Trend in Filament Costs? Some have suggested that filament costs are asymptotically approaching a baseline cost - others that costs are linearly decreasing. Does anyone know where to find the trending costs on a single class of filament over the past decade or more?

Part of the reason we are asking is to get enough longitudinal data to begin projecting costs for printing objects in the future. You might think of it like the "Moore's Law" of filament costs.

I'm not clear as to the intent of your question, but I would like to provide some insight. Typically, the biggest differentiating factor between a mediocre data scientist, and a good one, is based on the hypothesis they put forth. Therefore, understanding where the cost of filament is derived from is much more important than analyzing the market price equilibrium over a period of time (Even if done with consideration to various filament types).

Here are some basic costs:

Raw material (the cost based on region, and grade)
Manufacturing scale (Mixers, extruders, cooling, spooling, packaging, etc.)
Shipping (Often 50% of cost for small quantities)
Supply chain (Number of middle men)

Without going into detail of every preceding point, I was able to break down costs to a theoretical $10/kg for ABS, if starting with virgin pellets, and shipping flat rate USPS within the US.

The point that I am trying to make is, fundamentals over technical analysis in this case.


How are SLS printers able to print multiple colours? With FFF printers able to manage only a small handful different colours (by using different filaments & extruders), how is it some SLS prints are able to be produced in such a broad range of colours?

Are they sprayed post-production?

The Z-corp/3D systems printers lay down what is essentially ink in each layer (only around the perimeters) much like an inkjet printer, dying the powder as the parts are made. This means they can make almost any color at any point in the model. The down size is these models are pretty fragile, at least the last ones that I have handled. This can be helped by dipping them in cyanoacrylate and letting them dry.

As pointed out in the comments, this is not an SLS process, but looks very similar. The printer lays down a binder (clear or colored) on each layer, and is why these models are much more fragile than SLS models, which are very strong.

Here is an example of some prints: http://mcad3dprintingandprototyping.blogspot.com/


How many grams will be used in a print I have an STL file and I would like to know how many grams would this print consume. Is there a software so I can get it or an online link that can say me  that?

You can not tell this by looking at the STL file alone, because how much material will be used depends on the print settings (obviously, printing at 100% infill will consume much more material than 10%).

The best way to check the material usage is to load the model into a slicer and slice it using your preferred settings. Most slicers will report the projected material usage, often in grams but sometimes in meters of filament (but the two figures are easily converted between each other if you know the density and diameter of your material).

Here is an example in the Cura slicer:

Simplify3D (after you click "prepare to print!") also shows you the projected print time and material usage and even the cost of the material (if you have previously entered the material cost per kilogram):


What are the benefits to using 128X microstepping drivers on the X and Y axis of a FFF printer? Assuming you have a high quality printer with a fast processor, will you see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from 16X/32X microstepping drivers to 64X/128X microstepping drivers? (e.g. smoother surface finish).  In what ways do they perform differently from the more common 16X or 32X stepper drivers.  I'm thinking the RAPS128, Silencioso, and Trinamic drivers vs the DRV8825, A4988 and A4988.

You will likely not see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from a 16x or 32x to a 64x or 128x microstepping driver. Depending on the motors you're driving and the size of the load you could actually see a decrease in quality.

Although microstepping increases theoretical resolution it does not necessarily increase accuracy. The reason is that microstepping significantly limits the incremental torque of the motor. This means that you may ask for a step but not get one because the torque of the step won't be enough to actually turn the shaft.

As an example: a motor running in full steps will have 100% of its rated holding torque. Moving to 16 microsteps/full steps drops this to ~10%, 128 drops it to ~1%.

The practical effect of this is that in high torque situations (such as printing at fast speeds) the motor may end up skipping some of the steps. In this way the increase in resolution can actually lead to a decrease in accuracy (smaller steps but they may not actually be taken).

A relevant calculation to do would be to work out what the different number of microsteps to full steps works out to in terms of horizontal, vertical, or whatever movement the motor drives. You can do this by measuring how far the stepper moves said surface in one revolution provided you know the number of steps it takes per revolution.

Example:

With no microstepping: 1 turn/inch * 200 steps/turn = 200 steps/inch or .005 inch/step (127 micron resolution)

With 16x microstepping: 16 * 200 steps/inch or .0003 inch / step (8 micron resolution)

In this example 128x microstepping would be absolutely foolish. Every situation is different and you should use this information to make a decision based on your setup. Many manufacturers have recommendations on how far their motors can be microstepped.


Is 3D printing suitable for repairing a refrigerator shelf glide rail? The plastic glide rail on which my refrigerator vegetable drawer (bin) traveled recently broke.
The rail was part of a large plastic shelf, which is no longer available for purchase.
I'm thinking about 3D printing a new glide rail and attaching it (somehow) to the existing shelf.
Can 3D printing be used for this task to make the repair any easier or more successful to complete than simply cutting a piece of plastic and (again, somehow) affixing it to the shelf?
Note that the glide rail needs to be somehow attached to the shelf at a 90 degree angle.  I keep using the word "somehow" because I haven't figured out how to make that magic happen yet.

Can 3D printing be used for this task to make the repair any easier or more successful to complete than simply cutting a piece of plastic and (again, somehow) affixing it to the shelf?

Yes. 3D printed parts can be plenty strong enough to handle the kind of load you're considering. You'll need to create a 3D model of the part you want it a CAD program, which is something that takes some practice if you don't already know how to do it, so it may or may not be easier for you than milling the from a plastic blank.
One advantage that 3D printing brings with it is the ability to iterate rapidly on your design: you can model and print the part that you think will work, try it out, adjust your model to incorporate what you learn from the first try, and print new versions until you get it just right. If the existing shelf is broken in some irregular way, for example, you can design a new part that mates tightly with the broken edge of the part you have.

The rail was part of a large plastic shelf, which is no longer available for purchase.

Perhaps you've already looked, but there are a great many parts suppliers online. If you have the part number, be sure to look beyond just what the manufacturer can supply -- it's very likely that someone out there has the part you need.


Attaching the resistor for the J-Head Extruder with Type 44 Non-Contaminating Heat Sink Compound? I saw a video in which someone used GC Electronics Type 44 Non-Contaminating Heat Sink Compound (Part No. 10-8118) to hold the resistor for heating up the J-Head extruder head in place.

Is that a good way to attach it so it heats up the aluminum block?

Nope, not adequate. When heating at maximum power, you should expect the resistor to be 50-100C hotter than the hot block. (It must be hotter than the block in order to transfer heat to the block.) GC 10-8118 is only rated for 200C, but the service conditions at the power resistor may run up to 300-400C depending on power output and desired hot end temp.

For that matter, you may want to question whether the power resistor itself is rated for the >300C temps it will see in normal service. It's probably not. Most modern hot end designs use steel-jacketed heater cartridges instead of power resistors because they can handle higher temps and are, you know, actually designed to be used as heaters. The power resistors used in older hot end designs are generally being operated way past their design ratings. It's kind of amazing they work at all.


Anet A8 X axis drive-gear wobble I've recently noticed that the pulley driving the X-axis belt on my Anet A8 is wobbling quite a lot. I took out my calipers and sure enough the hole wasn't centred. I ordered a new pulley (from a different manufacturer) which arrived today but it was also wobbling, though much less than my old one.
The X-axis motor does not appear to wobble at all, I've tried placing a straight object up against the shaft and ran the motor and could not perceive and wobble at all in the motor, so I know it's not the motor. Before I start ordering more of the same part I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem or if I'm doing something else wrong (for example if the uncentered pulley is a feature and there's some magical way to mount the belt pulley onto the motor to make sure it does not wobble). My guess is that I've just ordered cheap scrap parts and need to order something more expensive.
Here is a link to a video of the wobble: https://imgur.com/o4EJ9pg

There are several possible causes for this. From least to worst:

The part itself is good, but the faceing cover plate is misaligned. No action needed.
The part is mounted in a way that makes it wobble, re-mounting helps.
The part is bad and needs to be replaced.

So, let's see the anatomy of a Timing Belt pulley. They exist in basically 3 general types in the McMaster Carr catalog: One flange, two flanges, no flanges. I am not affiliated with them, but they are pretty much one of the parts vendors in the industry that has almost everything, making them the convenience option. In the mantra, they are the "fast-good" option with the "everything" bonus and that the catalog of parts with 3D is integrated into fusion360. A similar supplier would be RS.

The part OP ordered is the "With One Flange" design, it is 6mm wide, 5mm axle and 16 teeth. The McMaster Carr catalog has two very close matches to OP's part: 3684N11 & 3684N12, about 6$ for a part machined from a solid piece. Why is that relevant?! well, the part OP ordered is not made from a solid piece but at least two parts: the body and one flange plate, as you can see on the product picture - the plate separation I marked with yellow here:

This is where the first error appears: if the flange isn't mounted centered (in poor quality it is rarely) then it appears to wobble but actually doesn't. But the video shows that the axis seems to be straight, while both the front and backside of the pulley wobble in the XY position. This means it is not just the flange that is mis-mounted on the part.
Now, error number 2 is misaligned mounting. In case the bore is good, you can often fix a misalignment by removing the part and mounting it again, more carefully, possibly using some thin shim metal around the axis. In some cases there is a pair of screws already to do this, if not it can help to modify the part with one or two extra alignment screws, allowing to sift the gear's center a slight bit by tensioning the additional screws.
In the case of OP's linked part, the screw that is not radial but protrudes next to the axis is designed to come over the flat of the axis and the other one is to tighten it down.
If the bore for the axis however is really skewed, and even after repeated re-mounting or shimming nothing can be done, a new part is needed. With the measurements of the part, you can order at a lot of online catalogs, the price and quality differ greatly. However, the engineering mantra strikes:
Cheap, Fast, Good. Choose two.


What are the tradeoffs of a cantilever printer design? There are several cantilever-style printers around like some DIYs (2018), the TronXY-X1, the Monoprice Select Mini, Tiertime's Cetus line and the 2019 Prusa Minilinks for information, no affiliation.

While the specs of the printers are very different, what are the main benefits, tradeoffs and drawbacks that are inherent in the design compared to a more traditional Core-XY or Prusa/Portal design?

Cantilever printers constrain the X-axis carriage only on one side and have a free hanging side. This means, that the X-beam has to be rather sturdy and is limited in length, making them usually quite small machines.

Another tradeoff stemming from this source is, that they have to stiffen this one connection as much as possible. Any play on the connection leads to increasingly large errors the further the printhead is out from the Z-Axis and can lead to bad prints, banding and total failures of prints. This behavior, at least on the TronXY-X1, is sometimes called Z-Wobble and has brought up some aftermarket modifications. For example, this bracket constrains the movement of the X-cantilever.

While all axis would be affected by bad constraints, a cantilever suffers the most: The cantilever (if not well constrained) can deflect in both XY and XZ plane, pretty much opening a cone with the tip at the leadscrew nut. A one side-leadscrew portal design can only deflect in the XZ plane, opening an angle along with the center in the leadscrew nut. A double leadscrew design has, constrains both ends of the X-axis and prevents deflection but could suffer from bending the portal bar.

The main benefit of a cantilever design is that being of a rather simple design with few moving parts, understanding as well as repairing and modifying the motion control system is fairly easy. The ease of access and low component number also allows reducing manufacturing costs to some degree.

Another thing of note is, that these printers usually have a fairly small form factor, allowing them to be used in small workshops without taking up too much space. However, their build-volume to occupied-volume ratio usually is not as good as other designs - printers with a much larger build volume just get a much better ratio there.


Silver Solder specifications for hot end heating element In this question I was told that I should use silver solder to connect the heating element to the power supply.

(I was also told that a ceramic extruder head was the way to go, but I'm working with what I have)

I bought two types of silver solider from Radio Shack:

96/4 Silver-Bearing Solder, Lead-Free 0.62" diameter.
62/36/2 Silver-Bearing Solder, 0.15" diameter.

Is there any reason I should use one of these over the other to power the heading element of the J-Head extruder?

The first is not suitable. ASTM96TS Sn96Ag4 has a melting point of 221–229 °C according to Wikipedia. Pb96Ag4 would be OK, but that is not lead free so doesn't seem to match your description. Update from comment to explain the letters and numbers: the data comes from wikipedia, the numbers are Tin(Sn) 62%, Pb(Lead) 36%, Ag(Silver) 2%, for example, see below for an electronics solder compound.

Sn62Pb36Ag2 is an ordinary expensive electronics solder (but not lead free), with an even lower melting point.

You need to find a high temperature silver solder, with a melting point of about 305 °C (which confusingly might be a soft silver solder), for example one of these. Hard silver solders melt at 600 °C, that would be excessive in this application.

The nomenclature 'silver solder' came about before lead-free electronics solder was introduced, since when more alloys containing silver have become popular as general purpose solders.


Filament is stuck in nozzle I recently bought a Geeetech Prusa i3 x. After two full days assembling I can finaly try to print something. Having put in the filament into the extruder no filament actually came out of the nozzle. I opened up my extruder and the filament seems to be stuck in the nozzle.

Note that I have tried heating the nozzle up and both pushed and pulled but no movement.
Does anyone know what to do?

Thanks,
Merijn

There are a number of options you could try. If heating up the hotend does not work, you'll have to disassemble it. Remove the nozzle and the heatbreak (the threaded part). To disassemble the nozzle, you will need to heat it up and use pliers or wrenches to unscrew the parts.

You can use a blowtorch to melt and burn out the plastic that is stuck. Make sure to do this outside.
You can use solvents to dissolve the plastic. This works especially well with ABS, which can be dissolved in acetone. You can also try dissolving different plastics with acetone, but for example PLA does not really dissolve in acetone (it does become somewhat soft, so this can still be helpful towards getting it out). You could also try using other solvents if acetone does not work for your particular plastic, but consider these tend to be quite toxic compared to acetone so be careful. Note that in any case, the plastic will need to soak in the solvent for at least a few hours or overnight.

Do not try to disassemble it while cold, the expansion and contraction of metal with heat makes this impossible. When reassembling, be sure to heat up the nozzle before giving it a final tightening (again, this is to make sure that when the nozzle expands as it is heated, it makes a tight seal).


How can I read this 3mf-File So I am trying to get the XSD-Schema from this object. When I open the File I just get something like this code (snippet):

¸†2¡Q·2ºyƒeCã2ï…w ïÀ|¼ðAøä[0Ÿ |>‚|ó‘å2²ºFƒ¼Æò1ùàåcj@Þ`ùÐ¸Ì{áÈ;0/|¾
 ùÌ'Ÿ„ Á|d½¬¬¯Õ ¯±|l¾…Œo@Þ`ùÐ¸Ì{áÈ;0/|¾ùÌ'Ÿ„ Á|d½œ¬¯Ó ¯±|h\æŒo@Þ`ù¸|
 ßBs¦5–Œ~ôè»£(™c´“Ç£[yp1:æ'Ã‰c4Jó Uâ˜ÍÇ<h—8^'Ð¯É

What is this? How can I convert it back? I need to edit the structure manually.
Thank you in advance.

Three likely culprit:

The file is compressed but your machine can't detect it.  So for example the 3MF model has been zipped, and what you are trying to do is opening the zip archive in the text editor, rather than the file that is in the zip archive.  Solution: try to see if common decompress utilities like zip, gzip, 7z can open the file.
The file is a 3MF model but the character encoding in the file being different than the one your editor is expecting (typically Unicode/UTF-8, these days).  Solution: read on the rest of this answer.
The file is a binary one that is totally unrelated to 3MF.  So in essence: an error, you are trying to open maybe an MP3 or a JPG file believing it to be a 3MF instead.

As for the "wrong encoding" option...  Oversimplifying a bit, the story goes like this:

computers write data to files in bytes,
a byte can only be set to one of its 256 possible values,
in the early days of computing, when computers were just glorified calculators, it was enough to have a 1:1 ratio between the byte possible values and the symbols one wanted to use, so ASCII was born (actually ASCII only "mapped" the first 127 values of the byte, but that is a detail).  So: value #49 would represent a 1, value #90 a Z and so on...
shortly afterwards, computers became powerful enough that people wanted to use them to process human languages, so the need for more characters (like accented ones åáä or the ones from non-latin alphabets like Cyrillic язы́к or arabic عَرَبِيّ, or...) came to be and engineers speaking different languages had the "brilliant" idea to each use the other 127 "free slots" in a byte for their favourite languages, thus a plethora of extended ASCII encodings was born, each using the same byte value, but each mapping to a different symbol.
later on, people began to realise the need to combine the use of say Gaelic, English, Japanese and Farsi with mathematical symbols, and thus they came up to way to map symbols to values expressed as the product of more bytes (so for example: 2 bytes encoding could map 256x256=65536 symbols).  Again: each system using the same values but different symbols.
finally after decades of frustrated users and expensive bugs, engineers around the world settled for a multi-byte standard that has 1,114,112 possible values that could contain all characters one can possibly need, and Unicode was born.

Back to your question: despite unicode having been around for a few decades now, legacy software and sloppy programming are a thing, and there are still systems that do not use unicode internally but some legacy "special purpose" encoding.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to say with certainty how a file was encoded, so occasionally you may find yourself opening a file and starting decoding it according to a "conversion table" that is not the one used by the author of the file itself.  This is what it looks like is happening to you.

Onward to what you can try to do to fix this...

First of all: as attentive readers may have already inferred, you will need the actual file for this.  In fact if you cut-and-paste its "content" from an editor what you are really doing is cutting-and-pasting the decoding your computer did of the byte values, and not the byte values themselves.

Then your best bets are:

Try one of the online detectors like this one, using "English" as a language.  These detectors work by trying all the decoders they know of until the decoded file will have English (or another language of your choice) words in it.  This may not work for you as a 3MF file is mostly numbers, not text, but it is worth a shot.
Guesstimate what encoder may have been used.  For example: if you got the file from an old windowsXP machine from Eastern Europe, chances are it may have been encoded with "windows-1251".  Use an online converter to see if you were right about it.
Use brute force.  For this you will require to write a simple programme or ask somebody to do it for you, but the key idea here is to have a script taking your original file and decoding it using all encoders in that programming language knows of.  Then it will be up to you to open each decoded file individually and verify if it worked or not.


Inconsistent printing results using same settings but different calibration models I've got a second-hand Renkforce RF1000 which I've gone into more detail about in this question.

The extruder works however, I get some inconsistent results. First I printed a calibration cube and noticed huge gaps in the bottom layer. Because of this, I increased the extrusion multiplier to 1.05. I noticed there still were some gaps but also other issues, I then printed one with the extrusion multiplier reset to 1.0 and a negative Z-offset. The results are shown below. In every image, the left cube has multiplier 1.0 and the right cube has multiplier 1.05.

Then, for a better idea about the consistency, I printed a hollow pyramid. This shows some heavy stringing. However, when printing a retraction test I barely get any stringing.

Does anyone know what could cause these inconsistent results? I assume some hardware tweaks might be needed, not just slicer settings. Any help is appreciated.

I use Slic3r
I use 3 mm PLA printed at 190 °C on a 60 °C bed with some glue (doesn't stick without). The first layer is 200 °C with a 65 °C bed.
After three layers the fans are enabled.
I have a negative Z-offset, it probably isn't calibrated 100 % correctly
I don't know the nozzle size (a new one is being shipped) but use a size of 0.5 mm in the slicer
retraction length 2 mm & 60 mm/s
minimum travel after retraction 1 mm

Print settings:

EDIT:
After the recommendations I've changed the following:

All belts have been recalibrated
The e-steps have been recalibrated through this method. Couldn't do a wall measurement due to a lack of precise tools.
Changed first layer temperature to 210 °C and other layers to 205 °C
Added two top layers

I printed two new cubes. One without glue and with a Z-offset of 0.05 mm and one with glue and with a Z-offset of 0.15 mm. The results are quite comparable to the original ones although slightly better. Any recommendations?

I'm aware of some cooling issues on my prints. Once a new nozzle arrives I plan on printing the current cooling system again. It's not really blowing air right effectively now.

First of all, I would try printing a little bit hotter, let's say arround 210 °C. Secondly, due to how the X and Y letters are being printed in the sides of the cube I would suggest to tigthen both the X and Y belts.

Regarding the gaps, I would first try a flow rate test. You could use a cube like this one.

Using:

extrusion multiplier = 1
layer height: 0.2 mm;
layer width= 0.4 mm ;
wall count= 2.

Then measure the walls with a caliper and you should have 0.8 mm walls. Do a couple of measurements, get the average and divide  0.8 by it  and multiply by a 100 (100*0.8/average). That's your new flow rate.

I would also try to add 1 or 2 top layers to the print.

For the first layer, I would definitely get a glass bed and use hairspray. The bottom of the pyramid doesn't seem to be sticking well. Apart from this, I'm not really fan of using Z-offset. Just try leveling a couple of times manually with a paper to get it right.


How does the sizes of nozzle diameter and the Z-axis layer resolution work? I have a 3D Printer with 0.4 mm (400 micron) nozzle length and the printer guide suggests that it can print up to a layer thickness of 60 micron and has a accuracy up to 100 micron.

What I'm trying to understand is that, how does the 0.4 mm nozzle output a filament size lesser than it? How does that process work?  Does it reduce the speed at which the filament flows or something?

Yes, they do reduce the speed. Basically, the speed at which you feed filament determines how large of a volume comes out, and the distance you move the extruder means this volume gets distributed over this distance. However, this is not the whole story.

The size of your nozzle determines only two things: the maximum layer height and the minimum feature size. It does not affect minimum layer height (and obviously doesn't affect maximum feature size) although there are some practical constraints (you wouldn't want to print 0.1 mm layers with a 5 mm nozzle).

The nozzle squishes the filament down as it is extruded; the filament is basically forced into the gap between the nozzle and the previous layer. There's no limit to how thin of a layer you can print (the 60 micron figure is just something the marketing department made up, you can likely print even thinner layers). So long as you can position your Z-axis with sufficient accuracy (which is usually no problem) you can print arbitrarily thin layers.

On the other hand, the nozzle size does determine the maximum layer height. Your need the filament to be squished a bit, or else it won't stick to the previous layer properly. You can't print layers thicker than your nozzle size, and it is generally recommended to print with a layer size that is at most 80 % of your nozzle size (e.g. with a 0.4 mm nozzle you shouldn't attempt to print layers thicker than 0.32 mm) but this is just a guideline.

Your extrusion width is the width of the line deposited by your nozzle. This is generally (due to the mentioned squishing) a bit larger than your nozzle size. With a 0.4 mm nozzle you should set your extrusion width to something slightly larger, like 0.5 mm. It is technically possible to print with an extrusion width that is the same as (or even smaller) than your nozzle size, but this results in very weak prints: as mentioned before, you want the plastic to get squished slightly.

They claim an accuracy up to 100 micron. This doesn't mean that you can print features as small as 100 micron (since you can't, due to the extrusion width being much larger). What this means, is for example, that if you print a 10 mm cube, you should expect its real size to be between 9.9 mm and 10.1 mm. Such a cube does not have any features that are smaller than your minimum feature size, but its outer walls can be positioned with greater precision than this minimum feature size.

I should caution you that the 100 micron figure is "up to" and in practice you will have a hard time achieving this.


Mid-print issue, extruder issue? I have succumbed to asking the community for assistance. I've been scratching my head and lost many late nights and time trying to figure out what is going on with my 3D printer.
Please see the image of what's going on with it.
Sometimes my printer doesn't even get this far, most of the time it fails at the 5th layer or so because it stops extruding is what I suspect.
I've replaced the hot end entirely, a new thermistor inside the hot end, replaced the PTFE tube, upgraded the extruder feeder to aluminum. Replaced the extruder gear, and for some reason, the filament just stops feeding.
I've tried several retraction settings from 80 mm/s and 2 mm of filament, to 20 mm/s and 6 mm of filament.
Initial Layer Height: 0.25 mm

I hope the community can help me out here.

Do the two loose pieces go where the fill shows up on the larger piece?  If so, you may have internal surfaces there that need deleting in your drawing so that they don't mess up your slice program.  Otherwise, the slice program may leave a gap in the gcode where you have no extrusion.
If you retract too much, it can cause the filament to jam in the hotend, but you wouldn't be getting all the mid-air extrusion, not connecting to anything.
We need more information to give you a more precise answer.  I suspect you have a settings or gcode/drawing issue rather than a hardware issue.


HE3D Prusa Z-Axis Motor Error I have an HE3D Prusa XI3 that I have assembled but the z axis motors aren't functioning properly, they will whine instead of turn. They will turn if I use Z babystepping or position changes but will not when doing a fast position changes or in normal use

You are probably driving the motors with insufficient current. Try increasing the motor current, by adjusting the potentiometer on the respective stepper driver. Turn it clockwise until your motors stop skipping steps.


Extruder clogs with HIPS I've got a Prusa i3 MK3. I have printed with PLA, PETG and tried HIPS. Haven't had any clogs with PLA and PETG, but with HIPS I've got a weird problem.

My first three test prints in HIPS went fine, but then I got a very bad clog (required total disassembly of the extruder) twice. And every time, it was at the same moment during a print. The object I was printing was a hollow cylinder. The walls were about 5 mm thick, getting thinner near the top edge. At the moment the walls started getting thinner, the problems started.

I've read that HIPS can clog if the filament moves too slow through the hotend. At the moment the clog occurred, the printer was printing a very narrow part, and the extruder had to move around a lot. Is it possible that, at that moment, the filament moves too slow and the problems starts? I have also printed two copies of the object in a single run, and then the problem didn't occur.

I hope my explanation makes sense, but here's what it comes down to: Does HIPS clog easily when the filament moves too slow, and if it does, what can I do to solve this?

This has been sitting for a long time without an answer, so let me answer with an experience I've had with PETG rather than HIPS.

PETG seems to be a relatively soft plastic.  It isn't soft like TPU, but it is softer than PLA or ABS.  The HIPS filament (which I have but haven't used) appears to also be softer, so it is possible that my PETG problem could relate to your HIPS problem.

I was printing and re-printing an object with PETG that had worked fine with PLA.  Three times in a row, I got a filament jam in about the same place.

The problem was that the filament was retracting, returning, retracting, and returning many times within a very small amount of extruded plastic.  My extruder was set for high pressure between the drive roller and the idler.  When the filament went back and forth through the extruder, it flattened enough that it would jam from being too wide to fit through the next stage (in my case, a Bowden tube).

When I reduced the compression of the filament in the extruder, the problem stopped.  I also reduced the retraction distance, and increased the minimum travel before the slicer would do a retract.  Both were intended to reduce the number of times any single bit of filament would pass through the rollers.


Designing clips that won't break As my first project, I'm trying to design a holder for glass vials, for a scientific application. The photo below shows the latest design iteration, and also shows the problem with it:

As you can see, one of the clips that's meant to hold the vial in place has broken off. This happened after inserting the vial once or twice.

I think I understand the reason for this. It's because I'm printing in the orientation shown below, in order to avoid the need for supports. (This will be more important later, when I scale it up to an array of many holders.) This means that it's relying on the strength in the z dimension, which is much weaker than in the other two directions, because it relies on the cohesion between the layers.

My question is whether I can do anything about this by changing the design of the clips, without abandoning my hope of support-free printing. I don't care at all what the design looks like, except that as much of the vial as possible needs to be visible from the front. I'm printing in ABS.

I have tried varying the thickness of the clips. Thinner ones don't break as easily, but they are a bit floppy and aren't very good at keeping the vial vertical. The ones shown are the thickest I've tried - I'm afraid that if they're too thick they won't bend at all. (The vial is supposed to be inserted from the front rather than the top.)

Edit just as an update, here's what it looks like using John Biddle's suggestion, which works perfectly:

It looks like those clips are thin and need to bend pretty far to let the vial out. Try to make the clips thicker, but with a smaller clip to retain the vial so that it doesn't have to bend as much.

This is what I'm thinking, in beautiful MS-PAINT form:


Ender 3 Pro extruder drive rocking back and forth I've been running this Ender 3 Pro for quite some time with no problem up until recently. The issue was the printer refused to extrude filament (the extruder stepper seems to be rocking back and forth) so I went through a few things to try and fix the problem:

I leveled the bed properly
I printed at higher temperatures (215 °C for PLA which is the only filament I run in this printer)
I cleaned the nozzle and I actually replaced the nozzle with a new 0.4 mm nozzle
(same size as before)
I replaced my Bowden tube with a newer one (unbranded) and even replaced the tube fittings for the extruder assembly and the heat sink.

I saw somewhere that maybe the wiring to the extruder gear is frayed but I inspected the extruder side of the connector and everything looks fine. I would open up the box and everything but I want to see if anyone has a solution before opening up the circuit  box.

Sounds like one end or the other in your stepper cable is not seated correctly or has shaken loose there are 4 wires if even one doesn't make proper contact you will get a shaking back and forth almost like a hard vibration. I always take a cable from one of the other steppers plug into this one move the motor with good stepper wire 10-20 mm see what motor does if it is okay then you know it is a cable issue if not, it could be a bad board or stepper.


3 Extruders on SKR V1.1, how set up 2 in 1 out (Y piece), and 1 single extruder in latest Marlin? On Anet A8 with SKR V1.1 32 bit board my intention is to use 3 extruders on my Anet A8, 1+2 via Y-piece on single nozzle, 3rd Extruder with 2nd nozzle. Need another stepper to connect to SKR V1.1 (10 additional pins are available), extruder 1 + 2 go to single nozzle/heater via a Y-piece, 3rd extruder is on its own with own nozzle/heater. How to modify latest Marlin for this?? Please, all help appreciated, thanks a lot.

The latest Marlin, version 2.0.8, allows for multiple extruders (albeit with a single or multiple stepper motors) through a single nozzle, or multiple extruders with multiple nozzles, it is not possible with the current compiler definitions to configure a mixed extruder nozzle concept; this would require more changes to the sources.


What part is this? Circular threading spool gear, about 10 mm diameter How should I describe this part which looks like a small gear so that I can research replacements?

This came with my FLSUN 3D printer, which may be based on a Prusa design.

This is a timing belt pulley.

Specifically, is a GT2 timing pulley, 2 mm pitch (between teeth), 6 mm wide. The drive diameter is measured by the number of teeth (16 in this case) , the shaft diameter (bore) is measured in mm.

The 'GT2' part refers to the tooth profile, some other examples are shown half way down this page.


Clogging due to heat creep: buy new cooler or new hotend? Sadly, I am not able to "repair" my 3D printer. Every time, I want to print something that takes a bit longer to print, the extrusion stops at some point during the print (the first few layers are great), no under-extrusion whatsoever before that critical point.

I already tried temperature variation (185-220 °C) with about 5 different brands of 1.75 mm PLA.

I tried printing without any retraction, but failed (I also experimented with flow rate a lot and calculated the perfect percentage etc.)

Everytime a print fails, it is a nightmare to remove the PLA filament from my Bowden tube (because it expanded near the nozzle and is stuck in the Bowden tube). I have to pull with so much force, that I already cut myself several times because I slipped off my pliers.

As I know for sure (I already wasted almost 1kg of PLA for my testing) the problem is heat creep = heat travelling from the heat block to the PLA above because the heat break or fan seem to be broken.

So my question is: "Will it be enough to buy a new cooling fan (as the standard fan doesnt seem to be powerful enough)?"

I have to add that I already bought the original hotend long time ago and I tried printing with the "fan of the first hotend" and with the "fan of the second hotend" (the fan that blows air towards the cold end) so that might not be the problem.

Or do I need a totally new hotend? (with heatbreak etc.)

My printer is a Creality CR 10, and I'm using Ultimaker Cura 3.6.

Or is it enough to buy a new heating block + heat break? (I don't know if the cooling fan is the problem or the heat break).

To fight heat creep, you must understand why this is happening.

Heat creeps up the hotend assembly as a result of incorrect settings or hardware setup causing the filament to prematurely soften and swell.

It is important to reduce the heat travelling upwards in the first place rather than fighting the result. Too high print temperatures are an obvious culprit, but also print speed and retraction length are important. These need to be dialed in in perfect harmony.

Even when you buy a complete new hotend or parts for the hotend, incorrect settings may lead to the same results. It is known that all-metal hotends (due to the lacking of a thermal barrier PTFE liner in the heat break shielding the filament of excessive heat input) are more susceptible to encounter heat creep and should generally be avoided by less experienced makers.

Whether or not you should buy new parts depends on the current extruder, your ability to fix it (and the willingness to put in more effort to try) and the knowledge to install new parts and find the correct settings for optimal printing. There is no unambiguous answer to this question.


Z offset not working after flashing TH3D firmware I had the BLTouch (3.1) working with stock firmware on an Ender 3 v2 but wanted to get a 5x5 mesh instead of the 3x3 so I installed the TH3D firmware. With the stock firmware my Z-offset was -2.95 mm.
After installing TH3D firmware, my Z-offset has to be in excess of -6 mm to reach the same nozzle-to-bed height. I've tried setting the Z-offset via LCD and through G-code, saving to EEPROM. I'm having 2 problems with this that I assume are connected:

Z-offset seems to not be applied when setting Z axis position. When I autohome and then set Z axis to 0, even the extended probe from the BLTouch does not touch the bed (it's actually 1-2 mm away from touching). And this is with the Z-offset set to -6 mm.
I tried running a print, which includes an ABL request (G29), the print head crashed into the bed immediately after finishing levelling. My hunch is that when starting to print the -6 mm Z-offset starts being correctly taken into account.

Could this be the result of something I did in the Configuration.h when compiling the firmware?
I made the following changes:
CrealityV42X/Firmware/Marlin/Configuration.h

Line 24: uncommented #define ENDER3_V2_V422_BOARD
Line 43: uncommented #define CUSTOM_PROBE
Line 66: changed #define EZABL_POINTS from 3 to 5
Line 124: changed #define NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET from { 10, 10, 0} to { -44, -6, 0 }
Line 233: uncommented #define BLTOUCH
Line 235: uncommented #define SERVO0_PIN PB0
Line 636: commented out #define Z_MIN_PROBE_USES_Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_PIN
Line 636: added #define USE_PROBE_FOR_Z_HOMING

In Configuration_backend.h the only change I made was increasing Z_PROBE_OFFSET_RANGE_MIN from -5 to -20.

I'm pretty sure something is wrong with the firmware I downloaded. I flashed the 3/5/21 version of Marlin firmware from https://marlin.crc.id.au/ and it is somehow working better with the LCD firmware (which I got from TH3D), the Z offset is working as it should, and the leveling process has more points and goes faster.


HE3D-XI3 3D printer Repetier software config help! I am new to 3d printing and had bought my first 3d printer a couple of months ago. I have it all put together and the software uploaded to the Arduino. However, I need some help with configuration and calibration of the printer. I understand that there is a configuration file that can be changed and uploaded again the create those changes. I also have worked with Arduino before so I know the IDE.

When I turn the printer on everything works, as far as I know. I did some tests to see if anything was wrong, but I couldn't find anything. However, when I hit home for all of the x, y and z axis to go to their starting marks, it tries to go past the rails and comes apart. From what I understand this is a configuration issue.

I tried to contact HE3D about this, but received no answer, so you guys are my last hope. If you need any more information to help me, let me know and i'll try getting it to you asap. (I also have read the documentation on Repetier and the installation and configuration section but my brain for some reason is not clicking into gear.)

Thanks for the help in advanced!!! Here are the specs:
https://www.3dprintersonlinestore.com/reprap-prusa-xi3

Based on some troubleshooting in the question comments, it appears that the issue here is the motors running the wrong way. This can be fixed EITHER by inverting the motor directions in firmware, OR by simply flipping the orientation of the motor plugs where they connect to the controller board. Flipping the plugs is an easy and quick way to reverse the phase of a stepper and thus reverse its direction of motion.


How does Carbon3D's CLIP technology handle bridges and support material? All of Carbon3D's marketing and demonstrations show their CLIP technology producing contiguous and bridge-free parts. Has anyone seen examples of their M1 printing something like a buckyball within a buckyball or a figurine or some other shape that requires support material to print?

For example, how would the Carbon3D print a shape like this:

 vvvvvBUILDPLATEvvvvv
 ====================
  XXX
  XXX            BBB <----- columns A and B require support material
  XXX    AAA     BBB        in order to connect them to the build
  XXX    AAA     BBB        plate.
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|~~~~~~~~RESIN~~~~~~~|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

In a similar vein, how do they handles enclosed volumes? I doubt anyone wants a sphere filled with still-liquid resin...

Again, I've looked around, I can find no material addressing these questions, so if anyone can shed some light, I'd be glad.

On Carbon3D's homepage they show a part that appears to have supports in it.

Per a conversation with Carbon3D's support they confirm that their slicing software will generate supports based on the overhang angle geometry, and in the case of a buckyball within a buckyball, there would be supports generated to create the buckyball, and to support the interior buckyball joining the two together that would have to be removed in post processing.

Enclosed volumes need to have a drain hole, and you would have to avoid vacuum forming shapes such as an upside down cup in which atmospheric pressure would keep the interior of the cup filled with resin until the reservoir runs out or the vacuum is able to be broken releasing the excess resin. In the case of a cup you would change the orientation. I am not sure how one would handle trying to print a solid sphere with no holes to avoid this condition.


Marlin: Making any GPIO pin HIGH for a given time Is there any way Marlin Firmware supports G-code that can make a pin "high" and keep it at that state for a period of time specified?

I have made a machine, which runs on Marlin Firmware, that is a mould forming tool, that would make a mould into a powder, then another tool would come over this mould and dispense some liquid in it. I have a custom GUI to move the tools to given coordinates, press a mould, position the second tool over the mould.

For dispensing liquid I'm thinking about buying a diaphragm valve. I've downloaded the user manual for it. As per the documentation, when compressed air is given to valve it will lift diaphragm and will start dispensing. The amount of liquid it dispenses depends on the how long the valve is opened. So I'm thinking about using a relay to turn a solenoid valve ON and OFF to supply air to the valve. To turn the relay ON I need to make a certain GPIO pin "high". Is there any way I can do this in Marlin Firmware?

As explained in the comments by Tom, you can set any port directly from G-code using the M42 command. To set pin 22 "high", you need to call M42 P22 S255. There is no parameter to add time to the command, so you need to add that yourself using G4 (dwell or pause) to specify how long the printer needs to wait for the next instruction, e.g.:

M42 P22 S255 ; Activate solenoid/relay
G4 P2000     ; Dwell/pause for 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds)
M42 P22 S0   ; Deactivate solenoid/relay

As an alternative, you could use the existing fan if that fan is unused in your machine (or add an "extra fan" in the firmware and send the value 255 to that fan). To use the existing fan:

M106 S255 ; Activate solenoid/relay
G4 P2000  ; Dwell/pause for 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds)
M107      ; Deactivate solenoid/relay

How you add an extra fan is already described (for a specific RAMPS board) in this answer. However, the answer is valid for other boards as well, as long as you have exposed pins you have access to (or if you can solder directly to open pins), you can use the described technique.

The G-code to activate the "extra fan" (solenoid) is M106 P1 S255 disabling would be M107 P1. Note that there is an option/parameter to add time (Bnnn Blip time - fan will be run at full PWM for this number of seconds when started from standstill) to the M106 command, but that is only implemented in RepRapFirmware. An alternative is to use G4 (dwell or pause) to specify how long the printer needs to wait for the next instruction (M107) is being parsed, e.g.:

M106 P1 S255 ; Activate solenoid/relay
G4 P2000     ; Dwell/pause for 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds)
M107 P1      ; Deactivate solenoid/relay


Can G-code scripts be run automatically on inserting an SD card when using Marlin Firmware? When running Marlin Firmware, is it possible to run G-code scripts/series of commands automatically when you insert the SD card?

I'm running Marlin on a 3D printer board using an ATmega 2560 based board with a reprap discount LCD controller with an SD card slot. I would like to do this without the need to add another computer/board, so native from the board running the Marlin Firmware.

I am not entirely sure if this is what you are after, or if it will work, but from  this post on Printing From SD Card when printer is turned On

  While an LCD controller is not needed for auto#.g to work, if you have an LCD controller you can use the MENU_ADDAUTOSTART option to add a menu command that will run the auto0.g, auto1.g, auto2.g whenever you want.

This (final) post ended up closing the thread so it appears to answer the OP's question - however, whether it will answer your question is another matter.

This post, on the Marlin forum, replicates your question and asks about purely insertion of an SD card on a printer which is already powered on.

A reply was received and apparently it should be possible by making a code change in ultralcd.ccp:

  It does not seem like an auto print, when inserting a SD-card, is to
  be found in the current program code of Marlin.

  You might consider making a feature request here: [github.com]

  I do not think that it would require much work to implement a
  "card.autoprintfile()" function in Marlin. It seems to me that a call
  to such a function could happen at line 5172 right after:

else
LCD_MESSAGEPGM(MSG_SD_INSERTED);

  in the file ultralcd.ccp

A subsequent feature request has been made on Marlin's GitHub, see [FR] Can G-code scripts be run automatically on inserting an SD card when using Marlin Firmware?

However, from this reply, it appears that a feature request is already pending:

  I'm not in favor of this as a general feature. We already have a
  feature request to be able to run custom G-code in response to various
  events, with SD card insertion being one of those events. Would that
  feature serve your needs?

However, as yet, I do not have a link to this other feature request. Will update as and when.

As an aside, in might be worth mentioning that the SDFat related code could be the place to code this in, see if SD card removed, how to flag and restart?, although after looking at the Marlin codebase, in particular SdFatUtils.cpp, this would appear to be a red herring.


Ender 3 underextrusion I am a beginner in 3D printing and recently bought an Ender 3. With the filament included in the package, my first print ever was flawless. However, after the first print, I tried printing with ABS, which did not work out, so changed to PLA, and ever since then, all my prints were under extruded. I have tried everything. I bought a new nozzle to make sure it wasn't clogged, I cut the last 20 mm of the PTFE tube, I performed cold pulls, I leveled my bed before every print, made the line width in the profile 0.48 mm instead of 0.4 mm, increased the flow, tried printing with every temperature between 185-210 °C, looked at different Ender 3 suggested profiles on the internet, and more. I also made sure there was nothing wrong with the extruder. Attached are pictures of my most recent prints. Anyone who can tell me what I am doing wrong???

The helical exterior is an indicator of a filament diameter mismatch or volumetric mode enabled for linear commands

From ref:

  Then you probably enabled volumetric extrusion by accident.

  On LCD go to

  Control
  Filament
  Disable
  Save EEPROM
  Revert estep cal if applicable.

  What is it? M200

  Its a feature of Marlin firmware which interprets E moves as mm3 instead of linear mm. It is poorly described in the menu, and tends to be enabled by accident.


Tool to measure in STL files I want to create parts for a 3D printer using OpenSCAD. Having some STL files from the vendor, but nothing else (no technical drawing, no CAD files).

Does anybody knows a free tool, that allows me to

measure distances between 2 selected vertices,
measure distances between a selected vertex and a plane defined by 3 vertices,
measure the radio of a circle defined by 3 selected vertices?

I very much like the way Blender allows to work with meshes, especially select vertices or planes, but unfortunately haven't found a way to measure with Blender.

I suggest blender. It's not the simplest of tools but it is free and learning it will improve your 3d printing skills. :-) (I write this answer also for future viewers of this question so I start basic).

Check here for another answer:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/19772/how-do-i-measure-a-distance-between-two-points

Import your STL-file.
Press the Home key to view everything.
Select the model by clicking on it with your left mouse button. (Blender changed to left-click-select as of version 2.80)
Hit tab to enter edit-mode.
Press N (or use View | Properties) until the Properties panel shows up.
Select the "Length" checkbox in the "Edge Info" section of the Properties panel (see image below).
Select "Edge Select" mode (see image below)
Select the edge to measure by clicking on it with your right mouse button.

If you need to measure the distance between to vertices with no edge. Create the edge by selecting them and pressing F.
If you need to measure the distance between a vertex and any other point, select it and press E to extrude.


Do I need to manually enter in gcode to turn off the bed and nozzle? I got into 3D printing back when it was very much an art and not user friendly, and I have not been keeping up with it very much.  My Slic3r profile required me to manually put in the GCODE to turn off the nozzle and bed.  I'm experimenting with Cura and I can't seem to find a place to enter in GCODE.  The program is way more polished than I am used to, so it's possible that it's an automatically enabled feature.

Does Cura automatically turn off the bed and nozzle after a print is complete, or do I need to manually enter the GCODE somewhere?

Using Cura 3.0.3 to create the GCODE and OctoPi/OctoPrint 1.2.7 to print: By default the printer turned off the nozzle and bed, and also homed the X and Y axises.

You can set start and end GCODE in the preferences for the machine, like so:


Delta printer printing incorrect dimensions in X and Y directions. Z dimensions are correct I had to pause an ongoing print (because of complicated reasons) and that caused the printer to reboot (I don't know why).

When it rebooted, the Z extents were screwed up. I know this because when I gave the print again, the nozzle hit the print bed and started grinding.

The printer has an auto bed levelling function that runs before every print.

It takes three points on the bed where the sensor needle comes down to contact in a vertical to-and-fro motion. When that runs now, the head starts its vertical to-and-fro motion from a point considerably higher than where it used to start from earlier. The sensor needle does come down to touch the bed but it takes a longer time per point since the distance travelled is more now. (Hope this is clear)

To print again, I compensated for the Z-direction by giving a global offset (2.65 mm) while generating G-code. But I realised later that X and Y dimensions were incorrect (larger by 4.6% to be precise). I tested this by printing cubes of 10, 20, 30 and 100 mm. The Z dimensions are perfect though.

Also, there have been weird "lags" while printing larger objects. The print head stutters and this is causing sharp vertexes in between curves and some little blotching of material.

The printer runs on Repetier 0.92.6 and I've been reading about it but its honestly intimidating to me. Please let me know how to figure out what to change and by how much.

Edit: I agree this is quite similar to scaling issues thread here: Scaling/size issues in delta printers

I just want to know what could've caused this problem, whether there are any other possible solutions, and how to get started with Repetier framework.

Edit2: Attached image is the bottom surface of the 100 mm cube. You might notice slight charring on the bottom right corner. The masking sheet I pasted on the print bed was charred underneath. Also, it's evident that the bottom surface is not as compact at the corners as it is in the center.

What could be the possible reasons for that?

As detailed at minow.blogspot.com (which I found very helpful for the most part - it was the first link in the answer to my related question) you need to check/adjust the zero in front of each tower, check the zero in the center, tweak the radius, and repeat (checking the zeros at the edge of the bed in front of each tower again) until it's correct.

After that you adjust the rod length to correct XY size (and recheck all 4 zeros, thus the radius - it makes for a less than exciting day, but is worth it in the long run.)

You either need to turn off EEPROM until you have the right settings, or save the setting to EEPROM each time - depends how worried you are about using up EEPROM write cycles, I guess.

You should also turn off auto-bed-levelling while getting the basic calibration correct, per the same blog instructions.

My fun with figuring out what my EEPROM was doing behind my back is here:
Delta printer not responding to changes in DELTA_RADIUS


Edit G-code to change print order of multiple one-at-a-time print jobs SUMMARY: I use a Creality Ender 3 and Cura 4.8 slicer. I need to print multiple objects 'one-at-a-time' (Cura allows this, that is fine) and I must specify the order in which each model is printed but Cura does not have this facility. My question is: how can I change the order of the printed objects by editing the G-code?
DETAIL: Sometimes it is essential or useful to specify the order of printing multiple objects in a 'one-at-a-time' batch print to allow the printing of some objects that are taller than the X-gantry clearance together with other objects that are shorter than the gantry because if you can control the order then you can print the small objects first and then the tall objects (because the gantry won't get in the way of the already-printed small objects but if the tall objects are printed first then the gantry will crash into them). Specifically I am talking about two or more objects printed at roughly the same Y-level on the print bed (I know you can 'get-away' with it if you separate them in Y but I want to print multiple rows of such objects). Without control over print order this cannot be done thereby limiting productivity (number of models per print run).
WHAT HAVE I DONE TO RESOLVE THIS ALREADY: I can control the print order of multiple identical objects in Cura (they are printed in reverse order to their creation as duplicates of an initial model and if there are problems you can sometimes control the order by moving objects around) but this does not work for multiple different objects. I did several Google searches and found some conversations that deal with this issue including on the official GitHub page of the Cura slicer (see for example this Cura GitHub Discussion). The conclusion given by the Cura developers is that they understand the limitation, but it is not an issue for Ultimaker printers so they have no plans to make user-customisable print order a feature in Cura because it would be too much work for them to do the changes and maintain them. One person mentioned a python script to allow post editing of G-code to change print order but I could find no links to it. Another person described a 'workaround' in Cura to do with grouping and ungrouping models in a specific sequence but this does not work for me (?maybe it only worked in older versions of Cura). Perhaps someone on this forum has G-coding knowledge and could shed some light on how it may be done? [PS: I am only interested in G-code editing solutions for this question, or a Cura workaround that works in v4.8 - I don't use Octoprint/Rasperry Pi controllers].
Thanks.
[EDIT] Thanks to the contributors in the accepted answer I managed to do this with 'cut-and-paste' (via a small C program - you could do it manually but it is tedious and there is more risk of making a mistake if you have many models). I used the comments in Cura's G-code and a few other G-code cues to calculate the correct splice points.
It works provided you take care to ensure the new extruder code is either altered according to the new model positions or use the 'relative extrusion' mode when saving the original G-code from Cura (I used the latter method). Also you must splice the G-code at the right points to ensure pre-model start and post-model finish G-code commands are properly carried around and the final model in the original G-code needs a terminal G0 command to be constructed if it is no longer terminal in the new order so that it can properly position the nozzle to go to the next model in the chain. Also you need to ensure M107 is included prior to each model's first layer. There is danger in doing any of this - the new G-code might damage your printer if you get anything wrong - but it can work (at least it has for me).
I made several manual checks on the new re-arranged G-code as well as loading it into Cura and running Cura's nozzle simulator on it to ensure it does what I expected of it prior to risking running it in my printer, but after that it printed OK.

You can open the G-code file in any text editor and copy-paste the relevant sections of G-code to reorder them. It will be fairly obvious where one object ends and the next one starts because the printhead will move back down to Z=0; you can do a simple search to find the commands that move to Z=0 (in my version of Cura, it inserts a comment ;LAYER:0 at the start of each object).
To ensure that the extruder starts in the correct position, look back at the previous print (in the original order) to see where the extruder finished, then insert (at the start of the new print) G92 Exx.xx where xx.xx is the previous position of the extruder. If looking back to the previous print is too tedious, you can also just use the very first extruder position in the print itself and use that. It will just skip printing the very first section of brim/skirt, which doesn't make a big difference.


Autodesk Spark Print Manager Operating Systems? What operating systems are available for running the Autodesk Spark Print Manager? (https://spark.autodesk.com/developers/reference/printer-manufacturers/integrate-your-printer/integrate-your-printer-model)

I'm finding the documentation a little difficult to parse. It does seem that there are only build options for Windows or Mac, but I want to confirm.

Thanks!

I checked https://spark.autodesk.com/developers/reference/desktop-applications/print-manager. It seems that Print manager is a application written in JavaScript and its source code is available on github.

So you have to install node.js to run it. So you can use all major OS (win, mac, linux, ...).


StepStick Protectors How do StepStick Protectors work and what exactly do they protect?

If I use them with Pololu style stepper drivers, can I unplug for example the motor while the driver is powered without damaging the driver?

To Protect, or Not to Protect

From the web site you reference:

  The SilentStepStick Protector is an add-on module for StepStick and
  Pololu A4988 compatible stepper motor drivers. The board provides
  flyback diodes (freewheeling diodes) for the motor outputs, so that
  they are also protected against induction voltages in the unpowered
  state of the driver.

  The v2 protector also contains a diode from the logic voltage (anode)
  to the motor voltage (cathode), so that the power supply order of all
  SilentStepSticks is always guaranteed.

Since I assume you've read this, please indulge some explanation of the electrical engineering.

Motors

Every motor has a part called the "rotor" that rotates, and a part called the "stator" that is stationary.

In the stepper motors usually used in 3D printers, the rotor is a permanent magnet and the stator consists of coils of wire.  In normal operation, the current flowing through the coils creates a magnetic field.  The rotor aligns itself with the field of the stator.  To move, the stator field is shifted by changing the current in the coils, and the magnetic force causes the rotor to rotate to align the fields.

Generated Voltages

As Faraday discovered, a changing magnetic field induces a voltage in a wire.  There are two ways that the magnetic field changes.  The first is that the current changes or stops.  That introduces little high voltage blips into the motor coils.  The motor drivers are well prepared to handle this blips.  The second is when the rotor is forced to turn by an outside force, such as sliding the bed.  As these voltages are not related to action the motor driver is causing, some of the techniques used to handle the voltage spikes may not be as robust.

The protection boards you point to consist of diodes to limit the magnitude of the voltages that the coil can produce.  This is redundant with the diodes and protections built into the driver chips, but it may offer stronger protection.

Benefits?

In this responder's opinion, you are unlikely to see a great benefit from these boards, but perhaps there are vulnerabilities I am unaware of.  You are also unlikely to do any harm.

You asked specifically if, with the protectors installed, you could unplug the motor while it is passing current.  The protectors may help with that, or they may not.  Interrupt the connection creates a spark, and arcing through the air, that makes many high-frequency components which may not (or may) be effectively clamped by the diodes.  For best results, you could add the protectors, and also avoid interrupting the motor current while powered.


Temp Tower Setup Troubles -- Slic3r (How do you format G-Code {if} statements?) I watched with great interest this video: Temp Tower - Slic3r Gcode Placeholders - How To - Chris's Basement -- Jan 23, 2019    Chris Riley

I found a model I'm happy with: Smart compact temperature calibration tower by gaaZolee, December 24, 2017 Uses Layer 0.20 mm  infill: 15 %

I'm testing a stubborn new spool of PLA.  Temp range of test 225 °C to 180 °C.  That model above came with recommended ifstatements.  I verified that with 100 % thickness on first layer, I'm exactly hitting all the Z targets at exactly the correct place for each temperature story on the tower.

I'm using the Slic3r "Printer Settings" tab - to place my if statements in place at "Before Layer Change G-Code".

It's not clear to me on the format required for a G-Code {if} statement.  I've tried...

{if layer_z == 7.8}M104 S225{endif};   // fail, this converts to: M104 S225 {endif}
{if layer_z==1.6}M104 S225             // fail, this converts to: M104 S225
{if [layer_z]==1.6} M104 S225          // fails, this converts to: (null)
{if [layer_num]==8} M104 S225          // fails, this converts to: (null)
{if layer_num==8} M104 S225          // fails, this converts to: M104 S225

In detail what I'm seeing is the if statements from all ten towers prints as change temp to 225, 220, 215, 210... down to 180 (last entry) and 180 °C is where ALL my prints get printed at.  Total Fail.

I'm just not seeing anything in the Gcode output from Slic3r that remotely looks like an if statement.  Any ideas here?  I've seen this reference, on advanced conditional G-Code but I'm just not understanding what to do here.

I do see from Slic3r Custom G-Code Placeholder Reference, that I'm using the correct terms.   [layer_z] - Z height of the active layer, and [layer_num] - Integer number of the active layer. It's not clear if their use in "Before Layer Change G-Code" require the square brackets or not.

Any clues on how to get an if statement into G-Code via Slic3r for a temperature tower print?

So I think I figured this one out.  I was looking at it a bit wrong.  And here's my code:
; Note to self:  layer_z = [layer_z]
; T tower floor 1
{if [layer_z]==1.6} M104 S225 T0
; T tower floor 2
{if [layer_z]==11.6} M104 S220 T0
; T tower floor 3
{if [layer_z]==21.6} M104 S215 T0
; T tower floor 4
{if [layer_z]==31.6} M104 S210 T0
; T tower floor 5
{if [layer_z]==41.6} M104 S205 T0
; T tower floor 6
{if [layer_z]==51.6} M104 S200 T0
; T tower floor 7
{if [layer_z]==61.6} M104 S195 T0
; T tower floor 8
{if [layer_z]==71.6} M104 S190 T0
; T tower floor 9
{if [layer_z]==81.6} M104 S185 T0
; T tower floor 10
{if [layer_z]==91.6} M104 S180 T0

The key to understanding what is going on is the ; Note to self:  layer_z = [layer_z] line.  The whole block of code above gets repeated for every layer of the print in the G-code, but it gets evaluated.  And when I search for "layer z =" and scan thru the code.. I eventually see this...
; Note to self:  layer_z = 1.6
; T tower floor 1
 M104 S225 T0                  <---- Yowza. Nice.
; T tower floor 2
; T tower floor 3
; T tower floor 4
; T tower floor 5
; T tower floor 6
; T tower floor 7
; T tower floor 8
; T tower floor 9
; T tower floor 10

and then again:
; Note to self:  layer_z = 11.6
; T tower floor 1
; T tower floor 2
 M104 S220 T0           <---- Yes!
; T tower floor 3
...

All good. You have to have {} and [] within the code statements...
Addendum:  So it turns out things are not quite perfect.  I'm noticing at the upper floors, where things should be cooler, the temperature isn't changing.  Its locked at 215C.  I see this in the code:
; Note to self:  layer_z = 31.5999999999999      <--- not sure how that happened.
; T tower floor 1
; T tower floor 2
; T tower floor 3
; T tower floor 4
; T tower floor 5
; T tower floor 6
; T tower floor 7
; T tower floor 8
; T tower floor 9
; T tower floor 10

31.6 would have triggered a temperature change.  31.5999999999999 won't do it. I need to modify the {if... == } to a complex test between two values...   Just wanted to share that observation here.
I do see from this reference that

Expressions may be chained for an implicit AND:
{if [layer_num] == 10}{if [temperature_1] != 210}M104 S210

And this seems to fix it:
; Note to self:  layer_z = [layer_z]
; T tower floor 1
{if [layer_z]<=1.65}{if [layer_z]>1.55} M104 S225 T0
; T tower floor 2
{if [layer_z]<=11.65}{if [layer_z]>11.55} M104 S220 T0
; T tower floor 3
{if [layer_z]<=21.65}{if [layer_z]>21.55} M104 S215 T0
; T tower floor 4
{if [layer_z]<=31.65}{if [layer_z]>31.55} M104 S210 T0
; T tower floor 5
{if [layer_z]<=41.65}{if [layer_z]>41.55} M104 S205 T0
; T tower floor 6
{if [layer_z]<=51.65}{if [layer_z]>51.55} M104 S200 T0
; T tower floor 7
{if [layer_z]<=61.65}{if [layer_z]>61.55} M104 S195 T0
; T tower floor 8
{if [layer_z]<=71.65}{if [layer_z]>71.55} M104 S190 T0
; T tower floor 9
{if [layer_z]<=81.65}{if [layer_z]>81.55} M104 S185 T0
; T tower floor 10
{if [layer_z]<=91.65}{if [layer_z]>91.55} M104 S180 T0


Are there many assembly type 3D printers? I am wondering if anyone here knows of any 3D printers that work by assembling models from parts instead of extruding or setting material.

The closest I have found is the pixelstone but it appears to only be a prototype and I haven't seen or heard of any progress on it in over a year.

There is a similar house printer fastbrick but it is also just a prototype.

There is research papers on rapid prototyping with lego blocks and software for this (brickify), but these don't have machine assembly.

And there are 3D printers that can do conductive filament in the model but none of these seem to do pick and place as well and they still need a human to add the electronics or to change the tool head. (firepick)

So are there any 3D printers that work like pick and place machines and just stick blocks together?

Yes and no:

Yes, there are machines, that assemble things from parts. For example, SMT placement equipment & pick-and-place-machines. Almost all electronics are made this way. In fact, a lot of items are made by using Pick-and-Place machines in the final assembly.

On the other hand: No, there is no 3D-printer, that works by just being a P&P machine: it simply is not inside the specifications of additive manufacturing to be just an assembly machine. That is an assembly or pick and place machine, no matter if they call it printing. It is not.

However, I have seen a recent makerfaire video and a talk that was showing a prototype of an E3D toolhead swapper, which - in its idea - would allow to combine a 3D printer with a P&P machine. Their idea is to fully automate the manufacturing process, including adding non-printed parts with grabbers or the like.


How to fix evenly spaced vertical print pattern These lines exist on all prints, PLA, ABS.
They're 0.800mm apart [20T 2GT pulley, 1.8deg/step motor = 1 line/4 full-steps]
Start to disappear above 75mm/s but will still appear on slower axis when printing diagonal lines or curves
Custom built frame, cross bar (Ultimaker style) using linear rails
dual-motor(4 total on X-Y) + separate driver (1motor/driver)
Running Smoothieware on Smoothieboard 5X [A5984 drivers, 32 microstep]

Tried all these with no improvement:
TL;DR problem is somewhere between drivers and motors

Switched to 6.625:1 geared extruder
Tried parallel, series, single coil on the 8 wires motor and 2 other different motors
Enable fast decay mode on A5984
Motor current from 0.5A to 1.8A
PLA temp from 170~200
Acceleration as low as 100mm/s2
**Changed 20T to 16T pulleys. The pattern scaled down proportional to the change in tooth count. Ruled out mechanical issues.

The fact that these are all perfectly spaced, and don't mirror the edges of irregular prints, makes me think it's definitely not ghosting. That said, I can't see the Y direction on either print, just the X direction, so this all assumes it's only happening in one direction.
One thing to think about: Your motors have typically 2 opposing coils, and they get activated by taking 4 steps: (North, off, South):
N/o
o/N
S/o
o/S
If these are spaced out exactly 4 steps apart, that would imply that one of your coils is either underpowered or overpowered on the motor controlling that direction's movement. That would lead to your motor torque dipping and increasing, leading to slightly uneven print speed. This is 100% speculative and might be a goose chase since you've got 4 X/Y motors and it seems to happen in both the X and Y axis. The chances of having that many motors exhibit the same deficiency is astronomical.

That said, I've got little experience with multiple motors per axis. Another thing you might look into is whether the motors are fighting each other at all. If, for example, the motor-side pulley isn't aligned exactly the same way on both X motors, or the motors get out of sync with each other, because of the way the motor's holding torque falls as you get away from a full step position, you might find that one motor is holding the other back slightly, or pulling it forward towards the nearest full step. Again, this is all speculative, but it might be worth looking into. You can typically figure out the full step location by killing power to the machine and letting the motors settle into a full step on their own without the belts or other drive mechanisms attached. I'd unhook the belts, kill the power, get the motors settled (with a bit of a nudge if necessary), and then see if your belt perfectly settles into both pulleys in that location. You might find that the belt teeth don't quite line up on both pulleys, and the only way I can think of that would fix that specific problem is spinning the motor until it matches, or even physically relocating the motor closer or farther relative to the other on the same axis.

YMMV, best of luck.


Double Image Along X Axis Recently my printer has been creating double images along the X-axis, I just printed a calibration cube after checking all of my rods to make sure nothing was catching and here was my result:

It looks like there is another X to the right of the X that is supposed to be, would this be a retraction problem, or could it be a problem with the filament because I printed a calibration cube with another filament a couple of weeks ago and there was no double X.

I agree with @FernandoBaltazar. You have several things going on. If the problem is recent, you may have loose belts, but you may also need to perform acceleration and jerk tuning. Reducing your print speeds may also help.


Does PLA block wifi signals? I printed a raspberry pi case from PLA. This case.

I fitted it to my raspberry pi and now the wifi keeps dropping out. When I take it out of the case there is no problem.

The filament I am using is Black, 3D Hero 1.75mm.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before, if so how did you work around it?
Is it common with PLA is there another material that wouldn't cause an issue?

Typically the black pigments in polymers are mineral based. If you are having true WiFi issues then it sounds like your filiment is using black iron oxide also called magnetite for the black pigment. This is the same material they use in radar absorbing paints which would make sense as to why you are having radio related issues.


How to make a printer bed vibrate using g-code (heated chemical stirrer)? I was just about to start using my 3D printers heated bed to warm a chemical reaction in a container and was thinking it would be great to be able to get the bed stepping back and forth to stir the pot.
Can anyone already up to speed in programming G-code walk me through a quick and dirty way to get the X-axis on my old Printrbot metal doing a couple of micro-steps either way in an endless loop? Or suggest some software out there that could achieve the same effect?

Basically you need to write a G-code file yourself. This is a plain text file with a .g extension.

You need to home the printer with G28, then move the Y axis all the way forward (for a Prusa style printer) with G1 F1500 Y{ymax} (where {ymax} is the length of the bed). Now raise the head with a similar command G1 F500 Z{zmax} (where {zmax} is the height of the printer volume).

Heating the bed is done with M190 S60 (set and wait to reach 60 °C).

You can now rock the Y axis by moving it fast, e.g. with G1 F5000 Y{ymax-5}, G1 Y{ymax-1}, Y{ymax-5}, Y{ymax-1}, etc.


How to repair burnt heat bed connector? My Anet A8 suddenly had issues with being unable to heat the bed. After ruling out software issues, I disconnected the connector and found this (sorry for the terrible quality):

The left most pin on the male connector (bed) is also charred. How could I best repair this?

Owning an Anet A8 I confirm that the connectors are not rated for the amount of current that pass through them. You do not need a new bed unless the heat element has burned through (but that is pretty uncommon, it usually is the connector). This burning of the bed connectors is a very well known problem of the Anet A8 printers; these connectors are just not rated for the current and the movement of the bed. It is best not to use a connector at all! And yes, the Anet A8 default printer firmware does not have any build in protection for thermal runaway! It is always advised to immediately flash another firmware, e.g. Marlin firmware.

The best repair is to get some high quality silicone AWG 14/16 wires and solder these directly onto the back of the pins of the connector. Also crimp forks to the other end to connect the wires correctly to the printer board.

What I did was cutting up the connector to leave only the 2 middle pins (for connecting the bed thermistor, which does not use much power) and soldered the red wire to the left 2 pins and the black to the right 2 pins. You can do that at the back side of the socket where the pins make an angle.


Anet A8 (Prusa i3) Power Supply Fuse A little backstory to help you understand the situation.  I put the 3D printer together and turned it on and everything seemed fine until I started printing.  It didn't even get the first layer down when the screen reset and so did the print.  I didn't think anything of it, I just went back and tried again, but this time right when I pressed start, the fuse blew.

I have done some research on the issue and haven't had any luck besides recommendations for putting in a secondary fuse before the power supply (which I will be doing in the near future).  As for now though, my plan is to just replace the power supply fuse if possible.  I went to the hardware store and picked up a Bussmann T5AL/250V fuse (photo attached below) and before I put it in, I just want to make sure this is the correct fuse and I'm not going to kill the entire printer this time.

Picture showing the internals of the power supply unit:

Picture of the fuse I bought:

Any and all help is very much appreciated because as you might expect, I'm not too happy with the printer so far.

The fuse rating is same as described on the board - so that shall be no issue with it.

My main concern is why the fuse is down?

Was there a short-circuit? As this is mains fuse - that suggest a big-bang, so, please check carefully hot-end and bed heater connections before restarting the device, to avoid replacing another fuse.


How to modify G-code or a better place to get it I have built a 3D printer from salvaged/purchased parts. I am using an Arduino Uno and three easy driver stepper drivers with 3 CD-ROMs drives and a PC power unit. I ordered a 3D pen and have it mounted with a transistor to switch it on/off. Everything works but when I try to run code that I got from makercam.com it seems like it wants to fill in the shape rather than build up.

I followed this tutorial YouTube - How To Make A Cheap 3D Printer and after modifying the G-code I am unable to get any successful prints.

Download an stl file from Thingiverse.com

Put your .stl file in a slicer program like cura

It will output gcode for 3d objects rather than 2d.


Do I need a heated bed for printing PLA in an enclosed printer? I am planning on building a large enclosed (Cartesian XY-Head) 3d printer. I want to keep the inital build time minimal and it is very likely I would need to build the ~50x50cm heatbed from scratch, because it doesn't exist in ebay.
The enclosure itself is not separately heated, but depends on waste heat from the printing process. The enclosure will eventually be vented outdoors with a 12V CPU vent via ducting (air flow unknown).

Do I even need a heated print bed, when I am planning to only print PLA?

The answer is "No" you don't need a heated bed for PLA but it does make the base layer a little easier to lay down and also helps with print removal post print.

PLA is a very easy filament to work with and the majority of PLA printers don't come with heated beds and suggest blue tape and/or elmers glue.

You may find that if you are purchasing very cheap/poorly extruded PLA, that things don't stick as well and a heated bed can alleviate some of these issues.


Drop in temperature after couple layers I'm printing basically a large flat square pane. This goes fine for 3 layers, after which the temperature suddenly drops by about ten degrees. After a while, my printer goes into thermal runaway protection.
I restarted my print, and as soon as the temperature drops, I pause the print. I wait for it to go up again, and resume. It starts dropping again, so I decide to see about continuing this part at 200 degrees (which worked quite fine, so I think I'll stick at 200 for now.)

I have tested running the printer at 210 and turning on the fan, thinking maybe it's simply related to that. That does not give a thermal runaway, and a drop of 2 degrees max. My assumption is that it's the PID.
How do I fix this?
My printer is a heavily modified Anet a8, running Marlin.

I had a similar problem with an Anet A8 once. The problem was, that the thermistor wasn't mounted right in the heat block, so the air flow cooled it while the print head was moving. You can check, whether this is a problem at your printer.


Font suitable for 3D printing I am looking for a font, which is connected and has a good line width (so that it can be 3D printed). Something like in the image below:

Something like in the image above would be great, but I don't know the name. Do you have a suggestion for a font?

That particular font is Sarina Regular and is part of the Google Fonts collection. Just Google "connected handwritten fonts" to find more. Kimberly Geswein does a good selection of handwritten fonts. A lot of them are constant width, but most are unconnected.


How to identify nozzle wear E3D-Online and Make Magazine have written about the potential damage printing carbon fiber and glow in the dark filaments can do to your printer's nozzle.
What I can't seem to find is what clues or warning signs to be on the look out for if your nozzle has taken a significant amount of wear. I've printed a few hundred grams of glow filament personally and have not noticed any change in print quality.
E3D says you may have "unpredictable erratic printing" with a worn nozzle. Can anyone explain or provide examples of what this actually means and when a replacement is necessary?

I believe the little experiment made by E3D - the same link you provide - answers your question very well. Several points about wear can be found in this article. After printing only 250 grams of ColorFabb XT-CF20 (carbon fiber filament):

The nozzle diameter had increased markedly
The inner walls of the orifice (opening) showed deep sharp ridges and grooves
The tip of the nozzle had become critically rounded, and shortened

All of these symptoms were found repeatedly for standard brass nozzles.

In particular, I believe the last of these symptoms may be the one most easily identifiable without accurate measuring equipment (and without observing print quality).

With regards to reduction in print quality, these symptoms could be simulated by:

Setting the nozzle diameter too big in your slicer
Leveling your bed too high (the rounded tip will also reduce the length of the tip)
Printing with a partial clog that interruptus normal filament flow (due to the grooves and ridges)

Exactly what this will look like on your printed part is hard to predict, but I would assume you could see blobs, under-extrusion, poor layer adhesion, as well as an irregular surface finish of your top layers.


Using stepper motors with integrated controllers I just scavenged stepper motors from an old laser printer. These have integrated controllers. I'd like to use them without dismantling the controllers. I currently have 4, 6 and 9 wires stepper motors. Any help would be reatly appreciated :) Thanks !

Many of the motors that look like stepper motors in laser printers are actually three-phase brush-less DC motors.  These look like stepper motors, but are intended to be used differently, controlled differently, and serve a different function.  Like stepper motors, they have a permanent magnet rotor surrounded by coils of wire.

They typically are used in applications that require a definite rotation speed, rather than a definite position -- velocity rather than location. They create feedback to their controlling board via an encoder.

Differences include having a smaller number of poles, and possibly having three coils rather than two.  I suspect that the magnetic field profiles of the poles may also be different, since the primary design purpose is not to sharply define the restoring torque curve for a small deviation of the rotor from a rotational position.

If these are the type of motors you have in hand, you won't find them very useful for a 3D printer motion control system.  They are great for any form of continuous movement where position isn't critical -- maybe wheel motors for robots or for peristaltic pumps on your automated drink mixer.

You may ask on what experience I speak.  I have done tear-down analysis of several laser printers by different manufacturers.


Clearance between moving parts I am using a Prusa printer to print parts for prototyping. The project I am currently working on needs parts to be able to slide against each other and they need to be printed together. A bit like these gears, where the whole construction needs to be printed in one go and the gears need to be free to move afterwards. What clearance should one use between such moving/sliding parts to make it snug but not unmovable?

Each printer will have different "print in place" tolerances, but you can find such a model with which to determine the numbers you seek.

One such item is on Thingiverse:


What level of detail can be expected from a consumer-grade SLS printer? I'd like to prefix this question with the fact that I know virtually nothing about 3D printers, aside from the general principles of how they work.

I've recently seen that SLS printers have become more affordable, to the point where in a few years they might be a compelling investment. I'm mainly interested in 3D printing miniatures for painting, and as such this one:

For scale, the miniature is about 150 mm long. I'm mainly worried about smaller details, such as the faces of the Gunner or Driver. Will a consumer-grade SLS printer be able to print to such level of detail?

Consumer Market?
While there are no "consumer level" SLS printers on the market currently, the question in itself is very interesting on a scientific level. The pricing edges for the consumer market for 3D printers can be somewhat estimated from the consumer electronics segment. This puts a maximum price tag of about 2000-2500 \$ onto it, comparable to a high-end PC.
CurrentlyFeb. 2020, most SLS machines come with 'inquire for price' or with prices of 5000 \$ or larger price tags, which indicates they are intended for professional or industrial use. Most SLS printers in consumer hands seem to be phased out older systems from second hand. So while there are for sure tries to get SLS more affordable, it is not there yet.
Resolution of SLS
SLS printers have resolutions based on two factors1:

grain size
laser diameter

Generally speaking, the finer the grain and more focussed the laser, the better the resolution. Current industrial machines - even cheap ones - work with particle sizes between 20 and 80 µm, with the bulk being around 40 to 60 µm2.
The laser focus point ranges generally in the "tens of µm"1, and is listed with values between 50 and 300 µm for most ceramic powders in that paper.
Conclusion
As a rule of thumb, 50 µm seems to be the average nylon spot size, which is very much comparable with resin printers using SLA/mSLA/DLP technology. Details on miniatures are usually in the area of 100-200 µm, so are well achieveable with either.
Comparison SLS to SLA/mSLA/DLP
Resin technology has the benefit of being easier accessible with some entry level printes between 200 and 500 \$. Nylon SLS prints do demand a sealant but prints without any supports, Resin does at times need support.
Printing times for DLP/mSLA is not dependant on the ammount of space used, making packing the build surface with as many models as possible benefitial, while SLS, like FDM, works with a moving spot, so the ammount of models increases print time.
Both Technologies work with hazardous material - resin and very fine powders respecively - and demand proper PPE to handle them.


Is a BLTouch probe used during a print after the first layer? I was looking at a BLTouch probe, and saw the recent question about one with intermittent failure. That was kind of scary, where I might spend a bunch of money for something that would make my printer harder to use, rather than easier.

But I was curious. I don't have any personal experience using these, but it seems like the probe would only be used during an initial level and when homing the Z axis. Thus, as long as the probe works most of the time, and failure to home properly doesn't damage your nozzle or print bed, maybe this kind of thing isn't too bad.

Is this assessment of how the probe functions (that it's not really used after the start of a print) accurate?

In the spirit of stack exchange, I'm not interested in the subjective issue of nozzle or print bed damage; I'm only asking about the objective assessment of how a probe is used by the printer.

Your assessment is correct, after probing before printing it deploys several times, after that it is stowed till the end of the print unless you call for deployment.

The probe is used by G-code command G29; this command is used by a few printer firmwares to perform a bed probing sequence where, depending on the options set in the firmware, the surface of the bed is scanned by deploying the sensor at various locations. From these measurements, the firmware will determine the shape or tilt of the bed to compensate for deviations in Z height during the first couple of layers or millimeters of the print. Basically, it will keep your nozzle (approximately, as it is based on calculations) at the same distance all over the bed area.

Once the print starts after the G29 command, the sensor is stowed until the next print calls the G29 command (or M280 with arguments to deploy on Marlin/Duet/Smoothieware, or M340 on Repetier firmware).


Feasible 3D Printed Snap Connectors I have Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printer and I need to print a piece that doesn't fit within the build volume of the printer. Even though it would fit I'd still need to print it in two parts because I'll need to fit some equipment inside. I could use glue to put it together, but I'll need to remove the equipment later.

So I'm trying to find some feasible solutions how to attach/snap it together. The wall thickness is currently 3mm.

Plane for cutting the part.

Cut cross section.

If the equipment has to be removable, then there's no point in trying to make a one-piece object in the first place.  So it looks like you have two problems. The first is to decide what's the best way to split your container to facilitate both putting the equipment inside & removing it; the second is how to latch the two together.  I can't answer the first since you haven't shown us the equipment.

As to the second: there are a number of plans for spring-latching connectors (such as used with straps, backpack covers, etc) on thingiverse.com.  If you have no constraints on the exterior of your container, I would just merge the latching connectors into the container wall (e.g. with meshmixer) .


Cura with Pronterface UI stops printing When I use Cura with the Pronterface UI it sometime just stops printing.

When it stops the printer just stops, the UI looks like it's still printing but nothing is moving in the printer, also, trying to control the printer from the UI does nothing.

It always stops early in the printing process, usually during the auto-leveling process or while printing the skirt, the latest it happened was during the first solid layer of a raft.

Usually closing the printing window and re-opening it solves the problem but not always, this never happened to me with the basic UI, I couldn't find any settings that makes the problem better or worse, it just happens randomly.

Anyone knows how to stop that from happening?

My printer is a Robo 3D R1+

Update

After installing a screen on my printer I discovered Pronterface is sending a "Wait for user" G Code to the printer.

Because this changes the question too much and invalidates the existing answer I've asked a new question at What makes Pronterface wait for user?

A problem I have come across when using Pronterface is that the operating system starves the resources of the program if the program's window is not in the front.

If I, for instance, started a print, then started browsing the web, it would sometimes suddenly stop. When bringing Pronterface back to the front, it would take a few seconds, and then continue (if I remember correctly).

On OS X - which I am using - I believe this is called app nap, while a similar mechanism exist for Windows. I ended up printing form an SD card myself after this, but you might want to try manually setting the resource priority for Pronterface in your OS.

In Windows, you could trying to increase the resource allocation for Pronterface by going to Task Manager -> Details -> Right click the Pronterface process -> Set Priority. I would be careful to set it too high, since you are basically allowing the program more juice to potentially do something wrong.

In OS X you could try to disable app nap for Pronterface.


Z motors only working manual, do not home correctly I'm currently setting up my custom built 3D printer with a BTT SKR mini E3 v1.2, and so far I have all the endstops and x and y motors working. The problem is that when trying to home my z motors, they just vibrate and make a lot of noise, which tells me they're not getting enough current(which makes sense cause there's two of them as opposed to the other axis). The weird part is that when I manually control them on pronterface, that is just clicking up and down on the arrow wheel, they work perfectly fine. It's only when homing that they vibrate and make a lot of noise. I've tried using the M906 command to raise the current on the motors - they started at 560, and I slowly worked my way up to 4000 - and witnessed no difference. I'm not sure what to adjust from here. Thanks for the help in advance!

Jogging the Z axis may be a sequence of very short moves, happening relatively slowly.

Homing may be a longer, faster move.  The homing move would depend more heavily on the maximum velocity, maximum acceleration, and jerk parameters.  If there are too high the z axis won't operate properly since the motors will attempt to move faster than is supported by the torque, and the rotating magnetic field will lose control of the permanent magnet rotor.

To fix this, find how the motion limit parameters are controlled for your software, and reduce them all by a factor of 50. It should work, although perhaps too slowly.

I would also reduce the current setting.  Microstepping motors doesn't work when the magnetic field is driven to saturation.


Anet A8 Hot End Spares Quey I saw an extruder mod on Amazon "EAONE 2 Pcs PTFE Teflon Tube (2 Meters) with 4 Pcs PC4-M6 Fittings for 3D Printer 1.75mm Filament (2.0mm ID/4.0mm OD)"
Anybody know how this is fitted?  Is it simply tapping the feed hole on the top?

Is this what you are referring to?

If yes, the cold end of the extruder is nomally already tapped and you simply have to screw the new fitting in it.  The PTFE tube itself needs just to be fed through the hole in the fitting until it cannot go any further.

Failing to do so will most likely result in a clog and/or leaking.

It is a self-locking mechanism, in order to release the tube you have to press down the plastic flange on top of the fitting while pulling up the PTFE tube.