What precautions to take when flashing Marlin 2.0? I was just informed via a comment that the TH3D Unified firmware a version of Marlin that's no longer updated and considered obsolete (1.9.X in this case) and that, since I'm flashing my firmware to fix my default e-step settings, I might as well flash a non-obsolete firmware.

However, something in the back of my mind is telling me that I can't use Marlin 2.0 because of some hardware limitation.

I'm using the Creality CR-10S printer (with the Creality 2.0 board, I believe) which is an 8-bit CPU. What should I look out for before upgrading to Marlin 2.0?

Marlin's Install website suggests that 8-bit AVR printers can use it (flashing via Arduino IDE). SO I guess I'm double checking before I do something that could potentially brick my printer.

It wasn't advised to use the version 2.x because it was in development for 32-bit micro processors. Now that it has been released as the official version, you can use it for 8-bit micro processors.

But, it totally depends on the amount of options in Marlin you activate (bed leveling, advanced menu, M5xx, etc.). Luckily you can see how large the installation is after you have built it e.g. in PlatformIO. Also, in the configuration files frequently is mentioned how much extra storage activating an option costs (search for PROGMEM in the Marlin sources). Unless you want all options active, you'll be fine. I'm running it on an AVR (MEGA2560) for a CoreXY with bed leveling and some more options; it runs fine.


Ender 3 - extruder stepper skipping I have a problem most likely very similar to some reported by other users: extruder stepper is visually skipping a step from time to time. It rapidly rotates in the direction opposite to the one it is supposed to rotate.
I noticed the following:

The extruder stepper jumps totally randomly - there is nothing specific in the pattern printed, position etc.
Stepper jumps more often on the infill, rarely on the walls.

Details about print:

PLA (Devil Design - various colors, they doesn't matter)
Filament guide installed on top, but not yet before the extruder (it is printing right now, I'm waiting for the ball bearings too)
Filament mounted on the top - in the place defined by Creality
Extruder is already replaced with the aluminium one
The mainboard is SKR E3 mini V2 (replaced recently)
95% flow set in Cura
Printing on glass, leveled bed (the jumping occurs on all layers, not only first)
215 °C hotend temperature, 60 °C bed temperature
Stepper motor current settings (from Marlin menu): 580 for X, Y & Z, 650 for E1

Other observations:

What's interesting is that extruder motor jumps even if I manually unwind some filament, so that the only force that it has to overcome is only pushing filament into the head.
I did a quick DIY wooden spool holder, so that the filament was fed almost horizontally. This actually seemed to make things worse - stepper jumped more often. I moved spool to the top again and it reduced jumping a little.
Prints are done beatifully (after changing the motherboard, that is) - no lost lines or layers, walls connected with infill, perfect first layer etc.

What may be the cause of stepper motor jumping? How can I solve it? Does it pose a threat to the motor or stepper? I need to print filament guide and spool holder with ball bearings, so that I can minimize force required by the extruder motor, but then the stepper will probably jump during the prints. I already damaged the original mainboard because of stuck filament, I don't want to destroy another one.

This is how regular extruder retraction looks:

             (10 seconds)
This is how stepper skipping looks:

             (13 seconds)

Today I replaced the whole heat block (radiator, heater, thermistor and nozzle) to a new one (original, for now) and motor stopped skipping - at least on the calibration cube. I will see, how will it perform on more complex prints.
However, even having the prior one in hands, I couldn't find the reason, why motor was skipping - other than the fact, that I couldn't extract the bowden tube from the radiator (so maybe some filament indeed was dripping inside?)

I have a problem most likely very similar to some reported by other users: extruder stepper is visually skipping a step from time to time. It rapidly rotates in the direction opposite to the one it is supposed to rotate.

These two sentences are saying something totally different, and the latter is not what a skipped step looks like. It sounds like retraction, which is totally normal.


Is a heated bed necessary if printing with PLA? I'm looking at getting this printer, the da Vinci 1.0w 3D Printer, very soon as my first printer. Since this is an enclosed printer, from what I can tell from the pictures, and given that it is a PLA Printer (I'm assuming that is the filament it prints with), is a heated bed necessary? Especially since this printer doesn't have one? Or should I look at a ABS printer instead?

I plan on printing 1:1 scale props.

There is problem with sticking to bed without preheat, PLA is possible to print on Kapton tape with no-heated bed. Or there are other tapes dedicated for printing. da Vinci 1.0w is good for small models with PLA. ABS is not possible with no heated bed.


Is there any way to shrink 3 mm filaments down to 2.85 mm? Some 3 mm filaments seem to actually be 3 mm - is there any way to shave off the excess and use it as 2.85 mm?

I would not recommend you to try and somehow re-size the filament, since even the smallest of irregularities and error in diameter occurring from such a process would ruin your prints with sporadic over and under extrusion. Rather, if you have the tools available, you could grind the filament into pellets, and use a filament extruder to make it anew with your desired diameter.

Alternatively, depending on your printer setup, you might very well extrude true 3.00 filament with your 2.85 mm filament printer. If you try to do that, make sure to:

Adjust filament diameter in your slicer
Check that your filament isn't getting squashed by the extruder wheel
Check that all mechanical parts actually can pass through your filament freely

I do not own a 2.85 mm printer myself, and therefore have not tried this procedure. There are, however, several people who seem to have done this successfully.


Bad print quality on Creality Ender 3 About 1.5 months ago I changed the springs of my printing bed and since then I have had the same problem again and again. Strangely enough, it only happens sometimes.

I have already realigned the printing bed several times, cleaned it etc. Maybe one of you can tell me what my problem is based on these pictures.

I have also already tried out various underlays.

I print with an Ender 3 , PLA, quality: 0.2 mm, speed: 25 mm/s, initial fan speed: 0 %.

I'm not sure if it helps but on the pictures I tried to print: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3495390.

From the images you can see that the filament is not squished to the bed, e.g. the extruded skirt looks as if a round rod lies on the bed. The bottom picture shows that the skirt is even dragged (top left); this indicates that the initial bed to nozzle distance is too large. Please decrease the distance or look into your slicer if there is a height offset active.


Heated bed for the XYZprinting da Vinci mini w Anybody ever tried to retrofit a heatbed to the da Vinci mini w with the proper dimensions (165 mm x 165 mm or 6.5" x 6.5").
Where can I find a heatbed that fits and a corresponding power supply / PID controller?

Instead of replacing the bed, you could invest in a silicone heating element and top it off with a piece of (Borosilicate) glass.

If the printer board has exposed headers to attach a heated bed, which is possible, but not certain, you could use an SSR (solid state relay) to power the bed using the signal from the board to set the temperature. Alternatively use a thermostat for an incubator to create the signal for the SSR. Note that all these parts can be sourced from those typical online websites.

In case the wires of the silicone heater stick out, use a layer of cork where you cut out space for the cables and thermistor.


Raft warping (Makerbot Replicator+) Quick thing: Please tell me if I misuse any of the terminology

On a replicator+, I have been printing successfully for a while, when suddenly the raft started to warp. I was doing a bunch of models that covered the whole tray, so I shrunk to just a small area, but It still warped I read up on how to fix, but most covered how to fix warping in the model itself, not the rafting. Some said to lower the temp, would that work? smart extruder at default settings, 215 C. The printer does not have a heated base, nor have I treated it with anything, and I am using it with the stock program (makerbot print). Otherwise, I am using it as it came out of the box.

I'm not sure I am reading your post correctly, but if you are doing a batch of small prints, I would recommend to space them enough so as each of them has its own mini-raft, rather than all of them sharing the same large one.

If you are using cura, you can tweak how much the raft goes past the footprint of the part.  Unless you are printing very small parts, you don't need that to be a lot.

In general, you should think to a raft as a print in and by itself: the larger it is, the more prone to warping, although the way filament is layered with gaps makes the raft bend and warp a lot less than a regular print of the same size.


overlaying epoxy resin on PLA I've been experimenting with FDM 3D printers and PLA for about a year now.
I'm at the point where I'd like to produce something considerably stronger than PLA, and was wondering if there is a faux-pas list, or general instructions on how to coat PLA with epoxy resin, or even fibreglass/carbon fibre and resin to add strength and a surface to sand and paint.

I would have assumed that I'd need to coat the PLA object using a brush and epoxy resin, but I've also seen blogs where the epoxy mix has been heated enough to become liquid and then the PLA object was submerged in it.

Obviously the fibre coating would most likely have to take place manually by adding sheets, unless I decide to go for shredded fibres (which probably won't provide the strength I'm interested in).

Has anyone tried it, or have a guide on how to do this?

I have used Styrol based Polyester resins on prints and they created the usual stench as well as a surefire bond and it is easily useable with unstructured fiberglass, as that fiberglass has usually a binder that will react with the styrol and bond the mat.

Epoxy resins also bond nicely to PLA and don't have the styrol smell, but they are not bonding that nicely to normal fiberglass, you want to use them with fiberglass weave.

Either resin is a quite viscous fluid. When you cast a flat surface, it will try to smooth out to a good degree under gravity. When coating a curved surface, you should make sure to align it in way that the lowest point is either the top of the dome or the lower edge, so it settles equally. You can aid in this process by providing heat as this will lower viscosity. An airstream will also aid as it presses onto the surface helping to smooth out unevenness.


Printer Crashes at the Beginning of a Print I am converting an old Makerbot Replicator 2 to Marlin Firmware and everything works. The printer heats up, auto bed levels, and starts the print. However, after a couple minutes (usually after the 1st or 2nd layer), the printer crashes and stops. It does not continue printing and I have to restart it again. It crashed for every single print, I have not had any successful prints yet.
Here is a video showing the issue:

The camera was started right when the print started. After about 1.5 minutes, the printer crashes, and the lcd screen freezes.
Here are photos of a couple of prints that crashed:

I have all of my code here: https://github.com/RosalieWessels/Marlin_MakerbotReplicator2
My models are sliced with Cura and printed in PLA.
I tried hotend temperatures of 200, 210, and 220 degrees. My print speed is around 50 or 60 mm/s.
Here is a sample sliced file that was used:
https://filebin.net/df33a3jjwgemz0m8
Thank you!

I see a couple likely culprits for a hardcrash like this

problems with the power supply. If the power supply does not provide enough voltage an/or current to the board, this can lead to a lockup of the board.
temperature issues of the board. If the board overheats, it could fail to execute properly, leading to abort. make sure that the board is not overheating.
faulty firmware. recompile your firmware and reflash it.
faulty board.


Is PLA filament conductive? I am planing on printing something that will make contact with PCB boards. The print will be most likely to be in PLA. I don't want to fry the PCB board so I want to know if 3D printed PLA objects are conductive.

I googled and found out about special non-conductive PLA and conductive PLA. But what about the conductivity of normal PLA?

Normal PLA is non-conductive. You can take an $\Omega$-meter to a test part if you're really concerned somehow you have some PLA that is conductive.
There is a caveat that your color may include metal flake or graphite of some kind. Depending on the density it may be conductive. But I've tested my silver on hand and it gave me infinite resistance.


How to sharpen cookie/clay cutter edge I’m new to 3D printing and have the Creality Ender 3 Pro. I work a lot with clay for earrings and wanted to design my own cutters with a sharp edge to create clean shapes.

I use PLA and have been using the speed and nozzle (0.4 mm) that was already set when I bought it. It’s been creating fine edges but I’d like to make it a lot sharper. Using the instructions from videos I saw online, I created the following u shape (extrusion of .5 mm Is the “cutting edge”. I started getting some weird bubbles too and am not sure what has created that either (see pic).

I use fusion 360 to make the cookie/clay cutter and then send it to Ultimaker Cura to slice.

Any help with how to make it sharper and more clean cuts would be great!

An extrusion width of 0.5 mm is too wide for making a sharp outline, I do use this sometimes for extrusion width for the infill.

Note that you can sand plastic (e.g. PLA or ABS) to sharpen the edge.


First 3 mm prints poorly, then fine after that I have an Ender 3 that I have been pretty happy with so far, however it recently started an odd behavior and I can't figure out what's causing it.

What happens is that the first ~3 mm of the print comes out "sloppy". After that, everything clears up and it prints fine for the rest of the print. (Although it perhaps looks a little under extruded on the top layer)

It looks almost like it's over extruding. But if that's the case, why would it only be for the first 3 mm? Then the top layer looking under extruded makes that possibility even more unlikely.

This is consistently happening regardless of what I am printing, the brand of filament (I only print PLA), or the bed temp or hot end temp. I've tried tweaking with the bed leveling and giving a little more gap on the first layer, but that doesn't seem to change anything either. I also calibrated the extrusion multiplier and it's spot on now.

I use Ultimaker Cura 3.6 as my slicer. I tried resetting back to defaults to see if maybe I had inadvertently changed something but that didn't help either.

I have done a few upgrades - Marlin firmware, Capricorn tubing, glass bed, replaced the (broken) plastic extruder with one of the metal ones, new PTFE fittings. I didn't notice the problem until recently so I can't say if it started corresponding with any of those upgrades.

When I first got it, the prints came out beautifully from the first layer, so this is really frustrating me. I'd like to get it back the way it was.

Any suggestions on where to look?

Update: I did some slightly more controlled experimemts and I did get it looking a little better. It does seem related mostly to bed tempurature. The cooler I make the bed, the better it looks. However as it gets cooler, the prints are also starting to warp and break loose, so the print ends up failing completely. I had a hard time getting a successful print below about 45 degrees, and even at that temperature it still isn't completely clean. I'm using glue stick for adhesion and it just doesn't seem able to hold it without some heat. I traditionally have run around 50 degrees before this problem started though, so it seems odd I have to drop below that now.

Also, for more info, the cube dimensions are pretty close in the X and Y, but were about .5mm short in the Z. So the layers do seem to be settling.

I did check the bed temp with a non-contact thermometer and it was consistent with what the printer reported, so it doesnt seem to be a bad thermostat throwing things off.

After much trial and error, I think I finally figured out the solution.

Even though I could get better prints by tweaking with the temperatures, I could never totally eliminate the problem. The better I made it look by cooling down the bed, the more likely it would break free and the print would fail completely.

At one point though I happened to print something taller, and interestingly enough a similar band of ugly layers appeared higher up in the print as well.

So I started a closer inspection of the Z axis rollers. The Ender 3 has a funky setup where there are 3 rollers at each end of the X axis. Two are fixed and one can be adjusted to change the tension of the rollers against the Z rails. What I discovered was that a couple of the non-adjustable rollers weren't terribly tight and could be turned by fairly easily with my fingers. At the same time, the adjustable rollers are starting to wear a groove.

On a hunch, I decided to try re-adjusting the tension so that I could no longer turn any of them with my fingers. It definitely had an effect...now the bed was too high and it would no longer extrude the first layer because the nozzle was too close. This required going through the complete bed leveling process to get it back in spec.

Once I got it re-leveled, low and behold it's printing like new! The height is coming out spot-on too.

I suspect what was happening is that the rollers were too loose and at certain heights they we allowing movement in the Z axis. Perhaps there is a flat spot that was allowing the X rail to droop, then once it got past the flat spot it would print cleanly again.

I haven't printed anything tall enough yet to see if the bad layers still show up higher in the print, if they do, I think it is probably a sign that I need to replace some rollers. In the mean time, I'm thrilled to be getting decent prints again!

Update: This ended up NOT being the solution to my problem. However it does seem to be related. As I mentioned in the comments, the problem returned after a few days of the printer sitting unused. I have since been able to get it printing better by going the opposite route - loosening up the Z axis bearings. At the moment it is printing somewhat better, but still not perfect. I am also having under extrusion issues when may or may not be related. I have ordered some new rollers to see if that helps since some of them had a pretty good groove worn in them.

Another Update: I replaced several of the Z rollers that had become grooved with some that claimed to be a little harder material. So far this seems to have mostly cleared up the issue. I have now completed several large print jobs and the first layers have been coming out pretty good.

I also ended up taking out the Capricorn tubing on the extruder. The extruder skips were becoming quite bad and causing under extrusion issues throughout the print. The Capricorn has a little smaller inside diameter than the stock tubing and I wondered if it was too tight on some filaments. I went back to some plain white cheap PTFE and that problem mostly went away as well. I still hear the "click" once in a while, but it is fairly rare. I may try tweaking the motor current a little to see if I can get rid of that. All in all though, the printer seems to be printing about as good as it ever has.


Fixing temperature Issues on I3 Mega / Where to find spare part I have an old Anycubic i3 Mega printer which started having issues keeping the hotend-temperature. The peak at the start of the diagram was when I was touching the cable on top of the hotend:

It also sometimes disconnects completely with a MINTEMP-Error
So it is fair to assume it might be an issue with the cable/plug to the hotend.
My problem is that I cannot find that cable anywhere on the Anycubic spare parts site. Is this maybe a "standard" cable that I can get anywhere else?

The plastic looks ok.  If you get the tools and pins to work on the connector, you could replace problem pins.  Many of us build our own cables.  If we verify the connector is Molex, you might need calipers to measure dimensions to get the correct size.  You won't need expensive ones.  I've seen digital calipers from \$10 to \$20.
Have you already verified your sensor and heater aren't an issue?  Maybe you've tried a new hot end, or a new heater block with a new heater and sensor.
You can visually inspect the pins on the connector to see if they have a loose connection.  See the solution at Proper hotend heater for Reprap x400 Pro V3
What is strange from you graph, you seem to be loosing connection to both thermistors.  Do the thermistors to the bed and hot end share one common connection, so that one pin could affect both?
If you haven't already tried it, one quick fix to try is unplugging the cables and plug them in again with the printer off of course.


Manual Color Changing Ive been experimenting will multiple color filament but the colors a more or less blended. Is there are filament that goes from one color directly to another without having transition color ex. red to green immediately.
I've been tinkering with Filament Hub Filament and it is very good (some of the best I've ever used)  however I've had to essentially melt strands of one filament to the next and this is unsustainable.
Anyone know any filaments or methods to have an immediate color change

It takes at least a few cm of extrusion to purge the old color before switching to a new one due to mixing in the melt zone, and possibly much more depending on the particular pigments. If the old color is something bright like red and the new one is white or something close, it can even take many tens of cm before you get a clean new color.
Multi-color extrusion setups either use separate hotends per color or fancy retraction setups where each color can be retracted separately, along with purge towers. You cannot get a clean color switch in the print just by having one in the input filament, and this is probably why all the mixed color filament that's sold is blended - so customers don't get disappointed when it doesn't work like you expect.


How to move Z up after printing in Cura? Simple question, I want to move my printer head up when the print finishes instead of to the side.
Where's the option to do this in Cura?

Go towards the right top corner. Click on the printer name. From the drop down, select, "Manage printers". You will get a dialogue box in the middle of your screen. Your current printer's name will be shown in italics. On the right side of the dialogue box, click on, "Machine settings". This will open another dialogue box. In the lower left, you will see a text box with the heading, "End G-Code" scroll down to where you see the line, "G1 X0 Y0". This is the line that moves your print head to the lower left corner. G1 is the command for a linear move. X0 and Y0 are move instructions to move the the 0 coordinate for the two axes. Change this line to G1 Znn where "nn" is the number of the coordinate you wish to move to. Close this dialogue, close the previous dialogue and all newly sliced file will now use this code.
If like to keep track of any changes you make, you can put a semi-colon at the beginning of the line. This turns the line into a comment and will not be actioned. Then press enter and on a new line, put the line, G1 znn.


Where to define grid for bilinear levelling in Marlin I'm using firmware Marlin 2.0.3 on an Anet A8 printer. I'm using a Roko SN04-N NPN bed leveller. I've managed to set up 3 points bed levelling but I wanted to try the bilinear levelling.

Issue is, the sensor goes out of the aluminum bed ever so slightly during levelling, resulting in the printing head crashing on the bed.

Where can I set the grid for the bilinear levelling in the config file? I didn't find the option in the file and Google wasn't of any help this time.

If you have managed to setup 3-point levelling, you should be able to enable bi-linear levelling in the firmware.

From the configuration.h file for Marlin firmware you can find the following options:

/**
 * Choose one of the options below to enable G29 Bed Leveling. The parameters
 * and behavior of G29 will change depending on your selection.
 *
 *  If using a Probe for Z Homing, enable Z_SAFE_HOMING also!
 *
 * - AUTO_BED_LEVELING_3POINT
 *   Probe 3 arbitrary points on the bed (that aren't collinear)
 *   You specify the XY coordinates of all 3 points.
 *   The result is a single tilted plane. Best for a flat bed.
 *
 * - AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR
 *   Probe several points in a grid.
 *   You specify the rectangle and the density of sample points.
 *   The result is a single tilted plane. Best for a flat bed.
 *
 * - AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR
 *   Probe several points in a grid.
 *   You specify the rectangle and the density of sample points.
 *   The result is a mesh, best for large or uneven beds.
 *
 * - AUTO_BED_LEVELING_UBL (Unified Bed Leveling)
 *   A comprehensive bed leveling system combining the features and benefits
 *   of other systems. UBL also includes integrated Mesh Generation, Mesh
 *   Validation and Mesh Editing systems.
 *
 * - MESH_BED_LEVELING
 *   Probe a grid manually
 *   The result is a mesh, suitable for large or uneven beds. (See BILINEAR.)
 *   For machines without a probe, Mesh Bed Leveling provides a method to perform
 *   leveling in steps so you can manually adjust the Z height at each grid-point.
 *   With an LCD controller the process is guided step-by-step.
 */
//#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_3POINT
//#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR
//#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR
//#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_UBL
//#define MESH_BED_LEVELING

If you are using 3-point levelling you enabled constant AUTO_BED_LEVELING_3POINT by removing the comment characters (//):

#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_3POINT

to enable bi-linear levelling, you should remove the comment characters before constant #define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR:

#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR

Definition of the grid is done by specifying how many point you want to have using constants GRID_MAX_POINTS_X and GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y:

#if EITHER(AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR, AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR)

  // Set the number of grid points per dimension.
  #define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 3
  #define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y GRID_MAX_POINTS_X

The code above shows the default definition of a 9 point (3 x 3) grid.

Note that this will only work well if the area for the sensor to reach safely is correctly defined. If the sensor is missing the build plate, you have not correctly defined the limits for the sensor. Question "How to set Z-probe boundary limits in firmware when using automatic bed leveling?" has an accepted answer that describes how to define an area on the plate that the sensor may reach (the answer on this question also discusses Marlin 2.x).

In the specific case of the OP (after posting the config files)

From the posted configuration files your probe position can be obtained:

#define NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET { 25, 55, 0 }

So your probe is at the right-back when facing the printer. Also your bed area attempt (commented) and the current active bed area can be obtained:

#if PROBE_SELECTED && !IS_KINEMATIC
  //#define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_LEFT 5
  //#define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_RIGHT 200
  //#define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_FRONT 55
  //#define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_BACK 200
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_LEFT MIN_PROBE_EDGE
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_RIGHT MIN_PROBE_EDGE
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_FRONT MIN_PROBE_EDGE
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_BACK MIN_PROBE_EDGE
#endif

From these excerpts it is clear that the bed limits are incorrectly defined.

Following the theory from this answer the probe is only allowed to visit the following (dark red) area:

This area is defined as:

  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_LEFT (PROBE_OFFSET_X_FROM_EXTRUDER + MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_RIGHT (MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_FRONT (PROBE_OFFSET_Y_FROM_EXTRUDER + MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_BACK (MIN_PROBE_EDGE)

which translates to:

  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_LEFT (25 + MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_RIGHT (MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_FRONT (55 + MIN_PROBE_EDGE)
  #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_BACK (MIN_PROBE_EDGE)

As seen in the commented //#define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_LEFT 5 and uncommented #define MIN_PROBE_EDGE_LEFT MIN_PROBE_EDGE (equals 10) left probe limits, you are at least respectively 20  or 15 mm short, hence the sensor is not on the plate on the left.


Upgrading to higher torque extruder motor creality ender3 So according to E3D customer service, the V6 is designed to have higher back pressure than the MK8. This leads to underextrusion with PLA and all kinds of problems unless you increase the temp by 30 - 50 °C so it will heat the filament faster and reduce the back pressure. They recommended getting a geared extruder such as the titan when I contacted them. Why none of this is mentioned on the V6 product page I have no idea, but I am not about to spend the cost of the V6 again on an E3D extruder unless it is truly the only option. I would imagine one could just replace the stock extruder motor with higher torque.

Does anyone know the max amperage motor you can replace the stock extruder motor with?
Is a 2 A NEMA 17 too much?
Will a 2 A stepper give any more torque than the stock one (I know it is rated at a higher oz-in but does that actually translate to more torque)?
Finally, where are the specs for the Ender 3 stepper drivers listed?

So the 'obvious' answer to this problem is to run a slower print speed, so it isn't so much as a case of information being missing, as there being a non-trivial trade off between speed, quality and cost.
Using the E3D products as examples, a double length NEMA17 can indeed deliver twice the kg×cm as a standard one, and a slimline a little less. E3D suggest that 'standard' A4988 drivers are capable of supplying 2A, but this is right at the limit of their performance (and you would certainly want to consider heatskinking/forced cooling).
E3D also list a standard stepper motor with a 5.18:1 reduction gearbox. This should give a good 4x increase in driven torque, and if you can find just the gearbox, that might be the cheapest option. You don't need such a high reduction, but this is limited by the physical size available.
In the absence of any better specs, a physically similar motor might be a good reference. You can check this by comparing various parts from different manufacturers. Regardless of the current capacity, more torque generally means a larger sized part.


What is retract speed & length? On a 3D XYZ printer extruder, I found two terms I have no idea about:

retract speed
retract length

What are these and why/how should they be set?

Retraction is the reversal of the direction of the filament and is generally used when moving from one non-contiguous point of the print to another, in order to prevent stringing and oozing of the filament. If retraction is not employed then the filament still coming out of the nozzle, after the last point was printed (and paused), will stretch, thus creating a fine string, as the print head is moved to the next position where printing is to recommence.

The retraction speed is the speed at which the filament is retracted, or pulled back (by the extruder stepper), and the retraction length is the amount that is pulled back.
These settings are dealt with in the XYZware User manual, on page 43, section 11.5 Retraction

11.5 Retraction

11.5.1 Retract Length
In printing object, before large movement of print module, print
filament will be drawn back, such that slight negative  pressure
occurs  in  print  nozzle,  preventing  material  from  adhering  to
the  object  while  moving, improving surface quality of print object
11.5.2 Activate Threshold
Such  setting  will  allow  users  to  set  up  retraction  mechanism
activation  style.  For  setup  mode,  users  usually specify the
minimal print module movement distance for retraction mechanism
activation
11.5.3 Lifting height for extruder withdrawal
After retraction, the print module will be elevated slightly with such
setup value. Such action prevents material from adhering to the
object, and makes a more orderly final print stop point. However, it
should be noted that excessively large elevation will extend print
preparation time for the next print layer, and portions of angles may
results cooling and difficult to bond conditions between layers
11.5.4 Add Extra Filament after Travel < Retraction
Material  compensation  may  be  used  to  improve  upon  holes  or
poor  extrusion  due  to  excessive  extruder withdrawal

Retraction speed isn't dealt with in the above section though. In section 3.3, of the XYZware Pro. User Manual, it is mentioned:

Retract Speed
The speed for pulling filament backwards. Refer to the function introduction in the next chapter for more about retraction.
Hint:
Cooperation of retraction speed and other print speeds will affect feeding stability directly in printing. A print speed slightly faster than the retraction speed would prevent material squeeze from interrupt.

However, the manual doesn't then go on to give any setting. However, the default settings should suffice, unless you are experiencing issues with stringing and/or oozing.
A further explanation can be found here, Stringing and oozing:

Reason 2: Retraction Length
The retraction function includes two setting options. One is
retraction length and the other is retraction speed. The retraction
length determines how much melted filament will be pulled out of the
nozzle. In general, the more plastic that is retracted from the
nozzle, the less likely the nozzle is to ooze while moving. As for the
issue, the default setting in the expert mode is enough for you to
solve the problem. If you encounter stringing with your print job, you
can increase the retraction length slightly to test again to see if
the performance improves.
Reason 3: Retraction Speed
The retraction speed determines how fast the filament is retracted
from the nozzle. If the speed is too low, it will make no difference
to your print job., the melted filament will still drop down through
the nozzle and leave on the model. On the contrary, if the speed is
too fast, the filament will be back to the nozzle and cannot be
extruded out in the next movement of printing. As for the retraction
speed setting, users can reserve the default setting which is perfect
for almost every models.

Testing your settings
As 0scar has reminded me, there are a good number of retraction test prints available (cubes, towers, bridges), which will help you check that your settings are adequate. These prints provide models that have a lot of print breaks (points between which printing is paused and then resumed), which can cause stringing to be exhibited. See RepRap Wiki - Oozebane:

Oozebane
Objective: stop material oozing out of the nozzle during
'non-printing' moves.
Many extruders will emit (ooze) plastic even when the extruder motor
is not turning. To overcome this your slicing software needs to
'retract' the print medium during head movement when not printing. The
retraction creates negative pressure within the hot end heating
chamber which effectively sucks the print medium back up through the
nozzle, stopping it from oozing.
Calibration Object: oozebane-test.stl
The calibration object prints two towers about 30 mm apart. The head
must move between each of the towers at each layer. If your printer is
not set correctly then you will see many fine filaments (or strings)
between the two towers. You can eliminate these filaments by
eliminating ooze.
Calibration Object 2 (Variable sized towers for testing ooze): variable_size_ooze_test_nobase.stl
This is a simple model to help tune reversal parameters for a stepper
extruder (using much less filament before actually testing the
ooziness). It consists of a number of towers with different
thicknesses, with different spacing between each tower. A well-tuned
bot should be able to produce even the smallest towers.

A simple google search, thingiverse retraction, shows up a lot of examples, such as:

10 Minute Mini Calibration Test for Oozing/Retraction at Different Distances
4 Cube Retraction Calibration
Retraction Tower Test or String retraction tower test

Check out the following (suspiciously similar) tags1, for even more examples:

retraction_test
retraction-test
retraction

Additional note for Bowden setups
As Trish notes in the comments:

According to my experience2 it is generally a good idea to add 2 to 4 mm of retraction to a bowden setup in comparison to a direct drive when dialing in the perfect retraction. This is, because some distance is "eaten" by the flex of the Bowden tube.

1 It seems as if Thingiverse could benefit from tag synonyms
2 and Thomas Sanladerer's advice during a stream


"Missing" rows on 64x128 LCD after flashing Marlin 1.1.9 onto Monoprice Maker Select v2 I've successfully flashed Marlin 1.1.9 onto a Melzi v3.5 board (the stock board for my Monoprice Maker Select v2 (v2.1?, a white-labelled Wanhao i3 Duplicator).

Initially after the flash succeeded the LCD displayed was "garbled".  The right side, in particular, had lots of pixels out of place.  I was able to resolve this by experimenting with some delay variables.  Prior to the flash the LCD was 100 % working; to my knowledge no damage happened while I had the machine apart.

Here's my changes to Configuration.h from Marlin 1.1.9, excluding anything to do with X/Y/Z/E, etc (irrelevant stuff).

#define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_MELZI
#define SDSUPPORT
#define REVERSE_ENCODER_DIRECTION

//
// LCD for Melzi Card with Graphical LCD
//
#define LCD_FOR_MELZI

// Increase delays to fix garbled LCD
#define ST7920_DELAY_1 DELAY_NS(0)
#define ST7920_DELAY_2 DELAY_NS(100)
#define ST7920_DELAY_3 DELAY_NS(200)

The display is much better, however there are about 4x rows of pixels through center of the display running left to right that mostly don't display.  There are little sections--perhaps 20x pixels (maybe 3%) that do appear to be displaying.

Here's a photo of the problem:

Are there any other typical culprits?  Based on what I've read it sounds like this is a recent(ish) issue with Marlin, and perhaps would be solved with an older version or a different firmware.

Here's a photo, if you look closely you can see the 'dead' rows, with about 6x pixels work

PS.  While troubleshooting I added shielding to the LCD's ribbon cable (foil wrapping the cable, grounded, and wrapped with electrical tape).  It didn't help, but I left it on.

Possibly unrelated to the firmware?  This happened to me when I tightened the mount screws on the LCD,  after I backed them off a bit it was fine.


Arduino 3D printer sketch I'm building an automatic warehouse system using three NEMA 17 stepper motor.

My problem is to move the motors with precision, since I do not have any kind of encoder on the motor and so I cannot know the position of the axes. I thought that the system could be similar to a 3D printer, since neither 3d printers have encoder on the motor.

Where can I find a sketch for Arduino of a 3D printer, to understand how they work? How do they move with such precision without any kind of sensor?

[For now] most of the open source 3d printer firmware written for Arduino-based hardware. This means you can just download the source and look through the relevant pieces of code.

Marlin is the most obvious example.


What is stopping us from mixing 3D filament colors in an Extruder? This came up in one of my groups today. That we could not color bend, or mix 3d printing filaments. I have researched but I am not finding anything talking about Plastic mixing in an extruder.

Why is it that we cannot take say a Diamond hotend, or a hotend with 5+ inputs, and mix any color we want? (assuming all the same type, ABSm, PLA). I think it would be interesting to at the least get a gradient effect on prints.

The best I have seen is natural plastic and a marker system. Or a powder / advanced / out of hobbyist price range process that sprays ink. The only Color Bending I know of is with Recycled plastic that uses multi color. Not quite what I am looking for.

Thanks!

I just started with google and phrase "3d printing color mixing" and on the first place (in fact first two were valueless adverts) I got this Instructables - DIY Full Color Mixing 3D Printer.

How it works?

It uses magenta / cyan / yellow filaments and mixes it while printing with Diamond hotend.

It definitely does what you are asking for and it's exactly the same idea you come up with ;)

Overview

  Getting the controller board ready for three extruders... I hacked
  a RAMBo board to drive three extruders, however, you can use any board
  you want... (most people use a RUMBA due to it having all the
  pins/components needed for 3 extruders native on the board)
  Rewriting Repetier firmware to get color mixing working on your
  machine.
  How to install, configure, and use the diamond hotend - tips /
  tricks / lessons learned / etc...
  My original Bowden extruder design and various ways to mount the
  three extruders for your set-up
  My universal magnetic effector plate and accompanying hotend mounts
  for quickly swapping various hotends. (delta specific)
  How to design multi-color models and making STLs that can be
  exported and used as a individual STLs or combining them into an AMF
  file for slicing...
  Configuring color mixing in Repetier and Slic3r to print above
  mentioned multi-color models.
  Anything else I can think of later that I can't think of now.
  Comprehensive overview of Quantum Mechanical Entanglement as it
  pertains to multi-color printing (just kidding, I don't understand
  that... But I will cover multi-color printing throughly)


Thread pitch of Ender 3 bed leveling screws What is the thread pitch of the Ender 3's bed leveling screws? The diameter measures about 4mm. Are they M4 0.7 (coarse) pitch or 0.5 (fine) pitch? I'd like to develop rigorous formulas for the amount to turn the knobs by after measuring (or visually inspecting, since I can see an accurate 0.2 mm first layer decently well) leveling-test patterns in the corners rather than using a closed-loop tune-and-retry approach.

I measured mine with a thread gauge and it says the pitch is 0.7 mm.
So, as the stock adjustment wheels have 14 bumps around their circumference, turning by one of those is an adjustment of exactly 0.05 mm (assuming no backlash).
I can't speak for anyone else's, but due to the availability of replacement height adjustment wheels which don't specify alternative thread pitches, I guess that's the only one in use. I encourage you to verify my finding before relying on it.


Hemispherical Bowl : how is it possible? I was reading up about how to extrusion print an overhang greater than 45 degrees, when something weird stuck me.

I see lots and lots of 3D extrusion printed bowls that have perfectly printed hemispherical surfaces. However, given that there is some deformation expected as part of the print process, how is it possible to get a perfect hemispherical  bowl - where both inner and outer surfaces are perfectly hemispherical?

Note: I am not talking about surface smoothness, but about the shape of the bowl itself. I understand that surface smoothing will make the bowl look great, but it will not fix a deformation in the shape of a print.

There are several factors playing together. For example orientation, printer & slicer settings and more.
Reminder
First of all, not all overhangs of greater than 45° need support. Many printers manage up to 60°, even 70° is not unheard of - with the right settings. Pretty much all printers manage tiny 90° overhangs.
U-Bowls (open side up)
Let's look at bowls that shape like a U - the dome is at the bottom. With a flat contact surface only the next areas need support, and with PVA or other easily removable support structures on the rise, it is no problem to use support and leave no trace. With support, there is no sagging, so the bowl gets its "perfect" look even though there are overhangs and support used.
n-bowls (open side down)
The other way around - dome on top - is probably the more "smooth" one, using different tricks to get it set.
The outer wall now sits on the infill like the inner we had before, perfect, but we used that for the inner wall before. But what about the inner one?! Well, we need no support for the sides till we reach, let's say 55° angle. Can we go further without support? Yes... if we are tricksy!

Print the walls from the center to the outer wall, as then the inner walls stand on the lower layer and can hold the new, neighboring, floating wall
Have more than 2 walls! Why? Well, simple math: You go up by $z$, and out by $(n-1)\times d$ where $n$ is the number of walls. We have a maximum overhang angle of $\tan^{-1}(z^{-2}\times((n-0.5)\times d)^2)$ before our walls don't stand on the wall below by more than a half wall. As one can see, $z$ and $d$ are fixed in that calculation while a higher factor $n$ directly increases the value of the angle. As long as there is support for the wall (like the neighboring, already printed wall), you get some kind of dome.
Print thinner layers. If you decrease $z$, you also increase the maximum angle that has one wall standing on half a supporting wall.
Print slow. Printing slower allows the material to cool and harden while still somewhat held up by the cohesion to the filament that comes from the nozzle. This can support a higher overhang angle.
Cooling. Together with slow printing, you might want to use an extra strong cooling solution to speed up the solidification. Aim well.
Print narrow1 domes. Why is it much easier to print more narrow domes than wider domes? Part of the answer is how much geometry does not need to be supported by itself, another part is the weight of the full structure: A narrow dome spans a smaller distance. This means it has less area of a high angle to the last layer, and the overhangs, in general, are shorter. This can result in better printing.

1 What counts as narrow is printer and filament dependent. It is no problem to print small spherical hollows in a print if they are just small enough as the overhang then is just short enough so it can carry itself. At some point it gets too much though.


Lead screw holder - shall I buy metal or just use a printed one? I am on the way to building my own printer using 2020 profiles, TR8 * 500mm lead screw for the Z-axis. Still thinking if that will be a h-bot or coreXY, but this is another story.
As the printing table shall be mounted in a stable condition I am using this Tevo TornadoCube transformation as a base for the Z-axis. The guys are using metal housing for the lead-screws, but I am wondering if I just print this housing, lead screw mount, from thingiverse and add a 608 bearing - would that be acceptable?

Update:
As per Oscar's comment, my bed will have a set of linear guides next to the lead screw, for stabilization.
This is also a nice solution for the Z-axis. In that case, I have same question: Can I print bearing housing and rely on it, or it is better to use metal ones?

Update:
To answer your question, you could use either metal ones or printed ones. Metal housings are way more heavy that printed parts. The housing you refer to is not attached to the platform, but a static part connected to the frame. Weight is not an issue, stiffnes, strength and temperature stability should be of higher importance.

For metal housings attached to the Z platform weight may be an issue (if have many microsteps where the incremental torque may not be enough to raise the Z platform). Printed parts can be made stiff enough to house the linear bearings. In my experience printed bearing housings can be just as effective, I use those on my platform for my CoreXY printer as well as using leadscrew and linear guide rails brackets made of printed parts.

Old answer, before question update:
With platform movement (or printer head Z movement for Prusa designs) you face a few challenges related to the quality of the parts you buy. Note you want smooth operation of the platform (or head) without wobbling. It is customary to add linear rods or rails to guide the platform up and down, this is their sole purpose, therefore these rods need to be very straight and bought from a local trustworthy vendor (the Eastern oversea specimens are usually of less quality as I know from experience). Securing these linear guide rods could be done with printed parts, the plastic is stiff enough to hold the rods in place, and temperatures are usually not that high to play a large role (if so like in boxed up printers, print in high temperature resistance material), personally I use black PETG.

Secondly, the drive of the platform. Note that leadscrews are not perfectly round, nor is the coupling 100% in the center of the screw. From a mechanics point of view you should never constrain the leadscrews at both ends. This results in an over-constrained (indeterminate) system (of forces) that can induce even more problems. Optimally you fix one end close to the stepper, or the drive of the belt), it is arbitrary whether you use a metal or a plastic part for that unless there are constrains on size and thickness for a requested rigidity and leave the opposite side free. For Prusa clones I use lifting parts that house the lead screw nut rather than embedding the nut in the x-y idler coupler (this separates eccentric x-y movement from z movement and a handy advantage is that if something goes wrong in z min direction, the head will not destroy the glass or bed as it is not fixed to the lead screws). Something similar can be done for your platform. For my CoreXY however, I have not done so, it uses 4 linear rails of 12 mm and 2 leadscrews. PETG stepper mounts at the bottom drive the leadscrews using plum, not spring, couplers (the springy types should be avoided or a ("fixate-able") bearing or KFL08 mount should be placed at the other side of the driven side of the coupler and correctly mounted to the frame). Furthermore, I use Delrin or POM anti backlash nuts on a mount connected to the platform. All tall prints I make are perfectly straight, no wavy or wobbly vertical walls.


Slicing software and Sidewall I am new to FDM RP.  I've done a lot of work on ZCorp and Connex.

The question is can vectors curve drive an extrusion nozzle?  Within a 3D volume I can generate curves that I want the print nozzle to follow. Is this possible or has it been done? If so, what software or is there a hack?

Another question is, can you print a part with no sidewall or containment boundary?

Just for the fun of it and perhaps to contribute to this question, I opened my recent task in Simplify3d slicing software. Setting the perimeter walls and top/bottom surfaces to zero did not generate an error as I expected.

The print preview, essentially a g-code viewer, presented the model as only the honeycomb infill for which it was configured. Having zero layer thickness for the top/bottom also prevented features from printing that were composed of only walls without infill. Small details that otherwise print well were lost completely.

I can see that properly designed models printed with certain infill patterns and percentages would be quite artistic.

With respect to the first question, one could create a program to accomplish the desired result if one were an experienced programmer. It would be a matter of converting a specific set of vectors into g-code for the printer. I'm familiar enough with g-code to know that a well defined curve is easy enough to create in g-code but only if the mechanicals support arcs. If not, it's not so easy. The conversion from a vector format file to g-code would require a talented programmer indeed.

I suspect there are talented programmers "out there," but one must be suitably skilled and equally suitably motivated, yes?


Pronterface won't connect to my Anycubic Kossel Linear Plus For the Anycubic Kossel Linear Plus I have to upload data to the 3D printer from a software called Arduino and then close it. Then I open Pronterface and put in the right port and baud rate that is in the Arduino files and then click "connect". Afterwards it says

connecting...

and that is all it does and doesn't fully connect to the printer. I've tried changing the baud rate and port in Pronterface, Arduino and the bit rate in the Device Manager but nothing works.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

I know this is coming very late, but I'll post anyway in hopes that it may help somebody else experiencing the same frustration.

I received all of the same suggestions again and again on the forums -- about baud rate, COM ports, and a lot else which failed to get Pronterface to connect.

At last I posted to the Anycubic User Group on FB, and quickly received what was in my case the solution -- and so ridiculously simple.

I was told to hit RESET two or three times on Pronterface after hitting CONNECT.  Yup, that did it!

Good luck!!  :D


How to post-process G-code to make prints faster using splines and arcs? Recently (in 2017) there was a paper that got some publicity by researchers who are using a B spline algorithm to reduce vibrations in 3D printers. But before them, a B Spline implementation seems to have been first been made open-source by an alias named DeepSoic here. I would like to be able to print faster using the method described in the research paper, through post-processing G-code. I'm pretty sure these two sources use basically the same technique but I could be misunderstanding things.
Basically instead of stopping and starting for travel moves, speed changes are done in a curvy fashion, so the head never stops and the printer never shakes. This makes the print smoother and also faster. I think printing 10 times faster is something that is really awesome once you try it. Laser cutting relies on cubic splines for a different reason; to create curves in space. But it seems like these techniques are doing something unique to to 3D printing -- using them to adjust head acceleration/de-acceleration to create smoother movement arcs of the print head. Since laser cutters have a constant head movement, this technique wouldn't help them much.
The downside seems to be that it makes way more G-code commands, overloading the USB port, since it's sending all the points on a curve so quickly. I'm assuming a smart person today would really only use it through an SD card (which has disadvantages) or if they bought a 3D printer with a free Wi-Fi module thrown in (which also has disadvantages). Maybe a high baud rate helps.
I was wondering if there are any more established ways to use this obviously extremely important and beneficial and simple algorithm. Initially I was thinking that this is obviously something that should be added as a checkbox in a slicer, and not something to be implemented in Marlin. But after writing this post I realized that a Marlin implementation would allow you to use this technique over USB, but only if the slicer steedleaders are also using its special G-codes for this optimization. I don't care if it's a post-processing technique like the research paper's or a special Marlin-friendly version, I just want to use this technique even if I have to use this Huawei Wi-Fi module.
Basically I would like to know the best way to get started using this technique through a slicer or other software.

I think there is a miscommunication between users of CNC laser cutters and users of 3D printers. In laser cutting the arcs are used to define the path of the cut, which would be equivalent to filament extrusion. In laser cutting, the motion of the laser itself is constant. But in 3D printing, arcs can be used to smooth the speed of the printhead as it moves across the perimeter, and then to infill. It is using arcs for controlling the head well which isn't a problem in laser cutting. Since it's about the head movement, and not the model itself, I don't see how the STL file really matters.
It's really about using an arc to set head speed (a first derivative of position). Not anything about the shape of the model (which would just be position). At least that's my interpretation.
The Wi-Fi module is interesting because it receives an IP address from my router, then my router stops listing it as a connected device. But it still connected, because I can access it wirelessly. I am going to look into it more once I can fix some other problems with this dual-head. But so far there's a reason to think it might be backdoored.

I would have liked to answer linking to credible official sources, but I cannot add references either on direct B-spline printing. So I'm writing down my thoughts. I've familiarized myself in B-splines to understand what they are and read into the 2 references given by the OP.

Basically, the printer software only allows printing of straight lines. Yes I know we can give orders to the printer to print a curve (using G2 or G3), but these eventually will be converted to printing straight lines. There is no ready made printer firmware available to print cubic curves directly to my knowledge. If it would be possible, these curves should eventually be translated into smaller straight lines by the firmware of timed stepper rotational output. These extra calculations would demand a considerable effort of the printer board processor, most probably far more an 8-bit processor would be able to handle.
Comparing the paper released in 2017 to the G-code pre-processing software reveals that although both seem to refer to B-spline techniques, they are implemented differently. For example, the pre-processing software aims to reduce the linear travel moves by replacing these with B-spline curves (and not affect the actual print object), while the paper focuses on the optimization of the actual printing curves being optimized by B-spline curves (also using a pre-processor). Both eventually would need to create a multitude of small straight lines to have the printer be able to actually print the object as there is no 3D printing firmware solution to print curves. Do note that the method in the paper has been questioned by the RepRap community, which demonstrated that they could print the same object way faster than the B-spline optimized example. Furthermore, do note that the Marlin community is probably moving in that direction as can be seen from e.g. this feature request and this G-code meta overview; G-code instruction G5.
So, both methods rely on pre-processing G-codes by identification of sliced coordinate (print) moves, translation into Bézier/B-spline curves for (print) moves, which eventually are translated into normal G0/G1 (print) moves. It does not appear that the Marlin community/developers are aiming to implement Bézier or B-spline curves soon. This implies that if you want to pursuit printing B-splines, you need to make your own pre-processor, or dive into Marlin C++ development; an 8-bit based printer board would not be sufficient indeed like the OP mentioned, up-scaling to 32-bit or interfacing with USB might be the only solution.


What types of pigments can be used when making your own filaments? There are many types of pigments made for paint, food, fabric, cosmetic and finally plastic pigments. I guess we need pigments made for plastic, or at least pigments which won't decompose, burn or lose their properties at the temperatures inside the filament extrusion machines (around 240C).

So what type of pigment are we looking for (does that type have a name?) and where can they be found (off-the-shelf from some specialized paint store or is it a more specialized pigment for plastics which is harder to source)?

The normal way pigment is added to filament (or any other extruded plastic product) is by mixing "masterbatch" pellets containing a high concentration of dye with the raw resin pellets. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterbatch) This is significantly easier and more reliable than trying to mix raw pigments into the plastic -- the likelihood of clumping and other issues is greatly reduced.

You can buy these masterbatch pellets and mix up colors in whatever ratios you want to achieve specific output colors. Just make sure the masterbatch pellet carrier material is compatible with your resin. There are a wide variety of vendors, including ebay.


How to create a very accurate STL file as well as the slices for a 3D printer? I have been using Solidworks and AutoCAD to create STL file of a 3D model I want to print. I slice the STL file using Freesteel Z level slicer (http://www.freesteel.co.uk/wpblog/slicer/) and save the slices in a bmp format.

My 3d print has an array of circular channels, all of one radius. I expected the bmp slice to contain the circular shapes looking exactly identical to each other. However, I don't obtain the exact same replicas. Looks like the pixel-wise mapping has not been done uniformly. (View http://s24.postimg.org/p7w09zvkl/snippet.png for the image).

I want each and every circle to be represented by exactly the same set of pixels in the bmp image, so that all of the circular contours are identical. (I do not prefer changing the pixel resolution.)

How can I overcome this problem? Are there any better tools which would lead to a perfectly uniform pixel-wise mapping?

Thanks!

PJ

Your objective has a serious constraint regarding the pixel resolution. Within that limitation, the software (slicer) you are using will generate "best guess" images, particularly dependent on floating point math. There may be a single combination of circular shapes (radius) and spacing for these shapes that provides your objective, but that's likely not a practical exercise.

You have not indicated if you've tried other slicers, which would be the primary direction. A list of choices can be found here:

Free Slicing Program List

Another option that you can consider, not included in this list, is to use OpenSCAD, import the STL file, then use the projection() command to manually slice and export the image file. I use the term "manually" but the program can be coded to perform this task automatically, and there is a command line feature to OpenSCAD that may be useful.

Note also that the output of these slicers and/or OpenSCAD may exceed the resolution you desire. Manipulation of the image with a graphics editor could result in the same floating point disarray as you perform the changes.


Centering model with CuraEngine when creating g-code? How can I center a model at the middle of the printing area of the printer when creating a g-code with CuraEngine.

Are there any parameters I can add to ultimaker2.def.json to achieve this?
Thanks.

Found a solution.
This need to be applied under "settings"

"command_line_settings": {
    "label": "Command Line Settings",
    "description": "Settings which are only used if CuraEngine isn't called from the Cura frontend.",
    "type": "category",
    "enabled": true,
    "children": {
        "center_object": {
        "description": "Whether to center the object on the middle of the build platform (0,0), instead of using the coordinate system in which the object was saved.",
            "type": "bool",
            "label": "Center object",
            "default_value": true,
            "enabled": true
        }
    }
}


Where did I go wrong by trying to add an extra motor to my board? I'd like to add an extra motor to my board and I'm not sure where I went wrong. The motor will be used to spin a rotating wheel/carriage of potential hot ends to switch to. Because it's just a motor it doesn't need a heatrod or a temperature sensor.

I had just a MKS_BASE 1.0 board, so I purchased a RAMPS 1.4 board from Ebay to be its extender.

(( **Warning ** this board is cheap because it was improperly produced and is a fire hazard: https://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4 . I recommend using a CNC shield instead ))

This red board is meant to fit an Arduino Mega, but I figure I can use the extra pins on the MKS_BASE1.0 and connect them with jumper wire to the RAMPS 1.4 board. It made sense in case I want to add other things to the original MKS_BASE 1.0 board (like more hot end heater cartridges).

I connected the 5V and one GND pin from my MKS_BASE 1.0. I also connected some of the SERVOS pins from the MKS_BASE 1.0: D37 is the 'Dir', D35 is the 'Step', and D17 is the 'Enable'. I also connected the 12V power supply to the RAMPS 1.4 board too.

When it came time to modify Marlin everything was a bit annoying because although Marlin makes it easy to add more extruders, adding just motors is  a little more difficult. I had to change the number of extruders to be 3 (from dual extrusion to dual extrusion + extra motor), enable an extra temperature pin (which i am leaving empty) and also modify the pins.h file.

I probably wouldn't have had simulate this motor as an extruder if I knew the raw Arduino commands for spinning a motor using calls to D37, D35, and D17, so I figured simulating an extruder would be better, but now I'm second-guessing that decision.

Here's my modification to pins.h:

#define E2_STEP_PIN 35
#define E2_DIR_PIN 37
#define E2_ENABLE_PIN 17

#define HEATER_2_PIN 17

//#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 3 in Configuration.h

#define TEMP_2_PIN 3

// Marlin 0-indexes these pins, so "2" is actually for the "3"rd extruder

First thing I have to do is allow for cold extrusions by using M302 S-80. The other (real)  extruder motors will all move after this command, so I have that part working.. .

In Repetier-Host I am just selecting Extruder 3 and trying to "push filament" through it but the motor isn't moving. I'm using an A4988 stepper driver on a Kysan 1124090. Actually, I did this whole process with two motors because I wasn't sure whether the hardware itself would be an issue, so with another set of pins I'm using a Suncor Motor and it also doesn't respond and I also don't know why.

It would be really helpful to debug if I could run a single G-code command just to get the motor running at a speed, and take that out of the equation. it doesn't have to be a command to an "extruder" but just a command to a pin out, like M42 D35 S100 (but I don't know the raw command for just testing a motor's connections).

D35, D37, D17 are the pin labels on the Arduino Mega. These do not correspond to pin numbers within Marlin.

I believe that D35 actually corresponds to marlin pin 49 and this is the number you should enter in your firmware. You can find the mapping in fastio_1280.h:

Hardware Pin  : 02 03 06 07 01 05 15 16 17 18 23 24 25 26 64 63 13 12 46 45 44 43 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 50 70 52 51 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 22 21 20 19 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 04 08 09 10 11 14 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 47 48 49 61 62 65 66 67 68 69 79 80 81 98 99 100
Port          : E0 E1 E4 E5 G5 E3 H3 H4 H5 H6 B4 B5 B6 B7 J1 J0 H1 H0 D3 D2 D1 D0 A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 C7 C6 C5 C4 C3 C2 C1 C0 D7 G2 G1 G0 L7 L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 L0 B3 B2 B1 B0 F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 E2 E6 E7 xx xx H2 H7 G3 G4 xx xx xx xx xx D4 D5 D6 xx xx J2 J3 J4 J5 J6 J7 xx xx xx xx xx
Logical Pin   : 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx

Look on the top row for the pin number (e.g. D35 corresponds to 35), then look on the bottom row to find the pin number to use in Marlin (in this case, 49).


Ender 3 Pro Extruder Stepper Skipping with a Chunk sound I have a relatively new Ender 3 Pro, stock except for adding a tempered glass bed. I've fed about 3 kg of PLA filament so far, all Solutech brand. Near the end of the last reel, I started hearing a chunk noise. It varies in rate, between several/minute to going 10-15 between chunks. This has continued into a brand new, just unsealed reel so I don't think it's associated with the filament.

I was able to finally discover that the sound is coming from the extruder stepper area and was able to see that when this happens, the filament drive wheel snaps back maybe 30-40 degrees. (This happens in the middle of printing a line, not when the filament retracts between lines.) I'm assuming that the stepper motor is slipping. There is no sign of gaps in the printed model nor is the filament on the reel binding that I can see.

I'm guessing maybe that the filament is being fed faster than the hot end can accept it, causing back pressure.

I'm using Cura 4.4.0 as my slicer the whole time and while I have changed some settings, everything associated with speed, feed rate, hot end temperature and such are all stock. I did not notice this happening until recently.

Has anyone seen this happen before? Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

UPDATE 3-May-2020: I have now confirmed that the problem was the extruder. Specifically, the input port which was causing the filament to bind. The front of the input port is a metal ring but the back is just plastic and and has worn from the PLA filament, as seen in this photo:

After some delay (see my other question here) I have installed the new, all-metal extruder (original stepper), the clacking is gone as well as the significant under-extrusion. (I also replaced the Bowden tube and print bed springs but I don't believe these were the problem).

Having seen what a few km of PLA did, I highly recommend upgrading the extruder.

Side point: immediately after the replacement, I started getting corners lifting off the bed which I hadn't seen before. I realized that the new drive gear was slightly smaller than the old so I checked the extruder calibration and it was about 10% low. I adjusted the extruder steps/mm from 93 to 99 to correct for this.

Original:

It appears the problem was the filament binding in the entry to the extruder assembly. I did start seeing signs of under extrudement such as the outer layer of a rectangular object separating of the rest of the body. Later, the problem became worse, with a lot of clanking, to the point that prints became quite fragile.

I have ordered a all-metal extruder assembly and will update as I get new results.

By the way, I'm really not sure why it's binding but running a strip of filament through the entrance hole, it sure seem to be binding. But in trying to disassemble the extruder and starting by removing the filament, I managed to get molten filament in the bowden tube. Without thinking about it, I pulled the blob all the way into the fitting for the extruder, plugging it so much that I cannot get the fitting off nor push it back into the tube. Anyway, I'm taking the opportunity to upgrade the extruder, tube and springs.


Anet A6's filament not feeding through the nozzle Whenever I try putting the filament through the nozzle it does not go through. I have searched everywhere online and have found nothing.

Many printers have a problem with inserting filament into the extruder. Cutting it at an angle is a huge help. It is also very possible that you have a cog or a bad extruder nozzle.

This link could be of some help: Extruder is not feeding.


Making a 3D printed surface easily cleanable I want to FDM 3D-print an object, and be able to effectively clean the surface with standard kitchen cleaning solutions. While the 3D-printed object would not come in direct contact with food, it would come in contact with utensils used with food (e.g. forks, measuring cups, etc.). One of my main concerns is with being able to adequately clean the object when layer lines and general material porosity create areas that dirt/germs may accumulate. I believe my general requirements are:

No high temperatures are anticipated
Common FDM materials (PLA, ABS, PETG)
Coatings or post-processing is fine

How do I make a 3D-printed surface easily cleanable and relatively food-safe?

There is a huge difference between "Certified food -safe" and "is actually perfectly safe for you to use at home" . – Carl Witthoft Sep 18 '18 at 14:54

Regarding certified food safe I point to Ender 3 is capable of food safe printing? - you probably can't get the certification with a 3D printer, but, as Carl said, you might manage a pretty safe at home. So let's assume you go for that.

To make a surface easily cleanable, it is best to make sure that the imperfections of the print are filled up and that there are no undercuts that are not easily cleanable. If you need it smoothed, do it mechanically (e.g. sanding)! Heat or chemicals as a smoothing method are to be avoided, as they can damage the print and accumulate the chemicals used in smoothing in the plastic from where they are released over time.

To make the material both smooth and more safe at the same time, a generous coating with a food-safe lacquer or similar coating would be possible. This also might alleviate the problems with possibly having contaminants in the printing material - we don't know always what is in the printed plastic.


Can I design or remix a model in SketchUp Make and legally share it via Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory or similar? SketchUp Make is licensed for non-commercial work only.  This includes the output from the software.

  Trimble Navigation Limited and/or its affiliates ("Trimble") gives you
  a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive
  license to use the executable version of the Software for
  non-commercial use only. Non-commercial use means: you may not sell,
  rent, lease or lend the output of the Software or the Services.

The above retrieved 2016-02-07. The full SketchUp Make license can be found on the SketchUp website.

In what ways does this restrict my use of SketchUp Make generated material with sites that allow the sharing of models (and deisgn files)?  This would include sites such as Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory and 3D Warehouse.

For example, must I always set a non-commercial license for my designs?
Thingiverse allows several different license choices to be selected.

Can I permit the design to be printed by someone for money?
Thingiverse has links to 3D HUBS and Print a Thing which can be disabled per model.

Obviously the SketchUp Pro license makes many of the restrictions on what can be done with the output go away, which would be much simpler.  However I do not expect to generate anywhere near the costs of purchasing a license ($695 US at the time of writing) by tweaking a few designs now and then.

I want to comply with the licenses but I need to understand the limits of what I am permitted to do with SketchUp Make in order to do that.  It may be much more prudent for me to invest my time in learning other tools that have no restrictions on what can be done with the output.

As this is a legal question it might matter what jurisdiction I am in and what jurisdiction the sites I may share to are in.  I am based in the UK.  Thingiverse is based in the State of New York.  MyMiniFactory uses the Laws of England as a base.  3D Warehouse selects the State of California.

Again, I'm not a specialist in intellectual property law (or any other sort of lawyer), but I have a different interpretation.

There is a potential difference between the use of the product, and the use of the derivatives of the product. For example, GCC has a restrictive (open) license, but its OK (in some contexts) to use the compiled code in a commercial product.

Generally, you (as creator of a work) will own all of the rights to a work. The supplier of the tools you use does not usually gain any rights to the resulting work.

So long as you don't gain from your use of the tool, it is probably OK for other people to profit from the use. Sharing with non-commercial should be your safest option if you're worried - but be aware that this doesn't prevent people from taking your design to a print service indirectly.

Their license says:

  Non-commercial use means that you may not sell, rent, or lease the
  output of the Software

This implies that they are not making any claims to restrict how other non-connected persons might use your works. Its specifically talking about use as part of employment, or you making a gain.

I would also note that to me the language in the license does not look to have been drafted with a clear understanding of intent on this issue.


Can I really throw failed PLA prints on compost? So they say PLA is biodegradable. But I still don't know how much biodegradable.

I live in a flat and we have composting trash can in the courtyard. However if I throw PLA in there and it does not decompose, neighbors are gonna be pissed since many of them are intending to use the soil for their balcony flowers.

So can I really compost PLA, or does "biodegradable" just mean it falls apart eventually, eg. in years? And if it decomposes, is it safe to use for plants?

This question has been asked on just about every forum out there.  Here's one example from filabot.com .

  The reality however, is that this process will take several hundred
  years in a typical landfill. To biodegrade, PLA requires a laundry
  list of conditions to effectively break down. Specifically - oxygen, a
  temperature of 140+ degrees *[Fahrenheit -- ed note] *, and a 2/3 cocktail of organic substrate.
  Collectively, these are absent in any scenario outside of industrial
  composting facilities.

I found similar comments -- tho' with perhaps slightly lower temperatures elsewhere.


Can any filament be used in with any 3D printer? I recently heard that the 3D printing lab at my college can do fused-deposition with ABS and PLA, but I would like to use TPU, for greater flexibility.

Is it possible to feed a TPU filament into the same machine built for ABS/PLA? Or is there no difference? Assume the diameters of the filaments are the same.

Is it possible to feed a TPU filament into the same machine built for ABS/PLA? Or is there no difference? Assume the diameters of the filaments are the same.

The question is not what the machine is built for but how it is built. Let's break stuff down some into why some filaments work better than others and the challenges with them.
Temperature range
The first obstacle is the temperature range of the printer. For example, if your printer's Extruder can't get over 220 °C, you can't print ABS. You need to make sure your printer can match your intended filament's temperature range.
TPU usually prints around between the same temperatures for PLA and ABS, so it should work from that range.
Heated Bed
Most Filaments work better with a heated bed, but some are almost impossible to be printed without. For TPU, a heated bed should be used but is not absolutely mandatory.
Heated Chamber
Some filaments can't be printed without a heated chamber, others like ABS highly benefit from it. TPU is ambivalent on this as far as I know.
Extruder Setup
There's basically 3 extruder setups. Pellet extruders are super rare, so we don't concern about them. The other two are Direct Drive and Bowden. In a Direct Drive, the extruder motor is right over the hotend, and pushes the filament directly into it. In a Bowden setup, the hotend and the extruder motor are connected via a Bowden tube. Both have benefits and drawbacks:
A Bowden makes for a lighter carriage, leading to faster printing speeds. A Direct Drive has much less trouble with elastic filaments and can do much better with retraction.
TPU is one of the filaments that works much better with Direct Drive.
Other considerations
Some Print services do print in machines set up for one filament type and that only, because it prevents cross-contamination of the nozzles, especially when a high-temperature print material remains in it when a low-temperature print comes next. Having for example a little bit of ABS left in a printer that runs PLA next can lead to very very extreme clogging.


Making Polyurethane molds with PLA (or ABS) 3D printed master I want to make Polyurethane molds for concrete using 3D printed PLA or ABS master object. like this video:

             (this video is not about concrete of course!)

I'm not sure if it will stick to PLA or ABS master or not! if it does stick, whick wax material can solve this problem... Do I need to print my masters with another filament?

Temperature
As polyurethane cures (or hardens), it undergoes a chemical bonding reaction, linking the mono- and oligomer strings in the components into long polyurethane chains. The chemical reaction is exothermic, it creates heat.
So, we have a process that heats up the polyurethane mixture as it hardens, but how much? Well, it's hard to find numbers for it, but I suspect it can easily reach 30 to 40 °C, depending on the mixture (fast curing) it could easily go higher. To combat the effects of heat softening of the PLA/ABS model inside the mold, I strongly suggest printing with extra shells and extra infill. While most items can get away with 10 %, in this case, I suggest 20-30 %. ABS would be the superior choice above PLA as it starts to deform at a higher temperature. PLA can start to deform at around 60 °C, ABS only at about 80 °C.
The temperature of the PU curing depends on the speed of the curing process - it is safer for the masters to choose a slower curing mix as the heat is generated over a longer time and the maximum temperature is thus lower as a result (as excess heat is lost to the room)
Surface
To reduce the sticking to the surface from the material creeping into the gaps of the model, it has to be as smooth as possible and best also sealed. If you choose ABS, a quick acetone vapor bath would do the trick in this case. PLA should be lacquer sealed as it doesn't like to stick to most waxes.
Adding a mold release agent isn't necessarily needed, but could help in removing the masters from the mold.
Conclusion
ABS might be the better choice in this application. It is advisable to use extra-thick walls (3+), a lot of infill (20-30 %) and a vapor smoothed surface.


Can I use a metal filament on M3D Micro (or Pro)? Can I use a metal filament such as Copper, Zinc Alloy, Silver filaments on M3D Micro? The Pro hasn't come out yet but I assume it would if the Micro can since the Pro is suppose to be the improvement edition.

An example of a metal filament that I found is this Silver PLA 1.75mm Filament. Here's one for Cooper PLA 1.75mm Filament.

I would like to make small sculptures or bracelet beads/charms, and whatever else I could think of making using metal. And, I'm asking because I'm new to 3d printing, I want to learn how to work with a 3d printer and M3D is very affordable for me. So I'm making sure before I buy. Note that I've emailed M3D twice and I didn't get any reply.

If not M3D, can any other 3D Printer comparable to M3D do this? The MBot Mini, maybe?

Most 3D printers that use non-proprietary filament can print exotic filaments, such as the ones you mention. One thing to be aware of, though, is that some of these filaments wear down the nozzle far more quickly than ordinary PLA, and therefore should be used with reinforced nozzles (unless you have extra nozzles to spare). Carbon fibre and metallic filaments are generally known to increase nozzle wear, while softer alloys such as wood and bamboo generally are less abrasive.

A quick google search reveals that many people have used non-proprietary filament on the M3D Micro successfully, but be aware that using such filaments is not covered by your warranty. If you are going to use abrasive filaments with your Micro, I would check that M3D allows you to replace the nozzle first.


What choices do we have on Clear resins for DLP? I'm searching for a truly clear DLP resin which can polymerize between 400nm and 405nm.

I found the unpigmented from FunToDo, but it seems to be yellow-clear:

I'm trying to achieve something similar to this:

Is there any resin out there which costs likely the same (about 50€/liter) which will give results like this?

Formlabs sells a completely clear resin that they've even made simple lenses from, but it's about $150 for a liter. I have no idea how well it would work with your DLP setup. Looks amazing in the pictures though.

MatterHackers sells PhotoCentric UV Firm Clear for $90 for a liter as well. It's not quite as easy finding pictures of this stuff, but from what it looks like, it's still pretty decent. Assuming you've got a UV DLP

Disclaimer, the PhotoCentric stuff says it's a UV resin (10nm to 400nm IIRC) and I have not the slightest clue what Formlabs designs their resin for, so YMMV.


Mixing (closed loop) stepper drivers on MKS main board Can I mix BIGTREETECH S42B closed loop stepper drivers on the MKS Gen L controller board with other drivers?
Are the pins in the same position? Would mixing work?

As far as I know, that should work. You need to define the correctly used drivers in your configuration. For the closed loop drivers, the board (via a break out board) has to provide the pulses to the motor driver (on the back of the stepper). If you use such a closed loop driver you need to disable the stepper driver type in your Configuration.h file for those you plan to insert a closed loop driver. The firmware will assume the A4988 driver is being used:

Now you need to set high enough values for the MAXIMUM_STEPPER_RATE (150000):

and the MINIMUM_STEPPER_PULSE (3):

in Marlin/src/inc/Conditionals_adv.h under HAS_DRIVER(4988).


Skipping Y-steps, only when using Ultimaker Cura In order to find out why my printer sometimes skips Y-steps (always in the same direction) only in Ultimaker Cura, I am digging into the G-code to understand the problem better. However, thousands of lines of G-code are hard to analyze.

I am using a Mk2 heatbed with a glass sheet, and a NEMA17 motor in a P3Steel Toolson Edition printer. The axis feels reasonably easygoing in both directions.

Reducing the acceleration to 4000 did not get rid of the problem completely - it might have relieved the issue, though. I didn't do quantifiable tests, sorry.

Are there any other obvious things I might have missed? I know the acceleration might still be rather high, but since it works with Slic3r easily I would like to take advantage of some features in Ultimaker Cura with this printing speed.

You answered your own question in a comment.

  Yes, of course, increasing the maximum supplied current to the motor gets rid of the issue. Still, I'd rather go with lower current to limit heating up the motors. I was just wondering if there is something in the two slicing engines that makes cura provoke much harsher movements that cause the printer to lose steps... – kamuro May 21 '17 at 21:22

Motors are tough

Motors are meant to be warm, some are made to be hot.  Not all motors have the same specs, but I pulled one on Amazon (link) which shows a rated temperature rise of 60°C above a rated ambient temperature of 50°C.  If these specifications stack, and they should because the insulation of the motor is rated to 130°C, you can boil water on the stepper motors.

But ... other factors

But, what are the real limits, and how much current should you run through the motors?

First, many 3D printers have plastic mounts for the stepper motors.  You don't want that plastic to soften.  It can if the motors get too hot.  I've seen it in a commercial 2D printer, and gnashing of teeth across the Pacific ensued.  Even for PLA, that temperature is uncomfortable to human flesh.  I soften PLA at 75°C when fitting tight parts, but PETG and ABS are good for higher temperatures.

Low current hurts accuracy

Motors are remarkably linear converters of current to torque, but they still have non-linearities at the limits.  This matters most when micro-stepping, which (AFAIK) all 3D printers use for higher resolution.

Two factors hurt accuracy at lower currents when micro-stepping.

Non-linearities in the drivers result in magnetic fields that do not linearly align with the commanded drive strength.  The torque is not exactly what is needed to position the motor between the poles at the correct angle.

Static friction, sometimes called stiction, requires additional torque to overcome.  In a slow micro-stepping move, this will result in the motion hanging back, then jumping ahead.  Motion can be ragged rather than smooth.  Extrusion can be pulsating rather than smooth.

Both are improved by applying enough current to the motor to generate enough torque.  More current gives more heat, but also better behavior and performance.

Power up the motors!

They can take it.  Check their mounts to be sure the mounts aren't underdesigned.

Why Cura and not Slic3r?

A deeply detailed review of the g-code would be needed.  It could be as simple as the direction of infill, or the preferred direction of your model compared with the direction chosen by the two slicers.

It could be some limits coded into the "custom g-code" portion of the two slicers.  I am not familiar with Cura, but Slic3r allows you to insert additional g-code under many situations.  Something brought in with a printer profile may be limiting acceleration of jerk.

Could be differences in fan setting, or almost anything.

When you are dealing with a marginal situation, and it sounds like this is right on the edge, very small differences can cause dramatic changes in how the whole system responds.  3D printers are complex systems, with resonances, many vibration modes, non-linear friction.  Knowing for sure may be beyond the scope of your and our engineering tools.

Don't operate on the Margins

Set the motors to the proper current levels.  Set the bed to the proper height.  Set the hot end to the right temperature.  Try to always stay in the sweet spot.  Your prints will reward you.


Calibrating a resin printer I have purchased a Creality LD-002R resin printer. It is solid hardware, with a good experience and great value for the price, but it comes with very little documentation.
I am looking at calibration procedure of the print surface. I have read in reference to other printers that it is customary to interpose a sheet of paper when leveling the print surface against the pane of glass. Is this applicable? Are there any other setup recommendations?

First of all a caveat:
Leveling an FDM printer
...is done differently than an SLA/DLP printer
When calibrating an FDM printer, you align the bed with the X and Y axis, using a paper, metal shim or another tool (such as a feeler gauge) to make sure the plane that the nozzle moves in is parallel to the bed as much as possible. The paper, shim and gauge all serve in making sure that the nozzle does not push into the bed on the move and to be an easily measurable system. You need to do several measurements and repeat the process till the bed is level. This can take quite some time with paper or shims, which is why I use a feeler gauge in the micrometer area.
Leveling an SLA/DLP printer
when leveling an SLA/DLP (aka Resin) printer, you also want to align the bed, but you want to align it parallel to the screen. The process is rather simple: mount the bed and loosen the retention mechanism, have the printer move down and press the bed against the screen surface. Some printers need to have the (preferably empty and clean) vat installed, others need you to remove it. Tighten the retention mechanism. Move the bed up, you are leveled. Only now comes the resin (and vat!) back. Some printers have their leveling mechanism separated from the mounting screw - that allows removing the bed for taking off the part and keep the leveling intact.
In the case of the Creality ld-002r there's a video Tutorial, the alignment screws are on the side of the carriage. Remove your resin vat before leveling. Loosen only those side screw, keep the top one fast!
The reason why I suggest to level against an empty vat is to make sure that on the one hand the resin doesn't go bad (it should be exposed to as little light as possible), you are exposed to the least resin fumes as possible and to make sure that no pieces are inside the vat when your printer firmly presses the bed against the screen - it could damage the screen or surface would there be chunks of former prints left in the vat! Also, you don't want to contaminate your tools with resin, which means you want to work on the fasteners with no resin in the vat.


How to force Cura to walk through a layer in one run? I already tried a lot settings in Cura and try to search for a solution but without success. Maybe someone got this issue and solved it.
I want to prevent Cura from printing such gaps at the wings to make it in one run. With ironing one run would (hopefully) bring better results. See the animation for what I mean.

Why want to do this? I hope to prevent thes ironing issues shown in the following pic.

I am not aware of a general solution.
For your specific issue, try rotating the object 90 degrees around the z-axis.


Getting PLA to stick to a cold bed Right now my heated bed is down and I had no time to try and fix it and I am trying to print something for a friend. I am having the PLA lift around the edges which I have NEVER experienced. The glue is not helping like it did with the heat. And I also tried rubbing alcohol on the masking tape I use, heard that helps and it was not that much better than the glue stick. What can I do to keep the plastic sticking to the bed during print.

I will note that the lift is not super bad, but I do like the littlest of lift on any print.

Most of the same reccomendations that apply for adhesion to a hot bed apply for a cold one.  The first ones to come to mind:

really dial in the nozzle height
make the first layer taller than the rest (e.g.: 0.2mm if the rest of your print is 0.1mm)
print the first layer very slowly
print the first layer at higher temperature
use a brim or a raft (on my first printer, that had no heated bed, rafts gave the least deformation)
turn off the part fan for the first layer
adapt your model to reduce twisting forces (relief cuts, print it in parts, choose orientation wisely, etc...)

If your slicer has this feature, you could also try to print with a shroud.


Is it possible to get higher resolutions by using high resolution encoders and custom firmware? So I was thinking about is it possible to reach higher resolutions with encoders and DC motors? I found a cheap high-resolution magnetic encoder that can be used along with a DC motor to access higher resolutions. The encoder has 8192 PPR meaning that it can measure up to 0.04 degrees if I have correctly calculated. So if for a stepper with 0.9 step angle and no micro-stepping with 20 tooth pulley and 2mm belt, the steps/mm is 10, it means every 9 degrees with this pulley and belt setup makes 1mm and so 0.04 degree makes 0.004mm movement that is about 4 microns. Is this correct and possible? If so, why don't big companies use this method?
Link to the encoder:
RLS RMB20 rotary magnetic encoder module

The mistake in your reasoning is assuming no microstepping. Most 3D printers use 16 microsteps, and in my experience with both cheap A4988 drivers and nice TMC2209 drivers, microstepping is quite accurate. As part of an answer to a question I asked, you can see a test print showing single-microstep features. My motors have 1.8° step angle, yielding 3200 steps per rotation at 16 microsteps, or 12.5 microns of linear movement per microstep. With 0.9° step angle you could get it down to half that, and you could probably halve it again going to 32 microsteps.
Even if you can't get it as good as your 4 microns with stepper motors though, at 12.5 micron positioning resolution you're already to the point where extrusion error is going to play a much bigger role in dimensional accuracy than toolhead positioning error does. Going past that with FDM requires high resolution extruder axis movement, closed-loop control with a precise filament diameter sensor, direct drive with minimal distance between the extruder gear and nozzle, etc.


Which proximity sensor to use? I am building a dolly and I am confused as to which proximity sensor to use.

Should I go for M8 or M12 and 5 V or 6-36 V?

What should be the best detecting distance? Should it be 2/4/8 mm. Which one should I select?

Tomas Sanladerer has produced a nice video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9bNWn66BY

@ 7:31 you see an overview of the precision of various sensors, including the ones you mention. It appears that the M12-4 and M18-8 sensors are more accurate than the M8-8.