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Weird layer cross section resonances
While doing the setup of a new machine I printed a small retraction test which showed that layers at different heights present a varying section. The whole area of the layer is expanding and contracting similarly in both the x and y directions and simultaneously in both the towers.

The layer area is very small and I did not see the same effect printing larger parts.
The printer has a long bowden tube, and that may be a source of a number of weird behaviors. But what I like to think is a squish resonance: let's say that for any reason (even a mechanical one) the height of a layer is slightly larger, the deposed material will not get squished out as far as for the previous layer, resulting in a slightly taller layer but with smaller cross section. Depending on how the situation evolves, we may hit the opposite case few layers later, with the top of the print that has raised close to the nozzle so the layers now are getting squished more.
I could do several more tests with other temperatures, different filaments... but it is quite a corner case, so I do not really need to invest a bunch of time studying it, still I would like to get a better understanding of the phenomenon.

Do you have some reason to believe in inconsistent material flow or inconsistent Z positioning?

If you're printing that object by itself, that is a difficult print due to lack of time to cool.  Have you tried printing multiples of the same object in a single print?

It may be informative to see if the issue is still seen with all forms of retraction disabled.  Or if available for your printer a test of the same print with stock default slicer settings.

If this is a standard off the shelf printer, information as to the model of printer might be helpful. Along with the slicer used.

Out of curiosity, Is your bed heated? Can you test the print with the heated bed off and report the results?

@craftxbox the bed was heated very slightly to 40 C. It is a very large bed 500x500 mm and I was printing in a corner on the top of a supporting screw, which is not directly heated. I will see if I can get some time to do further experiments, but, as stated in the question, that is very low priority now.

Ah okay, yeah, disregard the test then. Had a thought it might be to do with PID fluctuations causing the Z height to vary, usually only manifests in minor banding on parts but since the part is so small I thought it mightve manifested in a larger problem.


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Why do I keep getting a thermal runaway message?
A few weeks ago I got a thermal runaway message on my modded Ender 3 during a print, and I have not been able to get it working since then! I have tried fixing and replacing everything, and I still keep getting the message!
When the printer starts/heats up, the thermistor is able to read the temperature with no problem, but when a print starts, the thermistor starts reading strangely and I get the thermal runaway message! Basically, whenever I start a print the temperature being read slowly drops until it gets to around 20 degrees below the set temperature. I then get the thermal runaway message.
So far, in an attempt to fix it, I have replaced the thermistor twice, the heating element, the wiring was replaced, the firmware and even the entire motherboard! I have no idea how/why I’m still having the message, it just doesn’t make sense.
Also, the thermistor is snuggly attached to the printer.
Please note I’ve tried another thermistor that was glass and had the exact same issues. This lead me to think that this had something to do with the heating element being overwhelmed by something. So, as a test I simply just extruded filament from my nozzle with my fan on to see if that would have the same effect and it didn’t! The temperature stayed up fine. This is leading me to believe that this is some sort of issue with starting a print. Maybe a G-code issue.

Approximately how long until you get the thermal runaway message after the first bit of plastic is extruded? Is this time consistent or does it change on every print attempt?

About 30-45 seconds in. It is very consistant. I have even tried it at different temperatures with different materials and I still get the same results, with the temperature falling by about 20 degrees, then getting the thermal runaway message.

Disconnect the fans and please try again. If the fan test is done at height, the flow path may be different then when above the bed, e.g. the bed may deflect the cooling flow to the heater block. Also check if the thermistor is correctly inserted and fastened.

If the error only happens when the printer starts moving it's logical that the issue is in the wire loom that starts to bend and flex once the print starts.
As a quick test and if your comfortable with a little wiring work a temporarily line could be connected directly from the sensor to board. Skipping rewiring the loom until its confirmed to be the issue.
Same logic for the heater wires if it has a connector at the extruder.
Another potential cause for this is if the extruder is already near printing temperature and a new print is started, the printer could think that the temperature shot up way faster then expected even though in reality it was just a bit preheated. If you made any changes to your start G-code, like changing the heating command type or order in witch the extruder/bed is heated, see this stack: Thermal runaway triggers when raising temperature amid cooldown.
Edit:
This video demonstrates a test to show if Thermal Runaway is enabled. While this setting is not in question here it might be a way to troubleshoot the underling cause for this kind of issue. If the extruder temperatures drop rapidly the same way it does when a print is attempted it might show that the temperature sensor is reading the correct temperature. And thus may indicate a issue with the extruder heating system and not the temperature sensor itself.

The wiring was replaced. I showed this to my friend and he pointed out that other people were having the exact same problem with the same thermoster I had, where it is easily damaged/messed up by tension in the connection.
Here is the thermoster: https://www.amazon.com/Gulfcoast-Robotics-Thermistor-Creality-Printers/dp/B08R3J6GJ3/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=gulf+coast+robotics+hotend&qid=1628299584&sprefix=gulf+coa&sr=8-5

@Twinkletoes Apologies I cant yet comment directly on your comment above. So you have tried a total of 3 sensors now? The last one was the glass one? Or are we at two? For each sensor swap was the cable also changed out each time?

Yeah, the cable was changed. So far I’m at 3 thermosters, two of which were the gulf coast robotics thermosters and the last one being a glass bead thermoster.

Have you tried a PID tune? I have had problems with my bed where with wrong enough PID values it can't get above 50C and triggers Thermal Runaway. Possibly yours are marginal, and worse when fighting the part cooling fan?

if the connection to the heaters (nozzle and bed) are not broken and work during printing,
and if the thermistor is reading the correct temperature,
then maybe it is the power supply.
During printing the stepper motors are also consuming energy. If the energy output of the power supply is not enough for the stepper motors and the heaters than the temperatures could go down.
But such an undervoltage situation should also be noticeable in other parts of the printer.
Therefore to be sure that the thermistors are working, try to measure the temperatures with a thermometer. This way you can verify that the temperature change is real.
Another test would be to remove the filament before printing and print without filament. This way the nozzle heater will use much less power, with everything else being the same.
The nozzle heater is temperature controlled. When printing with filament the pushed in filament will cool the nozzle and the heater needs to heat the nozzle up again. With no filament pushed through the nozzle basically stays at the temperature, only cooled by the surrounding air. Therefore much less energy is needed to keep the nozzle at temperature.
If the issue is with the bed heater then move the bed to different positions and wait if the temperature stays the same. If the temperature goes down in a position then the cable for the heater is broken and makes no contact went bend for that position.

"print without filament. This way the nozzle heater will use much less power" - Please explain this. The nozzle will be heated no matter what, the printer will not print unless the hotend reaches a set temperature.

I have edited my response with the explanation.

Thank you, that makes more sense.

I've had this problem on a Prusa MK2s. The print was always at the center of the build plate and that's the location (underneath) of the thermistor. The part was small, the cooling fan was chilling the bed at the same time it was trying to maintain temperature. Moving the part a few centimeters away from the center resolved the problem.
In the case of this PEI coated bed, always centering the print caused the PEI to wear in that area, requiring replacement. The operators were informed to place the build in random, non-centered locations in the future.

I have been assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that this is the extruder temperature and not the bed temperature that is dropping/ acting strangely. But I do agree a issue with the bed temperature could also cause a thermal runaway error.

Yeah, this is definitely an issue with the extruder. I’ve tried printing different models in different locations, but no matter what I do, I still get the same result.

At the very least, you've eliminated one possible factor. Check your part cooling fan airflow direction, to ensure it's not hitting the hot end.

Soo I cleaned my hot end completely took it all apart cleaned it inside and out put it back together and I fix my thermal runaway e1 now my printer runs fine I'd say start there

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

This sound like there still is a potential problem. You might have a broken wire. During cleaning your heater cartridge or thermistor has made contact again.

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Ender 3 motors zero movement
I’ve just bought an Ender 3 Pro (my first printer). I followed a video guide on YouTube and set everything up. I had to flash the latest firmware because my system wouldn’t boot.
Now I have zero movements in any of the X, Y, and Z motors. All my tolerances are correct, all is fastened as it should be and tightened, including the bearings and the belts. The system will not auto-home, it gives me a fail message and asks me to reset the printer. The motors will not move when I try them manually via the 0.1, 1, and 10 mm options. I have checked all of my connections and swapped cables around (X to Z and vice versa).
I am at a loss, and honestly so frustrated.

When you say it won't autohome, does it fail immediately, or does it try to move for a while and give up or does it move a little bit and then give up?

A printer should work out of the box and shouldn't require a firmware update to work. You should've notified the seller and let it be addressed by them. It is strongly advised to flash the official firmware version of the printer. At the moment it is unclear to troubleshoot if you have a hardware or software issue.

I would recommend attempting a reinstall of the default factory firmware. If you're getting zero function or movement from the printer and you have double checked connections it's highly likely this is purely a firmware issue of some kind that a reinstall could resolve.
As commented can you confirm that no matter the sources of the move command not a single motor moves or even tries to move? In the interest to rule out an issue other then the electronics and firmware.
Before going through the trouble and risk of a firmware update contacting the seller first likely would have been a better first option.

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Proper material for a drilling master plate
I've developed a master plate for my hobby woodwork (approx. 40x40x40 mm, see the figure). Its goal is to allow a straight angle while drilling 40 mm parallel bars. Four vertical holes are used to fix a 6 mm drilling bit in the perpendicular position. I use a low-power screw gun for drilling.
I ordered this part and I am mostly happy with the result, but I think I've failed to choose the right material for printing. I started with ordinary ABS (100 % filling) and see the following issue with the tool. After a couple of dozens of drilling, the main holes become elliptic which leads to worse precision. I am not sure about the reason:

Sometimes, I see plastic chips, but quite rare.
I think that the drilling friction can make the material more flexible due to a raising of temperature, leading to the deformation of the holes while they are hot and under mechanical pressure.

I believe that this issue can be solved by choosing the proper material to produce the tool. Unfortunately, I've failed to find a good answer by Googling it on my own.
What would be a general recommendation for choosing material for such kinds of tools?

there is one more thing to consider depending on depth:diameter of holes- drill bit attachments.  A couple of collars on the bit turned down to be concentric can give a friendlier, and better aligned surface for contact than the flutes of the bit itself.

I don't think any 3D printed plastic is suitable for this. You should consider using a (drill/jig) bushing. This is a metal piece that can be inserted into your 3D print to provide a more durable surface for your drill bit to be guided by. Here's an example of a bushing used with a 3D printed part.


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Bottom layer exposure for prints placed directly on the bed (resin printer)?
I have an Elegoo Saturn Mono resin printer.
If I make a 3D model that has a "sacrificial layer" on the bottom, and I place it flat on the bed, will the area in contact with e bed automatically be exposed as a bottom layer with a longer exposure time, or is this something that I will need to do manually?
I'm using Chitubox and an Elegoo Saturn for the printing, and Blender to make the models. I have them all set to the vanilla settings\factory defaults, and am not using any customer setting.
My thinking is that if I have a large object to print that is going to have a flat base, such as a slab of rock for scenery, rather than using lots of heavy supports I could simply add extra material on the bottom of the object, a couple of mm thick, and then sand the entire thing flat using a belt sander and high grit paper to get back down to the material that I actually want.

If you put the object directly on the bed, the lowest part of the object will be cured as the bottom layer. And yes, you can sand it away depending on the shape of the object.
For such large objects, you can also use a feature called Double Exposure, it is available on few slicers and easier to deal with.


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Creating a hole into which an object can be pushed
I have an object and want to construct a part that the object could be slotted into along the Y-axis.

If I just subtract the object, I will end up with a hollow that is bigger on the inside so it will not be possible to push the object in.
I would like it if there was an easy way to construct the red “hull” so that it can be subtracted from the purple cube.

One possibility seems to be the extrusion of a projection of the object into the Y-plane, though that also includes the pins, which would be too much – those are only at the end.

Is there some combination/operation that allows “subtraction by imprinting”?

Try extruding only faces pointed in -y direction, and using the resulting object in a boolean operation.

@Ezra how would I get just the faces pointed in -y direction?

In the end, I just added a showPins parameter to the module and pass false to it when extruding.


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Problem setting home and getting Ender 3 basic geometry dialed in
I have the following hardware configuration:

Ender 3 Pro
SKR E3 Turbo
Ender Extender 400XL
BLTouch
BTT TFT35 E3 v3.0 (Marlin/LCD and BTT/BLTouch configured)
Dual Z steppers (per Teaching Tech, example 3)
Dual linear rails on Y-axis (adapters by printermods.com)

I plead guilty to having too many mods on this machine but everything was working until very recently.
After installing the linear rails mod, I discovered that the Y-axis movement was inverted in Marlin. I fixed that but (as of now) I can't get the device to home using sensorless homing (in Marlin mode on the TFT35) using Motion ▶ Auto Home. The gantry moves toward the (now disconnected) X-axis endstop switch (far left) and keeps buzzing until I press reset on TFT35 or cycle the power.  The Y-axis seems close to appropriate.  Marlin shows sensorless homing enabled/defined for the X and Y axes and the appropriate Diag pins are jumpered for the X and Y TMC2209s.
Additionally, the Z-axis seems to "think" the nozzle should be some 45 mm above the bed.  This being so far off, the BLTouch doesn't ever get triggered so as to define a soft endstop.
Specifically, executing a G28 Z results in an X and then Y gantry excursion to the apparent soft endstops, then to apparent X, Y - 0,0, then centering at X, Y - 200,200 (my bed is 400 x 400 mm).  The nozzle then raises to an indicated 0 (i.e., 200, 200, 0) which is approximately 40.1 mm above the bed.
At my age, I know I am at wit's end when I voluntarily go out and mow several acres of lawn in the oppressive Georgia August heat.
Sorry for the long, rambling soliloquy.  I would greatly appreciate any insight or other assistance anyone might offer.

What is the actual Z axis movements when a Z home is commanded? As in a rough estimate of distances and directions it moves.

I submitted a edited of your first paragraph for clarity, feel free to further edit or revert my changes.

Please see edits added in response to questions by kezat.

To be clear. Sending a G28 Z command will cause all three axis's to move? Makes me think this is more then just trouble getting the thing to home. If you send G92 X0Y0Z0E0 (to set all axis to zero) then try a independently move each axis such as G1 X100  will the single axis move alone and in the expected direction? For this test to prevent damage manually move the extruder a safe distance from the bed/endstops before attempting.

Sent M211 to disable soft endstops.  Manually moved nozzle to front, left corner and surface of the bed.  Sent G92 X0 Y0 Z0 E0 via Octoprint Terminal.  Manually (using TFT35 Marlin mode, move axis )  moved the extruder/nozzle to X 200.00, Y 200.00 and Z 200.00.   Then sent  (individually, from Octoprint Terminal) G1 X100, G1 Y100, and G1 Z100.  Results of individual G1 moves were:

Overtime edit:  Sent M211 S0 to disable soft endstops.  Manually moved nozzle to front, left corner and surface of the bed.  Sent G92 X0 Y0 Z0 E0 via Octoprint Terminal.  Manually (using TFT35 Marlin mode, move axis )  moved the extruder/nozzle to X 200.00, Y 200.00 and Z 200.00.   Then sent  (individually, from Octoprint Terminal) G1 X100, G1 Y100, and G1 Z100.  Results of individual G1 moves were:  X100 -> 100mm move in negative (to the left) direction, Y100 -> 100mm move in the positive direction (i.e., bed slid forward) and Z100 -> 100mm move in negative (toward the bed) direction.

So the conclusion of the test is X and Z are backwards and Y is ok? I would take a real close look at the motion system configuration. XYZ axis directions, homing directions, and if appropriate the normally open/normally closed setting of any endstops. To do a test print and test your settings (without fussing with homing XY) you can remove XY homing commands from your gcode and manually home the printer using the G923 command.

G923?  I don't see that on the marlinfw.org site.  Did you mean G92 and, if so, what would the arguments be?

Yes sorry, not sure how the extra "3" snuck in. So the full command would be G92 X0 Y0

OK, had to turn off soft endstops (there are no physical endstops (TMC2209s and sensorless homing is selected)) , made adjustments on Y and Z inversion,  manually zeroed X, Y, and Z,  Sent G92 X0 Y0 Z0 and invoked a print of a simple thing.  Behavior of X and Y axis is as expected (good!).  Z stays way elevated and I suspect I have somehow neglected involving the BLtouch for getting the Z height correct.  Will be offline for perhaps an hour to prepare dinner, etc.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


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How can I correct *second and third layer* elephant foot?
I'm attempting to print this print-in-place bag clip (in the 80 and 100 sizes).  Early prints came out well, except that my persistent elephant foot resulted in locking the hinge.
Oddly, a few days ago I printed four simultaneous copies of this print in place wall hook with the same filament and settings (before adjusting the initial layer and line width) and they required almost no "exercising" after printing to hinge freely from the stop to latched closed.  The hinge design on these is simpler, without the "easy printing without steep overhangs feature" (using no-support-needed slopes); instead, the lower casing of the hinge acts as supports for the pin and its flange, which then acts as supports for the upper casing.
I'm printing in Amazon Basics PLA, nozzle at 200 °C, bed at 55 °C.  I level the bed with a 0.08 mm feeler gauge after homing and jogging the Z axis to 0.075 mm, and I adjust pretty tight, so I'm setting effectively zero clearance.  I've adjusted my settings in Cura 4.10.0 (0.2 mm overall layer height, 0.4 mm line width) as follows: Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion -0.3 mm, Initial Layer Line Width 90%, Initial Layer Height 0.3 mm, Wall Line Width 0.35 mm in order to attempt to correct elephant foot without losing bed adhesion (printing on the uncoated side of a Creality borosilicate glass bed using a glue stick wash), and I'm getting good first layers, but by the third layer, even with the reduced line width, the hinge parts are fusing.
With this particular Thing, the option exists to open the object in FreeCAD and adjust a "hinge tolerance" parameter to give the hinge larger clearances, but I understand from this question and its answers that this problem occurring in the second and third layers is likely a Z travel problem, my first few layers not being as high as the printer's firmware thinks they are -- and there doesn't seem to be a way to "taper off" the line width and flow level adjustments that can be applied to the first layer, as opposed to "second layer has same settings as layer 122."  There's also the possibility of slicing the part upside down, so the critical clearances aren't in the bottom 3-4 layers, but this design might not permit that to work.
Pursuant to that, I've tightened the eccentric wheels on both uprights to the point I can barely slip the wheel when the gantry is restrained, but without any change in the way the hinge gaps fill in on layers 2 and 3.
So: how can I correct this second and third layer expansion so my print-in-place parts will work correctly?
Edit: This doesn't seem like a long time, but it's been rather humid here recently, so it's possible this excessive expansion is related to moisture in the filament.  I ran out the filament spool I was using (unsealed about two weeks ago) and opened a new spool of the same brand/type: Amazon Basics PLA -- and started getting a good print with only common elephant foot amelioration (small negative horizontal expansion in initial layer).  The print failed for a seemingly unrelated reason, but I should be able to try again soon.
Edit 2: After correcting a loose thermistor that was causing thermal runaways, I was able to complete a print with the fresher filament (after a week of continued humid weather), and did get a better print -- in that I was able to break the lightly fused hinge loose and get a bag clip that works as intended.  I'm still seeing considerable expansion in layers 2 and 3, which aren't accessible to "initial layer" settings that would otherwise ameliorate elephant foot, but with four layers for both bottom and top skin, I'm seeing no expansion at the top (as has been suggested as the cause due to overextrusion of bottom skin).
Edit 3: most recently, I've gotten a successful print by adjusting the "horizontal expansion" in the slicer -- giving -0.1 mm in initial layer, and -0.05 mm for the rest of the part.  This doesn't eliminate the layer expansion, but does reduce the hinge fusing to the point I can break the parts free after the print completes.  I continue to doubt pressure from the interior of the layer could cause this; I've watched these layers print, and the three lines of the wall print first, inside to outside, followed by a fourth line forming the border of the skin fill, and then the skin fill.  The wall lines, then, ought to be well adhered and cooled by the time the skin layer starts to fill in.

Do you perhaps just have overextrusion? Once you get past the solid bottom layers, it will mostly disappear into infill zone, but it will accumulate for the first few layers with nowhere for it to go.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE But wouldn't I see that as a reverse elephant foot in the equal number of solid layers at the top?  Those layers have no visible expansion.  For that matter, the walls print before the solid fill on the bottom layers, so they should be stuck to previous layer and at least partially cooled before the fill goes in.

Only if you have sufficiently many top layers. The first one sags roughly a whole layer, allowing for a lot of excess material in the subsequent ones.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE I normally run 4 layers both top and bottom.  I suppose I could try cutting extrusion to 95% and see if it's better.

@Kezat As tagged, it's an Ender 3.   Not V2 or Pro; the cheap one.

That's why I prefer designs that print the parts separated, and I put them together after the print.  The hing could snap together in such a way that closing the clip pushes the hing together tighter.

Exactly, that's why it is only a comment.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE I tried cutting bottom skin extrusion to 90%, and the skin wasn't sticking to the wall on the first layer.  I raised skin overlap to 50%, and the second layer fused at the hinge clearance again.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE I changed filament and started getting a good print (before a thermal runaway halt -- apparently I need to recheck my thermistor seating).  Could PLA a couple weeks old (since unsealing) have absorbed enough moisture to start misbehaving?

Yes, Some blends of PLA can absorb moisture at a heightened rate compared to others. Have you solved your problem? If so, it's acceptable for you to make an answer for your own question!

Once I know it's solved, I'll do that.  There's still some expansion in layers 2 and 3, just not quite enough to lock the hinge on this bag clip.

Is your initial z-height too low?

I presume you mean the "zero height" before stepping up for layer 1?  I set this to effectively zero -- home, manually step up 0.075 mm, then level the bed with a .08 mm feeler gage blade.  First layer should then be 0.2 mm (that's what displays, anyway), and each layer after another 0.2 mm.

Woops, forgot to ping @PerryWebb above.


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SD cards get corrupted
I have an Ender 3 Pro 3D printer and a few months back I got a blue screen after printing something. I didn't even try to fix it because I got tired of running into problems.
Now I opened it again and everything seemed to work. I tried to open the SD card in my laptop to load a new 3D file but the laptop wouldn't even open with the card in it (I'm using a USB adapter with an SD card slot). I removed the card, opened the laptop, put the card in again and the system sees the card, but it won't let me do anything to it. I tried formatting it but I can't right-click on it because the window will freeze, the "Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions" tool in Windows 10 won't open either with the card in.
I tried grabbing a different card, put it in, loaded the prints and then tried running it in the printer, but the printed won't see this card. Going back to check on the laptop, this SD card has the same issue now.
Has anyone run into this problem or have any idea if I can recover the memory cards?

Just out of interest, are these branded SD cards, or cheap clones?

for the sds, try linux gparted. there are also some free disk imaging/formatting windows tools you can try.  printer is indeed the likely culprit so fix that before sticking more cards in it...

I've had difficulty with the CR-5 Pro not reading the cards. Sometimes it takes many tries at inserting the card. When the printer finally shows the "Print from TF" option, I am unable to select the gcode file I want. Turning the dial does not scroll through the files. I can't even re-flash the board. The card looks fine when I put it in my laptop. Does not seem corrupted.

This is my understanding of your issue:
Your Ender 3 Pro 3D will repetitively and consistently corrupt multiple MicroSD cards that are inserted. Originally known working SD cards used in the printer are never recognized by it and once the card is used back at the computer it be unreadable and can't be formatted. Also that you have had a apparent LCD board issues in the past (dark screen)
If your confident to you're satisfaction that this will happen every time with any computer/SD card/card adapter combination you try I see only couple options.

Consider seller warranty for replacement or parts, if this is not a option then read on.
Re-seat and inspect all electrical connections to and from all boards. Double check with official documentation that all connectors are in the correct spot. (with printer off)
Check with a multi meter the accuracy and stability of the 24 and 5 volt rails. This is a slight long shot but is easy to do and could save you from a lot of work. Use caution to not short any pins on the board when doing this on a powered board.
Re-Flashing the printer Firmware  might also be a useful thing to try.
Failing all that this will likely require a board replacement. However it's not clear to me if the Control Board or the LCD Board is the more likely the culprit. Due to proximity to the SD card and possible past issues I would lean towards the LCD Board.

Will try flashing the firmware again and see if it solves the issue. Thank you for your help!


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X-axis homing failed with odd results on Tevo Tarantula
I recently finished building my Tevo Tarantula but now I have an issue with homing the X-axis.
I have uploaded MarlinTarantula EasyConfig 2.0.x firmware with Arduino Version 1.8.15 on to the Tevo Tarantula. Whenever I press Home X on the LCD, or by sending the g code command G28 X0, the X carriage moves to activate the end stop, it activates the end stop, then the carriage moves to the right, or away from the end stop, then it moves back and jams in to the end stop.
When I physically press the X end stop and check the state with the G-code command M119 the end does register as 'triggered' so I don't think the end stop is the problem. However after reading some other threads I'm not sure anymore. I will link a video to show how the problem I have just described.
This is the link to the video: https://streamable.com/kbdnwc
Edit: When I do press the X end stop manually with my hand during homing of the X axis, the carriage has very similar behavior. It stops, then it goes to the right, which is away from the X end stop then it comes back to the left and I get the message of "Homing Failed. Please Reset."

Just to confirm, you hear the impact/stalling motor sound when the carrage moves towards the end stop for the 2nd time during the X home?

Yes, when the X carriage moves to the end stop for the second time the X motor makes a weird stalling noise like it's being jammed and then I get the error message that the Homing was Failed.

The first thing that jumps out to me is where the frame is pushing on the switch. It looks to be directly over the switch actuator and not at the end of the little metal switch arm. This will make the gap from switch activation point to hard stop and bottoming out the switch really small. Any software delay after endstop detection or flex in the system may could cause the delicate switch to be used a hard stop.
Speaking of flex in the system is hard to tell for sure but the belts do look slack and not well aligned. The chance is not zero the two issues could combine to create this problem you are seeing
A informative test might be able hold a credit card size of plastic against the frame in front of the sensor so it contacts the end of the metal arm first as it homes.

Yeah I also noticed that the frame was hitting the switch right at the actuator which seemed odd but now that you mention it there is a chance it could be missing it completely since there is such a slim margin of error. I will try to add a little plastic piece that extends the frame to see if it helps with the issue.
When you mean well aligned in reference to the belts do you mean they don't look tight enough? I totally see that, although I don't get any issues in terms of moving the X carriage either distance and the motor missing the teeth of the belt but I will definitely tighten it.

It's difficult to make it out in the video but the top of the belt seems to have a arc to it, implying the tension is not proper. Also the closer it gets to the extruder the lower it seems to get, I don't know if that is normal for this printer but it does strike me as odd and worth investigating.

I also want to add that when I do press the X end stop manually with my hand during homing of the X axis, the carriage has very similar behavior. It stops, then it goes to the right, which is away from the X end stop then it comes back to the left and I get the message of "Homing Failed. Please Reset."

Good to know, you may want to add that info to the question.


text:
BLTouch clone will not deploy, stow, or deploy when homing or auto leveling
I have 2 printers, an Artillery Sidewinder X1 and an Ender 3 that both have BLTouch sensors installed. This post is about the one (BLTouch clone, the probe is a Smart v3.1 sensor) installed on my Ender.
My problem:
I recently upgraded from Creality's original motherboard to the BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 and touchscreen. Once I had plugged everything in, I flashed the latest firmware with edits made only to suit my BLTouch. I am using the Zmin endstop pin rather than the dedicated BLTouch pin and I double-checked both my wiring and my firmware to make sure my changes were correct. I powered on the printer and everything worked. I even printed a test calibration cube. I was happy with myself for getting everything to work first go and screwed the lid back over the motherboard.
Upon restarting the printer, I tried homing it and the probe would not deploy, and if I did not switch the power off, the extruder assembly would drill into the bed. Using the 'Deploy', 'Stow', and 'Test' buttons do nothing. Running G29 or tapping the ABL button on the touchscreen will return similar results to pressing home or running G28, where the probe will not deploy (or stow if I manually pull it down - note that it does not go into error mode when I do that) and crash into the bed.
Things I have tried already:

Running M420 S1 - returns failed to enable bed leveling, invalid mesh

Running M500 and M502 after it to clear EEPROM

Double checking that the servo pin is connected to the right socket on the motherboard

Swapping the BLTouch out for the one that belongs to my other printer

Using a multimeter to check the connection between the BLTouch and the servo pin

Enabling BLTOUCH_DELAY 500 and BLTOUCH_FORCE_SW_MODE

Flipping the servo connector

Using the whole BLTouch connector instead of plugging the Z wires of the BLTouch into the Z endstop port and changing the firmware accordingly.

Wiring Diagram
I used this diagram to wire the sensor:

So I am just about at my wit's end with these BLTouch (clone) sensors - with 3 separate posts on this forum regarding them, my own posts even showing in the 'Similar questions' box at the time of writing this post, but amongst all the frustration I have experienced, I have learned a great deal along the way, from the core workings of the firmware to the design of the motherboard.
4 months later and I still never solved the problem. It seems likely that is a wiring fault or something wrong with the firmware but I have checked the wiring countless times with a multimeter, testing the BLTouch with another printer and using pre-compiled firmware sent to me by BTT support. I am writing to BTT to see if I can get a replacement board but if you have any other ideas I would love to try them.

Why are you're using the Zmin endstop when you have a "dedicated BLTouch" pin? Did the pin designed for this not work?

You are right, I could use that pin but I would need to crimp a Molex connector to make it fit and nothing gets lost when using the Zmin pin so I may as well save my self the effort of crimping a new connector. Maybe I will though if I pass my local Jaycar to pick up a Molex connector.

Can you add information to your question on exactly how you wired all 5 wires of your BLTouch to your board.

Is this a genuine BLTouch from Antclabs or a clone version? If it's a clone, it is possible the pinouts are not the same.

It's a clone, but I'm pretty sure the pinout is right. I will double check. What is weird though is that it was working before on the BTT board. I did not do anything with to the wiring or firmware when it stopped working. I have checked all cables as best as I can with as multimetre and the BLTouch does not work with the lid open either.

I have 3 or 4 dead clones lying around here, the only genuine one is the only one that works and keeps working. The clones are of inferior quality w.r.t. the original. Don't be surprised the sensor is broken. I was wondering, Swapping the BLTouch out for the one that belongs to my other printer, did the one on the SKR work on the other printer? If so, the sensor is okay!

Yes I put the one connected to my SKR board on my other printer and it worked perfectly. I also tried putting the probe from my other printer on the SKR board and it wouldn't work.

You have written in the comments that

I did not do anything with to the wiring or firmware when it stopped working

And that you tried

Swapping the BLTouch out for the one that belongs to my other printer

And

testing the BLTouch with another printer

It seems from these statements that the answer to your question is: something got damaged in the SKR board. Replacement is probably the only way.
There are however some home made optical/servo proves you can use instead of the BLTouch. They deploy a pin via a servo and use optical endstop for detection. They are reliable and require minimum wiring so that you can reuse the damaged SKR.
You can also try the quickdraw probe by Annex Engineering.


text:
Flat print blobbing and scuffing with PETG on Ender 3 Pro with Microswiss AMH/DD
I'm getting a lot of blobbing and scuffing on top of my prints in PETG on my Ender 3 with AMH/DD. It doesn't seem to do this if the print doesn't have a flat bottom so much.

I have the E-steps set to 130, which if anything is slightly under extruding vs the caliper measurements.
Any ideas how I can fix this?
Cura settings:
[general]
version = 4
name = Creality Ender 3 - eSUN PETG - Red
definition = creality_base

[metadata]
type = quality_changes
quality_type = standard
intent_category = default
position = 0
setting_version = 17

[values]
cool_fan_full_layer = 3
infill_overlap = 15
infill_pattern = triangles
infill_sparse_density = 10
ironing_enabled = False
ironing_only_highest_layer = True
material_print_temperature = 230
retraction_amount = 2
retraction_speed = 25
skirt_gap = 6
speed_infill = 30
speed_print = 35
speed_topbottom = 15
speed_travel = 250.0
speed_wall = 25
wall_line_count = 3
z_seam_x = 150
z_seam_y = 300

----
[general]
version = 4
name = Creality Ender 3 - eSUN PETG - Red
definition = creality_base

[metadata]
type = quality_changes
quality_type = standard
setting_version = 17

[values]
acceleration_enabled = True
jerk_enabled = True
layer_height_0 = 0.21
material_bed_temperature = 75
material_bed_temperature_layer_0 = 75

Are you sure the 130 E-steps is correct for your extruder? You don't mention what extruder you're using, but presumably, it's something other than just moving the original extruder to a direct drive mounting position or that would be extreme over extrusion.
Assuming that's right, the most likely cause is having the nozzle too close to the bed, so that there's too little volume to fit the extruded material into.
Also, you almost surely need to increase your nozzle temperature a lot. I'd normally consider 235 °C the absolute minimum for PETG, and I can't get it to adhere properly below 245 °C with the stock Ender 3 hotend. Since you have an all-metal hotend you can go even higher. PETG likes to "scuff" like that when it's too cool, and when you travel over already-printed material, and the lowest layers are even more susceptible to it since the bed will be sinking a lot of heat out of the material as soon as it's laid down.

The bit that's really bothering me is... why are the perimeters always spot on? If you look at the picture, the perimeters are perfectly fine, and if the model is small with a minimum amount of infill, everything is fine too. It just seems to be these big blocks of flat infill that cause the problem.
Thanks for the help I'll give this a go and see if changing temp or your other suggestions work.

If the perimeters are printed first, they always have enough room for the extra material to squish out left or right. The solid fill will have this for the first few lines, but once they've squished out enough (the effect is cumulative), the next line has almost nowhere to go.


text:
How to stop Fusion 360 from creating a new version on STL export
Everytime I export to STL in Fusion 360, a new Version (V1, V2, V3, V4, ...) of the file is created. But I would really like to use that feature to mark bigger changes instead of creating a new version everytime I change a minor detail to see how the Cura reacts to it.
For some reason, no new version gets created when I send the model to Cura via the tools tab. But then no new STL file gets created, but Fusion 360 opens a new instance of Cura instead. Even if Cura is already open.
That's not what I want. I want to overwrite the old STL file so Cura offers me to reload the STL file and I can keep working in the instance of Cura which is already open.
I already deactivated the checkbox to create a new version everytime I save the file. That settings works as expected

Ops, I meant the setting that creates new versions when I close, not when I save. As I understood it, clicking save is the action that actually should create a new version. But I just realized that setting doesn't work as expected either. So right now, it's not possible for me to close Fusion 360 without losing my work and without creating a new version.
But that's a different story.

Not sure if this will solve your issue directly for you but when I save a STL/3MF from F360 I don't use the File/Export in 360.
Instead I just right click the body in the browser tree and save the STL/3MF directly from that menu.
Select "save as mesh" This does not add any version number, and also the usage of cloud processing is not required so it's much faster.

Yes, thanks, that solves my problem. Not the way you think, but it solves my problem.
I noticed this basically gives me the same window I get when I send the model directly to a slicer over the tools tab. The difference is, the checkbox to send it to a slicer isn't checked by default and a file gets created instead. Before, I didn't even realize this checkbox is there.
The way you describe also solves another problem. I can export multiple bodies as separate STL files. That will help me as soon as I start using the dual extrusion feature of the printer I just bought.


text:
How to make solid soluble support surface with Prusaslicer?
I am printing on a Prusa i3 MK3S+ with MMU2S module using PVA+ soluble material and PLA. Slicing with PrusaSlicer 2.3.1. This question is more about slicing and is probably printer-independent.
My problem is the default pattern makes the surface not smooth. See the attached screenshot from PrusaSlicer (picture from the bottom side, for clarity I hid the lowest layers to make the interface visible):

The resulting object looks like this:

What I wish the slicing would look like:

Any ideas on how to make such a pattern or other ideas to make it better? It doesn't matter if the support is hard to remove because it's soluble anyway.
The simplified STL model: https://zouppen.iki.fi/poista/pirra.stl

What you're looking for is the Support Interface Layers.
In PrusaSlicer, enable Advanced or Expert mode, and under Print Settings ▶ Support Material ▶ Options for support material and raft you can decrease the Interface Layers to zero, and only the support structure will remain.
Keep in mind, this will affect ALL supports in the model, however.

Combined with pattern spacing 0 and interface layers 0 it kind of does it but it also disables interface which wastes way too much PVA. The usage of support material is even higher than in the actual object. So in practice it is unfortunately too slow and expensive solution. See video: https://zouppen.iki.fi/poista/no_interface.mp4

Try without decreasing the pattern spacing, or decreasing it by half instead. Your print is small enough that it can likely bridge those small gaps in the support. Testing in prusaslicer, 1.25mm pattern spacing might be around the sweetspot


text:
Patterned Under-Extrusion on Ender 3 Pro
I've had my Ender 3 Pro for a few months, and it's been working great. Then, after a failed print (the STL had extra seams, causing the print to get mangled), I've started having issues that I have attributed to under-extrusion.
As evidenced by the below image, some lines in each layer are missing. The gaps align throughout the print, but not between prints (the two squares are identical G-code). This happens in every layer, with a different pattern in each. It also causes some perimeters to not adhere to the previous layer at all.
The extra strands in the right print are present because I ripped off the infill layer that printed on top before I aborted the print.
I first assumed I needed to calibrate my extruder. It turns out I did (93 had to be changed to 150 steps/mm). However, that did not fix the issue.
Some things I've tried:

Calibrate the extruder
Check nozzle size and filament size in Slic3r
Level the bed (I had to place a post-it note under the centre of the flexible magnetic build surface to make up for a warped bed)
Clean my nozzle and hotend (I fully dismantled the hotend)
Replace my nozzle
Increase printing temperature

Is there anything else I might try to get this fixed?

Specs for Reference:

Ender 3 Pro
0.4 mm Brass Nozzle
205 °C Hotend
60 °C Bed
Slic3r
150 Steps/mm for Extruder

If you need any more information, just comment and I'll do my best to supply it.
Please note that I am not open to suggestions to replace my printer. I'd rather fix the one I have.

It turns out the extruder was slipping, but not due to a nozzle or Bowden tube pressure issue. The extruder arm (?) that holds the passive wheel (as opposed to the drive gear) was cracked, so the pressure between the wheel and the gear was weak. A bit of glue fixed it.
These printers should ship with metal extruders, I think.
EDIT
The arm broke again, and this time I have a picture to illustrate the issue. I didn't make the printer do anything strenuous; I just printed a few small parts, causing it to break.

This is a very common issue, hence the need for more steps for the extruder, thanks for getting back to post an answer! It would be a bonus of you could add an image of the cracked lever to the answer! You can even accept the answer after 48 hours. Please consider upvoting the answer from @R.. as this leads to the solution you posted!

I fixed the lever before I had a chance to photograph it, unfortunately.

The part is called the "Extruder Feeder Drive" if anyone is looking to get a replacement

This is a big red flag and severely wrong:

93 had to be changed to 150 steps/mm

It can be reasonable to tune steps per mm by a few percent, but needing an increase of more than 50% versus the standard value for the same physical gearing indicates either you did something wrong in computing the needed value, or some other serious root problem with the printer.
You should start by fixing that (putting it back at 93) then try to figure out why it seemed to need change.
Likely your extruder isn't gripping the filament. Trying to overextrude that severely likely grinds it so bad the hob fills up with shavings then doesn't grip at all.

This answer clearly explains that a sudden increase in E-steps is a flag that something has completely gone wrong. This led the OP to find that the extruder indeed had a fundamental problem. It is very good to have this answer together with the answer of the findings of the OP! Thanks!

I saw some sites suggesting that drastic changes in steps/mm for the factory extruders could be necessary. Clearly that’s not true.

@Fluzzlesnuff A manufacturer provides a working 3D printer, a large/drastic change shouldn't be required. If it doesn't work out of the box, you should contact the manufacturer. However, very small changes are possible, e.g. when filament is softer, the teeth dig in more decreasing the effective extruder gear diameter, but, this can be altered with the flow modifier.


text:
New printer won't read files from SD card
I have a new Ender 3 V2 printer that I assembled. The printer reads the TF/SD stock card info but won't read the auto-level code I downloaded. It doesn't even show up on the card.
I downloaded auto-level code and the printer won't read that code, other than the factory-installed code that came with the printer. I formatted the SD card per advice but still no reading of the card by the printer.
This is my first 3D printer and I am not very tech-savvy but I think I've done everything right per instructions and descriptions I've seen online.

What's the file name of the auto level code as you put it on your TF card?  Also, welcome to 3D Printing Stack Exchange!  Please take the [tour] and read over the [FAQ] -- it'll help you ask better questions and write better answers.

ender+3+bed+level(1)zip

from thingiverse

I purchased a cr touch auto bed leveling sensor and from what i have researched I will need to download another gcode to run that sensor. if my printer wont read new gcodes that's due to be delivered today I am quite worried I wont be able to use the  the new sensor . Thank you for the welcome.

Your printer doesn't know how to read a .zip file.  It can only execute .gcode (or in the case of flashing new firmware, .bin or possible .hex).

I have edited your post because it was difficult to understand what exactly is going on. Please [edit] additional information that can help you with the problem. If you see anything that needs to be changed, please do so.

Make sure your SD card is formatted to FAT32.

The printer can only understand files on the SD card that
are .gcode or .bin . In your case, you will need to flash the
pre-compiled firmware as a .bin file.

Make sure the file is named firmware.bin and that it is the right
firmware for your 3D printer. It will not work if it is still in a
.zip or .rar archive.

I do not own an Ender 3 V2 myself, but from experience, the screen may
stay blank for around 5 seconds while the motherboard updates when you reboot the printer. If
your printer does this while it updates, it can be a good way to tell
if your firmware update worked.

On the LCD navigate the UI to find the Restore Defaults button.


text:
Cold end coupler stuck on Bowden tube
I have a Creality Ender 3. I've unscrewed the coupler from the drive assembly, but can't get it loose from the tube.  The hot end coupler came free easily.
I compress the rubber gasket, but it stays tight.
Are these manufactured to be replaced every time?  My new Bowden tube didn't come with a new coupler.
I see that the couplers are sold with or without the tubing.

My couplers need a good hard tug to come off too. I'd be interested to see if you find a solution to get them off safely and without breaking anything.

After depressing the retaining ring, try pushing the Bowden tube further in to the coupler. This should disengage the internal sprung clip, and allow removal of the Bowden tube.
Good quality pneumatic couplings should allow many insertion and removal cycles, although the couplings that Creality use have a reputation for early failure.

That's exactly the method I use to remove a bowden tube from the fitting. If it doesn't work for the OP, the last resort is destruction (cut it off).

You can always just push it all the way through.

Success!  better tools and brute force did the trick.
I threaded the tube through the hole in a steel wrench handle, then clamped the end in sturdy forceps.  That gave me enough grip at each end to pull it apart.
Thanks for all the suggestions and for letting me know it IS supposed to come apart.
I also ordered Capricorn tubing, pneumatic couplers, and enough other printer toys...er, upgrades... to get free shipping.  Next time should be easy!

Predictably, now the coupler keeps coming loose from the tube.  Got a perfect print first, so at least I know I finally fixed the right thing.


text:
TronXY X5S system (Marlin) - Very Slow menus
This is my board MKS Melzi v2.0 cloned

I replaced the MCU (the actual IC) with new ATmega1284P 16 MHz, because the old MCU was damaged - the reason was that the fan got dusty and the power line became unstable. I replaced the MCU with the exact same model.
I have tried to flash it many times using usbasp. It works but same issue system menus boot splash are still so slow it's painful. It takes minutes on an old Marlin version 1.1.6, hours on a new Marlin 2.x
I think it's something related to MCU (crystal oscillator frequencies). Maybe the system uses an internal crystal so the MCU got stuck.

How can I switch to an external crystal?
If it's not, then what can cause the problem?

Firmware links:

The old firmware link:
https://github.com/nathantsoi/Marlin/tree/tronxy-x5s-1.1.6
The new firmware is last stable firmware 2.0.9.1 https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/2.0.9.1

Just as a note, Your board looks like a clone of the Zonestar ZRIB v2 mainboard, which derives from Melzi

Either:

You have a clock prescaler set, or;
You are not using the external oscillator on the board.

There are some internal fuses that set the clock frequency divider and the clock source and maybe your new IC has the incorrect fuses set.
That is to say, they may be factory default, but they are not the same as the controller board comes shipped with.
You probably want to check both settings as the factory defaults of your replacement IC are probably not what you expect, or desire.
Check the ATmega1284P datasheet for details.

Prescaler
Section 7.12.2 CLKPR - Clock Prescale Register, page 38. That is for the general clock frequency, and shows the register CLKPR in particular Bits 3:0.

Or section 7.11 System Clock Prescaler

External clock
Section 7.2 Clock Sources, shows that CKSEL Bits 3:0 set which clock is used, internal or external. You presumably want to use the external clock so set all four bits to zero

To set, or examine, any of the registers, you have to use usbasp. I can't remember what the commands are. If you look on SE.Arduino or SE.Electronics I am sure that there is a question with the answer. I vaguely remember having the same problem with an ATtiny.

I tested by using this command avrdude -c usbasp -patmega1284p  -U lfuse:w:0b01100000:m  default value  is 0x62 = 01100010 so I changed bits 3:0 to zero new value 0x60 = 01100000  and the MCU no longer responds.

Is there a jumper that you need to make, in order to apply the external clock? Maybe that is missing. There is clearly a 16 MHz crystal on the board. Can you check (with an oscilloscope) whether there is a clock signal, both from the crystal and on the MCU clock pin? Otherwise, the solution isn't easy. While the chip is not dead, you will need to apply an external clock, see this post. You might have to remove the SMD, or add a wire to a clock, external to the whole board, using a 555 timer, for example.

I can't see a jumper pin for clock select, looking at the image in this PDF, it seems to be "hard wired". Maybe check that the CLOCK line is soldered correctly, by visual examination, and by checking with a oscilloscope. It just sounds like there isn't an external CLOCK signal getting through. Check the clock circuit, maybe the crystal, or the pair of 22 pF capacitors (C11), or other supplementary components (C14 or R24) are damaged?

I replaced the crystal with a new one and checked the line - that's all connected  but same issue. My board is a little bit different from the original, so I don't have C11 C14 R24. Its produced by Tronxy  "cxy v.2-0508". I have two capacitors on crystal pintout  each leg have one here link of Tronxy page

It is difficult to see the component names/numbers from either your photo and the photo in the link, but there seem to be two resistors (next to each other) and two capacitors on the other side (in a line). Apart from checking to see if the components (R and C) are good,  you would need to see if there is a clock signal using a oscilloscope to see what is really happening - otherwise we are just guessing. Either that, or apply an external clock source to get the MCU running, so that you can flash it back to using the internal clock again (0x62). Then you could check the prescaler setting.

If the MCU is set back to using the internal clock, then the speed will be 8 MHz so am I supposed to flash Marlin using 1284p with 8 MHz option  not 16 MHz, right ? On the oscilloscope, the signal looks weird, it is not a square signal. The only hope to ask Tronxy for help. i will update with a solution soon

The internal clock speed will be determined by the prescaler value. Did you check to see what that was, before setting the fuses for the external clock? The waveform would not be square, if there are capacitance issues (leakage etc.). Maybe one of the tracks on the PCB has been damaged? Could you post a new question about the missing external clock (as your original question has been answered, this is a new question), and add a photo/screenshot of the scope output, showing the waveform? In the new question, refer back to this question, using the URL of this question, as they are related.

You need to ask a new question for the new issue of the missing clock. Once you open a new question, I can copy over the information from these comments for you. Many thanks in advance.


text:
CR-10 MAX - Marlin Firmware settings help
I’m trying to build firmware for the CR-10 MAX. The git has no config example for this machine. And this is the first time for me to look into the settings. I’m using the firmware from Tiny Machines.
I’ve done the following upgrades:

Hero Me 5 fan ducts
Converted it to a direct drive with stock parts.

The settings below are what I currently have selected:
#define MachineCR10Max
#define PLUS // Adds BLTouch, allmetal, bilinear (standard), lerdge, 93 e-steps/mm
#define HotendStock
#define DirectDrive // Any direct drive extruder, reduces filament change lengths
#define ABL_BLTOUCH
#define GraphicLCD
#define ABL_BI
#define MeshFine

And these are questions on, if they are ok.
Changing probe offset for Hero Me 5 kit (values from manual)
#define X_MIN_POS -47
#define Y_MIN_POS 2
.
**Should I select AC or DC for the CR-10 MAX?**
//#define BedAC // **I think it is AC what the MAX has?**
//#define BedDC
.
I think I do not need:
//#define AddonFilSensor
.
**Would I want/need this?**
//#define POWER_LOSS_RECOVERY

————————
Am I complete like this or am I missing settings??

Welcome to SE.3DP. The configuration changes you list are not a part of marlin, and are likely a part of the fork of it you are using. I would recommend getting a fresh release of marlin straight from the Marlin github and following their instructions

I know this question is 5+ months old, but I just wanted to help anyone that might come across this randomly. The CR-10 Max uses a Meanwell RSP-750-24 power supply, which supplies the bed with 24v of DC power. So you'd uncomment BedDC in the Configuration.h


text:
3D printer is not printing as well as it used to
I have recently purchased an Ender 5 Pro and managed to successfully print a large titan model I created with no problem. After this print, I had a bit of a break before getting back to it.
I don't know what has happened but now I just can't get my prints to print properly. I printed a large tower and it left holes in the top surface areas of my prints and my first layers print horribly. I have spent so many hours of every day, leveling the printer time and time again, I cleaned it up, checked for loose screws, etc. Still, to no avail, nothing has fixed the problem and still prints badly.
Maybe my print bed is warped and can't print properly. I am new to this so I don't really know.
I noticed my infill does not print particularly well in my prints and also has holes in the prints, as well as many overhangs, even if they a very small overhangs, become a stringy mess and need a lot of sanding.

The extruder gears are clean, I took some time to go over the whole printer and clean it up before trying again. I am using the Polyterra filament, it's still the same as when I last printed. My bed temperature is at 55 °C and nozzle is 200 °C, I have tried printing it with the nozzle at 195 °C and up to 210 °C with the same effect still occurring.

What filament are you using?  Same spool as when you last printed?  What settings (nozzle and bed temperature)?

You may have under extrusion; there are multiple causes for under extrusion, including crud in your extrusion path.   If you haven't printed for a while, your filament may have absorbed enough humidity to reduce its quality; do you hear snapping and popping while it is printing?

Um yea I was thinking that, but also noticed when I levelled each corner, it is fine but when I move the nozzle to the centre it's slightly higher, which suggests a warped bed, do you think investing in a glass bed might be a good idea. I changed to a new filament because I had that thought, but still the same problem. I will also maybe change the nozzle to the spare one if that may help. No snapping and popping while printing.

What is your layer thickness/height? This could be partly caused by layer thicknesses that are too low for your nozzle diameter. Do you still have this issue at 0.2mm layer heights?

Looks like underextrusion.  There are lots of causes, including clogged nozzle and tubes.  Have you checked those?
You should order new nozzles, PTFE tubing and couplers now, even if yours are clean.  You will need them sooner or later, and won't want to wait for delivery.
Many people say Creality couplers don't hold up well, and Capricorn tubes seem to be highly regarded.

Hey, so I changed the layer height from 0.15 to 0.2mm, already a slight improvement, then decreased the speed by 70%. And noticed a major improvement in the extrusion of the inner layer, hasn't reached the top layer but will find out once print has finished. Turns out it is printing way too fast, also have it set to print in the courner where the bed is more level.

Excessive extrusion speed could easily cause underextrusion.  Smaller layer height makes this worse as it increases the pressure in the nozzle.

I agree with the sentiment about creality couplers, In my experience they either lock on permanently or let go with the slightest touch.


text:
How to 3D view an OBJ or STL object given its URL?
I have OBJ and STL files generated by reality capture software and stored on a website.
I'd like to send our users web links that will take them to a 3D object web viewer loaded with the corresponding object.
I can't seem to find a simple online viewer that can do this given a URL.   What do you suggest?

A utility like that likely does not exist, As most sites would rather people hotlink directly to their services. https://viewstl.com provides a 'load from URL' function, but does not appear to have any way to send a link that would automatically open a model.

with webgl, in might even entirely be doable as all client side.  just no big open source thing for it yet...


text:
Maximum recommended layer height for an Elegoo Saturn?
I have an Elegoo Saturn resin printer and I want to print out some low detail models that are about three inches on each side. I'm going to add the detail in using traditional modelling, kit-bashing and painting after the models have been printed.
In order to get a faster print I'd like to increase the layer height, what is the maximum recommended height for a print of this size?
For example, if I'm printing tanks that have little or no surface detail.

I don't have any experience with resin printers but here is some info that may be helpful. https://www.reddit.com/r/ElegooSaturn/comments/kwy1fg/testing_layer_height_with_elegoo_saturn_advice/

Hi @Kezat - You could make an answer out of that interesting link (in case the reddit thread gets deleted, as they often do), by quoting the salient points from it.

Layer height affects the exposure time. Thicker layers mean that you need to expose longer. You would need to test and verify what works for you.

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please ignore the vague comment above which was automatically generated by our poorly thought out new review mechanism... however, if you could expand your answer to give maybe a range of example exposure times for example thicknesses, that would be great.


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Inclined plane movement of spinneret
Normally 3D printing is done starting at the base level depositing hot plastic upwards.
In order to create bas relief details, can we deposit hot plastic on an available centered cone base any curve design allowing slow hot end /spinneret movement in vertical or inclined planes (instead of pure Z direction) by any user-defined CNC control program with a 3D printer?

I think you would have to rewrite the code specifically for the surface you want to print on, so the printer recognizes the base is not flat.
You'd  have to attach an identical pot in exactly the same spot on your printer bed for each print.
For the pots you show, you might try printing just the black design flat, maybe 1 mm thick to keep it flexible, then gluing it to your pot.  Using soft filament would make this easier.
Another option would be a 3D pen.
Or use a cutting machine like a Cricut to cut it in self stick vinyl.  I believe those machines use SVG files.


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Improving durability of a printed propeller
I am currently working through various different iterations ofccreating a propeller for a model ICE (nitro engine). So far I have managed to disintegrate each of them eventually. I have been experimenting mostly with PLA and PETG so far. I am currently thinking about using carbon-infused PLA or using PC (I found one that is printable on my printer). However, I am not so sure what properties I exactly have to look for when it comes to a propeller.
I am making the following assumptions:

When rotating fast (5-6k RPM) there it probably has to create quite some centripetal force and I assume this would translate to
tensile strength
When the engine starts or stops it gets accelerated and decelerated almost instantly which probably causes quite some jerk to the propeller. However, I do not know what property that would
translate to, also tensile strength.

So far the PLA propeller has held up the longest and I cannot rule out that it accidentally touched something when it broke. That is of
course something it does not have to be able to handle, so I am
probably going to give PLA another chance.
The PETG propellers all literally broke apart the second the engine
started, and it did not even hold up one rotation.
The design of the propeller is actually sacrificing some aerodynamic efficiency in order to make sure there are no "thin" parts. It is
typically breaking in the section I have highlighted in the
the following picture.

I have also a picture of the "remains" of the broken PLA propeller.
It actually held up many runs before it eventually broke. It actually partially delaminated the entire wall.

I am looking for two recommendations/tips:

What material properties should I look for in my use case?
Less important, but some tips regarding print settings are also appreciated. So far I could notice that smaller layer size helps,
and thicker walls also helped.

Are the prints printed solid? And if not why not?  Also the geometry of the propeller is going to strongly dictate its strength.  A photo of the failed prop will likely improve any answer.

Oh, I completely forgot to add the pictures I had prepared!

Regarding solid yes/no. I did not print them solid assuming some flexibility from the infill and it not being completely rigid might help overcome some "spikes" in force without immediately breaking.

Mostly out of curiosity at this point do you have a photo of the failed PETG part.? :)

With a model aircraft background (building, flying international shows), and seen injuries with propellers, I strongly advise against printing propeller blades, please buy them at your local model aircraft shop or order online.

@0scar I agree about the risks of injury, and I am taking all the precautions I can. For what its worth, the propeller is not used on an airplane but a propeller driven "car" I do just for fun.

@Kezat Unfortunately not, but I had reprinted one today and am currently printing a solid PLA one (just for a change)

@YanickSalzmann: Is it a reproduction of the Veritasium one? That would be good cause to use a printed propeller since, as I understand it, you really need to be able to tune the properties of it to make it work.

A photo of the part mid-print might be helpful for identifying anything going wrong with the print.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE it looks like the veritasium one, and it inspired me, but as far as I remember they just use the wind to power it, mine is connected to a combustion engine, so wind or not it will drive :)

Some of the best results I was able to achieve with the Polycarbonate material. It even sustained some impacts to solid material without breaking. It did however use up pretty much all my printer could provide :)

As Kezat noted, your part has very low infill, but infill is not what provides most of the part strength anyway. From what I can see of the broken part, it looks like you only have 1 or at most 2 walls, and these are what contribute most to part strength, especially in the orientation you're working in.
You should probably increase the number of walls to the point where the part is entirely solid, and has no infill region in any layers. This gives much better strength than selecting "100% infill", which will normally use alternating diagonal lines to fill the region; even if "concentric" is selected, which "looks like" more walls, there are subtle reasons it's not quite as good.
You may be able to get away with fewer walls, possibly just 3 or 4. If you're trying to keep total mass low, that might be worth trying first. But you definitely need more than the 1 or 2 you have now.

I used an almost 100% walls (not infill) print for my next iteration. The image looks like its only 1-2 walls, however at least 2 walls had completely delaminated during destruction of the propeller, it was printed with 4 walls.

If they delaminated, you should check for underextrusion - either globally, or due to oozing (e.g. from combed travel over the infill region) prior to the wall extrusions.

A completely solid propeller would be counterproductive: the material near the tips is providing no strength, but is increasing the load near the hub.  If your slicer permits it, increase the wall count just near the point of failure (ideally, tapering off as you go outwards, until the ends of the propeller have just one wall).

@Mark good point, I will play around a bit, I should be able to use various profiles for different parts of the object

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE With one of the brands of PLA filament I do sometimes have a little bit of under extrusion when printing circles, might have had an effect here. For my PETG its fine, solid truly is solid

The almost solid PETG prop went through an entire tank and large parts at full throttle without any issues at all. So that’s already a big improvement!

@Mark: the points of transition to fewer walls will likely be weak points prone to failure if you do that. Doing it right would require complex control over how the walls are laid out beyond what slicers offer. Best option without doing that is likely just solid, or 3-4 walls everywhere.

You need WAY more infill or make it solid. Normal props like this are 100% solid for a reason.
To add to that, in my experience with 3D printing the the infill percent is only part of the story for part strength. In many cases adding perimeter loops and not infill is a better solution for part strength.
With a solid part I suspect PETG will come out ahead over PLA as PLA can be more brittle and just snap under shock or vibration.

I am going to give a solid version with both PLA and PETG a try, the PLA one was very early and I used my default settings. Recently I tried a PETG that was more material, but it did not help much: https://i.imgur.com/dFK54y0.png .

Don't use "100% infill" setting though. Increase the number of walls so that there is no infill region. This will give much greater strength. You might even be able to make it sufficiently strong without eliminating the infill region, just with 3 or 4 walls. Right now it looks like you only have 1 or 2, which is ridiculously low for a functional part under significant forces.

If the issue is tensile strength, PLA beats PETG.  PETG is better for handling shocks and other varying loads, but for raw strength, PLA wins (at least until material creep starts deforming it).

Well the commercial ones are solid because they are injection molded.

I'm offering a different kind of answer, please do not print your propeller blades. I've seen accidents happen (in my past international model aircraft building and flying hobby) with even the bought injection molded propellers (usually bad handling or aging).
Propeller blades can be bought online or at your local model aircraft shop against reasonable prices. You don't want to lose your eye or somebody else's.
Even if used on a car or a hovercraft, please use a bought injection molded propeller and provide proper shielding.

I wouldn't go so far as to make this an absolute, but yes, please practice proper safety with whatever you use. Personally, for me that would mean shielding for any propeller operating with sufficient energy to cause injury.

I cannot disagree much with your safety recommendations, however at the moment it’s calculated risk. The only person possibly getting harmed is myself, there are hundreds of yards of open terrain with no one on it except me, so as long as I am following safety precautions for myself which is easy enough it should be fine.

A nitro engine rotates much faster than an electric one, 30k rpm vs 10k rpm top.
Also, it has much more vibrations (the engine gives torque in sharp pulses, not a continuous power generation). There's a reason if the propellers for electric are not compatible with nitro engines. You will need to step up the game with fiber-infused plastics, and shock resistant plastics, so check CF-ABS, CF-ASA, CF-PC, nylon-CF, nylon-GF.
Forget PETG or PLA...
And use an infill that is equally resistant in every direction, so cubic or gyroid.
And do a simple calculation, concerning the infill: use the weight and the spinning speed to calculate the strength you need for the area where the blade attaches to the hub. I think you need an almost solid infill to hold (solid infill = as many perimeters you need to fill it), and then you can progressively decrease the perimeters closer you get to the tip, replacing them with infill.

I did not mention this in my question, but I am using it on an aircraft engine, it has a practical range of 2-10k RPM. But I am definitely going to try different materials as well.

The vibrations are still there, even if the RPM are lower. You need fiber reinforced materials. Normal ones are not because injection molded plastic is stronger than FDM parts not only due to lack of layers, also due to the pressure involved, but you need the reinforcement.

For safety on a project like this, it's best to have a self-contained chamber to run a life test until the propeller falls apart.  Once a material and design has a reasonable lifetime, then you could use the print.
Reputable propeller manufacturers will already do this.  They may even run a shorter burn-in test on product being sold to eliminate defects.
I would suspect PLA as being too brittle.  Nylon carbon fiber is probably a better material, but not easy to use.  Unless you're wanting to experiment with propeller design, printing propellers will cost you more then buying them.
As Brydon mentioned life testing usually does acceleration such as twice the rate.  Temperature is also important.  Plastic is more brittle cold and softer hot.  You may even want to off balance the axis slightly to accelerate the testing.

To add to this - I wouldn't feel confident using a propeller unless it handles twice the rated max RPM it would be used at. This is coming from someone who carves their own wooden propellers


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What does the "Control Module" setting in FlashPrint 5.1 do?
I don't understand the description of this setting in FlashPrint and have been unable to find a better description online. What does it do?

On Reddit, someone pointed out that this likely refers to which items temperature is being adjusted by the tickbox above (and table below). It seems quite obvious now :-)


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Why does FlashPrint have different (non-100%) default extrusion ratios for different filaments?
In FlashPrint there is an Extrusion Ratio setting. It's set to 97 % for the stock PLA profile and 107 % for the stock PETG profile.
I would've thought these would be 100 % by default (and the same for all materials). Why is it that these defaults make sense and they differ? Why would you need to push more PETG for the same print than PLA if they're the same diameter filament?

I think that it may be a better resource to ask this question generally, ie "Why would you use different extrusion ratios for different materials" rather than being slicer-specific

@craftxbox perhaps, but as far as I can tell this might be specific to FlashPrint. I can't find any other recommentations for doing this (eg. https://www.help.prusa3d.com/en/article/extrusion-multiplier-calibration_2257/ says default to 1 for PLA and PETG).

Yes, it's true that most other slicers don't configure this setting, Flashprint is unique here, I just mean that it may be better to phrase it in such a way that it comes like "Why would I change it for myself?" instead of "Why does this software do it differently?"

@craftxbox I understand why I might change it myself, but I'm specifically interested in why FlashPrint has these defaults. How did they pick them? Doesn't a value < 100% suggest there will be less material than required? And why would pushing 5mm at the extruder result in something other than 5mm x diameter out the nozzle? Does it expect to slip? What's different about this slicer/printer to others?

Yes, that's true. I'm honestly not sure how they determined the values imperically, most of the time that stuff is more 'trial and error' type change and see what works better and what works worse. Extruders usually don't work volumetrically, They're only pushing however many millimeters of filament out, but they don't know what that's actually doing inside the hotend.

@craftxbox but if you push 5mm and the diameter of the roll is consistent and there's no slipping (and the filament has no air in it?), the amount of plastic coming out of the nozzle should be known exactly too. It feels to me like this adjustment is more likely to differ based on the brand/accuracy of a roll rather than the type of filament?

I found that ASA and PACF both have this value set to 100%, so maybe they used that as a baseline, then found PLA extruded too much? Still unsure if it's their specific materials or a good general rule though (I've seen others say to extrude less PETG but this looks to do more). I guess there may be some trial and error/testing in my future!

Just found that FlashPrint-MP has 110% extrusion by default for Monoprice Voxel for both PLA and ABS default profiles.

If your extruder uses spring tension to hold the filament against the hob, the effective diameter of the filament at the point the hob contacts, which determines the amount moved, is a function of the compressibility of the material. Thus, it makes sense to use a higher flow ratio for more compressible filaments. However, this is very much a matter of what type of extruder your machine has, and doesn't apply if you have a tension arm holding the idler bearing at fixed distance from the hob.

Ah, interesting! It's a Flashforge Creator 3 - I can't actually find the answer to this (it hasn't arrived yet). Although for PLA the value is set to 97% which still seems strange, since surely this explanation would only  result in less filament being pushed and never more?

Maybe it's assuming the 100% point is set based on slightly more compression? I don't know. Or it could all just be magical fairy dust. The idea of using a different extrusion ratio for the first layer certainly is; there's no physical justification for doing that, and it's just a compensation for having your bed height wrong, but that's not material-specific.

It seems weird to pick based on some compression though.. To me it'd make more sense to assume none (or at least, the lease compressable material) than some abitrary point higher. It's almost like software is making up for something being wrong in the hardware  I think I agree about the first layer - it shouldn't be needed, but since it's very hard to get things perfect (esp. as it seems the levelling only advises to move in 45 degree increments), a slight overextrusion in the first layer might be prefereable to it being much harder to get the print to stick :-)

I may be entirely out of my league here, But I think it's related to Viscosity, or how thin or thick the fluid plastic is while hot and Temperature Expansion, how much larger in volume the fluid plastic will be hot compared to cold.

I wondered that too, but I couldn't find anything online about this. For example this Prusa help page says "Basic materials (PLA, ABS, PETG) Extrusion Multiplier = 1" and "This calibration is not necessary with Prusament". I've also never modified this on my previous printer for PLA, so not sure why even PLA is 97% here.


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Stringing on first layer unless I squish it
I switched over to a new filament recently (Sunlu PLA) and I can't get the first layer details to stick properly without squishing the first layer way too much. Prints don't always fail, but little circles and the initial skirt rarely stick as they should. The issue appears to be that when it starts to extrude at a new location, it's not always close enough or extruding fast enough for the initial filament to stick and it gets lifted on the next pass. Other things stick just fine, it's just at these transitions where things lift a little. My bed is level and in general things are printing just fine. It's just the start/end of initial layers that tend to have problems and lift just enough to cause problems later.
If I lower my nozzle enough, I can get it to stick more reliably but then I have other problems because the first layer is so squished that the ridges rise and cause problems later.
I've read dozens of articles and tried all these things already:

Dried my filament
Adjusted my Z-offset (BLTouch)
Attempted to recalibrate my retraction settings
Replaced my nozzle, cleaned the hotend, and replaced the Bowden tube.
Tried different temperature settings
Cleaned the bed
Calibrated my E-steps and played around with flow rates further

It used to print fine, so I guess it could just be the filament but I'm hoping there's something I can still do. I'm using an Ender 3 v2 with a BLTouch, new springs, replaced Bowden tube and red metal extruder. Printing at 210 °C with 60 °C bed.

What type of print bed do you have? Glass, BuildTak, PEI? Printer model might also be helpful. Please update the question by [edit].

Would you mind editing your post to include some kind of picture aswell?

Try using 75 °C for the bed and 220 °C or highest recommended extrusion temperature for Sunlu PLA for the first layer, then lower the temperatures to 210 °C with 60 or 65 °C bed for subsequent layers.
Other options are Elmer's glue stick, a glue stick specified for a 3D printer bed, or hair spray.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give this a try. So far I've been working around the issue by lowering the nozzle and then raising it once the outlines are complete.

green tape is great too! :)


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Z-Probe height isn't working
I just upgraded my CR-10 to a 32-bit board with Marlin and a BLTouch for bed-leveling.
Here is my process:

Run bed-leveling and save setting to EEPROM
Make sure that software end-stops are off with S211 S0
Move Nozzle to Z = 0.1 mm
Use a .1 mm feeler gauge and baby-stepping to create a 0.1 mm nozzle height.
Save the baby-stepping value.
Run print.

The print then shoves the nozzle well below bed level and scratches up the bed.
I use the following G-code at the start of each print.  (Added by my slicer)
    G28 ; home all axes
    M420 S1 Z25; Enable Bed mesh leveling

What am I doing wrong?

Correct me if im wrong. I would think the G28 home command at the start of your Gcode will undo any calibration you did to baby step. Is the baby step value saved as a slicer offset? Or some other way?

Is there a better homing command to use?  How are others doing this?

All done by using the menu structure? You haven't send M851 Z... to the printer to store your offset?

I have an Ender 3 pro and BLTouch and the following procedure works for me, I'll post it because it should be quite the same for all the Creality printers:

First of all install Pronterface (from the PrintRun software suite), a program that let you interact with the printer from the PC.
Find a USB to mini-USB cable (the port on your printer should be a mini-USB) and connect the PC with the printer
Choose the right COM port between the PC and the printer (you can find the correct one opening the "device manager" on Windows and searching for "COM PORTS"
Then you can connect the printer with the PC and start to interact with it.
From the command line I send the following:

G28; (AUTO HOME)
G0 Z0; (Z AXIS move to ZERO)
M211 S0; (DISABLES ENDSTOPS)

Then you raise/lower the nozzle from the bed using the "buttons" on the left part of Pronterface, until you find the perfect height (use the piece of paper method). Usually I just calibrate the height in the middle of the bed and that's fair enough if you have leveled the complete bed manually.

When you have found the perfect height for the Z axis, input the following lines:

M114; (GET COORDINATES)
M851 Z[ insert z coordinate here -- see end of the answer ]
M211 S1; (ENABLES ENDSTOPS)
M500; (SAVE VALUES in MEMORY)

After that you should be done. Send again G28 and G0 Z0 to check if the printer head is now at the correct height: repeat the process above if it's not.

When you calculate the Z height in the M851 command, bear in mind that you have to do the following:
new Z height = old Z height + height corrections done in pronterface
For example: my old Z height was -0.2 , I lowered the nozzle by -0.5 with Pronterface (to get the nozzle closer to the bed), then my new Z height would be -0.7
My start G-CODE in Cura is:
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28
G29 ; Home all axes
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


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Acceptable temperature variation in heated bed
Ever since my original Creality CR-10S Pro heated bed quit and was replaced, I have had trouble with bed adhesion and printed first layer material warping using PLA and auto bed leveling.
I am getting bed temperature variation between 71 °C (160 °F) to 76 °C (169 °F) throughout the 320x310 mm bed.  Is this amount of temperature variation typical? I don't have any measured temperature variation data for the original heated bed, so don't have any reference data to compare.
Note: the manual (and about every internet site visited) suggested 60 °C for bed temperature for PLA, but I never could get any material adhesion until I raised the bed temperature to 80 °C using the stock heated bed. I have had no real issues with bed adhesion until the original heated bed died after about one year of heavy use with 10+ 1 kg filament reels.
Not sure how much more I can do to determine, what is suggested as "my bed adhesion problem".
Have tried everything:

painter tape worked the best, until trying to get the tape off of print
glass with dimples
glass with a glue stick
new bed sticker
cleaning after every print
varying print head height.

The only thing left is the filament. manufacture.
Through all my tests it takes 80 °C to get the first layer to stick and if I reduce temp to 60 °C after the first layer, the print comes off.   Could a poor performing set of fans cause this to occur?

What surface do you print on? Do you use adhesive? Do you clean and degrease the bed? The surface can change/degrade over time, there could be a contaminant. Also ambient temperature being cold can cause warping issues that aren’t there when it’s warm.

you can insulate the bottom of the bed to help uniformity. Also, pre-heating for longer should help. the corners will never be the exact same temp as the center, but 5deg is a bit on the high side for a difference. Also, that's WAY too hot, no wonder your old one gave out. Get one of those flexible magnetic build plate covers; those are way easy to adhere to, and you can drop your temp to 50 at the max.

80 °C is way too hot for the bed with PLA. The highest bed temperature you can use without serious deformation of the printed part is around the glass transition temperature of the material - 55-60 °C for PLA. And even that will seriously inhibit the cooling of layers near the bed. Below 40 °C or even unheated is ideal to avoid warping.
Go back to reasonable bed temperatures and figure out the root cause of your adhesion problem rather than trying to use heat as a workaround for poor adhesion. Maybe your surface is bad and needs to be replaced, or just in need of cleaning.


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How can I print a backlit keycap?
Using 3D printing I'd like to create a text oversized keycap that uses several strong LEDs to make the text light as red or green, depending on status.  It's quite similar to what are called annunciators on aircraft:

I'd like to create an MX keycap with this ability and size with the backlighting changing from green to red to indicate something is on or off. I understand including the MX connector in the center, but how would I print a black panel and leave the text transparent, or at least transluscent?

print everything in clear and color the non-text black.  Fairly easy if the text is raised or inset.

there are lots of ways.  some people even just put a piece of paper inside a clear box.

Welcome to 3D Printing SE and thank you for your contribution. When you get a chance, please take the [tour] to understand how the site works and how it is different than others.

Sorry, how do you mean? I did a lot of Googling and searching inside of Reddit and across SE (afaik at least). Am I missing something specific? I'd prefer to fit in with how things work,but if you could be a little more specific that'd be helpful.

If the key is the size of a regular (or even couple of) keyboard keys, I supect that most (sla) printers will have issues with the resolution needed for the text. Even with a 0,25 nozzle on a sla printer. Perhaps with a resin printer.

There are a few possible ways you could go about this:

If you have a multi-material printer, you may be able to print with both a transparent or translucent material for the internal structure of the print and an opaque material for the external parts of the print. PET(G) may be suitable for this purpose but is harder to print compared to standard PLA.
You can print the entire print in a translucent material, mask off the lettering at the front and spray paint the rest of the print.
You can create a multi-part print, where one outer 'shell' is printed in opaque filament, and another piece in translucent material, which will mate together after printing.
You can deboss the lettering of your print, and with the letters face down to the bed, print the first layers in an opaque material, and then swap filaments to a translucent material for the rest of the print, spray painting the upper parts of the print to match a uniform color, while leaving the bottom untouched.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to each method:

Requires that you have a (typically) expensive upgrade installed onto your machine, but would be the most straightforward way to go about this.
Requires precise masking of your letters to make them come out looking nice, but will give you sharper, more defined edges on the lettering.
Will require you to design for tolerances for the two parts, or add glue in the post-processing steps, But could be produced en masse with two printers, one for each material.
Can be a bit fiddly, and will possibly result in an undesired look, with the lettering being debossed into the part, But would be less complex than the other options.

Pick whichever method you wish, or try all of them to see which gives you the best results.

Cut the letters out of the key, so they print as holes all the way to the light source.  Print in black.
fill the holes with clear silicon caulk or leave empty.

I have a different plan.  What I did was get the resin keycap molds from Adafruit.
My plan is to print out the legend using black PLA (and obeying "stencil rules" for detachable parts), just the size of the keycap.  Then mold, using clear resin, the top part of the cap with the negative printout inside.  Cure under UV to get a thin (1 mm? 1.5 mm?) keycap.  Then mix up an opaque batch of resin, fill in the rest of the mold, and cure that under UV.


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Creality 4.2.7 problem connecting to Windows
I've had an Ender 5 for quite a while and it has worked phenomenally, but recently I had encountered a MIN_TEMP error so I ordered a new hotend and Creality silent board.
Because this is an Ender 5, I had to change the firmware from the default on the new board and I did that using VS Code. I changed all the parameters I need to but when I plugged in the printer to upload the code, the printer shows up under USB in device manager but with the error:

There are no compatible drivers for this device.

As a beginner, I have no idea what to do.

Welcome to SE.3DP! Out of curiosity, was the MIN_TEMP error persistent? Had you checked the cables/etc before ordering a replacement?

Just out of interest, which version of Windows? 7, 10, or something else (Win95)?

The MIN_TEMP error was persistent. I replaced the hot end and double checked the wiring but my hotend temperature read as -14C.

yep, that sounds about right. -15c is the default for a disconnected thermo

@Greenonline Windows 10

By default, Windows does not come packaged with drivers for the CH340 USB Serial chipset the Creality Silent board has installed. To get your computer to properly recognize the printer, you will need to install the CH340 Driver software from WCH's website. (the company that manufactures the CH340 chip)
As of August 2021, the download for the drivers can be found at:
http://www.wch-ic.com/downloads/CH341SER_EXE.html

Ironically, I have found that Windows 7 works well with the dreaded CH340, whereas it is usually OS X and Macs that refuse to play ball correctly with the CH340, and require additional drivers.


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My 3D printer shows inbuilt designs, but my designs are invisible
My designs are invisible on 3D printer LCD screen, i.e. the name of my design is showing up, but the part is missing and if I slice it with the software given by the 3D-printer company it works, but if I use any other slicer like Cura or Matter Control, it's not working.
I'm unable to add images as I'm new here.
I have a Tronxy X5SA 3D printer with a touch display.
I contacted the company, but they can't understand my issue, that's why seeking your help.

You should be able to add images now, as your reputation is greater than 10. It would be interesting to see the issue that you are describing, and may help others with a similar issue.

Install the "Chitu code" plugin from the Cura website, some companies use the Chitu board as their printer's CPU and Tronxy does that. Without the plugin, it won't show a preview of your design and also it won't print.