Question:
I am trying to print my first test but my Creality Ender 3 starts printing near the front edge and within 10 seconds is printing in front of the tray (off onto my table).  I really think it should be starting the print in the middle and then never going so close to the edge and even over it

What can I do?

Answer:
When a print is not printing on the build platform, you either:
Have the incorrect settings in the slicer (e.g. Ultimaker Cura,
a common mistake is that the "origin at center" option is active
), or
Have the center of the bed incorrectly stored in your firmware. (See:
How to center my prints on the build platform? (Re-calibrate homing offset)
or
Recalibrating Home-position
).
Note that the most simple change (after you verified the slicer settings and confirmed that it still does not print in the center) is adjusting the settings in the slicer (bed settings, of start G-code script), this way you do not need to compile and upload new firmware (e.g. if you are uncomfortable or inexperienced in doing so), but, fixing it in the firmware is the best solution. Why? If you change the offset in the slicer you force the bed dimensions to a new position that
you know
where it is, while if changed in the firmware, the printer "
knows
" the actual size and the limits.
To fully answer your question, we need a little more information what slicer you use and what the current settings are. From your question it sounds as if the offset is more than a few millimeters. Usually this hints to an incorrect slicer setting (frequently Ultimaker Cura).


Question:
I keep hearing about vase mode, but I have some problem figuring out how to set it up in my slicer; I use Cura slicer.

So, I'd like to get some settings to do it in Ultimaker Cura, using PLA if the material is important, plus any advice on how to properly do it and ensure that the print retains it's shape on print.

Answer:
Vase Mode changed the name in some version before 3.5. Now you can achieve this with 2 modes: "Surface Mode" and "Spiralize Outer Contour". To turn it on do this:
Choose the Custom setting menu on the right
click a gear to set up what settings you want to see
Under the header "Special Modes" you find both Surface Mode and Spiralize Outer Contour
set the checkmarks on both
Turning on the Surface mode to
```
Surface
```
and checking
```
Spiralize Outer Contour
```
gets the "classic" Vase Mode.
Turning on
```
Surface
```
without
```
Spiralize Outer Contour
```
gets an infill-less outer perimeter
Now, the
classic
Vase mode will only print the
single most outer perimeter
of a print, so your model will have to be very limited with angles and contain no bridges - with one perimeter, you will only be able to print at best 45° angles!


Question:
We're printing on a WASP 3MT pellet extruder with PLA. To save time, we're leaving the hotend at 160 °C between prints but realized that the print quality varies, from one print to the another, when using the same G-code file.

Could it be that leaving the temperature at 160 °C constantly creates more fluid PLA and therefore affects the following print?

Answer:
PLA starts to change its properties at above its glass transition temperature of 60-65 °C, if stored there too long. Keeping it at 160°C, close to the melting temperature (173-178 °C) can degrade the material relatively rapidly. During an extrusion, this is usually mitigated by filling fresh material into the melt while the older material gets extruded, but keeping the machine stagnant at the high temperature has not only creep the heat up from the designated melt zone (thus preheating material that should not be preheated yet) but also can damage the material deep in the melt zone. Together with this possible material degradation, the preheated material melts faster and might overshoot the aimed at print temperature until the normal temperature is reached again. Both effects can lead to reduced print quality in the lower layers.
The time saving from keeping the filament heated up for an extended period of time is,
in my opinion
, not worth the quality reduction that can come from using non-uniform material. You pay
more
in lost prints than you save in time for heating up the head.
If it is impossible to not keep the hotend heated between prints, it might be advisable try these:
Starting every print with a larger purging operation might get rid of degraded material. It would be as simple as extruding some quantity of material before starting the actual print at the edge of the build plate.
Aside from purging, it might be a good idea to reduce the hold temperature from 160 °C to a lower temperature, allowing the melt to partly solidify and keep the heat creep in check.


Question:
Is a home 3D printer capable of printing a good bicycle air pump?

I've searched the Internet and there is very limited info on it. Things need to be rigid and very minutious in the valve part of the pump. I could give an example of what I thought in the image

Answer:
depends
You certainly can print
parts
of
a
bicycle pump, for example, the outer case and maybe the inner piston, maybe even the housing for the connection valves.
However, you cant print the buffer spring or the valves itself. You will have trouble printing the adapters. And you will have to print in ABS to smooth the inside of your pump with acetone vapor, so you have a smooth surface that forms an air seal under operation.
It would be cheaper and more durable to just print just the fittings and use a PVC Pipe as the cylinder itself.
As in all things, if this is a
good
pump depends a lot on design and your machine.


Question:
I've just printed my very first part and it did not want to come loose from the build plate, it fact, it just broke instead.

I can heat the bed up again and work it off, but I wondered if a release agent would be better?

I have a silicon release spray (like those use with molds).  Could I spray the base with that before starting printing?

Answer:
PLA should not be printed at 235 °C. If your printer requires such high temperatures to make the filament very fluid, you have too much friction in your system, e.g. this can be caused by clogs or too low layer height printing the first few layers. Note that such high temperatures are also a cause for obstructions as the filament can carbonise creating clogs. On the other side, too low temperatures also cause too much friction or resistance.
The sound you are hearing is often referred to as "clicking" and can be caused by steps being missed or the extruder hobbed gear to skip back as a result of the friction/resistance.
Now that clicking is introduced, please look into
this answer
and
this answer
to answer your problem.


Question:
While printing a simple model, my printer starts to layer-shift the build in a direction suddenly. I used the default setting for ultimaker Cura 3.4.1. It has done this same thing for multiple different prints. I would guess it is the software.

How do I fix the issue?

Answer:
You have a case of layer shift. Layer shifts happened to me in 3 ways:
The movement of the axis is hindered. Check if all cables run freely and without any chance to catch! improper cable chains can cause binding and stop the printhead or bed in movement and thus induce a shift.
The acceleration might be too fast. Shift the acceleration of the printer movements down a notch. Don't print faster than ~60 to keep the acceleration in check, as the printer will try to reach the top speed as fast as possible, thus limiting top speed also limits acceleration.
The model might be broken. Re-slice the model
just in case
.


Question:
Some prints take a long time and, as I'm not in a workshop, I need to pause the print sometimes.

Are there any special considerations I should take when pausing, or can I literally just click pause, leave it for twelve hours or so, and it'll continue without any ill effects?

I'm using PLA at present.

Answer:
If you keep the head hot during the pause, and over the print, you will melt the material already deposited.
If you move to X0 Y0 (like on a layer change) and pause there, you can cool off the head (or not), but will want to prime (advance) some material before resuming your print - or risk an initial void, as the heated material will expand and drip to some extent.
If you move to X0 Y0, retract, and cool off for your pause, you should be able to heat up, advance, and resume with few issues. You will probably still need to some manual cleaning where the resume was, as there is likely to be some buildup.
Also, if you let the bed cool during your pause, your print may become unstuck from the bed.


Question:
Why is it that if I execute a gcode command that causes the stepper motor to turn in reverse (any negative move on the X axis), after the step it will emit a high pitched whine until it gets another command to rotate in its forward direction?

Executing multiple reverse commands will cause the tone to vary in frequency each step, and always it goes away after another step in the opposite (forward) direction.

Sometimes.

And other times it does it in both directions, but only on every other step. One step +X its there, next step its gone, next step its back, and so on...

Then they also make a different noise when idle, before I disable them with the "disable steppers" command.

What are these noises?

And is it bad to leave the motors in this state? Will it burn them out?

Answer: this is normalISH for stepper motors. they have a fair ammount of current pulsing through them at relatively high frequencies, coils and other parts that will vibrate. if it quite loud you can look into the boards that drive them, depending on your printer they are replaceable, and better 'drivers' send cleaner signals that make less noise. however: if your motors get hot or start making clicking noises, or stop randomly, or acting up more significantly, you should look adjusting how much current they are getting. search for stepper motor calibration, basically you need to adjust the ammount of current the motors are getting, but if the machine prints normally, then this is not something you want to play with. you can also probably find the data sheet for your motor, they are usually rated to operate up to about 50C


Question:
The first layer is very patchy indeed.  I've calibrated the build plate pretty accurately but even if it was a badly calibrated build plate I don't think it would have this effect.

It doesn't seem to have a negative effect on the print.

Should I be concerned about this?

Is this due to a the build plate fault?

Answer:
First things first:
Don't Panic
Your heated bed is made from metal with some sort of Build-Tak-Clone surface. It is not broken from what I can see. Your print is
not failed
, however, the quality does suffer a little bit.
Your bed does warp a little under heating. That is perfectly
normal
, and you should actually calibrate your layer thickness against a hot heatbed, not a cold one as metal that is heatbed extends - especially over the heating elements. The main heating element is usually in the center, so it "bulges" a little there, and if the heat has not equalized everywhere, it can show a dimple around it. So it warps slightly. The extent of the warping is determined by a couple factors, but from what your print looks like, it is not in a worrisome amount - the second and third layers will even it out.
I can't tell how much time passed between reaching the print temperature of the bed and the start of the print, but you might want to make sure  the heating behavior heats the bed
first
and the hotend
second
, allowing the heat energy in the bed to spread more evenly. A tiny
```
G4 P20000 ; wait 20 seconds
```
(see here)
` in the pre-print code, before
cleaning & priming
the nozzle might also help.
You can try to get more even first layers by positioning the parts in areas that do not suffer from warping.
As
Tom
mentioned, you might get better base layers if you increase the first layer thickness. I usually print with about 0.15 to 0.2 mm for the first layer,
regardless
of the following layer thickness to even out small miscalibrations and unevenness in the heating.


Question:
I have a 3D printer at home, the Colido Compact, and for some reason when I 3D print big flat surfaces a really weird thing happens. I'm using some PLA from Colido too I think

It almost seems as if the bottom layer does perfectly but when it starts printing out the top surface this happens, because the one on the bottom left is in two parts because the upper part is the bottom one and that one is perfectly flat, then I took them apart and the weird thing just stayed with the top part... and also on the weird warps there are bits of brown goo or something? I don't know it looks as if the filament was burned...
It only appears on pretty big surfaces because smaller ones don't seem to have the problem.

Anyone knows what is happening?

Answer:
The oozing is due to hot-end getting hot before the bed leveling procedure: if you move the hot-end warm up command
after
the
```
G29
```
line you avoid that oozing
```
```
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
G28 ; Home all axes
G29 ; BLTOUCH Mesh Generation
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G1 F1800 E-3 ; Retract filament 3 mm to prevent oozing
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
```
```
The above code will activate the heating elements but starts homing and leveling procedure without waiting for the elements to get up to temperature. Only after the bed leveling is finished the printer will pause and wait for the heating elements reach the desired temperature.
This will prevent oozing on a cold start, but you will still be affected if you start a print right after another print, when the hot-end is still close to  melting temperature.
If you prefer to avoid that condition you might want to also move the
```
M104
```
and
```
M140
```
commands after the
```
G29
```
bed leveling command.


Question:
I printed out this calibration shape from Thingiverse with an unexpectedly catastrophic failure.  It looks like there are a lot of things wrong here.

I used the Normal profile in Ultimaker Cura.

There's so much bad in this print that I'm not sure where to start.

It appears that walls weren't printed at all.

Resolution is way below par.

Overhangs are collapsing (not sure if that would be expected at those angles)

The in-filling is inconsistent and "blobby".

Answer:
The oozing is due to hot-end getting hot before the bed leveling procedure: if you move the hot-end warm up command
after
the
```
G29
```
line you avoid that oozing
```
```
; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
G28 ; Home all axes
G29 ; BLTOUCH Mesh Generation
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G1 F1800 E-3 ; Retract filament 3 mm to prevent oozing
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
```
```
The above code will activate the heating elements but starts homing and leveling procedure without waiting for the elements to get up to temperature. Only after the bed leveling is finished the printer will pause and wait for the heating elements reach the desired temperature.
This will prevent oozing on a cold start, but you will still be affected if you start a print right after another print, when the hot-end is still close to  melting temperature.
If you prefer to avoid that condition you might want to also move the
```
M104
```
and
```
M140
```
commands after the
```
G29
```
bed leveling command.


Question:
My Anet A8 suddenly had issues with being unable to heat the bed. After ruling out software issues, I disconnected the connector and found this (sorry for the terrible quality):

The left most pin on the male connector (bed) is also charred. How could I best repair this?

Answer:
New Bed (Connection)
You will at least need a new female connector, but as the connector burnt, you have some underlying problem that made the connector burn in the first place: either the board is sending bad signals to the bed, or the bed is not rated for the board or you
just
had a faulty connector (the most usual culprit). Honestly? Replace the whole connector for a properly rated and intact pair - these pin connectors are not rated for 12 V at all but for 5 V!
If you don't use a beefier connector, solder the wires
directly
to the bed.
Safety first!
Anet isn't known for good firmware implementation of safety, so make twice sure that you
run a firmware that has Thermal Runaway Protection enabled!


Question:
I printed a test cube with ABS on my Ender 3 and after some tuning, I still have a problem I cannot solve. Two of the vertical edges (I believe they are the ones on the X+ side) are slightly squished in. Could this be due to warping or something else? I printed it at 0.1 mm layer height, 235/110 °C hotend/bed temperatures.

Here is a picture:

Answer:
I think this is caused by the shape of the hole. The shape is parabolic or circular, this means that if you slice it as in the green part, the slicer determines the placing of the layers along the curvature. If it has a shallow curvature, and slicing layer height is relatively thick, the curvature of the object cannot be followed. But, if you have more than 1 top layer, this usually should not be visible. I don't think that you have a single layer, so this is a pretty odd anomaly that I have not seen yet (that you look at the infill without top layers).
You could get past this by using a local different infill, e.g. 100 % infill. You can look at
this answer
of
the question: "Different infill in the same part"
. This should help you out printing in your preferred orientation.


Question:
Can I Print models from Sources like Thingiverse and sell them ?
I will be only charging the print costs and will provide full credits and attributes to the original creator of the model (with links to their profiles) in my web-page.

There are websites like 3dhubs where the seller will print any file the user uploads. Similarly I want to charge only for the printing services.

Answer:
I've informed myself a bit about this and found out the following:
It is good that you state the Name/Website or any Reference about original creator
Creative Commons absolutely requires this, even if you don't charge anything for your prints.
So, whether you are trying selling your print or not, you should still always do this.
You are not allowed to sell your prints
Creative Commons License dictates that you are not allowed to commercialize products that are based on any of their sources. This means, even if you are only charging the printing costs, you are not allowed to sell them, as you are profiting of their sources because you did not design the prints yourself.
For further information on this, you should probably check out the official page for this,
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
I hope this helps, Max


Question:
I started a print on my Monoprice Select v2 and let it run.
I'm printing with Dikale PLA at 200 °C extruder and 60 °C build plate temperatures. My initial layer speed is 30mm/s then 60mm/s after that.
Although the Monoprice comes with an aluminum build plate, I put on a FYSETC magnetic bed plate which says it's suitable for PLA printing between 50 °C - 80 °C.

When I returned home, the print had been lifted off the build plate. I used a brim and even applied magigoo gluestick to help it stick but that didn't do the trick.

I also noticed it's charred at one corner. Any idea of what this might be a symptom of?

Here's what was printed

Answer:
You have more than one problem going on. As for the print lifting up, that could be for a multitude of reasons. Clearly better bed adhesion is required. It also appears the printer stopped printing at one layer. Now for the charred part, I think it could've been caused by the nozzle staying in one area for too long (possibly when the printer stopped printing.). This causes the plastic touching the nozzle to overheat and burn up. The charred section can usually be pulled off pretty easily. However, since it definitely appears you have more than one issue here you should pursue some research (perhaps other questions on the site) on the matter.
Hope this helps!


Question: I recently got a Dremel 3D20, and I understand it only takes PLA filament according to the Dremel site.  However, I was wondering if anyone has successfully used TPU filament or knows it will work fine.  I’m more than happy to use other software to change the temperature, I just don’t want to gunk up or otherwise ruin my printer.

Answer:
TPU wants in general two things of your printer:
A Printing Temperature of (over many makers) 195-230 °C
A Direct Drive (extruder on the printhead)
Bowden extruders are not ideal for printing flexible filaments such as NinjaFlex due to the excessive
  distance between the stepper motor and the extruder head. However, some users have generated
  successful prints using reduced speeds.
ninjaflex handout
Check the temperature you can reach, and you are lucky, as some of the smaller Dremels use Bowden but the 3d20 is apparently direct drive.
If you want to try to run a Bowden with flexible filaments, dial down speed down really low (20-30 mm/s at most) and pray.


Question:
Recently got an Anycubic I3 Mega Printer and I've been playing with what it can do, but after a model is done it leaves residue on the build plate behind that is bugging me. Do I NEED to remove it? If so, how? Thanks! (I'm using PLA if that matters)

My Problem:

Answer:
You should remove it because it can and will affect the quality of future prints. Residue can mix up with new filament and create a ugly of colors and also prevent adhesion in places, thus potentially ruining your next print.
You have several solutions to clean up the bed:
Scrape it off: usually works, but you risk chipping the surface if you're not careful or if you stumble upon a bit of residue that is stubborn and you need to apply strength to get rid of it. I think a scraper is included with the printer.
Sponge and soap: Since the bed cannot be removed, as far as I can tell, you'll need to make sure that the sponge isn't dripping or put towel paper around to avoid damaging the components below, including the heating unit. Rub it gently on the residue until it soften and detaches. It might take a bit to work.
Yellow glass cleaner from Karcher
: my favourite, the one I use on my printer and it never failed me. Spray it on a cloth or something, and rub it on the bed until the residue softens and detaches. It might take a bit to work, but you don't run the risk of dripping liquid on any component, and it works way better than soap and without the risk of chipping the bed like when you use a scraper.


Question:
I bought a 32 GB SDHC (Sandisk) I'd like to use for my Monoprice 3D printer.

I have downloaded Partition Wizard and partitioned a 2GB primary partition formatted as FAT and it still does not show any files.

What am I doing wrong?

Answer:
For an SD card to work with the printer firmware
Monoprice suggests to format the SD card to FAT32
.
However, the Monoprice Select Mini V2 is not able to read SDHC memory cards, it is advised to use an SD card (smaller than 4 GB) instead.
According to the
Monoprice support website
:
"Why is my printer not reading my SD card?"
:
If the SD card is not recognized on the printer or if the files are
  not reading, it could be an issue with the actual card itself. The
  first thing we recommend checking is that none of the print files on
  the SD card contain a space in their name. This shows in the printer
  as an unidentified character and can cause issues. If none of your
  prints contain spaces, we recommend reformatting your SD card.
Note:  If you choose to purchase an SD card,
please make sure that it
  is not labeled HC (High Capacity)
as it
may not be compatible with the
  printer
. This means that
the card must be smaller than 4GB in size
.
The last part of the support page is probably applicable to your card.
Some further information can be found in
What is the largest microSD card that a Monoprice Select Mini can read?
, specifically
this answer
. From this latter answer, I quote:
Cards between 2 GB and 32 GB
might
work, depending on the specifics of
  the card
Basically there are no guarantees when using large cards.


Question:
I dont want the part cooling fan on during preheat, especially when I'm only heating the bed, it is just unnecessarily loud and serves no purpose at that time.

However when I set PREHEAT_1_FAN_SPEED to 0 it has no effect, the fan still spins at full speed as soon as I preheat either the hotend or the bed.

So why is this setting not working and how do I fix this?

I am using the latest version of Marlin.

The only one that is defined is the one that I am editing and it is the one that appears on line ~1260 of the stock configuration.h

#define PREHEAT_1_FAN_SPEED 0 // Value from 0 to 255

And this is the grep result of searching the entire firmware folder:

Answer:
This answer is now obsolete now that the OP has updated the question with additional information. It is left here as a possible solution for those who have tinkered with there firmware.
Part cooling fan speed during preheat (from menu) is controlled by the setting
```
```
#define PREHEAT_1_FAN_SPEED     0 // Value from 0 to 255
```
```
in
Configuration.h
where a value of
```
0
```
implies no rotation, or 0 % and
```
255
```
implies 100 %.
If changing this value in your configuration does not result in a reduced fan speed, you could have this constant be defined somewhere else overriding this value.


Question:
I managed to tear my build plate trying to get some very stubborn plastic off it.

I'll need to buy a new one, what characteristics are important for me to ensure it's compatable with my printer?

I can think of:

Dimensions

Power requirements

Connector types

That my printer moves the plate in the z axis (?)

NB  I'm so new at this I didn't realise that this was just a sticker on the plate, so I just need to replace this sticker.  However, as a question, I'm still curious as there's a good chance I will break it at some point.

Answer:
If your printer's heated bed still works, but the sticker has been ripped in some places:
You can try and remove the rest of the sticker, clean the metal plate under the sticker (perhaps with isopropyl alcohol) and then apply a new sticker once there is no adhesive remaining on the heated bed.
You can remove the sticker with the method above, but instead of replacing it with a new sticker, you can buy a PEI sheet and cut it to size if required (read more about PEI
here
) and then stick it to the metal plate.
Personally, I would recommend the latter option, since PEI is low maintenance and the prints automatically pop off the sheet once it cools down, however just make sure not to print PETG on it, since it sticks too much.
On the other hand, if your entire heated bed is broken, the best-case scenario is to look for a heated bed that was designed specifically for your printer. Especially since your printer's heated bed has 3 mounting screws instead of 4.
If you somehow have a solution for mounting a heated bed with 4 mounting screws on a printer that uses 3, the things you need to watch out for are the heated bed's operating voltage (it should be 24v) and the dimensions must be the same. If the wires are not provided with the heated bed, make sure to get wires that have high enough gauge so that it is able to handle the high currents that the heated bed will need.


Question:
I have a set of 2D pictures from a CT scan.

How can I convert them into a 3D model for 3D printing? An example looks like this:

Answer:
Using the terms "convert CT scan to 3D model," I found a number of links of tutorials. One of them is described as free, with registration and appears to be web based. The link,
Embodi3D
, appears to have a relatively comprehensive set of instructions to accomplish your goal.
Instructables
also has a similar tutorial. Should neither of these prove suitable, the search terms above may be of value.
Image below via Instructables:


Question:
When choosing a layer height, I know that often you go as fine as your printer will do for better precision, but sometimes you go a little thicker, for speed, for example.

I also see 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm as common thicknesses.

What are my options here? When I'm working on a part where I want to print a draft piece, and the quality matters less, can I set it to 0.15 mm? 0.11 mm? The Ultimaker Cura slicer I normally use will let me put in almost anything, but what can it really do? If I can use values in between simple 0.1 mm increments, are there reasons I might want to do so?

For reference, I have a Monoprice Maker Select Plus with a 0.4 mm nozzle and, again, Ultimaker Cura as the slicer. But more general answers for other printer types and slicers are also encouraged. I want to know about this generally, and not just for one printer.

Answer: You decide which layer height you want based on the quality you desire, but never go over about 75 % of your nozzle diameter, so with your 0.4 mm nozzle never choose layer heights larger than 0.3 mm. The rationale of this rule of thumb is that the filament leaves the nozzle as a tube and needs to be flattened to make it adhere to the previous layer.


Question:
In the context of a personal project I would like to reproduce the appearance of a commercial product of which I send you a cropped image.

I would also like to point out that I do not have the object in question, but it would seem that it is made from a polymer.

The product is a case with an embedded electronical card, so heat dissipation is important.

I'm interested by what kind of plastic is really used here. I plan to have the part manufactured by a company, so I think the method used will be SLS

I therefore rely on your expertise in the field of 3D printing to try to identify the material used.

Thanks

Answer:
Is there anything else about this object, but its picture? Softening temperature, biodegradability, is it stiff of flexible, hard or soft, anything could help identifying its material.
Also, post-processing (sanding down or chemicals like acetone bath) greatly enhances the range of filaments that can be used.
Just from the picture, my first guess would be: it looks very much like what ceramic powder added filaments can yield with when you sand them down afterwards. Take a look at pictures of prints with LayBrick, CERAMO, etc.
On second thought,
the answer is: Polyamide/Nylon
. It must be either a polyamide case or polyamide coating of some other material. For home projects, MJF polyamide prints can easily be ordered online. Ordering polyamide coating of plastic parts can be trickier depending on your location, although definitely doable.
Going with Nylon at home prints may require a non-basic 3D printer and some expertise.


Question:
After a brownout a print failed and it got the whole hotend covered in PLA. I am now in the process of replacing some parts on the hotend (one of the thermistor legs broke of) and also wanted to take the heater cartridge out. The problem is that the bolt that locks the heater cartridge is stuck and I am now afraid to strip the head.

Is there a trick to remove the bolt with the smallest probability of stripping the head? Is it better to apply heat or not? Should I soak it in Acetone or some other solvent? etc.

Answer:
Acetone will not dissolve PLA, there are other nasty solvents that do that, but it is not recommended to go that way.
You could apply 12 V (if the cartridge is 12 V that is) directly. As the thermistor does not work, you cannot use the printer board. You should take caution not to heat it too far or too hot, but from your experience with your own machine you should know approximately how long it takes to heat up the hotend to working temperature. E.g. start with a minute and try to pry off the lump of plastic with pliers. If you can reach the bolt/worm screw, try heating until you are able to insert the hex key or screw driver.
This video
from Josef Prusa shows exactly what you need to do what is described above. The only difference is that you need to connect the heater element directly to the power supply as your thermistor is broken. So don't leave it on too long or you will bake the filament to carbonization, which is much harder to remove. Try to cycle it on/off.


Question:
I have been working on a printer project that basically is a 2D printer (dot matrix type). We are using solenoids as actuators to make impressions on the paper. We are now in the process of designing custom software. But a problem that we have encountered is that we have no idea how to design software as we are a bunch of beginners in this field.

An idea we are working on is based on position-acknowledge technique. In this technique the computer sends G-code to the controller. The controller after reaching the position defined in code sends an acknowledgement and the computer then sends the next signal. This is the model we are currently working on.

Can anyone suggest any other ideas to make this work?

Is Our approach right?

Do 3D printers work using same technique?

Answer:
3D printer firmware use gcode that is derived from CNC and no acknowledgment. They send movement commands to the stepper motors like
```
G1 X10 Y10
```
to move the printhead 10 mm along the X and Y.
You could use a ready 3D printer firmware like Marlin on a 3d printer board and use the X-axis or extruder output to couple to your solenoid, sending a
```
G1 Z0.1
```
or
```
G1 E0.1
```
, which will actuate it for a short time. You might even use E and Z on different solenoids.


Question:
My ender3 came with a BuildTak-clone surface, and as I was a little too vigorous in getting the print off the bed (I had failed to level right and printed a bit too tight to the bed, resulting in SUPER strong adhesion), I needed to replace it.

Peeling off the black was easy. The plastic sheet that held the glue was easy too... but how to clean up the bed to get the residue glue off and prepare for the new 3M sticker?

Answer:
Cleaning up the aluminium build platform was rather easy in a three step process as I figured out:
Preparation
Get the old bed-surface off and any film layers that stick to the original glue. Don't bother to try to scrape off the glue, it is wasted time.
Solvent
To remove the sticker's residue, I first tried heat and 70% isopropyl alcohol (aka isopropanol, 2-propanol), which was not very effective.
What did prove effective was nail-polish remover on the base of
acetone
. It worked like a charm to turn the sticky film into easily removable, goopy clumps. With small doses and a lot of rubbing/massaging it into the residue and careful use of the scraper, all the glue was gone after about half to three-quarters of an hour of work.
In subsequent replacement, I used
paint thinner
, which is more effective in goopifying the glue and allowing to scrape it off much faster. 10 minutes max.
Cleanup
After applying the generous amounts of nail polish remover, I thought that it might be best to get any of the additives that were meant to protect the skin off the bed - as well as the slight blue coloring - before applying the new tape. So I gave the aluminium a good wipe down with isopropanol.
In subsequent replacements I used ethanol 98 % to clean the bed before applying, just to make sure no fingerprints or glue residue creates bumps.
Applying the new bed surface was easy afterwards, and after a quick bed leveling, the printer runs like a charm again.


Question:
I understand how slicer programs create sets of closed-loop polygons to print on a layer-by-layer basis.  For a given closed loop polygon which needs to be printed, the tool path generator will know the coordinates and how those coordinates are connected to each other, such that traversing a set of segments in that order will bring the extruder head back to the first coordinate to complete the closed loop.

My question is: By what mechanism does the tool path generator decide which direction to traverse the closed loop?  As it is a loop, that loop could be printed "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise", as it were.  Any details, and links to further explanations of how some of the big-name slicer programs determine this is much appreciated.

Answer:
Math
In math, there is a way how a path is to be followed, and that is usually counterclockwise:
Assuming a perimeter path of a circle with
$r=1$
around
$(2,2)$
, then the  path can be defined as
$f(p)={{\cos(p)+2}\choose{\sin(p)+2}}$
- where
$p$
is the path parameter, in this case an angle of 0 to 360°, and just increasing the angle rotates right hand around. If we had the same path but a different starting point, a shift by
$\theta$
, then the path would read
$f(p)={{\cos(p+\theta)+2}\choose{\sin(p+\theta)+2}}$
. So math is usually
counterclockwise
.
Slicers
Every slicer is applying math. As far as I can tell, any Slicer generates a perimeter path, which is always performed in the same way if sliced with the same settings. For one case look at this:
Counterclockwise starting from a 7 o clock position in this case. However, other slicers or other objects on the printbed might use other engines, thus doing it not that way. They might go clockwise since solving a path with
$p=0°\to360°$
and solving it
$p=360°\to0°$
results in producing the exact same print, just opposed print direction of the perimeter.
As long as the perimeter of an object is solved as being done as one closed loop, the perimeter will need to have just one, prescribed direction. This direction will be clockwise or counterclockwise depending on how the slicer exactly solves its calculations. Since both directions are equally valid, it is a programmer's decision. A programmer might even prescribe clockwise or counterclockwise solution based on any factor they wanted. They might use layer number (for alternating directions) or a user setting or even an RNG, if they wanted to.
On the other hand, how the memory is operated and written can also result in the path and the math looking differently. Two examples:
Solving the path correctly counterclockwise and putting the slicing into a FILO memory, resulting in a clockwise operation starting from the last solved point.
Solving counterclockwise and saving into FIFO, running counterclockwise.
Conclusion
Slicers for 3D printing have a hard-coded way to choose the direction that is followed when producing G-code. Any and all perimeters will be printed, starting from some arbitrary point, into that direction. In the end, it is a choice of the
programmer
of the slicing engine that determines if the path is to be run down "forward" or "backward" in mathematical sense.
Addendum
Slicers are derived from CAM programming. CAM - computer assisted machining - takes into account one more thing when solving the tool path that is not relevant to a 3D printer: The direction of the fluting of the tool. In fact, this one will determine into which direction the path will give a better cut and changing the fluting should swap the path direction to ensure best results.


Question:
I've been 3D printing for a while and I've noticed that, when printing small parts, my colored plastics (PLA, PLA+ and ABS) have better layer adhesion than black ones.

Did you notice this?

What could be the cause?

Answer:
Not inherently.
There are two things at work that might cause one color to test weaker than others even as its properties otherwise are functionally identical:
A bad print among good ones.
A bad roll among good ones.
Let's take a look at both, then do a little excursus into plastics and color.
A bad print
There are probably thousands of reasons a print might fail, but bad layer bonding and squish-ability under torsion strongly hint to under extrusion. Now, under extrusion itself can be caused by a plethora of reasons: a clogged nozzle is equally as possible as too thinner diameter as is just a bad temperature. The last one is, in my opinion, the most likely culprit: filaments may look the same and feel the same and bond the same, but in different colors, they sometimes demand different print settings.
As an example, I print most of my Kaisertech PLAs at 200°C, as that offers a quite good result for all of them. Yet when I started I had a white China PLA and a crystal clear PLA from the same manufacturer, both came from the same warehouse in the same shipment. The clear one is quite more brittle on the roll, but their starting-to-print temperature differs by 5°C - the white started to extrude at 180°C decently and printed ok at 195°C-200°C, while the clear needed only 175°C to start to be extrudeable and was really printable at 190°C. Yet recently I tried the same roll again to achieve fully clear prints, and with 210°C and lots of overextrusion, I managed to go almost solid-clear. Because of such experience, I suggest tweaking the settings.
A Bad Filament
There are several reasons why one roll might resulting in bad prints, but the most prominent are that the roll has
gone
bad over bad storage. It might be stored too hot or too humid, making it brittle or bubble in the hotend. Aging under UV plays a role (it degrades PLA). And dimensional accuracy plays a role because it affects the whole roll of filament. This is why tests should always be performed with equally treated and measured samples to achieve comparability.
Excursus: Plastics and color
What gives a plastic its color? Pigments added to it. Now, pigments can be of varied kinds. Usually, they are embedded in the plastic (=not bonded to the carrier plastic), and the plastic polymer is often either inherently transparent(ish) or white. Let's take some examples to look at...
Yellow
. Yellow can be made from a lot of stuff but many yellow pigments react to UV light by decay more than other colors, leading to yellow to fade quickly in comparison to other colors. It has varied chemical compositions, often they can become quite complex.
Black
. Black pigment is typically the most simplistic coloration to achieve: pure powdered carbon is one of our most potent black pigments, and also one of the cheapest, making black plastic one of the most common plastics. In contrast to other colors, carbon can't fade. But the plastic around it decomposes and turns white, fading the color this way.
Now, most colorings are - in physical terms - sizeable. Some few to a couple dozen atoms, making them range in the
Angström
(~Atom diameter) to
few nanometer
area overall. However, even something as complex as
$C_{22}H_{20}O_{13}$
(Carmine) is relatively small compared to the
$(C_3H_4O_2)_n$
of
Poly
LacticAcid, aka PLA. Poly tells us that n is at least 100, because shorter chains are
oligo
mers, not
poly
mers. In comparison, our red carmine pigment is more dense, much more compact in fact. As a result, a 100-chain of PLA is not just in the
Angstöm
area but in the
dozen nanometer
to
micrometer
range - a magnitude of at least 2 larger. Unless we have a huge excess of pigment or a pigment that reacts with the plastic under heat, then the impact of it on the strength should be neglectible to the other fillers often used.


Question:
I'm having a lot of difficulty removing support material without damaging the print.

Are there any tips/tricks to doing this or is it just a case of sanding, cutting, chopping and then cleaning it up as best I can?

Settings

Printer: Monoprice Ultimate

Filament Temp: 200 °C

Plate Temp: 60 °C

Material:  PLA

Slicer:  Ultimaker Cura

Placement:  Everywhere

Angle:  20°

Pattern:  Concentric

Answer:
Print/material specific settings
If you are printing
too hot with too less distance
,
the support just fuses to the print object
. Extra cooling, lower print temperature and support distance should be in balance to create easy to remove support structures with respect to an acceptable print object surface. If temperature and cooling cannot be balanced to prevent fused support structures (e.g. for high temperature filament materials that cannot take too much cooling as that would result in less structural solid prints), there is an option in Cura to override the fan speed for the first layer above the support (
```
Fan Speed Override
```
). If this fails to produce easy removable supports, you can resort to changing the support distance between the support and the print object.
Support settings
Most of the used slicers have an option to determine how much distance (in terms of layers) you want between your support and your product, you could add an extra layer as space to try out if that works better for you. E.g. the default Cura setting for
```
Support Bottom Distance
```
(which is a sub-setting of
```
Support Z Distance
```
) is the layer thickness specified in
```
Layer Height
```
. If you have a layer height of 0.2 mm, the
```
Support Bottom Distance
```
is also 0.2 mm. For the top, option
```
Support Top Distance
```
this is two layer heights, so 0.4 mm in this example. These options are visible in the expert mode, you can search for them in the search box, see image below.
Why should you want air in between your part and the support?
You'll soon find out when you want to
remove supports
, if no gap is used, the support will fuse to the print part. This is only interesting (no gap between print part and support structure) when you use a different filament for support like PVA or break-away filament; e.g. PVA dissolves in water in a dual nozzle printer setup (not that you can make the biggest part of the support except the top and bottom layer from the print object material, e.g. PLA for the main part of the support and PVA for the bottom and top layer: settings
```
First Layer Support Extruder
```
,
```
Support Interface Extruder
```
,
```
Support Roof Extruder
```
and
```
Support Floor Extruder
```
).


Question:
I am in college and am doing a team competition to print PPSU filament, and get the best results. This is being put on by the Solvay company, who makes the material. Our team signed up and the university bought us an Intamsys Funmat HT 3D Printer, which said it was capable of printing PPSU. However, the company doing the competition did not release the information that the bed plate must be a high temperature to avoid warping (Greater than 200 °C). However, our plate only reaches a temperature of 160. Does anyone know of any aftermarket heaters that would work with this printer?

Maximum temperatures according to Intamys: Chamber 90 °C, Magnetic Build Plate 160 °C, Extruder 450 °C

Answer:
If you're a brave individual you might try insulating the bottom of your heated bed. You're going to want to get fiberglass or something that can actually withstand the temperatures you're trying to reach; anything past about 230 °C and you'll get organic things like cork and cotton starting to smoke. 200 °C is pretty absurd for a print bed temperature unless you're printing some pretty exotic materials.
Aside from insulating the bottom of the bed to aid in heat retention, you might also try getting an external FET chip for your heated bed, like is recommended for the RAMPS1.4 boards since their connectors don't handle high amperage loads well. External FET plus a 24 V PSU might give you the kind of temperature range you're apparently aiming for. Best of luck with that, and try not to set your entire setup on fire, 200 °C really is kind of absurd for an entire print plate.
TL;DR:
Insulate
External FET chip
24V PSU


Question: When slicing with Slic3r Prusa edition the top layer of most models turns out pretty bad. There are usually small gaps or weird patterns. This does not happen with Ultimaker Cura, it will have a nice smooth top layer. Is there anything settings wise that I can do in Slic3r to get the same quality of top layer as Ultimaker Cura?

Answer:
Yes
, you can show more than 300 lines in the terminal; just
disable auto scrolling
(
reference
).
Disabling Autoscroll now completely disables cutting off the lines (so
  you can have way more than 300 lines while that's disabled), filtering
  has been improved too and doesn't cause scrolling anymore.
Note that with disabled autoscrolling, you will be able to see more lines up to the point that the buffer is full. If you need even more lines to monitor, just enable the logging the data to file
```
serial.log
```
. If you open the options page (OctoPrint Settings), just tick the box for "Log communication to
```
serial.log
```
" under "Serial logging" of the "Serial connection" options.
This serial logging file is typically used for debug purposes, but as can be read from the options, it comes with a warning:
While this can negatively impact performance, a
```
serial.log
```
can be
  incredibly useful for debugging any issues observed in the
  communication between OctoPrint and your printer.
You can either access the log file through the OctoPrint options/setting through the "Logging" options tab, or direct download/copy from the logging directory:
on Linux: ~/.octoprint/logs
on Windows: %APPDATA%\OctoPrint\logs
on MacOSX: ~/Library/Application Support/OctoPrint/logs


Question:
I've started printing PETG recently and I'm happy with results so far, awesome strength and good looking (except for stringing). But I've noticed that PETG prints better with more distance nozzle-plate than usual, and under-extrusion make parts looking better than both normal/over-extrusion.

What distance nozzle-plate is optimal for PETG? (i.e. the distance between nozzle and build plate during calibration)

What extrusion percentage is optimal for PETG?

Answer:
I have printed literally kilometers of 2.85 mm PETG filament on various 3D printers, and frankly, I do not share your opinion on an increased calibration distance/offset (like using thicker paper when levelling you build plate or increasing the Z offset by G-code
```
M851
```
). I even lower the default first layer height in Ultimaker Cura (0.2 mm prints fine). I am aware that on the web there are folks that do increase the calibration offset, or increase the first layer height, but that should not be necessary on a well tuned printer with sufficient first layer adhesion (e.g. printing on glass with 3DLAC).
Furthermore, the best extrusion multiplier for printing PETG is 100 % on a well tuned extruder for a constant diameter quality filament brand.


Question:
I have a Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3D Printer and have tried to replace the nozzle.

The nozzles I bought turned out to be too small.

What are the important specifications of a nozzle?

Thread size

Thread length

That plastic tube thing?

Monoprice is very bad at publishing the specs, can I work it out with a caliper?

Answer:
What part fits?
A replacement nozzle needs to fit 3 parameters:
Thread diameter and pitch need to match up, to allow mounting
Thread length should be close to the original to allow secure fastening
The style needs to fit: there are quite some styles of nozzle - most are not lined, yours is PTFE lined to the nozzle (see also
Can the filament tube be outside of the nozzle?
)
Monoprice nozzles are
not
compatible with what is known as Ultimaker Mk8 or E3D style (which you bought). They are Ultimaker Mk10 style.
What's a good nozzle?
Now, what separates a good replacement nozzle from a bad one?
good machining to leave no burs and a smooth interior.
a good inner geometry that allows easy flow
outlet hole is to size
Finding premade replacement parts
As a first measure to not get the wrong replacement parts, make sure to add the manufacturer of your printer to the search and then check the thread diameter if given. In your case, you might have to add Monoprice or Toymaker, as those use this style of nozzle.
Reverse engineering a Nozzle
Now, which measurements do you need to reverse engineer it?
nozzle front pitch angle
hex head flat-to-flat & hight
recess diameter & hight
screw shaft relief diameter & hight
thread outer diameter & length
inner bore diameter at entry (and in case of a lined one: after the step) & corresponding depth of drilling
amount of chamfering
With these, it's possible to do do a CNC model or a sketch of the outside and produce pretty much blanks or shells on a lathe that just need their last little bit of drilling... and here comes the tricky part: till now, all could be accessed from the outside. We are missing one profile though: the last piece of the inner bore geometry.
This one can't easily be measured, but if one can push some plastic in, let it cool and then pull it out, one might get a molding of it, which might allow to reverse engineer a fitting drill for the last piece.


Question:
Is there any risk of damaging stepper motors if I set too big travel speed?
What is maximum safe travel speed?

My printer is a German RepRap Neo.

I currently use 120 mm/s. Is it safe to increase this value to 200 mm/s?
What would my printer do if I set very big travel speed?

Answer:
Short answer
no
We use stepper drivers to limit the current, the travel speed is at capped by the amount of current supplied by the stepper drivers. This prevents the stepper motors from damaging themselves. You can set 200mm/s in the slicer, but you have no guarantee that that will be reached in real life.
One thing to keep in mind though is that setting your travel speed too high can induce artifacts such: shifted layers, ghosting, uneven extrusion, etc. So the best thing is to keep the speeds within the specified limits.


Question:
I want to create a micromouse project for fun that use 2 20 mm x 8.5 mm (0.8 mm shaft) motors. I have my own PCB as base. I want its built-in gears will be attached to two 3D-printed wheels with gears at the back of the wheels at each side. I'm having hard time to start designing the gears since I couldn't find any tutorial.

(photo for reference and not mine)

My Question:

How to design the gears at the back of the wheel? (I use Sketchup)

Is 3d-printing such small objects possible?

Answer:
Designing gears is very difficult for a variety of reasons. Let me list what you should take into account:
The shape of the teeth are very peculiar, trapezoid shape will not work as the meshing will not be constant. Exact shape is controlled by the pressure angle
In lower number of teeth, teeth shape must be modified to avoid any locks, these are called cutoffs
Reducing the amount of material to print requires careful design, most people simply place circles but they cause weak points.
Herringbone and double herringbone gears improve meshing but are even more difficult to design.
For the reasons stated above, creating gears by hand is next to impossible without special tools. Luckily for those who are searching for it, there are systems that generate gears for 3D printing. This
customizer
has many options and is very open about the licensing, which is another issue with many scripts. For example, it is explicitly forbidden to print parts imported from the McMaster-Carr Catalogue.
If you use OpenSCAD,
this library
can create racks to go with the gears.
The parameters of the customizer are explained in the page. The script also contains explanations of every module and function.
Disclaimer: Both scripts are mine, yet I do not earn anything when people use them. I created the library when I was unable to find the gears I needed, published with a relaxed license to help others.


Question:
After I level my Ender 3, the distance between the nozzle and the bed seems fine on both ends, but moving the bed on the Y axis shows that it's increasing and decreasing for three times, which I just cant fix.

This only occurs on the left side - the right side is constant from beginning to end.
Also I've been using three different beds (the magnetic one and two glasses) to make sure it's really something else.

I created this video to demonstrate the problem.

I'm sure that this has something to do with the carriage wheel adjustment, but tightening those did not change anything.

How do I get rid of this problem?

Answer:
Your video shows that your bed seems warped somewhat.
Ammount of error
As I assume you did level the bed with a sheet of paper to be 0.1 mm thick, we can estimate the change of thickness. The thickest point seems to be 0.2 mm, the thinnest 0.05. that's in average an error of 0.075 mm for the first layer. If you can live with that, no need to touch it.
Fixing the issue
Basically, if the error is too large for your liking, you need to fix it. To fix it, there are pretty much 2 ways. Remember that
the Ender-3 uses 24V
when ordering parts!
Fix the part or install a replacement part
If you feel like you need to get it even flatter, you'll need to try to flatten the bed mechanically or replace it. You'll need to be comfortable to remove the BuildTak-clone surface, then remove the leveling screws, open the electronics enclosure, remove some hot glue, unhook the bed.
Then you will need to flatten the bed in some way (grinding the upper side perfectly flat or bending it, replacing it for an entirely flat one).
Then reinstall it, going through the uninstallation backward, and add a new build surface on it.
Switch to alternate leveling method: Mesh Bed Leveling
If you consider yourself to be able to do some intermediate to advanced modification of your printer, you can change the hotend carriage to one that allows mounting a distance sensor and changing the firmware to mesh-bed-leveling.
You'll need to get an induction or capacity sensor (common operation ranges for those are 6-36V, so perfectly fine with 24V) and
some way to couple that to the board
, most likely an optocoupler. Print a new mounting for sensor and fans.
To install you open the electronics compartment, hook up your chosen 24V-5V coupler as extra to the Z-switch, hook the power supply of the sensor up and run it up to the printhead. Replace the mounting for the hotend cooling fan and part cooling fan and
change your firmware
. Calibrate the height of the sensor to trigger correctly.
I did flash a bootloader
via the ISP
on my ender-3 since then, so I can just flash the new firmware via a direct connection.
Last words
In either way, after fixing, you should run a PID-tune on the machine.
Thermal Runaway might or might not be active, depending on your firmware iteration, so you should update it anyway, which might make Mesh Bed Leveling the slightly easier way to go.
This has
nothing
to do with the bed carriage wheels, as the bed hangs onto the carriage only via the screws in the corners.


Question:
I just completed my first print on my Ender-3 and when the print finalized itself the nozzle didn't elevate itself to clear away from the piece. I watched as the nozzle slowly lowered itself into my print and destroy it. Here is the gcode generated by Slic3r used:

; Filament-specific end gcode
G4 ; wait
M221 S100
M106 S0 ; turn off cooling fan
M104 S0 ; turn off extruder
M140 S0 ; turn off bed
G91
G1 F1800 E-3
G90
G1 Z{z_offset+min(layer_z+30, max_print_height)}{endif} ; Move print head up
G28 X0 ; home x and y axis
G1 Y180; Remove Print Position
M84 ; disable motors
M300 S2600 P100; Beep
; filament used = 24040.5mm (57.8cm3)
; total filament cost = 0.0

Answer:
Your print end code should have read something akin to this:
```
```
; Filament sy end gcode
G4 ; wait
M221 S100
M106 S0 ; turn off cooling fan
M104 S0 ; turn off extruder
M140 S0 ; turn off bed

; End code
G1 F1800 E-3 ; retract 3 mm
G1 Z30 ; Move print head up 30mm
G28 X0 ; home x and y axis
M84 ; disable motors
M300 S2600 P100; Beep
```
```
The problem with your end code is the
```
G90
```
for
absolute
measurements together with the formula
```
G1 Z{z_offset+min(layer_z+30, max_print_height)}{endif}
```
to set the height. The printer itself doesn't calculate anything. That what it doesn't interpret, it ignores, interpreting that whole thing as something crazy like
```
G1 Z30
```
to force the printer to go to Absolute 30 mm above absolute 0. To fix it,  your slicer would need to calculate
```
{z_offset+min(layer_z+30, max_print_height)}
```
for the printer - which seems to come out to 30mm above the print and then an if-statement that is not started anywhere.
Going up 30 mm can be much easier be done by staying in
```
G91 ; relative measurements
```
and calling
```
G1 Z30
```
to go up another 30 mm, though this might be too high for the printer frame.


Question:
OpenSCAD has rotate function which rotates the body around its origin axis.

Is there a way to specify an arbitrary axis?

For example, this rotates a cylinder around its center:

rotate(a=[90,0,0]) {
  cylinder(h=10,r1=10,r2=10);
}

How to make it rotate around its edge?

Answer:
```
rotate()
```
always rotates around the origin of the object following it.
What you can do is to move your cylinder
away
from the origin, like this:
```
```
rotate(a=[90,0,0]) {
  translate([0,10,0]) cylinder(h=10,r1=10,r2=10);
}
```
```


Question:
Heads up: I'm not good with electronics and only have a vague idea of it's inner workings.

I have a E3D V6 Extruder rated for 24 V, that i plan to use in my 3D printer. Will there be any problems with it if powered by 12 V? Will it take longer to heat up? Will it be able to heat up enough to melt PLA? Will it work at all for that matter?
If there are any other quirks or potential problems that I overlooked, please let me know.

Answer:
Electrical engineering can be quite complex, but in this case you can save yourself with same simple equations/relations. Using the following formulae:
Voltage (
$\ U$
) equals current (
$I$
) multiplied by the electrical resistance (
$R$
)
$$ U=I \times R $$
and
Power (
$P$
) equals the square of the current multiplied by the electrical resistance
$$ P=I^2 \times R $$
can be rewritten using the first formula to:
$$ P= \frac{U^2}{R} $$
Applying these formulae to a
40 Watt, 24 V
heater element, the electrical resistance (in
$\Omega $
) is calculated by:
$$ \frac{{(24\ V)}^2}{40\ W}=14.4\ \Omega $$
Running this heater element with 12 V will lead to a power of
$$ \frac{{(12\ V)}^2}{14.4\ \Omega}=10\ W $$
The heat produced is proportional to the square of the current multiplied by the electrical resistance,
halving the voltage
is
quartering the heat output
. This will heat up very slowly! If it is able to reach the required temperature that is. Calculating the temperature is far more difficult, but if you are interested in doing so, please look into
this answer
from the
Electrical Engineering
Stack Exchange.


Question:
I have a Creatorbot 3D printer made by 3D PrinterWorks.  Their website appears to be down, as well as their Facebook page. To me it appears they are no longer around.

I've installed Slic3r as 3D PrinterWorks has recommended in the handbook but cannot download the settings for this from the 3D PrinterWorks website, since that is down.

Does anyone know where I can get the Slic3r configuration file for the Creatorbot?

Answer:
Looks like 3dprinterworks.net went down sometime after March 2018 and 3dprinterworks.com went down in January 2019. Luckily the Wayback Machine still has the
machine's specs
.
Here is the instructions for entering settings in Slic3r as found
here
in lieu of importing a profile. (Please note that I have not used Slic3r so the following is solely based on the link)
The key settings under General are
Bed size*: X = 305 mm; Y = 305 mm; and Z = 457 mm
Print center**: X = 152.5 mm; Y = 152.5 mm
Extruders: 2
Heated Bed: Checked
Under Extruder (each extruder should have its own settings so be sure to set up both)
Nozzle diameter: 0.4 mm
Extruder 2 offset: 30.9 mm (good job, OP on finding the email stating this)
Everything from Retraction and on is up to what works best for you
There may be a set of setting for acceleration (there is in Ultimaker Cura) which is 3000 mm/s
2
for most printers, I think. This is the max acceleration, not to be confused with acceleration settings when slicing the model.
The next set of settings, though outside of the Slic3r link, regards the filament. The diameter should be 1.75 mm and the nozzle temperature should be within the range of the filament (e.g. PLA should be set within 180-220 °C) and a heated bed set to 50-60 °C. These parameters are filament dependent and not printer dependent (other than diameter).
That should be the settings that a profile would set for you. Thankfully there's not too many.
```
*There is a wizard for this section that may make input easier, but here is the build volume.
**This setting may require whole numbers and may, in fact, not be a necessary setting at all.
```


Question: Using CuraEngine with my Ender 3, I'm getting what I'd call inconsistent inner and outer dimensions - for example, a nominally 3 mm peg is significantly larger than a 3 mm hole, and it takes dimensions something like 2.9 mm for the peg and 3.1 mm for the hole to get them to fit. Is this level of error normal? Is it caused by overextrusion, or does CuraEngine run its paths along the curve of the slice rather than offset by approximately half the nozzle width inside the sliced region? The magnitude of the error being almost exactly 0.2 mm, which is half of the 0.4 mm nozzle diameter, makes me wonder if it's the latter.

Answer:
Filament expands slightly as it is extruded. Also, the width of the extrusion depends on the volume of plastic extruded (not the nozzle size), as well as the amount that it is "squidged" down. Some slicers (e.g. Simplify3D) allow you to specify the width of the extrusion that you desire, but I'm not sure if Cura does this. You can fine tune the width of extrusions by adjusting the flow rate. Note that apertures get larger as nozzles wear out, but this should not affect the width of the extrusion very much since the determining factor is volumetric flow rate.
I would say that if you are getting a dimensional accuracy of +/- 0.1mm, you are doing pretty well. If you want to improve on this, you will need to calibrate your extruder and also monitor closely the average diameter of the filament that you are using. I have included a link to an external article, since doing this is beyond the scope of my answer. However, I doubt if it is possible to get push-fit accuracy with FDM printing without fudging the dimensions of the objects that you want to print.
3D Hubs: How to calibrate, tune and fine tune your printer and filament


Question:
I've been trying to find a 3D printer filament which would not release any chemicals if in contact with heated water for a substantial amount of time. So far, I've easily ruled out both PLA and ABS, as they're not considered food safe from what I can find. I have found PETG filament, which seems to be food safe.

My question is: "Is there's anything special you'd have to do to make sure the print is food safe, or as in my case, to make sure it's safe for usage in a mug?".

I will be using a steel extruder as brass ones may contain lead.

Answer:
Many manufactures list their filaments as being food safe, but I would not treat this as "gospel truth". Apparently, the FDA considers PETG to be safe for food contact, but they are probably thinking about injection-moulded and vacuum-formed parts. Unfortunately, an initial search of the FDA's website did not yield any definitive information.
Even if a particular filament is genuinely food safe, that does not mean that a 3D-printed part made from it will be food safe, since there will be an abundance of nooks and crannies where bacteria can lodge and reproduce. You would have to sterilise a utensil before and after every use to be absolutely safe.
Anyway, good luck with making a water-tight mug with an FDM printer. You will probably have to seal it to make it water-tight, and then it will be the food-safety of the sealant that you will need to worry about. I would give it a miss, if I were you (at least, for other people's use). Items intended for one-time use would be OK, I suppose.


Question: I have just built my first 3D printer, and I am having some problems. It is a Cartesian based 3D printer, using Marlin firmware and Pronterface software. My problem is homing the 3D printer. I do not have a probe to calibrate the z offset but I have all 6 endstops. The problem is that the "ZMIN" endstop isn't precise enough and my hotend is always either too far from or too close to the heatbed. Is there a way to manually set the home position, so when I start the printer, It just starts printing and it doesn't have to home again; Or maybe some other way to set the correct offset. It would also be helpful if I could use just the "ZMAX" plug, and then manually set the minimum Z position using a piece of paper.

Answer:
It is possible to "home a printer" without having endstops, technically, you don't
require
endstops, but it makes your job a lot easier if you want to print something!
Basically, when you don't have endstops or limit switches, you need to define where the head of the printer is located. E.g. you can set the nozzle at [0, 0, 0] (origin in [x, y, z]) and add the command
```
G92
```
to your print G-code file that it is at that position using
```
G92 X0 Y0 Z0
```
(or any other location you use, e.g. you could engineer a parking position and refer to that position instead, note that you also need to write the movement commands to get out of that location safely). Don't forget to remove the homing command from your start code in your slicer, replace
```
G28
```
with the
```
G92
```
command with appropriate X, Y and Z values.
Regarding the inaccurate repetitive accuracy of your Z min endstop, it might be worth to find out why this is causing such a spread in triggering, maybe you need to invest in some new endstop switches or look more closely to the heated bed attachment to the frame.
Using Z max as a reference point is e.g. used by Ultimaker machines. The heated platform lowers to Z max; the printer knows from calibration and geometry how far it needs to rise to get to Z=0.


Question:
Kicked off the second long print in a series (printing Lack enclosure components). First 10 hour print was flawless. Started this one, saw the first layer laid down well, went to bed. Woke up to this (you can see the successful prints in the background):

The whole heater block and nozzle is entombed in PLA. The leads to the heater and the thermistor are too. I'm assuming there's no solvent for this, and I'm better off just buying a new hot end.

Thoughts?

Answer:
Yes
I had a somewhat similar clog once, and I could fix it back up. However, it is a lot of work.
Hobbyist Way
Step 1: heat
As long as the heater cartridge is still ok, just fire up the printer, move up the print head by 50 mm and wait some two or three minutes till the goop is warmed enough at the core to melt. Set the hot end to 200 °C and no cooling fan.
Step 2: rough clean
Check the cables for your hot end and thermistor as long as the plastic has not yet softened up around them and especially surrounding the thermistor: When the glob is removed in one swoop, you might tear the lines! It's better to use a sculpting tool or exacto-blade on the softening plastic and make an opening that allows the glob to be pulled away safely with minimal pull on the cabling.
When the blob has softened enough, you can just pull at the outer of the blob to pull it down. Use a tool like pliers and pull off the worst that still sticks to the hotend. Pulling the blob free can take a while, so be patient and careful.
If you have a soldering iron, you can use that as a heated scraper from the outside and skip on heating from the inside. If you have no temperature control (as if your thermosensor is shot) outside heat is the only safe way.
Step 3: Cool down
After having made a rough clean up from the outside, let it cool down so you can dismantle it.
Step 4: dismantle and clean the hotend.
This is actually rather simple, and I will point
to a question where I outlined that for a broken thermistor cartridge
. You have a working thermosensor at least, so less problems on that front.
Shortcut
If you have a hot air gun for hot air soldering, you can be much faster! Skip step 1 to 3, dismantle the hotend and go straight to Step 4, dismantling it and cleaning it out of the machine with the hot air soldering tool as a heat source. Heat and scrape away, and get out the thermosensor and thermosensor as soon as possible to prevent destroying them.


Question:
Flsun 3D Cube; Marlin 1.1.1; main board: Makerbase MKS Gen_L V1.0; running from either Repetier or OctoPrint.

I was recently obliged to replace the main board when it stopped powering the heated bed. I got the new main board - same make, version, etc - got everything setup just as it was before, but the bed still doesn't heat. Multimeter shows zero across the board's heat bed contacts, whether using G-code from the terminal (in both Repetier and Octoprint), G-code in the print file, or the control panel on the front of the printer. The thermistor works: if I shine a heat lamp on the bed, it registers the temp change.

Bad board? Something in the Merlin config I missed? Is the board smart enough to not power it on if the bed heater itself is bad?

Answer:
Considering:
Multimeter shows zero across the board's heat bed contacts
this implies that
If you measured
resistance
, the heated bed has no resistance. Basically this implies that the bed has a short. This might be the reason why it is not working. If you would power it as such you create a short. Instead of replacing the board, you need to replace the heated bed. Typical values for a heated bed of about 200 x 200 mm are in the order of 1.2 Ω (measurements between 0.9 and 1.5 Ω are reasonable to be expected).
If you measured
voltage
, the heated bed does not receive power for heating, or the power does not reach the bed (not turned on or broken wire?). It would then be wise to measure the resistance (of the bed and the wires). If the resistance is in the order of about 1.2 Ω (see above) for the bed, you could try to connect the heated bed directly to the PSU to see if it gets warm, if so, please disconnect immediately to prevent damage. From this experiment you can find whether the heated bed is broken (or the cables), or that the board is not functioning correctly, this is, however, strange as you tried 2 boards. A possible suspect could be the MOSFET that schedules the powering of the heated bed if you use an external MOSFET board that it.
If you measured
current
, then you found out that no power is delivered to the board, but you also might have broken your board in the process, as measuring current is a (close to) 0 Ω connection and has to be done
in line
of a circuit.


Question: For a while now, my AmazonBasics PETG filament has been working like a charm. Now, it is balling up on my nozzle. I've tried slowing it down, re-leveling the bed, etc. I don't want to go through the hassle of replacing my nozzle with a Micro-Swiss all metal 0.4 mm nozzle. I've tried the other extruder which I know works with PLA, but same results. I'm using a Flashforge Creator Pro(2016).

Answer: PETG does this. PETG is like glue when soft this is why when you level the bed you have to add an additional 0.1 mm distance for PETG. PETG should not be as close as PLA, but futher away. It will stick to the hotend so preferably change the hotend from brass to a nickle plated nozzle (e.g. Micro Swiss, PETG does not stick to that nozzle at all).


Question:
First, I'm using Linux Mint 18.3 (Sylvia). Until now, I've been using OpenSCAD with the GUI and never experienced issues. Now I try to start OpenSCAD from the command line, but it always opens an empty file, even if a file with the specified name exists.

Since I have a rather big script, I'd like to generate the STL's via the CLI. Due to this error, I can not even do any tests for parameter passing.

What I'd like to do is to issue a command (flom the command line or in a shell script) that says "Set objectID to 1, render and export the result to stl".

Here is my M(N)WE:

// test.scad

objectID = 2;

if (objectID == 1)
difference(){
    cylinder(d=20, h=50, center=true);
    cylinder(d=16, h=50.2, center=true);
}

else if (objectID == 2)
difference(){
    cube(50, center=true);
    cube([35,35,70], center=true);
}

Any help will greatly be appreciated.

Answer:
You can specify variable values from command line using:
```
openscad     ...\
             ... \
             [ -D var=val [..] ] \
             ... \
             ... \
             filename
```
See the
OpenSCAD Manual
.


Question:
My model layers are printing much as I expect but the parts when removed from the plate are very soft and flexible and fail to harden any further in sunlight or UV lamplight.  A tall or slender part will bend and distort under its own weight while printing.  I am using LCD-T resin, I have increased time and reduced thicknesses and am now using 0.04 mm layers at 20 s and 255 brightness with no improvement.
Can anyone suggest what I need to change?

Answer:
You can specify variable values from command line using:
```
openscad     ...\
             ... \
             [ -D var=val [..] ] \
             ... \
             ... \
             filename
```
See the
OpenSCAD Manual
.


Question:
I have an issue with my Anet A8 printer and how it interlocks with Ultimaker Cura.

I want to print this file named Loki_hörner_v2.stland Cura slices it fine, but when it comes to printing all the preheat happens, but then it stops, not going on at all. What might be wrong here?

Answer:
Avoid naming
```
.gcode
```
files with non-ASCII characters
(this includes
EASCII
)
I know of no firmware on a printer that can handle files that have characters not present in the set of 95 non-control
American Standard Code for Information Interchange characters
by default. Marlin, for example, can't process the characters
```
ä
```
```
ö
```
```
ü
```
&
```
€
```
as these all are missing in the ASCII.
Avoid having more than one
```
.
```
Nowadays the
```
.
```
is no longer a fully reserved character in file names, so a file can be named
```
0.5mm Gauge Block.stl
```
on Windows without problems.
Ultimaker Cura will
cut
the name at the
```
.
```
before the extension when generating the
```
.gcode
```
. This is mainly done to prevent tons of errors that could crop up in firmware that might not be able to deal with it. Remember that this behavior can lead to overwriting files - our
```
0.5mm Gauge Block.stl
```
would generate
```
0.gcode
```
, as would
```
0.1.5 Penholder.stl
```
(that follows a version naming convention).
Avoid reserved characters
Also note that some characters are reserved in file naming and will lead to other errors (mainly when trying to create the files in the first place), including, but not limited to,
```
/
```
```
\
```
```
:
```
```
?
```
```
*
```
.


Question:
I have only just set up my Anet A6 today. I am trying to print a calibration box, but the print is moving around the bed while trying to print. Any ideas how to fix this? The documentation is very vague.

Basically I am very new to 3D printing. I purchased an Anet A6 and have set it up stock. I am trying to just print the box directly from the demo models on the SD card. I'm using the standard filament that comes with the printer. I'm not sure what type it is.

All settings are default.

Answer:
If the printed material moves with the nozzle, you might have several problems at hand, e.g.:
adhesion,
nozzle to bed distance and
overall level.
Nozzle to bed distance needs to be the thickness of a plain A4 or Letter paper. This needs to be at the same distance (when pulling the sheet of paper you need to feel a little drag) at the complete area of the bed. This is sometimes difficult as not all beds are perfectly flat from itself. Finally, you need to pull some tricks out of your sleeve to get the filament to adhere to the bed. Many example can be found, popular ones are using blue tape, glass bed, glue stick, PVA based spray (e.g. strong hairspray or dedicated spray cans like 3DLAC or Dimafix, etc.), or a combination of these. You just need to experiment some more what works best for you, but it is good to start with a correctly levelled bed with the proper nozzle gap. Sometimes, increasing the bed and filament temperature with 5 °C for the first layer also helps.


Question: I bought an Ender 3, and after assembling it following the description and some YouTube videos and after correct leveling, I printed the test dog gcode on the micro SD card that comes with the printer. PLA 1.75 mm. Attached the image of the printing result. What went wrong? I didn't change or modify any settings what so ever, I just assembled the printer, and printed the test dog. Please help me, I am a beginner in 3D printing.

Answer:
This is an extreme case of repeated layer shifting in the Y-carriage, which can come from some pieces related to the carriage. Luckily for you, they are easily fixable.
The Ender3 Y-carriage has an eccentric nut to adjust the force the wheels press down on the V-slot. Adjust it (most likely loosen them a little) so it moves smoothly when the motors are off, but keep it tight enough so it does not tilt.
The belt in the Y-carriage might be loose. Tighten it till it gives a nice ring when struck.
Check if the gear on the Y-motor is tightened down correctly. If it slips or wriggles, the backlash results in the layers shifting.
The Ender3 has the cables to the gantry and the bed running across each other and quite open. Make sure nothing can be caught in them.
Make sure the gantry is parallel to the bed and stays so in moving upwards - adjust the wheels as needed.
To ensure this, make sure the lead screw is orthogonal to the gantry. Level the bed afterwards. You might need to adjust the motor mount, possibly by shimming.


Question:
I am looking for the temperature rating for hardboard. I want to use that as the base for my printer enclosure.

It has proven incredible hard get a ball-park figure from Google.

So, what is the maximum safe temperature for a hardboard panel at long term? (considering a print job can easily take 6 hours).

PS: if you have used a hardboard to build your enclosure, your experience might be helpful.

Answer:
Hardboard is called
Masonite
here in the States because that is the trade name of the product. If you look up the
Material Safety Data Sheet
you will see Masonite it states the following (Section 5):
Auto-ignition Temperature (°C): >200 degrees Celsius
In Section 7, it states:
These boards are flammable but difficult to ignite.
Furthermore in Section 10, it states:
Conditions to avoid:
Avoid sources of radiant heat and flame; and avoid sparks and sources of ignition in all electrical equipment, including dust extraction equipment.
  Avoid excessive build up of dust from boards.
The hot end works of printers are neither radiant heat, nor flames, nor sparks. Yes, you'll have a buildup of heat within the working confines of an enclosure, but if you are only using it for a base there should be absolutely no issues. If you were to build an entire enclosure from hardboard, you could put a thermal probe inside with the printer to ensure it doesn't get too hot, but realistically, it will never get hot enough within the enclosure to light the hardboard on fire.


Question:
Sometimes my meshes turn out with artifacts Which can be seen in the bottom image. What is the cause? The first image shows my mesh which its generated from.
I've tried multiple slicers. This tends to occur sometimes.
Any help appreciated. Is there something going over my head???

Answer:
Hardboard is called
Masonite
here in the States because that is the trade name of the product. If you look up the
Material Safety Data Sheet
you will see Masonite it states the following (Section 5):
Auto-ignition Temperature (°C): >200 degrees Celsius
In Section 7, it states:
These boards are flammable but difficult to ignite.
Furthermore in Section 10, it states:
Conditions to avoid:
Avoid sources of radiant heat and flame; and avoid sparks and sources of ignition in all electrical equipment, including dust extraction equipment.
  Avoid excessive build up of dust from boards.
The hot end works of printers are neither radiant heat, nor flames, nor sparks. Yes, you'll have a buildup of heat within the working confines of an enclosure, but if you are only using it for a base there should be absolutely no issues. If you were to build an entire enclosure from hardboard, you could put a thermal probe inside with the printer to ensure it doesn't get too hot, but realistically, it will never get hot enough within the enclosure to light the hardboard on fire.


Question: I want to 3d print my own icing smoothers, but I'm not sure if its safe to have plastic from a 3D printer in contact with cake icing. Is there any harm in this?

Answer:
Only certain plastics are safe enough to be used to contain or manipulate food. ABS and PET-G are such materials. The 3d printing process however is not food safe because, it creates crevices in the printed part into which bacteria and other contaminants can cling to. A printed part would need to be coated in a silicone rubber to render the surface both inert (can't grow anything) and smooth (no crevices). Further, the type of plastic you use must be able to be sterilized in boiling water. PLA softens in boiling water. PET-G variants can as well (think clear plastic bottles). This is why most food handing utensils are either glass or stainless steel.
If you are going to use a 3d printing process to produce parts that are to be used for food, you also have to consider containment from the machine itself. The brass nozzle, the teflon tube, the extruder gears etc. The filament itself may not have come from the factory as clean as it would need to be to be used around food.
If you are able to coat the heat resistant part in silicone and you only use it a few times (ensuring that it is properly washed and sterile) then it can be used for food prep purposes.
There is a difference between food grade and safe for contact with food.
Acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene copolymer identified in this section may be safely used as an article or component of articles intended for use with all foods, except those containing alcohol, under conditions of use E, F, and G described in table 2 of 176.170(c) of this chapter.
Abstract from: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=177.1020


Question: I am new here and would like to work on a project to 3D print a precision prototype. What is the most affordable way to do it? How do I go about it?

Answer:
These two videos seem to give a good, general, entry-level introduction to the various technologies and processes that are involved in 3D printing:
The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to 3D Printing - Part 1
The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to 3D Printing - Part 2


Question: My Anet A8 reads as 120ish degrees Celsius, but it is set to 200 degrees. I don't know if it is reading the wrong temperature because it still pushes out plastic when I force it. It will climb up and then go back down. I don't know if the hot end it broke or if the thermistor is broke.

Answer:
You are sitting on a fire risk!
If you are using the stock/original firmware, you should
immediately stop printing
. The stock firmware of the Anet A8 has no
thermal runaway protection
(
see also
this answer
), this means it will keep heating until the thermistor senses 200 °C, even if it cannot do that for some reason or another.
When a hotend temperature does not read the correct value, your thermistor in the hotend may not be making correct contact (as you say that it goes up and down). Please ensure that the thermistor is correctly positioned, it makes good contact and the wires correctly fastened.
Similarly applies to the heater cartridge, which can fall out and causing a fire if not properly fastened. Ensure the heater cartridge is properly positioned and held in the heater block.
Fluctuations in temperature sometimes are induced by a wrongly positioned fan duct (but generally not that much). The reason why this is not the case here is that you can still push the filament through while it reads about 120 °C;
this temperature is generally too low to push filament through
. Apparently the hotend is still hot enough to push filament through while registering a low temperature.


Question:
I've recently acquired a Flashforge Adventurer 3 and am having difficulty printing with ABS. The initial layers seem to lay and stay pretty well, though after a few more moments, one side will peel up from the heated platform. I'd like to know if anyone has optimal and tested temperatures for the use of ABS on my printer for the nozzle and platform?

I've used FlashPrint for slicing my objects using the following options:

Supports: Disable,

Raft: enable,

Resolution: Standard,

Layer Heights: 0.18 mm,

First Layer Height: 0.27 mm,

Perimeter Shells: 2,

Top Solid Layers: 4,

Bottom Solid Layers: 3,

Fill Density: 15 %, Hexagon, Every 2 Layers,

Print Speed: 60 mm/s,

Travel Speed: 80 mm/s,

Extruder: 225 °C,

Platform: 70 °C,

Cooling Fan Controls: Automatic,

Nozzle Dia.: 0.4 mm

Answer:
The most commonly used print temperature range for ABS is 220 to 240 °C with the major bulk around 230 °C. Some filaments are blended with inhibitors or PC, increasing their print temperature to up to 260 °C. Note that the color of the filament just as the brand can have an impact on the print temperature!
The most commonly used bed temperature for ABS start at least at 80 °C.
MatterHackers
suggest 85-90 °C.
If your bed is particularly bad at getting adhesion, you might want to clean the bed of residues and fingerprints and relevel the bed. If that is not enough and you use a glass bed, a slurry of ABS in Acetone could come in handy. If you have a glass bed, the slurry is pretty much the best option.
Print cooling is a bane on ABS - the stuff shrinks too fast if cooled, resulting in the parts breaking loose!


Question:
I'm trying to print a calibration cube from PLA using a 70 °C heated build platform on a Prusa i3 Pro W. This results in:

Please explain why it prints like this.

Answer:
There are multiple issues that cause this result.
First, your nozzle is to far from the bed. This can be seen by the curly deposited filament on the build plate (I guess that is the brim or the skirt). Please properly level the bed and position the nozzle at a distance of a plain A4 paper as best as possible (should be doable as you have a glass sheet that are usually very flat as a result of the production process to make glass).
The second problem you face is layer shift. You see that the squares are printed further and further to the left, the print head does not return to original position. Layer shift is usually caused by improper belt tension or a loose grub screw of the belt pulley.
This answer
describes layer shifting in more detail.
This question
may be helpful too, the answer contains some references to layer shifting.


Question:
Recently I have been doing more complicated math in OpenSCAD and I have run into something that I find strange. Take a simple math expression: 2 / 2 / 2. By any programming language this will equal 0.5 (1/2), and OpenSCAD agrees. Something like this: 2 / -2 / 2 should also be -0.5 for the same reason. However, OpenSCAD thinks this is -2. That is echo(2 / -2 / 2); gives ECHO: -2. My calculator, other programming languages (and myself) all say its -0.5.

Is this a quirk of OpenSCAD, or am I missing something obvious?

Answer:
I suspect the behavior you are seeing is an undocumented feature (aka, bug) of OpenSCAD. I've found in the latest stable release that if the - is placed on either end, the result is -0.5, but in the middle, my results are the same as yours. Surrounding the -2 with parentheses results in a correct answer, however.
It appears that the parentheses turns a mathematical operation into a signed integer. It follows that the operations without the parentheses is right to left:
2/2 = 1, negative 1 with the minus, 2/-1 = -2


Question:
I bought new yellow PLA filament from XYZ (1.75 mm).

Over the past I have printed many objects with my da Vinci 1.0 (ABS only). I found that while the brim is being printing (using default configuration of XYZWare; the da Vinci machines give the user very little control over print parameters, if I remember correctly the temperatures are controlled by the chip in the filament cassette), filament stopped extruding from my extruder immediately. However, ABS can be printed properly.

Could anyone tell me how can I work around ?

Answer:
That looks pretty bad for a number of reasons. If you've got an all-metal hotend, you can be pretty sure that your PLA issues are probably at least partially cooling-related. I'd recommend you try and find a better fan duct design for your hotend, if possible, and possibly upgrade to a better fan.
You can temporarily skirt around cooling issues with PLA in all-metal hotends by printing
more material
, which typically means one or all of the following:
Faster print speeds (if your printer can move quickly enough and has good acceleration)
Thicker lines! Surprisingly useful. If you don't want to sacrifice print detail, then make the infill lines ridiculously thick, the inner wall lines fairly thick, and the single outer perimeter "normal" thickness.
Thicker layer height. Normally I printed at 0.2mm like everyone else, but with PLA in my all-metal hotend, I had to up it to 0.3 with fatter lines as well.
If you can consistently keep the filament going through the hotend instead of lingering inside of it, you can basically "push" the melt zone back down into the heater block where it belongs, instead of it creeping upwards and resulting in a jam.
As a side note, the rippled surface of your brim there looks very similar to what used to happen to mine; the ripples are usually indicative of some form of over-extrusion on the first layer. I'd maybe look into checking your Z offset to make sure your print nozzle is far enough away from the bed, and maybe also check your flow rate is accurate for that particular filament. Check the filament diameter in a few places with a micrometer if you have access to one, and compare to your ABS prints to see if maybe you should adjust the flow rate down a few percent in your slicer.


Question: At the moment the outside surface temperature is around 30 °C. Can I put my PETG spools outside with a fan in order to dry them cheaply?

Answer:
That looks pretty bad for a number of reasons. If you've got an all-metal hotend, you can be pretty sure that your PLA issues are probably at least partially cooling-related. I'd recommend you try and find a better fan duct design for your hotend, if possible, and possibly upgrade to a better fan.
You can temporarily skirt around cooling issues with PLA in all-metal hotends by printing
more material
, which typically means one or all of the following:
Faster print speeds (if your printer can move quickly enough and has good acceleration)
Thicker lines! Surprisingly useful. If you don't want to sacrifice print detail, then make the infill lines ridiculously thick, the inner wall lines fairly thick, and the single outer perimeter "normal" thickness.
Thicker layer height. Normally I printed at 0.2mm like everyone else, but with PLA in my all-metal hotend, I had to up it to 0.3 with fatter lines as well.
If you can consistently keep the filament going through the hotend instead of lingering inside of it, you can basically "push" the melt zone back down into the heater block where it belongs, instead of it creeping upwards and resulting in a jam.
As a side note, the rippled surface of your brim there looks very similar to what used to happen to mine; the ripples are usually indicative of some form of over-extrusion on the first layer. I'd maybe look into checking your Z offset to make sure your print nozzle is far enough away from the bed, and maybe also check your flow rate is accurate for that particular filament. Check the filament diameter in a few places with a micrometer if you have access to one, and compare to your ABS prints to see if maybe you should adjust the flow rate down a few percent in your slicer.