help-with-3dprinting

[faint sky]

oh i delete everything on the sd card except the file i've sliced. that way there's no confusion which file it is. you're right about the truncated filenames though that was a problem and this is how i solved it. one file at a time per sd card.

[fervent lagoon]

i'm digging moving the files to the octoprint server and printing from there (now if i could just figure out why the gcode viewer craps out)

[iron remnant]

Yeah funny thing about the Klipper + Moonraker + Mainsail setup is that it just sets up a virtual SDcard to print off of.

[ashen moat]

I always assumed that was convenient nomenclature for "STL landing folder", since the host side wouldn't need removable media

[faint pier]

You can still use a usb stick with Klipper too, just takes a bit of linux-fu

I also met some of the folks behind octoeverywhere at the Rocky Mountain RepRap fest. Great people and they sponsored a prominent community member's trip from Australia as well... So as far as I'm concerned they're stand up people. But you can also check their GitHub if you're unsure about security.

[fervent lagoon]

i'm sure someone has mentioned it before, but there is a lot of irony in printing pieces to make a case for your printer (in my case dust/cat cover)

[iron remnant]

I mean, if you aren't printing out poorly considered mods for your 3D printer, are you really doing it right?

[faint sky]

This is just a case of irony.

[fervent lagoon]

that. was. hysterical.

[balmy pulsar]

anyone got a link to where they get 3d printer glass bed made? borosilicate glass.

[ashen moat]

if you find a place, I'd be interested, too. last time I went looking, borosilicate float glass seemed to be more common in scientific settings, but often only in small sizes. Borofloat is one brand name.

[ashen moat]

the process of printing poor-quality mods to improve quality so you can reprint higher-quality mods is one of my favorite things about 3D printing.

[shy kelp]

do you need like a custom size thing or what? off aliexpress and random shops I can find lots of options...

[balmy pulsar]

custom cut 5mm

[shy kelp]

https://www.mcmaster.com/glass-stock/borosilicate-glass-sheets/ they're expensive but is one option if its avaible in canada; or just get something bigger and cut it yourself

[ashen moat]

yeah, round cut 348mm lol

[balmy pulsar]

mcmaster doesnt do custom cut

[ashen moat]

I... thought they did? but not for a price you'd want to pay

[balmy pulsar]

oh they might. but i also need bevels/polished edge

[ashen moat]

oh yeah they probably don't do that

I called a local glass place that seemed interested in trying to source a piece to do a custom cut, but they never got back to me about it.

[shy kelp]

or at least that's how I interpreted it

[balmy pulsar]

yeah

[shy kelp]

but... cant you just do it diy? in the end materials are inexpesive, what costs are services/workers

[balmy pulsar]

?

[shy kelp]

I mean get something bigger and a glass cutter

[balmy pulsar]

i dont have a glass cuting/polishing/beveling machine

[shy kelp]

break it by hand

[ashen moat]

grinding the edges for handling safety sounds like a drag

[balmy pulsar]

aha. i was looking for the wrong thing. i think ive found it now

$414. ha. nope. thats more than the whole project is worth

[iron remnant]

I guess getting one isn't all it's cracked up to be then

[vocal flax]

@balmy pulsar if you don't constrain the glass, use moderate force (paper clip thingies) and use pla (aka 70 degree bed) you don't need borosilicate.

[balmy pulsar]

this is not for a printer

[vocal flax]

You can polish glass at home. Wet sanding (sandpaper works best sponges just tear apart) gives super nice frosted finish

[balmy pulsar]

i gave up already. price is too much

[vocal flax]

Just make sure use plenty of water to contain dusted glass

I'll send some pics later on my attempt with the bottom of barrel tools.

[vocal flax]

I think rigidity is a problem for this application

[balmy pulsar]

O_o

[bronze iron]

Could someone possibly make a 3D design for a Z button from the N64 controller?

[balmy pulsar]

?

are they basically the same as the new/snes?

[bronze iron]

This button

[strange ledge]

https://tenor.com/view/triggered-triggering-intensifies-rage-gif-15297552

[calm bone]

Hello everyone, I attempted to access the 3D design of the pipette tip (10uL) sorter via the provided Thingiverse link (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4256563), but unfortunately, the link seems to be down. If there is anyone who has,the 3D print design files, could you kindly share the design files with me? They would be helpful for an experiment I am working on. Thank you very much for your help.

[faint pier]

I found this design on printables for 200ul tips. However, there's a parametric fusion360 file that you can use to tailor to your dimensions. https://www.printables.com/model/515321-pipette-tip-200-ul-sorting-device

[shy kelp]

I have a problem. when printing tower like object they are always somewhat bent/unpricise. I tried to make them thicker, or by straighting down to the bed, so they don't flex, giving more tolerances to other parts but I am failing. using petg on a p1s

wasted 2kg on the same prototype

[faint sky]

can you post a picture please?

If something seems too off in terms of x,y,z straightness then print a calibration cube. You can determine which axis is off a little. Could be anything from a failing motor, bent rod, loose belt, etc... have to figure out which axis is causing your issue.

[shy kelp]

This is a small test. The more tall a model is, the more likely is going to be bad as the second pic. Even if you increase supports or thickness so it doesn't move all over the place while printing

[faint sky]

looks like uneven cooling. notice how one side is nice and straight. this is common with 3d printers that have a unidirection blower fan. one side gets more air cooling than the other.

for petg that's pretty good. the thermal difference becomes greater the taller you go. after the initial layers the bed heating doesn't help layers adhere and is dependent on the nozzle temperature alone.

for petg you want less cooling, like around 10%, and adjust your nozzle temp. for thin parts like that you will see one side look better than the other simply due to airflow from the blower.

3D printers are moody and this is one reason why. there is no silver bullet solution for every problem. when you solve one problem there's always another waiting just around the corner.

[shy kelp]

I don't think that's the fan, as there's 0 cooling, except for the exhaust fan. To me it looks like it's missing steps for some reasons, as in the smaller model there are blobs/unevel layer in some sides... As for why I have no idea
@faint sky

[faint sky]

i was hoping you weren't going to say that. :/ then the problem could be any number of reasons that i listed before.

have you looked into calibrating esteps?

it does look like some kind of layer shift at the bottom and out of round in other places.

[shy kelp]

It doesn't look to be possible on the bambulab

[faint sky]

layer shifts typically happen due to skipping motor or loose belt.

oh man that's on a bambu 😦

doesn't bambu have tech support?

[shy kelp]

Yeah... But they're slow, and support it's mostly due to hw issues. Likely they going to say that's neglecible stuff

[faint sky]

it kind of is honestly. but for that money i'd want top shelf quality.

well it is for my printer anyway

your looking at it from a microscopic level so any tiny imperfections are magnified. it's hard to get perfect prints no matter the printer.

if you think that's bad you should see some of my latest prints. a horror show in comparison.

[vocal flax]

If it's bambu then you're mostly out of options

Maybe tweaking min layer time in slicer can make difference but idk

[faint sky]

the joys of petg, it's not as forgiving as pla.

[shy kelp]

To be fair it has printed great for a while. Also lately petg is cheaper than pla. You can find it at 8/10€ for kg

[faint sky]

prices for all filaments have come down recently. i bought a couple spools just because.

anything mechanical wears over time. any guess to how many print hours you've done?

[shy kelp]

I just need to find some kind of cheap shredder to get rid of failed prints

No idea

[faint sky]

same lol we're all in that boat

i don't really have failed prints, more like failed prototype designs. i haven't had an actual print failure for months.

[shy kelp]

I have like half of wardrobe full with failed stuff. I don't have that many dresses for myself but loads of plastic lol

[faint sky]

at some undefined point in mass a 3d printed wearable accessory just becomes cosplay.

[vocal flax]

Ohh maybe it's moisture problem @shy kelp

If it got bad after a ehile

[shy kelp]

It's a new spool that I opened yesterday...

[vocal flax]

oh nvm

[faint sky]

maybe it's just printing too fast? what speed are you printing at?

i mean we speculate and guess all day until someone is right

[faint pier]

Moisture problems can occur with freshly opened PETG (i.e. it can get too moist from the factory). That would show up as strings, zips and blobs, sometimes inconsistent extrusion. I don't know what Bambu's PETG profile is but you typically cannot print PETG as fast, you want low but not necessarily off fan, and temps are usually between 240-260 hotend and 70-80 bed. So I would try drying the filament, and if that doesn't work I'd look into the Bambu profile settings

[shy kelp]

yeah... unfortunately it's always like that... thanks though.

anyway about plastic waste... I can't like press aganist a grid, or directly to an heated end to have a filament back? I see lots of project about grinding, but not pressing, but metal stuff is too expensive to experiment with...

[iron remnant]

Apparently the standard large-scale extruder machine runs the filament through a water bath to cool it.

[ashen moat]

filaments can definitely be wet from the factory.

print issues are sometimes like playing the lottery. it may be difficult to pinpoint the cause, so you buy as many tickets as possible by correcting everything you have the power to correct. if you have a way to dry it (even the box/heatbed method), it's certainly worth a go, but may not be a silver bullet.

it does look just like what happens when you have active cooling on one side, even tho that can't be what's happening here. 🙃

I think only Cura implements minimum layer times by moving the head away from the print to let it cool, which is a shame. other slicers just slow down the print head, which doesn't work for small parts.

how big is the part in the second photo? am I reading it right that it's a larger print with blobs and such toward the bottom of the print, and then it magically fixes itself for a nice top half?

[shy kelp]

It should be around 200mm... it's the opposite the bottom half was fine, on the top is crap.

Anyway I started back another print... I see the motors losing a lot of steps, not recovering, and fail everything.
it seems that there's no way to restore a print. With other machines you can just get an height, and delete everything from the gcode above that height to start back.
Bambustudio and similar, do refuse to send such files

[ashen moat]

could be motors overheating, drivers overheating, print speed too high, or possibly acceleration too high? I know bambus are speed demons, but perhaps try 30mm/s and work your way up to your current speed to figure out where it fails? could even do it live with print speed adjustment, trying a couple layers at a time. or your slicer or firmware may have a way to do that automatically.

if you have a way to measure motor temps, anything under 60C shouldn't skip, I think

unless the problem is undercurrent, in which case motors will be very cool but also weak. wouldn't expect that here.

[shy kelp]

Either way it wouldn't be so fixable. I'd wish they'd at least let you load cutted gcode without issues at least. Maybe on this I'm wrong but I haven't found anything on the net

[ashen moat]

yeah, all roads lead to support.

it'd be interesting to note whether the problem starts after a fixed amount of time or above a fixed height. if motors begin to skip after a fixed time, that may point to overheating drivers/motors. if it's a fixed height, it may be a physical issue with rails/belts/rods binding or slipping.

[faint pier]

The extruder is losing steps or the rest of the motors? If the motion motors are losing steps that's a pretty serious issue. You're using bambu's own slicer and not Orcaslicer?

[old nacelle]

Lol How screwed am I? Do I need to buy a new head?

Neptune 4 if that matters

Replacements are out of stock, lucky me

[vestal thicket]

I had that happen on my Ender once - I just heated it up and gently pulled it off and I think it worked fine

[old nacelle]

I'll try that later.

[strange ledge]

At least we know why there's not a "NSFW" channel....

[faint sky]

That is a filament blob and can happen for a variety of reasons. Easiest way to remove it is as Paul Cutler said. Heat it up and start removing as much as you can. Be careful not to short or break the thermistor wires or you will indeed need a new one. The silicone sock is hiding a lot of the blob. Sometimes you can save the sock sometimes you can't. They're considered consumable items as they will eventually wear out. Don't go trying to remove anything on there until after you've heated it up and then cut the power to it.

There is a time period where after the blob is heated and then cooling down that you might be able to peel it off in layers. It could take a couple of attempts. Been there done that, it's not fun but not necessarily a game ender for a hot end.

Mine happened because friction unscrewed the nozzle and then... blob. Another time it was due too far of a z-axis offset and spaghetti ended up wrapping around it and causing a huge blob. If a blob gets to a certain size it means you left the printer alone unchecked for far too long. You can typically know how quickly or not quickly someone caught their blob by the size of it. I've seen some the size of basketballs that ate an entire roll of filament... so relatively speaking you got it early.

Don't try to remove it with your bare fingers, you'll regret it. Use pliers or some kind of tools to start removing the biggest pieces of it.

[elder oxide]

Can confirm, melty fingers are not as exciting as they sound

[old nacelle]

Thanks for the help. Used a heat gun and tried to stay away from the wires as much as possible, seems to work again now. Will definitely buy a spare though just in case

[faint sky]

A blob is what caused me to get a 2nd extruder head and start experimenting with a .8 nozzle. Now I have hot swappable heads, one with a .4 nozzle and one with a .8 nozzle. It happens to everyone at one point, just part of owning a 3D printer.

[fervent lagoon]

a nice beginner question -- how the bleep do i choose filament? i bought some as part of a bundle and it seems okay, but the apparent number of vendors/options is pretty much a "cereal aisle" assortment, discounting the Major Vendors Pushing Their Stuff; the printer isn't all that, so "standard" PLA is good enough for now

[vivid helm]

My recommendation is generally polymaker. There are a few other good vendors, buy playmaker has a good compromise ov quality/price, and a lot of options.

One other note: avoid Amazon in general. I've received a lot of bad/damaged/wet spools from them in the past. Ordering via Polymaker's website actually ships via Amazon, but it seems they draw from different stocks.

[fervent lagoon]

well, this is interesting

[vivid helm]

How many spools are you trying to buy?

[fervent lagoon]

just one (i think this might be a joke, actually)

[vivid helm]

Either that, or a placeholder.

[elder oxide]

Or half gold infused

Maybe not half, but 3tOz

[vivid helm]

How much is 500g of gold?

[elder oxide]

Troy ounce is like 31.5 grams?

31.103g *

[vivid helm]

Of course they have their own, dedicated unit

[elder oxide]

So 500g of gold would be like $30k

Or more depending on the price

$2,299 from Google. So 500g of gold in pla filament would be.. $37k in gold

And like $0.25 in actual PLA 💀

[elder oxide]

Troy ounce has been around since like.. 400AD? Maybe earlier?

Sorry, more recent in the 15th century

So at least 600 years old

It dates the metric system by at least 200 years

[fervent lagoon]

so does imperial units, but that's nothing to measure up to

[iron remnant]

A lot of the time the old measurements had weird ergonomic properties only obvious to those in the trade.

So I think this came up at some point in the past? But Atomic Filaments has some really fun colors and I found out about them somewhere long ago in the scrollback.

Matter Hackers used to be excellent and not-amazon because they were shipping filament from CA but now they ship from the east coast so it takes a lot longer.

..but the BUILD series is generally reasonable non-sketch stuff?

I would love to spend some months really digging into the supply chain for filament and plastics and write some really cool heavy-hitting blog articles but my vague impression is that then I'd be persona non grata in the 3D printing world and have to resort to cutting up PET bottles if I want filament.

[fervent lagoon]

kind of like all 3.5 inch floppy drives were actually manufactured by the same two suppliers?

but, yeah, i don't think we'd want that, sir

[iron remnant]

I shutter to think what it would have been like to be a 90s cyberpunk pimply faced youth without access to 3.5 inch floppy drives.

[elder oxide]

Things would have flopped

For things not to flop, they needed a medium to take the floppy and make it solid. The floppy drive filled that void. Now it’s 3D printers and raspberry pi

[faint pier]

for PLA I just buy Sunlu PLA when it's on sale and I need basic colors. And then CookieCad if I wanted a nail polish level assortment of colors. Polymaker has some more interesting materials- Polylite for example is a "foaming" PLA that is popular for printing RC airplanes and quads with due to their lightweight properties. I usually use PLA for decorative, simple or prototyping things. I used to use a lot of PETG-CF for structural items, but ever since I built a enclosed printer with filtration I've mainly been printing ASA/ABS, which I heavily prefer for anything structural.

[ashen moat]

I tried Atomic PLA recently and was super impressed, it prints so well. I just wish their spools were cardboard. also tried Polymaker's Polyterra and I'm not a fan. maybe it's all matte filaments, but I found it kinda brittle even after drying, makes brittle printed parts, and it really highlights layer imperfections. only saving grace is you can get it in Ryobi yellow-green.

Matterhackers stuff has always been good for me (esp Tough PLA), Taulman t-glase is good lower-temp PETT, Sainsmart makes great cheap TPU in lots of colors. got a roll of PrintedSolid PETG that prints beautifully, too.

[vivid helm]

I got one spool of black MH Build PETG. It was one of the stringiest spools I've ever used. Ended up just throwing it out.

[ashen moat]

never tried their PETG, only PLA

got a spool of glitter-navy Polymaker PolyLite where the filament was falling apart right out of the plastic, bits and pieces. I had to throw out maybe the first 10m of broken loops. seems to print okay now from a filament dryer and the color's pretty.

as far as how to pick? experimentation and reviews, mostly? lots of experimentation. try a few black/grey/natural PLAs til you find one that consistently prints well, and use a lot of it

[vivid helm]

Yeah, that sort of thing tends to happen with old spools. That's why I recommend purchasing directly from manufacturers.

[ashen moat]

yeah, maybe they don't sell a lot of PolyLite or something

[vivid helm]

Black and white filaments tend to be problematic in general. The cheaper black spools are often a mixture of other colors recycled from the production line. White uses a disproportionate amount of pigment in comparison to other colors.

[ashen moat]

I've heard that. I've printed a lot of black over the years and I've still mostly had good results. I think MH pro series black was particularly good. haven't tried their build series yet.

[loud silo]

i am not much of a printer but I have been buying Micro Center's house brand (Inland) PLA and never had any trouble with it.

[vivid helm]

MH Pro is manufactured by them, on the US. Build is from an undisclosed Chinese vendor.

[loud silo]

i keep my spools in ziploc bags when not in use

[vivid helm]

They've used a variety of vendors over the years; I know they've used eSun and Playmaker before.

[vivid helm]

I live in PNW Oregon. 50-70% humidity is typical here.

[ashen moat]

same, this helps a lot, along with a filament dryer

[elder oxide]

I’ve used Hatchbox and Polymaker regularly. Only issue I had with Hatchbox was both things of clear PLA I got is incredibly brittle.

Might have just been a bad batch 🤷‍♂️

[ashen moat]

I tried Inland once and it was fine? not the best, not the worst. I'd use them if I needed a particular color same-day; the wall of colors at my local Microcenter is impressive.

eSun's TPU was awful for me, IIRC

I've yet to try a modified "pro" or "PLA+" or "high-flow PLA" that I didn't like.

and I tend to print slowly by today's standards, 30-60mm/s

[faint pier]

Inland filament works ok, don't think I ever had any issues. PETG (CF or not) I always dry before use nowadays, even fresh out of a bag they can be um... moist

Got the Sunlu S4 when it was still being kickstarted and it's great for PETG and nylon drying.

[old nacelle]

is there actually a way to see how wet a filament is?

[vivid helm]

Not usually, though visible discoloration can occur for some filaments.

If your prints are stringing more than usual and you are getting inconsistent extrusion (possibly accompanied by popping sounds), your filament is almost certainly wet.

[faint pier]

In addition to popping sounds (if you're lucky you might see steam!), can also show up as zits in the print assuming you aren't suffering from extrusion issues otherwise.

[vivid helm]

Yes

Basically, if you are getting terrible prints, and you didn't last time you used that filament, it is wet.

[faint pier]

Never had to dry PLA and I think only occasionally ASA/ABS if it's been sitting out for a few months. But PETG-CF, TPU and especially the single roll of nylon I have, I dry before use.

[vivid helm]

I've never used nylon because it has such a hygroscopic reputation.

[faint pier]

Yeah, I got the S4 because it actually reaches a temp to do a relatively good job drying nylon, and then I have to keep it IN the dryer while it's printing. Makes an enormous difference. Luckily I don't print with it too often since ABS/ASA mechanical properties usually good enough.

[iron remnant]

Nylon is... kinda disappointing?

It's just not useful compared to the other options.

[vivid helm]

Yeah, I've had a lot of success with polycarbonate-based filaments for high temp prints.

[iron remnant]

Can't print a Voron out of it because it's prone to creeping under load, annoying with an open chamber but you can kinda make it work, the various members of the PET family are generally friendlier...

All of the edge cases are generally better with polycarbonate.

[vivid helm]

Or ABS/ASA.

[iron remnant]

The only nice part about the one I've got is that it's a nice middle ground of flexy that would be nice for pottery tools, except that I haven't been able to do pottery because my wrists are messed up.

[vivid helm]

PETG also has excellent chemical properties

[faint pier]

PA6-CF, useful for the few parts I print for my motorcycle/ track car. Specifically for high temp items.

ABS/ASA is the go to recommendation for Voron for flex and creep. Also relatively cheap and easy to get. Smells horrible and bad for your health without a filter

[iron remnant]

Some of the crazies on the Voron forums have been annealing PET-GF and PET-CF for strength and high temperature resistance.

[faint pier]

but it's what I print nowadays about 90% of the time

[ashen moat]

I have the Sunlu S2 single-spool dryer that I like a lot

[faint pier]

PETG-CF mitigates a lot of the issues I have with PETG (namely surface quality and printability), but I can print much faster in ABS/ASA and it's a bit cheaper and easier to get. So if you have an enclosed printer with a combination HEPA + carbon filtration system, I'd go for it.

[fervent lagoon]

😮

boy did i open up a box or two... 😆

[shy kelp]

hm for some reasons petg is still cheaper than pla 8-9€ for spool shipped.
Sucks tat much goes to waste with supports and fails

[balmy pulsar]

petg in granule form is 20-50 cents a kg

we need more hopper based machines

🙂

[faint sky]

I already have enough trouble in my life with a 3d printer. I have no desire to make my own filament too.

[balmy pulsar]

nah. i mean a printer that uses granules directly. there have been a feww

[steep cloak]

I just have several ft^3 of prototypes and failed prints in want of recycling.

[strange ledge]

I'll have to look into the recycling process soon... huff

[faint sky]

There used to be companies you could send your extra stuff to (if you just wanted to get rid of it) but most of them aren't around anymore.

[echo flower]

How much of a problem are cardbool spools normally? y ender 3 has had non-stop issues with printing from some spools but I remember it working perfectly fine on plastic spools

[ashen moat]

I think I've heard cardboard spools can deform in humid environments? I'm hoping to use a lot more of them, picked up a few recently and they're doing well in a filament dryer enclosure where the spool rim rolls on bearings vertically.

[vivid helm]

If your environment is humid enough to deform a cardboard spool, you have bigger issues.

[ashen moat]

found a reddit thread with a lot of people who dislike them. the complaints seemed to be misaligned spools that don't roll well and cardboard dust as the rims wear. apparently there are printable rim sleeves or you can wrap them with tape. I haven't experienced those issues yet, but maybe they affect cheaper filament more.

[shy kelp]

Didn't you need to pay to do so?
It's unfortunate but in the end it's greenwashing... New Plastic is too cheap to even consider recycling, nobody has a real interest to do something about it outside of great words...
Maybe some local openfab, but they're rare

I've got 30kg of petg for about 4.5€/kg. Let's see if I got scammed or not lmao

[faint pier]

I haven't had an issue with cardboard spools but I have a spoolholder that uses rollerskate bearings to rotate

[echo flower]

It's probably a mix of it being the cheapest ESUN PLA I could find + any absorbed humidity and just general unevenness

[vocal flax]

the volume is not enough to justify the process. Commercially there is no incentive to decrease the costs, so its on hobbists' sholder to make it more viable to themselves

unlike before 3d printing community is more of a commercial space than enthusiastic, and open source space. So, I expect solutions to be either half baked (unfortunately fate of open source) or not profitable (no matter material cost, they'll sell for opportunity cost).

But pulltruders are really interesting concept that maybe can have a shot with other materials than pet

there are already some people melting and reshaping scraps, maybe someone molds scraps to the strips and pulltrudes it. It could simplify process but IDK if it would be better system might be dangerous

[shy kelp]

TIL: Petg can explode

[gray saddle]

Anything can explode if you try hard enough

[vivid helm]

Wait... what did you do to it?

[arctic dragon]

PSA: avoid microwaving things that don’t belong in a microwave.

[fervent lagoon]

🙀

[vivid helm]

Yeah I wondered.

[marsh pasture]

can someon give me this 3d printing?

[elder oxide]

If the files are provided you can order it online from JLCPCB

[marsh pasture]

alright thankss

[faint sky]

@marsh pasture You can find the learn guide and 3D files here https://learn.adafruit.com/wearable-temperature-monitor/3d-printing

[velvet radish]

I tried some post processing on my (white PLA) 3D print by sanding it down. It did make it smooth but now there are ugly black lines in which I presume to be the gaps of the layers. Any way to remove that? I tried wiping it off with water and IPA, not much improvement.

[ashen moat]

could be a couple things going on. how many walls/perimeters in the print? some of the dark patches could be from sanding the walls so thin that they get a little translucent, and the infill voids behind them begin to show thru.

some other marks look like crud from the sanding implement? was it a fresh piece of sandpaper? maybe the plastic softened under the sanding heat and embedded some dust? you could try a bit of wet sanding, both for cooling and clearing debris.

[velvet radish]

the areas i sanded are the walls of a case which doesn't have infill (it's 1mm)
this is a fresh piece of sandpaper

my phone won't take a picture super close up but it doesn't appear to be any dust, just some "scratches" that made it turn dark

[faint sky]

It's the grit from the sandpaper. The finer the sandpaper the finer the grit but also the easier the grit comes off and doesn't last long. You can prime and paint it.

When you get down to about 1400 to 2000 grit you're basically sanding with powder glued onto paper. I've never heard of anyone trying a buffing wheel on filament, I'd be interested in seeing how that goes.

[marsh pasture]

thanks for the info

[iron remnant]

not just info .... gritty details.

[marsh pasture]

alright thank you so much

[fervent lagoon]

you can really grind them puns out...

(actually, i bet a lot of folks wish we would 😈 )

[agile stratus]

Got a quick question abt leveling the print bed and adjusting the space between the nozzle and bed. would this distance be the initial layer height, the normal layer height, or always "a peice of paper with slight resistance" height?

[velvet radish]

When at z = 0 it should be paper with slight resistance

[vocal flax]

at room temperature

when you heat up bed to 70 and hotend to 200 ish expansion will close the gap

[faint sky]

The distance between the nozzle and bed is your z-offset. The layer height is the predicted thickness of the filament for the first layer. You can adjust the initial layer to be thicker or thinner than others to get more or less squish on your initial layer typically useful for initial layer adhesion.

Stick with the normal layer height, there are already far too many variables to account for when you're beginning. If you're getting leveling or layer adhesion issues we can help troubleshoot that.

[agile stratus]

Oh I can tell about the variables 😂 🤕 I have an ender 3 v1 for info. I would like to use a 1.0 nozzle for fast prototyping but I have only moved up to a 0.6. I can get a beautiful brim and initial layer but seem to need to adjust the z-offset once it starts printing the “first” layer. Otherwise it starts digging into the print, creating excess ooze that roll off the nozzle. Then without intervention, the nozzle will push the piece off the glass bed and start making spaghetti and print balls

[faint sky]

It's far more useful for layer adhesion to print with a brim than to worry about changing the initial layer height.

That is called over-extusion where your nozzle is flowing more filament than it should. You can dial your flow rate % back to compensate for that. Depending on how much over extrusion you're getting will depend on how much in % to reduce flow rate. The real fix is to calibrate your e-steps though. Recommend you find a video tutorial on youtube for your v1 on how to calibrate e-steps and after you're done with that print some calibration shapes.

Are you using Cura as your slicer or still using the default Creality Slicer that comes with the ender? Recommend ditching Creality Slicer it's just a clone of Cura and is typically many updates behind in versioning.

[strange ledge]

I spent best part of 2 days battling with bed adhesion on my Ender 3, but I gave up.. 😛

[faint sky]

If your printer is brand new then you have hours and hours of printing calibration shapes to dial in your printers settings.

Good bed adhesion is usually a combination of z-offset, bed temp, nozzle temp, and fan cooling %.

[strange ledge]

I think I completely messed up the Z calibration.. and maybe the machine itself.
It seems to be sticking, but I was far too distracted by a bout of toothache.

I need to get it right, so I can make a case for my new T-Beam.

[faint sky]

z-offset calibration is a dance, everything is a dance with 3d printers. every printer has its own personality and quirks. takes a while to dial things in. the Calibration Shapes plugin for Cura and reading tutorials on how to use them and most importantly what the results of each test means. it's one thing to print calibration shapes its another to know how to interpret the results to tune your settings.

when i first started most tutorials had me printing calibration cubes and benchy boats but i didn't know how to tune off of those. the calibration shapes plugin is much more scientific in its methodology and there's plenty of documentation online for how to interpret results.

[strange ledge]

Yeah, I just think I messed it up hard by leaning on the frame. 😛

[faint sky]

yeah don't do that. frames are not arm rests. :/

you can bend a frame a little and be ok, it's the lead screws (or rails) that you don't want to mess up.

[vivid helm]

I've heard a lot of good things about this guide.
https://ellis3dp.com/Print-Tuning-Guide/

[faint sky]

a lot of that won't translate well for a beginner using cura or creality slicer. that tuning guide seems like it's targeting advanced users who want more speed not exactly for beginners.

you're not even going to see the word voron, when beginners are involved.

[vivid helm]

So, the guide has some voron specific stuff, but also general tuning info.

[faint sky]

i would stick with youtube video tutorials as a beginner and soak up as much info as you possibly can then apply it to your printer keeping in mind that all printers even ones of the same make/model might be ever so slightly different.

[vivid helm]

As far as benchy is concerned, there some specific things you can check.
http://3dbenchy.com/

[faint sky]

figuring out what your printer likes and needs is part of the process.

Yep I went straight to a benchy for my first print. I still have it. 🙂 Calibration Shapes plugin is 100x more useful to a beginner than a benchy... but a benchy is more satisfying to print just so you have one. It's almost obligatory.

[agile stratus]

It’s the calibration shapes plug in on cura? I use cura and octoprint. I wouldn’t say I’m a beginner but I would agree that dialing in the printer is tedious trial and error.

[faint sky]

yes it's a free plugin for cura.

[strange ledge]

@faint skyI believe I've knocked the drive for Z way out of whack and it's getting stuck at the lower end, so it's taking too long to raise the extruder.

With that, it just ends up dragging filament all over the place.

[faint sky]

That's not good. :/ If the frame is bent you'll have to try to square it up and pay real close attention to your lead screw(s) or rails to ensure those are straight too. Have to un-damage any physical issues.

[strange ledge]

Yeah, I'll strip down the entire machine and check it all out.
I'm hoping I didn't damage anything, but it's really not a happy machine.

[agile stratus]

Thanks

[vocal flax]

Both my printers have z offset disabled. Using right probe offset is just enough. (Paper method is sufficient.)

[vocal flax]

Best case leadscrew needs to be replaced worst case hey new pulltruder nice. 😂

[strange ledge]

Either should be an easy job.

🙂

[vocal flax]

Well nothing is hard if it's just swapping out parts

Everything is hard when designing them

[marsh pasture]

can someon teachme how to make 3d pls

[faint pier]

Look for CAD tutorials. There's a lot of different packages out there. Some of the more popular ones are Fusion 360 (free personal license), but this is somewhat controversial because they keep removing free features in order to push you to buying the full software. Another paid software and a bit more industry standard is Solidworks. You also have freeCAD, OpenSCAD and the like. So I would do a bit of research and then look for tutorials. Personally I use Fusion360 since it works for CAM too.

Orcaslicer has a bunch of built in calibration tools built in that are pretty nice. Retraction test, volumetric flowrate, pressure advance, material temp towers, and tolerancing. On top of that I like Vector3D's califlower, since it's specifically designed to account for Skew (if you have Prusa printer this is a built in calibration for so maybe not needed for their printers).

[topaz viper]

I would start with tinkercad before moving to Fusion 3D.

[faint sky]

Adafruit has some nice free Fusion videos called Layer by Layer. They're excellent. https://www.youtube.com/@adafruit/search?query=layer by layer

[balmy pulsar]

"printing" some wood. 😛

[ashen moat]

speaking of, anyone have a woodfill filament they like? I used Laywoo-3D years ago and it was okay. last I looked, there seemed to be a bunch of "wood" filaments without any organic fibers in them. 😠

[loud silo]

good ol' subtractive technology? 🙂 🪚

[balmy pulsar]

yup. subtractin money from mah pockets 😛

[balmy pulsar]

print complete

not bad for a test run with scrap flooring

[vocal flax]

Scrap flooring?

[balmy pulsar]

yes. i ripped out the 80 year old maple floors in my house a few years ago. most of it went in the bin but i kept some.

[ember bridge]

Hello I am new

I kinda need help with my Power supply

I have two 18650 batteries so can I connect the to esp32 VIN pin via the 5v output of the l850n motor driver

This is for esp32

[ashen moat]

it sounds like you want either the #help-with-hw-design channel or the more general #help-with-projects

[ember bridge]

Okay, thank you

[fervent lagoon]

FIRST COMPLETELY FAIL PRINT! 🙌

[balmy pulsar]

pasketti!

what failed?

[iron remnant]

https://www.printables.com/model/190956-3d-printing-trophy-spaghetti

[faint sky]

Everyone gets that trophy eventually, just a matter of when not if.

Figuring out why it failed is something you have to figure out. The taller a print gets the more likely any tiny tiny over extrusion will compound the higher up it goes.

[fervent lagoon]

had a couple of pretty good pasketti - the first one was the raft lost adhesion (very small thing) then the last two were no adhesion between layers -- didn't someone say something about white filament being nasty?

[balmy pulsar]

no adhesion can be a momentary clog.

matte filaments have filler that can make this a common issue

[shy kelp]

So nice

[shy kelp]

ah fixed by going slower than normal, cooling 100% and lower temps

[steep cloak]

Rebuilding a delta printer. Learned the 24-pixel ring fits perfectly on the lower arm frame including clearance for screws. Also will have quick-change between extruder block and bl-touch. Might spin a control board mounted ON said frame. Klipper looks good at that.

[faint sky]

That sounds neat.

[shy kelp]

from the bambu slicer, is there a way to remove from an object assembly an individual element? (easier to workaround but yet)

[fervent lagoon]

and today is the day i learned/used the gluestick -- any recommendations on blue tape? i'm eyeballing 4" wide because i won't have to worry about seams and i'm seeing some tagged specifically for printing (is that seo or a real thing?)

[shy kelp]

Seo, I used to get whatever bigger size I could find. ps: you can use hair spray or liquid glue too

[fervent lagoon]

i'm liking the idea of the tape because i hate cleaning up stuff -- which is not a good way to operate a printer, i know 😀

[shy kelp]

you don't really need to clean each time... I just continue printing till it stops aderating to the plate

BUT

Sometimes glue gets sticket to parts... then if it bothers you, you just wash it off

[fervent lagoon]

which is exactly what happened just a bit ago -- so, i did the glue thing and 🕺

[iron remnant]

2090 tape by 3M is generally the standard recommendation.

2090 clones get sticky.

These are also quite friendly: https://www.printables.com/model/413893-tape-cutter-parametric-openscad

The thing to note is that you still end up with some nastyness with the tape because over time it won't come off so easily, at least when I used it with PETG.

So, there are no excellent options, just acceptible ones. There's also https://goo.by.frank.af/

[faint pier]

I use textured PEI sheet. Rarely have to use any adhesive and parts pop off when cooled. Some gluestick helps when printing PETG because it can stick too well. Used to use creality style glass but find it a pain to get anything not PETG to stick consistently but after going PEI I haven't gone back.

[ashen moat]

3M blue tape. never had a problem taking it off at any age (unlike the beige stuff), though big parts could curl hard enough to lift it a bit. refresh with alcohol or windex, replace when it gets gouged up. I used 2" laid very carefully to avoid seams, but 4" should work fine.

I used it for years, but lately switched to textured PEI with glue stick for adhesion, which works better. I do mind the glue on the parts, but washing them with water isn't so bad, at least for small quantities.

that's all with an unheated bed.

[faint sky]

I consider gluestick, tape, or any adhesive as a band aid to a problem. You're not solving the actual problem and you're putting excess material (glue) on your build surface. If you have a smooth build surface the glue will build up over time and then you have an initial layer issue.

The real solution is calibration and testing. If parts are warping and coming unstuck then raise the bed temperature and initial layer nozzle temperature. Turn down cooling.

It's a dance and only with experimentation will you be able to dial in the settings for any filament. Putting a sticker over the check engine light in your car doesn't make the problem go away.

https://tenor.com/view/sheldon-abibu-gif-21568167

That's a big bang theory reference btw. :/

[ashen moat]

in my family we call it "light-blocking compound"

and a far better solution is to dig out the OBD2 adapter and reset the trouble code every time it trips the check engine light 😝

sometimes I wish I had a setup that would be sensitive to something like glue buildup

[faint sky]

I don't even like fingerprints on my build surface. To each their own what they are willing to tolerate. Not that my printer has great quality because it doesn't. If I breathe on it wrong it'll start failing prints so I've learned to literally not even touch it when it's working correctly. 😛

[faint pier]

I find glass surfaces very prone to contaminants, whereas PEI sheets are essentially maintenance free for everything (maybe a handwash every 30 prints or something). The only problem is that out of every material, PETG (and perhaps TPU at times) sticks to it and can be hard to get residual bits off if you have brims or skirts... so gluestick helps as an anti-adhesive, if anything. I would not advocate the use of gluestick to keep parts down/prevent warping for ABS and the like, because ultimately the part's properties are going to be compromised in those situations regardless.

[fervent lagoon]

my surmise is that i'm currently dealing with wildly varying humidity and i can't totally enclose the printer

[iron remnant]

So, as far as you are concerned, the issue is a cut and dried one

But, yah, my PEI build surface is working quite well so far on my new Voron?

[strange ledge]

That's definitely a concern for me.... and why I don't want to put my printer in the shed. 😛

[fervent lagoon]

well, for my first tries with a matte filament, i managed to get a few things out -- memo to self: do NOT try to print lego adapter parts with matte (too brittle at .2mm)

[faint sky]

Yeah don’t put your printer or store filament in a shed (unless it has a dehumidifier and air conditioning). I had one in my garage and it rusted from the ambient humidity. By the time I realized the damage it was too late. It’s a losing battle against humidity anyway. Keep printers and filament indoors under climate controlled conditions. The bad thing about that is air purification. It doesn’t matter what filament you use it’s not good to breathe. I usually open my window after a print to air out the room. During a print, especially a long one, the fumes do compound to get noxious.

[merry cobalt]

I’m printing a sword on a prusa mk3.5 using prusa slicer. What setting(s) do I need so that the tip comes out good?

[faint sky]

I'm unaware of any special parameters that deal with tips. It should print all layers relatively the same. When it comes to props and details you can decrease layer height to something more fine grained like 0.12 layer height instead of the normal 0.20 layer height.

With a .4 nozzle the maximum height you can do is .32 and the least is about 0.10 but the smaller the layer height the more likely for a clog from back pressure. When printing with smaller layer heights never leave your printer alone for long as the risk to coming back to a large filament blob encasing your hotend is increased.

The lowest I will personally go is 0.12. The smaller the layer height the more detail you can get out of your prints.

There is a parameter for variable layer height https://help.prusa3d.com/article/variable-layer-height-function_1750 If you only want specific sections of a print to be highly detailed. This can help cut down overall print time as smaller layer heights can drastically increase print time.

More detail with smaller layer heights = longer print time.

[merry cobalt]

Thank you @faint sky

[ashen moat]

as for the tip, assuming PLA, you want as much cooling airflow as possible. slowing down may help too (lower speed for small perimeters)

PrusaSlicer has a built-in cut tool, I'd suggest cutting the model to leave only the pointy tip and then tune your print settings til you get good results, then print the whole part.

[faint sky]

That's a great idea but if it's going to be lit from the inside you'll see the layer line on the tip. If it's not lit then that's a really good suggestion.

[ashen moat]

I meant just for tuning the print settings thru repeated prints, to save time and material. yeah, for final, totally do the whole print to avoid seams

[faint sky]

That's a good idea too. If there are sections or fitments you're unsure of it's better to print them in small sections as test fits. That way you'll have more confidence that all the parts of your print will turn out the way you want instead of blindly hitting full send on a 20+ hour print.

I'd rather waste filament the size of a sword tip than the entire sword. Printing sections and testing fitment is an unwritten part of the process for very large prints.

The most nerve wracking prints are the ones that the full build height tall. Any tiny issue is compounded the higher you go. If you can print something full height it's a huge confidence booster that you can print anything with good results.

One of the biggest confidence boosters I've ever done is a simple mailbox. It's not complex geometry but is a good test to ensure you're not getting horrible layer shifts at full build height.

[shy kelp]

You can also run a quick print to test tolerances.
On rhino when exporting as Stl you have a pop up windows to set up tolerances
Likely in other sw there's similar functions

[willow wasp]

Can you 3d print onto Acetate, or something else that would give a clear bottom?
I want to make stacking trays / inlays for a larger box, imagining 4 layers deep, so would be useful to see through the bases.
Maybe TPU (the compartment walls) to allow flexibility for awkward shaped compoenents

[iron remnant]

I haven't heard anybody doing this.

You can get sheets of clear PETG sheet from McMaster Carr and presumably other folks, so if I was going to mess around with it, that would be a starting point.

Or, actually, hm,

So, lesee the PETG sheet that McMaster Carr sells has a satin texture. That's a problem because it won't be as clear, but it also means that the satin side will probably grip PETG filament well.

Polypropylene sheet on polypropylene filament might also work.

Or, no, OK, so they do sell both satin-textured and regular-textured.

Either way, PETG tends to have good layer adhesion, to a fault, so that's probably a good starting point.

And then TPU tends to stick nicely to PETG in general.

And I guess the bigger problem is that sticking to a smooth, potentially treated, surface might be not great.

[shy kelp]

You can as with glass, but the resulting print won't be clear, you can see the layers

[iron remnant]

Hm.

Yah, see, I've got a few problems that would go in interesting directions if I were to try my suggestions and they work.

Where it's OK that only the bottom part needs to be clear.

[vocal flax]

From my experience even roughed up acrylic sheet has problems with anything sticking on it strongly

Probably better to cut them to length and capture on 4 corners

[iron remnant]

Yah, that was why I was thinking about PETG instead.

[fervent lagoon]

you'd probably be better off just printing the sides as pieces and then clipping them around plexiglass rather than trying to get actual transparency from a layered print

[willow wasp]

Thanks folks. Not so worried about transparent prints. Also I may even tolerate gluing the base on, but worried about it just cracking off.
Also I'm in the UK and we don't have anything as good as McMaster Carr

[shy kelp]

Actually if memory doesn't lie to me, you may have misumi
But it's for vat holder

[willow wasp]

Oh thanks, totally unaware of that one. Not VAT registered, but useful for future

[shy kelp]

FYI:
The EU version does not have 3d models, but the US version does, you can combine them
(Unless something changed)
Also if you have solidworks they have a pretty neat library/plugin for it

[faint pier]

You can print PETG relatively clearly. Otherwise it might be good to just make the whole divider out of clear sheet material. https://www.printables.com/model/15310-how-to-print-glass

Thin, flat dividers have the best chance at being mostly see-thru, so with a bit of experimentation you might be able to achieve dividers that are merely a bit hazy

[willow wasp]

Thanks, I did find I could get pretty good transparency if only a couple of layers, and it looked totally clear if you stuck anything against the back (it visually hazed as the distance to object grew). Mostly I can't eliminate those air gaps which is a shame, looks like I may need to go hotter and smaller layers, plus adjust wipe etc (was already trying slow / hot), am using PETG but my hotend peaks at 250c

[ashen moat]

PETG vacuum-forming sheets might work well, if the heat of the print doesn't deform them. they should be widely-available, anyway.

[iron remnant]

I was making a McMaster Carr order so I ordered one just to see what happens.

[balmy pulsar]

mcmaster carr petg:

😛

[willow wasp]

holey moley, that's a really good idea!

[iron remnant]

Tasty PETG waffles

[ashen moat]

what's the vacuform buck made out of?

[balmy pulsar]

mmm waffles

that was a test one from mdf. i then made the real one from aluminium

that little vac former is about $99. its pretty cool. does 5x5"

hard to see. but there is a teeeny hole in the middle of each "pocket" to suck air so the top stays flat. petg was 0.5mm. its ok, but not quite as smooth as retail store packaging.

[willow wasp]

Thank you so much for showing us the rest, and including the detail like sheet thickness, fascinating 🤩
As it happens my brother got me this diy vac former a long time ago, stick in the oven job and use vacuum cleaner to suck, crude but effective. I'll have to look for some petg sheets!

[balmy pulsar]

mcmaster car is spendy for the petg, but if you need a small amount NAO! they are great. at plastic suppliers it will be full 4x8 sheets and youll need to buy several to justify the shipping usually.

[faint sky]

That is amazing work. 🎉

[balmy pulsar]

its funny, im starting to get interest ic caps now. ha

:x

[shy kelp]

Filament gets getting jammed in the extruder. I used to change the whole assembly but it's getting expensive. I way to clear this thing without breaking my hands? Fyi: sticking down heated small thing through the throat of the assembly does not work

Idk maybe some kind of acid that attacks the plastic but not the metal (chemistry ignorance)

[fervent lagoon]

acetone?

[shy kelp]

It's petg (my bad I did not mention it)

Solved by hearing it up with a lighter

[arctic dragon]

Is it heat creep? If the material is melting at or above your heat break, you might need a better heat break.

If this is a recurring issue, try turning your temps down a little and see if it clogs less.

[shy kelp]

The filament that I am using is inconsistent. Now running hotter I have no jamming problems. Before I had to turn them down since I couldn't get a decent print, yet before it was printing fine

(I guess?)

[fervent lagoon]

humidity?

[river willow]

I'm trying to modify the design for the NeoPixel Rotary Fidget to fit a different sized neopixel ring. When I download and unzip the CAD file, it is an f3z file and not f3d. Uploading that file into Fusion 360 creates all the component source files, but it does not have the rotary fidget design. As the file is uploading, the ANO NeoPixel Fidget file is there, but once the upload completes, the file is gone. Any suggestions on how to get the original f3d file? https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixel-rotary-fidget

[vocal flax]

All acids attack metal. The thing you're trying to find is acetone, it dissolves plastic. Its probably not safe to soak everything in acetone

Sometimes decrease or completely disabling retraction helps with clog too

[faint sky]

If you have a screw on nozzle then you can unscrew it, use some needle nose pliers and pull the rest out. You don't even need to remove the entire hotend to do it that way. You want it to be cooled off and not heated when unscrewing the nozzle.

There's also a method called a "cold pull". You attempt to push the clog through while the nozzle is extremely hot, this fuses the filament together inside the heat break. Then turn off the printer, let it all cool down, then try to yank it out from the top. Cold pulls will break if it's a really bad clog but they do work sometimes.

The method where you unscrew the nozzle after it's cooled down is a type of cold pull but it's from the nozzle direction instead of the top.

I give that advice precariously because not all 3D printers have replaceable nozzles and instead have the nozzle as part of a casted hot end + heat break. For your typical Ender bed slinger unscrewsing the nozzle and yanking it out with pliers from the bottom works most of the time.

Another exception are those 3-bore special nozzles, can't yank those from the bottom.

[ashen moat]

for a cold pull, you usually don't want the hot end completely cool. about 95C seems good for PLA, a little warmer for hotter materials

[ashen moat]

idea being that the material's just a little soft so it can deform/stretch and pull free, but not so hot that there's no tensile strength and it melts, and not so cold that it doesn't move (or snaps) instead of pulling free

[fervent lagoon]

there is an apparent upside to having a bottom-feeder level printer: it doesn't get that complicated 🤣

[balmy pulsar]

this applies to all printer. they WILL clog

[fervent lagoon]

oh, i know that -- just with the lower-end printers it's not as complicated to fix

okay, at least that is my assumption -- i've not had any real issues (knock on "wood")

[iron remnant]

.... yet

[shy kelp]

Oh well it gives a lot less problems than the CTC i3 wood or the i3 mega lmao
I should have got it sooner

[faint sky]

Anything mechanical wears over time. Once you calibrate your new 3D printer, even to the point of perfection, that is the best it will ever be and it's just a slow decline from there.

[sonic rapids]

I only had 3 problems printing my latest model, design phase, slicing and Print phase, otherwise it was fine!

(I need to clean up my 3D model a lot more, and I need to re-tension the X axis belt)

[fervent lagoon]

remix but i'm happy https://www.printables.com/model/904353-neokey-1x4-cover

[ashen moat]

experimenting with laser-printed waterslide decals. curious if they'll be durable when handled.

[ashen moat]

the decals lifted pretty easily with a gentle fingernail at the edges. seems like they really need a sealant. I'll try some nail polish and mod podge.

[steep umbra]

is that similar to a temporary tattoo? like the kind that you stick on with water?

[ashen moat]

yeah, but the film is slightly thicker and the adhesive isn't as good, or doesn't like PLA as much as temp tattoo stuff likes my skin. I have sheets for both decals and temp tattoos from the same company.

waterslide decals are often used for detail on hobby models, like plastic models of planes, starships, giant mecha, etc.

[shy kelp]

Some kind of chain, that I can print in one go, without multiple parts and supports?

[fervent lagoon]

https://www.printables.com/search/models?q=print in place chain

[shy kelp]

Thanks. Bad keywords...

[shy kelp]

Yay...

[fervent lagoon]

uh.... oops? 😿

[strange ledge]

Oh dear...

[faint sky]

Potential fire. Looks like you caught it early enough. Close call. Possible runaway? Did your thermistor automatically shut it off?

[shy kelp]

Nah the print I was doing failed and clogged everything up
Cause bambu doesn't allow print failure detection on the p1s

I cleaned the thing up, I lost the second silicone socket though

[ashen moat]

I wish PrusaSlicer let me do 2 ironing passes. it's a very fine balance to get speed and flow dialed in so that you cover the regular top pattern completely without also creating rough waves or blobs.

I get reasonable results in PLA with a 0.6mm nozzle at 15mm/s, 5% flow, 0.1 spacing, or completely in the other direction at 150mm/s, 50% flow, 0.2 spacing

but it's inconsistent and doesn't seem to work well in small areas. or maybe it needs higher flow on long strokes and lower flow on short strokes, not sure. in any case, seems like a second pass might take down any imperfections from the first.

[fervent lagoon]

ah - 5 hours into a 6 hour print and it de-laminated waaaaay back at the beginning 😆 😢

[gloomy anchor]

are the cheap-ish filaments on amazon worth getting?

[gloomy anchor]

happens to me a lot too

[iron remnant]

I feel like Amazon's cheap filament is basically the worst of all possible worlds.

[gloomy anchor]

they are pretty accessible and well rated on there, but maybe some of the reviews are fake

otherwise going to have to get it from an actual 3d printing supply store

[iron remnant]

Yeah, so fake reviews, fraudulent products, uncertain storage conditions...

[faint sky]

Depends on the brand. Sunlu is considered a cheap brand but it's widely promoted because they have incentive programs for youtubers. Best advice is to buy a spool, try it out, and if you like it that's all there is to it. Don't let anyone try to denegrate you for buying cheap filament. There are a ton of niche snobs out there who will try to look down on you if you don't buy filament that costs 2 or 3 times more. It's like Apple snobs who look down on anyone who doesn't own apple products, just ignore them. Whatever works for you and makes you happy to print with is perfectly fine.

I usually use Polymaker and Ender branded filaments. They're cheap and work fine for my uses which is typically very large industrial type of prints for enclosures. 3D printing is for rapid prototyping in my opinion. I go for function over form.

[gloomy anchor]

Yeah it probably makes sense to try it out yourself. I also heard ender ones were decent.

[iron remnant]

Yah, tis true. I'm less "you must spend gobs of money on expensive filament" and more "amazon is a .... thing"

[fervent lagoon]

mixed bag with the cheapies so far, but then so's the printer so ...

[ashen moat]

I've heard decent things about Overture PLA, but haven't used it myself. I like Sainsmart's TPU, no matter who's selling it. I tend to use stuff that's neither the cheapest nor most expensive.

I'm always on the hunt for great black/charcoal PLA for iterating on functional parts, usually saving cool colors for final prints.

one of these days I'll get around to trying carbon fiber impregnated PLA or PETG.

[shy kelp]

I get whatever it's cheaper. Jayo now has petg for 7/8€/1.1kg
I wish there was the same for pva, but I can't find any 😣
There's no difference except the logo on the box.

I don't buy anymore from amazon, it's a drop shipping shop like any other now. Warranties and "exclusive" shipping have gone down to the drain

[iron remnant]

Yah I tend to use a lot of either black or white relatively-cheap PETG for stuff, generally hunting it down from non-Amazon shops even if I pay a bit more.

Carbon fiber PETG is amazing stuff, that's something where it does tend to be better to get name-brand, allegedly, where even Atomic Filaments (who is generally one of the higher-end fancier brands) PETG does not at all compare to the stuff that 3DX Tech (who makes engineering-grade stuff and charges as such).

I was transferring all of my spool data from OctoPrint to Spoolman (because the new Voron uses Klipper) and I realized that the fancy colors generally last forever for me?

But, yah, if you want a real fun material, PET-GF is neat, although I'm not happy with the blue in the spool I got. :/

(It will destroy your printer bits over time, tho)

[placid grail]

125$ down the drain on solidworks cloud, could never find a tutorial for it only for normal solidworks which doesnt apply here 😦

sub about to expire I guess Ill use kicad/sketchup/etc

[fervent lagoon]

ow

[fervent lagoon]

was checking relative prices -- the sunlu stuff is 3x what i paid for this junk 😀

[iron remnant]

Oh yeah and if you want to mess with engineering-grade filaments, 3dxtech has their half-yearly sale going on?

[fervent lagoon]

i would need to upgrade my printer by about 2 orders of magnitude first 😏

[iron remnant]

Yah, I doubt their high-end PLA is that much better than anybody else's PLA.

[placid grail]

isnt pla pla at the end of the day ? Like same molecule ?

Dont understand what high-end they could offer except aybe better drying but that doesnt atter once the constumer opens it, at this point the spool material and their environent is what atters, right ?

[iron remnant]

Kiinnnda?

So, apparently the commercial-scale extruders always run the filament through a water bath so everything needs to be dried.

Potentially it has tighter controls on color, dimensional accuracy, et al.

But also nothing is 100% PLA or ABS or ASA or PETG or TPU, there are always additives.

So potentially there's "better" PLA additive sets?

[shy kelp]

Negligible differences, all marketing imo, pets are also cooled down by being sprayed onto water
You don't really know what you buy anyway

[vivid helm]

Additives can make a huge difference, and the cheaper "PLA" filaments may not have as much PLA. The PLA+/Super PLA/whatever is marketing.

[shy kelp]

If one is rough the other flex as with tpu vs petg, I can consider them being different
Not requiring a little more/less temp, or undefined better/worse strength

[iron remnant]

Yah, on the Voron discord there's a lot of back and forth about ABS and which exact brands are, at the very moment, good to use.

Often times the "easier to print" ABS spools end up being "less ABS" and therefore not holding up for a Voron.

[shy kelp]

Or rather that's on my use case. If anyone can give me free spools maybe I can change my opinions 😂

[vocal flax]

I generally found brands drop shippers sell and order from them directly or from official distributor

[faint pier]

There was a month of fire sales on Amazon "rando brand" PLA filaments.... I think it was like $7/kg, so I nabbed quite a few. They're alright, if you don't have any particular needs out of your filament I think anything can work (provided you dry them and they aren't too full of contaminants like "silk", "matte" or the like)

For more specialty items like PETG-CF or ABS-GF you are more limited in choice to the more well known filament manufacturers in any case

[iron remnant]

Yah, like, the bulk of folks print benchies, cute figurines, organizers, cosplay props, et al and for the most part as long as it prints, it's OK. Where silk PLA mostly proves my point because lotsa folks print things in silk PLA and silk PLA is absolutely notably weaker than regular PLA and it doesn't matter.

Some of us are printers goerg who need the right ABS for our Voron and stuff.

Prooooobably 3DX Tech's PLA is not going to be worldchanging for anyone used to mid-tier PLA and maybe not even rando brand PLA.

It's like metal casting with the latest space-age pot metal.

[placid grail]

personally I swear by the elegoo ones for cheap/quality compromise they still dont care after like a year of not using it that they arent dry etc

but im a casual user cant claim it would meet everyone need here...

only problem with no solidworks cloud sub is that I dont have a software to convert stl files anymore in a correct way

[fervent lagoon]

yeah, i've currently got a couple of those really cheap "multicolor" packs, which is producing about what you'd expect -- but since they are meant for beginners and that's where i'm at, i'm at least not surprised at all about what i'm getting

and i do love that octoprint now gives you a "badge" for your first cancelled print 😏

[ashen moat]

I guess I'm past the point where I want to spend a shedload of time solving problems introduced by using the cheapest PLA, like spools that arrive with tangles, where the filament has cracked apart in a dozen places and can't be trusted to feed, where it's coiled so tightly that it snaps if you leave it fed into the printer overnight, where dimensional (in)accuracy makes a mess of your layers, and where they've diluted/adulterated the PLA so first layers don't stick or it delaminates mid-print.

and while cost isn't a 1:1 predictor of quality, buying mid-price filament has felt like buying fewer lottery tickets for a pie in the face.

[faint pier]

Fusion360 personal? I mean it's another cloud based service but it's a pretty complete CAD package for free tier, and popular and easy conversion to STL. But if you mean convert stl INTO stp, yeah there's too much geometry present in the free version, you'd need a subscription for parametric conversion.

[ashen moat]

some PLA alloys (tough PLA, pro PLA, PLA+, high-flow PLA) can be an improvement in output quality, speed, or other printability, but you kind of have to try each one til you find one you like. it's a real mixed bag.

[shy kelp]

Altair inspire personal should be "free"
Never tried though

[placid grail]

what is the point of having rolls of several colors if your printer can only do one color at once ? Can you like pause it and resume with another color ? Can you tell the slicer to wait for a color change / do separate parts and screw them together ?

and cna you somehow trick it having some switching converter that switch between colors during a print run ?

[faint pier]

Prusaslicer and Orcaslicer allows you to pause at a layer for a color change, yes

There are automatic filament changers or ways to print multi-filaments at a time. Bambulabs AMS, open source Enraged Rabbit Carrot Feeder (ERCF), toolchangers, IDEX.

[placid grail]

I have a neptune 3 pro, there is a pause button on the printer and supposedly I can overwrite the software to accept g-codes for it

but I dont how if those are relarible

I messed up and accidently ordered 4 rolls of filament of different colors, I was supposed to choose between the not get all four 😦 😢

[faint pier]

You can modify the print macro in your slicer to accommodate your printer's pause button, yes. For Cura I'm sure there's a way to modify a script

[faint sky]

For Cura:
Open the “Extensions” menu.
Select “Post Processing”, then click on “Modify G-Code”.
In the new window, click on “Add a script”.
Select “Pause at height” from the various options in the menu.

Pausing at a specific height will keep your bed heater active indefinitely ensuring your bed doesn't cool down and part won't detach.

I've paused at a height and forgot about changing the filament. Came back to in the morning when I woke up and the bed was still heating after like 8 hours. Changed the filament and it picked up just fine. 😉

Use the slicer preview in Cura to drill down to the exact layer height you want to change at.

Then program the layer height you want the pause to happen in the g-code, then export your sliced file and you're good.

[ashen moat]

you may also want different colors or types of filaments for printing different objects at different times. white for a holiday decoration, blue for a bracket that matches your wall, dichromatic metallic because life is short and why not make that lamp switch look different colors when it's on and off

there are lots of discussion threads like "how do I stop buying filament" because the next project would look good or print better in a filament you don't have yet. 4 is a good start!

as for multicolor parts, all the color swapping advice is great. you can also snip the filament while it's printing and chase the end into the extruder with a different piece at the right time if the flow rates are similar and you don't mind the transition potentially being visible in the finished part

and like you suggested, PrusaSlicer at least can cut a model into parts and add holes/pins or a dovetail joint to join them together after you print 'em in different colors

[shy kelp]

huh so different colored petgs dont stick together

the stuff out of the 3d pen cools too fast, so I used a lighter to melt parts together, but the joint does not hold

[ashen moat]

but the lighter trick works to weld bits of the same PETG together? weird.

[arctic dragon]

PETG isn't really like PLA in the sense that hot material can cohere well to cooler, previously solidified material. That's why PETG uses so little part cooling fan compared to PLA.

I don't remember exactly the physical principles were behind this, but it's quite interesting how different thermoplastics can behave so differently.

[placid grail]

PETG isn't even safe for PETs 😦 😢

[shy kelp]

if melted enough petg does somewhat sticks, yet with a different colored one does not stick AT ALL

[shy kelp]

what do you mean?

[arctic dragon]

Think he was making a joke.

[placid grail]

The G in PETG stands for glycol which is poisonous to cats

[arctic dragon]

not pet-safe.

[placid grail]

despite them being a cat, ie: a pet and pet is in the word petg

[ashen moat]

yeah, I've occasionally had delamination problems printing PETG with too much cooling before

[shy kelp]

ah I've always been bad with jokes 😕

[tidal stone]

Has anyone had any luck talking to Bambu printers via the python bambu-printer-manager?

[tidal stone]

I got it working. It works pretty well, actually.

[velvet radish]

I know it's not necessarily help but this must be one of those "hidden" achievements 🫠

[ashen moat]

what printing software/firmware has achievements!? 🤣

[velvet radish]

octoprint got it somewhat recently

[faint sky]

printables has some but that's a website. i probably wouldn't have uploaded half of my designs there if i wasn't achievement hunting to be honest. achievements do encourage more participation.

i would love for Adafruit's site to have some kind of badges or achievements too. it could encourage submitting things to the blog, newsletter, playground, etc..

[faint pier]

I originally started uploading to Printables because the UI is much nicer to use than Thingiverse. Ended up amassing enough points for a hoodie (even though I don't have a Prusa printer lol) and getting close to enough for filament again.

The most fun achievement are the event badges for going to Prusa booths at Reprap fests and the like.

[fervent lagoon]

dang -- i can't post any "makes" since i don't have one of the listed printers (and i don't feel like "cheating" just right now 😏 )

[vivid helm]

I have in the past, but until they support OHL v2 I probably won't be uploading there anymore.

[faint sky]

The listed printers don't really matter. They have no bearing on anything other than Prusa's own metrics for what kind of printers people are using. Just pick something close enough and you're fine.

[fervent lagoon]

oh, i had a hunch that was the case 🙄

[ashen moat]

I hadn't seen https://filamentcolors.xyz before. in addition to consistently-photographed print samples, each sample's page also lists similar Pantone shades and suggests other filaments in related color schemes (complementary, triadic, tetradic, etc.).

[vestal thicket]

that's really neat, I hadn't seen that either

[faint sky]

That sounds handy. Nice.

[balmy pulsar]

my "3d printing" for today.

(O-1 steel)

[ashen moat]

ooh, a phone case for spies to smuggle a blade past security, nice

[balmy pulsar]

hehe

[fervent lagoon]

i have to ask -- isn't metal stock rather expensive?

[balmy pulsar]

0-1 is "relatively" cheap for a high end tool steel. about $100 at mcmaster for 3 ft of that. (4" shown). sooo, $12 for that piece.

[fervent lagoon]

til

[iron remnant]

You could call it a steel of a deal.

[faint sky]

Is that a blade hidden in a Nintendo controller? Nintenife?

[ashen moat]

these days that's called a Switchblade

[knotty viper]

I want to 3D print an enclosure for my robot, and I want to mount range sensors on the front. The breakout boards have mounting holes for M2 screws, so I thought I'd just design my print with standoffs and tap threads into them but they're super fragile and easy to shear off. I also want to mount reflectance sensors to the bottom of the enclosure in the corners, and a perfboard to the center to solder the rest of the electronics onto (mainly because one board doesn't have mounting holes). What other approaches can I take for this that's more widely used or reliable?

The picture has my current design. The front is printed separately and facing down so the standoffs aren't all overhangs.

[faint pier]

Increase the area/thickness of the standoffs, use extra perimeters (3 to 4) in your slicer, and use a fillet for smooth transition between the floor and standoffs if able

you can screw M2 directly into them. Alternatively, revise your design to use M2 heatserts.

[knotty viper]

Thanks, I'll try this. If it still doesn't work then I'll look into heatserts.

[balmy pulsar]

hahahaha. theres a product idea in there somewhere. just not sure what it is.

maybe a pi zero "blade" server

[arctic dragon]

For screws entering perpendicular to the buildplate oriented plane, direct screwing in should be strong enough for general use. Anything splitting layers is a bit more fragile, so captive nuts or heatset inserts are a good idea.

[ashen moat]

fillets or even turning the standoffs from cylinders into cones with a much wider base will keep them from shearing off

the cones can be offset away from other holes/cutouts, too.

[faint sky]

The reuse of screws with standoffs is not infinite either, eventually they will strip. It's better to use a standoff with a heat set insert if possible.

Heat inserts are hollow so the length of the screw doesn't matter as long as it can go through the threads. You can use really long hollow standoffs with a heat insert at the top.

[vocal flax]

Add chamfers to the posts. Standard M2 screw would strip out so quick, id suggest self threading screws. Like most plastic applications use

[faint sky]

Even with a solid standoff any screw is self threading if you heat it up with a soldering iron... which I've done to hold down a PCB that will likely never need to be unscrewed. For something that you might take apart multiple times it's really best to use a heat insert to guarantee threads to bite into.

If you have the room definitely chamfer the bottom and make the standoff as thick as possible for structural rigidity.

[iron remnant]

Yah I've gone through a lot of different versions of this problem.

Self-threading M2 screws are actually pretty nice.

The other alternative is to put a "nut trap" on the other side to fit a hex screw in for a standoff to thread into, which lets you avoid some of the annoyances of a heat-set insert.

You can also make a snap fixture to bypass screws altogether or make it such that it slides into a slot.

[faint sky]

I don't trust snap fit enclosures to work forever. Plastic gets brittle over time so if you have to take it apart years from now good chance you might break it. Depends on the use.

[arctic dragon]

Captive nuts can be a pain to integrate into prints at the start, but once it’s in it feels so much more stable haha

[vocal flax]

Nut trap is pretty nice and compared to heatset inserts

It's much easier but limits you to use longer screws

[arctic dragon]

Yeah, not all projects necessarily have space for them.

I’ve also been able to screw metal M-F standoffs into prints so I can screw into and unscrew out of those without repeatedly stressing the plastic, but that also requires a bit of extra space.

[vocal flax]

It's much easier to do once you know your fit. Just putting into slot is easier than heating and finesse hot object.

[knotty viper]

Oooh this idea sounds good. The mounts for my motors already use nut traps so I didn't have to worry about threading my print for them. I don't want the screws sticking out the front of the bot though so I think I'd just have to experiment with the length of the standoff and screw and maybe sinking the trap in from the front (if that makes sense)

[vocal flax]

I generally sandwich my nuts. Like only 1 side open and 1 to 2 mm shell thickness and putting .1 bigger dimensions than nut gives nice fit. Countersinked bolts work nice as accent piece.
Good luck.

[knotty viper]

Oh another thing I was wondering about, though this is more about the CAD part than the printing part, but is there a neat way to essentially rotate a sketch slightly and translate it (in Fusion)? In the picture I sent, you can see that the side windows and standoffs on the front are at an angle cause I don't want all the sensors facing the same direction.

I ended up having to create new construction planes then redraw the windows and standoffs in new sketches not attached to each other. Is this about the only way to do that?

[vocal flax]

You can project and not link it

[shy kelp]

is there somewhere any kind of joint library?

[ashen moat]

like wood joinery (e.g. dovetail joints), or motion joints (hinges, ball joints), or what's an example?

[fervent lagoon]

i've got a specific knee injury?

[shy kelp]

Both

or even snap fits, anything, maybe I am not using the correct keywords, but by googling I can't find any libs or the kind

[ashen moat]

I know I've seen online libraries of joinery techniques and motion assemblies, but it would take a mountain of effort to find them again in a sea of "15 kinds of joints" listicles.

here's a book from 1930. "Woodwork Joints: How They Are Set Out, How Made and Where Used":

https://archive.org/details/woodwork-joints-how-they-are-set-out-how-william-fairham

also not sure if you meant library like a collection of techniques/examples or like a software library. I'm definitely useless on the latter.

[shy kelp]

I meant a collection of 3d objects which I can just paste within the cad software, within having me to remodel each time stuff by hand and taking in account of tolerances

[fervent lagoon]

i doubt you'd get any kind of meaningful "tolerances" since that would also involve whatever material is being utilized and how much force is applied in which direction

[faint sky]

Noe referenced a mechanical linkage website since he was doing new types of enclosures. Can ask him or Pedro on their Wednesday 3D Hangout in #live-broadcast-chat if you want. There were all sorts of neat things like rack & pinion. I think it was the day he did something with rack and pinion.

[fervent lagoon]

or i could be really wrong 😏

[faint sky]

Yeah for 3D printing you have calibrate your tolerances and they're usually specific to you and your printer. Then any model you work with you account for your tolerance offset. Until you print a couple things with really tight tolerances it'll probably take a couple of iterations to dial in what your offset needs to be. I think Noe and Pedro's tolerances are less than 1mm which is amazing. Most people have tolerances of around 2mm. Plus you have to account for thermal shrinkage or expansion so even on your own printer sometimes there can be variance.

Especially if you're working with PETG. That stuff can warp on you in some really odd ways.

[vivid helm]

So can PLA, or pretty much any other filament.

But yeah PETG tends to be sort of on the "sticky" side. It'll build up on your nozzle if the part warps too much.

[faint sky]

True, I've yet to try TPU. I imagine that stuff can take on a life of its own if it's squishy. I wouldn't fear a TPU clog like I would a PETG clog.

I'm outside of good 3D printing weather now. It's 90F and 90% humidity. :/

[vivid helm]

TPU is a lot tougher to print.

[iron remnant]

BOSL2 has some neat joints if you are willing to do the OpenSCAD world.

I'm currently printing interlocking panels for my Voron Zero that need to be 210.5mm wide on a printbed that's 120mm x 120mm

I think you missed a decimal point, @faint sky - 0.2mm not 2mm. 2mm would be a catastrophy.

[shy kelp]

Bah, I guess I should do my own libraries with grasshopper, as I find nothing, I wish I did not waste that much time on videogames/socials ha

[iron remnant]

I mean, I spent a year of my career on 3D printing specific CAD/CAE tooling and left frustrated because it felt like there was some awesome stuff there that nobody dared explore.

[faint sky]

oops, yes that.

can tell i haven't printed anything in months 😅

[faint sky]

Even diagonally that won't work. Split it up?

[iron remnant]

Yeah, there's a BOSL2 joiner so it's printed in 2 pieces.

The chamber temperature inside of my Zero is a balmy 154F.

But ... humidity not nearly that high

[balmy pulsar]

alright, guess what the black thing at the front is. 😛

[fervent lagoon]

75 F @ 50% indoors (outside it's almost dripping)

[faint sky]

https://tenor.com/view/hot-af-day-melting-im-gif-26253517

[balmy pulsar]

AC is a human right

😛

[ashen moat]

BOSL2 is an incredible library for OpenSCAD. I use it in 100% of my modelling now. it's vast, tho; I haven't encountered its joint stuff yet. I make a lot of attachables, do a lot of relative positioning, and really appreciate the rounding/chamfering options that can be selectively applied to particular edges of primitives.

built-in support for threads is pretty great, though it takes a fair amount of fiddling with options to make good mating threads IME.

[iron remnant]

Yeah, that's an area that's not so easy. You have to thread carefully.

[vocal flax]

Today I learned that pla sticks better to glass than pei

[ashen moat]

PrusaSlicer 2.8 remade the menu UI for no discernable reason and it's worse. hid the usual File/Edit menus under a button, made the buttons flat and borderless, broke the search box half the time, tabs don't tab between settings boxes...

[ashen moat]

I've been slowly gathering the parts for a set of cool HULA lateral motion-damping feet for my printer. most tests show internal machine stiffness improves prints, and hard or soft coupling to the outside world doesn't matter. I'm interested in transmitting less vibration to the table. there are adapters for a number of printers, I'm basing mine on the Prusa mounts:

https://www.printables.com/model/873633-hula-for-prusa-mk34-prusa-bear

since my delta's not all that stiff, I'm thinking maybe it acts more like the skyscrapers this design is based on, and it might help more than for stiffer cartesian printers. resonance testing will be interesting.

[vocal flax]

Concrete + dense foam by far the best solution for isolating printer. It's heavy and stuff but once setup you don't really move the printer anyway. And it doesn't get that dusty either

[ashen moat]

that's a good idea, too. harder to move, but I've seen people happy with that setup.

this sorta goes in the opposite direction, damping motion/vibration with flexible pieces instead of increased mass.

[balmy pulsar]

well that worked

[balmy pulsar]

https://youtu.be/VmcPH-qllRc

[vocal flax]

I think Tom had tested that, and as far as I remember unless the dampener is consumable they aren't very useful.

By consumable I mean printed part

[ashen moat]

was that the one where he tested hanging the printer suspended in the middle of the room? I've watched a couple of those videos, but I think they were all testing cartesian printers.

the HULA feet do use a printed TPU damper.

[vocal flax]

The core principle is simple

If you don't convert velocity (vibrations) to a different energy, you only change the resonant frequency. Which is useful if you manage to decrease it significantly.

[ashen moat]

yeah, or if it makes those resonant frequencies easier to address with input shaping functions. I'm interested to see how they affect frame deformation, resonance, and vibration transmission into or out of the frame.

also I've long needed better feet to raise the printer's base so all the steppers aren't just resting on the table, and these seem cool. 😁

[balmy pulsar]

todays "subtractive printing" 😛 https://youtu.be/aes9XKC-DCY

[fervent lagoon]

hubba-hubba!

[fervent lagoon]

so i tried my first "vase" print - went swell until the bottom fell out literally 🤣

[faint sky]

oopsie

[iron remnant]

vase mode is the best.

Actually printing the first vase mode print on the new printer.

[fervent lagoon]

yeah, everyone was fascinated (2 humans, 2 cats) watching it for a bit -- 2nd attempt after i found the bottom setting was nifty

(it was kind of like a weird tennis match, with everyone's heads/eyes following the print head)

[iron remnant]

Well I'm glad to hear you got to the bottom of it.

[fervent lagoon]

turns out it wasn't the top of my problems

[clever prism]

hello, I tried to manipulate the QT Py Snap Fit Case (btw, best case design out there!!! So functional) available on https://learn.adafruit.com/qt-py-snap-fit-case/3d-printing for the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 but the little board just doesn't easily snap in, as I suspect it should. I've moved the mcu holders out a bit and still don't have the board easily insert within the holds, I have to do a lot of twisting and bending of the plastic to eventually get the board in. Despite all the effort (3D and physical) the board now feels loose and moves around within the holds, it's not sturdy. It's odd, I didn't think any adjustments would be necessary whatsoever as the qt py and the xiao dimensions published are effectively the same. Any thoughts, guidance, ideas????

[ashen moat]

if it started out too tight, printing it in a more flexible material would help. TPU is great for snap-fit applications. if you want to stick to PLA, there are various "tough PLA" or "impact-resistant PLA" materials with additives that make them less brittle and easier to flex.

[ashen moat]

otherwise, maybe try measuring the PCB holders in your slicer or your CAD package and see if they match the printed dimensions measured with calipers? maybe your printer isn't dimensionally-accurate enough, and you got a part that isn't the size you expected? sometimes there are slicer settings to help with that, like Cura's "slicing tolerance" setting, which controls whether it tries to draw a line of filament overlapping the object's exterior profile (e.g. to be sanded down to fit) or completely inside the exterior profile (e.g. to be filled to fit):
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/pzbld6/slicer_approximation/

[clever prism]

thank you, these are some good bits of advice, all around! May try with TPU? I'm using a ultimaker s3, not sure what settings it provides (+Cura) but the default settings likely are already set to "middle"
I compared the form factor of the QT Py and the XIAO and just didn't see a difference enough that would make the pcb holder much more difficult

[ashen moat]

this is why I love OpenSCAD parametric models; designers can publish the source model with clearances as variables and let people easily tune them to work with their printers. snap-fit relies on either material flex or accuracy down to fractions of a millimeter, and more often than not, a published model is tuned to the author's printer's accuracy.

I hold the belief that it's a coin flip (at best) that any two people's printers are calibrated to the same level of dimensional accuracy and skew/deformation down to the precision needed for a snap fit in a rigid design with a rigid material.

[ashen moat]

I don't know the name for it, but picking the slicing tolerance that keeps extrusion completely inside the object profile would have the effect of sliiiiightly eroding snap-fit contact areas, which could help if it's tight. you may also be overextruding a smidge if you're not in the habit of calibrating the flow rate for each spool of filament you use.

when it's appropriate, I love TPU because just a little bit of flex solves so many clearance problems, and you can tune it to be squishy or stiff by adjusting perimeters and infill.

[clever prism]

I think TPU would have to be the way to go here, I don't have nearly as much tuning competency as you've demonstrated

[clever prism]

any idea what the settings would look like for printing this in TPU ?

[shy kelp]

So far I am struggling with tpu. the filament keeps getting cutted somehow...

[clever prism]

also, I wish the instructional video could show the start to finish on making that case, but also adding cutouts for PIR sensor or parametrizing holes for various sensors that may need to be mounted and unobstructed, and/or features such as impressions for reset button (similar to https://www.printables.com/model/522586-seeed-xiao-ble-case)

TPU is getting cut somehow? Why / how ?

[ashen moat]

looks like your manufacturer has some advice here that looks sound. I don't think you'll need a brim, but glue stick may help the print release if you're printing on glass or PEI.

https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667337612195

it looks like the S3 has a bowden extruder, which is trickier for flexible filaments since you're trying to push rope down a hose. I've had the best luck slowing way down and setting all my speeds equal. maybe start with all speeds at 10mm/s and work up to 20 or maybe 30.

it's prone to stringing, so you want to set the slicer to avoid crossing perimeters and print one part at a time, and it needs a little cooling but maybe half what PLA needs; too much and layers won't stick well. you probably want layers at least 0.2mm thick.

[ashen moat]

the first case you linked seems to have screw slots in the top and bottom to give you a lot of flexibility to mount other boards.

[clever prism]

actually, this was a friend's printer. Someone experienced. I'm waiting on a Bambu labs P1S

[clever prism]

how did you catch that, specification ?

[clever prism]

I've gotten a good bit of spaghetti on this print on one side of the case 🙂

[clever prism]

the opportunity is not the mounting but the hole cutout... I know it's lame given the vents but for the activity of "parametrization" and building the ultimate case 😉

[clever prism]

the basis of this question is the guidance on https://learn.adafruit.com/qt-py-snap-fit-case/3d-printing under slicing parts header

[ashen moat]

I searched for the S3 with "bowden" and found instructions for replacing the bowden tube that show the extruder mounted on one of the exterior panels. I was checking to gauge how hard TPU would be for that machine. direct drive extruders are less fiddly with TPU.

when you get the Bambu, I'd expect they have a TPU printing profile that'll be pretty close out of the box.

I think Bambu machines are pretty accurate, too, so maybe worth trying the print in PLA or PETG again to see if it fits any better.

[faint sky]

I've heard it is possible to do TPU with bowden but it can be a serious pain if something goes wrong while inside the tube.

direct drive has better success with TPU sure but if you want to experiment with any filament go for it. part of being a 3D printer owner is figuring out the limitations of your printer and sometimes you just have to figure things out the hard way. sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't.

[gloomy anchor]

why is prusa so expensive in australia

[shy kelp]

I've got some pretty cheap tpu, the spool is tangled. I later discovered that's a 95A, it's yes flexible but not that much, I don't see that much of a difference over pla/petg

likely I will require for a return, just after printing a test with petg to compare the twos

indeed it's just somewhat more elastic, hard tpu gets (slowly) back in shape, whereas petg does not

[ashen moat]

I like Sainsmart for TPU, and they sell mini-spools in a bunch of colors.

also, I'm a battle-worn, card-carrying member of the bowden TPU club. slowing down, keeping all speeds the same, and disabling retraction all help build and keep constant pressure in the nozzle to avoid kinks and clogs. as long as your extruder doesn't have a filament path gap between the drive gear exit and the tube entrance where soft filament can push out sideways, it works well.

[ashen moat]

sorry your spool's tangled. to see more difference, try printing something with one or two perimeters and no infill. even 95A is pretty squishy with a single wall. you can strategically design thin sections where you want a lot of flex in your part and thicker areas where you don't.

I recently printed some TPU magnets that were fairly stiff overall, but had very thin flaps covering a hole on the back so I could flex to insert and capture an 8mm magnet after printing.

I designed some great TPU snap-fit bases for gaming miniatures with poor manufacturing tolerances after countless attempts with PLA that never worked well.

basically anything that needs to hold onto something else and soak up inconsistent clearances without fasteners or glue, TPU's your friend. it's also super durable; shrugs off blades and punctures, rarely separates at layers when printed well. not great for everything on all printers, and you'll want sharp flush cutters for cleanup, but it's really versatile and really shines for some functional part designs.

thank you for coming to my talk. 😝

[shy kelp]

I was looking more for a no toxic cheap silicone like material.... my fault that I did not ask the seller as in the ad it was not written the softness

[ashen moat]

I think there are softer hardnesses of TPU, but there's also squishy stuff like ninjaflex. stuff that squishy gets real tricky to push down a bowden tube. I have a sample I've never dared to try

there's also a material that's supposed to start stiff like PLA and then it softens when you soak it in water, becoming flexible. no idea how well it works.

[gloomy anchor]

anyone got the K1C by creality?

I heard it was quite reliable and fast

not sure compared to bambulab though

[shy kelp]

any free software that can do topology optimization for streinght, material, flexibility or other domain easily? there's altair but meh, fusion is paid. Grasshopper is painfull, even worse is that there's pretty much no written docs.

[iron remnant]

I would love to play with one but I have not found anything.

[shy kelp]

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/184l2id/is_there_an_endtoend_open_source_way_to_perform/
https://www.topology-opt.com/software-list/
it seems that the cool easy stuff is paid, and really expensive, the free stuff tends to be painfull
answering my own question, but maybe there's anything else huh

[iron remnant]

So I guess my complaint is that none of the tools sound so brilliant that for real world projects you don't end up re-drafting the geometry.

And most everybody is using mostly the same algorithm.

And probably there is other stuff waiting to be discovered.

[torpid grove]

You could try Anton for blender. I've played around with a lot of generative design stuff (from free to the very pricey ones) and in my opinion it still feels like a solution in search of a problem. I don't doubt that it has some uses just not many right now. If you're wanting to design some semi flexible parts you could look into what can be accomplished with thin walls and compliant mechanisms

[placid anvil]

could anyone help me determine the brand of filament used here? i love the finish and colors on these

[shy kelp]

a while ago an user posted this usefull link: https://filamentcolors.xyz/
ps you can also use the colour picker of powertoys to compare the colours, albeit due to lighting it will be a little different

[placid anvil]

thanks, i tried using that website but couldnt find the middle colors red

[vivid helm]

Keep in mind that "red" according to the camera, the display of whoever uploaded it, and your display are three different colors. The only reason filamentcolors.xyz works is because they use a reproducible setup with consistent lighting to photograph all of their samples. This allows you to compare colors side by side on the site, but not against colors from a random image. "Real life" colors are not RGB (and there are, in fact, multiple RGB colorspaces). That's why matching systems like Pantone exist in the (2d) printing industry.

[ashen moat]

I don't think it's possible to identify filament brands from a photo, unless the color is very unique. those colors are likely available from a variety of brands, and they're not metallic, matte, high-gloss... pretty run-of-the-mill looking.

[vivid helm]

^ and that

[ashen moat]

if you have a Micro Center near you, they may have a nice wall of filaments you could look at in person to find a set that looks nice to your eye.

[half dew]

A lot of the filament manufacturers let you order swatches. I have one of the bambu ones and its great for picking out/matching colors.

[gloomy anchor]

many filament brands can give the same colors

overture is a good one

and PLA PRO is also very good for toughness if you want it to last

[weary lichen]

I picked up overture because they were a decent price and do cardboard spools. Haven't looked back, the quality is really good.

[rustic pine]

has anybody made a case yet for memento with the light backpack?

they sure did: https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/128/674/original/Full_Case_STLs.zip?1710341924

[shy kelp]

I am not sure anymore. It seems like the extruder has no force to push the filament out of the spool. If I move the spool by hand then it starts extruding back. It doesn't look tangled.. It only happens with tpu 95A...

[faint sky]

That's a long distance for TPU to feed. It stretches and contracts making retractions more difficult. Are you using a TPU profile?

[shy kelp]

indeed, but I don't follow you, it's a direct drive and it's tpu 95A so not that soft.... yet it has issues to get filament out of the spool by itself, I have no idea how to fix this, without like extra hardware that spin the pool or the filment out

if the filament is out of the spool there are no issues whatsover on printing

unless you mean that it stretches between the spool and the extruder... in that regard I don't know how to fix it

[ashen moat]

does the TPU feel difficult to pull from the spool? seems like the extruder should definitely be able to pull it. after a print, is the extruder motor hot or cool?

[shy kelp]

not at all, by hand is easy peasy. At first I though it may be tabngled, but it does not look like it...

I tried to change location of the spool and use a more rounded holder as in the video, but it did not help

[ashen moat]

what quantity spool is that?

[shy kelp]

it should be 1.1kg, I bought 5 spools, 2/5 have the same problem, the others are untested sealed

fyi: petg same weight, does not give this issue

[faint pier]

This would require you checking for restriction or worn bowden tube

[ashen moat]

is there a way you can make the reverse bowden tube point at the spool? entering at a right angle is easier for stiff filament because it'll enforce a minimum bend radius, but TPU won't. you could also try lubricating the core of the spool where it rides on the holder, probably with dry graphite. a holder with roller bearings could help.

[faint pier]

unsure what your print settings are but if correct extruder temp, are you seeing better results at lower print speeds? I usually have to pull print speed/volumetric flow rate way down for TPU even if it's 95A, because the extruder doesn't really work well with it at high speeds. It's like trying to push a wet noodle through.

[ashen moat]

you may also be able to increase the extruder gear tension, if that's adjustable.

I didn't hear the motor skipping, so I'm guessing the drive gears are slipping over the filament.

[shy kelp]

when putting the filament I don't feel restrictions. with different speeds and temperature, the issue does perisist. about the tension it is adjustable but I have not tried that yet

[ashen moat]

it also looks like you're printing pretty fast for TPU, maybe 50-60mm/s? try slowing down to 20mm/s or even 15mm/s for a test print to see if that works. then slowly try higher speeds until it fails. try gear tension first, tho.

and by the time you finish all that testing, the 1.1kg spool will be down to 750g and it'll feed fine! 😁

pencil lead may be an easy source of graphite if you want to get dirty with dry lube on the spool holder, too.

[faint sky]

oh my mistake i thought that was a bowden setup. yeah the way the spool is sitting parallel to the bed might cause twisting. i'm not a fan of that kind of filament routing. maybe i'm just biased because my spool sits on top of my gantry and has a very short travel.

yes stretching between the spool and extruder can cause all sorts of issues with TPU. it seems that your issue is specifically twisting since it prints fine when off the spool. giving it a free cut end allows the filament to twist before getting to the extruder.

this could mean one of two things. 1. your extruder is twisting the filament as it's feeding into the hot end. this is actually quite common but usually goes unnoticed unless printing with multi-color silk filaments, it's not a problem for normal filaments. 2. your spool has many twists in it when it was wound. avoiding twists is kind of an impossible problem to solve if you need to print a large object with TPU, or at least I don't know the answer to that one.

[ashen moat]

in my setup, my filament's in a dry box with roller bearings on the table next to the printer, then goes up to the extruder toward the top (maybe 2.5' or 750mm), thru a binder clip that turns 90 degrees or so to a short tube above the extruder, then down about 500mm of bowden tube to the extruder hot end. I don't know how twists manifest, but I've been able to print large-ish stuff at 20 or even 30mm/s without jams or underextrusion.

I went to lengths to tune/upgrade my extruder and bowden tube for my setup, but direct drive should be much easier.

[shy kelp]

Nope, I can't highten the tension any futher. If the filament is out at ~350mm it prints without issues... I tried also to slow it down to 50 and less, but I did not had Any luck

[ashen moat]

oh dear, this is apparently a known issue with the K1. the wiki suggests not using the teflon tube at all.

Due to the large feeding resistance of Teflon tubes in K series machines, printing TPU from the machine’s built-in filament rack will cause empty printing and insufficient extrusion.
https://wiki.creality.com/en/k1-flagship-series/k1-series-general-documents/how-to-print-tpu-for-k1c-k1max

[shy kelp]

I'll try later then thanks

[shy kelp]

For now it seems to be printing fine... Thanks

[ashen moat]

congrats! it's awesome if it prints reliably at that speed, but don't hesitate to slow down if you start struggling with jams or underextrusion, now that the feed issues are solved.

[ashen moat]

thinking of upgrading my printer's PSU from 12V to 24V, trying to figure out if I'll ever really want to add a heated bed. I'd have to redesign my (printed) bed supports to withstand bed heat and think about temps for the under-bed force-sensing resistor probe system (+85C max) or upgrade it to a probe system that actually works, heh

based on the current 12V setup, I figure:

• 1.5A * 4 steppers = 72W
• 40W hot end heater
• 10W control board
• up to 60W fans (assuming brushless centrifugal fan @ ~3-5A)
  = 182W

then looks like +220W if I were to add a heated bed someday. looking mostly at MEAN WELL, they have lots of compact (fully-sealed) 200W PSUs, fewer and more expensive 400W

[faint pier]

You can try to find an Ender 3 Power Supply... AFAIK they use Meanwell 350W PSUs

[ashen moat]

yeah, I've seen those; that style seems really common, actively-cooled with the screw terminals on the outside. it's me being particular, but I'd like to use one that's passively-cooled and fully-enclosed, kind of like a laptop charger (the style I currently use). the GST220A24 and the HEP-240-24 fit the bill. for about twice the price, the HEP is available in a 480W, too.

maybe the price answers my question. maybe a heated bed will wait until the next printer.

[faint pier]

oh, if you want an external one, you can probably find a 200W+ laptop charger. They're 19-20ish volts, which should be OK

for example the Rook Mk1 project uses a laptop charger to keep costs low, even though technically the components are all rated for 24V

[ashen moat]

interesting. I expect to use a fan voltage adapter to keep my 12V heat break cooling fan, wonder if that would still work

[gloomy anchor]

can never win once with 3d printing without losing 10 times

[fervent lagoon]

ow

[shy kelp]

It's barely soft... It's like petg, but more flexible and stickier...
I'd wish that fancier stuff like VARIOSHORE TPU was actually cheap...

[ashen moat]

the printed part? yeah, you can make it more flexible by reducing infill and perimeters, or stiffer by increasing them.

I think you were working on a snap-fit case and had a hard time getting it to fit? that's the kind of print where you probably want stiffness but more flex than PLA.

you could also print half the case in TPU and half in your usual PLA or PETG. I did that recently to help two halves of a case mate together without worrying so much about clearances.

[shy kelp]

Yeah... But it's still hard, it ain't like silicone or soft rubber
As for the snap fit, you're confusing me with another user

[vocal flax]

@ashen moat 60 w for fans is veeery generous. They are usually 1w or sth

[vocal flax]

This is correct

Usually 200w is enough for heated bed design. (If you have more powerful bed you can limit max power in software)

Or you can always add mains silicone heater with ssr

[ashen moat]

yeah, it's because I'm looking at brushless motors for centrifugal blowers (like CPAP blowers), which seem to run 3-5A even at 24V. BTT's "universal turbo kit" specs say 3A continuous, 6A peak @ 24V, for example. oops, was reading the motor controller specs, motor says 2.7A @ 24V.

I'm hoping the part cooler will come in under 60W, but could even spec more like 100W to be safe.

yeah, mains bed heater takes the burden off the printer, tho seems a little frankensteiny to wire up?

[vocal flax]

Are you doing the tube modification? Where you have the fan entirely different place?

[ashen moat]

that's my plan, yeah. I don't have a part cooler right now, I use a pedestal fan next to the printer. 😂

[vocal flax]

It's usually not up to code. (Ce for some regions and other for other regions) but I see you are a tinkerer and can mitigate issues

[ashen moat]

I still get a little 😬 about mains voltage inside the printer tho

[ashen moat]

ope, sorry! I did a real quick search and saw you mention snap-fit back in June, but you're right, the case was someone else.

yeah, it's not like silicone, for sure.

[vocal flax]

"Just ground everything" was my solution and still alive

Tho not using mains voltage

[vocal flax]

That was my plan, buuut warping made it near impossible to print

[ashen moat]

my warping got better after switching to PEI-coated spring steel + glue stick, but I still get mild warp on large parts. it's okay for the stuff I print, but I do dream of a better setup.

[faint pier]

A good solid state relay for mains voltage, mostly. CPAP is pretty overkill unless you are well and truly pushing print speeds (thinking of Vzbot level madness) with PLA

[ashen moat]

nah, printer's slow. it's mainly to relocate the fan.

[faint pier]

If you're printing like... ABS, you can print pretty fast with very minimal amounts of fan

[ashen moat]

my delta's effector is very small and I think I can push more air with less noise via a tube rather than trying to shoehorn a tiny screamer or two down near the hot bits. remains to be seen.

I know the blowers people usually use are super loud, but I'm thinking I can either print or buy something much quieter since I don't need that kind of output.

I printed one of these, and it's fairly quiet, but my motor doesn't spin quite fast enough for it. looking at other motors.

https://drmrehorst.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-mother-of-all-print-cooling-fans.html

[faint pier]

you can look up "GDStime 120mm 24V centrifugal" as a relatively inexpensive option

[ashen moat]

thanks! that looks cheap enough to try out.

[vocal flax]

Here is the thing you don't really need much air. For a 1/4th 1/5th bed sized prints (on 200x200 bed) fan is mostly unused. You need fan for low layer times but if your printer is slow, a 5010 is proven to work real nice

A long tube might be noisier than a quality small fan

[faint pier]

Keeping low restriction and throttling a 5010 down a substantial amount would make things much quieter. Many quality fans from GDStime, Sunon etc

[ashen moat]

I also need a lot of air for bridging, overhangs, and sharp fine details in walls. with my current setup using an outboard fan to one side of the printer, everything on the windward side turns out great, while corner detail gets muddy and overhangs get blobby on the leeward side, even with the fan at full blast.

just today I was printing a calibration cube with "X" debossed into the front face and "Y" into the face away from the fan. the X turned out great, the crotch of the Y was soft and rounded.

but I observed the same loss of detail on overhung corners on the leeward side of a big ~50 x 50 x 230mm box printed on a diagonal, where layers were plenty large.

one or more 5010s might also do the job! it's a fine suggestion. I think on my delta, it's going to be easier to put a large, quiet blower on top of the printer than to manage fans on the effector. though, that was my earlier plan and I might come back to it if this doesn't fly.

[vocal flax]

Delta is a great concept but everything becomes hard to execute

[ashen moat]

I ordered the power supply and heater to convert my printer to 24V. I checked consumption on my old supply and it was peaking slightly over its rating. 😬

[faint sky]

Everything is fine until it's not.

[vivid helm]

"If it ain't broken, you haven't been trying hard enough."
~Me, a functional test and characterization engineer

[faint sky]

Haha true

[wraith veldt]

Hello, does someone know how to get rid of these artefacts?

[arctic dragon]

My first guess would be to clean your nozzle and/or check your belt tension?

[fervent lagoon]

i get something like that with cheapie filament and "normal" temperatures (but i have cheapie printer, too): i can somewhat mitigate by ramping up the temperature and printing on a day the humidity isn't "dripping wet" 😏

[faint pier]

what kind of printer you are using? And is it direct drive or bowden tube? Is that PLA?

What are your print settings, including layer height? What type of nozzle? Is this something that only happened recently or out of the box?

[gloomy anchor]

what are the humidity levels in you guys' regions? Its so bad here

[gloomy anchor]

adaptive layer height, dry your filament in the oven for 30 min, and slow down if you're going over the recommended print speed for your printer

[fervent lagoon]

right now my interior humidity is over 50%, exterior is closer to 75% -- it's supposed to drop over the next 24 hours and i need to print some stuff asap 😏

[wraith veldt]

Thank you I will follow the steps

[ashen moat]

70% outdoor humidity, 40% indoor. but all my filament is in sealed bags and I have a filament dryer.

[untold apex]

Hi, is there a link to any sort of collection of Gemma m0 3d printable cases?

[vestal thicket]

There is this one on learn.adafruit.com: https://learn.adafruit.com/gemma-m0-case

Or https://www.printables.com/model/52214-gemma-m0-protective-housing

[untold apex]

I actually printed this one, it was a little hard to fit with the 75mah battery

This printable one looks nice..maybe put the battery on the outside

[ashen moat]

looks like you could scale the adafruit case bottom in your slicer to give you more room for the battery. it's too bad a 75 didn't fit well when it's designed for a 150.

I bet scaling the bottom half by maybe 120% in Z only would do the trick.

[untold apex]

I think it was due to my cable length 🙃

[shy kelp]

10+ years of waste , I have some more, but I can't smash them with an hammer right now

[fervent lagoon]

And today we learned why cheap printers are cheap -- got a clog in the head, so no biggie right?

1. cannot remove feed tube -- acting like it's glued in there
2. cannot remove hotend -- the screw holding is jammed so tight i literally bent a 2mm hex wrench without it loosening

sigh

[lusty jolt]

Hello! does anybody know where i can find accurate models for components to use in fusion360?

thank you so much in advance

[vestal thicket]

I'm not sure what kind of components you're looking for, but Adafruit has a repo for some of the boards and other stuff they sell: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CAD_Parts

[lusty jolt]

thats perfect, and yes my apologies i referred to adafruit components

[fervent lagoon]

after inquring why i was putting a small bandage on a finger where the wrench had slipped, my wife gifted me with a very early b'day present -- a Crealty K1C

PARTY TIME

[vestal thicket]

Nice!

[fervent lagoon]

oh -- i was just informed that was b'day and solstice 😏

[iron remnant]

Do you think it'll represent a sizeable improvement?

[ashen moat]

that's awesome, and a great move to pull on her part. congrats on the new thing to learn!

[fervent lagoon]

about 15x, so yeah 😀

[iron remnant]

Now you can print honeycomb storage wall and gridfinity without feeling very very sad.

[fervent lagoon]

turns and looks at skadis knock-offs bought 2 weeks ago

sigh

[iron remnant]

Well you can still print inserts for the skadis knock-offs.

The thing I remind people is that the primary purpose I got my first 3D printer for was to print organizers, with art and other weirdness as the secondary.

[fervent lagoon]

storage, and motor/electronics mounts fer sure

[arctic dragon]

I once bought an Ender 6, thinking I'd use it to print mods an old Anet A2. Today I'm debating buying another printer to print mods for the Ender 6...

[fervent lagoon]

☝️ that's the really funny part about a lot of this, is the printing upgrades to printers

[arctic dragon]

I always wanted to build myself a bunch of Vorons, but now that I have the space I don't have the time.

Life is hard.

[iron remnant]

~ looks awkardly at the almost-complete Voron Trident in the corner ~

But .. yah, basically I decided that I was too unwilling to mess up my Ender 3v2 so therefore I purchased a Voron Zero kit and a Voron Trident kit so that if I'm messing up one printer, I can still use the other one.

The Zero is ... not stock.

[fervent lagoon]

not having enough room to spit pretty much takes care of that rabbit hole (mixing metaphors)

[arctic dragon]

I think I should just buy a stock hotend at some point and replace the dusty one. Trying to cheap out on upgrades via AliExpress is... not recommended.

Voron Trident, huh? How far done is it haha

[iron remnant]

Getting close

[arctic dragon]

Ooooooooo

Just need the hotend/extruder assembly and some wiring it seems

Exciting

[iron remnant]

Pretty much

And get the CoreXY belts tightened.

And the panels.

[arctic dragon]

Ehhh, panels are optional. Belts less optional.

😛

Ugh, SV08 is tempting, but it's basically a sidegrade.

[iron remnant]

Given that part of the 'fun' of owning a Voron is that you build your own and then choose your own adventure, I'm unclear on how well all of the popular mods would work on an SV08 and all.

[arctic dragon]

Fair.

[iron remnant]

Although I guess if enough people pick one up, there would be potential for SV08 mods?

[arctic dragon]

I'm thinking I go one of two routes at this point.

1. Fix Ender 6 to print ABS parts for a Voron 0.2, or
2. Get a P1S combo and turn the Ender 6 into some experimental toolchanger system.

[iron remnant]

Well, you can always get a PiF set of parts.

[arctic dragon]

Also true. SOme of the kits even include printed parts these days.

[iron remnant]

Although ... dono, the Ender 3v2 printed some parts in PET-GF before it broke for the zero, and then the Zero printed some parts for the Trident.

[arctic dragon]

But ehhhhhh

Ah well, I gotta clear the garage space before I can go back to printing anything anyways.

[iron remnant]

The choice is kinda easy for me in that I don't trust Bambu's software infra.

...after the print re-queueing incident

[vocal flax]

Ender 3? Those pushfit connectors stop working once pushfit metal ring bends. Happened to me once.

Oh k1c congrats. Still be careful about pushfit connectors

[faint pier]

It's kind of a joke but not really but sorta that the best case scenario would be to buy a Bambulabs P1S to print out a Voron, with the less ethical part of that being to immediately return the Bambulabs machine right after

There is a big ecosystem for Skadis accessories. It's not wall control but a big step up from pegboard. I like the fact that the 3DP community has come up with a number of ways to hardlock accessories to the board using twistlocks, hook systems or T-nuts. Honestly think it's better than the honeycomb wall system. For horizontal storage, gridfinity is pretty great for organizing toolboxes.

[arctic dragon]

Appreciate the good joke. No, if I were to print a Voron, I’d do it with my current printer. It’ll take a bit longer with the extra maintenance work, but if I can’t handle that I wouldn’t buy a Voron kit in the first place.

[iron remnant]

Yah, the main reason why I use HSW is because I like the way it looks the most?

Hexagons are the bestagons and all

[fervent lagoon]

yeah, that's what's drawing me to HSW is the honey-comb "look" -- more sci-fi-ish

[fallen dirge]

Hey I was wondering what 3D printer is best to get off of these factors: Easy to build, not too expensive and liability.

[arctic dragon]

There are 3d printers that don’t need any assembly at all, is that preferable over “easy to build?”

Also, how expensive is “not too expensive?”

[fervent lagoon]

fully assembled from like $125 USD? prusa pro for $10K?

[fallen dirge]

Probably about $350 is my budget

[ashen moat]

wait what does "liability" mean in this context?

[arctic dragon]

I assume the word intended was “reliability.”

[ashen moat]

people say nice things about the Bambu A1, which should need very little tuning and is in that price range. or the A1 mini bundled with their multi-material AMS system. I think Micro Center keeps both models in stock if you're in the US and have one nearby.

[fervent lagoon]

there are so many variables when choosing a printer, it's almost impossible to recommend one -- especially when asking for opinions -- i would recommend literally write down what you want to do with the printer (like print quality, material to be used, sizes) and then start looking at on-line reviews; i'm also guessing from the question is that you're looking at "entry-level" so i would also include "user friendly" (things like auto-leveling are one of the prime categories to be on the look for)

and do not shoot for the moon first time out -- e.g. you probably don't want to build that Iron Man (tm) suit just yet

also stick to known manufacturers -- there's gobs of knock off and re-brands, especially at the lower ends

[mental nacelle]

I’m trying to find the 3D print file I used to make the plastic back you see holding this lenses. I think it uses standard m3 screws. The base I used has the holes only on 2 sides one in the middle of sides 90° from each other - other two open, so it’s not part of PhilB’a write up for animated eyes. It was likely part of a larger build. It’s holding a 1.5” OLED. Am finally creating a MadEye tutorial but can’t for the life of me find or remember where I got the backing file for this. I will have links to the lenses and metal frame I bought etc in the final lesson. Thx.

[placid anvil]

Anybody know of any fluorescent NEON filaments that will reflect under UV black light? I have these orange, lime, and white spools but don't know where I got them from, I'm pretty sure they just coincidentally ended up being UV reactive because they weren't listed as such. I'm not looking for GITD

[ashen moat]

last one I saw was Polymaker's UV reactive neons:
https://us.polymaker.com/products/panchroma-neon

[iron remnant]

Atomic filaments has UV-reactive spools: https://atomicfilament.com/products/neon-green-uv-reactive-opaque-petg-pro

have a sample spool that i haven't tried yet

[faint pier]

I can vouch for the Bambulabs A1 Mini as a beginner printer. It was on sale for $200 by itself a while ago, and it's pretty close to a set and forget printer. Runs its own calibrations, prints very fast, very reliable. The A1 is also an option if you need bigger build volume, but its pricing puts it close to many other bedslingers. Generally the Bambulabs printers are probably the closest set and forget printers and are great for the price. But if you have a bit of mechanical knowledge and willing to tinker, there's a ton of other options out there.

[iron remnant]

Yeah, I'm not buying myself a Bambulabs machine for various reasons but I think they really raised the bar for what a printer ought to look like.

[steep umbra]

That's what I keep hearing, and I'm leaning towards the A1 mini as well. I'm not interested in tinkering with the printer, i'm interested in tinkering with the stuff that gets printed

[shy kelp]

I may throw it there, but bambu's have higher standards on manufacturing, alongside with data collection and wide machines, they optimize it for you. Whereas with kits/cheapo stuff you need/ed to find what worked best for you

Although they're not absent from issues, but overall they're pretty reliable

Although my opinion may be biased as I pushed till recently with some crappy i3 clones from 201x, and a really bad experience with the creality k1

[faint pier]

The flipside is, if you haven't had the privilege of using a piece of paper to level a printer and have random malfunctions about 90% of the way in, have you really experienced 3D printing?

I will say that starting on a Ender 3 has taught me a lot. The fact that the printer is so simple, basic and uses universal parts really accelerates learning once you start making modifications (a direct pipeline into DIY printers), and even today they're still being used for crazy experiments.

[ashen moat]

the flip-flip side is that I've spent the better part of a year trying to improve my bed leveling system on a last-last-last-gen printer, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone who doesn't want it. 😝

[fervent lagoon]

i will pass at the bed-leveling but yeah, you haven't lived until you watch a multi-hour print just go 😵‍💫

[faint sky]

The taller the print the more anxiety I have. This is true. You can't just pick up where you left off... well it is possible if you know how to modify g-code and you know exactly what layer it failed at.

I'll do a tall test print first. I'd rather waste a couple hours ensure a tall print is dialed in than sit in a corner sobbing over a 50 hour print that turned to spaghetti.

[fervent lagoon]

50? 👀 i was talking about 5! 😀

[faint sky]

I print thick stuff and big stuff. A typical enclosure runs about 8 hours. I print slow though at like 30mms to 50mms. Some of the newer printers will do 2 or 3x that speed.

A bambu is like an F1 race car compared to how I print. As long as prints finish I'm happy.

[shy kelp]

And here's what's wrong with the p1s:

Lan only mode is really limited, failed print detection, and skip items on touch is paywalled to the higher end model, the silicone socket burns at like 270-280, it doesn't really push at 500mm, but around 330mms, sometimes there are random connection issues. The ptfe tube may cause issues with tpu

And well it's limited unlike others, but I guess it's a great trade-off if most of the times it just works

That's what I can think of right now

[fervent lagoon]

ah, that makes sense -- i'm at the "really got my feet wet, but impatient" stage

[ashen moat]

none of those would be dealbreakers for me, but I can see how they're disappointing for an otherwise-advanced printer.

the sock and the tube seem like they could be fixed by third-party mods. the network integration I want is being able to hit "print" in the slicer and it prints without swapping SD cards. disapppointing that the mid model doesn't have per-part skip, but I've only just started using it on my klipper setup.

no ethical consumption and all, but it's tricky to navigate whether to throw money at printers that advance the state of consumer printing or object to their design/business choices and spend more time on the long tuning process for less advanced printers.

I really like what I've seen of the new FLSUN T1, but also they're running a custom klipper variant that I don't think they've published yet (tho SSH access is coming, so...?) and some people have customer service horror stories.

[iron remnant]

~ shrugs in Voron owner ~

Also, oops, my 3D printing-related submission got accepted for the bay area maker faire.

[iron remnant]

So, yah, I guess I'll be dragging my Voron Zero and talking about honeycomb storage wall, gridfinity, openscad, and other such things.

I guess one of my fundamental objections, as someone who has horror stories I'm not allowed to talk about regarding IoT devices, is that there's basically no way to do a 3D printer that runs klipper without making some hard choices about which sorts of deeply seated security/upgrade/reliability/etc problems you want to allow through. And, also, it was not the klipper team's responsibility to make it easy to make money on their open source package.

[fervent lagoon]

iot (at that level) is hard

[faint sky]

I dislike the security aspects of 3D printers so much that I still walk my SD card from my PC to the printer. I think Cura serial pinging and knocking my circuit python devices offline did it. After that I distrusted anything about 3D printers on my network.

Oh you want access to my entire network as a PnP device, through the firewall to a subscription based model farcity of a slicer program? No thanks, I'm good with my legacy Ender and sd card.

[fervent lagoon]

yeah, i don't let things call out unless i say they can 😈

[ashen moat]

I guess PrusaSlicer and klipper phone home to check for updates, but otherwise my klipper setup is local network only, and I like it that way. I'm in the same boat; I don't trust cloud slicers or cloud access/management and I'm not interested in hardening klipper for exposure to public networks.

[fervent lagoon]

i was perusing the creality models and the "print from cloud" was" You Have To Be F****** Kidding Me H*** No"

[fervent lagoon]

well, the Wife Acceptance Factor has voted in favor of HSW over Skadis -- guess i'll be busy for a while

[iron remnant]

Huh, my wife was weirded out by HSW a bit because Ommetaphobia and the time she spent cataloging skin diseases at a health library so I have to print it in colors that match the walls.

You can turn the skadis into a vacuum forming machine.

[fervent lagoon]

i would need my fictional 3-bedroom condo first, but definitely something to keep in mind (boggles)

[faint sky]

If this trend continues you're going to need wifi and a cloud subscription to make coffee. At some point you just have to say no.

[fervent lagoon]

🤣 my coffee maker is actually flashing "12:00" for over a year because i don't even use the time/timer

[iron remnant]

you can make smol cute ones, tho? At last year's Maker Faire they were demonstrating small ones that hooked up to a shopvac and were maybe 150mm by 150mm.

I mean, watch the Max Headroom 1980s TV series. There's a whole episode where hackers crash the domestic computers and people's showers are disrupted. In the 1980s it was "LOL, look at that weird science fiction" and nowadays...

[fervent lagoon]

i don't even have room for a shop vac, amigo ▫️

[iron remnant]

Yah, I figured I'd try it sometime soon with the hose on my regular vac.

[faint pier]

For Klipper machines I think Moonraker is just an nginx web server that creates API on your local network. The problem is when people start trying to connect to it through unsecured and exposed IPs instead of through a VPN etc. The source code is open on github. Though, for Klipper enabled printers you can do a bit of Linux-Fu so that you can use it totally offline, just using a thumb drive with your gcode. I had to do this because I had to use a printer once in an enterprise environment and didn't want to try to connect to corporate network.

I find Klipper setup through printer.cfg alone to be a quality of life gamechanger, especially when doing something weird that isn't documented (like using an old RAMPs board to replace a fried main board in an little-known printer). And using Orcaslicer and Mainsail is super convenient compared to the old SD card based workflow

[iron remnant]

Yeah, I guess the big thing about Moonraker is that it is just http/https and there's a whole body of work about how to manage http web services in a reasonable fashion.

The problem is that, and I have incidents that I can't talk about to back me up on this, when you have a consumer device that happens to be a bundled linux device with an http web service endpoint under the covers people will do silly things like connect it to the public internet or use it past the designated end of support date or other such things.

[ashen moat]

maybe one day IPv6 or easy VPNs like Tailscale or consumer routers with easy VPN setups like Firewalla's stuff will become the standard home networking experience, and we can never again open a public port to a home web service.

[ashen moat]

not having much luck finding the cause of consistently-located layer bulges on my delta after replacing the plastic rod ends with metal ones. using white PLA to highlight defects. the one on the left was with the plastic rod ends, on the right is after swapping them for metal. I have half a dozen prints that look like the one on the right. the defects were present before, but are now more pronounced.

both printed with outside perimeters first, 3 walls, 60mm/s, input shaping and pressure advance enabled. left has 10% infill, right is hollow (didn't make a diff). I tried tightening the rod end ball joints (adjustable via set screw), loosening or tightening the Hemera XS extruder tension, cleaned out the extruder gears, tried different cooling, every print's been the same as the one on the right.

also tried one at 2x scale, and it has similar in/out alternating bulge patterns in places.

[faint sky]

Besides the banding it looks like intermittent clogging. what is your layer height?

and what is your normal fan speed? some layers seem thicker than others. are you using adaptive layering?

[ashen moat]

no adaptive layers, 0.3mm layer height. the cooling setup is new, remote centrifugal fan piped to a duct on the hot end, but I got the same result on one print using my old desk fan setup instead. fan at one speed (high-ish) for the whole print after the first layer. CHT high flow 0.6mm nozzle on an E3D V6 hot end.

oh, the 2x print had 0.4mm layers.

I could try cleaning the nozzle.

[ashen moat]

cleaning didn't help. I tried moving the print toward the rear tower, but the defects changed very little. slowing down to 20mm/s removed many of the defects, but left a few in the same places with a shorter period, oscillating more frequently within a layer. not sure how that could happen since axes and extruder should be moving the same distance, only at a slower pace. electrical noise?

[fervent lagoon]

if it's happening in the same place, it might be mechanical? i would try a different model, tbh, to eliminate that variable

[ashen moat]

would you believe frame wobble? I took max acceleration down from 4000 mm/s^2 to 400, and mostly solved it, in a way that just slowing down didn't. I'll need to re-run input shaping calibration at least, but it might finally be time to try stiffening the chassis, too.

the frame is tall and made with undersized 1515 extrusions, so it definitely wobbles under hard accelerations. and it would explain how the layer bulge pattern frequency went up when I slowed the feed rate.

[fervent lagoon]

Creality K1C unboxing was unbelievably seamless (except for the 115/220v switch not being completely seated on 115) and actually well-suited for a beginner, although you will need to reference one or two videos like how to load the bleeping filament (seriously not in manual) -- it's noisier than i thought it would be but it's stoopid fast

[iron remnant]

Well.

You can always mod your printer.

Although people love to put fancy PC-oriented Noctua fans that are absolutely not good for the 3D printer applications in there.

[fervent lagoon]

there are some (supposedly) well designed mufflers to help, so we'll see about those -- i'm not about to touch any non-manufacturer thing unless it's completely non-invasive 😱

[iron remnant]

I think you need to have the whole 3D printer ownership thing explained to you again. 😄

[vivid helm]

3d printer owners in a nutshell (myself included):

https://tenor.com/view/i'm-the-captain-now-captain-phillips-imm-the-captain-now-gif-15963355868796049416

[fervent lagoon]

alas, this particular one does not have a "run out" sensor in the head, otherwise my third print (with some suspect cheapy stuff) would have noticed that it broke off right above the extruder gears

on the other hand, watching the full-blown 600 mm/s test print was 👀

[iron remnant]

I haven't actually gotten around to seeing how fast I can push my Voron, LOL.

[shy kelp]

I dunno for some reason orcaslicer keeps forgetting the printer

[faint sky]

Can you add a runout sensor? To me that's a must have accessory. My runout sensor has saved my butt so many times.

[iron remnant]

I mean, what use is a working printer when you can have a half-broken printer with a poorly considered mod going on?

I like that there are now filament sensors that are encoder wheels so you can spot all kinds of issues.

[faint pier]

Noctua has the NF-A4x10 24V PWM fan for 3D printer use, in place of 40mm electronics enclosure bay fans. I think that was a more recent release.

Not much you can really do to quiet down a part cooling fan though, such is the price you pay for top end speed and quality (especially PLA)

For hot-end cooling fans you might be able to get away with lower speeds but I wouldn't due to clogging risk. Enclosures and PSUs are an easier swap but not everyone is comfortable with opening and swapping PSU fans. Often you can get them to perform quieter by removing obstacles like fan grills and keeping the inlets as far away from other surfaces as possible.

[iron remnant]

Yeah, I've definitely noticed that even a little bit of duct design helps a lot.

I've generally had at least decent results with parametric search on digikey for my fan bits. Then again, am a Voron owner so I can do unspeakable things.

But, yeah, part of the problem is that you generally need to respect the backpressure and mass flow requirements and a lot of times there's only so much you can do. Hot-end cooling fans are kinda annoying there just because you are trying to cool a fairly small area. So a lot of the popular toolheads for Voron use a small fan that can blast a lot of air and there's only so much you can do to make that quiet.

I guess the bright side is, comparing the Voron to the Ender 3v2, is that the Voron is able to turn off the hot-end cooling fan when the hotend is cold, so at least if it's powered up and not printing, it's quiet.

[fervent lagoon]

i can understand why a lot of x-y printers might have a bit of a "walking" problem -- printheads moving at mv^2

creality does get points off for annoying design issue: the "chain" holding the feed tube smacks into the left side of the printer and lifts the lid up

[vivid helm]

Creality is known for cheap printers, not good printers.

As I noted in the hackaday server yesterday, this is Creality:

https://tenor.com/view/al-toystory-chicken-al-al-mcwhiggin-gif-18739888

[fervent lagoon]

well, i weren't lookin' for no cadillac and had some serious "environmental" constraints 😏 -- be interesting to see if the patent trolls try them, too

[iron remnant]

I mean, there's a whole patent troll process?

Presumably bambu looked like the most likely to roll over?

[vivid helm]

Stratasys in particular is infamous for abusing the patent system.

[faint pier]

I'm more salty/amused by Formlabs buying out Micronics

in an ideal world they would help Micronics refine their SLS printer and bring a product to market that is less of a science project (and for the same or similar price). But more realistically, Formlabs bought them out to kill the project.

At least Bambulabs has lawyers to fight back and legal options even if they lose to continue selling products; Micronics was gone in a flash.

[arctic dragon]

At least getting bought out means Micronics had the opportunity to cash out. BambuLabs has a lot more at stake in a legal battle.

[faint pier]

True, it's a boon to the two guys behind the project (though they had sent out working prototypes and had a 1.3 mil kickstarter), but a loss to ✨ what could have been ✨to the makerspace

Bambulabs- I mean, they have money. At this point, big corporation money. The bigger concern for their customers is whether prices are going to rise substantially if they are forced into a licensing agreement.

[shy kelp]

Luckily in china they don't seem to care too much about licenses/patents

[ashen moat]

I use the regular 12V version of that 40mm noctua to cool my hot end. it's nearly silent, I love it. huge improvement over the stock 30mm noise generator.