Brulti
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3D Prints
Posts posted by Brulti
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Breakaway and PVA are two different kind of supports used for different kind of prints.
Breakaway is made for prints that have simple geometries: large flat surfaces, no internal geometry, no tiny holes or small fiddly bits and such. You wouldn't print the fractal-based sculptures by @kmanstudios with Breakaway, because you'd just end up breaking up all the tiny bits as you take the Breakaway off, and I'm not even sure the Breakaway support would print nicely anyway. I haven't tried it yet, I'm simply saying what UM said.
PVA, on the other hand, is made for support of tiny fiddly bits and complicated geometries and the like. Because it is soluble, ie it dissolves in water, while Breakaway does not so you have to, literally, break it away from your print. Thus you can print a tree with all the leaves and such with PVA, then put it in water to soak for 24h to 48h, and your print will come out looking all shiny and whole.
So, the two supports are actually useful and good. They're just not good for the same things. Plus, PVA works only with PLA, Nylon and CPE, using it in combination with any other material is labeled as experimental, and UM does not guarantee that you'd obtain any good results. Breakaway works with all the other UM materials that PVA was rated for.
UM is actually slowly covering all of their bases, so to speak. And that is good. Now that we have support for about everything, I do hope that they come up with cores made for abrasive materials, and their own kind of such materials, like wood, carbon, and so on. One can dream!
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As I understand it, Breakaway isn't made to be dissolved like PVA, and is meant to be use for parts that have a fairly simple geometry and no internal cavities, or small holes like yours.
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Have a safe trip! ^^ I'll pray your prints go well as well!
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The idea stems from a recent experience I had, where I spent hours calibrating, checking settings and such, only to have all my problems solved when I swapped my old AA with a new one... So many hours lost...
So, swap it, redo all the calibration as the printer will ask you to (X Y and also manual bed leveling, just to be on the safe side) and get a new test print started. And let's cross fingers and hope it solves at least some of your problems.
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We call them IP plugs here (I'm French), it would seem that they're called Smart Plugs in the US. This one looks like the same I use: http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F7C029/
Basically, you plug this in your wall socket, and plug the printer on this. You download an app on your phone, link them via wifi when you stand next to the smart plug, takes a couple minutes and the app guides you through the whole process. And you're set. Once that's done, you can be on a trip to Australia or Japan or South Africa, as long as you have internet access, the app connects to your smart plug via the web, and you can turn it on or off by the press of a button on the app, thus turning power off to whatever is plugged into the smart plug. You can also set rules, program it via the app to turn on and off at specified hours or after a certain time has elapsed and so on.
Heard of parents using those to make sure their kids doesn't stay on the computer or console chatting or playing games past the allowed time or past a certain hour.
@kmanstudios A tutorial on the smart plug or the remote control? For the plug, see above, for the remote control, I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person.
I did a bit of searching through the forums, and found a handful of threads that explain some of the solutions, and some of the technology behind the UM3. I've no idea what works or what doesn't, what is up to date or out of date, since I choose the easy way! IP cameras + smart plugs works with everything, no matter the version or the device.
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A suggestion: if it isn't a settings problem, then maybe it is a hardware problem?
@Dragon2781 Do you have another AA printcore you can swap to make your tests again? Maybe the printcore has a tiny defect, the hole is a bit too wide or something?
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On 19/02/2018 at 11:58 AM, rinof said:
Une autre question se pose à mon avis, n'y aura-t-il pas un surcoût lier à la production de ces bobines, pour qu'elles soient fiables (enroulage manuel ou autre)? Pour que ce soit accepté par tout les fabricants il faut qu'il y ai un intérêt économique. A moins que ce soit un marché de niche réservé aux imprimeurs écolos. C'est juste une question que je me pose pour alimenter le débat.
Je pense que tous les fabricants de filaments y verront un intérêt économique: il leur faudra modifier leurs machines pour pouvoir continuer a enrouler proprement leurs filaments, donc il y aura un coût. Mais ils y gagneront en n'ayant plus besoin de fabriquer ou de faire fabriquer les spools, d'en vérifier la qualité, de devoir les stocker, donc d'avoir un entrepôt et des gens pour gérer le stockage. Vu la quantité de bobines produites, je pense que les producteurs sont largement gagnant économiquement a court terme.
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Or, you can also go another, easier, way if port-forwarding and such ain't your thing or you worry of doing something wrong: buy an IP camera or two (I'm using two cameras from Logitech) and set them up in front and above your printer. There' quite cheap, and picture quality won't be worst than the built-in camera. I'd even say that it is highly possible that it will be better than the built in camera...
Why two? You might ask.
Well, that's simple: top view allows you to check if the walls and the infill are printing as they should, as well as any internal geometry your print may have, front view to ensure the print is sticking properly to the glass bed. That's the setup I have, it has been invaluable to save me time and money by realizing when a long print that would have taken a whole night or a weekend was going bad.
Also, I have an IP plug (I'm using a WeMo plug), which basically allows me to cut power to the printer while away, so it will stop printing and avoid wasting filament or creating a massive blob around the printcores which takes ages to clean up, and there's always the risk of damaging the cores. Unfortunately, UM hasn't yet developed tools to control the printer from afar. It can be done through other means, via raspberry pi and arduino and whatever as explained in other threads in this forum, but I will readily admit as to having a hard time understanding how to set this up, so I chose the easy way.
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Welcome and congratulations on your new pretty toy!
As for tips and tricks, well, this forum is full of them, and full of helpful people, so, first tip would be: never hesitate to look through the forum or ask your question if something is puzzling or troubling you regarding the printer.
As for some stuff that, in my opinion, should be standard and included in the instructions given with the printer and the filament spool:
- Put the printer somewhere safe! Make sure it can't be damaged by water or such, that no one can trip on the wire, that the surface it stands upon is not slippery (someone on the forums apparently had their printer commit suicide recently) and that the room is ventilated. Not really due to bad fumes or such, PLA and most materials are quite harmless, but because it can smell, especially if a print fails and it burns.
- Humidity is your worst enemy! It's especially true for PLA and PVA. Keep your spools stored in a dry place, and I strongly advise using dryboxes for your prints. Our very own @ultiarjan did some nice ones: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1837907 I'm using them for my prints, and they solved so many problems I had with my spools going bad because they soaked the ambient moisture. I would also advise to do something similar for your storage when you're not printing. I've bought some big plastic boxes, an hygrometer, stuck a moisture absorbent thing in it and there we go.
- Check everything when it comes out of the box. Not every transporter people are careful, boxes can get thrown, fall and so on. You need to pay special attention to the looks of the box, the printer, and check the metallic axis rods to make sure they did not come loose. It happened to me, and I was not happy when I saw it. Good thing nothing else was damaged in transport. Also check the glass plate to make sure it is flat. There was a streak of bent plate some months ago, UM worked with the provider to correct that, but it never hurts to check. If the glass plate is too far bent, printing will become much more difficult. Fortunately, if that happens, your reseller should exchange the glass bed for free, if they don't, mention it here, and someone from UM will take care of the problem. The people at UM are very reactive on the forums, and usually do their utmost to ensure we have the best customer experience possible, and they hold their resellers to similar standards.
About CURA, the software made to be used with the printers:
- Go dark! The dark theme is so much easier on the eyes. In CURA: Preferences -> Configure CURA -> General -> Theme -> Ultimaker Dark
- Show every setting. By default, CURA is in what I call 'simplified mode', ie it does not show every single setting. You can show them all by going to Preferences -> Configure CURA -> Settings then check the 'Check All' boxes to reveal all the hidden settings. You will probably never use them all, but I find it nice to see them all, and be able to make little tweaks and such as I test things and see what happen.
- Move the prime tower away from the corners! So, bit of technical explanation: the prime tower is used when dual printing to help prepare the printcore by starting extrusion, and also clean the unused printcore by wiping off any excess material on it. Standard location is on the back right corner of the glass bed. Except it's not the best location because the corners always bend a little, and thus the tower has not the best surface adhesion, and can fall down, potentially ruining your print. The settings in CURA allow you to determine the position of the tower, and it's best to put it somewhere in the center of the sides. I put it on the center right, others put it on the center back, whatever you prefer, as long as it's away from the corners.
Finally, last but not least: Never be afraid to experiment!
The printer is sturdy, it has an amazing range of possibilities, and you have almost complete freedom to tweak and try, so do it. You'll learn of your mistakes, discover amazing things to share with us, print awesome stuff and have fun. You'll also have hair-pulling moments and moments of sheer confusion, as with every kind of technology.
I've had my UM3X for about 8 months now, still getting baffled by the possibilities and by the things I'm able to get printed.
Hope that will help you, and, as I said, if you've got a question, never be afraid to ask here on the forums, everybody will be happy to help.
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Good advice. I'll try and do that next week.
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The 'Notifications' page is totally out of whack:
Black arrows: Same topic, it tells me that I've read the most recent comment by kmanstudios from 5 minutes ago, which I haven't yet, but I haven't read his comment from 12 hours ago, which I have.
Green arrows: Same topic again, I haven't read anything there, except I did read the comment from one hour ago.
Red arrow: Still tells me that I haven't read the new comments on this topic, except I did.
And that's just the first half of the first page. The notifications there still pretend that I haven't read answers in topics dating several weeks ago, which I did since I've replied to these same topics in the meantime.
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Thank you, and I wouldn't dare distribute anything without giving due credit.
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Ok, I'll have to test that when the printer isn't busy, since I keep automatic leveling always on.
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19 hours ago, ahoeben said:
If it were easy to explain, it would be easy to fix programmatically.
The problem is that lots of these files are interdependent. So restoring one of the files is going to do more harm then good, even if the file by itself has not errors in it.
I will readily admit my mostly complete lack of knowledge about computer programming. But I understanding than restoring the files one by one if their interdependent isn't a good idea at all.
Isn't there a way to have a test done of those files? I remember a game I played some time ago, Star Trek Online, had a feature on the starter window, before you actually really launch the game, which could let you force a verification of all game files in case the game wouldn't launch or was behaving strangely, like replacing the models of the ship by models of the characters, and thus you saw people as big as starships flying at warp...
I have absolutely no idea of the work that this would involve though, just an idea I just had that I'm throwing out.
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12 hours ago, kmanstudios said:
I do not understand.....do you mod your games or make your own?
I do pen and paper RPG, not computer ones. So, there's not much of a visual aspect to it, except for pictures used from time to time to show some stuff, or when playing in well known universes like Star Wars, and your sculpts, like the throne one would add that stunning visuals to a game.
"You finally arrive at the end of a tunnel. It opens up to a vast cavern dimly lit by phosphorescent fungi. In the center, sticking out of the murky waters, you see the Throne of the Sea King!"
Then I place your sculpture on the table, and I'm sure that all my players would open their eyes wide in astonishment.
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Very nice. I'll remember your profiles if I ever get some ninjaflex. For now, I wouldn't trust UM TPU to try and print the dinosaur, my earlier tests suggests that it would be a mess. I'd need to fiddle with the settings when I have the time.
Just had a thought: it might be a good idea to have a central repository where all the settings developed by the community are stored, so it would be easier to find for everyone.
@SandervG What do you think? Could it be possible to create a repository of those curaprofiles somewhere on the site or even on the forums? We would need to get some sort of naming convention to make it quick and easy to find what one is searching, but I think it might be of great help.
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@Dragon2781 I've recently a huge (12cm tall) dark vader head that serves as a pot for pencils and such. Printed it at 0.06mm, took about three days, it came out perfect, except for the first layer not sticking properly in part to the bed plate, should have used a brim and make sure that my plate was clean. I've printed it in PLA black, used up nearly all of what was left of my black filament. There was only a couple rolls of filament left on the spool, the Force was with us!
As was said, you probably got a bad filament. If anotehr color behaves properly, get in touch with your reseller and ask for a refund or an exchange. UM keeps a close eye on their resellers, and quite a lot of them are on this forum anyway, I know mine has an account here. So, if the reseller refuses to change or refund, you can try going through UM directly. Nallath saw your problem already, and you can also tag Sandervg who is the forum's main moderator and would relay your problem to the relevant people.
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@kmanstudios I'd never attempt to print so many things at the same time, I'd fear to loose everything if something topples or there's a hiccup in power or whatever... But, that was such a lovely sight for a fan of sci-fi like me!
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I'm like @kmanstudios: i have autoleveling set to always, and I redo it from time to time, especially when I change the plate because they can vary in thickness, and they also vary in bend, unfortunately.
You can deactivate the autoleveling completely, so the printer will just print and not do the 'push the printhead against the glass' thing at the start.
But, usually,once you've done your manual leveling at the start then let the printer do the autoleveling, you should be set.
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I've printed with about half the colors available with UM PLA, including black, and the only time I had problems was when the spools soaked up too much humidity. You learn by making mistakes.
Now I use dryboxes, I've not have any underextrusion problem with any color or any material.
Are you storing your spools in a dry place? Have you checked that there isn't something blocking the feeder, or in the bowden tube or even the printhead? There can be many reasons for underextrusions, but the standard profiles are, in my experience, unlikely to be one of them.
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I've made some tests with TPU 95, in my experience, with basic CURA settings, you need to stick to prints that are geometric shapes (or combinations), and avoid using it for support at all cost as well as make sure that there is the least retractions possible when you print.
With standard settings, you will get some stringing, blobs of the stuff as it retracts and then extrudes again, and even can get a bit of burnt material for small parts as it stays in contact too long with the print head.
What I've seen is that, with standard setting, the TPU melts and oozes out of the print head. It can last for a minute or two even after the print as finished, producing tiny hair thin strand of the stuff that goes everywhere.
I'd need to run some more tests to see if it can be solved, but the printer is often busy with customer's projects.
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Those things are impressive. I could so use those sculptures for yours for my RPG games...
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10 hours ago, nilrog said:
Yes, a better text with a working link to the configuration folder is a lot better.
But, if Cura already crashed/failed to use the old configuration...what will happen when the user starts putting back that same "bad" configuration?
I think there should be an explanation somewhere, either in the folder itself or in the user manual, explaining how to do it to find out which configuration is 'bad'. Put one file at a time and restart Cura until it bugs/crashes which will show which configuration file is bad. Or something like that. Else the user will be stuck in an endless cycle.
Completely unrelated: Cura -> Ressources -> Images -> kitten.jpg
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22 hours ago, gr5 said:
This. This is a good idea - but maybe Y=180? Y=100 is near the center. I like it best in the rear center. In either of the rear corners it won't squish well and it will fall over.
Rear center works too. I think the real advice is 'keep it away from the corners.'
Nylon et PVA
in Français
Posted · Edited by Brulti
Je mettrais un petit bémol: suivant la forme de la pièce et le temps de dissolution, le nylon peut se tordre.
J'ai eu le cas en imprimant une pièce avec une large base plate, et la base s'est légèrement courbée après avoir été plongée dans l'eau chaude. J'ai fait le test deux fois, et j'ai eu exactement le même problème les deux fois. C'était pour un client, et ça ne l'a pas gêné vu que la pièce allait être vissée, donc la courbure allait être corrigée au vissage. Mais c'est a garder a l'esprit, le Nylon peut réagir dans l'eau chaude.