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Re: Stoped printing during print - 3 years ago
Does your printer control board have a reset button? Try pressing the reset button when the printer is turned on (with the USB cable connected), and see if Pronterface can then connect. One of my older control boards (gen6.d) had a similar behavior where I could not connect to the board immediately after turning on the power, but after pressing the reset button, I could connect. Also, did you tby qrp-gaijin - Printing
Re: Part-cooling fan for PLA - 3 years ago
QuoteMechaBits I would have thought the slow down function would mean its touching the print for longer, or does it move away & wait? It doesn't move away and wait, so the print head is indeed touching the print longer, but that's why I lowered the temperature to 175 degrees C -- maybe even a lower temperature would work. When the printer is drawing out the zig-zag pattern of the gear teeth,by qrp-gaijin - General
Re: Part-cooling fan for PLA - 3 years ago
Quotedekutree64 For the gear printing, another option is to use lower speed to give the layers more time to cool, and lower nozzle temperature so there's less cooling to be done. Thanks for the tip! That worked well. For the below print, print temperature was set to 175 degrees, slic3r was set to "slow down if layer print time is below: 30 seconds", with "min print speed: 0.5 mm/s". The resuby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: PTFE fumes: poor assembly order for E3D-v6 hot end? - 3 years ago
QuoteDragonFire Thanks for the clarification. The linked documentation for the Lite6 hot end indicates that "The PTFE lining in a Lite6 HotEnd is very important for printing successfully. Make sure that your tubing is all the way in the hotend and butting up against your nozzle (this is different from a V6,where the tubing stops above the heat break)." It is specifically stated that in a V6, thby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: PTFE fumes: poor assembly order for E3D-v6 hot end? - 3 years ago
It seems that my V6 clone hot end came with a number of different heat breaks, some with a PTFE lining, some without. (I'm not sure which I have currently installed in my printer, but it seems to be working OK.) What is the purpose of the extra PTFE lining? And if it's PTFE, then this does seem to imply a risk of it burning/giving off fumes during hot tightening at 285 degrees C. In this case, sby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: PTFE fumes: poor assembly order for E3D-v6 hot end? - 3 years ago
Somewhat interestingly, the image shown in this other recent thread at seems to show a PTFE tube extending all the way into the hot end of the heat break, where the PTFE tube will then, it seems, then be flush against the hot nozzle and subject to temperatures that could start to decompose the PTFE.by qrp-gaijin - General
PTFE fumes: poor assembly order for E3D-v6 hot end? - 3 years ago
The instructions for the E3D-v6 hot end assembly direct you to first assemble everything including the PTFE tube, then to do hot tightening at 285 degrees C. This means that the PTFE tube, being flush against the nozzle, will be subjected to 285 degree heat. However, this thread says that above 260 degrees, PTFE will "start to give off nasties". This would imply that it would be better to doby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: extrusion problem - 3 years ago
Quotedekutree64 One thing that helps is to use a binder clip to hold a piece of cloth around the filament between the spool and extruder, so any dust gets wiped off before going into the bowden tube/nozzle. Yeah, I've been recently using this for the same purpose: About clogs, what I'm really worried about is if molten plastic (PLA in my case) leaks into the heater block and all around the thby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: extrusion problem - 3 years ago
Quotedekutree64 Clean the nozzle if you haven't already (or buy a new one). I just hold it in a fire with pliers until all the plastic burns into white powder and then wash under running water, using a needle to scrape around inside. Is there a possibility of damaging a brass nozzle with this method? Quotedekutree64 Clean the heatbreak as well if it has any plastic in it. How exactly would you dby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: Looking for Portabee users - 3 years ago
On the slim chance that anyone is (1) still interested and (2) reading this thread, I created a reddit community at , where I have started posting various historical information that I can gather about the Portabee printer, such as some pictures of the original Portabee factory in Singapore, links to related YouTube videos about the Portabee, etc. I also have updated and will continue to updateby qrp-gaijin - Prusa i3 and variants
Momentarily running A4988 drivers without a load? - 3 years ago
It was bound to happen sooner or later... I accidentally tried to drive my 2 Z-motors through A4988 drivers, with the 2 Z motors disconnected from the board. I realized my error after about 15 seconds and immediately cut the power. Now, with everything hooked up correctly again, the Z motors seem to be operating fine and can move the gantry up and down. However, I believe that running A4988 drivby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: RAMBo v1.2 "Error: Printed halted. kill() called" - 3 years ago
Cool to hear you're able to expose kids to 3D printing at your high school library. I wonder how kids perceive and use this technology. In practice, who does the pre-print work (filament loading, bed leveling) and post-print work (removing the print and cleaning the bed)? Are the students interested in how to mechanically align and take care of the printer, or do they expect it to be a one-buttonby qrp-gaijin - General
Very simple multi-color 3D printing: 3D Print Colorizer - 3 years ago
By chance I ran across this ingeniously devised system for making multi-color prints from a single-extruder printer: It simply moves the toolhead to pick up one of several colored pens (which are all hooked onto an overhead rack in predefined positions) after each layer is printed, then runs the marker along the just-printed layer to draw a color on top of it. After coloring the layer, the tooby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: RAMBo v1.2 "Error: Printed halted. kill() called" - 3 years ago
I found this possibly-relevant printer-halting code in Marlin's configuration_adv.h: /** * Expected Printer Check * Add the M16 G-code to compare a string to the MACHINE_NAME. * M16 with a non-matching string causes the printer to halt. */ //#define EXPECTED_PRINTER_CHECK The explanation of this feature is given as follows from the Marlin documentation: Quote Do a case-sensitive comparisby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: RAMBo v1.2 "Error: Printed halted. kill() called" - 3 years ago
Are you using Marlin firmware? Marlin has some timeout settings in the configuration file that will halt the printer if the thermistor-reported change in temperature is "too slow" in moving towards the specified target temperature. For example, I have an underpowered heated bed that can only heat up to about 59 degrees, and the temperature rise from 50 to 59 degrees is really slow (30 minutes). Wby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: 32-bit linux printer host software - 3 years ago
Quotewildone Since I started using a Pi with octoprint to control the printer the Pi never sleeps so the interruptions are non-existent and I have never had a bad print since I added the Pi over a year ago. Buffer issues are a thing of the past with USB for me now. I'm also using a Pi for printing, connected via USB to the printer. The software on the Pi is Pronterface plus a VNC server (remoteby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: How to judge quality of printed PLA LM8UU/LM6UU bushings? - 3 years ago
I've aborted this experiment after observing high static friction in some quick, unpowered trials with my Z-axis rods. What I had failed to consider previously was the effect of slight misalignment on the amount of friction generated by the bearing. With the printed PLA bushing, although it has a good fit with also almost no friction when sliding straight up and down along the rod's axis, in aby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: How to judge quality of printed PLA LM8UU/LM6UU bushings? - 3 years ago
Quoteobelisk79 I designed some in FreeCAD earlier this year and printed them in PETG, I found 'sticktion' to be a problem with mine, even after applying some teflon lubricant spray. How exactly did you observe "sticktion" to be occurring? Did the "sticktion" actually impede motion during printing, causing missed steps and causing your prints to come out deformed? What sort of deformations occurrby qrp-gaijin - General
How to judge quality of printed PLA LM8UU/LM6UU bushings? - 3 years ago
In an attempt to reduce noise, and also just because I want to try it, I am replacing the LM8UU/LM6UU linear bearings in my printer with printed PLA bushings of the same size, using this model: . The printer is a Printrbot-style Cartesian design (Portabee) with guide rails for the X-, Y-, and Z-axes along which the bearings or bushings slide. I adjusted the diameter of the 3D model so that theby qrp-gaijin - General
Filament availability in the foreseeable future? - 3 years ago
Do you think filaments like PLA will continue to be cheaply available for the foreseeable future, say the next 10-15 years? The background to my question is that I was wondering about the relative popularity of filament-based printing vs. other fabrication technologies such as resin-based printing; if filament-based printing is on a decline, then we might expect the availability of filament alsoby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: First timer looking for advice - 3 years ago
Quoteobelisk79 No matter what printer you buy the following advice applies: 1. No low-cost hobby printer is going to 'just work' out of the box so take online reviews with a grain of salt. 2. Make sure the frame is stiff and perfectly square Do low-cost hobby printers usually offer some way of adjusting the frame orthogonality? My RepRap printer (Portabee, a Printrbot variant) uses plastic cornby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: Assembling V6-clone hot end for first time - 3 years ago
Quick update and a question. I ended up using neither thermal grease nor anti-seize compound on the threads, and for the hot tightening step I just judged torque by "feeling". The result was that hot end has been working more or less fine for the past couple of months. However, I had some bad jams recently. I think the cause was accidental unscrewing of the heat sink from the heat break. Duringby qrp-gaijin - Reprappers
Re: Effectiveness of cardboard fume hood? - 3 years ago
Another problem I'm noticing with the ventilated enclosure is an increased tendency for corner lifting on my PLA prints, with a heated bed at 42 degrees C. My understanding is that if upper layers cool too quickly, they contract, thus pulling the corners up. So two approaches to remove the temperature differences between the layers would be: (1) stop using the heated bed, so that the entire priby qrp-gaijin - Safety & Best Practices
Re: Spam on wiki - 3 years ago
More creative spam techniques have appeared on the wiki which are difficult (for non-admins) to remove: 1. Uploading an image. There seems to be no way for normal users to delete the content. Example: 2. Uploading the spammer's phone number into the page title, which then cannot be edited. Example: It's sad enough that there is so little activity on the wiki and the forums... but I hope we cby qrp-gaijin - Administration, Announcements, Policy
Re: Part-cooling fan for PLA - 3 years ago
Thanks for the advice gentlemen about a silicone sock, radial fans, ducts, and PID retuning. For a first try I may just use a small axial fan that I happen to have lying around (it's the old axial barrel fan from my old hot end, no longer needed since I upgraded to a newer V6 hot end) and see how much of an effect it has. Later I can then buy a radial fan and try printing a duct.by qrp-gaijin - General
Part-cooling fan for PLA - 3 years ago
I'm planning on adding a part-cooling fan to my Portabee printer as follows: Now, I recall reading that the fan should cool the part, and not the hot end. Do you think I need to make some kind of a duct to channel the air only to the tip of the hot end, or will the above setup likely work well enough as shown? I'm now using a V6 clone hot end. My goal for adding the fan is to allow me to priby qrp-gaijin - General
Re: Will this kind of design work? - 3 years ago
Quotekranlor12 I'm currently trying to build my first 3D printer from scratch, I want it to have a lot of printed parts in order to reduce some costs (I have access to 3 more printers) and found an interesting design where I'm basing all my drawings (Kunprinter K86, see first attachment). Just wondering, is there any update on this project? QuoteMJLew It might 'work', but it is unlikely to worby qrp-gaijin - Reprappers
Re: Effectiveness of cardboard fume hood? - 3 years ago
One problem I noticed is that after a print, opening the box gives a strong smell of PLA. I am pretty sure what is happening is that the poor suction of the duct fan is only pulling air out of the bottom of the box (where the vent hole is located), but fumes from the top of the box rise and stay stagnant at the top without being sucked down to the bottom vent hole due to insufficient suction. Thby qrp-gaijin - Safety & Best Practices
Re: Effectiveness of cardboard fume hood? - 3 years ago
It's finished! It's not an exactly example of superb engineering, but it hopefully can serve as a reference on how this kind of vented enclosure can be built easily and at low cost with cardboard, duct tape, plastic sheet, and other simple materials. Here's how it looks. The transparent plastic sheet and the zippered door were already described above. Next, I cut a small hole in the plastic doorby qrp-gaijin - Safety & Best Practices
Re: Effectiveness of cardboard fume hood? - 3 years ago
Here's how my work-in-progress cardboard box enclosure looks now. I am using a plastic sheet, with a cut-out flap door, as the front face of the open cardboard box. The plastic sheet is a 0.2 mm-thick plastic table covering, with a long zipper taped to it along a curve. It was a bit of a pain to route the zipper along the curve, since it doesn't want to bend along such a flat curve while being foby qrp-gaijin - Safety & Best Practices