text:
Can I Print With a Fan Missing 3 Blades?
I recently broke the cooling fan on my Voxelab Aquila while doing some maintenance, and I'm in the middle of a multi piece print that I would like to finish soon. I found the fan replacement I need, but it's not going to arrive for over a week. I was wondering if it would be ok to print a few things with the broken fan, or if that would be bad for the motor or anything else.

Is there some reason you cannot get it quicker than a week? That looks like two broken vanes, it's going to make something vibrate somewhere if nothing else.

@Kilisi It does make it vibrate a lot, and it's really loud. I can't find only the fan to buy anywhere, except for on the Voxelab website. There is a set of the print cooling fan and the heat sink cooling fan on Amazon that will come tomorrow, but they're for the Ender 3. They look identical to what I have, but I want to make sure they will still work for my Aquila.

Fans are much the same if the currents match. Haven't done it with a printer but used different fans a few times on other machines for temporary or in some cases permanent fixes. Vibration sucks badly on machines with fragile wiring and connections

If you can get the specializations on the fan, size, voltage, air flow, it;s probably a standard fan that you could get quickly.  You would need to wire it however.

The new fan works in case anyone was wondering!

Thats good to hear, have fun printing :-)

As long as your ambient temperature is not excessive and you're not using a very high bed temperature, you should be fine.
With insufficient cooling, there is a risk of heat creep - that is, of the heat from the melt zone working its way up to the area where the filament is supposed to be solid, potentially causing jams if it deforms and catches in crevices there. However, the hotend is made to operate in temperatures far above normal room temperature, e.g. in non-air-conditioned spaces, in enclosed chambers for printing ABS, etc.
Just keep the space you're printing in cool and go on printing while you wait for a new fan to arrive. Maybe reduce your bed temperature a bit if you usually use temperatures on the high end (over 50°C).

If the fan is the part cooling fan, you'll have reduced cooling on the part as it is printed. This isn't necessarily going to be a problem, although you may have irregularities in the print surface.
If the fan is the heat sink cooling fan, reduced cooling will be problematic. This could result in heat creep and clogging of the hot end.

It is, unfortunately, the heat sink cooling fan. Is there any way to temporarily get it to work decently? I only have about 4 hours of printing left to do.

It will probably work, but you need to watch for jams caused by heat creep, and if it happens, stop and wait for the replacement fan.

I think you'll get weird print artifacts and strange surface errors.
The fan is not balanced and will buzz.  This added vibration could be seen as an effect in the finish.
Personally I'd suggest patience and wait for the replacement to arrive before continuing.  Or scavenge a suitable fan from something else in the meantime.

I just ordered a fan for the Ender 3 from Amazon, but it is practically identical the the one on my printer. It's coming tomorrow, so hopefully it will work.

@FTyrrell if this is a common problem, consider having a spare in stock.  I have a paper box filled with fans of various ages and specs, though the 240V AC metal bladed 125 mm one is waiting for just the Right Project, which may be a vegetable slicer :))

Luckily, this isn't a common problem. I had everything taken apart, and I was testing the fan to see if it was working well. I dropped it, and the blades hit the edge of my printer. Hopefully this won't happen again. You should definitely make that vegetable slicer though!


text:
Problems with underextrusion
I have a problem with, what I think is underextrusion (see attached photos), but I'd like to ask you If my assumption is correct. If it is underextrusion could you advice me which slicer settings should I adjust?
The nozzle isn't blocked, so now I'm trying to solve the matter by increasing flow rate, but apart from that and e-step calibration I have no idea.

I have an HBot 3D 1.1 printer (it's a CoreXY style printer)  which I use together with Cura. I print in PLA at  200 °C. The print bed is set to 70 °C. I use a print cooling fan at 100 %. The layer height I set to 0.2 mm, the line width is set to 0.4 mm from the 0.4 mm nozzle. The Printing Speed is set to 30 mm/s for walls and 60 mm/s for infill. My retraction is 6.5 mm off at  25 mm/s.
Two other settings I've adjusted are print jerk (from 20 to 1 mm/s) and acceleration (from 3000 mm/s² to 500 mm/s²).I've changed them to stop the printer from shaking too much.

Ok, I've messed a little with settings. Turns out that turning z-hop completely fixed the issue.

It's great that you solved your issue, but could you [edit] and expand upon your answer a little? Are you referring to the z-axis stepper driver? If so, turning in which direction?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Has anyone written a primer for hobbyists new to 3D printing?
Most of the guides I can find are just canned responses to specific questions. Instead I'm looking for something meant to teach good fundamental understanding and core needed skills. Beginner's guides are common in other hobbies but I am having trouble finding one for 3d printing.

Most printers come with a manual that teaches you the core stuff. Anything else would be specific questions I would think. It's not rocket science.

Yes, see this question for instance: https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/5215/3d-printing-references-for-beginners

Here's a brief outline I threw out in chat once.  I'm marking this as a "community Wiki" answer so feel free to edit.
It is not a full Primer, so should date better than a Word6.0 manual.

Start by reading the instructions that came with your printer.  There's a high chance that some assembly is required, and if you get something wrong then things may nor work right later.  Some brands come complete, some are better than others in this regard.   Take your time.
For most people, they spend the first couple of weeks failing prints for multiple reasons.  For me it was bed levelling and getting the first layer-adhesion, and filament tension.
So work on getting the bed levelled, work out how much gluestick or tape your filament needs to work, and what temperatures work in your environment.
I use 210 °C on the hotend for PLA+ and 60 °C bed temp, though others get away with 190 °C on the hotend and 50 °C on the bed.  My printer is in a garage though.
Try and print a 20 mm cube or a benchy.
After that, explore http://thingiverse.com or http://thangs.com looking for pre-made stuff that you would benefit from.   Start small.
The Grab Toy Infinite is a great starter - it's very forgiving about tolerances, and kids like it.  Expect rough handling to break it.
When you're happy printing other people's things, identify some needs of your own.  In fact, make up a document / draught email / notepad of ideas of things to print.   I add stuff to mine all the time.
When you've got a need that no one else can fill, you can start designing your own item and do the whole
idea -->  ||:  (re)design --> implement --> test --> curse :|| success!!    loop.

Many people bang on about expensive fancy software, but you can make a perfectly adequate part using http://tinkercad.com/ as a grounding.
For example, I had too many spare hacksaw blades and none of the "holders" I could buy were perfect, nor even close.  Here's my output:
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9yQMmxRv4Lz-spare-hacksaw-blade-holder
Like many things in making, expect to fail and learn and do it again.
Sometimes it looks like we buy printers to print things for the printers for printing things for the printers...repeat.
Look for needs in your life and design something to fill them.  It's most satisfying.
There's a huge gap between Functional prints, which do a job, and pretty prints which are just to look nice.
Functional things are great - you can therefore justify the cost of more printer upgrades.  LOOK AT ALL THE MONEY WE SAVED!
But overall enjoy yourself and the time you spend making things.

@Kilisi: Maybe you printer came with good instructions. Not all printers even come with instructions at all beyond basic assembly. And when they do, more often than not the instructions are bad or outright wrong.

Thera are plenty of such guides. But from necessity they deal with specifics, there are too many things to cover otherwise.
Multiple types of printers, multiple brands, multiple slicers, multiple ways of modelling etc,. With more all the time. Reading up on something that tells me how to model and slice in Freecad & Creality, when I'm using Blender & Cura is a waste of time.
Generic instructions that apply to everything are so vague as to be essentially useless. (Plenty of those online though)

I'm doubtful of the claim that general instructions would be useless. The bigger problem is how much bad information there is out there, and finding a trustworthy source that's not full of bad information.

Generic instructions are... follow the instructions that came with your printer, use the temp range suggested on your filament... blah blah... useless...

Those definitely aren't good generic instructions. The temperature ranges suggested with filaments are marketing material to sell to people with PTFE-lined hotends; most of the time you actually need to ignore them and look up the right values for the material (which will be much higher), then tune it to your machine's temperature reading, which may be off.

Good introductory material would explain the whole process of 3D printing: model formats, what a slicer does (in detail! like concepts about walls, skin, infill, overhangs, etc.), bed leveling, homing/endstops, principles behind the extrusion system, typical menu controls, test prints, calibration, troubleshooting (high level principles and specific techniques), ...

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE all of which are a waste of time unless specific to what the end user is doing. Unless it's a school course I guess. I certainly am not interested in wading through irrelevant material to find what I need when I can just get specific answers

Pretty much all of that is relevant whatever FDM printer you have.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE only relevant if there's an exam at the end, otherwise it's just theory. Millions of people use photocopiers and printers without the need to learn the details behind how they work. Same with computers and every other gadget.

And the ones who use them without any understanding of that stuff are helpless when it doesn't do what they want, because they don't understand any of the how or why. Then they listen to the first piece of random bad advice from somebody else who doesn't understand anything...

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE makes no sense to me sorry. Both my 10 year old and 13 year old have been happily printing for months. They're bright boys but I doubt their English skills would be able to handle your manual, let alone their patience. It's not rocket science.

Only helpless if you're trying to do things outside the norm. Most people don't want to do anything fancy like modifying hot ends and rewiring, just print. If a belt breaks they'll buy a new one, not utilise in depth knowledge and fabricate one out of a used bicycle inner tube.

This seems a bit vague. I'd like to see information on how to tell if a part is wearing and which one, how to determine why a print has such-and-such an error, the usual slicing parameters people adjust and why (plus some common names for them in different slicers or at least guesses). I've always had a horrible time tracking down print issues. Too high/low? Temperature? Bed temperature? Filament old or poor quality? Area of the base?

"Only helpless if you're trying to do things outside the norm" <- no. Since you brought up the photocopier analogy, I'm going to run with it. If you don't understand the different ways it's treating black-on-solid-background vs grayscale/color content that lets you do things like copy from yellow paper to white paper and also copy illustrations, you're going to be trying random wrong things as soon as that stuff goes wrong trying to copy mixed content. You need to learn the principles behind a machine to use it effectively. Not just to press buttons like a robot.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE yeah, pretty much proved my point, I just photocopy, no idea about this stuff you wrote about. Just like everyone else I know.

@RDragonrydr I would just want the specifics, not interested in learning the details of a slicer I'll never use. My printer came with assembly and levelling instructions, my slicer has a profile for it. No need to change anything to get started. I was printing fine from day 1. Only need to look up specific things to solve problems now. I've no idea why it is hard for you.

A better analogy might be a camera and someone who buys it and just points it at things and presses a button, then wonders why all their pictures are blurry and ugly. The level of understanding and control you need to operate a 3D printer well is fairly comparable to what you need to use a camera. In both cases, under certain conditions it might not matter and you might get decent results, but there will be a lot of conditions under which you'll get really bad results.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE sure, once you get past beginner level you may need more... but the question is about beginners

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


text:
Circle isn't in the shape of a circle
Printer doesn't print perfect circles while calicat is perfect and top layers look weird on Ender 3 Pro:

I used Cura and an Ender 3 Pro, eSun PLA+, print at 210 °C.

Are the belts tight?

Try printing a 20mm reference cube and verify the dimensions.  Also calibrate your extruder - it looks "fat" to me like there's just too much plastic.
I print the same filament at the same temperature, on an ender3 v2 so you're in the right area for temperatures.


text:
What is causing these severe print errors on an Ender 3?
I've noticed a lot of beginners with the Ender 3 are getting blobby prints. The default nozzle temperature with the slicer and printer is 200 °C. The filament's manufacturer's suggested nozzle temperature is 215 °C. What're the best Slic3r settings to solve this?
Here are some examples. These are supposed to be shaped roughly like a human eye. After the bottom right failure I tried doubling the default retraction distance and adding glue stick to the bed, keeping the nozzle temperature at 200 °C. The bottom left print was next. There was no severe blobbing but the nozzle still seems to have dislodged the print while transitioning from infill to the next layer's perimeter. The next print was the top one, which had +1 mm Z distance for the nozzle and increased the nozzle temperature to 215 °C.

Support material options are turned off. These prints seem to go bad within the first few layers. I've tried watching the print carefully and saw that the nozzle kept bumping the perimeter during infill. I tried a print with double-sided tape, which held the print more firmly. I finished one of the double-sided tape prints. Although most of the print was fine the first three layers are extremely harsh with very different consistency from the rest of the print. Subsequent prints get to about two inches in height then consistently fail at the same height. At about two inches the nozzle side-swipes the top layer of the perimeter. This tips the model over. The results are much as seen above. I tried a smaller model and the printer made the harsh layers then started the model but failed for the same reason, though within only a few layers.

Never had a print even remotely like that on my Ender 3 pro, there is something very very wrong going on. Try aother slicer if you think it's the slicer

From my perspective there has been basically zero help for this problem. I thought I'd be able to build the printer, plug a model in, and get a fair print that I could tune settings with. I've tried three slicing programs. Given how divergent things are I'd appreciate any guidance.

Ender 3 comes with models (some already sliced or at least mine did), and filament, did you try those? It's difficult to help when you're not giving the basic info, no idea what type of filament you're using. Have you printed anything else successfully, did you just put the printer together? etc

I just put the printer together and tried a few thingiverse models. The first print was with the included filament, which did not come with a spool and had a rough texture. The included filament broke while printing a few times. I switched filaments in case that was the problem.

Your filament changed colour? The included filament is white as far as I know. Thingiverse is not a reliable source of STL files. (You get what you paid for). From the look of your print though I'd think you may have made some assembly errors, loose belts and suchlike perhaps.

Sorry about the misleading terminology. The first print I attempted was not shown in the pic, and was with the included filament. That attempt was with the included software rather than Slic3r and had a brim. That print was straight onto the bed and cam unstuck to similar results. I used a glue stick subsequently (for the pic above) until switching to double-sided tape. I switched to a purchased P.L.A. filament that had a smooth texture around that time. The prints were still coming out strange so I posted here. After posting here I was able to get this model to complete. Others have failed.

@kilisi If you have advice on what assembly error I may have made I would like to know so I can focus my efforts on fixing that issue. I'm already planning to get a piece of glass to print on just so I can rule out a warped bed. (The bed seems flat and level.)

Glass works well, I use it on mine sometimes. Nothing special just a broken louvre. But that doesn't seem to be the problem. I don't use anything to hold the PLA down. Sometimes you just need to play with the bed height a fraction. And check the belts

Your skirt shows a zig-zag shape. This hints to a nozzle that is too far from the bed. Please update the question to include the other prints you talk about and a photo while printing showing in detail the nozzle in respect to the bed.

First of all, I would make sure that my bed is properly leveled. Download one of the bed level tests and keep adjusting until you get good, slightly smooshed lines. It's possible that the nozzle was too low but it's hard to say.
You might also want to look into changing your Z-offset (Ender 3 sometimes can have a slightly warped bed). The easiest way to adjust it is probably downloading Cura slicer, clicking on Marketplace > Plugins, and downloading a free Z-offset plugin. Then you can adjust your offset under build plate adhesion settings and, while we are on the subject, if your print falls over try printing with the Brim turned on.
Another reason might be a partially clogged nozzle, if you have an Ender machine you probably also got a bag with all the extra bits. It should have a needle-like piece of wire you can use to unclog your hot end.
You could also try some settings that limit the amount of time printhead travels over previously finished areas like Combing mode and Z-hop.
If your problems are indeed caused by wrong retraction settings try printing a retraction tower test. You could download the "Calibration Shapes" plugin for Cura. If you do so, under the Extensions tab you should see "Calibration Shapes". Select retraction tower to place it, then click on Extensions > Post-processing > Modify G-code > Add script > Retract tower. Adjust distance and speed in separate tests.
Alternatively, you can download a retraction tower model and use support blockers to create volumes with different print parameters (place a blocker so it overlaps with your model, under Per Model Settings select Modify settings for overlaps, load whatever parameters you like, and adjust them)
Poke your printbed to check if it has a wobble because it shouldn't, also if your printer shakes violently while at work you could lower your speed/acceleration/jerk settings. I'm theorizing but I think it could cause similar issues, though for me it was only ever a problem in direct drive printers, which would make sense because of bigger printhead inertia.

This is good advice, it could be the issue is related to adhesion, the question must become clearer, but this is a good primer!


text:
Best way to make a new model for custom part printing?
Looking to print a new part for a home appliance. There's going to need to be a new model created with the customizations made, but the model (after printing) will have to fit where the old part was. Is there any 3D modeling software that is better for this purpose? Will I just have to guess at proper proportions and hand-adjust the scaling of each dimension and angle through trial and error until a version fits?

You can usually measure most dimensions with a digital caliper and enter them as parameters into your model. But curves, angles and such are more difficult to get right. I often print small sections or slices of my whole model to check for fit against existing parts. For example in PrusaSlicer you can cut a model into pieces with a few clicks, and then only print the part that requires “verification in print.” This way you waste minimal amounts of time and filament, and can be relatively certain that the big, final part fits on first attempt.

Use software specifically designed for making parts with specific dimensions and then measure exactly what you need and design from the measurements.
I use Freecad for this sort of thing but there are plenty of others that let you precisely control the measurements.
Most 3d software could probably manage it, but if you use one specifically designed for this sort of work there is less of a learning curve and you don't have to mess around learning irrelevant stuff.

Basically any engineering cad package would work.  OpenSCAD, fusion360, freecad, others that are not free..

My average record for doing this sort of thing is to measure carefully it but still have to print 3 prototype parts and tweak dimensions each time to get it to fit.

@user10489 I have better luck I guess, it usually works first time for me. But I'm an engineer so I'm used to fabricating things. And I drill holes and things rather than print them.

You have better luck or your printer is better calibrated or you are less picky.   :)  Sometimes I drill holes (or make them bigger), and then fix them when I find a second dimension that isn't perfect.

Any pros/cons in what software to select?

Pros and cons are really about what you want to do long term. If you won't be using it much pick something basic without a big learning curve. If you think you'll be doing a lot of part design then go for something more comprehensive. Just check the reviews on the software.

@user10489 it's just plastic, if I'm in doubt I'll print a section bigger than I need and cut or file it down. Heat and bend it or whatever. Not interested in printing 3 prototypes, thats just a waste of resources and time.

Use a CAD software
Whenever you need to make a part fit given dimensions, it is best to set those. There are tons of Computer Aided Design software packages around, starting at free and ending at thousands a year for a single PC license. There are so many, that Wikipedia made a comparison list
all3Dp always curates a list of free 3D software. Among them, I can point to the following as options:

I personally prefer Fusion 360 by Autodesk, which is quite powerful but slightly cut down in the free version. It is known to produce very good exportable designs but has a somewhat steep learning curve. It also allows parametric designs, very valuable if you need to customize items.
Onshape is similar to Fusion 360 in that Hobbyists get it free, but it is browser-based, making it possibly easier accessible. It is a full-powered CAD suite, including parametric design.
FreeCAD might not be as powerful or fancy as Fusion360 and Onshape, but it is a solid, well-working CAD package. It has also a somewhat easier learning curve than the likes. It allows entering OpenSCAD code, which means, you can add mathematic formulae to design your part.
OpenSCAD is the absolute barebone, but absolutely parametric. It takes mathematical descriptions of bodies to design them - which is hard to learn and master but allows to create some very intricate mathematical models.
SketchUp Free has a dubious reputation among printing enthusiasts, as its STL solutions at times have inverted surfaces.

Not on the curated list of all3dp is one entry I personally worked with and which is somewhat potent but easy to use:

DesignSpark Mechanical is a derivative of the powerful Ansys Space Claim CAD software and is offered for free. It is somewhat limited though.


text:
Ender 3: Extruder Stepper Motor - Hand Turn
Should I be able to hand turn the stepper motor for the extruder of an Ender 3?
Trying to figure out why the motor isn’t turning on a new to me, never used, but out-of-warranty Ender 3.
Swapping controller cables I discovered the extruder port on the motherboard is dead, but even if I put it on the X axis and manually move the axis it makes the sound like it should move, but doesn’t actually move at all.
Trying to figure out if it’s seized or something. Doing a resistance test with a multimeter shows a resistance of 4 for either of the two pairs of wires. I am not sure what else to test.
I have a hard time believing I need a new control board and a new stepper motor, but maybe two things are broke.
Thanks for the help!

EDIT - Got the Extruder Working
After the comments here mentioned that "Yes, it should be able to be moved by hand", curiosity got the better of me and I said, "Well, if its broken, let's see why".
I did the following:

I tried to turn the stepper motor by hand again, just to confirm I wasn't crazy from the day before when I tried it. It wouldn't budge.
I removed all four screws on the bottom of the stepper motor and attempted to pry things apart. While fiddling with it, I thought I saw the stepper motor turn.
Sure enough, I now tried to spin the stepper motor and it moved relatively easily.
I put the 4 screws back in place and validated I could still hand turn the motor. I could in fact do so.
I hooked the stepper motor back up to the X axis controller and told it to move, and sure enough now it moves and works!
Just as a sanity check, I then hooked it up to the extruder controller and it again wouldn't turn.

I'm going to try what @towe recommended to make sure the controller board is in fact fried, but I think I might JUST have a fried board and not a fried motor.

The extruder port might not actually be dead - Marlin has an idiotic function turned on by default that prevents extruder movement if the hotend is not up to temperature.
Try sending M302 S0 or M302 P1 to the printer to disable that and try the port again.
I agree with the existing answer that your extruder stepper motor is likely damaged.

Yes - you should be able to turn the extruder by hand when it is unplugged and therefore not powered.
The V2 comes with a blue plastic knob for this purpose, it may be too small to turn the shaft by hand.
When powered and "steppers enabled" the motors need a lot more force to overcome, but even that can be done by hand or a machine crash.
If you can't turn the extruder at all, its probably toast.   That you've tested other ports on the board is excellent problem solving.
Whatever damaged the motor has likely damaged the board too, or vise versa.
You likely need both parts replaced to get this printer working again.   Could be expensive - you might want to compare cost of parts with cost of a new printer, remembering there may be other non-functional components still undiscovered.
Plausibly, with a dead extruder, you could slap a laser on this unit and make it a dedicated burner.  The creality laser module is around $50 USD.

Thank-you! That’s what I was thinking, but good to know for sure!

Criggie's answer is basically correct, but I disagree with the conclusion that it:

Could be expensive - you might want to compare cost of parts with cost of a new printer, remembering there may be other non-functional components still undiscovered.

If you want to turn the Ender 3 into a decent printer, the controller board is one of the components you want to replace anyway, since it comes with either (old models) extremely loud and poorly performing A4988 stepper drivers or (newer models) TMC2208 stepper drivers hard-wired in a mode where they don't work well and malfunction if you enable Linear Advance (which is critical to getting decent prints on a bowden extruder system). Good boardsthat are exact fits for the housing and cable connectors, with TMC2209 steppers that lack the above problems, can be had for $35 or so.
If the motor is dead, that's a pain but not expensive to replace. Equivalent motors are available for $15 or so all over the place, or you could make the upgrade to a light-weight geared direct drive extruder with pancake stepper instead of the large NEMA 17 (which negates pretty much all of the disadvantages of direct drive and gives you a much better printer than you started with).

Thanks! I ordered a replacement v4.2.7 control board. Any specific recommendations on the "a light-weight geared direct drive extruder with pancake stepper instead of the large NEMA 17"? I mine as well upgrade if I'm replacing stuff.

@Doug: I would not get that board -- it's the Creality one with the same problem I described. Get an SKR E3 Mini or another one that lets you control the mode the TMC steppers run in.

The Sherpa Mini is probably the best lightweight direct drive, but there are several semi-light Bondtech models folks like as well as classics like the Orbiter.


text:
How do I check the belts on my Ender 3?
I need to check the belts on my Ender 3 to confirm they are properly set up, functioning, and undamaged. How do I go about doing this?

Loosen the screws holding the far right hand side of the belt cog in place on the gantry, tighten the belt by moving the cog outwards until the belt looks horizontal, tighten the screws back up and test. It's a pretty intuitive procedure.
To see if the belt is OK, just visually inspect it. It's just a belt, if it has splits or something then it has issues.


text:
Changing the temp from 200/60 in any degree triggers thermal runaway
I am new to 3D printing and having a strange issue I don't understand and would love some help with. I have an Ender 3 Pro and when I use the settings 200 °C & 60 °C it prints fine. However, I want to change the bed to 55 °C as the bottom layers are melting a bit. I changed this in Cura to 200 °C & 55 °C and get a thermal runaway after 20 minutes or so. I hit resume and the same thing after about 20 minutes, however, the times vary.
I did a PID using the same set temps 200 °C & 55 °C and still thermal runaway. So I changed all the numbers back to 200 °C & 60 °C and ran a PID on this original temps and ran perfect (except for the first layers melting a bit)
The odd part is the bed temp holds fine when adjusted to 55 °C, it's the hot end that starts to drop a few degrees (5 degrees) which triggers the runaway. Is this a fan issue (currently at 100%)? Before I started changing things I wanted to ask here.
Looking forward to your feedback. BTW I am able to change the PID right on the machine and have no experience altering G-code or the knowledge but am willing to try?

I assume you're getting a thermal runaway error.  Is there any evidence of the printer actually starting into thermal runaway?

Also what is the model of your 3D printer?  Your temperatures sound like you're printing PLA.

yes running hatchbox pla black. ender 3 pro  is all i know. Yes its a thermal runaway. I have been watching it and seeing the hot end temp drop.

i thought a thermal runaway was when things get way too hot?

The bottom layers experience elephant's foot, not melting. PLA only melts at ~180 °C

Sounds like a thermostat problem, 60 degrees shouldn't be melting the first layers with PLA.
I would try manually checking the temperatures and move forwards from whatever results I got from that.
If the heats were fine, then I'd be inclined to return it as a faulty unit if it's under warranty.

I have changed the thermistor multiple times and definetly not. Im thinking its a G-code issue.

How could it be gcode? The gcode just sets the temperature right at the start if you're not doing fancy modifications to it. Have you tried flashing the firmware? I was going to suggest that but unsure what it would do to the warranty status

I bought this unopened from a third party. I have not flashed the firmware. I will look into that. I have printed 4 10+ hour prints all beautifully since I started this thread. All at 200/60. so strange that changing the temp down 5 degrees on bed drops the hotend. What do you think about it being a fan issue? Maybe all both bed and hotend fans are firing at the same time?

I don't know sorry, but the firmware controls the fans. I have never had a fan issue so have no experience with that. The fact that the issue is intermittent could be a capacitor issue, but thats a board problem. If your board is playing up then you need professional help unless you're an electrician

I still think there is something wrong with your heat readings, I have done 2, 3 and 4 day prints that don't have any melting bottom layers at 60 degrees bed

Theres really no melting at all. I think im being a perfectionist.

Nothing wrong with that at all... good luck printing

Could be a bad thermistor, could just need a pid tune. I would start with pid tuning it, if that doesn’t work I would swap it for a new one. Don’t forget to pid tune the new one if you end up going that route.

The OP states that they have already changed the thermistor (multiple times) in this comment


text:
What is the type of motion system of the Ender 5 called?
It's not CoreXY, it's not H-Bot and it's definitly not a bedslinger. What do you call this type of motion system?

It's a plain cartesian motion system that's basically the same as an Ender 3/bedslinger, except that the X gantry moves along the Y axis rather than the Z, and is driven by belt rather than lead screw. So far this is pretty much identical to an Ender 3 with belt-driven Z mod, just rotated 90 degrees. I'm not sure there's any particular name for it. Cartesian motion systems have lots of variations for the specifics of how each axis moves, and most don't seem to have dedicated names unless there's a reason to talk about good or bad properties of a whole class (as is the case with bedslingers).

"z-bed rectilinear cartesian"?


text:
Blender add-on "3D Print Toolbox" and MeshLab
Blender software has a nice mesh analysis add-on called ”3D Print Toolbox". It is making us give it a second look for our 3D printing workflow.
On the other hand, MeshLab is very nice to have mesh repair tools.
I see the errors in the Blender, and then I close the program. And then I open MeshLab and make the corrections. The goal is to produce the model with a 3D printer.
Is there a possibility to do the analysis in MeshLab as well? How?

Meshlab has a bunch of tools for that under 'Filters', you'd need to read the documentation for specifics as your needs may vary from model to model.
But it's much the same as the Blender addon with the 'Cleaning and Repairing' options to merge vertices, close holes etc,.


text:
Can OpenSCAD bend text (project it on curved surface)?
I want to put relief text on curved surface but can't find way to do that in OpenSCAD. I'm aware it's possible to bend text in Blender and then import stl, but I don't like this workflow. I found sort of working solution but it's not perfect.
$fn=50;

module bend_text(caption, angle, text_height, text_width, text_depth, steps=10, k=1) {
    dh = text_height / steps;
    r = text_height / (angle * PI / 180);
    h0 = - text_height / 2;
    translate([0, 0, -r])
    rotate([angle / 2, 0, 0])
    for(i=[0:steps-1]) {
        rotate([-i * angle/steps, 0, 0])
        translate([0, -(dh * i + h0), r / k])
        intersection() {
            linear_extrude(text_depth)
                text(caption, valign="center", halign="center");
            translate([0, dh * i + h0, 0])
                cube([text_width, dh, text_width], center=true);
        }
    }
}

bend_text("test", angle=90, text_height=9, text_width=30, text_depth=1, steps=10, k=1.1);

Is there better way?

This is a 3DPrinting stack not a CAD stack, mentioning the relevance to 3D printing is required, from on-topic :If a CAD question is related to 3D printing then it is on-topic. However, general CAD questions, unrelated to 3D printing, are not on-topic. Very interesting question though! Mentioning that bending the text is required when text is projected onto small radii else there might be gaps under the letters that prevent proper printing.

I can't say if this is better than your method, but it is a library resource specific to your requirements.
Text_on OpenSCAD
The library covers various shapes, including cylindrical:

Image from linked site. Also from the site: "Only works with OpenSCAD v 2014.xx and later..."
Pursuant to the comments, another step may provide the desired result. Thinking for the cylinder primitive, once the text is placed and protruding a sufficient amount, creating a difference() with the inner cut location an appropriate distance from the primary cylinder should create curved surfaces to the text.
Envision a cylinder slightly smaller in diameter than an appropriate piece of pipe. As the pipe is lowered onto the cylinder, the text is "shaved" away. The "shaving pipe" outer diameter is insignificant, as long as it's not too thin, and the inner diameter of that pipe is dependent on the diameter of the primitive and the desired height of the curved text.

As far as I can see it doesn't bend characters, it just puts each character on it's own plane, that's not what I want.

That's a distinction I overlooked, thanks for the clarification. It makes your creation all the more impressive. Is there a means to remove the slices from the creation?

yes, slices can be removed, I have used cube to split text to pieces, I should've used triangle prism

The workflow you're using is the only way I'm aware of, and it's at least respectable. You can abstract it as a module to apply to arbitrary children to make it somewhat less ugly and more reusable.
In theory, I think it should be possible to make an openscad transformation (in openscad itself, not in the scad language) that applies to arbitrary 3D objects by performing a 2D conformal map in each cross section perpendicular to a given axis, to achieve effects like this, without the possibility of breaking geometry. But I'm not aware of anyone working on that. I'll probably propose it at some point, and hopefully it won't get shot down as mathematically unsound (which it might be; I'm not sure).


text:
X-axis taper problem
Tronxy P802M I believe. PLA. The calibration cube is tapered on one side of the X-axis only. Everything else looks good. The top is almost 1 mm narrower than the bottom, but only on X-axis.

Hi, welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! Please provide a sharper image and put the measurements in the image or in words in the question. Is this the 20 mm calibration cube? So, is the top in X 19.0 mm? What temperatures did you use? Please [edit] the question, not comment, thanks!

Check whether your Z axis rods are the same distance apart at the bottom and the top of their travel.


text:
Browsing and printing print files (G-code) stored in OctoPrint from printer's screen
I'm using an Ender 3 v2 with Jyers firmware.
I'm looking for a firmware / OctoPrint plugin which allows browsing G-codes stored in my OctoPrint storage and starting them directly from my printer's screen like it's stored on SD card. I would like to have all advantages that OctoPrint provides but not need to use my computer/smartphone to start printing.
Is there any way to do this?

Accessing the print files stored on OctoPrint managed locations other than the SD card (i.e. where OctoPrint is installed; RPi or laptop, etc.) is not possible.
The other way around is possible, you can access SD stored codes from OctoPrint. This is possible because the there are M-codes in place to list the files on the SD-card (M20: List SD card) or handle files to load and start them.
To access files from the printer UI to an external storage space would require many information on where it can get the files, through which connection; there are no M-codes in place to do that. Basically you are either printing from OctoPrint or from the printer. You state that: I would like to have all advantages that OctoPrint provides but not need to use my computer/smartphone to start printing, how would that be possible if the printer itself initiates the print? OctoPrint is a print manager, it sends your G-code line by line to the printer, you are requesting to start a print from the print manager through a command on the printer itself. If you want OctoPrint managed prints to benefit from the plug-ins, you need to start the print using your phone or a browser. Personally, I never look or use the printer display on my OctoPrint managed printers, you don't need the display if OctoPrint is able to present all the data to you through a browser.


text:
Under-extrusion halfway into print - Dremel 3D45 -PETG
NEW UPDATE BELOW

I am having trouble finding the cause for this under-extrusion at start/end of each layer.
Something changes halfway into the print creating a visible seam at some specific layer height.
This also creates dimensional inaccuracy making my parts unusable.
The first layers are just fine - roundness deviation around 0.03 mm!
Any ideas on which settings I should look into?
Settings
Printer:  Dremel 3D45 (newest firmware)
Slicer:   Dremel DigiLab (also tried Cura Ultimaker 5.0)
Filament: PET-G
Printing Temperature: 250 °C
Initial Temperature: 240 °C
Final Temperature: 235 °C
Flow: 105 %
Retraction Distance: 1 mm (tried 3 - 1 mm)
Retraction Speed: 40 mm/s (tried 60 - 20 mm/s)
Prime Amount: 0.6 mm³  (tried 0 - 0.6)
Retraction Minimum Travel: 0
Retract at Layer Change: Off
Maximum Retraction Count: 90 (could this be a problem?)
Minimun Extrusion Distance Window: 1 mm
Print Speed: 35 mm/s
Wall Sprint Speed: 30 mm/s
Combing Mode: All
Fan Speed: 50 %
Seam: Shortest

Update 18/05
Fixed the seam by setting the alignment to random and changing retraction settings.
Remaining problem is the inaccuracy right next to the Y axis (see marked area on the pictures). Besides a hardware issue I cant think about any slicer setting which would adress this deviation.
Diameter X: 30.02 mm
Diameter Y: 30.04 mm
Diameter Marked: 29.90 mm

I wouldn't worry about 0.15 mm. Printing isn't very accurate, this isn't an accurate CNC machine, 0.03 mm is actually very good. The deposition, the flow and the shrinkage all add to the inaccuracies.

That's not under extrusion
That is the seam, and technically it is over extruding around it. You will find that if you turn the item, you have such a spot on every layer, actually with an inner and outer perimeter, you'll have two visible seams. The seam is where the extrusion line meets itself, and thus the extrusion has to stop.

I "removed" the seam by setting it to random and did some calibration parts for flow and retraction - everything is looking good now. But there are still problems with the dimensional accuracy between the X and Y axis - around 0.15 deviation. Just like the dent before the seam on the pictures above. Do you have any suggestions? Already checked belt tension...

you can't not have a seam in a layer, but you can have them not aligned to one another as you realised.

"Prime Amount" sounds like "extra prime on unretract", which necessarily deposits a blob of extra material at the location of unretract, including the Z seam. Setting this to zero should help reduce the problem. This setting is a hack to compensate for material loss to oozing during travel, but if you have oozing you should just fix that instead rather than chucking out a blob to make up for it.

Prime Amount to 0 and seam location to random fixed the big seam. But I'm still having problems with inaccuracy between the X and Y axis - which was located right next to the seam on the parts printed above.

@rosi97 - you might try doing a print with the seam at a different orientation to more clearly distinguish the two.


text:
Filament based printing what operator behaviors contribute to an increased need to relevel a bed?
When using a filament based printer, what operator behaviors increase the frequency at which a bed must be relevelled between prints?

Mechanical interaction
Operator induced regular actions
When an operator reaches into the machine and operates something on the bed, this can induce errors that slowly accumulate. The most typical operation would be to remove something from the printbed, cleaning the printbed or swapping the printbed wholesale all can result in a slow but steady unleveling.
Regular leveling can counteract this. With good training, you might vet away with once in a dozen or less.
Maintenance of/work on the printhead
During maintenance such as swapping nozzles, checking connections and cleaning the printhead, there is a very high chance that the printbed is touched due to the usually very cramped area one has to work in. For example, it is near impossible not to touch the printed when swapping nozzles on my Ender3, if I want to use my torque screwdriver. This is true even with the Z-Axis at the highest position, due to the dimensions of my torque screwdriver.
By virtue of the work on the printhead, the 0-level is usually thrown off anyway, and as such a relevel is always in order after any printhead maintenance more invasive than cleaning the fan ducts.
Avoiding nozzle swaps unless necessary can reduce the workload - it might be cheaper in the long term to have two machines with different setups than one machine where you swap the nozzle for each print - unless you charge for the accompanying work on the setup change.
Operator induced irregular actions
There are cases where the operator did not plan to operate in the area of the printbed but actually might impact it by reckless or accidental action. In other words: accidents happen, tools drop onto the printbed and hands end there if an operator stumbles.
While releveling might not be necessary after all such accidental contacts, occasionally checking it and fixing it is good practice.
Mechanical failure
The way you test and maintain your Z-level is paramount in how often you need to validate the Z-level. If your springs are too strong and push the leveling knobs off on their own or your Z-sensor is mounted only weakly, then these create problems on their own.
Note that even in normal operation, the oscillation of the printer will make any bolt under stress that is not glued in place or jammed in tight loosen a little over time. This does include the bed leveling knobs.

Agree wholeheartedly with the last paragraph above. Replacing my original bed leveling nuts with knobs incorporating Nylock nuts reduced the frequency of needing to relevel by at least a factor of ten.

The only ones I have found are.
Manually putting pressure on the bed when removing prints.
Removing the bed covering, eg a glass plate
Damaging the bed in some way. For example my bed has high spots on it (always has). This means that if I remove the glass plate I use and put it back, it sits slightly different. If I orient the glass a different way from prior it always needs levelling.
Changing filament types.
Changing cover types eg magnetic and glass are different thicknesses.
Changing first layer needs. Sometimes I need the first layer squished a bit depending what I'm doing.
Lastly on my Ender 3 Pro if the z-axis switch isn't screwed in tight enough it can slip down a fraction.


text:
Where can I change the nozzle diameter in Cura? Why is mine missing?
I just upgraded the nozzle (to 1 mm) on an Ender 3v2 and want to make a test print.  I added a new printer for the new nozzle size.... and can't find a setting for it.  Some screenshots on the internet show a nozzle diameter setting in the machine settings, but I do not have that. (Manage printers > Printers > Machine Settings > Extruder 1).  Obviously, this was the first place I looked, and I also looked in the sidebar several times.
I have Cura 4.11.0 and am using the Ender 3 profile.
I've seen arguments about it's no longer a valid setting because line width is more important, I've seen discussions that you need to install some mods to get to that variable, and I've seen people say to make a custom printer and then you can change the nozzle diameter.  I've also seen lots of people asking for help, and sometimes even posting "Oh I found it" later, but no details on where the setting is, why it's missing, etc.
https://old.reddit.com/r/ender3/comments/bw5d43/nozzle_diameter_settings_in_cura_40_missing/
https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/21438-suggestion-easy-change-nozzle-size/

Consider moving to a more competent / modern slicer.
Also, yes, nozzle diameter is irrelevant, only line width matters.

@towe Please clarify what is not competent/modern about Cura (e.g. they release updates very often) and which slicer do you think is better and why? As the comment stands now it could be considered inflammatory, it is an opinion. Personally, I've used and am using different slicers for different machines, my opinion, is that I do not think that Cura is not modern or not competent. :-) It is however sometimes difficult to understand the settings and the material profiles, so in that respect I can imagine there is room for improvement! ;-)

Where can I change the nozzle diameter in Cura?

The best way forward is to go back to the Creality Ender 3 print profile, if so, you can use this answer. So, you can select the correct nozzle size instantly.

Why is mine missing?

But, if you created a new printer profile, that option is not available. This is because that option is not available in custom print profiles. In order to use that option, the printer profile requires a variants configuration option; e.g. "variants_name": "Nozzle Size" for the Ender 3 profile and for Ultimaker printers that is "variants_name": "Print core" as they use a printer nozzle core concept. In order to use "variants", the printer profile needs to be aware that variants are available (from the Cura wiki as linked below):

   # Whether your machine has the possibility to choose different variants.
   # If this is set to "true", you will see the variant selection menu in Cura for your machine.
   # By variants, we meant nozzles. You can have some specific variant profiles defined in folder
   # "resources/variants". See files there as examples.
   "has_variants": true,

For more information on generating custom Cura printer profiles look into Cura wiki "Definition File Types and the Base Definition Files" and Cura wiki "Adding new machine profiles to Cura".
So if you're profile doesn't support variants we need to revisit:

Where can I change the nozzle diameter in Cura?

The nozzle diameter is part of the printer configuration, but, linked to the Line Width property. You therefor can set the line width to 1 mm to achieve the same. With respect to the nozzle diameter, it is also found for the custom printer layout using the following: with reference to version 4.13.0, the nozzle diameter is set in the machine setup. From the main menu go to Settings->Printer->Manage Printers.... Now select your printer (and activate it to be able to) select Machine Settings and go to the extruder tab sheet to change the nozzle diameter (option Nozzle size under nozzle settings).

If you change the setting of the nozzle size you will see that this updates the option "Line Width" of the Quality group print settings to the same size. E.g. after changing the 0.4 mm nozzle value to 0.6 mm you will find the line width value updated:

This is for Cura 4.13.1 but it shouldn't be very different than 4.11.0. This is also for the standard Ender 3 profile; it is not necessary to create a new profile for a different nozzle.
In the main window, select your filament then a drop-down window will appear with the Material and Nozzle Size. Select Nozzle Size and pick the desired size from the drop-down menu.

This is valid for the Ender 3 profile, but when you have created a new printer, the nozzle size option is not available! (This is buried in the printer settings...) Basically, this answer is valid for the Ender 3 profile, not for a custom profile as the OP questioned. So, either redirect the OP back to the Ender 3 profile or add a section to cover custom FDM printer settings. I've linked my answer to your answer explaining it is valid for an Ender 3 profile, you might want to do that in your answer to improve it.

To confirm the OP's issue using Cura 5.2.1 and 5.3 (4/13/2023), as opposed to 4.x, I am attempting to change nozzle size on Ender 3 Pro and this is not in the following menu:
Manage Printers>Ender 3 Pro>Machine Settings>Extruder
You can see on the left, I am using Cura version 5.2.1 (Mac OS 12.6 Monterrey)

I was trying to create a profile for when I have the 1 mm Nozzle on there:

I was able to find Nozzle Diameter in a different place and change it successfully:

Please clarify your "Answer" because it almost sounds like you are having the same problem as the OP and are searching for a solution.

I have added a diagram with the solution - it shows that it is in a different location

How is this different than other posted answers (other than your diagram)?

My data is for Cura 5.3 and seems slightly different than other answers.


text:
What is the 4pin connector next to this USB on the Creality 4.2.3 board?

What is the 4pin connector next to this USB on the Creality 4.2.3 board?

Hi welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! Can you add a photo that shows the silk screen next to the 4-pin header, so turn the board 180° clockwise. This is most probably a header for the USB. So you can either use the micro USB or the 4-pin header.

@0scar: Oh, that would be really nice! (for wiring direct to the rpi in an electronics enclosure without awkward USB cables). Is this something other boards have too?

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE Yes, some boards do, I think I have 1 or 2 boards with that option, but, I don't own a v4.2.3 board (which is hard to find info on... hence the request for a photo from the other side).


text:
Any way to print all the layers of a 3D (STL)?
I'm looking for a way to slice up a 3D model and then get the profiles of each individual layer. I need to 2D print the different layers (with the layer height that I define) for a Styrofoam craft.
Thank you very much!

I'm a fan of OpenSCAD and have used the method suggested in the first answer. For non-OpenSCAD users, another option exists, which I've also used.
PrusaSlicer is a free 3D printer slicing program. One can configure layer heights as desired for the material thickness, even though it's not likely one will find a printer with such values, except perhaps concrete 3D printers!
Once configured and sliced, the exported file (configured for a Prusa SL1 printer) is renamed to .ZIP and the files within extracted. The files of note are going to be PNG format, one file per layer.
The settings within the slicer software have to be "adjusted" for your creation.
In Print Settings tab, change the layer height to match your material thickness. Also in the Print Settings tab, turn off supports and turn off pad (left column selections).
In Material Settings tab, change the Initial layer height to match your overall layer thickness. Unchanged, it remains the default 0.05 mm, unlikely to match your building material.
On the Printer Settings tab, change the bed shape to match your objective plus a bit of spacing around the item. Change the max height appropriately.
Set the Display Width parameters to match your output. Excessively large values will result in small model segments in a large blank area. Set pixel values to desired resolution of the output image file. For example, 200 is equivalent to a typical inkjet printer resolution.
I performed all of the above steps for a simple cube, exported the file to the default .SL1 extension, renamed it to .ZIP and extracted to a folder. The folder contained a number of support files for the MSLA printer, but also a full list of the layer .PNG files. Depending on your system settings, you may be able to change the extension in the Save dialog to .ZIP.
If PNG is not a suitable format, one can convert them to SVG using Inkscape bitmap trace or similar software.
I recommend to create a model with some form of registration incorporated to the design. One can create and subtract a pair of cylinders, for example, that travels through each layer, allowing insertion of a dowel to more easily stack the slices for assembly.
One can add primitives within the slicer, but they fall to the bed and also cannot be subtracted, at least so far as my limited research has shown. I've used Fusion 360 and Meshmixer to create such modifications.
Another aspect of the slicer is the ability to hollow the model, which would provide for some interesting constructions as well as possibly easier alignment.
This should be a .GIF animation of the results of my testing on Astronaut Phil A Ment, 1 millimeter layer height:

stltopng conversion of original STL file of Phil:

Very good to know! My first reaction to seeing the GIF animation was that I was seeing the LCD of a resin printer projecting the individual layers of a model to print.

That's exactly how it's done.

Thank you very much!
During the weekend I couldn't try it because I was away from home but right now I'm downloading PrusaSlicer and starting to investigate. You have perfectly understood my idea.

Finally, I am using IceSL, it is the software with which I have best adapted to extract all the layers in svg format.
I still have some shortcomings, I don't know what software I can use to modify and work with the 3D models (STL). Example:
Let's imagine that I have an elephant in STL format but I want to orient it in another way and instead of the layers going from the top to the feet, let the layers start from the ass to the trunk. I don't know if I explain myself.
1/2

Another thing that I would like to do is to dissect an STL to, for example, have the layers of the body on the one hand and the head on the other hand, in separate projects to be able to use different layer widths.
Can you help me?
Thank you very much!

One can use Meshmixer to re-orient an STL file to provide for your objective in the elephant comment. It's easy enough to import the STL, then use Edit,Transform to change the position. Re: split parts, use Edit, Plane Cut in Meshmixer to break each component. Use "keep both" followed by Edit, separate shells, then export to new file names as desired.

Wow!! I don't know how to thank you for all this help you are giving me. I'm looking at videos on Youtube about the Meshmixer to see if I can make some holes to go through the figures and use them as references in the assembly. I think that is the only part that I need to control.
I have already managed to cut the parts I want from the .stl to the millimeter and take them to IceSL to extract the layers.

I have seen that some programs order the different layers in 2D to take advantage of the folio, but researching I have not found the right software.
I still don't control this part but at least I know that I can manually achieve the right result, ordering all the .svg/.jpg in Photoshop, for example.

With OpenSCAD, you can import the STL file and apply projection with cut=true at successive Z-axis translate operations, and write out the result as SVG. This can all be automated from the command line to product a series of SVG files for your layers to "2D print".

Thanks friend, I'll have to look at the option even though I don't know how to use OpenScad :-(

@PelayoPA: It's a programming language of sorts for designing 3D (or 2D) geometry. There are tutorials and a very good online manual.

Before I learned that resin printers slicing results are image files, I used the OpenSCAD projection method as well. I believe one can write a script for command line execution to automate the process, but I do not have that skill, nor did I confirm the concept.


text:
Pros and cons of the two(+?) kinds of bimetal heatbreaks
I just replaced my PTFE-lined heatbreak with a Slice Engineering Copperhead, and am mostly happy with the results, but in the process of buying it and learning not to jam it, I came across with another design that seems common in cheap "clone" bimetal heatbreaks, and I'd like to understand the differences.
The Copperhead has (coated) copper for both the threaded part of the heatbreak that goes in the block, and the larger part that goes in the heatsink, with a thin stainless steel tube running through both:

In particular, it has an external lip of sorts where it meets with the nozzle. My understanding is that the copper in the upper part is to better dissipate heat, while the copper in the lower part is to make it part of the melt zone, giving a longer overall melt zone.
The other design I've seen has only two pieces: a stainless steel or titanium alloy part that threads into the heat block, press fit into the larger copper part that goes in the heat sink:

Since the tube and threads are all one piece, there's a nice looking chamfer where the filament exits the heatbreak and enters the nozzle. As an example, see this product listing, though there are lots of similar ones.
Presumably this alternate design has worse melt performance, but does it have advantages too? Less heat creep? Fewer jams due to the chamfer? Better mating with the wider, 3-part opening of CHT nozzles? Are any of these design differences well-motivated engineering decisions, or just chosen for cheap manufacturing?


text:
What's causing this lack of layer adhesion after a crash?
I recently had a print failure/crash, where the print stuck to the nozzle and forced molten filament back into the print head, fans, and heater block.
I changed the nozzle for a new 0.4mm same as existing.  I shortened the bowden tube by ~8mm to remove some crispiness, and the push-lock connector on top of the print head, which was full of solidified PLA.
The hotend was scraped clean of PLA, and the wiring was inspected.  The silicon sock was unhappy but I managed to get it to stay in place.
The part-cooling fan duct was deformed, but I have reshaped it as well as I could.   The part-cooling air is probably slightly less than it was.

I'm printing some Gridfinity bins, and the base just isn't filling in completely and there is also more stringiness.
The sides are not joining up at all, and are just a series of separate strands.  They do merge somewhat at the corners.

My printer worked much better before the crash - what do I have to focus on to improve this?
All print jobs since the reassembly are lower in quality, with one in three showing these large "wire bundles" look but all of them are not as good as before-prints.

Judging from the picture, you have serious inconsistent/under extrusion, not just on the lines that aren't adhering but everywhere, and this is almost surely the source of your problems:

I shortened the bowden tube by ~8mm to remove some crispiness, and the push-lock connector on top of the print head, which was full of solidified PLA.

Ability to correctly extrude material is highly dependent on having an unconstrained path for the filament from the extruder gear to the melt zone. Cutting the hotend side of the bowden tube, or even just removing it from the hotend and reinstalling it, is very error-prone even if you're experienced with doing it. Here are some of the things that can go wrong:

End of tube not cut square (perpendicular): There will be a gap between the tube and the nozzle mating surface on one side, allowing material to squeeze into the gap and jam.

Tube not tensioned against nozzle: Again, material can squeeze into a gap and jam.

Tube overly tensioned against nozzle: Tube will compress, reducing the inner diameter so that the filament has a lot more friction going through it. Especially at the end, it may bend inwards and make a lip that's very hard to pass and that interferes with retraction.

Here's the procedure I recommend:

Use a miter-box type tool to hold the PTFE tube for cutting clean perpendicular cut with a razor blade. There are printable tools for this but you may need to find something else if your printer isn't working well enough to print one.

Carefully use a razor blade or x-acto knife to chamfer the inner and outer surfaces at the end of the tube just slightly so it can't get a lip from compression against the nozzle. The amount of chamfer should be very slight, maybe 0.25 mm at most. This probably isn't strictly necessary but helps make sure you have more margin for error. I've also seen folks do this with an appropriate drill bit, but I don't know how to do it that way. Make sure any debris is cleaned up when you're done so bits of PTFE don't clog the nozzle.

Thread the tube fitting all the way into the heatsink, then back it off by about 1/4 to 1/3 of a turn (0.25 to 0.33 mm) and press the tube in until it hits the nozzle. Then, tighten it the rest of the way to compress the tube against the nozzle by the distance you backed it out.

Another option if you already want to do this is switching to an all-metal hotend (can be done just by replacing the heat break, not the whole hotend), but that comes with its own set of gotchas so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have other reasons to want one already.

Well spotted!   The issue was much more blatant than your description, once I looked in the right place.

Another suggestion from elsewhere was that the extruder motor was slipping - apparently enders are known for cracking the pressure arm over time.   Not my issue, but worth including for future readers.

SOLVED!

Turns out I hadn't pushed the bowden tube completely home into the hotend on the print head.  So there was a space where molten plastic was spreading out, interfering with both extrusion and retraction.
I've flipped the bowden tube end-for-end now, and my test job is well-underway.


text:
Cura variables and initial G-code commands
Ender 3 Pro, PLA, temps 200 °C and 60 °C.
I want to not heat the nozzle until after Auto Bed Leveling (CR Touch) is complete.  I can do that in the start G-code, but by then, Cura has already heated the nozzle to the temp specified under material and filament starts oozing out during bed leveling.  I'd rather set a variable to that value and call it with M104 when I'm ready.
This is the start of Cura's g-code:
;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:2888
;Filament used: 1.96332m
;Layer height: 0.2
;MINX:93.266
;MINY:10.195
;MINZ:0.2
;MAXX:126.734
;MAXY:210.658
;MAXZ:4.2
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 4.13.1
M140 S60
M105
M190 S60
M104 S200
M105
M109 S200
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 ; Home all axes
G29 ; Auto Bed Level (CR Touch)
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
...

The lines right after "Generated with Cura_SteamEngine" are the ones I'd like to change but I can't find them in the Cura app.  I know that 60 °C and 200 °C are the temps defined for bed and nozzle.  Cura inserts them as constants for the M140 and M104 commands.  I'd like Cura to set variables to those values (like {bed_temp} = 60) so I can refer to that variable when I insert the M140 command in my Custom Start G-code.  Can that be done?
A related question was asked a few years ago and part of the start code example then was:
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
G28 ; Home all axes
G29 ; BLTOUCH Mesh Generation
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature

The variable {material_bed_temperature_layer_0} was already set but I don't know where or how that was done.

I've sorted this out.  IF I include my own heating commands in my start G-Code, Cura knows to NOT add its own heating commands at the start of the G-Code file.
The variables I was referring to have dedicated names.
material_print_temperature_layer_0 is the printing (extruder/nozzle) temp set under Material in Cura.
material_bed_temperature_layer_0 is the build plate temp set under Material in Cura.
Cura substitutes the values of those variables for the variable names in the G-code file.
So to avoid filament ooze during auto bed leveling, I set the nozzle temp to 150 °C (hot, but lower than the defined printing temp and low enough to avoid ooze).  I set the bed temp to its defined temp.
Then I auto-level the bed.
Then I heat the nozzle up to its defined printing temp and start the print job.
This is my Start G-code:
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 ; Home all axes
M104 S150 ; Set Extruder temperature for bed leveling
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
M109 S150 ; Wait for Extruder temperature for bed leveling
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
G29 ; Auto Bed Level (CR Touch)
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X5 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move over to prevent blob squish

And this is how Cura writes the G-code file:
;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:2888
;Filament used: 1.96332m
;Layer height: 0.2
;MINX:93.266
;MINY:10.195
;MINZ:0.2
;MAXX:126.734
;MAXY:210.658
;MAXZ:4.2
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 4.13.1
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 ; Home all axes
M104 S150 ; Set Extruder temperature for bed leveling
M140 S60 ; Set Heat Bed temperature
M109 S150 ; Wait for Extruder temperature for bed leveling
M190 S60 ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
G29 ; Auto Bed Level (CR Touch)
M104 S200 ; Set Extruder temperature
M109 S200 ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X5 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move over to prevent blob squish
G92 E0
...

I hope this helps someone with a similar question.
Cheers.

Go to the Settings -> Printers menu from the top menu,

select your active printer (or Activate it) and manage your printer trough Machine Settings.

It will open the printer settings,

there you are able to change the lines you want in the Start G-code section.
Note the default Start G-code doesn't include heating up the bed and core, you need to add these after the G29 in your case. Personally I use heat up bed and continue (M140), than heat up core and wait till temperature is reached (M109), then heat up and wait until bed temperature is reached (M190).


text:
Do flyback diode filters in stepper circuits improve print quality?
Do the add-on noise reduction boards (variously called Schottky diodes, flyback diodes, noise filters) installed ahead of the stepper motors really improve print quality on FDM printers?  I installed them on X and Y axes and can see no difference.

They'll stop your components from dying, they won't do anything for quality itself.

If you don't have DRV8825 drivers, you would not see any difference, see this answer.

Flyback diodes aren't there to improve quality. They are there to )protect components the stepper connects to when the stepper stops. Motors store energy in inductors, and when power is dropped that energy goes back into the source driving them, which can damage equipment. Modern stepper drivers typically already account for that and are designed either with such diodes already included, or use a design that doesn't require them.
If anything, it might HURT performance with some drivers, as described in the article TL-Smoothers, Do They Make Sense?

Classic motor control design includes flyback diodes and capacitors to respectively snub and spread the back EMF spike from the motor windings.  I can only think adding diodes to an existing controller are only needed if they thought caps were good enough and left out the diodes.

I guess you can't believe everything you read in the product description- "Pack of 4pcs TL-Smoother V1.0 Addon Modules for Pattern Elimination Motor Clipping Filter 3D Printer Stepper Motor Drivers".

@allardjd apparently they did help with actual issues with DRV8825 stepper drivers - but that was due to a flaw in that specific type of driver, and not relevant for other newer types of stepper drivers.


text:
Adjustable Angle for a 1.5 inch OLED screen
I have a 1.5 inch screen, and I would like to create an adjustable angle plate for the screen, similar to Game boy advanced (shown below)
Does anyone know how the mechanism works?
By any chance, is there an adjustable connector that I can put on a 3D printed part to make an adjustable angle plate?

You'll need to design a hinge in two parts, probably with a third and fourth part as a cover.
The unit holds position by friction, so it will get sloppier with use as the plastic wears, or you may want to use a metal shaft and bushings.  This will also be affected by the mass of the screen and the torque onto the hinge.
From your image, you can clearly see which hoops in the hinge are part of the top and which are coming up from the bottom.
The ribbon cable will pass between the lower and upper in the middle where the two wide hoops are, and not through the ends which will provide the bulk of the support.

If you want to make a case exactly like this, then consider buying a shell instead.   The ifixit step-by-step instructions at https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nintendo+Game+Boy+Advance+SP++Shell+Replacement/137582 are clear and helpful for a complete organ-transplant.
The hinge/clutch mechanism used in these is a marvel, you're unlikely to be able to print one without a lot of trial & error, and looks like:

 From
https://console5.com/store/game-boy-advance-sp-hinge-replacement-case-hinge.html
However people have designed GBA cases - search your favourite STL websites for relevant links.  You may be able to find a case someone else has already designed and done debug.
Potentially useful tool https://3dmixers.com/m/275635-gba-sp-hinge-removal-tool-with-handle


text:
Ender 3 Pro keeps stopping after about 2 or 3 layers. SD card maybe?
I bought my Ender 3 Pro 2 weeks ago. Put it together, leveled it, and was off to the races the first day. I printed the test dog and test pig perfectly, so I ventured off to Thingiverse and probably got about 15-20 prints in the last 2 weeks. Everything worked out fine until one morning after a 6-hour print the night before I awoke to a great print and turned my printer off.
When I came back later in the day and turned it back on I was greeted with the blue screen of death!!!! Of course, I panicked and watched a bunch of YouTube videos which led me to "firmware". So I formatted my stock SD card to FAT32 and dropped in the Marlin firmware. The blue screen is gone! Ender dragon back! BUT now my printer will start a G-code, but crashes (every time) after about 2 or 3 minutes. BTW, I'm not using Cura or any other cloud slicer. I'm using REALvision and just printing straight from the SD card.
Much easier for me until now, what am I doing wrong? What options do I have other than returning the printer and having to wait for a new one?

Have you tried another SD card? They can go bad

Has it ever done this while you were watching it?  Does it restart spontaneously when it fails?


text:
Creality CR-6 SE heatblock replacement
Recently I broke the threads inside the heatblock of my CR-6 SE by tightening the nozzle too much (it seemed not deep enough). No problem - bought a new hotend extruder kit for around 35 euros.
I put everything back together and it worked for some time. But then the real problem started - PLA is squeezing out of the heatblock below (probably through the threads of the nozzle) and above (on the metal tube). I'm pretty sure that the PTFE tube was deep enough in the hotend and the nozzle was placed correctly.

That's especially bad as it clogs the screws fixing the thermal sensor and heating element in position as well as the ones connecting the heatblock to the heatsink (red) (the 4 screw holes around the nozzle on picture 2).
I managed to remove the screws of the thermal sensor and heating element, but I'm unable to remove the elements themself from the latest heatblock. I'm also unable to remove the metal tube (throat?) screwed into the heatblocks of the old and the current one, as I have nothing to grap to.

I already have original Creality replacement blocks, but no idea how to continue.
Questions

Is there a chance to remove the metal tubes?
Are there other ideas how to resolve the problem without buying a new hotend-kit?

Any help is appreciated!

It appears that you tightened the nozzle up against the heater block.  You want the nozzle to tighten and form a seal with the heat break.  Otherwise material with seep between the heater block and heat break.  Thus, material comes out the top of the heater block.  You want to tighten the nozzle against the heat break at your highest operating temperature of the hot end.  The following is the full procedure. Once you have plastic material in the threads, you will need to heat up the heater block to remove or install threaded parts in the heater block.
How to replace the nozzle in my hotend assembly?

Thank you for the hint. I never had issues with the nozzle and leakage - maybe I screwed the nozzle deeper into the block. Last time by doing so I damaged the threads in the block so that little metal flaks fell out the block after removing the nozzle. But there is still the question how to remove the heatbrake - any ideas?

Usually, you need to heat up the heat block so that the plastic in the threads is liquid instead of a solid gluing the heat break to the heat block.

Ok - I will try heating up the block. But how should I turn the round heatbreak? I tried with a pipe wrench but nothing moved at all. Heating up the loose block should not be a problem, but working on the hot block is difficult because of the short cables. Any hints here?

Avoid grabbing the threads with a wrench.  The neck on the heat break is easy to break.  You shouldn't need to turn it hard.  You need the plastic to be liquid.


text:
Print Fail: Partial Mess - What are possible causes?

Can anyone help explain what might be wrong to do this? I am printing a bunch of the same item.

Which were the first and last items printed?

My initial thought was insufficient bed adhesion, but it looks like you have a PEI sheet which I am not very familiar with its adhesion capabilities.

@PerryWebb It started in the middle and I think went clockwise layer by layer, but I didn't want everything.

@agarza Typically, prints are stuck pretty well to the bed, but come to think of it I haven't had anything print to the left side of the board much and it all seems to be that side. Maybe this is a slight level issue causing bed adhesion problems. I'll play around with it. Thanks!

@Doug I recall seeing an unboxing video recently where the reviewer was having a slight issue with the PEI sheet. After washing it with dish soap, the sheet was gripping the prints again. Just a thought.


text:
What causes different fluoresence of PLA from different sources?
I discovered this by accident while gluing two pieces of 3D printed PLA with UV-curing adhesive.  It's not a problem but I'm curious about why the two materials appearance under UV light is so different.
The PLA came from two different vendors.

Can you add information about what color the PLA is (supposed to be). I can't tell if it's white, gray, uncolored (cloudy semi-translucent), or something else.

Both nominally white though there's a slight but obvious color difference between them when viewed under normal light. The non-fluorescent one looks a little more yellowish. I think one spool was Solutech but not sure.

The pinkish color on the left one must be a camera artifact; not really like that.

The "pinkish" color is probably not a camera artifact, but the camera seeing UV as violet due to the way its filters are set up.

That sounds like a camera artifact to me. The camera is displaying something that's not actually there.

It is there, just not in a color we normally can see well.


text:
Wall thickness and line count in Cura, are they redundant, or do they multiply?
I'm experimenting with larger nozzles and large objects. I thought I had left the default wall count at 3 and that's why the print was turning out much sturdier and much heavier than a smaller nozzle, even though it took 1/3 - 1/2 as long to print it.
Well, I have a 1 mm nozzle, wall thickness set to 2 mm, and wall line count at 2.  I expected that wall thickness was to be multiplied by wall line count to arrive at the final wall width.  However, I don't think that's the case, the two values seem to be interrelated and redundant.  This forum post from a few years ago tries to say as much.  I now think that wall thickness is extrusion width (line width?) multiplied by wall line count.
The problem that I saw that made me dig into this, is that the wall thickness is set to double the line width, leading me to believe that I'm getting 2 walls of double-width walls, which means 4 mm thick walls.  I don't think it's doing that, but I may have confused myself in the process. Looking at the line view, I think the walls are 2 mm.
How are these two variables related?
This question is not a duplicate.

I expected that Wall Thickness was to be multiplied by Wall Line Count to arrive at the final wall width.

No, the Wall Thickness is the width of the complete wall, not of a single extrusion line, that is Wall Line Width which is a sub option of the Line Width property. Note that Wall Line Width itself is split up into Outer Wall Line Width and Inner Wall(s) Line Width
Wall Thickness is "Line Width" multiplied by the Wall Line Count
Note the Wall Thickness is calculated when you change the Line Width/Wall Line Width or greyed out, further more, when you set the wall width to a specified width, the amount of lines are calculated.

In general, Cura has a lot of these kind of "derived settings" where it's somewhat confusing which one is the actual setting and which is an awkward indirect way of setting it.


text:
Resin LCD print not printing first layers properly, resulting in a reduction of the height of the object
Printer: Elegoo Mars 3 LCD Resin Printer
I have a similar problem to this question, First / bottom layers not printing? and this issue on Reddit, Elegoo Saturn Squishing Bottom Layers Together - Models Too Short.
I am trying to print an object that is a cylinder with an engraving on it (the cylinder is not very high though, - it looks like the cylinder shown in this question on SE.Blender, How can I engrave this Text on the side of this cylinder (without changing the style of the font)?):

The cylinder is about 3.6 mm high only. It has an engraving on the side of it.
I haven't printed with supports but directly on the built plate (similar to the rook model Elegoo gives). The problem is that the first layers are not printed properly (it cuts off the engraving). This results in a reduction in the height of the cylinder.
Any solutions for how the first layers could come out properly?

Have you tried flipping the coin around?

This is a known issue with printing directly on the build plate. The first few layers have to be cured for much longer than the rest of the layers in order to ensure that the model adheres properly to the build plate. This causes the layers to be thinner but wider. Often resulting in a slight brim around your model (Called an Elephant's foot in some circles).
Normally you would use a skate or raft and supports, so the distortion wouldn't be to the model itself.
You could reduce the number of bottom layers in your slicer, and reduce the exposure time, which will give you much closer to your expected height, but it may require a lot of trial and error printing to find the right settings for your printer. I think that some people have made calculators to help with this, or you could try to find a torture calibration model to help you find your optimum settings.
Personally, as a person who make models for printing, I would recommend that you changed the dimensions of your model, rather than changing your printer settings.
I often make the parts of my models that are in contact with the base slightly thicker, but with a slight bevel to the edge to allow for expansion (Elephant foot) , then I simply sand down the extra after printing till the model is of the desired size.
Again, this is mostly a matter of trial and error.

Seems like auto-beveling would be a nice feature to add to slicing software...


text:
Nozzle digs into material and extruder starts skipping after some layers
So around a year ago I built a 3D printer very similar to a Creality CR10 and ever since I've built it, after some layers the nozzle appears to be digging into the print and the extruder starts skipping steps.

It has been driving me up the wall, and I've read and tried pretty much every suggestion I could find. I have disassembled and reassembled the printer multiple times, lubricated all moving parts, especially the Z lead screws, purchased a BLTouch, calibrated all axes and the extruder multiple times, and all to no avail.
I'm getting great bed adhesion and the dimensions are pretty much bang on. Up till the point where the nozzle starts digging into the print, the print quality is also great.  I've tried slic3r and MatterControl slicers and Pronterface. I've tried adjusting a lot of settings as well.
I have attached some pictures of a recently failed print and my printer and any help would be greatly appreciated!
Material: PLA
Print temperature: 215 °C
Bed Temperature: 70 °C
Hot end: E3D V6

Can you determine whether the Z axis is moving accurately? How do you assess that it's "digging in"? My question is based on assuming that's true, but if not, it looks more like you just have an extrusion system that's not working due to hotend clogging and/or bad grip on filament that's stripping it rather than moving it reliably.

It is under extruding you should be fighting. Since this is later in the print, this could well be heat creep. Check your retraction speed and length and mention your material, hotend model and make (all-metal?) and extrusion settings like temperature, retraction, etc. Please [edit] the question.

@R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE On the few successful calibration cube prints I have completed, I measured all dimension to be accurate, including the Z height so I believe it is moving normal. Also measured the Z movement using vernier calipers from both ends. Looking back, I do feel that the extruder is severely underpowered and is one of the few things that I have not changed. Sometimes the hot end does seem to clog, however not always and it still results in a failed print. Will try finding a good quality extruder next. Thanks for the suggestion!

@0scar Haven't really looked into retraction settings yet as I thought this was not related to the issue. However, I noticed on this particular print, the defects started right when the geometry split into two different parts and retraction started. What would be a good way of dialing in the retraction settings? I'll also look into getting a better quality extruder. Thanks for the help!

@R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE To be honest, I can't really verify that the nozzle digs into the print, I based it solely on the assumption that the extruder starts skipping steps because I thought it starts scraping/pushing into the previous layer.

This looks completely typical of a printer with a bowden tube using an ungeared Ender 3 style extruder with single flat extruder hob when you try to print at any significant speed. As soon as there's any resistance to pushing the material, the gear's grip on the filament will fail and it will slip instead of moving. Then, it starts grinding a single spot of the filament, ruining any chance that it might successfully continue extrusion.
The initial source of the resistance may be heat creep, which you should check for, or something wrong in the filament path through the hotend. It probably starts happening after a bunch of retractions leave you with a rough end backed out of the nozzle and hard to push through it again. Tuning the retraction length and speed may help with this. However, if the problem is what I think it is, the core issue is that the extruder is awful; a good extruder would grip the filament well enough to force it through even if there is some resistance, and the resistance would go away as soon as it starts melting and flowing.
Definitely replace the extruder. Even if you have other problems too, that extruder will be a continuous source of problems. In the mean time, you might try adjusting the spring tension to see if you can get it to work better.

Thanks a bunch for your input! After a year of having this printer, I finally have some direction as to what's wrong. Will update as soon as I get my hands on a decent extruder.


text:
Wavy walls on one axis (not ringing)
I own an Ender 3 max and after I did a fan upgrade to the main board (In the progress I need to let the printer sit on the y axis motor and might bend something), there're wavy patterns on the wall parrallel to the y axis (the axis the bed travels).
I don't think the pattern is due to ringing since it is only appears on one axis and the magnitude stays the same.
When I put my hand on the print bed (moves with y axis) I can feel it shakes while moving.
I can't tell anything is damaged from visual inspection.
Has anyone encountered this situation before? How can I fix it?
Wavy y axis wall:

Good x axis wall:

Can you measure the period of the wave? To do this, you'd measure the length of some particular number of oscillations (e.g. 10) and divide that length by the number. Is the period independent of speed, or does it change with print speed?

Also, if you print a skew object where each layer is offset by some amount in X and Y, does the wave phase peg to the corner, or does it stay in the same absolute position?


text:
Is there printable optical-grade resin?
Are there SLA printable resins that can be printed with optical clarity and whose index of refraction make them potentially useful for optical applications? I would assume the surface may need polishing, and that's okay - I'm just asking whether the materials and process are otherwise suitable.

No, at least not at a consumer level. The layering created by the printing process would create imperfections, and clear resin frequently yellows if not cured properly and then protected form strong UV light. Resins that do not yellow tend to have a blue cast to them.
You would be better off using a commercial grade casting resin and a pressure chamber to remove bubbles. Even then it would be inferior to silicates for even basic lenses.

Clear Resin isn't clear everywhere
Any light-curing resin has a specific bandwidth to which it is totally opaque just to be able to cure. This is typically a blue color, but at this and adjacent wavelength, the lens will not allow light to pass through it, no matter if you can manage to get imperfections down.
Resins change color
Then there is the problem of resins changing coloration. Most cast resins become yellow, and some go blue, but in either case, they do absorb some spectrum to appear as this color.

This is informative but not necessarily a problem; sometimes you want to filter. Thanks.

While the lens might work in a larger spectrum - depending on the resin you take, you always will have the printer light color as a bandgap. Which might be a problem, because you usually print with blue-ish light

Yes, it's application-specific.


text:
I have a Ender 3 S1 Pro and can't restart a print after a pause at height
My printer (Ender 3 S1 Pro) only has a touch screen. When I use the pause at height command, the print pauses properly. However, the screen only displays stop and pause "buttons". Neither of these options allows me to restart the print. Can anyone suggest a solution to this problem?

I found that if I use Cura to generate the pause at height script then edit the G-code file and change the M0 code to an M25. Next, you must use that edited file to print from an SD card. When the printer pauses and you are ready to continue the print (while connected to a computer with a USB cable and with Cura open), select the Monitor tab in Cura, type M24 in the Send G-code window, and press the return key on your computer.

A workaround I found is to insert custom G-code before the layer change and simply move the printer head out of the way, wait a couple of seconds so you can insert bearings, magnets, etc. then resumes the print.
M300 S440 P200        ;beep
G60                   ;save current position
G28  X0               ;home X axis, print head moves to the left
G4 S60                ;wait 60 seconds
M300 S440 P200        ;beep
G61                   ;restore saved position

Not as good as the printer prompting you but if you don't want to connect a computer then this is probably the simplest solution.


text:
Engraved text (on a cylinder). The printer wasnt able to display the font style correctly,
Printer: Elegoo Mars 3 LCD Resin printer
The letter height is about 3 mm.
I engraved a word (text) on the side of a cylinder (which is about 14 mm in diameter and 4 mm in height).  I am not sure about the exact depth of the engraving (but should be about 0.5 mm but that's not important).
The text is easily readable and, at first glance, appears to have come out perfectly.
On second sight, however, the problem becomes obvious: The 3D printer didn't print the style of the font correctly (it's less bold than the font style chosen for the text and that's visible in Blender and Chitubox files).
Is that just what I have to accept or is there any way to improve on the result?

It strikes me that the amount of bolding is less important than legibility. Also, it's amusing that the depth of the engraving is 0.5mm "or whatever" but that it's not bold enough...

You could try making the text in the 3D model more bold than you want it, then if the printer prints it less bold, it will come out with the desired boldness.

Printers know not of Fonts
All the 3D printer knows are movement commands. The slicer is turning the model into movement commands. The design suit defines the model.
So if your slicer is not printing the model as you envision it, the problem is not with the printer, it is with the model. You should alter the surfaces in the model.