3D Printer yet?

[Zucca]

32bit? I have an Atmega 1284P on the freaking board. It's 1990 8 bit Atari game console.

Sorted

[mnementh]

Ooohh.... yeah, lifting corners is  probably as much to do with the design as anything. You have a broad expanse base with corners that merge into vertical walls; as it transitions from the base to the walls, the walls start pulling the corners up because that's where the force concentrates. These are indeed problem objects.

You can either revise the design or seek out specialty build surfaces; the cure for corners lifting on my PSU endcaps was some clone Build-Tak I got with a roll of Overture filament. That schizz just plain STICKS like a mofo; it requires extra care and extra-hard shoving with a plastic putty knife to break 'em free. Same with the CReality Clone UltraBase (coated glass) build-plate on my CR6-SE. Timmeh the Tiny T-Rex sticks so well I'm afraid I'm gonna break the backbone joints; I have to stick a 4mm drill bit in his eye and use it to lever his head off unless I catch it at exactly the right time in its cooling-off period.

Alternately, I've found that circular shapes are much less prone to lifting this way; you might want to try revising the design to an oval-shaped base and cup.



Also, I use Brim Adhesion, not Skirt. I set to 2-8mm wide depending on part size. For objects with a 2mm or more rounded fillet on the base, I'll set 0 Brim distance (space between Brim and object); for squarer base objects, I'll set  with ~1 line width or 0.15-0.20mm. This helps the brim come off easily without exaggerating the tendency to "elephant's foot".

My advice... try the above, and/or get a roll of Overture PLA and play with it. Decent filament, and it comes with a 200mm x 200mm sheet of clone Build-Tak to play with.

https://www.amazon.com/OVERTURE-Filament-Consumables-Dimensional-Accuracy/dp/B07PGY2JP1



Cheers,

mnem
As always, take any advice I may give with a pinch of salt big enough to pickle a dragon; IIRC, IMHO, YMMV, DQMOT, DILLIGAF...?

[CatalinaWOW]

These printers require constant diligence to get good results.  I was having an intermittent but serious layer skip problem and was getting material together to ask for help here when I got it sorted.  The answer may save some of you from some head scratching someday.

A loose string of filament had wrapped itself around the shaft of the Z-axis stepper, between the motor and the coupler.  This was apparently grabbing occasionally and that then caused a cascade of problems through the controller ending with an X-axis skip.  Don't know the mechanism, just know that removing the string stopped the problem.

[mnementh]

I had exactly that kind of skip as well on my Diggro a while back... Was a loose pinion on the X-axis stepper. I wouldn't be surprised if the "mechanism" was coincidence.

mnem
 

[Zucca]

a loose pinion

I used purple threader lock for all the screw related to motion... will see if it helps.

[xrunner]

a loose pinion

I used purple threader lock for all the screw related to motion... will see if it helps.

Purple is good. They only sell the blue (next higher strength) in the local home improvement stores so had to order it. It's good for many small tasks around the house.

[mnementh]

LokTite Blue on grub screws comes apart easily; just put the tip of a soldering iron in it until you smell cyanide smoke. 

mnem
*glances around suspiciously*

[CatalinaWOW]

Went around and checked grub screws per your suggestion, and was glad I did.  No evidence of problems on any translation axis, but the extruder did require attention.

[Brumby]

It would seem there are several people around here with a screw loose.



* Glances in a mirror ..... *

[mnementh]

mnem

[mnementh]

   

*taps mic, looks around the room*

"Hello, my name is mnem, and I have a problem. I keep printing unicorn butts..."

mnem
"...and I swear, it's not on purpose!"

[Zucca]

I tought the Bency was a small boat not a small horse butt.
Anyway I am designing two custom CNC 4mm plates for the dual Z upgrade on my Ender 5. Stay tuned it will be fun.

[SilverSolder]

   

*taps mic, looks around the room*

"Hello, my name is mnem, and I have a problem. I keep printing unicorn butts..."

mnem
"...and I swear, it's not on purpose!"

For a moment there, it looked like you were 3D printing molars for your dentist to install! 

[Nominal Animal]

For a moment there, it looked like you were 3D printing molars for your dentist to install! 

No, they mill those from biocompatible ceramic of some sort.  Only takes half an hour or so.

[mnementh]

I thought the Benchy was a small boat not a small horse butt.   Anyway I am designing two custom CNC 4mm plates for the dual Z upgrade on my Ender 5. Stay tuned it will be fun.

We won't talk aboot my Benchy habit... 


   

This Ponicorn Monopoly piece for my wife (counterpart to Tiny Toothless) has been a problem model from git-go.  First there was the problem of separating the model from the buildplate, which required an alternate approach to get the part off in one piece as the legs kept breaking off.    The first one I printed with "Support everywhere" turned out as a little blob of PLA that was pretty much inseparable from the supports.  After that, I tried "Touching buildplate", which gave predictably stringy results on all the scallopy underhangs that went unsupported. I toyed with learning how to do tree supports BUTT...



...I had bigger problems. Much more important were these layer lines of poor adhesion in the belly area caused by poor extrusion. ALWAYS in the same area of the print. Repeated scrutiny of the slicing in Cura revealed no obvious defects in the model itself, so to determine if the problem was the printer or something else, I tried printing on my Diggro and that's when the poor extrusion turned into... unicorn butts.

It would just stop extruding, always in the same area of the print. Not the same exact line, but always this general area, even scaled at two different sizes. At first I thought it was a nozzle clog; but releasing the extruder drive & feeding filament by hand... awesome extrusion with very little backpressure. Nozzle was okay. 


   

It wasn't until I just sat there and watched the damned thing print that I was able to figure it out. Every once in a while the extruder drive would make this horrible buzzing sound, so I watched it feed filament. This area of the print is all very small amounts of extrusion, with repeated retracts over and over again. Eventually, the cogs in the extruder drive would "iron out" the filament, mangling it to the point that the rollers just couldn't get past. Loosening the tension on the extruder drive aboot 3 turns eliminated the problem and I was able to get the above mostly successful print. I'm guessing the CR6-SE extruder drive was eventually able to get past the mangled spots, but still underextrusion in that area of the print.

In retrospect, that is probably because using cheap filament included with the CR-06SE; it seems much softer than the filament I've been using. But just goes to show... there's always something new to learn with these things.

mnem

[Zucca]

Wonky filament... bleahh

Anyway tonight I stripped the magnetic layer from the hot bed. Pretty pleased it came off nicely and now I have a better thermal contact between hotbed and the glass.



There is only a thin plastic transparent layer, which is good so the glass bed will not slip all over the places.

[mnementh]

And so began my descent into Hell... 

mnem

[Zucca]

If both are running can you sleep at night?

[mnementh]

I buy doxylamine in the big bottle. No prob.     And both are done printing, turned off now.

Also, smoke defector. Tested for effectiveness with smoldering napkin right above the build plate.

mnem
where are my pants...?

[xrunner]

If both are running can you sleep at night?

At first I thought you were referring to failing to fall asleep due to worries about catastrophic failures occurring. But I think you meant too much noise. 

[Brumby]

Also, smoke defector. Tested for effectiveness with smoldering napkin right above the build plate.

I find that a somewhat tenuous test.  If something is going thermal, you are going to get rising air currents that are going to take the smoke up to the ceiling - right away from the smoke detector, which will be monitoring the cool air drawn in from the sides/below.  A smouldering napkin isn't going to have even moderate rising air currents.

If you want to try the napkin trick, I suggest you crank up the hot end and the bed to maximum, let them settle for 5 minutes and then see what happens.  (Or did you do that already)

[mnementh]

Yup.

If I start making it a habit to print overnight, I'll probably make some sort of bracket to clip it to the top of the printer.

mnem
 

[Brumby]

... then you'll start getting false alarms from the printer just doing it's thing... 

Well - that's what Murphy would have me believe.

[Zucca]

If you put a 5mm or so metal plate below them only the printers should burn and melt and nothing else...
In the morning you will find a lot of smoke and nasty smell and that's it.

[mnementh]

... then you'll start getting false alarms from the printer just doing it's thing...     Well - that's what Murphy would have me believe.

If you put a 5mm or so metal plate below them only the printers should burn and melt and nothing else...   In the morning you will find a lot of smoke and nasty smell and that's it.

*puts both printers out on the curb*

mnem