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Cura not allowing full print area to used | Cura is likely factoring in your skirt. Change the skirt lines to 0 and you might be able to print. Cura also seems to have an in-built build size offset of about 2mm. I can't seem to get rid of it in any way other than to change the build size. |
How to directly send G-code to printer from a Linux terminal? | For direct low-level printer control from a terminal, without specific software, I found the following solution with full credit thanks to user: http://stackexchange.com/users/6463673/meuh
Sharing here as may be of use to other users in the 3d Printing community, and I was unable to source a "complete" solution to this elsewhere.
Step 1)
Create a custom python script that allows you to set arbitrary baud rates (make executable with chmod u+x).
#!/usr/bin/python
# set nonstandard baudrate. Original Question: http://unix.stackexchange.com/a/327366/119298
import sys,array,fcntl
# from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/serialposix.py
# /usr/include/asm-generic/termbits.h for struct termios2
# [2]c_cflag [9]c_ispeed [10]c_ospeed
def set_special_baudrate(fd, baudrate):
TCGETS2 = 0x802C542A
TCSETS2 = 0x402C542B
BOTHER = 0o010000
CBAUD = 0o010017
buf = array.array('i', [0] * 64) # is 44 really
fcntl.ioctl(fd, TCGETS2, buf)
buf[2] &= ~CBAUD
buf[2] |= BOTHER
buf[9] = buf[10] = baudrate
assert(fcntl.ioctl(fd, TCSETS2, buf)==0)
fcntl.ioctl(fd, TCGETS2, buf)
if buf[9]!=baudrate or buf[10]!=baudrate:
print("failed. speed is %d %d" % (buf[9],buf[10]))
sys.exit(1)
set_special_baudrate(0, int(sys.argv[1]))
Step 2) Run the script to set your baud rate.
./set_custom_baud_rate.py <> /dev/ttyUSB0 250000
Step 3) You can now monitor your printer output in a terminal window simply with:
tail -f /dev/ttyUSB0
Step 4) And finally, open up a new terminal window, and you can directly send M or Gcode to your printer; example:
echo "M115" >> /dev/ttyUSB0 |
Safe, cheap, heated enclosure solution for New England garage | The easiest step would be to add some isolation on the outside of the box. If you have space inside, there might be a good spot to store some non-flammable insulation, for example rock or glassfiber wool.
A different material might also be possible - firebrick is not only non-flammable but also a very good insulator! about 2-3 inches of firebrick can contain the heat produced by a tempering oven while the outside is cool enough to be safe to touch with gloves.
However, you should install an extra thermosensor for the chamber temperature - and make sure that the printer enters print halt mode once the temperature in the chamber gets above a critical temperature to try to mitigate fire risks and possibly start a chamber-cooling protocol - which might include aborting the print or activating coolers that rapidly cool down the chamber.
As you pretty much are going heated chamber, you might find a spot when you might want to use a flexible hose to pull non-chamber air to supply the parts cooling fan.
Also, possibly relocate as much of the electronics to a compartment separate from the printer's heat chamber to ensure the electronics don't get cooked and can be supplied with cooler air. |
New use for extruder port | If you are planning to use the printer via GCode entirely, then I don't believe it would be too complicated. For example, Marlin treats the extruder as another axis and uses absolute values for it (if absolute mode is on, of course). Since you want to have two steppers, you would have to connect them in either series or parallel (usually the Z motors are wired in parallel on RAMPS type boards, but many people are going for series since it has some benefits, one of them being that the torque will be much more similar between the two motors). Of course lower the stepper driver current to the minimum before connecting, then adjust it to whatever value you need.
I don't think it will work too well if it has to keep the roll tight - in that case, you could be better off by using only one stepper and some kind of force to hold it tight... maybe a small DC motor at low currents?
You can modify your printer firmware and set your own pin assignments for everything, for example in Marlin you have the pins.h file where every pin from the Mega is mapped to different headers and drivers. I don't know if there is any LOM slicer or firmware available, but you could just use GRBL. |
Ender 3 PRO BLTouch V2 perfect on center with small prints but fails on corners or big prints | Following Nathan's answer, I've solved my problem with Nathan's suggestions and the method in this video.
What I did?
Flashed Creality's original BLTouch firmware to printer
Heated up bed to 60 °C
Leveled bed the old fashion way first, but with slight resistance (you don't have to level perfectly)
Followed the youtube method to find proper Z offset
Opened Cura, Settings->Printer->Manage Printers: and added G29; ABL after G28
Voilâ, now your printer prints perfectly! Enjoying the relieving after 1 week of struggling. |
Raw material for 3D printed injection mold | P20 mold steel is one standard. Hardened parts are required for long life, depending on the service and material (some materials are quite abrasive).
You can get a small number of relatively poor quality shots out of epoxy if it is properly supported by a metal box. Your best bet if you want to include 3D printing in the equation is probably to use epoxy or lost plastic casting from a 3D-printed master. Aside from the requirements of core and cavity with sufficient strength, there are requirements for vents, cooling tubes (bubblers and such like) ejector pins and slides that complicate most real molds. Productivity demands a high heat transfer rate, for very small quantities of expensive parts, thermal design may be less important.
Temperatures and pressures are very high in injection injection molding- high enough to melt the materials you mention, and the pressures are in the 10K PSI range, so a 4" x 4" projected cavity will have a pressure in the 80 ton region.
If you have sintered and filled metal 3D parts they may be suitable, but from the prices I've seen you'd be better off to use conventional machining. Finish is also very important if you want the part to come out of the mold, with hours of semi-manual polishing not uncommon. If you don't have fine surface finish you will need extreme draft angles.
The requirements can be considerably relaxed if you are molding soft parts such as the PVC or TPE overmolds on cables. The pressure is less and the finish less important because the plastic is soft, but the temperatures are still quite high. This is sort of a sub-category of injection molding and specialized machines are used. |
Wanhao i3 stops printing after about 40 minutes | Time to check things that usually don't need checking. At this point I would check the power split.
Check the power supply voltage (+12V or maybe +24V, I don't know the printer) at the controller before and after the extrusion stops or sputters. Assure that the voltage stays the same. If it drops you have a culprit. While there, also check the +5V. If the power is inconsistent, check the connections for loose screws. If the power is also bad at the supply, replace it.
If the extruder starts clicking, it could be under voltage or under temperature. You have already checked for heat creep, and not found it. Either supply voltage can mess with actual temperature.
You have ruled out Z-height, so many possibilities are unlikely. |
What is the point of diminishing returns on the STL refinement level in Fusion 360 on an Ender 3? | I don't know that this can be definitively answered for a specific printer and all arbitrary designs.
The refinement level basically determines how smooth a curved surface will turn out. The STL file format can only express an object in terms of triangular-shaped surfaces, so Fusion 360 will need to approximate a curved surface by breaking it up into triangles. Flat surfaces and straight edges can be represented perfectly, so they won't be affected. Low refinement will use a small number of relatively large triangles. On a part like your example, the cylindrical shaft will have noticeable facets. Higher refinement means a larger number of smaller triangles.
If you have "Preview Mesh" checked as shown, you will be able to see the triangle wireframe, and you can use your own judgment if it's "good enough".
Ultimately, higher refinement means longer processing times and larger file sizes. The final print time won't be affected much if any.
Personally, I always use high refinement. Even on my modest system, it only takes a few more seconds to prepare a multi-hour print, and maybe a few hundred kilobytes or a couple megabytes on my hard drive that I will barely notice. This is a small tradeoff to ensure the best possible STL definition. |
Are there any software packages that can open and edit 3MF? | Microsoft 3D Builder should have support for this format.
Solidworks 2015 has support too. A software adoption list is placed on 3mf pages. |
Bed heating from Pronterface works, but not from LCD menu nor from SD print | I thought this was an easy problem to fix as the previous Configuration.h you shared had PID incorrectly configured.
I'm guessing that you experience this LCD screen:
What I experienced myself when PID tuning the bed is that it matters whether the bed is preheated or not. At first attempt the command such as the M303 E-1 C8 S70 you used did result a failed PID tuning (note that you should perform the test from a cold bed).
Your PID values:
// PIDTune from Pronterface
#define DEFAULT_bedKp 305.95
#define DEFAULT_bedKi 60.24
#define DEFAULT_bedKd 388.4805
are similar results as I have for a 24V 300 x 300 x 3 mm bottom cork insulated heat plate with 3 mm glass.
You have not added the "Configuration_adv.h", but this file contains the advanced settings for the printer and most probably contain:
#if ENABLED(THERMAL_PROTECTION_BED)
#define THERMAL_PROTECTION_BED_PERIOD 20 // Seconds
#define THERMAL_PROTECTION_BED_HYSTERESIS 2 // Degrees Celsius
/**
* As described above, except for the bed (M140/M190/M303).
*/
#define WATCH_BED_TEMP_PERIOD 60 // Seconds
#define WATCH_BED_TEMP_INCREASE 2 // Degrees Celsius
#endif
This describes that the software waits for 60 seconds for the bed to increase 2 °C. If the temperature increase is not observed, there is no heat input to the bed, or it does not reach the set temperature. Please check your values. |
Using two feeders at the same time | The first multi material add-on version off J. Prusa includes several separate steppers that load filament into the hot end. Note that selecting an other color will retract the existing filament so that the next filament can be loaded. There is no mixing hotend nozzle. It is therefore working serial, not parallel. Working 2 steppers at the same time will lead to clogging the filament joining position. |
Z-Axis does not appear to be working on Ender-3 Pro | It turned out that there's something wrong with the G-code file that came with my printer.
I downloaded a calibration cube from Thingiverse and printed it - while it wasn't 100%, it did print viable. Now I need to get into details as to quality, and I suspect that too will be a factor for the G-code used in the printer. I'm looking at "Ultimaker Cura" to figure out the changes in G-code based on option changes. |
Ender 3 X-axis belt orientation | Sadly, the Ender-3 assembly instructions were not clear on step 7, what the right direction is (teeth on inner side of the loop):
The Belt has teeth that need to engage the teeth of the hobbed gear on the motor, just like in the preassembled Y-axis. The teeth have to go aim to the "inside" of the loop. This way, the belt will not slip on the motor side and the movements will be repeatable. |
Why do I have problems trying to get Slic3r to load a config file? | I changed from "Simple" mode to "Advanced" mode, and the config imported fine. Though, I don't think it was my most recent config. C'est la software!
Also, I switched to Cura after this. |
Graphite self-lubricating bushings performance? | Bushings will be quieter than linear ball bearings. Some online discussions complain of the linear bearings becoming noisy, and (in what I think is a failure of the balls to circulate properly) for the balls to develop flat spots. If the balls aren't moving properly, you will end up with a bushing. You might start with a bushing in the first place.
Bushings spread the load over the surface of the rods, so there should be minimal wear. Bearings and bushings are limited by the load and the speed. In 3D printers, neither the speeds or the loads are particularly high. Bushings should work well.
Bushings may have slightly higher sliding friction, which could result in slower maximum printing speed for motors with the same torque. The characteristics should be more stable as they age.
Others may have different experience, but I would consider either the self-lubricated brass bushings, or perhaps the self-lubricated graphite bushings.
As an example, inkjet and laser printers do not use ball bearings for the carrier. 15 years ago, it was bronze bushing on stainless steel shafts. Over time, it has evolved to PTFE pads sliding on stamped sheet metal. |
How to start cycle by using push button | Unless you know the structure of the Marlin firmware pretty well, are good at coding (in C/C++), and are familiar with programming microcontrollers, then I wouldn't attempt to do this, IMHO. Adding new features can cause a number of issues elsewhere in the code and need rigourous planning and testing as well as discussion with the Marlin community.
You could however make a request (i.e. raise an issue) to the Marlin community on Github, however, I would seriously suggest posting to the Marlin forum, on RepRap, first, as random suggestions and issues raised on Github aren't really appreciated, without checking on the forum first...
If you really want to get into coding, then I would suggest buying an Arduino Uno and some components and messing about with those first, as well as visiting our excellent Arduino Q&A site on StackExchange as well as the Arduino forums. |
Extusion rate limiting and firmware retract | Sadly this does not work at present. Setting an M203 E3 resulted in 6 mm retractions via G10 taking 2 seconds each vs the fraction of a second they're supposed to take.
Since it seems desirable for this to work, I've filed a Marlin issue to see if it's intentional or something that can be fixed.
In principle, G10 firmware retractions still make it easier to script a soluton (replacing each G10 or G11 by a sequence of M203, G10/G11, M203 to set E-axis speed then reset it around the operation) but this is less friendly to direct usage of same sliced files with different extrusion speed limits. |
Vertical lines with no layer adhesion | The Ender-3 has a problem that stems from the way the X-axis is mounted and which can often be a source for "jumping" in the Z area. Seeing the upper photo, you can see that the bad printing seems to be on one side more than the other, leading me to believe this might be the reason:
Check if the X gantry is orthogonal to the frame on both sides and make sure the eccentric nuts are not too tight so that the wheels roll easily on it, but not spin freely.
A little drop of oil on the Z-rod might also help to remove any binding, making sure that it moves smoothly.
If your layers are bad repeatedly, it also might be a problem with the extruder. Check if the extruder arm is all intact. When I had such an issue that was recurring every 10 layers, I found the lever arm holding the wheel on it broken and occasionally loosing contact. If it is broken, I suggest swapping the extruder assembly for a metallic one. |
Is using a hair dryer on my M3D build plate safe? | Typically, people cool down their build plates to get parts to release, rather than heat them up. That said, I doubt a hair drier will get hot enough to do any damage to the build plate. You could try it with no harm done. |
Getting E1 Thermal Runaway errors, even after replacing the heating element on Tevo Tarantula | 1 PID Tune
Changing the thermosensor or the heater cartridge is a big change in the system: each of these items has internal errors differing them from each other item. If your thermosensor has a different standard resistance by a small way than the one before, if the resistance of the cartridge is different, then the chip gets readings it does not expect. This is why a change of either of these components (or to a different heater block size/material for the matter) one should run a PID tune, teaching the chip how the new sensor/cartridge behave.
To do this, connect to your Printer via an USB Cable and run a software that can send raw gcode. I prefer Repetier Host, but other software also works. I like to follow the instructions of the e3D v6 assembly manual, but the video by Tom (Thomas Sanladererer) and the RepRap Wiki have excellent explanations too.
Send M303 E0 S200 C8
wait for finishing
send M301 with the values you just got returned. One example might read M301 P17.28 I0.63 D118.87
sent M500 to update your EEPROM
If this doesn't help, we might have a bigger problem, so let's go troubleshooting! Hardware first, then Firmware.
A few useful hints that Thomas Sanladerer found when he was checking his printers for fire hazards:
A shorted out thermosensor (closed loop, 0-Resistance) triggers Maxtemp
A burnt out thermosensor (open loop) triggers Mintemp
A non-connected or burnt out (open loop) Cartridge triggers thermal runaway, as does any other error with the cartridge that leads to abnormal heating.
2 Check the Hardware
Hardware can fail, we all know that. But luckily there are only 5 items involved that could fail:
2.1 Check all connections
If the heater cartridge is not connected properly, that will result in a Thermal Runaway Error, as the thermosensor does not detect any change.
A non connected thermosensor will trigger a mintemp error, a shorted thermosensor will trigger maxtemp error.
2.2 Check the resistance of the heater cartridge
A broken heater cartridge can have two results: either it conducts no electricity at all (for example if a lead is broken), or it acts as a jumper and has no resistance at all. To check this, use a multimeter and measure the resistance in Ohm by connecting it to the leads of the cartridge while it is dismounted. A broken circuit in the cartridge triggers Thermal Runaway, a shorted out cartridge can break the board in worst case. A pictoral guide for analogue Multimeters.
My e3D light6 in my 12 V TronXY has a resistance of about 5.2 Ω. The Value you will get depends on what kind of heater cartridge you use. For reference: e3D Heater Cartridges are documented to be around 4.8 Ω for 12 V & 30 W, 3.6 Ω for 12 V & 40 W, 19.2 Ω for 24 V 30 W and 14.4 Ω for 24 V 40 W.
If your Value is given as infinite or near 0 Ω, your heater cartridge is broken - Though having 3 defect heater cartridges seems unlikely on first glance, unless something shortens their lifespan considerably.
2.3 Check your supply voltage
Now comes a thing that can be dangerous for you will measure a live circuit. Be aware that you are working with live current when you do this. Do NOT bring your fingers into contact with unshielded wires!
Set your Multimeter to check the Voltage. Connect the test probes to the output of the power supply that runs into the board. Power up the voltage supply. It should read close to 12 or 24V, depending on your machine.
2.4 Check the voltage given by the board
Again, this is measuring live current and can be dangerous. Use maximum care not to fry yourself!
If your Power supply is working, then it might be the board that is not allowing the current to get the heater cartridge. So we need to measure if it gets power. Since I=U/R, and we have established that R is not 0 or infinity (see above), we can establish if there is I by simply measuring U, which is the voltage.
Mount the tips of your multimeter into the clamps that should take the leads for the heater cartridge and set it to measure the Voltage. Make sure they have contact. Connect the machine to power and start it up. Order it to heat up the cartridge. It should show a voltage that is similar to your supply voltage (12/24V).
2.5 Thermosensor
The Thermosensor might trigger an error if it is faulty but not entirely broken. A broken thermosensor should trigger MINTEMP for a broken open and MAXTEMP for a shorted out sensor. The only way to test this would be to measure it against items of known temperature, for example using the bed sensor as Benchmark.
3 Check the Firmware
3.1 Thermosensor settings
In some cases, the temperature tables of the thermosensors are not compatible and one has to change the settings for that in the firmware. One of the best rundowns I know is in the e3D light6/v6 firmware manual, if you need more help than this.
In the Marlin 1.9 you do this in Configuation.h, under the header Thermal Settings. In my Ender 3 this is done in line 289:
#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5
That means, that my temperature sensor 0 (the one in the hotend) is of type 5, where type 5 is defined in the block above. The relevant line 256 of my file reads:
* 5 : 100K thermistor - ATC Semitec 104GT-2 (Used in ParCan & J-Head) (4.7k pullup)
The most common choice in Chinese hotends to use this very 4.7-kiloohm pullup thermistor table, and the actual specific table for most of these is reasonably close to the 5. Other thermosensors can be reasonably overlapping, but in case you change the style of thermosensor, it is generally advised to change this value accordingly1. Always run a PID tuning after changing the thermosensor table!
3.2 Thermal Runaway Protection
The settings for the Thermal Runaway Protection might be worth a look. Maybe it is a little trigger happy? Configuration_adv.h contains a block titled Thermal Settings, containing when to trigger the emergency shutdown. For my Ender3 it reads like this:
#if ENABLED(THERMAL_PROTECTION_HOTENDS)
#define THERMAL_PROTECTION_PERIOD 40 // Seconds
#define THERMAL_PROTECTION_HYSTERESIS 4 // Degrees Celsius
From your error log, I guess that your printer has the second line as 30 seconds. It would be technically safe to increase this time to up to 120 seconds, but I strongly suggest not to go over 60 seconds.
1 - I had switched the whole hotend on my TronXY X1 for an e3D light6, and it only needed a PID tune, but in theory I should have also swapped the Firmware to reflect that - but, as said, luckily many Chinese printers use the table 5 even if they are not using the sensor. Table 5 was made for the thermosensors used by e3D. |
Printerbot printing stringy | The most common cause of print issues like this is incorrect first-layer gap between the nozzle and bed. You can tell if that's the problem by trying to print with a raft and/or letting the print continue for a while. If the raft helps and the print eventually "heals up" and only the bottom few mm are bad, then you have a bed leveling / nozzle gap issue The bed must be leveled to the nozzle properly, or nothing will work right.
When using a probe, you need to follow the manufacturer's instructions for how to configure it. For example, are you adjusting the Z offset in firmware configuration.h or in EEPROM? Printrbot should have a guide for this.
If the nozzle gap is fine and the stringiness continues farther up the print, there are two main causes:
XY or Z movement is larger than intended due to incorrect steps/mm value or wrong microstepping setting
Severe under-extrusion
Of the two, under-extrusion is far more common, and unfortunately has lots of possible causes:
Printing too cold for the material
E-axis steps/mm is incorrect for the extruder drive hardware and microstepping
Extruder stepper current is too low
Extruder hardware is misaligned or jamming or the teeth are full of plastic dust
Partial nozzle clog or damaged PTFE tube in the hot end
Commanded flow rate through the nozzle is too high, such as if you're trying to print big, fat strands at high speeds
Incorrect slicer calibration (eg extrusion multiplier is too low) or inappropriate slicer settings (eg extrusion width too large for the nozzle size)
Excessive filament feed path drag between the spool and extruder drive
The first under-extrusion tests you should start with are:
Preheat and try to push filament through the hot end by hand. Can you get a strand to come out without a ton of force? Does it go mostly down, or curl back up to hit the nozzle?
Remove the hot end from the extruder drive, and command 100mm of filament motion through the extruder. Measure how much travel you actually get. It should be close to 100mm.
With the hot end removed, command some filament motion, and try to stop the filament from moving by hand. Does it take some significant force to get the extruder to stall or slip?
Based on these, you should have a better idea of what needs to be fixed. |
Curated resin size shrink (and methods to reduce it) | Generally, this behavior isn't well reearched as of this moment, and it would be dependant on your specific resin. While I can't tell you if your resin is affected by shrink or even uneven shrink, I can give you the method of how to investigate:
Download or design a cube with a well-known dimension. I'd suggest a cube of 20 mm side length. It's best to indent the orientation onto the surfaces. One such model would be thing 3090144, which has a version that is hollow and has a hole to let out resin, but there are others.
Align the X, Y and Z with the letter into the positive side of the axis in your slicer.
Print.
After Printing, clean and cure
Only after curing, measure the X and Y and Z dimensions with calipers.
Calculate shrinkage: Measurement divided by 20 gets you the shrinkage or expansion, multiply by 100 for percent. |
Long Print with Lotmaxx SC-10 | I've printed jobs taking as long as 50 hours over a weekend using a German Reprap x400.
Used a large enough UPS to support the printer and the computer.
Printed the gcode file from a USB card instead of the computer, so that a computer update or reboot doesn't interfere with the print. [If you can't print from media independent of the computer, you can disconnect your computer from the network and/or internet.]
Overnight prints still fail sometimes, probably from power issues the UPS doesn't filter out. Often this means the filament material melts all over the hot end instead of sticking to the print on the bed and leaves a mess to clean up.
Other than that, I'm not sure of the risk for your particular printer model. |
Bed design for magnetic easy release when printing PLA | Follow up:
I used the 6mil magnet, cut a sheet of thin steel, (about .5mm) to fit, added a layer of Buildtak and now it's much easier to remove prints, build surface is very flat. I assume you could deform the metal beyond the magnet's ability to flatten it but it works quite well. The metal was cut with sheet metal snips, risky as they can bend the sheet. Probably better done with a saw though. |
Printing problem on right half of printer | Your bed level according to the sensor and reality is changing between the time of probing and the time of printing. There is not enough info to determine exactly where the problem is, but the possible causes and solutions are most likely:
Bed or X-carriage is mechanically loose: ensure all axis and parts of the printer are tight, including the hot-end mount
Bed temperature changes have affected the bed level: ensure the bed is at operating temperature during all manual and automated leveling
Sensor is not reading correctly across the entire bed due to the magnetic sensitivity of the bed or hot-end heating elements: either enable the PROBING_HEATERS_OFF compile-time feature in Marlin or disable the bed and hot-end heaters immediately prior to the automated bed leveling procedure using the code:
M140 S0; set bed temperature target to zero
M104 S0; set hot-end temperature target to zero
then turn them both back on to your desired temperature immediately afterward probing using the same M104 and M140 command syntax to their respective desired temperatures |
Can you help me improve my Renkforce RF1000 print quality? | Should I replace the nozzle with this one so that I know what nozzle I've got and so I'm sure this isn't a problem?
That is not really necessary. The exact nozzle size does not really matter.
Should I replace the filament with new 1.75 mm PLA? If so, why?
No, there's no reason to do that. Going from 3 mm to 1.75 mm filament usually requires replacing the entire extruder.
How do I fix the extruder?
Tighten the grub screw (the "black hole") with a hex key.
Is the unconnected fan important and if so: what do I do with it? There's no remaining wire to connect it to.
The fan appears to be cooling the stepper motor. This shouldn't really be necessary, the stepper should be fine without any additional cooling. People tend to "upgrade" their printers by adding unnecessary bells and whistles so it is possible the original owner added this fan just because they wanted to, and not because it is necessary.
How tight should the 4 screws that hold the filament between the extruder and the rolling disk be?
Tight enough that the extruder grips the filament and is able to extrude it consistently. If it is too tight it might deform the filament too much which could cause printing problems but it should be obvious if this is the case. There is a wide margin here so don't worry about this too much. |
how to control fine details from overhanging part to not build upwards | I think the issue is unsupported overhangs. There is not enough material to support the first layer of each small tooth. Have a look at how your slicer slices the first couple layers at the bottom. It might be that it tries to reduce the angle to 45°, so that it can print overhangs, or the overhangs are drooping before the next layer can assist with support.
Looking at your first two images, I think the printed top part of the tooth is actually quite similar to your 3D design.
You can fix this by making the tooth profile from the side have a 45° slope to maximum height, and the same on the top if you want the teeth to appear symmetrical. |
Is this fuse a good choice for my Prusa i3's power supply and RAMPS 1.4? | No, do not use this fuse. The current rating is too high to be reasonable for your printer. It will "work" in the sense that your printer will get power, but it won't provide anywhere near as much protection as a lower-rated fuse.
10A is a lot of current for mains voltage. Depending on what else you have plugged in, there is a fair chance your home's 15A breaker will trip before this fuse does, which kind of defeats the point of having it.
Even for "fast" fuses, it takes a significant amount of time for them to blow when conducting their rated current. The internal fusible link has to heat up and melt before the fuse stops conducting. The less the overload current exceeds the rating, the longer that takes. A 10A fuse conducting a 10.5A short might take 30 seconds to trip. In the meantime, your printer is melting. Lower-rated fuses will trip faster for the same short and thus provide better protection.
You need to size fuses as small as possible for the required current draw if you want to have any hope of rapidly cutting off an excessive-current event.
I would recommend a 4A fuse in the USA for this 350w power supply. (Note: the listing title says 360 but the photos show 350.) I use 4A fuses in several printers with 120v / 350w PSUs and they do not trip. But you can do the math for yourself:
350 watts / 120 volts / 80% efficiency = 3.64A
The smallest fuse you can find that is larger than this value is what you should use.
Now, we can argue over whether 80% is the right efficiency value... it could be lower. The PSU label says 6.5A input is required, but that amount of current draw implies either a <50% efficiency (which is quite poor for this kind of PSU) or would only occur for abuse/surge scenarios like starting very large motors. Such short-lived inrush events generally won't trip a fuse unless you do something dumb like lock the rotor. And none of that applies to the small microstepping-driver stepper motor systems we're working with here. This PSU should not draw more than 4A in normal 3D printer use.
Looking at this on the other end -- how much damage will 10A do versus 4A? Lots. If the short is in the 12v system, and the PSU's short protection doesn't trip in (because it's a cheap knock-off) you would roughly multiply the AC fuse current times 10 to get the DC current. And 40A is a downright scary amount of current! Depending on wire gauge, putting 40A through heatbed wiring may make it smell and smoke. Whereas putting 100A through heatbed wiring will almost certainly start a fire.
You're much safer with a 4A or even 6A fuse for this PSU than a 10A fuse. |
Is 'natural' colored filament equally brittle compared to white filament? | No
Natural colored filament has no pigments added, the ivory off-white color is the natural color of the mixture in the filament.
Also note, those white filaments can have much less than 50 % volume percentage of pigment, depending on the exact hue of white. The starkest cold whites might make that, warmer white can work with a lesser amount. Pigments are part of the filler materials. The other fillers make the filament behave in the designed way and can make up a considerable amount of the filament. Usually, less than 40 % are fillers compared to the PLA. |
Anet A8 Hotbed Not Heating Correctly | That is actually not uncommon to happen for the Anet heated beds, many users report this. Mine was able to reach about 100 ℃ out of the box (took a while to get there), but not beyond.
For the bed to reach higher temperatures you would need to make some adjustments. You should at least insulate the bottom of the heated bed with cotton or cork to reduce the heat dissipation by half. Note to speed up heating to e.g. 110 ℃, I often insulate the top of the plate with a removable piece of cotton or cork to remove it just before leveling and printing starts. Furthermore, replace the heated bed connector and solder the bed power wires directly to the pins at the back of the connector. That connector is NOT rated for the amount of current requested by the heat bed! E.g. due to the moving bed the connector jitters which leads to sparks; you see many pictures of burned or brown connectors on the internet. While you do that please consider replacing the wires to the heat bed also to some proper gauge silicone wire, AWG 14 should be good enough.
WARNING!
Last thing to mention of prime importance is that the stock firmware of the Anet printers has NO thermal runaway protection! I.e. if your hot end thermistor would fall out of the nozzle block, the firmware would detect the temperature drop and will keep sending current even if it does not measure a temperature rise. This leads to an overheated nozzle and is definitely considered to be a fire hazard!
Edit:
The answers to question How to increase bed temperature over 103 degrees are of great value to this question. |
Can I mix TMC drivers with A4988 on the same RAMPS board? | Yes you can mix different drivers, including the TMC drivers (e.g. using for X and Y only).
How you do that is described in this instructable.
Please do note that, from observations, the 8-bit based Arduino boards and shields such as the RAMPS are becoming more or less obsolete; the 32-bit based controller boards are becoming mainstream. Such boards have a lot more potential in execution speed, memory and more available options for peripherals. |
RAMPS PLUS 2 and E1 socket problem (K200 Delta, but related to the PCB , not printer) | Repetier reads configuration from the printer when a connection is established, so as long as it gets info about 2 heads it will display it.
The best approach will be to disable heatbed or hotend directly in the firmware and reflash the printer. You could also swap pins on the board.
When you decide to reflash the firmware, you could check with producer if they have suitable one or use Marlin (this is a configuration guide). |
How to generate gcode only for first layer? | I understand your question like this:
I know I could cut the mesh and just slice the bottom of my model, but since I am interested in a given number of layers and the heigh of a layer may change according to settings (e.g.: 0.2mm, 0.1mm, 0.05mm...), I want to find a way to generate an arbitrary number of layers from the full model. I use slic3r.
If my understanding is correct, then you can achieve what you want with a few steps.
Use verbose GCODE
The setting is under "Print settings → Output Options". This will output gcode with comments in it.
Save the finishing gcode of a valid printing job
Basically, open a valid gcode file, and save the last few lines (comments will help you to understand which ones, it changes from printer to printer) in a separate file (gcode.tail). These lines are typically those that move away the nozzle from the print, disable the heating element, the steppers and the part cooling fan.
Prepare the first-lines.sh script
#! /usr/bin/env sh
sed -e '/move to next layer (3)/,$d' $1 > /tmp/gcode.tmp
echo ~/gcode.tail >> /tmp/gcode.tmp
echo /tmp/gcode.tmp
What this script does is:
take a file name from the command line ($1) and savie into gcode.tmp only the part of it up to and excluding the line saying "move to the next layer (3)" (you should actually use the number of layers you actually want here, 3 is just an example). Again, the presence of such a line depends from you generating "verbose gcode".
append to gcode.tmp the content of the file gcode.tail (here replace ~/ with the actual path on your machine.
output as a stream the full content of gcode.tmp
Set your printer to automatically run the script onto the generated gcode
This setting is again under "Print settings → Output Options". You have to type in the full path to first-lines.sh. Also remember to make the script executable (chmod +x first-lines.sh).
You can also hover over the textbox to get additional information of how you can access slic3r variables there (for example you may want to read the layer height from the settings and compute within the script the number of layers you want to keep).
Profit
:)
Final notes:
I tried the sed command and have post-processing scripts running on my gcode myself, so it should work, but I haven't tried the full procedure myself, if you encounter bugs please leave a comment so I can fix the answer for everybody. :)
I use slic3r Prusa Edition (I believe these settings are the same, but just in case... you may wish to download that version.
All of the above should work out-of-the-box on all mainstream Linux distributions and OSX. For windows, it has been suggested in the comments to install CygWin.
Since this procedure still slices the full model and then throw away most of it, you could make it faster by only slicing a reasonably thick "bottom part" of your model. For example: say that you know you will never want to print more than 5 layers and never with a layer height past 0.3mm... in this case you could only keep the bottom 2mm of your model and you'd be safe for all other combinations of layers and layer heights. Don't keep exactly 1.5mm though, as this is likely to generate a different top layer than the one in the full model.
Good luck! :) |
Adding additional extrusion to a raft (raft with a skirt?) | In Ultimaker Cura you can select only one of the the build plate adhesion options skirt, brim or raft. You cannot select multiple options.
There is no option available in Ultimaker Cura to increase the outline count of the raft bed adhesion structure. Basically the raft exists of a line support structure as can be seen in the figure below.
The line around the lines should be considered "the skirt", so if the nozzle is not properly primed (not sufficient molten filament available), you need to properly prime the nozzle prior to printing.
To prime the nozzle, you need to add some extrusion of filament in your start G-code.
Personally, I like the style of Ultimaker where prior to printing, a puddle of filament is deposited priming the nozzle adequately. Basically you need to move to a position where you like to deposit filament:
G1 X10 Y10 Z2
Then you need to extrude material
G1 F125
G1 E10
G1 Z3 E5
After that you can even wipe the nozzle.
Another option (that requires some copy/pasting from your side and would not be a recommended practice) that is possible is slicing the model with a skirt (with a sufficient distance to stay away from the raft position) instead of a raft and look at the generated G-code and copy the skirt deposition codes into the raft G-code file. You do need to take care of the proper length of the extruder when the skirt followed by the raft, so you need to use G92 Exx.xx where xx.xx is the actual length of the filament start for the raft. |
Does Octoprint stop printing on Crash Detection? | You are describing precisely how the crash detection should work on the Prusa Mk3, so it is doing exactly what it should do. If you look into this video from Jozef Prusa you will see him explaining that in case a crash is detected (steps missed are registered because the Mk3 uses trinamic stepper drivers), the print head is homed and will immediately restart printing.
Please do read this interesting post; it describes your similar problems: after detection it resumes. He noteworthy mentions that even a few lines of G-code went missing, this is probably caused by the fact that OctoPrint buffers a few commands or something that get lost because the Pruse Mk3 crash fail safe kicks in.
In effect, OctoPrint is just a simple supplier of G-code commands and does not recognize the problem to act on it and will therefore continue sending new commands after the Prusa Mk3 crash has recovered (sending ok to OctoPrint for receiving new commands) from the crash and re-homed and got the temperatures back to normal levels.
An existing plugin for OctoPrint may help you in this case. The Action Trigger Plugin is able to detect events, but have to be implemented in your firmware. E.g. the action for filament describes:
This trigger will pause the print and home the X and Y axis, giving
the user the opportunity to change out the filament. The print needs
to be resumed manually through the UI.
Maybe it can be configured to pick up the existing event and issue a pause. It could be worth looking into this.
EDIT
Looking closer to the ActionTrigger plugin I noticed that you cannot configure it and the "manual" is very terse. I guess this might involve some serious hacking... |
Prusa i3 Z axis not moving up | Welcome to the group! A video would help. Or at least some photos.
Are both the motors connected? If you remove them from the coupling do they move? Likely it is binding (too much friction, not level etc) or you need to adjust your voltage controller. I am going to say 80% confident you need to play with the voltage.
Chances are it's just the voltage. I do not know what electronics you have but if they are RAMPS 1.4 then you are looking for these
Also here is the wiki on the 1.4. Just turn the screw gently. One direction will give it more power. The other less. When it has too much power your motors will start making a thud noise.
EDIT post adding the video
Oh yeah that is binding. If you wouldn't mind putting the video on youtube to that the video can help people for years to come? Dropbox is a bit volitle.
I would also in addition to my advice in your other question take a bubble leveler to all the rods. It could be a distortion on your camera but it looks like the rod is a bit bent. Also in my Prusa (original) I used to have to make the motor mounts lose, as it did not fit all that well and had binding issues. Try making the screws loose enough so that they float and can move around a lot. The lead screws are less important to the overall stability. |
Ball valve to be prototyped | Hey why to make it soooo sophisticated and poor?
Air valve cannot be designed with 2 stiff elements - it will never work.
Make the air your friend but not the enemy. Use old good rubber (silicone) "flake" instead. Especially when you have such small design.
Take a look on the picture.
Here you have black element which is rubber or silicone. It's sticked on one side. When air goes from the pipe (goes up) then rubber is slack so the air can flow. When you suck then rubber seals the pipe.
[edit]
You can find such solution in for example bike pumps, inflatable matterss pumps also gas masks and so on. It's pretty fine for low pressure.
Of course ball valves are also widely use but then such device has to have "rubber" ball nest so ball lies on the rubber ring to seal it. There has to be a spring to tight the ball to the ring. Without such spring turning the device upside down would cause the valve would not work at all.
Ball solutions are intended to higher pressure.
Please note the spring which tights a ball creates kinda threshold on the pressure level which means that pressure has to exceed a spring force to reduce a pressure. This doesn't occure in rubber valve.
I don't know what device you are trying to prototype but I'm pretty sure a rubber valve will be just fine.
Please also note that sealing surface is very low in ball valve solution but in rubber valve it can be almost unlimited so it can seal quite well even when the surface is not perfect. |
Identify temperature sensor | It is quite likely not a thermocouple, but a thermistor:
A thermocouple would look like a small blob of metal. The tip of your temperature sensor appears to be a glass bead, which is a commonly used way to encase thermistors.
Thermocouples are polarized. The fact that the wiring is not "directional" suggests it is a thermistor.
Thermocouples are used in high-temperature applications (such as a high-temperature hotend for printing specialty materials), where a thermistor would break down. The bed is not such a high-temperature application.
You can easily verify this with a multimeter. If it was a thermocouple, its resistance would be near zero. With a thermistor, you should see a decent amount of resistance (most 3D printing thermistors are 100k at room temperature). |
My MakerBot 2 jams after a couple hours of prints | As you stated, it could be a result of the material beginning to melt before the extruder. Here's a few things to look out for:
Is your extruder temperature appropriate for the material? Typical printing temperatures can range anywhere from 200 - 225 °C for PLA (depending on the supplier). Often, if the extruder is too hot, the material will bubble or over extrude.
Is the material of proper quality? There's a reason MakerBot Industries wants you to use their filament (besides putting their hands in your pocket book), and that is repeatability. They've tested their filament on their hardware and ensured that the material will extrude with regular print settings.
Is the material being stored properly? Sometimes people forget to store PLA in a dry place to avoid absorbing moisture in the filament. If moisture is absorbed, it can perform poorly in the print. Indications of moisture can include a slight steam from the extruder and/or bubbles in the extruded material (similar to overheating).
Are the fans operating correctly? If the fans aren't running or aren't running enough, the filament begins to heat further up the extrusion assembly (closer to the drive gear) which can inhibit extrusion. I know that MakerWare/MakerBot Desktop has been updated lately with more emphasis on controlling fans for active cooling, so make sure that your fan(s) are operating for duration of the print as necessary.
All and all, your filament is getting too hot. If you can't determine the sudden change, consider printing with a lower extruder temperature from now on. However, if you're using MakerBot filament (or similar quality) then I would definitely verify that your machine is calibrated, wires are fully connected, and settings are double checked. If all is as expected, then you should call MakerBot support (since they're closed source now, they technically have an obligation to help you) especially since the machine is so new. |
Resetting the zero position of the X axis on a RepRapPro Mendel Mono | I think the cleanest option is to move the X-endstop back about a centimeter to match, and then increase the size of the bed in both Slic3r's and the printer's settings.
You could also try using M206 to set a persistent offset after homing. |
PETG warping - adhesion or temperature too high? | PETG is a pain to print with, but adhesion/warping usually isn't the issue.
To begin with, fan should be completely off for PETG unless you hit problems that necessitate a fan, and then only minimal. Certainly not 50% or 100%. Fan will seriously impact adhesion between layers and give you brittle prints. It also might be responsible for the warping you're seeing, but the biggest issue here is that you have an adhesion problem.
I'm not sure if blue tape is generally recommended for PETG. The Buildtak clone that came with my (original, not v2) Ender 3 adheres extremely well (if anything, too well) with PETG so I've never worried about adhesion with it. But if it's not adhering to your blue tape or v2 coated-glass bed (or if you're concerned about ruining that bed from PETG adhering too well) you need to find something it will adhere to. I'd suggest getting a Buildtak-clone Ender 3 v1 bed surface (you can find these cheap) and clipping it to your bed (since you presumably don't want to glue it over the v2's much nicer bed).
I guess I should mention that distance to build surface could also be the issue. Make sure the bed is leveled correctly. I don't like the paper method because it's too imprecise; the best way I've found is to move the Z axis to 0.1 mm and adjust until 0.1 mm feeler gauges fit under it with some friction and 0.15 mm ones don't fit at all. |
Is there a way to print on a 3D printed surface? | Rather than post a series of links for various services and vendors, consider to use as a search term "hydrographic film at home" to find results to suit your purpose. The first search results I found excluded "at home" and indicated it was not suited for home/hobbyist use, but the modification resulted in vendors supportive of home users.
In advanced circumstances, the image printed on the film is topographically matched to the model to which it is to be applied. For home users, I suspect that is somewhat out of reach. Most of the products aimed at the home user are patterns or solid colors, although with care, one could combine films in sequential applications.
Effectively, the process involves a colored film floating on a water filled container. Certain products are applied to the film and to the prepared model to ensure bonding. Additional processes are required to protect the graphic-coated model after removal from the bath/container.
As with the other responses, it's not likely one will achieve 300 dpi resolution without resorting to the topographically matched commercial methods. |
What's the purpose of the "outlines" around prints? | I am curious, what is the purpose of printing a single-height outline around the objects to be printed?
The (equidistant) lines at distance from the print object is called the "skirt", the skirt is an option found under the "Build Plate Adhesion" options in your slicer. The primary function of the skirt is to get the flow going, but there are more benefits you can get from the skirt:
You can find out whether the bed is correctly levelled, or if the bed has concave or convex areas (the skirt should be a line, I prefer at least 2 lines, of consistent thickness, if not, this may hint to incorrect levelling;
You can find out if there is enough or a sufficient amount of adhesive (e.g. glue stick, hair spray, specific print adhesion sprays like 3DLAC or DimaFix, etc), if not the bed might be greasy or lacking the adhesion product;
You can configure the skirt height to use the skirt as a shield for draft or ooze and distance to product);
Also, how would it affect the outline if the object to be printed extends to (very near) the very edge of the print area?
Do note that a skirt limits the useable build area by the distance and width of the skirt.
Basically this has been answered (see this answer and this answer) in a different question ("Random lines are being printed?"), but it might be beneficial to answer this question rather than closing this for a dupe. This question is focussed on the skirt, the equidistant lines around the print object, while the other question focuses on the priming line. |
HDPE as the body of a 3-D Printer? | The main consideration when building the body/frame of a 3D printer is the stiffness. The stiffer the material, the less the frame will deform under load, and the more accurate and repeatable your results will be.
UHMW has a Tensile Modulus of Elasticity around 120,000 psi (http://www.polytechindustrial.com/products/plastic-stock-shapes/uhmw-polyethylene)
Aluminium has a Modulus of Elasticity around 10,000,000 psi (Mott, Applied Strength of Materials, 5th Edition, depends on the specific alloy)
Aluminium is around 100 times stiffer than UHMW. |
Convert G-code to SVG | There are a number of programs available which will convert g-code to DXF, a common drawing format. If your device does not support DXF directly, there are a number of programs to convert DXF to SVG. I would paste links but a quick search with your favorite search engine should give you useful results. The better conversion programs will allow you to eliminate movement g-code entries, which prevents connections between lines. I did not paste links, as my research shows such variety as to be overwhelming. |
Why keep the bed heated after initial layer(s) with PLA (or PETG)? | There are three reasons (I can think of):
A large problem you'd face with allowing the bed to cool after first layer is you stand the chance of losing adhesion after it cools. When you heat the bed, it expands somewhat. When it cools it contracts. It has been known for parts to actually pop off the bed if left on there to cool (after a print). If you allow the bed to cool fully, you could ruin a print due to it losing the adhesion, popping off the bed, then the printer keeps on going.
When you're dealing with 0.1 mm layer height, that's not a lot of wiggle room. When you level your bed before printing, it should be done after everything is heated. If you were to turn off the bed after you start printing, you could very easily shift the bed enough to take up the worth of an entire layer, which means your print has adjusted and will then have major imperfections. This isn't a given, but definitely a concern ... especially for larger or taller prints.
Whether PLA or PETG, the extruded filament needs to have heat in order to stay. This is not only heat in the extruder, but heat in the print itself. If the print cools off, this could affect subsequent adhesion for the filament getting laid down. If you turn the bed heater off after print start, you'll lose that heated environment. The print will cool off and you'll start seeing variations in the print, which, if the print is large enough, would most likely be more noticable. Think of it as a heated environment, not just putting piling host plastic on top of each other.
There may be other reasons, but I believe these are very good reasons not to turn your bed off after print start. If you are worried your power supply isn't providing enough power, then get a bigger power supply. If you're worried about power consumption overall, once the bed is heated, consumption goes way down (as @r_ahlskog stated in their answer). |
In Cura, can I make my top and bottom layer be all perimiters? | I found the answer myself just after posting - I'm posting it because it might be helpful to other Cura novices.
There is a setting for this, it's just that it's not shown by default. In print settings, you have to click on the three lines next to the search box, and select "Show All Settings". Then you can find a setting called "Top/Bottom Pattern". Setting this to "concentric" does what I described.
Actually this setting affects not just the top and bottom layers, but all layers that are part of the top and bottom shell. This seems like a good thing, but if you really want to affect just the bottom layer, there's a setting "Bottom Pattern Initial Layer" that does this. There is also a setting under "Experimental" called "Top Surface Skin Pattern" that I think does the same for just the top layer.
In addition to "Concentric" there is also a "Zig Zag" option that's quite similar to the default "Lines" mode.
You can also change the visibility of settings in the preferences menu, to make these settings show up by default. |
Vertical vs Horizontal shapes printing | Thingieverse does respect the orientation an item was designed in, just like most slicers will. Designers will often choose any one of the three planes (XY, YZ, ZX) as their first by preference, then work out the other parts in relation to the first. This does often not take into account the actual print orientation it should be printed in.
In the case of this box, you'd have to turn all items around the Y-axis (the front-left to back-right one) by 90°, first to the front, then the back then to the front again, getting almost 0 overhangs. |
Multiple unattended prints using extruder to sweep build plate? | You could cool down the heated bed (with e.g. [M109][1] R28) and cool down the hotend (with e.g. [M190][1] R40). This will usually release the print from the plate, perform the actions to move the head (e.g. go to the largest X, Y position G1 X{max} Y{max}, move down G1 Z10 to then move to minimum X, Y G1 X0 Y0 position such that it sweeps the print to the origin) that it knocks it into the basket and start printing again by copy pasting the whole G-code beforehand a couple of times. Note that this all depends on the product you are printing. You should at least use the end code scripts for the specific tasks to cool down, and start scripts to heat up again.
You can write a Cura plugin to implement a new GUI item to copy the G-code multiple times or create a post processing plugin. |
PVA support with small tolerances | You've not stated this, but one must presume that you have a dual or multi-material extruder equipped printer.
Because PVA dissolves in water, the supports will be eroded on contact when the part is immersed. As the PVA dissolves, it increases the concentration of PVA in the water, but only slightly. You would have to agitate the water, change it if you feel it is becoming too concentrated. At some point, you should be able to rotate the cylinders, creating more turbulence, causing more PVA to dissolve into the water.
If you are determined enough, you can cause all of the PVA to dissolve, followed by a rinse with clean water. This would remove any residual PVA.
The water containing the dissolved PVA is somewhat sticky, but would not glue parts together if the parts were thoroughly rinsed. It's not out of the question to use an ultrasonic cleaner with plain water to provide sufficient turbulence, again changing the water periodically to keep the concentration low.
If you use an ultrasonic cleaner, test a sample of your print filament to determine if the heat generated will soften the plastic. I've had success with PVA to the extent that I have not had to use an ultrasonic cleaner to remove it. |
Marlin 1.0 works: Marlin 2.0 destroys Z-axis motion | I believe (from reference) the default steps per mm for the FLSUN 3D Cube are:
X, Y, Z, E0
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 100, 100, 400, 150 }
Default marlin 2.0.x are:
X, Y, Z, E0
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 80, 80, 4000, 500 }
Such a setting would explain the excessive speeds; while the printer only needs 400 steps for advancing a single millimeter, the stepper receives 4000, this implies a tenfold, hence larger displacement and higher speeds. |
Which proximity sensor to use? | Tomas Sanladerer has produced a nice video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9bNWn66BY
@ 7:31 you see an overview of the precision of various sensors, including the ones you mention. It appears that the M12-4 and M18-8 sensors are more accurate than the M8-8. |
Minimum MOSFET rating for MK3 heatbed | and welcome to the Stack Exchange 3D Printing site.
Let's look at the specs compared with the requirements.
How much power is used by the heated bed? You have specified 120W (12V, 10A). That information makes it easy! On my homebrew printer it is higher, but that seems like a good high limit for a typical i3-style design.
So, the MOSFET you propose, assuming you completely turn it on, will dissipate 0.01 ohms * 10A^2, or 1 watt. This will warm the part, and you probably should attach it to a heat sink, which could be as simple as the existing extrusions. There is a much more complete answer to this exact question on the Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange site: Dissipating 1W on a TO-220 without heatsink?
I doubt the PID frequency is higher than 40 KHz. Since the Vgs rating you referenced is specified with 10V on the gate, you can't drive that directly from an Arduino pin. You need another driver transistor (NPN or FET) to drive the power FET gate. The turn-on time for the power FET will be determined (in the simplest circuit) by the pull-up resistor to +12v connected to the output of the transistor and the gate of the FET. |
What clearance should I leave between parts that are supposed to fit together perfectly when using a .6mm diameter nozzle? | First, find or make a tolerance checking test print. This basically just involves a few cylinders with diameters something like 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, ... mm smaller than a cylindrical hole, and lets you figure out what works without going through lots of iterations on your actual part design or time on the printer. Make note that diameter (2 gaps) vs radius/gap-width (single gap) is a really important distinction here.
With that said, your design does not look well-suited to 3D printing. The purple studs are going to break. That's pretty much a given. And overall there are just way too many pieces. A big part of the advantage of 3D printing is that you don't have to assemble things out of parts that would be easy to produce (or available stock) with traditional manufacturing methods. You can often produce a complete working result all in one print, or two or three if there really need to be separable parts.
I would replace the purple studs and red piece that looks like it's intended to allow easy connection/removal with a threaded interface. That would distribute the forces much more evenly, and it's easier to print. If you don't care what orientation it stops at, it's super easy; otherwise you have to put some sort of stop or predict where the friction will hold it. |
Which algorithm does Marlin use to create arcs? | The algorithm is based on the "Vector rotation by transformation matrix", and this solution is based on a solution from Jens Geisler. The formula for clockwise rotation is:
More information about the vector rotation can be found on Wikipedia. |
PTFE detoriation temperature | Degradation starts at 260 °C and shifts towards full blown decomposition towards 350 °C. 250 °C is technically fine, but you should keep in mind that you've got little to no wiggle room for error at that temperature. Your thermistor and board may not be accurate enough to guarantee you'll never overshoot that temperature, and the way 3D printers often handle temperature adjustment exacerbates that risk. You can print at 250 °C, just be aware you've got basically no margin for error. |
How to express dwell time in G-code | Depending on your G-code flavor you may be able to use M109 (heat and wait) instead. If supported M109 will wait until the target temperature is achieved. |
Equally spaced surface flaws | The surface defects you describe is caused by Z-wobble. Basically this leads back in a defect in the Z axis gantry where X and/or Y movements are transferred into the print head. This can be cause by:
a damaged nut,
lead screw not straight,
stick-slip,
binding,
lead screw out of alignment with the coupler,
lead screw touching the stepper shaft in the coupler,
the Z guide (at the other side of the X-axis arm; the one without the extruder mounted on it) has too much friction of the wheels on the profile,
play on the carriage,
lead screw should be the same distance from the extrusion profile from top to bottom,
etc. |
What is the best infill pattern for shearing strength? | Yes, some infill patterns are better than others for preventing separation of layers. Basically (modulo some assumptions about uniformity of distribution of force), the shearing strength of the part in the Z direction at a particular layer is going to be proportional to the surface area of bonding between successive layers. So infill patterns that stack identical infill extrusions on top of each other at each layer should be expected to be much stronger than patterns where successive layers make only partial contact. In other words, "2D infill patterns" - grid, lines, triangles, tri-hexagon - should be a lot stronger than "3D infill patterns" - cubic, octet, gyroid, ... This matches my experience printing bolts oriented along the Z-axis - ones printed with gyroid snap easily unless other measures are taken to strengthen them, while ones printed with triangles are fairly strong (though nowhere near as strong as ones printed oriented in the XY plane.
If you have other reason to prefer a "3D infill pattern", its weakness can be mitigated mostly by increasing the infill line width, so that the lines of successive layers which don't entirely overlap still touch on more surface area. (Just increasing the infill line width also works to make "2D infill patterns" even stronger.) However, be aware that with high print speed typically used for infill, increasing infill line width can easily exceed the capability of your hotend, resulting in underextrusion, extruder skipping, and stringing all over the place. |
How to improve resolution using 0.3mm nozzle? | knowing that the min layer height can be 1/4 the size of the nozzle?
I'm not sure if that is a limitation of your printer specifically, but going "down" there is really no hard limitation to the layer thickness ratio that I know of or have experienced myself. At least not on modern printers using standard stepper motors and 1.75mm filament (older 3mm printers were more limited on this).
Going "up" you will hit a hard limit at around 3/4 of your nozzle diameter, as layers will have a hard time bonding to each other past that, and the wall surface will be very corrugated (but I take your question about "best settings" is about making the print better, so with thinner layers...)
If you print at reasonable (as in: not too fast) speed and have calibrated your extrusion properly, you should be able to print at any layer height your printer supports, the limiting factor normally being the mechanical precision of your printer / the gearing of your stepper motor.
In particular, you should try to print at layer heights that are multiple of the distance your printer will travel upwards for each step of your stepper motor.
Simplifying a bit how stepper motors work: say that your screw raises 8mm for each revolution of the stepper motor, and your stepper does 200 steps per revolution... your printer will raise 8mm/200 = 0.04mm per step. If you print at 0.05mm, most layers will be 0.04mm, with 1 in 4 being 0.08mm to compensate for the lost 0.01mm at each layer. This will produce noticeable defects in the print.
The information on how your Z axis is geared is seldom available in the official specification sheet, but usually there is always somebody knowing it on the printer user forums.
As for "best settings", those depends typically from the type and brand of filament being used, as well as from the 3D model geometry. Printing slowly is always a good idea though, as it limits the "noise" on the print due to vibration.
In your particular example, threads (which are substantially a very long overhang) will actually benefit from a high ratio between nozzle width and layer height (so a larger nozzle or a lower layer height). This is because, the overhang angle being the same, higher ratios will give more material to extrude onto at each layer. You can visualise this by thinking to how easier is to offset a stack of books compared to offsetting a stack of dice. |
Ender 2 LCD replacement | Not easily. Some folks have been messing with both 2 and 3 LCDs and based on their posts, the pinout is different between the two.
Ender 2 display pinout from when one GuzLightyear figured it out for Marlin (MKS MINI 12864 LCD):
-----
5V | · · | GND
MOSI | · · | LCD_RS
LCD_A0 | · · || BTN_EN2
RESET | · · | BTN_EN1
BTN_ENC | · · | SCK
-----
From a user called arnd13, the Ender 3 equivalent would be:
-----
5V | · · | GND
MOSI | · · | LCD_A0
SCK | · · || BTN_EN2
CS | · · | BTN_EN1
BTN_ENC | · · | Buzzer
-----
Maybe you have some luck in debugging your screen (sometimes with these LCD screens, a contrast adjustment resolves the issue). |
Prusa i3 hotend not getting to the temperature that I want (180 to 230 celsius) | Usually, this kind of problem is due to an issue with the control loop of the temperature. You can try to do PID Tuning by running the command M303 E0 S200 C8. This will heat up the hot end and cycle it around 200C a few times, and afterwards tell you Kp, Ki and Kd values which you need to enter into the PID settings of your firmware configuration, or store them in EEPROM using M301.
If this does not solve the problem, then disconnect the heater cartridge and check its resistance with a multimeter. For a 12V system, it should not be higher than 6Ω (24Ω for a 24V system).
If the heater cartridge is okay, then perhaps it is a problem with the power supply. While the hotend is heating up, measure the voltage across the heater cartridge. It should not be much less than the nominal 12V/24V your printer runs at. If it is, you may have a bad MOSFET or power supply.
Finally, if you have a very powerful fan blowing on the hotend this can cause issues with heating up as well. Adding a fan shroud (or pointing the fan away from the nozzle and only at the print) can help with this. |
Object got unstuck from printing mat | You have to secure your print to the build plate.
One thing that I always do is to use a brim in cura. prints a single layer which extends in all direction away from your object, adding extra adhesion between your object and the print bed.
You can also use a slower extrusion speed for your initial layer but I would use this after trouble shooting everything else since you will be adding time to each print.
If you are using a heated bed make sure that the temperature is set for the correct material. For PLA i think that is 40C-60C.
We put down a layer of craft/school elmers stick glue before most prints. This helps a bit with adhering to the build plate, and also seems to allow the prints to pop off a bit easier.
Also be sure to double check you Z calibration and your bed level. If there are inconsistencies and your nozzel moves to far away from you bed, you will be extruding in air and not getting and stickage at all. |
Out of order operations on AnyCubic Prusa-I3 clone | This is just your slicer doing this. If you inspect the G-code file, you will see that the printer is faithfully doing what the slicer told it to. Most slicers use a fairly simple heuristic for determining the order in which lines are processed, which sometimes comes up with sub-optimal solutions like these. |
Manual Color Changing | It takes at least a few cm of extrusion to purge the old color before switching to a new one due to mixing in the melt zone, and possibly much more depending on the particular pigments. If the old color is something bright like red and the new one is white or something close, it can even take many tens of cm before you get a clean new color.
Multi-color extrusion setups either use separate hotends per color or fancy retraction setups where each color can be retracted separately, along with purge towers. You cannot get a clean color switch in the print just by having one in the input filament, and this is probably why all the mixed color filament that's sold is blended - so customers don't get disappointed when it doesn't work like you expect. |
Make holes in PLA print | You're going to have to drill those holes. The plastic will melt if you drill too quickly. If at all possible, use a slow speed drill, a hand drill, or wrap a cloth around a drill bit and twist it with your hand. If you go too fast, the part will melt. If you press to hard the part will break.
Once the hole has been drilled you will need to reinforce it with a metal/plastic tube of the required diameter. Press the tube into the hole. I don't know what your wall thickness is, but try to ensure the tube is the same length.
If at all possible you should get flanged tubes like these from mc master car:
The parts with the 1/2 inch inner diameter and 5/8 outer diameter should fit your 10 mm requirement. The rest is up to you. Go to mcmaster.com/inserts scroll down to "Other Inserts" then "Tube and tube fittings". |
Laser LA03-5000 wiring to RAMPS 1.4 | Please look into this question, this is a very similar question and also involves PWM and a RAMPS 1.4 shield.
In your case you connect the top red wire on the right bottom connector to the D4 pin and adjust the firmware accordingly as described in this answer.
The bottom 2 wires of the lower right connector should be connected to ground and 12 V (resp. black and red). |
Does PLA block wifi signals? | Typically the black pigments in polymers are mineral based. If you are having true WiFi issues then it sounds like your filiment is using black iron oxide also called magnetite for the black pigment. This is the same material they use in radar absorbing paints which would make sense as to why you are having radio related issues. |
Looking for CAD files of basic crystal structures | You may find that OpenSCAD regular polyhedron library may serve your requirements.
From the linked site:
All polyhedra are centered at the origin and have an edge length of 1.
From the linked site:
Included polyhedra:
tetrahedron
octahedron
hexahedron
icosahedron
dodecahedron
cubeoctahedron
truncated_tetrahedron
snub_cube
rhombicuboctahedron
truncated_hexahedron
truncated_octahedron
icosidodecahedron
snub_dodecahedron
rhombicosidodecahedron
truncated_cuboctahedron
truncated_icosahedron
truncated_dodecahedron
truncated_icosidodecahedron
OpenSCAD is a reasonably easy "description coding" program at the base level. I suspect that for something such as this, it might not qualify for the easy reference.
My search also linked up a few Thingiverse entries, but they weren't as sophisticated as the above and may be a subset of the library link. |
Printing a non-self-aligning caged deep-groove ball bearing | Two aspects of your question can immediately be addressed, one with much less certainty than the other.
If you were to print the indicated parts using PLA on an FDM printer and assembled as much as possible up to say, the outer bearing ring, you might be able to use boiling water to soften the ring with boiling water enough to get it around the balls. It's also possible that the deformation will effectively destroy the usefulness of the part.
On the other item, SLS is virtually perfect for this type of part. The un-sintered nylon powder provides positional support for all of the other parts being sintered. When the print is completed, the powder is blown out with high pressure air, freeing up the individual components as per the original design.
Be advised that there is to be expected some shrinkage of the parts which will affect any segment of the component that has tight or close clearances.
From Shapeways site regarding SLS printed parts (Shapeways)
Executive summary:
maintain a wall thickness of at least 1mm,
accuracy is 0.1mm,
always keep a clearance of 0.6mm
and parts may have a deviation of 0.2mm.
When designing something mechanical that has to be 3D printed or when adding a mechanical feature to your model there are several main considerations.
Also listed in the above link are the considerations of enclosed parts. Each of the balls in the bearing design may or will be printed as a hollow sphere filled with nylon powder. The bearing rings will also be printed as shells, unless appropriate steps are taken to make them solid.
By the same token, if a part need not be solid and can be designed with holes to "drain out" the un-sintered powder, the cost will be reduced accordingly. |
Layer height issues creating partial top layer | Your model isn't perfect. I took it into Windows 10 3D Builder for simplicity. I kept clicking the "Mirror" function and noticed as it basically flipped there is some slight movement. I measured some points from bottom to top and noticed some differences.
Try to take your model into some software to fix/flatten it. Or recreate it making sure its perfectly flat on both sides. It is definitely not your Cura software. |
How to make moving parts not stick together? | If parts stick together after printing, the positioning or extrusion is not working optimally.
This can be related to various issues:
Positioning of the head is not correct; this could be related to incorrect belt tension, incorrect steps per mm, streched belts.
The extrusion process is not working optimal; this could be related to over-extruding (incorrect steps per mm for the extruder, incorrect multiplier in the slicer, filament too hot) or the first layer height is incorrect (too low, so the lines spread out and tough each other). Extruder calibration is explained in more detail in this answer.
A very good start to verify what exactly your tolerance problem is is to print this tolerance test. Basically, these are diabolic shaped objects in a slightly larger outer shape object. Please slice this STL file with your favorite slicer to obtain the G-code for your printer. When the print is ready, you use a screwdriver to turn the diabolic shaped objects from large to small tolerance, the last one that does not turn is the maximum tolerance of your printer. So when printing in place hinges, you should use tolerance values higher than the one that did not turn. |
Creating a two part label for storage boxes | In OpenSCAD, apply the offset transformation to inset the letter outlines before extruding them. However you may find it works better to fill the sunken letter shapes with nail polish then remove the overflow with acetone; see my question & answer https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/10872/11157. |
Ender 3 with direct drive has severe stringing printing TPU | Due to the flexible characteristics of TPU, stringing is a known "complication" with this material.
is a video from Matterhackers:
no retraction - stringing is expected
dry filament - ensure the filament hasn't been exposed to the air for extended periods - use an oven or dehydrator if needed
There are many other tutorials and videos covering the process.
Tom Sanladerer has also a video covering the use of flexible filament.
ensure correct alignment of hobbed bolt and feed hole
consider to use a piece of PTFE tubing downstream of drive mechanism
use 3 mm (usually 2.85 mm nowadays) filament for better results (if possible)
bed temp - 40 °C with glue stick on bed
print slower
adjust extrusion multiplier by testing various settings
Obviously some of the above references don't apply or are being observed. |
How to remove adhered nylon from build platform? | One important and missing aspect of your question is what is your build platform? Glass is likely to give you the best results, while aluminum has some risks, depending on your choice of solvents.
My hasty research at first showed Glacial Acetic Acid to be a candidate, but as a very strong acid, it will require some care in use.
I found a pdf document with a comprehensive chart of possible solvents for nylon. The above noted solvent (100% acetic acid) lists with an Unsatisfactory result. I read this at first as being unsatisfactory for dissolving, but the correct interpretation is that nylon is unsatisfactory for being resistant to this solvent. Additional notes show nylon will dissolve in this solvent. I have a bottle of white vinegar (acetic acid) but the panel reads as five percent concentration, almost certainly ineffective for your purposes.
There are other solvents listed as unsatisfactory, which points them in the right direction for your purposes. A couple of them are in the chlorine family and no reference is made regarding concentration. Chlorine of even weak concentration will attack aluminum very quickly.
Despite the weak concentration of the white vinegar, I've dropped a segment of 3 mm nylon to see what happens overnight and may report via an edit here later. |
Arduino WEMOS and RAMPS | After having looked into them, these boards certainly seem to be rather interesting.
There appear to be two varieties of this board, as I have seen photos with either RobotDyn:
rear (from Instructables)
or WeMos logos on them.
They may, or may not, be the same. There is also this one, with just a generic "WiFi" logo (from the eBay page below):
Memory Discrepancies
However, there is certainly some discrepancy relating to the specification and amount of memory (unless there are a number of variants - which would certainly be possible):
4 MB of Flash is in the ESP8266-12, as Dan states, see ESP8266 SMT Module - ESP-12. But is it the ESP8266-12 in the board, or is it another ESP variant?
This WeMos product, on eBay, WeMOS Mega + WiFi R3 ATmega2560 + ESP8266 USB-TTL For Arduino Mega NodeMCU appears to agree with the 32 Mb1
This RobotDyn board, Контроллер RobotDyn Mega 2560 R3 + WiFi ESP8266b, flash память 8Mbit, USB-TTL CH340G, MicroUSB, has 8 Mb apparently.
However the same product page, but in English, upgrades the memory to 32 MB! See MEGA+WiFi R3 ATmega2560+ESP8266, flash 32MB, USB-TTL CH340G, Micro-USB
Looking at this article, Instructables - Arduino MEGA 2560 With WiFi Built-in - ESP8266, it isn't exactly the ESP8266-12:
In today's text, we discuss an Arduino that I consider extremely special, as it has an ESP8266 embedded in its board. It doesn’t have the ESP12 soldered onto the board. Instead, it has the Espressif chip. So, on the board you have the built-in Tensilica chip with 4MB of memory, along with the ATmega2560, which is the traditional Arduino Mega.
So the ESP has 4 MB, but where does the 32 Mb come in to play?
Well, looking at this RobotDyn memory table (taken from the Instructables page):
The 4 MB of the ESP appears to have been immediately contradicted and upgraded to 8 MB! The ATmega2560 somehow has 32 Mb (which seems a bit of a lie - as there isn't an ATmega2560 known to man that has that much memory2), and is confused further by the corresponding text:
As we see in the table above, the ATmega has 32MB of memory, not counting the ESP memory. This is wonderful, since the traditional Mega Arduino has only 256kb of memory.
So MB or Mb? Is there an additional flash IC external to the ATmega2560? Looking at the schematic, taken from the Russian RobotDyn page, there doesn't appear to be:
So this could be nonsense. Logic would dictate that the ATmega has 256 kB and the ESP has 4 MB... But I could be wrong..?
Links from Контроллер RobotDyn Mega 2560 R3 + WiFi ESP8266b, flash память 8Mbit, USB-TTL CH340G, MicroUSB:
Schematic (PDF)
Pin out (PDF) (JPG)
Mechanics (PDF) (JPG)
Reliability of communication
Regardless of the actual spec, to address your question of ESP/Arduino communication reliability:
As the ESP8266 and the ATmega2560 are on the same board one would assume that the (serial) communication between the two would be faultless. However, some issues have been reported3.
Nevertheless, from your question, it seems that you were having issues with the ESP to the OctoPi communication, rather than ESP to Arduino, so maybe this doesn't actually answer your question.
Also, as to their compatibility with RAMPS, there is very little information available currently, and it would seem to be a case of try-it-and-see. The closest I got was this post on the thread, OnStep and RAMPS1.4, but it seems to be spam.
However, it certainly sounds worth a gamble as it would be a nice combination of technologies. However, I would imagine that some modification of the firmware would be necessary.
Useful Notes
From post #8 of Mega + WiFi R3 ATmega2560 + ESP8266 (8 Mb mémoire)
To upload the sketch to the board:
5, 6, 7 ON
RXD3 - TXD3
To run the sketch:
5 and 6 ON
RXD3 - TXD3
Here is an excellent manual in Russian
Footnotes
1 From WeMOS Mega + WiFi R3 ATmega2560 + ESP8266 USB-TTL For Arduino Mega NodeMCU
WeMOS Mega + WiFi R3 ATmega2560 + ESP8266 USB-TTL For Arduino Mega NodeMCU
Features:
Full integration on one board: Mega R3 ATmega2560 and WiFi ESP8266 with memory 32Mb (megabyte)
All of the modules can work together or each separately. And everyone has their own pinout headers
The convenient solution for the development of new projects requiring Uno and WiFi
Via USB you can update sketches and firmware for ATmega2560 and for ESP8266. For this on board have the USB-serial converter CH340G
Use this board is very simple
The board has DIP-switch, to connect the modules. For example to:
USB and ATmeg2560,
USB and ESP8266,
ATmega2560 and ESP8266
Table DIP- Switch:
Connection DIP
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
ATmega2560<->ESP8266 ON ON OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF
USB <->ATmega2560 OFF OFF ON ON OFF OFF OFF
USB<->ESP8266 (Update firmware or sketch) OFF OFF OFF OFF ON ON ON
USB<->ESP8266 (communication) OFF OFF OFF OFF ON ON OFF
All independent OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF
Special solution:
USB <->ATmega328<-> ESP8266
Connection DIP SWITCH 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
USB <-> ATmega2560<-> ESP8266 ON ON ON ON OFF OFF OFF To RXD3/TXD3
USB converter CH340G connect to RX0/TX0 of ATmega2560
ESP8266 connect to RX3/TX3 of ATmega2560
Size: 10.5x5.3cm/4.13x2.09inch
2 From the Atmel ATmega640/V-1280/V
-1281/V-2560/V-2561/V datasheet
3 From Mega + WiFi R3 ATmega2560 + ESP8266 (8 Mb mémoire), there do appear to be some issues communicating between the ATmega and the ESP ICs, with a number of users reporting problems.
However, a couple of solutions are provided:
Solution 1
From post #2
Set the DIP switch to "special" mode: (1=on, 2=on, 3=on, 4=on, 5=off, 6=off, 7=off, 8=off) see the the description of the
product.
Set the switch in RXD3
Run the below sketch, change the SSID and PASSWORD values. this is just to test that Arduino and ESP8266 are working together. The code
originated from BISSA ORBOEA in Element14.
Code:
#include "ESP8266.h"
#define SSID "YOURSID"
#define PASSWORD "YOURPASSWORD"
ESP8266 wifi(Serial3,115200);
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("Restart");
wifi.restart();
delay(1000);
Serial.println("FW Version:");
Serial.println(wifi.getVersion().c_str());
if (wifi.setOprToStation()) {
Serial.println("OprToStation ok"); }
else {
Serial.println("OprToStation err");
}
if (wifi.joinAP(SSID, PASSWORD)) {
Serial.println("Join AP success");
Serial.print("IP:");
Serial.println( wifi.getLocalIP().c_str());
} else {
Serial.println("Join AP failure");
}
}
void loop()
{
}
Solution 2
From post #6
First you need to write the code for each board according your
application, but in your code you need to establish a commmincation
between serial port of Atmega and ESP in both code, again in according
you application. Finally, put the switches which make the intenal
interconnection between both.
For example, I made a code for ESP to connect in an Access Point and
put on a TCP server. When a wireless client is connected in ESP and
consequently in the TCP Server, all data send by client I redirect to
the serial port. As serial port of ESP is connected with serial 3 of
the Atmega, the code in Atmega pass to theat the data from serial 3.
Solution 3
From post #11
Follow this if you have the same to my cases:
programm to the ESP(upload sketch) for wifi connection by configure the DIP to 5:on,6:on,7:on and other off.
program to mega(upload sketch) in case you want to send communication to each other by configure Dip to 3:on,4:on, and other
off.
switch two RX0/TX0(in my case I use Serial.print() and Serial.readString() for communicate between Esp and Mega)
after you already upload sketch to both Modules you can test communication between them by configure DIP to: 1:on,2:on,3:on,4:on.
and then press Reset Button to restart the boards.
In ESP you can get the string from Mega by if(Serial.available()) Serial.readString(); and In mega you can get data from ESP by :
if(Serial.available())Serial.readString().
After you got a string so you can split or do anything whatever you want.
If you want send data to Firebase you must use the Firebase Library at the Esp side, in Mega it not support. |
SVG to STL conversion to make symbols recognisable for visually impaired users | If you install inkscape, pstoedit and ghostscript version 9.21 (not the latest as pstoedit is incompatible) you can get the file into a format that openscad can
import using two commands in a cmd file
"C:\Program Files\Inkscape\inkscape" -E "traffic lights.eps" "traffic lights.svg"
"C:\Program Files\pstoedit\pstoedit" -dt -f dxf:-polyaslines "traffic lights.eps" "traffic lights.dxf"
then in openscad
linear_extrude(3) import ("traffic lights.dxf");
will import gives me
With a thickness of 3mm - you can see the model needs some scaling but its seems possible although - I can't see an option to scale based on color - |
Slic3r settings for flat slopes on top | This seems to be a recurring problem with Slic3r.
Slic3r appears to have problems with perimeters that are not attached to infill. I suspect that it is getting confused on what is the inside and what is the outside. I know that seems a bit silly; but as you slice an object with indentations (like the bunny's face) then the perimeter can cease to be a simple closed shape and it gets confused. If you use a viewer to step through the gcode layers around the place it starts having problems you may be able to see what is going wrong.
Here are a couple of examples of why I say this is a recurring problem with slic3r. I also recall seeing a video that showed the problem but I can't remember where. That was one of the reasons I don't use slic3r.
Reported on Sic3r Git in 2012 - Can't tell for sure if this was ever fixed
Infill Perimeter issue in 2015
Here are three options that may work
Use a different slicer for this specific condition. Every product is going to have vulnerabilities - this may be one of slic3r's.
Increase the perimeter and top and bottom layer thicknesses. Making them thick enough it will bridge the problem areas. Use a gcode viewer to inspect that area to see if it fixed the problem. That way you don't waste material on another fail. It sounds like you may have already tried this but you didn't like that it made the model stiffer.
Repair the STL file using an application like Meshmixer. Maybe you will have to get the file close then tweak it where it doesn't. Here is good article from PinShape repairing and STL file.
Good luck, hope this helps. |
High-viscosity gel/polymer to suspend conductive material while it is being printed | The material you are describing sounds very similar to the material used for Metal Injection Molding except that you want to print the material rather than molding it.
A company called MarkForged is making a printer called the Metal X that uses this technique of printing & sintering to produce solid metal parts. Here is a article describing more details about the printer.
It sounds really cool.
If you investigate papers around those processes you may find what you are looking for since they are so related to what you are trying to do. |
Why did my printer's nozzle dig itself into my print? | You are using incorrect commands in your end-code for the incorrect tool with respect to the print head raise.
Slic3r has no knowledge of the maximum printer height (as in variable max_print_height) because there is no input field to specify this, as can be seen in this partial screenshot:
However, in Slic3r PE (Prusa Edition), there is a possibility to enter such a value, as seen in the following partial screenshot:
Note that in both editions, the Bed shape interface is equivalent when Set... is pressed:
To use the raising of the head, respecting the maximum print height, in Slic3r PE, you need to add the following line:
{if layer_z < max_print_height}G1 Z{z_offset+min(layer_z+60, max_print_height)}{endif}
This will parse fine in Slic3r PE, but not in Slic3r (as max_print_height is not known).
If you want such a command in Slic3r, you need to enter (for a printer with a maximum print height of 240 mm):
G1 Z{[z_offset]+min([layer_z]+3, 240)}
results in Slic3r for a 20x20x20 mm calibration cube with a zero z_offset to:
G1 Z23 |
Inconsistent printing results using same settings but different calibration models | First of all, I would try printing a little bit hotter, let's say arround 210 °C. Secondly, due to how the X and Y letters are being printed in the sides of the cube I would suggest to tigthen both the X and Y belts.
Regarding the gaps, I would first try a flow rate test. You could use a cube like this one.
Using:
extrusion multiplier = 1
layer height: 0.2 mm;
layer width= 0.4 mm ;
wall count= 2.
Then measure the walls with a caliper and you should have 0.8 mm walls. Do a couple of measurements, get the average and divide 0.8 by it and multiply by a 100 (100*0.8/average). That's your new flow rate.
I would also try to add 1 or 2 top layers to the print.
For the first layer, I would definitely get a glass bed and use hairspray. The bottom of the pyramid doesn't seem to be sticking well. Apart from this, I'm not really fan of using Z-offset. Just try leveling a couple of times manually with a paper to get it right. |
How to write arcs directly in G-code? | Marlin has G2 (clockwise arc) and G3 (counterclockwise arc) commands that could be used to do this. You can find detailed documentation for the command here.
Basically, you can use
G2 R1 X5 Y5
to draw a (clockwise) arc from the current position to $(X,Y)=(5,5)$ with a radius of $1$.
So, your rounded triangle could be drawn with 3 straight line moves and 3 arc moves. Figuring out the exact coordinates for each move would be a quite challenging geometry exercise, as you'd need to know where the straight line portion of each side ends and the rounded portion starts. |
Ender 3 Pro not interpreting G-code correctly? | It ended up being something with the printer, I powered it down, let it set a few minutes and then powered it up and it printed correctly. Is there a way to "reset" it without the power cycle, and is this something common? Thanks for the response! |
Would adding fiberglass packaging tape to a bowden tube be beneficial? | The question seems to be built on a false premise, namely that the major extrude/retract errors in a Bowden design come from tube stretch. The PTFE tube is not significantly elastic, actually it is reasonably stiff so there is minimal scope for improvement here.
A longer tube will contribute to degraded precision, but slack in the filament/tube gap is roughly as significant as stretch (and filament compression). Constraining the tube path may help marginally (but there is no need to 'bond' the tube). There is not much you can to to reduce the gap between filament and tube, but this will dominate the error for a long tube.
The most obvious weak point is the clip used to secure the tube at each end. I saw a review of a recent Prusa design where high quality clips were called out as making a big improvement to securing each end of the tube. |
Problems with under extrusion and clogs on CR-10 | Turns out the filament was the problem, I tried printing a model with a high quality sample PLA filament I had and it printed perfectly; one of the cleanest prints I've had. Never skimp on filament. |
Vary line with Z-axis for imported SVG file | In OpenSCAD you could create a bevel using the minkowski transformation by transforming the curve using tapered shape such as a pyramid or as I do below a tapered cylinder:
minkowski() {
linear_extrude(1)
import("drawing.svg");
cylinder(h = 20, r1 = 10, r2 = 1);
} |
How to create attachable/detachable printed parts | This question may yet fall into the too-broad category, but I'll give it a shot.
You don't want to use glue or adhesives, but does that exclude bolted or screwed fasteners? Threaded inserts are metal "nuts" with knurled grip extrusions that enable one to use a matching bolt. The insert is heated with a soldering iron or similar source and embedded into the part. It's especially useful when the part thickness provides sufficient strength and the threaded insert is on the surface of the part opposite the bolt head.
Another option you have is to design into the part a "conventional" joint such as a dovetail or slot with the matching dovetail or T shape on the adjoining part. This requires access to the end of the part to enable the sliding action of joining them together, of course. Some testing of prints should be performed to ensure proper mating.
Directly related to that method is pins and holes. With suitable testing, one would create a hole on both parts and print a pin to match. If one is well versed in the software of choice, one hole with a built-in pin on the adjoining part would work too.
Yet another extension is provided free from 3DKitbash:
http://www.3dkitbash.com/free3dmodels/
in the form of friction fit pins. I've constructed one of their models using this design and find the straight-line pins eventually work free. The pin model with "mouse ears" allows for a bit stronger gripping due to the compression of the shape on insertion.
The friction fit pins would be considered to be the snap-fit parts you want to avoid, but the level of expertise should not be beyond that of a model designer.
Trial and error works wonders when it comes to putting these things together. I printed an Overwatch logo for a fellow makerspace member. The part used a pin on the insert and a hole on the logo. I was astonished when the two different colored parts slid together quite snugly. I have not calibrated my printer and it was indeed a snap together build. On the flip side, when I pried the two pieces apart (low infill) the pin remained in the hole, snapping cleanly off the insert. Should I be asked to do this again, I would have much more infill on the pins.
For clarification, consider also to note what software you are using for your design. Some programs lend well to creating connections, others not so much. |
Digital vs. analog pins | "Analog pin" is misleading nomenclature. Every pin is a digtal pin, but some digital pins happen to also be connected to the analog-to-digital converter and can thus also handle measuring analog signals.
Every analog pin can also serve as a perfectly good digital pin. The reverse is not true; if something requires an analog pin you cannot use a digital pin. The only things that require analog pins are the thermistors, for the rest (motors, MOSFETS, endstops,...) you can use either a digital pin or an analog pin. |
What slicer settings would produce the strongest part? | If your real question is what would be the strongest then I say - the solid would be the strongest - no doubt.
But if the question is:
what be the strongest in comparison to weight or
what is the strongest in comparison to the cost (amount of material)
then these are good questions!
You can of course find many tutorials and comparisons on the net and there will be many answers - which all of them could be good/bad ;)
If these are your questions then instead of simple answer you can ask more questions like:
in which orientation or
for what purpose or
for continues stress or maybe for variable stress or
for bending forces / shearing forces or maybe tearing forces
all these forces and circumstances could require other answer... which could also lead to other questions :)
But according to my experience, the strongest settings (for general purpose) is 3 outlines (and the same number of first/last layers) and triangle infill 20-25 %
Why I think this is the strongest, 3 layers gives good chance to have well stickiness even if there are geometric/design issues and triangle infill gives good (and common) way to carry and spread forces.
But as I said it depends on many input data.
Let's look at these figures:
in figure A we have the strongest composition for compression; this is because all working forces try to damage material particles which is of course hard to do (depending on material density and length of polymers and the way they are tangled and so on - in general - material strength only).
If we consider figure B where forces try to tear apart layers then we know that we base on stickiness between layers which can vary on printing parameters (as is temperature and speed).
Finally, figure C shows shearing forces - in terms of layered structure it doesn't really differ from tearing apart but the results (the resistance of and object) is even weaker - it's because we base on stickiness and we additionally have less effective field of working stickiness) which reduces endurance of an object. |
Not printing... wrong settings? | I wonder if there is a glitch in the firmware producing this unexpected result (which I think I also observed).
If you navigate to quick settings you should find preheat pla. Selecting this has little obvious effect (except for fan speed droop as the heater kicks in), but the target temps will now be 190C / 60C.
Print File seems to wait for the pre-heat to have reached a threshold before starting to run. |
How to convert .obj file to .stl so I can slice to G-code? | One can import an OBJ file into free program Meshmixer, then export it to STL format. There are other programs that are free and paid (such as Fusion 360) that will perform similar tasks.
As noted by user agarza, Prusa Slicer will import an OBJ and will also export to STL format. PrusaSlicer is also free. |
Getting precise measurement of a complex rod | You need to disasemble the part and measure it with special equipment, a caliper can help but only as reference since the part has an angled shape.
I recommend to use an optical comparator (base shadows) with this you can have X and Y data to calculate the angle and curves. If you want more precise measurements you can try an Optical Measurement Device (based camera), this also can give you Z but X and Y will help you a lot. Both equipments use a system called Quadra Chek many industries has at least one of this to assure his quality due meets all requirements for Ford GDT guides (geometric dimensional tolerances). no matter the manufacturer brand.
I´ve tried to measure with the phone or table application but is hardly to calibrate on each required dimension. I had to buy an optical comparator. |
Anet A6 Z-axis min endstop not triggering | There is no such thing as a software endstop for the 3D printer. When you power a printer the print head can be located at every X, Y, Z position (usually, Z is at the print height of your last print, X is at the minimum X, and Y is at an arbitrary location determined by the last print).
This is exactly why we need endstops, either mechanical, optical or electronic (inductive or capacitive) end stop switches or sensors. You instruct the printer to home by using a known fixed location of the printer; this is the hitting of all endstops. The origin of the printer may have offsets, as the origin of the printer may not coincide with the endstop location. For the Anet A6 this is a few millimeters, e.g. for Marlin firmware this is defined in the configuration by:
#define X_MIN_POS -3
#define Y_MIN_POS -5
The answer to your question: "Is it possible to do this with software?" is therefore, no, you cannot do this solely with software. |
Ender 3 Pro prints leaning | This looks a lot like layer shifting, both gradual and sudden. This is frequently caused by excessive friction on one axis, the one along which the print is leaning. You mentioned tightening the X-axis; if these are leaning along the X axis, chances are good the belt is too tight and causing something (either the belt or the toothed gear it is attached to) to rub against something else (the frame, the v-slot extrusion, the motor itself in the case of the belt gear).
Both the X and Y axes should be fairly easy to move by hand with the power off. Feel for any points where that isn't true. |
How to create a very accurate STL file as well as the slices for a 3D printer? | Your objective has a serious constraint regarding the pixel resolution. Within that limitation, the software (slicer) you are using will generate "best guess" images, particularly dependent on floating point math. There may be a single combination of circular shapes (radius) and spacing for these shapes that provides your objective, but that's likely not a practical exercise.
You have not indicated if you've tried other slicers, which would be the primary direction. A list of choices can be found here:
Free Slicing Program List
Another option that you can consider, not included in this list, is to use OpenSCAD, import the STL file, then use the projection() command to manually slice and export the image file. I use the term "manually" but the program can be coded to perform this task automatically, and there is a command line feature to OpenSCAD that may be useful.
Note also that the output of these slicers and/or OpenSCAD may exceed the resolution you desire. Manipulation of the image with a graphics editor could result in the same floating point disarray as you perform the changes. |
Water does not flow through 4 mm hole when there is a small amount, how to let water flow through small hole even when there is low pressure? | What you encounter there is a combination of Adhesion, Cohesion, and Capillary Force.
Cohesion is what holds the water together. Adhesion is the force to retain water against a wall or hanging from a pen's end, it is proportional to the surface wetted. Capillary Force is the resulting effect where water moves up through a thin tube, it is anti-proportional to the diameter and in the opposite direction of the weight (force). Their relation can be shown in this picture, where a droplet hangs on the end of a glass rod, which has a capillary in it:
How to reduce the water sticking in the cup then?
Make the straight part of the bore as short as possible. This can be done by having a thin cup. The shorter the hole, the less surface there is the water can adhere to vertically, and you might overcome capillary force.
Smooth the hole. Maybe print it 3.5 mm and drill it up to your 4 mm diameter. This reduces adhesion.
Smooth the inside surface. Reducing the adhesion to the inside by having less steps.
Chamfer the inside of the holes. This alters the whole geometry and flow setup in the very low water level case, especially when the surface separates into several areas, above each hole. Then the larger volume belonging to each hole on the inner side means there is a little more pressure and you can get out some more water - and it also shortens the distance the hole has to bridge.
make sure there is some slope everywhere inside so that the water will collect in one of the holes.
An example for a (non measured) design which relies heavily on chamfering to guide the water to the already chamfered holes and then keeps the straight section as short as possible could look like this: the central hole has a very wide chamfer, the whole plate directs water to the center and each of the other holes has a chamfer to guide out water.
However, there is a lower limit to where just tweaking the design will workd, which is based on cohesion. Cohesion is what results in surface tension and viscosity. You can only shift those limiting factors by altering the properties of the liquid, for example by adding an agent that lowers the surface tension and viscosity (soap). |
I can set the voltage and current of the TMC2130 driver manually. But, in which cases some of the components could burn up? | The driver has a potentiometer to change the voltage that is giving to the motors.
[...]
As one person answered me in another question, I would need 3.2 V to make the motor work well (2. Ω * 1.3 A = 3.2 V).
You are misunderstanding that answer and what the potentiometer does. The potentiometer does not control the voltage going to the motors. It makes no sense to compare this voltage to the rated voltage of the motor. The potentiometer controls the current going to the motor, with a potentiometer voltage of 0V corresponding to 0% of the driver's current, and a potentiometer voltage of 2.5V corresponding to 100%. The documentation of your driver is a bit unclear but it looks like the maximum peak current is 1A per phase or 0.7A RMS (per phase).
There is a file in the Marlin firmware (Configuration_adv.h) where I can set the current that the driver is going to give to the motors.
This only works if the driver is set to SPI mode, otherwise the setting is ignored. To enable SPI mode you need to remove the jumper resistor labeled "SPI" mode and make connections to the long pins sticking out the top of the driver. This configuration option overrides the current setting set by the potentiometer.
What I am going to do is to set the drivers potentiometer to the maximum and check what happens. And I will also set the current in the Marlin to 1838.5mA
That's not such a good idea. It would be wiser to set the potentiometer relatively low, and increase it just enough so that the motors do not skip steps.
As the drivers have less voltage to give to the motors, are my drivers going to burn because they will have to give more current for a long period of time?
No, because the drivers do not have "less voltage to give to the motors". They don't work that way. They are constant current drivers.
Or will the stepper motors burn because they won't get enough current or voltage?
No. The only thing that could cause the motors to burn is (far) too much current or voltage. This will never happen because your drivers will burn up before the motors ever would.
Keep in mind that in the question you linked to, one answer is more detailed than you can reasonably understand with your level of electronics knowledge, and the other answer is completely wrong.
Summary
The current setting in configuration_adv.h is irrelevant unless you have enabled SPI (but I doubt that you have)
Do not start out with the potentiometer set to maximum
Everything will be fine. The motor can handle more current than the driver can ever deliver. The driver you have is configured so that it can never exceed its rated current.
Regarding your update
Yes, if you are using SPI current control then the potentiometer is ignored.
The TMC2130 can handle 1.2A RMS per coil, though the datasheet notes that more than 1A RMS per coil requires special attention to heat dissipation (the small breakout PCB probably does not have great thermal properties).
Your calculation is overly conservative because it treats the 1.2A figure as peak current when RMS current is meant. You do not need to divide by $\sqrt{2}$ to convert to RMS because the figure already is RMS. |
Strange problem with quality, what might be the reason for these bubbles? | Looking at the second photograph and the way that the filament switches abruptly from smooth to irregular deposition, I would say that you have a partially clogged nozzle.
Pre-heat the nozzle and extrude some filament. It should drop straight down from the nozzle. If the filament curls as it comes out of the nozzle, the nozzle is partially clogged. You may be able to clear the clog by doing what is called a "cold pull":
Pre-heat the nozzle so that it is possible to extrude filament. Then switch off the heater and allow the temperature to fall below the pre-heat temperature of the filament (140°C for PLA, say). Now disengage the extruder gears and gently withdraw the filament completely from the hot end. On removing the filament completely from the printer, you should find a "bullet" on the end of the filament in the shape of the melt chamber. Hopefully, the dirt that caused the clog will be embedded in the bullet.
In order to prevent dirt from entering the nozzle, it is a good idea to install a filament cleaner. This can be as simple as a piece of sponge containing a couple of drops of light machine oil, or you can make something a little more sophisticated. There are plenty of designs that you can download on Thingiverse. |
Using Kinect 360 as 3D Scanner | I tried the same setting old kinect (but for PC - actually with power supply and usb-cable) plug to my surface windows10.
After some troubles, it works now ;-)
The mentioned MS 3D scan and kinect readiness wont work. It is supposed for the new kinect2 model, because of the new driver. Best you deinstall both. Even the drivers and SDKs.
You need Kinect for Windows v1.8 for the old kinect. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40278
RecFusion is a software for using a single or multiple depth cams for getting 3d models. It works quite good with my kinect. It costs 99euros. http://recfusion.net/index.php/en/download |
Can I have a glass bed with only the center heated? | If you're using borosilicate glass (aka pyrex) then it won't crack. You can get squares of ~20x20 cheaply off aliexpress.
If you're using window glass, picture frame class etc then you might have issues with cracking, it will depend on lots of factors like the wattage of your heater and the temperature of the room.
Your biggest problem will be that the bed heats very non-uniformly, which is unlike to give good print adhesion. I'd suggest a sheet of aluminium underneath the glass if possible, it will allow much more even heating. |