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Diagnosing sudden problem with hotend temperature
I'm using a 65W heater cartridge and T-D500 type NTC thermistor. This setup has been working fine since I installed it sometime last year. Suddenly today, the temperature reading started jumping around 5-25° below the set temperature, but only while printing. It holds temperature solid at idle, and PID autotune produces numbers like normal.
How should I go about diagnosing what component is bad? Is it necessarily the cartridge or thermistor (or rather their wiring) or could it be noise or voltage instability or something else?

This isn't a complete diagnostic procedure, but what worked for me.
After asking around and thinking about the magnitude of the fluctuations, a bad heater cartridge or bad connection to the heater cartridge didn't make a lot of sense, even at 25 mm³/s flow and over 300 °C where I was experiencing the problems. To try to confirm this, I went back and tried a print at 250 °C. I also measured the cartridge resistance and found it about 1 ohm high (underperforming) but this was nowhere near enough to explain any problems.
Since the thermistor seemed the most likely culprit, I then disassembled the toolhead to check its mounting and possibly replace it. It was still firmly mounted, and had no visible damage to the wiring, which is protected by a spring coil. Since my block has an attachment point for the glass bead style thermistor too, I found my original Creality-issue one of those and attached it too. After putting things back together and switching configuration to accept the old thermistor, I was able to make test prints without the rapidly fluctuating temperature readings. Over 300, there's still some fluctuation, but that seems to be accounted for by the very low resistance (and thereby low measurement precision) the 100k has at these temperatures, where 1 ohm is more than a 5 °C difference and the ADC resolution is only something like 1/16 of an ohm.
So, it seems to be a bad thermistor.
Update: After limping along for a good while on the 100k NTC thermistor bead, I finally disassembled everything to replace the T-D500, and immediately found the culprit. The wires to thermistor are not a single piece, but were sloppily solder-joined and heat-shrink-wrapped by the vendor(/reseller?) a few centimeters from the thermistor. This exact point in my wire harness was somewhat strained at the point where it exited between the hotend enclosure and extruder body, and apparently suffered a hairline crack that fell apart completely during disassembly:

To make it easier to switch thermistors in the future if I need to, and since I was needing to learn crimping, I put JST-XH connectors on both sides where it was broken, and shifted the junction to sit inside the enclosure but away from the heater block. It's now fully operational again, and the replacement I purchased is still sitting in its bag as a spare.

Well, it could be a bad thermosensor...
Bad Thermosensors do show themselves in multiple ways, among them fluctuating their readings before fully failing.
Thermosensors have ranges
Every thermosensor comes with a range for which it actually can operate reliably. For example, the TS2289 is rated for -40 to 90 °C, and thus would be not usable for a 3D printer at all, while TS2452 is rated for -100 to 600 °C.
The glass bead sensor on a Creality Ender3 is a ntc 100k thermistor. That is only a class, and it contains multiple entries. This is not actually a specific sensor but a class that contains multiple sensors. For example, NTC 3950 is listed as -40 to 300 °C, which means it might be barely useable in that area, yet there might be larger fluctuations than normal as the resolution at the ends of the measuring range gets higher. In about the same dimensions, you might however also get a very similar sensor like thos from the Datasheet of the NTC Type BR Series. This document lists BR11/14/16/25 with a ceiling of 200 °C and B32/42/55 with a ceiling of 300 °C, all of which are in a very similar size range.
Not all sensors are glass-bead style, like the standard e3D v6 Thermosensor cartridge, which is listed as a Semitec 104NT thermistor the ceiling listed as 300 °C, but the same form factor also fits other cartridges. The sensor listed by e3D actually does come as a glass bead style too, listed as -50 to 300 °C
Such other sensors might be PT100B or PT1000 are claimed to accurately work up to 450 °C and might operate reliably even at 500 °C. A similar E3D Thermosensor is the PT100, and would also operate fine in that range.
Simply put: to reliably print at those high temperatures, you might want to change the thermosensor for a type that actually does operate reliably in those high-temperature areas.
P.S.
I do not use the word thermistor (or thermocouple) here, because those describe specific types of sensor. The more generic term Thermosensor describes anything from a simple thermometer, over thermistors and thermocouples to an IR sensor.

As written in the question, "and T-D500 type NTC thermistor". This is rated for up to 500 °C.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE have you compared the outcome of the two thermosensors? that's how you notice if oue is bad

When not printing, they match pretty much exactly. In motion, the 100k works fine up to ~290 and as well as can be expected above that (too little ADC precision for the PID loop to track it well) but the T-D500's resistance jumps all over the place.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE sounds like that particular sensor failed...

Yes, that's what my question and self-answer seem to indicate. I have a replacement unit now but still haven't installed it because installation is a bit invasive. I'll follow up when I do as to whether things are 100% back to normal.


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Any suggestions on problems with viscosity?
I just started resin printing in order to build enclosures for my little microcontroller projects. Sadly, I am having trouble getting good, planar, rectangular objects to print.
Background: I have no prior experience with filament or resin printing. I chose resin over filament for its higher precision, which I will need in future projects. I bought a well-recommended, popular 4K monochrome LCD printer. I was unwise in selecting a translucent resin for my learning-curve projects, but the first project required color. (Note to self: try paint.)
My first three prints were throw-aways as I learned the essentials. The first print was pretty encouraging, but I used no supports (the first 'essential') and it split during removal from the adhesion plate. The next two suffered drop-outs due to underexposure; a careful cleaning of the FEP was done after each to remove the pancaked material left behind.
Print 004 was promising, but had a rounded (drooping) corner and signs of pooling on the top of the rectangle. For print 005 I added more supports to that corner, thinned the rest out to increase drainage, and reduced exposure in hopes that this would avoid 'freezing' resin on the upper surface.
I seek advice on this pooling problem. Photo below. Print 005 shows 'waves', much like windswept water, 'above' each support point. The interior surfaces which were "face down" during printing are all pleasingly smooth and planar.
Elbow grease and 220-320-400 sandpaper can produce a more finished look; print 004 has been sanded and is on the left edge of the photo. But I really should only need to do a very light sanding, and then only to buff out tiny remnants of the supports, correct?
These objects were printed with 5mm lift and ~35 deg. tilt on both X and Y, lower-right corner first, upper-left last.
After reviewing my post, I suspect I need a lower exposure time.. but.. those drop-outs..
Thanks for your time,
Regards.
PS: I neglected to mention that I do wash the prints before sun-curing them. I remove them from the build plate (with due caution), immerse them in about 2cm of IPA, agitate for 15-30 seconds, remove and rinse with non-chlorinated water.

Can you include screenshot from the slicer, so we can see what orientation and supports you are using? Printer model and resin brand and type could also help. So could temperature in the room.

I am using an Anycubic Photon M3, but can only find Creality resins locally. This series of prints used their Standard Plus Transparent Blue. Unfortunately, I have overridden the slicer scene used above; I tried other orientations in the days since. As mentioned, the above (print 005) was tilted about 35/35/0 . I had hoped the uncured resin would run off between the support tips, and the Z=0 put the vertical edges right along pixel boundaries in hopes of obtaining the smoothest surfaces. I've tried about eight orientations now, and I think you're right: this is not a good subject for resin.

PS: my first print was done flat to the build plate (X/Y/Z/lift : 0/0/0/0) because I had not yet learned about supports. It looked promising - perhaps a tad undercured, and a bit of vacuum lock - but could not be separated from the build plate without fracturing.

Temperature: Prints 000 - 005 were done in a room about 65 degrees F (18.3C). I moved the printer to a small room with a heater, preheated the bottle of resin, and did a few prints at 75F/23.9C . All failed. I tried black resin, other exposures, inspected my FEP for resin or damage, and tried some more extreme orientations. I just think this enclosure isn't meant to be resin printed. 1.5mm thickness walls, 68x78x11.5mm WxLxH . It's just too flimsy during the print.

Side with supports will always be deformed, at least a bit. Resin printer prints upside down. It pulls on the supports to lift the print from the FEP. But when you print a big flat surface, first layer is only barely cured, and very thin. It acts more like a tablecloth than a plywood. Supports at this stage are also very soft. Imagine you are trying to lift a tablecloth from a table, using only attached strings. How many strings do you need, to be sure tablecloth will not deform? The answer is, it can't be done.
So how to get a flat surface? There are couple of ways.

Print it directly on the bed. Bottom layers exposure must be dialed in just right for print not to fail, but be easy to remove when it's done.

Put side you want to be pretty at the bottom of the print, facing FEP. It'll be shown to be on top on the slicer, because printer works upside down. If ugly side is never to be seen, you don't have to sand it.

Tilt your print 45°. That way you will not need supports on the surface, as now it's printed in many narrow stripes, one built on another, and not as a couple of tablecloths. You would still need some on the edges, especially bottom one for load bearing and on others for support, but significantly less than printing flat.

What method do I use? All of them. I try to design my boxes with a small 45° bevel on the bottom. That way, when I tilt them 45° (point 3) with most important side away from the platform (point 2) I have a flat surface I can put directly on the platform. One that will hardly be seen, so little elephant foot won't bother me that much. Or, more recently, I use a filament printer, boxes are easier to print on them, in my personal experience.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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What is the Fade Height option in Marlin?
Going through the printer options, I came across the Fade Height option under Bed Leveling section.

What is it and what is its use in Marlin firmware?

Fade Height is used to specify the height above the bed at which the printer should stop fading the bed leveling correction. Bed leveling is gradually decreasing with each successive layer until fade height is reached. From this height, bed leveling compensation becomes turned off.

For example, if the bed is slightly warped or uneven, the printer may need to compensate by lowering the nozzle at the center of the bed but less so near the edges of the bed. By setting Fade height, the printer will gradually decrease the correction as it moves away from the center of the bed, resulting in more accurate print.

According to Marlin docs:

With Fade height enabled, bed leveling correction is gradually reduced as the nozzle gets closer to the Fade height. Above the Fade height no bed leveling compensation is applied at all, so movement is machine true.

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


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What's the most likely source of this warpage?
I've asked about this first printing project of mine before, and made progress in exposure, orientation, and supports. But as the photo shows, something is still causing the objects to warp (badly) during printing. They looked like this as soon as the build plate lifted and the job was done. I cured them right on the plate to avoid introducing any more warp during removal.
I don't know if large, thin-walled objects are just prone to this in resin printing - if so, I'll need to rethink my design.
The irregular thickening around the supports (left sides) is another topic I have open, so this question is just about the warping.
Do ask for any details you would like to help the discussion.
Regards!
The results, and their print orientation:


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The print broke into tangled filaments
I've just got an Ender-3 Pro printer and set it up according to general recommendations, including bed leveling (I used the "paper in the corners" technique). The test model that comes with the printer (a lucky cat figure) came out perfectly.
After that, I tried to print this model - Cat Stretch. I saw in the comments that others printed it successfully without support on the same printer, so I didn't add it.
Initially, everything was fine and the legs were printed ok, but the print broke into tangled filaments at some point.

Could somebody please advise what could have gone wrong?

Was the print detached from the bed? Was it loose when you found it?

It was still attached when I noticed that it fell apart.

All legs were attached? Or the back legs came off? I don't see them in this picture. Can you share this G-code file?

Well, it was a pretty big mess, so hard to remember, but probably yes, the hind legs could be deattached. And I just noticed that for some reason the bed leveling became completely wrong and two prints 8(). I didn't touch the knobs for sure, but the nozzle started to touch the bed and scratched it in some places. I re-adjusted it and am printing the test cube now.

Such a small model has a very low contact surface with the bed. You can try to print it with brim. These back legs can be problematic to print without such a low contact with the bed.

Thank you for the suggestion, I will try to print it this way. Here is the model: https://www.sendspace.com/file/v5cujx
I'm still wondering why the bed became so misaligned after the printing of that cat. As long as I didn't touch the leveling knobs, could it be the Z-motor positioning that went wrong?

As it was suggested by @kosteklvp the problem was most likely caused by the detachment of the hind legs from the base. I added a brim and it helped.


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With remesh tool in Meshmixer; What happens to the details of the model?
I have an organic but more complex STL model. It is so detailed and every detail is important to us.
We have a remesh tool in Meshmixer. It says:

With Meshmixer, you can create an even tessellation using the Remesh command. Click the Select Icon in the menu and click to create an area to be remeshed, or use Ctrl + A to select the entire object. On the Popup menu, click Edit → Remesh or hit R.

Question:
When applying this tool to my STL model, does it happen that any detail will be gone off? Or, will I get same complex model?

While doing this, you may encounter the loss of details. To avoid this, precise settings must be made. For example,

Adaptive Size: This option can be used to configure large surfaces and preserve small details.

Detail Smoothing :With this process, a more detailed examination of the surface is checked. This option must be enabled.

Target Triangle Count:It is used to increase the number of triangles that will divide the surface as the mesh operation is repeated. Using this, the more triangles we can cover the surface, the more detailed information can be obtained.

Hi there. Thanks for helping and contributing to the site. Unfortunately, some of your suggested edits were rejected as they actually changed, or removed, parts of the OP's question, or removed things that, while weren't strictly necessary, did no harm in being there. Admittedly, editing can be a bit of a fine art. However, looking for things to edit in old posts, on a small site such as this, will be fruitless as most posts have already been reviewed by many in the community already. Checking new posts is the best option, as these will not have been reviewed much yet..

If you need some tips, please read this post on our "meta" site: Useful things to check for when cleaning up posts

Furthermore, if too many of your edits are rejected the SE system will think you are deliberately sabotaging the system and you will get a temporary ban. Please read the shared link from @Greenonline in the previous comment if you want to help us out tidying up the site.


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How graduate the correct belt tension
I moved a little the belt tension, and now the last layer is awful and weird. How I will know the correct tension? My printer is a custom BLV 220 x 220 x 280.
I think and I am almost sure, that this happened because the filament got a little tangled in the profile where I put the spool of it while printing, but, last week this happened, and since that moment, it has been having problems, which I am going to show and explain.
The top-left corner, after I started to change the tension belt, was worst, because the corner was more pronounced, pulling as elongated, in the image you can see a little, but it was worse the last few days.
And now, the rectangle orange, is new, because yesterday I changed the tension belt, and the last layer is like I show in the image.

At this moment, I am testing different tension, but the result is worse.

What do you mean by "graduate", I don't understand the context, but I'm not native English speaking. Know that belt tension is not very critical unless it is a CoreXY. Looking at the images you seem to have a problem with layer shifting. It could be beneficial to add photos of you setup and a view of the belt and how it is connected to the hotend carriage.

@0scarHi, I am from Colombia, I talked to the person who assemble the machine, so I follow his instructions, like check the belt tension, and can solve at the moment, is not the best result, but having a scale from 1 to 10, now is 9

Belt tension is usually not a big issue, unless it is too loose (positioning or backlash issues) or too tight (hardware issues, high resistance). Judging your images, you are probably having other problems.

Experienced users of the printers just know it by feel, but for newbies there are apps for Android, like:
Belt tension meter (Newtons)
Easy Tension (lbf)
There are probably iPhone apps like that, I don't know them personally.
You measure and enter dimensions of your belt mechanism (as instructed by the app), then "strum" the belt (like a guitar string) within reach of your phone's microphone, and the app converts the frequency to force in Newtons or Pounds Force.
The "best" tension varies from printer to printer, but generally falls between 15N and 25N (~3.5 - 6 lbf); if you don't know what is best on your printer, going with 20N/4.5lbf is a safe bet that will produce reasonable results.

Wow, interesting explanation and the apps I didn't know about that. At the moment I solved the problem, the result is not the better, but at least work close to the normal print result.


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Ender 3 S1 Pro – Z offset keeps changing
I have recently bought an Ender 3 S1 Pro and it has been a bit of a hit and miss so far. My main problem has been the Z offset. It keeps changing between prints. The first print turns out okay and then when I print the same thing again it just breaks.
I followed the steps for method one from

to level the X axis gantry which made things much better. For a while. But just recently a print failed after about half an hour. It seemed like the printer got the Z-offset wrong because the layers just wouldn't stick any more. I aborted the print and did a height map calibration:

And this how it went. The printer also made some stuttering sounds when probing the plate at the far right.
I'm using Klipper with MainsailOS instead of the stock firmware. I have updated everything to the latest available version.
It seems like I need to make some adjustments, but I'm not sure what to do. Should I try to adjust the X-gantry again? I have levelled the bed and the four corners are pretty much level. I'm also using this model to get a good enough first layer. And that works, but only for one print. Then I have to redo the Z-offset calibration as well as perform the height map calibration. I don't think I should have to do that every time? The printer is placed in a stable location and I'm not moving it between prints. I also clean the bed with IPA before each print. And I have a PEI plate.
So I'm wondering what I should try to to adjust/tweak/calibrate to get the printer to work reliably?

Try tightening the eccentric nuts on the Y carriage, they were lose on mine from factory which was causing it to rock side-to-side so made bed leveling impossible.


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What could cause delamination in the raft?
I got a brand new Anycubic Photon Mono 4k about a week ago. Printer is new, FEP is clean, it was a fresh load of Anycubic Standard+ resin.
I got a couple of good prints, including perfect Cones of Calibration, miniatures etc, just things you print in your first week (I had Photon S before). This time I tried to print big, but flat and hollowed out model. Think vault door from Fallout. It was too big to print flat, so I tried standard 45°, heavy support, 90% automatic support density and then some when I felt like. About 5% in the print I noticed something weird, cancelled print, and that's how it looked like.
It delaminated in the middle of the raft. I guess it was just after bottom layers.
So, what could be the cause, and how can I prevent it from happening again?

Of course it's only now it is on the drip hanger, I printed it normally. I printed similar models on Anycubic Photon S previously and it usually worked, so whatever error I made here, it's something that probably didn't matter on older machine?
I had delamination previously, but never in the raft.
My exposure was tested, seems perfect, and other delamination advice seems not applicable for delamination inside the raft.

I'm not sure what exactly was the problem, but setting Transition Layers Count to 8 apparently solved it. I have no more fails since I did that, and one failure when I tried printing without them, for experimental purposes.
I would love to see an explanation of the mechanisms of this error, for now I share what worked for me.


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Print failure due to heater inconsistency
After encountering an issue where the original heater cartridge (~40 W) for my generic MK6 hotend was unable to reach/maintain stable temperature at ~260 °C (for PETG) I replaced it with a higher wattage heater (60 W). The new heater heats up faster and can maintain temperature, but I noticed that if I try to print too fast it will become unstable and the printer stops with a heater error, even with a lower temperature of 250 °C. This can be seen in the temperature plot below.
I have performed PID tuning (see the nicely flat spots on the temperature plot), so I don't think that's the issue. The thermistor is well-secured to the block.
I am using a BTT SKR Pico V1.0 control board with Klipper over UART to a Raspberry Pi A3.
Does anyone have experience with an issue like this? Could it be that the SKR Pico is not supplying sufficient power while also running the motors and heated bed?

This is very similar to what I recently experienced in the question Diagnosing sudden problem with hotend temperature, where the root cause seems to have been a bad thermistor - internal conductors probably broken in a way that they intermittently make reduced contact during toolhead motion. But I didn't have a problem while heating like your graph shows, only during motion, so it's also plausible that the wiring to the heater is bad. Since these aren't expensive components it might make sense to just replace the thermistor, heater cartridge, and any asssociated wiring if you don't want to spend time fighting with the problem.

I think you're right. After replacing the thermistor the readings are stable again.


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MMU2S continued print after filament swap faillure
I had an odd failure case today. I've been trying to print a successful model with my newly installed MMU2S on a MK3S+ - specifically this one which seems to be a popular first print.
https://www.printables.com/model/2364-sheep-multi-material
Before printing I've re-calibrated the Z axis, did a first layer + belt tests. The printer (when it gets material to the nozzle at the right rate) is printing as well as it ever did. I re-checked and cleaned all the bondtech gears in the MMU2 with a pin, the idler screws are fairly loose as I had a lot of grinding initially. Both filaments load correctly, at least via the printer menu. I've also checked the filament IR sensor and the FINDA, and they seem fine. I'm using fresh filament as I found old PLA was too brittle and would often snap.
I've had two main issues during the print.

Using the gcode supplied, at the first filament swap the print fails. The nozzle pauses over the purge block, there's a lot of back/forth with the MMU and eventually it just dumps a huge blob of filament in-place. It's not clear what's causing this aside from the obvious - the extruder is activated and the nozzle isn't moving. I've tried this twice with the same failure and I've also seen it happen on print start, before the purge line begins.

Using my own gcode from Prusa Slicer from the 3mf, the print got probably halfway. Plenty of filament swaps, so I thought we were onto a winner. However, at some point either an unload or a load failed and rather than halting the print, it just continued... The error message that the MMU2 filament load failed was actually displayed on the LCD while the printer was going. At least part of the problem was that the nozzle was cold (I don't know why it cooled at all, unless it was an E-stop because the load wasn't fixed in time). Not sure if this was an issue with Octoprint still sending commands or something else, but I would expect the printer to refuse gcode until the error on the MMU is cleared. I'll try again direct from the SD card.

Are there any common problems which would cause either of these? Given the successful reviews, I would expect the GCode to work out of the box (indeed the first bit of the model is fine). I re-checked the IR sensor and it reliably triggers with an the 2.5mm hex key. It's pretty stiff forcing the gears apart, but it's the same in Prusa's debugging video.
Even more odd is that during the second print, I was using an old spool which snapped quite early on. I was able to swap in a fresh spool, and the mid-print reload worked without any real problems. So the system clearly can respond and recover from an error state, but maybe I hit some other bug.
I am using a piece of Capricorn tubing to replace the MMU2 -> Extruder section, but I used the provided one as a reference so I don't think that should be an issue (also if the printer is using the sensors to detect extrusion length then it shouldn't matter anyway). Also when I generated the gcode myself, most of the swaps completed fine. Also given how long the print got, it seems like drag isn't likely to be an issue.


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Is it a bad idea to run 24 V to 12 V step down to heated bed?
I've got a 12 V bed (MK2A) and a 24 V PSU (Meanwell 350). I've also got a 12-24 V Einsy Rambo controller, and I'd like to run my hotend at 24 V. My HEVO is still in development, so when I tested the bed, anything over 32 °C restarted the board (I forgot it was 12 V).
Must be a voltage drop from the bed draw? The Einsy has a dedicated rail for the bed, so I was thinking I could use a dropdown converter between the PSU and the board rail. So I could continue to run the 24 V PSU for everything else and 12 V for the bed. Is it a bad idea from a safety perspective to run a simple 24 V->12 V converter in line there?
Also, what would that do to my amperage, I read something about converting volts down causing high amps and wattages requirements. Is that true?
UPDATE:
I wanted to check if changing the bed config in Marlin would allow me to reduce the voltage and it appears that if I change MAX_BED_POWER to 127 (half) I can indeed run the bed as is.  I can bring it up to 70 degrees at least at the moment. Admittedly I'm not sure what this does exactly and if this is safe.  Thoughts?
This thread appears to discuss exactly my problem and my temporary solution with MAX_BED_POWER limit too.
https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,252638
Here's a similar discussion

Just wanted to ask why. It seems to me that 24V bed cost about as much as a decent step-down with power headroom.

Yeah, just about.  I think I can get step down for about 15 to 20 bucks on AMZN and about $25+ for 24 V bed.  But then I have to get new flex plate, magnet, etc. and about an hour or two of extra work.  ;).  Also, just curious to see what folks here say.

It depends on how much the amperage is of the bed and how much the step-down converter can deliver. Could you add what
converter you'll be using?

like for example, this one seems reasonable. https://www.amazon.com/EPBOWPT-Converter-Regulator-Voltage-Transformer/dp/B07V6X6L89 I think I'm using the original mk2a which should be about 10A https://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Heatbed#MK2.2C_MK2a Einsy has 15 A fuse for the bed.

It will come with issues

Efficiency of good step down converters is 90%. Cheap ones used to start at 70%. What that means is:

Additional strain on your PSU and control board.
More heat to dissipate, that'll go to waste unless you have a closed chamber and print in things that requires high temperatures.
Higher electricity bill than it needs to be.

Additional point of failure:

You will spend more time building and debugging your device.
Higher risk of failed prints in the future.
More difficult repairs.

Lower voltage means thicker or hotter cables.

Hotter is wasteful and can be dangerous.
Stiffer is bad for bedslinger designs.

It is your choice if you are OK with these drawbacks. I would not, but none of these screams "don't do it!". It's quite probable that you will be able to pull it off and make a decent printer.

good points, thanks. currently in a HEVO, which is a corexy, so not too much strain on the 16 AWG solid wire.  i'm probs just gonna get a 24V,  to be safe.

@4m1r With 16 AWG solid cables and corexy you can safely ignore point 3.

Let's add there's a reason why people get heat beds that run on 230V AC. Startup time. Stemming from all the mentioned limitations, the 12V bed will heat up much slower than a 24V would (and vastly slower than a 230V one would). It's the pre-heat/start-up time, adding sometimes good 10 minutes to each print at the beginning - meaning you need to wait the 10min before 1st layer starts printing and you can verify adhesion is alright and leave the print alone and go do something else.

yep.  found an mk2b 24V for about $12. worth it.  thanks!


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How to sync settings of Chitubox between computers?
I tuned my print settings pretty good. Prints no longer fail, details are as good as it gets, all nice and dandy.
Problem is, I did it on my laptop. And it lacks both RAM and brute CPU force for big, detailed models. I don't want to go over it all by hand because, knowing my luck, I would miss something. So, how can I transfer ALL setting? Support contact sizes, resin profiles, all that? And better yet, how can I keep them in sync?


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Help needed with weird corner issue in prusa slicer
I've been dealing with 3D printing for a few weeks now. I'm trying to figure what is wrong with my print sliced in PrusaSlicer. Here's how the filleted bottom of my cube should look like:

Now, this is how it turns out, sliced with PrusaSlicer:

and here's how Cura does it, not a perfection but much closer to the required:

I'm printing on an Ender3 S1 Pro with Klipper, 0.4@nbsp;mm, pressure advance and input shaping calibrated. Both slicers are roughly the same settings: 0.2@nbsp;mm, 130@nbsp;mm/s inner perimeters, 100@nbsp;mm/s outer ones. I want to be using PrusaSlicer for it has some special features compared to Cura.
The same cube without a fillet, turns out absolute perfection.

Does PrusaSlicer have different layer heights set for that corner?


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How to fix "SD Init Fail" on Ender 3
My Ender 3 is showing SD Init Fail when the sd card is inserted. I tried rebooting, reformating the card etc. At first, I thought the card is damaged, so I bought a new card. Still the same. I can use the card with the computer without any problem.
Also, I tried to print from Cura 5.3.0. But the printer is not detected.
What could be the reason? Since the SD card is not detected, I can't even flash the firmware

A possible fix that worked for me is to convert your SD card from GPT to MBR.
Modern systems will usually initialize them in GPT, which seems to be incompatible with Creality boards.
At least with my 4.2.7 board, this was the solution. And obviously, it has to be formatted in FAT32.
Instructions on how to do it are available at Convert a GPT disk into an MBR disk.
I think it's worth a try.

I had a similar issue with an old Ender-2 from 2019.
In my case, this happened because I was using fancy 32 GB, Class 10 or UHS 2 SD cards. It stopped happening when I started using a cheap 512 MB, no class visible card.
Try at least using a card with lower capacity, like maximum 2 GB and see what happens.
You can also try using short names with no spaces for the G-code files, and leaving more free space on the SD card.
If the problem is still happening, then it might be a SW issue.
Obviously, you can't flash via SD if the card is not detected, but this is likely solvable by upgrading the Marlin version (the factory version may be really old!) or just flashing a clean build.
One way to flash the Firmware without the card could be by using an ISP or an ISP-USB cable.

Copying all the files to my computer and then reformatting the microSD as FAT32 worked for my 3D printer.


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Inner layers separating specially on the top
I've been facing an issue with my 3d printer for the past couple of months: My inner layers are not sticking together when I print something vertically.
I'm trying to print white PLA at 200ºC with the following Cura settings on an Ender 5 Pro:

Here's the result:

I've tampered with my settings a bit, but still, it doesn't seem to make any difference.
I'm pretty convinced it's a setting issue... Any idea?

Make sure to check your temperature sensors. Examine their position and ensure they are in the correct place (no shifting or bending). Lastly, if you have made any changes in the filament brand or model, you may have encountered this issue. Filaments that have been exposed to air or have become stale do not produce reliable prints.

You did not mention your line width...
From the print effects I do reckon that you are printing your model with a line width of 0.4 mm from a 0.4 mm nozzle. Due to the physical properties of different filaments, this can result in lines that are actually more narrow than demanded, resulting in delamination of walls like shown.
To work against all those problems, it is usually best to demand the printer to print lines about 10 % wider than the nozzle, e.g. 0.45 mm.


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Creating 3D printed individual LED diffuse covers
What kind of 3D printer (filament vs resin) and what kind of filament is recommended for individual LED diffusing?
The issue is that I am using a WS2812B-2020 LEDs (2mm x 2mm) so the size of my prints are quite tiny.
I am looking for a semi-opaque/frosted finish like on an LED strip diffuser.
For reference, I found a Youtube video which uses a regular filament printer with 0% infill, LED Mood Lamp:

If you want just covers - thin surfaces - then the printer choice doesn't matter. FDM with textured bed will give you neatly textured surface on the first layer (so if you print them upside-down, which would be the intuitive observation, that will be the outer surface), but in either case you can achieve the matte finish with some sandpaper.
Also, you don't even need transparent filament, just make the "diffuser surface" 1-2 layers thick and LEDs will shine through just fine, through any not-too-dark filament, if a little dim. You can even integrate the pockets in the chassis, printing everything in one go, most of chassis thick, "LED windows" 1-2 layers thin, no multiple materials, no multiple parts needed.
The case is different if you want fibre optic guides for the lights - LEDs located a good distance from where the glow is expected to appear. That requires high internal transparency and smooth surface to guide the reflections. In that case resin is vastly superior, allowing for truly transparent prints - FDM will create a bunch of imperfections at layer interface.
OTOH there is a technique - print just the small diffuser, then use heat to weld a piece of the transparent filament to the back side of it, bend the filament to shape (using heat) to fit the LED-diffuser path, then polish the end surface (where it takes the LED light in) to smooth finish. Unprocessed filament like that acts as decent optic fibres.

My suggestion here is that you should work with a 3D printer that operates with powdered material, even if it is expensive. You can take a look at this link, Ultrasint PP 3D Printer Powder, for some ideas.
The printing material you will use will emit a much smoother light within the LED as it is printed in very thin layers.

The cube in this photograph has been made using the sintering technique, and the material used is PA2200. We printed with a powder 3D printer that we use in my company.


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Create a 3D-Model out of a 2D-Stack of microscopic planes and analyze it according to volume, side faces and number?
for my graduation project I have to compare cells in a 3D- Model to one another in regard of their volume, side faces and the corresponding forms and their numbers.
First, I have about 300 Tif-Files of microscopic planes of cells (black and white) that I want to create a 3D-Model orientating on the cell membranes.
Second, I need a code or program that can differentiate the cell membrane (white to grey in TIF) from the cytoplasm (black in TIF), kind of trace it and then analyze the volumina of each cell and side faces in regard to their forms (what types of polygons they resemble) and the number of each form in the whole 3D-Stack (not bound to the cells where they occur, just a numeric listing).
Can you recommend a program for these problems? Or for the individual programms?
I am unfortunately not very knowledgeable in this field and would greatly appreciate your advice.

I'm not sure that this is particularly related to 3D printing

Could you please clarify the relation to 3D printing? Furthermore, recommendations for a software are out of scope for SE sites other than hardware or sofware recommendation SE's.

In 3D printing, the opposite is usually the desired project, that is, to take a solid and slice it into layers. Many options abound in that respect.
For your objective, one might arbitrarily assign a thickness to each layer in order to provide for the third dimension and cluster each layer appropriately.
One can possibly use a program known as OpenSCAD, free multi-platform. The code that comes to mind is to import the bitmap (which will have to be converted to SVG) and use linear_extrude() to create a thickness. Each image will then be translated in the z-axis to stack them with a minimal overlap to ensure manifold status (required for 3D models). The overlap can be as small as 0.0625 to minimize the overall effect, which can match the extrusion thickness as appropriate.
OpenSCAD uses implicit union to form the complete model, creating a result of one cell structure.
I see complications in that your TIFF file is grey scale and the process I describe is two-bit, black and white. If you can convert the bitmap to SVG and filter out by a threshold value, it may work.
OpenSCAD supports scripting but I think the key factor will be greyscale to two-bit and whether you can separate the images you have in a manner suitable for your objective.
To that end, consider to post in the graphic design SE for a suitable program and/or method to solve the bitmap problem. Alignment of each layer is going to be based on the position in the original bitmap and the subsequent SVG file creation. If they are not properly aligned, some manual adjustment may be required.

+1 for OpenSCAD. The classic admesh utility might be useful for some analysis of the output, too.

Your problem can be solved by the "Marching cubes" algorithm and is more appropriately placed in a 3D modeling stack exchange.
Here is an answer to a similar question about constructing 3D models from CT-scans: Conversion of DICOM files to STL files


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Klipper M204 macro query
It is my vague understanding that the following macro somehow controls acceleration and accel to decel.

How do I set the speed I want for say, acceleration in this macro?

If acceleration is set in this macro and also set in a slicer like Cura, which value will end up being implemented?

I would greatly appreciate it if someone were to walk me through whats happening in the macro conditional. I have experience with php bot nil with Python.
[gcode_macro M204]
rename_existing: M204.1
gcode:
  {% set f = params.F|default(0.5)|float %}

  {% if 'S' in params %}
    {% set s = params.S|float %}
    SET_VELOCITY_LIMIT ACCEL={s} ACCEL_TO_DECEL={ s * f }
  {% else %}
    {% if 'P' in params %}
  {% set p = params.P|float %}
  {% if 'T' in params %}
    {% set t = params.T|float %}
    {% if p < t %}
      SET_VELOCITY_LIMIT ACCEL={p} ACCEL_TO_DECEL={ p * f }
    {% else %}
      SET_VELOCITY_LIMIT ACCEL={t} ACCEL_TO_DECEL={ t * f }
    {% endif %}
  {% else %}
    SET_VELOCITY_LIMIT ACCEL={p} ACCEL_TO_DECEL={ p * f }
  {% endif %}
{% elif 'T' in params %}
  {% set t = params.T|float %}
  SET_VELOCITY_LIMIT ACCEL={t} ACCEL_TO_DECEL={ t * f }
{% endif %}
{% endif %}

The M204 command is how gcode sets the acceleration for moves that follow (up until the next M204 command changes it). This command appears in gcode generated by a slicer with "acceleration control" enabled. You can also write it manually in your start gcode (not very useful unless acceleration control is off, since the first slicer-emitted M204 will override it, but may be useful for priming line, etc.) or send it manually over a terminal session/via Octoprint terminal/etc.
The macro you're looking at overrides the M204 command and replaces it with one that does several things:

Does an over-complicated staircase of if/else clauses to accept the Marlin P and T parameters to the M204 command for separate print and travel accelerations, but then ignores them and just uses the min of the two.

Accepts a new F parameter (likely meaning factor) and sets Klipper's "accel to decel" setting to this factor times the requested acceleration. This allows "accel to decel" to be kept consistently to whatever the desired percentage of the acceleration limit is, even under changes in acceleration.

Aside from the if/else staircase being a mess, this macro fails to save the factor passed by F, so unless the slicer knows to emit F each time it emits an M204 command, it's always going to be resetting the factor to 0.5 (the default above) each time acceleration changes. Klipper allows definition of persistent variables for gcode macros; this is probably what the author intended to do but didn't know how to do.
Overall, the above looks not-very-useful. "Accel to decel" is a questionable feature to begin with, and with input shaper, it arguably just makes your prints a lot slower with no benefit. The modern recommendation of most folks is that you just set max_accel_to_decel to 999999999 in your configuration to turn it off, rather than going through hoops to change it dynamically like this, as long as you have turned on input shaping.
In any case, the presence of this macro in no ways interferes with acceleration control by the slicer, and you don't have to "use" this macro at all. It's purpose is not for you to "use" it but for it to hook the M204 commands the slicer emitted and make them do something extra.


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Can I lubricate the timing belts to prevent squeaking against pulleys?
My CoreXY style printer doesn't have perfect belt alignment with its pullies, so there is some occasional squeaking on at least one pulley where the belt rubs against a flange. Since I don't have an easy way of adjusting the pulleys (maybe some tiny shim washers) I was hoping to just apply some oil to minimize the wear.
Could I just throw some 3-in-1 oil on the belt? Is there a better lubricant to use? I doubt that the belt would start skipping, but I am worried about damaging the belt due to some chemical incompatibility with the oil.
The belt is the most generic GT2-style timing belt you would find on a 3D printer, probably the same as this HICTOP 3D Printer Belt.

The pulleys on nearly every 3D printer I've seen are held in place on the stepper motor shaft with a grub screw. A bit of rotation of the pulley should bring into view this screw, which will use a fairly small hex wrench. Loosen the screw and slide the pulley in the direction appropriate to relieve the friction.

photo courtesy random selection from pinterest
If you are unable to access the screws and choose to lubricate the belt, consider to use a non-reactive PTFE (teflon) type or silicone type substance and apply it sparingly to the belt edges. If the teeth of the belt and pulley receive the substance, you may not be able to avoid belt jumps under high acceleration movement.

Thanks for the suggestions. On the CoreXY style printers there are many idlers that are not attached to a stepper motor shaft, but are instead allowed to spin freely about a rod/bolt. They can only be adjusted up and down with spacers by disassembling and reassembling the mechanism, so it's a little impractical. I will try the suggestion of silicone lubricant.

I used some silicone lubricant for treadmill belts and applied small amounts with a Q-tip near the pulleys. So far the squeaks have disappeared!


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Increase the measuring points on Ender 3 S1 Pro
I have a Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro with the factory board and firmware. Is there any option to increase the number of leveling points? Since it is not an open Marlin code, I have no access to the firmware source to modify it.

No, you need to change this in the firmware. It has to be changed, built and uploaded. Marlin is a free firmware, and there are lots of tutorials, forks and configurations for the Ender 3 S1 Pro to use as a start. We even have a rough step by step guide for working on that.


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How best to distribute a file made with FreeCAD that uses a macro
I made a model in FreeCAD that uses a macro that I wish to distribute (with the original file, not just the STL.
A couple of closely related questions:

If I provide only the .FCStd file, will people without that macro installed still be able to use and modify it?
If not, is there a good way to provide this model to include all its dependencies, or am I limited to advising what macro is required?


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Over Extrusion Around Radius
I have a Ender 3 S1 Pro, and I'm using PrusaSlicer to slice because it has some features I need that Cura doesn't have yet. The problem I'm running into is that when it goes round a bend it will over extrude once in a while. Straight line walls, it does great, but a radius sometimes messes up. Is there a setting I need to adjust for this? Here is a picture of what I mean. It does it a dozen or so times throughout the print. I print standing up like that.

Could the "over extrusion" possibly be the seam?

I don't think so, a z seam would just be a small spot, not the entire radius, right?


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CraftBot XL (CoreXY) part of x-axis movement resistance / high force required
I have recently acquired a 'CraftBot XL' 3D printer (sold by CraftUnique), which is a CoreXY 3D printer with linear rails. It is a second-hand purchase and the seller were a company that had several. This particular unit has an issue where sometimes during X-axis movement, the Y-axis would move as well. They replaced the stepper motors, but the problem persisted so they opted to sell the machine.
I have found a possible cause of this issue. When I tried to move the carriage around manually, I noticed a particular heavy resistance / "drag" on approx. 1/3rd to 1/2 of the X-axis motion, toward the left extent of the build space. The remainder of the X axis and the Y and Z-axes are completely free to move as they ought to.
The force required to move the carriage in the problematic part of the X-axis is (subjectively) quite large. Much much larger than any other movement. I believe that during some combined XY-manouevers (diagonal movement), this force is too large, causing the carriage to only move in the Y-axis, resulting in errant behavior (at best: layer shift, at worst: carriage getting stuck and the printer needing to be reset). The behavior arises during homing often, as the home position is in the problematic area. An additional reason that I think the X-axis force is too large is that, when this problem occurs and I ever so slightly help the carriage along the X-axis with my hand, the movement can complete without issue.
Steps I have undertaken to no avail yet:

Re-tension belts, make sure they are of roughly equal tension all around
Lubricate all axes with PTFE dry lube spray
Disconnect belts to see if they are causing the issue (they aren't, with belts completely disconnected the problem is unchanged)

This is a diagram of the setup:

What else could be causing this? I don't hear any out of place noises like metal grinding.
The next thing I want to check is the squareness of the gantry. I think I know how to measure it, but I'm not sure how to adjust it if it's off. Any help there?

Please remove the tension from the belts or remove them completely; then see if the motion system still has a problematic issue with resistance. You can then exclude the belts from the equation.

I have, and it persisted. Managed to accidentally pull one belt loose from the carriage so I will have to disassemble the whole extruder assembly now. As a bonus that will allow me to judge the linear rail and its carriage separately.

I'm going to answer this myself, as I believe I have found the issue. It was purely a mechanical issue.
On this particular model, the extruder motor rides just on top of / above the crossbar that the linear rail is mounted under. The extruder motor was mounted very close to this crossbar, there was barely any clearance between the two. I figure that due to a slight deviation in height or non-squaredness in the ZY-axis, the motor started to heavily rub on the bar toward the left extent of the X-axis. I tested with a piece of paper, which I slid between the motor and the bar. This immediately caused the same "resistance" I was feeling before, but now everywhere along the X-axis.
After re-mounting the extruder motor about 1 mm higher, which the frame already allowed for, there is no longer any improper resistance noticable along any axis:


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How to connect Arduino Uno R3 to Bigtreetech SKR Mini E3 V3
I can't seem to find wiring diagrams anywhere, so I am asking here.
Which pins do I use to connect my Arduino Uno to my Bigtreetech board?
I am connecting the Arduino to use it as an ICSP programmer, so that you can flash the BigTreeTech board. I have a V3 board version.

First, make sure that you have flashed your Uno to be an ICSP programmer.
Then you just connect up the SPI pins of the two boards.
The pins on the Uno that you must use, are these, circled in yellow (you can ignore the red circles):

The pin out is as follows:

The pins on the BigTreeTech board are shown on the right hand edge/side of the board, half way down, where it says SPI1:

The SPI pins on the v3 version of the board are still in a similar location, but in a different order (along with 2 other pins, that can be ignored):

Connect these pins on the Uno, to the "like-for-like" pins on the BigTree - no crossing over of wires is required. So, connect:

MOSI to MOSI
MISO to MISO
SCK to SCK
RESET to RESET
VCC to VCC
GND to GND

On the V3 board ignore the additional NSS and 3.3V pins on the SPI1 connector

References

BigTreeTech Board layout v.1.2
BigTreeTech Board layout v.3
Arduino as ISP and Arduino Bootloaders


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How to use TMC2209 driver to stop print when an obstruction is hit in Marlin
I have built a big gantry (1 m x 1 m) and currently use TMC2208 drivers and Marlin on a RAMPS 1.4 board. When working at high speeds, this could get dangerous if someone gets their hand in the way or something. According to the Marlin documentation

Some TMC stepper drivers (e.g. TMC2209s) can detect when they bump into something that causes them to stop moving. This feature is so sensitive that it can actually take the place of traditional endstops.

How can I use this feature of TMC2209s to stop the print if it bumps into something as a kind of safety feature?

It depends on the TMC2209's you have bought, if stand-alone you cannot use senserless homing. Please let us know what stepper drivers you bought.

I haven't bought any yet. I was simply researching into the possibility of stopping the print if the machine bumps into something at any time. Sensor-less homing would simply be a bonus thrown in.

Sensor-less homing is the functionality you are after. Current Prusa i3's will reset (and thus home) when movement is restricted by the print head (your definition of a bump can be handling or a print defect for instance) and resume printing. So sensorless homing is not the bonus, it is part of the functionality you are requesting.

I'm having the same question, but I think its not just about (sensorless) homing. I also would like to stop the movement if we bump into an object. Is there a way to achieve this?
Preferably, the solution should work both in StealthChop and SpreadCycle mode.
I read about M914: https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M914.html
Would that work?


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Is it possible to stack multiple models on each other using Cura if the top of the model is not flat?
I'm using a Creality Ender 3 printer with 1.75 mm PLA filament. The print model has a 0.8 mm thick rectangular base. The design contains a couple of shapes (mainly circles and a cross) that stick out an otherwise flat rectangle. The circles and the cross stick out by 0.8 mm. The bottom of the model is flat.
Is it possible to stack multiple models on each other using Cura if the top of the model is not flat (as shown in the image below)?

Does this answer your question? Printing multiple prints stacked on top of each other

Although theoretically it should be possible to stack objects vertically, Cura does not support it out of the box. You will need to change the following configuration under the [Preferences] menu to allow objects to be placed on top of each other:

Automatically drop models to the build plate
Ensure models are kept apart

This is a bit tedious, but it works.
A different approach would be to make a single model of stacked elements in your 3D modeling software. stacked elements would simply fuse the elements to 1 model, so leave some space between them for the slicer to be able to generate supports. This solution would work, but produce a lot of support material and a terrible rough surface on both sides of the cards.
This solution screams "laser-engraved plywood" by the way. Maybe someone nearby can cheaply help you out?

This is good for the software side of it, I was unaware of the "Ensure models are kept apart" option. Thank you! Though I am more concerned about will something like this be actually printable. I've seen people stack models that have a flat bottom and top surface, but my model above does not have a flat top, due to the circles that stick out of it. Could something like this be reliably printed?

absolutely, but with a horrible finish.

This print will not stack reasonably, unless you have a multi-material printer that can use a separate material and zero gap supports.
Flat bottom surfaces are particularly bad for printing on top of supports; they will not squish right, producing inaccurate thickness and a surface finish that's very visibly made from strands of filament, possibly not even bonded fully to one another. On top of that, supports will mar the surface of the object below them. You can avoid that with tree supports that come in from the sides, but that requires a large vertical gap between objects.
For this particular print, have you considered printing them all on their sides, stacked horizontally? It will give a different finish and less strength but would make it easy to print lots on a plate.

Interesting, so almost like laying them on their sides? I hadn't consider that before. Would the circles sticking out still likely be okay? Maybe with supports?

The circles will probably be okay, but with a little bit of support. Enable supports in your slicer and preview it to get an idea.

Consider changing the model by having the top surface features as shallow depressions instead of raised areas.
Adding a series of small raised nubs to the top surfaces would make for easier separation of the pieces and would be fairly easily removed from the top surfaces after separating the layers. The bottoms would likely be pretty ugly from sagging, however.


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Science/engineering journals with high impact factor
What are some science/engineering journals on the topic of 3D printing with high impact factor? To publish a paper about the analysis of 3D models before printing them.

I think this one is acceptable: Additive Manufacturing
It has an 11.632 Impact Factor.
Also, it has the preprint feature mentioned here:

In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free
preprint posting service. Preprints provide early registration and
dissemination of your research, which facilitates early citations and
collaboration.
During submission to Editorial Manager, you can choose to release your
manuscript publicly as a preprint on the preprint server SSRN once it
enters peer-review with the journal. Your choice will have no effect
on the editorial process or outcome with the journal. ...
You will be notified via email when your preprint is posted online and
a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned. Your preprint will
remain globally available free to read whether the journal accepts or
rejects your manuscript.

Maybe related: https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-peer-review

Maybe related too: https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-dance-of-the-naked-emperors


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Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D Printer
I have an Ender 3 Pro with 4.2.2 controller board and BLTouch fitted, currently running Marlin Bugfix 2.0 firmware.
I needed to fit a new printer hot end and thermistor, but now the temperature is going wild and fluctuates up and down substantially from the pre-set temperature. The printer won't print and after a short time of E heating, it then displays an error.
I have looked at every video I can find and all the instructions I can find as to how to fix the problem and do a PID autotune but none of them match my firmware. I don't have the commands they say to go to. Creality must have released hundreds of different versions and none of what I can find match mine.
Can someone please give me detailed instructions on how I might be able to fix the problem. Most instructions I see on the web leave out at least 50 % of what you need to know. They tell you to go to certain commands in the firmware but in most cases those commands do not exist in mine. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! Please better explain in more details: but now the temperature is going wild and fluctuates up and down.  When does this happen, possible make photos or a video and share this. It is really hard to understand what is going on with your machine with the current description.


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Weird infill edge problem
I'm having this weird issue; for some weird reason, the infill pattern starts separating from the walls and over time, the print becomes a mess. As it separates, it starts to curve, and you get this curved end rather than a pointing edge that touches the wall.
Strangely, for the first 4-5 mm of print (which is a lot of layers), the print goes all OK. Not sure what is the issue here, hardware, temperature settings or something else?
I'm using a Prusa I3 MK3S+ with Cura as slicer and printed it on 210/60 °C hot end/bed temperature with 0.6 mm nozzle (I'm using a 0.4 mm layer height with adjustable layer height, but that didn't kick in yet, the print is a very simple box). The filament is eSun PLA+.

Hi welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! It looks like it is cutting the corners (it either cuts the corner or deposition is not optimal so that it drags the filament). What speed did you use (same as for 0.4 mm)? Furthermore, fitting a larger nozzle diameter should be accompanied with a lower speed (for the same speed as for a 0.4 mm nozzle, fitting a 0.6 mm nozzle would result in a higher extrusion volume). Try lowering the print speed and comment. If this works we can answer your question.

I'm using default settings in CURA for this nozzle size - interestingly, it does not happen right away. As if at some point, it starts cutting corners, and then it gets progressively worse, and at some point it starts to skip, breaks apart etc.

Default settings doesn't say much, what speeds are you using?

it is 60mm/s - the same as for the rest of the print. The extrusion width is 0.6 (100%)

Try again with 40 mm/s (e.g. 0.4 mm width at 0.2 mm layer height at 60 mm/s will give about 5 cubic mm per second, a 0.6 mm width at 0.4 mm layer height at 60 mm/s will give about 15 cubic mm per second, that may be too much, 40 mm/s reduces to 10 cubic mm per second maybe reduce the layer height as well to 0.3 mm)


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G28 X does not home the hotend
I have a classic Ender 3 running Marlin-2.1.1 on a BTT SKR v1.3 board with TMC 2130 drivers. Wifi is connected with ESP3D on an ESP32-CAM board connected to a TFT port. The X endstop is on the left side.
When I send G28 or G28 X, the hotend does not home properly.
Rather the hotend just moves a little to the right side (like 3 mm) and stops.
So if I keep on sending G28 X, the hotend just moves little by little to the right side.
configuration files

This indicates that the printer thinks the endstop is already triggered and is trying to back off to untrigger it, so that it can probe. If a minimal move to the right does not untrigger it, it gives up, assuming something is wrong with the endstop. Either your endstop switch is broken or it's not connected. A disconnected endstop switch will behave identically to one that's stuck down (open circuit).

Looking at the config file, the endstops are correctly configured (XYZ_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING), so this answer is very plausible!

Correct Endstop was broken and a new replacement fixed the issue. Thank you all for your help.


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Replacing (and identification) of a broken piece of the extruder
I've an Ender 3 and a piece broke.
The part that is broken is on top of the Z stepper motor that guides the filament to the extruder.
The metal "guide wheel" that hugs the filament as its pushed through, the plate beneath it broke. I dropped a socket wrench on it. -- it's just sitting there in the photo, but it's not doing it job.
Do I have to replace the whole stepper motor or can I just get the feeder thing that sits on top of the motor?

I don't know what it's called so it's tough to search for

I might be wrong but... This looks like a generic extruder mechanism - You can find them for pennies, made from aluminium, on eBay or AliExpress. I must admit that I can't quite see which part is broken. Could you maybe annotate the photo to point out the part that is broken and add that to your post..? Or add a photo taken from another angle? Or add a photo of an unbroken Creality extruder for comparison. FWIW, here is an answer that has a photo of the parts of a generic MK8 extruder, it may help you.

Replacing the broken part
You certainly don't need to buy a whole new extruder assembly, including a stepper motor.
You could just buy a new extruder mechanism, and upgrade from the  plastic1 extruder, to a metal (aluminium(?)) extruder, such as the one (apparently) sold by Creality themselves, such as this2, Metal Extruder Kit (Red):

However, if you just need a certain piece of the extruder (from your photo, I can't tell which part is broken), you could search for that, although, it would probably be cheaper just to buy the whole thing.
As to the name of the particular part that is broken, again, it is difficult to tell from the photo which part is actually broken. If you could add an annotated photo or more explicitly show the broken part, then it would be easier to provide a name of the actual part.
That said, after re-reading your question, I think that you may be referring to the whole black assembly - along with the spring, brass knurled nut, pulley/bearing, and associated bolts - that sits on the stepper motor... if so, then that is the extruder.
Identifying the parts of an extruder
It can be confusing knowing exactly what the names of the various parts of the extruder are - seeing as the entire extruder assembly (including the hotend and stepper motor) is often referred to as the extruder, either individually or as a whole.
Here are a couple of images that map out the various parts of the extruder assembly:
From the excellent RepRapWiki - Extruders

From Extruders 101: A crash course on an essential component of your 3D printer

Note that:

The hobbed bolt, is sometimes referred to as the knurled bolt or knurled nut
The idler wheel is (generally) just a bearing

Footnotes
1 As confirmed in the comments, the extruder that comes with the non-pro version of the Ender 3 is plastic.
2 I'm not recommending this seller, nor am I sure that they are genuine Creality parts... this is just an example for what you need to be looking for.

If you have access to a printer in working condition, you can even print these parts.

thank you for the advice.  I will do some research on replacement extruders.  I'm likely going to go to creality directly.  thanks again.
RE: what broke?
the metal "guide wheel" that hugs the filament as its pushed through, the plate beneath it broke.  I dropped a socket wrench on it. -- it's just sitting there in the photo, but it's not doing it job. I thought the "extruder" was the hot end.

@GlennFerrie - Not quite. While the hotend does indeed actually extrude the filament, it is generally referred to as the hotend, which make up part of the overall extruder. It's confusing, I know. I've added a couple of images to help explain what the various parts are called. However, there may be better annotated images out there.

from your image about the "bearing" broke off.  I am going to order another one AND try to repair it... wish me luck

@GlennFerrie - Ah, good luck! One question, is your original extruder made of plastic, or is it already a metal of some kind? The bits that are red in my first photo... It would be interesting to know.

@Greenonline Yes. It was a plastic extruder. the one that shipped with the Ender 3 (not pro)... I was able to repair it.  I remove the screw / washer / wheel then fixed the base underneath. I installed the red metal replacement but I am keeping the repaired part ... because I'm a hoarder. :-)

@GlennFerrie - excellent! :-)

Sadly this is a known-weak part on all Creality extruders of this design.
The tension arm is ABS plastic and will work fine for a few months, maybe a year and will then break around where the bearing is secured to the arm.
That equates to 5-10 kg of printing before the arm breaks.  Since its a higher pressure point, gluing will not succeed.
Your best option is to buy a replacement tension arm, in Aluminium.  There are many options on Aliexpess, though fit and finish can be a mixed bag.    I had to swipe some bolts from my original extruder-motor mount because the new one was short.
It is telling that Creality offer a metal one and not a plastic one, but sells new printers with just plastic ones.


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Weird Pattern First Layer Extrusion
I'm working on tuning an old Ultimaker 2 Go, and I'm having some weird extrusion issues. The printer uses a Bowden extruder. Extrusion seems to increase and decrease. I don't think it is the filament quality, as I am using Prusament PLA that I am storing in a dark closet inside a sealed bag with silica gel. I also did multiple cold pulls until no debris. I do notice that sometimes the filament appears to bubble. The extruding motor also sometimes slips/snaps back while changing filament, but not during prints.
However, I am using 1.75 mm filament while the printer is designed for 2.85 mm. In order to do this, I followed some steps I found from All3D.
I also have a small PVC jig to hold the filament, but I think it turns pretty well and shouldn't be the issue.
Filament: PLA, Temp: 215 °C, Slicer: Cura

*Update:
I calibrated the e-steps and all of the axes, but the problem still remains.
I also printed an XYZ cube, and there is a line right under the letters X and Y. It also appears that the extrusion is more inconsistent outside of the letters. I'm pretty sure this issue is related to the weird first-layer pattern, or this is just a cooling issue due to varying cooling %.
Filament: PLA, Temp: 215 °C, Slicer: PrusaSlicer

It turns out that it was caused by the filament being ground at regular intervals. I solved it by lowering the printing speed (I did change the bowden tube to a 1.75 mm one though). Still working on fully tuning this printer.

You have a number of "red flags" in your process. Using filament of a size different from the design's filament specification would be one of them. Bubbles in the filament may mean moisture, regardless of the storage method. Reddit contains a number of posts from users who have presented before and after (dehydration) photos of parts created from new-from-the-box filament. You suggest that the motor does not slip during prints, but there's also reference that it happens in other actions.
In order to pin down a solution, address the filament size by using the correct filament. Use a dehydrator to ensure that the filament contains no moisture. Using correct diameter filament will also cover the slipping extruder.
Once you address these issues and tune the printer appropriately, you may discover that using the smaller diameter filament is going to be a compromise.

I used some several-year-old 2.85 mm PLA I had lying around, and the extrusion seems fine, even though it is really wet. It's super weird that the 1.75 mm didn't work properly, as I had successfully printed a benchy just the other week. I'm going to keep trying to see if I can get the 1.75 mm to work, as I only have a few meters of the really old 2.85 mm while I have several rolls of 1.75 mm.
However, the slipping extruder has always been an issue with this printer, regardless of the filament diameter or tension I try.

Would there be a way to solve this issue while using 1.75 mm? Adafruit provides a guide for how to do this successfully, (https://learn.adafruit.com/using-1-dot-75mm-filament-on-ultimaker-2), but doesn't have any mention for problems like this.

The first thought that pops into my alleged mind, after reading the linked site you've provided is to change the bowden tube to 1.75 compatible sized tubing. This will reduce or remove some of the compression artifacts and reduce the question count by at least one. In order to accomplish this, it might also be necessary to remove and replace the existing push-to-connect fittings for the 2.85 mm tube.

Ok, I will try a new bowden tube. Any suggestions for slicing differently? It also seems that it only occurs on full 100% layers, not layers with infill.

Before you move on to changing slicer settings, it would be advisable to calibrate your e-steps for that printer. This will ensure that when the slicer commands a specific volume of filament to be extruded that the result matches the command.

I calibrated all of the axes and updated the post with an image of the XYZ 20mm calibration cube.


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Resin mechanical properties during the print process, immediately after light hardens it
Resin specifications
There are datasheets available for SLA resin mechanical properties. Like this Formlabs' General Purpose Resin datasheet.
They present mechanical properties for two cases.
First case

Data was obtained from green parts, printed using Form 2, 100 μm, Clear settings, without additional treatments.

Second case

Data was obtained from parts printed using Form 2, 100 μm, Clear settings and post-cured with 1.25 mW/cm² of 405 nm LED light for 60 minutes at 60 °C.

Table

Question
I need to know the mechanical properties immediately after the resin is hardened by the projected light. Would the first case above provide my desired info?

Green parts are "off the printbed"
The term "green" is from the manufacture of ceramics: a piece of ceramic is green when it has not been burned in the oven. In this state, the ceramics - think about clay and porcelain - can be still somewhat manipulated and are usually much softer and less sturdy than after burning. More precisely, a resin 3D print print right off the bed would be comparable to somewhere between stages one and two for its behavior.
Since the UV-light curing station does what the oven does for the ceramics, the term for a "raw" print has been taken from there. So right of the bed it's "green", and after it was in the UV light it's "cured".
Note the terms!
Tensile strength is the strength in tension so pulling. It says nothing about the compressive strength. Either you find them in different sections of the MSDS or you might need to run additional tests to get for example compressive strength, or the density of the printed resin.
Density increase
Usually, the density of the printed resin increases as the bonds between molecules tighten the more they cure. As the bonds shorten somewhat and tighter interknitting happens, the print also shrinks somewhat between their green and cured states. This behavior is also where a lot of the stresses that cause buckling and warping come from, leading to the need for reinforcement ribs and minimum thickness of walls to avoid warping.
Look at the two pictures from Adam Savage's Tested. In the first, the decorative ribs warped under stress while curing, in the second, the lack of reinforcement ribs lead to the lower bottom bending upwards (and the side walls out), most noticeable at the 'top' edge of the cutout. They start to address this print failure about here.

As formlabs told @megidd in an email, their resin goes from 1.13 to 1.14 [g/cm^3], an increase of about 0.8%, which will induce some stresses in the model, resulting in shifting tensile and compressive parameters between the green and cured state.
Some operations are easier on green prints!
There are operations that are easier on perform on a green print where the plastic itself is softer and less brittle. Among those operations often is the removal of support structures and of the beads where the support structure was attached, and even placing threaded inserts.
However, the green state is time-limited due to the nature of the beast. Even normal daylight does contain some UV so that longtime exposure will ultimately transfer the model to the fully cured state over time.  In between the fresh print and the fully cured print, the parameters will slowly shift till they (almost) reach those from a UV bath.

The material documents mention tensile strength. What about compressive strength? Are tension and compression the same regarding strength?

@Megidd No! Think... Brick. Brick is super for compressive strength, but weak under tension.

Thanks. How can I find other material properties, like compressive strength, mass density and other props that are ignored by the published docs? Just wondering.

@Megidd You'd need to run tests yourself - compressive strength is for example tested by placing weight on the center of a bar until it bends or breaks.  Density is highly dependent on the object, but trivial: print a solid cube and weigh it - $\rho=V/M$

Right. Makes sense. Just another thing I have in mind: I'm confused about the green tensile strength. Is it safe to say that the green tensile strength is also valid when the resin is being 3D printed? I mean, while doing the 3D print process by projecting UV light. I'm asking this because I'm doing some work on the strength assessment of a 3D model while it is being 3D printed. I'm not sure if I'm clear :)

yes, that is most likely the caese

Very helpful :) Thanks. Especially your analysis of mass density increase and its effect on other material parameters.

I contacted Formlabs at support@formlabs.com and received answers:
Formlabs Services answer 1

The green tensile strength is valid only for layers that have finished solidifying during the 3D printing process. So in effect, as the part is being printed, each section that has solidified is in its green state where the green tensile strength applies.
Other that that, there is a moment in time for each scanline of a layer while it is being lased/polymerized, where the tensile strength will be something less than that green tensile strength, until the laser moves from that location and that section solidifies.

Formlabs Services answer 2

We have not tested compressive strength for our materials at the moment, so we would not be able to provide any data on that specifically.

Regarding mass density of our standard resins, they will be 1.08, 1.13, and 1.14 [g/cm^3] in their liquid, green, and postcured states respectively.


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Help to find out all the failures in first IDEX test
I've just got a brand new Sovol SV04 IDEX printer.
After struggling for days on bed levelling, I came out with an almost decent alignment.
So I printed the well-known boat to test a dual print.
Here the results:

As you can see it's a complete mess. There are tons of failures.
I used all the default settings for SV04 and the PLA they put inside the pack.
Here what I see:

the only thing that worked almost flawlessly is the first layer (!)
there are a mis-alignment (wrong offset?) between the two nozzles
the layers are not "glued" together
little oozing (inside the cabin)
stringing and, I don't know how to name it, a lot of "filaments" floating around, I guess when one of the nozzle start/end printing (switch color)
again, not sure how to name it, very poor precision (over extruding?) for example in the blue part of the chimney

When I bought my Dremel 3D45 it worked out at the first try.
Now I'm pretty lost among all these failures.
My questions are simple:

help to confirm all the above issues and to find out others
please, give me an idea about the most useful approach to fix them (I mean the order, then I can read tutorials out there)

I don't know which ones should be addressed first, in order to avoid to follow the wrong way.

With there are a mis-alignment (wrong offset?) between the two nozzles do you mean in height? (or X/Y...or all?) The phrase the layers are not "glued" together hints to Z alignment.

@0scar, both. "Layers not glue together" is present even on the same nozzle (see the blue keel). The X/Y wrong offset between the two nozzles is clearly visible in the top of the chimney. Probably there is also a wrong Z offset between the two nozzles, but less evident.

My experience with dual color printing comes from Ultimaker printers, which are very well tuned, for an IDEX design I'm working on I have been thinking how to solve these issues.
The poor print quality is caused by various issues:

Positioning, geometry
To get the positioning correct you can make use of the G-code M218 where you can specify the X and Y offset for the other nozzles. Your first/default tool/nozzle is T0, the generic G-code is M218 T<index> X<offset> Y<offset> Z<offset> where you substitute the strings including the angle brackets (omit options you don't want to change) for the respective value you find from test prints (printing directional lines with multiple tools, X and Y) or finding the correct Z-offset for each nozzle. See also Z-Offset Multiple Heads on Tool Change.

"Strings"
Technically this is not the well known defect called "stringing", your strings are rather thick and hint to incorrect handling of the filament retraction/extrusion (e.g. oozing due to prolonged exposure to high temperature when in idle state?) in your tool change script. It also may be very beneficial to print a sacrificial color changing (priming) tower.


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Replacement Extruder for CR10 Pro Smart
Is the Sprite Extruder Pro Kit the correct kit to replace my extruder on my CR 10 Pro Smart or is there another option from Creality?

It does seem so. Both the Creality Official site and Amazon product page list the CR 10 Smart Pro as compatible printers for this extruder.
As far as another option from Creality, to my knowledge, the Sprite Extruder is the only extruder that Creality makes/sells. (If there is another, I will update)

The Sprite requires a complete rewiring of the motherboard. It is not just a plug-and-play replacement.

If you are looking for a plug-and-play replacement, please include that in your question. I do believe I answered the question as it was written.


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Illegal G-code when trying to print
I recently upgraded to Simplify3D version 5.  With this version, I can now print over WiFi to my Qidi X-Pro.  I run an Eero mesh network and the printer is about 6 feet from the router.
I tried printing a model with this version over WiFi and received the following error on the Qidi console:
Illegal gcode in line: xxxx, P_4, T_10470103!

On a second attempt, I received:
Illegal gcode in line xxxx, P_$, T10470000!

The same models print correctly if saved to a USB stick first and then inserted into the printer.  I've been in contact with Simplify3d support, but, they can't recreate the problem.
Has anyone encountered this problem?  Do you know of a fix?

My experience with Qidi technical support, via email, has been quite good. It takes a couple of days between exchanges, but they may have some assistance for you. I was able to request and receive an S3D profile for my X-Max.

Instead of the update, could you please post this as the answer. How  strange this answer might sound, it helped you, it might help others too.

I ran another test.  This time I used the USB device that came with the printer.  The print finished without errors.  I'm not sure why using a different USB device would impact the WiFi printing.
Note: I have some suspicions that using a quality setting of High may have actually caused the problem.


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Ender 3 CR Touch Bed Levelling X axis offset
I upgraded my Ender 3 with the CR Touch, and updated the firmware (contacted Creality directly to get the correct version). I got Marlin 2.0.6. However when I try the bed levelling feature the first point (nearest to the origin), always starts with the probe out of the range of the bed. While going down the nozzle hits the bed and the procedure is aborted. Not sure what is going wrong.

Your probe offset is incorrect or the bed probe area is configured incorrectly, this question shows how bed probe area is set.

Thanks for letting me know. Its a bit weird that the bin file I got from creality had that configured incorrectly though


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"Validate Mesh" in Marlin causes whole test print to be offset from the bed (home)
I have enabled UBL in Marlin firmware for my Ender 3 Pro and generated a mesh which probed the whole bed normally as expected.   However when I use the menu option to Validate Mesh, the whole test print seems to several inches diagonally away from the 0,0,0 home point (see photo).
I don't know what the cause might be or what information I could usefully provide to solve the problem, but here is my configuration.h:  https://pastebin.com/yZkWcMki

I guess this wasn't the right place to ask this question?


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Cura does not connect to Sovol SV04
I followed the instruction here and here and I'm trying to connect my Sovol SV04 with Cura in order to enable the "Monitor" page.
When I connect the USB cable, Ubuntu 22.04 creates the serial port. I'm able to open it with a serial terminal and to send G-Code commands. The printer acts according.
But when I try to open the Monitor page in Cura 5.2.2 it just says it cannot find the printer:

but without any error message or other useful information.
What am I missing here?

As you are using Ubuntu, some of the information in the second link isn't useful, as it's windows focused. Have you determined the USB identifier and confirmed that it is the same one selected in Cura? I think yes to the former, as you can send g-code, but perhaps no to the latter?

@fred_dot_u how can I check the USB id selected in Cura? I don't see anything related to the USB connection

Apparently such a useful feature isn't part of Cura! I did find this posting on reddit that may be of value: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/klfu5u/how_to_enable_usb_printing_via_cura_on_ubuntu/


text:
I have an Ender-3 Pro, the platform goes to the right rear every time I try to start a print job
I have a Creality Ender 3 Pro, the platform goes to the right rear every time I try to start a print job. I do not know what to do. I am not very savvy on computer software, but I need some help.
I tried using the 3D pad with the same results.
I did a factory reset, using original controller, same results.
Back to the 3D pad, factory reset, same results.
I am using the Creality Slicer. When I select Auto Home, the platform returns to the front left side. When I try to print anything, it goes back to the right rear an sets there, dumping filament.

Can you tell us what happens when you try to autohome the device?  Also, what slicer are you using?

So the bed comes forward and the extruder to the right? What is your start G-code?  Does it print after going to the back-right? Or does it stay there?

Did your printer come with a test file? My Ender v2 did. If so, how does that print for you? If that works fine, then most likely, some setting in your slicer is telling your printer to move there. I found it to be a good idea to understand G-Code, and that allows you to reverse engineering problems that you run into. G-Code isn't hard, it's just a list of command


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Ender 3 BLTouch not working with BigTreeTech SKR mini e3 or stock motherboard
When my Ender 3 was on the stock motherboard, I went through two BLTouch sensors.  In both cases, we had the same result: sometimes, when homing with the sensor, the printer would jam the gantry down into the bed because it would miss the sensor.  When leveling, it would intermittently stop before it had completed all the steps.
Alas, since I have a glass bed I cannot use the Z-axis limit switch for homing (without mechanical modification, anyways.)
I installed a BigTreeTech SKR mini e3 motherboard.  Motion control works fine.  In fact, it's much, much quieter.  Sadly, still have lousy results (although I've only tried one sensor on this one.)

Z Limit switch plugged in: The BLTouch Deploys.  The board totally ignores the sensor (even when I shove it home with my fingers on the way down) and drives into the board.

Z Limit switch not plugged in: The BLTouch seems to deploy and stow over and over again.  Then, the printer just says "STOPPED".

Does anyone have any suggestions?
(I think I've been using the same wire this whole time, for what that's worth.)

Is it a genuine BLTouch or a Creality clone? Did you configure the sensor correctly in firmware and using the correct pins on the board? Maybe show a photo how you connected the sensor and how you configured it in the firmware config files.

I just ordered one on amazon that claims to be from BigTreeTech. The one I have now is just a ribbon connector, so I feel as if you can't mess it up.... But I'll some pictures when I can!

If it is from BTT it is a clone, my experience with clones led me to conclude to never buy these ever again. I can imagine you think you can't do wrong with a ribbon cable, but you do need to have that configured in your firmware.

I had this same issue and fixed it by removing the z-stop cable and using the black and white (the combined 2 wires on the BLTouch). Below is a diagram that may help.

I wound up doing the same thing.  Thanks.


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Is there a marlin setting to disable XY axes when Z endstop triggered?
I have a mechanical switch connected to a RAMPS 1.4 board that detects when my laser has run in to something.  Right now, I have it set as a Z limit, so if I move too far in the Z and crash the laser in to something, it stops but I can still back away.  That works great, but is there a simple configuration change in marlin so that it also disables the X and Y movement?  This switch can detect impact to the laser from any direction, so I'd like to protect against X or Y movements snapping the laser off sideways.
The desired behavior is:  if the switch is closed, everything acts normally, but if the switch is open, its only possible to move in the -z direction (which moves the stage down away from the laser).
If this is not a configuration change, does anyone have a hint on where in the marlin code to start making changes?


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How to make constant raster angle on Flashprint 5?
I use "Flashprint 5" as a 3D print pre-processing software. I want to have a 0-degree raster angle for all its layers (100 % infill density), in the attached object below. But what I found is that each layer always alternates to 90 degrees. Any solution for this case?

Looking at Flashprint expert mode, I don't seem to find options to change this.

Any solution for this case?

Yes there is by using a different slicer, e.g. Ultimaker Cura. In Cura you will be able to specify the directions of the infill layers as you want them to be using the Infill Line Directions printing property. Default the property is empty ([  ]), but could be changed to [90, 90] or [0, 0] (or any other arbitrary angle).
Print option is found under Infill:

Layer 60:

Layer 61:

You can take this even further in Cura by specifying directions for more than 2 layers, e.g. [-45, 0, 45, 90] will give you an alternating pattern of 4 layers.

Thanks for the answer, enlightened!


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Can I split a shell body using a cone as the splitting surface?
I'm trying to model a "mushroom-like" object. I created the stem and the top part and shelled them to a body with 5mm walls. I also need to split the top part into two parts which I will later on fit one over the other (I need to place some components inside the mushroom).
I tried to use the split tool to do it but it failed with a "Compute failed" error and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...
Here is the f3d file, but I also attach screenshots here as it might be easier..
This is the object itself:

A cross section of the mushroom top and the splitting surface I've created (just revolved a line to create a cone):

Notice that the top of the cone doesn't touch the body. I originally thought that this could be the problem but it didn't help.
When I use the splitting tool I don't check the "extend splitting tools", but get a "Compute Failed".
Any ideas? If I'm doing it wrong - is there any other way that I could split the object?

While i'm not sure if it's totally impossible to do this operation, I haven't been able to figure it out myself. My best "Hacky" solution would be to use the Combine tool in Intersect/Cut mode, making two copies of the original body to work with.


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Adjust E-step on Ender 3 v2 Neo
I have just calibrated my extruder and everything is ok. When I extrude 100 mm of filament, everything is correct, but when I attach the Bowden tube to the nozzle, the length of filament that is extruded is not correct - it is much shorter. Is that normal?
The nozzle is almost new. It was working for only a few hours. How can I fix it? Do I need a new nozzle, or there is some another issue?
I tried some prints and they were just fine. Before calibration, they were terrible.
The method that I used to calibrate is described here, Stupid Fast Way To Calibrate E Steps On Ender 3 (V2/Pro), calibrated with and without the Bowden tube - on the another end before nozzle. But when I attach the Bowden tube and extrude, the nozzle is all wrong.
I used the method from the link above. My prints were terrible before calibration. Using this method now my prints are ok. Method is without Bowden tube, printer extrude in the air. But when I extrude from nozzle distance in much shorter. Is that normal? Or is the method used to calibrate correct and enough?

I just edited this paragraph. Will try to attach picture tomorrow

Thanks for the edits. Yes, adding a picture will be great. Thanks again. :-)

That calibration test shouldn't be used. You calibrate the extruder at zero load, it is far better to include the Bowden tube and the hot nozzle as these give pressure/resistance to the path. This may result in slightly different values for your steps.

I am completely new to 3D printing so I followed this calibration with my new Ender 3 v2 NEO:

My prints are really good.
Hope this helps!

Welcome to 3D Printing! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.


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Managing Flashforge Guider 3 Plus printer on Ultimaker Cura
I seem to be having trouble managing the printer for slicing process in Ultimaker Cura. I use Flashforge Guider 3 Plus printer and added it to Ultimaker Cura manually (there was no Guider 3 Plus option for Flashforge printer in Cura). In the machine settings, I only set the printer dimensions and left the Printhead Settings as default. Machine settings will be attached below).
The slicing process went well. But what I found when I was going to print on my printer is as follows

Does anyone have any idea what's going on? And how is this problem solved?

Perhaps it's due to your G-code, it doesn't look like you modified that either. The start and end G-code for the Flashforge printers can be grabbed from the G-code file, just open it up using notepad.
I have a Flashforge Guider 3 Ultra, but haven't tested it with Cura yet. Found your article while doing research, it looks like most people just bear with their proprietary software "Flashprint". Having found some issues with it myself, I'll be testing how well Cura works in the next few days.

According to their own website (the FAQ), you can ask for the settings.

Can I use other slicers with Flashforge 3d printers, say Cura, Prusa Slicer, Simplify3D, etc.?
Yes, you can. Except for Flashforge Official slicer, Flashforge 3D printer is also compatible with other slicers. But you need to adjust some parameter setting in those slicers. Contact our support team for help.


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STL exported through Blender not watertight
I created a box in Blender and exported that into an STL file and it seems to be failing to render the correct walls. The box looks like this:

But when I open it in Cura, it looks like this:

Is there something I'm exporting incorrectly or something else I'm missing?

That is very common and asked before, I'll look up a linked answer.

@chicks - was there a reason for editing in STIL, rather than STL or was that a typo..? I had failed to notice it when I approved the edit, but now I see it.

I was just trying to capitalize it.  Sorry for the typo.

This may be related to a characteristic of the numerous slicers methods of handling single thickness walls. If your model's wall is of insufficient width, it "ceases to exist" in the slicer. Ultimaker's community forum has a reference that may be of value, second post to the linked page:

This is known. It's a limitation of how Cura calculates these things:
Your model outline is inset by half the line width. If anything
remains, it is printed with the normal line width. If nothing remains,
only the "Print Thin Walls" option may still save you. If two lines
overlap a lot, then one of the two will have its extrusion rate
reduced to prevent overextrusion. You'll ooze some filament there but
hopefully not too much since there is a backpressure from the earlier
printed line.

According to that same forum (and likely other locations on the internet), there is a setting for "print thin walls" that may solve the problem. The original poster discovered that it did not, for his model and had to increase wall thickness in the design software.

To me the resulting print pattern reminds me of a common error with blender: the model contains either no volume, not enough volume as noted by fred_dot_u or the surfaces are inverted.
Further reading to fix your model:

Cura messes up my print. How can I make it print what I see in Blender?
3D model with errors when exporting to Cura
Slicer is adding additional floor bed
Problem in 3D printing of an empty model