You may just have too much tension on your idler if the filament is being squashed. Try loosening it up a bunch, then gradually tighten it till it catches but no more.by jsadusk - General
Fair enough. I'm sure there are ways to reliably make valid stls, but it seems to require a lot of non-obvious tweaking. Openscad is incapable of making a non-manifold stl (if you try something that in theory wouldn't be manifold it won't even render, but even that rarely happens) so that's what I tend to use. Update: Ok that was a stupid statement. It's entirely possible to make non-manifoldby jsadusk - General
STL has no concept of solid or hollow. The level of infill is set in your slicing program (Slic3r or Skeinforge). As long as your part is manifold (no gaps in the polygons, no polygons that overlap inside the part), your slicer should be able to handle it. Unfortunately, sketchup generally doesn't produce manifold STLs. You can fix them easily using Netfabb cloud . Use that on the parts youby jsadusk - General
I'd take a look at what they actually contribute before accusing them of taking without giving back. Look at their github: You make note that ReplicatorG wraps skeinforge? Well there's the ReplicatorG source with full history. As for DXFs for the thingomatic: And no they haven't released the replicator source, they're not done with it. The GPL specifies that if you distribute a derivativeby jsadusk - General
I don't often print large things, because the larger the print the more precise my bed level has to be. Getting it level enough to do a full bed print is a time consuming pain. However, without a mendel sized bed I wouldn't be able to print the three part plates for . Also, I'm working on designs for objects that would be very hard to do without the full 20cmx20cm bed, likeby jsadusk - General
That is until you start creating procedurally generated and parametric models. Openscad and tools like it allow you to define what are effectively modeling rules that will change your end result based on inputs. I'm sure graphical modeling tools have some ability like this, but its not built into everything you do like it would be in a programming language. By the way, nophead, I appreciate thby jsadusk - General
I've used CAT5 to my extruder with one pair for the heater and it worked pretty well for a while. After months of active printing though the RJ45 jack started losing connection unless the plug was physically jammed in. The back and forth motion must be wearing down the pins. I've replaced the plug twice now. I also used 18awg wire for the heat bed, and those snap off constantly. I had to conby jsadusk - General
Also, your hobbed bolt stripping your filament can be caused by your idler tension being wrong. You need tension in a specific range to grip reliably, and that range is different for different plastics (definitely different between ABS and PLA, and I'm finding different between ABS from different suppliers). Also once its stripped filament, the grooves in your both are probably clogged up withby jsadusk - General
Will you offer pre-wound on spools as well as bare rolls? Many suppliers used to sell slightly cheaper without a spool and I printed reusable spools to be able to take advantage of that. Now it seems like most suppliers have moved to selling on a spool only. I like my printed spool setup and don't want to waste disposable spools when I get new filament.by jsadusk - General
Also, to be fair I got press fit ABS parts to work. But they're by no means as forgiving as PLA. I was more asking if anyone had an idea why brittle PLA would work so much better.by jsadusk - General
I got most of my ABS from [3dprinterstuff.com]by jsadusk - General
I'm generally used to the idea that I print things in PLA if I want them to be stiff and ABS if I want them to flex. Snap fit stuff works much better in ABS. But for some reason it just doesn't seem to handle metal pieces press fit into it at all. I was printing a part that had a bearing press fit into it. Originally I did this in ABS. If the plastic was at all a tight fit for the bearing, pby jsadusk - General
The benefit of starting with PLA is that you don't need a heated bed to get it working. And even if you have a heated bed, you don't have to worry about the surface you're printing on because bare glass works great. The debates over what the best surface is for ABS have been going on forever. On that note, I use PET tape on glass at 110C and I wipe it with acetone after each print and it worksby jsadusk - General
The only thing I'd say is that 1.75mm isn't exactly standard yet. Both are being used by different people. It is true that Makerbot is moving all new machines to 1.75mm, but I think more reprap extruder designs still use 3mm. The only difference between the two is that 1.75mm needs less torque to extrude so it allows simpler non-geared extruders. 3mm was originally dominant because many industby jsadusk - General
When changing colors or types of filament it sometimes takes a while of flushing the new plastic through the nozzle before it stops looking like a mix of the two, even if I backed out the old filament. A trick I've been using is to pull back my idler and shove a small (2.5mm thick) screw driver down into the hot end while its hot. It pushes out a large amount of the old plastic out without wastby jsadusk - General
I went back to Sprinter afterward and no prints have had any problems. What appears to be happening with Marlin is that the perimiter threads aren't adhering to the lower layer, and then when they cool they contract inward and make a straight string across the gap. This only happens on concave curves. I had issues like this a long time ago that seemed to be related to low flow rates (filamentby jsadusk - General
I'm assuming that's triggered by the define ADVANCE? It's commented out in my current Configuration.h. Would it be in my interest to try enabling it?by jsadusk - General
I actually have clip enabled on the skeinforge generated print that came out nicely. It really seems like the only changed factor is marlin.by jsadusk - General
I absolutely agree that the x carriage and extruder bodies should be printed in ABS, I lot both of my PLA originals due to warping and haven't had problems since remaking them in ABS. However, the entire rest of my printer is made in PLA and I have had absolutely no problems with any of it. Other people have mentioned hot motors affecting the motor brackets but in my experience if your stepperby jsadusk - General
Heh, I was actually using that version.by jsadusk - General
The 25 mm/s was just for test to remove any possibility that stability at speed is causing it. But like I said I'm getting the same issues using the exact same Skeinforge generated gcode that worked well on Sprinter.by jsadusk - General
So first, my printer works great with Skeinforge 45 and Sprinter. But I wanted to get the smooth curves that everyone else brags about with Slic3r and Marlin so I tried that combo out. I am consistently having issues with inner walls detaching and stretching inward any time I print with Marlin, which doesn't seem to be consistent with what other people are getting. I have Slic3r configured witby jsadusk - General
Automeasure, he USB device runs in serial emulation mode, so when its connected it should become a COM port, assuming the drivers are installed (on windows, on linux or mac os it should just work). Find out what virtual COM port is created when you connect, and point RepSnapper to it. wikisi, Skeinforge is the slicer. Its a program that takes an STL file and slices it into layers and represeby jsadusk - General
The reason people have been moving to 1.75 is that it takes less torque to extrude, allowing for simpler extruder designs without step down gears. Makerbot's latest extruder uses a regular stepper motor with no gearing, because its designed just for 1.75. That said, if you already have an extruder with gears like most of the standard reprap extruders, 3mm will work just as well as 1.75. For noby jsadusk - General
Honestly, the Cupcake seems like the beta for the Thingomatic. I have a Mendel, and after months of fiddling it prints great. One of the guys at my hackerspace had a Cupcake and wrestled with it constantly, never getting the quality above a mediocre level. Another guy got a thingomatic a month ago. After a weekend he had it printing similarly to my Mendel, albeit with the smaller build area.by jsadusk - General
Have you tried tuning your idler tension? I have several rolls of ultimachine PLA that all work great, but I've noticed that the idler springs need to have a lot more pressure than ABS. If I switch directly from an extruder tuned for ABS to PLA, the pinch wheel just slips. Similarly if I have a PLA tuned idler and go to ABS it strips from too much pressure. Maybe the first set of PLA you hadby jsadusk - General
No, I drilled holes through the aluminum and sunk another set of magnets into the wood blocks my aluminum was mounted to (I have a bed similar to ). The glass also overhangs the edge of the rest of the bed by a centemeter so I have something to hold onto when I pull it off.by jsadusk - General
Picture frame glass from a local frame shop, with neodymium magnets JB Welded to sanded corners. I think I paid more for the magnets than I did the glass.by jsadusk - General
I made a magnetically secured glass bed and I hot swap it all the time. I even have one sheet of glass that's bare for PLA and one sheet covered in PET for ABS.by jsadusk - General
I powered the entire RAMPS off of one PC power supply. It was a pretty beefy one, I think 450W. I put the bed power input and the main power input on two separate hard drive rails, however with a supply that big I doubt it matters. If your power supply can provide the combined wattage of both heaters, it should be fine to wire it to both.by jsadusk - General