Try cleaning any plastic from in between the teeth of the hobbed bolt on your extruder (or whatever you have gripping the filament to push it down through the extruder). Maybe you tried this, but it's the kind of thing that can slowly get worse over time. Like you said, if you've been printing fine for over a year, then it's probably not a matter of changing settings. Unfortunately, changing setby Wissing - Printing
I have been printing with PETG for some time now. After much trial and error, here's what I do: Glass Plate Heated Bed Temperature = 77C Nozzle Temperature = 230C Nozzle size: .4mm Layer height: .2mm First layer height: .3mm Use a thin layer of temperature-sensitive paste. I have great results with this stuff: Wolf Bite. It's forgiving, so you may not need my exact settings above. (It gets stickby Wissing - Printing
I was seeing this quite a bit, but I think I fixed it. I kept re-tuning my PID settings using the M303 autotune feature - but specifying a realistic temperature may be important. For instance, if you tune the PID settings at the default 150C, you may get a different result than if you tune it at 230C. (I do this with "M303 S230", then I put the resulting kp, ki, kd values into my firmware and relby Wissing - Printing
3 words: Disposable Cardboard Buildplates Okay a few more words: use the heavy duty kind. Thin cardboard will warp right along with the part.by Wissing - Fisher
I got a 20x20 box fan and duct taped to it a 20x20x1, .3-micron HEPA filter (the kind you put in your house) from Ace Hardware. Then I plugged all the openings in the printer with clear plastic, stuck the fan behind the printer, and sealed off the space with more clear plastic. It's not perfect, but it eliminates the smell - such that I don't notice it. Maybe a few nanoparticles are getting throuby Wissing - Safety & Best Practices
ha! well, I moved on. I ended up going back to the regular old thermistor. The extra range of temperature readings just isn't worth it. In fact, I really doubt that higher temperatures are the future of 3d printing. I'm betting it goes the other way - lower temperatures, with resins like Stratasys uses.by Wissing - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I've struggled with jams a lot. For PLA, I finally got it working using a J-head Mk V-BV. I run it no higher than 165C, with the fan always on. I'm also very careful not to get the nozzle too close to the bed. In my opinion, temperature is the biggest factor. If you cook the plastic too hot, I think it burns, and leaves residue inside the nozzle. If that happens even once, you'll have problems fby Wissing - Printing
I think this is inherent in the way the plastic is deposited. I had it explained to me like this: think about runners on a race track. The runners on the inside of the circle have less distance to travel, the runners on the outside have more distance to travel, to arrive at the same point in the circle. For plastic coming out of a nozzle, moving in an arc, it's similar. The plastic on the insideby Wissing - Printing
I'll cast my vote for the brim technique.by Wissing - Printing
As of yesterday, I am a huge supporter of the brim technique. I just made a print that has only a 10mm circular contact point with the bed, and used a 15-loop brim for the first 2 layers, and it worked out great. Now, I'm using Nylon instead of ABS right now. I would think it would be similar, though. Another thing - my bed temp is only 40C. If I can get away with such a low bed temp, just by usiby Wissing - Printing
This just in... I got my stainless steel hot end working. Managed to print a puzzle piece in nylon 618 at about 235C. I had a hard time getting the printer to get up to the recommended 245C because of power limitations (the heater isn't well enough insulated), but it turned out great nonetheless. Lessons learned: 1. If the extruder won't extrude, it's probably not as hot as it thinks it is. Therby Wissing - Developers
Question: Has anyone else had problems with the stepper motors (particularly the Extruder) sending residual signals to other pins on the board? Synopsis: I'm trying to hook up the AD595 kit board with thermocouple. It takes a 5v, an analog signal, and a ground. I have tried using the signal on pins A3 and A5, (see the attached schematic for the locations I'm referring to). I have used a multi-meby Wissing - RAMPS Electronics
I'm getting a similar issue with the AD595 board using a thermocouple. Whenever I hit the extruder, temp jumps up about 50C (from 250 to 300). But when I extrude by hand by physically turning the gear, it works fine. Right now I've got the AD595 kit board from Makerbot hooked up to AUX-1 pins of RAMPS 1.4 (5v, ground, and Analog 3 on the Arduino Mega). Is there a way to do this without having toby Wissing - Controllers
What would it take to modify Marlin and RAMPS 1.4 to run (2) 24V motors with G-code? I want to essentially build a 2-axis CNC. One axis will be a rotary stepper motor that pushes a piece of thin sheet metal horizontally. The other axis will be a linear motor that has a grinding wheel attached to it, that moves in and out to carve a pattern into the sheet metal as it moves along. Imagine takingby Wissing - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
Ok that's good. I was thinking about switching to a cartridge, but those things are so bulky, it makes your hot zone really long. I do prefer the nichrome wire, but the problem (which may or may not really be a problem) is that the insulation turns to ash the first time you turn it on. Oddly, it still doesn't short... hey, if it works, it works, but it just seems a little... iffy. Hey, by the waby Wissing - Mechanics
I thought about this some more. Originally, I had planned on using Nichrome wire between the last 2 fins (closest to the bottom), then surrounding the wire with hollow Silica Wick insulation, with a thick wire embedded in the Silica Wick to allow me to pinch it closed so it doesn't come loose. Right now, I'm basically doing that with the SS hotend, using the ridiculously thick-gauge thermocoupleby Wissing - Mechanics
No, I appreciate the input. Saves me from costly mistakes, and from re-inventing the wheel. 1. I will add chamfers. 2. When you say 3D paths, are you referring to something like Slic3r's 'spiral vase'? I don't have much experience with this. I am ok sticking with the normal 2D layers at this stage, with the current scope. 3. This sounds a lot like an article I read. So let me make sure I understby Wissing - Mechanics
I've attached the IGES file, as well as the FreeMat code (should be runnable in Matlab too) I used. You may or may not be able to decipher my code, but you can at least see the temperature distribution I got out of it, in a text file in that zip folder.by Wissing - Mechanics
This AD595 with the thermocouple is working great... until I try to run the E0 motor. I can read accurate temperatures when extruding by hand, but not with the motor. I think it must be in Marlin somewhere... if it were electronic connections, I wouldn't think I'd get good readings at all. Any ideas?by Wissing - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I've got my analysis on my work computer. I'll post it when I get a chance. The 2engineers design looks awfully big. Mine will have a 1mm thick tube wall, with 1mm-thick fins. I'm basing this off a convection coefficient of about 5 W/m2-K. I think the wall thickness is key. It's easy for heat to penetrate sideways, but difficult for it to penetrate upwards. The reason I'm optimistic about it isby Wissing - Mechanics
I have a similar question... and a partial answer. I am using an AD595 (instead of Max 6675) with RAMPS 1.4. I connected it according to the following link: The difference will be that you have to search through firmware for the words "MAX6675". There should be comments telling you what to do. For instance, in Configuration.h, you will have to change Temp_Sensor_0 to a value of "-2". You'll alby Wissing - RAMPS Electronics
I'll be starting a new project soon, and would like some info if anyone has any. I made a simple thermal FEA in FreeMat to optimize the heat transfer in a hotend, and I predict that Mica material (specifically Macor) has the best characteristics. It's easy to machine, has a thermal conductivity of about 1.4 W/m-K, and can be heated up to about 800C. Objectives: 1. Higher range of temperatures thby Wissing - Mechanics
Has anyone tried boring out the center of the shaft of a NEMA 17 stepper motor? I was thinking of trying this to make a simpler extruder, to cut down on the size of the X-carriage platform on my prusa-mendel machine. I realize the firmware would change - that's ok. The question is - if I start boring a 1.75mm or 3mm hole into the shaft, am I going to run into any magnets or electronics on the inby Wissing - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I ended up ordering the kit from Makerbot... I don't have time to get it wrongby Wissing - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Does anyone know what sort of chip I need to translate the millivolt signal from a thermocouple like the one found at Ultimachine, to the RAMPS board?by Wissing - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Why spin the hot end you ask? I have no idea. Just some crazy idea I was entertaining. Maybe it would give a nice finish? Maybe it would be more consistent? The creeping temperature doesn't seem to be that bad. I'm not just using straight wire either, I'm actually using the wires from one of those 3mm cartridge heaters. By the way - have you tried getting a thermocouple to work? I hear it needsby Wissing - Developers
Yep, that's the one. You can't wrap the wire directly onto the stainless because it will short; the electricity will go straight through the steel. You have to keep the wire isolated from its surroundings. It's kind of hard to get the wire inside the silica wick, but I found a trick to it: Take regular 20 gage wire, cut it to the length you want (4.5 to 5 inches gets about 5 ohms) Pull the reguby Wissing - Developers
Kanthal: B00C8H5ZFI Silica: B00DX7JP3A make sure, when you heat up the silica for the first time, it's in a well-ventilated area; while the silica itself is good up to 1000C, there may be residue from factory operations that will burn off; these could be potentially harmful. Drawing is attached.by Wissing - Developers
Anybody need a project? I'm sure this has been done, but I just successfully temp-tested my very own all-metal, high-temp hotend. One stipulation: My thermometer only goes up to 250C; but the reading was off the chart... I'm betting it gets around 300C without the fan on. I got bare Kanthal resistance wire (approximately 5 ohms, giving about 30 Watts) off Amazon. Used hollow braided Silica Wicby Wissing - Developers
When you say retraction, are you referring to 'retracting filament', or do you mean 'retracting' back to a set point after, say, an x-axis motor overshoots its mark? I guess the hard part is going to be balancing power and RPM. What about a 10-RPM motor? Finally, a context for the second meaning of 'quadrature'. So yeah, that shouldn't be too hard. I think I may try it with gearmotors and use aby Wissing - Mechanics