text:
Printer stops extruding at same point on each pass
Issue:
I realized that the filament extrusion always stops at the same spot for a couple seconds then starts back, I know it's the printer and not the filament, I can see the gear literally stop for a couple seconds. The fan also stops during that time,  I suspect it has caused the printer to activate it's thermal runaway protection shutdown a couple times. I have no idea what to google to fix it. Here is a picture:

As you can see it's like it stops before the curve, but to be clear, unlike all the questions I have read here, it starts back a couple seconds after.
For context:

Printer: Ender S1 Pro
Slicer: Cura 5.2.2

Maybe related?
I've had my printer for maybe 2 months, and I thought I finally had it setup, prints were consistent and never failing, then yesterday it's like every single setting fell apart at the same time.
The print is no longer sticking to the bed, and I constantly get a "AB Temp." shutdown. I switched the nozzle, no success. I always level it with a sheet of paper, but now I see that after the bed probe hits (as it does before every print), it causes it to raise the nozzle a couple tenth of a millimeter, which explains why it's not sticking. I fixed that by changing the Z-Index, but it's weird that it randomly changed? (by 0.3mm which is significant)
I have no idea how to fix the extrusion stopping randomly though, but I think when the extrusion and fan stop together, it suddenly changes the nozzle thermal properties, so its temperature shoots up, I think that's what's causing the "AB Temp." shutdown.
I print via USB-C so it's not a corrupt file, I have been printing this way many times, no issues. I'm stumped, thank you for your help!
Update:
This time I got quite far before thermal shutdown, it doesn't look random so I think the problem might be in the G-Code, at the same time, I don't get the pattern. Here are the pictures:

The error you encounter is related to a partly broken wire or problem with the seating of connector plugs in their sockets. The fact that the fan also stops hints to this. You need to check all cables and connectors, especially the thermistor.
Such problems arise after a few months of usage.

I checked the wires and the thermistor already, if you look at the pattern of when the extrusion stops (1st picture of the update) you can trace imaginary lines on the print (8) where the extrusion state changes, and you see that it the state only changes on those lines. Imo this is way too regular to hint at a lose wire, or any random issue for that matter. I would bet my hand the issue is in the logic somehow.

AB Temp errors are related to the cables and the connections, there are numerous of these problems posted, all resolved with a new cable.

I changed the printer's power outlet because I read somewhere that it can be caused by power issues (it was on a power bar with many other appliances), and now with its own outlet and printing from SD card, the issue is not there. I'll keep on troubleshooting to see if the outlet fixed it or the SD card.

In the end it was indeed the cable, the temperature reading cable in the ribbon wire to be specific. I replaced it and the AB temp never came back. The fan and extrusion problems were side effects I think, because when the printer thought the temperature dropped it stopped extruding and stopped the fan, but all those features were working normally.

Very nice to come back, vote and comment, all the best with printing!


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How to combine an .svg and a basic object in Openscad
As stated in the question I am trying to combine a drawing I have in .svg format with a simple cylinder in order to make a printable medal. I have tried the following code :
union()       {

translate([25,25,0]) cylinder(h=1.5,r=25,center=false);
translate([7,7,1.4]) linear_extrude (height=1.5) scale([0.2,0.2,1])  { import("/Users/tijg/Documents/projecten_actueel/3dwerk/eik/eikenblad-boom.svg");}
}

In the preview all looks well, but after rendering the drawing on top disappears. As I remove the cylinder, the drawing of the .svg renders perfectly and is printable. Any help much appreciated.

Can you add images of the preview?

you need to emboss the image either by raising the image or by increasing the height of the image. once it protrudes it will not disappear.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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If you had good enough motors could you print at 1000 mm/s with good quality?
Alright, a few assumptions about the printer.

It can handle the momentum of the nozzle moving so fast.
I have good enough bed adhesion to do this.
The nozzle can handle the amount of filament going through it.
Im using PLA filament.
I have the thing anchored to my desk with 10 foot long 3 inch wide bolts so it wont achieve liftoff.

I am somewhat interested in building this printer so that why im wondering. Would it be possible that the filament will move so fast as it exits the nozzle that is doesn't attach the the model itself, just fly off of it? Thanks for any help!

Yes you can print at 1000 mm/s with good quality, but motors really have nothing to do with it. The cheap motors you get on an Ender 3 can go at 1000 mm/s if you have a controller board supporting 48V power supply for the stepper drivers. In general, max motor RPM before you hit pullout (the speed at which torque rapidly falls off because you don't have enough voltage to drive a reversal of the magnetic field for the next step in time) is proportional to voltage. With 24V these motors can take you up to 500 mm/s or higher, so at 48V I'd expect to hit 1000 mm/s without much problem.
However, to reach 1000 mm/s, you need enough acceleration to reach that speed before you have to start slowing back down to stop or change direction. High acceleration, not high speed, is what has tradeoffs with quality, because no physical system is perfectly rigid, and under high forces (F=ma), there will be significant physical stresses on the printer frame, belts, motor shafts, bearings, etc. affecting the accuracy of your print. But fortunately, the accelerations you need to reach 1000 mm/s aren't all that high. You can reach it on 20 mm lines with just 50000 mm/s², which, although 100x the default on typical bedslingers like an Ender 3, is well within the capabilities of good CoreXY, CrossXY, or delta printers, especially with input shaping available on modern firmware. You can find plenty of videos on YouTube of the K3 (by Annex Engineering), VzBot, etc., as well as some RatRigs and Vorons, doing this kind of acceleration at pretty much perfect quality.
Now, the hard part of getting really high speeds is pushing and melting the plastic that fast. Fortunately, you didn't specify a layer height, so if by 1000 mm/s, you mean 1000 mm/s at 0.05 mm layer height, that's only 20 mm³/s, and doable even for a very standard hotend, and easy if it has a CHT nozzle. But if you want to do 1000 mm/s at 0.2 mm layers by 0.4 line width, that's 80 mm³/s. There are very few hotends which can achieve that kind of flow, but the Goliath by VzBot can do nearly twice that, and various hybrid volcano approaches like the Volcomosq can probably reach 60-80 mm³/s.
People don't make high-end gear like this to print ugly boats (well, they do that sometimes for fun, but if you're putting the effort into making it, you almost surely want it to be useful too). The printers that can print at this kind of speed absolutely do it at high quality.
Here's one example I just found of printing at 50k acceleration, 1500 mm/s:

Thanks for the response! Just wondering, how fast can I push my Ender 3 V2 with and without a custom driver?

@NotMyName: With the stock firmware (based on Marlin) on the Ender 3 you'll hit some pretty hard limits with skipping steps/layer shifts well before you reach this kind of speed, probably around 4000-5000 mm/s² acceleration. Latest Marlin has experimental input shaper, but up til now you've needed Klipper to do it. You'll also need better stepper drivers, TMC 2209 or better in Spreadcycle mode - the Creality "silent" boards have their TMC's hardwired in Stealthchop mode which is quieter but lacks torque at high speed. And that's still at 24V so a max of around 500 mm/s.

This is probably about the fastest raw speed you can get with mostly stock E3 hardware except for extruder, nozzle, and controller board/firmware: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4QEEit5aNo

Cool, thanks! Guess I'll be building a printer from scratch. I checked Digikey and the price for 48 volt stepper motors is $80+ so this is gonna be expansive.

@NotMyName: The voltage listing on a stepper motor is not meaningful. As written in my answer, you should be able to drive pretty much any stepper at 48V, including the dirt cheap ones on something like an Ender 3. Only the max current (over which you might burn out the coils) is meaningful. The voltage ratings mean something completely different that I don't understand but that's not important to building printers.

My understanding is that the BOM for nice CoreXY or CrossXY printers runs around $1000, but that's using branded parts from reputable sources. You can do a lot cheaper with random AliExpress parts. Bad belts, pulleys, rails, etc. will give you print problems. Cheap motors are probably fine, but the prices on good motors aren't that high anyway.

Yeah, I'm only making money from cutting our grass so I don't have too big of a budget, I'm looking at around $500, so just wondering, how much am I looking at for the cost and specs of motors that will get me to 1000 mm/s? Sorry if I'm asking a bit too much, I don't have any schooling on much of this.

@NotMyName: The main costs for going that fast will be the controller board and stepper drivers capable of 48V, not the motors. But if your budget is tight I would look at starting with a cheap printer and upgrading it, and question if the magic number "1000 mm/s" is actually what you want, or if you just want something like "10x faster than I'm printing now". Unless you're running Klipper and have tuned input shaping and acceleration, most prints are not running anywhere near the speed you requested because they're acceleration-limited...

...so it's easy to think "I'm doing 200 mm/s now and it's still slow, so I need 1000 mm/s" and that's simply not the case. Rather it's "I'm requesting 200 mm/s but 90% of the print only runs at 50 mm/s or less because it never has a chance to accelerate beyond that before having to slow down again".

Oh, so in the really fast benchys that say they're printing at 1000 mm/s they are really printing way slower. I also take it as I will need to focus on mainly how much torque the stepper motors make.

@NotMyName: There are no speed Benchys printed at 1000 mm/s. To take any significant advantage of a max speed over 400 or so on a Benchy, you'd need accelerations something like 100k+ mm/s². Otherwise it just spends way too little time at high speed to make much difference. I just checked and a Benchy at 60k acceleration only averages something like 200 mm/s. If your goal is Benchy racing you should check out the speeds and accelerations listed on all the #speedboatrace official entries (rules require posting your settings).

A link to all official entries (the "leader board") can be found on the Annex Engineering Discord, #speedboat_rules channel. Direct link is https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lFiJi-X3Xm3hh3I9Ty9dfACMiBWxHFAOUeiU1km9m6I/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks, that explains a bit, i'll try to focus on acceleration in my printer then. How do you calculate the acceleration needed to reach a speed, or will that need to be moved to a different stack exchange page?

@NotMyName: I posted a question and self-answer about speed Benchys in general: https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/20714/11157. Part of the answer contains a link to a tool for calculating the acceleration vs speed.

Cool, that's all of my questions answered! Thanks a lot and have a good day!

The motor winding currents have to change rapidly to step faster, and higher voltage (or a lower inductance motor design, perhaps correlated with a lower voltage / higher current rating) is required  in order to do that.  Motor heating may become an issue as well.  Look up "inductance", maybe see if your library has "Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill.

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


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What's the deal with speed Benchys and how can I get started attempting them?
There are lots of videos out there of 3D printers printing 3D Benchy ridiculously fast. Some of them come out really ugly, but others are very high quality at speeds that look like they should be impossible. And some of them are even done on fairly "normal looking" printers.
What speeds are they actually being printed at, and how is this possible?
What is involved in printing a Benchy at really high speed?
What aspects of the printer actually matter, and how do you select a printer or modify a printer to be able to do it?

Speed Benchys were a trend that took off with the #speedboatrace challenge announcement by Annex Engineering in December 2020:

While anyone can try to print a fast Benchy any way they like, most people who've taken up the hobby use the "regulation" settings from the above: 10% infill, 3 top and bottom layers, 0.25 mm layer height, and 0.4-0.5 mm line width/nozzle size. There is a list of "official" entries maintained on the Annex Engineering Discord server, also accessible by this direct link to the Google doc.
At least as of this writing, almost all speed Benchys are printed at a nominal print speed under 400 mm/s, most probably even under 300 mm/s. The "speed" you see when watching videos is not actually the absolute velocity the printer's toolhead (and/or bed) is zipping around at, but the velocity relative to the size of the space it's moving in, and the speed at which it changes direction. Benchy is an acceleration-bound print.
When a 3D printer (or any kind of machine positioning a tool) performs a move, it doesn't simply go from a stop to motion at the requested speed instantaneously. It doesn't go from moving in the X direction to moving in the Y direction instantaneously. Because the toolhead (and possibly bed), and all the individual parts of the motion system moving it have momentum (some linear, some angular, some even electromagnetic), it takes time to change their velocities. As this acceleration/deceleration is taking place, the various parts of the motion system will resist changes in velocity, causing one or another to deflect from the intended path. The faster you try to accelerate, the more severe this deflection can be. In a worst case, this happens in the mesh of belt teeth with a pulley, or the alignment of the magnets in the motor with the field generated by the coils, and you get a layer shift. More commonly, you just get severe vibrations at resonant frequencies, showing up as ripples (ringing) in the surface of the print.
When I say Benchy is acceleration-bound, I mean it's very difficult to get a 3D printer toolhead to accelerate fast enough, without compromising quality, to make use of the full requested print speed the printer is capable of. This is because its layers are made up mostly of small segments, many of them on the order of (offhand guess looking at a boat on my desk) 1-8 mm.
To understand the relationship between attainable speeds and acceleration, you can use the formula velocity²/2 = accel*distance, or use the classic RepRap calculator (now hosted by Prusa). If you play around with it, you can see how, at the 500 mm/s² acceleration common on profiles for bed slingers like the Ender 3, you'll basically never reach speeds above 60 mm/s, and average much lower than that, on the majority of the Benchy. "Competitive" (or rather, perhaps "exciting" is a better word, since there's no actual ranking or rewards) speedboat entries generally run accelerations in the range 7000-50000 mm/s².
To achieve this kind of acceleration without compromising on quality, you need either a printer with an extremely rigid frame and motion system, or firmware with input shaper (aka resonance compensation) - preferably, both. Up until recently, input shaping was only available with Klipper firmware, but RepRap Firmware and now Marlin also have it, if you're using sufficiently new versions (note: as of Spring 2023 I'm not aware of any printers shipping Marlin with input shaping enabled, but this will eventually change). Bambu Labs' proprietary firmware also has this functionality.
Most people doing high-speed speedboats choose to use 0.25 mm layer height and 0.5 mm line width, rather than the more standard 0.2 by 0.4, and to combine every 2 layers of infill. All of these choices help alleviate the degree to which Benchy is "acceleration-bound", by making use of the flow the extruder and hotend can deliver without reaching high kinematic speeds. At 0.25 by 0.5, 300 mm/s takes 37.5 mm³/s of flow. This is considerably more than what most standard hotends can delivery (typically, 12-20 mm³/s with a normal nozzle, 25-30 mm³/s with a CHT) but very doable for high-flow ones.
At speedboat speeds, most layers of the Benchy take less than 5 seconds to print, and half or more take less than 3 seconds. If you have a minimum layer time configured in your slicer, it will override that, and you'll end up with a slow boat, no matter what speed and acceleration you request. Fast layers like this, however, require some extreme cooling, so that the previous layer isn't still soft when the printer goes to lay down the next one. Speedboat entries have a lot of different approaches to this, ranging from whole-layer fans mounted on the sides of the print to CPAP hoses to the toolhead to high power 40mm x 28 mm axial server fans or more standard 5015 or 5020 radial blower fans mounted on the toolhead. Many of the fastest entries use combinations of different types of cooling.
For anyone attempting to get started in speedboating, a checklist of things your printer needs would include:

Firmware with input shaper, properly calibrated.
Upgraded cooling. You can't have too much cooling.
A decent extruder that can push at least 15 mm³/s or so without skipping.

Beyond that, things you should ideally have:

Low moving mass.
A CHT or other high-flow nozzle, and/or high-flow hotend.
Decent stepper drivers with ability to control max current and put them in modes that won't compromise torque for quietness (so, TMCs you can put in Spreadcycle mode).
Firmware with pressure advance/linear advance, properly calibrated, if you want your high speed prints not to look ugly.
More cooling.

And to go really extreme:

Multiple motors per axis.
Wider/premium belts, etc. to deal with extreme forces on motion system.
48V stepper drivers and high current motors.
High temperature hotend so you can run at higher temperature to get more flow.
Further increasing flow with extruder and hotend upgrades.
Still more cooling.

Really, though, you do not need a ridiculously expensive printer to do this. An Ender 3 with less than $150 of upgrades can do a high quality Benchy in under 20 minutes and and ugly (maybe even decent) one in 10. Looking at the official entry list is a really good way to get an idea what kinds of printers have been able to achieve what times.


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How to adjust vase mode thickness
I am new to 3D printing, and are having a problem with wall thickness in vase mode.
I would like to print this vase model: https://www.printables.com/model/60696-blossom-vase
As seen in the "Makes & comments" section, people have printed the model with quite thick walls, and I would like this as well, maybe thicker.
I have a Prusa i3 MK3S+ printer, and are using the Prusa Slicer software. When I import the .stl model and select vase mode in print options, I cannot alter the layer height, solid layers etc. options to increase wall thickness. This means that the 3D print is almost paper thin.
So how can I make a print of this model, with thick walls?

Vase mode implies a single wall, so if you need to have a thicker wall you need to set an extrusion width larger than the nozzle width (you cannot do that unlimited), but usually a 0.4 mm nozzle can print at 0.8 mm width (twice the nozzle diameter), or you could replace the nozzle for a wider nozzle, e.g. a 0.8 mm nozzle (and also print at larger diameter). Note that when using larger nozzles/diameters, the extrusion volume increases, so you need to print slower.

0.4 mm nozzle can typically print up to at least 1.0 mm line width, and possibly more with reduced quality. The only real constraint is that quality will degrade once the line width exceeds the outer flat diameter of the nozzle tip, since material can expand upward around the nozzle rather than outward. Lost in Tech on YouTube has videos showing his results printing really-wide-line vase mode with standard 0.4 mm nozzles.

I edited my typo 0.5 -> 0.8. Up to twice the diameter is accepted in term of quality. So placing a 0.6 or 0.8 mm nozzle and print at about 1.2 mm would be as if you have a vase with 3 normal 0.4 mm perimeters.

I measured several of my nozzles and found the outer diameter of the flat for 0.4 mm nozzles between 1.2 and 2.0 mm, so I think 0.8 mm is still pretty conservative.


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Weird bed movement when doing ABL (G29)
My printer recently started lowering the bed an additional step for every measurement on the G29 procedure. The only change I did, at least purposely is, adjusting the nozzle offset and MIN/MAX positions for X and Y because I installed the "Hero Me" parts.
Here's a video of what happens:

As it turned out, it is actually a bug: https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/issues/25565


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How can I successfully set up my fans to run on my CR-10 using Marlin?
I have a CR-10 (original version), and I just installed an SKR E3 Mini V3.0 board, with custom Marlin firmware.  Everything else seems to be running properly, but some of my fans won't spin, or won't spin correctly.
The CR-10 has four fans:

the parts cooling fan, which has variable speeds and is controlled by the G-code,
the heat sink fan, which should either be always on, or should activate when the heat sink registers 50 °C or higher, and
a fan inside the control box, near the rear of the case, and
a fan inside the control , near the front of the case, by the LCD screen.

The parts cooling fan seems to be operating correctly.  The heat sink fan won't turn on at all.  Inside the case, 3) operates correctly, and 4) spins very slowly and loudly.
I have read that you have to do something to the configuration files to instruct Marlin on which pins correspond to which fans, but any examples I find refer to Ender 3 printers and not to CR-10s.  How do I troubleshoot the fans and/or edit the Marlin configuration files to set up my fans properly?

A standard CR-10 has a heat sink fan that receives continues power, did you change that yourself? Furthermore, fan 3 and 4 are also continuously powered fans, so if you have used the same power supply, and as such the same voltage, nothing can be different for them. Measure the output of the fans with a multimeter.

I've figured out some things since my original post.  First, I had some of the connectors plugged into the wrong ports on the new mainboard.  Second, Marlin is set up so that the heat sink fan turns on only when the hot end reaches 50 degrees, and the controller fans turn on only when any of the stepper motors have been engaged, and turns off a short while after they go idle.  Third, fan 4) is dying, so I'll be installing a replacement today.
Thank you for your help, though!

Great to hear you are troubleshooting! Please make it a (partial) answer so that others may learn from it! Comments are transient and may be removed.


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Z Homing issue after Marlin 2.1.2 upgrade on Ender 3 with BTT SKR mini V2.0 and BLTouch
So my Ender 3 with a BLTouch running on a BIGTREETECH SKR MINI V2.0 mainboard has been working just fine on Marlin 2.0.8 for a year or so and I decided I would update it to Marlin 2.1.2.
I downloaded the 2.1.2 pre-configured firmware from BIGTREETECH's Github open it in VS Code and do the usual:

Make sure Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN is uncommented.

Uncomment #define BLTouch.

Set probe offsets

Uncomment ENABLE_LEVELING_FADE_HEIGHT

Uncomment Z_SAFE_HOMING

Comment MESH_LEVELING and uncomment BILINEAR_LEVELING for auto bed leveling

Comment out MIN_SOFTWARE_ENDSTOP_Z

Uncomment BLTOUCH_DELAY and BLTOUCH_FORCE_SW_MODE

I compiled, placed firmware.bin on the SD card, flashed it and everything seemed fine until I tried to home my Z-axis.
The probe sticks out and retreats twice the light stays blue, the gantry doesn't move at all and the LCD reads "STOPPED". I have no idea why this is happening any help is appreciated.

Did you every figure out the issue? I have an Ender 3 Pro with CRTouch, board 4.2.2 and getting exactly what you described.


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Drying filament with heated bed on Prusa - how to "bypass" safety timer?
On my Prusa MK3, I'm trying to make a G-code that only heats up the print bed and moves the Z-axis up and down a little bit every 20 mins to prevent the safety timer going off. This is what I have done:

Sliced a random file with PrusaSlicer.
Opened it in TextEdit.
Deleted the G-code for:

the actual print
heating the nozzle
waiting for the nozzle to heat up

Changed the G-code to heat the bed to 50 °C.
Inserted this G-code:

    G28,
    G1 Z190 Y140 F500,
    G4 S1200,
    G1 Z188,
    G1 Z190,

Copied and pasted  G4 S1200, G1 Z188, G1 Z190 command 11 times - total of 12 instances.

I believe this should last a total of slightly more than 4 hours, right? I Just want to make sure before I possibly break my printer or if there is a better way to do this.

Overall, this solution should work, but have in mind, that modifying G-code files can be risky and may result in damaging your printer or causing other issues. Therefore, it is essential to exercise caution when creating and executing custom G-code.
As each instance includes a delay of 1200 seconds (20 minutes) and a movement of the Z-axis, the entire code should run for approximately 4 hours and 24 minutes.
However, keep in mind that you should periodically check the printer to ensure that everything is running smoothly and that no errors have occurred. Additionally, you may want to adjust the temperature and movement values based on your specific needs and printer settings. It is essential to exercise caution and closely monitor the printer during this operation to avoid any potential risks.

You can send the M86 command to your Prusa printer to change the safety timer. For example, to set the timer to disable heating after four hours, you could send M86 S14400. The relevant documentation is on the Prusa-specific G-Codes page.


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Upgrading Bowden Tube on Ender 6 to Capricorn
I'm very new into 3D printing.
I brought an Ender 6 and a cover for ABS printing, but the standard white Bowden tube was too short to pass through the hole of the cover. So I'm replacing the Bowden tube for a Capricorn one.
However, the manufacturer (Captubes.com) only states that their 2 meter kit is compatible with CR-10 and Ender 3.
Is this kit also compatible with an Ender 6?

You only need a tube, why order a complete kit? Furthermore, it is very unwise to have really long Bowden tubes (2 meters), this will affect printing quality and at least tuning the printer for the new length. Think of problems with e.g. stringing.

Thank you for your reply. I was really thinking the entire kit would be necessary. I'd actually cut the tube to around 1.1m or 1.2m so that it passes the hole on the cover. Did some measuring here with a string. I have no idea why anyone would manufacture a cover for the Ender 6 that fits perfectly over it, but not design the hole at the proper height.

Consider printing other filaments than ABS (that shrink less), nowadays there are better filament types such that ABS isn't really necessary anymore. ABS is mostly replaced by co-polymer filament.

I'll look more closely into those co-polymer filaments, @0scar.

I ended up getting in contact with the sales team at Captubes.com, and they replied promptly, what I did not expect.
They claim that the Capricorn tube is indeed compatible with the Ender 6 printer, and that they use the same fittings, with the exception of pro printers and ones that use something called a Bondtech extruder.
I'd like to thank everyone that helped to clear this matter.

If this solved your problem, feel free to accept your answer.

It sounds like you're trying to move the E motor outside the enclosure. Don't do that. Bowden extruders already suffer from severely reduced accuracy and increased difficulty in pushing the filament through the tube length. Making the tube longer makes this a lot worse. Instead, feed the extruder, which remains in its existing place inside the enclosure, with an "reverse bowden tube" bringing filament in from outside the enclosure. Or optionally, at ABS chamber temperatures that should be well under the temperature at which ABS softens, just put the filament spool inside the heated enclosure.

I do exactly the same, I use a tube in front of the extruder to pull the filament from the spool from a container. +1


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What is the ball diameter in the FLSUN SR delta arm joints?
I'm trying to get spring-tensioned cup and ball delta arms for a custom build and considering using premade FLSUN SR arms because they're available at very reasonable prices and there do not seem to be any suppliers for these kinds of ball cup ends as a standalone part. But I can't find any details on the diameter of the balls I'd need to use them. From photos of the FLSUN SR effector it looks like they're about 7mm, but that seems like an odd size and might very well be inaccurate due to perspective. 8mm seems to be the size used by other similar parts including the SeeMeCNC balls I'd like to use.
Could someone with one of these printers take a real caliper measurement to help me determine if this part will be suitable or what size balls I might need to look for to make it suitable?


text:
Are delta ball cup ends available as standalone part?
I'm in the process of building a custom delta printer, and based on discussions with folks who do this about the pros and cons of different types of joints, and on this article I'd really like to get spring-tensioned ball cup joints. The article cites a company called Trick Laser as the source for the ball cup ends used in some such arms, apparently including the ones SeeMeCNC sells as complete parts, but Trick Laser does not seem to still be in business or at least doesn't seem to have a website, and I've been completely unable to locate anyone selling just the ball cup ends. Short of printing my own in nylon or POM (this is scarily doable and I might actually do it) or buying SeeMeCNC's arms with the wrong length and carefully cutting them off and drilling out the epoxy or whatever, is there any way to get these kinds of ends?
Note that the FLSUN SR uses these kinds of joints, and since its arms are almost a perfect match for what I need, I have another question about the possibility of using them. But I'd really like to know where to get the parts, since I'll probably be doing at least one more build that will need different lengths, and I'd like to be able to publish the design and BOM for others to build.

Can't the type 1 be engineered into the type 4 by adding a lug and a spring?

@0scar: That's a good question. I think adding a spring to type 1 (not sure what you have in mind for lug) would get the equivalent backlash protection of type 4.

The lug on the ball cup end is necessary to attach the spring to.

@0scar: Ahh, I just wasn't clear what lug meant in this context. So yes, the part missing from my self-answer. :-) I was a little worried about making that reliable at first, but my test piece now is holding something like 5kg with no sign it's even near breaking, so I think it'll handle a spring.

Well, they're available now as a printable part! Not yet tested on a real printer, but they move smoothly on metal delta joint balls (tested with Hayden's). I'll follow up with more details on how suitable they are once I've built this.

Apparently printed ball cup ends are a thing other people building deltas do, too:


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Can I run a 15 AMP heatbed behind a 5 AMP IEC Receptacle?
I'm trying to build a cover for my Hypercube Evo's Meanwell LRS 350W power supply.
The power supply input is 120V AC and it provides 24V DC output to a Einsy Rambo 1.2 board.
I want to protect the Meanwell mains with a cover and a rocker switch with IEC receptacle like this one.
The receptacle has a 5 AMP Fuse between mains and switch.  The Einsy also has three fuses, one for Hotend 5 AMP and one for Fans, etc. 5 AMP, and also a 15 AMP fuse for the heatbed.  And there is a dedicated power input for the bed on the board. I plan to run a MK2a heatbed, which I think will draw about 13 AMPS at least.
My question is, will the receptacle fuse blow when I use the heatbed, or does the amperage come from the power supply (after the receptacle)?
Any other thing I should worry about in this configuration?

The fuses on the board are for current pulled from the 24V DC. 15 amps of 24V DC is 3 amps of 120V AC, plus a little lost in conversion inefficiency in the power supply. If all of them were maxxed out, you'd be right at the 5 amp from mains, and inefficiency could perhaps throw you over. But presumably they're not supposed to be maxxed out, so you're probably okay.

awesome, thanks for the answer.


text:
Ender 3 Pro: X-axis moves too much during printing
I got an Ender 3 Pro yesterday and have been having a problem with all of my prints. Whenever the extrusion stops and the X-axis moves, it moves too far. For example, I tried printing a Benchy with 2 skirt lines, and the lines were the right size but too far apart (I measured it and they turned out to be 5 mm apart).
To be clear, this issue only occurs when I'm printing something. When I use the 'move axis' function on the X-axis, it moves appropriately.

Is this a problem with the G-code/slicer or the printer?
What is causing this and how do I fix it?

Update: I've attached a picture of this. I threw the original Benchy in the trash so I made another one. I'll keep experimenting and see if I can fix it.

Is this a problem with the G-code/slicer or the printer?

The issue came from the way I assembled my printer, not from the G-code or slicer that I was using.

What is causing this and how do I fix it?

It turns out that I put the belt on the X-axis upside down, and that was causing it to move incorrectly. I detached the belt from the 2 points that it was clipped onto, then re-applied it correctly and tightly, and now I can print things properly.

Thanks for posting the answer! You can accept the answer after 48 hours! Many thanks for sharing your experience, this may help others in the future! If I correctly understand the issue, were the belts 180° turned at the ends?

So the belts were riding on the smooth side, rather than notched in the pulleys? Oh well, don't feel too bad. On the woodworking forum people occasionally post that their table saw isn't cutting well, and they have the blade in backwards...


text:
What is the best way to print an action figure?
I have created an action figure and would like to print it.
Anyway, I am not sure the best way to print it, the action figure can be printed only once but the duration is 10 hours. If I separate the part, the time is concise, but I need to do some changes to my file. What is the best way to print an action figure?
If the second method is the better (separate arm, legs, etc.), does exist a good way to do the join between parts?
My 3d printer is Elegoo Mars, so I use Chitubox.

Can you share a photo/screenshot of your action figure?

Yes, I can share it!

Printing a complex object like this one from an attached photo requires a few factors to consider, such as print time, quality, ease of printing and eventual post-processing. You have two options: print the entire figure in one piece with supports, or separate the parts and print them individually.
Printing the entire figure in one piece can be a good option if you want to save time and reduce the amount of post-processing work. If you decide to go with this option, make sure to orient the model correctly to minimize the need for supports and reduce the risk of failure during printing.
Separating the parts and printing them individually can allow you to print each part in the best orientation for quality and reduce the risk of print failure. However, it will require more time for preparing the model for printing and post-processing work to assemble the parts. Bear in mind, that if you decide to separate the parts, it may still be necessary to print them with supports. It is also a better option if the model exceeds the printer's build volume.
To make the assembly easier, you can add alignment pins and holes to the parts to ensure they fit together correctly. Here is a very good tutorial on how to do it - How to cut STL models for 3D printing in Meshmixer. You can also add alignment pins and holes right in Chitubox.
Both printing options have their pros and cons, and you should choose the one that best suits your needs.

STL print speed is determined by height in Z
So to print your project, you should reduce Z height. In this case, your figurine can be placed with its height along the XY plane - lying on the back - and then drops its print time by roughly a factor of 8.

In my experience, you should never print a figure like that upright as it A) takes too long and B) can cause problems with supports.
I would recommend that you cut it on two pieces. One with the legs and one with the body. This will cut your print time almost in half.
Next, tilt both parts backwards by at least 45 degrees. This will further reduce print time and will give you better supports as you can spread them out across a larger surface area while having a smaller surface area in contact with the FEP for each layer.
My printer ins an Elegoo Saturn. I use Chitubox.


text:
Ender 3 v2 Neo filament retracting
When printing temp is at 200 °C and the print bed at 50 °C. When the print gets about a height of 4.0 or so, the print head will move to the far left corner on the rear. The filament will retract about 6 inches or so and start beeping. I have to run the filament back in and press print again and usually completes print. It doesn't matter what filament I have loaded, and there is no binding of filament.
New at this so all help is appreciated.

Can you share your G-code file?

This sounds as if you have configured the slicer to change filament at a specific height. We need a link to the sliced G-code to be sure.

You are 100% correct it was setup to do a filament change. I did not realize it kept the settings for next projects.  Thank you very much


text:
Math in Cura start G-code expressions?
My printer's hot end heats up way faster than the bed. Still, it takes its sweet time, and Cura's default startup sequence: heat the bed, wait for bed to reach target temperature, heat hot-end, wait to reach hot-end temperature, proceed - takes considerably more that it should.
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0}      ;Start heating bed
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0}      ;Wait for bed to reach temp
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0}    ;Start heating extruder
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0}    ;Wait for extruder to reach temp

Sure I could start heating both to target temperature simultaneously and then wait for both, but then I'll be baking unmoving filament in the nozzle for much longer than necessary. What I'd like to do is to start heating the nozzle when the bed is about 20 °C short of its target temperature - that causes them to reach their target temperatures nearly simultaneously. Something along the lines of:
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0}      ;Start heating bed
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0 - 20} ;Wait for bed to be 20 degrees before target
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0}    ;Start heating extruder
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0}      ;Wait for bed to reach temp
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0}    ;Wait for extruder to reach temp

Except S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0 - 20} isn't recognized as a valid substitution.
How can I achieve the desired effect?

You can't do this entirely in start gcode templates, but you can do it by first adding a custom setting to the json file for your printer profile or the base fdmprinter.def.json file most profiles derive from. It would look something like (copied from my copy of fdmprinter.def.json's material_bed_temperature_layer_0 definition:
            "material_bed_temperature_preheat":
            {
                "label": "Build Plate Preheat Temperature",
                "description": "The temperature used for preheating the heated build plate.",
                "unit": "°C",
                "type": "float",
                "resolve": "max(extruderValues('material_bed_temperature_layer_0'))",
                "default_value": 40,
                "value": "resolveOrValue('material_bed_temperature_layer_0 - 20')",
                "minimum_value": "-273.15",
                "minimum_value_warning": "max(build_volume_temperature, max(extruderValues('material_bed_temperature')))",
                "maximum_value_warning": "130",
                "maximum_value": "200",
                "enabled": "machine_heated_bed and machine_gcode_flavor != \"UltiGCode\"",
                "settable_per_mesh": false,
                "settable_per_extruder": false,
                "settable_per_meshgroup": false
            },

Alternatively, you could set enabled for it to false so it won't show up in settings, avoid the nice description and stuff, and name it something like material_bed_temperature_layer_0_minus_20.
In either case you can then use the new setting in your start gcode.

Awesome! I had found a forum thread about using these expressions, except it was completely devoid of context, no info what file, where to put the code, some scary restrictions on default_value, and so I hoped there is a way. And there is, thank you!

None of the above examples work, because the settings parser is more complex than that.
So you can achieve preheated temperatures by adding the following modification to the fdmprinter.def.json file:
"material_bed_temperature_pre":
    {
        "label": "Build Plate Preheat Temperature",
        "description": "The temperature used for preheating the heated build plate.",
        "unit": "°C",
        "type": "float",
        "resolve": "material_bed_temperature_pre",
        "default_value": "material_bed_temperature_layer_0 - 8",
        "value": "material_bed_temperature_layer_0 - 8",
        "minimum_value": "0",
        "minimum_value_warning": "max(build_volume_temperature, max(extruderValues('material_bed_temperature')))",
        "maximum_value_warning": "130",
        "maximum_value": "200",
        "enabled": "false",
        "settable_per_mesh": false,
        "settable_per_extruder": false,
        "settable_per_meshgroup": false
    },

A probable reason why the previous suggestions fail is that the code completion will see the inclusion as some sort of conflict/default as it is not listed in the settings ("enabled = false"). When there is conflict, it attempts to resolve it based on the "resolve" field, equating to the layer_0 setting in an incorrect example.
So the value can be something else than what is listed in the "value" category depending on circumstances.
With this addition, the value has no other choice than to compute the preheated temperature based on layer_0 temperature.
For nozzle temperatures, I use fixed value which does not yet cause oozing of most materials during the small mismatch of sync period.
The setting in the G-code generator is as follows:
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_pre} ;Initial bed temperature, wait
M140 S{material_bed_temperature} ; start heating the bed
M104 S180 ;Hotend initial target, no wait
G28 ;Home
G1 Z15.0 F1200 ;Move the platform down 15mm
M104 S{material_print_temperature} ;Hotend actual target, no wait
M190 S{material_bed_temperature} ;Target bed temperature, wait
M109 S{material_print_temperature} T0 ; wait for hotend

So first we wait for the bed to reach preheat temperatures, which takes some time.
Then, the bed temperature is set to target and the nozzle is to preheat levels, but in the background.
During this, we moved to the home position.
Finally, in sequence ultimate target for the nozzle is no wait, and then we stay until the bed temperature is final. To make sure the nozzle is at the final temperature (if it was not reached during bed heat up), we wait for it until it goes to actual printing.

Cura doesn't allow math operations in G-code scripts, if you want to do that you should use Slic3r or PrusaSlicer.
See e.g. this question or this question asked on the UltiMaker community.

This isn't entirely true. You can add new virtual settings to the json settings file which are specified as formuals in terms of other settings. I'll elaborate in an answer.

@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE Please do, this has been a long awaited missing feature in Cura. Although, virtual settings to the json settings file doesn't sound too  user-friendly as in using the arithmetic in your start G-code.


text:
How should I implement the Z-axis in a fixed build plate 3D printer?
I'm working on a project where I have to design a Cartesian 3D concrete paste printer, in which I aim to make the build plate fixed with a 500 mm × 500 mm build area. But I'm confused as to how I should implement the motion of the Z-axis. I am thinking between:

Using a Z-axis that moves the entire X and Y frame.
Using an independent Z-axis that moves by itself only without the X and Y frame.

What are the differences between the two methods in terms of:

Performance
Ease of design & assembly
Cost

What design is more reasonable from a mechanical design point of view?
An example of the first method is the TITANXY (Fixed Build Plate, Quad Z Screw, CoreXY)
An example of the second is the Maximus 3D Printer

Both are viable.
There are classic CoreXY printers where the extruder is moving along a gantry that slides along two rails which are moved up and down by four vertical lead screws in the corners. It's a lightweight construction suitable for very fast printers - with bowden tube feed (extruder far away from the hot end) the print head can be very light; some smart belt management allows to keep both X and Y motors only move up and down, which allows for extreme accelerations in X,Y directions, only Z is slow - and it rarely needs to be fast.
Then there's the design where a fixed gantry - be it a bridge over the table, or a beam moving on fixed rails up above the table - moves horizontally, and you have a carrier attached to it, which can move along the gantry, and move a Z slide - a vertical beam with the head at the end. This is used more frequently in CNC mills, as the construction can be made much more sturdy and rigid, but since the carrier hauls two stepper motors and a heavy spindle around, the accelerations achievable aren't as high.
The two are fairly similar in terms of ease of design and assembly. As for performance, the former performs great for lightweight, fast work. The latter is great where you need force, torque, e.g. you use a specialized material with a heavyweight extruder - like for the concrete paste maybe?


text:
What is this "rough" line going vertically up the side of a print called?
I've got this rough line going right up the center of some of my prints:

Can anyone be kind enough to tell me what this is called?  How does one fix it?

That is the seam (the start and end) of the outer perimeter of your printing object. This has been asked and answered before. We need to look up the correct question. I'll refrain from answering and will try to find the question.

I think this may answer your question.

Yes, this would seem to be a duplicate of How to get less Z-seam? This question should be flagged as such.


text:
Splicing G-code issue
I'm trying to combine two different G-code files into one. The reason I'm doing this is that I'd like to print my part with different layer heights. I've managed to combine the two G-codes together, but when it gets to the layer where the layer height changes, it stops moving and keeps extruding for 10-15 seconds, creating a blob of plastic, then moves on destroying the print.
I've tried using with PrusaSlicer's manual layer height feature, but their normal supports are unusable on my part and their organic supports are not compatible with the variable layer heights. Cura simply does not have this capability, and their adaptive layer height feature is not the answer. Here is what I'm trying to do:

Create G-code with layer height set to 0.3 mm
Change layer height to 0.1 mm and create G-code from that
Load 0.1 mm G-code into Notepad++ and find the layer I want to change it at
Delete all G-code past that layer
Load 0.3 mm G-code into Notepad++ and find where that layer would start based on Z height
Copy/Paste the rest of the G-code into the 0.1 mm file
Save and run on the printer

It mostly works but the layer height change stops. Does anyone know what is happening?
Here are a bunch of lines from the g-code before and after where the transition happens. I have it marked in the g-code exactly where:
G1 F2400 E2234.44369
G1 F3600 X105.992 Y179.63 E2234.66835
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2233.86835
G1 F300 Z5.8
G0 F9000 X106.068 Y183.796 Z5.8
M204 S500
G1 F300 Z5.4
G1 F2400 E2234.66835
G1 F3600 X99.843 Y190.022 E2234.8704
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2234.0704
G1 F300 Z5.8
G0 F9000 X101.42 Y192.688 Z5.8
M204 S500
G1 F300 Z5.4
G1 F2400 E2234.8704
G1 F3600 X106.635 Y187.472 E2235.03967
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2234.23967
G1 F300 Z5.8
G0 F9000 X107.871 Y190.479 Z5.8
M204 S500
G1 F300 Z5.4
G1 F2400 E2235.03967
G1 F3600 X104.311 Y194.039 E2235.15521
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2234.35521
G1 F300 Z5.8
G0 F9000 X108.544 Y194.049 Z5.8
M204 S500
G1 F300 Z5.4
G1 F2400 E2235.15521
G1 F3600 X109.947 Y192.646 E2235.20075
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2234.40075
G1 F300 Z5.8
G0 F9000 X120.783 Y90.912 Z5.8
M204 S500
;TYPE:WALL-OUTER
G1 F300 Z5.4
G1 F2400 E2235.20075
G1 F1978 X120.784 Y92.216 E2235.22798
G1 F1939 X120.794 Y92.736 E2235.23906
G1 F1901.4 X120.794 Y122.763 E2235.89141
G1 F1939 X120.783 Y123.279 E2235.90241
G1 F1978 X120.784 Y124.585 E2235.92968
G1 X120.974 Y124.314 E2235.93659
G1 X121.199 Y123.844 E2235.94748
G1 X121.327 Y123.323 E2235.95868
G1 F1939 X121.362 Y122.774 E2235.9704
G1 F1901.4 X121.362 Y92.736 E2236.62299
G1 F1939 X121.327 Y92.172 E2236.63503
G1 F1978 X121.201 Y91.663 E2236.64598
G1 X120.97 Y91.177 E2236.65722
G1 X120.819 Y90.963 E2236.66269
G0 F1620 X120.783 Y90.912
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2235.86269
G1 F300 Z5.8
;MESH:NONMESH
G0 F9000 X100 Y39.255 Z5.8
;TIME_ELAPSED:4586.593663
;-------------------------------------------------------------
;-----------------Transition Happens Here---------------------
;-------------------------------------------------------------
;LAYER:18
G0 X100 Y40.153 Z6.1
G1 F300 Z6.1
G0 F9000 X97.297 Y34.468
M204 S500
;TYPE:SUPPORT
G1 F300 Z5.7
G1 F2400 E2715.82188
G1 F1800 X97.297 Y34.468
G1 X97.47 Y35.08 E2715.86566
G1 X97.834 Y36.138 E2715.9427
G1 X98.102 Y36.794 E2715.99148
G1 X98.421 Y37.518 E2716.04595
G1 X98.79 Y38.243 E2716.10196
G1 X98.96 Y38.555 E2716.12642
G1 X99.366 Y39.232 E2716.18077
G1 X99.605 Y39.602 E2716.2111
G1 X100 Y40.153 E2716.25778
G1 X100.057 Y40.232 E2716.26448
G1 X100.343 Y40.609 E2716.29706
G1 X100.73 Y41.147 E2716.34269
G1 X100.934 Y41.458 E2716.3683
G1 X101.342 Y42.136 E2716.42278
G1 X101.476 Y42.382 E2716.44206
G1 X101.861 Y43.147 E2716.50103
G1 X102.193 Y43.913 E2716.55851
G1 X102.303 Y44.19 E2716.57903
G1 X102.602 Y45.029 E2716.64035
G1 X102.687 Y45.297 E2716.65971
G1 X102.939 Y46.186 E2716.72332
G1 X103.19 Y47.204 E2716.79551
G1 X103.692 Y47.104 E2716.83075
G1 X103.724 Y47.394 E2716.85084
G1 X103.799 Y48.272 E2716.91151
G1 X103.818 Y48.652 E2716.9377
G1 X103.839 Y49.553 E2716.99975
G1 X103.839 Y56.239 E2717.46007
G1 X100 Y56.239 E2717.72438
G1 X97.297 Y56.239 E2717.91048
G1 X97.297 Y34.823 E2719.38494
G0 F1620 X97.297 Y34.468
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2718.58494
G1 F300 Z6.1
G0 F9000 X100 Y40.153 Z6.1
M204 S500
G1 F300 Z5.7
G1 F2400 E2719.38494
G1 F1800 X100 Y56.239 E2720.49244
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2719.69244
G1 F300 Z6.1
G0 F9000 X130 Y89.241 Z6.1
M204 S500
G1 F300 Z5.7
G1 F2400 E2720.49244
G1 F1800 X130 Y125.641 E2722.99852
G1 X127.425 Y125.641 E2723.1758
G1 X127.425 Y89.241 E2725.68189
G1 X135 Y89.241 E2726.20342
G1 X135 Y125.641 E2728.7095
G1 X142.825 Y125.641 E2729.24824
G1 X142.825 Y89.241 E2731.75433
G1 X140 Y89.241 E2731.94882
G1 X140 Y125.286 E2734.43047
G0 F1620 X140 Y125.641
M204 S2000
G1 F2400 E2733.63047
G1 F300 Z6.1
G0 F9000 X100 Y175.345 Z6.1
G1 F300 Z6.1
G0 F9000 X97.278 Y181.097

This is completely expected from your description. You just cannot bluntly paste a different section of a G-code file into another without tweaking the interface layer (unless the extruder length is reset at every layer).
You need to make sure that the extruder distance is set to the right value. Usually the extruder length is reset to zero once in a while or at layer change to prevent too large E values (G92 E0), but when you paste a layer with a mismatch in E value between the two, the extruder will extrude (or retract, this is equally valid, but in this case extrude) first before it will move further.
What you need to check for is the E value, look if it is reset or not and set the value by defining the correct value with G92 Exxx, where xxx is the correct value from the pasted layer (this will be the starting point for E extrusion).
From the updated question with the G-code snippet we see that the above described is actually happening, layer 17 has a final move laying down filament in
G1 F2400 E2235.86269
and layer 18 has the first filament deposition with
G1 F2400 E2715.82188.
You can see that almost 500 mm of filament is wasted (2235 -> 2715). This means that you need add
G92 E2715.82188
before
G1 F2400 E2715.82188.

Hi 0scar, thank you for the comprehensive answer, I will be looking into this tonight.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, isn't this the Modify settings for overlaps Mesh Type in Cura? Layer Height is not an option there, that was one of the first places I looked. Works great with infill, in fact I use it for most things I print because it's so handy.

@Vandel212 I thought I have done this before, I'll remove it from the answer and test it again. Thanks for letting me know!

Haha I just deleted my comment because I saw your edit. That's brilliant! That seems like it would solve that issue. I'll try it out tonight and let you know.


text:
Why does my print have this unusual pattern?
Just started 3D printing. Switched from a 0.4 mm nozzle to a 0.2 mm nozzle and am printing my first object. It has this pattern/inconsistency. Thinking it might be temperature variation but not sure. Anyone know what it is?

I changed the speed to 60 % cause not enough was coming out at a time, it improved the results. Layer height 0.2 mm but it may be a little off from because of the leveling. I increased flow 15 % just now and seems to be printing better with more adhesion.

Welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! Did you change the speed? Your print shows signs of underextrusion. What is the layer height?

Yes I changed the speed to 60% cause not enough was coming out at a time, it improved the results. Layer height 0.2 but it may be a little off from because of the leveling. I increased flow 15% just now and seems to be printing better with more adhesion. So underextrusion was the problem I agree. Thx for the timely response!

How does layer height relate to extrusion?

You extrude volume, so layer height and print width make up the volume you extrude.

Layer height should be max. 3/4 of the nozzle width, so you should print at max. 0.15 mm layer height with a 0.2 mm nozzle. So the problem is that you are using a too large of a layer height (0.2 mm). If you push more flow it appears to work, but, for the wrong reasons.
With a layer height as large as the nozzle width, you extrude cylinders/tubes with much space between the perimeters, by increasing the flow percentage you somewhat flatten the tubes, but it is better to lower the layer height.

Thank you Oscar! Very informative


text:
Gaps in walls Cura
I'm new to the 3D printing world and I'm using the default options of Ultimaker Cura to slice and print a couple of cookie cutters.
I have a model that looks alright, but when I slice it, some walls are missing for the Preview object.
Here you can see how the model looks pre and post-slicing.

Can you help me with this? Do you know what I have to do to avoid these gaps in my sliced object?
I have a Artillery Sidewinder X2 which I use together with Ultimaker Cura. I print in PLA at 200 °C. The print bed is set to 60 °C. The layer height I set to 0.2 mm, the line width [0.44 mm] from the nozzle. The Printing Speed is set to 25 mm/s for walls and 50 mm/s for infill. My retraction is 3 mm

What Cura version?

Ultimaker Cura 5.2.2

And how thin are the features that are getting lost when slicing?

Can you share this model file, that you are trying to print?


text:
Sovol SV06 sensorless homing is not functional
I just unboxed my Sovol SV06, and it does not appear to home correctly. When issuing the G28 command through both the screen and Pronterface, it will crash against the X-axis limit switch until I turn off the machine, as shown in the video below.
I have attempted to use Pronterface to issue new M914 commands, which is the StallGuard sensitivity setting.  I have lowered both the X and Y values to 10, sent the M500 command, verified the settings were correct with M503, and then ran G28. The same thing occurred and it does not appear to function any differently.
I have verified that all of the steppers are plugged in, but I have limited functionality to test anything because the machine cannot home correctly. Is there something I am missing? Included below are the results of running M503
m503
SENDING:M503
echo:; Linear Units:
G21 ; (mm)
echo:; Temperature Units:
echo: M149 C ; Units in Celsius
echo:; Filament settings (Disabled):
echo: M200 S0 D1.75
echo:; Steps per unit:
echo: M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z800.00 E691.50
echo:; Max feedrates (units/s):
echo: M203 X500.00 Y500.00 Z10.00 E30.00
echo:; Max Acceleration (units/s2):
echo: M201 X500.00 Y500.00 Z100.00 E5000.00
echo:; Acceleration (units/s2) (P<print-accel> R<retract-accel> T<travel-accel>):
echo: M204 P500.00 R500.00 T1000.00
echo:; Advanced (B<min_segment_time_us> S<min_feedrate> T<min_travel_feedrate> X<max_x_jerk> Y<max_y_jerk> Z<max_z_jerk> E<max_e_jerk>):
echo: M205 B20000.00 S0.00 T0.00 X8.00 Y8.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:; Home offset:
echo: M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
echo:; Auto Bed Leveling:
echo: M420 S0 Z10.00 ; Leveling OFF
echo:; Material heatup parameters:
echo: M145 S0 H185.00 B60.00 F255
echo: M145 S1 H240.00 B80.00 F255
echo:; Hotend PID:
echo: M301 P15.95 I1.30 D48.96
echo:; Bed PID:
echo:echo: M304 P110.38 I6.12 D497.30
echo:; User thermistors:
echo: M305 P0 R4700.0 T94162.0 B4160.0 C0.000000000 ; HOTEND 0
echo:; Power-loss recovery:
echo: M413 S1 ; ON
echo:; Z-Probe Offset:
echo: M851 X25.00 Y-25.00 Z0.00 ; (mm)
echo:; Stepper driver current:
echo: M906 X860 Y900 Z1000
echo: M906 T0 E550
echo:; Hybrid Threshold:
echo: M913 X183 Y183 Z41
echo: M913 T0 E60
echo:; StallGuard threshold:
echo: M914 X10 Y10
echo:; Driver stepping mode:
echo: M569 S1 X Y Z
echo: M569 S1 T0 E
echo:; Linear Advance:
echo: M900 K0.04
echo:; Filament load/unload:
echo: M603 L0.00 U50.00 ; (mm)

You mention a video in your question, but there is no link posted; maybe you forgot.

It turns out that the previous post I had found suggested that the sensitivity setting be lowered when it actually needed to be raised.  Setting the two M914 values to 75 works perfectly.


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Perfect, no seam print on original sample "3-cat.gcode" from SD card added to Ender 3 S1 Pro. How does Creality do this?
Everywhere you can read how to try to "hide" the seam, but nowhere there is an attempt to eliminate this problem.
And the proof that it is possible is the prepared G-code added to the Ender printer on the SD card. (the exact name of the file is 3-Cat.gcode)
This little figurine has no seam at all! The print is so perfect that I can't believe it.
The question is why slicers don't create such G-codes so that the seam is hidden inside the printed object, not on its wall.
I have printed this figurine six times already, in different colors and different brands of filament.
All prints are perfect!
What do you think about it? Can this be done in a slicer? (I can add this file somewhere but I don't know where.)
Seam in diferent retraction distance (retract on layer change turned on):

Can you include a link to the file so folks trying to answer can analyze it to see what it's doing?

Sure, added above.

where can i upload the file so that the moderator won't delete it? -.-'

We need information on the used slicing parameters, you should also share your own sliced G-code for the knobs above. Being a circular object with no corners you can never hide the seam, you can mitigate the effects but it will always be somewhat visible, even on well tuned Ultimaker printers.

This answer adresses the seam in the cat model. While it appears that there is no seam printed in this model, it most certainly is printed, but it is cleverly hidden in a sharp corner for you not to see the seam. Furthermore, by clever use of printing the infill first and then the outer perimeter, it appears that there is no seam. There isn't a definite start and stop (no retraction from infill to outer perimeter) and continues inner perimeter printing after the outer perimeter.
You can load the model in an online G-code visualizer to see for yourself. The Creality Cat is a specific showcase to show it's capabilities, but cannot simply be applied to all geometries, a sphere is difficult to print perfectly.

It's done by tweaking the retraction setting in your slicer.
In Cura the main setting affecting this is under 'Travel'.
In the 'Travel' settings is 'Enable retraction', and 'Retract at layer change'.
This will retract the filament and you won't get a seam.

tested on a small cylinder, the seam is still visible. :(

I would expect retraction to be on by default in any reasonable profile. However, the parameters might not be very good.

I turned on "retraction on layer change", printed the same test model 6 times (with retraction distance 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9) and I don't see any difference in the seam... either CURA is broken or I'm retarded...

Getting a seam that's not ugly is a matter of having proper retraction and Z-travel settings that don't let the nozzle ooze when starting/stopping an extrusion. These differ for every printer, but the settings in the Creality-sliced file are 0.8 mm retraction length, and 40 mm/s retraction (and unretraction) speed. These are a very good baseline to start tuning from for a direct drive extruder. Otherwise I don't see anything remarkable about their slicing. You can open it up in a gcode analyzer like https://gcode.ws or https://gcodeanalyser.com to see where their seams are and check if anything else looks special to you.
Faster Z moves will also help and let you turn off "retract at layer change" if you like, which can help. They have not done this in their file; it's sliced with a painfully slow 5 mm/s Z travel speed. Cura doesn't let you access this directly but it reuses the Z-hop speed, even if Z-hop isn't enabled, as the Z travel speed for layer changes. Increasing it won't help much without also increasing the Z acceleration in the printer firmware, though, since the moves are so short they don't have significant time to accelerate. I use 80 mm/s with 750 mm/s² for Z on my Ender, but I'm not sure if that's achievable without TMC 2209s stepper drivers in Spreadcycle mode. In any case, you can get completely acceptable seams without fast Z travel as long as you have "retract at layer change" on.

Thank u for reply. I don't understand why we are writing here about changes in the hardware or software of the printer... as I wrote earlier, the model added to the printer on the SD card is printed seamlessly, there is no seam at all. I added a link to this .gcode file (but the moderator removed it. BTW how can I add it to make it acceptable to the moderator?)
I currently have layer change retraction turned on and I tried to print a small model with a retraction distance of 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9... and I don't see any differences in these models in the seam...

@Rigid: The second paragraph is more general information about the way seams can bulge, and as I said in the final sentence, is not needed to match what Creality did. "In any case, you can get completely acceptable seams without fast Z travel as long as..."


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Cura slicer setting to make the printer fill the transition layer between two layer structure
Not sure if this question is asked before, I am pretty new to 3D printing and not sure how people name this sort of problems.
So my problem is, when I have a structure that have some protruding parts on a base structure, something like this (from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3754366):
In the slicer, between the bottom base and those "pillars", the slicer will place the outline of those "pillars", like this, directly on top of the base infill:
Because those lines are place on top of the infill lines rather than a solid surface, it tends to get messed up, like this:
Is there a setting in Cura that can tell the slicer to build a solid surface on the top of the "base" first, and then draw those outlines on the solid surface instead of putting them down directly on the infill line? if not, any other way to address this issue?

Important information for this problem is top/bottom layer settings, which seems a bit sparse (but may be an incomplete print) as well as infill percentage. It appears that your infill is fairly low, causing the layers distress as the model continues to print.
I suggest to increase the top/bottom layer count and raise the infill percentage to twenty percent or greater.

Hi, thanks for your answer. As stated in the question, is there a way to just let the printer to completely fill the transition layer without leaving the holes, and then build the protruding parts on a completely filled surface.


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Levelling Data Exception on Ender 3 V2 Neo
I was having problems where the nozzle was shaking on my Ender 3 V2 neo, so I tightened the screws holding to where the nozzle was mounted (which were quite loose), but then when I tried to print something, I got the error: "Leveling data exception, please leveling it manually first before auto-leveling." I leveled it manually, and I was still getting the error. I noticed that the firmware was outdated, so I tried updating that thinking it might fix the problem, but in trying to upgrade to V4.2.2 from V1.1.5 I only got to V1.1.6.


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How do I remove congealed, hardened filament from around the hot end from a Cubicon Single Plus
I have a Cubicon Single Plus printer, and the filament has balled up all around the nozzle and hot end. I was wondering if there is any easier way than butting it off carefully with a pair of side cutters.
I have heated up the block and nozzle to 230 degrees Celsius, but that may not help.

You just need the right tool for this, a brass brush, something like:

They're typically available for less than a dollar from hardware stores, or you can order them various places online.
Use it while the nozzle is hot, and with the sock removed, and everything should come right off. Take care not to brush the electrical connections to the heater/thermistor, since this might cause a short and fry your controller board if any conductors are inadvertently exposed.


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FlashForge Adventurer 3 cooling fan making grinding sound
Ever since I got this printer for my 15th birthday the cooling fan has made a grinding sound when the nozzle was near the wall. I thought it was just the clear wall vibrating but now when I start a print it makes the sound all the time and it's getting really annoying. How can I fix this?

I got a used Artillery Hornet back in December 2022 and whenever it began heating up the nozzle it would make noises like those of a jet engine. It was crazy. It needed some maintenance.
Important: Please unplug your printer before cleaning it. It "being off" isn't enough. Safety first at all times.
What I did was check every fan the printer has, so the ones on the carriage (in the hornet I had three next to the heating block) but also in the power source, and make sure they were completely clean from dust bunnies/cat hair/anything else. You'll see how it accumulates on the edge of the blades. You can collect the fluff with tweezers, then use a cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol in case there's some stubborn dirt left you need to gently scrub off.
Afterwards I added a tiny droplet of graphite grease on the little hole they have on the back; sometimes it's covered with a sticker, in that case peel it off to access said hole. Don't go overboard of course, just a tiny drop is enough. Spin it a little to make sure the lubricant is spread evenly.
Reassemble everything, plug the printer and try heating up the nozzle again to check for results.
I would try this before checking for more involved things like software issues. You'd be surprised at how much of a difference the regular cleaning and lubrication of your printer makes.

thx I will try that but will WD40 work or grease

WD40 is more for getting mechanical parts unstuck. I always use graphite grease. It comes in a can like WD40 but it's a bit thicker and also silver colored. It's the best lubricant for moving parts there is.

I mean what else could i use I dont have graphite grease i have my 3d printer provided grease

You can buy graphite greas at any hardware store. It comes in a can like WD40. You can use WD40 but that's not really a lubrican, it's for unsticking mechanical parts or displacing moisture.

If you want, check your fan. There might be something stuck inside. You can clean it with a soft toothbrush. Take a look at the fan blades as well. Sometimes they can get bent. If the fan is spinning at a high speed, you can check the area where it's mounted. It may not be securely in place. Also, these kinds of issues can sometimes be software- related. Make sure to update your printer with any available updates.

It's not dusty it's enclosed and there is nothing stuck in it the blades are fine it is secured in place and I just updated it. do you have any other ideas?


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I am pulling my hair out, why does my text start a few layers in to the top of my base?
This is kind of hard to explain but I have a 2 mm disc that has text on the top, it's a stamp effectively. I want my text to start right on the top after the top layer of the base (if that makes sense), but it's starting the text a few layers down into the top which is making the infill lines a right mess
The text seems to start a few layers down in the top of the base, and it's causing it to look a mess as it's going around it all.

You should have tagged this with the slicer you're using. Presumably that's Cura, and this is likely the "Skin Edge Support Thickness"/"Skin Edge Support Layers" feature.
Because you have some infill layers before the top layers, Cura is putting lines underneath the edges so they have something solid to build on. Otherwise you'd be likely to get top surface gaps or features on top that easily break off.
While you can turn off the skin edge support, what I would do if you find it undesirable here is to increase the number of bottom layers slightly so that there are no infill layers in between. It looks like you only have 2 layers of infill, and having them there is just making problems; you'd do better to make the whole part print solid.

i tried but creality slicer isn't a tag, but i think its a clone of Cura

isn't that the same as doing 100% infill ?

@Lee: Not exactly. 100% infill in theory would still have the skin edge supports, because you still have "skin over infill". In practice that might not happen because of a Cura bug where it replaces your selection of "100% infill" with "999999 bottom layers" on most printers, so it would no longer be "skin over infill". But I wouldn't rely on that.

Your problem has to do with the top layers of your part surrounding the raised text. The infill for your raised text continues a bit because it's not yet close to the top.
The print becomes a mess because the inner walls for the raised text don't hit any infill material like the top layers in this Benchy:
To remedy this, you can try several different things.

Connect Infill Lines. Assuming you use the Cura slicer, you can use the Connect Infill Lines option which is specifically designed to create extra support for top layers.

If the option isn't visible yet you can find it in the additional Infill settings:

Increase infill density. You can increase the infill density ans check if the corners hit (or are very close to) the infill after slicing. In the example below, I raised the infill density from 10% to 25% and all corners are well supported by the infill.
This is often not the best solution because it will severely increase the print time and used material.

Change infill pattern. You can play around with different infill patterns to see if another pattern is more favourable for the unsupported walls. I changes the infill pattern to Lines in this example and it supports the top layers a tiny bit better.

If all else fails, you can add another piece and set the Per Model Settings for the overlapping regions. I added a simple cube and increased the infill density for the overlaps to 50% and got this result:

Of course there are al lot more things you can try but these are some options that have worked for me in the past. Hope it helps!

i'm using creality slicer and it has most of t he infill greyed out

@Lee Why not use the original instead of a clone with less features? Cura will work fine for your printer!


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Ender 3 S1 Pro Nozzle too high
I replaced the nozzle on my S1 Pro with a Tungsten nozzle, but the issue is that the nozzle is too high. I think the nozzle I bought is a tad shorter than the stock nozzles. The CR touch sensor touches the bed before the nozzle does. The bed is level, and the gantry isn't quite square (different issue I need to fix), but the left side is higher than the right so that should have helped me in this situation. Is it possible to lower the heat break to bring the nozzle down a millimeter or so?

I you added some photos we could get an idea of what is exactly the problem! Please add them by [edit], thanks!

You should first fix that the gantry is straight and level (not bubble level, but square with respect to X, Y and Z).
In order to adjust for a shorter nozzle when using a touch sensor you need to re-calibrate the Z-offset. See e.g. Automatic Bed Leveling (ABL) with a sensor (BLTouch, inductive, capacitive), how does it work?. With a shorter nozzle, your offset will increase. You shouldn't lower the heatbreak, this may have adverse effects in feeding the filament into the heatbreak.

My nozzle was 2 mm too high. When the limit switch reach the bed nozzle was 2 mm up. My solution was to lower the hotend 2 mm, and that has worked so far. So try adjustment of the hotend.

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

The CR touch sensor touches the bed before the nozzle does.

The nozzle isn't too high. The sensor is too low. Unless you mean the probe touches the bed first while in extended state which I doubt you mean because where's the problem in that? - that's how the probe is supposed to work!
First check how the probe is mounted on its mounting bracket. If it's mounted on its underside, shift it to its top side. If it's already on top, either add some washers/distancers to the probe mounting screws or adjust the 3D project of the bracket and reprint it. Afterwards perform standard Z probe offset calibration.


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Best materials for printing mountains
Can you suggest me some good material choices for printing some mountains models for educational and fun purposes?
My goal is to mantain the best accuracy without spending too much, I have many models to print: they don't need to be super-resistant.
I was thinking about High-Detail Resin or simple PLA / Recycled rPLA.
I also checked Rigid Resin and Color-Changing PLA.
Here are some examples of my models:

Material is not really going to affect the accuracy unless you're using very exotic things like lightweight foaming materials where the expansion is variable. You don't even have overhangs. So accuracy is pretty much entirely a function of the process, the quality of your machine, and the settings you use.
Resin will generally have higher resolution than FDM if that's what you're looking for. With FDM you can increase resolution somewhat by using a smaller nozzle, but that will make large prints like this very slow. Within the broad classes of resin or FDM, though, which specific resin or which specific polymer or color or brand you use is not going to make a difference. Pick the one that meets your aesthetic needs.


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Ender 3 loss of power
I have a Sprite Pro extruder kit with the BTT SKR Mini E3 screen bundle. When I plug in the Sprite Pro, the entire board shuts off. What do I need to do? I have tried to switch the wires.

Check everything again?  If the PSU shuts off completely, it's because of a short circuit.  Don't assume wire colours are correct.

It sounds like there might be a short circuit occurring when you plug in the Sprite Pro extruder kit, causing the entire board to shut off.
Check the wiring: Ensure that the wiring connections between the extruder kit and the screen are correct and secure. Double-check the wiring diagrams for both components to ensure that you have connected them correctly.
Check for shorts: Use a multimeter on continuity mode to check for any shorts in the wiring.


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Set Model as Support - Support Settings?
I am currently trying to print an object, "model A", together with another object, "model B", that I want to use solely as a support structure. Regarding Ultimaker, I can set "model B" in Per model settings to Print as support; so far so good.
However, I can't figure out how to adjust the settings for the support; which pattern, if it has a support interface, etc. Am I doing something wrong?

I think I figured this out:
In Cura 5.1 (probably all 5.x) set "model B" to Modify settings for overlaps, instead of Print as support.
Choose Cutting mesh in the dropdown and select the relevant settings. I chose Generate Support, Support Overhang Angle, Support Z Distance, Support Roof Thickness, and Support Floor Thickness.
Enable Generate Support for "model B".
Slice and see if it fits your needs. I found that it didn't and it seems to inherit settings that can't be set per model from the general settings. As I didn't want to print support for the other model(s) I simply enabled support for the entire build, changed the settings I wanted changed for my "model B", and then disabled support for the entire build.


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Mysterious Top Layer Artifacts
It appears that some regions on my top layer has these weird patterns. It doesn't seem like over-extrusion because the extrusion lines go diagonally whereas these patterns look irregular and somehow "organic" to me. And, it only appears on some region.

I am using EAUN PLA+ and the printer is Bambu Lab X1C. It has an enclosure. Filament seems quite dry, I have put them in storage box with silica for 3 days. Also I enabled top surface ironing, this might be the cause but I am not sure, as these artifacts only appear in this region.
Any idea?

This is underextrusion, it is interesting to see if this is caused by the ironing. Try printing again without. Furthermore, putting filament in silica for 3 days will not dry the filament, you need to add heat as well.

Thanks for answering, this sort of problem never happened again, so still unsure of the cause. Will keep an eye on it.


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Underextrusion on small layers
I am trying to print Benchy at 50% scale out of nylon (trimmer line). And all is ok, but there is under-extrusion when the boards are already printed, but before printing the roof. Sometimes it is so severe that the roof comes off under slight pressure.
I tried temperatures of 250, 255 and 263 degrees, 0.45 * 0.2 and 0.6 * 0.3 extrusion size, no fan and slight cooling, and have seen no difference except sometimes under-extrusion occurs at the window level, but sometimes slightly higher (but not at the roof).
I left nylon overnight in oven at 60 - 65 degrees, but it had not dried completely, as the hairs tell. The speed was 30 - 40 mm/s, the slicer is Prusa slicer, the printer is Kingroon KP3S.
Full sized Benchy prints perfectly, except it bends due to thermal shrinking. I printed it at 250 degrees, 0.6 * 0.3 extrusion and 80 speed, so the extruder is totally fine.
The small layer size itself is also not the cause, as the smoke stack prints ok (at least when cooled). It could be extrusion of the nylon during head movement due to water boiling and therefore insufficient amount of plastic where it should be, but I can not see any significant lumps of plastic anywhere else.
What it can be and how can I overcome this?

They are very good photos, but they seem to show different prints of Benchy. It might be a good idea if you could [edit] your question and where it says enter image description here, please add a brief description for the photos to illustrate what they show and/or why they are different.

@Greenonline i added the descriptions as you said but they are not shown in the post.

Yes, it is a bit of a bug. You have to add image hover tags (move the mouse over the image and the text will show). I have edited those in for you now. Please check that they are correct. Thanks :-)

authors: Обедающий философ


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How to use FreeCAD part library with A2Plus
I want to know how to combine this effectivly. I know where the files are located and that I can include them into A2tech. The thing is, that as example the "pcb-terminal-block-female-1x2" from "Electronic Parts > Connectors > power-connectors" provides a sketch for drilling holes, but I do not understand how to utelize it. Sure, I can create the holes in my pcb part based on the sketch, but still need to manually add the parts in A2plus?

This doesn't seem to be related to 3D printing.

Yes not directly but I didn't found an CAD Stack Exchange. I know that it doesn't matter, that the project is 3D Printed related, but FreeCAD as a construction tool also used for 3D Printing so I thought it is the best available match

SE.Engineering might be the place to ask, there are a lot of AutoCAD questions there, so maybe FreeCAD too? See also Where can questions that are purely about 3D modelling, or CAD, software be asked?. Also Which StackExchange site is for asking about AutoCAD?


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Consistently inconsistent/blobby first layer
Info:
Printer - Creality Ender 3 V2 (slightly modified)

replaced original hotend with another standard hotend (same model)
PEI coated magnetic bed (printing on rough side.)
CRTouch ABL

Filament - Sunlu Marble PLA+ (~1.5 weeks old) / JAYO White PLA+ (opened today)
Slicer - PrusaSlicer 2.6.0
Firmware - E3V2S1/"Professional Firmware" build 20230312
Settings -

0.4 mm nozzle (and set to 0.4 mm in slicer)
0.12 mm layer height (same for first)
210 °C nozzle, 55 °C bed
extrusion multiplier of 1 (100 %)
relatively slow print speed (40 mm/s or less)

The Issue:
Started printing marble PLA+ without problems for approx. a week, then had issues with the first layer. A mix of inconsistent- and under-extrusion. I figured the nozzle was clogged since marble filament is more prone to clogging and ended up swapping to another 0.4 mm nozzle.
Printed one model flawlessly, then the same issue again. Inconsistent extrusion leading to a rough and weak first layer. Swapped the nozzle again and decided to print in standard PLA+ to see if the filament was the issue. It wasn't - got another decent first print (temp tower), then I observed the same issue with both rolls of filament I mentioned, so I doubt it's bad tolerances there.
Other things I've tried (to no avail):

calibrated E-Steps (they were already 98 % to perfect)
checked nozzle clogs (extruding manually works perfectly fine, doubt it's clogged)
checked extruder arm for cracks (no cracks)
checked extruder tension (doesn't skip)
re-leveled bed (and generated mesh) for every print
adjusted flow during printing (120 % still had inconsistencies)
swapped nozzles (4 times in total now) to see if I just got a bad one
checked if my x-gantry wasn't level

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what else could cause this.
Here's some images, apologies if they're too fuzzy, it's the best my camera would do.


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Vase mode extrusion calculation
I am using Grasshopper for clay 3D printing and I have struggled with E calculus in vase mode especially when:

The layer heights are not equal (adaptive mode to ensure each layer touch below one)

Small layer height enough that a few point-to-point Z difference in layers do not surpass the 50-micron limit of the printer, for example, printer each 5 point will increase height once, and this leads to extrusion at that point

Please, how can this be done when I have:

Distance between point to point

Height difference between neighbor points

Nozzle diameter


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ender 3 repeated power outage issue
My ender 3 is repeatedly claiming there is a power outage at the exact same spot in a specific print over and over again. There obviously has been no power outage. The chord is very secure in the outlet, nothing else in the house has turned off or reset, and it happens in the exact same spot over and over again. I've run this print probably about 5 times now, and other prints in between as well. My other prints seem to work (I didn't really want them, so I stop them pretty early on, but long enough I feel confident those prints aren't having the same problem.)
It stops about a couple millimeters after the first circuit of the brim. It claims there was a power outage, and asks if I'd like to resume or quit the print. If I choose to resume, it does not resume from the same spot; it restarts the print from the beginning, makes one circuit of the brim and then dies in the exact same way.
What on earth is going on?
I'm trying to read through this answer. But I guess I don't know the anatomy of my printer well enough. All I understand is that he's saying a wire might be loose somewhere. I think he meant one of the wires from the power supply to the rest of the board (as he had already ruled out from the wall to the power supply).
However, I don't believe that's what's going on with me. If my problem were the same as his, I would expect that my print should start working again after slowing the print down to perhaps 25% of the default speed. But after testing this the problem persists. I believe the problem has to do with the gcode file itself, but I have no idea how to go about testing that hypothesis.

Gcode could be corrupted and crashing the printer, try reslicing on a new install of cura. You can also try formatting the SD card, or reflashing the firmware but I dont suspect this to be an issue

@F.Ahmed Thanks for the comment. I don't know why, but it's working again. Either, reslicing the gcode fixed the problem as you suggested, or increasing the layer width (though I have no idea why that would fix it; that's just the only other thing I changed). It's odd, because I resliced thrice with the same results, but I guess fourth time two weeks later was the charm?


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Struggling to get BTT Smart Filament Sensor to work
Im about two years into struggling with the BTT Smart Filament Sensor.  I asked for help on here and on Reddit about two years ago, got frustrated, and put it in my parts drawer for a while.  Now I'm trying again. I actually asked AGAIN on Reddit recently, but I discovered some things while being helped over there and I figured I should start with a fresh post, not confusing and cluttered lost in the discussion thread.  Long thread sorry, but I've tried LOTS of stuff:
The problem
Right when I start prints, it'll always trigger and say its out of filament and needs to unload the filament. Or if I push past that and tell it to reload the filament and keep going, it'll happen again maybe a half a layer later.
Relevant Info about my printer:

Originally an Ender 3 Pro
Still original screen (not tft as I've heard that can be an issue)
Swapped the mainboard with a BTT E3 RRF
Using Marlin bugfix-2.1.X
Print through octoprint

Changes I've made to firmware
Followed this guide to the letter.  I've checked and double checked this like 5x.
Code in start of prints
I've read in several places that you need certain start codes in the beginning of your gcode for marlin to recognize and use your filament sensor.  Stuff like this (in the notes of marlin):

I've tried prints with and without this, still fails either way.
Other things I've looked at:
Some posts have mentioned that even if you set the filament detection length to 7 in your firmware (as is recommended), that it doesn't always carry over into your printer unless you use m500.  Well, I've done that, and it seems to have 'stuck'.  When i use m412 I get this:

Also some posts have suggested using longer lengths, in the past I've gone as high as 25, it still didn't work and would still trigger, just maybe a few moments later.
When I use m119 to see if the endstops are even being detected, it seems to understand the filament sensor is plugged in.  I.e. if there is NO filament in the sensor and I run m119, it says this:

But if there IS filament in the sensor, it says this:

I think that's backwards, correct?  (Could someone with a working BTT Smart Filament sensor please confirm that for me? I've asked a few times and haven't got an answer yet)
Lastly, per this thread, I was going to change my runout_state from low to high, because as one of the commentors suggsted, if the sensor is interpreting it backwards (which again, I THINK it is from above) then that could help.  They suggested trying a print without filament and seeing if the printer would 'print' or be stopped by the filament sensor.
Well, before I changed the runout state I tried that, (printing with no filament) and it still triggered.
Lastly, per this comment on my reddit thread, it was suggested to check the wires because they had their wires in the wrong place when they bought theirs.  I did that and here's what I found.  My wires aren't colored so I'm just arbitrarily numbering them 1,2,3:
Here's what I found when moving them around:

So the way they are now seems to be the only way that gives me two different states.
Am I doing something obviously wrong?


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How to print a Single face (one sided) 3D scan
I took a scan using Polycam on my phone of a 3D object and exported it, but when put it in Cura it says there are missing surfaces, and I’m pretty sure this is because it’s only taken face-on, there is no back. When I go to print preview it looks strange and doesn’t work, I just want to print the scan I have taken attached to a block or something.
I am happy to provide images, etc.

If you've created a 3D scan, the resulting mesh will have depth, perhaps not a great depth. The slicer dislikes open mesh and as you've discovered, will not print in a manner to meet your requirements.
Using a third party program to adjust the mesh into a 2D image, you can then extrude the necessary depth to create a manifold 3D print. Without knowing your comfort level with other software, it can be a challenge to determine the best program.
First to mind is Meshmixer (free, multi-platform), Fusion 360 (free hobbyist version), OpenSCAD, (free, multi-platform) and many others with which I'm not as familiar.
One would import the recently created mesh, clean up the debris typically created by these scanner programs and if possible, extrude within the selected program to create the depth aspect.
As an example, one can import the mesh file into Fusion 360, create a sketch plane and project the mesh onto the plane. This creates the 2D image which can be extruded within Fusion 360 to create a printable, exportable file.
The real key here is to implement just one more program to take that step to your goal.

Thanks so much - funnily in the time between posting the question and receiving this answer I went off and researched and have ended up fixing it using Meshmixer, but this still helps me understand why so I appreciate your post regardless.

@Dash - If this answered your issue (whether directly or indirectly) consider selecting the checkmark below the voting arrows to show it's good to go.


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Preview bug in Cura 4.10.0
I am interested in 3D printing projects and I use the Cura program for that purpose. Lately, when I preview my models in the Cura program to prepare for printing, I encounter an error and my prints come out distorted. I am using version Cura 4.10.0. Does anyone have experience with this version? Could there be an issue with the integrity or the geometric compatibility of my files in terms of dimensions and size? If anyone has experienced a similar problem, could you please help me?
Thank you in advance.

You are using a fairly old version of UltiMaker Cura, you should try a more recent version of Cura to test if it happens in the newer version as well.
Currently, at the time of writing, the latest version of Cura is 5.3.1.

I had not encountered such a problem before. While newer versions are usually designed to improve issues in previous versions, it doesn't necessarily mean that the current version is inherently weaker. Thank you for your recommendation, and I will give it a try.


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Anycubic Vyper - original LCD fail (not working)
I own an Anycubic Vyper printer.
When uploading the new firmware there was some error and the upload failed. Now the display shows nothing and is black. Is there any possible fix?


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Leveling a printer bed using the FEP in the tank?
The gold standard for levelling the bed on a resin printer seems to be using a sheet of paper.
Is there any reason why is can't be done by lowering the bed to home while the FEP tank is in place and leveling it there?
I'm specifically thinking of the Elegoo Saturn, where the bed is levelled by undoing two bolts and moving it to home, and then tightening the bolts.
For situations where everything is covered with wet resin and you don't want to have to clean everything up or to risk getting resin on your glass. Not for everyday levelling.

This method has a limited lifespan in solvent printers.
Its purpose is to achieve proper and optimal clearance to obtain suitable organs and structures.
It appears to be easier to adjust the FEP reservoir while it is fixed.
However, the issues present here can be more significant.
Any force that creates pressure on the FEP can result in punctures or leaks.
Printing with such qualities resembling this kind of problem can cause inferior prints.
I can recommend a clean cloth and a medium-soft brush as the simplest options for you. These will be sufficient for cleaning. If they are not enough for you, you can use some isopropyl alcohol.

Hi there, are you using ChatGPT (or some other AI) to generate these answers?

I am interested in 3D printers, there is a department in my company working on it. I received training on printers and I have certificates. I also love doing research.

Ok, thanks for replying. I just had to check. I meant no disrespect, but community flags have been raised. Kindly retract the abuse flags that you have raised against my queries, as I am merely having to respond to and moderate community flags.

Here I answer questions and write questions. My reputation is being eroded by your account and votes. This lowers my motivation to write and answer questions.

With the greatest respect, I haven't downvoted any of your posts

Please don't get demotivated. I believe that some of the issues may have arisen from some posts where sources of the images, text and tables weren't explicitly provided, raising concerns of plagiarism. If any content (i.e. quoted text, image or table) is from an external source, then a reference or link must be provided. Also use block-quoting (>) on third party text, but only on third party text - there is no need to block quote your own text. If the content is your own then it is often wise to state that in the post (i.e. "This is a model that I made showing the effect"). Thanks.