The Official 3d Printing thread

[1911ly]

It looks great to me! And I am fearful of leaving it alone printing to. My brother let his print over night about a month ago and the X axis pulley came loose on the stepper motor. It printed a thing that looked like a big plastic dog turd. It totally encapsulated the print head. He had one hell of a mess. As the media built up around the head it turned in to a big solid mass instead of just strings like the usual print mess.

I am tinkering with firmware. Oh, and I am pretty sure I figure out what the short was that took the regulator out when I first put it together. Last night I swapped in my spare Ramps/Mega board to play with firmware without messing with the original programming. When I was swapping the boards in I spotted this stray wire coming out of the Y end of limit switch plug. It's the ground wire and the stray is more then long enough to hit the 5v pin in the plug behind or in front of it. I am surprised I did not see this earlier. It's just a shotty crimp job. I looked all the plugs over and found 2 more stray whiskers on other plugs. Look your plugs over when you have time. These might have been made on a Friday 15 minutes before quitting time. Grrr.... I hate poor QC.

I circled the plug in red:

 

[7.62]

All this talk about ABS. I too have had problem with ABS without an enclosure and its in a cold enviroment. It sucks because I really prefer ABS to PLA. I can get it to print okay to good most times but I never get a great print and sometimes get a complete fail. My PLA prints to perfection so I print with it 98% of time.

 

[Sailor]

Ouch that will do it!

Pulled out the fans to set up the dual cooling but realized I have had 1.5 Gin and tonics. So pass, no wiring and no handling firearms after alcohol. lol.

But I loaded up the PETG and at first it would not extrude at all. very annoying.

Finally got a first print. Glossy, Gooey, I need to up the retraction. Side by side pics vs ABS. The real things look better than in the pics. I like the matte look of ABS better Once I tweak PETG it will be easier to print with correct dimensions.

 

[7.62]

It sounds like I should have a mod change this thread title to the "The Official 3d Printer thread" What do you all think?

I agree! You should submit that request!

 

[Sailor]

If you try petg level your bed with a little more room than you are used to.

 

[1911ly]

Ouch that will do it!

Pulled out the fans to set up the dual cooling but realized I have had 1.5 Gin and tonics. So pass, no wiring and no handling firearms after alcohol. lol.

But I loaded up the PETG and at first it would not extrude at all. very annoying.

Finally got a first print. Glossy, Gooey, I need to up the retraction. Side by side pics vs ABS. The real things look better than in the pics. I like the matte look of ABS better Once I tweak PETG it will be easier to print with correct dimensions.

I wonder if the fans will help with the stringing? Or maybe try a lower hot end temp? I really like the shininess of PETG. That would make awesome face plates and project boxes!! Gotta get me some now.

 

[1911ly]

I agree! You should submit that request!

I know a guy that knows a guy, I'll getter dunn if possible. I am hoping was can drag more 3d Printer guys in here. These things are down right addictive once you get tinkering.

Harry's Pegasus is running like a Swiss watch. His prints are just awesome. I have to frequently tinker with bed levelness if I print for hours and start a new project. Then when it's cold the nest day, level it again. I really gotta get the auto bed level stuff installed. The i3v firmware does not support it. There is a lot of setup/programming involved with encoder steps. The extruder I am using is slowing me down on firmware. There are lots of firmware packages with direct drive extruders. I might change mine.

I am starting the parts list for the 12 inch printer. I have some stuff on order.

 

[Ericpwp]

 

[RobbyMaQ]

ok... now that discussion has changed to techniques/hardware comparisons... I changed the thread title... sorta

 

[1911ly]

ok... now that discussion has changed to techniques/hardware comparisons... I changed the thread title... sorta

 

[Sailor]

Petg is a pain in the A to set up. I can manually extrude just fine the hit print and nothing extrudes for my purge line or the first 3 layers of my offset skirt I can not get it flowing right prior to the print start without me pulling filament off the bed to keep it from getting in the way of main print. Once it's going though it's great. Just started a 3 hour print.

 

[Sailor]

6 Inch long print lifted off the bed. Esun PETG 250 start 245 after layer one. Bed 85, on hairspray glass. Trying painters tape at 245/70. Too bad that glossy surface on glass looks sweet. This stuff bonds together so well, its strong stuff.

My spool holder is making that annoying noise now 1911. Gotta fix that. would like an option that drops it inside the frame so I can flat top put a cover on.

 

[Sailor]

No go on the tape

 

[Sailor]

Annoyed my heat block keeps coming loose and leaked plastic all over the top of it.

 

[1911ly]

I see you are only using 2 clips, you mentioned this early on. When I put the heat bed on Harry's printer I notice the heat bed was not flat at all. I noticed that I had to put the clips right at the corners and in the front I even had to put a clip in the center. Take a really close look at the edge between the glass and the heat bed. If there is even the thickness of a piece of paper gap there is going to be air between the bed and the glass. The media will heat sink away the warmth of the bed and the heating platform can not replace it fast enough,. The air will prevent the heater from sinking the heat from the bed to the glass. Any change in temp will lift the print.

Try 4 clips. I truthfully see zero reasoning behind using 2 clips. If you think is because the heater surface is not flat enough and you are bending the glass the use thicker glass. And or after a few cycles the heat element will bow to form to the glass I am not sure why the guy that told you that though it was a good ideal. I can just see it leaving a air gap.

When I put Harry's together I use a dial caliper and made the height between the aluminum and the top of the glass was the same on all 4 corner. Then we used the auto bed level to level it in. I noticed that I had to put the clips right next to the leveling screw too. Other wise I could see a gap on the corner between the bed and glass. And that gap make it just about impossible to mechanically level the bed. I would get a couple corners square and the rest would move as the bed flex. When I was over there the other day I notice the glad laid flatter without the clips now. The heat cycles have let the bed relax. Use more clips!

He hasn't had a single part lift. Yesterday he brought over a control panel that l he printed that was probably 4"x5" that came out perfect. no corner lifting and he prints without a brim. I fear you might need to use 3-4 clips on each side to force the heat bed flat to the glass for a while if there are any gaps now. After a few prints you might get way with just 4 clips. Try using more clips. I have only had 3 prints come loose and upping the bed temp took care of that. I always use 4 clips.

Look at the edge of bed to glass fit for gap. Give more clips a try.

 

[1911ly]

Spool holder, how about putting a flat panel on top the machine and drilling a really small hole in the panel right over the extruder and put a rubber grommet in the hole. Make a PVC pipe stand like I did and set that on top the machine. Feed the media threw the hole and right in to the extruder. My stand is tall enough to sit on the table and hover over the printer. That is over kill when you have such a big flat and solid area on top.

 

[Sailor]

Yeah I am at 4 clips now each in the center. I will get some more. This print so far seems like it may work.

Good idea on the spool holder will start working on a design.

 

[Sailor]

This will get a thread going.

Still a little warping. Not sure if it is enough to effect function. But its definitely strong enough. Changing temps and going to enclose the printer a little.

 

[Ericpwp]

I have a pile of parts waiting for me to have some time to do one of those.

 

[1911ly]

This will get a thread going.

Still a little warping. Not sure if it is enough to effect function. But its definitely strong enough. Changing temps and going to enclose the printer a little.

Ok, I've been looking for that file all week. I need that STL file!! Lol. There was a guy over on weaponsguild a few years back working on that concept. He might have been the guy that designed that. I got everything to build that too.. He had trouble with the thing separating layers while printing it. I can't remember if he finished it. I was gonna dig threw the older 10-22 post over there and see if I could find it! I would for sure do that in a enclosed case. that would make a fun pistol. You could beef up the crap out of it! He was also working on a trigger housing. That thing is just to cool!!!!