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Thermal degradation of 3D printed ABS (and other plastics)
The short version of my question is:

Are 3D printed parts made of ABS likely to survive for one year in an incubator at 80℃?

Please read on for more details.
I am printing some parts that will be used inside an incubator in a lab. They are likely to be used at 80℃ for at least a year, possibly even at higher temperatures than that. (But most likely under 100℃.)
We're currently using ABS for these parts. My question is whether 3D printed ABS will degrade under those conditions. (For example: will it become soft and slump; will it discolour; will it become brittle?) The parts clip together to form quite a big object, which is basically a rack holding a lot of glass vials, so it's important that it stays rigid.
I did find some papers on thermal degradation of ABS (for example this one looks quite comprehensive) but I don't have the experience to interpret them in terms of how my parts will behave practically. I'm also not sure if being 3D printed will make a difference.
If ABS is not suitable for this kind of application, are there other plastics that are? We're using the Zortrax M200, so our choices are the plastics listed here. I note that PCABS is listed as specifically being temperature resistant, so we might go with that - but we'd prefer ABS if it will work, since it comes in white rather than ivory (which is important for our application) and we have plenty of it available.

update: we decided in the end that using ABS is too risky, so we went with PCABS and we'll just live with the yellowish colour. (We might paint it white.) It's currently in the oven on a test run, and if it doesn't fail in a few weeks we'll take the risk of running the year-long experiment with this material. However, we would still very greatly appreciate advice from anyone who has concrete knowledge or experience of this kind of situation.

Printing plastics usually have wide range of glass transition temperatures, above that manufacturers change plastic composition as they wish, so you can't be sure whether your plastic will survive or not unless you try.

@ZuOverture the problem is that trying it involves waiting a year to see if the whole experiment fails. This is why I'm hoping to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of this community. 80 degrees is well below the glass transition temperature for ABS - I'm more worried about oxidation and other chemical changes that could occur.

From the abstract it looks like the main cause of degradation is oxidation, and I don't think it has a temperature limit where it starts, and below it is negligible. No, oxidation will take place at 80C, just a bit slower than at 112C. I don't see any time scales in the abstract, it should be in full text though. If there's no one who can fetch this article, you can consider test during usage. Print two racks, usage times must differ, but you only use younger and look for degradation signs on older one. Couple of weeks might be enough to start. (And I hope you don't use UV)

I have access to the full text (I didn't realise it was paywalled) but the problem is it mostly plots time against things like "impact strength" or "oPs intensity I_3 (%) related to number of free volume sites" that I don't know how to interpret in terms of my application. They mostly focus on samples cooked at 120℃, and the time scales for that seem to be in the hundreds of hours. (i.e. a couple of weeks is about right.) If the same is true at 80℃ we will have to use a different material as we need it to last for a year, but I really can't tell that from the paper.

Usual method of protection against weathering effects for plastics is painting them, although you'll have to study how this coating behaves at 80C. Some of them might be documented better than ABS ("for outdoor usage in Sahara" should be enough).

@Nathaniel This thermal degradation is called aging (aplies to all kind of components) and is taken in count for developing where the product will be used. All of this information is gotten from material technical data to analyze on accelerated test (special chambers) to determine how much the product will live on critical conditions (hot and cold) to warranty a good period of life. These periods can offer from 3 to 7 years of warranty and much more. If your plastics degrades so fast you need another one with more heat resistant.

Hi there, the update seems more like it should be posted as an answer, tbh, as solutions should not be posted within the question, because it causes the Stack Exchange model to break. You don't have to accept your own answer, if you are still waiting for another answer. Also, be aware that the accepted answer can be change (i.e. you can choose to accept another answer). If you could post your update as an answer then that would be great. Thanks in advance

@Greenonline the update is not in any way an answer to the question. It is just a comment to let people know what we decided. (We got delayed and didn't start the experiment yet, otherwise I would post an actual answer based on our experience.)

To answer your question briefly: No, ABS will not survive for a duration of at least one year at 80-100°C.

If you look at the chart above (from Tiganis/Burn), you'll notice, that the blue line (ABS 90°C) is decreasing. I did an eyeball calculation of the graph and arrived at the equation (J for break energy, h for hours):
J = -0.002h + 14

Based on that, a break energy of 0 Joule will be reached after 7056 hours or 294 days.
If you roam around internet forums on 3D printing, you'll find that that value is in the ballpark of people's experiences. I remember one case, where someone put out a piece of ABS in the sun and it broke down after a year.
Tiganis; Burn: The Effects of Heat Aging on Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) Blends. In: Lacasse; Vanier (1999): Durability of Building Materials and Components 8, pp. 912-922.

I would recommend Taulman Bluprint, which has a Tg of 100 °C and prints around 250 °C.
I got a small sample and it printed well with the recommended settings. I didn't do any thermal testing with my print (I made a knob for a lawn mower with it) but Taulman has a solid reputation for engineered filaments.

The OP states that he is limited to the choices of the Zortrax M200 material spools.

Your ABS filament is likely to be different than the ABS the paper is talking about, at the minimum the filament has added coloring (ABS is not naturally white), its possible it has other additives to make it easier to extrude and - especially for low cost ABS - it's also possible it has other random contaminant.
The "same" material from different manufacturers is often very obviously different (for low cost filament, different batches from the same manufacturer are sometimes different) so, even if someone here did have experience with cooking ABS for a year, you can never be sure your ABS will work the same as their ABS.
If the information is not in the material data sheet you can try to contact the manufacturer, other then that, you really have no way of knowing other then trying for yourself.

heat it up see what happens also take into consideration additional support in case it degrades its still holding up.  if possible give it somekind of protective coat. someone said paint but can you add a coat of resin or ceramic?

It is in the oven currently on a test run. But as I said in both the comments and the question, we need it to function for at least a year, and and if it fails in that time we will have to start again, so "try it and see" is not exactly a good option for us.

Gonz, your answer would be much more useful if you would provide an indication of what resin and/or ceramic you are referring to and how this would prevent the underlying plastic to degrade because of the heat (given that any coating will have zero effect on heat penetration, over a one year span).

@nathaniel try any plastic. How much does it weight. make a small structure of each material put some heavy weight on it.would there be a time it would cool down, will it cool down slowly. if you clean it what chemicals would you use and at what temp would you clean it in. These factors could cause it to degrade quicker. as for the resin i dont have any recomendation. i just suggest to add an additional layer of something to reduce heat absorb aswell as chemical contact. it could be sprayed on brushed on could be a mineral, salt, a combo o layers.just reinforce the stressed areas.


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Acceleration with Marlin
I expected that the movement of an axis would start slowly, become faster and then run at a constant speed when reaching the maximum speed, then slow down slowly and arrive at the target point at the lowest speed.
At my DIY machine, however, I achieve a constant, very low speed at the beginning, then jumpy change to the maximum speed, finally a also jumpy change to the low speed, which also happens at the beginning.
I've been working on the Marlin settings for days, but I haven't had the slightest success.
Why don't I get any rising and falling ramps, why the sudden change?
These are my current Marlin settings:
G21    ; Units in mm
M149 C ; Units in Celsius
Filament settings: Disabled
M200 D1.75
M200 T1 D1.75
M200 D0

Steps per unit:
M92 X800.00 Y640.00 Z800.00 E500.00

Maximum feedrates (units/s):
M203 X200.00 Y200.00 Z12.00 E25.00

Maximum Acceleration (units/s2):
M201 X5000 Y5000 Z1000 E10000

Acceleration (units/s2):
P<print_accel> R<retract_accel> T<travel_accel>
M204 P3000.00 R3000.00 T3000.00

Advanced: S<min_feedrate> T<min_travel_feedrate> B<min_segment_time_ms> X<max_xy_jerk> Z<max_z_jerk> E<max_e_jerk>
M205 S0.00 T1000.00 B20000 X10.00 Y10.00 Z1.00 E5.00

What's the secret of a beautiful ramp?

Your steps/mm settings are very high. Assuming you are running an ATMEGA based controller, like RAMPS, you will only be able to move at very slow feed rates (<20mm/s). There are also many hardware factors that influence your maximum speed at a given steps/mm (which is typically referred to a your maximum step rate):

Supplied voltage. Using too high/low voltage can cause poor stepper performance or create unexpected faults at high/low step rates.
Motor specifications. Stepper motors come in a dizzying number of models with varying specifications. This is because each one is tailored to a specific use case.
Stepper Driver. There are a bunch of driver designs and manufacturers out there and none of them should be considered equal. It also matters how you setup the driver in terms of current/voltage limits, microstepping, decay modes, heat syncing, etc.
Wiring. At high step rates the inductance of the wires between your controller and motors start to matter more, as does interference to/from other electrical devices.

If you aren't sure how to set/select/tune the things above it's best to just mimic what is done on common printers like the Prusa i3, which have robust designs.
In more direct regard to your Marlin settings, your acceleration and feedrate values are very high for an untested printer. It's best to start with conservative values (Accel ~500mm/s^2, Feedrate <10mm/s) and work your way up 10% at a time until you start having issues, then back off ~20% from there.

You're absolutely right. Thanks for getting me on the right track.
I use the ATMEGA with Toshiba drivers.
The limitation seems to be in the ATMEGA. With 16 microsteps, it's overstrained. Even 8 micro steps still cause problems. I have now set the X and Y axis to 4 micro-steps and everything seems to be working fine. But the machine has become much louder. I'll have to live with that. But the movement of the two axes has become faster, even though I have halved the the maximum feedrates.
I have a DUE board that I could use. But I only find an abandoned Marlin implementation for the DUE.

You could look at the RepRapFirmware in Github.  It is a pretty good printer firmware, usable with several different printer mechanisms, and it is set up for the DUE board.  I am using it on a home-brew delta-style machine.

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What infill settings and material type do I need?
I’m trying to have this bracket printed, but I don’t know what settings I should use.

The project details say 50% for infill, but is there a reason why I wouldn’t get 100% for making it sturdier?  I imagine the developer used 50% because he used his own printer and wanted to preserve more material.  The 3D printer service I’m using doesn’t charge more for 100%.
But I’m more concerned about the material I should select.  Should I select PLA or ABS?  The developer didn’t specify this.

For such a small item and the small load it will carry, even 50 percent is substantial. Keep in mind that one hundred percent infill is not necessarily stronger. If you need to know why, consider a 'net search for "why not use 100% infill" for more detailed information. The primary foundation for not using 100% infill is that the stress is better distributed over the structure of a non-100% part, while the completely filled part has more intra-layer stress failure. Another link suggests that there's a possibility of increased warping with full infill.
Because the load is small, it matters very little if you select PLA over ABS. PLA is more brittle compared to ABS and will crack or fracture or break under loads that might otherwise cause the same part in ABS to bend.
If you need yet more strength, select PETG or nylon, although I suspect either one would be more expensive from a service.
If you select ABS, you can use acetone smoothing later to make a shiny surface, but that's cosmetic, not structural.

This is definitely a great answer.  The short of it is there's almost never a reason to print at 100% infill.

Also, If you need yet more strength, you might want to design a sturdier construction for starters. Where did it break, and why, are questions that'll help you move forwards in the search for stronger parts.

You should use PLA at 215 °C (for better layer adhesion) with 35 percent infill and a shell thickness of 2 mm. Shell thickness is what's crucial here, not necessarily infill. The thicker the shell, the stronger the part. This has a much bigger influence on strength than infill does.

+1 for slightly bumped temperature. Do check you're not, even slightly, under extruding too as that can way reduce the sturdiness of a piece.

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Nema Stepper used in Flashforge 3D printer
I am using Flashforge Creator Pro and a Flashforge Finder

I want to know which NEMA stepper model is used in each of these two printers, or is it NEMA 17 for both?
Their model numbers are:

42HB40F08AB-04 [W-42MM, L-40MM], and;
42HD4027-01[W-42MM, L-40MM]

Nema 17 is about the physical size of the motor, ie screw hole placement. It doesn't specify anything about the power of the motor. If you are looking to replace the motor, you need quite a bit more info than that it is Nema 17, such as the steps/rotation and the holding torque.

... and the winding inductance, the winding resistance, the rated current and the maximum voltage.  Of these I would consider the holding torque, steps/revolution, rated current, winding resistance, and winding inductance to be most important, in the order.

Also, it's only telling what the front of the motor looks like, a Nema can be a pancake motor (very flat) or a very "deep"/long motor.

If you can access the stepper motors within the printers, then you should be able to obtain some basic measurements of its dimensions, in particular, the mounting holes. Then compare it with the dimensions of a NEMA 17 stepper motor:

Image from RepRapWiki - NEMA 17 Stepper Motor
The dimensions of other stepper motors, NEMA 11/14/17/23, can be found here: RepRapWiki - Nema Motor. The emphasis is mine:

Some (all?) NEMA 11 motors (is this specified in the standard?) have blind mounting holes about 4.5 mm deep, tapped to accept
  M2.5x0.45 metric bolts. The 4 mounting holes are in a square 23 mm
  (0.905 inch) center-to-center.
Some (all?) NEMA 14 motors (is this specified in the standard?) have blind mounting holes about ???? mm deep, tapped to accept M4
  metric bolts. The 4 mounting holes are in a square 26 mm (1.024
  inch) center-to-center.
Some (all?) NEMA 17 motors (is this specified in the standard?) have blind mounting holes 4.5 mm deep, tapped to accept M3x.50 metric
  bolts. The 4 mounting holes are in a square 31.0 mm (1.220 inch,
  about 7/32) center-to-center. The holes in the part that needs to be
  bolted to the NEMA 17 motor typically need to be reamed out with a
  1/8" drill bit to allow the M3 bolt to pass through. The drive shaft
  is typically 5 mm dia.
Some (all?) NEMA 23 motors (is this specified in the standard?) have through mounting holes, a smooth 5 mm (0.2 inch) diameter. The
  4 mounting holes are in a square 47.1 mm (1.856 inch, about 1+7/8
  inch) center-to-center. The drive shaft is typically 1/4 inch (6.35
  mm) dia.

However, knowing whether the stepper is a NEMA 17 or not may not be sufficient as there are very many variations of the NEMA 17, w.r.t. manufacturer and model. Again, please refer to RepRapWiki - NEMA 17 Stepper Motor to see a list of some of the NEMA 17 steppers available, and in common use in 3D printing.
The characteristics (Torque, Steps per revolution, Inductance Resistance, Voltage, Rated Current, etc.) vary greatly between models (even with the same NEMA type - 11/14/17/23), and some are more suited for particular applications than others.

With respect to your comment, why is NEMA 17 most common? Well, NEMA 23  steppers were used in some of the early [desktop-sized] printers, but then it was found that NEMA 17 steppers, which are smaller (leading to more compact, slightly less power hungry and lighter designs), offered less vibration whilst still providing sufficient torque. Smaller steppers (NEMA 14) can be used, but probably lack the torque to power a standard sized printer and can be only really used with very light-weight small printers.
NEMA 23 steppers are still used in larger [industrial] scale printer designs.
Again, from RepRapWiki - Nema Motor

The first working RepRap used NEMA 23 Stepper motors for positioning and a different kind of motor for the extruder. As of 2013, most RepRap designs call for NEMA 17 Stepper motors or NEMA 14 Stepper motors for both positioning and extruding.

It most likely uses a nema 17 stepper motor. These are the most commonly used stepper motors. Since it is also the same company there is good reason to believe it uses the same steppers. Why must you know, anyways?

because i want to know why nema 17 ..? why not others..?

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How to make walls thicker using meshmixer or meshlab
I have been working at converting game files into 3d files that can be printed, but many of the models have very thin or walls. I was wondering if there was a way to increase the thickness of the walls using meshmixer or meshlab.

I figured out how to do it by using the make solid tool.
Edit: I selected the whole model using control and selected make solid. Set the mode from fast to accurate. I set the solid accuracy and mesh density to anywhere from 300 to 500. Then I slowly increase offset distance until the holes are sealed. I leave the minimum thickness at 0 because it doesn't appear to help much. When I'm satisfied, I click accept. I usually use the reduce feature to make the file smaller, but it isn't required. Sorry about leaving an unhelpful answer. Hope this helps people.

This doesn't help anybody who might have the same question in the future. Self-answering questions is encouraged if you figure out the answer yourself, but please explain your solution in more detail so others can replicate what you've done.

Please consider elaborating so that others with similar issues can learn as well.

The answer is low quality, but I don't think deleting it would help anybody, as the solution may really be as easy as to click on "make solid" somewhere on the interface... deleting this answer would remove the only valuable clue on how to solve the problem.

Only today, I learned of a solution for this sort of objective, but it uses Fusion 360 rather than Meshmixer  or Meshlab. As your question does not include that program, I'll toss the Meshmixer method.
This image is of the model prior to modification:

When you load your STL file into MM, use Edit, Generate Face Groups. This will cause the surfaces to change color. Click Accept.
With face groups created:

If you can be assured of all one surface, use Select, then double click on the interior. This should turn the entire interior red. If you discover unselected surfaces, simply click on those surfaces until all is completed. If you select a surface in error, use Shift-Click to clear that one surface.
Once selected, the select menu gives you a new edit menu.
Use Edit, Offset for yet another menu. As you make changes in the menu settings, you'll see the results on the model. Ideally, you won't have an overly complex model with too many facets/triangles, as it can really bog a machine down.
This particular model has a nearly uniform interior. Double clicking on the inside surface caused the full cylinder (not the bottom) to be selected (turning red).
Low accuracy offset, with surfaces still selected:

For smoothest results, keep the accuracy high. Any protruberance in the interior will give very strange results.
High accuracy results, surfaces selected:

Experiment with the settings, aim for the best result and click accept. As long as you don't export the model over your original, all experimentation is a learning experience and not a destructive one.

I will try this as soon as I can and will post about how it goes. It may not be soon, though. I have finals coming up and I have been and will be doing quite a bit of studying.

If the Facegroup is decent, try using "Extrude - Normal direction" . That has worked well for me.

@BrendanSmith  "finals..."  ha ha ha us old folks don't have to take exams :-)

I tried it out earlier today, but it didn't work. It fixed a small bit of the model, but I may have made a mistake. I will see if I have time to post pictures of what the model looks like if I have time later tonight. I'm less busy, but still have studying to do.

If it's not proprietary, consider to attach the stl file here. I'd be happy to take a shot at it, but also would then provide the steps which worked.


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Nozzle always "randomly" moves to 0 during print, then resumes
I recently bought an Anet A8 (https://pevly.com/anet-a8-3d-printer-review/). I've managed to get everything up and running, leveled the board, but am now running into a problem.
At the start of the print, the printer moves to 0,0,0, bumps into the switches a couple times (I assume to calibrate or so?), and then starts "printing". But the nozzle "randomly" moves to either an X of 0 or an Y of 0 before returning to the printing position. This movement seems to pull off any basis the printer managed to lay down, which then forms a nice "ball" on the nozzle, to which the rest gets stuck. (I'm still having some other issues with getting the filament to stick to the bed, but there's plenty I still have to try out for that.)
During one attempt of printing a very simple small cube, I carefully pulled the filament "ball" from the nozzle while it did one of those movements to X 0, and afterwards it managed to lay down the bottom layer perfectly fine. This causes me to believe those movements are the biggest problem I'm facing right now.
After it did the first layer, it moved up a bit, moved to X 0, back to the model, and got stuck on a piece of plastic that was standing upwards.
These movements seem to happen at around the same phase in the print, and happen quite consistently. Is this normal behavior? If so, how do I make sure the filament does not get pulled off during these weird movements? If not, how do I get rid of them?
(No, not a duplicate of Printer randomly moves to home during printing, then resumes as normal as I print directly from PC.)

Edit to add more information:
I use Cura 3.0.4 for printing, the stock Anet A8 firmware, and am attempting to print the cube model that comes with Windows 10. (Yes, I've tried different models, same result.)
I seem to have more issues, in the video it's visible that the feeding does not seem to work too great, but I think the random movements are the most clear and biggest problem right now, so I should tackle that first.
In Cura I've used the Pruisa I3 printer, with the following G-codes:
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops
G29
G1 Z15.0 F9000 ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F9000
M117 Printing...

and end
M104 S0 ;extruder heater off
M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it)
G91 ;relative positioning
G1 E-1 F300  ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure
G1 Z+0.5 E-5 X-20 Y-20 F9000 ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops, so the head is out of the way
M84 ;steppers off
G90 ;absolute positioning

(Yes, I added in the G29 in the start code manually, as I bought the official auto-leveling sensor. I'm not sure if it works though, but I read somewhere that I might need a different version of the firmware to support it properly.)
And here's a video showing what my printer does do exactly. It started printing from the center in this case, it seems to randomly either move to the middle or to 0,0,0 when I abort the print.

Looks like a good question.  Welcome to 3D Printing.  It might help if you could post photos of the problem.  It might clarify the statement "This movement seems to pull off any basis the printer managed to lay down," which I'm not visualizing.

@cmm There is one thread of filament attached to both the nozzle and the laid down filament. When the nozzle moves away, this thread of filament pulls the filament that did stick away. I'm currently not able to make a video of it, that might even have to wait until Monday unfortunately.

So, the print has started and there is some material deliberately and correctly attached to the bed?   Some printers have a rubber edge the nozzle is rubbed against to remove the blob before it prints.

@cmm There is indeed some material that is attached. My printer does not have this rubber edge, is there an easy way to disable this option or would it make sense to try uploading different firmware?

I switched to different firmware (the latest Marlin), now the problem has been resolved. So it seems to me that those random movements are not in fact normal, but a flaw in the firmware.

What was the firmware that you switched to? Do you have a link? Or version? Was it an A8 standard firmware upgrade or something else? If you could provide a bit more detail your answer could probably help someone else with the same issue. Thx. :-)

I see two problems in your video:

It looks like the first layer is built too much upwards. (The level calibration should be so that a Z-height of 0 can barely fit a sheet of paper under the nozzle. )
Your printer is not extruding at all. As you said, the extrusion has some problems. Extrusion problems will cause adhesion problems too.

So you're saying the random movements are normal?

I wouldn't say that they are normal. I just take them out of the equation. I see you answered your own question, so thumbs up for that.

The main problem shown in the video is because you are printing an oversized part, the random movements to X and Y is due the exceeded lines. Also the nozzle has a wrong Z0 and the part won't get adhesion to the bed.

"(Yes, I've tried different models, same result.)" Did not seem to be the problem here. Sounds like you've had it with too big parts though?

No, I haven't had this problem with my printer, but is normal if the printing area is not defined in your slicer program; this could be detected a firmware problem but is a problem related with printing area.  Try to use slic3r or even cura with an small object.  delete the lines G28 if you manually sets auto homing.

;G28 ; home all axes
G29 ; Autonivel
M190 S32 ; set bed temperature
G1 Z4 F240 ; lift nozzle
M109 S195 ; wait for temperature
G21
G90
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
M104 S210 ; set temperature
G92 E0
G1 E-1.5000 F1800
G1 Z0.225 F240

Formating SD card fixes issue for me.
I think that writing many times to the same block of SD card corrupt some block of flash SD card memory.

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MakerFlex Spool has bubbles?
I ordered a 0.5 KG spool of Makerflex Glow in the Dark filament from Makergeeks. I ordered Clear and Opaque PLA with it. The Makerflex plastic is called TPEE. The entire spool of it seems to have small bubbles in it. I even confirmed this by cutting one of the bubbles, and I could fit a small piece of metal inside, so it is not just a funky coloring. Does anyone know if this is normal? I can't get in touch with Makergeeks themselves. Will it damage my printer? I have a stock Tevo Tarantula.

Do the bubbles stick out? It should not damage your printer but if the bubbles stick out enough it can block the extruder. It does not sound like this is normal and i think its a bad spool. Try to contact the place where you ordered it from (if its not makergeeks themselves).

Bubbles are a defect.  Two problems can occur:

The air in the bubble will be under pressure when heated and can cause a little blow-out when the plastic sides of the bubble are soft enough that they can no longer contain the pressure.  Depending on where this happens, it can either result in little spatters of filament being spit through the nozzle at the printed object, expanded craters which could increase the diameter of the filament and make extrusion more difficult, or, if at the end of a print job, the expanded filament may cool and be too large diameter to feed for the next print job.
If the air escapes without causing any other problem or it was created by cavitation, the volume of the bubble causes under extrusion, since it represents missing plastic.  The extrusion volume is controlled by driving a specific linear distance of filament and assuming a specific filament diameter and 100% plastic.  Underextrusion hurts print quality, print strength, and surface finish.

Bubbles in the filament indicate a failure in the filament manufactury.  As @Granny said in the comment, this is defective filament which should be returned for a refund.  If you use it, understand that it will not give results that are the best your printer can deliver.


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Empty space in model is getting filled
I drew a fairly simple model in Google SketchUp. I exported it as an STL. I imported it into Cura and exported as gcode. Then I printed the model.
All of the bottom layers of the model cover the entire space instead of leaving the two open gaps that should exist. I don't know why it's happening. Do I have some weird setting in Cura?
The section that is filled, but shouldn't be, isn't a raft. I printed without a raft because my model goes to the max extent that my printer can print and I don't have room for a raft around the edges.
Here is what it looks like in SketchUp:

Here is what it looks like in Cura. The two empty areas are shaded darker than the other empty areas of the build plate. Is that an indication of my problem?

Here is what was printed. The empty areas are solid and filled in as if the center piece extended to the inner edges of that area. (The jacked up corners are due to the model warping a bit and no longer being in the right position for subsequent layers.)

Here is a video of the layers according to Cura, and Cura clearly knows the gaps should be there:
https://youtu.be/r0a9gGFerHI

I always check the "Layers" view in Cura to see what is actually going to the gcode.  the Solid View only shows a representation of the original CAD item.

I suspect, as I am wont to do, that your problem lies in the STL created by SketchUp. It's an unfortunate aspect of that program that it creates non-manifold models which creates troubles such as this.
Consider to load your STL file into a program suitable for showing flaws (and repairing them) to determine where the failure points lie. I'm fond of Meshmixer, but there are many others such as Netfabb with which I am less familiar.
If you don't want to check your STL file, attach it to your post and I'll take a shot at it.
You would also want to consider to learn a new program if you intend to perform such 3D modeling. Fusion 360 has a popular following. I'm a fan of OpenScad, but use Fusion 360, Meshmixer, Blender (only a tiny amount) and anything else I can utilize for model repair, creation and editing. Build a large repetoire of different programs and get the best of all worlds.
SketchUp has a strong following primarily because it's rather easy to use. The same can be said of a few other programs, but SketchUp really generates trouble when it comes to 3D models.
TinkerCAD is very much like SketchUp and will give you better final results. OnShape is another popular modeling program, but I have zero exposure to that one.
It's not out of the question that there's a bug in Cura that's causing this problem. You are not limited to one slicer program, and you can check the results of another slicer such as Slic3r, Craftware or others.

When I've had weird inverted faces before, Cura would highlight in red for me, but it's not doing that with this one. But just in case... I opened it in Blender and didn't see any problems with discolored faces (i.e. inverted faces). I selected all the faces and Recalculated Normals to re-orient the faces (this is how I've fixed weird problems with other models). Didn't see any change.

Exported it as gcode and going to give that a try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Looks like that did it. Layer 1 is going down right now and it is showing the gaps. Thanks for the help!

it's unfortunate that your post confirms SketchUp failure to create manifold 3D models. It's great that you were able to solve it, of course.

You have a problem with your STL file. Check the orientation of the faces of your 3D model, if that is not the problem, search for a software to fix your stl file. Just a tip, give Fusion360 a try, it is the best!


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Prusa i3 Mk2 (RepRapGuru kit) stops extruding mid-layer
So I've been fighting with this all weekend, figured I'd see if others have suggestions.
When I attempt to print, my printer will go just fine until about the halfway point on a layer, then there'll be a section (almost the same point on the layer for the cube or a couple of other smaller prints I tried) that doesn't extrude. Once the next layer starts, it'll be fine until about halfway again. I kicked off a quick cube print to take pictures of layer 1:

The second layer will do something similar about halfway but covers the section that had an issue in the first layer.

I've tried cleaning and rebalancing the plate multiple times, just picked up a new plate to try (will be here in two days), have completely swapped the tube and nozzle on the hot end, and have played with the temperature. The layers look great for that first half at 195 °C with a 70 °C bed. Extruder stepper motor works when set from the prepare option screen. The nozzle is 2 mm and have it set properly in slic3r (using the Repertoire 3D printing program). Does anyone have any other suggestions for getting this to work properly?

It looks like your extruder temperature is too low and/or you are trying to print too fast. Are you really using a 0.2mm nozzle? If so, you may need to increase you extruder temperature, and possibly lower the speed.

I'll give that a shot. I had it going really slowly before, but I'll try combining slower speeds with a higher temp. And yeah, .2mm nozzle. Swapped it with that one this morning and it has it etched into the side.

The smaller the nozzle size, the harder it is to push filament through it. Also, filament cools down much more quickly. This means printing hotter and slower than you normally would with a 0.4mm nozzle.

Ran through with a super low speed and temp set to 205. Same issue at the same point. Seems like the extruder motor stops pushing around there. https://youtu.be/3TZu9_eREMU

Up the temperature even more. My normal printing speed with PLA is 215°C, and that is with a 0.4mm nozzle.

Alright I upped the temperature, saw the same problem, so I disassembled the extruder to run through manually moving it. Looks like the driver for it has gone bad, since it looks like I can't actually turn that motor directly, but if I plug it into the X, Y or Z connection, it turns. Thanks for the help! :)

@PaulRuiz if you solved the problem, would you consider adding the solution as an answer?


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SVG to STL conversion to make symbols recognisable for visually impaired users
I work on communication devices for people with disabilities that prevent them from speaking.  This can be anything from a board with symbols on, to a relatively sophisticated app.
Some potential users also have sight issues and have to distinguish symbols by feel (these particular users have cognitive disabilities and so braile isn't useful) .  Currently the solution is to, by hand, stick items onto the buttons. Like this:

This is effective, but takes a very long time.
There exists open symbol libraries like this, that include nice svg images like this one (not uploaded, because SO doesn't like svg, but here's the screenshot:

A friend converted some of these images into 3d prints like so:

This was amazing, and useful, but I understand quite time-intensive for him - and there are thousands of these symbols.
Here's what I want to know: given that SVG is a relatively simple structure and the symbols are very simple, what are the steps for writing the script that says: "Take the svg, map it to a plane, raise everything that is black by 2mm, everything that is gray by 1mm and add height for the rest of the colours according to this table" ?
Bonus points for something that I can reasonably get going on a set of 10000 svg files and come back to later...

My thoughts would be something like openscad might simplify  this. It has a polygon basic operation and an extrude. First map the svg to a polygon then extrude the polygon. So the question then becomes how to map the svg to a set of points that are close enough to represent the shape. You could do this multiple times for each colour and then extrude by different heights.

If you install inkscape, pstoedit and ghostscript version 9.21 (not the latest as pstoedit is incompatible)   you can get the file into a format that openscad can
import using two commands in a cmd file
"C:\Program Files\Inkscape\inkscape" -E "traffic lights.eps" "traffic lights.svg"
"C:\Program Files\pstoedit\pstoedit" -dt -f dxf:-polyaslines "traffic lights.eps" "traffic lights.dxf"

then in openscad
linear_extrude(3) import ("traffic lights.dxf");

will import gives me

With a thickness of 3mm - you can see the model needs some scaling but its seems possible although - I can't see an option to scale based on color -

That's looking solid!

Much more difficult to get different heights automatically based to different colors , I've got an algorithm of how to do it - get a files for each layer based on the colors - eg extract White, Green, Red, Blue and import - this all seems to work - but I have no way to automate the layer extraction

Nothing thats works via scripting BUT is really simple and easy.

register on tinkercad.com (I know register is a bummer but its a great tool)
open a new design
import *.svg file
adjust height or size of the converted object
download .stl

Thats going to take a while for 1000 files but its so simple, printing the stuff will take forever, so you´ve got some time :P
Edit: Maybe edit the topic to something like "SVG to STL conversion" which would make the thread more likely to be found.


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Is Repetier host able to do multi-material printing?
Can Repetier host run a multi-material printer such as the Prusa i3 MK2S?

Yes, it can.  I have configured it for as many as four extruders.  The problem may be in the slicing, as the slicer is responsible for generating the tool change commands.
One problem with the Repetier multi-extruder support is that, although the temperature of each extruder is reported by the RepRap firmware response, only the selected extruder is updated, and only one extruder is shown in the temperature graph.

Yes, you can add a second extruder to it.

The prusa i3 mk2s does not have multiple extruders.  It has multiple feeders that feed into the same extruder.

Yes, that is the way the hardware in implemented; but, from a G-code view (what Repetier works from) it is treated as two extruders.


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Prusa Mk3 filament detection sensor, can you access the image data?
I have seen that the new Prusa Mk3 design has a optical mouse sensor that can be used to detect if the filament jams. Optical mouse sensors are just a really low resolution camera with no color.
I am interested in finding out if it is possible to get access to the image data coming from that sensor?
Could I add a rgb led and interpolate the filament color by comparing pixel intensity under different lighting conditions?
And I was interested in seeing if the image data could be used to measure the filament width?

I am interested in finding out if it is possible to get access to the image data coming from that sensor? And I was interested in seeing if the image data could be used to measure the filament width?

No. The sensor is the PAT9125EL. The only output it provides is the movement in the X and Y directions. There is no way to get image data out of it.

Could I add a rgb led and interpolate the filament color by comparing pixel intensity under different lighting conditions

No. The sensor uses laser light of a specific wavelength. It's likely not sensitive to any other wavelengths. On a positive note, there is an "average frame brightness" register that can be read from the chip, but I don't think it's likely to work with RGB LEDs.

Well few years ago I saw an article that its possible to get de image or video from the mouse sensor; the RGB arrangement can help only to define a better gray scale. However I think is better to use a caliper to monitor continously the width. I´ve had problems with some reels that have joints of 1.85mm

@FernandoBaltazar Early optical mice used separate optical and image recognition modules, later the chips were integrated but still had optical output on unused pins. With the race to the bottom cost-wise, modern mice don't expose the image data any more.


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Cherry 3D printer Nema upgrade
I'm currently attempting to build the reprap Cherry 3D printer. I'm doing the Nema 17 upgrade for the printer. I realized that the instructions online are optimized for the 28byj-48 stepper motors. Has anyone built this machine with the Nema 17 upgrades and know what size screws would be best to use?

What kind of e3d hotend is this referng to?

As there is no reference to anything that might be e3d related, removed the tag.

Cherry 3D printer with Nema 17 = Small Prusa i3, so the screws are the same M3 with the length you need according your mounting upgrade.


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QIDITECH Dual Extruder and PETG
I have just received my QIDITECH printer, I've have ABS, PLA and two reals of PETG.  I printed a sample using the clear PETG and this worked find, I didn't have to change any of the default settings.
Today I've tried three times to print a simple model using the black real of PETG.  I've created which is essentially just a rectangle, but after a few minutes the extruder starts to drag around filament.
What can I do?  The filament is loaded ok, and it starts out ok, but very quickly messes up.

This happens if the nozzle is too close to the bed. PETG likes to be laid down, not squidged down (like PLA). Try increasing your first layer height. I typically use 0.3mm for PLA and 0.35mm for PETG. Black (and white) PETG generally has more additives then coloured (or clear) PETG, and this is probably what is causing a difference in handling.

@Mick, thank you, I'm giving it a try now, its very difficult to just .05 of a mm.

@Mick, obviously I still haven't set it correctly, worse than ever, now it dragged up more.

I'm now up to 6 attempts at printing with BLACK PETG, every attempt ends with it dragging up...yet I've ensure the plate has glue on it before printing, I've tried several adjustments on the levelling of the bed and distance to extruders.  I'm thinking its something to do with the PETG filament itself, I have printing with a WHITE PETG successfully.

It was a while back I created this post, since then I've have numerous problems / learning curves and now I'm very pleased to say I have a printer that prints perfectly and is set-up correctly.
I must say that the support from QidiTech is first class and during my journey I was sent a new extruder assembly, new extruders and also new print matts, all completely free and covered by the warranty.
I have now printed numerous models successfully.

What WAS the error?! As it is: not an answer.

It great that you've fixed your printer. How did you resolve your issue? Was it by replacing the extruder? If so, then do you know what was wrong with the original extruder? If you could provide more details about the actual issue and solution, it might help someone else, and save a call to the support desk.

In the end it was a combination of several things, getting the distance correct between the extruder and the bed, still a bit of a black art...most of the videos lack important information like how much friction should there be between the levelling card and the extruder...I opted for quite tight but still moveable.  Cleaning the extruders making sure there were no blockages and getting the temperates right for the material for both the bed and the extruders.


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Model stuck on base
I've printed the same model at least twice and both times it was impossible to separate from the base material it was printed on.
I'm using a QIDITECH dual extruder, when I start the print it uses the right side extruder to print a base layer, which is not part of the original model, it seems MakerBot issues this instruction to the printer.
Once the initial layer has been printed it then prints the model.
Both extruders are loaded with PETG.  In the left side I am printed with a transparent material.  The model I am trying to print is a flat rectangle 2 mm thick.
The problem is that once it has completed printing I'm finding it impossible to separate from the initial layer it put down.
How do I solve this problem?

The "base" you are referring to is normally called a "raft". It's not very common to print with a raft these days (it was originally used to help with bed adhesion, but the current-day standard is to use a heated bed if available in combination with some surface preparation (hair spray, PEI sheets, etc...) to aid adhesion); you might consider just disabling the raft.
Alternatively, you could consider (since you have a dual extruder) to print the raft in a different material that is more easily removed from the main material. There exist materials that are specifically formulated to break away easily from your print, and another option is to use a (water-)soluble material for the raft and any supports.

Makerbot really like rafts, probably because they minimize bad calibration effects. I also really like rafts, because my time is worth more to me than a few extra ¢ of plastic. But it also sounds like his raft settings are hosed up ("single layer" and "impossible to separate" are not normal characteristics of a Makerbot raft).

I'm so new to 3d printing, I haven't played with the settings in maker bot, its all printing using the defaults.  two more prints binned today.


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Anet A8 reading 739°C from the extruder thermistor!
I accidentally let the print head of my Anet A8 crash into one of 2 clips that are holding a glass sheet onto the hot bed, and suddenly the screen went blank and the printer rebooted, then it started reading 739°C from the extruder thermistor. I tried changing the thermistor, but that didn't have any effect. Also tried swapping the extruder thermistor with the hot bed thermistor, but there was no effect on both. I checked both the connector and the socket of the thermistor for shorts but found none. Any ideas about the reason this is happening?
-Using Skynet3D 2.3.2 on the stock Anet board.
EDIT
I tried burning the bootloader and flashing the firmware onto the Anet V1.0 board using an Arduino UNO as an ISP, but that had absolutely no effect.
EDIT 2
I measured R41 located next to the hotend thermistor header

and found out it has a resistance of 1.5kΩ, while it should have a resistance of 4.7kΩ, so I suspect this is the main reason behind this high reading. Now the only thing left to figure out is how the resistance of this resistor changed.
I was able to figure out which resistor to measure with the help of this schematic: https://github.com/ralf-e/ANET-3D-Board-V1.0/blob/master/ANET3D_Board_Schematic.png
EDIT 3
I tested T56 (located near the headers) and T55 (located near the ATMEGA1284P) for continuity, and found out there's no connection between those, while they should be connected according to the schematics. I also checked the hotbed's terminals T54 and T53 and found continuity between them, which  means the problem might be in the trace between the thermistor header and input pin of the ATMEGA chip (this trace is VERY thin, so any overcurrent might cut it), or any component in this trace.

My guess is the A/D converter chip, or a trim resistor attached to it, is blown, so the reading is pinned at some absurd binary value.

Did the flash ("burning") succeed? Or was the flashing itself a no-success?

@Valmond yes it succeeded with the arduino as ISP method, but flashing with a USB cable doesn't work, and it just keeps giving me out of sync errors.

smells like a fried board, as you can't flash with USB and it just happened "like that". I don't know your printer so please tell if a crash on a clip could break the electronics / some cable (it seems unlikely butt maybe your printer is made so it might happen)?

Having read the issue, it seems that this is a common problem for the ANET3D board. I'd like to ask two questions: 1. Is it possible to sever connections to the ATMEGA and use the hardware itself while controlled with the Raspberry Pi or some other dev board? 2. While waiting for a new board (seems to be the only cost/time effective choice), is there any way to use the other temperature circuit (likely having to do some work in Arduino IDE)? My Hot End decided to set itself to 265°C while my bed is reading the new thermistor on the new Hot End just fine. I need to get a few prints made while w

I've been doing #2 for a week now. I swapped ports of the nozzle and hotbed. Now I have a functional nozzle but the bed cannot be heated. The new hardware should arrive soon though. As for #1, it would be very hard to do since the ATMEGA chip is an SMD package.

I figured #1 was too much to hope for, but I had to ask.   So, when you swapped the heater circuits, what did you have to modify in configuration.h to convince the firmware to accept the modified input?

in sanguino.h there are two lines which define the pins for the hotbed thermistor and the nozzle thermistor. One of them is 6 and the other is 7, and I just swapped those two. The lines are next to each other.

Toonis, you are a scholar!  Thank you!  Though, I always feel weird not returning the favor.  My primary role in life revolves around fixing mechanical things.  Anything I can help with?

Hi user11040, and welcome to SE.3D Printing! Unfortunately, your answer does not answer the question. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages.  The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way.  I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the Ask Question link at the top of the page? This answer will unfortunately have to be deleted. @Toonis, once the OP has reposted the question, can you resubmit the answer that you provided in a comment, as an answer?

Please see https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/274/hotend-question-posted-as-a-answer. Again, I apologise for this additional work, but this is how StackExchange operates. If you post your query as a standalone answer, it will be easier to search for and quite proabably help other people with the same issue.

When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place. Please understand, that your question is of high quality and well presented, but it was just posted in the wrong place. It will be converted to a comment of the original question in about two days and it would be a shame to lose it (as an actual searchable question as well as  the answer from Toonis) if you don't resubmit it. Please take time to read the tour. :-)

@user11040 -  I have reposted your answer as this question: How to use an Anet A8 control board with a damaged AVR IC?. Please feel free to edit it.

@Tooniis - I have posted your comments as an answer to How to use an Anet A8 control board with a damaged AVR IC?. Please feel free to edit it.

r41 and r37 what type are? 0805 or 0603, i have the same problem and i will try to change them ...

Welcome to the stack. take the [tour], and when identifying parts, look at them: R27 is a 472 flat SMD resistor, just like R41. the coding on them is XYZ, and to get the value you read (10*x+Y)*10^Z, so in this case 4,7 kΩ; 102 is 1 kΩ, 103 10 kΩ

I had the same issue. Hot-end temperature reading stuck at 209 degrees even with hot-end thermistor disconnected  or swapped with bed thermistor on the Anet A8 mainboard.
After ordering and swapping the AtMega1284p (using jtagice3 and hot-air soldering station) and the 4.7 Kohm resistor (which measured 2.06Kohm on the board and 4.7kohm off the board) to no avail, the only component left in the circuit that could cause the failure was the capacitor.
Swapping the capacitor C47 fixed the stuck reading for me. I used a 10uF instead of a 15uF capacitor as indicated in the schematic. I do not believe it makes much of a difference, and they are much more common. Make sure the capacitor can withstand at least 10V, but I got a 30V one, because the price was similar.
To any body that runs into this issue, before spending time and money swapping components like I did, measure the voltage of the node between R41 and C47 with respect to ground. This is labeled T56 or test point 56. Compare this voltage to T54, T60, T58, and T62 where similar circuits are placed. You should get a voltage of around 5V ( the pull-up voltage) in the functioning circuits, since we are talking about DC voltage, the capacitor should charge up nearly instantly when the the board is powered, and behave as an open-circuit.
In my case, C47 was almost in full short-circuit, and I read a low voltage on T56 ( ~0.5v).
Since the capacitor was in a low impedance failure mode, the 5V supply voltage of the voltage divider circuit was not enough to power it, hence the fixed temperature readings of the hot-end thermistor ADC channel regardless of the thermistor being connected or not.
Good luck!

and found out it has a resistance of 1.5kΩ, while it should have a resistance of 4.7kΩ, so I suspect this is the main reason behind this high reading. Now the only thing left to figure out is how the resistance of this resistor changed.

You can't measure the resistance of a resistor in circuit - the resistance probably appears to be lower to your multimeter because of some other circuit elements. There's also no reasonable explanation for how a 4.7k resistor could suddenly turn into a 1.5k one. It's highly unlikely this resistor is the cause of your issues.
It is more likely something else is damaged, likely the AtMega1284p microcontroller itself. When your extruder touched the bed clip, perhaps the 12V from the bed shorted through the clip and to the extruder? I would guess that the 12V shorted itself to the thermistor input, which subsequently blew the ESD protection diode on that input. This might explain the high reading and the low apparent resistance of R41.

The reason why I am assuming my measurement is accurate is because when measuring the resistor next to it R37 which is part of a similar circuit, it measures 4.7kΩ.

The 5V regulator is fine since the other sensors which are getting power from it work perfectly. It could be the diode you mentioned, or the input pin which the thermistor is connected to in the ATMEGA1284P chip.

@Tooniis As I mentioned in my answer, applying 12V to the thermistor input would damage the ESD diode on that input. The ESD diode connects the pin to 5V, so that in case of an overvoltage current can flow to the 5V pin. If the ESD diode is indeed damaged then it could be in a permanently conducting state, lowering the resistance.

Is "the ESD diode on that input" something that can be replaced or is it internal on the chip?

@PaulWhiteley It is internal.


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Fusion 360 M3D Slicer
I have created a design with fusion 360. I tried to print it with my M3D Pro printer but it seems the designs have a flaw.
If I try to print the bottom part, the second layer is wrong. It seems to have moved to the left by a few centimeters.
Here is the link to the .stl files and pictures of how the first few layers turned out.
https://seafile.fmk.me/d/09e43aa7fc8e416ab187/

The bottom.stl file can be loaded and viewed in the m3d software but leads to faulty print after the first layer. The top.stl cannot even be viewed in the M3D software.
Other 3D files from thingiverse etc. can be printed without a problem.
Do I need to enable any special features to be able to print those files correctly?
Yours, Felix

I am not sure what you mean by the "bottom" and "top" stl.  An stl file is usually for the whole object, not only one layer.  Is your last paragraph two questions, a single statement followed by a question.  I find it confusing.    Also, I think it is possible to embed pictures within your question.  Doing so will let more peiple view them, since many (including me) are reluctant to open an unknown, uncontrolled site.

Bottom and top are two parts of a full enclosure that i try to print.

Apparently my x belt and/or my x motor is broken. Getting replacement parts fixing the problem!

Whilst your answer is presumably correct - seeing that you are answering your own question :-) - could you expand upon it a little? By broken what exactly was the problem? Worn belt, loose belt, missing teeth, worn motor, faulty motor, etc? What exactly did you have to change to resolve the problem? Was it the belt, OR the motor OR both? If you could kindly update your answer, it may provide invaluable help for other people who are experiencing the same problems that you were experiencing. Thanks.

A gear or the connection of the gear to the motor broke and slipped on some of the movements. The printer is currently in repair so that the status!

FMK, I loaded the two STL files, top.stl and bottom.stl into Meshmixer. Using Analysis, Inspector, no errors were found in the models. I then loaded the STL files into my slicer, Simplify3D. Due to common Y/Z exchange, the models were loaded in a vertical orientation. It was simple enough to use "Place surface on bed" to get things "squared up."
The g-code preview showed also no failure points.
My first suggestion would be to ensure that you have your model flat to the bed. I've run into too many Thingiverse models that the creator made with a non-zero planar reference, that is, the model was tilted a few degrees.
You say that you created the model in Fusion 360, which would imply that your model is square to the plane.
I'm not familiar with M3D software, but if you have the option to use a different slicer, use Slic3r or Cura to see if you have the same results.
As it stands, I'd consider no fault in the model files.

Thanks for the checking of my model files, since im am rotating the files in the m3d software myself i need to check if it is sitting plane on the ground.


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What else can I use for a 3D Printer frame?
I am building a 3d Printer here:

Build Volume: X:300mm, Y:300mm, Z:400mm
Mechanism: 1 motor, 2 leadscrew, 4 rod Z-axis; CoreXY head movement
Belt: GT2 6mm Steel Core
Pulley & Idler: 20T 6mm, Bore 5mm
Extruder: E3D Titan, Pancake NEMA 17
Hotend: E3D V6
Motors: XYZ: 0.9deg NEMA 17 34mm
Electronics: Mega2560 + RAMPS 1.4, TMC2100, Opto-endstops min & max
Electrical: SSR, Silicone Heat-mat 600W 300x300mm
Bed: 3-point aluminium

Problem is, I can't get V-slots or T-slots easily where I live.
I can get Steel Rods or Seamless pipes, and Bearings & Drylin bushings.
What aluminium profiles can I use to construct a rigid frame and accurate movement?

You want stability, not only in regard to compression and tension, but also bending and torsion (and shear and fatigue). There is a good reason why more expensive and/or precise printers use the structural members they do. The profile is at least as important as the material. If you're serious about your build, invest in good structural angle stock - although t-slot like 80/20 is easier to use. We used 80/20 for our prototypes before designing custom extrusions.

Were I to build a frame now, I might use 1" square steel tubing members, welded together.  You could also use aluminum, but for the same cross-section, the steel will be stronger.  It is also easier to weld.  If welding is not available, you are limited to shapes which can be bolted together.  This is not impossible, but it requires more thoughtful design.
For the guides for moving or sliding elements, stainless steel drill rod is good.  Because it is round, it doesn't constrain rotating motion, so you might need two drill rods, spaced as far apart as your design allows.  The twisting force will be harder to manage with rods than it would be with a solid element.  If the parts are moving during printing, you could consider stainless steel tube or aluminum rod to keep down the weight.
If you have the machining ability, instead of rods you could use a T cross-section (steel or aluminum) with wheels rolling on the two outside elements of the T.  Machine is likely needed to adjust the profile of the edge to more closely match the wheels (which could be /V\ shaped), and to make the separation be accurate enough that you wouldn't need a spring element to clamp to the T.
There are many materials and forms that could work.  You are limited only by your fabrication ability and access to materials.


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How to design a worm-gear in FreeCAD?
I want to print worm gears for my robot arm. I would like to design it in FreeCAD. Normally, I would use involute gear for regular gears. However, this tool cannot be used for worm gears. I can't find any add-ons for this.
Is it possible to produce a worm gear automatically? If not, how can I make it manually?

As far as I know there is not a workbench capable of producing the design you want with a single click "new worm gear".  But it is a rather simple affair to create the part you want from scratch.
What you want to do is to sweep a sketch along a helix.  It is a very similar process to the one you would follow to create a thread documented in the official tutorial (it's the "method #3" on that page).  This is how it should look like:

Since helices are subject to a few limitation in FreeCAD, I recommend to read the section called "tricks to success" and the following tips, as it is very likely you will incur in problems otherwise.


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Is Simplify 3D really worth it?
I've heard alot about simplify 3D recently. It sounds like it's a great software, but 150 dollars!? The only thing that seems too different from other slicers is the placable supports, but Z suite has that now as well. Cura must be coming out with placable supports soon if they're going to stay in the game. It does also have dual extrusion, but so does just about every other free slicer out there. I just don't understand what makes it worth 150 US dollars.

There's a 2 week refund period, in case you buy it but end up not liking it.

I know it's opinion based but I'm going to answer anyways because I asked myself that same question before I purchased it. Simplify can be used in Remote Desktop sessions; Cura cannot. Cura's 3d rendering engine prevents it from even launching. Simplify uses all your cpu cores to slice, most others don't. Simplify documents it's g-code with the settings used to generate it. Most others don't. Simplify allows for different post processing options (e.g. infill) for different objects on the bed; most don't. Simplify allows you to see the effect of velocity painting; most don't. This includes Cura

The free slicers are catching up with Simplify3D, and are even overtaking it in some areas, so purchasing it may not make much sense to hobbyists. However, for professional print shops, where printers may cost twenty times as much (or even more), 150 dollars is nothing (especially since it is 150 dollars per PC, not 150 dollars per printer).

Well, simplify 3D has more than only placeable supports and I'm very happy with it. I Made my 3D printers and I had headaches with free slicers due I had to review the final result on pronterface, of course this programs was unable to run perfectly on P4 PC's with XP.
When I started to change for other programs I recurr to use Cura, getting a nice prints but I had problems with Z offsets and a lot of burrs or "spider threads".
Then I could get simplify 3D, since the first printing I never changed again to other slicers and even Cura. I have set multiple setting for diferent filament types according their better flow temperature and printer type since I use the same program in one PC for 3 printers and planing to get 2 aditional printers.
Printers are almost free, software not.


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I found a filament that can be used for really precise FDM printing, Who could I hire to create a custom nozzle for it
I found this low temperature filament for 3d printing, Low Temperature Filament 0.5kg 1.75mm, White
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I can use it for a really precise nozzle because it's so runny at normal printing temperature, the thing is, you obviously can't get nozzles at the size I'm taking about, so with that said, who could I hire to make one?

You can get nozzles down to 0.1mm. You can also get undrilled nozzles. How much lower do you want to go?

Runniness is pretty much irrelevant.  What matters is how quickly the extruded goop freezes.  Even more important - if your slicer software doesn't "know" about the material characteristics, or the nozzle diameter, you'll get nowhere.

Further, I see nothing at that site indicating the viscosity is any different from other materials.   Compare:  water melts at 0 Celsius but does not get even "runnier" at the melting point of gallium.

If you want more precise printing normal PLA/ABS works just fine with a smaller nozzle (like a 0.1mm nozzle), if you want to get even more details you need an SLA printer. Taking low temp filament and using it at high temp will probably just ruin the print and not improve resolution at all (most plastics burn when you overheat them)

Hi koopa, would you like to edit your question, and specify what size nozzle you are referring to..? If you could make your question a bit more concrete, it could be reopened. As it stands it is a little vague. As Mick states in his comment, there are 0.1 mm nozzles available, why can't you use that size?

@koopa :D probably nobody can make a custom nozzle for something that you have only in your mind. But there are a lot of drill bits to create for all the sizes available.

You won't need specialized nozzles, you understand the material wrong:
The benefit the properties of this material grant is not super fine prints (which you can get with small nozzles like 0.1 mm already), it is that you can print at super low temperatures. Printing it at standard 200°C will mean, that it won't solidify in the time the printer needs it to, and your walls will all melt down - in worst case it boils off and degrades into useless goop!
You might print PCL onto an already completed print made from a different material with higher printing temperature (if your slicer lets you do that...), like to make a form-shaped piece.
It's low melting point also means you could print parts with it that you want to deform under low heat, like a standard shaped flat shin and then just dunk it into 60°C water or put onto a (towel shielded) pocket heater before molding it around the patient, making perfect fits from easy transportable (flat) parts. Or you print "rivets", which you heat, put through the holes in other prints and then flatten with a pair of pliers.
Also, it is one of the cheaper conductive filaments. You might find this article or the RepRap Wiki enlightening.
Beware though: Many printers have a MinTemp set! For example the Ultimaker at 175°C, and you have to force the machine to ignore this with M302.

I have been looking for some where that could make a custom nozzle and the only place I have found so far that I think might be able to is: https://www.emachineshop.com/
You would need to draw up the design of the nozzle in the software on their web site and see if they could make what you want.

They probably will demand that you take a massive amount of the nozzles if they do agree to manufacture them. Or charge insane amounts for 1 item.


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How easily can I remove/replace the nozzle of the prusa i3?
I'm considering getting a prusa i3 after my da vinci jr. fiasco, with that said, how easily can I remove/replace the nozzle in order to clean it?

"A Prusa i3" doesn't uniquely identify a printer. Also, it's very hard to quantify "easily". It depends on your skill level and what you consider "easy". Could you perhaps formulate a more specific question about swapping nozzles?

Assuming you have a typical setup:  nozzle threaded into heater block, use a socket wrench on the nozzle and any wrench or vise-grip on the block, and unscrew the nozzle.  Now, if your system is fully clogged, you may want to heat the head to melt all the residual gunk (which otherwise will strongly resist your unscrewing force).  Obviously take care not to burn yourself if removing the nozzle while hot.
Alternatively,  don't bother removing the nozzle.  Raise the extruder as high (Z-axis) as you can, heat, and use a properly-sized stiff wire to ream out the nozzle.  You can use the back end of a microdrill bit.  Hot or cold, you can use the drill itself to ream, but be very cautious as you may widen the nozzle itself doing this.
I should add that you may well have gunk in the feeder tube, and that's considerably wider diameter. Remove the nozzle and gently drill out the feeder with a matching drill.

so you just unscrew it?

Never try to remove the nozzle if the filament is installed, take out the filament, wait until the residual filament flow alone (2 minutes), then unscrew the nozzle.

authors: شات صدفة للجوال


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Makerbot layer thickness
I'm using PETG, the thickness of the filament is 1.75mm, in MakerBot there is a setting for "Layer Height", the default is 0.1mm, I've had lots of messed up prints with this material and I'm thinking it could be this setting that needs adjustment.
What layer thickness should be used?
Found this:  http://forum.makergear.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2593

Unlike PLA, PETG does not like to be "squidged" down, it likes to be laid down. If you use too small a layer height, there is the danger of the filament sticking to the nozzle, rather than the bed (or filament already laid down). Try using a larger layer height -- between 0.2mm and 0.3mm, if you have a 0.4mm nozzle.

Thank you, I've set the Layer Height to 0.25 and now its printing fine, world of difference.

@SPlatten There is no good reason for a default layer height of 0.1mm, although some printer manufacturers use it. A layer height of 0.2mm should be fine for most applications.


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Tips for printing and being able to get of base easily
I'm very new to 3D printing and I've had numerous failed prints. Sometimes, the print is good but while trying to get it off the base I end up bending or breaking the print.
My question is: How to I print and make it easier to release from the plate?
I'm printing with PETG, PLA and ABS. At the moment, it's PETG that is giving me trouble.
My printer is a QIDITECH Dual Extruder.
I found this:
https://all3dp.com/1/remove-3d-print-from-bed-stuck-glass/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6fudqMEGyI
I haven't tried any of the proposed solutions yet.

This is a difficult question to answer on StackExchange, simply because there are too many possible answers. Really, it is a matter of opinion, and such questions are discouraged. You might be better off on Facebook Groups or Reddit, where asking for opinions is the norm (and you will get answers very quickly). Note that PETG loves to stick to PEI sheets and won't let go. The air duster might just work.

Why are you asking before trying the proposed methods?

I edited the post and added the new findings later....I've tried a few things, its been suggested using tap to print on, which I've ordered and will try.

In the end I found using the tape was a great help, getting the level correct is also a big help.

The all3dp article you linked to is very comprehensive and shows what are the "approaches" to print removal, rather than just the tools.  For the sake of keeping all info accessible here, the article highlight these 6 approaches:

Brute force
Wedge the joint apart
Thermal difference
Chemical reaction
Mechanical cut
Bed warping

To that list I would add a final class of solutions that I would call "sacrificial surface": use some removable substrate like painter's tape and remove that from the bed rather than the print from it.  Once the print+surface is off the printer than is normally very easy to scrape or sand the material off the print.

I would reccomend heating up the base a bit. If your printer doesnt come with such an option, try heat-gun.

The bed is heated and yes I’ve tried this.  I’m hoping the tape will solve the issue.

I am new myself and here is what helps me:
1.) Make sure your z-offset is correct, you want it to just be enough to stick, you do not want the nozzle pushing the filament into the base any harder than it has to.
2.) For pieces that are too short or otherwise shaped so as not to be able to grab and pull off easy, I generally will use a raft as I find the rafts are easier to pry off than the piece itself, even if the piece already has a large surface area exposed to the bed.
3.) Get a print removal tool if you don't have one (mine came with one). I don't have a glass bed but would likely want to be careful here. It's basically a metal spatula. These can be purchased on amazon under 3d printing accessories..
I know some other people will use Kapton tape or magigoo which are available on Amazon. I'm NOT CERTAIN that these are to help with removal (magigoo says its an adhesive that's designed to release the print after its cooled). Kapton tape I'm just speculating as I see it advertised everywhere for 3d printing, so I would research further on these.

I use multiple layers of Elmer's white glue on the glass bed (five layers I think). The glue is PVA which provides a textured surface onto which the PETG adheres. It sticks better when the bed is hot than when the bed is cold. I use a bed temp of 58 degrees on my Anet A8. I have found out that the temp reported by the Anet is lower than the temperature that I measured the surface of the glass to be with my temperature probe. The PETG removes some of the layers of PVA when it comes off. For this reason I'm constantly needing to add more glue to the area that was printed, until the surface is so uneven that I have to remove the glass plate, clean it and start over again. If you take this advice, never flip the glass plate over onto the bare aluminum with the glue on it, as it will stick very firmly!
My colleague in work who has the same Anet A8 uses a glue stick in place of white glue. He also has a good experience printing PETG in this manner. I have tried his glue stick method, and found it difficult to clean when it's time to clean the glass. Now I live by my white glue method.
To apply the glue I use a foam artist's brush to make the layer nice and even. I let each layer dry before I apply the subsequent layers. After each use I quickly wash the brush because the glue will harden in the foam and cause the brush to wear out.
I also use this method with PLA, and TPU.

PID-tune your Heatbed


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Powder 3D Printer
I purchased a Z Corp Printer more than 10 years ago and wonder what I can do with it now.  Everything has gone to the Extrude method rather than the additive method.  Am I the proud owner of a fancy boat anchor.

Everything has gone to the Extrude method rather than the additive method; no, only the hobbyist 3D printing scene has gone to the extrude method (FDM). In professional contexts, other methods of 3D printing (including your Z-Corp machine) are as popular as ever.

A quick search of the interweb shows that 3D Systems purchased ZCorp many years ago. A short review of the printer prior to the purchase also shows that the printer had, as one of the many negative points, a problem with sourcing printing supplies, as it is considered proprietary.
Additional searching brought up articles suggesting that one could create the media using common materials or by mixing other common materials, but the article I found did not expound beyond referencing gypsum powder and a couple other "normal" items.
If you have working software and perform a search for the specific model number combined with the words "printing supplies," you may find additional insight into creating your own media. One article suggested that you could print with sugar, a rather novel concept.
The killer with devices of this type is the proprietary handle.
This appears to be the sort of device that appears on Craigslist or abandoned in an estate sale. If you were local to me, I'd make an offer for the value of the internal components, although I'd also take a shot at printing with sugar or similar granular material. The idea of a laundry detergent Benchy comes to mind.

Come to think of it.  I heard at some time that it could use Alcohol of some sort.  Might have been Vodka but I don't know what the medium would be.


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Are 3D printed gears applicable for industrial use?
Are 3D printed gears applicable for industrial use?
I want to print some gears with ABS.

What will their lifespan be? How long will they last if I use them, for example, every day?

What sort of gears, and what size? It is possible to print gears, but the teeth need to be quite large (and tolerances will be poor). Some extruder designs use 3D-printed reduction gears. If you are planning mass-production, forget it.

Worm gear. The size will be about a half sheet of paper. It is not for mass production. I want to use it for a robot. This robot will used every day for at least 10 hours. For me it is important that this arm works without damage for a few years. The size of the teeth are big. But when will it break (ABS)?

How much load will the gear be under?

The steppers torque is about .5Nm. The worm gear will increase the the torque about 50-60 times. I need a Torque of 20-30Nm for the output.

This depends on the material you use and the orientation; it should be printed flat, so the layer boundaries don't weaken the teeth. Printed in PEEK or PPSU? Absolutely. PETG? Probably. PLA? I wouldn't.

@user8886193 you should [edit] your question to add the comments informations.

Did you look into other materials, the nylon filaments are much more durable then ABS (for example, the last time I looked for something really durable I found Taulman Alloy 910, there are probably even better options now)

If you're using them industrially, you would probably want to use polycarbonate or nylon, because those are both considerably stronger than ABS, and will last you much longer and work much better.

Survivability of parts is a very tricky topic, because a lot of factors go into it. While ABS is a common industrial plastic for molding, FDM introduces quite different challenges that can impact the time a piece lives. I can't estimate a lifetime for you, but I will illustrate why we can't estimate it for you, giving you things to think about in your design process:
Problem 1 - What's the printed internal part geometry?
FDM introduces boundries in 2 (r,z) dimensions . Not just the z layers above each other do have boundries that can and will become plane of failure, each layer consists of one filament1 that was deposited side by side to itself. These neighboring pieces (distinguishable by r in cylindrical coordinates) have a boundry that is not of the same strength as staying on the same piece and following it around (and changing ψ) a solid chunk of ABS (as you would get with molding). under stress, these boundries can crack. If you want to force your piece to have such a fate just to see how it looks: mount a 0.4 mm nozzle in a machine calibrated for 0.35 mm and run a 0.35 mm sliced print - it should be easy to crack it apart into a long snail of filament. Or declare your filament to be 3mm in a 1.75mm machine. The Horrible underextrusion and lack of pressure against already deposited filament makes it possible to unravel the whole filament at times.
Problem 2 - What is the intended use?
Use is not the same as use. Yes, it might sound unintuitive, but depending on how a piece is used, stress on the part is different. Let's take the same two gears. We put one of them in a hand mixer and a superlight drone. In the mixer it will spin rapidly against medium to tough loads (depending on dough) over medium periods (the timeframe here is usually minutes at max) of time. In the drone it will have considerably less load, but it will spin for much longer, maybe up to hours if the pilot is very capeable and the batteries last. In both cases wear and tear will be quite different.
Problem 3 - What determines strength?
Strength of the part is not only determined by the filament used, it is ALSO determined by tons of other variables. Print orientation. With enclosure or not. Humidity during print. If the surface of the part is sealed or not after the print. If it was postprocessed somehow to increase capabilities. If the piece is printed hollow or solid. How long did it cure or harden after the print... There are so many variables, that each guess would be quite wild.
Problem 4 - How to get the lifetime now?!
You can't guesstimate the reliability of a product from its design and makeup only. That is why design departments create prototypes: To rigerously test the products. This is how they learn how safe or sturdy their product is. They make prototypes and purposefully put them under various kinds of stress until they break. For gears this involves spinning them in a gearbox for hours nonstop until they break, force them against a blokaded gearbox till they break, run the gearbox dry, hot or freezing, and also under other very destructive conditions. Part of this destructive test is an accelerated life time test that, just like other tests in this stage, tries to find out the maximum parameters it is useable with. A common test for hand mixers apparently is to run them 2 minutes against some gooy substance, then stop some time before repeating.

1 - For the math inclined: the filament can be represented as a function in cylidrical coordinates, f(r,φ,z)=r(ψ)*φ(ψ)+z(ψ), where ψ the path-parameter of the filament - or in other words the length already traveled. To some degree, a G-code is generated by first creating such a function and then creating the tool path from this.

Well, to determine the time life of the gears you will need to do a test called ALT (Accelerated Life Time) but the parts should be last for a long time (not years) however this can be determined by thickness.
The torque required is not than much like a tuning up the radio volume, so if you are going to create a gear box to increase torque, just grease the parts to reduce heating on friction.


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Proof that Slicing Plane/STL intersection will only produce Closed-Loop Polygons?
I am writing my own slicer and wonder if there is a mathematical proof that proves that the intersection of the slicing plane with the STL file will only produce closed-loop polygons for every given slicing plane?
Thanks!

You can't prove that because it isn't true. An STL file is just a collection of triangles. There is no guarantee that an intersection with the slicing plane will consist of closed-loop polygons. To be suitable for 3D printing an STL file should represent one or more closed, disjoint polyhedra (which would yield closed-loop polygons) but this is not always the case. Many slicers have heuristics to try and "fix" bad STL files on a best-effort basis. Especially considering the possibility of rounding errors, it is important to at least detect polygons that are almost (but not quite) closed and connect their endpoints together.

I am also trying to write my own slicer and so I would just like to offer some additional information.
What you will find is that .stl files just store triangles and don't validate that the triangles assemble to create a printable model so a lot if not most .stl files are going to have data that isn't exactly what you want it to be. So you will want to have additional steps before you get to slicing, to fix up the data you get from the stl file.
A lot of stl models are designed for 3d graphics where intersecting other triangles and not being manifold isn't an issue. So you will probably want to write some code to test your models before trying to slice them.
For example if you just sliced the layers of the Utah Teapot
 and don't repair the model for 3D printing first you will get two different types of errors. The handle of the teapot does not actually attach to the teapot and is a separate model. And the spout of the teapot is a separate model that intersects the teapot. Both the handle and spout are also open at the ends and not water tight.

Surely the spout not being watertight is correct for one of the ends and should not be repaired.

As a 3D object to display on a computer the spout not being closed is not an issue and will look how you would expect a teapot to look. But for constructing a physical model you need information about the thickness of the walls of the spout. This information about the thickness should be given by including information about the inside walls of the shape, and the lip of the spout.


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Using KISSlicer from command line on Linux?
Is there a way to use KISSlicer from the Linux command line?
Or convert KISSlicer settings/profile to Slic3r/CuraEngine?

Apparently you require a PRO license for using the command line interface.
As of version 1.6 the following command line options are implemented:


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Why is my 3D printer over extruding when I have set the flow rate very low?
I am using Cura to slice my prints, and despite turning the flow rate to the minimum value of 5%, my prints are still hugely over-extruding.
I have calibrated the extruder stepper perfectly, using Pronterface, so I do not understand why this is occurring. I have also timed how long it took to extrude a certain length and compared it to the length of time it was meant to extrude and it was exactly the same. Therefore, I have concluded it is not a problem with the calibration of the stepper.
So, I think there is a problem with the settings on Cura. Originally, I had the flow rate at 100% and this was really, really terrible. Then I turned it down as far as possible and the print got better but there was still over-extrusion. I can't down it down any further.
I can not figure out what the problem could possibly be and as you would imagine it is very, very frustrating.
Here is the print profile:

So the printer is not of any model, as it is a homemade CD drive 3D printer. It shares many similarities with the Curiosity3D printer, so if you want more information on how it works, then their website will be of much value.
The extruder is a Bowden-style one. It uses a cheap E3D hotend and a RepRap extruder kit as the motor.
Here are the Machine settings:

This is a photo of two failed prints. On the left is a G and on the right is a heart.

This is what it was the G was meant to look like:

So here is my configuration.h file which I previously modified for my 3D printer. The filament I use is "Robox PLA SmartReel Cornflower Blue".

210 is a bit much for pla, i suggest going for 185 or 195. Do you have a picture of the result you get? You say its under extruding but with a picture we can determine better if it is or not.

Maybe you do not have microstepping enabled (so extruding, for example 16 or 32 times too fast)

@Valmond I currently have all three jumpers slotted onto the pins on the extruder stepper driver area of the ramps board. I thinks this give 64x microstepping. Is there a setting I have too change, if I do this?

No, if it would have been the other way around then maybe, but for this you seem to be good. Now with your added printer info, what firmware do you use? If it is Marlin (as the Curiosity3D does), then check the extruder configuration! You have direct drive (as Curiosity3D ), many use geared down drive which could be your problem. Have you flashed it yourself?

Plz post Configuration.h from Marlin firmware 2) Is the EEProm activated?

@Valmond Ok, so I have now added a link to the configuration on Dropbox. I do not know what EEProm does, but it seems "EEProm_settings" has been commented out. It seems that my motor is direct and after looking through the configuration it appears there is a section where I need to change "false" to "true" if I have a direct extruder, which I had not done. I have now changed this, but the problem still persists.

At first glance (line 527) values seems reasonable (if, as your sceencap states, your printable area is 37mm wide etc.). Is the printed item, roughly,correctly sized? If so, remove the bowden tube and make your controller software move, say, 100mm of filament through the extruder (mark before & after + measure), how much is it off ? -> correct line 527 (fourth value) + compile + flash ->redo testing until ok. EDIT: as eeprom seems disabled, maybe you are not overriding values with the 5% feedrate? Please tell.

@Valmond So, it seems to be printing at the correct size. I have also previously calibrated the extruder motor's steps per mm. I don't get how I can check if the the 5% flowrate is overriding values or not. What values is it meant to override?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

I fixed this issue a while back but I realised others might see this. I’m not exactly sure what fixed it though. I was meddling with the ee-prom when suddenly it started working again. I suspect somehow a different steps per mm value was stored on the ee-prom so no matter what I did to change it (in the firmware) it made no difference. Then I either changed the settings in the ee-prom or disable it. I can’t really remember.
When it started working it looked like nothing was extruding because 5% extrude rate really is very low!

First of all: Can you tell us, what kind of printer do you use and which material? Please give us some pictures of some prints as well.. Also the type of the Extruder setup is relevant. Is it a Bowden or Direct Driven extruder?
For an FDM machine like the Prusa styled printers with PLA:

Flow of 5 % is totally wrong, normally PLA should be run between 90 % and 105 % flawlessly. The problem is elsewhere but not with the Flow settings, nor the Temp is the faulty one.

Temp between 185 °C and 210 °C should be fine for most PLAs
Did you set up your printer correct in Cura (Preferences -> Printers -> Machine Settings)? Material Diameter, Nozzle size and G-Code flavour are correct?

If you give us some more information, I will be glad to get this solved.

As i can see from your images and your additional info, you suffer from multiple issues. It looks like your printing way too fast (reduce acceleration and jerk for all motors). As other guys mentioned: check that your motors don't skip steps. Maybe your Z-height is not well calibrated too.

The fact that your printer is a scratch build using low-power stepper motors would tend to indicate that the problems lie in your hardware and/or firmware. It is very difficult to provide advice for such printers, simply because most 3D printer owners will have zero experience with them.
Possible candidates for the causes of your problem are fairly obvious:

Check that the stepper motors are not skipping, and that you have the correct number of steps per millimetre.
Check that your extruder is not skipping, and has the correct number of steps per millimetre.
Check that your firmware is matching filament flow with extruder speeds correctly.
Check that your firmware is configured correctly. How you do this for a scratch build is largely down to you.

One thing that I would advise is that you reduce the jerk and acceleration values, since they look to be far too high.
You have done well to get so far with such a build, but you may have to ask yourself if there is anything to be gained in continuing with your project.

Look at the image posted, the motors are obviously skipping. His problem is not skipping though (in this post), but the extruder motor extruding too fast.

I guess that either you have the hotend too far away from the first layer (so looks like underextrusion), then wrong layer height / wrong z-configuration so the layers are too small, making plastic pile up (seems like over extrusion). Eventually if the Z-Driver skips steps, it could look the same (printer trying to print the same layer several times).
There is also some skipping in the drivers, as your layers are not correctly on top of each other, check if you can 'up' the amperage in the drivers, or slow everything down (speed, acceleration & jerk) til it works without skipping.
My best bet is that you should 1) first make your drivers stop skipping, 2) then carefully calibrate your machine using the configuration.h (line 527) so that x,y,z,e are all roughly okay at least.
Then start printing :-)
On a side note, you can also activate the EEPROM and store the new values with GCode, this is mostly a 'convenient' thing because you don't need to recompile and flash your board at every change, so maybe do that later when everything starts to work out OK.
HTH

I've been building 3D printers for a few years and working in the computer science field for over 2 decades. Here's a simple trick I use for adjusting your extruder steps.

Tweak your flow rate till it's where it should be. Then mark down
the percentage it's at.

Go into your configuration file and use that percentage to adjust the number of steps. So if $x$ is the number of steps and our flowrate is at 40 % to be extruding normal then:
$x * 0.4 =$ new step count

Save the file and compile.


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Does HydroFill support material work with ABS?
I just heard about this support material that claims to be both water soluble and compatible with ABS. Is this claim true?
From what I have heard it definitely dissolves, but I am skeptical of its compatibility with the Hydrophillic ABS.
I would be particularly interested in experiences with it on a Raise N2 plus dual