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Creality CR-10 extruder clicking and/or nozzle clogging
So I am fairly competent with 3D printing, but this problem has got me stumped. I use a Creality CR-10 and I hadn't printed anything off for quite a while (maybe 5 or 6 months?) and I just recently starting printing again. I got a roll of somewhat cheap, but highly reviewed, filament that I have had for around a year that had just been sitting in a cupboard and went through the process of levelling and setup before starting a print.
I started to print a model and left it, expecting it to work as it usually does, but came back later and it had failed halfway; it stopped clean with no spaghetti or continuous extrusion. I started the print again and watched it for a few layers to make sure everything was working fine, and found that it printed the first layer off perfectly fine, but as soon as it started the second layer the extruder gear starting making a clicking noise like it was slipping and the filament wasn't being extruded any further.
I thought this could be because the extruder gear was worn, as it is only brass, and the teeth weren't biting the filament, so I bought a steel one and replaced it; but it's still clicking. I then thought it could be because the nozzle was getting clogged, so I took off the hotend and cleaned it thoroughly but that didn't fix the problem; even if this was the case, it wouldn't make sense that it is regularly completing the first layer before getting 'clogged'. I also tried printing at hotter and cooler temperatures, with and without the heated bed, and printing at slower speeds, but all of these attempts fail to fix the problem.
I did have a brief thought that it COULD be a problem with the model or gcode, as I did print of a spacer for the spring in the feeder which printed off without any clicks, and I also printed off a smaller version of my model (33% scale) which  made the clicking noise intermittently and was affecting the filament but printed off fine in the end after I left it.
My final thought is that it could be the filament, as it isn't exactly new or expensive and was left for over 6 months, but before I buy a better roll I want to know if this is a viable reason for the clicking and slipping in the extruder. If anyone could help me out of give me any solutions I would be incredibly grateful. Thanks.
These are all my current settings in Slic3r:

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Can you tell us what type of filament you are using (PLA, PETG, etc) as well as what temps you are using to print it? And anything else which might be usable in helping to diagnose?

I'm printing pla and tried the temperatures from 190 to 210 in 5 degree intervals, also using the heated bed at 40 and 50 degrees. I also replaced the Bowden tube as I thought it was too short, but none of this fixed it.

I think you need to slow down random changes and try to identify the actual cause. Are you sure the nozzle is actually hot when it happens? My guess would be that it's stopped heating.

Another "d'oh" thing to check: your filament spool isn't sticking or cross-wrapped  so the feed is stuck?

I've tried changing the speed of the second layer from 60mms to 30mms and it still happens, even changing the printer to 50% speed. Also the filament is free and not tangled, but I'm pretty sure the problem is that the filament is getting stuck at the nozzle as after it started clicking, I tried pushing the filament through (while holding down the spring of course) and it wasn't extruding; I haven't checked the nozzle temperature after it happens and never thought to, so thanks for that suggestion.

This all happened before I cleaned the nozzle and I pulled out a quite substantial block of filament from the nozzle. But as soon as I printed again, it clicked. Any other suggestions?

How did you clean the nozzle? Is it possible you damaged it in a manner that caused it to keep clogging? After it starts clicking, can you manually force more material out of the nozzle by pushing it through the extruder with the gear/idler released? (Do this with the nozzle still heated.) Can you confirm by pressing a piece of filament against the nozzle and watching it melt that it's actually still at the nominal temperature?

Please check and post basic settings like retraction settings and temperatures, cooling fan percentage, etc. and insert by [edit]. See this template topic for example. Thanks!

Someone also had a similar problem and managed to fix theirs by heating up the hotend and tightening their nozzle a lot more than they thought; could anyone explain why this could be a problem?

New questions should be new questions, but probably because it's easier to tighten fittings and displace molten plastic than hardened plastic.

Turns out the filament was the problem, I tried printing a model with a high quality sample PLA filament I had and it printed perfectly; one of the cleanest prints I've had. Never skimp on filament.


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Anet A8 stock replacement fuse between motherboard and PSU
My inline fuse burned and I don't know how many ampere the new fuse should have.

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! It should be on the fuse itself.

A photo would help to avoid the chance of mis-communication and bad advice.

Couple things to note.
First one is that as @Paulster2 mentioned, the fuse itself should have its rating printed on it.
Second one is that if your fuse blew, there's a reason for that, and you really should try to figure out what that reason is before you start putting fuses back in. The Anet A8 isn't exactly what I'd call a high-quality kit, so there's a chance you've got a blown FET or something somewhere that has shorted closed and is just drawing power nonstop. You should start by getting a multimeter and checking the continuity of the power traces for your hotend and bed, without power in the system. You can do some basic safety checks that way.
Once you've gotten that done, if you're referring to a 12 V feed line, that should be somewhere in the ballpark of 20 A fuse. If it's a fuse on the mains power, it'll be like 1 A or 2 A depending on whether you're on 240 V or 120 V mains (respectively).

source: Stack Exchange

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

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How sensitive are all-metal print heads?
So my goal was to print in a variety of materials with my CR10, but all attempts up to now have failed. I've tried a variety of all-metal hot-ends (except Micro Swiss) with no success. For those with a similar Creality printer that successfully print with all metal ends, how sensitive are they? Do they only print with high temp materials? Is a head too close to the bed enough to jam it? Is a 5 mm retraction prone to jam it? Do I need to stick to a premium brand when it comes to all metal hot ends?

A 5 mm retraction is definitely enough to clog the hot end. Usually you shouldn't use more than 2-3 mm on an all metal hotend.
If that results in clogging, either go back to a PTFE-lined hotend, or go direct drive.

If that's true then all metal hotends are unusable with bowdens, which seems unlikely and mechanically implausible.  The first 3-5 mm of retraction don't pull the filament back out of thethe hotend at all. They only relieve pressure in the bowden.

While 5 mm retraction may be too much for some setups, it is not for others: e.g. the UM3 all metal hotend is capable of handling 6.5 mm of retraction (default Ultimaker Cura setting). You should also look into the cooling of the coldend/fins. It is usually heat creep that causes the clogging (which happened to my UM3 once when the cooling fan didn't rotate anymore because of debris in between the blades).

BTW to measure how much is compression in the bowden, mark on the filament with a sharpie after it's been pressurized by extrusion (manual or under printer control), then pinch the idler lever to release it and measure how far the mark moved.

Full definite answers on your questions are hard be given, there are a few parameters affecting the clogging of all-metal hotends.
All-metal hotends are considered so-called "upgrades" for printers while in fact they usually cause more problems. For high temperature filaments, like PC and some Nylons, etc. (printing temperature above 250 °C)  you require a hotend that can withstand higher temperatures for prolonged use of the hotend. The problem is that heat creep (heat climbing up the throat/heat break) causes low temperature melting filaments to become prematurely soft and cause problems when retracted.
This requires the printer operator to provide enough cooling air to the coldend of the hotend assembly (usually the part where the cooling fins are) to dissipate heat creeping up the heat break and carefully tune printing temperature and retraction length.
Note that Ultimaker Cura uses quite large retraction values (default 6.5 mm), which work perfectly for the UM3E. This could be closely related to the compression effect of the filament in the Bowden tube. The all-metal hotends from the UM3 are perfectly capable of printing low temperature filaments, so if dialed in correctly, such hotends are not only to be used for high temperature filaments.

+1 for "All-metal hotends are considered so-called "upgrades" for printers while in fact they usually cause more problems"

How about the case of having the head too close to the bed, can the molten plastic climb up the heat break?

@Mr.UNOwen It is hard to imagine what is going on inside the heatbreak. The heatbreak diameter is usually larger than the filament diameter, but also the molten filament has tack (sticks) to the wall sealing the gap. Repetitive retraction and possibly too much pressure will cause "mushrooming" resulting in the hotend to clog.

I'm going to give it one more try with 1.5 retraction. +1* for all the help. Edit: +1 once my reputation is high enough to do so. :P

So I've dropped retraction to 1.5 and tried 215c and 225c with PLA. The print slowly chokes out, with it initially flowing smoothly. When pulling out the filament, I see a spiral groove around the filament.

+1. The heat propagation to the cold part is indeed the main problem of the all-metal hotends. With small temperature increase in hot part the cold part increase non proportionally higher. I found this when switched to PETG with higher temperature of the hotend. Basically measuring temperature of the cold part showed that it become too close to solidifying temperature of the filament. The fast solution for me was to use two fans in parallel on top of each other (as some HP power supplies do).

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What kind of paint and varnish can be used with ABS?
I know that acrylic paint, the same kind that is used to paint miniature figurines, works best for PLA. Does it works on ABS pieces as well? Can I also use the same kind of varnish that is used for miniatures on my painted ABS prints? If not, what kind of paint and varnish works on ABS prints?

ABS is more soluble in solvents than is PLA.  Acetone will dissolve it, which can be a benefit because it allows vapor smoothing, but can be a problem with some paints which have solvents other than water.  Try out any new paint on a scrap piece.  Apply a thick dot of the paint, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then wipe it off.  If there is a change in the shape or color where the dot had been, the paint may be dissolving the ABS.
Acrylic has a water base and does not attack ABS.
A paint that attacks ABS may be fine, but there may be some color bleeding of the ABS color into the paint.  A translucent (or clear) ABS would minimize the problem, since does not contain any pigment.
Spray painting may work better because the paint is undisturbed once applied.  Brushing on paint will mix the dissolved layer with the unaltered paint.

authors: خرید بک لینک Spam


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Finishing sunken text in 3D prints
On several occasions I've wanted lettering/numbering printed as part of a design, but with the ability to make it stand out more effectively in the printed object without having to do detailed manual finishing. Is there a good material which can catch in and fill sunken (depth 0.4 mm, width 0.6-1.0 mm) lines/strokes of alphanumeric characters without sticking to the surface (including fine layer ridges) of the print? My best result so far has been with crayon wax, but I wonder if there are more suitable materials. (Polymer clay, perhaps?)
Results with crayons:

Durability is nice (and essential for some applications), but for many uses I have in mind it's not such a big deal. For example another place I've wanted clear text is on test panels to check nut/bolt thread sizes, in which case the text is unlikely to receive harsh treatment but any heat-based curing processes might effect the dimensional accuracy negatively. So both durable and non-durable solutions are interesting to me.

As suggested by Davo in a comment, nail polish works very well for this.

I've seem people use fingernail polish before, wiping the excess off while it's wet.

What works even better than wiping the excess off while it's wet is letting it fill up the pits and fully dry, then using acetone or other solvents to remove it from the non-sunken surface around the text. Acetone doesn't attack PLA, but I've found it does alter some PLA dyes, so alternate solvents might be preferable if that's a problem.
Here's the result of my first test:

I think your instinct is good.  The trick is finding the right modeling compound, with the right curing properties, that will stick to your polymer dice, and will be available in colors you like.
Amazon has some epoxy-based clays that appear to be either terra-cotta or black.  If these colors work, this may be the right choice.  Most epoxies will cling well, and it seems to have minimal shrinkage when hardening.  You could probably add some pigment and alter the color, but I doubt you could get a white, yellow, or any light color.
There are some air-drying clays, but the reviews show that these have higher shrinkage.
There are some bake-to-harden clays that harden between 250 and 300 degrees Farenheit.  If you printed with ABS or a high temperature plastic, it might work.  You would have to try it to know.  300 F is only 149 C, so maybe.  PLA wouldn't stand a chance.  If you can print polycarbonate, it might work better.
This material looks interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Modelling-Modeling-Tutorials-Accessories/dp/B0716D1VDM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_6  There are lots of colors, and it can be cured in a 275 Farenheit oven, with a hot-air gun, or by boiling in water.

Thanks. Note that while dice were an easy go-to example here, I've also had occasion to use inset text for thread size test plates and other places where durability (curing) of the text isn't as important as avoiding processes that might affect the dimensional accuracy of the printed piece. But I think you're right that these types of "clays" are probably the right direction for cases where I do want a durable result.

IIRC there are polymer clays that are supposed to be cured at only 125-150°F, which might be compatible with PLA...

One works out a process and the number of places it is applicable is amazing.  I have a multi-material Prusa printer, so I first went to "use multi-material", but I actually think for this purpose filling gaps with clay could be far better, and faster.

The boiling water cure is interesting since in my experience ABS stands up to boiling water.

I don't use ABS presently, but I do have and sometimes use PETG which might also stand up to boiling water.

No better way to learn than to try.  PETG can be used for coffee mugs, but it isn't as good as ABS.

Yeah, I want to spend some time figuring out how to use PETG well anyway. I should probably open another question on it. Still getting brittle results for small features and catastrophic ballooning of all sorts of print problems (strings/blobs/garbage getting drug all over the place) after attempted bridges go bad. :-P

Plasticine is fine if your dice don't get too hot. I've seem people use fingernail polish before, wiping the excess off while it's wet.

@Davo: Actually I was just thinking of trying nail polish. Judging from how polish remover works on nails, the excess on the surface/layer grooves should wipe off easily with acetone, while the acetone can't dissolve all the material down in the grooves, leaving a really clean finish. Acetone ruins some PLA dyes, but I also have methyl acetate based polish remover I could try.

@Davo: And it works quite well! See my answer. :-)


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Can linear guide rails be joined?
Take the standard Hiwin rail, as commonly used in 3D printers:

They come in a max length of 2500 mm. Let's say I need twice that. If I connect two rails together end to end (as a "butt joint") and just bolt them into place, will it work as though it was one 5000 mm rail? Or are we limited to whatever lengths the manufacturers put out.

Could you give a bit more context to make it a 3D printing question, as it is formulated, this would be more appropriate on the Engineering stack.

Technically they should, but the transition point may be rough. You have to make sure there's no room between the rails, or the balls might get stuck there.

This is presumably for a delta printer? Which make/model do you have?

No, its for printers in general.

The answer is yes; and it's a normal thing to do.
https://www.igus.com/info/linear-guides-butting-rails-together

Basically you should only do it with rails from the same manufacturer and you might have to file the mating surfaces, but butting them is altogether trivial. This method works with Drylin and UHMW-PE bearing surfaces as recirculating balls could get caught in the small gap that is left behind. This would cause the carriage to "jump" as it passes over the joint.

They need to be mounted to a very rigid piece.

You must include that this works for DryLin® bush bearings, these do not use ball bearings. I doubt it will work for the ball bearing type as a notch causes wear on the balls.


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Where to get smartphone shapes from, to create a case all by myself?
I'm looking for some kind of collection of shapes of smartphones, so I can design a case that will fit certain models perfectly.
STL, or any other kind of 3d file.
Lots of companies produce cases for smartphones, do they have the shapes straight from the manufacturer? Do they reverse engineer every model?
I'm asking here because I couldn't find a stack exchange site that would be a better fit for this kind of question.

I've done it by measurement of the phone - it's not hard. I might write up an answer on how to do that if you're interested

Having an actual CAD description of the dimensions is a lot more useful than an STL file for producing a printable and functional case, BTW.

I'm not aware of a source for STL files or engineering diagrams, but you can do the measurements yourself fairly easily. I did this to make credit-card-slot cases for my Moto G4 and the fit turned out very good.
Start with a digital caliper and measure the maximum length, width, and depth of the phone, ignoring rounded corners. Next, trace the phone on a piece of paper and use a straightedge to extend the flat parts of the sides to a bounding rectangle, and measure how far from the corner the curved part extends in each direction before meeting the flat part. Finally, if the sides of the phone are rounded too, estimate how thick the phone would be if you extended the curved edge to a full semicircle.
At this point, you can approximate the shape of the phone as the convex hull of 4 spheres scaled appropriately in the x, y, and z directions, if the sides are curved, or the convex hull of 4 cylinders scaled in just the x and y directions, if the sides are flat. In the former (spheres) case, the approximation will be thicker than the phone, and you have to slice off the top and bottom to match the arc segment that's actually present on the sides of the phone. There are ways to do this exactly but I found it doesn't need to be precise and you can just eyeball it.
In order to make a usable case, you'll also need to measure the distances of camera lens, buttons you want to expose, etc. from reference points. This is straightforward with a caliper.
Here's my result, following this procedure:

For engineering parts designed to fit existing ones, Revere Engineering is always needed... or having someone who gave you the design files.


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Problem with first and last layers
I bought Ender-5 and if I print sample model in bundle SD, it’s just perfect.

But when I tested basic cube with raft, its base and top is just ugly. Even thought its 4 sides are perfect.

Ultimaker Cura 4.2.1
Bed temperature 45 °C
Extruder temperature 200 °C

Which setting(s) should I check futher?

What filament diameter have you set in the slicer? Note that Cura defaults to 2.85mm. This will cause severe under-extrusion with 1.75mm filament, although it won't affect the G-code files supplied with the printer.

The picture of the cube doesn't show signs of being printed with 2.85 mm (instead of 1.75 mm); see e.g. "Print came out like a wafer".

You may want to ensure that your filament diameter is correctly set in your printer's CURA profile, and that your hot end is at the correct temperature for the material you are using. Additionally, you should not need a raft to print the cube, and should be able to do without a raft or brim.


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What is the 3D printer filament (or pellet) most resistant to bending at high heats?
I'm looking to 3D print a structure that won't deform in high heat, up to about 220 °C. The filament itself can be 3D printed all the way up to about 380 °C.
PEI seems like it could be a viable option. I found some here. This PEI filament  specifies the glass transition temperature at 217 °C.
Would this filament work? Are there any other types of materials that would fulfill this engineering requirement?

Your expected operating temperature exceeds the glass transition temperature by 3 °C. This implies that the structure will become weak and can deform under load.
Note that you cannot simply print PEI on a normal machine, it requires a special high temperature capable printer with hot end temperatures up to 400 °C and heated bed over 120 °C up to 160 °C, furthermore it will need a heated chamber (up to about 80 °C) which requires special care to cooling and placement of electronics and motors.
Not having specified what kind of structure you require, you could look into steel.

PEEK is also used in applications where dimensional stability (and/or chemical resistance) over a wide range of temperatures is desired. The requirements for printing are similar to those for PEI.

An easier but less simple solution might be to make a PLA 'pattern' that is the right size and shape, then use that to cast your item in aluminium  (melting point ~ 660C) using the 'investment' or 'lost PLA' process.
Links:-
https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Lost-PLA-Investment-Casting-Aluminium/


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Are there many differences between Ultimaker Cura and FlashForge FlashPrint slicers?
I recently bought a 3D printer called Dreamer NX from FlashForge. The dealer told me to use FlashPrint software that belongs to the FlashForge printer manufacturer. But, many people advise me to use Ultimaker Cura. Are there many differences between these two software packages?

This is likely to get closed as your question is primarily opinion based. There are far more slicers available, paid and free, than the two you reference. There are going to be at least as many opinions as to which one is the best. Even listing advantages and disadvantages results in opinions with minimal factual reference.

I think this is a very legitimate question. Some vendor slicing software is forks of the open source ones, and this isn't always obvious to non-software people, or even obvious what that might mean. While OP framed it in terms of a particular vendor's sw, a more general answer would be nice, explaining which vendor sw is forks, which is outdated relative to upstream, and whether there are reasons to actually prefer it.

The commonality of the 2 slicers is that both are developed and maintained by a printer manufacturer. The largest difference is that FlashPrint is closed/proprietary software, while Ultimaker Cura is released in source (so-called open source project) to the public; this is valid for both the frontend (Cura) (Graphical User Interface) as for the slicing core (CuraEngine). Basically this implies that there is a larger community developing and bug fixing the software. Also, FlashPrint is exclusively available for the FlashForge printers while Ultimaker Cura can be used for different brands as well.
Statement from www.3dprms.com:

The Flashpoint software is an in-house software program developed by FlashForge for use exclusively with the FlashForge 3D Printers

Statement from the Cura wikipedia:

Cura is an open source 3D printer slicing application. It was created by David Braam who was later employed by Ultimaker, a 3D printer manufacturing company, to maintain the software.

As FlashPrint is proprietary, it has no shared source repository and can therefore not be based on existing forks of software that are released under e.g. some version of the LGPL license as this implies that you need to share the amendments you made to the software, otherwise you would be in violation:

...any developer who modifies an LGPL-covered component is required to make their modified version available under the same LGPL license..

Note that discussing the exact differences in features between the 2 software packages (e.g. implementation differences of model support structures) would be more fit in a forum style discussion board rather than on a Stack Exchange site.

Additional note: The development cycle of Ultimater Cura is - because of how many people are helping bugsquashing - much faster. In the last year, there was one release every 2 to 4 months of Cura.

Perhaps this is veering out a little bit from being an answer to the specific differences between software functionality, but one important difference that shouldn't be overlooked is that whatever you learn with Cura is applicable to all FDM 3D printers.
Surely some setting tweaks you do might be specific to the properties of your particular printer, but a large amount of them, like choices of infill patterns, shells, adaptive layer heights, using secondary models as custom support and infill masks, breaking up models into multiple pieces for printing, etc. are completely printer-agnostic. If you learn to do these with software that's only usable (or at least only meant to be used) with your particular brand of printers, you'll have to translate/relearn if you later want to use a different printer, or help someone else who has a different brand of printer. If you learn with software that works with any printer, everything you learn is immediately applicable to different printers.


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Water-cooling stepper motor with aluminum block
On a budget, I'm water-cooling a 3D printer. I'm using a 5 V aquarium pump (\$3). Originally I tried to only use about as much water in a can of chickpeas but then found out i needed a lot more. I have a deliberate need to water cool stepper motors in the first printer, so that I can print with a high temperature filament like PEI (the operating temp of a stepper is maxed at about 53 degrees celsius; PEI requires an enclosure temperature of 80 °C), but on another printer I'm having some other issues with the motors that I think could be solved by better heat dissipation.
What I am getting to is a device like this:

It is the perfect size for a stepper motor. My plan is to zip-tie one of these to each stepper motor and water cool it in a single path across my printer, including the hot end.
Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't work? i just haven't heard of anyone doing anything like this, but it makes sense to me as a chemistry minor. The specific heat of water is way higher than almost anything else. And it is way less noisy than fans. And it works inside an enclosure, while fans might not
Should I ziptie the aluminum block to the back part of the stepper where the metal is, or to one of the darker black sides?
Would I be able to 3D print a cooling block like this instead of paying for it? See also this relevant question on thermal conductivity of various 3D printing filaments. It should probably be metal to transfer heat better?

Why are you convinced you need to water cool the steppers?

Well, for high temp printing (e.g. PEI with 350 deg C extrusion), I def have to. The operating temp of a stepper is maxed at about 53 degrees celsius. PEI recommends an enclosure temperature of 80 degrees celsius (!). NASA uses a custom air filtration system to cool the steppers, but this seems a lot easier. For this application, I should probably use a tub of water, actually, not a chickpea can.

As for the other issue I briefly mentioned, it is because I have eliminated almost every other possible reason for it. But I dont want to get into it because it would be better as another question

OK. I suspect it would be better (less catastraophic failure modes) to get the motors all outside the heated enclosure, but that doesn't invalidate the question in any way.

You can print it custom shaped to touch properly also the sides if you use TCpoly filament, but I'm not sure about it being watertight. Also, you will need a radiator. A can will not dissipate heat fast enough and you will end up with warmer and warmer water over long prints.

Use zip-ties to secure the pipes to the connectors, to avoid getting water everywhere. Use flush-cutters to trim the ties, to avoid getting blood everywhere.

I just did this lol and checked online to see if anyone else did it too. It works really nice.
I used thermal paste and zipties to secure each block to the stepper motor. Dont use thermal tape its not as effective as paste.
I had to do this operations since my motors were overheating due to the enclosure design.

Cooling any single face of the motor is fine. The motor case conducts heat very well. Many 3d printers effectively cool the motors merely by having the output drive face of the motor bolted to a metal bracket which is bolted to the aluminum extrusion frame. That's it. That contact alone cools the motor, which is shown by how the motors overheat when people install vibration dampers, which puts rubber between the motor and the extrusion.
The only thing I would worry about is the surface area inside this particular style of block, and ensuring that you use an all-aluminum radiator since the block is aluminum.
There is another type of cheap 40x40 aluminum block with the nipples on the face instead of on the edge. That style has fins and a lot of surface area inside. This style with the nipples on the edge has a big S channel inside and not much surface area. It may still be more than enough. I'm just saying it's a significant difference and it might make a difference. If you find you're not cooling enough, all you may need to do is switch to that other style of block, not try to install 3 blocks per motor or any other exotic nonsense.
But no way do you have to worry about coooling more than one face of the motor, nor does it matter rwhich face it is, especially not with active water cooling like this, as long as the block is actually making good thermal contact with the motor (thermal tape, or thermal epoxy, or thermal pad & zip ties)

Your solution will not cool all sides effectively. Firstly don't use zip ties; get thermal tape.

(https://www.amazon.com/Thermal-Interface-Products-Heat-Sink/dp/B00QSHPH8E/
Secondly, the heat will need to travel around the outside of the motor to get from the side that doesn't have the water block. Its expensive but you could use Pyrolytic Graphite Sheets to wrap around the outside of the motor, to get the heat to the water block faster.

For both those issues. It should conduct heat more evenly if it is taped on, and these guys are good at conducting heat i believe.

No. Kapton tape is no where near as thermally conductive.


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Nozzle cleaning
A few minutes after finishing a print job, the filament is solidified in the nozzle and the nozzle-throat. When I start another print job a while later, the filament is not sufficiently melted and the nozzle is obstructed. Do I need to clean the nozzle after every print job ? or is there a practical method to overcome this difficulty ?

Which printer or which hotend are you using? This sounds as an all metal hotend problem (heat creep), or an insufficient warm up time problem.

The nozzle may be partly blocked, or your print temp is too low. When doesn’t it extrude enough?

Does the hot end fan run all the time (it should)?

I use a home made 3D printer and I buy the hotend in a 3D shop i.e. it's an ordinary one. Yes, it is all metal hotend. I use PLA and set the temperature to 220°C. I have an extruder fan that helps cool the extruder drive mechanism (running all the time) but I don't have  an external cooling fan that is pointed towards the part that I am  printing.

To start a print, the printer has first get up to print temperature, re-melting the plastic in the nozzle and hotend. To get better results, it is usually a very good idea to "prime" the nozzle to make sure we have nicely melted plastic in the nozzle and pushed out the old. Some priming methods have been discussed here.

I had this issue until I started doing the following:

If you are going to print subsequent jobs (one after the other), then ensure you keep the extruder end at print temperature while you are preparing the next job. For me on my Anet A8, I'd just tell the printer to preheat for PLA (or directly set a temp for the filament being used). This keeps the heat up in the hot end and should allow you to start printing right away when everything is ready. Please note, this will usually cause the nozzle to ooze a little bit of filament as it sits. Just ensure you swipe it clean before you actually start the next print to alleviate and stringing issues when you press the "GO" button. As an alternative, you could attach a line at the end of your print which would send the G-code to keep the printer up to temperature instead of cooling off after a print is finished. If you do this, though, you have to ensure you actually do allow it to shut down when you aren't printing so as to not waste resources.
If you are not going to print subsequent jobs, pull the filament out of the extruder. On my Anet A8, right after the print has finished, but before things start cooling, I will press the spring loaded part of the extruder head (the part which captures the filament against the extruder gear), then push the filament into the extruder and quickly out. This usually ensures you don't leave a lot of filament languishing in the extruder head and will make it easier to load the filament the next time you want to print.

Or you could put in some Gcode right after the  temperature set commands to extrude a few mm to "clear" the nozzle before starting the print.  Heck, I often add a brim or skirt just to do this sort of thing.

@CarlWitthoft Skirt or Brim is, as I realized in my starting days (and discussed in my answer's linked answer), the "lazy man's priming" and can be super effective

However, I'm not talking about priming, and neither do I believe is the OP taking about a priming issue. What the OP is talking about is a problem whereby the nozzle clogs between prints, which priming (or attempting to prime) will not cure. Once the nozzle cools down, the filament left in the nozzle clogs it and no amount of pre-heating, priming, or what have you, will clear the clog. The only way I have been able to overcome the clog is to pull it apart and clear the nozzle physically. Since I've been doing as I describe above, I've not had this issue.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2  and yet, with my AnetA8 clone,  I have yet to clog by way of leftover cooled filament.  Maybe your hotend doesn't heat the entire nozzle?    Or you're using some particular filament which leaves chemically altered (or charred) material behind?

@CarlWitthoft - I didn't say it happened every time, however, once is enough. Having to pull the hotend apart so you can print again is a PITB. By doing what I stated above, I've not had the issue again. It works as a preventative measure. I use good filament. I don't have problems when I print (in fact it seems I have far fewer than most) with extrusion or with how the filament lays, so I have to believe the hot end works just fine as far as heating. It's good you don't have any issues. That's the best anyone can ask for.

I am cleaning both the nozzle and the barrel (inside the heat-sink) physically every time, as Paulster2 but this is a time and effort consuming job and also harming the parts being removed and reassembled.
Skirt and brim work once the nozzle is clean. I am looking for a method without  physically cleaning the nozzle. I will try to add a few lines in the Gcode as suggested by Carl Witthoft.


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Export STL as ASCII or binary?
When go to export a model using Fusion 360 or Meshmixer, I see that there are two options. Could the final model be affected by the format chosen at the time of saving?

The two formats contain the same information about the model, but the binary format is much more compact, so it will produce smaller files from the same part but they should work the same. That's to say, if you take the exact same model, save it as a binary STL and as an ASCII STL, the binary STL file will take up fewer bytes on disk. The number of triangles and the dimensions of the printed model will stay the same.
There are a couple of important exceptions here:

I don't know about Meshmixer specifically, but some tools will have completely different code paths for exporting the two formats. One exporter may have a bug that the other exporter doesn't. The same is true of the slicer, which may have a bug reading one of the two kinds of STL but not the other. In this case, it'll make a huge difference which one you use, but you'll only find out when one goes wrong. This is what fred_dot_u experienced in his answer.
Some tools have a way of putting colour information into the binary STL format, which isn't possible with the ASCII format. If your model has coloured triangles, you might find that the binary STL preserves the colours, while the ASCII STL loses the colours. Whether this matters to you depends on what printing technology you'll be using. Most slicers can't use these colours anyway - and subsequently, ignore color information on import.

The ASCII STL format is older than the binary format, so you may find some very old software can only understand the ASCII STL files, but unless you're working with such old software, it's usually better to use the binary format. Smaller files don't just save disk space: they're also faster to process and transfer via e-mail or on servers.

Thanks, fusion 360 have two options, i don't knew that, but when you told more smaller, all model should be or just the polygons create the shape

@PedroMiguelPimientaMorales I've added a sentence to the first paragraph, to make that more clear. Does that answer your question?

Yes your answer, but like all this thing 3d printer is, i go to make some testing with diferents files and model and practice and ser what is the result

You should always pick the binary option. ASCII files are larger and slower to save and load. There's no reason to ever use ASCII unless you are using software that is incompatible with binary files.

Could the final model be affected by the format chosen at the time of saving?

In practice, the model will not be affected by either choice. There are some subtle differences between the two formats, such as binary being able to store an attribute per triangle (which is sometimes used to represent colour), ASCII being able to store a "name" for the solid in a file while binary can store an 80-byte header containing metadata, binary being limited to 32 bits of precision while ASCII theoretically has the option to use arbitrary precision. However, for 99.9% of all use cases there is no difference, so it is preferable to use binary for its smaller file size.

ASCII is also going to be subject to differences in decimal conversions in the process producing the file and the process consuming it. The binary format uses IEEE single precision which has a fixed interpretation.

I have experienced problems on occasion when using a binary exported Meshmixer model. The slicers used have been Simplify3D and Prusa Slicer 2.0 and possibly an earlier version. I've not attempted to resolve the problem other than to change that specific model to export to ASCII which then solves the problem. ASCII files will be larger but that's not a significant factor, in my opinion.
If you are using a program which fails to properly process a binary export, it's simple enough to overwrite the model in ASCII form.

Thanks for you quick answer, ASSCII format is used for bigger model, an you recommended avoid binary format if the softwae have the ASSCII option?

I'm suggesting that either one will work, unless you discover a problem with binary format. At that point, switching to ASCII should remove the problem. The model size is not the consideration, it's that an ASCII file contains more information than the equivalent model in binary format.

This has been my experience with Cura as well - I've had a couple of binary stls that won't load in the slicer while the same model saved as an ASCII stl will.

The other answers on this thread seem kind of hand-wavy, so I'll give my input.
At its simplest, all we're dealing with here is two different formats of encoding the same data. The 3D file is identical, just described by the file data in different terms.
That being said, there is a multitude of different reasons that 3D prints can fail. Fusion 360 is notorious for having issues with slicers because of fillets, lofts, smooth-curvy type patterns, or intersecting planes.
Binary is a smaller encoding. It almost always works for me. ASCII has never failed me as a backup when binary did.

Thank for you experiences un this answer, i Will go to traje your words and put in practice

There is extra data (header, number of facets, facet attributes) in the binary files that the ASCII format does not have  http://www.fabbers.com/tech/STL_Format   If some files are using the extra features of the binary format, the programs might interpret those features inconsistently.


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Configuration of the Anet A6 full graphic LCD 12864 on an Anet A8
I finished fixing my Anet A8 about the 3DTouch sensor working with the LCD2004 stock display, I am installing the full graphic display LCD 12864 (for Anet A6) but when I compile Marlin 1.1.9 the following error appears:

Arduino: 1.8.9 (Windows 7), Sheet: 'Anet V1.0 (Optiboot)'

c: / program files (x86) / arduino / hardware / tools / avr / bin /../ lib / gcc / avr / 5.4.0 /../../../../ avr / bin / ld. exe: C: Users Claudio AppData Local Temp aruino_build_739999 / Marlin - this_feature_good.ino.elf section `.text 'will not fit in region` text'

c: / program files (x86) / arduino / hardware / tools / avr / bin /../ lib / gcc / avr / 5.4.0 /../../../../ avr / bin / ld. exe: region `text 'overflowed by 1866 bytes

collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

This happened after activating the Anet A6 display and deactivating the LCD2004.
Obviously given the low memory I performed the flash bootloader using ANET OPTIBOOT and reloaded the firmware.
If I deactivate the whole part of the 3DTouch, then the 12864 LCD display works properly, now I have 130 kbit (about 16 kB) memory left.
Arduino warns me if I do not have enough memory. In this case, instead of those errors I do not know what they are for. Maybe using an older Marlin version would help?

Hi, and welcome. You have established that you cannot configure both on the standard printer board due to the limited 128 kB memory of the boards microprocessor. What is the question?

I think if you want to strictly use octoprint you can delete SD card functionality to make it all fit. YMMV

To downsize the firmware you can manually disable a lot of less useful stuff. E.g. why have 2 pre-heating profiles for PLA and ABS while you can set hotend and heated bed manually.
One of the largest memory savers is disabling arc support, G2/G3 commands aren't used by most slicer programs. From Configuration_adv.h can be found that you can save more than 3000 bytes:

//
// G2/G3 Arc Support
//
#define ARC_SUPPORT               // Disable this feature to save ~3226 bytes

You can probably find more features to disable to save memory, e.g. look into question "What can be removed from Marlin 1.1.9 to fit on 128K controller? I'm currently 318 bytes over", quoting:

//#define SHOW_BOOTSCREEN // enabled
//#define SHOW_CUSTOM_BOOTSCREEN // enabled
//#define CUSTOM_STATUS_SCREEN_IMAGE // enabled
//#define LCD_INFO_MENU // enabled, shows useless 'about printer' menu
//#define STATUS_MESSAGE_SCROLLING // enabled, saves some flash space
//#define DOGM_SD_PERCENT // disabled, show print % bar graph
//#define NO_WORKSPACE_OFFSETS // Disables M206 and M428
//#define ARC_SUPPORT // enabled, used for CNC toolpaths
#define NO_VOLUMETRICS // disabled, not used without width sensor?
//#define SCROLL_LONG_FILENAMES
#define SLIM_LCD_MENUS // Disable 'extraneous' menu items
//#define SPEAKER // Disable beeper if you don't want it.
//#define LEVEL_BED_CORNERS

Thanks Oscar for your info I will try to put it into practice, for now the printer is working with the stock display I hope that the reduction of memory space can make the full graphic work much easier, I will update you on the results.


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Weird temperature reading using thermistor on MKS GEN L v1.0 AUX-2 analog pins
Temperature is showing about 680 °C at room temperature. When I make it "hotter" by holding my thumb and index finger on it, the temperature does increase. So it is responding to temperature changes.
I'm trying to add some thermistors to my MKS GEN L v1.0 board:

I'm using the A11 pin and GND in the picture above.
The thermistor works correctly when plugged into the HE1 temperature pin. So the thermistor is fine hardware-wise.
The thermistor is set to be the "Chamber" thermistor in Marlin 1.1.x. This just means it is supposed to record the temperature of the enclosure. I don't know if there is some kind of volatility issue with the chamber constant in Marlin.
The thermistor has the same settings in Marlin for both HE1 and the chamber one. They are both set to "thermistor 11" for the 3950 type of thermistor. So the most visible setting implies they should be treated the same firmware-wise.
I've also tried the other extra Analog pins in the AUX-2 port.
What could be the issue here?
If these are the only available analog pins, how can I add more thermistors to my set-up so that they're available in Marlin?
Is there any way I can use the AUX-1 port?  It doesn't seem to be an analog pin like in the photo for this particular version of RAMPS. I tried pin A3 but it didn't work.

In my experience I had reading of about 700 degree when thermistor was somehow shorted to aluminium block together with heater cartridge. Basically the screw that hold thermistor is pushing too hard on thermistor wires.

Thermistors, commonly used as temperature sensors on 3D printers and other DIY things, work by changing their internal resistance depending on the temperature.
On the analog ports, the microcontroller can determine the voltage of the connected signal.
To actually measure the resistance - and thus temperature - of the thermistor, you need to build a voltage divider:

Most, if not all, 3D printer control boards use a resistor of 4.7 kOhms and a capacitor to build this voltage divider:

You'll need at least this 4.7 kOhm resistor to get your thermistors working on any analog pin, if the three thermistor ports on the MKS Gen L don't suffice for you needs.
You could also use other temperature sensors, especially for the case, like the DHT11 or DHT22, however I couldn't find whether they're supported by Marlin yet.

For those not having a great background in electrical engineering, you might want to explain to others why the RAMPS 1.4 shield doesn't use 2 resistors for the divider (like in your picture), but a 2 resistors (including the thermistor) and a small 10 uF capacitor (infinite resistor), please explain.

@0scar The thermistor takes the place of R2. The capacitor may be for smoothing the output signal. I don't think it's intended use is to pull the voltage low for a short time when the unit is switched on, although it will have that effect. Or maybe it is, because the signal will end up at Vcc and the software could use that to detect if there is no thermistor connected.

@AndrewMorton I understand, but thanks for filling in the blanks for others, the comment was meant for the author to update the answer, you can also add this information by updating the answer. Comments are meant for questions so that the answer can be updated.

@0scar Do you happen to know the purpose of the capacitor, so I could make a correct update to the answer?

I don't totally understand how it is smoothing the signal either. I wanted to say it is acting as a low-pass filter, but after looking at the circuit, the resistors/capacitor is divided over the signal.


text:
What's the best way to pull out fillament from an all metal print head
Since retractions above 4 mm can cause jams due to plastic sticking to the cold half of the metal print head, what's the best way to avoid jams when swapping filaments?
Cool down and yank out, rapid pull out while melted, pull out at partial heat but not completely melted, or something else?

The best solution is to prevent that the filament clogs the hotend, this means that it may never "mushroom" in the throat too high up that only heating for a prolonged time (and e.g. disabling the cold end fan) for heat to reach that part to melt it would unclog your hotend. Pulling out while hot looks as the most promising solution, if the filament deforms and cools, it is very hard to get out (from experience).

Cold/Luke-Warm pulling can cause damage and wear to the hot end, and should only be used in cases where you suspect there's a jam in the nozzle.
Pulling the filament out at a few degrees above its normal printing temperature and pulling quickly is what I use, and what I've seen other's also say, and the procedure most machines use.


text:
Streamlining OpenSCAD Code
Is there an efficient approach to discovering what is extraneous ("dead" or "unused") code in OpenSCAD to promote the learning process?
I am making progress by using working examples of code; however, some contain code with lots of modules and "test cases" (like gear generators) that aren't always used or referenced.  These are great utilities but in trying to simplify the file to do only a small part of what is possible (usually by commenting out what I think are unused lines of code) things (to me) get very unpredictable.  Reviewing the "AST Dump" has helped some but I'm hoping there is a more practical approach to isolating only the bare essential code.

This is a totally useless answer from a practical standpoint, but it is impossible to determine whether code is unused or not.

@TomvanderZanden: it is impossible only in theory (i.e. for all possible algorithms, or whatever). One approach might be to start from an empty file and copy the bits you want, and then add more in response to errors.

Thanks, Tomas.  With the more complex files I've encountered that have modules that references other modules and uses variable 'declared' in hidden parts of the lengthy code, it is more practical to start by commenting out suspected "extraneous" code.  I was hoping there is a more efficient way of doing this - besides commenting out section by section to see what happens to the model.
Though I can appreciate why it could be said to be impossible, I respectfully disagree entirely with that assessment.  "Impractical"? Maybe, but that depends on each example. NOT impossible!

@TomvanderZanden: Rice's Theorem has nothing to do with whether code is used, just whether it's reached during execution. In most languages, for the program to be valid and identifier that's referenced must have a definition somewhere in the source regardless of whether it will be reached at runtime, so "used" is purely a static property amenable to trivial static analysis.

@R.. The question asked about "extraneous (dead or unused)" code. I interpreted that more broadly, to include unreachable code (which is commonly called "dead code").

@TomvanderZanden: I suppose that's a valid interpretation, but removing unused code in that sense requires invasive changes to the source that would probably be undesirable. In any case, Rice's Theorem still doesn't apply to a particular model, although it may apply to a parametrized one, since with a fixed input for which the program (presumably) terminates reachability is computable just by tracing.

@R, @TomvanderZanden, thanks. I attempted to avoid semantics I thought would misrepresent my original pursuit.  Take, for example, a case where an "If" statement results in bypassing a large part of code, then that code is effectively "dead" or "unused" in the sense that I can 'comment out' that code and effectively streamline that code for easier reading.  This would be useful if I never really intend to take take any optional path like if I were always only generating one type of object (in my case, a simple involute gear or if I wanted -but I don't- a complex series of reduction gears).

Are you considering only the parts executed, or also the parts that contribute to the object?  Consider code that creates some geometry, and the unions it with a solid cube that contains that geometry.  The first code now contributes no geometric complexity.  Is it "used"?  It could be simplified or removed.

I have written compilers and optimizers, as well as optimizers which work on raster operations.  I so want to offer you a beautiful solution, but I don't know of one.
If I really wanted to solve this, I would start with this approach:
First, identify each token and expression in the OpenSCAD code.  Assign each a unique identifier, and reserve one bit of storage, initially zeroed, that will be used later.
At the geometric database level, tag each geometric element with the identifier in the source code that generates it.  Intersections become labeled with both operands and the intersection operator.  Same with unions and other operations.
Then render the OpenSCAD form into some representation, perhaps voxels, perhaps STL.  Voxels have a resolution limit but are intrinsically the simplest form.  STLs might require an optimization pass to find redundant edges -- although that may already be part of STL generation process.
Now, go through the tagged representation voxel by voxel or triangle by triangle.  Set the bit reserved with every token and expression to "one" for every identifier associated with that voxel or trianble.
Finally, check the bits on each of the source tokens and expressions.  If the bit is zero, that particular element contributed nothing to the result.  If the bit is one, that is needed in the result.
This is oversimplified because one source element can be used several times.  Some may contribute to the output, and some may not.  A fully expanded version of the source should be used, and we have to invent notation for reporting that instance 1 and 3 is used but 2 is not.  I'm sure there are other over-simplifications which someone reading this will immediately realize.
I think, though, that this would be a path forward to the OpenSCAD optimizer you want.
In the meantime, OpenSCAD provides some prefix characters.  One of the, maybe "*", removes a sub-tree from the generated geometry without messing up the parsing.  I frequently use that mark to find out if code is used and to what it contributes.

authors: אריאלה גפן משרד עורכי דין


text:
BLTouch calibrated, nozzle still dives into the bed
I am having a few problems with my BLTouch. I have calibrated it several times using different methods and get the nozzle being 1.3 mm lower than the BLTouch pin so a Z offset of -1.3 mm. This works fine for auto homing, bed levelling and using code G1 Z0 to lower to where needed. However when using Cura to print the nozzle homes exactly as it should then drives the nozzle in to the bed as it starts or tries to start to print and not just a little bit either. Anyone have any ideas?
Start G-code is:

G28 ;Home
G29 ;Probe
G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move Platform down 15 mm
G92 E0
G1 F200 E3
G92 E0

Hi MattW49, welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! Maybe you can share the first lines from a Cura sliced model up to the point it dives into the bed according to your observations. Furthermore please answer by [edit]: "Does this only happen with Cura (so not with other slicers)? Has it ever worked well? What steps did you use to calibrate the Z offset and store it in memory?" With more information people can provide better answers to help you out.

Could this answer on question "Specifying Z offset in Marlin firmware" be of assistance?

F6000 is too high, you will miss some steps.

What printer is this BL Touch on?  Did it come as stock on that printer, or have you added it as an after-market mod? If the latter, did you flash the printer with new firmware?  Which firmware build and how is it configured?

Are you measuring the offset, so retracted with respect to the nozzle? If so, that is not how you do it, the actual distance (the triggerpoint to the nozzle distance should be used, this is a smaller value). If you use the measured distance, the value is too large and it will dive into the bed.

@FernandoBaltazar Good spot, that is a high velocity for the Z-axis. But if you miss steps, the distance would be shorter, not longer; i.e. there would be a gap, not diving into the bed.

This answer is intended to be a generic answer for Z-offset determination. The question is not clear on how the Z-offset has been determined. It appears as if this distance is measured, while in reality this cannot be measured.
A touch (or a inductive or capacitive) probe uses a trigger point to determine the distance of the probe trigger point to the bed print surface. Correct installation is trivial, as is the determination of the nozzle to trigger point definition. For a touch sensor, the probing element is either stowed, fully deployed, or pushed in during leveling up to the point that the trigger point is reached and the probe stowes the rest of the pin, see figure:

The M851 Zxx.xx offset is determined by lowering the nozzle beyond the  trigger point until the nozzle hits a paper sheet. If the stowed position to nozzle distance is used, the distance is too large and the nozzle will dive into the bed on printing.

You should be able to offset this with a G54 Z-1.3 - if your setup accepts these gcodes.
If you do this, always add a G53 to the very start and just before the M30 to clear all offsets after job finish (or in the event of a cancel, at the start of the next job).
I'm not experienced with a wide variety of printers or firmware, but our repetier-based printers (and we use the same controls for our refurbished Fadal CNC machines) use G53-G59:
As explained in this tutorial from cnccookbook.com:

Basic work offsets are very simple to specify: simply enter one of G54, G55, G56, G57, G58, or G59. [...] When you execute the work offset g-code, the XYZ offset will be added to all of your coordinates from that point forward.

As detailed on Wikipedia:

G54-59: Have largely replaced position register (G50 and G92). Each tuple of axis offsets relates program zero directly to machine zero. Standard is 6 tuples (G54 to G59), with optional extensibility to 48 more via G54.1 P1 to P48.

And on the gcode dictionary provided by Hyrel 3D:

G54 through G59 - Set Offsets
  G54, G55, G56, G57, G58, and G59 will each store and invoke offsets in the X, Y, and/or Z axes for all subsequent moves. Any values not invoked will remain with their previous value (0 unless earlier specified otherwise).

X is the offset in mm in the X axis.
Y is the offset in mm in the Y axis.
Z is the offset in mm in the Z axis.

Here is an example:
G54 X100 Y-50
This command is decoded and executed by the printer as follows:
G54 (set offsets)
  - X100 (+100mm to all X coordinates)
  - Y-50 (-50mm to all Y coordinates)
Note that this differs from an M6, where the offsets are only applied to a SINGLE tool position.

Disclaimer: I work for Hyrel 3D.

G-code G54, is not listed in e.g. this G-code overview. Repetier does not support G54 according to the sources. This must be a custom firmware, not based on Repetier. And Marlin doesn't support the code either. I guess Hyrel is more onto CNC firmware. Thanks for the information!

We do our own firmware in-house, built on a repetier base. It's available from https://hyrel3d.com/wiki/index.php/New_Install but it is not open source and I don't expect it to work on non-hyrel equipment. We have our own interpreter, and run things more like a CNC.


text:
My first 3D printing - I need some advice or tips
It is my first time for 3D printing, I read some tips for forms, minimal thickness, angles, round or flat, but I am still not sure if I am going to do all well for the first time.
For my college final project, I had to make a small prototype and it requires an enclosure.
My concerns are:

I am not sure if my design will require supports
Overhangs
Printing Orientation

Here part of my design:

Most walls are 2 mm+ thick
The lid is a separate file, but it is really simple just a flat rectangle, I believe it is going well the first time

Is this hollow? You would need support to hold up the top middle bit. You may get away with no supports if you flip the model upside down.

So run it through a slicer and see if supports are generated

yes, it is hollow inside. @CarlWitthoft I am designing with AutoCad not sure if it has that tool btw I have 3 days using it I am pretty noob :)

Are you asking for slicing recommendations?

Export from AutoCad in STL format, try Slic3r with some settings (or use Prusa Slicer that has many profiles already there) and then come back here with more specific questions. Right now it's too broad.

Why are these concerns? The slicer will take care of putting in supports when instructed. It shouldn't matter if support is used unless you want a near perfect smooth inner side. Which side needs to the most aesthetic side?

The lid will probably print better upside down.

What do you need that huge rectangular slab for?
If you replaced your fillets with chamfers, this would print perfectly fine "upside down" without that slab, which you could print seperately.
You shouldn't require supports for things you've designed yourself in 99% of the cases.

I see this:

I had to make a small prototype and it requires an enclosure

and this:

yes, it is hollow inside

How do you intend to get your item inside the result? This part really needs to be two pieces with two separate prints. Basically, a box and the lid, where you leave space for screws, include tabs, or plan for glue connections.
Finish that alteration, and the support issue suddenly becomes much easier. Most slicers have options to generate support for you, including limiting support to spaces between the model and build plate. Now you can rotate the angle at the which the part is printed in order to minimize your support needs, or so that most of the connection points for the support will not be visible in the finished product.

Hi Joel, I have an second file which I use for the lid, just a flat surface, I believe it is not a big deal and I am going to glue that into this one.

What Slicer would you recommend to me?, the Slicers have a function for auto supports if it is required?

@Kirito-kun Slic3r and Ultimaker Cura are popular and free slicers, both have options for adding support structures.


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Two 12 V heater elements in series in a dual hotend
I have ordered a dual hotend Chimera and it came with 2x 12 V heater elements (in my rush I forgot to order the one with 2x 24V).

Is it possible to run these 12 V heater elements in series?
I am planning on running this with an SRK 1.3 board.

What printer do you have? Note that the power output is different. Also.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Yy8OxohGI

No you don't want to do that.
A 12 V 30 W heater has a resistance of about 5 Ω (2.5 A on 12 V). A 24 V 30 W heater is about 19 Ω (1.25 A on 24 V). Placing two 12 V heaters in series means about 10 Ω, for 24 V that means that the current is 2.5 A, similar to a 12 V circuit, the power will be 30 W for each heater. So it appears that this should work.
But, the problem is that being in series, both the hotends are heated. This is not beneficial for the unused core which is prone to ooze filament and can cook filament if not used for a long time (long stand-by high temperature). Typically, unused printing cores go to a lower stand-by temperature when they are not printing. Also it would be more difficult to have filaments of different temperatures in the hotends. Furthermore, which thermistor would you use? A hotend cools down by melting filament, the temperature drop is measured by the thermistor results in the control logic adding current to the heater to compensate the loss in temperature. If you only use one thermistor (basically, from a firmware configuration perspective, the setup is similar to having a single heater in a single hotend and having the filament being changed) and using the other core (without a thermistor) to extract filament, the temperature drop will not be registered and as such not controlled. There is no default firmware solution to use 2 thermistors in a "single" heating element (in this case strand of heating elements), this will probably require some modding to the source code of the firmware.
You could test this setup, but I would not use it for a long time.

This will not work as you intend.
The heaters are designed to be independent.  They do not share a thermal path between them.  The thermal load on the two extruders will be different whenever one nozzle is active and the other on standby, and there is no condition when both are extruding at the same time.
The two thermistors are needed so that each nozzle can be individually controlled.  Placing the heaters either in series or parallel defeats this control, and many problems will follow.  You will spend days trying to understand why filament is dripping, or not extruding, or the PLA cooks in the nozzle, or the firmware shuts down for over or under heating, or a nozzle seems to ever hit the right temperature.  You will waste far more time than the time needed to order and receive the proper heaters.
If you must...
IF you were trying to proceed with some testing, change the 24V supply to 12V.  The stepper motors will be a bit more sluggish, but the DC-to-DC converters will probably (maybe) work well enough to power the electronics.  Check your supply rails to be sure.
But don't.
It is better to wait, or find a local store to drive to and fetch them, or call a friend who may have spares.
You don't want the frustration, and uncertainty, and the possibility of doing something as a hack that causes other problems.
Order the right cartridges and wait for their arrival.
ps: Not to make this a shopping answer, but Amazon has qty 5 cartridges, 24v 40w, qty 5 for $8.  Depending on where you are, you may be able to get these tomorrow and use them while waiting for the "right" ones to arrive.


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Slicer is adding additional floor bed
I'm trying to print an architectural model of a house with 2 floors and a room on the roof. It was designed in SketchUp by a friend. I removed inner walls and floors to print it upside down to get just the outer look of that building. All is good in SketchUp and in Meshlab (converted .skp to .3ds) and even after exporting it to .stl  format. But when I slice it and select preview, it is adding a floor on its own. Please take a look at the attached screenshots to get a better idea of what I am referring to. Any idea what's causing this and how it can be solved?

(Using Ultimaker Cura 4.1.0 for slicing at 0.2 mm layer height)

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

I don't think your STL file is okay, it appears that you removed the floors, but there might be some problems with the normals of the faces. Maybe you can fix the file through NetFabb.

Check the setting in the slicer for adding supports.  Your overhand will be difficult to print.

It looks like supports except I don't see anything that 'floor' would be supporting. I suspect it's more likely that the STL file is invalid like @0scar said.

you can, in the preview, disable viewing the normal material and just display supports. Could you share a picture of that, so we get a better clue what type of print cura generates for you?

When I printed a similar house model designed in SketchUp, the generated .stl was of horrible quality.
Windows 10's build in "3D Builder" has a very powerful .stl repair tool built in, which got rid of the defects.

SketchUp has a problem with generating the normals of an STL in the right way. As you see in the slicer, the model claims, that the "tops" are overhangs, which means that the whole model is "inside out" with the normals.
To fix that, you'd need to open the file in a program that can fix that by recalculating the normals. I suggest blender:

Open Blender
Delete the cube by clicking on it and pressing the delete button
Import the STL via Drag & Drop or the menu
Change to edit mode in the top left corner
A to select everything
ALT + N to recalculate normals
N then under Mesh Display > Normals hook Faces

Now, your model should look like a hedgehog, each face having a blue line poking out.
It also should show if there are any faces remaining, which can be selected and deleted manually by clicking it, so that only it is highlighted, and then pressing delete


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Horizontal defects when linear_advance enabled?
What could cause that?
When linear_advance (v1.5) is "off" (M900 K0) - everything is uniform and smooth, only corners are protruding as expected.
When it is "on", I get these horizontal defects. My calibrated K-value is 2, I am getting same defects with K=1 as well as K=2. Position of defects is repeatable, so it is not random mechanics-caused underextrusion.
My setup uses a BMG Bowden extruder, A4988 drivers for Z and extruder with diode smoothers (X, Y are on TMC2209). I print the PETG with 245 °C, Perimeters at 50 mm/s, Gyroid Infill at 120 mm/s.
After the original posting of the question I tried the following:

Removed diode smoothers on extruder and Z - no improvement.
It seems defect is somewhat connected to infill. Without infill print is nearly perfect. 50x50 box without infill prints perfectly, so it does not look like outer-wall speed-related. Reduced outer wall to 33 mm/s, infill to 100 mm/s (accelerations are also down 750->500, 1000->750), no improvement. Returned to A4988 on all axis - no improvement. Switched to 1/8 step on extruder (maybe it is step speed-related) - no improvement. Disabled infill before walls - no improvement.
Starting shooting time-lapses, and outer perimeter is extremely weird on some layers (see below)
Migrated configuration to latest Marlin 2.0. Enabled SQUARE_WAVE_STEPPING - no improvement. Gcode is uploaded here: https://s.14.by/3d_issue.gcode
After inspecting larger parts printed before linear_advance (on large 100 mm circular parts) - I also noticed this defect, more rare though.
Connected to oversized lab power supply, to ensure there is no power sag during high load. 24V 16A max power consumption. Print defects remain exactly the same though.

Which version of Linear Advance (1.0 or 1.5 - that is, pre-1.1.9 Marlin or >=1.1.9) are you using? The K values look like 1.5, but 2 is very high for normal PLA and even 1 is somewhat high. Did you use the calibration pattern to select a K or just guess?

It looks to me like you have severe underextrusion in the areas where the print head has accelerated to significant speeds, but just on some layers. I suspect the mechanism of the problem is that your extruder gearing or idler is not up to producing the pressure that linear advance with K=1 or K=2 is attempting to get, and the filament slips backward. Can you watch closely and see if that appears to be the case?

@R.. It's 1.5. This is PETG, I used calibration pattern.

@R..It's hard to catch this in real time, but it is fairly consistent. I printed like 6 of these, and defects are in the same positions. I will try to tighten BMG gear and see if it helps. Also, in previous attempts I was reducing Ejerk (20->10->5) and Eacceleration (20k->10k->6k) - without any changes.

@BarsMonster: What temperature? PETG is hard to move through a nozzle fast even at high temps, and at lower temps I would not be surprised at all if it slipped from too much pressure. K between 1 and 2 does make sense for PETG with a bowden though.

@R.. 245°C, at the upper recommended temperature range

@BarsMonster: OK, temp shouldn't be the problem then. Are you printing it too fast? Otherwise my guess is just that the tension holding the filament is not sufficient.

@R.. Perimeters where problem is visible are at 50mm/s. Infil at 120. Accelerations are 500 for perimeters and 1500 for infills. And puzzling part is that without LA these speeds are not the issue, before LA I was even pushing it to 80...

@R.. What makes it unlikely a random slip of gear is that it is very consistent. Every print defect is in the same place...

@BarsMonster: I don't think you can actually extrude PETG at 120 mm/s. At 0.2 mm layer height (guess) and 0.4 mm nozzle (guess) that's nearly 10 mm³/s volumetric extrusion. There are likely lots of issues going on that just show up more visibly with LA enabled.

@R.. You diameter guess is perfect in both cases. 0.2 / 0.4... Cracked the part open - infill (gyroid) looks ok, I guess it is unable to accelerate to 120mm/s anyway's.

@R..Tightened BMG's gear quite a bit - but defect is still at exactly the same place.

@BarsMonster: Yeah, I think you'd need some extreme acceleration limits to actually hit 120 mm/s while doing gyroid.

Can you try to print the tower with 40 mm/s for the outer shell? It seems to only have an effect on long lines...

@Trish I will try, but I am not sure why quality is different for different identical layers, where speed profile on the perimeters should be identical.

hm, is the extruder bar plastic or metal?

@Trish Hot part of extruder is mounted on extruded-aluminum plate with 2 press-fit steel linear bearings. Cold part of extruder (BMG) has injection molded plastic case, the rest of BMG is metal.

I had uneven extrusion when the lever pressing the filament to the hobbed gear had secretly broken. Checking the lever and/or spring for even pressure could help

@Trish Extruder is solid, no slipped steps. Also, defect position is consistent - on every print it is on the same places.

Does disabling combing in the slicer make the problem go away? (Cura uses the name "combing"; other slicers may call it something different. It's the feature to allow moves without retraction over already-printed regions or infill regions, and combing over infill region can lead to loss-of-material problems as described here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/issues/1084)

that the error is Height dependant might indicate that the error is in the Z axis... What kind of printer is it?

@R.. I see, interesting. In my case combing was enabled only in infill (Cura)

@Trish It's Flyingbear Ghost4. If it's Z-axis-related, then it is not clear why it disappears when linear advance = 0....

@BarsMonster Have you disabled "pressure compensation" in the slicer? when you use linear (or "pressure") advance in the firmware the similar feature in the slicer must be turned off.

@BarsMonster: In infill is exactly where combing has this problem.

@R..Disabled combing everywhere - no changes :-/

@FarO: I think the only "pressure compensation" Cura has is "coasting". That should definitely be off. speed_equalize_flow_enabled ("Equalize filament flow") should also be off. It's a feature to compensate for lack of linear advance, and produces problematically-fast moves while extruding.

@R.. "Equalize filament flow" is disabled for all prints. Coasting is also disabled.

@BarsMonster: Can you observe the affected layers while they're being printed (maybe even take some video so you can go back and review) to figure out what was printed just before the problematic parts? If you know the exact height you could do this by reading the gcode too.

By chance are you doing the outer perimeter before or after the inner wall? That might be somewhat related.

@craftxbox Tried both options. Currently outer perimeter first.

@R.. craftxbox FarO Please see photo of the layer in the middle of the print...

@BarsMonster: The infill looks really weird in that new image. Could you perhaps share the gcode file somewhere?

@BarsMonster Try to ask Marlin developers, maybe they know more. Interesting case. Does it happen with other STLs? From the middle layer it looks like that underextrusion alternates with overextrusion.

@R..gcode uploaded, https://s.14.by/3d_issue.gcode

@FarO No issues for STLs which do not require infill... Will try to ask at reprap.org firmware section...

@BarsMonster: Have you tested without whatever extension you're using to do the timelapse camera shots? It looks like it's corrupting your gcode; at least in the analyzers I'm using, the motion back from the head-partking position seems to have replaced the first line of each layer, and your photo seems to show material wrongly deposited along that path.

@BarsMonster: It also really looks like you have coasting enabled, despite having previously said you don't. Can you make sure it's off? Coasting would definitely cause the type of problem you're seeing, and make it worse with LA.

@BarsMonster: I tried editing out the timelapse-inserted stuff and the missing first lines are no longer missing, so it's possible my analyzers are just barfing on it but it's not the problem. It still looks like the infill ends with coasting on each layer though, leaving insufficient material when starting the next layer's outer wall.

Does changing slicer affect the result?

On second review, the infill doesn't necessarily look coasted; the slicer just stops the last line in weird ways (weird with respect to what I'd expect from zig-zaggify-infill) when no more gyroid oscillations will fit.

Could your problem just be fan? I see from the gcode your fan speed is being dynamically adjusted but is generally 75-100%. In my experience fan messes up PETG badly, and should be either off or at most something like 20-40% depending on your printer.

Is it only me, or the infill on the left, first photo, looks way too thick? when I print it's usually as wide as the outer layers, here it's very fat and not constant. I think there may be more issues with the printer than just some settings for perimeters or linear advance.


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Attach handle on a loose screw
The handle of a micro wave oven broke.
I can't just order a replacement part because I can't even attach the new one.
The problem is that the screw heads are somewhere on the interior side of the door, which cannot be disassembled (non destructively at least). I wouldn't even do it because of safety reasons.
I have access to the threads of two loose and captive screws to work with (indicated by the two red lines on picture one). The screws are not machine screws, but screws for plastic like in the attached picture.
The plan is to 3d print the plastic part of the handle and reuse the front aluminum cover.
I don't want the handle to be loose, so I'm looking for suggestions to attach the new handle. I have a lot of ideas, maybe I will share them later if they are not mentioned at some point. The main problem is: how to attach something when all I have to work with is a loose, non machine screw ?

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

That's  a long handle to attempt to replace with a 3D-printed part.  You'll have strength problems.  I would recommend instead drilling holes in the two (or more) parts of the brokend handle so that you can insert steel pins longitudinally through the break and then epoxying everything back together.

Yes, I actually realized that the largest dimension is 50-ish centimeters, and larger than the average hobbyist 3d printer. I also made some quotes on various 3d printing service websites, and the cost is around 30% of the device I'm trying to repair ( around 100€ for a 400€ + device....), so it looks like it won't be the way I will be repairing it.

if the hole is too big change the size of screw, if you want to use the same screw then fix the hole. Carl describes the usage of epoxy and some inserts; this method works for many patches and non replaceable parts.

You are facing 2 problems in this case:

Material choice
Design

Material choice
As far as I can see, this is an oven that can heat its interior to roundabout 250 °C, which means that the door will radiate a lot of heat. This needs special high-temperature plastics to withstand - PLA and ABS are not an option for this!
I would suggest looking for PEEK (stable at ~260°C) or a high-temperature resin print in this case, as there are some resins which can withstand much higher temperatures after curing. Note that PEEK is traded usually for above 100 €/kg and needs a specialty printer. Even the less stable PEI filament (works under 170 °C) needs a specialty printer: All metal hotend and 350-380 °C extruder are needed!
Design
The plastic screws you show are self-cutting plastic screws. if their head is accessible, they get screwed into holes that have a bore large enough for the center.
If the screw head isn't accessible, for turning but can be pressed down, then one could opt to use high-temperature resin to cure inside oversized holes over the screw. This is not an option if the screw can't be pressed into the part though, as then the handle always will rattle.
Repair?!
Note that you might be able to access the screws with a little work, if you have the right tools and manual.

Unfortunately, the front door is one glued unit. It's not like there are hidden screws under a label or rubber pad or something. I believe it's designed so that it's not repairable by the end user.

Thanks for the answer. I actually didn't realize that the picture was for a regular oven, when I was in fact looking for the picture for my microwave  oven, which happens to the same control panel and overall look.. However, I didn't really think of that temperature problem. I will actually measure it when it's running, but I don't expect it to very different from the ambient temperature

@alecail if it is only a microwave, then you have much less a heat problem.

If you have enough screw length exposed, clamp onto them via a 2-piece 'nut' that is itself bolted together via fasteners that run perpendicular to the screws.  You can then fasten whatever to the 'nut' and maybe even hide the gaggle of fasteners that results.  Another alternative for applying the clamping forces needed might be something based off a "toggle wing nut."  I do not believe you will get good results via 1-piece print solutions the way the screws are.
Loads and nut material will determing how much screw you need inside the 'nut.' The more length you have to work with on top of that, the more room you have to hold the screws' rear ends w/ pliers/vice grip while getting your 'nut' on there.
If you don't have enough length, you will just have to use a different method of attaching to the door.  Options may include adhesives and/or modifying the actual door - pretty annoying if you can't take it apart.

This is exactly what I would do! Alternatively the multiple pieces could be glued with epoxy; e.g. when the screw length is short I would print a small cylinder (like a washer) with a hole a little smaller than the screw thread to fixate the screw, then glue on a larger cylinder as a fixation for the handle mount, and finally glue the handle mount onto the cylinders.

This answer does not give insight into the specific problems of 3D printing and the used materials.

I don't know the exact term ( not a native speaker here), but I had in mind something similar to the mechanism used on bikes for the quick release. Really it's a wedge, with some material removed so that it can capture the threads, and it's in a cylindrical form factor.

That wedge type of cam will certainly help remove rattling from your connections.  They'll still need to be able to put the screw in tension via pulling on a 'nut' of some sort that is attached to those screws.  About how many cm of screw can you get outside to attach to?


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X / Y axis + Extruder not working on respective ports
On an Ender 3, the X, Y and extruder are not moving when using the prepare menu to move them. If I change the motherboard port for Y to the Z port, the Y moves fine, same goes for the other axis that are not working in their respective ports - so it's not the motor or the cable. What else could be wrong? I find it unlikely that 2/3 axis and extruder are all stopped working at the same time.
I have tried "auto home" but before anything moves it says "Homing failed PRINTER HALTED Please reset". The y axis seems to have a light humming noise to it, but no movement at all.
Seems like all of the stop switches are being ignored. When I "Home Z" with any stop switch plugged into the Z-stop, it just continues along even when i trigger the stop manually. This eventually means it hits the end of the axis and just keeps hitting the end with a nasty vibrating sound.
It was working for about 6 months before all this and my old power supply popped, replaced the power supply and all this started.
I have tried a pre-built marlin 1.1.9 firmware, then tried a self-built marlin 1.1.9 firmware that I followed a guide to do specifically for the Ender 3 and then flashed TH3D U1.R2.15 unified firmware using their instructions and still the problem persists through all firmwares

Hi and welcome to 3DP.SE! You basically established that X and Y only work on the Z header. Have you checked the endstops (e.g. inverted logic or incorrectly wired; try pressing an endstop switch when moving the axis, also note to home the printer first)? Also note that the extruder will only move when it is above a certain temperature, usually over 170 ºC. Please update your question by [edit] to include additional information that is asked through the comments.

also, how long did you have the printer running beforehand?

updated the question with the answers to your questions, thanks!

It sounds to me like the firmware may have become corrupt when the power supply popped... It's the only thing I can think of that would cause this bizarre behaviour! If you have an Arduino there are plenty of tutorials that explain how to reflash the firmware.

updated question with more info regarding firmwares, thanks !

Maybe the question should be: "Is it possible that blowing my printers power supply wrecks up my printer?"

@0scar you might be right. i loaded the stock (unsafe) firmware on the creality3d repo just to make sure it wasnt the firmware and still the same issue. goes to start testing capacitors / resistors and see if i can find something there.