Laser scanning to 3D printer I have one *.xyz file (from a laser scan) that I wanted to mesh and create a 3D printable file.

I saw some YouTube videos from Meshlab and try to follow the steps explained in the video, 3D Laser Scanning - Meshing Point Clouds in Meshlab;

When I reached the step: "Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction I discovered that "Surface Reconstruction: Poisson" does not appear in my Meshlab (V2016.12).

I search on web to see if I could use another modelating method, but everybody said the «Poisson» method is the "one"!

I have two questions:

It is possible not have the "Surface Reconstruction: Poisson" in the program (there is something I need to pay for use it?);
Not having the "Surface Reconstruction: Poisson", is there any other possibility to create a surface from a xyz point cloud?

Same menu, different location in the sub-menu (at the bottom):

As T.M. states in their comment, see Poisson mesh reconstruction on StackOverflow:

  MeshLab 2016 now uses the new version of the Poisson merging, and the
  filter is called:

  Screened Poisson Surface Reconstruction

  it is in the same submenu, on the bottom. The relevant parameter
  (octree depth) is called Reconstruction Depth. It is now possible to
  merge multiple layers at once, without flattening them beforehand (as
  before). If source layer(s) have color, the result will be colored
  too. If you want to have the same result of the old version, put 0 in
  the "interpolation weight" parameter


Do hygroscopic filaments (PVA, Nylon) absorb moisture while in a heated enclosure I’m new to using PVA support filament, and have read it is especially prone to absorbing moisture out of the atmosphere. People made it sound like it starts to happen quickly, and if you aren’t supposed to leave it on the machine overnight, what’s the difference between that and doing an overnight print with the roll?
I’m building an enclosure for the printer (BCN3D Sigma, filament lives in the build space), expect the ambient temperature when printing PLA to be ~35 °C, unless I add an active heating element (100 W lightbulb possibly). The question is, do the hygroscopic materials continue to absorb moisture in a warm, toasty environment? And if so, do I need to construct a dry box for the filament to live in as it prints?
A frugal attempt at research brought back this:
As noted by the Sciencing.com website article "How Temperature & Humidity are Related":

As air temperature increases, air can hold more water molecules, and its relative humidity decreases. When temperatures drop, relative humidity increases.

The concept that relative humidity decreases with an air temperature increase runs consistent with the concept of using a food dehydrator to purge moisture from filament spools. As the filament heats up, energy is imparted to the water molecules within. The dryer air around the spool will accept the moisture and "distribute" it to the environment. A warmed enclosed chamber will not have much humidity to endanger the filament.
I have a Sigma R16 and have moved the spools to the outside of the enclosure, but I don't plan to print hygroscopic materials in the near future. I suppose I'd have to build some form of drying enclosure around the spools, particularly for nylon and PVA.
My Qidi3D X-Max has both internal and external spool mounts and it is recommended to use the internal mount for nylon, as even an hour's exposure to humidity can deteriorate print quality.
PLA is safe for days, ABS is safe for perhaps less, but PVA is not a good overnight exposure material and nylon is definitely an inside-the-box condition.
I suspect that having the filament inside your Sigma, especially if you plan to fully enclose it, is not going to be problematic. I created a front panel for my Sigma to reduce ABS warping and the internal temperatures reached 37 °C. That's warm enough to keep the water clear of the filament, unless you have an extremely humid environment.
Before you add an additional heater, consider to place a perforated container of color-change desiccant inside the build chamber and observe over time the color change. Obviously when not printing, seal the desiccant from collecting non-test humidity, but I think you'll find it's pretty dry while you're printing.


Printing starts well but then it breaks down, Anet A8 I'm printing a cylindrical piece but at any moment it breaks down. I tried it two times, both have break down in different place. I'm using a 1.75 mm PLA filament in my Anet A8. I'm using Cura 2.6.2 to export to a .gcode file.

This is the original model:

And this is the result:

Here is the G-code file.

The answer by fred_dot_u is fine for small prints with relative low cost or batch producing, where a single part is needed several times. But if you print something big or unique it's not cost effective. Slowing down the complete print is also not very time efficient.

In Cura there an option called Mininum layer time, which addresses this problem:

Cooling -> Minimum Layer Time / Minimum Speed

This means that it will only slow down when the print distance for a particular layer is short. Giving the material some extra time to harden. Other layers will be printed at normal speed. Increased print time will be limited this way.

For your situation I would advise you to increase the part cooling, if possible, in conjunction with configuring the Minimum Layer Time option mentioned above.


How does a 3D printer software/firmware work I have been working on a printer project that basically is a 2D printer (dot matrix type). We are using solenoids as actuators to make impressions on the paper. We are now in the process of designing custom software. But a problem that we have encountered is that we have no idea how to design software as we are a bunch of beginners in this field.

An idea we are working on is based on position-acknowledge technique. In this technique the computer sends G-code to the controller. The controller after reaching the position defined in code sends an acknowledgement and the computer then sends the next signal. This is the model we are currently working on.

Can anyone suggest any other ideas to make this work?
Is Our approach right?
Do 3D printers work using same technique?

You appear to be asking about rate-limiting the stream of G-code provided by the computer, but some more context in your question will help if this is not the case.

Printers tend to work in two ways.

Read G-code from local storage as a text file. Here, the parser/control engine is in full control.
Stream G-code over a serial port using an 'ack' handshake.

The reference for G-code used in 3D printing is the RepRap Wiki. Here you will find responses such as ok resend and fatal, these indicate when a previous command is processed and something else can be sent, if the previous message was identified as corrupt, or if recovery is impossible.

The basic rule for this style of handshake is that after every host to slave transaction, the host must wait for some response before sending another transaction. The slave could send either ACK responses, or other asynchronous transactions if you can design the system to avoid or not care about overrun in the slave to host direction.

When designing a handshake like this, you can consider all possible ways for something to go wrong (assume the interface is imperfect). How can you handle a request being missed and no ACK ever? When there is a timeout, can you make a 'benign' request to see if the printer is still connected, etc.


Does moisture cause warping? I'm printing flat objects (like rectangular) with PLA on a glass bed and 70 celcius degrees (also tried 75 celcius too, 65 celcius and lower ends with adhesion problem in general). Also I use brims too. Most of the time, after a while it shrinks and warps (when print continues).

Room temperature is steady, there is no airflow to cool down things..

I tried to slow down to 20mm/sec. I tried to increase heat for first layer... Nothing helps.

I am suspicious about moisture of the filaments. Can it be related?

Warping is caused by the plastic shrinking as it cools and inadequate bed adhesion is usually the what lets it warp. Either cleaning your print surface very thoroughly with rubbing alcohol or using something like a glue stick on your print bed will mitigate that warping enough that you won't suffer problems with your print. Printing too hot can also be a problem because the plastic will need to even cool more after it is extruded and could possibly lead to more stresses buildup in the plastic.

The dimensional stability of PLA really depends on the quality of the plastic. Storage conditions come into play as well, but it is mostly the quality of the material you need to worry about; I have some cheaper PLA that has gotten brittle due to having absorbed moisture despite being in a (albeit somewhat loosely closed) package with desiccants, and I also have a different brand of PLA that is of much higher quality that I just leave out in the open; this PLA doesn't exibit signs of moisture damage. Higher quality filaments are designed to resist moisture better and be more stable in terms of dimensions. With the cheaper brand of PLA, I have also experienced warping, but that is not due to moisture in the filament; that was actually from a new roll.

When a filament absorbs too much moisture, it can become brittle but still print. Excessive moisture will cause any water in the filament to vaporize when passing through the hotend and form bubbles that will ruin the finish quality of a print. You'll know if filament is excessively wet because you will hear quiet and sharp snapping sounds as the result of the bubbles that are formed in the plastic popping. You will also be able to see steam if you examine your hotend with a bright light as it is extruding.

I'd suggest trying a different brand of filament if possible, cleaning the print surface / adding glue, or at the very least, a new roll of filament.

(When using a glue stick to increase first layer adhesion, it could be worth noting something unusual I found; adding glue to the build plate of a Prusa i3 MK3S actually reduces bed adhesion in my experience. It might be worth playing around to see if super clean works for you, or if super sticky does. The build plate is coated in a very finely textured PEI if that is some information that could help your case.)


Possible ways to print soft skin for human robot? Are there any 3D printing filaments or specially designed desktop systems which can print soft artificial skin for human-robot? For example made of soft silicone or something similar?

Oh that is a tricky tricky question!

First you will probably need a good scan of the robot. You will have the cad of the robot but chances are scanning will make life easier.

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20151201-kinect-easy-3d-printing-tool-with-release-of-3d-scan-app-for-windows.html

Also see Reprap for other options

http://reprap.org/wiki/3D_scanning

Following... it is not going to be that simple. If it was my project I would
Print a mold out of ABS. ABS reacts to acetone and you can vapor treat it.

http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/blog/01366106156

That said you might burn your house down. Also it is inconsistent. But would give you a smooth finish.

Next you can do just normal mold printing and be okay with the ribbing. Then you pour your silicon material

Next you can well just print with silicon. The ninjaflex guys have a ton of different types of flexible materials and new ones coming out.

https://ninjatek.com/products/filaments/ninjaflex/

On that topic I will mention a local company that I have no direct affiliation with. I just see them at the hacker space. They make a extruder just for flexibles.

https://flexionextruder.com/

Other areas to look at. More for making metal but it may be of use.

http://www.instructables.com/id/From-3d-printed-part-to-metal-the-lost-plaabs-me/

Last is again the mold but you make the molds on a expensive form 1. Or you make the skin on the form1 as they can do flexibles. Small build area. Material is around 100 a ltr or more

http://formlabs.com/products/3d-printers/form-1-plus/

Good luck!

Also check out this facebook group (no affiliation)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DPrintProps/

If anyone has done this it is those guys. Oh Wait No I take that back Look into these fellows. They have a very active group. (google group) not to mention that they are also directly doing what you are.

http://inmoov.fr/

Just don't be like this guy and make it look like a movie star...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-builds-scarlet-johansson-robot-7667715


Melzi v3b firmware flash I'm trying to flash the repetier Firmware to my Prusa i3 3D Printer, which uses Melzi 2.0 board. I uploaded it successfully 2 days ago with same settings but now is failing always.

@avrdude -p m1284p -b57600 -c arduino -P COM%x% -e -U flash:w:%filename%.hex
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9705 (probably m1284p)
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "newa.hex"
avrdude: input file newa.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: writing flash (114266 bytes):
Writing |                                                    | 0% 0.00s
avrdude: stk500_paged_write(): (a) protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x64
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

How do I solve this problem?

I have had trouble before not using spacing between arguments. I think no spacing between -b and 57600 is causing the problem. Try

avrdude -p m1284p -b 57600 -c arduino -P COM%x% -e -U flash:w:%filename%.hex


Can a 3D model of a copyrighted work be rendered legally without infringement? I know this is still gray territory and it is asked so many times within the 3D printing and maker community but I'm curious about the limits of 3D models and were it touches on Free Use and infringement. I'm not trying to push the envelope, I just want to be clear on the matter.

Is it legal if a design is rendered in a CAD program of a copyrighted material for no purpose of using, distributing, creating, mixing, internalizing, re-licensing under GPL/CC, or any unauthorized use outlined by the owner of the original work? For instance, if someone is demonstrating the abilities of a particular CAD and makes a mock-up of Mickey Mouse just to show the limits of said CAD and the STL/OBJ isn't released or distributed and a letter of intent is given along with the demonstration regarding the original work (in this case, Mickey), is that infringement? In this example, no loss of revenue or sales will affect the original owner, no claims of ownership is implied or stated, and no physical model will be created.

While considering all of this, I figured that it wasn't very much different than if an artist sat down and drew a picture of Mickey Mouse. As long as the picture isn't sold, distributed, or released, in my mind, that is the same thing as a 3D render.

To further the details of the 3D model, the render would be made from scratch and not imported, copied, or reverse engineered from any other work. Bottom line, it will be a likeness that is created but it will be as close to the real thing as possible to demonstrate capabilities of a particular program (such as organic shapes, stitching, grouping, layering, or any other facet and characterization of 3D modeling).

I already understand that it is recommended to err on the side of caution and steer clear of things like this but it is more of a curiosity than a request for legal advice regarding a specific case.

Can this be covered under Fair Use?

Since there is nothing to be made from creating the render, it isn't released or distributed to others, isn't re-licensed, and no ownership is implied/credit to the original owner is given, is this Free Use or copyright infringement?

First, copyright laws are complex and depend heavily on the specific details.  IMO, your question is really too broad to answer.

An interesting example of how details and interpretation affect whether something is a violation or not is Kienitz v Sconnie Nation.  In this case a copyrighted photo was clearly copied, modified, and used to make a t-shirt that was sold; but, it was not deemed a copyright violation.  On the surface it seems like a violation; but, the court ruled it was not a copyright violation because of the specific details of the case.  Using something as a starting point for a unique creative work that is clearly your own creation is not copying.  I am sure you can tell the difference.

Second, in your description you mention "Free Use".  If the owner has granted "Free Use" of their product; but, they are still wanting to declare the item copyrighted, I would hope that they have granted that "Free Use" under a defined agreement.  In that case, it would seem likely that the creator may just be trying to protect his design from being plagiarized and/or sold/used in a way that is against his intent.

If you have a way to contact the owner, why not just contact them and ask their permission for what you want to do.  If they have put it out for public use, they would probably be excited to have other people see their creation.  Just make sure they gets the credit for the design.  If it is a creation they are intending to protect (like Disney does with Mickey Mouse); then, the answer will be an unequivocal no.  Note that one weird exception is that Disney has granted use rights for Donald Duck to the University of Oregon "Ducks".

Finally, you state that that your intent is "for no purpose of using, distributing, creating, mixing, ..." and you list almost every way of making it public.  If your intent is for what you make/copy to never make it into the public domain; then, how will your question ever be anything other than hypothetical?  I know that there is presently no "private use" exclusion for copyrighted material.  It isn't legal to copy someone's DVD for you to watch privately; but, in reality, no one gets prosecuted for a single private instance.  It is abuse that gets prosecuted.

In what you intend, it would seem that you be best suited to seek out first what would be the "right" thing to do rather than just focusing on what would be "legal".  If you are concerned what you want to do may be wrong and/or illegal, it is probably best to not do it.


FDM printer first layer infill swell upward My Kossel Mini printer was working well. Recently I made some changes including replacing the nozzle and throat, adding a silicone heater cover. Now it has the problem of first layer adhesion.

The perimeter sticks well but the infill line swells upward in the middle, while start and end has no problem.

In my experience the adhesion problem only occurs at corner but never in the middle. So I don't know what configuration needs to be changed to fix it.

Delta calibration has been done before the print. PVP glue was used on the bed.

Had tried below and didn't work:

Clean the bed
Use a brand new glue stick
Verify delta configuration and make sure z-plane is flat and parallel to bed
Adjust z height to minimize the distance between nozzle and bed when z=0
Increase first layer extrude width

Printed again and watched carefully, then found that it was pull up because the printed PLA slice shrank. I realized that the problem was related to my change on the fan duct. Before, the fan blowed directly to the tip of nozzle; after changed it blows around.

Tried to turn off the fan on first layer, the problem was solved.

I suspect that the fan duct change made the extruded material not cooling down immediately. It shrank when the air blew on it. I need further test to verify it.


Why is the bottom of my part not smooth I printed Planetary Gears and the top looks great
but the bottom doesn't

I am printing on a TronXY X3 (Prusa i3 metal frame clone) using eSun PLA+ and sliced using Cura 2.4.  I print on glass and do manual leveling (sheet of paper to set gap).

What could be causing this?

It almost looks like a raft; but, I selected to print with a Brim not a Raft.

I have seen this on some other prints so I suspect it is a slicer setting.
Note: Bed adhesion seemed great.  First adhered well and part popped off with very little effort.

Your nozzle is too far from your bed. The first layer isn't squished down sufficiently, resulting in these gaps. If your first layer looks like this, you should cancel your print and adjust the bed. Alternatively, you can adjust the initial height of the Z-axis in G-code (for instance, G0 Z-0.1 followed by G92 Z0, which should be appended to your start G-code).

You can also try increasing the first layer height or the first layer extrusion multiplier. If you increase the first layer height, you will probably still have to adjust the bed slightly to bring the nozzle closer, but the thicker your first layer the larger the window where you get a good first layer.

Increasing the extrusion multiplier will effectively stretch the first layer to be thicker (and thus the model will come out slightly too high) and thus isn't necessarily a good idea, though some people find that a slight increase (to for instance, 110%) makes the first layer slightly more forgiving (but this also increases adherence, making parts harder to remove - there is a very fine line between getting good first layers and having your prints stuck permanently to the bed).


Installing E3D v6 extruder electronics on Ultimaker Original+ I printed the mechanical parts to mount a E3D v6 on my Ultimaker Original+. But I don't know how to connect my heating cartridge, my thermistor and my 3 fans to the electronic board. Any idea?

Edit: I should have said I'm using the following design: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/e3d-v6-hot-end-mount

My main problem is to connect all 3 fans, as the original design of the UMO+ is only using one.

I'm not certain exactly what you're asking, but I'll give this a try. If I've misunderstood, please give more details.

It sounds like you're upgrading to the E3D v6. If so, the heater, thermistor, and fans should connect to the same places as the previous ones did. The exception would be if you had thermocouples instead of thermistors before; that's a more complicated change.

If the connectors are different, you'll need to get matching connectors from a parts supplier (post a picture if you're having trouble identifying them). Fortunately each of the items you mentioned has 2 wires, and for the heater and thermistor polarity doesn't matter.

For fans, polarity does matter, so match up red vs. black, or just try it one way, and if the fan doesn't turn, then swap the wires. Some fans have a third wire, which could be used for measuring the actual rotation speed (see [http://pcbheaven.com/wikipages/How_PC_Fans_Work]); but it's not necessary.


Can't print anything, clicking and low extrusion I am the owner of a pretty Anycubic Mega I3 and it was very cool to own it.

However, now I have several problems when printing with it. It clicks all along, at high or low temperature, at 5 mm above the plate, and the result is very disgusting. It is the same with the basic black PLA, or with other PLA from ICE-Filaments but I can't do anything.

I use Cura and I've reset it several times, using the defaults options or not.

Here are two examples of some prints (normal cube):

example 1

and Example 2

I had a similar issue after installing an E3D V6 using a Bowden extruder.

PLA needs a heat break that has a PTFE liner, since with all metal heat breaks, it's probable that the filament will reach glass transition temperature in the heat break and stop flowing properly.

Also, I had filament that was 1.86 mm instead of 1.75 mm, which caused it to bind inside the PTFE tube.

Before correcting these issues, I was able to temporarily fix the issue by doing a cold pull to unclog the extruder, and was able to print around 10 cm in height of a 20x20x20 mm cube.

To do a cold pull, heat your extruder between 80-100°C, and then pull out the filament. If successful, the tip of the filament will be shaped as the inside of the nozzle. If needed, heat the extruder to 200°C and manually push the filament to fill up the nozzle and heat brake, then let it cool down to the above temps and do the pull.


How can I include seperate Slicing Parameters in my 3mf file I am trying to write a program that edits a 3mf file by defines different slicing parameters for different stls that I have previously merged into my 3mf file, but I am a little bit confused about the configuration of the 3mf file, and where I would look to make changes in the slicing parameters. Can anyone lead me in the right direction as to where I could look? I'm assuming that I wouldn't be making any changes to the .model file because it seems like it only holds information about the meshes.

Thanks and let me know if it would be helpful for me to clarify anything.

Huh. On a hunch I just changed a copy of a .3mf model to have a .zip file extension, and what do you know, it works! 3mf is just a set of compressed xml.

The zip folder structure I saw included a MetaData folder. I bet you could put just about anything you wanted in there, as long as it doesn't conflict with things other 3mf parsers are expecting to find.

I tested this. I dumped an unrelated pdf file into the folder and re-zipped it. Both MS 3D Builder and Cura were able to open the updated file just fine. However, saving the file again in 3D Builder did not preserve the PDF.

I suppose there's a lesson here, too: we may need to be wary of models we download off the internet. They could include literally anything.

This also raises an interesting possibility: password protected 3mf files. If 3mf is just a zip container, and zip files can have passwords, it follows logically that 3mf files can have passwords.


How does acetone "rejuvenate" PEI? The Prusa3d knowledge base mentions that acetone will "rejuvenate" PEI in addition to cleaning oil and grease from the surface.

  About once a week, or when prints stop sticking, use ACETONE to clean the bed. It removes grease better than IPA or Windex. It also rejuvenates the print surface. However, if you use acetone every day, PEI will become brittle and start cracking.

From a chemical or physical perspective, how does acetone affect the PEI surface?

Rejuvenate is probably a bit of an exaggerated term. The number one adhesion suppressor is grease. The stuff that comes off of the fingers used to handle the sheet. Even if you are careful and only handle the sides, the grease will be carried to the center of the plate next time its cleaned with less aggressive solvents.

Isopropyl alchohol does break down grease but not to the extent that acetone does. Acetone also attacks plastic particles that accumulate on the print surface over time.

PEI is resistant to a wide array of chemicals[1] including acetone but it can become brittle if exposed to it too much especially when hot so acetone is not recommended for daily cleaning.

[1] Ultem Product Broshure table 4-3


Short to ground error using TMC2130 stepper drivers I have recently got an MKS GEN L V1.0 board and 5 TMC2130s. (X, Y, two Z, E). I have wired it all up and uploaded Marlin 1.1.9 and after some quick troubleshooting I got the motors moving. Next day I tried it again and it gave me this error:

  E0 driver error detected:
  overtemperature
  short to ground (coil A)
  short to ground (coil B)

with the following driver debug report: (notice that the extruder driver doesn't show up)

  X   Y   Z
Enabled     false   false   false
Set current 800 800 800
RMS current 795 795 795
MAX current 1121    1121    1121
Run current 25/31   25/31   25/31
Hold current    12/31   12/31   12/31
CS actual       12/31   12/31   12/31
PWM scale       10  10  10
vsense      1=.18   1=.18   1=.18
stealthChop true    true    true
msteps      16  16  16
tstep       1048575 1048575 1048575
pwm
threshold       0   0   0
[mm/s]      -   -   -
OT prewarn  false   false   false
OT prewarn has been triggered   false   false   false
off time        5   5   5
blank time  24  24  24
hysteresis
-end        2   2   2
-start      3   3   3
Stallguard thrs 8   8   0
DRVSTATUS   X   Y   Z
stallguard
sg_result       0   0   0
fsactive
stst        X   X   X
olb
ola
s2gb
s2ga
otpw
ot
Driver registers:   X = 0x80:0C:00:00
Y = 0x80:0C:00:00
Z = 0x80:0C:00:00

I did some research and found that you should change the CS pin for that stepper and so I did. I tried almost every available pin on my board but no luck. The only change I got was when I wired it to pin 11 and got this:

  E0 driver error detected:
  overtemperature
  short to ground (coil A)

I have the Watterott TMC2130 SilentStep Sticks and have examined the board which seemed correct. Is all wired correctly. Tomorrow I will try to switch the driver to one from another axis and try to switch the stepper to see if anything changes, but it seems to me that it shouldn't since it worked for some time.

I have fixed it. I tried uploading the bugfix version of Marlin and no luck. Then I noticed a loose jumper wire that connected the driver to the board and when re-installing it I noticed it didn't grip the pin that strongly and could be easily pulled off so I switched the wire and everything works now. Turns out that even jumper wires can have a bad connection. Hope this helps someone.


Ender 3 Pro Weak Prints after Cura upgrade I'm getting weak prints on Ender 3 Pro with Cura after Cura upgrade.
Prints on my Ender 3 Pro have been good until I was forced to update Cura due to having to update the OS on my laptop.  Now my prints are weak even after using Infill 50 % from 20 %.
Upgraded to Cura 4.8.0.
I noticed that it seems my print settings were saved from the older non-working Cura version.  I went ahead and printed an XYZ Cube with the same settings from my older Cura version where prints were printing fine/acceptable.  It fell apart as I tried to lift it off the build plate so I printed a second XYZ Cube with 50 % infill from previous 20 % pictured below:

The above print is noticeably weak, with layers not bonding or maybe something else.
Below is an image of when an XYZ Cube printed with my older Cura version.  It is not perfect but it is much stronger without visible separation and actually noticeably heavier than the grey XYZ Cube printed with Cura 4.8.0 :

The green and the grey 1.75 mm PLA I use and shown in the photos are different brands but both printed very much the same with the older Cura version.
I'm thinking this is an issue with the new Cura 4.8.0 that I'm using as nothing about my printing has changed besides the new Cura version assuming that my original print settings were saved which it looks to me that they were.
Has anyone had a similar issue or is there a known fix for this?

Posting settings pics below:

12/28/20 :
Went to https://www.chepclub.com/cura-profiles.html and noted that they mention to use the Cura 4.8.0 Built-In profiles.  Below are two pics of test print while using Cura 4.8.0's Built-In Standard Profile :

12/29/20 :
Screenshot showing Nozzle Diameter (still using the 0.4 mm stock nozzle) & Flow @ 100 %.  Please let me know if these are not the correct settings you asked me to look in :

Total user error on my end.  With the new version of this app somehow I did not catch that material selected on the UI dropdown was set to some custom material and not Generic PLA.  Once I selected the proper material, all worked as expected.


ooze shield vs priming tower, do you need both? I've been experimenting with two color prints. In my first test, I enabled a priming tower and the print came out OK, but there was definitely some oozing from the non-active head and left a lot of blemishes on the print.

I'm trying another print now and I also enabled an ooze shield.

This got me to thinking, if you are going to print an ooze shield, do you need a priming tower?

I'm using a lulzbot Taz6 with the dual extruder v3

I have the same printer you do.  I recall that the ooze shield is printed in alternating layers; first from E0 and then the next layer from E1.  But on a given layer, I don't think that there is a guarantee that the ooze shield will be printed in the filament about to be laid down for the part of the layer.  (But I might be wrong on this.)  But when it comes time to print the ooze shield, what will happen if the filament has already drizzled out during the print of the last layer?  The first part of that ooze shield won't get printed properly and might end up causing a print failure.

As a separate issue, I found that an ooze shield is only helpful if the overall XY diameter of the print is not too great.  This is because it only helps when the print head crosses the perimeter.  If the print head spends a fair amount of time inside the perimeter, then the idle head can still continue to ooze out unwanted filament.

So for many of my prints, I started using the priming tower, but skipping the ooze shield.


The part printed correctly except few layers As you can see from the picture, the part is good except some missing layers near the bottom. I have tried to search for this problem but nothing similar appeared. So, what might be the cause and what is the name for this problem?

Printer: Ender3, new.
Slicer: Cura
Nozzle: 0.4 mm
Temperature:

200 °C nozzle
50 °C bed

Material: PLA
Print speed: 50 mm/s

This looks like either the nozzle had been clogged for some layers and it resolved itself or the g-code contained incorrect instructions.

I suggest altering your print settings slightly and reslicing, then just printing it again. To get more accuracy on the prints, I suggest a line width of 0.45 mm.


Blow vs suck air over hotend's heatsink I've build a 3D printer from sourced parts and mounted the hotend cooler to blow air over the heatsink.

Talking to a friend, he said it's better to reverse the airflow over the heatsink, but couldn't give me an argument other than everywhere he saw it was like this: all coolers are mount to suck the hot air away from the heatsink.

Is it one way better than the other way ? And if so, why ?

Getting hot air from the radiator is definitely wrong idea because of few reasons:

hot air can damage your fan (as they are usually not heatproof). Cold air cools the fan
cold air is denser so fan can suck more cold air than hot air so cooling is more efficient (fig A)
in terms of plug of radiator (with dust) it's much better to try to push cold air into plugged fan (fig C) than to suck the air from it (fig B). When flow is decreased there is higher possibility to damage the fan as it doesn't cool itself

Of course we are talking about 3D printers with small plastic fans. Please notice (almost) all fans construction: they are designed to get air from the top of the fan and push it to the bottom (this construction prevents damaging/plugging fan motor by dust)... and their mounting wholes (or clips) are usually... naturally suggesting to direct air to the heatsink)


Z Axis inconsistency - Geeetech I3 I'm 3D printing almost 2 years, and I expected to have better result after changing to complete smooth rods with new bearings.

I have a problem with my Z axis giving me inconsistent prints; I already replaced the leadscrews, E3D clone with Bowden tube, I decided to replace all smooth rods on all axis and also the bearings. After I replaced all this, my prints are still bad, also I'm very dissapointed with the results after the replacements. I have checked all I could think of; PID tuning, belts, ....) but I'm running out of ideas.

Printing settings:

print speed is 40mm/s,
retraction is 3mm at 30mm/s,
extruder 205°C for the first layer, then 200°C

From the pictures can be seen that you have good lead screws as there is no cyclic anomaly/wobble present at the side. It appears as though the lines at the sides of the print are more or less random X/Y positional inaccurate.

These lines can be caused by various reasons. From what is read you tried to improve the mechanical system by upgrading the hardware. It could still be the case that there is still some backlash or play left in the system (e.g. I had once had too much tolerance on the holes of the linear shafts in the printed X-Z mounts causing similar problems). Vibration should be looked into also, e.g. do you have a binding bearing or a large mass on the printer that interacts with the carriage movement like a spool holder on top of your frame. Or maybe the micro-stepping does not work optimally, so check the stepper driver currents.

If it is no mechanical issue, it could be that you are facing inconsistent extrusion caused by variation in filament thickness or gear slipping or too much tension on the filament by friction in unspooling. Or else a hotend temperature variation. Maybe insulation on the hotend helps.


Is there a way to convert a file to .dwg? I can download a file from Tinkercad as any of these:

.STL
.OBJ
.X3D
.VRML

Is there a way to convert any of those file types to .DWG?

I found this site and tested it a moment ago. I uploaded a simple .STL file (crystal) and had to register as a user (free, unremarkable) in order to perform the conversion.

http://www.cadforum.cz/catalog_en/stl2dwg.asp

The downloaded file was in .DWG format and opened without a problem in AutoCAD 2013 as a 3d object.

Note the placement of the pivot point in Meshmixer (first image) and the corresponding location in AutoCAD.


Layershifting near windows I just got my Ender 3 V2 a few days ago. I have started designing a simple local church but the surface of the print is not what I was expecting.
The main issue is layers not being exactly on top of each other near openings(windows). (Red circles in the attached image). Is this setting related or do I need to change my model?
For the blue circle, it is not a nice and flat surface. It happens in this location in every print of the church. You can see it in the background as well.
Can anyone give me some tips on how to improve these issues?

That's a retraction issue, not layer shift.
Your nozzle starts printing a new line in those areas but doesn't extrude enough plastic at the first moments, resulting in a weak line.


Can the resin from Resin based 3D printers be used to make printed circuit boards? Do the properties of 3D printer resin allow it to stick to copper clad surfaces when cured? I am interested in turning my filament based 3D printer into a photo plotter with a laser that can cure a thin layer of resin coated onto a copper surface.

Brushed aluminum is a common bed surface for resin based printers. The aspect of the aluminum that is important to the print is the adhesion, hence the roughness of brushed aluminum. It has to be sufficient to hold the print in place, but not so extreme as to cause destruction on removal.

In the case of copper as a print surface, one would certainly want some mechanical adhesion in the form of surface roughness. You've not specified the forces that would be applied to the copper once cured. If you do not plan to manipulate the copper surface in an excessive manner, it's likely that it would adhere. It's also just as likely to pop free if the plate or surface is flexed. I've seen no reference online to copper coated print beds. This would lead me to believe that it was tested and rejected as suitable for 3D printing, but not necessarily unsuitable for your purposes.

This is one of those situations where testing is warranted and not particularly difficult to accomplish. You can purchase UV curing resin, build a tin to hold the copper surface and pour the expected layer thickness. Leave it in the sun and let nature's UV do the curing.

Consider if you have not yet done so to research safety practice for handling this substance. Wear gloves and eye protection, cover any exposed skin surfaces and have good ventilation.


Please suggest parameters for 0.5 mm diameter nozzle I am building an FDM machine on my own. I am not using any commercial software. So I have a lot of questions regarding the right parameters to choose. I am having 0.5 mm diameter nozzle. What are the parameters that I am supposed to choose? The general parameters that I need to know are:

Extruder head speed (mm/s)
Layer thickness (mm.)
Road width (mm)
Filament feed rate (mm/s)

These parameters are not fixed. FDM printers are designed to work over a range speeds, feed rates, layer heights, extrusion temperatures, etc, depending on the type of print job and the filament type used. If you design a printer to work with fixed parameters, you are unlikely to get good results.


Is it legal to make a fire weapon with a 3D printer? Is there any regulation against a 3D printed weapon in the United States or Europe?

Some time ago, I saw an article in Israel where they had one that was not detected by the x-ray and was fully functional!

Sort of.

Fully plastic guns are banned in the United States by the Undetectable Firearms Act, because they can pass unseen through metal detectors - a huge problem. One way around this is to insert a slip of metal into the gun, thereby making it detectable by metal detectors. 3D-printed guns made of metal - were that possible - would not violate the law.

The UFA was originally enacted in 1988, extended from 2003 to 2013, and then again until 2023. It may seem a bit unnecessary, as all-plastic guns, like the famous Liberator have structural issues that make them extremely difficult to fire when compared to a normal all-metal gun. However, then can be used.

In Europe, gun laws vary widely by country. The European Firearms Directive is the main international agreement on gun laws, but its application varies, and it does not directly address 3D-printed guns.

I'm not aware of a country that has an explicit law banning 3D-printed guns. The only countries that ban them either unintentionally cover them or ban guns altogether.


Print circle arcs without supports I'm still putting aside money for buying my first 3D printer and I'm designing all the things I have to print.

As I have a lot of things to print I would like to print as much of them as possible in a single print.

I have some arcs of circle (between 90° and 320° and 10/30 cm of diameter) and I'm going to slice them so I'll be able to print many of them, vertically, in a single print. I read in the internet that I cannot print over 45°... but starting from where?

The image below shows how I would like to print my (orange) things

I suppose I can print my things without supports because from Y-start to Y-end they are <= 45° (as the green line shows) is that right?

The red line, instead, shows a case where the angle, starting from a (Y: 50%) point, is higher than 45°.

So the question is: Can I print my things in such way?

This depends on your material, your nozzle diameter, and your layer height. In general, shorter layer thicknesses with wider path widths will give better overhangs. And note that the last bit of each of the larger arcs are nearly horizontal, and I do not expect them to work well without support material.

See the excellent answers at How can I improve the overhang angles my printer can successfully print?


Surface artifacts when formation of object changes (Layer inconsistency) When my Ender 3 prints a top or bottom layer, it leaves a line on the layer.

Slicer Cura
Linear Advance: 0.57
Retraction: 3 mm @ 35 mm/s
Max Speed: 100 mm/s
Ironing enabled
Minimum wall flow: 20 %
Temperatures: 205 °C hotend and 65 °C bed

My belts are tight enough as I push them they spring back up. I bought a support block for my Z lead screw to help with z banding (I also removed it to see if it will fix the issue but it didn't). I tried 50 mm/s, No Infill, swapped out to brand new 0.6 mm nozzle (the picture has 0.4 mm), Minimum wall-flow to 0 % but no improvement. It has to lead me to think its a mechanical issue but I am not sure where to start.

I have found the issue. My extruder gear was deformed after 4 months of continuous use which made the extruder have a difficult time when a rapid change in extrusion happened. I swapped it out to a new stainless steel one and it has been working well so far.
EDIT:
These inconsistencies are mainly caused by the pressure in the nozzle not changing fast enough. So to solve this you should look at the extruder setup as that is where the pressure is being controlled. Get any gunk out of there and make sure the path is clear and make sure nothing is grinding and you have a good grip on the filament.
To reduce the change in pressure you should play with printing speed, hotend temperature, linear advance if applicable and you may tune extruder jerk and acceleration although not necessary.


How to replace the nozzle in my hotend assembly? What should I take care of to replace the nozzle of the hotend assembly the right way?
What kind of data, precautions, tools, steps, and verification are important for replacing the nozzle?
The procedure seems straightforward but tutorials differ greatly and seem often incomplete. Online videos are great but long, sometimes misleading, and difficult to compare if they use another printer model.
For example:

This Prusa 3D tutorial starts from heating the nozzle to 280 °C, which is dangerous for some hotend setups. Also, it is created around a direct drive extruder, so it does not advise to what to do with a Bowden tube.
Another Changing Nozzles & Bowden Tubes video seems to be a great tutorial but advises heating only to ~210 °C. So I need to make sure I know my hardware limits first? Should I take something else into account about temperature, or just act by experience, starting from 230 °C?
Is that heating mandatory, or only when there is residue filament inside? If there is something to consider about replacement nozzle before installing it, or cooling down again, like PID calibration?

So I am looking for a general overview: what should I think of to be in control? And maybe a bit of why, but not necessarily how. (As always, each detail may be a separate study, so please don't to fall into troubleshooting, which could be done in separate questions like E3D V6 nozzle seized into heater block).

The exact procedure depends on the design of the printer.
After unloading filament, remove and install the nozzle at the highest temperature you will run.  Otherwise, you will not get a good seal between the nozzle and heat break if you depending on tightening at lower than operating temperature.  A bad seal allows the filament to leak out (oozing).    Tighten and untighten the nozzle with wrenches on the heat break and nozzle.  The heat break is easily damaged if tightening too tight into the heat sink, but you need a tight connection between the nozzle and heat break.  This means the nozzle must tighten against the heat break and not tighten against the heater block; thus space between the nozzle flange and heater block when tightened against the heat break.
Note: If you had oozing, it will glue the nozzle and heat break to the heater block.  Heating the hot end will often allow you to remove the nozzle.
Note the electronics of some printer models can be damaged by shorting the nozzles to heater leads, thermistor leads, or even a metal bed.  Check for your model.
Running the hot end at 250 °C or above requires an all metal hot end (a heat break without Teflon) or the Teflon will degrade.  This also applies to Boden tubes that run all the way to your nozzle.  Look for instructions related to your Boden tube.  Go to max. temperature for operating with Boden tube, then you usually clamp the Boden tube in place so that it forms a good seal.


Is there a problem with removing a polished rod from the Z-axis? I recently had a problem with the z-axis of my printer. To resolve the issue with the Z axis not moving I remove the left polished rod. Am I able to use the printer with just one smooth rod?

First a resounding no. Not a good idea. Are you saying it works now that you have removed the smooth rod?

That tells me for sure your issue was Binding. Which is a tricky problem to solve. Binding usually happens when your carriage is not level. Take a bubble leveler and verify.

Another time it happens is when your Acceleration / Jerk settings are too high. Try reducing the Acceleration for Z in the firmware.

Another possibility is your rod is Bent. Take the rod on a flat surface. Inspect it as you roll it around. Do the same with the other rod. If it bows and is not completely flat, then you will need to replace it.

Last is make sure your printers frame is put together. If it is causing the rod to bend as it is not aligned right then you should try to see if you can fix it and contact the seller.

Technically you can run without the second rod. Maybe. I do not advise. It is sort of like cutting off a leg because you have a cramp. It will hurt your overall quality and it is better to just resolve the issue.


Large 3D printer 10'x10'x4' - Need G-code to tell when it stops extruding and to stop machine We use Simplify and have a large 10’x10’x4’ printer. We need G-code that when the extrusion stops the machine will stop and raise 10 mm as to not to burn the print, so we know where the extrusion stopped.

We are using beads instead of filament, which work great. We have a mechanical pusher of beads that once it stops spinning, we need a G-code to recognize it is not spinning anymore and to stop the printer at that point and to lift up 10 mm. Printer might go 3-4 days sometimes a week with no problems and all of a sudden no extrusion and machine keeps thinking its printing. We have to start all over.

Any suggestions?

G-code is likely not the solution to your problem. G-code are simple commands that are executed by the printer (e.g. "heat up the hotend to this temperature" or "move the extruder to this position") but there is no G-code for "detect whether the pusher is still running" (and besides, how could the printer possibly detect whether the pusher is running without hardware to do so?

You'll likely want to configure your pusher to somehow act as a filament runout sensor. This is a feature in Marlin (smoothieware has something similar) that allows you to pause the print by making an input on one of the control board's pins. You'll need to build hardware that detects the motion of the pusher, and if the motion is interrupted, pulls the FIL_RUNOUT_PIN low (in the case of Marlin). You can then configure what should happen next (e.g. raising the head and stopping the print) using FILAMENT_RUNOUT_SCRIPT (again, only if you're using Marlin).


Ender 3 X axis not level I've been aware ever since I got it that my Ender 3's X-axis isn't level. Measuring from the top of it to the top of the frame, the right-hand (positive) side is about 4.7mm higher than the left.

During assembly, the vertical rails were not entirely parallel, and had to be pulled together to get the X axis on and to bolt the cross beam on the top. I suspect this is related, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, aside from the bed having to be tilted to be level with respect to the X axis, this never seemed to cause any problem, so I've left it alone until now. However I have measured almost exactly a 1% dimensional error in the X direction that I've now compensated for by setting the steps per mm, and wonder if the tilted axis could be the cause. Doing the trig, that doesn't make sense - a 4.7 mm error across the width of the bed should translate to something like one part in 2000, not 1%. But maybe something's wrong in my analysis so I'd like second opinions.

Aside from that, is this something I should try to correct, or just let be? I suspect it's the base that's warped or tapped/cut incorrectly where the vertical rails bolt on, in which case it seems unlikely there's any way to fix it without replacing that part, which is something I'd rather not get into as long as the printer is working. But if there are other possibilities that are non-invasive to try, I might.

Further update: if this is the cause of the dimensional error (which turned out to be more like 0.41% than 1%, thus closer to plausible) I probably need to fix it. Using firmware steps/mm adjustment is not viable because it produces aliasing patterns in skin layers presumably due to step width no longer dividing nozzle size/line width.

i've just bought an Ender 3 Pro and on assembly I carefully checked and deburred the uprigh rails on their bottom faces to ensure they did not splay out or in etc.

Once the 2 uprights are loosely attached to the base rails I laid the assembly flat onto a table on the uprights to ensure the uprights were square to one another and tightened the screws.

Check the uprights are parallel to one another by placing the top crossbeam on the top of the uprights and check if the screw holes are alligned...….if the screws are tight to enter their holes the uprights are splayed out or in and need correcting etc......a small amount of pressure "can" make them line up.

The X axis rail slides up and down on the two uprights with two 3 wheeled brackets, one either side, that have 3 wheels on them, one wheel on each bracket is the adjuster and it is easy to have the X axis cross beam out of square if you tighten the one bracket to the rail before you test the rail for squareness.

Firstly, place only the 2 wheel brackets on their uprights and adjust the wheels for smooth running, then attach the X axis rail to each wheel bracket and just nip up the 2 screws loosely to hold them to the cross beam.

Now, check the cross beam for squareness by running it to the top of the uprights and measuring the gap left to right between the X axis rail and the top rail, then tighten the left hand wheel bracket screws to the X axis rail......and then tighten the right hand wheel bracket to the cross beam.

Leave the Z axis leadscrew off for the moment and run the crossbeam up and down on the uprights making sure there are no tight spots due to out of squareness.

if it's all freely moving.....fit the Z axis leadscrew.

The bed plate can only be set once you have the machine itself squared up.
Ian.


Best practise of re-modeling a building The organization I am working for plans to pull down and rebuild our office building. As some people are a bit sentimental about the old building, we think about making a 3D model of the old building.

The old house was built in the 60s or 70s, when everything was done by hand. So we have some really detailed hand-drawn plans of the building. We also have a nice and detailed (physical) 3D model of the house. However, what we don't have yet is any material that can be processed in modern 3D modeling software.

So this is what my question is about:
What is the best (easiest, with reasonable degree of details) way to make a 3D model of the old building?

At the moment I think of two different paths:

Transferring the hand drawn plans to a 3D modeling software. I think, Sketchup might be suitable, but I am open for suggestions. It should be something easy to start with as I would like to motivate some colleagues to join the project.
Using some kind of photogrammetry software to transfer the (hand crafted) 3D model of the building to an "electronic" 3D model. I have no experience with this method, however if it works it might be much easier to do.

Can you help me to decide which path to choose and give me some tips on how to do it exactly?

That are certainly trade-offs between the two options.

I think main trade-off between the two options you described would be visual details vs. configurability.

With a scanned design you have the ability to capture all the visual details that are in your hand crafted model.  Those same details might require more effort than you are willing to put into a CAD design (like window and door detail and other architectural accents).

The big disadvantage of a scanned model it that it would not be parametric so you can't fiddle with design details - like adjusting the width or spacing of the windows, the position of a door or external approach (stairs, etc).  Also you could play with the external skins/finishes and play with how wood looked as compared to concrete of brick.

Another advantage of a CAD model would be that you would not be able to break out components and print them separately because of print volume issues or to be able to print in different colors.

My personal preference would be to create a 3D Model using a CAD package.  The limitation on this would be that it might not have the same level of detail; but it would be much more flexible.  You could probably create the base design pretty easily either from the architectural drawings or by deconstructing the hand crafted model.  The model was probably built from pieces much the same way a 3D CAD model is created.

Here is a good example of how to do that.  In the example, they create a pretty detailed house design in Sketchup in 35 min by starting with scans of the architectural drawings.

There are quite a few other similar videos so you should look for the one that fits you best.


Options for making Ender 3 v2 fans quieter I have had my Ender 3 v2 for just over two months and have had a blast working with it. I have printed some mods to personalize it.
One of the things that I have done to help mitigate the vibrational noise is to place my Ender 3 on a concrete paver that sits on top of 3 inches of upholstery foam. This has made a huge difference.
With the vibration noise down, now I can hear the fan on the extruder like never before.
Both fans are listed as "brushless" EFS-04D24L; of course, they look different in the pictures below:

What options are there to help reduce the fan noise? I wasn't sure if a baffle or enclosure would help. Or would it be easier to replace the fans with quieter ones?

There are companies making fans with blade design based on owl wings to make the blades quieter. Here's an example https://www.moduflow.co.uk/owlet-fans/ and I've seen other designs.  I don't know which design ended up being the quietest.  First, you would need to find out who makes these fans the right size and flow rate for you, then try to find out which is quietest.
Here is another example: https://www.bequiet.com/en/casefans/718


"Seams" in first layer My first layers started to have these "seams" in them.
I am printing on the  Anycubic Ultrabase.

Any other layer is fine.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems or an idea of how to debug this issue?

The picture is of PLA (BQ Easy Black) printed at 215 °C on the Ultrabase.
The the same issue with BQ Easy PLA red, turquoise and white (205 °C), Zaper PETG Brown 230 °C and HobbyKing translucent ABS Red (245 °C).

Changing the nozzle did not change anything.

Normally, such patterns are caused by too close printing to the bed (nozzle to bed distance too small), but considering the not fully flattened out extrusion lines (on glass I get a mirror shine fully closed surface) this does not seem to be the reason; you could try to increase the gap a little, in Ultimaker Cura this is very easily done with the Z Offset Setting plugin. Alternatively, you could use a little thicker paper to calibrate the bed levelling.


What is the best way to print a model with support material in first layer? I am trying to print a model that requires support material to be on the first layer, what is the best way to accomplish this? I am currently using Cura. It seems that the support material is too flaky. I have the infill for the support at around 8%

I had the same problem printing a miniature just recently.  As always, settings are somewhat dependent from the object you want to print, but here are some suggestions:

Increase the support density: 15% (8% is very low!)
Support pattern: zig-zag with "connect zig-zag" option enabled (add stiffness to the "column" of support)
Enable support interface (increase adhesion to the plate, and provide a more "beefy" base for the support material)

For reference, here's a screenshot of my settings as I tweaked them for that miniature (printed a 0.1mm layer height).

("Support line distance 1mm" is the same as "Support density 15%", or at least it is the same with my nozzle size)

If your problem was not only with the "flakiness" of the material, but also with it adhesion to the bed, then prepping your printing bed somehow (with a bit of painter tape, glue, etc... can help.  Alternatively using a brim or a raft (as also suggested by another responder) could also help.

EDIT: all the above still standing true, it turns out the OP had a hardware problem as well, his timing belt being loose (see comments).


Prusa i3 Z axis only goes down (even on up command) I have just finished building a Tronxy P802M Prusa i3.

When I try to move the Z-axis, using the hardware buttons in the LCD menu (without a computer connected), it only goes down, when I both increase, and decrease, the value of Z.

Any suggestions?

It could be a hardware fault.

First check, and compare, the control board connections to the motors of the three axes. You don't state it in your question but, presumably, the X and Y axes move correctly? If so, then compare the connections for the Z-axis motors with the connections for the motors of the axes that work as expected.

If they are correct then the problem is likely to be with the firmware.

Have you...

homed the Z-axis yet?
installed the endstops?

From X Y Z axis only move one direction?:

  Using Marlin? Before you do a G28 homing the axes will only move
  towards the endstops. But also check your endstops with M119 to make
  sure they are triggered at the right time. On older Marlin, you may
  need to set DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS (on a machine that has no max
  endstops). Newer Marlin uses USE_XMIN_PLUG, etc., to specifically
  set which endstops are connected. If the switches show the opposite
  state (off when triggered) then set the
  [XYZ]_(MIN|MAX)_ENDSTOP_INVERTING flags, as needed.

Likewise, from Building a Prusa I3 3D Printer:

  You will probably also find the motor will turn only in one direction. This is normal for now as we don't have end-stops installed and haven't homed the axis - so the software doesn't know how far it can go in one direction or the other.

As Mark states in his comment, the P802M uses a Melzi board. From Github: Repetier-Firmware/boards/Zonestar P802M/:

  There are some printers sold under different names like 'Zonestar
  P802M', 'Prusa i3 P802M DIY kit', 'Anet A8-B', etc, which have LCD
  20x4 with 5 keys controller connected to Melzi V2.0 board via 10 wires
  cable. Keys are connected to a single analog input using resistive
  divider.


Unable to upload firmware to a new motherboard I bricked my Tevo Tarantula's controller board, and I've decided to just replace it rather than unbrick it because they are relatively cheap. I recently bought a new MKS GEN L v1.0 board, but I've been unable to flash new firmware onto it. Every time I go to upload the firmware, I get an error just as it begins to upload, saying:
"failed to send command to serial port does not exist or is not connected"

avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout

avrdude: ser_send(): write error: sorry no info avail

avrdude: stk500_send(): failed to send command to serial port

avrdude: ser_recv(): read error: The handle is invalid.

avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer

Any ideas of what the issue could be? I've tried both the USB ports on my computer and using a USB 2.0 hub (I believe my computer ports are both USB 3.0). I've also made sure that I had the correct port selected in Marlin (1.1.8.13).
I also think that its worth mentioning that my bricked board and new board seem to appear differently in the device manager
Bricked:

While my new board appears as this:

The new board also seems to "cut-out" when I first connect it to my computer as well. In the device manager, my computer will indicate that an unknown device is connected, then it will quickly disconnect and disappear, only to reconnect and reappear as pictured above.
Do you guys think there is a hardware issue with the motherboard? Thanks for your help, this is giving me quite the headache!

Your motherboard is not an MKS GEN L v1.0, it's a MKS SGEN L - unfortunately, a very very naming scheme.
Your board is actually a 32-bit board, and must therefore be flashed with Marlin 2.0, built for the 32-bit board.
The firmware is then updated by placing it on the SD card and restarting the board, as explained in the documentation for Marlin here


What happens if you use high temperature PTFE tape with the heater block? High temperature PTFE tape is rated up to 550°F, which is 288°C.  I'm wondering if it would be useful for components on the hot end to prevent oozing.  Has anyone tried it?

As Andrew stated: PTFE tape should not be needed.
Tighten the nozzle with the hotend hotter than you print at and also clean the threads with a tap if you need to.
To answer your question: it would stop leakage from the threads.


How to fix wall separation in 3D prints (gaps in between wall perimeters)? The print is very solid except for the 4 walls.

From the top, I can slide a paper down to the bottom. This is ONLY between the walls, the rest of the print is solid. The filament is PLA 1.75 mm.

But the bottom is solid, no gaps.

I have checked the usual problems on Ultimaker troubleshooting photo gallery, but I can find anything similar.

Any advice to fix this would be very welcome.

Print settings:

Now that print settings are shared we can see that this problem is not related to too fast printing (only 20 mm/s) or too low print temperature (210 °C should get PLA fluid enough). To explain this, a low temperature and too fast printing cause under-extruded lines.

There are 2 other causes that might be worth investigating:

Under-extrusion. From the top layers one can see that there may be insufficient material printed. Calibration of the extruder helps in this respect.
Inaccurate positioning. This may for instance be caused by loose belts or a mechanical defect.


Does a teflon insert in an E3D V6 clone limit it's useable temperature so it can't print nylon? I'm new to this game, and recently upgraded the hotend on my Ender 3 Pro to a clone of an E3D V6, as I'm keen to do nylon prints at some point. I noticed however that this one I got has a teflon liner which seems to negate the advantage of a metal hotend entirely.
I'm wondering what temperature it's safe to run this hot end up to?

It depends how deep it goes. If the teflon goes into the hotend then yes, it will limit the temperature end.
But: the teflon may just be something that ends somewhere in the cold side and sticks out so there is something to put into the extruder or higher up into the connector.
I cam currently setting up a Slice Mosquito for a Bondtech DDX. The Mosquito is full metal, but there is a (actually printed nylon) adapter for the DDS. In this adapter you put a teflon/capricorn tube, that ALSO sticks out only around 5 mm. Here is the point though: it never goes into the even cold side and is only there so the connection to the extruder on top has a width limitation.
So, it really depends how long this tube is (and no-one here will know because a v6 clone may be different internally from the original). I would suggest pulling it out (it should move out easily) and then seeing how deep it goes. As long as it stays on the cold side before the heatbreak, it never gets in touch with anything that is hot.


Identifying the plastic type of an unknown spool of filament or recyclable waste Is there any way to test what kind your filament is? There are no labels on the spools and I don't know whether they are ABS or PLA.

I got the plastic with the printer, which is no longer sold (Solidoodle 2). Since I bought it on eBay that is probably why it has unprofessional filament. The plastic filament came with the printer which is now off sale (Solidoodle v2).

I set my extruder to 210 °C and bed to 50 °C and it printed fine (with tons of hairspray and painters tape).

I figured out where I got it. I got it from Solidoodle (who have gone out of business) when I bought the Solidoodle 2 right after it came out.

I bought PLA and ABS so it has to be one of the two. Any other ways without having to burn and smell plastic? I just have the roll with no numbers, works or anything on it. And how to I smell without breathing in the fumes?

ABS dissolves in acetone, you could try clipping a small section and leave it in some acetone for a few minutes and if it begins to dissolve it's safe to assume that it's ABS, if not then you'll know that it's not.

This won't confirm that it is PLA, only whether it's ABS or not.


How to use a BLTouch or equivalent touch probe to 3D scan objects with a 3D printer? I thought about using a BLTouch probe to do 3D scans of objects.

The objects to be suitable require smooth gradients and enough space for the probe, without anything hitting the print head/hot end.

What tools do I need to control the printer and obtain such data? are there GCodes scripts for that?

I would need to define a grid size, spacing, retraction, maximum expected height increase between adjacent points.

I don't know the probe, but I have used a delta 3D printing machine (of my design) to scan a surface.  It takes some time.

Your resolution will be limited by the probe geometry of the touch probe tip.  You want a Z-probe function that reports the Z-value of the point, not that simply sets Z= when the probe "hits".  The RepRap firmware has this in the G30 command.

You will need to write a loop that probes all points of interest.  This is best done by writing a program (or script) that generates the G-code.  I have a PERL script that generates the calibration mesh for my Delta machine, and I can share that with you.

I edit the script for the area to be scanned.  This includes (in my case) the radius and the resolution.  I then run the script to produce G-code to do the probing.

I send the G-code to the printer with Repetier-Host.  Repetier-Host builds a log file of every character returned by the printer.  The G30 command returns in the log the Z value wher ethe probe hit.

After the G-code is fully executed, I run a PERL script on the log file to extract the Z height of each of the probed points.

What you do with that data is up to you.


Identifying this ATmega1284P board I recently bought what I am told is an Ender 3 clone. It is a CTC model and has v1-5 written in the bottom corner and comes with a Marlin v1 firmware. But I have no idea what board it is.
When I send command M115, I get
FIRMWARE_NAME:Marlin V1; Sprinter/grbl mashup for gen6
FIRMWARE_URL:http://www.mendel-parts.com
PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0
MACHINE_TYPE:CTC 3D
EXTRUDER_COUNT:1
UUID:00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"

Can anybody help me identify this board so I can upgrade the firmware to Marlin 2 in the hopes of getting it to work with Octoprint, and all the safety features that come with the new firmware (such as thermal runaway protection).

This printer controller board looks exactly like an Anet controller board. These also have a v1.5 version:

Your board misses the "Anet" branding, but includes the 1.5 version designation. Your board is probably customized with a different silkscreen (ink layer that identifies components and other information) on PCBs (printed circuit boars). Rebranding is pretty common in electronics.


Export Revit file for Fusion 360 3D Print I have a 3D printer hooked up with Fusion 360. I have a 3D drawing in Revit. What format should I export to in order get from Revit to Fusion 360?

In Revit

Use STL Exporter 2019 to customize and export your Revit model to an STL file.

Click Add-in tab -> STL Exporter panel -> STL Exporter.
On the General tab, specify your STL file options.
On the Categories tab, specify which element categories will export to the STL file.
Click Save to create the STL file.

In Fusion 360

Click on a valid project then click the Upload button. Then, click the Select files button and navigate to the STL you wish to import.

After selecting the STL file you want to convert, click the Upload button, this time the one in the lower-right corner of the file upload window. Then, the STL file you selected will be imported into Fusion 360. The process can take a few minutes.


Black goo from only one linear bearing - serious issue? I have a cheap cartesian printer with the usual arrangement - X axis with three linear bearings, build plate moving as Y axis on three linear bearings as well, Z axis with lead screws. After about 2 kg of filament printed, I can see that one of the linear bearings (the single bearing on one side of the Y axis) is leaving an almost black residue at the front of the axis. I have thoroughly oiled all of the bearings before mounting them and repeated that after about 1 kg of filament printed. No other bearing is showing this issue, and the black goo appears only on the front side of the rod, not the back side. What might cause this goo - is the bearing breaking up or is it just some residue from the manufacturing process that is slowly being pushed out of the bearing?

After completion of the print job, I was able to perform a closer inspection. The black goo contains metallic particles, and the rail the bearings are riding on has a visible groove - which means replacing both the bearings and the rail.


How to log each G-code line read from the SD card to serial on marlin firmware I would like to log each line of G-code to the serial port as it is processed.
Steps to achieve:

the printer reads a file from the SD card
each line it reads will be serial logged (this I can't figure out)
those lines can then read via the serial monitor on a laptop

So by the end of the print, on my laptop I would have the reconstructed G-code file (plus whatever other logs the printer outputs).
The printer runs the Prusa Firmware. Ideally I would like to achieve the logging from altering the firmware rather than adding an extra plugin/server (For understanding and experimenting purposes).
What I tried
I have looked in code and found the print functions and examples of them in use in the code. This line is the "command, which is to be excecuted right now", but I think that would be the just one command not the full line.
The cardreader or SdBaseFile are where I would expect a G-code line to be read such that I could add a print statement after it but I did not see where.
Would it be as easy as setting this card.logging bool to true?
I imagine this is quite an easy thing to do and that I have just overcomplicated it by trying to understand the firmware. Any advice would be great!

If you have the hardware at hand, you can use OctoPrint to collect the data you require. It's common for users to create an OctoPrint server on a Raspberry Pi, but it can be installed easily on a Windows or Linux machine as well. Once in place, logging is available for various types of information.
From the OctoPrint blog:
The logs are crucial instruments of analysis and debugging, so it's usually in your best interest to provide them when asking for help or reporting a bug, even if not explicitly prompted for them:

octoprint.log: OctoPrint's main application log file. Contains a
general log of everything that happens while OctoPrint is running.
Includes version information, installed plugins and a myriad of more
data points.
This must always be included when reporting a bug 47 to allow for
further analysis and reproduction. It is also a very good idea to
provide this when asking for help :wink:
serial.log: A log of all of the communication going on between
OctoPrint and your printer. Usually disabled for performance reasons,
enable it through Settings > Serial Connection.
Either that or at the very least the output in OctoPrint's Terminal
tab is crucial for analysis of any kind of communication issues or
misbehaviours observed with your printer, so it's important to include
it when discussing such issues.
plugin_pluginmanager_console.log: A log of the command line activity
of the plugin manager. Very important for analysis of such questions
like "Why can't I install plugin $xyz?", so if you have such a
problem, best include this.
plugin_softwareupdate_console.log: A log of the command line activity
of the software updater. Very important for analysis of such questions
like "Updating OctoPrint always fails, why?", so if you have such a
problem, best include this.

Third party plugins might also have special log files here. If a plugin author asks you to provide a special log created by their plugin for further analysis, this should be where you can find it.
The above selection is from the linked site, which also includes embedded links for more information regarding the log files. Note that serial.log is specifically referenced to collect data between OctoPrint and your printer, although it defaults to disabled on install.


Describing G-code by start and end point versus end only Will the two following lines of code behave differently given that the path that they describe is exactly the same (two segments)?

Option 1 (describes separate segments giving the start and end point):

G92 E0
G1 F0 X14.73 Y-30.28 Z0
G1 F3000 X-27.15 Y-18.58 Z0 E2.01
G92 E0
G1 F0 X-27.15 Y-18.58 Z0
G1 F3000 X17.65 Y0.51 Z0 E2.26

Option 2 (describes end points only):

G92 E0
G1 F0 X14.73 Y-30.28 Z0
G1 F3000 X-27.15 Y-18.58 Z0 E2.01
G1 F3000 X17.65 Y0.51 Z0 E2.26

You should never use a feed rate of zero to start a command with. Theoretically, the other way around would work as the feed rate specified in the command is the feed rate at the end of the operation, but that is theoretically; if you look into the Marlin Firmware sources you will find the following C-code for the G0 and G1 commands in the function void gcode_get_destination():

if (parser.linearval('F') > 0)
  feedrate_mm_s = MMM_TO_MMS(parser.value_feedrate());

From the first code line you read that the value for the feed rate is only parsed as the value is larger than 0. As there is no prior code shown or feed rate set, the command will not be executed.

Some extra information from G0 & G1: Move describing the usage of the feed rate:

  Most RepRap firmwares do subtle things with feedrates.

G1 F1500           ; Set feedrate to 1500mm/m
G1 X50 Y25.3 E22.4 ;

  Move and extrude In the above example, we first set the feedrate to
  1500mm/m, then move to 50mm on X and 25.3mm on Y while extruding
  22.4mm of filament between the two points.

  G1 F1500                 ; Feedrate 1500mm/m
G1 X50 Y25.3 E22.4 F3000 ; Accelerate to 3000mm/m However, in the above example, we set a
  feedrate of 1500 mm/m, then do the same move, but accelerating to 3000
  mm/m. Everything stays synchronized, so extrusion accelerates right
  along with X and Y movement.


Thoughts on designing and printing 3D miniature house I've done a few 3D designs in Sketchup and Fusion 360. Prints were done in PLA on an FDM and an SLA machine that I have access to.  Generally I am quite happy with the results. Now the description of my question.

I would like to create a 3D model of the house and yard that my wife grew up in, print it in miniature then assemble it into a snow globe to be given as a Christmas present. Quite a challenge I expect. The final thing does not have to be exact but a fair representation so that she can actually tell that it's her house.  Some specific questions:

The house is brick, would the brick texture actually be noticeable on the printed model if it is say only 1 to 1.5" on a side with either SLA or FDM?
Same for roof shingles?
Or should I just rely on adding these details artistically in the painting process  ( I will have to find an artist to do all that )
Thought on trees/ bushes?  Again I hope to rely on artistic license when designing these parts.
Thoughts on software: "Which would be best to design in?"  It has to be free (or not expensive) since I am not doing this professionally and don't have the money to buy expensive 3D software?  Someone suggested Blender. Fusion 360, Sketchup.  Others?
Thoughts on best printing method ?

A lot of questions I know and I truly appreciate any feedback on any of this.

Answering your questions in turn:

On the scale you're trying for, printing brick with FDM won't show up - you'd have much better results, and could be possible, with SLA. You won't see every brick, but you will see the texture at least.
Same as for brick, You wont see shingles, but you can differentiate that there is a texture difference. If you were to paint it after the fact the color plus the texture will make it clear.
Yup, but both won't hurt.
Doable if they're big enough. SLA would be required I think to make them look good.
For something like this I'd suggest Blender, if your modelling skills are pretty solid. If not, Fusion-360 would work really well. But that's purely opinion based.
SLA if that wasn't clear as of yet.

Sounds awesome. I think the hardest part on this is going to be the modelling, the structure I'm picturing isn't all that complex so it should be doable.


Z-axes out of sync with Simplify3D I have a Robo 3D R1+, and I'm using the default Simplify3D profile for it. When I finish a print, I notice that my X gantry is way out of level. The right side is visibly higher than the left side. So much so that it won't even auto-level on the next print. What that tells me is during the print, the Right z-axis is moving up faster than the left. It also ruins the print.

I do not believe this is a hardware issue, as when I use the Craftware slicer, it works properly (I tried the same model with both slicers). Is there a setting or something I need to adjust in Simplify3D to get this to print properly?

If you would like to see the G-code for the CW and S3D models I was testing with, you can download them here:

G-code download (Google drive)

What you are describing is not possible as a result of changing slicers, this must be an intermittent hardware issue.

The slicer has no knowledge of the hardware layout of your machine (other than the build volume and gantry dimensions; if properly configured), it just creates slices of the model you present which are found in the G-code file as Z movements. In case multiple Z steppers are used to move the X gantry, these are usually driven by a single driver, but if they are separately controlled, even in the G-code file the instruction would be to move up Z in total, not per stepper. It is the firmware of the 3D printer that translates this Z level in movement for your 3D printer based on the layout of the machine and the firmware settings.

The CraftWare G-code file does show some inconsistencies with respect to the Simplify3D file in that it does not use G29 and has a too large first layer height of 0.45 mm (this is larger than you nozzle diameter of 0.40 mm, you should always limit that to about 75 % of your nozzle diameter).

For an X gantry to become unlevel/skew, there must be a mechanical issue that is causing it to miss steps/prevent advancing at one side. It is possible that one of the shafts or lead screws has some more friction than the other (generally it is not a good idea to grease the screws as dirt easily stick to the grease, a light oil may be better suited). This is not uncommon for Prusa i3 clones and is usually fixed by resettling the leadscrew nut by loosening and tightening the screws which attach the nut to the X gantry idler. It is unclear if this is your problem here with this specific machine.

To be fair, uneven displacement of any axis powered by 2 separate motors (driven by separate drivers) could be induced by the slicer when unrealistic high accelerations and incorrect hardware/electronic settings are employed.


Bizarre Underextrusion Issue Printer: SecKit Go w/ BMG/v6 and SKR v1.3/TMC2130 Drivers

Slicer: Simplify3d or Cura (problem is much worse in Cura?)

Long story short - after getting this printer running, I have noticed that it will underextrude ONLY on corners on an internal perimeter specifically once we're above bottom layers - and nowhere else. See below:

E-Steps have been calibrated, extrusion multiplier has been calibrated (single perimeters are 0.48 mm), linear advance has been calibrated, but here it gets weird. Anything resembling a 'standard' value (suggested between 1-2) results in MASSIVE underextrusion after the speed change. I was able to get a good looking line using the linear advance test with a value of 0.15 (which seems very low).

Retraction (1 mm @ 30 mm/s), junction deviation (0.02) and all other settings are off the factory Simplify3d profile. Turning linear advance off makes the problem slightly better but doesn't fix it, going to a value of around 1 results in huge underextrusion after any change in direction.

I am absolutely lost as to what to try next.

From what I can find, the SecKit Go has a direct drive extruder, so 0.15 is a very reasonable linear advance K value. For comparison, I have 0.6 for PLA with a bowden. Values in the range 1-2 are way too high for direct drive except possibly for really soft TPU.

Geometrically localized underextrusion almost always means you have either

loss of material due to oozing elsewhere, or
filament slippage

usually due to whatever's being printed just before the part with the underextrusion. If it's oozing you may need to increase retraction or disable or limit combing in your slicer (to prevent unretracted moves; these can ooze a lot of material when crossing infill areas). If it's slippage it could be from trying to print too fast.


Issue on 2 corners but not the other 2 I am printing using an Ender3 Pro with eSUN PLA+ 215/45 and I am getting this issue on two corners, the other two corners look fine.

Any idea on what can be causing this?

The bad corners

The good corners

This has nothing to do with speed, temperature, adhesion, and whatever you do, DO NOT extrude more material per line (increase flow rate), as this will make the problem that much worse.

This is a fairly simple problem with an even simpler fix: you're over extruding.  Reduce your flow rate by 5%, and see if that fixes the issue.  It will definitely improve it, but you might need to lower your flow rate a little bit more.

What can often happen when your flow rate is set too high is the extra plastic will concentrate at areas of relatively high acceleration (corners and the start/stop spot for a perimeter of a given layer), but depending on the size of the thing being printed and the degree of overextrusion, it won't concentrate at every spot like this on a perimeter.

Usually, I see this happen where the perimeter moves start and stop each time, which (again, depends on the slicer and settings) tend to be the same spot for certain models, often a corner.  I couldn't say for certain the exact mechanism, except that it seems like the plastic, given the right conditions, prefers to lay down evenly while the excess over extruded plastic builds up (probably carried by the nozzle, since it is hot and the plastic will want to stick to it) until too much has built up for the nozzle adhesion to keep it from sticking to the print, or the nozzle begins to decelerate (late at a corner or the end of a print move), causing the extra plastic to 'scrunch' up, like something that shoved in a distance too short for it.  Knowing this, if you examine the corners, it should be quite obvious that this is what is happening.  The perimeter is being extruded with more plastic than it should be, and the extra has a tendency to collect all in one spot each time.

Sometimes it is one corner, sometimes it is every corner, sometimes it is corners that are maximally distant from each other (since it takes some time for enough excess plastic to build up to over power whatever effects are preventing it from adhering immediately.  So in this case, the two good corners were just where not enough excess plastic had built up yet at the nozzle to cause problems).  Another possible explanation is that those two corners are simply where the perimeters were started and stopped, but some layers it was one corner, and other layers the other corner.  But you can see over extrusion artifacts lower down on the feet (or whatever they are), and your first layer as well.

Do not increase flow rate.

Do not increase infill.

Do not lower your speed.

Do not increase your temperature.

None of those will help, and increasing flow rate further could cause the nozzle to catch on the print, potentially damaging your hotend.

Just reduce your flow rate by 5%.  You should see an immediate improvement, or even elimination of the issue.  If it is still there, then reduce your flow rate a percent or two until it does go away.  And remember this number, because you'll probably want to use that flow rate in general for your printer.


What can this be caused by? I have changed stock Anet A8 board (Anet v1.5) to new SKR 1.4 with TMC2209. Then I found out these lines on the walls, i don't know how to determine it. Previously this wasn't so visible, but now it bothers pretty much.

Looks like an over/under extrusion. This can be fixed by:

decreasing/increasing your extrusion multiplier (flow)

lowering your print temperature

checking the diameter of your filament. Do you use the correct diameter?


Why laser is not used to melt/soften material in polyjet? Polyjet uses UV light to cure UV curable plastic material.
I was wondering as to why laser light can't be used to soften/melt just any plastic material instead of using UV light to cure only UV curable plastic materials?

The question in the title references a specific printer technology, while the question in the body of the post is more generic and is the one being answered here.

There are 3D printers which use lasers to cure liquid resin in a manner similar to MSLA 3D printers. The vat of resin sits atop a transparent panel, under which a laser assembly resides. The computer directs the laser over the surface of the panel in a manner associated with each layer of the print. Once the layer is completed, the bed is lifted, peeling the print from the base of the vat and then lowered again.

There are some printers which apply the laser to the surface of the liquid but the results are the same. The resin is photosensitive and cures when the laser is applied.

Additionally, there are SLS 3D printers. Selective Laser Sintering uses a laser applied to the surface of a nylon powder (one example) which sinters the nylon causing it to bond to adjacent particles. When a layer is completed, the bed of powder is lowered and another layer of powder is applied. The laser again "draws" the layer in the powder and the process continues.

This method requires compensation for shrinking, as the nylon powder changes dimensions as it is melted. The bed is also pre-heated prior to printing in order to reduce the amount of energy required by the laser to sinter the design.


How to set multiple draft shields in Prusaslicer? Draft shields helped me a lot to get some usable prints out of ABS on a non-enclosed printer with a small printing bed, but I noticed that the shield cracks (it is affected by the issue that would otherwise affect the print itself), resulting in cold air leaking in and ruining the print to some degree.
See image for an example of a ruined shield which results in a chimney effect and cold air getting near the print.

How can I set multiple shields to enhance the protection? just a second one would be enough.
If the print is rectangular it's easy, I just need to add an empty box around my print, but when the models are more complex I would like to have shields which follow the shape more closely.
I'm using Prusaslicer but a preprocess step in other free software would be acceptable.

You could CAD a 1 layer thick cylinder, and add it to your print and place it around your object. You can create any number of cylindrical shells that way...


Bed won't switch off after Marlin firmware update After I updated the firmware on my Prusa i3, the Bed won't switch off anymore. It worked perfectly before the update, but now, the moment I power up my printer, the LED on the bed turns on and it starts heating up. The manual control in Repetier Host doesn't turn if off or on and I even tried g-codes M140 S0 as well as M0, but it does not switch it off.

Edit:
I have an Arduino Mega2560 with a RAMPS shield. The Marlin firmware came pre-configured from the store I bought the kit from.

It sounds like the pin configuration in the firmware you flashed doesn't match your hardware. Heaters should never be on by default and M140 S0 should always turn off current to the bed. What you describe sounds like the firmware is sending power to a pin that it believes is something other than what it is, either because the bed is on a fan pin (like D9) or because the firmware thinks D8 is something other than the heated bed.

If it worked before, your original firmware was configured to match how your board was wired, specifically which pins were mapped to what hardware. If you're confident that the new firmware pin configuration is correct, you can ignore this theory. Otherwise you should nail down which D8/D9/D10 pin maps to what hardware and resolve the mismatch.

On RAMPS, pins 8, 9 and 10 are typically used to control fans, hotends and heated beds and you define this behavior in configuration.h. If you flashed from source you should review configuration.h and ensure it matches your hardware. This likely means setting the MOTHERBOARD to the value that matches how pins 8/9/10 are wired. See this section (or something similar) in configuration.h to get started:

// The following define selects which electronics board you have.
// Please choose the name from boards.h that matches your setup
#ifndef MOTHERBOARD
  #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_14_EFB
#endif


What does it mean for step and dir "to be on their own ports"? The wiki page for the RAMBo board mentions:

  Step and Direction pins are on their own ports for synchronous movement capability

What does this mean, and how does it affect printing? Do I need special firmware to take advantage of this?

A "port" for the AVR microcontroller is a set of eight IO pins that are controlled together at a hardware level. The underlying machine code can write an entire byte to set the status of all 8 pins at once. So in principle, all the step pins on the RAMBO board can be triggered exactly simultaneously.

The Arduino IDE hides this behavior from firmwares by abstracting the port's byte handling as a function call for each individual pin. That means programmers only have to know the Arduino PIN number, not which port and position on the processor is being used. And then the modern firmwares typically used by RAMBO do a further layer of abstraction to make it easy for the same firmware to be used by different boards, by changing pin assigned names in a config file (usually pins.h) and not assuming any specific port selection was made during board design.

There's no guarantee for open-source firmware that a particular pin selection was made in hardware. Lots of 3D printer controller boards even have pretty dumb pin assignments, like using hardware-PWM-capable pins for stepper signals rather than PWM'd heaters. Marlin and Repetier have chosen flexibility over performance optimization in this regard. They pretty much let the board designer use any pin for anything. When they have to do stuff like run heater PWM control or fire a bunch of step pulses as fast as possible, they emulate that in software rather than taking advantage of specific hardware that isn't always available.

In this specific case, there may not actually be all that much performance gain/loss. Writing to an output pin is pretty fast. The amount of time difference between firing a few step pulses in sync or firing them sequentially is on the order of a few microseconds. That won't make any difference to the motion fidelity of the printer's physical drivetrains. Somebody involved in the RAMBO design just thought it could be useful, and put a reference to it on the Wiki page (in the very first upload!) and it's never been clarified or removed from the Wiki page in the years since.


Can I order a 3D print of a 1 ml transparent container? I'm trying to make a water insulated 1 cm3 (1 ml) transparent container and I bought some plexiglass, I cut and glued some pieces together but it looks really crappy and barely holds the water in. I was wondering, is there a transparent material (similar to plexiglass) that can order to 3D print the container out of it? Also, if 3D printing is not the best option, where can I order around a 100 pieces of 1 cm3 transparent water insulating containers with caps?

Yes. You'll probably want to use SLA or Polyjet printers with transparent resin. For example, here's Shapeways' page on transparent SLA and their page on Polyjet (which says you need to phone them for transparent Polyjet parts as their online order system can't handle it).

FDM printing with transparent materials doesn't usually result in parts that look like transparent injection-moulded parts, because the lines of material laid down by the printer are visible. There are some techniques to make this better, but a printing bureau is less likely to offer this kind of special handling.

In any case, you should discuss your requirements in more detail with suppliers, and they'll be able to advise whether they offer any manufacturing processes that meet your needs. In particular, if you need your containers to be food-safe, you should mention that at the start, as it'll rule out a lot of possible suppliers, machines, and materials.


Unable to load new filament FlashForge Adventurer 3 I have a FlashForge Adventurer 3. I have just finished my sample filament today and tried to replace it with a new spool of filament. This new filament is by Hatchbox, instead of FlashForge. Besides that, the new filament is 1.75 mm PLA filament, like the sample spool. However, when I tried to insert the new filament, it doesn't feed in. I get a loud, thumping sound from the printer, but the filament doesn't get fed through. Does anyone know why this is happening or what I should do?

First thing I'd try is making sure the nozzle is hot enough and carefully try to feed the new filament where it will be pushed - sometimes there's melted filament that just isn't hot enough to flow out and the new filament is pushing on it, jamming and making your motor make that sound.  Usually getting it hot to the point where the old filament is practically dripping out before attempting to insert the new filament will work.
If that doesn't work I might let the thing cool, disassemble the nozzle, and remove the jam mechanically (and reassemble it).