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2016-01-12T18:45:19.963 | |resolution|speed|quality| | <p>When I've printed an object I've had to choose between high resolution and quick prints. What techniques or technologies can I use or deploy to speed up my high resolution prints?</p>
| 1 | How to obtain high resolution prints in a shorter period of time? | <p>For FDM technologies in general with a single extruder, slicing modifications is your only options. However there will be a trade off between quality and speed.
For ABS, changing to a machine with a enclosed build (such as a zortrax) chamber may help and a heated build chamber (Stratasys machine) will help the quality and reliability but not the print speed directly. As ABS has a tendency to warp vase mode is not the best idea either.</p>
<p>If you only need high resolution and not strength then reducing the infill percentage or even using vase mode will speed up the print. Also changing to a material that you can print at higher speeds like PLA will magnify any of the previous settings.</p>
<p>If you have two extruders then changing to a wider nozzle and using that for infill may speed up the print, heating and cooling time during extruder changeover may actually make it slower.</p>
<p>For other technologies there are lots of options digital light projection (DLP) and stereolithography (SLA) both provide significantly higher resolution then FDM, with DLP being the faster of the two, <a href="https://formlabs.com/blog/3d-printing-technology-comparison-sla-dlp/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">comparison</a>. Take the review with a grain of salt though as the technologies are far from standardised, for example out DLP at work offers far higher resolution and speed then our SLA which is quite old.</p>
<p>Sintering or melting technologies can scan the outline every layer then perform a infill of multiple layers at once to speed up the process. </p>
|
2016-01-12T18:45:51.287 | |print-material|safety|health| | <p>I would like to buy a 3D printer, but I'm concerned about the health risks that are associated with its operation. Some groups of scientists say it can be <a href="http://www.techworld.com/news/personal-tech/scientists-warn-of-3d-printing-health-effects-as-tech-hits-high-street-3460992/">harmful</a> for humans.</p>
<p>What do I need to consider before buying a 3D printer if I care about my health? Are there any safe printers?</p>
| 2 | Is 3D printing safe for your health? | <p>I am going to address the air issue as it is currently unresolved. the third dimension offers <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/15/188">a great answer for common safety issues</a>.</p>
<p>The short answer is that based on our limited knowledge at this point, there may be imperceptible health hazards related to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling" rel="noreferrer">FDM / FFF printers</a> and therefore additional safety precautions are, in my opinion, necessary and not optional or secondary as suggested by some in the community.</p>
<p>In other words, if you can isolate your printer in a well-vented area where people rarely go, then of course it's not a health risk, but if people will be exposed to the air of the printer for any significant periods of time, you need to do something about it. This is my situation - where I live dedicated workshops and extra rooms are luxuries that most people do not have.</p>
<hr />
<h1>Realistic Chance of Being Dangerous --> Treat It As Dangerous</h1>
<p>The key information at this point in time is <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086" rel="noreferrer">the UFP (Ultra-Fine Particle) study</a> that is linked in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/12/188">Tom's answer</a>.</p>
<p>Leaving out the scary / detailed parts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Therefore, results herein suggest that caution should be used when
operating these 3D printing instruments inside unvented or unfiltered
indoor environments due to their large emissions of UFPs.</p>
<p>One important limitation to this study is that we have no information
about the chemical constituents of the UFPs emitted from either type
of 3D printer [...]</p>
<p>[...] there may also be
differences in toxicity because of differences in chemical
composition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This means that although many processes release UFPs (the authors of the paper compare to cooking), all UFPs are not created equal. Since the UFPs from 3D printing are still an unknown, the only real answer from a safety perspective is to treat them as dangerous.</p>
<hr />
<h1>This is not legal, safety, or professional advice!</h1>
<p>I am not qualified to give an opinion on what should be done but I will share what I would do:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Venting</strong> - Active airflow pushing the envelope of air around the print into a large, unpopulated body of air.</li>
<li><strong>Enclosure + Venting</strong> - By fully enclosing your printer, it will probably keep the UFPs mostly within the enclosure. You could combine that with either continuous venting or as some have suggested purge venting before opening the enclosure.</li>
<li><strong>Enclosure + Filtering</strong> - A filter can be applied both to the vent to reduce the output of UFPs (e.g. if you have no access to a safe body of air) and as a recirculating system that removes the UFPs from the body of air within the enclosure.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>A note on <a href="http://www.silverstonetek.com/techtalk_cont.php?area=en&tid=wh_positive" rel="noreferrer">positive vs negative pressure</a></strong> related to venting and filtering: if you produce positive pressure within the enclosure, you are going to be blowing all the UFPs out into your environment anyway. Negative pressure vented to a safe body of air or neutral pressure with good seals and recirculated filtering may avoid that.</p>
<p><strong>A note on filters</strong>: Activated carbon filters will not remove UFPs. HEPA filters may remove 3D printing UFPs.</p>
<hr />
<h1>Which Printer?</h1>
<p>As long as the uncertainty exists, I predict that as the market matures, filtering and enclosures will become more standard. At this point in time, the only enclosed AND HEPA filtered consumer-grade FDM printers I am aware of are the <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/3d-printers/up-box" rel="noreferrer">Up! Box</a> and the <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/3d-printers/zortrax-inventure" rel="noreferrer">Zortrax Inventure</a>. There are a number of enclosed printers without filtering.</p>
<p>As an alternative, at least <a href="http://www.3dprintclean.com/" rel="noreferrer">one company</a> has appeared with products targeted at those who are concerned about various safety aspects of 3d printing.</p>
|
2016-01-12T18:46:22.083 | |quality|resolution| | <p>I know the minimum layer height will effect how detailed of an item you can print and the amount of time it takes to print something, but is it necessary to have an extremely low minimum layer height if you plan to print only larger objects?</p>
| 3 | How important is the minimum layer height on a 3d printer? | <p>In short: no.</p>
<p>Smaller layers will make your prints look nicer. That said, in my experience, most printers can handle roughly the same layer heights, no matter what the manufacturer says it can do. With a little tinkering, you can get any printer to do what you tell it to do.</p>
<p>That said, for larger prints, you really won't want to lower the layer height too much. Typically, the quality difference you see in a print that's, say, .2 mm layer height (typical) vs .1mm layer height (typically high quality) is not that much different.</p>
<p>Note that lowering your layer height increases the number of layers in your object, so it'll take longer to print and have more opportunities to fail along the way. For anything of significant size (150 mm + or so) it's really not worth the extra risk, I'd say.</p>
|
2016-01-12T18:50:55.973 | |fdm|material|print-material|metal-parts| | <p>Plastic is used in 3D FDM/FFF printing partly because it had a wide temperature range for its glass state - where it can be flowed with some force, but won't flow due only to gravity.</p>
<p>Most metals have a very narrow, or non-existant, glass state. They transition from solid to liquid with almost no flowable-but-not-liquid state.</p>
<p>Are there any metals or alloys that display a glass transition state?</p>
| 4 | Are there any metals that exhibit a large glass state? | <p>A few things are required for effective extrusion-style 3d printing materials:</p>
<ul>
<li>It must stay where placed by the nozzle long enough to harden (or, alternately for pastes and such, have a shear-thinning or thixotropic viscous profile so it will not flow under its own weight). </li>
<li>If using a filament extruder, it must have a wide range of viscosity that varies gradually over a considerable temperature range. This is necessary to develop the proper "cap zone" semi-melt shearing behavior that allows the incoming filament to act like a piston and generate pressure upstream of the nozzle. Pellet extruders have a similar requirement but related to screw/wall shearing rather than filament/wall shearing. If using neither filament nor pellets, such as clay printers, the material must be pumpable by a positive-displacement pump. (It is possible to pump molten metal, but the cost is quite high.)</li>
<li>It must form some kind of bond with previously-deposited solid material, without needing to be in a state that will rapidly flow and lose shape.</li>
<li>It must have some combination of low shrinkage, the ability to creep at the printer's ambient temp, and/or low stiffness that allows consecutive layers to be stacked without an unacceptable amount of warping. </li>
</ul>
<p>Liquid metals tend to have a conflict between "Staying where you put it" and "bonding with the previous layer." In order for deposited metal to fully bond, the interface material needs to reach the melting point so a true fusion weld occurs. And in order to supply enough heat to remelt the interface without an additional heat source like an arc, the deposited molten metal needs to be very hot. So it will tend to run while it cools. High density and high heat capacity makes it run fast and cool slowly. </p>
<p>Pretty much every DIY metal 3d print (such as made by wire-feed MIG welders) ends up looking something like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FTyNd.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FTyNd.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://3dprint.com/29944/diy-metal-printing-garage/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://3dprint.com/29944/diy-metal-printing-garage/</a></p>
<p>In comparison, polymers have long molecular chains that allow them to "diffusion weld" and adhere WITHOUT fully remelting the interface. Molten liquid plastic will stick to solid plastic quite effectively. The interface only needs to get hot enough for appreciable diffusion to intertwine the molecular chains. This will occur between the glass point and melting point, without true fusion occurring. So you can print molten plastic at a temperature where it will stay in place long enough to harden, and still get good bonding.</p>
<p>Metals also tend to be very stiff, which encourages warping. It is difficult to build a heated environment of sufficient temperature to properly stress-relieve the thermal contraction stress as the print progresses, whereas with plastic a heated build plate and warm enclosure can permit warping stresses to start relaxing as the print progresses. </p>
<p><strong>It is possible to "FDM-style" 3d print filament/wire made of metal alloys that have a wide range between solidus and liquidus.</strong> It has <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/adablog/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/MetalPrinting.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">been done using solder</a> and <a href="http://blog.reprap.org/2011/06/new-approach-to-printing-metals.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">similar alloys</a>. However, between the warping stresses, poor layer bonding from inadequate interface re-melting, and use of soft low-melting alloys, <strong>the resulting printed parts will usually end up being weaker than if they had simply been printed in a strong plastic.</strong> For example, PEEK is nearly as strong as aluminum, and carbon fiber or fiberglass composite plastics can exceed metals on various performance metrics. So what's the point of printing with weak, brittle metal alloys?</p>
<p>Over the years, lots of people have tried FDM-style metal printing, but no one has found it worthwhile to pursue in the long run. More typical DIY metal printing approaches like 3D MIG welding following by cleanup machining will produce better results.</p>
|
2016-01-12T18:53:53.623 | |filament|abs|fdm|pla| | <p>What are the main differences when using ABS over PLA and vice versa?</p>
| 5 | How is PLA different from ABS material? | <p>Basic facts and tips for using and choosing ABS and PLA materials:</p>
<p>Made from:</p>
<pre><code>ABS: Petroleum based
PLA: Corn or other plants
</code></pre>
<p>Smell: </p>
<pre><code>ABS: smell of hot plastic,
PLA: gives off a smell similar to a semi-sweet cooking oil. Less intense smell than ABS.
</code></pre>
<p>Part Accuracy: </p>
<p>Both PLA and ABS are capable of building dimensionally accurate parts. However, there are characteristics that we need to memorized.
ABS: will be curling upwards of the surface in direct contact with the 3D printer’s print bed. for fine and delicate features on parts involving sharp corners, such as gears, there will often be a slight rounding of the corner.
PLA: much less part warping. but it undergoes more of a phase-change when heated and becomes much more liquid. The increased flow can also lead to stronger binding between layer.</p>
<pre><code>Recycling:
</code></pre>
<p>ABS: Recycling number 7, most local recycling programs do not accept ABS. It generally being recycled into plastic lumber.
PLA: it biodegrades, however the process takes a long time when outside of an industrial composting facility
Why we provide a vacuum sealed package for ABS and PLA products?
long term exposure to a humid environment without sealed package may result in detrimental effects, both to the printing process and to the quality of finished parts. </p>
<p>ABS: will tend to bubble and spurt from the tip of the nozzle when printing, part accuracy, strength are reduced. Raises the risk of clogging the nozzle. ABS can be easily dried by using dry or hot air.
PLA: bubbles or sporting at the nozzle, also discoloration and a reduction in 3D printed part are found when in long term moisture environment.
Improving the printing outcomes （Blue tape and Kapton tape pictures)
PLA: printing temperature approximately: 190°C - 240°C
ABS: printing temperature approximately: 225°C - 250°C (recommend to use a heated print bed)</p>
<p>A good first layer adhesion is of the utmost importance in obtaining the best results for the prints. </p>
<p>Using Blue Tape or Kapton Tape.
Hairspray the print bed.
To attain optimal result for the prints, you need to consider variables such as nozzel diameter, printing speed, and layer height.
Summary:
ABS:
A preferred filament for the prints with engineering and professional purposes with its strength, machinability, flexibility, and higher temperature resistance.
The bad plastic smell is due to the petroleum based origin.
Required a heated print bed to attain ABS printing reliability.
PLA:
Wide range of available colors, provide translucencies and glossy feel of the prints.
Plant based and semi-sweet corn like smelling are appreciated over ABS.
When properly cooled, PLA seems to perform higher maximum printing speeds, and sharper printed corners. Combining this with low warping on parts make it a popular plastic for household uses, toys, hobbyists, and educational purposes.
to know more please visit <a href="http://www.3dsolutech.com/abs-vs-pla" rel="nofollow noreferrer">abs vs pla</a></p>
|
2016-01-12T18:57:13.350 | |filament|makerbot|dual-nozzle|color| | <p>My MakerBot printer supports only two filaments at the same time.</p>
<p>What are techniques to print objects with more than two colors for one object?</p>
| 6 | Multi-color printing with desktop 3D printer? | <p>The standard option is to change out filaments at certain times during the print. Software to add these pauses to your print automatically are around, with one (<a href="http://prusaprinters.org/color-print/" rel="nofollow">ColorPrint</a>). This method works if you only want to change at a certain Z height, and not intermix colors on the same levels.</p>
<p>The other newer development that works for many printers (this works for single nozzle printers as well) are getting Y type adapters that allow more than 1 filament to be fed into a single extruder, and use a rapid retraction to pull the filament back out past the Y connector to allow the next color to be fed into the nozzle. Several companies are putting products like this out on the market at this time. An example of this can be seen at this <a href="http://prusaprinters.org/original-prusa-i3-mk2-multi-material-upgrade-release/" rel="nofollow">page</a>.</p>
<p>As mentioned in other answers, <a href="https://www.mosaicmanufacturing.com/" rel="nofollow">Mosaic Pallette</a> is an option to drive more complicated multi-color prints, but is a rather expensive option at $999. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://e3d-online.com/The-Kraken" rel="nofollow">E3d Kraken</a> might be a possible hotend upgrade to a Makerbot, although it would involve a fair amount of work.</p>
|
2016-01-12T19:07:53.343 | |filament|pla|post-processing|surface| | <p>The surfaces of my printed parts using PLA plastic look rough and uneven.</p>
<p>Would changing filament to a better one make any difference?</p>
<p>If not, what kind of methods can I use to achieve a smoother finish for my for 3D-printed objects?</p>
| 11 | How do I give 3D-printed parts in PLA a shiny smooth finish? | <p>For a cheap method to smooth out your prints, you can use clear nail polish. It will act as a resin-like coat. </p>
|
2016-01-12T19:18:57.943 | |quality|resolution|fdm| | <p>With an ABS or PLA extrusion 3D printer, are there any potentially negative quality differences that could occur if I try to print at a higher resolution?</p>
<p>I am not concerned about print time as the equipment is not under high demand. I am, however, worried the device may be more prone to fracture, likely to have defects, or have other issues I cannot currently imagine.</p>
| 13 | Resolution Drawbacks | <p>It's also worth noting that the ratio of nozzle diameter to layer height affects strength. The layer height is typically set slightly smaller than the nozzle diameter, so the nozzle "squeezes" the new plastic onto the previous layer. This is especially important for the first layer, because it affects how well the object sticks to the bed; but it also affects inter-layer strength.</p>
|
2016-01-12T19:22:14.277 | |filament|metal-parts| | <p>I would like to print parts (e.g. jewellery) for use which I don't want to look or feel like a plastic, but metal-like, so briefly people won't see much difference.</p>
<p>Are there any specific type of home-printers that can achieve that? Or it's rather kind of filament that you should use?</p>
| 14 | How to print metal-like parts? | <p>You have several options:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Printing with filaments made up of plastic and metal powder mix</strong>. <a href="http://colorfabb.com/bronzefill" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bronzefill</a> is one example.</p>
<p>While most may argue it doesn't look much like bronze or copper and rather clay, it can made to by some automatic polishing methods:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU8WvGveNj4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How to polish copperFill & bronzeFill filament</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDoYO22103Q" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Polishing 3D Printed Bronze w/ Rock Tumbler & Steel Pins</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Some don't like the idea of having a plastic and metal powder mixture and they say if it's not pure bronze/some other alloy it might as well be painted. Which is the second option:</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Spray painting an ABS or PLA print with metal color spray paint.</strong> You might need to sand or acetone bath the print first for the paint to be applied evenly.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Metal plating</strong> can be done for more realstic texture. </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PnlZ4MTfCk" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Gold Plating a 3D Printed Eagle</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The 3d print should again be sanded/polished first.</p></li>
<li><p>The first method of getting actual metal object from a plastic object: <strong>Printing with a metal clay</strong>, then firing it in a kiln. You'll need an appropriate extruder which can extrude paste instead of filament:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=metal%20clay%20extruder&sa=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse: metal clay extruder</a></li>
</ul>
<p>There are 3D printers that can do that officially.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.minimetalmaker.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MiniMetalMaker</a></li>
</ul>
<p>You'll need a kiln...</p></li>
<li><p>Second method of getting actual metal object from a plastic object, via <strong>metal casting</strong> ("lost polymer casting"). From all the above options this is the most dangerous if you're not experienced, skilled and careful.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C9aDXDIHvE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Make Metal Parts with a 3D Printer (lost polymer casting tutorial)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9rfr30W09c" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Metal Casting with 3d Printed Molds</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
|
2016-01-12T19:25:52.270 | |post-processing| | <p>I am aware of several "clear" filaments for a ABS or PLA printer. They, however, have a cloudy or frosted glass appearance. I do not believe this is possible to eliminate but I believe it can be reduced.</p>
<p>Are there effective ways to make a print have a more transparent appearance?</p>
| 16 | Are there any ways to make a 3D print transparent? | <p>It depends on a lot of factors, type of plastic, whether the parts need to be strong, can you use a vase print, etc. Here's a few thoughts.</p>
<p>PLA - The brand of PLA makes a big difference, some can be printed very clear, some can't. Most of the transparent PLAs I've used print much more clear at around 240°C.</p>
<p>ABS - I've seen some pretty impressive clear parts printed as a single layer shell in ABS and then vapor smoothed. I tend to find ABS more translucent and less transparent though.</p>
<p>PETG - Again the specific PETG you use matters, but I haven't seen nearly as much variation as with PLA. I'm not sure how much temperature matters, but if it's too hot you get bubbles which will decrease clarity.</p>
<p>Thin Wall Prints - I don't have much experience here, but the Smooth On XTC-3D or vapor smoothing seem to be effective.</p>
<p>Solid Prints
If I want transparency, I usually print it at 100% infill (should be a real 100%, too much overextrusion or underextrusion will decrease transparency). Printing slower and with less cooling sometimes helps. It's easier to get the infill solid with a direct drive extruder, I couldn't get decent results with a long bowden tube (a short bowden tube works fine).</p>
<p>Here's a page where I tested 10 transparent filaments, the printed samples are 2mm thick, 100% infill - <a href="http://thrinter.com/10-transparent-filaments">http://thrinter.com/10-transparent-filaments</a>. Those samples are all overextruded a bit, you can get better results if you dial in the extrusion precisely, but that's hard to get right, and the optimal settings may change slightly depending on the part geometry. Larger nozzles and thicker layers may help to, but I haven't experimented much with that as there are significant downsides to that approach.</p>
|
2016-01-12T19:28:09.363 | |support-structures|post-processing|rafts| | <p>My printed parts consist rafts, supports and other extraneous filament when printing with ABS or PLA.</p>
<p>What are efficient general techniques of removing them?</p>
| 19 | How to easily get rid of rafts and support structures? | <p>I usually use a chisel or a flat-head screwdriver to easily remove the bottom plate that the printer auto-generates. I would also suggest using something like wire cutters or some mini pliers to pull them off.</p>
|
2016-01-12T19:30:45.060 | |rafts|brims| | <p>I would like to understand the differences between rafts, skirts and brims. They appear in the software which I'm using to edit my 3D objects.</p>
<p>Can anybody elaborate what are these and what are the main differences between them?</p>
| 20 | What are main differences between rafts, skirts and brims? | <p><strong>Rafts:</strong></p>
<p>Rafts are a few layers of plastic a placed on the printing surface before the object is printed. If non water dissoluble filament is used, a bit of an air gap will be placed between the raft and the print itself so it can be removed easily. A raft can help a print stick to the printing surface as it normally has a larger surface area than the bottom of the print. It also allows the bottom layers of the print to contact another layer of plastic so there is less spreading compared to printing on the printing bed itself.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOghMm.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOghMm.jpg" alt="A raft in Slic3r (green)"></a></p>
<p><strong>Skirts:</strong></p>
<p>Skirts are loops of plastic that are extruded around the object that is being printed. On the first layer this allows the filament to get pushed through the extruder so that a steady flow can be established. A multiple layer skirt can be used to create a blockage around the print so there is less air movement on the print and the print can cool slower.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1XEmnm.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1XEmnm.jpg" alt="A skirt in Slic3r (green)"></a></p>
<p><strong>Brims:</strong></p>
<p>A brim is a layer of plastic that is placed on the first layer of the print go allow for better adhesion to the printing surface. It does not extend under the print as a raft does, but only goes from the edge of the print to a set distance away. </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MnlZm.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MnlZm.jpg" alt="A brim in Slic3r (green)"></a></p>
<p><sup>Credits: Images from Slic3r</sup></p>
|
2016-01-12T19:33:04.263 | |reprap|prusa-i3-rework| | <p>I've acquired all the parts to build a Reprap Prusa i3 rework, the only missing part is the frame. </p>
<p>I'm in doubt between a MDF cut (cheaper) or acrylic (more expensive), of course a cheaper one is my preferred option until I see any disadvantage on making it of wood. </p>
<p>I thought about variables like heat and humidity and the possibility of expansion/contraction of the frame, is this a valid concern? Will I have more precision buying the acrylic one or is it irrelevant?</p>
| 22 | Is the weather a problem for MDF frames? | <p>I want to add the following to the already direct and very good answer of @Dani Epstein. It does not answer your question, but hopefully may help many people who are reading the question when choosing between the two materials.</p>
<p>Acrylic is less stable and will probably wear off faster than a well-built MDF frame for a 3D printer! I will address the points separately.</p>
<ol>
<li>An MDF frame has much(!) more mass than acrylic, which will reduce vibrations immediately. Almost more important, a box frame, as typical for the Prusa i3 for example, stabilizes itself intrinsically more by its 'redundant wall' design (don't beat me up over the wording here, I didn't find a better way to describe the property that results from the towers.)<br>
Compare these two images taken from <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3" rel="noreferrer">reprap wiki Prusa i3</a>:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/h4rDp.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/h4rDp.jpg" alt="boxframe (from reprap-wiki)"></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PkWVF.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PkWVF.jpg" alt="metal frame (from reprap-wiki)"></a>
You will probably not find an acrylic frame with this design. Shear stress as produced by the moving carriages, as well as z-wobble from the rods should theoretically be much less.</li>
<li>The acrylic might not wear by 'natural causes' since it is not a biologic material as wood is, but it will wear much faster due to handling the material, maintenance and human errors. The material is very brittle. You can find lots of reports on the web where the frame cracked or broke during setup. Here is my favorite example from someone with a lot of experience (1:20-2:30): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkkVk8c8XoU" rel="noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkkVk8c8XoU</a></li>
<li>Acrylic is a bad choice in terms of its mechanical properties: It is soft (I found low tensile strength as a number to compare in the given database), has lots of thermal expansion (5 times higher than stainless steel) and melts at 160 C (so beware of anything touching your hotend). Feel free to compare it to other materials here (no MDF or plywood in that database, though ;-) ): <a href="http://www.goodfellow.com/E/Polymethylmethacrylate.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.goodfellow.com/E/Polymethylmethacrylate.html</a></li>
</ol>
<p>This altogether makes acrylic a very bad choice for a 3d printer frame material in my opinion. Choose MDF or plywood, you can make it look cool by painting it, too.</p>
|
2016-01-12T19:39:43.650 | |cost|estimation| | <p>I've seen article about <a href="http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Worlds-first-3D-printed-bike-2014.html" rel="nofollow">World's First 3D Printed Bike</a>.</p>
<p>What kind of printer is required to do that, briefly how long it takes and how much does it cost? Is this even achievable at home? Doesn't need to be that specific one. </p>
| 28 | How to 3D print a bike? | <p>You will need a laser sintering or lasercusing printer, which will not be something you can buy for home use. They are horribly expensive.</p>
<p>You could always print this in PLA or ABS and cast it in aluminium. Then you have to find a safe method to test the result, because casting is not quite as simple as it looks and the bike could be seriously dangerous.</p>
|
2016-01-12T19:52:25.430 | |reprap|desktop-printer|replicating-printers| | <p>There is a 3D desktop printer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RepRap_project">RepRap</a> which can print most of its own components.</p>
<p>Assuming each printed printer will print the next one and so on. Are there any limitation how many times this can be achieved?</p>
<p>For example somebody printed for me printer and I do the same for my friends and they do the same for theirs. Can this go forever (since 3D model stays the same), or there are any serious side-effects/disadvantages of doing that continuously?</p>
| 33 | How many times printed printer can print it-self? | <p>The reprap printers have often been compared to plants, providing fruits to you and the possibility to reproduce themselves.</p>
<p>This analogy holds in both good and bad ways. Any life form can reproduce itself only so often without artefacts (mutations) being introduced.</p>
<p>It takes a bit of <strong>skill to build, configure and run a reprap printer</strong>. While the parts can be passed on, that doesn't necessarily hold for gained experience.
Chances are that the parts your printer produces are not as good as those that you have received to build the printer. At least not until you caught up on the learning curve.</p>
<p>A reprap has a lot <strong>other parts that are not printed and can vary in quality independently from the printed parts</strong>. It makes a difference what steel rods are used, what driver circuit for the motors, etc. If you give printed parts away that are as good as those that you received yourself, the added parts are not necessarily as good as your.</p>
<hr>
<p>My recommendation would be that <strong>you and your friends get printer parts from that somebody and you build your printers together</strong>. While giving parts to others is a great thing, building 3D printers together with friends is greater. </p>
|
2016-01-12T19:59:15.953 | |filament|filament-production| | <p>I have a few kg of 3 mm filament when I only have use for 1.75 mm.</p>
<p>How can I make 1.75 mm from 3 mm filament?</p>
| 38 | Conversion of 3 mm ABS filament to 1.75 mm | <p>You could build a machine that has a nozzle with 3 mm input hole and 1.75 mm output hole, based on some designs for filament making machines. Or you could just cut the filament into little peaces and use them instead of the granulate in an original filament making machines.</p>
<p>There are some open designs for such machines <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-filament-factory-Filame/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">you can build</a>, or you could buy one, such as <a href="http://www.filabot.com/collections/filabot-core" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Filabot</a>.</p>
<p>However, as mentioned by <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/36/kaine">kaine</a>, this is very unlikely to be worth the cost/effort. Best option for you is to try to sell the 3 mm filament to someone who has a use for it, take the money and buy some 1.75 mm filament instead.</p>
|
2016-01-12T20:16:01.823 | |quality|fdm|pla|extrusion| | <p>I am printing a print using PLA on a Prusa i3 printer and an MK8 extruder, at 210 degrees celsius, 60 mm/sec, sliced with slic3r. The print consists of a base, with 4 tower-like projections that then join with a near-vertical overhang slope that isn't posing a problem for my printer.</p>
<p>However, even before the overhang begins, I am getting large amounts of strings as the extruder head jumps between the four towers in the print, leading to a "spiderweb" effect between them. How can I deal with these strings, and are they a warning that there might be something amiss with my printer, or possible other failures in other parts of the print?</p>
| 48 | What are the reasons for my 3D prints having large numbers of strings between parts of a layer? | <p>Here's just a few of the things you might want to look into.</p>
<ul>
<li>plastic - some plastic types are more stringy than others and there's also variation between brands and colors.</li>
<li>moisture in filament - water turning to steam tends to cause the extruder to ooze when it isn't printing, which can cause stringing.</li>
<li>temperature - too hot or too cold can cause stringiness.</li>
<li>retraction distance - not enough retraction can leave some nozzle pressure, causing it to ooze during travel moves (not sure how much retraction speed matters but I suspect it can make a difference too).</li>
<li>acceleration - if it's too slow it's more likely to draw out strings.</li>
<li>travel speed - faster travel speeds are more likely to prevent strings or make them thinner and less of a problem.</li>
<li>z-hop - raising the extruder on travel moves makes stringing more likely.</li>
<li>wipe - a longer wipe distance can be helpful to reduce stringing, especially with some of the more stringy filaments.</li>
<li>combing - avoiding passing over open spaces can reduce stringing in some cases</li>
<li>part cooling fan - more cooling might help to reduce stringiness.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are other things too, the extruder design makes a big difference with longer bowden tubes being more challenging to tune. The order in which the layers are printed can make a difference too in some more specialized cases.</p>
|
2016-01-12T20:16:38.260 | |filament|desktop-printer|safety| | <p>When using thermoplastic-filament, this can be potentially <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/2/20">hazardous</a>, since constant printing can emit hazardous fumes and odors that may be emitted by heating the plastics.</p>
<p>I understand it normally should be used in well ventilated areas. However I would like to use it heavily in the basement which is not well ventilated.</p>
<p>Are there any practical methods of limiting such exposure? For example locking it in some special box, covering it or suck the odors? Would that help?</p>
<p>Do you have any experience doing so?</p>
| 49 | Are there any methods of limiting exposure of hazardous fumes and odors emitted by heating the plastics? | <p>Using negative pressure ventilation and a suitable organic filter will limit your exposure to toxic compounds, but won't completely remove them from your environment.</p>
<p>Enclose your printer in as air-tight a box as you can manage, then use a fan to suck air out of the box. This negative pressure will ensure that any leaks in the box will not allow gasses to escape.</p>
<p>The air should be blown through an organic filter. This might be done with face mask filters for painting, for instance.</p>
<p>Additional filtering may be done depending on the compounds you expect the printer to produce, but the ideal situation is to set up a ventilation system to the outdoors where the products cannot concentrate and harm anyone.</p>
<p>Another poorer option is to simply wear a proper organic filter mask yourself. It's not as good, since the compounds can spread through your residence or remain in the air and be inhaled when you aren't printing.</p>
|
2016-01-12T20:37:19.573 | |pla|abs|recycling|filament-production| | <p>Is it possible to re-use ABS or PLA filament material from printed parts?</p>
<p>If so, what is the techniques to reform it?</p>
| 59 | How to recycle filament material from printed parts? | <p>If you're more interested in the recycling and reuse aspect than the re-print aspect, you could melt all the scrap filament onto a cookie sheet or into a bar (like in a bread ban). You could then manually work the material, or use a CNC machine to carve out your next thing.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUR6_bQLU-E" rel="noreferrer">Youtube video</a> refers to HDPE, but the same concept will apply to other thermoplastics:</p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kUR6_bQLU-E?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-HWrDMr0ks" rel="noreferrer">Youtube video</a> uses a cookie sheet and failed prints:</p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-HWrDMr0ks?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
|
2016-01-12T20:40:43.047 | |extruder|abs|heated-bed|lulzbot| | <p>I print ABS on a LulzBot Taz 5 and frequently have issues with the corners of objects lifting off the bed.</p>
<p>My extruder is at 230 °C and the bed is at 90 °C for the first layer and 100 °C for the rest of the layers.</p>
<p>I have experimented with using ABS slurry (ABS + acetone) on the bed for increased adhesion, building a foam enclosure for the printer, and varying the fan speed. I have noticed the problem is more common the taller the parts are and the sharper the corner is.</p>
<p>Adding ABS slurry helped for smaller parts (less than an inch tall) but with my more recent larger parts the adhesion to the bed was so good that the corners of the part lifting actually peeled the PEI tape off of the bed.</p>
<p>I have tried using both a skirt and a brim with no change. The skirt stays on the bed, the brim gets pulled up with the corner.</p>
| 61 | Why do the corners of my ABS object lift off the bed? | <p>This post is meant to share experience with products that make your products stick to the bed. This is not meant to be a promotion of the products! In other answers I've seen answers hinting to Elmer's glue sticks.</p>
<p>I have been printing directly onto the aluminium heatbed from day 2 of the i3 Prusa clone (Anet A8) printer and the glass beds of the Ultimaker 3 Extended and my HyperCube Evolution using a PVA based spray (3DLAC, but there are more products with similar effects, e.g. glue sticks). This sticks so well that PLA and PETG can only be removed after cooling down the bed completely. For ABS you could use DimaFix which can be used for ABS as it increases grip with increasing temperature where 3DLAC looses grip over 80 °C (according to theory). After trying DimaFix on high temperature beds for printing POM filament (very tough to get this to stick as this is bearing material!) I found that prints stick better with 3DLAC on glass.</p>
|
2016-01-12T20:49:28.873 | |rafts|brims| | <p>Taken from the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/60/47">answer provided by @EricJohnson</a>,</p>
<p>When should I use a raft, and when should I use a brim? What advantages does each have over the other?</p>
<p>Raft
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOghM.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOghM.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Brim
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MnlZ.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MnlZ.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 65 | When should I use a raft, when should I use a brim? | <p>I have been favoring brims recently; I am tired of the rafts becoming an integral part of my print, impossible to remove.</p>
|
2016-01-12T21:00:36.337 | |adhesion|warping|cooling| | <p>My print is warping and I suspect it is because of uneven cooling.</p>
<p>How can ensure my print cools evenly? Should I put a fan on the bed? Will no fan and a tall skirt help?</p>
<p>Or are my edges curling up for another reason?</p>
| 70 | My print is warping: how can I ensure that it cools evenly? | <p>Without more information we cannot address what is causing your edges to turn up. This can depend on the model being printed, the process, the material, the bed, and the method used to bond it to the bed.</p>
<p>As far as the initial question, a fan will most certainly ensure <em>uneven</em> cooling.</p>
<p>The middle of the print is, and will remain, the warmest. If you want the print to cool evenly, you'll need an enclosure to block out drafts and air currents, and you'll need to bring the heated bed temperature and enclosure temperature down slowly over a long period of time.</p>
|
2016-01-12T21:30:33.083 | |abs|filament|maintenance| | <p>I made a test print for a small gear (~ 1.5 inches in diameter) a few months ago, with a hole through the center. On the first try, the filament (ABS) fused to the print bed, meaning that I had to spend ten minutes scraping off material to loosen it. One solution to this is to use painter's tape spread across the print bed.</p>
<p>This yielded a good print during the next run. The problem with this method was that some of the tape subsequently fused to the backside of the gear; it was so tight that I had to discard the prototype. Multiple varieties of tape made no difference.</p>
<p>Is there a way to continue using this tape without having it fuse to the filament?</p>
| 78 | How can I stop my print bed tape from sticking to the filament? | <p>One thing that I do to keep it from sticking to the tape. Is to add glue from a glue stick down on the building pad in an even coat on top of the tape.</p>
|
2016-01-12T21:50:45.197 | |abs|acetone|safety| | <p>Acetone can be used to smooth ABS prints. What safety precautions should be taken during its use?</p>
| 81 | Safety precautions when using acetone | <h1>Safety Advice for Acetone Handling/Usage</h1>
<hr>
<p><strong><em>Please remember that you handle acetone at your own risk! By using this advice you agree to hold me harmless and not sue me as a result of using these instructions/advice. Remember that I am not a professional chemist or a lawyer (this isn't professional or legal advice)!</em></strong></p>
<hr>
<p>I encourage you to research safety precautions and risks on your own to build a personal body of knowledge. The most effective safety precaution available to you is knowledge; the brain is the most important piece of safety equipment! This listing of advice for acetone handling is generated from the highlights of a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for acetone. After reading this advice you should read an MSDS for acetone directly. It would actually be an excellent idea to find and read the MSDS for all the chemicals you use during 3D printing. </p>
<p><strong>Safety Equipment</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Wear safety clothing! Acetone requires that you wear protective gloves, protective eyewear, and a respirator (to protect your airway). It is also highly recommended to wear protective (ideally also chemically resistant) clothing (like a smock or an apron). These safety clothes are recommended because acetone is a toxic substance which can absorb through the skin and walls of the lungs directly. Make sure to verify the gloves are made of a substance which blocks acetone absorption, also, verify that your respirator is rated to protect against acetone (many respirators are not capable of blocking acetone due to it's volatility).</p></li>
<li><p>Possess, prepare and understand how to use an eyewash station, a fire blanket, a fire extinguisher (rated for chemical fires), a chemical shower/dousing system and other standard laboratory safety equipment. Posting warning signs along the entrances and exits to the work area about working with a volatile, flammable and explosive gas is also recommended.</p></li>
<li><p>Keep an inert absorption media readily available to cleanup spills should you accidentally fail to avoid a spill. Diatomaceous earth, silica/sand and activated charcoal are all potential absorption media. Should you have a large spill or not possess absorption media (which should not happen - always verify safety equipment is present and working before handling chemicals!) then you may also dilute the spill with water and mop up the dilute solution of acetone. No matter which method you use to cleanup a spill remember to dispose of the contaminated cleanup materials according to the requirements/laws of your local area. <strong>Do not</strong> lazily dispose of the acetone down the drain without doing research on the correct disposal methods!</p></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Control Your Environment</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Ensure proper ventilation of your workspace (ventilation is required in addition to your respirator due to explosion/fire risk). If the atmospheric concentration of acetone becomes too high the risk for fires and explosions quickly becomes unacceptable (the risk is never going to be zero working with acetone unfortunately, but minimizing it is very important). Working outside is the perfect way to insure the ventilation is adequate, although that presents it's own problems and considerations. Alternatives include using a fume hood, or even something as simple as a fan blowing air through an open window. </p></li>
<li><p>Eliminate any and all sources of flame or spark for a considerable area around all sources of acetone (10-15 meters minimum). Take special precautions to prevent being unknowingly contaminated with acetone (which could then be accidentally transported from the work area to a flame source using you as a carrier). Personal contamination can lead to injury if you attempt to smoke during a break or at anytime before verifying you are not contaminated. It is important to provide an ignition-free environment that extends quite far away from the immediate vicinity of the acetone because acetone can ignite a vapor trail of acetone and allow the flame to travel distances via flashing over the vapor trail. Physical isolation is the ideal solution to this dangerous problem. A policy of always closing the door to the acetone work area is an example of physical separation which would hopefully prevent this vapor trail flash-over.</p></li>
<li><p>Avoid acetone spills. Acetone is an excellent solvent which could easily eat away the paint on your wall or destroy the finish of your table. Spills also necessitate following special precautions for cleanup and disposal, which have already been provided earlier within this list. </p></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Acetone Chemistry</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Do not under any condition mix your acetone with chemicals without an extensive analysis and understanding of the products and the risks associated with the reaction. The following list of chemicals will create an explosive compound/mixture when reacted with acetone, so do not allow them to come into contact with acetone: hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, nitric acid, nitric acid + sulfuric acid, chromic anydride, chromyl
chloride, nitrosyl chloride, hexachloromelamine, nitrosyl perchlorate, nitryl perchlorate, permonosulfuric acid, thiodiglycol +
hydrogen peroxide, potassium ter-butoxide, sulfur dichloride, 1-methyl-1,3-butadiene, bromoform, carbon, air, chloroform,
thitriazylperchlorate.</p></li>
<li><p>Should you accidentally ignite some acetone, you must take additional precautions while evacuating or while attempting to extinguish the fire. Acetone is a hydrocarbon and the reaction of burning it produces products which include carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Essentially, humans are incapable of detecting these gases with their senses (detectors exist to measure concentration). However, these symptoms of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can help alert you to the fact they are present: shortness of breath, blackness along the edges of your vision, confusion, headache, unconsciousness, coma, and finally, death. Carbon monoxide is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide because often the first symptom is unconsciousness, which prevents you from evacuating, leading to death. The dangerous of gas inhalation are substantial enough that as soon as a fire becomes medium-sized you should seriously consider evacuating the area rather than staying to extinguish the fire. It is better to lose property to the fire than to die (if you die I would guess that your property is destroyed anyway!).</p></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Risk Analysis</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Acetone is a confirmed developmental toxin for females and a suspected developmental toxin for males as well. The risk of breast milk contamination is unknown, but it is a suspected toxic contaminant. Mutagenic and tetragenic effects are not known. The result of this toxicity is that pregnant or breastfeeding women should not handle or be around acetone (due to vapors) even for short periods of time.</p></li>
<li><p>The risk of cancer and the carcinogenic properties for acetone are not well-defined, with some declining to classify acetone as a carcinogen and others classifying it as being carcinogenic. California, for instance, has required that acetone bear a proposition 65 warning about cancer risk.</p></li>
<li><p>Acetone is definitely a toxic substance, but it is not highly toxic and accidental ingestion or absorption is essentially incapable of causing severe symptoms. Small exposures to acetone (like the exposure levels likely encountered during 3D printing) are more-or-less not very harmful. However, if you do get a problematic exposure to acetone, contact a poison control center.</p></li>
<li><p>The LD50 ("lethal dose 50%", dose where half of subjects die) in rats is 5800 mg/kg, making the predictable (humans are often similar to rats in regards to toxicity) LD50 for an adult human similarly high. With such a high lethal dose, the predicted toxicity of acetone likely causes chronic sub-lethal damage instead of causing an acute and lethal response. If we assume an average adult human (62 kg) shares the LD50 of a rat- that human would need to consume 392 cc of acetone to reach the LD50. 392 cc is nearly equivalent to 4/10 L- meaning that there is essentially no chance the small consumption of acetone caused by working with it could poison an adult human (if our assumptions are correct).</p></li>
<li><p><em>Potential effects of inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption of acetone:</em> dry skin, nausea, vomiting, skin irritation, eye irritation, burning sensation, redness, tearing, inflammation, corneal injury, depression, fatigue, excitement, stupor, insomnia, hypersomnia, ataxia, tremors, dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, headache, muscle weakness, loss of motor coordination, speech abnormalities, narcotic effects, coma, kidney damage, liver damage, brain damage, and death.</p></li>
</ul>
|
2016-01-12T21:55:29.397 | |desktop-printer|automation| | <p>I would like to print multiple parts continuously (non-interactively), so
I can leave the printer alone for a longer time. So after finish, parts could be moved somehow out from the printing area, so the next can start.</p>
<p>Are there any methods of achieving that with standard desktop printers without having to use multiple printers?</p>
| 83 | How to automate printing of multiple parts continuously? | <p>I've recently seen a video of this being done successfully with almost no hardware modifications to the printer.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I can't find the video itself any more, but the basic idea is to use the print head/gantry to knock the finished prints off the table, likely by adding some custom commands to the end of the sliced G-code. After the print is finished, the bed moves to the Y endstop (this was done on a bedslinger printer), the head is lowered to about half of the parts' height, then the bed is slowly moved so that the part crashes into the head, gets detached and knocked off the table, then the head is lowered even further and sweeps the part away.</p>
<p>The only mechanical modification, namely a sheet of paper stuck to the table's edge, ensures that the part will roll clear of the bed rails, and pushes the pile of finished parts further from the printer once it's off.
In the case of that video there were three parts being printed at a time, so the motion was repeated for each of them, even though most of the time all three got successfully detached by the gantry.</p>
<p>This approach is likely far from universal, and probably only works with parts that are tall enough and have a small enough footprint to easily detach from the bed; I certainly wouldn't try it if the parts have really good bed adhesion and require more than a slight force to pop off. But it looks like if the requirements are satisfied it should be quite effective.</p>
<p>Also it's likely to be problematic on printers with box frames where it's the bed that moves in the Z direction, as the printed parts are likely to get trapped between the bed, print head and printer frame. CoreXY designs where the bed is static and the head moves in all three axes should be fine, however.</p>
|
2016-01-12T21:57:01.307 | |filament|pla|abs|storage| | <p>For standard ABS and PLA filament, most distributors recommend storing the filament in an airtight bag. Does not doing this actually make print quality worse? I have left mine in the open for a year and have had no noticeable problems.</p>
| 84 | Does filament have to be stored in an airtight environment? | <p>In most cases, you should be fine with ABS or PLA out of an airtight container. If you're worried about it, throw a few desiccant packets where you store your filament.</p>
<p>However, some specialty filaments should be stored in an airtight container. PVA is notorious for absorbing the ambient humidity around it. When it's heated, the water it has absorbed starts to form bubbles, completely messing up the extrusion.</p>
<p>In short, some specialty filaments, definitely. With others, it isn't necessary, but it can't hurt.</p>
|
2016-01-12T22:13:01.437 | |filament-production|filament-quality| | <p>I'm considering purchasing Filabot or some similar filament maker.</p>
<p>What kind of plastic can I use to produce my own filament? Can I use any type of plastic or just specific printable filaments? <strike>Can I also mix different types of filament together or only one type at a time?</strike></p>
| 92 | What type of plastic can be used to produce your own filament? | <p>Filament manufacturers (for example, Colorfabb) also sell pellets, price per kilo would be about 10 times less than the same plastic in filament form.</p>
<p>Out of household garbage only ABS can be easily extruded into filament with Filabot-grade machine. PET AKA plastic bottles looks promising as well.</p>
<p>You can also use certain products "off-label". For example, string trimmer string (line) is simply a nylon filament and can be used as-is in modern diameter-agnostic hot end.</p>
|
2016-01-12T23:39:20.770 | |legal| | <p>Is there any regulation against a 3D printed weapon in the United States or Europe?</p>
<p>Some time ago, I saw <a href="http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1579449-crean-la-primera-arma-de-fuego-con-una-impresora-3d" rel="noreferrer">an article</a> in Israel where they had one that was not detected by the x-ray and was fully functional!</p>
| 103 | Is it legal to make a fire weapon with a 3D printer? | <p><strong>Sort of.</strong></p>
<p>Fully plastic guns are banned in the United States by <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-102/pdf/STATUTE-102-Pg3816.pdf" rel="nofollow">the Undetectable Firearms Act</a>, because <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/fashion/the-rise-of-3-d-printed-guns.html" rel="nofollow">they can pass unseen through metal detectors</a> - a huge problem. One way around this is to insert a slip of metal into the gun, thereby making it detectable by metal detectors. 3D-printed guns made of metal - were that possible - would not violate the law.</p>
<p>The UFA was originally enacted in 1988, extended from 2003 to 2013, and then again until 2023. It may seem a bit unnecessary, as all-plastic guns, like the famous Liberator have structural issues that make them extremely difficult to fire when compared to a normal all-metal gun. However, then <em>can</em> be used.</p>
<p>In Europe, gun laws vary widely by country. <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:31991L0477" rel="nofollow">The European Firearms Directive</a> is the main international agreement on gun laws, but its application varies, and it does not directly address 3D-printed guns.</p>
<p>I'm not aware of a country that has an explicit law banning 3D-printed guns. The only countries that ban them either unintentionally cover them or ban guns altogether.</p>
|
2016-01-13T00:41:32.907 | |abs|post-processing|support-structures|support-material|surface| | <p>I have a 3d printer that uses ABS filament. The software I use will generate vertical supports for my objects before printing that can be easily broken off after they have been used during print to hold sharp angles up that would normally fall.</p>
<p>After breaking off the stints, the print is far from smooth. Is there a material that is best suited for "sanding" down prints without damaging the print?</p>
| 107 | What can I use to "sand" my ABS prints? | <p>I normally deburr with a deburring tool:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2klww.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2klww.png" alt="deburring tool"></a></p>
<p>Then I file if needed, then I hit it with a scotch brite pad:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XAfxO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XAfxO.jpg" alt="scotch brite pad"></a></p>
<p>And then I give it a quick pass with a heat gun to darken all the areas that have turned lighter from the abrasion.</p>
<p>Video showing heat gun (but not scotch brite): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Aj9WCabPgw" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Aj9WCabPgw</a></p>
|
2016-01-13T02:13:54.357 | |speed|slic3r| | <p>When you add a raft in Slic3r, the first layer of the raft prints at the first layer speed. After the raft is finished, the first layer of the print prints at the standard speed. How can I make the first layer of the actual print slow down to the first layer speed?</p>
| 132 | How can I set the 1st layer after a raft in Slic3r to print at 1st layer speed | <p>This is still work in progress, and here is what I have so far, but first:</p>
<p><strong>A useful alternative for similar problems:</strong></p>
<p>A problem very similar to this would be to use different settings for different parts of a model in Slic3r. For most settings, this can be achieved through <a href="http://slic3r.org/blog/modifier-meshes" rel="nofollow">modifier meshes</a>.</p>
<h1>Post processing scripts:</h1>
<p>As far as I know, Slic3r does not give you the option of setting the speed of the first layer after a raft directly, but they do allow you to run <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/post-processing" rel="nofollow">post processing scripts</a>; that is, to automatically run a set of operations - programmed by you - on the g-code output.</p>
<p>Although far from trivial, you can in theory make a program that runs through the output g-code, adjusts the settings to your preference, and then saves it again at the target destination.</p>
<h3>Tuning overall printer speed through g-code:</h3>
<p>As it turns out, there is a <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M220:_Set_speed_factor_override_percentage" rel="nofollow">simple g-code command</a> that sets the overall speed of your printer's operation:</p>
<pre><code>M220 S[some number] ; see the link above for compatible firmware
</code></pre>
<p>A <a href="http://reprapworld.com/newletters/newsletter_4_201438.pdf" rel="nofollow">newsletter</a> from Reprapwold explains that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For example M220 S50 will reduce the speed to 50%
of the original sliced G-code. If you want to hurry your print to the finish in time
for dinner, use M220 S200, to print twice as fast (200%)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, just like some printers allow you the change speed mid-print, you can use the M220 command to override the current speed used, either through a user interface such as PrintRun, or by fiddling with the original g-code itself.</p>
<h3>Manipulating the g-code output to adjust speed settings:</h3>
<p>The easiest way to achieve our goal would be to manually manipulate the output g-code file through a text editor, and insert our M220 command in appropriate places:</p>
<ul>
<li>Set M220 S50 just before the first <em>perimeter</em> layer (after the raft's <em>interface layer</em>), to slow down the first layer of the actual model.</li>
<li>Set M220 S100 sometime after the first perimeter layer, to resume the normal speed settings.</li>
</ul>
<p>In order to do this, though, we need to be able to distinguish these two points in the g-code output.</p>
<h3>Distinguishing insertion points:</h3>
<p>Slic3r offers a setting under <code>Print Settings -> Output options -> Verbose G-code</code> that - when enabled - inserts written comments all throughout the g-code files generated. </p>
<p>If one inspects a g-code file outputted for a model with raft, one will find the comment:</p>
<pre><code>; move to first perimeter point <- lets call this A
</code></pre>
<p>and </p>
<pre><code>; move to next layer (x) <- lets call this B
</code></pre>
<p>littered several places throughout the gcode. </p>
<p>It is under my <em>impression</em> that the <em>first</em> occurrence of comment <strong>A</strong> happens right after the raft is finished, and before the actual model is being printed, while the first occurrence of comment <strong>B</strong> succeeding comment <strong>A</strong> can be used to set the speed back to normal.</p>
<p>It should be noted, however, that <strong>the comments in the output g-code does not seem fully consistent</strong>, and I would therefore not recommend anyone to automate this logic into a script without possibly finding other, more reliable breakpoints, and thoroughly verify these through several different models. </p>
<p>I have not looked into the details of writing an automatic script for this task as of yet.</p>
|
2016-01-13T02:39:47.150 | |microstepping|stepper| | <p>Assuming you have a high quality printer with a fast processor, will you see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from 16X/32X microstepping drivers to 64X/128X microstepping drivers? (e.g. smoother surface finish). In what ways do they perform differently from the more common 16X or 32X stepper drivers. I'm thinking the RAPS128, Silencioso, and Trinamic drivers vs the DRV8825, A4988 and A4988.</p>
| 134 | What are the benefits to using 128X microstepping drivers on the X and Y axis of a FFF printer? | <p>You will likely not see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from a 16x or 32x to a 64x or 128x microstepping driver. Depending on the motors you're driving and the size of the load you could actually see a decrease in quality.</p>
<p>Although microstepping increases theoretical resolution it does not necessarily increase accuracy. The reason is that microstepping significantly limits the incremental torque of the motor. This means that you may ask for a step but not get one because the torque of the step won't be enough to actually turn the shaft.</p>
<p>As an example: a motor running in full steps will have 100% of its rated holding torque. Moving to 16 microsteps/full steps drops this to ~10%, 128 drops it to ~1%.</p>
<p>The practical effect of this is that in high torque situations (such as printing at fast speeds) the motor may end up skipping some of the steps. In this way the increase in resolution can actually lead to a decrease in accuracy (smaller steps but they may not actually be taken).</p>
<p>A relevant calculation to do would be to work out what the different number of microsteps to full steps works out to in terms of horizontal, vertical, or whatever movement the motor drives. You can do this by measuring how far the stepper moves said surface in one revolution provided you know the number of steps it takes per revolution.</p>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> </p>
<p>With no microstepping: 1 turn/inch * 200 steps/turn = 200 steps/inch or .005 inch/step (127 micron resolution)</p>
<p>With 16x microstepping: 16 * 200 steps/inch or .0003 inch / step (8 micron resolution)</p>
<p>In this example 128x microstepping would be absolutely foolish. Every situation is different and you should use this information to make a decision based on your setup. Many manufacturers have recommendations on how far their motors can be microstepped.</p>
|
2016-01-13T04:14:31.923 | |electronics|maintenance|mechanics|stepper| | <p>I've had my printer for almost a year now.</p>
<p>Is there something I should be doing to maintain the motors?</p>
| 140 | Do stepper motors require any maintenance? | <p>The stepper motor itself does not. You may want to inspect the motors for debris or dust.</p>
<p>Depending on your configuration you may want to check on parts of your printer that connect to your stepper motor such as shaft couplings, pulleys, lead screws/threaded rods and belts. The stepper motor wires should occasionally be inspected for wear and strain.</p>
|
2016-01-13T05:44:21.367 | |material|safety|food| | <p>What materials which are <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/materials/">commonly used in 3D printing</a>, are food-safe?</p>
<p>Are there any certifications/grading process for such materials, which can help me with my cross-checking and selection?</p>
<hr>
<p>I have been using an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling">FDM printer</a>.</p>
| 147 | Which are the food-safe materials and how do I recognize them? | <p>I have looked at this a lot, both from the standpoint of my own use, and of selling items on Etsy.</p>
<p>As far as I can determine, PLA and ABS are both generally safe. </p>
<p>The FDA lists ABS and PLA as safe plastics for food contact, although some pigments and additives can bring their own problems. ABS is nit generally safe (per the FDA) for contact with alcohol. I don't know why.</p>
<p>So, for my use, I make wine, beer, and cocktail containers from PLA, and coffee mugs from ABS.</p>
<p>PETG softens too much with boiling water and does not work for coffee and tea mugs. I've tried. It fails.</p>
<p>Be careful if you use acetone smoothing on ABS. The acetone enters the ABS, and even after a few days of ambient conditions, the plastic may contain enough acetone to create bubbles in the plastic when the acetone boils off in response to hot water. I had heavily smoothed this particular teacup. Perhaps if it was less exposed to acetone vapors, it may have let the disolved acetone escape faster.</p>
<p>I have used non-smoothed ABS coffee mugs for months without problems.</p>
<p>You will read about brass nozzles contaminating the print with lead. You will read about the ridges being bacterial breading grounds. This may be true. </p>
<p>ABS still makes a fine coffee mug for personal use.</p>
|
2016-01-13T06:35:47.820 | |fdm|abs|print-quality| | <p>Suddenly, my printer has started producing prints that have a very pronounced layering. Normally, the alignment between layers is very good, and the prints look very smooth. Suddenly, the prints have become much worse and the layers are misaligned with respect to each other.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MgWVx.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MgWVx.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>The part on the left is my "normal" quality, while the part on the right show the deterioration. Here is another picture (in which the good part is on the right):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/c1I5Q.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/c1I5Q.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>The parts are both printed with 0.1mm layer height, and identical slicer settings/filament. I am printing on a custom-built FDM printer; the mechanism is roughly similar to that of an Ultimaker.</p>
| 149 | What can cause a sudden and dramatic loss in the inter-layer registration of my prints? | <p>It appears the heatbreak of my E3D nozzle had worked itself loose from the heatsink, allowing the nozzle to wobble around a bit. Because the nozzle was still tight against the heatbreak I didn't experience any issues with my hotend, but because the heatbreak was slightly loose the nozzle wasn't properly constrained and moving around a bit.</p>
<p>A quick turn to tighten the heatsink back into the heatbreak was enough to fully resolve the issue. My prints are as smooth as ever now.</p>
|
2016-01-13T06:38:38.630 | |filament|material| | <p>I am working on a robotics project and need to print some gears. These will probably by under a LOT of pressure. Which material/filament should I choose so that the gears don't wear off easily?</p>
<p>PS: Newbie here...</p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong>
According to my instuctor, it has to be some sort of plastic (not metal).
It also has to be lightweight...</p>
| 150 | Which are the strongest and most durable materials? | <p>Filaments that are intended for making parts that require strange should be rated by the manufacturer for strength and flexibility.</p>
<p>You need to calculate the required strength and then choose a material with higher rating</p>
<p>For example the rating for filaments made by Taulman are at <a href="http://www.taulman3d.com/how-to-choose.html?m" rel="nofollow">http://www.taulman3d.com/how-to-choose.html?m</a></p>
|
2016-01-13T12:25:55.097 | |legal|bricks| | <p>Assuming I've 3D design (or I've created one) which looks very similar to Lego bricks, I am allowed to 3D print them for my personal use?</p>
<p>Do I need to obtain some permission to do so, because of some patents? Or how does it work?</p>
| 164 | Can I print my own Lego bricks? | <p>The patents that cover Lego bricks have expired, so you are free to print bricks using the same interlocking system. You are even allowed to offer such prints commercially.</p>
<p>What is not allowed (and a violation of trademark law) is to call them "Lego bricks" or use Lego's logo. "Compatible with Lego" on the other hand, would be fine.</p>
|
2016-01-13T12:36:34.530 | |legal|3d-models| | <p>Assuming I've extracted 3D models from a game which I legally bought (such as StarCraft). I am allowed to 3D print them for personal use or give it to close friends?</p>
<p>Is there any general rule, or this suppose to be specified in the license? If so, which section/clause potentially can prevent me from doing that? Or I need to contact the company who owns the game to obtain the permission?</p>
| 168 | I've exported 3D models from the game, can I print them? | <p>No. Such figures are generally covered by copyright, which means that nobody but the copyright holder is allowed to (re-)produce copies of the work. Copyright also covers personal use. In the US there are limited fair use exceptions but they do not apply here.</p>
<p>The only way to do this legally is if it is specifically authorized in a license or if you get permission.</p>
|
2016-01-13T12:52:32.577 | |desktop-printer|food| | <p>I would like to print edible cookies or ornamentation for a cake.</p>
<p>Is printing with edible materials achievable by standard thermoplastic-like 3D desktop printer? Or you need to buy a special printer to do that?</p>
| 171 | How to print edible food? | <p>MakerBot Industries had a mod available for their early open source machines called the <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1143" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Frostruder</a>. It was basically a syringe connected to your print head. I saw this in action at the University of Washington a long time ago. Check out the legacy <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/open3dp/2014/12/3d-printed-cookies-more-printable-recipes-frostrusion-walkthrough/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ReplicatorG in action</a>!</p>
<p>I like to relate 3D printing as "A hot glue gun on rails". The beauty is that a lot of the home machines can easily be almost anything on rails.</p>
<p>So, you could always try to 3D print a solution of your own. Please keep in mind any federal regulations on food processing materials (ie ABS is not recommended for most food applications).</p>
|
2016-01-13T14:12:10.063 | |pla|safety|health|food| | <p>I would like to print fancy plastic cutlery sets or plastic glasses.</p>
<p>Is it safe to do it? Or bad for your health, if so, why?</p>
| 181 | Can you use PLA material with food and drinks? | <p>As others have pointed out, PLA isn't specifically not food safe, but materials that have been printed previously can contaminate the PLA.</p>
<p>Additionally, anything 3D printed is extremely porous. Once a part is used for food, moisture and bacteria will accumulate in the pores, and can never be completely cleaned out, contaminating any food that contacts it. It can't be sterilized either, because the temperatures needed for sterilization would deform or melt the plastic.</p>
|
2016-01-13T14:12:59.173 | |slic3r|print-preparation|slicing|g-code| | <p>In my slicing software (Slic3r) some of the vertices/walls of my model seem to have disappeared, so that the inside of the model - which should be solid - is visible, while the surface appears as a thin shell.</p>
<p>Why does this happen? Is it still safe to export the model for printing?</p>
| 182 | Why do some models appear broken in slicing software? | <p>Had similar problems with blender <-> Slic3r, modified a stl in blender then slic3r started acting up, showing strange faces where it shouldn't.
The solution was (as suggested by @tbm0115) to solidify the exported object.
Just add a Solidify modifier to the object(no need to apply), and when exporting to stl make sure to check the "Apply modifiers".</p>
|
2016-01-13T14:36:43.710 | |desktop-printer| | <p>I'm interested in designing & 3D printing as a hobby (e.g. printing chess sets, small toys for family etc.)</p>
<p>Conducting a Google search has brought up a range of small, cheap printers, but beyond that I don't know how to differentiate them.</p>
<p>E.g. selling points include:</p>
<ul>
<li>"liquid light-sensitive resin"</li>
<li>"partially assembled" with "very few parts and minor configuration"</li>
<li>"Wi-Fi enabled"</li>
</ul>
<p>My question is, <strong>which features are going to benefit a small-scale, new enthusiast to 3D printing?</strong></p>
<p>PS. The software I intend to use is Windows 10 3D design</p>
<p>PPS. I'm not a graphic designer by any means, just a new enthusiast.</p>
| 191 | What criteria do I need to be aware of when buying a 3D printer for personal use? | <p>The number one most important thing about a 3-d printer is the Extruder/PrintHead component. If these are buggy, the printer is worthless. Seems like most printers are pretty good with everything else. The place that they die is in the Extruder/Print Head assembly.</p>
<p>The second most important thing is quality of the plastic parts. One nice thing about that is you can usually reprint the plastic parts by going to thingiverse.com and downloading them. </p>
<p>So, I'm on my 2nd printer. I returned the first one to amazon and may very well return the second one. It is a frustrating game. On thing I notice is that VERY FEW printers have a LOT of ratings. Some might have 4 stars, but only 8 votes... The latest one I have had 200+ votes but a 3.5 rating. If you have 200+ votes and anything below 4.2, you've got an inconsistent and potentially crappy product.</p>
<p>So, to sum up, Get details on the extruder. Does it cool properly, is the design such that the filament is properly driven and pushed? Is the hot head the only hot part, or is the tube getting heated too. Does the extruder throat near the hot head have a Teflon tube inside it?</p>
<p>Read the ratings on Amazon, read the bad reviews and then look at the pictures of the product to verify them.</p>
<p>Best of luck.. I'm about to return #2 printer and perhaps part out #3. Not quite sure yet..</p>
|
2016-01-13T16:47:37.063 | |reprap|prusa-i3|ramps-1.4|arduino-mega-2650| | <p>I'm reading about wiring up the electronic components to my Prusa i3 using an Arduino Mega 2650 and Ramps 1.4.</p>
<p>I have step sticks, a heated bed, and a <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007KG0ZYI" rel="noreferrer">Switching Power Supply 12v Dc 30a 360w</a> (more details on that later when I can add which ones to the post).</p>
<p>I've heard that if you wire it wrong and plug it in, you can do anything from starting a fire to burning out your boards.</p>
<p>What are some tips of things to check before plugging it in? Are there any common mistakes that I can avoid?</p>
| 198 | Tips for not burning out my Arduino Mega or catching something on fire when wiring a Prusa i3? | <p>Adding to the other answers:</p>
<ul>
<li>ALWAYS power-off the printer completely and make sure it is not receiving any power from any source (could be receiving power from USB after you turned the power supply off).</li>
<li>Avoid loose wires, and before powering the printer on make sure every wire is connected in the right place. Loose wires can cause damage even if not powered if they get under the PCBs, where they can cause shorts. I fried an Arduino Mega this way.</li>
<li>Never mix between 12v and 5v supply/output wires. Connecting an output wire of the wrong voltage will usually cause damage only to the part receiving power, while connecting a supply wire of the wrong voltage can cause severe damage to many components at once.</li>
<li>Keep all wires organised. That will help you understand which wire is connected to what quickly, and will help you do what is mentioned in #2 and #3.</li>
</ul>
|
2016-01-13T17:57:10.633 | |slic3r|print-preparation| | <p>I have noticed that <a href="http://slic3r.org/" rel="noreferrer">Slic3r</a> offers a speed setting called "<a href="http://slic3r.org/blog/new-stable-1.2.9" rel="noreferrer">auto speed</a>" meant to give a constant filament pressure at the extruder, which I believe could eliminate filament grinding issues at higher printing speeds. </p>
<p>According to the tooltip in Slic3r, auto speed is calculated from two parameters:</p>
<ul>
<li>Maximum speed</li>
<li>Maximum volumetric speed</li>
</ul>
<p>Maximum speed speaks for itself, but how can I calculate the maximum volumetric speed of my print?</p>
| 203 | How can I calculate volumetric speed for Slic3r auto speed? | <p>There's no fixed maximum volumetric speed that works for everyone, there's simply too much variables to account for.
By using @Ian Williams explanation you can convert from volumetric to regular speeds but you still need to test what speed works best for your setup.</p>
<p>Just a few of the other variables affecting how fast material can come out consistently: temperature (nozzle & heat brake), extruder motor power, path friction between extruder and hotend, material compressibility, fluidity and glass transition temperature, ..</p>
<p>There are interesting topics on RepRap forums, like this one: </p>
<p><a href="http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?262,654085" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?262,654085</a></p>
|
2016-01-13T18:02:27.633 | |extruder|maintenance| | <p>I upgraded to an Mk9 dual extruder, and it came with thermocouples installed instead of the thermistors I had before. </p>
<p>No matter what I did with the thermocouples, the indicated temperature jumped around by as much as 30C or more. In short, after several weeks of fiddling I never got the thermocouples to work well, and replaced them with thermistors, which have been fine.</p>
<p>So my question is: what is required to get thermocouples to give reliable, consistent, accurate readings? Are they just incredibly touchy?</p>
<p>Some things I tried include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Of course, one must add circuitry (typically a thermocouple amplifier board such as <a href="http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Thermocouple_Sensor_Board_v1">http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Thermocouple_Sensor_Board_v1</a>), to convert the tiny voltage differences to larger differences usable with Arduino or similar analog inputs.</p></li>
<li><p>Place those boards close to the thermocouples, but far enough that they are at pretty stable temperature themselves.</p></li>
<li><p>Have absolutely no wire extensions of splices, changes of wire types (material), etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Avoid doing repeated measurements too fast.</p></li>
<li><p>I replaced a thermocouple board with 5V through a potentiometer to the analog input pin, to rule out problems in the Arduino, pin configurations, or software, and got stable readings.</p></li>
<li><p>I checked for shorts-to-ground from the heater block, both sides of the thermocouples, the heater itself, etc. None found.</p></li>
<li><p>The thermocouple wires are surrounded by a braided shield (not common or shorted to either thermocouple wire); I tried grounding that at either end and at both ends, to the heat block, the printer frame, the power-supply ground, and the RAMPS board ground. These had various effects (sometimes large), but I couldn't find any configuration that made the readings stable (much less accurate!).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Anything I'm missing?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Steve</p>
| 204 | How to get consistent and accurate readings from thermocouples? | <p>Thermocouples work by passively generating VERY small voltages via the Seebeck effect -- usually a few tens of millivolts. They're literally just a pair of wires made from two different special alloys, electrically connected together at the "hot" end. That wire junction can be mounted inside whatever kind of attachment tip or lug is desired.</p>
<p>The fact that they're very simple and passive devices makes them extremely precise and consistent between TCs of the same type, MUCH more so than thermistors. Any type-K thermocouple in the world will give you the same accurate output +/-1-2C or so. You can even cut a thermocouple in half, re-twist the ends of the wires together, and it'll still work! </p>
<p>However, the very small (millivolts) signal they generate is quite susceptible to electrical noise and circuit design. The signal voltage has to be greatly amplified to be useful. So it doesn't take much EMR from your heater or stepper wires to interfere with the TC reading. A frequent problem with TC circuits in 3d printers is the dreaded GROUND LOOP -- if the "hot" tip is electrically connected to the hot block, voltage and current on the heater and motor wires can induce small currents through the TC wires that totally screw up the millivolt signal. The amplifier picks up these stray voltages and it throws off the temp read. So, there are some important guidelines for keeping noise out of the TC wires:</p>
<ul>
<li>The TC wires must be electrically insulated from the mounting hardware (eye lug, thermowell, whatever your extruder has). You can check this with a multimeter -- you want infinite / out of range resistance from the TC leads to the mounting tip and hot block. While you're at it, make sure your heater cartridge wires aren't shorting to the hot block -- that's unsafe and can also cause problems with TCs.</li>
<li>Keep the two TC wires close together, and not immediately parallel to noise sources like PWM-controlled heaters or stepper wiring. If you must run the TC in a bundle with the other wires, TWIST the heater/stepper wiring pairs. (For steppers, twist each coil pair to a different pitch if possible. You don't need to twist the separate coil pairs to each other.) </li>
</ul>
<p>Another common issue with TC circuits is the COLD JUNCTION COMPENSATION. A thermocouple doesn't measure tip temperature, it measures the DIFFERENCE in temperature between the hot tip and the cold junction where the TC is connected to either the amp or copper wiring. The TC amp has an onboard thermistor that it uses to add the temp at the cold junction to the measured signal from the thermocouple. There are a few things you need to do to make sure the cold-junction compensation works properly:</p>
<ul>
<li>You should run TC wire all the way from the "hot" tip to the TC amp. You CAN splice it and install plugs, but only with more type-K TC wire and proper type-K thermocouple plugs. These use the same metal as the TC wire so they don't generate undesired junction voltages that interfere with the TC signal. If you splice copper wire between the TC and the amp, any temp differences along the copper will not be measured! This is a particularly big problem if you splice to copper inside a warm enclosure and then run copper to an amp outside the enclosure.</li>
<li>The amp should not be super hot. The onboard thermistor is designed to accurately measure temperatures reasonably close to room temp, not hot-block temps. </li>
<li>There should not be large temperature gradients near the amp or between the TC wire termination and the actual amp chip. Place the amp far enough away from the hot end and other heat sources (like stepper motors) that it isn't experiencing weird temp profiles.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you do the above, the TC will output a good signal, and the amp will read it properly. But there's one more hitch. The mainboard has to know how to understand the amp's output. 3D printer control boards that are designed exclusively for TCs, like Mightyboards, usually use digital communication between the amp and the main control chip (MCU). This is high-reliability and does not require any special firmware configuration -- support is baked in. But if you're strapping an external TC amp onto a board that is expecting thermistors, <strong>you will have to tell the firmware how to read the signal from the amp.</strong> The most common technique is for the amp to output a linear voltage signal to the MCU's normal thermistor input (ADC). Then you configure the firmware to use the appropriate "thermistor table" (really a voltage lookup table) for that particular amp. Depending on your controller board, you also may need to make sure the regular thermistor pull-up/pull-down resistors aren't affecting the amp's output.</p>
<p>So you need to make sure:</p>
<ul>
<li>You don't have electrical noise issues</li>
<li>The cold-junction compensation is working as intended</li>
<li>The firmware and controller board is configured correctly for your amp chip's output</li>
</ul>
<p>If you do all that, a TC should give superior accuracy and reliability over a thermistor. </p>
|
2016-01-13T20:35:45.770 | |cost| | <p>How do I determine how much an individual print costs?</p>
<p>I'd like an answer including support material, failed prints, and (ideally) wear and tear / printer maintenance costs.</p>
<p>To clarify, I'm not asking how to <em>predict</em> the cost before printing, but rather how to calculate the actual cost after printing. Though predicting the cost beforehand is useful as well.</p>
| 210 | How do I calculate the cost of a 3D print once it's done? | <p>I recently faced the problem of calculating the cost of my printed 3D models. I wanted to know what their real value had to be counted in Excel. It was really inconvenient. Then I found a program for counting, it turned out really great, even takes into account the electricity. This is not an advertisement just throwing, maybe someone also encountered such a problem.
<a href="https://codecanyon.net/item/mcc-3d-model-cost-calculation-for-3d-printer/24033425" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://codecanyon.net/item/mcc-3d-model-cost-calculation-for-3d-printer/24033425</a>
I was interested in the question who solved the given problem in what ways?</p>
|
2016-01-13T20:46:13.137 | |calibration| | <p>When the print head changes direction, the printer must accelerate and decelerate the print head. When calibrated correctly, the printer is able to do this quickly and without causing the printer to shake too much, without drastically slowing down the print process.</p>
<p>If I set it too high, my printer shakes violently, especially during infill. If I set it too low, print times are doubled or tripled.</p>
<p>What process can I follow to determine (or how can I calculate) the fastest acceleration value my printer can use without causing problems in my print?</p>
<p>I'd prefer a process I can follow over a formula I can plug values into, especially if the formula includes magic numbers.</p>
| 212 | How do I determine the acceleration value for my printer? | <p>Most printers use between 2000 and 5000 mm/s<sup>2</sup>.... extrusion moves are usually 2000 (on average, between different printers), travel is normally seen at 3000-5000, though for most lower end or duel direct drive extruder (heavy) printers, this value should be lower (some as low as 500-1000, some as high as 2000 for travel). Heavier extruders need lower values, as well a slower jerk values, to avoid the motors skipping. The jerk setting being set lower can actually be beneficial, as this makes for smoother extrusion after a corner or a hole (some people will see ripples near these areas as it accelerates out of the direction change - lower values make these ripples smaller, but slightly increase print time).</p>
<p>I've just modified mine with a prototype carriage design that I'm working on. It's added about 100 grams to the stock weight. It was finely tuned before, so this extra weight set it over that pillow of 20-30% in the setting, and makes the X and Y skip as it jerks around the plate; especially in high resolution models, particularly high resolution circles with 200 faces on the vertical axis, because the printer tries to jerk after each node - normally that isn't an issue, but in heavy designs, the jerk setting needs to be lowered. I had my jerk at 20 for XY, and its now at 4, after having tested and failed 8 and 15 values. The acceleration was at 2000 for both extrusion and travel (some firmwares don't allow separate values for travel and extrusion moves, but if yours does, it's best to have travel value about double the print moves - when your travel is twice the speed of extrusion moves - so use that 1-1 formula in relation to speed, scale it for each desired speed set in the slicer). Mine has been tested at 2000, 1500, 1000, and 800, failing all of them, with jerk setting of 5. Now testing 500 for acceleration, and beginning to get a little confused as to why this is happening. </p>
<p>Now I'm having second thoughts... After going as low as 800 from 2000, and still getting skipping (seemingly worse) am I getting this backwards here? Do I need a higher value if the motor is skipping on quick moves? My understanding is that lower is better for those problems, but perhaps I've confused myself. </p>
|
2016-01-13T20:50:38.520 | |extruder|fdm|maintenance|extrusion| | <p>Using a thermoplastic MDF printer with a 0.4mm extruder nozzle, I frequently have trouble with the nozzle getting clogged.</p>
<p>I am not sure what's causing the clog, but my guesses are dust and/or burnt filament (from leaving the hot end on without extruding).</p>
<p>What can I do to prevent, or at least minimize, the extruder nozzle getting clogged?</p>
<p>Bonus question: What other common causes of clogs are there? (ie what should I watch out for besides dust and leaving the hot end on?)</p>
| 214 | How do I keep my extruder head from getting clogged? | <p>First, you don't.</p>
<p>To reduce the likelyhood, use good plastics without contaminations. </p>
<p>Do not over heat the plastic, causes faster carbon build up.</p>
<p>Buy hand drills, mini drills to clear it.</p>
<p>Don't switch materials around a lot. Low temp plastic residue will cook when you switch to high temp plastic. Again carbon.</p>
<p>Last will come to your extruder is self. Use a hardened extruder tip, less likely to wear. All metal should help a lot too, PTEF tubes often get baked in a jam situation.</p>
<p>Or do what I do. I use a giant 1mm nozzle. I have printed at least 20 lbs of plastic on the same nozzle.</p>
<p>The other solutions say put oil etc.. I will just say that is not a great idea. First you will have terrible bed adhesion, second it just seems wrong. Not to mention it will be out of the extruder within one KG?. The only time its okay to use oil is if you have a bowden setup.</p>
|
2016-01-13T21:00:04.907 | |fdm|heated-bed|hbp|fff| | <p>My thermoplastic FDM printer has a heated bed and uses glass as the printing surface. Sometimes the glass will chip or break entirely when I'm removing my print. This happens most often when the print has a large area in contact with the glass.</p>
<p>What can I do to keep this from happening?</p>
| 216 | My heated glass print bed keeps chipping and cracking. How can I prevent this? | <p>I have 2 suggestions.</p>
<p>First, get better glass. high quality <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borosilicate_glass" rel="nofollow noreferrer">borosilicate plate glass</a> at least 3 mm thick should shrug off even scraping with a razor. </p>
<p>Second, don't scrape it with a razor, put the whole thing in the freezer (or fridge, or in front of a fan, wherever), borosilicate is known for having a very low thermal coefficient, so the plastic is going to shrink more than the glass and should pop right off</p>
|
2016-01-13T23:34:03.707 | |g-code|firmware|marlin| | <p>I am reconfiguring a Printrbot Simple Metal that has been retrofitted with a RAMPS+Arduino Mega running Marlin, with a fairly slow feedrate due to mechanical and quality limitations.</p>
<p>I am finding that upon cancelling a print where something goes wrong, I have a long period of time in which the printer is continuing to print from the G-code and movement buffer, although the host software (Octoprint) has long stopped sending G-code.</p>
<p>Is there a way I can either a) configure Marlin to have a smaller print buffer (since Octoprint has no trouble keeping up with the printer as it stands) or b) send a particular signal or G-code to the printer that stops it without continuing to read buffer contents?</p>
| 229 | How do I set the G-code buffer size on Marlin? | <p>Marlin does allow one to change the size of the buffers, in <code>Configuration_adv.h</code>. In the current version there's an ifdef that switches between two cases, one with SD support, and the other without. Both have a movement planner of size 16, which can be adjusted.</p>
<p>Additionally, in the same file, <code>BUFSIZE</code> can be changed to modify the size of the buffer storing <em>unparsed</em> commands before they are parsed and enter the movement planner buffer.</p>
<p>Additionally, for some firmwares, <code>M112</code> will immediately shut down the printer, no matter what is in the buffer, but the reset button will need to be used, and the axes will not be homed afterward. In Marlin, it's hardcoded to call <code>kill()</code>.</p>
|
2016-01-14T00:23:36.260 | |maintenance|print-material|extruder| | <p>I often switch my print material, i.e. ABS / PLA / Wood / Flex,</p>
<p>How can I best clean out my extruder between them to ensure I don't contaminate my next print?</p>
| 233 | How should I clean my extruder when changing materials? | <p>eSun has a cleaning filament that extrudes at a wide range of temperatures. It may seem ridiculous to use filament that costs over $100 USD per kilo to purge the nozzle, but it's very convenient and in practice, you don't use much each time (it's sold in 100g packs). I'm still using some samples I received with some filament over a year ago.</p>
<p>Cold pulls will probably be more effective though (as described in another answer), they're just more effort. I usually use cold pulls with nylon when I want to clear out my nozzle, either as part of routine maintenance or when switching to plastics that are sensitive to contamination (usually PETG or ninjaflex). I usually use the cleaning filament when I want to change from a dark to a light or clear filament, especially if the new filament is expensive. Most of the time I just feed in enough of the new filament to purge out the old, with the temperature set to the max of the two.</p>
|
2016-01-14T05:15:09.270 | |filament| | <p>After multiple jams from bulging filaments on two spools I'm getting frustrated. One, right before a job was done.</p>
<p>Is there something I can do to prevent these bulges in filaments from ruining jobs?</p>
<p>What can I do to prevent this from happening in the future before it's a disaster?</p>
<p>He's a picture of one I found using google.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6UvLW.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6UvLW.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| 239 | Bulging filaments - How can catch them before they go in the printer | <p>That's my picture :-)</p>
<p>I use a filament monitor with an encoder wheel that pauses the print if the filament stops moving (because a bulge got stuck, or filament ran out, or the hot end jammed, or whatever). I have a bunch of these on multiple printers: <a href="http://www.toybuilderlabs.com/products/tunell-3d-printer-filament-monitor" rel="nofollow">http://www.toybuilderlabs.com/products/tunell-3d-printer-filament-monitor</a></p>
<p>The Tunell monitor works with Sailfish, Marlin, and Smoothie to my knowledge. This particular one doesn't work with Repetier, but you can wire up a simple encoder wheel to use Repetier's filament monitor functionality.</p>
<p>Like other people have mentioned, you should avoid cheap filament, and return spools with bulges. I personally only see bulges like that maybe every 20 spools or less. </p>
|
2016-01-14T06:54:46.547 | |slic3r|ramps-1.4|arduino-mega-2650|marlin| | <p>My Kossel Mini printer (delta) has RAMPS1.4/Arduino Mega electronics configured to use a standard 20x4 LCD display with Marlin during printing.</p>
<p>Often, navigating the menus during print can be painfully slow, and I occasionally end up making the wrong selections due to lag.</p>
<p>Without starving the actual printing process of CPU resources, is there any way of speeding up the menu navigation?</p>
| 242 | Marlin menu navigation slow while printing | <p>A Delta printer requires constant complex calculations to produce straight lines while printing. The firmware, therefore, spends most of its time figuring out the step and timing sequence, and only the little remaining time between interrupts and these calculations is given to the user interface.</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin" rel="noreferrer">Marlin</a> doesn't document any <a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/wiki/Marlin-Configuration" rel="noreferrer">configuration parameters</a> that would improve the user interface responsiveness, and in any case such improvement must necessarily come at the cost of printing speed and/or accuracy. The processor is being used to its maximum capacity. The only thing you might be able to do is dig into the firmware and try to change it yourself, as this is not a clear option within Marlin.</p>
<p>If working with the user interface while printing is important to you, your next step should probably be to change to a faster 32 bit processor. There are a few firmwares available for ARM and other architectures which may resolve your situation.</p>
|
2016-01-14T19:34:50.137 | |fdm|support-material| | <p>I am designing a part that has to clamp around a 11mm bushing, and due to other design constraints, it has to be printed with a semicircle-shaped overhang:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcLSm.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcLSm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>This is proving very challenging to print. Two copies of this part have to clamp tightly around the bushing in all directions. Support material is rather hard to remove from the very top of the arc (where the overhang angle is the highest) and I often end up removing just too little of the support material (so the part doesn't fit around the bushing) or too much (and the bushing can wobble around).</p>
<p>Is there any way I can modify the design of this part (bearing in mind that it absolutely has to be printed in this orientation) to make it more tolerant of my inaccuracy when removing supports, or is there perhaps some way to manually design supports that are easier to remove (Simplify3D and Cura both don't quite cut it)?</p>
| 250 | How to print an overhanging arc | <p>I had to design something rather like this, but I made the part that wraps around the pipe (pipe in my case - bushing in yours) into a separate piece that slotted into the main arch. </p>
<p>That way, the main arch could be printed with poor precision on the overhang, and the sleeve was printed on its side. It took a little work to make the slotting system fit well, but it was fine. The two arches screwed together to grip two sleeve sections. It also meant I could print the big parts quickly because their precision was less critical.</p>
<p>If - as you suggest - you absolutely have to print it this way, then how about pulling the top of the arch up a little; make it a bit "gothic" if you see what I mean. This is a variation on tjb1's idea above, but rather than have a flat at the top, organize it so there's a gentle point. That way, the printer isn't trying to draw a critical fitting over empty space, and the area that prints poorly is away from the bushing. You might have the slack to put supports back in.</p>
|
2016-01-14T21:48:19.053 | |abs|pla|filament|recycling| | <p>I'm thinking of recycling some filament from a couple of recently failed prints. I can reuse them in the future for basic prototypes, so I'm not concerned with whatever weird mixture of colors come out (they are of a few different colors).</p>
<p>The thing is, I have both PLA and ABS, in small quantities. I originally intended to simply use each one separately, but it occurred to me that they could be mixed.</p>
<p>If I recycle PLA and ABS together into one strand of filament, will there be any negative side effects (e.g. reduced strength)?</p>
| 253 | Can I mix ABS and PLA when recycling filament? | <p>CNC Kitchen tested PLA up to 265 °C or 270 °C in a couple of videos, for example</p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mwS_2R2mIvo?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
<p>The plastic (it may depend on the brand) holds just fine up to 250 °C, but (from personal experience) bridges become really difficult to tune. Strength is very good.</p>
<p>ABS can be printed properly starting from 235 °C (depending on the brand). At 235 °C layer adhesion may be suboptimal, but you are mixing it, so it's not obvious that the result will be poor.</p>
<p>So, to summarise you have a common range 235-250 °C where you can print both plastics properly when pure, so it is reasonable to think that by mixing them you will have at least the same temperature range (the bottom may even be extended a bit, as it happens with PC-ABS which prints properly colder than pure PC).</p>
<p>So I would say that it is a worth test with likely positive results.</p>
<p>In fact, ABS-PLA blends exist and are very good blends for industrial use as the <a href="https://www.terrafilum.com/products/composite/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Terrafilum</a> site states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>ABS_PLA_Blend</p>
<p>Strong PLA Industrial Grade PLA with superior flow and
strength performance; designed for parts where PLA is desired but
where the parts will be subjected to repeated use; ideal for parts
that may need bend slightly without breaking during use.</p>
</blockquote>
|
2016-01-14T22:29:05.317 | |quality|recycling|sls| | <p>I am operating a laser sintering machine, using polyamide 2200 powder (with a grain size of approximately 50 micrometers). During a print, a lot of powder goes unsintered and can theoretically be reused. However, using purely recycled powder degrades print quality to an unacceptable level.</p>
<p>Mixing a little used powder into a larger amount of fresh powder seems to work well though. What is the greatest ratio of used to fresh powder that still gives good results, and is there anything I can do (pre- postprocessing) to allow more powder to be reused?</p>
| 256 | Optimal ratio of fresh to used nylon powder | <p>I currently use the 60/40 recycling mix ratio and find that it works very well. I do however wonder if there is an even more effective ratio in order to recycle used powder. I currently discard all "cake" powder (powder remaining in the build piston) and am only "recycling" the push off powder. I found this paper but it's unclear if they are reusing just the push off or both push off and cake. Any further opinions/ideas would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org/IJME/2015/Volume2-Issue7/IJME-V2I7P106.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org/IJME/2015/Volume2-Issue7/IJME-V2I7P106.pdf</a></p>
|
2016-01-15T00:47:30.323 | |heated-bed|abs|desktop-printer| | <p>Usually it will either will rip the tape, or break the print somehow. Currently using ABS on a taped glass bed with a layer of hairspray for adhesion.</p>
| 258 | How to minimize damage when removing an ABS print from a heated glass print bed? | <p>Glass has a very peculiar effect under heating, that can be used to remove extremely delicate parts from the surface of it:</p>
<p>Glass expands and shrinks differently to the ABS under temperature. Letting the glass bed cool down has it shrink, creating tension on the interface layer which can be exploited with a thin scraper. Putting the bed with the print into the fridge increases the tension to a point at which the bonding breaks. This results in the part popping free in several areas (sometimes everywhere) and easing the removal.</p>
|
2016-01-15T01:07:58.893 | |heated-bed|hbp|cooling| | <p>Let's say I print a part out of ABS and wait for it to cool. I could theoretically do this with several copies of the same printer, modified to use print beds of different compositions.</p>
<p>Will the material a bed is made out of affect how long it takes a part to cool?</p>
| 259 | Does the material a bed is made out of affect the cooling time of a part? | <p><strong>What bed material cools faster?</strong></p>
<p>I found an <a href="http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html">extensive list</a> which relates various materials to their <em>thermal conductivity</em>, k [W/mK]; the lower thermal conductivity, the better the material insulates, and the slower the print bed will resist changes in temperature - both heating up, and cooling down. </p>
<p>Here are the thermal conductivity for some common materials for 3d printer beds:</p>
<pre><code>Aluminum 205
Glass 1.05
Acrylic 0.2
Air 0.024 (for reference)
</code></pre>
<p>There is also the matter of thermal capacity, but I will not go into that right now (need to do some research myself first!).</p>
<p><strong>Will bed material affect cooling time?</strong></p>
<p>Bed material, I believe, is not necessarily related to print cooldown time: it depends on the situation, such as whether we are discussing cooldown during or after printing, and if the bed is heated or not. </p>
<ol>
<li>If you are <em>not</em> using a heated bed, I believe the bed material doesn't matter at all.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>while printing</em>, only the first dozen layers or so are probably affected by the rising heat sufficiently that it affects the printing process.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>after printing</em>, the thermal characteristics of the bed will determine how quickly the print cools (and thus can be removed).</li>
</ol>
<p>Also remember that other physical properties, such as flatness (both cold and during heating) of the bed material is vital for successful prints, and that not all materials can tolerate heating equally well! </p>
|
2016-01-15T07:04:09.510 | |fdm|filament|extruder| | <p>Why do we have two standard filament sizes, 1.75 mm and 3 mm? Does it really make a difference when printing? Or is the 1.75 mm just for smaller printers?</p>
<p>In what situations should I be using 1.75 mm?</p>
<p>When should I be using 3 mm?</p>
| 264 | When to use 1.75 mm vs 3 mm filament? | <p>As I read the history, 3 mm filament was an accident of the supply chain when 3D filament printers were first being developed by hobbyists. There was a product called a "plastic welder" which consisted of a melting device and a source of filler material. This filler was 3 mm plastic.</p>
<p>As the techniques and equipment developed, the market for filament grew to a size where it could support companies producing filament specifically for 3D printing. The benefits of 1.75 mm filament over 3 mm were, IMO, huge -- especially the easier melting and lower force needed by the extruder.</p>
<p>Except for special purposes like pushing soft plastics through Bowden tubes, it seems from the marketplace that 1.75 mm filament as completely overtaken 3 mm filament.</p>
<p>A possible second-order disadvantage of 1.75 mm filament can be water absorption. The surface-to-volume ratio is higher -- there is more surface per unit of the filament through which water vapor can be absorbed. It is important to keep filament dry, and sometimes necessary with both 3 mm and 1.75 mm to dry the filament in an oven before use.</p>
|
2016-01-15T13:05:05.660 | |filament|extruder| | <p>As an extension from <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/264/when-to-use-1-75mm-vs-3mm-filament">this</a> question, is there any reason that you would not be able to use 1.75 mm filament in a printer that takes 3mm filament? I know you would have to change the filament size in the slicing of prints but would there be any other problems?</p>
<p>Also, would using 1.75 mm filament be possible if the nozzle diameter was greater than 1.75 mm but less than 3 mm?</p>
| 269 | Can 1.75 mm filament be used in a printer that takes 3 mm filament? | <p>Typically an extruder and hot end are designed for one or the other, and cannot support the other without mechanical changes.</p>
<p>The extruder may not be able to grip a smaller diameter filament with enough force to assure even feeding and retraction.</p>
<p>The hot end, however, is much more complex. The filament has to be pushed with force into the melting zone, which means the filament has to slide along an area inside the hot end where the filament is plastic but still put pressure on the filament ahead of it.</p>
<p>When you put filament into a hot end, the filament softens before the melt zone, but since the walls of the hot end are just barely larger than the filament it has no choice but to continue pressing down on the liquid filament below.</p>
<p>With a narrower diameter filament, though, the filament can heat, soften, then travel <em>backwards</em> along the sides of the hot end and cool in place, jamming the hot end, or at least preventing an even continuous flow of plastic.</p>
<p>Some hot ends will accept a small Teflon tube that takes this space up and allows you to do this with fewer issues, and if you like to tinker you can experiment with this, but be prepared to learn a lot and fail a lot as you find out the hard lessons of hot end design.</p>
<p>Generally you should upgrade your entire extruder and hot end setup to the size you want to use.</p>
|
2016-01-15T16:33:07.330 | |pla|adhesion|warping| | <p>I've been printing for a week now on my new printer and have been getting great results, including great adhesion. However, most of my prints have had a fairly small footprint.</p>
<p>Now, I'm stepping up the types of items I'm printing, and I've started to run into a problem. Long, thin parts are starting to lift off the bed, especially at the edges of the bed.</p>
<p>I've read <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/61/why-do-the-corners-of-my-abs-object-lift-off-the-bed">the question dealing with this issue with ABS</a> and realize some (most) could apply to me. However, I'm printing entirely in PLA on a non-heated bed.</p>
<p>My question is: What is the best way to go about troubleshooting this problem? In which order should I attempt fixes to narrow down the problem most quickly?</p>
<p>Printer: Monoprice Maker Architect 3D (Very similar to Makerbot)</p>
<p>Material: PLA</p>
<p>Heated Bed: No</p>
<p>Bed Material: Something similar to BuildTak on top of an acrylic bed. (The sheet of material came unlabeled with the printer and I haven't been able to track down exactly what it is.)</p>
| 271 | Troubleshooting poor adhesion at the edge of the bed | <p>Try a dilute solution of PVA glue (approx. 5:1 water:PVA) applied to the bed or the BuildTak like sheet and allowed to dry.
Keep the ambient temperature as high as possible (but not so high as to soften any plastic on the printer obviously).
Big brims help - consider adding them to the model rather than just applying them in the slicer. I've used 12 mm by 0.5 mm deep circles to good effect, particularly on acutely angled parts of the model or the extremities.</p>
|
2016-01-16T00:11:52.217 | |sls|slm| | <p>With <a href="/questions/tagged/fdm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'fdm'" rel="tag">fdm</a> printers, the 3D object that should be printed can be positioned anywhere in the build volume. But it's only practical to place it on the bottom, because otherwise support material would be necessary.</p>
<p>stereolithography has the same problem. Even though the photopolymer can be cured at any position in the build volume, the result would drift away if it was not held in place by support material.</p>
<p>The powderbed based printers (either powder+binder or any of the laser/electron beam sintering/melting variants) do not have this problem, because they continuously fill the entire build volume with powder. The support material that other printing technologies require is part of the powder based printing anyway. It would be possible to pack the build volume with many prints and print them in one go.</p>
<p>Given that the machines are relatively expensive, it would be economical to increase the throughput. A company that does use such printers heavily could wait a certain amount of time until a few print queued up that fit together in the build volume and only then start the process. Do people do this?</p>
| 279 | Is packing multiple prints into the build volume a feasible workflow for powderbed printers? | <p>The print speed for powderbed printing depends primarily on the height of the print; the lateral extent doesn't really matter. Since powderbed printing provides its own easily-removed support structure, a packing that maximizes the number of items and minimizes the height will maximize throughput.</p>
|
2016-01-16T13:28:24.050 | |reprap|prusa-i3|prusa-i3-rework| | <p>I am building a Prusa i3 Rework, and I haven't been able to find out how to attach my J-Head extruder (see below), at the moment it's just kind of held there by pressure, but it seems there are two holes on ether side of it; not sure if they're meant to hold it in place, but it seems that way. </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/X6Ggi.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/X6Ggi.jpg" alt="Image of two holes in the side of the x-carriage with a J-Head Extruder just below it, with ring exposed"></a></p>
<p>Any suggestions as to what I should use to hold it in place? This is definitely a part that gets moved around alot.</p>
<p><strong>update</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qvpOE.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qvpOE.jpg" alt="Image of two holes in the side of the x-carriage with a J-Head Extruder just below it (pushed up a little bit)"></a></p>
| 294 | How is a J-Head Extruder Head attached to the Prusa i3 rework? | <p>It looks like the hotend may not be all the way in, are you sure it's not stuck?</p>
<p>If it's stuck and you can get it in further, those holes should go directly through the smaller ring on top of the J-Head. You just need to run a machine screw into each hole to secure the hotend. The screw will need to at least be flush with the other side to work correctly.</p>
|
2016-01-16T14:40:27.247 | |wiring|switching-power-supply| | <p>From what I understand, when you hook up the <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007KG0ZYI">Switching Power Supply 12v Dc 30a 360w</a> to the wall outlet, you have to be <strong>very careful</strong>; careful not to get the wires mixed up; careful not to have anyone or anything touch the leads (in fact the first proper project I intend to print out will be <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:31659">a casing to fit around the switching power supply</a>), or just order one from someone. </p>
<p>Now there are three wires that go into the US wall of particular concern, and these wires come out of a standard PC cable with the female end cut off, and they hook the power supply. Like the external casing, these three wires are also insulated, and when you take the insulation off the bare wires and connect it to the power supply, you have to use Electrical connectors of some sort to connect them to the power supply's screw leads.</p>
<p>I bought some electrical connectors just for this purpose, but I'm not entirely certain they will be good for this purpose, so I thought I'd check here first.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RTAFs.jpg"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RTAFs.jpg" alt="Picture of GE Electrical Connectors 50956, 40 piece set"></a></p>
<p>There are specifications on the back:</p>
<pre><code>╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ ╬ AWG ╬ Wire Size ╬ Stud Size ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ Spade Terminals ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ YF1.25-35 (red) ╬ 22-16 ╬ 0.5-1.5 ╬ 3.7 ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ Ring Terminals ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ YF1.25-4 (red) ╬ 22-16 ╬ .5-1.5 ╬ 4.3 ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ Butt Splice ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
╬ BF-1.2SS (red) ╬ 22-16 ╬ .5-1.5 ╬ n/a ╬
╬──────────────────╬──────────────────────╬─────────────╬───────────╬
</code></pre>
<p>Not sure if I should use ring or spade terminals, and I don't know what wire size to use; and I don't know what wire grade is inside a standard PC power cord or even if these are safe connectors to use for this.</p>
| 296 | Are these the right types of electrical connectors for hooking my Switching Power Supply up to a wall outlet? | <p>The block on the supply will accept the bare wire</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/En7sd.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/En7sd.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>you <em>could</em> use the yellow in the middle on the right, but the screw on the block essentially does its own crimp.</p>
|
2016-01-16T20:21:06.633 | |applications| | <p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1115.html">This article</a> states that 3D printing has been accomplished in outer space, on the International Space Station.</p>
<p>I'm curious as to how this works differently from 3D printing on Earth. Are there any extra measures that needed to be taken to ensure that the filament would be correctly extruded onto the print bed, or during other steps?</p>
| 303 | How is 3D printing done in space? | <p>The first big space-specific issue is actually air quality. You can't just open a window to air out the molten-ABS smell from the ISS! </p>
<p>FFF printers put out fumes and nanoparticles. In a space station, the same air gets recycled over and over, and the air purification systems have a specific set of contaminants that they are optimized for, as well as a design capacity for air turnover and chemical removal rates that won't be adjusted just because somebody's printing a space-ratchet today. Protecting cabin air quality is a huge design factor for any experiment that goes into space.</p>
<p>The Made in Space printing experiments on the ISS to date were performed in one of the vacuum experiment chambers, so any unfiltered fumes (or fire flare-ups) could be vented directly to space if required. In the long run, this isn't going to work -- other experiments may need the vacuum chamber, or "production" printers may be too large to fit. So the printer needs to have its own internal air purification system. </p>
<p>Another MAJOR design constraint is launch survival. Rocket payloads must be designed for extreme g-forces without 1) damage, or 2) significant internal shifting of mass which would affect the payload center of gravity.</p>
<p>Total payload weight is also quite important here: lifting mass to low Earth orbit is EXPENSIVE. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, the microgravity environment itself isn't that big of a deal. Molten plastic is highly viscous and pretty much stays where you put it long enough to solidify, as long as it's sticking to something. But two impacts do come to mind. </p>
<ul>
<li>First, an unsecured filament spool will try to unwind itself. Gravity won't provide the contact friction we usually rely on to keep spools from bird's-nesting. (Think about it: a tightly-wound spool is literally a giant coil-spring.) </li>
<li>Second, heat flows are different in microgravity -- you can't rely on passive convection to cool the print or the motors. Accommodations must be made for sufficient forced airflow and heat-sinking on anything that requires cooling. And that includes the enclosure itself, since, as mentioned above, the print chamber must be sealed up tight for air quality control. </li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, reliability is critical. Amazon doesn't deliver to the ISS (yet). Even a single stripped screw may take the printer out of commission for months until a replacement part can be fit into an upcoming supply launch. Having the printer catch on fire because something shorted would be catastrophic.</p>
<p>So, really, it's all about making a printer robust enough to make it up there, operate safely, and never break. Printing upside-down is trivial in comparison. </p>
|
2016-01-17T01:23:41.323 | |prusa-i3-rework| | <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CJArK.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CJArK.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>The Sainsmart Endstops I picked up are different from the ones described in the RepRap Prusa i3 Rework electronics assembly wiki; they have 4 female plugs that go into the RAMPS 1.4 board instead of 3:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iVXzh.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iVXzh.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Since these endstops are different, how do I hook them up, and what do the markings on them mean?</p>
| 309 | My endstops have 4 female plugs, but the examples on the RepRap Prusa i3 Site have 3; what are each of them for? | <p>The <a href="http://www.sainsmart.com/sainsmart-mechanical-endstop-for-cnc-3d-printer-reprap-makerbot-prusa-mendel-ramps.html" rel="nofollow">website</a> shows exactly what each wire is for. Both middle wires are ground, the wire on the same side as the lever is the signal wire and the last wire is the power wire.</p>
|
2016-01-17T13:27:51.030 | |extrusion| | <p>My printed objects have horizontal holes in them (as seen I the picture below):
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tSNwG.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tSNwG.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>This doesn't only look bad it also makes the object break at the seems.</p>
<p>Looking carefully at the printing process I can see that after a retraction there's a small amount of time the hotend isn't extruding plastic.</p>
<p>Material: PLA, Printer Robo 3D R1+, Slicer: Cura</p>
| 313 | Holes/ missing layers (after retraction) in 3d printed objects | <p>(answering my own question)</p>
<p>The problem was the extrusion distance settings in Cura's advanced tab, reducing the value to 1.5mm solved the problem.</p>
<p>Other problems with the same symptoms:</p>
<ul>
<li>Partially blocked hotend nozzle.</li>
<li>Incorrectly configured steps per mm for the extruder motor - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUPfBJz3I6Y">this youtube video</a> shows how to test and configure this. </li>
</ul>
|
2016-01-18T10:29:58.050 | |filament|post-processing|pet| | <p>Are there any techniques for getting a smooth finish for parts printed with co-polyester (PET) filaments? More specifically, I am looking for an alternative that does not roughen the look of the part - such as using sandpaper - but rather works like acetone baths for ABS.</p>
<p>In particular, I want to treat ColorFabb's XT filament made from the <a href="http://www.eastman.com/Markets/3D_Printing/Pages/Products.aspx" rel="nofollow">Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer</a> (<a href="http://ws.eastman.com/ProductCatalogApps/PageControllers/ProdDatasheet_PC.aspx?Product=71100831&sCategoryName=Generic" rel="nofollow">datasheet</a>). This is also the polymer is also used in:</p>
<ul>
<li>ColorFabb <a href="http://colorfabb.com/co-polyesters" rel="nofollow">nGen and XT</a></li>
<li>Taulman3D n-vent</li>
<li>TripTech Athiri 1800</li>
<li>3DXTech 3DXNano</li>
</ul>
| 319 | How to smooth the surface of parts printed with Co-polyester (PET) filament | <p>Ethyl acetate (sold as a MEK substitute) is supposed to work for vapor smoothing PET. It doesn't seem very toxic (it's used to decaffinate cofee and tea, and as a nail polish remover), but you might want to look more into it. There's a post on Printed Solid's blog where he vapor smoothed colorFabb XT and MadeSolid PET+ along with a few other filaments and got some good results.</p>
<p><a href="http://printedsolid.com/blogs/news/37035395-vapor-smoothing-3d-printed-parts-pla-colorfabb-xt-t-glase-pet" rel="nofollow">http://printedsolid.com/blogs/news/37035395-vapor-smoothing-3d-printed-parts-pla-colorfabb-xt-t-glase-pet</a></p>
<p>The links in the blog don't work for me, but google was able to find slightly larger versions:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-20-18.38.04-1024x613.jpg?16147388421280943481" rel="nofollow">https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-20-18.38.04-1024x613.jpg?16147388421280943481</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-21-18.16.28-1024x612.jpg?9543779874607042697" rel="nofollow">https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-21-18.16.28-1024x612.jpg?9543779874607042697</a></p>
|
2016-01-18T12:33:22.370 | |desktop-printer|print-preparation| | <p>When designing parts that should either fit with external objects or other printed parts, what measures can one take to ensure that the dimensions of the final print are accurate and fit the other object?</p>
<p>To my knowledge, you at least have two options to account for printer inaccuracy and shrinkage:</p>
<ul>
<li>Adjust the space around joints in your CAD model</li>
<li>Adjust dimensional offsets in your slicer software</li>
</ul>
<p>Are there any good workflows one can use to design and print 3D-models accurately without resorting to trial and error?</p>
| 322 | How to achieve dimensional accuracy of printed parts? | <p>I print several pats that use 2.5mm "Pogo pins" which are spring-loaded electric contacts. I've found that many variables will influence the size of the holes I have in my design. Flow, temperature even different brands of filament will change the final size.</p>
<p>I create a profile for each part and specific filament. That way I can make changes without changing other parts/projects. Then I print a test piece with some 2.5mm holes and a few that are a few tenths of a millimeter larger and smaller. I also make holes in the test piece that are vertical and some that are horizontal as I've found that orientation to the layers makes a difference.</p>
<p>I then fit the pins in my test piece and note which orientation and diameter fit best. </p>
<p>After that, I lock down every variable I can think of!
I added some desiccant beads to my filament storage bins and found even that increased the diameter of the printed holes.</p>
|
2016-01-19T02:32:34.107 | |dual-nozzle| | <p>I upgraded to a dual Mk9 extruder, and quickly discovered how critical it is to get the ends of both nozzles exactly level with each other -- that is, equally distant from the build plate at all times. Otherwise the lower one will crash against the plastic just extruded by the higher one.</p>
<p>So, what's a good procedure for getting the nozzles accurately level? About all I've figure out is to move the heads down close to Z=0, and then run X and Y back and forth and eyeball and adjust; then move even closer to Z=0 and repeat. Is there a better / more efficient way?</p>
| 331 | Levelling heads for dual extruder | <p>Another option, that I found was the simplest one that worked for me: </p>
<ol>
<li>Level your bed using just the first nozzle (temporarily lock the 2nd nozzle higher than the 1st one).</li>
<li>Move the printhead at the center of the bed</li>
<li>Loosen the grub screws on both nozzles (IMPORTANT, don't skip this step)</li>
<li>If you're not using a glass bed, temporarily clip a sheet of glass on your bed.</li>
<li>Home the Z-Axis</li>
<li>Move the the head sideways, front and back a few times just to be sure (X, Y)</li>
<li>Move the printhead back at the center</li>
<li>Lock the grub screws on both nozzles. Lock them slowly alternating between the top and bottom screws. Also make sure the wirings don't pull on the head (it's actually better if they push the nozzles down).</li>
<li>Relevel the bed, this time checking with the 2 nozzles</li>
</ol>
<p>The sheet of glass ensures a completely flat and solid surface, on top of your properly leveled bed.</p>
<p>Try the above in case nothing else works for you.</p>
|
2016-01-19T15:36:34.467 | |fdm|makerbot|replicator-dual|mightyboard|fff| | <p>My Replicator (you know, the one made of balsa wood) has blown a voltage regulator on its MightyBoard for the second time. The first time, MakerBot graciously replaced it. However, they replaced with the same model board with no apparent fix for the commonly faulty voltage regulator. I can't afford the now $500 replacement board, so my option is to replace the faulty component and hope no further damage was taken on the board.</p>
<p>As MakerBot Industries did not need me to send in my old board, I've <a href="http://coolate.com/blog/blog/2015/02/23/its-alive-makerbot-replicator-repaired/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">followed these steps</a> to try and replace the voltage regulator on the old board.</p>
<p>I've offset the voltage regulator towards the power jack, jumped the remaining pin on the voltage regulator to the remaining lead on the board (where the old voltage regulator was), but I'm confused what/where the green wire does/goes (mine is blue on my machine). The image looks like he just soldered it onto the heat sink pad.</p>
<p>I tried to test it by plugging in the power and the RGB LED strip. The stepper motor driver LEDs turned on, but the LED strip and none of the other on-board LEDs turned on. I'm not very seasoned when it comes to electronics, so can anyone explain what the actual pinout should be or suggest other ways to resolve this issue?</p>
<h2>Update: Old Board Replacement</h2>
<p>So far I've replaced the regulator on my old board with some success. Before the replacement, the board wouldn't turn on (on-board LEDs wouldn't turn on). Now, all of the proper status LEDs turn on, but the board seems to be stuck in a boot sequence. The LCD screen provides two lines of block characters (as it normally does when initializing), but just hangs up there. I tried connecting the machine to my PC to try and restore the board to factory settings and install the latest firmware. However, the PC couldn't find the machine and I began to smell a bit of burning. I'm not sure if this is a result of permanent damage from the original regulator failing, or improper installation of the new regulator.</p>
<p>I'm going to dig around a bit more before attempting this fix on my main board. I'll edit this post as I continue the project.</p>
<h2>Update: New Board Replacement</h2>
<p>So, I've now attempted the fix on the newest board (the reason for this question). The results of this board are the same as the old one. I actually get power on the main board, but the LCD screen just shows two solid lines. I've taken pictures of what I've done.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3hKX9m.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3hKX9m.jpg" alt="LCD Screen Not Working"></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FmQdCm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FmQdCm.jpg" alt="Power Up"></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qR0Uqm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qR0Uqm.jpg" alt="Ground Connection"></a></p>
| 339 | MakerBot Replicator 1 Voltage Regulator Fix | <p>What's the part number of the regulator you're putting in? The pin assignments vary from one part to another, but you can probably find them from the part number online. Some parts have the ground pin also connected to a metal part of their case. The green wire from the board <em>should</em> be ground (no promises!)</p>
<p>Assuming you've got a voltmeter, you can use it to find out which pins on the board are power and ground (easiest to do before the regulator is installed...). Then once installed, check that you're really getting 5V versus ground on the remaining (output) pin.</p>
<p>Since 2 of these burned out on you, I suggest taking steps to reduce the strain on the regulator. Voltage regulators turn the excess power into heat. Some things that can help:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Use heat sink grease to conduct heat from the regulator to the circuit board, the adjacent socket, etc. Hot melt glue, as the instructions you linked to mention, won't likely provide as much heat conduction.</p></li>
<li><p>Attach a heat sink to the regulator, or a <em>bigger</em> heat sink.</p></li>
<li><p>Get more air blowing across the regulator. You could do this by moving the regulator slightly, adding a fan, adding something to redirect some air onto the regulator, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Swap in a bigger voltage regulator (that is, one rated for more current)</p></li>
<li><p>Turn down the voltage just a tiny bit on your power supply (if it has a control for that; many do).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Let us know how it turns out!</p>
<p>Steve</p>
|
2016-01-19T21:21:46.710 | |firmware|makerbot|monoprice-maker-architect| | <p>I just received this printer and while it seems to talk to Makerbot Desktop software I'm not sure if I should be trying to update the firmware.</p>
<p>The printer comes with firmware v7.2 and while Makerbot Desktop offers an upgrade to v7.5 I'm not sure if it's a good idea with this non-Makerbot branded printer.</p>
<p>I've also seen information on upgrading this printer to Sailfish v7.5, is this the same thing as Makerbot firmware v7.5?</p>
| 341 | Updating firmware on Monoprice Architect printer | <p>Since the printer has no heater, I'd advise some sleuthing</p>
<ol>
<li>Look at the motherboard. Find the big black square chip and see if it is a ATmega 1280 or 2560. Likely it's a 1280, but you never know. This will impact which firmware build you use.</li>
<li>If you will eventually add a heater PCB, then figure out the size (wattage) of the power supply. It may be big enough now for a heated platform, or maybe not. I guess you can cross that bridge if/when you add a HBP (heated build platform). However, it can make a difference as to which firmware build you load as some builds of Sailfish will intentionally serialize heating so as to not put too high of a load on the power supply (PSU).</li>
</ol>
<p>Armed with the above info, you can then decide if you want a 1280 or 2560 build of Sailfish. And if you want a build which will serialize eventual use of an HBP or not.</p>
<p>Serialized: MakerBot Replicator 1 Single & Dual (implied ATmega 1280), MakerBot Replicator 1 with ATmega 2560</p>
<p>Non-serialized: FlashForge Creator I, II & X (implied ATmega 1280)</p>
<p>For a non-serialized, 2560 build know that the FlashForge one is for a poorly behaved heater PCB and you likely won't want it. That sort of leaves you without a good, non-serialized choice. In a pinch you can use the ZYYX 3D build for a 2560. Or you can contact the Sailfish team directly: speaking with very certain knowledge, I can assure you that they'd be happy to do a targetted build for your machine. However, at present they lack info to do so (e.g., build volume, distances from endstops to center of build platform, etc.).</p>
|
2016-01-19T23:02:39.743 | |software| | <p>When I use Cura with the Pronterface UI it sometime just stops printing.</p>
<p>When it stops the printer just stops, the UI looks like it's still printing but nothing is moving in the printer, also, trying to control the printer from the UI does nothing.</p>
<p>It always stops early in the printing process, usually during the auto-leveling process or while printing the skirt, the latest it happened was during the first solid layer of a raft.</p>
<p>Usually closing the printing window and re-opening it solves the problem but not always, this never happened to me with the basic UI, I couldn't find any settings that makes the problem better or worse, it just happens randomly.</p>
<p>Anyone knows how to stop that from happening?</p>
<p>My printer is a Robo 3D R1+</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After installing a screen on my printer I discovered Pronterface is sending a "Wait for user" G Code to the printer.</p>
<p>Because this changes the question too much and invalidates the existing answer I've asked a new question at <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/518/what-makes-pronterface-wait-for-user">What makes Pronterface wait for user?</a></p>
| 343 | Cura with Pronterface UI stops printing | <p>After installing a screen on my printer I discovered Pronterface is sending a "Wait for user" G Code to the printer.</p>
<p>Because this changes the question too much and invalidates the existing answer I've asked a new question at <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/518/what-makes-pronterface-wait-for-user">What makes Pronterface wait for user?</a></p>
|
2016-01-19T23:18:20.953 | |software|pronterface| | <p>I'm in the process of building a 3D printer and have all the stepper motors wired up and the controller connected to the computer running pronterface.</p>
<p>I can move each axis and also send g-code to the printer.</p>
<p>Now <strong>how can I define the current position to be the 0/0/0 position?</strong>
I'd like to move the printer into a position where I think should be the zero position and define it as such in pronterface somehow.</p>
| 344 | How can I set the position in Pronterface? | <p>There's a handy list of G0-codes at <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code" rel="nofollow">http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code</a> -- though the list is too big to be convenient for finding a code if you're not already sure what it's called... :(</p>
|
2016-01-20T14:06:31.790 | |electronics|prusa-i3-rework|switching-power-supply|ramps-1.4| | <p>Wondering if <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bolt-10-Amp-Up-to-250-Volt-AGC-Fuse-71648/203537223" rel="noreferrer">this fuse</a> is safe to use in <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00511QVVK" rel="noreferrer">this switch/plug</a> to turn on /off a <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007KG0ZYI" rel="noreferrer">12V DC 30A Power Supply 360W Power Supply</a> that will power a RAMPS 1.4 board for a Prusa i3 with an external led display that contains an SD Card Reader.</p>
<p>I found the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:31659" rel="noreferrer">suggestion to use it here</a>.</p>
| 352 | Is this fuse a good choice for my Prusa i3's power supply and RAMPS 1.4? | <p><strong>No, do not use this fuse.</strong> 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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p><em>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.</em></p>
<p>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:</p>
<p>350 watts / 120 volts / 80% efficiency = 3.64A</p>
<p>The smallest fuse you can find that is larger than this value is what you should use. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>You're much safer with a 4A or even 6A fuse for this PSU than a 10A fuse. </p>
|
2016-01-21T00:22:14.333 | |filament|material|print-material| | <p>I was just shopping for filament, and saw some glowing claims about PETG being as easy to work with as PLA, but as strong as ABS, and less brittle. Anyone know if that's actually true, or what the tradeoffs are?</p>
| 361 | Advantages of PETG filament? | <p>I love PETG. When I first started I always used ABS because I thought it was the best and didn't see the point in using PLA. However, after a few years of playing around I no longer use ABS. I use PLA for when I am testing and PETG when I want to print something that will be used, ike parts or models. </p>
<p>PETG is a little more expensive, however worth it, as it is strong and easy to use. I normally print at 220°C on the nozzle and 80°C for the bed.</p>
<p>PETG has more flex to it so when you are printing parts it is less likely to break under pressure like ABS. </p>
|
2016-01-21T21:25:07.313 | |clip|sla| | <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolithography">Stereolithography</a> produces parts by projecting ultraviolet light on the top of a vat of liquid photopolymer, causing it to harden. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_Liquid_Interface_Production">CLIP</a> produces parts by projecting ultraviolet light through the bottom of a vat of liquid photopolymer, causing it to harden. This seems like a minor difference, yet CLIP is reportedly much faster (I've seen numbers as high as 100x). Why is this?</p>
| 365 | Why is CLIP so much faster than SLA? | <p>The number of 100x could be true in some situations. I wish I could see the part(s) that they printed to measure this 100x, but that is another story. </p>
<p>Looking at their videos they can move the build plate at a maximum speed of 10mm per minute. You will see the Eiffel tower video where they have to change over to standard speed for flat layers. It is because the flat layers stop resin flow and can't be printed using continuous printing.</p>
<p>Prodways have shown that they can move it at 20mm per minute, but again there are things that are not advertised/mentioned. To achieve higher speeds you need to make the resins more reactive. Making resins more reactive means the resins won't last as long in the vat/bottle. So they expire sooner. It also means they could harden under normal light conditions so it makes it difficult to work with. If you look at the Prodways video you will see resin waste on the build plate. That shows that the projector brightness was set too high.</p>
<p>Gizmo can print between 5 and 25 times faster than a leading brand of SLA printers, also depends on the number of parts and complexity on the build plate. The decision was made to advertise the build plate moving speed, e.g. 3mm per minute, rather than the number of times faster than anything else, because that is a value that doesn't change with the number of items on the build plate, but it does change depending on the projection area size.</p>
<p>Imagine you just have a single line going upwards then most SLA printers could do it at the same speed. B9 Creator (bottom up) users have actually shown they can do continuous printing when printing really tiny items with very thin walls, because they don't have suction problems in those situations.</p>
<p>Now when you add many small objects with small features on the build plate DLP printers will display the full layer in one go where laser based SLA machines need to draw out each part like an FDM machine.</p>
<p>Continuous printing does have limitations. Resin needs to flow from the bottom or you will get resin starvation and cause holes so you might not be able to use it for everything. You should see it as another tool in your printing toolbox rather than the be all and end all.</p>
<p>So after all that, the 100x depends on so many things, you shouldn't get stuck at looking at that number other than knowing it is a way of marketing the printers.</p>
|
2016-01-22T03:53:15.250 | |maintenance|carbon|nozzle| | <p><a href="https://e3d-online.com/blogs/news/are-abrasives-killing-your-nozzle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">E3D-Online</a> and <a href="http://makezine.com/2015/09/11/carbon-fiber-filament-ruins-nozzles/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Make Magazine</a> have written about the potential damage printing carbon fiber and glow-in-the-dark filaments can do to your printer's nozzle.</p>
<p>What I can't seem to find is what clues or warning signs to be on the lookout for if your nozzle has taken a significant amount of wear. I've printed a few hundred grams of glow filament personally and have not noticed any change in print quality.</p>
<p>E3D says you may have "unpredictable, erratic printing" with a worn nozzle. Can anyone explain or provide examples of this and when a replacement is necessary?</p>
| 371 | How to identify nozzle wear? | <p>According to <div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uvlMeTnjriQ?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div> the inner diameter doesn't change much, but, as said by @0scar, the nozzle shortens and at the end you get to the inner cavity.</p>
<p>Check the length and you are done.</p>
|
2016-01-22T06:03:58.597 | |abs|post-processing|smoothing|vapor-smoothing| | <p>I've been reading and experimenting with Acetone vapour smoothing on some printed ABS parts. My problem is that I need to selectively smoothen the printed parts which vapor smoothing doesn't allow. In particular, the cogs, whose sides I was trying to make smooth ended, up with smooth rounded tips, which was a disappointment.</p>
<p>An example of what I was trying to smoothen is would be something like this: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wrKpe.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wrKpe.jpg" alt="example cog"></a></p>
<p>So how can I maintain fine details (like the cog tips in the image above) while applying smoothing methods to printed parts? </p>
| 372 | Maintaining fine details while applying smoothing methods | <p>A technique I've used in the past is to make a acetone slurry of the same filament used to print your object, and carefully paint the details you need to smooth. You must be careful and only do a very thin coat or you may damage your print. You can add extra coat if needed to make sure the acetone has evaporatored from the previous coat of ABS filaments slurry.</p>
|
2016-01-24T12:34:09.723 | |maintenance|extruder|extrusion| | <p>On one of the nozzles on my printer, the filament comes out at a 45 degree angle. It seems that this causes problems with adhesion to the bed and overall quality.</p>
<ul>
<li>What caused this problem? </li>
<li>How do I fix it? </li>
<li>How do I prevent it from
happening in the future?</li>
</ul>
| 383 | Filament extrudes at an angle | <p>You very likely have partial clog in your hotend (the side which is clogged is the angle the extruding filament bends to) or have some plastic somehow stuck on the nozzle surface which the extruding plastic almost sticks to, like two droplets of water merging into one.</p>
<p>If its the latter, clean the hotend. It's easier to remove the plastic on it while its hot and soft, but don't burn yourself.</p>
<p>If it's a clog, that's more complicated.
First, you can make sure if it is indeed a clog or not by extruding into the air and measuring the wire with a caliper.
If it's thinner than it should be and your slicer settings are fine, then its a clog.</p>
<p>Ways to get rid of clog:</p>
<p>1) Replace the nozzle with a new one.</p>
<p>2) Break the clog with a sharp wire.</p>
<p>3) Take the hotend off and clean the nozzle with acetone ("acetone bath").</p>
<p>4) Blow torch on a removed nozzle. Dangerous thing to do for some but it works. If you're not confident or experienced to do this and the previous two solutions don't help, then go with option 1.</p>
|
2016-01-25T01:51:24.097 | |filament|recycling|filament-production| | <p>I"m considering making my own filament, with a device like the one at <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:380987" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:380987</a>. Partly because it's another machine to build, which is cool, but also to save money on filament.</p>
<p>Has anyone here tried to make their own filament? My main questions are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Is the quality comparable to typical off-the-shelf filaments? Put another way, with reasonable tuning can one produce filament that's good enough to use without a lot of frustration?</p></li>
<li><p>Does it require a lot of attention to tuning, monitoring, or other details (which make it less worthwhile / more time-consuming)? Warning of pitfalls to avoid is also welcome.</p></li>
<li><p>Are there useful things one can do this way, that are hard to achieve with off-the-shelf filaments? For example, unusual materials; better control of diameter, density, etc; or mixing one's own colors?</p></li>
</ul>
| 386 | Making your own filament | <ol>
<li><p>Quality depends on 3 things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Quality of pellets (purity, fillers, color)</p></li>
<li><p>Where/how they are stored before and during the extrusion (humidity, contaminants)</p></li>
<li><p>Have a filter in your extruder to get rid of random junk and air bubbles ending up in your filament (250 micron wire mesh filter)</p></li>
</ol></li>
</ol>
<p>There's no secret formula the filament producing companies have, they just have very efficient and very fast filament producing machines (of course very expensive, too). But when it comes to vanilla ABS or PLA, it's almost the same content.</p>
<ol start="2">
<li><p>Personal experience: no. If you get the same pellets, store it in the same place and run your extruder in the same place, it should behave the same.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't think there is some filament mixture you won't be able to find anywhere, but you might be able to make it yourself cheaper. Example: mixing strontium aluminate powder for glow in the dark filament (come in many colors, not just green).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'd recommend this design: <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-filament-factory-Filame/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-filament-factory-Filame/</a>
It produces filament pretty fast (one full 1kg spoon in 3-4 hours). Just make sure you have enough experience to not electrocute yourself while assembling this as the heaters use mains power.</p>
<p>I personally think the commercial "hobby" extruders are not worth the money. I also own the Filastruder and it's just no different and slower than the above, unless you care about a pretty plywood case for your extruder I see no advantage and since it uses off-the-shelf parts itself why bother buying a kit like that than sourcing the parts yourself?</p>
|
2016-01-25T12:37:40.963 | |hotend| | <p>When installing and using a new hotend for the first time, which steps of action should be taken before. This will probably be more applicable to chinese clones than to authentic products (is the statement true?): <strong>Should a certain cleaning procedure be carried out</strong> (removing swarf/shavings for example)? <strong>Should mechanical precision be controlled and if necessary improved</strong> (de-edging and nozzle size are two things I could think of)?</p>
<p>I know the topic <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/233/how-should-i-clean-my-extruder-when-changing-materials">How should I clean my extruder when changing materials?</a>, which is a nice addon read, but I am concerned about brand-new extruders.</p>
| 388 | Taking a new hotend into operation (cleaning, forming, etc) | <p>So far, these are my experiences to make a new hotend work properly.</p>
<ul>
<li>Read the instructions. The ones of the 'original' if it is a clone.</li>
<li>Check the parts. Is everything included you need?</li>
<li>and check the design, if it is a clone. It might not be the same as the one they're trying to copy. Figure out the differences (as far as I encountered mainly the heatbreak/inliner design)</li>
<li>There is no immediate need to mechanically check the nozzle if it passes an optical check. You will be calibrating the extrusion anyway and unless you're unhappy with the results, there are most likely more severe impacts than the accuracy of the nozzle diameter.</li>
<li>Cleaning should be done to some extent. You wouldn't want any visible leftover products from the hotend's production in the extrusion path. Anything that you can't see will most likely be removed easily by the filament and should only be a problem when there are other more significant flaws.</li>
<li>You maybe want to install a heatbreak into the heatsink with lots of thermal paste to transfer the heat as effectively as possible. A defined and short meltzone is key for reliable operation.</li>
<li>You also maybe want to add some thermal paste for the thermistor/thermocouple to ensure quick heat transfer here.</li>
<li>You maybe want to insulate your hotend thermally to not lose heat by dissipation. I asked a question about that process here: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/1247/168">Efficient and easy way to thermally insulate the heat block of the hotend?</a></li>
<li>Test whether the filament is easily guided into the heatbreak, so that it doesn't stop being extruded by catching an edge or deforming over one.</li>
<li>Check the two valuable answers of TextGeek and Dimitri Modderman, there's good information in them!</li>
</ul>
<p>This answer is most likely not complete and totally up for discussion. I appreciate any addtional answers and comments to improve on the topic!</p>
|
2016-01-25T14:01:51.620 | |switching-power-supply|wiring|printer-building| | <p>What are the specifications of the three wires inside a PC cable that is used to connect the switching power supply to a US AC outlet.</p>
<p>The positive, negative and ground appear to be the same gauge stranded cable, and I've heard that it can handle 10A, but beyond that I don't really know what the rest of the specifications for the wire are.</p>
| 389 | In the standard PC Cable Wire that goes from the wall outlet to the switching power supply, are they standard and what are the wire specifications? | <p>It's somewhat unclear what you mean by "standard PC cable", but virtually all desktop computers use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#C13.2FC14_coupler" rel="nofollow">IEC C14 sockets/IEC C13 plugs</a>. Such connectors/sockets are rated for 10A 250V and thus you can safely assume that the cord itself will also be able to handle this voltage and current. 10A is what is specified by the IEC, certain North American standards agencies rate C13 cords for up to 15A.</p>
<p>The IEC standard also specifies that the conductors inside of a C13 lead have a cross sectional area of at least 0.75mm^2 and at least 1mm^2 if the cord is longer than 2m.</p>
|
2016-01-26T05:38:44.720 | |ramps-1.4|prusa-i3-rework|printer-building| | <p>If I need to test out some of the components of a RAMPS 1.4 based 3D Printer, can I only plug some of them into the board (not all of them) and test them out?</p>
<p>I'd like to test out the NEMA 17 motors without testing the heated bed or extruder. Is this safe and why?</p>
| 394 | When building a RAMPS 1.4 based printer, can I safely plugin just some of the components to test if they are working? | <p>As others have also said, this is generally fine. The main things I'd avoid are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Don't plug or unplug "heavy" items (mainly motors and heaters) with power on; turn everything off first. This is especially true for motors, whose coils produce a hefty back-voltage when disconnected.</p></li>
<li><p>Be extra careful about stepper <em>drivers</em>. For example, some printers use 2 motors for Z, so if you test each axis against one driver, the current requirement may be quite different for each axis.</p></li>
<li><p>Plugging in a limit switch backwards on RAMPS is likely to short +5V straight to ground, which is worth avoiding.</p></li>
</ul>
|
2016-01-26T16:45:11.463 | |filament|filament-production| | <p>High Impact PolyStyrene (HIPS) is a frequently used filament in 3D printing. It has been touted to have simular properties when printed to ABS and is especially useful for support structures (if the user has a multi-nozzle 3d Printer) as it is soluble in Limonene.</p>
<p>General Purpose PolyStyrene (GPPS) is frequently used in disposible cups, cutlery, etc. I don't believe I have seen it as a 3D printing filament. This is not styrofoam for the purpose of this question despite the identical chemical properties as the incorperated air makes it difficult to recycle.</p>
<p>Would filament produced from GPPS, be usable on most FFF 3D printers that are capable of using ABS, PLA, and HIPS? Are that any particular issues observed with such filaments that would not be observed with HIPS (besides the implied decrease in impact resistance)?</p>
<p>Note: For the purpose of this question, I am assuming that the filament can be produced and am concerned about whether the filament would be usable for support structures and infill.</p>
| 401 | Can general purpose polystryene (not HIPS) be used for 3D printing? | <p>In principle, it should work fine as a filament, since it's used extensively in the plastic extrusion industry, but I don't think you'd get great material properties out of it. ABS and HIPS incorporate polybutadiene into a graft polymer structure for a very good reason: the butadiene sections in the long molecular chains kind of "stick together" as a distinct solid phase to produce what amounts to micro-bubbles of rubber inside a matrix of hard styrene or acrylonitrile-styrene plastic. This compound microstructure is what gives HIPS and ABS favorable impact toughness and some minor flexibility.</p>
<p>The flexibility is important -- the stiffer a filament is, the more it will tend to warp while printing. Based on chemistry alone, I would expect styrene to be somewhat more prone to warping than ABS. And it would certainly be more brittle. So there doesn't seem to be much reason to use it as filament.</p>
<p>Interesting sidenote: PLA/PHA has very favorable mechanical properties because the PHA forms a very similar flexible microstructure inside the hard PLA matrix. PLA/PHA is good stuff because it mimics ABS and HIPS!</p>
|
2016-01-26T17:45:57.233 | |ramps-1.4| | <p>This is in with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/394/when-building-a-ramps-1-4-based-printer-can-i-safely-plugin-just-some-of-the-co">my other question about components</a> and the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/389/in-the-standard-pc-cable-wire-that-goes-from-the-wall-outlet-to-the-switching-po">other question about electricity</a>; how can I check to see how many amps are being pulled? Can I check a component at a time to make sure I'm not going over the limit, and then just add them all in together once I've summed the amps to make sure it's safe to hook everything up. The amps shouldn't change right? </p>
<p>What settings should my multimeter be set to? And to check how much it's pulling, do I just put the multimeter's leads on the green terminals on RAMPS 1.4?</p>
| 402 | How to use a multimeter to test how many amps RAMPS is pulling? | <p>If you don't want to stick a multimeter on the wire, I recommend getting a kill-a-watt meter. Pretty much, you plug it into the wall, and plug the printer into the meter, and it has a little screen that shows the result.</p>
|
2016-01-26T18:20:41.537 | |ramps-1.4|prusa-i3|printer-building|z-axis|nema-17| | <p>There is a little circuit board, or breadboard or something <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Rework_Electronics_and_wiring#Wiring" rel="nofollow noreferrer">in the diagram of the wiring for the i3</a>.</p>
<p>And it's mentioned that the z-axis motors need to be <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Rework_Electronics_and_wiring#Motors_wiring" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wired in parallel</a> but beyond that they don't give you much detail about parts or how the wires go in. </p>
<p>Can someone provide me with some more detail on this?</p>
| 403 | How do I wire the z-axis motors in parallel on the Prusa i3? | <p>For some unknown reason, everywhere everybody is saying that Z stepper motors need to be connected in parallel... And this was always the only obvious way, until recently some people started to connect these motors in series.</p>
<p>And I personally started to believe the right way is to connect them in series.</p>
<p>All stepstick drivers are some kind of current limiting devices (you could read more about chopper mode). It is all about current.
Connecting in series will guarantee that both motors receive the same current in all situations. And as result you could expect the same behaviour from both of them.</p>
<p>The bad thing when they are in parallel, is that the motor with the bigger load will get more current and as a result the other one will get less current and could skip steps. Of course, in an ideal situation, this should never happen but don't forget about Murphy's law ("whatever can go wrong, will go wrong").</p>
<p>One more thing - why did I change my wiring and connected my Z motors in series: At some moment I found that one Z motor was disconnected but the other one was working and this resulted in a broken printer geometry. When Z motors are in series and if one of them fails or disconnects, the other one will not work either. You will get always synchronous operation from both of them!</p>
<p>I made this Z splitter that works fantastic: </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WM9F3.jpg" rel="noreferrer" title="Z splitter"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WM9F3.jpg" alt="Z splitter" title="Z splitter"></a></p>
|
2016-01-27T14:26:50.577 | |printer-building|desktop-printer|diy-3d-printer| | <p>I'm thinking about buliding my own 3D printer from scratch. </p>
<p>Is it better to buy a starter DIY kit and try to build your printer around it, or to order separate parts for printer, and then to combine a printer?</p>
| 409 | What are the pros and cons of collecting parts yourself, versus getting a DIY kit and then modifying it? | <p>Three great answers have already been posted, and it has been extremely interesting to read them. I shall try not to repeated what has already been said.</p>
<p>I have sourced the parts <em>separately</em> for three different printers:</p>
<ul>
<li>P3Steel (the frame was a kit, mind: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3312/orientation-of-long-thin-rod-on-p3steel-v4">Orientation of long thin rod on P3Steel v4</a>)</li>
<li>Wilson II</li>
<li>Kossel XL and Mini</li>
</ul>
<p>I have been coding Arduinos and Pis and building robots and quadcopters for a few years now. Then, in November 2016, because I needed a prop guard for a ZMR250 quadcopter that I found hard to obtain, but easy to print, I started reading about 3D printers (mostly RepRap wiki, and then individual blogs of straight forward builds, as well as design modifications, of Prusa, P3Steel, Wilson and Delta/Kossel printers), watching countless construction videos and asking questions here on SE 3D Printers, and reading other's questions and answers, as well as going through eBay for hours at a time, looking up parts and making numerous Bill Of Materials (BOMs) and blogging the information that I gleaned. So this gave me a good grounding and starting point for when I did get around to ordering. In fact, the process is still on going...</p>
<p>After ordering the parts, in December, piecemeal, I then had to wait for a month for the parts to arrive from China, during which time I read some more, and revised what I had already learned.</p>
<p>I then, finally, got to work on the P3Steel, in January, but two and a half weeks later, before I had finished it, I had to move to BKK for an extended period.</p>
<p>I suffered delays with the P3Steel build due to postal latency, obviously, but also, some partial kits where missing critical parts (see <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3332/is-the-8mm-x-20mm-bearing-axle-for-the-x-axis-idler-of-a-p3steel-a-custom-part">Is the 8mm x 20mm bearing axle for the X-axis idler (of a P3Steel) a custom part?</a>), so I had to get them machined in Thailand (because it only costs around $3 to get something machined here). Hopefully, when I get back to the UK, I should have everything to hand and be able to finish the build in a few weeks maximum</p>
<p>Once in Bangkok, I started sourcing parts for a Wilson II, and then, subsequently, a Kossel, mostly because the aluminium and steel rods are a quarter, to a half, the price that they are in Europe. Also, I had to go through the ordering process again, getting parts from China for these two printers - however, the parts from China only take two weeks to arrive to Thailand, not a month or so, for the UK. The Wilson II parts I plan to take back to the UK, in order to complete the build there, hopefully printing the plastic parts on the P3Steel, when/if the P3Steel is completed.</p>
<p>Note, that seven, or eight months, down the line from when I first took an interest in 3D printing, I <em>still</em> haven't completed a single printer, yet. However, I sure as hell have learnt a lot. Note: most of the delay is due to the six month relocation away from my printer build in the UK.</p>
<p>Also, due to my reading of the modification blogs for the Wilson and Kossel, I have recently been re-purchasing upgrades, before I have even fitted a bolt together, for the Kossel and Wilson, let alone completed either of the base builds. For example, I have just purchased Chinese aluminium vertices, rather than the plastic PLA prints that I got from Sintron. So I have ended up with a fair collection of spare (redundant?) parts, but again, it has helped me gain a great insight as to what works well, and what does not.</p>
<p>To reiterate that which <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/409/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-collecting-parts-yourself-versus-getting-a-diy-ki#answer-415">TestGeek has said</a>, <em>one major tip</em> I would have is (and I read this on a forum when I was first getting into 3D printer building), if you are sourcing the parts separately, is to buy bulk (get packs of 10 pcs, 50 pcs, 100 pcs), and buy more than you require: nuts, bolts, bearings, GT2 belt, GT2 pulleys. The price comes down phenomenally, and you can resell the spares, locally, for about as much as you paid for the whole lot, online, thereby covering, or almost covering, the cost of the printer. Plus, spares come in handy for further builds down the road. Don't buy anything from the US (unless you are already in the US, I guess) - the import/postage fees are outrageous.</p>
<hr />
<h3>TL;DR</h3>
<p>In the same way as you learn more from building a kit as opposed to buying a pre-built printer, you will learn more sourcing the parts separately, but it might cost more, in redundant parts. Also:</p>
<ul>
<li>Research extensively first</li>
<li>Buy bulk</li>
<li>Be prepared for delays, be patient</li>
<li>Be prepared for an iterative design</li>
</ul>
|
2016-01-27T14:30:41.597 | |filament| | <p>There are a big variety of them that can be found at the market. Some of them have similar characteristics, the other varies from each other.</p>
<p>What are props and cons of cheaper filament vs expensive filament?</p>
<p>How to choose which filament to use?</p>
| 410 | How to choose a right 3D printer filament type? | <ol>
<li><p>Determine what properties you need the filament to have.</p>
<p>There are a very wide variety of filaments because they all have somewhat different properties. You need to determine what properties you need your final print to possess. For instance, ABS can be smoothed used acetone and PLA is biodegradable. More exotic filaments could be conductive or be extremely flexible. Do not neglect to consider safety of the plastic in your application. A full list of properties is too broad for an appropriate answer from this site.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Determine what you printer is designed to handle.</p>
<p>Most printers can handle PLA and ABS with little issue but higher temperatures are required to use some materials such as nylon and polycarbonate. Determine beforehand what your printer is designed to handle. This includes determining whether you have and appropriate heated bed or other accessories.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Determine what you can afford.</p>
<p>Printing not only requires the cost of the weight of filament in the final print but all of the support structures and misprints you produce. Not only should you look for inexpensive filaments, but you should look for ones that are good enough quality you don't waste time and money fighting problems with the raw material.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>All in all, this will vary case by case. I would recommend that you start with PLA or ABS as they are common and relatively easy to work with but that you do your own research into what each individual filament type has to offer..</p>
|
2016-01-27T16:25:12.577 | |post-processing|smoothing| | <p>How do I smooth 3D printed objects? What is the best / common method to do this?</p>
| 413 | Methods for smoothing 3D objects | <p>Get a rock/jewelry tumbler and some tumbling media such as stainless steel shot, and try tumbling your print.</p>
<p>For 3D printed plastic, your print will (a) need to be sturdy, and (b) not have any fine details or small parts that you don't want to be worn away. With metal you will tumble it for hours in order to smooth and semi-polish the surface. With plastic, I would recommend a much shorter time period.</p>
<p>One person tried this using screws as his tumbling media, and has some interesting results to show for it. <a href="http://thrinter.com/tumble-coating-3d-prints-part-1/" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://thrinter.com/tumble-coating-3d-prints-part-2/" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://thrinter.com/tumble-coating-3d-prints-part-3/" rel="nofollow">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://thrinter.com/tumble-coating-3d-prints-part-4/" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>. Basically, you can get a metallic coating on your plastic print that is made up of tiny bits of the tumbling medium. You'll need to add a protective coating to keep it from rubbing off, but it's cheaper than buying metallic filament.</p>
<p>(Thanks to Mark Walter's comment for the linked articles)</p>
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2016-02-01T11:50:29.077 | |filament|filled-pla| | <p>I recently found out carbon fiber and glow in the dark PLA can damage the printer nozzle, now I'm suspicious of all the "exotic" filaments.</p>
<p>So, does wood filament cause damage to the nozzle? (under normal use, or at least what someone who only used PLA/ABS before would consider normal use)</p>
<p>Let's assume a normal quality brass nozzle - not some cheap stuff that didn't even came in the correct size to begin with and not some premium reinforeced nozzle - and reasonable quality filament.</p>
| 423 | Does wood filament damage the printer nozzle? | <p>Wood PLA is too abrasive for a brass nozzle and will wear it out until it becomes a straight pipe after about 12 hours of printing with it.</p>
<p>This answer is based on first hand experimentation. I'm attaching photographic evidence of what to expect if you do not use hardened steel at minimum for Wood PLA.</p>
<p>This image shows that the nozzle after a 48 hour print is a complete straight pipe. It was mostly a straight pipe after about 12 hours. I let the print complete to take stock of the entire result.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AlFK6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AlFK6.jpg" alt="Nozzle Straight Pipe" /></a></p>
<p>Here I am measuring a piece of filament that's been extruded after running the Wood PLA through the nozzle for 48 hours.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BtkVl.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BtkVl.jpg" alt="Extruded filament measuring at 1.7 mm" /></a></p>
<p>And here is how the layers degrade. When the issue started I thought maybe I had a clog, however my extruder was exhibiting perfect extrusion behaviour. The result looks like inconsistent flow, and it is. The extruder is moving at a rate appropriate for a 0.4 mm output, but the nozzle is now 1.7 mm wide.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zWWgY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zWWgY.jpg" alt="Layer degradation as print continues" /></a></p>
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2016-02-02T10:35:52.800 | |rapid-prototyping| | <p>In general 3D printers are compact and smaller than RP machines. That's ok. But, what's the difference? 3D printers can be used as RP machine too.</p>
| 442 | Whats the difference between a basic rapid prototyping machine and a 3D printer? | <p>A sintered metal printer is a version of a 3D printer that is rapid, but expensive. Seen 1 for 800,000$aud
Uses laser to melt metal particles like titanium.</p>
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2016-02-03T01:01:00.623 | |heated-bed|hbp| | <p>I have a Robo 3D. However A while ago, the print bed was fractured, and now it has a long crack cutting it in half. The bed still works because it is held together, by the screws holding the bed to the tracks. So I want to continue using it, because it still is fairly good, the heating element works fine, and a replacement bed is 80$, and I am unsure if the one sold on the RoBo 3D website will be compatible with my printer as I don't have the R1, but a version before that.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/b4osS.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/b4osS.jpg" alt="My cracked bed, with crack running straight through the center"></a></p>
<p>So my question is:
How can I best align the two glass fragments, to provide as flat a print surface as possible, and two how to best hold these two pieces in place, or if it would be best to invest in a new print bed?</p>
<p>EDIT:
Here is a image of the heating element as well to explain the situation with how it is attached<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4yr34.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4yr34.jpg" alt="The heating element attached to the underside of the glass print bed"></a></p>
<p>EDIT:
The RoBo 3D team have said that I just need to upgrade my y-axis with a object on thingiverse and then buy their new build plate. So I am going to experiment with a glass replacement, and if that fails to succeed then I will go along with their suggestion, and buy the upgrade. Thanks everyone for their help.</p>
| 450 | Broken Print Bed | <p>I agree with several others that your best bet is to replace the glass entirely. But short of that, you might try something like Loctite "Glass glue", which is essentially crazy glue for glass. Be sure to level and clamp well while drying, or you'll end up with it permanently <em>not</em> straight of course. You'd want it clamped to a very flat surface, and clamped pushing the broken edges together. But I think I'd just replace it.</p>
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2016-02-03T06:42:47.657 | |software|ultimaker-cura|slicing|calibration|z-probe| | <p>I'm using Cura as my slicing/printing software and I just started using the BuildTak printing surface.</p>
<p>The BuildTak is damaged by pushing a hot nozzle into it and my printer's (Robo3D R1+) autoleveling feature works by pushing the nozzle into the build surface.</p>
<p>Is there a way to configure Cura so that it runs the Z probe first, then heat up the nozzle?</p>
<p>My first sheet of BuildTak already has 10 small holes in it (at the homing position and at the 9 leveling touch points)</p>
| 454 | How to configure Cura to run the Z probe before heating | <p>As pointed out in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/454/how-to-configure-cura-to-run-the-z-probe-before-heating/469#comment6403_469">Markus's comment</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/469/4762">Tormod's answer</a>, <code>{print_temperature}</code> needs to be replaced by <code>{material_print_temperature}</code>, so the code now becomes:</p>
<pre><code>G28 ;move printer to endstops (the home position)
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded filament length
M565 Z-1 ;set z-probe offset <----- ( YOU HAVE TO ADJUST THIS, READ BELOW)
G1 Z5 F5000 ;move the printer 5mm above the bed
G29 ;run auto-leveling
M109 S{material_print_temperature} ;set nozzle temperature, and wait for it heat up
</code></pre>
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2016-02-03T09:30:32.887 | |printer-building|hotend|dual-nozzle|calibration|layer-height| | <p>I'm thinking of another extruder on my printer, and I'm curious about this one....</p>
<p>Is it necessary to have both hot ends on same height? Why yes / why not? (if there is not)</p>
| 458 | Is it necessary to have both hot ends on a dual extruder printer at the same height? | <p>To add to the above answers, besides the obvious point that one hotend might collide with something another hotend positioned lower than it has printed, you also want both hotends to be positioned X microns above the bed at minimum height so your filament will stick to the bed properly. Position one a bit higher than the other and what it prints won't stick to the bed very well, position one a bit lower and it will hit the bed and clog/be unable to print the first layer.
The only reason I can think of when you'd want one hotend to be higher is a situation when you're not using both hotends and don't want the second hotend to drag on and deform a layer the main hotend has printed and is still warm and deformable. If that's an issue (I doubt) then sure, move it a bit higher.</p>
<p>If there are other reasons for what you would like to have the hotends at different heights, please add that to your question. I can't think of one myself.</p>
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2016-02-03T10:39:03.100 | |multi-material| | <p>I have searched the internet and found various 3D printers with different advantages and materials which they can print - some even multi color. </p>
<p>However, I cannot seem to find a printer that can print multiple material with different properties; for instance, simultaneously printing PLA and metal. Is there currently such a printer available or in development? </p>
| 461 | Printing multiple materials with different properties on the same device | <p>For the most part, you can achieve this with a dual extruding printer. However, dual extrusion is best for either multi-color printing or printing with support material. For example, printing the part with PLA and all support material with water soluble PVA.</p>
<p>In practice, printing two completely different materials is not sound engineering practice as they have the potential to not make a well enough bond to each other. So, the case of pure metal and pure plastic, the two materials will not bond well because they will not both be in the same physical state together at any point in time.</p>
<p>However, your best option would be a printer like the <a href="https://markforged.com/" rel="nofollow">MarkForged</a> which uses a composite approach by combining a common binder (ABS, PLA, Nylon, etc.) and a strong material such as Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass, or Kevlar.</p>
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