Daid

Feels good, right?

The fan is turned on in the start code. Other then that SkeinPyPy doesn't touch the fan at all. If you want to know how the SF settings are hidden, check the file "fabmetheus_utilities/settings.py" this file is normally used by SF for setting initalization, and I replaced it for SkeinPyPy to load my settings instead of the idiocy of storing settings that SF uses by default. Cura won't give you access to every possible setting. But that is intentional. Any btw, I am interested, why is that fan behavior useful?

You can email me at daid303@gmail.com, it's no secret ;-) I won't share them at all. And I have the tools to "fix" any problems I would have with them. The difference between a TOM/Replicator extruder and the Bowden extruder is the location of the "extruder drive" with the TOM/Replicator it sits on the moving head, directly controlling the extrusion. With the Ultimaker it hangs on the side of the machine. Which causes more flex in the filament drive, and a pressure buildup. I think the TOM/Replicator design is better against strings, while the Ultimaker design is better for speed and move quality (less mass to move around it higher accuracy in the movement)

Did you put in the springs? Are the springs giving enough tension? You could screw the whole bed down a few mm for extra tension. (if there is room, I have an old style 6mm bed instead of the new 10mm bed)

It's the ZBlob! It happens because the printer head moves up and then there is still some plastic flowing out of it. A lower printing temperature reduces this ZBlob. But I don't know of a way to fully prevent it, except for "Joris", but that's not an option for your current object.

Open a window. And shout "CURSE YOU ENRIQUE!". Close window. Feel a bit relieved. Simply said, you have a setting wrong in Skeinforge somewhere. Which setting? I wouldn't know, most likely a flowrate setting somewhere. The way Skeinforge stores it settings is so backwards it's hard to reset to proper defaults, and hard to diagnose what's the problem. And simply hard to work with for anyone involved. Including the people working on RepG. I don't like pushing my software onto people. But SkeinPyPy Beta4 will solve this for you. https://github.com/daid/Cura/wiki I hope you run windows. As this will make it very easy. You'll just have to follow these 24 simple steps: 1) Download https://github.com/downloads/daid/Cura/ ... -Beta4.zip 2) Extract it somewhere 3) Start the "SkeinPyPy.bat" 4) Walk trough the "first run wizard", installing new firmware, and testing your machine. But just skip the final "calibration" step, the default will be good enough for you. 5) Load an STL file you want to print. 6) Don't touch any settings. 7) No DON'T 8) Press "Slice to GCode" 9) Now, at the location where you found "SkeinPyPy.bat", you'll also find "PrintRun.bat" 10) Run it. 11) Select the proper serial line, and press "connect" 12) Use the "load" button to load the generated GCode file. It's called [model_file]_export.gcode, and it's next to your STL file you loaded in step 5 13) Make sure your printer works by pressing the X home and Y home button. 14) Set the temperature to 230C, and press the "SET" button next to it. 15) Check the "monitor printer" checkbox in the upper right corner. 16) Wait till the temperature reaches 230C 17) Disable the "monitor printer" checkbox 18) Press print 19) See a perfect printed box 20) Be amazed 21) Print a yoda 22) Print a yoda again, but at 0.1mm layers instead of the default 0.2mm 23) Be even more amazed 24) Promise me beer.

The Ultimaker sort of has room for dual extrusion. There is room in the printer head for a 2nd hot-end. But I'm not sure if anyone has build one of these dual extruder Ultimakers yet. Nope, topic hasn't been beaten to death. But I am biased, let me warn you about that. I've also never seen the replicator except on pictures. And I have an Ultimaker, which works great. I've also visited the Ultimaker HQ twice already. So I will like the Ultimaker better. But I'll try to put them side by side.The Ultimaker has a 205x205x220 build area, for a 350x350x3?0 machine. The Replicator is advertised as printing BIG objects, and only has a 225 x145 x150 build area for a 320 x 467 x 381 machine. That's less build volume for a bigger machine. The Ultimaker uses 3mm filament. Replicator 1.75mm. The 1.75mm filament is more expensive. The Ultimaker prints at speeds between 50mm/s and 150mm/s. The Replicator is advertised with 40mm/s. The Ultimaker does not have a heat bed option. The replicator does. Making printing with ABS much better suited for the Replicator. €1,194 vs $1,749, making the Replicator slightly more expensive. But add shipping and you'll find that it depends where you are what the most expensive option is. Replicator also comes with an LCD, which isn't buyable for the Ultimaker yet. IMHO, the Replicator is a step back, not forward from the Ultimaker, even tough the Replicator was released later. The Replicator is simply a larger Thing-O-Matic with a 2nd extruder option slabbed on there. The Ultimaker is designed from scratch as the best possible machine they could think off. For the dual extrusion. Like I said, the Ultimaker has room for it. But hasn't "made" it yet. I don't fancy dual extrusion that much. (I DO fancy chocolate extrusion, but that's another thing) It's also expensive with the Replicator (+250$, that's half the price of a PrintrBot!) Also, oddly enough, their dual extrusion print examples are blue and green. Why would that be? Hint: You don't see traces of blue in green that well, or the other way around. The stringing problem is huge for dual extrusion. And if we find someone who finds time to experiment with a lot of settings to find the best way to avoid strings then we might be able to solve the stringing problem. (there are like 20 settings in Skeinforge designed to help against stringing) Which would make dual extrusion a more interesting option. As for the whole support structure question. The larger the object, the larger the details, the easier it will be to remove the support. If you are willing to share the "radar beast" model files with me, then I can try to print it with support and photo it for you. If you want. I won't share the model files with anyone else. I think it would make a cool print. (The tank shown earlier is also a "unsharable" model)

Thinner layers would also help. Anything that would reduce the "mm^3 per second" would help (slower, thinner), and or anything that will increase the flow trough your nozzle (more heat) Better temperature management (AKA PID controller in Marlin) will also help I think.

Most likely cause is the "dimension" module being disabled. Enabling it should work. You can see this by checking the generated GCode file, it should have "E...." after G1 commands up from line 30 or so. (with a number on the dots) You can also jump on the SkeinPyPy(Cura) wagon: https://github.com/daid/Cura/wiki which will upgrade you to Marlin. Give you a better GUI. And nicer prints. It's a tiny bit harder to get from model to print (workflow is not at streamlined as RepG yet) but it's much easier on you with settings.

How fast are you printing? That looks a lot like my print when I got near the maximum extrusion speed. Maybe if you drop the print speed by 10-20% it will print fine. The "curve" of the bowden tube might be causing this, putting a little bit of extra stress on your extruder. Some extra tension on the tension knob might help, some higher temperature might also help.

A higher steps per E would make your machine take more steps on the extruder for 1 mm of filament, so it will extrude more filament then before. Only the filament diameter works in reverse, a higher filament thickness means less extrusion.

No problem in being a rookie ;-) 100mm/s is quite fast for a "first print". The default of 50mm/s is a very safe value, but you can go quite a bit higher. There are people printing at 150mm/s, but that gives it's own set of troubles. My machine used to skip steps at 100mm/s before I oiled it and got all the belts tight enough. So that's why the safe 50mm/s is the default The steps per E are found in the preferences (file->preferences). This is also what you calibrated at the final step of the wizard. It's the amount of step motor steps the extruder needs to take for 1mm of filament. The wizard helps you calibrate this value. However, if your filament is slipping then you'll never get this right, so check that first.

Those are pretty okish prints. But you can do better then that ;-) I know you can! And you say that that is at 10mm/s? That's very slow, maybe you forgot a zero in there? You also have a bit of "underextrusion" you filament might be slipping. Or your filament diameter might be off, or your "steps per E" is wrong. Good infill should look like: http://daid.eu/~daid/IMG_20120323 ... small.jpeg the blue part, which is printed at 0.1mm layers at 100mm/s. And variador: Your experience about the filament calibration is right. It's not that friendly for new users. I planned to include some photos to guide people trough it. But I haven't got around to do so. I need to make it easier for myself to make a very fancy help wizard for that part. With simple and clear steps, instead of a lot of steps on 1 page (the real problem with the steps calibration)

I would have changed the wood to accept a 12OD bushing ;-) but that's just me.

nice paintjob. Did you do everything like that? (your earlier shots show plain wood)

You might want to read this topic: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43&start=30 As the snootlab LCD doesn't work with the latest Marlin. The UltiPanel is a 16x4 display btw, while the snootlab is a 16x2. However, a big difference is that you can actually buy a snootlab, while the Ultipanel. Dunno, build it yourself? Maybe UM will start selling them at one point?

Could be different issues. One of them is a motor driver overheating, but usually you also get "layer shift" then.Another one could be, what I call, "Funky USB". Next time it happens, try moving your mouse, or press a key on your keyboard (if those are USB), if the printer instantly continues when you do that. Then you have "Funky USB". I also have it. My solution right now is playing music on my USB headset, which seems to solve it. Running a webcam also works. I don't know WHY the Funky USB happens. I just know how to work around it.

A small gap between the plate and 8B is not a huge problem, but if the gap is too large, then your head can be tilted (due to the tube being off center) and I don't think that's a very good idea. What I find odd is that you say 8mm is way too much. While for a few others it's been a bit too short. (4-8 hours is quite long for each step... I took 8 hours to assemble my machine, and make the first sort of print)

It's "doable" in SF. But it's not a simple "switch you turn on/off". You'll have to make a "support_start.gcode" and "support_end.gcode" which switch to the support extruder.As for the support question. The top of my small tank, see those barrels? They are floating. During printing they had 3 small support blocks under it which I cut off after printing. Automatic support works, but sometimes manual support in the model is better.

Sounds like a short in the thermocouple. Check if the temperature reports room temp if you disconnect the yellow & red wires (the temperature of the thermocouple board on top of the extruder will be reported then) Be careful, because if you heat up the machine to much (which can happen because it doesn't know how hot it is) you can melt the PEEK.

Interference from the motors on the end switches can really ruin a long print. I loaded a small test print into your software. It immediately headed for the left front of the machine and did what Robert said, it slammed into the front and wanted to keep going...I shut the machine off, moved the head back away from the sides and turned it back on, the software kept going and moved the head to the center, leveled the bed and starting printing....at any rate from the setup instructions it says to make sure the limit switches work my manually pushing while the head is moving and none of them do.....should I have unchecked the 'enable homing' on your build software? You should have unchecked "Endstops only for homing". It's not that recommended to go to a custom build firmware before you know how to operate your machine properly, and everything works hardware wise. UNLESS... The firmware that's shipped with SkeinPyPy-Beta4 (Cura) has the endstops always enabled, exactly to prevent damage to your machine. It's also checked, and verified to work. So that's always a safe firmware to switch to. The Marlin_Builder was more intended for experienced users that want to customize their firmware a bit. Without going trough all the Arduino loopholes. When I update to new Marlin versions (as I try to keep it up with the development) it might break from time to time.

25E ~ 30E per kilo? that's not terribly expensive really for a hobby ;-)BUT. I like the recycle idea. I don't think there need to be a lot of these recyclers. I'll happy turn in my scraps for half the weight in filament. But a consistent thickness is important. Also, go environment! PLA recycling should be quite painless as it has a pretty low melting point, and doesn't seem to "lose" a lot of properties/material (no nasty fumes) when heated. My main problem with making a recycler is that you cannot build it with a 3D printer There is also http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12948

My Marlin builder has "use endstops only for homing" enabled by default. So your endstops are only used for homing.

Lowering your print speed might also help, not sure how fast you are printing, but it can help till you solve the actual issue. The design by Misguided is what I'm using. You can make those thicker to get more tension. However, on the Y belts you'll run into the same problem as with the wave tensioner. Another thing you might want to check is the tension on the small belts. I don't know it it can cause "circles goes square" problems. But it never hurts to check those. If they feel a bit weak, then unscrew the motors a bit, push the motor down, and screw it down very tight.

I'm wondering what problem you are trying to solve really... my filament doesn't seem to have a problem to bend to the weak curve of the bowden tube. You could however, remove the "stress" of the tube by hanging your extruder drive from a string on the ceiling above your machine... (I still hope to see photos of this silly idea some day)