Printing temperatures for ABS on a Flashforge Adventurer 3 I've recently acquired a Flashforge Adventurer 3 and am having difficulty printing with ABS. The initial layers seem to lay and stay pretty well, though after a few more moments, one side will peel up from the heated platform. I'd like to know if anyone has optimal and tested temperatures for the use of ABS on my printer for the nozzle and platform?

I've used FlashPrint for slicing my objects using the following options:

Supports: Disable,
Raft: enable,
Resolution: Standard,
Layer Heights: 0.18 mm,
First Layer Height: 0.27 mm,
Perimeter Shells: 2,
Top Solid Layers: 4,
Bottom Solid Layers: 3,
Fill Density: 15 %, Hexagon, Every 2 Layers,
Print Speed: 60 mm/s,
Travel Speed: 80 mm/s,
Extruder: 225 °C,
Platform: 70 °C,
Cooling Fan Controls: Automatic,
Nozzle Dia.: 0.4 mm

The most commonly used print temperature range for ABS is 220 to 240 °C with the major bulk around 230 °C. Some filaments are blended with inhibitors or PC, increasing their print temperature to up to 260 °C. Note that the color of the filament just as the brand can have an impact on the print temperature!

The most commonly used bed temperature for ABS start at least at 80 °C. MatterHackers suggest 85-90 °C.

If your bed is particularly bad at getting adhesion, you might want to clean the bed of residues and fingerprints and relevel the bed. If that is not enough and you use a glass bed, a slurry of ABS in Acetone could come in handy. If you have a glass bed, the slurry is pretty much the best option.

Print cooling is a bane on ABS - the stuff shrinks too fast if cooled, resulting in the parts breaking loose!


Is PLA safe for masks? So in light of the in going pandemic, I have begun printing masks for my family and a few friends. As I was printing them the thought occurred to me, "Is PLA safe to be breathing off of?" So that is my question. Is PLA safe to breathe off of or does it need to be coated with, for example, a food grade epoxy?

I am using Matterhackers standard black PLA and a stock ender-3 printer.

Thank you for your time and stay safe!

PLA itself should be safe, at least chemically, but there's no guarantee that additives in a particular filament manufacturer's material are safe. From this standpoint it would be best to use an uncolored "natural" (comes out translucent but cloudy when printed) PLA from a manufacturer who documents that it has no added ingredients. It's also plausible (not saying this is necessarily the case) that there's fine particulate matter produced by heating or in the extruder gear that ends up on the surfaces.

However, in the bigger picture/XY-question, it's unlikely that printed masks provide safety against viral transmission. Especially with a rigid material like PLA, they're not going to make an air-tight fit with your face, and they're likely not air-tight themselves even if they do (due to imperfect extrusion, slight gaps between layers at least intermittently). This could perhaps be mitigated by using a separate edge material to make a tight fit with face, and sealing the print like you suggested. However, once you make it air-tight, it's unsafe for another reason: it's a suffocation hazard! Just because you insert a filter to breathe through doesn't mean that you're actually going to be able to breathe through it properly.

Naomi Wu a.k.a. Sexy Cyborg (well known for working with Creality, open source/OSHW compliance in China, and popularizing the Ender 3) has done a number of twitter threads on what the dangers are and why it's unsafe and irresponsible to be creating air-tight 3D-printed masks if you're not qualified for designing this type of device. Here is one. A highlight:

  This results in CO2 buildup. After about 30 minutes your plastic mask, if actually airtight and strapped securely to your face will, before you can take it off, kill you- very peacefully. You'll just slump over and go to sleep, but you'll still be dead.


Print ASA without enclosure Is it possible or recommended to print with ASA filament with printer that has no enclosure? I Know that ASA is better than ABS, but is it that better that enclosure is not needed?

According to MatterHackers, Simplify3D, and 3D Insider an enclosure is not necessary but highly recommended as ASA, like ABS, is susceptible to drafts and can warp. A heated bed is necessary (somewhere between 90-110 °C), and little-to-no cooling fan used. The enclosure helps ensure adhesion and a consistent temperature. ASA also has fumes and an enclosure can help contain unwanted smells.

MattHackers has a video (Step 4 in the link) on making an enclosure with some kind of plastic sheeting or trash bag (I didn't watch it). There are videos on YouTube on using cheap Ikea side tables and acrylic sheets to make an enclosure if you want a more permanent solution.


What kind of silicone glue should I use to attach my thermsistors? I was watching a couple of videos about installing a Thermistor on the heat-bed and extruder of my Prusa i3; both videos mentioned that if I use either Sodium Silicate (Muffler & Tail Pipe Sealer) or Heat Resistant Silicone Glue to attach my Thermistors, I would be able to get a more accurate temperature reading.

Is there a particular kind or specification that is best for use in their the Heatbed or the Extruder?

The main requirement here is temperature resistance. A 3D printer extruder is very, very hot, and will easily exceed the ratings of many typical silicone glues in normal service or during a runaway event. (You should always plan for an eventual thermal runaway. They're alarmingly common with cheap kit printers.) Even high-temp glues will not survive the temperatures an extruder can reach at full power if the firmware locks up.

Muffler putty is popular for fixing thermistors because it's one of the few widely-available ways of attaching a thermistor that will easily withstand the heat. In fact, it will survive after the aluminum hot block melts. (Yes, that can happen.) But muffler putty is fairly brittle, and has a different coefficient of thermal expansion from aluminum, so there is some risk of the thermistor detaching over time. I really don't recommend puttying thermistors used in extruders -- many people do, but it's less robust and less secure for long-term use than the proper hardware fixing methods found in modern hot block designs like the E3Dv6. The temperature sensing is sufficiently fast and accurate simply by putting the thermistor into a pocket in the hot block, without any kind of potting around the glass bead.

High-temp RTV glues are very suitable for heated build plates. Pretty much any RTV (such as from your local automotive repair store) is fine if you just want to attach a thermistor to a plate. However, silicone heaters will require silicone adhesives. I've had good success with Dow Corning 736.


Auto bed levelling with Rumba board - Servo not deploying Has anyone succeeded in installing the auto bed levelling on a Rumba board with Marlin firmware?

I have the last stable version 1.1.0 RC6.

I would appreciate some direction especially about:

How and which pin to activate for the servo?
How to test it with G-code before I move to settings of the probe sequence?

I have only installed the hardware for now (5 V servo) connected to Ext. 3 (EXP3):

Pin 2 (+5V);
Pin 4 (GND), and;
Pin 6 (PWM),

but I cannot move it with the G-code command M280 P0 S180. I have no idea where to put my hands on firmware to get this going. However my ultimate goal is to set the ABL.

For future reference.

My issue about the servo not moving was caused by a wiring mistake.
The Exp. 3 has 14 pins has per this diagram.

However when phisically looking at the board, what you see is this:

I took the first 2 pins on the right of such connector and the 3rd one of the first row thinking that I was connecting pins 2-4-5 of Exp. 3.
I was wrong, because the first 2 (1-2) pins are not part of Exp. 3.

The right way to connect the servo is as following:

Then use PWM1 (pin 5 Ext.3)
I decided to leave trace of this issue and the relevant solution for someone that may experience the same issue.


Leapfrog Creatr HS stops mid print (extruders not clogged) I have tried to print a 3D model with Creatr HS from Leapfrog. This print failed twice. The 3D model is the same, .gcode the same. Surprisingly it failed at different stage. Please look at the pictures. You can see the place where extruder was when print stopped.

I checked the filament and extruders, it is NOT a problem here. Extruders are not clogged, filament is not tangled nor blocked. Stepper motors stopped working, anyway the display shows that print progresses.

I have created a ticket for this issue on Leapfrog support page, but had an answer that this printer is no longer supported.
 Does anyone has an idea what could be the core of the problem?
EDIT
Today I have tried print again to observe and answer questions from the comments. Observations are:
- The process suddenly stops
- Hotend cools down (you can observe it on the picture below - I am using left extruder - as you can see it shows 24/0; 24 is actual hotend temp, 0 - wanted temperature )
- Display shows that print is progressing even faster than it would happen when everything is fine (maybe this is not important)

EDIT2

I have opened the printer to see what is happening inside. The electronics is divided into 2 PCBs. One is an 'heavy job workhorse' (drivers and some logics), the other is a Olimex A20-Olinuxino-Micro. The pendrive with .gcode is connected to this board as well as the display and control joystick (actually encoder).

One of the USB ports from Olinuxino is connected to 'workhorse' board. Next to the USB port here you can see Rx/Tx diodes.
Observations:
When the print is in active state, two Rx/Tx diodes located on workhorse PCB blinking occasionally (mainly when there is a print head direction change), what brings the suggestion, that the data comes from Olinuxino PCB. When the print stops, these two diodes are blinking rapidly. I am thinking that there is some problem with Olimex board (it is sending uncontrolled data or data is being send too quick).
Below you can see image of drivers board with Rx/Tx diodes continuously on. There is also another Rx/Tx pair and these are also both on.

I'm going to do some search on Olinuxino board/system.

EDIT 3
Finding: During board and temperature check I have found that the fan cooling bottom Olimex pcb is dead. I have took it out, connect to +24V and... no spinning.

I have replaced the fan to a new one. Also, I have created a 20mm box model for printing, sliced it and tried to print it. No success here. After 2 lines of print sudden stop and Rx/Tx blink. I have downloaded model of Marvin, sliced it and tried to print: all ok!
Also I want to know if the data is continuously fetched from USB or loaded to Olinuxino and then used to print. So, started the Marvin print, removed USB from Creatr HS and yes, the print continues until the end. I am thinking that the data must be stored in Olimex memory and then fetched and fed to drivers PCB. Question is: where in Olimex the data is stored? Is lack of fan (and possibly overheat) damaged it slightly? If this is stored in onboard NAND memory it could cause a problem after a long time - it has 100 000 write/erase cycles.

New board would be a solution, unfortunately Leapfrog ran out of them. Olimex is selling boards, will try to buy one. I hope that different revision will work.

I have solved the problem. After some investigation I have decided to connect directly to the drivers board. It needs to be disconnected from Olimex board and instead connected to the PC, then select 250kbps speed, COM port can be found through Device manager. I have used Repetier-Host in not Easy Mode and all possible messages turned on to see all possible messages. Then I prepared 20mm box to print and tried to print. After two lines voila! Error message:

12:35:32.401 : N187 M105*41
12:35:32.841 : Error:0
12:35:32.841 : : Extruder switched off. MINTEMP triggered !
12:35:32.924 : Error:Printer stopped due to errors.
Fix the error and use M999 to restart!. (Temperature is reset. Set it before restarting)

Now I went for quick search and learned that this can be caused by intermittent fault of thermistor or its wiring.

 So, I disconnected thermistor from the PCB and checked its resistance: 170kohm. Now, when I moved the extruders on X axis there was a particular position when thermistor resistance went to infinity. There is a connector in head which went loose. After refitting the printer is behaving correctly.
Summary:
It is a shame, that the display on this machine does not present any feedback from the drivers board. Also, the PC connectivity on the rear of this printer does not bring any clear information (rear USB is first connected to the Olimex PCB and then to the drivers PCB, some information from drivers PCB are lost). BTW: Leapfrog drivers board is an Arduino based Marlin firmware. Info sent to serial connection after connectivity established is:

Leapfrog Firmware: 2.5
Model: CreatrHS
PROTOCOL_VERSION: 1.0
FIRMWARE_NAME:Marlin V1;
Extruder offset X: 15.23 Y: 0.02


Cura slicer, enforce Z move before layer change I am slicing with Cura and Slic3r and one important thing that I recently took my attention is that cura positions head in start point of the new layer and then lifts the nozzle. That caused my few printouts to fall as they collided with the nozzle.

Slic3r behavior is different: it raises the nozzle in last printed point and then moves to a new layer starting point (which for me is more obvious)

Is there a way to instruct Cura to lift nozzle before it goes to the starting point of a new layer? excluding Z-hops.

To lift the head to prevent the nozzle to tip over your print you could use an option called Z hop in Cura. Just enter `hop' in the search box on the right side to make those options magically appear (in a recent version of Cura, e.g. version 3.x.x).

Other than Z hop there is no default action, or series of commands, per layer to be specified before the start of the layer. There are 2 other ways to circumvent this:

The first is saving you G-code to file and open the file in an advanced text editor (e.g. Notepad++). With a (recorded) macro you can find the words ;LAYER:, which are inserted by Cura before each layer starts, and insert a pre-copied list of commands that set the movement in relative mode, move Z up 2 mm, set into absolute mode again. When the next layer starts the extruder goes to the layer start from a 2 mm rise.
Write a plugin for Cura to post-process (C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura x.x\plugins\PostProcessingPlugin\scripts) the G-code file to inject the code to Z hop before the start of every layer, or a plugin that adds a new option and/or category to the slicer settings sidebar of the GUI.


Gizmo3D SLA + Monocure resins not curing I am working with a "Gizmo3D" type DLP resin printer, and using Monocure "General Grey" resin.  I'm having some issues with getting this resin to cure to the build plate well enough to prevent it from "wandering" across during the print, without "cooking" the resin and distorting it.

Does anyone have experience using this family of resin that could suggest some of their process details?  I am getting acceptable quality incremental print with 100 micron (0.1 mm) layer thickness and a resin temp of 25 °C but I am having issues with the layers of the model "peeling away" from the base layers that get put down on the build plate first.

I get best results from sun curing by putting it in water in the sun for 20-30 min.

I personally do not like Monocure Red one. I find the Nova3D prints better, has a lower oder, and cheaper.


Baking old PLA spool Context

A while ago I bought a kit for a 3D printer, along with filament etc. however, after some weeks I ran into some mechanical problems and because I had a lot of other things to do at the time I put the project on hold.

Now, almost a year later, I thought I would continue the project. I've got all the mechanical pieces back to work right now, but I have some questions concerning the filament.

Main question

Firstly, I have a nearly full roll of PLA still, but it has been left in a dusty attic for almost a year. I read here that it could still be used if baked for a couple of hours at 50 degrees Celsius. Does anyone have experience with this? Can this be done in my regular oven that I also use for food without risk?

Secondly, there is still some PLA stuck in the printhead. As this may have taken up moisture I fear it might expand and damage the printhead. Is this possible? How could I remove it?

Oven drying PLA

Heating filament below the transition temperature of the filament should not be unsafe when using that oven later for cooking food. You need the temperature to stay under the glass transition temperature of PLA so that the filament doesn't deform. Depending on the PLA filament, you should use the very lowest temperature your oven will be able to handle. Temperatures around 40 ℃ to 50 ℃ would be fine to leave the filament in for periods of 3 to 6 hours. Even at this temp your PLA will soften anyways at elevated temperatures, oven drying PLA not necessarily will give you good results. It is therefore of prime importance to store at least PLA (and nylon) in airtight containers with bags of desiccants.

Stuck PLA

Moisture will not travel that far into the hotend, so changes are minimal that expanding filament has already damaged your hotend. Just heat up the nozzle and push the filament in by hand, put off the heat and pull the filament out fast. Heat up again and insert some fresh filament. Note that moisture in filament breaks the large polymer molecules, so even after drying you are left with brittle filament. Personally this has caused few of my prints to fail as the filament string broke a couple of times during prints (just snapped before the Ultimaker 3 extruder feeder); this was experienced with 2.85 mm filament on small diameter spools (about 20 cm in diameter).


How to improve face that are printed on support? Is there anything I can do to improve the bottom side of surfaces that are printed on support?

I always try to rotate the model so that surfaces that need to look nice are on the sides or top, and, if possible I divide the model into smaller parts to minimize the amount of support.

But sometimes there is an object that has an irregular shape that need support no matter how I rotate it and can't be broken down into smaller objects with no support.

And then, after removing the support I get a very ugly ridged face that takes forever to sand.

To clarify, I'm not asking about making supports easier to remove, I don't have a problem with this, I'm talking about making the surface that touched the support better looking after removing the support.

Is there anything I can do to improve the look of the face that is printed on supports?

I'm using Cura to do the slicing and printing, I'm using the "lines" support type, my printer is the Robo3D R1+

The basic answer to your question is to create better bridging or overhangs on your machine. Bridging is when you are printing between two solid pieces (like a bridge). Overhangs occur when printing off of a single solid piece and coming back. Most slicing engines allow extra settings for speed, fan power, etc for these parameters, just refer to this terminology.

A very common and simple solution in getting features to 3D print properly is to just slow down! If you're not a in a rush to get the part done, you bring down all of the feedrates in your slicing engine. MakerWare has mine at 90/150 mm/s for print and rapid. Typically I'll bring that down to about 50/90. My reasoning is the more time you give the plastic to cool, both while and after printing the layer, the more rigid that layer will be for the next one. When briding or overhanging, there will typically be a sagged area in the print. You can minimize this by providing the plastic more time to cool. Also keep in mind that printing on supports is still technically bridging (printing between two solid pieces).

Another thing to keep in mind is adhesion from one layer to the next matter just as much between the current layer and the previous as the current strand to the one next to it. So, in some cases, increasing your shell could possibly make it easier for the infill/roof/floor strands.


FlashForge Finder turns off mid print and is unable to reset or update firmware I am new to 3D printing and am trying to get started with a FlashForge Finder. Unfortunately, the printer keeps shutting off mid print, and I am unable to find a cause. Here's what I have tried thus far:

System Settings

Factory Reset - When I attempt a factory reset, nothing happens (the menu closes, but usage stats & wifi do not get reset)
Firmware Update - Updating the firmware from the touchscreen immediately fails every time

Printing

I can start a new print, but the machine turns off after about ~10-15 minutes at temperature
The transformer on the power cable remains lit green even after the machine fails and turns off
I have tried printing multiple files from Thingiverse with no edits (an elephant and an owl)
Temperature is set to 220 °C

Observations

One of the times that the print failed, I noticed that the temperature had dropped to ~204 °C prior to failing. I don't know if that's normal behavior or not

Same problem occurred to me, now twice.
How much is the Finder's memory able/allowed to register?
After erasing all but the print job, things go smooth.


Will I still be able to export my Fusion 360 models to other CAD packages after Autodesk's recent license changes come into effect? On 16 September 2020, Autodesk announced changes in the way that Fusion 360 can be used for non-commercial use with their Personal license. As a hobbyist, most of these changes will not affect me very much, since I do not use Fusion 360's advanced features. The most irksome will be only being allowed to have up to ten "documents" active at any one time, the rest having to be archived.
However, Autodesk are also restricting the number of file formats that you can export to. For example, the STEP file format will no longer be available with the Personal license. Will this mean that I will not be able to move my models to another CAD package, such as FreeCAD, once the changes come into effect (without first buying a commercial license)?
Autodesk: Changes to Fusion 360 for personal use
Edit: Good news. Autodesk have announced, on 25 September 2020,  that the facility to export models to STEP files will be retained for the free-to-use, personal license.

Most of my answer is based off of what Autodesk has said and this video from Maker's Muse, which explains this topic in much more detail.
In summary, Autodesk is planning on restricting your ability to export any parametric file formats like .STEP or .IGES, leaving no useful CAD-specific files available for users with personal licenses.
I would recommend exporting everything you want to keep as .STEP right now just in case you do decide to switch programs later on, because you won't be able to switch after the changes go into effect.
I hope that helps.
EDIT: As Oscar has pointed out, .STEP exporting is now also part of the general consumer's license, and you can export to other CAD packages at any time. As far as I can tell, other parametric formats, notably .IGES, is still not available for consumers. This shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
I'm going to leave my original post intact for now.


STL to STP CAD Conversion Does anyone know of a good way to convert a 3D print file, like STL, to STEP - a useable file format for plastic injection molding companies?

I have tried to convert the files through a couple of programs without success. The most requested file is a STP or STEP file.  If there’s no easy way to convert it, which I don’t think there is, does anyone know someone good at re-creating CAD files?

a good way to convert a 3D print file like STL to STEP a useable file format for plastic injection molding companies

I don't know much about plastic injection molding companies, but I do manipulate a lot STEP, STL files and I do know that it is possible to achieve "a good way to convert […] STL to STEP file format […]". For the record, the manufacturing process isn't recorded within these files format (at least not yet) so you don't have to specify the final use.

However, this is a delicate process which isn't easy for beginners in CAD engineering.

As said before, the STL files is a tessellation of a surface with triangles, while STEP defines precisely the surface with curves. It's basically the difference between raster graphics and vector graphics: most fully automatic reconversions programs (such as Inkscape in case of images), would create something quite approximate to the real shape. Manual programs would require time and knowledge of the needed tools (Inkscape can do it too, in case of images).

For the record, asking for a STEP file to be a STL file is as easy as transforming a vector graphic to a raster graphic, it's a one-click transformation. What you are asking, the reversed, is complicated.

What will be done if you import a STL file to a standard CAD program, it will consider each triangle as a defined unique surface, and in most cases, the standard CAD program will have a lot of difficulties to handle the STL. It could then export it to a STEP file, but this will make a huge, incredibly heavy file difficult to handle (I've seen STEP files over 300 MB while the STL was less than 10 MB).

The good way to do so, is to go through a reverse engineering program that handles better these troubles. I don't know any being free, and they all require extensive experience, expansive licenses and a bunch of time generally. For instance, I know that Catia, SpaceClaim or 3-Matic are programs that work very well for your issue, but they are both very far from affordable or easy to handle if you aren't a CAD designer.

Another bad way would be to pass through a 100% automatic reconstruction/conversion to STEP, but it would make something not exactly accurate to the original part, and may not be of any use depending of your application.

My best advice for this would be to find someone or some enterprise that can practice the good way from your STL to have the STEP file you want. You should also very much specify for what use your file is, because as a design engineer I wouldn't generate the same STEP file depending of the use of each surface.

I hope this answer isn't too much a disappointment for you, I know it won't solve your problem but it can help you understand why it is such a hard problem.


Finding the right material to print RC CAR cover My problem is that I have used a 3D printing machine from the University and found out that the cover for the car was not smooth even after using sanding paper and painting it.

What material would work best to print  the cover of the Cyber truck. I want it to be light and smooth.

I have to print it from any online companies that have this service here in Germany.

I have 3D printed models which were then sanded using progressively finer grades of sandpaper, terminating with wet sanding using micromesh to 12000 grit. The result was smooth and shining without any coating applied.

If your original results were not acceptable, the process may have been flawed and should be re-considered for technique.

For your purposes, as a body for a radio controlled vehicle, you'll want to consider something that can manage an impact reasonably well. ABS is going to be less expensive and provide some energy absorption but will have layer lines that require sanding and finishing. Layer thickness plays a substantial part in providing for good results and a smooth finish. I used 0.100 mm layers to get optimum smoothness.

You could request your model to be created in nylon using the SLS method, but the surface will be granular and would also require sanding to accomplish a smooth finish.

SLA or MSLA resin printed models will provide a very smooth surface, but the material is brittle and may crack during "on-road" use. You may find a printing service which offers to create using a more flexible resin, but you'd have to request that or confirm the selection when placing the order.


Problem with print bed height on Creality Ender 4 I am a novice to 3D printing and have encountered an issue that I cannot seem to solve. Hopefully someone here can point me in the right direction.

I have a Creality Ender 4 that I purchased a few months ago and up until about 4 weeks ago, it worked great. I had moved it from its original place and in doing so, something became amiss in the firmware as it would no longer heat up the print bed either manually or by sending print commands via USB. The SD card slots would also give errors when trying to print from an SD card. So, after doing some research, I ended up flashing the firmware in hopes that it would reset any of the hiccups I was having.

This both did, and did not, work. I tried MK4Duo, but apparently there was no support for my auto bed leveler and the bed was coming up and hitting the nozzle tip when I tried to print. I switched and uploaded Marlin 1.1.8 which seems to have solved the non-functionality of the auto leveler, but it has caused a new problem that I just can't solve.

Now, when I try to initiate a print, the bed will not raise high enough. It stops, either when I set Z to home, or try to print, at about one quarter of one inch from the tip of the nozzle. Of course, at this point when the print starts, the extruded filament just comes out in mid-air like toothpaste and curls up all over the bed. I can manually push the bed higher to the point it needs to start at, but it still drops too low when I try to print.

I am comfortable enough in using Arduino to try to correct the problem in the firmware (if it is a firmware problem), but I'm just not sure where I need to look or what I need to adjust. If someone would be kind enough to assist me in tracking down some possible places to look, or what might be causing this, I would be extremely grateful! I want to be able to print again!

Moving a printer would most likely affect the hardware rather that the software. Unless you have tinkered with the software over USB or loaded an unknown G-code file over SD card that has embedded G-code commands that change your settings.

The most likely solution is that the printer or parts of the printer shifted as such that the printer is not aligned anymore as it used to be. Re-calibrating the machine should fix that for you.


Zortrax M200 skipping extruder My Zortrax M200 has a skipping extruder motor, I’ve checked the seating of all connections and 3 different (electronic ribbon) cables and still can’t fix the issue. The gear is clean and have tried fresh filament.

Does anyone have any possible thoughts on why this happens?

The extruded motor will move in the desired direction and then skip back.

Loading the filament is fine. Tried new nozzles, blockages checked, etc.

Every time I've had an extruder "skip", it was actually because some condition was causing excessive back-pressure.  Either the hot end isn't hot enough, the nozzle is too close to the bed, or something has clogged the nozzle.

If there is a "skipping" noise, then this is almost certainly the problem.  When a stepper can not advance, the magnetic field will continue to "step".  After the rotor is behind the steps by 180 degrees of field phase (which might be only a fraction of a degree os stepper motor shaft rotation), the rotor will snap back to re-align with the magnetic field.  The sudden movement of the rotor and the release of compression on the filament often makes a loud clicking or thumping noise.  If you can see the gear, it will jump backward and then rotate slowly forward before jumping backward again.

To see if it is the drivers, try extruding with no filament, or if you can, try moving filament through the extruder.  If it doesn't move at all, or doesn't move under light drag, it may be the driver, the wiring, or perhaps the motor.


Are parentheses allowed within a G-code comment? I am wondering if this piece of G-code is valid:

G0 (Some comment (Its G0 command)) Y10 Z-5

I have tested this on my Chinese CNC machine and it strips out the comment and works flawlessly.

The machine processes this as G0Y10Z-5 which seems like the correct approach to me.

I have however never seen such comment in real CNC practise.
It would be nice if anyone is able to test it out on their CNC/3D Printer.

Many G-code simulators on the internet fail to process such a line in their parser so it makes me confused. I haven't found anything about it on RepRap Wiki or even Google.

This is not universally valid G-code, and how it is handled depends on the implementation. You can use this style of comment on some machines, but not all.

The way parsing used to be implemented in Marlin (a very common 3D printer firmware), it would work fine unless the comment string included a X, Y, Z, E or F character. The parser simply looks for the first occurrence of X/Y/Z/E/F and then tries to parse the bit of text appearing after that character into a number. If the string cannot be parsed as a number, it defaults to 0 instead. For example,

 G0 (Some comment containing the character Y) Y10 Z-5

would be interpreted as G0 Y0 Z-5 and not as G0 Y10 Z-5, because ") " (the string appearing after the first occurrence of "Y") does not parse to any valid number. Your example happens to work fine because the comment string doesn't contain any special characters.

Marlin does support end-of-line comments, which should start with a semicolon and continue until the end of the line.

This is how it used to work in older Marlin versions. Newer Marlin versions have a more advanced parser, but it still would not play well with these parentheses-style comments. It is best to avoid them, as compatibility is not guaranteed.


How to open .max files I'm new to this forum. I need help opening a .max file a friend sent me. The thing is, I dont have Alias Maya. Well, Alias Maya that works anyway.

Is there any other file openers that I can use? Or do I have to get Maya to open the file? I dont want to get download 1.3 Gb and discover that there is 15mb file opener. ;-)

Is there a file converter maybe? That converts .max to, maybe .obj?

Many thanks

You could try import it with blender. It's a free software which should be able to import the files.

First thing is to go the the File->User Preferences->Add Ons tab. In the Import-Export section, enable the 3DS Add-on.

After that you can export it to the desired format. Before exporting you must select the model/mesh you want to export. Otherwise nothing will be exported. The obj exporter is enabled by default in blender.


What is the power consumption of the heatbed and hotend? What is the power consumption of your heatbed (size) and hotend (model)?

I want to verify that it is possible to use a battery to power them.

I have a Kill-A-Watt meter so I got a pretty good measurement for you with my Anet A6. Like Petar said each model is different but this should give you a idea. When heating both the nozzle and heat bed the printer consumes 160 W of power, once to temp it backs down to 9 W (it also uses 9 W when just "sitting doing nothing and is on"). When the nozzle and bed get down in temp it hits back up to 160 W. Basically it is never a consistent heating, it is on and off. Like a refrigerator.

When it comes to heating only the nozzle the printer uses 60 W (so 51 W is going to the nozzle for heating).

When it comes to heating only the bed the printer uses 142 W (133 W to the bed).

This is interesting because it would make sense the printer needs more than 160 W when 51 W is going for the nozzle and 142 W going to the bed, that makes 193 W. I make mention of this because that may suggest my power supply is not big enough and the printer could really use around 200 W.

As a little bonus when the printer is moving around (stepper motors are active) I find it using 35-40 W (or 26-31 W) to power the steppers.

So with all the said, is it possible to use a battery? Yes, you could. And to give a example a car battery should have 80 Amp-hours (or something like that, but we will go with it). With that battery you can get 960 Wh (Watt-hours) from the battery before it dies. Going with my printer using 160 W I will get 6 hours of printing time. But keep in mind as the battery is used the voltage will drop, so in the end the printer will be getting something like 10 V which I am sure will affect heating and overall performance.

Last thing I feel that needs to be said. If using a inverter to convert the 12 V battery to 110 V (or whatever voltage you use) a cheap one will not be healthy for the printer. Cheap inverters put out square waves instead of sines waves. Basically it will hurt the printer. You can learn more at this WEBSITE

"Update" on March 4
I read a comment that mentioned running right off the battery without a battery and then I thought of something that I did not think of before. And that would be protecting the battery itself

So I said you can run the printer off the battery. There was one issue that I had not thought of. And that was the voltage drop and the battery discharged. A battery usually does not have voltage-cut off to keep the battery from being overly discharged, and a printer does not have anything to measure voltage (why should it). So a simple hook up of a 3D printer to a battery is prone to drain the battery much lower than 10 V, which will greatly shorten a battery life-span. This can be prevented two ways.

A circuit between battery and 3D printer. There is plenty of circuits that can be bought as long as they cut power to printer at 10 V or something (for lead acid anyway) and can handle the amperage draw.

An inverter can also be used because this voltage cut off is already in them. But remember that square waves are bad for the printer.


Anet A6 printer power on/off Just built my new Anet A6 and not seeing a power off button.
How do I power it down safely?
Am I missing something?

The Anet A6 does not have a power switch. To power the printer you need to put the power cord into the socket. To "safely power off" the printer you need to pull the plug from the socket. You can even pull the plug during usage when it appears to go wrong (e.g. when the nozzle is digging into the bed). The printer runs a continuous running program/instructions that can be interrupted at any time, it does not have to be shut down according to a certain procedure like computer operating systems that use a proper file system.

You can insert a power button in the power cord yourself for ease of use.

Furthermore, it is pretty common to replace the power cord for a computer power cord with a C13 plug and connect a C14 socket with power button (and an optional fuse) to the power supply unit:

Please note that it is very dangerous to mess with the mains voltage, so please be sure what you do or get help from someone that does. Use proper tools to crimp wire correctors to the leads.

If you are not able to do the rewiring of cables to put in a switch, plug the printer into a power strip with an integrated switch button.


slic3r: Can I vary the infill percentage for different heights of my model? How can I vary the infill percentage for different layer heights of my model?

Context: The bottom part of my model needs about 20% infill.  The geometry of the top part of the model (mostly cones of various sizes) prints well with 0% infill and is of course a lot faster to print if I can specify this.

Your question is very similar to Different infill in the same part and Using multiple infill types within one model [duplicate]. The difference is that you specifically ask for Slic3r and a variation in layer height infill percentage.

Actually this answer describes using "helper volumes" in Ultimaker Cura to set different properties for certain parts of the model (UPDATE: that answer now includes also Slic3r instructions), but it appears that this answer is very much applicable to Slic3r also. Please read this posting. Quoting from the reference:

  Finally, I fired Slic3r up and loaded the main part, then clicked on
  Settings... and then hit Load modifier... I loaded the new volume as a
  modifier mesh and I applied 100% solid infill...

Secondly, this answer where 2 different infill percentage sliced models are manually combined at a certain height may also work for you (this is a perfect valid solution for Slic3r, but requires some editing skills).

Basically, although you request for a solution for a slicer other than already described in other questions, boils down to a similar answer, the only difference is the implementation in Slic3r is called differently.

To do this in Slic3r see this reference.

The blog describes the use of a simple volume (the green volume loaded from an STL file). After loading:

  Right-clicking on the main part brought up the object settings menu.
  From there, clicking "Load Modifier" and selecting the previously
  saved model adds it to the part as a modifier.

  The green "+" was selected and "Fill Density" was added to modifier
  list and set to 100%.

This shows that the functionality in Slic3r is very similar to the functionality in Ultimaker Cura.


What is "HDPLA", and why is it so hard to find out more about it? Googling 'HDPLA' has so far availed me very little.

http://3dinsider.com/what-is-pla/ indicates that /all/ modern PLA is 'high density' compared to 'the early days'. But a fellow at the local makerspace indicated that he was specifically using 'HDPLA', with [he claimed] markedly better properties than regular PLA in the final product.

A company named Florion claims to have some secret sauce they add to their PLA, and Maker Filament touts a high temp PLA; but neither seems to use the 'HD' prefix.

I haven't yet been able to track down the fellow to get any more specifics from him. There's no reel of the stuff sitting around so I can't look at its labeling for clues. He claimed to be fabbing lab fittings but I don't know the intended operating situation/requirements.

It's possible he meant something else, like HDPE, which would be quite inert and thus a good choice for lab fittings--but I'd like to think that if it was lab equipment he was making he'd get the name of the polymer right.

Comments, including any regarding the Florion or Maker Filament or any other 'high performance' PLAs, would be most welcome.

So, low-teck, old-style investigative work from my side.... I contacted a company selling HDPLA and they got back to me with the following reply.

  We created HDPLA as an industrial PLA with special additives. As a result, our so called HDPLA has the advantages of ABS, but prints as easy as regular PLA.  HDPLA has high impact, high strength and high heat deflection temperature (hdt). You can also print at high speed (max 140mm/s inhouse tests).  HDPLA has is own high strength, but is even more strong after annealing.  A heated bed is not necessary (50-60˚C recommended), and you can print with HDPLA with a 3D printer with open structure.

This is strikingly similar to the description of what 3Dprima calls "Prima SELECT PRO":

  PrimaSelect™ PLA PRO ist the next generation of high performance PLA for demanding industrial applications. Designed to be able to print fast >120mm/s so you can save on production time. Very high heat resistance (95°C+) after annealing. Excellent mechanical properties combined with a matte surface finish that helps concealing the printed layers for optimum appearance.

While writing this answer I also found a page that escaped my googling until now, sating an additional property of "their" HDPLA: food safety.

  With our HD PLA you have many more options. You can use this material in two ways. Choose the one you like best. You can use it as a normal PLA and get prints characterized by a very good adhesion between the layers and high precision. You can also make your prints acquire similar properties to that of ABS – better impact resistance and high temperature resistance. All you need is an oven. Yes, an oven! By annealing our HD PLA in an oven, in accordance with the manual, you will avoid all the inconveniences of printing with ABS, such as unpleasant odour or hazardous fumes. But these are not all the advantages of HD PLA. For the production of this material we have chosen raw materials that are approved for food contact in compliance with the EU directive and FDA regulations. HD PLA is also certified by RoHS.

So, it looks like HDPLA is not the shorthand of a polymer molecule, but rather a trade word indicating that the base PLA has been mixed with additives.  Furthermore, the answer I got via mail seems to indicate that "HD" refers to the high Heat Deflection temperature of the filament (the heat deflection temperature is the temperature at which a polymer or plastic sample deforms under a specified load).


Calculating the estimated print time of an already sliced file I started to write an application that calculates the estimated total print time from the G-code file for an already sliced model.

The program works and it's pretty accurate.

It works as follows:

It scans the entire G-code file to identify all of the movements
It calculates the time for each move by dividing segment distance by the speed in mm/s.

Let's assume this is the G-code:

G28 ; home all axes
G1 Z0.200 F5400.000
G1 X158.878 Y27.769 E6.65594 F900.000

This is the calculation it does:

totalTime = 0

# G28 ; home all axes
currentX = 0 mm
currentY = 0 mm
currentZ = 0 mm

# G1 Z0.200 F5400.000
newZ = 0.2 mm
mmPerSecond = 5400 / 60 = 90 mm/s
deltaZ = newZ - currentZ = 0.2 - 0 = 0.2 mm
segmentLength = deltaZ  = 0.2 mm
moveTime = segmentLength / mmPerSecond = 0.2 / 90 = 0.002 s
totalTime = totalTime + moveTime = 0 + 0.002 = 0.002 s

# G1 X158.878 Y27.769 E6.65594 F900.000
newX = 158.878 mm
newY = 27.769 mm
mmPerSecond = 900 / 60 = 15 mm/s
deltaX = newX - currentX = 158.878 - 0 = 158.878 mm
deltaY = newY - currentY = 27.769 - 0  = 27.769 mm
segmentLength = square_root(deltaX² + deltaY²) = 161.287 mm
moveTime = deltaZ / mmPerSecond = 161.287 / 15 = 10.755 s
totalTime = totalTime + moveTime = 0.002 + 10.755 = 10.757 s

In this example, the print will take approximately 10.7 seconds.

More generally, the formula used is, for each movement:

moveTime = segmentLength / mmPerSecond

By summing up all the move times, we have the total estimated print time.

I've seen that some forums state that the 3D print time also depends on some settings on the 3D printer, especially Acceleration X, Acceleration Y, Acceleration Z, Jerk, and Z-Jerk.

I'd like to make it possible to use those values to more accurately calculate print time; however, I don't understand how those values affect the move time:

How should Acceleration and Jerk be considered; and, how do they speed up or slow down the print time?
How should I edit my formula in order to include Acceleration and Jerk in the print time calculation?

First of all, there are some nice open source analyzers written in JavaScript that you can use online, or read the source to, at https://www.gcodeanalyser.com/ and http://gcode.ws/. Their predictions don't fully match actual printer firmware, but they do a reasonably close job, and reading them would be informative.

Basically, the story behind acceleration and jerk is that you can't change the velocity (speed or direction) of the print head instantaneously. It takes time to speed up and slow down. Acceleration is the max rate at which the velocity of the print head can change. Jerk is something of a misnomer/hack, and is the max fake-instantaneous change in velocity allowed at the junction of two segments/curves. The point of jerk is to avoid choppy motion when moving along a curve made up of many segments by accelerating/decelerating at each tiny corner. Note that there are two sets of settings for both acceleration and jerk:

a maximum absolute value (3D vector length) that frequently changed as part of the gcode in order to use different acceleration profiles for print moves vs travel moves, walls vs infill, etc.
per-axis absolute values (standard 1D absolute value) for the limitations of the machine, that are usually set in the printer's settings or the start gcode profile for your printer and never changed.

Movement is constrained to always respect both sets of settings.

Printer firmware uses acceleration and jerk settings along with lookahead at upcoming motion commands to decide how to actually operate the motors. When it starts a motion, it has to accelerate up to the configured max velocity within the acceleration constraints. It also has to start slowing back down midway through unless it knows the next motion is going to continue in the exact same direction; how much it has to slow down depends on the difference in the vectors of motion. If the next motion is going to be in approximately the same direction, it may be able to avoid slowing down by using the jerk allowance to make an "instantaneous" change of velocity at the corner. Only if you have long (relative to speed) linear or approximately linear motions will you ever actually reach the requested speed.

So, to estimate print time, you need to model this. Keep track of print head velocity while processing/simulating the gcode, and for each motion command, compute velocity as a function of time using the acceleration limits (accelerating at the max rate they allow). You also need to figure out the final velocity you want to end the motion with in order to be able to start the next motion command, and a point to start decelerating if necessary to reach that.


Ramps 1.4 1.8 stepper motor extrusion calculation I have Ramps 1.4 and would like to get answer on extrusion in Marlin firmware. I have NEMA 17 stepper motor 1.8 deg, set to 1/16 step. Mk7 direct drive.
38 teeth in extruder drive gear. I bought it from this website.

Here are my current settings:

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   { 80,80, 4000, 180 }
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE          { 500, 500, 3, 45 }
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION      { 9000, 9000, 100, 300 }

I am using ABS 1.75 filament and a 0.4 nozzle.

According to the description, the drive gear you have has a 10.8mm diameter. This means that (in the ideal case) one full rotation of the drive gear will advance a length of filament equal to its circumference, which is pi x 10.8mm or approximately 33.93mm.

Your motor rotates 1.8 degrees per step, so it takes 360 / 1.8 = 200 steps for a full rotation. Since you are using 16x microstepping, this is multiplied to 200 x 16 = 3200 steps.

You thus end up with a steps per mm value of 3200 / 33.93 = 94.31 steps/mm.

You might need to calibrate this further, for instance by extruding a set length of filament (e.g. 100mm) and measuring how much is actually extruded, and then compensating the steps/mm value to get you closer to the desired 100mm. A simple way to measure this is to put a mark on your filament at 150mm from the extruder, and then (after extruding 100mm) measure how close the mark is to the extruder (which should be 50mm) However, this theoretically computed value should be a good starting point. Note that the speed you do this test at should be close to your normal printing speed, since extruding at a much higher (resp. lower) speed will falsely lead you to believe you are underextruding (resp. overextruding).


photogrammetry with partially translucent objects I've captured a stationary spinning object in a computer game. It's semi translucent and there are stationary objects behind it.

As I expected it did not convert using Autodesk's remake. It gives no explanation other than 'Error'. I obviously can't paint the object. Are there any techniques in Photoshop that will let me manually fix the images to reduce the translucency?

Any other program that might produce a mesh from images? The game objects can't be extracted via any other program I've tried.

I found at least 2 online pages that'll create a 3D stl from an image, basically using intensity (brightness) to determine depth.

selva3d.com  and   embossify.com

I used it with success on a binary (black or white) image, at least.


Does an enclosure need a roof to print ABS? I have an Ender 5 printer, which is a frame-based printer with no enclosure. However, I want to print ABS. Some experiments with a massive cardboard box have shown me I need an enclosure.

Because the printer has a box frame, fitting some perspex sheets will be easy. The bit that won't be easy is the top - the filament tube projects fairly high.

Will I need to cover the top for ABS though? I read somewhere that drafts are a killer for ABS, which perspex around the sides should prevent. I guess most of the heat from the heat bed will be lost out of the top, so will this be a problem for layer adhesion?

Sides without a top will help.

Sides with a top will help more.

Do you need either? That depends. How warm, how dry, how drafty is your printing room?


Problems with ColorFabb XT: over extrusion I could really use some help here. I am trying to print with ColorFabb XT and have been having an overflow problem, which creates an accumulation of material on the nozzle tip creating stringing and depositing random chunks of material randomly throughout the print. When I get the nozzle to 250 °C, the filament flows heavily by itself.
I have upped the print speed, retraction speed and retraction distance and results are getting better, but the problem is still present and my concern is the values are getting relatively high.
I am using a CR-10S Pro and my settings are:

Print speed: 80 mm/s
Nozzle temp: 250 °C
Bed temp: 70 °C
Retraction speed: 50 mm/s
Retraction distance: 7.5 mm

I have managed to print some pieces that don't require much traveling since they are round and filament is deposited in a concentric pattern and also each layer didn't use a lot of material but whenever pieces have bigger cross sections and layers need to deposit more material or there is a minimum amount of travel needed, the problem becomes evident.

Any ideas?
Has anyone had experience with this material?

Level the bed and check your filament diameter.
Usually this occurs because the space between the nozzle and bed is greater than it should be for the material put out of the nozzle.
Such conditions can happen for a variety of reasons but usually it's an improper bed leveling.
Filament diameter vs what your slicer program thinks is the filament diameter is one of the easier ways to control material output after bed is level.  (Sometimes I tell my slicer that the material is smaller than it really is to get it to output more)
Sometimes your z axis moves too much or you are using a layer height that your z axis could not handle.  You may have to increase layer thickness.
Getting the temperatures into a point where it is not too hot and not too cold is also important.  If the material is too cold, it won't stick.  If too hot, it cools and shrinks by the time your new layer gets to it ( making it lower or warped out of place from where the new layer tries to stick )  Increasing bed temperatures is a good way to help counteract the shrinkage.


How to join pieces automatically using interlocking or similar? I have a piece, which I need to cut into two different pieces, see image 1.

Image 1

Then I need to make interlocking joints or similar, see image 2.

Image 2

How can I do that automatically, using Solidworks or another program?

It's an *.STL file so I can easily manipulate all parts without any errors.

I'm not qualified to advise regarding Solidworks, but can suggest a process and concept from which you may be able to adapt to your software.

As you have the two pieces currently in STL form, it makes things only slightly more difficult. Consider to align them parametrically so the faces contact and the edges are coincidental. The block STL will appear as a single cube, in the example you've provided.

Create and place a mating cylinder piece in the desired position as you've shown in the second image. It is a common feature of many 3D modeling programs to be able to perform a subtraction of one part from another. It is equally common to be able to merge two parts into a single manifold part.

Save the file containing the three parts.

Select either block and the cylinder. You can delete or otherwise hide or deselect the unused block. Perform a subtraction on the remaining pair. Save this file under a different name.

Reload the three parts file.

Select the other block and cylinder, perform a union of the pair. Save this file under a different name.

Rather than saving the three parts in a file, one can frequently save the joined or subtracted part and perform an undo until the three parts return. This is a faster more convenient method.

I have performed the above steps in Meshmixer and know that it can be done in Blender, if one is skilled in these programs.

I've performed an internet search for "perform boolean subtraction solidworks" and found multiple results for this process. One link references the "cavity" feature for subtraction. I did not search for boolean union and leave this as an exercise for the reader.

Consider also to plan for this activity in the future by leaving the block intact, unsliced, place the cylinder, perform the boolean action, then slice it as desired. The sequence of saves and/or undo actions will be different from above, but may be easier than re-aligning a previously sliced "block" or item.


How can I set the position in Pronterface? I'm in the process of building a 3D printer and have all the stepper motors wired up and the controller connected to the computer running pronterface.

I can move each axis and also send g-code to the printer.

Now how can I define the current position to be the 0/0/0 position?
I'd like to move the printer into a position where I think should be the zero position and define it as such in pronterface somehow.

G92 X0 Y0 Z0

tells the printer that the current position is (0,0,0).


Subtract of two STL files in Slic3r software I have a question about Slic3r software.

I would like to subtract two parts. For example, I have an STL model, when I right click on the part, I can select Settings..., and in the Settings window, I can select modifier and I can select slab.with selecting proper thickness. Now we have two parts where one of them is inside of another. My problem is subtracting those two parts.

How can I subtract this part from another?

Given my limited familiarity with all the CAD tools that exist, I would fall back to something that I know does binary operations on volumes -- openScad.

One can create two objects, one from each of the two STL files, and subtract one from the other.  One can also compute intersections, unions, and other operations.

There are probably other programs that also do this, but openScad allows for doing in programmatically, so that once you have it right, you can update the objects without needing to redo the finicky part of the operations.

slic3r may do this, but I haven't seen such features in my multi-year use of slic3r for slicing.

When in doubt, IMO it is better to script something.  It is virtually never that I do something only once, especially in 3D printing where rapid prototype leads to rapid change and improvement.


Randomly underextruding/overextruding small part on CR-10 I am printing fairly cheap, but highly rated, PLA and not sure whether this is underextrusion or overextrusion; but it just looks bumpy and not clean. My settings:

195 °C at 60 mm/s bed temp 50 °C
0.4 mm nozzle at 90 % extrusion
0.1 mm layer height
6 mm retraction at 60 mm/s with 0.50 mm coasting

I tried at 190 °C and it severely underextruded halfway through, but the outside looks much smoother; I also tried with and without coasting with no difference and tried adding -0.2 mm extra restart distance which didn't change much either. Could this be because I am just printing a rather small part (25 mm diameter)? I think this because I tried printing a much larger 100 mm diameter hemisphere just before, which printed perfectly using the exact same filament.
I've switched out to a new 0.4 mm nozzle, tried a 0.6 mm nozzle, but the only complete print I got had this rough and bumpy outside. It is printed in the orientation shown as removing support from those thin legs lead to them snapping.
I also had moderate stringing throughout, which I thought coasting and restart distance would fix.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Edit 12/04:
I have since reinstalled one of my all metal hotends, as I wasn't using them due to clogging issues, installed a brand new 0.4 mm nozzle, set the extrusion multiplier to 1.0 and disabled coasting. I also calibrated my e-steps, which means I needed to buy an arduino and burn new firmware.
Sadly I didn't print in between fixed, but these are the results I got.

The prints are much better but there is some pretty serious stringing and zits due to me needing to reduce the retraction distance for the hotend to 2 mm, as the 6 mm distance I was using before would make it clog; but since I'm using a bowden extruder it creates stringing. How could I go about fixing this? I feel like I'm playing a game of whack-a-mole.

The first one has major extrusion problems going on, possibly combined with issues caused by things you did to compensate for it or other issues. You should not see "bubbly" surfaces like that. There are a lot of things it could be, but my best guesses are wet filament, clogged nozzle or damage in the ptfe tube (if your printer uses one), and your 90% flow rate. If it was really printed "right after" the successful hemisphere that probably rules out wet filament and indicates a clog of some sort or your changes to settings.
Your retraction amount is probably good if you have a bowden printer but excessive and likely to clog with direct drive. Coasting and extra unretract are always wrong; they were a hack from a long time ago trying to simulate what linear advance feature in firmware does, but with a fixed hardcoded offset. Flow rate as low as 90% is also wrong unless your steps per mm were miscalculated. You can only go up/down by a few % without messing things up badly; there just isn't that much room for error.


Resin printing on Voxelab Polaris I've recently got an Elegoo Mars-like resin printer which is called Voxelab Polaris. So far, I have a lot of success with it, but one piece is proving really tough to print and I'm hoping for advice!
These Settlers Of Catan tiles are natively about 90x97 mm.
It's too big to print flat on my 130x82x155 mm print bed, so I've been trying to print it at a variety of angles including vertically. When printed vertical, it tends to warp along the long axis, and when done at an angle including supports there's not enough landing area to stick it to the print bed.
I've tried printing two together back-to-back, but in Chitubox I can't find a way to add supports between two pieces on the bed (only from each piece to the bed).
Anyone got any insights about how I might print this in resin?

If you want to print flat, you could easily print all parts at 90 %: the bounding box dimensions now are 81.16 x 88 mm - and as a result, you can print some other parts flat next to it but not more than one tile at the same time. Remember to print all cities and roads at 90 % too.


Photogrammetry using pure rotation? I have a set of 42 images made as a rotation around the object and it is failing to generate a model in Visual SFM. From what I can gather, the problem is that just doing a rotation is insufficient. There must photographs taken from above as well.

Is there any way to avoid the need for high angle shots, and just use rotational shots and still get a 3D model from Visual SFM?

This is not a problem specific to Visual SFM, but a general technical problem. The software cannot accurately determine the depth of the pieces which approach perpendicularity with the camera lens. The software uses those varying measurements and estimated angles to calculate the geometry. Check out the law of cosines.


In the standard PC Cable Wire that goes from the wall outlet to the switching power supply, are they standard and what are the wire specifications? What are the specifications of the three wires inside a PC cable that is used to connect the switching power supply to a US AC outlet.

The positive, negative and ground appear to be the same gauge stranded cable, and I've heard that it can handle 10A, but beyond that I don't really know what the rest of the specifications for the wire are.

Very basically speaking, electricity works like this:

There's some source that delivers a certain voltage.
You have a device that operates at a certain voltage. The device voltage and supply voltage should always match. No, don't put that 120V US device in a 230V outlet in Europe.
The device does something. By doing something it draws current. Most devices also draw some current when not doing anything.
How much power your device draws is the product of these two values:voltage x current = power

So far, so good. In your case:

  US AC outlet.

the voltage is 120V.
On this other question of yours you linked to this power
supply on amazon. Besides being available gift-wrapped, it
states the following feature:

  You can choose the input voltage (110V/240V) by switch.

110V ≈ 120V, which means the device voltage matches your supply
voltage.
The supply can deliver 30A at 12V on the DC side which means 360W.
If it could transform the electricity ideally, without any
inefficiency, that would be 3A at 120V on the AC side. But your
supply is unlikely ideal. Wikipedia suggests 60-95% efficiency.
Let's be super pessimistic and assume 50%. That means half the power
that goes into the switch power supply is turned into heat. In order
to still get the 360W out, you have to insert 720W. That means
your device draws 6A on the AC side.

What does this all mean for your wire?
What wire size do you need for this supply?

Coincidentally, the above link to the amazon website showing your power supply also suggests the following PC ATX power supplies to me:

Sentey Power Supply 725 Watt
Sentey Power Supply 1000 Watt

Let's get this straight: You can buy a power supply for a PC and plug it into your outlet without even thinking about what a wire size is. You'd just plug and play. That PC power supply will potentially draw more current than the power supply of your 3D printer. A standard wire would be able to supply either one of the PC ATX power supplies linked above and would not have a problem delivering a lower current to the power supply of your 3D printer.

The switching supply doesn't have a plug like a PC ATX supply, but that on its own doesn't make it any less secure (if wired up properly). It's just less common for household appliances.

  Ultimately, I'd like to avoid a fire, or damage to the house wiring.

That's a good and valid concern.

PC Power supplies deliver 12V and supply more than enough current (like the examples above). They are probably in use in your house already and did neither set it on fire nor damage the house wiring.

A switching mode power supply is just as secure and if bought from a known brand unlikely to do you any harm either if used properly and within its specifications.

Ultimately, this is not a question of secure electricity but a trade-off between secure electricity and the price to pay for it. The standard wire and it's specifications have little to do with this.

Personally, I also use a cheap switching power supply made in china for my printer. It's very noisy and I pull the plug when I leave it unattended.


What type 3D printer is? I have found a video about Invisalign. I saw a 3D printer in the video but I did not understand its type. Can you help me? Do you share a brief piece of information about its type?
Below is the video on YouTube.

In the video, there is this still from 0:32:

The labeling is iPro 8000, which is a 3dSystems resin printer using SLA technology.


Adequate default filament diameter for Anycubic Mega X Does anybody if the Anycube Mega X comes with a nozzle for 1.75 mm filaments or is it 2.85 mm?
I saw online that it works with 1.75 mm filaments but the Cura settings given by the manufacturer had 2.85 mm.
I should mention that using a 1.75 mm filament works BUT my designs have clear under-extrusion, which is very likely caused by having 2.85 mm in the settings. So at this moment, I am trying to gauge whether to change the settings to 1.75 mm or buying 2.85 mm filaments (this only works if the Mega X comes with the appropriate nozzle).

Reading all 49 pages of the manual was fruitless. I'm astonished that there is no reference to the filament diameter used in this printer.
From 3dJake's web site comes a confirmation that the printer uses 1.75 mm filament.
It's not a matter of changing a nozzle to use 2.85 mm filament, as the entire filament path is based, in this printer, on the 1.75 mm specification.
To find 3Djake's site, I used "anycubic mega x filament diameter" as the search terms. Many other links appeared, confirming the 1.75 mm filament size.


Which type of extrusion problem? I'm a novice in 3D printing. I have a Lulzbot Kittaz 3D printer with a hexagonal hot end of 0.35 mm. I have printed a test subject, and while I was printing I encountered this extrusion problem. I'm using ABS with 230 °C hot end temperature and 85 °C bed temperature. What kind of problem is this and how should I rectify it?

I took this photo when the printer printed the first layer:

It looks like you are not extruding at the correct rate. I would check your slicer settings for nozzle and filament size. Also check and calibrate for your filament diameter.

It looks like you could be getting better adhesion too. Lulzbot recommends a 110C bed temperature. That might help. (lulzbot.com/store/filament/abs under specifications)

These are some good resources to troubleshoot prints,

RepRap

All3DP

Simplify3D


What are the safest temperatures to heat different filaments to? I recently backed a 3D printer on Kickstarter, and I would like to 3D print parts for high-temperature applications. So I have two questions;

What's the highest temperature polycarbonate can be safely heated to without warping or releasing toxins?
If there's a filament with better temp-resistance I can print could you tell me? (If you know the highest temperature it could reach safely, that would be helpful too.)

My 3D printer will have a heated bed up to 100°C, and an extruder temp of up to 250°C.

Polycarbonate is heat-resistant up to ~120C. Above this temperature it will gradually become flexible and may irreversibly bend. It will not generate any toxic fumes all the way up to ignition temperature (630C), because it's fumes are not considered harmful. Note though, that with your temperature limit you may not be able to print with polycarbonate, or only do so at a very low speed.
According to the sheets of commercially available printable plastics, PC has the highest printing temperature and heat resistance among them, seconded by nylon. This refers to the FDM printers only. SLS printers may be able to use other materials, even metals like aluminum or titanium, so if you really wish to get temperature-resistant prints, you may look for workshops that have SLS printers and ask them.


Thermal Stress Cracking During Heat-Up on Glass Heated Bed About two months ago, I added a heated bed to my custom 3D printer in order to print larger ABS parts for my research project. The heated bed (the PCB kind) was not new, but taken from an old printer I had built, but took apart. The bed worked well for a few weeks, but after one print finished, the glass bed above the heater PCB had shattered into several pieces (represented by bed 1 in the image below) and the nozzle was below the level of the bed (I believed it had lowered into the glass causing the breakage. I haven't determined what caused this motion, but it hasn't happened since). Notably, this print was using the heated bed at 90 °C. I chalked this up to a freak accident, and since it did not happen again, just replaced the glass and kept printing.
However, as soon as the heated bed was activated after the replacement, a small crack appeared on the glass and continued to lengthen as time progressed. I took off the glass as soon as possible and prevented it from fully breaking (see bed 2 in the image below. This bed was smaller as I didn't have access to a large enough piece of glass at the time).
At this point, I figured something more than an impact caused the glass to shatter. Since both cracks occurred when the bed was heating or cooling, I figured that thermal shock could potentially be the source of the cracking, and a quick google reinforced this idea. Due to the nature of both cracks (not being straight shards but meandering around the build plate and propagating slowly), they both appeared to have been caused, or at least propagated, by thermal effects.
To try to avoid future cracking, I took care in assembling the third bed. The heater PCB was attached tightly to the glass with Kapton tape and a thin layer of thermal paste was added as an interface layer to try to get an even contact and heat distribution throughout the glass plate. I made sure that the cardboard shims (which press the glass into the clips) were not too compressed, thinking that pressure in the middle of the glass plate from the shims may have accentuated the cracking by putting the top of the glass under tension.
But after a few cycles with this new bed, the same problem appeared (bed 3 below). This time, the cracking was as severe as the first case, but no impact occurred and I was not touching the bed. The bed was heating up to temperature (90 °C) when the cracking occurred. The strangest part is, the file set to print was one I had already printed successfully on the newest bed.
At this point I am at a loss and don't know what to do next. I don't want to make another bed just to have it crack in a few prints, but I need the bed in the near future. Any suggestions to mitigate this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Update (currently fixed)
I have replaced the bed with a borosilicate glass sheet, switched the heater to a stick-on 120V silicone heater (the same size as the bed), and added a PEI sheet on top. After about 2 months, it is working great and no cracks have formed. My best guess is that it was a combination of poor glass, possibly with small fractures on the edges already since I cut it myself, and the heater which was too small for the bed. Thanks for the suggestions!

The problem is in the design of your bed. Let's start from the basic setup of a glass bed:

The heater element is usually mounted to a metal carrier, which is both spreading the thermal energy over the bed, but also is the structural element that is leveled against the carriage. Atop that comes the glass print surface.

Now, once the heater element is turned on, the aluminium starts to expand and evens the distribution to the glass. As the glass has a much lower thermal expansion coefficient, it doesn't expand as fast. Because of this, the glass surface should never be glued to the bed or heater but held in position to the metal bed with a clip. This way the thermal and mechanical stress on the glass sheet is mitigated: The metal bed evens the heat transfer and the clip can move its position on the glass.


Adding extra Z-offset to bed for PETG in Slic3r Having printed exclusively in PLA for the past year, I'm now looking at trying out PETG in order to print a set of spare parts for my new Prusa i3 mk3.

I have bought a roll of PETG from Rigid.ink and their recommendation is to leave an extra 0.2mm gap between the nozzle and bed.

Can I achieve this extra Z offset in gcode using Slic3r PE, or would I need to do it using Live Z Adjust on the printer? How would I go about doing this if so?

Or is there some other way of doing it, so whenever I select my PETG filament profile in Slic3r, the extra Z-offset gets added?

An extra gap of 0.2 mm on top of your existing gap seems rather illogical as the filament is not squished at the build plate anymore. Furthermore 0.2 mm plus something you already have will soon result in a gap over 75% of your nozzle diameter (including your first layer; note that 75% is considered to be the max for good adhesion). The filament will then drop down to the plate... Possible effects/results can be seen in this recent question.

Having printed about 8 kg's of PETG, I have never had to add an additional gap. I have printed on various machines; Prusa clone, Ultimaker 3E and self build CoreXY. I use a 0.2 to 0.25 mm first layer thickness (for a 0.4 mm nozzle) while printing on glass or directly onto the aluminium bed using a PVA based spray glue (3DLAC). Beds are always leveled with the nozzle to bed distance of a sheet A4 printing paper. I have zero adhesion problems.

I would recommend you to try print as you would normally do and, when that does not work, increase the first layer in your slicer slightly. Printing temperature/speed towers is also recommended to find the best settings for your brand of PETG.

Now to address your specific question how to change the offset in your slicer; an additional offset can be added into your start code script by adding a move to a certain height and redefining the zero Z level. This should be typically done after auto leveling of the bed (if used). So before the first layer is being printed you could add:

; start code contains homing, pre-heating, auto-leveling, nozzle priming, etc.
G1 Z0.2 F500 ; Go to the level of 0.2 mm + your paper thickness
G92 Z0       ; This redefines the zero Z level

You can create custom startcode profiles in Slic3r (requires setting the Printer Settings) and store them with a specific name so you can have different printer profiles.


How to "paint" a mesh on a stl/obj I have almost 0 experience in 3d modeling and I'm looking for a simple way to color a model.

I want to replicate this paint job of a model.

I've tried Blender, tried Mudbox and I don't have the money for Mari which is the software being used in the video.

The issue with both is that it seems to take forever to try and paint them. It's a high-poly model with a bunch of vertices. Both programs seize up and hang and I'm forced to quit them.

How can I simply and efficiently color the model to get it ready for sandstone color printing?

If you've looked into using Blender, you would have discovered that that program is free. It is also one of the better suited programs available for the task you've selected.

It's possible that your search terms may not have provided the best results for your objective. The task you describe is known as UV mapping, also known as adding texture to mesh, adding texture to a model. The generic term "texture" can be confused, as many people would consider texture to be the feel of a surface. Rough, smooth, slippery, etc., do not apply here.

Texture in the 3D modeling world applies to a surface description specific to visibility. In your task, texture refers directly to color.

Consider to search using the above terms or follow this lead:
Add texture to model Blender

Doing so provided a few quite well written links. One of the first to appear is an Instructable.

The above Instructable also links to a video, which is also a good location for learning basics for Blender and texturing models.

The above search also results in finding an SE entry directly related to Blender:
StackExchange Blender texture Q/A

Consider that you can create a flat image using your preferred graphics editor, placing shapes and colors as needed and then "project" or paste or plaster or project that image on the surface of the model in a controlled manner. This would be easier and faster than attempting to color manually individual triangles of the model's mesh. The SE link summarizes this process, although additional research is indicated.

Practice with Blender on simplified models and you should be able to grasp the necessary skills in short order.


Temperature offset on Wanhao Duplicator i3 Mini I'm trying to print with PLA on a new Wanhao Duplicator i3 Mini. In regular temperature settings (200-210°C) the printer underextrudes and the extruder motor skips, which led me to suspect low nozzle temperature. Increasing the temperature to 225°C indeed allows the printer to print normally without any problems.

What can be the cause for this? Is it a faulty temperature reading? What is the way to fix it?

It's very difficult to diagnose 3D printers without physical access to the machine, but here's a few possibilities that come to mind (several of those may contribute together to the problem).

The temperature reading is poorly calibrated or defective

This means that the actual temperature is lower than what displayed.  You can verify this hypothesis by using an IR thermometer or replacing the probe (on some printers the heat probe on the bed is the same than the one on the hot end, so you don't need to buy a new part).

The batch/brand of filament you have has a higher melting point than expected

So: the filament is supposed needs to be extruded at 225°C, but the label (or simply your assumption from having used other spools of filament) says otherwise.  Just use that temperature and be happy.

The teeth of the extruder gear are worn

Within limits, the hotter the molten plastic is, the runnier.  This means that at 225°C it will be less viscous than at 210°C and will strain the extruder motor less.  If the gear of your extruder has worn teeth that won't "bite" deep enough into the filament, they will eventually slip when reaching a certain torque.  The teeth of an extruder wheel should feel well defined under your fingers, if you are in doubt about them not being sharp enough, then they probably aren't, as the feeling is quite distinctive.  Replacement gears can be purchased online very cheaply.  EDIT: re-reading your question I realised you wrote that the motor skips, so this and the following point may not be the case for you, even if sometimes - but not always - slippage makes a similar noise to skipping.

The spring of the extruder gear is weak

See above, but here the root cause of the slippage is the extruder gear not being pushed hard enough into the filament.  This is caused by the extruder spring being too weak.  Most printers have some mechanism to regulate the tension of the spring.  A DIY method is that of adding a stack of washers (or a custom printed cylinder) at one end of the spring in order to "pre-tension" it.  Otherwise again: spring replacements are extremely cheap.

Your part fan is blowing on the nozzle

The temperature probe measures temperature at some place in the heat block, not the nozzle.  If your part fan is blowing too high, the flow of air may be cooling down the nozzle, instead of the extruder part.  You most definitively want to avoid this by repositioning the fan or printing a custom fan deflector (the latter is a classic among mods).  This is an easy-to-diagnose problem as most slicers allow you to turn the part fan off.


Random hot-end temperature spikes I've been having issues with thermal runaways lately due to random temperature spikes on my Ender 3.
I figured it was out of calibration so I did a PID tune and still had issues. I then replaced the thermistor and I'm still having issues. I'm going to try replacing the heater element tonight.
However, if anyone has some suggestions, please let me know.

It looks like a sensor issue.  Maybe a temporary resistance in a contact of the sensor circuit made the temperature look low to the controler, so it applies power to raise the temperature.  When the contection recovers, the temperature is too high, so the controller lowers the power to restore the temperature.


How to change "home" settings on Ender 3 I have just got an Ender 3, I got a friend to build it for me, as my hands are not great. Which means I don't know what bit does what.

My problem is when I click on home setting, my nozzle is in front of my base plate and below it.

I have watched every video I can find about the set up, but they all assume that bit is ok. I have changed the axis setting to put it on it but it doesn't save the settings and as soon as I hit home its off the base plate again. I don't want to go any further re-printing, so at the moment it's just an ornament.

What am I doing wrong?

This isn't a matter of settings but physical adjustment (the endstop switches). Having the head home slightly off the bed in the X and/or Y direction is a good thing, because it means the Z homing can't crash into the bed if the bed height is misadjusted. On my Ender 3, the X axis homes slightly into the bed, but the Y homes such that the nozzle tip is in front of the bed. Note that normally you don't try to print at X=0 or Y=0 anyway.

As for the Z homing, you have to adjust the bed height ("bed leveling") via the 4 wheels under the corners of the bed to bring it to the right height. If you can't get it below the nozzle with the wheels all the way tightened, your Z endstop switch must be installed incorrectly. The Ender 3's Z endstop bracket is supposed to fit against the corner of the aluminum extrusion just below it so that it doesn't need adjustment, but it's possible to mount it incorrectly higher. This is a bad idea because if it loosens it can move. It might also be possible to incorrectly install it lower, in which case it would be misaligned because the machine screws couldn't be tightened down all the way. This is also a bad idea. Make sure it's in the right place.

As for actual bed height adjustment/leveling, there are lots of good guides to that and I won't try to reproduce/improve on them here. The "sheet of paper" method is very good.


Bowden setup keeps jamming between PTFE tube and heatsink I keep getting a jam where the PTFE tube meets the top of the v6 hot end. I have the PTFE tube all the away in but for some reason it gets a bulge at that spot and will stop printing. It happens with or without retraction. Any ideas?

Filament sometimes get stuck on the rim of the PTFE tubes inside the heat sink. Josef Prusa from Prusa Research has published a document on how you should chamfer the PTFE tubes for his printers:

Maybe chamfering your tubes works for you too.


Marlin Firmware Manual Mesh Leveling Why am I seeing two different versions of the way to enable manual leveling?

One option says to enable:

#define manual_bed_leveling
#define mesh_bed_leveling

And the other says to enable:

#define probe_manually
#define LCD_bed_leveling
#define mesh_bed_leveling

How is it that they both work? One is from the official marlin github and the other is from a tutorial that is confirmed to work.

If you look into the most recent version of Marlin you will find in file Marlin/SanityCheck.h:

elif defined(MANUAL_BED_LEVELING)
  #error "MANUAL_BED_LEVELING is now LCD_BED_LEVELING. Please update your configuration."

This implies that constant MANUAL_BED_LEVELING is obsolete. It is not found anywhere else except for the file linked above. So, no, the constants are not supposed to do exactly the same. Instead an error is shown on compiling to update your configuration to exclude the constant MANUAL_BED_LEVELING.


Which are the strongest and most durable materials? I am working on a robotics project and need to print some gears. These will probably by under a LOT of pressure. Which material/filament should I choose so that the gears don't wear off easily?

PS: Newbie here...

EDIT:
According to my instuctor, it has to be some sort of plastic (not metal).
It also has to be lightweight...

So, as you say you want to materials for printing robotics parts. And as you have not given any budget constraint, I would give you a list of materials which would help you achieve the task, and you can choose amongst them accordingly.

Plastics: Basically used for building prototypes. Nylon Polyamide should be a choice for you.

  Polyamide 3D printing is achieved through SLS 3D printing. It offers
  strong and flexible prints. The upside of this material is that the
  printing technology requires minimum preparation of the 3D file before
  printing. There is no need for support. And it also offers the
  possibility to create intricate shapes and moving part in just one go.
  After the print the polyamide can be polished and dyed.

Metals: Metals like Brass, Alumunium and Steel should be a good choice.

But, if I were to achieve your task, I would select carbon fiber. some details about it:

  Carbon fiber consists of 90% carbon atoms, each fiber is 10 times
  thinner than a human hair. Carbon is especially prized for its lack of
  combustibility and infusability but also by its incredible strength
  (stronger than steel) and ability to create flexible structure, light
  weight and corrosion resistance. Its melting temperature is 1500, this
  heat there are only carbon.


Snap-in clamp geometry I apologize if this is in the wrong section, but it seems relevant.

I am an absolute noob at 3D printing, but recently my need for a specific, small part intersected with access to a 3D printer at work (Zortrax M200), so I figured now was a good opportunity to get into printing.

I am designing a clamp for smaller can capacitors that will hold them upright from a mounting surface.  I would like the capacitors to snap into the clamp, but I am struggling to find information on how wide the opening to the clamp should be.  It clearly needs to be smaller than the diameter of the clamp, but I'm not sure how much smaller it can be without snapping the clamp arms.

Is there a rule of thumb or general guideline for this type of geometry?  I am using Z-ULTRAT, which is some proprietary filament made by Zortrax.  It seems to be similar to ABS in terms of strength properties, but stiffer.

I don't have an image at the moment, but I can provide one tomorrow when I have access to the part files.  The best analog I can think of is a LEGO figure's hands.

Thanks.

Edit: Per requests for additional information:

I am not sure what is considered a "thin" wall; currently, the clamp walls are 2mm thick at the thinnest point (where the push-in opening is).
I would like the walls to be just flexible enough to allow the cap to be seated without breaking - it is more critical that the cap is not loose in the socket.
The clamp is not going to be subject to repeated stress cycles - by the time the cap needs replacing, it's likely I'll need to print a new clamp as well.
With my estimations for cooling, I do not expect the clamp to see temperatures above 100C.

Edit 2:

Based on the link in the comments below, I came up with the following design:

The little nubbins in the back fit into the "neck" at the bottom of the capacitor to provide some positive lock.  220 degrees of surround with 4mm thick arms - I think this should work.

I am sure someone much smarter will be able to point you towards datasheets and maths equations that will tell you exactly what you could/can't do, however, I would say it depends on a few things:

Material - some materials have more give/flexibility, others have less. Depending how hot you expect the caps/surrounding components to get may also influence choices.
Wall thickness - Are you just after a 'thin walled' print, or something more solid. Thinner walls tend to be more flexible.
Reusability - are you going to snap the cap in once or twice, or thousands of times?

I would hazard a guess that about 210-220 degrees of "surrounding" would be enough.

Can you try it and see? Or do you only have one shot?


What is the difference between M420 S and M420 S1? I have been reading through the Marlin website about ABL (Auto Bed Leveling)  and I see what appears to be conflicting information.

At https://marlinfw.org/docs/features/auto_bed_leveling.html it states that running G28 (Auto Home) will turn off ABL and that to reactivate it you need to insert the code M420 S1.

However at https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/G029-mbl.html it states:

  G28 disables bed leveling. Follow with M420 S to turn leveling on, or
  use RESTORE_LEVELING_AFTER_G28 to automatically keep leveling on after
  G28

The latter is referring mostly to manual bed leveling, but in this section is referring to ABL.

So what is the difference between the S and the S1 options?

TL;DR
Short answer: "There is no difference!".

Long answer
G-code is parsed line by line. The parser in the firmware reads the command and the options (also called parameters) following it, comments are discarded.
Therefore, option S should be followed by a Boolean value 0 for False or 1 for True. Without a value it is undefined and should be reported as incorrect or treated as false (in my opinion). But, the developers have chosen differently. If a Boolean value is expected and the value is not given, the parameter is parsed as true. This has analogy with other software options or switches like e.g. used by Linux commands.
This means that for Marlin  the G-code M420 S is exactly the same as M420 S1.
I've checked this with another command (this is not depending on the G-code command as there is a single parser processiong the G-codes and the following parameters); M211 where M211 S is exactly the same as M211 S1.


Extruder/nozzle keeps clogging up I have an Adventurer 3 printer from Flashforge and every time I unclog it, it gets clogged up again. I’ve done about 6 or 7 prints with it. So after I unclog it, I load the filament and it comes out of the nozzle like it should but once I start a 3D print, it’s clogged again. The process of what I do to unclog it is by heating the nozzle up and then shove a small metal rod down the nozzle to push out the clogged filament. I do this several times until its all gone. I’ve read up on what I can do to prevent it but it doesn’t seem to work. What should I do?

I can see from the photo that filament melted and frozen thicker inside extruder. This is the problem and not the clogged extruder. This thick part produce a lot of friction and actually diameter grow until the print finally will stuck. Basically I had the same problem and I could guess that you are also using Bowden setup. The length of this built thicker part is actually corresponded to your retraction length setting in your slicer (the default value in Cura is unreasonably big like 6.5 millimetres). I solved the same problem by decreasing retraction settings to about 2-3 mm. Just try it and I am sure you will not have this problem again.


Why does slic3r get an error "302 moved temporarily" when uploading to OctoPrint? I have configured slic3r's OctoPrint Upload section with the with hostname ("octopi") and port (80) of my OctoPrint server.  The Test button indicates a successful connection.

But when I use "Send to Printer" I get an HTTP error 302.

How can I fix this?

Specific answer: use "octopi.local" rather than "octopi", since that will properly resolve to the correct Octopi IP Address.

More generally, investigating the network traffic on my network (AT&T Fiber Home) revealed these facts regarding the octopi server:

With a browser, the octopi can be accessed via either "octopi:80" or "octopi.local:80".
However, "octopi" actually talks to the network router, which sends a "302" message with the target name "octopi.local".
So, for the browser it seems either name is correct, but in actuality only "octopi.local" is the correct network name for the octopi system.

And these facts regarding the slic3r configuration:

slic3r does not process "302" messages, instead treating them as errors.  This is OK, since a properly configured network won't be generating these.
the slic3r connection test is incomplete.  It reports success because it receives an HTTP response, even though the response is a 302 rather than the version information that it is requesting.

So in this particular case, entering "octopi.local" instead of "octopi" corrected the error.  If you receive a 302 error, you will need to research and verify the exact IP address or host name for the target Octopi system.

A future version of slic3r should probably report an error on the "test" button if it doesn't (a) get a proper 200 return code and (b) return the proper version information as slic3r is requesting.


Are self intersecting meshes dirty from a 3D printing perspective? I have never much cared about self intersecting meshes when slicing with Cura. Geometry like the one below are often practical. I for instance add lots of rivets that self intersect with the base geometry:

Now I have switched printer, and am using Simplify3D instead. All of a sudden, I get lots of problems with these models. The intersection of the objects become hollow. Simplify3D has a setting to join the outer solid shell but it also fills holes (such as the center hole of a gear).

I make models to sell so this is a big deal for me.

EDIT: Also, they printed perfectly fine in formlabs "slicer".

Self intersecting meshes are considered dirty, yes. The reason you haven't had trouble before is probably that the software you were using was cleaning your mesh for you, behind the scenes.
Generally speaking, these meshes can be cleaned without too much trouble by software like netfabb (https://www.netfabb.com/) which has a nice free version that I use for basic cleaning of some of my meshes. A quick google on "netfabb free fix mesh" should turn up a tutorial or two.

If you're interested in learning more about an operation you can use to make this a single unified mesh, it's called a Boolean Union, and the blender project has a nice (open source, I think?) implementation of such: (https://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/modifiers/generate/booleans.html)