Oh boy, been working on some big prints the last like two weeks. One of these was definitely made to be printed on an FDM as opposed to my resin printer, but dang it I made it work. I'll post pictures...probably next week but man it's been a ride
Santa got me an Ender-3 for Christmas, and I've got it all set-up! I've managed to get quite a few great prints out of it, too, including all of the "3D-print these key upgrades" list:
Board cover
Drag chains for the bed and the x-axis
Cable clips
Micro SD-to-SD converter holder
Filament arm
Fan covers
Cable protectors for the cut-out in the extruded aluminum bar
Something else?
Now I'm just waiting for my upgraded bed springs to come in next weekish so I can take it apart and put all those things on and then put it back together again. I got the LACKs at IKEA to eventually put it in an enclosure so I can print ABS or PETG, but I'm currently just printing in PLA.
I've made a couple of custom items: some stands for a Nativity Set we have that keep falling over (they're flat wood pieces) and some aquarium maintenance items for my wife (though the tube clip I designed and printed didn't print right using the Creality slicer; I think the next version will print better using the Cura slicer and some different settings).
I also designed and printed a Baby Yoda cup (mostly as a joke to go with the Baby Yoda she got for Christmas).
Basically, TinkerCAD is awesome for roughing stuff out.
Couple of issues I've run into:
1. Usually while putting down a raft, but now increasingly common, is that my extruder gears will make a knocking sound and jerk back a quarter turn or so. This isn't the same thing it does when retracting the filament during print. I think this is an issue either with bed height, hot end temp, the nozzle, or the Bowden tube, but it's something I need to address before I print anything else.
2. Maybe related to the above? My printer will basically start feeding filament as it is working its way over from the home position to the start of the print. This results in a weird tangle of extruded filament being caught up when it starts printing. I can usually snip it off as its printing, and it seems to work fine after that, but it's not possible for all prints (especially small ones).
mightyjongyoSour CrrmEast Bay, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
#2 is because it fully heats the hot end before starting the print, which causes filament to ooze out as it's going to start the print.
I think others who are more experienced can provide better troubleshooting, but you can try adjusting the hot end temperature to be a little lower to try and combat that. However, that in turn may mean you need to increase the filament flow to account for the lower temperature.
#1 sounds like it just can't melt the filament fast enough - rafts push more plastic than on the rest of the print typically does. Try slowing the speed down a bit while printing the raft.
He’s my first and most reliable, has the Teaching Tech rear electronics mod (moves board and raspberry pi to the rear, pi camera, HeroMe 5 suite part cooling mod for improved par cooling and direct drive upgrade. All metal hotend and silicon bed spacers replacing the stiffer springs.
Bltouch and skr mini e3 v2 motherboard round out the upgrades, so much less noise from stepper motors.
Ender 3 - Black
Same motherboard, and rear electronics mod, for the hot end I wanted to try the teaching tech nozzle as probe bed leveling mod that copies Ender 3 V2’s. It works real well! I kept the stiffer springs on this one - 3 FDM printers have glass bed.
Finally Ender 3 Pro - Orange
Exact same setup as Red, but it’s getting troubleshot with a BLTouch issue- it will intermittently error out.
Gonna swap out for a 3DTouch. Oh running Marlin 2.0.7.2 firmware which is GREAT for Z offset setting and leveling the bed.
Edit4: dang pictures were all sidways so i had to fix em.
I found out the problem: my Bowden tube was not squarely cut and may not have been pushed in all the way on the hot end because the stock fittings on the Ender 3 aren't so hot. So filament was hitting the top of the nozzle and slowly leaking back up and around the Bowden tube, creating a blockage. I'd paused printing things for a couple of days, as I was waiting for the stuff I'd ordered to upgrade it to come in, but it all finally arrived!
So, a quick recut and install of some better fittings (and a teflon-coated Bowden tube) solved the issue going forward, and heating the hotend and pushing through the old tube was enough to get most of the filament off the inside.
Then I got all my drag chains and cable clips and mini-SD-to-SD-converter holders, better springs, etc., installed. I ended up needing to reprint the end cap for the filament arm, as I had previously switched from the sample filament to the real stuff midway and managed to break it at the join when I hit it while yawning and stretching.
I moved on to v3 of the Nativity stands, and I'm super happy with them now; they come in 6mm and 8mm sizes, because the palm trees and camels have slightly wider bases than everything else in the set. I've made a couple different aquarium clips for my wife, and we've got a fantastic design now.
I just printed an upgraded fan ring, since the Ender-3 only has cooling airflow on one side of the nozzle by default, and on my way to bed tonight I've kicked off a Mario keychain fob for my oldest son and a pair of Battletech tanks.
This is, like, a really cool toy.
ED: Now, the next problem is that the default Creality slicer works just fine. The Cura slice, which is supposed to be way better*, is just not adhering on the first layer using the Ender 3 profile. It's completely bizarre.
* And from which I generally like the little stripe it puts to one side to clean the nozzle before it starts printing for real. But, like, when it's printing, it'll put that stripe down just fine, and then when it goes to actually print the brim on whatever it is I'm making, the brim just won't adhere at all and the printhead will end up just dragging around all of the filament it's printed.
I had this problem alot with my cheap printer. Though a lot of online tips suggested wrapping the bed with painters tape or something, ultimately I found that it was just that particular plastic I was using. When I switched to a different one it stopped happening. Though sometimes it still had problems on the initial raft and I found that adjusting the nozzle a little lower could get the plastic into the perforations better for better grip.
What kind of bed do you have anyway? Perforated or glass?
I think there's even special glues you can use too, but I've never tried them.
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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Goose!That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered Userregular
I have the Creality Ender 3 Pro, it has a glass bed with the sticky magnetic thing that goes over top
The filament does not seem to stick consistently. I was using the tomb 3d printed horrors bed leveling guide and print object to try to perfect the level and test it
I think someone, somewhere posted putting sugar water on the glass to help stick a bit. But yeah, at this point you either need to increase the....stickability of the bed, or change settings a bit for the first layer to lay down a solid foundation.
Can't watch the thing fully (in a meeting) but this video seems like it might be a good bet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaF28dnDgKA
PSN: jfrofl
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mightyjongyoSour CrrmEast Bay, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
When I was using the magnetic bed thingy for the ender 5, I found it helped a fair bit to put a layer of painter's tape on it. I would check the leveling if it's consistently not sticking in certain areas, and you might want to experiment with some settings to adjust for your first layer. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are: bed temperature, print speed (slower is better), hot end temperature.
I previously had a monoprice select mini, and was using painter's tape for the first layer, which worked very reliably but was, if anything, _too_ sticky, it was always a bit hair-raising getting the prints off and involved using a knife to get under the edge and occasional irritating scraping to get bits of tape residue off the back. (I didn't have leveling problems, something about the way the springs and adjustments on the MPSM worked out to be pretty reliable after I'd got it set up. I did have to resolder the heatbed wires a couple of times, though, so rerouted them off through the side of the case in the end).
On Chrstimas / boxing day, though, I assembled this:
and it is a lot nicer, though it's taken a bit of tweaking. The build plate that came with it is their "super easy release" version, which, yup, is an absolute treat to get prints off, they just lift right off once the print's done and everything cools down. So I've been having fun print puzzles and some of Out Of Marbles's marble machines, and playing around with flexible prints (though there's a bunch of stringing I need to sort out)
That said, initially the sheet was a bit _too_ keen to release things. Like the time I went to see how a print was going partway through, and found that it had come loose and been kicked entirely off the printer and onto the floor, with the expected results back at the nozzle end of things:
I did some fiddling around, and it was a combination of four things that worked for me in the end. (printing various cheap types of PLA)
Firstly, using one of the first-layer calibration prints that just prints out a set of single-layer-thick squares, and tweaking the Z offset back and forth a little bit as it printed until I got a smooth surface. (this adjustment is built into the prusa firmware, not sure if Enders have an equivalent, but you could just pause between squares and tweak the adjustment screws a tiny bit instead)
Secondly, clean the bed surface with warm soapy water (it's removable), and then do my best to not touch it with my fingers, because whatever it's coated with really likes to pick up grease and that does not help adhesion.
Thirdly, set bed temperature to 66, rather than the default of 60 degrees, to make sure the base layer gets thoroughly melted in there.
Fourthly, tell the slicer to leave the print cooling fan entirely off for the first _three_ layers, rather than the default of 1, to make sure it had lots of time to stick down properly -- without this, it would mostly work but the corners of big flat things kept lifting up. (using a brim also worked, but was annoying to clean up when printing lots of small pieces).
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Goose!That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered Userregular
When I was using the magnetic bed thingy for the ender 5, I found it helped a fair bit to put a layer of painter's tape on it. I would check the leveling if it's consistently not sticking in certain areas, and you might want to experiment with some settings to adjust for your first layer. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are: bed temperature, print speed (slower is better), hot end temperature.
Could you explain a fair bit of painter's tape a bit more?
I think basically you put some tape down on the glass so the print has something to hold onto. Same with like using glue (I think glue sticks) on the glass or something else.
Yeah, it's pretty simple. Monoprice bed before tape:
after tape:
For some reason in the US it seems to be blue painters tape, not green, but I think it's the same thing, basically just wider masking tape with slightly less sticky glue so that it comes off the print bed (or wall) more easily. (it also provides a sacrificial layer so that I could avoid making any more gouges in the actual printer's base, because the MP select mini doesn't have anything fancier than a hot sheet of aluminium to print on, which I've abused a fair bit by this point)
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mightyjongyoSour CrrmEast Bay, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
yeah, what other people have said basically. just make sure that there's as little overlap between the pieces as possible, and covers the build area you'll be using. i've heard some people also use glue in addition to the tape, but personally tape + raising bed temp worked well for me.
So, here's an issue I'm running into with my printer. This usually happens during "start up" of a print, and I can usually fix it there, but for the one print job I was trying it happened mid-print.
So, here's what I tried twice to kick off last night before just saying "Screw it" and going to bed:
So I'm trying to print some Battletech minis, and the picture is of the brim / first layer. The parts that look like nets are the bottoms of the support structure for some hexes / turrets / tanks. Anyway, the hex-with-supports in the center of the print was supposed to be matched on the top-right. Instead, the printer started extruding the filament a little early, so it ended up just dragging some extruded and solidified filament, so once it started depositing the proper pattern, the clump of early filament got dragged through it an messed it up.
Similarly, at the start of all of my prints, the extrusion will start as the print head is traveling between the home position and where the brim of the print actually starts, so there'll be a short amount of loose filament that gets dragged around until the brim finally catches a little later on. I can usually trim that off without causing too many issues, but, as mentioned, it decided to do that during a print this time, rather than just at the start.
Anyone know what setting I should be looking at to address that?
So, here's an issue I'm running into with my printer. This usually happens during "start up" of a print, and I can usually fix it there, but for the one print job I was trying it happened mid-print.
So, here's what I tried twice to kick off last night before just saying "Screw it" and going to bed:
So I'm trying to print some Battletech minis, and the picture is of the brim / first layer. The parts that look like nets are the bottoms of the support structure for some hexes / turrets / tanks. Anyway, the hex-with-supports in the center of the print was supposed to be matched on the top-right. Instead, the printer started extruding the filament a little early, so it ended up just dragging some extruded and solidified filament, so once it started depositing the proper pattern, the clump of early filament got dragged through it an messed it up.
Similarly, at the start of all of my prints, the extrusion will start as the print head is traveling between the home position and where the brim of the print actually starts, so there'll be a short amount of loose filament that gets dragged around until the brim finally catches a little later on. I can usually trim that off without causing too many issues, but, as mentioned, it decided to do that during a print this time, rather than just at the start.
Anyone know what setting I should be looking at to address that?
While it's normal for filament to ooze a bit as the machine is warming up, and can be reduced by getting the bed up to temp before heating the filament, the initial wipe along the bed edge is specifically done to clear that. But bad oozing between wipe and start of the print or between sections of a print is an issue.
Couple things to look at first. First, make sure your filament is dry. It'll constantly absorb moisture out of the air and as it is melted in the hot end it will create steam bubbles that will cause filament to ooze out even when it's not feeding. You can often hear this as popping and crackling. Dehydrators are best to remove the moisture so it doesn't get too hot, but a very low heat oven can work in a pinch. You can look up recommended temperatures and times. Storing filament in a sealed container with some dessicant when not in use will keep it "fresh".
The second would be your retraction settings in the slicer. Retraction pulls filament back out of the hot end a very short distance after an extrude to relieve pressure in the hot end so filament does not ooze out as it moves to it's next spot. It doesn't take much, 1mm is generally a good starting spot. Too much and either the filament will not be extruded immediately when commanded to, leading to other printing issues, or in extreme cases will cause clogging.
Third would be basic bed adhesion issues since you said this was the first layer.
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Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
It's not actually "oozing" out - there's a very, very small amount of that as the hotend heats up, something like a mm or two of extruded filament as it's sitting there - so much as "being fed through."
It's like the printer just starts the extruder as soon as it tells the print head to move to the start of the print, rather than waiting for it to arrive. Like, when you hit "Start print," it'll home the print head, raise it a few mm, wait for the temps to hit the desired levels. and then send the print head to the start of the print (moving simultaneously down, right, and back). As it's moving the extruder / nozzle just starts outputting a good couple cm of filament.
ED: This is using the Creality Slicer on default settings for Fast (0.2mm) or High Quality (0.1mm) printing. Default retraction is 6mm at 80mm/s, I think.
It's not actually "oozing" out - there's a very, very small amount of that as the hotend heats up, something like a mm or two of extruded filament as it's sitting there - so much as "being fed through."
It's like the printer just starts the extruder as soon as it tells the print head to move to the start of the print, rather than waiting for it to arrive. Like, when you hit "Start print," it'll home the print head, raise it a few mm, wait for the temps to hit the desired levels. and then send the print head to the start of the print (moving simultaneously down, right, and back). As it's moving the extruder / nozzle just starts outputting a good couple cm of filament.
ED: This is using the Creality Slicer on default settings for Fast (0.2mm) or High Quality (0.1mm) printing. Default retraction is 6mm at 80mm/s, I think.
If it is truly extruding prior to print start, you should be able to see the feed gear on the extruder rotating to push the filament. If that is what it is doing, there is a problem with the G-code, most likely in the "starting script"/"start G-code" section of the printer profile in the slicer.
I would add a nozzle wipe starting script to your printer profile, since it sounds like you aren't doing one. However, I'd look for one specific to your model printer as start/end G-code is used to set variables and enable specific features like bed leveling. It may also be included as part of a preconfigured printer profile in your slicer. For example, this is the last section of my start code to do a nozzle wipe. It does not include the other sections that initializes some printer settings. It homes the head, enables auto bed leveling (which yours may not have!), and draws two lines along the left edge of the build plate. This code is at the end of the start script, so the second "reset extruder" command is turning off extruding prior the the actual object printing and the following G1 move command does not have an E extrude command so it moves without extruding. It's possible your current start code is not turning off the extruder prior to printing.
G28 ;Home
M420 S1 Z2 ;Enable Bed Leveling using saved Mesh and Fade Height
G92 E0 ;Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ;Move Z Axis up
G1 X10.1 Y20 Z0.28 F5000.0 ;Move to start position
G1 X10.1 Y200.0 Z0.28 F1500.0 E15 ;Draw the first line
G1 X10.4 Y200.0 Z0.28 F5000.0 ;Move to side a little
G1 X10.4 Y20 Z0.28 F1500.0 E30 ;Draw the second line
G92 E0 ;Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ;Move Z Axis up
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density}
;Print time: {print_time}
;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g
;Filament cost: {filament_cost}
;M190 S{print_bed_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own bed temperature line
;M109 S{print_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own temperature line
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops
G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F{travel_speed}
;Put printing message on LCD screen
M117 Printing...
My guess, based on what you said, is that the "Extrude 3mm of feed stock" think is what's causing the issue?
;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density}
;Print time: {print_time}
;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g
;Filament cost: {filament_cost}
;M190 S{print_bed_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own bed temperature line
;M109 S{print_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own temperature line
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops
G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F{travel_speed}
;Put printing message on LCD screen
M117 Printing...
My guess, based on what you said, is that the "Extrude 3mm of feed stock" think is what's causing the issue?
Yep. It's Homing, Priming (squirting out 3mm of filament), then starting to print. Now if you're not going to be doing a nozzle wipe to start, then priming basically ensures the hot end is full of filament and ready when printing actually starts. In your case, 3mm of priming is obviously too much, so you'd be trying to back off that number until it stops coming out but still starts right at the beginning of the first line of the print (example for 0.5mm extrude: G1 F200 E0.5). But not backed so far off it leaves a missing section on that first line of the print. There may be priming options in the slicer settings rather than needing to manually alter the start code, but I'm not familiar with that slicer.
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Goose!That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered Userregular
So the printer tape has fixed the first layer not sticking, but later on it has issues with sticking (it curls up and separated from the bed one time).
I know printing slower was a suggestion, where do I set that? On the machine or the file? What program do y'all recommend
I ordered and received some parts for a printer (haven't decided which yet) for dual gear extruder and upgrade for dual z-axis (using dual stepper motors - there are kits that dont use a second stepper).
I am also going to look into taking another crack at Teaching Techs DIY filament run out sensor - since i have installed a newer version of marlin that may have resolved the issue i had the first time.
Tried printing some more interesting filaments than just PLA, with mixed results.
TPU sort of worked, but obviously needs some tweaking because the funnel on top has just sagged, and there's a lot of cleanup I'd need to do:
First try at ABS got the first couple of layers down okay and then went wrong:
So I upped the temperature a bit, and got this far:
before the fumes got too much for me. Googling "3d print ABS toxic" it looks like it's a bit toxic but I probably didn't do anything too bad to myself in 10 minutes. That said, one of the pages says something like "when you breath in and your instincts say 'time to get out of here', there's probably a good reason your body is telling you to do that" which, yeah, it is just too unpleasant to be around, even without possible longer-term issues.
And while in theory I could now start building an enclosure and vents and stuff, it's -5c outside at the moment so working out a way to get fresh air in without cooling everything down too much is more than I want to deal with.
You guys remember that BLTouch isssue i was fixing on my E3Pro Orange.... yeah i kinda forgot about it.
NOW I have painted the X-Axis gantry plate to orange (on E3Pro Red the X-Axis gantry plate for the direct drive install came in red) and while i had it off i figured why don't i also....
I don't post much, but I recently got an ender 3 as well, and I'm also interested in the dual z mod, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it actually makes. I'm pretty happy with it as it sits.
I've done the skr mini e3 v2 board, as well as a microswiss direct drive all metal hot end, and a pei build sheet on borosilicate glass (my heated bed is slightly bowed), and it prints really well as it is, but I love modifying things.
Right now my white whale has been setting up linear advance and getting extrusion dialed in perfectly, I'm mostly interested in printing functional and mechanically accurate parts, in petg.
Really interested in abs and hips filament as well, but that requires an enclosure. I did see this project that uses a blower fan connected to a 3m mask filter as an air purifier for inside the enclosure.
I don't post much, but I recently got an ender 3 as well, and I'm also interested in the dual z mod, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it actually makes. I'm pretty happy with it as it sits.
I've done the skr mini e3 v2 board, as well as a microswiss direct drive all metal hot end, and a pei build sheet on borosilicate glass (my heated bed is slightly bowed), and it prints really well as it is, but I love modifying things.
Right now my white whale has been setting up linear advance and getting extrusion dialed in perfectly, I'm mostly interested in printing functional and mechanically accurate parts, in petg.
Really interested in abs and hips filament as well, but that requires an enclosure. I did see this project that uses a blower fan connected to a 3m mask filter as an air purifier for inside the enclosure.
I finished Oranges linear rail, i'll post a break down with pics when i have a free moment.
I am also printing nothing but PETG lately.
I am so happy with linear rails that im going all in on my rails on my E3Pro Red as well as installing the dual -z ( its suppose to help with direct drive setups )
Feels like a milestone of sorts; I finally designed a thing to print that actually serves a real-world purpose, and that I probably couldn't have made/bought without the printer. (I'm using OpenSCAD for design, because while it's not exactly elegant, I can actually get it to do what I want, whereas the more visual ones just defeat me somehow)
Context -- our vacuum has a weak spot at the top where the hose clips on and off the body. The left-hand side broke once already, but I kept the broken-off bit, and managed to glue it back into place (the hose slides down from the top and a groove in the hose mount slides over the sticking-out bit)
Then the same area broke on the right, but this time we somehow managed to lose the part of plastic. So after some measurement and a few prototypes to get things to match up as well as possible, I printed the missing part from the right-hand side:
This time the fit wasn't good enough for glue, so I added another cuboid to the model which goes on the outside of the vacuum where there's a flat section as a sort of splint to give more area to fix things with:
and with a bit of acetone to melt the two plastics together, it seems to be holding pretty well (and even mostly matches visually):
I don't post much, but I recently got an ender 3 as well, and I'm also interested in the dual z mod, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it actually makes. I'm pretty happy with it as it sits.
I've done the skr mini e3 v2 board, as well as a microswiss direct drive all metal hot end, and a pei build sheet on borosilicate glass (my heated bed is slightly bowed), and it prints really well as it is, but I love modifying things.
Right now my white whale has been setting up linear advance and getting extrusion dialed in perfectly, I'm mostly interested in printing functional and mechanically accurate parts, in petg.
Really interested in abs and hips filament as well, but that requires an enclosure. I did see this project that uses a blower fan connected to a 3m mask filter as an air purifier for inside the enclosure.
I finished Oranges linear rail, i'll post a break down with pics when i have a free moment.
I am also printing nothing but PETG lately.
I am so happy with linear rails that im going all in on my rails on my E3Pro Red as well as installing the dual -z ( its suppose to help with direct drive setups )
I havent seen a need for it on my direct drive, Id imagine it helps sagging at the far end of the y travel, but I think for whatever reason my setup just doesnt sag all that much.
In other news I couldn't find a decent rail mount pi camera setup, so I designed and printed my own! Its on thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4742109
Feels like a milestone of sorts; I finally designed a thing to print that actually serves a real-world purpose, and that I probably couldn't have made/bought without the printer.
This is my favorite part of this?
Like, I've printed out stands for a nativity scene we got, because the pieces are flat wood and would keep falling over. I could've used, like, alligator clips as stands, I guess, but instead I've got low-profile plastic stands that keep them from falling over.
I've printed out several tube holders (between different size tubes and prototypes vs. production models) that clip on the side of my wife's aquarium to hold tubes in-place so she can more easily change the water. We put a screen over the top of the filter tube to keep our snail from climbing into the filter, and I printed a circular "one-piece" clip that holds it in-place that won't break down like the rubber band initial solution will. I designed and printed an adaptor for one of the pumps because the tubing wouldn't stay connected.
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I didn't see it on my first pass.. I'll take another look.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Santa got me an Ender-3 for Christmas, and I've got it all set-up! I've managed to get quite a few great prints out of it, too, including all of the "3D-print these key upgrades" list:
Now I'm just waiting for my upgraded bed springs to come in next weekish so I can take it apart and put all those things on and then put it back together again. I got the LACKs at IKEA to eventually put it in an enclosure so I can print ABS or PETG, but I'm currently just printing in PLA.
I've made a couple of custom items: some stands for a Nativity Set we have that keep falling over (they're flat wood pieces) and some aquarium maintenance items for my wife (though the tube clip I designed and printed didn't print right using the Creality slicer; I think the next version will print better using the Cura slicer and some different settings).
I also designed and printed a Baby Yoda cup (mostly as a joke to go with the Baby Yoda she got for Christmas).
Basically, TinkerCAD is awesome for roughing stuff out.
Couple of issues I've run into:
1. Usually while putting down a raft, but now increasingly common, is that my extruder gears will make a knocking sound and jerk back a quarter turn or so. This isn't the same thing it does when retracting the filament during print. I think this is an issue either with bed height, hot end temp, the nozzle, or the Bowden tube, but it's something I need to address before I print anything else.
2. Maybe related to the above? My printer will basically start feeding filament as it is working its way over from the home position to the start of the print. This results in a weird tangle of extruded filament being caught up when it starts printing. I can usually snip it off as its printing, and it seems to work fine after that, but it's not possible for all prints (especially small ones).
Any ideas on the above (especially 2)?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I think others who are more experienced can provide better troubleshooting, but you can try adjusting the hot end temperature to be a little lower to try and combat that. However, that in turn may mean you need to increase the filament flow to account for the lower temperature.
Elegoo Mars(black/red), Elegoo Mars (silver/orange), Elegoo Mars Pro (black/red) & Anycubic Proton Mono-X.
I got the Mars (black/red) on July 2020 and now I have 4, I started on FDM printers first over 2 years prior.
Ender 3 Pro - Red
He’s my first and most reliable, has the Teaching Tech rear electronics mod (moves board and raspberry pi to the rear, pi camera, HeroMe 5 suite part cooling mod for improved par cooling and direct drive upgrade. All metal hotend and silicon bed spacers replacing the stiffer springs.
Bltouch and skr mini e3 v2 motherboard round out the upgrades, so much less noise from stepper motors.
Ender 3 - Black
Same motherboard, and rear electronics mod, for the hot end I wanted to try the teaching tech nozzle as probe bed leveling mod that copies Ender 3 V2’s. It works real well! I kept the stiffer springs on this one - 3 FDM printers have glass bed.
Finally Ender 3 Pro - Orange
Exact same setup as Red, but it’s getting troubleshot with a BLTouch issue- it will intermittently error out.
Gonna swap out for a 3DTouch. Oh running Marlin 2.0.7.2 firmware which is GREAT for Z offset setting and leveling the bed.
Edit4: dang pictures were all sidways so i had to fix em.
I found out the problem: my Bowden tube was not squarely cut and may not have been pushed in all the way on the hot end because the stock fittings on the Ender 3 aren't so hot. So filament was hitting the top of the nozzle and slowly leaking back up and around the Bowden tube, creating a blockage. I'd paused printing things for a couple of days, as I was waiting for the stuff I'd ordered to upgrade it to come in, but it all finally arrived!
So, a quick recut and install of some better fittings (and a teflon-coated Bowden tube) solved the issue going forward, and heating the hotend and pushing through the old tube was enough to get most of the filament off the inside.
Then I got all my drag chains and cable clips and mini-SD-to-SD-converter holders, better springs, etc., installed. I ended up needing to reprint the end cap for the filament arm, as I had previously switched from the sample filament to the real stuff midway and managed to break it at the join when I hit it while yawning and stretching.
I moved on to v3 of the Nativity stands, and I'm super happy with them now; they come in 6mm and 8mm sizes, because the palm trees and camels have slightly wider bases than everything else in the set. I've made a couple different aquarium clips for my wife, and we've got a fantastic design now.
I just printed an upgraded fan ring, since the Ender-3 only has cooling airflow on one side of the nozzle by default, and on my way to bed tonight I've kicked off a Mario keychain fob for my oldest son and a pair of Battletech tanks.
This is, like, a really cool toy.
ED: Now, the next problem is that the default Creality slicer works just fine. The Cura slice, which is supposed to be way better*, is just not adhering on the first layer using the Ender 3 profile. It's completely bizarre.
* And from which I generally like the little stripe it puts to one side to clean the nozzle before it starts printing for real. But, like, when it's printing, it'll put that stripe down just fine, and then when it goes to actually print the brim on whatever it is I'm making, the brim just won't adhere at all and the printhead will end up just dragging around all of the filament it's printed.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
What kind of bed do you have anyway? Perforated or glass?
I think there's even special glues you can use too, but I've never tried them.
I have the Creality Ender 3 Pro, it has a glass bed with the sticky magnetic thing that goes over top
The filament does not seem to stick consistently. I was using the tomb 3d printed horrors bed leveling guide and print object to try to perfect the level and test it
And the filament keeps not sticking to the bed properly
Can't watch the thing fully (in a meeting) but this video seems like it might be a good bet.
On Chrstimas / boxing day, though, I assembled this:
and it is a lot nicer, though it's taken a bit of tweaking. The build plate that came with it is their "super easy release" version, which, yup, is an absolute treat to get prints off, they just lift right off once the print's done and everything cools down. So I've been having fun print puzzles and some of Out Of Marbles's marble machines, and playing around with flexible prints (though there's a bunch of stringing I need to sort out)
That said, initially the sheet was a bit _too_ keen to release things. Like the time I went to see how a print was going partway through, and found that it had come loose and been kicked entirely off the printer and onto the floor, with the expected results back at the nozzle end of things:
I did some fiddling around, and it was a combination of four things that worked for me in the end. (printing various cheap types of PLA)
Firstly, using one of the first-layer calibration prints that just prints out a set of single-layer-thick squares, and tweaking the Z offset back and forth a little bit as it printed until I got a smooth surface. (this adjustment is built into the prusa firmware, not sure if Enders have an equivalent, but you could just pause between squares and tweak the adjustment screws a tiny bit instead)
Secondly, clean the bed surface with warm soapy water (it's removable), and then do my best to not touch it with my fingers, because whatever it's coated with really likes to pick up grease and that does not help adhesion.
Thirdly, set bed temperature to 66, rather than the default of 60 degrees, to make sure the base layer gets thoroughly melted in there.
Fourthly, tell the slicer to leave the print cooling fan entirely off for the first _three_ layers, rather than the default of 1, to make sure it had lots of time to stick down properly -- without this, it would mostly work but the corners of big flat things kept lifting up. (using a brim also worked, but was annoying to clean up when printing lots of small pieces).
Could you explain a fair bit of painter's tape a bit more?
after tape:
For some reason in the US it seems to be blue painters tape, not green, but I think it's the same thing, basically just wider masking tape with slightly less sticky glue so that it comes off the print bed (or wall) more easily. (it also provides a sacrificial layer so that I could avoid making any more gouges in the actual printer's base, because the MP select mini doesn't have anything fancier than a hot sheet of aluminium to print on, which I've abused a fair bit by this point)
So, here's what I tried twice to kick off last night before just saying "Screw it" and going to bed:
So I'm trying to print some Battletech minis, and the picture is of the brim / first layer. The parts that look like nets are the bottoms of the support structure for some hexes / turrets / tanks. Anyway, the hex-with-supports in the center of the print was supposed to be matched on the top-right. Instead, the printer started extruding the filament a little early, so it ended up just dragging some extruded and solidified filament, so once it started depositing the proper pattern, the clump of early filament got dragged through it an messed it up.
Similarly, at the start of all of my prints, the extrusion will start as the print head is traveling between the home position and where the brim of the print actually starts, so there'll be a short amount of loose filament that gets dragged around until the brim finally catches a little later on. I can usually trim that off without causing too many issues, but, as mentioned, it decided to do that during a print this time, rather than just at the start.
Anyone know what setting I should be looking at to address that?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
While it's normal for filament to ooze a bit as the machine is warming up, and can be reduced by getting the bed up to temp before heating the filament, the initial wipe along the bed edge is specifically done to clear that. But bad oozing between wipe and start of the print or between sections of a print is an issue.
Couple things to look at first. First, make sure your filament is dry. It'll constantly absorb moisture out of the air and as it is melted in the hot end it will create steam bubbles that will cause filament to ooze out even when it's not feeding. You can often hear this as popping and crackling. Dehydrators are best to remove the moisture so it doesn't get too hot, but a very low heat oven can work in a pinch. You can look up recommended temperatures and times. Storing filament in a sealed container with some dessicant when not in use will keep it "fresh".
The second would be your retraction settings in the slicer. Retraction pulls filament back out of the hot end a very short distance after an extrude to relieve pressure in the hot end so filament does not ooze out as it moves to it's next spot. It doesn't take much, 1mm is generally a good starting spot. Too much and either the filament will not be extruded immediately when commanded to, leading to other printing issues, or in extreme cases will cause clogging.
Third would be basic bed adhesion issues since you said this was the first layer.
It's like the printer just starts the extruder as soon as it tells the print head to move to the start of the print, rather than waiting for it to arrive. Like, when you hit "Start print," it'll home the print head, raise it a few mm, wait for the temps to hit the desired levels. and then send the print head to the start of the print (moving simultaneously down, right, and back). As it's moving the extruder / nozzle just starts outputting a good couple cm of filament.
ED: This is using the Creality Slicer on default settings for Fast (0.2mm) or High Quality (0.1mm) printing. Default retraction is 6mm at 80mm/s, I think.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
If it is truly extruding prior to print start, you should be able to see the feed gear on the extruder rotating to push the filament. If that is what it is doing, there is a problem with the G-code, most likely in the "starting script"/"start G-code" section of the printer profile in the slicer.
I would add a nozzle wipe starting script to your printer profile, since it sounds like you aren't doing one. However, I'd look for one specific to your model printer as start/end G-code is used to set variables and enable specific features like bed leveling. It may also be included as part of a preconfigured printer profile in your slicer. For example, this is the last section of my start code to do a nozzle wipe. It does not include the other sections that initializes some printer settings. It homes the head, enables auto bed leveling (which yours may not have!), and draws two lines along the left edge of the build plate. This code is at the end of the start script, so the second "reset extruder" command is turning off extruding prior the the actual object printing and the following G1 move command does not have an E extrude command so it moves without extruding. It's possible your current start code is not turning off the extruder prior to printing.
;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time} ;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density} ;Print time: {print_time} ;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g ;Filament cost: {filament_cost} ;M190 S{print_bed_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own bed temperature line ;M109 S{print_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own temperature line G21 ;metric values G90 ;absolute positioning M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode M107 ;start with the fan off G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F{travel_speed} ;Put printing message on LCD screen M117 Printing...My guess, based on what you said, is that the "Extrude 3mm of feed stock" think is what's causing the issue?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Yep. It's Homing, Priming (squirting out 3mm of filament), then starting to print. Now if you're not going to be doing a nozzle wipe to start, then priming basically ensures the hot end is full of filament and ready when printing actually starts. In your case, 3mm of priming is obviously too much, so you'd be trying to back off that number until it stops coming out but still starts right at the beginning of the first line of the print (example for 0.5mm extrude: G1 F200 E0.5). But not backed so far off it leaves a missing section on that first line of the print. There may be priming options in the slicer settings rather than needing to manually alter the start code, but I'm not familiar with that slicer.
I know printing slower was a suggestion, where do I set that? On the machine or the file? What program do y'all recommend
Which sliver program are you using?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Cura also has a lot of slicing settings hidden, you can poke in the settings to show them.
I ordered and received some parts for a printer (haven't decided which yet) for dual gear extruder and upgrade for dual z-axis (using dual stepper motors - there are kits that dont use a second stepper).
I am also going to look into taking another crack at Teaching Techs DIY filament run out sensor - since i have installed a newer version of marlin that may have resolved the issue i had the first time.
Since i have BLTouch i no longer use the z-stop so i can repurpose it for the run out sensor.
Also i didn't see this mentioned, for people who have problems this website is a godsend for resolving lots of issue.
Teaching Tech 3D Printer Calibration
TPU sort of worked, but obviously needs some tweaking because the funnel on top has just sagged, and there's a lot of cleanup I'd need to do:
First try at ABS got the first couple of layers down okay and then went wrong:
So I upped the temperature a bit, and got this far:
before the fumes got too much for me. Googling "3d print ABS toxic" it looks like it's a bit toxic but I probably didn't do anything too bad to myself in 10 minutes. That said, one of the pages says something like "when you breath in and your instincts say 'time to get out of here', there's probably a good reason your body is telling you to do that" which, yeah, it is just too unpleasant to be around, even without possible longer-term issues.
And while in theory I could now start building an enclosure and vents and stuff, it's -5c outside at the moment so working out a way to get fresh air in without cooling everything down too much is more than I want to deal with.
NOW I have painted the X-Axis gantry plate to orange (on E3Pro Red the X-Axis gantry plate for the direct drive install came in red) and while i had it off i figured why don't i also....
Linear rails.. im also installing a linear rail.
I've done the skr mini e3 v2 board, as well as a microswiss direct drive all metal hot end, and a pei build sheet on borosilicate glass (my heated bed is slightly bowed), and it prints really well as it is, but I love modifying things.
Right now my white whale has been setting up linear advance and getting extrusion dialed in perfectly, I'm mostly interested in printing functional and mechanically accurate parts, in petg.
Really interested in abs and hips filament as well, but that requires an enclosure. I did see this project that uses a blower fan connected to a 3m mask filter as an air purifier for inside the enclosure.
I'm also doing a dual z-axis!
I finished Oranges linear rail, i'll post a break down with pics when i have a free moment.
I am also printing nothing but PETG lately.
I am so happy with linear rails that im going all in on my rails on my E3Pro Red as well as installing the dual -z ( its suppose to help with direct drive setups )
Context -- our vacuum has a weak spot at the top where the hose clips on and off the body. The left-hand side broke once already, but I kept the broken-off bit, and managed to glue it back into place (the hose slides down from the top and a groove in the hose mount slides over the sticking-out bit)
Then the same area broke on the right, but this time we somehow managed to lose the part of plastic. So after some measurement and a few prototypes to get things to match up as well as possible, I printed the missing part from the right-hand side:
This time the fit wasn't good enough for glue, so I added another cuboid to the model which goes on the outside of the vacuum where there's a flat section as a sort of splint to give more area to fix things with:
and with a bit of acetone to melt the two plastics together, it seems to be holding pretty well (and even mostly matches visually):
I havent seen a need for it on my direct drive, Id imagine it helps sagging at the far end of the y travel, but I think for whatever reason my setup just doesnt sag all that much.
In other news I couldn't find a decent rail mount pi camera setup, so I designed and printed my own! Its on thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4742109
This is my favorite part of this?
Like, I've printed out stands for a nativity scene we got, because the pieces are flat wood and would keep falling over. I could've used, like, alligator clips as stands, I guess, but instead I've got low-profile plastic stands that keep them from falling over.
I've printed out several tube holders (between different size tubes and prototypes vs. production models) that clip on the side of my wife's aquarium to hold tubes in-place so she can more easily change the water. We put a screen over the top of the filter tube to keep our snail from climbing into the filter, and I printed a circular "one-piece" clip that holds it in-place that won't break down like the rubber band initial solution will. I designed and printed an adaptor for one of the pumps because the tubing wouldn't stay connected.
Tinkercad and printing is great.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Hotter bed, slower printing, lower fan speed?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]