text:
Proper wire gauges for extending all CR-10S wires
I want to extend all my CR-10S wires. I have two long wire types: 22 and 18 AWG wires. I've done some research and found the following:

Extruder heating element:  22 AWG or lower.
Extruder thermistor sensor:  22 AWG or lower (Doesn't really need much amp).
Fans:  24 AWG or lower (Doesn't really need much amp).
Limit switch/filament sensor: 24 AWG or lower (Doesn't really need
much amp).

Here is where I've problems determining which wire gauge to use:

Stepper motor wires: ?
Bed heater wires: ?

What's the wire gauge needed for the stepper motor and bed heater wires? Obviously, the bed heater needs more amp so I expect lower wire gauge. Is my 18 gauge wire enough for this?
On the Reprap site, it says that 18 AWG or lower is fine for the heating bed.

If my calculations are correct, a typical ceramic heating element for the extruder heating block runs 40 W. At 12 V dc, that equates to 3.33 A. A 24 awg wire is rated for 3.5 A, which means it barely covers the draw from the heater. A high torque Nema 17 motor will draw 2 A (which is probably heavier than most standard stepper motors in most 3D printing applications). Seeing as how the 18 awg wire is rated to 9.5 A, you should have no issue extending your wires using this gauge of wire for all of the extensions.

Please do note that 3.5 A is @ 75  °C. It is about 2.1 A @ 60 °C. Usually the current is lower than 2 A for steppers.

Also worth noting that these calculations are for SOLID wires, not stranded wires. Stranded wires can carry less current.

This answer expands on the heat bed wires question which is not addressed in this answer and gives a foundation for the edit of the question stating that AWG 18 or lower is sufficient.

The current depends on the voltage your machine uses. The question does not state whether you modified the power supply or not. Typical values for the resistance of the bed are in the range of 1.2 - 1.8 Ω (Ohms). This implies a maximum current of $\frac{12}{1.2}=10 A$ (the stock power supply is 12 V, if the power supply is changed to 24 V, the current doubles). From this reference you can look up the ampacity (maximum current through a wire) which wire gauge fits the current for your application depending on the maximum temperature you want it to reach. For 10 Amps, you will see that AWG 18 can be used for a single wire when you allow the wire to heat up to 60 °C. Note that bundling wires lowers the ampacity of a wire, because the cooling is less optimal for bundled wires (this is called de-rating).
Please be careful when you read that certain wires are sufficient for your application. It is best to calculate the current your specific application draws from the power supply rather than relying on somebody else's calculation, it could well be that the assumptions are different than in your specific case. A multimeter or multitester is a valuable asset to aid in your calculations.

The power supply has not being modified. What do you mean when you say "bundling wires"?

@Programmer Wire bundling is the process where you bundle multiple wires together using e.g. sleeves or cable ties like Ty-Raps, etc.

I plan to use "Flexo PET Expandable Braided Sleeving" to keep each wire type together just like the printer did when I bought it. Is this a problem? By looking at the link you sent, it looks like it would a problem...What one do ? Let the wires hanging out just like that after extending them?

@Programmer They'll just get hotter then, please note that AWG 18 can still transport 16 A at 90 °C. Proper silicone wrapped copper wire can go up to 200 °C (should be read on the cable mantle). You might as well go for some proper AWG 16 or AWG 14, then the wires will stay cooler. I use AWG 14, but as said this is for my heat bed parameters.

Ok. It looks like I have to order AWG 14. Thanks for your help.

you don't need 14AWG for anything on the CR10, that's an extreme overkill and will result in unsightly, expensive, and hard-to-manage wire bundles.

Im trying to find the right wire to use on my 3D printer, and it looks like 18-22AWG will suffice for SOLID wires, but what about stranded wires? Looking at the table in the other question, it looks like the values only go up to 43 wires, but the cable I just saw has 60 strands in it.


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Gizmo3D SLA + Monocure resins not curing
I am working with a "Gizmo3D" type DLP resin printer, and using Monocure "General Grey" resin.  I'm having some issues with getting this resin to cure to the build plate well enough to prevent it from "wandering" across during the print, without "cooking" the resin and distorting it.
Does anyone have experience using this family of resin that could suggest some of their process details?  I am getting acceptable quality incremental print with 100 micron (0.1 mm) layer thickness and a resin temp of 25 °C but I am having issues with the layers of the model "peeling away" from the base layers that get put down on the build plate first.

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

I get best results from sun curing by putting it in water in the sun for 20-30 min.
I personally do not like Monocure Red one. I find the Nova3D prints better, has a lower oder, and cheaper.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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When dwelling G4, my printer is oozing, how can i stop that?
Here is the sequence of my Gcode, printed in mid-air:
Print (E20)
Retract (E-20)
Dwell (G4 10,000)
Move away (E0)
Print (E20)

See the path on the printscreen below:

When the printer dwells it oozes. How can i stop that?
I am using a WASP 3MT, pellet extrustion, 3mm nozzle, Marlin firmware, Gcode done on Silkworm for Grasshopper.
Gcode around the dwell:
G1 F300 X-25 Y-25 Z30 E15.96
G92 E0
G1  F0 X-25 Y-25 Z30
G1 F1000 X-25 Y-25 Z36 E-89.42
G92 E0
G4 P10000
G1  F0 X-25 Y-25 Z36
G1 F1000 X-25 Y-25 Z32 E0
G92 E0

how much are you retracting? Bowden or direct drive? Would you show the full snippet of GCode, 3 lines before and after the G4?

Are you using an all-metal hot end?

Instead of idling, have you considered printing a scrap part (like a wiper wall or cooling tower) in the corner?

Ooze is virtually unstoppable. This becomes apparent once you understand why an nozzle oozes. As the filament melts, its viscosity drops and the free flowing filament slowly makes it way out of the nozzle due to the action of gravity (and sometimes thermal expansion). If you make the throat air tight then you can use air pressure to keep the plastic from oozing out. Further you would have to immediately turn off the heat to the nozzle and cool the nozzle as fast as possible (possibly with a blower). Even if you retract the filament all the way out of the throat, there could still be some plastic left inside that will ooze out.

Since you retracted the filament (very far), but stay at elevated temperature for almost 2 minutes, this must be left-over residue inside the nozzle/throat that is stuck to the wall that becomes liquid and oozes out of the nozzle because gravity pulls it downwards.
This answer on the question "Ender 3 extrudes plastic whilst at standstill, and while moving to start of print" explains the oozing problem in detail.

You retract the filament, yet you keep the heater on while the dwell. As you pull the filament back, you pull only the non-molten filament. The retaining molten filament follows gravity and sags down.
It is fixable to some degree though: Turn off the heat to let the filament cool before having the machine hibernate. That can reduce the amount of oozing, but not fully.

authors: เชิดตระกูล โทลิธรรม

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Does color changing PLA require a hardened nozzle?
I've seen comments about glow-in-the-dark filament being abrasive and would damage a bronze nozzle so a hardened nozzle is recommended.
Is the same true for filament that changes colour when warm (for example when held in your hands)?

do you have a particular band in mind? there are different types of color changing, ranging from "rainbow on a spool" to "changing the color based on print temperature"

Oops, I'll update the question. Specifically I mean the type that changes color when it's warm (eg. when held). If it may vary depending on the type, then what to look for when deciding would be helpful. Thanks!

a thermo-dependant color? hmm, depends on the pigment/coloration...

How can I tell/find out which would/wouldn't work?

The manufacturer would be the proper call for definitive info.

I checked a few sites, and so far didn't find any mention on any of them (neither saying it was required, nor that it wasn't).

I know I'm in the minority, but my recommendation is always "try it and see what happens, because brass nozzles are dirt cheap and easy to replace"

How easily could I tell if it was happening?

The color changing material used in the filament is most likely a Leuco dye.  There are several types and some can be abrasive (just like the glow in the dark dyes); but, they aren't like putting sand through your nozzle.  Since brass is really soft, even something like the dyes can cause it to wear; but, it will take a while.
The safest bet is to use a hardened nozzle; but, if you are just doing a small print then it probably won't be too hard on the brass nozzle either.  I have heard of people printing an entire spool of glow-in-the-dark PLA with a brass nozzle then examining the nozzle and not noticing any wear.
Also, some people like the better thermal characteristics of the brass over the steel; so, they just stick with the brass nozzle for everything and replace it when needed.


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Printing refusing to print, citing non-genuine cartridges?
So I just got a Da-Vinci 3-in-1 Junior Pro 3D Printer, and was excited to start printing my first model.
When I open my .STL File in the XYZWare that comes with the printer, and click print, it says that the cartridge inserted into my printer in not genuine, and that it won't print until I order a genuine cartridge. What is interesting is that the cartridge loaded into this printer came with the printer itself, so it is genuine.
Is there something I am doing wrong? Here is a picture of the cartridge in my printer -->

A Google search about this issue doesn't come up with any results that are of any use to me.

Considering it is a brand new printer you could ask the seller/supplier for support. Alternatively, call the manufacturer.

This is an eery echo of the "genuine cartridge" disasters of several ink-jet (paper) printers over the last decade.   The proper answer is: Boycott any vendor who has a lock-in like this.  It exists only to maximize their profit.

XYZPrinting is a highly unethical company that's done a lot of other nasty stuff too, including baseless takedowns (false patent infringement claims) against sellers of their competitors' products on Amazon. Seriously, boycott them.

Return printer to retailer. If they won't take it, chargeback time. The printer was designed to be defective and not disclosed to be defective.

I managed to troubleshoot my printer's dilemma, rather quickly I might add.
It turns out that the printer's firmware that was shipped with the printer was too old for XYZWare to use. My theory was that the firmware was trying to use a sensor that wasn't on the printer to begin with, and therefore was throwing out the issue of non-genuine cartridges.
I updated the firmware on the Printer, and know it works just fine without any hitch!

A quick search on the internet showed that your experiences are shared by others.
Apparently, it has something to do with a faulty chip or the software.
From this thread:

I had the same thing, the cop on the underside of the cartridge wasn’t
programmed properly, if you have the latest firmware update and it
still doesn’t work contact the seller and they should send you a
replacement chip

I had this happen 2x. It ended up being that I had xyzware open.
Xyzware needs to restart in order to detect the new serial number of
the filament.

You could ask for support from your supplier or restart the XYZ software.
You could also hack the NFC chip that is inside the spool. (DISCLAIMER: Do it at your own risk!)


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Z-axis of Anet A8 always moves additional 5 mm upwards when moving X and Y-axis in Ultimaker Cura
I have an Anet A8 using the Marlin 1.1.8 Firmware.
There are two (very much related) things that bother me:
G00 Z0 (after auto home from printer menu which places the nozzle at Z10.09 according to my settings) goes to Z5. G00 Z-5 brings the nozzle down to the bed but I cannot see any offset like 5 mm.
In Ultimaker Cura I use the jog buttons (like I always do when leveling the bed) but every time I do this it seems that a Z movement of -5 is added. So I press jog distance 10 to the right. The nozzle goes to the right AND up 5 mm. Same with all other jogs. If I do X movements from the printer menu directly, the printer behaves correctly.
What's new is that whenever I connect or disconnect Ultimaker Cura, the display shows Z-4.99 on the display. I went through all settings even the Marlin configuration.h to check where I could change this but didn't find it.
I am using a sensor as limit switch which pysical distance to the bed is 7.51 mm. M503 tells me that there was an offset (M206) of Z of 5. So I sent M206 Z0. In my firmware (configuration.h) the Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER is set to 0 ... hmmm, sounds incorrect to me. other z offsets I cannot see being different from 0.

Hi, and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! We would love to help you out to fix the problem you are experiencing, but at the moment the information is a little terse! Please add what you exactly did to produce this. E.g. are you using the menu, or sending G-codes over USB, what are the codes, moves to 5.0 or 5 up or down, etc. Please help us help you!

I would like to ask for the following parameters: Physical distance along the Z-axis of the Z-Axis limit switch to the bed. The software offset of the Z-Axis limit switch in your firmware (usually 0).

So, you have a physical 7.51 mm offset into the Z axis?

Why don't you post your configuration file on pastebin or something equivalent and post the link. M206 with Z5 should be Z0, preferably no Z offsets are set in the configuration, you do that afterwards with M851.

Once you have posted the answer, can you mark it as accepted (using the green tick button) as it will remove your question from the unanswered list, and as we are a beta site, we need to keep the unanswered queue to a minimum. Thanks again.

Answer taken from OP's question

(24.01.2019) UPDATE: I updated Marlin to 1.1.9 and used the configuration from repository. Since I also printed a new print head (for Bowden extruder) I had to rework all offsets. Same time I switched to Simplify3D (cause I need better control for support blocks). Since then the problem disappeared (not surprised). I could not figure out what setting caused my problem. Thank you!

@Mirco - If you care to submit your own actual answer, I will delete this Wiki answer, thanks.


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3D printer out of normal printer (HP PSC 1315)
I thought as a fun project to make my own 3D printer out of a normal printer parts + some parts out of old CD-ROM drives that are lying around. The printer of my choice is an HP PSC 1315 one.

But I have these questions:

Does this printer users stepper motors or is using a combination of DC ones and some sort of position sensor?
What kind of electronics and firmware I can use for this type of builds?

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

No, Printers are not good sources
Common printers contain at best one stepper motor in the scanner, and it is usually too weak for use as an X or Y stepper, but for a very slow printer they might be useable, especially if you could source 2 or 4 of the same type.
The main motors in the printer are almost universally DC motors that get their turning signal as a voltage from the main board, which again uses positional information from an encoder strip/disk. Using both of these to make a 3D printer is usually not feasible.
However, they usually have good rails (sadly often of non-standard diameter) and might be salvaged for a decent optical sensor. See also Thomas Sanladerer's video about this.

However, the rails are frequently non-standard size diameter. It is hard to find bearings for them. My colleague is building a 3D printer from scavenged normal printer parts (using the rails) as we speak. We ended up printing Igus style bearings for his rails diameter.

"Yes" you can, but "No" it is not a good idea.
A colleague of me is building a Anet A8 clone from salvaged rods from a bunch of printers he had. The rods are 9 mm in diameter for which you cannot find affordable linear bearings. We printed bearing blocks from PLA with integrated glide surfaces to solve that.
Furthermore, practically nothing of interested can be obtained from a 2D printer/scanner. The steppers are too weak, the belts too flimsy, and the electronics are not useable. Only on optical sensor (used as an endstop), but these literally only cost about $0.40 (then you get the whole module including the cable). Also, linear rods of good quality are best obtained locally from a local (web) supplier, there are mixed experienced with those found on cheap internet auction sites.
Considering the amount of parts that can be salvaged from a 2D printer/scanner, and the part you actually need to order to complete the build, you better spend a few extra bucks and order all parts.

I'm in the process of making a printer out of DVD/CD drives. I haven't progressed particularly far (I have the stepper drivers and obtained three (non-identical) CD/DVD drives last night for 100 baht), but I can state what I know to date, and then update as I go along.
Note: I'm not using any recycled printer parts, so this answer skirts that issue entirely.

Firstly, there are a number of resources out there, which I have attempted to consolidate here, Something for nothing.
The principle recycled printer that most searches seem to throw up is the E-waste printer by Miquel Lloveras, @mikel_llc, see EWaste 60$ 3DPrinter by mikelllc in 3D-Printing. However, the blueprints are missing and the Instructable's guide is a bit sketchy at best. I am currently in communication with the designer on Twitter, and  hopefully will obtain more details at a later date.
A far better Instructables guide is Complete Newbie Step by Step, 3D Printer With All Parts Lists. Very in-depth and informative indeed.
However, IMHO, the best guides that I found (and decided to follow) have been by Tinkernut and Electronic Grenade. In particular:

Electronic Grenade based on Tinkernut's printer, this really does seem to be the easiest printer to make, although it does employ the use of a 3D pen in place of a "real" extruder/hotend

How I Built A 3d Printer From Cd Drives
Make a 3D Printer From Cd Drives || Part 1
Make a 3D Printer From Cd Drives || Part 2

Tinkernut's videos for 3D Printer and the CNC machine that it is based off:

Playlist: Arduino CD-Rom 3D printer & CNC
How To Make A Cheap 3D Printer
Hack old CD-ROMs into a CNC Machine - Part 1: The Hardware
Hack old CD-ROM's into a CNC Machine - Part 2: The Software

These printers require no laser cut frames, and apart from the three CD/DVD drives, you only seem to need:

1 x Arduino Uno
3 x A3967 stepper drivers
18 x Brass Motherboard standoffs and nuts
1 x Resistor (16 kΩ or 22 kΩ) or 50-100 kΩ trim pot
1 x Transistor 2n2222 or 2n3904
1 x PC power supply
1 x 3D Pen (which may or may not require pulling apart and hacking a bit - it is up to you)

Software wise, these printers use:

Xloader
GrblController-3.6.1.7z
Grbl v0.8c Atmega328p 16mhz 9600baud

Obviously, with a little tinkering and calibration, you could use the standard Arduino Mega2560 and RAMPS1.4 setup, and your preferred firmware (i.e. Marlin, Repetitier, etc.).
Here is the A3967 stepper driver

A note on the motors

Apparently, some CD/DVD drives use DC motors rather than stepper motors, possibly in conjunction with endstops. While it is possible to use these types of drives, it seems much easier to employ the stepper motor type only.
It is possible that some of the CD/DVD drives which employ steppers also have endstops, and it is a good idea to salvage these endstops, when pulling the unit apart. However, in the Tinkernut and Electronic Grenade models these aren't required, although they could be added later, I guess.
To make life easy on yourself, try to get identical CD/DVD drives. Whilst a number of brands share common design/components and you may get lucky when using/opening different brands of drive and find the same parts, if you actually hunt around and get three or four drives of exactly the same make and model, things will be simpler (not amazingly so, but simpler and more consistent, nevertheless)

Hmmm, I got a bit over excited there, and then carried away down a myopic tunnel, when I saw the mention of CD drive in the question, and completely missed the bit about the printer... :-( However, hopefully some parts of this answer may come in useful.

With a little rephrasing you might be good. Something like "You need stepper drivers".

You need not a "modern" inkjet printer, but an antique flatbed 2-D printer.  These were the state-of-the art in the 1980s, and drove the print head (a felt pen clamped into a mount) in X & Y over the printable area.
You'd still need to hang the whole thing on some Z-drive, of course.
See info at the HP museum,  or buy one on eBay (Disclaimer: I just searched for that. I do not know the seller) .

Weren't those called plotters, and not printers..?  I remember using them to print out OrCAD schematics

@Greenonline yes, they have names like  "Pen Plotter"


text:
Different lengths of filament is extruded with different temperatures
TL;DR: I'm looking to change the steps per mm but I'm not sure what to set it to. Do I decide on a temperature and change the rate based on the percentage for that temp? Or is there a more general setting I can put it to? Or is there a different underlying problem here?
I'm running into an issue with my Ender 3 where when I print PLA at different temperatures I'm getting different extrusion rates. I've done the test where marking it at 120 mm and then extruding using PronterFace 100 mm and measuring the distance and this is my results. I did two tests of each to confirm results

185 °C 80 mm left = 60 % under extrusion
200 °C 31 mm Left = 11 % Under Extrusion
210 °C 32 mm Left = 12 % Under Extrusion
220 °C 28 mm Left = 8 % Under Extrusion
230 °C 25 mm Left = 5 % Under Extrusion

When I feed 100 mm through the Bowden tube without the filament going through the hot end I get exactly 20 mm left meaning:

0% under Extrusion
echo: Steps per unit:
echo: M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z400.00 E93.00

I have been having this problem since I started. I normally print at 210 °C at 50 mm/s with a flow rate of 103 % which seems to work well for most prints but on flat walls on prints it under extrudes in the same spot each time it comes around to that point.
Steps I have taken so far:

Different PLA filaments. All perform the same
Replaced the nozzle with a new one
Checked all fittings with the bowen tube system
Printed a spring spacer to make the spring tighter on the extruder gear
Changed the Vref from 0.75 to 1 for the extruder stepper

The reason I changed the Vref on the extruder stepper is because the system would click back when printing as if the pressure was too great in the tube. Changing this has helped some of the under extrusion a bit.
So. depending on the temperature, it's harder or easier to push the filament by hand through the hot end. Maybe I need a better hot end?
Examples:
My test print to replicate the issue. The ripple bit is brittle and under extruded.

This was a Prototype piece for an up-sized print I was planning. After going around it under extrudes at the same point each time 210 °C

Most of the print is fine just some parts are different. This is an inner wall.

Heat towers

You sure it's not a matter of either acceleration at your "same spot" or a problem with the bed or carriage steppers?  Try locating the same part on a different part of the bed, and rotated in X-Y by 45 degrees to see what happens to the under-extruded locations.

Yeah its not the carriage. I believe its under extruding because of pressure in the hot end somehow. With the tests that I've been doing today I've got good results printing 40mm/s, 220c, .2mm. I just cant do any cooler or faster then that or i get under extrusion due to pressure I think.

Obviously, your extrusion process is troubled by a lot of pressure. This can be seen from the extensive experiment you conducted with PLA extrusion at different temperatures. Please do note that 230 °C is considered pretty high for PLA! Usually it should be in the range of 185 - 205 °C:

In general, PLA filament settings have an optimal printing PLA
  temperature range from about 185C to about 205C. If you’re using
  1.75mm as opposed to thicker 2.85mm (or 3.00mm) your optimal print will be closer to the lower end of this PLA filament temperature
  range.

The temperature dependency of filament diameter is explained that small diameter filament warms up way faster in the heating zone of the hotend than large diameter filament as the heat travels less far to the filament core. Basically, with 1.75 mm filament you should be able to print at 195 °C. The pressure that the filament exerts on the hotend and extruder is clearly too much and leads to skipped steps.
It is strongly discouraged to create a function of steps per millimeter (or an over-extrusion by specifying a more than 100% flow modifier). This is a mechanical issue that needs to be fixed by addressing the hardware problem. Usually this is done by:

fixing the extruder;

is it skipping steps?
does the filament tension get too high that it skips back pass the extruder gear?
does increase the stepper current work?

fixing the Bowden tube;

is it clean?
is there too much friction?
are there kinks?

fixing the hotend;

is the temperature that is reported the correct one? (thermistor problem?)
is the heat conducting properly to the nozzle?
is there a tolerance issue in the hotend/heatbreak?
is the coldend properly cooled?

A few of these you already explored, others you have not. Unfortunately, you have to do a little more troubleshooting the get to the bottom of the actual problem that is causing this pressure preventing the extruder to extrude the proper commanded length.

The only thing i can think of at the moment is that my hot end just isnt getting to the temperature its saying it is or it cant maintain it. The only option for that fix then is to just slow the print down even further. 220c - 230c seems to be the best temps to print at for now.

Replace the thermistor to see whether that helps, they literally cost a few cents. Personally I would also change the hotend heatbreak and nozzle, also a few cents. Also the cold end should be checked.

Yeah I'll look into it. I think its just that there is too much pressure in the hot end somehow. I'll pull it apart again and see if I can see whats going on.

So I feel that I solved the problem thanks to a few sources. Thanks to 0scar for his quick response and help.
The problem was two fold. Mechanical problem causing blockage and slicer setting causing ripple.

The PTFE tube wasn't pushed all the way in as far as it could go causing too much pressure in the hotend. This seems to be a really common problem with stock Ender 3's Because of the gap the hotend needed to heat up into the heat break to melt the lump in the gap between the hot end and the PTFE tube.
The slicing settings in cura had combing enabled. I set it to not comb on skin but what it was doing is combing just behind the skin and as a result would leak out filament in little blobs that when it printed the outer layer would be pushed out causing a ripple effect. This caused under extrusion once it finished the move because there wasnt enough filament left in the end.

After I fixed these two things I was printing at 190c with no under extrusion, motor slipping, very little stringing and printing much better.


text:
Why does infill percentage stop the print from sticking to the bed?
I've recently purchased an Ender 3 and have had great success with some Cura settings found on a YouTube Tutorial at 0.2 mm resolution.
So then I noticed that there were default settings in Cura for the Ender 3. Except printing at 0.2 mm it selects a 20 % infill, and when choosing 0.1 mm it changed the infill to 10 %.
I changed infill to 20 % and attempted to print this but there were gaps in the bottom layer and it won't stick to the bed. Is there anything else I need to change in the process?
The shape is essentially a cube with a circular hole in the middle, sliced in half.

If your first layer is too thin you can run into problems getting the layer to stick, is your first layer also smaller with the 0.1 profile?

Do you have a link to the YouTube video?

The more infill, the more material. The more material, the more stress is inside the part while it cools down from printing temperature to ambient temperature. Parts with higher infill density tend to warp more (the edges curl up).
But 20 % should be fine, you shouldn't have any issue at that percentage (unless you're printing with ABS/ASA).
I think it's a first layer issue, the 0.2 mm first layer gets more 'squished' onto the bed, thats why you get better adhesion. I'm using PrusaSlicer, every default print profile in PrusaSlicer uses a 0.2 mm first layer, maybe there is something like that in Cura too?
For example the 0.1 mm PrusaSlicer profile will squish a 0.2 mm first layer onto the bed and changes to 0.1 mm layers for the rest of the print.

Squished amount depends on nozzle to bed initial distance (paper thickness) and overextruded first layer, not on the slicer initial layer setting. It does depend on z offset that is available in some slicers.

That's correct, but overall it's easier to use the same first layer height/settings on every print profile so you don't have to fiddle around with different z offsets, especially for a beginner. A 0.2 mm first layer is more forgiving than a 0.1 mm first layer.

Yes 0.2 mm first layer is more forgiving, I'm totally with you, e.g. the default initial layer in Cura is also larger than the rest of the layers. This makes it usually much more easy to stick, I'm only falling over the reasoning about the squishing. :-) Welcome to 3DPrinting.SE!

Thank you :) I'm not a native english speaker and may have chosen the wrong words to describe what i meant. While reading Calvins question I assumed that he is a beginner to 3D printing and he just switched the print profile to 0.1 mm without setting a proper/precise z offset which leads to a first layer, which is not squished enough.
I just realized this question is 2 years old. When I joined this community yesterday the question was on the 'Active Top Questions' section. Now I'm a little bit confused :S

Basically you have 2 issues, first, an adhesion in combination with layer thickness problem, second, an infill problem.
Starting with the infill issue, when you lower the layer height, without increasing the amount of layers for the "Top/Bottom Thickness", you get a very thin shell (unless the top bottom thickness is expressed in mm). A lower layer height should, because of the lesser amount of filament being extruded over the infill, should be accompanied with a higher infill value, but that is necessary for the top layers, your issue is with the bottom layer and adhesion. As said, a lower layer height also implies lower filament flow, for the first layer this lower flow causes an inconsistent flow to adhere the filament to the bed (probably caused by the gap between the nozzle and bed from leveling with a piece of paper). Most slicers will add some extra features to increase the change to get the filament to stick to the bed; one of those is an increased first layer height (e.g. in Ultimaker Cura, the first default layer height for Ultimaker 3 printers is laarger than the rest of the layers), others include modifying the flow by e.g. over-extruding for the first layer.
You could try to increase your first layer height to the value you create successful prints with, specify the thickness of the bottom and top (or increase the amount of layers for printing these) and increase the infill percentage.


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Why are my lowest layers not solid?
I have designed this in Blender:

The bottom is a regular n-gon with 0.8mm in height. In Slic3r, I see that the bottom-most layer is not solid:

The green parts (of the first image) are going into that layer, because I wanted to ensure that I don't have air between the bottom and the green parts. Unfortunately they become printed non-solid / empty.
This does not only take extra time for printing, it's also not what I want. What seems to be the bottom here is in fact the top of something and I want it to be a flat surface.
How can I tell Slic3r to recognize overlapping items and generate them in a solid way?
I have already set the infill to 100%, but that doesn't change anything. The Boolean modifier of Blender is also not very helpful. It creates topologies with gaps.

I printed the thing for some layers to see what the printer actually does:

There are clearly too many retractions and unretractions.
This can be seen in advance by letting Slic3r show the retractions and unretractions.

For the green "walls", it became clear that it prints them exactly onto the empty space, so in fact the seem to be floating.
That made it obvious to me: the normals were pointing into the wrong direction. Therefore, Slic3r seems to have interpreted the material side of the green parts inside out. I had the same issue on some other parts as well.
I went to Blender, selected the object(s), chose edit mode and found a function called "Recalculate normals". Since then, the bottom layer is solid.
Also printing time is reduced by half an hour.

That was my second guess! There are also online tools to check the models, netfabb is such a website.

Flipped normals are something relatively common with blender, so yes, recalculating is needed!

Blender is not a preferred program to model solids, it is great though for many other visualizations. Apparently, the green parts are not solid models in your original Blender design, they are most probably surfaces, when you create an STL, the model is not solid, it contains surfaces. All this causes problems for your slicer (the slicer ignores the surfaces and makes an empty hole instead, hence the sliced image). You should look into the options, manuals or fora of Blender to create solid models. Otherwise, use a proper 3D modelling tool for creating solid models.


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Print Lines Aren't Joining Together
I have encountered a problem where the print lines are not joining together, when I remove it from the plate it turns into a stringy mess.

I am not sure what the problem is because I print out models that have successfully come out with properly joined lines previously, but now are failing. I am using the same nozzle and material that I have been using in past prints.
I am using the Ender 3 with Bltouch running Marlin 1.1.9. The settings I use are as follows:

Material - PLA
Nozzle - 210
Bed - 60
Speed - 60
First Layer Speed - 30
Line Width - 0.4

EDIT
I have included some higher quality photos as requested, between the original post and this edit I added an aluminium Bowden extruder and a new nozzle but the problem still persists. I have also re-tensioned the x-axis belt and re-flashed Marlin to the printer in case that had somehow corrupted. I have also tried increasing the flow rate in Cura but I had to increase to 130% for there to be any noticeable effect (i was able to print a slightly better model but it still has zero integrity). I also tried adjusting the z-axis height tuning but within a few steps up or down it would go from too close to the bed with not enough material coming out, to a decent height but with the original problem.
I also cleaned out the hot end.

have you tried different temperatures? have you played with the extrusion multiplier?

I had similar problem when my nozzle was partially blocked and as a result there was not enough of filament.

I had the same issue, solved it by turning up the voltage on the stepper motor driver

It is hard to tell from the quality of the picture you added, but this appears to be an example of either an incorrect height setting for your nozzle to touch trigger point (too large) or an under-extrusion problem that could be related to incorrect filament diameter setting, nozzle blockage, too high speed, slipping extruder gear, too less spring force on the extruder roller, etc.
As far as can be seen from the second picture, the filament is not properly squished to the build plate, so I expect that you gain from setting a smaller nozzle to sensor trigger point distance. This can be done with the M851 command.
Updated after posting high quality pictures:
From the pictures you can see that there is an extrusion problem. Your first layer brim starts with too less material, but seems to make adjoining lines in the brim because it is squished a little too much (nozzle is too close to the build plate). It is advised to calibrate the extruder. The lower walls look fine, these are printed at low speed, the infill however looks very weak, this is probably because of a high printing speed and high temperature. In order to solve the problem you need to lower the speeds, lower the hot end temperature to 200 °C, increase part cooling flow and check and calibrate the whole extruder system/path.


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Monoprice Select Mini v2 - Some Prints Freeze
I am having an issue where several prints I downloaded from thingiverse causing my printer to freeze in the first minute of the print. The print head stops, pushes out a small amount of PLA and then does nothing. The control board continues to show the print progress bar continuing.
One thing that could be possible is I am using the wrong G-code flavor. I am running Cura 3.4.1 and I set the printer to use RepRap. I also tried Marlin. Which one of those is right for my printer? Could it be something else?
My MonoPrice printer firmware version is v35.110.2. The item I tried to print has the gcode from this page. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2221657.

You should be using Marlin, Reprap is a little different, it uses relative extruder movement from what I can see. Have you updated the firmware recently? Could you add more information. Link to the G-code and to the model?

I will add all of that info this weekend. I have not updated the firmware since I purchased it. I know when I bought it in November of last year it had the latest firmware. I had a similar issue about 8 months ago with another model and I eventually gave up on it.

@0scar I updated my question with the printer firmware version and a link to the source file. How should I attached the .gcode file. I can add a dropbox link or is there some gcode specific site that works best for sharing?  Thank you!

You could share it over dropbox, but pasting the file on pastebin should also work.

If you go to the Monoprice website you will find a dedicated page for Ultimaker Cura.
From the page you can read that:

Cura now includes profiles for the MP Select Mini V1 and V2. Go to
  “Settings”, “Printer”, “Add Printer…”, “Other”. Select the radio
  button next to the printer, then “Add Printer”.

So you must be able to configure it correctly for your printer (this must include the G-code flavor for your printer). Do note that Monoprice does nothing with the Ultimaker Cura installers, they simply link directly to the source at Ultimaker. Also note all the problems related to specific versions and how to fix them.
You write that the:

The control board continues to show the print progress bar continuing.

This I have experiences myself (on a different printer with Marlin 1.1.8), so a non-printing printer while the progressbar progresses. I solved this myself by flashing to a newer firmware version. It appears to be a bug in the firmware.
You might want to explore whether it is feasible for you to update, I read that there are issues with this printer concerning firmware updating (it appears that there are different hardware versions of this printer).
E.g. from this reference:

If your MPSM V2 currently has Motion Controller v34 or higher
  installed then you can update with this firmware.
If your MPSM V2 currently has Motion Controller v30 or lower, do NOT update with this firmware.
If you have Motion Controller versions 31, 32, or 33 please
  ask before updating with this firmware.

Although the changelog does not mention your problems, you may benefit from a firmware update. Please do this at your own risk, take precautions and read in the matter if your printer is able to be updated. It is best to first look into your settings how the printer is configured in Ultimaker Cura. Preferably, delete the current printer configuration and add a new configuration as described here.

The source of the files (thingiverse) is irrelevant -- what matters is what the slicing software creates for gcode.  Since you're using Cura,go to monoprice for their advice.
There are a number of Cura + monoprice instructional vids on youtube as well.
not to mention several reddit channels.


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Building a cheap 3d printer with DC Motors?
Because I do not own a 3d printer I am searching a way to build an affordable 3d printer. But paying a 200Euros for one seems too much for me.
So in my search for affordable 3d printer I thought to build one out of legos (for example this one) that I can find in bulk at reasonable price.
As for rods I can use out of old printers and skim them down to 8mm at a machine shop (at worst case).
But as for motors DC ones are easier to find/scavage that stepper ones but:

Is it possible to build a 3d printer that uses DC motors instead of stepper ones and what kind of firmware is needed?

Good,  Fast,  Cheap :  pick any two.  <-- well-known engineering mantra.

I have taken the liberty to remove the parts we can't help with and that not answerable here. LEGO would be Brick stack exchange, asking for suggestions where to buy DC motors and other parts is not stack-able at all.

You'll end up way above what you'd pay for something like a Tronxy X1 or Ender 2 with your approach.

To use DC-motors instead of stepper motors, you would need to have some sort of encoder that tells the controlling machine where the printhead has moved.
On the arduino Forums they have discussed the problems and difficulties. The main problem is, that currently, there is little firmware for Arduino or similar chips that can do this. Another big problem is, that such a machine might need a different type of G-code, unless well done.
That is not to say that there is no firmware that does control DC motors via an encoder. Printers do so since ages. But to reverse engineer printer firmware is really really hard. It took a pair of hackers the better part of a half year to dissect the printer & Fax firmware for one printer, and they had mainly looked to dissect the fax protocol and had not looked at all at the motor controlDefcon talk about it.
Luckily, as the RepRap tells though, somebody did hack together a DC motor control: Miguel Sanchez has a GitHub about it. You DO need proper encoders though.


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Not starting printing on bed
I'm a complete newby
Monoprice maker select v.2
Followed directions home all turn off machine level bed
Turn on
Z position fast up an inch
Preheat pla
Print
Then it goes back down but not to the bed above it Pla doesn't stick
Why does it not go back to where I put it when I did the leveling?

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

I'm not an expert with the Monoprice, but it seems to me the printer needs to be on when you level the bed. If you don't, the printer won't know it's been moved. Secondarily, if your z-axis end stop isn't set right, it won't know where the end of travel should be.


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How do I keep the .stl files from being resized while exporting?
I made a few models in Autodesk Inventor. When I tried to get them printed, the printer created a model smaller than the model I made in Inventor (270mm x 200mm). Is there a way to keep them from getting resized?
Here is the model in Inventor:

And here is the model being visualized by the printer driver:

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

Luckily, it doesn't matter, since all slicing programs allow you to scale the dimensions.  So long as you know at least one edge-to-edge dimension, you can handle this.

.stl Basics
The .stl format has no inherent sense of which units you use. items are to scale to an ambiguous 1, which could be 1 meter, one millimeter, one lightyear or one inch. To a .stl, only the relative sizing matters. All these faces you see are compared to a line with the length of 1-unit that is
Slicer-Modeling Software interaction
The most common graphic design programs export in millimeters, but some US ones just assume inches, which is a factor of 1"=25.4mm.
Cura, Netfabb, and Slic3r expect that the 1-unit line is one millimeter long - but if it is an inch instead, then the model is shrunk by 1/25.4 or to about 4% of the right size. Scaling up by 2540% one would return to the millimeter scale.
But then there are other programs that use other choices of scales. Blender for example assumes a scene is in meters by default.
Inventor
Inventor can export .stl in a variety of scales, which all just serve as how the length of the inherent but invisible 1-unit line is drawn. The default choice is centimeters, so a scaling factor of 1cm=10mm, which would explain the models being only 1/10th of the expected size in Slic3r. to change the scaling, follow the manual:

upon exporting a .stl, click Options
under Units, choose mm

From the images he added, the model length and width are in the 100s.

@PerplexedDipole his other picture shows about 2 division lines on a prusa bed on an edge that should be 200mm. 20mm instead of 200mm is what factor? 1/10th.


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First time assemble of Anet A6 printer. Only fan works
I bought an Anet A6-L printer (after some research I discovered that this is not a genuine Anet A6) and assembled it. The first time I plugged it in, the fan (fan 2, I believe) is the only thing that turns on. Also, the LCD screen (LCD2004 5 button display) only had 1 cord, and 1 jack for the cord to plug in on the back of the screen, but 2 openings on the motherboard. The fan turns on for around 30 seconds, then turns off. I have the anet A6 printer, with the V1-5 motherboard. I have everything else (fans, motors, hotbed, power) plugged into the right ports. I haven't plugged in the micro SD (TF) card yet, I turned it on to test it.
I am using a modified part that replaces the windpipe/fan duct (white) and redirects the airflow around it and inwards from a ring around the tip, but that is the only modification I have made. I have not messed with the power supply (other than wiring it in). Same with the motherboard. I tested it also without the modification for the fan duct but it still has the same problem.

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

This definitely sounds like a problem with your wiring if you have a genuine Anet A6, the genuine A6 comes with a 12864 full graphic display. For sure, you are missing 1 flat ribbon cable (see below). Maybe this is causing the LCD not to light up and the SD card not functioning. As the "fan 2" is working, the board is powered by the power supply (this fan is using the constant power feed of the supply of the board). What you are actually describing as a boot sequence is the actual boot sequence of a printer. Once you power the printer, the fan that is cooling the cold end of the extruder should start spinning and keep spinning while the part cooling fan usually spins up but then powers down to standstill. While this is happening, the LCD should come alive and show the boot screen and finally the printer menu. If your screen is not showing any light, this implies that your screen is either broken, not powered or wrongly connected.
You could connect the printer over USB and control the printer from an external program, e.g. Pronterface, OctoPrint, Repetier-host, etc. and see if the printer works (then you know that the display is broken).
From a search on AliExpress I found that there are auto leveling printers sold with the Anet A6 branding that differ from the standard Anet A6 as written in Chinglish:

Different Auto leveling A6 and Normal A6:
1.The auto-leveling version uses a proximity sensor to detect the aluminum print bed where the normal version of the printer uses a
  micro-switch to detect the end of travel for the Z-Axis movement
  (vertical limits).
2.Auto leveling A6-L work with LCD2004 screen, A6 work with LCD12864 screen

The second remark from the quote above suggests that there is a 2004 LCD version that is only used by the Anet A6-L version (probably because they need a free pin for the auto leveling sensor). Such a display only has a single connection socket and needs to be connected to a single socket on the Anet printer board (named "LCD", not "J3")
Note that automatic bed levelling is not magic, and a little more complicated to start with, if you order a printer without an auto bed levelling sensor, you will be able to update to one later. E.g. from here:

It uses the "LED pin" which is an unused pin on the A8 (using the
  stock 5 button 2004 LCD). That is the third wire counted from below
  (where the red marker is on the cable). I simply spliced the cable and
  cut that wire. This will be the servo signal (yellow).

If you have an Anet A6 adapted for auto levelling with a 2004 display
When the LCD does not light up, this could be caused by incorrect placement of the flat cable, be sure to use the correct socket on the printer board and take care of the orientation. Once you have checked this, and it does not work and you are in the possession of a multimeter, you could measure the voltage over the "VSS" and the "VDD" pin; also look into the voltage over the "VSS" and the "VE" (see pin layout below).
If there is power, but no light, the LCD is probably defective. You could try to hook up a computer to the board using a USB cable and use a program like Pronterface to interface with the printer to see if it works at all, the display is not required for printing (e.i. if you can access the printer over USB).

If you have a genuine Anet A6
It is advised to install an extra flat ribbon cable and check all the wires, please do check for correct polarity and correct installment.
Please do note the the installation of the Anet A6 LCD display (see this movie and the screenshot from this video below) requires 2 flat ribbon cables to function properly.

Sidemark on fan ducts:
Both the stock and most ring type ducts are not aerodynamically designed fan ducts. The stock fan converges too much, this narrowing of the duct causes extra pressure build-up which these fans are not able to handle, so they stall, causing a reduced flow output of the fan. The (semi) circular fan ducts usually also have a design problem. The (semi) circular ones all (but one that I have seen) have the same deficiency that the main passage area does not decrease when the duct loses air through a slot/ejector; this means that the velocity in the main ring decreases after each bleed slot! Note that these fans move air and do not build up a high pressure difference that is large enough to overcome the friction of those designs.

Oscar, My screen only came with one flat ribbon cable. It also only has one port for it on the screen, but 2 ports on the motherboard. The image shows a different screen than I have. The screen I have has 5 buttons in a + shape. The one in the image has 2 buttons and a selection disc. My printer is an A6-L printer with auto leveling if that helps.

@JaseKaeberlein Please update your question to include such vital information, even add pictures. It sounds that you have an Anet A6 clone with a 5 button display. To be sure add if you have a 2004 LCD or a full graphical one with the jog dial, I suspect that you have the first.

I'll update my answer tomorrow, thanks for the additions! It appears you do not have a genuine Anet A6.

odd: on Aliexpress, there is a version as "2017 Anet A6-L" that claims to exist in 2 versions with the LCD 2004 screen as 5-button, the LCD 12864 as button dial. LCD 2004 is the cheaper model.

I have done some research, and have confirmed that it is not a genuine A6. The instructions and motherboard say A6, as does the amazon recipt and seller. However, the frame is an A8 frame, as is the screen. I belive we are going to return the printer, and get it from a different seller. Thank you for your help.

authors: Костя Дряхлов


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Upgrade firmware without Slic3r and USB connection?
When printing a part today on my Prusa i3 MK3, I was prompted to upgrade the firmware. I went to the website and downloaded the firmware as a .hex file.
When reading the attached firmware upgrade instructions, it seems there's only one way: use Slic3r and connect the printer via USB. These instructions are also available online.
However, my printer is too far away from my PC and I'm printing from SD card only. Can I upgrade from SD card as well?
Hopefully next week I'll get the Raspberry Pi Zero W so I can use Octoprint for printing. Does that combination support upgrading the firmware?
I have tried:

this Prusa forum post suggests that upgrading via SD card is not possible.
this Prusa forum post mentions that there once was a way to upgrade the firmware via Octoprint, but the post is very old (last entry from January 2017)
it's not a duplicate of this 3D Printing question, since all solutions require a USB or serial connection.

Possible duplicate of How to install a .hex firmware?

What about a laptop? Can't you lend one? Updating from the Raspberry Pi should be possible.

No, you cannot update the firmware from an SD card.
Yes you can update from a Raspberry Pi (RPi). A RPi runs a Linux distribution, when you install the correct tools you should be able to update through USB using the RPi.
For simplicity and time it would be an idea to lend a laptop for a few minutes.

How does one flash firmware from a raspberry pi

@PerplexedDipole That is a different question - but a good one. Ask it in the stack!

@Trish: is this answer correct? Maybe. Is it helpful? Not much, since one needs to ask a new question. It would definitely be a better answer with an explanation on how to do it.

@ThomasWeller sometimes, one question pops up from the answer of one question.


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Prevent stopping and heating in the middle of the print
In my latest 3D model, the Prusa i3 MK3 stops, heats and then continues the print. However, there's no noticeable drop in temperature. The display shows 210 °C/90 °C (nozzle/bed) as expected. I have printed the same part 3 times now and the behavior is similar. I've seen a maximum of 211 °C/90 °C and a minimum of 209 °C/89 °C.
Unfortunatly, it seems that stopping the head seems no good idea. The nozzle is very close to the object and it seems as if either there's a bit of filament leaking, causing too much filament, or the existing filament is melting.

The irregularities are always in the same XYZ positions. The print is still usable for my needs, but I'd like to understand this behavior better and find a fix, if possible. My meterial is HDGlass (PETG) and I'm printing with default settings, 20 % infill and first layer 200 °C, following layers 210 °C.
I've looked up the print quality troubleshooting guide. It looks a bit like blobs and zits, just much less and much more subtle than in the example there. Also, the solution is not applicable, because Slic3r does not show a planned retraction in those positions.
My model is available online and the issue appears near the large bottom layers and the large top layers.
My questions are:

what is the problem called / what problem category do I have here?
what is a potential fix?
since the filament also extrudes at 200 °C, can I prevent the printer from stopping the movements unless the nozzle temperature drops below e.g. 207 °C, although the nominal temperature should be 210 °C?

What is the wattage of your power supply? I'm wondering if it is not able to keep up with the power demands of the heat block.

that, or the triggering is too tight.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2: well, you can ask questions ... I don't know and I couldn't even find an official source on how much power it should have. There are some forum posts that talk about 240W. The website just says it will consume 120W when printing ABS.

There should be a data plate on it which tells you how much power is available on it.

Your allowable temperature tolerance might be too low.
You have seen what I call emergency-halt the print on getting too far away from the set print-temperature. As described, the allowable tolerance seems to be 1 degree, which means pretty much any variation in the printer head's temperature will trigger the stop before the software even can counteract it.
To counteract this, you might try to increase your allowable range slightly, for example to about 2.5 of more degrees, either way, giving the printer time to compensate without halting the print.
How the tolerance area works

Let's assume the printer has 210 degrees with a stable heat input from the cartridge and monitored by the thermosensor.
conditions are met to start printing.
Filament is pushed into the nozzle, picking up heat energy from the heater block.
The temperature of the heater block drops, as the thermal energy (=heat) input from the cartridge did not yet include the new thermal energy drain in the shape of the filament.
The Thermosensor registers the thermal drop a little bit later and notifies the chip
The chip increases the voltage on the heater cartridge with a little time difference

With a very low tolerance, it is possible to fall below the threshold before the cartridge could heat up to compensate

the cartridge pumps in way more heat than needed, raising the temperature rapidly back into the print-temperature tolerance area...
...and overshoots the aimed for 210 degrees.
The thermosensor only registers the aimed temperature with a short delay
the chip cuts the voltage to the heater cartridge lower
but there is still a lot of extra thermal energy banked in the heater cartridge, heating the block over the aimed 210 degrees

which again can trigger the stop for the temperature rose over the allowable tolerance.

That would be awkward behavior for a genuine Prusa i3 MK3. Maybe you could explain what the OP has to change exactly in his software/firmware? Maybe @ThomasWeller can explain if the firmware has been altered?

@0scar: I have upgraded the firmware to 3.5.0-1749 (2018-11-22) recently. Unfortunately I have never printed this part with an older firmware before.

In Slic3r, there are not many options which have the "degree" unit. There is "first layer temperature" and "other layer temperature" for both the nozzle and the bed. The only setting left is "ooze prevention", which is under "multiple extruders", which I don't have.

@ThomasWeller I believe tollerance would be set in the firmware... I just made a rough guess from what you explained as a behavior... hmm... odd idea... did you run a PID Tuning? I believe I red that this could help the chip better adjust the temperature to be less... wobbly.


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What is the simplest way to render an image of an obj exported from Tinkercad?
I like Tinkercad so far for it's very simple UI. (I'm new to 3D modeling and very confused by Blender and the like.) However, I'm not using it to do 3D printing just yet. For I'd like to be able to be to slap textures on the models I make and get images of that. What is the easiest beginner way to do that (for Linux OS)?
Alternately, displaying the .obj directly in the browser with a texture would be great, too.

textures? Why you need textures, when the print will be monocolored (unless you have one of those new printers that add ink)?

I think the part "I'm not using it to do 3D printing" takes care of the textures needed aspect.

@fred_dot_u That part makes it Off Topic, but yes.

For your purposes, consider that Meshmixer (free) can open .OBJ files and display them in any position you desire.
I use Meshmixer quite a bit for model editing, but have not used it for .OBJ files with textures. I searched my drive and found quite a few .OBJ files, but was not able to present or add textures, due to my own ignorance, I'm sure.
I found a useful link to a support page on the 'net which indicates that there has to be a texture file as well as a definition file (.MTL) in order to display the textures in Meshmixer. Using that reference, I was able to add a randomly selected .PNG file and apply the texture to a test model.
If your creations do not include those support files, this may not be a good answer. There's little to lose, however, as the program is free and you may find use for it in the future, or you may find that it works as you require.

Thanks! Unfortunately, Meshmixer does not appear to be supported on Linux, which I am on.

that does throw a wrench in the works!

If you need just a graphical 3D look at them, opening them in any slicing program should create a graphic visualization in relation to the print grid - in glorious 3D. Slicers don't allow to place textures on them though.
One of the most common slicers among hobbyists, Ultimaker Cura, comes also as a linux distribution, just like a couple more reviewed on all3dp.com
If slapping textures on your model is a strict demand, then you have to get a proper graphic-design program. Blender, which is a mess, as you mentioned, is one of the most powerful ones out there. But even with blender you don't need to go all deep into learning: if you just want to check out a rough fit of the looks, it can be used for a 3D visualization. It can be helpful to use the vertex-paint mode to mark some areas as you spin the model around. And if you dig deeper into the matter, you can make an UV-map easily.

Consider using Clara.io (100% free):

Export your Tinkercad project as OBJ.
Import in Clara.io
Texture and render.

Clara.io is 100% web based. It is simple to learn if you have prior experience with other 3D renderers. If you don't, the learning curve might be steep though...
But : you have access to VRAY which in a free-to-use package, is simply awesome...


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0.9° motors for Delta printers?
I built a cheap Delta printer with ATMega board and 1.8° motors. The micro stepping is limitied to 1/16. Beside a decent print quality, I observe a moire effect on flat surfaces. The moire is clearly caused by a combination of both, the 1.8° motors steps and the low microstepping.
I thought about using 0.9° stepper motors together with a combination of board and drivers which support < 1/32 micro stepping. Is there a comparison somewhere illustrating potential quality differences on larger delta printers and is this the way to remove the moire effect? For cartesian printers I would not bother using such motors, but I noticed that a higher holding torque at smaller steps is desirable for delta printers.
Example
Not one of my prints, but this is how it looks

Delta bots always need all motors to step to maintain a straight level. Microstepping, is not magic, the incremental torque decreases per step so that you will be more likely to miss a few micro-steps. Furthermore, the signal that creates voltages for the micro-step positioning is usually not perfectly sinusoidal (pulse-width voltage modulation is used to achieve micro-stepping by controlling the current; the driver sends two voltage sine waves, 90 degrees out of phase to the motor windings), micro-stepping drives can only approximate a true sine wave. This means that some torque ripples, resonance, and noise remains and hence resulting in odd stepper behavior, like seen below from this ref. (after the half step the stepper jumps to the full step and maintains that value for a while):

This is seen as a Moiré pattern in your printed products. As an example, if the head is moved in Z direction by micro-step, you will almost certainly notice that the head doesn't move on every micro-step, but only every 3rd or 4th micro-step (as an example). When using higher resolution steppers like the 0.9° stepper motors, you will still miss micro-steps (e.g. the same, so also on every 3rd or 4th micro-step the head moves), but as the micro-step is half the size of that one of a 1.8° stepper motor, the accuracy as in precision and resolution is higher.
In that sense, if you change your stepper drivers for higher micro-stepping drivers (from 1/16 to 1/32 as you mention), it will not help you improve the resolution much because the incremental torque from one to another 1/32 micro-step is lower than for 1/16 micro-steps as can be seen in the figure below (taken from this ref.).

So, using 0.9° motors (and keeping 1/16 micro-stepping) improves positioning accuracy as described above, it will also reduce the noise, because the torque per unit angular error is nearly doubled. Also remember that if you are using 8-bit electronics (you hint to an ATMega board), then even 1/32 micro-stepping burdens the processor to achieve reasonable travel speeds. With 8-bit electronics, it is usually suggested to use 1/16 stepping.
Upgrading an existing printer from 1.8° to 0.9° stepper motors is probably not worth for the majority of users (note that the maximum allowable speed also reduces when using 0.9° stepper motors). Unless you are designing and building a new delta, or aren't on a tight budget you could opt for the additional costs of buying 0.9° stepper motors.
Note that updating to higher micro-stepping values not necessarily implies that the quality of your products also increase. See e.g. this reference.

Exactly, my idea was to make a new printer with 32bit electronics and 0.9° steppers. Regarding the moire, I was not sure whether it is the result of missed micro-steps or low angular accuracy. Thanks for explanation.

@dgrat Your question did not mention the use of a 32bit board. Still, would you go beyond 1/16 steps with such a board knowing that the incremental torque from 1/16 to 1/32 is halved? Upside is that you can use better stepper drivers that can handle more torque (Amps through the driver).

High microstepping is always better. The motors run much smoother and quiter. The torque per microstep goes down, but the worst what can happen is that the motor jumps to the next full step.

I tested to reduce the microstepping from 1/32 to 1/2 on a different printer. The motors became with each iteration louder and vibrated more and more. The print quality went down too.

@dgrat The opposite is also true: You will likely not see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from a 16x or 32x to a 64x or 128x microstepping driver. Depending on the motors you're driving and the size of the load you could actually see a decrease in quality.

What you're seeing there is commonly referred to as "salmon skin" and isn't a result of the motor stepping, but due to power backfeeding from the motors. Install a set of flyback diodes on each axis (you can buy these premade specifically for printer motors, normally in sets of 8 diodes per motor) and you should find the issue either minimised or eliminated entirely. It's a very cheap upgrade and I'm surprised it's not a standard feature on printers that have affected drivers these days.

I am looking at the example print you supplied and trying to understand the defects.  Was the object printed vertically, so that the object Z-axis is running from top to bottom in the picture?
If so, then the horizontal defects look like resonance artifacts, which could be caused by the issue you raise of the stepper motor not responding to small movement commands.  The only thing that will prevent the motor from responding is stiction, or difficulty starting a movement.  Stiction is a non-linear aspect of friction in which the "starting" friction is higher than the "sliding" friction.  It might be worth checking for surfaces which must slide against each other, and assure they are lubricated with a dry, non-tacky lubricant.
A typical delta machine behaves the same way on each layer.  The equations which govern how high on the tower the top of the delta-leg should be for each x,y, and z point is linear in Z, but non-linear in X and Y.  With that in mind, I have no hypothesis to describe the defects that would be described as cathedrals if they were wood grain.
Or, perhaps the object was printed so that the surface shown is parallel to the bed?  If so, the defects looks like more than a couple of microsteps.  Is it possible that one drive is not working correctly?  If so, I would suggest that the motor on the tower pointed to (or pointed from) by the cathedrals is not working like the others.  It could be binding too tightly to the tower, or the pully may be loose, or the driver isn't working correctly for one of the two coils.


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Creality Ender 3 - printing in front of the build plate
I am trying to print my first test but my Creality Ender 3 starts printing near the front edge and within 10 seconds is printing in front of the tray (off onto my table).  I really think it should be starting the print in the middle and then never going so close to the edge and even over it
What can I do?

Have you found & fixed the problem? If any of the answers helped you to get an answer to your question or come to your own conclusions then please do vote & accept an answer (using the tick button next to it). This helps us reduce the unanswered questions list & stops the question from being bumped once in a while. If you found another answer (than those already posted), please add that answer (& accept after 48 hours) to share your experience with the community. If you have not been able to address the problem please update your question.

When a print is not printing on the build platform, you either:

Have the incorrect settings in the slicer (e.g. Ultimaker Cura, a common mistake is that the "origin at center" option is active), or
Have the center of the bed incorrectly stored in your firmware. (See: How to center my prints on the build platform? (Re-calibrate homing offset) or Recalibrating Home-position).

Note that the most simple change (after you verified the slicer settings and confirmed that it still does not print in the center) is adjusting the settings in the slicer (bed settings, of start G-code script), this way you do not need to compile and upload new firmware (e.g. if you are uncomfortable or inexperienced in doing so), but, fixing it in the firmware is the best solution. Why? If you change the offset in the slicer you force the bed dimensions to a new position that you know where it is, while if changed in the firmware, the printer "knows" the actual size and the limits.

To fully answer your question, we need a little more information what slicer you use and what the current settings are. From your question it sounds as if the offset is more than a few millimeters. Usually this hints to an incorrect slicer setting (frequently Ultimaker Cura).

The Ender 3 has its standard homing position not set to a point on the build plate but rather at the physical position of the endstops. That is a couple millimeter in front and at the side of the front left corner. To make it clear, home or (0,0,0) is not the center of the build plate but some millimeters off the front-left corner.
To move the home position away from the physical switch positions and onto the build plate's front left corner - should you want to - you will need to switch the firmware of your printer.
A walkthrough I had with an Ender3 (the same machine type) is at Recalibrating Home Position

authors: capittหัฟดนๆ


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Layer shifting on product printing after raft support structure
First post here, so please forgive me for any silly mistakes.
Recently the y-axis (I think, forward-backward) has started skipping forward when printing the first layer of my print. It prints the raft with no issues at all, sticks the bed nice and flat and the raft is perfect every time.
Then it starts to print the actual item, but every time it starts to the print the back right corner the Y-Axis jumps or skips on the gears and makes a loud grinding noise. The amount it jumps varies on the print, but always jumps towards the front of the print. It doesn't matter on the size of the print or the position, it always jumps forward never back.
The printer is a Makerbot Replikator clone, from eBay. The X & Y moves the extruder. I have tried upgrading and downgrading the software (which uses Makerbot software) I am unsure if I can update the firmware.
Any help much appreciated.
UPDATE:
Image has been attached of the failed part, excuse the colour, I use it for my test prints. This is orientation it printed on the bed. First 3 blocks printed fine, 4th one jumped  It printed in the following order 1. top-left, 2. bottom left, 3. bottom right, 4. top right.

Can you verify that the extruder head has moved up (Z-axis)? It's unlikely but possible that the head is running into the extruded raft, causing a drive jam.  Try printing something with a brim instead of raft and see what happens.

@Carl Witthoft Unfortunately the z-axis moves fine, As you can now see in the image I attached, it printed the 3 first 3 blocks with no problem (1. top-left, 2. bottom left, 3. bottom right, 4. jumped on top right).
I will try printing without a raft when I get in tonight see if that makes a difference.

Hmmm, in addition to Oscar's answer,  I wonder about this sequential print approach. You will have less risk of collision with the material if you set to "print all at once" so that all extrusion at a given Z-height takes place over all 4 blocks in one sweep.  If that is what's going on, apologies for misinterpreting your description.

@CarlWitthoft Sorry yes that is what is happening. I should have been more clear, the order I gave is the order it printed the first layer

Layer shifting is a result of the use of open-loop control systems. This means that the printer just instructs the head to go to certain positions without checking that it actually did arrive at that position. If something happens along the path, like hitting some part of the print or the printer, the motors could loose steps or the belts may skip teeth without the printer knowing it, so it continues further without correcting this.
There are a couple of causes for the skipping to occur. Usually it is a mechanical issue, but it can also be related to an electrical problem or a print settings problem (if e.g. your print speed it too high, the steppers could miss steps).
Looking closely at the image, you will see that the infill of the first layer does not touch the outer lines. This could be a hint that your belts are not tight enough (mechanical issue). Too loose belts cause the stepper driving pulley to skip. Also check the pulley whether it is securely fastened so that the pulley is not slipping when subjected to an increased torque. The nozzle most probably hits the raft (ABS? as it curls up and detaches, you see some irregularities on the left of the bottom right product in your image). Do note that too tight belts are also not wanted as they stress the stepper by an increased torque load. If the issue is electronically related, you could thick of increasing the torque by increasing the current through the stepper (and driver). Too much current will overheat the stepper driver though, so make sure that these do not exceed their rated maximum and properly cool the stepper drivers.
To solve your issues it is recommended to first try printing at lower speeds (this can be skipped if you already have low print speeds), then check the mechanical system of the printer, and finally, if this does not fix the problem, you could look into the electronics.

I'm guessing that the bed in the offending corner is farther away and your raft is curling and lifting off the bed in that corner, and your nozzle it hitting it. Try releveling your bed, paying particular close attention to that corner. In addition, work on bed adhesion in general. Clean the bed, make sure fan is off on first layer, and go slow on first layer, and use proper bed temp for the material. You can also try glue stick.


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Speed issue with Slic3r and Marlin
I am trying to print with clay.
These are my Slic3r speed settings,

Other information;

Nozzle: 1.4 mm
First layer height: 0.9 mm
layer height: 1 mm
Filament dia: 1.8 mm
perimeter: 3

When I print, the first layer is printed faster than remaining layers and in the remaining layers, the two inner perimeters are printed much slower than the outer perimeter.

Video: print video
G-code: gcode

Isn't this strange since I give the same print speed for all?

My impression was that clay requires a much larger nozzle.  Do you really mean clay as in  riverbed sediment?

can you please turn your gcode into plain .txt by just changing the file type?

No, you did not set all the settings to the same speed, there are 2 different print speeds defined:

Infill Solid: 60 mm/s
First Layer Speed: 30%

This means, that some walls will be printed 10 mm/s faster than the others, and that first layer should be printed at 30% of 50 mm/s, so at 15 mm/s - try to define it as a speed. Make sure to save and apply the settings and only then slice your model, as you might have sliced the model with the previous settings.

Make sure that on the Print Settings tab, under Advanced, you have set the Extrusion widths for your custom nozzle settings.


text:
Why does my DIY printer start printing in air?
I've built a DIY 3D printer similar to Prusa i3. It does homing and bed leveling very well with a PNP Lj12a3_4_Z_BY sensor using G28 and G29.

However, when I push the print button on Pronterface or Simplify3D, Z axis goes up about 20mm and starts printing in air. I can't figure out what is going wrong.

If the cad model was imported from Solidworks into Simplify3D. Push "Center and Arrange" button to place the model in the middle of the Heat Bed. There might be a gap between the object and bed level that is hard to see.


text:
Moving the Z-axis stepper motors below Z 0.0
My Prusa i3 MK3 forgot his home position and it now assumes that the Z 0.0 position is right at the top of the printer. I've asked about this in the Prusa forum before and at that time, I accidentally found a solution using Pronterface.
So I am now in the same situation again. The printer head is at the very top. It assumes that this is Z 0.0, so I can't move it down.
Calibrating Z does not help. It will always display

Some problem encounteres, Z-leveling enforced ...

and some time later, it calibrates Z again, resulting in the same problem and so on (endless loop).
The Pronterface trick (pressing the home button) does not work any more. However, Pronterface seems to accept raw G-Code.
Which G-Code command would I need to send to the printer to let the head move down? That would need to be a command that just rotates the stepper motor and does not consider the Z-axis value, so that the head effectively moves to negative Z values.
I have also tried:

moving the head down manually while the printer was turned off. I'd like to avoid that. It just doesn't feel right. However, it worked after the third attempt and I was able to do a XYZ calibration. However, during bed leveling, it failed and went into the "some problem encountered" state again.

To allow negative axis values, usually, the way is to use G1 S1 to disable boundary checks and G1 S0 to enable them.
Another way is to force homing Z, which means moving till an endstop triggers and then moving back up the specified motion via G28 Z
Another alternative would be to send G92 Z50 to set the Z-hight to 50, then G1 Z-50 F200 to move that much down, rinse and repeat.


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What is this part and does it have to do with my my z-position is messed up?
I recently bought my first 3d printer, a monoprice maker select v2.
After a couple of print jobs, this piece fell out.

I have no idea where it came from.
But afterwards, I notice that my Z-positioning is all screwed up.
When I select "Home All" to reset all positions to do bed leveling, the extruder tries to push down pass the build-platform, puncturing a hole into the plastic bed cover.
There was a lot of clicking from the motor so I immediately turned it off.
I turned it back on and then tried to move the z-position back up. But it moves only about an inch up before the motor starts clicking again.
I was reading some other posts about a "Z-axis limiter switch". Could that be what the little metal fork-like piece is?
Where does it go and how do I put it back?
And how do I reset my z-position?
Any help appreciated.

Limiter Switch/Endstop
That is the lever that is meant to trigger your Z-Endstop. The variant used in your case is on the cheaper end and is meant to look similar to this QIAOH KN12-1 limit switch:

You will either exchange the endstop as a whole, somehow reattach the/a lever or change the physical position of the endstop so that the moving X-axis is triggering it (again).
Replacement & Wiring advice
Pretty much any switch that can have both an NC/NO (normally closed/normally open) state will function in its state, but it is usually a good idea to have all safety switches (like limit switches) be NC types and have the firmware detect the loss of signal as a safety feature. In case of a broken cable, this will automatically force the machine to halt, instead of keeping the machine moving despite having reached the maximum position.
Normally Open/Closed
It is even possible to wire up a number of redundant switches into one circuit. For NC setup, all the switches need to go in series, so that any switch getting toggled cuts the signal at that point. On the other hand, if only NO switches are used, they have to be wired in parallel: the signal passes when any number of switches is closed.
NO switches, because they are parallel, do cost us in the security department, as a broken lead does not halt the machine's use, but they are easier to troubleshoot as a broken component only takes out its specific arm of the parallel circuit. On the other hand, the NC-series does give us the broken lead security, but a single broken component that stays switched to open disables the whole series and identifying the broken component can take more time.
NOT-Gates
As you can imagine, some clever electronics allow us to use us to turn an NO into an NC and vice versa. This clever piece is a NOT-gate, sometimes also called inverter. They take a logic signal and a supply voltage lead, and only allow the supply voltage to pass into their output if there is no signal in their input side. So, they allow using a NO switch as an NC switch or vice versa. In any case, the NOT-gate needs to be on the output side the switch(es) it shall invert as it only inverts the signal that happens before it in the circuit.
With this clever piece, one can use a combination of NO and NC switches, if one so desires: The NO and NC parts are to be wired separately in groups (the NC group in series, the NO group(s) in parallel). To combine the two signals, there are two ways: Either run the NO output through the NOT-gate into the NC circuit's input, putting it into the series (and making it technically function as a single NC-element), or put the NC group output signal into the NOT-gate and put both groups in parallel. In either case, the NOT-gate 'flips' the function of the switches to behave as if they were the other type: from NC to NO and vice versa.

BTW those limit switches are dirt-cheap, so just buy a new one and install it.

I was able to put the piece back on, but the smooth bar (the thing that holds the extruder) is now uneven. it's higher on one end than the other. any idea how to re-align that bar?

@kane one way comes to mind: take it apart, repair and re-assemble (it might be bent!). Or - as it has rails - loosen them, realign them, re-tighten

I don't know if this was appropriate, but I pushed the z-position as far up as it could go and then it ended up re-aligning my bar. I'll take your advice up next time though

@kane lucky you!


text:
What do you recommend for removing prints from Monoprice Maker Select bed?
I've been making some ABS prints, but it's really hard to remove it afterwards.
I've read a lot of different ways of removing it, including using the included chisel/spatula, using air duster, 50/50 alcohol/water, reheating the bed...
I've also read about using a flexible bed that can flex it out. I'm eager to try this approach but don't know what magnetic bed I should get that's compatible with it.
But if you have other tricks for it, please let me know. Thanks!

What is your question? How to install a magnetic bed or how to remove a print? please take the [tour], we are not a forum but a Q&A site: we handle one question per question and don't handle "shopping questions" (questions that source ideas or want to source links) and polls at all.

Sorry if it wasn't clear in the post. I'm asking how to remove prints from the bed

When all other things have failed, I chuck the build plate in the freezer for half an hour.
The glassplate and the plastic changes size differently when changing temperature and 'pop' it just snaps off easily.

the maker select does not have a glass bed.  In fact, the bed is pretty much not remove-able.

@Tal is right about it not being glass. I might be able to unscrew the bed (haven't tried) but then I'd have to re-level it after which is a pain

(at)Tal & (at)kane are you makers or what, change that build plate ;-) Just kidding, any glass or metal plate would express the same behavior as they change size differently compared to plastics. "PoP!". I have an Unanswered question about pieces sticking ridiculously to the build plate so I'm eager to know too if magnetic or flexible beds might mitigate this problem! Cheers Valmond

while cooling a glass plate is a solution if you have a glass plate, this is not a solution for the Monoprice Maker Select.

@Trish Well, if you add a glass pane to your build plate, you could do it even if you have a Monoprice Maker Select. We are all experimenting with our printers, filaments, build plates, electronics, extruders and so on ... to approach that perfect 3D printer we have in our minds. Which probably means you have to get your hands dirty at some point!

@Valmond you can't add one to that printer without modifying it heavily. The specific question is about a specific printer, and unless you provide how you want to add the glass bed, your answer is not an answer.

After having similar issues to you, and becoming frustrated with having to scrape and pry so much, I bought a removeable magnetic build plate.  I'm not extremely happy with the exact one I purchased, so I won't link it directly, but the concept and general execution is wonderful, compared to the standard build plate on the Maker Select.
Any magnetic build plate that says it's 200x200 should fit, though I'd recommend getting a larger one and cutting it to size - the one I bought is 200x200 exactly and leaves quite a bit of space around the build area that seems like lost space.

I'm leaning towards the magnetic build plate option. Thanks for your feedback


text:
Filament gets coiled inside the extruder
A while ago bought a Bowden extruder to replace the old built-in one (It was malfunctioning or something that I cannot remember well). This one in particular has been acquired:

The thing is, that almost a year has passed since the printer did something rather than getting jammed and not work properly. The extruder itself seems to work properly, when I heats up and push the filament by hand seems to pass properly.
When assembled and start to print, the printer at first seems to work, but after a minute or so, it stops extruding (gets jammed or something).
The last time that I removed the filament and I've found out that it was coiled inside (Very strange):

My first thought was that the filament was thinner than the extruder's specs, but the seller says that is for 1.75mm, and all my filaments have that diameter.
What I am missing? Something maybe that is not properly mounted?
The product is not official, bought on Amazon (I didn't know about e3d v6).
Printing temperature should be 180ºC but I've seen now that Cura sets the first layers to print at 200ºC. Material: PLA
My printer is a BQ Prusa i3 Hephestos.

What material are you using? Also what temperature?  After you remove the twisted/coiled filament, is the nozzle chock-full of previously melted material?

is it a genuine e3d v6 or a chinese aftermarket? What kind of printer do you use? Did you follow the assembly instructions and hot-tighten it?

I've added additional data to the question. About the instructions... well, I didn't know about the original model and the seller does not provide instructions so, I just tightened them in cold (but nothing more).

What kind of material is it? Printint PLA 1t 180° is a little low, ABS is to be printed even hotter.

Do you use an all-metal heat break? (e.g. is there a liner in the heat break or not) Also, what is the scale of the filament image, e.g. id the filament 1.75 mm on the thickest parts?

@CarlWitthoft, Trish The material is PLA (I've updated the question, sorry I didn't see the question).
0scar the heat break is (or at least seems) all-metal, about the filament, the calliper tells me 1.78~1.79mm normally, and the "coiled" part varies up to 1.80mm aprox.

@SigmaSoldier How long is the piece that is shown? E.g. the length of the cold end (cooling ribs). On which side is the unaffected filament? E.g. is it fed from the right? If so than I've got a pretty good idea what the problem is.

@0scar About 26mm, but is fed from top

As long as there is no more information about the printer itself (I searched a bit and around half of buyers were severely unhappy with the result), I'd advise you to make a full check of all of the important parts that make up a 3D printer making ok prints:

Are motors moving as they should?
Is the extruder actually extrude filament when told so (do the check "2cm" = 2cm extruded)?
Is the Z calibration ok (<- VERY important, will make tons of weird problems if extruder is too close to the bed, believe me, don't skip out on this one. A blue tape or not a blue tape makes a world of difference).

Also of course check your filament (no variations too big of the diameter).
For the temperature, IMO go for the higher for starters (maybe no, see "heat creep" below), you won't be able to bridge / less good quality etc. but you'll get pieces done.
NOW, the image you posted shows a twisted (I don't know how to handle that) or a grinded filament.
When I say 'grinded' I mean that the filament got stuck somewhere (see below) and the (cogged) wheel pushing the filament is so strong that is grinds off plastic from it, forming waves on the filament. Eating away parts so it looks like your photo.
If that's the case, then you should check out "heat creep", it's basically the heat in the lowest part of the extruder (the thing you call a bowden extruder) will heat up the filament and make it melt Above the heat block, making a blob of half melt plastic stopping the forward movement of the filament.
This is usually mitigated by two things, that lacks more or less in cheap chinese knock offs:
* The fan and it's cooling efficiency (the fan must blow when the heat block is hot, even if there is no printing going on. Even if the heat block is no longer heating. I shut the fan off at around 60°C).
* The Heat break: if it's heavy it will conduct too much heat, if it's thin it might work but will break easily.
3D Printing is not obvious or easy, but spend some time and it'll start to work well!
Cheers

Thanks! I'll check out tomorrow for the extrusion amount to see if really is extruding what it should, The Z callibration should be OK (I use a glass heated bed and test with a paper sheet) the axis motors work more or less Ok but I'll check out if they do so. And also I'll tell you if the fan is really cooling what should or not.

A late remark, do check out the spring or whatever system you have, that pushes the filament onto the cogged wheel (or similar). If it's too loose, the extruder motor could grind the filament and not be able to push it correctly. My bet is on the fan though but who knows!

If you converted a printer from direct to Bowden feed, it is possible that the cold side of the hot end is too hot, and you are suffering from heat creap.  Simple, less expensive printers often use the extruder stepper and the extruder stepper mount as part of the cooling system.
If there is any sort of a heat-sink on the cold side of the hot-end, try to rig a fan to blow through the heat sink.  If there isn't a heat sink, find one and add it.  Heat sinks made for round transistor cases can sometime be fitted to the cold side.  A little heat sink great, a couple of transistor heat sinks, and a fan may completely solve your problem.


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Ender 3 Nozzle does not clear bed
I have a thicker glass plate on the bed. Also, I have a z-axis offset at the maximum value 50 yet the nozzle does not clear the plate.
Why can't I adjust the axis beyond 50?

Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE!

mind to show a photo? how thick is your glass sheet?

Please explain with a figure what your problem is. The problem is not very "clear".

There are several ways to get the Z0 into a position the sotware can account for it without needing to write your own firmware if needed:

Remove the build-tak-clone under your glass sheet to get the better heat transfer and remove a couple millimeters.
Tighten the bed leveling to account for some millimeters.
Move the physical endstop to account for the thicker build platform.

Moving the endstop switch is what I had to do when I moved to using a glass plate


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Messy top layer with PETG filament?
I'm having issues getting PETG to print nicely. I have encountered pretty much every issue because when I fix one thing another issue pops up. I see people saying that you should "just copy your PLA settings", but that definitely did not work for me, with issues from bed adhesion, stringing, globbing, and especially issues with the top layers. At the moment I am getting very decent quality prints from PETG, however the one issue that remains is the top of the print.
Infill looks fine, it is printing fast, so that is where I would expect the filament to glob to the extruder. But that happens on the very first top layer. The printer goes over the honeycomb, and the filament gets oozy and starts forming in globs on the edge of each inner wall. This takes a few layers to print over, and even after 5 layers at 0.25 mm layer height it has holes.

Software: I am using Slic3r PE 1.41.2, on Repetier Host 2.1.3.
Printer: Wanhao DI3 or Monoprice Maker Select Plus.
Filament: Amazon Basics branded Navy Blue PETG.
Settings:

40 mm/s print speed,
0.2 mm layer height,
70 °C heat bed,
235 °C hot end,
15 % honeycomb infill,
20 % - 50 % automatic fan speed.

I would like to solve this without increasing infill percentage because the parts are already quite dense with 15 % honeycomb and I don't want to waste material and time.

Welcome to 3DPrinting.SE!

Five top layers should normally be more than enough to create a seamless top layer.
Indeed, PETG prints a little differently than PLA. It requires a higher hot end temperature, less part cooling (to improve sticking to previous layers), a higher build plate temperature and usually care in choosing the right initial layer height. Once the printer  needs to create the top surface layers, too much temperature, too less cooling and too low of an infill percentage can cause the top bridging over the infill to fail. Your settings seem to be fine except for the low percentage of infill, 15% is very low.
Other possible causes could be under-extrusion and too fast printing, but in this case the low infill percentage is probably the main reason. To get a better top layer you could first try to increase the infill percentage. If you go to 20 or 30 % infill, you would only marginally "waste" filament. More filament and time is wasted when whole prints fail as of a bad top layer.

15% infill usually works fine for every plastic type, is it really too low for PETG? I am using Slic3r's Honeycomb infill, and each cell (approximated as a circle) is about 6 millimeters in diameter. PETG can't bridge 6 millimeters?

@spikespaz Usually this should not be a problem, but clearly one of the parameters you use is causing this to happen. 6 mm should be doable. Unfortunately, your settings seem okay, similar to what I use. Only I always have higher infill.

I have been having the same issue with PETG when printing but I have found that if I slow the printer down to 50% speed that left me with a perfect top layer. I have a 20% infill with 4 top layers and at 50% speed I am printing at roughly 32mm/m. I am sure that will help give you better top layers.

If you're using Slic3r, check what line widths it's using. By default it extrudes with dynamic widths up to considerably wider than the nozzle size. PETG is only borderline-printable at 40 mm/s with 0.4 mm line width and 0.2 mm layer height. If Slic3r increased some of the line widths to 0.55 mm or so like it typically does, you're likely getting underextrusion, and need to either go slower, constraint the line width narrower, use thinner layers, or find some way to increase the amount of material you can push through the nozzle per unit time (maybe going hotter or using a higher-power hotend).


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Settings for vase mode in Cura?
I keep hearing about vase mode, but I have some problem figuring out how to set it up in my slicer; I use Cura slicer.
So, I'd like to get some settings to do it in Ultimaker Cura, using PLA if the material is important, plus any advice on how to properly do it and ensure that the print retains it's shape on print.

Vase Mode changed the name in some version before 3.5. Now you can achieve this with 2 modes: "Surface Mode" and "Spiralize Outer Contour". To turn it on do this:

Choose the Custom setting menu on the right
click a gear to set up what settings you want to see
Under the header "Special Modes" you find both Surface Mode and Spiralize Outer Contour
set the checkmarks on both

Turning on the Surface mode to Surface and checking Spiralize Outer Contour gets the "classic" Vase Mode.
Turning on Surface without Spiralize Outer Contour gets an infill-less outer perimeter
Now, the classic Vase mode will only print the single most outer perimeter of a print, so your model will have to be very limited with angles and contain no bridges - with one perimeter, you will only be able to print at best 45° angles!

I would add to this answer that you'll probably want to change the thickness of the bottom (e.g. change "Bottom Layers" from 6 to 2), otherwise your vase will have a really thick base even though the sides are only a single layer thick, which probably isn't what you want.

Option Spiralize makes your model one layer thick on outer edges.
What I do for a vase is set the top layer count to zero.