GregValiant
-
Posts
5,207 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
213
Content Type
Forums
Events
3D Prints
Posts posted by GregValiant
-
-
@gr5 - it could also be a Silky PLA. I've had the same problem when it has a high moisture content. Drying it out helps a lot. (And I'm a believer that everything runs in streaks, and if true that it's a Silky PLA then this would be the second Silky thread in the past few hours). When extruding prior to printing, if the Silky comes out of the nozzle and immediately expands to about 4 times the nozzle diameter, that would seem to indicate high moisture content as the water turns to steam in the hot end.
@jazzsingeruk - you used the word "wispy". Would that equate to "cotton candy"? I've noticed that some nozzles do that much more than others of the same size. It's like they shoot up a roostertail of plastic when they print and it blows all over the place. It's so fine I haven't been able to measure it, and grabbing it with a tool (or even with fingers) is almost impossible. Just changing nozzles probably wouldn't effect all that regular stringing though.
I had a couple of good photos of a silky print taken before and after drying the filament. The difference was quite noticeable and it was the same Gcode file. Unfortunately I cleaned out the folder and the photos are gone.
-
I have had issues with silky PLA as well. It would appear that it absorbs moisture much faster than regular PLA. The layer adhesion is not good. It appears to be "stickier" than regular PLA and does indeed slowly clog at the hot end. But the colors are terrific.
Before printing with it I always dry it even though it is stored in a ziploc bag with silica gel packs.
I print it at 215 to get better layer adhesion. I've tried to 220 but it gets real stringy. Changing the Retraction settings indeed doesn't seem to help.
No matter the printing temperature, it still slowly clogs, and the filament within the bowden tube "accordions" in an attempt to fold itself over rather than feed which makes matters worse. It then requires a pause, a hot pull, and trimming about 100cm of folded material to get going again. This is with a hot end with a titanium heat break and brass nozzle. It generally takes 2 to 3 hours to get to that point. I've used silky filament from Matter Hacker and Sunla. Both have the same issues.
But the colors are terrific. The Sunla silver in particular looks like brushed chrome. I have taken to adding pauses at about 2 hour intervals when printing with Silky PLA so I can do a quick hot pull and trim. It's annoying but necessary for me because (did I mention?)...the colors are terrific.
-
Cura users asked for changes. I'm sure the people who develop and caretake Cura looked at those requested changes before implementing them.
The default "Disarm Timeout" on my Ender 3 Pro is 120 seconds. I'm not there to constantly stare at the printer so I set the Disarm Timeout as high as possible just in case I'm slow to respond.
I find that the Pause at Height works exactly as intended. My machine has Marlin firmware. The M0 stops the print and a button click on the LCD resumes the print. Looking back at my statement "That is firmware-specific to your printer." could be misleading. I should have said that the Mcode used to pause a print is "firmware-specific to ANY printer".
-
When you try to use Pause at Height with "Height" as the main option, and you have Z-Hops in the file, the plugin doesn't find the correct Z height. It's a known issue and has been reported on GitHub and a repair is planned. The layer number is the number of the layer in the Gcode file (base 0). It is equal to the Cura preview layer minus 1.
Method. You have it set to BQ(M25). That is firmware-specific to your printer.
The Disarm Timout is a countdown in seconds. If there has been no movement for "X" number of seconds then the Stepper motors disable and the printer loses track of the print head location. 20 seconds wasn't good. The max allowed in the plugin is 1800 seconds so set it to that. It will give you 30 minutes to change filament or install a nut, or whatever.
The amount of Retraction occurs at the pause. The amount of Extrude is the prime on restart. They require some practice since they are affected by the amount of ooze that occurs during the pause. The speeds can be set to whatever you normally use in Cura. I use Pause at Height to change colors. I don't bother with the retraction settings.
Redo layer??? I know it doesn't work as expected and that's about all I know.
Standby temperature is generally your printing temperature so the nozzle doesn't cool off during the pause.
Display text sends a message to the display. Yours might be "Insert your nuts now". (Sorry...couldn't resist. I'm doubly sorry if you are of the female persuasion.)
Gcode before Pause I usually put in M300 so the machine beeps when it pauses.
Gcode After Pause can be used for different things. It goes in at the line immediately below M25.
-
I agree about the cantilevered beam. When it's adjusted correctly it's OK. When only moving in one direction it's OK. If there is any binding on the right side then Z-hops aren't correct as the drop isn't the same as the Hop.
It sounds like you have a handle on it but I'll comment since I'm here. I adjust it this way:
With the X beam at Z=0 adjust the left and right Z eccentric wheels to provide enough force on the upright beams that the wheel can just be turned by hand.
Then loosen one end of the top crossbar and move the X beam to Z=Max. Tighten the crossbar. The Z wheels should have the same amount of friction there as they did at the bottom. The left and right uprights must be parallel.
One thing I altered was to move the X beam to about Z=25 and drill a hole in the left upright so I could access the right X beam mounting bolt from the rear. With the left bolt tight and the right bolt just a tad loose I can adjust the angle of the X beam (it rotates about the left bolt) and then I can tighten that right bolt. I generally leave my Z-Hop height at 0.5 and it's even-steven both on the hop and on the drop.
I didn't buy a top end printer. If the Ender would have been delivered with a decent Hot End, ball bearing fans, dual Z motors, and aluminum extruder drive, Capricorn tubing, etc., it would have cost considerably more. For Creality at least, it was all about price-point. They sucked me in.
-
On 1/28/2021 at 9:22 PM, jimmygjr said:
...is only measuring .9mm when done...
I should pay more attention. You're missing 1.1mm? And here I was thinking it was a simple layer height fix.
I'm going to assume that was a typo. Using a support blocker as a measuring tool I get 1.9mm as the height of the first step. At .19 Initial Layer Height and regular Layer Height it slices to 10 layers and 1.9 high.
If the .9mm height wasn't a typo then check your Z steps/mm.
-
As you have probably guessed, it's likely a printer issue.
Query the printer using the LCD and write down the Home Offsets, steps/mm for all axes, and anything else you may have customized (like z-offset if you have an ABL system). If you are running a flavor of Marlin you can send M502 to the printer and do a factory reset. That will put the firmware back to the "as delivered" state.
Start a text editor (like Notepad) on your computer. The file will only be four lines:
M502
M206 X?? Y?? Z?? ;This is for the home offsets. Enter the numbers you recorded
M92 X?? Y?? Z?? E?? ;This is the steps/mm. Enter the numbers you recorded.
M500
Save the file as "reset.gcode" and put it on your SD card and "print" the file. The firmware will be reset, the Home Offset and steps/mm will be changed to what you had, and M500 saves the changes. Then try printing a calibration cube or Benchy and see how it goes. If it is still a mess, then I suppose next would be to consider that something is amiss on the mainboard.
-
gr5 is the bed adhesion master, but yes, it can be that you are too tight with your piece of paper. I use parchment paper as it is only .04mm thick and nothing sticks to it. When I feel the nozzle "scratch" on the paper, it's just about right. There are a couple of ways to cheat until you get the feel for it. One is setting the Initial Layer Height to .28 or .30. That pretty much insures there will be a gap even if you are tight on the paper. Remember, you don't need to print a whole model. If it starts out bad just abort and try again. It's another thing that calibration cubes are good for.
Practice, practice, and then one day you say to yourself "I can't believe I had so much trouble with that".
And then the hot end clogs and we can have another little talk.
-
1
-
-
The gcode file looks fine. The extrusions are all there and the purge lines are enabled. The flowrate is set to 100%.
G92 E0 ;Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ;Move Z Axis up
G1 X10.1 Y20 Z0.28 F5000.0 ;Move to start position
G1 X10.1 Y200.0 Z0.28 F1500.0 E15 ;Draw the first line
G1 X10.4 Y200.0 Z0.28 F5000.0 ;Move to side a little
G1 X10.4 Y20 Z0.28 F1500.0 E30 ;Draw the second line
G92 E0 ;Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ;Move Z Axis upAfter that it starts to extrude the skirt.
G1 F2700 E0
G1 F1200 X128.068 Y126.979 E0.02002
G1 X128.39 Y126.676 E0.03472If the nozzle is too close to the bed then it won't extrude. Is the extruder skipping steps? Do you have an ABL system or are you leveling by hand?
-
Did you ever print this?
-
https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3v2/comments/l4vbuj/the_new_and_improved_v2_menu/
He also provides a link to his GitHub site where you can check out his firmware build.
-
Here is a little light reading on the subject on GitHub. I think the setting you're looking for is under
Dual Extrusion | Nozzle Switch retraction distances.
-
The hot end fan is hard wired in the "On" position. When the printer is on, the fan is on. There are no controls for it, there are no Gcode commands you can send that will effect the RPM, or turn it off or on.
If it's turning off by itself I think you may have a problem at the mainboard and it might be as simple as tightening the screws that bind the wires for the hot end fan. Check for any chafing along the length of the hot end fan wires as well.
I was never able to overcome the heat creep with the stock hot end. Eventually I stripped the threads for the nozzle on about the 500th time I pulled it out to clean it. Although a heli-coil insert worked as a repair, I bought another stock hot end. Same problems. Now it's a Micro Swiss. Not perfect, but a lot better.
One of the problems I had with my Ender (same print carriage and hot end assembly) was the mainboard fan. It IS wired to turn on and off with the layer cooling blower (not variable speed, just on-off). I printed a lot of PETG with the cooling blower turned off to avoid warpage, the mainboard fan didn't turn on, and eventually the mainboard components would overheat. The fix for that was to wire the mainboard fan to the terminals of the hot end fan - because it's always on.
Eventually I designed a deflector that fits inside the hot end housing and directs the flow from the hot end fan at the heat exchanger. That wasn't enough. With a 3mm shim behind the hot end housing mounting surface, a 4015 ball bearing fan will fit into the housing.
-
There are too many errors in the model for it to ever slice correctly. There are a lot of holes, surfaces facing the wrong way, gaps between surfaces. Netfabb repair worked on it for 20 minutes and the repair failed.
-
If the card is inserted after the printer has been turned on, then it may have to be "Initialized". There should be an option for that in the LCD menu.
You may want to try inserting the card and then turning the printer on.
Another thing to try is to reformat the memory card to FAT32.
Some 3d printers do not read cards over 32mb.
Some machines do not read file names over 16 characters so keep file names on the memory card short.
-
If you would attach a 3mf file (File | Save Project) it would be helpful. There are other things that can cause it (Z-binding is one) but a 3mf file is the best starting point for detective work.
What printer and what firmware would be good to know as well.
-
Do you have a color TFT display on the printer? There have been issues with Enders with 4.4.x boards and TFT displays ignoring gcode commands that send messages to the display. M0, M1, and M117 are the problems. M0 is the pause code that Cura uses for Marlin firmware and it sends "Click to Resume..." to the display, There was a poster here who claimed that a firmware switch fixed the problem but then that poster disappeared without explaining what firmware version fixed the issue.
I tried to find out more on the Marlin Github site. It was apparent that they aren't happy with Creality altering the firmware to suit themselves and then refusing to make it open source. There are a couple of versions of firmware available on the Creality site and I think there is a TFT display version for your 4.2.2 board.
Sorry I can't be more helpful.
-
If I do that how can I make a buck? Being retired means no more pay checks ya know. Besides, dumping it onto GitHub is another learning curve, the program is Windows only (VB.Net is what I know) so no direct porting to Mac or Linux, and I don't have to support it. If you'll recall gr5, we had this talk last spring. It's the same piece of software although it has grown a little bit. The latest addition is automating the combining of multiple gcode files into a single file. Think solid base with a spiralized upper portion.
Up next is calling a file from within a first file and jumping to a specific location within the second file. It's possible I'll be the only person on the planet using M32 (because it's really pretty useless).
-
I'll stick my nose in here for a minute...
I play around writing software and I've written a little Windows App for controlling my Ender over the USB. As I scribbled the code I did give some thought to running multiple printers simultaneously.
The app doesn't print via the USB, but rather from the SD card. The file selection from the SD card, print start, pausing, and print tuning, as well as adjusting printer settings and leveling, is all from the Windows application. It's just sending specific GCode commands and/or scripts over the USB (and getting the responses from the printer which Cura does not do). My object was to avoid having to use the LCD button for anything, and in that I succeeded. Everything that might be displayed on the LCD as well as all the LCD menu items, can be queried and the printer responses are displayed in a textbox in the application.
The application can have multiple instances running and each could control a different printer over a different port. In the case of two printers, it's likely OK. In the case of 10 printers, with each instance of the app looking exactly like every other instance, it would rapidly get confusing - even if you had 10 USB ports available for the printers.
On the other hand, simply opening and closing a port does not cause an external reset of the printer (connecting a USB does cause an external reset and that reset is hardwired into the mainboard) so it may be possible to control all the printers from a single instance of the app. You would open the correct port for a particular printer, then select the file from the SD card and print the file. You could then select the next printer, the previous port would close, the new one would open, and you start a print on a different printer. If all of this was actually difficult, a hack of an amateur coder couldn't have done it. I'm sure you can find someone to write an application for you. It's possible that the physical length of the USB cables and the number of available USB ports would be your limiting factors.
Or you can get used to Octoprint which I believe does the same thing and has the added bonus that it already exists. You're going to have to make an investment in this. The investment will likely include software, hardware, and support.
When you get all that up and running, we can discuss a pick-and-place system to remove a build plate that has a finished print, and replace it with an empty build plate, and then restart printing. A seventh axis robot could slide back and forth and service multiple printers. Add an indexing conveyor to move the finished plates/parts to a removal station and you're in serious business.
-
Every month or so, I give my printer a good cleaning and check the wheel pressure in the guide slots, Z coupler screws, trim the bowden tube, calibrate the E stepper, etc. It helps keep the machine running in good order, and it keeps me up-to-date with any problems that might be developing. It's kind of like kicking the car tires and cleaning the windshield.
In regards to the marks on that wheel, I don't see them extending to the wear area on the angled sides so they aren't a problem.
Next is the jerkiness of the Z movement, I see you have the lead screws out, so that jerkiness isn't good. If you loosen the right and left adjustable eccentric wheels to allow sloppy movement, I would expect the jerkiness to go away. When the wheels are adjusted correctly, you can just turn them with your fingers. If you can't rotate them at all they are too tight. If they spin freely they are too loose. I'm sure you can find good videos on adjusting the wheels.
Adjust the pressure of the Z wheels when the X beam is all the way to the bottom, then loosen the top cross bar on one side, and move the X beam to the top, then re-tighten the top cross beam, that's about as good as you can do. It insures that the two upright aluminum pieces are parallel. If you still have herky-jerky movement after that, it may indeed be the wheels. I took mine off and sprayed them all down with silicone lube after a year of running hard. I don't know that it made a difference, but it made me felt better.
-
It's definitely the model. The walls show all the deformations for me that they did for you. I uploaded it to NetFabb in case it just needed repair, but it came back the same.
As it happens, I'm a Tin Can Tourist myself. We have a 1972 Shasta Compact that I re-did. I made a bunch of these trailers (and the drink coasters that go inside) to sell at the spring TCT rally that has now been cancelled. I think it has the kind of finish you are shooting for so I've attached it.
-
A 3D philosophy question.
"Ambidextrous means it won't work either way and Universal means you'll need a Harley tool and a torch." - Me
It is rare for anything to be excellent at everything. It would seem that Cura, Prusaslicer, and Simplify3d occupy the top of the heap of slicers. Is it a coincidence that it's all they do? Or is their excellence a product of their focus.
Give me a tool that is excellent at it's job. I don't want a hammer that has a screwdriver for a peen.
-
1
-
-
When trimming an ellipse the remaining shape is still an ellipse, but when I offset one in my older version of Mechanical Desktop it turns into a spline. Splines are certainly different to deal with. That is especially true if they become part of a loft. The smoothness between the control points comes into play.
If it's legal, post that here as a 3mf file (File | Save Project). Who knows. Maybe somebody will see something. All those facets are an issue though and they might still be in the model.
-
If there was a prize here for the ugliest slicing you'd be the front runner.
Another thing that can have an effect is the Mesh Fixes | Maximum Resolution. As @gr5 mentioned, turning down the resolution can help make the "average" more of a circle. Setting the Maximum Resolution for my Ender from 0.05 (a lot of stuttering) to 0.5 made a huge difference.
Mingda Rock 3 FDM configuration seetings needed
in Third party products & modifications
Posted · Edited by GregValiant
There is a hard way and an easy way. The "Mingda Slicer" is an older version of Cura (4.6?) and when you start it, it even shows the "There is a newer version of Cura available" popup. I didn't try this, but you might install the Mingda Slicer and then use the popup to install Cura 4.8. Maybe it will keep the machine definition files from the Mingda installation if you have added a Mingda printer.
Here is the hard way...
Download and install the Mingda Slicer from HERE. You may have to change the language option (it installed in Chinese), but the machine definition files are normal Python files and can be copied and pasted from "C:\Program Files\Mingda Printer\resources\definitions" folder to "C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura 4.8\resources\definitions". I didn't see a "Rock" listed, but there is a 3Pro. Understand that over-writing some files (the basic machine definition files like "fdmprinter.def.json" may create issues. I make no recommendations regarding which ones should not be over-written, and which ones should. I will say that you can always un-install and re-install Cura. With the Machine Definition files in the Cura 4.8 folder you should be able to install your printer (or at least a Mingda that is close enough).
You printer appears to be a clone of a basic open frame cartesian printer and the Start-Up and End gcodes appear to be the same as my Creality printer.
The easier way (easier than having to learn Chinese) is to add an Ender 3 to Cura and change the printer name. You could then go into Manage Printers and Machine Settings and change the basic build volume size to whatever your printer is.
Your firmware is Marlin. That's the most important setting. Second is that the Auto-Leveling system (if you have one) is configured correctly. If it isn't then the printer-processor can lock up at the start of a print.
Raft is an option under Build Plate Adhesion (it's within the first setting below the title bar).
Not a bad looking machine. Good Luck.