It sounds like your thermistor reading isn't accurate. You're probably printing at an actual temp of 185C but your thermistor is reading that as 220C. You might have the wrong thermistor table set in your firmware.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Just wondering, what did you do to fix the problem? I have the same issue with mine.by sheck626 - Reprappers
What kind of PSU are you using? It sounds like it's being overloaded either because it's inadequate or there's a short. The other likely causes are loose terminal connections, a bad MOSFET or a bad solder joint at the MOSFET. Be careful though, a loose connection could cause a fire.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Get a piece of regular paper (0.1mm thick) and slide it under the nozzle. You should feel it definately dragging against the nozzle but when you pull the paper out you should be able to re-insert it without having to raise the nozzle. You need to make sure the nozzle is that same distance (same feel) on all 4 corners of the print bed. Once you get the same nozzle distance you can fine tune itby sheck626 - Reprappers
Does it make any noise when it skips steps? Did you check to see if the belt was binding at the stepper pulley or the idler bearing? What's your accelaration setting? Is it possible the glass plate is slipping on the heatbed causing mis-alignment? Is it possible that the HBP wires are catching on a protruding part of the printer frame? Try doing a couple of fast non-print moves by sending itby sheck626 - Reprappers
I know you said "besides buying a new stepper", but what about returning it since it is defective? I don't know what kind of problems it will cause, but it will cause problems and you'll probably spend more money on excedrin/alcohol than you would on just buying a new stepper.by sheck626 - Reprappers
If you're heating a small enough mass, sure, 2W could make something glow red. If you're heating a hotend from a typical FDM 3D printer with temperature control, then 2W isn't going to cut it. Try soldering something with a 2W soldering iron and see how far you get... Unless you're soldering nano components under a microscope with robotic control, a 2W soldering iron would be completely uselesby sheck626 - Reprappers
If you can run it at 24 volts then yes, 40W is enough to heat the hotend up to 250C. Most repraps use 12v though, and your 24V 40W heater will only use 10W at 12V which isn't enough power.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Your PSU will never be able to provide enough power with those specs. Even if you max out the 5v rail, you're only going to get 80 watts out of it which still isn't enough and it would require modding the heatbed. Save yourself endless frustration and get another PSU. Hell, go to a computer repair store and they'll probably give you a broken one. The most common mode of failure with those isby sheck626 - Reprappers
You might also want to check the linear bearings on your Z axis. I just replaced my metal ones with PLA bushings and now I'm getting Z ribbing like crazy (which I wasn't getting before). I'm going to switch back.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Read this article, it includes a re-designed fan duct for the E3D to channel airflow away from the print. I just kapton taped a duct on mine since the duct from the link didn't fit right for me.by sheck626 - Reprappers
This question has been asked so many times, and every time there's different responses. Personally, I print PLA on cheap picture frame glass coated in PVA (elmers glue) at 55C. It works. So far it works extremely well. It sticks like glue until the printbed temp falls below 40C and then it comes off with ease. I used to recommend blue painter tape without turning on the heated bed, but afterby sheck626 - Reprappers
I would still go with an SDcard for unattended prints. A comm failure is not a safe failure since the extruder still maintains temperature and requires you to be there to shut it down. Honestly, I don't know why there isn't a watchdog feature in most firmwares that can detect a comm failure and shut everything down safely in the event.by sheck626 - Reprappers
The comparable setting in Slic3r would be "Bridge flow ratio" under "Advanced" on the "Print Settings" tab. It's action would be the opposite of "bridge feedrate multiplier" though in that you would decrease it to prevent sagging (if calibrated correctly).by sheck626 - Reprappers
Use aluminum foil. It's not impossible to wrap it tight enough, I've done it several times. Just be careful not to short circuit the leads.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Definately looks like the first layer is too high as KDog suggested. I don't recommend scrubbing the blue tape with acetone though since that'll damage the tape surface and degrade the adhesive that holds it to the print bed. Make sure your bed is level and then adjust the nozzle height so it's very close. A piece of standard printer paper should fit between the nozzle and print bed but shouldby sheck626 - Reprappers
Have you tried those settings? I'd imagine the sudden change in nozzle pressure going from fast/wide infill to slow/narrow perimeters would cause all kinds of blobbing on the surface.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do regarding speed vs. quality. With an 0.35mm nozzle, your maximum acceptable layer height is 0.28 (80% nozzle diameter) and that's pushing it, and you're going to want to print slow if you want high quality prints. Also, you're going to need narrower trace widths which will further increase print time. If you want the best of both worlds, you'll have tby sheck626 - Reprappers
Maybe you're using "relative extrusion" vs. "absolute extrusion" and pronterface is expecting the opposite? Try sending an M82 (i.e. set extruder to absolute mode) or M83 (i.e. set extruder to relative mode) and see what happens. I believe most interfaces are set to use "absolute" mode by default, although I prefer "relative" mode. The slicer and host software have to know what mode you have iby sheck626 - Reprappers
It looks to me like it's an ambient temperature issue. During the winter months, I'd expect this kind of thing with ABS.by sheck626 - Reprappers
To answer some of my original questions in case anyone else is interested: Yes, pre-baking/drying the filament before printing helps No, it isn't safe to bake your filament on the plastic spool it comes on.by sheck626 - Reprappers
I burned out the terminal block for my heatbed power connector and my heatbed connector on my RAMPS 1.4 board as well and it uses the same kind of terminal block. If you're not careful and move the machine around those connectors will come loose and get hot/melt once you try to pass sufficient current through them. I just replaced the terminal blocks and it's been working great ever since. I rby sheck626 - Reprappers
>unless you live in a swamp Well, I live in Florida so that's not too far off. Anyway, I have a bit of it (not the whole spool) in the oven now at 180F (82C). The oven now has that faint musty smell of printed nylon (although the nylon hasn't melted, it's warm but not melted or sticking). I'm hoping that smell will go away once the moisture is driven off. We'll see.by sheck626 - Reprappers
Do you know if it's safe to put the plastic spool it comes wrapped on in the oven? I'll probably bake it and then put it in a sealed tupperware container with some damp rid. I've heard others say that the moisture doesn't negatively affect the final print quality, but I'm not so sure.by sheck626 - Reprappers
So I've been trying to print with taulman 618 nylon and have gotten some less than stellar results and I wanted to hear from someone who has more experience printing with this material. First off, I'm using blue painter tape on a cold printbed which the nylon sticks to just fine as long as I make my bed height low enough so that isn't my issue (yet). My issues are: Excessive moisture (like woby sheck626 - Reprappers
Don't just blindly increase your steps/mm, you need to print out a hollow single walled object, measure the wall thickness (at the top!) and compare it with your slicing settings. Too thick means over extruding, too thin means under extruding. If it's just right, then you have another problem. If you're using slic3r, make sure your nozzle diameter is set right. If skeinforge, play with the Inby sheck626 - Reprappers
> Whenever i hit the extrude button in pronterface it extrudes, but it ends up curling and i'm not able to get an accurate measurement. You do realize you're supposed to measure filament going in to the extruder, not coming out of it, right?by sheck626 - Reprappers
Sorry, but you'll have nothing but problems with that hotend, do yourself a favor and get a decent one. It's one of the most important parts in your machine! Not that you shouldn't shop around though.by sheck626 - Reprappers
I get the gist of it as far as winding it onto a spool since I've done it with 3mm filament, but I'm using 1.75 now and it's a royal PITA. Since it's PLA, I might just cut it up and use it in sections and pause print/reload filament. If anything, it will give me practice pausing and reloading (it's better than just throwing it away). Yvan: Your idea of sectioning off filament sounds good. Iby sheck626 - Reprappers
My cat had fun watching me try to unravel that mess. I think I'm ready to give up.by sheck626 - Reprappers