It is not obvious whether you are talking about an extruder cooling fan or a parts cooling fan. Most extruder cooling fans will run when the printer is powered up. Parts cooling fans are controlled by settings in the slicer. First check that you have cooling enabled and then check the layer at which the cooling cuts in. Most slicers will default to the fan being OFF for at least the first layerby Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
It sounds as though your control board has problems.by Supermec - Printing
digital_dentist I suggested the formulae as starting points, rather than start from nowhere, which is what you advocate. It is not the slicer that decides whether the hole is represented by only 12 segments, but rather the 3D design software that has been used design the model and then to convert that model into an STL file. As I said, they apply to PLA, and I have used them successfully to priby Supermec - Printing
ruggb, it doesn't matter if your object is a threaded hole the formulae will still give good results. Please note that Hedgehog got his interpretation of vertical and horizontal holes the wrong way round. A vertical hole is a hole that looks round in plan (when looking down at it). A horizontal hole looks like a circle in elevation. The formulae are based on a number of factors that are lengthyby Supermec - Printing
acjnewto3d, try thingiverse.by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
In reply to the question, no they don't work for squares and rectangles because one of the factors involved is not present in these shapes. The best thing to do is to design yourself some simple test prints that don't use a lot of filament and have an experiment. The shrinkage factors for PLA and ABS are available on the net and they are different. Have a play, look at the results and then have aby Supermec - Printing
One other thing. You should not change the nozzle size in you slicer. It should stay set to the size you are using. What you need to change in the slicer to help get good extrusion is the diameter of the filament. This is only nominally the specified size. You need to take sample measurements of the actual filament you are using and feed the average value into the slicer. This WILL almost certaiby Supermec - Printing
I am afraid that Hedgehog has mistaken my original post slightly. The formulae are correct against the descriptions of vertical and horizontal holes Vertical holes refers to holes whose circular axis is vertical (parallel to the Z axis like a coin lying on its face). Horizontal holes refers to holes whose circular axis lies in the XY plane (like a coin standing on its edge). Apart from shrinkagby Supermec - Printing
ABS does not like cooling, you should make sure that the print cooling fan is turned off in the slicer and the printer is not situated in a draft. Some people find that they need to put the printer in an enclosure before they can print ABS successfully.by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
No, there isn't a way that you can compensate for that. You need to slacken all the fastenings that hold the frame together, and set the frame up so that the X axis is square to the Y axis. The best way to check that is to measure the two opposite diagonals, which should be of equal length. Then tighten everything up without moving it.by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
You can replace the green part, have a look on the internet. You need to know the spacing of the pins that are soldered into the board. Buy one, or similar, rated at at least 30 amps. Unsolder the old one with a soldering iron and solder then new one in. You asked what I use, it's an Anet A8.by Supermec - Printing
All holes in printed parts end up smaller than their modelled size, just as all pegs will end up larger. The reasons for this have been recently discussed in one of the other posts under printing problems. See those posts for the reasons, and the necessary formulae to use to obtain correct diameters.by Supermec - Printing
Make sure that you have the correct diameter of filament set in your slicer. Some default to a certain value, and unless this is correct you will not get the correct extrusion.by Supermec - Printing
You have been given the magic numbers. These formulae were obtained from a professional 3d printing firm, and are what they use to provide the correct results. If there was a simpler way to arrive at the answer, then I would have given it to you. This is about the simplest formula that you can get, it's not advanced mathematics.by Supermec - Printing
When bare stranded wire is twisted and secured under a connector screw this is OK, provided that the current carried by the wire is only a couple of amps and is reasonably constant. 3D printers mainly have a single pair of wires connecting the power supply to the control board. On 12V printers the extruder heater and bed heater, when heated together, draw around 16 amps from the PSU. To this musby Supermec - Printing
Unless the printer powers up fully it will not be detected. If there is nothing on the LCD it sounds as though the processor has not booted correctly. Make sure all you power connections between the PSU and the board are connected to the correct connections and tightened fully.by Supermec - Printing
Try checking the heater cartridge resistance with a meter. For a 12V 40W cartridge the resistance should read 3.6 Ohms. If it is lower than this then it will draw too much current, which would account for the wire heating. The other thing that can cause heating problems is arcing in plain screw connections. Fit some crimp-on connectors to the power wires and then make sure the connection screwsby Supermec - Printing
Did you get the right voltage hot end. I know of one or two people recently who have ordered 12V 40W heater cartridges only to be sent 24V ones. If you run these at 12V then they will only put out 10W. A 12V 40W cartridge has a resistance of 3.6 Ohms whereas a 24V one measures around 14 Ohms. Also have a look at your extruder PID heating control settings.by Supermec - Printing
If you want to print several prints of the same item then it is best to set your slicer to print all at once. It will then print one layer of each item before moving on to the next layer. If you want to have the printer print one item at a time, when there are several items on the bed, then in your slicer you must tell the slicer the dimensions of your extruder (as far as the parts that are loweby Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
Most printers are set up with a resistor from +5V in series with the thermistor and an electrolytic capacitor, in parallel with the thermistor only, down to 0V. The processor monitors the voltage at the junction between the three components. The only thing common to both thermistors is the 5V supply.by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
Firstly 240C is far to hot for PLA. You should be able to print PLA at an extruder temperature of between 190 and 210C, (unless what you have is ABS or PLA+ and not straight PLA). The reason the extruder motor is missing steps is not the current, which you need to turn back down again straight away, but probably because there is an obstruction in the throat tube or damage to the PTFE liner. If thby Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
Gumbo, for your size problem in repetier host. There is a setting for units of imported objects under config. Make sure that you have the correct units selected to match the STL file or it will change the size.by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
Luc358, sorry don't know for sure. You can try it. Try with some smaller simpler models so that you don't waste a lot of filament.by Supermec - Printing
Very thin shells are difficult to print because of the small overlaps between layers where the dimensions change rapidly between two successive layers. This tends to give results that look similar to under extrusion. Where the shape curves inwards this is made even more difficult because cooling contraction (which is rapid for thin shells) tends to pull the filament away from the previous layer.by Supermec - Printing
Quotebkohn1 My nozzle is .4mm. I printed a hollow square with .4mm walls and my printed walls are .77mm. Pretty sure that's my problem. Does anyone know how to set extrusion width in Simplify3D? It seems to depend on how you chose to model and print the square. If you chose to model it solid and tell the slicer a wall thickness and 0% infill, the resulting wall thickness is generally pretty gooby Supermec - Printing
QuoteMCcarman Be careful with what you are adjusting. A 0.4nozle extruding at 0.77 shows way over extrusion. You don't directly fix that with extrusion width. Those familiar with the software need to step in here because I am still confused by the extrusion width. Check the filament size, extruder calibration and any extrusion multiplier settings first. It depends how you chose to model and prinby Supermec - Printing
QuoteInhumierer QuoteSupermec 1. It depends on the slicer and firmware as to whether the printer can produce a perfect circle, or whether there is an approximation by a series of short straight lines. Most free slicers and most low cost printers will use an approximation. For minimum error part of the straight line will fall outside the true curve and part inside. Thus the inside diameter will beby Supermec - Printing
The shrinkage makes sense, but I have a friend with the same printer and the same brand of filament, and his come out perfect with no compensation for shrinkage. This confuses me. I just printed a test piece that is a 20mm circle with a 10mm peg sticking off and a corresponding piece that has a 10mm hole for the peg to fit in. The 20mm dimension printed at 20.18mm and the peg printed at 10.16mm.by Supermec - Printing
If LED D1 just below the processor chip does not flash once on power up, then the processor is not booting. The board is not fitted with fuses. The 7805 Voltage regulator chip is situated just above and between the Power and Extruder Heater connections on the board. Measure the voltage between the case tab (at the bottom of the regulator) and the leftmost of the two connections at the top of it (by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants
CutterNorth, please don't post the same/similar questions across several subjects. As I said in response to your post on printing problems, what printer are you using? The advice or answer to your question depends on this information if you want an accurate reply.by Supermec - Prusa i3 and variants