How do I compensate in cura for thinner filament? I have a monoprice printer, works great. .4mm nozzle. I bought a number of PLA solid colors and they all print reliably.
I also bought 2 rolls of PLA translucent colors, and I have lots of trouble printing with them.
What I eventually noticed was that when the translucent filaments extrude, they come out in a noticeably thinner stream.

Not sure why, I've tried increasing the hot end temperature and printing slower, but nothing seems to help. The effect seems to be that not enough filament comes out from the nozzle for the speed the head is printing at.

I use cura for the slicer, and I've tried changing the filament flow percentage and I've tried slowing down the print speed. Nothing seems to help, the nozzle ends up dragging the recently extruded filament around the bed until it all comes off.

Has anybody else seen this, where translucent filament extrudes thinner than solid colors? Any suggestions what to try to make it stick and print reliably?

Thanks.

In cura (if you are not in the quick print mode) you can dine the diameter of your filament. Setting the filament diameter to a smaller value will give you more plastic coming out of the nozzle. You can also set the flow percentage to more than 100%

You should also try to use a skirt. Some nozzles need some time until the flow is like it should be.

Another reason for this might be that the distance between bed and nozzle is too high. Try to level your bed so that the distance is less than before.

If all this doesn't work then it will at lest give you new ideas of where to look.

Best luck!


Is SD2209 the same as TMC2209 stepper drivers? While shopping for TMC2209 stepper drivers I found advertisements "SD2209". Is this the same thing?

From what I can tell, the SD2209 is not a clone of or another name for the TMC2209, but is a board with a TMC2209 on it setup to be used as a drop-in replacement for other stepper drivers. See e.g. this SD2209 a drop-in replacement for Pololu style drivers:


Filament that is resistant to ozone Does a filament exist that can resist ozone (like certain silicone tubing's can). Most glass bottles come with tin or plastic screw hard tops and I would like to replace the screw caps with something that is more resistant to ozone.

The reason for this is I make my own homemade ozonated oil in glass bottles and I would like to print out different hard screw top caps for some of the bottles.

If making your own caps ends up being the best solution, TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) is probably your best bet. I don't have specific information on printed TPU filament and ozone, but TPU is widely regarded as one of the most chemical-resistant materials you can easily print with, and this page by Ozone Solutions rates polyurethane (no mention of specific types) A/Excellent described as:

  Ozone has no effect on these materials. They will last indefinitely.

Being at least slightly flexible, TPU will also yield a good seal without any additional gasket. You should probably choose an unpigmented "natural/clear" TPU filament in case the pigments do react.

It might (probably would) also work to coat an existing cap with polyurethane. I'm not sure how you'd best get it to adhere, but lightly sanding the plastic then using a spray in multiple coats is what I'd try first.


Filament Balling up on random parts of a print The skirt prints out ok, but there is balling up of filament on some of the prints.

I am printing 50 small parts at a go, and the last 4 batches were perfect, but the fifth batch had filament problems like on the photo.

Any advice?

Thanks

I experienced that several times if my print temperature was too low. Then, the filament does not stick to the plate very well and prefers to stick to the nozzle which pulls it away. Solution is to increase the temperature by 5 to 10 degrees, at least for the first layers..


Anet A6 assembly problem - remaining power cables don't match instructions I've just built my son's A6 and have connected all cables apart from the last power cables. The mainboard says hotbed line and extruder line but the cable says heatbed.

The cables are two red which are crimped together and two black crimped together.

All of the videos online show a different mainboard and connections.
There are more connections than cables because the wires are crimped.

I can't get my head around which wires go where, any ideas?

The manual appears to be available here, Installation Instruction_Anet A6 3D Printer - Elektor
However, according to this comment from Hard copy of the build guide?, there is a mistake in the PDF of the manual, with respect to the heatbed, and as such, it is better to follow the videos:

I find it is better to use the 3 videos:

3D Printer Instruction--Anet 3D Printer A6 Assembly Video 1
3D Printer Instruction--Anet 3D Printer A6 Assembly Video 2
Printer Instruction- A6 - Hot Bed Level Adjustment and Print Test

Only errors in the videos and i believe the instuction the Hetbed
fixing plate i have build diffrently , rotated by 180 degrees
vertical, since it is better for the belt and somewhere in the video
during fixating of the end-switch and the blower he interchanged the
screws.

However, looking at the manual, if it is to be believed, then be aware that as well as one connection for the extruder motor, there are two connectors each for both the extruder and the hotbed heaters:

One for the separate heating elements, of the extruder and hotbed respectively, and;
One for the thermistor sensor (both the extruder and the hotbed have separate thermistors).

This makes five in total for the extruder and the hotbed combined.

However, the power connections for the Extruder motor has four pins (in white at the top), whereas the heating elements for the hotbed and the extruder have two pins and are of a different shape (in green on the left). The sensor connections for both the extruder and the sensor have three pins (in white at the bottom), but it should be easy not to confuse them, so long as you follow the wires to check to which component they go to.

Additional points to be aware of
From this comment in the same thread:

I just built an A6 three weeks ago and with the videos it is really a
breeze to assemble the unit.
Just pay attention to the heat bed mounting plate as it is installed
bottoms up in the video. The bar connecting the outer two plates where
the heat bed is finally mounted should be below the plates, not above
as in the video.
Also, if you still have time, order some decent toothed belt, Igus
Drylin RJ4JP-01, and toothwheels for the Y and X belts and replace the
original pulleys, bearings, and belts before you even assemble the
unit. I just changed mine last week and it does make a hell of a
difference - with this little upgrades (cost me less than 30$ for
everything - at Amazon) you upgrade from an okay printer to a really
decent machine.

The belt: https://www.amazon.com/Anycubic-Meters-Timing-Pulleys-Printer/dp/B0152ZNDLK
The pulleys: https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Bearing-Timing-3D-printers/dp/B0188HW4Z0
The bearings: https://www.amazon.com/Printer-Solid-Polymer-LM8UU-Bearing/dp/B06XPRCMJS
(actually, you need 8 pieces - not seven as in the images - 4 for the
Y-axis and 4 for the X-axis)

The above are not the actual articles I've bought because I am from
Europe where Amazon sells in different quantities.
If you want to go on the safe side, grab a second power supply and two
MOSFET boards to remove the high current from the mainboard:

PSU: https://www.amazon.com/eTopxizu-Universal-Regulated-Switching-Computer/dp/B00D7CWSCG
(just as an example)
MOSFET: https://www.amazon.com/Wangdd22-Printer-Expansion-Heatbed-Current/dp/B01MY50JL3
Power socket and switch: https://www.amazon.com/URBEST-Module-Switch-Certification-Socket/dp/B00ME5YAPK

Last recommendation: get some 3mm borosilicate glass to lay (clip)
over the heatbed. This will make the prints stick better and also
provide a perfectly flat surface for the builds (still, you'll need to
do the levelling)
Glass:
https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Printer-Tempered-Borosilicate-2132003mm/dp/B00QQ5Q3BI
When assembling the heatbed mount, pay lots of attention to the 16
screws. Tighten them one by one diagonally and move the bed around. If
the bed feels stuck, loosen the last screws and shift the mounts
around a bit. The lighter this mount moves, the better your prints
will be.
One thing that you must be aware: This printer is a great little unit,
but it needs love, dedication and plenty upgrades. Out of the box it
works okay, but with the upgrades it becomes a really good unit.


Power OctoPi from printer I'm wondering if there is some trick to power my OctoPi with the power supply of my 3D printer. I'm using an Geeetech I3 Pro W.

The power supply itself should be able, but the output is as far as I'm aware of 3.3 volts. Not my desired 5 V for USB, it would be a shame if I really would need to buy a new power supply when I have a strong one actually running. My current power supply causes a lot of "Under-voltage detected!" warnings.

After thinking a little about the specs, there are cigarette lighter adapter for cars they use 12 V. Has anyone experience with using that on his printer?

What you are looking for is called a "buck converter" or a "step down module". These literally cost about half a buck/Euro a piece. These converters convert a high voltage into a low voltage, the better ones are able to draw 2 to 3 Amps, which is required for stable operation of the Raspberry Pi.

If you have an old computer power supply of a decent brand (probably not as you refer to a kit/assembled printer, but added for completeness), you can even use the standby 5 V line out and switch the power supply on using a relay to short the green wire of the PSU to ground. This is how I use it on one of my printers.

Note to power the Raspberry Pi through the micro USB port, to not bypass safety features.


TPU filament usage for dental application? Can the flexible TPU filament be used in the case of printing a dental fixture?

Filament - SainSmart 1.75mm 1kg/2.2lb Flexible (TPU) Series Filament for 3D Printers RepRap.

There are a Ton of issues with using this type of material. First off there is no way anything that comes out of your FDM printer will be sanitary enough to meet the requirements for medical applications. Your nozzle might even be contain Lead. Last you would need this printer to be cleaned to clean room standards. As well as stored and operated in one..

Second I have not heard of a flexible material that meets FDA requirements. (which is not the same as does not) You have to worry about even the additives they add for color. Or straight up contamination of the material.

I do want to mention that there are people who use SLA printers for dental items. I cannot say how SLA would meet food or medical grade requirements. My guess is a lack of regulation.

So a bad idea I would say...


Why do my prints have such a rough surface? (Taz Lulzbot Pro) Model: Taz Lulzbot Pro

Things we tried to get it to work:

Tried both ABS and PLA Hatchbox brand
Uploaded new set of settings from another printer of the same brand that works using the hatchbox.
Tried using Polylite PLA with Ultimaker Cura Lulzbot edition settings

The printer managed to print, but the samples printed were of very poor quality and are filled with ridges and has an uneven surface (I've attached a picture below). The printer automatically cancels the print and quits printing on layer three because the nozzle rubs against these ridges and cannot print properly.

What are settings that may lead to this issue? What is a good place to start trying to improve my results?

This looks like Z axis offset is set incorrectly. That should come with an appropriate setting from the factory (for my printer it's -.85mm), but that setting can get lost a few ways; you can either reenter the factory setting (if your print head hasn't been opened up), or recalibrate -- but if doing the latter, be sure the nozzle is clean, or the calibration routine can cause the problem you're trying to solve!

If You've Never Reassembled Your Toolhead

Check that the settings from the QA record are still installed.

Your printer came with a sheet of paper including all the measurements that were taken when the calibration prints that came with it were created. If you updated firmware with several versions of Cura LE between the Pro's release and the fix for the relevant bug, the update would have cleared the EEPROM with those settings. A good place to start is to put them back in.

The full set of settings isn't just Z axis offset, but also offset between the two heads, and backlash measurements -- but if you lost Z axis offset, you're likely to have lost all of them, so it's worth going over the full set.

If You Have Reassembled Your Toolhead

Clean the nozzle, and rerun automatic calibration.

"Clean the nozzle", that is, by bringing it up to temperature and using the brillo pad that came in the little toolkit with the printer.

When I say "automatic calibration", I'm not referring to the leveling routine that runs with every print, but the longer routine that's accessed under "Measure automatically" button in the backlash or nozzle offset "Advanced Settings" LCD menu.

The automatic calibration routines determine when the head is in contact with the calibration cube via electrical conductivity. If there's anything on the head that can stop a circuit from being created the moment it touches the cube, that's going to throw off the calculated locations.

(BTW, if your printer doesn't warn you on the LCD display that the head should be clean and unloaded when running this operation, you're probably on old firmware; update Cura LE, and let it upload new firmware for you).

The test print at https://download.lulzbot.com/TAZ/TAZ_Pro/v1.0.3/sample_prints/calibration/vernier_dim-test.gcode (which is perhaps more compact than the one that came with your printer, if you got one of the very first units off the assembly line) pairs with the instructions/documentation in steps 15-19 at https://ohai.lulzbot.com/project/calibration-taz-pro/quiver/. That said, the Z-axis measurements are mostly pertinent for the very beginning of step 15, measuring the height of the skirt around the print before it starts. (You'll want to either pause or cancel the print to remove the skirt for measurement in your calipers; the sample gcode delay isn't long enough to do it carefully otherwise!).

And Don't Be Afraid To Call Support

Customer service from folks who know their stuff and are around evenings and weekends are part of what you're paying for when you buy a Lulzbot. The above is taken from my experience diagnosing quality issues on a TAZ Pro, but support knows what they're doing much better than I do; don't be shy about taking advantage!


Marlin firmware: move without auto bed leveling I am working on a filament unload script.
My current problem is that the script always does an auto bed leveling.
I have two scripts to test this issue:
LevelBed.gcode:
G28             ; Auto home
G29             ; Level bed
M500            ; Save to EEPROM

Move.gcode:
M501            ; Restore from EEPROM (try to eliminate bed leveling)
G21             ; Metric values
G90             ; Absolute positioning
G28             ; Auto home
M420 S1         ; Enable bed leveling
G1 X100 Y100 Z100 F1000 ; Move
M400            ; Finish moves

Move.gcode does bed leveling (LevelBed.gcode was executed before).
How is it possible to do a movement from G-code without doing automatic bed leveling?

My intention with Move.gcode:

Do an auto home
Do a move to (100, 100, 100)

The problem:

Bed leveling happens between the Auto Home and the Move. (It probes the bed at 9 points)

I think G28 Auto Home is not required for filament load/unload scripts. My donor scripts for this purpose just contained them.
I made an example script to just rotate the feeder gear and it seems to be working.
ColdExtrude.gcode
G21           ; Metric values
M83           ; Extruder relative mode
M302 S5       ; Allow extrusion above 5C
G1 E-10 F200  ; Pull back filament a bit
M400

So I cannot eliminate doing an Auto Bed Leveling sequence after G28, but maybe I even won't need to do it :)

This question remains relevant. I'll need a good print startup code for the Cura slicer.
It should do something like:

Heat the bed
Auto Home
Auto Bed Level
Auto Home again
Lift up the hot-end a bit and heat it up
Draw a prime line

I am afraid if this problem is not solved, an other Auto Bed Level sequence will be executed between the 2nd Auto Home and the hot-end lift up.

I have recently noticed that the my load/unload scripts based on ColdExtrude.gcode are not always working. Sometimes the printer starts Auto Bed Leveling without knowing the origin position and badly hits the X/Y movement limits.
So I have to do G28 in my filament load/unload scripts, which involves an implicit Auto Bed Leveling sequence, which is time wasting.
So my question is still active:
How to do extrusion from .gcode without implicit execution of an Auto Bed Leveling sequence?

A second G28 should not be necessary as it can be replaced by a G0 or G1 command, but in the end it should work when RESTORE_LEVELING_AFTER_G28 has been set in firmware weren't it for a bug present in the Marlin 2.0.7.2 and 2.0.x bug-fix release.


2x scaling of Monoprice Mini Select v2 Firmware v30.50b after factory reset? About a year ago, a bad print encased my hotend in PLA and I broke the wires due to my impatience trying to get the glob of PLA off.

I don't remember the details of the disaster print, but generally the printer was working fine except I now know I was heating the bed too high and causing warped prints that I was trying to avoid by raising the bed temp.

I'm trying to salvage the printer now, I bought a new hotend and build plate sticker. I don't want to name the supplier because I'm pretty sure these parts are irrelevant and I don't want this to seem like an advertisement. Anyways, install was pretty easy, I didn't disconnect any of the axis or feeder steppers control wires - just the hotend heater and thermistor.

I don't think it should have anything to do with the bad print or the replacement parts, but now when I print I'm having major calibration issues. My entire print seems to be 2x scaled up. This is causing skipped stepper steps, grinding, etc for completely bad prints.

I ran at least part of a factory reset program before any trial prints because it was recommended online somewhere (which displayed weird 50 % complete message and that's all).  I most suspect the factory reset as my problem.  After the reset, I needed to flip the Y axis with an additional G-code instruction before it would home to the correct corner instead of grinding to the top-back-left.

M502 ;     Restores default settings
M562 Y ;     Reverse Y  -- I had to add this to even get it to work as well as it does.
M500 ;     Saves the settings to EEPROM

I have read that I can adjust the axis scaling by an arbitrary factor with additional G-codes, but since I didn't mess with the printer other than the program above, I don't expect my scaling factor to be off by a random value, but more a common value that ALL mini select v2s need that I erased. But I am not finding info about this.

I am using Cura 4.5 and Cura knows I'm using a Mini Select v2 and the model I've loaded is known to Cura to be the right dimensions.

In the picture, you can see that Cura shows it is centered on the bed, but it actually prints off center. Also, the finished print is about 2x scaled in all three axes and lacks the material density of a correct print - it's printing only enough plastic for the correct size print, but spreading it over the scaled-up volume. The steppers are also skipping steps (I guess) so there are a few layer shifts in this print. What a mess! (It's supposed to say it's dimension on the top - "23 mm" but it actually measures about 46 mm but hard to say exactly due to the other print issues)

Thanks for the comments!  They led me to find this solution using PuTTY on Windows as my serial (COM) terminal.  I guess one of my resets put the settings to 1/16th stepping whereas my hardware has 1/8th stepping.

> M115
NAME: Malyan    VER: 3.0        MODEL: M200     HW: HA04
ok N0 P15 B15

> M503
echo:Steps per unit:
echo:  M92 X93.00 Y93.00 Z1097.50 E97.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo:  M203 X150.00 Y150.00 Z1.50 E50.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo:  M201 X800 Y800 Z20 E10000
echo:Accelerations: P=printing, R=retract and T=travel
echo:  M204 P1500.00 R3000.00 T1500.00
echo:Advanced variables:
S=Min feedrate (mm/s),
T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s),
B=minimum segment time (ms),
X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s),
Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s),
E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo:  M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo:  M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
echo:Invert axis: M562 XYZE
XYZABCD++-+-+-
echo:PID settings:
echo:  M301 P20.00 I0.02 D250.00 C100.00 L20
echo:  M304 P10.00 I0.02 D305.40
echo:Filament settings: Disabled
echo:  M200 D1.75
echo:  M200 D0
ok N0 P15 B15

> M92 X46.50 Y46.50 Z548.75 E48.50 ; from https://www.mpselectmini.com/howto/steps_per_unit_mm
> M562 Y ; Invert Y because it was Homing to the wrong corner
> M206 X0.00 Y-2.00 Z0.00 ; Inverting the values from M114 once good Home manually found.
> G0 X0 Y0 ; testing the range of motion
> G0 X0 Y120 ; testing the range of motion
> G0 X120 Y120 ; testing the range of motion
> G0 X120 Y0 ; testing the range of motion
> M500 ; this saves the new values to EEPROM
```


(Cura setting) How can I fix this? No top layer problem solved by resetting cura.

I have problems like this: How can I fix this? I can't find the right setting.

Also, what are these yellow lines? Do you know how to remove them? They disappear when I disable to show the brim/raft/skirt.

I'm pretty sure the yellow lines are showing the full path of the extruder head, including where it's retracted.  Somewhere in Cura's maze of menus, there's an option to turn on/off various displays related to the slicing.

As to why the top layer isn't there -- most likely it's too thin in your source  model.  You might try enabling "Print thin walls" options in the Preferences advanced list.  BTW, if you post the original STL or CAD file, we might be able to provide more accurate diagnosis.


My Anet A8 prints have been looking squished I have recently purchased an Anet A8 but have been wondering why the prints look squished and have tiny balls on them.

I am using 1.75 mm cheap PLA bought from eBay and have also had problems of filament oozing out of the print block.

]1

It could be that cheap filament has inconsistent diameter, or your calibration is over extruding, or you have something loose that needs to be tight.  It's hard for me to tell precisely from just these images.  In your shoes, I would print 20mm x 20mm x 10mm, 100% infill boxes until I got it dialed in so that it is square, fully filled in, but nice and flat.

If they're coming out square and staying stuck to the build plate properly, but are bumpy and overfilled, then you're over extruding and you'll want to either recalibrate e-steps or if they're correct, adjust your flow rate in the slicer (down).

If they aren't square then you need to square up your frame and tighten it and the belts.

Etc.

But my first guess is that you're extruding too much plastic since I'll bet they were flatter when they were still on the build plate, yes?

On the question of ooze: you'll always get some ooze.  Molten plastic and gravity means some will ooze out pretty much no matter what.  What you need to worry about is when this results in stringing or unwanted lines on the surface of the print.  These things you address with retraction (which reduces the pressure on the nozzle during travel moves, but can't stop gravity) and for the surface problem various travel, z-hop and combing strategies depending on your slicer.


Important build plate characteristics/qualities I managed to tear my build plate trying to get some very stubborn plastic off it.

I'll need to buy a new one, what characteristics are important for me to ensure it's compatable with my printer?

I can think of:

Dimensions
Power requirements
Connector types
That my printer moves the plate in the z axis (?)

NB  I'm so new at this I didn't realise that this was just a sticker on the plate, so I just need to replace this sticker.  However, as a question, I'm still curious as there's a good chance I will break it at some point.

If your printer's heated bed still works, but the sticker has been ripped in some places:

You can try and remove the rest of the sticker, clean the metal plate under the sticker (perhaps with isopropyl alcohol) and then apply a new sticker once there is no adhesive remaining on the heated bed.
You can remove the sticker with the method above, but instead of replacing it with a new sticker, you can buy a PEI sheet and cut it to size if required (read more about PEI here) and then stick it to the metal plate.

Personally, I would recommend the latter option, since PEI is low maintenance and the prints automatically pop off the sheet once it cools down, however just make sure not to print PETG on it, since it sticks too much.

On the other hand, if your entire heated bed is broken, the best-case scenario is to look for a heated bed that was designed specifically for your printer. Especially since your printer's heated bed has 3 mounting screws instead of 4.

If you somehow have a solution for mounting a heated bed with 4 mounting screws on a printer that uses 3, the things you need to watch out for are the heated bed's operating voltage (it should be 24v) and the dimensions must be the same. If the wires are not provided with the heated bed, make sure to get wires that have high enough gauge so that it is able to handle the high currents that the heated bed will need.


Problems with STL model in Ultimaker Cura I want to print a piece of fruit modeled in Blender. It is an STL file.
Please note that I am an absolute beginner at 3D printing models.

What do these red zones mean? What is wrong about the mesh in each case?

The fruit has some low-poly seeds. These used to be a particle system but I then changed them into individual objects.

This view shows the base of the fruit, why is it colored red?

3D printers cannot print in the air without a prior layer or a support structure supporting the new printed layer. For the picture showing the bottom of the fruit, the red area is the calculated area that requires support for printing, so please enable that in the slicer application.
For the top picture please post a detail or a zoomed in part. It is currently difficult to see what is the matter. It looks as though the STL model is incorrect and Ultimaker Cura thinks that the seeds are upside down, hence the red coloring also. This means that you need to fix the normals of the faces in the STL model. Please look into this answer and this answer for some hints.


Which photopolymer for printing? I am thinking about building my own DLP 3D printer. I want to know which uv curing resin I should use.

Also, I came across a continuous 3D printing technology where oxygen permeable glass was used to stop the photopolymer toching the glass from hardening so the cured photopolymer wont stick to the glass. What resin additives are used to achive this?

I think you will find that it will be necessary for you to tune your own printer to a specific resin. Even as important, you would expect to have different parameters for different colors of resin, as each will absorb the UV to a different degree.

You haven't provided parameters in your request for which resin to use. You will consider availability and cost of the material you select, as well as the UV light frequency for which a particular product is specified. Temperature range of use is another critical detail.

You'll want to avoid resins for which the manufacturer does not provide specifications of that sort.

If you pursue this route, you'll find and learn quite a bit.

Regarding the resin additives for non-hardening: I have not seen such a product and I would not be surprised to learn that it is a proprietary substance and as such, a company secret.

There is a recent development of a similar note, a positive one, in my opinion. There is a silicone compound that forum posts have indicated allow the resin to release with minimal or no difficulty and the clarity lasts weeks of use. Current use of Sylgard or the equivalent means frequent re-builds of the vat due to cloudiness of the silicone or tearing of the surface due to excessive stickiness.

Breakable Glass Silicone has developed quite a following on the B9Creator forums for solving (or substantially reducing) those two factors. That alone justifies the immense expense of shipping from Australia, in my opinion.

The easy release of the layers of the model from the surface would mean far more reliability in printing. You should/could consider this product for your project as it removes the requirement for questionable additives.


Anet A8 with 3DTouch does not home X in the center Working on getting my Anet A8 upgraded with some extra toys and although the sensor works, I can't get it to home correctly. I'm looking for some assistance to home the X in the center.

The probe is working and showing results, but when homing, it does not home to center (SAFE_HOME is turned on, Y homes to center but X is about 3/4 from endstop) and the Z offset always reports as 0 when using M851. There is a clear gap of about 10 mm between the bed and the nozzle after G29 is ran.

I'm using the following mount:

Bed is anycubic ultrabase 220*220

I have been using a combination of E3D configuration documents, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWDkZtWwd6I and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_1Kg45APko to try and get it working.

I've posted my Configuration.h here to see if anyone can spot what I've done wrong and possible explain it to me so I can learn.

Your sensor offset for the X direction is incorrect.

#define X_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -28   // X offset: -left  +right  [of the nozzle]

should be

#define X_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER 28   // X offset: -left  +right  [of the nozzle]

The hints in the comment already suggest that (left is negative, right is positive), your touch sensor clearly is located on the right side, hence +28 mm.

See also this hint in the configuration file:

 *      +-- BACK ---+
 *      |           |
 *    L |    (+) P  | R -- probe (20,20)
 *    E |           | I
 *    F | (-) N (+) | G -- nozzle (10,10)
 *    T |           | H
 *      |    (-)    | T
 *      |           |
 *      O-- FRONT --+
 *    (0,0)

Also, #define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -1.05 is not really necessary. Many prefer this to be 0 and set the value later by using M815 Z-1.05 (sent over USB or "printed" from .gcode file over SD card)

You also have not set the boundaries for the sensor to reach, I quote:

// Set the boundaries for probing (where the probe can reach).
//#define LEFT_PROBE_BED_POSITION MIN_PROBE_EDGE
//#define RIGHT_PROBE_BED_POSITION (X_BED_SIZE - MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
//#define FRONT_PROBE_BED_POSITION MIN_PROBE_EDGE
//#define BACK_PROBE_BED_POSITION (Y_BED_SIZE - MIN_PROBE_EDGE)

This can be found in How to set the boundaries for BLTouch probing.

After a G29, the head is raised as instructed by the configuration file to employ clearance.

An M851 will report the actual value it is set to, if you have not set it (by using M851 Z-x.xx, or set it through the display using the menu) then it will report 0, that is correct.


Auger Paste extruder I've made a paste extruder(plunger type), in which a plunger will push the syringe to extrude. Plunger movement is controlled by a stepper motor. In that arrangement, for g-code generation I've used inside dia of syringe as the filament diameter and inside dia of needle as nozzle diameter and to calculate extruder steps per mm, I"ve used the lead of threaded rod which controls the movement of plunger.

But it had several issues like air bubbles and unable to print thick pastes.

Later I've seen this video on Youtube. In which he later changed to a Auger bit mechanism and I've seen WASP LDM already made a successful one.

I'm trying to make one of these. But in this mechanism how to calculate the steps per mm for Extruder?

Is it same as the lead of Auger bit??
What about the filament diameter in slic3r settings??
Anyone have any idea??

Thanks

To be precise we shall have all physical parameters of extruded material to calculate extrusion parameters.
In that case, my approach will be to use try and check approach, as that will give a systematic problem-solving.

To set the steps/mm, we will focus only on the measured length after extrusion.

let's set the extrusion length to 10 cm, extrude and check the extruded length.
if we measure a different value, then we can use a formula to fix that
newStepsPermm = currentStepsPermm*(requestedExtrusionLength / measuredLength )
That need to be repeated as long as we will get requested length and this is a standard calibration procedure.

The minimal layer thickness will be connected with the way how the pasta behaves (how it is sticky, water amount etc) - so for that there is a need for a patience.
My approach will be to create a sheet where I would store the ingredients ratio and a note about extruded material behavior.

To remove bubbles in the extruded material - the syringe shall be filled with caution and continuously to avoid material stacking as that produces air pockets.

Addon: To calibrate clay you can print a single line using manually prepared gcode. Amount of extruded material could be estimated by weighting conteiner/bottle or extruded material and that will give you an orientation of flow like gramms/mm or mm3/mm.

let's try this:

we have our steps//mm untouched
try to set printing speed for single line, so the clay will looks nice
if we have over/under extrusion - change feedrate by 5% up/down.
when the extrusion looks ok, then note all printed parameters

so if we end-up with printing speed 10mm/s and feedrate 140%, then we know that the steps/mm need to be multiplied by feedrate factor (1.4 in this case).


Prusa i3 MK3S Z axis moving down in calibration wizard During recalibration of my printer (due to the nozzle catching on the prints), the Z-axis went down where it used to go up, damaging the heatbed steel sheet in the process. It then failed calibration.
I didn't change the wiring since previous print although I re-adjusted the PINDA probe.
What can I do to fix this?

Answer taken from OP's comment

the issue has been resolved (the PINDA probe was too high)


How small may I design objects for the Prusa i3 MK3? I have designed a bread mark and printed it on the Prusa i3 MK3.

I wanted it to have as sharp edges as possible, so I used a triangle:

However, it seems that the print cut off layers that are too thin (x-y-wise) and instead of a 1 cm high bread mark, I only have 0.5 cm.

What is the X-Y-resolution of the Prusa i3 MK3? In Slic3r, can I make sure that any wall is made as thick as needed for it to be printed?

I have the default 0.4 mm nozzle.

This is dependent on the slicer and the nozzle diameter. Typically, you cannot print a wall smaller than twice the nozzle diameter because walls need an inner and outer line. Therefore, your slicer will make some cutoff and won't print walls below a certain threshold, in order to try to faithfully replicate your model.

Slic3r, I believe, will automatically go down to single line walls, but if you turn on "Detect thin walls" in Slic3r's Print Settings, more of the thin walls will be printed. Slic3r will actually reduce the plastic extruded to attempt to make even thinner walls, but there's still a limit.

With a 0.4 mm nozzle, you should design walls no smaller than 0.8 mm, or 0.4 mm at the very smallest.


Embedding nuts and washers into print I am creating a 3D printed part which will act as an attachment between a plate (actually a strain gauge) with two M2.5 bolts and a 2kg load with a single M4 bolt. I wouldn't be happy with tapping a screw thread into the print itself so I want to try embedding the nuts into the print itself - so I'll pause the print at the right layer and then insert the nut and, hopefully, the print will resume.

I'm wondering is it worth also including washers? It's a major pain because, while a nut can be captive in a hex space, a washer is circular. So it needs to be glued down on insertion in case it rotates while the printer is printing on top of it.

For a 2kg load I don't believe the nut will attempt to pull through the part but there isn't a whole lot of support between the bore hole and the edge of an M2.5 nut though, only about 1mm.

Edit: I'll add an image of my initial design. The strain gauge is one of a set pulled out of a weighing scales (from Lidl, €5.99. You can buy each separately on the internet for 20 euro, so I saved 74 euro!). The gauge itself is mounted on the narrow "neck" of the gauge. The whole block will drop into a holder that grabs the outer edge of the gauge.

I've had good luck with just leaving a hex-shaped hole in the print, and press-fitting in the nut afterwards. You'll want the axis of the bolt to be along the z-axis, and to use a fair amount of infill and shells. I usually use PLA, so YMMV slightly.

You may also want to consider your strain gauge setup carefully. If you're doing something like making a hook out of the ABS and the plate is acting as a lever arm, you need to make sure the lever arm length is the same every time, or your calibration will be wrong.


How to create a web-based PHP that can print to multiple printer(when idle) using silent printing The print job connect to the database. When there is an idle printer, the print job directly goes to it. It need to connect with print server too.
How do i start? Can someone help me...
Thank you.

I'd recommend starting with connecting your printer(s) to OctoPi. From there, try to find either an API or way to create your own plugin. Then just set up a workstation that will manage your print queue and delegate the prints using some form of web request.

I personally don't recommend creating your own slicing engine. If you want to do everything directly from "the workstation" try looking into Skeinforge (most popular from ReplicatorG slicer), Cura (I believe from Ultimaker), and/or Miracle Grue (from MakerWare) as your slicing engine. You can most documentation/source on GitHub.

In the meantime, try to narrow down the general sense of how you want to accomplish this and edit your question. As a reminder for more technical questions regarding code, please use Stack Overflow. For example, "How to create/use REST request?"


MK8 versus E3d V6 nozzle I have an Ender 3 and Prusa MK3S using MK8 and E3D V6 nozzles respectively.
I've read some difference between these two nozzles in question "E3D V6 nozzle vs MK8 nozzle, first layer adhesion".
Can I use an MK8 nozzle in the v6 heater block and vice versa? I know both have same M6 thread but what tolerance do they follow?

To be successful you would need to ensure that the geometry of the two nozzles are compatible. It is not just the external thread. It includes thread length, internal diameter of the nozzle, whether the hot-end is configured for a PTFE liner, or is an all-metal hot-end, how the back end of the nozzle couples back to the heat-break, how the internal geometry of the nozzle sits in relation to the heater block etc.
The original designs that spawned many of the clones were usually highly researched and sophisticated holistic balances of thermal and mechanical properties designed to prevent clogging with the widest range of filaments within the design spec of the hot end.
Randomly swapping parts could alter that balance and cause all sorts of printing problems - including leaks, burned filament within the nozzle, clogging, oozing, poor retraction control, poor thermal control etc.
But, if the geometries of the two nozzles are close enough, you might be ok...


3D Printing of a Swellable Material I recently saw this video of super-swellable polymer and felt inspired. Printing a swellable structure would be sort of interesting. However, sodium polyacrylate isn't a printable material. Does anyone know of a material that is? Preferably, swelling activated by water.

The video treats about sodium polucarbonate (C3H3NaO2) this is a superabsorbent polymer has the ability to absorb as much as 100 to 1000 times its mass in water. This is used as desiccant on products that moisture can be a problem basically during storage prior selling. The video shows the water how is trapped inside the particles of sodium polycarbonate, this happens inside a diaper or any product urine odor absorbing, also is used on waste liquid control.

Also you can find something similar on some products that has a little bag that says silica gel (SiO2).


Why is my 3D printer not extruding properly? I have a Duplicator i3 mini, which has yet to make it a month without breaking. This time it is extra broken because the filament is not extruding properly. the most successful print I've had yet had about a centimeter before turning into an absolute mess. I have a picture. It was not stringy, and had the exact shape i was trying to print, but was like a frame of a sort. I am printing with matterhackers MH build series PLA, which has worked before this started happening. What should I do? What troubleshooting steps should I take?

Underextrusion and clogs can also be caused by insufficient temperature in the hot end. You've not reference your temperatures, so consider to use a test model and print at different temperatures. Too low temps can result in the problem you present, while too hot temps will increase stringing and peculiar blobs on the print.

If your slicer changes print speed at the layer of destruction, it may also be too fast, which is related to temperatures. Simplify3D allows speed variation as well as temperature variation at selected layers, but it requires deliberate action on the part of the operator.


Cura 3 speed selection I printed thingiverse minion Dave and after 2 failed attempts (1st tore of from bed, 2nd had jitter at about 50%) I slowed the print speed down. The final result was amazing. However the reported print time, 3hrs, was in reality 7hrs. The speed reduction was small and I would not have expected such a dramatic change in time. Did I miss a step somewhere?

No you didn't do anything wrong.

The problem with time estimates in slicers is that they don't know anything about the printer's firmware and physical limitations, so they estimate time based on the (whoefully wrong) assumption that the printer will do only and exactly what told to.

So, if the gcode says "move 100mm at 1m/s" the slicer will assume your printer will take 100ms to perform that action.  In reality though, your printer will take some time to accelerate, and it may actually be unable to reach the target speed of 1m/s altoghether, taking a lot longer to perform the full action.

Typically, Cura estimates are OK for makerbots, and Slic3r PE for Prusa printers, as the software is mainly developed towards those machines, but for most other printers the estimates will be sensibly off.

You may also be interested in trying to use octoprint to feed the GCODE to the printer: octoprint monitors the actual elapsed time against the gcode and try to adjust the estimate of the remaining time accordingly, also telling the operator how reliable that estimate is.


0.9° motors for Delta printers? I built a cheap Delta printer with ATMega board and 1.8° motors. The micro stepping is limitied to 1/16. Beside a decent print quality, I observe a moire effect on flat surfaces. The moire is clearly caused by a combination of both, the 1.8° motors steps and the low microstepping.

I thought about using 0.9° stepper motors together with a combination of board and drivers which support < 1/32 micro stepping. Is there a comparison somewhere illustrating potential quality differences on larger delta printers and is this the way to remove the moire effect? For cartesian printers I would not bother using such motors, but I noticed that a higher holding torque at smaller steps is desirable for delta printers.

Example

Not one of my prints, but this is how it looks

Delta bots always need all motors to step to maintain a straight level. Microstepping, is not magic, the incremental torque decreases per step so that you will be more likely to miss a few micro-steps. Furthermore, the signal that creates voltages for the micro-step positioning is usually not perfectly sinusoidal (pulse-width voltage modulation is used to achieve micro-stepping by controlling the current; the driver sends two voltage sine waves, 90 degrees out of phase to the motor windings), micro-stepping drives can only approximate a true sine wave. This means that some torque ripples, resonance, and noise remains and hence resulting in odd stepper behavior, like seen below from this ref. (after the half step the stepper jumps to the full step and maintains that value for a while):

This is seen as a Moiré pattern in your printed products. As an example, if the head is moved in Z direction by micro-step, you will almost certainly notice that the head doesn't move on every micro-step, but only every 3rd or 4th micro-step (as an example). When using higher resolution steppers like the 0.9° stepper motors, you will still miss micro-steps (e.g. the same, so also on every 3rd or 4th micro-step the head moves), but as the micro-step is half the size of that one of a 1.8° stepper motor, the accuracy as in precision and resolution is higher.

In that sense, if you change your stepper drivers for higher micro-stepping drivers (from 1/16 to 1/32 as you mention), it will not help you improve the resolution much because the incremental torque from one to another 1/32 micro-step is lower than for 1/16 micro-steps as can be seen in the figure below (taken from this ref.).

So, using 0.9° motors (and keeping 1/16 micro-stepping) improves positioning accuracy as described above, it will also reduce the noise, because the torque per unit angular error is nearly doubled. Also remember that if you are using 8-bit electronics (you hint to an ATMega board), then even 1/32 micro-stepping burdens the processor to achieve reasonable travel speeds. With 8-bit electronics, it is usually suggested to use 1/16 stepping.

Upgrading an existing printer from 1.8° to 0.9° stepper motors is probably not worth for the majority of users (note that the maximum allowable speed also reduces when using 0.9° stepper motors). Unless you are designing and building a new delta, or aren't on a tight budget you could opt for the additional costs of buying 0.9° stepper motors.

Note that updating to higher micro-stepping values not necessarily implies that the quality of your products also increase. See e.g. this reference.


Is there a table or list of tare weights of empty spools of various manufacturers? It would be helpful to me if I knew in advance how much the empty filament spool weighs.

Not having emptied any spool yet, I can't contribute data points, but has anyone compiled a list of empty weights from various manufacturers and sizes?

Yes, there is a table on Reddit - Empty spool weights for estimating remaining filament which suggests that the norm (in 2015) was between 170 and 330 grams for a 1 kg spool, superficially in a bimodal distribution clustered around the high and low points. Presumably these were for 3 mm filament, this post dating to before the popularity of 1.75 mm...

Manufacturer's have an incentive to reduce the mass of their spools, or even ship without spools, since the shipping cost will eat into their profit margin.


Over extruding and feeding gear is grinding Ender 3 pro This issue is completely leaving me lost, my printer extrudes too much and leaves blobs yet the gear will just suddenly start grinding as soon as it begins to fill in the outline of my print. The grinding keeps going and the filament coming out just continues to blob leaving my prints a complete disaster. What confuses me is the fact that if the gear was grinding it would no longer feed more filament. The blobs proceed to then harden leaving my end essentially stuck dragging across cooled filament and pouring out even more of it into a disaster.

It sounds like a setting mismatch between your slicer settings and the physical printer configuration. Diagnostic and informational questions follow:

Can you provide more details of your machine configuration and your slicer settings?
Are you using the Creality Slicer?
Can you also provide more information about what you are attempting to print?
Are you printing a downloaded design or your own?
Have you printed successfully before? If so, the key question would be to ask what has changed.

There are a number of settings to check, but the first one that comes to mind is the filament diameter setting in the slicer. Secondary to that would be the flow percent. Check the diameter of your filament versus the setting in the slicer. The grinding of the gear makes me think that the physical filament diameter is larger than the slicer setting.  This could explain extruding too much material and producing "blobs" and also the grinding.


Is it possible to upgrade the CR10-S Pro to CR10-S Pro v2? What I really want to do is to upgrade hardware components to support 'print recovery' after a power outage.

Print recovery can be achieved by changing the firmware.

Here is some information on how to do that: Marlin documentation

Also, this another stackoverflow post about that: Stackoverflow Post


PETG Sticking to Nozzle For a while now, my AmazonBasics PETG filament has been working like a charm. Now, it is balling up on my nozzle. I've tried slowing it down, re-leveling the bed, etc. I don't want to go through the hassle of replacing my nozzle with a Micro-Swiss all metal 0.4 mm nozzle. I've tried the other extruder which I know works with PLA, but same results. I'm using a Flashforge Creator Pro(2016).

It could be that you're having issues now due to the filament absorbing moisture. I had a big problem with it doing that when I had waited for a few months after opening my filament. Dehydrated it using just my heated plate and a foil lined box over the top and it fixed it right up. If that's something you haven't tried yet perhaps that is what is causing you some grief.


Can I print directly onto the bed plate? (Ender 3 Pro) I just got an Ender 3 Pro at the beginning of the week and have been printing a lot. I creased the magnetic plate cover, not realizing how it would hold up to being bent. This led to uneven printing and nozzle issues, so I stopped using it.

Is there any problem with printing directly onto the platform itself, without a cover?

I've printed for several years direct onto the 3 mm heated bed of the Anet A8 I used; worked perfectly! I did use a specific 3D print spray for adhesion, see e.g. this answer on "Should you use hairspray on a metal bed 3D printer?".


Display crashed/corrupted on AnyCubic Prusa I3 clone I've recently completed assembly of an AnyCubic Prusa clone.  It's working, but having some issues.  My prime concern at this point is the LCD display.  It occasionally becomes "corrupted" for want of a better term (see image) and no longer responds to the control.  It's done this unattended in the middle of a print attempt, which means I can't pause it to remove the imminently dripping filament from the leaking extruder (another issue I'm dealing with).

So three questions I guess...

Is this a typical problem?

What's the likely culprit (main board, display, firmware)?

How to fix it?

I'm working with AnyCubic's tech support, such as it is, and wondering if I need to push them for replacement hardware.
Thanks!

Issues like this are often caused by the length of the ribbon cable connecting to display to the board, or by its vicinity to other wires. Try routing the ribbon cable away from other wires, and use a shorter one if possible.


Cura settings for Fabrikator Mini V2 Turnigy or Malyan M100 I am trying to run this 3D printer:

Fabrikator Mini V2 Turnigy/Malyan M100

Does anyone have the Cura settings?

I googled your machine name and found this HobbyKing page.  There is a link here to CURA settings.

Page with CURA settings


How do Repetier coordinates setup work I am using Repetier Host and Slic3r Prusa 1.36.2 - (the website says 1.2.9 is the latest version - however I don't believe this is the problem) .  The printer is a Anet A3

With my current setup I am printing mirrored - I can mirror the objects in Repetier before slicing , however then the preview picture is wrong, and worse I have to remember.

I have a Anet A3, the connectors for the motors are polarized and if I swap the X and Y cables when I home the X and Y motors move in the wrong direction.

I believe the problem is the coordinates and I don't fully understand the Repetier coordinates. This is how I believe it is setup (these are Slic3r screen shots )

Which I will call "Front Left" however my home position is Front Right - ie I believe it should look like this

However these two screen shots are from the slicer - and these settings do not get used.  In the Repetier they use a different system for setup.  I tried these settings shown  in Repetier

Then everything printed in a line along the left most edge. That is the head was moved to the very right , never moved again then the platform just moved

Can someone explain what settings I should be using for Repetier for a platform setup as I have.

If I've misunderstood the Slic3r/Repetier interface then you can point that out as well.

I'm not sure exactly sure if you have one problem or two distinctive ones.  However a few notes:

The latest version of Slic3r PE can always be fetched on their GitHub release page.  At the time of writing that would be version 1.38.5, but I concur with you that that is unlikely to be the problem.

Mirrored objects are a clear indication that one of the Cartesian axis is swapped (not that it is translated).  Any of the axis can be swapped, but since the peculiarity of your printer is that the homing point is at the front RIGHT, I would guess the axis that got messed up is the X one.

I have no way to test the following, but if I got the meaning of your first two pictures, then I guess the correct settings in Repetier may probably be these:

If even that fail, check the handedness of the coordinate system of the software generating the model you are trying to slice.  Modelling software like Blender and others are typically right-handed, but many tools for processing those model for on-screen application (movies, videogames) are left-handed.  That means that even if the model display correctly in the native editor, it may be rendered mirrored in another software.


What will be the best way to remove pla from a volcano nozzle? My print popped out from the bed and glued to the nozzle. As the printer was printing next hour or so, a lot of pla was extruded and formed on the nozzle.

I'm wondering what will be the best way to remove pla from the nozzle without overheating wires?

a remark: was trying to heat the nozzle over 180, but I am getting a thermal runout. The pla is hard, I don't want to broke the throat.

If you grab the blob with a pliers and twist, all or most of it may pop off.  If not,  heat the extruder up perhaps 10 degrees higher than usual, and wait for the external gunk to soften up and then pull it off.
edit :
Well, if it won't get hot enough, then try using an external source such as a soldering iron tip to cut off most of the mess, then it may be time for exacto knife blades and small files to remove the remainder.
Unless you're a clean freak :-) a little residue around the nozzle doesn't matter - it won't touch your prints and at some time in the future it'll be "cooked" enough to fall off.


What material best to use for press fit parts? I am designing some parts that should modular fit together. I am currently exploring a Lego-like design with octagonal holes and cylindrical pins.
I notice that (depending on the amount of clearance) that the fit is initially tight (to the extent that the pieces are very difficult to remove from each other), but that after a few dozen times connecting and disconnecting the parts the fit becomes very loose. I am currently using PLA. With what material would this occur less quickly/is more resistant to this kind of wear?
The sizes of the pins/holes are slightly bigger than Lego (probably similar to Duplo). Don't think that snap-fit would work in that size. Below of a picture of one of the test pieces (this one later printed in PETG).

I have an open printer so I prefer materials that don't require me to build an enclosure first. It is a Prusa i3 MK3S: Direct drive; 1.75 mm filament; max temp 300 °C; heat bed max temp 120 °C.

A flexible material, such as PETG or ABS, is probably the best.  PLA is brittle, especially after absorbing moisture, and probably would crack under continued use.
Nylon is good, but not easy to use.  With PETG in an enclosure, I end up running fans to avoid heat creep; so PETG may actually do better without an enclosure.
If you're printing to flex your print, keep in mind the the x and y axes are stronger than the z-axis, which depends on how well the layers stick together.   PETG tends to stick to the print surface too well; so I use an Elmer's glue stick for it to pull up the glue layer instead of damaging my print surface.


When should I replace the nozzle on my printer? I have what I assume to be a brass nozzle, and I only print in PLA. I am starting to have some issues with first layers and stringing. I'm wondering if I should replace the nozzle. What signs should I look for to know when to replace the nozzle?

Replacing the nozzle depends on many things,

the nozzle material (copper/brass, steel, hardened steel, Olsson Ruby Nozzle),
the type of filament you print,
how frequently you use the 3D printer.

To replace a nozzle, there are probably a few reasons for doing so. A nozzle can wear out (see: How to identify nozzle wear; not only from the friction  of standard filament, but especially when used with abrasive filament like glow-in-the-dark PLA, and glass or carbon fibre filled filament) causing the outer shape and the inner nozzle diameter to change size. This can result in lower quality prints or difficulty in getting the print to stick to the bed. Having a metal wire or drill bit of the diameter of the nozzle will tell you if the hole itself has worn out. Sometimes, a visual inspection may sometimes be enough for you to tell that it has worn out:

(source: filament2print.com)

Please note that an interesting video is posted by Stefan from CNC Kitchen on nozzle wear:

Nozzles can collect burned particles inside, partly clogging the nozzle, causing the extrusion to be non-ideal. A sign for this is when the filament is not leaving the nozzle straight when freely extruded at height, but curls up.

Furthermore, when used frequently, nozzles can get coated with filament which is sometimes hard to remove. This sometimes causes freshly extruded filament to stick to the nozzle, certainly if it curls up like mentioned before.

Note that nozzles are very cheap with respect to the complete assembly and replacing them is a matter of 2 minutes work. So if you're unsure about how to improve the quality of printing after having tried fixing flow rate and nozzle to bed height, you could replace the nozzle, see e.g.:

(source: The 3D Print General)

Depending on the quality of the nozzle and the filament, a nozzle replacement for one brand might be necessary much sooner than for another printer. E.g. my Ultimaker 3E has literally printed kilometers of PETG without the need to replace the nozzle (or "core" as it is called for this printer), while the brass nozzle of my first cheap, now dust collecting, Anet A8 printer has been replaced a few times.


What do I need to know to successfully use Taulman/Dow EVOLV3D™ USM Universal Support Material? Taulman3D advertises a soluble support material (EVOLV3D™ USM Universal Support Material) that handles temperatures appropriate for nylon and is completely safe to flush down the drain. There's very little about how to print with it successfully, however, or how to remove it after printing.

Other than the documented (wide) print temperature range (200-250 °C), what do I need to know?

Advice From Taulman

On emailing Taulman asking for advice (after getting some initial failed prints), they responded with the following:

  [...W]e use the following settings. Support:

  Flow 115 %
  Infill = 8-10 %
  2 full surfaces at 100 %
  Support speed 50 % of print speed.

What I've learned trying to apply that advice:

Turning the flow percentage up as advised is a good idea.
17 mm/s is definitely much too fast for this material -- at that speed it's more likely to stick to the nozzle than to the base layer -- but at 8.5 mm/s it prints well.
The advice to keep the infill percentage low is solid if you want to be able to mechanically remove any readily accessible sections. I've tried a print with 30 % infill after trying to diagnose a failure (more on that below), and while the print came out well, the support infill couldn't be mechanically removed, and was also very slow to dissolve (see below).

On Support Removal

At Taulman's recommended 10 %-or-below infill percentage, any accessible parts can be mechanically removed. At 30 %, that's not really possible anymore -- though 5-10 minutes in boiling water might get the edges loosened up enough to let the bulk of the material be scooped away.

If you're just going to let it sit in tap water that isn't being circulated, expect that to take a long time, and to have several cycles of scraping out material that's turned to a gel to allow more to be exposed.

Using boiling water speeds the process substantially. If you're using USM with a nylon (or other material that's safe to bring to 100 °C), do that.

How's Its Adherence To Nylon?

Not as strong as its adherence to itself. If you print a ceiling of USM on top of support infill of nylon, it's possible for that ceiling to come away with the print head; thus, it reduces risk of failed prints to use USM for the infill as well.

Thus, the "2 full surfaces at 100 %" advice given by Taulman above isn't (as I interpret it) just about ensuring that there's a successfully-printed support floor or ceiling; it's also about ensuring that there's enough surface area between the support floor and the nylon of the main print for them to adhere.


Slic3er throws "AMF parsing requires XML::SAX" When I try to open prepared .amf plate with some items to print, Prusa's Slic3er release throw's this error:

The slicer version is 1.30 distributed for Prusa's i3 MK2 1.75 printer.

The slic3r software is written in Perl, a programming language that can be expanded with local libraries.  XML::SAX is one such library.  CPAN is a tool which can be used to retrieve libraries from the CPAN repository (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, I believe).

I use CPAN is something I do infrequently, so I would be doing a disservice by trying to list the steps here.  Better answers are, no doubt, on stackexchange.  Nevertheless, these may help:

From your command line, start Perl running the CPAN module, and invoke the CPAN shell (your input in bold):

> perl -MCPAN -e shell
cpan> install XML::SAX
cpan> ... several lines of output ...
Done!
XML::SAX is up to date (0.99).
cpan> quit
>

With that done, try using slic3r again.


How to decrease sensitivity to heat-bed temperature? Sometimes I use a DIY 3D printer running Marlin firmware and I have a hard time to set my heat bed temperature. when I set it to 70 °C for PLA, after a few minutes it decreases to 67 °C and I see these error:

READ: Error:Thermal Runaway, system stopped! Heater_ID: bed
READ: Error:Printer halted. kill() called!

Since then the communication with printer is lost, the printing process stops and I have to reconnect to serial port... It's a disaster. I guess I need to lower the sensitivity to 3 degrees at least. I don't know how!?

I had a similar issue when printing with ABS, because my print cooling fan only activated once it got to a certain height above the bed. I'd say you need to do a PID tuning session, insulate the bottom of the bed better, and see if you can make sure your cooling fan doesn't blow air over the bed itself.


How to build my own Cura GUI? I am trying to create my own Cura GUI. I am constantly getting the error:

UM module not found.

Do I need to see a UI file?

I think I am wrong.

I've installed Python, pyqt5, numpy, scipy, but I do not understand why the constant UM module was not found.

I know I'm doing it wrong somewhere but I can not find my mistake.

I believe there are people who will help me. There are people who know how to do it. Will you help me? What am I supposed to do?

UM could stand for UltiMaker. I think that you need to either:

download Uranium;
install the UM package;
import the UM package, or;
need to add it to your path (PYTHONPATH).

You may find your answer here: help needed: ImportError: "No Module named UM" in Eclipse #510.

The two things that you seem to need to do are:

Get Uranium from https://github.com/Ultimaker/Uranium.
Add the path: PYTHONPATH=/path/to/uranium/repo cura_app.py


Monoprice Maker Select v2 stops extruding after about 200-300 mm I've done a fair bit of looking around for an answer and have yet been unable to find one.

So here is my problem, after about 200-300 mm of extrusion, the PLA stops coming through the nozzle. When I pull the PLA out it looks like this. There are teeth marks going up the PLA and end with a small divot. The head of the PLA is slightly thicker than the rest of the PLA; approximately 1.9 mm.

I first noticed this when I thought that only the bottom layer was being printed. I moved to printing a small bullet and I got about halfway through the print before it stopped extruding.

Next I raised the Z position to about 100 mm to give me some room to work and I manually moved the PLA through the extruder with the dial. No problems until I hit the 200 mm mark or so. I've done this test 4 times now and failed at the approximate locations: 208 mm, 280 mm, 250 mm, and 325 mm.

Settings:

Nozzle: 200 °C
Bed: 60 °C
Layer Height: 0.15 mm

Other things I have tried with seemingly no effect:

Turning off/on print cooling
reducing retraction to 2 mm from 6 mm
yelling out in frustration
reformatting the SD card (because who knows?)
brand new filament, older filament, middle aged filament

Looking at the tread pattern on the filament, I think it's getting stuck. Note that the teeth marks get closer together as you go up the fillament, and the last one is a big divot, that looks like the gear trying to grab at it, and being unable to move it.

Are you seeing any drops in nozzle temp? I had a cooling fan kick in and drop temps low enough to prevent extrusion before.

Edit

From the discussion in the notes, heat creep was identified as a possible culprit, and seems most likely.


Minor stringing issue, only happens in helpers & infill areas I'm having a "minor" stringing issue, where I'm only getting stringing in helpers/support and infill area.
Background: Calibrating printer with 1 roll of PLA. Still getting minimal stringing, but mainly, stringing in helpers/support and infill areas. Tried different temps, but didn't seem to affect this.
Suspect some kind of slicer optimization settings? I mean, it's logical to not care about how pretty supports & infill look.
I would like to understand why this is happening.
Please point me to the right direction.
Thanks in advance.
Example photo: Outside in: brim, shell/wall, support, brim.
From Thingiverse.

If the problem occurs in or immediately following printing of support material, it's probably Cura's Limit Support Retractions option, which defaults to on. This is probably the single worst default Cura has, and it causes all sorts of problems - surface defects, difficult-to-remove support, underextrusion, etc. - due to basically skipping all (necessary!) retractions while printing support.
If the problem occurs in infill area, it's probably Combing. Lowering Max Comb Distance With No Retract to something very low (150-200% of the nozzle width, so like 0.8 mm) should make this problem go away, but at some nontrivial cost to print time. If you make this change, you almost surely need Zig-zaggify Infill enabled if you want to avoid very high cost to print time and excessive retractions.


Removing glue residue on part after printing Following advice I read elsewhere, I have covered my (heated) print bed with blue painter's tape, and before each print I apply an Elmer's purple washable glue stick to improve bed adhesion.

After the print finishes and I remove the part from the bed, the bottom is covered with a white residue. I'm fairly certain this is the dried glue. It turns purple again when I wet it.

Is there an easy way to clean off this residue, or is there a better technique?

Elmer's Purple Gluestick is pretty much based on PVA with a water-indicator. It is a water-soluble material. Tossing the piece into a water bin and brushing it with a toothbrush should remove everything.


What are the advantages and disadvantages of an all-metal hot end compared to one with a PTFE heat break? Related to an issue I had in this question, where the PTFE tube feeding my filament to the metal tip of the extruder clogged and became discolored: what are the advantages and disadvantages of changing out my extruder (Mk10 on a FlashForge Creator X) for an all-metal solution like the one advertised here (by Micro-Swiss).

I understand that the conversion would allow me to print higher-temperature materials (like nylon), but I'm also trying to figure out the trade-offs with regard to printing PLA/ABS parts.

This is a good question to make a comparison table. All-metal hotends Vs. PTFE liner hotends.

All metal:

Works well for high (+250ºC) temperatures filaments like nylon or PC.
No need to replace the PTFE liner (pretty obvious).
Retraction performs worse.
Plastic can get stuck to the inner walls. This can lead to clogging, more likely when changing from ABS to PLA (higher temp plastic to lower temp plastic).

PTFE liner hotend:

Limited working temperature. Above 250 PTFE will start to degrade.
PTFE tube needs to be replaced more or less often, depending on the use of your printer.
Retraction performs better.
Plastic is less likely to get stuck in inner wall (PTFE is very nonstick).
When using PTFE liner, the plastic is melted very close to the nozzle. Unlike other techniques, in FFF/FDM 3D printing this is more desirable. E.g. to avoid 'heat creep', for a better flow control and more accurate output dimension.

Of course there are more points to compare. Please comment to add any other useful point.


Why do some models appear broken in slicing software? In my slicing software (Slic3r) some of the vertices/walls of my model seem to have disappeared, so that the inside of the model - which should be solid - is visible, while the surface appears as a thin shell.

Why does this happen? Is it still safe to export the model for printing?

My understanding is that this occurs when the object is not a true solid. Since an STL holds the triangulation of each face and spline, the slicing engine is not "smart" enough to determine if there is a gap in the model and therefore if it should be filled in and how. When the slicer encounters a gap, it will either treat the endpoint as the end of the feature or navigate to the next point on the layer, resulting in either gaps in the print or extra inclusions that don't make sense.
I've noticed that my models will fail as a true solid when I use complex solid tools such as Union, Subtract, and Trim. A lot of times there will be a rounding error in how these tools interact with the solid model that will result in a small (sometimes not very small) gap in the outer shell of the solid model. When exported to an STL, the gap is retained.
@kareem mentioned it in their answer, but Microsoft does provide online tool(s) for 3D Printing including a solid repair tool. Use Microsoft 3D Tools to upload your STL and try to automatically detect and fix issues with your file(s).


Strange outer skin print quality on Ender 3 Does anybody have an idea what causes the strange outer wall skin texture? I don't know why this happens; the inner wall looks fine, but the outer wall looks distorted.

Also it's strange that the distortion only happens on the left side for about 2 cm on all prints.

Disabling retraction had no effect. Reducing the printing speed neither improved it.

Edit: I'm printing at 0.16mm layer height with 98% initial flow rate and 94%. No support.
Standard PLA with the standard nozzle at 190°C. I am using Cura for slicing if it matters.

Printing speed is at 40mm/s for the outer wall and 80mm/s for the inner one. I already tried to decrease the outer wall speed to 20mm/s without any luck. Except for one other print, I never had an issue with those settings.

I just finished a print with 100% flow rate to exclude its the flow rate.
With 100% only the front improved at all.

My best guess is you have an under extrusion issue, possibly related to retraction: the issue is exacerbated on parts where the printer has to hop over a gap.

I would try running, in the order:

print a flow rate test, to ensure the amount of filament exiting the nozzle matches with your configuration
print a retraction test, to ensure you are not suffering from some bowden tube issues like bad coupling
check for any clog in the hot end, those can require a bigger pressure to build up before the filament start flowing again
print a temperature tower, to find out if 190° is the right temperature (seems a bit low to me)

With regards to point 2, the Ender 3 is somewhat renown for having poor quality couplers: watch the bowden tube couplers when printing and try to verify the tube is not moving back and forth when hopping over empty spaces...


Odd print artifacts on same layer as large top surface I printed the following object (I'm printing the single opening version, Flower_pot_3.STL), and observed an unusual print artifact. I would like some idea of what's going on so I can avoid it in the future. The object is essentially an open-top box. In the image below, you can see a ridge along the bottom of the print. This corresponds to the upper surface of the bottom side of the box. The ridge is present for 4 layers, the same number of layers on the top surface. The defect is basically a positive ridge all the way around (not a layer shift). The G-code render below is for the top layer of the bottom surface.

System Settings

Printer is Prusa Mk3, with white PLA plastic. Nozzle is HS steel at 210 °C
0.2 mm Layer height, 15 % Gyroid infill, 3 perimeters
Perimeters are printed first each layer, with the outer perimeter coming last.
 -

Ideally, I would like to know what caused this artifact, and what I could do to avoid it in the future. I can add more information as requested.

Just a guess here. If I understood correctly the deformation is at the first layer of the box bottom, it seems highly unlikely that it randomly happened at this exact position so I am assuming that if you do the print again you will get the same deformation at the same place (you can test this maybe ? I know it is a long print). In this case it is more likely that is a slicer issue than something with your machine and it could also be a problem with the stl model. Maybe try to create a small simple box then slice it using the same setting and try to see if you can reproduce artifact.


Getting worse quality prints on 0.05 mm than on 0.10 mm layer height on Prusa i3 MK3 I have a new Prusa i3 MK3 and I have noticed that my prints consistently turn out worse on 0.05 mm layer heights than on 0.10 mm. The edges of the 0.05 mm prints turn out rough and sometimes stringy.

Seems similar to a retraction problem but I never have this issue on 0.10 mm prints with the same retraction settings.

What might be causing this issue?

When printing at small layer heights (high resolution), you probably need to do some test prints first to see if your normal settings work for the lower layer height. You are most probably experiencing an increased pressure build-up in the nozzle due to the nozzle being closer to the bed. A test that might be useful for you is spacing several objects at different distances to see if the retraction, which you already suspect, may be not working optimally or that the nozzle leaks/oozes an excess amount of filament due to pressure build-up. This shows an example of such a test where the nozzle shows oozing.

Tuning the extruder to alleviate the pressure could be:

an increased retraction length, and/or
retraction speed, or
looking into the option called coasting where you stop extruding before the printer reaches the end of the deposition path while it still prints material caused by the pressure build-up.

When printing at 0.05 mm on my home-build CoreXY I experience much smoother prints opposed to printing in higher layer heights (less resolution), but I also get some very fine stringing, noticeable when printing multiple objects or objects with voids.


Causes of over-extrusion? What could be the causes of a consistent over-extrusion? I know about these:

steps/mm of extruder motor set too high
larger filament diameter
slicer setting: filament diameter - setting it lower makes the printer extrude more filament
slicer setting: extrusion multiplier - setting it higher makes the printer extrude more filament
unlikely but possible bug in slicer or in printer firmware
other: low/high tempereture, too much/little tension on the extruder gears, wrong nozzle fitted,...

Now to my problem. I had to replace the entire hotend assembly on my Prusa i3 MK2,5. Before that, there was no issue. After the replacement and after noticing the issue, I followed the list above. I recalibrated the extruder and in fact I had to increase the steps/mm to match the extruded length.

I have printed with different filaments and the issue is still present. Also I checked the diameter of all the filaments which are quite consistent (1,75 +-0,3 measured, 1,75 +- 0,5 given by the manufacturer). All of them were the same brand.

I also checked slicer settings and the default values that I used before were still there.

Slicer and firmware versions are the same as before the issue started occuring.

I use the same print settings as before and have checked the extruder gears tensioner multiple times over. The nozzle came with the hotend and according to the E3D dots it is in fact the default 0,4 mm nozzle. However, I cannot check the real diameter.

I know I can solve this issue by altering the steps/mm or extrusion multiplier because the over-extrusion is consistent. I want to know if there is something I am missing that could cause this.

Thank you for your valuable time and suggestions.

Edit:

This is almost surely the source of your problem:

  I had to replace the entire hotend assembly on my Prusa i3 MK2,5. Before that, there was no issue. After the replacement and after noticing the issue, I followed the list above. I recalibrated the extruder and in fact I had to increase the steps/mm to match the extruded length.

There is no plausible physical reason for extruder steps/mm to change due to replacement of the hotend. Steps/mm is purely a function of stepper motor steps per rotation and extruder gear radius. Set it back to its original value.

If the extruded length is not matching what it should, you have a problem with blockage/flow rate in the hotend restricting advance of the filament and causing the extruder gear to grind without moving it, or the motor to skip steps. Adjusting steps/mm to "compensate" will not fix this; it will just grind/skip more. Instead go back to the beginning, with steps/mm set correctly to the original value, and start looking for the cause of your hotend problem.


Removing protopasta conductive PLA skirt from a bed I have a simple printer bot metal with a heated bed, the heated bed I am not using. I am using conductive pla by protopasta

The conductive pla is not that strong, so when I take my pieces off the board, sometimes they break. The only time it appears to be invincibly strong is when it sticks to the bed plate! I cannot get the skirt off the bed plate, no matter what I try

a razor blade does not work, even when the bed isn’t heated and after dumping a bunch of acetone on the board
using no skirt does not work, as the printer clogs itself
it is difficult enough to remove to the point that printing itself isn’t fun
when scratching it off, the pieces only chip, because they stick better to the bed than they do to themselves (unlike PLA)

What’s a good way to remove a conductive pla skirt from one of the beds? The skirt is the initial outline a printer lays down, it is very thin

I have no experience with your printer model nor with protopasta conductive PLA but since your problem is "too much adhesion" I would simply suggest to follow in reverse all the usual advices on how to make the first layer adhere better (a far more common problem).  The list of suggestion could be:

Print fast
Do no squash the first layer (see @fred_dot_u answer)
Make sure the part fan is on
Reduce the temperature slightly
...

The problem could also be due to the chemical interaction between the surface of your plate and the specific material (for example: it is known that glass - a relatively difficult surface to use with PLA - bonds so well to PETG that sometimes it chips off the bed when you remove the print).  If this is the case you could for example cover your bed in painter's tape and see if the protopasta conductive PLA adhere worse to it than to the bare bed.  Worst case scenario, you could remove the tape with the print and scrub it off from it afterwards with a metal brush or a bit of sandpaper.


Does XYZPrinting software allow the creation of rafts when printing? Ironing out all my worries before buying my first 3D printer.

I'm looking at getting the da Vinci miniMaker 3D printer as my first 3D printer, but it doesn't come with a heated bed.

On my previous question about heating beds effect on a print, I was told that I need to use a raft to compensate for the absence of a heated bed. What I want to know is, does the software that comes with the printer allow the creation of rafts whilst/prior to printing? Or will it create rafts if need be?

Ok. After watching some YouTube Videos, I would take it that the abovementioned software does include the option to create rafts when printing a model.


TronXY Windows 10 driver I am about to purchase a TronXY X3 or P802; but, my PC is running Windows 10.

The spec sheet for the printers does not list anything above Windows 7.
Is anyone using either of these printers with Windows 10?

Since the printer supports using an SD card, you don't need to connect it directly to a PC. Serial over USB has been broken in the past in various Win10 builds, I've not tried it recently and I've not tried connecting my A8 to my PC recently either.

If you need to use USB, and can't make it work with Windows, there is always the option of using a Raspberry Pi single-board computer (which you can then connect to by VNC from your PC). Depending on the software you want to use, this might resolve any remaining issues you have.


How to print text upside down for minimal support when printing Hey!

Pretty new to all this. Wondering how you would approach this problem to have an extruded element on top of a flat surface. I want to avoid lots of support material (actually no support at all for a cleaner print and no work with sanding etc.) I intend to print this inverted in Z (i.e. text down) for the main structure.

My only idea would be to print it separately and then glue it on. But maybe there is another solution that comes to your mind?

Cheers!

welcome to 3DPrinting.

To make this easier to talk about, let me call the surface on which you want to print the letters the "tabletop".

Looking at your picture, let me guess that you would print the object with the tabletop down.  Then everything prints naturally, with no bridging and no overhangs.

You want to put text on the tabletop.  This could be done by using support material to lift the bed up to the text height, or, in the converse, by using support material to permit the entire object to be printed with the tabletop up.  I can't see enough detail in your drawing to know if the object is printable with the tabletop up without using support material, so I will assume that it is not.

In your drawing, the lettering is a different color from the table.  I'll assume that this is not your intention, and you want the entire object with the text to be printed with one material.

I have solved this in two ways in different cases.

In one case, I wanted extruded letters printed on a vertical surface.  I surrounded the letters with a 45 degree draft so that the overhang was printable.  This won't help you here unless the object is printable on the side.

In another case, I changed my design to have letters engraved rather than extruded.  That prints well against the bed, with no overhang issues, and only short bridging required.

Engraved letters are readable, like extruded letters, and can be printed against the bed.


Getting a programatically-controlled, constant 12 V from one of the motor outputs I'm building a device that requires five 12 V valves to be programmatically controlled as a switch. So far, I have been able to get outputs from the heated bed, extruder, and fan to be controllable through Marlin, by defining "SENSITIVE_PINS" to be an empty array. I can now use M42 to switch these pins on and off, allowing for programmatic control of 3 of the 5 valves.

For the other two valves, I'd like to control these directly from the 3D printer board somehow. I noticed the A4988 driver will rapidly flick a 12 V output on and off according to the microstep setting (https://lastminuteengineers.com/a4988-stepper-motor-driver-arduino-tutorial/). But this type of flicking is not really good for controlling a valve, because I want the valve to remain open until I say  "stop".

What I would like is to be able to use the M42 to command to administer a 12 V output on or off from the motor section of the usual boards. The A4988 driver takes in inputs like Enable, Step, and Dir from Arduino pins. Is there any way I can "hack" the A4988 driver to provide a constant voltage, similar to a relay switch? Alternatively, can I remove the driver and do something with the female pins that are normally used to connect to the A4988 driver?

In researching this I have noticed that when removing the driver, you expose some more 12 V female and GND pins on your board, which can provide an easy connection to a third-party relay or h-bridge. But ideally, I would be able to do this without adding any new hardware to the board.

This question is on-topic because it has to do with 3D printer boards that are currently on the market and because it is ultimately a device that is used to 3D print something.

It is easy. Leave the driver in. Connect to the first two wires usually used by the motor output. I.e. this is usually where the nema 17 motor goes. The first two wires are your output to the valve.

Use M42 to control the ENABLE pin. Bringing the pin high creates a 0V output. Bringing the pin low creates a 12V output.


Strange problem with quality, what might be the reason for these bubbles? I changed the filament, and to adjust filament temperature, I printed a test model and it looked good:

But printing another part did not go so well:

After the failed print I ran another test:

Еverything is done with the same settings.
And I think the temperature and settings are okay.

Is it possible to have a missed step on the Z axis, and this has caused the crushing of the layers or bad filament quality.

Where does the problem come from?

Looking at the second photograph and the way that the filament switches abruptly from smooth to irregular deposition, I would say that you have a partially clogged nozzle.

Pre-heat the nozzle and extrude some filament. It should drop straight down from the nozzle. If the filament curls as it comes out of the nozzle, the nozzle is partially clogged. You may be able to clear the clog by doing what is called a "cold pull":

Pre-heat the nozzle so that it is possible to extrude filament. Then switch off the heater and allow the temperature to fall below the pre-heat temperature of the filament (140°C for PLA, say). Now disengage the extruder gears and gently withdraw the filament completely from the hot end. On removing the filament completely from the printer, you should find a "bullet" on the end of the filament in the shape of the melt chamber. Hopefully, the dirt that caused the clog will be embedded in the bullet.

In order to prevent dirt from entering the nozzle, it is a good idea to install a filament cleaner. This can be as simple as a piece of sponge containing a couple of drops of light machine oil, or you can make something a little more sophisticated. There are plenty of designs that you can download on Thingiverse.


I can not really connect successfully to my printer via USB I have a Tronxy P802M (very similar to the Anet A8, but using a Melzi2.0V5 board) that seems to work fine (I just finished building, and axes movement and the integrated display work) but when I try to connect to the printer from my Simplify3D on Windows 10, I get the following:

[...]
  Connected to machine!
SENT: T0
READ: ok 0
READ: wait
SENT: M105
READ: ok 0
READ: T:24.44 /0 B:23.33 /0 B@:0 @:0
  Connection failed.

My other printers all connect fine.

The Simplify3D support site mentions to disable the "wait for startup command" option in the firmware configuration for S3D.

This allows me to make a rudimentary connection to control the printer, however e.g. during the bed levelling wizard of S3D, the connection still breaks off.

It works reliably with Octoprint. I'll consider that good enough.


Infill not printing well. What I am doing wrong? I am a new to 3D printing, somehow, the infill of my print compiled by Cura 4.5 is weak. I print with generic PLA (FD plast) on 200 °C. See image below:

Print details: I have a Zonestar Z6FB which I use together with Cura 4.5. I print in PLA at 200 °C (Cura default for PLA). The print bed is set to 60 °C. I use a print cooling fan at 100 %. The layer height I set to 0.1 mm, the line width (wall thikness 0.8 mm?) from the 0.4 mm nozzle. The Printing Speed is set to 60 mm/s for everything. My retraction is unknown.

You problem clearly under extrude which mean the plastic not flow as much as it should be.
I face this problem recently here my step to solve.

Tune e step (do this first)
Add more temp. to nozzle (so plastic will melt and flow faster)
Slow down print speed.
Change nozzle and clean whole hotend.


One corner never sticks I am new to 3D printing. I thought that the black surface of my print bed was supposed to keep things stuck without additional tape, spray, etc.  However, every time I print something, this same corner, and only this corner, detaches.

Any advice on how to fix this?

Monoprice Makerselect V2
Hatchbox PLA
Temp 195/50

This is very likely caused by an uneven bed. It's probably lower in that particular corner: the nozzle is further from the bed, so the filament isn't squished down as much and therefore releases more easily from the bed.

Your bed should have 3 or 4 screws that you can adjust, you should loosen the screw in the corner that is giving you trouble.


What do you call this effect in 3D printing and how can I remove it? I have a Bowden extruder in my printer setup. Everything works great except this effect which must be related with retraction and is generated on Z layer change:

The model itself, is printed in one layer perimeter / outline shell, with 0.25 mm layer height with the following settings:

What you see on the outer surface is called "zits and blobs".

These small imperfections you experience are "zits" (larger ones are referred to as blobs). As the extruder needs to start and stop as it moves around during a print, it is difficult to create a seamless joint, so the over-extruded filament represents the location where the extruder started (or ended) printing a section of the outer perimeter of your print model. Sometimes it returns to the same spot in a single extrusion run, in other cases the perimeter is constructed of multiple sections.

It is possible to do something to minimize the effects depending on the slicer you use, but the general solution is to prevent too much plastic being deposited at either the start or the end of that seam. E.g. incorrect retraction settings may cause too much plastic to be extruded at the start, and pressure build-up in the nozzle may cause an excess of plastic to be extruded, both lead to the imperfections you experience. First you have to find out which of the two effects is happening with your prints. Once identified, you can play with settings like retraction, priming, and coasting to counteract on these imperfections. A more detailed description can be found here.

Edit:
Please read the addition posted in the comment by @Trish; the comment describes that this may also be related to over-extrusion!


Converting / measuring bottle threads for creating an adapter to it I'm trying to model the threads of a "Poland Spring" 500 ml bottle so I can 3D print an adapter for it. But I can't find information about it. I emailed them but they said they didn't have the information.
How can I find this information out?
The bottle seems to use non standard threads. It uses 3 threads 120 degrees apart that does not go all the way around.   Any information on how to get this information?

It's really unlikely that a bottle is using nonstandard threads; the engineering and tooling cost for doing so would not make sense. Most plastic drink bottles use PCO 1881 or PCO 1810 threads. If not, it should be one of a number of other less widely used standards.
The industry term for drink bottle thread is "neck finish". Searching on that, or on one of the standard names like PCO 1881, will find you a lot of information. You can then try to find a match for your threads. Note that the breaks 120 degrees apart do not affect the thread design, and may or may not be part of the neck finish standard, so you can ignore them.
There are existing OpenSCAD libraries for some of these, including

threadlib
IoP-satellite

And some related articles on Hackaday about their development and use:

Learn The Secrets Of Matching Bottle Cap Threads To One Another
Generating Nice Threads in OpenSCAD


What UART port to use for RPi GPIO pins on an SKR v1.3 board I have a Bigtreetech SKR v1.3, and I'm trying to connect a Raspberry Pi to the board using the RPi's GPIO pins as opposed to using a USB connection because space is limited within the case of CR10S Pro.
I watched this youtube video where he explains using the Z min and Z max endstops to connect to a RPi via the GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi, and I've watched the video several times, but havent been able to get OctoPrint to connect to the SKR v1.3 board.
There is a dedicated UART serial port on the board other than the USB port but I'm using that for the Bigtreetech tft35 v2 display so that is not an option for connecting OctoPrint to the board.
There are 5 inputs on the board for stepper drives and the TMC2208 stepper drivers that I have installed operate over UART so I'm not opposed to using the extra stepper driver port on the board to communicate with the Pi if that is an option, but figuring out how to use the Z min plus the Z max pins to connect the Pi would be ideal.
board graphic pins

If you followed the video verbatim then the pins file will be wrong, because he's changing the pins based on an MKS Gen 1.4 and not the SKR 1.3. All pins on the SKR will look similar to P2_04, which is the pin for the 2nd hotend terminal.


stl files -measuring stl files I had a problem with my Z limit switch bracket falling just short of the bottom edge of the z stage.

I'm trying to make the bracket thicker so it's pushed more towards the left.

1) how do I measure the thickness of the bracket in the stl
2) HOw would I make it thicker if it is indeed too thin

It's might to be mounted standing up right.

I want to make it thicker x axis (if it's stood up)

Consider to provide additional information regarding the software you use and the source information of the STL file. I will make some general suggestions that you can implement to resolve your problem.

Meshmixer is a free program that has the ability to measure overall dimensions as well as point-to-point locations within an STL model. Import the STL, select Analysis followed by Dimensions to get the overall information. For point to point, the interface is less intuitive and I would suggest a YouTube search for a tutorial.

Without seeing the part, I cannot suggest a specific sequence. If you are able to visualize the action of stretching the part in a single direction, Meshmixer also allows that:

Select Edit, Transform and note the three-axis tool which will appear in the model. Each arrow has a small box at the end. Grab the appropriate box with your mouse and move in the desired direction. It will stretch/distort the model on all surfaces in the direction you move. There will be a digital reference showing during this process, allowing you to more precisely set the increase in thickness.

If there are holes in the same plane as the bracket you wish to thicken, they will become longer if on the same axis, or they will distort severely as you increase the thickness.

You can use Meshmixer to perform a plane cut to separate the model into individual parts to avoid undesired distortion.

Please provide an image of the model and an indication of the portion you wish to increase.

EDIT after photo and some clarification. Your last line has valuable information. Thicker x axis if it's stood up implies thicker z axis in photo. That's the easiest location for that model. It would take me about 30 seconds to stretch it in Meshmixer. If you attempted it yourself, it might take you two or three minutes.

I agree with the post by "plaintoothpaste" that it would be easier if you had the source file. I use OpenSCAD and adjustments are simply a matter of changing a number in a text file, while other software, for example, SolidWorks requires that you find the parameter and modify it to your requirements.

Because of the shape of the model, the first reference I provided (Dimensions) would give you the thickness and as a bonus, you can change the number in that window to the desired figure. Export the model and you're done. Far simpler than using the transform tool, if not as much fun overall.