3D printer thread - what have you been printing? - Creationism Corner

Hey guys, I've been printing a bunch of stuff and I've had some pretty successful prints, but I've noticed something that is happening with some of my taller prints. It seems that the extruder gear is slipping and causing a complete lack of extrusion. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I'd love to get it sorted out as soon as possible so that I can confidently print the case for my keyboard without risking a huge failed print. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yz6zi5i8PE[/media]

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;42071968]Hey guys, I've been printing a bunch of stuff and I've had some pretty successful prints, but I've noticed something that is happening with some of my taller prints. It seems that the extruder gear is slipping and causing a complete lack of extrusion. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I'd love to get it sorted out as soon as possible so that I can confidently print the case for my keyboard without risking a huge failed print. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yz6zi5i8PE[/media][/QUOTE] Interesting that it seems to be a problem only above a certain height. Is that height consistent between prints? Does the bottom layer always print correctly? Are we certain it's height related and not time related? Bottom line, I'm not sure what it is.

I haven't really tested if it's height or time related, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it happens when i have more retractions. I'll post a picture soon of a phone case I tried to print which is the reason I suspect this.

I tried to print this phone case a few days ago and was unsuccessful because of this same problem. [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/IMG_8621.JPG[/t] It seems that the issue was occurring quite severely around the 8-10th layers, where there was a lot of retraction during the infill. [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/IMG_8626.JPG[/t] As you can see, those layers almost don't exist and only consist of small stringy bits where it's barely extruding anything. As a result, the layers above just didn't stay intact and decided to fall apart. [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/IMG_8629.JPG[/t] Once it got past this point, it's almost back to normal, giving pretty consistent layers. I did rip off the top few layers though, which also suffered the extrusion problem.

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;42071968]Hey guys, I've been printing a bunch of stuff and I've had some pretty successful prints, but I've noticed something that is happening with some of my taller prints. It seems that the extruder gear is slipping and causing a complete lack of extrusion. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I'd love to get it sorted out as soon as possible so that I can confidently print the case for my keyboard without risking a huge failed print. [/QUOTE] That looks like a clog to me. What size is your nozzle? Nozzles that are 0.35mm or smaller are more likely to clog than 0.5mm nozzles. If your bed is too close to the nozzle you may have backpressure causing a small amount of filament to coagulate in the nozzle eventually leading to a clog. Also if you haven't cleaned the nozzle ever dust from the natural grinding action of the filament gear can accumulate int eh nozzle and cause a clog. The steps you should take to clean a clog are as follows(ordered least intrusive to most) Heat up the hotend and use a piece of guitar string to push in and out of the nozzle, then extrude 5mm of filament. If you see any black stuff at all keep going until you see none. If that doesn't clear the clog it may be deeper in the hole so the next thing you can try is heating the extruder to about 35-40oC and use a container of acetone on it like you would CLR on a faucet. Allow it to soak for like 5 minutes or so and try the guitar string again. If none of that works you may need to drill out your nozzle by disassembling the nozzle and using a bit of the appropriate size. It may be easier just to get a new one because they aren't very expensive. If you don't think it is a clog you may want to try changing your temperatures. What type of filament are you using PLA, ABS, Nylon?

I've only been printing PLA so far and I've only had the printer for about a month, is it possible it would clog in that time? I didn't really have problems with is until I tried the black PLA I purchased recently, but this was also around the time I realised I had the nozzle too far from the bed and moved it closer, so maybe I went too close and caused a problem like that. I'l try what you've suggested and see how it goes.

So, my workplace is probably gonna get a 3D Printer here in the next month or so. Turbo excited. Of course this has me seriously looking at getting one too, but I don't know what to push for. The workplace wants one that is reliable, easy-ish to maintain, and if possible works out of the box. We're hoping to print demonstration models of the things we build. I'm thinking a MendelMaxPro or something. Of course the side effect of this is then [I]I'll[/I] have access to a 3d printer, so I can print out my own parts. We also have a turbo-huge router so structural things we can fabricate ourselves here. Personally though I'm thinking for myself... a Printrbot Simple. Its well... Simply simple. Small, cheap, a good introductory model I think. $300 for a full kit. [img]https://imageshack.us/scaled/large/441/8707845283834df6307co.jpg[/img] I mean, look at it, its [I]adorable![/I]

I always push people towards [url]http://www.solidoodle.com[/url] because that's the one I have. I have not had any problems with the machine since I got it, except ones that were caused by operator error. It works right out of the box, and I hear the new versions are even better. I think they still have a pretty long waiting list, though. They are fully assembled and depending on which one you get range from $499 to $799.

I was going for the Simple above there because it was not only the cheapest, and therefore seemed a decent entry point, but it was also in kit form and would let me play with printing upgrades/modifications. Plus there's also a build volume upgrade I can get for it later on down the road if I just decide that I wanna print bigger stuff. If I ever grow out of the simple though, I'm gonna slowly push towards building a mendlemax 2.0 or something much more capable.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42311333]I was going for the Simple above there because it was not only the cheapest, and therefore seemed a decent entry point, but it was also in kit form and would let me play with printing upgrades/modifications. Plus there's also a build volume upgrade I can get for it later on down the road if I just decide that I wanna print bigger stuff. If I ever grow out of the simple though, I'm gonna slowly push towards building a mendlemax 2.0 or something much more capable.[/QUOTE] It's probably not much help for you since you seem set, but building it from scratch is still incredibly satisfying and the cheapest by a long shot and would recommend everytime. It might not look the neatest, but its the easiest to upgrade, has that cool I built that thing about it and when it does inevitably go wrong you have a good chance of knowing where to look.

[QUOTE=metallics;42312402]It's probably not much help for you since you seem set, but building it from scratch is still incredibly satisfying and the cheapest by a long shot and would recommend everytime. It might not look the neatest, but its the easiest to upgrade, has that cool I built that thing about it and when it does inevitably go wrong you have a good chance of knowing where to look.[/QUOTE] I've been considering getting the kit sans laser cut wood and negotiating with the people in manufacturing where I work to get some ACM cut to spec, but that's gonna be hella expensive unless I collect a shitton of scrap and have them use that.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42314358]I've been considering getting the kit sans laser cut wood and negotiating with the people in manufacturing where I work to get some ACM cut to spec, but that's gonna be hella expensive unless I collect a shitton of scrap and have them use that.[/QUOTE] I was more thinking the electronics side. With the one at home anything that needed machining/printing we bought as a kit then fabricated the rest ourselves. That design certainly looks very wood heavy. It also looks like it doesn't have a heated bed.

[QUOTE=metallics;42315445]I was more thinking the electronics side. With the one at home anything that needed machining/printing we bought as a kit then fabricated the rest ourselves. That design certainly looks very wood heavy. It also looks like it doesn't have a heated bed.[/QUOTE] You're right, no heated bed, so PLA only. Not much of a concern for me though at the moment. It also lacks definite end stops. Its meant as a bare minimum, super-entry level printer, which is why its 300$. I'm working with a coworker right now on figuring out the best way to source a Prusa type. Ultimately if the cost comes down to something comparable to the Simple up there, I may do it instead. We'll see.

[QUOTE=frozensoda;42299426]I always push people towards [url]http://www.solidoodle.com[/url] because that's the one I have. I have not had any problems with the machine since I got it, except ones that were caused by operator error. It works right out of the box, and I hear the new versions are even better. I think they still have a pretty long waiting list, though. They are fully assembled and depending on which one you get range from $499 to $799.[/QUOTE] I actually came to this thread to ask you about this. I've decided that now that I have a job, I'd like to put more money into a printer rather than cobbling something together for $300. I'm looking at the solidoodle 3.

I've been neglecting posting this for various reasons, but I figured I might as well, and there doesn't seem to be a better place to post this. [t]http://i.imgur.com/saxGtLc.jpg[/t] It's 1:1 scale (80cm or 31"), made of 16 12cmx12cm (4.7") ABS sections and took roughly the same amount of days to print. As you can see, I'm currently painting it.

[QUOTE=Pilotguy97;42429930]I've been neglecting posting this for various reasons, but I figured I might as well, and there doesn't seem to be a better place to post this. [t]http://i.imgur.com/saxGtLc.jpg[/t] It's 1:1 scale (80cm or 31"), made of 16 12cmx12cm (4.7") ABS sections and took roughly the same amount of days to print. As you can see, I'm currently painting it.[/QUOTE] Mind posting pics of the files that make up the individual sections? Im interested to see how you made them fit together so well, it looks great!

[QUOTE=Timebomb575;42431498]Mind posting pics of the files that make up the individual sections? Im interested to see how you made them fit together so well, it looks great![/QUOTE] Really there isn't much to show in that department. I literally got a .skp file for an Ma37 and then made a 12x12x12cm cube (my printer's buildspace). Then I just moved that cube around the model and intersecting it, cutting the model into clean 12cm "building blocks". The reason they fit together so well was because all the joints were completely flat. No chance for poorly printed connectors unless the whole thing warped while printing (which it did several times because the room's cold as shit sometimes). [t]http://i.imgur.com/ZpvS24O.png[/t] For example, this was the handle. All I did was pick a sound starting point and then moved the cube so that whatever was inside the cube would become a part. Doing it this way's a bit finicky, but it's great for projects which are too large for the printer, but too complex to actually break down into proper components.

Sadly I had to sell my 3D printer. Some things are just more important than others. Won't get around to changing my title for a while, but I just wanted to say thanks for the good info I got from this thread. Hopefully some day I will rejoin the 3D printing community.

[QUOTE=frozensoda;42528508]Sadly I had to sell my 3D printer. Some things are just more important than others. Won't get around to changing my title for a while, but I just wanted to say thanks for the good info I got from this thread. Hopefully some day I will rejoin the 3D printing community.[/QUOTE] Aww man, that sucks. I hope things turn around for you. [editline]18th October 2013[/editline] I managed to fix the issue I was having on my printer. Turns out the new Bukobot extruder nozzle has a very short hot zone, so my retraction of 1.5mm was pulling it too far resulting in a bit too much cooling. That's why the problem happened within the first layers of the phone case, but not for a while in other prints. Unfortunately though I ran out of disk space while slicing something big and it lost my print settings, so I had to redo them from memory, which isn't too bad because I changed a few things, but I need to do some more tweaking to get it back good. Ran this one off right after I got things printing properly again [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/PA150128.jpg[/t] And I'm printing this right now because I've never tried anything like a vase before [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/PA180135.jpg[/t]

A coworker and I are running through the Prusa i3 BoM trying to work up a total cost. Since we work at an architectural firm, we have pretty easy access to a lot of machining tools and materials. Aluminum, steel, its pretty sweet. So far, everything [I]except[/I] the printed parts we're pretty sure we can source it all for ~350 to 400 USD. Coworker also keeps giving me salvaged parts from stuff. I've got a shitton of motors now, a few laser diodes... cordless screwdriver with a bad battery... I'm wondering if this RC car motor he gave me would make a good CNC spindle, I guess we'll have to find out.

Hmm something is awfully wrong with my printer, it was inactive for a few months and now the printed models are rather crude. If I were to print out a cube, two of the sides would be absolutely flat and the other two will either have bumps, or be a trapezium. Perhaps its the print setting? Or the belt? Also, I'm planning to start a project where I would print about 200 keychains, and just leave them around town for the public to take. Of course there will be posters around probably having a picture of the keychain accompanied by "Take Me, Its Free". I've experimented with a small scale version and I got pretty good feedback with people going around like a treasure hunt. [thumb]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32814946/20131019_231154.jpg[/thumb] Its about 2x2. In inch. The keychains are going to be single colour, crude, no after print touchups, warped, small. Cause I think it adds to the "Its the thought that counts" value, also I can print large amounts without spending much time. The final design will have a slightly larger top hole thing to fit the ball chains. Right now I'm printing 2 at a time and they take about 40 minutes. And I have only printed 10. Hopefully they should be ready by the time the ball chain arrives.

I'm pretty impressed with how well the spiral vase setting in slic3r works. It was hard to judge exactly how long the print had left because it resulted in 120000 layers, but all-in-all it gave a nice finish to this julia vase. [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/PA200186.jpg[/t] Since I discovered I can lie my filament on my record player as a makeshift lazy susan I've become a lot more confident running larger prints through. I've currently got a Pug Monster going that has another 6 hours of print time, but I don't have to come along and constantly turn the filament to prevent kinks.

My first impression was printing out a CPU cover. It turned into, "I'm going to print myself a CPU." I don't think this post belongs here.

God damnit, this thread keeps dropping from my read list. [QUOTE=Pilotguy97;42429930]I've been neglecting posting this for various reasons, but I figured I might as well, and there doesn't seem to be a better place to post this. [t]http://i.imgur.com/saxGtLc.jpg[/t] It's 1:1 scale (80cm or 31"), made of 16 12cmx12cm (4.7") ABS sections and took roughly the same amount of days to print. As you can see, I'm currently painting it.[/QUOTE] Wow, nice. I kind of want to do this with some F:NV stuff for cosplay reasons. Looks cool.

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;42564478]Aww man, that sucks. I hope things turn around for you. [editline]18th October 2013[/editline] I managed to fix the issue I was having on my printer. Turns out the new Bukobot extruder nozzle has a very short hot zone, so my retraction of 1.5mm was pulling it too far resulting in a bit too much cooling. That's why the problem happened within the first layers of the phone case, but not for a while in other prints. Unfortunately though I ran out of disk space while slicing something big and it lost my print settings, so I had to redo them from memory, which isn't too bad because I changed a few things, but I need to do some more tweaking to get it back good. Ran this one off right after I got things printing properly again [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/PA150128.jpg[/t] And I'm printing this right now because I've never tried anything like a vase before [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62766551/3D%20Printing/PA180135.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] I am so jealous of those damn prints. My fucking piece of shit mendelmax consistently has Z alignment issues. I can hear one of the smooth rod bearings on the Z axis popping and skipping as it moves up and down. I realign the Z screws every print but they run out of alignment by the end usually, generally after the first few layers they are unaligned again. My heated bed screws never stay at the right height and my extruder (makergear hotend, ebay cold end) is a piece of shit I am so done with this machine, I hate it with the burning passion of a thousand supernovae

[QUOTE=paindoc;42657846]I am so jealous of those damn prints. My fucking piece of shit mendelmax consistently has Z alignment issues. I can hear one of the smooth rod bearings on the Z axis popping and skipping as it moves up and down. I realign the Z screws every print but they run out of alignment by the end usually, generally after the first few layers they are unaligned again. My heated bed screws never stay at the right height and my extruder (makergear hotend, ebay cold end) is a piece of shit I am so done with this machine, I hate it with the burning passion of a thousand supernovae[/QUOTE] I'd replace the bearing, and if the rods are just hanging without a bottom clamp, I would print a bottom clamp immediately. You probably have one, but some of the printer's I've seen don't. They help. A lot. [editline]27th October 2013[/editline] I ordered my solidoodle 3 on friday. Can't wait, I already have a list of the things I'm going to print, and I'm working on more.

[QUOTE=joshjet;42662819]I'd replace the bearing, and if the rods are just hanging without a bottom clamp, I would print a bottom clamp immediately. You probably have one, but some of the printer's I've seen don't. They help. A lot. [editline]27th October 2013[/editline] I ordered my solidoodle 3 on friday. Can't wait, I already have a list of the things I'm going to print, and I'm working on more.[/QUOTE] Its actually a bronze/ptfe bushing, so not really much to replace. My machine looks like this [t]http://i.imgur.com/m0WfSh.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/RGBlyh.jpg[/t] Its not nearly as functional as it is handsome. The Z axis has two bushings on the Z axis, top and bottom of the X carriage, and if i remove one bushing the popping goes way. But then the whole axis can roll around the top bearing sigh [editline]28th October 2013[/editline] here's a good closeup of my hotend and one of the bushings (smaller diameter, same mechanics) [t]http://i.imgur.com/kDH7I.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=paindoc;42671283]Its actually a bronze/ptfe bushing, so not really much to replace. My machine looks like this [t]http://i.imgur.com/m0WfSh.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/RGBlyh.jpg[/t] Its not nearly as functional as it is handsome. The Z axis has two bushings on the Z axis, top and bottom of the X carriage, and if i remove one bushing the popping goes way. But then the whole axis can roll around the top bearing sigh [editline]28th October 2013[/editline] here's a good closeup of my hotend and one of the bushings (smaller diameter, same mechanics) [t]http://i.imgur.com/kDH7I.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Personally, I would look into replacing the bushings with bearings if possible. Might fix your problem. [editline]29th October 2013[/editline] I've been ripping a bunch of models from different games to use on my printer when it shows up, so far I've figured out how to get .stl files from anything running Gamebyro, and I'm working on cryengine. I'm not so sure if I'll be able to get stuff from cryengine though.

[QUOTE=joshjet;42681919]Personally, I would look into replacing the bushings with bearings if possible. Might fix your problem. [editline]29th October 2013[/editline] I've been ripping a bunch of models from different games to use on my printer when it shows up, so far I've figured out how to get .stl files from anything running Gamebyro, and I'm working on cryengine. I'm not so sure if I'll be able to get stuff from cryengine though.[/QUOTE] Do you actually get a reasonably nice mesh out of it though?

Are there programs that take bump maps and sort of carve that detail onto a model? Because last I checked, most games don't rely on high polygon models.