Use the edge of a steel ruler- not a wood ruler with a metal strip, but a ruler made of steel. Stand the edge against the surface. If the surface of the plate isn't flat, gaps will be obvious.by the_digital_dentist - General
Quoteshadowphile @digital_dentist: Thanks. I occasionally see a metal bed but they are so rare I haven't given it much thought except: ..'compared to glass, metal is soft and during a nozzle crash will both scratch and catch on the plate; also when I need to scrape something off with a metal blade (which is preferred because it harder than plastic and won't melt on a hot bed''). ..'Most metal eby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
I have found that 45C build chamber temperature prevents delamination for at least medium sized prints. Just enclosing the machine gets it up to that temperature using the heat of the bed and extruder nozzle only. I moved all the electronics into a drawer in the bottom of my printer to keep it out of the heat, and kept the Y axis motor outside the build chamber because it runs pretty hot. In tby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
I was using a microswitch for the Z endstop and it worked fine. I recently switched to an optical endstop to see if it was any better. If you use a lever on the microswitch I think you'll have problems with precision- the combo of the lever's springiness with the microswitch's internal springs makes for unpredictable switching. If you directly push on the button on the switch it works well eby the_digital_dentist - General
Yes, that plate should work. IRIC, I picked my plate up at the local Speedy Metals two years ago for $30. Yes, unfortunately, prices rise and companies do charge for shipping. I don't understand why you're complaining about the cost of the plate. You just spent extra to get 2nd day air delivery. Someone who does that doesn't seem to actually be too concerned about cost. You don't have to worby the_digital_dentist - General
cast aluminum tooling plate ebay It's not funny, it's tragic that kit makers don't provide decent parts, especially when they are so readily available, but they have figured out that the average 3D printing hobbyist shopping in the $300 printer market doesn't really know what they are buying. What do you expect for $300? So many people are so focused on price that they ignore the performanceby the_digital_dentist - General
PIR at Menardsby the_digital_dentist - General
PIR at Home Depot The skull was printed without an enclosure. Yes, printing medium to large objects in ABS would benefit from a heated enclosure to prevent warping and delamination.by the_digital_dentist - General
Glass is a thermal insulator and a poor choice for a bed surface. The only reason people use it is because they can't find anything else that is flat enough to print on. Or I should say they don't want to pay for a material that is both flat and thermally conductive such as cast aluminum tooling plate. It's more important to save $5 on the bed plate and slather it with glue, ABS juice or hairsby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
If you want to actually fix the problem, which is poor design, the real solution is to dump the two-motor set up and put a belt on it so both screws are driven by a single motor. They'll never get out of sync again. You'll never waste another minute trying to relaign the X axis. The guy who sold you the kit knew you'd be spending your time realigning the X axis, but by taking a short cut- usinby the_digital_dentist - General
Anyone can print with ABS on an unheated bed. It just has to be the right material. I have printed on unheated PIR foam which sells for <$0.50/sq ft. at home improvement stores. PIR foam is fire retardant (PIR fire retardant) and does not break down chemically at extruder nozzle temperatures. You don't need to level it, either. You just bury the nozzle about 1mm into the surface of theby the_digital_dentist - General
If the thermistor went intermittent, it would trigger a fault in the controller and you'd know about it. If a motor wire went intermittent, it might cause some temporary slipping that would create the intermittent extrusion you mention. Also, an intermittent motor wire can kill the driver because it is the same as disconnecting the motor while the thing is powered up- a big no-no. I used toby the_digital_dentist - General
It's more likely a problem with the cable to the motor than the motor itself. Extruder carriage cables flex a lot when the printer runs. It is easy for the cable to become intermittent due to excessive flexure, especially if you have a cable chain with a small radius of curvature on the extruder carriage. Your problem could be caused by an intermittent motor wire or heater wire. You won't beby the_digital_dentist - General
If it used to work and now it doesn't, something changed. You have to figure out what has changed. You swapped the driver and it didn't fix the problem- did you swap the cable and the motor, too?. You changed the hot-end- did the old hot-end work? Is the nozzle partially clogged?by the_digital_dentist - General
I think you're mistaken about cutting boards. A 1/4" thick x 12" x 24" piece of PTFE (Teflon) costs $~200 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ILHVXU/ref=biss_dp_t_asn), so the ~10 sqft the OP is looking for would cost ~$1000, assuming you could find a single piece that large. I suspect that's a little more than anyone wants to spend for a print bed to which parts won't stick. A quick perusal of thesby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
I suggest you read this before you make any buying decisions: http://www.instructables.com/id/An-Almost-Reliable-High-Precision-3D-Printer-Son-o/ The instructable provides more information about the nature of 3D printer kits, especially low cost kits, a what they leave out and what that means to you, the operator. Spend some time perusing these forums to see what sorts of problems people haveby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
PIR foam sheet is usually sold for building insulation with paper/foil on one or both sides. It is easy to peel off the paper/foil. Be sure to get PIR (polyisocyanurate) foam, not polystyrene foam (usually pink or blue) which decomposes and produces toxic vapors at extruder temperatures. In the US you can buy PIR sheets at Menards, Home Depot, and Lowes home improvement stores for $15 for a 4'by the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Problems with poor quality for thin layers may be due to back pressure on the extruder. That indicates you're running at the limit of the extruder's torque, which would also explain slip at higher extrusion speeds. That means either a bigger motor or higher current/driver are needed, or there is something wrong with the driver you're using.by the_digital_dentist - General
Quotegaryhlucas If you claim a positioning accuracy of 0.005" then the deflection had better be much less than that or combined with lots of other factors you can't possibly get that kind of accuracy. Note that deflection in the frame will produce a position error that will be huge for small parts and probably much less for very large parts. Good point. The printer should be matched to the sizby the_digital_dentist - General
What are you measuring exactly? If you tell the firmware to extrude 10mm of filament, that means 10mm on the input side of the extruder. You'll notice that the extruder drools even when it isn't extruding filament- that's because the filament in the hot end expands as it melts and pushes some liquid out the nozzle. If you're measuring the output at the nozzle it will likely include some droolby the_digital_dentist - General
Check the motor current for the extruder. Maybe it's too low ... If you're feeding 10mm/sec into the extruder and the extruder has a 0.4mm nozzle, you're driving the extruder at an equivalent print speed of 190 mm/sec.by the_digital_dentist - General
Does it print the rest of the part?by the_digital_dentist - General
Look at PIR foam. It is sold inexpensively, almost everywhere, as fire retardant building insulation in large sheets that are easily cut to required size with a razor knife. The foam usually has paper/foil on one or both sides that is easily peeled off to prepare it for printing. The foam does not break down chemically at extruder nozzle temperatures (see video here: https://www.youtube.com/waby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
If all you care about is squirting out some plastic and calling it a printer, continue. The errors in the printed parts add with each generation of copy. Each generation of copy degrades the performance of the original design. When the design/construction/calibration is questionable in the first place, how many generations of poor copies will it take to render the thing useless? Maybe that'sby the_digital_dentist - General
Is that the print speed or the filament feed speed? if you change the hot end you definitely need to run the PID autotune before trying to print.by the_digital_dentist - General
The hot end can only melt plastic so fast. If you exceed its capability, the temperature will drop and you'll be trying to push almost solid filament out of the nozzle. What sort of power is the hot end heater rated for?by the_digital_dentist - General
Precision can be a problem, especially if you're trying to print parts to make another printer. Getting beyond the basic precision and accuracy of the positioning mechanisms, how many people bother to actually align the axes of their machines and calibrate their extruders? Using printers to print parts to make other printers is a nice philosophy, but if you think about it, you come to the conclby the_digital_dentist - General
"Almost" as in 3D printing is not a 100% reliable process in general. I spent a couple years working out as many of the machine related reliability problems as I could, but failures still occur. One of the bigger causes of failure is still bed adhesion. Not that ABS won't stick to the bed, but that it is variable and depends on the footprint of the part being printed. If I select the wrong beby the_digital_dentist - General
Why don't you just glue the heater to the underside of the top plate? If you don't want to glue it, then put a piece of glass (or other thermal insulator) on the bottom side- it will reduce heat lost via the bottom side of the plate so will help the top side reach print temperature faster.by the_digital_dentist - Controllers
Starting with CAD, you design an object that you plan to print. You make sure you don't make it too big for the printer, and you orient it so it will have strength, will stick to the bed, etc. All the printer info is in your head unless you're using sketchup which allows you to define the printer build volume and displays its while you do the design work. If you're designing multiple pieces toby the_digital_dentist - General