MOSFET burned and high heated bed resistance I am a newbie to 3D printing and I am making a 3D printer from scratch (Cartesian). I've got a RAMPS 1.4 shield and an Arduino Mega 2560 board. I have a few questions and it would be very nice if I can get answers.
The onboard MOSFET (STP55NFO6L) for the heatbed is dead and I think that the reason is because of the high resistance of my heat bed (1.8 Ω).
I have searched a lot and I am fully confused about what to do.

I am thinking of buying an external MOSFET and wire it up with the RAMPS fan MOSFET (STP55NF06L) and use the same heat bed.

Buy an external MOSFET and replace the onboard MOSFET (dead one) with the fan MOSFET (because of the underlying 11 A circuit) and use same heatbed.

Same as 2., but buying a new heatbed also.

Buying a RAMPS 1.6 and use old heatbed.

I am totally confused because of lot of searching. Please anybody help me. What should I do?

The resistance of the heated bed being too high can not have caused the MOSFET to burn out. Only a too low resistance could cause that.
Keep in mind that measuring relatively low resistances (such as the one of your heated bed) is difficult, and if you just used a regular multimeter it might indicate a wrong value (e.g. due to the resistance of the test leads or a poor connection between the probe and heated bed). Therefore, the actual resistance might be (slightly) lower.
A 1.8 Ω heated bed at 12 V will draw around 7 A of current. This is well within the capabilities of the MOSFET on board of the RAMPS. So either the resistance of the heated bed is lower than you measured (if the resistance was 1.2 Ω or lower this could cause the MOSFET to burn out), or you simply got unlucky with the quality of your RAMPS board.
The (supposedly) high resistance definitely doesn't make the heated bed compatible with 24 V. Using a 1.8 Ω bed with 24 V would cause a 13 A current draw and 320 W of power. This is a lot more than is sensible for a 214 mm x 214 mm bed.
All of the alternatives 1 and 4 you have listed are reasonable options. There is no reason (option 3) to replace the heated bed as there is no indication it is faulty. I see no reason to take option 2 since it involves desoldering and resoldering the fan MOSFET for no reason (if you are using an external MOSFET the fuse is no longer a limitation). There is a chance you'll damage the MOSFET doing this and option 1 only requires a trivial firmware change.
Option 4 (upgrading to RAMPS 1.6) is purely a matter of personal preference.


Ender 3 v2 won't read or recognize any SD cards I've just received my Ender 3v2 and tried multiple SD cards, all have been formatted to FAT32 with no luck. Under the Print selection, all I get is the back button. I looked and I have the V4.2.2 and the firmware is up to date, Showing 1.0.2 unless this is not right and this is why I'm having this issue. Even when plugging directly into the computer, nothing is showing up.

Format for 32 with MBR for ender 3d I had similar issue. Check Reddit


Monoprice i3 clone heat shuts off printing abs I have the Monoprice Select 3D Printer (i3 clone). I'm trying to print ABS. I set the temperature to 230°C for the extruder and 110°C for the bed. I can see the printer warming up to those temperatures and then when it gets there the bed and extruder set temperatures reset to 0, and the print does not start.

I pulled the ABS out and went back to PLA and printed a part without any issues.

Any thoughts on what the issue might be?

this could be connected to a thermal shutdown protection.
Most firmwares requires a decent increase in temperature every few seconds.

if you use Marlin then in the source code you can extend thermal shutdown timings.

what to check:
check every single connector to eliminate any fiddling or play - risk of fire !!!

if any of wires goes hot - double check connections, replace wires/connectors

note temperature change (how many seconds/degree) on the hotbead
then increase voltage on psu (probably you have a led psu - so there is a small regulator next to the connectors)
validate if that help


Estimating printing time from Cura I know that the actual printing time is longer than the time estimated by Cura, due to acceleration and jerk factor.

However, I have printed a small pyramid for which Cura estimates 4.0 minutes, while the measured printing time is 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
What reasons could produce this difference?

For clarity, I'm using a Delta Wasp 20 40 equipped with a clay extruder for which parameters such as E-step (for E axis) are unpredictable since I have no filament.

If you properly define your own machine with a delta_wasp.def.json file you can fill in the acceleration and jerk settings of your printer, so that Cura will use the correct values for print time estimation.

For example, take a look at how the Ultimaker 2 is defined.

Exposing these settings to the Custom FDM Printer wizard hasn't been implemented (yet).


Print Nozzle Dragging and Smearing Filament while Printing I am building a Prusa i3 MK2 Clone and I am caught on this one. I have replaced the extruder with a MK8 adapted by myself to fit with most of the previous hardware from the E3D style extruder.

My current problem is that the nozzle appears to be dragging on the top of the layers. I can't tell if it's over extrusion or a layer height issue or what. I am testing by printing the 20mm calibration cube. The dimensions appear to be spot-on, but the layers start building up too much filament such that it just gets re-melted and shuffled around:

Anyone have a clue what this could be? Software, Hardware, Slic3r Settings?

I have:
0.5mm Nozzle Diameter.
MK8 Direct Drive extruder.

Anything else you want to know?

Thanks!

--- UPDATE ---

Thanks everyone for your help. Turns out it was seriously over-extruding, like 3x what it should have been! I ran through this instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-calibrate-the-Extruder-on-your-3d-Printer/ Which helped me with what I needed to do to fix the issue, but just re-flashed Marlin on the printer with the updated setting.

Here's the result! WAY better, I still have some z-wobbling issues but i think the frame just needs more support than it has now and that should fix up the slightly jagged corners.

You stated your print of a 20mm cube came out spot on so I will rule out any z-axis configuration issues. It clearly seems like you are extruding too much plastic.

I use slic3r myself with repetier so I am familiar with the settings.

Print Settings - Advanced

All the values should be 0 except first layer sometimes is 100%-200% depending on your personal setup. Increasing these values may cause more filament to leave the extruder.

Filament Settings - Diameter

This should be set to 1.75 or 3 depending on your filament size. If you accidentally have it set to 1.75 when your filament is 3mm, it would probably be over-extruding since it pushing almost double the plastic with the same length.

Filament Settings - Extrusion multiplier

This should be set to 1 or slowly adjust it 0.05 increments to reduce overall amount of plastic leaving the nozzle.

Printer Settings - Nozzle diameter

This should be set to 0.5 since your nozzle is 0.5mm. Make sure your nozzle truly is this value.

EDITED 10/19/17 - OP has solved problem and his own answer made me realize I made mistake on how to measure and correct extrusion steps/mm. Ignore this below and see what OP wrote in their edit.

If all these Slic3r configurations fail or are correct and do not solve your problem, I think you may want to look into your motor step settings for the extruder. It may be too high pushing more filament than it should. To correct this, you need to do the length test where you will extrude 10mm or 50mm and measure the string of plastic. There might be some stretch so a 10mm may measure as 11mm but as long as your close it should be good. If you extrude 10mm and you measure 25mm, you need to recalculate your steps per mm.

Also for your first layer, make sure it is not being smushed to the build plate. You want it to be flattened a little to provide good adhesion but not too close to the build plate where it would constrict the nozzle.

Hope this helps, and good luck on your prints. May you never have to deal with thermal runaway error :)


Auto bed leveling: systematic slope I have a heavily modified DiscoEasy 200 from Dagoma, see picture:

The heatbed is mounted on 4 springs, on top of the original plate. I made sure the X carriage was parallel to the table. I then tried to level the bed manually, with the 4 springs: I pushed the nozzle into each corner of the bed, and used the paper-gauge method to adjust the springs so that the bed would always be at the same distance of the nozzle. I then setup the Z-offset on the machine and tried to print a mainstream bed leveling test from thingiverse. I use a 4 points auto bed leveling.

And I have a systematic problem. Every time I try the bed leveling test, it seems the right side of the bed is lower than the left one. The front and rear right corners seem to be lower than on the left side. I tried to expand the springs of the front and rear right corners, but the auto bed leveling at the beginning of my prints re-introduces the problem.

The right side seems to be ~100 µm lower than what it should be. It's not a lot, but it's enough for prints to fail.

I can't figure out what the problem is. Do you have any idea? it's driving me crazy to not understand where the problem comes from.

Did you check if your bed is parallel to the gantry?

It can happen that after leveling one side and moving  to the other the adjustment there puts the first side out of alignment - I level my bed by doing some couple turns


Partial underextrusion in walls I'm facing weird "pillars" of underextrusion on outer walls of my XYZ test cube.

On the pictures below I`ve printed PLA test cubes with a 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2 mm height and 210/50 °C hotends/bed temperature.

Gaps are appearing in walls parallel to both X and Y sides. The pictured side is parallel to Y face.

I'm slicing with Cura, my printer is a homebuilt around Anycubic Kossel with Marlin 2.0 onboard.

What have I tried already:
1. Temperature from 190 to 210 °C
2. Retraction from none to 6 mm 60 mm/sec
3. Tuning down Jerk in Marlin from [10,10,0.3] to [5,5,0.3]
4. Tuning down acceleration from 3000 to 1000
5. Tuning print speed from 60 to 30 mm/sec
6. Checking belts, nozzle and extruder.

Now I just ran out of ideas. Delta is calibrated by G33 autotune. Mechanics looks just fine. What am I missing?

UPD1: tried removing combing - it did not help. But I noticed that my printer accelerates strangely at this parts

UPD2: could it be stuttering? I have 320 segments per second with block buffer size of 8 bytes(?)

UPD3: lowering segments count to 120 and raising block size to 32

Localized underextrusion usually means you're oozing material somewhere it wasn't supposed to go. Since you have Marlin 2.0, linear advance might help solve that, and in general right retraction amount is important and turning off combing may be needed (combing over infill allows material to ooze).

Also there are reported bugs in Marlin 2.0 such as  https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/issues/15473 that might be related, though I would think you'd not be using junction deviation since it's supposedly incompatible with deltas.


PLA 3D Print longevity after being printed I am curious about the longevity of a PLA printed part used in a commercial application.  It would be a mounting bracket installed in an industrial enclosure.  The internal cabinet temperature would be less than 100 °F, and have an internal air circulation fan to keep the control PLC cool.

It would be in a steel enclosure, in an industrial environment, with no sunlight or UV exposure.

Would the PLA hold up over time, or have any issues with delamination or brittleness?

I've had white Hatchbox PLA parts in use outside in direct or partial sun for 3+ years without issue. It may help if you paint the parts for outdoor use, but I suspect the environment you describe would be fine for several years.


Filament not feeding then eventually blocked I have an ANET A2 Prusa - which I've setup and performed a few prints on and they have various problems with the quality.  I'm after some specific experience on what the flow of filament should look like or if my decription triggers someone

I've been adjusting settings - In particular the temperature - as the filament seemed too fluid as I could easily cause a large spurt of molten plastic by manually pushing the filament with very little effort.

So I reduced the head temperature to 195 and all seemed better

However after a time - I noticed on a longer print that the feeding was sometimes failing with the filament jerking back as the feeder slipped off it

The stepper did not appear to slip back just the gear skipped on the filament
It appeared to cause a problem in the print with a few of the lines being missing before it started extruding normally again

I increased the temperature back to 200 - however the issue continued intermittently however I left it and when I returned the head had become blocked with the final part of the succesful print consisting of very thin hair like extrusions and eventually stopping completely

The head is flooded and I need to clean it out

So my questions are - how runny should the filament look when the head is at the correct temperatures, is the extremely runny filament I saw at 200 obviously too hot - or is that normal or at least have people seen it looking like that when successfully printing?

Initially , before I reduced the temperature,  I doubled the skirt and that seem to make a good enough print

Does anyone have  experience of why it can seem to be printing but then slowly start failing until the head becomes blocked?

From my experience with mk8 extruders lower than optimal nozzle temperature or clogged nozzle can lead to an extruder's stepper motor overheating and partial burning out of a stepper

It looks like “Achilles' heel” of mk8 extruders. I had to change 4 stepper motors for 2 3d printers with mk8 due to that

First symptoms – skipped steps. You could also check a temperature of your stepper – next symptom is a high temperature of stepper motor after several hours of printing

My fix for this issue – adding cooling fans to stepper sides and top (3 fans). It significantly reduced overheating and hopefully a life of stepper

Another solution of this issue can be in using of a stepper motor with gearbox to increase torque on a filament gear, so no high torque needed from stepper itself

About printing temperature, it depends on plastic which you are using

I’m using ABS plastic with an optimal printing temperature from 230-260 Celsius degree. For my current plastic supplier optimal temp is about 255 Celsius degree

To check the optimal temperature for your plastic you can print one box in different temperatures depending on Z position and found the optimal temperature by the z position of surface with the best quality. You can find code samples how doing it here

If a temperature is too high then this part of the box will be bloated, if it's too low - you can see the gaps. Here is the video, which illustrating this for PLA

UPDATE:

The issue was in the low temperature of printing. After calibration and setting temperature by calibration outcomes to 200 Celsius degree printer started working well

However, please be aware of the fact that wrong printing temperature can not only decrease the quality of printed things, but also can lead to wear of your printer parts and even can break it


Is 3D printing safe for your health? I would like to buy a 3D printer, but I'm concerned about the health risks that are associated with its operation. Some groups of scientists say it can be harmful for humans.

What do I need to consider before buying a 3D printer if I care about my health? Are there any safe printers?

There is very little information about safety available, as home 3D printers are relatively new. However, plastics such as ABS have a long history in making plastic products, and a study found that at traditional manufacturing methods (such as injection molding and hot wire cutting) do not release dangerous levels of carcinogens and/or respiratory sensitizers in to the air.

Of course, 3D printers are not among the processes covered in the study. In home 3D printing circles, this study that looks at ultrafine particle (UFP) emissions, is often cited. It finds that printing ABS releases relatively high levels of UFP's and PLA releases significantly fewer (but still quite a large amount). However, it is unclear whether/how dangerous these UFP's are in the amounts emitted.

It is often suggested that PLA, partly because of the reduced UFP emissions is safer to print than ABS, partly because of its "natural" origins as it can be derived from materials such as cornstarch. I would caution against this line of reasoning since "natural" materials can still be poisonous (snake venom is natural, after all) and the cornstarch is heavily processed so it hardly resembles its original form. The lower UFP emissions may suggest it is safer, but the study is only quantitative, not qualitative.

That said, PLA does probably pose less of a risk (despite my earlier argumentation against "natural" materials, PLA does play quite nicely with the human body), but I contend the risk with ABS is not too large anyways, given that it has been safely used in factories for decades.

Another study is often miscited, supposedly saying that 3D printing ABS releases hydrogen cyanide. The study only looks at the thermal decomposition of ABS, which happens at significantly higher temperatures than are reached during printing (but a significantly malfunctioning printer might cause toxic gasses to be released, but I contend that at that point you should worry about your printer being on fire, rather than temporary exposure to some toxins).

There are no printers out there that are fundamentally safer than others. However, some printers have an enclosure (containing the fumes) and some even have a carbon filter and a fan for fume extraction. If you would like to err on the side of caution, this might be a good choice (but again, it is not clear if a carbon filter is totally effective).

Finally, as printers are generally quite noisy it tends to be preferrable to keep your printer in a separate room from where you usually work. In this case, fume exposure (during the few minutes that you go to check on your print) is minimal, and the potential advantages of a "safer" printers or using "safer" materials diminish.

Incidental exposure as a hobbyist is probably not a big deal; workers in factories are exposed to the fumes of melted plastic their entire lives and they don't seem to be dropping dead. On the other hand, if you are going to be printing structurally then it is probably preferable to move your printer to a separate room, if not because of health and safety because of the noise.


How do I keep my extruder head from getting clogged? Using a thermoplastic MDF printer with a 0.4mm extruder nozzle, I frequently have trouble with the nozzle getting clogged.

I am not sure what's causing the clog, but my guesses are dust and/or burnt filament (from leaving the hot end on without extruding).

What can I do to prevent, or at least minimize, the extruder nozzle getting clogged?

Bonus question: What other common causes of clogs are there? (ie what should I watch out for besides dust and leaving the hot end on?)

Different types of hotends and extruders can lead to different problems associated with clogging. Based on my personal experience the leading causes of clogs and jams are the following

Foreign material in the nozzle (dirt, dust, low quality filament)
Mixing materials in the hotend (running ABS at 220 then switching to PLA without purging the nozzle)
Excessive retraction or "heat soak" in PLA (PLA expands when heated if your retraction is set to high you can actually push the expanded PLA high enough that it cools down and can no longer flow)

To solve these issues I recommend using one type of filament, preferably decent quality (typically $40 per kg), if you swap materials be sure to completely purge your nozzle of the higher temperature material. Set your retraction as low as you can trying to minimize ooze (try .4 mm for all metal hotend or 2-3 mm for makerbot style). To minimize carbonized plastic in your hotend don't leave your hotend's heater on for extended periods of time. One way to keep dust from accumulating on your filament is to cover your rolls when you aren't using them, I personally use hairnets, you can buy a 12 pack for a couple of dollars and they last for a long time.


3D printing overhangs that are over .200 in I am new to 3D printing but have been in CNC Machining for a few years. I have a part I am trying to print that is a cylinder 1.000 in. in diameter and has a .200 in overhang starting at 1.300 in. In other words I am printing a 1.300 in. cylinder that is 1.500 in. tall that at 1.300 in. its diameter increases by .200 in.

When I first printed the part the overhang had sunk or fallen out. Not by much and is still usable but made a crappy finish. What would I need to do in order to have the overhang not drop as the base layer extended outward .200 in. at 1.300 in.?

I tried slowing the feed rate but that was worse. I also lowered the temp to 195 °C.

I am using a Monoprice Select Mini running at 200 °C and a 1.0 Speed (Not really sure what that feed rate is in terms of mm/s). Based on what I've seen so far I would increase the speed and keep the temp at 200 °C.

Any suggestions, I hope I have explained my problem well enough.

The world of 3D Printers usually uses the metric system, especially in nozzle sizes. 0.2 inches are therefore better referred to as 5 mm, which is a considerable amount: that's 11 to 13 perimeters from a 0.4 mm nozzle, depending on extrusion width (0.46 and 0.4 mm respectively). Furthermore, the bore of the item isn't supported either, it is bridging.

To print overhangs and bridging without sagging, one should activate the generation of support material in the slicer.

Generally speaking, PLA (judging from the print temperature) doesn't need to be printed with a raft and would be better served with a brim for bed adhesion, unless you have a perforated bed. If you have to print in the shown orientation, then you should activate support generation in your slicer.

For this part, however, there is a better solution: it is of very simple geometry and it doesn't have to be printed as shown but equally could be printed "upside-down" by being rotated around the X-Axis by 180° in the slicer. This has two benefits: it removes all unsupported overhangs an avoids support structure, making the wasted material pretty much nonexistent.

I strongly recommend taking a look at my 3D Design Primer and the excellent question on How to decide print orientation? and then delve into further reading:

How to print an overhanging arc
How can I improve the overhang angles my printer can successfully print?
Is there any setting that could allow me to print this overhang without support?


Hotend doesn't maintain temperature I got an Anycubic Predator last month, and after resolving a few mechanical problems, I was able to get it printing decently well. The only significant modification I've made so far is a set of 8-diode TL Smoothers, and I'm now mostly operating it via Octoprint.

However, during the last few prints, I've noticed the temperature dropping midway through the print. It warms up and cools down fine, but for some reason it's not able to sustain the temperature throughout the print.

In this case, the print started out at the correct temperature (200 °C), held that temp for around 2 hours, then it dropped to a lower temp (174 °C). It eventually went back up to the target temp, then dropped again 5 minutes later. I tried manually adjusting it to see if that could fix it, but no luck.

After this print completed, I restarted it to show how it is easily able to reach the target temp and hold it at the start of the print:

Any tips on diagnosing and resolving this issue?

Safety First
Let's look at the graphs. First: you should swap firmware for one that has Thermal Runaway, as, as it is, running about 15 minutes with 28 K less than the printer is ordered to work at is a clear indication that there is no Thermal runaway protection in place - it should have tripped over that long ago! But there is more!
Problem
But this graph and the lack of Thermal Runaway Protection also are typical for printers that have a design flaw: If the airflow from the part cooling fans or the coldend-cooling fan (that's the fan that always runs) brushes over the heater block, it cools it. This limits the achievable temperature.
Luckily, such is easily remedied in one of several ways:

Changing the airducts for ones that does not hit the heater block
Adding a silicone sock around the heater block
Kapton-tape and ceramic wool can be used to make a heater-sock too
Adding an air-shield in the shape of a bit of tinfoil can redirect the airflow away from the heater block, but make positively sure it is mounted Fire-Safe and can't be lost into the print!


Heated Bed not heating on original Prusa i3. Using a Ramps 1.4 EFB So as the title said my heated bed stopped heating mid print.

I'm pretty confident the bed itself is not the problem as I've ran continuity tests from the wires and a resistance check (which showed a total resistance of about 1.5 ohms, which is where it should be). I've done voltage checks across the input terminals which showed a successful output of 12 V.

Finally I did a voltage test across the output terminal at D8 where the heated bed should be outputted to. The result came up with nearly 0 V. I then noticed that the LED that usually lights up for D8 was turned off. The weird thing is, I unplugged the wires from D8 and this time the LED lit up like it was supposed to. Due to this, I believe the problem to be with the MOSFET attached to D8.

My proposed solution would be to move the heated bed terminal to D9 instead of D8. I wish to this because despite the firmware set up for a fan, I do not have a fan attached to D9. This leaves this terminal open and with a potentially unharmed MOSFET. Despite this I have found no information on how to go about accomplishing this.

What do you guys think? Is that even a good idea or should the component (or board be replaced)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First you should check if the bed still works when applying 12V directly. You can then also check the voltage over the 12V output terminals to measure the power supply unit while it is powering the bed. It is unclear whether you measured the voltage of the PSU while it was powering a large load.

It is also a good idea to get the external MOSFET board out of the equation (the less components you have, the less you need to troubleshoot).

From the post can be concluded that you are using the so-called RAMPS EFB setup, e.g. in Marlin firmware defined by constant IS_RAMPS_EFB in your firmware printer setup (Extruder on pin 10, fan on pin 9 and bed on pin 8).

In the pin configuration file pins_RAMPS.h you can find the following lines:

#define FAN_PIN        RAMPS_D9_PIN
#define HEATER_BED_PIN RAMPS_D8_PIN

To change the pin layout, switch the values of the constants.


XYZPrinting Premium Metallic PLA Conductivity I have a XYZPrinting Da Vinci Mini W+ that I got for last Christmas. I am looking at the filaments available for it, since the included PLA is running 'low' (according to it) at 21 metres remaining. The one filament type that interested me the most is the Premium Metallic PLA. My question, that the website doesn't seem to answer, is how conductive is this material? Does it have any conductivity that would make it realistic to use to carry a current from something like an Arduino or Raspberry Pi, or is it too insulated, meant to only look metal, to act as a conductor?

Why I ask (Background - Not as Important)
I ask this, because of an idea I had. Printing a pretty low quality PCB type circuit. Instead of being forced to keep my circuits on breadboards with wires jumping from here and there, I would take a conductive layer and sandwich is between to insulating layers. If I wanted two trace layers, I'd do the following pattern (with I being insulating and C conductive) "ICICI". Since I only can print in one filament type at a time, I'd print each layer in the thinnest thickness (1 micron, I believe), and have to fuse them together. I could do this in a few ways, using glue of some sort, or a hand-help filament pen to fuse the layers from the outside (the conductive layers would be slightly smaller, of course).

Most PLAs are non-conductive: they contain little to no metal in comparison to plastic and can't make a conductive path. Even metallic PLA does not contain enough metal to be conductive.

There are some rare filaments that are conductive, they are sold as conductive PLA. I have yet to encounter a non-black conductive PLA.

One filament I suspect to be possibly conductive but have no hard evidence is made by The Vitual Foundry and contains about 80% metal. It is intended to be treated in the oven to burn out the plastic part, leaving behind a somewhat pure metal structure, but might be conductive without this process already. I have no experience with this and all my exposure to it was this answer. It should be highly abrasive though.


Is there any reason not to clean nozzles with fire? Specifically using stainless steel nozzles, but I guess it's worth knowing about brass too. Is there any reason to be concerned about dimensional accuracy of the nozzle or anything like that as a result of repeated heating with a butane torch?

If you carbonize the filament or other particles that are clogging the nozzle, then you will never get them clean. In my experience, it's not worth cleaning the nozzle with anything other than cleaning filament. If that doesn't work then change the nozzle. Heating the metal nozzle with a torch will change the temper of the material. I used to try cleaning with a soldering iron; which was to no avail.

Purchase a dozen brass nozzles and save your self the headache. Either that or a good quality set of stainless steel ones. They are easier to clean with the cleaning filament and aren't ablated by the filament as quickly, allowing for better dimensional accuracy over multiple prints.

https://www.amazon.com/eSUN-CLEANING-Filament-Printers-Cleaning/dp/B00MVIYNFW/


Bed and nozzle temperature jumping During my last print I noticed this jumpy behavior during heat up (blue is bed, red is hotend):

So I am wondering about the jumps. What could cause this? I do not think that it is a defunct sensor (it is in both sensors) and I also don't think it is real. Could this pose some sort of hazard as temperature might not properly be controlled?

I use an Anet A8 printer with Marlin 1.1.9 and Octoprint

Since the terminal temperatures never exceed the setpoints, there's no apparent potential for disaster.   Whether it's due to missing readings or to some sequencing of power (current) applied to the bed vs. the hotend, it really doesn't matter.

If you have a similar graph of the temperatures over an hour of printing and you see signifcant anomalies there, that might be of interest.


print pausing during printing I got a new CR-10S 3D printer (I received it at Christmas). It has been printing just fine until yesterday, I was doing a print and it randomly paused, it did not restart on its own, I had to restart the print, then the item finished just fine.  I am printing today, a very small item, the printer now stopped 3 times.  How can I fix this, or do I need to return it?

The cr10s has a filament run-out sensor. If the microswitch doesn't function properly, or you have issues with the wiring, the print pauses.


Anet A8 frame replacement My Anet A8 frame are broken. I find frame project AM8 - Metal Frame for Anet A8. I like it but I can't find aluminum extrusion needed, like this: MiSUMi - Aluminum Extrusion - 5 series, Base 20, 20mm x 40mm.

Maybe somebody knows where I can buy it in Ukraine? Or maybe another frame options?

There are lots of online sources for T-slot aluminum extrusions from ebay to McMaster.  If you want more options do a Google Search.


.stl file is "not ready for printing" I have this .stl file and I sent it to a company for printing, they claimed that the file is not ready for printing and is charging me more money for them to fix the error. What can I do to make the file "ready for printing"

"Not ready for printing" isn't a very specific description of a problem. There are countless things that could be wrong with an STL file that could render it unprintable.

An STL file is basically a collection of triangles in 3D. These triangles need to be manifold/watertight: they need to enclose a volume that represents the object to be printed. For instance, a very simple STL file could contain 4 triangles defining a tetrahedron/pyramid. However, if there is something wrong with the file - for instance, the edges of two triangles might not meet up exactly, then the file is not printable because the triangles, together, no longer enclose a volume.

There are various free and paid tools out there that automatically attempt to fix your STL file. Depending on how bad your file is, you might be able to use one of these tools to fix it. If you do this, be sure to carefully inspect the result to make sure the tool did what you intended. Examples include MeshLab, Netfabb and various online services (Microsoft 3D tools, MakePrintable).

If the problems with your file are so bad they can not be fixed automatically, then the only option will be a - potentially - very laborious manual process of fixing the file. This might mean rebuilding the model from scratch. It is not unreasonable that the company would charge you for this.

Even if your model is manifold/watertight, there are other reasons it might not be printable. For instance, the walls might be too thin, or there might be certain features in the model that can not be printed.

You did not specify the source of your model. Certain pieces of CAD software are more likely to produce unprintable STL files than others, SketchUp is a particularly bad offender. Also, 3D models from games are almost always unprintable. They're designed to look good on screen, but are not designed at all with printability in mind.


Quality drop in vertical axis printing Dear experts and 3D printer users;

I am a beginner in 3D printing field. I read couple of answers in forums and i cannot find exact answer to my problem.

Printing quality dropped when i try to write vertical axis (i mean, columns). There is no problem in horizontal axis.

My column width must be 0.5 mm, and printer nozzle diameter is 0.4 mm. I think I should write 0.5 mm column with 0.4 mm nozzle with ease.

I added messy structure to this post and you can find writing details below.
What do you think? What is your suggestion to overcome this problem?

Printer:Ultimaker 3,
Slicer:Cura,

Printing Details;
Nozzle diameter:0.4 mm,
Profile:Fine 0.1 mm,
Layer height:0.1 mm,
Wall thickness:1 mm,
Top bottom thickness:1 mm,
Infill density: 100 %,
Gradual infill steps:0,
Printing Temp:240 C,
Build plate Temp:65 C,
Diameter: 2.85 mm,
Dimensions of the material:10X10X5 mm

The main problem with your setup is the nozzle width.  It is simply too big to accurately print a structure that tiny.  An integral part of the filament deposition is the "smearing" of the molted plastic, that clearly can't happen if the structure is about the same size of the nozzle bore.  Also the printed structure is too flimsy to resist the "suction" of such a big nozzle moving away.

I would suggest to use a smaller nozzle and/or increase the size of your pillars.  A good combo would be 0.2mm nozzle with 0.6mm or 0.8mm pillars.  For these small details, it would be best to have a pillar size that is a perfect multiple of your nozzle diameter.

Other settings that will help you:

reduce the print dramatically (try 20 or 30 mm/s)
use retraction (or increase its amount/speed)
make sure your cooling fan is 100%
use a sensible "minimum layer time" (try 10 seconds for a start)

The first two settings should reduce the force/impulse applied by the nozzle on the pillar.

The latter two should make sure your pillar is "solid" when extruding a new layer on top of it.


Problems with noise, heat bed temperature and no X / Y endstop sensor on Makerbot Replicator 2X I bought a used Makerbot Replicator 2X, and I have some problems printing with it. The first problem I run into is the first layer adhesion to the print bed, it seems like the temperature of the bed starts to drop directly after first heating it.

Also, calibration seems to be a problem, because when using the Home Axes function, the extruder is moved to its home - but there seems to be like a missing endstop sensor, because the stepper motors starts making a whole lot of noise.

Also, when moving the extruder manually using the Jog function, there is a lot of noise and also it's possible to move it out of its range (same type of noise as with the Home Axes function).

I understand that the bot I bought is not to be expected to function as new, but I need to understand what the problem is and how I can fix it. Is there parts missing even?

Trying the Home Axes and Jog functions resulting in a lot of noise: https://photos.app.goo.gl/j3HX9qHvZCEBnPru7

Printing with no adhesion and a falling Platform temperature: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PHVtheWCRRmhz7bu7

First, your Y-belt is way too loose! (seen at the beginning of the first video). It is so loose the idlers barely grip onto it!

Second, the X-endstop metal pin is loose, seen at 1:22 of the first video. Could be that the endstop is not working. Maybe you can hook up your printer to USB, you can then send direct commands to the printer, e.g. M119 will report the status of the endstops. Sending this code multiple times will alternatively pressing the endstops manually you can find out if they work.

From the second video can be seen that the nozzle to bed distance it too large, and if fixed and still not adhering you need to apply an adhesive (hairspray/glue stick/or 3D print adhesion spray).

This printer is in need of some serious maintenance! Depending on your technical skills this may be a challenge!


How to programmatically resume a paused print in Marlin A print that is paused with an M0 can be unpaused with M108.
That works with my Chiron running Marlin 2.0.7.2.
However, it also has a display that uses its' own serial protocol to communicate with Marlin. I want that display to be able to unpause my printer when it has encountered M0 in the G-code.
I tried injectCommands_P(PSTR("M108\n")); in the code, but it did not work. Perhaps I should not have a new-line at the end of it.
What is the correct command to do this?
void GcodeSuite::M108() {
  TERN_(HAS_RESUME_CONTINUE, wait_for_user = false);
  wait_for_heatup = false;
}

Above is the Marlin code for M108. Would be great if someone could decipher what TERN means.

The correct Marlin-command to unpause seems to be setUserConfirmed(). I have tested that it works.


3D printer manufacturers - sales statistics Are there any statistics regarding how many units each manufacturer has sold, e.g. in 2019?

An article from 2016 claims Monoprice to have led the market back then - but all of the printers in that article have become obsolete since then.
Some manufacturers also claim theirs to be "one of the most popular" - but that likely doesn't translate to sales, at least for the more overpriced ones.

Getting this data is not easy.  Many companies that make 3D printers are either private companies that do not report results or are larger companies where 3D printers are one of many products they manufacture.  Some companies study this information through mining public sources and surveying users for their opinions and experience.  The result of some of these studies are available for a fee.

Occasionally, a trade publication will survey data sources and produce an article.  In other cases, a trade pub will publish an article generously offered by a commercial contributor.

It is always difficult to know what is true when abstracting information from obscured, noisy, and biased information sources.

Your question itself includes a bias.  You use a words that include a value judgement: "but that likely doesn't translate to sales, at least for the more overpriced ones."

The article you reference is not a deeply researched investigative piece.  It is simply some product details for the five printers in 2016 which sold the most on Amazon.com.  It doesn't include printers which were not sold on Amazon, so it leaves out any printers which use a different distribution channel.  Also, the article include an link, probably which generate revenue back to the magazine, to each of the five printers sold through Amazon.

To summarize, it is very difficult to aggregate this kind of information.  Those who try to do so like to be compensated.  A list of the top five devices on Amazon is a biased list.


How can I add an offset to the first layer to increase clearance? My printer is calibrated for a certain clearance from the heated bed, which is chosen based on PLA.

I would like to try to increase it for the first layer for PETG, so that adhesion is reduced. The printer has M5 screws with 4000 steps/mm, so the resolution clearly allows that.

I don't want to modify the printer, I would like a G-Code or another option that I can apply in Prusa slicer in association with the specific filament when desired. I don't want to change the flow rate of the first layer, only the "zero" distance.

How can I do that?

Placeholders
I don't know if you are familiar with the concept of placeholders? PrusSlicer is a derivative of Slic3r which uses this concept to insert placeholders (sort of constants, with the possibility to do arithmetic) into your G-code (e.g. start or end codes) which are evaluated just before the slicer generates the final G-code upon slicing.
Unfortunately, although there is a constant for the filament type (filament_type), you cannot use a conditional expression as this does not work on string comparison (which should work with regular expressions...), but with some imagination you can fabricate a way to get past this problem.
E.g.
{if printer_notes=~/.*PRINTER_VENDOR_PRUSA3D.*/};Printer is Prusa{endif}
M117 [filament_type]

evaluates fine, but
{if filament_type=~/.*PLA.*/};Filament type is PLA{endif}
does not evaluate fine...

Solving this using placeholders, the printing temperatures for PLA and PETG are different, so in a conditional statement of the first_layer_temperature you could add an additional offset to the code at the end of the start G-code.
Start G-code
A place to do this is the filament dependent start G-code section:

You can always edit this start G-code to include a manually set offset by moving the printer to a certainly height:
G1 Z0.15
and then redefining the zero level
G92 Z0
Printer Z-offset
Note that a z_offset constant exists, so it is configurable in the graphical interface, if so, than I assume this fixes your problem instantly as the offset is directly applied in the final G-code. The z-offset option is part of the "printer settings" interface. This extra offset is added to the initial layer height movement.


What's the best stepper motor for BMG with very high extrusion rates? I was recommended to buy a pancake stepper motor for a direct drive BMG extruder, however I would like to ask if the decrease in torque would still be enough to work with V6 Volcano or SuperVolcano.
If so, where should I buy this pancake stepper motor and how should I configure my current setting when switching them?

A BMG extruder can be used in conjunction with the E3Dv6 hotend, the Volcano and the Super Volcano are upgrade parts for the E3Dv6 (see e3d-online), they are just differently sized heater blocks you can use to replace the normal heater block to increase the volumetric flow. In fact, it is just a v6 with a different heater block (and heater cartridge, longer nozzle threading, and often and a larger nozzle diameter). The increased heater blocks will allow for an enlarged melting zone. Although this increased melting zone, the extra length of walls will not significantly increase the resistance, most resistance comes from compressing the filament diameter to the nozzle diameter.
Note that the BMG is a similar direct extruder type as the Titan, which is produced and sold by E3D; this extruder is capable of using the Volcano upgrades using their standard pancake stepper motor (according to E3D website). You can buy these stepper motors at their website. The reason a pancake stepper is recommended is because of weight reduction (direct drive extruders carry the extruder stepper on the X-axis carriage), these extruder types gear down the speed and thus increasing the torque, a normal stepper would be too heavy and too powerful. Note that this may be a different case for 2.85 mm filament; this requires more torque anyways.


Geeetech Prusa i3 Extruder seems to push more filament, gear slips/skips? I got my first printer, a Geeetech Prusa i3, and for the price I paid (160$) I am so blown away. As I saved so much money, I treated myself to a legit copy of Simplify3D, which I am happy with.

I'm using white PLA filament (supposedly 1.75 mm) with a 0.3 mm nozzle. The hotend temperature range is 215-240 °C and the bed is usually at 90 °C (with hairspray it gives a nice shiny solid bottom surface). My goal is to print with 0.3, or with 0.2 if 0.3 is to big for the nozzle (ideally a 0.3 nozzle can print 0.3 layer height).

The problem:

It seems that, especially on the first layer with bigger prints, or any layer that continuously pulls filament through the nozzle (outside lining of a layer), the amount of filament that gets "printed out" isn't enough compared to the amount of filament that is pushed in by the extruder gear. This, in my theory right now, causes the new filament to stay in place until the melted plastic in the nozzle is used, which then makes room again for more filament to be pushed through. Until this happens, the gear slips/clicks and can't pull anymore filament.

The mechanics seem to work well, and I don't think the nozzle is clogged. I would guess that some settings need to be manually adjusted to keep the amount of filament pushed through the nozzle equal or less than the amount the nozzle can actually push through, but what is weird to me is that this happens semi-randomly. I have searched online and the issue intermittently appears with other people, but I haven't found a solution yet.

What settings would I need to test?

Here is a link to some current successful prints and a layer mess up example(batman bust).

My biggest print so far (Batman Bust) is amazing, but even here you can see certain layers where the gear couldn't push filament through and the gear skipped a few clicks, causing it to print less when it was suppose to print on the following instructions. This happens a lot more, but when it happens during an infill you obviously can't see it from the outside. The individual layer-height seems maybe a bit too small (0.1 for batman), and the times where the extruder usually skips and clicks appear when I print bigger sizes (0.2 and 0.3). I want to start printing more complex and bigger things, so using 0.1 seems like an overkill in detail and takes way too long.

Edit:

My filament is the generic Geeetech white PLA that I ordered together with the printer.

A nozzle with a nozzle width of 0.3 mm cannot print a 0.3 mm layer height. You could do that but you should not as you ultimately pay the price in the form of a less aesthetic finish. The general rule of thumb is to maximize the layer height at 75 % of the nozzle width, so a 0.3 mm nozzle would allow for a maximum of 0.225 mm. The rationale is that the filament leaves the nozzle as a tube and needs to be flattened to make it flat and adhere to the previous layer, too high layer heights increase the pressure in the nozzle (more filament is needed) causing a less than ideal extrusion and cause the extruder to skip; this is identified by observing a distinct clicking noise.

Please lower your layer height (try 0.2 mm) and decrease the printing speed to see if this works better.

Furthermore, for PLA, temperatures for the hotend (unless you have some sort of a special PLA filament) and the bed temperature are too high. Please aim to print PLA at about 200 °C with a bed temperature of 50 - 60 °C.


Horizontal lines on feature/geometry/density change I've had an Ender 5 Plus for a few weeks now. It's printing great and I've got my tuning pretty good at the moment. I've noticed some horizontal inconsistencies matching feature/geometry changes. It seems to be associated with maybe layer time(?) I only have a picture from two models, but the problem will appear in other places on different models, always matching some change in the layers.
The problem is consistent all around the model and changes position with different prints, so I know it's not a mechanical problem. Say I printed a 2x2 cm tower 20 cm tall, it will not have any of these imperfections because every layer is identical.
I highly suspect the layer time/temperature change, but I don't know how to fix this, I'm a bit stumped. They both were printed at 200 °C and I'm trying a new one at 210 °C (best temperature with the spool I have) and it has the same problem. All three models are from the same spool of PLA.
Also, I use Cura with mostly default settings for the Ender 5+.
Here are the pictures :
I tried to highlight the idea, but every line matches with some change in the model

On the benchy it's harder to see, but the hull line match with the solid floor of the model, and the top ones match with the top window sill starting.

This is varying underextrusion due to loss of material to oozing in the interior of the model.
When printing the infill pattern, the nozzle doesn't follow a single continuous extrusion path, but moves from the end of one path to the beginning of the next, and under Cura defaults, does this without retracting the filament. This causes unpredictable amounts to ooze out during travel from one to the next, thereby desynchronizing the planned/intended amount of material extruded so far and the actual amount. This means, when the next outer-wall extrusion starts, there's an unpredictable deficiency between the amount of material at the nozzle to extrude, and the amount the slicer intended to extrude. The result is what you're seeing.
To fix it, you need to eliminate oozing, not just outside the model where it appears as visible stringing, but inside too. Either disable "Combing" entirely in Cura, or set "Max Comb Distance With No Retract" to something very low (0.8 mm or less). Also set "Minimum Extrusion Distance Window" to 0 to ensure Cura doesn't skip retractions for other reasons.
You may also want to play with extrusion length and speed. Too short or too long can be bad; 5-7 mm is the reasonable range for PLA with a bowden. Higher speed generally helps too; the printer should be able to handle 50 mm/s or faster.


How to calculate the approximate volume of material used in 3d print? Is there a reasonable way of approximating the volume of material used for 3D print by knowing only the STL file volume and infill percentage?

Or what is the formula for calculating the exact volume and which parameters can be fixed to reasonable values?

Can this be done easily using Slic3r or CuraEngine in command line?

Note:
Supposedly 3Dhubs use Cura[*] software to calculate the print volume.

Any help is appreciated.

[*] www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/calculate-print-volume

Possible way to calculate the volume of material used is to multiply the filament length (calculated by CURA after slicing and displayed in lower right corner) and surface of filament tip.

Volume = Filament_length * ( Filament_diameter / 2 )^2 * PI

Of course do not forget to convert all values to the same order of magnitude (e.g. cm³).


Ender 3 home location I have an Ender 3 and I have a problem with auto home. I use auto home and then level the bed with the wheels beneath the bed. I then start a print and the first layer is well above the bed. Perhaps about a millimeter. If I stop the print at this point and level the bed so that the first layer prints the normal paper width above the bed, everything works fine.

The stops for the 3 axes seem to be in the right places and there is nothing noticeable obstructing them. When I use auto home it does touch the stops at all 3 axes. My belts seem to be tight and there is no movement of the bed if I try to jiggle it with my hand.

Is there a way to adjust the Z axis so that the auto home elevation and the elevation of first layer of the print will be the same?

This is an example of the first lines of G-code:

;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:4724
;Filament used: 1.70716m
;Layer height: 0.16
;MINX:96.551
;MINY:96.545
;MINZ:0.2
;MAXX:138.448
;MAXY:138.455
;MAXZ:100.4
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 4.5.0
M140 S50
M105
M190 S50
M104 S200
M105
M109 S200
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 ; Home all axes
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little

The Z stop can be loosened and moved up but it seems weird that it would need to be moved and I don't think that would fix your issue. The Z height should be the same for the auto home and printing. I auto home then disable steppers and slowly move to all 4 corners. I have caught myself resting my arm on the X axis and moving it down. If that happens I manually move the Z until it just barely presses the Z stop in when I hear the button click. I have heard some say that they got a warped bed. I wonder if that's the issue. A glass plate would be a good way to be sure or maybe using a straight edge to check.You could also double check the tightness on the wheels is just right. Tomb of 3D Printed Horrors has a really good setup video called "Creality Ender 3 assembly and pro build tips" that has a few other tips that really helped me get set up well.


Are any 3D printed materials biocompatible (safe for implantation in the human body)? This question is similar:

Are there biocompatible materials available to the general public?

But appears to be for non-implantation use. This question is for materials intended to be implanted.

Are any typical 3D printed (extrusion based 3D printer) materials, such as ABS or PLA (or slightly more exotic ones, such as kevlar, fibreglass, or carbon fiber), safe for implantation in the human body? Or in medical terms, are they biocompatible (biofunctionality is not topical for this question)? If not, why not? If most of them are safe, then please explain which ones are NOT safe.

Highly relevant, and perhaps even more interesting is: Are there any peer reviewed medical papers that have investigated what materials are safe for implantation in the human body? A paper which answers this unambiguously would be the ideal answer to this question. Another concern is if the process of 3D printing itself adversely influences the properties of the material in the context of implantation applications.

I've tried to determine the answer to this question myself, but I cannot find any papers or studies which answer it. I can easily find that ABS plastic is "non-biodegradable", but I suppose the issue of adverse host responses is more crucial, e.g. causing inflammation or it being a bacterial growth substrate to promote infections seems like plausible concerns. I'm sure there might be other dangerous complications too, which I'm not aware of.

I found a paper dealing with corrosion issues for implantable metals: DOI: 10.1089/end.1997.11.383

I found a paper dealing with silicone-urethane being prone to breakdown: DOI: 10.1021/ma301965y

I found a paper describing the properties and history of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), which appears to be commonly used as implants: DOI: 10.1109/EEIC.2005.1566331

By extension, a 3D printer using UHMWPE might be safe, barring any adverse chemical or mechanical issues as a result of the 3D printing process itself. However, it is not clear to me if any 3D printers can actually reliably print UHMWPE. Furthermore, it is unclear if UHMWPE is a sane choice, as it appears to be useful in applications where strength is required, such as for joints. What about other applications where load bearing properties are not required (e.g. a simple enclosure for implantable electronics)?

I'm aware that titanium appears to be frequently used for implants, and while titanium 3D printers do exist, they are beyond the scope of this question. The valid context is extrusion based 3D printers in the sub $10,000 range (arbitrarily chosen to make the question avoid being tagged as "too broad").

Perhaps more than biocompatible, which generally refers to a material that does not illicit a harmful inflammatory response inside the body, you should be looking at bioresorbable materials, which are materials that dissolve inside the body after a certain time period without needing mechanical removal.

As an example, FDA approved poly (lactic acid) is available in pellet form from Corbion (formerly PURAC biomaterials) and can be extruded into 1.75mm filament for use with any desktop 3D printer (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860416301385). Similarly, researchers have used poly (caprolactone) to 3D print scaffolds with using a stratasys FDM machine (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1097-4636(200105)55:2%3C203::AID-JBM1007%3E3.0.CO;2-7).


Anet A8 One Z output only moves down (even on up command) I just finished assembly of Anet A8 (Prusa i3 clone).  X any Y work fine, both Z motors move down just fine, when homed.

On Z-stop trigger, right Z moves up, left Z continues to try to move down.  When up command is given in Pronterface or RepetierHost, right Z moves up, left Z moves down.  Switching cable plugs moves the problem: the down only moves are always on Z-Motor1 output.

I have flashed the firmware with original Anet Omni firmware and problem persists.  How else can I test if the problem is hardware- or firmware- related?

I am reluctant to change to different firmware entirely, as I have not yet found out what the problem is.

From the data you provided I would postulate that the problem is likely hardware: either with the the general assembly of the motherboard or with the stepper drivers.

The test you already performed excludes the stepper motors themselves as possible culprits.  Common sense suggests that if such a show-stopper bug was present in the original Anet firmware, thousands of users would report it.

Stepper motors are usually controlled by two signals (two cables): PULSE and DIR.  The PULSE signal controls how many steps the motor needs to perform and the signal itself is normally a PWM or some other form of square wave.  The DIR signal controls which direction the motor is supposed to spin (clockwise or counter-clockwise), and the signal itself is just a "high/low" voltage.

Now, electronics is not exactly my cup of tea, but I would suggest what is happening is that the DIR signal of the broken output is stuck on either the high or low voltage (you can test this easily with a tester).

If I am right, the likely culprit is either a dry joint (so a joint that does not let electricity pass and keep the DIR signal in its low state), or a short (so a place where voltage at "high" level is allowed to get onto the cable carrying the DIR signal).  These kind of problems are typically related to poor soldering of the connectors, or to bridges between the pins of chips.  You can visually inspect your board for such problems.

Another possible culprit is obviously the driver for the stepper motor itself.


Would using a leadscrew with 1 or 2 mm lead, en lieu of 8 mm, result in a better printer? By "better" I mean "more precise"...
With respect to a RepRap P3Steel or Wilson II, I am getting some 330 mm T8 leadscrews for the Z-axis movement.
There seems to be a choice between a lead of 1, 2 or 8 mm - the pitch is 1 mm in the first case and 2 mm in the last two cases1. However, there is precious little information about the advantages and disadvantages of each lead size in RepRapWiki - Threaded Rod - Leadscrew.
It seems to me that using a leadscrew with a 1 or 2 mm lead could result in a more precise Z-axis movement, as one rotation of the stepper results in a smaller increment in height. Therefore the layer thicknesses could be smaller.
However, is the minimum layer thickness not, also, dictated by the thickness of the filament, horizontal speed of the print head, nozzle size, etc.? Thus, at some point there would be no need for a super fine vertical resolution from the leadscrew, as it may be constrained by other limiting factors.
Of course, conversely, the use of a 2 mm lead would mean that the stepper would need to "work" four times as hard, than when using 8 mm, in order to raise the print head the same distance, as well as making the movement, during a "home", take four times as long (or, if you will, four times slower). In the case of a 1 mm lead that would become eight times...

TL;DR
Is it worth getting a leadscrew with a 2 mm lead, or is 8 mm sufficient?
By extension, would a 1 mm lead be even better, or just overkill?

Footnote
1 Nomenclature:

Pitch is the distance between the adjacent threads;
Lead is the distance that a nut will turn with one rotation, and;
Start is how many starting (or thread entry) points at either end.

So, for a leadscrew, with a pitch of 2 mm, if there is only one start to the screw then the lead is the same as the pitch. However, if there are four starts to the screw, then the lead will be 8 mm. If there are two starts to the screw, then the lead will be 4 mm. And so on.
For more information, see Wikipedia - Lead, pitch and starts.

From Accuracy vs Precision and Threaded Rod vs Leadscrews in 3D Printers. I have highlighted the relevant parts:

In general, FFF/FDM printers use relatively infrequent, small, precise
movements on the z-axis and consistent, fast movements on the x and y
axes. A single start leadscrew with the tightest pitch possible
(highest thread density, smallest pitch) is generally going to be your
best bet for the z-axis, while you may or may not need something a
little steeper to get the speeds you'd like from your x and y axes.
While this may seem somewhat arbitrary given the precision of movement
you can get from a stepper motor, an important factor to remember here
is torque.
A more aggressive leadscrew will require more torque to drive. We have
one kit printer we bought a couple years ago that has an overly
aggressive multi-start leadscrew for the z-axis. The small motors
included in the kit do not have the torque required to reliably start
upward movement of the carriage, leaving it sitting there skipping
steps until the carriage is given a little upward nudge to get it
going (no, it's not a lubrication issue or a driver that needs turning
up).

So, a 2 mm lead is preferable to a 8 mm lead, as not only is less torque required, but also more precise movements are obtainable.

With respect to the layer heights, I found this nugget of information, from Ditch the threaded rod in your RepRap 3D printer and upgrade to a lead screw z-axis

It's always better to use layer heights that are a multiple of your
full step. If you trust in your micro-stepping you will get poor
results because torque is very poor and the motor won't stop very
precisely. Best approach is to use a lead screw (whose longer step
allows the gravity to work for you and eliminate backlash) and a
stepper driver configured to 1/4 micro-step for low noise, but not for
micro-layering. I always use multiples of my full step and have
printed 0.040 (1 step), 0.080 (2 steps), 0.120 (3 steps and so on), 0.200,
0.600 and 0.800 mm (of course using 2 different nozzles). Do you need
more than that?

See also Reddit - Lead screw opinions

the general consensus is that a 2 mm lead is preferable to a 8 mm lead:

Lower the lead the better for an Z-Axis screw to allow for more precision.
No need for anti-backlash nuts for a Z-Axis if it has a decent amount of mass/weight to it.

1 mm will slow the printer down, but provide 0.005 mm (5μm) vertical movement:

That's going to be awfully slow when homing. While you really don't
need speed for the z-axis, there's not much point in going with such a
low pitch... you won't be printing anywhere near the layer heights
that can achieve. In the end I guess it's not a big deal, but I don't
see any reason to go below about a 4 mm pitch. A 1 mm pitch with a 1.8°
stepper gives you 0.005 mm increments. Anything under 0.02 mm (which is
sort of ridiculous anyways) is just unnecessary. Just my thoughts.

(As Tom points out) An 8 mm lead can result in the weight of the X-axis gantry (especially in a P3Steel) overcoming the idle torque of the stepper. As a result of this, the X-axis gantry can end up sliding down the leadscrew, in particular at power down:

I have lead screws on my Z and it readily falls down if you kill the power. Regular threaded rod is much better at keeping it in place without power.

and

That's one of the problems with 8mm lead ;) With 2mm lead it will hold itself. The stepper motor provides a fair amount of resistance even when powered down.

TL;DR
Be wary of leadscrews with a lead, as opposed to a pitch, of 8 mm, as there are disadvantages, when compared to a lesser lead of, say, 4 mm, or 2 mm (or 1 mm for leadscrew with a pitch of 1 mm):

Higher torque may be required
Less accuracy
Possibility of slippage, of the X-axis, once power is removed, or stepper is disabled1
Anti backlash nuts required

However, their major (if you can call it that) advantage is a higher maximum movement speed.


Help with Repetier firmware (probably locked and licensed) I'm in the process of tweaking the firmware (Repetier 0.92.6) because of some problems mentioned here: Delta printer printing incorrect dimensions in X and Y directions. Z dimensions are correct

But I found out that the printer manufacturer has locked the firmware (probably) and I cannot edit it. So I have to burn a new one (I guess? Correct me if I'm wrong)

Printer name: Dimension Dual Delta

Manufacturer: J Group Robotics

Website: http://www.jgrouprobotics.com/dimension-dual-delta

I have the slicer (Simplify3D) configured with the FFF profile as my printer was working completely fine up until a few weeks ago. I just want to know that if I change the firmware, would I have to change/update the profile as well? If yes, how do I do that?

Here is a screenshot of Repetier host. The "JGR" continues indefinitely:

Here is the actual log text

22:56:00.216 : OpenGL version:4.2.0
22:56:00.218 : OpenGL renderer:GeForce GT 540M/PCIe/SSE2
22:56:00.218 : Using fast VBOs for rendering is possible
22:56:06.634 : Printer reset detected - initalizing
22:56:06.661 : start
22:56:06.662 : Info:External Reset
22:56:06.662 : Info:Autoleveling enabled
22:56:06.662 : Transformation matrix: 0.999994 0.000010 0.003587 0.000000 0.999996 -0.002727 -0.003587 0.002727 0.999990
22:56:06.865 : N1 M110*34
22:56:06.865 : N2 M115*36
22:56:06.865 : N3 M105*36
22:56:06.865 : N4 M114*35
22:56:06.865 : N5 M111 S6*98
22:56:06.869 : N6 T0*60
22:56:06.870 : N7 M20*22
22:56:06.871 : N8 M80*19
22:56:06.872 : N9 M105*46
22:56:08.706 : Free RAM:1002
22:56:08.706 : Autoretract:0
22:56:08.706 : X:0.00 Y:0.00 Z:0.000 E:0.0000
22:56:08.713 : N10 M220 S100*80
22:56:08.713 : N11 M221 S100*80
22:56:08.714 : N12 M111 S6*84
22:56:08.714 : FIRMWARE_NAME:Repetier_0.92.6 FIRMWARE_URL:https://github.com/repetier/Repetier-Firmware/ PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:Delta EXTRUDER_COUNT:2 REPETIER_PROTOCOL:3
22:56:08.714 : Printed filament:32.75m Printing time:0 days 6 hours 0 min
22:56:08.714 : PrinterMode:FFF
22:56:08.714 : N13 T0*8
22:56:08.745 : X:0.00 Y:0.00 Z:0.000 E:0.0000
22:56:08.745 : Begin file list
22:56:08.746 : End file list
22:56:09.726 : JGR
22:56:09.960 : N14 M105*18
22:56:10.972 : JGR
22:56:11.979 : JGR
22:56:12.969 : JGR
22:56:13.016 : N15 M105*19
22:56:14.028 : JGR
22:56:15.035 : JGR
22:56:16.025 : JGR
22:56:16.072 : N16 M105*16
22:56:17.085 : JGR
22:56:18.091 : JGR
22:56:19.081 : JGR
22:56:19.134 : N17 M105*17
22:56:20.157 : JGR
22:56:21.163 : JGR
22:56:22.154 : JGR
22:56:22.189 : N18 M105*30
22:56:23.202 : JGR
22:56:24.208 : JGR
22:56:25.199 : JGR
22:56:25.245 : N19 M105*31
22:56:26.253 : JGR
22:56:27.261 : JGR
22:56:28.267 : JGR
22:56:28.307 : N20 M105*21
22:56:29.319 : JGR
22:56:30.326 : JGR
22:56:31.316 : JGR
22:56:31.363 : N21 M105*20
22:56:32.376 : JGR
22:56:33.382 : JGR
22:56:34.372 : JGR

Edit: Since it is advisable to get a new controller board and keep the current one as it is, I'm attaching a picture of what my printer is controlled by.

The black box on the green board reads HRD 12008. Google says its a DC-DC SMPS module but mine has some extra connectors than what I could find online.

The black board is a MKS Base v1.3

The other box is a solid state relay.

This is more intimidating than I thought it would be. How do I proceed now? If I get a brand new controller board to play with, which should it be? Also, I can't seem to locate any RAMPS shield.

The firmware is not really locked by the OEM1, you just need to upload (or, as you say burn) a new version. This is not unusual2.
Repetier is just like any other firmware that uses Arduino boards. While it may seem intimidating at first, it really is quite easy to regularly upload new firmware to the Arduino Mega 2560 board3. If you are not familiar with Arduino programming at all, then there are a good number of Repetier oriented guides out there, for example, from Repetier's own web site, Repetier-Firmware Documentation.
If are you familiar with Arduino programming, then it really is the same as uploading the Blink sketches, but the base code is just bigger, that is all.
There is too much to detail in a simple answer here and, as I stated above, there are a lot of online guides. However, en bref:

Download and install the Arduino IDE to your Mac/Wintel/Linux PC;
Download the latest Repetier firmware to your Mac/Wintel/Linux PC4;
Connect the Arduino Mega 2560 to your PC using a USB cable;
Change the settings, i.e. Boards and Port settings, in the Arduino IDE, so that your PC can "see" the Arduino Mega 2560;
Open the Reptier firmware, that you have just downloaded, in the Arduino IDE;
Configure the Repetier firmware source code, i.e. make some edits in the Configuration.h file5, with the tweaks that you require (which you mention in your question)6;
Compile the firmware using the Arduino IDE. and (finally);
Upload the firmware to the Arduino Mega 2560.

That is it. Once you have done it a few times, it will become second nature.
Watch a few online youtube videos, as well, before you start, so that you have a better idea of what to do. For example:

Repetier 0 92 8 Firmware Configration. or;
Kossel Mini 3D Printer Repetier Firmware and Calibration.
As an aside, for gaining a basic understanding of the configuration file of Marlin, not Repetier, I found this video #18: Calibration extremely useful. If you feel like changing the firmware completely, this may come in handy.

With respect to the Slicer's profile settings... I am not sure about that at all.
The reason that you have no RAMPS board is that, on your MKS board, the RAMPS and the Arduino are merged into one. Any new controller would work, as they all run the same firmware. There are many to choose from. As you are just experimenting (and reverse engineering) at this stage, I personally would buy a cheap Chinese Arduino Mega 2560 (€6) and RAMPS (€4) board on eBay, for a total of only €10 (if you buy them separately - don't get a combination "deal" as they are generally more expensive - although compare the prices first, you may find a bargain), to test your settings. Once you are happy with those settings, then you can spend more money on a better board, should you feel that you need it.

Footnotes
1 If you have to get around the licensing, then it sounds like you could/should recompile the firmware, or use some other firmware, i.e. Marlin. However, wait to see what other people suggest.
2 There really isn't much risk in uploading new firmware. The only risk, which I guess Mark is referring to, is that you may/will not have the correct firmware settings for your make of printer, and therefore the printer may not work correctly, until you get the firmware settings correct. So, in that respect, it is a good idea to buy a secondary Arduino Mega and RAMPS1.4 board to play with, for just $10 (Chinese clones work just fine). But, as you say that your board already has bad settings, and you do not wish to pay for more licensing, then you haven't much to lose by uploading new firmware to it, except the warranty. So, if I were in your position, and I did not want to pay the licensing, I would set aside the supplied controller (for possible future use/reference), and use a Arduino Mega 2560/RAMPS 1.4 combination to control the printer. That said, if your printer is still under warranty, can't you ask the manufacturer to supply you a new controller with the correct settings?
3 There is no way of extracting the code from an Arduino and then modifying it. You need the original source code files. See Is there any way to download a sketch from an Arduino? OK, you can obtain the machine code, but unless you are an expert, or guru, modifying it is impossible.
4 The installation order, of the Arduino IDE and Repetier, will not matter. You probably need to rebuild the firmware, I would guess, but I am not 100% sure. It might be a good idea to contact the vendor to see what they recommend, before overwriting their code (assuming that the control board came pre-programmed)
5 I found this video #18: Calibration extremely useful, for configuring Marlin, and understanding the firmware settings in the Configuration.h file.
6 You may find this link useful for your "tweaks": Repetier-Firmware configuration tool for version 0.92.9 version


How to effectively eliminate stringing in 3D print I'm having this stringing problem that happens when the machine moves and when it's not supposed to print that I still haven't effectively solved. I will try exemplify with the following image.

We can see it leaves some prints when it's not supposed to.

I know we can try to solve it with the retraction properties, but is there a way to calculate the right levels of it?

How do you guys do it?

My setup is:

Ender3 printer
Ultimaker Cura sw
BQ filament

Info about this particular filament, from store.bq.com

DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT

Weight - 1 kg
Filament diameter - 1.75 mm
Coil size (diameter x width) - 175 x 77 mm
Spool axle diameter - 44 mm
Enclosure - 187 x 187 x 83 mm

MATERIAL

Composition - 100% PLA (Polylactic acid).

PRINTING FEATURES

Optimum printing temperature - 205 ºC
Printing temperature range - 200-220 ºC

Note: The image in the question was changed after the question was asked. This answer is out-of-date with respect to how the question has changed; I'll update it when more information is available.

These don't look like strings, which I'd define as material deposited outside of the model, but rather damage done by moving the hotend through already-printed material without retracting. In Cura, this is called "retraction combing", and it defaults to "all", which is way too aggressive and visibly harms the surface finish. Switching it to "noskin" or even "infill" only will make this go away and greatly improve your print quality, at the cost of some speed. The cost can be severe in worst case with certain kinds of fine detail, but usually "noskin" is cheap and suffices.


What's the best way to pull out fillament from an all metal print head Since retractions above 4 mm can cause jams due to plastic sticking to the cold half of the metal print head, what's the best way to avoid jams when swapping filaments?

Cool down and yank out, rapid pull out while melted, pull out at partial heat but not completely melted, or something else?

Cold/Luke-Warm pulling can cause damage and wear to the hot end, and should only be used in cases where you suspect there's a jam in the nozzle.

Pulling the filament out at a few degrees above its normal printing temperature and pulling quickly is what I use, and what I've seen other's also say, and the procedure most machines use.


Adventurer 3 3D Printer doesn't extrude correctly I am a noob at 3D printing which we all are/was at some point. I have no clue how to address the issue which likely is reason why I haven't found the solution yet. So if you see that this question has been posted elsewhere, please link it! Thanks!

I have had this issue for a while, however right now, one minute ago, it worked kind of. The text below is a description of the problem that very often occurs!

So the issue is basically the extruder. I have a Flashforge Adventurer 3. In it's software you have a "Load" and "Change" option which you change and load filament with. When I load filament it goes through the tube but it never exits the extruder. The common answer is that the nozzle is clogged. I have honestly checked this, it isn't the problem. I have cleaned it as Flashforge says and I have also been using really small metallic pins to push out all the filament. So that isn't the issue.

Sometimes the filament also gets stuck inside the tube. Or the Bowden tube I think it is called.

I did a test 10 minutes ago, it went through the tube smoothly. No filament came out at the other end however. I then changed the filament, which means I pulled it back. I then saw that a part of the filament had gotten stuck at the end of the tube. It didn't pull all the filament back, a very small bit of the filament had somehow gotten stuck?

As it doesn't extrude filament when I load the filament it has nothing with the calibration to do what I know. So my own conclusion would be that something between the tube and extruder is going crazy. And I know, that isn't a good conclusion. However I don't know how to address it as I said before.

I know that it's hard to troubleshoot a text, so I will upload a video for you guys reading this. I really just want my 3D printer working again as the company said it probably isn't anything wrong with the machine..

When the machine starts working again it prints, but not good. Here is a video of how hit prints a big "F". Link. Sometimes it stops extruding filament for a while then it starts to extrude again..

There is also an image of the print below

The machine is printing at 195 °C! I appreciate all the help I can get, I just want my machine fully working again.

Thanks!

EDIT: Here is a video of the Bowden tube: Link

EDIT Here is a video of the extruder issue: Link

EDIT Here are two videos regarding the cold pull, I "try" to speak english so you get more information this time! Link Link 2

There are a number of different ways to narrow down the problem.

Your printing temperature is likely too low. Raise it up about ten degrees, but don't try a print just yet.

Ensure that the Bowden tube is firmly pressed into the hot end assembly. A gap below the tube is asking for future problems. If the tube is clear, remove it and examine for a squarely cut end and re-insert firmly.

I'm not familiar with the specifics of your model, but you should be able to disengage the Bowden tube from the extruder motor and manually push filament through the hot end and out the nozzle. For obvious reasons, raise the carriage above the bed before doing this.

Start with the 205 °C temperature and heat the nozzle. When it reaches stable temperature, push filament through. If it moves smoothly and extrudes cleanly, you're more than half-way home. If not, raise the temperature by another five degrees. At some point, you'll have a good idea of the temperature to use for that brand and color of filament.

Once you've checked those two items, you may have it solved, or you can edit your question to address any new developments.

Once you have the temperature determined, note that it may have to be increased to match a higher print speed. It is easy enough to push filament manually at the equivalent of a slow print, which allows the hot end to transfer the heat at a sufficient rate.

When printing normal speeds, if it can't move the heat fast enough, you have to raise the temperature or lower the speed. The former is preferable, of course. Who wants a print that takes two or three times longer?

EDIT: more info added

You may have more than one problem. I think your next step is to focus on the hot end/nozzle area. With the Bowden tube removed, insert a length of filament and raise the temperature to around 200 °C and push the filament downward.

You probably won't have filament passing through the nozzle, based on the limited information in the video. Once you've confirmed that, reduce the temperature in the nozzle to about 125 °C, let it hold there for a bit. You should note that the additional filament has now fused with that in the heat sink/heat break area. Increase the temperature again to 200 °C and apply gentle upwards pressure.

This is not a typical cold-pull process, but close to it. If you had nylon filament available, I'd recommend to use the nylon cleaning method.

I suspect that your hot end is clogged at the point where the bowden tube should have been flush into the bore.

I did not see both ends free on your Bowden tube. Your second problem may be related to that aspect. Consider to manually feed filament through the tube (after first clearing it) and if that doesn't work, the bowden tube is internally damaged.

The additional videos are helpful. Two items come to mind. The temperature may be too low at 200°C. You can't hurt things by going a bit too high, even as high as 225°C or 230°C but don't make big jumps to get there. Bring the temperature up to 210°C and see if you can force filament smoothly through the nozzle by hand. Keep on this practice until you find a good temperature.

For the second item, it's possible that your e-steps need to be checked. Feed filament through the bowden tube with the tube removed from the nozzle assembly. Feed a few centimeters beyond the end and make a mark where the filament is at the edge of the tube.

Using a terminal program or your printer control software, command a 100 millimeter filament feed. When it is completed, mark the filament and determine if you have extruded the correct amount.

The second part of the second video certainly presents well the frustration you are experiencing. Many of the people in the 3D printing community have had similar frustrations.

For the lock-up portion, check the manufacturer's web site for firmware upgrades, as sometimes there will be a correction to a problem such as yours.


GRBL: inaccurate on X axis by ~4 mm on 400 mm This is GRBL-related. I have a laser-engraver type machine, Chinese, ~550 mm X axis, aluminium extrusions, 2mm-pitch T belt, Nema 17H3430 motors, one mechanical homing switch for X, Arduino-based.

The X-axis accuracy is not up to par. When I make a mark on the X axis and jog to that mark (after homing), depending on the day, the position varies within ~4 mm or so. Sometimes I have to use G00 X-418, others G00 X-422.

I checked the belt tension, it seems OK, not too tight, not too loose. Is there something else I should check?

Another idea I have: put a homing switch on the other end of the X-axis, then home both ends of the X-axis, measuring the difference in machine position, then modify the steps/mm value for each session to force the command that puts me on the mark to be constant (e.g. G00 X-420). Any other ideas? Thanks.

This seems to be either a case of either belt slop or missed steps or it is a case of the accuracy of the limit switch.

If the limit switch moves even a little into either direction, you have to account twice that as the maximum error. So the 4 mm error could come from 2 mm into either direction from the 0-position.

However, there is a silver lining: Laser engraving, just like CNC, usually first dials in the 0 regarding the workpiece instead of the 0 of the machine. As long as the machine's movement is ok, you should be fine even without tightening the mounting of the X-endstop. I suggest to run the following test to find out what kind of error actually hounds you though:

Mount a waste piece
Go to a position on the workpiece
Run the laser for a split second
X10
Run the laser for a split second
Repeat 4&5 till you have 10 points
Measure the real distances between the dots engraved

If the distances are always the same but short, you have the wrong steps/mm set and need to adjust them accordingly. If the distances are inconsistent, you have either lost steps or a sloppy belt. To fight lost steps, carefully up the signal to the motor a little. If the results don't change from that, tighten the belt a little - it should sing like a guitar string.


Which kinematic system has the highest quality? I am going to design and build a 3D printer. I want the highest quality and accuracy so nothing except that is important for me. Which cartesian design has the highest quality and accuracy? CoreXY, Prusa, or Gantry (Ultimaker)?
Also, is it better to have a nozzle that moves in just direction "X", directions "X and Y", or "X, Y and Z"?

The tradeoffs in these systems are all about quality achievable at particular speed and acceleration profiles. If you really don't care about speed at all and want maximum accuracy, you probably want some type of Cartesian setup with no belts, only rigid lead screws which you can take to as fine a pitch as you like, and you can make all the parts as rigid as you like because mass doesn't matter (since acceleration doesn't).
Note however that extrusion accuracy is the limiting factor to quality and dimensional accuracy in even a half-decent printer. Rather than trying to design something with "perfect" spatial kinematics for quality from the outset, I think you should look at existing printers, figure out what about them isn't meeting your quality needs, and start from there to improve. You should also figure out what your speed constraints will be, even if they're only minimal.


How to interpret Trinamic driver continuous debug reporting? In Marlin one can enable continuous debug reporting of Trinamic drivers with the command

M122 S1

This sends lines similar to the following over the serial connection:

X:93/28/0||    Y:35/14/-|IF|   Z:54/28/0||    E:176/25/0||

Each driver appears to report three integer values and some flags. I understand the F flag indicates an error state, for example the overtemperature pre-warn condition (OTPW).

What do the other values mean? How can this information be interpreted to debug printing problems or improve performance?

In the Marlin source code I found the function responsible for the report logs: report_polled_driver_data in Marlin/src/feature/tmc_util.cpp.

The values indicated appear to be:

<Axis>:<PWM scale>/<Current scale>/<StallGuard>|<Flags>|<OTPW count>

Where possible flags are as follows (where “debug” indicates that they only appear if TMC_DEBUG is enabled):

E: Error
O: Over-temperature
W: over-temperature pre-Warning
G: stallGuard (debug)
T: stealthChop (debug)
I: standstIll (debug)
F: otpw Flag


Cura 4.4 missing object parts I have this image in STL

But it seems cura skipped the lower panel entirely when slicing the STL.

The base is thick, as you can see here, but it is still missing in Preview, and Cura seems to ignore the base.

I have tried to decrease to 0.1mm for width or initial layer, but cura still ignored the base panel.

I also found this odd behaviour in a number of my models.. such as this:

or this

Notice those missing parts? It is like some parts are floating in the air.

Can someone help me out here? What kind of setting I have to modify?

Using the preview feature as you have is a good method to determine that the original model is flawed. It's not unusual to discover detailed models have reversed normals or non-contiguous surfaces, which will not print.

In a simple example, consider a cube for which five of the six faces are properly described by the design software. This would result in all eight vertices being present, allowing the software to present the "missing" face, but the slicer is unable to create this aspect. The cube is no longer solid and is presented as seven zero-thickness panels, which can't be printed.

It is necessary to repair the broken models, by closing gaps and reverting/recalculating normals, but that requires skill in other software.

Some slicers will attempt to repair damaged models, but some are so severe, the results you've experienced are the result.

If you want a confirmation of a failed model, load it into free Meshmixer, run Analysis/Inspector and expect a "pincushion" of highlighted failures.


Best way to deal with Resin Printers in your living space I know I did something stupid. I just had to have a SLA 3d printer. The issue being I live in a one bedroom apartment. In the months of owning it I have made lots of amazing pieces, I also for the first time in my life have not only allergies, but sever allergies. I thought I had the flu, and has been most of the last 2-3 months. After making the connection to the symptoms appearing after I got the printer, I sealed the resin vat and removed all cleaning station items from my living space. I had thought I had done "enough" by sealing the printers door, and making sure I could not smell any chemicals, and getting a chemical grade air filter.

It's been 2 days, and I'm instantly recovering from my symptoms, and have discontinued allergy medication.

Other than not own this type of printer, what kind of setup do I need so that I can safely use this printer? Does anyone sell enclosures or setups for businesses or homes that will solve this issue?

I can move the cleaning station to my balcony, as it also has a sink and space. Placing the printer even in an enclosure outside would be hard due to the humidity and extreme pollen we get here.

One of the options you have would be to create a negative pressure in your working area. This would be accomplished by installing a fan with the flow direction to the outside. The inside portion of the fan should have ducting that terminates near your printer. You could place your printer in something elaborate, or in something as simple as a large cardboard box and attach the ducting to the box.

As the fan operates, air would be pulled from an open window elsewhere in the room and travel into the cardboard box. It would carry fumes from the printer to the fan and out of the building.

I have a CO2 laser which generates large amounts of smoke. Part of the installation includes a powerful blower not placed in the window, but with ducting from the machine and to a panel in the window frame. I used scrap plastic to make a baffle that accepted the ducting while blocking the rest of the window.

Squirrel-cage blowers provide powerful airflow but you may not need something as expensive as a laser cutter blower. A boat bilge blower might be sufficient to provide clearing airflow for your printer.

Additionally, a small bilge blower such as that shown above will use smaller diameter ducting, which would be easier to find and less expensive. The bilge blower in the picture provides for an in and out attachment, while the not-really-a-laser-cutter blower in the picture does not. A true laser cutter blower has ducting attachments for input and output.

One characteristic of this type of clearing system is that outside air will possibly change the temperature of the room/building. During the winter, the rest of my house got noticeably cooler while the exhaust fan was operating.


Sudden deterioration of print quality on Prusa i3MK3S+ I've had my Prusa i3MK3S+ for a couple of months now, and done 100+ prints, and other than a few issues with first layer adhesion (which are pretty much solved now), have been getting consistently good results. That is, until the day before yesterday. My last six or seven prints have either failed altogether (items that I have successfully printed previously have failed, seeming to collapse midway through printing), or completed with such poor quality as to be useless.
I haven't changed any of the slicer settings, and am using the same filament that was working three days ago (and has been stored in a low-humidity environment). Initially, the printer had not been moved, nor had anything changed in its immediate environment (temperature and humidity are the same, as best as I can measure them).

(the above part was printed successfully about a week before, using the same filament and the same slicer settings, however here it printed with gaps between infill and outline, and circles printed as ellipses)

(the calibration cat at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1545913 -- I have never printed this before, but it does clearly show the kind of problems I'm having)

I've performed regular maintenance tasks and recalibrated the printer, but this hasn't made a difference. I've reinstalled Prusa Slicer with default settings, which didn't help either. I did think that maybe it was an issue with tension on the y-axis belt, which does look a bit loose, however, according to the printer's diagnostics, the tension in both belts is fine.
Any help/suggestions/ideas would be much appreciated!
EDIT: I decided to ignore the diagnostic report from the printer, and re-tension the Y-axis belt, and that has substantially improved things, although it is far from fixed.

So that's resolved some of the issues. The remaining layer shift appears to be only happening parallel to the Y-axis (i.e. the layers seem to line up perfectly along the X). Have I managed to fix one problem and introduce another??

Figured it out. One of the grub screws that hold the motor shaft onto the belt drive pulley for the Y-axis had come loose, and the other had fallen out altogether. I've tightened the remaining one (and ordered replacements), and my prints are perfect again. Well, as good as I can expect, given that I'm using cheap filament.
Two points that might be useful to bear in mind; firstly, the printer was consistently reporting that the belt tension was fine, but clearly it was not. I'm not sure if this is an issue with these printers in general or mine in particular. Secondly, the printer was able to figure out that the pulley was slipping, but did not do so as part of its standard test/setup wizard. It's under Calibration > Self Test.


How do I decrypt messages on my Repetier firmware? I need to send a complex password to my machine. The machine needs to decrypt it and run it. I have not found enough resources for such an operation.

More detailed description:

I am developing a new feature for my 3D printer which runs on Repetier. (It may be on a different firmware that I can do this job).
I want to change my 3D printer so it can understand special encrypted G-codes alongside normal g-codes. Lets describe it with an example:

Normally, 3D printers can read and apply standard g-code files like:

G28
G0 X10 Y20 E30
.
.
.
etc.

But I am developing a g-code encryption method which encrypts any g-code and turns it into a text like:

M999 !4#^
M999 ^s+.&&/..* ….
.
.
etc.

I want to change the firmware for my printer so it understands if the related g-code is encrypted by checking every line if it stars with M999 (or starts with some other pattern character which I will decide later).

To do is, I need to understand how Repetier works, especially how command debug  works and how I can parse my encrypted code from my encrypted g-code file.

I could not understand how repetier.h / command.cpp works and how it parses the line and redirects to functional cases.

Looking through the source I found Commands.cpp that has a loop.

void Commands::commandLoop() {
    while(true) {
        ...
        Commands::executeGCode(code);
    }
}

If we find the executeGCode method, we see that it calls:

processMCode(com);

And finding the processMCode method, we have the switch case you can add your own logic to.

void Commands::processMCode(GCode *com) {
    switch( com->M ) {
        case 3: // Spindle/laser on
            ...

        case 999: // Your custom logic

After decoding your encrypted string, I think it would be best to call back into the first method mentioned, and let the process start from the top with the unencrypted command.

case 999:

    // Custom logic
    executeGCode(unencrypted);
    break;


Marlin Z-probe Failure! I'm using Marlin. Recently my Z-probing randomly doesn't work. Sometimes during Z-Homing it goes up instead of going down to sense the Bed! In  Bed Leveling it goes higher and higher every time. It got frustrating so I ignored Bed-leveling.
Sometimes I get a fine Z-homing but it always starts printing in the air!!! I have no Idea why it happens. All home and axis offsets and setting are fine. I had no problem last time I used my printer.
Why my printer starts printing 5 mm in the air?

I found the problem. I'm using an aluminum structure for my gantry. My Chinese power supply was in contact with this structure. There was a current leak from my power supply that was messing with the Z-probe signal.
I detached the power supply, everything's gotten back to normal, except it had my board and TMC2100 drivers fried a week ago.