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Infill failure when printing larger prints
I'm new to 3D printing an I just got a Creality Ender 3 and I think I'm getting some good results with small prints. However, now that I'm trying some bigger prints and I'm running into infill material excess. In the picture below I just printed a solid cube with 20 % infill and that's the result.

I have been playing with settings a lot but I'm really running out of ideas.
These are the settings I have:

my bed, fortunately, came in pretty flat. My first layer is always very good indeed
bed level method: paper method
Slicer: Ultimaker Cura
material: PETG (Amazon basics)
layer height: 0.2 mm
nozzle temperature: 230 °C, but also tried 220 °C and 210 °C
bed temperature: 90 °C
flow: 98 %, but also tried all the way to 90 %
cooling: 0 %; the issue got a lot better with some additional cooling but I see a lot of people printing with no cooling
infill density: 20 %
retraction: on, 5 mm
retraction speed: 40 mm/s
first layer print speed: 30 mm
print speed: 50 mm/s
wall speed: 50 mm/s
infill speed: 50 mm/s

Let me know if you want to know more settings, but I think these capture most of it.
If you guys have any suggestion on things I can try that would be of great help.
UPDATE
After playing with some settings these are the changes I think I'm settling on:

Flow: 105 %
Coasting: On, 75 %
Cooling: 60 %
Retraction speed: 50 mm/s

Here is a picture of when the infill issue starts:

NEW ISSUE
Now I'm getting a lot of stringing. Actually, I don't even know if it's stringing since I ran a test and came out basically perfect. Not a single stringing.
I'm getting a lot of material that get dragged when the nozzle moves to one place to another and a lot of material accumulates on the nozzle and slowly drips everywhere during the print.

Here is a video I made (not sure if it helps at all)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlIB1WW8z84&feature=youtu.be
I think I'm getting close to have good prints but I really can't figure this out.

it would be good to see the outside of the wall... and what is the print speed, especially the infill one?

It would be more interesting to see the start of the failure, your current image appears to show many layers after the problem occured. Please reprint the cube and pause or stop the print once it fails the infill, maybe it is more easy for us to spot the problem as your setting do not seem odd (other than no fan speed and low print temperatures, try 40 % cooling; do note this is very dependent on the cooling duct design, and 235-240 °C for the hotend).

Try turning bed temp down to 58, and cooling to 100%

Why is the infill speed slower than the wall and print speed?  Infill should be faster, if anything.  The outer walls look pretty good, suggesting your parameters are working there.  Try infill speed at maybe 60 or 70 and see if that helps.

Also, use dry filament.

Filament is dry. Right of the box.
Infill speed was a typo. it's actually same as print speed. Enabling cooling and setting flow at 96% almost fixes totally the issue. However I really would like to print with no cooling since I'll be using this parts on my bike and I need them as strong as possible.
Also, even enabling cooling I can see the problem is still there, just much less noticeable. As soon as I get some time I'll make some photos of when the issue starts so you can get a better idea.

cooling does not negatively impact the print strength. To increase print strength after the print, I suggest putting the part into the oven for 1 hour at about 60 °C, helping in building cross-layer bonds. "curing" the print this way can increase strength by up to 20%

@Trish From experience I know that cooling does negatively affect print strength for PETG, too much cooling leads to weak bonds. Failed prints look like string-cheese instead of normal fractured surfaces.

overcooling can hurt, yes, but undercooling does hurt more with PLA. If you want extra strength... filling a couple infill cavities with some sort of epoxy is an option.

What is the reasoning behind the increased flow? Once properly calibrated this should be 100 %. You see that if you use an increased flow you need to counteract that with coasting, that does not seem a logical step. Also this increased flow is exactly what causes your new issue. Also, your update could be posted as an answer that leads to a new question "New issue". As it is now, it is a very messy question, like your prints ;)

I have seen this a lot with people I have helped out in the past. sally infill  or the lack of and weakness in the print is due to an extrusion issue. it looks like you are under extruding. this is why you do not see this in smaller prints. In the larger print you are giving the print head enough time to screw up. You need to look at the tension of the filament on the extruder to make sure it isn't skipping. You also need to do a estep calibration on the extruder. I usually extrude 100mm of filament and measure it to see if it is short. if it is short then it is under extruding and doing a larger print and printing a larger area will reveal short comings in extruder infill.

I have looked into doing that test. I will. I'm looking at using pronterface to give the extrusion command but I having issue connecting to the usb port. Is it possible to use pronterface with the stock firmware? Or do I need to flash marlin on it? Also doesn't changing flow achieve the same result?

Al you have to do is use the printer screen. Disconnect the tube from the htend so when you extrude filament it comes out of the extruder and not into the hotend. Preheat the hotend as if your going to print. This is because the firmware is set to not extrude unless at a minimum 180 Celsius is reached. Then go to the control and movement settings and manually extrude 100mm of filament. Math= current estep number x 100 = y. Now take y/actual length of filament extruded = new esteps

but then I need to store this new setting somewhere?

Yes once you inputt he settings through the screen input on the printer. You will need to go tot he section of the menu that says store. This will store it to the flash drive for you. So anytime you make a mistake to the settings and want to go back to the last stored setting just click on enable EEPROM and it will return your settings to the last stored save. So when you store these settings through the menu input it will be you new stored settings until you change and save a new setting. This will persist on reboots. This is the safer way to flash your board.


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Printrboard Rev. D - RX1 and TX1 (second serial port) / Marlin
I am trying to make Marlin use the RX1 and TX1 pins that are in the EXP1 connection. I am connecting those pins to the TX, RX of an Arduino.
The Configuration.h file has a SERIAL_PORT define, normally configured to be 0, but supposedly changeable.
What should be changed in Marlin to make it used the Serial1 port (if possible at all)? I am using the latest code provided in  Printrbot's Marlin repository
From the Configuration.h file:
// SERIAL_PORT selects which serial port should be used for communication with the host.
// This allows the connection of wireless adapters (for instance) to non-default port pins.
// Serial port 0 is still used by the Arduino bootloader regardless of this setting.
#define SERIAL_PORT 0
//#define SERIAL_PORT 1

// This determines the communication speed of the printer
// This determines the communication speed of the printer
#define BAUDRATE 250000
//#define BAUDRATE 9600

I was able to resolve this issue:

I moved to Marlin 1.1.9 (the final release of the 1.1.x versions).
I made a fork, for those who would like to see the changes. Also summarized below.
The RX1 and TX1 pins are well identified in the question. I connected those directly to the HC-06 bluetooth module (using a voltage divider for the RX pin in the bluetooth, as it is a 3.3 V logic module).

Changes in code:
Marlin/Conditionals.LCD.h: commented out:
// this line conflicted with the bluetooth/serial1 options
// #define USE_MARLINSERIAL !(defined(__AVR__) && defined(USBCON))

The rest are the configuration options already provided by Marlin in Marlin.Configuration.h:
define SERIAL_PORT 1
define BAUDRATE 115200  // Note: this baudrate MUST match the one set in the bluetooth module. That's done using the AT commands. There is plenty of information on how to do that.
define BLUETOOTH

As a result of these changes I am able to print with my PrintrBot Simple 2014 (Printrboard Rev. D) with Bluetooth over a distance of ~3.5mts, behind a wall. I haven't tested it exhaustely, but it does print.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How can I fix First Layer Adhesion with BL Touch - Tevo Tarantula
Hope someone might have a view on where to go with this. My prints were coming out pretty good, but since installing a BL Touch to the printer I've been unable to get consistent first layer adhesion.

Printer: Tevo Tarantula
Firmware: Jim Brown Marlin

Settings:

Speed: initial layer 30 mm/s others 60 mm/s
Layer height: tried everything from 0.1 to 0.3 mm
Temperatures

Nozzle temperature: 204 °C (stock hot end and nozzle)
Bed temperature: 60 °C

Printing Sunlu PLA+ filament onto Printbrite on the stock bed using bilinear Leveling (tried both 3 points and 5)
Z homes with the probe in the centre of the bed and the G29 command takes the readings ok.
I've configured Z offset so that you can barely move a sheet of paper between the bed and nozzle when you send G1 Z0. But it still looks like the nozzle is too far away from the bed when printing first layer.
I've managed to get a 20 mm calibration cube out of it, but that is inconsistent (the two cubes in the pictures were printed one after the other with no changes).
Anything bigger than that doesn't stick at the corners and ends up as a ball of spaghetti.

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

What type of filament are you using? You mention the brand, but don't say what it is. Have you tried multiple filament types/brands?

Its 1.75mm PLA+ I've also used another brand of PLA with similar results. I've used this brand consistently with no issues before installing the BL Touch

it looks like your sensor is triggering inconsistently. is it an original BL-touch or one made of Chinesium?

nope, its an original - it does seem to complete the mesh ok, its just when it prints I can't get consistency in things sticking to the bed. Is it worth me trying to post a probing output?

Isn't is too close? The skirt is very thin. Are you sure the gap is too big?

it looks to me like it's both, the skirt and parts to the left of the model seem to be very squashed but the right hand side and back left corner aren't sticking to the bed.

I have the same kind of issues I'm also using Sunlu white filament 210 °C and bed at 60 °C on a CR-10S also original BLtouch v3.1
On some parts of the bed it's okay but in the middle and some corners it's too high and doesn't stick (really annoying). I bought the BLtouch to avoid this kind of issues.
I have printed many things with no issues and with this filament It's making some trouble.
Ok I have solved the issue, the problem is Sunlu pla+ filament.
It seems that their filament is really hard to adhere to bed.
I found on another forum that you need to increase bed temperature up to 70° and head to 220 °c at least for the few first layers and don't go under 215°.
also moving the head a bit lower to skish the filament on bed.
I tried and got much better adhesion.
Hope it will help other people

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


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RF100 Settings after reinstalling firmware
I have an RF100 v.1 printer with stock software (again) onboard.
After my attempt of changing firmware, the X-axis motor decided to stray printhead away out of the borders of the printer and somehow motor wires broke out of the adapter.
I fixed the wires and reverted to stock firmware, though now whenever I auto-home or press "Home" button on Ultimaker Cura, printhead goes wild top and left reaching borders and starts buzzing like crazy.
current condition:

Head is TOP LEFT with X=100 and Y=100 on the table being under head Z=0;
screenshot

Even with these beautiful tiny settings, I cannot print anything because printhead goes too far TOP RIGHT by itself.
Ideas?

you speak of a screenshot, which is missing. Please add it.

Everything was fixed by thorough googling and flipping the whole wire-set of the motor. It started to twirl in a right direction.
Sorry for the time

Please make some time to make a proper answer and update the question with relevant pictures, other people may benefit from it. As is now this question and it's answer has no value for storing as a reference for others.

Hi Rodion, and welcome to SE 3D Printing! Whilst your answer may be technically correct, it is rather terse, and, as such, it has been recommended for deletion, unfortunately. If you could expand it then you may get a more positive response. I would recommend that in addition to reading some highly voted answers to gauge the standard expected, that you take a look at the help section relating to answering questions, in particular [answer], and take the [tour] for more information on how stack exchange works. Thanks :-)


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Printrboard Rev. D. 3.3 V source
I am looking for a 3.3 V power source in the Printrboard Rev. D pins.
I think there should be one somewhere... I do not know how to read the schematics that well.
Also, I am going to connect an HC-06, which draws 45 mA or less during operation. So, I need to know if it safe to get the power from the 3.3 V rail (if I find it).
So, the questions are:

Which one is the 3.3 V pin?
And how much current can I draw from it?

To whoever comes after me: I do not think the 3.3 V rail is accessible in this board. You could tap from the 5 V rail, but in my case I do not think it makes sense. The LM2841 is what is used to convert from 12 V to 5 V, and that seems to be able to handle a max of 300 mA. I have no clue about how much is being used at this point... so I think I'll tap directly from the 12 V power supply.

On the schematic, the 3.3v is marked as "U7" and pointed out here:

The 3.3v is marked as pin #2. You can find the three pints from U7 here on the board (blue circle):

I'm not exactly sure if the pins are accessed from the other side of the board, or even if they are marked at all on there. You can always check them with a multimeter to see what their output is. More than likely the bottom single pin is the ground and the top two are one or the other (5v & 3.3v).
As far as amperage draw, I'm thinking 45mA is not a lot of draw, but I'm not an expert. I'd think it should be able to handle it, but again, I really don't know.


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Upgrading to higher torque extruder motor creality ender3
So according to E3D customer service, the V6 is designed to have higher back pressure than the MK8. This leads to underextrusion with PLA and all kinds of problems unless you increase the temp by 30 - 50 °C so it will heat the filament faster and reduce the back pressure. They recommended getting a geared extruder such as the titan when I contacted them. Why none of this is mentioned on the V6 product page I have no idea, but I am not about to spend the cost of the V6 again on an E3D extruder unless it is truly the only option. I would imagine one could just replace the stock extruder motor with higher torque.

Does anyone know the max amperage motor you can replace the stock extruder motor with?
Is a 2 A NEMA 17 too much?
Will a 2 A stepper give any more torque than the stock one (I know it is rated at a higher oz-in but does that actually translate to more torque)?
Finally, where are the specs for the Ender 3 stepper drivers listed?

So the 'obvious' answer to this problem is to run a slower print speed, so it isn't so much as a case of information being missing, as there being a non-trivial trade off between speed, quality and cost.
Using the E3D products as examples, a double length NEMA17 can indeed deliver twice the kg×cm as a standard one, and a slimline a little less. E3D suggest that 'standard' A4988 drivers are capable of supplying 2A, but this is right at the limit of their performance (and you would certainly want to consider heatskinking/forced cooling).
E3D also list a standard stepper motor with a 5.18:1 reduction gearbox. This should give a good 4x increase in driven torque, and if you can find just the gearbox, that might be the cheapest option. You don't need such a high reduction, but this is limited by the physical size available.
In the absence of any better specs, a physically similar motor might be a good reference. You can check this by comparing various parts from different manufacturers. Regardless of the current capacity, more torque generally means a larger sized part.

authors: عازفة على اوتار الحزن


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Why does my printer create notches on the Y surface?
Here is an extreme example of notches caused by the printer. They go along all sides but are the strongest on the Y faces. They also happen quite randomly sometimes they are tiny sometimes they are strong.

I have tightened the belts already and while that reduced the ghosting on the X face a lot, it did nothing on the Y and actually never helped with the notches. This test cube has notches and ripples too but not that strong (the skirting on the bottom of that cube is my fault I set the bed level a little too low).

All models have been sliced with Ultimaker Cura and printed on an Anet A8. Flow = 110 %, layer height of 0.1 mm for the first example and 0.2 mm for the cube, printing temperature = 195 °C, no change on jerking and acceleration from default settings. Cube size = 20x20x20 mm.
The printer has frame support https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1672959 but no other upgrades yet.

I see two problems with your printer: your filament seems to overheat in some areas, and you overextrude a little. My suspicion is, that your heating behavior is not well tuned and it overshoots the target temperature, leading to an overcooked filament, then the temperature drops below the temperature you need, leading to a wavy pattern and brown lines.
fixing
I suggest running a PID-tune cycle to get better heating behavior and then recalibrating the printer's extruder.

Does this happen with 195°C temperature too? I thought overcooking only happens on temperatures where PAL begins to boil which is beyond 210°
Also I have underextrusion too sometimes. You can see it on the top of the Y frame, there is a deeper notch. Supportmaterial also often gets underextruded at the beginning of a layer line (I have retraction off btw for that reason).

@user6329530 no, but your thermistor is probably inconsistent, resulting in the temperature swaying between above 210 °C and below 190 °C most likely.

OK I will monitor the temperature on that thing maybe that pid tune works

Also make sure the hotend cooling fan is functioning properly.

I noticed that thermistors provided with Chinese kits are not up to specs. Do yourself a favor and go to mouser or digikey and order a proper thermistor that is rated for the temperature range in question.

Hi, you make a good point, but we strongly urge answers to include a link to a part (or software, or whatever) which meets the requirements you propose.

While you may very well be having temperature issues, I see two other issues:
First, I think the "notches" are z-wobble. Z-wobble is often caused by bent z-axis threaded rods.
I have a very similar Geeetech I3 printer. A lot of my z-wobble was cleaned up by removing the threaded rods and making them more straight. You can find videos to help you do that, just search for "threaded rod straightening".
The other thing I did was decouple the nut on the threaded rod from the x-carriage assembly, allowing it to float in the X-Y plane as it pushes the x-carriage up. The x-carriage ought to be guided up by the smooth rods/bearings. Unfortunately, if the nut is fixed to the x-carriage, the bent threaded rods are strong enough to over-power the smooth rods/bearings and make the whole assembly wobble.
The other problem I see is that your printer seems to be extruding too much filament. That is likely causing the little pyramid flair at the base of your print. If you tell the printer to extrude 100mm, it ought to extrude 100mm, not 110mm. Again, a search for "extruder calibration" will tell you how to do it. For me it involved extruding, measuring, a bit of math, adjusting some variables in Marlin, compiling and uploading the with Arduino IDE. Repeat until 100mm extrudes 100mm.

The resulting prints show more positional accuracy than Z-wobble, for Z-wobble it is too random and not in sync with pitch of the threads. But this can indeed cause a lot of problems for some 3D printers.

@Oscar, I see what you're saying. It doesn't have the saw-tooth kind of thing, but there does appear to be a period of about 10 layers to the anomaly. If it does have anything to do with the threaded rods, it is easy to see by watching the rods while moving the z-axis 100mm.


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Anet A8 stops printing
I have an issue with my Anet A8 printer and how it interlocks with Ultimaker Cura.
I want to print this file named Loki_hörner_v2.stland Cura slices it fine, but when it comes to printing all the preheat happens, but then it stops, not going on at all. What might be wrong here?

Special characters like Ä Ö or Ü in the stl-filename resulted in Ultimaker Cura creating a comment of the filename in the g-code that read like
;MESH:Loki_hörner_v2.stl

This apparently could not be parsed by the Anet A8, leading to an error and halt.

It's great that you found and shared the answer. Did you get it to work by removing the character with umlauts?

@Davo yes, after removing/replacing the umlaut in the stl-filename, reslicing it, it works. (i did not test to manually remove the umlauts from the gcode manually, but I have a strong believe that this would work too)

Avoid naming .gcode files with non-ASCII characters
(this includes EASCII)
I know of no firmware on a printer that can handle files that have characters not present in the set of 95 non-control American Standard Code for Information Interchange characters by default. Marlin, for example, can't process the characters ä ö ü & € as these all are missing in the ASCII.
Avoid having more than one .
Nowadays the . is no longer a fully reserved character in file names, so a file can be named 0.5mm Gauge Block.stl on Windows without problems.
Ultimaker Cura will cut the name at the . before the extension when generating the .gcode. This is mainly done to prevent tons of errors that could crop up in firmware that might not be able to deal with it. Remember that this behavior can lead to overwriting files - our 0.5mm Gauge Block.stl would generate 0.gcode, as would 0.1.5 Penholder.stl (that follows a version naming convention).
Avoid reserved characters
Also note that some characters are reserved in file naming and will lead to other errors (mainly when trying to create the files in the first place), including, but not limited to, / \ : ? *.

Agreed - I always convert "my_part_reduce0.5" to "my_part_reduce0p5" for that reason.


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Filament moving around and not sticking to bed
I have only just set up my Anet A6 today. I am trying to print a calibration box, but the print is moving around the bed while trying to print. Any ideas how to fix this? The documentation is very vague.
Basically I am very new to 3D printing. I purchased an Anet A6 and have set it up stock. I am trying to just print the box directly from the demo models on the SD card. I'm using the standard filament that comes with the printer. I'm not sure what type it is.
All settings are default.

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! More than likely you don't have the bed leveled correctly, or you don't have the bed hot enough. You really don't give us any information as to what exactly you're doing. Please edit your question and include what type of filament you're using (PLA, ABS, etc), the heat settings (bed/extruder), and what slicer you've used to make your monstrosity. This will help us be able to help you.

Hi @Andrew Hawkins bed adhesion is a pretty common type of question. That said I would need photos etc to see exactly what is happening. That said this might be related https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4774/prusa-i3-first-layer-does-not-stick-and-looks-jagged

If the printed material moves with the nozzle, you might have several problems at hand, e.g.:

adhesion,
nozzle to bed distance and
overall level.

Nozzle to bed distance needs to be the thickness of a plain A4 or Letter paper. This needs to be at the same distance (when pulling the sheet of paper you need to feel a little drag) at the complete area of the bed. This is sometimes difficult as not all beds are perfectly flat from itself. Finally, you need to pull some tricks out of your sleeve to get the filament to adhere to the bed. Many example can be found, popular ones are using blue tape, glass bed, glue stick, PVA based spray (e.g. strong hairspray or dedicated spray cans like 3DLAC or Dimafix, etc.), or a combination of these. You just need to experiment some more what works best for you, but it is good to start with a correctly levelled bed with the proper nozzle gap. Sometimes, increasing the bed and filament temperature with 5 °C for the first layer also helps.

When i try to get it this low, it seems to scrape the bottom of the bed. Im sure my bed isnt level, as i can get it spot on on both sides, but then when i move the head across there is a gap in the middle

Video of the attempted print of sample box

@AndrewHawkins Then it would be a great time to invest in automatic bed levelling. But from the video can be seen that you do not have enough adhesion also.

Thanks, do you think thats the key issue then , the adhesion? if i try hairspray as reccomended by @dcoll, do i just spray it on the bed and rub it around?

@AndrewHawkins Yes I recommended you to use hairspray if you don't have a specific product for bed adhesion. Glue-stick will also work, that is basically PVA, wood glue should also work. Please experiment, but if the bed has a too big of a dent it will not work. However, in your video you don't start in the middle with printing which let me believe that the bed adhesion in not optimal. You can also increase the bed temperature by 5 °C. Please [edit] your question and insert print temperature and bed temperature.

Also check your speed settings.
1st layer should always be printed 50% of the normal speed, if not less. (my choice is 20mm/s)
If your overall printing speed is really fast, collision with already printed lines may be the issue. You can try either slow down movement/print or avoid/retract over peripherals.
Any hairspray containing neodecanoate copolymer is a great adhesion, and very cheap :)

Chances are, you're not levelled close enough. try levelling your bed when it's heated around 60C (or as high as you can get if your machine's FW won't let it go that high) with a piece of standard printer paper. you should get a bit of resistance, and play around with the paper for a bit, find a happy medium. Try spreading glue stick on your bed, or spray it with hairspray. If you have BuildTak or some form of PEI, wipe it with some 99% rubbing alcohol. Lastly, find a fairly simple model on thingiverse.com or myminifactory.com, and slice it using either Raft or Skirt as build plate adhesion. I prefer a skirt because you can actively be checking how your bed levelling is, and adjust it. And make sure your first layer flow or extrusion multiplier is slightly higher is about 110-120%. This can get you good sticking almost every time.

Please troubleshoot based on the information given, which states "anet A6, as it comes shipped". Look up the specs on Gearbest if you need - half the information you give here is just not applicable to this machine.


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MakerBot JSON-RPC Command List
I'm currently trying to implement a data collector on my Replicator+ by utilizing JSON-RPC. Is there an official reference for this? MakerBot used to host a wiki site, but that seems to be gone for their "troubleshooting" pages.

have you tried via Waybackmachine ? Or the Documentations ?

@Trish Thanks, that solves the mystery of what happened to the wiki. It looks like it hasn't been touched since before MB went closed-source. I think JSON-RPC was probably implemented in the 4th or 5th generation machines, maybe a little sooner?

I am not really sure how much my research does help but it's pretty much my extent of my Google-Fu

@Trish It's the same avenues I've gone down, but good info for other people that may be looking.

It took some digging, but I was able to start scripting a wrapper in C# for the RPC commands.

C# Wrapper (MTConnect Implementation)
Unofficial JSON-RPC Reference

I still don't understand what every method does to the machine or necessarily what the results are, so a number of the methods are marked as obsolete until I can test them.

The Mystery of Makerbot-Wiki
According to the Wayback machine, the wiki.makerbot.com went offline on 31st December 2012:

Over the past three amazing years, MakerBot owners and enthusiasts around the world have shared knowledge with us and with each other. As we welcome thousands more MakerBot owners and users into the MakerBot family, we want to make sure that everyone always has the best information regarding our company and products, and that it's easily accessible.
Here’s one thing we're doing to help: on December 31, as we close out the year, we will also turn off the lights at wiki.makerbot.com.
The MakerBot wiki has served us well, but lately we've seen an increase in spam and a decline in community activity. Instead of continuing to maintain two separate sites, we're going to consolidate them.
What that means is that, as of December 31st, the MakerBot wiki will no longer be available at this address. An archived version of the wiki as it stands today will be available at http://makerbot.com/support/archive and more former wiki content will be available at http://makerbot.com/support, which already hosts PDFs of some of the most useful Thing-O-Matic and Cupcake documentation. You may see some short periods of downtime as we finish moving this content.
An archive of forum discussions will be available, but users seeking discussion with the incredibly knowledgable MakerBot community should head over to the MakerBot Operators Google Group. Requests for help and questions about MakerBot products should, as always, be sent to mailto:support@makerbot.com.
Thanks for your contributions over the past few years to the MakerBot wiki. We hope you'll all continue to share your expertise with us and other MakerBot users for many years to come.

Before that, the makerbot wiki did tell that the Documentations had been moved:

Note
  This wiki is intended for historical MakerBot documentation and community-supported projects. The new home for MakerBot documentation is http://www.makerbot.com/docs/

JSON-RPC
There is a late 2013/early 2014 github that seems to work on the JSON-RPC and which might help - and still showed some activity past the lockup of the wiki.makerbot.com. It is only very poorly documented. The earliest activity was in 2012 with the main bulk in 2013.
The JSON project predates the start of work on the makerbot-gen5-api in 2014. This might mean that it might be documented there to some degree, But it might also be present in the generation 4 API.

There is little to no documentation on the GitHub repository. I've been scouring over the code for days now trying to extract the methods. This is the closest I've come to documentation and it's not even from MakerBot.

hm, judging dates... it might be also in the late gen4 API


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Ender 3 Distorted Calibration Cube
Issue: My Ender 3 is creating distorted prints with layer separation and deformations.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Setup:

Ender 3
TH3D EZABL Auto Bed Leveling
1.75 mm ABS filament (245 °C)
Heated Bed (100 °C)
Sliced in Ultimaker Cura (with 1.75 mm filament diameter and 0.2 mm layer height)

What I have tried:

Tightening Z axis screw
Tightening Y axis belt
Tightening X axis belt
Switching to a different spool of ABS
Printing a temperature tower (same problem across different temperatures)
Turning off the auto bed leveling.

Update:

I've measured the temperature of the hot end, it is reading around 205°C +- 20°C
As per suggestion from the TH3D support team, I tuned the PID of my hot end. Unfortunately the results did not turn out much better (1,2) and the support technician is suggesting(a long with many people from the comments) that I should try to replace the thermistor. As per suggestion from @Trish, I measured the impedence of the thermistor and it does seem to be somewhat off from stock (118kΩ vs 100kΩ). Will update again once the replacement arrives.
As requested, here are some more photos front, back, left side, right side. The cube isn't hollowed out just to save material while I calibrate the dimensions.
I printed the same cube out, rotated 90 degrees. I got similar results though: front, back, left side, right side.
Swapping the nozzle out solved the issue! Thanks for the help everyone!

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

What is the diameter of the filament in Ultimaker Cura, default this is 2.85 mm. This looks like an underextruded printed part.

245° ABS? The average ABS is listed somewhat lower, about 230 °C.

@0scar, sorry, I failed to mention that the filament is set to 1.75mm in Cura.

@Trish, that is what I was thinking as well (even though I've gotten good prints at that temp in the past). I can try printing the same cube at 230 °C though.

Have you done successful prints with another filament type (e.g. PLA)?

@Mick, I've successfully printed PLA in the past. If I can get my hands on another spool I will give that a try as well.

carefully inspecting the photo, it seems that yoru filament is either too hot or you have underextrusion for other reasons.

Can you check with a IR thermometer or a thermocouple what is the real temperature at the nozzle? I believe you got the configuration of your thermistor wrong in firmware.

@Trish I think you may be onto something. I tried printing at 230°C and notice some odd behaviour while it was printing.

@RobertoLoGiacco, I don't have a IR thermometer or thermocouple but can pick either one up in the next day or two.

@RobertoLoGiacco, I was finally able to check the nozzle temperature with an IR thermometer it was reading about 205°C +- 20°C. Do you think it makes sense that it is a settings issue and not a hardware issue with the thermistor?

@Dr.MantisTobbogan I believe you got your thermistor configuration wrong when building the firmware as you had to rebuild the firmware to get the ABL feature. I would hear other opinions as well: a 20° variation is not normal and I assume the heat block surface temperature should reach a value close to the internal temperature after a short period of time, but that might be a false statement.

@RobertoLoGiacco, fair enough. I am going to reach out to TH3D (ABL maker) and see what they suggest; their firmware is based off Marlin but I couldn't pinpoint exactly which configuration file I needed to revise.

Can we get some more photos of that monstrosity? Also, try rotating the part 90 degrees in the slicer and try the same print settings. Did you print that cube to be hollow for any particular reason?

@user77232, I updated my question with some new images. I will work on printing another cube (hopefully tomorrow) that is rotated 90 degrees. I hollowed out the cube mostly just to save material while trying to calibrate.

@user77232, I posted some images of the cube rotated 90 degrees. Take a look and let me know what you think. The results are pretty similar.

the 90° turn shows clearly, that the behavior is not model dependent but seems to be printer inherent (esp. the back side being a grate in both cases). After considering the thing, what is the resistance of the heater cartridge and the thermosensor at room temerature? Do you have some kind of heater cartridge sock or airstream-breaker to prevent air onto the heatsink reaching the hotend?

Hi @Trish, I calculated the resistance of both the heater cartridge and the thermistor. The heater cartridge value read okay but the thermistor definetly seemed a bit off (reading was 118.5kΩ vs the 100kΩ listed in specifications). Unfortunately I don't have any sock or thermally resistant material to block air flow. I am however waiting on a new thermistor and will report back.

@Dr.MantisTobbogan a single piece of aluminium foil can help to guide the airflow, but don't have it touch the heater block. Calculating is bad: decouple and measure directly if you can

@Dr.MantisTobbogan, That thermistor reading might be correct. Do you have the means to measure the temp with an external device?

Hi @Trish, that was bad wording on my part. I should have used the word measure (with a multi meter)  instead of calculate. I do have some aluminum and will give that a try.

@user77232, I measured the temp with an IR thermometer and the external temp was reading 205°C +- 20°C. Is there somewhere in mind that you think I should check?

@Dr.MantisTobbogan, and that temp was correct on the display was well right? What's the temp of the room in which the printer is located?

@user77232 the temp was reading 245°C on the display. The room temperature is about 21°C.

@Dr.MantisTobbogan, I don't think it's the hot end. When you try pushing the filament through the extruder, does it come out straight, or does it curl to one side? If it curls (or sputters) then there is clog in the nozzle. You may have to do a cold pull or use cleaning filament.

@user77232, it definitely does curl to one side. I can try swapping out to a new nozzle (I have a couple spares). Will keep you posted.

@user77232, you nailed it right on the head. Swapped the nozzle out last night and all is right in the world. Would you have any idea as to why their would be buildup around between the thread of the nozzle? I can post in a new question if needed.

Swapping the nozzles might have solved the issue in multiple ways: a deformed nozzle could lead to very fast clogging and non-centric extrusion (might be the reason why 1 wall is "ok" and the others not. I strongly suggest to self-answer this question and tell what and who finally worked and what steps helped to increase the quality.

Will do @Trish.

Resolution: After many trials and errors, I finally replaced the nozzle with one that that was not partially blocked by filament at its entrance.

Likely cause: A careful examination of the old part hints, that the repeated blockage in the nozzle seems to have been caused by a gap between the PTFE tube and the nozzle, which has considerably moved backwards under the stress of printing as one can see here in a photo of the PTFE tube.

It took me about a month and I went down a few rabbit holes until @user77232 made a great suggestion to check the nozzle and see if it needs to be cleaned. Thanks for helping me out everyone!

Would you have any idea as to why their would be buildup around between the thread of the nozzle? - Dust can get onto the filament (like cement dust) or burnt filament which can clog a nozzle. Metal flakes from the tip of brass nozzle as it wears can also get sucked in when the retraction occurs.

@user77232 I can think if more causes: the tube might not be fastened correctly and slip ever so slightly, or it was cut slanted. Or, as you also said, the nozzle was bent/worn, creating the blockage

@user77232, here is a photo of the nozzle. It's a bit hard to see but there is a ring of plastic at the end of the nozzle. I am guessing that I didn't properly insert the tube back or it shifted out of place somehow (I also swapped the fitting just in case).

the photo of the frizzled PTFE shows, that part of the reason might be the clamp holding the PTFE in the hotend - the tube might have slipped, bit by bit.

That is exactly what I was thinking @Trish. I am glad that I had a few spare clamps.

This has been a common-enough issue that there's a well-designed fix for it:  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3203831  Essentially it involves using two sections of PTFE tube, one inside the hot-end throat and tightened down using a washer and the bowden tube fitting itself.  Then the second tube is used as a bowden tube to feed filament into the hot-end.  The bowden fitting's ring is no longer responsible for keeping the tube in the throat flush.

authors: حسين مصطفي احمد


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how to split a 40" model into 5 parts to print seperate
I currently have a model in fusion 360 of cylinders with the largest being 40" diameter in a specific pattern as seen below. My printer is a Ender-3x with the build plate dimensions of 8.7" x 8.7" x 9.8"
I need to break this model into 5 pieces of exactly equivalent length so I can print same piece 5 times to equal a full cylinder

You've got several options:
Generate full-size STL, cut via software later
If you just have an STL, you can use software such as Meshmixer to modify it. In this case, a plain plane cut would suffice.
Modifiy the design file
A better way is to go into the design file (in your case fusion) and modify it there. In your case, it's rather easy:

add a construction plane

choose the right constraints, e.g. an angle to the XZ plane or a distance to the XY plane

choose the model

Edit > split model
choose the construction plane you made

rinse and repeat

If you want to get rid of parts that became superfluous after this, use the remove option, not the delete option, as the later tries to make sure that the object never was made in the workflow.

While this works I realized I can't delete the remaining objects that I don't need without it reverting the split and putting the object back together.  more then likely something in doing wrong

@Ragekillen use remove.

I might add that it might be simpler to cut into 6 or 8 sections for symmetry.  And more important: redesign the subsection with some sort of interlocking tabs to facilitate assembly.  And don't pull a Morton-Thiokol!

@CarlWitthoft for radial cuts? yes. I actually prefer to make interlocking parts with some complex cutter (Dovetail is lovely), but those are not simple...

thanks everyone. I completed my model yesterday and @Carl Witthoft I already had thought about interlocking tabs so i made small cylinders that will slide into an equivalent sized whole( most likely will have to super glue them for a finishing touch but o well).  finished product can be seen here if interested   https://gyazo.com/b7469709c80d776467f8aaf4acb3de15


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Possible short in a RAMPS 1.6 board
I have an FDM 3d printer that used to run on RAMPS 1.4. After accidentally destroyed that board, I bought a 1.6 board to replace it. I have it connected to a 12 V 30 A power supply, but when I turn on the power, the power indicator LED on the supply briefly lights up and then dies. A multimeter reading between the power terminals gives 0 V. When I disconnect the RAMPS board from the supply, the supply runs fine.
This suggests to me that there is a short somewhere, but I am not confident in that conclusion. How do I check the integrity of my board? Is there a way that I can unit test any of the components?

Notes: The internet has some people talking about quality issues with the 1.6, like bridging and cold solder joints, which I have checked for; I cannot see anything wrong.
I currently have all of the steppers, limit switches, and thermistors connected. I have the stepper drivers installed, each with all 3 micro-stepping jumpers installed.

can you attach a high res photo of both sides of the board?

If there is a short the component involved will get very hot very quickly: all the energy is being dissipated through heat. Carefully touching the components with a temperature probe/termistor will give you an idea of the failing component. Also a thermal camera or a IR thermometer can provide some clue.

@RobertoLoGiacco Since I first noticed the behavior, I have not left it on for more than half a second. If my board isn't already fried, I am hoping that this would provide some protection.

I’m not suggesting to leave it on for long periods: a short of a second might be well enough to raise the temperature of a component above 40/50 C, which is something you should be able to feel with your finger. Obviously if you have better ways to find out where lies the issue than go for it, but without proper tools and no other clues I can’t imagine how to do this.


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PL-08N inductive sensor not turning off
I have one of these inductive sensors marked as PL-08N which should work within a 4-30 VDC range and trigger at 8 mm or less. It's clearly a knockoff, meaning it has no manufacturer marking and all info is printed on a sticker.

I'm testing it's functionality so I tried to wire 12 V to brown, GND to blue and I'm probing the black wire, but I'm experiencing a weird behaviour: the sensor properly triggers, but it doesn't recover, meaning the LED won't turn off moving the sensor away from the plate and the black wire doesn't go back to 0 V.
What am I missing?
UPDATE
Looking for solutions I tried to run the device at 5 V (still within the declared range) expecting to have a very low sensitivity, just to discover:

it activates at about 8 mm from the print bed (4 mm from my borosilicate glass)
it properly recovers immediately after I move it away

I thought those devices had increased sensitivity with greater voltages...

You seem to have connected it correctly, indeed strange behavior. Once you remove a metal object the sensor should react on the change immediately. Could be a defective sensor.

your later observation is interesting, but it might be how the device itself is set up: some devices are rated for a range and internally have some sort of regulator that results in actually just using a certain voltage, making them useable in a wider variety of systems.

@Trish I fail to get how an internal regulator would cause the output to latch on activation when the supply gets higher well within the declared range... I mean, I'm not even getting close to the maximum allowed 30 V


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MonoPrice Maker Select V2 Build Plate Movement issue
I just recently changed out the OEM Build Plate adhesive pad with a PEI Sheet. Prior to doing this work, the build plate moved back and forth just fine along the Y Axis (front to back). The Build plate could be moved manually until it hit the front and back frame of the printer. The build plate also hit the Y Axis Endstop just fine.
After doing the work to replace the PEI plate....I turned on the printer and homed it and when it attempted to automatically slide the build plate back to the end stop it started shaking violently as the plate moved overtop of the end stop switch without touching it.
The plate also sails overtop of the front and back frames of the printer. I have no idea what happened. Any suggestions?

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

Can you add some pictures of your build plate at the front and back of the rails as well as the y end stop?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbKPdC_cXnI This is exactly what my printer does. When moving the plate manually, it doesn't touch the metal trigger on the end stop. The description on the video seemed to suggest the metal trigger was bent, but mine looks just like it did when I put the thing together.

FIXED: Simply unplugging the machine for a few minutes cleared out whatever was causing the issue.


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Extruder clicking issue with MKS Board v1.5
So I know there have been several clicking Extruder threads but have not found any solutions to the one I am having.
Background:
I have a custom Prusa like 3d printer fitted with an MKS board (v1.5) and an MK3 Extruder.
The issue:
While i can extrude fine when ordering some extrusion, as soon as i start to print an object the extruder just starts "clicking".
What I have tried so far:

Changing motors: I have tried using a new motor which I know it
works and the problem persists.
I have adjusted the stepper driver voltages, and the problem
persists.
I have changed the PSU and the problem persists.
Changing the whole board: I have changed the whole board with a
brand new one and the problem persists.

I am out of options here. So now the only logical explanation is that the both boards (the old and new) have exactly the same problem, i.e. the extruder stepper driver is bad in some way. Yet again, it works fine when simply extruding...
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

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

Hi Davo! Thanks for the reply mate. Regarding your comments: 1. The temperature is verified that is the correct one (even measured with a laser thermometer) and 2. I had the same thought so I started the print at a height of 2cm above the printbed! The problem was not solved in either case...

Did it help you? If you resolved this issue, please post an answer below, to help others in the future.

It still may be point 1, even if you are at recommended temps. Try cutting your print speed in half.

@Hliash How do you verify if it is correct, Davo is right, the temperature should match the volumetric flow, this means that it could be higher than what a filament manufacturer puts on the outside of the box. What I mean is that it does not matter what you specify in the slicer, if it clicks you should reduce print  speed or decrease the pressure.

Hi guys! Thanks for the responses.
I am now assuming that the only logical explanation for the clicking/vibrating motor problem is cursed!
The problem I am getting is not even while printing. It just happens when I try to extrude manually about 3 cm above the printbed.
I have changed motors (tried with a fresh new motor and even a second one) and the problem persists.
I have changed to a new driver (the second extruder driver E1) and the problem persists.
The only solutions i can think of is calling an exorcist or switching to an Arduino/Ramps board..

Perhaps the print extrude speed is much higher than the manual extrude speed.
Often times the jog functions presented in printer host software are set to reasonably low speeds, while the actual maximum allowed speed is much higher. If you are using pronterface, there is an option above the jog controls to set the speed.  Note it's current value, and raise it until either the extruder clicks as your print does, or until it simple stops increasing speed. If you can make it click with more speed, then your max E speed limit is too high. You can either lower it with M203 in your starting gcode, or reflash the firmware with a new value. Alternatively you could limit the speed in your slicer and trust that it will not exceed the machine's capabilities.
If you cannot make it click with more speed in a manual extrude, then the firmware limits are fine (you can still check them with M503) and the problem is elsewhere. Perhaps the filament getting caught, or a motor wire damaged and making partial contact.

Hi Silver! Thanks for your comment.
I have tried the speeds as you mentioned and I cannot make it click ranging from 300 up to 1200. So yes, apparently the problem is elsewhere.
Filament getting caught is not the issue as the extrusion is fine when not printing, motor wire is not damaged as I have already tried 3 different motors.

1200 mm/m is not high enough. That is only 20mm/s. Run m503 to see the limit in firmware, and approach that value.


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3D printed part sticking to the support layer
I am using a Flash Forge Creator, and when I print big parts (only in this case) I have about 25% of the bottom of the printed object sticking very hard to its support layer. And I spend a lot of time removing it with a cutter.
Is there any clue or good practice to avoid that?
I use ReplicatorG for my printing settings.

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

I finally found out two causes:

The 3D printer has default settings for ABS, and since there is no printer bed settings in ReplicatorG, the bed temperature was set to 110 °C instead of  60°C. I fixed the setting directly on the printer itself.
It seems that one side of the printer bed was little closer to the nozzle than other sides (relatively to the extruder) and this added a pressure on the support layer. I found this by observing the structure of the support layer that was little more compressed in one side. That was easy to fix by iteratively tightening/loosening the screw of that side and observing the support layer (and canceling the print if it is not homogeneous).

I installed Ultimaker Cura and Slic3r to try them and I found that Ultimaker Cura was not adapted to my printer (I did not found a complying model), Slic3r seems to be okay but I was not able to fit my big part inside of it.
I am trying to use the maximum available space for my part, perhaps I need to change some settings for Slic3r and anyway it is already working on ReplicatorG.

Thanks for sharing your answer! Actual solutions of the OP's are always welcome! Just for your information, do note that your printer does not have to be in that list to actually use other software. Mainly basic settings are needed to make the configuration work for your printer; e.g. bed size and G-code flavor, these are easily found and inserted. Please accept your answer after 48 hours! Thanks!

According to the manufacturer:

... you are able to choose your favorite software such as
  FlashPrint, Simplify3D, Cura and more.

Not being familiar with ReplicatorG, I know that other slicer software can set the distance between supports and print (in terms of the amount of layers). You could look for such a setting in ReplicatorG, or use a different slicer such as Ultimaker Cura or Slic3r; which are free and able to make such adjustments.


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Creality ender 3 buildplate jamming
I bought a ender 3 a short time ago and yesterday i noticed a print failed. It seems like the buildplate jammed while trying to move along the y-axis so i replaced the v-shape wheels that keep it on the rails. However it still seems like my buildplate jams with every print en so my print layers move when the buildplate doesn't move making the layers not connect at the right places. Is there anyone who had this problem before and might know how to fix this?

Has it done this every time you've used it, or have some prints come out properly?

Every time since yesterday

That doesn't tell us if you used it without issue for two months, and this is a new problem, or if you just opened the box yesterday, and this has never worked properly.

I've been using it for a bit longer than a month without any problems.

that sounds like layer shift... you might have one of these issues

overtightened the carriage wheels.
a loose Y-belt.
something getting into the bed's cable, resulting in drag.


text:
Sealing PLA & oil-based art supplies?
I will be printing an item that's usually made out of resin, but my version will be made out of PLA. Here are some questions I have:

Usually, people seal the resin with brands such as Testor's, Liquitex, or Mr. Super Clear, to create a layer that prevents paint or materials from bleeding into the resin over time. Is this necessary for items made out of PLA? Will the same sealant brands work?
On these resin items, people steer clear of oil-based art supplies, like oil pastels, because the they will also stain the resin. Does the same concept apply to PLA?
Sometimes, certain dyed fabrics or synthetic materials will stain resin. Do these materials also have the potential to stain PLA?

Thanks for the help!

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

I have worked with PLA and paints before. I use mainly acryl-based paints as well as spray lacquers.
Sealent is not necessary.
While a sealant is not necessary, you might prefer to use a spray on, smooth drying lacquer to get a smooth surface. PLA does not "soak in" paints or colors like resins.


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Installing bowden tube into E3D V6
I'm struggling with an upgrade I made to my Creality CR-10.  I upgraded the extruder to an E3D V6 hotend.  The extruder mount and cooling fans are installed and working, however, I'm doing something wrong with installing the bowden tube into the hotend.  Inevitably after I print a few layers, the extruder jambs and the issue is always the same:  the bowden tube has backed itself out a few tenths of a millimeter, and the filament has mushroomed into the vacant space and hardened so that the filament cannot go forward or backwards.
I've tried several things to fix the issue including:

Trying various pneumatic fittings from various suppliers
Recutting the end of the bowden tube to attempt to make it more flush
Replacing the bowden tube
Three different E3D heat-breaks from different supplier
Various ways of inserting the bowden tube including:  pushing it after the fitting was screwed in, pushing it into a fitting that was back out a couple turns and then screwing the fitting in

The only thing that has (partially) worked was when I would ductape and hot-glue the bowden tube into the fitting so it couldn't back out.  However, since I'm still tweaking things, I inevitably have to disassemble things and I'm back to square one.
I'm trying to figure out what mistake I am making to keep causing this issue.  As an example, originally I used the pneumatic fittings wrong and thought I was supposed to pull the plastic part out to release the tube, rather than simply pushing it in to release the tube.  (Needless to say, I wrecked a lot of fittings that way.)
What else might I be doing wrong to keep causing this issue?  What are other culprits to this issue happening repeatedly?  Are there firmware settings that may help (or be aggravating the issue)?

do you have a genuine or a clone hotend? Do you print PLA?

Clone.  I've got 3-4  amongst my printers and have tried swapping various parts (like the heat break) so see if it makes a difference.  (It hasn't)  The only unique thing about this setup is that it uses a bowden tube rather than being direct drive.

In that case: the coldend and the heater block are rarely a problem, but I suggest to get a couple embedded bowden couplings and a genuine heatbreak. badly machined heatbreaks (without the notch) and bad couplings cause lot of trouble, the expense is worth it at times (like with tubing). Also, add thermal transfer paste between heatbreak and coolend, and hot tighten it.

Just wanted to follow up with results.  Tired of this issue I wanted to nuke this issue from orbit.  Firstly, I bought a new E36V6 extruder with a bowden tube pre-installed.  ( I wanted to be 100% sure that I wasn't doing something else silly.)  The new extruder took only 3 small prints to start showing this issue again, so that wasn't it.  From there, I fashioned a clip as suggested below with some metal wire I had.  Since I added the clip, I've done 5 prints with no issues related to the tube backing out.  If the problem reoccurs, I will update this thread.

That suspiciously sounds like the clip, yes. I strongly suggest to try to get a genuine fixing kit, even if it costs more.

You may need to secure the pneumatic coupling in the closed position with a small plastic clip (which should be supplied with the hot end).

You can print your own, providing that your printer will work for long enough (a paper clip might do the trick):
Thingiverse: Bowden Tube Clip v3
Addendum:
Some pneumatic couplers are sprung, so that you have to depress the coupling ring in order to release the tubing. In this case, no clip is usually required. Other pneumatic couplers (such as the one on an E3D V6) are unsprung. This makes it easier to secure and release the tube using the supplied clip. The disadvantage is that you may lose the clip. Sprung couplers sometimes lose their springiness, in which case a clip can be used to secure them in the closed position
It's "swings and roundabouts", really. You can to choose between the awkwardness of sprung couplers, or the risk of losing a clip. Either way, print some spare clips. You may need them one day.

Thee clips are often not used as they are usually not necessary, but in some cases you can't print without them, I have the same experiences with a certain printer I use, good call!

@0scar Agreed. The PC4-M6 coupler on my feeder does not need a clip, but the coupler on my (genuine) E3D V6 hot end does (as in the photo). Answer edited.

This solved the issue for me!  Thank you.  Is there any understanding of what triggers this issue?  Many people have run bowden tubes without a clip successfully, but it was obviously critical on my setup.  I'm curious what factors may be at play here.

@SvdSinner Answer edited.

This sounds more like a problem with heat creep. When you installed the new hotend, did you reuse the old cooling solution? You might need more heatblock insulation and / or cooling power.

heatcreep does not loosen the tube.

That is not a fact. Melted filament above the throat does all sorts of terrible things. The questions asked are still valid troubleshooting steps as the pieces changed do require reworking the cooling system.

Then explain how heatcreep in an e3D V6 should result in the couplers no longer holding the bowden tube. "terrible things" are mainly clogs

Changed my mind. No.


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Prusa i3 Mk3 - Top layer wrinkles (not on buildplate)
Recently started using my kit Prusa I3 Mk3 and noticed that with large horizontal surfaces a wrinkling pattern is emerging.
As you can see in the image the wrinkles seem to run parallel, the surface is 10 mm above the build plate with all bridges fully supported.
Has anyone seen this before? All other areas seem to be doing well.
This print uses PLA filament @ 235 °C hotend temperature and clearly shows a wrinkled pattern on the top layer

If it helps, I haven't changed the settings from the normal Prusa Slic3r 0.15 profile.
The problem reduced to an acceptable level by reducing the temperature to 205 °C but keeping the fan speed 100 %, I am printing PLA. I might reduce the fan speed if I feel troubled by the result.

Hi and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! Please share some print temperature and cooling fan settings, this definitely sounds like a too hot nozzle/too much fan cooling issue.

how many top layers do you use?

Hi Oscar, so your solutions seem to have fixed the issue, thank you very much. The temperature was set at 215 degrees C and I reduced it to 205.

@PaulV What was the bed temperature and fan rpm setting when you had the defect? And which material are you printing, PLA? Please update the answer by [edit], thanks! With an updated question, it has much more value for other to use as a reference or for troubleshooting.

3 close votes? Does anyone want to admit to why?

@SeanHoulihane it is the custom troubleshooting close afaict, so it might be because of terse information on the actual problem?

First try printing a head test tower for your PLA, because I have really good experience by using just 195 to 200°C (also colleges of mine) . How much infill do you use? Did you exactly measure the PLA filament? Did this also happend with other PLA filaments (also from other brands)? Is the nozzle in good shape? Do you use a flow of over 100% for this part of the print?

Hi, thank you for your comments.
The problem was solved by reducing the temperature to 205deg., I kept the fan speed at 100% as is standard in the Prusa Slic3r settings. :)
Thank you for all your comments and help, but as you might have noticed I marked the answer from Oscar below as the solution.

Waves in printed surfaces with FFF are observed at either the bottom layer (common) or the top layer (less common).
Waves in bottom layer
Rippling/wave generation/wrinkling is a common problem for first layer to occur and has a direct relation to the print nozzle to bed distance; a too short of a distance or over-extrusion can lead to this effect. However, this effect is less commonly observed in top layer finishes.  Bottom layer waves are described in more detail in this answer.
Waves in top layer
I have seen this defect before. It is caused by a combination of incorrect hotend temperature and print cooling fan settings. Please reduce the hotend temperature and reduce the fan cooling. The image below clearly shows the differences of such measures.

Might just be that you are bridging without collapsing but still have some visible sag.  Things to try:
1) increase the support/infil density.  If slic3r has a configurable setting like Cura does, you only need to increase the density for the last couple mm prior to the top layer.
2) increase the top plate thickness (number of extruded layers). This often allows the first extruded layer to sag, but the final layer or two to be quite flat.

I usually use 5 top layers and get most often a decent surface, if I need it really well, I pack 6.

Hi, the infill is 20% and the whole surface is supported (even the bridges) I was able to recreate the problem on a small 30 minute print, reducing the temperature to 205 degrees C seems to help. Now getting into trouble with bed adhesion but the wrinkles on the small test are gone :)


text:
Isn't using the Extrusion Multiplier like cheating?
One thing I never understood is the so-called Extrusion Multiplier (EM) or Flow setting in slicers like Simplify3D (S3D) or CURA.
The description for this setting reads...

S3D: Multiplier for all extrusion movements (...)
CURA: The amount of material extruded is multiplied by this value. (...)

I always believed that this parameter is just an ugly way to fix an underlying miscalculation or misconfiguration, because using it feels like doing a calculation, getting the wrong result and "correcting" it afterwards by a multiplier - isn't that cheating?

But, recently I thought a bit harder about this setting, now I am not sure anymore. One of the main reasons is, that S3D suggests different values for the EM, depending on the type of plastics used, 0.9 for PLA and 1.0 for ABS.
This somehow implies that there is a physical property that justifies the EM, but I cannot think of one because 1 m feeded would lead to 1 m extruded - no matter what kind of platics used, right?

very related but not quite a duplicate of https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6968/slicer-line-width-vs-extrusion-multiplier-for-layer-adhesion

No, the Flow rate or Extrusion multiplier is to compensate for different materials and temperature ranges.
Where does the factor come from?
Let's say we calibrated our nozzle for work at 200°C with PLA, so 100 mm extrusion are correct and want to print ABS. ABS behaves differently and we get bad prints. What is wrong? Well, they do behave differently in the heat, and print at different temperatures. One easily noticeable difference between the two is the heat expansion coefficient.
Now, I had to scrounge through research papers and Material/Technical Data Sheets for PLA, so take that one with a grain of salt. But we can clearly compare the various plastics heat expansion coefficients:

PLA: $41 \frac{\text{µm}}{\text{m K}}$ a TDS
ABS: $72 \to 108 \frac{\text{µm}}{\text{m K}}$
Polycarbonate: $65 \to 70 \frac{\text{µm}}{\text{m K}}$
Polyamides (Nylons): $80 \to 110 \frac{\text{µm}}{\text{m K}}$

Those are just three randomly picked plastics that clearly are printable. If we heat one meter of them by one Kelvin, they'd expand by that length (a couple micrometer). We heat the later three printing materials to about 200-240 K over the room temperature (~220-260 °C), so we'd expect these the materials to expand by the following ranges:

PLA: 6.97 to 7.79 mm (1)
ABS: 14.4 to 25.92 mm (2)
Polycarbonate: 13 to 16.8 mm (2)
Polyamides (Nylons): 16 to 26.4 mm (2)

1 - using 170 K and 190 K temperature difference for its normal print temperature range of ca 190 to 200 °C2 - first: low expansion at 200 K increase, then high expansion at 240 K
You have calibrated your printer for one of these values somewhere in there. And now you get a different filament that has a different color and a different blend or even you swap from PLA to ABS or switch from one brand to another - the result is: you get a different heat expansion coefficient somewhere in that range and you have almost no chance to know it. The heat expansion coefficient, in the end, has an effect on the pressure in the nozzle and this the speed the material leaves the nozzle, which impacts die swell and so the overall printing behavior.
Remember that heat expansion is not the only thing that is happening in the nozzle. Other big factors are for example the viscosity of the polymer at its printing temperature, its compressibility (which depends for example on chain length or embedded fillers), the geometry of the nozzle, the length of the melt zone... they all play a role in how exactly the print gets to come out.
We can sum all those up under a general "behavior in the nozzle" tag, and as a result one gets vastly different flow/extrusion multipliers, like the 0.9 for PLA/1 for ABS in Simplify3D.
Other Factors?
There are also other factors that play a role.
The distance between the extruder and the melt zone and how the filament behaves there are somewhat obvious: A ductile filament can bunch up some in a Bowden tube while in a direct drive there is much less space for that.
The extruder can have an influence depending on the geometry of the drive gear and how much it bites into the filament. The depth of the deformation is again dependant on the hardness of the filament and the geometry of the teeth. Tollo has a great explanation how this has an effect on the need to alter the extrusion multiplier.
gaining the factors
Most of these are determined by trial and error using a factor of 1 and dialing up manually until proper printing is achieved on the machine, then putting that factor back into the software.
As a side note: Ultimaker Cura has (in its filament database) the ability to save flow rates into each different filament, but does initialize all with 100 % default.
TL;DR
It is a way to adjust to the relative difference between the behavior of filaments (using one of your filaments as the calibration) and not cheating.

this is a beautiful answer with useful information, but how does the expansion coefficient of filament matter?  The extruder is operating on room temperature filament and is causing a certain volume (length times cross-sectional area) to be extruded.  How the plastic expands or shrinks between the extruder and the output of the nozzle shouldn't affect the volume of plastic added to the model.

@cmm it won't impact the volume pushed into the meltzone, but the expansion and compressibility of the filament in the meltzone impact directly the pressure in the nozzle, which in turn impacts the die swell, and thus how the extruded plastic behaves.

There's great technical information in this answer but I don't think it draws the correct conclusion. Whatever the thermal expansion of the material is, as long as it goes back to the same original volume when it cools, the volume deposited is equal to the volume going through the extruder gear. Extruding more or less material is going to result in something that doesn't match the model. If you're lucky/slice it well, the mismatch will be interior to the object and won't matter.

In addition to the very detailed answers above, I would like to
mention that the hardness of the filament plays a role too.
Most feeders are spring loaded, therefore it depends on the hardness of the filament how far the teeth of the driving gear do sink in. The deeper they sink in, the smaller the effective diameter of the driving gear becomes.
Therefore the E-steps/mm are not the same among ABS (~100 shore D) and PLA (~83 shore D).
This would lead to a higher value (of E-steps/mm) necessary for PLA as for ABS,
contrary to the values mentioned in the OP (EM of 0.9 for PLA / EM of 1.0 for ABS), where the extrusion multiplier is higher for ABS than for PLA.

That's one way to look at it, I guess. I think a more accurate way is to consider it an "ad-hoc calibration" where one realizes that their printer isn't extruding enough/too much and the EM adjusts the flow to extrude the correct amount.
The underlying calculation, at least the main one, would be the steps/mm set in the firmware. If it's off, one fix is to figure out how much it is off by and change the EM to that. The better solution is to determine the actual steps/mm and flash the firmware so that the EM can be set to 1.

Thanks for your answer! So how would you explain the difference between ABS (1.0) and PLA (0.9) then?

@FlorianDollinger no problem. As for the difference, Trish's answer definitely explains that. Welcome to 3D Printing.SE! :)

To address the 'cheating or not' aspect directly. There are several other parameters (steps/mm, nominal filament diameter) which have a direct equivalent impact on the end result (at least ignoring small 2nd order effects like the retract distances).
As a purist, you might argue that these could all be rolled up into a single calibration parameter in the slicer, and it is a waste to allow the user to pick how to manage the differences (but this is not a very modern UI approach).
The clearest reason for 'permitting' the use of extrusion multiplier is that during a print, extrusion multiplier is one parameter that can often be adjusted on the fly. If you end up needing to perform on the fly calibration, it absolutely makes sense to transfer this parameter from the machine to the slicer rather than perform the extra calculations to determine a new nominal filament diameter. It will probably be easier to remember a specific spool needing 95%, rather than 1.7nnn mm.

The extrusion multiplier is just to compensate for amounts of flow. A material like PLA is very fluid when at 190-200C, so to extrude slightly less then 100% would reduce zits on the print, slightly increase tolerance, reduce stringing and also reduce risk of heatcreep. Materials like ABS and Nylon aren't as liquid when at temperature, so they don't require any alterations to the flow rate during printing. Flow rate can also be adjusted to improve first layers, although too much can cause "elephants foot", or too much first layer squish, similar to having your bed leveled too close.

You might add to the answer by explaining how printing at lower temperature or higher temperature impacts it - you could print ABS at 220, 230 (standard) or 250 (very hot)


text:
Why did my stepper motor controller chips burn?
I just installed a few of these chips on my RAMPS 1.4 board and tried to turn it on, and the lights on my RAMPS board lit up, which was normal. Then I saw a spark growing and I turned the power off. I removed the chips and they were burned as in the photos. Is this a fault of the board, or the chips?

I had two more on it which were fine, at least, they did not seem to be not burned. Both chips seemed to burned at the same pins, which makes me think those are just trash chips, but I have no clue.

Looks like generic DRV8825 chips. Did you insert them the correct way in?
They go in 180° turned compared to A4988s. The potentiometer should be on the opposite side of the motor connectors.

@wessel - WRT to Tobias' comment, did you install all of the chips in the same orientation, or were the burnt ICs installed differently? Also, even though the good chips seem ok, smell them - do they smell burnt (maybe they look OK, but were also damaged, just to a lesser, non-visible, extent)?

Wrong installation...

Without more information it is hard to be certain; but, the most likely cause is that the board was installed backwards.
Looking at the photo, the damage on both boards seem to be centered around pin 20 and 21 of the driver IC.  A schematic of a similar board shows these are both 5V inputs (DIR and *ENBL). These signals connect to the top and bottom pins of the left connector to the RAMPS.
Since these are inputs, the most likely cause of a damage to these would be a high current over-voltage condition that caused the upper protection in the IC to conduct.  This would require >5.5V and a lot of current.
The RAMPS board routes these signals to I/O pins on the ATMEGA processor - see RAMPS Schematic.  These can't easily go above 5V without blowing out the ATMEGA and they are not generally high enough current to cause the damage you see.
The most likely high current and voltage would be the 12V motor supply line (VMM).  This comes into the board on the top pin of the right RAMPS connector.
Accidentally installing it 180 degrees (which is super easy to do since the connector is not keyed) would connect the 12V VMM to IC pin 20 instead and you would likely see the same burn mark you see on your board.
A better board design would have been to key the connectors by using two sizes and/or cutting a pin so it couldn't get plugged in backwards - but they didn't.


text:
Extruder retracts filament while moving from default start line to actual object location
I am new to 3D printing and recently got a second hand RF1000 and am busy calibrating it. For this I want to print a basic calibration cube. I noticed the print doesn't always start with enough filament in the nozzle. To make sure the starting point for all prints are the same I added this G-Code in the CuraEngine settings:
G92 E0 ; start line
G1 F300 E-0.5
G1 X230 Y22 Z0.35 F5000
G1 F800 E13
G1 X20 E25 F1000

This works however after this the slicer automatically adds G-Code to move the extruder to the skirt location. This should be fine however I noticed that during the last part of this movement it retracts filament. This causes the start of the actual print to fail. What causes this and how can I change my settings to prevent this?
Thanks for any help or advice you can give!
Below is the G-Code from start until the end of the skirt.
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 15.01
; Default start code
G28 ; Home extruder
G1 Z15 F100
M107 ; Turn off fan
G90 ; Absolute positioning
M82 ; Extruder in absolute mode
M190 S60
; Activate all used extruder
M104 T0 S210
G92 E0 ; Reset extruder position
; Wait for all used extruders to reach temperature
M109 T0 S210
G92 E0 ; start line
G1 F300 E-0.5
G1 X230 Y22 Z0.35 F5000
G1 F800 E13
G1 X20 E25 F1000
;Layer count: 199
;LAYER:0
M106 S127
G0 F9000 X80.200 Y80.200 Z0.200
;TYPE:SKIRT
G1 F1800 X119.800 Y80.200 E0.44818
G1 X119.800 Y119.800 E0.89636
G1 X80.200 Y119.800 E1.34454
G1 X80.200 Y80.200 E1.79272
G0 F9000 X80.600 Y80.600
G1 F1800 X119.400 Y80.600 E2.23185
G1 X119.400 Y119.400 E2.67097
G1 X80.600 Y119.400 E3.11010
G1 X80.600 Y80.600 E3.54923
G0 F9000 X81.000 Y81.000
G1 F1800 X119.000 Y81.000 E3.97930
G1 X119.000 Y119.000 E4.40937
G1 X81.000 Y119.000 E4.83944
G1 X81.000 Y81.000 E5.26951
G0 F9000 X81.400 Y81.400
G1 F1800 X118.600 Y81.400 E5.69053
G1 X118.600 Y118.600 E6.11155
G1 X81.400 Y118.600 E6.53257
G1 X81.400 Y81.400 E6.95359
G0 F9000 X81.800 Y81.800
G1 F1800 X118.200 Y81.800 E7.36555
G1 X118.200 Y118.200 E7.77751
G1 X81.800 Y118.200 E8.18948
G1 X81.800 Y81.800 E8.60144
G0 F9000 X82.200 Y82.200
G1 F1800 X117.800 Y82.200 E9.00435
G1 X117.800 Y117.800 E9.40726
G1 X82.200 Y117.800 E9.81017
G1 X82.200 Y82.200 E10.21308
G0 F9000 X82.600 Y82.600
G1 F1800 X117.400 Y82.600 E10.60693
G1 X117.400 Y117.400 E11.00079
G1 X82.600 Y117.400 E11.39465
G1 X82.600 Y82.600 E11.78850
G0 F9000 X83.000 Y83.000
G1 F1800 X117.000 Y83.000 E12.17330
G1 X117.000 Y117.000 E12.55810
G1 X83.000 Y117.000 E12.94290
G1 X83.000 Y83.000 E13.32771
G0 F9000 X83.400 Y83.400
G1 F1800 X116.600 Y83.400 E13.70345
G1 X116.600 Y116.600 E14.07920
G1 X83.400 Y116.600 E14.45495
G1 X83.400 Y83.400 E14.83069
G0 F9000 X83.800 Y83.800
G1 F1800 X116.200 Y83.800 E15.19739
G1 X116.200 Y116.200 E15.56408
G1 X83.800 Y116.200 E15.93077
G1 X83.800 Y83.800 E16.29747
G0 F9000 X84.200 Y84.200
G1 F1800 X115.800 Y84.200 E16.65511
G1 X115.800 Y115.800 E17.01274
G1 X84.200 Y115.800 E17.37038
G1 X84.200 Y84.200 E17.72802
G0 F9000 X84.600 Y84.600
G1 F1800 X115.400 Y84.600 E18.07661
G1 X115.400 Y115.400 E18.42519
G1 X84.600 Y115.400 E18.77378
G1 X84.600 Y84.600 E19.12236
G0 F9000 X85.000 Y85.000
G1 F1800 X115.000 Y85.000 E19.46189
G1 X115.000 Y115.000 E19.80142
G1 X85.000 Y115.000 E20.14095
G1 X85.000 Y85.000 E20.48048
G0 F9000 X85.400 Y85.400
G1 F1800 X114.600 Y85.400 E20.81096
G1 X114.600 Y114.600 E21.14144
G1 X85.400 Y114.600 E21.47191
G1 X85.400 Y85.400 E21.80239
G0 F9000 X85.800 Y85.800
G1 F1800 X114.200 Y85.800 E22.12381
G1 X114.200 Y114.200 E22.44523
G1 X85.800 Y114.200 E22.76665
G1 X85.800 Y85.800 E23.08808
G0 F9000 X86.200 Y86.200
G1 F1800 X113.800 Y86.200 E23.40045
G1 X113.800 Y113.800 E23.71281
G1 X86.200 Y113.800 E24.02518
G1 X86.200 Y86.200 E24.33755
G0 F9000 X86.600 Y86.600
G1 F1800 X113.400 Y86.600 E24.64086
G1 X113.400 Y113.400 E24.94418
G1 X86.600 Y113.400 E25.24749
G1 X86.600 Y86.600 E25.55081
G0 F9000 X87.000 Y87.000
G1 F1800 X113.000 Y87.000 E25.84507
G1 X113.000 Y113.000 E26.13932
G1 X87.000 Y113.000 E26.43358
G1 X87.000 Y87.000 E26.72784
G0 F9000 X87.400 Y87.400
G1 F1800 X112.600 Y87.400 E27.01305
G1 X112.600 Y112.600 E27.29826
G1 X87.400 Y112.600 E27.58346
G1 X87.400 Y87.400 E27.86867
G0 F9000 X87.800 Y87.800
G1 F1800 X112.200 Y87.800 E28.14482
G1 X112.200 Y112.200 E28.42097
G1 X87.800 Y112.200 E28.69712
G1 X87.800 Y87.800 E28.97327
G0 F9000 X88.200 Y88.200
G1 F1800 X111.800 Y88.200 E29.24037
G1 X111.800 Y111.800 E29.50747
G1 X88.200 Y111.800 E29.77457
G1 X88.200 Y88.200 E30.04166
G0 F9000 X88.600 Y88.600
G1 F1800 X111.400 Y88.600 E30.29971
G1 X111.400 Y111.400 E30.55775
G1 X88.600 Y111.400 E30.81579
G1 X88.600 Y88.600 E31.07384
G0 F9000 X89.000 Y89.000
G1 F1800 X111.000 Y89.000 E31.32282
G1 X111.000 Y111.000 E31.57181
G1 X89.000 Y111.000 E31.82080
G1 X89.000 Y89.000 E32.06979
G0 F9000 X89.400 Y89.400
G1 F1800 X110.600 Y89.400 E32.30973
G1 X110.600 Y110.600 E32.54966
G1 X89.400 Y110.600 E32.78960
G1 X89.400 Y89.400 E33.02953
G0 F9000 X89.800 Y89.800
G1 F1800 X110.200 Y89.800 E33.26041
G1 X110.200 Y110.200 E33.49129
G1 X89.800 Y110.200 E33.72217
G1 X89.800 Y89.800 E33.95305
G0 F9000 X90.600 Y90.600

Hi Stefan, welcome to 3D Printing.SE! Please define This causes the start of the actual print to fail. Priming blobs are very useful indeed, they are commonly used. After the blob the filament should retract, the head moves and then extrudes to fill the cavity in the nozzle again.

Hi Oscar, thanks for your response. The problem is that the filament retracts while moving from priming to actual print. This causes there to be no filament loaded in the extruder when the actual print starts

The problem is that you prime the nozzle, but don't reset the filament length.
With your last priming action:
G1 X20 E25 F1000
You deposit a line that is followed by a move to the start of the skirt:
G0 F9000 X80.200 Y80.200 Z0.200
The printing of the start of the skirt is done by:
G1 F1800 X119.800 Y80.200 E0.44818
Notice the E term in your final priming line and the skirt print command; it goes from E25 to E0.44818, as these specify absolute movement, this results in a retraction of about 24.5 mm. What you should do is implement a G92 E0 after your last priming command to fix this incorrect retraction behavior.

Please also do note that you are using a very old version of the CuraEngine, maybe it is possible to update to a newer version as well; depending on the slicer you use.


text:
Ender3 printing tilted layers
I bought an Ender 3, and after assembling it following the description and some YouTube videos and after correct leveling, I printed the test dog gcode on the micro SD card that comes with the printer. PLA 1.75 mm. Attached the image of the printing result. What went wrong? I didn't change or modify any settings what so ever, I just assembled the printer, and printed the test dog. Please help me, I am a beginner in 3D printing.

Hi and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! Do the belts have a proper tension? It looks as if the positioning is not very accurate causing some filament to be printed with an offset to the previous layer as seen by the bulged out filament.

This is an extreme case of repeated layer shifting in the Y-carriage, which can come from some pieces related to the carriage. Luckily for you, they are easily fixable.

The Ender3 Y-carriage has an eccentric nut to adjust the force the wheels press down on the V-slot. Adjust it (most likely loosen them a little) so it moves smoothly when the motors are off, but keep it tight enough so it does not tilt.
The belt in the Y-carriage might be loose. Tighten it till it gives a nice ring when struck.
Check if the gear on the Y-motor is tightened down correctly. If it slips or wriggles, the backlash results in the layers shifting.
The Ender3 has the cables to the gantry and the bed running across each other and quite open. Make sure nothing can be caught in them.
Make sure the gantry is parallel to the bed and stays so in moving upwards - adjust the wheels as needed.

To ensure this, make sure the lead screw is orthogonal to the gantry. Level the bed afterwards. You might need to adjust the motor mount, possibly by shimming.

Thanks. Turns out the problem was because of the z motor not behaving correctly. It moves up&down correctly some times it doesn't. I fixed the issue with putting some thick papers between z motor and the left z supporter.

@MinjunKim that reads to me like you fixed the alignment slightly.

Ender 3's have a reputation to be not quite square on the base. Make sure that your X, Y, and X axis' are all perfectly squared.


text:
Using hardboard for 3D printer enclosure; what is the temperature rating of hardboard?
I am looking for the temperature rating for hardboard. I want to use that as the base for my printer enclosure.
It has proven incredible hard get a ball-park figure from Google.
So, what is the maximum safe temperature for a hardboard panel at long term? (considering a print job can easily take 6 hours).
PS: if you have used a hardboard to build your enclosure, your experience might be helpful.

You are just wanting to use it as the enclosure? No hot parts should be touching it, right?

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2, right. No hot parts in direct contact with it (but close to some stepper motors, like 10-20mm apart).

Hardboard is called Masonite here in the States because that is the trade name of the product. If you look up the Material Safety Data Sheet you will see Masonite it states the following (Section 5):

Auto-ignition Temperature (°C): >200 degrees Celsius

In Section 7, it states:

These boards are flammable but difficult to ignite.

Furthermore in Section 10, it states:

Conditions to avoid: Avoid sources of radiant heat and flame; and avoid sparks and sources of ignition in all electrical equipment, including dust extraction equipment.
  Avoid excessive build up of dust from boards.

The hot end works of printers are neither radiant heat, nor flames, nor sparks. Yes, you'll have a buildup of heat within the working confines of an enclosure, but if you are only using it for a base there should be absolutely no issues. If you were to build an entire enclosure from hardboard, you could put a thermal probe inside with the printer to ensure it doesn't get too hot, but realistically, it will never get hot enough within the enclosure to light the hardboard on fire.

Yes. Thanks. I have to do the thermal probe + smoke detector. The rest of the enclosure is going to be plexiglass (whose glass transaction temperature can start ~85 celsius). I am only printing PLA, so it would be a severe malfunction to bring the inside "ambient" temperature of the enclosure so high.

Masonite or hardboard is a high-density board without a resin. It is listed at around 200 to 275 °C for its autoignition temperature. Just for comparison, let's look at similar products.
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is similar to hardboard but bonded with a resin, offering a smoother surface and is listed at 200 to 275 °C, so pretty close.
The heavier High-density fiberboard variant is listed with about the same temperatures of about 200 to 275 °C.
Oriented Strand Board (OSB) is listed at 200 to 260 °C.
Conclusion
All the materials have very similar autoignition temperatures, so none of them particularly shines over the other. Using a proper fire safety procedure is highly encouraged, even though the ambient temperature in the enclosure should not reach even close to the 200 °C unless the printer has a freak accident and catches fire itself.

A smoke detector is a must.
Some kind of cooling method that keeps the inside at a temperature down is highly encouraged. A simple temperature activated fan might help in this.
Lining the inside of the box with a thicker aluminium or copper tape can help to even out the temperature over the surfaces faster, preventing the formation of hotspots that might otherwise reach dangerous temperatures. Copper tapes are more expensive than Aluminium tapes but have a better heat transfer coefficient.1
Including an automatic fire suppression system could be an option.

1 - The RS Catalogue was just chosen for ease of navigation. McMaster Carr does list special heat shielding tape in both thin and aluminium as well as copper and aluminium foil tapes. I am not affiliated to either.

Definite plus for lining the box- if you use aluminum foil, make sure it's "shiny side up" as that will miminize heat transfer to the Masonite sheet.

@CarlWitthoft I would not use the standard foil but something thicker like real Aluminium tape (RS catalogue for variety of brands and types), that is far thicker


text:
Bed Heating Failed, Printer Halted, Please Reset
A couple of weeks ago I have successfully built a 3D Printer and Printed an XYZ Calibration Cube with ABS material at bed temperature 80 °C.
Next Day I tried bed heating at bed temperature 80 °C,

Screen is blank

and it's not heating at all and showing Following error.

Bed Heating Failed
Printer Halted
Please Reset

Specification board
I use a RAMPS 1.4 running Marlin 1.1.X
Troubleshooting
I searched on Google and tried possible solutions but they are not working.

I changed the thermistor and nothing happened, the old thermistor is also showing the same temperature.
I connected 12V Supply Positive to SMPS (Switched-Mode Power Supply) and Negative to RAMPS 1.4 and not working
I checked the Voltage at heat bed it's showing zero in spite connecting to SMPS

Please let me know how can I fix the problem?

I have installed Marlin 1.1.x firmware.
When It's powdered it'll display properly but when I select Bed Heating Option It becomes like a shown in the image and after 30 to 50 seconds later it displays message Bed Heating Failed Printer Halted Please Reset
Except Bed heating everything working fine

What happens if you set Bed Temp to, say,  40 Degrees C? Does it warm at all before throwing an error?

No, Warming. The LCD Temperature won't change at all from Room Temperature i.e 25 Degrees Celcius.

Why not attach your PSU directly to the bed, will it warm up? If it does the bed is working then check cables, connectors of the setup.

When I connect Heated Bed directly to SMPS it's working but when I connect it to RAMPS board it's not working and the screen is becoming blank

Check that your heated bed is still working:

Measure the resistance of your heated bed. It depends an the power
rating of the bed, but 12V beds usually have values <3 Ohms. That's
hard to measure for cheap multimeters, but you just need to check
that it's not MOhms which would indicate a broken heated bed.
Your heated bed could also have a short. That's hard to measure, as <3Ohms are already 'almost a short'. You'll only notice because your
bed will not get warm, but the wires, connectors and elements on the
RAMPS will get even hotter. Marlin should detect this and switch off
after a few seconds.
Check your thermistor. Seems you already did that.
Check your RAMPS by measuring the voltage on the bed connector while setting the bed to heat up. You should see 12V, at least in the
frist few seconds.

Heated Bed is working. when I connect directly to 12V SMPS but it's not working when I connect it to RAMPS 1. 4

I've just been reading 3D Printing Failures: 2020 Edition by Sean Arandy and David Feeney -- one of the things they really harp on is that the high current connectors on the RAMPS board for the bed heat are grossly under-rated -- that is, they're connectors rated for about 4-5 A, while the bed needs to draw about twice that to heat a rated power level.  Their recommendation is to switch this connector on the RAMPS board for one rated at a minimum of 16 A to ensure it has a safety margin over the most current a 12V bed heater will draw.
If you use an e-reader, you may want to consider downloading this book -- it's only ten dollars for Kindle (also available on Kindle Unlimited), or twenty for a paper copy, and to my eye, it's worth having.


text:
Can an extruder rated for 24 V work with 12 V ATX power supply?
Heads up: I'm not good with electronics and only have a vague idea of it's inner workings.
I have a E3D V6 Extruder rated for 24 V, that i plan to use in my 3D printer. Will there be any problems with it if powered by 12 V? Will it take longer to heat up? Will it be able to heat up enough to melt PLA? Will it work at all for that matter?
If there are any other quirks or potential problems that I overlooked, please let me know.

Thank you for such a detailed answers!
I was hoping to get away with mismatched voltage ratings, but oh well. I'll see if i can figure out how to replace the heating element in the extruder; at the worst, ordering a new extruder shouldn't be a problem.

you can use a cheap DC-DC converter to step up the 12v to 24v DC. They even make fixed-voltage-output ones at 24v, since that's a common RV/trucking voltage.

@Ivan you could order a 12V heater cartridge from e3D or a reseller, they have those.

Yep, bought a 12 V heater today, which is way cheaper than an entire extruder. Replacing the old one with it was very simple too; definitely a way to go.

Electrical engineering can be quite complex, but in this case you can save yourself with same simple equations/relations. Using the following formulae:

Voltage ($\ U$) equals current ($I$) multiplied by the electrical resistance ($R$)

$$ U=I \times R $$
and

Power ($P$) equals the square of the current multiplied by the electrical resistance

$$ P=I^2 \times R $$
can be rewritten using the first formula to:
$$ P= \frac{U^2}{R} $$
Applying these formulae to a 40 Watt, 24 V heater element, the electrical resistance (in $\Omega $) is calculated by:
$$ \frac{{(24\ V)}^2}{40\ W}=14.4\ \Omega $$
Running this heater element with 12 V will lead to a power of
$$ \frac{{(12\ V)}^2}{14.4\ \Omega}=10\ W $$
The heat produced is proportional to the square of the current multiplied by the electrical resistance, halving the voltage is quartering the heat output. This will heat up very slowly! If it is able to reach the required temperature that is. Calculating the temperature is far more difficult, but if you are interested in doing so, please look into this answer from the Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange.

No, it probably won't work as you want. As explained in another answer, you will only achieve 25% of the expected power. So it will take 4 times as long to heat up, will have a lower 'highest temperature', and most critically will reduce the possible print speed by a factor of around 4 (actually more, since a proportion of the power is lost to the room rather than used to melt filament).
I guess that you could print with this setup as a temporary measure (so long as it's PLA, or some other low-ish temperature filament). It would not be a sensible choice, particularly since the extruder only needs a single component to be swapped out to change between 12 V and 24 V operation (the heater cartridge). All the mechanical parts will be identical between the two versions, and these are the 'expensive' elements in the assembly.

No not by itself.
Also you need to check the wires in the ATX power supply as 16 gauge wire might melt depending on how many amps it needs.
You could on the other hand connect 2 ATX power supplies the plus 12v on power supply 1 to the 12v ground on the second power supply.  Then use a volt meter to confirm your getting 24v out.  On the 2 leads not connected.
This still could run into problems as you have to be careful with the wire gauge.  You need 14g wire for 15 amps, and 12g (thicker) for 20 amps.  Finding an ATX power supply with better than 12g wire is highly unlikely.

The -12V line from an ATX power supply is typically rated for under an amp.  Try to power a printer off that, and the best you can hope for is to blow a fuse.

@Mark Sorry I meant 12v ground and not negative 12 volts.

Using half the voltage on a resistive heater will quarter the power.

Sorry but part of this answer is incorrect! Using 24 V on a 14.4 Ohm resistor will give you about 1.7 A, that same resistor on 12 V uses 0.8 A. You cannot choose current, it is a result of applying a voltage to a resistor! It only applies if the heater element is of lower resistance, but that is not what the question asks.

It will take longer to heat up. However if you use a boost converter (like I did on my Anet A8 when I upgraded to a Maxiwatt 24 V hot end), then it will work just fine without any further adjustments; to the power supply or the gauges of the wire etc. I set the boost from 12 to 24 volts. Now my A8 heats up in 56 seconds!