Nintendo Cartridge Print? I am trying to make a device with an old NES cartridge.  If I were to take an already existing cartridge, I would need to make some precision cuts into the plastic and not sure where to get advice on that.

The flip side, is if I print my own 'NES' cartridge with the cuts built into the print.

So my question is two part.  One, if I were to print one on my own, what is the cheapest price point I could obtain a printer that could do enough detail to make it hard to tell the difference from the real thing.

In case you are just curious, I'm needing to cut a perfectly sized rectangle into the case for an LCD panel to fit into.  Or print my own.

If I were to print one on my own, what is the cheapest price point I could obtain a printer that could do enough detail to make it hard to tell the difference from the real thing.

Around 15.000 US$.

FDM printers (the most common consumer-grade ones, the ones with the roll of filament beside them) all print with distinctive layer marks.  Next are resin printers, but resins tend to have a very peculiar feeling to it, that is difficult to mistake for ABS or other injection-molding plastics, when you hold them, plus they typically struggle with largish objects.  So you would probably be looking at a sintering printer, melting nylon powder with a laser.  That is expensive to buy and very expensive to operate.

Now, while the above is all technically true, it is only half the story...

In fact prints done on a cheap FDM printer can be post-processed to look almost indistinguishable from an injection molded model.  That takes probably more work to accomplish than modelling the object in cad and printing it though, so it's a matter of setting your expectations correctly (don't think to your print as "the product" but as the "base material" for your finished product).

I would say that you essentially have two options:

if you are looking at picking up a new hobby, and do a lot of sanding and polishing in the process, then: "welcome to the club!".  There are plenty of relatively cheap printers that can print acceptably well (more on this below).
if your interest is not towards 3d printing in general but is really limited to getting project done, than you could consider having a printing service doing that for you instead (basically you send them the file with your design and choose what kind of printer and material you want them to use, and they send you back the end result). It will be cheaper and probably of a higher quality than what you could achieve yourself.  Certainly it will require less time investment from your side.

If you go with option one, an affordable printer that got very good reviews from trustworthy reviewers is the cetus.  It is 299 US$, have quality components and is very very silent.  The build volume is not huge but should be more than enough for your project.

However don't take my suggestion as "this is the best you can buy for your money": there are plenty of models out there that will get the job done in the price range 300-500 US$, and if you are wishing to spend a bit more, you could get an Original Prusa MKIIs (the printer that topped the charts last year) for 600US$ as a kit or slightly more fully assembled.

Should you go for using a printing service instead, there are a lot of them.  Two among the most well known are 3dhubs and shapeways.


How to connect power and fan to RAMPS 1.6? My RAMPS 1.4 board has failed. I bought a RAMPS 1.6 to replace it but :

The old board had 4 power wires that went to 5 A and 11 A respectively. The RAMPS 1.6 has only 1 pair of power inputs. Which pair from the PSU do I connect to the board? Or do I combine them and connect them to their polarity respectively?
I have a cooling fan (12 V) for part cooling. In RAMPS 1.4, I had it connected to the pins between the power inputs and the X stepper driver on the board. The RAMPS 1.6 doesn't have such a pair of pins. Is it possible to connect it somewhere else on the 1.6 board?

You only need to connect one pair (one red, one black) of sufficient wire gauge to the single power connector's plus (red) and minus (black). There is no need to bundle multiple pairs from the PSU. Some pinout graphs are not clear in this respect! I've always connected the heated bed through an external MOSFET to keep large currents away from the board, but according to the design, it is capable of handling the current.

E.g. this is the correct pinout:

And this an incorrect pinout graph (look at the lower left where the power needs to be connected to the board, this hints to bundling the 11 A and 5 A wiring):

The part cooling fan should preferably not be connected to a (non-schedulable) 12 V header. Instead you should use the D9 output connector to schedule the airflow of the fan for part cooling.

Note there is no spare 12 V header available on the board. You could use the spare PSU pair to power the coldend (radiator) fan.


Is there any reason *not* to use a steel nozzle for printing all materials? I know that for printing some materials like the carbon-fiber filled PLA it's recommenced to use a steel nozzle since it'll wear-out a standard brass nozzle quickly. Is there any reason to prefer using a brass nozzle for 'simple' plastic-only filaments instead of just printing everything with steel?

Thermal conductivity of brass is approximately twice as better than steel (not stainless). Given that the size of nozzle is relatively small, it should be able to transfer enough heat for a medium-speed prints at least.
I have printed PLA and ABS using "steel" nozzle (brand of steel unknown) at the speed around 80 mm/s without any visible differences compared to brass.
However, an ideal nozzle (I see) is made of tempered bronze with polished inner channels. Bronze is known to have better friction coefficient and tempered one should be enough to resist carbon-type filaments more efficiently.


Getting 5V directly from the Anet A8 mainboard My anet A8 stepper drivers get very hot after some time printing, so I decided to install a 5V fan to cool them down. I had the idea to get a 12V to 5V regulator to connect a 5V fan, but then i found this image:

(source: lokspace.eu)

It looks like the Anet A8 has an ICSP and Serial header that can deliver 5 or 3.3 V directly from the board. Is this correct? If it is, how many amps can i get from this pin? Can I connect a 5V fan directly here?

Thanks and sorry for my bad English.

The 5V is derived from the 12V supply by a linear regulator (L7805CD, DPAK package with 100 C/W thermal resistance). The maximum you can draw from it (without overheating the regulator) is around 200mA. Considering the electronics on the board are already using some power, the maximum would be around a 150mA fan but this would have the regulator running near its maximum limits.


Ender 3 BLTouch first layer problems I recently installed an original BLTouch V3 on my Ender 3 pro and ever since I can’t seem to get a decent print. My first layers are horrible.

The install wasn’t so bad, I really thought it would be plug and play thereafter.

I currently have:

Version 1.1.4 board with non silent steppers
Marlin 1.1.9 with bug fix as per the teaching tech video
Printing on glass, bed @ 60 °C, extruder @ 200 °C

I have checked

Bed is level.
X gantry is squared/straight.
Belts seem tight.
Tried my best at getting the Z offset right.
Checked E steps are correct.
BLTouch seems to be working - not 100 % sure as it’s my first time using an auto level sensor.

More pictures here for those who can help.

I have reset the offset and still having difficulty I’m hoping the following pics would help. They bed level squares that prints squares on all four corners and the centre of the bed plate. If I raise the offset any higher I have difficulty with prints sticking. See here.

I manage to get the printer working, it was an hotend issue. Was clogged, replaced nozzle and working as expected.

Thank you all for the guidance!


Is lubricating filament a good idea? With respect to Himanshu's comment about applying a lubricant to PLA filament, and then having read the Reddit thread, Seasoning all-metal hot ends with oil?, pointed to in 0scar's answer, I was wondering if any studies have been done on the topic?

If so, what is the general consensus? From the Reddit thread it seems as if the better quality branded hotends, such as E3D do not require it, whereas the older, or less well finished clones, may well benefit from such treatment.

In addition, which oil is preferable, animal, vegetable or mineral? Is vaseline a good idea?

Also, would the advice differ if ABS filament is used, or would the same conditions apply?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this is probably not a good idea in any capacity.

First off, if you take a look at this list of cooking oils, you'll notice that pretty much all of them have smoke points below the printing temperature of ABS, with a handful of exceptions that have smoke points just barely above that temperature. All that means is that the hydrocarbon chains are going to break down inside your extruder, which really accomplishes nothing helpful for you. As the compounds break down further and oxidize with the small amounts of air coming into the extruder, you're going to get carbon fouling on all surfaces, including the filament itself as it extrudes.

Second, and this depends entirely on the amount of oil present, but I'd expect to see oil actually coating the filament somewhat as it comes out of the nozzle, and acting as a separating agent between the lines of filament on the print itself. I'm not sure how much you'd actually experience this, but again, best case scenario is it doesn't happen, and the oil doesn't give you any real advantage here.

Third, the process of seasoning cast iron works because the surface of the cast iron should be smooth for minimal food sticking, and any kind of rusting causes pits and porosity in the metal. Seasoning just ensures that oil stays in the metal to prevent moisture from interacting with it, and to provide a very thin oil layer that somewhat separates food from the metal until the food is hot enough that its own fats have started to lubricate it against the pan. Extruders on the other hand really shouldn't have porous surfaces nor be made of easily oxidized materials. Stainless heatbreaks, aluminum blocks, brass nozzles, all of these really aren't going to rust readily and probably won't benefit much from an oil coating.

Fourth, if you're looking for a nonstick coating for the interior of the extruder, a PTFE liner has been known to give excellent results for a very long time now. If you're printing above the temperatures PTFE can survive at, then unfortunately you're also printing above the temperatures that pretty much any cooking oil (or petroleum jelly) will survive without rapidly breaking down.

So to summarize, you're not going to find many oils that can even survive inside an extruder, and they wouldn't really give you many benefits for the duration of time that they weren't just a charcoal slurry.


Filament starts extruding as soon as hotend reaches melting point I have a homemade 3D printer running on ramps 1.4
When i start a new print and the hotend reaches melting point of PLA, the PLA start coming out of the hotend.
This goes on for as long as the temperature is kept above melting point, without moving the extrusion gear.

The extruder is a bowden type.
Hotend is a J-head.
I am currently using simplify if that makes any difference regarding configuration.

Any ideas what to do to prevent this from happening?

Any ideas what to do to prevent this from happening?

You cannot prevent it entirely, but you can probably mitigate the problem by depressing the lever that squashes the filament against the hobbed gear of the extruder before starting to heat the nozzle.

In bowden extruders, the long portion of filament between the stepper motor and the nozzle is subject to compression during the print.  Because of the hysteresis in the filament, and of the slack between filament and PTFE tube, this filament acts like a slow-releasing compression spring.  When the nozzle cools down, the potential energy stored in the filament is "frozen" in place.

By depressing the lever, you allow the spring to extend "backward" towards the spool, rather than "forward" through the nozzle.

Some oozing is still bound to happen because of gravity and - as highlighted by others - thermal expansion, but it should be significantly less.

If you adopt the lever trick, remember to print with a skirt, as you will want the printer to recreate that "compression" in the filament before the model proper begins.

Another way to address the issue would be to add a little bit of retraction in the closing stanza of your GCODE (the part where you also tell the printer to unpower the steppers and stop heating).  This will prevent any "compression" to be "frozen" in the first place.

This anwer is based on the assumption that the stepper motor is not actively spinning (i.e.: yours is not a hardware/firmware issue).


PLA continuous operative temperature For personal usage, indoor, I'm doing some experiments with following lamp (v0.1):

Lamp is a led bulb enclosed in a methacrylate tube and with a 3D printed finish at the top using PLA (my first 3d print ;-).

In some www pages (by example, here) I've read that the led buld radiator can reach 90º C. Experimentally, the methacrylate and the PLA feels only slightly hot, I suppose around 40ºC.

According to www info, PLA has a melting point of 150ºC, far from this usage, but a continuous operative temperature of only 40ºC ( !? this made 3d printing unable in a country as my own one, where ambient in summer is around 40ºC).

So, my question, is PLA a valid material for this application? If not, some other one better?

Thanks a lot.

EvilTeach's answer is correct, ABS is a more reliable plastic for any kind of work which may get above what feels "hot to the touch."

Just to elaborate on the why: the property you're looking for in the thermoplastic (which will determine the continuous operating temperature) is glass transition temperature. This is the point at which the plastic begins to flow, and becomes deformable as EvilTeach described. PLA reaches this state at around 60 °C, whereas ABS is around 105 °C, just suiting your specifications. To go a bit further, polycarbonate offers a glass transition temperature of around 150 °C, and Ultem at 217 °C. So there's a thermoplastic for everyone, you just need to know what you're looking for!


PET-G under-extrusion after changing the nozzle to a 1.2 mm d. one (Prusa i3 mk3s and PrusaSlicer v2.0) PET-G is the main filament I use. I can achieve high quality of my prints with my Prusa i3 mk3s printer. Recently however, I've recently changed my nozzle from the default 0.4mm to the 1.2mm. I watched the online video tutorial on how to do it properly and did the whole process carefully.

Temperature: 250 °C/100 °C
Speed: max 200 %, but results are the same even all the higher ones .
Layer height: 0.35 mm

With my first print (and the next ones too) on the new nozzle I noticed lots of under-extrusion with infill (holes). LOTS of stringing although I've increased retraction. What's the reason ?

Piecing this answer together from the comments on OP's post.
Myself and R.. noted that a layer height of 0.35 mm, nozzle width of 1.2 mm, and a fairly high feedrate (200 % according to OP, no reference to what 100 % is), is an exceptionally large amount of plastic to try and melt through almost any hotend on the market except possibly the Volcano, or the high-throughput version of the Mosquito.

OP responded that lowering the layer height to 0.2 mm seemed to fix the issue. That's still an impressive amount of plastic, but it's a 43 % decrease in total flow compared to 0.35 mm layer height.


PLA filament not feeding correctly with Ultimaker 2+ I've got the following PLA filament that is not feeding correctly into our Ultimaker 2+

It starts to feed and then all of the sudden, the wire 'eats' (read breaks, but not entirely) the plastic filament as you can see on the picture below:

Any hints are more than welcomed.

The photograph and your description indicate that the drive gear is eating the filament because the filament has stopped moving. The least likely problem would be that something is jammed at the spool or between the spool and the entry to the drive mechanism.

The more likely problem is that your nozzle is clogged. It is simple to determine if that is the case. If you have a direct drive mechanism (not a bowden tube type), remove all the filament and release the wheel or bearing that presses the filament against the hobbed pulley, which is the part connected to the motor or driven gear if you have a geared mechanism.

Heat the nozzle up to correct temperature for PLA and attempt to push filament through the nozzle. If it does not move, your nozzle is clogged and has to be cleared.

A nozzle clog can be caused by a too-low temperature or a too-high temperature resulting in burned material becoming jammed in the nozzle.

If you have a 0.40 nozzle, find that size of nozzle tool or use a 0.40 mm drill bit and carefully push and turn it into the nozzle.

Also consider to use nylon cleaning method. This involves heating the nozzle to the correct temperature for melting nylon filament, forcing it into the hot end, then allowing it to cool. Reheating it while pulling on the filament will remove some of the debris. Eventually, it will pass through the nozzle and will also pull out clean, with no debris on the end of the filament. It is suggested to research "nylon cleaning method" to learn correct temperatures.

I have used the nylon cleaning method and have removed debris from overheated filament in the past. I have been able to shine a bright light from below and see the open nozzle after completing the process.

The above steps are identical for bowden type systems and require to remove the bowden tube to access the hot end more effectively. The tube can be removed from either the hot end or the drive end, but force is more effectively applied if the tube is removed from the hot end.


Repeatedly Clogged Printrbot Simple Extruder I have a Printrbot Simple Metal. The extruder is getting clogged all the time. I went through the process demonstrated here multiple times already. Heatting the extruder and pushing different tools all the way through to make sure it is completely clear.
Every time I get a clear flow of PLA, and after a few minutes the extruder motor starts clicking again. At that point, it is even hard to push in the filament by hand.
I replaced the tip already, but this didn't make any difference. I also tried few different filaments, all of them worked perfectly before.
It feels like stopping the flow even for about 30 seconds would cause it to jam.

I had a similar issue on my Printrbot Simple Metal. I believe my problem was initially caused by clogged nozzle which I replaced, however the jamming persisted. I can't say for sure that it was acting exactly as you describe but I think it may have been similar. I noticed that the little red insulating sleeve was pushed up higher than it was when I got it from Printrbot. When I lowered this my problem seemed to go away.


Slic3r under extrusion For last two weeks I have been struggling with flow rate adjustments. I'm using an UM2, colorFabb XT 1.75mm and Slic3r. Before printing a test cube I made flow rate adjustments using the "Perimeter test" (printed a hallow cube with 1 layer thin perimeter line). I then compared the desired value of the perimeter's width with the value from the g-code and adjusted the flow rate. I repeated this procedure until I got exactly the thickness I needed. After that, I printed a 15x15x15 mm cube and observed under extrusion on top layer. Also, the dimensions of the cube in the x-y plane were smaller than expected (0.4mm shorter than they should be). I have done this a few times now, and still get the same result. :/ Furthermore, I was unable to adjust width by dividing the desired value of the width of the perimeter by a real value, I got slightly smaller extrusion multiplier (One I got by division is 0.9 , but 9.5 relates to desired width). Do you have some suggestion guys?

Update:

I'll try to explain the calibration method I have used.

I have made in Solidwork 15x15x15 mm cube.
The cube was imported into Slic3r, where I have set the infill to 0% and number of sides shells equal to 1 and number of top and bottom shells equal to 0 (It gave me one layer thin wall in shape of cube).
I printed it out and measured the width using caliper and compared with the perimeter's width from g-code.
I have got something about 0.7, but the extrusion width in g-code is 0.65, so I changed extrusion multiplier by 0.65/0.7 = 0.93 (what is not actually true, because I got correct value on 0.95 only)
I have repeated the procedure for many times, and always got wrong dimensions and under extrusion.
There is the video about method I just have explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnjE5udkNEA

It looks like you overtune it. I think it's because top layer of hollow object doesn't have any support (which is obvious) but because of that the filament is not oblate that's why it looks like underextruded.

If you really need hollow object then set number of top layers to 3..5 then check if it helps. I know it's not really what you expect but IMO this could help here. (I usually set 2 bottom layers and 3 top and it's quite enought.) You can also experiment with speed of top leyer. I would say the faster the better in this issue as the the first top layer should be as flat as possible then next top layer will have better support. And of course cooling should be set to max (as for the bridges).

Here is an explanation why you get underextrusion.

A is wall (perimeter) B is (ceiling) top layer.

Empty outlines are what you expect but filled shapes are what you really get. Differences are of course slightly smaller but it's to clearly explain the issue

Please also check Printer Settings > Advanced > Top solid infill.


Support material first layer adhesion issues I am quite new to 3D printing, and having difficulty printing  first layer of an object with support. The object has a few curved surfaces that touch the print bed, so not a big starting foot print.

I  am printing on a genuine Prusa i3 mk2s, using PLA, 210 °C (clean from what I can tell) nozzle, 60 °C (clean, good condition) heat bed. My model is an STL from Thingiverse, and I sliced it with Prusa Control. Settings: 0.3 mm layers, 30 % infill, Support from build plate, brim on. I have run the printer calibration, z-axis calibration, etc. Only thing that might be a bit out is my z-axis might be a fraction too low. I have no issues when printing objects without support, and usually don't have issues printing objects with support (although typically these have a larger contact area of the object to the print bed as well)

After it prints the brim (which adheres well), it tries to print the support layers for the "actual" layers that will get printed first. These layers do not touch the outer brim. They go down with a little bit of "squeeze out" when the printer does a 180-degree turn. (this can be seen on the right hand end of first picture).

Then, it attempts to print the whole-of-base support structure (refer to pic 3 and 4 for details). Where these support layers touch the outer brim, they adhere well. When they touch the initial support layer sections, it tears them up, leaving a big mess.

What appears to me to be happening, is the small sections that get printed first (circled in red) are either not adhering well enough, or somehow getting "ruffled up", or are printed too close to the subsequent, broader strokes of the rest of the support layer, such that when the rest of the support layer is printed, it is tearing up the initial small sections. Having 2 densities of support layer per layer seems to be causing issues.

Failed print, still on the bed. At the right, there is a section of "fine" support material that sort of survived.

Close up of the failed first layer. The broad strokes seem to adhere well except for when they meet where the fine layer was - after that it's just a big mess.

Slicing in Prusa control (part 1): shows the different support structures and very minimal contact of actual object to the bed (orange)

Close up of other problem area in PC slicing. No actual contact of object to bed here. Also, as a side note, why the funny diagonal line cutting through the rest of the support structure here?

Quick, low-tech solution:

There might be several issues in your question, but in relation to bed adhesion, I'll share one of the most useful tips I wish someone had told me when I started out: Spread some glue-stick over the area to be printed.

I used ordinary school/craft glue stick (which I stole from my daughter's school pencil case) - the kind for gluing paper. I use a purple one, so it's easy to see and easy to clean up. I apply a little glue then smear it around with a wet finger to make it a bit uniform.

I have a heated bed (FlashForge Creator Pro) and have used this little trick with a range of filaments. In almost every case, it helps adhesion enormously. Parts and supports stick like mad! But they still come off easily enough the usual way. It is a weak glue, so it won't lock the part to the bed. Once the part is off, the purple glue is visible when wet, so it is dead easy to clean up the part and the bed in a minute or two.

This trick is so easy that it is worth trying first for any adhesion issues, before digging deeper.


Why do the corners of my ABS object lift off the bed? I print ABS on a LulzBot Taz 5 and frequently have issues with the corners of objects lifting off the bed.

My extruder is at 230 °C and the bed is at 90 °C for the first layer and 100 °C for the rest of the layers.

I have experimented with using ABS slurry (ABS + acetone) on the bed for increased adhesion, building a foam enclosure for the printer, and varying the fan speed. I have noticed the problem is more common the taller the parts are and the sharper the corner is.

Adding ABS slurry helped for smaller parts (less than an inch tall) but with my more recent larger parts the adhesion to the bed was so good that the corners of the part lifting actually peeled the PEI tape off of the bed.

I have tried using both a skirt and a brim with no change. The skirt stays on the bed, the brim gets pulled up with the corner.

There are many different approaches to solving this issue and most of the answers already are spot-on. However, the fundamental reason for the "warping" is incorrect and inconsistent temperature across the material.

If there is too much fluctuation in the temperature across the object in this heated state can result in warping. The reason you see this mostly on the build plate is because the temperature of the first few layers of molten plastic vary much more against the build plate than against higher layers. Note that you can see additional warping mid-print using ABS and this can be a result of a draft or sudden drop in ambient temperature.

So, to help solve your problem, here are some suggestions (sorry if there are duplicates):

Completely enclose/seal your machine's build area to reduce (or eliminate if possible) draft and prevent the natural heat of the machine from escaping.
Increase the temperature on your build plate. I almost exclusively use ABS on my printer and I keep my HBP at about 112C. However, I live in the NW of the US, so my climate is naturally cooler than say Florida.
Alternatively, try decreasing the nozzle temperature to a lower point within the ABS melting range. This will just shorten the gap between the inconsistencies in temperature across layers. It is typically better to print at lower temperatures if you can help it. Obviously there are differences in the filament, so you'll have to find that "sweet spot".
Ensure your build plate is flat and your tape doesn't have bubbles. Your BP being flat should be a no brainer, but if your kapton tape (or whatever you use) has bubbles, your freshly printed plastic may not be getting the same temperature from the BP as the rest of your part. This is a bad thing as mentioned earlier.
Use extra adhesion techniques such as "ABS Glue" (ABS w/ acetone) or even hairspray. This works about 80% of the time for me, but can make it a bit difficult when removing the parts off the BP.


How many times can you re-flash the Marlin firmware to a RAMPS 1.4 board before it degrades the ROM? First of all I'm working with a Folger Tech Prusa i3 kit, if that makes a difference. Also I believe the Arduino is a Mega 2560.

I know somewhere in the back of my head that electrically programmable ROM like what must be on the Arduino board storing the firmware degrades a little, each time you write to it. Right now I'm trying to calibrate away another print problem, and I think I need to modify the firmware yet again, which I've already done several times. So I'm starting to worry about how many times I can do that.

Well, once I remembered the acronym "EEPROM", and after a little googling, I came across this, Arduino - EEPROM, which says that it can handle 100k cycles, so I think I'm onto the answer, but the problem is I'm not sure if a cycle is an entire file being uploaded? Wouldn't it be a single blip of data? And if so how many cycles would the average Marlin file consume?

I also found this:

  but I'd be very surprised if I've uploaded to it more than 2000 times

on Mega2560 bricked? not detected, DFU failing, indicating that the answer might be as low as 2000.

Also, this:

  Failure modes

  There are two limitations of stored information; endurance, and data
  retention.

  During rewrites, the gate oxide in the floating-gate transistors
  gradually accumulates trapped electrons. The electric field of the
  trapped electrons adds to the electrons in the floating gate, lowering
  the window between threshold voltages for zeros vs ones. After
  sufficient number of rewrite cycles, the difference becomes too small
  to be recognizable, the cell is stuck in programmed state, and
  endurance failure occurs. The manufacturers usually specify the
  maximum number of rewrites being 1 million or more.[5]

  During storage, the electrons injected into the floating gate may
  drift through the insulator, especially at increased temperature, and
  cause charge loss, reverting the cell into erased state. The
  manufacturers usually guarantee data retention of 10 years or more.[6]

from Wikipedia: EEPROM - Failure Modes, indicating the answer might be into the millions.

At this point I'm just wondering if an expert might see this and relieve my angst...

The EEPROM is not where the program itself is stored, what's relevant for your question is the flash. The flash in the ATmega2560 is rated for 10,000 cycles (i.e. you can reprogram it at least 10,000 times).


Octopi connecting just once to wifi Just starting with octoprint.

Bought a pi3A+,
Etched a 4Go micro sd card with the latest octopi distro (0.17.0)
Using a 5V bench power supply that delivers up to 10A.
Following official octopi instructions

I managed to connect once my pi to the wifi, configured it, but as soon as I reboot my pi, it won't connect to the wifi again.

Any hints?

Nothing helped me in the wifi troobleshooting FAQ.

I thought that I changed a particular config but :

without configuration change, I:

started the pi once
waited until the pi connects to the wifi
successfully pinged the pi via my PC
rebooted the pi
a new ping wouldn't work

I compared the files on the boot partition and only this changed:

freshly etched sd card:

cmdline.txt:
console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=6c586e13-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait quiet init=/usr/lib/raspi-config/init_resize.sh

card from rebooted device:

cmdline.txt:
console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=6c586e13-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait

there is no more differences.

What worked for me:

changed SD card from 2 GB to 16 GB (do not need so much)
power the pi with 5.4 V instead of 5 - 5.1 V


Periodical under extrusion with Slic3r I got myself an Ender 3 printer, put it together and tried the test g-code, worked fine. But i sometimes have problems with under extrusion, as shown in the picture below.

As you can see, the part to the left is almost not printed, but the part to the right is fine. These "holes" are a lot of places, and i dont understand what is causing a temporary clog or whatever the problem may be.

Anyone know something about this problem?

What you experience is temporary under-extrusion. This could be a typical result of friction in the supply of filament to the extruder. I've run into this also a week ago when the shaft of the spool holder caught a plastic bag next to it which wrapped around the shaft creating a lot of friction. Friction can also be caused by filament that gets entangled on the spool, this is usually a problem if the spool unrolls too freely on the holder (too less friction);it unrolls a few windings, and then tightens those entangling the filament. Also, if you use 2.85 mm filament on small diameter spools, the last stretch of filament has the smallest curvature and as such requires the most force to pull it to the extruder (this can go in steps).

Furthermore, slipping of the extruder gear is also a (rare) possibility (when using a stepper directly to drive the extruder gear, a flat spot on the stepper shaft should prevent this).

Be sure to inspect the filament release from spool to extruder and try to see (and listen!) what happens when you print a part when you experience the under-extrusion.


Editing arc in Marlin for 3d printing I'm working on designing a 3d printer with a team. The team is using marlin open source software and I started half way into project trying to make sense of things.

Apparently there is an issue with the wheels moving the print head and it always moves a few mm short in the of the desired position. Can some one tell me which part of the marlin code interprets the G-code file and controls movement? I'm thinking of increasing the distance in the x and y axis to correct this (seemingly) minor problem.

Since your team is designing a printer, you'll have to do some basic calculations to figure out your x and y axis steps per millimeter and then set them in your firmware.

For a decent primer in the basic idea, this video is a good start.  For another decent getting started summary check this blog post

Also, since you're using Marlin, become very familiar with the Marlin Firmware and how to configure it.  The setting you want to change exists in the configuration.h file.  Documentation is included in the file, but you can find good information here in the Marlin Configuration instructions within the Marlin Firmware Github repo.

I hope this helps!  :-)


Can cheap hotend parts sourced from China actually produce good prints? TL;DR
Is it possible to build a hotend, using separate parts, sourced on eBay, from China, and still achieve a high quality print?

In my opinion, the E3D V6 hotend is rather expensive, at $/£70, especially to those building to a tight budget. Now, obviously/presumably, there is some quite rigorous QA and testing of the build, and they have to pay for their research costs and initial machining set ups and this is reflected in the high cost. Also, the expression, you get what you pay for, springs to mind.
However, I wondered if I sourced the individual parts from China, for a dollar apiece, that is to say the:

Throat (with Teflon lining)
Heating block
Heatsink
Nozzle
Pneumatic connector (PC4-05/PC4-M06)
Heater
Thermistor

could I too, end up with a hotend, that performs as well as, or even out performs, an E3D hotend, or am I living in cloud cuckoo land?
After all, let's not forget that most, if not, all of the parts used in a E3D hotend probably come from China anyway, these days, as most production facilites have moved from the US/EU to the cheaper manufacturing bases and machining shops, in SE Asia.
I have read so many times that people were experiencing extrusion problems, shoddy prints, etc, from their cheap printer, until they finally shelled out the cash and upgraded to a genuine E3D hotend. After that the prints were much improved. I have read this countless times, in blogs, threads, etc., so I presume that it is not possible.
I realise that if the parts are not finished correctly, and end up with burring on the inside of the throat, nozzle, etc., then the filament will not extrude correctly. See tbm0115's answer to How long is an extruder's/nozzle's life? However, assuming that the parts that I receive are machined, and finished, correctly then there should not be a problem, right?
Has anyone actually done this? Is tinkering with hotends a done thing? Does anyone have any good pointers and/or tips?
NOTE: This question is not really after opinionated answers, in order to stay within SE rules - although opinions are always welcome - but I just want to know if anyone has first hand (positive or negative) experience of this.

Hard to say for sure - my whole printer is cheap parts bought as a kit in China by a Chinese student who abandoned it in the US (I resurrected it after it was abandoned.) It includes all the parts you list, and I think we finally sorted out what the thermistor actually is so the temperatures are more accurate now.

It prints.

Could it print better? - Probably, but at some point replacing all the various cheap parts starts to look foolish .vs. just build a new printer with better parts all around, leaving the original functional. I doubt I've ever met a "E3D V6" and I'd have to google it to see what sort of paragon of printing it's supposed to be. The only thing I'm actually considering replacing is the nozzle itself, partly because I'm just guessing what size it is (mostly based on the way it prints when set to various sizes.) I'm also contemplating adding some sort of insulation for the heater block, having squnched some aluminum foil around it as a first stop-gap.

Likewise, if your concern is with burrs, etc. a degree of fettling by you can sort that sort of thing out, if you know to do it and how to do it (i.e. you need to be somewhat mechanically ept.) But of course "parts from China" are not a monolithic entity - there are good parts and bad parts that both come from China - given the state of internet sales, you may well have (unknown to you) the choice of parts that passed quality control, parts that failed quality control, and parts that quality control never looked at (some of which might pass, some of which might fail), from the same production facility, available to you from various vendors at various price points. And then there are many different production facilities as well.

Production in the US or Europe is no magic bullet either - competing with imports on price is difficult, so one hopes that superior quality is on offer, but it may or may not actually be from a given vendor, or a given batch of parts.


Octoprint “using Google's DNS server” octoprint seems to have a setting that involves googles DNS server.

my question is is that server used to access octoprint over the internet via printoid "android app" or via browser? if not then what does it mean?

The program is pinging that address to check the internet connection to "prevent resource intensive operations if it's already clear that they won't succeed anyhow".  It checks for connectivity, if it has it then it will check for update otherwise it won't check for an update.


What is M73 Q17 S43 G-code command? I know that M73 P19 means "Set completion progress to 19%", and I suspect that M73 R42 means "Set remaining time to 42 minutes", but what is M73 Q17 S43? I can't find description of such syntax.

The command is seen in .gcode files produced by PrusaSlicer.

The M73 Set/Get build percentage G-code is only defined for a selected few printer firmwares.

As you suspected, next to M73 P19 (tell the firmware at what completage percentage the print is) the M73 R42 tells the firmware the left time to completion.

If you look at the description of the M73 G-code, the following parameters may be used:

P: Percent in normal mode
R: Time remaining in normal mode
Q: Percent in silent mode
S: Time remaining in silent mode

So, running the Q and S parameters, is similar to the P and R parameters with the exception for referring to the printer percentage/time when in stealth (quiet) mode.

These modes, normal and stealth, refer to power modes of Prusa printers:

  Normal vs. Stealth mode
  MK3 printers offer two print modes. Normal mode is required for the detection of lost steps (shifted layers), while still being quieter than the silent mode on MK2/S. There is also the Stealth mode, which utilizes Trinamic StealthChop technology, making the printer almost inaudible with the print cooling fan being the noisiest part of the printer. However, Stealth mode does not provide lost step detection.

Stealth mode times can be a bit higher than normal mode estimation times. Estimation is done by the slicer. As Prusa maintains this feature, their times are accurate for their printers, but that does not have to be the case for custom printers.

To get the current progress, the M73 command is called without parameters:

  Use "M73" by itself to get a report of the current print progress.


Tevo Tarantula home offset Following Beny's advice, I've just setup JimBrown-MarlinTarantula firmware.
However, my X0 & Y0 points are off the bed.

When trying to center my prints & afterwards sending G1 X100 Y140 to the printer, I am still off center by the margins of the sizes my X0 & Y0 points are divided by 2.

What should I do?

By adjusting/calibration of the center of the bed you will automatically find the correct offset values.

This is explained in detail in this answer to the question How to center my prints on the build platform?.


Alignment of dual Z-axis steppers My newly built ANET A8 has dual Z-axis steppers (and two threaded rods), but only an end-stop on one side. Am I missing some detail for ensuring proper alignment of Z as the extruder moves along the Z-axis? I notice there are mountings for a 2nd end-stop, but nowhere to attach this on the MCU board.

It seems that even after I check the leveling, there is scope for the two steppers to get out-of sync once the servos are turned off - is this something to worry about? I realise that during a print run, if I start with good alignment this should stay good.

I've only managed about 10 minutes of printing so far, and everything seems to work, but this is my first printer, so obviously I might have missed a vital step in the instructions quite easily.

All the Prusa-based designs I've seen have only one end stop.  While you are correct that it's theoretically possible for the two Z-drives to get out of sync, it's very unlikely in practice (barring serious friction, binding, etc.).

But even if it happens, remember that the endstop microswitch is only used to keep the extruder assembly from crashing into the print bed.  The stepper motors do not have shaft encoders, or any other position sensing mech, so if they were to get out of sync, there'd be no way to know this.

The reason there's provision for a stop mount, on both sides, is simply to make the physical parts of the frame the same.

That said, it is important to check the extruder support assembly to verify it's level as you build the printer - "level" meaning both supports are the same distance from the screw-drive shaft couplers.


How do I get a replacement PTFE tube to fit inside my nozzle? I have been getting clogs and believe that it may be due to a damaged PTFE tube inside my hot end.  I have a replacement (it came with my printer), but I can't seem to fit the tube into the nozzle.

I also tried to turn the original PTFE tube around, and I can't get the other end to fit into the nozzle either.

Is there a trick to it?

In the end, I was able to get the tube in the nozzle.

It took a lot of patience, and it seems to help if the nozzle is warm as well.


Stainless tip for thermistor I would like to secure my hotend thermistor in a more reliable way (now it is just thermistor plugged in the hotend :D). I want to have a stainless steel tip for it to fix it inside hotend with a screw (The same approach as used for the heating cartridge). I have thermistors, but I cannot find any tips to buy separately.

Maybe you have some links for this kind of stainless-steel tips? Or some keywords I can use to search them?

I am not too sure what you're searching for, but I imagine it to be a kind of thermistor housing to distribute pressure from the screw while maintaining good heat conductance.

I first have to say that I'd be afraid to damage the glass droplet of the typical thermistor design by putting pressure to them, especially including later thermal expansion. However, I never tried and we might find some valuable experience on that in other answers here.

If what I assumed in the first paragraph is true, I would suggest forming some housing yourself with copper foil or copper sheets, since the heat conductance of copper is good and it is more or less soft.
However, as a more simple solution, you might just cut the metal part of a 'wire ferrule', if you got some lying around. (Wikipedia has no english article for this, so I link the german one for the images: Aderendhülse)

Additional info: Can't you clamp the thermistor the way it is done in the E3D V6 hotend, see this image?

Thermal contact should be quite good and you don't have any problems which could lead to damage of the thermistor.


Anet A6 stock power wires.. the live, the zero and the ground. Which is which As an electrician newbie I have a question..
Short question
My power plug is attached to the wall outlet and three wires are at the end of it.. the blue, the brown and the green/yellow oen.
How to determine which is the live, zero and ground wire WITHOUT depending on the colouring?
I want to know this to always be able to check the wiring, if I don't trust it.
Also, I have these sub questions that follow from my situation:

Why does the test screwdriver lit up when connected to the apparant zero line?
How can I determine the live/zero line using a multimeter

Situation
My tools:

a test screw driver
a multimeter
the ANET A6 manual

In the manual it states that

brown is the live wire
blue is the zero wire
green/yellow is the ground wire

I know that in some countries this colour coding is the standard and can be trusted. I just want to be able to check it.
So, my first hypothesis would be.. if I put the test screw driver on the live (brown) wire, lay my thumb on the end, the internal bulb would glow.
This did not happen.
It did happen when I put it on the zero (blue) wire. So I am a bit confused by this.
My second trick was using the multimeter. Using the positive and negative probes to determine the polarity and therefore decide how the current was flowing.
But there was no sign of polarity... duh.. because I was of course on AC, which is always Alternating.. hence no sign information from a multimeter.
So, how CAN I use a multimeter to determine the live/zero line? Maybe measure the current from live/zero to ground? Is that a safe option?
PS: my first post on this forum.. so please correct me where needed

This picture shows the correct wiring for a British 13A mains plug:

The green/yellow wire must always be connected to the earth terminal (at the top of the plug). This is most important, and will prevent electrocution if something goes wrong.

The brown (live) wire should be connected to the fuse, and the blue wire to the remaining terminal. It is true that, since alternating current is being used, the device will likely work if the blue and brown wires are swapped, but it is better to stick with standard practices to avoid confusion.

I would not use a "test" screwdriver to determine which terminal is "live" in this instance, simply because it is unnecessary. The live terminal is always the one that the fuse is connected to. This is done for safety reasons since the device is automatically disconnected from the live side of the circuit if the fuse blows.

How to wire mains plugs is really beyond the scope of this stack. Watch appropriate YouTube videos if you want to make a competent job of it. The only advice that I will give is to always use a proper fuse of the correct rating for the device. Never use something like a paper-clip. Also, don't use the 13 Amp fuse that comes with the plug. The fuse is there to protect the cable, rather than the device. Most printers will draw less than 5 Amps, and will be supplied with a 5 Amp cable, so use a 5 Amp fuse.

Also, never work on a plug while it is connected to the power socket. This is most foolhardy, even if the socket appears to be switched off.


Why does my DIY printer start printing in air? I've built a DIY 3D printer similar to Prusa i3. It does homing and bed leveling very well with a PNP Lj12a3_4_Z_BY sensor using G28 and G29.

However, when I push the print button on Pronterface or Simplify3D, Z axis goes up about 20mm and starts printing in air. I can't figure out what is going wrong.

If the cad model was imported from Solidworks into Simplify3D. Push "Center and Arrange" button to place the model in the middle of the Heat Bed. There might be a gap between the object and bed level that is hard to see.


Is there a way to print on a 3D printed surface? I have a 3D printed object that I'd like to print on. Adhesive stickers are an option, but as the surface is rounded it's difficult to get a good film to stick well.

Is there any system to print on a 3D object (e.g. ink jet). I need at least 300dpi. Black in the first instance, but color would be nice for future projects.

Rather than post a series of links for various services and vendors, consider to use as a search term "hydrographic film at home" to find results to suit your purpose. The first search results I found excluded "at home" and indicated it was not suited for home/hobbyist use, but the modification resulted in vendors supportive of home users.

In advanced circumstances, the image printed on the film is topographically matched to the model to which it is to be applied. For home users, I suspect that is somewhat out of reach. Most of the products aimed at the home user are patterns or solid colors, although with care, one could combine films in sequential applications.

Effectively, the process involves a colored film floating on a water filled container. Certain products are applied to the film and to the prepared model to ensure bonding. Additional processes are required to protect the graphic-coated model after removal from the bath/container.

As with the other responses, it's not likely one will achieve 300 dpi resolution without resorting to the topographically matched commercial methods.


Stringing during travel on first layer with Ultimaker Cura I'm using Ultimaker Cura 3.6.0 and I am getting some annoying "stringing" on the first layer. This isn't new to 3.6.0 as I have seen it on pretty much every version I have used.

What appears to be happening is that as it is laying down the first layer, it doesn't retract as it moves from one area to another. This leaves a trail of filament which then shows up as an unattractive line embedded in the print. (ignore the other extrusion issues in the example below)

A similar thing happens on the top layer. It ruins the look of the nice smooth bottom I get from a glass bed.

I don't have stringing issues elsewhere on my prints.

I thought at one time I had seen a setting to control it, like "retraction during travel" or something, but now I can't seem to find anything that sounds like it in the dizzying array of settings.

Does anyone know of a way to get rid it these lines?

Yes, if you are using the Combing Mode option, please ensure it doesn't do this in the skin, for a leak/string free first layer, it is required to set the Combing Mode to Not in Skin.

When the mode of the option is set to Not in Skin, combing is "off" for the skin; this implies that the material will retract and move in a straight line to the next print area. When material is retracted (and when properly tuned for your printer), the nozzle will not leak filament causing those (deposited) travel movement lines as indicated by the OP.


Why did my stepper motor controller chips burn? I just installed a few of these chips on my RAMPS 1.4 board and tried to turn it on, and the lights on my RAMPS board lit up, which was normal. Then I saw a spark growing and I turned the power off. I removed the chips and they were burned as in the photos. Is this a fault of the board, or the chips?

I had two more on it which were fine, at least, they did not seem to be not burned. Both chips seemed to burned at the same pins, which makes me think those are just trash chips, but I have no clue.

Without more information it is hard to be certain; but, the most likely cause is that the board was installed backwards.

Looking at the photo, the damage on both boards seem to be centered around pin 20 and 21 of the driver IC.  A schematic of a similar board shows these are both 5V inputs (DIR and *ENBL). These signals connect to the top and bottom pins of the left connector to the RAMPS.

Since these are inputs, the most likely cause of a damage to these would be a high current over-voltage condition that caused the upper protection in the IC to conduct.  This would require >5.5V and a lot of current.

The RAMPS board routes these signals to I/O pins on the ATMEGA processor - see RAMPS Schematic.  These can't easily go above 5V without blowing out the ATMEGA and they are not generally high enough current to cause the damage you see.

The most likely high current and voltage would be the 12V motor supply line (VMM).  This comes into the board on the top pin of the right RAMPS connector.

Accidentally installing it 180 degrees (which is super easy to do since the connector is not keyed) would connect the 12V VMM to IC pin 20 instead and you would likely see the same burn mark you see on your board.

A better board design would have been to key the connectors by using two sizes and/or cutting a pin so it couldn't get plugged in backwards - but they didn't.


Delta printer misalignment at first few layers At first few layers, each layer has offset to -X/-Y direction base on previous layer. But above ~2mm, it is vertical.

I've checked the printer build that there is no noticeable error in towers. Tried both manual calibration and Marlin auto calibration G33 with z probe.

No idea what's the cause and don't know which part I need to check with.

Finally I found out that it was caused by not enough torque output by B tower stepper motor. Increasing current didn't work. I replaced the stepper motor and it prints perfectly.


How can I set the 1st layer after a raft in Slic3r to print at 1st layer speed When you add a raft in Slic3r, the first layer of the raft prints at the first layer speed.  After the raft is finished, the first layer of the print prints at the standard speed.  How can I make the first layer of the actual print slow down to the first layer speed?

This is still work in progress, and here is what I have so far, but first:

A useful alternative for similar problems:

A problem very similar to this would be to use different settings for different parts of a model in Slic3r. For most settings, this can be achieved through modifier meshes.

Post processing scripts:

As far as I know, Slic3r does not give you the option of setting the speed of the first layer after a raft directly, but they do allow you to run post processing scripts; that is, to automatically run a set of operations - programmed by you - on the g-code output.

Although far from trivial, you can in theory make a program that runs through the output g-code, adjusts the settings to your preference, and then saves it again at the target destination.

Tuning overall printer speed through g-code:

As it turns out, there is a simple g-code command that sets the overall speed of your printer's operation:

M220 S[some number]     ; see the link above for compatible firmware

A newsletter from Reprapwold explains that:

  For example M220 S50 will reduce the speed to 50%
  of the original sliced G-code. If you want to hurry your print to the finish in time
  for dinner, use M220 S200, to print twice as fast (200%)

In other words, just like some printers allow you the change speed mid-print, you can use the M220 command to override the current speed used, either through a user interface such as PrintRun, or by fiddling with the original g-code itself.

Manipulating the g-code output to adjust speed settings:

The easiest way to achieve our goal would be to manually manipulate the output g-code file through a text editor, and insert our M220 command in appropriate places:

Set M220 S50 just before the first perimeter layer (after the raft's interface layer), to slow down the first layer of the actual model.
Set M220 S100 sometime after the first perimeter layer, to resume the normal speed settings.

In order to do this, though, we need to be able to distinguish these two points in the g-code output.

Distinguishing insertion points:

Slic3r offers a setting under Print Settings -> Output options -> Verbose G-code that - when enabled - inserts written comments all throughout the g-code files generated.

If one inspects a g-code file outputted for a model with raft, one will find the comment:

; move to first perimeter point      <- lets call this A

and

; move to next layer (x)             <- lets call this B

littered several places throughout the gcode.

It is under my impression that the first occurrence of comment A happens right after the raft is finished, and before the actual model is being printed, while the first occurrence of comment B succeeding comment A can be used to set the speed back to normal.

It should be noted, however, that the comments in the output g-code does not seem fully consistent, and I would therefore not recommend anyone to automate this logic into a script without possibly finding other, more reliable breakpoints, and thoroughly verify these through several different models.

I have not looked into the details of writing an automatic script for this task as of yet.


How to make sure we reach the total feedrate despite jerk When printing a G-code at a high speed/feedrate of 12,000 mm/min versus a slower speed we don't always notice a difference since the geometry does not always allow for the full speed to be reached due to the acceleration/deceleration taking most of the length of the segments.

Is the above a correct statement and is there a way to find the sweet spot between length and fastest speed in relation to the jerk values?

The simple answer is that there's no way to guarantee you reach a specific maximum speed, with a given acceleration limit. You have to accelerate and decelerate along the length of a line, so the distance you're accelerating is roughly half the length of the total line. Imagine you can only accelerate at 50 mm/s2, and you've got a line that allows you to reach exactly 100 mm/s before you start decelerating. If you have to print a shorter line, you're going to reach a lower speed. Any combination of maximum speed and maximum acceleration can be defeated just by printing a shorter line than you tested with.

As far as a sweet spot goes, I'm not sure quite what you're asking there. There are tradeoffs to be considered for any combination of speed, jerk, and acceleration.

Prints with high jerk settings will be able to "skip" a certain portion of the acceleration and just jump straight to some minimum speed. This tends to result in echo artifacts on the print around corners.

Prints with low acceleration settings tend to exhibit some irregularities in line width over the length of the line due to the interaction between pressure and extrusion rate inside the extruder. I went into some detail on the third section of this previous answer of how and why this happens.

Prints with high top speeds, but low acceleration and jerk, can suffer from under-extrusion if you set your maximum speed too high, and it can be a little difficult to diagnose this in some cases. If you think of the extruder as having an internal "buffer" of molten plastic, that buffer tends to fill at low print speeds, and empty at higher print speeds. You may think you've got your maximum speed set appropriately, when in reality your extruder drains the buffer over maybe 50 mm of max speed printing (hypothetical nonsensical number), and attempting to print very long straight lines may result in the extruder emptying its buffer until it slows down again. My recommendation is to do some trial and error testing to figure out the fastest extrusion rate your printer can support for an extended period of time, and then put that maximum limit into your printer firmware to prevent printing too quickly. Acceleration and jerk settings should be set as high as you can tolerate without causing echoes and other odd artifacts, with attention paid to the printer itself; it gains you nothing to shake your frame to pieces trying to chase some theoretical maximum printing speed limit.


How to identify what type of filament an unlabeled spool is So I have some old filament that I originally got for a 3D pen. The problem is it's unlabeled and I haven't been able to find anything that might help me distinguish whether it's PLA or ABS. The bag it all came in says that wherever this filament came from only makes PLA and ABS so it's got to be on of those two.
I have a roll of PLA in my 3D printer right now, but I can't tell if it's the same as the filament I have for the 3D pen. It's been a while since I've used the 3D pen, but I do remember whenever you used it, it would produce a very very bad smell. I've also noticed that the filament seems to be more flexible that the PLA in my machine. This makes me think it could be ABS, because the PLA smells far better than what I remember the 3D pen smelling like, and it's more flexible.
I also don't really want to do any heat tests or anything on the filament, so if the smell and flexibility is enough to determine which filament it is, could anyone tell me?

Mick's suggestion is a good one. PLA may shed some color in acetone, but ABS will dissolve completely in a suitable amount of time. If you have dark filament, you can test by flexing the filament until it breaks. ABS will sometimes/often/usually fatigue with a white break line, while PLA does not exhibit this tendency as much.
PLA has a somewhat sweet smell, which may be the corn sugars burning off, while ABS has a much more chemical-like odor.
Not doing heat testing does limit your options.


Stringy first layer (possible extruder issue?) This is my first 3D printer so I'm not entirely sure what could be the cause of this issue.
I recently got a SUNLU S8 3D printer and have been trying to print the first test file, however, the layers end up stringy (for lack of a better word -- if anyone knows whether this is called something else, I'd appreciate the knowledge because Google searching for stringy layers does not yield similar results).
Anyway, I tried to increase the nozzle temperature from 205 °C to 215 °C and that seems to help slightly (filament is PLA and came with the printer). I also noticed that the extruder's feeder gear is grinding on the filament so I suspect that may be part of the problem.
Before I purchase an extruder kit, I figured I'd reach out and ask this community what they think could be the problem.
Does anyone know what might be causing this issue?

Edit
I cleaned the tubing and nozzle, and then releveled the bed. The filament was still stringy and whispy, however, I decided to let it print for a while. Although the picture is a top-down view, the walls of the print are also holey.

The first photo shows under extrusion. This could indicate either a bad filament, a massive clog or the wrong filament diameter in the slicer.
I have experienced, that small demo-reels of filament that come with printers come damaged from the shipping: I have experienced some of them having been exposed to moisture in their zip-lock bags and one time I had no clue what kind of filament that was supposed to be, but it was not PLA, as it didn't properly melt at 200 °C. That might not be the case with your printer, but it leads me to caution towards those 20 g demo reels, so I always test with a known good reel of filament with a known melting point. If it was the wrong material (e.g. ABS), under extrusion due to a too low temperature would be normal. Damaged or bad filament can create several problems: non-uniform thickness can result in random stops in the extruder or underextrusion, waterlogged ("wet") filament can print stringy, hissing, or even with underextrusion, brittle filament might break and result in aborted lines.
A clog in the nozzle could lead to under extrusion but should also show clicking in the extruder (the motor moving the filament). Checking the whole filament path (nozzle, heat break, liner & Bowden tube) for clogs should be done. However, that would be a massive clog to get your depicted prints. It might be a factor impacting it though.
Sometimes, setting up a printer in a slicer is not perfect: You need to make sure the filament diameter fits! 1.75 mm might be the de facto standard, but most slicers are set up with 2.75 mm as filament diameter in the presets for a self-configured printer! That means you only extrude about a third of the filament you actually want! That would be super consistent with your picture but doesn't need to be the only factor.


My DIY printer only boots when all my endstops are triggered. Why is that? Recycling a Robin Nano board to build a 3D printer using an old computer PSU (300 W), it only boots on when I have no endstops pugged in at all or if I trigger all the ones I have plugged. At the moment I release them the screen goes off (but the fan of the PSU is still on). Does anyone have any clue about what's going on ?

From your fault description of printer logic board losing power when endstops are released it sounds to me like those endstops are shorting VCC to GND when not pressed. That the fault also goes away when the endstops are unplugged reinforces this.

I guess the logic board has its own protected regulator because otherwise you would be shorting out the power supply and that would also turn itself off after likely causing a lot of damage to the logic board.


Stepper motor for my DIY 3D printer I am make a DIY 3D printer. And I need to which stepper motor I should use. So, I am planning on making a 18x18x18 or 20x20x20 max print size. I am only having a single z-axis like the prusa mini. Which stepper motor should I use for my z-axis, x-axis, Y-axis and the extruder (Planning on using 1.75 mm filament). How do I calculate the power needed? Will 2.8kg or something near be enough? I am not really good at stepper motors, so sorry for the lack of knowledge.
I am not sure if I am following the rules by asking this question. Sorry
Thanks for reading

The size of the stepper is usually determined by the forces it must overcome on the machine (i.e. inertia). Obtaining a powerful stepper motor and then using expensive linear guide rails with high tolerances great axial rigidity is wasteful unless you are trying to achieve something specific (which it seems you are not).
Find the cheapest NEMA17 motor you can from a reputable site and start there.
Most of the work has been done for machines of that size, so you don't need to calculate what's required, you can just look it up online. A 250W @ 24V supply is commonly used on printers of that size. The majority of that power is going into the heated bed. If, however, your environment is so cold that the bed never gets to temp, no matter how long you wait, then it will be time to upgrade that bed to an AC mains heated one.


Writing G-code : swiping at start of print Ok, I did it, I ordered myself an Ender-3, a genuine 24V e3D hotend, inductive sensor and some better tubing/clamps to cope with the problem the CR10/Ender line has occasionally.

But now I need to fix up my Cura for the machine coming in. The start is the CR10, and fixing the dimensions is easy.

But now comes the tricky part: Start and End G-code. For my TronXY I never bothered with changing it away from the "basic" settings that a "custom 3D printer" on Marlin gave, but this time I want to know what I type in there. The basic code, after I dragged out the G-code handbook from the RepRap wiki to add the missing comments is:

G28            ;Home
G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the Gantry up 15mm going fast
;Prime the extruder
G92 E0         ; reset extrusion distance
G1 F200 E3     ; extrude 3mm of feed stock
G92 E0         ; reset extrusion distance

The RepRap Wiki suggests that there could be made so much more from this.

I would love to swipe the nozzle before starting to print, making sure that the curled up filament from this first extrusion doesn't get squished against the nozzle and make a bad first layer.

How does an example (commented) G-code for swiping the nozzle look like?

What code we have so far
The code already made by Ultimaker Cura 3 (and then commented on) can be explained a little more:
G28 ;Home
This homes your machine to hit end stop positions, from now on your printer knows the coordinates of the print volume. This place it knows as <0-0-0> - check where that is: above the print surface or next to it!
G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the Gantry up 15mm going fast
Instruct the build plate to move down, or in your case lift the head up 15 mm at 6000 mm/min
;Prime the extruder
This is a comment that the nex code will deal with priming the nozzle
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
G92 sets the position of the extruder by resetting the current position to the specified value of zero
G1 F200 E3 ; extrude 3mm of feed stock
This will extrude 3 mm of filament at a feedrate of 200 mm/min
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
This will reset the extruder length again to zero
Result of the code
Basically you will have some filament dangling on your nozzle now, or falling of as the nozzle is hot creating a fine string. You now are facing the possibility that the primed material will be dragged along the build plate to the start of the print.
Nozzle Preparation: Priming sequences
Ultimaker 3: 'blob'&swipe
An alternative I really like is the priming sequence of the Ultimaker 3. The hot end is instructed near the origin of the printer at about a height of 2 mm above the build plate when it starts to extrude plastic, once the extruded plastic becomes a puddle of about 6 mm in diameter the build plate lowers a few mm's and keep extruding for a bit. It then moves in positive Y direction (to the back) and raises the platform (this is the swipe action), then retracts and starts to move to the print start. Now the puddle of filament stays near the origin and will not be dragged.
You can easily make a similar schematic for your printer, I've done so also for various printers. Try and experiment what works best for you. The swipe action is the movement where the nozzle will be instructed to move near the build plate while moving in a certain direction (Y or X), a height of a few tenths is enough to swipe.
I don't have my exact profile here, but you could add (skipping feedrates):
G1 Y15 Z0.2 ; moves the nozzle backwards and down from 15 mm to 0.2 mm
G1 Y20 Z0.2 ; swipes the nozzle, this should cut off the "worm"
G1 Z1     ; raise for movement to start of print to add a little space to travel


Eryone Thinker SE ignoring endstop, gantry only moves down I just got a Eryone Thinker SE and went through a lot of trouble to get it even working.
My first major problem was it would keep trying to ignore the Z endstop switch and go lower than it should be. I managed to fix it by doing a firmware update to it, and after a lot of trouble with getting the right temperature I started printing a test cube. I left it to print checking up on it every 30 minutes or so and near the finishing of the cube I came back to a screen saying something like "power failure, resume print", so of course I choose resume print but what it ended up doing was moving down, piercing the block on the print bed and then dragging it with it as it decided to home itself. So I immediately hit the reset button do it didn't try to push the block into the print bed.
But now when I auto home the printer, it jabs the print nozzle into the print bed, and it ignores the Z-axis endstop switch causing the right side of the gantry to go lower (due to there being no stopper on the right). Auto leveling just makes the gantry go down even further on the right still ignoring the endstop switch. The other thing is when trying to manually move the Z-axis, instead of going up (even though the LCD shows a positive number) it tries to go down.
Steps I attempted to do to fix it:

I attempted to do another firmware update, but to no avail this time.
I checked all the connections and re-seated them.
Scout the internet hoping someone with the same printer or board has had the same problem, to no avail again.

I should note when homing the printer, the normal action for it is to home X then Y, then Z. When homing Z however, NORMALLY, it will hit the switch move up and baby step itself to hit the switch and stop immediately when it touches it. But now, it will hit the switch, then just go down even more.
Video of what is happening here (Google Drive)
The control board on the printer is a Eryone 2560

You do a critical error in your order of operations: you home. Then you home again.
However, the firmware does not check if the switch is already depressed, it waits for a signal to cut out. But the signal is already not there. And as you will notice, it moves into X+ and Y+ before rehoming into 0, but does not do so in Z.
To prevent that behavior, you need to move the printer up a little till the switch no longer is engaged, then it will properly home the position.
The proper fix would be to alter the home-Z behavior to include a movement upwards by 2 mm before starting the actual homing. This does require a knowledge of Marlin though.


How do I decide what size my push-fit feature should be? I'm designing a box and lid that will be FDM-printed. The lid push-fits onto the box. What kinds of gaps/tolerances should I use when designing pieces that fit together? has advice for designing the clearance between the lid and the box. Assume I've already settled that question and I have a good clearance so my lid slides on and off freely.

Now I'd like to add a lip-and-groove feature to my design to hold it shut, with a lip on the lid that clips into a groove in the box when the lid is fully closed - like a cantilever fit, but easy to open, and directly on the mating walls.

How deep should I make the lip and how tall? Does it depend on what plastic I'm printing in? Does it depend on the wall thickness and the geometric rigidity of the part?

A push-fit, or rather snap fit, feature can come in several shapes and forms. Let's look at the example of a snap buckle, inspired by Angus video on the tpic:

This Buckle has a harsh hook, it offers no way to push it in after finding its resting place, it is pretty much a "no release, no safety release" type. But with slight alterations it can become a safety buckle just by altering the 90° angle in the middle and providing a slope while offering a place to press the buckle in at the catch offers user release. Now, what does that have to do with dimensioning?
Dimensioning a piece
When deciding about the dimensions of a feature we need to evaluate several factors against each other:

Intended use
Printability and print orientation
Material choice

Let's discuss the three separately.
Intended Use
The shape is dictated by the function of our part. Do we need a one-time snap fit that keeps the internals of our box closed forever? Do we need to open the buckle whenever we take off a backpack? Do we need a safety release to prevent the backpack from strangling the user if it catches somewhere? As we design the part for the use, and its intended loads, we also design minimum sizes for some features: a user-release buckle or snap fit needs to be large enough to be manipulated by a human (with the right tool), and the dimensions have to be large enough so the part can bear the intended loads.
Material Choice
Different plastics behave differently under stress. ABS is known to be somewhat flexible in comparison to PLA, bending before breaking softly while PLA shatters once its maximum load is broken. The choice of the material also dictates the wall thicknesses, and thus the dimensions, we can use.
As an example, I have printed one of these Z-Axis tension triangles in PLA for my TronXY-X1. Due to how this part is designed, the bent arm can bend a little but wants to return to its original shape, thus forcing the straight arms apart. By this, it applies force on the wheels which in turn roll tight on the beam in between. Even as this is PLA, the work on the part is still in the elastic deformation area due to the sheer size of the item - the lever is quite long to take the little flex PLA has and distribute it over the whole length of the arms.
Print considerations
Now, we have to keep in mind we print our parts layer by layer and the weakest part of a print is the inter-layer bonding. So the strongest snap-fit will have its bending lever printed in the XY plane while the weakest has its lever bend in a way that the bending occurs along with the XY slices.
However, we can use this to our advantage if we want to: I had printed this for StarWarsDay this year, and the little det_button.stl is printed with the levers of the snap-fits bending in the XY layer. They are also extremely fragile (1-2 walls). From own experience, they survive being pushed into their respective hole but can't be extracted without destroying the levers, making this piece pretty much act like a tamper seal.


Can I use a 2D photo to get a 3D printing model? Can I use a 2D photo to get a 3D printing model that gives a good result?

With just 1 2D photo, you can never get a 100% accurate 3D object. That is because you don't really know about the hidden parts.  Think of a photo of a smiling mischievous child that is facing you, and you can't see that they are holding a sling shot behind their back.    However, with multiple 2D photos, one can reconstruct a 3D object, provided all the parts are seen.  This is called photogrammetry.  You can search wikipedia and youtube for in-depth discussion about this.  It is an entire science.  There are applications that do this for you, but I can't recall the details right now.


Wiring heatbed into Main using ATX I had my 3D printer powered by dual 24 V PSUs wired in parallel and my heatbed was wired into the main using a SSR to help power it. I replaced the two PSUs with a single Corsair 750 W ATX. My printer runs smoother and there's much less wiring clutter to deal with but now no matter what the heatbed will not heat up.
The main connection of the ATX I purchased is an 8 pin connection so I tried using all 4 wires to power my printer and it didn't make a difference, I tried using the SSR again using 2 connections from the ATX leaving the other 2 to run the motherboard but that didn't work either. I even tried MOSFET and that also failed. I don't see why the Heatbed no longer heats up yet the thermistor is more accurate and working properly since my switch to the ATX, do I need to go up to a 1000 W ATX instead? I can't imagine what more I could do.

You indicated that you were using 24 volts, implying you have a 24 volt bed. ATX power supplies do not have 24 volt outputs. The highest is 12 volts which would heat up the bed, but not fast or probably to full temperature.


How to make physical buttons send G-code? I want to hook up an Arduino to my Creality printer running Marlin firmware, such that I can have a few physical buttons mounted on the machine that will execute commands such as preheat, home, disable steppers, and so on, so that I don't have to navigate through the clunky LCD screen.
Ideally it would work in addition to the normal LCD and serial functionality, so it would not impede me from using Ultimaker Cura to print via USB, etc.
What is the best way to do this?

One option would be to have your printer controlled by an Octoprint server.  You would then use the Octoprint Api plugin to use your arduino to send commands to octoprint - and from there, your printer.  Octoprint has a fairly fully-featured rest api that allows you to send arbitrary GCODE to your printer (see here).  You would then hook up your buttons to some code that sends the gcode commands to the printer when pressed.  It's certainly not as simple as installing a plugin - you'll have to write some interface code, but it looks like those APIs should be able to do what you want, without interfering with the standard controls at all.


Should black high temperature ABS flow in direct sunlight? I bought a digital sundial online and deployed it in (what else?) direct sunlight in DC in June. Within 30 minutes the gnomon started to sag and the mount started to pull away from the gnomon at the bolt.

This shouldn't happen, right? Or is this expected?

Are you sure that this is ABS? (Since it is already trash, you can make a fire test. It should [correct me if i'm wrong] produce black smoke) Some ABS can becomes soft at already  80°C.

Just for fun I measured the temp of my gray sofa that was directly in sun light: It was over 70°C. So it could be possible that the sun light already was enough to weak the black ABS. Also the ground is interesting. Some idi**** room mate puts my black ¿abs? alarm clock on a metal windowsill because he want to know the temps there in the direct sunlight... the alarm clock becomes deformed :(

Probably white and/or coated ABS would be better. Also a inner rod would help against deformation.


CoreXY with 8 bit board problems I know that CoreXY kinematics is very complex and hard to calculate for the firmware making it better to use a 32-bit board. For some reason, I can't use any 32-bit board. What problems will occur if I use an 8-bit board like Arduino Mega with a CoreXY 3D printer?
Everything that I wrote in this question about hard kinematic calculations was referenced from this video, HyperCube 3D Printer 8-Bit Speed Wall, by Tech2c (the designer and builder of hypercube). After watching the video I doubted using an 8-bit board.

You can use an 8-bit controller board for a CoreXY kinematics 3D printer. The calculations are not so complicated opposed to those for a Delta.

My Hypercube Evolution uses a RUMBA controller board that hasn't failed me past years.


Glue sticks for print bed I would like to get a green tombow PITS adhesive stick. On Rakuten, it costs \$1 (USD). On my 3d printer's (XYZ) retailer's site, it costs \$20 (USD). Due to the costs and the fact that Rakuten does not ship to my country, I need an alternative. I am currently using Davinci 1.0 for my bed, which I believe is a glass bed. So, my questions are:

What glue is best for PLA plastic?
What glue is best for ABS plastic?
Is there a glue that functions with both types of plastic?

As mentioned by Matt - PVA glues work perfect for both filaments.
It works well because it's softening temperature is between 45..85C so it's more or less temperature of HB.

Advantages:

cheap
easy to apply on HB
can be applied on cold as same as on hot HB
sticks model very well
non toxic, no solvent, odorless
easy to wash (from HB) (just wash it under water or scrape with sharp tool)
works very well even with old and dry layer of glue

Disadvantages:

quite hard to detach model (I use paper knife)
first layer is not glass-perfect
after detaching, model is a bit sticky (first layer)

I use Scotch Glue Stick by 3M.


How to smooth the surface of parts printed with Co-polyester (PET) filament Are there any techniques for getting a smooth finish for parts printed with co-polyester (PET) filaments? More specifically, I am looking for an alternative that does not roughen the look of the part - such as using sandpaper - but rather works like acetone baths for ABS.

In particular, I want to treat ColorFabb's XT filament made from the Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer (datasheet). This is also the polymer is also used in:

ColorFabb nGen and XT
Taulman3D n-vent
TripTech Athiri 1800
3DXTech 3DXNano

I've found a chart which covers several plastics and solvents and only two of them (Chloromethane and Chloroform) are rated "D" which includes dissolving the material and both seem to be quite nasty and I doubt you will be able to purchase them without being placed on several lists.

Is it possible that something like XTC-3D from Smooth-On would work for you?

Also some more information on dissolving PET here, several sources also mention PET is affected by Hydrogen Peroxide but they do not mention to what degree the plastic is affected.


How to design a DIY printer I am making myself a DIY 3D printer on a budget. And I don't know how to prototype it or design it. Like, I have already planned the parts. But, I don't yet have planned the structure or how parts should go together. I tried using a CAD software, but learning one to reach a skill that is needed will take a long time. I want to know how others design their printers and learn from that.

There are lots of ways from mere specifications to designs. Most follow several of the principles below, but designing a printer is not a light undertaking. it's HUGE.
Copy and adapt
The most easy way is to take a known design, for example from the RepRap wiki, and copy it verbatim. But it can easily undergo some adaptions, like different hotends or bed sizes.
Paper sketch & notes
Writing down the specs of some parts is very important to make sure these stay consistent. Paper is also the tool of choice for initial sketches or even finished designs to guide building the actual parts.
CAD
CAD is an almost indispensable tool to map out the placement of parts and combine them. Or later design parts to print. A CAD design doesn't need to be detailed, it can use stand in rough outlines. Only where parts need to be custom-made, details are essential.
Prototype
All projects go through prototyping when groups of parts are built and tested on their own and combined piece by piece. Also, this step is where you finalize the firmware.


PLA infill/perimeter-layer to mimic real bone hardness I friend of mine is in need to have human bone printed for educational purpose. Of what I understood they will use it for practicing drilling in it and thus need the printed bone to mimic a real bone. He specified that he wanted them as hollow as possible and with the same (or close to the) density of real bone

Is there anyone who had done a similar print, what material did you choose and how much infill/perimiter-layer did you use.

Generally, if you care about achieving a specific structure inside the "interior" part of a model to be printed, that structure needs to be part of your model rather than generated by a slicer. If it were me, I would programmatically generate a generic pattern for the pockets of hollowness in OpenSCAD over a region slightly larger than the bone, then subtract it from the solid bone. After that, slicer settings will be mostly irrelevant since it will be constrained by reproducing the layer outlines with lots of holes in them.

I haven't done this, or anything really comparable, but it should work.


Conductive materials quality I was considering the possibility to 3D print some capacitors with various forms and shapes in order to test them. I need to be able to print both the non-conductive and the conductive materials at the same time so I have the following questions:

I suppose that since I need to do multi-material printing, i will have to stick with FDM. Is that correct?
I have seen that there are some PLA materials that are mixed with dust of metals and become conductive themselves. Do they become also capacitive? Are there any better options for a conductive material in a multi-material scenario?

Someone has already studied this: study of electrical properties of 3D printed materials.

ABS: dielectric constant about 3.
PLA: 2.7-2.9.


Prusa MK3S 0.8 mm nozzle layers separating I am currently printing a simple cup out of PLA (I will later anneal it). My nozzle is 0.8 mm and I'm using a 0.4 mm layer height. Unfortunately, the layers keep separating. They don't detach completely, but there are 1 layer-tall, 3-7 mm wide gaps. I increased the temperature, since my speed is 100 mm/s. I also tried decreasing cooling and increasing the flow. This only helped a little bit.

Moreover, small increases in the temperature like 230/240 °C didn't work and now I have to use 270 and even 280 °C, which is crazy, considering my layer height is 0.4 mm. Is there any easy solution that will increase the quality?

Settings:

Material: PLA
Layer height: 0.4 mm
Nozzle: 235 °C first layer, 270 °C for the rest.
Bed: 60 °C
Cooling: 62 %
Speed: 100 mm/s

I have noticed that 280 °C is better for large prints (large area, not height) and small prints look better when I change the temperature to 240/250 °C.
This is how my prints look by now. The extrusion is very inconsistent, with overextrusion in the middle of the layers and gaps in the corners:

I suspect that the layer lines are not parallel to the heatbed and are over extruded, because of the high temp. I lowered it to 230 °C and there was no drooping/over extrusion, but there were more 'holes'.

After printing ~30 calibration test cubes I finally figured out the perfect settings.

Apparently, the extrusion width in my slicer was set to a certain number, instead of
percentage. I was printing at 0.45 mm extrusion width, which was ~105 % of the 0.4 mm nozzle diameter, but less than 50 % of the 0.8 mm one. Changing the value to 130-140 %
solved the majority of my printing problems.

As I predicted, the 230-280 ℃ nozzle temp. was ridiculously high, even with the
0.8 mm nozzle.  I gradually lowered it to 210 ℃ (ironically, the value I chose at the very beginning).
 There was some warping, so I cleaned the heatbed from the glue, put the glue again and decreased bed temp. to 50 ℃
 Finally, I decreased the flow from 1.3 to 1.05 and everything seems perfect now.


Point Cloud to STL File I had a friend request that I print out the Bathymetry of Lake Michigan as a gift for her PhD adviser. I went to NOAA and the site had a few files for the Bathymetry of Lake Michigan.

Files and types are located here: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/greatlakes/michigan.html

I am trying to convert this into an STL file to print in my 3D printer however I am having no luck in converting this into a mesh I can use. I have tried multiple approaches with the different files that are listed but cannot seem to get it to properly convert to a mesh. I have tried the following so far:

-Import an .xyz file into MeshLab to convert it to an STL. After I import it looks like nothing imported and I can't navigate around in the file

-Import an ASC file into MeshLab to convert it to an STL. After I import it, I get no errors but the output is a long, thin mesh that looks nothing like lake Michigan

-Just for a test, I imported the .xyz file into Autodesk ReCap just to see what would happen. I noticed that the points were in a long thin area similar to the ASC import but as I browsed around I noticed that the each layer of dots was the actual Bathymetry contours.

I have tried multiple approaches and software beyond these but can't seem to get the files to convert into a printable mesh that I can manipulate to send to my 3D printer.

In order to properly get an STL file out of a point cloud, you'll need some tool to help triangulate the points to create proper vectors. The shell that is created in an STL is what the slicing engine will "slice".

I'm not as familiar with the full potential of MeshLab, but I would think this tool is best suited for files that at least have most of shell already in place. Essentially best for fixing STL's.

In the past, I've used (the very expensive) Unigraphics NX8. This CAD/CAM software is very powerful and has tools for creating meshes out of point clouds. I believe it was the sew tool that allowed me to do this in the past (I no longer have access to the software). Other CAD programs such as SolidWorks, Rhino, AutoCAD, etc. might have similar features.

Alternatively, I think it looks like you might be able to convert a 3D point cloud in SketchUp. If the cloud is layered by height and each layer had points on the same -Z- plane, then you might be able to automate creating lines between the nearest points on the same plane. Then it might just take a little bit of manual labor to "fix" the model to become 3D printing ready. Also check out this forum post, it looks like someone had luck in converting terrain point clouds.

Completely alternatively, have you considered converting an image to STL? I've done this many times before and it turns out quite nicely. If you can find topographical map of the lake, you could alter the image into grayscale (play with it a bit). Then use software to convert the grayscale image to STL.


Prusa i3 pro b second layer failure I just bought a 3D printer => Geeetech Prusa i3 b.

I build it myself and I'm trying to print the famous boat, the Benchy one.

Here's my settings (I've tried Repetier host and Slic3r or Ultimaker Cura):

And that's the results..

Any tips about the settings? The problem seems to be when I print every other layer but the first one which seems reasonable enough.

I used Slic3r with the settings taken from this video, eBay Prusa i3 slic3r settings (comment response video)

Now the first layer is almost perfect but I still have problems with every other layers, too much filament comes out and it's all messy, a bit like the picture I posted above.

A video of the print can be found here.

The steps per mm value for the Z shaft is 2560.

You need to level the bed properly by setting the correct distance between the nozzle and the bed. Ideally, you need to be able to drag a piece of plain A4 paper between the nozzle and the bed when the nozzle is at Z = 0 giving you a little drag (you feel that by a stuttering movement). From your pictures you can clearly see that the nozzle is way too far from the bed when depositing the first layer (as seen from the video you posted in the comments) as the hot filament drops/falls down to the hot plate. Once it is too far from the plate, each consecutive layer is too far from the previous layer.

From the images you posted, it is clearly visible that you have a mechanical/calibration issue. Your belts are probably not tight enough too, but it is difficult to say at the moment as the products are way off from what they should look like.

Note that the printer configuration could be incorrect (although very unlikely as it is out of the box). E.g. the stepper motor needs to make a certain amount of steps to advance the carriage in Z direction. If the mechanical layout requires 400 steps per mm (which is typical for TR8x8 (p2) lead screws on 1.8°(200 steps per revolution) stepper motors and 1/16 microstepping) but is configured as 800, your layer height advances twice as much although the Z=0 level would be okay! I now read (from the updated question) that the value for the steps/mm for the Z axis is 2560, this implies that you are using M8 lead screws with a pitch of 1.25 mm on a 1/16 microstepping board and 200 steps per revolution steppers.

From the specifications of your printer follows that the Geeetech Prusa i3 Pro B uses:

Stepper Motors: 1.8° step angle with 1/16 micro-stepping

This image show the configuration of the axes:

So 2560 is correct!

Conclusion:

Your initial leveling and height setting is incorrect, when you printer is at Z=0, it actually is positioned higher. Hence your first layer has very bad adhesion and is not properly flattened and each consecutive layer shows the same problems of falling hot filament. When the speed increases on the next layers the hot filament deposition cannot follow the nozzle, hence the "spaghetti" looks.


Over-extrusion on curved surfaces? I am having issues with my Creality CR-10 S5 running Cura 4.6.1. If I use the Ender-3 G-code, it prints perfect. If I do the exact same print with S5 printer selected, I get garbage prints with lots of burps.

Comparing printing results of some G-code with results of samples generated by a slicer with many unknown settings is too superficial. You need to do more insight.
You can learn by comparing G-code files, but I suppose it would not be sufficient to have successful prints. You can also learn from tutorials on how to properly configure slicer. Understanding slicer setting, common printing issues, physics of plascic and printing is very helpful for troubleshooting.
Between files there are number of parameters which could be different, including:

slicer software, its approach (algorithms) and settings - most probably it was Cura in both cases, but many settings could be different - if you have both profiles, then you may comare them setting by setting (thoguh it is not easy in Cura, but see next)
notes in comments (in opening and ending sections of file) - Cura is printing lot of profile settings at the end of the file
G-code initialization commands in opening section of file - *there may be key changes to printer configuration, and also information about following *
temperature settings - you can read it from G-code or from LCD, when print is started
retraction and speed settings - you can read it from E move commands
layer height - you can read it from Z move commands
total use of filament per print - use analyzer, see below
printhead movements (including experimental Fuzzy Skin) - check settings, and use visualisation in Cura just after slicing

Machine profile ("S5 printer selected") in Cura intoduces subset of default settings. In CR-10 S5 profile created by Creality many settings may be very different than in profile for Ender 3. And still author of original G-code file could update many of these settings before slicing.
You can compare two G-code files for the same shape in GCode Analyzer. For easier work you may open two or more analysers in separate browser tabs. There are many useful information calculated from G-code - about Model (like "Total filament used") and and Layer (like "Retract speeds"). Layers may be changed in 2D view with right scroolbar (clik the square scroll indicator and use Up and Down arrows on keyboard).