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Model Limitations?

Posted by GreekPride91 
Model Limitations?
November 03, 2013 12:54PM
Hi, I am new to 3D printing, and am having difficulty with pronterface. Attached is a screenshot of what happens when I try printing an uploaded model (the printer is not currently connected). This is using a home-made 3D printer using an Arduino Mega 2500, and the model we're trying to print looks like the second attached image. The measurements are 5.32mmx5.32mmx1.12mm, with each rod of the model having a diameter of 0.28mm.
Are there any model limitations size-wise or complexity-wise of the marlin firmware? The printer is capable of printing a regular 5.32mmx5.32mmx1.12mm solid box but not the porous one I want it to print. Also, why does the "W:" not show up when I click "print"?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Attachments:
open | download - Screen Shot 2013-11-03 at 12.29.11 PM.png (111 KB)
open | download - scaffoldimage.jpg (22.4 KB)
Re: Model Limitations?
November 03, 2013 01:47PM
A couple of things:

1) I would slice your parts so they are in the center of the table. Running right next to the end stops is not a really good way to go.
2) I would print a large skirt on the part to be very sure the extruder is running correctly before the print.
3) Unless you have a very unusual extruder, printing a 0.28 mm diameter rod is going to be tough.

Some detail:

Your extruder puts out a round piece of filament the same diameter as the hole in it's tip. There is no practical way to put out a filament smaller than that. Printing a single filament in one axis and a single filament in the other does not leave much for contact surface. It will be tough to get them to stick.

The part is going to be sliced in some fashion that depends very much on the settings you used. All Pronterface and Marlin are going to do is to execute the instructions provided by the program that generates the gcode. How well they do that depends a bit on how well you have calibrated the printer. Limit wise, Pronterface has no accuracy limit at all, it just sends code. Marlin does have limits, but they are hardware based. It can only move things one step at at time. If you have 200 step motors and 1/16th micro stepping, that's 1/3,200 of a revolution on your motors. In a normal printer the mechanical issues are a much bigger thing than the stepper limits. You design the printer so that is the case.

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The line that ends with "W" followed by a time only shows up once the printer has made it to temperature. Before this you get temperature readings that show it heating up.
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