Resources for making 3d scans of electrically conductive materials? I would like to make a 3d scanner for accurately modeling very small metal parts.

I figured I might be able to take advantage of the fact that metal conducts electricity, and avoid using light. This might be cheaper, easier to make, and wouldn't get thrown off by shiny surfaces.

Basically, I am imagining an object on a rotating stage, and a movable "feeler" probe. The probe is moved towards the object, and when the probe touches the metal object, a circuit is closed. The distance and angle of the probe and object are then recorded, and used to model a cross section of the object.

My question is:
Is this technique already being used? If so, where? Is there a name for this technique? What resources should I look at for researching this?

I have heard of similar scanning not using the electrical connecting but using the capacitance of the metal object to detect it. Capacitive Scanning works by detecting a metal object near the prob so the prob doesn't have to touch the object being scanned


Is the weather a problem for MDF frames? I've acquired all the parts to build a Reprap Prusa i3 rework, the only missing part is the frame.

I'm in doubt between a MDF cut (cheaper) or acrylic (more expensive), of course a cheaper one is my preferred option until I see any disadvantage on making it of wood.

I thought about variables like heat and humidity and the possibility of expansion/contraction of the frame, is this a valid concern? Will I have more precision buying the acrylic one or is it irrelevant?

I want to add the following to the already direct and very good answer of @Dani Epstein. It does not answer your question, but hopefully may help many people who are reading the question when choosing between the two materials.

Acrylic is less stable and will probably wear off faster than a well-built MDF frame for a 3D printer! I will address the points separately.

An MDF frame has much(!) more mass than acrylic, which will reduce vibrations immediately. Almost more important, a box frame, as typical for the Prusa i3 for example, stabilizes itself intrinsically more by its 'redundant wall' design (don't beat me up over the wording here, I didn't find a better way to describe the property that results from the towers.)
Compare these two images taken from reprap wiki Prusa i3:

You will probably not find an acrylic frame with this design. Shear stress as produced by the moving carriages, as well as z-wobble from the rods should theoretically be much less.
The acrylic might not wear by 'natural causes' since it is not a biologic material as wood is, but it will wear much faster due to handling the material, maintenance and human errors. The material is very brittle. You can find lots of reports on the web where the frame cracked or broke during setup. Here is my favorite example from someone with a lot of experience (1:20-2:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkkVk8c8XoU
Acrylic is a bad choice in terms of its mechanical properties: It is soft (I found low tensile strength as a number to compare in the given database), has lots of thermal expansion (5 times higher than stainless steel) and melts at 160 C (so beware of anything touching your hotend). Feel free to compare it to other materials here (no MDF or plywood in that database, though ;-) ): http://www.goodfellow.com/E/Polymethylmethacrylate.html

This altogether makes acrylic a very bad choice for a 3d printer frame material in my opinion. Choose MDF or plywood, you can make it look cool by painting it, too.


Why is PEEK filament so expensive? High performance polymers are becoming available for specific applications.

One of such materials is PEEK (PolyEther Ether Ketone), a thermoplastic polymer in the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family. PEEK competes with certain Aluminium alloys but is half the weight of Aluminium. For aerospace application this sounds very promising!

NASA has shown that printing these types of polymers is feasible using low-cost, open source hardware.

Does anybody know why the prices of PEEK are so high?

Depending on the supplier/manufacturer you're looking at about 700 - 900 Euro per kg.

My assumptions about PEEK filament price are:

Raw material is more expensive. Compare price of ABS with PEEK pellets.
Demand is much lower. There are not many printers able to print peek. If you manufacture PEEK filament you have to store a filament batch for longer time. Manufacturer has to calculate into price storage space, material degradation, ...
Filament machine tuning. You have to tune filament extrude machine for PEEK, which takes time because it's a totally different plastic. Maybe there is a cleanup needed after finishing a batch and switching to another material.
Working conditions. PEEK is quite smelly and I am not sure if you have to improve work conditions like better ventilation.
Research costs. You have to distribute research costs to a filament production where demand is low.


How to unload filament without cancelling print I have a Prusa MK3s MMU2s which I was running a 7-hour print job on.
It had two spools of filament in, a blue one (primary, very little left) and a gold one (secondary, quite a lot left). It ran out of blue filament approximately 75% through the print job and rather than simply using the remainder of the blue and switching to the gold, the blue was bent and caught on the output nozzle of my spool container. It says that:

MMU needs user attention, fix issue then press button on MMU unit.

I have fixed the issue (snipped the bent part of the blue filament), however, I can't figure out how to make it continue printing. After fiddling a little bit, the red and green lights are all flashing, but no matter what MMU buttons I press, it doesn't continue printing. How should I fix this without cancelling the print job?

This condition is covered in the MMU2S manual's section on troubleshooting:

13.4 All five LEDs blinking red and green
MMU2S unit can now deal with a state in which the Trinamic drivers were not able to provide enough power for steppers. A possible cause can be a broken MMU2S power supply wiring, connectors etc. Please check that all connectors are properly plugged into the MMU2S board and make sure that the cables are in good condition. Also, make sure that the screws on the Einsy terminal box for the power cables are properly tightened. If this state is detected, the MMU2S unit rehomes and automatically continues printing. If the problem occurs three times in a row, the MMU2S unit stops printing and starts flashing continuously with red and green LEDs. Printing can be restored by restarting MMU2S unit using the button on the right side of MMU2S unit.

So, once you have fixed the problem which prevented the filament from moving, press the reset button on the MMU2S. It is recessed, so you will need a tool to push it (such as the 2.5 mm Allen key included with the printer). You will then need to wait a few seconds for the MMU2 to complete its reboot and be ready to communicate, before telling the printer to continue.
Note that the filament may have been chewed by the MMU2 or extruder drive gears and unable to feed properly. Be prepared to — if you haven't already — disassemble the tubing and manually pull out the remaining filament sections. I find this modified holder for the MMU2's filament tubes that uses push-in couplings instead of a clamp very useful to allow quick access when there's a problem or even when inserting new filament.


Retuning a very delicate and tricky print after print failure I recently leveled my bed on my Monoprice Select Mini v2 and tried printing this object with family:
Pentagonal Hexacontahedron Bracelet by mathgrrl - Thingiverse
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:288182
The symptoms were as follows:

the print footings did not stick to the bed
during the print some of the footings looked misshapen
Eventually everything lost cohesion and looked like a mess of silly string
the insulating tape on the heating block started to come off

Immediately after the insulating tape came off we aborted the print.
Here are the steps we followed to convert, slice and print the object.

We loaded the STL file into Ultimaker Cura 4.8.0, using a preset in the wizard for the Monoprice Select Mini v2
We opened the STL for the small bracelet, chose ‘Slice’, and copied the resulting .gcode to a microSD.
We popped the SD into the printer, preheated the nozzle and extruded a small amount of PLA (we used the PLA for a demo print of a cat hours earlier and it worked great for the demo)
We went to print and chose the .gcode for the small bracelet and let it start to operate.
The heating settings for the bracelet .gcode from Cura were a bit different different than those used for the demo cat .gcode that came with the machine. Both had the nozzle heated to 190 °C. The bed heating setting for the bracelet was 5 degrees hotter than the cat at 65 °C.

Any tips are appreciated. I don’t know what happened or if it possible to print this object successfully with the Monoprice Select Mini v2.

The print is extremely challenging, as it has a lot of thin diameter items growing up, a lot of overhangs and a rather small surface to hold to the bed. So you need a Brim and support:
As OP found, a Brim is a setting that adds extra material in the first layer around the print to increase adhesion.
Support Structures are to give an overhang something to rest upon. Removing them can be tricky, but they make some things printable at all. Like this bracelet. You'll have to finetune your settings, best by learning with less complex models first or mimicking the settings of others that made the bracelet.
The thin vertical parts can make the print fail nevertheless - you can possibly fix some of the vertical adhesion issues by printing slower. If these parts are too thin, you might be unable to print them at all with a 0.4 mm nozzle! As a rule of thumb, it is really tricky to print pillars slimmer than 2.5 nozzle diameters and almost impossible to print them nicely under 2 nozzle diameters.
My settings
I print my PLA at 200 °C, the bed at 60 °C, but then again I don't have a glass bed.


Is it possible to use an aftermarket controller on a MakerBot? I've got a dead MakerBot Replicator Dual and I'm not really interested in fixing it with about half the parts being proprietary, discontinued, and therefore very expensive. So, I'm wondering if it's possible to use a controller board used on some of the other RepRap machines.

I'd assume that it's all relatively the same, mostly need a means of routing/regulating power to the servos/fans/etc. based on a g-code. If that's true, then I'm also assuming the next step is ensuring the slicing engine spits out the right format for the board (.s3g, .x3g, .gcode, etc.) and that the slicing engine knows the proper bounds for the machine.

Side question, if I used an another controller board, would I be able to still run MakerWare/MakerBot Desktop? So far, I've preferred the MiracleGrue slicer, but I've used Cura on Octopi and it'd suffice.

You can put pretty much any controller in pretty much any printer, with a few noteworthy details you need to keep in mind for a Replicator 1.

Makerbots use thermocouples. Most RepRap style 3d printers use thermistors. So you would need to replace the extruder temp sensors, or choose a new controller with thermocouple support.
Makerbots use 24v heaters and fans and PSUs. Most RepRap style 3d printers run on 12v (although this is slowly changing because 24v is better for performance and safety.) You can either pick a new controller that is known to be compatible with 24v, or replace all 24v-rated components with equivalent 12v-rated components.
The existing heatbed thermistor circuit is probably not the same kind of circuit that your new controller will expect. Older Makerbots use a small voltage divider circuit on the HBP PCB to convert the thermistor resistance to a voltage signal, whereas RepRap style controllers typically have this circuit on the mainboard and thus need only a simple thermistor hookup. You could add a new thermistor, or modify the existing circuit, or get an entirely new heatbed.
The existing endstops are full +5v,GND,Signal style mechanical switches with debounce capacitors and LED indicators. These should be compatible with most controller boards given proper firmware setting, but you may need to do some creative wiring if there isn't a suitable three-pin endstop port on your chosen board.
The LCD and 5-button panel will not work with other boards. You'll need to replace that or just run a remote host via USB.
Connectors may be different, of course. That's always an issue with any board swap.
You will need to export RepRap style gcode instead of .x3g files. Makerware/Desktop can export gcode but there may be some minor differences in Mcode assignments from what most RepRap style firmware will expect. I couldn't tell you offhand whether this will work, but to be safe, it would probably be best to use a more traditional RepRap slicer (Slic3r, Cura) or Simplify3D.

So that's a healthy to-do list. At a certain point you're practically building a new printer. But there is a significantly easier approach than installing a RepRap style controller: replace the dead Makerbot Mightyboard with a compatible community-designed Sailfish board like the Azteeg x3 by Panucatt or new CloneBoard Mini by Carl Raffle. Or, if you're ok with Chinese sourcing, a FlashForge Mightyboard will be a near 100% drop-fit replacement for your Makerbot Mightyboard. Any of these options will give you fresh new electronics with minimal hardware changes in the rest of the printer.

Either way is fine and you'll end up with a working printer. Using another Sailfish board will certainly be easier, if you don't object to staying within the Sailfish/x3g toolchain and Makerbot/Clone parts ecosystem. Makerbot does have a very bad community reputation these days, but it's important to remember that the Replicator 1 Dual is a completely open-source machine from the "pre-evil" days, and compatible spare parts are widely available from literally dozens of vendors. The Rep1-derived Makerbots and Clones collectively comprise the most popular single "flavor" of 3d printer in the world (totaling as much as perhaps a quarter of all consumer/hobbyist 3d printers sold to date) and many/most of the spare parts for Replicator 2/2x's and clones will also fit in a genuine Rep1.


Retraction Jamming Problem! Recently I had this problem where I needed to change filament from PLA to PET-G or similar. And... filament jam. After playing around with different settings and speeds and still getting the same results I had to clean everything. And again during a print, it jammed.

I brought a new nozzle, heating cartage, Teflon (PTFE) tube and some additional components(fans, new wires and so on) but still was the same. Now I'm waiting for a new set of hotend Mk8Design Needed kit.

A week after the order and still waiting, I played with retraction a little. By default, it was set to 0.8 mm on Sli3er but I had set it to 4-6 mm because it gives the best results and no stringing. I changed it again to 1.5-2 mm and... no more jamming at the cost of getting stringing. I'm using PLA which I never had experienced strings before.

So, in summary, the problem occurs due my retraction setting. Either I have to live with strings and no jam problems or no strings but jamming problems during printing.

Have someone had same problem as me? How did you fixed it?

Printer AlfaWise U30(bowden type) but it's no longer the same.
Motherboard: MKS 1.4 Gen A4988 + DRV8825 Stepper drivers(no problems here)
PID(Autotune), Calibrations and so on done correctly.
Firmware latest marlin 1.1.9 (Tried bugfix but the same)
Sofware for slicing PE Sli3er (Tried Ultimaker Cura with same model and same problem)

I had problems with jamming PETG due to retraction.  My model had many retraction moves, such that the amount of filament used during a printing move was less than the retraction distance.  I found that several trips through the feed gear flattened the filament, which caused two problems.

The flattened (or ovaled) filament had trouble fitting through the round holes and tubes, and
Since it was thinner, the filament was not gripped as tightly so there was less force pushing it.

I reduced my feed gear pressure and the problem stopped.

PETG is not as stiff as PLA.  The multiple trips through mangle flattened it.


Inland PLA+ stringing badly at manufacturer-recommended temperature ranges I've seen conflicting advice on the correct printing temperature for Microcenter's house-brand Inland PLA+, particularly after a supplier change announced in April 2018.

There's an official post from Microcenter, where they state that their PLA+ from both the suppliers they use prints best from 215-225 °C. (The label on the spool specifies 205-225 °C).

However, I've run a series of Benchy prints with recently-purchased white inland PLA+ at different temperatures (with a Lulzbot SL toolhead and 0.1 mm layer depth, slicing by Cura LE 3.6.10 after repairing the STL with Microsoft's repair tool, movement 30 mm/sec), and my experience is very different:

220 °C has very severe stringing and blobbing, including blobbing on top surfaces. The text on the base is not visible at all.
215 °C has substantial stringing and blobbing, particularly on inside surfaces, but not on the roof of the boat (except the prow). The text on the base is partially visible.
210 °C looks very good; there are some tiny blobs on the nameplate and the inside door, and no stringing. This was the first one that didn't require a razor blade to remove from the PEI surface. The text on the base is very clear.
205 °C looks great.

Is something wrong with my equipment, such that it's printing with a higher temperature than it reads? Is Microcenter's advice off? Could I have a batch that behaves differently than is expected for the same filament in general?

More to the point -- what advice do others have to get good results with Inland PLA+?

A portion of information missing from the manufacturer's specifications and in the question is the print speed. You could have slower speeds than the manufacturer used to perform the tests, which requires lower temperatures to reduce the "flow rate" of the plastic to an acceptable level.

In some cases, I use as low as 20 mm per second print speed, others can be as high as 60 mm per second. At the higher speeds, I will increase the temperature five degrees C to ensure that the hot end can keep up with the increased filament extrusion. Alternatively, slower speeds need lower temperatures. The variation may not be larger as described for your system. You've already experienced a substantial difference based on your posted numbers.

It would be unrealistic to collect others' experiences with a specific brand unless color choice, print speed, printer model/hot end model, etc are also collected. Let's include part cooling fan settings as well to complicate the task even more.

You can consider to check the great Thingiverse library for temperature test models. These files are used to print various segments at different temperatures. Due to the above noted factors, you may find your result can be clustered or may find they cannot, based on color, manufacturer, age, etc. It is a valuable resource to improve your printing results, however.


Why did my print fall off its raft? I just set up a refurbished MP Select Mini V2 and tried to print the test file included by the manufacturer, cat.gcode, from the included SD card. I printed in PLA (I think; the unlabeled sample included with the printer) at the default extruder temperature, 190 °C. The print bed was set to 50 °C.

It appeared to print the raft fine, and then a couple of layers of the cat. At this point I walked away, and when I came back a few minutes later here's what I found:

The raft is still stuck to the bed, but the layers of cat that were printed fell off the base and onto the floor. Here's what I picked up off the floor, (next to the detached raft):

The raft was stuck on the bed just fine, so I don't think it's an adhesion issue. The bed and the desk the printer is sitting on are both very close to level (things don't slide or roll off). There's no breeze and I'm certain nothing bumped or touched the printer while it was running.

This is my first attempt at a print so I obviously have no idea what I'm doing. I'm planning to set up a camera to record the next attempt. What other troubleshooting can I do? What is the likely cause of this problem?

Your trouble lies within the presliced G-code: the temperatures are rather low for PLA and upping both by 10 degrees would be advisable:

200 °C for the Hotend
60 °C for the Bed

Atop that, printing a raft for PLA is usually not advisable.

Get yourself a slicer (the most common free ones I am comfortable with using are Cura, Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa Edition) and either import a fitting profile and create your own profile, then slice the .stl-model yoruself.


Is there a way to print with ABS without enclosure? ABS is a very strong material, but it also has some downsides. One of them, which is the necessity of having a printer with enclosure, completely discouraged me from using it, as it would be a waste of money. This is quite sad, because I cannot make prints that will be able to withstand a large load of tension without breaking.

Is there any way to print ABS without any enclosure? Maybe there are several types of this material and some are easier to print?

There is no requirement for an enclosure when printing ABS. Like many things in FDM, there are improvements to be made, but there is a scale of what is possible.

A heated bed is much more necessary (for similar reasons, the thermal expansion is significant and without a heated bed you have very high risk of warping).

An enclosure is important for high quality, large ABS prints. Otherwise, a warm location which is free of drafts will be fine, particularly for parts which are only a few cm high.

If you're not using an enclosure, the part cooling fan should probably not be used to print ABS. You should also be aware that ABS tends to generate more noticeable fumes than PLA (although this varies with product, and how sensitive you are).


Adjusting the Z end stop? I have adjusted my z axis end stop via the paper test. However when I press to home all the axis the z axis hits the print bed moves it down slightly then goes to the postion I describe. Is this how its supose to be if not what do I need to do?

Typically a machine will rapid to find its software stop(s), retract and slowly find its mechanical end stop. Please regard the RepRap Wiki for general troubleshooting and basic technical information.


Do stepper motors require any maintenance? I've had my printer for almost a year now.

Is there something I should be doing to maintain the motors?

The stepper motor itself does not.  You may want to inspect the motors for debris or dust.

Depending on your configuration you may want to check on parts of your printer that connect to your stepper motor such as shaft couplings, pulleys, lead screws/threaded rods and belts.  The stepper motor wires should occasionally be inspected for wear and strain.


3d print aluminum valve cover for car I am interested in 3d printing from aluminum valve cover for car SAAB valve cover

I am thinking of creating 3d scan and the placing order with i.materialize or similar online services.

I am curios if this is feasible at all, since  I am interested in 3d printing functional part not just a souvenir. Also since 3d part does not have smooth surface, will sand blasting help without affecting dimensions?

Also what would be an approximate cost of 3d scanning and printing?

I really do not know where to start and would appreciate any directions.

This is a very large part. My estimate for the cost would be a few thousand to get this printed in metal, if not tens of thousands (assuming it even fits the maximum build volume of the printer, which is only 440mm on its longest axis).

3D scanning also isn't a very reliable way to reproduce parts, especially for something mechanical that needs to be precise. You can not just scan something and then print it like making a photocopy. A lot of manual design and reverse engineering work would be involved.


How to install new ATmega firmware via the ISP pins? While uploading .hex firmware directly onto boards that allow this via CURA, this is not always an option for all machines (for lack of a functioning USB-connectable port for example).

On both my TronXY X1 board (Melzi 2.0 V5 with ATMEGA1284P) and the Creality Ender 3 (Creality 3D v.1.1.2 with Δ ATMEL  ATMEGA1284P  AU 1726) I spotted these 6 pins labeled ISP that are supposed to allow to connect an Arduino or similar to flash firmware. According to the RepRap Wiki, Melzi is a derivative of the Sanguinololu and both are Sanguino Compatible.

After creating the new firmware in Arduino IDE and making sure it compiles for the correct chip in the board, how can I use an Arduino Uno or other microcontroller to flash the new firmware  via the ISP to my printer?

This is asking specifically about ATmega based controller boards, using the Arduino toolchain.

Considering AVR based controller boards...

You might not need an additional Arduino, to serve as an ISP. It really depends upon the board. There are basically three scenarios:

Controller board which is Arduino based - Arduino Mega 2560 with a RAMPS 1.4 - with a bootloader
Controller board which is Arduino based - Arduino Mega 2560 with a RAMPS 1.4 - without a bootloader
Controller board which is AVR based board (no separate Arduino board) - as is the case with an Ender-3 and the TronXY board1 - without a bootloader

Option 1 is the easiest, and you simply upload with the USB cable, directly from the Arduino IDE.

Options 2 and 3 is where you would require an In-circuit Serial Programmer (ISP). Such as a USBasp: USBasp - USB programmer for Atmel AVR controllers

or you can use another Arduino, see Arduino as ISP and Arduino Bootloaders.

An ISP device basically converts the USB to TTL signals (along with a serial protocol (JTAG or derivative)) which then connects to the ICSP2 interface on the controller board:

Scenario 1

As stated above, you simply connect the board to the PC/Mac using the USB cable and, within the Arduino IDE, you hit Upload - ensuring that you have the correct Board (i.e. Mega2560) and Port selected in the Tools menu.

Scenario 2

For the Mega2560 the pins the MOSI, MISO and SCK are broken out on to are:

Arduino / Genuino Board    MOSI            MISO             SCK       Level
Mega1280 or Mega2560    51 or ICSP-4    50 or ICSP-1    52 or ICSP-3    5V

To program the Mega2560 using an Uno, connect as follows:

or using the ISP connector (in this diagram the electrolytic capacitor3 is not shown):

Take note of the electrolytic capacitor3 on the programming device:

  The 10 µF electrolytic capacitor connected to RESET and
  GND of the programming board is needed only for the boards that have
  an interface between the microcontroller and the computer's USB, like
  Mega, Uno, Mini, Nano. Boards like Leonardo, Esplora and Micro, with
  the USB directly managed by the microcontroller, don't need the
  capacitor.

or using the Mega's ICSP connector, from Atmega bootloader programmer (see original image):

Note D10 is used, not RESET4

Scenario 3

So, to use an Arduino Uno on your controller board, which is scenario 3 (an AVR based board, but not an Arduino board per se), you would need to connect the Uno to the ICSP of the controller board like this:

ICSP     Uno

MOSI     D11
MISO     D12
SCK      D13
GND      GND
5V       5V
RESET    D10

or, like this, from Chaos Drucker - CREALITY ENDER3 MIT MARLIN AUSSTATTEN  (see original image):

There is an error in the image and the red line should go to D10 and not D9 as shown

Note, again, that the RESET on the Arduino Uno's ISP connector is not used (and Pin 10 is used to connect to the controller's ICSP's RESET pin instead)4.

Configure the Arduino IDE

Then in the Arduino IDE you will need to select the Programmer to be used, in this case Uno as an ISP, like so:

Once you have connected correctly, and selected the programmer, then you should be able to hit compile and upload as usual.

Footnotes

1 Which both use the same board - see this answer to What voltage does the Creality Ender-3 run at?

2 In case you are wondering, see What's the difference between ICSP vs ISP?:

  The difference between ISP and ICSP is a hyphen.

  ISP stands for In-circuit Serial Programming, and ICSP stands for In
  Circuit Serial Programming.

  Any arrangement that allows you to program a microcontroller while it
  is in a circuit using a serial protocol can be called ISP or ICSP.

See also Wikipedia - In-system programming.

3 See When using an Arduino as an ISP, is the capacitor required or not?

4 Why? From Can the Arduino Uno become an AVR programmer and use the ICSP header to program the target board:

  First of all, as configured, the RESET pin can not be used as an output pin. In order to use it as an I/O pin, you would have to program the RSTDISBL fuse. But once you do that, as jippie said, it becomes near-impossible to reprogram your Arduino (if you have the socketed through hole variety of the MCU, you could pull it out and put it into a high voltage programmer; in all other cases, it's effectively impossible).

  So in theory, you can use the ICSP header the way you suggest. In practice, it's under almost any conceivable circumstance a terrible idea.


ABS de-layering on Ender 3 I feel like I’ve tried everything. I’ve had an Ender 3 for seven months now printing in PLA.

I’ve modded it plenty including BLTouch. I’m now doing a project that really requires ABS so I have the white hatch box ABS. It wasn’t sticking at first but I got that well under control with glue tape and proper leveling with an enclosure. And I’m assuming this is important. I do indeed have an enclosure. Anyone I’m printing this part that has two long but thin-sideways protrusions coming out. Each one keeps de-laying at two specific points. I’ve tried everything including temperature and everything in Cura settings. I’m up to four failed prints now. I also tried other prints with the ABS and they also delayered in specific spots over and over.

Please help I’m close to completely giving up on my projects. The de-layerings are all the same with this one being the worse of them.

Welcome Fox_89 to the SE 3D Printing site.  Thank you for bringing your question, and I hope you contribute both questions and answers in the years ahead.

I understand that you've tried everything, so I have nothing new to suggest.

Never the less, I would suggest some possibilities, perhaps one of which you haven't yet tried:

Extrude hotter filament.  Increase the nozzle temperature.  My
printer (Pruse3D i3m3s) prints ABS at 255 degrees C.  Give the layers
a better chance to melt together.
Print slower, so that the layers have a longer time to melt together,
and they have a longer time to cool before the next layer reheats
them.
Use a cooling fan to bring the part to equilibrium more quickly.
Try a different filament.  Not all filaments have the same shrinkage.
Hatchbox has worked pretty well for me, but try another manufacturer.
Try another color, like transparent.  White can be a difficult color
because it must carry a high pigment load.  Black can carry less
pigment, and might be easier to print.  "Transparent" or "natural"
carries no pigment.
Check for anything that might increase the strain on the part at that
layer.  It could be a geometry change on the other side of the part,
since that changes the thermal profile of the whole layer.
Must it be ABS?  PETG has a higher working temperature than PLA, but will print
differently than ABS.


Why are delta bots so finicky? I've had my anycubic kossel for a good while now, and whenever I print something, it seems like it falls out of calibration very quickly. The biggest example is that the prints tend to scale up as the print progresses, or maybe the print starts to drift, and comes out slanted. This seems to never happen in any similarly priced XYZ printers. Why is this? Do XYZ printers just have an inherent advantage over deltas? Perhaps Deltas have some precision loss?

user77232's points are valid but I have done several things to mitigate these issues on my Anycubic Deltas.

First, both of my deltas have linear slide bearings. If your's has the bearing trucks that run in the extrusion slots this will lead to less precise operation and also is a source of wear over time.

Second, be sure that the end stop micro switches are positioned precisely and that their fasteners are tight. You may also want to use a mild strength Loctite on their fasteners. When operated at high extrusion rates all components are subject to significant vibration.

Third, I found that the universal joints are also a significant source of play. I remedied this to some degree by placing rubber bands across the arms at both ends so that the play was minimized. The rubber bands should be wrapped fairly tightly to perform this function.

Forth, I try to tune the belt tension so that all of the belts have the same note when plucked. There are smart phone apps that will help do this. I believe that one that I use is from Gates, a premium manufacturer of drive belts. Also, over time belts stretch so you will need to retension them periodically.

Fifth, run through the firmware calibration process regularly for both positional accuracy and for filament extrusion and retraction variables.

I don't use my deltas much any more since purchasing a popular XYZ type printer but it cost me three times what they did and it still has issues from time to time.


Kossel accumulates error along Z axis I have a Mini Kossel and I am going through calibration.

I can home carriages and find the bed with paper-test getting some Z value with M114. Then I run the effector almost full height up and then down - and now Z value for the bed is greater!

If I repeat the process I get greater and greater values in paper-test. It seems that travel per step is different moving in different directions.

How can I fix that? I am using RAMPS 1.4 with Marlin firmware.

UPDATE:

Z values near bed after subsequent runs of five passes of G1 X100 G1 X10

100% speed: 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 1.0

 20% speed: 0.1 0.4 0.9 1.4 4.6 6.6

300% speed: 0.0 0.7 1.0 1.3

After some more testing I checked that the problem shows up only on Z tower and is not related with current. Examining the tower I found very dumb mistake. Pulley on the motor didn't have a setscrew! Don't know how could I missed that. The fact that it could somehow run is even more amazing. Thanks @tom-van-der-zanden and @darthpixel for help. It is for sure that such synchronization failure could have been caused by current shortage as well.

UPDATE:

Oh! Y tower pulley doesn't have setscrew as well! But it was running smoothly and in sync with X (which has that screw). Amazing. - UPDATE2. Not really. After closer look only Z tower misses the screw, which explains all.

UPDATE3:

After setting a srew into pulley the problem is completely gone!)


Prints get really messy for no apparent reason I have a serious problem and I can't find a way to solve it because I have no idea why is it happening.
For some reason the things I print get really messy, like a mountain range growing on the print. It looks like overflow but it can't be because I'm already using 0.82 flow modifier and if I go any lower the printout will fall apart as the extrusions won't touch at all. I've double checked my extruder steps and my filament and also my nozzle width, all are set up correctly. The whole thing looks like the printer is over-extruding just in some parts of the print.

It definitely looks like over extruding. But similar effect can appear with proper extruding (or not too much exceeded) but with too high temperature.

If it appears only on some parts of the first layer then it can be:

bed leveling issue (or eventually bed is bent)
caret mechanism issue (dispositioned/bent)

You can also check different speeds just to be sure.


Hotend temperature reading limited After doing some repairs and upgrades on my Ultimaker Original, I found my temperature readings to be weird.

The reading is not incorrect, as long as the temperature is above 110°C. When the real temparature is below 110°C, the sensor will always read 110°C, with only subtle changes around 0.1°C.

This will cause the printer to abort heating, because it does not see a change in temparature for the first 30 seconds (when the temperature is below 110°C).

Here you can see a screenshot of Pronterface, showing how the temperature (blue line) starts increasing when my printer already aborted heating (violet line).

I am certain that the reading is incorrect because at the beginning the hotend actually feels cold to touch.

I am also certain that the reading above 110°C is more or less accurate.

What could this be caused by? What parts should I replace?
If I should replace the TC2, will a TC1 do too? I can't seem to find any store selling the TC2.
If I should replace the sensor, what kind of sensor should I search for?
Or is there a drop-in sensor-chip-combination that I can buy?

The fact that the temperature reading stays steady while heating and changes once it stops heating makes me thing that you might have a short between your heater wires and sensor wires or somehow have them interconnected. Especially if it shows the same temperature when it's actually below 110°C and heating but shows correct when not heating. I would try to separate the heater wires from the sensor wires and make sure they are not touching, also check that the sensor wires are not touching the heating block.


Can't seem to fix over extrusion I'm struggling to get my printer up and running for a few days now. The problem is as follows. I got a test model of a cube (40x40 mm) and everytime I try to print it, the nozzle creates these 'lines' on the print which is caused by over extrusion I think? See image:

This goes on for every bottom layer and ultimately when it starts printing the infill the nozzle starts digging into the print and I'm forced to stop the printer, see image:

What I have tried so far:

Calibrating my extruder (by marking 100 mm on filament and command extruding 100 mm, check difference and adjust E step/mm accordingly)
Performed an auto bed leveling
I even halved my flow rate in the slicer (Ultimaker Cura), this gave signs of under extrusion of the first layer but the second layer looks over extruded again
Tried different temperatures in the range of 190-210 °C (I'm using PLA), made no significant difference

My settings and gear:

HE3D K280 Delta 3D printer
E3D V6 Volcano hot end (original, not chinese)
E3D Titan Extruder (original)
Marlin 1.1.8 using Ultimaker Cura as slicer
Nozzle 0.6 mm, layer height 0.2 mm, print speed 50 mm/s
1.75 mm PLA

If anyone could help me fixing this that would be great!

Your images look as if your initial nozzle to heat bed offset is too large. This causes the filament not to be squished. Try re-levelling and have a piece of plain printing paper have a little drag when pulled.


Z-Axis zero/home position is higher than the actual print starting position I'm having an issue with my very first printer, a Monoprice Select Mini V2. After doing about 20 successful prints on it, the Z axis is suddenly acting very odd.

When I 'home' the Z axis and move the nozzle on the X and Y, I can do the paper test on all four corners of the bed without issue - the leveling is near-perfect. But when I start a print job, the nozzle is much lower - by at least 1-2 mm.

This causes the print head to grind against the print bed, which I unfortunately need to replace as it's pretty much destroyed. The nozzle is so much lower at the start of a print job than it is at the home position that it ground a permanent line on the bed. It's trying to go so low, there's enough pressure on the nozzle to not let any filament escape - leaving a bad gouge like I dragged a screwdriver across the print surface. Not good.

It's not the Z-axis limiter switch. I confirmed that is both working and secured tightly to the printer body. When homing the Z axis, I can hear the switch click and the printer stops at that position correctly. It's only when I start a print job that it ends up lower, almost as if it's ignoring the switch.

I also eliminated my slicer software from the equation by printing something I had printed successfully just a couple hours prior - without reslicing or modifying the GCODE file at all. I'm at the point now where I can't print anything that I could before, without having this problem. My heat and speed settings remained untouched.

How can I solve this? The issue popped up just after doing a successful print. What gives? I've heard of the opposite problem (Z-Axis 'too high'), especially after changing nozzles, but not 'too low', and I've never seen it where the print job actually starts lower than the true zero position. Help!

Check the Z-drive for any component looseness. Look at belts, gears, anything with screws. Wiggle things mercilessly checking for play.

At the start of a normal print run, the the print head typically rises up very high as the head warms up (depends on software) and then lowers to print. If your homing paper test happened with the head near the limit switch, then the difference between those two use cases is the Z-distance traveled to get to the same place. You have eliminated software and electrical considerations, which leaves mechanical considerations. A slipping gear or belt might contribute to this odd behavior you describe.


How to make menus more responsive in Marlin 1.1.9 I have an AM8 with an MKS GEN 1.4 board with a Bowden extruder at the moment.

What I would like to do is to make my menus a bit more responsive, similar to what the guy at Lokster Space has done with ver 1.1.5 of Marlin with a tutorial how to do so. I've been through the file ultralcd.cpp but nothing matches what the tutorial is telling you to change.

The following link is the details for the upgrade: How to make the Marlin menus more responsive on Anet A8

Could anyone please help with my situation.

Supposedly, it's no longer necessary in a recent Marlin version, already the inline bool handle_adc_keypad() function from ultralcd.cpp has implemented a smaller (100 ms) time delay. You could lower the value of #define ADC_MIN_KEY_DELAY 100 to #define ADC_MIN_KEY_DELAY 50 to see if that has any effect.

Also, look for next_button_update_ms = now + 300; (4 instances) which employs a 300 ms time delay after buttons are pressed. Try lowering the 300 ms time delay.


Sloped bridges in Cura I'm trying to print this model of a boat:

It has 2 keels joined by 5 bridges, but the top of each keel is curved, so while the middle part is mostly flat, the bridge on the back has a bit of a slope (as you can see with the "stair" effect).

The problem I have is that I can't get Cura to properly bridge that specific part: It creates a bridge for the first layer, but on the next layer (where there's a part that needs bridging), it just starts drawing a surface:

In this picture you can see layer 86 it has drawn a bridge between both keels, but on layer 87 it tries to print a surface larger than posible. That results in this happening:

and this causes big gaps in the top surface.

I've been trying to play a bit with the settings in Cura, but I can't find anything that would fix this... Is there anything that can help me? (maybe even the model has a design problem)

Cura has some options in this area that might or might not help. I've had mixed results. You should make sure Enable Bridge Settings is on, and try adjusting Bridge Skin Support Threshold. By default bridge settings are only used if 50% or more of the area is unsupported. Area is an utterly ridiculous/meaningless metric for whether bridging is needed, so you probably need to set this to just a really high value like 90% or 95%. You may also want to check that Bridge Has Multiple Layers is on.

With that said, for your model I would just use supports with a support interface (roof) below the bridges. You could reduce the material cost of them with Support Tree mode. But there are of course places where you can't use supports in similar models (bridge is over another part of the model and there's no access to remove the support material), so having working bridge settings is still desirable.


Sketchup Free STL import in FreeCAD not working with Fasteners Workbench Hoping to get some help with something I'm trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, due to my being a noob with 3D modeling in general, I'm coming here for hopefully more direct help.

Env. Details: OS: Windows 10
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.17.13541 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-17
Hash: 9948ee4f1570df9216862a79705afb367b2c6ffb
Python version: 2.7.14
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.2.0
Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US)

Essentially, I have a need to design some housing for a small electornics board. Due to the nature of 3D printing being less than ideal for bending/snapping locks, I've decided to use small screws to hold multiple layers of housing together.

SketchUp Free proved to be a super intuitive, easy to understand 3D modeling software, tho is limited in functionality due to paid tiers.
Unfortunately, FreeCAD felt like a confusing cross between early 2000s Microsoft Paint and Eclipse (Java). However as the open source alternative, I understand it's incredibly powerful and can/should be able to do what most 3D modeling software is capable of, if you know how to use it properly - and that's where my lack of understanding shines through. Research into my use case revealed a plugin (Fasteners Workbench) which seemed purpose built for dealing with screws/threads, and I greatly prefer this approach due to being able to select standardized sizes.

On to the problem:
I decided to sketch out the main design for the housing in Sketchup, and am happy with it, though I am missing the holes in the four corners. To add this, I decided to export the file from Sketchup as STL and import it to FreeCAD. Once in FreeCAD, I switched to the fasteners workbench and created a screwtap of arbitrary length. Now, from most tutorials I've watched, removing one piece from another is a boolean operation, often a cut or an intersection. However, when I highlight both the part object and the screwtap and select the CUT boolean operation, what I expect to happen (the screwtap was "cut" or carved out of the part object) did not.

I'm wondering if:
- My understanding of the boolean operation is wrong. There is a different function that is used for "boring" threaded holes?
- My process is wrong. Does exporting an STL from sketchup free not work for certain operations when importing to FreeCAD?
- My models are off. I have an understanding that "grouping" parts of models is big when putting a model together from parts, so as to simplify life. I'm wondering if it's also required in these cases? Attempting to do the boolean operation in sketchup failed but did require having grouped components. I'm not sure this is the case in FreeCAD, or if I'm already doing this?

Would appreciate any help with this. Attaching the FreeCAD file here.

Stls may not properly import as solids.  This is likely what is happening in your case.  Stl format is ultimately just a bunch of triangles without a proper definition of a solid.  The boolean Difference found faces to attach to the circle so it used them.  The trouble is, there were even more faces at the same location (not uncommon).

You could manually delete and repatch the triangles in Mesh Design or if the shape is simple enough (I think your box fits the bill), redraw it.  I don't know how far sketchup has come with file formats, but a different format may convey your solid better between software.

That said, in your shoes, I'd be making cylindrical and hexagonal cutouts and gluing a nut into my part.


true color printing with CMYK+White (not 3-in-1 diamond head RGB) There is this great hotend called a diamond hotend, which can be used to print in 3 colors and mix them into hundreds? of colors. This can for example be used with Red, Green and Blue filament to mix a RGB palette. They don't have to be these colors, but I believe RGB would give the maximum range of colors when constrained to 3.

However true RGB in physical printing would use separate colored voxels to create the appearance of a color, just like monitors display colors. As far as I know only HP Jet Fusion 3D printer uses this process, but it uses a process vastly different from normal diy 3D FDM printers.

CMYK is mixed physically like you would mix watercolors together to make new colors. It is used for printing on paper by all laserjet and inkjet printers (and in printing presses).
So that means even the 3 input diamond hotend is actually mixed like CMYK. Repetier firmware v92.9 has this built in with support up to 16 inputs for a nozzle, but Marlin firmware v1.0.x only supports 4 inputs per nozzle at this time.

Using RGB for the 3 inputs of a hotend, means the printing color palette lacks White and also it seems that CMYK would give a bigger range of colors. That brings our tally to 4 inputs. It still needs a white filament to print white, so that means 5 inputs. And while we are at it, probably a 6th input would be useful: like for printing black infill (to save using CMYK to mix into black) or for using transparent filament or elastic filament.

So why isn't there a nozzle with 5-6 inputs already? Could it be done? Are there such hotends already?

P.S These are just theoretical assumptions. I just discovered 3D printing and I am in the planning phase of building my first 3D printer, so I am a total n00b in this. Please correct any assumptions I got wrong.

You may be a bit misled here. First of all, you do not want "RGB" , as those are additive colors such as used when combining light sources.  You do want "RYB" (red-yellow-blue) or the more accurate CMY(plus K just to get a 'truer' black)  for subtractive colors.

Next, there's really no reason to attempt pixel-mixing. What should happen, ideally, is that pigments get fully mixed upon extrusion so that the desired color is actually in place. Pretty much any pixel-based setup will not "blend" into the desired visual perception.  And as you propose, you really need a White and a Black to adjust the saturation (take a look at the Wikipedia pages on Hue and Saturation color maps).
So I'm not convinced that separate extrusion heads will ever get you a decent color continuum.  I don't know if anyone has, or is planning, a multi-input, single-output head but I'd sure like one.


Printing and slicing big pieces with Elegoo Mars (Pro) I'm pretty new in the 3D printing world, and there are some doubts that have come my way and I've not been able to find anywhere.
Usually, I'm going to try to print pieces bigger than the bed of my Elegoo Mars Pro (which is 115 x 65 x 150 mm, so it's pretty small). Everywhere I try to look at this they are talking about Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) printers, and I guess that material will make the answer to these questions to be different, that's why I'm asking here. All of these questions are focused on SLA printers.
Is there any kind of technique / slicer software to be able to print those pieces by parts?
I've read about slicers, but there seem to be a bunch of them, and some of them work best with some printers than others, and have different features but I haven't seen any that helps in this matter.
Also, I've seen the typical plane cut, but this doesn't make it easy later on to "fit" pieces. I would need some kind of female - male joint. Is there any (free) slicer that helps in that, and makes those joints to be accurate and solid?
Thank you!

I removed the "shrink size" part in the question and published it as a separate question. Also moved to a different question "gluing separate pieces" part.*

With so many questions, I'll provide a suggestion for your first one, the alignment option. There's a 12 minute YouTube video showing how to use Meshmixer (free, multi-platform) to create alignment pins and holes while segmenting a model for printing large items.

The process involves making the cut, keeping both sections. A pin is created and sized, then placed in one of the faces, while the other segment visibility is turned off. The pin is then triplicated, with one pin moved away for printing.
One of the two remaining pins (overlapped) is selected and is used for a Boolean subtract operation, creating a hole that is matching in size and location.
The first segment visibility is turned off, the second segment is turned on and the pin is selected again. The sequence is duplicated, creating a second, matching hole.
I didn't watch the entire video, but if it is not suggested, one should reduce the third pin size, at least the diameter, sufficiently to allow it to fit the holes created by the above process.
Note that the video has some inconsistencies from my experience. Some terms are changed from the video to the program, but should not cause problems.


FreeCAD: Scene doesn't look 3D I finished a 3D object for 4 wheels, but something seems wrong with the final scene to me:

The nearer wheels (#1 and #2) appear smaller than the far one (#3 and #4), and the distance between wheel #3 an #4 seems longer than between (1) and (2), like you can see in this picture:

I want to achieve the scene like this:

How to do that in FreeCAD?

FreeCAD, like many other 3D programs (including blender) does use Isometric/Orthographic display as the default displaying option as it allows to see on one view if some lengths or angles are "equal".

In many cases, a perspective view can be toggled on to allow visualization in a room, especially for architectural one.

In the case of FreeCAD with all its options, this option gets swamped out of the user's field of view sometimes, and the documentation is not that easy to navigate without a proper keyword, making the right thing slightly hidden in the documentation. But once you know it, it should be obvious:

View > Perspective View toggles to perspective view.
View > Orthographic View toggles back to isometric.


Is my 3D printer totally dead? The last few days my 3D printer has not been working, despite the fact that the LCD Screen has been working perfectly (since the problem the LCD bright potentiometer went very sensitive, so the brightness set to the maximum although before the problem it was perfectly calibrated).

The problem arrived when I was unplugging the fan from the board because it wasn't working while the printer was on, suddenly the LCDs brightness set to the maximum so I turned the printer off as fast as I could. When I turned it on again, I had to recalibrate the LCDs brightness and when I tried to move the steppers the weren't working, some of them made strange noises and didn't move. I have to say that now every time I turn on my printer, an orange LED flashes, but I cannot remember if it was normal or not.

My 3D printer: Geeetech I3 Pro B 3D Printer DIY Kit - Black US Plug    1

The board I'm using: XCSOURCE® Kit de impresora 3D con RAMPS 1.4 Controlador + Mega 2560 Board + 5pcs A4988 Controlador de motor de pasos con disipador de calor + LCD 12864 Controlador gráfico de visualización inteligente con adaptador para Arduino TE621

I would have posted this as a comment, since it is not a definitive answer to the question, but it was too long for a comment.

Since you were unplugging the fan when the problem started, I would suggest that it is a wiring problem.

The first place I would look is to check the ground connection between the processor board (probably the ATMEGA Arduino), and the board that carries the stepper motor drivers.  If the ground connection is faulty, the board may still work due to sneak ground paths through signal lines.

A simple way to check is to measure the voltage from the GND pin on the ATMEGA to the ground of the driver board.  That voltage should be very close to 0.0 Volts.  You might also check the resistance (using an ohm meter) with the power turned off.  The resistance should be 0.0 ohms, or if the meter is not perfectly calibrated, it should be the same as you measure with the probes connected together.

If either of these readings isn't zero, search for a broken connection.

One sign that ground may be broken is the LCD brightness control sensitivity.  I don't have the schematic to refer to, but if the ground reference for the pot is broken, the output of the pot will be too high.

Another sign is that the stepper motors still make some sounds when they should move.

If you don't find a problem there, check through the other power and ground connections.  Be sure that all GND lines are well connected, all +5 lines are well connected, and that all +12 lines are well connected.


Printing PLA on PEX surface - is heated bed needed? I have a WhamBam build system on order. A magnet attaches (glues down I think) to the Aluminium printing bed (or add a glass sheet? Separate question), then PEX material on flexible steel sheet gets slapped down for the print surface.

I have been printing PLA on a cold PEI sheet from Vertex, using 4 binder clips to hold it in place vs peeling the backing off and sticking it down. The print job wants to keep heating the bed to 60 °C, I turn it down, a couple minutes into a job it cranks it back to 60 °C and I turn it down again.  A few times I missed the second turn on, and the PEI has been kinda warped now (or maybe it's just the plastic over the sticky backing), and has also peeled off some surface chunks in the middle, so we've been trying to print around the damaged section.  The warping has now made the PEI unusable, so I'm hoping the WhamBam arrives soon.

We've been printing for a couple of weeks now (I printed a chess set, largest has 4 cm diameter and is 10 cm tall, some pieces on blue tape, some on the PEI) and are starting to venture into our own designs.

Intended project is box tops & bottoms that are ~90 mm x 65 mm x different heights with openings.  We tried one on blue tape (a bottom with no openings) and ended up chiseling it off the bed with a steel putty knife (I don't recall if heat was on or not). We tried a top with openings on the PEI, missed that the heat had turned back on, but between the bed not quite level (forgot to re-check it) and the PEI being warped we killed it after the openings were printed around. It was not going to be usable, but we did print enough to be able to confirm the opening spacings (needs work still) so it was not a total loss. Came off the PEI easily (<2 mm thick when we stopped), we managed to miss the damaged parts mostly.

So the question: when the WhamBam arrives, is it better to print PLA at 60 °C, or do I keep playing the game of turning it down (and saving the waiting time of it heating up)?

I print PLA on a PEI bed at 60°C.  I have also printed PLA on an aluminum bed at 60°C with Elmer's Glue Stick for bonding, which worked better for me than PLA.  I recently switched to Aqua Net Hairspray on the aluminum bed at 60°C, which also worked well.

I have found no reason to avoid bed heating with PLA.

If the object is stuck too tightly on the PEI bed, you could try adding hairspray.  It acts as a glue, but also as a release agent, and, being soluble in water, you can help release the object with a few water drops.


Good profile for slicing ABS in Slic3r? Does anyone know of a good slicer profile (i.e., an .ini file.) for Slic3r for printing ABS for a Prusa i3 MK3S printer?

ABS is a plastic type that has a relatively large shrinkage when cooling down compared to other filaments;e.g. much more than the popular replacement PETG (which prints similarly as PLA but has properties like ABS).

As of this shrinkage, it is the operator of the slicer to produce an environment to properly print ABS. This not only implies that correct settings for the slicer itself need to be chosen (depending on the brand: high hotend temperature; about 220-240 °C, high heated bed temperature; 90-110 °C, using a large brim), but also that the printing environment is optimally setup to allow printing successful prints. You should think of adhesion to the build plate, modifying parts to include so-called Mickey Mouse ears and an enclosed printer space to regulate the temperature. ABS doesn't like temperature changes as that will result in split layers. This is why ABS is difficult to print for most people, it is best not to choose this when you just starting printing, nowadays much better alternatives are available called Co-polymers like PETG.


Print from SD and connect to serial host at the same time I am wondering if it is possible to print with a 3D printer from an SD card and connect to a serial host at the same time. I want to use the Marlin M118 serial print command to trigger custom functions running on a Raspberry Pi. The RPi would be connected to the printer over serial but would not be sending G-code. Is this possible?

My printer is the Monoprice Mini Delta. It runs a Marlin based firmware and I can install standard Marlin on it if necessary.

This can be done, but you need to have the right order of operations. Octoprint relies on such a setup.

Set up the serial connection first, as sending the connect signal from your terminal or Raspberry to Marlin triggers the printer to reboot.
After having the connection established, start the printjob either via the control buttons or the remote console (for example: Octoprint or Repetier Server, running on your Raspberry)

Note that you have to make sure not to dis- and reconnect the raspberry during print, as that might trigger a reboot of the printer!


Is 22-Guage Stranded Hookup Wire the correct wire to connect the Switching Powersupply to RAMPs 1.4? I obtained the following wire 22 Gauge Stranded Hookup Wire from Radio Shack:

Type/Style: AWM/1007
Wire Gauge: 22 AWG
Insulation Thickness: AVE. 0.42 mm
Rated Voltage: 300V
Temperature Rating: 80°C / 176°F

  Use Limitation: Internal wiring of appliances; or where exposed to oil
  at a temperature not exceeding 60°C or 80°C, whichever is applicable..
  Tags may indicate the following: 600V Peak - For Electronic Use Only.

I'd like to be able to hook up RAMPs 1.4 to my switching power supply with this wire.  Will this work okay?

22awg wiring is good for a max of 7A in this usage case. Your power supply can provide 30A. So it is definitely not large enough wire gauge for good wiring practice -- in the event of a short, you want the PSU's over-current protection to kick in before the wiring overheats. That would mean 14ga between the PSU and board. 16ga would probably cover your actual load requirements just fine, but we need to know a lot more about your printer to say that for sure.

12v systems need heavy duty wiring, at least on the main supply lines. You can use 22ga for individual power consumers, such as fans, extruder heaters, etc. (No heatbeds.)


What is the least expensive 3D printer? What is the least expensive 3D printer available today? I am looking for something suitable for general use in a home office.

Depends on your definition of "available" and your definition of "suitable for general use."

The cheapest 3D printers are mostly Kickstarter promises that take a year or more to ship, if they ever do. For example, the Peachy 3D printer Kickstarter just imploded and failed. There have been many other failed low-cost 3D printer crowdfunding campaigns. Another low cost Kickstarter printer, the 101Hero, is ongoing now (May 2016), but most competent observers I've talked to don't believe it will succeed at delivering working printers to all backers at that price point. If they do deliver, it will be painfully low-cost components and the printer will not perform well or last long. Stay away from crowdfunding campaigns for your first printer. At best, you get a beta product with lots of kinks to work out. At worst, you get nothing and lose your money.

For actual products you can purchase today, there's a wide spectrum of quality/cost tradeoffs.

Under \$200 there's nothing credible. The Tiko (\$179) might deliver, but post-Kickstarter units are widely expected to cost more.
Around \$200-300 you get into low-quality Prusa i3 kits from China. These aren't a great value -- most people end up spending another few hundred dollars on upgrades to get them working reliably and with high quality.
Around \$300-400 you can get an ok 3D printer, often with "chipped" proprietary filament so the vendor can make high profits on locked-in consumables. ("Razors and blades" model.) For example, the XYZPrinting Da Vinci Jr is \$350 but locks you into high-cost chipped filament. The Wanhao Duplicator i3 is currently a community favorite for value-for-money at \$399. The Printrbot Play is much higher quality/reliability but much smaller at the same price.
If you get up around \$600, a big range of decent printers opens up. But this is no longer the "least expensive" option, so I won't get into it.

If you want to tinker, the Duplicator i3 is a good choice. If you want a machine that just prints, the Play is a good choice. There are other printers and cheaper printers, but most of what you'll find below $400 is going to end up causing pain unless your goal is simply to tinker with printer troubleshooting and upgrades.


How to print a two color part with only one extruder I'm planning my first project. I want to print an iPhone case with a flush letter on the back, but I want the letter in a different color (single extruder printer). The thing is the two colors will be on the same level. Do I create two separate models, import them to a single model, mesh the parts and somehow specify which one to start on, then just change the filament when it's done with the first section? Will the letter be loose fitting in the cut out? Or will I need to print them separately and glue them together?

What is a good slicing software to accomplish this?

What you ask may be easier than you think. The slicing software is unimportant, generally speaking. Consider especially that your requirements fit the solution spot on.

Take a look at this thingiverse snowman.

Each of the colors is a separate model. Each of the colors is only one layer thick (0.200 mm). Each of the colors is placed with zero overlap to the adjacent colors, as the extrusion multiplier will allow enough "squish" to cause a bond to its neighbor.

You would create a model with the necessary shape for your lettering and insert the appropriate color for them. Print that model but leave it on the bed. If the bed is heated, all the better, but don't let it cool to the point of release. If it's not heated, the adhesive should hold it until project completion.

For the main background color, your model would be normal but with a single layer subtracted at the base. The subtraction would have to be the shape of the lettering. Consider that you're creating indented or recessed lettering. Use appropriate modeling techniques to perform this action.

Keep in mind that you'll want the lettering to be mirrored, as you're printing it "upside down" on the build plate.

Swap out the filament to the main color and print.

You are color limited only by your determination and patience, as you have to swap out filament and also have to create appropriate models with recesses to take the first layer, of which you'll also have to create models.

I've created at least one of the snowman pictured and it came out quite good. The layman will not be as astonished as someone familiar with 3D modeling and printing, however. You get a better appreciation when you know what goes into the project to get this result.

EDIT to add more info, rather than fill the comments:

The above method works only because the inlay is a single layer deep. If your slicer supports changing layer thickness during a print, you could print the first layer at the max for your nozzle, say 0.3 mm then set layer 2 and upwards to the resolution you desire for the majority of your print. I use Simplify3D which supports such actions. I'm not sure of the others.

Relevant to the questions posed in the comments, your modeling software may be a factor in this process. The modeling software will create/assign a pivot point or some other name to a location of reference in the model. The slicer will use that to position the model on the bed.

Here's a concept I would use to perform this task. Start with your single layer lettering, ensuring that the thickness of the letters will match your first layer height. Save the model as an STL file. Leave the lettering on the screen in your modeling software.

Create or import the case file. Position it as you wish relative to the letters. Of course, both models will be flat on the build plane or all bets are off. Use the lettering in a boolean subtraction to remove the shapes from the phone case model.

If the above does not remove the lettering model, delete that and you have the recess. Save this model in STL.

When you load the models in the slicer, they should drop into the same location relative to each other.

When you print the letters, they will be on layer one. When you print the remaining model, the cut-out portion will be on layer one, while the rest is placed atop the two color portion. The print head will move up one layer to adjust for the extra depth.

If you require the letters to be thicker than a single layer, one of the options you have is also in your question. Create the letters in the thickness you wish, use them to create the recess in the case and print separately. In so doing, you will be counting on the printer's ability to make clean bridges. The letters may fit cleanly, may have some play or slop, or be too large to fit easily. It would behoove you to make a test piece or two, perhaps a simple slab with one or two letters to see how that concept works in the real world. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the public library's genuine Prusa i3 MK2S performed a challenging bridging operation.

I apologize for overlooking the reference to first project. With that in mind, I would consider that this is a slightly advanced project. Your modeling software and modeling software skills will obviously come into play here and is a separate subject/question/topic for discussion.


How can I remove my print from the bed safely I have printed two objects with my new 3D printer (Anycubic Mega S) and everytime, my prints are stuck to my bed (sort of glued to it). I cannot remove them by hand. I have tried waiting until it cools off, but the only thing that works is scraping really hard the bed with the spatula.

I'm scared that if I have to do that for my next prints, I will break the bed (maybe peel off the element that keeps the plastic and the bed glued together while printing).

What is the safest way to remove a print from the bed ?

One method that works at our makerspace and also has worked for a user on another 3d printing forum is to use a 50:50 mix of water and denatured alcohol. While the print bed is warm, apply some to the perimeter of the print at the bed surface. Allow it to cool, try to remove the print. If it does not work, reheat the bed and repeat until you are able to release it.


How to create 3D printing file (e.g. STL, OBJ and IGES etc.) from DEM? I have DEM with 1 m resolution, how can I create 3D printing file (e.g. STL, OBJ and IGES etc.) from DEM?

This question has been answered on a sister site, GIS Stack Exchange. It's a rather comprehensive answer posted, which means it's impractical to summarize here.

GIS answer

The answer does indicate that a plug-in for QGIS software is needed in order to accomplish this objective. If you do not use/have the QGIS software, my answer is invalid.  All three answers to the question linked above appear to point to the same program/plugin.


Padded Sketch comprises too many solids (FreeCAD) Under FreeCAD, I sketched on the face of a solid as follows :

My problem is, when I use "Pad a selected sketch", the solid created comprises also the original solid.

It prevents me, for instance, to get the difference with the first one.

Any idea what may be causing this? How to prevent it?

MyFreeCAD config:

OS: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.15.4671 (Git)
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-15
Hash: 244b3aef360841646cbfe80a1b225c8b39c8380c
Python version: 2.7.11
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.17

Ok, I got help on this forum thread

Using Part Extrude instead of Pad a selected sketch on the sketch will create an independent solid.

It also turns out that, instead of creating the second solid to do a boolean difference, the good way to "cut" my solid is using the PartDesign Pocket tool.


What tweaks do slicers use to get rafts to stick? I've always had trouble getting prints to stick directly on my bed, but had great reliability when use rafts. This didn't present a problem when I was using PLA, but I recently got a roll of PETG and it is very hard to remove rafts, so I am once again trying to figure out whats wrong.

I am printing the same file (currently a simple square for testing) with the same settings, except I am turning rafts on/off. When rafts are on, my print sticks perfectly. When rafts are off, my print doesn't stick at all - not even the skirt (which sticks fine on the raft print). With rafts on, I can watch my printer lay down a nice line for the skirt / first layer. With rafts off, I watched plastic ooze out of the nozzle and ride along with the print head, not sticking to the plate at all.

I have a stock Monoprice Maker Select v2 with the PEI surface it shipped with. I haven't tried any bed additions/changes to get better adhesion, since I know rafts stick fine with what I have. I figure there must be some settings I can change to make my first layer stick too. I am using Simplify3D & have tried a few basic tweaks, but I am largely stabbing in the dark.

What are the specific characteristics of a first layer raft, in comparison to a first layer of my print, that might make it stick better?

You could experiment with the 'cleaning' part of the startup gcode shown here

G1 X100 Y0 F4000 ; move half way along the front edge
G1 Z1 ; move nozzle close to bed
M109 S200 ; heat nozzle to 200 degC and wait until reached
G4 P10000 ; wait 10 seconds for nozzle length to stabilize
G1 E10 ; extrude 10 mm of filament
G1 z15 F12000 E5 ; move 15 mm up, fast, while extruding 5mm
G92 E0 ; reset extruder

I'm not completely persuaded that it helps a lot, but the idea is to fill the extruder (with some pressure from the bed at a 1mm gap) right before starting the skirt. Typically, I still find the first line of skirt may be quite blobby, but a 2nd line of skirt seems much better. Obviously you need the bed alignment right too. A raft seems to have enough 'extra' extrusion to mask these issues a little bit.

Later reflection suggests that these introductory G-code snippets (I've now started using the PRUSA one of a line along the edge of the bed) risk problems  with flexible filament, so it might be best to err on the side of conservative for the extrude volume rather than assume that more is better here.

You can find other similar solutions in this question: Writing G-code : swiping at start of print


How to properly read dimensions for a 3D printer? I'm trying to find the correct way to read and understand the dimensions of a 3D printer.  For example, if I read the following dimensions for the Robo 3D R1 Plus as 10x9x8 Inch - I want to know what 10 stands for (does it mean print height?), 9 (depth?), and 8 (width?); etc.  I'm not sure if I'm assuming correctly.

I know this should be simple, but I'm not sure where to reference the proper ordering, respective to each aforementioned dimension.

UPDATE

While looking at Makerbot's Replicator technical specifications, I see them listing their dimensions as follows:

Build Volume

29.5 L X 19.5 W X 16.5 H CM
[11.6 X 7.6 X 6.5 IN]

So, if I'm reading this correctly, can I infer that 11.6 IN is referring to the length/depth, 7.6 IN is referring to the width, and 6.5 IN is referring to the height.  Would this be the universal/standard way of referring to build specifications for all 3D printers?

Having the dimensions of your 3D printer ordered in Length x Width x Height is a common way, but nobody actually decided it.
I think it has something to do with the 3rd dimension being the "new" dimension for printing things, that's why it's appended at the end.
Additionally, the first axis on a 2D-coordinate system usually is the horizontal one, so writing Length x Width makes sense for me.
If you are unsure you can always test your printer (if you have one) by writing your own G-Code that moves the printhead on a defined axis.


PLA Filament Not Softening During Load w/ FlashForge Creator Pro Recently, after printing fine for several weeks, I've gone to load in white PLA filament into the right extruder on my FlashForge Creator Pro and the extruder is not pulling the white PLA filament through. The gears grab the filament and pull it down but it never makes it out the other end. I have successfully used this filament through this same extruder as recently as yesterday. The steps I have taken are:

• Remove the extruder motor and cleaned the gears. There was no noticeable issues or clogs.

• Turned the heat on and used the skinny metal unclogging tool that came with the printer to drive any excess filament out of the nozzle.

• Removed the nozzle and cleaned as best as I could. To be clear, this does not appear to be a nozzle clog because I have removed the nozzle, leaving the plastic tube that's under it in the extruder and I can run the unclogging tool all the way through the tube and out the top of extruder when the nozzle is not on. The line appears to be clear.

• I then tried to load the filament without the nozzle on (but with the plastic tube still in the extruder; which I confirmed in the last step does not have a clog in it). Same problem.

• I unloading the black PLA filament from the left extruder and then took the white PLA filament (which wouldn't load into the right extruder) and tried to load it into the left one. Same problem. I then took the black PLA filament and went to load it back into the left extruder and it worked fine.

The white filament seems to be the problem but I cannot figure out what the problem would be. It's the same size as the black filament and the black filament works fine through the extruders that the white one does not. As mentioned, this filament worked fine yesterday.

I took the fan off and watched the filament get gripped by the motor gears and pulled down until it is entered into the hole below the motor. That is the point at which is gets stuck. It appears the filament simply is not being softened/melted enough to start feeding through the smaller hole.

I researched this and saw that this could be the result of a faulty reading by the machine due to thermocouple problems (?) but it seems doubtful now that I've tested successfully with black filament.

My settings are as follows:

FlashForge Creator Pro
PLA Filament
Extruder - 210C (I started a 200C but then increased)

Any thoughts or pointers would be great. Thank you!

After all of this trial and error it was a simple solution.

I did not snip off the end of the filament after unloading. The filament had been tapered after unloading because of the way it was extruded previously. I don't know exactly why (please feel free to add to this answer) but when I made a clean cut on the end of the filament and then fed it through, it extruded with no problem.


How to tell if PLA temp is too hot/cold I was having an issue with flat sheets raising up during initial layers. I had my bed at 80 °C and kept raising it thinking it was an issue with cold. After reducing the temperature to 50 °C the sheets sit flat now but sometimes sections come loose. I ended up using masking tape and a glue stick and everything finally seems to print flat and keep adhesion. I am using 210 °C hotend but I might try lowering it to 205 °C.
How do you check if your printing temperature is too hot/cold or if your bed temperature is too hot/cold? None of the articles I read ever said that a bed too hot would cause PLA to rise but that's what happened.

Too Hot
If you're printing too hot (with any filament, not just PLA) you're going to see stringing and blobs/oozing because the material is getting runny and exiting the nozzle in an uncontrolled manner. Because it's uncontrolled, you will also likely see artifacts showing up in your prints.
You might also see your filament burning. Instead of coming out of the nozzle as whatever color it should be, it will look brown or discolored because it was overcooked.
If your bed is too hot, you might start to see "elephant's feet" where the lowest layer(s) are being heated to the point of becoming soft and the weight of layers on top of them are pushing down, causing that layer to "pooch out."
You might also have problems removing the print from the print bed's surface because the plastic has seeped into the details of the print surface and hardened, essentially welding the part to the surface.
Too Cold
If you're printing filament that is too cold, you're going to run into an issue where the material being pushed into the hot end is not getting melted sufficiently. This means that pressure will build up in the hot end that can't be released through extruding material through the nozzle. If you've ever tried to pipe frosting using a bag/tip and the frosting was too thick, you'll know what I'm talking about.
When material is being fed into the hot end but not being allowed to flow out of it, something has to give. That thing is your extruder. It has a wheel with little teeth on it to grip the filament and feed it into the hot end (or bowden tube which leads to the hot end). It can exert a certain amount of force on that filament. When the hot end's back pressure builds to the point that it becomes greater than the extruder's force, it will start skipping.
Imagine trying to push a large, heavy object. Your feet will begin to slip as your the force of your exertion overcomes the friction between your feet and the ground. That's what will happen to your extruder. It will make clicking/clunking noises as the extruder unsuccessfully tries to push the filament through and the friction between the teeth of the gear and the filament is overcome. This is called grinding.
If your bed is too cold, you simply just end up with problems getting the print to adhere to the surface.

Warping
In your particular case, you're describing warping. Remember from physics 101 that cold things contract and warm things expand. Your print bed is warm, and so, too, are the first layers that are near it because the bed's heat is transferring up into them and keeping them warm.
Obviously, your active (topmost) layer will also be a bit warmer as it as just come out of the hot end. However, in general as you move higher up away from the printed bed, the printed layers get colder. Because they are getting colder, they are undergoing thermal contraction.
This creates a thermal gradient where layers go from greater thermal expansion to greater thermal contraction. The combination means that the bottom of the print will start to curl up (away from the expansion and towards the contraction).
This is not an issue with your printing temperature. It's a problem with your ambient temperature.
The easiest way to fix this issue is to put your printer in an enclosure. This isolates the air immediately around the printer from the rest of the air in the room. Because your heater's bed and nozzle are throwing out a lot of heat, they will heat up the print chamber quite a bit (mine typically runs over 30 degrees celsius, even in the dead of winter).
Because the ambient temperature in the print chamber is so much warmer than the outside air, that temperature gradient is much, much smaller. As a result, warping will stop becoming a problem.


Screeching Noise when moving the Z-Axis Down I have had my Prusa i3 clone for about two years and it has always made a screeching sound when the z-axis is moving down. I have tried many solutions for this problem like greasing the z-rods, printing a new top part (the holder at the top z-rods end) with a bearing to prevent the threaded rod from swaying, and even hot glueing bearing to the stock top piece. However, none of this has worked. I am not sure if it is affecting the print quality but the sound is very annoying when it is doing a lot of hops and I would like to fix it. Here is a video (with sound) of the rod moving up and down.

Video

I had this same problem. I attributed it to the linear bearings which ride on the 8mm travel rods. I did two things which ultimately eliminated the issue (since I did both at the same time, I'm not sure which solved the issue, but believe it's #1 below):

I replaced all of my ball type (stock) linear bearings with Igus Drylin linear bearings. I'm pretty sure the metal ball bearings were screeching along the 8mm metal rods. The Drylin bearings pretty much eliminated any noise on the rods. I replaced all of them for X, Y, & Z axis rods at the same time.
I used white lithium grease (just a small amount) on the Z-axis screw rod. This helped everything travel better. It should also help it last longer by preventing wear.

Since I've done this, I've not had any screeching anymore. You don't have to use Drylin linear bearings, as there are other printable options on Thingiverse.com.


Printer goes beyond the bed when auto leveling I am trying to add auto bed leveling to my Prusa i3. When I run G28 my printer hits the X and Y end stops properly, then it assumes X=25, Y=99 position on the bed and performs Z homing, after which it stays there. The problem is when I run G29 then it starts following the grid points from this position and tries to go out of bed.

My settings for the grid are:

#define LEFT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 10
#define RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 140
#define BACK_PROBE_BED_POSITION 140
#define FRONT_PROBE_BED_POSITION 20

And travel limits are set to this:

#define X_MAX_POS 150
#define X_MIN_POS 0
#define Y_MAX_POS 150
#define Y_MIN_POS 0
#define Z_MAX_POS 220
#define Z_MIN_POS 0

I guess this might be relevant too:

#ifdef Z_SAFE_HOMING

  #define Z_SAFE_HOMING_X_POINT (X_MAX_LENGTH/2)
  #define Z_SAFE_HOMING_Y_POINT (Y_MAX_LENGTH/2)

#endif

I don't know how your firmware load handles G29 ,but here's a guess, based on information at the  reprap wiki .  Try using FBLR to force the travel limits.

  Parameters

  P Set the size of the grid that will be probed (P x P
  points). Not supported by non-linear delta printer bed leveling.
  Example: G29 P4 S Set the XY travel speed between probe points (in
  units/min)
  D Dry-Run mode. Just evaluate the bed Topology - Don't
  apply or clean the rotation Matrix. Useful to check the topology after
  a first run of G29.
  V Set the verbose level (0-4). Example: G29 V3
  T
  Generate a Bed Topology Report. Example: G29 P5 T for a detailed
  report. This is useful for manual bed leveling and finding flaws in
  the bed (to assist with part placement). Not supported by non-linear
  delta printer bed leveling.
  F Set the Front limit of the probing grid
  B Set the Back limit of the probing grid.
     L Set the Left limit of the
  probing grid
  R Set the Right limit of the probing grid


Z-step pulses too short (Marlin 2.0.x) I was replacing a stepper driver on my Melzi 2.0 board with a A4988 Pololu module and for some reason, it won't cooperate with Marlin.
For reference, I'm using a Melzi 2.0 TRONXY with a ZONESTAR-style 5-button LCD. This LCD may be related to my problem. I'm using a custom configuration of Marlin 2.0.x since I replaced the main board and it's been giving me a lot of problems.
When testing the printer with an Arduino sketch, the Z-axis moves flawlessly. However, when I uploaded my Marlin configuration, the printer once again refused to move. Upon probing the Step and Direction pins with my oscilloscope, I found what I think is the problem. I was giving step commands from the LCD and from Pronterface when I saw this on the Z-Step pin:

Apologies for the blurry picture. The timescale is 20 μs/square and the voltage is 1V/square. What I'm supposed to see is a series of discrete 5 V pulses that tell the stepper to move, but what I got was a handful of tiny ~5 μs blips instead.
What I've taken this to mean is that the pin (digital 3, for those curious) is being set to pulse by the step request, but is being reset by something else. Everything points to the firmware as far as I can tell. Again, I've confirmed that the 1284p, the A4988, and the motor itself all work when programmed correctly with an Arduino sketch. I've also tried swapping the pin definitions for Step and Direction (switched 2 and 3), but I had the same problem.
A possible cause for this I think could be my LCD: It requires the user to define an analog pin for reading the buttons (a quirk of the LCD design). In my pins_MELZI_TRONXY.h and pins_SANGUINOLOLU_11.h files, Marlin defaults to using #define ADC_KEYPAD_PIN  1 (analog pin 1) with the ZONESTAR_LCD selected. On the 1284p, pin 3 (the Z-Step pin) is also listed as AIN1. On the PCB layout for the Melzi 2.0, this pin isn't connected to the 10-pin LCD header. The pin the LCD is actually using is the A1 header pin, which goes to PA1/ADC1 on the 1284p.  But perhaps this definition has caused some confusion in the firmware?
To be clear, the relevant parts of my firmware look like this:
#define ADC_KEYPAD_PIN                     1
        //from pins_SANGUINOLOLU_11.h, which is - as far as I know - the only place this is defined.

#define LCD_PINS_RS                           28 //RS           28
#define LCD_PINS_ENABLE                       29 //EN           29
#define LCD_PINS_D4                           10 //D4 -> RX1 -> 10
#define LCD_PINS_D5                           11 //D5 -> TX1 -> 11
#define LCD_PINS_D6                           16 //D6 -> SCL -> 16
#define LCD_PINS_D7                           17 //D7 -> SDA -> 17
        //the rest of the LCD pin definitions from pins_MELZI_TRONXY.h

#define Z_STEP_PIN                             3
#define Z_DIR_PIN                              2
        //my Z-stepper settings from pins_SANGUINOLOLU_11.h, which I'm pretty sure is normal for all Melzi boards

If anyone can provide any insight into this, it would be hugely appreciated! I'm very new to 3D printer configuration and repair, so I'll gladly take any help you can provide!

By avoiding pin 3 entirely, the Z-axis steppers have started to move correctly. My bed heater went out a while ago, so I redefined the connections in Marlin to use that pin (pin 12) as the Z-step pin, connecting it to the A4988 accordingly. This has caused no issues other than small noise problems so far. Unfortunately, I can't speak to any potential issues pin 3 may have had to cause this behavior, all I have is this one potential solution.


How can I run two instances (or equivalent) of Slic3r on OS X? I am modifying some Slic3r config parameters and comparing the results.  How can I have two instances (or equivalent: I would like to see two model windows with their associated configuration screens) of Slic3r at the same time?  I'm on OS X, but if there is a generic (e.g. within Slic3r) solution that will be preferrable.

You could duplicate the application by clicking on the application and pressing Command (⌘) + D, and then run both - although I'm not sure if that would mess with the preferences. I haven't fully tested it, but both instances opened up and worked, seemingly ok.

You could even rename them to something other than "Slic3r" and "Slic3r copy" to remind you which application is slicing which model, for example:

"TestCube" and "Benchy", or;
"Slic3r-TestCube" and "Slic3r-Benchy", or whatever.

However, Mark's answer seems much more elegant.


Inexpensive 3D printer for medical applications We need a 3D printer, that can print with plastic suitable for medical applications. We have about $5000 for the printer. What printers can we choose? I am not a specialist in 3D printing, so please answer in detail.

We need to print breathing tubes with cuffs. The tubes should be flexible, but rigid enough in order not to collapse. The cuff material should be thin and collapsible, but very strong. Breathing tubes are inserted through the mouth and stay in contact with mucous membrane for many hours.

I am not an expert but I think you will find that because 3D printers use a layer by layer construction method, and the boundary between the layers creates grooves along the surface or leaves a rough texture on the surface. That the textured surface left by 3D printer construction would trap microbes and make 3D printed objects not suitable for medical applications where you need the product to be sterile.

It might be possible to treat the printed object or post process it. By vapor smoothing or painting/coating, but I doing think this would work for flexible materials.

If you are considering 3D printing because of the ability to customize the design, then I would suggest considering combining 3D printing with molding or casting. You could then use a cheap 3D printer to create the mold and use a flexible resin to create the object you want.

I have heard of SLA 3D printing being used to create molds for casting fake teeth. There 3D printing is used to create a custom shape and the print is used to make a mold and the final product is cast using the mold to get the quality and finish needed.

And I have head of FDM printing being used in used in remote areas to print clamps for umbilical cords. But I believe this was because not no other option was available.


Extruder doing the shimmy, How can I fix? Printer: Monoprice Maker Select V2 3D Printer

Problem: Extruder not working

History: My extruder was clogged and I didn't realize it at first and I opened the extruder and pulled out the stuck piece but later I realized it still was not working. When I put pressure on it the motor rotates and the filament comes out but does not work by it self.

Try 1: Thought something was wrong with the gears so I reseated them, Didn't work.

Try 2: Thought the extruder motor broke, so I replace the NEMA 17 motor, Didn't work.

Try 3: Plugged the motor into the x-axis plug the motor works as shown here -
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kY4okR4oqkYSyzhN8

This is how the motor behaves when pluged into the [original] extruder plug-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QPo7RNeB6AFi6KsM6

Any help is appreciated, Thank you :)

It was the stepper driver, Replacing the motherboard fixed the issue.


Automatic leveling probe offset; adjusting for one side ruins the other When I adjust the probe offset to get the proper layer height and adhesion, one side is set right but the other doesn't work. If I decrease the probe offset (say -1.100 to -1.050) the right side seems to print better; if I increase the probe offset (-1.050 to -1.125) the left side will adhere to the plate properly.

Before I added the BLTouch and upgraded the firmware to Marlin 1.1.9 I was able to print a perimeter square (with a little manual adjustment).

My Printer is the Ender 3 and I am using a glass bed and the model is this centre crosshair

I have had exactly the same experiences as you did with a inductive sensor on a Prusa i3 clone. It looks as though the bed leveling is not executed, or the level/mesh tilted. Please do note that automatic bed leveling is not magic, you still need to provide a build platform as level (and flat) as possible. A slate of glass is a good build platform surface as the glass production process ensures that the glass is very flat and easy to level.

What I did to solve the problem is that I re-leveled the bed and send the M420 S1 command over USB to the printer to enable bed leveling as I was under the impression that it did not use the grid obtained with G29.

On my CoreXY I also use a touch sensor (3DTouch, which is a BLTouch clone) like you do, even with that sensor I sometimes see that the automatic level is uneven (one side of the skirt has very thin/see through deposition, while the other side appears normal), this is most probably caused by the sensor accuracy (or an obstruction under the probe needle). There is a way to increase the probing accuracy by using double probing where the second probe is advancing slower to the build platform as can be seen in the Marlin Configuration.h file:

// Feedrate (mm/m) for the first approach when double-probing (MULTIPLE_PROBING == 2)
#define Z_PROBE_SPEED_FAST HOMING_FEEDRATE_Z

// Feedrate (mm/m) for the "accurate" probe of each point
#define Z_PROBE_SPEED_SLOW (Z_PROBE_SPEED_FAST / 2)

For double probing you require to set:

// The number of probes to perform at each point.
//   Set to 2 for a fast/slow probe, using the second probe result.
//   Set to 3 or more for slow probes, averaging the results.
#define MULTIPLE_PROBING 2

Side note:
From an earlier posting it appears that you are using the #define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER in the configuration file to set the offset. It is much more convenient to set that through the LCD menu (Bed Leveling -> Z Probe Offset: -–-) or send  the M851 Zx.xx directly over USB or load through a .gcode file from SD card to prevent numerous flashing the firmware with alternative parameters. Make sure that you enable:

#define EEPROM_SETTINGS // Enable for M500 and M501 commands

in the Configuration.h file and execute M500 to store the new setting set by M851.