The most important thing is the following: make sure that any exposed metal surfaces of your printer are properly grounded. This includes the frame if it is made of metal, or the aluminium plate you might use as your heated bed. In the event of a fault, having the metal surfaces grounded protects you from getting shocked when you touch the printer. If any surfaces are aluminium, be aware that the oxide layer that forms on aluminium does not conduct very well, so make sure that you get a good connection.

You should consider adding a thermal fuse or bimetallic switch to the heated bed so power gets cut in case the bed overheats (to protect against the relay failing closed or firmware errors).

In principle, if the wires used are thick enough (capable of carrying at least 16A), then there is no need for a fuse. Assuming you are in a normal European household, then the mains line will already have a 16A fuse. If your printer connects to the mains using a IEC C13 connector (kettle lead, very common) then you should have a fuse rated (at most) 10A somewhere because this is the maximum rating of the connector. For a very small amount of added safety, you could use a lower-rated fuse instead (for instance 7A) but this is not required. Your heated bed can draw up to around 5A so you can't use a fuse lower than (or equal to) that. If you are indeed using an IEC socket to connect your printer to the mains, then it might have a fuse holder (or try to find a socket that does).

Your image suggests two possible fuse positions. It would be advisable to place the fuse near the live/hot connection, but as European power sockets are non-polarized, this is essentially a moot point.


freeCad has a draft rotate function in DRAFT workbench:

Select an object;
Press the Draft Rotate button, then;
Click to set the rotating point and rotate.

You will get used to that after a few trails.

There is a step by step guide on freeCad site.

There is also a short demo of the function here.


I found the problem. I'm using an aluminum structure for my gantry. My Chinese power supply was in contact with this structure. There was a current leak from my power supply that was messing with the Z-probe signal.
I detached the power supply, everything's gotten back to normal, except it had my board and TMC2100 drivers fried a week ago.


There are several ways.

1) Simplest is the business card/paper method.

This video shows how simple it is: Leveling the platform

You should feel the same amount of resistance between the hotend and the bed on all sides. On some 3D printers there are 3 screws holding the bed (eg. Solidoodle) and on others there are 4 screws on each edge (e.g. Prusa i3).
On some 3D printers you need to rotate a screw with a screwdriver to adjust it (e.g. Solidoodle 3) and on some you have a nut (mostly wing nut) (e.g. Solidoodle 4).

I find most people move the extruder around when adjusting the bed by controlling the motors. I think the quicker way is stopping the motors (in Repetier Host it's the "Stop Motor" button) and moving the gantry by hand.

Tutorial: 3D printing guides - Bed leveling

2) Second one is just more advanced version of the above. You use a dial indicator/ micrometer attached to your extruder and make sure the number on the dial is as close as possible on all edges.

Level the Print Bed on a RepRap / RepStrap 3D Printer with a Mitutoyo Dial Test Indicator

Micrometer op 3D printer

There are also digital versions of this tool.

You might need to print or make some other way a piece to be able to attach a micrometer to the extruder (there might be one for your 3D printer on Thingiverse already).

Now, remember I mentioned that you adjust the height of the edges of the print bed with a screw/nut? Well, since there is a lot of vibration during print those tend to get out of place and that might explain why you end up readjusting it over and over again. What I have found to solve this is to use a single drop of Loctite (cyanocrylate glue) in the middle of the nut/screw. A single drop will secure it in place but also not make it impossible to unscrew in the future.

3) Setting up auto-bed leveling on your 3D printer if it's modable enough:
3D printing guides: Setting up auto bed tramming leveling tilt compensation!.

Finally, if you can't get the bed leveled no matter what, it might be uneven. That's usually caused by warping. Both PCB beds and aluminum beds can get warped. With the former just sandwich a glass bed on top of it and it should be fine. Warped aluminum is pretty hard to flatten. In this extreme situation you might need to get a new aluminum sheet cut and drilled, preferably a mm thicker one which is less likely to warp under the same conditions. I think this happens when you either set the bed temp too high and/or the thickness of the aluminum bed is too small (bad or cheap 3D printer design).


My Anet A8 prints have been looking squished

It could be that cheap filament has inconsistent diameter, or your calibration is over extruding, or you have something loose that needs to be tight.  It's hard for me to tell precisely from just these images.  In your shoes, I would print 20mm x 20mm x 10mm, 100% infill boxes until I got it dialed in so that it is square, fully filled in, but nice and flat.

If they're coming out square and staying stuck to the build plate properly, but are bumpy and overfilled, then you're over extruding and you'll want to either recalibrate e-steps or if they're correct, adjust your flow rate in the slicer (down).

If they aren't square then you need to square up your frame and tighten it and the belts.

Etc.

But my first guess is that you're extruding too much plastic since I'll bet they were flatter when they were still on the build plate, yes?

On the question of ooze: you'll always get some ooze.  Molten plastic and gravity means some will ooze out pretty much no matter what.  What you need to worry about is when this results in stringing or unwanted lines on the surface of the print.  These things you address with retraction (which reduces the pressure on the nozzle during travel moves, but can't stop gravity) and for the surface problem various travel, z-hop and combing strategies depending on your slicer.


How do I change Z safe homing coordinates in the G-code , not in Marlin

Don’t home the Z. Rather measure the height of your print to continue at with calipers. Or with detective work in your G-code preview, finding the layer your print stopped at and finding the Z height of that layer. The direction of the infill can be a clue. Then carefully lower your Z-axis until your nozzle is at the right height for your next layer (so get the nozzle .2 mm above your printed layer if you’re doing .2 mm layers).
Edit your print G-code to change G28, to be G28 X0 Y0, so that it only homes X and Y, not Z. Erase any line with G29 (auto-leveling routine), or it will crash into your print. After the G28 X0 Y0 line, enter G92 Z[your starting Z layer height in mm] that spoofs the Z position to the 3D printer, and it shouldn’t need to home. Then edit the rest of the G-code to start at the next layer of your resumed print.
Leave all the beginning commands that do setup, temperature, and erase the lines beginning with the movement, lots of G1 commands. Find the G1 Z[your resumed layer height] command and begin there, that’s the beginning of the layer. Make sure there’s an existing G92 E0 that resets the extruder distance, and the layer starts from a reset extruder position, you don’t want it to frantically dump a bunch of plastic on your print at the first extrude command (that’s one danger of resuming in in the middle of a layer).
Get everything heated up before you hit print, home the X and Y, stay in that position, and prime the nozzle. You can even hold something flat under the nozzle to keep it primed while you start the print, and have some tweezers handy to catch the goober on the hot end, so it doesn’t wipe it on your print. It helps to have a retract move when you begin, many slicers have a retract move when it advances to the next layer, you may want to start your G-code on that line if it’s before the line with the G1 Z [your layer height].


What does it mean for step and dir "to be on their own ports"?

A "port" for the AVR microcontroller is a set of eight IO pins that are controlled together at a hardware level. The underlying machine code can write an entire byte to set the status of all 8 pins at once. So in principle, all the step pins on the RAMBO board can be triggered exactly simultaneously.

The Arduino IDE hides this behavior from firmwares by abstracting the port's byte handling as a function call for each individual pin. That means programmers only have to know the Arduino PIN number, not which port and position on the processor is being used. And then the modern firmwares typically used by RAMBO do a further layer of abstraction to make it easy for the same firmware to be used by different boards, by changing pin assigned names in a config file (usually pins.h) and not assuming any specific port selection was made during board design.

There's no guarantee for open-source firmware that a particular pin selection was made in hardware. Lots of 3D printer controller boards even have pretty dumb pin assignments, like using hardware-PWM-capable pins for stepper signals rather than PWM'd heaters. Marlin and Repetier have chosen flexibility over performance optimization in this regard. They pretty much let the board designer use any pin for anything. When they have to do stuff like run heater PWM control or fire a bunch of step pulses as fast as possible, they emulate that in software rather than taking advantage of specific hardware that isn't always available.

In this specific case, there may not actually be all that much performance gain/loss. Writing to an output pin is pretty fast. The amount of time difference between firing a few step pulses in sync or firing them sequentially is on the order of a few microseconds. That won't make any difference to the motion fidelity of the printer's physical drivetrains. Somebody involved in the RAMBO design just thought it could be useful, and put a reference to it on the Wiki page (in the very first upload!) and it's never been clarified or removed from the Wiki page in the years since.


A good free tool for editing meshes would be Blender. Linux, Windows, Mac are supported. It has a serious learning curve, and is somewhat counter-intuitive in use (right click object to select) unless you customize it.

Plenty of online video tutorials to learn the basics, though, and if you have a membership for Lynda.com, those videos are the best (opinion).

I've used it to pull edges and vertices together, to chop out pieces that weren't supposed to be there, etc. The flexibility and power of the program is amazing, considering the price.

Many artists use the program for creating 3D animations and full length movies. Amazing talent, well beyond my capabilities, but it shows what the software can do.

The website also has links to tutorials and the manual, which is also a work of art.

If you can devote the time to learn the program, anything 3D modeling related will be within reach.


What is needed to create dwg from drawing?

It's not an easy task and according to my knowledge there is no way to do it fully automatic (I might be wrong of course).

You have options as follows:
Read scans and

recreate it manually in CAD application
recreate it using digitizer (in the old days they had puck - kinda magnifier with crosslines to digitize from printouts/blueprints)
create 3D object omitting 2D drawings
convert bitmap to vectors in 2D app
use scannig service like this (would be expensive)

Depending on complexity of your schemas, the easiest way, would be option 1 or 3. Option 4 is very doubtful (even if it's the most automatic way, it won't create useful data)

The most of CAD apps have option to import bitmap and then work on such "background". For example in AutoCAD use command Imageattach


Heated Bed not heating on original Prusa i3. Using a Ramps 1.4 EFB

First you should check if the bed still works when applying 12V directly. You can then also check the voltage over the 12V output terminals to measure the power supply unit while it is powering the bed. It is unclear whether you measured the voltage of the PSU while it was powering a large load.

It is also a good idea to get the external MOSFET board out of the equation (the less components you have, the less you need to troubleshoot).

From the post can be concluded that you are using the so-called RAMPS EFB setup, e.g. in Marlin firmware defined by constant IS_RAMPS_EFB in your firmware printer setup (Extruder on pin 10, fan on pin 9 and bed on pin 8).

In the pin configuration file pins_RAMPS.h you can find the following lines:

#define FAN_PIN        RAMPS_D9_PIN
#define HEATER_BED_PIN RAMPS_D8_PIN

To change the pin layout, switch the values of the constants.


A conventional hot end needs only to be obstruction-free to the desired printing height on two adjacent sides to achieve what you want. The only other requirement is to be able to tell your slicer in what order you want your models to be printed.

For example, if your hot end is free of obstructions on the front and left sides, all that you need to do is lay out your models in a rectilinear grid, and tell your slicer to process them front-to-back, and left-to-right.

I have thought of doing this myself. By mounting my E3D V6 hot end as low as I can on its carrier, I should be able to print models up to 50mm in height, and only spaced 20mm apart. I may have to forego part-cooling, but I mainly print PETG without part-cooling, so no problems there.


Is a heated bed necessary if printing with PLA?

There is problem with sticking to bed without preheat, PLA is possible to print on Kapton tape with no-heated bed. Or there are other tapes dedicated for printing. da Vinci 1.0w is good for small models with PLA. ABS is not possible with no heated bed.


There could be a number of reasons for that behaviour:

Please check following items:

part blower/fan cools down the nozzle - stop the fan
material is extruded at high speed and takes the heat
loose thermistor (when the move occurs as it moves a bit internally)
the power supply unit voltage varies - so temperature reading varies as well - measure voltage and see if there are significant drops
nozzle heater and thermistor cables can be loose as well (check screw terminals)
bed heater connection cables having not a good connection (check screw terminals)


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


What's the difference between "Initial Layer Width" and "Initial Layer Flow" in Cura?

Cura option Initial Layer Width will cause lines to be further apart or closer together, based on the value you set with respect to the default. The required filament flow to produce these lines is calculated based on the width of the line and the overlap between lines (and layer height).

The Cura option Initial Layer Flow adjusts flow for the current line width with a multiplier, this means that the distance between lines stays the same. I.e. with this parameter you can overextrude to push more material to the build plate. Note that for a well calibrated machine this is not necessary. My printers use the paper method to determine the initial Z=0 for levelling and never use a wider initial line width or overextrusion of the first layer to get perfect filled mirror finish first layers on glass. However, if (paper) tape is used, the bed may be less flat and overextrusion might be beneficial for better adhesion.

The options can be used together, the multiplier will act upon the calculated flow.


There is a Cura option to choose a random seam alignment in the shell menu:

Z-seam alignment
This setting allows you to choose where each new layer in the Z direction starts and affects where the seam of the model will be. This is useful for models with consecutive equal layers as the seam can be visible. By changing the Z-seam alignment you can decrease the visibility of the seam. The options available are:

User-specified: Set a coordinate for the X and Y direction of the Z-seam. This coordinate is absolute by default. Example: X 100, Y 200 will move the seam to the center back of the model.
Shortest: The next layer starts at the endpoint of the previous layer. This is the fastest way of printing, but also creates the most visible seam.
Random: The next layer starts at a random point of the previous layer, which eliminates the chance of a seam. Print time will increase due to the necessary travel moves.
Sharpest corner: This puts the seam in the sharpest inward or outward corner of the model, when available. This is the best method to completely hide the seam.


Someone has already studied this: study of electrical properties of 3D printed materials.

ABS: dielectric constant about 3.
PLA: 2.7-2.9.


Can't connect printer to repetier-server on RPI3

Thanks to the repetier team on git hub, we found that the problem came from a permission issue on /dev/ttyUSB0, as the user repetierserver couldn't access it.

Other people reported that these commands solves the problem:
sudo adduser repetierserver dialout
sudo adduser repetierserver tty
but in my case it seems I need to run :
sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0
in order to solve this.


HE3D-XI3 3D printer Repetier software config help!

Based on some troubleshooting in the question comments, it appears that the issue here is the motors running the wrong way. This can be fixed EITHER by inverting the motor directions in firmware, OR by simply flipping the orientation of the motor plugs where they connect to the controller board. Flipping the plugs is an easy and quick way to reverse the phase of a stepper and thus reverse its direction of motion.


Would PC be considered food-safe in this setup?

I also print coffee mugs.  I have used ABS for a long time, and, given the statements here and elsewhere about bacterial growth sites, have been attaching my life to a thread.  That's fine for me, but I don't make mugs for anyone else.

There are three areas of concern I've found so far:

The plastic may be toxic,
The machine itself, especially the nozzle, my deposit bits of lead (Pb) into the object, and
The small gaps may harbor pathogenic bacteria.

The toxicity of the plastic can be addressed by researching the FDA website.  ABS is generally safe, although additives could be questionable.  Also, for some reason the FDA lists ABS as safe, but not for use with alcohol -- so much for beer steins.  Since the actual MSDS for hobbyist filaments can be hard to get, I'm considering using a less controversial plastic.  PETG isn't good enough -- it softens at the temperature of boiling water (I know, I've tried).  My next attempt at non-ABS will be Poly Carbonate.  I have a spool queued up, but it is as yet untried.

The nozzle can be replaced with a stainless steel nozzle, which does not contain lead.  Perhaps because they aren't heated, no one seems concerned about brass feed gears in the extruder.

The layer gaps might be addressable by acetone smoothing.  I haven't had great results smoothing mugs.  The first problem is that after smoothing a lot of acetone remains in the ABS.  Even after a couple of weeks, when hot water is poured into the mug the acetone in the plastic vaporizes and creates bubbles in the surface, which completely defeats the purpose.  I've also seen more long-term age-related cracking in vapor-treated ABS.  This could also be due to gradually losing acetone and the surface shrinking.  If one were to use acetone smoothing, I would suggest post-conditioning the mug in a heated, partial vacuum chamber to encourage the acetone to escape.

The method I intend to try to seal the inside of the cup is to use a food-grade two-part epoxy.  I haven't done it yet, so I don't know how it will work.


Here's your problem:

  1 mm retraction distance -> stringing...

If you have stringing, that means that material that was supposed to end up as part of printed lines instead ended up somewhere else, leaving less material (underextrusion) where it was actually wanted. This particular test piece may not exhibit stringing, but it's likely that it occurred interior to the piece, in the infill region. Contrary to widespread(?) opinion, stringing here is not harmless. It's just not visibly ugly. But it still messes up the surface quality, and even more importantly the strength, of your print.

You don't say if your printer has a bowden extruder or direct drive. If a Bowden, the 1 mm of retraction is virtually useless; a typical Bowden system has more than 1 mm just of compression between the extruder gear and the hotend, meaning that retracting by 1 mm does not pull the filament back out of the hotend at all, and doesn't even relieve all the pressure that's pushing melted material out. I would recommend an absolute minimum of 5 mm for Bowden type extruders, unless your printer firmware has linear advance (Marlin 1.1.9+ or comparable features in other firmware) in which case you might be able to reduce it some. For direct drive, I don't have experience, but 1 mm is still probably too low; 2.5 mm is the believable recommendation I've heard.

In addition to retraction, you can further reduce material loss to stringing/oozing in the infill region by turning on Ultimaker Cura's "Zig-zaggify infill" option, which helps avoid in generating travel without retraction over unprinted area within the infill zone (see e.g. this issue). Turning slicer setting "combing" to "off" is an even more extreme option here. Of course make sure retraction is really on (not "retract at layer change", which is a separate, mostly useless option) and make sure "retraction minimum travel" is set low (something like 150 % of the nozzle width or less) to prevent retraction from getting skipped on short travel moves.

I also just noticed you wrote:

  I've tried smaller retracting distances...

This was probably based on erroneous advice. Reducing or eliminating retraction does not mitigate these sorts of problems; it creates them. The only reasons to reduce retraction distance are to fight problems with the extruder gear grinding down the filament after repeated retraction, and problems with jamming the path into the hotend due to pulling molten material back into the cool part where it then solidifies and jams. If you're not having such problems you should not reduce retraction. If you are having such problems, you should try to fix them in other ways that still let you keep the necessary amount of retraction not to have catastrophic print quality problems from material coming out in the wrong places.


Bed won't switch off after Marlin firmware update

It sounds like the pin configuration in the firmware you flashed doesn't match your hardware. Heaters should never be on by default and M140 S0 should always turn off current to the bed. What you describe sounds like the firmware is sending power to a pin that it believes is something other than what it is, either because the bed is on a fan pin (like D9) or because the firmware thinks D8 is something other than the heated bed.

If it worked before, your original firmware was configured to match how your board was wired, specifically which pins were mapped to what hardware. If you're confident that the new firmware pin configuration is correct, you can ignore this theory. Otherwise you should nail down which D8/D9/D10 pin maps to what hardware and resolve the mismatch.

On RAMPS, pins 8, 9 and 10 are typically used to control fans, hotends and heated beds and you define this behavior in configuration.h. If you flashed from source you should review configuration.h and ensure it matches your hardware. This likely means setting the MOTHERBOARD to the value that matches how pins 8/9/10 are wired. See this section (or something similar) in configuration.h to get started:

// The following define selects which electronics board you have.
// Please choose the name from boards.h that matches your setup
#ifndef MOTHERBOARD
  #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_RAMPS_14_EFB
#endif


Why does my domed print have a thin shell?

Slice with more solid top layers. I always use five with low-density infill.


Unable to hit hot end temperature with part cooler on

This effect you describe is a commonly known problem that occurs when the print part cooling fan is not correctly positioned, i.e. if it blows air directly onto the nozzle or heater block and is best solved by printing an alternative part cooling fan duct. Alternatively you could insulate the heater block with some insulation cotton or silicone socks that fit over the heater block.


Is there any reason *not* to use a steel nozzle for printing all materials?

Thermal conductivity of brass is approximately twice as better than steel (not stainless). Given that the size of nozzle is relatively small, it should be able to transfer enough heat for a medium-speed prints at least.
I have printed PLA and ABS using "steel" nozzle (brand of steel unknown) at the speed around 80 mm/s without any visible differences compared to brass.
However, an ideal nozzle (I see) is made of tempered bronze with polished inner channels. Bronze is known to have better friction coefficient and tempered one should be enough to resist carbon-type filaments more efficiently.


here is just a addenum to Tom van der Zanden's answer

this is (an example of) what you may design - nice object with virtual outline, and virtual fill
so this is what you see (and what you potentially expect)

but here is what you get (and probably not really expect)

red parts are the areas which are not covered by fill because nozzle cannot reach there

solution is

to redesign your object in smart way or
to use smaller nozzle or
to use smarter app (like Slic3r)

and of course you can use all 3 options together to get best results ;)

EDIT
here is simple explanation why smarter app could do the thing

and here goes the difference

green parts are new covered areas

not much but somthing extra


MOSFET burned and high heated bed resistance

The resistance of the heated bed being too high can not have caused the MOSFET to burn out. Only a too low resistance could cause that.
Keep in mind that measuring relatively low resistances (such as the one of your heated bed) is difficult, and if you just used a regular multimeter it might indicate a wrong value (e.g. due to the resistance of the test leads or a poor connection between the probe and heated bed). Therefore, the actual resistance might be (slightly) lower.
A 1.8 Ω heated bed at 12 V will draw around 7 A of current. This is well within the capabilities of the MOSFET on board of the RAMPS. So either the resistance of the heated bed is lower than you measured (if the resistance was 1.2 Ω or lower this could cause the MOSFET to burn out), or you simply got unlucky with the quality of your RAMPS board.
The (supposedly) high resistance definitely doesn't make the heated bed compatible with 24 V. Using a 1.8 Ω bed with 24 V would cause a 13 A current draw and 320 W of power. This is a lot more than is sensible for a 214 mm x 214 mm bed.
All of the alternatives 1 and 4 you have listed are reasonable options. There is no reason (option 3) to replace the heated bed as there is no indication it is faulty. I see no reason to take option 2 since it involves desoldering and resoldering the fan MOSFET for no reason (if you are using an external MOSFET the fuse is no longer a limitation). There is a chance you'll damage the MOSFET doing this and option 1 only requires a trivial firmware change.
Option 4 (upgrading to RAMPS 1.6) is purely a matter of personal preference.


You could just let it print the 2mm you want for the base, then pause the print and change the filament to PP and then resuming the print after you change the filament.


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.


I own the gen 5, not the gen 5+. As far as I can tell, the camera has not gotten much of an upgrade and the software is also just as limited. That said to be sure I verified on several sites such as this reddit.

There are some that claim that the software is open source. I do not think this is true given the parent company. Following even if it was you do not want to use their camera. It is shocking how cheap they went on this ultra premium printer. Which despite printing very well has not been received well. The main issue is that the camera is 320 by 240! That alone is enough to derail your quest I am afraid.

Take a look at this raspberry pi project on building your own camera set up. Though really any wireless camera setup should do. Using a Pi has the stand alone advantage.


From this source you can read:

  After a G29 the leveling data is only stored in RAM. You have to use M500 to save the bed leveling data to EEPROM, otherwise the data will be lost when you restart (or reconnect) the printer. Use M502 to reset the bed leveling data (and other settings to defaults). Use M501 to reload your last-saved bed leveling from EEPROM. This is done automatically on reboot.

The source also answers the use of M420 S1:

  After a G29 bed leveling is automatically enabled, but in all other situations you must use M420 S1 to enable bed leveling. It is essential to include the command M420 S1 in the “Start G-code” in your slicer settings. If you have no bed leveling, or if there is no leveling data, then this command is simply ignored.

So, if you're not using a G29 in your start code you must use the G-code  M420 S1 to enable the stored mesh from memory.


TEVO Tarantula Z-Axis Lowering Too Far After Endstop Triggered

The soldering in the Tevo components is very low quality as I replaced/resoldered most of the end-stops.

As the gantry goes down - please ensure that the cable is not pulled over (no contact) and there is contact on the edge of the acrylic and the end-stop, also the small acrylic switch holder could bend/slip a bit. Finally, the sensor connection to the main board could be dragged by wires that are connected to the hot-end.

To validate micro-switch behavior - lift the Z-axis (about 100mm), then set home position and manually trigger the end-stop switch. That shall lift the Z-axis, so then trigger again to see if that works. You will still have a plenty of time to stop the printer if the switch does not work.

If that works, then the reason could be in slipping edge of the black acrylic plate and the micro-switch. Also validate the mechanical connection (if there is a loosening screw (the small on the switch plate)).


Print "hairs" without support in GrabCAD Print

There's no way to do this in GrabCAD Print alone, but you can achieve it using Insight, which you can reach from the Apps menu in Print. The steps are as follows:

Open your STL file in Insight.
Go to Modelers → Setup… and set the printer, layer height, and material to the same as in Print. If you get these wrong, you won't find out until you get to the end and Print refuses to print the part.
Use one of the red icons to slice your print, with or without the wall thickness filter.
Use the red and green icon to generate support. You'll notice all of your hairs are now supported.
Go to View → Display options…. Set View only to Group curves, and then Group to view to All support. This filters out the (red) model curves, showing only the (green) support curves.
Go to Edit → Delete…. Then left-click and drag a box around the unnecessary supports. For my part, dragging the 3D view to be top-down made it easy to drag a box around just the hair supports while leaving the other supports untouched, but it'll depend on the shape of your part.
In the right panel, make sure the delete mode is set to Curves, and click OK. Now all your supports should be gone. At this stage you can set the display options back how they were if you want to inspect your model further.
Use the green circle icon to create toolpaths
File → Save As… → Toolpath to save as a .cmb or .cmb.gz file.
Go back to GrabCAD Print. (You can close Insight now if you want.)
File → Import CMB and choose the file you just saved.

CMB files show up very boxy on the tray view (and Print will display a warning about that), but if you go into slice preview mode, you should see it as it was in Insight, with just the right supports.

There's one caveat with this method. The slicer generates the base as a single contour, so deleting the supports under the hairs doesn't remove that section of base, and AFAIK you can't make the slicer recompute just the base (so generating support again would put the original supports back). You could edit the base contour before step 8, or disable the base completely in the support options before step 4, but the amount of support material saved probably isn't worth the effort.


This is very simply stated, in fact the specific heat is a function of temperature and state of the material (liquid or solid). Also you need to consider which type of specific heat you use, e.g. the one for constant volume $C_V$ or for constant pressure $C_P$. Constant pressure is probably preferred considering the mechanics of the printer (pressing filament into the nozzle-heatbreak assembly).

A very interesting source of information is the PolymerDatabase.com.

This source confirms that:

  In the case of polymers, we have to distinguish between the heat capacity of liquid, rubbery and glassy polymers. The heat capacity increases with increasing temperature, therefore, a liquid or rubbery polymer can hold more energy than a solid polymer. All materials show this increase in heat capacity with temperature.

also:

  Specific heat capacities as a function of temperature have been published for only a limited number of polymers. In many cases, the heat capacity (at constant pressure) as a function of temperature can be approximated by straight lines.

In such cases you can use the value of the specific heat at a predefined temperature (in thermodynamics that is frequently 298 K) to get approximations for your thermoplastic material. These formulae can then be used to integrate over the temperature rise.

Please remember that a cartridge is of a certain value of Watt; to have a lower power, the cartridge modulates voltage to keep the heating block within a predefined temperature range.


How do I upgrade (copy settings) from Cura 2.5 to Cura 2.6?

Hope this is all you need.
From the release notes page

  Cura 2.6 - June 20, 2017 Local version folders. When installing a new
  version of Cura, a new local directory will be created to make it easy
  to access old configuration folders and return to old settings if
  necessary.

So if you know where your current 2.5 config directory is, you should be all set.


Can a common 3D printer be used to print masks for PCBs which use SMD components?

In addition to the thermal issues Tormod raised, there is a conductivity issue. Present conductive filaments are much less conductive than copper. The power loss may be enough to affect functionality. Also, the lost power goes to heat, making the thermal problems worse.

For bulk materials, "volume resistivity" is measured in "Ohm-cm", which is the resistance of a 1 cm cube of the material, measured from one entire face to the opposite entire face (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity).

Copper has a volume resistivity of about 1.68 microOhm-cm.

Proto-pasta conductive PLA filament claims 15 ohm-cm (http://www.proto-pasta.com/pages/conductive-pla). Functionalize F-Electic™ claims 0.75 ohm-cm (http://functionalize.com/about/functionalize-f-electric-highly-conductive-filament/).

Printing itself significantly raises resistivity. Proto-pasta claims 30 ohm-cm along X and Y, 115 along Z. More intuitively, each cm of length of a 2.5mm wide printed trace, 0.4mm thick, should add several hundred ohms with the Proto-pasta, or several tens of ohms with the F-electric. That may be enough to matter.

It's probably worth mentioning that there's a specialized PCB printer (the "Voltera") that uses (pricey) conductive ink, and can also dispense solder paste: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2885188/3d-circuit-board-printer-a-smash-hit-on-kickstarter.html


What is the biggest size of an object that iBox Nano can print?

On their website, I found the following picture, which states a build area of 40 mm x 20 mm x 90 mm (1.57" x 0,79" x 3.54").


Increase volumetric flow rate using a longer nozzle

Yes, the Volcano or the Super Volcano allow for larger flow rate (typically when using larger nozzles), that is where they were designed for. Just the nozzle will not help you, you need this larger nozzle shaft to be inside a Volcano heater block, else you cannot transfer the heat.
According to measurements from Metaform, the volumetric flow of a Volcano hotend is larger than the regular E3D V6 hotend.


Zonestar Extruder motor does not work - what can I check?

Good investigation there!  You are almost certainly correct that a driver chip has gone blooey.  Personally I doubt it's worth the effort to locate and repair, rather than buying a new, trustworthy board.

I recommend this approach because one blown chip may well have caused (or been caused by) unrecognized damage elsewhere, which might then lead to future failures.


"Not ready for printing" isn't a very specific description of a problem. There are countless things that could be wrong with an STL file that could render it unprintable.

An STL file is basically a collection of triangles in 3D. These triangles need to be manifold/watertight: they need to enclose a volume that represents the object to be printed. For instance, a very simple STL file could contain 4 triangles defining a tetrahedron/pyramid. However, if there is something wrong with the file - for instance, the edges of two triangles might not meet up exactly, then the file is not printable because the triangles, together, no longer enclose a volume.

There are various free and paid tools out there that automatically attempt to fix your STL file. Depending on how bad your file is, you might be able to use one of these tools to fix it. If you do this, be sure to carefully inspect the result to make sure the tool did what you intended. Examples include MeshLab, Netfabb and various online services (Microsoft 3D tools, MakePrintable).

If the problems with your file are so bad they can not be fixed automatically, then the only option will be a - potentially - very laborious manual process of fixing the file. This might mean rebuilding the model from scratch. It is not unreasonable that the company would charge you for this.

Even if your model is manifold/watertight, there are other reasons it might not be printable. For instance, the walls might be too thin, or there might be certain features in the model that can not be printed.

You did not specify the source of your model. Certain pieces of CAD software are more likely to produce unprintable STL files than others, SketchUp is a particularly bad offender. Also, 3D models from games are almost always unprintable. They're designed to look good on screen, but are not designed at all with printability in mind.


gcode to move the printhead up for maintenance

Yes, on machines which will execute "standard" gcode, this will do what you request. Some good resources are http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-code


When to use Wave Bonding vs Raft on a 3D print?

After additional research, it seems that using both at the same time is ill-advised (more like pointless).

Wave bonding is best suited for larger prints, primarily to prevent warping of the initial layer.

Rafts appear to be recommended regardless, other than for advanced users.


Fixed it finally, seems that the X axis was not level. Thank you to everyone who commented.


How do I update my firmware after installing a 400XL kit on my Ender 3

Without knowing exactly which Youtube videos you've looked at, I think where I would start is by downloading the latest Marlin Fimrware and configuration files for the Ender 3 with 4.2.7 board:
Latest Release of Marlin Firmware on Github
Configuration File Repository on Github
Microsoft visual Studio
PlatormIO
If I were doing your upgrade in your place, I would refer to this video for how to compile the firmware for the correct board. I've had to compile firmware for my Ender 3 a few times and I sometimes forget a step. This video is the best that I've found for showing/reminding me of each step.
Essentially, what I think you need to do is compile your firmware as if it were a stock Ender 3 V2 using the settings files I linked above but then change your print area the configuration.h file to match the X400 x Y400 x Z500 print bed area.
Look for the following:
// The size of the print bed
#define X_BED_SIZE 200
#define Y_BED_SIZE 200

Change to the following:
// The size of the print bed
#define X_BED_SIZE 400
#define Y_BED_SIZE 400

And then look for
#define Z_MAX_POS 200

and change to:
#define Z_MAX_POS 500

There are other changes you'd need to make to the settings file (refer to the video for those). I haven't done your particular upgrade on my machine, so I'm just guessing those extra couple of changes would work for you.


Print gets worse with every layer - Ender 3

Many questions on 3D Printing SE are answered, at least by me, not with a "this is the problem", but instead, this is how I would analyze it.
Looking at the picture you supplied, there is something strangely periodic about the under-extrusion in the top visible flat layer.
I don't think it is an X or Y axis problem.  It is too low-frequency to be an extruder drive problem, such as a slippery drive hobbed gear.  It seems too high frequency to be a filament feed problem, unless you are very close to the end of a spool with a small inner diameter.  This is less likely because you have printed many things, and I would infer that you have seen this with full spools and empty ones.
The Ender 3 looks like a Bowden-fed printer.  You are printing PLA, which should work well with Bowden.
Temperature variation could also cause this problem.  If the nozzle were cooling and heating in an unstable control cycle, where the nozzle is cooler you would find under extrusion and even non-extrusion.  This looks compatible with the results.
What could cause thermal problems?

Not delivering energy to the heater, perhaps because of a bad
connection, or perhaps because of an intermittent heater cartridge
Not sensing the temperature correctly, perhaps because of a shorting thermister
Thermal control look is out of tune, which I consider unlikely since you haven't messed with it, and in my experience that is pretty forgiving
Not conducting heat from the heater to the nozzle, which is unlikely

If you have an infrared thermometer, put a piece of masking tape on the heater (to get a consistent IR emissivity) and monitor the temperature.  Is it cooler when under extruding?  It might only be a few degrees different, but that could be enough if you are right on the transition temperature.
If the temperature is stable, you might try printing 10 degrees hotter, just to see.  Some variation is normal, and you might be on the edge.
It is possible you have a filament that widely varies in diameter, but for that strong an effect, you would have noticed that the filament was thinner in some places than others.
My best suggestion is to look at temperature.
Further Reflection
It is also possible that you have something dragging on the filament spool.  I don't like it as a solution, but it is consistent with printing a lot (at the beginning of spools) and then encountering this problem.  A problem feeding, although I discounted it in my earlier answer, could could produce a periodic underextrusion if the drag on the spool changes.  If the problem was one-time, then it may have been bad winding in the spool so that once per revolution it requires some extra tug to unwind the filament.  That tug would reduce the torque available to press the filament through the working side of the printer.  There might be extruder jumps (pops, clicks, etc.) coming from the extruder as it skipped steps.


Endstops will not trigger using Marlin Firmware

try uncommenting the following lines to enable endstop detection on all pins for troubleshooting.

//#define USE_XMAX_PLUG false
//#define USE_YMAX_PLUG false
//#define USE_ZMAX_PLUG false

This way the M119 will show any changes.

The only thing I can think of is that either the switch is plugged into the wrong pin on the ramps board (Max instead of Min) or the switch doesn't require the pullup (your could try commenting that back as a second test as well)


This is more off-topic as an answer, but serves as a possible solution.
Replacementlaptopkeys.com is a resource that appears to have keycaps for the model you've noted.
https://www.replacementlaptopkeys.com/asus-zenbook-ux31a-db71-laptop-keys-replacement-dark-brown-black/
At seven dollars a key, it's going to be less expensive than 3D printing to accomplish your objective.
If you owned a 3D printer, it would not be less expensive to purchase, but the work involved would increase your cost to have such keys commissioned. As a 3D printed object, the strength is going to be less than a keycap purchased from the linked site.


Laser Engraver with Smoothie, RAMPS 1.4 or AWC708C?

Marlin supports a stepping frequency of up to 40kHz. For a pretty typical setup with 100 steps/mm, this translates to 400 mm/s - obviously, if you use higher microstepping settings or use finer pitched belts you will get a lower maximum speed.


Fusion 360 Design Best Practices Question (Am I on the right track?)

Ok, let's go down the main two ways to a part, and in practice you usually use both to design for 3D printing. Only for machining, you try to keep to the cutting method only.

Cutting Method
Building Method

Cutting Method
You start with a piece of "stock". A cube or cylinder created by extruding the simple shape. Now you go and create profiles that you either extrude into the part or rotate around the axis - your profile "cuts" the "stock". When doing this, you think of parts like a machinist: you remove the material as a mill or lathe would.

Buildup Method
You start with the profile of the piece, then extrude it, then add the next detail and so on. I work a lot with that, and you can have a lot of sketches in the end:


Calibrated Esteps Causes Extruder Skipping

Consider that the extruder is skipping because it is unable to push filament at the rate you are requesting. By reducing the steps to ninety percent, you are reducing the rate by that much as well.

Typically, a skipping extruder is an indication of clogging, but it does not have to be clogging caused by particulates jamming the nozzle. At higher rates of filament travel, one needs higher temperatures to compensate for the cooling at those higher rates.

Consider to reduce the print speed to ninety percent of the current figure, or raise the nozzle temperature by five to ten degrees (in steps) to see if you'll get rid of the cold blocking that may be causing this problem.


I'm not sure about other slicers, but Cura has an option called Skin Overlap that defaults to 5% and causes excess material to be extruded beyond what actually fits in the skin (top/bottom "solid infill" surface) area. If you only have a few top layers it probably won't push the outer walls out and will just build up a rough top surface, but with more than a couple it's likely to start making the walls bulge out because there's nowhere else for the excess material to go. I've gotten dramatically better print quality since turning this setting off (0) and doing the same for Infill Overlap.


Can I use 20 gauge wire for my Mk2a Heatbed?

Your wire should be rated for at least the necessary 11 amps which the MK2a heatbed is supposed to take.

You can check this by measuring the resistivity of your wire:

  Always test the heatbed wiring for resistance. Remember, at 10A, 0.1Ohms means 1V voltage drop means 10W dissipated by the wiring!

as taken from http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?392,493405 (useful read for seeing what CAN actually happen)

Did you read through the following links? They might clear up some questions:
http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Heatbed
http://reprap.org/wiki/Heatbeds_-_A_beginner's_guide

I personally would use 1.5 mm² cables, which translates to about 15 gauge wire.

*edit: This is a nice table to check:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm


Print failing when connecting mains loads

I have had the same Issue with my Maker select prusa printer, the way I found that best combats this is to attach the printer to a UPS and avoid attaching any High draw devices from the same circuit. Every Time i'd switch something on, My TV, my lights, etc. The same would happen. Hope this helps!


How to increase the printing quality when using abs (slicer config)?

maybe this will help you out...

Iam using a Ultimaker 2+, only with ABS filament, and the software Cura. Cura is a good software but you cannot edit every option like in other slicers, Iam just using the default ABS profile.

Most of the times Iam printing in 0.2mm quality, speed varies, smaller objects get printed slower. My max speed when printing is 40mm/s.

The Buildplate heats up to 90°, I tend to increase the heat to 98° - 100°.
The more I increase that the lesser warping I will get. But Iam using bluetape also, so warping is no big issue anyway.
The noozle should be heated to 260°, thats the cura default.

On very small or thin parts I activate the fan immediatly, on big parts Iam not using the fan. I also print the small parts really slow.

I had no problems regarding the outer-walls and the infill (no cave building or stuff like that), but this is maybe dependent on the outer-wall-thickness. I mostly use a wall-thickness of over 1mm. Iam always using rectangular pattern, and mostly an infill under 30%.

I get good quality prints, and nearly no warping because of the bluetape.

Otherwise I didnt change any options in Cura, the flow rate is default.

Sorry for the late edit, here are my default cura settings:


This is not normal, the heat break (which is the cylindrical part between the nozzle block and the upper cooling part assembly is probably bent in your example) should be perpendicular to the 2020 guide beam (X-axis) so that the nozzle exit is exactly perpendicular to the (heated) platform.

You either received a faulty heat break, or too much force is exerted during assembly. You should contact the seller.

You could disassemble (after you contacted the seller) to see if the heat break is bent or something else is incorrect. Once you have the heat break out, you can measure the dimensions and order a replacement locally (for speed). It is advisable to have some heat breaks, nozzles, and even a heater block, heater cartridges and thermistors available as spares, these are pretty cheap to obtain through the regular Chinese vendor sites or auction sites.

If the heat break is bent, bending it back is not advised as this heat break easily tears open as it usually consists of thin walls.


Mixing (closed loop) stepper drivers on MKS main board

As far as I know, that should work. You need to define the correctly used drivers in your configuration. For the closed loop drivers, the board (via a break out board) has to provide the pulses to the motor driver (on the back of the stepper). If you use such a closed loop driver you need to disable the stepper driver type in your Configuration.h file for those you plan to insert a closed loop driver. The firmware will assume the A4988 driver is being used:

Now you need to set high enough values for the MAXIMUM_STEPPER_RATE (150000):

and the MINIMUM_STEPPER_PULSE (3):

in Marlin/src/inc/Conditionals_adv.h under HAS_DRIVER(4988).


Flow Settings in Cura 2.4 for Ultimaker 2+ not available (suspected overextrusion filling small holes)

For the Ultimaker 2 flow is typically handled on the printer.

You could make a feature request at github to let Flow be enabled for Ultimaker 2 printers.

As for your problem: that sounds more like a dimensional accuracy problem to me. I suggest setting Horizontal Expansion to -0.15mm.


Why is my 3D printer over extruding when I have set the flow rate very low

First of all: Can you tell us, what kind of printer do you use and which material? Please give us some pictures of some prints as well.. Also the type of the Extruder setup is relevant. Is it a Bowden or Direct Driven extruder?

For an FDM machine like the Prusa styled printers with PLA:

Flow of 5 % is totally wrong, normally PLA should be run between 90 % and 105 % flawlessly. The problem is elsewhere but not with the Flow settings, nor the Temp is the faulty one.

Temp between 185 °C and 210 °C should be fine for most PLAs
Did you set up your printer correct in Cura (Preferences -> Printers -> Machine Settings)? Material Diameter, Nozzle size and G-Code flavour are correct?

If you give us some more information, I will be glad to get this solved.


yes
Print speed is a setting that can be altered by just turning the click-wheel of the Ender 3. You don't need to push it to gain access to menus. A turn to the right does increase the speed, left lowers it. It is applied only some moments after
stopping the turning - then the firmware does inject a M220 command as the next line. This means the current running movement is ended with the last set speed, the new speed is set and the following command will be done with the new speed.
As towe correctly states, one can also send a M220 command to the printer via a terminal, but then you need to have one set up before the print starts, as plugging in a terminal will reset your printer and abort the print!


What is this part and does it have to do with my my z-position is messed up?

Limiter Switch/Endstop
That is the lever that is meant to trigger your Z-Endstop. The variant used in your case is on the cheaper end and is meant to look similar to this QIAOH KN12-1 limit switch:

You will either exchange the endstop as a whole, somehow reattach the/a lever or change the physical position of the endstop so that the moving X-axis is triggering it (again).
Replacement & Wiring advice
Pretty much any switch that can have both an NC/NO (normally closed/normally open) state will function in its state, but it is usually a good idea to have all safety switches (like limit switches) be NC types and have the firmware detect the loss of signal as a safety feature. In case of a broken cable, this will automatically force the machine to halt, instead of keeping the machine moving despite having reached the maximum position.
Normally Open/Closed
It is even possible to wire up a number of redundant switches into one circuit. For NC setup, all the switches need to go in series, so that any switch getting toggled cuts the signal at that point. On the other hand, if only NO switches are used, they have to be wired in parallel: the signal passes when any number of switches is closed.
NO switches, because they are parallel, do cost us in the security department, as a broken lead does not halt the machine's use, but they are easier to troubleshoot as a broken component only takes out its specific arm of the parallel circuit. On the other hand, the NC-series does give us the broken lead security, but a single broken component that stays switched to open disables the whole series and identifying the broken component can take more time.
NOT-Gates
As you can imagine, some clever electronics allow us to use us to turn an NO into an NC and vice versa. This clever piece is a NOT-gate, sometimes also called inverter. They take a logic signal and a supply voltage lead, and only allow the supply voltage to pass into their output if there is no signal in their input side. So, they allow using a NO switch as an NC switch or vice versa. In any case, the NOT-gate needs to be on the output side the switch(es) it shall invert as it only inverts the signal that happens before it in the circuit.
With this clever piece, one can use a combination of NO and NC switches, if one so desires: The NO and NC parts are to be wired separately in groups (the NC group in series, the NO group(s) in parallel). To combine the two signals, there are two ways: Either run the NO output through the NOT-gate into the NC circuit's input, putting it into the series (and making it technically function as a single NC-element), or put the NC group output signal into the NOT-gate and put both groups in parallel. In either case, the NOT-gate 'flips' the function of the switches to behave as if they were the other type: from NC to NO and vice versa.


Which kinematic system has the highest quality?

The tradeoffs in these systems are all about quality achievable at particular speed and acceleration profiles. If you really don't care about speed at all and want maximum accuracy, you probably want some type of Cartesian setup with no belts, only rigid lead screws which you can take to as fine a pitch as you like, and you can make all the parts as rigid as you like because mass doesn't matter (since acceleration doesn't).
Note however that extrusion accuracy is the limiting factor to quality and dimensional accuracy in even a half-decent printer. Rather than trying to design something with "perfect" spatial kinematics for quality from the outset, I think you should look at existing printers, figure out what about them isn't meeting your quality needs, and start from there to improve. You should also figure out what your speed constraints will be, even if they're only minimal.


The firmware of the printer reads the g-code, in this instance, for z-axis movement. The g-code provides only (primarily) millimeters of movement and direction, along with speed.

The firmware reads those figures, figuratively speaking, and knows from the values stored in the firmware, how many steps to rotate the motor, in what direction and at what rate.

I suppose if you were a glutton for punishment, you could write some code to convert the existing measurements to ones that are adjusted for the new screw, but that's just crazy. Imagine that your new screw provides for 3.729 times the movement that the old screw did per unit of rotation. You'd have to find all the z-movements in the code and apply that factor to those numbers. I suspect rounding errors might make for a less-than-satisfactory print.

As you've mentioned in your question about editing the firmware, one may expect that you have an idea what is involved. If not, that may be the topic of another post.


Can you tell by looking at the de-adhesion what isn't sticking?

It may be that printing the ASA at higher temperature is melting the BVOH enough that it doesn't stick, being molten.  If so, then it may be possible to print the first layer of ASA at a cooler temperature, slower if necessary to still succeed at extrusion, with fans blowing.  Then, print the next layer of ASA at a higher temperature, also with fans flowing.

A test might be to print the BVOH, then a layer of ASA, and stop.  Let it cool and test the adhesion.  If it sticks under these conditions, then a better command of the temperature profile may offer a way forward.


How can I print to my FLSUN QQ over WIFI

Assuming you use Ultimaker Cura to slice, there is a MKS plugin that allows connecting to the MKS WiFi module that comes with the QQ. Just follow these steps:

Install the MKS WiFi Plugin

Open Cura
Click "Marketplace" in top right
Select "Plugins"
Scroll down to find the "MKS WiFi Plugin"
Click on the plugin.
Click "Install"
Restart Cura (quit and reopen)

Configure WiFi

Turn on your QQ
Tap Settings
Tap WiFi
Enable WiFi
Note the IP address and network name
Connect your computer to the printers network
Open your browser
type the IP address of your printer into the address bar
hit enter
Scroll down to "WIFI Configuration"
Select STA
Enter your home network SSID into the field labeled "WIFI"
Enter the password into the field labeled "KEY"
Click configure and reboot

Setup your printer in Cura

Open Cura
Open settings > Printer > Manage Printers...
Click "MKS Wifi"
Click "Add"
Enter the new IP address of your printer (can be found by opening WiFi settings on the printer)
Click Ok
7, Click connect.

Now you should be connected to your printer. After slicing you should have the option to "Print over FLSUN..." In the Monitor interface you should have some other options such as sending commands to the printer, and printing any files already on the SD card, as well as uploading gcode files to the SD card.

Happy Printing


How to slice rounded corners in thin walls with Cura

Fixing the model
My solution to this problem is, to increase the thickness in such corners by 0.05 mm by pushing the inner wall's radius towards its center. This allows some extra space as a round corner is not actually saved round but as a pattern of straight wall facets, and those can get squished together just enough to make the slicer believe the wall is too thin for a proper wall. As you see, the new corner rounding starts a little bit before the outer one - in this exaggerated model I use 1 millimeter extra - violet are the normal corners 10 mm apart, black is the new inner corner, the light blue area between them is the extra bulk that will massively reduce the problem.

origin of the error
As an example, let's put the number of facets to 1 and 2 when we form them from the rounded corner. The more facets there are, the closer the distance between the walls will get to the full wall thickness, but it will always stay a fraction below.

How does the model fix work?
Well, we shifted the inner corner away, and with 2 facets we get a fidelity to the intended wall thickness of 96.21 % instead of 92.39 % for the non-modified wall - and with even more facets the fidelity gets better more quickly. However, there is a point where your gaps will start to diverge in the corner, so just using a tiny alteration is advisable - in our model case, 9 facets (a 10°) is the point where the inner wall will start to become more distant to the outer wall. That's why I only need such a tiny bit of extra space if I export the model with the most fidelity in the .stl generation my CAD has available.

making it work in the slicer
Another thing I do when I can't alter the model is, knowing that I usually slice width a line width of 0.45 mm. In case such a corner appears, I can then alter my line width in the slicer down to 0.44[5] mm (or more) and get pretty much the same result at the cost of possibly needing to account for errors in other areas.


Will a Micro Swiss extruder and hotend speed up prints on my Ender 3 Pro?

If you want a single word answer, then no.
Before you ask this question you need to figure out why your prints are slower than you want them to be. With default settings, unless your models are something dead simple like a big cube or cylinder, you're almost certainly limited by acceleration, not extrusion rate or even max print/travel speed (which you'll almost never achieve). Gcode analysis tools like gcodeanalyser.com will help you gauge this by predicting actual speeds the printer will achieve. Note that even if your model is simple, printing infill and top/bottom layers involves a lot of acceleration/deceleration cycles, so even for simple models this may still be your limiting factor.
Until you reach very high accelerations (over 5000 mm/s²) letting you actually achieve very high speeds (over 150 mm/s or so), the only way to make extrusion your limiting factor is by using really thick layers or wide walls. At 0.2 mm layer height and 0.4 mm line width, even a sustained 150 mm/s is only 12 mm³/s volumetric extrusion rate which is high but reportedly within the capabilities of the stock Ender 3 extruder and hotend (but probably requires cranking up the temperature).


Can model used for 3D printing be later used for mold mass production?

I respectfully disagree with the hard no answer.  There are many casting methods, some of which are not compatible with 3D printed parts and at least one that definitely is.  See investment casting, aka lost wax casting.  (Ref 1)  Also search YouTube for "investment casting using 3D printing".  Formlabs, the company that makes the Form 2 and Form 3 3D printers, sells a 3d printable resin specifically for investment casting. (Ref 2).

There is a whole world of casting, so I will describe, as an example, a very simple process that will make a replica of your 3D printed part.  I will briefly address the steps necessary for making multiple copies at the end of my answer.  First you need to add a cylindrical extension to the shape that will create a sprue.  See the two models shown in the image below.  Next make a foil cup a little larger than your 3D printed part and place your part in the cup, suspended by the sprue.  Pour liquid plaster of Paris (POP) into the cup, covering the 3D printed part, with just the top of the sprue sticking out.  Once the POP has hardened, you can remove the 3D printed part by dissolving it in an organic solvent (acetone for acrylic) or by heating the part to several hundred degrees C so it will burn out (convert to gasses).  You will now have a block of POP with a void shaped like your 3D printed part plus a cylindrical hole to the outside that acts as a sprue.  Once you have heated the POP to drive out any remaining water, you're ready to cast.  Fill the void (via the sprue hole) with, for example, copper powder and heat it to well above its melting point.  Once everything has cooled, lightly tap the POP with a small hammer or equivalent, to remove it, leaving your final part plus the sprue.   You can remove any remaining POP with some warm baking soda and patience.  The final step is to cut or saw off the sprue shape.

Please understand that the process described above is just to give you a basic idea of the process.  There are many alternate or additional steps that may produce a better final product.  Also, the process described should work of the rook model shown on the left of the image below, but not the model on the right, which has a small hole through the middle.  There are ways to solve that issue, but as I said before, there is a whole world of this stuff.

Casting is a way to create parts out of materials that you otherwise could not 3D print directly (on a home budget).  For mass production, you would need to start with an inverse of the final shape.  For example, a cylindrical slug with a rook-shaped void.  Then you would use the investment casting process to create a mold out of a rigid material that you could use to, for example, create rubber copies of the original part that could, in turn, be used as the "wax" for copies in the final material.

I urge you to experiment, maybe following one of the tutorials on YouTube.  Good luck.

Ref 1 - Investment Casting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_casting

Ref 2 - FormLabs 3D printable casting resin
https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Using-Castable-Resin?language=en_US


Is the Sparkmaker good enough to print OO/HO small detail objects?

In general, resin printers can provide a level of detail that has to be viewed with a magnification device. The technology used in the printer will limit the resolution of the printed object. Laser based SLA printers will give the smallest resolution, while LCD panel based printers can be slightly more coarse.

The specifications on the web site for that printer indicate an X/Y resolution of 57 microns, which is 0.057 millimeters. One-sixteenth of a millimeter is quite a high resolution when it comes to 3D models.

According to the 'net HO scale is 1:87, described as 3.5 mm per foot, a peculiar comparison. Directly related to the resolution of the printer, 0.057 mm becomes 0.20 inches approximately. I suspect that an HO scale model does not require one-fifth of an inch detail level.

OO scale is slightly larger and would pose even less of a concern regarding fine resolution objects.


Problem with the first layers on the print

The filament is not flattened, it looks like the nozzle deposits round filament strings while in fact they should be flattened more. This usually indicates that the nozzle to bed distance is too large. A perfect distance is obtained with plain A4 or US letter paper (usually 0.1 mm thick; or 0.004") during levelling where there is a slight drag/friction force observed when the paper is pulled between bed and nozzle. Alternatively, you can use feeler gauges:

Considering that the raft is printer well, it could well be that the initial nozzle to bed distance is correct, but the distance between the raft and the first layer of the product is too large.


No, this is not Z-wobble, Z-wobble is usually characterized by a repetitive distortion, from the supplied images this repetitive pattern is not observed. A Z-wobble pattern is typically caused by the lead screws, or the Z drive where carriage follows the X/Y motion of the lead screw nut.
A typical image of Z-wobble on a Benchy would look like:

Your print doesn't look that bad for a low-end 3D printer.


I don't know how to explain how the problem is occurring with the STL post-processing tools you are using.

Try loading the STL directly into a slicer and view the result, then slice and view the toolpath.  It is always helpful to eliminate steps in an attempt to narrow down where the problem is generated.

Were I to try to patch the OpenSCAD model, I would create a hub component that overlays where the crack is found.  This would be small cylinder with a hole that overlays the hub.

I have had success adding elements and holes to existing OpenSCAD models and imported STL files using OpenSCAD.


Monoprice Maker Select v2 stops extruding after about 200-300 mm

Looking at the tread pattern on the filament, I think it's getting stuck. Note that the teeth marks get closer together as you go up the fillament, and the last one is a big divot, that looks like the gear trying to grab at it, and being unable to move it.

Are you seeing any drops in nozzle temp? I had a cooling fan kick in and drop temps low enough to prevent extrusion before.

Edit

From the discussion in the notes, heat creep was identified as a possible culprit, and seems most likely.


If you look closely to your print you will see that the edges are part of the problem, e.g. you also have a problem called "Elephant foot" where the base shows a fairing to the build plate.

The elephant foot deficiency is caused by an imbalanced choice of bed and hotend temperature and print cooling. This imbalance also causes the edges to collapse (probably also caused by the infill, or lack of it).

You should look into finding a better printing temperature combo and experiment with little cooling. This will also help you to better print the rest of the cube.


When printing PLA you do not require an enclosure! PLA does not shrink as much as e.g. ABS. When printing PLA you should definitely ventilate your casing. I guess your steppers are also located in the enclosure, so you should be careful of not overheating the enclosure. Not only the steppers, but also think of the cold end cooling, too much heat in the enclosure means that the cold end cannot cool enough to prevent the filament to melt prematurely; this can lead to clogs. Also note that the printer electronics board may become too hot too (too hot stepper drivers will cause steppers to miss steps).

  I once tried a towel over a Ultimaker 3 Extended to print a difficult filament to keep some heat in the enclosure; I encountered the above
  problems when I was young(er) and inexperienced :) We learn by trial and error some times!

However, ABS, requires control over the temperature during printing. Draft or uneven temperatures may lead to problems related to layer separation or heat bed separation. Many of the high-end box printers have doors available to enclose the front, this results in an enclosure with an open top (sometimes even for the top there are covers available). The heat of the bed then heats up the enclosure. A constant temperature of 45°C should not be too high to cause problems. When boxing it up completely, you could use a temperature sensor to monitor the enclosure temperature and schedule a fan to ventilate when it gets too hot.


New RepRap Discount Smart Controller blinks and beeps, but doesn't display

So, the answer in the other referenced post was correct, the slots were turned opposite how they should have been. AND YES: you can create a "crossover" ribbon cable and everything works great, so physically turning the slots is not necessary.


If you set it to Not in Skin it will not comb and as such it will retract. Retraction travel moves are shown as light blue lines

  Light blue are retraction moves.  Dark blue are non-retracting moves.  Both types are non-extruding moves.

In that respect you would expect that if you set Combing to Not in Skin, it will retract and move to the other position:

If you wouldn't comb at all, you would see the same:

If you would comb all layers, so no retractions, we would expect dark blue lines:

Basically, Cura does exactly what it needs to do as seen in the screenshots, I cannot place/reproduce the screenshots in the question. To explain this (as commented below by @R..) another setting or settings may have caused preventing retraction like the Retraction Minimum Travel (retract_min_travel) in Cura.


Broken screws or screws with damaged screw heads are typically removed with screw extractors. Since there is already a hole you could "drill" (unscrew) it out with a screw extractor, as it is counter clockwise, it is about creating enough friction to unscrew it from the threads. Beware that it is not drilling and spalling material, turn slowly.

Alternatively, a grip vice pliers may work if there is enough "meat" to clamp on.


Has anyone used a Shield Buddy (en lieu of a Arduino Mega2560) as the RAMPS 1.4 host board?

It's not quite as simple as you would suggest.

You can't just recompile Marlin for another device. You'd need to rewrite large parts of it. It may be compatible with the Arduino IDE, but that doesn't mean you can just run firmware intended for the AtMega2560 on it. All the timings (e.g. those of the pulses sent to the stepper motors) would be off, if you managed to get it to compile at all.

As some examples, here are some pieces of code from Marlin that would be broken, as they're written directly in AVR assembly:

#define DELAY_1_NOP  __asm__("nop\n\t")
#define DELAY_2_NOP  __asm__("nop\n\t" "nop\n\t")

[...]

// ensure 100ns delay - a bit extra is fine
asm("nop");//50ns on 20Mhz, 62.5ns on 16Mhz
asm("nop");//50ns on 20Mhz, 62.5ns on 16Mhz

[...]

#define MultiU24X32toH16(intRes, longIn1, longIn2) \
asm volatile ( \
             "clr r26 \n\t" \
             "mul %A1, %B2 \n\t" \
             "mov r27, r1 \n\t" \
             "mul %B1, %C2 \n\t" \
             "movw %A0, r0 \n\t" \
             "mul %C1, %C2 \n\t" \
             "add %B0, r0 \n\t" \
             "mul %C1, %B2 \n\t" \
             "add %A0, r0 \n\t" \
             "adc %B0, r1 \n\t" \


Ultimaker Original temperature sensor replacement?

You need a thermocouple, not a thermistor. Also, as you say the Ultimaker Original+, and the Ultimaker 2, (which both use version 2.x.x boards) use a PT1001.
According to this post, on E3D Thermocouple mount on UMO+, a k-type thermocouple will do:

I am changing over to E3D V6 on my UMO, and have elected to used the k-type thermocouples sold by e3d with the standard/original UMO amplifier board.

Or to be more precise, from this post, on
THERMOCOUPLE SENSOR REPLACEMENT, it is a 3 mm k-type thermocouple:

I would ask the reseller to measure the thermocouple to be really 3mm. I never bough a thermocoupler so no idea. I know that some aliexpress sellers did sell me a pt100 with 3.05mm (it doesn't fit in) so is good idea to ask for a photo with a caliper before paying.

The thermocouple in question, on AliExpress was this, SWMAKER Thermoelement Typ K (TC) für Ultimaker Original 3D drucker 3mm K thermoelement typ für Ultimaker Original 3D drucker, ~$10
Or this, considerably more expensive at €33, Ultimaker Original - Thermocouple Sensor (out of stock):

With respect to the firmware, from this post, on E3D Thermocouple mount on UMO+

Normally you won't have any modifications to do cause your UMO already works with a thermocouple.

So, assuming that you have an AD595 amplifier and not a MAX6675, ensure that you have
#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 -1

set in Configuration.h
//===========================================================================
//=============================Thermal Settings  ============================
//===========================================================================
//
//--NORMAL IS 4.7kohm PULLUP!-- 1kohm pullup can be used on hotend sensor, using correct resistor and table
//
//// Temperature sensor settings:
// -2 is thermocouple with MAX6675 (only for sensor 0)
// -1 is thermocouple with AD595
// 0 is not used
// 1 is 100k thermistor - best choice for EPCOS 100k (4.7k pullup)
// 2 is 200k thermistor - ATC Semitec 204GT-2 (4.7k pullup)
// 3 is Mendel-parts thermistor (4.7k pullup)
// 4 is 10k thermistor !! do not use it for a hotend. It gives bad resolution at high temp. !!
// 5 is 100K thermistor - ATC Semitec 104GT-2 (Used in ParCan & J-Head) (4.7k pullup)
// 6 is 100k EPCOS - Not as accurate as table 1 (created using a fluke thermocouple) (4.7k pullup)
// 7 is 100k Honeywell thermistor 135-104LAG-J01 (4.7k pullup)
// 71 is 100k Honeywell thermistor 135-104LAF-J01 (4.7k pullup)
// 8 is 100k 0603 SMD Vishay NTCS0603E3104FXT (4.7k pullup)
// 9 is 100k GE Sensing AL03006-58.2K-97-G1 (4.7k pullup)
// 10 is 100k RS thermistor 198-961 (4.7k pullup)
// 11 is 100k beta 3950 1% thermistor (4.7k pullup)
// 12 is 100k 0603 SMD Vishay NTCS0603E3104FXT (4.7k pullup) (calibrated for Makibox hot bed)
// 13 is 100k Hisens 3950  1% up to 300°C for hotend "Simple ONE " & "Hotend "All In ONE"
// 20 is the PT100 circuit found in the Ultimainboard V2.x
// 60 is 100k Maker's Tool Works Kapton Bed Thermistor beta=3950
//
//    1k ohm pullup tables - This is not normal, you would have to have changed out your 4.7k for 1k
//                          (but gives greater accuracy and more stable PID)
// 51 is 100k thermistor - EPCOS (1k pullup)
// 52 is 200k thermistor - ATC Semitec 204GT-2 (1k pullup)
// 55 is 100k thermistor - ATC Semitec 104GT-2 (Used in ParCan & J-Head) (1k pullup)
//
// 1047 is Pt1000 with 4k7 pullup
// 1010 is Pt1000 with 1k pullup (non standard)
// 147 is Pt100 with 4k7 pullup
// 110 is Pt100 with 1k pullup (non standard)
#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 -1

However, according to
Questions about thermocouple and thermistor, the UMO board is 1.5.7, and can use NTC100K thermistors and (maybe - but it isn't clear) a 4.7K pullup resistor:

Firstly we have to do the Challenge with a Sainsmart UM Kit with that UM 1.5.7 Board.
We also have bought the print heads by E3D model V6 which have including ntc 100k thermistors which have already tables in marlin. As the V1.5.7. Board works with thermocouple, there was the question how to connect this. I got already an answere to just connect Signal and GND, to the board but I'd have to look for the resistors behind the connectors. Is it true, that I need a different resistor for each type of thermistor?

However, it is probably advisable to stick with the 3 mm k-type thermocouple, for simplicity's sake.

Footnote
1 Apparently for these reasons, from this post, on
THERMOCOUPLE SENSOR REPLACEMENT:

The UMO has the 'old' UltiBoard 1.5x which is a shield for an Arduino Mega, with the Pololu / Allegro stepper drivers plugged on it (Like the RAMPS controllers).
At that time RTDs where not very popular, and most printers came with thermistors. To improve the temperature feedback loop Ultimaker decided to use a thermocouple with an amplifier on top of the print head, which gives better results in particular at higher temperatures.
If you want to use a thermsitor instead of the thermcopule, you just have to swap the connections, and add a resistor on the board (the place for the resistor is foreseen on the board).
You can even go for an RTD using E3D's adapter plate.
The UMO+ is using the UltiBoard 2.x which is the same as in the Ultimaker 2, so it is PT100...

Note: RTD = Resistance Temperature Detector (such as a Pt100). A thermistor is similar to an RTD, but contains a ceramic or polymer resistor en lieu of metal.


Based on CNC Kitchen measurements,

the wear can be initially estimated by judging the overall length of the nozzle. Abrasive particles wear the nozzle very little on the channel (so the diameter doesn't change, for a while) but they wear out the outer surface in contact with the printed part, resulting in a shortening.
Of course, once the shortening gets severe, the diameter will increase because you reach the inner chamber.


Communication is dropping when printing on my Tevo Tarantula

As per long article Marlin firmware  it looks like my system is a victim of closed ground loop via USB connection. It is now clear to me that printing from laptop (connected to different socket) was a ground loop separated case and therefore the connection was stable. Connecting my raspberryPi from same socket using long unshielded cable is the main reason of connection drops.

Will try to run raspberryPi with short shielded cable and also will test raspberryPi powered from power bank.


Creality CR-10 board upgrade from V1.0 to V2.0 questions

Any issues compatibility wise or firmware wise that I might run into while upgrading

These boards are 8-bit boards with limited storage capacity for your firmware, if you would need an update, as an alternative solution, a 32-bit board may be a much better solution.

Also I know that the V2.5 board uses Marlin firmware, is that the same firmware that the V1.0 uses

I do not own this board so I can't say for sure, a generic remark would be that the Marlin 2.x branch works fine on 8-bit boards (from experience with some of my own boards), but you frequently see (does not have be the case for this board!) that these OEMs use the latest from the 1.1.9 branch. The only drawback is that you sometimes need to be creative to fit the firmware on the board, the more options, the more memory is used.

Is it worth it to upgrade to BLTouch

That depends on the state of your heated bed/build platform. If the build platform is not flat, but is somewhat curved, you may see improvements in bed adhesion when you correctly add a sensor that maps the surface and adjusts for it during printing. If it is flat, manual leveling works fine.

I am not that clear on whether you would have to ever use the manual bed leveling adjustments or does BLTouch take care of that forever?

Even when using a sensor that maps the surface of the build platform, you should always try to deliver a bed that is as level as possible. In videos you often see the bed tilted (very much exaggerated); you need to remember that the printer will print in a plain level after about 10 mm (or to a different height, determined in your firmware or set by G-code), a skew platform will give you a skew print.


How to setup Marlin to use a moving bed (up-down)?

You can control in Marlin what the direction of the stepper motor is, e.g. my Hypercube CoreXY printer (which has a similar setup like you described) has the following set (in the Marlin Configuration.h file) to ensure the platform raises when it has to decrease height:
// Invert the stepper direction. Change (or reverse the motor connector)
// if an axis goes the wrong way.
#define INVERT_Z_DIR true

Furthermore, it matters where the Z endstop is located, e.g. using a bed probe sensor or a min Z endstop, you need to home towards a decreasing height (in the direction of your probe/endstop):
// Direction of endstops when homing; 1=MAX, -1=MIN
#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

Don't forget to set a max Z height that falls within the printer volume, e.g.:
#define Z_MAX_POS 345

If the bed is heavy, you should also prevent the steppers to lose power when not being used, so at least set Z to false:
// Disables axis stepper immediately when it's not being used.
// WARNING: When motors turn off there is a chance of losing position accuracy!
#define DISABLE_Z false


What is the best color of PETg to use for outdoor durability?

Unless you plan to use your copter outside Earth atmosphere or expected lifetime is more than tenths of years, UV degradation should not be a problem for PETG. Some of the net sources indicate the possibility of degradation after significant time of constant exposure to outdoor conditions (mostly color change), which sounds mostly like absence of practical experience.

Yet if there are any concerns about losing mechanical properties from the sunlight, any opaque lacquer car paint can help to absorb unwanted radiation and add some nicer view to the model. Acrylic paint will also work (tried this once myself) but it may not be suitable for outdoor.


Looking for files for printed parts for my Kossel XL kit from Builda3Dprinter.eu

I bought 2 of these kits 4 years ago, and I have been really pleased with the quality of the kits and the results.  Sadly this supplier is no longer trading, as he could not compete with low cost imports from the far east.
I have the STL files for the printer kit, so you should be able to print any parts you need.
I have created a Github repository with a ZIP file of the parts files I downloaded from the builda3dprinter.eu website.


Can't print anything, clicking and low extrusion

I had a similar issue after installing an E3D V6 using a Bowden extruder.

PLA needs a heat break that has a PTFE liner, since with all metal heat breaks, it's probable that the filament will reach glass transition temperature in the heat break and stop flowing properly.

Also, I had filament that was 1.86 mm instead of 1.75 mm, which caused it to bind inside the PTFE tube.

Before correcting these issues, I was able to temporarily fix the issue by doing a cold pull to unclog the extruder, and was able to print around 10 cm in height of a 20x20x20 mm cube.

To do a cold pull, heat your extruder between 80-100°C, and then pull out the filament. If successful, the tip of the filament will be shaped as the inside of the nozzle. If needed, heat the extruder to 200°C and manually push the filament to fill up the nozzle and heat brake, then let it cool down to the above temps and do the pull.


3D printer and design software for creating propellers for a toy airplane/drone

First, welcome to 3D Printing SE.  This is a great place to ask questions and get answers from people who have walked the same path.  I see from your profile that you are not a stranger to StackExchange and the available sites.

This question may be too broad for this SE Group, as it is asking for opinions rather than facts.  We try not to ask questions about "what is the best printer", or "what software is the best".  We avoid it both because it will change frequently, and because the answer needs to be gauged in your context, not the answerer's. We have some tools and community guidelines that suggest how to formulate the best questions.

Never-the-less, it is very hard when starting to even know how to make the first step, so with the indulgence of the group and your patience, I will make a suggestion or two.  These come from my experience and your's is surely different.

To try out 3D printers you may have resources the don't require buying one yourself.  It doesn't seem that 3D printing is the end goal for you.  You want to use 3D printing as a way to manufacture several experiments.  To access a 3D printer, it could be productive to check for local makerspaces, public libraries, or high schools with 3D printing capability.  You may find a friend you 3D prints who would be happy to run some objects for you.  You might even find it cost-effective to send designs to a service bureau such as 3D Hubs.  Note: I have no relationship with the company, although I did use their services once.

With the printing side temporarily in abeyance, you can focus attention on the design side.

If you are familiar with programming, you might be able to use either OpenSCAD or SolidPython as a design tool.  If you want something graphical, it might be worth trying OnShape.  NOTE: I know at least one of the founders of OnShape, but have no investment nor role in the company.  There are many design tools available.  For designing technical parts, I think you want tools more focused on technical than aesthetic content.

I would avoid purchasing a printer unless you want 3D printing and 3D printers to be part of your project.  People have mixed stories with many brands of printer, and lower-cost printers often become projects in themselves.  They can be satisfying, rewarding, and learning-driven projects, but can distract you from your prime intention for a long time.  In my case, I wanted to print boxes for projects, and prototypes for larger wood carvings.  I designed a printer, acquired materials, built it, and spent 3 years playing with it.  Along the way, I made some useful prints.  Eventually I was tired of not having a reliable 3D printer, and I wanted to reliably make things.  I needed a printing appliance.  So I bought a mid-range printer (which works very well for me), and I don't mess with it (much).

So, a broad answer in response to a broad question.  Welcome to 3D printing, the hobby and the StackExchange site.


Yes.

There are more test models one can download than would be possible to list here. A search on Thingiverse results in pages and pages of useful models. A common model for testing is called the 3d Benchy, although it is not particularly parametric. Overhangs, retraction, layer alignment and other aspects of your printer are tested with this model.

Another option is to purchase a set of test models from 3dkitbash.com:

QuickPrintTests

The models lists as such:

#3dk01 - Voids
#3dk02 - Spikes
#3dk03 - Flex
#3dk04 - Edge
#3dk05 - Text
#3dk06 - Bridge
#3dk07 - Dissolve
#3dk08 - Ball Joint
#3dk09 - Hinge
#3dk10 - Columns

which are more specifically defined for testing your printer. I would expect that Thingiverse and other model-sharing sites would have similar designs available to meet your specific requirements.


Why isn't any color showing up in my .3mf file in Windows 10 3D Builder

Per the 3MF Specification, colors in the .3mf files are sRGB.

If you are looking at gross color defects, I would look a the raw codes generated in the 3mf to make sure they make sense.

If you are talking about subtle color differences, that is much more complicated.

Color have always been a tough thing to define as it is affected by whether the it is emissive (like displayed on a screen) or reflective (like a physical object).  The way it is perceived is affected by ambient light, surface texture and more.  I worked on a project once where Marketing wanted all the colors to match (on the screen, on paper, on plastic, on on fabric) and it was a mess.


Should I be doing PID auto-tuning with my fan at 100% (Anet A8)

You should run the fan at what you expect it to be at the majority of the time it is printing.  If you tune at 100% fan and never use a fan then it will be too aggressive, if you tune at 0% fan and use the fan then you will struggle to maintain/reach temperature.


How To Trace The Line Of A Print With The Nozzle (With No Plastic Printed)


What infill settings and material type do I need?

For such a small item and the small load it will carry, even 50 percent is substantial. Keep in mind that one hundred percent infill is not necessarily stronger. If you need to know why, consider a 'net search for "why not use 100% infill" for more detailed information. The primary foundation for not using 100% infill is that the stress is better distributed over the structure of a non-100% part, while the completely filled part has more intra-layer stress failure. Another link suggests that there's a possibility of increased warping with full infill.

Because the load is small, it matters very little if you select PLA over ABS. PLA is more brittle compared to ABS and will crack or fracture or break under loads that might otherwise cause the same part in ABS to bend.

If you need yet more strength, select PETG or nylon, although I suspect either one would be more expensive from a service.

If you select ABS, you can use acetone smoothing later to make a shiny surface, but that's cosmetic, not structural.


Is there an engineering/physics foundation for application of airbrush nozzles?

An obvious drawback is the lack of a flat surface around the opening, resulting in a severe limitation of the extrusion width to exactly the nozzle width (plus some percent). This nozzle cannot efficiently push the filament against the nearby perimeters because it cannot constrain its height and it cannot flatten the top of the already extruded one. So layer adhesion may not be a big problem, but perimeter-to-perimeter likely is.

Also, the thinner wall and extended length will reduce the filament temperature, however I don't know whether a simple compensation would do, since cooling will depend on filament speed and travel speed.

Regarding the cooling, you can check also the original designer's goal:

  A big problem with small. hot and slow prints is the heat radiation of
  the hotend and nozzle itself. To get as little as possible heat into
  the print, the nozzle needs to be as long and pointy as possible. The
  longer the nozzle, the bigger the distance between heater block and the
  print. And the more pointy it is, the less heat radiation can affect
  the print. A nice side benefit: the cooling fan can blow better onto
  the print and "around" the nozzle.


I think your instinct is good.  The trick is finding the right modeling compound, with the right curing properties, that will stick to your polymer dice, and will be available in colors you like.

Amazon has some epoxy-based clays that appear to be either terra-cotta or black.  If these colors work, this may be the right choice.  Most epoxies will cling well, and it seems to have minimal shrinkage when hardening.  You could probably add some pigment and alter the color, but I doubt you could get a white, yellow, or any light color.

There are some air-drying clays, but the reviews show that these have higher shrinkage.

There are some bake-to-harden clays that harden between 250 and 300 degrees Farenheit.  If you printed with ABS or a high temperature plastic, it might work.  You would have to try it to know.  300 F is only 149 C, so maybe.  PLA wouldn't stand a chance.  If you can print polycarbonate, it might work better.

This material looks interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Modelling-Modeling-Tutorials-Accessories/dp/B0716D1VDM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_6  There are lots of colors, and it can be cured in a 275 Farenheit oven, with a hot-air gun, or by boiling in water.


As long as the STL creates a closed, manifold, watertight body, a good slicer will just slice it. Ultimaker Cura has the option to Union intersecting shells, which lets it take non-manifold parts of a shell and union them to the body in such a way that it creates a closed body. More simplification and fixing the problem in a slicer usually is not needed. If there is still some area where internal geometry is created, it can help to create an overlapping internal structure deliberately, as Easy way to refine a 3D-model for 3D printing by removing internal geometry explains.

Let's look at some example: The STL game export of a pauldron is made from the base body (one shell) and the rivets (which are another shell inside the STL). If Union Intersecting Shells is active, the rivets are sliced and printed as part of the pauldron. If Union Intersecting Shells is not active, the rivets are found to be non-sliceable and ignored.

Infill is meant to support the upper structures in print.

If it is mandatory to join the item into one shell, the STL format isn't the best to go through.

If the pattern is produced by a program, that is able to generate and export STEP files, these could be used by CAD software such as Fusion360 which then would interpret the generated body in such a way that it can be unioned easily, getting rid of internal geometry.

If the program generating the pattern is working with a vertex cloud such as blender, it should be possible to cut the long outer lines into several pieces and placing the vertices on the intersection of lines. These vertices could then be merged and any internal edges (and faces) removed. This can be a tedious process.