What are the effects of backlash from a geared stepper motor used to drive a filament extruder? Question background:
I am building an extruder / hotend combination to be used with 2.85 mm filaments.
The extruder I chose is QR Extruder from Bondtech which comes with a stepper motor, with an integrated planetary gear system and a reduction of 5.18 to 1.
The motor's specification states that it has a backlash of less than 1 degree.
I have contacted the manufacturer but I could not get a more specific number.
Here is what I'd like to know (i.e., my question clarified) :

How does this < 1 degree backlash translate to pushing filament through the hot end?
Once the extruder steps are calibrated, can it cause artifacts on the prints?
Can linear advance (Marlin) or pressure advance (Klipper/Duet) make up for this < 1 degree backlash of the planetary gear system?

During normal extrusion backlash has no effect.
During retraction you can perfectly compensate by increasing retraction length slightly.
Backlash cannot be taken into account for pressure advance, but unless it's a lot, it should not cause issues: pressure compensation is a second order effect and does not need to be tuned super accurately to produce results.
One degree does not seem to be enough to cause problems.


Temperature problems after switching to RAMPS 1.4 I recently switched to a RAMPS 1.4 on an Arduino Mega 2560.
Ever since I have extruder temperature swings a couple of minutes into the print, but it looks like a problem reading the temp rather than actual fluctuations in the temperature (as can be seen in the attached pic).
Also, I've noticed that the MOSFET is getting really hot when I heat the heated bed.

What is the problem and how can I fix it?

For the overheating, you may need to turn the juice down a little on your Power Supply. Typically, there is a potentiometer inside that trims the voltage level coming from there. Some things can heat up if it's over-volting and needing to drop more voltage for the board.

For the temperature reading stuff, make sure the thermistor is plugged in all way and not possibly dangling near the hot-end block. I have had that happen before and it will report improper temperatures as it goes along, and often results in the hot-end getting too hot and messing with the filament. If it's properly secured it might be just crappy or broken in some other way and you would need to replace it. It's reasonable practice to have a few extra thermistors lying around as having them go out at lousy times will bum you out.


Tevo Tarantula auto bed leveling config As discussed previously on a post, Tevo tarantula Z- port burnt, I've burnt one of my Z endstops ports (I solved this issue and I'm using the Z+ port, normally).
I did that trying to install an auto bed leveling sensor. I don't want to mess up again...
I have a LJ18A3-8-Z/BX NPN sensor.
Brown wire is connected to the N (+) of the power supply, blue and black wire connected as shown in the picture (pay attention to the red markings on the white wire):

Any advice about the wiring is welcome. But I hope it's right, I've read in several places1 that this type of sensor doesn't require any kind of resistor.
I'm using the last version of Jim Brown firmware.
Here it is what I've changed so far:

//#define BLTOUCH       // ANTClabs BLTouch sensor (might also work with clones)
//#define BLTOUCH_V3    // ANTCLabs BLTouch sensor version 3
//#define SN04          // Green sensor
#define INDUCTIVE_NO  // Normally open inductive sensor
//#define INDUCTIVE_NC  // Normally closed inductive sensor
//#define SERVO_PROBE   // Endstop switch on rotating arm. Set servo angles!
//#define NOZZLE_PROBE  // Nozzle wired up to contact metal on bed

//#define TRIPOINT
//#define LINEAR
//#define BILINEAR
#define UBL
//#define MANUAL

Let's go to my issues:

Before flashing this configs, the sensor's LED would go on near metal and off far from metal. With this new config the LED remains off until I place the sensor near metal... But after it goes on, it remains on, even when far from metal.

When I home the axis, I try to simulate the position of the Z axis, holding the sensor close to a metal plate. But the Z axis moves up... up... up... Doesn't matter what I do with the sensor (hold close or distant from metal). Until some point and it stops.

So far nothing is fried and I'm trying to make it work right now. It seems to me (based on what I read) that a NPN sensor really doesn't need anything. Just plug on the power supply and board.
So... basically, as you can see, I have no idea of what I'm doing. I hope someone can help me...
I've tried to find answers and figure it out by myself. I'm not being lazy here...

BTW I'm wondering if Jim Brown is still better than the official Marlin Firmware... So I'm willing to change it if that is the opinion of the pros!

Footnote
1 For example, in the second post to How do I wire my lj18A3-8-Z/BX to my prusa? going insane

An NPN sensor is wired differently from a PNP sensor. The signal wire is the black wire, blue is the ground wire.

According to this posting, Don’t trust the internet (and how to add an Inductive Proximity Sensor to your 3D printer the proper and easiest way, you need to insert a 6.8 kΩ resistor in between the black and the blue wire, I quote:

  ...Indeed, all we need to do is add a single 6.8 kΩ resistor between BLACK and BLUE and all should work fine.

Alternatively, a diode in the black wire would also work, I quote:

  ... So I did test using a diode and that also works perfectly fine, simply because the direction in which the 12 V current would like to flow when the sensor is open will be blocked by the diode. The internal (or hardware) pull-up still pulls the Atmega’s sensor pin to HIGH however.

  ...
  But as soon as the sensor is closed, the diode would allow the 5 V current to flow in the opposite direction towards ground, which pulls the Atmega’s sensor pin to LOW.


How to set the boundaries for BLTouch probing I have just installed the BLTouch on my Ender 3 running Marlin 1.1.9 and I want to set it up so the probing does the 9 points in a perimeter that uses most of the bed surface area. At the moment the probe just covers a small area.

I read that to sort it out you have to change the section " // Set the boundaries for probing (where the probe can reach)." but I can't figure out what to set it as, my current settings are as follows:

 #define LEFT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 30
 #define RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION (X_BED_SIZE - 120)
 #define FRONT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 30
 #define BACK_PROBE_BED_POSITION (Y_BED_SIZE - 120)

When I try to set it so something like:

  #define LEFT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 30
  #define RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION (X_BED_SIZE - 35)
  #define FRONT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 30
  #define BACK_PROBE_BED_POSITION (Y_BED_SIZE - 35)

I get an error reading :

  RIGHT PROBE_BED POSITION is outside the probe region.

Any help you can give me on what I am doing wrong will be greatly appreciated.

The probe offset from the extruder are as follows:

#define X_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -41  // X offset: -left  +right  [of
the nozzle]
#define Y_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -5  // Y offset: -front +behind [the
nozzle]
#define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -1  // Z offset: -below +above  [the
nozzle]

For completeness, this is the G-code that I am using: CE3_square.gcode.

As explained in this answer it is you that needs to calculate where the head (read sensor) is supposed to go depending on the amount of space you have left on the carriage shafts.
As can be seen from your configuration, your sensor is located on the left front (when facing the machine) at 41 mm left from the nozzle you are requesting the sensor to travel to a position that is outside the bed (35 mm), so you should at least subtract 41 mm from your X bed size.
As you have not posted a bed size, an assumed X bed size of 220 mm would mean that the maximum probing distance for X (i.e. RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION) of 220 - 41 = 179 mm
In your case -41 mm would take it to the edge, so 30 mm extra would make it symmetrical:
#define LEFT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 30
#define RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION (X_BED_SIZE - 41 - 30)
#define FRONT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 30
#define BACK_PROBE_BED_POSITION (Y_BED_SIZE - 5 - 30)

Furthermore, it is way more convenient to set the Z distance between the probe and the nozzle using M851 Zxx.xx (where xx.xx denotes the offset as a negative value) than setting it with Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER.


Insulating bed material? I've observed printing PETG that the primary if not the only reason for using a high bed temperature seems to be preventing the bed from acting as a huge heat sink and rapidly cooling the initial layers such that they don't bond well to each other. In particulat, the heat is not needed for adhesion-to-the-bed purposes. This got me thinking whether there's a way we could get rid of the requirement, as a way to save time and all the energy spent heating the bed and cooling the room it's eventually dumped into.
With that in mind, are there viable bed materials that are good thermal insulators? Just putting down a layer of any insulating material between the underlying bed and buildtak or whatever surface you want might work, but I would think these kinds of print surfaces are designed for moderate to high thermal conductivity themselves, and wouldn't be as bad a heat sink as the underlying metal, but might still sap a noticable amount of heat out of the part right away.

I’m pretty sure it can be brought separately but usually comes with a lot of heat-beds; It is a type of foam that has adhesive on one side and aluminum foil on the other. Here is an example of what I mean:


Ultimaker 2 ticking sound coming from feeder Recently, the ticking sounds started to come from feeder of my UM2. Inspecting it I have noticed that once in a while stepper motor jumps back for few steps. I have an idea of what can be the reason, but I just want to hear what you can think of. That is the video of feeder during the printing :)
https://youtu.be/z6CzudMOeD0 First tick at 10sec

Ultimately, your stepper motor is unsuccessful in driving the filament through the extruder. A couple potential reasons:

extruder temperature isn't high enough. This could either be operator error from not setting the temperature correctly or your machine is getting a false reading. Typically, for ABS/PLA, you can get away with a low extruding temperature of about 210c.
filament tension is too high. This happens if, say, your spool of filament gets kinked or wrapped around the spool spindle.
your nozzle is clogged. I've encountered where I had back flow coming out of the nozzle (filaments oozed around from the hotend at the threads). This was a result of not putting the hotend back together correctly. There was a enough hardened plastic backed up in the hotend that when I threaded the nozzle back on, it technically didn't fit back on all the way.


How to set up USB camera for Octoprint on Debian system I installed OctoPrint on my nettop (Foxconn NT-330) to control custom-built Delta printer. I also have generic USB endoscope-type camera attached to the nettop.

Basic setup went well, printer is visible and controllable by OctoPrint server.
USB camera is visible via usb-list and mplayer can output live video.

The problem is that on the OctoPrint Webcam configuration tab it requires "Stream URL" which I don't know where to get from.

You need to install a web-cam server on your Nettop. Octorint recommends Yawcam for windows and mjpg-streamer for linux.

mjpg-streamer: https://github.com/jacksonliam/mjpg-streamer
Yawcam: http://www.yawcam.com/

OctoPrint has instructions for installing mjpg-streamer on a raspberry pi. The process should be very similar for a Nettop running Debian so its a good starting place. The instructions are a little ways down the page: https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/wiki/Setup-on-a-Raspberry-Pi-running-Raspbian


Tronxy X5S losing steps during print This is my first printer, a core xy (Tronxy X5S) printer, and it is losing steps during diagonal movements. The curious thing its that fail is even, I've printed 2 calibration cubes and they are almost equals:

When it lose the step, you can ear a "toc" sound, as in this footage at 3s: https://youtu.be/aRJB--QBMC4 This is my realy first print, and I don't have much experience with 3d printing, thanks in advance for any information!

I had the same issue with my X5S when I first got it assembled. Because it's CoreXY, if one pulley slips, you'll skip steps in the diagonal. Check both set screws on your pulleys for the X and Y.


Cura messes up my print. How can I make it print what I see in Blender? I'm using Cura and it removes my holes and deletes sections of the print and disconnects parts. In Blender it looks as it should be, as I designed it. I know there are a few mishaps inside (not manifold) but is there a way to fill in everything on the inside. I only care about the externally facing faces. This is extremely infuriating I hope someone can tell me how to force Cura to print what is originally seen in the .stl.

These are photos of how it should look.
Now these next photos are how Cura previews it. Not only does it fill in the holes (no, fill holes isn't enabled) it adds huge gaps in the side and bottom of the print as can be seen.

How can I force Cura to print what I see in blender in the original .stl?
I am exporting in Blender to .stl and opening that in Cura.

I was able to fix it partially by fixing normals in Blender but there is still this:

It's common for modeling software to flip normals, causing what you describe. You said,

I only care about the externally facing faces.

But are you sure they are truly externally facing? Turn on normals in Blender and ensure that all the arrows/pointers are external.
Another problem that can generate the results you're seeing are self-intersecting surfaces, non-manifold edges, and a couple others that are explained in a 3dhubs article. Correcting those problems involve a bit more examination and trouble shooting.
The slicing software prefers to have clean, well defined triangular surfaces in order to create a print file. When something is amiss, you get results you've presented.
With the STL in hand, I opened it in Meshmixer (free) and immediately was given a clue.

The zebra-stripes are reversed normals.
Here's another error point, difficult to see clearly in flat 2D image, but panning and zooming and orbiting and all those 3D manipulating things shows there's nothing there:

The other end of this not-joined area shows a bit better:

After selecting all I could find/locate, I did the reverse normals and here's a slightly improved result:

Unfortunately, the other borked up portions prevented meshmixer from performing a suitable auto-repair, completely destroying the model in the process.
Those joint corners and any other colored lines have to be addressed individually.


Can I make this extruder work by changing motor? I have a Flex3Drive remote-direct-drive extruder I bought for my Ender 3 (with the original extruder motor), and I'm pretty happy with it except for abysmal retraction performance due to the 40:1 reduction, which requires the motor to turn about 480° to retract just 1 mm. This is minimally workable for PLA and rigid materials where I can get by with just 1 mm of retraction, but it takes just as long to retract 1 mm as the original bowden extruder did to retract 6 mm, defeating a lot of the appeal of a direct drive. For TPU I haven't been able to make it workable at all. By the time I retract 3 mm or so, which seems necessary to avoid stringing, the hotend has already melted and/or deposited a blob on the print. Failure to print TPU also defeats much of the point of a direct drive.
I'm running retraction at 8 mm/s, 500 mm/s² acceleration, which is already higher than the manufacturer of the extruder recommends, and about the fastest I've been able to get it to work. Based on this calculator and 8.9 mH motor inductance, that seems roughly expected. I have TMC 2209 steppers and tried playing with current but it doesn't seem to make much difference.
Otherwise, I love this extruder, and want to make it work. Is there a way I can salvage it by changing out the motor for something that can do higher RPMs and accelerate just as fast or faster?

In general I would use https://github.com/rcarlyle/StepperSim which takes into account more parameters.
You can play with voltage and current to see which combination gives you the best results for your motor.
Or you can change to a TMC driver with higher voltage (35-50 V) to keep torque at much higher speeds and push the current motor more.
Since the torque you require is likely not so high, you can increase the speed of your stepper motor with 3D printed herringbone gears, for example 4:1. They don't need to be super accurate, backlash is totally fine considering the ridiculous 40:1 reduction.


.STEP/.F3D to .SCAD file? I work with Fusion360 for designing lots of things. Recently I learned how to work with parameters that I can easily modify all at once, allowing to pretty much make easily customizable pieces.

Now, Thingiverse wants customizer pieces in the shape of .SCAD files, and some people just can't work with Fusion360 (.F3D) or proper .STEP files that can be imported by most CAD programs.

I have no experience with OpenSCAD. Can I import my .STEP into openSCAD, retain my parameters and export it as a .SCAD, and if yes, how?

Even though OpenSCAD can import a variety of formats, the file structure will not be accepted by Thingiverse in the manner presented by the OP.

OpenSCAD is a text-based description language. One creates parameters assigned to specific aspects of a model and implements those parameters to create the desired shapes/components by typing in a text editor. The native editor for OpenSCAD provides for some management, but notepad or equivalent would work just as well.

The file format of OpenSCAD is text. None of the CAD type modeling programs will provide equivalent text output.

For your objective, you'd have to learn the basics of OpenSCAD (not particularly difficult) and reference the parameters in the STEP files, then assign them to the appropriate labels in OpenSCAD.

If you have particularly complex designs, it can be a handful. It can also be rewarding when you change a parameter as a test and the complete model follows as expected.


Printing with Nylon 6,10 Can Nylon 6,10 be used for 3D FDM printing? What range of temperatures be used to print with it? How does it compare to the standard 3D printing Nylon material (I think it is 6,6).

Based on the information from a Quorra question about what the difference between Nylon 6,10 and Nylon 6,6 is and a ULprospector article, we can establish:

6,6 is a smaller molecule than 6,10.
Base materials are different - hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid (6,6) compared to hexamethylene diamine and sebacic acid (6,10)
6,6 has a stronger tensile and compressive strength as it is more densely interlocked, but it also has a higher melting point. This means also that 6,6 is more heat tolerant.
6,6 is also known to have the least degradation of strength under moisture, compared to other Polyamides.
HOWEVER, 6,6 has a lesser resistance to weak acids compared to 6,10, it is also the most sensitive to UV-light and degradation from air exposure.
6,10 also bests 6,6 in regards to absorbing less moisture (a large problem with 6,6), but is more expensive than it.
Recently 6,12 is replacing 6,10 for it has very similar or better properties while being cheaper.

While I see no problem with the technical ability to make a Nylon 6,10 or Nylon 6,12 filament and print with it (the lower hygroscopic of the larger molecules might make that even easier), you will make a compromise in other areas of the material, most liekly cost and availability - to my knowledge no filament that claims to be Nylon 6,10 or Nylon 6,12 is on the market at the time of this writing (April 2019), and as such there are no known benchmarks for print settings needed are available. I would expect the print temperature to be slightly lower than that of Nylon 6,6 though.


"Tac Tac" sound when printing with ABS My 3D printer makes weird sounds. When it's at >75% printing speed the extruder motor makes a "tac tac" sound and it goes backwards, pushing the filament back, for a small interval of time. I have tried changing the nozzle temperature and I'm unable to work this out alone.

Has someone had the same problem?

This is the 3D printer: Geeetech High Quality Wood Geeetech Prusa I3 Pro W 3D Printer Kit.

@Ecnerwal is right: that noise you hear is the extruder not being able to push the filament, and the stepper can't push any harder. When the extruder tries to push harder than it can, it gives up, and the "spring" tension it created in the filament forces it to go backwards a tiny bit. Then it tries again.

Possible causes/fixes:

Temperature too low -- this makes the filament not liquid enough to push through the nozzle easily. For ABS, you should be in the 230-240 range.
Clogged nozzle -- take the nozzle off (while hot) and try heating it with a torch to burn out anything that might be in there.
Bad filament -- If the filament has contamination in it, or is too large to fit through the hot end in places (I.E. it gets up to 1.9mm instead of 1.75mm)
Stepper current too low -- I'm not sure if you can adjust the current that is sent to your stepper motors, but if it is too low, the stepper can not provide enough torque to push the filament through. I don't see the stepper drivers on the site, so I don't know if you can adjust them or not.


Damage to bed surface from heat or chemical or..? The original bed surface of my Ender 3 has become brittle and finally cracked, requiring replacement. I'm trying to figure out what the cause might have been to avoid it happening again. It seems to have started after using "flex PLA", which involves both high temperatures (225 °C) and plasticizers mixed in the PLA. Could either of these have contributed to the problem? I'm not sure what material the bed surface is - it's the new one that's removable and held on by clips. If it's PEI, the glass transition temperature is supposedly 217 °C, just above what I use for normal PLA but well below what I'm using for the flex, so perhaps that's the cause?

Image of the damage:

The build surface on the Ender3 is a BuildTak clone. The picture is a bit unclear, but given my experience with BuildTak (clones) this certainly damage because of heat. You can, as suggested before, replace the bed surface, but I do not think it is necessary at this stage.

Normally these surfaces do not get damaged that easily but to prolong the life try to keep the following points in mind:

Correct height between nozzle and bed.
Don't let the nozzle heat up/cool down close to the bed (for example after a failed first layer).
When using sharp tools to remove prints be careful nut to dig into the surface.
Don't use too high of a bed temperature (my BuildTak clone once had bubbles forming because the layers separated)
Clean/degrease the bed, although this is more to ensure proper bed adhesion.
I found out that if the bed stops sticking you can revive it by sanding it a bit.


UV degradation of UV curable resins I needed to know if typical UV curing resins, such as the ones from Anycubic, can withstand solar radiation over extended periods of time with little to no degradation. It has been quite difficult to find information about the subject online, so I'm wondering whether anyone here has experience here to share.

What seems to be a difficulty is the stabilizers for plastic absorb UV.  So if added to UV resin, they probably greatly increase the exposure time needed.
The following show characteristics of some plastics, taken from https://www.coleparmer.com/tech-article/uv-properties-of-plastics

Unmodified types of plastics that are regarded as having unacceptable resistance to UV are POM (Acetal), PC, ABS and PA6/6. Other plastics such as PET, PP, HDPE, PA12, PA11, PA6, PES, PPO, PBT and PPO are regarded as fair. Note that a PC/ABS alloy is also graded as fair. Good resistance to ultraviolet rays can be achieved from polymers extruded by Zeus such as PTFE, PVDF, FEP, and PEEKTM. The only plastics found with excellent resistance are the imides, Polyimide (PI) as used in the Hubble Space Telescope and Polyetherimide (PEI).

PTFE has particularly good UV resistance because of its very strong carbon- fluorine (C-F) bond [almost 30% higher than the carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond], which is the common side bond that surrounds the carbon (C-C) backbone in a helix and protects it. Most fluoropolymers also do not have the light absorbing chromophore impurities in their structure that can act as an initiator for photo-oxidation.


Multiple unattended prints using extruder to sweep build plate? I read something the other day about a guy who found a way to knock over completed prints with the printer head itself, then slide them to the edge of the build plate, where they fall into a box/basket. This allows printing several Eiffel Towers while you sleep for example. It doesn't work with skirts (duh), and the adhesion has to be just right not to wake up with a pile of spaghetti, but it still sounds useful.

Well, now I cannot re-find the description I read; does anyone know what this process is called? Is there an easy way I can perform such an end-of-print action on my CR-10 with a cura plugin? If such a thing takes a touch of end-time custom gcode, is there a proof of concept rough draft or demo I can start tinkering with? Any more info is helpful.

You could cool down the heated bed (with e.g. [M109][1] R28) and cool down the hotend (with e.g. [M190][1] R40). This will usually release the print from the plate, perform the actions to move the head (e.g. go to the largest X, Y position G1 X{max} Y{max}, move down G1 Z10 to then move to minimum X, Y G1 X0 Y0 position such that it sweeps the print to the origin) that it knocks it into the basket and start printing again by copy pasting the whole G-code beforehand a couple of times. Note that this all depends on the product you are printing. You should at least use the end code scripts for the specific tasks to cool down, and start scripts to heat up again.

You can write a Cura plugin to implement a new GUI item to copy the G-code multiple times or create a post processing plugin.


Slic3r: How can I automatically modify the STL filename? When generating STL files with slic3r I would like to automatically prefix the filename with strings such as PLA or PET before uploading to my printer.  How can I specify this in the filament settings?

The filename is under the "Print settings" tab. Under output options, you can change the name template. You can use words like: [layer_height] to make the name dynamic.

The variable you are looking for here is: [filament_preset]
But the full name, with space and everything, is used.

Here is a screenshot:

Here is a link to fuller docs:
https://github.com/slic3r/Slic3r/wiki/FAQ#how-can-i-specify-a-custom-filename-format-for-output-g-code-files

New version of Slic3r

It lets you edit the filename when upload it. You will see what will be upload it and give it any name. But this is a manual process. Just updated my answer for the sake of completeness.


Some procedures to improve 1st layer I'm wondering if anyone can confirm this improves the success rate of the first layer by doing this before starting print.  My case is using ABS with a Reprap.  In may work on other 3D printers and materials.

Heat up the bed and extruder to the starting temperature long enough to stabilize, so that the printer sets a more accurate z-height at the start.  While your printer may wait until temperatures are reached, it will usually start immediately without waiting.

After the extruder reaches starting temperature, wait until the filament material stops extruding from the extruder. Remove extruded material.  This reduces failures due to material extruding before the print, but after the start, ending up in the wrong place.

You don't get a more accurate Z height when you heat the printer and let it settle. You get a different value that will work perfectly. E.g. I've got printers that do bed leveling cold but print with the correct initial Z height to get a perfect first layer. This is also valid for manually trammed beds. The only settling you might need if for thick glass beds so that the heat can be spread evenly, but operating thick glass beds I've never had to settle the bed, just heat up and start. But since ABS is prone to shrink, heating the bed first and then the hotend might prove valuable, at the time the hotend reaches it's temperature, the bed had time to evenly distribute the heat.

Oozing isn't good, maybe retracting filament at the end of a print might stop oozing for the next print. Most higher end printers therefore have a purge/prime, wipe and retract procedure prior to printing.


TMC2208 drivers - Microsteps configured incorrectly I've just installed two TMC2208 drivers on my RAMPS board. I followed a very good step by step tutorial and after some issues, I got it nearly to work.
One problem I still have is that when I tell the printer to lift the Z axis by 5 mm, it lifts it by 10 cm.
I haven't changed anything regarding the steps/mm. Previously I had the Pololus, with 1/16 microstepping and now I also have 1/16 on configuration_adv.h file on Marlin 1.1.8
However what I noticed when doing a M122 is a line which reads:
msteps 256

which sounds like the microstepping was set at 1/256 instead.
Maybe somebody could tell me if I missed something?
UPDATE:
After some more digging into it, here is what I've done so far:

Solder the pins on the driver. Original from Watterrot
Solder the bridge pads for enabling UART communication
Solder the pin for the communication heading upwards
Change the configuration_adv.h on Marlin (1.1.8) and enable all that is to enable: USE_TMC2208, Enable debugging, selecting the Z axis, etc
Check the pins on pins_RAMPS.h and make sure they are available in my setting
Make a Y cable with the 1 kOhm resistor for the TX pin
Hook everything up

No matter what I did, the motor moves twice as much as requested. Although I set up 1/16 microstepping, the same I had with my Pololus, I performed the reverse calculation to find out that the actual microstepping on the driver is 1/8.
After more investigation, the issue seems to be that the driver is not recognized at all by the Marlin/Board. Thinking that it was a problem with the TX/RX communication, I dug into the available info out there and I found this, Bug: TMC2208 UART Communication uses wrong pins for SoftwareSerial #9396.
I proceeded to change the assigned pins for serial RX/TX, but everything is exactly the same.
I tried a different Arduino (original), another RAMPS board and even the 1.1.x and 2.0 bugfix branches from Marlin.
It seems that the driver is on "legacy" mode and software manipulation is not possible. Although I went through the steps to enable it.

I don't have these controllers, but I read that with default settings the TMC2208 will interpolate the microsteps set by the I/O configuration pins to
256 microsteps. Please look into how you set up the dip switches / jumper caps on your board, it seems that only 2 are used (MS1 and MS2). Furthermore, can't you just decrease the count of the array  DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT for the Z entry in your configuration file?


How to change the voltage on a FLSUN QQ I just bought a FLSUN QQ and the instructions say I need to change the voltage from 220 to 110. Sadly the instructions don't say how to do that. Can anyone tell me how to do it?

I don't know if this is the case with all FLSUN QQ printers, but mine was indeed set to 220v as the instructions/user manual indicated. First I needed to remove the bottom of the printer. Then there was a switch on the side of the power supply with the following label:

I know the picture is terrible, but the lighting inside the base of the printer was less than optimal. It should be pretty easy to find once you know what you're looking for.


Y Axis motor is really loud The Y-axis motor is really loud. The pitch of the sound varies depending the angle of the motor (in some angles the motor is silent, in others it's louder than a fan). I am looking for a solution because this is by far the loudest component of my printer. Is there any settings that could help making this motor quieter? If not, should I replace the motor or the board?

Here is a short clip of the sound of the motor:

The sounds are mainly caused by the bed resonating with the stepper motor, and this will vary with the speed of the stepper motor. The best solution is to use "silent" stepper motor drivers (e.g. Trinamic), but you may be able to reduce the noise by:

Reducing the belt tension as much as possible.
Changing your print and/or move speeds.
Fitting a stepper motor damper.
Fitting TL smoothers (if you have A4988 drivers), although their efficacy is controversial.

I have done all of the above with good results.


Prevent raising Z-axis after homing I've recently configured my Bigtreetech mini e3 v1.2, and I have every aspect of the printer running well except for the initialized homing sequence (the problem is sometimes small enough to where I can still get a good print). Originally what I was running into was that because I used two Z stepper motors, any movement that wasn't manual input on Pronterface would cause the motors to vibrate and make noise (not enough current). Now the only time the Z motors make noise/vibrate is right after the homing is complete and they briefly move up when the nozzle begins to heat, as well as right after the heating is done and the nozzle dips down to begin the print. I suspect it's because of a fast increase in Z speed that I don't necessary need. I've tried changing a multitude of settings in Configuration.h but haven't had any luck. Does anybody know the command that dictates the Z motors to very quickly move upward just after homing and before heating?

Just solved my own problem. Instead of looking in Marlin for the command, I found out the reason it was lifting up quickly was because of a custom command embedded in the G-code by the slicer. I got rid of the command and the problem was solved.


OpenSCAD "not valid 2-manifold" useful information OpenSCAD suggests that "object may not be a valid 2-manifold" but it looks perfectly fine in OpenSCAD and in Meshlab.

Have looked through the file several times, and cannot find any point or line intersections, they all overlap in 3D.

Is there some useful software for diagnosing this? It seems to me it ought to be trivial to for example highlight the offending volumes, rather than just print a general error message with no details whatsoever.

Edit: slicing it in Cura works fine also.

Occasionally, a model created in OpenSCAD will have, as you suggest, overlapping segments. Often enough, this will generate the message you receive. OpenSCAD has an implied union function when it comes to independent objects, but if you wish to clear those errors, experiment with explicit union statements where you have joining objects. It may be necessary to join only one pair at a time to clear the error.


Are control boards switchable? I am interested in buying a larger printer, either a Sovol SV01 or a Sunlu S8 (or something else similar).
What I am wondering is, can the control boards and LCD displays be changed to better units later on?
How much are parts interchangeable?
Can the frame, steppers, extruder, base-heater and power supply be run with any control board which has enough outputs? How does this work?
I'm particularly interested in adding silent stepper drivers and BLTouch later on, neither of these units are very popular so not a lot of after market parts are out which list compatibility.

Yes. Stepper motors, heaters, temperature sensors, fans, etc... are all standard parts. Pretty much any control board can be used with the hardware from pretty much every printer.
Some more expensive printers might use more exotic parts (especially temperature sensors), but on the budget printers you're looking at I would be very surprised to find anything non-standard.


My heated glass print bed keeps chipping and cracking. How can I prevent this? My thermoplastic FDM printer has a heated bed and uses glass as the printing surface. Sometimes the glass will chip or break entirely when I'm removing my print. This happens most often when the print has a large area in contact with the glass.

What can I do to keep this from happening?

I use the glue stick method. I like to take my build plate out and put it in the freezer. The different coefficients of thermal expansion between the glass and plastic usually means that the part just pops off in the freezer.


Anet A8 reading 739°C from the extruder thermistor! I accidentally let the print head of my Anet A8 crash into one of 2 clips that are holding a glass sheet onto the hot bed, and suddenly the screen went blank and the printer rebooted, then it started reading 739°C from the extruder thermistor. I tried changing the thermistor, but that didn't have any effect. Also tried swapping the extruder thermistor with the hot bed thermistor, but there was no effect on both. I checked both the connector and the socket of the thermistor for shorts but found none. Any ideas about the reason this is happening?

-Using Skynet3D 2.3.2 on the stock Anet board.

EDIT

I tried burning the bootloader and flashing the firmware onto the Anet V1.0 board using an Arduino UNO as an ISP, but that had absolutely no effect.

EDIT 2

I measured R41 located next to the hotend thermistor header

and found out it has a resistance of 1.5kΩ, while it should have a resistance of 4.7kΩ, so I suspect this is the main reason behind this high reading. Now the only thing left to figure out is how the resistance of this resistor changed.

I was able to figure out which resistor to measure with the help of this schematic: https://github.com/ralf-e/ANET-3D-Board-V1.0/blob/master/ANET3D_Board_Schematic.png

EDIT 3
I tested T56 (located near the headers) and T55 (located near the ATMEGA1284P) for continuity, and found out there's no connection between those, while they should be connected according to the schematics. I also checked the hotbed's terminals T54 and T53 and found continuity between them, which  means the problem might be in the trace between the thermistor header and input pin of the ATMEGA chip (this trace is VERY thin, so any overcurrent might cut it), or any component in this trace.

I had the same issue. Hot-end temperature reading stuck at 209 degrees even with hot-end thermistor disconnected  or swapped with bed thermistor on the Anet A8 mainboard.

After ordering and swapping the AtMega1284p (using jtagice3 and hot-air soldering station) and the 4.7 Kohm resistor (which measured 2.06Kohm on the board and 4.7kohm off the board) to no avail, the only component left in the circuit that could cause the failure was the capacitor.

Swapping the capacitor C47 fixed the stuck reading for me. I used a 10uF instead of a 15uF capacitor as indicated in the schematic. I do not believe it makes much of a difference, and they are much more common. Make sure the capacitor can withstand at least 10V, but I got a 30V one, because the price was similar.

To any body that runs into this issue, before spending time and money swapping components like I did, measure the voltage of the node between R41 and C47 with respect to ground. This is labeled T56 or test point 56. Compare this voltage to T54, T60, T58, and T62 where similar circuits are placed. You should get a voltage of around 5V ( the pull-up voltage) in the functioning circuits, since we are talking about DC voltage, the capacitor should charge up nearly instantly when the the board is powered, and behave as an open-circuit.

In my case, C47 was almost in full short-circuit, and I read a low voltage on T56 ( ~0.5v).

Since the capacitor was in a low impedance failure mode, the 5V supply voltage of the voltage divider circuit was not enough to power it, hence the fixed temperature readings of the hot-end thermistor ADC channel regardless of the thermistor being connected or not.

Good luck!


Which filament to use for an application involving water circulation? Let's suppose I want to build a water block shaped exactly for my Ubis 13s hot end

(similar to this instructable), or that I want to circulate water around specific objects to be cooled (like Water-cooling stepper motor with aluminum block).

CNC allows the use of shaped radiators/water blocks, but it is too expensive for home projects and requires the ability to make a part at the first or second attempt, to keep costs low.

3D printing allows me to design jackets which are perfectly matched to the intended part, including gaps for O-rings or matching valleys+ridges between the components which also would result in a mostly waterproof seal (just add grease or hot glue...). In this case, water would be in contact with the object to cool and also provide (where suitable) a better interface. Corrosion can be avoided with some additives (in case of aluminium, water should be acidic).

Which common printing material is best for this application? Let's limit the question to materials that can be reliably printed at maximum 270 °C (nylon ok, but no polycarbonate or PEEK, for example).

We are talking about very low pressure pumps, mechanical strength is of little relevance.

I saw a lot of selling PETG water cooling pipes.
So PETG will be the best choice considering all factors.

In addition:
You could use any plastic with the oil instead of water for cooling medium.
Also automotive anti-freeze (G11, G12, G13 ...) designed to be non corrosive and much better than water in terms of cooling.


Chamber heating using hysteresis in Marlin Is anyone using hysteresis with their chamber in Marlin?

I have read bang-bang with hysteresis is possible when using a bed heater. I would like to do that for chamber heating. I have some lamps that can't keep flicking on and off so rapidly around a setpoint - this causes the bulb to die out faster and the noise is annoying.

Steps to Reproduce:

Start with fresh Marlin Firmware bugfix 2.0
Enable chamber temperature in Configuration.h (TEMP_CHAMBER_PIN 1)
Set chamber hysteresis value to 2 in Confgiuration_adv.h (#define TEMP_CHAMBER_HYSTERESIS     2). Enable #define CHAMBER_LIMIT_SWITCHING in Configuration_adv.h. Decide on pin to use for your heater, if necessary

Expected behavior: I would like, when I set my chamber to 30 °C, the chamber lamps to come on until 32 °C, and to stay off until 28 °C.

Actual behavior: chamber heater lamps flick on and off at 30 °C (29.9 - on, 30.1 - off).

It does work, but you need to reset EEPROM memory once updating the firmware, if you had it enabled, so the values are transferred into the EEPROM and subsequently used.

To reset  EEPROM, send the following command in your 3d printer terminal.

M502

Then, save the firmware default settings

M500


Height of printed part is incorrect I have a weird problem with my old 3D printer, it is a Prusa/Mendel type.
When I print a 20 mm cube, X and Y are correct, Z is resulting 16 to 17 mm.
I have checked the correctness of the movement on Z using the manual controls and there are no issues.

I played a bit with the layer thickness, I have a 0.4 mm nozzle, setting the layer height to 0.12 mm (normally is on 0.16 mm) but no changes in the result.
I am printing PLA on a cold bed at 180 °C without any other particular defect.

I would appreciate some direction on how to solve such problem.

You should check that the steps per mm for your Z-axis are set correctly. This depends on the pitch of the leadscrews/threaded rods driving the axis and parameters of your steppers (microstepping and raw steps/revolution). This Calculator.

Make sure that your layer height is a multiple of a full step of the Z-stepper. The Z-stepper may be disabled intermittently, and when re-enabled it may "snap" to the nearest full step position. If your layer height requires microstepping, you may notice it getting rounded down or up due to this.

For instance, if a full step were 0.08 mm, then 0.16 mm layers would require 2 full steps, printing fine. 0.12 mm layers would require 1 full step and a half microstep. Due to rounding, some layers might be reduced to 0.08 mm instead. This might account for the height discrepancy you're seeing (though 0.08 mm is quite a high, unrealistic amount for a full-step).


Scratches in the build plate - How did this happen, and may it cause problems? A couple of prints after leveling the bed (<10), I noticed some weird sound, and saw the nozzle scratching the build-plate.
What is really weird, is that I noticed (My printer is in quite a dark edge, so the build plate isn't really illuminated), that there were some scratches from a print before, but it worked fine with the prints in between.
So my question is, how that might have happened, could it be also software issues (Maybe some mistakes converting to gcode?), or is this propably purely a mechanical issue?
Furthermore, I'd like to ask whether this may cause any problems, e.g. massively reducing print quality, or weakening the grip of the prints.

I'm using the Tevo Michelangelo 3D, with manual leveling (it drives to the positions, but one has to tighten/loose the screws).
Note that I might have overtightened the screws in the beginning. Another thing I noticed is that the screws on one side tend to be more loose than the other ones.

As the question continued in comments, it can be read that the build plate had over-tight screws and loose screws on the build plate. This uneven tension could lead to stresses that warp the bed, e.g. lower corner and bulging out in the middle of the bed. When levelling on the corners, the nozzle could hit the bulge in the middle when printing. Furthermore, an endstop may have shifted during operation.


Stepper motors are not working when connected with RAMPS 1.4 ISSUE: Stepper motors are not working when connected with RAMPS 1.4.

OBSERVATION: The LED lights(LED 2,3,4) in the RAMPS 1.4 is not powering up.

PRACTICES: I use Arduino Mega 2560 and installed Marlin firmware in it. And I bought a RAMPS 1.4 in a local electronic dealer. I placed the RAMPS over Arduino Mega 2560. For testing I just connected 2 NEMA 17 stepper motors with RAMPS. When USB port connection is given from laptop to Arduino board, a LED light is ON in Arduino board (L) and in RAMPS (LED 1). I use SMPS 12 V 20 A as a PSU for RAMPS. But in RAMPS the LED 2, 3, 4 are not switched ON. I checked the input voltage to the RAMPS using micrometer and it shows 11.75 V. But there is no output from the RAMPS.

Also I installed and tried Repetier firmware and Grbl but it doesn't work. And I use Windows 10 pro 64 bit OS.

When I flashed Arduino with Grbl, in this case all of the LEDs on the Arduino and RAMPS 1.4 are switched ON. I use Candle GRBL software to test the stepper motors.

And I replaced and tested with another RAMPS which is bought from Amazon but the problem remains unchanged.

Kindly give some suggestions at the earliest.

I have attached the images of my circuit connection:

Board selection in Marlin:

#ifndef MOTHERBOARD
#define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_14_EFB
#endif

Additional clarifications

In response to Professor's questions:

Yes the stepper drivers are connected correctly
Yes the stepper wiring is accurate (2B 2A 1A 1B) as per mentioned in the Ramps 1.4.
No there is no voltage input to stepper motor. But there is 12V input to Ramps 1.4.
Disabled cold extrusion
No, the firmware is not set to no move before homing (issue G28 first)
Yes, pins are set correctly for your board in Marlin

I actually thought the problem is in the electronic circuit but the problem is the baud rate. I initially took the baud rate as 115200 but later. after someone's suggestion, I changed it to 250000 and now it's fine.


Why does MakerBot Replicator heat the extruder and platform separately? I am using a MakerBot Replicator 2x, and when it is heating the platform and extruder, it begins by heating the platform, and then after that is at 110C it goes on to heat the left extruder to 230C. Does anyone know why it does this, since it has enough power to heat both? It seems like it would take less time to heat both at once.

It really doesn't quite have enough power to heat everything at once. Initially bringing the bed up to temp takes a lot of current and so Makerbot's start sequences decrease stepper current and hold off on heating the extruder(s) until the bed is preheated. Once preheated, the bed's power draw decreases to a lower "holding" level and there is available capacity to do everything else.

The start sequencing decreases the max average power draw by a pretty substantial amount. The decrease is about 0.6A each for the XYAB steppers and 1.7A each for two hot ends, totalling 5-6A of avoided peak power draw. (Even lower if you preheat with the steppers disabled rather than idling.)

The history here is that one of Makerbot's design decisions with the Replicator 2 and 2x was to utilize off-the-shelf UL-listed power bricks (like a laptop might use) instead of an internal power supply. This made engineering and safety certification much easier, and completely eliminated mains-voltage wiring inside the printer, which is a big safety plus. However, the largest readily-available 24v power brick had slightly less current capacity than optimal. So Makerbot came up with a software workaround for the hardware limitation.

If you want, you can replace the stock power brick with a ~350w PSU and preheat everything at once. Sailfish firmware builds intended for printers with properly-sized PSUs (eg FlashForge Creators) will allow simultaneous preheating.


Acetone smoothing not working on ABSPlus-P430 I am using a STRATASYS Fortus 250mc to 3D print some parts. I have read a lot on internet and also on some scientific literature that Acetone dissolves ABS and cold/hot vapor has been successfully used to smoothen the surfaces. But it doesn't work for me.

I followed the instructions: soaking some papers with Acetone and putting the parts in a closed container with a fan for some time. But it had no effects. Then I tried dipping the parts in Acetone and I observed that they do not react to the substance at all!

Has anybody ever had a similar experience? Maybe ABSPlus-p430 is not soluble with Acetone? in that case what is a solvent for it?

I asked the same question here on Reddit.

Make sure that your acetone is actually acetone. According to the MSDS, ABSPlus-P430 is indeed "ABS resin" so acetone smoothing should work. Some companies sell confusingly-labeled products that might be mistaken for acetone, but are actually "eco-friendly" alternatives such as 2-butoxyethanol. While these alternatives work for some of the uses for which acetone is normally used (such as cleaning or degreasing), they don't work for smoothing ABS.


Inductive Sensor in 24 V machine? I am getting a 24 V based Ender 3. From the factory, it has an aluminium bed. So I also put this LJ12 A3-4-Z/BX Inductive NPN NO 4 mm with 6-36 V operation current into the box together with a few other spare parts. Now, as I read up on these things something dawns on me: The normal input and output voltage of a simple switch is 5 V, as sensors are ran on 5 V on most boards (and in digital logics). The sensors run on 6 V plus though.

I do not want to fry my machine by putting in 24 V into the sensor input: What do I have to do (besides making a mount)?

The inductive sensors work better when you apply a higher voltage than 5 V. Usually they are rated for 6-36 V, but please do check.

To prevent frying your board when connecting the sensor to (12 or) 24 Volts you could optically isolate the 5 V and the (12 or) 24 V circuit with an OptoCoupler module:

Image of an optocoupler module

This module uses an optical switch based on the output of the sensor and should be correctly connected:

Image of connecting an optocoupler module to the sensor and to the board
Please note that the image uses a capacitive sensor rather than a inductive sensor, both are connected similarly

Note that there are many sorts of sensors, a few are listed here. Generally speaking, the larger the diameter of the sensor, the larger the detection distance to the bed. Note that these work well with metal beds (Iron/steel better than Aluminium), but will not work for glass (capacitive sensors work on glass but are prone to drift by moisture in the air, a touch sensor may then be a better alternative).


Can I use OctoPi locally? I am trying to use my M3D printer that doesn't work with my Linux computer. I have been told that OctoPi would make it work.

My current setup is:

Raspberry 2 without WiFi, with OctoPi running
Keyboard and touchscreen connected to the Raspberry
A .obj file located in /home/pi/ on the Raspberry

I don't know anything about OctoPi, but it seems to be created to use as a print server connected by WiFi.

My question is: how can I use it locally, directly on my Raspberry?

NOTE: I can only use my Raspberry in command line for the moment, but if required I can install lightdm to display stuff.

To use it locally you need to be able to view the desktop.
sudo raspi-config  to pull up the config menu and enable boot to desktop.
If there is no browser installed already you'll need to install one.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install epiphany-browser

Open the browser and navigate to http://localhost/

I recommend configuring access control when it prompts you. After you configure it, click login in the top right and login to use octopi.

ALTERNATIVE

octocmd is a command line interface for octoprint. If you would rather not boot into the desktop then this is the way to go.


Quantitatively measuring nozzle wear Are there quantitive means of measuring nozzle wear? What steps do you perform to measure this, if so?
I have some digital callipers, but don't have much confidence in measurements taken, as it's almost impossible to ensure the nozzle aperture is completely free of filament residue.
The context here is I've recently been trying out some carbon-fibre infused PLA filament, but would like to keep an eye on how much it wears the nozzle, and get an idea of nozzle wear rates. I can then work out if the mechanical and aesthetic qualities of the CF filament are worthwhile.

Based on CNC Kitchen measurements,

the wear can be initially estimated by judging the overall length of the nozzle. Abrasive particles wear the nozzle very little on the channel (so the diameter doesn't change, for a while) but they wear out the outer surface in contact with the printed part, resulting in a shortening.
Of course, once the shortening gets severe, the diameter will increase because you reach the inner chamber.


Are all glue sticks PVA-based? How to find out? I'm struggling with bed adhesion for nylon on a glass bed (122 °C measured) in an enclosed chamber (45 °C near the front, likely more on top of the print bed). I used a glue stick to enhance adhesion, but after around 20 minutes the print comes off the bed.
I tried a no-brand glue stick and a Pritt glue stick.
Now I wonder whether they are suitable for the purpose, because nylon should really be printable in these conditions. Maybe the glue cannot hold those 100+ °C temperatures.
How to find out whether a glue stick is PVA-based and suitable for nylon (or polycarbonate, ABS) printing?

Not all glue sticks work! The working ingredient of a glue stick is Polyvinylpyrrolidone; a more elaborate answer is found here on question: "Why does hairspray work as an adhesive for ABS?".
There are very good alternatives to glue sticks and hair spray nowadays. Specific adhesion sprays exist for several years now (e.g. Dimafix, 3DLAC, Magigoo for PA, Plasticz, PrintaFix, Dr.Mat, etc.; my personal experience is with the first 2 mentioned, both work for nylon: Dimafix has more tack at higher temperatures > 80 °C, up to 80 °C 3DLAC works perfect).
E.g. Dimafix has a higher temperature application range than e.g. 3DLAC. From the manufacturer can be seen that:

Source: http://www.dima3d.com/en/home/dimafix/
This image shows that the spray has its maximum tack/adhesion at about 120 °C and holds this adhesion level at least up to about 145 °C according to the image.
However, not all glues get stronger with temperature! PVA (also called PVAc) glues soften very quickly, making them good only at low temperature. See "Influence of temperature on the strength of bonded joints" which discloses this graph for PVAc Rhenocoll 3W, 4B Plus:


Is 'natural' colored filament equally brittle compared to white filament? I've read that white filament is a lot more brittle, because the pigment percentage is close to 50 %, e.g. black filament it's only around 8 %. I was therefore wondering if 'natural' colored filament, which has a somewhat ivory appearance, is also brittle like white filament.
Maybe the color name is a marketing lie or maybe it is really natural colored and there has slim to no pigment in the filament. Making it therefore less brittle. Since the color is closer to white than black I would guess the first one but I would love to be certain.

No
Natural colored filament has no pigments added, the ivory off-white color is the natural color of the mixture in the filament.
Also note, those white filaments can have much less than 50 % volume percentage of pigment, depending on the exact hue of white. The starkest cold whites might make that, warmer white can work with a lesser amount. Pigments are part of the filler materials.  The other fillers make the filament behave in the designed way and can make up a considerable amount of the filament. Usually, less than 40 % are fillers compared to the PLA.


Why have heater blocks on hotends? I understand that heater blocks act as kind of “low-pass-filter” on the temperature change of the hotend, but why do we need that?
Wouldn’t it be better to have as little metal as possible in order to be able to control temperature changes quickly and precisely (using PID, PWM plus maybe some predictions based on printed G-code)?

Let's look at the elements and what they do:
The Heater Cartridge (blue) is the device that converts electric to thermal energy to melt the plastic. 30 and 40 W are common.
The Thermosensor (red) is there to give feedback to the mainboard.
The Filament Path (gold) in this area is made up of the nozzle and the heatbreak, it contains the meltzone.
The Heater Block (transparent green) is the mounting for all parts. It also acts as the medium to transfer the thermal energy from the Heater Cartidge to the Thermo Sensor and the Filament Path. It also acts as a dampener for the control circuit.
Now, let's put things together and omit the wires and cold end (and internal geometry of the filament path, cause I am lazy):

Now, the construction gives us several reasons for the shape of the heater block:

Ease of construction. Taking a simple block and adding a couple of holes and one cut allows very fast production.
Maximum contact surface. To get the maximum contact surface to the heater cartrige, the heater block has to make contact along its whole length, dictating a minimum size in 2 direction. The same is true for the thermosensor.
The heater block transmits temperature pretty much radially from the heater cartridge. Because it is metal, the gradient between areas is very low, but it is measureable. These would be the thermal equivalent lines on heating up:

You may easily notice that the temperature lines appear more straight as they come closer to the filament path and thermosensor. This helps to give the filament in the heatbreak and nozzle more even heating and better printing.
The mockup I made has a deliberate flaw though: a change in temperature first affects the filament and then shows up on the sensor, making the temperature in the filament path wobble to the extreme. The Heater Block acts pretty much as a transmitter just as much as a time dilation between the heating command and the pickup.
Because this arrangement is not very good, let's swap sensor and filament path around and look at the same lines.

Now we have a much shorter feedback loop, allowing our printer to react quicker to temperature changes and the filament path also gets heated more evenly. The temperature inside the filament path does change less around the target temperature. The whole block now acts mostly as a distribution medium but also as a storage for heat energy:
Up to this point, we did not take into account a very simple fact: the hotend drains thermal energy via two areas:

The outer surface of the heater block emits heat to the air.
Filament gets molten and extruded.

Factor 1 is simple and here a bigger heater block actually is positive: The thermal 'storage' capacity is dependant on the volume, so goes with $xyz \approx a^3$. The surface to emit heat from goes with $2\times(xy+xz+yz)\approx 6\times a^2$. Plotting a graph of that shows us the square-cube law: the capacity increase for one unit does increase the surface just by a fraction of that, so the storage gets better the larger the heater block is.
Factor 2 is why we need to have a storage of thermal energy in the first place: the flow of filament is not exactly the same all the time. Of course, we have moments of even flow, but we also have moments of low or no flow when the printer moves between parts of the print. This alteration of the drain of thermal energy from the heater block means that if we would go down to a bare minimum size, we'd heat up the block fast whenever we are on a move action and cool as the extrusion starts till equilibrium is achieved again. The more thermal capacity is there to store energy, the less the lack of extrusion will immediately affect the print and the more even the temperature will be in the filament path.
Fast printing?!
How is faster printing achieved with a special hotend? Well, 4 factors are used in hotends meant for very fast or very hot printing:

Longer, more powerful heater cartridge.
Longer filament path.
Extra large Heater Block to even out the temperature changes under extrusion more.
Insulating the Heater Block to the air.

One of the prime examples would be an e3D-Volcano.


Ender 3 Pro prints leaning Hello 3D printing experts...I am stuck on my 1st print not coming out right.  After two prints, I finally got the X axis belt tight enough to print the test pig and it came out quite well.  I tried to print a filter holder for a PPE mask (makethemasks dot com) - the prints keep leaning and I can't seem to get this filter holder printed.  I have adjusted the eSteps in various increments, still leaning.  I have made belt adjustments too.  I have emailed Creality as well since I have heard that their support might assist as well.  I was so excited when the pig finally printed properly and now I am struggling to get even once mask filter holder printed after hours of tinkering and reprinting.  I have also tried to print the ear saver (show as a long mass in the lower left corner of the photo), the base stuck to the item and I could not get it loose, it just fused together.  sigh.  I know 3D printing is supposed to be a fun hobby, but I am sure getting off to a rocky start.  I want to print PPE masks and be helpful to my community by donating to hospitals.  I hope one of the settings recommendations help.  I tried to research adjusting the jerk and acceleration settings.  Not sure what to set those to with the Ender 3 Pro.

This looks a lot like layer shifting, both gradual and sudden.  This is frequently caused by excessive friction on one axis, the one along which the print is leaning.  You mentioned tightening the X-axis; if these are leaning along the X axis, chances are good the belt is too tight and causing something (either the belt or the toothed gear it is attached to) to rub against something else (the frame, the v-slot extrusion, the motor itself in the case of the belt gear).

Both the X and Y axes should be fairly easy to move by hand with the power off.  Feel for any points where that isn't true.


What is the life expectancy of the Kossel? I'm considering buying this package, the Kossel, as my first 3D printer.

It's not the cheapest model, but apparently a high resolution and stable, which is what I'm after.

The question is, what is the life expectancy of this printer, given the component list?
Assuming the printer is constructed properly and properly taken care of, but used once or twice a week for several hours.

Is it possible to make an estimate of how many years this particular printer could be used before it starts showing signs of wear?

Parts list:

1x Complete set of platics for Kossel Mini (PLA)
1x Kossel mini Extrusion set
1x traxxas (set of 12)
1x Carbon Tube (kossel printing arms) Set of 6
3x Square slider (40cm)
1x Megatronics v3.0 - Kossel kit
1x Heated Bed glass round 17cm diameter (Borosilicate)
1x Kapton heater mat round 16cm diameter
1x Power supply 12V (240/115V / 20A MAX)
3x Aluminum Pulley GT2
5x Timing belt 1m x 6mm (GT2)
1x E3D v6 - HotEnd Full Kit - 1.75mm
1x Hobbed bolt v1.1
1x Brass drive gear (Wade's compatible)
6x Bearing 623ZZ
125x (1 pcs) Screw M3X8 Philips
125x (1 pcs) Washer M3 normal
125x (1 pcs) Nut M3 normal
6x (1 pcs) Screw M3X16 Philips
12x (1 pcs) Screw M3X25 Philips
6x (1 pcs) Screw M3X20 Philips
10x PTFE tubing, 2inner/4outer diameter (10cm)
1x Bowden setup - J head comp. plug set (1.75mm)
1x E3D v6 - Threaded Bowden Coupling - 1.75mm
2x (1 pcs) Screw M3X40 Philips
6x (1 pcs) Screw M2X16 Philips
1x Power cable 1.8m
6x M4 Threaded rod - Custom length

Much like your car, the number of miles, or the number of prints that you can get out of it is entirely up to how well you can maintain it.

A 3D Printer is a machine, and a machine needs general maintenance; if you see something starting to break - or get worn out - or anything abnormal, fix it.

I am sure that if you had something like a MakerBot, it would require less maintenance then a fully home built machine, but if you are building it from scratch, I am sure you don't mind.

I am still rocking a 3 year old home built MendalMax, and have both made some improvements, and had to make some repairs along the way - but it is still in damn good condition.

For a $600 investment, I can say you will get a few years out of it if you take proper care of it. By the time the end of its life comes (5+ years), I am sure there will be much better printers available for cheaper, and you will never look back :)

Tighten all your nuts and bolts
Keep it calibrated
Keep belts properly tensioned
Oil X, Y, and Z rods
Clean of any dust and scrap plastic (compressed air can?)
Clean hobbed bolt
Clean extruder
Ensure all electronic connections are secure
Check wires at points of movement for wear

!remindme 5years


Z axis: Stepper motor and lead screw torque calculation I am trying to figure out some calculations regarding stepper motor and lead screw.

These are the things need answer:

Selection stepper motor to lift given weight?
Amount of load threaded rod can handle?

I found a this topic how much weight can my stepping motor lift?

where,

p = pitch of the screw
Se = screw efficiency = Standard lead screw will be between 20% (.2) and 40% (.4)
Sf = static force. This is the force that is needed to start the movement. The number may be eliminated, but it is good to use a number in the 5 N to 20 N range.
Load = the expected load that the effort will need to carry (i.e., the router and the included axis assembly that the motor will need to lift)
R = radius of the lead screw

Based on this equation with following data

Load: 5 Kg = ~25 N
Thread rod specs;

Pitch : 1.25 mm = 0.0492126
Dia : 8 mm = 0.314961 inch

Motor :

Nema 17
Datasheet

Calculated Effort = 6.22 N = 1.4 lbf = 22.4 ounce

Radius = 8 mm = 0.315 inch (using Pitch conversion table)

So torque = 22.4 * 0.315 = 7.056 oz-in = 0.0498 Nm

As per data sheet Motor can provide an Axial force of 10 N. I'm using two of such motors, so this motor is enough

However, based on this calculator, Lead Screw Torque and Force Calculator, with following information:

Torque required to raise in 0.0252 Nm.

Which should be used for calculations?
How to find the running torque of stepper motor?
I know it will be less that Holding torque, but what percentage?

Nema 17 that I've given Holding torque is 5.5 Kgcm or 0.55 Nm. My second calculation gives the calculated torque to lift is 0.0252 Nm.

Also from this Threaded rod load table, load capacity of 8 mm rod is somewhat around 270 Kg.

Looking for further inputs.

This is a work in progress - I'm still plugging in the numbers

A couple of issues:

You appear to be mixing Force (effort) and Inertia and comparing them directly - this mistake seems to have come from the first link;
You used 8 mm diameter, instead of 4 mm radius, to calculate the torque
You haven't calculated the holding force, which would provide the holding torque required, which can be easily compared against the specification of the stepper motor;
I can't see where you obtained the value for axial force of 10 N, from the datasheet of the stepper motor.

Regardless of these issues, tackling each question separately:

Selection stepper motor to lift given weight?

First equation
Your first equation, for effort, is
$$F_{effort} = S_f+\frac{Load}{2*\pi*\left(\frac{R}{P}\right)*S_e}$$
where,

Starting Force, from linked article, worst case scenario, $S_f = 20$ N
Radius $R=4$ mm$=0.004$ m
Pitch $P=1.25$ mm$=0.0125$ m, and
Screw Efficiency, from linked article, worst case scenario 20 %, $S_e=20=0.2$

So filling in the numbers, for 25 N:
$$effort = 20+\frac{25}{2*\pi*\left(\frac{0.004}{0.00125}\right)*0.2}$$
$$effort = 26.22$$
It is worth noting that this running torque only comes to 6.22 N, much smaller than the worse case value of the starting force, of 20 N:
$$\frac{25}{2*\pi*\left(\frac{0.004}{0.00125}\right)*0.2}$$
$$ = 6.22$$
and plugging in the numbers, for 50 N:
$$effort = 20+\frac{50}{2*\pi*\left(\frac{0.004}{0.00125}\right)*0.2}$$
$$effort = 32.44$$
Again, it is worth noting that this running torque only comes to 12.44 N, much smaller than the worse case value of the starting force, of 20 N:
$$\frac{50}{2*\pi*\left(\frac{0.004}{0.00125}\right)*0.2}$$
$$ = 12.44$$
It should be noted that these values are for a force, in N, not torque, in N•m, and I can't see on the datasheet were you obtained an Axial force of 10 N. To convert these to a torque, you must multiply by the radius of the M8 x 1.25 spindle - M8 is 8 mm, therefore the radius is 4 mm, which is 0.004 m:
$$T_{raise} = F_{effort} \times 0.004$$
Thus reducing the values for the Torque (derived from the effort) even further, by a couple of orders of magnitude, to 0.104 and 0.12976 N•m, for loads of 25 N and 50 N respectively.
So, the estimated value of worst case starting force would appear to be the dominant factor in selecting the stepper motor.
Regardless of all this, if, as you say, that the holding torque, $T_H$, is higher than the running torque, $T_{raise}$, then the holding torque would be the deciding factor in selecting a stepper and the running torque can be discounted.
It is unclear whether the equation that you found is the appropriate equation for calculating the holding torque. This equation appears to be for moving the load, whereas you need it for merely holding the load. For completeness both the holding and lowering torque values should be calculated.
Second equation
Your second equation apparently from Wikipedia - Force, via Lead Screw Torque and Force Calculator,
$$Torque_{raise} = F*D_m/2*\frac{L+\mu*\pi*D_m}{\pi*D_m-\mu*L}$$
where,

Force, $F$
Diameter, $D_m$
Pitch distance of square thread, $L=\frac{1}{D_{Thread}}$, where $D_{Thread}$ is the thread density given in the table.
Coefficient of friction, $\mu$

Whilst I can not see that equation on Wikipedia's Force page, I did manage to find the equation for raising, and the equation for lowering, on the Wikipedia page for Leadscrews - Mechanics1:
$$T_R = \frac{Fd_m}{2}\left(\frac{l+\pi\mu{d_m}}{\pi{d_m}-\mu{l}}\right)$$
and
$$T_L = \frac{Fd_m}{2}\left(\frac{\pi\mu{d_m}-l}{\pi{d_m}+\mu{l}}\right)$$
Plugging in the numbers for 50 N of load:
$$T_R = \frac{50\times0.007375}{2}\left(\frac{0.00125+\pi\times 0.25\times0.007375}{\pi\times0.007375-0.25\times0.00125}\right)$$
$$T_R = 0.1848 \times 0.308$$
$$T_R = 0.0568$$
Plugging in the numbers for 50 N of load:
$$T_L = \frac{50\times0.007375}{2}\left(\frac{\pi\times 0.25\times0.007375- 0.00125}{\pi\times0.007375+0.25\times0.00125}\right)$$
$$T_L = 0.1848 \times 0.193$$
$$T_L = 0.0357$$
NOTE: As the link to the calculator states, there are two different torques - one to raise, $T_R$, and one to lower, $T_L$. As the lowering torque, $T_L$, is less than the raising torque, $T_R$, then it isn't really necessary to calculate it, or consider it when selecting the stepper, as the raising torque is the dominant factor.
Again, if, as you say, that the holding torque, $T_H$, is higher than the running torque i.e. $T_R$, then the holding torque would be the deciding factor in selecting a stepper and the running toque can be discounted.

Amount of load threaded rod can handle?

This would appear to be much simpler to answer, as a value is given in the specifications for the rod, depending upon what you actually mean. It could be:

The weight that the rod can support before slipping, or;
The weight that the rod can support before slipping before mechanical failure,

I would imagine that, the specification given is the weight supported before the threads give way and break.

Footnotes
1 These equations only account for the friction of the thread and the term for the collar appears to have been omitted.
From Torque Required to Raise Load (TR) Calculation, the full equation, for both thread and collar, is given by:
$$T_R = \frac{Fd_m}{2}\left(\frac{l+\pi\mu{d_m}}{\pi{d_m}-\mu{l}}\right)+\left(\frac{F\mu_cd_c}{2}\right)$$
where,

Torque required to raise load, $T_R$
Load, $F=50$ N
Mean diameter of square thread, $d_m = X?$ m
Mean diameter of collar, $d_c = X?$ m
Pitch distance of square thread, $l = 0.00125$ m
Coefficient of friction for thread, taken from the Solved Example, $\mu = 0.25$
Coefficient of friction of collar, taken from the Solved Example, $\mu_c = 0.25$

As the mean diameter, $d_m$ is not provided, it can be determined from the pitch, $l$, and nominal diameter, $d_n = 8$ mm, by
$$d_m = d_n-\frac{l}{2}$$
$$d_m = 0.008 -\frac{0.00125}{2}$$
$$d_m = 0.007375$$
The mean diameter of collar, $d_c$ is not given...
Plugging in the numbers for 50 N of load:
$$T_R = \frac{50\times0.007375}{2}\left(\frac{0.00125+\pi\times 0.25\times0.007375}{\pi\times0.007375-0.25\times0.00125}\right)+\left(\frac{50\times0.25\times{d_c}}{2}\right)$$
$$T_R = 0.1848 \times 0.308+\left(6.25\times{d_c}\right)$$
$$T_R = 0.0568+\left(6.25\times{d_c}\right)$$


How can I test that my stepper motors for functionality and compliance? I bought a set of 5 stepper motors from Trianglelab's official Aliexpress shop.

Only one of these motors was given any kind of protective bubble wrap for shipping. The contents of the package shifted in transit and several of the motors got banged up with two of them suffering visible damage to their wire insulation.
I contacted Trianglelabs and was told to fix it myself for \$0.03 with a wire or to add some tape. This repair advice was accompanied with the weightiest assumptions of my personal expertise that I have ever received.
At this point I'm not planning to keep them if this is how the company does business; shaving pennies on shipping and telling the buyer to fix it themselves.
But all of this brought up an interesting question. How can I reliably test my stepper motors for basic functionality and measured compliance with the rated specifications?

For the AliExpress part, open a dispute and attach pictures to the dispute and ask for a partial, reasonable discount. It always worked for me.
As for how to test the motors themselves, it depends on what other hardware you have.
For example, you could wire the motors to your printer board, and try to issue a G6 command to that motor.
If you find issues while testing the motors, that could be evidence for an even bigger discount, or even full refund if the motor doesn't work.


First few layers are now printing very badly Machine type is an Ender 3 pro with the 4.2.7 board, the latest Marlin bugfix code, latest BLTouch 3.1, latest all metal extruder feeder hardware, Capricorn Bowden PTFE Tubing.
This really started after having a bad clog in the extruder, thus had to take it apart, clean the clog and put it back together.  Nothing changed in any of the axes gantries it just all of a sudden started printing the first few layers very poorly. In fact anything that is only say less than 3 mm tall won't print hardly at all.
First layer print for bed leveling does print well, and the bed is pretty level. PLA used as filament, temperatures are 200 °C for the nozzle and 60 °C for the bed.

Well, I guess if I were more experienced I would have checked this earlier.  I tried everything almost tore my printer apart and rebuilt.  One more testing of a cube and the filament broke.  I became suspicious and replaced the filament with another brand and voila, no more printing issues!  Looks like it was the filament.


What should the underside of a bridge look like? I tried out printing a "bridge" for the first time using this Bridge Calibration model. The model creator suggests printing, tweaking settings, and printing again until it works "properly."

My first try worked reasonably well, but the underside of the bridge is pretty rough and stringy. But I don't know what a "good bridge" is supposed to look like.

How smooth should the underside of the bridge be? Any suggestions for what changes I should make to my slicer settings? Here is what I have currently:

Here is a picture of my hotend on my Monoprice Maker Select Plus, as requested:

The idea of the part fan is to cool the plastic as quickly as possible once it is extruded in order to keep it in the correct spot. The slower that the plastic solidifies, the more the plastic will sag when printing overhangs/bridges. The stock part cooling fan/duct on your printer, Monoprice Maker Select Plus, is  not all that great and would probably benefit from an upgrade.

As far as the Cura settings you posted, you should turn off most all of those experimental bridge settings. Your printer will still be able to print bridges without the 'Enable Bridge Settings' checked. The only one that would be useful is the the 'Bridge Skin Speed' since reducing the print speed effectively increases the air flow on the extruded plastic. More over you are turning off the fan for the 2nd and 3rd bridge skin layers which will cause them to sag even further.


Should I cooldown before shutdown? I am working with Ender 3 Pro and in menu it has an option to cooldown. Is there any need to cooldown 3D printer before shutdown or can I just shutdown without cooldown?

Depending on what material you print it it most likely a good idea to let the hotend cool down before shutting off the printer (fan).

For example if you shut down the printer right after you print a PLA part, at 190 - 220 degrees Celsius, your hot end will still be that hot and will suffer heat creep without the fan running. The next time you fire up your printer the hotend will be jammed and you will need to clear it before starting a print.

This is obviously situation dependent but in most cases you should let your hot end get below the TG (glass transition temperature) of the material before turning off the printer.


Silicone spray as a release agent? I've just printed my very first part and it did not want to come loose from the build plate, it fact, it just broke instead.

I can heat the bed up again and work it off, but I wondered if a release agent would be better?

I have a silicon release spray (like those use with molds).  Could I spray the base with that before starting printing?

The problem with using a release agent is, you really run the risk of the print not sticking to the bed at all. Sticking to the bed is uber important, because if it's not there, the piece isn't going to come out right. Having it stick to the bed is a good thing (something which I struggled with for a while!!).

I believe what most people do to get the piece unstuck from the bed is to use a putty knife. Wedge the flat part under the piece and twist slightly. Continue doing this around the print until you can get it to release. Your best bet is being careful by going easy with it though. Also, if the print is sticking well to the bed, ensure you're not using a raft. This will make it even more difficult.


Extruder always clogs up almost immediately after cleaning I have a very frustrating problem, my extruder clogs up pretty much immediately after cleaning it from the previous clog and I cannot figure out what the hell is going wrong.

I use a genuine E3D V6 in direct drive configuration (dual drive) and I print only PLA.
I have tried many nozzle offsets from the bed but because I have to test so frequently I am just printing in the air for now.

This is what I tried:

To print using the following temperatures: 200, 205, 210 and 220 °C
Using different brands of PLA
Lubricating filament
Installing a filament dust cleaner
Using both Bowden and direct configurations (my retraction setting for my direct drive setup is 0.8 mm, I am not sure what I used for the bowden but because the tube was fairly short it was probably around 3 mm. However I am not even printing I am simply running and stopping the extruder stepper, I am not using any retraction at all right now)
Buying a brand new E3D V6
Trying both 12 V and 24 V heat cartridges (with the respective power supplies of course)
Checking the temperature with other sensors (yes the temperature is displayed correctly)
Using acetone baths to clean all parts.
Using stronger and weaker heat sink fans and fan options
Push the filament manually
Performing PID tunes

Even after all that the extruder clogs up usually mere seconds after it has been fully cleaned and inspected before being re-assembled. I make sure there is no bit of plastic or dust/dirt present before I re-assemble the extruder. I also hot tighten the nozzle but I also tried to run it without doing it but it made no difference.

I would love some help with this problem because I am pulling my hair out figuring out why this keeps happening.

I have had one roll of filament that did this.  I'd get a jam, clean it out, and immediately jam again.

I got the filament from a friend who had reported problems using it, but I thought, "I have a Prusa3D i3m3-mmu2, I can print with anything."  Unfortunately, I could not.

I threw away the filament (first I've ever jetisoned so callously), replaced the nozzle, and was back in business.

So, some filament just doesn't work.

But, there is another possible problem to check -- you might have a problem with stepper driver.  Even with low current from a blown driver or badly adjusted driver, the extruder motor may spin.  It may even be able to extrude filament into the air through the hot nozzle.  But, the torque may not be sufficient to force the molten plastic as it pushes against the build plate.

Pushing the molten plastic against the build plate so that it "smooshes" well requires pressure, which comes from the push on the filament from the extruder gear, which comes from the torque of the motor, which comes from the current from the driver, which may be either blown or seriously mal-adjusted.


What is the biggest size of an object that iBox Nano can print? Since iBox Nano is the smallest public-production-available 3d Resin printer (and the cheapest so far), I assume it has a huge size limitation. So far I've only seen pictures of its outputs that are miniature things. I've never tried it nor have I seen it in action in person so I'd like to be sure.

For example, my 3D models are of the size of beads to figurines to a standard sized pencil cup holder.

I want to know in inches or millimeters the dimension (width, length, height) of the biggest possible object the iBox Nano can print.

On their website, I found the following picture, which states a build area of 40 mm x 20 mm x 90 mm (1.57" x 0,79" x 3.54").


How to solve Ender 5+ weird Z-axis behavior issue? Before you select if you want automatic or manual leveling, the printer runs a routine to determine the Home Z-axis at the center of the bed.
This starts OK, then the level goes to maximum (of the screw) and stops. Click on the + or - button for the Z-axis does nothing. I tried to flash the firmware again (I flashed it previously to fix the auto-leveling stalled as recommended by Creality) with no effect.

As you can see in the image above, the bed has lifted up the print head. That is repeating in printing, leaving scratch marks on the bed.

Ok. So I solve the issue by myself. So to explain the problem a bit further: I had to install a new firmware. That completely reinitialize the z-axis, making the bed goes to the maximum of the screw to the point it lift the print head when I clicked on the Leveling button. To reverse the initialization of the z-axis, I click on the Leveling button,  manually lower the bed by clicking on the upper arrow, then, click on manual or auto leveling, then click again on leveling and start over. At each iteration, the starting point of the bed gets lower and lower to a normal position. I had to do 4 or 5 iterations until I get the desired result. Bonus point: when you click on the move button, the bed goes down if you click down of the z-axis. The opposite behavior is happening in the leveling menu: so you need to click a couple of time (between 10 and 20 time for me at the first iteration) before the bed isn't in contact of the print head.


Materials testing of 3D printed parts What parameters are needed when preparing to model a 3D printed part in (ANSYS or Abaqus)?

Are there specific tests?

Update

We have been using FDM printing, with PLA. Our parts are for a quadcopter arm.

I'm not worried immediately about having a strong part, I'm ultimately interested in modeling any 3D printed part. I think more important parameters are the printing parameters like bed temp, nozzle temp, layer height etc..

As with all AM related simulation existing FEM codes are not well suited to solving the material addition issue.

It is very hard for the codes you mentioned to simulate layer-by-layer and toolpath-by-toolpath material addition.

There has been significant research in AM simulation, most of it focuses on the metal additive manufacturing processes. The simulation of the entire build process with complex geometry and material addition almost never occurs due to computational cost. For example this work is one of the most sophiticated simulations developed and it is so computationally expensive that only a single laser scan was performed.

If what you actually want to achieve is stress/deformation of a FDM part then perform a structual analysis using anisotropic material properties that match that of your printed parts. I would assume that by now data for material properties of FDM parts with respect to machine parameters would be known at least for commonly implemented materials such as ABS and PC.


What do I need to go along with my new SLA 3D printer? I just purchased an Anycubic Photon 3S LCD-based SLA 3D printer. I understand the need for cleaning and curing parts after printing. While the device is in transit, I'm looking to set up a workstation to use it with.

Are there any recommendations for accessories to buy?: Particular containers to store materials in, particular products for cleaning prints (or cleaning the machine), particular lamps for curing, etc.

I'm trying to avoid gotchas, and I've got time to visit hardware stores or make further online purchases before it arrives. I'm not asking about software or computing hardware, just things that I'll want to have "on the bench".

Safety Gear
Gloves, you want to wear them whenever handling any resin. Single-use gloves are best - dispose of them after use. Consider them contaminated after touching anything in contact with resin and toss them before handling anything that shall not get in contact with resin. That includes door handles.
A good idea is to also wear eye protection, as resin in the eyes could destroy them.
While a dust mask might not be strictly necessary, it could reduce your exposure to the fumes of resin. Some resin fumes are known to create hypersensitivity.
It is also a good idea to put the printer into a dedicated workspace that is well ventilated and not your primary living space. I strongly recommend reading both Best way to deal with Resin Printers in your living space and Safe way of disposing resin
Post-Processing Station
You may want to build a post-processing station. Most pieces can be sourced in any home depot store or made from household items, so I don't recommend specific brands but the requirements.
Washing Station
A typical post-processing station consists of at least 2 vats large enough to submerge your print volume in, so you can wash off your print in the first and then wash it with fresh liquid in the second. The typical liquids for cleaning are isopropyl alcohol and sometimes technical alcohol. Some resins demand special liquids that are specific to the type of resin. Best, the washing vats have securely sealing lids. Glass is preferably as it is easy to clean.
To use the least amount of cleaning liquid, you might want to have a pair of needle spray bottles - one for each bath. Label them!
To avoid spillage and ruining tables, a plastic table cloth can be a good addition. Fold it with the contaminated side onto itself for storage. A different solution would be to put the cleaning station onto a ceramic or steel surface, which can be easily cleaned after use.
Curing Station/Chamber
The next step is curing the print under direct exposure to a UV light source, somewhat akin to how gel nails are hardened. Sometimes the sun is enough.
Since the resin residue from washing is now in the isopropyl alcohol (or other washing liquid), treat it as chemical waste. To reduce the waste of material, flock out the resin in it by exposing the liquid to the UV light and filter the result. The result is Isopropyl Alcohol with some remaining contaminants, which can be used again for the first rinsing step.
Other Tools
Besides cleaning and curing the print, you need to remove the print from the plate, so you need a spatula or scraper, which is reserved only for your SLA printer. Never use it on the build platform of your FDM printers and consider it contaminated with uncured resin after use. Best cure residue on it in the UV chamber and then physically chip off the hardened resin before handling it without gloves again.
Similarly, a tool to stir the resin and remove flakes is often used, and some makers have special spatulas to clean the vat. Clean them well after use.
You will want to have some nice snippets to remove the support structures at some spots and some pliers to break them free - safety first.
Needle files and sanding paper for cleanup where the support stuck are a given.
Resin Recovery
Since the resin in the trays might harden over time, you'll want to have some sort of rig to hold the vat at a tilted angle upside down so it can flow out, back into the resin bottle. A cover might also help to reduce exposure and allow short time storage in the machine. Thingieverse has a couple of solutions for lids, pouring and filtering stations as well as other accessories. Look for those that fit your printer.
The Resin should be stored in airtight and light-blocking bottles. As an extra security measure, you should store the resin in a closed cupboard to prevent light exposure through not totally opaque bottles.
More on Re-using resin can be found here
Further Reading/watching

Angus/Makers Muse on 3D printing safety
A rather good guide regarding Resin 3D printing


How do you solve PLA corner-curling short of printing really, REALLY slow? I've been trying a lot of different things to combat corners curling upward in the first few tens of layers after the bottom skin. To be clear, I'm not talking about corners of the first layer printed on the bed, but rather the points of the outline in layers above the base where direction of print motion changes discontinuously (discrete corner) or abruptly (turn with very tight curvature). Here's an image I found (not mine) that demonstrates:

And a pic during print of the type of curling I'm talking about:

And some previous worse prints:

My go-to worst test case for this now is a 20mm tall hollow dodecahedron with 0.8mm shell (hollow geometry, not just empty infill; 0% infill on a non-hollow model does even worse, shown above). For everything else I've tried, I've mostly been able to sovle the problem with combinations of

Improved cooling fan duct
Lowered bed temperature or unheated bed (but this is a tradeoff; it seriously hurts first layer quality and increases risk of non-adhesion)
Disabling Cura's overhang detection mode (non-uniform print speed causes a huge increase in the curling due to latency of extrusion rate response)
Increasing motion acceleration limits or decreasing speed limits (also mitigating the latency in extrusion rate response)

but I can't get all 5 edges of the worst-case dodecahedron completely warping-free without just heavily slowing down the print; during print it's obvious that the curling at the corners in each layer is the source of the warping. Increasing Cura's cool_min_layer_time to 10 seconds (default is 6, and I usually get by fine with 3-4.5 for most things) mostly but not entirely solved it, and going much slower than that seems likely to introduce other surface artifacts from extremely slow extrusion.

Are there any additional tricks I'm missing for solving this? I'd like something that's easy to leave on all the time or at least to automate, as opposed to hacks like adding in a junk tower off to the side to waste time between layers.

My printer is an Ender 3 with stock gear except for improved fan duct. The problem was worse with the stock fan duct.

Cura has an additional setting that you can make visible called "Lift Head". My recommendation is that you do the following:

Set your minimum print speed to something actually reasonable like 30mm/s or higher. Printing too slowly negates the following two settings and is not beneficial to printing small features.
Set your minimum layer time to something higher, like 15s or so. The slower you print, the higher this number needs to be. Using too small of a minimum print time prevents adequate layer cooling.
Enable "Lift Head". This must be used to allow the small features on your print to properly cool. Without the "Lift Head" setting, your nozzle will remain parked on your print and provide both radiant and convective heat which prevents cooling and causes sagging of small features.

The combination of these settings will rapidly deposit the layer, then move the nozzle high and away from the print until the minimum layer time is reached, such that the radiant heat from the nozzle doesn't continue to heat the soft PLA while it's trying to cool.

Enabling all three is how I got perfect tiny features on all of the printers here at my office - a fleabay i3 clone, an Anet A8, and a couple Monoprice printers of various levels.

Edit:

I forgot to mention, keep your bed temperature at a reasonable setting too. For PLA, normally people may recommend up to 70C, but realistically, for very small prints, you can keep your bed much colder without detrimental effects. For tiny items, my PLA prints used to use a bed temperature of about 30-40 C depending on the specific filament. Very tiny prints are unlikely to warp even with a cold bed.

Basically, the colder the bed is, the less heat is getting conducted up through the print to the top layers that are molten, and the faster those layers cool. Keep the bed temp down and it'll benefit your layer cooling.


Issues with print Prusa i3 infill breaking and causing clogs I'm having some issues with my Prusa i3 prints. I'm trying to print the default beer opener print that came with the Prusa's memory card but the infill will break causing clogging and now allowing the print to finish. I've attached a picture of one of the failed prints.

I've checked Prusa's website and tried tightening the extruder gears and made sure the gears are clean. I'm using the PLA sent with the printer (1.75 mm) and with a default G-code file so I'm fairly sure it is a hardware issue, but I'm not sure what the issue could be.

Here is the link that I've used to help me troubleshoot.

Try calibrating your Z again. It is hard to tell based on the picture, but it could be too close to the build plate, and thus is dragging while crossing the infill section, or it could be too far away and thus is not getting good layer adhesion.


Printer Enclosure Material Selection Im planning on building an enclosure for my CR-10S and am debating whether to use MDF walls lined with an insulation foam that reduces noise and keeps the heat in or going with double pane glass walls.

My main concern is not necessarily keeping the enclosure hot as it is for noise reduction. Obviously the wood with insulation will give better sounds dampening, but I am wondering if anyone has tried both or at least heard a printer before and after with both and if the glass alone had a significant effect on the sounds reduction.

To reduce the noise, you could replace the metal linear bearings for plastic ones. This reduces the produced noise considerably from experience. Also, put the printer on damping rubber feet.

Enclosing the printer should be done with care, completely boxing the printer up could lead to increased temperatures of your board electronics, steppers and cold end cooling. Make sure to vent some air. How you box up does not matter, although double glass window panes does seem a bit of an expensive solution.


Removeable Glass Bed vs. Removeable Springsteel Beds Removeable beds are starting to get more common in low-price consumer-grade printers. There are pretty much 3 types:

Unheated beds
Heated beds from steel held by magnets or clips
Heated glass beds held by clips

Unheated beds are the lowest class, and not an issue here. What are the pros and cons for a steel/springsteel bed versus a glass bed?

In favor of glass:

Smoother surface gives you a nicer bottom layer (though Kapton-layered steel is no slouch)
More even, regular surface makes bed easier to level
Easy to prep and clean
More scratch-resistant makes getting under a part with a metal scraper a little less harrowing
Corrosion-resistant (glass doesn't rust; silicon dioxide is in fact already about as oxidized as it can possibly be)

In favor of steel:

Flexes for easier release
Safer (steel plates don't shatter, at least not at temperatures you're likely to use them)
Conducts heat better for faster and more even heating
Slightly less expensive on average