Ideas to tune for 300 % speed I am using PLA and I am looking for ideas on using the Tune option to tune my Prusa i3 MK3 to increase the speed to 300 %.
The 300 % speed works perfectly fine for some of the models.
However, for some of the flat surfaces, the printer cannot handle the speed. The issues are pointed in the image below:

It seems that printer is struggling to supply enough filament.
Can I solve the issue by using the Tune menu by changing settings like temperature or flow?
Answer:
While @dandavis is informative, but this is how I did it:

increasing z offset so nuzzle has enough space to dispense.
Increase temperature +10

Please note that this degrades the print quality, but I am just printing a few organizer boxes. Quality is not essential and not something I expect from a 300% speed.

extruder clicking means you're getting backed up, grinding.

Make the hotend hotter so you can melt filament 3X faster than expected; most materials have quite a range; aim high.
Slow down the cooling fan; a lot of them can cool the hotend.
You have a silicone boot on the nozzle? that will help some.
Use a larger diameter nozzle to reduce backpressure and allow thicker layers.
Try cranking the feed rate

Lastly, consider that you simply might not get acceptable results pushing speed THAT much.


How to add menu options to the (Marlin firmware) LCD menu? Where is the correct Marlin firmware file and location to add code that I want to shop up in the LCD menu of my printer, and then execute the function I write when the button is pressed?

For example I want to add a menu item that says "Preheat Custom" that is in the same menu as "preheat PLA" and "preheat ABS" and then runs code to heat to values I specify.

I'm running Marlin Firmware version 1.1.9 on a Creality Ender 3.

The answer to your question is the file ultralcd.cpp. Nowadays, you can also enable extra option through the Configuration_adv.h file, just enable:

#define CUSTOM_USER_MENUS

and edit the options beneath it to your needs (otherwise it will use the preset values from the Configuration.h file).

Add custom items using ultralcd.cpp

This is how I used to do it if you want to add items to the menu in Marlin Firmware through the ultralcd.cpp. It is best to first look at the current implementation of the menu items. As you already mention Preheat PLA, that would be the first to search for. Searching in files is easy when you go to the github website with the Marlin firmware sources, functionality is available for searching in the files. Alternatively, download a copy of the firmware and use a free "grep" utility to search in files.

Searching for Preheat PLA will show you a bunch of language translation files. These point to the use of a constant MSG_PREHEAT_1 which finds its presence in ultralcd.cpp. This hints to function lcd_preheat_m1_menu that is called by MENU_ITEM which adds menu items to LCD. You could start there to add your own option.

Demonstration

As a quick demonstration, I've added a CUSTOM PREHEAT item by copying the lcd_preheat_m2_menu function in ultralcd.cpp and renamed this lcd_preheat_m3_menu (a full functional item needs changes within the lcd_preheat_m3_menu as it now uses the constants from the ABS preheat option).

You then add the item to the menu by changing this part of the code:

      //
      // Preheat for Material 1 and 2
      //
      #if TEMP_SENSOR_1 != 0 || TEMP_SENSOR_2 != 0 || TEMP_SENSOR_3 != 0 || TEMP_SENSOR_4 != 0 || HAS_HEATED_BED
        MENU_ITEM(submenu, MSG_PREHEAT_1, lcd_preheat_m1_menu);
        MENU_ITEM(submenu, MSG_PREHEAT_2, lcd_preheat_m2_menu);
        // ADD THIS LINE:
        MENU_ITEM(submenu, "CUSTOM PREHEAT", lcd_preheat_m3_menu);
      #else
        MENU_ITEM(function, MSG_PREHEAT_1, lcd_preheat_m1_e0_only);
        MENU_ITEM(function, MSG_PREHEAT_2, lcd_preheat_m2_e0_only);
      #endif

After compiling and uploading to the printer board, enter the Prepare menu and scroll down to see:


Which 3D printer should I use to make custom miniatures for a tabletop game? I would also be curious on how I could get the best results with these printers. I am in a situation where I have cheap access to a:

Fortus 250mc, which prints in ABS and has a minimum resolution of 0.007mm (but that can be raised as high as 0.013mm to print faster), and has a "Soluble Support System" which enables printing overhangs.

Form 2, which prints with Photosensitive Resin, has a resolution of .05mm, and can also print overhangs.

Stratasys Dimension SST1200es, prints in "ABSplus" (whatever that is), has a resolution of .254 mm, and can indeed print overhangs. As far as I can tell the main advantage of this one over the Fortus is that the supports can be immediately removed after printing and don't need to be dissolved first.

I am okay with processing or finishing the miniatures later so long as it's not too time consuming (such as by running an acetone vapor bath), but I'm curious when I would use each printer and how I could get the most out of both.

P.S. Also the Stratasys is more expensive for me to print on than any of the others so please keep that in mind when answering :)

The Form 2 will definitely give the best results for your application.

Both the Fortus and the Dimension use FDM, which builds the model up using a bead of molten plastic. Because this bead is typically 0.5mm in diameter, this strongly limits the details you can print.

The Form 2 uses liquid resin, that is cured by scanning it with a laser. This process is called SLA. The laser produces a 0.14mm dot, and so you can produce much finer details. The Form 2 can also use much thinner layers (down to 0.025mm v.s. the 0.178mm of the Fortus) so the models will be much smoother.

To make small miniatures SLA is much more suitable than FDM.


Heated bed - what are the benefits? Why use one? When using a heated bed with your printer, I have seen claims of running temperatures of 90c throughout the print.

That seems like a fairly high power use to keep a large slab of, say, aluminium at 90c for long print times (ie multiple hours).

Is there a common 'sweet spot' for operating temperature?

Does it depend on material?

Is a heated bed required?

Heatbeds have two purposes:

Increase surface energy of the print bed to improve bonding strength of the first layer (particularly important when using surfaces like PEI or Kapton)
Keep the bottom few millimeters of the print hot enough to provide a warp-free foundation for the rest of the print.

The bit about surface energy is straightforward. Most materials are stickier when hot than cold. In comparison, pure mechanical-bonding bed surfaces like fibrous painter's tape and perfboard don't particularly benefit from bed heat.

Warping is a bit more complicated. The basic cause of warping is when the previous layer is allowed to cool and thermally contract before the next layer is deposited. When you stick hot, expanded material on top of cold, contracted material, large shear stresses are generated when the fresh material cools and contracts. Those inter-layer shear stresses then accumulate over many layers into large-scale bending stresses that try to lift the edges of the print off the bed.

So, to prevent warping, we should minimize the amount that the previous layer is allowed to cool before the next layer goes down. But we DO need it to cool solid so the print doesn't sag in a mushy mess. This is a balancing act: cooling the plastic solid without over-cooling it. The optimal temperature for the print is right around the glass point of the plastic: this is the temperature at which the plastic becomes fully solid and thermal contraction stresses start to accumulate.

The extruder pumps more heat into the print as it deposits molten plastic and radiates a little bit of heat. So we want to set the heatbed temp a little bit below the glass point to ensure the print is able to cool solid. Now, this gets a bit difficult, because everyone's print bed temperature sensor is different. What matters is bed surface temp. Many people have to set their bed temp quite a bit higher than the actual surface temp. It's just something you have to calibrate via print results. The exact filament glass point (Tg) also depends on the blend.

ABS: Tg is around 105C, optimal bed temp 95C in a warm, low-airflow environment
PLA: Tg is around 55C, optimal bed temp is 55C in a cool, high-airflow environment because PLA holds heat and is slow to cool compared to other filaments
PETG: Tg is around 70C, optimal bed temp is 60-70C with mild airflow
Nylon doesn't really work with these rules because it's semi-crystalline, meaning it "freezes" far above its Tg and thus starts accumulating warping stress at fairly high temps... advice varies wildly, from printing cold to 120C bed
PC: Tg is around 150C, optimal bed temp is 130C

There are other schools of thought, for example printing the first layer onto a surface much hotter than Tg for good adhesion, and then dropping the bed temp to a value somewhat below Tg to allow the print to solidify. That works fine too.

But, with all that said, it's important to understand that the heatbed only keeps the bottom of the print warm. A centimeter up from the build plate, the print is typically much closer to ambient temp than it is to the bed temp. Heated build chambers are thus much more effective for large prints. But heatbeds are still quite effective, because they allow building a strong, warp-free foundation that resists warping stresses induced by the cooler zones higher up in the print.


Can the glTF format be used for 3D printing? Can the glTF format be used for 3D printing?

If not, is there any tool can convert it to another format such as STL, OBJ, STEP, and IGES?

No, gltf is not a format that slicers accept commonly, and indeed, it is not even intended to be reverseable in the 1.0 format version. This has changed a little for the 2.0 standard. Some programs that allow exporting into the sliceable stl and  obj formats can also import gltf:

blender has an importer plugin - more  info here
SketchUpp has an importer plugin

You have to be careful though: formats like dae or stl are meant to transfer 3d objects usually without the loss of information or with just a minimal loss (stl, for example, does technically not contain a scale natively), while gltf is end users and does not contain all the information. This can lead to models getting distorted and destroyed on importing them into a rendering or modeling software.


Slicers and printers compatibility I am a complete beginner so I apologise ahead for probably an obvious question. From what I understand up to now, slicer software basically takes a 3D model and turns it into instructions that say move your print head to this and this position and extrude up to this position and so forth. If that is correct then each slicing software can result in different "filament paths" in printing of the same model ultimately having the effect on the quality of print (unless the "Slicing algorithm" is some open industry accepted one and everyone uses that). But then, it would be advantageous to use other slicer software than the one supplied with the printer. On the other hand, if a slicer gives the instructions to the printer and assuming the G-code is a universal instruction kit (standard each printer understands), it needs to know, at the least, the parameters of the printer.
So the questions are:

Can I use any slicing software with any 3D printer and are there any things that may cause a problem (e.g. "How do I set up the slicing software for a particular printer?")
If not, am I stuck with the software provided by the printer manufacturer and thus, before buying a printer, one should also analyse the slicing software provided or is there some compatibility chart?

Regarding 2. I looked at both PrusaSlicer, Slic3r, Cura. None of them provide any information on the compatibility. I have access to Creality CR-10S printer but when I saw e.g. PrusaSlicer compared to the Creality, it has more options it seems. But during the installation of the Creality slicer, it forced me to choose the printer that I will be using which suggests that printers are locked to the manufacturer slicer.

FDM Slicers are not proprietoryexceptions apply
Most commonly uses Slicers are generally not locked to manufacturers or models. Creality's slicer is a variant of Cura, Prusa Slicer is a (further developed) variant of Slic3r. You can slice models for almost any G-code reading 3D Printer with any of the 4.
The question at the first startup or installation is to automate setup: back when I bought my Ender 3, I had to manually make a profile that would fit my printer. Now, you can choose presets that set up the bed size, a safe start G-code and some settings from where you can work.
exceptions
However, some machines are not compatible with normal slicers, because they either don't run G-code but a proprietary file format or because their geometry is non-standard.
An example of the former type is for example the DaVinci Color printers that use .XYZ files, which contain not only movement commands for the printhead and extruder, but also color print commands for the ink-head. An example of the latter type is "Belt Printers", which use standard G-code but are sliced not in the same way as for normal printers - you need the Cura Blackbelt variant to make the proper command file.
Other slicers like Voxelizer are locked down to the printers of the software's manufacturer.


Is there such thing as a sealed dual extruder hot end? Does anyone know of a hot end that is sealed? What I meaning is that the hot end has a rubber seal where the filament enters to keep the top airtight (in order to eliminate oozing).
I am looking to build a dual extruder printer but, I do not want any oozing from the hot end which is not in use. I could build a system to retract and 'close' the nozzle but it would be much more elegant if it would work to just seal the top of the hot end. Thus achieving the same effect as when you pull up water with a straw by covering the top with your finger.

It doesn't work that way, or perhaps in some sense it already does.
The "straw effect" you're describing depends on the water not being under any pressure that exceeds the outside atmosphereic pressure. If you squeeze the straw or otherwise apply pressure, it will immediately spill out.
If you're printing at more than a ridiculously slow print speed (slow enough that it would fail for other reasons, like the nozzle melting the already-printed part just by proximity to it), the filament is under very high pressure from the extruder gear. The primary function of retraction is not to move the filament back out of the nozzle orifice, but simply to relieve that pressure. (A little bit more is needed to prevent oozing, however.) When retraction happens, it's exactly like the "straw effect" you're describing. The material pulled back out of the hotend into the heatbreak hardens enough that it makes a nearly air-tight seal, preventing the molten material below from flowing out of the nozzle due to gravity.
If your hotend does not have design problems and if you're using retraction correctly (that means using it everywhere that you're making a move that's not an extrusion one, not skipping it with "Limit Support Retractions" or "Combing"), you should not see oozing, ever. The system already works the way you want it to. But you can't magically get rid of the need for retraction. It's part of how the system you want works.


Long prints shifting with Ultimaker 2 I am currently using Ultimaker 2+ to print some big parts with PLA. As long as the printing lasts for less than 15 hours (that's what I observed by experience, approximately), there are no problems.
If the duration of printing is greater than this time, the part would get shifted from its initial position. It looks like the part is not sticking to the bed anymore.

I was first using classic glue sticks and this problem occurred. Next, I tried with different masking tapes but the problem remains the same. The glass bed is not heated. The first layer and the following are actually pretty clean. I use brim. I reduced the printing speed to 20 mm/s on purpose to see if it would reduce the probability of this phenomenon to occur. However, this is not the case.

Do you have any experience concerning this problem, ideas, suggestions?

If the brim is firmly connected to the part and sufficiently large, you could "duck tape" the brim to the bed after a few hours; by then you should have enough space/clearance to work with.

But maybe the best advice is to invest in a heated bed platform, or use the heated bed if you only did not enable it. Heating the filament to the point close to the glass transition temperature ensures that the printed filament stays ductile. Once filament cools down, it shrinks and cannot grip on the to build plate indefinitely.

My Ultimaker 3 uses a heated build platform that can virtually make every filament stick to it as long as you prepare the bed correctly. On glass I prefer to use a specifically designed printing spray called 3DLAC; that, and a little heat (depending on the filament you print; i.e. the glass transition temperature) make that I never have had any problems with getting filament to stick to the build plate. I'm even able to get the slippery filament POM to stick to the heated bed.


Folgertech FT-5 : Does not seem to be reading G-Code correctly I recently purchased an FT-5 from Folgertech and finished assembly about a week ago. I have yet to accomplish a successful print. It seems like either the file is not being sliced correctly, or that it is possibly reading the G-code incorrectly. It will lay down the first perimeter layer of the part and then shift down the build plate a few mm in the y-direction, extrude another perimeter layer and then repeat. I have tried printing from an SD and through USB using Cura as the slicing software, with the same results.

I have doubled checked the tightness on all of the belts and pulleys
The Y-Driver was bad, initially so I swapped it with the spare on the board and it solved the issue.
I have gone through the entire code on the Marlin V3 Firmware, and everything seems to look as it should.
MKS Gen V 1.4 w/ Arduino Mega 2560
I have tried using Arduino 1.6.5/1.6.6/1.6.7
I calibrated the XYZ steps/mm

All of the mechanical movements and offsets seem to be correct. The printer connects to Pronterface without issue. It also homes fine from the machine and USB and moves where it should during these processes. Again, it seems to be that the issue is when it tries to interpret the G-code. I have tried multiple G-code files from different sources as well, still with the same luck.

If anyone has experience with similar issues or can offer any help, it would be greatly appreciated. I have no clue what could be going on!

In red filament is my attempt to print the 5 mm calibration cube this morning, an example of how this calibration cube should look like is seen in the picture with the white calibration cubes.

The image shows that somehow steps in Y direction (under the assumption that you have taken the photograph from the front) are missed.

Missing steps can be caused by too high settings for acceleration and jerk, too much friction on the undercarriage or the belt assembly, undercarriage catching something at a certain point, too less current through the stepper.

You could increase the torque on the stepper by increasing the Vref of your stepper driver is you have separate stepper driver modules, or a adjustment screw on the printer controller board. Furthermore reduce the acceleration and jerk settings and check the undercarriage for stick-slip movement by disconnecting the belt, then reconnect the belt and check for friction of the pulleys.


Which hotend does not clog and is good to use with a Bowden 1.75 mm setup? I'm building my own 3D printer (custom design, made by me and cut using a water cutting machine) but I have always had problems with the hotend clogging.

I have had four hotends:

a J-Head;
a full metal;
a full metal made by me and;
my current hotend which is just a block of aluminium with a plaster cold-end 100% homemade with no precision at all.

Believe it or not, this hotend is the only one that has finished a whole print (about 40 minutes), all of the others, with or without fans, haven't managed to finish one!

Well... this hotend has a 1.5mm hole so I guess that that's why it can print.

The problem with all of the others was that the 1.75mm PLA that I'm using clogged the hotend after two minutes.

Now I would like to buy a new, more precise, hotend. I'm using a Bowden extruder, can you suggest a good hotend?

This is my printer:

To make the suggestion of Martin Carney a real answer and shift things away from comments:

Yes, moisture and dust can be a problem. Find elaborations on the moisture here:
Does filament have to be stored in an airtight environment.

Also, dust getting into the hot end won't make extrusion easier. (link with suitable information needed). There are filament cleaning 'devices' for print on thingiverse, have a look at things with the tag: filament cleaner.

There are some other things that are mostly discussed in relation to hot-end clogging, which are printing speed, retract setting and what I would call hot-end resistance. For all of those, read through this thread and refine your question according to what you tried and what the results were:
Repeatedly Clogged Printrbot Simple Extruder.


Hot end jamming very quickly I have built a 3D printer out of parts from my tip, a ramps board, arduino mega, and a hot end. However, after doing a test extrusion some plastic was spewed out and then the print jammed un-expectantly and my homemade extruder no longer had the strength to push the filament.

I took the filament out and what I found was that the filament going into the extruder had formed a cylinder at the end. Then after pushing the filament through by hand to eliminate the possibility of my  weak extruder, I found that the filament was expanding coming out of the filament, and then cooling down unable to go through. I cut the filament, removing the bloated end, pushed it back into the extruder and then again after 30 seconds the same problem occurred.
After researching, I came to the conclusion that maybe there is a gap allowing filament to go out of the heating area, expand and then cool down, or even my wooden direct to bowden adapter is stopping the filament cooling causing it to clog. However I am not sure.

I am becoming frustrated as I am doing this for a school project, I only have two weeks left to finish and everything seems to be failing. Any help would be much appreciated.

For reference this is my hotend:  link to amazon
I brought the cheapest one available on amazon, so it has no fan and no way to connect a bowden tube. I have created a basic adapter between the thread and a bowden tube holder, out of wood. It's not good but it does the job.

Here is a picture of my hot end and what the filament looks like after I removed it. There appears to be a spiral shape on some of them.

You are suffering from what is called "heat creep". Molten filament is creeping up the heat break and into the bowden tube, where it is causing a jam. You need to install a proper radiator block that is cooled by a fan, not just a lump of wood as a "cold end". The cold end is not just a connector, its primary purpose is to act as a cooler. A hot end on its own is not enough. You also need a cold end. Here is my extruder disassembled (fan omitted). The radiator block is the red item.


Does having more curvier corners help warping more then smaller curves I was experimenting with building an enclosure using fusion 360.

I was wondering if a part with rounded corners of a larger radius would warp less than smaller ones?

Also, any recommendation on reading material would be appreciated!

In short, yes, it helps a little. Curves provide less surface area per unit volume (a sphere has the least possible surface area relative to the volume of the solid), and that reduces the rate at which the material in that corner will cool relative to elsewhere in the print, and also changes how the material can deform if and when it does cool unevenly. Uneven cooling of fine features, including sharp corners, is what causes warpage, as these areas typically cool faster than others. The curve also helps with bed adhesion, as the more rounded corner is more easily kept down on the bed by the various forces within the object and in the bed adhesion. Sharper corners depend more on the surface area under the corner itself to keep the piece properly stuck to the bed.

However, it's not a panacea. It's not always possible, for one; it's usually an option when CADing a "green field" design for a household item or other standalone product, but if you're making a replacement part for an existing device, or printing a figurine or other detailed model, you usually have to take the curves (and edges) that design gives you. Also, if you radius an outer edge of a hollow shape, but don't radius the inner corner to keep the material thickness constant, you'll end up with similar cooling problems as the apex of that edge cools fastest.

Strategies for avoiding warping are along a couple common lines, but exactly how you implement that strategy depends on the material and on the printer. One overarching strategy is to increase print surface adhesion; the stronger the part sticks to the bed everywhere on its first layer, the harder it will be for corners to lift. Exact techniques depend on the print material, but many of them, like blue painter's tape, Elmer's glue and hairspray, work well for several filament types. Adjusting the printed shape, to print a brim around the shape's base or even a raft under the entire object, are also common anti-warping strategies. The tradeoff is that the stronger the bed adhesion, the harder the part will be to remove from the build surface when complete, which depending on your print bed construction can cause more problems than the warping.

Blue tape is nice because it's cheap to buy and easy to apply to the bed surface, both of which mean you don't have to worry too much about damaging the tape as you remove the part, just strip the tape and put down another layer. But, it doesn't work for all filament materials; the only thing I've found that really works well for ABS, for instance, is kapton tape, which is significantly more expensive and takes a lot of effort to lay down a wrinkle-free, bubble-free layer over the entire print bed for a large part (especially on my MakerBot, which doesn't have a removable build surface on it, so I'm laying this tape down in cramped quarters within the printer enclosure). A glass surface painted with ABS slurry is an option I've not yet had opportunity to try for ABS printing, but plenty of people swear by it.

Cooling, especially uneven cooling rates, are another major contributor, but again, exactly how you deal with cooling depends on the material. Most plastics, especially PLA, tend to work best when you keep things as cool as possible; the coolest extruder temp that reliably feeds fil, the coolest bed temp that reliably sticks, part cooling fan turned up, and even a standing or box fan blowing through the entire work area to put as much air over the part as possible. What this does is to get the PLA down onto the print surface as a hot "putty", then immediately "freeze" that bead of plastic as a solid as the heat's removed, so the bead can't shrink as it cools more gradually.

Now, with ABS, this cooling strategy doesn't work, and in fact it's the worst thing you can do to an ABS print. The material is much more elastic than PLA, which is quite brittle, and has no true melting temperature, with a very hot glass transition temp. So, as it's laid down, the extruded beads quickly put the part under elastic tension as it cools. Shrinkage is a fact of life with ABS; the only thing you can do is to control the shrinkage by controlling the part cooling, so the part cools and shrinks evenly. ABS calls for a hot print bed for good adhesion, which will keep the first few layers warmer longer, but higher layers of the print will be further from that heat source, so if there's air moving over or within the work volume, these higher layers will cool more rapidly, at which point it really doesn't matter how good your surface adhesion is (I've seen prints split halfway up the model to relieve the tension by warping). So for ABS, a heat enclosure is pretty much a must. My MakerBot is built that way (in fact it's designed for ABS printing and works better with ABS than with PLA, which is supposed to be the more user-friendly material of the two), but most of your open-gantry RepRap-type designs will need something built around it, usually with a separate heating element to heat the work volume more than the bed is capable of doing.


Closed-loop stepper motors I am thinking to use closed-loop stepper motors to prevent step loss and make the machine more accurate. What options (preferably low cost) are there for:

stepper motor + driver + encoder + microcontoller

Is building it from scratch worth it? E.g. Arduino Mega 2560 + RAMPS 1.4/1.5/1.6 + stepper motors (e.g. NEMA17) + drivers (e.g. A4988, DRV8825) + encoders (e.g. AS5047P, AS5047D, AS5048A, TLE5012B) + microcontrollers (e.g. STM32).

A number of options exist, but keep in mind that cost will be a limiting factor.

(Small sidenote: cost depends on persective, financial cost does not equal mental cost. The tradeoff between buy or make depends also on your willingness to persist when things don't work right away.)

Before you start: make sure that your printer has enough space to accomodate bigger motors.

So, what options are there?

Change your current configuration. If you are losing steps, it could very well be that it can be fixed in firmware.

Pro: No budget and nothing to lose.
Con: No shiny closed loop system. (Is that bad though?) Possibly need to configure and compile your own firmware.

MacGyver / DIY solution based on low lever components

Pro: Probably as cheap as you'll get depending on how you choose your components. Might be an interesting learning experience, not to mention the satisfaction afterwards. This could be the smallest build size you'll see in all the options.
Con: You'll need a decent amount of engineering and debugging. Might be tricky to mount the encoders.

Same as 1, but now consider using of the shelf stepper motors with integrated encoders.

Pro: Most robust option on a budget in my opinion due to the single mechanical piece (motor + encoder).
Con: Integrated encoders have a considerable cost and are large compared to their vanila versions.

Go for off the shelf motor+encoder and drivers.

Pro: No need to worry about driver configurations too much. Just plug in the numbers or set the dip switches. Very conveinient solution. Pretty much plug and play.
Con: This will already be challenging on a budget. Making a wrong mix and match might lead to unpredictable results such as drives going in overcurrent. (Which, believe me, is very frustrating for your application!)

If we are allowed to consider servo motors: ClearPath-SD series (Or any alternative for that matter!) I'm just including this for completeness.

Pro: Performance wise a clear winner on pretty much any relevant level.
Con: You'll need a big budget!

Bottomline: You'll probably want to give the first option a go before spending money. Next stop, you might want to take the second option (you already did research on different specific low level components), and if you have time to spare I'd go with that as well. If you are also on a budget timewise, I'd definively suggest to take the third option with existing driver boards.

The other options are more cost heavy and become real options in produciton environments, where downtime is also costsing money.

As to the microcontroller, take whatever you have available. Just know that more computational power will allow you to output steps faster and will allow for smoother movements. Lot's to talk about there as well!


Cube edges squished? I printed a test cube with ABS on my Ender 3 and after some tuning, I still have a problem I cannot solve. Two of the vertical edges (I believe they are the ones on the X+ side) are slightly squished in. Could this be due to warping or something else? I printed it at 0.1 mm layer height, 235/110 °C hotend/bed temperatures.
Here is a picture:

If you look closely to your print you will see that the edges are part of the problem, e.g. you also have a problem called "Elephant foot" where the base shows a fairing to the build plate.

The elephant foot deficiency is caused by an imbalanced choice of bed and hotend temperature and print cooling. This imbalance also causes the edges to collapse (probably also caused by the infill, or lack of it).

You should look into finding a better printing temperature combo and experiment with little cooling. This will also help you to better print the rest of the cube.


Is G-code read line by line? I am trying to add the line

  G4 P4000 G1 F4000 E-50

to pause and retract the print in order for the printed line to dry (printing in mid air vertically). Does the above code work or should i skip lines or does it not matter at all?

  G4 P4000
  G1 F4000 E-50

Would the following line do the exact same thing?

  G4 P5000 E-50

Yes, G-code is read line by line. G-code is a numerical control programming language. It basically instructs the machine sequentially line by line to do a specific task. The printer than executes the lines one by one until it reaches the end.

If you instruct the printer to wait (G4 dwell), it will do the wait/dwell first and than will execute the next command to retract the filament. As such, your examples will not work if you want to retract the filament during the pause, you reversed the process if you want to achieve that.

To add a pause (simple) for e.g. filament changing, you should instruct the head to go to a certain position, extract the filament, and now insert the pause/dwell command. Give yourself enough time to insert and prime the nozzle and go back to the last location to continue printing.

You could insert something like (e.g. in between layer change, before G1 Zx.xx):

...
G1 X0 Y0 F2000 ; Relocate the print head
G1 F4000 E-50 ; Retract filament
G4 P40000 ; Wait for 40 seconds
G92 E50 ; The new filament should continue at this value
...
G1 Zx.xx

Depending on what happens after G1 Zx.xx, you may need to set the head back to the location prior to where it was before G1 X0 Y0 F2000.

Do note that there are pausing scripts/plugins available for e.g. Ultimaker Cura, and there is also a filament changing command M600 that can be enabled for certain firmware (if this is your ultimate goal).

Using a post processing plugin of Ultimaker Cura, a pausing script looks like:

...
G0 X137.692 Y105
;TIME_ELAPSED:707.873599
;TYPE:CUSTOM;added code by post processing
;script: PauseAtHeight.py
;current z: 5
;current height: 5.0
M83
G1 F300 Z6
G1 F9000 X190 Y190
G1 F300 Z15
M104 S0; standby temperature
M0;Do the actual pause
M109 S200; resume temperature
G1 F300 Z6
G1 F9000 X133.423 Y105
G1 F9000
M82
G92 E911.50045
;LAYER:24
G0 X137.692 Y105 Z5
...

Note that G0 and G1 are "move to" location instructions (albeit through a different way, fast move and linear move respectively). If you look closely, you see that after the pause, the printer returns to the X-Y position where it left prior to the pause (X137.692 Y105).

Side note:
Some firmware flavors allow buffering, but each statement is executed sequentially.


Switched to a Bowden setup. Should I retract the filament out at the end of a print? I switched my Anet A8 over to a Bowden and it's printing great. Moving that weight off has enabled me to almost double the speed and resonance problems have vanished.

My question is regarding after the print is done should I add a retraction code and back the filament out of the v6 or is it okay to leave it in there?

My concern is that if I leave it in there, will it cause a clog or anything when I warm up the printer tomorrow to print something else? If that's not a something I should be concerned about let me know.

It's okay to leave the filament in the hot end, as long as you let it cool down with the hot end cooling fan running.

From comment:

  That's not an issue, you can simply leave it in the hot end. The only "end of print" clogs usually occur when leaving the hot end hot for a while - allowing the filament to drip out - and then retract the filament without feeding it against the nozzle once more. That creates a plug that's larger than the filament diameter that might get stuck in the bowden tube


How to connect optocoupler module to ABL sensor and Ender 3 board I am trying to figure out how to wire up Auto Bed Leveling (ABL) on my Ender 3 using the optocoupler and inductive proximity sensor below.

I cannot figure out how to wire it all together, all the tutorials I have found are for 2 and 3 wire per side of the optocoupler.

Connecting is pretty straightforward like the other modules, difference is an extra input lead.

From e.g. here: Module interface description:

DC+: Positive DC power supply.
DC- : Negative DC power supply.
PWM: Signal input (connect MCU port, PLC interface, DC power supply, etc.)
GND: The negative terminal of the signal
OUT+: Positive output terminal (connected to the device positive)
OUT-: Negative output terminal (connected to device negative)

So, 1 and 2 connect to your power supply that matches the voltage of the logic of your microprocessor (5 V) as this must be linked to 5 and 6 which are connected to the endstop signal and ground respectively.

As for the sensor, blue is GND, black is signal (PWM) and brown is power as seen in e.g. this answer.


Anet A8 right Z drops 2 mm during print I've noticed that after my Anet A8 completes a print, the right hand Z mount ends up 1-2 mm lower than the left, even though I make sure both the left and right hand Z mounts of the X-axis are at the same height before switching on the printer.

Does anyone know what the cause of this might be?

I'm guessing something is causing the right hand Z to skip steps. I can't see or hear any obvious mechanical issues. I checked all guide and threaded rods were straight before assembly.

Could it be a faulty stepper or control electronics?

My guess is your Z guides are not strictly parallel because there's no instruction how to install X guides correctly. When you install X guides, you can easily make horizontal distance between two Z-mounts either too small or too large, which puts extra stress on one of the Z motors. Move your extruder to home position, measure distance between bottom ends of Z threaded rods and between top ends, and try to adjust right Z-mount position on X guides so that these two distances become equal. Use hammer, but be accurate with plastic.


Arduino Mega 2560 + RAMPS voltage on GPIO pin I am using an Arduino Mega 2560 and RAMSP 1.4 shield with Marlin firmware to control my machine (not exactly a 3D printer). Marlin has G-code:

M42 P20 S255 ==> Turn on pin 20 of the microprocessor
M42 P20 S0     ==> Turn off pin 20 of the microprocessor

I am using this command to turn ON a MOSFET switch connected to pin 20.

When I have not put the RAMPS shield on top of AtMega,  this works. Pin goes high only when I send code to turn it ON.

But when I place the shield on top of the Mega 2560 (No 12 V power is given to RAMPS, only 5 V from USB), when I first connect USB to it, I find around 2 V on Pin 20 even without sending the ON command. when sending M42 P20 S0 this goes away (0 V) and get 5 V for M42 P20 S255. Without shield there's no voltage when connecting USB to Mega 2560; with shield there's 2 V on the pin and this causes the MOSFET switch to turn on.

Where does this voltage comes from?

First I thought this must be some noise, so added a 10K pull down resistor (since that is the common value I have seen in many circuits), but it didn't work. But placing a 100 Ohm works. Is this safe?

Connecting a 100 Ohm resistor is definitely not safe. This load is far too high for an AtMega2560 output pin. 100 Ohms at 5 V (when the pin is high) is 50 mA, whereas the recommended maximum for an AtMega2560 pin is 20 mA (and it would be better to stay well below this maximum). You should use a higher value pull-down resistor (at least 250 Ohms, more would be better) or find out where the stray voltage is coming from (it could be an internal pull up on the AtMega, since pin 20 is also the SDA pin which Marlin might enable).


How come firmware isn't uploaded? I am calibrating my Kossel XL with a new Marlin firmware changing the MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS since I have modified my print bed.

I change the value in the Marlin code and upload it through Arduino (the editor on Windows 10). It has worked many times before with the exact same version of Arduino.

When I then use Pronterface and issue G28 (home all) followed by G1 Z30 (just to be on the safe side) it shows that Marlin wasn't uploaded at all. It is a the same height as before. It's a 22.2 mm difference so it is easy to see.

I have tried restarting the Arduino board before and after upload.
I have tried unplugging the USB cable before and after upload.
I also tried two different USB ports.
The computer has been rebooted.
I have examined the Arduino editor's settings, so it uploads to the correct destination (COM3 in my case). It is as it should be. It, of course, reports "upload complete".

What can be the cause of this?

Are you sure that the firmware is not being uploaded?
You can debug this changing the STRING_VERSION on Configurations.h.
If the version is not being changed, I would suggest trying to use another computer to upload the firmware or even another board.


Extruder motor not running during print job but working after I preheat the extruder and test it I have a Prusa i3 (from FLSun). I have assembled the printer, calibrated it (fairly decently), and have successfully demonstrated extrusion manually. However, when I try to run a print job (the G-code clearly contains E commands), the extruder motor never rotates. Is this a common problem? Any suggestsions for how to resolve/troubleshoot?

I can confirm that the extruder was pre-heated for PLA (up to a generous 220 C).

I load  an STL file into Repetier v.1.0.2, use the built-in slicer (Slic3r) to generate the G-code. I include a sample of that below:

; generated by Slic3r 1.2.9 on 2017-11-08 at 10:54:07

; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.50mm
; perimeters extrusion width = 0.72mm
; infill extrusion width = 0.72mm
; solid infill extrusion width = 0.72mm
; top infill extrusion width = 0.72mm

M107
M104 S200 ; set temperature
G28 ; home all axes
G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle

M109 S200 ; wait for temperature to be reached
G21 ; set units to millimeters
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
G92 E0
G1 Z0.350 F7800.000
G1 E-2.00000 F2400.00000
G92 E0
G1 X76.952 Y76.952 F7800.000
G1 E2.00000 F2400.00000
G1 X78.055 Y75.850 E2.04824 F1800.000
G1 X78.650 Y75.324 E2.07282
G1 X81.121 Y73.387 E2.16997
G1 X81.780 Y72.933 E2.19472
G1 X84.467 Y71.309 E2.29186
G1 X85.167 Y70.940 E2.31635
G1 X88.143 Y69.602 E2.41730

As an update, I can no longer reliably get the extruder motor to run (even when I pre-heat) from the LCD. Sometimes, it works fine, but other times it doesn't seem to. Will confirm whether switching the motor connector to the z-axis to test the motor works when I get home this evening.

I can confirm 1) that there is no tension pulling on the cable connections during the run, 2) the mainboard and motor connector aren't burned, cracked, and the mosfets have heatsinks on them, and 3) the extruder gear is fixed and rotates freely on the motor axis (I tested this by switching it over to the z-axis connection temporarily and confirming rotation).

Here's a photo of my motherboard:

According to all the information:

No reassignment of the extruder in the Gcode
You can extrude if you push the filament by hand
Extruder motor works when switched to Z driver
Z Motor works

I come to the conclusion that some of your electronics or the motor have fried.

What have fried? I tried to make a step by step check:

Switch drivers between E and Z, but plug the motors as usual:

1) Does the extruder extrude?

Yes: Your driver has fried

No:

2) Were you able to move the Z motor?

No: Motherboard And driver has fried

Yes:

3) Plug in the E motor on the Z driver, can you make the E motor turn?

Yes: Motherboard fried

No: Motor fried

HTH and keep us updated if it worked or not!


Cherry 3D printer Nema upgrade I'm currently attempting to build the reprap Cherry 3D printer. I'm doing the Nema 17 upgrade for the printer. I realized that the instructions online are optimized for the 28byj-48 stepper motors. Has anyone built this machine with the Nema 17 upgrades and know what size screws would be best to use?

Cherry 3D printer with Nema 17 = Small Prusa i3, so the screws are the same M3 with the length you need according your mounting upgrade.


Extruder motor does not stop after G1 E5 When I send G1 E5, the extruder motor rotates, but does not stop. It keeps rotating until I restart the system. I am using a Ramps 1.4 board and OctoPrint.

If the printer is in absolute positioning mode (which is used almost exclusively), then the extruder will either wind back or wind forward to the last 5mm point. Effectively, the firmware treats the extruder like any other axis, and you can set the origin whenever and wherever you like (it doesn't have to be the home position). Use G92 to reset the extruder position as follows:

G92 E0 ; Set the extruder position to 0 (origin)
G1 E5  ; Extrude 5mm of filament
G92 E0 ; Set the extruder position to 0 again

This is the usual way to purge filament in the slicer's start and end code. Note that you cannot rely on the current position being zero.


How to make walls thicker using meshmixer or meshlab I have been working at converting game files into 3d files that can be printed, but many of the models have very thin or walls. I was wondering if there was a way to increase the thickness of the walls using meshmixer or meshlab.

Only today, I learned of a solution for this sort of objective, but it uses Fusion 360 rather than Meshmixer  or Meshlab. As your question does not include that program, I'll toss the Meshmixer method.

This image is of the model prior to modification:

When you load your STL file into MM, use Edit, Generate Face Groups. This will cause the surfaces to change color. Click Accept.

With face groups created:

If you can be assured of all one surface, use Select, then double click on the interior. This should turn the entire interior red. If you discover unselected surfaces, simply click on those surfaces until all is completed. If you select a surface in error, use Shift-Click to clear that one surface.

Once selected, the select menu gives you a new edit menu.
Use Edit, Offset for yet another menu. As you make changes in the menu settings, you'll see the results on the model. Ideally, you won't have an overly complex model with too many facets/triangles, as it can really bog a machine down.

This particular model has a nearly uniform interior. Double clicking on the inside surface caused the full cylinder (not the bottom) to be selected (turning red).

Low accuracy offset, with surfaces still selected:

For smoothest results, keep the accuracy high. Any protruberance in the interior will give very strange results.

High accuracy results, surfaces selected:

Experiment with the settings, aim for the best result and click accept. As long as you don't export the model over your original, all experimentation is a learning experience and not a destructive one.


Slicer settings for easy support material removal What are the best settings for Ultimaker Cura to have support material that's easy to remove for my Anet A8. I have printed an object with two different spools of PLA (same manufacturer just different color). The black print was printed with 200 °C, the grey one with 210 °C both a flow of 100 %. Thee black print seems like it has a little over-extrusion while the grey print has some under-extrusion artifacts despite the higher printing temperature. The grey support was really hard to remove and looks super messy the black one not so much...

What would be better settings?

Could it be that the material is so much different despite same manufacturer? The black one seems to flow much better than the grey one. Both have suggested temperature of 210 °C

BTW the thing is 33x25 mm in size. It's rather tiny that makes printing it somewhat awkward...

I have finished another print with a brim and a different support setting (Cross with 50 %) and at 195 °C and an infill rate of 100 %. The support came off much better, the under-extrusion is minimal on the layers however for some reason the top layer does get messed up with open spots and the little nob at the corner was just a a mere stringy stumb that fell off instantly and the walls of the holes came out spongy while the layers of the ring and the long side are smooth and fine...

Cura has some settings for the support structure which may help.  Somewhere in the full Preferences menu is a setting for "gap at top" or equivalent wording.  If you increase that gap slightly, the support material will be less strongly bonded to the part.   Be careful, since a huge gap could lead to bridging problems.


Which is the difference between MK6 and MK8 and even MK10? I made and assembled my own 3D printer two years ago and I notice that some extruders are MK6 and MK(*whatever). Some of them has the block fuser horizontal and others vertical, then uses a nozzle longer.

The block heater that I made was an aluminum block 20x20x10 mm using the M6 short nozzle. Then adapted the radiator to upgrade to Jhead heater.

So I wanted to know to which group belongs my printer, as base is a prusa clone with direct extrusion.

All credits for the following go to user "vermon" who posted in this thread.

The following is a heavily amended version from his longer answer there.

Makerbot did start its hotend series using MK as iteration designator (for Mark). The first commercially available version was the [Makerbot] MK4 on the Cupcake circa 2009. MK4 was hand built with nichrome wire heaters and prone to all kinds of failures. They only worked with ABS and 3 mm filament.

Following here, Makerbot was skipped as a manufacturer and that it is the hotend we talk about. The correct nomenclature would be Makerbot Hotend MK#

MK5 was a complete redesign and had huge nozzles and a thick PTFE liner. It used 2 large power resistors in parallel for heating and was also prone to failure.

MK6 was the first hotend sold as a kit that I know of (however Repraps had also started using them probably before).

Mk6+ was the first cartridge heater hotend sold in kit form. The MK5/MK6 heater block was stainless steel, where MK6+ upgrade kit was an aluminum block that was slightly smaller, a lot lighter, and had the now standard 1/4 inch heater cartridge.

MK7 was the first hotend you folks would think looks familiar. It was the first move to 1.75 mm filament dedicated extruders. While a MK6+kit had parts to adapt to 1.75 mm filament, it never worked well at all and was really a failure.

Again, this is all Thing-O-Matic and Cupcake era. Other than a few clones, there really was no third party market in the US at this time. You either had a MakerBot or some other Reprap based kit. Wanhao, FlashForge- they didn't even exist and if they did, weren't talked about like now.

MK8 was the all new dual extruder hotend setup on the MakerBot Replicator. The cooling bar was thicker than the MK7 but the same all metal thermal barrier and supposedly, the MK8 has slightly different nozzle geometry internally and externally.

MK9 was a MK8 hotend, cooling bar, thermal barrier, and nozzle, but the new feeder with spring lever we know on all current models. This is why it's confusing, MK9 was a feeder upgrade, not a hotend change.

MK10 was a complete change of the hotend. MK10 uses smooth OD thermal barriers with a larger 4 mm OD 2 mm ID PTFE liner. MK10 also uses M7 threads, vs the M6 of all previous models. This is because a 4 mm PTFE liner is barely enough metal to make the outer tube with M6 threads. MK10 is completely incompatible with all previous hotend parts. Every part is different. MK10 still uses MK9 feeder parts.

MK11 on the D6 is just an MK10 nozzle and thermal barrier, but a different heater block and the cooling bar is part of the D6 central cross. Again, the only real difference is MK11 is a different heater block, and that's to adapt a different and longer heater cartridge and slide in the thermocouple. MK11 still uses MK9 plastic feeder parts.

  I wanted to know to which group belongs my printer, as base is a Prusa clone with direct extrusion.

This question seem difficult to answer concretely, as the number in the series seem to be assigned based on a combination of heating block technology and format, the feeder geometry and the nozzle shape and thread that was adopted on the MakerBot printers.  Your actual combination of those three may not exist in the MakerBot universe.

I suggest you read the full, unabridged version of the post linked above though, as more details relevant to your inquiry may be disclosed there.


ELEGOO Mars failed prints every time So I just recently bought the ELEGOO Mars SLA Printer... the first model I made turned out okay. It was a small helmet. Only 3 out of the 9 small helmets made it; so I thought it was my bed... I re-leveled my bed and went for it again. Stuck to the FEP film. I did research and sanded the bed for better adhesion, nothing, changed my FEP film something printed but it was considered failed as there were some cracks. I changed settings on my printer software, ChiTu Box Slicing Software, I even did the recommended settings and custom settings I found on YouTube, and still nothing.

The only variables I have not changed are the FEP film again, as it could be too tight. And different resin. I'm currently using the Grey ELegoo resin... Or replacing my LCD Screen.. If y'all can help it would mean a ton!

let's go step by step - and rule out the unlikely sources. Since you get at least some results, UV source and screen seem unlikely. Then you might want to make sure that the resin is ok. Let's try to put a droplet onto a sheet of paper/foil, which you tape down outside in the sun or under a UV light source - if it cures, the resin is ok.

The first real step is to check your bed leveling. Go exactly by the handbook - you might be a tad far from the bed, which leads to sticking to the film.

Then make sure your film is intact. You might need to swap resin vats to do that. in case the film is damaged, you have to swap it.


How precise do models need to be for 3D printing? I'm not talking about making something that's outright disproportionate of course. I've been working in Blender and I've use Absolute grid Snap to snap my vertices to the grid. The problem is that it (didn't seem) to always work perfectly for centimeters, and seemed to work better for meters.
(edit: I've learned what the problem was and it was simply the placement of the vertices in side view, being at  slightly different elevations. I'm going to emphasize that the difference was very slight. It was just enough to show up in the measurements. When I switched from front view to side view I was able to adjust the elevation to the grid and that fixed the problem.)

It depends on what you're working on. If you're producing mechanical/functional parts (even if that just means having to connect to one another or to some non-printed part), 3 mm (0.3 cm) error is almost surely going to prevent them from working. Even 0.3 mm error might be a problem.

If you're doing standalone prints that don't have to interface with anything else, e.g. art, non-articulated figurines, etc., then it becomes just a question of what's visually acceptable, and that's a matter both of scale and of the detail level you want. For typical tabletop-RPG scale, for example, most of the acutal visual features are going to be smaller than 3 mm, so that much error is not going to work out. It might work for large busts, though.

In any case, I would recommend trying to solve the underlying problem. Either change your grid snap, or work at a larger scale and just scale down the final model.


Anet A8 not printing over heat bed My Anet A8 printer will not print over the heated bed.

Once I have prepared a file on Cura and inserted the SD card into the printer, the nozzle (extruder) moves into the top left corner and stays there. I have unchecked "Origin at center" and been over the printer settings multiple times. Yet still nothing.

Any suggestions?

I have included a picture of the settings I am using:

do you set the {speed_print} value correct? Otherwise the command G1 Z15.0 F {speed_print} is not executable imho...


Extrusion is not continuous Issue: Printing is not continuous.

Observation: While printing, the upper layer of the nozzle is leaking. And also the printing is not continuous, the layers are not formed properly.

Practices: Alternate nozzle has been fastened, Bed leveling has been checked, Even used the other softwares to print. Reset-failsafe is  also done.

Conclusion: Feeding of filament from the extruder motor is continuous but the printing is not smooth.

Attachment: The pictures and videos (working) are attached.

Which should be a print of the following image of the model:

Certainly I have made certain observations along with your suggested queries. I have listed them please comment.

The brand which I'm using is the TEVO TORNADO.
The material is PLA.
The temperatures are 60-65C (BED) and 210-215C (EXT)
The software I used is REPETIER.
The extruder stepper motor works fine (No clicks) (The teeths are clean)
This is the nozzle leak

and welcome to 3D Printing Stack Exchange.

From the picture and the video, it appears that you have significant under extrusion.  It is impossible to determine from this information what is causing this.  It could be temperature, such as a nozzle that is too cold, slicing configuration being wrong, such as by slicing for 3mm filament but using 1.75mm filament, electronics, such as the extruder stepper not generating enough torque, or a jam where the filament simply can't be pressed into the hot zone.

I listened to your video but didn't hear anything that might help straighten this out.  But, what I didn't hear was a "clicking" extruder.  The extruder "clicks" if it is trying really hard to push the filament but it is not able to come out of the nozzle.  It might be worth checking the toothed roller that drives the filament to be sure the teeth are clean.  If the teeth are full, the drive roller can't get a grip on the filament to push it forward.

Also, I am concerned that plastic is may be coming out somewhere other than the top of the nozzle.  That shouldn't happen.  Could you attach a photo of plastic coming out of the wrong place?

---  Added after comments, and this photo os the nozzle leak was attached.

3D printing needs a long chain of conditions to be right.  Any problem in that chain can cause unacceptable results.  When trying to get good results, it is always best to fix any problem you find, and the plastic leak is a big problem.  Other problems may exist, but this must be fixed for a print to succeed.

The plastic leak is a big problem for a few reasons:

It allows plastic to leave the melt zone other than through the nozzle.  Since 3D printing depends on controlling the plastic leaving the nozzle for the print, this extra escape path is plastic which should have been neatly deposited on your print.  The control system has no way to know that the plastic it fed through the extruder is not on the print, so you get under extrusion.
There is an extra chamber inside the hot end which must be melted.  In the ideal case, the filament directly enters the nozzle, in which it melts.  Pressure from the cold filament at one end pushes the molten filament toward and through the nozzle.  The filament doesn't not need to change directions or flow particularly easily because it always moves linearly through the hot end.  It necks-down to the output hole size, but that is assisted by an entry cone to the nozzle aperature.
In a working hot end, there is not hot filament inside the hot end that is not extruded.  There are no eddy currents.  There are no places where filament can rest.  PLA is prone to degradation when kept at printing temperatures.  This isn't a problem in an ideal hot end because no filament sits idle.  Where there is an opening, or any extra gap, even if filament weren't leaking past the threads, there would be a pool of filament that was not in the extrusion path which would be hot for tool long, and would degrade into a hard, burned mess.

Disassembling the hot end can be tricky.  The cold plastic is a great glue which has filled and sealed the threads.  Do not use the internal heater to heat it.  The wires will get in the way when you are taking it apart.  There can (will) be broken connections, and possibly uncontrolled heating.  Use a hot air gun or hair dryer to soften the plastic.

If you can not remove the heater and thermistor before taking it apart, find where they are connected to the electronics and disconnect them there.  Do not leave the wires connected.  The heater and thermistor are fragile, and too much bending or force on the wires will destroy them.  You might purchase spares because you are likely to damage one or both.

PLA softens at a relatively low temperature.  When you have a plastic encased mess, disconnected from the rest of the printer, you can soften the plastic either with hot air or hot water.

A "relatively low tenperature" can still give you serious burns.  Use gloves, pliers, toothpicks, and any other tools you need.

When you reassemble the hot end, the nozzle should screw tightly against the upper tube that delivers the plastic.

Inspect the top of the nozzle and the bottom of the tube, and be sure they are flat, smooth, and are cut at a 90 degree angle to their axis.  They must fit together tightly, leaving no gap.

One assembly order is recommended by E3D.  I mention them because they deserve credit, although I am embellishing with details they are unaware of, have not suggested, and are not responsible for.

Start with all parts removed from the heater block (the rectangle of aluminum).
Screw the nozzle into the heater block, and then back it off 1/4 to 1/2 a turn.
Screw the top tube into the heater block until it is tight against the nozzle.
Assemble eerything else -- heater, thermister, wiring, attach to extruder, ...
With no plastic, heat the hot end from the control panel to be hotter than the hottest you will need when printing, maybe 250C if you are only printing PLA and ABS, and assure that it is heating normally.
WITH THE HOT END HOT, tighten the nozzle with a wrench so that it is tight against the upper tube.

Of the three objects in the hot end, the aluminum heater block has the highest coefficient of thermal expansion.  It is higher than both the steel upper tube and the brass nozzle.  The tendency as the hot end heats is to open a gap between the nozzle and the tube.  By making them tight at the highest temperature, they will also be tight at lower temperatures.

When the leak is fixed, you may be done, or there may be other problems to solve.

Welcome to 3D Printing!


Simplify3D and Davinci mini Simplify3D is listing the XYZprinting Davinci mini as a compatible printer for their software. I would never buy such expensive software in combination with this printer if I didn't already think of buying a better printer.

Can anybody confirm compatibility with 'out of the box' configuration and up to date firmware?

XYZPrinting printers use a .3w file format vs GCode on all opensource printer designs.  I have used Simplify3D since the first month I obtained my Da Vinci Pro 3 in 1 which also has WiFi enabled.

Simplify3D does not connect very well to my Da Vinci WiFi so a 25ft ActiveUSB extension makes the connection for uploading and monitoring the progress of the print.

All the XYZPrinting Da Vinci series are available on the printer configuration wizard if not then sending a request to Simplify3D will obtain a response with the printer configuration file.


How do people load filament, prime the printhead, flush out the old filament when changing colors when using a standalone 3D printer? I am wondering how people that use standalone 3D printers (printers that have the ability to print autonomously from SD Card) feed in filament, prime the printhead and/or change filaments without a laptop ?

Do the printers have a menu to arrange all these tasks ?
I often only see the options to preheat the head to a certain temperature, but not to load/unload filament, extrude a small amount etc.

I understand this differs from printer to printer, but still am wondering about this.

My printer (IdeaWerk 150) is very basic and doesn't have any options for this from the screen.

I wrote a really simple GCODE file that brings the nozzle up to temperature, then runs the extruder for a few seconds, then waits, then extrudes for a bit again. I think it does this 3 or 4 times then stops. I can put the file (when converted to .x3g!) onto an SD card and run it whenever I need it.

I have a similar file that allows me to level the bed without a computer by just moving the nozzle around to a few key points on the bed and pausing for a few seconds.

I used a GCODE file generated by my slicer in verbose mode to get started, along with a list of codes

I don't have these files to hand at the moment, but this is my start.gcode:

(**** beginning of start.txt ****)
(This file is for a WeisTek IdeaWerk 150)
(**** begin initilization commands ****)
G21 (Metric FTW)
G90 (Absolute Positioning)
M18 (This disables the stepper motors.)

G92 X0 Y0 Z0 A0 B0 (Declare the current position to be 0,0,0,0,0)
(**** end initilization commands ****)

(**** begin homing ****)
G161 Y X F2500
G92 X0 Y0 Z0 A0 B0
G1 X5.0 Y5.0 Z-5.0 F450
G162 Z F450
G161 Y X F2500 (Home X axis maximum, go until reaching the end stop.)

G92 Z142.4 ( ** Set Bed Height ** )

G92 X-75 Y-75 (set zero for X and Y)
(**** end homing ****)

M108 R8.0 (Extruder speed = max)
M6 T0 (wait for toolhead parts, nozzle, HBP, etc., to reach temperature)

G1 Z10 F500 (Bring bed up)

M101 (Turn on Extruder)
G04 P8000 (Wait for 8 seconds for flow)
(**** end of start.txt ****)

If I feed just this file into my printer, it will heat up the nozzle, bring the bed up to about 10cm below printing height and once the nozzle is at temperature, it turns on the extruder for 8 seconds.

Your printer will likely be different to mine - there are a few different flavours of GCODE and you will likely have different XYZ positions, so take a look at some GCODE generated by your own slicer and identify the different parts. The principle is the same.


Marlin NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET with glass In my custom printer I have probe and nozzle at same height and configured Marlin this way:

#define NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET { 43, -20, 0 }

On the bed I've a 2 mm glass. How I need to change the configuration? Do I need to act adding a positive Z offset? like this?

#define NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET { 43, -20, 2 }

You can define the probe offset (or better the trigger point to bed level distance) in the array definition of NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSET, but it is not the usual and logical place to do that. Instead you position the probe higher than the nozzle and define the offset later when calibrating the bed level. A positive value is a positive offset, Z+.

This answer is intended to be a more generic answer for Z-offset determination. The question is not clear on what kind of Z-probe is used. In case of a touch (or an inductive or a capacitive) probe, a probe trigger point defines how far the probe needs to be from the bed level (the sensor is always placed higher than the nozzle). This trigger point is a measure for the offset and used to determine the distance of the nozzle to the bed print surface (using the offset). Correct installation is trivial, as is the determination of the nozzle to trigger point definition. For a touch sensor, the probing element is either stowed, fully deployed, or pushed in during leveling up to the point that the trigger point is reached and the probe stowes the rest of the pin, see figure:

The M851 Zxx.xx offset is determined by lowering the nozzle beyond the trigger point until the nozzle hits a sheet of paper. If the stowed position to nozzle distance is used, the distance is too large and the nozzle will dive into the bed on printing. A similar sketch for inductive/capacitive proximity probes can be drawn.


How bed leveling is achieved without table screws? I have seen printers with table screws and bed leveling sensor and printers that have only bed leveling sensor (such as Prusa).

So my question is how does the bed levelling work when there is only a sensor, and no adjustment screws? What will happen if I totally remove the table from the printer and then re-assemble it? Will the print fail or what?

Prusa uses 9 marker points in the bed that are sensed with an induction sensor to determine the X, Y and Z position. Any deviation for skewness or bed level is compensated through the software. Please do note that the bed is pretty level to begin with (by design).

This is precisely described here, please check the video.

Note that Marlin Firmware (which is basically what drives the Prusa printers) has skewness compensation implemented. This is implemented in the configuration file, and found under header Bed Skew Compensation. You basically print a square and measure the diagonals and insert these measurements into the configuration file. Prusa printers do this automatically by using the measurements of the marker points.


CR10 V2 under extruding and heating up too quickly The heater cartridge on my CR10 V2 broke so I ordered a new one(12V). After replacing it the new one heats of very quickly past the target temperature and the slowly decreases to the target. Once it hits the target temp it goes up and down by 10 °C or so during prints. During the prints there is under extrusion. I read that if the filament gets hot too high up the hotted it could cause clogs. I replaced the nozzle as well and cleaned out everything.

Some things that I think may have an effect:

Could the new heater cartridge not be compatible?
does a poor solder job with heater cartridge wires have an effect
It's possible I messed up the thermistor when replacing heater cartridge, could that explain whats happening?
Is there anything else in the hot end assembly such as fans that would cause this?

This sounds as if you have bought an incorrect heater element, e.g. one for 12 V instead of 24 V. The CR-10 uses 24 V. The 12 V cartridge has a lower resistance, so when powered by 24 V, the current is much higher and therefore also the heating power ($ {(\frac{24}{12})}^2 = 4 $ times higher). For details on the calculation, the this answer on question: "PID autotune fails 'Temp too high' with 12 V heater cartridge but works with 24 V?". This makes the hotend heat up very fast resulting in a large overshoot. You need to replace the cartridge for one for 24 V.

Note that I recently experienced exactly the same problem by mixing up the cartridges see this answer.


What are the downsides of high stepper current OR power? Microstepping reduces the actual torque at partial steps, so I would like to increase the stepper torque as much as possible to ensure better behaviour when high acceleration is needed (I'm installing a heavier print bed).

I know which drivers and which motors I have so I know the rated values and how to avoid exceeding them.

Besides the additional heating, what are the downsides of using higher current OR current, provided (as said) that the ratings are not exceeded?

For example: noise? vibrations? anything else?

There is a downside.

If the current is too high, you lose the linearity of micro-stepping.  If the highest current exceeds the maximum, then the highest current micro-stepping positions will collapse on each other.

If you are within the specs of the motors, there are no motor-related problems caused by higher currents.

But other problems can be caused by increasing the current.  The current must be within the capacity of the motor drivers and their heat sink.  If the drivers overheat, many will simply shut off, causing the motors to not move when they should, which will appear as misalignment on X, Y, or Y.

Another problem could be higher vibration, which would show as stronger ringing when going around corners.  The higher current will give higher torque and higher acceleration, which will cause more vibration.

If you are increasing the current to support a bigger and heavier print bed, you will possibly have other troubles.  Although the higher torque will be countered by the higher bed mass, the higher bed mass may be coupled with longer belts, which will be more stretchy.  You may also be imposing forces over longer frame components, which may cause them to flex more.


Is 3D printing a good way to save money? If you already have a 3D printer, would you say that you have saved money on buying the printer, buying models and then printing the models, compared to buying something alike in retail?

Would you say that saving money is an argument to buy a 3D printer?

I would say that the general answer to your specific question is no. If you want to justify buying a printer because of all the things you could print instead of buying that is not going to be easy.

If however you are a DIYer and you have some CAD skills, or are willing to learn some, then consider the 3D printer as another tool you can use. There are plenty of stories about people who fixed some very expensive thing instead of having to buy a whole new one for hundreds of $/£; so if you have a specific use in mind then it may be justifiable to you.

I have made and fixed stuff around the house, but it's often things you simply couldn't buy, or could have fixed some other way.

There is an ever growing library of models available out there, and many are free. I recently fixed the leg on my keyboard with a printed one which I found on thingiverse, took minutes to print and the keyboard is part of a wireless set which would cost £30 to replace, so that was great but you won't normally find exactly what you want like that at this time.

And lastly it's not plug 'n Play yet, so you need to be a tinkerer at heart to use most printers out there right now.


Changing FAN0 to FAN1 in TriGorilla printer board I plugged a new fan into the (TriGorilla v1.4) printer board Fan0 which I found out to be broken.

I'm trying to upgrade the part cooling fan for a bigger one. Unfortunately after plugging in the old one, I realize that the fan is constantly "ON". On other forum someone told me that MOSFET might be shorted from plugging in the broken fan.

This triggered my question: "Is there any possible way to change the firmware FAN0 to use FAN1 socket?" and: "Would that work for part cooling model fan?"

Yes you can use another fan port, this requires some editing of the configuration files of the firmware and reflash the firmware.

If you look at the documentation of the board and an overview of the board layout, you will see that there are 3 PWM controlled FAN ports. The answer is therefore yes, you can use another port (e.g. FAN1 or FAN2) to be used for your broken FAN0 port. The most easy solution is to swap the port numbers in the pins configuration of your firmware, so swap pins 'D9' and 'D7'.

How you edit the configuration is depending on the version of the TriGorilla board you have, there is a version 1.3 and a version 1.4.

Basically you need to define the software FAN (0) to be reached at the hardware location Fan1 using pin 7:

#define FAN_PIN        7

Subsequently, FAN1 in software needs to points to Fan0 in hardware

#define FAN1_PIN        9

If you changed this, the software will think that the Fan1 port on the board is the software FAN.

If you are using the v1.4 TriGorilla printer board, the v1,4 specific pin definition is found in pins_TRIGORILLA_14.h. If you look into this file you will see that this is basically a RAMPS board:

#define IS_RAMPS_EFB
...
#include "pins_RAMPS.h"

So editing for you need to redirect the pins 7 and 9, but you only have a single active fan (as per #define IS_RAMPS_EFB)! Luckily we can forget about the second fan as you want to replace the first by the second.

In pins_RAMPS.h you will find:

#ifndef RAMPS_D9_PIN
  #define RAMPS_D9_PIN      9
#endif

Note that it is wise not to edit this latter file, instead edit your copy of pins_TRIGORILLA_14.h to include assigning of the pin 7 to the Fan1  header as FAN in the firmware.

If you look closely at the assigning of the RAMPS_D9_PIN pin, it says: #ifndef; so if it has been assigned previously, do not override the value.

Now edit the pins_TRIGORILLA_14.h file to include:

// Comment out this line:
//#define FAN_PIN 9
// And enter this beneath that line
#define RAMPS_D9_PIN 7

or

#define FAN_PIN 7
// this bypasses setting of the RAMPS_D9_PIN constant

From this point on, if the software addresses scheduling of the FAN port, the pin 7 schedules the MOSFET attached to the Fan1 header.

Basically, the above procedure describes how one directs hardware ports by changing the addressing in the firmware configuration.

If this does not work, there might be more things broken on your board.


Calculating gear ratio for leadscrew My calibration at my printer is okay. When I try to move 10 mm, it's exactly 10 mm.

But I want to know what is my precision for Z-axis.

(not posting the link of the product maybe it's not okay for the platform)

Spec for leadscrew:

Lead screw diameter: 8 mm
Screw pitch: 2 mm
Lead of thread: 8 mm

My question; is my gear ratio 4:1 or 1:4? It's giving different results.

Your lead screw nut advances 8 mm every complete rotation of 200 full steps, so a single full step would change the height by 8/200 = 0.04 mm. This implies you need to set the layer height a multiple of 0.04 mm.

The gear ratio of 4:1 (a reduction) is required to get to your desired 0.01 mm layer height, but that is a very uncommon and a too small layer height to use.


Why and how am I supposed to change the extrusion multiplier? The slicing software knows exactly (given accurate E-step, filament diameter, nozzle diameter values) how much cold plastic is pushed in the extruder and how much mass is extruded.

Why should the extrusion multiplier be changed from 100%? Shouldn't the slicer extrude already enough to fill the gaps left by the neighbouring perimeter (see rectangular vs recto-oval extrusion profile).

As result of the "why" question, implicitly comes up the question "how" should I (scientifically, not try and fail) define the extrusion multiplier? it would appear that said value should not be touched if the rest is done properly.

The only idea I can have is to print at 100% infill and then saw the part, to check how big are the voids between 4 neighbouring extrusions. Measuring the wall thickness seems very prone to errors (but again, is such calibration really needed?)

In an ideal world, you will not need to change this parameter once it is properly calibrated.

In a non-ideal world, some filament may be out-of-spec, and some filament may slip when it passes through the extruder. So for a flex (or more flexible) filament, you might increase the extrusion multiplier a little to compensate. If the compensation is material specific, it should be consistent (and might even be advised by the filament manufacturer).

You might want to increase/reduce the multiplier whilst printing the first layer (in lieu of fixing your bed leveling properly).

Maybe you want to fine-tune the top surface (which will be 100% fill) and you prefer to slightly under-fill this (because over-fill results in more noticeable surface defects).

It is for quick hacks or fine tuning, there is probably no scientific approach to setting any value other than 100%.

When it comes to material specific variations (due to melt viscosity, thermal expansion or drive efficiency), there are many factors which affect the tuning. Machine geometry, temperatures, colourants (and other additives in the filament), as well as the base material.


How to print spiral(spring) static? I have designed this model:

My goal is to make it static, no vulnarable to shakes.
The pitch is 40 mm with 4 revolutions. The dimensions of the 'wire' are 5x5 mm.
Which settings for printing should I use to archieve hardness? I plan to make the wire 5x10 mm height, 4 walls, 0.28 layer height, 0.5 nozzle size. PLA. I don't know if this is overkill or it will be useless.
I hope you can give me suggestions about printing settings and model dimensions.
I know that's spring design, which is made to be springy but I need it for other use.
Second design. Less springy, but not by much. My last hope is to print it horizontaly.

If you want an helicoidal object which acts relatively rigid, you should pick a plastic which is very rigid to begin with. In the case of 3D printing, probably PLA is the best choice. Make it as thick as you can in all the directions where you have no constraints.
Still, it's an object which will be hardly printable without dissolving support material. You need a two material 3D printer if you want to get good results.


I am looking for the aluminum profile parts specs for this prusa i3 printer? I have seen some photos of aluminum based Prusa i3 printers, and I like to know the numbers and the specs of the profiles? Also I want to know Is the first pic strong enough for reliable printer or I must use the second(respect to profiles I mean).

They are 2020 (20mm x 20mm) T-slot extrusions. They should not be confused with V-slot extrusions, which are similar to T-slot, but have a 45-degree slot profile to accommodate V-slot wheels.

If you are contemplating a new build, I would recommend using V-slot. Note that T-slot and V-slot come in a number of sizes (in multiples of 20mm). A 2040 profile is 20mm x 40mm, and will have two slots on the wider sides. Other sizes are available, such as 2060, 2080, 4040, and even C-shaped profiles.

You may want to use 2040 profiles for greater rigidity, especially if you are contemplating a large build volume.

Note that there are imperial as well as metric T-slot profiles. RepRap uses metric profiles.

ReRap Wiki: T-slot

OpenBuilds: V-slot


Possible causes of print defects? I'd like some advice regarding defects on my print :

Here some details :

Printer CR-10 S, nozzle 0.4
Material PLA
Bed 60, Hotend 215, 50 mm/s speed
SLiced with cura 4.1, 5 walls (i can provide more detail of the profile if needed)
Layer height 0.1
modeled on fusion 360
The surface where the defect sits is actually tilted 45 degres

Thanks !

There are many possible causes for printing defects, but the easiest one to eliminate is dirt. Always use a filament cleaner to prevent dirt from entering the extruder. There are plenty of designs available on Thingiverse. Always keep your nozzle clean. After pre-heating mine, I clean it (carefully) with a folded paper kitchen towel. It may also be worthwhile doing a "cold pull", if you suspect that you have dirt in your nozzle. Finally, you should check that filament is not leaking out between the nozzle and the heater block.


Wavy walls with Ultimaker Cura I've printed a 2x2x2 cm test cube with Slic3r (left) and Ultimaker Cura (right) and my Prusa i3 derivative machine with tight belts. The print settings should be quite equal (0.15 mm layer height, 40 mm/s outer wall speed, default accelerations/jerks). Though the top surface of the Ultimaker Cura-cube looks much better than the Slic3r-cube,

the latter has much flatter vertical walls than the first.

The front wall of the Ultimaker Cura-cube was printed from left to right which could explain the wavy result as some kind of vibration caused by the sharp y-stop at the left front corner.

But what setting could have influenced this? Should I try to manual setting of lower accelerations in Ultimaker Cura?

Those wavy lines could be artefacts caused by closely-spaced infill, but they could also be resonance patterns caused by noisy stepper motors and over-tight belts. Since you have said that you have your belts nice and tight, I would suggest reducing the tension on them and see what happens. I know that some pundits say that it is not possible to have timing belts too tight, but I disagree with that. Belts should obviously be tight enough to eliminate free play in the system, and you may have a lot of latitude in the tensions that you can use, but if you make them drum-tight, they will transmit motor vibrations very effectively to the build plate (and onto your models).

If your stepper motors are noisy, you may want to invest in some vibration dampers. They can reduce noise and vibration significantly. Another solution would be to use more sophisticated stepper motor drivers, such as the TMC2100.

RepRapWiki: TMC2100


Compressed corner in my prints I'm getting issues with any print in the specific corner throughout different and unrelated prints. The specific corner comes out compressed.
I have tried to take pictures to illustrate the issue:

Any ideas on what to look at?
Printer: Creality CR-10

This is a very well known issue that is caused by insufficient adhesion. The corners curl up during printing.
You should increase the adhesion by:

cleaning the bed (I use water and soap, others use isopropyl alcohol)
better leveling,
correct nozzle to build plate distance (dragging paper method),
using a brim or so-called mouse ears in your design,
increased the heated bed temperature, or
use of an adhesive like hair spray or glue stick (not any type will work) or specific sprays that are created for this purpose (e.g. 3DLAC, Dimafix, etc.)

Some people used tape on the build plate for adhesion, but I'm not a fan of tape. Not all tapes work. Tape needs to be applied correctly, prepared (sanded), etc. This is much more cumbersome than applying a little spray over the build plate. It can be successfully used on PEI, Buildtak (clones), glass and on the bare aluminium bed.


How is PLA different from ABS material? What are the main differences when using ABS over PLA and vice versa?

Paraphrasing this site. Feel free to add suggestions in the form of comments and I will try to incorporate them.

Summary

ABS: Stronger, machinable, more flexible, and more temperature
resistant than PLA. Typically printed on a heated bed. Warping is a common problem when printing ABS.
PLA: Wider range of filaments available, easier and in some cases faster to print. Not as strong as ABS and the fact that its biodegradable could be seen as both a benefit and a drawback.

Material Properties:

ABS: Strong plastic with mild flexibility. Naturally beige in color. Can be filled and sanded. Higher temperature. Easy to recycle.
PLA: Not as strong as ABS but more rigid. Naturally transparent. More difficult to fill and sand. Can sag in hot temperatures. Sourced from organic matter so it can be broken down in commercial compost facilities.

Part Accuracy:

ABS: Part warping is a significant issue. Sharp corners will often be rounded.
PLA: Less heat required contributes to less warping. Becomes more liquid at common extruder temperatures so finer details can be printed.

Safety and Handling:

ABS: Strong burning/melting plastic smell is present when printing ABS. Health concerns have been raised regarding airborne ultrafine particles generated while printing with ABS (ref). ABS will absorb moisture causing popping when the moisture enters the hot end. This leads to discontinuities in the print job.
PLA: Doesn't smell as strongly when printing due to its organic nature. Moisture can also be absorbed into PLA and can irreversibly damage it.


How important is the dimensional accuracy of filament relative to the detail of a print? In this answer user Barafu says,

  Yet I manage to keep my tolerances +- 0.05 mm which is enough for everything but miniature printing.

I have asked for clarification on that answer regarding what is meant by "miniature printing" but in the meantime, I want to ask the general question.

What impact does dimensional accuracy of filament have on final print quality, and why?  Does it vary between different filament types?

Dimensional accuracy is not as important as dimensional uniformity. I can print with undersized (or oversized) filament, adjusting the flow appropriately, provided the filament has a consistent diameter. When creating filament in-house, without expensive equipment, it is difficult to maintain the same diameter throughout the entire extrusion. It is likely this extrusion diameter (when creating filament, rather than the output of the actual print head) to which Barafu is referring when he mentions his tolerances: +/- 0.05 mm in diameter. Which is reasonable.

The "miniature printing" comment likely refers to printing miniature models for tabletop gaming.

If the source filament becomes wider than expected, the output will have overflow, or more material than desired will be deposited, and this will certainly affect the quality of the piece.


Infill failure when printing larger prints I'm new to 3D printing an I just got a Creality Ender 3 and I think I'm getting some good results with small prints. However, now that I'm trying some bigger prints and I'm running into infill material excess. In the picture below I just printed a solid cube with 20 % infill and that's the result.

I have been playing with settings a lot but I'm really running out of ideas.
These are the settings I have:

my bed, fortunately, came in pretty flat. My first layer is always very good indeed
bed level method: paper method
Slicer: Ultimaker Cura
material: PETG (Amazon basics)
layer height: 0.2 mm
nozzle temperature: 230 °C, but also tried 220 °C and 210 °C
bed temperature: 90 °C
flow: 98 %, but also tried all the way to 90 %
cooling: 0 %; the issue got a lot better with some additional cooling but I see a lot of people printing with no cooling
infill density: 20 %
retraction: on, 5 mm
retraction speed: 40 mm/s
first layer print speed: 30 mm
print speed: 50 mm/s
wall speed: 50 mm/s
infill speed: 50 mm/s

Let me know if you want to know more settings, but I think these capture most of it.

If you guys have any suggestion on things I can try that would be of great help.

UPDATE

After playing with some settings these are the changes I think I'm settling on:

Flow: 105 %
Coasting: On, 75 %
Cooling: 60 %
Retraction speed: 50 mm/s

Here is a picture of when the infill issue starts:

NEW ISSUE

Now I'm getting a lot of stringing. Actually, I don't even know if it's stringing since I ran a test and came out basically perfect. Not a single stringing.
I'm getting a lot of material that get dragged when the nozzle moves to one place to another and a lot of material accumulates on the nozzle and slowly drips everywhere during the print.

Here is a video I made (not sure if it helps at all)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlIB1WW8z84&feature=youtu.be

I think I'm getting close to have good prints but I really can't figure this out.

I have seen this a lot with people I have helped out in the past. sally infill  or the lack of and weakness in the print is due to an extrusion issue. it looks like you are under extruding. this is why you do not see this in smaller prints. In the larger print you are giving the print head enough time to screw up. You need to look at the tension of the filament on the extruder to make sure it isn't skipping. You also need to do a estep calibration on the extruder. I usually extrude 100mm of filament and measure it to see if it is short. if it is short then it is under extruding and doing a larger print and printing a larger area will reveal short comings in extruder infill.


Changing the home position on a Prusa i3 MK2 As part of a project with my university, I have developed a new extruder to attach to a Prusa i3 MK2. My problem is that both the nozzle and PINDA probe have moved 17mm forward and 0.5mm to the right. As a result when I try and calibrate the printer it moves to the home position and the PINDA probe is too far out over the heatbed so it doesn't detect the printing surface. What is the simplest method of moving the home position so that the printer can be properly calibrated?

UPDATE:
I am planning on removing the heatbed and placing spacers that will move the printing surface 17mm forward. This should then prevent the printer losing any printing area and hopefully prevents me having to edit any code. Can anyone see any problems with this I'm overlooking?

The simplest thing to do would be to move extruder 17mm closer to be the same as the original printer but my deadline is fast approaching and I haven't time for a redesign that large.

Consider the original installation with the orientation of the Pinda probe to the nozzle. Let's say for argument's sake that the Pinda probe is 3 mm to the right and directly in line with the nozzle on the y axis.
If you examine your new nozzle, I would expect that the relationship of the nozzle to the Pinda probe no longer matches the original spacing.
If possible, re-design the mount to place the Pinda probe in such a way as to match the original design.
Thanks for pointing out my oversight, Mac. If the relative position of the nozzle and pinda probe are as the original, the solution is then in changing the appropriate parameters in the firmware.
I found a reference for someone who had a bit smaller error in home position, but the concept is the same.
The link above points to information reading thus:

In Configuration_Prusa.h:
Code: Select all // Home position
define MANUAL_X_HOME_POS 0
define MANUAL_Y_HOME_POS -2.2
define MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS 0.15
// Travel limits after homing
define X_MAX_POS 250
define X_MIN_POS 0
define Y_MAX_POS 210
define Y_MIN_POS -2.2
define Z_MAX_POS 210
define Z_MIN_POS 0.15

it will be necessary to connect the printer via USB to a computer running an Arduino IDE and to load the Prusa specific files for that printer. Edit the noted location, save/write the configuration and test.
I would suggest small adjustments in only one or two parameters at a time, to avoid ambiguity in the cause/result sequence.


Which choices do we have on Daylight Resins? I'm planning to make an LCD Resin printer. I'm still learning and I found out that I need daylight resin (which hardens when white light comes from the LCD).

If I search for "Daylight resin" on Google, the only "useful" result I find is for Photocentric.

Photocentric sells Daylight resins and the prices seem to be good too; however, I'm trying to search for alternatives. I'm not interested in something cheaper, I'd like to choose a resin which has more colors. Photocentric's hard resin only comes in cream/green/gray colors. I would need at least white/black/transparent resin.

Is it the only option we have?  Are there any other manufacturer out there which produces Daylight resin/LCD-hardening resin with a variety of colors?

It looks like Ono may fit what you are looking for.
They have several colors listed on their site.

Red     Blue

Yellow   Black

Clear  Creamy White

They also have a flexible resin and a low temperature "casting" resin.

It is unclear if the resin is available now or if it is preorder.


Extending TronXY print bed I have a TronXY printer (i3 Clone).  It has a 220x220 mm heated aluminum bed and I print with a Borosilicate glass plate.

I have a slightly longer print (245 mm) I would like to do and I think I could adjust to settings and end stop to stretch the y-dimension travel and I have found a 229x257 mm plate.  This would extend over the edge of the aluminum bed.

Will the thermal conduction and mass of the glass plate be sufficient to still keep the bed warm enough?

The aluminum plate is being heated by the heater element although I suspect the element does not encompass the entire area of the aluminum portion. There are going to be cooler spots on the aluminum but not enough to significantly affect the transfer to the glass.

Once you extend the glass, without a corresponding extension to the aluminum and/or heater element, you are ensuring cooler spots. The glass will be surrounded by air, and begin to conduct some of the heat, certainly, but will also radiate a substantial amount.

If you are printing with PLA, you may get away with doing this modification. Very little of the heat from the aluminum will reach the glass.

A quick check shows the thermal conductivity of aluminum to be 205 W/m K compared to borosilicate glass at 1.2 W/m K in the range of temperature used for 3D printing. I did not research the rate of energy dissipation for the same range of temperatures, but if it's not too high (unlikely), it would still take forever for the unheated areas of glass to reach temperature.

Consider your extension to be an unheated bed and print accordingly.


What could be causing my y axis to slip? Occasionally, while printing, my y axis will slip and the layer will, from that point forward, be shifted, ruining the print.

What might be the causes of an axis slipping? I have tried cooling the motor which seemed to have been getting warm, and the belts are not too tight.

This does not happen with every print, and seems to be an intermittent problem.

My printer is a MendelMax RepRap, and the y axis is my moving bed.

(source: all3dp.com)
Your printer is skipping steps in the y-direction. This can have several causes. Take a look into Shifted layer guide on RapRap.org which lists 29 possible problems that can cause this issue and how to fix them.
First items of the list:

Driver current is too low
Driver current is too high
Belt too Loose
Belt too Tight
Loose Set Screw/Grub Screw
Belt or Bearing is binding
Speeds are too high
Acceleration is too high
...

When I was dealing with this issue on my RepRap I had to increase current to the particular driver.