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Print Nozzle Type vs Heat Requirement
I recently went to a stainless steel nozzle for printing. What I found is it required significantly more heat to print PLA than I was used to. I'm not sure if the PLA itself (a brand I'd never used before) was to blame or if the nozzle properties was causing the needed increase. By an increase in heat needed, I'm used to printing PLA in the 190 °C (+/-5 °C). What I'm using right now to prevent stringing and to get good layer adhesion, I'm having to print at 220 °C.
My question is, does nozzle material typically affect the amount of heat needed to print or should we expect heat shouldn't need to be changed? If the nozzle material does affect it, is there any "rules of thumb" to go by on what to expect?

As the answer mentions, brass conducts the heat better. But keep in mind, the temperature sensor measurement is at a specific point. It's also possible the lower heat conductivity means the entire nozzle isn't up to temp yet, and if what would happen if you were to preheat the steel nozzle to the original, lower print temp, and then hold it there an extra few minutes before beginning the print.

@JoelCoehoorn - Well, I don't think the extra minutes would do much good. We're talking about prints which take several hours (9+) to complete. I was still getting a lot of stringing and having issues with layer separation throughout the print until I turned the heat up.

Thermal conductivity is the factor to consider in this question. Cost and wear play a part in determining nozzle material selection as well.
According to The Engineering Toolbox, stainless steel has a conductivity (k) between 14.3 and 14.4 with other stainless steel alloys not showing better than 20. Brass (most common nozzle material) lists between 61 and 121, substantially higher.
Of course, one notes the caution with abrasive filament that a brass nozzle will wear.
PrintedSolid has a great photo of a worn brass nozzle sliced in half, against a steel version:

If one considers that a slower heat transfer gives the device (nozzle) more time to radiate heat to the environment than to pass it along to the filament, the higher temperature makes sense.
Some gemstones have a high thermal conductivity. There are ruby and sapphire nozzles available, providing greater wear resistance without the loss of thermal conductivity.
Regarding a rule of thumb? I have not seen concrete references to what factor to use with temperature increases.

The higher thermal resistance not only needs more heat, but it also takes longer for the heat to conduct, so the control system for the heater needs a longer reaction time to add more heat.  The longer reaction time can cause temperature excursions both above and below the ideal extrusion temperature.

+1 for the nice photo, very interesting... however, it is not clear whether each nozzle saw the same amount of use (i.e. meters (or grams) of filament). It might be worth adding that the E3D blog states that 250g XT-CF20 (carbon fibre) was used on both.


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Why are Islands sometimes detected when you combine Chitubox file, but not when you slice models individually?
When making large or complex models I frequently divide them up into smaller parts for printing on my Elegoo Saturn resin printer.
I find it easier to paint the parts separately and then combine them, and it allows me print the top and bottom portions of larger models simultaneously thus reducing print times.
My process typically involves exporting each component as an STL file using Blender, opening the component in Chitubox, and then adding support to it before saving it as a Chitubox project file.
It's less memory intensive to process each component separately, and it makes searching for islands faster as there is less model to deal with.
Once I have saved each individual component as a separate project file I simply open Chitubox and tell it to open all of the project files simultaneously. Chitubox automatically imports them all and combines them into a single new project. This is a feature of the software and doesn't involve any hacks or mods.
I then slice, save and print as normal.
Sometimes though I can import 3 or files that have absolutely no islands when checked separately, but when checked in their combined form there are suddenyl 1 or two islands. This is almost always on the lower layers. Typically right where one of the sub models meets its supports. Usually where I have a flat object that I've tilted at an angle to avoid having too much material in contact with my FEP.
I'm using Chitubox free 1.8.1.

Could you add an image of the sliced objects to see what you mean, it is difficult to imagine this.

I've updated the text to make the explanation clearer. All you would see in a picture is a bunch of supports with an island marker.

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Why is there a "dotted line" in my "larger" prints
For some reason, my larger prints, or rather the ones that I create, have this "dotted" line in them. And, that line usually splits into two pieces.
I use Ultimaker Cura for a slicer, I use Blender for modeling, and I have an Ender 3 Pro
Let me know if anyone knows the reason for this as it's preventing me from making things on my own.
Picture:

Here's my Cura file, if anyone needs it

We need you gcode and model.

I have seen similar problems with recent versions of Cura on other printers. It was always related to the (vertical) start of an infill area. If that also applies to you, try a different slicer.

What material? Is the gap at the exact same height each time you try, or varying?

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE Using PLA, the line always looks like that. Same "height", runs the width of the print.

If hardware failures have been excluded (and they can be as subtle as "a broken wire only loses contact at this particular Z height", so don't be too quick to assume that), then the likely reason for a problem like this is bad geometry.
When you move from Blender to Cura, Blender exports a triangle mesh, which defines surfaces. Cura then has to read that triangle mesh and figure out which volumes should be filled with plastic. In order to do this reliably, the triangle mesh needs to completely enclose a volume (“be watertight” in the jargon), but it's easy for 3D tools meant for graphics (such as Blender) to produce models which

don't completely enclose a volume, but have small gaps,
have triangles that intersect but not at their vertices, or
have parts that intersect other parts.

If any of these cases occurs, then the slicer may get confused about what the interior and exterior of the model is, and produce incorrect layers.
I'm not familiar with the functionality of Cura (I use PrusaSlicer), but if I had this problem, what I would want to do is look at the preview of the extrusions, inspecting it layer-by-layer to see if the place where the physical error is also has missing extrusion lines in the slicer's preview. If so, then this is almost certainly due to a geometry error in the mesh.
If this is the case, then to fix it, you could:

Go back to Blender, find the bad area and edit it to be properly closed off.
Or, use a separate repair tool intended to fix common mesh problems.

No. Cura does not do what you describe. It opens the model, does some sanity check, and even does some repairs on it if it's within some range. If there is a problem that it cannot fix, it won't slice and reject the model. If some repairs are done, it will slice it and output something that will work.  STL files are a polygon soup anyaway (the vertices don't have names, only coordinates), the slicer has to do that work anyway; i.e there is no connectivity graph embedded in the STL file.

Blender is not to blame. You're drawing a wrong conclusion here. (as stated in a comment of yours)
From your Cura file, I extacted the 3d model as a STL file, and it looks like this:
Nothing wrong with it, it just a water tight triangulated mesh.
Cura produces a correct tool path, nothing remarkable there either.

The red marks on both pictures indicate where the infill lines meet the perimeter walls.
You can also see that the part is already really close to delaminating mid print on lower layers (all of the yellow marks indicate places where it looks like that layer tried to peel but eventually didn't fail to the same extent.
You should try to optimize the settings of your slicer in the (filament temperature, print speed, layer height, cooling) space.
Prusa slicer has a feature related to infill sticking to walls, called Length of the infill anchor:
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/infill_42
I didn't find a similar concept in Cura; maybe it could help for your setup, if nothing else works.
Also, you have elephant feet (bootom yello square bracket)

At first glance, this looks like it could be missing layers.
There are five possible causes for missing layers.

Something is off mechanically.Check to see if anything has slipped, shifted, moved, or popped out.
MisalignmentCheck to see that all three axes are properly aligned and haven't shifted. If there is any resistance, something is misaligned, bent, or a problem with the bearings.
Bad BearingsIf a bearing is the culprit, it will make some noise. The bearing will also exhibit some uneven motion in the print head.
Lack of LubricationCheck to see if any of the axes are binding in any way. A little, and just a little, bit of sewing machine oil can be the solution.
Under-ExtrusionThis is a whole different set of problems that requires a new question to get an answer.

For more detailed information, see All3DP.com's article "3D Printing Troubleshooting All Common Problems"

None of these are the reason, it happens around halfway in the print. It's not a mechanical issue or any issue with the printer (I think), it's more of a software thing. It happens on ONLY the prints I create in blender or another program.

looks like a snag in the spool causes under-extrusion, which eventually clears itself...

This looks to me just like standard poor reliability of the Ender 3's stock extruder, which is ungeared (torque too low), poorly tensioned, and insufficiently grips the filament (due to flat hob whose teeth only touch the filament in a single point).
If you've had success with other models in the past, is is possible that they were more intricate shapes with small details? My guess is that you have the print speed set higher than your extruder can reliably deliver, but due to acceleration limits, the requested top speed was rarely or never achieved for the models you printed successfully. Now that you're trying to print something with long, straight lines, the toolhead does have time to accelerate to (or closer to) the requested speed.
You didn't mention what material you're printing. If it's PETG, you're just going to have to go a lot slower with the Ender 3's stock extruder. If it's PLA, you might be able to get it to work by increasing the temperature significantly (possibly a tradeoff with other problems). If the speeds you have to drop to for reliable printing end up not being acceptable, look at getting a decent extruder.

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Pimples/blisters on some curves - cause?
I've noticed my Ender 3 V2 printing odd little bubbles of material on curves.  Is this over-extrusion?  I'm using Creality PLA at 210 °C with a bed temperature of 60 °C

The opposite side of the same print, with no problem in the curve.  Yes, I do have lifting at some corners, but this seems to be a different issue.

This was printing a center-finder

It's a bit hard to see but here's the same blister-like look on the handles of a grabber-toy.   Lighting makes it a bit hard to see, as does printing in black.

I have calibrated my E-steps; initially, it was extruding 95.5 mm when told to do 100.0 mm.  By changing the printer's numbers, it's now pushing through 100.1 mm when requested to do 100.0 mm.  Is that my cause?

Possibly related to https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13805/over-extrusion-on-curved-surfaces

Does the nozzle move through that section at a uniform smooth rate when printing, or does it slow down and speed up eratically? This looks to me like the fallout of bad interaction between acceleration/cornering profile, the stock firmware's lack of linear advance, and numerical imprecision in model or slicer output making what should be curves into fine jagged details.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE good thinking - I watched a second run of the same center finder, but at 70% not 50%, and the motion looks smooth throughout the whole print.  I do have the stock firmware on it, an update is in the plans.   What makes no sense is that the opposite curve is perfect.

After much faffing about, I've discovered that OctoPrint is the cause, or specifically running it on underpowered hardware.
I originally thought that OctoPrint sent the job to the printer's internal SD card and it printed from there.
That is incorrect, OctoPrint feeds G-code to the printer.  And since I'm using a sub-standard Pi B+, it does not have the resources to keep up.
By attaching a webcam, I doubled down on the resource contention and made it worse.

Basically, the OctoPrint minimum-spec is there for a reason, disregard it at your own risk.
The test object can be found at  https://www.tinkercad.com/things/1vjIJXoQkde
and has 5 half-barrels with different segment counts.  I originally noticed that the smoother curves suffered worse, and was testing that.


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Stripe down the middle of BLTouch mesh is somehow not level
I'm fairly new to 3D printing, but I've had my Ender 3 V2 for some time and have made some upgrades to it, including a BLTouch module and some non-stock firmware that seemed to really help. Now, I can't print a thing and I can't figure out why in the world this would be happening. I am using Marlin-JyersUI v1.3.5. I have taken apart the gantry and rebuilt it to the same effect. Test prints fail on the first layers.
I would assume that there is possibly something wrong with the X-axis, as when I rotate my glass buildplate, the positioning of this ridge does not flip with it.


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Ender 3 v2 Extruder Clicking Issue
Can somebpdy help me as I’m struggling with an issue with my Ender 3 V2 extruder. The extruder is clicking after laying down the 1st layer. The machine had been running with no issues for over 4 months now, I have made various upgrades including BLTouch, tried different hot ends, etc.
I'm mainly printing TPU and have printed it with no issues using a stock Ender 3 V2. However, last week I was changing the hotend back to stock and accidentally snapped the thermistor wiring. I ordered some replacements as below and replaced the thermistor and hot end back to stock.

Comgrow Creality 3D Printer NTC Thermistor Temp Sensor 100K for Ender 3 / Ender 3 Pro/Ender 5 / CR-10 / CR-10S

At the same time, I removed the BLTouch, and to be honest, I was finding I was getting just as good prints without it on both a 2nd and 3rd printer I have (both Ender 3 V2’s). This meant re-flashing the firmware back to stock.
So effectively, I now have a stock Ender 3, but it has developed this clicking noise from the extruder after the first layer is laid (1st layer is perfect).
I can see the TPU material getting snagged in the extruder when the clicking is occurring, so its clearly not making its way through the hotend and blocking up.
Can somebody give any advice as to why though? Everything is fine for the 1st layer but then the problem starts halfway through the 2nd or 3rd layer?
I have calibrated my extruder steps (after re-flashing) and they changed from 93 to 114 (which seemed a big change).
I'm printing the TPU at 205 °C, and even taking the same file to my other 2 printers has no issue, so I’m not sure what has changed?
If somebody can give any advice, it would be most welcome!

You probably have a bed leveling issue. It sounds like you get to a point where there's sufficiently more material already placed than room for it to fit into, and subsequent extrusion becomes impossible (after some give from bed springs, etc.). If not that, if your cooling fan is coming on at layer 2, it might be that you have problem with insufficient heating, and temperature is dropping too much from the fan blowing incorrectly over the heater block.

Very likely the clicking is from the TPU slipping in the extruder driver gear.
TPU needs a much slower speed than other plastics, make sure you are using an extrusion speed that is reasonable for TPU.
Assuming you are extruding TPU at the correct speed, there are many reasons that could cause the extruder to get clogged.  A few might include:

too small of clearance between the nozzle and the preceding layer (or not enough height above the bed for the initial layer)
debris in the nozzle (especially if you are switching plastics with a higher melting point or a lower char point)
too low of a temperature (i.e., melted plastic is too viscous)
gap inside the extruder between the Bowden tube and the hot end causing molten plastic to back up and solidify and bind with the cold filament

Other questions here may answer the clogging issue better.

Yes, the extruder drive gear will also click when it can't push PETG through.


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Instances won't share support or brim
In PrusaSlicer-2.3.3, when there are two instances of an object closer than the support width, the intersecting surface is filled twice; this is what you can see in the center of the picture. The outer perimeters are indeed correct, but the intersection is printed twice.
It would not be so problematic if this was just for one or two layers, but it's also doing it higher, i.e at the support level, and it ruined the print.
So in PrusaSlicer, how do I slice several objects as one object?

Obvious answer is to space them more apart. If you could, please add an image of how the objects look (on the plate) before slicing.

My goal is to put all of them on the same raft / brim in order to reduce print time and increase plate adhesion.

Try joining them in external software and printing them as one object instead of two.  Although if you are not careful, they might end up physically joined too.

I found the relevant answer here

Did you load them as separate objects (which will do what you describe and is wrong) or add the second one as a sub part of the first object (right click, add part->load)?

The latter takes occlusion into account and clips overlapping areas.

Here is what I learned: you can't merge Prusa "instances", they are just a replay of the same G-code
I assume it is a really useful feature if you want to say, fill the bed with dozen of instances of the same product, if you're happy with the settings and you don't want to mess with it. This will just replicate the same g-code at some other place; that makes sense in a production setting.
However, if you're still building  then:
Do hard copies (copy paste), reload the same file, or right click on an object, and Add Part / Load. You can merge those ones (as in: CTRL + click / a.k.a multiple selection), right click / merge , and they will slice as expected (as a whole)
Keywords were : overlapping objects, composite object, redundant tool paths
Also, there seems to be a bug in the prusaslicer UI, as you can't reverse the Merge - the objects look like they're trapped under the Merged object once you've committed to it.  Set as separate objects is grayed here.


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Shocks and enclosures
I have a Creality CR-6 SE running Community firmware. It's printing mostly well, in part because it's improvisationally enclosed (sheets of cardboard between it and the closes window to reduce draft, which was killing my prints on bad days). To make it moderately shock-resistant it's placed on a 50x50 cm concrete tile which is placed on 3 mm of foam. The foam reduces vibrations being redirected to the tile while the tile is heavy enough not to care either way.

Now it has to move because I want to move my desk into the same room as the printer.
This means 2 things:

My and my printer will be getting their required ventilation from the same window, but sitting in the same room as a printer for 8+ hours a day isn't a great idea if we breathe the same air. Either I need to scrub the printer exhaust or pipe it out (totally doable, it's not that far).
Either I have to sit very quietly or the printer has to be placed somewhat shock-proof. The floor itself is of wood and on the first floor, so there's some minor bounce in it. It's not 100% level and it gets (slightly) worse if you stand next to it.

I've been thinking about making a towered enclosure (roughly like the famous Lack approach). However, if I construct a tower, the increased position vector between ground and printer could make the printer shake. Besides, a simple Lack won't work because PLA won't like being confined. Where other materials like getting hot, PLA likes to be ventilated. The obvious solution would be a couple of fans that can be shut-off and covered, but maybe I'm thinking too complicated already. Either way, that's a fixable problem.
See-through sheet work is likely going to be done with 2mm plexiglass (acrylic, PMMA).
I'm currently printing PLA 100% of the time but the enclosure should be able to handle PLA, ABS, and PETG. There's a Raspberry Pi available, so requiring different settings for different materials is not a problem either.
So I can fix all problems, except the shock one. More fans mean more vibrations, so it will get plenty of shocks by itself. Add the shocks of me walking past it, especially if the printer is in a tower, and you can wait for failed prints.
I've seen people put their printers on springs, but is that the best way to deal with it in enclosures? Would it make sense to put the tower on top of the existing foam/concrete base or would it be better to catch the shocks as close to the printer as possible?

Feel free to comment on any-and-all parts of the question, but questions require focus and the focus is on the shocking part (do we need a tag for that?). The rest is context.

I am guessing the foundation of concrete tile and foam is from CNC Kitchen (I have the same setup). You mention 3 mm, which in the CNC Kitchen video shows a 50 mm foam. Have you thought about increasing the thickness of foam to increase shock absorbance? Personally, I have 75 mm of foam and it reduces vibration and noise considerably.

@agarza I picked a piece I still had around, the tile is from my backyard :-)

First, let's get your physics straight:

To make it moderately shock-resistant it's placed on a 50x50 cm concrete tile which is placed on 3 mm of foam. The foam reduces vibrations being redirected to the tile while the tile is heavy enough not to care either way.

No. The concrete tile gives your printer mass by adding its own to it. Mass by itself results in shifting the point resonance (and thus ringing) occurs, and in conjunction with a flexible mounting (the foam) results in the resonance window getting shifted out of the window where it can be problematic. Nothing about redirecting.
Now, to your problems:
Enclosure
If you want an enclosure, you can mount it directly onto the concrete tile, or you include the buffered concrete in the enclosure. Totally up to you. If you exhaust it, just adding a big PC fan to the back and then a flexible tube to the window to get rid of warmth if you need would be enough.
Dampener
3 mm is way too little. You should get at least one of those rubber mats from the home depot that is put under washing machines. Those thick rubber pads are usually 10 to 20 mm thick and would decouple the printer movement very well from steps on the floor. You might even want more of a different, softer foam between that rubber pad and the concrete tile.

Considering the weight of the concrete tile, leaving close to the ground would be preferred. With a combination of thick pads (I know the kind, my washer and dryer have them too), thinner foam and tile, either the whole thing is going to wobble (which can be reduced by more tile) or it should be stable enough for printing purposes, correct? Would the type of (thin) foam make any difference?

extra slabbs would squish the foam more. You might add a baseplate on standoffs under it to decouple it a tad more, if your combined decouplers don't do enough.


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Convert 3D printer to laser engraver
Can you convert a 3D printer to a laser engraver?
If so is there a specific thing I have to buy?

Are you intending to burn marks into a thing, or cut into a thing?  The first is an engraver, the latter is a laser cutter.

Just remember eye safety - without an opaque enclosure the risk is very real. Laser goggles meant for CO2 lasers will not work for diode lasers, and the latter are harder to manufacture correctly  because the wavelengths are closer to visible band.

You can get some ideas looking at how it is done on the Snapmaker machines. Snapmaker printers have three functions: 3Dprint, CNC and laser.
They use a system in which different heads are exchanged in the same support on the X-axis.

Yes, one can convert a 3D printer into a Laser Engraver, and it isn't even all that problematic.

You'd need to acquire a laser diode. These are usually not available with a lot of power - certainly not the hundreds of Watts that come from a proper CO2 laser - but depending on your printer, it might be pretty much a bolt-on addon.

The conversion isn't too invasive, and takes much less time than building a printer from a set. All3D converted an Ender-3 to have a laser within less than an hour. In their step-by-step guide, they wired it into the 5V part cooling fan port of their printer. Whatever laser diode you choose, the setup will be similar, as long as your diode works with 5 Volt power.

Once installed on the physical side, you will need to prepare your prints with a different "Slicer" that uses the commands for the fan speed as powers for the laser:

M106 S sets the power to S, where S is a number from 0 to 255 ; Without an S value, it turns on to the last setting (if turned off via M107)
M107 turns off the laser.

One such slicer would be Creality Workshop, which would work with any Marlin-run printer, as long as you use the fan as the diode's power source.

Probably a laser... and a mount for the laser. Then connect its power supply to be switched by the extruder supply/signal. Also, there would be no need for any Z-axis movement, beyond setting the correct height of the laser device.
However, unless you are handy with DIY, messing about with microcontrollers and electronics, modifying firmware and have experience in making your own 3D printer, then it is probably easier to just buy a ready built engraver.

That said, and after reading Trish's (more technically detailed and accurate) answer, it probably isn't all that daunting to accomplish. In addition, if you already have a printer, then a modification would be cheaper than buying a whole new unit.
Here is a handy video tutorial, which shows how easy it, in fact, is: 3D printer to laser engraver for under $60

This unit was tested on the Creality Ender 5, but the plug should work for any Creality printer like the Ender 3 and CR-10

This modification also uses the part cooling fan to control the laser and there is no need to remove the extruder - the laser attaches itself by the use of magnets to the extruder. So you can have a dual-purpose printer without that much fuss at all.
The website used to generate the G-code is http://nebarnix.com/img2gco/, and it takes a simple image file as input. The settings recommended by the video are as follows:

Note: As pointed out in the video, the minimum power should not be zero as this turns off the laser, thereby incurring a delay upon restart. Setting the power to a sufficiently low level - so as not to burn - is preferable, i.e. 10.

I own the creality engraver module, but haven't fitted it yet.  Looks pretty straight-forward.

Indeed, remarkably so - I hadn't realised. So much so, In fact, that I am quite tempted myself.


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QR code 3D printing
Is it possible to 3D print a QR code? or to engrave it using a 3D printer? I tried to convert it to individual boxes but that takes too long and is very inaccurate. Is there a better way?

You could try this method on Thingiverse. It explains step by step how to create a QR code and print it. I used it recently to print 50 QR codes with a backplate red and the QR code in white and it works wonderfully: https://www.thingiverse.com/make:976685.

if inaccuracy is a function of your print rather than algorithm, you may need to print the code bigger.

Could you [edit] your question and post photos of the prints with the issues that you have experienced? It might make your question a little clearer.

I used the qrcore2stl website for my WiFi access point.
You can easily change the parameters of the QR code and associated .stl, as well as add custom text and keychain holes.
For my WiFi access, I inserted a pause command at 1 mm height, and changed filament from white to black at that point.

Please don't flag this as a "link-only answer". Why? Because it is a valid link to an online conversion tool - plus the answer has some useful tips.

From the excellent Thingiverse link, Customizable QR Keyring or Tag by OutwardB - which was provided in the (now deleted) link-only answer:

Create the QR code

Go to QRCode Monkey

Only change the Content settings
DO NOT change the color, logo or design settings

Click Create QR Code

Click Download PNG and wait for the file to download

Convert to SVG

Go to PNG to SVG Converter and convert the PNG image you just downloaded to a .SVG file

Customise in OpenSCAD
You will need QR_Code_Customizer_V01_2.scad from the files
repository on Thingverse

Download OpenSCAD from here and install it - https://openscad.org/downloads.html

Put the downloaded SVG file in the same folder as the .SCAD file from this page

Double-click the .SCAD file to open it

Click Window, then untick Hide Customizer
Optional: Click Window, then tick Hide Editor

Enter the SVG file name in the basic settings tab (or rename the file to qr-code.svg before opening OpenSCAD)

Customize the settings. After changing a setting, you may need to click outside the text box to apply the change

Click Design > Render and wait for the design to render

Click File > Export > Export to STL

Save the file

Notes

Raised and Cut-Out types are for changing filament at layer height
Multi-color and Code are to be used together for inlay/multi-color printers
You can also set Base Height or Code Height to 0 and export each part on it's own
If you want to print a double sided tag, you can set Base Height to 0 and export the second side. Then just flip this over in
the slicer
The text options are a okay for basic text, but if you want to use another program to add some, you can add extra height to the
top/bottom of the card under Extra Size Setting

Advanced Notes

There is some logic in the script that stop you from making the size too small if you have Line Size set, you can set Line Size to 0
or half your line size value if you really want to override this.
You can change the Customize Design settings before generating the QR Code (on QRCode Monkey), but you'll need to set Line Size to 0
and there are no promises that it'll print well
If you want to use a different site to create the QR code, resize the image to 1147x1147 pixels before converting it to an SVG. Or if
the QR code in the image doesn't have a border, resize it to 1000x1000
px.
If you want to use a different source for the SVG file, there are instructions for working out the size in the code
(QR_Code_Customizer_V01_2.scad) at line 215. You'll need to
export it as a STL and measure it outside of OpenSCAD, then enter the
values into the script.

The linked to Thingiverse page also has some extra steps for adding an icon:

Add an icon
You can import another SVG file as a logo or use logo fonts.
The below example uses an wifi SVG file from IconMonstr

Download the wifi SVG file
Place it in the same folder as the .SCAD file
In the customizer:

Add some extra space to the top or bottom of the card under Extra Size Settings
Go to SVG Logo Settings
Tick enable svg logo
Enter the filename under svg logo name
Set the svg y nudge position and svg logo scale


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Which way should the throat tube be oriented?
I have an Anet A8 clone printer. I see the throat tube is different on each end. I'm trying to ensure I understand which end should go up and which should go down. To me, it appears (from the photo below) the one on the right is the proper orientation (teflon down, metal up). Is this correct?

There are a couple of reasons I ask this question. First, I had the teflon oriented up, and one time the teflon pulled out of the tube while I was pulling the filament out after a print was finished. Secondly, I recently experienced where melted filament was leaking from between heater block and the throat tube right after I replace the tube and nozzle. This was with the teflon down. In this case I think I didn't have the tube tight enough in the heater block (tightened against the nozzle) so there was room for hot filament to ooze out and up past the tube.

This design just makes no sense to me.

The PTFE liner should be in contact with the nozzle. Normally, they are cut about half a millimetre too long, to ensure that good contact with the nozzle is made. I used these throats for several years before I switched to an all-metal hot end. If you take care to tighten the nozzle with the hot end at the highest working temperature that you intend to use, you should have no problems with leaking filament.


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Ender 3 BLTouch working but with random red flashing?
I've got an Ender 3 with 1.1.4 mainboard - recently bought a Creality BLTouch (v2 because of the 8-bit board), fitted, flashed the firmware (1.1.6) and all appears to be working... however...
I get random 'red flashing' during the auto bed leveling process, I can't spot a particular pattern, and it doesn't always react the same way. In a majority of cases, the BLTouch starts flashing and appears to pause and then retries and carries on. It's almost as if there's a communications issue and it has to perform a mini-reset and then retries.  I've had a couple of occasions where it's thrown the bed leveling out completely, but the majority of the time it manages to keep going and works.
I'm trying to work out where the issue is, if it was bad wiring, I'd expect it to happen on a much more regular basis. As it is, I'll get one clean run in about five. And when there's an issue, it's at a single (random) point in the nine probe points.
I'm suspicious that the issue is a timing issue because the board is an 8-bit board and possibly an issue with the firmware? I'm very tempted to try out other Marlin firmware versions, or possibly even Klipper (I've got a Pi 4 running OctoPrint).
Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this or steps to diagnose/put right.


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Are there any mechanisms to determine the optimal contact depth for supports on a Resin printer?
I'm having difficulty with pitting/cratering on some of my prints when I remove supports.
I've tried several different removal methods, including removing supports prior to curing, soaking my prints in hot water before removing them, and using clippers or an extremely sharp craft knife, but while this has helped a little I'm still not getting an optimal finish.
The next thing that I'm going to try is to reduce the contact depth of my supports.
Aside from trial and error, is there any mechanism that I can use to help me determine the optimal contact depth?
I'm using Chitubox, which does show stress areas in red, but it either shows an area as high stress of low stress, with nothing in between, and doesn't provide any real help when it comes to selecting the right depth to use.
I'm mostly printing models of my own design, so there isn't an "expert" available to give me the benefits of their experience with these models.

@BobOrtiz - It's really great that you are helping out on the site. However, please try to make edits substantial (and, if at all possible, fix other typos that may be present). As an example, please see the edit to this post. Thanks.

The contact depth of your supports is mostly unrelated to the pitting you experience. When the model is sliced, the contact point becomes homogeneous with the rest of the model at that layer. Changing the depth will also change the contact area, based on the taper length of the support end.
Consider that the layer orientation may play a factor in the "damage" done to the surface of the model.
If you have an arbitrary shape with the bottom surface parallel to the vat/resin and add a support, the support will taper from the support stalk diameter to the contact point diameter and then transition to the bottom surface area.
Such a taper creates a convenient stress point for removing the support. This happens at a layer slice, allowing the support to break free and leave the least amount of damage on the surface.
Any other angle between the support and the model surface creates a less-than-linear break. Possibly the most damage will result from a horizontal support attaching to a small feature that also tapers toward the attach point. Will it break at the support point or will it destroy the tip of the model?
Regarding the reduction of support diameters: I've done so with the result the model snapping free during print. Insufficient strength with the smaller tips means a complete model failure. Larger tips allow the model to print properly, but post-processing is increased, of course.

Are you suggesting that the support should meet the surface at a 90 degree angle, or that it should not do so?

I believe that one gets the cleanest break from the surface when the support is vertical into the model surface. Vertical reference is normal to the vat/bed/build plate. The reality is that one must compromise.


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How to discretize parametric surfaces as late as possible
3D objects can be defined mathematically using so-called parametric surfaces.
Turning them into a polygon mesh introduces slight imperfections.
Can 3D printer software deal with parametric surfaces, i.e. take into account the intended parametric surface and how to use the 3D printer to approximate it well, or can it only open polygon meshes?
Here is a related question about implicit surfaces or voxel grids (as opposed to parametric surfaces).

Most slicers take triangles. OBJ, PLY, 3MF, UFP, CTM, STL, etc.. What kind of format would a parametric surface be exported as?

@Mast Any appropriate formats shoud be fine. For example, FreeCAD is "natively parametric" (see my question) and supports "dozens of different file formats", some of which support parametric surfaces.


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Possible sources for a sliver of metal found embedded into a resin print?
I have an Elegoo Saturn and have just completed a print using standard Elegoo gray resin. I saw what I though was the remains of a failed support sticking out of my print but upon looking closer it is a sliver of metal swarf approximately 5-6mm long and 1/2mm wide. It looked "visually similar" to drill swarf from aluminium or low grade stainless. It was incorporated into the side of the model rather than sitting on the surface.
I have checked my build plate and the metal scraper that I use to remove models from the plate (Still in the draw so not used in over a week) but wasn't able to find any damage to either so they are unlikely sources, the sliver is of such a size that I should easily be able to see damage to one of the other (My FEP is undamaged, which was a relief).
The metal was silver in color and so is unlikely to have come from my Vat.
I keep the plastic cover on my printer at all times except when I'm preparing it for a print, removing a print or cleaning it, so it is not likely to have pinged in from elsewhere. I don't do metal crafts at all, so it isn't contamination from another project that I've been doing.
I have considered that I may have received a contaminated batch of resin. I'm near the bottom of the bottle so it's plausible that it could have been in there.
Is this something that is known to happen with this model of printer or with Elegoo printers in general, and are there any other likely sources for a sliver of silver colored metal where I could look for damage?

That's pretty strange! I'd recommend filtering the rest of the resin, and storing it in a separate resin bottle (or wash out the existing one with IPA to make sure no residue remains, just in case)


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Dye sublimation printing on 3D printed object
Has anyone been able to dye sublimate 3D printed objects? Which materials work and what products are necessary?
I've been trying to find out and apparently it is supposed to be possible. But I'm not finding more detail than that. (Actually, a lot of sites say it isn't possible)

Sublimation is the transition of a solid to a gas without a liquid phase. For example, Dry Ice turns into CO2-gas via sublimation. Is that what you want to ask about?

@Trish dye sublimation is a method for sublimating dye into the surface of an object. My question asks if anyone has experience doing this on 3d printed objects sucessfully, which I assume you don't or you wouldn't be telling me about dry ice.

it is possible to powdercoat a dmls part (closest i can think of)... extruded plastic prototypes and vapor deposition though I'm not sure when that would even be worth doing versus a dip or spray.

@Abel dye sublimation allows you to infuse full colour at photographic level quality into the surface of objects so the picture cannot be damaged by scraping it off like a sticker or washing it or something. Very different from dipping or spraying because they sit above the surface and are vulnerable. It's a fairly common method of putting logos and pictures on items that expect high handling, aluminium, ceramics, plastic etc,.

Yes, ABS can be dye sublimated quite easily using a press, timing is the main issue.
PLA can also be dye sublimated if you're careful but will lose a lot of volume due to the heat and pressure. Not too bad if you print solid, but with infill expect the infill to collapse, or melt (unsure which).
PETG is excellent for Dye sublimation. Like ABS it's all in the timing but the result is superior.


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Part not adhering to the raft
I'm having a very odd problem where my part is not sticking to the raft.
I'm using support material, with a very large overhang angle (70°). However I don't think this is the cause, as the side of the wheel that is on the build plate is several mm wide, and flat at that end. I need the 70° for a weird tread pattern that I have that only needs to be supported on the very first one.
I'm using PLA, with a nozzle temperature of 200 °C and a bed temperature of 50 °C.
I've checked that the part is snapping to the build plate, so there isn't a gap between the part and the raft, at least not modeled to be. Looking at the slicer (Cura) it seems as though there's a 2 layer gap between my part and the first layer of my wheel, but I'm not sure why it's there? or how to remove that gap

Layer 5

Layer 6

Layer 7
My assumption is that, if I can remove this, everything will work?? The part as it's being printed right now is looking like this, for the first layer of the part. As you can see here, my wheel is very not round.

What printer did you use? What build plate material do you use? Do you use heat or tape, etc. These should be inserted in the question by [edit]. If you cannot print PLA well without a raft, you have a problem with the initial gap size or your bed surface (adhesion), rafts are not necessary unless you print materials that shrink a lot.

The problem has to do with the slicer, not the raft. I've removed the raft tag from the question. Rafts ARE necessary when you have a small area that is in contact with the build plate and want to reduce the risk of a part coming loose on a 15-20+ hour print. You're focused on the wrong aspect of what is going wrong. I get that you don't like rafts, but that isn't the problem

@0scar The printer used, is irrelevant to the question. The build plate material is irrelevant to the question, heat used is in the original question and use of tape is irrelevant to the question.

I reviewed the G-Code and there was a Z-layer command that was larger than what was supposed to be. The Z-layer change shifted the nozzle up by 3x the distance it was supposed to (0.84 mm instead of 0.28 mm). I changed it to be just the layer distance and the print worked. I have NO idea why this happened, but a solution is a solution.
Interestingly though layers 6 and 7 in the images above were both at the same layer height, but the post-processing viewer identified them as two different layers. They were both at the same Z-value but were called out as different layers even though there was no change in the Z-value in the G-Code.


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How do you marry two object's holes in Freecad? 3D printing a drone
I am 3D printing a drone and I need very good tolerances for the holes so the arms and motors align correctly.
I have two sets of 4 holes for two solid objects (Imported as STEP)
I want to align the two objects perfectly and possibly by using constraints. I was already able to create new Parts from the two .step files and draw sketches where the holes are.
How can I do this in Freecad?

If you don't get an answer here, after about a week or so, then you might want to try SE.Engineering as they have a number of CAD questions. However, don't cross-post, so first delete this question here and then post it on SE.Engineering.


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Ender 3 destroyed itself... HELP!
Recently I noticed a small issue with my Creality Ender 3, where I would come home and find one of the bed leveling wheels had fallen off. This one wheel keeps vibrating loose. It's not really affecting my prints for some reason, so I just kind of let it happen.
Yesterday I started an 8 hour print and left. When I came home, I heard a loud buzzing noise. I walk into my room and smell a burning smell. I see the printer has extruded plastic all over the place. PLA is all over the floor. The plastic its extruding is normal filament, not extruded plastic; the nozzle is gone. Not entirely sure how it came out, because it was tight.
I switch off the printer and assess the damage.

The nozzle is on the floor, covered in a big blob of plastic.

The stock fiberglass build plate is nowhere to be seen; I think it fell behind the desk the printer is on.

The friction surface below the plate is covered with scratches and blobs of plastic - that needs to be replaced as well.

Two of the bed leveling wheels are gone. One is on the floor, and the other probably fell behind the desk like the build plate.

The hotend fan has filament going through it. It's missing three blades. Two of them fell on the floor, and one fell into the hotend and melted, making the burning smell.

The hotend is covered in melted plastic.

The heater block has lots of plastic jamming the hole where the nozzle goes.

Where do I go from here? How do I fix this?
Is this fixable?
What should I do to make sure this doesn't happen again?

And what's the question?  I see a list of parts you need to replace or reinstall, and some need for better technique (keeping your leveling knobs tighter so they don't work loose as easily), plus a need to ensure your nozzle is tightened periodically (and likely a new nozzle, now) -- but not a question...

@ZeissIkon Added questions

From your description, it looks like you need a new hot end (inexpensive and readily available wherever you bought your Ender 3 -- it'll include a 0.4 mm nozzle, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to get some spares -- a new fan to replace the broken one (same), and a slight change of technique in leveling your bed.  The hot bed is fine, as long as the heater and thermistor aren't damaged -- that aluminum surface is only there to support the build surface.
You'll want to adjust or modify the Z-stop switch bracket to lower the bed a couple millimeters, in order to be able to tighten all four adjusting knobs completely and then back them off about 2-3 turns, and still get correct bed clearance.  Setting your leveling this way will leave enough compression in the springs that the knobs won't move (as much) when the machine is running; you'll only need to reset the clearance every 2-3 prints instead of having it go out before you finish a print.  You might also consider buying a set of four nuts to jam against the knobs when the bed is properly set; that will fully lock the leveling knobs and may mean you only have to adjust the bed when you change filament material or replace a nozzle.
From my own experience, I'd also recommend getting a glass build surface (see above for cost and availability -- you shouldn't be up to $50 in parts yet even with the new surface), and planning to use the uncoated side.  A couple glue sticks and a bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol will complete the upgrade on the bed side (and the thickness of the glass might mean you don't need to modify your Z-stop mount).  If the clamps that came with your fiberglass surface are gone or not large enough for the glass, you can get larger ones at any office supply store.

I already bought a glass bed, arriving tomorrow. My printer is running custom firmware on the stock mainboard, and I have manual mesh bed leveling. Why do I need glue sticks? The bed has the aluminum plate, but it also has a glossy black surface on it. This is a magnetic surface from when I used a magnetic bed, before that got creased and was in general a pain to manage. I never removed the magnetic surface, and instead just put the new plate on top.

My glass surface works fine on the base mat from a magnetic one, just clamped down with paper clamps.  Glue sticks are to get the prints to reliably stick to the bare glass and then lift off when cool; isopropyl is to spread and remove the glue stick.

To address the second question "How to stop this happening again"
You should check-in on your printer more often, get someone at home to look, or find some way to monitor it remotely/automatically.
If you're at home, just go look at it periodically.  I'm tempted to move the printer into the room where I am more, but the noise upsets the dog so I've left it running in the garage.
If you're out, there are plenty of camera solutions, though be wary of privacy.  Personally I use a cheap USB webcam attached to a Pi running octoprint, and I check the picture stream from work, and can stop the print if it starts going badly.
There exist optional modules like SpaghettiDetective which can monitor that same stream and decide if it's all going wrong.   I've not used this yet, but its on the todo list.


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Are bottom layer Curing settings automatically applied to everything touching the build plate?
When using Chitubox as a slicer for a resin print, will the bottom layer curing settings automatically be applied to any party of a model that is in contact with the build plate, or only to certain areas such as support rafts?
For example, if you were to place a gaming piece with a base flat on the build plate would the bottom of the base be cured using the bottom layer settings because it is in contact with the build plate, or with the same settings as the rest of the model?

The bottom layer curing settings apply only to the number of layers configured in the settings panel appropriate to that option.
A gaming piece placed flat on the build plate would have curing times to match the above-noted settings for the specified number of layers. All subsequent layers would be cured with the (probably) faster/shorter curing time settings.
The contact with the build plate is presumed but not required. If one placed a model to be sliced in such a way that it was elevated by two layer heights (nominal 0.050 x 2 = 0.100 mm) but the settings provided for four bottom layer curing times, the first two of the lower layers of the elevated model would be cured for the bottom-setting times.
Consider that you have a basin attached to the build plate. The basin is four layers deep. Everything that would contact a fluid in that basin will be given the bottom layer exposure times.

So, if the bottom layer setting is set to 4, it doesn't matter whether those layers are part of the model or part of the support structure, so long as they are the lowest 4 layers?

That's correct. The lowest four layers, measured from the bed, will be given those settings. If the model is elevated in any manner, such as by tilting/rotating, it could take that portion out of the four layer area. See added edits to answer above.


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What is the optimum shape to ensure that a base of a model adheres properly to the build plate on a filament printer using PLA?
If you are printing an object that has a base (A statue or trophy, for example), and presuming that you have already optimized every other setting: which shape of base would give you the best and most consistent bed adhesion when using PLA on the widest range of printers (For example, if you're putting it up on a site for anybody to download)?
For example:

A square base that is thin at the edges and thick in the middle, and slopes upwards in the center, like a pyramid.

A circular base that is thin at the edges and thick in the middle, like a dome

A flat thick square.

A flat thick circle

Is a shape with corners better, or a shape with no corners like a disc or a fried egg?
Do sloping sides make a difference, or general thickness?

I'm not having problems with adhesions, I'm trying to figure out the best shape that I can use for content that's going to be distributed online, so needs to be suitable for a wide range of printers.

On a heated bed the ideal setting is where the plastic becomes sticky, but not hot enough it changes shape. For PLA that's usually around 60 °C.
You want enough plastic on the build plate to stick to it, but not so much it won't come off. Use support to increase cIf the majority of the bed is covered it might stick too much.
My rule of thumb is to look at the shadow the part casts on the plate when lit from above. That's about the right amount. If it's too small or too large use supports to adjust the contact with the bed.

Plastics that shrink a lot (like ABS) do better with a base plate shape that has no corners.  One approach is to put a one layer circle on every corner (ears).
PLA has a very small shrink factor, so there isn't really much of a difference for different shapes for the first layers as long as there is enough area in the base for the height of the part. If you are having problems with adhesion and PLA, either your first layer height is off or something is wrong with your build surface.


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Rough patch in ironed surface
I've been using the ironing settings in Cura to smooth the top surface on my prints generally with good results. However, I've been having problems with one model in particular recently where a small part of the surface is much rougher than the rest and visibly different.
I have tried printing the model several times and it happens in the same position each time, give or take a few millimeters. I'm using PLA filament on an Ender 3 V2. Ironing settings are 0.2 mm spacing, 10% flow, 16.66 mm/s. I've checked the extruder calibration and tried cleaning and replacing the nozzle without any improvement.
Can anyone suggest what is causing this and how to fix it?


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Visible line along Y-axis on top surface
Prints on my Ender 3 V2 have a strange visible line along the Y-axis on the top surface. You can't feel it if you run your finger over it, but can see it which spoils the appearance of the part. While printing there's no noticeable change in the motion of the nozzle as it crosses this line. It happens at the same distance across the build plate each time. Has anyone seen this issue or have a suggestion for how to resolve it?

That might be the seam. If you view the tool path in the slicer does it change directions there? There may be an option in your slicer to set where the seams appear.

I finally got to the bottom of this. I found a small scratch in the channel of the x-axis gantry (no idea how it got there). The line in the print was at the point where one of the wheels was bumping over the scratch. I carefully filed it down and the line is now barely visible.


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Which filament type is easiest to sand smooth?
For print applications where sanding is to be used to reduce the appearance of layer lines on medium to large objects with sweeping curves, but little to no surface detail (A vase or cosplay helmet, for example), which filament type offers the best finish?

You may discover that the type of filament has minimal bearing on the surface finish. PLA melts at a lower temperature than most of the other filament types. During sanding, it can melt into and clog the abrasive media if sufficient heat develops. This can be mitigated by using wet/dry sandpaper or applying water periodically during the sanding.
I have found that ABS and PETG are less prone to this problem. If your only objective is to remove layer lines, you may accomplish that goal without wet/dry abrasives. If you desire to have a smoother finish, finer grits will require the wetting of the surface.
As higher grits are applied, one can develop a near-glass-smooth finish. I have used this process (including micromesh™) on both PLA and ABS resulting in reflective surfaces.


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What is the best filament to use to create a custom GPU backplate\shroud?
What would be the best filament type to create a custom backplate\shroud for a GPU?
I'm looking at a design that is largely flat, 3-5 mm thick with a cutout logo and a raised "Tron" style circuit board pattern, and which would be painted using paint that's appropriate for the environment.
Issues of GPU temperature have already been taken into consideration, and aren't going to be a problem. My main concern is backplate warping either on the print bed or after installation

warping after installation not a heat issue?


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Filament suitable for medical masks
I'm trying to work out what filament is absolutely safe for prolonged contact with someones face. The contact may be for hours at a time and it's in terms of a facemask so they'll be breathing through it as well.

prolonged contact with face will pretty much always cause bad things.  it beats prolonged contact with eyes though (glasses vs contacts).  as for material safety itself, plastics and silicones tend to be considered enough to touch skin.  do you plan to incorporate toxic pigmentation into your plastic as some toys did once upon a time?

@Abel no, no painting or anything like that, I'm just trying to work out if I'll need to line the masks with cloth or something.

although it shouldn't be done in this day and age, it is possible to melt toxic additives into plastic for the purpose of giving it a color rather than just to color the outside of the plastic.  do also beware of print settings as microplastics breaking off a print would not be good to breathe.  ie anything can become harmful under the right conditions.

@Abel all filaments seem to be coloured, is that what you mean? Never seen any raw filament

raw pla is a clearish white.  raw abs is a fugly cream color.  i never got any filament containing toxic pigment but i dealt with enough out-of-spec material (metal) that I'd ask the supplier and thoroughly test a first article before making a product i sold.  want of repeat business usually exceeds want to cut corners.

@Abel thanks for the info, I have never printed anything, trying to get it right before we order the printers

medical products require certification that is even higher standard than food-packaging! related: https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6941/8884

The search term for finding the right material is “biocompatible”.  They should have a certification and safety data sheet.
There are also some antibacterial filaments that would resist germs incubating in all of the cracks and voids and layer lines. Expect to pay 3x-4x as much as regular filament.

@ChinchillaWafers excellent, you should make that as an answer it's useful for people to know. I've found some good looking filaments online after your suggestion and will do some research


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3D printer in a wardrobe
I was wondering if I can/should put my 3D printer into a wardrobe. Would it make my clothes smell? (They won’t be directly next to it) . I was wondering if it could make the printer overheat, or make some other problems. Or if it could be good as an enclosure. I have an Ikea wardrobe. Should I wrap the inside with tin foil? I have an Ender 3 V2 printer.
I’ll be using mostly PLA, ABS, TPU and PETG.

You mentioned "good as an enclosure", but an enclosure is a very bad idea for printing PLA, where the lower the ambient temperature, the better. For materials that would benefit from an enclosure you're likely to want fume extraction.

If you haven't already, you might like to read this, Should I enclose my 3D Printer?

Yes, you can use an enclosure, many people do.
PSA: Whatever you use for an enclosure, please take precautions for the potential of fire.  Have a smoke detector within the enclosure or nearby.  Resist the temptation to leave your printer unattended, give yourself some method for remote viewing (ex: RaspPi + OctoPi + RaspCamera).  Even with a tuned printer things still go wrong.
In the long run, you will be better off with a purpose-built enclosure.  The primary goals of a good enclosure are visibility of an active print, access to the changing print filament, and heat control (stability). Together these imply a large doorway and windows.  The goal temperature to be held within your enclosure is roughly 30-50 °C.
A wardrobe is likely a thick material and will hold higher temps, and is not see-thru, making it an undesirable enclosure.  DO NOT USE cardboard, unless you want to tempt fate.  Aluminum foil, though flame resistant, is not sturdy and makes for poor visibility of the print.  In short, don't be super cheap-o here.
The concerns of equipment overheating are mostly for the power supply and controllers (ex: RaspPi).  I suggest to detached them, placing them outside of the enclosure.  Again, a wardrobe may be too big for the controllers & power supply to be outside and still have the cables reach the printer components.   If your enclosure temp never exceeds 32 °C (90 °F), you could possibly get away with leaving the equipment attached and inside.
Once you have an enclosure for your 3D Printer, determine if your enclosure needs vents.  Get yourself a small thermometer and track the internal heat near the roof, during a long-running print.  Add passive vents to the corners if the temp reaches 45 °C or above.  Avoid active fans, as flowing air will lead to warping & separation of prints from the bed.  Your goal is to have a stable temperature around your printed plastic.
For reference: The particular enclosure I'm using is a simple clear Acrylic box, with a few small vent holes, measuring 18" wide x 24" long x 18" high, barely big enough for my 3D Printer.  I'm running an Creality Ender 3 v1, typically with ABS using 220 °C for the hotend and 100 °C for the bed.  The enclosure internal temperature rises to 35 °C, starting from an ambient room temp of 20 °C (68 °F).
The acrylic makes for a sturdy box, the print progress is very visible, large easy doors and provides moderate insulation.  Cost was roughly ~$75 total for 5 sheets of 18" x 24" x 0.093" acrylic (left, right, top, front, back) @ 14\$/ea.
Hope this helps and best wishes.
P.S. External link to examples of many 3D printer enclosures (some good, some bad): https://www.instructables.com/workshop/howto/3d+printer+enclosure/

A classic is the IKEA box from a side table and 4 sheets of acrylic


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3D printing workspace in the tropics
I'm building a workspace for 3D printing for a project. I'm in the tropics so at this point it's just a large concrete pad with a roof next to my workshop. This is a very hot humid country.
I'm assuming keeping it open will be as cool as possible (if that's even something that's needed) unless I air condition a room which will be pretty expensive and I'm not sure I could afford that for the months the project will run. Also less worry about any fumes. The printers will not have enclosures. Thirteen to 14-year-old kids will be doing the actual printing, I'm just setting up a production line for them.
At this point, we're looking at getting Ender 3 printers and printing with PLA filament if the type makes a difference.
Is there anything I need to worry about with a setup like this? I still have a while before we can get any actual printers, so I can wall it if need be.

Many plastics are hygroscopic so the humidity may be a concern.  You should research the effects of plastic that has absorbed too much humidity so that you can recognize it if it becomes a problem.
If you are getting a large amount of plastic, I would recommend getting air tight containers to store it in (I use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid that has a rubber gasket) and desiccant and a method to re-dry the desiccant.  (I use a toaster oven to bake the desiccant until it changes color.)
If you actually do have problems with humidity, you may also want to get or build a filament dryer.  In extreme cases, some people feed the printer directly from the dryer, but most plastics are not that sensitive.

Re: the OP concern over warm weather, that part is actually a good thing, cooling plastic warps less because it shrinks less.

I could store the filament in an aircon room with my servers I guess, not much humidity in there

Sounds like that could be a plan.  Might still want the buckets, but if the A/C keeps it dry enough, you could skip the desiccant.

Beware of moving cold filament out into a warm, humid environment. Condensation will occur...

Actually, that would be a great reason for using the air tight buckets.  Keep the bucket open in the cold dry A/C.  Before use, close the bucket and bring it outside and let it warm up (with the dry air still inside).  When the filament is above the dew point, the bucket can be opened.  Of course, this assumes this is actually a problem on a given day.


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Bad print bed adhesion of white PLA, no problems with transparent uncolored PLA?
I had problems with print bed adhesion when using white PLA (Arctic White) but no problems when using other colors. So I tried to print three bottom layers with transparent PLA and all other layers with white PLA. I did not change any setting and printed both tries one after another using the same .stl file.
There was some warping of the printed ring too. No problems when using transparent plus white PLA.

Right: white PLA only, left: transparent PLA bottom layers plus white PLA above. View of the bottom sides.
Has anyone experienced similar problems?

check filament diameters with a caliper or micrometer.

@Abel I checked both filameters with a caliper, both 1.75 mm.

I've never had poor adhesion make strait lines in the wrong place.

Same G-code slice? The main cause of warping is temperature. If this is kept as a control variable and you have these results, it may be because of a different temperature the filament requires. Check the filament specs and adjust the bed/nozzle temperature to make the temperature difference smaller.
Edit: Another reason it might be needing different temperatures is because of absorbing moisture.

The same bed/nozzle temperatures for both rings.

It's not unusual for colored filaments to have different optimum temperature when compared to natural/un-colored filament.

Point being, maybe it shouldn't be the same temperature on both filaments.

Higher temperature likely will fix this, but the reason isn't the materials needing different temperatures. It's likely moisture-contaminated filament.

Problem was displaced by a factory reset of the 3D printer FlashForge Adventurer 3.

Right: white PLA only, left: transparent PLA bottom layers plus white PLA above. View of the bottom sides. No difference of print bed adhesion now.
The reason of the problem was not found, but print bed adhesion is good after the factory reset for both white and transparent PLA.

This sounds unlikely to have been the actual cause unless you'd messed with esteps or something.


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Strange and layer shifts in X axis prints
This problem started technically just before a major move but I had hoped it was a "one off" issue... I started up my trusty Ender 3 today to find it may have actually gotten worse and I'm not entirely sure what the solution is. I was printing a replica of a weapon from a game and I noticed at one point through the print I had a rather extreme X layer shift now today after finally getting the printer setup I've come to find the problem may have actually gotten worse, additionally I'm having a strange gap issue on the top most layers of my prints and strange waving patterns. Now I should note my printer is printing within an enclosure and its temperatures have been adjusted for it but this is rather extreme.

Can you please check your belt tightness, and that all your frame bolts are secure.  I'd suspect the X belt, presuming that's the "bow to stern" axis as opposed to the port/starboard belt.

belt is fully tightened and bolts seem to be secure I may need to double check the bolts though

As others have said, shifts in the X-axis are generally from belts at the wrong tension and loose frame screws. Especially after moving, I would say to check all of the frame screws and retighten them to their original torque. Moving a printer puts a lot of stress on its joints and hardware if it’s not handled correctly.
I highly recommend you print a quick X-axis belt tensioner for your printer. It takes no time at all and it did wonders for my Ender 3 when it was having issues with skipping and layer shifting.
Even if your belts feel tight they may not be at the correct tension. This is generally from the belts stretching out over time or the printer just rattling the belt pulleys loose. After printing the belt-tensioner for the  X-axis you’ll be able to adjust the tension mid-print if it’s still skipping.
Honestly go ahead and print one for the Y-axis at the same time. Both shouldn’t take longer than an hour.
X-axis Belt Tensioner for Ender 3
Y-axis Belt Tensioner for Ender 3
If all else fails you can buy a new belt(I’d recommend one with some kind of reinforcements embedded in it) for like $10 on Amazon.
Also, as someone else said - it could be a connection short between your computer and printer If you’re printing straight from the USB cable. I’ve had a ton of trouble with that in the past which is why with the nurse three I decided to just put all of my prints on the SD card and start them from the screen on the printer, it saves on the headaches and you can at least rule out your PC and the Printing software as the culprits.
Good Luck!!

Some things that can cause this.

You eliminated the belt.

The extruder colliding with something rigid enough to cause it to lose track of the origin.

What seems most likely is intermittent power to your x-motor, so that the computer continues as if the motor moved when it didn't completely.  This is a possible intermittent at different locations accociated with the motor.

I've seen a power glitch cause a single offset in print when the computer has battery backup, but the printer does not.

hmmm this could be a solution I havent noticed any power fluctuation but I actually have a battery backup thats been sitting aside I could attempt to run with the printer if its within its specs. I'll have to try that!

It looks like  you had multiple small shifts and one big one.  It they are all on the x-axis, I would suspect an intermittent connection related to the power to the x-axis motor only; probably not ac power.  If you see x-axis and y-axis shifts, it may be due to ac power.


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Getting BTT filament sensor to work
(This is a pretty much duplicate post from one I put over on the Reddit, but it hasn't received a lot of traction over there so I figured I'd post):
Like many posts I've seen on the internet, I'm having trouble getting my BTT smart filament sensor to work.
Relevant Specs about my printer:

Ender 3 Pro
BTT E3 RRF Mainboard with IDEX module
Marlin Firmware I've edited in ways I mention below

What is going wrong:
It triggers way too easily.  Right as a print starts, it'll trigger and say I ran out of filament.  And/or it'll make it maybe half a layer and then trigger.
Steps I've taken:

I started by following the Teaching Tech YouTube video to get started and install it. Tried to match literally every change of his in the firmware I saw.  Things like runout distance set to 7 and runout state set to low instead of high.

Quick note on those.  In several places (like this) comments suggest changing the distance to more than 7 mm to make it less 'picky'.  But in several comments (like here, and here), people suggest the official recommendation from BTT is 7 mm and there's a reason to set it at that.   I've tried all sorts of distances and none seem to work.
In at least one place (like here) people suggest that even if you set it to 7 mm in the firmware, it doesn't always take effect and you have to go to the configuration menu in your printer and set it, then store the settings.  I've done that as well.
I've set the runout state to either low or high, seems to still falsely trigger either way.

The only solution I haven't tried yet (will try tonight when I get home)  (did that , still no luck) is in this comment it suggests adding M75 to my code to 'start the print job timer' so it won't trip 'after the initial 7 mm runout'.  Could someone explain that one to me?  Also, I feel like that's not it because even when I let it go through its paces and unload and then load, it'll trip again soon after.

The problem:
I just feel like it's still way too sensitive.  And sure, in an ideal world I want it to detect all the things it's 'supposed' to detect like jams, tangles, etc...   but I really just care the most about it noticing I ran out of filament.
Are there any settings in the firmware or anywhere else I should take a look at?
My latest thought is that maybe I have the sensor mounted in a different direction than it should be?  Every video or picture I see online looks like the filament is going the opposite direction compared to what I have, but I've also seen comments where it says that doesn't matter.
I also have seen comments like here where the author recommends a HUGE runout distance (50) as that could be a problem. I'm willing to try that.

I would comment but I don’t have enough reputation yet -
Are you using the Creality firmware, Marlin, RepRap, or the Stock BIGTREE firmware? Also, have you modified it at all?
If you’re still using the firmware that came on the printer or Marlin firmware this thread could offer some insight. Read down through all of the comments because several people had really good tips, and the OP actually posted an update with how he solved it:

It seems that the settings stored in the printer overwrides the  FILAMENT_RUNOUT_DISTANCE_MM  in the firmware. So I just went the the printer configuration -> advance configuration -> filament and then I changed the runout distance and stored the settings. Source

I have marlin.  I mentioned that "that even if you set it to 7 mm in the firmware, it doesn't always take effect and you have to go to the configuration menu in your printer and set it, then store the settings. I've done that as well"


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The Y-axis on my XVICO X3 seems to run backwards. I can't level or home the printer. What can I do to fix it?
I purchased the XVICO X3 over a year ago. It had fair reviews. I didn't end up assembling the printer until recently.
The Y-axis appears to run backwards, so I can't use it for anything. It jams the print plate and I have to manually cut it off. Tried everything with no luck. I have considered replacing the board. The frame and parts are nice.  Overall, it looks like it would be a great printer and some YouTube videos say as much for the price. Some articles suggest running Marlin 2.0 by flashing the board, as the XVICO X3 printer is an Ender styled machine. If the board is flawed, I think it would be useless to try that.
I'm clueless and would appreciate any help provided.  Support from Xvico is hard to get.

More specific information is needed. Consider to use a manual control resource (terminal mode in a slicer) to command the steppers in a desired direction. If you discover that a stepper is reversed, you can swap control wires to reverse direction or flip movement in the firmware.

You tried everything, what specifically? Stepper direction is a matter of pulling the connector of the Y stepper flip it 180° and push it back in.

Hi @Oscar, I've tried everything a clueless person knows to do, kicked it, ran over it, cussed it, and messed with every setting in the UI.  I thought the connector ends only fit one way.  If so, do I cut the wires?  Which of the four wires should I swap?


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Ender 3 with Trianglelab matrix extruder
I ordered a matrix direct drive extruder from Trianglelab and printed two mounts for it.
The mounts I have printed are found here.
I have only printed the first and second part from the referenced link above.
Should these be enough to get the extruder mounted and start testing with it?
I have a hard time figuring out which way the extruder should be connected with these mounts.

The mount is for a LulzBot TAZ 5 printer, not an Ender 3. It would be an addition to the question if you expressed why you are using the LulzBot TAZ 5 mount on the Ender 3 to prevent answers that you are using the incorrect printer part. Unless that is actually the issue.

Unless the question is updated why a LulzBot TAZ printer part is used on the Ender 3, it is unclear why you would want to use the parts from the linked Thingiverse source; quote:

These are the parts needed to mount a Trianglelab Matrix extruder to a Taz 5 and Workhorse.

The LulzBot concept uses the linear rods concept (Prusa i3 style) for the X-axis while the Ender 3 uses a wheel based carriage running on a 2020 aluminium extrusion profile. For comparison, see the image below to show the differences between the Ender 3 and the TAZ:

A specific mount for the Ender 3 is found here.

Thanks. Not sure why I didn't find the correct one.


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Custom slicing solution needed
So I have a printer that I'm prototyping right now, and it's a little different; the Y-axis is a rotary drum.  To compare to a bed-slinger, instead of the surface traveling forward and backward, it rolls.  The issue this will create is not one that will instantly cause issues, but rather a few millimeters up when 1 mm of travel at the surface, is 2 mm of travel on the print.
While I'm not terribly concerned about the loss of resolution, I am quite concerned about under-extrusion on the Y-axis moves.  What I need is a way to incrementally increase the extrusion as the layers go up.  Something like x + (n * c), where 'x' is the amount of filament per unit at the base layer, 'n' is the number of layers beyond the base layer, and 'c' is the difference in circumference per layer, should do the job.  But the idea of manually adjusting the G-code layer by layer sounds about as much fun as a rock concert of nothing but fingernails on chalkboards and out-of-control ball-bearing tumblers...
Where should I start?

It may be helpful to [edit] in a photo or illustration of the printer in question.

So, you want cylindrical coordinates?

Agarza; Printer is still being made, and I'm waiting on parts, sorry.  But if you can imagine the planar build surface being replaced with a 70mm drum; You've got it~.

Perry; No, I don't need the coordinates.  Just to adjust the extrusion per layer in one (Y) direction.  Like I said, I'm not concerned about the resolution, just under-extrusion and having the coords isn't going to help me on that. As far as the printer will be concerned, and as far as the Slicer would be concerned, it'll "think" it's printing a planar object on a planar surface.  In fact, the gcode should be 100% compatible with a typical Ender-3 style bed-slinger and produce a fairly typical print... Other than a truely terrible finish due to what would then be over extrusion on the Y moves.


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What is the best glue for the task of assembling a 3D printed part with other materials?
I have printed some connectors from PLA, in order to make a frame for a "tent" cover for my  Ender3 printer
Since printing rods would be a long process with likely poor results, I'm using some cheap thin-walled metal tubes as the main structure, and printing the corners.
I plan on using 2 part epoxy to secure the metal rods into the sockets in my printed part, but can find no real chart of what glue to use with which FDM plastics.
Is 2 part epoxy a suitable adhesive for PLA and other hard items?

I'm thinking this question might be extended to cover all combinations of FDM plastics, and common other materials, if there are sufficient combinations.   Or if it is only "superglue plastic to plastic and epoxy plastic to everything else"  then there's not enough depth for a CW.

your epoxy plan should be alright.
https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/6723/23523

Does this answer your question? What glues for bonding printed PLA to injection-molded plastic?

@Trish Good spotting but no, that's about injection molded plastic to 3d printed PLA is a different combination.  I'm wondering if there should be a community wiki answer that charts all the combinations.
For example, PLA, PLA+, Wood PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU....
And down the other side, the same list of plastics plus non-printable things, like steel, aluminium, grown-wood, processed wood, glass, paper, fabric, leather, concrete, Injection Moulded plastic, Polystychrene, etc etc etc.  That could be a "knowledgebase answer" or Canonical answer to expand over time.

The answer there is actually very much "any - any", only few polymers can't be used with those glues.

@Trish hmmm - maybe there's a shorter question by itself - what glues/adhesives are incompatible with various printed plastics ?  ABS and Acetone, for example.

Confirmed - 2 part epoxy works fine between PLA and other things.
I used "selleys" brand, and found that the fastest-setting 5 minute version worked fine, but on paper produces a "weaker" bond than the slow-curing one.
The 5 minute version also has a distinct odour of cat pee, which is not present in the slow version.
Downside, the slow version took 2 days to harden completely, but my item is definitely secured together well.
https://www.selleys.co.nz/products/adhesives/heavy-duty-repairs/selleys-araldite-super-strength/
NOTE that the above link says

Not suitable for bonding plastics such as Polypropylene and Polyethylene

Because of the "Not suitable for bonding plastics", I would recommend to keep checking the integrity of the connections. It could be that over time the connections fail with plastics.

Yup - will report back in a few months with an update.  Above photo contains 12 printed items (4x joiners, 4x corners, and 4x pipe corners)


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Sporadic thermal runaway E1 error on Ender 3 Pro, continues after thermistor replacement. What could be the cause?
My Ender 3 Pro started throwing the Thermal Runaway E1 error last week. Previous to that I had not modified or changed anything on the printer in months, other than move it's location. I replaced the thermistor yesterday and set off a test print but got the same error.
Is this an issue with the motherboard? Or with the heater cartridge?
Printer specs:

Ender 3 Pro
Creality 4.2.7 silent motherboard
all metal dual gear extruder
Glass bed
stock everything else

conditions are hard to replicate at times - is the same g-code triggering it? is it only happening on warm or cold days? when the window is closed?

temp reading increases despite shutting off heating element... could you be running a bit too much current through the thermistor? could the A to D converter be failing? could something be acting as a big thermal mass between the heating element and thermistor?

Most likely cause of this is the wire between the thermistor and the board being fatigued with a partial break and giving random bad readings.  Did you replace the wire when you replaced the thermistor?

If I turn on my heated bed, and then lift the bed off the plate and put it back down, I get the thermal runaway error.  Any sudden temperature change caused by external events can trigger this.  However, I assume that this isn't the cause in this case; it is something to think about.

@Trish - I have created some new g-code using the same model and it is still happening. Sometimes it occurs after minutes, sometimes after hours. The conditions of the room stay consistent and the window doesn't get opened.

@Abel - how can I test the converter? It is a standard hot end.

@user10489 - Yes I replaced the wire and thermistor in one. It was a pre-made pack for replacing thermistors in 3D printers.

to test the a2d hook up a potentiometer of appropriate value where a thermistor would go and check the temp readings against the pot resistance.

It could be wrong themistor model you use. Some thermistors need to have 100k resistance at 25 Celcius degrees. Also mother board componets might be damaged aswell but before going that deep try to buy the correct thermistor model and install it without harm and short circurit.

I solved this issue by using a multimeter to measure the resistance across both the thermistor and the heater cartridge. The resistance for the Ender 3 Pro are:

Thermistor ~ 100k ohms
Heater Cartridge ~ 14.4 ohms

My thermistor showed a resistance within the correct value, however my heater cartridge had a resistance of 0 ohms.