Uneven motion in X and Y directions after attempting to adjust Z motion in ADVI3++ A few weeks back I updated my Monoprice Maker Select Plus from the stock firmware to ADVi3++ 3.0.2. I've put more than 20 prints through the machine since then and everything has been fine.

One of the few downsides to the new firmware is the Z control. When moving the head up using the control panel, it only moves a millimeter or two instead of the 5 or 10 is used to, meaning it can be a bit of a pain to clear the head out of the way when working with the printer.

I wanted to adjust the setting, so I went through the settings section of my new firmware, trying different values for various options to see if one would change what happens when I pushed the up arrow button for the z axis. I was careful to only ever change values for the Z axis, and after each change I set things back to where they were.

I never did find what I was looking for, but that will be a topic for a future question.

The very next print after doing this came out awful. I can no longer get a clean, straight line. Instead, the edges are all wavy... and it's way worse than simple ringing. On longer linear stretches I can observe the print head does not move smoothly, but rather speeds up and slows down. It never really stops, but it doesn't move consistently, either. It kind of pulses as it goes.

I have duplicated this with a known good gcode file, so I know it's not the slice. I can move the bed freely with the printer off, and this started on both axises simultaneously, conveniently after my z-axis experiment, so I don't believe it's a problem with bearings.

I've tried restoring factory defaults and even re-flashing the firmware, but it hasn't helped.

Any ideas on how to correct this?

Found the problem.

The screws connecting the carriage plate to the assembly that connects to the Y-axis belt had loosened, allowing some free play for movements in the Y direction and vibration for movements in the X direction. It just happened to go from nothing to unprintable all at once at the same time I was experimenting with the Z settings.


Ultimaker Original+: print has lumps and small gaps are being filled Brand new to 3D printing and have an Ultimaker Original + using PLA (2.85mm).
The nozzle/extruder temperature is 200C and the bed/plate is 60C.

I installed the Cura software on my Windows 10 box. I then head on over to tinkercad.com to make a model of a comb. I then exported my .STL file and loaded it up in Cura. I hit the print button. I waited a bit, but noticed that my print was getting lumps in it. Not crazy drastic lumps, but because the object was small, gaps (between the comb teeth) were being filled... not all of them, just some.

I tried adjusting the flow rate from 100% to 90% and it seemed a little better (not perfect, still filling gaps), but when I dropped it lower, it got worse.

I also tried to lower the print speed from the default of 60mm/s to 50mm/s - no change. (travel speed at 120mm/s)

I tried to adjust the bed height multiple times, trying to make sure that it was 100% flat at 180 degrees.

What is wrong here? Is the printer over extruding? Is the temperature too high? Is the flow rate wrong? Am I missing something else?

Check out my prints:

I also tried printing something else:

Any help would be really appreciated.

Update

Okay, so thanks to macs answer, I took another look at the nozzle and noticed a massive leak - I actually dismissed this earlier as "glue" - OMG.

Anyways, here is the picture of the leakage:

It's very bad. It leaks down and runs over the nozzle. The nozzle also leaks... Is that normal? All I did was turn the printer on, heat up the nozzle to 200C and it started to leak. I suspect that it should not do this... I'm not ready to change the nozzle just yet - I've no idea which one to buy or even where to buy it from (I'm in the UK), so I'd like to get this one working (if possible).

On another note, I have checked the filament settings - All good. Heat settings all good too:

What is wrong here? Is the printer over extruding? Is the temperature too high? Is the flow rate wrong? Am I missing something else?

It is always difficult to diagnose problems from a set of pictures only, and without the original model to compare it with, but yes, from the pictures it looks like your printer has a severe case of over extrusion, possibly in conjunction with a thermal problem.

The first picture in the set is particularly interesting for a number of reasons:

The chequered pattern of the top layer looks like being generated by the nozzle "digging" in the layers below and rising the plastic around it.  A well calibrater printer should have a top surface with a very subtle texture instead.

The teeth of the comb and the gap between them are inconsistent, as are the shape of the tip of the teeth.  This let me think your printer actually doesn't operate consistently, over-extruding in some places a lot more than in others.  A pinter should be able to accurately replicate its performance along the full length of the comb instead.

The plastic has a different finish and colour in different places.  Namely, it looks burnt and glossy where the worse print quality is, white and matte where the problems are not so bad.  Both the colour and the finish let me thing the plastic in the dark spots have been heated way over its operational range and/or for too long.

In essence what I think it is happening (mind it: this is just a theory) is that your printer is over-extruding and in addition your hot end may have issues with keeping its own temperature constant and within the designed limit.  Other factors that may also play a role could be:

Wrong settings in the slicer as for example a nozzle diameter set to 0.5 mm when it really is 0.4 mm instead, or the filament diameter being wrong.
Blobs of over-extruded material forming and sticking to the nozzle, where they take too much heat for too long and burn before "falling" in the print and damaging it.
Filament that is old/of bad quality and that has impurities in it, or has an inconsistent diameter along its length (thus causing over-extrusion in places, but not in other).
A nozzle that is not well fixed to the heating block, thus allowing molten plastic to seep out from the joint and run down on the outside of the nozzle and ultimately on the print itself.
A nozzle that got damaged and whose opening is not circular and/or not matching its nominal diameter.
The extruder hobbed gear not e"biting" in the filament and thus the filament slipping at times, thus being inconsistent in the quality of material being extruded.

So, here's the the trouble-shooting I would go through at this stage:

Check your printer setting in the slicer.  Doh! :)
Take a close look at how the print works while in operation.  Do you see blobs forming and sticking to the nozzle?  Plastic seeping out from places it shouldn't?  Is the nozzle round and true?  In case of doubts, just change the nozzle with a new one (it is a less-than-1€ part anyways), easily outspent by the cost of filament in a failed print.
Calibrate you extrusion (and thus your flow-rate) by performing accurate measurements over at least 3 length of filament.  Matterhackers has a nice how-to that you can follow for this.
Manually check the diameter of your filament (at least 5 measurements at at lest 200 mm distance between them) and adjust the corresponding "filament diameter" setting.
Calibrate your temperature by using a test tower.  This one has extensive instructions on how to use it in the thing description, plus is customizable directly from thingiverse.
Print again your model and see how/if your changes affected the print quality in any way.

If the above fails, you could also try to use another slicer, but it's unlikely the problem is with the software.

UPDATE

I'm not familiar with your printer model, but the updated pictures seems to show the leakage happening between the heat block and the heat break, rather than between nozzle and "whatever". ;)

This can actually be caused by two different problems (or the two of them compounding).

The two parts, which are normally just screwed together have come loose.
If your extruder is not "all metal" (which is normally not the case in most printer), the PTFE tube (the whitish plastic tube the filament slides into) may have dislodged upwards, so instead of being a tight fit in the heat block, it leaves room for the molten filament to seep upwards.

In both cases, a reassembly and thorough clean-up of the head is in order.  I would suggest trying to find specific documentation for your printer online, but the general process is:

warm up the head to printing temperature.  All subsequent steps will have to be done at this temperature (wearing protective gloves is highly  recommended)
remove the filament
remove the PTFE tube
remove the nozzle
remove the the heating block from the heat break
wipe as much the plastic as possible (bit drills work well for the hole in the heat block
increase the temp a further 20-30 degrees
reassemble everything
profit

Please note:

the heat break is relatively fragile: be gentle when unscrewing.  When removing/attaching the nozzle is worth keeping the heat block in place with a spanner to prevent twisting the heat break
if you can't remove the plastic when molted, you can try letting it cool and scrape it
it essential that the re-assembly be done while hot.  Metal expands with heat, so what feels firm while cold will eventually become loose at high temperature


How to carve a hollow cylinder along the curved surface in Fusion 360 Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm new to 3D design, to design in general and specifically brand new to Fusion 360. This is my first project.

I started by creating a hollow cylinder, with the one end open and the other end closed. For example a hollow cylinder with the bottom closed and the top open.

I was able to create such hollow cylinder using the cylinder and shell tools.

Now, I wish to carve / engrave a pattern on the shell. I may want this carving to go all the way through the shell (practically making a hole the shape of my pattern); or,I may just want to engrave on part of the shell, but not cut all the way though.

My pattern is a sound wave. I have a 2D black and white image of this sound wave. I may want to carve it onto the curved shell, so that it curves around the cylinder.

I hope my description is clear. Another way to describe what I'm looking for, is to imagine cutting the sound wave pattern though a 2D rectangle, and then curl this rectangle along its width into a cylinder.

How can I do something like that?

If you want it to be engraved, then sketch out the sound wave on the center plane. When you go to extrude, click "extrude from", and then click "from object". Click on the plane you want to extrude from, and then 2xtrude however for you would like to. Another way to do this would be to project the sketch onto the surface, and then extrude the projection.


CR-10S / Ender5+ LCD Touchscreen Firmware Editing How would I go about editing the LCD menus for the touchscreen?

Oddly the ender5+ is supposed to be an upgrade but the ender5 (regular) has so much more stuff you can control from the lcd screen. Flow control, PID tuning, etc.

With my ender 3 is was pretty easy- you simply edit the ultralcd.cpp, you can then add your own menus and commands.

On the Ender 5+ and the CR-10S pro I'm guessing the touchscreen has its own set of firmware files- I am guessing this because I found a set of files for the touchscreen- different color screens and such, but they do not include any uncompiled files nor does the marlin firmware for the CR-10 have any mention of those image files in them.

So where do I go next? Thanks!

I've been digging into the sources and from what I understand, it is not very easy to change the menus, you should possess some programming skills to change it. It appears that the screen is operating on its own firmware and the board is running a special fork from Marlin.

The screen is identified in code by constant CREALITY_DWIN. It appears that the screen receives/uses precreated images (from this download you find these screen captures). The code references the bitmaps by a number and a base number (ExchangePageBase). E.g. codeline:

RTS_SndData(ExchangePageBase + 78, ExchangepageAddr);

sends this image:

The specific code is found in this specific fork of Marlin in files Creality_DWIN.cpp and Creality_DWIN.h.

In order to make your own menu item, you need to add code to send new bitmaps and retrieve the touched position.


Does the X/Y bed orientation of a model affect the print detail quality? My FDM printer bed moves on the Y-axis and the print head moves on the X-axis and raises on the Z-axis. When printing rectangular objects (a model of Notre Dame in this case), are there print detail quality advantages to aligning the model perpendicular to the X or Y axis, or at 45 degrees? Part strength is not an issue and support is not needed.

Thanks.

In short: Not really.

longer version: It depends.

The main culprit of losing details in this case would be the weight and speed of the thing moving. So if you have a heavy X-axis carriage, acceleration and decelerating the carriage won't be instant. Same with the bed (Y-axis).

Another culprit can be slop in the system, so check your linear bearings and belt tension.

Also keep in mind that you are printing on the bed, so the weight of the Y-axis increases while the print progresses. This shouldn't be a problem for small prints, but if your print becomes bigger it can decrease the quality. Another factor is that every print will bend a little the higher it gets, so if you print a tall slender object, don't accelerate the bed too fast ;)

To summarize, for high detailed prints:

Lower the speed
Check the system for slop (tighten belts, and align linear bearings)
Take the lightest axis for the highest detail (keep the weight of the print in mind)

One thing that you can do to test your machine is to test the ghosting on each axis (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:277394).


Compiling Marlin 2.0 I've just finished building a new printer and I wanted to take advantage of a 32 bits board I ordered some time ago. The board is an MKS SBase 1.3

I've been researching the Smoothiware firmware but somehow I'm not convinced by it yet. One of the things pulling me off is the Z-Probe behavior. On my Arduino-Marlin 1.1.8 machine, I have a probe which serves as both probe and Z-Endstop without a problem and very elegant implemented whereas on Smoothie, it's not so trivial as far as I've seen.

Anyway, there is a branch of Marlin which is not yet for release but for testing and it supports 32 bits boards, being mine mentioned above one of them:

https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/bugfix-2.0.x

I have yet to find some documentation explaining how to install it. The closest thing I found is a thread on their GitHub "forum":

https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/issues/8131

It seems that you have to build the project to create a firmware.bin file which you can copy to the microSD card and it will flash automatically to the board... again, no "official" documentation found.

I've tried the steps described in this thread but I'm not able to compile for my board as it gives an error no matter what:

Marlin/src/gcode/eeprom/M500-M504.cpp:74:5: error: no matching function for call to 'MarlinSettings::report(bool, int16_t&)'

Has somebody successfully compiled this firmware? Is there something I might be doing wrong?

I'm on a macOS machine, using Atom as editor with the Platformio-IDE installed.

Any help is appreciated,
Thanks in advance!

Well I found the solution on Marlin's GitHub:

https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/issues/9155

but it might have been solved without having to hack the file since then.


Is it necessary to replace the SMD fuses in RAMPS 1.5 or greater, for use with 24 volts? One of the main hacks for converting RAMPS 1.4 boards to use with 24 V, as stated in RAMPS 24V, is replacing the polyfuses, principally F2 (MF-R1100), with wire and using an inline (car blade or wire) fuse on the heatbed wire (or between PSU and RAMPS) instead1. However, that is for the RAMPS 1.4 boards.
As RAMPS 1.5 notes (as well as 0scar's answer to RAMPS 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6?):

The RAMPS 1.5 uses small surface-mounted fuses rather than the large yellow fuses prone to breakage on the RAMPS 1.4. The downside is that replacing the fuses becomes much more difficult.

Are these SMD fuses rated the same voltages, or greater? Yes, this could be a bit like asking "How long is a piece of string" as it depends upon the manufacturer, but does anyone know what voltage should they be rated for?
Ultimately, if they are both rated at greater than 24 V, then there should be no need to replace them.
The answer on this thread, Re: Ramps1.4 or Ramps1.5 or ramps 1.6??? states:

OK the ramps 1.6 can only handle 12v OR 24V

so, that would imply that the intention for 24 V support was there, although, unfortunately, the poster does not post their reference.
However, the PDF of the RAMPS 1.6 schematic shows the same rated fuses as the RAMPS 1.4

Nevertheless, that seems like a straight forward copy and paste from the RAMPS 1.4 schematic as it clearly references the MF-R500 PTC, and obviously SMD fuses have been used instead - or are the part numbers the same for the SMD fuses..? I had a google but couldn't see MF-R500 SMD fuses (maybe I didn't look hard enough?).

Footnote
1 This is because the 11 A fuse is only rated to 16 V. Note that F1 (MF-R500) is rated for 5 A at 30 V, and as such is sufficient for 24 V operation.

Without knowing the exact part numbers used for F1 and F2 it is impossible to say whether the fuses need to be replaced or not. However, based on the manufacturer provided schematic and BOM we can make a pretty good guess.

Looking at the PDF you linked, it states that F1 is rated for 16V. Looking at the BOM spreadsheet it also says F1 is 16V and 30A.

Based on the fact that the only two reference documents available say 16V, I would strongly recommend replacing this component for 24V operation.


Replicator+ Motherboard Model What is the make/model of a MakerBot Replicator+ motherboard?

I'm assuming that the make is now MakerBot since they are now closed-source.

It might be this board, MakerBot 5th Generation motherboard, (original image)

The image was very small, so it is rather blurry, I'm afraid.

I have contacted the suppliers for confirmation, and will update this answer, when/if I get a reply.

However, according to this eBay item, Makerbot Replicator Motherboard Carriage, it could be inferred1 that the same motherboard (MP6292) is used in the Fifth Generation and the Replicator+

  This part is the aluminum carriage that attaches the main board to the
  printer frame.

  Compatible with Makerbot Replicator Fifth Generation (5th Gen) and
  Replicator+ (Plus).

  NOTE: Motherboard show here is for illustration purposes only!
  Motherboard (MP6292) is NOT included.

  Main board presses right onto the carriage. No special tools are
  needed for assembly. Retaining screw is included.

A much clearer shot of the MP6292 Motherboard

1 However, that depends on whether you want to trust eBay descriptions.


How to resume an unfinished project I was printing a lid for a box in my Ender 3 pro printer. But I don't know why it stopped printing and moved aside when it does in finished printings. This happened at midnight and I didn't see it until I woke up. In the hope for a resume I didn't remove the finished part from the printer bed. So now how can I resume this printing from where it left. The total width of the lid was 3 mm and it printed 2.4 mm now only 0.6 mm part left to print.

Provided that the print hasn't come loose from the bed and you know the layer height or layer number, you can edit the original G-code file. The following hints should be taken into account:

Don't use G28 or G29 instead use G28 X Y (please )
Manually position the printhead at the correct Z height and instruct the printer to use that height for reference: e.g. when the print stopped at layer 12 with a 0.2 mm layer height (2.4 mm height or use the measured height with a caliper) define G92 Z2.4
Make sure the hotend is primed before resuming printing
Cut all the G-code present in the file prior to the layer you want to start printing (e.g. search for G1 Z2.2), but do add bed and hotend heating, e.g. respectively M190 S60 and M109 S200

What you can also do is:

Reprint the whole print
Reslice the print where you have sunk the print 2.4 mm into the bed in the slicer just printing the top face which you glue on later.


Extruder Clicking without Extrusion Problems I own a DIY Hypercube Evolution equipped with Tevo Titan extruder, Clone Chimera hotend and Capricorn's High-temp PTFE tube. I use RAMPS with Mega and A4988's.

During prints, my extruder motor randomly clicks. I touched the filament and during the clicks I'ven't felt any problems with extrusion. I looked at the motor shaft to control if it clicks at special angles or randomly, but it clicks randomly. My prints do look very good: clear and shiny.

Do you have any suggestions? (the sound really gives me headache)

Even though you may have acceptable extrusion, any clicking from that area of your printer is likely to be a missed step on the extruder motor. This may be insignificant with respect to print quality, but as you suggest, it is an irritation.

If you are confident that your nozzle is clean of debris (which is likely), you could consider to raise the nozzle temperature a few degrees. If the nozzle is not applying enough heat to the filament, it may resist being forced through and a click representing a delay, allows that much more heat to be applied.

You should not have to increase by much, certainly no more than five degrees.  It's also possible that you can slow the feed rate a bit to accomplish a similar result.


Export STL from OpenSCAD command line, calling module within script? Given a .SCAD file which contains some modules, how can I execute one of those modules from the command line?
example.scad
module One() { ... }
module Two() { ... }

render.sh
openscad -q -o one.stl --module One example.scad

Note that there is no --module option, but that is what I'm attempting to do. The workaround would be to make another .SCAD file e.g. one.scad which includes example.scad, and simply calls One(); within and render that file from the shell file. But this is not ideal.

OpenSCAD doesn't have such an option on the command line, but the general idiom I believe you want to use is have .scad source files which are modules include invocations of the module(s) at the top-level controllable by variables you can set on the command line or GUI customizer interface. Any such invocations will be ignored if the file is used (via use directive) in another file so they don't hurt its status as a library and make it easier to preview/test. So for example you could have:
wantOne = false;
if (wantOne) One();

and then set wantOne to true from the command line.


Ender 3 Bowden tube popping off I keep having a recurring problem with my ender 3 pro.  The bowden tube keeps popping off here (pictured)

I've read elsewhere online where people are having a similar problem, i.e. the ptfe tube is actually popping out, but I don't know if thats the case here.  It's staying attached to the metal coupler, but that metal coupler is unscrewing during the course of the print and falling out.  Any tips to fix it?  New one? Some sort of loc-tite to get it to not unscrew?  Any ideas?

If the fitting is remaining attached to the PTFE tubing, that would indicate that the threaded end of the fitting is pulling out of the drive assembly. This implies that the internal threads of the drive assembly have stripped out. This is not unusual for a plastic drive assembly.
The best solution is to replace the drive assembly. I believe I paid about US$12 for the last one I purchased and it was aluminum, not plastic. A quick search for "Ender 3 drive mechanism" returned a number of choices. One of them from Amazon (14.98) is anodized aluminum and purports to be improved over the original.

A less than ideal solution would involve drilling out the stripped threads and installing an insert (sometimes called a Heli-coil™) but that could be as expensive as a replacement mechanism.


Printing rectangular grid I am trying to print an item with a rectangular grid (using PLA on Ultimaker 2+):

Holes are 4x4 mm, distance between holes (wall thickness): 1mm. I am printing with 0.4 mm nozzle.

Unfortunately, Ultimaker Cura generates G-code which prints each rectangle on its own and in a quite a bad way:

The printer head tries to draw a rectangle, then moves in the direction opposite to a last laid line, which with not perfect adhesion of single line messes up the print pretty badly: it often picks up last rectangle side and drags it.

Any way to change the way Ultimaker Cura approaches to lay out the grid? I would imagine that long lines that are connected to other lines would adhere to bed much better than individual squares, but I don't see any options that would allow to alter it.

This sounds like you have an adhesion problem if it catches laid down filament, you might want to address that first. E.g. use a PVA based glue or spray to get better adhesion. This will result in not dragging laid down filament.

To my knowledge, Ultimaker Cura has no option to choose how you print the squares (direction and start point). However, you could use Z-hop so that it will lift your nozzle (or lower your build plate in your case) prior to moving to the next rectangle.

It looks as though you are using an older version of Ultimaker Cura as it only prints one line of each of the small rectangular holes (or are you actually using a single wall/shell), in later versions of Ultimaker Cura this is fixed (e.g. the image below is created with Ultimaker Cura 3.4.1), it will print all walls/shells before commencing to the next small rectangular hole. This way you have more lines deposited which have a possible better adhesion to the increase of laid down material:

Further investigation of your image shows that you are using a very fine grating (< 1 mm?) resulting in very limited amount of walls. In your case the version is not that important, but the latter information is just left as a possibility for people that use an older version of Ultimaker Cura.

Also note that there is an option to put the brim on the inside of your models (option called Brim Only on Outside), when disabled, this would also increase the surface area for better adhesion.

There are also option available to start with the outer or inner wall (option Outer Before Inner Walls), but in this case that would not help you as there is only 1 wall at each side of the rectangular hole.


Strange grooves with ABS I am experiencing strange grooves in my ABS prints; with PLA everything is fine. Some layers seem to randomly overextruded and others underextruded.

My parameters:

Temp: 240°C
Retraction Distance: 5 mm
Retraction Speed: 70 mm/s
Print Speed: 35 mm/s
Combing mode: All
Max Comb Distance with no Retract: 5 mm

It shouldn't be a problem with the Z-axis or the temperature control. It also only appears on large objects.

Retraction distance, print speed (I don't know about Combing mode or Comb Distance but I doubt that's the problem) have IMO nothing to do with this.

Neither would hotend temperature.

  It shouldn't be a problem with the Z-axis or the temperature control. It also only appears on large objects.

You have a very fine X/Y layer so albeit your affirmation, I must raise the idea that it might actually be exactly the temperature control of the heat bed (if you have one) and it definitely seems to be the z axis. How would this problem appear otherwise?

You say it affects only large objects, and also that it doesn't affect PLA, does it affect large PLA objects? Photos would be helpful :-) !

My hypothesis is that you have a heat-bed and that the heatbed is changing the z-height.

It does so when it changes temperature (because material contracts/expands according to temperature), and heatbeds change temperature all the time.

Usually you have the same temperature control method all the time, so small or big objects doesn't change the method, but what they change is the time they stay on the same level; small objects less, big objects much so the z-bulging will be seen if you spend 2 minutes on one layer, while it might be mitigated on a layer taking 20 seconds.

What's your heat bed temperature control software / how is it configured?

FYI I use Marlin and I get these problems when I don't (correctly) auto-tune the heat-bed pid or use bang-bang beat-bed heating.


Longer LK4 Pro moving to corner mid print My printer is the Longer LK4 Pro, and I just got it 2 days ago. When I started to print some objects, on a certain layer, the printer would stop and move to the far right corner of my bed. What can I do to fix this?

It's possible that the slicer is using a minimum cooling time per layer and the corner is set as its home coordinates.  In the settings of your printer you can set the home coordinates and in the slicer you can reduce/remove the time between layers.


After market bed heater for Intamsys Funmat HT 3D Printer I am in college and am doing a team competition to print PPSU filament, and get the best results. This is being put on by the Solvay company, who makes the material. Our team signed up and the university bought us an Intamsys Funmat HT 3D Printer, which said it was capable of printing PPSU. However, the company doing the competition did not release the information that the bed plate must be a high temperature to avoid warping (Greater than 200 °C). However, our plate only reaches a temperature of 160. Does anyone know of any aftermarket heaters that would work with this printer?

Maximum temperatures according to Intamys: Chamber 90 °C, Magnetic Build Plate 160 °C, Extruder 450 °C

If you're a brave individual you might try insulating the bottom of your heated bed. You're going to want to get fiberglass or something that can actually withstand the temperatures you're trying to reach; anything past about 230 °C and you'll get organic things like cork and cotton starting to smoke. 200 °C is pretty absurd for a print bed temperature unless you're printing some pretty exotic materials.

Aside from insulating the bottom of the bed to aid in heat retention, you might also try getting an external FET chip for your heated bed, like is recommended for the RAMPS1.4 boards since their connectors don't handle high amperage loads well. External FET plus a 24 V PSU might give you the kind of temperature range you're apparently aiming for. Best of luck with that, and try not to set your entire setup on fire, 200 °C really is kind of absurd for an entire print plate.

TL;DR:

Insulate
External FET chip
24V PSU


How do I know if a filament is abrasive? There are tons of fancy filaments around. And a lot are super nice to look at or have super cool properties, like carbon-filled nylon being comparatively far stronger than other material, wood fill is aesthetically pleasing and even just Glow in the dark! But a maker space nearby just banned any of those as abrasive filament. But, how can I know if my filament is abrasive?

A filament made of pure plastic won't be abrasive. The abrasion comes from the added particles.
Filaments with added particles of any kind (there are not so many after all: glass/carbon fibres, metals, glow in the dark, wood, stone) will usually be always be advertised as such because they always carry a higher price tag compared to the plain plastic, therefore you know that it contains potentially abrasive particles.
Once you know that particles are added, most of the time they will be abrasive: as far as I know, only cork is not, any other kind of particles I listed (including wood particles) may easily scratch brass.
If it were your printer, we could discuss how much each kind of particles will abrade, but in your case the ban seems to be complete, therefore only plain plastics (including "plus/+/Pro" blends, like for PLA and ABS) are allowed.


20x20x20 calibration cube size change after switching filament I used to print with PLA and everything in my printer was calibrated. But I got a new type of filament called Poly Hybrid from a friend of mine. When I print a 20 mm cube, the x and y axes are fine but z axis in cube is about 18 mm.

Should I calibrate my printer z axis again for this new filament type? Because I couldn't find any option in Slic3r in filament tab to set layer height.

Filament type should have nothing to do with the issues you are facing. This is a mechanical issue or a slicing/scaling issue. The hotend should, if instructed to go to 20 mm height actually go to 20 mm (it did do that before!), it cannot "lose" 2 mm on the way up unless you have a lot of lost steps (e.g. too much load on the carriage pressing it down, but that seems pretty unlikely). Typical variations for Z are in the order of a few tenths of a mm for a properly dialed in printer.

Please note that the Z axis is usually controlled by a leadscrew (your printer type and brand is not known, but if you have a Prusa style printer or some sort of a cube you'll have a leadscrew, Delta's have belts), so once you dialed this in, the head will go to the instructed height.

Reasoning to your observations: If it was under-extrusion because of lower diameter filament, the last few layers should have been falling out of the hotend (considering the head goes to 20 mm and the print is 18 mm high). This is not the case; you have not described that kind of behavior.

The most likely problem is a slicing or scaling problem.

The answer to your question is therefore: "No you do not need to calibrate the Z height.". But when changing to another filament you could calibrate the extruder for this new filament; if the diameter is not far off you do not need to do that, but you could if you are into details.

Preferably questions like these need to include a picture of the print and the printer type!


Weird underextrusion in vase mode? It's my first time printing in vase mode, and I noticed my printer underextruding badly. The settings have not been changed from default vase mode settings in slicer, and earlier I was printing non-vase mode and the prints came out fine. Layer height is 0.2 mm and perimeter width is 0.3 mm.

Finding the cause of under-extrusion is very hard as a lot of parameters of the print process can influence this. There are some nice websites that describe these problems in detail. From your question it is unclear what you have done to solve the problem, or if you have printed products after the vase mode and shown us a picture of that (this eliminates a lot of possible problems).

A nice overview is given by Ultimaker, but other sources may help you to find the root cause, e.g. Simplify3D. If the issue is related to the filament and hot-end, Printrbot, Trideus and Rigid.ink may help you solve the problem.

Important is to isolate your problem! Not knowing what printer you have, your printer has (or potentially has) the folowing modules/elements that may be causing the underextrusion:

the slicer (highly suspicious),
the material/filament and the spool holder (suspicious),
the extruder or feeder (suspicious),
the hot-end (suspicious),
the Bowden tube (suspicious if you have one).

Note that to find the root cause you should tackle this by elimination, this way you make sure that certain modules are not causing the problem. Also keep in mind that the vase mode prints a single outline/perimeter shell and won't make any retracts (so the Z axis will continuously rise), in which defects are shown instantly. Please, take a close look at your normal multi perimeter print.

How to fix under extrusion!

Under extrusion is probably one of the hardest to find the direct cause as there are so many variables to consider. Please find below some of the variables that can affect your printing quality marked in bold face.

Material and material settings

The material you use needs to be resembled correctly, so it is important and easiest thing to check first if your print is suffering from under-extrusion due to incorrect material settings. The material settings in your slicer (or the material profile on your printer for the more fancy printers) should match the material you are printing. So please check the filament diameter with a caliper and measure the diameter at various points; take the mean diameter of at least 3 to 5 measurements. Furthermore, temperature is also an important factor; too low temperatures will cause that the extruder has to push harder as the material is less viscous due to the fact it is not heated properly. Note that this can also happen if the flow of the filament is too high and the heater cannot keep up. It is these high pressures that cause the under extrusion as it may not flow fluidly. In contrast to too low temperatures, too high temperatures, can also cause problems. Very high temperatures can change the structure of the material, this is often referred to as carbonization causing deposits (clogs) in the nozzle. A word of advice, Please check your filament spool/box (or sometimes a paper in the box or bag) for the proper temperatures.

Next to the temperature, other important material settings are the print speed, the layer height and the nozzle size as these properties further define the rate at which the filament volume is deposited. For instance, a too high of a volume flow not only can lead to the previously mentioned cooling of the nozzle, but also is limited by the diameter of the nozzle, you just cannot push more through the nozzle is capable of as the friction will increase (the smallest opening in the system determines the maximum rate of volume flow). If you do, this will lead to under-extrusion. To find the optimum between speed and temperature, a good balance between these needs to be found. A typical way to do that is by the use of printing calibration temperature towers, preferably at various speeds. To print faster, you need a higher temperature, but printing at lower temperatures because of overhangs, you might need to decrease the speed to get a proper extrusion (and maybe also part cooling).

Don't just focus on the hot end part, also take a closer look at the filament spool itself, or better, how the spool unrolls. Is the spool of filament unrolling correctly/freely without a lot of friction (does it make sharp bends, or does it go through a tube having friction from its container to the extruder), or is the filament not correctly wound causing tangled filament (which create a lot of friction preventing enough material to be transported to the hot end) which could stress the extruder.

For some materials that are hydrophilic (they attract water and trap it in the filament, this happens e.g. with PLA, PVA, Nylon and maybe even more) printing the filament with contained water, the water will turn into steam causing bubbles in the deposited filament and interfere with the flow deposition. This effect sometimes makes a distinct sound like popping bubbles. Always store your filament in a sealed container or bag and use desiccants bags. Moisture can cause damage to the printer as the filament swells when taking up moisture; this could lead to various jams. Last but not least, filament with moisture in it has less mechanical properties after printing than dry filament (up to 33% less).
The extruder/feeder and Bowden tube

The extruder/feeder pushes or feeds material into the hot end, or into a tube (called Bowden tube). Under-extrusion caused by the extruder is typically characterized by the fact that filament is not properly fed to the hot end as a result of too much friction in the tube or hot end, too less grip on the filament or filament grinding (the extruder gear 'eating away' the filament). Too much friction could even cause your stepper to tick or click, basically turning back as the pressure on the filament exerts so much pressure that the stepper is rotated back; increasing the feeder tension on the filament (by adjusting the screw on the extruder/feeder would fix that). Grinding is easily spotted when removing the filament; it will clearly show that the gear has worn away circle shapes. Furthermore, filament taken out of the printer should show visible marks on the material as imprints of the extruder gear, if completely smooth, the feeder tension is too less. On the other hand, too much tension on the feeder could flatten the filament, which leads the previously mentioned grinding effect. If you encounter grinding, please assure that you clean the extruder by removing the filament powder and chunks the grinding produced and recheck the extruder/feeder tension before continuing printing again. Be sure that the grinding particles have not entered the Bowden tube as it causes friction. Cleaning them regularly or replacing them once a year is advisable depending on the usage (or once every x kilometers of filament). Furthermore, larger diameter filament (2.85 or 3 mm) can cause additional friction (in the Bowden tube or the extruder/feeder) as towards the end of the spool, the filament is wound tight along a small diameter spool center causing strongly bend filament that exerts pressure as it acts like a spring creating friction at the walls of the tubes.
The hot-end

The hot end can also be a culprit for under-extrusion. Partial blockage of the nozzle as a result of carbonization (buildup of carbon or carbonized material in the nozzle). Even left over material from previous prints inside the nozzle (unflushed residue) may change the volume of the nozzle when the material you printed before needed a higher temperature than the current you're printing. Also try to get good quality filament, it might be that the quality is just not constant for the whole spool. Too clean the inside of the nozzle, a few techniques exist to remove blockage. By performing a "cold pull" or using the atomic method. Both techniques rely on the mechanism to insert the (cleaning) filament when it's hot and remove it quickly at a lower temperature. E.g. see here or here.


Export STL as ASCII or binary? When go to export a model using Fusion 360 or Meshmixer, I see that there are two options. Could the final model be affected by the format chosen at the time of saving?

The two formats contain the same information about the model, but the binary format is much more compact, so it will produce smaller files from the same part but they should work the same. That's to say, if you take the exact same model, save it as a binary STL and as an ASCII STL, the binary STL file will take up fewer bytes on disk. The number of triangles and the dimensions of the printed model will stay the same.

There are a couple of important exceptions here:

I don't know about Meshmixer specifically, but some tools will have completely different code paths for exporting the two formats. One exporter may have a bug that the other exporter doesn't. The same is true of the slicer, which may have a bug reading one of the two kinds of STL but not the other. In this case, it'll make a huge difference which one you use, but you'll only find out when one goes wrong. This is what fred_dot_u experienced in his answer.
Some tools have a way of putting colour information into the binary STL format, which isn't possible with the ASCII format. If your model has coloured triangles, you might find that the binary STL preserves the colours, while the ASCII STL loses the colours. Whether this matters to you depends on what printing technology you'll be using. Most slicers can't use these colours anyway - and subsequently, ignore color information on import.

The ASCII STL format is older than the binary format, so you may find some very old software can only understand the ASCII STL files, but unless you're working with such old software, it's usually better to use the binary format. Smaller files don't just save disk space: they're also faster to process and transfer via e-mail or on servers.


Purchasing a first 3D printer What is a good entry level 3D printer that you could use while earning to the next level printer?
I found there are so many kinds.

This is going to depend on your particular wants and needs.
Initial buy price is a big factor, obviously, but there are some other things to bear in mind:
What are you going to use it for?
If you're going to use it for printing, say, RPG miniatures, you might want to focus on SLA/DLP (resin) printer because they can produce very good detail at small sizes. But entry level SLA/DLP printers tend to have very small print areas.
FDM (filament) printers tend to have larger print areas but they don't tend to be quite as accurate when it comes to reproducing small detail. They have more material choices available to them, though: PLA, ABS, and PETG are sort of the basic three materials that an entry level printer can probably handle.
How much of a "tinkerer" are you?
Some printers are "open source" which means you are able to modify their firmware and/or hardware. For example, you might be able to upgrade the firmware and hot end of an FDM printer to allow you to print more exotic materials like nylon and PEEK.
That ability to tinker and modify your printer is great if that's the kind of thing you value. But it also means you might have to rely less on the manufacturer and more on the community if something goes wrong or you're unsure how to go about doing something with the printer.
How much are you going to use it? / How much room do you have?
The cheapest printer in the world is still too expensive if you never use it. Plus, it takes up space. This is something you really have to keep in mind: printers need space. Even if the printer itself is small, you might need to buy an enclosure for it.
You probably need a workspace nearby to finish your printed parts. I think resin printers need a space to setup a UV curing lamp to fully cure the resin of the printed parts, for example. If you print more than one type of material with an FDM printer, you need a place to store those extra spools of material.

You should check out 3d printing sites like those below to read their reviews because they will offer insights into things that might not even cross your mind to consider:

All3DP
3dsourced
ZDnet
CNet
3Dnatives


Can I sell a handpainted large scale 3D model of a copyrighted 2D concept art? The art in question is https://www.instagram.com/p/CIfsO2ZD7Rj/ . I Think the concept artist, Jean Giraud, is dead.

While better fitted to our friends at law.SE, the general gist is: No.
Art is protected by copyright, and any adaption (derivative work) requires the OK from the right holders per se. Only 70-75 years after the death of the author (or publication for company works), a work enters the public domain and the copyright expires.
There are some exceptions (fair use/fair dealing/...), but media transformation is not one of them.
Giraud died in 2012, his estate or heirs - or whoever he/they sold the commercial rights to - own the right to ok derivative Works till around 2087.


Ultimaker Layer Resolution vs Nozzle Size On their website they say the following

0.25 mm nozzle: 150 to 60 micron
0.40 mm nozzle: 200 to 20 micron
0.60 mm nozzle: 400 to 20 micron
0.80 mm nozzle: 600 to 20 micron

That confuses me. Why can I go down to 20 micron with the 0.40, 0.60 and 0.80 nozzle but only down to 60 micron with the much smaller 0.25 nozzle? Is that a typo and should say 6 micron?

You need a certain minimum flow rate to achieve consistent extrusion. Flow rate is the product of print speed, extrusion width (proportional to nozzle size) and print speed. If you use a very small nozzle and very low layer height, you'd need a very high printing speed to achieve a reasonable flow rate. Therefore, it's quite possible this is not a mistake and intentional.

Keep in mind that Ultimaker uses 2.85mm filament. With a 0.3mm extrusion width, 0.02mm layer height and 60mm/s print speed, you would need a feedrate of 0.06mm/s into your extruder. The extruder might not be able to develop enough force on the filament at such a low speed (which, owing to the small nozzle size, requires a relatively large amount of force).

The ultimaker can not print 6 micron layers since the smallest increment the Z-axis can move in is 5 microns. 6 microns is not a multiple of that.


How small can I expect FDM 3d printers to print? I  was wondering if this printer(daVinci 1.0) had the ability to print very small objects, like insects, coins, or small nuts. (About the size of 1 -2 cubic centimeters)

Here is a link to the printer on the website.

The reason I ask is someone asked me if it was able to, but I have not been able to access the actual 3-D printer for use at this time, just manuals which I have looked through.

So if the 3-D printer was able to print small objects, would a novice be able to do such a thing?

Please let me know if any additional details are needed.

1) If we're talking about FFF/FDM printers:

Accuracy of the electronics and motors allows it, yes.
But how FDM printers work it might be very hard to lay down layers of molten plastic so small as to preserve little details in the X and Y axis, not much of a problem doing 20 micron layer height though (Z resolution).
Check this answer to find out what the X and Y resolution is and what it depends on: https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/509/381

You'll need both a small enough nozzle, as well as somehow cool the plastic because since the printed objects are so tiny the nozzle keeps contact with the surface surrounding it and heats it longer, which might melt the whole object or even char it.

I've seen very few people do tiny prints with success. And the smallest nozzles I know are 250 micron.
Not trying to dscourage you, just letting you know. If it was easy to do I think more people would be doing it and more companies would be advertising their printers as capable of such a thing

So you'll have around 20 micron Z resolution and around maybe 200 in the X/Y.
If that's enough for you, then you could try. Calibrating it all won't be easy, tiniest backlash will be noticeable.

2) It's a lot easier with curing resin 3d printers (SLA or DLP). Most of them actually have trouble printing larger objects, ironically (trouble sticking to the bed and cracking of the 3d print).
Even here badly calibrated lasers would prevent you from doing this and even many Form 1 users have reported their lasers being assembled poorly resulting in poor beam profile.

Size of the laser beam profile (aka laser "spot size") is what determines the X/Y resolution for SLA 3d printers. With the Form 2 its 140 micron, unless you'll get a badly calibrated printer.
For DLP printers it's easier, it's the resolution of the DLP projector divided from the size of the print area.


BigTreeTech mini e3 V1.2 endstop installation I recently purchased a BigTreeTech mini e3 V1.2 controller for my custom built 3D printer (as opposed to an pre-purchased ender 3). In doing so, I ran into the problem that the endstops I have been using have three wires: Power, Ground, and signal. The mini e3 V1.2 that I purchased uses endstop connections that only have two pins. This can be seen in the schematic below on the bottom right of the controller. I don't know where to buy endstops that only have two pins and have not been able to find anything online. If anybody knows where these can be bought or how the 3 pinned endstops are supposed to be wired up it would be much appreciated.

You do not need to connect the red (+) wire of the endstops. The controller board uses a technique to ensure the signal is 3.3 V or ground, see the top left schematics of this link (will insert an image later!). Specifics about this technology is found here and is explained as using a pull up resistor.

What happens is that the signal is always reported as triggered, unless the endstop connects the signal wire to ground.

This link shows that only ground and signal are required (will insert an image later!).


How to increase the amount of probing points for a BLTouch sensor in Marlin firmware? I have a new BLTouch that is setup (using Marlin 1.8.7) but I want to increase the probing grid from a 3x3 to something like a 5x5. I am using bilinear leveling with a 3x3 grid.

How would I go about changing that?

You need to change the constant value(s) in your Configuration.h file of your Marlin version from:

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

to:

// Set the number of grid points per dimension.
  #define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 5
  #define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y GRID_MAX_POINTS_X

This shows that to go from a 3x3 grid to a 5x5 grid you only need to change one value. Do note that you can set GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y to any value other than GRID_MAX_POINTS_X; replacing GRID_MAX_POINTS_X in the line with GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y to 4 would yield a 5x4 probe grid:

// Set the number of grid points per dimension.
  #define GRID_MAX_POINTS_X 5
  #define GRID_MAX_POINTS_Y 4


3D printer extruding too thick Last night there was an error in printing that caused the printer to stop printing, but kept the hotend on. This morning I discovered that it had fused to what it was printing after renaming on all night - it took some time to remove.

Prints afterwards showed signs of under extrusion. Now when I tell it to extrude a millimeter, it no longer extrudes a thin strand, but instead exactly a millimeter of filament comes out the same diameter as it went in. Cleaning the hotend has done nothing, cleaning the extruder has done nothing.

I'm left with two conclusions, either:

this is what is supposed to happen, it was broken the whole time, I had calibrated it for the broken setting and just need to recalibrate everything, or;
something, most likely the nozzle, is broken.

When you have a disaster print like this you almost always get carbon in the hot end. I have micro hand drills (0.2 mm) that I carefully use on the tip of the nozzle. There are also atomic pulls where you add plastic, heat it up till it extrudes then let it cool. Once cooled to 70°C pull hard. Repeat until pulls show no black. Or, if your nozzles are cheap just replace them.

Note next time this happens, turn the hot end on so you can remove it quickly. Sounds like you chipped away.


left-over photopolymer resins Not storing left-over photopolymer resin back with pristine resin in its original shipping can seems to be a common recommendation.
What is the best practice here? Store in a separate bottle and pour this "once around the block" resin first for the next print?

Considerations for storing resin include using a light-tight bottle, preventing stray ultraviolet radiation from prematurely curing the resin.
You'll also note that users will filter the resin through a fine mesh filter. I've seen some videos in which the user pours through coffee filters to remove as many particulates as possible.
Left-over resin that has been carefully filtered is effectively the same as fresh-from-the-bottle material, from a purely technical view, but you can pick up contaminants that bypass the filter.


What technics are you using to seal between the throat tube and nozzle? Thinking this over, the best place to seal the hotend is between the throat tube and nozzle.  What are the advantages/disadvantages of an integrated nozzle and throat to make this seal?  Does a throat with a Teflon tube improve this seal?   Is it reasonable to cut a gasket out of 3mm ID 5mm OD Teflon tubing to make the seal for M6 thread parts?
I intend these questions to all address the main question to prevent a leaky hot end.

A seal between the heat break and nozzle should be achieved by tightening them while the hotend is hot. After assembling the (cold) hotend, heat it up to somewhat above the highest temperature you will print at and then tighten the nozzle some more. When it cools down again, you will have a very tight seal. If the nozzle still leaks after this tightening then it is defective.
Using teflon is possible but will limit the maximum temperature you can use your hotend at safely and you won't be able to print some higher temperature materials.


Can't get Y-Axis to move with Marlin firmware Just as the title says. I feel like I have tried everything. I am compiling the firmware for Marlin on a Megatronics board from RepRap. That shouldn't be relevant, because I have validated that it is a firmware issue (and not a pin assignment/hardware issue).
When I turn it on, the Y-axis is active and just constantly holding. The stepper driver on Y-axis gets pretty warm constantly holding (as does the stepper motor).
When I swap the pin assignments for Y and X then the physical Y-axis moves fine when I manually change the X-axis so I know all the hardware and pin assignments are correct.
All the endstops are correctly reporting open (Z is BLTouch but that is also working).
Relevant software endstops are currently disabled, and default homing position is set to 50 to make sure it doesn't think it is at the bounds on boot.
I have a test firmware that checks all the endstops, temperature, and servos, and all servos work fine. As a sanity check, pin assignments match what is in the pins file.
Does anyone have any idea of what in the latest Marlin firmware would cause a software condition to just hold the y axis and not move? I should note that when I try to manually move it in Repetier-Host it shows that it is moving. When I try to give the home command, no movement on the Y but Repetier changes from red to black indicating it received confirmation of homing.
I am completely out of ideas at this point.

There is a problem in the Megatronics default config file. I used an other default config file and it worked!


Removing Supports Inside Cone I'm new to 3D printing. I've made some projects before just fine, but this project is giving me problems.

I 3D printed a trumpet mouthpiece, and the printer made supports inside the mouthpiece funnel. I can easily remove the exterior supports, but I don't know how to get to the supports inside. Does anyone know how I would do that?

Here is the link to the model

That model didn’t need supports. Most of the time you can break the connections with the supports to the model by inserting a knife or flat object into the cavity. In this case you could use a probe to loosen the joins then wedge it out. If that doesn’t work you can use needle nose pliers to remove prices.

Your best and cleanest option would be to reprint the mouthpiece without supports at all. Print it so that the wide section(the section touching your mouth) is on the buildplate.


Printing an iPhone Case I am trying to 3D print an iPhone case, however, I want it to print standing up. Is this possible to do?

I have a picture of the case in the link below.

Yes this is possible. For an FDM/FFF printer, you'll need to print with supports. I might also recommend printing in PLA to minimize the chance of warping during the print (from experience).
It might also help to slow down the feedrate to ensure smooth surface finish and avoiding delamination on such small layers.
You'll probably see a decrease in the surface quality on the inside due to the printing of support scaffolding depending on the slicing engine you use.
However
You'll want to pay attention to the strength of the case. If you print the case upright then it will be more susceptible to breaking without post-processing.
Conclusion
Ultimately, if you can get away with it, it would be better to subtract the star instead of extruding it in the model. Then you can simply print the case back face down on the plate with much better results.


Issues with printing and removing filament residue When I print at the end when it is done the prints are lighter than they should, and they are thin enough that I can scrape the bottom away.
My second problem is that my filament gets stuck on the support rods and stops the filament from coming through the extruder.
And the final problem I have is when the bottom of my prints get stuck and won't come off and I need to learn how to clean it.
(The bed can come off and my printer is an Ender Pro 3)

I think I know the answer to your first problem.
Check your flow rates and wall thicknesses in the slicer settings. And if messing with some of those settings doesn't fix the problem, it might have to do with your steps per mm which I posted an answer here.
The other two problems I'm not really sure about.
Just wanted to at least get one question cleared.


Problem with 3D printer not accepting new print gcodes Ok so I am trying to print a new fusion 360 file that I converted into an STL and then into gcode using cura and I got the gcode loaded onto the SD card and mounted into my Monoprice 3D printer, Maker Select 3D Printer v2, and tried to do a print. Now here is the strange part. When I choose "print file" and then select a gcode to print it takes me back to the main screen and from there the 3D printers screen displays "Printing...0%" for a few seconds. After this it just goes back to displaying "Stepper Disabled." And if it is not stepper disabled it is just a blank screen. I tried to mount and print multiple gcodes just to make sure that it was not the softwares fault and low and behold I was running into the same issue.

Now before using today all of the gcode was printing just fine, however for some reason today it decided to give me this issue.

As you found out, sometimes the SD cards need reformating.

And if they came with the printer they could be fake (Fake capacity), when you try to upload more than its real capacity they will just corrupt.

My Anet A8 came with an 8GB SD card and it turned out to be 128 mb. With RMPrepUSB you can do a capacity test and format it to the real capacity.


Heatbed control with Pronterface I'm having trouble getting my MendelMax 2's heatbed not to heat up when I want to print without it. I don't get how multiple sources of control relate to each other (same with extrusion temperatures, actually):

Slic3r (1.2.9) has settings under Filament Settings / Filament / Bed, for First layer and Other layers (and groups of settings can be saved).
The pronterface GUI (Printrun-Mac-10Mar2014) has an "Options" panel where you can set "Bed temperature" (actually, two settings, one for PLA and one for ABS -- though I doubt the software can test which filament is loaded!)
The pronterface GUI also has a menu/fill-in labelled "Bed", which works fine to adjust the bed when nothing is printing. The menu there lets you pick from a manually-entered value, "0 (off)", and (apparently) the settings for PLA and ABS from the options panel.
Marlin's Configuration.h has settings for bed minimum and maximum temps (the non-zero minimum seems to be to prevent running the bed when the thermistor isn't working, to avoid unlimited overheating).

I recently tried to print some PLA with no bed heat (using blue tape on the glass build plate). I sliced the model with bed heat off in Slic3r; changed the PLA bed temps in the printerface options panel to 0; and picked the PLA setting in the GUI main screen (and also tried setting "0 (off)" manually.

When I started to print the object, the bed turned on and stayed on, maintaining 60C.

I thought of just unplugging the heatbed, but then I expect the print would never start, since it would try to heat up the bed and never succeed.

So how does the decision about which temperature setting to use, really get made? I have the same question about extruder temps, speeds, accelerations, and other things, too -- whose settings are really in charge?

3D printer get the temperature settings from g-code file. The firmware settings for min and max temperature are just safeguards.

You should verify instructions within the g-code file. If you are not familiar with g-code, take a look to wikipedia. List of g-code instructions for marlin firmware is here.

Instruction responsible for setting bed temperature are M190 and M140. Open your g-code file and search for lines containing them. If you delete these lines then the bed temperature will be not set during print. Additionally it means that it is set by your slicer.

In Slic3r you should check Printer settings → Custom G-code → Start G-code if it contains one of mentioned instructions and possibly remove it.


Uploading files using Octoprint REST API I'm trying to upload a file using Octoprint REST API - it seems to be possible as per the document described here, Upload file or create folder, but I can't figure it out how to do it with the Python request lib.

Currently what I'm doing is

 import requests

 def def Upload_File():
       fle={'location':"j:/max.gcode"}
       url='http://localhost:5000/api/files/{}'.format('local')
       payload={'select': 'true','print': 'false' }
       header={'content-type': 'multipart/form-data','X-Api-Key': 'FD550BD4DA2442BA906AD1850539D6DB' }
       response = requests.post(url, files=fle,data=payload,headers=header)
       print(response)

if __name__=='__main__':
    Upload_File()

The response returns status is 400

My working env is:

Windows 10 and Octoprint running on virtual environment.

I installed octoprint locally to help debug this problem.

Your code snippet says "def def Upload_File" which is a syntax error.
If you go into Octoprint, under Settings -> Logging, and download octoprint.log, you'll notice it says "WARNING - 400 POST /api/files/local (::1): No multipart boundary supplied". A quick google search led me to this StackOverflow question, which states to remove the custom content-type header to fix this problem.
You actually need to open() the file, and assign that value to the 'file' field in the fle object definition, not just tell it where it's currently at on your machine. Additionally, you need to provide a filename field in the fle object.

I got your code snippet working as below, went ahead and swapped your API key back into it. You'll need to point the open() call to the actual location of your file on your hard drive, which I assume is j:/max.gcode, rather than mine which is just opening max.gcode from the running directory of the script.

import requests

def Upload_File():
   fle={'file': open('max.gcode', 'rb'), 'filename': 'max.gcode'}
   url='http://localhost:5000/api/files/{}'.format('local')
   payload={'select': 'true','print': 'false' }
   header={'X-Api-Key': 'FD550BD4DA2442BA906AD1850539D6DB' }
   response = requests.post(url, files=fle,data=payload,headers=header)
   print(response)

if __name__=='__main__':
   Upload_File()

Finally, if you're going to be doing a whole lot of REST API shenanigans with your Octoprint server, may I offer a prebuilt library?


Adding additional extrusion to a raft (raft with a skirt?) I started using rafts more often, to get better results with complex or fragile parts, but my Ender 3 consistently under-extrudes the initial outside line of the raft (for the first inch or two, where extrusion starts).

It is often very thin and does not adhere. This often leads to problems with the following pattern of raft layer 1 curling up (ABS) as it does not meet the edge line (due to the 1-2 inch gap in the perimeter).

Skirts avoid this problem by getting the flow going, but rafts only print a single outer line.

Is it possible to specify more than one outer line on a raft in Ultimaker Cura?
Is it possible to add a skirt to a print that has a raft (or at least some initial printing to get the flow going)?
Is it possible to add some initial G-code that will extrude a line, say from near the start position to the start of the print?

In Ultimaker Cura you can select only one of the the build plate adhesion options skirt, brim or raft. You cannot select multiple options.

There is no option available in Ultimaker Cura to increase the outline count of the raft bed adhesion structure. Basically the raft exists of a line support structure as can be seen in the figure below.

The line around the lines should be considered "the skirt", so if the nozzle is not properly primed (not sufficient molten filament available), you need to properly prime the nozzle prior to printing.

To prime the nozzle, you need to add some extrusion of filament in your start G-code.

Personally, I like the style of Ultimaker where prior to printing, a puddle of filament is deposited priming the nozzle adequately. Basically you need to move to a position where you like to deposit filament:

 G1 X10 Y10 Z2

Then you need to extrude material

 G1 F125
 G1 E10
 G1 Z3 E5

After that you can even wipe the nozzle.

Another option (that requires some copy/pasting from your side and would not be a recommended practice) that is possible is slicing the model with a skirt (with a sufficient distance to stay away from the raft position) instead of a raft and look at the generated G-code and copy the skirt deposition codes into the raft G-code file. You do need to take care of the proper length of the extruder when the skirt followed by the raft, so you need to use G92 Exx.xx where xx.xx is the actual length of the filament start for the raft.


Why does the Ultimaker 3D Printer has a Heater + Heater transfer plate (aluminium) + Glass? Why does the Ultimaker 3D Printer has a Heater + Heater transfer plate (aluminium) + Glass?

I wonder why a glass plate, and if is possible to remove the glass and print directly in the aluminium plate adjusting the heating.

Link to the ultimaker.

Pictures:

According to this page, heat transfers more evenly across an aluminum build plate than with just glass. But as Kevin pointed PLA adheres better to glass because it doesn't flex as much as aluminum under heat.

The link above shows that aluminum has a much higher thermal conductivity at 205 (W/(mK)) vs glass at 105 (W/(mK)) at 25 °C (77 °F).

Because of this conductivity difference, you may find that it takes longer to heat the glass plate, but it should heat more evenly.


Sandable primer suitable for PLA? What kind of primer should I be using for my PLA prints?

I want to be able to sand the object after applying the primer for a smooth finish before painting.

Would something like this work?

https://www.bunnings.com.au/dulux-duramax-325g-plastic-primer-spray-paint_p1400720

There are generally 2 types of operation you might want to do before priming your object:

smoothing to a point that you are comfy with and
roughing pass with very fine grit to give the primer something to stick to

Smoothing via Sanding & Filler

To smooth your object you generally have two options:

Only sand down (and possibly vapor-smooth) and account for the lost size in the design phase.

Vapor-smoothing can flatten away surface details you might want to preserve, so it might not be an option at all.
While vapor smoothing is possible with more than just Acetone on ABS, the price tag for those chemicals is usually more expensive by a factor of 20 or more due to the fact that Acetone is pretty much dirt cheap as far as chemicals go - and easily accessible via home depot.

Fill up with body filler in areas you want and sand smooth afterward.

This is very labor intensive, especially for complex shapes.

Only after you filled up the structure to be somewhat smooth you apply paint primer. In itself, common spray on primers often are not filling enough to hide away the printing layers.

For rough surfaces that need a starting fill, a paste body filler applied with a spatula works best, and for the last pass over a just lightly scratched surface, automotive body filler from a spray can works great. The benefit of spray-can body filler is, that it also acts as a first roughing step, so you don't need to roughen the surface for the primer. If you grab a filler-primer, even skip the primer.

Sidenote from experience:

Some filler-primer and lacquer spray cans seem to contain solvents that are able to soften PLA.

Smoothing via Coating

A random find on Thingiverse showed me another way to paint and flatten the surface faster and without sanding, at the cost of details getting smoothed away:

Apply a thin paint coat.
Apply a thin coat of a fast drying, transparent Polyurethane coating onto the wet paint.
Let the combined layers dry with extra air flow to prevent noses.
Repeat as needed.

It works by picking up the wet paint and embedding it into the thicker Polyurethane layer, which dries much smoother than the paint itself, filling up the imperfections and the steps between layers. This process will however also fill up non-masked surface details you might want to preserve.

Your product in mind

The primer you took a look at works on PLA, but it would not smooth out all the dimples. It might work nicely for the PU-Buildup variant.


Ambient Temperature Range for Printer Storage/Usage I've just joined the 3D Printing world and am patiently waiting for my printer to come in next week. I've been thinking about keeping my printer in the garage so that it stays out of the way of every day life.

Since I am in the Midwest, I was wondering if this is the best plan. Is it okay to store and use my printer when the ambient temperature can get as low as 10 °F (about -12 °C) and as high as 120 °F (about 50 °C)? Would the cold affect my prints substantially, mainly using PLA, PETG and some TPU? Would larger prints, spanning days, affect the filament on the spool?

Note that I am solely talking about the printer. I plan on keeping the filaments inside the house so they won't be bothered by the temp extremes.

My google searches came up with nothing and I didn't find anything on the supplier from which I purchased my printer. I doubt that it matters, but in case it does, my printer is the Creality CR-10S

Printers are electrical machines. They don't like water, so they also don't like condensation in them. If you can keep your garage dry and prevent a sheet of metal inside it from rusting, then your printer might survive the problems the shifting temperatures induce by condensing water vapor on the electronics.

Another thing to consider is, that at negative degrees Celsius, your printer might trigger a mintemp error, as the minimum temperature allowable is usually defined as 0 °C or higher. On the other hand, low temperatures might allow to bridge further than other days, as the cold air absorbs the heat from the prints faster. It could cause other problems like clogging or under extrusion due to low temperature though.

High summer temperatures might impact the print quality, causing quite some extra sagging.

The Filament on the machine in a garage might be impacted because of the humidity changes, but might be mitigated with a drybox.


Setting custom x/y bed bounds for Anet A8/marlin I have an Anet A8 that I just flashed with the latest Marlin firmware (1.1.9). I'm sending prints to my printer with Ultimaker Cura via OctoPrint.

I have affixed a PEI surface to my bed that's about 10 mm smaller in each direction than the full size of the bed (that is, I lose about 5 mm on each side of the bed). This hasn't been a huge problem as usually I account for this myself and just make sure there's lots of room on each side of a print, but having upgraded my firmware, I'd like to take advantage of Marlin's bi-linear bed-levelling. Unfortunately, several of the points it chooses are outside the bounds of my PEI surface and so it's impossible to get a decent setting for those points.

What's the "correct" way to configure Marlin to know that my bed size is actually smaller than it thinks it is? Do I need to additionally adjust settings in Ultimaker Cura and/or OctoPrint?

As you just flashed your own Marlin, you probably have the marlin.ino and its associated files in the Arduino IDE set for your Processor and board and know how to work with them to some degree. This is just the short version where to find what you need to change the bed size, if the marlin.ino is based on the marlinfw-release.
Changing "home"
In Configuration.h there should be a set of lines that reads akin to this:
// Travel limits (mm) after homing, corresponding to endstop positions.
#define X_MIN_POS 0
#define Y_MIN_POS 0
#define Z_MIN_POS 0
#define X_MAX_POS X_BED_SIZE
#define Y_MAX_POS Y_BED_SIZE
#define Z_MAX_POS 200

Usually it is faster to use Ctrl+F and then typing in X_MIN_POS and adding the hook in front of Search all Sketch Tabs and then moving through all the finds till the right one pops up. This not only brings you right to the lines you want to alter, but also covers up the bases in case the distribution you work with did put the movement limits into a different location like Configruration_adv.h.
Changing Bed Size
Alter these minimum positions and make sure that the Maximum positions (usually just after them) to fit the maximum of the bed.
If you reduced your bed size, you also might need to change X_BED_SIZE and Y_BED_SIZE, which (in the marlin.ino) is in the same Configuration.h - I found it to preceede the Travel limits:
// The size of the print bed
#define X_BED_SIZE 200
#define Y_BED_SIZE 200

Adjust these as needed to fit the new sizing.
Hint: Getting the Values for Adjusting
For finding the adjusted values, I have had good experiences using Repetier Host on Manual Control to move the nozzle (lifted 1mm to prevent any accidents) into the correct XY-position and taking this position as adjustments for the minimum positions. Finding your personal settings is a bit of a trial and error still, so take your time.
Finishing up
Now, recompile the marlin.ino (the checkmark in the top left) to check for errors and flash the new firmware it.


Delta Kossel 3d Printer Heatsink issues I feel stupid for asking, but could it cause issues if the Heat sink/Heater block/Extruder tip can spin freely in a Kossel Delta 3d printer? I went to remove the extruder tip the other day, and noticed that all of the assembly is free spinning. I am new to the 3d printing community.

Clarification:

It's the whole assembly rotating as a single piece. The heater block, heat break/sink and extruder tip are all rotating together, in the effector.

When assembling the hot end tip, make sure you screw in the extruder tip to the aluminum block first, then screw that assembly to the heat sink fins. On my Kossel, I did it the other way around, and had very poor results.

If the whole assembly is spinning, then the clamp screws are either too long and can't tighten properly, or the holes might be stripped, or they're just not tight.

And yes, any movement in the hot end can cause problems, since we're dealing with steps as small as .1 mm.


Printing a non-self-aligning caged deep-groove ball bearing I've recently designed a non-self-aligning caged deep-groove ball bearing. Now I'd love to get one 3D printed.

However, assembling those can be tricky and I highly doubt it's even plausible to print them. All the components themselves can be printed without a problem, but I'm not sure whether I'll be able to put them all together in the end.

What are my options?

FDM printers are probably out, although it would be great if I can find a way to use those. Would an SLA or perhaps an SLS printer be able to pull it off?

Of course the thing still has to work (move) in the end.

Two aspects of your question can immediately be addressed, one with much less certainty than the other.

If you were to print the indicated parts using PLA on an FDM printer and assembled as much as possible up to say, the outer bearing ring, you might be able to use boiling water to soften the ring with boiling water enough to get it around the balls. It's also possible that the deformation will effectively destroy the usefulness of the part.

On the other item, SLS is virtually perfect for this type of part. The un-sintered nylon powder provides positional support for all of the other parts being sintered. When the print is completed, the powder is blown out with high pressure air, freeing up the individual components as per the original design.

Be advised that there is to be expected some shrinkage of the parts which will affect any segment of the component that has tight or close clearances.

From Shapeways site regarding SLS printed parts (Shapeways)

Executive summary:

maintain a wall thickness of at least 1mm,
accuracy is 0.1mm,
always keep a clearance of 0.6mm
and parts may have a deviation of 0.2mm.

When designing something mechanical that has to be 3D printed or when adding a mechanical feature to your model there are several main considerations.

Also listed in the above link are the considerations of enclosed parts. Each of the balls in the bearing design may or will be printed as a hollow sphere filled with nylon powder. The bearing rings will also be printed as shells, unless appropriate steps are taken to make them solid.

By the same token, if a part need not be solid and can be designed with holes to "drain out" the un-sintered powder, the cost will be reduced accordingly.


How to calibrate Ender-4 I have just assembled the Creality3D Ender-4 kit a couple of days ago.
I completed some rewiring and everything seems to be wired correctly, I'm able to auto-home successfully, but this is the problem I'm having:

I tried printing a calibration cube.
The first problem I noticed is that the printing is starting on one corner instead of the center as specified on the Printer Settings in CURA (check settings below).

Second problem is that I'm getting significant distortion. The movement of the printer seems to be fine, no jerks of weird sounds. I tried all I know but I honestly don't know how to proceed with this. I have a couple of hours of experience in 3D Printing so I'm completely lost.

This is the result I got (Model printed with Raft for adhesion):

These are my CURA settings:

Printer

Extruder

The first problem is solved by removing  the tick mark at Origin at center. Most printers have their origin at a corner (not Delta's, their origin is in the top center).

The second problem is a little more difficult to solve. Please note that a kit should be loaded with preset values that should be fair enough to print, your picture does not appear to print the calibration cube correctly, so you should try to eliminate each possibility one at a time. As said, your picture is not very clear, but it does not appear to be a cube, it looks more rectangular (also note that a raft is only interesting when printing difficult, read prone to warping, filaments like ABS).

What you could do is print simple squares (no raft, but use a brim or skirt), e.g. 50 x 50 mm (only 1 or 2 walls in width and a few layers high), and measure the printed size.

If these squares do not stick to the heated bed, calibrate the Z height to nozzle distance and re-level the bed or increase the heated bed temperature;
If the X and Y sizes  are different, you should calibrate the steps per mm for the direction that differs (M92 is the G-code to set the steps per mm; M500 to store the value to memory; these codes can be given over USB using specific programs that interface through a command line interface e.g. Pronterface, Repetier-Host or OctoPrintor alternatively in a .gcode file and loaded through the printer user interface);
If extrusion does look weird, measure the filament width at various sections of the filament with a vernier caliper and calibrate the extruder stepper and set the correct amount of steps per mm;
Finally, print the 20 x 20 x 20 mm cube and measure the height and adjust the steps per mm for the Z direction.


Is it better use Nylon fillement for cold pull even if I have been using PLA? Using Prusa I3 MK3S
I am using PLA fillement and I need to do cold pull from time to time.
I noticed many people on Internet suggestusing Nylon fillement for clod pull.
I wanted to reach out to this community and ask if it is better using Nylon fillement for cold pull even if I have been using PLA?

Nylon holds better when pulled, PLA may snap.
Also it can grab particles around it, but it keeps low friction so the force you use to pull goes to detaching the dirt instead of rubbing against the walls.
By getting solid and by maintaining strength at higher temperatures, you can pull when it's hotter (with PLA you should pull at what? 40 °C?) and by being hotter can grab particles and remains of other filaments which are potentially softer. It's pulled at around 140-150 °C so that ABS and PLA at that temperature are very sticky and soft.
By holding easily higher temperatures (250-260 °C easily) you can also extrude it and it will melt any other filament in the nozzle.
Try doing some cold pulls with a light colour PLA to be able to see what it grabs. After a couple of pulls it should be clean. Then do nylon and check how much more stuff it will remove. If it's nothing, no need of using nylon. If it's dirty, it's the proof it can clean everything better than PLA.
A sample of nylon (50 g usually) will be sufficient for a long time so no need to get a full spool.


UBL Marlin settings to cover whole bed This question is related to:
How to set Z-probe boundary limits in firmware when using automatic bed leveling?
I am trying to figure out how to set UBL In Marlin to cover as much bed as possible.
So My bed is size of 300x255 mm
#define NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET { -34, -1, -2 }
My Probe can physically cover 255 mm (whole Y) and 272 mm (of X size)
Let's give it a bit of margin of the 0Y -> 3 mm and from 0X -3 mm
So idea is to cover X from 3 mm to 269 mm and Y from 3 mm -> 252 mm
How should I set
#define PROBING_MARGIN
and
#define MESH_INSET
so it covers my bed and probes 100 points ?
I tried different options, most of the time it stops at 57/100 and printer HALTs.
Only setting I got it working with was:
#define PROBING_MARGIN 30
#define MESH_INSET 50
But that does not cover whole bed. I am struggling to understand how it's calculated.
Other settings I found was commented as below.
#if PROBE_SELECTED && !IS_KINEMATIC
  // #define PROBING_MARGIN_LEFT PROBING_MARGIN
  // #define PROBING_MARGIN_RIGHT PROBING_MARGIN
  // #define PROBING_MARGIN_FRONT PROBING_MARGIN
  // #define PROBING_MARGIN_BACK PROBING_MARGIN
#endif

Any suggestions ?

PROBING_MARGIN and MESH_INSET make the effective probing area smaller, so if you want to have more area, you should reduce the value of these constants.
As of Marlin 2.x, the probing area isn't defined directly by the firmware configuration settings, but calculated, based on the probe offset settings. The constants you mention are reducing the probing area to keep the carriage/nozzle on the build surface.
If you have enough space on your printer to accommodate probing the whole bed, you could minimize the marging and define edges:
#if PROBE_SELECTED && !IS_KINEMATIC
  #define PROBING_MARGIN_LEFT PROBING_MARGIN
  #define PROBING_MARGIN_RIGHT PROBING_MARGIN
  #define PROBING_MARGIN_FRONT PROBING_MARGIN
  #define PROBING_MARGIN_BACK PROBING_MARGIN
#endif


How do I add auto bed levelling to my Marlin-based CNC? I just finished a CNC that uses Marlin Firmware. The dimensions of it are quite large (3200 x 2000 mm) and the table is not perfect. I'm thinking of adding a proximity sensor to store a mesh in the eeprom and thus compensate for any errors. I'm not sure how to do this. I would like to be able to execute an action from the display (full graphics) and have samples taken over the whole table, but I do not know how to tell the firmware where to take the samples, nor what the dimensions of it are.

Auto bed leveling requires some settings (constants) in the configuration of your Marlin firmware.

It is recommended to read about the implementation of automatic bed leveling first. There are a few options to choose the kind of leveling, for 3D printers a commonly chosen option is AUTO_BED_LEVELING_BILINEAR which is the best option if you do not know if your bed is flat or not. If you are certain it is flat but tilted (e.g. when you have a milled bed or a glass plate in 3D printing) you could go for AUTO_BED_LEVELING_3POINT or AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR.

What further is important is the sensor type you choose. Do you want a touch or a proximity sensor. The latter is your preference (as specified in your question), which is a little simpler as you do not need to configure for servos for deploying and stowing.

You need to set:

#define FIX_MOUNTED_PROBE

for using a fixed proximity sensor.

In the configuration file you also need to specify the position of the probe in relation to the nozzle (in your case tool center):

#define X_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER 10  // X offset: -left  +right  [of the nozzle]
#define Y_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER 10  // Y offset: -front +behind [the nozzle]

and optionally:

#define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER 0   // Z offset: -below +above  [the nozzle]

This latter is not necessary as you can always set the distance of the sensor trigger point to the nozzle/tool plane by G-code command M851 Z-x.xx

You would also need to set the boundaries of the probe area to prevent the tool to hit unwanted positions (fill out values or leave the constants):

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

Once properly setup, command G29 runs the leveling of the bed, options are available for that command to store the bed mesh to EEPROM.

Enabling LCD_BED_LEVELING constant in the configuration file will add a Bed Leveling sub-menu to the LCD. But you could also work with SD-card stored files that load these codes.

This reference explains the automatic leveling in more detail, but there are many more detailed guides to follow from the internet. Be sure that you get a recent guide to that is easier to set in the latest firmware.


Z-axis endstop not functioning after Marlin Firmware installation I've had my Monoprice Maker Ultimate for a few months and have started doing upgrades to it. My most recent change is in upgrading the firmware to  a newer version of Marlin so that I can better control the thermal settings and implement a probe in the future. For now, I intend to level the bed manually.

Well the issue I'm having now is that after flashing the firmware (Marlin Firmware 1.1.9) and attempting to home, the z axis limit switch is unresponsive. X and Y work as they should. I send M119 codes to the printer in Pronterface when holding the Z switch with my finger and get that the z axis is open. I even flipped over the machine and shorted out the two pins on the board leading to the switch and I get that its still open.(It is open when not pressing the switch, the switch is not inverted. If I flash the firmware back to the original, it functions fine.

I've been digging through the Marlin files learning how it works and am wondering if there are any extra steps I have to take to designate the switches in the config file. Or if a conflicting bed leveling/probe setting may be overriding with the switch's functionality. I've been searching around but haven't seen much about this issue. Wondering if someone could point me in the right direction.

Here's a repository of my configuration.h and *_adv.h files: https://github.com/jeffc-git/3dimensify

After gaining more of an understanding of how Marlin works, I decided to look through the  the pins file for the motherboard I am using "pins_ULTIMAIN_2.h".  Sure enough, It had a the wrong pin number for the z stop specified. After changing that number, I gained full functionality.

This is what they should be:

#define X_STOP_PIN         22
#define Y_STOP_PIN         26
#define Z_STOP_PIN         29


Sanguinololu 1.3a fan connection Can anyone tell me where to connect a cooling fan on the Sanguinololu v1.3a board?  A few of the information pages mention three PWM outputs: Extruder, bed heater and fan, but none of the wiring diagrams that I can find, actually show the connections for the fan.

It appears that there isn't an "out-of-the-box" solution to your request, but luck is with you. Someone with your board and objective has posted what appears to be a reasonable modification:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Add-a-Cooling-Fan-to-your-Rep-Rap-Sanguinololu/


Can I mix ABS and PLA when recycling filament? I'm thinking of recycling some filament from a couple of recently failed prints. I can reuse them in the future for basic prototypes, so I'm not concerned with whatever weird mixture of colors come out (they are of a few different colors).

The thing is, I have both PLA and ABS, in small quantities. I originally intended to simply use each one separately, but it occurred to me that they could be mixed.

If I recycle PLA and ABS together into one strand of filament, will there be any negative side effects (e.g. reduced strength)?

This is not a good idea. Both filaments have different melting points, that of ABS being much higher than that of PLA. To melt the ABS you have to heat the plastic to the point where the PLA starts to degrade.


Square sheet in middle layers I'm using a Tronxy Ultrabot (looks very similar to Anycubic Photon) and I'm still on my first prints.
Things that happened thus far: many failed prints that stuck to the resin tank, one which I had to carefully scoop off.

What I'm finding odd is that this sheet (for lack of a better term) only seems to happen on one half of the whole thing.

I'm suspecting the FEP film is the culprit here, due to earlier failures.

What else could be causing this error?
Other info that might be important, the model is using 6 layer, 60s cure time for base; 0.04mm layer size, 10s layer cure time, 1s delay between layers. The resin is Suen Ching

Edit 2: Here's the manual

This is a guess but it may be a problem with the sliced file. Take a look though the layers of the sliced file to see if your software is adding a layer there. sometimes it looks fine in the 3d model but it can add a layer while slicing.


What can I do about a printjob in progress that starts to warp/curl on the edges? I currently have a print job that is about 50% done, been running for 2 hours with 2 hours remaining.  One side is curling/warping pretty bad, and I'm afraid there's no possible way this is going to finish without serious problems if I don't intervene.

So what I'm doing is either brilliant or idiotic, I'm not sure which: I've paused the print job, stuck some elmers glue below the curling part (with toothpicks, careful not to budge anything else), added a couple degrees to the heatbed (for pliability hopefully), put a small book on top of it to smash it on the glue and let it rest for a little bit (I'll report back if this was a horrible idea or not).

So my main quesiton: Is there any other techniques that you folks can recommend for a scenario like this?  McGuyver'y techniques to repair your in-progress print jobs?  Has anyone tried this technique I'm attempting and if so how successful was it?

In case it matters, I have an ANET A8 and generally send my print jobs to Octoprint (Raspi) from Cura with a Octoprint plugin (Windows).  Printing with PLA filament.  I've done quite a few successful prints recently, but this is the first one that goes from corner-to-corner on the heatbed (this specifically).  Printing at 207c with 60c heatbed (bumped up to 64 while glue settles).  It's in a cooler room of the house, and doesn't have an enclosure so I'm afraid the cool temp is affecting it.

Thanks

Edit, last maybe significant (or maybe not) details: printing on glass with glue stick applied to it - been doing it for weeks and works quite well for the most part.  Also, printing on a raft.

Edit, here are a few pics.  Both are from the back of the printer looking forward.  I have one cam almost exactly level with the glass so I can see the hot-end extrude filament and another one slightly above it.  Sorry for the bad lighting.  Also included screenshots of my slicer settings for this print.

Btw, I've since resumed printing after glueing it down, so far so good - but as you can see in the first pic it may have some possible structural defects and still has a slight curl:

Putting a large brim on it can help, I've seen people rescue prints with larger brims by literally adding weights to the brim around the areas that are peeling up. I've done it by taping brim edges down carefully as the print goes.


Vertical vs Horizontal shapes printing first time here.
I recently bought an Anycubic Mega S and I'm venturing in the 3D world. Lots to learn for sure. I have printed a few items so far and all went pretty well.
My question is about something that caught my attention while browsing on Thingiverse. I was looking for an organizer for a board game that I have and every option I found there shows the piece in a vertical position rather than horizontal which seems like the natural position of the piece.
I would like to know why most of this types of pieces are set to be printed in a vertical position rather than horizontal.
Here is the original piece Betrayal at Baldur's Gate Organizer by Jason Patch. As you can see in the image below the piece is naturally horizontal but the actual files to print (blue ones) are all vertical.

PS.: I didn't really know which tags to use so I just added 3D, feel free to suggest any other I will happily edit it. :)

Thingieverse does respect the orientation an item was designed in, just like most slicers will. Designers will often choose any one of the three planes (XY, YZ, ZX) as their first by preference, then work out the other parts in relation to the first. This does often not take into account the actual print orientation it should be printed in.
In the case of this box, you'd have to turn all items around the Y-axis (the front-left to back-right one) by 90°, first to the front, then the back then to the front again, getting almost 0 overhangs.