roller or just get the all-metal extruder like one from Amazon. I think this is worth the $10.
Also, you may suffer from under extrusion after doing this and you should probably calibrate your extruder.
It's not hard.
Doing these things got my Ender back up and running.
---
Tags: pla, extruder, filament
--- |
thread-19603 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19603 | Resin printers: What effect does altering the lift distance on a Resin printer have, and what are the consequences of getting it wrong? | 2022-06-27T17:15:57.927 | # Question
Title: Resin printers: What effect does altering the lift distance on a Resin printer have, and what are the consequences of getting it wrong?
Slicing software for resin printers: Chitubox, for example, has a setting labelled "Lift Distance", which as far as I can tell determines how far build plate is lifted in between layers.
A layer is printer, the build plate is moved a set distance upwards, and is then moved back down again until the lowest layer is just above the FEP, ready for the next layer to be exposed.
In Chitubox this defaults to 7mm.
What effect does increasing this beyond 7mm have, will it simply increase the total print time or have any other effects.
Will reducing it below 7mm have any effects, other than decreasing the total print time?
If the distance is set too low, will it mean that new resin cannot flow properly into the gap under the build plate, or are there other potential consequences?
# Answer
> 1 votes
# Print time
Raising the bed takes time. In fact, it is possibly more time spent in moving the bed than curing the layers.
# Caveat emptor!
You can reduce the lift height, but you might suffer:
Lifting too little means, that you might not move enough to separate from the FEP film fully - the film is a somewhat stretchy film and you need to raise enough to come free fully to get clean layers, resulting in deformed or missing areas or even just a solid plate that stays at the bottom and separates from the printed.
High viscosity resin not properly flowing in might also be a problem, but of lesser importance generally.
---
Tags: slicing, sla
--- |
thread-19558 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19558 | Missing filament at Z seam | 2022-06-15T12:49:45.613 | # Question
Title: Missing filament at Z seam
The object on the right is a basic C channel, the outer surface should be smooth but the first ~5 mm of filament is missing after every layer change. In this example, the missing filament is reasonably consistent and extreme. The object on the left (from the same print) has a seam where the filament is also missing but it was not a layer change so it is only missing 1-2 mm.
But when printing a benchy the gap is not as large and has different lengths. The other side of the Benchy looks great, this side has all of the seams on it.
Details
* Anet A6 direct drive
* Marlin firmware with the latest Octoprint
* Heated enclosure, glass bed @ 60 °C
* eSun PLA, have used many cheaper brands all with the same issue
* Printing at 210 °C but have tested 180-220 °C
When printing an army of Benchys, I thought this was a retraction issue and test all sorts of settings with small increments but did not fix the issue. It was after printing this C channel that the issue was more clearly highlighted.
Things that I have attempted to resolve this
* Geomerty calerbration
* Extruder calerbration
* Filament temperature range tests
* Retraction distance and speed towers
* Retraction distance and temperature towers
* Disabling retraction (worth a short) - Disabling retraction during only Z hop (did nothing)
* Different version of Cura
* Different filament brands
Can not seem to figure out what the issue here is and have run out of ideas on what to do next.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Several things to try:
* Dry your filament. Wet filament can have trouble resuming after retract due to moisture absorbing all the heat and slowing the melt, and can also drastically increase internal oozing, leading to missing material later.
* Adjust Cura settng "Max comb distance with no retract": set very low, around 1mm. Having this at the default (unlimited) causes serious oozing inside the model leading to missing material on the next extrusion path. You'll want to turn on "Connect infill lines" when changing this or you'll introduce **a lot** of extra retractions that will make your prints very slow.
* If using Linear Advance make sure it's not set too high. Some users get carried away calibrating it for pretty corners, but if you go too high, you'll end up with serious underextrusion wherever the toolpath slows down. It needs to be set as close to perfect as possible, erring on the side of a lower K value rather than a higher one if unsure.
* If your printer has a Bowden extruder system (I believe yours does not relevant to OP's printer), check that all the tube fittings are holding the tube snug and that it does not move in/out on retract/unretract. If there's play in the tube, this can make retraction and unretraction ineffective, causing all sorts of artifacts that can be similar to those of having bad retraction settings, but that can't be fixed by changing settings.
# Answer
> 2 votes
### Posting my own solution here
The seams are printing normally now and the solution was simple. The extruder gear was not gripping the filament correctly during retractions and was slipping as a result. Figured this out because the gear seemed to be dirty, which made me think 'how could it get dirty?'.
There was an adjustment that compresses a spring that holds the filament against the extruder gear, it just needed some adjusting.
Thank you to everyone for your ideas, I was close to quitting with this printer.
---
Tags: underextrusion, anet-a6, retraction
--- |
thread-19613 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19613 | How much extra resin should put in my vat beyond what the slicer says that it needs? | 2022-07-01T19:01:16.513 | # Question
Title: How much extra resin should put in my vat beyond what the slicer says that it needs?
Starting with the premise that I that I can't just fill the vat to the brim (For example, because I don't have enough of a particular resin to do so), is there a rule of thumb, or a manufacturer's recommendation on how much resin I should put in my vat beyond the amount that my slicers says that it needs to print successfully, as a safety net against running the vat too low during the print due to uncured resin being retained on the surface of my model or inside a hollowed out model, and not freely floating in the vat?
For example, if I have a tank with XYZ dimension, and the slicer says that it needs 100ml of resin to completed, should I put in 150ml, 200ml, 300ml?, or percentage more ML based on the size of my vat?
I'm looking for the recommended minimum safety margin not to go below, not a maximum level.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Your vat should have markings indicating a maximum level. Filling to the brim will result in a Eureka moment, one much messier than the original bathtub version.
Consider that you want sufficient volume of resin to ensure that there will be some remaining on the vat when the build plate is lifted. Too little resin might result in areas of zero coverage. A low volume of resin may also affect how quickly the residual volume flows into the vacated area of the vat.
If you don't wish to use the max volume option of the vat (no markings? Check the manual) you could perform a test.
Pour resin to cover the vat surface. Use the manual controls to return the bed to home position. There will be some overflow on the build plate, but certainly not to exit the vat. Add enough resin to provide a few millimeters of coverage, then add the volume indicated by the slicer.
Most models are not solid blocks encompassing the entire area of the vat and as the build plate lifts, less resin will be required to cover the tapering portions of the model, ensuring better coverage than a minimum.
---
Tags: slicing, resin
--- |
thread-19595 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19595 | Print turns into spaghetti on Ender 3 Pro | 2022-06-26T07:47:41.797 | # Question
Title: Print turns into spaghetti on Ender 3 Pro
So I was printing a low poly bunny and all of a sudden the new layers didn't adhere to the other layers. I don't think it was printing an overhang.
I have an ender 3 pro which I use together with Cura. I print in PLA at 200 °C. The print bed is set to 60 °C. I use a print cooling fan at 100 %. The layer height I set to 0.2 mm, the line width 0.4 mm from the 0.4 mm nozzle. The Printing Speed is set to 30 mm/s for outer walls, 60 mm/s for inner walls, and 60 mm/s for infill. My retraction is 6.5 mm
# Answer
If the print didn't stay adhered to the bed during the spaghettification, depending on where it was in the print (outer wall, inner wall, infill), I suspect that you might be printing too fast for that area.
This would cause friction to build enough to shift the print or even knock it over, and then you're printing in the air with nothing to support it.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, print-quality
--- |
thread-19619 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19619 | My printer clogs after Printing TPU! How can I fix it back up? | 2022-07-02T15:44:16.010 | # Question
Title: My printer clogs after Printing TPU! How can I fix it back up?
After printing some parts in TPU, I encountered continuous clogging after returning to PLA. Not right out of the bat, but after about an hour or such, all prints I started since the swap back clog after about an hour. I use an Ender-3, Bowden Style, and print my PLA generally at 200 °C. The TPU had been listed as 220-240 °C on the roll, so I printed at 230 °C.
How can I regain normal printing behavior?!
# Answer
> 2 votes
## What's the cause of the problem?
The problem is the dissimilar printing temperatures:
* TPU is printed at around $\pu{230 °C}$
* PLA is printed at around $\pu{200 °C}$
As a result, when the PLA is molten and well printable already, residue of TPU in the hotend is at an awkward spot: it is molten enough to seep down along the filament path with molten PLA, but it is not soft enough to get easily extruded from the nozzle. This is what leads to clogging.
## Problem solution
To fix the clogging, I took the following steps after the very first time I encountered it:
* Swap the nozzle to reduce the residue still in the machine
* Do a cold-pull with the PLA, taking away a quite good chunk of the residue that still might remain in the heatbreak.
* Finally, do a *purge* print at an elevated temperature. For me, about $\pu{215 °C}$ did work to get the last traces of residue from the heartbreak out.-
There you go! One restored printing behavior!
Technically, the nozzle swap and cold pull were *overkill*, but reduced the amount of TPU that needed to be purged out of the nozzle.
## Refined problem solution
Since the problem occurred first, I managed to refine my procedure to prevent clogs in the first place.
* Heat the nozzle to ca. $\pu{230 °C}$
* Pull the TPU Filament without cooling
* Load the PLA Filament
* Manually push filament until the about 10 to 15 mm are extruded from the nozzle
* Order the extruder to extrude 10 cm of Filament
* Set print temperature down to to $\pu{200 °C}$
While the extruder pushes the PLA through at an elevated temperature, it clears the whole path while cooling down, and can cycle right into the next print. It can help to use a different color PLA than the TPU to have a visible confirmation of the last residue being gone.
Another helpful indicator is the cooling down filament's flexibility: as long as TPU is in the mix, the extruded string is bendy but becomes stiff as soon as there is almost no more residue in it.
---
Tags: troubleshooting, pla, tpu
--- |
thread-19331 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19331 | Severe blobbing prevents printing. What settings can I change to fix this? | 2022-05-03T23:18:33.683 | # Question
Title: Severe blobbing prevents printing. What settings can I change to fix this?
Bought a new printer. When this problem has happened anywhere from the third to the twentieth layer up. An excess of filament suddenly exits the nozzle, often pulling the print from the bed when the nozzle moves away. The only advice I've found so far is that the nozzle or hotend may have damage, but I didn't find any when removing them to examine them. I've tried a few different ranges of settings. Guidance would be appreciated.
I'm using a Creality Ender 3 with out-of-the-box equipment and slicing with the most recent Creality Print version. Settings are default (bed: 70 °C and hot end: 200 °C).
Here's what I get if I set everything to default, switch filament spool, and use a .gcode file that was sent in-box from the manufacturer. There was not really ever anything printed, since the blob was stuck to the nozzle and was dragged around in three dimensions until I stopped the printer.
# Answer
> 1 votes
More information would be useful, to narrow the possible causes, but consider to perform an extrusion step check. This involves marking the filament at the most convenient location. This would be at the top of the extruder on a direct drive system, at the removed bowden tube for a non-direct drive system or at the entrance to the bowden tube on the same time of system. Mark also a specific distance, often 10 mm or 100 mm and then command an extrusion of that distance.
Perform this with the extruder positioned a suitable distance from the bed, to avoid collection around the nozzle.
Compare the amount moved by the extruder with the marks created. This will determine if you have extruder step mismatch.
This requires a means to communicate with the printer, either via manually created g-code on the card or via appropriate software while connected to the printer via USB.
# Answer
> 1 votes
If I don't concentrate on the blob, but on the rest of the print of first posted image, it can be concluded that the initial distance of the nozzle to the bed is too large. This causes adhesion problems and buildup of material like a blob.
Dial in the correct nozzle to bed distance using a piece of paper and depending on the bed surface an adhesion product.
# Answer
> 0 votes
That's not excessive Filament, it is "blobbing".
Blobbing happens in several cases, but the most common are:
* The printed filament is deposited too hot on other hot filament, resulting in the filament to get dragged behind and create a *bead* of molten plastic that hardens out as a long blob.
+ A typical reason for this would be to print a thin cylinder of a vers small diameter without forcing a break in between the layers. The best example I have for you is a 6mm outer diameter hollow cylinder with exactly 2 perimeters (one inner, one outer). If this is printed continuously, this item can be brought reliably to blob.
+ If the printhead crosses over already printed but not adhering filament on the bed, it can pick up that filament, gathering a blob at the nozzle by accumulation. That is most likely what happened on the photo.
* The model might be defective creating areas that induce blobbing.
* A bad slicer solution and settings can induce in blobbing.
I strongly suggest to use either PrusasSlicer (a Slic3r derivate) or Ultimaker Cura, from which Creality Print diverges. Note, 70 °C bed temperature for PLA is excessive -\> 50 °C are more than enough usually.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, print-quality, calibration
--- |
thread-19615 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19615 | Glass bed is higher in center when corners are leveled | 2022-07-01T21:25:55.317 | # Question
Title: Glass bed is higher in center when corners are leveled
After leveling the corners of my bed (Ender 3 Pro, with Creality glass bed) the center of my bed is higher. When I start a print the nozzle is so close to the glass bed no filament is laid down.
Is there any way to independently level the center of my bed? No matter how much I adjust the knobs I can't get the center leveled.
---
*I bodged it to print the first layer nicely by simply using a raft. Its working for the benchy I am currently printing, but I don't know how feasible a whole beds' worth of parts is on a massive raft. But for the time being this should work for now.*
# Answer
> 1 votes
If the glass is not straight you can do 3 things:
* use a bltouch or some other mesh level mechanism.
* adjust the height for the center of the bed, so you can print small prints with no problem. Do this by leveling the 4 corners and then adjusting all 4 knobs the same amount until the center is at the correct height.
* probably the best thing to do is get a new glass plate. Creality has more issues with warped or bulged print-surfaces. Maybe your supplier can take care of this for you.
---
Tags: bed-leveling, adhesion
--- |
thread-16213 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/16213 | G28 is not homing to center of bed | 2021-04-28T21:04:21.980 | # Question
Title: G28 is not homing to center of bed
I've got a heavily modified CR-10s Pro, and I'm compiling my firmware. I have my own x-carriage with the probe changed to the right of the nozzle. The bed size is 300x300. Oddly, when I do a G28 the printer homes to (177, 0). I can't understand where it's getting the number 177 from.
In Configuration.h I have:
```
// The size of the print bed
#define X_BED_SIZE 300
#define Y_BED_SIZE 300
// Travel limits (mm) after homing, corresponding to endstop positions.
#define X_MIN_POS 0
#define Y_MIN_POS 0
#define Z_MIN_POS 0
#define X_MAX_POS 310
#define Y_MAX_POS 315
#define Z_MAX_POS 395
```
And
```
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING
#if ENABLED(Z_SAFE_HOMING)
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING_X_POINT X_CENTER // X point for Z homing
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING_Y_POINT Y_CENTER // Y point for Z homing
#endif
```
# Answer
> 1 votes
In my case: in section homing I've uncomented
```
#define USE_XMAX_PLUG
```
Apparently, when using sensorless homing, it is undesire.
---
Tags: marlin, firmware
--- |
thread-19608 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19608 | Ender 3 not allowing z=0 regardless of z offset value | 2022-06-29T20:03:13.490 | # Question
Title: Ender 3 not allowing z=0 regardless of z offset value
Using TH3D firmware with some small changes to allow manual mesh levelling and to increase the serial baud rate, neither of which are active when the error presented.
When auto home is used either through the LCD or by directly pushing a command to the printer it (correctly) says that x=0, y=0 but is incessant that z=0.3. When measuring with a feeler guage it turns out it is correct on what the Z value is, which would be fine if it wasnt for the fact it refuses to go lower than its percieved Z=0.3, even when I intentionally screw up the homing so that the endstop does not trigger at that height.
I've tried setting a z offset both through serial connection and through the LCD and it echos them back and appears to listen to the changes in that the nozzle distance changes but still the printer assumes that when the endstop is triggered Z=0.3, which makes absolutely no sense to me.
Any help would be appreciated
# Answer
> 1 votes
The issue with the TH3D firmware I'm using (the latest available for the Melzi ender 3 as of now) is I could not find any values for the minimum Z value, this was because it is not explicitly defined in the configs by default.
Digging around some borderline prehistoric docs and forum posts I found to fix this it needs defining in the configuration\_backend.h (as far as I can tell - might also function in other config files).
```
#define Z_MIN_POS 0
```
My current assumption was by not defining this marlin was either assuming some incorrect default or the printer was assuming some long past set value and making it impossible to change this default through a serial connection without updating the firmware. (again this is a guess - it may be possible)
This can also obviously be used to set any Z minimum e.g. for a bed that is higher than it's endstops.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, firmware, th3d
--- |
thread-19627 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19627 | Is there an example of tight coupling between CAD and sliced models? | 2022-07-06T10:51:23.863 | # Question
Title: Is there an example of tight coupling between CAD and sliced models?
I am on the hunt for CAD packages which can perform some level of slicing as an inherent model feature, instead of either exporting to STL and then importing into the slicer (a la OnShape) or directly opening the slicer from within the software (a la Fusion 360). I would like this because I want to model directly for the print instead of having to go through an iterative process where certain tools cannot be used to their fullest extent.
For instance, it's very easy for me to print a model, measure it to quantify shrink, and then backport required changes into my CAD model. However, this is not ideal as it prevents me from analyzing the model before print. (For instance, using the CAD software to calculate mass, C.G., moment of inertia, or doing mechanical and thermal analysis on the printed shape, not the modeled solid.)
In a perfect world, I'd have the ability to run Cura as an operation on the model. The resulting CAD would then include the infill structures as well as any required modifications to the original part, e.g. a discrepancy between the desired height and the printed height or a wall width vs the nozzle width.
Is there anything out there which fits the bill? I know nothing is perfect, but anything right now would be a big step forward.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Blender has a CNC slicer plugin, it's not exactly what you're asking for but it can perform some of the tasks that you're asking for.
CNC slicer for Blender
# Answer
> 0 votes
Microsoft 3d builder will do it. It's far from the best CAD or Printing software though. Works very well for what it is.
---
Tags: slicing, cad
--- |
thread-19638 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19638 | ENDER 3 PRO - Install Dual-Z - Endstops trigger OK, but don't stop the stepper | 2022-07-10T09:46:45.127 | # Question
Title: ENDER 3 PRO - Install Dual-Z - Endstops trigger OK, but don't stop the stepper
While waiting for BTT technical support to reply to my email, I thought I would ask this community for help.
I own an Ender 3 Pro, upgraded 2 years ago with BTT SKR Mini E3 V2.0 + TFT35 E3 V3.0. Firmware MARLIN BUGFIX-2.0.x of 23/03/2020. (no change).
Everything OK, a significant upgrade from stock hardware.
Today I installed the second Z-axis (with its stepper motor), connecting it to the output (ZBM) of the motherboard.
The Stepper works fine, but all the limit switches (x, y, z) don't stop the stepper.
The end stops responding correctly to `M119` ('open' state), when pressed manually they change to the 'triggered' state. But they don't stop the relative axis stepper motor when I perform (i.e.) a homing.
Can you suggest me a solution?
# Answer
I performed a factory reset and the end-stop situation has normalized.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3
--- |
thread-7496 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7496 | Filament long term storage | 2018-11-26T16:01:52.730 | # Question
Title: Filament long term storage
I was noticing on a print I had just done that the quality was not up to typical snuff. I had just started using a roll of PLA filament that I had been keeping on a shelf without a wrapper for a couple months. How long can you store filament before it gets too hydrated from the air to print? I expected more than a couple months but perhaps I am wrong?
# Answer
> 4 votes
In **theory**, most filaments don't go bad within a year. However, praxis shows, that averse conditions can impact the filaments over time and age them to unusability.
Among the damaging factors is heat, but most filaments also are hygroscopic and absorb water to some small degree, or even heavily like Nylon.
As a result, it always a good idea to at least try to store filament dry. To enforce this, some use racks in a well-heated room, others are blessed with very dry weather overall. And on some locations, like the coast, you might even be forced to use dryboxes for each and every filament to try to slow the degradation of steady hot humid air leaching out the additions from the filament.
Dryboxes can keep the filament reasonably isolated from the surrounding air and so prevent moisture interacting with them to some degree. It is also a good idea to store them out of direct sunlight, as UV light might destroy color and/or the plastic. More information on why to use them is for example at this question
A couple construction videos using an IKEA box and a bit of foam were offered by Tom (Thomas Sanladerer) and CNC Kitchen (Stefan Hermann) in 2017.
But fear not: most filaments - PLA included - can be freshened up again if the damage is not to prolonged! Baking them at a low temperature or storing them in a dehumidifier has worked in some climates. For PLA, keep the temperature at below 80°C. A couple of hours should get some the moisture that has seeped in out again. The Quality might not get back to that of fresh filament in all cases, but you might at least regain reasonable to good printability.
Also note, that different filaments are differently affected. ABS for example is a little less hygroscopic than PLA, while HIPS is one of the least hygroscopic filaments available.
# Answer
> 1 votes
The answer is that it depends on the climate you are in or the climate in your house. The more humid, and the higher the temperature, the faster the moisture is taken up in the filament (note also that 40 % RH on a warm day has **much** more moisture in the air than 60 % RH on a cold day).
I have obtained a spool of filament that has been left in the garage for a few months, this spool has taken up so much moisture that it has become very brittle (unspooling will break the filament). Note that once the filament has taken up moisture, you could de-hydrate it, but it will never reach the same properties anymore as the moisture will change the molecules (shorten them), once broken they will not fuse by hydrating. It will however get rid of the water content so that there will be no steam bubbles when you print the filament.
Note that there are many types and brands of PLA, each with their own formula. The quality of the PLA has improved much over the years, implying that the moisture intake also depends on the brand and time of purchase. It is therefore very difficult to answer your question with a specific time frame, it could be months, but it could also be a week.
<sub> My largest printer is located in a room where occasionally laundry is being dried, and although there is only a little ventilation, the large spools of PETG do not take up the moisture of the laundry. Basically, the moisture saturation is also depending on the type of filament.</sub>
# Answer
> 1 votes
> I expected more than a couple months but perhaps I am wrong?
It depends on the filament, the shipping and the local conditions. I'm on an Island, so very high humidity.
We have several useless spools that never worked out of the box. They were shipped seafreight from China and had a couple of months journey. Only 2 spools out of 10 were useable.
With other filament seafreighted from Australia for 3 weeks filament here seems to last about a month at best, with 4 days being the lower limit so far. This is despite being kept in an airconditioned room most of the time.
We have had limited success with drying them out.
# Answer
> 0 votes
To answer your question: it depends on the relative humidity. Generally, a few weeks in a semi-arid environment. But, it'll still print really well. If you're looking for really tight filament diameter tolerances, a week or even less could change the diameter .001 or more if there is moisture in the air. I've used PLA that has been exposed to air for a few months and it's been fine, but with small issues.
If the filament has absorbed too much moisture, you'll typically hear popping coming from the hot extruder as the water is burned off at the nozzle. Sometimes steam comes out of the nozzle when printing as well with "wet" filament. Usually, you can still get great results even if it has absorbed moisture. If the filament diameter has been affected significantly, (if it jams, or the water keeps the plastic too cool when it's coming off the nozzle) you can dry it out in an oven for a few hours like @trish suggested. I keep my filaments in a plastic bag with desiccant inside a big storage bin. Probably overkill but my water softener is in the same room and introduces moisture to the air, and my a/c blows right at the setup.
Dust is probably worse because it can accumulate much faster and cause jams.
source and reading
https://www.fusion3design.com/the-importance-of-properly-storing-your-3d-printing-filament/
---
Tags: filament, filament-quality
--- |
thread-19642 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19642 | Filament choice: durable, flexible, long space frame | 2022-07-11T18:52:40.727 | # Question
Title: Filament choice: durable, flexible, long space frame
I need to build a space frame (see Structural Mechanics) which however long it will be (e.g. 2 m), durable, flexible, supporting itself and small weight over. Let's imagine it as a fixed umbrella with that frame under which you can squeeze and come back to shape.
Which filaments should I check?
PS. I know the size is big but it is fine if I build it in pieces.
# Answer
> 1 votes
TPU filament is the only thing I can suggest if you must 3d print this gadget. It's strong and flexible.
---
Tags: filament
--- |
thread-14326 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/14326 | Problem printing bigger models in the Ender 5 | 2020-08-25T18:06:18.027 | # Question
Title: Problem printing bigger models in the Ender 5
In all the bigger prints I print on my Ender 5 with PETG I have problems with warping and raft detachment during printing. I have a glass bed and I'm using Ultimaker Cura 4.6.1 standard printing settings for PETG (Recently I had some success using 245 °C nozzle temperature and 80 °C build plate).
Any ideas how to reduce those problems?
# Answer
> 1 votes
Every print is somewhat affected by chamber temperature. On small prints, or prints with lower-temperature materials, the improvement is minor.
However, large prints with higher-temperature materials (like PETG) really benefit from a heated chamber. This helps by keeping the entire build close to the glass transition temperature until it's all done, and then letting it all cool together, more uniformly. Uniform cooling reduces the stresses of having different layers cool at different times and rates.
# Answer
> 0 votes
This sounds like a bed leveling issue. As reported by others, I get much less warping with PETG than with ABS or even PLA, and deal with too much adhesion with PETG rather than too little. With a Reprap x400, I printed a faceplate for the extruder to hold a electronic drop indicator. This gives me much higher precision leveling. Of course, I remove the drop indicator after leveling.
If leveling isn't the issue, then you may be printing too fast. The recommendations I've seen are to print PETG at 50 mm/s or less. I print a a lower speed than that.
---
Tags: adhesion, heat-management, petg, warping, creality-ender-5
--- |
thread-19571 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19571 | Marlin 2.1 reboots before printing model when power recovery is enabled | 2022-06-20T16:02:14.127 | # Question
Title: Marlin 2.1 reboots before printing model when power recovery is enabled
Ender 3 Pro with Creality 4.2.7 board. Just flashed Marlin 2.1. Enabled POWER\_LOSS\_RECOVERY
Problem: The printer will successfully go through auto leveling and the clean/prep line on the left side. When the line finished I see the LCD rebooting. If I disable Power Loss Recovery in the menu it will start the print without any issue. Already tried reflashing but no luck. Any idea how I can print with Power Loss Recovery enabled?
# Answer
I have the same issue with marlin 2.1.x bugfix. I just downloaded it this morning, installed it on 6 machines.
If power loss is disabled absolutely everything works, but as soon as I enable power loss recovery, it will auto home all, heat up the bed and nozzle, do the purge line on far left of build plate, attempt the very first layer, and then reboots, reheats, and keeps retrying...
Funny thing is that for some reason my printers print so much better with Marlin 2.1, so I really need power loss to work as well.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, marlin, firmware
--- |
thread-19660 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19660 | Bottom layer print speed - When do you reach diminishing returns? | 2022-07-17T11:30:37.127 | # Question
Title: Bottom layer print speed - When do you reach diminishing returns?
When printing the bottom\initial layers on an FDM printer using PLA, how slow can you go before hitting diminishing returns (the speed at which you gain no additional advantages in terms of print quality or adhesion).
I'm using an Ender 5 with stock firmware and no modifications. 0.4mm nozzle.
# Answer
The primary objective of a slower print speed for the first one to two layers is to ensure a bonding to the build plate. Print quality is not likely to improve at speeds slower than the stick/no-stick speed. For a given brand and color of filament, there will be a binary assessment. "This speed sticks to the bed" versus "this speed doesn't stick to the bed."
If there are quality variations in the print at different speeds, there may be other factors involved, such as extrusion rate, retraction distance, z-hop, etc.
It's difficult to consider a diminishing returns reference, as it's going to be "it works" or "it doesn't work." The increase in print time for going slower isn't going to contain much value in this situation.
To determine a specific speed requires experimentation. The default for your particular slicer in use is the starting point. One can increase the first layer speed by 5 mm / second and run a test. Examine the results for quality and adhesion. Increase by five for each succeeding test until the results become unacceptable.
Note that different plastics will have different speeds. I've not experimented with changing the default speeds except for TPU, which requires slower speeds.
You may discover that you can get away with much higher speeds than the default with one particular filament brand and color, but changing brand or color may change the results.
To address your comment, the two sections of your question appear to be opposites, but for both, only experimentation will find the specific range (not exact speed) you seek.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: fdm, speed
--- |
thread-19659 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19659 | Easy way to visually inspect/preview large amount of stl files (on Linux)? | 2022-07-17T10:43:51.960 | # Question
Title: Easy way to visually inspect/preview large amount of stl files (on Linux)?
I'm a beginner in 3d printing, so please bear with me.
I downloaded a zip with about 100 STL files. I now want to pick one or two to print. The names of the stl files are not very helpful so I need to look at them to find the ones I want. I can open all of them one by one using Cura, or Tinkercad, but that is a very slow and long process with so many files. Ideally I would like to have an overview of all the files in little previews so that I can get an idea what they are to narrow down which files I need to open to inspect the details.
Is there a program with which I can do something like that? I'm on Linux, but tips about Windows/Mac software would also help since I can use it to search for Linux alternatives to that software. All tips are welcome!
# Answer
> 10 votes
Using the search terms, "linux stl viewer," a number of results appear. One of the more promising programs, for Mac, Windows and Linux appears to be fast stl viewer, aka fstl. Image from linked site. Instructions included on the linked site to make fstl the default viewer for STL files.
# Answer
> 6 votes
```
#!/bin/sh
if [ ! -d thumb ] ; then
mkdir thumb
fi
for e in stl STL ; do
for i in *.$e ; do
j=`basename "$i" .$e`
if [ ! -f thumb/"$j".png -o "$i" -nt thumb/"$j".png ] ; then
echo $j
echo "import(\"$i\");" > x.scad
openscad -o thumb/"$j".png --imgsize=100,100 x.scad
fi
done
done
rm -f x.scad
```
Quick and dirty script I've used to maintain a thumbnail directory. It uses OpenScad to generate the default view for a part; not always the best view, but for most parts, this is sufficient. Once you have the thumbnails, use gthumb or something to view them.
# Answer
> 4 votes
If you are on Linux, and a little capable in programming or scripting, a very handy tool is OpenSCAD. It can even be used from the command line from a shell.
You can load in STL files and offset them in a graphical view or loop through a list.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Cura's probably your best bet. You can select several STL files and it will open them all, (memory allowing) then try to place them for printing. If they can't fit on your print bed the items get placed off to the side. Clicking on the object will show its name in the lower-left, so you can go rename the file to be more representative.
Tinkercad can only import one item at a time, and tops out at 25 Mbytes.
---
Tags: slicing, software
--- |
thread-19683 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19683 | Nozzle scratching on second layer | 2022-07-21T12:18:10.583 | # Question
Title: Nozzle scratching on second layer
I've been searching for hours for the reason why my Ender 3 Pro, after a perfect first layer, is scratching on the second layer and so on the next few, after that it normalizes and then prints normally.
I reduced the first layer height, but this gives other issues, changed bad and nozzle temperature.
Is there any possibility in PrusaSlicer to command the Z-stepper to go a little bit higher after the first layer?
# Answer
> 1 votes
This is an issue that can be caused by a nozzle that is too close to the bed or you are over-extruding in the first layer. Basically, there is too much material in the space that is appointed for it, after a few layers this usually levels out.
The initial distance between the nozzle and the bed usually is calibrated with the paper sheet method. If the gap is too small, the paper drags considerable, you should change the bed screws to give a little more space that the paper drags less. Alternatively use feeler gauges.
If the nozzle is too close (if it touches the bed the filament flow will be hindered and you will hear a thumping noise) the filament flow may be too big so that the filament is thrusted upwards beside the nozzle (structure on the build late looks like a ploughed field). Filament is always over-extruded by the firmware in most slicers (Slic3r, on which PrusaSlicer is based, and e,g Cura do that), there are settings to reduce that, but these shouldn't be changed. You can look into increasing the first layer height a little, lift the whole print up (e.g. in Cura there is a plugin called `Z Offset Setting` by developer fieldOfView available in the marketplace), or redefine the height of the first layer in your start G-code.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, print-quality, prusaslicer
--- |
thread-19671 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19671 | Disparity between Sketchup STL and Slicer | 2022-07-18T07:41:50.733 | # Question
Title: Disparity between Sketchup STL and Slicer
I've created a little enclosure for a project in sketchup
I then exported the .STL
When I open it in Creality slicer 4.8 or Cura 5.0 It looks like this
I thought that the red was "overhang that needs support" (but can also mean a shell?)
Hoever, that's not the irritating part. That would be the grey in the middle where the "hole" should be.
When I slice it, it looks like this:
I didn't notice this before I started printing and 4 hours into the print I noticed that it was just completely ignoring the window and was considering it as a part of the base.
Why is it doing this and how can I fix it?
I've tried editing the original sketchup model a number of times, but I keep getting the same result.
I read the question and answer at Empty space in model is getting filled but I'm not 100% sure that this is the solution I'm looking for.
The slicer, knows enough to see that the hole should be there, as it is rendering in a shaded area. It feels like there is a setting or some such that is "print the shaded area" with a checkbox (on or off) - and if that setting is there, someone please tell me where to find it!
I've also tried importing the STL into other programs (like fusion 360) and RE-exporting the STL, but the issue persists.
---
*Please note that this question seems to be similar to mine, however, there isn't an accepted answer. The one provided below is actually a much better answer.*
# Answer
> 3 votes
**Use Solid Inspector to fix problems**
Before exporting your Sketchup model to STL use Solid Inspector. It is available for free from the Sketchup extensions page and will detect reversed faces, stray edges, surface borders. The "main problems" mentioned above are then eliminated.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Sketchup is known for creating print-preventing problems of this nature.
Consider to run your STL file through a checker that will determine if the model is manifold or has self-intersecting faces. One can use Meshmixer feature, Analysis, Inspector, or also Windows 3DBuilder, which will perform a repair if desired. It is possible that the repair will result in a filled space, however, which would require editing in the original program.
# Answer
> 3 votes
The main issues with Sketchup are making sure the inner and outer direction of the surfaces are correct and deleting internal surfaces made by Sketchup, that shouldn't be there. My guess is the filled in hole in the middle is due to a setting in the slicer to fill in inner surfaces.
---
Tags: sketchup
--- |
thread-19666 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19666 | First layers going funny | 2022-07-17T17:08:52.663 | # Question
Title: First layers going funny
I've just bought my first 3D printer (Malyan M200 V2). For the most part, it's been really good and I've had no issues, apart from when printing the first few layers the printer doesn't seem to extrude enough material and doesn't form the correct shape. Whether it's a circle, rectangle, or anything else. So for example I've printed the below part.
The raft prints perfectly:
Then when it starts the first few layers of the actual print it extrudes a bit of material which then hangs from the nozzle and is dragged about the surface of the raft before stopping as more material is extruded. So when the print finishes the first layer looks messy like the one below:
But everything after the first few layers is perfect for example the top of the same print:
I've tried adjusting the temperature of the nozzle and the print bed neither has made a difference. The bed is level I've double-checked that. Trying to find the issue online keeps bringing me back to temperature or bed levelling.
I'm using this PrimaValue PLA Filament
The leaflet in the box recommends printing at 210 °C, I've tried 210, 215, and 220 °C.
The print bed I've been keeping at 60 °C which seems to have been working but I've tried printing down to 45 °C on the print bed and the same issue occurs. I'm not sure what an ideal temperature is for PLA, I've seen some posts saying that a heated bed isn't needed for PLA and others saying that it should be heated to between 50-70 °C (my printer only heats up to 60 °C).
I've looked at some of the settings in Cura and there are various settings for things like initial speed and first/last layer speed which sound like they might help but I don't know anything about them. I have tried slowing down the print but again I just watched it happen more slowly, albeit that did help some as that's when I've realised it doesn't appear to be pushing out enough material on the first few layers. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Hi Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been experimenting with various prints using some of the different settings and it appears that I needed to increase the initial layer height. Now the first layers are printing as they should.
# Answer
> 1 votes
PLA doesn't need a raft.
Try printing without a raft. If you print with a raft because of adhesion problems, solve those first. A raft is only needed for filaments that shrink a lot and/or are printing at very high temperatures.
If you want a raft, check the distance between raft and print object and know that a raft never gives a smooth bottom. This is because in order to prevent fusion of the print object to the raft a distance between the raft and the print object is accounted for. A property that controls the distance between the raft and the print object is called `Raft Air Gap` in Ultimaker Cura. Default for my setup this is 0.3 mm which I find rather large.
For example (not raft, but support with a solid top layer, which is quite similar to a raft), I have used support structures with a roof to support large flat overhanging areas that where printed at 0.2 mm distance, this gave relatively good surface quality and barely no fusion to the print.
# Answer
> 1 votes
It seems to me that the problem is over extrusion. Those temperatures might be a little high for this PLA. In my settings I usually put it on 200 or 205 °C (when printing faster). But the real problem might be a wrong extrusion multiplier for the first layers or a mixed with temperature, low speed, or no retraction.
My advice:
1. Try a little bit lower temperature
2. Try reducing the first layers extrusion multiplier
3. Try increasing the retraction a little bit
For the problem of not extruding plastic at the beginning, you should print a purge line (as Ender 3 does) or print a skirt (instead of a raft, that you might not need). This problem is very normal and is easily fixed.
The bed temperature is correct for PLA (60 °C). Maybe, only maybe, your nozzle is a little bit high. It should squash the plastic on over extrusion, which I think is not happening in your setup. My advice for this is to use a paper sheet and fold it once.
# Answer
> 0 votes
In Cura, you can indeed set the height of the first layer separate from the subsequent layers. So if the first layer is printing nicely, that's a good sign. That's usually the place prints fail. There are a few settings, but here are a few things to just double check:
* Is your nozzle set to the right size
* Is your raft layer height and regular layer height wildly different? Try setting them to the same, or if same, try making them different. There may be a 'raft top thickness' that's wrong for the nozzle size, (try 0.2 for a 0.4 mm nozzle)
* Layer height of your regular layers should be no greater than 80% of the nozzle width
* Print cooling (on), but initial fan speed (0)
* Supports: try printing with, or without. Look at Enable Support Interface (or disable it)
* Try just disabling your raft and see if it gets past the danger point. that will indicate if there's something misaligned with your Z.
* Check your axis rollers too! from this question, First 3 mm prints poorly, then fine after that
---
Tags: print-quality
--- |
thread-19336 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19336 | GT2 belts lengthened? | 2022-05-04T12:27:54.273 | # Question
Title: GT2 belts lengthened?
Can the GT2 belts lengthen themselves if they are tentioned too much?
I had them tensioned quite a bit until I saw the video from "Lost in Tech". I then decided to reduce the tension, but the dimensional precision was all over the place. So my guess is, that the belts are too long now?
# Answer
First of all there are two methods to achieve the belt be tensioned.
First method is when both ends of the belt hard attached. In this case if there is a fluctuation in the mechanical system then it will be absorbed by the belt itself. And in this case with big tension it will result in stretching over time with tension disappearing.
The second method is to use spring at one end. The spring will absorb all the fluctuations with little or no effect on the belt.
But I had really bad problems with GT2 PU belts (including steel reinforced), under big tension they degrade suddenly with big change in the geometry at some position. When removed they look twisted. Looks like some reinforcing wires slipped inside the PU body of the belt.
Once switched to rubber GT2 belts (fibreglass reinforced) I never had problems connected to the belts. I can tell that rubber GT2 belts have no noticeable change in the geometry over many years of constant use under high tension with the spring.
> 1 votes
# Answer
As I've seen in todays video from Makers Muse, he also says that these belts can lengthen over time:
(Link with time code)
> 0 votes
---
Tags: belt
--- |
thread-19689 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19689 | Are there any major safety risks of PLA plastic? | 2022-07-22T02:19:35.210 | # Question
Title: Are there any major safety risks of PLA plastic?
Are there any safety risks inherent to PLA plastics used for 3D printing?
The material safety data sheet of some PLA plastics indicates low risks at a toxicological level, but I'd like to make sure some other factor isn't overlooked. (, , )
> ---
>
> SECTION 11: TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION
>
> ---
>
> PRINCIPLE ROUTES OF EXPOSURE: Eye contact, Skin contact, Inhalation, Ingestion. ACUTE TOXICITY: None noted during use.
>
> LOCAL EFFECTS: Product dust may be irritating to eyes, skin and respiratory system. Particles, like other inert materials, are mechanically irritating to eyes. Ingestion may cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
>
> SPECIFIC EFFECTS: May cause skin irritation and/or dermatitis. Ingestion may cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Inhalation of dust may cause shortness of breath, tightness of the chest, a sore throat and cough. Burning produces irritant fumes.
>
> CHRNOIC TOXICITY: None noted during use.
>
> REPRODUCTIVE TOXICITY: No data is available on the product itself.
> CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: None of the components of this product are listed as carcinogens by IARC, NTP, or OSHA.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Extrusion of PLA through a nozzle can cause microparticles to be generated (referenced as "dust" in your document) which can be temporarily airborne. If ingested through breathing for an extended period of time, this can cause respiratory distress. Your document claims "no acute toxicity" from this.
My personal experience is that:
* Different plastics at different temperatures emit a variable amount of this dust.
* A cloth mask effectively blocks it.
* The dust settles very quickly, in both time and distance.
* The effects (for me at least) are irritation only (well described in your document), and disappear completely in a time proportional to the length of exposure, but not more than a day or so.
* PLA is not near as bad as other plastics like ABS. But either of these burns is much worse.
The paper "Review on particle emissions during fused deposition modeling of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polylactic acid polymers" goes into this in greater detail.
There are probably others.
# Answer
> 1 votes
If you are concerned about inhalation (and I think you should be), you should use a hierarchy of controls to mitigate the risk.
NIOSH (part of the CDC) have a good document outlining how to mitigate the risks of 3D printing particulate emissions.
Note that the smell you experience may be VOCs, not particles. Both are important to block. To do so, use a respirator with both particulate and organic vapour filters, in addition to an air purification/local exhaust ventilation system. The ‘carbon filters’ often seen in 3D printers do almost nothing for particulates, only nuisance levels of vapours.
---
Tags: pla, filament, safety
--- |
thread-4982 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4982 | What is PLA+? How is it different from PLA? | 2017-11-15T12:06:11.210 | # Question
Title: What is PLA+? How is it different from PLA?
## Question
What is PLA+? How is it different than PLA? I'm looking for science, composition, formula, safety concerns (or lack thereof), etc.
## Background
I picked up a roll of PLA+ at Microcenter (their in-house Inland brand) because it was on clearance. I didn't even notice the "+" until I decided to try that color, and then I noticed it on the sticker. It prints well, feels like ABS, smells like PLA when printing, and I can use PLA temps on my printer. It sands better than PLA, and if I I hadn't noticed the PLA+ sticker, and the smell, **I would think it was ABS**. It will break its line into my printer like PLA does; ABS doesn't break if left alone. However, PLA+ lasts longer than regular PLA before breaking.
## Getting info from the Internet
Aside from a few discussions on reddit (review, commercial introduction), I can't find anything about it.
## Getting info from the Manufacturer
I went back to Microcenter and the guy that was there working the 3d printing section did not know what I was talking about.
I went to Microcenter another time and the guy in the filament area said that all of their PLA filament was now PLA+, and that the + meant it was to be used at a higher temperature. The boxes are labeled with 205 - 225°C. It seems that all the inland brand PLA I have is PLA+, save for the first roll I bought. It does not have any kind of temperature markings on it.
## Flash forward 1.5+ years from the original question
This question got some recent attention, so I looked to find the answer again. I found this article, which is a hot pile of !usefulness, giving no data, lots of opinion, and probably some direct insights from someone's marketing department.
These guys say it's good stuff, but nothing about the chemical or compositional difference between the two. When I find people talking about the difference (like on reddit), those are the details usually mentioned, which are vague, anecdotal, and opinionated, and could be clever marketing (could be, not guaranteed to be). One man's shiny is another man's matte for example.
Monoprice confirmed what I already did by reading the label and printing with it, but does mention TPU, which might be Thermoplastic polyurethane. No quantity or proportion or anything, and since they're the only manufacturer/reseller to officially say this, I consider it unconfirmed. One of the answers below says that PLA+ probably includes TPU or something like it, but that's conjecture or opinion by their own admission.
> PLA+ is a variation of PLA that has added material in order to make the filament less brittle, have a smoother surface finish, and less likely to absorb moisture. Typically, TPU is added into the filament in order to achieve this property. PLA+ will have the feel and functionality of ABS without the smell. If you didn’t know better, you would think it was ABS. We suggest printing with PLA+ at 205 to 210 degrees Celsius and with a bed temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. PLA+ responds very well to blue painter’s tape and a glue stick to hold properly and not peel up when printing.
These people also ask what it is, but they're doing science about it circa 2014 to try to figure it out.
I'm not sure what to think of this manufacturer/seller's description. It sounds like they are implying that PLA has a branding problem, so they added a plus to it for a new formula to fix their branding.
> PLA Plus is an enhanced version of our PLA that's less brittle and more durable. ‘Enhanced’ PLAs have a bad reputation, some are no better than PLA, some perform worse in some conditions. We’ve taken a different approach: our ‘regular’ PLA is regarded as the strongest pure PLA in the industry, it’s hard to improve on the best. But sometimes you need something a little more durable. Enter our specially formulated PLA Plus. Prints like PLA, but with better durability. Its available with their brighter color options!
## Final thoughts
I find a lot of articles/posts talking about "eSun PLA+" specifically. I'm starting to think that this might be the OEM and that other companies are selling it with their own branding, but that all PLA+ comes from the same place. I found their product page, and it says this, which mentions nothing about the formula:
> Characteristics：
>
> * extracted and purified from corn grain;
> * high rigidity, good glossiness and transparency;
> * suitable for printing larger models;
> * toughness is 2 times more than the PLA on the market;
> * no wiredrawing problems, the surface of the printouts will be smoother and more delicate;
> * no cracking problem.
# Answer
> 15 votes
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any linked brand or company, I just link to them for reference of the suggested print settings.
# What is PLA?
PLA is, by its definition PolyLacticAcid, a polymer of entwined lactic acids. It is commonly made from fermenting starch - not via Type I (alcohol) but Type II (lactic acid) fermentation<sup>user77232, Wikipedia</sup>. Chemically it looks like this:
It's relevant physical data for the pure material are a density of 1.210–1.430 g·cm<sup>−3</sup> and a melting point of 150 to 160 °C.<sup>Wikipedia</sup>.
Usually, PLA sold under just the name PLA contains, besides PLA, additives to change the color from transparent to whatever color one is printing at. This can change the standard printing temperature depending on the amount, size and shape of the pigments embedded (see below).
Common Printing temperatures are listed by the manufacturers in the range of 185 to 210 °C. The color can have an influence on the printing temperature, especially for the difference between transparent and opaque filaments. While a heated bed is not strictly necessary, the bed temperature is usually quoted with 60 °C.
I myself print most PLA filaments at 200 °C and 60 °C bed, but for noncolored transparent filament, I had better results using 190 °C.
Note that not all PLA is just PLA! It is very likely that some PLA brands contain fillers and additives from the house without claiming to be a +-filament, indeed, additives precede the idea of PLA+, as the case with Tiertime PP3DP filaments will show.
### The special Tiertime mixture
Since back in 2012 or earlier, ABS made by Tiertime includes some unknown compound (possibly PC) that alters the best-result print temperature from the "normal" 220 - 240 °C to the much higher but narrower 260 - 270 °C band. Why this is done is a mystery among 3d-printing enthusiasts, but it might be either to get rid of any color-dependency of the print results or to make it harder to use generic ABS. Fact is, that this temperature was matching what was set as the (then unchangeable) standard temperature in the *Up 1.1.7* software of that time.<sup>Angus aka MakersMuse & Tiertime Forums</sup>. The higher temperature hasn't changed over the years<sup>Tiertime ABS</sup>. Indeed, the Tiertime PLA introduced in March 2014<sup>Tiertime</sup> is also quoted to print at higher temperatures than generic PLA, and had similarly a higher default temperature in the then updated UP-spftware<sup>Tiertime Forums</sup>, though I found listings from 200<sup>here & here</sup> to 215 °C<sup>here under Technische Daten</sup>.
**The modern *UP-Studio* software allows setting the temperature freely**<sup>Angus aka MakersMuse</sup>.
# What is PLA+?
Now, what differs PLA from PLA+? Well, PLA+ is a *modified* PLA, which means that it has additives in it to alter its properties. What exactly is added depends extremely on the manufacturer, and no two PLA+ are the same.<sup>all3dp</sup>.
# What is the difference?
PLA+ has - but for a few degrees - the same printing temperature as standard PLA. In fact, the printing temperature difference between standard PLA from different brands is often larger than the difference between PLA and PLA+.
All3dp claims, that most PLA+ would have a better surface finish than the PLA from the same brand. Because of the additives, they also usually print best at elevated temperature compared to PLA. Among various manufacturers, I saw 210–240 °C<sup>Kodak PLA+</sup>, 190-220 °C<sup>SUNLU PLA+</sup> and 190-210 °C<sup>eSun PLA+</sup>.
However, there is no uniformity in other effects on the filament. Some filaments would have less moisture absorption, a different stiffness or compressibility while others might have a higher tensile strength and feature an extremely glossy surface.
Most commonly, the claimed benefits lie in the fields of the filament's strength, surface texture and glossiness, the printability of overhangs.
# Conclusion
PLA+ is **not one product** per se but **a family of modified PLA**. While you can print PLA+ with the same settings as normal PLA, the resulting benefits between different brands are much more diverse than with normal PLA.
* Changing between different brands of *similar quality* normal PLA has usually little to no effect on the print's general properties.
* Changing between different brands of *similar quality* PLA+ can alter the print's properties immensely
Because of the fact that no two brands of PLA+ are the same (and the manufacturers are silent on what additives they use to change the properties), one should not rely on the same effects when switching between brands.
# Answer
> 6 votes
There’s no huge difference between both. The printing settings like temperature and printing speed are practically the same. But the PLA+ have a much better surface quality and it’s slightly more bright than normal PLA. Another difference is that the PLA+ it's more effective in bridges than PLA.
If you want to the comparison between PLA and PLA+ go right here, PLA vs PLA+ (short review). This post is an awesome experiment with both materials.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Some of these questions could be answered by asking manufacturers for MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets), aka. SDS (Safety Data Sheets).
Under EU laws in place since 2008 any substance shipped into the EEA (European Economic Area) in quantities of more than 1 tonne/year, whose composition contains more than 0.1% by weight of a compound identified in the Article 57 database, must provide an MSDS on request that includes a breakdown of its content.
If you look at the SDS for eSUN's PLA+, for example you see:
```
╔═══════════════════╦═══════════╦═══════════╦═════════════╗
║ Ingredient Name ║ CAS No. ║ EC No. ║ Content (%) ║
╠═══════════════════╬═══════════╬═══════════╬═════════════╣
║ Polylactide resin ║ 9051-89-2 ║ 618-575-7 ║ 98 ║
║ Calcium carbonate ║ 471-34-1 ║ 207-439-9 ║ 2 ║
╚═══════════════════╩═══════════╩═══════════╩═════════════╝
```
# Answer
> 3 votes
PLA+, depending on the brand, is probably a mixture of other plastics (things like TPU<sup>1</sup>) to help improve upon the weaknesses of regular PLA like brittleness and moisture absorbing. Or they simply used a higher quality PLA blend to create the filament.
I do not have a specific source except from collaborating with different materials experts such as Essentium Materials. TPU is a flexible plastic that can have different "hardness" levels.
---
<sup>1</sup> Thermoplastic Polyurethane. It's a flexible thermoplastic.
# Answer
> 2 votes
PLA+ is a **marketing term**. Where PLA and ABS have specific chemical meanings (more or less... manufacturers already will have different additives or processes), the only real requirement for PLA+ is using some unknown quantity of PLA as a base.
Look at coffee beans as an example: we have Arabica vs Robusta. Arabica is usually considered better, for some definition of "better". (BTW: Starbucks serves cheaper Robusta). The relevant thing here is in many places you only need 10% Arabica content to label and market a coffee as Arabica coffee. The rest of the product could be... well, *anything* the maker wants to include.
PLA+ is similar. There's no real definitive meaning to it, beyond some measure of original PLA content and the hope you'll believe it's "better", and therefore maybe pay a little more.
The good news is, usually PLA+ really is better... at least so far. But as more people start viewing it as a real step up from regular PLA, it's likely we'll also start to see some shady business people pass off inferior product at PLA+. It's likely this is already happening.
Moral of the story: read the label carefully. And unlike coffee, which is a food and therefore better regulated, filaments have hardly any rules about labeling; there may not be a label to read at all, so be extra careful what you buy.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I know this is an old question, but CNC Kitchen just recently did a review of PLA+ and the mechanical properties of one brand, and found it far weaker than plain PLA, but with failure modes that might be mord graceful/preferable for some applications. In short, it stretched and tore rather than snapping.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Adding this as a new answer since it doesn't seem to be covered in existing ones:
Despite "PLA+" being a marketing term without a specific definition, I've found that many (most?) filament vendors don't seem to be doing their own secret-sauce blending to make it, and most premium filament vendors who *do document* the source polymers they use are using roughly the same thing - most often one of the Natureworks Ingeo 3D series of polymers, obtained in pellet source form, often 3D850 or 3D870. As such, if you can verify that this is what you filament marketed as "PLA+" is made from (or just search out one that's well-documented) you can use the data sheets for the polymer to find out more about how it's formulated.
---
Tags: filament, pla, filament-choice, pla+
--- |
thread-19680 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19680 | Why is my nozzle routinely clogging and no longer extruding mid otherwise successful print with several different previously successful filaments? | 2022-07-21T02:23:36.273 | # Question
Title: Why is my nozzle routinely clogging and no longer extruding mid otherwise successful print with several different previously successful filaments?
I’ve a Flashforge Adventurer 3 which I’ve found to be a fantastic out of the box ready to go printer. I’ve clocked up 500 hours on it.
I’ve had issues where the nozzle was too close to the print bed, making it impossible for the extruder wheel to force filament down the bowden tube. With harder filaments that results in clicking as it’s cog is skipping. With softer, usually matte PLA it’s just wearing a groove and no longer pushing. I have to take the then baked filament and manually push it out of the nozzle, then bed recalibration.
I have a filament dryer, and use it every time I’m printing as it’s a perfect dispenser with it’s roller bearings.
I recently keep getting prints where they start out perfect, but then after about layer 10, the extrusion simply stops. The printer obviously carries on like all is ok, but there’s not even spaghetti.
What could this be? Do I just need a new nozzle? I don’t understand how a metal nozzle printing plastic can deteriorate it. It’s not the same as pitting you get in a soldering iron tip surely…
# Answer
Nozzles do degrade with use. That is why they're made to be easily replaceable.
Your problem may be a worn nozzle or incomplete cleaning or something with the bowden tube etc,. but an easy troubleshooting step is just to replace the nozzle.
> 1 votes
# Answer
I have had this happen at times. I finally got it to go away once I fixed my bed adhesion.
By chance is your print curling up near the edges? If it's popping up and exerting backpressure on the extruder, that can be enough to cause an internal jam and the extruder "clicking" (which is itself just a sign that the plastic isn't feeding).
There might be additional problems or other causes, but this was what fixed my issue.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: flashforge-adventurer-3
--- |
thread-19699 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19699 | Flashforge Adventurer 3 - how to replace X-axis endstop | 2022-07-26T12:59:11.447 | # Question
Title: Flashforge Adventurer 3 - how to replace X-axis endstop
I found a similar question in the forum but now need assistance on how to replace the X-axis endstop. I have been scouring for videos and haven't found one yet. Can anyone help me?
The printer turns on, preheats but as soon as I choose a print, it goes to the right and just continues to run. It only stops when I turn it off.
I did a factory reset and no luck. I ordered the new parts but really don't know where to start. It looks like the wires for the endstop run into the body of the machine so it looks like I will be taking the whole thing apart. I am quite nervous about this.
# Answer
This is not a "how to" to replace the X end stop; this post is meant as a description of the location of the X-axis end stop.
End stops are generally located on the minimum of the axis, but there are exceptions, e.g. Ultimaker has the Z-axis end stop at the bottom, this is the maximum. For the X-axis, end stops can be located on the print head, but more commonly found on the minimum value of the X-axis. The Flashforge Adventurer 3 has the X-axis end stop mounted in the print head.
The image below shows the overview of the X gantry:
Note the flag on the right (encircled in red):
The flag enters (on homing) the rectangular slot on the top rigt, see below:
So, this is where the X-axis end stop is located. This implies that the print head needs to be disassembled.
The X-axis end stop module can be found online as a replacement part, the back looks like this
and the front like this:
It appears that you can take off the top of the printhead cover:
You will instantly see that the end stop module can be found there! It takes 2 screws to replace it (and some connectors!).
> 1 votes
---
Tags: homing, endstop, flashforge-adventurer-3
--- |
thread-19702 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19702 | Are resonances of belt driven carriage strongly direction dependent? Mitigations? | 2022-07-27T16:01:28.190 | # Question
Title: Are resonances of belt driven carriage strongly direction dependent? Mitigations?
So, backstory: I setup a tuning print for Klipper input shaper that makes use of matched speed projected onto the opposite axis at junctions, and high instantaneous junction velocity (scv), to allow them to be taken in a way that only one axis experiences an impulse. The idea here was to get measurement noise from the other axis's resonances out of the measured ringing. And that seems to have worked fine. But I also found something very interesting:
The magnitude of ringing, and even whether it appears *at all*, is dependent on the direction of the acceleration/deceleration impulse. When the motion of the axis is away from the motor and abruptly stops, there is essentially no measurable ringing. But when the motion of the axis is towards the motor and abruptly stops, there is strong ringing.
Is this normal? It seems plausible via one or more mechanisms:
* Belt run all the way around the idler and back to the motor, which is doing the pulling in this direction, is far longer and has more elasticity
* Idler is untoothed, so maybe the teeth compress against the smooth idler and act as a spring
* ... ?
The printer is an Ender 3 original with lots of modifications, but none of them to the motion system. The observations above apply to both the X and Y axis, but the X axis is so light that it requires extreme levels of acceleration to see the issue anyway, so I'm not concerned about it. The Y axis is where the problem is.
Seeing how good I have this in one direction (towards the motor) makes me really want to find a solution that gets equally good results in both directions, as it would allow me to up my outer wall print acceleration for high quality up from 500-2000 to 5000+ and max acceleration up to 30000+ - the limiting factor is the bad ringing from one direction on this axis.
What approaches should I try to mitigate this (and confirm it's the issue)? I'm thinking of:
* Going dual-Y-motor with the second Y motor mounted at the front of the printer, so both directions are "motor pulling on short segment of belt".
* Replacing belt. It's the original Creality supplied one and some folks have suggested a genuine Gates belt would not have this issue.
Here is a photo of the test print:
The extrusion path was clockwise around the part (right to left on the side facing the camera and front of the printer/bed). Acceleration, scv, and input shaper settings were adjusted manually during the print to give different views of the ringing. The important detail is that there's almost no ringing in the middle flat section, except at the very top where input shaper was turned off completely.
# Answer
> 1 votes
No, at least not to the extent the above result suggests. I had the idea to try rotating the piece 180° around the Z axis, and got nearly the same effect: low ringing in the middle segment, strong ringing on the final segment. So what is the explanation?
The impulse intended to start the ringing for the middle segment is exactly opposite the impulse that ended the first segment, and generates a time-shifted ringing of opposite sign, **cancelling out with the tail of the ringing from the previous impulse**.
Overall, the ringing does seem to be *somewhat* stronger in this rotation, so I think my original hypothesis that there's an effect related to belt length or the idler is still plausible, but it's nowhere near as dominant as I thought.
Further investigation of this seems to call for a better-designed test piece without cancelling impulse responses.
---
Tags: print-quality, linear-motion, belt
--- |
thread-19673 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19673 | Why are these concentric parts fusing together at seam lines? | 2022-07-19T01:20:44.100 | # Question
Title: Why are these concentric parts fusing together at seam lines?
The print is a collapsible sword I'm using as a test. Everything seems fine on the outside, but inside it seems the segment parts of the sword inside the hilt are fusing together at the seam lines causing them to stick together.
**Model**: https://thangs.com/designer/3dprintingworld/3d-model/Collapsing%20Katana-22696
**Finished Print** (looks fine)
**Concentric blade pieces** (fuse marks that I sheared off and broke to get out)
**Seams on exterior of hilt look great**
**Print settings/info**
**Printer**: Prusa MK3S+
**Slicer**: PrusaSlicer 2.5.0a3
**Settings preset**: 0.15 mm QUALITY
**Filament**: Prusa PLA
**Nozzle temp**: 205 °C (default is 215 °C, but lower eases stringing and has never been a problem for many past prints)
**Nozzle size**: 0.4 mm
**Full config**: https://pastebin.com/ECa6KkYK
# Answer
After some trial and error I found that the issue was stringing due to excess moisture in the filament from being stored outside of a sealed low-humidity container for long periods.
After placing it in a heated dehydrator for 2 days, my next print had low stringing and did not bond interlaced parts together significantly.
> 1 votes
# Answer
You did well to decrease the temperature. You could go even lower to 200°C As you noticed, You really have a little bit of stringing between the elements. That's what binds the parts together. Many times when you print only a single part this will be no problem. With many nested parts, you retraction really has to be set to optimal values.
Try increasing the retraction distance in the slicer.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: prusaslicer, stringing
--- |
thread-19706 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19706 | Y-stepper very hot on 4.2.2 board? | 2022-07-30T23:37:17.560 | # Question
Title: Y-stepper very hot on 4.2.2 board?
Is there a known issue where the Y-stepper gets extremely hot (like 70-80 °C) on the Creality 4.2.2 board while the Y stepper stays around 40 °C on the 4.2.7 board? (two different printers)
Set both of them to run a custom G-code file where it just moves the bed back and forth from 20 to 200 at F1500 (took that from the printer startup code in Cura).
It's not the motor. I had another Ender to borrow one from.
The strangest thing is it happens even when idle. (I did the aforementioned test with the X stepper, which did not get hot at all, but the Y stepper did while the bed was not moving at all).
# Answer
The Creality 4.2.2 board uses A4988 stepper drivers which set the current through the steppers via a potentiometer on the driver itself. The Creality 4.2.7 board used 2208 (Trinamic) stepper drivers, of which the current through the steppers is defined in the advanced configuration.
If the motor runs hotter on the first (4.2.2 board) you need to adjust the potentiometer to the correct Vref (reference voltage).
From All3D.com:
> Vref is calculated with a simple formula:
>
> Vref = I x 8 x Rsense
>
> Where I is the driver current to the motors and Rsense is the current sense resistor. While I is primarily defined by the motor’s rated current, Rsense is a fixed value that can be verified by checking the stepstick board.
>
> Sense resistors vary from vendor to vendor, ranging from 0.05 up to 0.2 Ω. Look for two equal resistors in the A4988, as shown in the image above. In this example, R100 is 100 mΩ, or 0.1 Ω.
>
> Although the stepper motor we’ll use here is rated for 0.9 A, we should never set it to its maximum current capacity. It’s strongly recommended to reduce the amount of current to the motor by at least 10%, which in our case would translate to approximately 0.8 A.
If you want the second to use more current, and thus run hotter, the current specification needs to be increased. You can alter this in the configuration or use `M906` G-code.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, stepper, heat-management
--- |
thread-19717 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19717 | How to fix these issues with Nylon? | 2022-08-02T08:22:09.037 | # Question
Title: How to fix these issues with Nylon?
I'm using Ultimaker Cura and a Dremel 3D45S with an eSun Nylon filament. As starting point I'm using the default settings of the printer, 260 °C for the hotend and 80 °C for the bed.
These are the results:
In addition to the poor print quality, the resulting dimensions are wrong. For example, the cylinder is supposed to have a wall thickness of 5 mm, with an inner diameter of 35 mm and the outer diameter of 45 mm. With ABS they are quite good (just a 0.2 mm difference). With nylon they are off by 1 mm! The wall has a thickness of 6 mm.
For both materials the flow is set to 100 %
Any ideas on what I should change to improve the printing?
Here my current settings for Nylon:
# Answer
> 2 votes
If you look up the hardness of Nylon with respect to ABS you will find that ABS is generally much harder. The effect of softer filament is that the teeth of the extruder feeder dig in more into the filament (so for every rotation of the gear, less material is extruded than in hard filament), if you do not correct for this (lower the extrusion flow modifier) you are under-extruding material.
This is clearly not happening in your case!
The effects you see are caused by over-extrusion. This can cause the effects you see on the outside of your print and also result in dimensional inaccuracies. You need to tune the printer for different materials. Try to extrude 100 mm of filament and see how much is being extruded (mark some filament from a reference point and redo the measurement after extrusion).
Also make sure the filament is dry, Nylon tends to take up moisture which can bubbling (boiling the moisture) during extrusion.
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, nylon, dremel-3d45
--- |
thread-19719 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19719 | My printer unloads the filament, after I finished the print | 2022-08-02T12:01:16.207 | # Question
Title: My printer unloads the filament, after I finished the print
I have an Artillery Hornet printer that I am very satisfied with. I make my models in Blender, export them as STL files, and import them into Cura slicer. Everything works great with no problems, mostly. But yesterday, I made a model that I used a reference image in Blender (deleted it before exporting then). And when I printed it, direct afterward, the printer unloads the filament. I tried to print it multiple times and every time it did the same. No big problem then, but a bit annoying.
Does anyone have any idea what could cause this, and how to prevent it? Other models I make in Blender have not given me that result then. I still have not tried making other models with a reference image to compare the result. So I found this place first and try to ask if someone knows about that problem.
This is the end G-code:
```
G1 E-6 F9000
M104 S0 T0 ; turn off temperature
M140 S0 ; turn off bed
G1 X110 Y220 F10000
M84 ; disable motors
```
# Answer
> 3 votes
I haven't used your printer type, but this link suggests:
> If your printer unloads the filament after each printing session automatically, you might want to check the end code of your machine and disable the retraction (;G1 E-6 F9000).
---
Tags: filament
--- |
thread-19721 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19721 | Assembled my first 3D-printer: Lead screw problem? | 2022-08-03T16:06:35.867 | # Question
Title: Assembled my first 3D-printer: Lead screw problem?
A couple of days ago I got my first 3D printer: Creality 3D Ender 3 Pro. I finished assembling it last night. I booted it up, but ran into problems (which I guess is not a common thing for a beginner in 3D printing). After booting and running the motors, it seemed that the lead screw got stuck about halfway down the Z-axis. I heard a rattling sound. So I turned the 3D-printer off. I disassembled the lead screw and applied some Lithium lubricant on it. But the problem persisted. Looking more closely at it, I noticed some notches on the lead screw:
I tried to spin the Creality Z-axis stepper motor, and it felt smooth and did not have any resistance. The bolts on the rod holder were slighly loose so that the lead screw had a bit of play inside.
Im wondering if the lead screw may have been defect during manufacturing process? Are lead screws supposed to have notches like these, or are these manufacturing defects? Here's two photos of the lead screw:
Im guessing the notches are too deep for the z-axis to actually work the way it is supposed to.
# Answer
The threads of the screw are very damaged, this causes your brass nut to be damaged as well.
This is hardly accountable by misusage, this is a production or handling error in the factory.
You need to contact the vendor for a new screw and new threaded brass nut.
Although the nut is softer and may run in on the damaged threads, there will always be a rough part of the screw, so it will always affect print quality, please replace the damaged parts.
> 15 votes
# Answer
The notches are certainly abnormal. The screw appears to have taken an impact from a narrow cylindrical object. It's normal for rods and screws to be packaged independently, frequently wrapped in paper for shipping. The notches seem to be just a bit too small to have taken an impact from one of the guide rods, but it's difficult to determine from the image.
It could have been dropped, but that doesn't explain the notch shape. A fall would have flattened faces, not notched them.
It's time to contact the seller about replacement parts.
> 7 votes
# Answer
Both of the above answers are likely correct **but also,** I own an Ender 3 and it's kinda/sorta tricky to get it set up right. I had a similar problem and I was certain it was the lead screw -- and mine indeed does not have the marks that yours has -- but in the end the issue was that I had assembled the printer ever-so-slightly out of true, and I had to do a lot of adjusting and wobbling to get things lined up right. So just be prepared for that.
Yes I think the rod is damaged and send back for a replacement, but when it comes back be sure and triple-check that everything is adjusted properly following videos like this. You might also need to spend a little bit more money to replace some of the stock parts to really get it dialed in but once you do you won't be disappointed!
> 4 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, z-axis
--- |
thread-19596 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19596 | Can I re-flash the mainboard on my CR-5 Pro using the USB port instead of the microsd card? | 2022-06-26T10:04:22.503 | # Question
Title: Can I re-flash the mainboard on my CR-5 Pro using the USB port instead of the microsd card?
I've had a lot of difficulty with my CR-5 Pro not reading the micro SD card. I was up and running but got the "blue screen" yesterday and re-flashed the main board using instructions I found on YouTube. But the software version showing up now is older than what was on the machine as delivered and the printer will not run a gcode file even when I can select it. Trying to re-flash using the SD card is NOT happening. The SD card that came with the machine is 8Gb "Netoc" and is formatted as FAT32. I have a 32Gb SanDisk which I've formatted also as FAT32 but neither card will re-flash the main board. Can I upload the firmware via USB like I can on an Arduino?
# Answer
> 0 votes
Have you tried the .bin files on the SD Card and flashing it that way? If not, you can always use the slicer software that came with it like Creality or I use Cura and through the USB try re-flashing the software that way.
---
Tags: firmware, creality-ender-5, microsd
--- |
thread-19565 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19565 | Clogging from heat creep, but only in the nozzle itself? | 2022-06-17T20:16:02.227 | # Question
Title: Clogging from heat creep, but only in the nozzle itself?
I have an all-metal V6 hotend clone that has worked in the past, but recently will clog very easily.
I've tried the following to address it:
* Clean/replace the nozzle (0.4 or 0.5 mm, nozzle is hot-tightened)
* Ensure nozzle is tightened against the heat-break tube, not the heater block
* Adjust nozzle temperature higher/lower (190 °C to 230°C)
* Recalibrate extruder steps/mm
* Improve cold-end cooling with a 40mm fan (also, a 40 mm blower directly aimed at the fins did not help)
* Try different filaments, from different brands (all 1.75 mm PLA)
* Adjust slicer settings (speed, line width, layer thickness is usually ~0.2 mm) and even tried different slicers
* Reduce/eliminate retractions
* Replaced stock Ender 5 Bowden extruder with dual-gear setup for higher grip
* Replaced the thermistor (wire was getting worn from disassembling/reassembling)
Some things I've noticed:
* Prints tend to work fine for a while (~30 min to 1 hour or so), then the extruder is suddenly unable to push filament through the Bowden tube and begins to grind/click. There is very little to no period of reduced flow. It simply stops flowing completely.
* I am unable to push the filament through by hand to clear the clog, but pulling the filament out and trimming the end works
* The very end of the filament is the only place with any signs of being molten, well within the nozzle length itself
* Pushing and pulling the filament in the hot-end by hand works for very small retractions, but can instantly result in a clog if pulled too far back (a few mm)
* So far I have not seen particles / black buildup / other gunk that would explain the clogs
* Letting the filament sit in the hot-end for a few seconds is enough to make it much harder to extrude by hand until enough filament is pushed through to clear what's melted (sitting too long will make it clog), but there are still no signs of heat-creep beyond the nozzle length.
* I can always easily pull the filament out by hand after it jams (while still hot)
Examples of what the filament end looked like when a clog formed:
Since the melted material is so short I don't think it's heat-creep. Maybe it's the (very cheap) nozzles themselves having inconsistent dimensions? Not being able to retract a few mm and re-extrude by hand seems pretty odd. I have ordered official E3D nozzles to try in case they are the culprit.
Any thoughts on what else it could be?
**Edit**: I had commented with the new nozzle being a solution, but unfortunately I spoke too soon. Using the E3D nozzle helped for prints that maintain a high enough flow-rate, but when printing small parts and/or multiple parts it seems that the flow rate becomes low enough to overheat the filament and clog (even with reduced print temp to 190 °C).
**Update**: While using the new nozzle and improving cold-end cooling with a blower aimed directly at the cold-end fins did help delay the clogging a little, it did not prevent it. It seems unrealistic to say that this is traditional heat-creep since the fins were cold to the touch and the length of deformed, clogged filament is even shorter than before (\<5 mm).
# Answer
> 1 votes
Since I have been unable to find a way to fix the E3D V6 clone hotend I have instead replaced it with a Creality Mk 8 that I had on-hand, which has so far worked flawlessly.
I am assuming that the improved performance is related to the use of a shorter nozzle and/or the Bowden tube butting directly against the nozzle instead of interfacing with an all-metal heat-break. Those seem to be the biggest differences between the two designs.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I had issues with my all metal hot-end where I got heat creep. I ended up doing e-steps, PID tune, and ensuring my speed wasn't too slow either. Is your printer in an enclosure? I found that mine being in an enclosure caused the hotend to not cool sufficiently, so I had to lower the hot bed temp by 10 degrees and that seems to have resolved my issue for heat creep. I also have the Hero Me fan housing which improves airflow.
---
Tags: extruder, creality-ender-5, e3d-v6, all-metal-hotend, filament-jam
--- |
thread-19710 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19710 | Is it possible to build a sponge-like surface using 3D printing? | 2022-07-31T11:32:27.813 | # Question
Title: Is it possible to build a sponge-like surface using 3D printing?
I am new to 3D printing. I own jewelry stores and want to 3D print my jewelry packaging for rings, necklaces, and bangles as in the picture below:
I have two main problems:
1. Is 3D printing capable of building this package?
2. I know I can build boxes for jewelry with the outside being made of plastic. But I want the inside to be like a sponge. Is there a filament or a way to print a filament to make it look like cloth or a sponge?
3. Are there printers on the market which are able to print several copies without the need to set up each time it finishes a single box?
# Answer
# With the right materials
With the right material, you can get flexible surfaces and prints. Just two random examples:
* TPU is a flexible material, which can be used to print something like "Lips" that flex and take the jewelry or even strings that suspend the piece in the center.
* Foaming TPU is a variant of normal TPU that expands during printing. This makes it somewhat spongey.
However, those have downsides: they don't make good rigid shells, so you will need two different materials: one hard for the shell, and something flexible for the holder.
Luckily, any direct drive filament printer can work with flexible filaments, and there are some flexible filaments that work with a Bowden setup. Due to dissimilar materials though, you need to either assemble the part or buy a somewhat specialized printer: one with two nozzles. These are available but are way out of hobby-grade pricing.
Also, you will never get the "smooth" silky look of a fabric insert cover, but always a clearly industrial printed surface.
> 1 votes
# Answer
I would advise against this, as you will get layer lines which isn't visible in normal form, and the fit wont be as smooth etc, resulting in a cheaper look & feel. You will spend a lot of effort modifiying the parameters to get a foamy look, but still end up with a worse product. Instead the best option is probably to buy EVA foam, and cut it with hot hire, or even a blade/knife.
I understand the jewelry is (probably) expensive, and thus you will want to give it a premium feel. One advice I would give is for the plastic box, consider SLA / Resin printing, and you will get almost injection moulding quality. However the chemicals involved with this are not as user friendly, and you will need to wear PPE and ensure a large amount of ventilation (as resin fumes can be toxic), however the quality will be much better
> 0 votes
---
Tags: 3d-models, 3d-design, desktop-printer, filament-choice, multi-material
--- |
thread-19688 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19688 | MKS Gen L v1.0 smoking when I heat up the build plate | 2022-07-22T00:05:32.607 | # Question
Title: MKS Gen L v1.0 smoking when I heat up the build plate
When I boot the Flsun Cube F5 with an MKS Gen L v1.0 controller board, it boots fine; it beeps, and all the LEDs come on. When I heat the hotend it works beautifully, and once up to temperature, the extruder motor feeds just like it should.
However, when I turn on the heater of the build plate, it starts heating and after about 10-12 seconds the board, specifically the MOSFET at the heat bed connection quickly begins to get hot and starts to smoke. I feel if I let it continue, either the board would catch on fire or at least burn out the board.
Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to fix this? I still haven't tried the X, Y, and Z steppers yet, but that will be coming soon.
# Answer
> 1 votes
The MOSFET is either dead, or can't handle the high current the bed requires. You can try using an external MOSFET which is quite easy to wire, or alternatively soldering a new MOSFET one which is quite difficult.
Example of an external MOSFET (module):
---
Tags: marlin, troubleshooting, heated-bed
--- |
thread-19479 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19479 | Sensor can not read temperature | 2022-05-31T17:46:12.853 | # Question
Title: Sensor can not read temperature
I have MKS TinyBee board recently purchased. The temperature sensor reading gives either 'Err' or '0'.
I have tried all possible sensors in the Marlin table configuration, but still none of them worked. As well as 3 different sensors. Is the board faulty or I'm missing a setting?
# Answer
I get this issue, more or less the same. In my case, it wont read temperature UNLESS both X and Y steppers are active. If any of those is open, it displays err/0.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: marlin, inductive-sensor, mks
--- |
thread-19733 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19733 | Heating Failed: E1 after upgrade to 4.2.7 motherboard - Ender 3 Pro | 2022-08-06T05:22:49.700 | # Question
Title: Heating Failed: E1 after upgrade to 4.2.7 motherboard - Ender 3 Pro
I upgraded my Ender 3 Pro from the stock 8-bit motherboard to a new 32-bit 4.2.7 motherboard. No problems were encountered with the swap, flashing of the new firmware, or calibration.
When I went to start the first test print, the firmware throws the E1 Error: "`Heating Failed: E1; PRINTER HALTED; Please Reset`".
When the print started, the bed heated up to the requested 60 °C, and then started warming the print head to 210 °C. Once the print head reached 205 °C, the temperature started to drop. It dropped back down to 200 °C, then up to 202 °C then down to 198 °C and so on. It kept doing the up and down heating until it dropped to 190 °C at which point the E1 error was displayed. I have run through the cycle several times with different prints, and through the menu options; and it always fails in the same up and down way.
Printer Specs:
* Ender 3 Pro
* Upgraded motherboard 4.2.7 (silent stepper drivers)
* Matching upgrade of Marlin to version 2.0.6 (downloaded from Creality)
* BLTouch
* PEI print bed
* Replacement bed springs
* everything else is stock
Prior to the upgrade, everything worked fine. I printed several small prints the day before without a problem. After the upgrade the E1 error.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
# Answer
> 1 votes
## Problem Solved
After checking in with the Ender 3 group on Facebook and doing quite a bit more research I tracked the problem down to PID calibration. The default settings for the board were not heating the print head properly. Because it was coming in short, the thermal runaway logic on the new board cut in and shut everything down.
To fix the problem, the printer needs to run a PID autotune. This is a good idea when you replace any part between the nozzle and the logic board. To accomplish the autotune you need to access the printers console through an app such as Pronterface. You should also take care when hooking in a USB cable to the printer. The 4.2.7 board runs power to the USB port. To get the printer connected to your computer, you will need to mask off the power pin on the USB cable (with the possibility of blowing the chip on the board if you skip this step)
The Marlin command for PID autotune is M303. Follow this up with an M301 to set the results from the autotune. And don't forget to finish up with an M500 to save the settings to the EEPROM.
I would suggest this video from Teaching Tech for an example of the process, and this video from 3D Print General to conduct the same autotune on the build plate.
## Post Script
***Important Safety Tip*** \- The 4.2.7 board draws more power than the old 8 bit board. During my first test print after the PID calibration, the connector between the power supply and the motherboard melted down. It seems that the wires were crimped rather than soldered. This was fine with the old board, but it was too much with the added power draw. The poor connection caused the wires in the connection to over heat. This is a fire hazard.
Check the power connector. remove the shrink wrap and take a close look. If you don't see solder on the joint, replace it. It is worth the slight expense and hassle to avoid ruining your printer and potentially starting a fire.
The issues is discussed in this Makers Muse video.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, marlin, bltouch
--- |
thread-19740 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19740 | Cura uses lines instead of concentric infill | 2022-08-08T03:33:13.100 | # Question
Title: Cura uses lines instead of concentric infill
I'm printing a ring that's a replacement for the non-slip base of a mixing bowl. The ring is about 130mm in diameter, with a rectangular cross section, like this:
I'm using Cura as the slicer, and I've set the infill to 100% and `concentric`, but after slicing it looks like Cura used `lines` instead; the ring is filled with parallel straight lines:
Is this a problem with Cura? Is there something I can do to encourage it to use concentric infill? I don't really care what the infill pattern is, but I think `concentric` would print a lot faster since the head wouldn't have to switch directions all the time.
# Answer
> 3 votes
This is a known issue. Cura's profile variable logic sets the number of bottom layers to 999999 if infill is set to 100%, overriding infill by replacing it with additional bottom layers. If you go find the setting for number of bottom layers and set it back to the number you actually want, overriding this, infill should work as expected.
Alternatively, setting top/bottom pattern to concentric should also fix it, and you probably want that anyway so that you don't have distinct bottom layers that are printed as lines.
# Answer
> 2 votes
> Is this a problem with Cura?
I don't know if the good folks at Ultimaker consider this a bug or a feature, but it appears that Cura uses the `Lines` option regardless of the *Infill Pattern* setting when *Infill Density* is set to `100%`. There may well be some reason for that; for example, the fact that the `Lines` option alternates the direction of the lines from one layer to the next probably makes for stronger parts.
> Is there something I can do to encourage it to use concentric infill?
**Yes!** It turns out that setting *Infill Density* to anything less than `100%` gives the expected concentric infill (provided *Infill Pattern* is set to `Concentric`, of course). When I changed the setting to `99.99%` and re-sliced, I got concentric infill in the Preview panel. I haven't tried printing yet, but I have no doubt that I'll get the same thing in the actual print.
> I don't really care what the infill pattern is, but I think concentric would print a lot faster
With *Infill Density* set to `99.99%` and *Infill Pattern* set to `Concentric`, the estimated time to print my part drops from 4 hours 50 minutes to 2 hours 44 minutes, **a 44% time savings compared to 100% infill**. That's probably a lot more savings than you'd get on a part that wasn't so narrow, but it's worth knowing that at least some parts can print much faster with concentric infill.
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, infill
--- |
thread-19112 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19112 | How to add more probing points on the CR Touch | 2022-03-17T19:55:31.040 | # Question
Title: How to add more probing points on the CR Touch
I have an Ender 3v2 and I recently installed the CR Touch auto bed leveler. I was wondering how to add more probing points.
# Answer
I haven't tried it, but it looks like the number of points in each axis of the probing grid is defined by these lines:
```
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 3 // Don't use more than 7 points per axis, implementation limited.
#define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y GRID_MAX_POINTS_X
```
in Marlin's Configuration.h file. So assuming you'd want the same number of points in each direction, change the `3` to another value less than or equal to `7`, and recompile Marlin.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3
--- |
thread-19747 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19747 | What is the difference between allowance and tolerance? | 2022-08-09T15:00:01.930 | # Question
Title: What is the difference between allowance and tolerance?
I have to have a pin fit in a hole, and there needs to be a gap so the pin can turn freely. Can I make the pin smaller by changing the tolerance?
# Answer
There are four terms that many people find confusing:
* *Tolerance* is the amount of random deviation or variation permitted for a given dimension.
* *Allowance* is a planned difference between a nominal or reference value and an exact value.
* *Clearance* is the intentional space between two parts.
* *Interference* is the intentional overlap between two parts.
Use *tolerance* when specifying the amount of error permitted in making a part. Use *allowance* when specifying a gap between two mating parts.
---
Two other related terms that are important when specifying dimensions for manufacturing:
* *Accuracy* is the maximum dimensional variation between parts.
* *Precision* is the size of the steps your machine is capable of.
A machine cannot reliably produce parts with a smaller tolerance than its *accuracy*. If elephant foot expands your parts by 0.1 mm, then your accuracy is only 0.1 mm. You will not be able to repeatably print parts with 0.05 mm tolerance. (You might get lucky and one out of ten might accidentally fit the dimensions required, but that's not a good manufacturing plan.)
Precision is often confused with accuracy. People think that if their machine is advertised as having 0.05 mm step size (its *precision* is 0.05 mm) that they can print parts with 0.05 mm tolerance. But if your printer has a precision of 0.05mm and an accuracy of 0.1 mm, you cannot count on it to repeatedly position itself to within 0.05 mm of the desired dimension.
To measure your machine's accuracy, you'll need to print some pins and holes and carefully measure the differences between what you defined and what you printed. The difference between the largest and smallest measurements you take is the accuracy. And be sure to check the accuracy in your X, Y, and Z dimensions; your printer might have a difference between them that would impact the roundness of the parts.
---
In the case of the sizes needed to fit a pin in a hole so that it can pivot freely, you need to define an *allowance* in order to create the *clearance* you desire.
What is the minimum gap between parts you are looking for, and what is the maximum you can accept? That's the clearance.
Let's say you want a clearance of at least 0.2 mm between the pin and hole, but no more than 1.0 mm. And let's say you measured your printer's accuracy to be ± 0.2 mm. If you print a 5 mm pin, your pin would be anywhere between 5.0 mm ± 0.2 mm, so the hole must therefore be 5.6 mm ± 0.2 mm. The minimum clearance of 0.2 mm would be an minimum sized hole (5.4 mm) and a maximum sized pin (5.2 mm); the maximum clearance of 1.0 mm would be a maximum sized hole (5.8 mm) and a minimum sized pin (4.8 mm).
Note that a clearance of 1.0 mm is really loose, and is just too sloppy for your application. You might think to tighten the tolerances to 0.05 mm in order to reduce the clearance. But since your printer's accuracy can't produce a part that meets your specified tolerances, you would need to find a different way to manufacture or "finish" the parts.
The traditional way to solve the problem of inaccuracy in production is to create the part larger than the maximum material condition, then use a subtractive method to finish it to the desired dimensions.
Say we need the pin and hole to have 0.2 mm clearance, but we've already established that our machine only has 0.2 mm of accuracy. How do we print the parts to fit? We print the hole undersized and the pin oversized by the amount of accuracy in our machine, plus we include an allowance to ensure we always have some material to remove in the finishing step.
Let's establish the hole's final dimension to be 5.0 mm ± 0.05, so we print the hole to 4.7 mm ± 0.2 mm (resulting in a hole that's between 4.9 mm and 4.5 mm). After printing we run a 5 mm drill bit through it to finish it to 5.0 mm ± 0.05 mm.
Then we do a similar operation with the pin. Print it to 5.1 mm ± 0.2 mm (giving us a pin between 5.3 mm and 4.9 mm), then chuck it in a lathe or drill and carefully sand or file it until it becomes 4.8 mm ± 0.05. Now we finally have achieved our clearance of 0.2 mm ± 0.1 mm, which is a good enough fit for our purpose.
These types of secondary finishing steps have been used by craftspeople for hundreds of years.
> 9 votes
---
Tags: 3d-design, terminology
--- |
thread-19712 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19712 | How to take in account tolerances when coupling | 2022-07-31T18:55:04.073 | # Question
Title: How to take in account tolerances when coupling
I'm quite new to 3D CAD and printing. I own a Dremel 3D45 and I use FreeCad / Ultimaker Cura as softwares.
My question is pretty simple. Say you have to make one object with a pin and another with a hole. They should be coupled together. Of course if you set the diameters of the pin and the hole equal the won't fit!
Right now I'm setting the hole larger of 0.2 mm and the pin smaller of 0.2 mm. This allow a quite good coupling (not so hard but with some resistance).
I guess this tolerance (0.4 mm in my example) depends on a lot of variables: 3D printer settings, material, etc... so it may change using different setup.
How to correctly handle this?
Should I add a variable in my CAD spreadsheet and use it to change the nominal diameter of the coupling items?
I don't think so, but anyway: is there a settings in Ultimaker Cura that allow to compensate an hole or a pin by a specified amount?
Any other suggestion is gladly accepted.
# Answer
> 2 votes
> I guess this tolerance (0.4 mm in my example) depends on a lot of variables: 3D printer settings, material, etc... so it may change using different setup.
Tolerances required **depend on the geometry you're printing**. A hole that is horizontal, vertical, or diagonal will need different tolerance (as I found out in a project that used the same steel dowel pins in three different orientations). And, vertical holes and pins are different from flat-sided shapes: the plastic will be pulled toward the center of a curve, so diameters come out small (and more so for holes since there's no material further inward to resist the movement).
That said, I think you can expect that the distortions of printing are fairly consistent, if your printer is functioning well. I have a Prusa i3 MK3S, and I have printed many parts other people have designed, and *when* those parts have been designed carefully, I almost always get very good fits between parts. So, my experience suggests that models do not necessarily need tuning for specific printers.
> Should I add a variable in my CAD spreadsheet and use it to change the nominal diameter of the coupling items?
Yes. If nothing else, this allows you to define how the two parts *should* fit together separately for the printing error. Use separate numbers for different shapes/fits, so that you can adjust one without messing up another.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Once you understand how the parts will need to fit together to meet their purpose, you will need to define *allowances* on your parts in order to create *clearance* between them.
You will need to understand your printer's capabilities and *accuracy* by printing some test parts and measuring them. *Tolerance* is the amount of variation from the specified dimension that is acceptable on a part.
If your printer isn't accurate enough to achieve the tolerances specified on the part, you'll have to find some way to improve the parts so that they are within tolerance. Often this is done as a finishing step: filing, sanding, or grinding an oversized printed part; drilling out an undersized hole; etc. You should also consider other options: buy a more accurate resin printer, redesign the part to make the pin out of a commercially available metal rod or tube, pay someone else to make the parts for you, etc.
Armed with this information you can "design for manufacturing". That means you alter the design of your parts enough so they can be successfully produced with the tooling available to you.
I just posted a little Q&A that discusses this very topic of the difference between allowances and tolerances, and ways to achieve that.
# Answer
> 1 votes
> I guess this tolerance (0.4 mm in my example) depends on a lot of variables: 3D printer settings, material, etc... so it may change using different setup.
Yes, this is true, you need to find out for yourself on your rig. Fine tune the printer. Note that filament also shrinks, although some less than others.
Once you figured it out, you can address the tolerance in the CAD design. E.g. I used to print with a material that has a lot of shrinkage, once you established the level of shrinkage, I scaled the complete model accordingly.
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, 3d-design, cad, freecad
--- |
thread-19754 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19754 | Thick stringing next to a perfectly printed model | 2022-08-11T23:19:44.767 | # Question
Title: Thick stringing next to a perfectly printed model
Both items were printed at the same time. The item on the right was perfect while the one on the left has crazy thick strings. Sorry I didn't keep the build plate's orientation, you can see how they were positioned in the Cura screen cap.
I thought the stringing was from nozzle travel but if that were true the strings would be coming from the center pillar which they are not. Some of the strings shoot out from the left which doesn't make any sense.
I checked the bottom and it seems like the first layer is perfect or pretty damned close to it.
**Sovol Sv01 pro**
* This is similar to an Ender 3 S1
* direct drive
* Creality silent board
* CR touch
* Marlin 2.0
* hot end I'm not sure what's in there but it has a V6 nozzle rather than an MK8
* PEI sheet
* K value 2.0 - this was the factory setting
* All the parts are pretty new since I bought the printer on an Amazon Prime day about a month ago.
**Settings**
* Inland PETG - Yellow
* a few days ago it had a 6hr session in a filament dryer
* 225 °C nozzle
* 70 °C bed
* retraction 3.0 mm
* print speed 60 mm/s
* print acceleration 500 mm/s
* jerk 12 mm/s
# Answer
225°C is **way too cool** to print PETG, especially at 60 mm/s if your printer's extruder is similar to the Ender 3's stock extruder (going off what you said; I'm not familiar with your specific printer). It will be having serious trouble extruding, slipping in the filament gear, at which point you'll have too little material, so what does get extruded gets stretched out too thin and is under a lot of tension, and since it's not hot enough to bond well with the previous layer and also not thick enough to press well against the previous layer, it gets pulled across a diagonal rather than following the toolhead path.
Drop your speed for PETG to 30 mm/s or lower and increase the temperature to 235°C at a bare minimum. I would really call 245°C the minimum for PETG, but that's borderline too hot for the stock PTFE-lined heatbreak and will degrate the PTFE (and arguably offgas harmful fumes, although probably at levels way too low to actually be harmful) over time.
> 4 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, petg, stringing
--- |
thread-19760 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19760 | Consequences of setting the bed temperature too high with PLA? | 2022-08-13T14:27:01.100 | # Question
Title: Consequences of setting the bed temperature too high with PLA?
On a printer with a heated bed, what are the consequences of setting the bed temperature too high went printing with PLA?
1. a small amount above the recommended setting, 5 Celsius for example
2. Considerably above it, 20 Celsius
I'm thinking of consequences for the print, not for the printer. Such as warping, adhesion, difficulty removing, and so on.
# Answer
> 2 votes
The biggest consequences of printing PLA with the bed too hot stem from difficulty cooling, especially for the layers close to the bed. PLA softens (or hardens, if you're looking at it from the other direction of cooling) around 50-65°C. When you have material in contact with a bed above that temperature, no amount of cooling fan will harden it. It will stay soft. If there's a big mass of material, just the viscosity may help it retain its shape well enough to meet your needs. If not, air pressure from the fan, friction with the nozzle, the pressure of the next layer beying extruded against it, etc. may displace the material from where it was supposed to be, giving you a print that's not just inaccurate but structurally unsound, or where support structures bond irremovably, or gaps that were designed into the model to be gaps fuse together, etc.
Even once you get a few mm away from such a hot bed, or even if the bed somewhat below the temperatures where PLA softens, you will still have greatly diminished cooling capacity. This is because the rate of heat transfer is proportional to the **difference of temperatures**. When PLA is at 70°C nearing hardening, hitting it with air that's 45°C will only cool it at half the rate as hitting it with air that's 20°C. Once the PLA is down to 60°C, the rates would differ by a factor of 3! This means you either need to give the PLA a lot more time to cool (print slower/longer minimum-layer-time) or use higher-flow fans that will pull in more cooler air from outside the print zone rather than just stirring around the hot air above the bed.
You can see some examples of how bed temperature's effects on cooling affect the print outcome in one of my older questions here: How do you solve PLA corner-curling short of printing really, REALLY slow?
---
Tags: print-quality
--- |
thread-19762 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19762 | Why Does My 3D Printer Stop Extruding PLA? | 2022-08-13T17:54:16.610 | # Question
Title: Why Does My 3D Printer Stop Extruding PLA?
I have an Ender 3 V2 which is around 6 months old. Recently, extruding slowed to an almost complete halt seconds into a print for no apparent reason. The extruder works perfectly when extruding manually (using the extrude setting) and I see no reason for it to not extrude properly. I am using Ultimaker Cura and a new filament (my old one has the same issue). The print speed is 10mm/s and the temperature is correct for the filament which is PLA+.
After some testing it seems random when it stops extruding but it always happens within the first 10 seconds of the print starting.
# Answer
If it only extrudes the priming line, then nothing comes out for the model, this sounds like you have your slicer configured for extremely low or no flow, or wrong filament diameter. Check that any flow settings are at or near 100% and that the filament diameter in the machine, extruder, **and** material settings is correct (1.75 mm for most printers).
> 2 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, ultimaker-cura, extrusion, underextrusion, print-failure
--- |
thread-15361 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/15361 | Horizontal lines on feature/geometry/density change | 2021-01-18T18:06:49.253 | # Question
Title: Horizontal lines on feature/geometry/density change
I've had an Ender 5 Plus for a few weeks now. It's printing great and I've got my tuning pretty good at the moment. I've noticed some horizontal inconsistencies matching feature/geometry changes. It seems to be associated with maybe layer time(?) I only have a picture from two models, but the problem will appear in other places on different models, always matching some change in the layers.
The problem is consistent all around the model and changes position with different prints, so I know it's not a mechanical problem. Say I printed a 2x2 cm tower 20 cm tall, it will not have any of these imperfections because every layer is identical.
I highly suspect the layer time/temperature change, but I don't know how to fix this, I'm a bit stumped. They both were printed at 200 °C and I'm trying a new one at 210 °C (best temperature with the spool I have) and it has the same problem. All three models are from the same spool of PLA.
Also, I use Cura with mostly default settings for the Ender 5+.
Here are the pictures :
I tried to highlight the idea, but every line matches with some change in the model
On the benchy it's harder to see, but the hull line match with the solid floor of the model, and the top ones match with the top window sill starting.
# Answer
This is varying underextrusion due to loss of material to oozing in the interior of the model.
When printing the infill pattern, the nozzle doesn't follow a single continuous extrusion path, but moves from the end of one path to the beginning of the next, and under Cura defaults, *does this without retracting the filament*. This causes unpredictable amounts to ooze out during travel from one to the next, thereby desynchronizing the planned/intended amount of material extruded so far and the actual amount. This means, when the next outer-wall extrusion starts, there's an unpredictable deficiency between the amount of material at the nozzle to extrude, and the amount the slicer intended to extrude. The result is what you're seeing.
To fix it, you need to eliminate oozing, not just outside the model where it appears as visible stringing, but inside too. Either disable "Combing" entirely in Cura, or set "Max Comb Distance With No Retract" to something very low (0.8 mm or less). Also set "Minimum Extrusion Distance Window" to 0 to ensure Cura doesn't skip retractions for other reasons.
You may also want to play with extrusion length and speed. Too short or too long can be bad; 5-7 mm is the reasonable range for PLA with a bowden. Higher speed generally helps too; the printer should be able to handle 50 mm/s or faster.
> 1 votes
# Answer
If this matches the horizontal planes - like "solid floor" than I would advice to check overlap settings. My suspicion is slight overextrusion, which might be the reason of many small horizontal differences. Using 3 mm filament I often suffer of similar inconsistencies, until I find proper flowrate to avoid overextrusion. Adding first to second, the solid plane will push walls more to sides.
Do you print "Infill Before Walls" (Cura setting)? You may try to disable this checkbox and observe if the result persisted. Also you may enable "Outer Before Inner Walls" - to ensure, that outer wall is printed first with least interference (though some other issues may appear after travel, layer change, etc.).
* So try print from outside to inside (outer walls \> inner walls \> infill).
* Then try to reduce "Flow" until you see no overextrusion (or even small gaps in the surface).
* Finally revert these settings (infill \> inner \> outer) and check again.
> 0 votes
# Answer
The issue with the "hull line" is known. It depends on the fact that the material shrinks after extrusion and faster layers give less time to the previous layer to shrink, so they appear continuous, while slower layers take more time, so the previous layer has more time to shrink and there will be a visible change in the outer dimensions.
So, larger layers are the slower ones. You can increase the temperature a bit, so that it will take more time to cool down to the shrinkage temperatures, you can print faster, you can increase chamber temperature to have more time before shrinkage, or you can cool more the part so that no matter the current layer time, the previous one will always be already shrunk.
In the Polymaker Discord server there is a channel about the "hull line". You can find an invitation to the server and check there.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: pla, creality-ender-5, layer-shifting, temperature
--- |
thread-19763 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19763 | How do I deliberately maximise stringing with PLA? | 2022-08-14T12:39:06.067 | # Question
Title: How do I deliberately maximise stringing with PLA?
I'm using an Ender 5 with standard PLA and Creality slicer 4.8.2.
How can I deliberately maximise stringing, and if possible get it to be as consistent as possible.
My aim is to have "thousands of hair like threads strung between two rocky pillars".
If possible I'd like to do this in the slicer with PLA, rather than using cotton or some other material after the model has printed.
# Answer
> 2 votes
1. Eliminate retraction in slicer.
2. Print at a higher hot end temperature; something like +10°C higher than recommenced temperature.
3. Slow down speed hot end moves when not printing.
4. Maximize hot end movement without printing where you want strings.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Slicers will perform a retraction when moving from one solid to another, the value of which is part of the settings. I've not researched if a specific slicer will allow a negative retraction, but if it's possible, it's likely to create adjustable stringing.
If negative retraction is not possible, one can identify the retraction segments in g-code of the print and find/replace those values with extrude rather than retract. My slicer, Simplify3D does not support reversed retraction, but the code is clear when examined with a text editor:
```
G1 E-4.0000 F2400
G1 Z0.300 F1200
G1 X118.760 Y117.415 F12000
G1 Z0.250 F1200
G1 E0.0000 F2400
G92 E0.0000
G1 X122.415 Y113.760 E0.0972 F900
build g-code removed for clarity
G1 X118.760 Y117.415 E1.5303
G92 E0.0000
G1 E-4.0000 F2400
G1 Z0.300 F1200
G1 X158.280 Y117.216 F12000
G1 Z0.250 F1200
G1 E0.0000 F2400
G92 E0.0000
G1 X162.216 Y113.280 E0.1047 F900
build g-code removed for clarity
G1 X158.280 Y117.216 E1.5902
G92 E0.0000
G1 E-4.0000 F2400
build g-code removed for clarity
G1 E0.0000 F2400
G92 E0.0000
G1 X162.415 Y113.760 E0.0972 F900
build g-code removed for clarity
G1 X158.760 Y117.415 E1.5303
G92 E0.0000
G1 E-4.0000 F2400
```
All entries beginning with G1 E-4.0000 represent the 4 mm retraction called by the slicer. One could search for just that code and replace it with a positive value. Some experimentation is indicated to accomplish the desired result. The F value is feed rate and presents another value to adjust.
Pursuant to Oscar's comment, I overlooked the lack of movement as a factor. He is correct, such a modification is likely to create a blob. As a possible compensation, a better modification would be to create a custom extrusion code with a reduced flow rate, using the existing code as a reference.
This starts to complicate the process substantially, requiring far more calculations and edits. I suggest that it could yet be accomplished, but would be more easily done so with post processing of the code via Python or similar, with which I am not qualified to address.
---
Tags: fdm, creality-ender-5, stringing
--- |
thread-19781 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19781 | Can I cancel a G26 that’s already underway? | 2022-08-18T06:02:12.973 | # Question
Title: Can I cancel a G26 that’s already underway?
I’m spending hours trying to get a bed mesh that gives me a reliable first layer. I’ve got CHEP’s concentric square pattern printing reliably, but real objects still fail, and the G26 test pattern in Marlin FW is failing immediately.
Can I kill a G26 R999 that’s already begun, once I get filament balling up on my nozzle?
# Answer
# Not with a command
You can not cancel **any** commands once they have started to execute unless you abort the print or powercycle: any normal interrupt command you send (like "pause") is queued after the current command is executed in the line.
# Aborting is losing your print
So you need to trigger a function without a G or M code. The most common solution is Powercycling - which forces the board to *hard* re-boot.
Another way to force a reboot is to connect the "reset" pin with 5V.
Or you connect the printer to a machine via a USB connection, which, to initialize that connection forces a reboot.
Another solution is using the machine's "Abort print" function. This bypasses the command queue and triggers pretty much a *soft reboot*.
**In all cases, the print is lost.**
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, marlin, troubleshooting, bed-leveling, g-code
--- |
thread-19051 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19051 | CR Touch firmware NO Z-axis home Ender 5 Pro 4.2.7 | 2022-03-05T16:16:17.760 | # Question
Title: CR Touch firmware NO Z-axis home Ender 5 Pro 4.2.7
I purchased a new 4.2.7 (256k) board for my Ender 5 Pro and added the CR Touch. I got everything connected and flashed the board with the "Ender-5 Pro- Marlin2.0.1 - V1.1.1 - ALT - TMC2235.bin" firmware from the creality.com/download \> Accessory Firmware \> CR Touch Firmware for 32-bit Motherboard \> Ender-5 Pro.zip
**Problem:**
When told to Auto Home the Z-axis drops 5 mm then checks X-axis & Y-axis endstops = OK
But then the Z-axis drops another 3 mm and the CR Touch deploys \> Retracts \> deploys \> Retracts and Faults out.
The instructions say to move the Z-axis to get the offset but it will only go down while the CR Touch is faulted (Stopped)
I've checked all wiring made sure the Z-axis endstop was disconnected. No help.
Thinking it was a board issue I wanted to check the normal, no CR Touch, functionality, so I flashed the Marlin2.0.1 V1.0.1 original versionTMC2225 "Marlin2.0.1 - V1.0.1 - Endstop - TMC2225.bin" firmware onto the board, and reconnected the Z-axis endstop. The printer worked like normal.
Not wanting to fail, I decided to try another firmware, so I decided to use TH3D\_Unified2\_CrealityV4X\_256K. I went through and set up everything using `CUSTOM_PROBE` settings. And wouldn't you know it... SAME Results as with the Creality "Ender-5 Pro- Marlin2.0.1 - V1.1.1 - ALT - TMC2235.bin" firmware.
Bed drops 5 mm at the start of Auto Home then drops another 3 mm after centering to deploy the CR Touch. The CR Touch deploys \> Retracts \> deploys \> Retracts then Faults out. At no point does the bed ever try to go up.
The only other thing I can think of is that the CR Touch isn't working right. I thought it was supposed to deploy then the bed was to come up to it to detect it. Could the wiring "harness" for the CR Touch be incorrectly wired? (Wiring below)
Can someone help me with this one? Do I have a bad Board? Do I have a bad CR Touch? Or am I just not getting a setting right somewhere?
---
CR Touch Wiring (Current) 5pin from factory --- Connectors can only be put in one way
@ Creality 4.2.7 Board --- From Left to Right
G = White | V = Black | IN = Yellow | G = Red | Out = Blue
@ Creality CR Touch --- From Left to Right with Creality logo facing you
Blue | Red | Yellow | Black | White
# Answer
What you describe is very common behavior for a faulty sensor or bad wiring. I've had my fair share of knock-off BLTouch clones that show this exact behavior. When replaced by a genuine BLTouch sensor, the issues where gone. You might have gotten a defective sensor. You should write the vendor that it doesn't work and ask for a replacement.
> 0 votes
# Answer
Make sure that you’ve changed the G-code in your slicer so that it uses the auto leveling. I forgot to do that when I installed a CR Touch on my Ender 3 and the behavior was similar to what you describe: the printer would deploy the CR Touch a couple times, and then just stop.
Adding a `G29` instruction to the G-code in Cura’s printer configuration (I put it after the `G28` instruction) will tell the printer to use the auto bed leveling. Once I did that, the printer started working as expected.
> 0 votes
# Answer
Comment this line: `Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN` (comment=`//` before the line). So you search for this line in the config file, comment it in order to disable it.
2nd step, uncomment: `Z_MIN_PROBE_ENDSTOP` so delete the `//` in front of the line.
> -1 votes
---
Tags: marlin, bed-leveling, firmware, creality-ender-5
--- |
thread-19734 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19734 | Layer separation before Z seam on VoxeLab Aquila | 2022-08-06T20:02:31.570 | # Question
Title: Layer separation before Z seam on VoxeLab Aquila
I purchased new PLA, and from the first print, the wall layers will have little gaps in them but only "just before" (depending on the size this can be half an inch to a couple of inches) the Z seam. I thought it was a new PLA problem, nope, did a temperature tower and different shape prints, flawless.
It seems to be only my models that I make in Fusion 360 (I haven't tried downloading other people's models to see what happens) and slice in Cura that mess up. I even printed my piece, with the Cura cylinder preset shapes. My piece had defects, the shape came out perfect. I put a picture of the Cone that was messed up.
I have a VoxeLab Aquila which I use together with Ultimaker Cura. I print in PLA at 210 °C. Bed temperature is 60 °C. I use a print cooling fan at 100 %. The layer height I set to 0.3 mm, the line width 0.4 from the 0.4 mm nozzle. The Printing Speed is set to 30 mm/s for walls and 50 mm/s for infill. My retraction is 4 mm/off at 35 mm/s.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Two things:
1. Check the STL file once you have exported from fusion360, sometimes stl files from fusion360 needs to be watertight one. In this case, yes, some models might leave a gap.
2. Check if nozzle is clean, sometimes partial clog can cause this issue too.
---
Tags: pla
--- |
thread-19756 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19756 | Why is my Ender 3 v2 knocking & misaligning for high Y? | 2022-08-12T13:59:43.077 | # Question
Title: Why is my Ender 3 v2 knocking & misaligning for high Y?
On my Ender 3 v2 printer I recently and consistently get some knocking. This happens in only two scenarios.
First, it now occurs all the time when printing the initial test strip gets near the top (high Y value), and knocks several times.
Secondly, it occurs if the model (sliced with Cura) has a high Y value (eg: if the model occupies most of the bed). (If there is room and I move the model - in Cura - closer to the front there is no knocking.) On the first 10 (or so) layers the printer sometimes knocks when a high Y value is reached and the entire model is thereafter shifted to the front by a few millimeters.
There is a third scenario. At the end of a print the print head is in the middle of the bed and moves up 20 mm then travels directly to the top left corner. At this corner there are 4 or 5 "knocks" (and the nozzle is 20 mm above the bed).
Any suggestions to diagnose/fix this problem will be much appreciated.
# Answer
Embarassingly, I discovered that the cable to the heatbed was sometimes caught between the on/off switch and the adjacent power plug. So, for high Y values the cable was very tight and the bed could not be moved. Presumably the "knocking" came from the Y-axis motor. The problem was fixed by attaching this cable to the adjacent hotend/X axis motor cable.
Hopefully this will be helpful to others who have a similar problem. Please add a comment if you experienced this.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Your bed has become unleveled or skewed in Y direction.
When the nozzle is closer to the bed the extruder has to push harder to get the same filament flow through a smaller space, the stresses the extruder to a point that the stepper skips or grinds the filament. This is generally described as a knocking sound.
You need to find out why the bed is higher at the upper end of the Y range and fix this. Otherwise your bed has become warped and may need to be replaced. There are alternatives in using a sensor (e.g. a BLTouch) to sense the shape of the print surface, it will then automatically adjust for the shape during the first 10 mm (default value) of your print product. Installing a sensor requires new or alternative firmware.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, print-quality, y-axis
--- |
thread-19768 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19768 | Can I print multiple parts in a single G-code file? | 2022-08-15T11:26:15.457 | # Question
Title: Can I print multiple parts in a single G-code file?
I have 12 parts for a model I want to print but I would like to know if I can put all of them in a single G-code file and print that on its own. Would this affect the model in any way?
I’m using PLA on my Ender 3 Pro
# Answer
> I have 12 parts for a model I want to print but I would like to know if I can put all of them in a single G-code file and print that on its own.
You certainly can. The printer doesn't care how many parts there are. Many single parts, like those with holes, will have layers that have areas that aren't contiguous. To the printer, multiple parts look just like a single part that happens not to be connected.
That said, printing multiple parts at once means that the job will be larger and take longer, and a problem printing any of those parts can force you to stop the whole job. Because small parts have less area in contact with the bed, small parts are more likely to come loose from the bed during the print, so running a job with many small parts can be risky -- if any one part comes loose, you might lose all the time and material you put into the whole job.
One tool that can help mitigate that risk is the Cancel Objects plugin for OctoPrint. If you use OctoPrint to manage your printer, you can use the plugin to stop further work on any objects that have problems during the print and continue with the rest. Here's a video about using Cancel Objects.
Also, when printing multiple parts, be sure to check that you have enough material (filament, resin, etc) available to complete the whole job.
> 2 votes
# Answer
This answer assumes FDM printing -- for resin printers, as I understand it, as long as there's flow space between parts, if they fit on the build plate, they'll print.
For FDM, generally, you'll get better print quality printing a single part, because layers don't cool while you print the same layer for each of the other parts (meaning layer adhesion will be better). That said, if the parts are very small, this additional cooling may be an improvement vs. having to set your slicer to provide a pause between layers to avoid slumps and layer spreading.
A compromise, if the parts are low enough, is that most slicers can be instructed to print the parts sequentially -- that is, print all of part A, then all of part B, and so forth. This has some limitation in that all parts already printed must clear parts of the machine, and may also require larger clearance between parts for items like fan shrouds.
But printing a bunch of parts at one time does work, if the compromises in layer adhesion and other quality issues related to traveling between parts are acceptable. The only way to be sure is to print the whole lot (perhaps with a large nozzle and thick layers, low infill, etc. to minimize filament consumption and print time) and see if they're good enough.
> 3 votes
# Answer
> Would this affect the model in any way?
Resin would be fine.
Filament is more problematic. Printing multiple items increases the chance of a problem with one eg. a failed support, impacting on the others.
You also increase the chance of stringing between items and can have problems with layer adhesion higher up the print.
Having said that.... I do it all the time, because it's just easier. The only real concession I make is that I check periodically that the first couple of layers are fine, after that I just let it do it's thing.
The only filament I do it differently is TPU because I turn off retraction, without retraction it's guaranteed stringing between parts, so when I do multiple ones I always join them into one with a couple of lines then cut the joins off afterwards.
> 2 votes
# Answer
With a printer that has all the physical/mechanical problems worked out, and with slicing configuration tuned to make sure the slicer isn't doing anything stupid to introduce problems, printing a whole plate of parts at a time should be no problem. This is how folks use high-end CoreXY and Cross-XY printers printing more printer parts (to sell, etc.) all the time.
But if your printer sometimes has problems, doing multiple parts at a time drastically increases your risk that something will fail and mess up all the parts on the plate. And unless your printer is really fast, there's not a whole lot of benefit to plating a large number of parts together. Having to manually start a new job after a 6-hour job finishes is usually not a big deal unless you're trying to take advantage of overnights, which are an even worse idea if your printer isn't reliable. But on a fast printing setup, having to start a new job every 20 minutes rather than a plate after 3 hours is a big productivity killer, making large plates more attractive.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: g-code
--- |
thread-19797 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19797 | References wanted for designing customized support | 2022-08-20T03:23:34.387 | # Question
Title: References wanted for designing customized support
I am interested in references to designs which use a customized support instead of the slicer's default normal/tree support.
The background is this: I am making a hubcap with a 3D logo. I do not want to place the logo on the print bed because the logo will become very messy. So, I place the rim of the hubcap on the bed. This means that a lot of support is needed. With support = normal the print time taken is 36.5 hours using 290 g of filament. With support = tree the time taken is 29.5 hours using 200 g of filament. In comparison, with support = none the time taken is 14.5 hours using 115 g of filament, but of course is not practical. So, I decided to make my own support and I manually inserted it at a specified layer - just below the top disk and the logo above it. The design included some small brackets to hold the support. The time taken and amount of filament is the same as no support - about half the time & amount for tree support! Here is what the support looks like:
I intended to snip away the mesh, but it blends in quite well with the layer above it. (Perhaps a finer mesh is easier to remove.)
I am interested to know of others who have designed customized supports.
# Answer
Your question may be closed for being somewhat vague and outside the scope of the SE, but consider to view Maker's Muse video about creating alternatives to slicer-generated supports.
The video suggests creating primitives in locations appropriate to the overall design. For example, an unsupported "shelf" or "ledge" could result in a massive number of supports if left to the slicer. The MM method suggests that a small rectangular prism on the edge of the ledge turns the object from an unsupported item to a bridging solution. If the gap is excessive, multiple primitives in strategic locations would reduce the slicer-generated support.
Image is screen shot from linked video.
I've had to print a counterbore that I did not want to load with supports. The primitive was a simple cylinder with a diameter of 0.4 mm larger than the diameter of the hole. This created a peg attached to the edge of the counterbore, which the slicer saw as a bridging solution. Easily snapped clean after the print completed.
> 2 votes
# Answer
In this situation I probably wouldn't use supports at all.
I'd put something round on the bed that fits the space instead.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: support-structures
--- |
thread-19775 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19775 | Prevent postion from reset to 0.0.0 when serial goes offline | 2022-08-16T14:30:56.857 | # Question
Title: Prevent postion from reset to 0.0.0 when serial goes offline
My hardware Arduino Mega with RAMPS 1.6 with Marlin 1.0.2 and powered by external power to prevent my board from losing memory, when I reconnect the USB and serial goes offline, the board set last position e.g 10,0,0 to 0,0,0 as x,y,z
How to prevent last position from reset ?
# Answer
The problem not with marlin, The board is reset by the Serial port DTR line going low and pulsing the Arduino reset pin, You can prevent this if you can disable DTR on your PC or by removing the capacitor that connects the DTR Serial pin to the reset pin.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: marlin, firmware
--- |
thread-19802 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19802 | Are plastic resin vats inherently inferior to metal ones? | 2022-08-20T11:25:26.143 | # Question
Title: Are plastic resin vats inherently inferior to metal ones?
I'm looking at getting several resin vats. So that I can use different colors of resin without having to worry about cleaning them out between prints.
Are plastic vats inherently inferior to metal ones, and if so what issues might I run into. I'm a hobbyist, I'm not running a farm. So 3 or fewer prints a week.
# Answer
> 1 votes
# At that rate one vat is enough
With 3 or less prints, you have enough time to drain the resin back into the bottle and prevent it from aging. Multiple Vats only become relevant if you need speed to swap between materials - which for a hobbyist generally is not an issue.
# For swapping often, you need maybe two identical vats fitting your machine
Even if you increase your work rate, you only need at worst two vats that belong to your machine type: remove one, put it out to drain, insert the other one, fill it. That reduces the gap between material swaps to minutes instead of hours.
# Only rarely you benefit from more...
You don't generally get too much more benefit from having more vats. The only upside you get from more vats is, if you have a small range of colors and swap often. But then you *also* need vats that have a lid, because you need to seal your vats for storage.
# Material of the vat doesn't matter usually
The vat can be from whatever material it wants, it needs to **belong to the machine.** You can't use an Elego Mars vat in a Prusa machine, and neither in a Stratasys SLA. You are locked into the ecosystem of replacement parts from your printer supplier, so you have to use the parts for your printer anyway.
---
Tags: resin, hardware
--- |
thread-19789 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19789 | No way to stick PETG on buildplate | 2022-08-19T11:56:47.827 | # Question
Title: No way to stick PETG on buildplate
I did my homework reading similar questions, like this, this and this. Here a video that shows the issue:
The filament is PETG from JAYO and the printer is a Dremel 3D45. As you can see, the filament does not stick on the buildplate. The manufacturer suggests to use 220-250 °C for the nozzle and 70-80 °C for the bed. Here what I tried so far:
* add purple glue from Dremel
* bed temperature from 70 to 80 °C
* nozzle temperature from 235 to 250 °C (below 230 °C it does not come out from the nozzle at all)
* print speed from 50 to 70 mm/s
* nozzle gap from 0.0 to 0.4 mm (in step of 0.1 mm). The video was taken with the maximum gap. When the gap is lower, almost all the filament sticks to the nozzle
* fan speed from 0 % to 50 %
* the filament is inside a filament dryer
* clean up the nozzle
* before each print I level and calibrate the buildplate
Honestly I don't know what to do further. From your experience what should I do to avoid what you see in the video?
# Answer
> 1 votes
Your nozzle is very much too high to properly print just about any filament. If the filament sticks to the nozzle after it is positioned closer to the bed, you have two problems. The first is the initial layer position, sometimes called z-offset. The second is bed adhesion.
While the bed is cool, clean it carefully using the appropriate substance for your bed. I'm not familiar with that specific printer, but a glass bed can be cleaned by just about anything, while PEI beds should not have acetone as the cleaning substance. IPA or Denatured Alcohol is pretty safe.
Once you can get a clean bed and good adhesion, bring the nozzle back to an appropriate height. 0.4 mm is the most common nozzle diameter (perhaps until lately) and will provide near zero adhesion. 0.15 is the value I use for my printer, but each printer will be different.
You don't want ropy stringy build lines, nor do you want a nozzle that flattens the filament into something you can't remove when cool. I've had too-low nozzle height in which the filament was nearly transparent and was nearly impossible to remove.
# Answer
> 0 votes
With one brand of PETG I used 110 degrees on the build plate and 240 for the nozzle. Couldn't get a decent first layer before that.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I agree with fred\_dot\_u, you are too far away from the bed. If you can't get it after that, I would suggest using Bed Weld by Layerneer.
---
Tags: adhesion, petg, build-plate, dremel-3d45
--- |
thread-19807 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19807 | Prints not sticking to bed or just not extruding? | 2022-08-21T17:38:00.383 | # Question
Title: Prints not sticking to bed or just not extruding?
I'm very new to 3D printing. When my printer was new, I got loads of really good prints, however, now they're all failing.
I suspected that the nozzle was in bad shape, so I replaced it, but even now, the prints are still quite bad.
I suspect that the filament is not coming out properly. (extruding?)
I have a Creality Ender CR6 SE. and I'm using Overture Matte White PLA. I've tried using the default 200 °C nozzle and 60 °C print bed temperatures and I've also tried on the upper end of the recommended temperatures at 230 °C and 70 °C.
I've also tried reducing the print speed to 70 %.
Here is a picture of the first layer of a raft:
And here's a picture of a few layers in (still of the raft):
Just before this print I did an auto-level and cleaned the printbed with warm soapy water.
This is the print if I leave it going:
Additional Info: I used the auto-level feature on the CR 6 SE before any of the pictures and used Cura Slicer for slicing.
When using the hairspray method, I managed to get a print out - that print is a 3D Benchy:
Not looking too good. Also - as you can see, I used a different filament.
Using the hairspray again, I tried printing this:
But ended up with this:
**UPDATE 3**
Ok, So I've found something that's probably not a good thing and I need some advice on it. I think the problem is with the print bed. I found that it can wobble. If I put slight pressure on the front of the bed, the front goes down and the back goes up. Not by much, but there's definite give.
When I print a big circle, the left of the circle is "thinner" than it should be, unless I push down slightly on the print bed. If I do that, then the print thickness on that part of the bed seems to be correct.
However, if I keep that pressure while the nozzle goes around then the print loses adhesion. As soon as I release the pressure and the print bed goes back to what it was, then the print regains adhesion (on that side).
However, if I leave it like that, then the nozzle will be too close to the bed on the other side again.
Now I know. This is a tramming (leveling - are these words completely synonymous?) issue, but when I paid extra for the auto-leveling with the Ender CR6 SE, I paid that extra so that I wouldn't need to mess around with stuff like this. Is this money wasted?
Print nozzle too close on the left, too far on the right:
**Should I contact Creality and try to return the printer and get a cheaper one that I'm going to have to manually level/tram anyway?**
# Answer
The CR-6 SE uses strain gauge based sensing for the auto leveling. This implies that the nozzle itself is the probe for the leveling procedure. It is important that there is no filament left on the nozzle and no debris is on the bed (of so, this causes incorrect measurement of the bed surface and results in a too large of a gap between the nozzle and the bed).
Normally, when you replace a nozzle, you need to re-assess the distance between the nozzle and bed with the so-called "paper thickness" method.
This video of the CR-6 shows that paper is still required:
As seen from the first layer of the raft (which by the way is totally unnecessary for PLA) the nozzle is too far from the bed, you see this in balling up of filament and cutting corners where filament is dragged and not deposited. The video does show that it is required to set the Z-offset to the correct value during the printing of the first layer. It is advisable to decrease the Z-offset, alternatively you can set a Z-offset in the slicer, e.g. Ultimaker Cura has a plugin called Z-offset made by Fieldofview to set a different offset directly as slicer option.
You may also have an adhesion problem, probably caused by the incorrect distance, but an adhesive might be beneficial too.
Reprint and post a question on the quality of the print.
> 1 votes
# Answer
It almost looks like that nozzle is too far away from the bed. Try releveling your bed.
> 0 votes
# Answer
I'd be inclined to blame the filament. So my first troubleshooting measure would be to use another filament. If the problem persisted then I'd check all the belts are tight and give the printer a clean with some canned air.
This is assuming your levelling and settings are the same as when it was working ok. Not sure about this assumption because it does look as if your levelling is off for the first layer.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: print-quality, adhesion, creality-cr-6
--- |
thread-19301 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19301 | How to tune Longer LK5 Pro for smoother prints? | 2022-04-26T20:10:26.357 | # Question
Title: How to tune Longer LK5 Pro for smoother prints?
I need to print parts that fit together very well on the Longer LK5 Pro. However, after printing a Benchy, I noticed that whatever I print has a lot of imperfections. Is there any way I can fix this? All I know about the printing conditions was that I was printing at 230 °C nozzle temperature with 60 °C bed temperature. I was using PLA+. I was also printing the Benchy file that comes with the Longer LK5 printer. I tried tightening the Y-axis belt, that moves the bed, and the wheels on the bottom of the bed.
Here are pictures of my Benchy:
# Answer
Looking up your printer, one thing I noticed is that it has power loss recovery. This feature writes to the SD card at the start of each new layer, stalling the print for at least a significant fraction of a second with the filament unretracted, which will make a nasty blob wherever the toolhead happens to be positioned. Absolutely turn this off. It's impossible to get quality prints with that feature on. If there's no menu option to turn it off, you'll have to rebuild the firmware or get alternate firmware from someone else.
It looks like you have moderate overextrusion. If the esteps were tuned, you probably adjusted them too much in the direction to increase extrusion and should reset to the factory setting and calibrate again, erring on the side of less extrusion rather than more.
There are a number of places (especially on the cabin) where some walls are inset relative to where the wall was supposed to be, and where it's present in other layers. This is almost surely a result of losing material to oozing in the interior of the model, as a result of "combing". See this answer for details.
On the hull (especially the bow), it looks like you might be experiencing the consequences of numerical precision bugs in Cura, which result in erroneous tiny segments that break up smooth traversal of curves, leaving blobs where the toolhead stutters. Watch during printing and see if the nozzle is stuttering (suddenly slowing down then speeding up again) along these curves. If so, make sure the Maximum Resolution and Maximum Deviation settings are 0.5 and 0.025 respectively. These are the modern Cura defaults that avoid the problem, but some profiles (and some older versions of Cura) have values that trigger the bugs.
> 1 votes
# Answer
230 is very hot for PLA+ and the pictures look like it's printing too hot for a start. It's hard to tell if there are other issues until that basic one has been cleared up. Where did you get the instructions for 230 degrees?
I suggest printing at 200 degrees or perhaps 210 degrees and then moving forwards from those results.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Just got an LK5 and printed the included Benchy gcode. It looks pretty similar to the benchy in the pics with some of the blobs in the same location. Then I downloaded the benchy from Thingiverse and sliced it with the Longer 1.3 Slicer. Pretty good results from doing that but it took longer to print.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: extruder, bed-leveling, stepper, belt, longer-lk5
--- |
thread-4804 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4804 | Printing threads | 2017-10-25T18:31:24.267 | # Question
Title: Printing threads
I am re-writing this question because, well, it needs to be updated.
I have the Anet A6, but in a general sense of things, what kind of threads can I produce before it no longer works?
# Answer
This depends on the nozzle diameter, the layer thickness, and the material.
I've made very good M8 and acceptable M6 threads (nut and bolt) at 0.2mm layers with a 0.5mm nozzle, out of ABS, and also out of PETG.
> 3 votes
# Answer
I have found that I get slightly different results with different printers and different plastics and print temperatures. For doing parts like nuts and bolts you will probably have to print several prototype parts once you get your printer to get the setting and tolerances right, once you get a print. But just decreasing the layer height and getting the nozzle temp and cooling right should let you get some working parts. You can get the sloped surfaces the still look ok but are not dimensional accurate with to high an angle. I find if is easiest to print and then test and then adjust the tolerances on the design.
> 1 votes
# Answer
I don't have a printer like yours but it should not matter.
Once you follow the calibration steps listed at https://github.com/AndrewEllis93/Print-Tuning-Guide/blob/main/articles/extrusion\_multiplier.md and you set the slicer to 0.1 mm, you should be able to print working threads at the first attempt.
I printed in PLA a thread (both screw and nut) with a 1.5 mm pitch and it worked immediately (it was a bit hard to turn, it got better after using it few times).
A G 1/2 thread (pipe thread) in ASA (only nut) also worked immediately.
I had more issues with deep threads: M30x1.5 worked immediately, but I couldn't get M30x3 mm to work. Basically printing threads with pitch from 0.8 to 1.5 mm should be fine if the axis is vertical.
0.1 mm layer height is important to keep overhangs small, see video
The nozzle is not so important, you can use 0.4-0.6 without issues. I used 0.4 mm.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: print-quality
--- |
thread-19813 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19813 | Which filament is best for printing parts that will endue a constant load for a long period of time? | 2022-08-23T04:43:57.997 | # Question
Title: Which filament is best for printing parts that will endue a constant load for a long period of time?
I thought the answer was ABS, but I read about how some people used it to print parts that were used in plumbing, and they failed when put under constant load, and some said that PETG is better for this application. I want to print bases for my table legs, would PETG be a better material to use?
# Answer
PETG creeps more than ABS/ASA, so I think you should still pick those. Be sure to print them hot and in a closed chamber, but you are loading in compression, so you won't have big issues.
See these tests for creep:
The conclusion is that ASA deforms in the beginning and then it stops. PETG in tensile keeps stretching, but in compression seems fine.
I think ABS is still the best, especially if you use a pure ABS, not an ABS+. Rather than an ABS+ use ASA.
Since it's not critical and if it breaks it's no big deal (likely it will get thinner with time), PETG is an alternative you can try.
> 1 votes
# Answer
For table leg stoppers and things like sandwich signs I use TPU, never had a problem with them yet. They're flexible and strong. Which means you can design them to insert easily and lock themselves in place. They're forgiving if your table leg is not quite evenly prepared at the bottom.
The only problem I can think of which would also apply to any other material is if they have to deal with a sharp edge.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: filament, abs, petg, filament-choice
--- |
thread-19300 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19300 | Wifi goes down in Octoprint after 5-10 minutes with reboot required to reconnect | 2022-04-26T19:45:35.450 | # Question
Title: Wifi goes down in Octoprint after 5-10 minutes with reboot required to reconnect
I recently installed Octopi on my Raspberry Pi 4 and noticed some unusual behavior in that I lose the Wifi connection every 5-10 minutes immediately after boot. Once disconnected, I cannot re-establish the connection because my network's SSID doesn't even appear in the network list anymore. The only way I can re-establish the connection is to reboot the device.
With that said, I did find a troubleshooting discussion of similar problems at octoprint.org: OctoPi losing network connection mid-print.
Following the various advice, I must have tried about 12 different things, but none of them have fixed my issue. At first, I thought that wifi power-save mode was the most likely culprit. `iw wlan0 get power_save` indicated that power-save mode was turned on, but then I turned it off with `iw wlan0 set power_save off` and the wifi *still* disconnects.
Going a step further, I set up a script to run the `iw` command right after boot so that the change is made permanent, but that didn't work either.
Other troubleshooting attempts I tried:
* Verified there is adequate power
* Configured with settings for hidden SSID (even though mine is not hidden)
* Set up a reconnection script that doesn't work because it can't find the network
* Properly set up regional settings
I am at my wit's end.
As for my setup, I have an 8 GB Raspberry Pi 4 and am using an image of OctoPi 0.18.0 with OctoPrint 1.7.3. This I downloaded and imaged onto a 128 GB micro-SD card using the Raspberry Pi Imager. My wifi network is 2.5 GHz secured with WPA2 with a visible SSID and is definitely within close range. One way that I know that it is not a hardware issue is because I have another image with the Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit version and wifi works just fine when I run that.
As for Octopi, one atypical difference is that I *am* running it with a desktop. It may be that, for whatever reason, perhaps that particular distribution of RPi OS has a major bug in it? If so, then maybe I do have a solution, but I don't want to run without a desktop because I have a nice setup on my 3D printer that includes a touch screen. Given that is the case, could I maybe use the 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS and just load OctoPrint onto it with `sudo apt-get [package-name]` or something like that?
Any additional troubleshooting advice is much appreciated, but I suspect that not much else will work. I am not a greenhorn when it comes to linux-bases systems, but this is my first time trying out an image using Octopi.
# Answer
I think I have a solution for this. Please follow the steps mentioned in this Github page of mine for the Wifi connectivity issue. I rarely have any issues with the wifi signal dropping randomly.
---
Wi-Fi connectivity issue
* Ensure that you have set up a static IP address for your Raspberry Pi.
* Ensure that the command `sudo ifconfig wlan0 up` and `sudo ifconfig wlan0 down` works without the user password requirement.
* To run the aforementioned commands without a password, do the following steps:
```
sudo nano /etc/sudoers.d/010_pi-nopasswd
```
+ Add the following line to the file
```
pi ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up, /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 down
```
Here `pi` indicates the username of the Raspberry; update it as per your name.
* Try running the commands `sudo ifconfig wlan0 up` and `sudo ifconfig wlan0 down`, it shouldn't ask for a password.
* Beware before running the previous command ensure that you have not recently typed the password for any other `sudo` command or else try this in a new terminal.
* To know more about this search the command `sudo visudo`
`check_wifi.sh` \- script to check if Raspberry Pi is still connected to the wifi or not. If not then it restarts the wlan0.
```
#!/bin/sh
# keep wifi alive
if ping -c3 192.168.0.1 #router ip address
then
echo "......"
echo "No network connection, restarting wlan0"
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sleep 30
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
else
echo "Wifi working normally."
fi
```
* Add a cron job to check the WiFi connectivity every 5 minutes - `sudo crontab -e`
```
# cron job for checking the wifi connection every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * /home/pi/Octopi_Setting/check_wifi.sh > /dev/null 2>&1
```
Additional resources:
> 3 votes
---
Tags: octoprint, raspberry-pi, wi-fi
--- |
thread-15985 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/15985 | Ender 3 v2 won't read or recognize any SD cards | 2021-03-31T14:04:22.170 | # Question
Title: Ender 3 v2 won't read or recognize any SD cards
I've just received my Ender 3v2 and tried multiple SD cards, all have been formatted to FAT32 with no luck. Under the Print selection, all I get is the back button. I looked and I have the V4.2.2 and the firmware is up to date, Showing 1.0.2 unless this is not right and this is why I'm having this issue. Even when plugging directly into the computer, nothing is showing up.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Abd to follow along with J Boughtons advice, I've noticed if the word "end" is in the first file, it won't read any of the files.
# Answer
> 1 votes
What helps for me is **re-inserting the TF card** several times. Indeed, the machine has some trouble reading it, strange because this would seem to be an easy problem compared to the overall design of the printer....
# Answer
> 1 votes
Just to be sure - you know that the SD Card reader in an Ender 3 is upside down? That means the visible contacts on the micro-SD card have to be facing upward.
If someone has forced a card in the wrong-way around, it could have damaged the reader.
Personally, once I got OctoPrint working I never print from microSD card at all. Not a solution but a workaround.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I have the same issue but whilst none of these worked for me they have worked for other people:
* Make sure the name of the G-code file begins with a letter or number
* Make sure the G-code is not in a subfolder
* Make sure the name of the G-code file is less than or equal to 8 characters long
After I attempted all of these, reinserting the SD card multiple times worked but I don't know what fixed it or if it was just I had been putting it in wrong though I didn't try anything different.
# Answer
> 0 votes
**Do not overlook the possibility of the card not being formatted properly** like I did. Make sure it is FAT32 or another supported format.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, microsd
--- |
thread-19825 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19825 | What filament to use for outdoor high humidity, temperature, and payload? | 2022-08-25T18:08:16.807 | # Question
Title: What filament to use for outdoor high humidity, temperature, and payload?
I wanted to build a 4-wheel ground robot vehicle with a payload of 25 kg for outdoor use, but I wanted to make the frame/chassis using a 3D printer. The outside temperature ranges between 30 °C-35 °C and the humidity is 70-90%. I think the vehicle would be outside for 4 hours at a time. The dimensions of the vehicle would be about 1.0 m x 0.8 m x 0.8 m (LxWxH). From other stack exchange questions and some reading online, my choices have come down to ASA, PC, and Nylon. It's important that the printed part doesn't deform outside. I think I'm leaning towards Nylon for tensile strength, toughness, and heat deflection, but I don't know how the Nylon printed part will hold in high humidity.
Has anyone had experience with Nylon in the outdoor conditions I mentioned? Was it difficult to print a large surface area Nylon part (I'm thinking of printing with the filament directly coming out of an active dryer)? Which bed surface were you using? Would you recommend any other filaments?
# Answer
The application doesn't look to be demanding at all from a material point of view. Operation below 40 °C and 70-90% RH is not that special.
Once taken out PLA for creep, most rigid filaments would work. Nylon deform under constant stress, so screws may get loose over time.
PETG, ABS, ABS+ (TitanX/niceABS are about as easy to print as PLA), ASA, ...
For ease of print, PETG or ABS+ should be fine, but ABS will deform more before breaking, while PETG tends to shatter when it breaks.
> 1 votes
# Answer
My first choice for this would be PET. Not PETG, which is a mess of blobbing, stringing, warping, creep under load, etc., but real PET, also known as BPET (bottle PET) or HTPET (high temperature PET, because it needs high temperatures to print and has high HDT)
Unlike ASA, PC, and nylon, PET is easy to print. It does not need a heated chamber or even a heated bed (although it does a little better with the bed a little above room temperature, at 30-45°C) and you don't have to fight with warping or compensate for significant part shrinkage.
The HTPET I use is rated for high HDT, 87°C as-is, and 100°C annealed. You can probably arrange for it to self-anneal during the printing process with the right settings; I'm planning to experiment with this at some point. To give you an idea how readily it anneals, the smokestack of a Benchy tends to anneal while printing it just from the accumulation of heat in a small area.
It needs high print temperatures. 275°C is about the minimum. The manufacturer of the HTPET I used recommends 285°C for high speed, but I've found flow increases all the way up to around 320°C if you want to go faster.
It is somewhat hard to find PET filament, despite it being fairly easy to make your own from recycling bottles. I would not really recommend that for your project because it's hard to get perfect flow to simultaneously ensure precision and part strength. There are at least a few manufacturers selling it in the US and probably elsewhere though.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: print-material, nylon, asa, heat, outdoors
--- |
thread-19828 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19828 | PETG Benchy boogers and stringing | 2022-08-26T05:40:25.867 | # Question
Title: PETG Benchy boogers and stringing
The Benchy looks good for the most part except for some boogers on the chimney
And some stringing on the bow, near the front deck.
Here are my settings. On another roll of Inland PETG, I printed a Benchy at 30 mm/s and it came out perfect. Is there any way to improve my results at higher speeds? Maybe 4 or 5 for retraction and/or faster retraction speeds? I figure I ask before taking shots in the dark. I was told to not go below 235 °C for PETG so that seems like lowering the temperature is out of the question.
Any ideas? Below are my settings.
The printer is a Sovol Sv01 Pro (this is similar to an Ender 3 S1)
* direct drive extruder
* Creality silent board
* CR Touch
* Marlin 2.0
* hot end like and Ender 3 Pro with an MK8
* PEI sheet
* K value 2.0 - this was the factory setting
All the parts are pretty new since I bought the printer on an Amazon Prime day about a month ago.
Settings (using Inland PETG - Yellow):
* a few days ago it had a 6hr session in a filament dryer
* 235 °C nozzle
* 70 °C bed
* retraction 3.0 mm
* print speed 40 mm/s
* print acceleration 500 mm/s
* jerk 12 mm/s
# Answer
It is based on an ATMEGA chip, which may struggle with high CPU load.
The blobs can be likely avoided by reducing complexity of the model when slicing, see video
> 1 votes
# Answer
While you did use a dryer, the bumps on the surface look like moisture bubbles. I've found it difficult to completely dry out PETG once it gains moisture, although drying is a great improvement. Going straight from the filament dry pack to a dryer that feeds filament straight to the printer has done the best.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: petg, direct-drive
--- |
thread-19833 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19833 | Layer above support is very rough | 2022-08-26T21:31:29.823 | # Question
Title: Layer above support is very rough
I'm attaching a picture to show my issue. I'm hoping might be an easy settings fix, or at least maybe someone has a couple suggestions I can try. I'm using an Ender 3, and the program Cura. The print on the left was printed with the opening facing up. The print on the right with the hole facing down. The support leaves a rough surface. Any suggestions for support settings would be appreciated.
# Answer
There's only so much you can do about this without a multi-material printer that can utilize dissolvable material or material that doesn't bond to the print material, and print the supports at zero distance from the model. So expect it to be ugly. But not quite that ugly.
Slicers, including Cura, have options to control the Z distance between the support material and your model, among other things. Reducing this will make it harder to remove the supports, but will give a better bottom surface. It only really works on whole-layer granularity in Cura (while some other slicers let you do arbitrary distances), and really should always be equal to one layer. A distance of two or more layers will give really bad results, which might be what you're seeing.
Also, Cura has an option called "support interface", which you want on. This prints a flat top surface on top of the support, below your print, so that all the lines of the print have something they're resting on. Without this, the bottom surface over the support will sag down between the lines of the support and look very bad - or, if it's a small detail, it might sink entirely between lines of the support and effectively not be supported at all!
Finally, one hack you can try if you don't have a multi-material printer but want to try printing supports at zero distance from your model: set support Z distance to zero and use a slicer plugin to pause-at-height just past the top surface of the support. Then, when the printer pauses, paint a release agent that won't bond to the print material on top of the support. Reportedly Sharpie permanent markers work as such a release agent, but I haven't tried this, and there are probably better choices.
> 2 votes
# Answer
You cannot print into the air (hot filament will sag when not supported). Do remember that even with support enabled, you are printing into air. This is because there is always a gap between the print object and the support structure, the option is called `Z distance`. If there wasn't a gap, the print object will fuse to the support structure. You may want to increase fan cooling or decrease the Z distance between support and print object to get better print results, but, print orientation is also important, sometimes placing an object under an angle works. In the example you provided, it is clear that it is better printed upright (unless there is a recess at the other side).
From experience, to increase the surface above the support structure, having the option `Enable support interface` enabled will add a dense surface on top of the support structure. This surface, in conjunction with the correct gap and cooling when dialed in correctly will provide better surfaces above support structures.
---
**Z distance** *(in Ultimaker Cura)*
*This refers to the distance from the top and bottom of the support structure relative to the model. This setting is divided into the top distance and bottom distance. The top distance defines the distance between the top of the support and bottom of the model and the bottom distance refers to the distance between the bottom of the support and top part of the model.*
*A small distance between the support structure and parts of the model is necessary in order to remove the supports easily after the model has been printed. A low value creates a smoother surface, but can also make it more difficult to remove the support properly.*
> 1 votes
# Answer
It is extra work, but if the overhang/recess is flat and parallel to the build plate, you can get a very nice surface finish, with a single material fdm printer. The trick is to put down a layer of blue masking tape on a solid support structure the layer before the overhang prints.
You could model in a throwaway “plug” with your model, with a 1mm horizontal gap between it and the real walls, and a single layer gap (like .2mm) vertically between the plug and the overhang surface. Or one could potentially futz with the support settings to generate a solid interface layer on top of the support and a one layer gap between the interface and the overhang.
Once sliced, you program a pause at the end of the layer before the overhang. It is good to program in few extras in the G-code: a movement to retract the filament to make it ooze less, and an X and Y G1 movement so the hotend doesn’t ooze on the model and make a lump. Last, a command to disable the X and Y motors so you can move the bed or carriage around to get it out of the way.
Once paused put down some blue masking tape over the pulg completely. press it down and make an indent where the gap is. Then cut out the plug shape in the masking tape with an exacto knife, following the indent. Now is a good time to put the glue stick on the tape.
When ready to start the print again, home the X and Y axis, and extrude some filament, since undoubtedly the nozzle has oozed out the filament in the nozzle, you don’t want it shooting blanks when you start the next layer.
It is important to go SLOW when printing over the masking tape, or it won’t stick. It is also helpful to increase the extrusion temporarily to get it to stick better. This can be done by hand, or programmed into the G-Code if you are running the job multiple times and don’t want to babysit.
When the print is done, the plug should be easily removed. A little rinse of water can get rid of any residue from the glue stick.
Here is some example G-Code of the pause, taping, and aftermath:
```
G1 Z0.980 F9000.000 ; Z step to the layer with overhang to print
G1 E0.11935 F3900.00000 ; some extruder move
G92 E0 ; extruder length reset
G1 X25 ; move nozzle away from print
M18; disable steppers
@pause painters tape ; printer pauses and displays message. Add tape, cut out. When finished, prime nozzle, remove blob with tweezers, immediately click continue
G28 X0 ;home X axis
G28 Y0 ;home Y axis
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
G1 E-1 ;retract
G92 E0
M220 S25 ; slow speed to 25%, for better adhesion to painters tape.
;remember to add command later, after tape is covered, to speed it back to 100%
M221 S150 ; increase flow rate to 150%, to adhere to painters tape. return to 100% later!
G92 E0
G1 X130.071 Y164.894 F9000.000 ; print job continues...
G1 E1.50000 F3900.00000
```
Then later on, after the layer has gone down over the tape, add
```
M220 S100 ; return print speed to 100%
M221 S100 ; return extrusion rate to 100%
```
> 1 votes
---
Tags: ultimaker-cura, support-structures
--- |
thread-19836 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19836 | Make a 3D print airtight 10 bar (140 psi) | 2022-08-28T15:04:38.237 | # Question
Title: Make a 3D print airtight 10 bar (140 psi)
I want to make some prints of pressure resistants. I am currently trying to print a simple cylinder to find the best parameters to make my prints airtight (by airtight I mean, it needs to resist to 10 bar).
Here is the test model that I have made for this:
Here are the parameters that I have changed in Cura:
* layer height: 0.1 mm
* infill : 100 %
* print temp: 250 °C (high temp to make the layers stick between them)
* wall line count: 5
* infill overlap: 40 %
* flow: 115 %
But all these changes in Cura don't give good results for ABS. It's not even airtight at 2.5 bar:
And here is a mid-cut of the print :
Do you have any ideas/suggestions to have better results? Can it be from the ABS itself? There is a sort of white powder between the layers, is this normal for ABS? Should I try using PETG? What could I change in my parameters?
# Answer
It's very difficult to get accurate internal sizing with 3D printing for this sort of application. It's also difficult to get it airtight without some sort of post-processing. My group wrote a paper on the flow dynamics of pressure restrictors made with 3D printing. In short, I'd suggest you use a drill or mill to produce such parts. We were using pressures \< 0.1bar and still struggled to get them to seal without post-processing.
> 4 votes
# Answer
This is going to be hard. Even holding a vacuum is hard (I've tried it and not succeeded). I'm not sure what the mechanism of air molecules getting thru the print is - whether it's defects in inter-layer bonding, defects at seams, imperfect mating with the fitting, or even permeability of the plastic itself. It might not actually be existing flaws in the print, but rather the high pressure being a stronger force than the bonded layers can withstand, essentially ripping the layers apart from the weakest point until the pressure can discharge through the opening produced.
If using ABS, you might try an acetone bath followed by a long period of trying or use of vacuum chamber to quickly remove the solvent, if you can stand some possible part deformation. This would tend to fill any gaps. Coating with low-viscosity CA glue (Loctite 420 or equivalent) might be a better version of this approach, as the solvent will both attack the ABS and deliver fill material.
In principle PET (maybe also PETG, but PET is preferable anyway if you can get it) should be a suitable material for pressure vessels, as it's what's used for soda bottles at comparable pressure, but those are blown from a single piece, not fused together with seams.
At some point I will attempt this again, and will update my answer if I have any findings that contribute to your question.
> 3 votes
# Answer
## Not without postprocessing
FDM is pretty much welding plastic to plastic. Many many layers. Each of them is a potential breaking point, a corner for stress to arise and break the print.
## Easy with a hollow body
Printing a hollow item that can be filled with resin is comparatively easy. Once filled with a monolithic curing resin (epoxy), that will take the pressure much better and seal it fully.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, abs
--- |
thread-19823 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19823 | Ender 3 v2 - Filament clog before nozzle | 2022-08-24T10:06:00.590 | # Question
Title: Ender 3 v2 - Filament clog before nozzle
The filament "swells" up to the inner diameter of the feeding pipe, from the nozzle to about the end of the heat-sink. This happens after a few hours of printing. It happened using a new nozzle (0.2 mm) and a new tube - the same clog is the reason why I changed both. When this happens, the filament can't be pulled from the tube - I had to cut it open on the end to remove the filament, thus shortening the tube with each clog. The nozzle had no filament in it when I removed it and isn't clogged up.
When installing the nozzle and tube, I first screw in the nozzle, heat it up and torque it a bit, then I slide the tube in all the way.
# Answer
I found the issue. The fan, blowing on the heat sink is busy packing up. It must have stopped during a print (or not start at all). I now check that it is turning when the print starts (and check on it from time to time). I'll have to wait for stock to come in before I can replace it.
> 3 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3
--- |
thread-19846 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19846 | Material to use inside ultrasonic cleaner | 2022-08-31T20:35:05.007 | # Question
Title: Material to use inside ultrasonic cleaner
I am trying to create a couple of holders for my ultrasonic cleaners. They are supposed to be used for parts that don't fit in the holder that came with the cleaners. I was wondering what material is best to use for this.
My initial thoughts are:
* Material should hold up to the cleaning solution, I have a wide range of them from degreaser, deruster, and so on. I would say PETG or PLA should be a safe bet as it reacts with almost nothing
* Material should not have issues with warm (not hot) water, I'd say something along the lines of 60-80 °C. This already eliminates PLA, but I think PETG should still be OK-ish (I am aiming more towards 60 °C than 80 °C).
Is there something I am missing? Does anyone have any input? I am anyway just going to do a few tests, but I assume starting with PETG is a good start.
# Answer
ABS and PLA arn't very chemical resistant. PETG is better, but PET is probably your best option, however it is also a little harder to print in. PET also has a higher melting point than PLA, and shouldn't soften up too easily. PET is more durable as it tends to flex rather than crack, unlike ABS.
> 1 votes
# Answer
The materials you list suggests you could also print PETG. PETG is probably you best option without having specialized options on your printer.
1. PLA is the easiest to use, but loses its shape at lower temperatures than your other options. Moisture also makes it more brittle and more likely to crack sooner under ultrasound.
2. ABS is flexible (when thin) and survives temperatures as high as the boiling point of water. But, it dissolves in acetone and isn't resistant to solvents.
3. PETG is reasonably flexible (also when thin) to survive the ultrasound and more chemical resistant, but somewhat harder to print as mentioned.
**Printing PETG**
PETG can have issues with the filament jamming. If you print too fast, it jams because it doesn't have time to adequately melt in the nozzle. If you print to slow, you get heat creep. The solution I found was to use the maximum hot end temperature recommended, usually 250 °C,, and increasing the airflow through the heat sink and across the printer bed as much as possible.
One is tempted to leave the bed at room temperature to help prevent heat creep. PETG will stick at room temperature. However PETG sticks too well. Heating the bed to 80 °C will help the print release from the bed when it cools down. PETG will also tend to damage the surface it's printing on. Thus, a sacrificial layer such as a glue stick layer is useful to protect other layers on the bed.
Also import to the quality of the print for PETG, the filament must remain dry. Moisture in the filament will cause bubbles in the print. For your application the bubbles would make the print more porous, exactly what you want to avoid. The best results is to print from a dry container and minimize the time the filament is exposed to open air over 20% relative humidity.
**Keeping water out of the print**
You may need to check if you can get enough exterior layers to keep the cleaning liquid from filling up the spaces in the fill. People often use paint to seal the surface, but most paint is not resistant to solvents. Thus, it would take socialized paint such as epoxy paint. Paint will also tend to peal in an ultrasonic cleaner.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: print-material, filament-choice, chemistry
--- |
thread-19784 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19784 | Extra extrusion at seam of print with PETG | 2022-08-18T17:38:44.113 | # Question
Title: Extra extrusion at seam of print with PETG
I recently purchased a spool of PETG to try working with it. I have managed to dial in most of the settings in Prusaslicer but one, in particular, is giving me a problem. As seen in the photo, the clip I printed has extra extrusion on the inside and outside. I have noticed that the nozzle will pause at the seam for about 5 secs before continuing. (The bottom is not Elephant's foot, I just didn't clean off all the brim)
I positioned the seam on the inside of the model. I know that the extra extrusion is caused by the seam but why would it also appear on the outside of the model?
I have printed the same clip in PLA without any printing errors. What setting within Prusaslicer needs to change so I can get rid of the extra plastic on the inside and outside of the print?
\[I don't know what relevant print settings are needed to solve this problem, but will edit the question when I get some guidance.\]
# Answer
After checking several places online, I finally got an answer in a Discord chat.
The solution was to turn off the **Power-loss recovery** setting on the printer itself.
After that was done, the print came out beautifully.
> 3 votes
# Answer
Looks like **Retract at layer change** is causing this. Disable that and see. This will help you to improve the quality a lot.
It will be under retraction settings:
> 0 votes
---
Tags: print-quality, petg, prusaslicer
--- |
thread-11470 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/11470 | Ender 3 displaying wrong temperatures for hotend and bed | 2019-12-04T00:12:13.813 | # Question
Title: Ender 3 displaying wrong temperatures for hotend and bed
I've had issues with my hot end and decided to replace the whole assembly with this. After the replacement, my printer started reading about 135/185 °C for the hot end and bed are both at room temperature. It also gives the "Heating Failed" error message. Printer halted when I tried to heat it.
Things I've tried:
1. Checked the wiring, the thermistors are reading about 110k and 10k at end of the wires.
2. Tried updating the firmware with a few different thermistor settings. Only the static (dummy) ones worked (reading a static value of 25/100 °C)
3. Tried with old thermistor and reading stayed at 135/185 °C.
I'm suspecting something wrong with the motherboard but was hoping I could figure out what's wrong before going ahead and buying a new board. Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions.
In troubleshooting the issue, I tried disconnecting one/both of the thermistors at a time and the reading stayed unchanged. Now thinking I might've somehow broken the board when I was disassembling it.
Upon receiving a new motherboard, that fixed the bed temperature reading. The hot end is now reading -14 °C with the thermistor plugged/unplugged. Took the resistances on the old and new hot end thermistors and couldn't get reading from either. So turned out both the stock motherboard and my hot end thermistors were not working. Ordered new thermistors and that should fix the problem.
# Answer
> 5 votes
I got my printer fixed and am posting steps I took for people with similar problems in the future.
**Initial problem:**
After I replaced my entire heating unit and reconnected the wires, my printer started to read about 135/185 °C for the nozzle and bed at room temperature. It gives the "Heating failed, printer halted, please reset" error when I tried to heat the hot end and bed.
**Troubleshooting steps:**
1. Checked the resistance of the thermistors. Both the hot end and bed were about 100k.
2. Reflashed Marlin with different thermistor settings. Only the static (dummy) ones worked (reading a static value of 25/100 °C). All the other settings were giving very high readings at room temperature.
3. Replaced the mainboard. This fixed the bed reading but hot end was still not working. Checked the hot end thermistor again at this point and couldn't get any values, which suggests the thermistor wire was broken somewhere.
4. Replaced the hot end thermistor and that fixed all the issues.
So what I think happened was that I messed up the board when I was reconnecting the heating unit. Then at some point after I first measured the thermistor resistance, the hot end thermistor broke. Replaced the thermistor and that solved the issue.
# Answer
> 0 votes
For future readers,
On a second-hand 3D printer with unknown firmware, I compiled the Marlin 2.1.1 firmware for the Creality 4.2.7 board with the default configurations for the `BOARD_CREALITY_V427` board, and at room temperature, the hotend reads about 121 °C.
I then measured the hotend thermistor by disconnecting the JST cable and got 9.1 kΩ with the room temperature of about 30 °C. This tells me the thermistor is a 10 kΩ NTC type.
The default configuration for Marlin is 100 kΩ NTC.
So, if you have a 10 kΩ hotend thermistor, either recompile the Marlin firmware for a 10 kΩ NTC thermistor (more trouble than it is worth if you do not know the temperature curve data), or get a new thermistor specifically listed in `Configuration.h`, for example:
```
* Analog Thermistors - 4.7 kΩ pullup - Normal
* -------
* 1 : 100 kΩ EPCOS - Best choice for EPCOS thermistors
* 331 : 100 kΩ Same as #1, but 3.3V scaled for MEGA
* 332 : 100 kΩ Same as #1, but 3.3V scaled for DUE
* 2 : 200 kΩ ATC Semitec 204GT-2
* 202 : 200 kΩ Copymaster 3D
* 3 : ??? Ω Mendel-parts thermistor
* 4 : 10 kΩ Generic Thermistor !! DO NOT use for a hotend - it gives bad resolution at high temp. !!
* 5 : 100 kΩ ATC Semitec 104GT-2/104NT-4-R025H42G - Used in ParCan, J-Head, and E3D, SliceEngineering 300 °C
* 501 : 100 kΩ Zonestar - Tronxy X3A
* 502 : 100 kΩ Zonestar - used by hot bed in Zonestar Průša P802M
* 503 : 100 kΩ Zonestar (Z8XM2) Heated Bed thermistor
* 504 : 100 kΩ Zonestar P802QR2 (Part# QWG-104F-B3950) Hotend Thermistor
* 505 : 100 kΩ Zonestar P802QR2 (Part# QWG-104F-3950) Bed Thermistor
...
```
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, heated-bed, troubleshooting, thermistor
--- |
thread-19855 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19855 | How to Print Food Safe With Replicator + and Z18? Three specific questions | 2022-09-02T08:05:43.507 | # Question
Title: How to Print Food Safe With Replicator + and Z18? Three specific questions
I am working with a bunch of Makerbot Replicator+ printers and one Z18 in a classroom. I would like my students to be able to print cups and stuff to drink from if they want. I know I need a food-safe material AND a food safe nozzle if it can be managed.
So, I wanted to check the following:
1. Is there a material data sheet for the PLA filament that Makerbots use? I am told you need to check for each color, so the general one doesn't seem to be what I need. If anyone knows where to find it, please let me know.
2. I am told stainless steel nozzles are best. I saw several sold on amazon and the like that will supposedly fit the Smart Extruders. Recs on which I should use (if any) are welcome. Especially as the nozzle width will differ, the stock nozzle I think is 0.4mm? I assume I will need to adjust the settings on the printer as well anyway if I swap out the stock nozzle.
3. Another procedure my research yielded was that I would probably want to coat the 3D prints in resin. It seems there are several food-safe brands. Would such resins stand up to acidic liquids like orange juice and the like? What about alcohol? I know they won't work with coffee or something because PLA melts as such a low temperature. Recommendations are welcome here, and whether I should paint on or dip the 3D print?
3a. Even if the PLA isn't itself officially food safe would just coating it in resin solve that problem?
Any assistance here is much appreciated.
# Answer
FDM itself is not particularly food-safe, coating the print may prevent bacteria to settle in crevices. Furthermore, the filament should be able to withstand high temperatures for extended periods of time in case you want to clean the printed cups to kill bacteria.
An overview of food-safe filaments is given by All3DP. Without going into details, this overview recommends the use of certain TPU, nylon, high-temperature resistant co-polyester, PETG and ABS filaments. All these filaments are located at the higher-end temperature region of the filament pool.
> 3 votes
# Answer
A better alternative would be PETG, it's food safe on it's own and has more heat tolerance than PLA. It prints with much the same ease as PLA.
I'm not familiar with your particular printer, but nozzles are standard sizes. Swapping a brass nozzle for a stainless steel one doesn't need anything extra done. They both work the same, just the steel nozzle is harder wearing.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: pla, food, replicator+
--- |
thread-19591 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19591 | Layers peeling off in resin prints | 2022-06-24T20:58:45.497 | # Question
Title: Layers peeling off in resin prints
I'm having some issues with my Creality HALOT-ONE. As you can see in the photo, it seems that the layers after the bottom layer are peeling off. I have to remark that the bottom layer sticks very well to the printing bed.
This issue always happens in the next layer after the bottom ones. I have never experienced this in the middle of a print. Also, it doesn't happen in all the prints. It seems that it appears near the middle of the resin container. I haven't seen it near the corners of the vat yet.
I can imagine that the subsequent layers don't stick properly to the bottom one, but I don't have any clue why.
I'm using the Creality 3D Printer Standard Grey resin.
My bottom exposure time is 46 sec. And my layer exposure time is 3sec. The distance that the plate moves after a layer is 5 cm.
# Answer
I don't know your machine or resin but here are some likely fixes:
* `wait_time_before_cure`
When the build plate moves down and squeezes the resin against the FEP, the entire machine bends and the build plate only slowly approaches the intended height
**Remedy**: add e.g. 5 s of wait\_time\_before\_cure
* level your build plate
The bottom\_cure\_time might compensate for a skewed build plate but the first regular layer may not
**Remedy**: level your build plate
* position of models
Models fail when placed in the wrong position. Follow this order when placing models on the build plate. When you put a model in position 3 and none in 1 or 2, a failure is more likely. By the way, model/models can cover most of the build plate as pealing forces are very rarely an issue.
Not related to your issue but things to consider:
* `bottom_cure_time`
It's not necessary to have 46 s `bottom_cure_time`. 2-3 times the `regular_cure_time` is fine, so in your case e.g. 7 s. It saves your light source from overheating and removing your models from the build plate becomes much easier.
* `lift_height`
> The distance that the plate moves after a layer is 5 cm
not sure what you mean. `lift_height` is typically 5 mm max, which also saves you a lot of print time.
> 2 votes
---
Tags: troubleshooting, resin
--- |
thread-19853 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19853 | Diagnosing non-functional steppers (Ender 3) | 2022-09-01T22:02:51.283 | # Question
Title: Diagnosing non-functional steppers (Ender 3)
I was upgrading my (already very modified) Ender 3 with a geared extruder, and figured instead of re-flashing the firmware, why not switch the extruder phase on the cable? I accidentally shorted the two coils together instead of swapping within one phase, and now none of the stepper motors work properly (this is with TMC2208s on an SKR 1.4).
The current behavior is that when I try to move any axis (including the extruder), the motor will align with the nearest step (I assume) and then not move any further.
I'm trying to figure out if I trashed the mainboard, if I somehow managed to destroy all my stepper drivers with a single extrude command (which seems less likely), or if there is an easy fix I'm overlooking.
# Answer
Turns out that resetting the board after reflashing the firmware fixed the issue.
(Then I dropped a spring on the board and totally killed it an hour later).
> 2 votes
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, stepper-driver, stepper, skr-v1.4
--- |
thread-19843 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19843 | Why does the ZAxis not move when I autohome when using the BTT as a probe and the SKR e3V3 image? | 2022-08-30T12:54:34.860 | # Question
Title: Why does the ZAxis not move when I autohome when using the BTT as a probe and the SKR e3V3 image?
I have a printer with a v3.1 BLTouch and a BTT SKR mini E3 V3 and I can't get the BLTouch to work as a probe while homing. I have tried both of the images provided here and both cause the BLTouch to deploy properly but when I autohome and it gets to Z the BLtouch deploys (turns white) but the z axis doesn't move.
I found this thread which provides an image that does work but not much about how he got it to work and there are some tweaks I would like to make. So no matter what I try when I try to build the image myself the ZProbe seems to not work. This experience seems to mirror others in the thread.
My Current configuration I am building is available here
Does anyone know what other settings may be required to get a BLTouch as a ZMin Probe working with the newest version?
Also quick side question the docs say that the 3.0.1 build does not support BLTouch, does anyone know why?
# Answer
> 1 votes
Sorry finally getting back to answering the question. If this happens and your BLTouch is plugged into the Z-Probe you should make your Configuration file look like this...
```
//#define Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN
...
#define USE_PROBE_FOR_Z_HOMING
...
#define Z_SAFE_HOMING
```
This will tell Marlin to use the Probe instead of the endstop pins. Also in my case it was important to remember the EEProm does not seem to get reset when flashing the BTT SKR e3 mini v3. I think this is why when I tried flashing the other image it still didn't work. It would be my advice, if you are still having issues, to try resetting the EEProm as well.
---
Tags: marlin, bltouch, bigtreetech
--- |
thread-19866 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19866 | How is the Prusa typical orange surface created? | 2022-09-06T21:30:15.640 | # Question
Title: How is the Prusa typical orange surface created?
Photos exist where the orange controller of Prusa printers is shown.
In most photos, it looks as if the surface is somewhat rough.
Here is such a photo:
It sparkles a bit, so I would assume that it's not perfectly even.
I do not own such a controller or Prusa printer, so I would like to ask if somebody could show a close up of what this surface really looks like and perhaps give me some information about how it could be re-created.
Thank you very much!
# Answer
That texture you see is from the build surface, all prints you see are printed with the plane you see downwards.
There are several options to create such a surface finish. From texture coated heated beds to magnetic flexible build surfaces.
> 1 votes
---
Tags: prusa-i3, print-material, surface
--- |
thread-19865 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19865 | Figuring out differences between Creality Printers | 2022-09-06T16:09:06.600 | # Question
Title: Figuring out differences between Creality Printers
I am thinking of getting a 3D printer for general tinkering and as I've very interested in the MicroscoPy project. The printer mentioned in the project is "Creality Ender 3 Pro printer with a metal extruder and a BLTouch auto bed-leveling sensor", which when I looked was out of stock. However, it's not clear to me that I need to get this particular printer. My understanding is that Creality makes decent printers for the beginner so I was focusing on those (other suggestions welcome). I wanted to stay at \\$200−\\$300. I'm having a heck of a time figuring out the differences between different models. A simple comparison spreadsheet seems hard to find. I've seen this at various sites
* Creality3d Upgraded Ender-3 V2
* Creality Ender-3 S1 3D
* Creality Ender-3 S1 Pro
* Creality Ender-3 Pro
Part of the problem is that I think different sites (Amazon, Creality) use slightly different names. For example, the last two printers I listed might be the same printer.
I realize any information given here will be quickly out of date as new models are introduced, but perhaps links to comparison sites or review sites would serve a larger audience. Or perhaps even documents on how a newbie to 3D printing can get started.
Again, my end goal is the project I mentioned. I'd like to get a printer that is as least as good as what he's using (feature-wise): "Creality Ender 3 Pro printer with a metal extruder and a BLTouch auto bed-leveling sensor"
# Answer
> 1 votes
> I'd like to get a printer that is as least as good as what he's using (feature-wise):
Then you need to modify one yourself, a basic Ender 3 could be the base machine. But the all metal hotend and auto bed-levelling are not stock for it or the Ender 3 pro. They're addons of dubious value which need to be purchased and installed.
---
Tags: creality-ender-3, creality
--- |
thread-19868 | https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19868 | Rough surface coated PEI textured build surface to fit Anycubic Kobra Max? | 2022-09-06T22:36:18.933 | # Question
Title: Rough surface coated PEI textured build surface to fit Anycubic Kobra Max?
I have an Anycubic Kobra Max. It has a bed size of L430\*W410.
I would like to print a rough surface as shown here:
To do that, I need a coated PEI build plate, and I need to print the surface pointing towards the build plate.
The coated PEI build plate that is shown in the photo was designed for an Ender 5.
I would like to know if somebody could point me to such a solution for a Kobra Max as I don't know what would be needed to "fix" it on the build plate.
Here is the full data for the product shown in the image just for clarification of what it shows:
* Ender 5 Plus 3D Printing Platform
* Double-Sided Powder Coated Without Magnetic Foot Base
* 3D Printing Build Surface 377x370 mm/14.8x14.5 inch
* Size: Only Double Powder Plate 377x370mm
# Answer
> 2 votes
Considering that the PEI coated build surface is smaller than your actual build platform size you should be able to fit the build surface onto the build platform at the expense of a smaller print surface area. In the past I have secured sheets of glass with Kapton tape (very thin high temperature resistant electronics tape), but glass is stiff and rigid. You might be able to use tape to tape the build surface corners to the build platform. However, from the website: `supplied without magnetic platform side B, the plates are coated on both sides so you can save one side for flawless parts while you need the other side. The performance may not be good without the soft magnetic base to maintain flatness. Do not recommend using them separately.`, so you need to get a magnetic platform to use this surface according to the seller.
This makes sense, as the sheet is thin, and some filaments warp (by shrinkage) considerably, the sheet may deform. You could try to use double sided high temperature tape, but that defies the the purpose of the build surface, you need to get it off easy and bend the surface to release the print. Therefore, a magnetic base is required.
---
Tags: build-surface, anycubic-kobra-max
--- |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.