Is there an easy way to distinguish PLA from ABS by inspection? I've never worked with ABS, but I think I was shipped some by mistake recently when I had to go to another vendor because UltiMachine just can't seem to stock blue PLA. Here is what observed: It was very difficult to load into the extruder. It took quite a bit of force to force it through the hot end. It was not feeding well whenby jbernardis - Reprappers
I noticed recently that my arduino is not receiving power from the ramps. If I do not have the USB cable connected, nothing works - even when I am trying to print from an SD card. I thought that maybe I didn't install D1 since it's optional and I couldn't really remember what decision I made at assembly time, so I removed the pololu drivers, and sure enough it's there and it's polarity is correby jbernardis - RAMPS Electronics
Actually I kept searching after posting this and solved my own problem. I'll post my solution here in case it helps someone else. The bottom line is that even though I was within a few months of current, marlin HAS changed in the interim and the math in questions was changed from using an int to using a long. I updated my marlin, and half the problem went away. I still had an issue with myby jbernardis - Firmware - mainstream and related support
I just build an LCD/encoder control panel for my Marlin/RAMPS1.4 prusa. It works great and I'm loving having it on my printer, but I couldn't help but notice that it displays incorrect values for the Z steps and E steps (X and Y are correct). I did a little analysis, and discovered that the issue is the integer precision of the Arduino. I looked at the conversion routine ftostr52 that is useby jbernardis - Firmware - mainstream and related support
Are you saying it goes beyond your intended temperature, or does it reach the target and then cycle on and off? If the first, then that is a problem. If the second, then its not a problem - that's the way it works. The hot bend remains heating until you explicitly turn it off. I don't know what slicer you are using, but I use skeinforge, and I have a bit of custom end g-code that, among othby jbernardis - Reprappers
I was wondering this same thing. When I print in PLA and leave the bed at 60 degrees for the entire print, sometimes the bottom few layers become mis-shapen. The skeinforge chamber plug-in looks like it can gradually reduce the temperature as the print progresses - down to whatever minimum you specify. I agree with Xiando that having the print prematurely release from the bed is a concern, butby jbernardis - Reprappers
Lodorenos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I realize this is an old topic, but would the same > work for the Marlin firmware? My X and Y values > are both at 80, but my circles turn out slightly > oval every time. The only thing I haven't tried is > changing that value. > > Is this formula correct for Marlin? > New setting = current settingby jbernardis - Reprappers
Here's an update. I finally got home from my long weekend and tried this out. First I printed a medium sized object and noticed that the extruder motor was getting quite warm - not to the point of compromising the gears, but enough that I thought that if the job was any bigger they WOULD be in jeopardy. After the print finished, I warmed up the hot end again. While I was waiting, I dialed theby jbernardis - Reprappers
I'm not sure what gear you are printing, but one of the files I downloaded from thingiverse had instructions to use 0 extra shells in addition to the 90-100% infill. This created more room on the interior that the slicer (in my case skeinforge) could not overlook. My fill came out perfect.by jbernardis - General Mendel Topics
You're right about the instructions. I misquoted them because I was just going on memory. Initially I turned them all the way down and then up 25%, but since then I made several adjustments when I was trying to solve what I thought was dropped steps, and who knows where I left it, so I am starting over with the pot setting to see how it goes. Incidentally, I found a couple of extruder gears onby jbernardis - Reprappers
I'm actually already using the UltiMachine motors. I think I have my amperage too high, but I have no way that I know of to be certain - its just hit and miss.by jbernardis - Reprappers
Thanks. I'll try the locktite. I already trimmed the pot down a bit, but I haven't really tested it yet. I heated up the extruder and extruded/retracted a few times to make sure I wasn't dropping steps, and it seemed ok, but it was hardly a stress test. The next large print will tell.by jbernardis - Reprappers
I just had a large print fail because the grub screw came loose from the extruder gear. This is the second time I've had a print fail for something similar to this. The last time, the gear was held on merely by friction and it worked loose, but this time it was held my a screw that I'm certain was tight. I noticed that when I was tightening the screw back up that 1) the gear was somewhat softby jbernardis - Reprappers
When I first ran my prusa, I was getting erratic movement of the x carriage. I thought I was dropping steps, and played around a bit with the pololu driver trimmers, but the problem turned out to be (embarrassingly enough) that I forgot to tighten down the grub screw on the x motor pulley. There was enough friction that it worked most of the time, but then it would slip. So don't overlook thby jbernardis - Reprappers
Someone at this forum recommended to me to use PVA glue on my heated glass for PLA. It worked like a champ. I have very few lifting problems now. BTW - PVA glue is just diluted elmer's glue (white glue). - I dilute it 4 parts water to 1 part glue, and spread it on the bed with a paper towel. It dries in no time if the bed is heated. Also, it doesn't seem to come off with each print. I do reby jbernardis - Reprappers
I was too impatient to wait until I had the opportunity to buy some aquarium hose, so I used heat shrink tubing and it worked great. I needed three layers. Kby jbernardis - Reprappers
I am using pronterface to control my prusa (marlin firmware) and tried using the compose interface to load two stl fils at the same time. I pressed done, and skeinforge successfully sliced both objects, but when I returned to the pronterface screen, only one object was showing in the preview pane. When I hit print, it started printing only the one object. I initially thought that it would prinby jbernardis - Reprappers
Thanks. One of these days I'll give ABS a try. Everything I read as I entered the "hobby" indicated to me that PLA was the place to start, so that's what I'm geared up for at the moment.by jbernardis - Reprappers
I finally got my printer working fairly well, and have started printing out the improved parts I want for its next generation. I am printing exclusively in PLA (I have no ABS filament). One of the first parts I printed was my new X carriage. I no sooner had it off the bed, and was admiring the print quality when I wondered if it would have been better to have printed it in ABS. SInce I haveby jbernardis - Reprappers
I haven't tried the PVA glue yet - a definite thing to do. But one thing I noticed after some experimentation is a lack of temperature uniformity on the heat bed. Within pronterface I'll set the temp to 60 for PLA and I'll measure 65 on one side of the bed and 50 on the other. I suspect that no matter what I do I'm going to have lifting issues until I get the heat uniform. The vendor I purchaby jbernardis - Reprappers
DeuxVis Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ... > Somebody also made a skeinforge plugin > modification to generate it. > ... Does anyone know anything about this plugin/modification. I prefer to use skeinforge for my slicing, but there are times when brim can be useful. I find it easier to remove and less wasteful of filament while at the same time itby jbernardis - Slic3r
I actually mistyped my first message. The fan is 40 - not 70 - millimeters. It.s actually small enough to fix between the x axis smooth rods, but I had to mount it in the rear until I can print a different x carriage. I might try to rig up something temporary to mount the fan on the side. I can then raise it a little higher and perhaps even pitch it up.by jbernardis - Reprappers
I finally got my prusa to a somewhat working state. After the initial build, I had several problems with the makergear hot end, so I decided to go with a jhead and I am having MUCH more luck. However, I am still having some issues. I am printing PLA, so according to the hotends.com web site, I need to blow a small 70mm fan across the insulator of the hot end. I did this, but because of the moby jbernardis - Reprappers
Thank you - this has given me some things to try.by jbernardis - Skeinforge
Then is there a formula - or at least a set of guidelines - that would help me to determine the rates? I've learned that with a .25 mm nozzle, I'm limited to a layer height somewhere in the 0.15 - 0.25 range. I can set the height/width ratio and I guess that defines the bead size, but how does that relate back to flow/feed rates. My firmware has a calibrated value for infeed rate - and that faby jbernardis - Skeinforge
Thanks - I'll try that tonight. Now if I can just figure out how to determine flow rate and feed rate. I am using a .25mm nozzle and I can't believe that nothing in the setup would change if I switched to a different size - and yet I see nowhere to specify the size. The only thing I can think of that might convey this is the ratio between flow and feed rates, but everything I've seen says to mby jbernardis - Skeinforge
I'm not sure if this is an issue with skeinforge or marlin' but I think the latter. I am using pronterface/skeinforge/marlin - all the latest just installed in the past day or two on a Ubuntu host and driving a reprap Mendel prusa with RAMPS1.4. I have been trying to get the extruder working to my satisfaction. I have a very simple job, and when I start it, the carriage homes, and then moves dby jbernardis - Skeinforge