nick-foley

The Printbl Grape is the bomb. Some of the best printing filament I've ever used... gone through two spools of it. The only filament that is better is the Printbl Banana, but the Grape has a cleaner looking color so it's almost a wash...

3mm

Yeah, as I stated earlier in this thread - after several months of tweaking settings, double/triple-checking correct assembly, and dealing with constant clogging... I got rid of the E3D. I like the enthusiasm with which they designed it, but I don't think that they tackled the right set of problems to make a great PLA hotend. For other plastics, it seemed fine, but for PLA (and given the cost) I'd much rather use the UBIS (of which I have 3 installed, used for months, and have never had a single problem with) or the Merlin (which others have been excited about). Also, as a general note - Switching between ABS and PLA on the same hotend is asking for clogging in my experience. Pick one and own it.

Print speed in mm/s is a misnomer, as actual "print speed" (ie amount of printing over time) is as much dependent on acceleration settings as velocity settings. This is where the UM is faster than a Rep 2, since the UM has a much lighter printhead and can handle higher accelerations.

Yeah, seems like an easy task in Solidworks. What aspect are you having trouble with?

Also, a little out of my depth here since I only have UM1's, but are you printing in PLA? At 0.05mm and in PLA I would never go above 200°.

There's also the possibility that dust on your filament has started to collect in the nozzle and cause a blockage, but I think that is pretty unlikely to cause a slow failure instead of a sudden plug. My bet is the teflon piece.

I print at 0.07mm on UM1's all the time with results that are worth the increased time. It sounds like retraction is exacerbating the underextrusion problems, which is definitely a sign that there is friction/stiction in your hotend somewhere. After spending some time fixing a friend's UM2 last weekend, my suspicion would be your teflon piece has begun to creep or deform, causing it to restrict filament flow more than it should. I'd open up the hotend and make sure everything is looking normal with the teflon and filament can pass through it easily. Also give yourself the best shot at success by clipping the (likely now deformed) filament that is currently in the machine, because the extra force the extruder was putting on it while trying to overcome your underextrusion won't help you get smooth results during your troubleshooting.

My first guess would be that some sort of clog is developing in the hotend. My second guess would be that your filament has some physical or chemical quality issues. I would run some material through the machine by hand and see how extrusion feels. I would also try the exact.same.print with a different filament and do a direct comparison.

Sounds just like underextrusion. Increase your flow rate or decrease your filament diameter in Cura. Do multiple prints of a small, mostly solid object to get the value right. I had suspected that Innofil was actually UM's supplier, so this is interesting.

FX121 can be powered directly from the stock fan connection. The only drawback is that it doesn't do PWM, so it's all-or-nothing with cooling. Great for PLA, not so much for ABS or PET (unless you have a heated chamber?). Also been looking for premade stepper extensions... haven't found much. Would really like ones with locking connectors, and twisted pairs would probably be good, though I'm not an EE so I don't know how much difference it would really make.

Grinding filament is rarely the source of the problem; it is much more likely just a symptom and you have some sort of blockage in your hotend. I would start there.

A paid marketplace for 3D printable goods is unquestionably the future of this industry. If anyone in the 3D model hosting business isn't planning for that endgame with their full effort, they are missing the biggest disruption opportunity consumerism (and the world economy at large) has ever seen.

Searching a little more I think that UM is getting their filament from Innofil and that this is the OEM source for the filament: https://www.igo3d.com/en/silver-metallic-innofil3d-pla-2-85mm.html Unfortunately they don't seem to be distributing in the US either.

I'd add a single column of support for that lower point on the body of the rocket using MeshMixer, and print the rest with a decently large brim.

Great detective work... I guess I'll try out some PLA/PHA as well as pester Colorfabb to see if they sell any pure PLA that they don't normally advertise.

XT is easier, prettier, and has a higher glass transition. Nylon is a pretty cool material, but more specialized for simpler parts that need to be strong and a little flexible. I would do XT.

Mcmaster has it. I also have a sheet that I never really used if you want it... in Bedstuy. You can have it. MDF works alright too. Same with Poplar.

After trying dozens of different filament colors and suppliers, I've come to the conclusion that the all around best filament, in terms of reliable printability and professional-looking output, is the Ultimaker Metallic Silver PLA. The older, nonmetallic silver was total garbage... but the metallic kind is excellent. The consistency is good, it flows well at a variety of temperatures, and the "metal" flecks are peerless at concealing build lines. Is there a source in the US? Or is it known what PLA supplier they use, and if they distribute in the US?

I'm still with 14.01

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkx6r2p8qbaygtf/Capture.JPG Where???

Wow, very useful. Had no idea that existed! Which brings up another problem: Cura plugins are impossible to find! There is no way to browse them! Even now, browsing the Ultimaker Wiki, your plugin doesn't show up in the list of available plugins.

Can anyone find a US source? I remember searching for this on Mcmaster a few months ago, the closest thing is a 12"x12"x3/32", which is $45... not sure if it is textured either.

I agree completely about the combing vs. retraction threshold. I've had way too many prints structurally ruined due to long combing moves that cause massive underextrusion after dropping all of their plastic during the comb. I don't even think it necessarily needs to be a user-facing variable - just set it so that all moves longer than 10mm or so require a retraction. I think there is probably a sweet spot around 10mm which is the correct value in almost all circumstances

Yeah, MM just keeps getting better. Some of the annoyances listed in gr5's writeup are actually even fixed now. Sometimes I still just build supports in my native modeling program though, when I know exactly what I want and can achieve it simply.