Wavy lines on 1st layer only I'm getting wavy lines on the first layer only in both the x and y direction identically.  The first layer is 0.4 mm with a 0.4 mm tip. The other layers are 0.2 mm.  I've tried changing the Z offset all the way from -1.2 to 0.5 mm.  I've tried changing the hot end leveling the heated bed.  None of these changes affected the wavy lines.  The waves have about a 1 mm period.  The printer is a German RipRap.  The material is ABS.  The heated bed is 110 °C.  I've tried the hot end at 220 °C and 240 °C.  So far, nothing has changed the waves.

You have a too thick layer: to get straight lines, the plastic has to be squished together to some degree as it is pushed out of the nozzle. The result is a shape similar to a circle with the top and bottom cut. This works well until your layer thickness is more than 3 quarters of the nozzle diameter - above the "squishing" is practically nonexistent, and if you go above the nozzle diameter, there is almost no way to get the desired thickness out of the nozzle at all.

To aid in depositing the layers, it is also advised to demand a line width that is about 10 % larger than the nozzle diameter. As illustration, this is roughly what 0.4 mm extrusion width with 0.4 mm layer height (blue) and 0.45 mm extrusion width with 0.3 mm extrusion height (yellow) look like:


Weird temperature reading using thermistor on MKS GEN L v1.0 AUX-2 analog pins Temperature is showing about 680 °C at room temperature. When I make it "hotter" by holding my thumb and index finger on it, the temperature does increase. So it is responding to temperature changes.

I'm trying to add some thermistors to my MKS GEN L v1.0 board:

I'm using the A11 pin and GND in the picture above.

The thermistor works correctly when plugged into the HE1 temperature pin. So the thermistor is fine hardware-wise.

The thermistor is set to be the "Chamber" thermistor in Marlin 1.1.x. This just means it is supposed to record the temperature of the enclosure. I don't know if there is some kind of volatility issue with the chamber constant in Marlin.

The thermistor has the same settings in Marlin for both HE1 and the chamber one. They are both set to "thermistor 11" for the 3950 type of thermistor. So the most visible setting implies they should be treated the same firmware-wise.

I've also tried the other extra Analog pins in the AUX-2 port.

What could be the issue here?

If these are the only available analog pins, how can I add more thermistors to my set-up so that they're available in Marlin?

Is there any way I can use the AUX-1 port?  It doesn't seem to be an analog pin like in the photo for this particular version of RAMPS. I tried pin A3 but it didn't work.

Thermistors, commonly used as temperature sensors on 3D printers and other DIY things, work by changing their internal resistance depending on the temperature.

On the analog ports, the microcontroller can determine the voltage of the connected signal.

To actually measure the resistance - and thus temperature - of the thermistor, you need to build a voltage divider:

Most, if not all, 3D printer control boards use a resistor of 4.7 kOhms and a capacitor to build this voltage divider:

You'll need at least this 4.7 kOhm resistor to get your thermistors working on any analog pin, if the three thermistor ports on the MKS Gen L don't suffice for you needs.
You could also use other temperature sensors, especially for the case, like the DHT11 or DHT22, however I couldn't find whether they're supported by Marlin yet.


Anet A8 beginning layers not printing correctly I have had an Anet A8 printer for about two months now and still have not gotten it to print good prints.

At first, it would only print completely solid parts and every time I would try infill from 10-90% the first layer would not stick or it would print really filmy like. As of now, it won't print the first layers for anything well but once it gets up about 10-ish layers it prints perfectly. I have tried a lot of stuff but it seems to be making it worse.

The pictures show my recent attempt at these settings below (Cura's default for normal quality), the print is supposed to be a 10 mm square. I have gone back to the default settings because nothing else was working.

Using blue painter's tape
Layer Height       0.1 mm
In. Layer Height   0.3 mm
WallThicken        0.8 mm
Top/Bottom Thick   0.8 mm
Infill Density     20%
Grid Pattern
Print Temp         210°C
Bed Temp           65°C
Dia                1.75 mm
Flow               100%
Brim (raft is a little better)

Any suggestions?

In the top picture you can also how the top layer has two bubble effects.

With respect to the filament lifting off, and/or not adhering correctly, on the first layer, see Filament lifts from the hot bed while printing... in particular, you may need to clean the bed, calibrate the leveling and the nozzle height (see my answer).

The fact that the prints are fine, after 10 or so layers, could be to do with the heat - at the higher layers the print is warm and no warping occurs, but below that, maybe the print bed is acting as a heat sink and making the filament cool too quickly - hence the distortion. Are you using a heated bed? If not, then maybe consider installing one.

Not sure about the bubbles: how do your store your filament? The bubbles could be due to water, which expands as it gets hot, thereby causing the filament to bubble. It is best to store your filament in an air tight container, to prevent it collecting moisture and dust from the air.


Z-Axis raising and dropping substantially during print knocking print off I've had my Creality Ender 3 Pro since October 2019. It was running like a dream until about a month ago. The Z-axis started knocking prints off the plate during printing. I've changed mats and worked on adhesion issues. I've switched to a glass plate and triple checked that it is level. I checked to see if it was binding but honestly I couldn't tell.

I'm at a loss of what to do to troubleshoot and fix the issue. Any suggestions?

It homes fine and manual controls work fine with no issues.

Can you send a link to a short video of the problem occuring? It might be because of multiple factors but we will be able to identify if there's a video of it.

Possible reasons:

Z axis nut might be too tight. This would cause the nut to bind with the leadscrew and so the motor will not be able to lift the z-axis further while printing.
Not enough retraction. This would cause filament to ooze from the nozzle during travel moves and this filament would collide with the printed object, causing it to be knocked off. A possible solution for this would be to enable Z-hop in the slider, have the hop distance set to at least 1.5x the layer height you are currently printing with.
Too small of a contact area. This usually happens more often for tall prints. A solution would be to increase brim in the slicer settings (at least 10~15 lines) to increase the adhesion of the print and the bed.
Dirty nozzle. Old prints filament may be stuck on the outer face of the nozzle and might be catching onto the printed part while printing.


How to choose a right 3D printer filament type? There are a big variety of them that can be found at the market. Some of them have similar characteristics, the other varies from each other.

What are props and cons of cheaper filament vs expensive filament?

How to choose which filament to use?

Determine what properties you need the filament to have.
There are a very wide variety of filaments because they all have somewhat different properties.  You need to determine what properties you need your final print to possess.  For instance, ABS can be smoothed used acetone and PLA is biodegradable. More exotic filaments could be conductive or be extremely flexible. Do not neglect to consider safety of the plastic in your application. A full list of properties is too broad for an appropriate answer from this site.

Determine what you printer is designed to handle.
Most printers can handle PLA and ABS with little issue but higher temperatures are required to use some materials such as nylon and polycarbonate.  Determine beforehand what your printer is designed to handle.  This includes determining whether you have and appropriate heated bed or other accessories.

Determine what you can afford.
Printing not only requires the cost of the weight of filament in the final print but all of the support structures and misprints you produce. Not only should you look for inexpensive filaments, but you should look for ones that are good enough quality you don't waste time and money fighting problems with the raw material.

All in all, this will vary case by case.  I would recommend that you start with PLA or ABS as they are common and relatively easy to work with but that you do your own research into what each individual filament type has to offer..


BLTouch error Marlin 2.x (on SKR 1.3) I have some issue with my BLTouch (I'm new to bed levelling) :
I compiled Marlin 2.x (for my SKR 1.3) for a Antclabs BLTouch, and everytime I power on the printer, it shows this error message: Failed to enable Bed Leveling, echo Bed Levelling off, echo : Fade Height 0, FF, ok:

The LED of the BLTouch is on, I can still deploy and stow the pin, and do "levelling ABL" but Homing Z (for example) is not working.
I linked the config.h and config_adv.h in case needed below:

Configuration.h
Configuration_adv.h

From a comment can be read that the OP found the solution:

it's fixed : it's because I didn't level the bed once after flashing the firmware, once it has been done the error is no more


Looking to use 3D printing to make a master plate for rubber stamp vulcanizing I am an art rubber stamp maker, using a vulcanizer to make art rubber stamps from molds that are usually created with a magnesium plate.

The normal process is to send artwork off to an engraving firm to acid etch the magnesium plate (11 pt depth is desired) and that metal plate is then used with uncured matrix boards (a bakelight type material) that is "cured" in the vulcanizer that is then used over and over to make as many images of the rubber stamps as one would want.  The vulcanizer heats up to 300 to 320 °F, and one usually uses 2000 to 2500 p.s.i. of pressure for 10 to 15 minutes to cure a mold.  Once the mold is cured, it is impervious to the heat used in the vulcanizer, and the heat is used to cure the unvulcanized rubber (again, 300 or so degrees, 2000 psi, or so, for 8 to 10 minutes.

In reading up about the melting points of PLA and ABS, the 200 °C equates to around 460 °F, so there doesn't seem like the heat of the vulcanizer will be an issue, and the pressure isn't applied all at once, one usually allows the uncured matrix board to heat up before the high pressure is obtained, I'm just curious if any other stamp makers have had success with this method and/or have any suggestions about STL files for this type of printing, if there needs to be 2 or 3 degree shoulder angle added to the file configuration, or any other suggestions.

This would likely not work. ABS has a glass transition temperature of 105 °C. It doesn't have a melting point because it's amorphous. Rather, as you heat the part up, it gradually transitions from a solid to a viscous liquid, but there is no "hard" transition from solid to molten at one particular temperature.

The glass transition temperature, at 105 °C, is significantly lower than the 200 °C "melting point" of ABS you quoted. At 160 °C, while ABS would not be molten sufficiently for 3D printing, it definitely becomes flexible and would deform easily.

I do not think it would hold its shape very well over the long period of time it has to spend in your vulcanizing machine, under high pressure and well above its glass transition temperature.

The surface of 3D printed objects also usually has a somewhat rough finish. If you wanted to make satisfactory stamps, you would probably need to spend a long time manually finishing the 3D printed master before making a mold from it.


Rough vertical ridges I sometimes have a problem with rough surfaces. This problem can show up any time on vertical surfaces.
In the linked picture of the problem, the area further from the camera has ridges that are sharp and clean. It is usually  in one area on the outer surface of curving shapes. Could anyone tell me what the name of this effect is and how to avoid it? I'm using an Ender 3 and Cura.

Looks like under extrusion, here's a extreme example.

I would check your feed rate by marking out 100 mm on the filament then manually extruding 100 mm. You can use this to verify if you are under extruding due to your feeder. If you find that the printer only fed say 90 mm when you asked for 100 mm, you will need to change your feed rate in Cura to 110 %.
If you confirm that the printer is pulling 100 mm through when you manually ask for that much, then it could be a combination of speed, cooling & jitter. I would slow down the print speed and see if it improves the print quality. I've experienced issues where the nozzle is moving fast around small bends and wobbling slightly, the filament is struggling to land on the previous layer and the resulting effect looked a bit like your photo.
I can't think of anything else that might be causing this issue.


My print did not turn out as I expected. Where can I start troubleshooting? I am trying to modify this thing.  It's prints OK, but there are some design choices I don't like, so, since the previous makers uploaded their source files, I tried my hand at Sketchup.

My latest round of changes have produced a weird phenomenon, and I'm not sure how to describe it.  The slicer sees the GCODE as I intend, but for some reason the printer is printing something different than what the slicer is showing me.  I am primarily concerned with the top of this case, but the base does not have the additional screw holes I made, so the phenomenon, whatever it is, is not limited to a single part.

Sketchup v17.2.25555
Cura v3.0.3
OctoPi/OctoPrint 1.2.7
PrintrBot LC custom
Grey Inland PLA+ @~180C, bed @~60C (my temps are higher than the software thinks they are, so I have to put the temp lower in the software)

You can see the parts in Sketchup:

The corner on the left was giving me no end of trouble!  I left it with a messed up hole because I could more easily clean it up with a drill bit than spend another few hours futzing with that corner.

This is in Cura, after I have sliced it.  Looks fine to me!  There is a bit of red in that problematic corner, but I only noticed that after the print came out weird.

This is the output of the printer.  Notice how the edge near the GPIO pins is shorter than the rest, and how the hole is inverted into a protrusion.  This is the opposite of what I want, and the opposite of what I see in the other softwares.

first issue

bed inclination. it has to be heavy issue :)

if you have any other printouts then please reveal them so we could see if it's the problem

next issue

inversion of hole into solid object

i would say it's caused by wrong calculation of normal vector to some face(s)

algorithm uses normal to calculates what is "inside" and what is not

it's hard to say if it's an issue of

object itself
application in which you modify it (even if duplicating or joining with other objects)
slicer engine

to fix the issue, you can try edit your object (recreate this hole)

but first - definitelly i'd align your bed properly ;)

EDIT

after closer look i bet it's the issue of bad object. it looks like pointed line is kinda remnant of some operations made on object in the past

in other words - it's possible place where normals are reverted and doesn't "create" inside but outside

all above this line is reverted. part of body disappeared and part of hole appeared

this is the issue for sure!


Raised lips on sharp vertical corners I have an Ender 3 with a lot of mods.  Of note, a cheap direct drive kit, linear rails for the Y axis, an upgraded "silent" mainboard and TH3D's firmware. But this issue goes back a long ways, yet I've not seen any really good examples of this particular issue in various faqs.

All of my vertical edges, especially when they are 90°, have raised lips in a very precise, repeated fashion. It's small, maybe a quarter millimeter in diameter, so it rarely is a problem, but occasionally it messes with the dimensionality of a print with tight tolerances.

I had suspected the problem might have been related to using acceleration/jerk settings, but I disabled them for the print below and got a perfect example case.

Other things I've tried:

calibrating E-steps (I've done this many, many times, only to find the E-step number changes with speed and temperature anyway).
Deliberately underextruding.  This actually doesn't help.
Slowing prints way, way down.  Also doesn't seem to have an impact, at least down to 20mm/s.
changing slicers. This problem happens with Cura, Simplify3d and PrusaSlicer.
replacing my nozzle with a fresh one, which should have cleared up any existing clogs or leakages from a worn nozzle.

After a lot of searching on the subject, I found this bug report for Marlin, the first case of over-extruded corners I've found that look at all like mine. What I find especially interesting is that changes to Marlin around version 1.1.8 have introduced the issue for some people who previously didn't have the problem.  This seems to suggest it's not necessarily a hardware issue, but a bug in software.  I'm considering testing out a downgrade to a 3-year-old version just to see if that alone makes a difference.

If the amount of time spent by the head near the corner is significantly longer than what's spent per unit time elsewhere, you will get more extrusion at the corners and thus this effect. High print speed combined with low acceleration/jerk limits give you this effect.

Using a lower print speed should make it go away because it takes very little time to accelerate up to (or decelerate down from) a low nominal print speed from (to) the max cornering speed allowed by acceleration/jerk settings.

Using (much!) higher acceleration/jerk limits can also make it go away, but can cause other print quality problems and even layer shifts.

The Right Fix for this problem is upgrading your firmware to a version of Marlin with the Linear Advance feature and calibrating it. Then the printer automatically compensates for this issue by varying the pressure at the nozzle to get consistent extrusion rate regardless of changes in speed. I've had very good luck with this on my Ender 3, with a calibration constant K=0.6 for PLA and significantly larger ones for flexible filaments (the constant is essentially the spring constant of the filament for the length of filament path between the extruder gear and the nozzle).

If you don't want to replace the firmware, though, increasing acceleration and jerk limits and lowering speed should work ok. Your machine should be able to handle 3000 mm²/s acceleration on X and Y axis, with 10 mm/s "jerk" (the units of jerk are weird because it's not actually jerk; see my question on the topic).


Models are printing with a scratch on the side I just recently got an Ender 3 and have been trying to learn the do’s and don’ts. My first model looked like it had under extrusion and stringing, but my second model looks like it has frequent “scratches” along the sides. I printed it with two materials, a white sample PLA that came with, and a black Sunlu PLA.

I could use some insight on how to improve it, I’m seeking to make some fairly smooth looking models similar to Fat Dragon games.

The vertical lines you are referring too are the result of ringing or vibration. This is commonly encountered with high print speeds, high acceleration values or if a sudden change in direction takes place.

This can be solved by printing slower, decreasing acceleration values and checking for mechanical issues. E.g. the belts may be too flexible (or contain a tension spring) or there may be a loose part somewhere.


How to correctly clean the Lacquer from bed? How can I correctly clean the lacquer from bed printer?

I have used some ethylic alcohol (ethanol) to help cleaning

But what is the best way to do it?

The Ender 3 does not come with a lacquered surface at all.The bed should have a rough build surface that is a clone of the BuildTak build surface. It is intended to be rough and satin-gloss in its native state. I do not remember if there was a thin protective plastic foil on my Ender-3 bed on delivery, but if there was, it should have been removed during assembly.

A BuildTak surface can be easily cleaned with isopropyl or ethyl alcohol of grease and fingerprints. The odd discoloration at the edges seems to be a layer of grease and dust, which can be easily cleaned away by soaking it in Isopropyl alcohol and then wiped with a microfiber cloth.

If the bed surface is destroyed by chipping holes into it, sanding it or otherwise ruining it (like melting plastic rap into it), you will need to replace it. Replacement surfaces come about 5 bucks on Amazon. Doing this, you might find How to clean up my buildpate for a new build surface? helpful.


Can I increase retraction length on an E3D v6 beyond 2 mm if I have a really long Bowden tube? E3D mentions on their own wiki:

  Excessively long retractions will cause issues by dragging soft filament into cold areas. [...] for bowden systems you might want to go up to 2 mm. Retraction beyond 2 mm is likely to cause issues.

I have retraction set to the recommended maximum of 2 mm, but I still get a lot of stringing and blobs. My printer is set up with a relatively long Bowden tube (500-600 mm). I wonder if I need to push my retraction setting slightly beyond 2 mm to take up some of the slack. Is the 2 mm a conservative rating (I guess they don't want dissatisfied customers with clogging problems) or is it really the maximum? Is there anything else I can do to improve retraction performance? (I already have a small coasting distance of 0.1 mm set.)

Yes, you can increase retraction past E3D's max 2 mm recommendation to compensate for Bowden tube stretch and slop. The reason for the recommendation is that jams will occur with most all-metal hot ends if you pull molten filament up into the cold zone. Any molten filament that enters the cold zone rapidly cools and hardens and sticks to the walls, very often forming a jam.

So, the requirement is to keep your retraction distance at the extruder less than 2 mm. Additional retraction travel that is absorbed by the Bowden tube and not seen at the extruder is fine. I personally run 2.5 mm retraction on an E3Dv6 Bowden system without any issues.


Thick wall or solid part of an otherwise medium-fill part I'm trying to design a camera handle, which will be around 8" long and will have a brass camera thread insert in the end, where the camera will be mounted.  (That way, I don't have to screw the camera thread into plastic which will wear out faster.)

If I print the handle normally, the end of the handle won't be solid so I can't solidly put that brass fitting in.  If I set the fill in Cura to 100%, the print will take a very long time and will be unnecessarily solid.  I only need a centimeter or two at the end to be solid.

Is there a way to get one particular wall in Cura to be very thick (1-2cm) without affecting the other walls?  Is there some other way to get a solid chunk in the end of the part?

I'd suggest creating a hollow tube with ~1 to 1.5 mm walls. Then to increase the strength design your own internal structure rather than relying on the slicer to fill the part. This takes longer to model but you can design the strength of your part much better.

Something like this

If you were to then print this with 60 % infill you'll have the strength and also use less material. If you happen to know specifically how your part would be loaded, you could then change the dimensions on that internal cross structure to take the loads better.


Heated bed is not heating anymore I have built a RepRap Prusa i2 a while back. It worked for a while, but then I moved the printer from place to place and after a while I noticed that the printer's bed is not heating anymore. The thermistor shows the temperature (room temperature), but the bed is not heating.
The wires are connected and the heated bed has a resistance.

Did anyone else confronted with this? Thanks!

I have a Prusa i3 and the same case happened to me. I checked the continuity of the wires and discovered one badly soldered wire in the heated bed. After soldering the wire correctly, the heated bed turned on again.

Your problem is in all likelihood the continuity of the wires.

I hope that I helped you with your case.


Do I need linear rails on a corexy printer's z-axis while already having quality lead screws at hand? I'm currently working on a CoreXY printer, my build platform will be 220 x 220 mm I've chosen to go with linear rails on X and Y axes. I have some nice straight machined 12 mm diameter lead screws on hand which I'm thinking of using in the Z-axis, both of them will be supported on each end with pillow blocks, is it necessary to support them with rails? Or will it be overkill?

Using rails for Z is overkill. They are stiffer than smooth rods, but for Z axis that's not needed.
Using only the leadscrew may be enough, especially in designs with three of them, but if you have only two you may be able to still twist the bed around the Z axis.
Also, the bed would be supported only in the center by the "nut" on the leadscrew. This means that the bed could wiggle around the X axis (the axis along the line between the two nuts).
Some additional support for the bed, or using two "nuts" per leadscrew, properly spaced apart, is usually needed.
This in general. Since you mention now that the bed is 220x220 mm, maybe you can get away with the two leadscrews alone, especially if you can find "long" leadscrew nuts, so that the wiggling is not excessive.


TMC2100 stepper motor drivers not detected on SKR 1.4 turbo with RepRap firmware I've upgraded my board to SKR1.4 turbo with RepRap firmware. Heated bed and heated nozzle work, but motors do not move.
OctoPrint reports them as 'no-driver-detected'.
Send: M122
...
Recv: Driver 0: position 67347, no-driver-detected
Recv: Driver 1: position 67347, no-driver-detected
Recv: Driver 2: position 67347, no-driver-detected
Recv: Driver 3: position 0, no-driver-detected
...

I tried to figure out what is wrong, but did not find good documentation for this combination of hardware.
This is how I setup the drivers.

I removed all four jumpers from the board below each driver (MS0, MS1, MS2, RST).
Plugged each driver to the board making sure that the corresponding pins match (GND to GND etc.)
Checked voltage between ground pin of the board and VREF pin of the driver. The voltage was 1.365 V (same for each driver). This is a bit higher than some guides suggest, but the drivers worked perfectly with the old board.

Some guides suggest modifying driver timings if the motors do not move, but I was unable to find the right timings for my drivers. What could be wrong in my setup?

As @towe mentioned, 'no-driver-detected' messages in Octoprint log are harmless if you have TMC2100 motors. After experimenting with RepRap settings I found the correct configuration that works with my hardware. Here is the relevant part of the configuration.
; Drives
M569 P0 S1                                     ; physical drive 0 goes forwards
M569 P1 S1                                     ; physical drive 1 goes forwards
M569 P2 S1                                     ; physical drive 2 goes forwards
M569 P3 S0                                     ; physical drive 3 goes backwards
M584 X0 Y1 Z2 E3                               ; set drive mapping
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 E16 I1                        ; configure microstepping with interpolation
M92 X100.00 Y100.00 Z100.00 E100.00            ; set steps per mm
M566 X1200.00 Y1200.00 Z1200.00 E300.00        ; set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X48000.00 Y48000.00 Z48000.00 E1500.00    ; set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X1500.00 Y1500.00 Z1500.00 E1000.00       ; set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X1000 Y1000 Z1000 E800 I30                ; set motor currents (mA) and motor idle factor in per cent
M84 S30                                        ; Set idle timeout


Print not sticking to bed Today I ran into an issue with the filament not sticking to the build plate. However, the strange part is, that this only happens with one filament color (both PLA, khaki, black works just fine) and only in the main print. The test line on the side of the bed and the brim all stick without a problem. I already releveled everything and as I'm using ABL and the other filament works fine, this shouldn't be the issue.
I also tried increasing the first layer thickness in Cura, however, this leads to extreme warp (2 mm height on 5 mm width).
From my observations, it seems that the print head is raised after the brim is printed. Is there a setting in Cura to change that?
Printer Details: Modified Ender-3 with MKS Gen L V2 Board and TMC 2209 motor drivers and BLTouch
Print temp: 220 °C / 70 °C initial after that 200 °C / 60 °C
Firmware: Marlin, details here

Yes you can edit many parameters in Cura that may help with your problem.
However, I believe an easier fix to this problem may be to either apply some glue or masking tape to the bed before you try to change Cura settings since the problem only occurs with just one filament type..


RAMPS 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6? I'm about to build a Prusa i3 dolly. I am confused whether to use RAMPS 1.4 or 1.5 or 1.6.

What is the big difference? Is it only the MOSFETs and the poly-fuses? If that is the case, would it be advisable to upgrade a RAMPS 1.4 board (replacing the MOSFETs, connectors, and fuses)?

The biggest issue with RAMPS 1.4 (and 1.5) is the power connector is prone to melting/burning, this appears to be fixed on 1.6 with the use of screw terminal blocks. I've used RAMPS 1.4 with both 12v and 24v power supplies and never have had any issues with the fuses or the power connector but mine have only come from Ultimachine or RepRapDiscount.  A RAMPS 1.4 with power connectors and fuses replaced with those from a reputable dealer (Digikey, Newark, Allied) will likely be fine, you can even remove the power connector and solder the wires directly to the board if you don't need the ability to unplug them.

Whichever you go with, make sure the screws are tight and never tin the wires going into the power connectors.


Full steps mode for Z axis stepper controller I have a Cartesian style 3D printer (FLSUN Cube), with two Z-axis stepper motors (1.8°, 200 steps/revolution) with T8x8 lead screw (8mm / 2mm pitch with 4 starts), and currently they are using 1/16 microstepping.

As I know, microstepping is an unstable state and can affect accuracy of the Z-axis. But many of modern 3D printers (like CR-10, Prusa i3 Mk2s and others) use similar microstepping for the Z-axis.

Is it possible to use full steps?
Does it improve accuracy if I use compatible layer height (like 0.04mm, 0.08mm, 0.16mm, etc) for my printer with 0.04mm per full step on Z axis?

Focussing on the questions at hand:

  Is it possible to use full steps?

This depends on your printer board. Many boards use dip switches to select the (micro) stepping mode of the stepper driver. E.g. a RUMBA board has dip switches located underneath the stepper driver boards (e.g. DRV8825 or A4988). Sometimes you also see jumper caps. The answer is both yes as is no as it depends on the board you are using.

  Does it improve accuracy if I use compatible layer height (like 0.04mm,
  0.08mm, 0.16mm, etc) for my printer with 0.04mm per full step on Z axis?

Increasing the number of microsteps results in reduced incremental torque (for full step this is 100%, for 16 micro steps this drops to about 10%; this implies that a micro step requested by the controller may not effectively lead to an actual step as it cannot overcome the torque to turn the shaft). So highly loaded steppers could result in positioning errors. Resolution increases but accuracy will actually suffer. Furthermore, Few, if any, stepper motors have a pure sinusoidal torque vs. shaft position and all have higher order harmonics that in fact distort the curve and affect accuracy. according to this source. On the other hand micro stepping makes rotation go smoother (major advantage, see source). Interesting literature (must read) is this test and this paper.

The answer to this question also depends on the situation; when you load the steppers very highly, using micro stepping may result in more inaccurate movement compared to full stepping. When you use the lead screws native resolution for your setup, only when the stepper is actually at the full step position, you would benefit as in this position it will not dwell to the next full step as it is already in the stable position.

As a side remark I've added the correct calculation of the native resolution of your lead screws. From your question I deduce that you have Tr8x8(p2) lead screws. "Tr" for trapezoidal thread, followed by the nominal diameter in mm. The digit after the "x" tells you how much the nut advances per revolution, this is called the lead of the screw. The value between the brackets "p2" denotes the pitch. This means that the screw has 8 (lead)/2 (pitch) = 4 starts. So with every revolution of the stepper (200 steps) the nut advances 8 mm which translates to 8/200 = 0.04 mm per step of 1.8°.


Advantages of GT2 over a rack Many 3D printers employ a GT2 band for the y-axis plate and the printhead in the x-axis carriage.
However, there seems to be the obvious disadvantages of:

stretching (and need for adjustment) and;
possibly slight inaccuracy, or "wobble" (for want of a better word (as wobble is often used in describing z-axis deviations)), due to the elasticity of the band.

Is there any particular reason why GT2 is used over a straight forward rack and pinion system?

In particular, for the y-axis plate, as a rack would appear to me, be:

easy to install;
more accurate, and;
require a lot less adjustment1.

If the rack is made from aluminium, surely weight can not be a major factor...  or can it?
Is cost a factor? A pinion seems to cost around \$10-\$15 (650 B\$, here in BKK, Thailand), which is obviously more than a reel of GT2 and a couple of GT2 pulleys.
Would the rigidity of the rack be less forgiving of an imperfectly aligned axis, something which the GT2 band and pulleys combination would not be so affected by?

TL;DR
Which of these factors cause designers to use GT2 en lieu of a rack?

Accuracy
Weight
Cost
Maintenance
Tolerence of non-square axes, manufacturing errors.

1 Maybe constant adjustment is not required on an everyday basis, but the tension would still need to be checked now and again, whereas a pinion would not have this requirement.

With a belt system, the belt engages roughly half the pulley. This, and the tension in the belt, ensures the belt always engages the pulley tightly. A belt and pulley system is thus relatively forgiving.

With a rack and pinion system, only a few teeth engage at any given time. To avoid backlash and get the same kind of "tight" engagement, both the gear and the rack need to be made with very high precision. The carriage also needs to be very well constrained, because any wobble of the rack relative to the gear introduces backlash (or binding). Moreover, you also need to keep the rack and pinion well lubricated lest they wear out prematurely.

Given that belt and pulley work well enough, I don't see why you'd need to move to rack and pinion. The main advantage of rack and pinion is that the rack isn't elastic. The maximum length of a belt system is limited by its elasticity, but given we aren't building meter-long 3D printers anyway, that advantage of rack and pinion does not apply.


Does the amount of figures on the board matter? When 3D-printing on an 20*20cm, I've heard that the quality of the printings get worse if I fill out the board... Is it true? Should I keep it to small amounts at the time or doesn't it matter?

This would depend on what type of printer you have and to some extent, the design of the printer.

Cartesian (i3 style) - Should not have any issues printing a full bed.  I have seen designs and variants of printers where the designer did not make the belts parallel to the travel axis (placing the mounting point on the carriage higher/lower than where it come off the pulley/idler) so as you move closer to the pulley/idler the angle starts to change dramatically.  While not extreme, this will introduce error in that axis.

H-Bot/CoreXY - Should not have any issues with a full bed as nothing is changing depending on hotend location.  I know there has been some concern about keeping the gantry square on H-Bot designs due to the way the motors pull when moving in certain directions but I believe that applies to the entire print area.  Both designs will have issues if belt travel is not parallel to axis travel as stated in the cartesian section.

Delta (Kossel/Rostock) - Have a varying axis resolution depending on the location of the hotend.  As the hotend gets close to an individual tower, the carriage on that tower has to move very little to move the hotend which depending on your pulley selection could affect your print resolution.  The sweet spot for a delta in terms of speed/resolution is the center of the bed.  The center is not the highest resolution but is the largest area where the resolution is relatively stable.  I've tried to summarize all that I could from here, but I've included the link if you wanted to read more about it or see the graphs.

Finally, as Tom covered. All three above will have issues with the entire bed depending on your hotend calibration and how well your printer was built. Delta's are fussy about build quality but you will solve most issues on a Delta if you level the bed before using any kind of bed leveling/probing.


How would you clean/prepare a flexible/magnetic mat (e.g. Ender 5) as compared to a glass bed? I have started printing about a month ago on an Ender 5 (using mostly PLA but recently also PETG) and it seems it's about time to give the print bed a more thorough cleaning than what I usually do after most prints. I'm using the flexible magnetic mat that came with the printer which has a slightly rough surface, but all of the cleaning suggestions I found so far either did not mention the bed material or were specifically for glass beds.

Can/should I use stuff like acetone or rubbing alcohol on this? Or should I stick to warm soap water?
I have had some fairly decent results with spectacle cleaning tissues but that will only remove grease, not filament residue.

Also, I am occasionally having some first layer adhesion issues (especially with the PETG or when printing things with a circular base) and I was wondering whether common suggestions like glue sticks or hairspray to prepare the bed for printing  can also be applied to the flex mat?

I have the WhamBam system which uses a PEX layer over flex steel (which sticks to a magnetic sheet on the printer bed). To clean old material off, I use a "brass sponge" intended for cleaning soldering iron tips to remove the old plastic, then give it a wipe with a paper towel with some isopropyl alchohol (I have 99.99 anhydrous on hand as I use that for cleaning printed circuit boards as well).

The brass sponge is fairly soft, does a good job of grabbing the old plastic without tearing up the PEX layer.


Is FabLab a registered trademark? I am starting a new company using 3d printers and doing an advertisement, and I want to use the word FabLab to describe the kinds of field that my company is in.
Can I be sued by using the word FabLab in an advertisement? is it a trademark? I mean, i can find this already:
https://www.ebay.fr/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=fablab&_sacat=0
and this:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=fablab&_sacat=0
And here it looks like they all Trademarked the same non-dictionary word:
https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext/page/Results
Any help would be very welcome!

Sorry, I needed to learn to use the site.  This site shows Fablab as a word mark, the same way it shows Apple: https://www.trademarkengine.com/free-trademark-search/trademark-search


Anet A8 Wrong Hotend Temp My Anet A8 reads as 120ish degrees Celsius, but it is set to 200 degrees. I don't know if it is reading the wrong temperature because it still pushes out plastic when I force it. It will climb up and then go back down. I don't know if the hot end it broke or if the thermistor is broke.

You are sitting on a fire risk!
If you are using the stock/original firmware, you should immediately stop printing. The stock firmware of the Anet A8 has no thermal runaway protection (see also this answer), this means it will keep heating until the thermistor senses 200 °C, even if it cannot do that for some reason or another.
When a hotend temperature does not read the correct value, your thermistor in the hotend may not be making correct contact (as you say that it goes up and down). Please ensure that the thermistor is correctly positioned, it makes good contact and the wires correctly fastened.
Similarly applies to the heater cartridge, which can fall out and causing a fire if not properly fastened. Ensure the heater cartridge is properly positioned and held in the heater block.
Fluctuations in temperature sometimes are induced by a wrongly positioned fan duct (but generally not that much). The reason why this is not the case here is that you can still push the filament through while it reads about 120 °C; this temperature is generally too low to push filament through. Apparently the hotend is still hot enough to push filament through while registering a low temperature.


How to connect BLTouch sensor to Alunar M508 using LSEE 3D v1.0 board? In the process of updating my printer (Alunar M508), I decided to add "Auto Bed Leveling" using a BLTouch sensor. After doing a lot of Googling:

I found firmware that will upload and work with printer in default configuration (without BLTouch)
Adding BLTouch configuration, the software compiles and updates the printer, I see all new options in menu and BLTouch on "power on" does a self test.

I know I have configured the power to the device correctly 2 power sources and ground but where I'm having issues is in identifying Servo0 and ZMax/Min on my board. So far the black and white wire are connected to Z axis "end stop" but I cannot identify where to connect the orange signal wire to. I cannot find pinout anywhere of this board.

The LSEE 3D is basically a RAMPS board (your linked source also shows that the used MOTHERBOARD is a RAMPS board: #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_14_EFB), this implies that all pins of your board are the same as a RAMPS board. To connect the 3 pin header of the BLTouch sensor you need to connect the red wire to +5 V and the black wire to ground; the orange wire needs to be connected to an available PWM pin. As the LSEE board does not have many exposed (free) pins for you to use, you need to re-use one of the existing PWM pins that you do not use. An example is the pin nr. 2. From the pins_RAMPS.h file you see in the limit switches section:

//
// Limit Switches
//
#define X_MIN_PIN           3
#ifndef X_MAX_PIN
  #define X_MAX_PIN         2
#endif

It appears, from the image, that your board does have max limit end stop switches header pins available. What you could do is use the X_MAX_PIN for the BLTouch sensor.

This implies that you need to assign the servo pin to pin nr. 2.

From the servos section of the same pins_RAMPS.h file you see that the servos are either connected to pin 7 or pin 11 (depending on the board, your linked sources use the 1.4 version).

//
// Servos
//
#ifdef IS_RAMPS_13
  #define SERVO0_PIN        7   // RAMPS_13 // Will conflict with BTN_EN2 on LCD_I2C_VIKI
#else
  #define SERVO0_PIN       11
#endif

Using the linked sources, the 11 should be replaced with a 2. This implies that you can connect the orange wire to the "signal" pin of the X_MAX end stop connector.


Baud rate for Ender 3 on Repetier Host (Debian) Trying to set up Repetier host for Ender 3 on Debian.

The /dev/ttyUSBx is found via dmesg, this value goes in config -> printer settings -> port.

Printer connects fine, but commands do not send. Status reads

xx commands waiting.

I have tried all the various baud rate settings <= 250k to no avail.

Is there something else I should be trying, or what is the correct baud rate to set?

dmesg:

[2828465.418249] usb 1-13: USB disconnect, device number 77
[2828465.418480] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[2828465.418492] ftdi_sio 1-13:1.0: device disconnected
[2828469.171168] usb 1-13: new full-speed USB device number 82 using xhci_hcd
[2828469.329014] usb 1-13: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001, bcdDevice= 6.00
[2828469.329017] usb 1-13: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[2828469.329018] usb 1-13: Product: FT232R USB UART
[2828469.329020] usb 1-13: Manufacturer: FTDI
[2828469.329021] usb 1-13: SerialNumber: A107MDUQ
[2828469.332455] ftdi_sio 1-13:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[2828469.332485] usb 1-13: Detected FT232RL
[2828469.332756] usb 1-13: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

lsusb:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0a5c:21e8 Broadcom Corp. BCM20702A0 Bluetooth 4.0
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 081: ID 18d1:4ee1 Google Inc. Nexus Device (MTP)
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1b1c:1b45 Corsair
Bus 001 Device 046: ID 1b1c:1b50 Corsair
Bus 001 Device 049: ID 14cd:1212 Super Top microSD card reader (SY-T18)
Bus 001 Device 082: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 Serial (UART) IC
Bus 001 Device 060: ID 1908:0226 GEMBIRD
Bus 001 Device 059: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 058: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

usb-devices:

T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=12 Cnt=02 Dev#= 82 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0403 ProdID=6001 Rev=06.00
S:  Manufacturer=FTDI
S:  Product=FT232R USB UART
S:  SerialNumber=A107MDUQ
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=90mA
I:  If#=0x0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=ftdi_sio

Your firmware configuration may vary (probably worth checking what you have set), but from The Ender 3 configuration is set to 115200 baud rate #12174, the standard baud rate seems to be 115200.

  I think the default Ender 3 configuration is aligned to the Ender3 official confg, which has 115200 so...

Ah, but this is Marlin, and you're using Repetier. Hmmm, maybe ignore that then.

According to Recommended baud rate?:

  Normally 115200 or 250000 baud should work find and usb->serial latency is the bottleneck.

Apart from that I don't know. Sorry. I might delete this answer, if it doesn't help.


Can't create image to G-code software for CNC to process For the last 3 months I have been working on a CNC drawing machine but to this day I can't get the algorithm for line detection so I came here.

I can't understand only one part and it is CAM the (image to G-code) so I'd be grateful if someone could help.

(I want to create my own software not use any modules)

Generally, movement in a CNC, FDM-Printer, laser cutter, and Plotter has the XY plane decoupled from the Z-axis in most operations. As a result, the path in the XY plane is in 2D. But how to get to a path? Well, we have 2 variants:

Pixel

Most pictures store information as Pixels: each pixel on a grid has a color assigned to it. Scaling the picture does alter the grid size. These pictures are very hard to plot, unless you have your machine interpret each pixel of a given color as a specific movement operation. For example, each pixel of black color in a monochrome picture could be translated as a square-movement of a certain size, using the top-left corner of the square for the operation's reference. In G-code, drawing a line around the Pixel X=10 Y=10 with a grid size of 1 mm looks like this:

G90 ; absolute mode!
G1 X10 Y10
G1 X1 E1
G1 Y1 E1
G1 X-1 E1
G1 Y-1 E1

Vector

proper 2D-Pathes are stored only in Vector graphics. If you can, Vector graphics can contain the exact path you want your machine to follow. A typical format is .svg. It contains already the start position of path and how to follow it. Going from Vector Graphic to G-code just needs you to add G1 before each part of the path instruction and E commands at the end to operate whatever tool you due - be it spinning the drill in a CNC, extruding filament in a printer, turning on a laser or pushing down the printhead in a plotter.


Is a slower outer perimeter speed still meaningful? In the past we had printers with poor mechanics and with primitive software algorithms, therefore we used to print inner perimeters faster than the outermost one. See for example (generic, found online):

However now we have pressure/linear advance which reduces extra oozing/extrusion in corners or areas with variable speed, and in Klipper we also have resonance compensation which takes care of imperfect mechanics allowing printers to be pushed to higher acceleration without visible artifacts (in my case from 2000 to 6000 mm/s^2), see (generic) photo:

However printing slower has a clear disadvantage: E steps calibration is speed dependent with more filament being pushed out at lower speed, see

Is there any reason left to print outer perimeters at a lower speed? Using one speed only except for specific areas (small perimeters, bridges, support) seems to make more sense to me to improve quality and reduce printing times.

Lowering speed on outer perimeter has always been mostly wrong, but possibly useful. Usually, it's a poor approximation for what you really want to do, which is lowering acceleration on the outer perimeter, to avoid surface quality and dimensional accuracy errors due to ringing and backlash. However, on bowden printers without compensation for pressure ("linear advance" in Marlin, aka "pressure advance" in some other firmware), slow acceleration and high speeds give really bad error in extrusion consistency, so you're better off just lowering the max speed too whenever you lower acceleration.
It's also possible that you may want to print at extremely high speeds for inner walls and infill - speeds so high that you get a lot of extrusion consistency problems. If so, it would make sense to retain a sensible max speed on the outer wall. This won't avoid the part strength problems from printing too fast, but if your models are just decorative, it might be worth it.
Generally, though, I'd recommend solving these problems right (using linear advance if your printer needs it, lowering outer perimeter acceleration to get rid of artifacts, printing at a speed your hotend can handle, etc.) and deem "slower outer perimeter" an idea whose time has passed.
Also, note that if you're using a bowden printer without linear advance, sticking to the same speed for all extrusion will largely paper over the problem. This is probably the source of your observation that it "improves print quality" for you.


Auto Bed-Leveling with Inductive Proximity Sensors and Magnets I recently decided to upgrade to auto bed-leveling using an inductive proximity sensor and an aluminum build plate on my Prusa i3. I also wanted to try to secure the build plate using neodymium magnets at 4 points, with the magnets being secured with bolts to the Y-carriage, and steel washers glued to the bottom of the aluminum build plate (since aluminum is not magnetic).

I would like to know if anybody has attempted this, and what the results were, as well as any issues incurred. My primary concern is a possible interference between the small magnetic field that is created by the magnet, and the sensor when probing the plate. I fear this question may sound a little open-ended, but I would just like to know if this could work. Please feel free to ask any follow up questions to details I may have missed. Thank you.

P.S. I would also like to note, in case there is any relevance, I do not plan on using a heated build plate, since I have a heated build chamber.

Good question. The magnets from the build plate will almost certainly interfere with your inductive sensor, the movement from the carriage will induce a current in the inductor as it approaches the magnet and may cause it to trigger. If you're looking for a mag build, I'd suggest looking at: http://www.3dprintermods.com/prestashop/index.php?id_product=9&controller=product

I'm just about to get into auto-leveling myself, with this particular build there are a few ways to get around the issue. If you plot your auto level to occur as far from the magnets as possible (x,y location wise), then you might be ok. Otherwise you might consider investigating optical and touch probes.


Adding a filament sensor I have the Anet A6 and I was wondering if it is possible to add a filament run-out sensor. I would feel better having something to stop the filament before it runs through and I have to take apart the extruder.

With marlin firmware:

source here: filiament sensor config

//#define FILAMENT_RUNOUT_SENSOR
#if ENABLED(FILAMENT_RUNOUT_SENSOR)
  #define FIL_RUNOUT_INVERTING false // set to true to invert the logic of the sensor.
  #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_FIL_RUNOUT // Uncomment to use internal pullup for filament runout pins if the sensor is defined.
  #define FILAMENT_RUNOUT_SCRIPT "M600"
#endif

  With this feature, a mechanical or opto endstop switch is used to
  check for the presence of filament in the feeder (usually the switch
  is closed when filament is present). If the filament runs out, Marlin
  will run the specified GCode script (by default “M600”). RAMPS-based
  boards use SERVO3_PIN. For other boards you may need to define
  FIL_RUNOUT_PIN.

and this is a nice piece of hardware: run out sensor


Smooth finish in Slic3r using Support Material How can I obtain a smooth finish like the one in this video: Easy and clean support material removal from 3D printed part., using Slic3r instead of Simplify3D? What settings do I need to change?

I'd say the clue is the material itself and the geometry of the object. But in terms of Slic3r settings you could experiment with:

(print settings >> support material)

pattern spacing (he has here something around 5mm)
pattern (I'd say the best for you is rectlinear)
contact z distance (choose 0.2 or close to that)
interface layers (here 0 (zero) for sure)
don't support bridges (this one depends on your geometry and if slic3r calculates something as a bridge or not)

All above is also connected (in a way) with HE temperature and layer height. Usualy the higher temperature (in a range for specific material) the better sticking between layers.


Ender 3 - X Axis Cannot Reach True Home After a year of printing smaller models, I finally went to print something that would take up most of the build plate from left to right and realized that my nozzle cannot reach "true" X home.
As seen in this picture:

the X-axis endstop does not allow a true X0, thus losing me precious mm of print space! I over-exaggerate, but truly is there any way to shift the X-axis more to the left or the Y axis/build plate more to the right to gain full bed usage?
Additional photo showing that the actual hotend plate is hitting the endstop:

Is this an Ender 3 problem in general that I have missed in my internet searches on this or is it just a manufacturing lottery that I unfortunately lost?

You do have hit the true home. You will have to physically move the endstop to alter that position. Your problem is, that the endstop-home is on the build area - and that is printer dependant. My Ender 3 has about 4 mm diagonal distance from the bed in its physical home, for which I accounted via a firmware swap, including a "virtual" firmware home.


Why is my print displacing along the y-axis by 2-3 cm? I am encountering a problem with this ID3 printer using ABS -- at some point during the print the print head displaces on the y-axis by 2-3 centimeters. I cannot pinpoint how or why it is doing this. It has displaced in the positive Y direction and in the negative Y direction on separate runs of the same piece (which is just a poker chip I found on Thingiverse).

Is this a software issue (Simplify3D) or a hardware issue? Can anybody suggest a fix?

See the following photos:

This has happened to me in the past and here are a few things that I determined could have been the cause:

Limit Switch triggered. My coworker was able to repeat the issue by manually triggering a limit switch during the print. Somehow, this seemed to cause the relative axis to shift on his MakerBot Replicator 2.
Skipped steps. It's possible that, if stalled due to excessive load, the stepper motor could skip steps. I have a dual extruder, so if a part curls really bad then the second nozzle gets caught in the print. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but my coworker suggested this as an issue.
USB connection. I had sliced a model and tried printing over USB connection, however each time I attempted the print I encountered the "shift" at the same exact location. However, using the slice, I exported a G-Code file and printed from the machines SD card with no errors.
Slicing Engine bug. This is in correlation to the USB connection issue. I noticed that the issue occurred after updating my slicing engine. My solution in the long term was to re-install the previous version that was stable for me. I was using MakerWare 2.4.2 and reverted back to MakerWare 2.4.1.

If you're printing via USB connection, I'd suggest exporting to G-Code if you're able to print via SD Card until you can find a stable version of software for your machine. This has been the most repeatable solution for me in the past.


First time assemble of Anet A6 printer. Only fan works I bought an Anet A6-L printer (after some research I discovered that this is not a genuine Anet A6) and assembled it. The first time I plugged it in, the fan (fan 2, I believe) is the only thing that turns on. Also, the LCD screen (LCD2004 5 button display) only had 1 cord, and 1 jack for the cord to plug in on the back of the screen, but 2 openings on the motherboard. The fan turns on for around 30 seconds, then turns off. I have the anet A6 printer, with the V1-5 motherboard. I have everything else (fans, motors, hotbed, power) plugged into the right ports. I haven't plugged in the micro SD (TF) card yet, I turned it on to test it.

I am using a modified part that replaces the windpipe/fan duct (white) and redirects the airflow around it and inwards from a ring around the tip, but that is the only modification I have made. I have not messed with the power supply (other than wiring it in). Same with the motherboard. I tested it also without the modification for the fan duct but it still has the same problem.

This definitely sounds like a problem with your wiring if you have a genuine Anet A6, the genuine A6 comes with a 12864 full graphic display. For sure, you are missing 1 flat ribbon cable (see below). Maybe this is causing the LCD not to light up and the SD card not functioning. As the "fan 2" is working, the board is powered by the power supply (this fan is using the constant power feed of the supply of the board). What you are actually describing as a boot sequence is the actual boot sequence of a printer. Once you power the printer, the fan that is cooling the cold end of the extruder should start spinning and keep spinning while the part cooling fan usually spins up but then powers down to standstill. While this is happening, the LCD should come alive and show the boot screen and finally the printer menu. If your screen is not showing any light, this implies that your screen is either broken, not powered or wrongly connected.

You could connect the printer over USB and control the printer from an external program, e.g. Pronterface, OctoPrint, Repetier-host, etc. and see if the printer works (then you know that the display is broken).

From a search on AliExpress I found that there are auto leveling printers sold with the Anet A6 branding that differ from the standard Anet A6 as written in Chinglish:

  Different Auto leveling A6 and Normal A6:

  1.The auto-leveling version uses a proximity sensor to detect the aluminum print bed where the normal version of the printer uses a
  micro-switch to detect the end of travel for the Z-Axis movement
  (vertical limits).

  2.Auto leveling A6-L work with LCD2004 screen, A6 work with LCD12864 screen

The second remark from the quote above suggests that there is a 2004 LCD version that is only used by the Anet A6-L version (probably because they need a free pin for the auto leveling sensor). Such a display only has a single connection socket and needs to be connected to a single socket on the Anet printer board (named "LCD", not "J3")

Note that automatic bed levelling is not magic, and a little more complicated to start with, if you order a printer without an auto bed levelling sensor, you will be able to update to one later. E.g. from here:

  It uses the "LED pin" which is an unused pin on the A8 (using the
  stock 5 button 2004 LCD). That is the third wire counted from below
  (where the red marker is on the cable). I simply spliced the cable and
  cut that wire. This will be the servo signal (yellow).

If you have an Anet A6 adapted for auto levelling with a 2004 display

When the LCD does not light up, this could be caused by incorrect placement of the flat cable, be sure to use the correct socket on the printer board and take care of the orientation. Once you have checked this, and it does not work and you are in the possession of a multimeter, you could measure the voltage over the "VSS" and the "VDD" pin; also look into the voltage over the "VSS" and the "VE" (see pin layout below).
If there is power, but no light, the LCD is probably defective. You could try to hook up a computer to the board using a USB cable and use a program like Pronterface to interface with the printer to see if it works at all, the display is not required for printing (e.i. if you can access the printer over USB).

If you have a genuine Anet A6

It is advised to install an extra flat ribbon cable and check all the wires, please do check for correct polarity and correct installment.

Please do note the the installation of the Anet A6 LCD display (see this movie and the screenshot from this video below) requires 2 flat ribbon cables to function properly.

Sidemark on fan ducts:
Both the stock and most ring type ducts are not aerodynamically designed fan ducts. The stock fan converges too much, this narrowing of the duct causes extra pressure build-up which these fans are not able to handle, so they stall, causing a reduced flow output of the fan. The (semi) circular fan ducts usually also have a design problem. The (semi) circular ones all (but one that I have seen) have the same deficiency that the main passage area does not decrease when the duct loses air through a slot/ejector; this means that the velocity in the main ring decreases after each bleed slot! Note that these fans move air and do not build up a high pressure difference that is large enough to overcome the friction of those designs.


How to attach a metal bearing to a print I have a bunch of ball bearings (608 2RS) that I'm planning on using in a project with printed parts. But I'm not sure how to attach and secure them properly.

How is this done usually?

Ball bearings are usually fitted in one style, no matter what is the material that they are embedded in: press fit.
Press fit
To get a good press fit, the part will have to have a hole that is the diameter of the bearing (22 mm) plus a little margin that depends on your printer and filament. From my own experience, a design with 22.1 mm to 22.4 mm diameter resulted in a near-enough 22mm hole that gave decent fit. Your design will need to be adjusted depending on the material and resolution of the printer.
Note that in the case of machined metal parts, the hole usually is not exactly 22mm but a coupe thau (=1/1000 inch) smaller as the bearings get pressed into the hole with a hydraulic press. They do deliberately deform the bearing and workpiece a tiny bit to sit perfectly. If you make the hole too much too small, the printed parts could break under the stress such treatment puts them under. However, if done just right the ring itself will deform just enough to fit the bearing's casing, as long as it is flexible enough. I have experienced prints of 2 wall thickness with 15-20% infill to allow a little bit of flex, which resulted in them applying quite some tension on a set of three screws: the Slider for 2040 Openbuild V-slot by FabianFriethjoph does use this effect from PLA to force the wheels into the guide rail just enough to prevent wobble.
Since most filaments shrink, you might still need to use a larger-than 22 mm hole in design to get just a couple thau under the 22 mm you want for the perfect press fit.
Adjustable position
In some cases, ball bearings are fitted into larger holes, and then fastened and adjusted with a set of 3 setscrews - their seat can be changed slightly to compensate for warp or shear of the whole item. However, printed plastics are bad at holding a thread, and it would be a very good idea to include a metal insert with the thread. For example, you could include a nut in the middle of the ring holding the bearing, or you might use metal inserts.
Capping
Even if one uses a snug press fit or adjustable position, it can be a good idea to use a cap that makes sure the bearing can't fall out of its area without removing the cap first.


When building a RAMPS 1.4 based printer, can I safely plugin just some of the components to test if they are working? If I need to test out some of the components of a RAMPS 1.4 based 3D Printer, can I only plug some of them into the board (not all of them) and test them out?

I'd like to test out the NEMA 17 motors without testing the heated bed or extruder.  Is this safe and why?

If by components you mean motors, fans, or heated bed, then yes. This is even suggested in the Final Setup instructions on the RAMPS wiki.

  If you think you may have mistakes (in your setup) you can install only one stepper driver during initial testing and risk only one stepper driver.

There are also printers using RAMPS with no heated bed and other machines that have no extruder at all. Furthermore, from an electronics perspective: if nothing is connected across a terminal no current will flow and therefore there is no damage that can be done. Obviously if you short out the unused connections there will be problems.


Marlin acceleration issue on corners I use Simplify3D to slice my prints, and I've set it to print everything with 4000 Acceleration and 50 Acceleration for outer perimeters only.

Everything works fine, Marlin changes acceleration settings without issues, but with low accelerations my corners are bigger than they should:

The object I'm printing is this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2478785

As you can see in the model, highlighted parts in the picture should have 90° corners with perfect straight lines.

It seems that Marlin adjusts acceleration just for print speed, without adjusting it too for the extruder, so the extruder extrudes a constant amount of filament, which on slow speeds (corners) results in an overextrusion and on high speeds (lines) results in an underextrusion, causing bad corners and inaccurate prints.

This happens with acceleration between 50 and 300. If I use 1000 as acceleration for perimeters the problem is gone, but I need to use small numbers in order to have clean corners and avoid ghosting.

Am I the only one experiencing this? What could be causing the issue?

It seems that Marlin adjusts acceleration just for print speed, without adjusting it too for the extruder, so the extruder extrudes a constant amount of filament, which on slow speeds (corners) results in an overextrusion and on high speeds (lines) results in an underextrusion, causing bad corners and inaccurate prints.

This is not the case. Marlin accelerates the extruder perfectly in sync with the printhead, and the speed of the extruder is perfectly proportional to the movement speed. However, the extruder itself has a certain amount of "lag": as you feed in filament, pressure builds up. As you stop feeding filament (or slow down), the built up pressure causes the extrusion to continue for a while. Thus, even with "correct" control of the extruder, you don't necessarily get the desired amount of extrusion.

Marlin has a feature, that you can enable in the advanced configuration file, called "extruder advance". It looks at the acceleration/deceleration of the extruder, and advances the extruder a few extra steps when the speed increases, and backs it off again as the speed decreases. You will need to tune this feature to get rid of the overextrusion at the corners.


My extruder does not reach the set temperature Anet A8 with Cura. First time use. The extruder temp is set at 190 °C for PLA but the temp never quite gets that hot, e.g. 189.2 °C. So the printer never prints.

The bed temperature is fine.

Any suggestions on how to fix?

Two common problems to look out for in this situation:

Make sure that your part fan (the fan that is supposed to cool the filament you just extruded, and that does not start spinning until the print starts) do not blow air on the hot end of your extruder.
Make sure that your hot end is well insulated.  If available for your printer, silicone sleeves are the best:

otherwise the most common, universal and low-cost solution are cotton pads:


Handling retraction when using a mixing extruder (2 in 1 out) I have a Zonestar Z5FM2 running Marlin 1.1.8 with a mixing extruder.

That is, 2 extruder stepper motors feeding a 2-in 1-out hotend (similar to the E3D cyclops).

I'm slicing with Simplify3D and I have set up:

T0 set to the first extruder;
T1 set to the second extruder;
T2 set to a virtual extruder consisting of a 50/50 mix of extruder 1 and 2(made by having M163 S0 P50 followed by M164 S2 in the start code)

I was wondering how you handle the retraction. Currently only the active tool (e.g. extruder motor 1 when using T1) retracts, which leads to a lot of oozing since the filament in the unused half is still applying some pressure.

I read that for a setup like mine it is necessary to get both extruders to retract. How do I do that?

I've seen the documentation for programming G10/G11 firmware retract with M207 but there does not seem to be a way to specify the tool to use.

I could make a find-and-replace post processing script in Simplify3D to replace retracts of T0 or T1 with retracts of T2 (so both motors retract), but then how would I get it to switch back to the proper original tool when resuming printing?

Is there a way to address an extruder directly in G1 commands (so I could force both to retract), or temporarily switch a tool for just one command (so I could switch tool for the retract command only and it would go back to printing with the previous tool afterwards)?

I found this post on the S3D Forums that seem to have some interesting information on custom scripting within Simplify3D. While this doesn't seem to SPECIFICALLY address the question you've got, it looks like there's a "Retraction Scripts" tab that you could probably leverage your T2 tool inside of, using "OLDTOOL" instead of "NEWTOOL".

For additional information on what variables are available, I found a different forum post here that seems to have some documentation on Simplify3D's built-in script variables. Additionally, from the GCode in the first link's example scripts, it appears that you should be able to actually address M-commands to individual extruders (such as T2 in your case) simply by adding "T(x)" as a parameter to the individual command. I just ran a quick test on my own Marlin-based printer with a 2in-1out hotend, and I was not able to get it to address G1 commands to specific E motors without switching tools.

All in all I think you should be able to use the custom scripts available in S3D to accomplish what you want by switching tools in the layer change script, but aside from that, I don't know what options you have available with that specific software chain.


Bed heating from Pronterface works, but not from LCD menu nor from SD print Running my Ultrabase (glass plate) through a MOSFET on an stock A8 board with Marlin 1.1.8. When I do PID tune through Pronterface (by using the M303 E-1 C8 S70 command) the bed heats up no problem and completes the tune, but when printing from SD or using the Preheat PLA command on the printer to heat the bed, nothing happens and then I get "Bed heating failed".

As its working through Pronterface I know the wiring is okay.

Configuration.h

Configuration_adv.h

Anet A8 Stock Board
Ultrabase 220x200 12v
PID Values extracted from Pronterface Via M303 E-1 C8 S70 from cold bed
Message take about 1 minute to appear, seems to be a timeout as opposed to an instant error

Disabling PIDTEMPBED and enabling MAX_BED_POWER resolves the issue allowing the printer to heat the bed

Thermal protection for bed set to

#define WATCH_BED_TEMP_PERIOD 180               // Seconds
#define WATCH_BED_TEMP_INCREASE 2               // Degrees Celsius

When using PIDTEMPBED the LED on the bed does not light, but when using MAX_BED_POWER / PIDTUNE it does

I thought this was an easy problem to fix as the previous Configuration.h you shared had PID incorrectly configured.

I'm guessing that you experience this LCD screen:

What I experienced myself when PID tuning the bed is that it matters whether the bed is preheated or not. At first attempt the command such as the  M303 E-1 C8 S70 you used did result a failed PID tuning (note that you should perform the test from a cold bed).

Your PID values:

// PIDTune from Pronterface
#define DEFAULT_bedKp 305.95
#define DEFAULT_bedKi 60.24
#define DEFAULT_bedKd 388.4805

are similar results as I have for a 24V 300 x 300 x 3 mm bottom cork insulated heat plate with 3 mm glass.

You have not added the "Configuration_adv.h", but this file contains the advanced settings for the printer and most probably contain:

#if ENABLED(THERMAL_PROTECTION_BED)
  #define THERMAL_PROTECTION_BED_PERIOD 20    // Seconds
  #define THERMAL_PROTECTION_BED_HYSTERESIS 2 // Degrees Celsius

  /**
   * As described above, except for the bed (M140/M190/M303).
   */
  #define WATCH_BED_TEMP_PERIOD 60                // Seconds
  #define WATCH_BED_TEMP_INCREASE 2               // Degrees Celsius
#endif

This describes that the software waits for 60 seconds for the bed to increase 2 °C. If the temperature increase is not observed, there is no heat input to the bed, or it does not reach the set temperature. Please check your values.


What can cause Z height loss in the first few layers? All my prints come out about 1 mm too short in the Z dimension. So for example a 20 mm cube comes out 19 mm high. A 10 mm cube comes out 9 mm high. The X and Y dimensions are fine. There's a little bit of visible elephant's foot at the bottom, so I assume whatever is happening is in the first couple of layers. The problem is fairly consistently around 1 mm even for larger prints.

The printer is an Ender 3 Pro with a glass bed and BLTouch for automatic leveling, but otherwise stock.
I had a similar issue with another Ender 3 Pro that was resolved thanks to a link to this question about problems in the first 3 mm. The solution was turning the eccentric nuts on the left and right to loosen the rollers that connect the X-axis gantry to the vertical posts. There the Z issue was not as pronounced, and I was getting really messy prints in the first few Z layers. Here that is not an issue; the first few layers look fine while they're printing. Loosening the rollers did not resolve it.
Things I've tried:

Tightening and loosening the gantry rollers using the eccentric nuts. They're currently just tight enough that turning them moves the gantry, but loose enough that I can turn them without moving the gantry if I hold it still.
Tightening and loosening the two little screws that attach the extruder mount to the Z-axis lead screw. Currently I made them just tight, then backed off 1/4 turn.
Adding a shim between the vertical post and the Z-axis lead screw. The lead screw is now pretty much parallel to the post.
Slowly turning the lead screw by hand to raise and lower the gantry. There's no noticeable catching or increased resistance anywhere.
Varying the brand and type of PLA filament.
Varying the temperature from 190 °C to 210 °C.
Obsessively leveling and re-leveling the bed.

I'm using the stock Ender 3 Pro profile in Cura, and printing at 0.2 mm layer height. I've kind of run out of things to check. What else can cause Z height loss in the first few layers like this?

Do you have any “slope” on the right side (non motor) of the gantry? I’ve noticed that my gantry will settle on the right side and lag behind the motor driven - ever so slightly - when it starts to drive up. It will, after that first lag, move fine for the rest of the time. Z axis travel seems barely affected but all my prints are consistently about .5 mm short.


Bevel gears 3D model Goal : create a pair of bevel gears for 90 degrees angle axles.

Context : the gears are designed with an OpenSCAD library (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1604369, function 'pfeilkegelradpaar'), then I try to modify them using TinkerCAD.

The problem : When printing the STL exported from OpenSCAD, everything seems fine. But when I import the STL in TinkerCAD, there is a separation where the angle changes, and I cannot seem to find a configuration that works.

Also, when previewing with Cura (tried with the older v14 as well as the latest v4), I get the same behavior : the exported STL creates a solid object, while the STL from TinkerCAD (even if not modified, just imported and exported) has a 'gap' of about 8 layers.

And, of course, everything fails afterwards.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I don't know how to explain how the problem is occurring with the STL post-processing tools you are using.

Try loading the STL directly into a slicer and view the result, then slice and view the toolpath.  It is always helpful to eliminate steps in an attempt to narrow down where the problem is generated.

Were I to try to patch the OpenSCAD model, I would create a hub component that overlays where the crack is found.  This would be small cylinder with a hole that overlays the hub.

I have had success adding elements and holes to existing OpenSCAD models and imported STL files using OpenSCAD.


Model stuck on the heating bed I've tried to apply a sharp blade (the one that came witht he printer) to scrape the model off like I usually do but this model seems overly robust. What method can I do to take this off safely?

See image

Unfortunately, you may have to destroy this part, or the build surface, just to get it off the plate. It looks really on there, and if you can't get under it even with a razor that further supports my gut instinct. It's happened to me before, just part of learning how to print with a particular material on a particular printer and build surface.

One thing to try before just hacking away at the part or replacing the build surface (which you may have to do anyway) would be to heat the plate back up to maybe 60-70*C, then hit the part with some freeze spray (or the poor man's version, turning a can of air duster upside-down). The rapid expansion-contraction may pop the part free. How effective this is depends on the plastic you used. PLA doesn't stretch and shrink much, but by the same token it's also very inflexible, so the stretching and shrinking it does do can stil pop the part off. This method's really effective for plastics like ABS that stretch/shrink a lot with heat. Remember to ventilate well; the principal component of these sprays is difluoroethane, which isn't great stuff to breathe in any significant concentration, and when spraying the liquid the resulting "steam" state of boiling liquid is much more flammable (so after the bed comes up to proper heat, I'd turn off the printer just in case).

EDIT: Per the comment to this answer, an alternate method would be to heat the plate even further, to about 80-90*C, which would heat the PLA beyond its glass transition temperature, softening it and reducing its adhesion. You would destroy the part, but parts can be reprinted, that's the beauty of owning a general-purpose computer-controlled additive plastic forming machine.

Your first layer including the brim looks a little close to the plate, which is part of the problem; you really squished that first layer down onto the bed. I would relevel the bed a bit further away, or (if you're happy with how actually level the bed is) set a Z-offset to increase first layer width. There's a very fine balance to be struck here; once you find it, printing (and removing said prints) becomes a lot easier.

In future, a build adhesive like Elmer's glue stick or hairspray (or a dedicated adhesive like 3DLAC or Bed Weld) also doubles as a release agent; the adhesive grabs the extruded plastic to keep it on the plate, but also prevents direct contact between two plastics and thus avoids any chemical bonding between the part and plate. Also consider upgrading to a flexible removable surface, like a magnetic BuildTak surface. Being able to take the bed off the printer and then flex the surface to help  pull a corner free (at which point you can slip a scraper in to lift the rest of it off) is a real boon to these types of situations.


Split/edit part in FreeCAD? I'm trying to modify some parts on this thing. I'm kind of new to dealing with the modeling aspects of this.

I am attempting to widen the part essentially 3mm. This would involve modifying the chain segments, and the anchor points.

I have already attempted this with 3D Builder and the result was less than stellar. I split the part, cloned off about 3mm of the middle of the X-Chain (including the top & bottom bits). The intent was to break the part, translate one of the halves off 3mm, add back the 3mm into the gap.

When I put all the parts back together and merged them in 3D Builder, the resultant model, while visually on screen appeared to be one piece, the slicing proved otherwise.

Is there a way that I can do the above in FreeCAD? I'm learning this so tutorial links would be more than sufficient. But if there is someone who can explain this process to me in FreeCAD that would also be appreciated.

When you want to change an STL file in FreeCAD then this is how I do it. I open the STL file in FreeCAD and select the option in the Part/Component sub-menu: Make a form from mesh (hope that I translated it well. I use the Dutch version). It can take quite some time but when it is finished you have an editable object. Just remove the STL object and do what you want.

When you finished then you can perform all actions like if you created it from scratch with FreeCAD.

I am a beginner in 3D design so there might be 'smarter' solutions. When I want 1 special part then I create as many cubes as needed and perform a MINUS action on the solid and a cube. After a while I end up with only the part I need.


Would 3d-printed objects outgas in vacuum? I want to fabricate a sample holder and shadow masks to use in vacuum chambers. The type of printing material is not important to me PLA/ABS/PC-ABS/nylon).

I'm worried that 3d printed objects (FDM) would degas under high vacuum. Is that an actual concern?

I found much the same question at Does PLA outgas? An answer there pointed to a NASA outgassing database, Outgassing Data for Selecting Spacecraft Materials, and says that:

  ABS (unknown supplier), MakerGeeks PET and Makerbot PLA have been measured and are listed in the NASA database.

Poster there recommended PLA for lower outgassing, and clear PLA because there would be fewer additives to complicate the problem.


alternative to Mic-6 bed plate I am building a toolchanger CoreXY 3D printer. I am in big trouble to find mic-6 aluminium toolplate in my country. Can you suggest me an alternative to mic-6? In my country, I can find easily 5083, 6082, 7005, etc. I don't think, that theese aluminium plates are suitable as heated bed. The design of the bed is the same as the jubilee 3D printer, so it will be best to have minimum warpage.

Most of the aluminium alloys are fine.
When they say that a certain aluminium is not suitable to certain temperature range they usually mean "under stress"... your bed has no stress at all, it's just staying there with basically no weight on top of it.
Also, you don't need the single micron accuracy either...
Just pick a "cast" and milled aluminium and not a rolled one.
If you can choose among different ones, pick the one with the highest thermal conductivity, and that's it. For example, I can easily find milled plates out of 5083 or 7021. 7021 has a better thermal conductivity, which is good to have a more uniform temperature.


PETG Collecting on the Extruder I have recently bought a spool of eSun PETG. So far I really like the filament. My only complaint is, I get lumps of charred filament deposited on my object. The slicer I used is Craft Ware and I have played with the Far Travel -> Elevation settings. I have noticed that this helps but then I have little to no adhesion to the print surface and my supports do not stick to the raft. Does any one know how to mitigated PETG from collecting on the extruder?

Different brands and blends of PET filaments seem to do this to different degrees. Esun's PETG is definitely one that tends to glob onto the nozzle. Basically, the nozzle plows through the top surface of the filament and lifts up some plastic, much like the bow of a ship lifting up some water at high speeds. PET's viscosity and stickiness seem to amplify this effect more than other filaments.

Some things you can do to minimize the globbing:

Calibrate extrusion volume on the low end of what you'd normally use for other filaments (how you do this depends on your slicer)
Use your slicer's "Z-hop" or "avoid perimeters" feature so you don't do travel moves across printed surfaces
Invest in an anti-stick coated nozzle, such as are sold by Micro Swiss or Performance 3-d (these don't eliminate globbing, but they do reduce it and make the nozzle much easier to clean)
Play with slicer settings such as extrusion width, layer height, and infill/perimeter overlap to reduce the amount of "excess material" that sticks above the print surface

Again, this is a common problem with PET blend filaments. Anecdotally, some brands seem to glob more or less than others, so switching to a different vendor may be worth trying if you want to do a lot of PETG prints.


My Anet A8's filament isn't extruding properly So after a lot of work I finally got my Anet A8 printing but then disaster struck. It has stopped working again but with a new problem. The first few strokes of printing are fine but then it goes really stringy and the lines are very very thin so the result is a very stringy mess with holes and gaps everywhere. I am also using PLA from RS and my G-code and some images are below:

G-code: https://www.mediafire.com/file/p4odlic1372q78z/xyzCalibration_cube.gcode

The most likely problem is that you have a jammed nozzle. To fix this heat the hot end up to about 140°C then insert some PLA filament push it through and then pull it out forcefully. That should solve your problem.


Does voltage or current affect the time to heat a bed more? Which of these will heat a bed fastest?

A. 12 V, 10 A power supply
B. 24 V, 5 A power supply
C. Both A and B will be the same (only total watts matter)
D. Depends on the situation

I originally thought Amperage was what mattered until I realized I needed a 24 V power supply to even heat my Lulzbot mini bed by one degree.

I know voltage is used to determine insulation thickness on wires. But thin wires with high current in them also get hot. Is insulation thickness on wires only to prevent you from accidentally cutting through them and shocking yourself, or is it for heat reasons?

I'd like to power my heated bed with a 19.5 V, 5 A power supply. It's just an old laptop charger - I want to reduce strain on my circuit. It's a big bed and I have a few other laptop chargers lying around so I'd prefer to choose the best one.

It depends on whether you are re-using the bed or not, it is actually the resistance of the bed that determines this in conjunction with the voltage (the current you get for free).

Let's say that the heatbed resistance is 1.2 Ω (depending on the heated bed make and model the resistance is typically in between 0.9 - 1.5 Ω), this means that the power can be calculated using:
$$P = U \times I$$
$$U = I \times R$$
combining gives:
$$ P = I^2\times R = \frac{U^2}{R} $$

For 12 V (assumed default printer voltage) this means that the heatbed power equals about 120 Watt (at a current of 10 A). Running that same bed at 24 V means that the power is 480 Watt (at a current of 20 A). So yes, that will heat up fast, at the expense of an increased current, which is pretty high, and should not be attempted without extra resistance in the loop.

If you're using the laptop charger, the current draw equals about 16 A, which the adapter cannot deliver.

This means that you need to acquire a new heatbed that is able to handle a higher voltage out of the box (more resistance), or you need to put additional resistors in the loop, but beware of the currents. Note that heated beds for 12 V/24 V exist, the wiring is different depending on the voltage. Note that such beds heat up faster, it all depends on the resistance and the voltage, but running the 24 V circuit on 19.5 V (160 Watt bed) is definitely an improvement over the 120 Watt bed at 12 V but still requires about 8 A (only applicable to heatbed that can run 12 V/24 V through extra resistance connections).

Be careful with this and be sure what you are doing!


Anyone tried Varathane water-based Wood Stain on Hatchbox Wood PLA? I printed parts for a Harry Potter wand with HatchBox Wood PLA, now I want to apply stain. I intended to try MinWax PolyShades wood stain, then noticed Varathane water-based wood stain is available at my local Rona hardware store. This seems a "healthier" option, maybe not as fussy to apply as PolyShades, anyone had experience with this product?

I ended up using Saman brand water-based wood stain, also from Rona hardware (a brand of Lowe's Canada). The selection of colours for Saman stains was greater than the Varathane stains.

I applied a single coat of colour #117 "Chamois" to the stem portion of the wand, and two coats of colour #120 "Dark Walnut" to the handle. I did not apply a varnish or sealer. The results seem acceptable, given that I Am Not A Carpenter, and this is my first go at printing and finishing wood PLA! Overall, I'm quite happy with the result. I left the PLA mostly unsanded to take advantage of the layers' wood-grain appearance.


Usable build volume of a Makerbot Replicator Plus? I've got a class with access to a few Replicator+s. Makerbot's official site gives a build volume of 11.6 x 7.6 x 6.5 ". (LxWxH)

Out of curiosity (I'm not intending to print it), I created a 11.6 x 7.6 x 6.5 inch rectangular prism and placed it in the build plate in the Makerbot software. It didn't like that, so I scaled it back to 11.5 x 7.5 x 6.4 inches to fit inside the build volume.
It accepted that, and I could click the generate preview button, but then it got stuck 50% of the way through generating the preview and toolpath. I'm guessing that the extruder can't actually reach all of the build volume and so it can't generate a toolpath to create this monstrosity. Does anyone know the actual volume that it can reach and actually utilize?

Exactly what software are you using to slice?  From your description, it appears the gcode was successfully generated, but the software choked when trying to draw teh preview image. That could be due to lack of local RAM or problems with memory leaks in the software.  This happens when the number of layers and the complexity of the layers gets large.

Try just creating a plain rectangular solid and set a large layer height.  Let us know what happens with that.


How to use second hotend for bed heating? The heated bed output on my printer recently stopped working. I have an output for a second hotend. How can I reprogram this output as a heated bed output? The board is a Geeetech GT2560 rev A+.

Although it appears to be a RAMPS compatible board as described in this now deleted answer, it is not using a RAMPS pin configuration.

To fix this in the firmware, this requires an upload of newly configured firmware to the board. See e.g. question: "How to upload firmware to reprap printer?". For Marlin firmware (which is also loaded at the factory) You need to assign the correct board number or constant name (amongst several other things) in the Configuration.h file. Note that this is "clearly" described by the manufacturer here.

From factory, a version of 1.1.X is loaded note that version 1.1.9 is the last of the 1.x branch, the default is now version 2.x.

From the manufacturer of your board you find that:

#define MOTHERBOARD 7

needs to be set. Note that using number is old, nowadays you would use a constant. For board number 7 this is the constant defined as BOARD_ULTIMAKER. Note that in version 2.x this number is now 1117, so the preferred usage is the constant name BOARD_ULTIMAKER!

Specifically for your board, the Configuration.h file should contain:

#ifndef MOTHERBOARD
  #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_ULTIMAKER
#endif

The pin arrangement used by this board is found in pins_ULTIMAKER.h.

In this pin file you need to swap the pin numbers that identify the bed and the second extruder (E1) thermistor pin. In this file change:

//
// Heaters / Fans
//
#define HEATER_0_PIN        2
#define HEATER_1_PIN        3
#define HEATER_BED_PIN      4

to:

//
// Heaters / Fans
//
#define HEATER_0_PIN        2
#define HEATER_1_PIN        4 // or -1
#define HEATER_BED_PIN      3

Note that it could be that the E1 heater output may not be designed to take the high current load the bed requires (depends on the traces on the board and the used MOSFET; with respect to the MOSFET, the manufacturer states that:

  3 55Amp MOSFET (with LED indicator, the actual output is restricted by the PCB board and the connector), all 3 MOSFET are equipped with heat sink to ensure sufficient heat dissipation and stable operation

, implying that the MOSFETs are identical). It is therefore advised to use an external MOSFET module. This will keep the high currents away from your printer board. Such a module looks like:

You need to wire the second extruder heater leads to the white cable, the power and the bed leads use screw terminals and are clearly labeled.


Which belt tension gauge do I need? I have a 3D printer that is going crazy with x-axis shift, and I need a tension gauge belt to measure the tension.

I've never used one before, and looking online, I can't tell which one would be the right fit.

Any ideas? What things should I look for?

It's extremely unlikely that belt tension is actually your problem. I've never heard of anyone using a gauge to measure their belt tension. Typically you just pull your belt tight by hand so that it produces a low note when plucked. It's far more likely that you're experiencing shifts due to too high or too low stepper current.

Unless your belt is so loose that it easily skips over the pulley (which should be obvious without using a gauge) or so tight that it completely binds up (it would be impossible to get it that tight without some kind of superhuman force) it's definitely not the problem.


Failure near the start point The image below I indicated where the point where the tip of my extruder returns after changing the layer height, I don't know if I am right to call this point "Start Point" ...

The problem I am having is possible to see in the photo, because there is a slip of material and sometimes "webs" are created that compromise the quality of the print.
I tried to modify the retraction parameters, such as: speed and retraction length ...
Is there a parameter that I can modify to improve my print?
The slicer software I use is the : FlashPrint_4.5.1 (because I have a FlashForge Dreamer NX)

I have recently looked into "print outer walls first" in an attempt to make the seam vanish. But turning that setting on creates a webby structure on the following area for my printer.
Turning the setting off again (and reducing the outer wall speed to 30 mm/s) completely eliminated the ringing again.


Uneven walls, not solid I'm using Cura 4.5.0 and an Ultimaker S5

The walls in my model are coming out not solid. I don't have a clue why.

When I open the STL in Sketchup it has all these weird lines. I don't know how they got there and I don't know how to get rid of them.

Triangles?!
First of all, the triangles on the STL are not a problem - they are just how STL is defined: a mesh of triangles. you can't save anything but triangles in STL, so let's not bother with that item but the actual elephant in the room: the print.
Underextrusion
Step 1: proper settings
It shows signs of underextrusion. And I can exactly tell you where part of it comes from: You have set the line width to below the nozzle width. However, the line width should be best 10% larger than the nozzle. All of these lines should read between 0.4 to (as I have set it) 0.45 mm:

With a 10% wider line planned into, it is not necessary to have an extra initial layer line width of more than 100 %, but it can help in adhesion.
Step 2: Other issues?!
There might be other issues at work, though they will show up after setting the width much better. The following two strike me as most likely if the problem persists with the now considerable increased flow:

The retraction and/or retraction speed might be set too high.
mechanical issues of the extruder system, for example, worn gears or uneven pressure against the gear due to damaged parts.