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Inconsistency of manual tramming and auto tramming/auto bed levelling
I have a new Ender 3 S1 printer with CR Touch sensor (never had experience with auto levelling before) and I'm confused about how it works. Also, I updated the firmware to Professional Firmware.
I ran a couple of tests with different approaches and printed a two-layer square the size of the bed.

I do manual bed tramming using paper. Decent tolerance, all four corners of the test print have approximately the same height of ~0.45 mm
Then I run the tramming wizard, it touches four corners of the bed and says the back-left corner has an elevation of 0.15 mm and the front-right corner is -0.16 mm. I adjust the bed using screws until the wizard says all four corners are within ~0.03 mm and I print the same square again. The result is worse than paper levelling back-left corner is ~0.64 mm thickness and the front-right is ~0.45 mm. It even visually looks inconsistent
I tram the bed using paper again, print the square, and all is good. Then I built auto-leveling mesh, enabled it in starting G-code, and printed the square. Once again, the result is bad.

How it could be that manual tramming does not correspond to the probe levelling? I don't think it's a mechanics issue, since both the nozzle and the probe are sitting rigidly on the same extruder.
Here is what the mesh looks like after nice and consistent manual tramming.


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Recommendation for 3D-Resin
I am looking for a resin to use with my Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K.
I am trying to print useable plastic connector shells for an industrial use-case.
My requirements are:

Layer heights of approx. 50 µm or smaller possible in a reliable way

Feature resolution is comparable to standard resins

Minimal material wall-thickness of 0.15 mm in a reliable way

Resistant to solvents commonly used in industrial environments
Used for cleaning and so on, e.g. brake-cleaner.

Somewhat comparable mechanical properties compared to PBT plastic datasheet

Temperature range of -20 to 85 °C without major losses in mechanical properties

Is dimensionally long-term stable

Price and vendor are, as long as reasonable, not an issue.

This seems like a shopping question, or recommendation, which aren't allowed on Stack Exchange, unfortunately. Maybe try to re-formulate the question so that it isn't a question that will attract opinion based answers.

Your question contains mostly two important things,
1° Solvent resistance: Brake cleaner is mostly Acetone (90% and aroma compounds 10% in my experience)
You need a resin that resists Acetone then.
There are not a lot according to the tests by Formlabs.

Solvent
Grey ProResin V1(FLPRGR01)
High TempResin V2(FLHTAM02)
Rigid 4000Resin(FLRGWH01)
Rigid 10KResin(FLRG1001)
ToughResin V5(FlTOTL05)
Tough 1500Resin V1(FLTO1501)

Acetic acid(5%)
0.8
<1.0
0.8
<0.1
2.8
0.8

Acetone
10.8
<0.1
3.3
<0.1
samplecracked
19.1

We can see that there are not a lot of resins that resist this solvent. Only one seems suitable: "Resin (FLRGWH01)  Rigid 10K Resin (FLRG1001)"
2° long-lasting mechanical stress :
the phenomenon is called "to creep" : (slowly deform) under constant pressure. Exerted by the bolts or clamping on the parts for example.
Please be careful as most of the resins can be prone to failure due to continuous use.
As the Voron Materials Selection explains.

While on paper resin printed parts could work for heat resistance depending on the resin type, resin parts typically continue to shrink over time putting them outside of dimensional tolerances. Resin prints also typically exhibit long term creeping under bolt pressure and have a tendency to catastrophically fail after just a few months of use.

Maybe you can try this one out from the seller eSUN?
It has good mechanical properties. Hard-Tough Resin
The brand is good but I don't think the solvent resistance is acceptable for you, but in the end, you should try it out and tell us here as this is an interesting topic to all of us here!
But frankly, as you can read on the links I posted... Resin is probably not a solution for you.

I changed the answer.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


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Must restart Adventurer 3 before it will heat up
I had a pretty big problem with clogs, at both the nozzle and the other end too.  I fixed those and installed a new nozzle.  Now I can print.
But when I go to change the filament, it won't heat up and shows 35/0 degrees.  I have to shut down the printer completely before I can get it to heat up.  So I can no longer change colors mid-print.

Could you please clarify what you mean by "the other end"? Are you talking about the extruder end? Also, what is "35/0 degrees"? Help us, help you.

It was clogged near the extruder, and also near the wheels where you start the filament feed.  The nozzle is still clogged, which is why I replaced it.  The other clogs are cleared, since the new nozzle works and it does print.  But when it tries to heat, either by choosing "Preheat" or Filament then Change, the display shows the temperature as 35 out of a target 0 degrees, and stays stuck like that. It should show 35 out of a target 240 degrees and the 35 should slowly increase til it gets to 240.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Ender 3 CR Touch UBL Fails to Produce Viable Mesh
I've been getting deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of UBL and I am losing my mind!
Just installed the CR Touch and I am having print issue after print issue with larger prints despite manually leveling the bed (bed adjustment not UBL manual) to the best of my ability.

Ender 3 v1
Board: Creality 4.2.7
Firmware: Marlin 2.1.2
Firmware config: configuration.h
Hotend: Creality Direct Drive Sprite Pro
UBL Sensor: CR Touch

The height map clearly shows an issue - I just don't know how to fix it.

Of note - G29 P1 will only get through 44 of the 100 touchpoints
Here is the code I ran through to generate the mesh:
G28       ; home all axes
M420 S0   ; Turning off bed leveling while probing, if firmware is set
          ; to restore after G28
M155 S30  ; reduce temperature reporting rate to reduce output pollution
M190 S65  ; (optional) wait for the bed to get up to temperature
G29 P1    ; automatically populate mesh with all reachable points
G29 P3    ; infer the rest of the mesh values
G29 P3    ; infer the rest of the mesh values again
@BEDLEVELVISUALIZER ; tell the plugin to watch for reported mesh
M420 S1 V ; enabled leveling and report the new mesh
G29 S0    ; Save UBL mesh points to slot 0 (EEPROM).
G29 F 10.0 ; Set Fade Height for correction at 10.0 mm.
G29 A     ; Activate the UBL System.
M500      ; save the current setup to EEPROM
M155 S3   ; reset temperature reporting
M140 S0   ; cooling down the bed

Figured it out: human error.
I will document the steps I took to resolve nonetheless.
Originally was confused why the probe was failing to probe areas that were clearly in range of the probe head (left and bottom of the print bed) which had me incorrectly thinking the issue was with CRTouch.

Reflashed the firmware with the probe margin set to 2 mm instead of the default 10 mm which helped auto-probe the remaining areas the probe could reach.
#define PROBING_MARGIN 2

This made it abundantly clear I was an idiot as the probe could not physically reach the unpopulated areas in tandem with the direct drive Sprite hot end.
To complete the mesh I manually probed the three remaining corners (Mesh Edit option on the printer control panel) and then had the firmware smart auto-fill the remaining probe points using the terminal command G29 P3.
The outcome was an extremely accurate mesh that allows full use of the original Ender-3 v1 bed.

I don't know how useful this will be for you now, but I do have a couple of tidbits of info to help others who may have this question and find yours:

You can replace the stock screws on the Plate that carries the extruder (Carriage). The stock ones are (I believe) M5x30 mm screws, you can replace the top right and bottom (when looking at the carriage from the front) screws with M5x25 mm screws. If you put them in from the back, and use a shorter nut, you can achieve the same range of motion you normally have with the stock extruder.

If you're configuring your own firmware, in Configuration_adv.h in the Marlin Firmware source files, you will find a section called @section Leveling. Here, you can modify the probing margins per axis, per value. You can set both the MESH_MIN and MESH_MAX distances for both X and Y axis.

It should look something like this:
    #if EITHER(MESH_BED_LEVELING, AUTO_BED_LEVELING_UBL)
      // Override the mesh area if the automatic (max) area is too large
      #define MESH_MIN_X 20
      #define MESH_MIN_Y 20
      #define MESH_MAX_X X_MAX_POS - 48
      #define MESH_MAX_Y Y_BED_SIZE - (20)
    #endif


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PLA temperature tower failed
I'm using the eSun Silk PLA and I printed a temperature tower to find out the best settings. For print speed, the default speed of 50 mm/s and 25 mm/s for walls and surfaces are used.
The problem is none of the temperature levels seem to be the best! As you can see from the following pictures:

The 195 °C step is the "less worse" but still far from good.
Are there any other parameters I should tune?
I have a Dremel 3D45 and I use Cura.

For the most part, a well dialed-in printer should be able to print PLA just fine along that entire range of temperatures. You seem to have various other problems going on which make a temperature tower a poor place to start with tuning. Also, this test makes heavy use of bridging, which is really hard to get right because it involves things like suddenly disappearing backpressure against the extrusion, lack of surface to squish the material against, and how you deal with that. Cura has a lot of settings to tune this, but getting it right is an advanced topic, and hard even then. Judging that you have the wrong temperature because bridging had problems, when you haven't done anything to get bridging to work, doesn't make sense.
The catastrophic stringing at the bottom indicates to me that the filament is fairly wet. I would suggest drying it before doing anything else, because so many of the common print problems folks hit have wet filament as the root cause or at least a contributing cause, and you can waste so much time chasing other things like tuning retraction, temperatures, etc. when the  problem was just water all along. Silk filaments are particularly sensitive to moisture, by the way.
You also have a severe ripple artifact in the surface of your print. This could be ringing from having your acceleration set too high for your printer. Probably any more than 500 is way too much for outer walls on this printer; inner and other parts could perhaps go a bit higher. But it's possible you already have acceleration plenty low and that the issue here is poor belt tensioning or a loose screw somewhere in the toolhead or motion system assembly.
It looks like you have some places where the material didn't stay in the right place at corners. This might indicate poor cooling, either something wrong with the fan (filled with dust, broken blade, bad bearing with too much friction) or just that the printer lacks good cooling to begin with. This would also contribute a lot to bridging not working well.


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I'm having issues stopping tiny cuts and uneven print quality in my prints ever since I upgraded my printer
It has been a few months of trial and error trying to work this out. I made the printer succeed in printing normally, but the quality is terrible. These tiny cuts appear in every print as well as uneven walls that feel bumpy. Does anyone have any tips to fix this?
Printer specs:

Ender 3 v2
Sprite pro extruder
CR touch
Pro software

What changes did you make in the upgrade? The problem you're seeing is missed extrusions, which usually mean the extruder is skipping steps or the filament is slipping in the extruder gear.

The upgrades are a sprite pro extruder, cr-touch bed leveling, and pro software.

You upgraded from the original bowden to the sprite direct drive? If so, and if you didn't change your retraction settings to ones suitable for the direct drive, that would explain the problems you're seeing.

You have any good settings for this extruder? I'm having trouble finding an exact setting for this exact printhead.

No, I don't use a Sprite, but generally direct drives need a much lower retraction length because the filament path is mostly or entirely rigid, and much shorter. If you're using linear advance and it's properly calibrated, retraction length should be no more than 1 mm for direct drive, and possibly as low as 0.3 mm or even lower. If you don't have linear advance, it might need to be a little over 1 mm.

I changed the retraction distance to .8mm and it helped dramatically, Now there is the issue that around the bottom of a Benchy test there are blob-like inaccuracies. Do I have my Minimum distance before retraction set too low?

Min distance before retraction should ideally be set at 0 or at least less than the nozzle width. Anything else will turn small details into a mess of strings. So I don't think that's the problem. It might just be moist filament now, or something else. Can you post a pic or ask a new question about the blobs?


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Creality Ender 3 V2 Printed objects incorrect dimensions
I have had a Creality Ender 3 v2 with a 4.2.2 motherboard for about 2 years. It's a company-owned machine but I got it just about when Covid hit so it has only been used at home. It worked OK at first. I used it a good bit. Then I got a Prusa and liked it better so I mostly used it for both work and personal stuff.
Now Covid work-from-home is over and I have moved my Ender 3 back to my office. I also installed a BLTouch I bought a long time ago but never got around to installing it. I had a devil of a time getting the BLTouch to work. It would quit halfway through leveling. I ended up installing Jyers firmware with a 3x3 leveling grid and now it prints. Kewl!
Now I have an issue where none of the dimensions on my prints are correct. I am printing a housing for a circuit board so the dimensions have to be correct or the circuit board will not fit. X, Y, and Z are all undersized. Worse yet, the first 3 or 4 mm in the Z-axis layers are squished. It's like elephant's foot on steroids. I attached a photo.
So the X and Y dimensions of the print are oversized at the bottom due to the elephant's foot but are undersized at the top. The Z-axis dimension is way undersized because of the squish.
The Jyers firmware has a "steps/mm" setting. I haven't changed it from default. Creality's specs say the printer is capable of 0.1 mm resolution but it doesn't say steps/mm so I have no idea whether default settings are correct in Jyers firmware. Jyers was developed specifically for the Ender 3 v2 so I would expect it to be right.
I checked all the rollers on all axes and they look fine. I checked the coupler on the Z-axis stepper and it is tight. I can't find anything loose. The rails are clean and no foreign matter is present. The belts are tight.
I am printing with Hatchbox PLA. I have always had success with this stuff on my Prusa.
I compared the default PLA temps for Creality vs. Prusa. The Prusa runs the extruder at 220 °C vs the Creality running at 215 °C. I am using PrusaSlicer for the Creality.
A related issue I am having is the supports. When I print with supports on the Prusa the supports break off easily. I can usually break them off with just my fingers. The same supports on the Ender 3 v2 require pliers. The support material is binding to the model too tightly. The elephant's foot would explain why supports on the lower layers would be wonky but even supports at higher layers are hard to remove.
I replaced the nozzle with a new 0.4 mm unit hoping this might help. No improvement.
Any ideas?

I think the first important question is: have you calibrated the printer in all 3 axes? Also, please break up the post into only one question; create a separate question about the supports.

What is the temperature of the bed? P.S. your corners are bulging a lot, i guess you have more issues than dimensional problems. What print speeds do you use?

Bed temp is 60C.
I tweaked the slicer 1st layer and printed a calibration cube. The elephant foot is greatly reduced. The corners are still bulging. The X and Y dimensions are a little undersized but almost correct. The Z axis is better but still a bit short.

I mentioned the support issue in the same posting because I think it is related. It looks like the squished Z axis is causing the support material to be fused to model such that they do not break off cleanly.

I punted. This BLTouch consumed about 2 weeks of on and off troubleshooting. It was more trouble than it was worth. Not only was it unreliable but the print quality was pathetic using Jyers firmware and default settings. The layer lines are clearly visible in the photo above.
I disconnected the BLTouch, reconnected Z-axis switch, and restored factory firmware. Reliability and print quality has improved dramatically. I have had only one print failure since and the layer lines are almost invisible. Elephant foot is controlled by using 2 pieces of paper to measure nozzle tip height.


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Surface gaps in 3D print

The print needs to be 1 layer thick as it is a plane part. Even with supports, layer gaps like in image appear. It would be nice to have supports for it but the software is treating the object as if it was hollow therefore meaning infill makes no difference.

Is there a way to "support" inside of the model walls? (not infill)
-STL included now

Do you mean that you only want one wall/perimeter? (Instead of one layer) also, can you add a link to the STL file so we can slice it? Note that if the gradient of the part is too steep, you never get away with a single perimeter.


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Underextrusion Cause
Printer: Ender 3 with a metal extruder - PLA
After a long break from printing anything, I started printing again, but the results had obvious underextrusion issues:
But after I tweaked temp, flow, and speed for multiple test prints, the issues disappeared - even if the settings were returned to default.
Sadly, after a couple good prints, it started having issues again.
Why is my printer having these issues?
EDIT: The cause was that I didn't install the spring in the tension arm correctly-it was not compressed enough to deliver the necessary force to grip the filament.
Since my printer was working fine until recently, it leads me to believe that the spring must have weakened. So new question: is that the case? And do you recommend I unscrew the arm and release the spring when I'm not using the printer to improve lifetime?

Please remove the answer from your question and wait and accept the solution provided by R once he posted the answer. Or post your own answer. The new question should go into a new question preferably hinting and referring to this question.

As 0scar has already corrected stated... Please, post the answer from your "edit" as an actual answer, otherwise you mess up the Q&A format of the site. Also, remove your new follow up question in that same edit and post it as a new question, otherwise it will not be answered - you can't have two different/disparate questions in one post, otherwise which answer would be the correct answer to mark as the accepted answer. Thank you.

This is unlikely to be a settings issue. It's almost surely a physical issue with the extruder.
Usually on an Ender 3, this is a problem with the tension arm. The stock one is made of plastic and the arm, or mount that's holding the arm can crack.
It's also possible you have a weak spring tensioning it.
Aside from issues with the arm, the teeth of the extruder gear can get gummed up with chewed-up plastic, or worn down from printing abrasive materials, to the point they're no longer able to dig into the filament and push it effectively.


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How do I run wires for an LED through my print?
I am just getting into printing and would like some direction on my current project.  I am building a display cube, and I would like to have an LED light on both the left and right sides.  The battery pack/power would come up from the bottom.
I am using freeCad as my design tool.  My initial thought would be to create a pocket where the LEDs will be at and then create holes leading back to the bottom.  That seems like the logical solution.
Another option I had was to create channels on the inside of the square and run my cables through those.  However, this will make the cables visible, and also show the channels.
My final option would be to hollow out the insides with a little bit left for the surfaces.
With all of these options, I can see pros and cons, so that is why I am looking for a little guidance.

Hi and welcome. Could you list the pros and cons that you know of, for each method, so that we don't suggest pros and cons that you have already thought of.

Can you post an image of your design so we can picture this better?

The best option probably, is to embed everything in the cube seamlessly. It's one of techniques only possible with 3D printing.
Prepare the cube normally with pockets where the battery, wires and LEDs are to go, with all the "special" geometry hidden within, nothing poking out through the skin (albeit you will need some way to toggle it or charge the battery... wireless charge, capacitative switch?). Make sure the project has a point (or - less desirably - a couple of them) where at certain height all of the "foreign objects" are below the current height, but all the channels and sockets that hold them are still exposed/accessible from above (as viewed from the print orientation).
Then in your slicer use the "Pause at height" option. It's different in different slicers - I'll provide a tutorial for Cura.

Load the STL. Slice and preview. Use the slider on the right to find the layer number which will still expose everything below (with possibly 1-2 layers of margin above, as sometimes the resulting pause point is off by that much). In the example, the layer# is 140. The sockets for LEDs are already closed on top, so the LEDs won't stick above the print level, so this is about the correct height.

Select Extensions > Post-processing > Modify G-Code.

Add script > Pause at Height. Change "Pause at" to "Layer number" and enter the layer at which you want the print to stop, so you could load up all the electronics (or first part of it, if you want multiple pauses). Usually this is all that's needed, but if you see options you want to tweak, now's the time. Press Close.

Slice again (this time to produce Gcode with the pause command), and start the print normally.

If everything went well, the printer will stop printing at the specified layer and move the print head out of the way. You can now pack all the electronics in (pay attention not to move the table), possibly hot-glue the wires so that nothing sticks above the print surface so the print head won't snag on it, then either use the printer's screen's dialog (if you used an SD card), or Octoprint's "Resume" button if using Octoprint, or whichever way of resuming the paused print your system provides. The print will resume and your parts will be seamlessly embedded within.

The process is slightly different with different slicers and printers, but if you google "pause at layer" and "resume paused print" with your slicer and printer, you'll find tutorials for sure.
Also note: normal PLA at thickness of 2-3 layers is transparent enough bright LEDs will shine with clear diffuse light through, so your LEDs don't need to poke out of the sides. Embed them shallowly enough and your cube will glow there just fine.

If the display cube consists of transparent panels, create a 3D printed frame along the edges of the panels. Incorporate through holes in the frame elements to run the wires through.  It should also be possible to build in a way to mount the LEDs to the frame elements.

Are you going to be printing using filament or resin?
I'm having trouble visualizing what you are intending to do, but if you are using a filament printer then it may be easier for you simply print the model out exactly as is, with no accommodation for the LED or batteries, and then simply cut into it with a sharp knife. When dealing with an item that is purely ornamental (Doe not require mechanical strength) The interior of a filament print is essentially a honeycomb that exists to support the exterior while it is printing. You can cut away most of it without harming the print, and then fill the remaining space with modeling clay to regain some of the lost strength.
Simply hollow out a space for the battery and then drill into it for the LED.
If you are using resin, you can hollow out the object using your slicer, and then use the hole punch tool that most slicers have to create a hole for your LED.

If the OP is already designing the project in FreeCAD, why not build in the necessary holes/cutouts needed; why suggest cutting into the printed model and risk ruining the model or self-injury?

The OP seems to be an adult so injuring themselves isn't really a likely outcome, if they are a child then they can always ask a parent to do it, and they have stated that the model is being 3D printed so it doesn't matter if they ruin it as they can recreate it if need be. The OP has clearly thought about other CAD based solutions, so I'm offering them an alternative.

Please ask questions in a comment under the question, you have enough reputation to ask this per comment. Once answered, you can update the answer.


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How center the nozzle before start printing
I have a BLV Core XY, I'm trying to print different models, but the machine moves the center once it goes to start the process.
This is my G-code of the beginning:
G21
G90
M82
M107
G28

M413 S1 ;Power-loss recovery

;M190 S60    ;bed heat on
G34              ;Auto Z Level
G29              ;Bed Levelling

G28 Z

G1 Z2 F240
G1 X2 Y10 F1200
G1 Z0.2 F240
G92 E0.0
G1 Y150 E15.0 F1000.0 ; intro line
G1 X2.3 F5000
G1 Y10 E30 F1200.0 ; intro line
G92 E0.0

M117 Printing...

However, if I do a simple command like, to send the (0,0) on Z axis, it happens fine.

You have defined your bed incorrectly in the firmware.
First line you print is at X=2, while it is printed a couple of centimeters from the edge. Second the final cube is not in the center of the bed while it presumably is sliced in the center.
You should look into the definition of the bed size, the end stop offsets and the probe offsets to fix this. A detailed question and answer is found in How to set Z-probe boundary limits in firmware when using automatic bed leveling?.

Thanks for the answer, but I not have the code to make this changes, the person who assemble the machine never share that.

That is unfortunate, but if you read into Marlin firmware updating and setting up the config file and if you have some interest in computers, coding and unloading over USB or through MicroSD card you should be able to do this. There are lots of movies that explain step-by-step what to do. You only need some basic information on your printer and the electronics. There are questions here but you may always ask yours and we will help you or direct to previous answers!

Sure, I'm a system engineer, I know how to write code, but I never before had been the chance to study marlin, I would wish to change some things, but I will try to get the firmware made by the person who assemble the machine, then, I could start to test new marlin firmware update.


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Ender-3 Pro Factory reset/BLTouch Setup
I bought the BLTouch and followed the instructions to install it, but it ended up not working. After installing the new firmware, the screen started bugging out (pixels being out of place, always moving). And when I tried to use the BLTouch, it didn't detect anything below it; the light is always red, and the plastic part it uses to sense doesn't move and making my printer unusable.
I looked online to see how to reset my printer so I could re-install the software, but it mentioned a terminal and I didn't understand what that was. My computer runs Windows 11, and I'm fairly new to PCs, so a step-by-step would be helpful.

What is a printer console/terminal?.


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I have one print that's underextruding, what settings should I change?
I've got one particular print which is causing me problems.  I've printed other things without changing the filament or printer, so the problem is at least partially the print itself, which has a lot of supports and unconnected sections.  What sorts of things can I do to fix this?  I'm printing on an Ender 3 Pro and using Ultimaker Cura for slicing.
I print in PLA at 200 °C. The print bed is set to 40 °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. I'm not positive what my print speed was set to, but I think I tried it at the default (50 mm/s infill) and then a second time slower (20-30 mm/s, probably).  Regardless, the wall speed was set to half whatever the infill speed is. My retraction is 6.5 mm/off at 25 mm/s.

@agarza I've added the details I remember, the rest will have to wait until I have more time to pull up the files.  They're mostly defaults though, although I did try messing with the speed (slowing it down). Can I see these values if I load the gcode in Cura, or do I need to do something special?

Some of the G-code will have that information, but some will be set within Cura.

I suspect the retraction, but it is very hard to guess based on the given information. The raft look okay, then all supports and separate parts printing starts, could be retraction related.

@0scar ... I honestly didn't expect this question to be hard to answer.  Given that I'm pretty sure that the problem is at least partially related to the geometry of the piece, I assumed that it was something frequently encountered by beginner printers, with a known set of related settings.

Does your printer begin to "air print" (printing midair without filament coming out)?

I have noticed issues like this to happen for me due to what I mention below. I would check each of these and attempt to further narrow down the problem. It is the nature of 3D printing with how different each print shape, machine, and filament being used are, so it is difficult to provide exact settings advice to fix an issue.

Retraction speed & distance - with the incorrect combination you can cause your printer over time to extrude less at certain layers. The problem compounds over time and becomes apparent on prints that have a lot more retraction steps than others. It is important that any time you change to a new brand or type of filament, you run certain temperature and speed test prints. There are certain models that can be downloaded online on Thingiverse or Printables websites that test for print quality based on differences of retraction speeds, temperature, overhang angle, cooling settings, etc. Teaching Tech (YouTube link), for example, offers a very comprehensive array of tests and procedures for calibrating your printer. I suggest visiting his website.

Bowden tube lubrication - Something like a Capricorn™ tube offers less resistance as the filament is sliding through the tube as compared to the Bowden tube that comes with your printer. Increased friction in the Bowden tube will cause inconsistent extrusion of the filament due to impeding the acceleration and speed as the filament is moving back and forth in the tube. Furthermore, it will exhibit different resistance based on how the filament is resting within the Bowden tube while it is flexing as the print head is moving. Lubricating your filament with a little bit of olive oil every few prints will help in this regard in addition to purchasing a higher quality Bowden tube.

Extruder drive gear tension - the point where your filament is biting into the cogs of the extruder needs to be very tight. The spring on the extruder pulley clamp needs to constantly exert enough pressure for the cogs to really dig into the filament. This is important because if the bite is not good enough, it will cause inconsistent extrusion when rapid accelerations happen such as when retractions occur. It is good practice that every few prints to manually push on the pulleys together as over time the spring will degrade and become weaker.

Number 3 is tricky, as one can have an extruder gear tension that is high enough to deform the filament and cause excessive friction in the Bowden tube.

Accepting this answer due to the calibration link, but wha7ever gets the bounty because their answer was the one I directly used

6.5 mm retraction seems to be way too high. Try lowering it to 3 mm or even 2 mm. (I have my Ender set to 2 mm).

Disclaimer: My knowledge of this topic is not extensive. Nonetheless, below is what I currently know. Make sure to read the comments below for more info.
One of the most important parameters when deciding on the retraction value is the length of the Bowden tube. The longer the tube, the higher the retraction value should be set. It has to do filament compression as the extruder is pushing filament into a nozzle. The longer the distance between the extruder and nozzle, the more filament there is that can be compressed, therefore, the higher the retraction value you need to set to avoid too much filament coming out of the nozzle.
With all that said, based on my personal experience and the experience of my friends who own this printer, for a stock Ender 3 the value of 5-6 mm retraction is too high. Some of my friends' printers make good prints with retraction set to 3 mm. My printer likes the value of 2 mm better, for whatever reason (I modified the extruder and hot end on my printer, maybe that has to do with it).
3D printers kind of "have personalities" and require tinkering around for you to find out the correct values for your prints. Modifications, filament type, filament brand, and many other things/parameters can and do cause requiring changes to your printing values.
So tinker around and see if lowering retraction values gives you better prints.

6.5 was the classic setting for Ender3-length bowden tubes on firmware without pressure advance. It's also making up for the tube stretch/filament spring compression that pressure advance/linear advance would ideally be compensating for entirely. So if this is running more modern firmware with LA, 6.5 would indeed be way too much.

When calibrating retraction, make sure to use well-dried filament, too. If the filament is wet, you end up getting stringing even when it's the right distance (because the plastic keeps foaming in the nozzle as the water bubbles off), and have to increase the retraction length way too much, to the point that resumption is unreliable and can jam, to get the sringing to go away.

Cura has an option for "Z-hop when retracted" - is that likely to affect my issue (other than reducing the chance that the nozzle whacks the print)

30 mm/s print speed, 2mm retraction, 20 mm/s retraction speed, z-hop, mostly solved the problem, although I still had problems in two layers.  Print was a disaster anyways, because the supports are too sturdy to easily remove.  But I don't know that that's a solvable problem.  Also, lots of stringing with these settings.

@ArcanistLupus If you have too much stringing then try increasing retraction value.


text:
Add dwell time for reaching a certain low temperature to the added layer, G-Code for using ANSYS DED process
I want to add dwell time like the newly added layer has to cool down to a certain temperature and then the new layer has to be added and so on. Is there any command in G-code for adding dwell time based on temperature.

You wrote: "dwell time based on temperature.", don't you mean "dwell time based on layer print time"? How would you measure the temperature of the print? What is ANSYS DED, maybe move that from the question title and explain in the body of the question?

The dwell time based on temperature here I meant was that after each layer addition the the printed part has to cool don to a certain temperature before printing the next layer.

ANSYS DED is an ANSYS add on where we can simulate the DED process. I am asking for code or setting changes required for the dwell time.

What is DED? Please explain! Furthermore, you don't measure the temperature of the print, but you know the print time of the layer, there are already options on slicers to compensate for short layer deposit times.

DED-Directed Energy Deposition. Its a type of additive manufacturing process. Look up on the internet for more about it. I am not printing anything physical, its a simulation in ANSYS. The software gets the temperature at every point of the print.


text:
I am getting an error when trying to slice an STL object into multiple vector files
I am following the tutorial Slicing a 3D object to SVG.
My code looks like so:
import("/Users/petarivcec/Desktop/art/king of sun/1.stl");

 z_min = 0;
 z_max = 100;
 x_max = 50;
 y_max = 55;
 slice = 1;

 n = floor(sqrt((z_max - z_min)/slice)+1);
 for(z = [-z_max:slice:z_min]) {
   i = (z + z_max) / slice;
   x = x_max * (i % n);
   y = Y_max * floor(i / n);
   translate([x,y,0]) {
       projection(cut=true)
           translate([0,0,z]) thing();
   };
 };

When I hit Render, then I get warnings like:
WARNING: Ignoring unknown module 'thing' in file , line 16
I guess that I just need to figure out how to run the loop on my imported stl instead of the non-existent thing module which exists in the example code but I'm not really sure.

According to the linked site, it appears that you are missing the "identifier" module for the item to be cut into layers, aka thing();

module thing() // a random object, in this case a hollow sphere on top
of a hollow cube.

I suspect that if you encase your STL import in a module named thing() you will have a solution. An alternative to naming the module would be to remove the thing() call and use the import at that specific location.
The second sample in the linked site is a failure similar to your for the same reason.

importing within the loop solved the issue for me


text:
Avoid organic supports merging *above* parts of the model
The current 2.6.0-alpha4 version of PrusaSlicer contains "organic" supports, similar to tree supports of other slicers.
One problem I am running into (and which also occurred with the classic supports, but now even more so, since the organic supports are by their nature much more able to grow "into" the model) is that sometimes support structures starting on different sides of the model merge above some part of the model. One example would be if a model has two horizontal struts above each other, both needing supports. The supports will grow correctly for the first strut (starting from the two sides of the strut on the plate), and then continue on to also support the second strut, but merging above the first strut; thus completely enclosing it.
It is then impossible to remove the support structure without possibly damaging the strut, unless the strut is much more massive than the support itself.
So, question time: Is there a way to block two strands of support starting somewhere from merging together further up?
As an example, see this image. Right in the center you see the two big supports, one growing from the front, the other from the back. A few layers upwards they will join and continue as a single big support. Imagine that there is some part of the model below that, and you see how hard it will be to get the support off without damaging the part (or at least being very annoying and time-consuming). I wish to somehow deny these two "towers" to grow together - whatever they will support further up could easily be achieved by one of them alone.
Note that this has nothing to do with the "support on build plate only" - both support towers do start on the build plate.
Also, I can of course use a support blocker to block supports for whatever feature is above this point, but that kind of defeats the purpose (assume that part further up absolutely does need support).

As you noted, this feature of the software is in the alpha stage. This would be where testers/users will submit bugs/crashes/problems to the developers in order to fix these issues. As development progresses, these problems could very well be resolved.


text:
Ender 3 V2 with new SKR mini e3 v3 is heating up extremely slowly
I just replaced my motherboard with a new SKR mini e3 v3 and changed the config files myself based on this Consolidated Marlin Guide.
Unfortunately, It is taking over 10 minutes to heat up the bed which I've never experienced before.  I've checked the voltage going into the motherboard and confirmed it is 24 V. I took a look at the thermistor but I can't tell if that's the issue, I've changed the thermistor on the hotend before and that seemed like a different issue. I'm not sure if there's something in the firmware I missed. (also another problem that's not important but if someone knows the solution that would be great, the stepper motors are quieter than ever which is nice except when homing or leveling, then they sound like

This is the end of one of the bed trying to heat up, I turned the printer off because I didn't want to damage the printer.
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Unexpected error while reading serial port, please consult octoprint.log for details: SerialException: 'device reports readiness to read but returned no data (device disconnected or multiple access on port?)' @ comm.py:_readline:3997
Please see https://faq.octoprint.org/serialerror for possible reasons of this.
Changing monitoring state from "Operational" to "Offline after error"
Connection closed, closing down monitor
Changing monitoring state from "Offline" to "Detecting serial connection"
Performing autodetection with 1 port/baudrate candidates: /dev/ttyACM0@115200
Trying port /dev/ttyACM0, baudrate 115200
Connecting to port /dev/ttyACM0, baudrate 115200
Handshake attempt #1 with timeout 2.0s
Connected to: Serial<id=0x6885ced0, open=True>(port='/dev/ttyACM0', baudrate=115200, bytesize=8, parity='N', stopbits=1, timeout=2.0, xonxoff=False, rtscts=False, dsrdtr=False), starting monitor
Send: N0 M110 N0*125
Recv: Testing X connection... OK
Recv: Testing Y connection... OK
Recv: Testing Z connection... OK
Recv: Testing E connection... OK
Recv: echo:SD card ok
Recv: ok
Changing monitoring state from "Detecting serial connection" to "Operational"
Send: N0 M110 N0*125
Recv: ok
Send: N1 M115*39
Recv: FIRMWARE_NAME:Marlin bugfix-2.1.x (Mar  1 2023 16:28:19) SOURCE_CODE_URL:github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:3D Printer EXTRUDER_COUNT:1 UUID:cede2a2f-41a2-4748-9b12-c55c62f367ff


text:
Ender 7 CR touch work problem
I have a Creality Ender 7 printer. I bought a CR Touch auto leveling sensor for it. After installing and uploading the firmware Ender-7-hw-V24S1_101-sw-V2.0.1-ALT.bin in the Creality slicer, I only added the G29 entry. After setting the bed manually, I've done it probably 7 times (the principle of a sheet of paper and spinning circles) and adjusting the Z-axis shift, I have the impression that CR Touch would not work well because the test printout of 5 squares does not look good. Some lines are thin, and barely visible and some are thick and slightly jagged. Below I am posting G-code from Creality Slicer and a photo after ABL from the position of the display.
What else do I have to set so that my prints are correct, even perfect? I bought this sensor so that the first layer would be perfect. I will only add that I had better-quality prints without the sensor. I tried to print with the note G29 and without. The effects were the same. Something went wrong after installing it and now it's wrong. I am asking for a hint, preferably a ready G-code for CR Touch, and instructions on what I need to do.

Take a look at this question. Have you solved your problem yet?


text:
What should one do to ensure ABS sticks to bed?
I'm trying to print with ABS plastic. I've only used PLA before. I'm using Anycubic Kobra Neo (Heated, PEI-coated bed). Originally, I just changed my plastic to ABS and tried printing with manufacturer-provided profile (80/230 degrees), without changing Z-offset or any other details. However, plastic just didn't stick to the bed. Since then, I've tried:

Increasing temperatures to 90/240
Increasing and decreasing extrusion force
Increasing and decresing Z-offset
Performing autolevelling
Checking that it extrudes properly without print (using filament loading procedure)

Nothing seems to help. Every time, it starts printing the "border" (not sure how it is called) more or less fine:

But then it either leaves peaces of plastic on the bed, or they just stick to the extruder:

Are there any other steps I should check to ensure proper adhesion? I'm aware that it is recommended to use things like glue to increase adhesion when printing ABS, but I thought it is possible to print without them if the bed is heated and has PEI (or other) special coating.

You need an enclosure and an adhesive like 3DLAC, Dimafix or Magigoo or any other adhesive (ABS sludge). Also, ABS is outperformed on many properties (not all), so why should you use ABS? E.g. PETG and ASA are better printable alternatives.

@0scar, I'm new to 3D printing, and I wanted to by some filament, so I just went with ABS. I knew that it required higher temperatures to print, but it was listed as supported by my printer, so I decided to try it out. Is PETG better when it comes to printing, though? From what I've read, it still requires adhesives and high temperatures (higher then PLA, at least)

use the ABS for your weed-whacker and buy some cheap PLA.

I use glue sticks around the footprint of what you will be printing.  Never had a problem after that. Another alternative is to use some masking tape.

I'll try that, thanks!


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What is the practical difference between different nozzle tip shapes?
Sooooo, I'm shopping for nozzles (E3Dv6 flavor), and there seems to be several shapes available, differing mainly (or even exclusively) in the size and shape of the cone coming down to the exit orifice.
The original E3D design has a flat step with an approximately 40 deg cone sitting on top of it, the cone's diameter being roughly half of the nut size.

This design seems to be labelled by chinese manufacturers as E-V6.
The other common design is what they call T-V6, with an approximately 60 degree cone that does not end in a step but instead widens right up to the nut diameter:

And then there are variations on the theme, with some nozzles having a sharper full-width cone (also seemingly an extremely common chinese design), others having a sharper/shallower/wider/narrower stepped design, and sometimes other slightly differing shapes.

Further, there are those weird nozzles that actually have an airbrush nozzle screwed into the brass body, and ones with carbide/ruby/etc insets, which can also have either a full-cone or a stepped overall shape.

My question would be, assuming identical material, quality of fabrication, etc, how would this difference in shape affect the nozzle thermally, mechanically, and in other aspects that have a practical impact on how it actually prints? How does it affect the print settings? If I change, say, from an E-V6 to a T-V6 nozzle, would I have to change my printing temperature or retune my heater PID? Would there be a noticeable difference between a sharper and a shallower full-width cone design?
Finally, while it isn't relevant to me right now, since I included the hard-tipped nozzles for completeness, what about them? What diference does that bring? And what about that airbrush tip thingamajig?

The differences are mainly thermal.
Long nozzles that keep the large thermal mass as far as possible from the print are theoretically good for very small scale printing at very low speeds, where the radiant and convective heating from the block (even with silicone sock) and large part of the nozzle will tend to soften the already-printed material. Think DnD-mini scale or smaller, with 0.2 mm nozzles or finer, etc. However, you have to keep the material inside the nozzle hot all the way to the tip, and you also have to cool the printed part, so controlling exactly where the cooling airflow goes with this sort of setup is really important and precludes high airflow.
For normal-scale and high-speed printing though, you need the opposite. High air flow, untargeted, blowing over as much as possible of the recently-laid material, and thus necessarily also hitting the nozzle tip. If the nozzle is long and pointy, it has a high surface area to thermal mass ratio, and the tip will end up being a lot cooler than the heater block due to air flow, impacting rate and consistency of flow, layer adhesion, etc. Thus, nozzles that are as wide as possible until near the very tip are appealing.
Another consideration not really used in practice is clearance. A nozzle with a sharp tip allows the tool to descend somewhat below the current layer height without colliding with the print, which could be used in advanced slicing, but is not used by any general-purpose present-day (as of early 2023) slicing software.


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Thermal runaway without error on power-on - Ender 3, BTT Octopus V1.1, and Sprite Pro
I just swapped out my MicroSwiss direct-drive extruder and hotend for a Creality Sprite Pro on my Ender 3 with an upgraded mother board to the BigTreeTech Octopus v1.1 and I'm experiencing thermal runaway on power-on.
Previous (working) configuration:

Ender 3 pro
BigTreeTech Octopus v1.1 loaded with Klipper firmware
MicroSwiss direct-drive

New configuration:

Ender 3 pro
BigTreeTech Octopus v1.1 loaded with klipper firmware
Creality Sprite Pro

Steps that I'm taking to hit thermal runaway:

Turn on power switch for the Ender 3 Pro.

NOTE: Thermal Runaway Protection does not work here.  The TRP detects and triggers, but Klipper doesn't seem to have any ability to control the heating tube.  Instead, Klipper shuts down and the heating tube keeps running away. Each time I've had to cut the power manually.
Additional things that I've tried:

Powering on using the power from the Raspberry Pi's USB port - this powers on the printer but will error on any attempt to drive motors or run the extruder.  RESULT: thermal runaway to the best that it can, plateauing around 60 °C.
Powering on using the power from the Raspberry Pi's USB port, then disconnecting and powering on without the Raspberry Pi connected, then powering down and reconnecting the Raspberry Pi - this confirms for me that in the absence of the Raspberry Pi, it still reaches a runaway state; RESULT: monitoring before and after powering manually showed a jump of 100 °C in 30 seconds, meaning if the printer has power, it will power the heating tube with as much as it can.
Reversing the + and - wires - this is the recommendation in the instruction manual, "If 3D printer restarts during hotend heating up, please reverse the heating tube connectors on mainboard"; RESULT: prevents the printer from powering on - everything appears dead and returning the cables to the correct polarities returns it to a runaway state.

sounds like your board is toast.

You are right. I swapped back in the original heating tube and it had the same issue.  I was able to get it all working by using the second heating element port on the Octopus board.

That sounds like an answer! Please post your answer and accept the answer!

Totally unexpected behavior?!
A heater cartridge is nothing but a resistor. Swapping the "polarity" should do nothing. As this results in totally different results, it is to be expected that the motherboard sustained damage in some area and would need a total refurbishment or replacement.

This question seems to be solved, this (community) answer is posted as a whole from comment until the OP adds a more detailed answer.

I swapped back in the original heating tube and it had the same issue. I was able to get it all working by using the second heating element port on the Octopus board.


text:
Ultimaker 2 Go - Converting to Use 1.75 mm Filament
I'm working on converting an Ultimaker 2 Go to use 1.75 mm filament. So far, I have replaced the bowden tube, replaced the feeder with this one: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/alternative-feeder-1-75mm-version#information, and changed slicer/machine settings.
An issue I am having is grinding at regular intervals, causing severe inconsistent extrusion. Messing with the feeder tension does not do anything. So, I am wondering if upgrading the hotend to an e3D V6 will solve it. Is there anything else to consider?

I also wonder if the problem has to do with the knurled drivegear. Would this work fine with 1.75 mm filament?

`

To be clear, you still use a 2.85 mm hotend with 1.75 mm filament?

Yes. It worked well for Adafruit, but I would think using a hotend with the "wrong" filament diameter would not be ideal.

Figured this out a while ago, but I thought I might as well update this.
So the issue was simply there was not enough tension, and that pretty much solved all the problems. I also did end up using an E3D v6 1.75 mm hotend.
Right now, I'm working on making it print faster. I am using klipper on a Raspberry Pi Zero W, and I'm playing with different fan ducts to improve part cooling.

Thanks for taking the time to post your answer, I've upvoted to prevent the question to pop up once in a while (and the answer answers the question!). Mayby you can post a question (and an answer) on your Klipper adventures in the hear future, we really need some people with Klipper knowledge.


text:
What Cura setting is messing up my prints?
After fiddling with the settings on my Cura profile, my Ender 3 S1 is now messing up my prints in a weird way. While printing, it just pauses at a corner on all the layers of the print for a second or so, leading to large blobs of material building up there. What setting(s), if any could be causing this?
As a note, my Cura settings are anything but default. I mess around with a lot of different options to try to optimize my prints. I could reset the profile to default, but I'd rather keep most of my settings.
Here is a picture of the issue:

Do you print from SD card or Octoprint?

@kosteklvp an SD card. Should it make a difference?

Yeah, printing from Octoprint can cause this, e.g. from wrongly set Octolapse. Can you share this G-code file?

@kosteklvp, you were on the right track! After swapping out the SD card, it now functions normally.

Similar to what @kosteklvp suggested, it turns out the problem was related to the SD card I was using. It was a microSD card with an adapter, which may have been the problem. After swapping it out with for a different SD card, the printer now functions properly.

If this is the case, you probably have powerloss recovery enabled, which incurs a write-to-SD-card at a somewhat unpredictable point near the beginning of each layer, freezing the toolhead with the filament unretracted and remelting/oozing all over your print wherever it happens to occur. Using a faster SD card will partly work around the problem, but the solution is to disable powerloss recovery so it doesn't happen at all.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE , that makes a lot of sense, I do believe that I have powerloss recovery enabled. However, after swapping SD cards, I don't notice the problem at all, so it's probably worth it to keep it enabled.

If it's not making problems for you, I guess that's okay, but be aware of it in case it starts being a problem. FWIW I don't think the Creality/Marlin powerloss recovery feature is very useful. If you're using a heated bed, when that cools without power, your print will detach or at least warp enough that resuming is likely to detach it from the bed. And powerloss recovery only saves what layer it was at, not the exact position in the layer, so it will reprint where material has already been deposited, thereby overextruding and making it ugly and more likely to collide and knock the print off.

To my knowledge only Prusa has proper powerloss recovery, which works via a giant capacitor keeping the machine running (without heaters) for a few seconds after powerloss is detected so it can save the exact position it was at, park the head, and power down cleanly. Still, I'm not sure how it handles the cooling of the bed.

To me this looks related to the Z-seam and retraction settings.
Play around with the Z-seam first by setting it to random. it might help. However, the retraction setting need adjusting as well. to me it look like is needs a bit more retraction. Hope it helps.


text:
Why is the corner of my layer doing this?

Trying to get my printer leveled correctly so I can make some stuff. Started printing this square and the back left corner is not getting enough adhesion. The front left and back right corners are fine. I think I need to either lower or raise the back left corner but not sure which... I try to tell what to do from how opacity of the layer but can't get a good reading.
Should I raise or lower back left corner of the layer?

Just lowered the back left corner a tiny bit thinking it was a little thin. Will post results!

Didn't work.. might've turned it too much

Have you cleaned and degreased the bed?

Have you solved this issue yet?


text:
CURA prints some primer lines, but they don't seem to respect bed automatic bed leveling
So, the G-code preppended to my slicer output (by Cura itself) looks like this:
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 ; Home all axes
M104 S{material_standby_temperature} ; Start heating up the nozzle most of the way
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Start heating the bed, wait until target temperature reached
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Finish heating the nozzle
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
;G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
;G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
;G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
;G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
;G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
;G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
;G1 X5 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move over to prevent blob squish

But this code seems to be causing issues where it ignores the ABL (auto bed leveling.)
In my case, this means that the extruder starts clicking, and I suspect that with the particular hotend I have, this causes issues.  For now, I have commented out all the code to draw the primer lines, as you can see.
Is there a way to make them respect auto-leveling?

You should add M420 S command after G28 to Start G-code.
According to Marlin docs, G28 command disables bed leveling by default.

G28 disables bed leveling. Follow with M420 S to turn leveling on, or use RESTORE_LEVELING_AFTER_G28 to automatically keep leveling on after G28.

Alternatively, you can change the RESTORE_LEVELING_AFTER_G28 value to true in firmware.


text:
What is recovery velocity in klipper firmware?
I am currently writing a printer.cfg Klipper file for my Tronxy VEHO-600. It is quite a challenge as there is not much info regarding this printer online.
Is recovery velocity something that I have to tune while the printer is operational, or can I give it an arbitrary value?
I have a CFG file for a VEHO-600 that a friend of mine put together, and he has it set to 300, but his printer is modified, so I'm unsure if this value would be the same for my standard VEHO-600. Hoping someone can advise me of what the feature is, so I can tune it myself.

Did you manage to assemble the printer.cfg for your VEHO 600? Could you share the file? I have the same problem.

Recovery velocity refers to the maximum speed at which the printer's extruder can move while recovering from a pause or filament change. When the printer is paused or filament is changed, the filament is retracted to prevent oozing and to ensure a clean start. Recovery velocity determines the speed at which the extruder moves during the priming process.
It should be set based on the capabilities of your printer's extruder and the speed at which it can reliably prime itself. If the value is set too high, the extruder may not be able to keep up, resulting in under-extrusion or other issues. If the value is set too low, the priming process may take too long, resulting in wasted time during the print. Typically, it is set higher than the normal printing speed.

The only "recover velocity" I'm aware of is the one for pause_resume functionality and should just be a reasonable travel velocity for your printer (probably the same as your max velocity if that's set correctly). 300 is quite low, probably fine for the X and Y axes of any printer that's running 24V motors or higher. The only potential problem might be if your max_z_velocity isn't set to limit Z; if it's not, resuming after pause where the toolhead is parked near the point where it was paused would put nearly the entire 300 mm/s on the Z axis. That's fine if you have a Z limit set to limit it, but if you don't, it would fail on most printers. So just make sure your Z velocity limit is set right and you should be fine.

authors: Петр Колесниченко


text:
seeking out help writing a printer.cfg klipper file for a tronxy veho 600
i recently took delivery of a tronxy veho 600, i found the standard firmware to be a major bottleneck so with the help of a raspberry pi 4b and a cr touch i am making some upgrades. unfortunately there is little to no info regarding the printer.cfg file for this model so im hoping someone on here will be able to advise.
i was lucky enough to find a file for a veho 600 but it was for a highly modified version so it wont be a straight fit for my one.
my main questions are regarding the extruder code block, following is an exerpt from the custom veho config file.
[extruder]
step_pin: PB1
dir_pin: !PF13
enable_pin: !PF14
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 22.172 # Needs to be tweaked
gear_ratio: 50:10 #50:17 # BMG Clone ratio per klipper docs
nozzle_diameter: 0.400
filament_diameter: 1.750
heater_pin: PG7
sensor_type: Generic 3950
sensor_pin: PC3
#control: pid
#pid_Kp: 20.72
#pid_Ki: 1.88
#pid_Kd: 57.18
min_temp: 0
max_temp: 320
max_extrude_only_distance: 400
max_extrude_cross_section: 50.0
min_extrude_temp: 180 # dangerous, but bowden loading is much
easier without it

what is the definition of step pin

both dir_pin and enable_pin have values set but they include the ! before them, which means not. this confuses me, can anyone give any indication as to what/why this is?

"heater_pin: pg7" am i right in saying this is for the hot end heat block?

"sensor_pin: pc3" is this a temperature sensor or is it something else?

all code lines relevant to the pid property are commented out, what is the reason for this? do i enable them when pid tuning or should i leave them off?

can anyone give me an explanation as to what the last 3 lines of code do, one of them is quoted dangerous so i definately need to be sure before running.

Nice question and well presented, but... it is too broad because it contains multiple questions in one post. On Stack Exchange one issue per post is required, in order to making answering each issue simpler. I would suggest asking separate questions and linking them together using the URLs. So, before this question gets closed as being too broad (which it has already been flagged as), please [edit] it to contain just the first point, and then ask the other 5 points in different questions. I hope that makes sense. Thanks. Also, please try to fix the typos.


text:
looking for help setting up stepper motor code blocks in klipper printer.cfg file
the machine in question is a tronxy veho 600. i have obtained a printer.cfg file for a highly modified veho 600 but my one is standard bar the cr touch i have yet to install.
the reason for this post is to understand why some of the setting in the modified printer.cfg are the way they are. following is the code for the 3 stepper motors
[stepper_x]
step_pin: PE5
dir_pin: !PF1
enable_pin: !PF0
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 60
endstop_pin: !PC15
position_endstop: -5
position_min: -5
position_max: 600 # for bed mesh
homing_speed: 200
homing_retract_dist: 10
second_homing_speed: 10.0

[stepper_y]
step_pin: PF9
dir_pin:  PF3
enable_pin: !PF5
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 60
endstop_pin: !PC14
position_endstop: -10
position_min: -10
position_max: 600
homing_retract_dist: 10
homing_speed: 100.0
second_homing_speed: 10.0

[stepper_z]
step_pin: PF6
dir_pin: !PF4
enable_pin: !PF7
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 12
endstop_pin: probe:z_virtual_endstop
endstop_pin: !PF11
#position_endstop: 611
position_max: 620
position_min: -5
homing_speed: 25.0
homing_retract_dist: 10
second_homing_speed: 10.0

[stepper_z1]
step_pin: PA6
dir_pin: !PF15
enable_pin: !PA5
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 12
endstop_pin: !PC13
#position_endstop: 600

for the x and y axis.....

step pin, according to klipper config reference it says "triggered high" what does this mean? i thought this was just a pin id.

dir_pin, stated as not pf1. again i thought this is just a pin id so why the !, what am i missing?

same as question 2 only for the enable pin.

endstop_pin again set to not pc15.

position_endstop set to -5. is this something i need to measure when the machine is running?

position_min, same as question 5

position_max, obviously this is just the size of the bed and i would have left the thought train there but but the original creator states in a comment that it is for bed mesh which peaques my curiosity.

8.homing speed, is this just the speed the machine homes to once a print is finished or the homing function is initiated?

homing_retract_dist. my guess is that when the homing function is initiated it moves to the corner of the bed, then moves another 10mm to bring it off the bed. is that correct?

second_homing_speed set to 10 here, why does it have two homing speeds and why are there such large distances?

for the z axis.....

most of the questions i have already asked im only wondering why there are endstop properties and then measurements for "position_max and position_min". shouldnt the end stop switches pick up this automatically? and also in z1 stepper why is position_endstop commented out?

This is not a good way to ask a dozen questions in one post. Please check help section and improve your posts. Personally, I'd create separate posts for these questions you can't find any answers to elsewhere.

thanks for your input, however i can only post one question every 40 mins, i have about 25 questions to post in total, so sorry if this is an inconvenience to you but i have a very limited amount of time

@Generalraid what kosteklvp is saying is not that it is an inconvenience but more about how the site works. I recommend you take the [Tour] and visit the Help Center's section on Asking questions. In short, if one user answers part of your questions and another user answers the other parts, as the asker you can only select one of the answers as correct.


text:
Why are the options for PID control commented out in Klipper config file?
I have a Tronxy VEHO-600 I'm currently vamping up with Klipper. I have a config file I got from a friend for a modified VEHO-600. My question is regarding the heater bed code block seen below:
[heater_bed]
heater_pin: PE2
sensor_type: EPCOS 100K B57560G104F
sensor_pin: PC2
min_temp: 0
max_temp: 150
#control: pid
#pid_Kp: 73.932
#pid_Ki: 1.521
#pid_Kd: 898.279

Why are all the options for PID commented out? Is this only active when PID tuning? Also, what are the numerical values?

When you save the PID values after auto-tuning, Klipper will put the new values in a special section at the end of the config file that looks like this:
#*# <---------------------- SAVE_CONFIG ---------------------->
#*# DO NOT EDIT THIS BLOCK OR BELOW. The contents are auto-generated.
#*#
#*#
#*# [extruder]
#*# control = pid
#*# pid_kp = 25.957
#*# pid_ki = 1.466
#*# pid_kd = 114.858

While these lines look like comments, Klipper will actually load and use them, as described in the issue PID Tuning values not stored correctly?.

This PID options are commented out, because they are not currently being used. Klipper allows for different heating algorithms, and PID control is just one of them.
If no control option is specified in the config file, Klipper will use Bang-Bang control as the default heating algorithm for the heated bed.
The numerical values in the commented out lines (pid_Kp, pid_Ki, pid_Kd) are the PID tuning parameters, which are specific to each printer and must be tuned to achieve stable temperature control.
If you were to uncomment these lines, Klipper would use PID control to manage the temperature of the heated bed, and the numerical values would need to be adjusted through a tuning process to optimize the performance of the PID controller for your printer.


text:
What is the difference between position_min and position_endstop parameters in Klipper config file?
I have a Tronxy VEHO-600 and I have a config file, which I got from a friend. My question is regarding the following code block:
[stepper_x]
step_pin: PE5
dir_pin: !PF1
enable_pin: !PF0
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 60
endstop_pin: !PC15
position_endstop: -5
position_min: -5
position_max: 600 # for bed mesh
homing_speed: 200
homing_retract_dist: 10
second_homing_speed: 10.0

[stepper_y]
step_pin: PF9
dir_pin:  PF3
enable_pin: !PF5
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 60
endstop_pin: !PC14
position_endstop: -10
position_min: -10
position_max: 600
homing_retract_dist: 10
homing_speed: 100.0
second_homing_speed: 10.0

Is position_min how far off the bed the axis needs to go to hit the end stop? I think it is not, as there is a position_endstop declaration just above it, so what is the difference?

These parameters are related to the minimum position of the axis, but they have slightly different usages.
The position_min parameter refers to the lowest possible position of the axis, regardless of the endstop position. It is used to prevent the axis from going too far in one direction, which could cause damage to the printer. It specifies the minimum physical position that the motor can be set to, regardless of the endstop position.
The position_endstop parameter specifies the physical position of the endstop switch relative to the axis, which is used during homing operations to determine the actual position of the axis. When the motor reaches this position, it will trigger the endstop switch and stop the motor from moving any further in that direction.

Nice to see some Klipper questions being answered! I hope that you can create some questions and answers on Klipper for others to learn from your experience!


text:
Can any slicers adjust the layer height based on which layer is being printed? (FDM)
Hypothetically, if one has a print consisting of very simple shapes at some z-heights but very complicated shapes at other z-heights, it seems like it might be a good idea to run the overall mesh with different layer heights at different parts of the print.
Is there a common way to convince slicers to do this in general?
(Specifically is there any way to make Cura do this?)

Adaptive Layers should be the function you are looking for.

It allows the slicer to change the layer height dynamically throughout the print, based on the complexity of the geometry being printed. This can lead to improved print quality in areas where high detail is required, while still maintaining print speed in areas where less detail is needed.
PrusaSlicer's equivalent is Variable layer height.

How exactly does the specified layer height effect this print when this is turned on, do you know?

@user1833028 Can you explain further this question? Are you asking about the durability, the appearance of the print?

From the linked site provided by kosteklvp: "Cura’s adaptive layers feature analyzes the slope and angle of the outer wall of the model. The slicing engine will then optimize the layer height for each section. Curves are printed with a finer layer resolution, while vertical, flat areas are printed with thicker layers, often reducing the print duration." This means that when there is a greater slope to a surface, the layer thickness will be adjusted to make layer lines less obtrusive.

Slic3r has an "Adaptive Quality" setting. The roll-over tool tip says, "Automatically determine layer heights by the objects topology instead of using the static value..."
I used it to print a bushing, oriented vertically, with large chamfers on ID and OD. I set layer height to 0.3 mm and turned on Adaptive Quality. Adaptive Quality includes a Quality parameter that I left at the default of 75%. It printed the layers at the chamfers at 0.16 and 0.17 mm and the rest at 0.3 mm layer heights.


text:
What is the difference between a Bowden extruder and a direct drive extruder?
As these are the two most commonly used extruder systems in FDM printers, I would like to know what is the difference between them. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using each of them?

A Bowden extruder and a direct drive extruder are two different types of extruder systems used in FDM 3D printers. Both feed filament into the hotend, but differ in the way the filament is pushed into it. The main difference is the location of the extruder motor relative to the hotend, which results in some pros and cons in the usage of both of them.

Bowden extruder
A Bowden extruder has the motor located remotely from the hotend, usually on the printer's frame. Filament is fed from the motor to the hotend through a Bowden tube. This setup is typically used in 3D printers that require high speeds and accelerations, as the reduced weight of the hotend allows for faster and more accurate movement.

The main advantage of a Bowden extruder is that it reduces the weight of the printhead. It can improve print speed and accuracy, especially for faster print speeds. It also reduces the amount of space required in the printhead, allowing for larger hotends or additional features to be added.
However, Bowden extruders can suffer from problems with filament control, such as oozing or stringing of the filament. The friction in the Bowden tube and distance between the extruder and the hotend causes the reaction time of each motor movement to be extended.

Direct drive extruder
A direct drive extruder has the motor located directly above or beside the hotend, which eliminates the need for a Bowden tube. The Bowden tube is typically very short or totally absent. This setup is used in printers that require precise filament control and are capable of printing with a wide range of materials.

The main advantage of a direct drive extruder system is that it minimizes the distance between the extruder and the hotend. It allows for better control of the filament and reduces friction due to a shorter distance between the extruder and the hotend. This allows to use smaller values of retraction settings, which can reduce stringing and oozing. It results in better control of demanding filaments. Direct drive extruders can handle flexible and soft filaments more effectively.
However, the added weight of the extruder motor can result in slower printing speeds and reduced accuracy during high-speed printing. A heavier printhead can also cause artifacts and ringing on the surface of the prints.

In summary, Bowden extruders are better suited for high-speed printing and have a lower risk of filament contamination, while Direct Drive extruders are better suited for more precise printing and more demanding materials. The choice between these two systems ultimately depends on the specific requirements of the printer and the printing application. Costs also have to be taken into account, because direct drive extruders are relatively more expensive than Bowden extruders.

Nice Q and A for the knowledge base! I added the tag to the question. Maybe you can add some words on flexible filament (TPU) in relation to these types of extruders? I upvoted anyways, keep them coming!

Thanks. Yes, something about TPU can be useful. I'll add it in the future.

It should be mentioned with "Bowden extruders can suffer from problems with filament control" that you hit these problems hard at speeds far below the point where Bowden becomes an advantage over DD due to lower mass.

To extend this - are there any other configurations for FDM or are these the only two basic designs ?

I only heard about a hybrid one. It's called Zesty Nimble.  Here is a Teaching Tech's video about it.


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Filament curls up in the nozzle and doesn't stick to the bed
We have an old Anet A8 3D printer. It took us a while to fix it and get it running. But when it prints, the filament curls up and sticks to the nozzle end and doesn't stick to the bed.
Sometimes it doesn't curl up, if I wipe the nozzle after the printer starts. But when it prints, a portion of the filament sticks to the bed, but as the head moves, the whole thread of the filament dries up quickly and drags the part that did stick with it, messing everything up and curling up the nozzle like the first case.
My Anet A8 has a heated bed, but although the bed heats up, it seems like the filament dries up too quickly. Is that the problem, how to fix it ?

What material are you printing? What is your hotend and bed temperature?

This is some 4 years old ABS I think. Can it cause problems? I print at 215 C and 60 C.

This is pretty low for ABS. You should try printing with higher temperatures, more appropriate for ABS. Don't you have a spool or few grams of PLA to test just bed adhesion and exclude problems with the printer?

It it looks like it was problem with temperature. It prints now good on 260C I also printed some PLA scraps and it sticks.

It looks like it is a problem with temperature. After changing filament temperature to 260 °C it prints excellent now. Printing PLA at 215 °C also works pretty well. Fresh new spool does magic or PLA does magic.


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Monoprice MP Mini Delta adding glass bed
The bed adhesion is going from already mediocre to unusable. So I got my glass plate. With my previous printer I really liked printing PLA on a 60 °C alcohol-cleaned bed.
The problem that I am having, is that the auto-leveling procedure fails. The bed sensors are detected 3 mm (glass height) sooner than it anticipates.
Customer support told me that I can alter this in the slicer settings. "It can be done in CURA or whatever slicer I am using".
I am using that Wiibuilder program that was supplied with the printer on the SD card. I may or may not have searched hard enough, but I haven't found it.  I did find this

Only it does not do anything. The auto-leveling still fails.
Customer support also told me I can just alter the G-code. They neglect to mention how to do so.
This seems to be the starting part.
M73 P0
;MINX:-9.0
;MAXX:12.0
;MINY:-26.0
;MAXY:25.0
;MINZ:0.0
;MAXZ:26.3
;MachineType:MP Mini Delta V2
;FilamentType:PLA
;Extruder0Temperature:200
;BedTemperature:55
;InfillDensity:10
;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:1372
;FilamentUsed:1557.2
;Layer height: 0.35

;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 3.1
M140 S55
M104 T0 S215
M82 ; absolute extrusion mode
;(**** start.gcode for MP Mini Delta****)
G21
G90
M82
M107
M104 S170
G28 X0 Y0
G28 Z0
G29 Z0.4
G1 Z15 F300
M109 S215.0
G92 E0
G1 F200 E3
G92 E0
G1 F2000

Can somebody tell me what I must alter or add here to let the printer auto-level with the 3 mm glass bed?
I tried setting G29 on  3.4 no effect.
I tried setting G29 on -2.6 no effect.

What do you mean by "I tried setting G29 on 3.4 no effect. I tried setting G29 on -2.6 no effect."? How do you exactly do it? Have you modified Z-offset value in your printer or in Cura? What is your Z-offset value from printer's screen?

What I mean is that I tried to manually edit the G-code line containing G29

Note that G28 Z0 is not valid, G28 Z is so is G28 X0 Y0, the letters are flags, the number is ignored. Unless your firmware is MachineKit, G29 Z0.4 doesn't do anything.

What happens when you add M851 Z-2.6 to your G-code? It should set Z-offset value to -2.6.

I will try that tonight after work. I'll get back to you

@0scar If it does not do anything than why would my slicer put it there?

Because it is in the start G-code, that has been put there by someone, not by Cura. Presumably by some config?

@kosteklvp I tried M851 Z-2.6, no effect. I am going to mail customer support again.

Also that Z-axis offset you can fill in in Wiibuilder results in this line G92 Z3.27.. it unfortunately does not help though


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Is a 40x20 Noctua fan with a shroud good for part cooling?
I am having a lot of troubles with running my Prusa Mk3S at my student dorm, because of the extremely loud stock part cooling fan - it annoys people A LOT). So I started working on a design using one or two Noctua 40x20 axial fans (2 to get more static pressure) as part cooling fans.
So I wanted to ask if it/they would provide sufficient cooling to replace the centrifugal fan currently on the extruder assembly.
Does anyone have some experience on these kinds of builds?

Noctua fans run slower to make less noise, so the flow is limited. What do you mean by using 2 fans, is this parellel or consecutive? E.g. these fans have a ridiculously low static pressure rise that is doesn't make sense to stack them.

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking about using two on parallel, to push more air volume. Does that tmake sense?

This probably does not make sense.
Noctua fans are quiet because they're really low-flow, and aside from really high-power (and noisy!) models like 4028 server fans, axial fans in general are unsuitable for part cooling because they have essentially no static pressure, meaning you can't run them through narrowing ducts. If you can just mount them to blow directly where you need the air, without a duct compressing it at all, they might work, but this tends to lead to a bulky toolhead that collides with ends of the axis, reducing your build volume, or that's cantilevered in ways that subjects the whole toolhead to vibrations.
I would look for a quieter radial blower fan that meets your needs. Note that the high quality dual-ball-bearing fans are generally a lot noisier than the garbage sleeve-bearing ones; the advantage is that the bearings don't wear out after a year or so. But if your goal is minimizing noise, you might do best to just buy new sleeve-bearing fans when they wear out. Knowing Prusa, they probably put the high quality fans on there, which would be why they make more noise.


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Print output missing sides
I tried to print my first object, which is the calibration cube downloaded from here, XYZ 20mm Calibration Cube.
However, the output has a visible infill on all sides:

I think this is because some settings are not correct in the slicer.
I am using:

Printer: Ender 3
Slicer: Ultimaker Cura 5.3.0

It looks like perimeters and solid layers are not set in the Slicer. Make sure that these settings are greater than zero:

That worked. Got a perfect cube. Thanks :)


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Creality Ender3V2 extruder calibration
I have a Ender3V2 Creality 3D printer. I recently changed the extruder for a metal one because the previous was broken.
I have troubles to print now. The adhesion layer peels off easily (kinds of bubbles inside that lift it) and the overall quality is poor.
While looking for a solution, I noticed that my extruder was not calibrated correctly. However, following the standard procedure does not fix my problem. Below is what I did and the results:

The PTFE tube is disconnected to avoid eventual nozzle problem.
I asked for 10 cm extrusion severals times, and the results were as follows (distance in mm):

Ratio is Transmission ratio E, that I found in Control -> Motion -> Transmission ratio -> Transmission ratio E.
I don't understand these results. The initial ratio change should have corrected the under-extrusion. Returning to 93 should also have given me the same result as initially.
I didn't use any G-code, I just used the printer panel (for both ratio changing & asking for extrusion).
I followed this video, How TO Calibrate The Esteps On A Direct Drive Extruder The EASY Way!

and used this EStep Calculator – V1.1.

Can you explain this "Ratio" in this question? What is it? Is this "E-steps"/"Extruder steps per unit?"

You should try to do it via e.g. Pronterface - like in this video. Additionally, I recommend doing this step by step from this Teaching Tech's tutorial. It is the same procedure. It is important to not miss any step, because it can give different false results. Let know if this helps.

Thank you, I'll try that and let you know !

Hello ! Sorry for the time it tooks me to answer. I know have a raspberry with octoprint to manage this problem. I followed your procedure and my extrusion problem is solved ! I don't exactly understand what is the difference between my previous way to do it, but it works now (my new value is 97.4). Thanks ! I still have troubles printing, but the extrusion step is solved.

Nice! Consider adding an answer with procedure, which solved your problem.

Thanks to @kosteklvp's instructions in commentary, I was able to correctly calibrate my extruder.
Using a third-party app (octoprint via raspberry pi in my case) gave me more flexibility with settings.
Following @kosteklvp's proposed procedure (at this link) allowed me to achieve my calibration.
I still have other troubles while printing, but no more related to my extruder.


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Extra external layer (shell) on my first prints
I got my first 3D printer this week, a Creality Ender 3.
Tried to print a few small samples to test it, but every shape I printed had an extra external layer. Please, check these images:

I used Freecad to draw the objects, and Slic3r to convert them to G-code.
Am I doing something wrong? Is my printer not a good one?
Any comment will be very helpful.

It looks like under-extrusion. Have you changed something in printer settings? What settings did you change in Slic3r? Can you share one of G-code files that you are trying to print?

Hi, thank you for your response. I didn't change anything. AFAIK I'm using factory settings. How can I share the G-code? I didn't find a way to upload files here.

You can't. But, you can upload it to some upload site and provide a link here.

See if you can access https://github.com/rppbodo/3d-printing/blob/main/cube-25mm.gcode

You should add this solution as a separate answer. It may help others in the future if someone also runs into this issue. Describe also, what exactly was causing it.

Dear Roberto, please post your update as an answer (the update is not part of the problem, it is a solution, I've hidden the part by placing it into an HTML comment block). SE differs from regular forum sites. It's perfectly fine to add your solution as an answer, you will receive votes and gain reputation. Please do the [tour] and look into [help] to better understand SE sites. Thanks!

If you do some quick calculations it appears that this is caused by under-extrusion.
Comparing the extruded volume to the calculated volume for the deposition there is a mismatch of about 2.6. This hints to the use of an incorrect diameter for the filament $\frac{2.85^2}{1.75^2}=2.65$.

In line 4511 of provided G-code is: ; filament_diameter = 3. It looks like you are right.

@kosteklvp I only looked at the first 20 lines or so, but good spot!

Thank you so much for all the responses. I am waiting for more filament to arrive by mail. As soon as I manage to print again with correct filament diameter, I mark this problem as solved. I'll let you know.

I'm not sure, if you understood it correctly. You should change filament diameter value int the slicer to 1.75. Filaments with diameter of 3 mm are not very common.

3 mm is not common, but 2.85 mm is pretty common, especially for UltiMaker printers. Nowadays is 1.75 mm mainstream for most users, only dinosaurs like me use it for their homebuilds. Note that you need to buy filament your printer is designed for, in this case 1.75 mm and use that value in your slicer.

Yes, I understood. hahaha The config was wrong, not the actual filament width. I bought more 1.75mm, because the sample that came with the printer ended. Thanks, everyone. =)

Yeah! I just printed with new G-code, and it is perfect! Thanks, everyone! <3

That's good, everything is clear.

Wow, why is this still a thing in 2023?!? 2.85/3 mm is pretty much a thing of the past, and should not be popping up in settings unless the user intentionally configured a weird printer.