text:
Using Kinect 360 as 3D Scanner
I would like to use my old Xbox 360 Kinect as a scanner for 3D modeling and (hopefully) printing a few busts of friends/family members; however, my efforts have failed in each direction that I have taken. Has anyone had success with this,  and if so, how do I fix the issues that I am facing?
What I have done so far and the problems that I have had:

I have purchased a cable to supply 12V to the Kinect while also allowing USB to a PC.
I have installed the Kinect SDK as well as the Kinect Developers Toolkit on my Windows 10 Ultrabook.
I installed the Microsoft "3D Scan" app and the "Kinect Readiness" app (not the name, unsure of it at this point) provided by Microsoft.

**Issue: ** Neither Microsoft app detects the  Kinect when cable is plugged in. The Kinect's light slowly flashes green. Also, my cursor freezes when the Kinect is plugged in.

I checked the Hardware profiles and found a notification that I do  not have the drivers for the Kinect motor and that no suitable  drivers could be found. However, no other details about the Kinect showed up.
I uninstalled the SDK and developer toolkits and installed v1.7, ran them in compatibility mode (Windows 8) and same issues arose.
I then began looking into using a different program, found ReconstructMe. This too failed to detect the Kinect even when it was manually selected as the scanner.

Any ideas? I also have a Linux Mint laptop that I will happily use for these efforts if I knew what software to capture the 3D scan with. It seems that there are several driver options out there, just unsure of what to use besides that. It seems that Blender can be used for some motion capture with Kinect; however, I am unsure of how this relates to my goals.

Have you looked into Skanect?

In the past I've used the openkinect freenect Python wrapper in Linux to stream the Kinect's structured light sensor's depth data throught a TCP socket into an application called Blender (using its internal python API) which then received the socket data and rendered a pointcloud of vertices in the viewport, each vertex along the XY coordinate plane had its Z coordinate as a function of the depth pixel intensity. Blender would allow you to also write a custom surface reconstruction algorithm (if you desired), or you could export the cloud to a 3rd party application.

Unfortunately, the complexity of this option is limiting. I would like to implement this with my middle school students. Are there any simpler/streamlined solutions?

For what it's worth, I had this set up (a few years ago) with a very minimal amount of fuss, using http://brekel.com/kinect-3d-scanner/
I made a few scans of household objects, friends, and then got distracted by some other shiny thing. Hopefully, the page continues to be a good resource. Figured I'd share it just in case.

I think you're just slightly off with your SDK. I'm fairly certain the most stable version for XBox 360 Kinect on PC is V1.6.0. Which works fine for scanning, but lacks in some of the other functionality like skeletal tracking and faster facial recognition.

I think professional scanners have better quality. In this video I watched, you can see the quality https://youtu.be/cEJHXDsYeww

I tried the same setting old kinect (but for PC - actually with power supply and usb-cable) plug to my surface windows10.
After some troubles, it works now ;-)
The mentioned MS 3D scan and kinect readiness wont work. It is supposed for the new kinect2 model, because of the new driver. Best you deinstall both. Even the drivers and SDKs.
You need Kinect for Windows v1.8 for the old kinect. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40278
RecFusion is a software for using a single or multiple depth cams for getting 3d models. It works quite good with my kinect. It costs 99euros.  http://recfusion.net/index.php/en/download

I was hoping to use the Kinect as a way of saving money. So unfortunately, this option is a bit over my price-range. Thank you for the help though.


text:
Methods for applying full color graphic decals to the surface of a 3d printed part?
I'm trying to find a way of applying graphics to my ABS printed parts.
I need a robust method which can produce a decent amount of detail with true color and legible fine text .
I also was hoping to avoid the use of stickers and opt for something that's slightly more permanent.
I was wondering if there are ways in which a vinyl decal or other types of decal material could be pressed into the face of a plastic part and then thermally fuse the two layers together using heat transfer method?
Most of the surfaces I work with would be flat, but there are some parts that are slightly curved and it would be totally amazing if I could somehow apply graphics to those areas as well.
Thanks for any hints

Computational Hydrographic Printing seems like what you're looking for, but given that it's quite experimental and not generally available, I'm not sure if it would make a good answer.

Well that was just awesome! A little beyond what I'm hoping to accomplish, but thank you for sharing that

I'd look into silk screening.

Industry has for years used a 'pad printer' to put images on complex shapes, like plastic or ceramic travel mugs, etc.
I have observed these, but never used one.  I see no reason why there couldn't be a DIY version made.
Best of luck, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

jcoats, welcome to the 3D Printing Stack Exchange site. I think your answer could be greatly improved if you have a design of one of these 'bad printers' in mind. To me, from your answer it is not clear how to proceed given I wanted to print graphics on an ABS part. Could you elaborate?

@kamuro Pad printing is extremely common.

ups, misread that completely, as seen in what I wrote in my answer. Apologies. I would still want to encourage a written outline on how to build such a printer DIY.

I think this will work for you...
Laser Printer Image Transfer:

Print reverse image with color laser printer on regular paper.
Apply Mod Podge or artist arcylic or artist matte gel to the 3d printed surface.  You may need to sand it first to get it nice and smooth.
Apply same to picture and put picture, face down, onto the surface that you're transferring to.
Let dry.
Wash and rub off paper with water.
Apply protective clear coat...polyurethane or some other waterproof sealer.
...
Profit

This method has been popular in the DIY craft world for years so you should be able to google around for more tips.  My wife transferred pictures onto coasters this way...pretty easy.  Also, since paper is flexible, I think this would work on a simple curve.
Hope this helps.  :-)

This does sound like a neat idea to try. And I do currently have parts to do toner transfer (as I make PCBs this way). Just need a color laser printer.. Were the colors bright even when on black plastic? Does it scratch easily (reason for clear coating)?. Thanks.

Yep, very similar to toner transfer with PCBs...but without heat.  I've done PCB toner transfer with iron.  That process might work well if heat doesn't damage part.  Either way, dark parts would show through so black plastic may require a white or light colored coating under the image.  The final clear coat could be skipped, but it does make the image more scratch resistant.

You really can't. That said the only group that has this kind of tech is .. Disney of all companies. That said their tech is good at simple shapes. Nothing more.
I have seen some hydro transfer techniques. However that will not let you position a graphic as it is all done with a stretch transfer material ontop of a water bed. No one has a hand steady enough.
Realistically you either need a high end full color powered base 3d printer, or simple designs that you can apply with you hand, or paint by hand.
Well. Rereading your question... If you just want readable text. Then use a 2+ nozzle printer and print in colors that are contract. IE white model and black text. A lot more work but an order of magnitude cheaper than other options.
Disney article
Hydro transfer video

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Looking for a material so I can make ABS parts with rubber grips and feet
Looking for something that offers a lot of friction in contact with human skin or when sitting on the surface of a table.
I was curious if any of the rubber/soft materials would be compatible with ABS so I could print them together using a dual-head setup?

Why not just use some rubber feet?

Ninjaflex dual-extrudes great with ABS. I've done a fair amount of NF/ABS dualstrusion. Frankly, any TPU will probably work, since molten polyurethane sticks to practically anything.
The main challenge is ooze control since TPUs tend to ooze a lot. You're going to want to use a printing temp on the low end of the range for the flexible filament, and use some sort of wiper wall structure.
Another issue you might run into is re-priming the flexible filament after an extended idle time. It helps to use a large purge structure to ensure the nozzle gets re-primed fully. Don't use an excessively large toolchange retraction distance -- this will make it more likely that the flexible filament jams during reprime.
The best way to accomplish the above will depend on your slicer. Simplify3D is a good choice since it has good dualstrusion wiper and purge functions. Other slicers can be made to work as well.

Ninjaflex is hard to print. I have had little success. That said there are some guys at the local hackerspace selling https://flexionextruder.com/ Combine that, with a duel headed extruder and you can proably do it in one go.
Also there are other variants of ninjaflex from the same company that have more and less give.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Marlin temperature sensor problem
I have a RAMPS 1.4 and an Arduino Mega 2560. The problem is with 100k NTC thermistor. I've tested it with a multimeter, it results in ~122kΩ.
I am using Marlin 1.0.2 (latest stable). I am using an MK8 extruder and do not receive temperature readings from the thermo-sensor - no matter how I connect it. However, on APrinter firmware it works flawlessly.
In configuration.h, I have tried most of the options, but found "1" is the best one for me.
Executing m105 on Marlin, I get following result:
ok T:0.0 /0.0 B:0.0 /0.0 T0:0.0 /0.0 @:0 B@:0

On APrinter, the result is different:
ok B:-inf /nan T:25.2076 /nan

I have not connected bed thermistor yet.
pins.h
#define TEMP_0_PIN          1  // Extruder / Analog pin numbering
#define TEMP_BED_PIN        0  // Bed / Analog pin numbering

configuration.h
#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 1

...

#define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_13_EFB

After switching back and forth from Marlin to APrinter and back, Marlin stopped woking completely. I had configured the LCD (ReprapDiscount Smart Controller) and all the steppers were working. Right now, it does not even sends self test to Pronterface upon start/connection, or it hangs according to the log.
Pronterface output
Connecting...
start
Printer is now online.
echo:Marlin1.0.2
echo: Last Updated: Jul 25 2016 17:12:39 | Author: (Rustam Rahimgulov, default config)
Compiled: Jul 25 2016
echo: Free Memory: 3971  PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Hardcoded Default Settings Loaded
echo:Steps per unit:
echo:  M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z4000.00 E836.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo:  M203 X500.00 Y500.00 Z2.00 E25.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo:  M201 X9000 Y9000 Z100 E10000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo:  M204 S300.00 T3000.00
echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s),  Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s),  E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo:  M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo:  M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
echo:PID settings:
echo:   M301 P22.20 I1.08 D114.00
start
echo:Marlin1.0.2
ec  (nothing more here, output just ends)

What happens if you manually request temperatures with M105? What is  "aprintr firmware"?

a) As far as I've encountered 100K thermistors, they usually give closely around 100K resisivity at room temperature. b) when you're talking about configuration.h, you mean in Marlin? Have you made sure that your Marlin is in working condition otherwise and has not been flawed during transfer?

@kamuro It's the first time I am working with arduino, but as I know arduino ide using avrdude on linux to upload firmware to the chip and then it reads it to verify that the hex file was written correctly into the memory. Lately however, it seemed not to upload firmware properly, I've conducted loopback test and everything was ok. How would I make sure firmware is intact on the chip?

@kamuro 122k is a fairly normal reading. The 100K figure is quoted at 25C, 122k corresponds to around 20-22C.

Do you have the thermistor plugged into the right socket? Perhaps aprintr is reading the temperature from a different pin than Marlin is configured to.

@TomvanderZanden I've tested thermistor both in t0 and t1 pins, and APrinter firmware is able to distinguish them and obtain data, however is not the case for Marlin. Currently exturder thermistor is connected to t0 and bed to t1.

I meant that you should check whether the pin that marlin is configured to read the temperature from (in pins_ramps_14.h) corresponds to the physical pin your thermistor is plugged in to.

@TomvanderZanden How would I check it physically? In pins.h these are analogue pins 0 and 1

On RAMPS, the thermistors are on analog pins 13/14/15. If pins.h has 0 and 1 set then that is incorrect. Make sure that you have the right board configured in Marlin.

@TomvanderZanden There are so many redefinitions of the temp_0_pin that it's very hard to trace if it's correct or not. I can find lines that assign analogue pins 13 and 15 to bed and extruder sensors.

@Tom: good to know, I also looked up curves now, I didn't know the values change that rapidly. Well, it seems my home had pretty on spot 25°C when I tried my thermistors, then ;) Gemma: seems you know more about the arduino IDE than I do. I would've just tested if a display works and serial G-code commands are executed properly. Did you make sure that the board in Marlin is correclty set to RAMPS 1.4 (that's motherboard identifyer 33).

@kamuro I hope stating MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_13_EFB in configuration.h one time in the beginning is sufficient to inform code that I'm using RAMPS 1.4

Marlin's latest stable version is 1.1.6: https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/releases

In the actual Marlin Firmware all supported printer boards are listed within the file "boards.h". This file contains the following entries for the RAMPS 1.4:

#define BOARD_RAMPS_13_EFB  33 // RAMPS 1.3 / 1.4 (Power outputs: Extruder, Fan, Bed)
#define BOARD_RAMPS_13_EEB  34 // RAMPS 1.3 / 1.4 (Power outputs: Extruder0, Extruder1, Bed)
#define BOARD_RAMPS_13_EFF  35 // RAMPS 1.3 / 1.4 (Power outputs: Extruder, Fan, Fan)
#define BOARD_RAMPS_13_EEF  36 // RAMPS 1.3 / 1.4 (Power outputs: Extruder0, Extruder1, Fan)

The most common version may be the variant . In this case you have to set the value as the following lines show.

#ifndef MOTHERBOARD
  #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_13_EFB
#endif

Enable Display

#define REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER

Ok, it's time to make the adjustments specific to your 3d printer. You might first check the setting for the amount of extruders at around line 58. Most 3d printer rookies may start with one extruder, so the default entry of '1' is quite sufficient.
// This defines the number of extruders

#define EXTRUDERS 1

At around line 70 you have to set up the thermistors connected to the RAMPS for the extruder and the heatbed. Depending on your hardware configuration you have to change the last value in the defines.

#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 -1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_1 -1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 0

The define for TEMP_SENSOR_0 determins which thermistor type is assembled at the hotend of extruder 1. This termistor has to be connected to the first sensor input (see also wiring schema). The thermistor for the heatbed has to be connected to the second sensor input. The thermistor type is configured with the define line of 'TEMP_SENSOR_BED'. If you use a thermistor of the type EPCOS B57560G104F (100K, Beta = 4036), you write the value '1' into the matching define. In case you have a thermistor with 100k and Beta = 3950, you have to set the value '60' in the corresponding define. So the defines will look e.g.:
For EPCOS (Beta = 4036) on hotend and heatbed:

#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_1 -1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 1

For Beta = 3950 on hotend and heatbed:

#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 60
#define TEMP_SENSOR_1 -1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 60


text:
Access Temperature sensor data of 3D printer via Serial connection
I want to access the bed and nozzle temperature sensor data of a 3D printer via serial connection. Could someone please guide me in the right direction?
Edit: Response from printer:
Connecting to printer...
Connection response from printer:
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                                                                          mx�}M#
                                                                                �LYԣPh���^@ ��rp � TP�j�~1�� V6     6 � f� 6�k#���&�H".��k K2���ek�(��&��^K�k2����Ul�(� ���~N�ʈ*.�>Z��k#d$�����(� ��
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Asking for temperatures (M105)...
Temperature response from printer:
^CTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "printer_files/serialaccess.py", line 15, in <module>
    response = ser_printer.readline()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/serial/serialposix.py", line 446, in read
    ready,_,_ = select.select([self.fd],[],[], self._timeout)
KeyboardInterrupt

After the code asks the printer for temperature values, there is no output on the terminal anymore. I waited for a while and then killed it using control+c. It is clear that the printer is responding to the connection response but I am not sure why it is not returning the temperature values.

This is veering into off-topic territory. This is not longer about the tools and applications of 3D printers, it's about programming and developing applications for one.

Assuming your printer accepts conventional G-code flavor, extruder and bed temperature can be retrieved by sending M105 through the serial port. The printer will respond with ok T:XXX.X B:XXX.X where T is the nozzle temperature and B is the bed temperature.
You can read more about the specific G-code in the RepRap wiki.
EDIT:
I am editing the answer to include information for connecting to the printer using a simple python script.
The following script, first opens a serial connection to the printer. For Marlin firmware, when you first connect to the printer, it needs some time to initialize and respond back. That is why some delay is needed before reading the response. After printing the response, the script sends the M105 command, waits for 100ms, then reads the response of the serial buffer and prints it on the screen.
Note /dev/ttyUSB0 is the serial port name and in your case it may be different. Also 250000 is the baud rate of the connection; 250000 is the default value of my printer so you need to replace this with the baud rate that your printer uses.
import serial
import time

ser_printer = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 250000)
print "Connecting to printer..."
time.sleep(30)  # Allow time for response
buffer_bytes = ser_printer.inWaiting()
response = ser_printer.read(buffer_bytes)  # Read data in the buffer
print "Connection response from printer:"
print response
print "Asking for temperatures (M105)..."
ser_printer.write('M105\n')
time.sleep(0.1)  # Allow time for response
print "Temperature response from printer:"
response = ser_printer.readline()
print response

Thank you for your prompt reply! I had read about the firmware commands in the RepRap wiki page. I am not really sure how to interface with the printer in order to send those commands. I am a beginner in this field. I really appreciate your help.

I have edited the answer to include some basic information for connecting to the printer.

Thank you Demetris!  I worked with the piece of code you provided.  I am editing the question with the response I am getting.

I want to access the bed temperature of the 3D printer. I am able to get the temperatures using serial connection. The problem that I am facing now is that as soon as I give the command, I get the temperature values, however the print job stops. Is there a way around it? I want to get the temperature values as the print job goes on.

This seems to be a different problem. Please create a new question describing your problem in detail. This will help you answer your question much more efficiently.

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


text:
Are 3D printers efficient for printing a detailed iris to bypass iris identification system?
A 3D printer can either print layer by layer or carve an object layer by layer to obtain an object. I heard somewhere that 3D printing technology isn't that accurate for printing minute details like fingerprints and iris patterns. Printing an iris pattern using a 3D printer would be a nice test to find this out. Can it print the iris pattern accurately? If not, then to what extent would be the accuracy of the 3D printed model of iris? Many commercial iris scanners can be easily fooled by high quality images of iris. Can a 3D printer print the these minute iris patterns with as much detail?

I am voting to close this question as unclear what you're asking, because you haven't specified what kind of 3D printer you are interested in.

Can a 3D printer carve a detailed iris pattern? Or can any 3D printer print an iris pattern layer by layer in intensive detail so that an iris recognition system can no longer differentiate between the original iris of the user and the 3D printed iris, and the thief is able to bypass the iris scanning system.

Please do a bit of research on your own. What kind of 3D printer so you want the answer for? For some types (like FDM) the answer is definitely not, but for others it might be possible.

I take lectures in university and was asked to read a review paper on 3D printed organs by Anthony Atala (the most famous paper in printed organs research). The paper discussed about using several techniques to print the tissue we need at functional resolution. The review also cites detailed procedures to 3D print lung and skin tissues.
Coming back to your question, we have reached a point in time where we can scan a real Iris and print them! Yes. And people use this technique called self assembly to achieve this (Other design approaches like Biomimicry and MiniTissue assembly is also being used right now). To do this we first extract cells from the donor. Or We do a functional high res scan of the extracted cell/part that we want to replicate. This is done via FMT-CT-Fluorescence Imaging, etc. And we cultivate the cells in bio incubators (we can also print cells btw - If the exact environment and operational conditions are maintained, we can print cell-replicas that will later self assemble to form the Iris with the same resolution and functional properties as that of the real one). The cultivated/printed cell is used as the tissue forming material. Forming is done by the cells themselves and is thus christened Self assembly.
Although this may sound futuristic, Autonomous Self Assembly is something that's already being done in Labs! The method works by studying embryonic organ development. For instance, Early stage cellular components of a developing tissue makes their own ECM. Like mentioned before, if we use proper signalling, and environmental manipulation,  we can create autonomous organization and patterning to make something we want. Advantage of this method is that we can work without scaffolds. This method relies on cell as primary driver of histogenesis. Knowledge of how an embryo grows into tissue (embroyo tissue genesis and organogenesis) is applied to achieve "real" cell dimensions/properties.
I would recommend you to read the paper for detailed information. The method I mentioned in this post is only one among three other methods that are being used currently in this domain.
So yeah. My answer is yes. You can print an Iris and fool the system.
--
Updates

S. V. Murphy and A. Atala, “3D bioprinting of tissues and organs,” Nature Biotechnology, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 773–785, Aug. 2014. DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2958
Withdrew my claim "any given resolution"
Details of the process

It would be helpful if you stated the title of the paper and possibly provided a link. I also find the claims you make somewhat doubtful; surely it's not possible to print at "any given resolution" (there must be some lower bound to how fine you can print). I don't think the state of the art is anywhere near good enough to do this and that the paper probably describes an outlook on what might be possible in the future, but doesn't describe what is possible right now.

Updated the answer.
And the paper is a review of what is being done right now. My answer is not in any way science fiction.

+1 for the information, however I agree with TomVanDerZanden that the more links and citations for this topic would make it more believable. At first glance, it looks like "an Abraham Lincoln quote". So, an actual link I think will go a long way.

Thanks. The review paper itself consists of 159 citations. I have added the DOI for your reference.


text:
What is PEI+PC 3D Print material? ISS 3D Print Contest
There was a contest to develop 3D printable files for the International Space Station's 3D printer.  The winner got a 3D printer ... runners up got Fluke DVOM's and all entrants got a t-shirt.
ISS 3D Print Contest
They offer 3 materials:  ABS, HDPE, and PEI+PC ... I'm not familiar with the last one. Anyone know?
If found this material on Matweb: PEI+PC Alloy
These links are thought to last a very long time.  I hope many of you decide to upload a project into contest site and compete for the grand prize ... A sweet John Fluke DVOM.  If nothing else a free awesome T-shirt.

I feel like this is borderline to an advertisement. Please consider keeping an eye on the contest link and remove it as soon as it is over to ensure "future-proofing" this question. The question on identifying the material specs, I feel, is valid.

Thanks tbm0115 ... I just thought it would be cool for this forum.

tbm0115 ... I removed the expired link as you suggested.

I voted to close as "unclear what you're asking" because there is no real question here. "Anyone know?" is not a reasonable question for this platform. What specifically do you want to know about this material?

I was mainly trying to figure out what PEI-PC alloy was from a forum of experts and received good answers which one was accepted and the others rewarded.  This is a dang picky place.

Ultem 9085, the most common ultem resin used for AM, is a blend of PEI-PC, as seen here https://www.sabic-ip.com/gepapp/Plastics/servlet/ProductsAndServices/Product/series?sltPrdline=ULTEM&sltPrdseries=Aerospace%20and%20Transportation&search=Search#searchresults.
Ultem is a trade name for PEI alloys made by Sabic and 9085, used in filaments made by both Stratasys and 3dXtech as the two most visible suppliers are both made with this same alloy. It is used for high temperature resistance and strength and needs to be printed at upwards of 300C in a contained environment.
Source-Intern at Made in Space.

Welcome to 3D Printing Stack Exchange. Thanks for your answer but we prefer answers to be self contained where possible. Links tend to rot so answers which rely on a link can be rendered useless if the linked to content disappears. If you add more context from the link, it is more likely that people will find your answer useful. Can you tell us something about the compounds properties? Did you use it yourself?

I edited in some more context, does that help?

Yes, it does, have my upvote ;)
Can you tell us about how it compares to commonly printed thermoplastics? I'm really interested in the benefits of the material. Thanks

@kamuro;  Both Nasa and Matweb are not going anywhere ... I have used both resources for the better part of 2 decades.  Thanks for the input.

I have up-voted all your answers which are recorded but don't display until I reach 15 points.

@kamuro ... I see your point now.

Apparently the Made In Space printer can print an exotic alloy of PEI (ultem) and PC (polycarbonate).

Ultem is a super-premium material for industrial FDM printers, and requires a very high temp heated build chamber to print. Hobbyists use it as a build plate -- Stratasys uses it as filament in their most expensive FDM machines.
Polycarbonate is a specialty material that benefits from a heated chamber but is just barely printable on hobbyist level machines. (I print a fair amount of PC -- it makes ABS seem easy in comparison.)

By alloying PC with PEI, they are presumably optimizing some kind of performance parameter compared to ultem alone or polycarbonate alone. Exactly what material properties they get will depend considerably on the ratio of the two polymers. Ultem is exceptionally heat-resistant, quite stiff, and extremely strong. PC is very heat resistant, and has exceptional impact toughness. Blends of the two can be somewhat stiffer than either, with most other properties resembling the weighted average of the two base materials. It really depends on the mix, which we don't know.
This is analogous to the PC-ABS blend filaments we sometimes use. You get reasonably intermediate properties.
So, it's basically super-filament that NASA might want to use to make "production" parts in space. I would expect a HUGE degree of warping if not printed in extremely well-controlled conditions. But the Made In Space printer was intensely engineered for this task, so I have to assume they have it all figured out.

PEI - polyethermide is a "common" coating for heated print beds. PC is so many different things, but in this context, it's likely to mean polycarbonate plastic. From what I've read, it's challenging to print with and especially challenging to get a good bond on the build plate. One reference suggests to use a PEI coated bed with a slurry of ABS applied prior to printing. As with so many things 3d printer related, many people have many different methods. The above one appears to be well received as a successful method.

Fred;  Have you ever heard of a combination of PEI and polycarbonate? ... from what you have written this would seem rather exotic.

Every reference I've seen, which is pretty exhaustive, shows the PEI aspect as the bed and adhesion reference. A quick check moments ago also results in the same connections. I agree that a mixture of such materials would be unusual at best.

That must be what they mean .... since it is for rugged aerospace use offering tough poly-carbonate as a filament material seems logical.

Whoo-hoo pushed you over 1K reputation.

Thanks for the super-bump!
if I had both of these materials at hand, I would first determine appropriate temperatures. If they had disparate numbers, it would be clear that a combination would only be possible in zero gravity, as mixing might be a problem. If the temperatures were close, I would yet expect that there would be difficulty in a homogeneous mixture suitable for extrusion. I've worked with a bit of polycarbonate and it's tough. As filament with good bonding between layers, it will make strong parts.

As an aside, Matweb is the most comprehensive source of material properties of any known commercial compound that I have ever found.  Usually newer materials have fewer properties listed but older ones have extensive listings of every known physical property an engineer would want to know.


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Do I have to buy all new components if I were to get a RAMPS 1.4 that supports 24 V power?
Ryan Carlyle seems to keep suggesting in my questions here, that using a 24 V power supply is safer than using a 12 V one.
Early on, I ordered the wrong power supply, obtaining a 24 V one instead of a 12 V; I found that it was incompatible with my RAMPs 1.4 board... unless of course you pull off all the components and replacement with 24 V compatible ones.
Now granted my board needs to be replaced if I am to use such a power supply, but are there any other components that need to be replaced if I'm going to use 24 V power, or am I safe with what I am using?

You need all components that are supplied voltage by the RAMPS board to be able to deal with a 24V input. Some of your parts are most likely compatible, as the stepper drivers. Others get the 5V from the Arduino, as the endstops. Some will most likely need replacement, as

the Hotend heater cartridge. It will need to be exchanged. You can easily buy those in 12V and 24V versions and a 12V version should not get 24V.
the fans. Chances here are about as close to 100% as it gets that they need to be replaced. They are directly connected to the 12V, some are PWM regulated but that doesn't change that they need to be replaced with proper 24V fans.
the heated bed. Since it gets direct power from the board you cannot use your old 12V bed. This is unless you had your old bed switched by a solid state relay (SSR) before. Then you'd have to check the SSR's switching signal tolerances.
anything else you might have hooked up to your power supply directly (lights for example) should be checked for input tolerance.

Note that you can use a 12V heater cartridge on a 24V system if you limit the PWM duty cycle in firmware but this is not exactly a good idea (since if your PWM fails, you'll have a thermal runaway that is 4 times as bad as normal). People also sometimes use 12V heated beds with 24V, giving very quick heat up times (but this requires a power supply that can supply a very large amount of power and comes with the same safety drawbacks as the heater cartridge).

Using PWM to run a 12v heater on 24v is EXTREMELY dangerous. A hot block will easily get hot enough to melt aluminum if the heater sticks on and outputs 160w. (And there are lots of ways that can happen.) Then you're dripping molten aluminum onto your flammable plastic print in progress. Then your house probably burns down. Now, heatbeds might be more manageable because you can put a thermal fuse on the heatbed to reliably cut power if it overheats. Then you just have to worry about connectors and wiring melting. (Unfortunately there are no good hot end thermal fuses solutions yet.)

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


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Prusa HE3D Xi3 missing step on x and y axis
I am using Prusa HE3D Xi3. While printing after 5 or 6 layers it misses the step on x and y axis.
Can anybody explain what is the reason?

What research have you done? There are several questions on this site about skipped steps, could you perhaps explain why those answers do not address your question?

There's a possibility that your power supply lags after a while, the quality of power supplies on cheaper 3D printers are sometimes an issue.
There's also a possible that the stepper motor drivers aren't putting out enough power. This can be adjusted by turning the trimmer on the driver, check the printer documentation for instructions on how to do that.


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Uploading Repetier firmware to Arduino?
I have a prusa i3 and have been trying to calibrate it. I have been trying to upload the new steps per mm and I get to done uploading. However when I go into Repetier host and type M503 to get the printers settings it still shows the steps as 100 for the y axis, it needs to be 96.1810. I am using ramps 1.4 I think, with Adrunio mega 2560. If I am remembering this correctly isn't there something you have to do when uploading a new sketch like hold the rest button or something?

See here for why you shouldn't calibrate your X/Y-steps. The value of 100 is probably better and will give more accurate prints overall than the value you came up with.
When uploading new firmware you generally do not have to press any button. Pressing reset manually is only necessary when your upload method does not provide a reset pulse, but if you upload with USB this is not necessary.
What is probably causing your problem is that the E-steps are stored in EEPROM, and uploading new firmware does not override the EEPROM settings.
You should run a M502 to restore the default settings from the firmware you uploaded, then M500 to save them to the EEPROM.

Thanks Tom ill give it a try! I had already looked into the fact ot could be mechanical thats how i fixed the x axis the set screw came loose on the pulley after tightening it down with some thread locker solved that issue. I thought the same with the y axis but it was tighten down so i went ahead and put some thread locker on it and retightened it down. I also made sure the belt was tight and it was if i adjusted any more i think the stepper would have a hard time moving it. As for the other things mentioned in the video i have not done that yet.

Hello Tom, it work! I'm going to use the new steps just to see if that's the issue if not I will revert them and check other settings.

If your firmware doesn't store values you modified after flashing, for example using Repetier's option "Firmware EEPROM configuration", you probably didn't define EEPROM setting in Marlin.
To do this you have to uncomment the option in Marlin's Configuration.h:
// EEPROM
// The microcontroller can store settings in the EEPROM, e.g. max velocity...
// M500 - stores parameters in EEPROM
// M501 - reads parameters from EEPROM (if you need reset them after you changed them temporarily).
// M502 - reverts to the default "factory settings".  You still need to store them in EEPROM afterwards if you want to.
//define this to enable EEPROM support
  #define EEPROM_SETTINGS

#if ENABLED(EEPROM_SETTINGS)
// To disable EEPROM Serial responses and decrease program space by ~1700 byte: comment this out:
#define EEPROM_CHITCHAT // Please keep turned on if you can.
#endif

Check that the lines #define EEPROM_SETTINGS and #define EEPROM_CHITCHAT are both uncommented (i.e. defined)


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Cloning the Marlin git repo while keeping my configuration.h settings?
I cloned the Marlin repository and changed all my settings in configuration.h to match my old settings. Now when the RC branch gets updated, is there a way to upstream pull the changes without losing my settings?

Based on this answer, you need the following procedure:

Stash your local changes using git stash
Pull from remote repository using git pull
Merge your stashed configuration file using git stash pop

Of course, if there are changes in the configuration.h file on the remote repository and cause conflicts, you will need to resolve them, but it should be straight forward.

Thank you! I always wondered when to use stash - it seems like this would be an appropriate scenario.


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When to use Wave Bonding vs Raft on a 3D print?
I use a Micro3D printer, running on OctoPi (yay!) (although this question should be relevant to any 3D printer that offers these features) and have options for raft and wave bonding.
Are there best case scenarios for when it is appropriate to use (or not use) either?  Can/should they ever both be used at the same time?

After additional research, it seems that using both at the same time is ill-advised (more like pointless).
Wave bonding is best suited for larger prints, primarily to prevent warping of the initial layer.
Rafts appear to be recommended regardless, other than for advanced users.

Where did you read the conclusion "Rafts appear to be recommended regardless, other than for advanced users."? As I have read rafts are primarily for adhesion for ABS and for bonding small footprint elements.

Does anyone use rafts anymore? I thought that was to compensate for uneven/unlevel beds. I always use a brim with plastics.


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

Do you get the build plate out of the printer for the procedure? I realized that I do not know whether this is even possible when I finished my answer, and it will need to be revisited depending on this ;)

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

I've definitely tried it, and it seems to work pretty well in getting the parts to loosen up. I'm just worried about damage to the plate.

That was a problem for me too. My M3d printer was getting stuck to the plate. However, I now print on painters tape, and I put down painters take on the bed. Then I glue stick the tape, and when I am done, I just pull it up.
You should try it, because it will allow you to print with other then the m3d plastic.

Thanks for the answer. I have considered using painters tape, but I thought the purpose of the coating on the build plate was to eliminate the need for that.
Regardless, this doesn't really answer my question about whether it's safe to use a hair dryer to lightly heat up the build plate so my prints come off easier.

It's what i do. Painters tape. are you using the m3d plastic? that's why. the coating is to make sure it sticks their only plan to get it off is to bend the plate a little bit. Hair drier won't end the world. don't hold the plate and hair dry it, that might hurt. But M3D sells spare plates it you destroy it. Try it out, tell us what happens.

Yeah, I use their "3D Ink" and I haven't been using painters tape, and I do flex the plate a little (which also worries me that I'm going to damage it), but the hair dryer trick seems to work ok, though I've only done it a few times.

cool, thanks for the tip. but also, you should look into hatchbox plastic on amazon. its 4 times the amount of plastic for a little more than the m3d plastic. i use it with tape and its awesome and i have so much of it. i think its 20$ for 1lb roll where m3d is 15$ for 1.5 lb roll. Logic is there somewhere.

I agree to Tom's first part of the answer, usually you'd cool down the plate to loosen the print. This is reasoned by the shrinkage of the builplate while the print stays extended. The strain put into the interface helps to get the print of. Warming the plate could essentially do the same, but since you deposit a warm filament, one would assume that by warming up you will reduce the strain that has been built up by the regular cooling of the filament already.
I guess an uneven heating with a hairdryer will probably introduce uneven strain or evan some kind of warping of the buildplate that puts more strain to the interface which makes your approach work. If you want to test whether you have some local deformation you could characterize this by reflecting a laserpointer from the heatbed and marking the reflection on a rather far away wall for some controlled positions you can get the laser in (by say putting it on a photography tripod). The change of this reflections towards each other could tell you about the deformation.
I also agree that most of the hairdryers around would not be hot enough to be a worry, but since most of the Micro3D is made from plastic I would put twice the time into figuring out if that is really true.
Just for the fun of it, you could put an ice cube next to your finished print if you make sure that molten water will not go anywhere it is not supposed to be. Maybe this lifts off the print as well. However, I do not recommend doing this, of course.

Before I got an aftermarket heated print bed for my M3D, I regularly used a hair dryer to pre-heat the build plate up to 60-70 °C before printing with no ill effects.

cold wind can help to acceleratory cool down and dry the build plates to make it easy to part them.


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Wanhao i3 PLUS restarts when connecting USB
I just received my Wanhao Duplicator i3 PLUS. Everything prints and functions fine via SD card and the display but when connecting to my Mac computer the printer seems to restart.

Baud Rate: 115200
Serial Port: /dev/tty.wchusbserial1420

Any ideas what it could be?

I don't know that printer. But Arduino has a feature that a USB connection causes a reset. The Idea is that this helps when doing software update as the Arduino Boot loader will be active for one second after that reset.
This can be disabled, but needs hardware modification.

I'm on the same trail now but can't find the jumper which is common on Melzi boards. See http://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/1590/where-is-the-auto-reset-jumper-on-the-wanhao-i3-plus?noredirect=1&lq=1

I answered your question there. Hope it helps.

+1, I've been using Arduino for 3 years and never realised. From Soft reset on arduino through starting serial comm: The board resets the controller chip when there is a wiggle on the DTR line of the serial connection.  This lets the bootloader run again, which gives the Arduino IDE a chance to upload a new sketch that replaces the old sketch.  If no such upload happens, the old sketch is started again from the beginning.

That is normal on most printers. They restart if you connect.
As you have an SD card slot I would recommend using it rather than your computer. If your connected computer goes to sleep it would also reset the connection after wakeup.

Although I agree with you about preference on using SD card I'm actually running a lot of 10 minute calibration tests to determine best print settings having to do this time and time again for via SD Card is painful.


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Where is the auto-reset jumper on the Wanhao i3 PLUS?
I'm having some issues when connecting to the printer via USB, see Wanhao i3 PLUS restarts when connecting USB.
After some research I thought I would try to remove the auto-reboot jumper. Now that the i3 Plus uses a custom board instead of the standard Melzi, I'm not sure where to find it.
See pictures attached:

The pictures don't help much, and I don't know the board. But if it is as described here, Elec Freaks Wiki - RAMPS Melzi, then you need to look for the FTDI Chip FT232. The reset is caused by the DTR Signal. There needs to be a copper trace from pin 2 to the capacitor and then to the jumper. From the jumper a trace leads to pin 4 of the Atmel ATmega.
If it is a clone, the jumper might have been "optimized away". If so, desoldering the capacitor gives the same result.  Be certain to desolder the right one. If unsure keep the capacitor and solder it back in if it was the wrong one.


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How do I wire an AC SSR with RAMPs 1.4?
I was advised that it would be possible to use an AC SSR to wire up a Mains Based heat bed.  Any idea how one would do this with a RAMPs 1.4 board; Also, what do I hook a heated bed of this sort into?

If you take a kettle lead with a wall plug and cut off the other end, it will expose 3 wires: earth, live and neutral. These are color coded depending on your country, usually earth is green (possibly with yellow stripes), neutral is blue, black, grey or white and live is brown, red or black.
The SSR should have 4 terminals: 2 terminals for the switched load (which are interchangeable) and 2 terminals that connect to your electronics, which should be marked negative and positive. These terminals should connect to the negative/positive heated bed output of your electronics. The terminals of the SSR should be clearly marked, and you can verify which terminal is what from the SSR's datasheet.
Typically, your heated bed will have two wires for power (which are interchangeable). One of the wires should be connected to neutral. The other wire should go to one of the load terminals of the SSR, while the other load terminal of the SSR should connect to the live wire. It is also acceptable to do it the other way around (neutral to the SSR and live directly to the bed) but this is slightly less neat.
Finally, and this step is extremely important, the earth wire of the plug has a protective function: should something fail, metal parts of your printer may become electrified, and shock you when you touch them. To prevent it, you should electrically connect exposed metal parts of your printer (such as the frame, heated bed plate, power supply case, etc...) to earth. This provides a path for the current to flow (and trip the protective RCD breaker) should something go wrong.
I would further recommend that you protect your heated bed (particularly if it is a high power model) with a bimetallic thermal switch. These are available in a variety of ratings, and will switch the power to your heated bed off when it goes over a certain temperature. This switch should be wired between the relay and the heated bed, and be mounted on the heated bed so it makes good thermal contact. If you plan to print with the heated bed at 110C, you might get a 120C or 130C thermal switch.
As mains voltage can be deadly, you should take appropriate precautions: never work on the printer while it is plugged in, cover any connections (in particular, make sure you buy or print a cover for the SSR's terminals and wrap solder joints in heat shrink or electrical tape) and always treat wires coming out of the SSR as live (even if it is switched off, some current can still flow).

A link to the bed you have/are buying would be very helpful. AC heated beds exist but are fairly uncommon.
As one of the answers in the question you linked notes, the heat bed is probably not actually intended to use the 110 VAC/220 VAC directly from the wall and instead needs either 12 VDC or 24 VDC.
If the current it needs is less than 11 A, then it can be connected directly to port D8 on the RAMPS 1.4, where it will take power from a suitably powerful 12/24 VDC supply connected to the 11 A input on the board.
A more powerful heater will need an external relay/MOSFET/etc. to control.
If you do, in fact, have an AC bed, you can connect a SSR like this to either D8 or D9 on the RAMPS (D10 could be used, but it would need a supply connected to the 11 A input) making sure the polarity is correct, as long as your RAMPS DC supply voltage is within the input range of the SSR.
The linked one is 3–32 VDC, so almost any supply voltage compatible with the RAMPS will work.
The AC outputs of the SSR should be connected in series between one side of the bed and the AC hot wire, with the AC neutral wire connected to the other side of the bed so most of the circuit isn't carrying high voltage when off.
This video has some useful hints.
However, while an AC bed can get you faster heating, will let you use thinner wires, and avoids the need for having a big DC power supply, I would recommend against using a mains voltage bed if you don't know what you're doing—a great deal more care must be taken and there is a serious possibility of injury.

The question very clearly states "mains based heat bed". I don't see why you would presume that it would be a 12V/24V DC one.

@TomvanderZanden Because the one in the linked question said "mains based" and was actually not.

Oh wow, I just checked the product description linked in the linked question. It says "12V or 24V - uses mains voltage". What a mess that listing is. However, I think the OP is quite clear about that the linked product is not a mains bed, as in the commments it's mentioned that it's not and in the comments it's also suggested that "How to hook up a mains bed would be a good question" so I guess that's the purpose of this question.


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How does the home position work on a Prusa i3 RepRap Printer?

By what process does the Prusa i3 determine it's home position?
I have a feeling that it works like this, but I'm not entirely sure about it:

If none of the end stops are activated; assume you are somewhere between Max-X, Max-Y, Max-Z and the point 0,0,0.
do

For axis in Axies

If axis endstop not signaling

subtract 100 steps from axis.

while endstops are not signaling, or if point 0,0,0 not reached;

The answer to this question is completely dependent on the firmware your printer is running and the configuration of said firmware (the homing order in Marlin is configurable, you have a variety of options such as "home Z first" or "home X and Y simultaneously").

It works like you describe, but it does not move all axes at the same time. It first moves the X-axis, subtracting steps while the X endstop is not pressed. When the X-axis is is homed (the X-endstop is gets pressed) it repeats the procedure for the Y-axis and finally the Z-axis.

I've always found it odd that 3D printers have basically the reverse homing sequence from conventional cnc machines. Most industrial mills, lasers, and routers homing order is Z, Y, then X. This is to reduce the chances of crashing into any fixtures mounted on the work table.

3d printers generally have the z endstop at the bottom rather than the top for better or worse. So homing z would make it crash into anything under it. Many people (me included) put the z endstop on top because that just makes more sense.

You have the endstop which sends a on or off to the controller board.
The boards firmware knows if it is a close or open switch.
Lets assume pressed is on and unpressed is off.
When the axis is at home it will read as ON. The firmware then will not allow the axis to move in the direction you have designated is the Home direction. Now this is probably where you got confused. You in fact are the one to open a code file, and say what direction is home. When your turn it on the first time, chances are you have done it wrong on at least one. Then you will frantically go and manually press it yourself as your printers hotend crashes HARD into the bed.. All of us have been there !
Generally Prusas use ramps 1.4
http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4
Your code is your firmware. Usually you just edit a header file (single file). These files are heavily documented, depending which you use. Your seller might provider you with a preconfigured header file.
Will note that yes, if the endstop slips or is not position right, the printer will crash into it self. Usually no damage, but it is a very unpleasant thing to happen.
Also worth noting that some firmware will force you to home before you move. Others will let you crash the printer on the opposite side. Just a motor, will do whatever you tell it to.
In short. You tell it how the endstops work and what direction is home on a printer.

I don't see how this is is an answer to the question. The question asks how the homing works (in term of the "algorithm" that is used) but your answer is just some remark about how people crash their hotend into the bed because of bad endstop config.

Hi Tom Sorry you find it confusing. I explain how end stops work and how the firmware / electronics see and process the states. Which does answer the question. I think you got lost with the extra information about why the heads would crash. That was to express how the different firmwares handle and fail to handle carriage position. Let me know if you have other questions. Happy printing!


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Setting Resolution?
Hello I have a Prusa I3 I am currently able to get press fit parts with my current settings. I am using Ramps 1.4 hardware and repetier software and cura as my slicer. I am printing with a .2 mm layer height right now but would like to get a better number such as .1 or .09. When I try to print with say .1mm layer height in the middle of the print the filament stops coming out of the nozzle. However I can still see the gear moving. I have check some sites that I have been using for troubleshooting but I haven't found anything that fixed the problem yet. How or what setting need to be changed in order to print with better resolution?

You are suffering from the XY problem.

There are no settings that you should need to change. Rather, it seems like you are suffering from another issue that is not directly related to layer height.
It is possible that your hotend's heat sink is not being cooled enough, causing heat to migrate up and soften plastic in the heat sink, ultimately jamming it. Depending on your hotend's make, the heat sink should be cooled by a fan that is always on.
Normally, the plastic being fed into the hotend provides some cooling, but printing at a thinner layer height decreases this effect because less plastic is fed into the hotend per time unit.

I do have a E3D hot end but I'm still printing the rest of the mounting parts for it , so I wont be able to test it till that's done. I do however have the fan on always and the heat sink has a thermal paste apply for a better transfer. Thank you again Tom I'll let you know what happens.

I agree with Tom's answer, it seems that temperature slowly makes it's way up your heat sink and softens the plastic which causes the jam.
Even though you should first check your hardware to make sure that hotend cooling is installed correctly, to directly address your original question as to what setting needs to be changed, I would suggest lowering your printing temperature. When printing finer layers, the plastic moves slower in the hotend, spending more time in the heater block, possibly making your current temperature setting too high for this resolution.

Yes, That is what happens. There is a reason that most people cannot break the .1mm barrier.
You have several things happening. First if you are using a bowden. Good luck. The bowden treats plastic a lot like a spring. Just wont be able to generate a consistent pressure.
The direct gear will have the same issue. You are trying to spit out 0.1mm on a 0.5mm nozzle. Factor in some simple drooling and your dot of plastic is missing. You wouldn't think it matters, but when we are using such tiny amounts of plastic, and consistently throughout the print, it makes for a really bad result!
Then you have more issues. This is why you jam. You now have a lot of plastic sitting, not being expelled. When you go from 0.2mm to 0.1mm you now take twice the time. Considering the printer was made to print at a 0.7 to 0.2 range (more or less). We are talking about a fair time for this plastic to sit molten, waiting to come out. Some have mentioned the heat crawl, but not exactly what happens or a solution. Now you do a retraction, and you just retracted molten plastic. Which gets jammed. Or your plastic cooks, carbonizes faster and clogs your hotend. Sad times! What you can do is ... turn off retraction, and then increase your flow / extrusion multiplier to account for the extra drooling. Part will have a lot of stringing, but a quick burst from a lighter fixes most of that.
You can get better results with a hotend that has a fan and heat sink / break. I like the e3d hot ends. That will stop the heat crawl.
I will note that Makergear once sent me an experimental 0.1mm nozzle. It could not build enough pressure to expel the plastic. I got one tiny bunny, half melted before it clogged from aforementioned carbonization.
Sounds like to me you really just need a form 1, or you are a tinkerer like me. Making the printer go twice the speed is much more fun than high quality.

Lol, I am a tinker. I will work and work in till i get it to do what i want. This is very interesting, as i just started 3d printing in april theres still alot i dont know. My work on getting the E3d hotend installed is at a stand still till i get some althread. But what if i changed my nozzel size to .2 and work on the retraction and flow settings?

Oh yeah it is a fun hobby as you are never able to learn it all. .2 will help a lot. I would also tighten the geared extruder. I'd also start with no retraction, then work up. I also akin 3d printing tinkering to a performer spinning and balancing 3 plates. Got to get everything to work perfectly all at once.

Kk sounds good ill try that and see what happens. I love the analogies. When i first got the printer i had so many mechanical issues it wasnt funny, customer service was poor and i had no clue what i was doing. After couple months of working with it ,most of the sample filament used up. i got it working. Like you said its a balenceing act.


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

You can achieve this using the G1 command. I don't know your exact printer, but you should be able to use something like this (add to the start G-code in your slicer):
G1 X0 Y62 Z0.2 F9000 ; Move slightly past edge of bed

G92 E0 ; Zero extruder position

G0 E1 F100 ; Extrude 1mm of filament

G92 E0 ; Zero again

G1 X0 Y0 F9000 ; Move back to center of bed

The first line moves the extruder to slightly past the edge of the bed (since the diameter is 120, the radius is 60, and 62 is slightly past the maximum radius). I've set Z to 0.2mm to avoid hitting the plate, but you might be able to lower this.
The next 3 lines zero the extruder position, extrudes 1mm of filament, and resets it to zero (when starting a print the slicer expects E to start at 0).
The final line moves back to the bed center. This might not be neccesary (you might be able to replace this line with just G1 F9000 to set the feedrate back to something that makes sense for travel moves) because you don't need to move back explicitly: the slicer will take care of moving the head in position to start the print.

This worked well for me :
G1 X63 Y63 Z0.4 F9000 ; Move slightly past edge of bed
G92 E0 ; Zero extruder position
G0 E20 F100 ; Extrude 1mm of filament
G92 E0 ; Zero again
G1 X0 Y0 F9000 ; Move back to center of bed
G28 ; Home extruder

I just added it to the end of the "start Gcode" Gcode and the nozzle purges at the start of my prints, pefect !

For those who are curious here is the finql result. https://www.dropbox.com/s/81odyromk5i09cw/IMG_20160821_230255.jpg?dl=0

I have found it preferable to hold the printhead well above the surface while oozing/pumping waste, as it makes it easier to grab than "barely above the plate surface (even if off the edge of it.)" But mostly I do that while heating up and oozing (hold it forward and 50mm off the deck) and then use a skirt to deal with getting filament to flow nicely before printing.

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

my problem with the skirt is that the first bit of filament ends up dragging behind the print head, potentially fouling up the print area...

@kolosy What I usually do before starting a print is extrude some filament until it gets consistent and pinch that off the printer head with a tweezer. Otherwise, make sure the adhesion to your print bed is satisfactory

If you can't print a skirt properly, how do you get it do do the rest of the print properly?

A lot of slicers will have a Wipe option. Here are some examples:

See Unofficial Simplify3D Documentation. Go to the section talking about Wipe Nozzle, under the heading Extruder Tab

Two more ooze-fighting options are Coast at end and Wipe nozzle. Coast turns off the extruder the specified distance before it normally would, to drain what would have oozed as the end of a line. This can help with ooze-induced blobs at the end of lines, but if turned up too high will lead to gaps in your print walls. Changes to this setting will be visible as gaps in the g-code preview.
Wipe has the nozzle retrace over the start of a perimeter line at the
  end of a perimeter for the specified distance with the extruder off,
  to leave any ooze behind before proceeding. It is similar to Coast in
  that it moves the extruder without extruding, but wipe occurs after
  the end of the line while coast occurs before.

Slic3r has some sort of coasting. But I think in their docs the option is there: Slic3r Manual - Fighting Ooze

Wipe before retract - Moves the nozzle whilst retracting so as to reduce the chances of a blob forming.

As you asked for G-Code here you go:

Reprap Forum - Wipe nozzle via GCODE
Example
;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density}
;Print time: {print_time}
;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g
;Filament cost: {filament_cost}
;M190 S{print_bed_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own bed temperature line
;M109 S{print_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own temperature line
G21        ;metric values
G90        ;absolute positioning
M82        ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107       ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0  ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0     ;move Z to min endstops
M117 Auto-level...
G29        ;auto-level
;G92 Z-.01 ; Lower = Z Pos, Lift = Z Neg
M117 Preparing...
G1 Z10.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0                  ;zero the extruded length
G1 F100 E30              ;extrude 10mm of feed stock
G92 E0                  ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F{travel_speed}
;Put printing message on LCD screen
M300 S900 P160         ;start beep
M300 S1000 P160
M300 S2000 P160
M0    ;Wait for the user
M117 Printing...

Lulzbot forum - Start GCODE Script for Wipe, in particular this post:
Example
G91 ; switch to relative positioning
G1 Z10 ; safe raise of z axis to ensure probe doesn't hit bed clamp
G90 ; switch back to absolute positioning
G28 ; home all axes
G29 ; level print bed
G1 X298 Y137 Z2 F5000 ; move to wait position right hand side of the table
G1 Z0.4 ; position nozzle
G1 E25 F300 ; purge nozzle
M400 ; wait for purge to complete
G1 X285 F1200 ; slow wipe
G1 Z0.5 F1200 ; lift

That should get you started.

Hi! We expect answers to be self-contained, and not depend on external links (which may change or become unavailable, rendering your answer useless). It's fine to include links for further reference, but please make sure your answer can stand on its own.

Fair enough. I will copy the contents.

Please see http://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/referencing

authors: ศรายุทธ วรรณชัย

authors: อภิสิทธิ์ จินะราช


text:
Possible ways to print soft skin for human robot?
Are there any 3D printing filaments or specially designed desktop systems which can print soft artificial skin for human-robot? For example made of soft silicone or something similar?

Entering "3D printing flexible filament" into Google gives tens of thousands of results. An answer to this question would have to be incredibly broad, listing all of the possible many filament choices for printing flexible items. Please add some details to narrow down the question to be more specific.

Oh that is a tricky tricky question!
First you will probably need a good scan of the robot. You will have the cad of the robot but chances are scanning will make life easier.
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20151201-kinect-easy-3d-printing-tool-with-release-of-3d-scan-app-for-windows.html
Also see Reprap for other options
http://reprap.org/wiki/3D_scanning
Following... it is not going to be that simple. If it was my project I would
Print a mold out of ABS. ABS reacts to acetone and you can vapor treat it.
http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/blog/01366106156

That said you might burn your house down. Also it is inconsistent. But would give you a smooth finish.
Next you can do just normal mold printing and be okay with the ribbing. Then you pour your silicon material

Next you can well just print with silicon. The ninjaflex guys have a ton of different types of flexible materials and new ones coming out.
https://ninjatek.com/products/filaments/ninjaflex/

On that topic I will mention a local company that I have no direct affiliation with. I just see them at the hacker space. They make a extruder just for flexibles.
https://flexionextruder.com/
Other areas to look at. More for making metal but it may be of use.
http://www.instructables.com/id/From-3d-printed-part-to-metal-the-lost-plaabs-me/
Last is again the mold but you make the molds on a expensive form 1. Or you make the skin on the form1 as they can do flexibles. Small build area. Material is around 100 a ltr or more
http://formlabs.com/products/3d-printers/form-1-plus/
Good luck!
Also check out this facebook group (no affiliation)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DPrintProps/
If anyone has done this it is those guys. Oh Wait No I take that back Look into these fellows. They have a very active group. (google group) not to mention that they are also directly doing what you are.
http://inmoov.fr/

Just don't be like this guy and make it look like a movie star...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-builds-scarlet-johansson-robot-7667715

Great answer, but the facebook group link seems to be dead.

Thanks! Hmm works for me, but I am a member. Maybe search for it? Or join 3dprintinghobbyists and ping me to link you their group (I'm admin of hobbyists so easy to find me)


text:
3D printing enclosure with LED indication symbols -- is this possible?
I am looking to print an enclosure, which will have a PCB inside with some LED indicators. I was wondering if it is possible to 3D print the enclosure such that the following look can be achieved? What material and technique?
When LEDs are off, it looks something like this:

WHen the LED turns on, it looks like this (illuminated symbols):

What printer do you plan on using? FDM is often implicitly assumed but it would be good if you could tell us exactly what machine you're going to use.

I am open to any printer that can help achieve this. I do not have a printer of my own and plan to use 3rd party printing services.

Achieving this with 3D printing would be quite difficult, and you might be better served by creating this effect some other way (I would personally recommend getting some inkjet transparencies and stacking a few layers together: an entirely black layer, and a few layers with the symbols in negative space).
One way that you might be able to achieve this using just a common FDM printer is to print the part face down, and printing just a single layer or two that covers the entire face, and then printing more layers that cover everything but the symbols. However, those symbols look small and detailed and you might not be able to reproduce such detail.

So you want a translucent case which can hide the LEDs when they are off, but show then when they are on? I agree this might not be the best fabrication method for this effect. I would print a case with a window and use a tinted laser cut plexi glass. That said, it wouldn't be that hard.

There are a few catches. First you will have 3d printing texture. The lines and ribs. So there will be light distortion. However it can be minimized by either using a resin 3d printer with ultra high quality, or by having the window side printed on the bed, avoiding the ribbing. Albeit it is still not perfect.

I would look at translucent materials such as Tglass. Using these clear materials you can either ally a window tinting yourself or find a seller that has a very dark, yet still clear material. This will allow the effect where a LED is off and you cannot see it, and when it is on - see it.
http://taulman3d.com/t-glase-features.html
Tglass can be treated to be extra clear. Looks like they treat their material with XTC-3D for very translucent effects.

http://taulman3d.com/t-glase-optics.html
There are other options such as Resins, clear ABS, and PolyCarb (high temp)
All that said. Laser cutting is really what you want.

I'd like to elaborate by saying that 3D printing would be best suited for printing the housing for the electronics in this type of project. Ultimately, I agree, laser cutting is the way to go with a bit of acrylic.

You can print the "lid" in translucent (gray) and stick a piece of laser printed transparency film under it with the symbols (print it "negative" so the symbols are transparent and the rest is black). Depending on the quality of the printed black you might want to stack two printouts to minimize light sipping through the black areas. A divider separating the leds underneath ensures that only one symbol lights up.
This will work better the better surface quality the "lid" has.


text:
Print bed moves way up for printing
I am new to 3D printing and I am assembling/calibrating an Ultimaker Original+ for my college.
I am done with all the assembling and the printer works fine except for one thing.
The print bed moves way up. It touches the extruder and pushes it upwards. So, the extruder cannot extrude any material.
I tried to set the Z axis value before string the print but as soon as I start the print the platform just moves up and blocks the extruder.
Please let me know if you need any more information from my side.

"The print bed moves way up. It touches the extruder and pushes it upwards. So, the extruder cannot extrude any material." Can you expand on this? On my newer ultimaker it touches the Z endtop (at the bed), lowers like 20mm and primes the extruder by extruding extra. Yours is not lowering? Or yours is not extruding, but instead retracting the plastic?

Yes my print bed is not lowering down.

What software are you using? Cura? That should be part of the gcode generated by the slicer. I use simplify 3d.
Next it Can lower down normally? If not you might want to look at your end stop.

I am using Cura. No after I start printing the print bed does not move down.

And the thing is I cannot afford any commercial software.

Shouldn't need to. I'd check the gcode output. Maybe post it here? (view it in a text editor)

How do I do that?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

This is the link for the gcode file. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByFQsFcs3Hr1WWZMWEFpMDVvTW8/view?usp=sharing

This might be a stretch, but is the print bed on Ultimaker adjustable like on MakerBot's? It could just be as simple as performing a basic bed leveling routine.

It is normal for an Ultimaker print bed to move up. But it should be stopped before the nozzle.
As it doesn't stop the end stop doesn't work. So either the end stop is not connected to the right connector or it is triggering too late.
The Z end stop must be screwed at the right hight. If you mount it too far up it will not trigger. The bed assembly has a small wooden peace that sticks up. The idea is that that wooden peace pushes the end stop at the right hight.
So instead of configuring the hight in the firmware you need to mount the Z end stop at the exact right hight. You can make the fine adjustments(Bed Leveling) with the screws that hold the bed.
You can test the end stop by manually triggering while the bed moves up. It needs to stop immediately once you trigger the end stop. If the bed does not stop, then check the connection or exchange the switch.
It can happen that the switch itself malfunctions if you screwed it in too tightly. So loosening up the screws a bit is a final test.

Yes I followed these steps and it worked. Thank so much everyone. Being a person of computer science I always try to look at the software rather than the hardware.


text:
Z Axis getting stuck with Marlin 1.1.0-RC7
Background:
I just successfully installed a RepRapDiscount Full Graphic Display on my Prusa i3; and in doing so, I've upgraded all of the firmware to the latest version of Marlin, 1.1.0-RC7. With my previous version of Marlin, 1.0.2-1, everything was working perfectly. I've transferred every parameter over from my older version to my newer one. There were some aspects of code that were written differently, but essentially everything works except the Z-Axis.
Problem:
The one issue that I seem to be having is with any kind of movement with the Z-Axis. When it moves, whether from the LCD or Repetier, it appears to accelerate as it is supposed to, but then gets stuck/skips a bunch of steps, and then decelerates slowly as it's supposed to. Regardless of the distance I instruct it to move, it will accelerate normally for the same amount of time/distance/steps, go into this unholy mode for a period of time/distance/steps relative to what it was instructed, and then smoothly decelerates for the exact same amount of time every time. For example, if it is supposed to move 10000 steps, it will move 100 steps smoothly, then skip for 9800 steps, and finish with another 100 steps smoothly. If, for example, it needs to move 5000 steps, it will also move 100 steps smoothly, then skip for 4800 steps, and finish smoothly the last 100 steps. Keep in mind, these numbers are completely drawn from space; they are not accurate by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just trying to paint as clear of a picture as possible.
Troubleshooting:
At first I checked to make sure everything is mechanically sound.

The nuts move freely up and down the 5mm threaded rod. There are no points along the entire length of the rod that the nuts don't move very freely.
The stainless steel rods are well aligned and the entire Z/X-Axis carriage moves very freely along the vertical rails. The bearings appear to be fine.

I then wanted to narrow it down to being the firmware, and not electrical. For the record, maybe I'm missing something obvious, so please let me know.

I measured the voltage on my A4988 stepper drivers on the RAMPS 1.4 board, sitting on the Arduino Mega2560 R3, and it is reading 350mV. Even if I adjust the potentiometer to 550mV, I still get the same issue.
The jumpers underneath seem to be snugly in place, and all the pins on the A4988 appear to be fine as well.
The one thing I haven't checked in the section, logically analyzing, is the wires going from the board to the motors themselves, but based on the following, I don't believe that is the issue. (Although I have been wrong before)

Moving onto the firmware.
I've played around with the default settings section in Configuration.h with no avail. Regardless of how low, or high, I go with any of the max acceleration settings, I cannot seem to fix the problem. It accelerates slower, but the overall effect is the same.
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80,80,3840,90}
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE          {500, 500, 5, 25}
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION      {2000,2000,10,2000}
#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION          1000
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION  1000
#define DEFAULT_TRAVEL_ACCELERATION   1000
#define DEFAULT_XYJERK                20.0
#define DEFAULT_ZJERK                 0.4
#define DEFAULT_EJERK                 5.0

Theory:
At this point, if I had to guess, it has something to do with the maximum speed setting, or the microstepping. These are some of the settings that I have on the new firmware.
#if ENABLED(ULTIPANEL)
#define MANUAL_FEEDRATE {50*60, 50*60, 4*60, 60} // Feedrates for manual moves along X, Y, Z, E from panel
#define ULTIPANEL_FEEDMULTIPLY  // Comment to disable setting feedrate multiplier via encoder
#endif

// minimum time in microseconds that a movement needs to take if the buffer is emptied.
#define DEFAULT_MINSEGMENTTIME        20000

// If defined the movements slow down when the look ahead buffer is only half full
#define SLOWDOWN

// Frequency limit
// See nophead's blog for more info
// Not working O
//#define XY_FREQUENCY_LIMIT  15

// Minimum planner junction speed. Sets the default minimum speed the planner plans for at the end
// of the buffer and all stops. This should not be much greater than zero and should only be changed
// if unwanted behavior is observed on a user's machine when running at very slow speeds.
#define MINIMUM_PLANNER_SPEED 0.05// (mm/sec)

// Microstep setting (Only functional when stepper driver microstep pins are connected to MCU.
#define MICROSTEP_MODES {16,16,16,16,16} // [1,2,4,8,16]

// Motor Current setting (Only functional when motor driver current ref pins are connected to a digital trimpot on supported boards)
#define DIGIPOT_MOTOR_CURRENT {135,135,135,135,135} // Values 0-255 (RAMBO 135 = ~0.75A, 185 = ~1A)

// Motor Current controlled via PWM (Overridable on supported boards with PWM-driven motor driver current)
//#define PWM_MOTOR_CURRENT {1300, 1300, 1250} // Values in milliamps

// uncomment to enable an I2C based DIGIPOT like on the Azteeg X3 Pro
//#define DIGIPOT_I2C
// Number of channels available for I2C digipot, For Azteeg X3 Pro we have 8
#define DIGIPOT_I2C_NUM_CHANNELS 8
// actual motor currents in Amps, need as many here as DIGIPOT_I2C_NUM_CHANNELS
#define DIGIPOT_I2C_MOTOR_CURRENTS {1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0}

Solution:
If anybody could help me, or even point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. I'm getting desperate with this new firmware version. It has all these conditional tabs that didn't exist in my other one, and I can't quite figure it out.

The problem is likely in the MAX_FEEDRATE. Initially the moves are smooth, indicating that acceleration is not a problem. However, you have your maximum speed set to 5mm/s, which, for m5 threaded rod (with 0.5mm pitch), translates to 10 revolusions/second for the threaded rod. That is quite fast, and the stepper probably can't keep up. Try reducing the feedrate.
The firmware microstepping and current settings have absolutely nothing to do with it, since these are not supported on your setup (which has physical potentiometers and microstepping jumpers).


text:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of an all-metal hot end compared to one with a PTFE heat break?
Related to an issue I had in this question, where the PTFE tube feeding my filament to the metal tip of the extruder clogged and became discolored: what are the advantages and disadvantages of changing out my extruder (Mk10 on a FlashForge Creator X) for an all-metal solution like the one advertised here (by Micro-Swiss).
I understand that the conversion would allow me to print higher-temperature materials (like nylon), but I'm also trying to figure out the trade-offs with regard to printing PLA/ABS parts.

Following. I've been having a nightmare with the throat pipe. I didn't realise the PTFE was part of it, rather I guessed it was the cause of my blockage (I'd been printing in white). I've got some all metal ones on order now.

"throat pipe" is chinglish. "Heat break" is the proper name.

"heat break" or "thermal barrier tube" depending on the hardware's lineage.

This is a good question to make a comparison table. All-metal hotends Vs. PTFE liner hotends.
All metal:

Works well for high (+250ºC) temperatures filaments like nylon or PC.
No need to replace the PTFE liner (pretty obvious).
Retraction performs worse.
Plastic can get stuck to the inner walls. This can lead to clogging, more likely when changing from ABS to PLA (higher temp plastic to lower temp plastic).

PTFE liner hotend:

Limited working temperature. Above 250 PTFE will start to degrade.
PTFE tube needs to be replaced more or less often, depending on the use of your printer.
Retraction performs better.
Plastic is less likely to get stuck in inner wall (PTFE is very nonstick).
When using PTFE liner, the plastic is melted very close to the nozzle. Unlike other techniques, in FFF/FDM 3D printing this is more desirable. E.g. to avoid 'heat creep', for a better flow control and more accurate output dimension.

Of course there are more points to compare. Please comment to add any other useful point.

Also less heat creep.

what is retraction performance?

@user391339 I know this is an old question but for anyone who comes along with a similar question, I'll take a stab at an answer (anyone plz chime in if I'm wrong): retraction is when the extruder pulls the filament back. You don't want the filament too warm when it goes back, may stick to lining, etc, which is what the heat-break helps with. Bowden configs require extra tuning / calibration and will generally have a much higher retraction speed / distance. Retraction can happen for many reasons, notably when the nozzle needs to clear a gap, so it doesn't drag filament and cause stringing.

The hot ends without PTFE in be bottom part and have PTFE with cooling fins in the upper one classify as PTFE lined?

Less heat creep with PTFE or all metal?

Yeah, Yeah... Old topic I know, but still an ongoing topic for new and old hands alike.
"All metal or PTFE lined" along with "Bowden or Direct drive" Those are the questions!
This is a very unusual hobby, quite literally every possible modification, upgrade, printer setting, slicer setting, bed adhesion issue... Basically anything that can be altered at all IS SUBJECTIVE to the individual!
Forget printer brand, filament brand, model, clone, genuine etc.
Just what works for one person and gives outstanding prints may not work as well or at all for someone else with an identical setup.
There are just too many variables - Ambient temperatures, air pressure, humidity, geographic location, age of filament before you buy it, shipping and import method of filament, batch to batch variation of filament & the list goes on an on!
Compared with the laundry list of setup and printing problems to choose from these questions are surprisingly easy to answer!
Firstly: Bowden or Direct drive extruder.
A. Personal preference of the builder/user.
B. Suitability for your majority printing work.
I'm not starting an argument about which is better because neither one is! They both have advantages and disadvantages.
Bowden = faster overall printing speed before undesirable aberrations start to become noticeable
Direct = Slower printing speeds, but more suitable for flexible materials and easier/faster setup especially for newbies.
Personally I use a Bowden setup, mostly because I need good quality large format prints in the shortest time possible, i occasionally use flex filament but not often enough for a direct drive printer to be worthwhile investment (and with a little tweaking can still get very good results!)
Secondly: PTFE lined or all metal
This comes down to one question alone!
Do you intend printing exclusively with materials that require hotend temps above 250 °C?
If the answer is "No" do not waste your money on an all metal hotend!
Buy a couple of good quality plated brass nozzles and high quality Bowden tubing or heat break liner (and still have change for lunch and a pint or two on your way back from the shop)
Why?
Simply because getting them to work properly for lower temperature printing is nothing short of an absolute "pain in the proverbial"!
On more than one occasion I have been sucked into the hype that all metal is an "upgrade" from PTFE and quite simply it just isn't!
Most of the companies that market them as an all round upgrade want only one thing your hard earned £££! So instead of marketing them as the correct hotend for high temp printing they market them as a general upgrade part. Which isn't the case!
Now if you think that you may want to try out a little ABS or nylon, even an occasional high temperature print here and there then a much better solution is to buy high quality professional PTFE liner such as the Capricorn XS series.
For normal printing below 250 °C will last 3x or longer than a standard PTFE liner and is also safe to use up to 300 °C for short periods and costs just a few £s more than your regular liner!

you can't print ABS or PC properly with a lined hotend due to the temperature constraints. I would phrase it "do you intend on printing exclusively under 230°C" as the lined hotend end.

In general, metal extruder without PTFE feeding is useful when printing with materials that require high temperature to melt: 300oC and above.
Polycarbonate with recommended printing temperature at up to 310oC is a good example.
PTFE melting point is around 320oC, but it may become soft at much lower temperatures, according to RepRap wiki: http://reprap.org/wiki/PTFE
From the other hand, all-metal extruder lacks advantages that PTFE ones can provide, the most important of them is the ability to have longer retracts without risk of clogging the filament tract.
This is mostly important for users with Bowden-type extruders as well as for printing with soft or stringy filaments.

I think there is some concern about PTFE breaking down at around 250C, possibly releasing poisonous gasses. Perhaps the 300C figures are a bit misleading since the practical operating temperature of PTFE-lined hotends is much lower?

In addition to the filament printing temperature limits of PTFE-lined hot ends, and higher risk of jamming with all-metal hot ends, there is a significant potential print speed difference. PTFE is an insulator and putting an insulator between the heater and incoming filament will considerably slow the speed at which it can be melted. In very rough terms, a 1.75mm filament extruder with a 4x2mm PTFE liner can only extrude about half as fast as an otherwise-identical all-metal hot end. (On the order of 3-4 mm^3/sec PLA through the PTFE-lined hot end vs 7-10 mm^3/sec PLA through an all-metal hot end. It does depend on a lot of factors like nozzle size though.)
This is perhaps not too important for relatively slow printer styles like a Mendel/i3, but filament melting rate is the primary practical limit to print speeds in high-performance printers like Deltas or CoreXY machines.

Something not being considered here is where the PTFE liner terminates relative to the tip.
On the latest V6 J-head that I recently purchased on ebay, it only runs to the top of the M6 Stainless heat-break, about 25mm away from the tip. I use this on my Mendel Max, with both PLA, and ABS. No real problems, running at about 70mm/s, but I have had heat-creep jamming problems when the nozzle became blocked, which I put down to cheap grade filament.
On the Wanhao i3 mini, that I recently dismantled, with a similar looking hot-end, the PTFE liner runs all the way to the brass tip. This particular printer only works with PLA. I am yet to put it through its paces, to discover the benefits/negatives of this difference.

The genuine e3D v6 is all metal, the clones are often lined hotends and technically more akin to an e3d light6 - as you experienced here.

Nowadays you don’t need all metal hot ends if using Capricorn PTFE tubing rates at 340 °C. Works great, runs smoothly, problem free and prints nylon without a glitch.

Just bought an all metal heat break, and I either have to upgrade my existing fan (technically possible, but currently infeasible), or reinstall a PTFE-lined heatbreak.
Printing with a Tevo Tarantula.  From what I've heard, basically, for PLA and other low-temp plastics, don't use all metal heat breaks. You need a PTFE breaker in there.

what's the rationale behind your answer?  what are you trying to communicate as the reasoning behind it?

My Tevo Tarantula had an all metal hotend included and I never ran into any issues only printing PLA and PETG, most of the time I was even able to pull out the filament while the printer was cold.
After I upgraded to an E3Dv6 clone with PTFE lined heatbreak I started to have issues because of the filament getting stuck where the Bowden tube and the heatbreak connected, so I recently replaced it with an all metal heatbreak again and the issues instantly went away.

authors: Вера Топтыгина


text:
Using dollar-store picture glass for print bed on top of original heated aluminum bed?
I'm having a really hard time printing on my aluminum heated bed... Cleaning it just results in it being scratched (trying to scrape dried hairspray/glue/etc off) and I don't think it is particularly flat either.
I was thinking of stopping by the dollar store on my way home and getting several picture frames and using the glass from them as interchangeable glass beds - this would also make it easier to take them off the printer to clean without needing to re-level the bed every time as the aluminum base would stay-put.
Do you guys think the quality of it would be okay to print on? (withstand the heat, be flat enough, etc) I'm planning to coat it in purple-glue-stick as I have heard that works well for adhesion purposes.
For reference: Printing PLA, Prusia i3 printer.

Picture frame glass (generally float glass) will work well enough, but count on it eventually cracking/getting chipped. It's always very flat (due to the way the production process works).
Taking it up to 100-110C for printing ABS should not be a problem, but you'll want to avoid sharp changes in temperature, and should be careful that your prints don't adhere too well: I've had PLA/PETG prints take out pieces of glass with them due to the force required to remove them from the build plate. You might want to try without any (or very little) adhesive first, and make sure your nozzle isn't too close to the build plate.

I'd be happy for any adhesion at this point :) and if it messes the glass up.. well its a good thing I have a dollar-store near my work ;)
By any chance do you have any good ideas for how to clip the glass to the aluminum bed securely without big paper-clamps getting in the way?

There are clamps you can print on Thingiverse. You'd have to browse for the right ones for your printer and the thickness of your glass.

Comments are not for asking follow-up questions. @JohnSensebe has a good suggestion; some people also use silicone thermal pads which stick the glass to the metal by means of suction/vacuum and don't get in the way at all.

I've done it. Yes it will print just fine. Treat it like any other bed surface BUT... A few points to keep in mind and to consider.
Normal glass

It will break fast. Had mine last a few weeks.
It is not strong. If your Z endstop fails then it will crack
Higher thermal expansion than other options. So parts pop off bed when it cools

While we are talking about beds. Lets talk about the other options.
A popular plate is Borosilicate. Here are a few points about that as a bed.

Borosilicate is a lot stronger.
Borosilicate in my experience can chip / flake. I had it happen to
one of mine, never found the missing glass..
It also has other properties such as high temp resistance and low
thermal expansion.

Another option, my favorite is Tempered glass. I have never had it flake apart as I try to remove from the bed. Also it is stronger, doesn't shatter into razers.

You can get more comparisons at Here
So go for it! But I would let it cool then remove parts. Be EXTRA careful removing the part from the bed. Oyster shuckers and the like are likely to break the bad while you handle it (Bad!) I will say in the long run a tempered plate will save you money. I have had some plate of tempered for over a thousand hours of printing on some of my printers. Including my Mendlemax and Dozens of HARD head crashes. Same plate from 2013!
Also check the local hardware store. That is where I got my glass.

I am using a glass plate from a decommissioned flatbed scanner I got from the electronics trash. I cut it to size with a glass cutter and it is doing a swell job at 68°C for my PLA. The print sticks superbly during printing and almost pops off the buildplate when cooled down to less than 40°C.
I am very happy with the glass as a buildplate for PLA, especially because it came for free.

I use normal glass plates on top of my heated borosilicate glass bed all the time.
Advantages:

very cheap (about €3 where the borosilicate glass bed of my printer costs about €80 to replace)
no need to wait till the bed cools down to start a new print. Just put on an other sheet of glass and start over. (I use 3dlac to make my prints stick better so trying to remove a print from a hot borosilicate glass bed often results in a chipped glass)

I was driving down the street the other day and saw a very nice OLD and LARGE mirror on a lawn at a garage sale.  It was about 36" x 28".
Sale price?  $5.00
I'm going to be using it for my MPCNC machine to allow me to print large prints on glass.  The reason I like the OLD mirrors is that they are much thicker than the new ones and therefore more durable and solid.
If you're trying to stay economical, you can probably find an old mirror at a garage sale somewhere.
That being said, I currently print on glass with a heated bed and spray it with Aquanet Hair Spray.  I have discovered that with PLA, if I heat the bed to 60 Celsius before printing and then allow it to cool down to room temperature before removing the print job, I am able to very easily remove items from the glass.  Very little effort.
So, in summary, I'd recommend using Glass or a Mirror as your surface, heating it to 60 celsius before you print, spray it with aquanet hair spray, and you'll be glad you did.
Good luck.