[YouMagine covered in spam]

This is how the cool places get FUBAR. No place is safe.....

[Printing a Nylon part with dissolvable PVA as support material]

I have not seen this with my nylon prints. I am with gr5 to see if you got a spool(s) that are inferior. Mistakes do happen in the manufacturing.

For instance I have 3 spools of PC, all labeled transparent, on the box and on the spools, and one is the black PC material in actuality despite all the labels.

I also have some Cheetah and Armadillo and I swear they print, feel and behave the same way.

but so far, my nylon prints are not problematic.

[How can i cut out a pattern best on a round shell object ? 3D]

OK...I do not think it does negative spaces where you can 'knock out' material, but here is something you can get for free. I have not tried it, but it does look cool.

https://github.com/MarkWheadon/velocity-painting/wiki

And, just search velocity printing or velocity printing.

The name to keep correct is Mark Wheadon.

[How can i cut out a pattern best on a round shell object ? 3D]

Just to throw in an extra question, Are you asking about positive/negative space? Or are you asking for raised areas as rowiac suggested.

Most software can create a raised area as displacement map using black and white or grey scale.

Creating negative areas may be difficult. I will have to look.....I may be mixing things up (not uncommon) but I could swear I saw something in a thread about this somewhere else.

[UM3-X Buildplate temps]

PC is not easy to get right. It warps, and when bed adhesion is too good, it chips your glass plate. We advise to print it with a raft. Remove the raft at high temperature, otherwise it is hard to remove from your object. Also the advanced printing kit is advised which contains a front door, but you can improvise that yourself easily.

Though PC is yet to be officially released for the UM3, the printing profiles are already in Cura. (it enables the raft by default)

Have you also read this?

Yes, I have read that. It was what gave me good results in the beginning. I have found a correlation between shape/mass and warping.

A decent amount of infill to increase mass and spread the heat.

Shapes that are fairly squareish/roundish, as opposed to oblong and oval are more prone to stay in place.

To alleviate those issues that are not addressed by the above, I did use a raft. I was surprised how easily I could get the raft off while still heated. I am loathed to use rafts, but if ya gotta, ya gotta. They can just be such a pain sometimes. But I was surprised with my last print.

Thanks again for all the added info and making sure I found the guide. And, PC is one of those I am working to get that right. It is a great material.

Ummm, I did not think the advanced printing kit was for the UM3 series yet.

For heat retention, I just tape some bubble wrap up across the opening and let the temp come up in the chamber before printing.

Edit, I forgot to mention that this stuff does overhangs better than anything I have seen so far.

[UM3-X Buildplate temps]

Thank you. Just trying to get a better adhesion on some PC parts I am printing and worried about killing the system.

[Adaptive supports]

Have you tried to use towers (In the support section where you can choose a minimum and maximum width) or conical supports (In experimental where you can choose degrees as well as minimum widths)? Depending on which version of Cura you use, it may or may not be available.

You can see it (Them) in action here:

Using towers and conical supports

[UM3-X Buildplate temps]

Just a quickie, on the UM3(X) I have seen not to put the buildplate above 100°C. But, can it safely go above that to 110°-120°C?

I know you can dial it up way above that, but will it damage the buildplate mechanisms?

[Cura exe file]

32Bit Windows or 64bit Windows?

32Bit Cura (pre 2.4) or 64 bit Cura?

Cura 2.x or Cura 15.x?

All excellent points....or...maybe just do a search?

[Move Function in Cura 2.5.0]

Above the z = 0 can be done by disabling the "automatically drop objects on the build plate" option.

 

This was pointed out to me in another thread yesterday and glad you did so here to clear up any confusion I may have created.

[Clogged BB Core]

1) Use a needle (injection needle, or acupuncture needle) to puncture the clog (just take care not to damage the relatively soft brass)

2) use polycarbonate for the hot and cold pulls (use 270 and 135degC)

 

I have had to resort to this. I held off suggesting the needle because I had a fine tipped Airbrush needle, but not everyone has this.

Also, I have had to do both methods (Needle and PC pulls) just to get my core working again. Now, I clean religiously to prevent this from happening.

[Cleaning x/y axis rods?]

Since we're talking abrasives I'm just going to throw one thing in there that's highly useful - especially to people not terribly proficient in sanding/polishing.

Micro-mesh

This is a great product. Small abrasive pads in a variety of grain sizes and you can buy sets that allow for easy sanding through the grits. More importantly, they've got a foam backing which ensures correct pressure by letting the grain sink into the foam in case too much force is applied. No need to wrap it around anything like you might want with sandpaper either, the foam is stiff enough to work on its own.

Heh, incidentally they have their own grit scale too

Fantastic bit of kit, this - nonstandard grit or not. Ranging from around 30 to < 3 microns - I've buffed out scratched watch lenses with it.

 

I took a look. That little rounded square pad is the same thing (They look the same at least) as the ones I get from Berea Hardwoods. I have not seen the big pads though. I will have to investigate.

And they are amazing. Just as SyntaxTerror said.

[Support Settings]

Cura allows a positive Z-offset when the option "drop model to build plate" is turned off.

I think zerspaner_gerd has given the right answer, though it is not easy. Ask for help if you can't get it done. Some day, this will be more user friendly!

Ok, I went and took a look. It does work as you say. But is it possible for the typed in heights override the autoplacement rather than the other way around?

It is nice to have the models placed right on the buildplate, but one errant vertex can keep it from making contact.

You can move it, in a difficult way, but the autoplacement does not want to play nice with the truly subtle variances even when moving negative Z.

I have to grab the Z arrow and move it and it is much more crude than being able to type in a specific value and have it stick.

[Support Settings]

Huh.....I would have figured that typing in a value would just override that functionality.

Oh well, live and learn. Thanks!!

[Cleaning x/y axis rods?]

I always use a microfiber cloth, drop some oil on it, and clean the smooth rods. I bought a pack 2years ago and I have only use 2. They can be cleaned on soap and they don't leave fibers (the ones for eyeglasses). Also I use oil on them to lubricate/whilecleaning.

Brand suggestion?

[Move Function in Cura 2.5.0]

Just a silly throw in there as well, it would be nice to beable to put in specific rotations by axis in degrees like scaling and moving. And, also to add the ability to raise the model above the 0-Z point.

[Printer went off design]

Ummm, I am not sure what you mean by 'further than the original'. Was this in one axis only? What did you use to slice it with and do you have a screenshot of the file to compare against the printed piece?

And, welcome to da forum. I am not a welcomer, but am a noob, not much further than yourself.

[3dsolex buying guide]

I'm sorry for the stupid questions, but I got my printer 3 months ago, and have been overwhelmed with learning to print, design and post-processing.

There are no stupid questions. It is ok to be ignorant. We are all ignorant and noobs at one point. None of us sprang forth from the forehead of Zeus, fully sentient. That is what the forum is for. And believe me, it is helpful.

Ask away without fear. This is one of the most responsive communities I have ever been a part of.

[Cleaning x/y axis rods?]

OH!! And I second geert_2's response. Always on a test piece first.

[Cleaning x/y axis rods?]

These are the polishing supplies I use when making plastic models. I can get a better surface with them than just a standard gloss coat.

http://www.bereahardwoods.com/pen-kit/sets/Acrylic_finishing_kit.html

And as a finisher (yes, beyond the US grade 12,000 grit)

https://www.novuspolish.com/

The pads are great as they follow an easy path from course to fine grade. They are flexible and water sandable. That is most important when polishing as you do not want to grind the residue back into the surface and make it worse. I have proven that can happen. Failures teach me more than successes do.

Also, the finer the grit, the less pressure. You are only trying to get the tops of surface imperfections out and not really dig into the material.

The Novus products come with a special cloth that is not abrasive to plastic surfaces and lets the liquid do the work. I have been able to take dinged plastic see-through and polish it out to a fully transparent, non-optical hazed surface as well as that 'wet-look' mirror shine on models and paints. If it will not abraid plastic, it will not abraid metals. Well, anything can be abrasive with enough pressure, but you get the idea.

The clumsy noob has found every way possible (so far and still learning) to compensate for said clumsiness.

[Cleaning x/y axis rods?]

Thank you for the elaboration. When I taught at a college/institute most of my students were foreign. So we not only had to delve into measurement differences, but also video broadcast differences (PAL vs NTSC) and it was never pretty. Especially if you had to convert and create weird 'mixed frames' (25 FPS PAL vs 29.97 NTSC).

So yeah, all industries should get together, make standards and really, the US needs to get off the Imperial measurement system and just go metric. Base 10 is so much more efficient.

Fortunately, I spent 3 of my formative school years in the Bahamas and learned the metric system so it is not a full boondoggle for me.

But, seriously, I do love the new info. Makes for a more rounded life experience

[Cleaning x/y axis rods?]

Anything less than 12,000 grit would not be good.

And on that note, be aware that the U.S. CAMI grit scale is NOT identical to the European FEPA one.

Even here in the US we have weird grit scales. Differences between sandpaper and polishers and emery cloth.

The polishers and sandpapers are consistent within certain industries. But, why oh why can we not all have a consistent system so it is just easier.

and, thank you for the added info. :)That is new to me. Luv da new info!!

[ABS layer bonding]

Wellll, depending on the brand of filament and environmental conditions as well as the settings are preset guidelines and not perfect (danged close, but not perfect in all cases) you could try a bit of temp differences and speed differences.

Whatever you try, make only one adjustment at a time when doing so, so that you understand what each adjustment does to the final print.

And, only print smaller sections until you get it right. Like abort the print just a short bit above the point where you can make a decision. No need to wait for the whole thing to print wrong.

I can see the blobbing and stringing, but I am not sure about the striations that could be, or not, a flight of stairs traversing the spiral. Those little guys gotta climb that thing somehow, eh?

[[UM3] Change support material type within Cura midprint?]

What you can do is print the supports with PLA, and only the support interfaces with PVA.

Support interfaces are roofs and bottoms on either side of the support structure touching the print. Printing supports with PLA and support interfaces with PVA will result in small solluble bits between the supports and the model that should remove cleanly.

Use the small looking glass icon next to custom and type in "interface". Set the "Support Extruder" to Extruder 1, check "Enable support interface" and set the "Support Interface Extruder" to Extruder 2.

That is so cool! I never thought of that! Thanks!! I gotta use this as support can eat up a lot of PVA.

[Major Jamb - first time using ABS material got an ER12C]

Also, if you got an error ER12C, it means that the print cable could have come a bit loose with the extra heat. Check your reseller or supplier on how to properly get to the cable in the print head. It is a quick and easy fix. I have managed to do so without killing the machine.