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<p>I have been wanting to learn about 3D printing a long time so I really want this site to succeed but I have no previous experience with the subject. </p>
<p>I was wondering how can I help the site at this early stage. I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
<p>What can newbies like me do for the site at this stage besides voting questions and answers?</p>
|
<h1>Vote!</h1>
<p>Private Betas love, love, <em>love</em> votes. Without votes, it's difficult to attain privileges, get rewards, and help push us out to public beta.</p>
<h1>Ask Questions!</h1>
<p>I know you said this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But here's the catch. "Easy" isn't defined. If you have an "easy" question, but it is specific, high-quality, and to the point, and you can show some effort in it, then, please, go ahead and ask it!</p>
<h1>Participate!</h1>
<p>You have a voice in our meta discussions as well. You also have the authority to suggest edits, to posts, tag wikis, and tag excerpts. They also get you +2 rep for each that is approved, which can help bring you more afloat. You can also give your opinion in scope, by casting close and reopen votes as well :)</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I suggest browsing the regex tagged questions on this site and experiment with your own answers without peaking at the current ones. You don't need to post your answers, but I bet that sometimes you'll come up with answers that are worth publishing.</p>
<p>Three good things with this approach:</p>
<ol>
<li>You'll be working with real-world
problems.</li>
<li>You might learn stuff
about other programming languages as
you go. ('Tis always good to learn
new languages).</li>
<li>You probably will be
helping the world find good answers
to real world regex questions.</li>
</ol>
|
<h2>First; find a model!</h2>
<p>To print something you require a <strong>model</strong> (usually this is in STL format, look into websites called <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a> and <a href="https://www.myminifactory.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MyMiniFactory</a> for examples). Once you have a model file, you need to make it readable for the printer firmware.</p>
<p>If you can't find suitable model, then you need to design a model yourself (or ask someone to do it for you) or adjust an existing model to suit your needs. "<a href="/q/740/">Good (preferably free) Beginner Software for Part Creation?</a>" is a good place to start.</p>
<h2>Second; use slicer software</h2>
<p>For a printer to be able to print the model, the model needs to be sliced into layers. These layers need to be printed at specific speeds, temperatures, etc. Search online and look at the filament packaging (usually the ideal temperatures are on the packaging) to find the ideal temperature for your filament. If you are not using the right temperatures, your print will most likely fail. Programs that are able to slice models are called <strong>slicers</strong>. The most popular free (and Windows compatible) slicers are <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Cura</a> and <a href="https://slic3r.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a> (or its <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/slic3r-prusa-edition/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa distribution</a>).</p>
<p>The slicer produces a printer readable file called a G-code file (file filled with printer instructions for e.g. movement and heating). This G-code file can be sent to the printer using specific printer software (e.g. OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, etc.) but more common or simple is to put the G-code file on an SD card and print the file using the print menu on the printer LCD.</p>
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<p>Experience. Solving something completely new is hard. The best way to solve problems is to try and find a problem that you've solved before, and that is similar, and adapt you solution to the new problem. So until you have experience with many different kinds of problems, it's hard to solve new problems that you come across. Visiting sites like this and reading questions and theirs answers are a great way of learning how others solved problems that they encountered.</p>
|
<p>What about a wiki - at least then other people can start to contribute.<br>
Otherwise they are just going to rely on you for the manuals</p>
|
<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
|
<p>If its a personal project then take this as an opportunity to learn something new.</p>
|
<p>Help -> Welcome</p>
<p>That thing?</p>
|
<p>Stack exchange isn't a good platform for product recommendations in general, but a few sites allow it with a tight focus and control. Some that have allowed it in the past have decided to discontinue it for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>I expect at the start we are going to get a lot of "What specific machine should I use" or "is there a 3D model of item X I can print".</p>
<ol>
<li>Should we allow product or part recommendations?</li>
<li>If we do, what can we do to make sure they are limited, rather than open ended questions where dozens or hundreds of answers would be different but correct?</li>
</ol>
|
<p>I agree with Jeff's blog post: <a href="https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/">https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>don't ask us what you should buy -- ask us <em>what you need to learn</em> to tell what you should buy.</p>
</blockquote>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I would like to nominate myself, <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark">Matt Clark</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark"><img src="http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/526476.png" width="208" height="58" alt="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" title="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" /></a></p>
<p>While I might not have the wildest credentials or reputation, I have been around the StackExchange network for a while (11/2012) and generally know my way around the sites.</p>
<p>Mostly active on StackOverflow, I answer when I can, and try and do my part to clean up the review queue: ~5000 review tasks; I plan on giving this site as much attention as I can.</p>
<p>I started <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">this 3D Printing proposal</a> just under a year ago on Area 51, and am either way, glad to see the day we made it to beta.</p>
|
<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
|
<p>Typically, it's a better idea to wait before you try to get this kind of thing integrated.</p>
<p>Enthusiasm is great in a private beta, but for the early stages, direct that enthusiasm towards the Q&A. That's what'll get this site on its feet and into a successful public beta.</p>
<p>When the site's more stable and running nicely, then if there's a need (or want) for a plugin like this then the discussion about it can be had.</p>
<p>(On a tangent - if such a plugin is going to happen, it may well be down to SE's developers to get it done, which might make getting assistance from the people on this site difficult.)</p>
|
<p><strong>I say allow them.</strong> </p>
<p>To let you know what's out there, I work at <a href="http://hyrel3d.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hyrel</a>. </p>
<p>Our printers can take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lvN-aPYHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">spindle (milling) heads and additional axes</a>, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceUiuTixPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">diode</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/FnYDoNkgOrI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO2 lasers</a>, and they all operate on the same gcode - we tell people E is for Emit as well as Extrude. We even have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFY-IqDB_0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TIG welding</a> attachment. </p>
<p>We also run our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGeQmXNbNE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fadal CNC machines</a> on our printer software and firmware. </p>
<p>To many people this is a natural progression for a well-built 3D positioning system, and I encourage a broader definition.</p>
|
<h2>Yes, we should have a <em>three</em> vote close question review queue</h2>
|
<p>Things like Uservoice are great for generic suggestions and even finding bugs but they rarely answer your specific questions/concerns because that's not what they're there to do.</p>
<p>I also don't think they're that good at keeping a community together. Seriously. Pushing your users to another site where they have limited interest isn't in my handbook for cultivating communities. </p>
<p>You want:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>... to keep users on <em>your</em> site. Pop-in JS things are <em>okay</em> if branded well. But they might still have to log in and then there's the problem of...</p></li>
<li><p>... to keep them involved in problems they raise. If somebody raises feedback, raise some back at them. Trap them in the process. Ask them more questions about what they feel is right or why they feel something was wrong in the first place.</p></li>
<li><p>... to make giving feedback desirable. One of the reasons SO works so well is its points system. Points mean prizes (or status and power, here) and that's a great way to make people want to keep going at it. Some users will just care and incentives just sweeten the deal but most users won't really care enough without the prospect of benefiting from it some how.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Just to skip back to the point that external services are too generic for directed feedback. As a developer, you sometimes need to ask specific questions to know when something needs changing and this feedback usually needs to be asked at very specific points, usually after a task.</p>
<p>Stick feedback questions <em>on your site</em> at the end of tasks. Eg if a user posts a new something-or-other, at the end of the process, stick an unmissable box in there, asking them how it was for them. You can ask relevant questions and you'll catch more problems because people have just done the task (opposed to them noticing your feedback tab 10 minutes later when they've forgotten half of it).</p>
|
<p>Here are few things to consider from my point of view</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing technology</strong></p>
<p>The first thing that you need to take into account is printing technology. The most common[citation needed] right now is Fused Filament Fabrication. "Liquid light-sensitive resin" is being used in Stereolitography and Digital Light Processing - the SLA printers I found are less common and more expensive than FFF ones.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Price</strong></p>
<p>Need to decide on budget. You can buy printer for 60k USD and 400 USD. Quality is somehow linked to price but that's not a rule. You can buy a shitty printer for a lot of money.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing area</strong></p>
<p>Bigger allows you to print bigger things. You need to ask yourself how big things you really want to print. Remember that 3d printing is quite slow process - how often you will want to print big things that will take 60hrs+ to finish?</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing materials</strong></p>
<p>What kind of materials you want to print with? Some materials will need higher temperatures so check the max hot-end temperature, some will require heated bed.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Assembled or DIY kit</strong></p>
<p>You can usually get kits for self-assembly cheaper than Ready-To-Print machines. However, it will require additional skills (i.e. soldering), tools and time to assemble. I am not sure if I would buy DIY kit for commercial use, but as an enthusiast I immensely enjoyed putting my Rostock Max together.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Reviews and reputation</strong></p>
<p>It is generally safe to buy printer that already has some users. Beware of new magical Kickstarter printers which will "change the 3d printing forever".
Reddit /r/3dprinting suggests that your new printer should meet 3 criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>Printer passes the youtube test - has lots of youtube evidence that this particular printer is working.</li>
<li>Printer is out of the pre-order phase. This means that all pre-orders have been delivered.</li>
<li>Printer has a reputation of working well among current users.</li>
</ul>
<p>I found it to be a very good set of rules.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Upgrade capabilities</strong></p>
<p>That's very user-dependent, but this point is very important to me. I want to be able to change and improve certain parts of my printer. Check if you can switch the extruder, replace the hot-end etc. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Support</strong></p>
<p>I think one of the most important points. See if you can find a forum for your printer and how active community is. It will be immensely helpful if something goes wrong (and it will).
Also, company support is very important. What will happen if you need a replacement part or your printer will stop working altogether?</p>
<hr>
<p>This list is definitely not complete.
There are many more things that might be taken into account like configuration (delta or XY), multiple extruders, closed cases etc.</p>
|
<p>Given our successful private beta, soon after we go public it will be time for us to get our first crop of moderators, as explained in the <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/moderator-pro-tempore/">“Moderator Pro Tempore” blog post</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>About a week into the public beta, we will seek out members who are deeply engaged in the community’s development; members who:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have a reasonably high reputation score to indicate active, consistent participation.</li>
<li>Show an interest in their meta’s community-building activities.</li>
<li>Lead by example, showing patience and respect for their fellow community members in everything they write.</li>
<li>Exhibit those intangible traits discussed in <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/05/a-theory-of-moderation/"><em>A Theory of Moderation</em></a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Bonus points for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Members with participation in both meta and the parent site (i.e. interest in both community building and expertise in the field).</li>
<li>Area 51 participation, social network referrals, or blogging about the site.</li>
<li>Members who have already shown an interest or ability to promote their community.</li>
</ul>
<p>Candidates will be contacted and three of them will be selected to act as provisional Moderators until the community holds formal elections after the Beta period. Besides the normal abilities of a Moderator, they will:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have access to a special chat room where we will collectively work through the challenges of moderation and community self-policing.</li>
<li>Organize the process of selecting the site's attributes (domain names, design issues, the FAQ, etc.).</li>
<li>Rally community support and drive the mission of getting publicity for the site.</li>
</ul>
<p>Essentially, <strong>they will have the ear of the Stack Exchange team for anything we can do to help their sites succeed!</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although the moderators pro tempore will ultimately be selected by Stack Exchange, the purpose of this post is to seek out and propose candidates:</p>
<ul>
<li>Each nomination should be posted as an answer and it should include (at minimum) a link to the user's main and meta profile so we can check out their activity.</li>
<li>Self nominations are encouraged, step up if you feel you can help.</li>
<li>If you are nominated by someone else you should edit the answer and let us know if you accept or decline (explanation optional). If a nominee declines we will not delete the answer, as to not have someone else nominate them again.</li>
<li>If you are nominating someone else, please mark the post as Community Wiki before saving. Meta doesn't allow suggested edits, so your nominee may be blocked from accepting the nomination.</li>
<li>The nominations are not binding to Stack Exchange or the nominees. If you are being considered by Stack Exchange, you will get an official confirmation email at one point. </li>
<li>Before nominating someone or accept / decline a nomination, you should read <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/05/a-theory-of-moderation/"><em>A Theory of Moderation</em></a> thoroughly to find out what's generally expected from moderators.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you would like to learn more about the role, please drop into <a href="http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/34216/3d-printing">chat room</a> where you can ask about the role from other moderators (they appear with a blue name in the chat room). Another chatroom called <a href="http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/2691/the-assembly">The Assembly</a> was created specifically for users and moderators to discuss moderation activities, moderators from all over the network are there to answer your questions.</p>
<p>Once again, <strong>please don't hesitate to step up and self-nominate!</strong>. </p>
<p><sub>Thanks to <a href="https://chemistry.meta.stackexchange.com/users/30/fx">F'x</a> for the original version of this post <a href="https://chemistry.meta.stackexchange.com/q/113/17315">over on chemistry</a>.</sub></p>
|
<p>I would like to nominate myself, <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark">Matt Clark</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark"><img src="http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/526476.png" width="208" height="58" alt="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" title="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" /></a></p>
<p>While I might not have the wildest credentials or reputation, I have been around the StackExchange network for a while (11/2012) and generally know my way around the sites.</p>
<p>Mostly active on StackOverflow, I answer when I can, and try and do my part to clean up the review queue: ~5000 review tasks; I plan on giving this site as much attention as I can.</p>
<p>I started <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">this 3D Printing proposal</a> just under a year ago on Area 51, and am either way, glad to see the day we made it to beta.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Here are some consequences of your design. These may or may not be what you intended, but I point them out so that you're aware of them.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>A very Mojo-ful user who has been mostly quiet is not going to care at all about stepping on some toes, because they have a huge bank of Mojo from which to draw. This seems to go against your goal of limiting negative behavior.</p></li>
<li><p>Likewise, users who contribute absolutely nothing to your site still get Mojo just by virtue of having an account. But an otherwise valuable contributor who makes one off-color post that's disliked by the community will be silenced until he has enough Mojo to post again.</p></li>
<li><p>If someone has something very valuable to contribute, he has to make sure to have "reserve Mojo" at all times -- that is, he must ensure that he isn't at his posting limit. If he doesn't, he might lose the opportunity to say something useful that would earn him more Mojo.</p></li>
<li><p>The rate at which people can accrue Mojo is limited by the size of the community. If there are few people who are handing out Mojo, pretty soon they won't be able to hand out Mojo anymore, since there won't be anyone left who hasn't already received Mojo from them.</p></li>
<li><p>The oldest users will effectively become an invincible cabal whose ideas may define and shape your site. Since you can only reduce someone else's Mojo if they have fewer Mojo than you, these users can make statements your community vehemently disagrees with and have their Mojo ratings remain intact.</p></li>
<li><p>In general, by restricting the supply of Mojo, you have created an economic system in which people will probably be more hesitant to contribute to a discussion. They will need to more carefully weigh what they say, since a post that is disliked by the community may prevent them from speaking further if they get too much negative Mojo.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Playing the system</h3>
<blockquote>
<p>Either show me how to play the system, or explain why you think it's impossible to play it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Suppose we define "playing the system" as "artificially changing the value or quantity of one's Mojo in ways you didn't intend". I would say your system is safe from artificial <em>inflation</em> of Mojo, but at the cost of stifling discussion that would have otherwise taken place. You must be able to make the following guarantees:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Flow condition.</em> Mojo only "flows down"; it is not possible for a lower-ranked user to transfer Mojo to a higher-ranked user.</li>
<li><em>Creation condition.</em> It is difficult for users to take actions which can generate their own Mojo. Also, it is either impossible to make new accounts, or they carry such a heavy penalty that no one will want to do it.</li>
</ul>
<p>For example, if you cannot satisfy the creation condition, then malicious early users will simply make an army of new accounts. They keep a number of these new accounts in reserve, quietly accruing Mojo. They then use them as a "bury brigade" to drain Mojo of factions or ideas they disagree with. Although they will lose Mojo when they do so, the collective Mojo of the bury brigade will be constant as long as they don't go hitman on more than a single hated foe per day.</p>
<p>This is clearly not what you intended.</p>
<h3>Artificial deflation</h3>
<p>However, your system is not safe from artificial <em>deflation</em> of Mojo. To see why, imagine that users stream into your site to accept their invitations. Imagine a user, Mallory, with <em>k</em> Mojo points. Because Mojo can only flow down, there is no way for a user with <em>k</em> or fewer Mojo points can express their disagreement with Mallory. Only users with <em>k+1</em> or more Mojo can do so.</p>
<p>Mallory's reign of terror will continue unchecked unless there are enough users with <em>k+1</em> or higher Mojo. In fact, if Mallory is an early enough user, there may not be any users who have the power to reduce her Mojo. Indeed, because you've artificially made Mojo scarce, they may not <em>want</em> to burn a Mojo to express their opinion, given how precious each Mojo point is -- since that also weakens them and makes <em>their</em> opinions more vulnerable to attack.</p>
<p>In short, if there are enough (or maybe even just a few) Mallorys, you will be reduced to playing traffic cop and cleaning up after Mallorys instead of improving your site. The system can no longer be self-policing. Each Mojo point has now become worth much more than before, because people will see from the example of Mallory and her ilk that it is better not to burn a Mojo to open oneself to attack. Thus, Mojo deflation.</p>
<p>This is also clearly not what you intended.</p>
|
<p><strong>Yes!</strong></p>
<p>Absolutely. We need to reward good answers, and raise rep levels so suers can get moderation privileges when they rise to the normal public beta levels.</p>
<p>However, I think we should also downvote poor questions and answers. I haven't yet done so, partly because I've focused on rewarding the good posts. But downvoting is important, too.</p>
<p>What happened to me yesterday:</p>
<ol>
<li>I posted an answer (my first) to a question.</li>
<li>It was downvoted.</li>
<li>A user who may/may not have been the downvoter pointed out something I was wrong about.</li>
<li>There was a discussion in comments.</li>
<li>I deleted my answer.</li>
<li>I edited it.</li>
<li>There was continued dialogue with the user and another. I improved my answer even further.</li>
<li>Downvote was removed.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm grateful to the downvoter, and to the comments. We need to establish what posts are good and bad in the site, and my original answer was not good. It was wrong in several points - and since the question was about <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/safety" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'safety'" rel="tag">safety</a>, it was even more important for it to be correct. The feedback helped me to fix my answer, but if I had not done so, the downvote would have ensured that better answers went to the top.</p>
<p>We should definitely upvote. But downvoting is good, too. Downvoters don't have to comment - that's never the case - but comments certainly help. They helped me.</p>
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<p>See <a href="http://ask.metafilter.com/52003/Good-community-forum-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://ask.metafilter.com/52003/Good-community-forum-software</a></p>
<p>Options </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://getvanilla.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lussumo's Vanilla</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.simplemachines.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Simple Machines</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bbpress.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BBPress</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Attractive is subjective, so you'll need to look around. </p>
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<p>The most important lesson with regard to the design of any social computing is that community dynamics problems cannot be solved purely by technological means.</p>
<p>In other words, whatever the solution you implement, if you have users to whom getting points (or trolling or getting involved in flame wars or whatever other disruption) is more important that participating in the community, that is what they will do. </p>
<p>When designing the solution, you "simply" have to make sure that there are sufficient benefits (badges, entertainment, information, rewarding feedback) in place for people who aren't in it just for the points. Then, if you are very lucky, you will attract the right kind of people.</p>
<p>This may seem trite, but it is one of the most importat results of CSCW research (Olson and Olson, 2000): unless users are prepared to collaborate/play fair/be productive, then no amount of technology is going to solve that problem.</p>
|
<p>The creators of the site wrote about <a href="https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/12/vote-fraud-and-you/">Vote Fraud and You</a>.</p>
|
<p>That sounds suspiciously like my Stack Overflow reputation score.</p>
|
<p>How about a site equivalent to Rent-a-Coder but for non-profits to solicit volunteer or low-cost developers for public service projects (i.e. make your question easy for the next guy in an equivalent situation). Given the current economic troubles, there are likely to be both a lot of unemployed developers and a lot of troubled non-profits (and a lot of demand for the various kinds of help those non-profits provide). Let's put them together.</p>
<p>Add a point system like StackOverflow so you can earn points by helping out non-profits with their web applications or whatever. Then go get some corporate sponsorship so that you can turn your points into credits at Amazon.com or some such. </p>
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<p>Is it realistic or thought neccesary to develop a plugin/feature for this site, to automatically add a small info-box about a thingiverse link? An example of this is Apple's 3D touch technology. In theory, the plugin could recogize thingiverse links in questions and answers, replace the link with an image and the author/name of the project.</p>
<p>I'm also volunteering myself to help with this if there's interest. (Experience with Thingiverse API)</p>
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<p>Typically, it's a better idea to wait before you try to get this kind of thing integrated.</p>
<p>Enthusiasm is great in a private beta, but for the early stages, direct that enthusiasm towards the Q&A. That's what'll get this site on its feet and into a successful public beta.</p>
<p>When the site's more stable and running nicely, then if there's a need (or want) for a plugin like this then the discussion about it can be had.</p>
<p>(On a tangent - if such a plugin is going to happen, it may well be down to SE's developers to get it done, which might make getting assistance from the people on this site difficult.)</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I think the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/adhesion" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'adhesion'" rel="tag">adhesion</a> tag should be used instead.</p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
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<p>I have been looking for something similar. The best I have come up with is <a href="http://opengrok.github.io/OpenGrok/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="OpenGrok">OpenGrok</a>. I have not tried to implement it yet, but sounds promising.</p>
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<p>You can build an Interface Builder plug-in for this. It's fairly straight-forward. To get started, read the <a href="http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/IBPlugInGuide/Introduction/chapter_1_section_1.html" rel="noreferrer">Interface Builder Plug-In Programming Guide</a>. It even has a quick, step-by-step tutorial to get you started. Apple recommends creating a plug-in to IB for just your case...</p>
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<p>I am the developer of something you might be looking for. It is still under heavy development and does not have all features you are looking for, but I am working hard on it and I am always open for feature and enhancement requests.</p>
<p>The plugin is called <a href="http://vrapper.sourceforge.net" rel="noreferrer">Vrapper</a>.
It is FOSS and follows the principles you describe, although I don't think it is much more powerful than the ViPlugin at the moment. But as I said, I am constantly working on it and try to respond fast to feature requests. :-)</p>
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<p>No. This is not available in the SDK. If it's something you think would be useful, I suggest you <a href="http://bugreporter.apple.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">file an enhancement request</a>.</p>
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<p>Note that the tag editor <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/100669/feedback-wanted-improved-tag-editor">has been completely re-written now</a>, and no longer resembles the original, simple text box w/ suggestion drop-down that adorned the site for nearly three years. </p>
<p>If you're interested in the new form, see this Meta question: <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/102510/can-i-use-the-tag-textbox-script">https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/102510/can-i-use-the-tag-textbox-script</a></p>
<p><a href="http://docs.jquery.com/UI/Autocomplete" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Autocomplete</a> is the plugin used originally, albeit with various tweaks and customizations made to it over the years.</p>
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<p>It is very easy to ask questions that only tangentially involve 3D printing, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How do I drill a hole in a 3D printed part?</p></li>
<li><p>How do I paint 3D printed parts?</p></li>
<li><p>How do I sand, smooth, etc...?</p></li>
<li><p>How do I take a picture with a 3D printed camera?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>My last example is clearly not on topic, and the other examples aren't </p>
<blockquote>
<p>difficult, specific questions — the kind of questions pros and experts ask each other, not the kind of questions novices ask pros.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, the point is that it's very easy to involve 3D printing in a question that isn't about 3D printing. Drilling a hole in a 3D printed part is, for the most part, just like drilling one in wood. Such questions may be more suited for a general DIY/makers-type site.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there do exist 3D printing specific issues (for instance, low infill or delamination can be a problem when drilling in a (FDM) 3D printed part).</p>
<p>At what point does a question involving 3D printing become on-topic for our site? Should questions identify a specific issue ("I've tried drilling a hole, now my part has delaminated, what now?")?. Queries for general advice and best practice don't seem to fit the bill of being difficult and specific.</p>
|
<p>The dividing line of "tangentially off topic" is typically when the <em>actual</em> subject of the question being asked is only <strong><em>coincidentally</em></strong> adjacent to 3D printing. </p>
<p>Here is a <em>clear</em> example illustrating the "tangential issue:"</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I printed a crane mechanism in 3D. How much voltage must I apply to the motor to lift 150 grams?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I see this type of thing all the time. Users will go to the mat arguing that they are printing in 3D, so their question is on topic. It is not. The actual <em>expertise</em> needed to answer this question is in electronics. With a question like this, the premise that the user <em>happens</em> to be printing in 3D is entirely coincidental to the actual issue. </p>
<p>The examples you cited above are a bit more iffy. I might argue some of them could (potentially) be on topic… if the issue of the material being printed in 3D is somehow germane to the problem. I actually don't know enough about the subject to say, so I'm only considering the possibility that it <em>is</em> relevant to this subject space.</p>
<p>Let's not be too quick to start barring questions that aren't explicitly about the physical process of 3D printing literally. There are a lot of <em>industry issues</em> that could be interesting to include here. It's probably better to <strong><em>wait for actual examples before trying to create a general rule around this issue.</em></strong></p>
<p>As a general rule for building this site, it is often better to wait for a preponderance of problems that occur <em>in actual practice</em> before we start seeking to create a lot of rules around hypothetical situations. Words to live by.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p><strong>I say allow them.</strong> </p>
<p>To let you know what's out there, I work at <a href="http://hyrel3d.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hyrel</a>. </p>
<p>Our printers can take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lvN-aPYHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">spindle (milling) heads and additional axes</a>, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceUiuTixPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">diode</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/FnYDoNkgOrI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO2 lasers</a>, and they all operate on the same gcode - we tell people E is for Emit as well as Extrude. We even have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFY-IqDB_0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TIG welding</a> attachment. </p>
<p>We also run our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGeQmXNbNE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fadal CNC machines</a> on our printer software and firmware. </p>
<p>To many people this is a natural progression for a well-built 3D positioning system, and I encourage a broader definition.</p>
|
<p>Almost all 3D printers have issues that could cause health problems.</p>
<p>FDM/FFF printers heat plastic to a temperature that may cause it to off-gas, and these byproducts may not be healthy.</p>
<p>SLA printers often use epoxies that may off-gas, or may be somewhat toxic prior to being cured.</p>
<p>Powder based printers can also off-gas, in addition to the powder itself presenting a possible hazard.</p>
<p>Many hobbyist and small companies dance around the problem, and suggest that the machines always be used in well ventillated areas. Professional machines often have filters and ventillation systems built in.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to find a "perfectly safe" 3D printer, spend some time deciding what you want to use one for, find printers suitable for your use, and expect that you'll need to provide reasonable ventilation for almost any printer. Plan your installation for that, and you should be able to make any printer safe for your required use.</p>
<p>If, however, you plan on setting up a printer farm with many printers, and plan to have yourself or others spend significant time operating them, I suggest you work with a health and safety professional and have them identify possible hazards and plan mitigation.</p>
|
<p>There are a lot of factors to 3D printing parts that work and fit together. </p>
<p>A lot of it will be discovered by trial and error, but let's try to put you on the right path. </p>
<p>First your material is what matters the most. Specifically their coefficient of thermal expansion, i.e. how much can the plastic change when heat is applied. PLA's coefficient is low compared to ABS, for example. Which is why the MakerBot can print without a heated bed, but it cannot print ABS with any success.</p>
<p>Here is a <a href="http://omnexus.specialchem.com/polymer-properties/properties/coefficient-of-linear-thermal-expansion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">list of coefficient of thermal expansions</a> by material.</p>
<p>What you want to do next is to print out a few test items and see for yourself. Below is an example of reality vs. expectation. As you can see the circle shrinks. It will never expand. So you will always make it bigger than you need. It is also good to note in this example below that the block itself is Larger than expected. The best solution is to not expect high tolerances and build a lot of flex into your designs.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v0e4Q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v0e4Q.png" alt="Example of thermal expansion"></a></p>
<p>Generally you want the hole size larger. If I wanted a 4 mm minimum hole, then I would likely make it 5+ mm.</p>
<p>The best thing you can do is print out a tray and document how different the sizes are. Also, do the same with a print of various peg sizes. Below is an example of such a tray.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1jmQn.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1jmQn.png" alt="Example of a print of various holes"></a></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Also, you might want to look into other materials such as Nylon and Carbon fiber.</p></li>
<li><p>A great source of more tips. Here is a great tutorial, <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/designing_mechanical_parts_3d_printing_the_whoosh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Designing Mechanical Parts - The Whoosh Machine by shapeways</a>, on designing parts.</p></li>
<li><p>A <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Lubrication" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RepRap Wiki article</a> on different lubricants in regards to 3D printers. Most people use silicon lube for parts to my knowledge. Again, it depends on your material. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Images taken from this link, <a href="https://innovationstation.utexas.edu/tip-design/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Innovation Station - Tips for Designing 3D Printed Parts</a>.</p>
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<p>It is definitively possible to do what you want, but your questions are samewhat problematic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So, I need to know if it's possible to print that cylinder hard enough to work as an axis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>"hard enough" is a mysterious quantity. What is the intended application? The load of the axis, the rotation speed, the medium in which the part will be in, its operating temperature... they all affect the answer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And what should be the gap size between the cylinder and the counter part's hole to rotate properly?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reading at the question and the comments, I think you may have the wrong representation model in your mind. There are four different concepts at work here:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Accuracy</em> is the maximum dimensional variation between parts. </li>
<li><em>Tolerance</em> is the amount of random deviation or variation permitted for a given dimension.</li>
<li><em>Allowance</em> is a planned difference between a nominal or reference value and an exact value.</li>
<li><em>Clearance</em> is the intentional space between two parts.</li>
</ul>
<p>So: what you want to achieve for the object to rotate is to have at least some <em>clearance</em> once you have the parts printed. Therefore, you want to design your part with an <em>allowance</em> which is at least as much as the <em>accuracy</em>.</p>
<p>Note that a machine cannot produce parts with a tighter tolerance than its accuracy. So you must design your part with a <em>tolerance</em> equal or greater than your printer <em>accuracy</em>.</p>
<p>The correct number will therefore be entirely dependant from the specific printer you will be using. You can find out the specific <em>accuracy</em> of a printer by printing a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=Tolerance%20test&sa=&dwh=815ab32c4d0733c" rel="noreferrer">tolerance test</a> (I know, I know... why isn't it called "accuracy test"?)</p>
<p>See this <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/5187/9134">unrelated answer</a> - from wich I took the above definitions - for learning more about the above and a concrete example.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If it's is like 0.05mm, can I print that level of detail with a 3D printer too?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I hope it is now clear why this question makes no sense: <em>clearance</em> is a variable which depends from <em>accuracy</em> (and the application), not the other way around.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can't add so much gap because I have really limited space</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This comment too is incorrect: the "gap" (clearance) can be very very small. You have to have the correct <em>allowance</em> in your design, and allowance will <em>not</em> intrinsically make a part larger.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What hardware and material should I use to do this?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again: this is entirely dependent from your application (load, operating temperature, orientation, speed...)</p>
<p>A consumer-grade FDM printer (easy accessible, cheap and cheap to operate) will allow you to print a rotating part, a SLA/DLP printer (less common, toxic resins, more expensive to operate) will allow to print the same part with different materials and tighter tolerances...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don't worry about breaking, but it cannot be flexible</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again: without an explanaton of the intended use (or the numbers associated to it) it's impossible to answer this comment conclusively. Resins tend to harden to more rigid solids, but you have thrown around tolerances as small as 0.05mm in your writing, and over 12mm of axis, that is a deviation of less than 0.5% from "perfectly straight". I'm hard pressed to think you will find a printable material with such a rigidity.</p>
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<p>I stumbled across this forum/group, <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/english-forum-original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Original Prusa i3 MMU2S & MMU2</a>, amongst all of the other <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa printers forums</a> on the <a href="https://blog.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusaprinters blog</a>, which seems fairly active. </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2-user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles-.../" rel="nofollow noreferrer">User mods - OctoPrint, enclosures, nozzles, ...</a> page seems like it might be what you are looking for.</p>
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<h2>First; find a model!</h2>
<p>To print something you require a <strong>model</strong> (usually this is in STL format, look into websites called <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a> and <a href="https://www.myminifactory.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MyMiniFactory</a> for examples). Once you have a model file, you need to make it readable for the printer firmware.</p>
<p>If you can't find suitable model, then you need to design a model yourself (or ask someone to do it for you) or adjust an existing model to suit your needs. "<a href="/q/740/">Good (preferably free) Beginner Software for Part Creation?</a>" is a good place to start.</p>
<h2>Second; use slicer software</h2>
<p>For a printer to be able to print the model, the model needs to be sliced into layers. These layers need to be printed at specific speeds, temperatures, etc. Search online and look at the filament packaging (usually the ideal temperatures are on the packaging) to find the ideal temperature for your filament. If you are not using the right temperatures, your print will most likely fail. Programs that are able to slice models are called <strong>slicers</strong>. The most popular free (and Windows compatible) slicers are <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Cura</a> and <a href="https://slic3r.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a> (or its <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/slic3r-prusa-edition/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa distribution</a>).</p>
<p>The slicer produces a printer readable file called a G-code file (file filled with printer instructions for e.g. movement and heating). This G-code file can be sent to the printer using specific printer software (e.g. OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, etc.) but more common or simple is to put the G-code file on an SD card and print the file using the print menu on the printer LCD.</p>
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<p>Answer was moved to this question: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/147/which-are-the-food-safe-materials-and-how-do-i-recognize-them">Which are the food-safe materials and how do I recognize them?</a></p>
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<p>This has inspired some discussion and I may be just splitting hairs, but I've always been confused by this strategy. The specific example I'm referring to is here: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/29/60">https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/29/60</a></p>
<p>In many cases on SE, I see people post "Answers" that basically say "Don't do what you're doing. Instead you can get to your goal by doing this." While it is often helpful, this form of answer is the bane of my existence as a user of SE sites.</p>
<p>There are often cases when I am googling a difficult problem because I cannot do "alternative a" as suggested by the answerer. Then, I get to an SE question that asked about exactly the situation I am having. An answer of "Don't do that, do this instead" is upvoted, accepted, and the only answer. Thus, I am unable to solve my problem using SE. In other words, the Answer didn't apply to the question, and so SE led me down the wrong path.</p>
<p>Am I doing something wrong here? Is this an expected/accepted pattern? Or is this something I should go the route of downvoting? Or like the poster of the above answer suggests, flagging?</p>
|
<p>Sometimes, "don't try to do what you're trying to do" is the only valid answer, see e.g. <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem">XY problem</a>.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Any overt form of censure on an existing user could lead to the forum equivalent of an arms race. One school of thought pushed on the SO podcasts is to flag the offending user and remove their posts from normal view, but include it when they (the bad user) are looking at the site. That way, they think the community is ignoring them and it makes flaming less fun. If the site isn't trying to stop them but their efforts at flaming are fruitless, they will likely just walk away. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/06/suspension-ban-or-hellban.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">See also this blog by Jeff</a></p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
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<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<h1>Vote!</h1>
<p>Private Betas love, love, <em>love</em> votes. Without votes, it's difficult to attain privileges, get rewards, and help push us out to public beta.</p>
<h1>Ask Questions!</h1>
<p>I know you said this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But here's the catch. "Easy" isn't defined. If you have an "easy" question, but it is specific, high-quality, and to the point, and you can show some effort in it, then, please, go ahead and ask it!</p>
<h1>Participate!</h1>
<p>You have a voice in our meta discussions as well. You also have the authority to suggest edits, to posts, tag wikis, and tag excerpts. They also get you +2 rep for each that is approved, which can help bring you more afloat. You can also give your opinion in scope, by casting close and reopen votes as well :)</p>
|
<p>Good idea? No.</p>
<p>Sometimes necessary? Yes.</p>
<p>Living in a world where you sometimes have to do things you know aren't a good idea? Priceless.</p>
<p>In general, you should always follow best practices. For everything else, there's kludges.</p>
|
<p>What is the problem? The “You’re Doing It Wrong!!” feeling is the essence of our existence. </p>
|
<p>Regarding the "invisible modification", there is technically a modification made multiple times by the user <strong>Song Khmer</strong> (now destroyed). This user was posting nonsense to your question by copying text from your question and posting it as an answer.</p>
<p>The reason you probably did not see this in the revision history is:</p>
<p>1) it wasn't a direct edit to your question</p>
<p>2) I believe only moderators can see deleted posts.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VAiLs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VAiLs.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VAiL.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">click here for full view</a> of deleted posts</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that anytime someone posts an answer or edits your question, the post raises the modified flag. In this case, when the user was posting answers it would properly flag the post. But, the flag remained even after the answers were deleted (there were 3 answers).</p>
|
<p><strong>A big shout out to all of us for a successful graduation into private beta.
Let's make it a success now, and make sure we graduate into a full-fledged site.
So, this is one post which every user of a private beta site should read and act accordingly.</strong></p>
<p>This is a reproduction of a moderator's (Richard) <a href="https://hermeneutics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/49">post on meta.hermeneutics.SE</a>; I believe it is very much applicable to this community as well. Richard wrote a post encouraging voting. I think this is a big issue because rep is the basis of our "economy", encourages (good) user activity, sorts out our content and makes the site look active. In particular <strong>Question Votes</strong> make the site look more active.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I cannot state this strongly enough. Voting is <em>absolutely critical</em> to the formation of a healthy SE site. And this is never more true than in Private and early Public beta. </p>
<h3>Vote on Questions</h3>
<p>Voting allows the community to determine what topics are allowed and what are not. Voting shows what constitutes a well-formed question and what is unacceptable for this community.</p>
<p>If you need help formulating better questions, the blog post <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/asking-better-questions/">Asking Better Questions</a> might help you out. (Admittedly, it's geared towards the Stackoverflow crowd, but the philosophies there will help). Also, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/how-to-ask">How to Ask</a> directly from StackOverflow is an excellent resource.</p>
<p>Finally, I want to reiterate that <strong>Voting on questions is free!</strong> It doesn't cost you any reputation to to vote a question down. (Compared to answers:)</p>
<h3>Vote on Answers</h3>
<p>Voting on answers allows a dramatic increase in reputation. Like questions, it shows that you believe and support the answer provided. Also, vote answers up that you think are well worded and support the answer given. </p>
<p><em>You don't have to agree with an answer to vote it up!</em></p>
<p>To show that this is true, they've even created a <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/badges/63/sportsmanship">badge for voting up competing answers (called "Sportsmanship")</a>.</p>
<p>If you think an answer is <em>useful</em>, vote it up. If you think an answer is <em>not useful</em>, vote it down. Either way, <strong>vote</strong>!</p>
<p>If you need help on writing answers, the meta post <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7656/how-do-i-write-a-good-answer-to-a-question">How do I write a good answer to a question?</a> will help you out.</p>
<h3>Final thoughts</h3>
<p>If people do not vote, there won't be enough reputation on this site for it to be promoted. Reputation is very important to a StackExchange site as it creates the groups of people capable of maintaining the site.</p>
<p>To show how critical it is, Jeff Atwood posted a blog article regarding this topic: <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/vote-early-vote-often/">Vote Early, Vote Often</a></p>
<h3>Encourage others to vote!</h3>
<p>Quoting RobertCartaino from chat:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Vote, vote, vote. Encourage others to vote, vote, vote. On good content, leave signposts ("If you like this, please vote it up. It's important for the community!")-- in both meta and the main site. Maybe a few meta posts informing the users of the important of that type of participation. You are empowered a lot more than you know.</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>Don't upvote bad content (edit/suggest how to fix it instead) but make sure you remember to vote, especially for questions; if you learned something from an answer on a question, the question's probably worth an upvote too so others can find the good information.</p>
<p> [<img src="https://blog.stackexchange.com/images/wordpress/vote-here.jpg" alt="https://blog.stackexchange.com/images/wordpress/vote-here.jpg">]</p>
|
<p><strong>Yes!</strong></p>
<p>Absolutely. We need to reward good answers, and raise rep levels so suers can get moderation privileges when they rise to the normal public beta levels.</p>
<p>However, I think we should also downvote poor questions and answers. I haven't yet done so, partly because I've focused on rewarding the good posts. But downvoting is important, too.</p>
<p>What happened to me yesterday:</p>
<ol>
<li>I posted an answer (my first) to a question.</li>
<li>It was downvoted.</li>
<li>A user who may/may not have been the downvoter pointed out something I was wrong about.</li>
<li>There was a discussion in comments.</li>
<li>I deleted my answer.</li>
<li>I edited it.</li>
<li>There was continued dialogue with the user and another. I improved my answer even further.</li>
<li>Downvote was removed.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm grateful to the downvoter, and to the comments. We need to establish what posts are good and bad in the site, and my original answer was not good. It was wrong in several points - and since the question was about <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/safety" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'safety'" rel="tag">safety</a>, it was even more important for it to be correct. The feedback helped me to fix my answer, but if I had not done so, the downvote would have ensured that better answers went to the top.</p>
<p>We should definitely upvote. But downvoting is good, too. Downvoters don't have to comment - that's never the case - but comments certainly help. They helped me.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>That sounds suspiciously like my Stack Overflow reputation score.</p>
|
<p>I quite like what is done e.g. <a href="http://episteme.arstechnica.com/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>. If you look towards the bottom of the page, there's a piece of text "powered by eve community". If you click that text you get a small chunk of technical information.</p>
<p>To me, this is a nice tradeoff between having the (useful) information readily available (for bug reports, etc.) and having to have (unpleasant) technical jargon visible to users of the site.</p>
|
<p>In fact, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/1">one of the people who created this site</a> made a <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000893.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">post regarding this</a> on his <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">blog</a> </p>
|
<p>First, accept the fact that problems with your app (code, usability, etc.) will be discovered.</p>
<p>Then, make sure you have a clear way for users to communicate with you (form mail, email, uservoice, etc.). The easier you make this the better. For example, there is a uservoice link on every page of SO.</p>
<p>One philosophy I strongly believe in: if it's confusing to your users, it's broken. Be willing to change your app (no matter how "beautiful" the design may be) if your users are confused or not liking it. This doesn't mean you have to cave on your decisions, just that you need to consider revisions to improve the user experience.</p>
|
<p>There is a whole lot in the literature on voting systems, and a good bit of game theory can be applied. The issue that's difficult is that it's inherently probabilistic; you pick certain patterns as indicating <em>probable</em> fraud, and detect or exclude them; by doing so, you also exclude the possibility that someone is voting that way for innocent, or at least non-fraudulent reasons.</p>
<p>Consider, eg, someone who reads my deathless prose, develops an instant man-crush on me, and goes through all my answers voting each one up. I've got more than 30 answers so it would take a few days. Now, by assumption, this isn't my reputation-whoring sock-puppet, it's a person who for their own reasons, however unwise, has devoting all their voting to me for days at a time.</p>
<p>Is this fraud? No, but it would be detected as, and probably treated as, fraud.</p>
|
<p>Make a FAQ page or a tutorial covering some of the basics, that will eliminate quite a lot of questions.</p>
|
<p>My understanding is that it is approximately the following from another <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24066/what-formula-should-be-used-to-determine-hot-questions">Jeff Atwood</a> post</p>
<pre><code>t = (time of entry post) - (Dec 8, 2005)
x = upvotes - downvotes
y = {1 if x > 0, 0 if x = 0, -1 if x < 0)
z = {1 if x < 1, otherwise x}
log(z) + (y * t)/45000
</code></pre>
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<p>This site may attract questions such as</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Is it legal to sell 3D printed objects from a model repository?</p></li>
<li><p>Are 3D printed guns legal in my jurisdiction?</p></li>
<li><p>If my custom-built printer sets my house on fire, does the insurance cover it?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Are such questions allowed on this site, or should they be redirected to a site dealing more commonly with laws?</p>
|
<p>Yes, such questions should be on-topic. There can be partial overlap in sites' scopes, and unique legal issues involving 3D printing can be addressed here. Users of this site are more likely to have specific expertise than users on a site that deals with laws more generally.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>The tags <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> are in fact referring to exactly the same thing!</p>
<p>Furthermore, the meaning of support can be interpreted differently (i.e. helping out).</p>
<p>I support renaming/merging the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> labelled questions to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>. This implies that the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag is removed and it could be reinstated at any time by new questions. Users with enough reputation can remove the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag if it gets recreated and we could create a synonym later. </p>
<p>In my humble opinion, the best solution may be to rename <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/supports" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'supports'" rel="tag">supports</a> and then make it a synonym for <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>!</p>
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
<p><a href="http://www.groklaw.net/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">groklaw</a> would seem to be a good starting point for open source issues</p>
|
<p>Answer was moved to this question: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/147/which-are-the-food-safe-materials-and-how-do-i-recognize-them">Which are the food-safe materials and how do I recognize them?</a></p>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/438">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/436">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/434">Filled PLA</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/431">Anet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/435">Flashforge</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/432">Ultimaker</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/437">Ultimaker 1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/433">Cura</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/445">Monoprice</a></li>
</ul>
|
<p>Food packaging needs to comply with regulations. One certification agency informing about these (and their service to certify for them) is <a href="https://www.tuv-sud.com/home-com/resource-centre/publications/e-ssentials-newsletter/food-health-e-ssentials/e-ssentials-3-2015/regulations-for-food-packaging-products-and-materials" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TÜV Süd</a>, another is <a href="https://www.saiglobal.com/Assurance/resource-library/Food-Safety/packaging_Brochure.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SAI global</a>. A summary of the GFSI can be found <a href="https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2014/07/compliance-food-grade-product-manufacturing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. Inform yourself about the standards you wish to apply! The stack can not give legally binding answers.</p>
<h1><strong>No</strong></h1>
<p>The Ender 3 is not approved to produce food products (and not usable for them out of the box) for lack of certification. In the design it comes from the box, you need to replace a lot of parts for food rated ones:</p>
<ul>
<li>The whole print head/bed need to be swapped out for food rated parts due to the exact composition being not known. They might contain banned materials. As a result:
<ul>
<li>You'll need an all-metal hot end that can be taken apart for cleaning up to the standards if needed.</li>
<li>You'll need a food rated PTFE tube.</li>
<li>You'll need a stainless steel nozzle that complies with food grade manufacturing demands.</li>
<li>The extruder gear should be stainless steel as well.</li>
<li>You'll need to add some part to prevent filament shreds/flakes from the extruder to enter the print area as they might act as contaminants or carry germs.</li>
<li>Similar measures have to be taken for the wheels on the hot end carriage, as it might shred.</li>
<li>As you include a volume of air into the print, you are likely to be demanded to print under a protective atmosphere to make sure no germs are inside the print.</li>
<li>We do not know the composition of the build platform, so you'd need to replace the back surface with something that is food rated.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>You'll need to post-process your prints as smooth as possible, especially because of the small edges at the layer boundaries, which can and will act as spots where germs can grow.
<ul>
<li>This <em>can</em> be achieved with a material that is smoothable in some way.</li>
<li>Alternatively, a sealing lacquer/coating that is food safe might help here.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h1>Remember, safety first:</h1>
<p>Printed plastics that are rated for food are not necessarily food safe because of the quality or blend of the material. PLA and ABS can be made food safe, but that is usually <em>pure</em> material. We usually don't know what kinds of fillers or coloring is in our filament. The heating process might destroy the colors or fillers, which in turn might make it unsafe.</p>
<h1>Indirect manufacturing</h1>
<p>If you are stone set you want/need, you can use indirect manufacturing: you don't print the actual object, you print a mold that makes the actual object. Clay and other ceramics can be made food safe very easily and they can be shaped with plastic molds.</p>
<h1>Boxing</h1>
<p>There is also another way to facilitate food safety in a 3D printed container, and that is checking where the food will actually make contact. For a lunch box, that is the inside. We could line this inside with a food safe surface, for example placing a steel cup in our plastic cup-holder. Accessories like a cup holder or a decorative container for the actual food container do not need to adhere to the food packaging regulations themselves.</p>
<h1>Exposure time</h1>
<p>I know this is all looking at industrial food rated production. The <a href="https://all3dp.com/1/food-safe-3d-printing-abs-pla-food-safe-filament/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Primer</a> given in the question does include a point about time the product gets into contact with the food - if there is just a short exposure, you might <em>get away</em> with it, but it doesn't make it certified food safe. Another good read in this regard is <a href="https://pinshape.com/blog/3d-printing-food-safe/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> short discussion about the Pros and Cons.</p>
|
<p>If the design was made from an artist and is not public domain, than you should not upload that scan without the (written) permission of the creator of the design. Espacially a scan of a decorative object will likely be protected, so costumers buy the original instead of printing itself or buy a printed version. If you would design a deco object and sell copies of it, you also don't want that others just scan it and print it.</p>
|
<p>I believe this question is asked on every private Beta... what should be the name of our chatroom?</p>
|
<p><strong>The Hotbed.</strong></p>
<p>Colloquially, "hotbed" generally refers to a center of activity. Here, it will have a double meaning (referencing the hot bed of a 3D printer.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Typically, it's a better idea to wait before you try to get this kind of thing integrated.</p>
<p>Enthusiasm is great in a private beta, but for the early stages, direct that enthusiasm towards the Q&A. That's what'll get this site on its feet and into a successful public beta.</p>
<p>When the site's more stable and running nicely, then if there's a need (or want) for a plugin like this then the discussion about it can be had.</p>
<p>(On a tangent - if such a plugin is going to happen, it may well be down to SE's developers to get it done, which might make getting assistance from the people on this site difficult.)</p>
|
<p>Why is the team choosing the name. Don't you have a manager? That's how organizations are supposed to work: if one level can't achieve the goal in a timely manner, escalate it up to the next level.</p>
<p>What a colossal waste of time!</p>
|
<p>I do spend a lot of time as well worrying about the names of anything that can be given a name when I am programming. I'd say it pays off very well though. Sometimes when I am stuck I leave it for a while and during a coffee break I ask around a bit if someone has a good suggestion.</p>
<p>For your class I'd suggest <code>VendorHelpDocRequester</code>.</p>
|
<p>Precise is more important. The initial developer or you could have left a comment afterward to explain the naming if it is not a term that can easily be found in a dictionary or generally known to the audience.</p>
|
<p>After further discussion within our working group, we ended up going with 'fieldset'. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions.</p>
|
<p>Well, <a href="http://stackoverflow.com">stackoverflow.com</a> is.</p>
|
<p>There is nothing wrong with naming your internal modules after your company; I always do this. 90% of my code ends up on CPAN, so it has "normal" names, but the internal stuff is always starts with <code>ClientName::</code>. </p>
<p>I'm sure everyone else does this too.</p>
|
<p>We currently have quite a few tags about filament:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/filament" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'filament'" rel="tag">filament</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/plastic-filament" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'plastic-filament'" rel="tag">plastic-filament</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/thermoplastic-filament" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'thermoplastic-filament'" rel="tag">thermoplastic-filament</a></li>
<li>etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>I feel like we need to clean these up and make clear what we'll use each tag for.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
|
<p>All filament used in 3D printing is thermoplastic filament, so plastic-filament and thermoplastic-filament are redundant.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>To make the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/670/which-hotend-does-not-clog-and-is-good-to-use-with-a-bowden-1-75-mm-setup#comment-874">suggestion of Martin Carney</a> a real answer and shift things away from comments:</p>
<p>Yes, moisture and dust can be a problem. Find elaborations on the moisture here:
<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/84/does-filament-have-to-be-stored-in-an-airtight-environment">Does filament have to be stored in an airtight environment</a>.</p>
<p>Also, dust getting into the hot end won't make extrusion easier. (link with suitable information needed). There are filament cleaning 'devices' for print on thingiverse, have a look at things with the <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/tag:filament_cleaner" rel="nofollow noreferrer">tag: filament cleaner</a>.</p>
<p>There are some other things that are mostly discussed in relation to hot-end clogging, which are printing speed, retract setting and what I would call hot-end resistance. For all of those, read through this thread and refine your question according to what you tried and what the results were:
<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/612/repeatedly-clogged-printrbot-simple-extruder">Repeatedly Clogged Printrbot Simple Extruder</a>.</p>
|
<p>Big batches need you to be time efficient - or use a method that uses little work. So my suggestions are mainly needing oversight. Keep a fire extinguisher and safety gear handy though!</p>
<h1>Melting together</h1>
<p>Most filaments are melting at or around 200 °C.</p>
<p>I recently got rid of my box of (PLA) waste material by putting them on a tray and melting them together in a standard kitchen oven at 200 °C for about 1-2 hours. The resulting plate of plastic destroyed all structure that could be identified. This plate can be then broken up or recycled without the risk to disclose any company secrets.</p>
<p>I suggest to use a baking paper under the filament to be molten or a teflon coated tray, as the filament will be REALLY sticky to a blank metal surface.</p>
<p>About 4 liters of broken prints resulted in approximately a 5x450x300 mm sheet. If you make sure that no filament can touch the heating elements, you can get rid of quite a lot of material in each batch.</p>
<p><strong>Don't do this with ABS</strong> and don't contaminate your food trays with plastic rests - use specially marked ones that are for disposal of prints only.</p>
<h3>Green destruction</h3>
<p>If you want to be green when destroying prints: <a href="https://insteading.com/blog/solar-cooker/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a box solar cooker</a> with a glass lid easily runs at 200 °C, is decently cheap and runs all day on just a couple seconds of adjusting every hour or so. You have to set it up in an access restricted area, but as long as the sun shines, it runs pretty much for free. Just make sure to put the prints to be destroyed onto some kind of non-combustible carriers, like tinfoil or aluminium trays.</p>
<h2>ABS in Acetone</h2>
<p>If you use ABS, exposing it to acetone fumes for a short time (seconds to half a minute will smooth the surface. Give it some minutes can destroy the structure into a batch of plastic waste without heat that hardens as the acetone evaporates again, though complex structures might need as much as an hour. Dunking ABS into acetone results in pure chemical waste, that is just a waste of acetone.</p>
<p>To save acetone and a way to the chemical waste disposal, try this:</p>
<p>Put a batch of several prints into a large, airtight box that isn't made from ABS. Pour some acetone on a tray and add a paper towel to generate a consistent acetone atmosphere in the box. Make sure to keep the tray on the floor of the box but in a way so no print will fall into it. This should dispose of the prints by merging them into a huge lump within about an hour.</p>
<p><strong>Do this outside & keep fire away</strong>.</p>
|
<h1>Vote!</h1>
<p>Private Betas love, love, <em>love</em> votes. Without votes, it's difficult to attain privileges, get rewards, and help push us out to public beta.</p>
<h1>Ask Questions!</h1>
<p>I know you said this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But here's the catch. "Easy" isn't defined. If you have an "easy" question, but it is specific, high-quality, and to the point, and you can show some effort in it, then, please, go ahead and ask it!</p>
<h1>Participate!</h1>
<p>You have a voice in our meta discussions as well. You also have the authority to suggest edits, to posts, tag wikis, and tag excerpts. They also get you +2 rep for each that is approved, which can help bring you more afloat. You can also give your opinion in scope, by casting close and reopen votes as well :)</p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
|
<p>You can basically use any machine that pulverizes your pellets into small pieces.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/how-make-your-own-filament-recycling-old-3d-prints-part-1" rel="noreferrer"><strong>One guy on 3dhubs, explained it in details.</strong></a></p>
<p>My conclusion is that you can recycle everything using this data gathered from research up in link there. </p>
<p>Also, you can use any plastic material and pulverize it into pellets (even from the bottles) and you can try to do this process. Only thing that matters is quality of product.</p>
<p>I was thinking about pellets from vinyl records. I bought one big collection before one year, and there was around 500-600 records that are completley useless. So, you can pulverize them and repeat the process, because process of making vinyl records and process of making bottles is completley different, and uses different kind of plastics. </p>
<p>So to draw a conslusion: everything depends on quality of pellets.</p>
<p>And to answer on your three questions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is the quality comparable to typical off-the-shelf filaments? Put<br>
another way, with reasonable tuning can one produce filament that's<br>
good enough to use without a lot of frustration?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No, it isn't Your filament would be lower quality if you don't get a great pellets.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Does it require a lot of attention to tuning, monitoring, or other
details (which make it less worthwhile / more time-consuming)? Warning
of pitfalls to avoid is also welcome.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes it does. Check the link up there.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are there useful things one can do this way, that are hard to achieve
with off-the-shelf filaments? For example, unusual materials; better
control of diameter, density, etc; or mixing one's own colors?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again, it all depends on type of filament you like to use. I wrote about plastic filaments.</p>
|
<p>It might seem that common 3D printer materials such as PLA and ABS should be capable of being autoclaved—unfortunately. However, although their melting temperatures are higher than autoclave temperature (typically 121ºC), their glass transition temperatures are below that limit so they can warp or undergo creep deformation.</p>
<p>Sterilization of numerous plastics is described <a href="https://www.industrialspec.com/resources/plastics-sterilization-compatibility/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>, with PLA, ABS, and PET all being described as "poor" for autoclaving. For each "good" material on that list, I looked for filament by Googling and consulting material guides from <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/material-guides/" rel="noreferrer">Prusa</a> and <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare" rel="noreferrer">Matter Hackers</a>.</p>
<p>Polypropylene (PP) or acetal (POM, also known as Delrin) are the best choices. Filament is available for PEEK, PEI (ULTEM), FEP, PPSU, and PPS but these filaments are expensive (>$100/kg) and require high extruder temperatures (>300ºC).</p>
<p>In contrast, PP is about $50/kg and uses an extruder temperature of 254ºC; POM is similarly priced and uses an extruder temperature of 210ºC. Nylon (depending on the exact type) and HT-PLA may also be worth considering.</p>
<p>"High temperature" filaments are not worthwhile for this application. Again, they're expensive and, more significantly, do not work well with consumer-grade 3D printers. For example, the upper limit for a Prusa i3 MK3s is about 280ºC—the thermistor only is good up to that temperature. Higher temperatures would require swapping out sensors and modifying firmware and building an enclosure. <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk2.5s-mk2.5-how-do-i-print-this-printing-help/can-i-use-pps-filament-on-my-printer/" rel="noreferrer">It's been done</a>. Printers designed for high-temperature filaments easily cost <a href="https://www.aniwaa.com/best-peek-3d-printer-pei-ultem/" rel="noreferrer">thousands of dollars</a>.</p>
<p>This question was previously asked on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/9l8gao/what_filament_would_hold_up_to_regular/" rel="noreferrer">Reddit</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/3caivh/question_about_autoclavable_plastic_for_3d/" rel="noreferrer">a few times</a> but this analysis is more comprehensive.</p>
|
<p>I use them for searching for my stack (C#, ASP.NET, WinForms etc). I have them set up in Launchy as shortcuts.</p>
<p>I have posted some thoughts ideas on my <a href="http://cantgrokwontgrok.blogspot.com/2008/09/stackoverflow-crackoverflow-or.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackOverflow blog post</a> - feel free to comment on there if you like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Search Support</strong></p>
<p>The search functionality is improving.
However, is it still limited (for
example, no OR search). It also has
limited filtering options. One major
problem for me is that it displays
searches the answers as well as
questions. So, you can end up with a
page of results that point to one
question (which may not help you). Tag
searching is also improving but still
limited and even misunderstood by its
creator (see the comments).</p>
<p><strong>Finding Your Stack</strong></p>
<p>I am a C# developer. I work on Windows
and ASP.NET applications. I know
nothing about Java, Python, Ruby and
the many other languages out there. I
can offer limited advice on
architecture and design. Now,
currently, it is bloody difficult for
me to find questions with the
appropriate tags so I can assist. I
propose:</p>
<p>"Smart Lists" - these should be lists that each user can create that
you can specify tags to search for.
For example, I could create three
"Windows" (which searches for items
tagged "C# WinForms"), "Web" (tagged
"ASP.NET") and Architecture (tagged
"architecture"). Now, a web developer
who works on the LAMP stack may have a
"Web" tab, but entirely different
tags.</p>
<p>I am currently getting around this by
having Launchy shortcuts set up for my
stacks.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>When 3D Printing moves into public beta, you're going to want to get the word out. And fast! One of the best ways to advertise ourselves across the entire Stack Exchange network is through community ads. </p>
<h3>So what are these "Community Ads?"</h3>
<p>Graduated sites allow the community to advertise relevant products or services within the site, using a system where the community chooses what to advertise. You can find these posts on per-site metas. Hint: these posts have the <a href="/questions/tagged/community-ads" class="post-tag moderator-tag" title="show questions tagged 'community-ads'" rel="tag">community-ads</a> tag!</p>
<h3>Cool! What should the ad be like?</h3>
<p>There's a few requirements for these ads. Most notably,</p>
<ul>
<li>They must be 300px wide by 250px tall, or double for "retina" displays</li>
<li>There's a limit on file size of 150 kB.</li>
<li>The image must be hosted on i.stack.imgur (the Stack Exchange image hosting service).</li>
<li>Ads must be GIF or PNG (no animated GIFs).</li>
</ul>
<h3>What else should I know?</h3>
<p>To facilitate easy posting to other sites, make sure that the embedded image is of the following format:</p>
<pre>[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]
[1]: http://image-url
[2]: http://clickthrough-url
</pre>
<p>You can also include a message as a part of your answer with your own thoughts: why you chose some of the elements, and what sites the ads could potentially be posted to. Don't forget to critique each other as well!</p>
<p><strong>Happy Designing!</strong></p>
|
<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
<p>Here's one:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.pinchmedia.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pinch Media</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I'm making this Community Wiki so anyone can add to this list.</p>
|
<pre><code><button runat="server"
style="background-image:url('/Content/Img/stackoverflow-logo-250.png')" >
your text here<br/>and some more<br/><br/> and some more ....
</button>
</code></pre>
|
<p>I would use <a href="https://www.openx.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OpenX</a>, <a href="http://www.doubleclick.com/products/dfp/index.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DART</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/admanager" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Ad Manager</a>, <a href="http://www.rightmedia.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RightMedia</a>, <a href="http://rubiconproject.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rubicon</a>, or some other ad manager. </p>
<p>However, if I wanted to build it myself as an exercise, I would:</p>
<ol>
<li>Create a database table of advertisements</li>
<li>In my base controller, select a random advertisement into the ViewData</li>
<li>Add a partial view to your master page to render the ad</li>
<li>[Most importantly] Use Phil Haack's MVC-style version of "<a href="http://haacked.com/archive/2008/11/05/donut-caching-in-asp.net-mvc.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">donut caching</a>"</li>
</ol>
<p>This is the same approach you would use to display a cycled quotation, a randomly featured user, or any other random content that you want to display on every page.</p>
|
<p>A step by step article on <a href="http://drnicwilliams.com/2006/11/21/diy-widgets/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DIY widgets - How to embed your site on another site</a>. It reproduces the technique used by Google Adsense</p>
|
<p>Per answer to <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/296832/what-are-the-limitations-in-beta">What are the limitations in Beta</a></p>
<p>"Inline videos is a feature that is off by default on all sites and only turned on if the community thinks it's necessary to improve the quality of a good portion of their question base." </p>
|
<p>See <a href="http://ask.metafilter.com/52003/Good-community-forum-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://ask.metafilter.com/52003/Good-community-forum-software</a></p>
<p>Options </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://getvanilla.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lussumo's Vanilla</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.simplemachines.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Simple Machines</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bbpress.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BBPress</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Attractive is subjective, so you'll need to look around. </p>
|
<p>As you may or may not know, this is the third iteration of a proposal site that covers 3D Printing. The first 2 made it to the beta phase, but did not graduate from the beta successfully:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/41850/digital-fabrication">Digital Fabrication</a></li>
<li><a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/22246/personal-manufacturing">Personal Manufacturing</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Would it be acceptable to extract <code>good</code>/<code>relevant</code> questions out of these beta site question dumps and post them in the 3D Printing site?</p>
|
<p>If someone has a question from one of those older sites, they should go ahead and ask it. But a wholesale importing of content from elsewhere is not really a desirable way to build this site. </p>
<p>There is a lot of ownership and careful curation that goes with vetting the content of this site. Questions imported from elsewhere would always have that air of odd, forgotten legacy content back-dated and <em>anonymous</em> with no owners or real-time vetting at all. If someone posts another answer or asks for some followup to one of these questions, no one will receive the notification. Essentially, we would be loading this site up with a lot of questions asked and answered a long time ago without imparting any of the benefits of reputation, ownership, or experience into the community that is supposed to take care of it.</p>
<p>That's why we don't do it.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
|
<p>For common problems that get asked a lot, I wouldn't just close these as <em>too broad.</em> A better solution is to create a <strong>canonical post</strong> like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://superuser.com/a/260078/697"><strong>How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?</strong></a></p>
<p>These attract a <em>lot</em> of users. </p>
<p>The goal is to create a step-by-step trouble-shooting guide to explain what lights, nozzles, and sneedles to look when you're kwigger isn't going <em>zong.</em></p>
<p>And don't just answer with a hyperlink to some other discussion group somewhere. Do everything you can to really overkill it. Write a detailed, step-by-step, ultra-clear guide, so when zillions of people with this problem go searching, you stand a good chance of the best possible answer on the web. </p>
<p>This is one of those opportunities to attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.</p>
|
<p>Starting a new project without a thorough research of the available solutions and without taking into serious consideration the possibility to join an existing project, is something that the community should frown upon more emphatically. Maybe a programmer's education should include some discussion on the cost of effort duplication.</p>
<p>Having said that, experimenting with different approaches to solve the same problem is healthy, and once a programmer has some toy code, we should thank him for making it available to the public regardless of the existence of similar projects.</p>
<p>I think that the authors should seriously consider a merge if:</p>
<ul>
<li>one design has proven clearly superior to the other</li>
<li>one community is being more active than the other</li>
<li>both projects share the same ideas on future directions</li>
<li>the work required to merge the two codebases is feasible</li>
</ul>
|
<p>In fact, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/1">one of the people who created this site</a> made a <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000893.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">post regarding this</a> on his <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">blog</a> </p>
|
<p>Typically, it's a better idea to wait before you try to get this kind of thing integrated.</p>
<p>Enthusiasm is great in a private beta, but for the early stages, direct that enthusiasm towards the Q&A. That's what'll get this site on its feet and into a successful public beta.</p>
<p>When the site's more stable and running nicely, then if there's a need (or want) for a plugin like this then the discussion about it can be had.</p>
<p>(On a tangent - if such a plugin is going to happen, it may well be down to SE's developers to get it done, which might make getting assistance from the people on this site difficult.)</p>
|
<p>Well, <a href="http://stackoverflow.com">stackoverflow.com</a> is.</p>
|
<p>I would recommend asking for a review of your site on <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/news" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hacker News</a>. This site was created and maintained by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Paul Graham</a> who also founded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Combinator" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Y Combinator</a>, a company focused on helping startups in their early stages. As a result, Hacker News is read by a community heavily focused on anything startup-related and, therefore, are very receptive to critiquing and reviewing new sites.</p>
<p>When you <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/submit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">submit your review request</a>, you probably should word the title of your post as such:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ask HN: please review my site [my
site]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and describe a bit of its intent.</p>
<p>(Here is a recent example: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=491556" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask HN: Review my newest site</a>)</p>
|
<p>I feel like questions along the lines of, "my printer is crashing for no obvious reason, what should I do?" may be too broad and open-ended for this format. It's better handled by a forum where people can have running discussions to rule out a series of tests. What do you guys think?</p>
|
<p>For common problems that get asked a lot, I wouldn't just close these as <em>too broad.</em> A better solution is to create a <strong>canonical post</strong> like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://superuser.com/a/260078/697"><strong>How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?</strong></a></p>
<p>These attract a <em>lot</em> of users. </p>
<p>The goal is to create a step-by-step trouble-shooting guide to explain what lights, nozzles, and sneedles to look when you're kwigger isn't going <em>zong.</em></p>
<p>And don't just answer with a hyperlink to some other discussion group somewhere. Do everything you can to really overkill it. Write a detailed, step-by-step, ultra-clear guide, so when zillions of people with this problem go searching, you stand a good chance of the best possible answer on the web. </p>
<p>This is one of those opportunities to attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Yes, such questions should be on-topic. There can be partial overlap in sites' scopes, and unique legal issues involving 3D printing can be addressed here. Users of this site are more likely to have specific expertise than users on a site that deals with laws more generally.</p>
|
<p>I completely agree! I just posted <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">my own reminder</a>, focusing more on efforts to get us out of Beta.</p>
<p>I'm sorry you can feel discouraged sometimes, I think a lot of users around the Stack Exchange network can feel that way at times.</p>
<p>I think people sometimes forget that an up-vote to an answer isn't necessarily that it was helpful to you, specifically. But, rather that <strong>the answer is a good <em>quality</em> answer</strong> and <strong>will be <em>useful</em> to others</strong> as well!</p>
|
<h1>Vote!</h1>
<p>Private Betas love, love, <em>love</em> votes. Without votes, it's difficult to attain privileges, get rewards, and help push us out to public beta.</p>
<h1>Ask Questions!</h1>
<p>I know you said this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But here's the catch. "Easy" isn't defined. If you have an "easy" question, but it is specific, high-quality, and to the point, and you can show some effort in it, then, please, go ahead and ask it!</p>
<h1>Participate!</h1>
<p>You have a voice in our meta discussions as well. You also have the authority to suggest edits, to posts, tag wikis, and tag excerpts. They also get you +2 rep for each that is approved, which can help bring you more afloat. You can also give your opinion in scope, by casting close and reopen votes as well :)</p>
|
<p>Sometimes, "don't try to do what you're trying to do" is the only valid answer, see e.g. <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem">XY problem</a>.</p>
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
<p>This post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">3D Printing SE Beta Status</a>, by tbm0115 highlights the <em>three main</em> sticking points (IMHO clearer than the Area 51 page):</p>
<ul>
<li>Questions per day</li>
<li><strike>Users vs Reputation</strike></li>
<li><strike>Visits per day</strike></li>
</ul>
<p>Once those reach the required levels then that should be it. So, there is quite a way to go...</p>
<p>The stats can be seen here, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">3D Printing Area51 site</a>:</p>
<h3>Stats progress</h3>
<p>Note: Only <em>changes</em> are shown (no date information)</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strike><strong>2.1</strong></strike> -> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike> 2.4</li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strike><strong>96 %</strong></strike> -> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike> 87 %</li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>56/150</strong></strike> -> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike> 359/150</li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>4/10</strong></strike> -> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup> 27/10</li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>3/5</strong></strike> -> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup> 14/5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strike><strong>2.0</strong></strike> -> 1.9</li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strike><strong>753</strong></strike> -> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike> 5469</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>*</sup> This change in the number of users with <em>X</em> reputation is, in part, due to the move from +5 to +10 reputation for upvoted questions on <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/">13 Nov 2019</a> (see also <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/391250/4424636">Upvotes on questions will now be worth the same as upvotes on answers</a>).</p>
<hr />
<h3>Alternative Stats presentation</h3>
<p>Latest statistic shown in bold -> chronological history shown thereafter</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strong>2.4</strong> -> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike></li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strong>87 %</strong> -> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike></li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strong>359/150</strong> -> <strike>56/150</strike> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike></li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strong>27/10</strong> -> <strike>4/10</strike> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strong>14/5</strong> -> <strike>3/5</strike> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strong>1.9</strong> -> <strike>2.0</strike></li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strong>5469</strong> -> <strike>753</strike> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>Additional points of note</h3>
<p>The stats above aren't really the be all to end all... there are a few other considerations that I came across here, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community/1355#1355">in this answer</a>, to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">“Graduation” of this Community</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A number of 10k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 3 ) are required to access mod tools</li>
<li>A number of 3k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 10 ) are required to be able to fully vote</li>
</ol>
<h3>The final hurdle</h3>
<p>The main sticking point, according to this meta post on Ethereum, <a href="https://ethereum.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/474/congratulations-ethereum-is-graduating">Congratulations! Ethereum is graduating!</a>, is 10 questions per day, which we are a long way from, and seems to be the last remaining issue. A link (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>) from the Ethereum meta post to Meta.SE states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a site starts to consistently receive 10 questions/day, we’ll consider it for graduation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>No graduation, but losing the Beta label...</h3>
<p>Apart from graduation, SE management has recognised that small sites (with an active community) struggle to reach the 10 questions/day consistently. For sites that have been waiting to get out of Beta by graduation for 7-8 years, SE has decided to drop the Beta label. Please see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331708/congratulations-to-our-29-oldest-beta-sites-theyre-now-no-longer-beta?cb=1">Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>CSV Format</h3>
<ul>
<li>Format: <code>heading,data,date,data,date,...,data,date</code></li>
<li>Date format: <code>YYYYMMDD</code></li>
</ul>
<pre><code>*Questions per day*,2.1,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.6,20180705,2.1,20180707,2.7,20180815,2.1,20180903,1.7,20181015,2,20181106,2.4,20190327,3.0,20190905,2.5,20191119,3.9,20210121,2.8,20210411,3.3,20210423,3.3,20210424,3,20210425,3,20210426,2.7,20210427,2,20210506,2,20210508,1.9,20210511,2.1,20210514,2.2,20210525,2.4,20210526
*Answer rate*,96,20170317,93,20180525,95,20180705,96,20180707,96,20180815,97,20180903,98,20181015,98,20181106,96,20190327,95,20190905,94,20191119,88,20210121,88,20210411,88,20210423,88,20210424,88,20210425,88,20210426,88,20210427,88,20210506,88,20210508,87,20210511,87,20210514,87,20210525,87,20210526
*200+ reputation*,56,20170317,103,20180525,113,20180705,139,20180707,144,20180815,151,20180903,161,20181015,164,20181106,179,20190327,194,20190905,282,20191119,351,20210121,358,20210411,358,20210423,358,20210424,358,20210425,358,20210426,358,20210427,358,20210506,358,20210508,358,20210511,358,20210514,359,20210525,359,20210526
*2,000+ reputation*,4,20170317,8,20180525,9,20180705,10,20180707,11,20180815,12,20180903,14,20181015,14,20181106,17,20190327,19,20190905,22,20191119,27,20210121,27,20210411,27,20210423,27,20210424,27,20210425,27,20210426,27,20210427,27,20210506,27,20210508,27,20210511,27,20210514,27,20210525,27,20210526
*3,000+ reputation*,3,20170317,4,20180525,6,20180705,7,20180707,7,20180815,7,20180903,7,20181015,8,20181106,9,20190327,11,20190905,12,20191119,14,20210121,14,20210411,14,20210423,14,20210424,14,20210425,14,20210426,14,20210427,14,20210506,14,20210508,14,20210511,14,20210514,14,20210525,14,20210526
*Answers per question*,2.0,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.9,20180705,1.9,20180707,1.9,20180815,1.9,20180903,1.9,20181015,1.9,20181106,1.9,20190327,1.9,20190905,1.9,20191119,1.9,20210121,1.9,20210411,1.9,20210423,1.9,20210424,1.9,20210425,1.9,20210426,1.9,20210427,1.9,20210506,1.9,20210508,1.9,20210511,1.9,20210514,1.9,20210525,1.9,20210526
*Visits per day*,753,20170317,4,20180525,2324,20180705,2648,20180707,2675,20180815,2774,20180903,2844,20181015,3041,20181106,3707,20190327,2934,20190905,3290,20191119,8756,20210121,7146,20210411,6773,20210423,6718,20210424,6682,20210425,6627,20210426,6582,20210427,6247,20210506,6207,20210508,6081,20210511,5929,20210514,5541,20210525,5469,20210526
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-generate markdown lists and CSV: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/Area51Scraper.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Area51Scraper.py</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Graphical representation</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Graph of stats"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" alt="Graph of stats" title="Graph of stats" /></a></p>
<p>Graph script: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/StackExchange3DP_6.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackExchange3DP_6.py</a></p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<p>It's pretty manageable right now due to the low question rate, but I think maybe ~3% of all questions this site will get, forever, will be "what's the best printer" or "what printer should I buy" type questions. They're mostly coming from people who don't know enough about 3DP to articulate their requirements, so they're difficult to help and very unfocused. Is there a better way to handle this than locking them as they come up? </p>
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>As you suggest yourself, ordering test prints of some model is one way to do it. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.3dhubs.com">3D Hubs</a> and <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/">MakeXYZ</a> allows you to get your model printed by hobbyists and small businesses for a fair price. Both sites also allow you to order prints based on printer type, which I believe is what you may be looking for.</p>
<p>On 3D Hubs, visit on of the <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/trends">trend reports</a>, and select the printer you want a sample from. Similarly, on MakeXYZ, <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/3dprinters/">search local makers</a> for your desired printer.</p>
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<p>I stumbled across this forum/group, <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/english-forum-original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Original Prusa i3 MMU2S & MMU2</a>, amongst all of the other <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa printers forums</a> on the <a href="https://blog.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusaprinters blog</a>, which seems fairly active. </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2-user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles-.../" rel="nofollow noreferrer">User mods - OctoPrint, enclosures, nozzles, ...</a> page seems like it might be what you are looking for.</p>
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<p>You can learn a lot just by reading the forums. I'll just list a few that are quite popular...</p>
<p><a href="http://forums.reprap.org/" rel="nofollow">Reprap Forums</a> - Has a ton of information on DIY printers including build logs and posts dealing with many issues.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.soliforum.com" rel="nofollow">Soliforum</a> - Large user base with lots of information. Not sure what it's standing is now that Solidoodle is gone but I'm sure the forum will stick around.</p>
<p><a href="http://forum.seemecnc.com/" rel="nofollow">SeeMeCNC</a> - Support forum for SeeMeCNC, has a lot of information for Delta printers and also other printers.</p>
<p>There aren't many books that I know of...Make magazine has done a few issues on 3D printing that you could try to obtain. I'm not sure what your idea of building a printer is, do you want to design your own or follow someone's instructions and put one together? Designing one would require some basic hardware and engineering knowledge.</p>
<p>All that said, the best learning experience would be buying a kit and learning as you go. You'll never read in a book what you will learn from having your own printer.</p>
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<p>This question is unfortunately, not a good fit for this site, as it stands, for as you say it is opinion based. However, it is great to see that you are getting kids into a relatively new technology (yes, I know it has been around for years, but it is still seen as new to <em>big media</em> and the general public). </p>
<p><strike>My answer doesn't provide you with any actual designs, as you asked for.</strike> However, just to add an idea or two that I have been thinking about recently, in order to engage kids:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Have you thought about using 3D printing pens (as side projects to the main feature of the printer)? Although I'm not so sure that the fumes at such close proximity would be that great, unless using PLA. That really would show close up the additive process.</p></li>
<li><p>Also, there is a lot of useful sites to be found on <a href="https://www.google.co.th/search?q=T3d%20printing%20for%20kids" rel="nofollow noreferrer">google</a> (which you have probably seen), such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.kidscodecs.com/what-is-3d-printing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">kidscodecs - What is 3D printing?</a></li>
<li>All3DP has <a href="https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printed-toys-kids-3d-printing-toys/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3D Printed Toys – 11 Ideas for Children of all Ages</a>, but these <em>seem</em> to need to be purchased.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Alternative applications for kids, from <a href="https://3dprint.com/159445/best-cad-for-kids/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Best CAD Software for Kid Creators</a>, that might be worth considering if Fusion 360 doesn't float their <strike>Benchy</strike> boat: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://appsforkids.solidworks.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Solidworks Apps for Kids</a>,</li>
<li>SketchUp </li>
<li>123D Design</li>
<li>Tinkercad; </li>
<li>LeoCAD</li>
<li>Leopoly</li>
<li>BlocksCAD</li>
<li>3D Slash</li>
<li>Some other ideas from <a href="https://3dprint.com/tag/3d-design-app-for-kids/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3dPrint.com - 3d design app for kids</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Maybe, as all kids seem to have iPhones, or what have you, these days, how about an App for kids upon which they can play with a design, and then print it later? Such an app would probably provide examples for them to get started with. One such app is the <a href="https://toymaker.astroprint.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Toy Maker by AstroPrint</a> - although that may require a commercial printer, I'm not sure. However, other such apps for smart phones probably are out there. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>As for examples, there are <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/tag:kids_toy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">42 kids</a> toys tagged on Thingiverse, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2238123" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Save the last Unicorn [Game]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2855568" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cartoon Weiner Dog</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2124806" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lily Bobtail (Peter Rabbit Series)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:368229" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Grand Hillar</a></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/El7xY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Grand Hillar"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/El7xY.png" alt="Grand Hillar" title="Grand Hillar"></a></p>
<p>Also to take from IronEagle's idea, some fidget spinners:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2313626" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fidget Spinner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2285700" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kid Sized Generic Spinner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2245460" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10mm Nut Fidget Spinner</a></li>
</ul>
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<p>Sometimes, "don't try to do what you're trying to do" is the only valid answer, see e.g. <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem">XY problem</a>.</p>
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<p>Things like Uservoice are great for generic suggestions and even finding bugs but they rarely answer your specific questions/concerns because that's not what they're there to do.</p>
<p>I also don't think they're that good at keeping a community together. Seriously. Pushing your users to another site where they have limited interest isn't in my handbook for cultivating communities. </p>
<p>You want:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>... to keep users on <em>your</em> site. Pop-in JS things are <em>okay</em> if branded well. But they might still have to log in and then there's the problem of...</p></li>
<li><p>... to keep them involved in problems they raise. If somebody raises feedback, raise some back at them. Trap them in the process. Ask them more questions about what they feel is right or why they feel something was wrong in the first place.</p></li>
<li><p>... to make giving feedback desirable. One of the reasons SO works so well is its points system. Points mean prizes (or status and power, here) and that's a great way to make people want to keep going at it. Some users will just care and incentives just sweeten the deal but most users won't really care enough without the prospect of benefiting from it some how.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Just to skip back to the point that external services are too generic for directed feedback. As a developer, you sometimes need to ask specific questions to know when something needs changing and this feedback usually needs to be asked at very specific points, usually after a task.</p>
<p>Stick feedback questions <em>on your site</em> at the end of tasks. Eg if a user posts a new something-or-other, at the end of the process, stick an unmissable box in there, asking them how it was for them. You can ask relevant questions and you'll catch more problems because people have just done the task (opposed to them noticing your feedback tab 10 minutes later when they've forgotten half of it).</p>
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<p>Welcome to the fantastic, sometimes frustrating but most often glorious world of 3D printing David! :)</p>
<p>Your question is really very very broad, but here's my contribution to make your first steps a success. First of all: I don't have experience with the Robo R2, but judging from the specs available online, I would say that you got a machine that take care of most of the troubles beginners encounter when starting out (e.g.: levelling the bed) and has a few features that allow you to print more reliably/with better quality (heated bed, enclosure, possibility for a second extruder).</p>
<p>Give a hug to whoever made the gift to you! ;)</p>
<p>I like to think to 3D printing as a process that involves 4 phases (well, normally several iteration of them as <em>prototyping</em> is a thing):</p>
<ul>
<li>Designing (creating the mesh, i.e. the shape of the object you want to print)</li>
<li>Slicing (creating GCODE, i.e. the file with the step-by-step instructions for moving your printer nozzle in space, extruding the plastic, controlling temperatures and cooling, etc...)</li>
<li>Printing (the actual process of having your printer running that GCODE)</li>
<li>Post-processing (finishing the piece, by for example removing support material, sanding, vapor-smoothing the surface, painting, etc...)</li>
</ul>
<p>Technology in the 3D printing world is moving so fast that printed information tends to get outdated quickly, and the Internet is often the best source of information. So in the following bits I will mention the the source of information that I use[d] for myself, of which many are online rather than in print.</p>
<p><strong>DESIGN</strong></p>
<p>Broadly speaking, there are two kind of designs one can do: <strong>decorative</strong> or <strong>functional</strong>. Decorative designs are those in which the final object will essentially sit still on a shelf or be handled very gently (e.g.: a model of the Tour Eiffel, a miniature for RPG gaming), functional designs are those in which the final part will have to bear a load or perform some sort of mechanical work (e.g.: a drone, a shelf bracket, a pipe adapter...).</p>
<p>Both designs need to take into consideration the physical limitations of FDM printers such as the fact that the nozzle is round and with a fixed diameter, or the fact that molten plastic needs to rest onto something, thus the need for support.</p>
<p>Additionally, functional design requires an understanding of the physical properties of 3D MFD printed parts (hint: they are anisotropic, so their properties differs along their axis). If you are interested in functional designing a book that I can highly recommend is <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Functional-Design-3D-Printing-Designing/dp/0692883215/" rel="noreferrer">Functional Design for 3D Printing by Cliff Smyth</a>. It is concise, accessible and full of information you'll be using from your very first design.</p>
<p>In terms of tools, for decorative, organic forms, you will probably want to use a program like <a href="https://www.blender.org/" rel="noreferrer">Blender</a>, that manipulate meshes directly, while for functional designs will probably turn to CAD software, like for examaple <a href="https://www.freecadweb.org/" rel="noreferrer">FreeCAD</a> that operate on a "model" and let you export the finished part as a mesh at the very end.</p>
<p>Both Blender and FreeCAD are free software (like in: "free speech") but commercial versions do exist as well (most notably from Autodesk).</p>
<p>Blender is professional grade software with a very steep learning curve and I would suggest to take an structured online course like <a href="https://www.udemy.com/blendertutorial/learn/v4/overview" rel="noreferrer">this one</a> about it, rather than trying to learn it the DIY way.</p>
<p>FreeCAD belongs to a category of CAD programmes that operate on a well defined, well understood, set of principles (so it works similarly to OnShape and Fusion360 for example) and it is much easier to learn. In my experience CAD modelling is best learnt by understanding the very basic, and then just researching further information as you go, according to the needs of your project as CAD design is full of small specific operations that is useful to know only if you actually need them (e.g.: how to draw a screw thread, or to perform a loft). I started out with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HEvhclR4-o&list=PL6fZ68Cq3L8k0JhxnIVjZQN26cn9idJrj" rel="noreferrer">this series of video tutorials</a> by the late Roland Frank (a celebrated contributor to the FreeCAD community), but there are tons of other tutorial should you choose to go with a commercial product.</p>
<p><strong>SLICING</strong></p>
<p>Slicing is as much an art as it is science. While the actual work of generating the GCODE is automated and requires just the click of a button, there are a myriad of settings that are mutually interdependent in their effect. For example: filament temperature, movement speed, cooling fan, retraction and coasting all affect oozing, but each of them also affect other things (bridging, layer adhesion, curling, nominal overextrusion, etc...).</p>
<p>Also: settings differs for each filament material, each brand, and sometimes even different spools from the same material/brand. Moreover, you may wish to tune them depending to what you are printing (maybe you are printing a finely detailed miniature and want to go slower to reduce vibration, or maybe you are printing a torsion bar and want to increase the temperature for increasing layer adhesion, for example...).</p>
<p>IMO the best way to understand how settings affect your print is playing around with calibration towers (<a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1956512" rel="noreferrer">example</a>) and torture tests (<a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1363023" rel="noreferrer">example</a>).</p>
<p>Calibration towers work by printing the same thing on top of each other but changing at each repetition a specific setting (like filament temperature, or extrusion multiplier). You will then visually inspect the final piece and evaluate how the print quality changed relative to that parameter.</p>
<p>Torture tests work by putting in the same piece a number of features that are hard for the printer to print correctly (thin walls, bridges, overhangs, to name a few).</p>
<p>A specific model that is sort of gold standard as a basic test is the <a href="http://www.3dbenchy.com/" rel="noreferrer">3D benchy</a>. The good thing about it is that it comes with a full website that also tell you how you can evaluate the print. However, the benchy - differently than torture tests - is not designed to let you discover the limits of your printer, it is more of a quality-control test. If you can print a 3D benchy, you should be good to go for printing "regular" objects.</p>
<p>Also, at least in the two most common free-as-in-freedom slicers (<a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software" rel="noreferrer">Cura</a> and <a href="https://github.com/prusa3d/Slic3r/releases" rel="noreferrer">slic3r Prusa Edition</a>) each setting comes with some explanatory text while hovering on it, that helps a lot understanding what that setting does).</p>
<p><strong>PRINTING</strong></p>
<p>How much you can affect the actual printing process depends from how "open source" is your printer, and if it uses standard components or not. Consumer-grade printers get often upgraded/modded to improve print quality or tweak them for a specific job/material. Typical upgrades are extruder upgrades, stepper motor upgrades, vibration dampeners, different sensors, etc...</p>
<p>Each printer is unique, but normally you can find abundant information wherever the community of owners of a specific model gathers.</p>
<p>I would also advise to subscribe to some good youtube channel about 3D printing like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasSanladerer" rel="noreferrer">Tom's</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMakersMuse" rel="noreferrer">Makers Muse</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_7aK9PpYTqt08ERh1MewlQ" rel="noreferrer">Joel's</a>, and to visit sites like <a href="https://all3dp.com/" rel="noreferrer">All3dp</a> regularly. As I mentioned, 3D printing tech changes constantly, and it is good to keep tabs on new materials, new software, new components, etc...</p>
<p><strong>POST-PROCESSING</strong></p>
<p>This is entirely dependent from the material you used for the print, its size, and its intended use, but I wanted to mention this nonetheless as there are amazing things you can do with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj53P2YzYGM" rel="noreferrer">acetone on ABS</a>, lot of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vgynnYzo08" rel="noreferrer">elbow grease on PLA</a> or the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj1kgFHo3sU" rel="noreferrer">use of an airbrush</a>... so you know 3D printing does not end with the print! ;)</p>
<p>Hope this helps you at least a bit. Again: welcome to the the 3D printing world! :)</p>
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<p><a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/244366/how-do-i-tell-if-my-thermistors-are-10k-or-100k">This question</a> was migrated to electronics.SE. To me the migration makes no sense:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The question deals with a problem that is relevant to the users of this site</p></li>
<li><p>This site can provide a more specialized answer than electronics.SE can provide: you don't just need to know whether it's a 10k or 100k thermistor, but also figure out the correct thermistor table in your firmware. electronics.SE does not have knowledge of 3D printer firmware, which is the issue underlying this question.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Obviously there's some overlap between Arduino/Electronics/3D printing, but what determines whether a question should be migrated?</p>
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<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>I completely agree! I just posted <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">my own reminder</a>, focusing more on efforts to get us out of Beta.</p>
<p>I'm sorry you can feel discouraged sometimes, I think a lot of users around the Stack Exchange network can feel that way at times.</p>
<p>I think people sometimes forget that an up-vote to an answer isn't necessarily that it was helpful to you, specifically. But, rather that <strong>the answer is a good <em>quality</em> answer</strong> and <strong>will be <em>useful</em> to others</strong> as well!</p>
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<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
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<p>Well done for bringing this up. I was looking at those numbers too. </p>
<p>Referring to <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/264/what-does-it-take-to-get-out-of-beta-stage/265#265">this post</a>, almost all of the stats are improving (albeit) slowly, except for one, the ApQ </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are users put off by an expectation that a wrong answer might lose them rep?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems that way. Without wishing to provide a link to the actual comment, I noticed a comment the other day that suggested as much, and a nicely detailed comment was left instead. </p>
<p>To be fair, I feel that way sometimes, and often hesitate (maybe rightly so to save myself from spamming the site) in posting questions on SE.Meta, as there are a number of drive-by downvoters there<sup>1</sup>. Unless you have a definite bug that you are able to document clearly or have a well rounded proposal that can be implemented easily, then your question may end up downvoted. This is probably rightly so, TBH, in most cases, but nevertheless it can be discouraging.</p>
<p>If you don't have much hard-earned rep then you may be less willing to risk it by posting a informative answer, that only answers half the question. Is that a bad thing? Well, it is a double edged sword. It is a good thing, because that promotes good solid answers, but with the downside that you point out (a lack of multiple answers per question).</p>
<p>What can we do? Probably, not much other than creating a small community by promoting a friendly environment and communicating more clearly... Inviting people to chat in the chatroom, being more welcoming (with Hi and welcome), actually helping people without the old "Did you google this?" immediately. All of these things help a lot. And which we seem to have developed of late. So we seem to be getting there.</p>
<p>I know that a number of members have already been adding answers to single answer questions as well as tackling the unanswered queue too. The more people that help the better...</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> Don't get me wrong, I looove (justified) downvotes, but I would like to know <em>why</em>.</p>
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<p>If someone has a question from one of those older sites, they should go ahead and ask it. But a wholesale importing of content from elsewhere is not really a desirable way to build this site. </p>
<p>There is a lot of ownership and careful curation that goes with vetting the content of this site. Questions imported from elsewhere would always have that air of odd, forgotten legacy content back-dated and <em>anonymous</em> with no owners or real-time vetting at all. If someone posts another answer or asks for some followup to one of these questions, no one will receive the notification. Essentially, we would be loading this site up with a lot of questions asked and answered a long time ago without imparting any of the benefits of reputation, ownership, or experience into the community that is supposed to take care of it.</p>
<p>That's why we don't do it.</p>
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<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
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<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
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<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/458/8884">Filled PLA</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/459/8884">Repair vs. Maintenance</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/456/8884">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/455/8884">Monoprice</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/457/8884">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/460/8884">Prusa</a></li>
</ul>
|
<p>I noticed that the most popular tag (82 questions tagged) is <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/3d-printer">3d-printer</a>, and that we also have a <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/3d-printing">3d-printing</a> tag (23 questions). These seem extremely redundant to me, given that they <em>should</em> apply to any question that is on-topic and thus serve no practical purpose. These tags are simply too broad.</p>
<p>The usage guidance for 3d-printer is quite board ("Questions about a specific brand, model, or type of 3D printer.") and 3d-printing does not even have one.</p>
<p>I would suggest to get rid of these tags. For comparison, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/tags">Stack Exchange</a> does not have a programming tag either. However, they do have various tags that end in "-programming", such as "functional-programming", "linear-programming", etc... Our equivalents would be fdm(-printing), sla(-printing),...</p>
|
<p>This tag has been removed from the system and made intrinsic. </p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/untagged">Please cleanup the questions that now have no tags...</a></p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p><strong>I say allow them.</strong> </p>
<p>To let you know what's out there, I work at <a href="http://hyrel3d.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hyrel</a>. </p>
<p>Our printers can take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lvN-aPYHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">spindle (milling) heads and additional axes</a>, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceUiuTixPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">diode</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/FnYDoNkgOrI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO2 lasers</a>, and they all operate on the same gcode - we tell people E is for Emit as well as Extrude. We even have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFY-IqDB_0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TIG welding</a> attachment. </p>
<p>We also run our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGeQmXNbNE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fadal CNC machines</a> on our printer software and firmware. </p>
<p>To many people this is a natural progression for a well-built 3D positioning system, and I encourage a broader definition.</p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
|
<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
|
<p>These are <strong>NOT</strong> the same in a manufacturing, which 3D printing is primarily considered a part of.</p>
<p>Post-Processing typically refers to additional steps that must/can be done to produce the nominally desired part. These steps can include deburr, grind, and other additive/subtractive processing on the physical part.</p>
<p>Post-Production typically refers to any steps that typically do not "produce" or alter the dimensions of the product. These steps can include final visual and dimensional inspection, packaging, and sometimes even shipment.</p>
<p>I would not recommend creating a synonym, but merely updating the definition of both terms.</p>
|
<p>I would like to nominate myself, <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark">Matt Clark</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark"><img src="http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/526476.png" width="208" height="58" alt="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" title="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" /></a></p>
<p>While I might not have the wildest credentials or reputation, I have been around the StackExchange network for a while (11/2012) and generally know my way around the sites.</p>
<p>Mostly active on StackOverflow, I answer when I can, and try and do my part to clean up the review queue: ~5000 review tasks; I plan on giving this site as much attention as I can.</p>
<p>I started <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">this 3D Printing proposal</a> just under a year ago on Area 51, and am either way, glad to see the day we made it to beta.</p>
|
<p>All printers are designed with an idea of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG" rel="nofollow">WYSIWYG</a> for sure. Depending on:</p>
<ul>
<li>printer - type/quality/settings/configuration/assembly precission</li>
<li>filament - type/quality/shrinkage</li>
<li>user skills - manual/using app proficiency</li>
<li>model complexity</li>
<li>environment conditions and so on</li>
</ul>
<p>you can get different results.</p>
<p>I venture to say users know their printers (after some time and by trials and errors) so they know how to manage dimensions to compensate all above so you will get this knowledge too.</p>
<p>Mathematical formula can describe shrinkage of the material, all other elements are very hard to describe (mathematically) in a general way.</p>
<p>Of course someone can simplify it and say: more money you spend better effects you'll get. It's sometimes true ;)</p>
<p>So all your modular things will be better and better if you will increase (what is to be increased) in above points especially "user skills".</p>
<p>Is engineering paramount? It depends of whay you gonna create. If your modular things have to lock itself, have to have threads, screws and such stuff then this is engineering. Is it the most important part of the design? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>I would say 3D printing moved engineering to next level. I'm talking about <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:258201" rel="nofollow">this</a> or <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:249341" rel="nofollow">this</a>. Is it still art or engineering? :)</p>
<p>This is my receipt:</p>
<p><em>think > imagine > design > rethink > redesign > give it a try > get back to thinking</em></p>
<p>good luck</p>
|
<p>My guess is that it is a correlation between which tags are most often used together.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>Question A tagged with tag1, tag2</li>
<li>Question B tagged with tag1, tag3</li>
<li>Question C tagged with tag1, tag2</li>
</ul>
<p>Then it's natural to assume that tag2 "is related to" tag1.</p>
<p>I would say the best place to learn would be <a href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780596529321" rel="noreferrer">O'Reilly's Programming Collective Intelligence book</a>.</p>
|
<p>In past few months, there are a devastatingly few number of users that cast up votes, and many of users aren't coming back to site, and existing users don't have so much reputation, because no one is voting up great questions / answers.</p>
<p>So... let me start like this..</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users?tab=Voters&filter=all">THIS IS REALLY DEVASTATING</a></p>
<p>We all need to vote up users and try to answer their questions, so we can get more users answering / asking questions. Main reason I'm writing this post is because this is great site, but we need new regular users that are going to vote and ask questions. I think it all came down to 20-30 active users, and rest of users aren't so active.</p>
<p>I'm relatively new to site. I've decided to use it because it helped me a lot, and I'm doing my best to answer the questions. My main concern is also that my answers also don't get any vote up.</p>
<p>So... I'll let it all out. I think that main concern that we need to focus on is motivation.</p>
<p>WE NEED TO MOTIVATE OTHERS TO VOTE. And we all can do that if we vote other users up.</p>
<p>That's from my perspective. Even one vote up motivates you to go further.</p>
<p>I think that I explained what I mean. :) It's all in VOTE UP!</p>
|
<p>I completely agree! I just posted <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">my own reminder</a>, focusing more on efforts to get us out of Beta.</p>
<p>I'm sorry you can feel discouraged sometimes, I think a lot of users around the Stack Exchange network can feel that way at times.</p>
<p>I think people sometimes forget that an up-vote to an answer isn't necessarily that it was helpful to you, specifically. But, rather that <strong>the answer is a good <em>quality</em> answer</strong> and <strong>will be <em>useful</em> to others</strong> as well!</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>For common problems that get asked a lot, I wouldn't just close these as <em>too broad.</em> A better solution is to create a <strong>canonical post</strong> like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://superuser.com/a/260078/697"><strong>How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?</strong></a></p>
<p>These attract a <em>lot</em> of users. </p>
<p>The goal is to create a step-by-step trouble-shooting guide to explain what lights, nozzles, and sneedles to look when you're kwigger isn't going <em>zong.</em></p>
<p>And don't just answer with a hyperlink to some other discussion group somewhere. Do everything you can to really overkill it. Write a detailed, step-by-step, ultra-clear guide, so when zillions of people with this problem go searching, you stand a good chance of the best possible answer on the web. </p>
<p>This is one of those opportunities to attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.</p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<p>On a heavy-traffic site like Stack Overflow, I would only update the "last seen" variable when a user actually <em>does</em> something. Lurking around and reading questions and answers shouldn't count as a user being "seen" by the system. Asking and answering questions, or voting on them should be actions that update when a user is last seen.</p>
<p>I won't talk about the implementation details because that's already covered by other answers (and I would probably get it wrong).</p>
|
<p>That sounds suspiciously like my Stack Overflow reputation score.</p>
|
<p>The tags <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> are in fact referring to exactly the same thing!</p>
<p>Furthermore, the meaning of support can be interpreted differently (i.e. helping out).</p>
<p>I support renaming/merging the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> labelled questions to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>. This implies that the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag is removed and it could be reinstated at any time by new questions. Users with enough reputation can remove the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag if it gets recreated and we could create a synonym later. </p>
<p>In my humble opinion, the best solution may be to rename <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/supports" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'supports'" rel="tag">supports</a> and then make it a synonym for <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>!</p>
|
<p>There is a whole lot in the literature on voting systems, and a good bit of game theory can be applied. The issue that's difficult is that it's inherently probabilistic; you pick certain patterns as indicating <em>probable</em> fraud, and detect or exclude them; by doing so, you also exclude the possibility that someone is voting that way for innocent, or at least non-fraudulent reasons.</p>
<p>Consider, eg, someone who reads my deathless prose, develops an instant man-crush on me, and goes through all my answers voting each one up. I've got more than 30 answers so it would take a few days. Now, by assumption, this isn't my reputation-whoring sock-puppet, it's a person who for their own reasons, however unwise, has devoting all their voting to me for days at a time.</p>
<p>Is this fraud? No, but it would be detected as, and probably treated as, fraud.</p>
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
<p>This question may require migration to Meta.SE, as it could be a site-wide "bug", but I thought that I would test the waters here, to see if there is an obvious explanation.</p>
<p>I noticed that a question of mine had been modified, on April 16, by "Song Khmer" <strike>in the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/unanswered">unanswered questions list</a>, when sorted by votes</strike><sup>1</sup>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nY7mi.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nY7mi.png" alt="Modification listed"></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, when checking the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/posts/3015/revisions">revision history</a>, the April 16 edit, by <em>Song Khmer</em>, is not shown. The last modification was the "https everywhere" edit, three days prior:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/p5B9M.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/p5B9M.png" alt="No apparent modification"></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I've not noticed the behaviour before. What is going on? Is it a bug, or something really obvious that I can't see? </p>
<p>Was it a rejected edit? If the latter, then should it really be shown in the Unanswered question list? Shouldn't the modifications listed in the Unanswered questions list, actually only be accepted modifications/edits?</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> The unanswered list, and the sorting, are irrelevant to the actual issue.</p>
|
<p>Regarding the "invisible modification", there is technically a modification made multiple times by the user <strong>Song Khmer</strong> (now destroyed). This user was posting nonsense to your question by copying text from your question and posting it as an answer.</p>
<p>The reason you probably did not see this in the revision history is:</p>
<p>1) it wasn't a direct edit to your question</p>
<p>2) I believe only moderators can see deleted posts.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VAiLs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VAiLs.png" alt="enter image description here"></a> <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2VAiL.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">click here for full view</a> of deleted posts</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that anytime someone posts an answer or edits your question, the post raises the modified flag. In this case, when the user was posting answers it would properly flag the post. But, the flag remained even after the answers were deleted (there were 3 answers).</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Click on your <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065/wololo">profile link</a> and look at the URLs for Stats, Recent, Response, etc.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065?sort=recent#sort-top">https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065?sort=recent#sort-top</a></li>
<li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065?sort=stats#sort-top">https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065?sort=stats#sort-top</a></li>
</ul>
<p>with no sort it defaults to stats</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065">https://stackoverflow.com/users/52065</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Optional paramters should be query parameters</strong></p>
|
<p>Another wild guess: SelectionChanged</p>
|
<p>This only happens with conflicts - basically svn tried to merge the change in, but (roughly speaking) saw the change as:</p>
<p>Add</p>
<pre><code>2008-08-06 Mike Stone <myemail>
* changed_file: Details.
</code></pre>
<p>before</p>
<pre><code>2008-08-06 Someone Else <their_email>
</code></pre>
<p>And it couldn't find the Someone Else line while doing the merge, so chucked that bit in for context when putting in the conflict. If it was a non-conflicting merge only the changes you expected would have been applied.</p>
|
<p>The creators of the site wrote about <a href="https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/12/vote-fraud-and-you/">Vote Fraud and You</a>.</p>
|
<p><a href="http://twiki.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TWiki</a> automatically merges <a href="http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki.SimultaneousEdits" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Simultaneous Edits</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>TWiki allows multiple simultaneous edits of the same topic, and then merges the different changes automatically. You probably won't even notice this happening unless there is a conflict that cannot be merged automatically. In this case, you may see TWiki inserting "change marks" into the text to highlight conflicts between your edits and another person's. These change marks are only used if you edit the same part of a topic as someone else, and they indicate what the text used to look like, what the other person's edits were, and what your edits were.</p>
<p>TWiki will warn if you attempt to edit a topic that someone else is editing. It will also warn if a merge was required during a save. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There was also some <a href="http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Codev/DakarMergeModel" rel="nofollow noreferrer">documentation</a> from that feature being developed detailing how it would behave.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The basic principles I used in coding up the mergeing algorithm were:</p>
<ol>
<li>If it's possible to merge without using conflict markers, do so.</li>
<li>If it's possible to merge using conflict markers, do so.</li>
<li>If it's not possible to merge, then the most recent checkin wins. </li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>It's worth noting that TWiki has a similar feature to Stack Overflow for collapsing subsequent revisions by the same user within a certain time limit and this <a href="http://develop.twiki.org/~twiki4/cgi-bin/view/Bugs/Item1897" rel="nofollow noreferrer">caused a bug when happening in conjunction with a merge</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>User A edits topic</li>
<li>User A saves rev N</li>
<li>User B edits topic, picks up rev N</li>
<li>User A edits topic again, picks up rev N</li>
<li>User A saves changes; save sees that the change is within the ReplceIfEditiedWithin? window, <strong>so does not increment the rev number</strong></li>
<li>User B saves, code sees that <strong>the rev number on disc has not changed since they started editing</strong> so doesn't detect a need to merge. </li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>Also worth noting is that TWiki will warn the second user that the topic is being edited:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So I invented the concept of "leases". When a topic is edited, a lease is taken on the topic for a fixed period of time (default 1h). If someone else tries to edit, they are told that there is already a lease on the topic, but that doesn't stop them from editing. It isn't a lock, it's just a way of advising them. Mergeing is still the prime resolution mechanism; the lease is purely advisory. If a user - or a plugin - chooses to back away from a topic because someone has a lease out on it, well, that's up to the plugin.</p>
<p>The descriptive comment in TWiki.cfg is as follows:</p>
<pre><code> # When a topic is edited, the user takes a "lease" on that topic.
# If another user tries to also edit the topic while the lease
# is still active, they will get a warning. The warning text will
# be different depending on whether the lease has "expired" or
# not i.e. if it was taken out more than LeaseLength seconds ago.
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>note that the lease terminology is only for developers, not end users.</p>
|
<p>Actually the problem was probably Firefox. When I clicked on <em>Answer you own question</em> here on Stackoverflow, I had the very same problem: My request, wasn't processed properly. I was sent back to the normal question view, without having the ability to submit my own answer.</p>
<p>So after a restart of Firefox everything worked fine.</p>
<p>(I also reinstalled Ruby and Rails at the same time, so I can't be sure, if it was Firefox for sure).</p>
|
<p>I think that using before_filter on the edit action is the least obtrusive. </p>
<p>The referer should be reliable enough ... simply have a default in the case of no referer being available (say: someone bookmarked the edit page) and you should be fine. </p>
|
<p>I have just edited a new post, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4153/help-understanding-bridge-settings">Help understanding bridge settings</a>, so that the video would be "inlined" and playable in the post itself<sup>1</sup>.</p>
<p>However, the video does not show up, and only the raw link (<code>https://youtu.be/HaeCBru3mOI</code>) is displayed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/f7jmC.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/f7jmC.png" alt="Only raw link is visible" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is the markup:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ukkfG.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ukkfG.png" alt="Markup of post" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have used the <em>same</em> markup method, for inlining the video clip as this post, <a href="https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/34121/is-atc-communication-subject-to-fcc-profanity-regulations">Is ATC communication subject to FCC profanity regulations?</a>, on SE.Aviation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kgTCg.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/kgTCg.png" alt="Markup on SE.Aviation" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>and there the video clip is inlined:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LrHrI.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LrHrI.png" alt="Post on SE.Aviation showing inline video clip" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<h3>TL;DR</h3>
<p>Is video inlining disabled on SE.3D Printing, or is it because we are still beta?</p>
<p>If it can be enabled , then should/could it be enabled?</p>
<p>I personally think it would be useful to enable it, and save a few mouse clicks (and RSI) having to open the video in another tab/window etc. What do other people think?</p>
<hr />
<p><sup>1</sup> See <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/121209/allow-embedded-html5-youtube-video?rq=1">Allow embedded HTML5 YouTube video</a></p>
|
<p>Per answer to <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/296832/what-are-the-limitations-in-beta">What are the limitations in Beta</a></p>
<p>"Inline videos is a feature that is off by default on all sites and only turned on if the community thinks it's necessary to improve the quality of a good portion of their question base." </p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I know that you're currently using jQuery, but what if you defined the onclick handler inline. Then you could do:</p>
<pre><code> <a href='/link/for/non-js-users.htm' onclick='loadContent(5);return false;'>
Article 5</a>
</code></pre>
|
<p>Are you sure you're interpreting the output correctly? If you print the file contents directly to your page output, a browser won't display text inside angle brackets because it thinks it's a tag. Serve your content as <code>text/plain</code>, or use your browser's "view source" command to make sure you're looking at what's really there, and not just what the browser chose to display.</p>
|
<p>Why not use the <a href="http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_noscript.asp" rel="noreferrer"><code><noscript></code></a> tag? That's what it's intended for.</p>
|
<p>Perhaps this has already been answered before @ Joomla forums itself.</p>
<p><a href="http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=431&t=272547" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=431&t=272547</a></p>
|
<p>You need to turn off showing whitespace characters. Menu: Edit > Advanced > View White Space.</p>
|
<p>Talk about having a big "duh" moment! I found the answer after some trial & error:</p>
<pre><code><textarea spellcheck="false"></textarea>
</code></pre>
|
<p>Try the following:</p>
<pre><code><style type="text/css">
div.test { width: 160px; font: 8pt arial,helvetica,sans-serif; border: 1px solid #999; overflow:hidden; }
div.test ul { margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none;}
div.test ul li { margin: 0 0 4px; }
div.test ul li a { display: inline-block; }
div.test ul li a { display: block; padding: 0 5px; line-height: 20px; color: #000; text-decoration: none; position: relative; z-index: 2; }
div.test ul li b { background-color: #c00; height: 20px; width: 20px; position: absolute; display: block; z-index: 1; }
</style>
<div class="test">
<ul>
<li><b></b><a href="#"><em>#1: premature brake wear</em></a></li>
<li><b></b><a href="#"><em>#2: squeaky brakes</em></a></li>
<li><b></b><a href="#"><em>#3: bad gas mileage</em></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</code></pre>
<p>I couldn't fix the problem you were having any cleaner than what you already have (the other fix is to float the LI's and clear them) however, I am giving you an alternative way of doing this. I admit it's the cleanest HTML, but it does neatly sidestep the problem.</p>
|
<p>We have, now, assertained that <em>inlined videos</em> (for want of a better description) are currently turned off (disabled) for SE 3D Printing, but can be turned on at any time, and there is no need to wait for the site to exit Beta, see <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/226/is-the-inlining-videos-capability-turned-off-on-this-site">Is the "inlining videos" capability turned off on this site?</a></p>
<p>The question now is, should we enable it?</p>
<p>I have seen a few (2?) cases where the OP has linked to a video in order to succinctly describe their issue. As Ecnerwal points out in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4153/help-understanding-bridge-settings#answer-4157">their answer</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4153/help-understanding-bridge-settings">Help understanding bridge settings</a>, watching videos, and in particular having to click on a link to watch them, can be somewhat onerous. Having the video inlined, <em>might</em> make it less so.</p>
<p>BTW, I don't know what [backend or UX] disadvantages there would be to switching it on, although there are these <a href="http://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/226/is-the-inlining-videos-capability-turned-off-on-this-site#answer-400">cautionary tales</a>.</p>
|
<p>Per answer to <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/296832/what-are-the-limitations-in-beta">What are the limitations in Beta</a></p>
<p>"Inline videos is a feature that is off by default on all sites and only turned on if the community thinks it's necessary to improve the quality of a good portion of their question base." </p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<h1>Vote!</h1>
<p>Private Betas love, love, <em>love</em> votes. Without votes, it's difficult to attain privileges, get rewards, and help push us out to public beta.</p>
<h1>Ask Questions!</h1>
<p>I know you said this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But here's the catch. "Easy" isn't defined. If you have an "easy" question, but it is specific, high-quality, and to the point, and you can show some effort in it, then, please, go ahead and ask it!</p>
<h1>Participate!</h1>
<p>You have a voice in our meta discussions as well. You also have the authority to suggest edits, to posts, tag wikis, and tag excerpts. They also get you +2 rep for each that is approved, which can help bring you more afloat. You can also give your opinion in scope, by casting close and reopen votes as well :)</p>
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
<p>As Steve Krug recommends in <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0321344758" rel="nofollow noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Don't Make Me Think</a>, get rid of the question marks that pop in the user's head when they come to your site. If it is confusing it isn't likely to be helpful.</p>
<p>Although an interesting concept, in this context I think it is more confusing than useful. If I see "answered 18 mins ago" and "answered 17 mins ago" I have a perfect frame of reference. Also this is something I see on many other sites so it does not require me to learn anything new.</p>
<p>On the other hand if I see two comments that contain "5 mins later" and "6 mins later" I don't have a clear frame of reference. The first might be after the original question, but the other? Is it 6 minutes after that previous comment? Or 6 minutes after the original question, thus one minute after the other comment? Finally, this isn't what you typically see on a site so there will be a moment of "huh?" follow by either "wtf?" or "cool!". Not a reaction that should be left to chance.</p>
|
<p>The tags <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> are in fact referring to exactly the same thing!</p>
<p>Furthermore, the meaning of support can be interpreted differently (i.e. helping out).</p>
<p>I support renaming/merging the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> labelled questions to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>. This implies that the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag is removed and it could be reinstated at any time by new questions. Users with enough reputation can remove the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag if it gets recreated and we could create a synonym later. </p>
<p>In my humble opinion, the best solution may be to rename <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/supports" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'supports'" rel="tag">supports</a> and then make it a synonym for <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>!</p>
|
<p>I think a direct insertion with a progressive (and slow) change of background color would do the trick... I find it especially effective on SO itself.</p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<p>It all depends on how it would be implemented.<br>It could be a good thing, but just in case I would like it to be optional:)</p>
|
<p>I can't find an answer to this question on the "mother" meta website; hope this is not related to my choice of words in the search box. </p>
<p>The statistics of the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/">3D Printing</a> on <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">Area51</a> show that only few items (questions and visits per day) are not up to par and need work. Do those need to reach a level of let's say "okay" before the site can loose the Beta stage?</p>
<p>I'm interested to know what would be the requirements to get out of the Beta stage.</p>
<hr>
<p>Update September 5, 2019:</p>
<p>It appears that the <em>"visits per day"</em> is <em>"excellent"</em> with close to three thousand visits. The "questions per day" still lack behind with a 3.0 value (<em>"needs work"</em>) while more than 5 is considered "healthy". All further stats seem to be <em>"okay"</em> or <em>"excellent"</em>.</p>
|
<p>This post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">3D Printing SE Beta Status</a>, by tbm0115 highlights the <em>three main</em> sticking points (IMHO clearer than the Area 51 page):</p>
<ul>
<li>Questions per day</li>
<li><strike>Users vs Reputation</strike></li>
<li><strike>Visits per day</strike></li>
</ul>
<p>Once those reach the required levels then that should be it. So, there is quite a way to go...</p>
<p>The stats can be seen here, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">3D Printing Area51 site</a>:</p>
<h3>Stats progress</h3>
<p>Note: Only <em>changes</em> are shown (no date information)</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strike><strong>2.1</strong></strike> -> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike> 2.4</li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strike><strong>96 %</strong></strike> -> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike> 87 %</li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>56/150</strong></strike> -> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike> 359/150</li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>4/10</strong></strike> -> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup> 27/10</li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>3/5</strong></strike> -> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup> 14/5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strike><strong>2.0</strong></strike> -> 1.9</li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strike><strong>753</strong></strike> -> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike> 5469</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>*</sup> This change in the number of users with <em>X</em> reputation is, in part, due to the move from +5 to +10 reputation for upvoted questions on <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/">13 Nov 2019</a> (see also <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/391250/4424636">Upvotes on questions will now be worth the same as upvotes on answers</a>).</p>
<hr />
<h3>Alternative Stats presentation</h3>
<p>Latest statistic shown in bold -> chronological history shown thereafter</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strong>2.4</strong> -> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike></li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strong>87 %</strong> -> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike></li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strong>359/150</strong> -> <strike>56/150</strike> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike></li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strong>27/10</strong> -> <strike>4/10</strike> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strong>14/5</strong> -> <strike>3/5</strike> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strong>1.9</strong> -> <strike>2.0</strike></li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strong>5469</strong> -> <strike>753</strike> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>Additional points of note</h3>
<p>The stats above aren't really the be all to end all... there are a few other considerations that I came across here, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community/1355#1355">in this answer</a>, to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">“Graduation” of this Community</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A number of 10k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 3 ) are required to access mod tools</li>
<li>A number of 3k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 10 ) are required to be able to fully vote</li>
</ol>
<h3>The final hurdle</h3>
<p>The main sticking point, according to this meta post on Ethereum, <a href="https://ethereum.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/474/congratulations-ethereum-is-graduating">Congratulations! Ethereum is graduating!</a>, is 10 questions per day, which we are a long way from, and seems to be the last remaining issue. A link (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>) from the Ethereum meta post to Meta.SE states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a site starts to consistently receive 10 questions/day, we’ll consider it for graduation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>No graduation, but losing the Beta label...</h3>
<p>Apart from graduation, SE management has recognised that small sites (with an active community) struggle to reach the 10 questions/day consistently. For sites that have been waiting to get out of Beta by graduation for 7-8 years, SE has decided to drop the Beta label. Please see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331708/congratulations-to-our-29-oldest-beta-sites-theyre-now-no-longer-beta?cb=1">Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>CSV Format</h3>
<ul>
<li>Format: <code>heading,data,date,data,date,...,data,date</code></li>
<li>Date format: <code>YYYYMMDD</code></li>
</ul>
<pre><code>*Questions per day*,2.1,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.6,20180705,2.1,20180707,2.7,20180815,2.1,20180903,1.7,20181015,2,20181106,2.4,20190327,3.0,20190905,2.5,20191119,3.9,20210121,2.8,20210411,3.3,20210423,3.3,20210424,3,20210425,3,20210426,2.7,20210427,2,20210506,2,20210508,1.9,20210511,2.1,20210514,2.2,20210525,2.4,20210526
*Answer rate*,96,20170317,93,20180525,95,20180705,96,20180707,96,20180815,97,20180903,98,20181015,98,20181106,96,20190327,95,20190905,94,20191119,88,20210121,88,20210411,88,20210423,88,20210424,88,20210425,88,20210426,88,20210427,88,20210506,88,20210508,87,20210511,87,20210514,87,20210525,87,20210526
*200+ reputation*,56,20170317,103,20180525,113,20180705,139,20180707,144,20180815,151,20180903,161,20181015,164,20181106,179,20190327,194,20190905,282,20191119,351,20210121,358,20210411,358,20210423,358,20210424,358,20210425,358,20210426,358,20210427,358,20210506,358,20210508,358,20210511,358,20210514,359,20210525,359,20210526
*2,000+ reputation*,4,20170317,8,20180525,9,20180705,10,20180707,11,20180815,12,20180903,14,20181015,14,20181106,17,20190327,19,20190905,22,20191119,27,20210121,27,20210411,27,20210423,27,20210424,27,20210425,27,20210426,27,20210427,27,20210506,27,20210508,27,20210511,27,20210514,27,20210525,27,20210526
*3,000+ reputation*,3,20170317,4,20180525,6,20180705,7,20180707,7,20180815,7,20180903,7,20181015,8,20181106,9,20190327,11,20190905,12,20191119,14,20210121,14,20210411,14,20210423,14,20210424,14,20210425,14,20210426,14,20210427,14,20210506,14,20210508,14,20210511,14,20210514,14,20210525,14,20210526
*Answers per question*,2.0,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.9,20180705,1.9,20180707,1.9,20180815,1.9,20180903,1.9,20181015,1.9,20181106,1.9,20190327,1.9,20190905,1.9,20191119,1.9,20210121,1.9,20210411,1.9,20210423,1.9,20210424,1.9,20210425,1.9,20210426,1.9,20210427,1.9,20210506,1.9,20210508,1.9,20210511,1.9,20210514,1.9,20210525,1.9,20210526
*Visits per day*,753,20170317,4,20180525,2324,20180705,2648,20180707,2675,20180815,2774,20180903,2844,20181015,3041,20181106,3707,20190327,2934,20190905,3290,20191119,8756,20210121,7146,20210411,6773,20210423,6718,20210424,6682,20210425,6627,20210426,6582,20210427,6247,20210506,6207,20210508,6081,20210511,5929,20210514,5541,20210525,5469,20210526
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-generate markdown lists and CSV: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/Area51Scraper.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Area51Scraper.py</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Graphical representation</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Graph of stats"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" alt="Graph of stats" title="Graph of stats" /></a></p>
<p>Graph script: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/StackExchange3DP_6.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackExchange3DP_6.py</a></p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I would recommend asking for a review of your site on <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/news" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hacker News</a>. This site was created and maintained by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Paul Graham</a> who also founded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Combinator" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Y Combinator</a>, a company focused on helping startups in their early stages. As a result, Hacker News is read by a community heavily focused on anything startup-related and, therefore, are very receptive to critiquing and reviewing new sites.</p>
<p>When you <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/submit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">submit your review request</a>, you probably should word the title of your post as such:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ask HN: please review my site [my
site]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and describe a bit of its intent.</p>
<p>(Here is a recent example: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=491556" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask HN: Review my newest site</a>)</p>
|
<p>Typically, it's a better idea to wait before you try to get this kind of thing integrated.</p>
<p>Enthusiasm is great in a private beta, but for the early stages, direct that enthusiasm towards the Q&A. That's what'll get this site on its feet and into a successful public beta.</p>
<p>When the site's more stable and running nicely, then if there's a need (or want) for a plugin like this then the discussion about it can be had.</p>
<p>(On a tangent - if such a plugin is going to happen, it may well be down to SE's developers to get it done, which might make getting assistance from the people on this site difficult.)</p>
|
<p>The tags <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> are in fact referring to exactly the same thing!</p>
<p>Furthermore, the meaning of support can be interpreted differently (i.e. helping out).</p>
<p>I support renaming/merging the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> labelled questions to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>. This implies that the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag is removed and it could be reinstated at any time by new questions. Users with enough reputation can remove the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag if it gets recreated and we could create a synonym later. </p>
<p>In my humble opinion, the best solution may be to rename <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/supports" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'supports'" rel="tag">supports</a> and then make it a synonym for <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>!</p>
|
<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
<p>On a heavy-traffic site like Stack Overflow, I would only update the "last seen" variable when a user actually <em>does</em> something. Lurking around and reading questions and answers shouldn't count as a user being "seen" by the system. Asking and answering questions, or voting on them should be actions that update when a user is last seen.</p>
<p>I won't talk about the implementation details because that's already covered by other answers (and I would probably get it wrong).</p>
|
<p>My understanding is that it is approximately the following from another <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24066/what-formula-should-be-used-to-determine-hot-questions">Jeff Atwood</a> post</p>
<pre><code>t = (time of entry post) - (Dec 8, 2005)
x = upvotes - downvotes
y = {1 if x > 0, 0 if x = 0, -1 if x < 0)
z = {1 if x < 1, otherwise x}
log(z) + (y * t)/45000
</code></pre>
|
<p>What is the difference between <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/post-production" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'post-production'" rel="tag">post-production</a> and <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/post-processing" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'post-processing'" rel="tag">post-processing</a>, or are they synonyms? Should they be merged?<sup>1</sup></p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/post-production" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'post-production'" rel="tag">post-production</a> has no description whatsoever.</p>
<p>After looking at <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/70710/what-are-tag-synonyms-and-merged-tags-how-do-they-work">What are tag synonyms and merged tags? How do they work?</a>, We can make <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/post-processing" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'post-processing'" rel="tag">post-processing</a> the master and <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/post-production" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'post-production'" rel="tag">post-production</a> the slave <strong>synonym</strong>. This would seem to be a logical relationship given the number of questions tagged respectively. This relationship can be easily removed, if deemed to be incorrect.</p>
<p>If, after some time, everyone is happy with this arrangement, then the two will be <strong>merged</strong>.</p>
<p>Does that sound like a plan and does anyone have any objections..?</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> This question was moved from my answer to <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/151/naming-convention-for-tags-with-camelcase-or-pre-fix#answer-269">Naming convention for tags with CamelCase or Pre-Fix</a></p>
|
<p>These are <strong>NOT</strong> the same in a manufacturing, which 3D printing is primarily considered a part of.</p>
<p>Post-Processing typically refers to additional steps that must/can be done to produce the nominally desired part. These steps can include deburr, grind, and other additive/subtractive processing on the physical part.</p>
<p>Post-Production typically refers to any steps that typically do not "produce" or alter the dimensions of the product. These steps can include final visual and dimensional inspection, packaging, and sometimes even shipment.</p>
<p>I would not recommend creating a synonym, but merely updating the definition of both terms.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>The dividing line of "tangentially off topic" is typically when the <em>actual</em> subject of the question being asked is only <strong><em>coincidentally</em></strong> adjacent to 3D printing. </p>
<p>Here is a <em>clear</em> example illustrating the "tangential issue:"</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I printed a crane mechanism in 3D. How much voltage must I apply to the motor to lift 150 grams?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I see this type of thing all the time. Users will go to the mat arguing that they are printing in 3D, so their question is on topic. It is not. The actual <em>expertise</em> needed to answer this question is in electronics. With a question like this, the premise that the user <em>happens</em> to be printing in 3D is entirely coincidental to the actual issue. </p>
<p>The examples you cited above are a bit more iffy. I might argue some of them could (potentially) be on topic… if the issue of the material being printed in 3D is somehow germane to the problem. I actually don't know enough about the subject to say, so I'm only considering the possibility that it <em>is</em> relevant to this subject space.</p>
<p>Let's not be too quick to start barring questions that aren't explicitly about the physical process of 3D printing literally. There are a lot of <em>industry issues</em> that could be interesting to include here. It's probably better to <strong><em>wait for actual examples before trying to create a general rule around this issue.</em></strong></p>
<p>As a general rule for building this site, it is often better to wait for a preponderance of problems that occur <em>in actual practice</em> before we start seeking to create a lot of rules around hypothetical situations. Words to live by.</p>
|
<p>You should have a <strong>policy for the format</strong> of the tags (e.g. tags should be singular). Depending on how diverse the tags are, it might be useful not only to auto-complete while you are typing in a tag, but also to <strong>suggest similar tags</strong>, so that it is easy for people to use the tag system. Additionally, a <strong>cleanup process</strong> could correct common spelling mistakes and substitue deprecated tags according to a translation table.</p>
|
<p>It works, but it is not normalized, because you have redundancy in the tags. You also lose the ability to use the "same" tags to tag things besides posts. For small N, optimization doesn't matter, so I have no problems if you run with it.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, your indexes will be larger (assuming you are going to index on tag for searching, you are now indexing duplicates and indexing strings). In the normalized version, the index on the tags table will be smaller, will not have duplicates, and the index on the tag2post table on tagid will be smaller. In addition, the fixed size int columns are very efficient for indexing and you might also avoid some fragmentation depending on your clustering choices.</p>
<p>I know you said no renaming, but in general, in both cases, you might still need to think about the semantics of what it means to rename (or even delete) a tag - do all entries need to be changed, or does the tag get split in some way. Because this is a batch operation in a transaction in the worst case (all the tag2post have to be renamed), I don't really classify it as significant from a design point of view.</p>
|
<p>My guess is that it is a correlation between which tags are most often used together.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>Question A tagged with tag1, tag2</li>
<li>Question B tagged with tag1, tag3</li>
<li>Question C tagged with tag1, tag2</li>
</ul>
<p>Then it's natural to assume that tag2 "is related to" tag1.</p>
<p>I would say the best place to learn would be <a href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780596529321" rel="noreferrer">O'Reilly's Programming Collective Intelligence book</a>.</p>
|
<p>Starting a new project without a thorough research of the available solutions and without taking into serious consideration the possibility to join an existing project, is something that the community should frown upon more emphatically. Maybe a programmer's education should include some discussion on the cost of effort duplication.</p>
<p>Having said that, experimenting with different approaches to solve the same problem is healthy, and once a programmer has some toy code, we should thank him for making it available to the public regardless of the existence of similar projects.</p>
<p>I think that the authors should seriously consider a merge if:</p>
<ul>
<li>one design has proven clearly superior to the other</li>
<li>one community is being more active than the other</li>
<li>both projects share the same ideas on future directions</li>
<li>the work required to merge the two codebases is feasible</li>
</ul>
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
<p>In Subversion they are the same thing - they are implemented the same way and the results are the same (aside from your repo hierarchy). They are just references to a specific revision of the repository. No real copies are made. When you start working on a branch (in the real sense of the word) then you are using a new copy of that resource in a new place. </p>
<p>You can always make a branch out of a tag if/when you need, so there is no reason to make a branch and a tag. </p>
<p>If it helps you to be consistent, then go ahead and do it, but in reality it isn't doing anything until you start checking in/making revisions to a branch.</p>
<p>(the tag/branch are both made with a cp command)</p>
|
<p><em>Please note; Due to its very nature, this post is very subjective and is <strong>not</strong> intended to be a definitive list of categories. It is merely an attempt to offer one perspective of what has been suggested, and to ask "How should we move forward?"</em></p>
<hr />
<p>Sometimes it is a bit hard to see the wood for the trees...</p>
<p>Following on from tjb1's meta post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/134/post-closing-issues">Post Closing Issues</a>, it seems like we should widen the scope and be less strict about what is, and what is not, on-topic. What do people think? What additions, if any, should be made? Are there things that definitely should be on the list, that aren't currently?</p>
<p>So, with respect to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-topic page</a>, which needs updating, in order to get an idea of what people have been asking ("why has my question been closed?"/"why is X not allowed"), I've gone through the Meta questions and come up with a list of questions that mentioned the words "<a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=ask">ask</a>" and "<a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=topic">topic</a>". I then pulled out the questions relating to specifically what types of questions can/can't be asked.</p>
<p>A number of them seem to be able to be labeled as duplicates (inasmuch as they asked more or less the same thing), and so I have attempted to group them according to their suggestion request. The full list is at the bottom of this post.</p>
<p>Even though I went through both lists twice - also, I didn't read <em>every</em> question and answer listed below fully - <em>there may be some suggestions that I have missed</em>. Please feel free to either suggest a change, or edit this post directly and add any that have gone astray (in that respect, maybe this question should be a wiki?).</p>
<p>Whilst we maybe don't want to change the aim of the site too much (as doing so may put off some regular users), maybe the scope needs to broaden slightly, as to have a wider appeal and be more <em>inclusive</em>.</p>
<p>BTW, a useful post to read is <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6/what-should-our-documentation-contain">What should our documentation contain?</a></p>
<p>Any thoughts, questions, additional suggestions that have not already been posted, agreements, or disagreements?</p>
<h3>Update</h3>
<p>The list below was integrated into the on-topics page, on the 8<sup>th</sup> June 2019. See <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/413/on-topic-has-been-updated-finally">On-topic has been updated - finally!</a> for <em>further</em> discussion.</p>
<hr />
<h3>TL;DR - Suggested topics</h3>
<p>In the list below,</p>
<ul>
<li>Italics are used for notes</li>
<li>Strikethrough is used for definitive no-go topics</li>
</ul>
<p>Whilst there may be <em>some</em> overlap, duplication and/or mis-categorisation, the list of suggested on-topics seems to be, essentially:</p>
<ul>
<li>Recommendations (Hardware and Software)
<ul>
<li><em>Note: Usually banned from SE - with the exception of <a href="https://hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/">Hardware Recommendations</a></em></li>
<li><strike>General Shopping - <em>opinion based</em></strike></li>
<li><strike>First printer - <em>opinion based</em></strike>, <em>see <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/278/best-first-printer-closed-wiki">"Best first printer" wiki/blog/closed-question</a></em></li>
<li>Best printer
<ul>
<li><strike>Overall - <em>opinion based</em></strike></li>
<li>For specific task - <em>opinion based but allowable, although <strong>speed</strong> as a task is in a <strong>very grey area</strong>... this question <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10204/fastest-fdm-printer">Fastest FDM printer?</a> was closed for being opinion-based</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Best software
<ul>
<li><strike>Overall - <em>opinion based</em></strike></li>
<li>For a specific task - <em>opinion based but allowable</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Software issues
<ul>
<li>Firmware</li>
<li>Tools</li>
<li>Coding/Compiling firmware (see <strong>Misc - Coding</strong>)</li>
<li>3D modelling (<em>same as <strong>CAD</strong>?</em>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Websites (<em>could come under <strong>Software</strong> and/or <strong>Tools</strong></em>)
<ul>
<li>Recommended sites
<ul>
<li>for knowledge</li>
<li>for models</li>
<li>for online tools</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Issues with web based tools</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>CAD
<ul>
<li>Needs to show relevancy to 3D printing! (See Meta questions)</li>
<li><em>Overlap with SE.Blender?</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Printer DIY
<ul>
<li>Repair and maintenance (<em>both commercial and DIY repair of both commercial and DIY printers</em>)</li>
<li>Construction</li>
<li>Mechatronics</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Components (<em>could come under <strong>Printer DIY</strong></em>)
<ul>
<li><em><a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/244366/how-do-i-tell-if-my-thermistors-are-10k-or-100k">Thermistors</a> is a good example, see note <sup>1</sup> below</em></li>
<li>Help and Recommendations</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Electronics
<ul>
<li>Printer related electronics</li>
<li>Common electronic gotchas</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Print Services</li>
<li>Scanning
<ul>
<li>Also 3D Reconstruction (<a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/172/is-a-question-about-software-to-create-models-on-topic">example</a>)</li>
<li>Software (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/8057/resources-on-getting-horus-ciclop-scanners-to-work">example</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Bio-printing</li>
<li>3D Models
<ul>
<li>Feasibility</li>
<li>Availability</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Sharing recommended settings</li>
<li>Legal issues
<ul>
<li>Copyright (i.e. <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/164/can-i-print-my-own-lego-bricks">Lego</a>)</li>
<li>Guns/Weapons</li>
<li>Insurance (i.e. fire damage)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Manufacturers
<ul>
<li><strike>Best manufacturer - <em>opinion based</em></strike></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Materials
<ul>
<li>Filament</li>
<li>ABS</li>
<li>PLA</li>
<li>PETG</li>
<li>etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Makerspaces</li>
<li>Medical
<ul>
<li>Materials for medical use</li>
<li>Medical quality printing</li>
<li>Medical applications for 3D printed objects</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Health
<ul>
<li>Closely related, and may overlap with safety</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Safety
<ul>
<li>Fumes</li>
<li>Print material suitability for foodstuffs</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Non-3D Printing related
<ul>
<li>CNC (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10709/spindle-dc-motor-and-drill-bit-specifications-for-circuit-etching-cnc-machine">example</a>), (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10610/using-both-gcode-and-gbr-files-in-a-hybrid-3d-printer-circuit-etching-machin">example</a>)</li>
<li>Laser (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6214/laser-engraver-with-smoothie-ramps-1-4-or-awc708c">example</a>)</li>
<li>Routers</li>
<li>Vacuum Forming</li>
<li>Parts assembly (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3711/are-there-many-assembly-type-3d-printers">example</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Misc
<ul>
<li>Not strictly 3D related, see <strong>Non-3D Printing related</strong> above</li>
<li>Anything 3D related
<ul>
<li>Connecting 3D printed parts - <em>For example, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/54/what-is-the-best-way-to-connect-3d-printed-parts">connecting 3D printed parts</a> is currently off-topic</em><sup>2</sup></li>
<li>Coding - <em>For example <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3109/how-to-build-own-cura-gui">How to build my own Cura GUI?</a> - Coding Ultimaker Cura question, migrated to SO</em><sup>3</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Other
<ul>
<li>FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication)</li>
<li>FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)</li>
<li>SLA (Stereo Lithography)</li>
<li>DLP (Digital Light Processing)</li>
<li>SLS (Selective Laser Sintering)</li>
<li>DLMS (Direct Laser Metal Smelting)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><strong>Notes</strong></p>
<p>Admittedly, there will be overlap with some other SE sites and whilst we need to avoid the <em>too-broad-black-hole</em>, we should also welcome all things that are 3D Printer related, so as to keep all relevant knowledge in a central location.</p>
<p><sup>1</sup> WRT <strong>Components</strong>, and taking the <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/177/why-was-the-question-about-thermistors-migrated">thermistors meta question</a> as an example, my first thought is that questions like this should remain, as they are pertinent to 3D Printing, otherwise we <em>could</em> theoretically end up compartmentalising printers and migrating off a lot of stuff to SE. Electronics, SE.Engineering, SE.Hardware Recommendations, etc.</p>
<p><sup>2</sup> The same applies to the <strong>Misc/Anything 3D related</strong>, in particular the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/54/what-is-the-best-way-to-connect-3d-printed-parts"><em>Connecting 3D parts</em> question</a>. Yes, as some of the comments state, you could remove the 3D printer part and then it is basically an engineering question. However, when taken as a whole, this question <em>is</em> pertinent to 3D printing of large models, in parts.</p>
<p><sup>3</sup> Also under <strong>Misc/Anything 3D related</strong>, Coding Ultimaker Cura <em>is</em> a SO type question, but it is <em>also</em> 3D printer specific</p>
<hr />
<h3>Additional suggestions in the future</h3>
<p>Instead of posting a new question, it <em>might</em> be a good idea to post an additional answer, containing the suggestion, to this question - in order to keep everything grouped together. This will save on the pain of having to go through all of the Meta questions as I have just done.</p>
<p>However, that might mean that the suggestion request would not have such prominence that it would do if the suggestion was posted independently as its own question... So (at the risk of duplication), if a new question/suggestion is posted, then it could be a good idea to also copy that new post and add it as an answer below.</p>
<hr />
<h1>Meta Suggestions</h1>
<p>These are the meta questions that I used to create the categories above:</p>
<h2><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=ask">ask</a> - 89 questions <em>in total</em></h2>
<h3>General scope questions</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6/what-should-our-documentation-contain">What should our documentation contain?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/138/what-is-our-scope">What is our scope?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/239/what-is-your-opinion-on-se-meta-post-regarding-questions-that-cross-community-li">What is your opinion on SE Meta post regarding questions that cross Community lines?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/74/how-do-we-get-more-traffic-to-the-site">How do we get more traffic to the site?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6/what-should-our-documentation-contain">What should our documentation contain?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Recommendations</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/219/ask-about-recommendation">Ask about recommendation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/103/is-a-novice-question-on-a-specific-printer-allowed">Is a novice question on a specific printer allowed?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5/how-do-we-handle-recommendations">How do we handle recommendations?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/77/discussions-type-x-3d-printer-is-good-are-acceptable">Discussions type: X 3d printer is good? are acceptable</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/159/is-there-any-way-to-prevent-endless-best-first-printer-posts">Is there any way to prevent endless "best first printer" posts?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/219/ask-about-recommendation">Ask about recommendation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/179/another-approach-to-solving-purchase-questions">Another approach to solving "purchase" questions</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Software</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/172/is-a-question-about-software-to-create-models-on-topic">Is a question about software to create models on-topic?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Software Suggestion</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/252/software-suggestion-question">Software Suggestion Question</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/101/questions-about-software-and-websites">Questions about software and websites?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/185/are-software-recommendation-questions-allowed-here">Are software recommendation questions allowed here?</a> - <em>not in the <strong>ask</strong> list, but relevant here</em></li>
</ul>
<h3>CAD</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/204/the-fine-line-between-3d-and-cad">The fine line between 3d and CAD</a>
<ul>
<li>Followup: <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/501/cad-questions-review">CAD Questions - Review</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Misc</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/21/are-questions-that-tangentially-involve-3d-printing-on-topic">Are questions that tangentially involve 3D printing on topic?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/147/hobbyist-machine-questions-on-topic">Hobbyist Machine questions On-Topic?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/217/generalized-questions-allowed">Generalized questions allowed?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/69/fff-fdm-vs-everything-else">FFF/FDM vs... everything else?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/67/fdm-printer-that-can-also-mill-and-engrave-whats-in-scope">FDM printer that can also mill and engrave -- what's in scope?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>CNC</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/182/wondering-why-cnc-questions-in-general-are-not-welcome-here">Wondering why CNC questions in general are not welcome here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Printer not working:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/210/how-to-handle-why-is-int-my-printer-working-questions">How to handle "Why is in't my printer working?!" questions</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/83/what-about-mystery-problem-troubleshooting-requests">What about mystery-problem troubleshooting requests?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/129/repairing-3d-printer">Repairing 3D printer</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Discovering 3D Printing</h3>
<ul>
<li>null</li>
</ul>
<h3>Print services</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/141/are-questions-from-people-who-lack-knowledge-of-3d-printing-looking-to-discover">Are questions from people who lack knowledge of 3D printing looking to discover how to have something printed on-topic?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165/are-questions-about-online-3-d-printing-services-allowed">Are Questions about Online 3-D printing services allowed?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Model Feasibility</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/212/is-3d-printing-se-appropriate-for-getting-feedback-on-feasibility-of-a-model">Is 3D Printing SE appropriate for getting feedback on feasibility of a model?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Model Availability</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/260/are-questions-about-availability-of-3d-models-on-topic">Are questions about availability of 3D models on-topic?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Scanning</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/180/does-this-reworded-question-meet-the-se-requirements">Does this reworded question meet the SE requirements?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Bio Printing</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/123/bio-printing-questions-okay">Bio-Printing Questions Okay?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/138/what-is-our-scope">What is our scope?</a> - <em>not in the <strong>ask</strong> list, but relevant here</em></li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=topic">on-topic</a> - 56 questions <em>in total</em></h2>
<h3>Sharing Settings through out the community</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/145/are-questions-about-sharing-settings-on-topic">Are questions about sharing settings On Topic?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Printer construction - DIY</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8/are-questions-discussing-printer-construction-internals-and-firmware-on-topic">Are questions discussing printer construction, internals, and firmware on-topic here?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Legal issues</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/32/are-questions-involving-legal-issues-and-3d-printing-on-topic">Are questions involving legal issues and 3D printing on-topic?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/412/closing-questions-about-knock-off-printers">Closing questions about knock-off printers</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Filament/Materials</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/80/why-are-you-voting-to-close-this-question">Why are you voting to close this question?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/281/could-this-printing-material-recommendation-question-be-or-shaped-to-be-valid-on">Could this Printing Material Recommendation Question be or shaped to be valid on 3D SE?</a> - <em>not in the <strong>on-topic</strong> list, but relevant here</em></li>
</ul>
<h3>Laser</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/246/adding-a-laser-tag">Adding a 'laser' tag?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/404/is-laser-etching-specifically-a-question-linked-below-considered-to-be-on-topi">Is laser etching, specifically a question linked below, considered to be on topic?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Thermistors</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/177/why-was-the-question-about-thermistors-migrated">Why was the question about thermistors migrated?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Makerspaces</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/164/questions-about-makerspaces-and-3-d-printers">Questions about Makerspaces and 3-D Printers?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Mechatronics</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/138/what-is-our-scope">What is our scope?</a> - <em>not in the <strong>on-topic</strong> list, but relevant here</em></li>
</ul>
<h1>Actual questions (not meta)</h1>
<h2><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/search?q=closed%3Ayes">Closed</a> - 73 questions <em>in total</em></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3109/how-to-build-own-cura-gui">how to build own cura gui?</a> - <em>Coding Ultimaker Cura question, migrated to SO: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40909403/how-to-build-own-cura-gui">How to build own Cura GUI?</a></em></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/54/what-is-the-best-way-to-connect-3d-printed-parts">What is the best way to connect 3D printed parts?</a> - <em>General Mechanical issue</em></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6338/interesting-project-for-a-child">Interesting project for a child</a> - <em>Opinion based, but it was a HNQ</em></li>
</ul>
<h3>Scanning</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/5699/is-there-any-public-and-reasonably-accurate-3d-scan-from-a-cray-2-computer">Is there any public and reasonably accurate 3D scan from a Cray-2 computer?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Laser</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10010/laser-is-engraving-the-negative-space">laser is engraving the negative space</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Legal</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10200/3d-printer-part-clones-from-china-legality">3D printer part clones from china - legality</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Recommendations</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10204/fastest-fdm-printer">Fastest FDM printer?</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Deleted</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/326/understand-and-developing-firmware-ide-help">Understand and developing firmware - IDE help</a> - <em>Setting up a development environment</em></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/5836/whats-the-least-amount-of-money-i-can-spend-to-get-a-decent-printer">What's the least amount of money I can spend to get a decent printer?</a> - <em>Shopping</em></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/5742/designing-a-safe-and-crush-proof-pokemon-playing-card-box-using-a-3d-super-elips">Designing a Safe and Crush-proof Pokemon playing card box using a 3D Super-Elipsoid</a> - <em>Migrated to Engineering: <a href="https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/21885/designing-a-safe-and-crush-proof-pokemon-playing-card-box-using-a-3d-super-elips">Designing a Safe and Crush-proof Pokemon playing card box using a 3D Super-Elipsoid</a></em></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/8057/resources-on-getting-horus-ciclop-scanners-to-work">Resources on getting horus/ciclop scanners to work?</a></li>
</ul>
|
<p>A couple of points:</p>
<p>Asking for a machine to solve a specific problem, or software which can do something 'specific' is not really a shopping question, so long as the question is asked in the right way. We do need to avoid subjective questions, but sometimes this can be the result of a misunderstanding (i.e. find me a non-CN supplier of this budget Chinese printer {which also seems to be a decent product}).</p>
<p>Topics which bridge into something like Electronics can be useful because the field is very large, and EE.SE makes an assumption of near degree level expertise. Useful answers here could be more 'off the shelf' routes to achieving what could potentially be fairly 'textbook' to someone with the right background.</p>
<p>Same with making trivial changes to firmware, using a complex software tool for a trivial task, etc. If the task is common, relevant and bounded then a 'hand-holding' answer here will be much more valuable/findable than pushing questioners to a more specific site. Once people move from trivial use of these tools they may well end up needing to self-educate before they reach a point that EE.SE, or SO will accept their questions.</p>
<p>We're at a difficult point between a mass market consumer product, and emerging tech. The IoT site has similar challenges.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>If someone has a question from one of those older sites, they should go ahead and ask it. But a wholesale importing of content from elsewhere is not really a desirable way to build this site. </p>
<p>There is a lot of ownership and careful curation that goes with vetting the content of this site. Questions imported from elsewhere would always have that air of odd, forgotten legacy content back-dated and <em>anonymous</em> with no owners or real-time vetting at all. If someone posts another answer or asks for some followup to one of these questions, no one will receive the notification. Essentially, we would be loading this site up with a lot of questions asked and answered a long time ago without imparting any of the benefits of reputation, ownership, or experience into the community that is supposed to take care of it.</p>
<p>That's why we don't do it.</p>
|
<p>Make a FAQ page or a tutorial covering some of the basics, that will eliminate quite a lot of questions.</p>
|
<p><strong>I say allow them.</strong> </p>
<p>To let you know what's out there, I work at <a href="http://hyrel3d.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hyrel</a>. </p>
<p>Our printers can take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lvN-aPYHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">spindle (milling) heads and additional axes</a>, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceUiuTixPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">diode</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/FnYDoNkgOrI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO2 lasers</a>, and they all operate on the same gcode - we tell people E is for Emit as well as Extrude. We even have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFY-IqDB_0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TIG welding</a> attachment. </p>
<p>We also run our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGeQmXNbNE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fadal CNC machines</a> on our printer software and firmware. </p>
<p>To many people this is a natural progression for a well-built 3D positioning system, and I encourage a broader definition.</p>
|
<p>I'd go with the simplest model; each question is a heading, with answers in paragraph tags. Clear, logical and semantically sane, I think.</p>
<p>The reason I wouldn't use the definition list tags mentioned is that I don't think, from a pure semantic point of view, that questions and answers fit the mould of pure terms and definitions.</p>
|
<p>Sometimes, "don't try to do what you're trying to do" is the only valid answer, see e.g. <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem">XY problem</a>.</p>
|
<p>You should have a <strong>policy for the format</strong> of the tags (e.g. tags should be singular). Depending on how diverse the tags are, it might be useful not only to auto-complete while you are typing in a tag, but also to <strong>suggest similar tags</strong>, so that it is easy for people to use the tag system. Additionally, a <strong>cleanup process</strong> could correct common spelling mistakes and substitue deprecated tags according to a translation table.</p>
|
<p>I use them for searching for my stack (C#, ASP.NET, WinForms etc). I have them set up in Launchy as shortcuts.</p>
<p>I have posted some thoughts ideas on my <a href="http://cantgrokwontgrok.blogspot.com/2008/09/stackoverflow-crackoverflow-or.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackOverflow blog post</a> - feel free to comment on there if you like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Search Support</strong></p>
<p>The search functionality is improving.
However, is it still limited (for
example, no OR search). It also has
limited filtering options. One major
problem for me is that it displays
searches the answers as well as
questions. So, you can end up with a
page of results that point to one
question (which may not help you). Tag
searching is also improving but still
limited and even misunderstood by its
creator (see the comments).</p>
<p><strong>Finding Your Stack</strong></p>
<p>I am a C# developer. I work on Windows
and ASP.NET applications. I know
nothing about Java, Python, Ruby and
the many other languages out there. I
can offer limited advice on
architecture and design. Now,
currently, it is bloody difficult for
me to find questions with the
appropriate tags so I can assist. I
propose:</p>
<p>"Smart Lists" - these should be lists that each user can create that
you can specify tags to search for.
For example, I could create three
"Windows" (which searches for items
tagged "C# WinForms"), "Web" (tagged
"ASP.NET") and Architecture (tagged
"architecture"). Now, a web developer
who works on the LAMP stack may have a
"Web" tab, but entirely different
tags.</p>
<p>I am currently getting around this by
having Launchy shortcuts set up for my
stacks.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>There are times when certain standardised comments are called for.</p>
<p>Here are some examples (the links go to the various sections below, under the Answers):</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/303/do-we-have-standardised-comments#answer-305">General comments</a></li>
<li>Prompting user to accept an answer - <em>in order to clear the unanswered question list</em></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/303/do-we-have-standardised-comments#answer-304">Problems with comments</a>
<ul>
<li>Answer posted in comments - <em>Solutions to the question posted in the comments, do not show up in searches</em></li>
<li>Limiting comments - <em>Additional information, that <strong>may or may not</strong> have been requested is posted in comments, rather than as an edit to the question</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/303/do-we-have-standardised-comments#answer-402">Poor quality questions</a>
<ul>
<li>Ask a good question</li>
<li>Unbounded questions</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/303/do-we-have-standardised-comments#answer-393">Poor quality answers</a>
<ul>
<li>Short answer - <em>An answer lacking detail, no explanation provided</em></li>
<li>Repetition - <em>No new information, the contents of a previously posted answer is repeated by a different user</em></li>
<li>Link only answer - <em>Only a link is provided, with no summary, or content, of the link included</em></li>
<li>Question posted as answer - <em><strong>Another</strong> question, (possibly) related to the OP's question, is posted as an answer</em></li>
<li>"Me too" answer - <em>"I <strong>also</strong> have this issue"</em></li>
<li>Edit to a previous answer - <em>user posts second answer with additional information, not realising that there is an edit button for their first answer</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><em>et cetera</em>...</p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I quite like what is done e.g. <a href="http://episteme.arstechnica.com/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>. If you look towards the bottom of the page, there's a piece of text "powered by eve community". If you click that text you get a small chunk of technical information.</p>
<p>To me, this is a nice tradeoff between having the (useful) information readily available (for bug reports, etc.) and having to have (unpleasant) technical jargon visible to users of the site.</p>
|
<p>The three common markups I know of for this purpose are <a href="http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Markdown</a> (used, I believe, by SO), <a href="http://www.textism.com/tools/textile/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">textile</a>, and <a href="http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-bbcode-help.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BBCode</a>. The first two are commonly used for blog sites and CMS frameworks, and BBCode I think is usually associated with bulletin-board sites. Preview and mapping utilities are available for each.</p>
|
<p>I use them for searching for my stack (C#, ASP.NET, WinForms etc). I have them set up in Launchy as shortcuts.</p>
<p>I have posted some thoughts ideas on my <a href="http://cantgrokwontgrok.blogspot.com/2008/09/stackoverflow-crackoverflow-or.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackOverflow blog post</a> - feel free to comment on there if you like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Search Support</strong></p>
<p>The search functionality is improving.
However, is it still limited (for
example, no OR search). It also has
limited filtering options. One major
problem for me is that it displays
searches the answers as well as
questions. So, you can end up with a
page of results that point to one
question (which may not help you). Tag
searching is also improving but still
limited and even misunderstood by its
creator (see the comments).</p>
<p><strong>Finding Your Stack</strong></p>
<p>I am a C# developer. I work on Windows
and ASP.NET applications. I know
nothing about Java, Python, Ruby and
the many other languages out there. I
can offer limited advice on
architecture and design. Now,
currently, it is bloody difficult for
me to find questions with the
appropriate tags so I can assist. I
propose:</p>
<p>"Smart Lists" - these should be lists that each user can create that
you can specify tags to search for.
For example, I could create three
"Windows" (which searches for items
tagged "C# WinForms"), "Web" (tagged
"ASP.NET") and Architecture (tagged
"architecture"). Now, a web developer
who works on the LAMP stack may have a
"Web" tab, but entirely different
tags.</p>
<p>I am currently getting around this by
having Launchy shortcuts set up for my
stacks.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>As a former prominent member of standards committees (C#, CLI), I personally appreciated public input on the standard. We, in fact, released interim draft standards a couple of times and got some public eyes on them before they were officially ratified.</p>
<p>It's all about getting a fresh pair of eyes -- the folks working on the standards can sometimes become numb and gloss over some of the simplest mistakes.</p>
<p>That said, you have to balance answering public criticism with actually completing the standard.</p>
|
<p>You should always leave good comments. Not necessarily describing <em>what</em> you changed, unless it is a large changeset with too many distracting little details... but always, <strong>always</strong>, describe <em>why</em> you made the change (maybe link to a bug tracker item if there is one). </p>
<p>When i'm looking at your diff a year later, after realizing that it introduced a subtle bug, i need to know why the change was made - if i can't find a good reason, i'm just going to roll it back and curse your lazy ways... ;-)</p>
|
<p>Good documentation should explain "why", not just "what". Why would I want to use this feature? What scenarios is it good for?</p>
<p>That, and it must have good search facilities.</p>
|
<p>I assume that the reason you want nested comments at all is because your users tend to want to read through a single thread of interest at a time. That is, you have reason to believe users will create threads of coherent chains of thought, and/or what gets discussed in one thread will interest some users but not others.</p>
<p>If that’s the case, I don’t know why you would ever want to arbitrarily split a thread across pages by date (Option 1). Using a single page with culling of low-rated comments (Option 3) seems a little harsh and may discourage users from posting comments. That may be a good thing if you’ve got an audience mass like SlashDot, but it may be undesirable for sites with more typical visitation rates.</p>
<p>Perhaps you can have something like Option 2, with all threads on the same page, but if a thread starts getting too long, it gets rolled up into a single link that takes the user to a page dedicated to that thread. Alternatively, long threads can be reduced to just display their subject lines and authors, each which in turn link to the appropriate place in a dedicated page for the thread. </p>
<p>I suspect the tendency for users to post irrelevant comments in the largest thread is a product of users not wanting to be bothered with scrolling around to find the end of the thread, or find a thread that’s more suitable. By automatically compacting long threads, leaving the root of all threads displayed on a single page of manageable length, users can easily scan for a thread of interest and add to it if desired. </p>
|
<p>Our site is dealing with electronics and practical engineering, so we use formulas in questions and answers on occasion, most usually when we have to figure out electronic ratings. </p>
<p>When we talk about the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/760/analytic-equations-to-make-algorithm-of-3d-printer">design</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/631/how-are-delta-movements-calculated">function</a> of printers more than "rule of thumb", we need complex math. When we estimate <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4472/how-is-the-print-time-of-an-object-to-be-printed-estimated?s=4%7C17.5425">print times</a> formulas could be used to illustrate the calculations. When we want to estimate the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6557/is-the-110m-length-accurate-for-3-0mm-1k-spool">length of a spool of filament</a>, we need math. When we discuss <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/5155/8884">movement paths</a>, we also come into need for 3D geometry which can be simplified by using non-carthesian coordinates or functions - which in turn need manual typing of greek letters or proper formulas to be displayed well. </p>
<p>Up to now I have been typing LaTeX formulas in online converters and copy paste the link to the image generated formula. This is quite labor intensive, especially since the SE does support built in MathJax.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6540/5740">answer</a> showed LaTeX/MathJax code in the answer, but that did not render into an actual formula image as it is not enabled.</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Supply voltage $ U_S = 12V \or 24V $</li>
<li>Logic Voltage $ U_L = 5V $</li>
<li>Sensor Voltage $ U_sens = U_L$</li>
<li>Temperature control (Hotend/Bed/Cooling fans) $ U_T = U_S$</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Why can't we enter formulas directly in posts?</p>
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Try <code>$\stackrel{top}{bottom}$</code></p>
<p>You'd want something like this:</p>
<pre><code>$X \stackrel{+}{=} Y$
</code></pre>
<p>This positions the plus sign above the equals sign. For example, the following code:</p>
<pre><code>$K(x,y|z) \stackrel{+}{=} K(x|z) \stackrel{+}{<} I(x:y|z)$
</code></pre>
<p>produces the following output:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/fbaAX.png" alt="Equation including + sign over = sign"></p>
|
<p>You'll have to implement it yourself, but you should bear in mind that implementing a Formatter is not a simple task, as it has many l10n considerations.</p>
|
<p>I personally believe in LaTeX.
Benefits:</p>
<ul>
<li>You can focus on content over form.</li>
<li>Use logical rather than semantic formatting (e.g., \methodname vs. just italic).</li>
<li>Easier to assemble large documents from multiple files. </li>
<li>Use text-based version control (CVS/SVN/etc.)</li>
<li>Widely used</li>
<li>Much more stable even on super-weak machines</li>
<li>Programmable. For example, I use macros to hide stuff, highlight stuff, obfuscate names by using a macro name with the real name but an obfuscated replacements. </li>
<li>See all the tips and tricks available on SO.</li>
<li>Output looks the same no matter which platform you compile on. Never had that luck with word, each version and each machine produces something slightly different.</li>
</ul>
|
<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
|
<p>Here's <a href="http://procrastiblog.com/2007/11/25/style-guidelines-for-people/" rel="noreferrer">what I use</a>, which was mostly cribbed from <a href="http://luca.cse.ucsc.edu/Style_guidelines_for_student_co-authors" rel="noreferrer">Luca de Alfaro</a>:</p>
<pre><code>(defun fill-sentence ()
(interactive)
(save-excursion
(or (eq (point) (point-max)) (forward-char))
(forward-sentence -1)
(indent-relative t)
(let ((beg (point))
(ix (string-match "LaTeX" mode-name)))
(forward-sentence)
(if (and ix (equal "LaTeX" (substring mode-name ix)))
(LaTeX-fill-region-as-paragraph beg (point))
(fill-region-as-paragraph beg (point))))))
</code></pre>
<p>I bind this to <code>M-j</code> with</p>
<pre><code>(global-set-key (kbd "M-j") 'fill-sentence)
</code></pre>
<p>The references to <code>"LaTeX"</code> are for <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/" rel="noreferrer">AUCTeX</a> support. If you don't use AUCTeX, the <code>let</code> can be simplified to</p>
<pre><code>(let (beg (point))
(forward-sentence)
(fill-region-as-paragraph beg (point)))
</code></pre>
|
<p>I convert bitmaps into PNG, and vector graphics (e.g. SVG) into PDF. <em>pdflatex</em> understand both PNG and PDF.</p>
|
<p>Completely agree that it's reasonable. There's nothing to prevent you from implementing the formatting you want yourself in your own reusable library.</p>
|
<p>I'm seeing a current trend towards many questions only receiving a single answer, and according the the <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">Area 51</a> stats, we ought to have an <em>average</em> closer to 2.5. Granted that some questions are really only in need of a single (obvious) answer, I think we're missing something here.</p>
<p>I've seen a few questions with 'answers in the comments', which is understandable if a user wants to make a drive-by quick tip, but we should really be encouraging them to try and come back later to get the points due to them.</p>
<p>Are users put off by an expectation that a wrong answer might lose them rep? Or by an overly high (assumed) expectation for making an answer?</p>
<p>What can we do to raise ApQ, without dropping answer quality significantly?</p>
<p>Some thoughts from IoT meta on why <a href="https://iot.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/291">more answers are good</a>.</p>
|
<p>Well done for bringing this up. I was looking at those numbers too. </p>
<p>Referring to <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/264/what-does-it-take-to-get-out-of-beta-stage/265#265">this post</a>, almost all of the stats are improving (albeit) slowly, except for one, the ApQ </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are users put off by an expectation that a wrong answer might lose them rep?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems that way. Without wishing to provide a link to the actual comment, I noticed a comment the other day that suggested as much, and a nicely detailed comment was left instead. </p>
<p>To be fair, I feel that way sometimes, and often hesitate (maybe rightly so to save myself from spamming the site) in posting questions on SE.Meta, as there are a number of drive-by downvoters there<sup>1</sup>. Unless you have a definite bug that you are able to document clearly or have a well rounded proposal that can be implemented easily, then your question may end up downvoted. This is probably rightly so, TBH, in most cases, but nevertheless it can be discouraging.</p>
<p>If you don't have much hard-earned rep then you may be less willing to risk it by posting a informative answer, that only answers half the question. Is that a bad thing? Well, it is a double edged sword. It is a good thing, because that promotes good solid answers, but with the downside that you point out (a lack of multiple answers per question).</p>
<p>What can we do? Probably, not much other than creating a small community by promoting a friendly environment and communicating more clearly... Inviting people to chat in the chatroom, being more welcoming (with Hi and welcome), actually helping people without the old "Did you google this?" immediately. All of these things help a lot. And which we seem to have developed of late. So we seem to be getting there.</p>
<p>I know that a number of members have already been adding answers to single answer questions as well as tackling the unanswered queue too. The more people that help the better...</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> Don't get me wrong, I looove (justified) downvotes, but I would like to know <em>why</em>.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
<p>I would like to nominate myself, <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark">Matt Clark</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark"><img src="http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/526476.png" width="208" height="58" alt="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" title="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" /></a></p>
<p>While I might not have the wildest credentials or reputation, I have been around the StackExchange network for a while (11/2012) and generally know my way around the sites.</p>
<p>Mostly active on StackOverflow, I answer when I can, and try and do my part to clean up the review queue: ~5000 review tasks; I plan on giving this site as much attention as I can.</p>
<p>I started <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">this 3D Printing proposal</a> just under a year ago on Area 51, and am either way, glad to see the day we made it to beta.</p>
|
<p>Look at this SO blog post: <a href="https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/10/solving-the-fastest-gun-in-the-west-problem/">https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/10/solving-the-fastest-gun-in-the-west-problem/</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>That said, the one implementable
recommendation that came out of this
discussion is an active, GMail like
notification when you are composing an
answer. We agreed with this feature
request, so Jarrod implemented it.
Here’s how it works:</p>
<ol>
<li>When you start composing a reply, a timer is created.</li>
<li>Every minute, the page checks itself to see if new answers have
arrived.</li>
<li>If new answers arrive, the notification bar will tell you how
many, and offer to update the page for
you.</li>
<li>Answer updates are performed AJAX style, so they don’t interrupt
your current answer.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
|
<p>If someone has a question from one of those older sites, they should go ahead and ask it. But a wholesale importing of content from elsewhere is not really a desirable way to build this site. </p>
<p>There is a lot of ownership and careful curation that goes with vetting the content of this site. Questions imported from elsewhere would always have that air of odd, forgotten legacy content back-dated and <em>anonymous</em> with no owners or real-time vetting at all. If someone posts another answer or asks for some followup to one of these questions, no one will receive the notification. Essentially, we would be loading this site up with a lot of questions asked and answered a long time ago without imparting any of the benefits of reputation, ownership, or experience into the community that is supposed to take care of it.</p>
<p>That's why we don't do it.</p>
|
<p>A couple of points:</p>
<p>Asking for a machine to solve a specific problem, or software which can do something 'specific' is not really a shopping question, so long as the question is asked in the right way. We do need to avoid subjective questions, but sometimes this can be the result of a misunderstanding (i.e. find me a non-CN supplier of this budget Chinese printer {which also seems to be a decent product}).</p>
<p>Topics which bridge into something like Electronics can be useful because the field is very large, and EE.SE makes an assumption of near degree level expertise. Useful answers here could be more 'off the shelf' routes to achieving what could potentially be fairly 'textbook' to someone with the right background.</p>
<p>Same with making trivial changes to firmware, using a complex software tool for a trivial task, etc. If the task is common, relevant and bounded then a 'hand-holding' answer here will be much more valuable/findable than pushing questioners to a more specific site. Once people move from trivial use of these tools they may well end up needing to self-educate before they reach a point that EE.SE, or SO will accept their questions.</p>
<p>We're at a difficult point between a mass market consumer product, and emerging tech. The IoT site has similar challenges.</p>
|
<p>Typically, it's a better idea to wait before you try to get this kind of thing integrated.</p>
<p>Enthusiasm is great in a private beta, but for the early stages, direct that enthusiasm towards the Q&A. That's what'll get this site on its feet and into a successful public beta.</p>
<p>When the site's more stable and running nicely, then if there's a need (or want) for a plugin like this then the discussion about it can be had.</p>
<p>(On a tangent - if such a plugin is going to happen, it may well be down to SE's developers to get it done, which might make getting assistance from the people on this site difficult.)</p>
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<p>Here are some consequences of your design. These may or may not be what you intended, but I point them out so that you're aware of them.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>A very Mojo-ful user who has been mostly quiet is not going to care at all about stepping on some toes, because they have a huge bank of Mojo from which to draw. This seems to go against your goal of limiting negative behavior.</p></li>
<li><p>Likewise, users who contribute absolutely nothing to your site still get Mojo just by virtue of having an account. But an otherwise valuable contributor who makes one off-color post that's disliked by the community will be silenced until he has enough Mojo to post again.</p></li>
<li><p>If someone has something very valuable to contribute, he has to make sure to have "reserve Mojo" at all times -- that is, he must ensure that he isn't at his posting limit. If he doesn't, he might lose the opportunity to say something useful that would earn him more Mojo.</p></li>
<li><p>The rate at which people can accrue Mojo is limited by the size of the community. If there are few people who are handing out Mojo, pretty soon they won't be able to hand out Mojo anymore, since there won't be anyone left who hasn't already received Mojo from them.</p></li>
<li><p>The oldest users will effectively become an invincible cabal whose ideas may define and shape your site. Since you can only reduce someone else's Mojo if they have fewer Mojo than you, these users can make statements your community vehemently disagrees with and have their Mojo ratings remain intact.</p></li>
<li><p>In general, by restricting the supply of Mojo, you have created an economic system in which people will probably be more hesitant to contribute to a discussion. They will need to more carefully weigh what they say, since a post that is disliked by the community may prevent them from speaking further if they get too much negative Mojo.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Playing the system</h3>
<blockquote>
<p>Either show me how to play the system, or explain why you think it's impossible to play it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Suppose we define "playing the system" as "artificially changing the value or quantity of one's Mojo in ways you didn't intend". I would say your system is safe from artificial <em>inflation</em> of Mojo, but at the cost of stifling discussion that would have otherwise taken place. You must be able to make the following guarantees:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Flow condition.</em> Mojo only "flows down"; it is not possible for a lower-ranked user to transfer Mojo to a higher-ranked user.</li>
<li><em>Creation condition.</em> It is difficult for users to take actions which can generate their own Mojo. Also, it is either impossible to make new accounts, or they carry such a heavy penalty that no one will want to do it.</li>
</ul>
<p>For example, if you cannot satisfy the creation condition, then malicious early users will simply make an army of new accounts. They keep a number of these new accounts in reserve, quietly accruing Mojo. They then use them as a "bury brigade" to drain Mojo of factions or ideas they disagree with. Although they will lose Mojo when they do so, the collective Mojo of the bury brigade will be constant as long as they don't go hitman on more than a single hated foe per day.</p>
<p>This is clearly not what you intended.</p>
<h3>Artificial deflation</h3>
<p>However, your system is not safe from artificial <em>deflation</em> of Mojo. To see why, imagine that users stream into your site to accept their invitations. Imagine a user, Mallory, with <em>k</em> Mojo points. Because Mojo can only flow down, there is no way for a user with <em>k</em> or fewer Mojo points can express their disagreement with Mallory. Only users with <em>k+1</em> or more Mojo can do so.</p>
<p>Mallory's reign of terror will continue unchecked unless there are enough users with <em>k+1</em> or higher Mojo. In fact, if Mallory is an early enough user, there may not be any users who have the power to reduce her Mojo. Indeed, because you've artificially made Mojo scarce, they may not <em>want</em> to burn a Mojo to express their opinion, given how precious each Mojo point is -- since that also weakens them and makes <em>their</em> opinions more vulnerable to attack.</p>
<p>In short, if there are enough (or maybe even just a few) Mallorys, you will be reduced to playing traffic cop and cleaning up after Mallorys instead of improving your site. The system can no longer be self-policing. Each Mojo point has now become worth much more than before, because people will see from the example of Mallory and her ilk that it is better not to burn a Mojo to open oneself to attack. Thus, Mojo deflation.</p>
<p>This is also clearly not what you intended.</p>
|
<p>I see a number of people writing "CURA", when I have always called it "Cura". So I started to wonder if CURA was a <em>capitalised</em> acronym, like LiDAR or NATO (but not like radar or laser).</p>
<p>I had a look and the Wikipedia entry, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura_(software)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cura (software)</a> doesn't appear to suggest that.</p>
<p>So I wondered if it was a marketing thing.</p>
<hr>
<p>After all, over on SE.Arduino, <em>lots</em> of people write "Arduino UNO" - I myself did so to, for a long time, until Nick Gammon <a href="https://arduino.stackexchange.com/questions/13839/can-i-use-analogreadresolution-on-an-uno-or-leonardo#comment25114_13839">picked me up on it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6piXl.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Uno not UNO"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6piXl.png" alt="Uno not UNO" title="Uno not UNO"></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I <em>think</em> that the reason that I did was that the Arduino pages write it in that way (arguably incorrectly) and it just seems to be a branding/marketing ploy.</p>
<p>So, is this the same sort of thing with CURA? I am just wondering where it started and came from?<sup>1</sup></p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> As one does on a boring rainy Sunday morning :-)</p>
|
<p>As of version 4 the splash screen has changed, also the branding/naming of the product throughout Ultimaker's website.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1eX3U.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1eX3U.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>Technically it is not <em>CURA</em> or <em>cura</em>, it is <em>Ultimaker Cura</em>.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>You may not want to change the capitalization -- different cultures capitalize different words (for example, in German you capitalize every noun, not just proper nouns).</p>
|
<p>From <a href="http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0285/" rel="noreferrer">Pep 285</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Should the constants be called 'True'
and 'False' (similar to
None) or 'true' and 'false' (as in C++, Java and C99)?</p>
<p>=> True and False.</p>
<p>Most reviewers agree that consistency within Python is more
important than consistency with other languages.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This, as Andrew points out, is probably because <a href="http://docs.python.org/library/constants.html" rel="noreferrer">all (most)? built-in constants are capitalized</a>.</p>
|
<p>It was mentioned once before in the SO question, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/472103/lower-case-k-in-cocoa">Lower case "k" in Cocoa</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is a general programming notation
not specific to Objective-C (i.e.
Hungarian Notation) and the "k" stands for "constant".</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you look at the <a href="http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:h1-gASSvV78J:google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/objcguide.xml+constants+with+k+objective-c&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us&client=firefox-a" rel="noreferrer">Google cache</a> of Google's guidelines for Objective-C you can see that they used to include it in their styleguide:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Constant names (#defines, enums, const local variables, etc.) should start with a lowercase k and then use mixed case to delimit words, i.e. kInvalidHandle, kWritePerm.</p>
<p>Though a pain to write, they are absolutely vital to keeping our code readable. The following rules describe what you should comment and where. But remember: while comments are very important, the best code is self-documenting. Giving sensible names to types and variables is much better than using obscure names and then trying to explain them through comments.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But it has since been removed in the <a href="http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/objcguide.xml" rel="noreferrer">live version</a> of the document. It should be noted that it goes against the the <a href="http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CodingGuidelines/CodingGuidelines.html" rel="noreferrer">Official Coding Guidlines for Cocoa</a> from Apple.</p>
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<p>In Java, <code>java.lang.System.arraycopy</code> - note the lowercase second c.</p>
<p>Also <code>NullPointerException</code> in Java is better as <code>NullReferenceException</code> in .NET.</p>
<p><code>AppDomain</code> violates the convention of <em>normally</em> not using abbreviations.</p>
<p><code>Control.ID</code> violates the explicit convention of Pascal-casing ID to "Id" and Camel-casing it to "id".</p>
<p>EDIT: Due to popular demand, a couple more... although they're more just badly named than convention-defying.</p>
<p><code>SortedList</code> in .NET - that explains what the <em>implementation</em> is, but doesn't give the correct impression about what the <em>API</em> is - that of a dictionary.</p>
<p><code>Type.MakeGenericType</code> - it makes a <em>constructed</em> type. Ditto <code>MethodInfo.MakeGenericMethod</code>.</p>
|
<p>What a can of worms you've opened.</p>
<p>The C++ standard library uses <strong>underscore_notation</strong> for everything, because that's what the C standard library uses.</p>
<p>So if you want your code to look consistent across the board (and actually aren't using external libraries), that is the only way to go.</p>
<p>You'll see boost use the same notation because often their libraries get considered for future standards.</p>
<p>Beyond that, there are many conventions, usually using different notations to designate different types of symbols. It is common to use <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CamelCase" rel="noreferrer">CamelCase</a></strong> for custom types, such as classes and typedefs and <strong>mixedCase</strong> for variables, specifically to differentiate those two, but that is certainly not a universal standard.</p>
<p>There's also <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation" rel="noreferrer">Hungarian Notation</a></strong>, which further differentiates specific variable types, although just mentioning that phrase can incite hostility from some coders.</p>
<p>The best answer, as a good C++ programmer, is to adopt whatever convention is being used in the code you're immersed in.</p>
|
<p>Precise is more important. The initial developer or you could have left a comment afterward to explain the naming if it is not a term that can easily be found in a dictionary or generally known to the audience.</p>
|
<p>From <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/565w213d.aspx" rel="noreferrer">MSDN</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Use of two sequential underscore characters ( __ ) at the beginning of an identifier, or a single leading underscore followed by a capital letter, is reserved for C++ implementations in all scopes. You should avoid using one leading underscore followed by a lowercase letter for names with file scope because of possible conflicts with current or future reserved identifiers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This means that you can use a single underscore as a member variable prefix, as long as it's followed by a lower-case letter.</p>
<p>This is apparently taken from section 17.4.3.1.2 of the C++ standard, but I can't find an original source for the full standard online.</p>
<p>See also <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/224397/why-do-people-use-double-underscore-so-much-in-c">this question</a>.</p>
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<p>We have two tags: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> </p>
<p>These two are essentially the same thing. Even the abbreviated tag-wikis are pretty much saying the same thing. IMHO, we should combine the two tags as they are superfluous. </p>
<p>There was the Meta question: <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/q/168/11242">support-material / support-structures Tag unification?</a> which was about combining <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-material" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-material'" rel="tag">support-material</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> which was turned down, but this request is quite different.</p>
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<p>The tags <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> & <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a> are in fact referring to exactly the same thing!</p>
<p>Furthermore, the meaning of support can be interpreted differently (i.e. helping out).</p>
<p>I support renaming/merging the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> labelled questions to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>. This implies that the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag is removed and it could be reinstated at any time by new questions. Users with enough reputation can remove the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> tag if it gets recreated and we could create a synonym later. </p>
<p>In my humble opinion, the best solution may be to rename <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support'" rel="tag">support</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/supports" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'supports'" rel="tag">supports</a> and then make it a synonym for <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/support-structures" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'support-structures'" rel="tag">support-structures</a>!</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>This post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">3D Printing SE Beta Status</a>, by tbm0115 highlights the <em>three main</em> sticking points (IMHO clearer than the Area 51 page):</p>
<ul>
<li>Questions per day</li>
<li><strike>Users vs Reputation</strike></li>
<li><strike>Visits per day</strike></li>
</ul>
<p>Once those reach the required levels then that should be it. So, there is quite a way to go...</p>
<p>The stats can be seen here, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">3D Printing Area51 site</a>:</p>
<h3>Stats progress</h3>
<p>Note: Only <em>changes</em> are shown (no date information)</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strike><strong>2.1</strong></strike> -> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike> 2.4</li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strike><strong>96 %</strong></strike> -> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike> 87 %</li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>56/150</strong></strike> -> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike> 359/150</li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>4/10</strong></strike> -> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup> 27/10</li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>3/5</strong></strike> -> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup> 14/5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strike><strong>2.0</strong></strike> -> 1.9</li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strike><strong>753</strong></strike> -> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike> 5469</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>*</sup> This change in the number of users with <em>X</em> reputation is, in part, due to the move from +5 to +10 reputation for upvoted questions on <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/">13 Nov 2019</a> (see also <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/391250/4424636">Upvotes on questions will now be worth the same as upvotes on answers</a>).</p>
<hr />
<h3>Alternative Stats presentation</h3>
<p>Latest statistic shown in bold -> chronological history shown thereafter</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strong>2.4</strong> -> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike></li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strong>87 %</strong> -> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike></li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strong>359/150</strong> -> <strike>56/150</strike> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike></li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strong>27/10</strong> -> <strike>4/10</strike> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strong>14/5</strong> -> <strike>3/5</strike> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strong>1.9</strong> -> <strike>2.0</strike></li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strong>5469</strong> -> <strike>753</strike> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>Additional points of note</h3>
<p>The stats above aren't really the be all to end all... there are a few other considerations that I came across here, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community/1355#1355">in this answer</a>, to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">“Graduation” of this Community</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A number of 10k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 3 ) are required to access mod tools</li>
<li>A number of 3k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 10 ) are required to be able to fully vote</li>
</ol>
<h3>The final hurdle</h3>
<p>The main sticking point, according to this meta post on Ethereum, <a href="https://ethereum.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/474/congratulations-ethereum-is-graduating">Congratulations! Ethereum is graduating!</a>, is 10 questions per day, which we are a long way from, and seems to be the last remaining issue. A link (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>) from the Ethereum meta post to Meta.SE states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a site starts to consistently receive 10 questions/day, we’ll consider it for graduation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>No graduation, but losing the Beta label...</h3>
<p>Apart from graduation, SE management has recognised that small sites (with an active community) struggle to reach the 10 questions/day consistently. For sites that have been waiting to get out of Beta by graduation for 7-8 years, SE has decided to drop the Beta label. Please see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331708/congratulations-to-our-29-oldest-beta-sites-theyre-now-no-longer-beta?cb=1">Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>CSV Format</h3>
<ul>
<li>Format: <code>heading,data,date,data,date,...,data,date</code></li>
<li>Date format: <code>YYYYMMDD</code></li>
</ul>
<pre><code>*Questions per day*,2.1,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.6,20180705,2.1,20180707,2.7,20180815,2.1,20180903,1.7,20181015,2,20181106,2.4,20190327,3.0,20190905,2.5,20191119,3.9,20210121,2.8,20210411,3.3,20210423,3.3,20210424,3,20210425,3,20210426,2.7,20210427,2,20210506,2,20210508,1.9,20210511,2.1,20210514,2.2,20210525,2.4,20210526
*Answer rate*,96,20170317,93,20180525,95,20180705,96,20180707,96,20180815,97,20180903,98,20181015,98,20181106,96,20190327,95,20190905,94,20191119,88,20210121,88,20210411,88,20210423,88,20210424,88,20210425,88,20210426,88,20210427,88,20210506,88,20210508,87,20210511,87,20210514,87,20210525,87,20210526
*200+ reputation*,56,20170317,103,20180525,113,20180705,139,20180707,144,20180815,151,20180903,161,20181015,164,20181106,179,20190327,194,20190905,282,20191119,351,20210121,358,20210411,358,20210423,358,20210424,358,20210425,358,20210426,358,20210427,358,20210506,358,20210508,358,20210511,358,20210514,359,20210525,359,20210526
*2,000+ reputation*,4,20170317,8,20180525,9,20180705,10,20180707,11,20180815,12,20180903,14,20181015,14,20181106,17,20190327,19,20190905,22,20191119,27,20210121,27,20210411,27,20210423,27,20210424,27,20210425,27,20210426,27,20210427,27,20210506,27,20210508,27,20210511,27,20210514,27,20210525,27,20210526
*3,000+ reputation*,3,20170317,4,20180525,6,20180705,7,20180707,7,20180815,7,20180903,7,20181015,8,20181106,9,20190327,11,20190905,12,20191119,14,20210121,14,20210411,14,20210423,14,20210424,14,20210425,14,20210426,14,20210427,14,20210506,14,20210508,14,20210511,14,20210514,14,20210525,14,20210526
*Answers per question*,2.0,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.9,20180705,1.9,20180707,1.9,20180815,1.9,20180903,1.9,20181015,1.9,20181106,1.9,20190327,1.9,20190905,1.9,20191119,1.9,20210121,1.9,20210411,1.9,20210423,1.9,20210424,1.9,20210425,1.9,20210426,1.9,20210427,1.9,20210506,1.9,20210508,1.9,20210511,1.9,20210514,1.9,20210525,1.9,20210526
*Visits per day*,753,20170317,4,20180525,2324,20180705,2648,20180707,2675,20180815,2774,20180903,2844,20181015,3041,20181106,3707,20190327,2934,20190905,3290,20191119,8756,20210121,7146,20210411,6773,20210423,6718,20210424,6682,20210425,6627,20210426,6582,20210427,6247,20210506,6207,20210508,6081,20210511,5929,20210514,5541,20210525,5469,20210526
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-generate markdown lists and CSV: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/Area51Scraper.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Area51Scraper.py</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Graphical representation</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Graph of stats"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" alt="Graph of stats" title="Graph of stats" /></a></p>
<p>Graph script: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/StackExchange3DP_6.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackExchange3DP_6.py</a></p>
|
<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
|
<p>I use them for searching for my stack (C#, ASP.NET, WinForms etc). I have them set up in Launchy as shortcuts.</p>
<p>I have posted some thoughts ideas on my <a href="http://cantgrokwontgrok.blogspot.com/2008/09/stackoverflow-crackoverflow-or.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackOverflow blog post</a> - feel free to comment on there if you like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Search Support</strong></p>
<p>The search functionality is improving.
However, is it still limited (for
example, no OR search). It also has
limited filtering options. One major
problem for me is that it displays
searches the answers as well as
questions. So, you can end up with a
page of results that point to one
question (which may not help you). Tag
searching is also improving but still
limited and even misunderstood by its
creator (see the comments).</p>
<p><strong>Finding Your Stack</strong></p>
<p>I am a C# developer. I work on Windows
and ASP.NET applications. I know
nothing about Java, Python, Ruby and
the many other languages out there. I
can offer limited advice on
architecture and design. Now,
currently, it is bloody difficult for
me to find questions with the
appropriate tags so I can assist. I
propose:</p>
<p>"Smart Lists" - these should be lists that each user can create that
you can specify tags to search for.
For example, I could create three
"Windows" (which searches for items
tagged "C# WinForms"), "Web" (tagged
"ASP.NET") and Architecture (tagged
"architecture"). Now, a web developer
who works on the LAMP stack may have a
"Web" tab, but entirely different
tags.</p>
<p>I am currently getting around this by
having Launchy shortcuts set up for my
stacks.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
<p>I'd go with the simplest model; each question is a heading, with answers in paragraph tags. Clear, logical and semantically sane, I think.</p>
<p>The reason I wouldn't use the definition list tags mentioned is that I don't think, from a pure semantic point of view, that questions and answers fit the mould of pure terms and definitions.</p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<h2>Print/material specific settings</h2>
<p>If you are printing <em><strong>too hot with too less distance</strong></em>, <em><strong>the support just fuses to the print object</strong></em>. Extra cooling, lower print temperature and support distance should be in balance to create easy to remove support structures with respect to an acceptable print object surface. If temperature and cooling cannot be balanced to prevent fused support structures (e.g. for high temperature filament materials that cannot take too much cooling as that would result in less structural solid prints), there is an option in Cura to override the fan speed for the first layer above the support (<code>Fan Speed Override</code>). If this fails to produce easy removable supports, you can resort to changing the support distance between the support and the print object.</p>
<h2>Support settings</h2>
<p>Most of the used slicers have an option to determine how much distance (in terms of layers) you want between your support and your product, you could add an extra layer as space to try out if that works better for you. E.g. the default Cura setting for <code>Support Bottom Distance</code> (which is a sub-setting of <code>Support Z Distance</code>) is the layer thickness specified in <code>Layer Height</code>. If you have a layer height of 0.2 mm, the <code>Support Bottom Distance</code> is also 0.2 mm. For the top, option <code>Support Top Distance</code> this is two layer heights, so 0.4 mm in this example. These options are visible in the expert mode, you can search for them in the search box, see image below.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Why should you want air in between your part and the support?</strong></p>
<p>You'll soon find out when you want to <strong>remove supports</strong>, if no gap is used, the support will fuse to the print part. This is only interesting (no gap between print part and support structure) when you use a different filament for support like PVA or break-away filament; e.g. PVA dissolves in water in a dual nozzle printer setup (not that you can make the biggest part of the support except the top and bottom layer from the print object material, e.g. PLA for the main part of the support and PVA for the bottom and top layer: settings <code>First Layer Support Extruder</code>, <code>Support Interface Extruder</code>, <code>Support Roof Extruder</code> and <code>Support Floor Extruder</code>).</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vnlrY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vnlrY.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
|
<p>We were offered to <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/314/can-we-get-mathjax-enabled">get MathJax enabled</a>.</p>
<p>Now, we need to decide on which character to have text between them parsed into MathJax! So please either add your suggestion or cast your vote!</p>
|
<p>Let's stay with the classic $.</p>
<p>Example: \$\$\frac{1 \times 2}{2} = 1\$\$</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Now that MathJax is enabled, it renders to:
$$\frac{1 \times 2}{2} = 1$$</em></p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I think the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/adhesion" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'adhesion'" rel="tag">adhesion</a> tag should be used instead.</p>
|
<p>The three common markups I know of for this purpose are <a href="http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Markdown</a> (used, I believe, by SO), <a href="http://www.textism.com/tools/textile/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">textile</a>, and <a href="http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-bbcode-help.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BBCode</a>. The first two are commonly used for blog sites and CMS frameworks, and BBCode I think is usually associated with bulletin-board sites. Preview and mapping utilities are available for each.</p>
|
<p>Unfortunately there's no nice way to write "space but not a newline".</p>
<p>I think the best you can do is add some space with the <code>x</code> modifier and try to factor out the ugliness a bit, but that's questionable: <code>(?x) (?: [ \t\r\f\v]*? \n ){2} [ \t\r\f\v]*?</code></p>
<p>You could also try creating a subrule just for the character class and interpolating it three times.</p>
|
<p>What about one or more em spaces (&emsp;)? Granted, this would depend on what the user's font size is. If that doesn't really work in your design, consider an en space (&ensp;).</p>
<p>You might also want to look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_(punctuation)#Table_of_spaces" rel="noreferrer">this table of various spaces</a> on Wikipedia.</p>
|
<p>(community wiki for voting)</p>
<p>internationalization / localization<br>
i18n / l10n</p>
|
<p>You could try changing <code>\newcommand</code> to <code>\newenvironment</code> and then use something like</p>
<pre><code>\begin{solution}
\begin{verbatim}
[ascii art here]
\end{verbatim}
\end{solution}
</code></pre>
|
<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
|
<p>Tag <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nylon" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'nylon'" rel="tag">nylon</a> exists already, but I think it would be incredibly useful to have a TPE/TPU tag and a tag for all flexibles as a category.</p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> It has come to my attention that the tag <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/flexible" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'flexible'" rel="tag">flexible</a> already exists. I still would like to see a tag <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tpu" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'tpu'" rel="tag">tpu</a> though.</p>
|
<p>Let's stay with the classic $.</p>
<p>Example: \$\$\frac{1 \times 2}{2} = 1\$\$</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Now that MathJax is enabled, it renders to:
$$\frac{1 \times 2}{2} = 1$$</em></p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p><strong>FDM printer?</strong><br>
If you want to print one, maybe you should outsource it (let it print the tag on both sides), even the most affordable printers are in the \$100 - \$150 price range. If you want a printer and use it also to create ID tags, you could go for an FDM printer. Considering your request of having the tag inside (and through) the ID-card you need a dual filament option (one or two nozzle arrangement). If the tag can sit on top you can print it with a filament change with a single filament single nozzle printer. But, don't expect to get crystal clear prints (see experience printing signs below)!</p>
<p><strong>Alternatives</strong><br>
As an alternative, you could print a blank PLA ID-card and laser mark the tag onto both sides, see e.g. <a href="https://cdn.colorfabb.com/media/wysiwyg/colorfabb_video/moving%20banner%20lasermarking_1.webm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this video</a>.</p>
<p>If it is a small batch you can also consider printing/lasering stickers and stick these onto blank ID cards.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>From experience</strong><br>
I've done some signs with black letters on a white background for "on-lay", inlay and through arrangements using a more expensive (for home use) dual extruder 3D printer (Ultimaker 3 Extended about \$5000,-) with PETG, but the results were not very satisfying. Usually the black smears out on or in the white no matter tweaking the options. Considering the size of an ID-card, the amount of tag squares, this is even more likely to happen when you print at that small size (the signs I printed were sized similar to the "A5" paper standard). </p>
<p>From my experience I would say that a 3D printer may not be the best solution for your task.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>I am asking if there is a machine that can turn a plastic bottle into usable filament.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I've seen several projects (<a href="https://hackaday.com/2021/06/29/petbot-turn-pet-bottles-into-filament/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one example</a>, and <a href="https://youtu.be/Eecbdb0bQWQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">another</a>) where plastic bottles are sliced into long tapes, and the tape is then fed through an extruder. It's a somewhat simpler process than shredding bottles and then melting and extruding the shreds; since the tape is already a long strand, you're really just reforming it into a round filament suitable for use in a printer. Forming the tape from the bottle requires little more than a razor blade and a handful of hardware, and you can pull the tape through the extruder instead of forcing shreds through with a screw.</p>
<p>Some of the drawbacks are that the process can't use the top and bottom of the bottle, and getting consistent results still requires some automation. Also, the process as shown only creates filament from a single bottle, so the length of the filament is limited by the size of the bottle.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I want to know if there is a machine (currently on the market) that will make filament, based on the type of plastic I put in.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Filabot extruder that you mentioned will accept and extrude a wide variety of plastics, and the same should be true of any commercial or DIY extruder as long as it can get hot enough to melt the material you're supplying. Also, you can only extrude thermoplastic materials; thermoset materials won't work. By definition, thermoplastic materials are those that become soft and malleable when heated, while thermoset materials don't. So you can make filament from PLA, ABS, PET, PEEK, and many others. The material you supply might not always work well for FDM printing, though, or might work better in some printers than in others. For example, filament made from a PET soda bottle will be harder and more brittle than the PETG that's preferred for 3D printing, so you might have better luck using it in a printer with a direct extruder rather than one with a Bowden setup.</p>
|
<p>You should have a <strong>policy for the format</strong> of the tags (e.g. tags should be singular). Depending on how diverse the tags are, it might be useful not only to auto-complete while you are typing in a tag, but also to <strong>suggest similar tags</strong>, so that it is easy for people to use the tag system. Additionally, a <strong>cleanup process</strong> could correct common spelling mistakes and substitue deprecated tags according to a translation table.</p>
|
<p>Yes, such questions should be on-topic. There can be partial overlap in sites' scopes, and unique legal issues involving 3D printing can be addressed here. Users of this site are more likely to have specific expertise than users on a site that deals with laws more generally.</p>
|
<p>I must admit, I've never printed a key...but I think I can help anyway:</p>
<p><strong>Print method:</strong>
Consider printing on side, solid concentric infill. Or, if you can't manipulate your infill pattern, just increase the perimeter so you get the same effect, several continuous perimeter layers around the outline of the key.</p>
<p><strong>Print material:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Elongation before break is important here in addition to tensile strength...you need it to be stiff enough, but not brittle. </li>
<li><strong>ABS, PLA, or HIPS:</strong> Not likely to be successful...but maybe.</li>
<li><strong>PETG and PETG based filaments like T-Glase, N-Vent, nGen, INOVA-1800:</strong> A little better, but still likely to deform and/or break.
<ul>
<li><strong>Polycarbonate:</strong> Great for this, but is a fairly advanced material which tends to require pre-drying, enclosures, and PVA for hold down as well as a hot end that can handle at least 290C.</li>
<li><strong>Nylons:</strong> Good, but most Nylons may be more "bendy" than you want for this.</li>
<li><strong>Taulman's Alloy 910:</strong> Bingo. This should work nicely if you'd rather not struggle with printing polycarbonate. Alloy 910 prints near ABS settings, sticks well on a PVA-treated heated bed. (I use 85C for bed)</li>
<li>I would not suggest a CF filled filament for this because they tend to be brittle. <strong>Matter Hacker's NylonX</strong> with CF is a possible exception since it's nylon based, but I haven't tested it...yet. </li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
|
<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
|
<p>Answer was moved to this question: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/147/which-are-the-food-safe-materials-and-how-do-i-recognize-them">Which are the food-safe materials and how do I recognize them?</a></p>
|
<p>For those who did not know, linking to off-site content in answers is a no-go at SE sites unless you provide context. From <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer">help</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Provide context for links</strong><br>Links to external resources are encouraged,
but please add context around the link so your fellow users will have
some idea what it is and why it’s there. Always quote the most
relevant part of an important link, in case the target site is
unreachable or goes permanently offline.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What about linking to off-site content for questions? <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask">How do I ask a good question?</a> is not clear about that.</p>
<p>A question on meta.stackexchange reads: <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/94807/auto-ban-questions-that-use-pastebin">"Auto-ban questions that use pastebin?"</a>. This hints to banning people that use external linking in their answer.</p>
<p>I can image for large sites (hundreds to thousands questions a day) or specific sites (about programming) you definitely want a method to shift the quality of questions. But we are small. Furthermore, it is sometimes necessary (as the OP does not have the knowledge, and we don't have the overview) to ask for the complete file (e.g. configuration.h or G-code). You sure don't want people to post their complete configuration.h or G-code file into the question.</p>
<p>As links to off-site content seem to die over time, what can we do best to preserve the information for the question?</p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Most likely what is hapening is they are giving you a link to a script that is building the image and returning it on the fly, there is nothing aside from no allowing users to use external images, that you can do about it, one option to prevent it is to download and store the image on your server as opposed to linking to the external image.</p>
<p>--I decided to provide a sample<br />
This image is created on the fly, the url I'm giving is: <a href="http://unkwndesign.com/profilePic.png">http://unkwndesign.com/profilePic.png</a>:<br />
<a href="http://unkwndesign.com/profilePic.png">alt text http://unkwndesign.com/profilePic.png</a><br />
now, profilePic.png is a folder that when requested is providing index.php which, using gd, is getting the SO logo, and imposing your IP address over it, to be very clear here I AM NOT LOGING THIS OR ANY OTHER DATA the source for the index.php is:</p>
<pre><code><?php
$image = imagecreatefrompng("http://stackoverflow.com/Content/Img/stackoverflow-logo-250.png");
$font_size = 12;
$color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0,0,0);
ImageTTFText ($image, $font_size, 0, 55, 35, $color, "arial.ttf",$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
header("Content-type: image/png");
imagepng($image);
imagedestroy($image);
?>
</code></pre>
<p>Since I am returning an image, with a proper extension, and the proper mime-type there is no way to detect what I am doing.
If the server had downloaded my image and stored it locally the IP address would be that of the server, which would ruin the fun of doing it and likely prove to be enough of a discurageing factor to stop the behavior.</p>
|
<p>One thing to mention on the SEO front:</p>
<p>As a lot of the "results" pages will be linking through to the same content, there are a couple of advantages to appearing* to have different URLs for these pages:</p>
<ol>
<li>Some search engines get cross if you appear to have duplicate content on the site, or if there's the possiblity for almost infinite lists.</li>
<li>Analysing traffic flow.</li>
</ol>
<p>So for point 1, as an example, you'll notice that SO has numberous ways of finding questions, including:</p>
<ol>
<li>On the home page</li>
<li>Through /questions</li>
<li>Through /tags</li>
<li>Through /unanswered</li>
<li>Through /feeds</li>
<li>Through /search</li>
</ol>
<p>If you take a look at the robots.txt for SO, you'll see that spiders are not allowed to visit (among other things):</p>
<pre><code>Disallow: /tags
Disallow: /unanswered
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /feeds
Disallow: /questions/tagged
</code></pre>
<p>So the search engine should only find <strong>one</strong> route to the content rather than three or four.</p>
<p>Having them all go through the same page doesn't allow you to filter like this. Ideally you want the search engine to index the list of Cities and Tags, but you only need it to index the actual details once - say from the A to Z list.</p>
<p>For point 2, when analysing your site traffic, it will be a lot easier to see how people are using your site if the URLs are meaningful, and the results aren't hidden in the form header - many decent stats packages allow you to report on query string values, or if you have "nice" urls, this is even easier. Having this sort of information will also make selling advertising easier if that's what's you're interested in.</p>
<p>Finally, as I mentioned in the comments to other responses, users may well want to bookmark a particular search - having the query baked into the URL one way or another (query strings or rewritten url) is the simiplist way to allow this.</p>
<p>*I say "appearing" because as others have pointed out, URL rewriting would enable this without actually having different pages on the server.</p>
|
<p>Make a FAQ page or a tutorial covering some of the basics, that will eliminate quite a lot of questions.</p>
|
<p>You cannot allow links but you <strong>can</strong> have newlines.</p>
<p>Just use "\n" for a newline instead of <code><br/></code>.</p>
|
<p>Throw it up on an open source website and attach a bunch of good keywords to help search engines find it. If someone's looking for it, they'll find it and be able to use it. </p>
|
<p>All SO-URLs are of the form id/description where the ID is unique and the description is optional. So <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/12890/arne.burmeister"><code>/users/12890/arne-burmeister</code></a> is the same as <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/12890/huhu"><code>/users/12890/huhu</code></a> and <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/420380/why-does-the-link-to-the-user-profile-have-both-id-and-name"><code>/questions/420380/why-does-the-link-to-the-user-profile-have-both-id-and-name</code></a> is the same as <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/420380/foo"><code>/questions/420380/foo</code></a>. The retrieval just uses the ID, but it is much better for google ranking, when the user/question/what-ever-should-be-found occurs in the URL (also for humans this is much more descriptive ;-).</p>
<p>By the way, retrieval by ID is faster than by such a large text string. And of course, the URL remains valid if someone changes their user name or the question.</p>
|
<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
|
<p>I don't want to ask off-topic and opinion questions here, but I would like to find a cadre of others dialing in their devices.
Any ideas?</p>
|
<p>I stumbled across this forum/group, <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/english-forum-original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Original Prusa i3 MMU2S & MMU2</a>, amongst all of the other <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa printers forums</a> on the <a href="https://blog.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusaprinters blog</a>, which seems fairly active. </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2-user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles-.../" rel="nofollow noreferrer">User mods - OctoPrint, enclosures, nozzles, ...</a> page seems like it might be what you are looking for.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<ul>
<li>Google's android groups </li>
</ul>
<p>This is probably the best place to go. However, a good search on google will most likely take you to one of these discussion anyways. Here, you can discuss about your difficulties possibly with the core developers too.</p>
<ul>
<li>Anddev.org </li>
</ul>
<p>They're probably the most active groups so far (as of Sun, April 20, 2008) online regarding the development and the interactive community around android. Apart from the official google groups and the irc channel at #android on irc.freenode.net, they're probably the best place to go or ask questions.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://davanum.wordpress.com/" rel="noreferrer">http://davanum.wordpress.com/</a> </li>
</ul>
<p>Development halted here but still some rather interesting things that have been done.</p>
<ul>
<li>phandroid.com</li>
</ul>
<p>Didn't see much development things</p>
<ul>
<li>Androforge.net</li>
</ul>
<p>A nice little repository, not a lot of files though.</p>
<p>I pulled it from my development wiki which hasn't been updated for a while but best of luck working with Android ... and T-Mobile G1</p>
|
<p>I haven't had a chance to check it out, but the <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/virtualaltnet?hl=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Virtual ALT.NET</a> group sounds promising.</p>
|
<p>This may not be an exact fit, but worth looking at: <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Surveymonkey</a>.</p>
|
<p>You could use <a href="http://www.spread.org/" rel="noreferrer">Spread</a> to do group communication.</p>
|
<p>Jeff Atwood recommends using Stack Overflow for this kind of thing. Post a question (your problem) and then post an answer (the solution you found). This lets you share the information with the world, and maybe get some valuable feedback or better solutions.</p>
<p>(Wow, I got downvoted for repeating what Jeff Atwood said. I won't do that again, I promise.)</p>
|
<p>The official <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ruby On Rails Talk</a> mailing list is a good spot for discussion. I also tend to go to <code>#rubyonrails</code> irc channel on irc.freenode.net with my questions. There tend to be lots of helpful folks there.</p>
|
<p>I guess there is none (at least that is popular enough for users here to be aware of).</p>
<p>We've went ahead to code our own Search system.</p>
|
<p>I found this question, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10010/laser-is-engraving-the-negative-space">laser is engraving the negative space</a> in the close queue this morning as being off topic. I was about to respond, and through I'd look at the community view on meta. I found this question and answer: <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/67/fdm-printer-that-can-also-mill-and-engrave-whats-in-scope/68#68">FDM printer that can also mill and engrave -- what's in scope?</a>, and this META discussion <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/349/is-it-possible-to-expand-the-scope-of-this-site">Is it possible to expand the scope of this site?</a> which suggests that it would be on topic.</p>
<p>What should I do with the question? As a relatively low-reputation participant, I want to defer to the greater experience.</p>
<p>Many of the problems of 3D printing and laser etching are similar, but not all. The equipment is much like FDM 3D printers, with some differences. How finely should we diagnose the nature of the problem before deciding if it is on topic?</p>
|
<p><strong>I say allow them.</strong> </p>
<p>To let you know what's out there, I work at <a href="http://hyrel3d.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hyrel</a>. </p>
<p>Our printers can take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lvN-aPYHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">spindle (milling) heads and additional axes</a>, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceUiuTixPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">diode</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/FnYDoNkgOrI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO2 lasers</a>, and they all operate on the same gcode - we tell people E is for Emit as well as Extrude. We even have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFY-IqDB_0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TIG welding</a> attachment. </p>
<p>We also run our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGeQmXNbNE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fadal CNC machines</a> on our printer software and firmware. </p>
<p>To many people this is a natural progression for a well-built 3D positioning system, and I encourage a broader definition.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>All printers are designed with an idea of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG" rel="nofollow">WYSIWYG</a> for sure. Depending on:</p>
<ul>
<li>printer - type/quality/settings/configuration/assembly precission</li>
<li>filament - type/quality/shrinkage</li>
<li>user skills - manual/using app proficiency</li>
<li>model complexity</li>
<li>environment conditions and so on</li>
</ul>
<p>you can get different results.</p>
<p>I venture to say users know their printers (after some time and by trials and errors) so they know how to manage dimensions to compensate all above so you will get this knowledge too.</p>
<p>Mathematical formula can describe shrinkage of the material, all other elements are very hard to describe (mathematically) in a general way.</p>
<p>Of course someone can simplify it and say: more money you spend better effects you'll get. It's sometimes true ;)</p>
<p>So all your modular things will be better and better if you will increase (what is to be increased) in above points especially "user skills".</p>
<p>Is engineering paramount? It depends of whay you gonna create. If your modular things have to lock itself, have to have threads, screws and such stuff then this is engineering. Is it the most important part of the design? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>I would say 3D printing moved engineering to next level. I'm talking about <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:258201" rel="nofollow">this</a> or <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:249341" rel="nofollow">this</a>. Is it still art or engineering? :)</p>
<p>This is my receipt:</p>
<p><em>think > imagine > design > rethink > redesign > give it a try > get back to thinking</em></p>
<p>good luck</p>
|
<p><strong>Yes!</strong></p>
<p>Absolutely. We need to reward good answers, and raise rep levels so suers can get moderation privileges when they rise to the normal public beta levels.</p>
<p>However, I think we should also downvote poor questions and answers. I haven't yet done so, partly because I've focused on rewarding the good posts. But downvoting is important, too.</p>
<p>What happened to me yesterday:</p>
<ol>
<li>I posted an answer (my first) to a question.</li>
<li>It was downvoted.</li>
<li>A user who may/may not have been the downvoter pointed out something I was wrong about.</li>
<li>There was a discussion in comments.</li>
<li>I deleted my answer.</li>
<li>I edited it.</li>
<li>There was continued dialogue with the user and another. I improved my answer even further.</li>
<li>Downvote was removed.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm grateful to the downvoter, and to the comments. We need to establish what posts are good and bad in the site, and my original answer was not good. It was wrong in several points - and since the question was about <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/safety" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'safety'" rel="tag">safety</a>, it was even more important for it to be correct. The feedback helped me to fix my answer, but if I had not done so, the downvote would have ensured that better answers went to the top.</p>
<p>We should definitely upvote. But downvoting is good, too. Downvoters don't have to comment - that's never the case - but comments certainly help. They helped me.</p>
|
<p>Here are few things to consider from my point of view</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing technology</strong></p>
<p>The first thing that you need to take into account is printing technology. The most common[citation needed] right now is Fused Filament Fabrication. "Liquid light-sensitive resin" is being used in Stereolitography and Digital Light Processing - the SLA printers I found are less common and more expensive than FFF ones.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Price</strong></p>
<p>Need to decide on budget. You can buy printer for 60k USD and 400 USD. Quality is somehow linked to price but that's not a rule. You can buy a shitty printer for a lot of money.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing area</strong></p>
<p>Bigger allows you to print bigger things. You need to ask yourself how big things you really want to print. Remember that 3d printing is quite slow process - how often you will want to print big things that will take 60hrs+ to finish?</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing materials</strong></p>
<p>What kind of materials you want to print with? Some materials will need higher temperatures so check the max hot-end temperature, some will require heated bed.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Assembled or DIY kit</strong></p>
<p>You can usually get kits for self-assembly cheaper than Ready-To-Print machines. However, it will require additional skills (i.e. soldering), tools and time to assemble. I am not sure if I would buy DIY kit for commercial use, but as an enthusiast I immensely enjoyed putting my Rostock Max together.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Reviews and reputation</strong></p>
<p>It is generally safe to buy printer that already has some users. Beware of new magical Kickstarter printers which will "change the 3d printing forever".
Reddit /r/3dprinting suggests that your new printer should meet 3 criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>Printer passes the youtube test - has lots of youtube evidence that this particular printer is working.</li>
<li>Printer is out of the pre-order phase. This means that all pre-orders have been delivered.</li>
<li>Printer has a reputation of working well among current users.</li>
</ul>
<p>I found it to be a very good set of rules.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Upgrade capabilities</strong></p>
<p>That's very user-dependent, but this point is very important to me. I want to be able to change and improve certain parts of my printer. Check if you can switch the extruder, replace the hot-end etc. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Support</strong></p>
<p>I think one of the most important points. See if you can find a forum for your printer and how active community is. It will be immensely helpful if something goes wrong (and it will).
Also, company support is very important. What will happen if you need a replacement part or your printer will stop working altogether?</p>
<hr>
<p>This list is definitely not complete.
There are many more things that might be taken into account like configuration (delta or XY), multiple extruders, closed cases etc.</p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
|
<p>Yes and No at the same time:</p>
<h1>3D Printing is a subset of Additive Manufacturing</h1>
<h3>but treated as a synonym at this time</h3>
<p>3D printing is a process that takes some material, in a fluid state that fuses with the model to shape an object from it. The material could be plastics, ceramic paste or even metal. The fluid state could be the normal state, or just be present for the fusing process (think powder and resin based systems), or be a transitional phase (as in filament based systems).</p>
<p>Additive manufacturing is just a slight bit bigger: at the moment most, if not all, AM processes are some sort of 3D printing. But AM could include other processes that don't fit 3D printing. For example, an automatic bricklaying machine could, under some view, be Additive Manufacturing, but it is not 3D printing in the traditional sense.</p>
<p>So: All 3D Printing is Additive Manufacturing, but not all Additive Manufacturing is necessarily 3D Printing.</p>
|
<h2>Yes, we should have a <em>three</em> vote close question review queue</h2>
|
<blockquote>
<p>One thought I had, does PETG need a different clearance between the nozzle and the bed than PLA?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Short answer: "Yes, for some it does".</p>
<hr>
<p>The results from your image are typically seen when the initial layer height for PETG is too small. PETG likes an additional gap on top of the usual that is used to print e.g. PLA.</p>
<p>For me personally I don't experience this general consensus (I've printed kilometers of PETG filament at 0.2 mm initial layer height at a glass bed with 3DLAC spray without any problems), but it is well known that if you print PETG (and if you experience problems) you need to increase the gap between the nozzle and the bed. From <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/175700615-petg-filament-heres-what-you-need-to-know" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"PETG Filament - Overview, Step-by-Step Settings & Problems Resolved"</a> posted on rigid.ink, you see that they (usually) advise an additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm gap:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" alt="Additional PETG gap" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"></a></p>
<p>Bottom line, if the normal gap doesn't work for you, increase the gap to see if that works better. Note that in some slicers you can add an offset in the slicer so that you do not have to do the releveling with a thicker paper (or if you are using auto-levelling). E.g. in Ultimaker Cura you can download a plugin (for recent Cura versions from the marketplace) from user <a href="https://github.com/fieldOfView/Cura-ZOffsetPlugin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fieldOfView</a> called "Z Offset Setting" to get the <code>Z Offset</code> setting in the <code>Build Plate Adhesion</code> section. You can also do a little trick in the G-code by redefining the height so that you can put this in a PETG start G-code or something.</p>
|
<p>Should we really close this question: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10200/3d-printer-part-clones-from-china-legality">3d printer part clones from china - legality</a>..? </p>
<p>Are legal questions on topic? We have a legal section in the <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/276/game-plan-what-is-on-topic">Game plan - What is on-topic?</a> and a <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/legal" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'legal'" rel="tag">legal</a> tag.</p>
|
<p><strong>I say allow them.</strong> </p>
<p>To let you know what's out there, I work at <a href="http://hyrel3d.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hyrel</a>. </p>
<p>Our printers can take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lvN-aPYHI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">spindle (milling) heads and additional axes</a>, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceUiuTixPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">diode</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/FnYDoNkgOrI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO2 lasers</a>, and they all operate on the same gcode - we tell people E is for Emit as well as Extrude. We even have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFY-IqDB_0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TIG welding</a> attachment. </p>
<p>We also run our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGeQmXNbNE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fadal CNC machines</a> on our printer software and firmware. </p>
<p>To many people this is a natural progression for a well-built 3D positioning system, and I encourage a broader definition.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<p>For common problems that get asked a lot, I wouldn't just close these as <em>too broad.</em> A better solution is to create a <strong>canonical post</strong> like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://superuser.com/a/260078/697"><strong>How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?</strong></a></p>
<p>These attract a <em>lot</em> of users. </p>
<p>The goal is to create a step-by-step trouble-shooting guide to explain what lights, nozzles, and sneedles to look when you're kwigger isn't going <em>zong.</em></p>
<p>And don't just answer with a hyperlink to some other discussion group somewhere. Do everything you can to really overkill it. Write a detailed, step-by-step, ultra-clear guide, so when zillions of people with this problem go searching, you stand a good chance of the best possible answer on the web. </p>
<p>This is one of those opportunities to attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.</p>
|
<p><a href="http://www.groklaw.net/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">groklaw</a> would seem to be a good starting point for open source issues</p>
|
<h1>Vote!</h1>
<p>Private Betas love, love, <em>love</em> votes. Without votes, it's difficult to attain privileges, get rewards, and help push us out to public beta.</p>
<h1>Ask Questions!</h1>
<p>I know you said this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought about asking about how to get started with 3D printing but SE explicitly discourages "easy" questions in the private beta.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But here's the catch. "Easy" isn't defined. If you have an "easy" question, but it is specific, high-quality, and to the point, and you can show some effort in it, then, please, go ahead and ask it!</p>
<h1>Participate!</h1>
<p>You have a voice in our meta discussions as well. You also have the authority to suggest edits, to posts, tag wikis, and tag excerpts. They also get you +2 rep for each that is approved, which can help bring you more afloat. You can also give your opinion in scope, by casting close and reopen votes as well :)</p>
|
<p>This is not a technical question, it is a legal question. Ask a lawyer licensed to practice in your area.</p>
|
<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
|
<p>Well done for bringing this up. I was looking at those numbers too. </p>
<p>Referring to <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/264/what-does-it-take-to-get-out-of-beta-stage/265#265">this post</a>, almost all of the stats are improving (albeit) slowly, except for one, the ApQ </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are users put off by an expectation that a wrong answer might lose them rep?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems that way. Without wishing to provide a link to the actual comment, I noticed a comment the other day that suggested as much, and a nicely detailed comment was left instead. </p>
<p>To be fair, I feel that way sometimes, and often hesitate (maybe rightly so to save myself from spamming the site) in posting questions on SE.Meta, as there are a number of drive-by downvoters there<sup>1</sup>. Unless you have a definite bug that you are able to document clearly or have a well rounded proposal that can be implemented easily, then your question may end up downvoted. This is probably rightly so, TBH, in most cases, but nevertheless it can be discouraging.</p>
<p>If you don't have much hard-earned rep then you may be less willing to risk it by posting a informative answer, that only answers half the question. Is that a bad thing? Well, it is a double edged sword. It is a good thing, because that promotes good solid answers, but with the downside that you point out (a lack of multiple answers per question).</p>
<p>What can we do? Probably, not much other than creating a small community by promoting a friendly environment and communicating more clearly... Inviting people to chat in the chatroom, being more welcoming (with Hi and welcome), actually helping people without the old "Did you google this?" immediately. All of these things help a lot. And which we seem to have developed of late. So we seem to be getting there.</p>
<p>I know that a number of members have already been adding answers to single answer questions as well as tackling the unanswered queue too. The more people that help the better...</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> Don't get me wrong, I looove (justified) downvotes, but I would like to know <em>why</em>.</p>
|
<p>We should do some tag maintenance, especially regarding printers to make them easier to read. Use an answer to propose a change, merge or split. Discussions for each change should go into the comments of each change.</p>
<p>Some things are easier than others: </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Renaming</strong> a tag can be done with mod tools.</li>
<li><strong>Alias/Synonyms</strong> are reasonably quick, often follow along renaming</li>
<li>Some tags need <strong>manual (separation)</strong>. Sifting through what is and what isn't this tag has to be done to separate the stuff. It can be noisy to the front site but has to be done.</li>
</ul>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/438">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/436">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/434">Filled PLA</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/431">Anet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/435">Flashforge</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/432">Ultimaker</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/437">Ultimaker 1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/433">Cura</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/445">Monoprice</a></li>
</ul>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Have you tried branching or tagging yet? Until then, there's no problem. However, an added benefit of using the branches,tags,trunk convention is that it's exactly that -- a convention. People expect to see that, so they know what to do when they need to fork.</p>
|
<p>I have always found it difficult to read comments that are marked by a keyword on each line:</p>
<pre><code>REM blah blah blah
</code></pre>
<p>Easier to read:</p>
<pre><code>:: blah blah blah
</code></pre>
|
<p>I think a direct insertion with a progressive (and slow) change of background color would do the trick... I find it especially effective on SO itself.</p>
|
<p>I use them for searching for my stack (C#, ASP.NET, WinForms etc). I have them set up in Launchy as shortcuts.</p>
<p>I have posted some thoughts ideas on my <a href="http://cantgrokwontgrok.blogspot.com/2008/09/stackoverflow-crackoverflow-or.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackOverflow blog post</a> - feel free to comment on there if you like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Search Support</strong></p>
<p>The search functionality is improving.
However, is it still limited (for
example, no OR search). It also has
limited filtering options. One major
problem for me is that it displays
searches the answers as well as
questions. So, you can end up with a
page of results that point to one
question (which may not help you). Tag
searching is also improving but still
limited and even misunderstood by its
creator (see the comments).</p>
<p><strong>Finding Your Stack</strong></p>
<p>I am a C# developer. I work on Windows
and ASP.NET applications. I know
nothing about Java, Python, Ruby and
the many other languages out there. I
can offer limited advice on
architecture and design. Now,
currently, it is bloody difficult for
me to find questions with the
appropriate tags so I can assist. I
propose:</p>
<p>"Smart Lists" - these should be lists that each user can create that
you can specify tags to search for.
For example, I could create three
"Windows" (which searches for items
tagged "C# WinForms"), "Web" (tagged
"ASP.NET") and Architecture (tagged
"architecture"). Now, a web developer
who works on the LAMP stack may have a
"Web" tab, but entirely different
tags.</p>
<p>I am currently getting around this by
having Launchy shortcuts set up for my
stacks.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>This likely goes back to the core concept that there should be one obvious way to do a task. Additional comment styles add unnecessary complications and could decrease readability.</p>
|
<p>The main difference between the recommended layout and your proposed layout is that the recommended layout is somewhat self-documenting as to where to commit things, and how it behaves.</p>
<p>For example, in the recommended layout, it's obvious that all new development is committed to trunk, and most branches are made from trunk. Also, it's obvious that you should never commit anything into /tags. Finally, it's safe to assume that branches are truly branches, which may contain changes specific to that particular branch purpose.</p>
<p>With the proposed layout, some of these things are less certain. Is /development/stable branched from /current? What's the relation between /development/stable and /production/stable? Which of these directories are tags, and which ones can I actually check stuff into? </p>
<p>Certainly this behavior can be documented, but by sticking to the accepted layout that everybody uses, you'll have an easier time getting new hires up to speed on how it works.</p>
|
<h2>Yes, we should have a <em>three</em> vote close question review queue</h2>
|
<p>Every time I write "Cura" in a question or answer, it gets edited to "Ultimaker Cura", <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/10940/11157">most recently</a> resulting in awkward verbose repetition that required additional edits to fix. I don't see any justification for requiring use of official verbose names for software products that can be clearly identified by a well-known shorter name. For example on computing SE sites we don't force users to write "Microsoft Windows" or "Redhat Linux" in contexts where "Windows" or "Redhat" would be understood. And even on this site I don't recall every mention of "Ender 3" getting edited into "Creality Ender 3".</p>
<p>Is such a policy (it's effectively a policy, since it's enforced by edits made by a moderator) appropriate for this site?</p>
<p>For what it's worth, as a new-ish contributor to this SE site, having nitpicky edits to all of my posts does not make me feel welcome and appreciated.</p>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/438">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/436">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/434">Filled PLA</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/431">Anet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/435">Flashforge</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/432">Ultimaker</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/437">Ultimaker 1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/433">Cura</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/445">Monoprice</a></li>
</ul>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I completely agree! I just posted <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">my own reminder</a>, focusing more on efforts to get us out of Beta.</p>
<p>I'm sorry you can feel discouraged sometimes, I think a lot of users around the Stack Exchange network can feel that way at times.</p>
<p>I think people sometimes forget that an up-vote to an answer isn't necessarily that it was helpful to you, specifically. But, rather that <strong>the answer is a good <em>quality</em> answer</strong> and <strong>will be <em>useful</em> to others</strong> as well!</p>
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<p>You should have a <strong>policy for the format</strong> of the tags (e.g. tags should be singular). Depending on how diverse the tags are, it might be useful not only to auto-complete while you are typing in a tag, but also to <strong>suggest similar tags</strong>, so that it is easy for people to use the tag system. Additionally, a <strong>cleanup process</strong> could correct common spelling mistakes and substitue deprecated tags according to a translation table.</p>
|
<p>I quite like what is done e.g. <a href="http://episteme.arstechnica.com/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>. If you look towards the bottom of the page, there's a piece of text "powered by eve community". If you click that text you get a small chunk of technical information.</p>
<p>To me, this is a nice tradeoff between having the (useful) information readily available (for bug reports, etc.) and having to have (unpleasant) technical jargon visible to users of the site.</p>
|
<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
|
<p>I think the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/adhesion" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'adhesion'" rel="tag">adhesion</a> tag should be used instead.</p>
|
<p>Half a year passed since <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/430/tag-maintenance-summer-2019">Tag Maintenance Summer 2019</a>. A lot was done, some wasn't, so cleanup and rinse and repeat: Let's do some tag maintenance, especially regarding printers to make them easier to read. Use an answer to propose a change, merge or split. Discussions for each change should go into the comments of each change.</p>
<p>Some things are easier than others: </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Renaming</strong> a tag can be done with mod tools.</li>
<li><strong>Alias/Synonyms</strong> are reasonably quick, often follow along renaming</li>
<li>Some tags need <strong>manual (separation)</strong>. Sifting through what is and what isn't this tag has to be done to separate the stuff. It can be noisy to the front site but has to be done.</li>
</ul>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/458/8884">Filled PLA</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/459/8884">Repair vs. Maintenance</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/456/8884">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/455/8884">Monoprice</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/457/8884">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/460/8884">Prusa</a></li>
</ul>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
|
<p>I completely agree! I just posted <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">my own reminder</a>, focusing more on efforts to get us out of Beta.</p>
<p>I'm sorry you can feel discouraged sometimes, I think a lot of users around the Stack Exchange network can feel that way at times.</p>
<p>I think people sometimes forget that an up-vote to an answer isn't necessarily that it was helpful to you, specifically. But, rather that <strong>the answer is a good <em>quality</em> answer</strong> and <strong>will be <em>useful</em> to others</strong> as well!</p>
|
<p>Make a FAQ page or a tutorial covering some of the basics, that will eliminate quite a lot of questions.</p>
|
<p><em>Copied from chat</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I agree about the posting of the entire configuration file or G-code in a question is too big to fit, etc. What is really needed, and I've thought this for a long time, is a SE sanctioned version of PasteBin [functionality]. A persistent scrapbook/scratchpad site internal to SE (like the i.stack.imgur.com site) where <em>over-sized</em> chunks of code/configs/text can be pasted, without it being an external link (which carry the inherent risk of link death). That would be the correct solution, and I don't understand why that hasn't been set up. Seems odd to me.</p>
|
<h2>Yes, we should have a <em>three</em> vote close question review queue</h2>
|
<p>Well done for bringing this up. I was looking at those numbers too. </p>
<p>Referring to <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/264/what-does-it-take-to-get-out-of-beta-stage/265#265">this post</a>, almost all of the stats are improving (albeit) slowly, except for one, the ApQ </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are users put off by an expectation that a wrong answer might lose them rep?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems that way. Without wishing to provide a link to the actual comment, I noticed a comment the other day that suggested as much, and a nicely detailed comment was left instead. </p>
<p>To be fair, I feel that way sometimes, and often hesitate (maybe rightly so to save myself from spamming the site) in posting questions on SE.Meta, as there are a number of drive-by downvoters there<sup>1</sup>. Unless you have a definite bug that you are able to document clearly or have a well rounded proposal that can be implemented easily, then your question may end up downvoted. This is probably rightly so, TBH, in most cases, but nevertheless it can be discouraging.</p>
<p>If you don't have much hard-earned rep then you may be less willing to risk it by posting a informative answer, that only answers half the question. Is that a bad thing? Well, it is a double edged sword. It is a good thing, because that promotes good solid answers, but with the downside that you point out (a lack of multiple answers per question).</p>
<p>What can we do? Probably, not much other than creating a small community by promoting a friendly environment and communicating more clearly... Inviting people to chat in the chatroom, being more welcoming (with Hi and welcome), actually helping people without the old "Did you google this?" immediately. All of these things help a lot. And which we seem to have developed of late. So we seem to be getting there.</p>
<p>I know that a number of members have already been adding answers to single answer questions as well as tackling the unanswered queue too. The more people that help the better...</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> Don't get me wrong, I looove (justified) downvotes, but I would like to know <em>why</em>.</p>
|
<p>Version control systems such as CVS can produce such tags.</p>
|
<p>As the question states, should <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'bed'" rel="tag">bed</a> and <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/build-plate" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'build-plate'" rel="tag">build-plate</a> be merged? Basically, both tags refer to the same part of the printer; <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'bed'" rel="tag">bed</a> should be a synonym for <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/build-plate" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'build-plate'" rel="tag">build-plate</a>.</p>
|
<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>$$\text{3D Printing Stack Exchange} \subset \text{Stack Exchange sites that use MathJax}$$</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://data.stackexchange.com/3dprinting/query/879802/mathjax-inline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">~17 posts</a> that could use an edit. Most of those are prices that have been converted into MathJax. You can fix that by escaping the dollar sign:</p>
<pre><code>$ => \$
</code></pre>
<p>I'll work on those edits myself, but I'd love to get some help.</p>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/458/8884">Filled PLA</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/459/8884">Repair vs. Maintenance</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/456/8884">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/455/8884">Monoprice</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/457/8884">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/460/8884">Prusa</a></li>
</ul>
|
<p>Yes they should, only leads to confusion otherwise.</p>
|
<p>These are <strong>NOT</strong> the same in a manufacturing, which 3D printing is primarily considered a part of.</p>
<p>Post-Processing typically refers to additional steps that must/can be done to produce the nominally desired part. These steps can include deburr, grind, and other additive/subtractive processing on the physical part.</p>
<p>Post-Production typically refers to any steps that typically do not "produce" or alter the dimensions of the product. These steps can include final visual and dimensional inspection, packaging, and sometimes even shipment.</p>
<p>I would not recommend creating a synonym, but merely updating the definition of both terms.</p>
|
<p>You should have a <strong>policy for the format</strong> of the tags (e.g. tags should be singular). Depending on how diverse the tags are, it might be useful not only to auto-complete while you are typing in a tag, but also to <strong>suggest similar tags</strong>, so that it is easy for people to use the tag system. Additionally, a <strong>cleanup process</strong> could correct common spelling mistakes and substitue deprecated tags according to a translation table.</p>
|
<p>This post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">3D Printing SE Beta Status</a>, by tbm0115 highlights the <em>three main</em> sticking points (IMHO clearer than the Area 51 page):</p>
<ul>
<li>Questions per day</li>
<li><strike>Users vs Reputation</strike></li>
<li><strike>Visits per day</strike></li>
</ul>
<p>Once those reach the required levels then that should be it. So, there is quite a way to go...</p>
<p>The stats can be seen here, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">3D Printing Area51 site</a>:</p>
<h3>Stats progress</h3>
<p>Note: Only <em>changes</em> are shown (no date information)</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strike><strong>2.1</strong></strike> -> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike> 2.4</li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strike><strong>96 %</strong></strike> -> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike> 87 %</li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>56/150</strong></strike> -> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike> 359/150</li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>4/10</strong></strike> -> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup> 27/10</li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>3/5</strong></strike> -> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup> 14/5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strike><strong>2.0</strong></strike> -> 1.9</li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strike><strong>753</strong></strike> -> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike> 5469</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>*</sup> This change in the number of users with <em>X</em> reputation is, in part, due to the move from +5 to +10 reputation for upvoted questions on <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/">13 Nov 2019</a> (see also <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/391250/4424636">Upvotes on questions will now be worth the same as upvotes on answers</a>).</p>
<hr />
<h3>Alternative Stats presentation</h3>
<p>Latest statistic shown in bold -> chronological history shown thereafter</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strong>2.4</strong> -> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike></li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strong>87 %</strong> -> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike></li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strong>359/150</strong> -> <strike>56/150</strike> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike></li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strong>27/10</strong> -> <strike>4/10</strike> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strong>14/5</strong> -> <strike>3/5</strike> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strong>1.9</strong> -> <strike>2.0</strike></li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strong>5469</strong> -> <strike>753</strike> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>Additional points of note</h3>
<p>The stats above aren't really the be all to end all... there are a few other considerations that I came across here, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community/1355#1355">in this answer</a>, to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">“Graduation” of this Community</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A number of 10k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 3 ) are required to access mod tools</li>
<li>A number of 3k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 10 ) are required to be able to fully vote</li>
</ol>
<h3>The final hurdle</h3>
<p>The main sticking point, according to this meta post on Ethereum, <a href="https://ethereum.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/474/congratulations-ethereum-is-graduating">Congratulations! Ethereum is graduating!</a>, is 10 questions per day, which we are a long way from, and seems to be the last remaining issue. A link (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>) from the Ethereum meta post to Meta.SE states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a site starts to consistently receive 10 questions/day, we’ll consider it for graduation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>No graduation, but losing the Beta label...</h3>
<p>Apart from graduation, SE management has recognised that small sites (with an active community) struggle to reach the 10 questions/day consistently. For sites that have been waiting to get out of Beta by graduation for 7-8 years, SE has decided to drop the Beta label. Please see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331708/congratulations-to-our-29-oldest-beta-sites-theyre-now-no-longer-beta?cb=1">Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>CSV Format</h3>
<ul>
<li>Format: <code>heading,data,date,data,date,...,data,date</code></li>
<li>Date format: <code>YYYYMMDD</code></li>
</ul>
<pre><code>*Questions per day*,2.1,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.6,20180705,2.1,20180707,2.7,20180815,2.1,20180903,1.7,20181015,2,20181106,2.4,20190327,3.0,20190905,2.5,20191119,3.9,20210121,2.8,20210411,3.3,20210423,3.3,20210424,3,20210425,3,20210426,2.7,20210427,2,20210506,2,20210508,1.9,20210511,2.1,20210514,2.2,20210525,2.4,20210526
*Answer rate*,96,20170317,93,20180525,95,20180705,96,20180707,96,20180815,97,20180903,98,20181015,98,20181106,96,20190327,95,20190905,94,20191119,88,20210121,88,20210411,88,20210423,88,20210424,88,20210425,88,20210426,88,20210427,88,20210506,88,20210508,87,20210511,87,20210514,87,20210525,87,20210526
*200+ reputation*,56,20170317,103,20180525,113,20180705,139,20180707,144,20180815,151,20180903,161,20181015,164,20181106,179,20190327,194,20190905,282,20191119,351,20210121,358,20210411,358,20210423,358,20210424,358,20210425,358,20210426,358,20210427,358,20210506,358,20210508,358,20210511,358,20210514,359,20210525,359,20210526
*2,000+ reputation*,4,20170317,8,20180525,9,20180705,10,20180707,11,20180815,12,20180903,14,20181015,14,20181106,17,20190327,19,20190905,22,20191119,27,20210121,27,20210411,27,20210423,27,20210424,27,20210425,27,20210426,27,20210427,27,20210506,27,20210508,27,20210511,27,20210514,27,20210525,27,20210526
*3,000+ reputation*,3,20170317,4,20180525,6,20180705,7,20180707,7,20180815,7,20180903,7,20181015,8,20181106,9,20190327,11,20190905,12,20191119,14,20210121,14,20210411,14,20210423,14,20210424,14,20210425,14,20210426,14,20210427,14,20210506,14,20210508,14,20210511,14,20210514,14,20210525,14,20210526
*Answers per question*,2.0,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.9,20180705,1.9,20180707,1.9,20180815,1.9,20180903,1.9,20181015,1.9,20181106,1.9,20190327,1.9,20190905,1.9,20191119,1.9,20210121,1.9,20210411,1.9,20210423,1.9,20210424,1.9,20210425,1.9,20210426,1.9,20210427,1.9,20210506,1.9,20210508,1.9,20210511,1.9,20210514,1.9,20210525,1.9,20210526
*Visits per day*,753,20170317,4,20180525,2324,20180705,2648,20180707,2675,20180815,2774,20180903,2844,20181015,3041,20181106,3707,20190327,2934,20190905,3290,20191119,8756,20210121,7146,20210411,6773,20210423,6718,20210424,6682,20210425,6627,20210426,6582,20210427,6247,20210506,6207,20210508,6081,20210511,5929,20210514,5541,20210525,5469,20210526
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-generate markdown lists and CSV: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/Area51Scraper.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Area51Scraper.py</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Graphical representation</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Graph of stats"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" alt="Graph of stats" title="Graph of stats" /></a></p>
<p>Graph script: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/StackExchange3DP_6.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackExchange3DP_6.py</a></p>
|
<p>For common problems that get asked a lot, I wouldn't just close these as <em>too broad.</em> A better solution is to create a <strong>canonical post</strong> like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://superuser.com/a/260078/697"><strong>How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?</strong></a></p>
<p>These attract a <em>lot</em> of users. </p>
<p>The goal is to create a step-by-step trouble-shooting guide to explain what lights, nozzles, and sneedles to look when you're kwigger isn't going <em>zong.</em></p>
<p>And don't just answer with a hyperlink to some other discussion group somewhere. Do everything you can to really overkill it. Write a detailed, step-by-step, ultra-clear guide, so when zillions of people with this problem go searching, you stand a good chance of the best possible answer on the web. </p>
<p>This is one of those opportunities to attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.</p>
|
<p>Several questions are related to first layer calibration or issues: I found 43 of them with "first layer" in the title alone, 150 with "first layer" anywhere (no duplicates).</p>
<p>I propose adding a "first-layer" tag to more easily retrieve said questions.</p>
<p>I already applied it to my latest question without thinking about it, but I can remove it if desired.</p>
|
<p>I think the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/adhesion" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'adhesion'" rel="tag">adhesion</a> tag should be used instead.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I think the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/adhesion" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'adhesion'" rel="tag">adhesion</a> tag should be used instead.</p>
|
<p>As you already noticed, it prevents duplication. People are not consistent in their capitalization. Just look at the tags here and notice that people can't decide whether it's "objective-c", "objc" or "objectivec". Throw in "Objective-C", "Objective-c" and so on, and you'd have a real mess.</p>
<p>Note I'm not saying it would be impossible to deal with capitals, just difficult. For example, how do you know the correct capitalization? Just accept the first one entered as correct? Rely on moderators to clean up?</p>
|
<p>I use them for searching for my stack (C#, ASP.NET, WinForms etc). I have them set up in Launchy as shortcuts.</p>
<p>I have posted some thoughts ideas on my <a href="http://cantgrokwontgrok.blogspot.com/2008/09/stackoverflow-crackoverflow-or.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackOverflow blog post</a> - feel free to comment on there if you like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Search Support</strong></p>
<p>The search functionality is improving.
However, is it still limited (for
example, no OR search). It also has
limited filtering options. One major
problem for me is that it displays
searches the answers as well as
questions. So, you can end up with a
page of results that point to one
question (which may not help you). Tag
searching is also improving but still
limited and even misunderstood by its
creator (see the comments).</p>
<p><strong>Finding Your Stack</strong></p>
<p>I am a C# developer. I work on Windows
and ASP.NET applications. I know
nothing about Java, Python, Ruby and
the many other languages out there. I
can offer limited advice on
architecture and design. Now,
currently, it is bloody difficult for
me to find questions with the
appropriate tags so I can assist. I
propose:</p>
<p>"Smart Lists" - these should be lists that each user can create that
you can specify tags to search for.
For example, I could create three
"Windows" (which searches for items
tagged "C# WinForms"), "Web" (tagged
"ASP.NET") and Architecture (tagged
"architecture"). Now, a web developer
who works on the LAMP stack may have a
"Web" tab, but entirely different
tags.</p>
<p>I am currently getting around this by
having Launchy shortcuts set up for my
stacks.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<h2>Yes, we should have a <em>three</em> vote close question review queue</h2>
|
<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
|
<p>I'd go with the simplest model; each question is a heading, with answers in paragraph tags. Clear, logical and semantically sane, I think.</p>
<p>The reason I wouldn't use the definition list tags mentioned is that I don't think, from a pure semantic point of view, that questions and answers fit the mould of pure terms and definitions.</p>
|
<p>For common problems that get asked a lot, I wouldn't just close these as <em>too broad.</em> A better solution is to create a <strong>canonical post</strong> like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://superuser.com/a/260078/697"><strong>How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?</strong></a></p>
<p>These attract a <em>lot</em> of users. </p>
<p>The goal is to create a step-by-step trouble-shooting guide to explain what lights, nozzles, and sneedles to look when you're kwigger isn't going <em>zong.</em></p>
<p>And don't just answer with a hyperlink to some other discussion group somewhere. Do everything you can to really overkill it. Write a detailed, step-by-step, ultra-clear guide, so when zillions of people with this problem go searching, you stand a good chance of the best possible answer on the web. </p>
<p>This is one of those opportunities to attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.</p>
|
<p>I've just noticed this Meta post, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/364007/280335">Testing three-vote close and reopen on 13 network sites</a> and I wondered whether we should employ it here, and what do other people think?</p>
<p>We are a smallish site, with a smallish number of active users (although it isn't <em>that</em> small, and is slowly growing over time, it should be noted). We don't have a problem with review queues building up <em>except</em> with the close votes. Some questions do seem to hang around for a while in the close queue.</p>
<p>The problem with the close vote review queue requiring 5 votes when there is a <em>limited</em> number of active reviewers (where two of which are moderators) is this: If a moderator votes, then the question is automatically closed, even if there aren't 5 votes - if a moderator casts the first vote to close then the question is closed straight away, without waiting for another four votes - so the vote is not democratic, but instead, dictatorial in nature. As such, moderators tend to not vote, unless the question blatantly needs closing (i.e. spam, vulgarity, etc.).</p>
<p>There are ways around this problem:</p>
<ul>
<li>sock puppets (moderators have a fake account to cast votes only in the review queue), or;</li>
<li>waiting for four votes and then a moderator casting the fifth vote (or waiting for three votes and then moderators agreeing (behind the scenes) to cast the final two votes, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>However, these aren't ideal, and just shortening the queue might make things better. This need not be a permanent change, I guess, so if this site, for some reason, eventually exploded in popularity, the review queue <em>could</em> go back to five votes (but I'm not 100 % sure about that, see the SE.Meta post above to check).</p>
<p>So... should SE.3DP jump on the "three votes to close" train? Or are things OK as they are? What do other users think? <em>Please</em> leave a comment or answer.</p>
<p>To make things super simple, and if you don't have time to write a comment or answer, you can just vote on the <strong>Yes</strong> answer or the <strong>No</strong> answer.</p>
<h3>End of voting date</h3>
<p>To give this vote an end point, and not make it so opened-ended, I guess we should tally a "final" vote on the 1<sup>st</sup> July 2021 - which is May 6 (trial start date) plus 45 days (length of trial) plus a little bit more. As we can't join the trial halfway through, there isn't much point to tallying up the votes before that.</p>
<p>At that point Catija will be sent the results.</p>
|
<h2>Yes, we should have a <em>three</em> vote close question review queue</h2>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I would like to nominate myself, <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark">Matt Clark</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://stackexchange.com/users/526476/matt-clark"><img src="http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/526476.png" width="208" height="58" alt="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" title="profile for Matt Clark on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites" /></a></p>
<p>While I might not have the wildest credentials or reputation, I have been around the StackExchange network for a while (11/2012) and generally know my way around the sites.</p>
<p>Mostly active on StackOverflow, I answer when I can, and try and do my part to clean up the review queue: ~5000 review tasks; I plan on giving this site as much attention as I can.</p>
<p>I started <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">this 3D Printing proposal</a> just under a year ago on Area 51, and am either way, glad to see the day we made it to beta.</p>
|
<p>This post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">3D Printing SE Beta Status</a>, by tbm0115 highlights the <em>three main</em> sticking points (IMHO clearer than the Area 51 page):</p>
<ul>
<li>Questions per day</li>
<li><strike>Users vs Reputation</strike></li>
<li><strike>Visits per day</strike></li>
</ul>
<p>Once those reach the required levels then that should be it. So, there is quite a way to go...</p>
<p>The stats can be seen here, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">3D Printing Area51 site</a>:</p>
<h3>Stats progress</h3>
<p>Note: Only <em>changes</em> are shown (no date information)</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strike><strong>2.1</strong></strike> -> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike> 2.4</li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strike><strong>96 %</strong></strike> -> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike> 87 %</li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>56/150</strong></strike> -> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike> 359/150</li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>4/10</strong></strike> -> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup> 27/10</li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>3/5</strong></strike> -> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup> 14/5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strike><strong>2.0</strong></strike> -> 1.9</li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strike><strong>753</strong></strike> -> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike> 5469</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>*</sup> This change in the number of users with <em>X</em> reputation is, in part, due to the move from +5 to +10 reputation for upvoted questions on <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/">13 Nov 2019</a> (see also <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/391250/4424636">Upvotes on questions will now be worth the same as upvotes on answers</a>).</p>
<hr />
<h3>Alternative Stats presentation</h3>
<p>Latest statistic shown in bold -> chronological history shown thereafter</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strong>2.4</strong> -> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike></li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strong>87 %</strong> -> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike></li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strong>359/150</strong> -> <strike>56/150</strike> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike></li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strong>27/10</strong> -> <strike>4/10</strike> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strong>14/5</strong> -> <strike>3/5</strike> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strong>1.9</strong> -> <strike>2.0</strike></li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strong>5469</strong> -> <strike>753</strike> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>Additional points of note</h3>
<p>The stats above aren't really the be all to end all... there are a few other considerations that I came across here, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community/1355#1355">in this answer</a>, to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">“Graduation” of this Community</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A number of 10k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 3 ) are required to access mod tools</li>
<li>A number of 3k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 10 ) are required to be able to fully vote</li>
</ol>
<h3>The final hurdle</h3>
<p>The main sticking point, according to this meta post on Ethereum, <a href="https://ethereum.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/474/congratulations-ethereum-is-graduating">Congratulations! Ethereum is graduating!</a>, is 10 questions per day, which we are a long way from, and seems to be the last remaining issue. A link (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>) from the Ethereum meta post to Meta.SE states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a site starts to consistently receive 10 questions/day, we’ll consider it for graduation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>No graduation, but losing the Beta label...</h3>
<p>Apart from graduation, SE management has recognised that small sites (with an active community) struggle to reach the 10 questions/day consistently. For sites that have been waiting to get out of Beta by graduation for 7-8 years, SE has decided to drop the Beta label. Please see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331708/congratulations-to-our-29-oldest-beta-sites-theyre-now-no-longer-beta?cb=1">Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>CSV Format</h3>
<ul>
<li>Format: <code>heading,data,date,data,date,...,data,date</code></li>
<li>Date format: <code>YYYYMMDD</code></li>
</ul>
<pre><code>*Questions per day*,2.1,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.6,20180705,2.1,20180707,2.7,20180815,2.1,20180903,1.7,20181015,2,20181106,2.4,20190327,3.0,20190905,2.5,20191119,3.9,20210121,2.8,20210411,3.3,20210423,3.3,20210424,3,20210425,3,20210426,2.7,20210427,2,20210506,2,20210508,1.9,20210511,2.1,20210514,2.2,20210525,2.4,20210526
*Answer rate*,96,20170317,93,20180525,95,20180705,96,20180707,96,20180815,97,20180903,98,20181015,98,20181106,96,20190327,95,20190905,94,20191119,88,20210121,88,20210411,88,20210423,88,20210424,88,20210425,88,20210426,88,20210427,88,20210506,88,20210508,87,20210511,87,20210514,87,20210525,87,20210526
*200+ reputation*,56,20170317,103,20180525,113,20180705,139,20180707,144,20180815,151,20180903,161,20181015,164,20181106,179,20190327,194,20190905,282,20191119,351,20210121,358,20210411,358,20210423,358,20210424,358,20210425,358,20210426,358,20210427,358,20210506,358,20210508,358,20210511,358,20210514,359,20210525,359,20210526
*2,000+ reputation*,4,20170317,8,20180525,9,20180705,10,20180707,11,20180815,12,20180903,14,20181015,14,20181106,17,20190327,19,20190905,22,20191119,27,20210121,27,20210411,27,20210423,27,20210424,27,20210425,27,20210426,27,20210427,27,20210506,27,20210508,27,20210511,27,20210514,27,20210525,27,20210526
*3,000+ reputation*,3,20170317,4,20180525,6,20180705,7,20180707,7,20180815,7,20180903,7,20181015,8,20181106,9,20190327,11,20190905,12,20191119,14,20210121,14,20210411,14,20210423,14,20210424,14,20210425,14,20210426,14,20210427,14,20210506,14,20210508,14,20210511,14,20210514,14,20210525,14,20210526
*Answers per question*,2.0,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.9,20180705,1.9,20180707,1.9,20180815,1.9,20180903,1.9,20181015,1.9,20181106,1.9,20190327,1.9,20190905,1.9,20191119,1.9,20210121,1.9,20210411,1.9,20210423,1.9,20210424,1.9,20210425,1.9,20210426,1.9,20210427,1.9,20210506,1.9,20210508,1.9,20210511,1.9,20210514,1.9,20210525,1.9,20210526
*Visits per day*,753,20170317,4,20180525,2324,20180705,2648,20180707,2675,20180815,2774,20180903,2844,20181015,3041,20181106,3707,20190327,2934,20190905,3290,20191119,8756,20210121,7146,20210411,6773,20210423,6718,20210424,6682,20210425,6627,20210426,6582,20210427,6247,20210506,6207,20210508,6081,20210511,5929,20210514,5541,20210525,5469,20210526
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-generate markdown lists and CSV: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/Area51Scraper.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Area51Scraper.py</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Graphical representation</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Graph of stats"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" alt="Graph of stats" title="Graph of stats" /></a></p>
<p>Graph script: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/StackExchange3DP_6.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackExchange3DP_6.py</a></p>
|
<p>As Steve Krug recommends in <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0321344758" rel="nofollow noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Don't Make Me Think</a>, get rid of the question marks that pop in the user's head when they come to your site. If it is confusing it isn't likely to be helpful.</p>
<p>Although an interesting concept, in this context I think it is more confusing than useful. If I see "answered 18 mins ago" and "answered 17 mins ago" I have a perfect frame of reference. Also this is something I see on many other sites so it does not require me to learn anything new.</p>
<p>On the other hand if I see two comments that contain "5 mins later" and "6 mins later" I don't have a clear frame of reference. The first might be after the original question, but the other? Is it 6 minutes after that previous comment? Or 6 minutes after the original question, thus one minute after the other comment? Finally, this isn't what you typically see on a site so there will be a moment of "huh?" follow by either "wtf?" or "cool!". Not a reaction that should be left to chance.</p>
|
<p>On a heavy-traffic site like Stack Overflow, I would only update the "last seen" variable when a user actually <em>does</em> something. Lurking around and reading questions and answers shouldn't count as a user being "seen" by the system. Asking and answering questions, or voting on them should be actions that update when a user is last seen.</p>
<p>I won't talk about the implementation details because that's already covered by other answers (and I would probably get it wrong).</p>
|
<p>Look at this SO blog post: <a href="https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/10/solving-the-fastest-gun-in-the-west-problem/">https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/10/solving-the-fastest-gun-in-the-west-problem/</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>That said, the one implementable
recommendation that came out of this
discussion is an active, GMail like
notification when you are composing an
answer. We agreed with this feature
request, so Jarrod implemented it.
Here’s how it works:</p>
<ol>
<li>When you start composing a reply, a timer is created.</li>
<li>Every minute, the page checks itself to see if new answers have
arrived.</li>
<li>If new answers arrive, the notification bar will tell you how
many, and offer to update the page for
you.</li>
<li>Answer updates are performed AJAX style, so they don’t interrupt
your current answer.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
|
<p>Any overt form of censure on an existing user could lead to the forum equivalent of an arms race. One school of thought pushed on the SO podcasts is to flag the offending user and remove their posts from normal view, but include it when they (the bad user) are looking at the site. That way, they think the community is ignoring them and it makes flaming less fun. If the site isn't trying to stop them but their efforts at flaming are fruitless, they will likely just walk away. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/06/suspension-ban-or-hellban.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">See also this blog by Jeff</a></p>
|
<p>The short answer is: no. The longer answer is: but you can make it arbitrarily difficult. What I would do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Voting requires solving a captcha (to avoid as much as possible automated voting). To be even more effective I would recommend to have prepared multiple types of simple captchas (like "pick the photo with the cat", "what is 2+2", "type in the word", etc) and rotate them both by the time of the day and by IP, which should make automatic systems ineffective (ie if somebody using IP A creates a bot to solve the captcha, this will become useless the next day or if s/he distributes it onto other computers/uses proxies)</li>
<li>When filtering by IP you should be careful to consider situations where multiple hosts are behind one public IP (AFAIK AOL proxies all of their customers through a few IPs - so such a limitation would effectively ban AOL users). Also, many proxies send along headers pointing to the original IP (like X-Forwarded-For), so you can take a look at that too.</li>
<li>Finally, using something like FSO (Flash Shared Objects - "Flash cookies") is obscure enough for 99.99% of the people not to know about. Silverlight is even more obscure. To be even sneakier, you could buy an other domain and set the FSO from that domain (so, if the user is looking for FSO's set by your domain, they won't see any)</li>
</ul>
<p>None of these methods is 100%, but hopefully combined they give you the level of assurance you need. If you want to take this a level higher, you need to add some kind of user registration (which can be as simple as asking a valid e-mail address when the vote occurs and sending a confirmation link to the given address and not counting the votes for which the link wasn't clicked - so it doesn't need to be a full-fledged "create an account with username / password / firs name / last name / etc").</p>
|
<p>We got <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/314/can-we-get-mathjax-enabled">MathJax enabled</a>. Today I learned that there is even more! We could have <a href="https://worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/9710/can-we-extend-mhchem-support-in-mathjax-to-include-physical-units?cb=1"><strong>support for Physical units</strong> enabled as part of the mhchem package</a>! We use physical units <strong>a lot</strong> and demand the SI formatting. Let me quote from Worldbuilding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Chemistry Stack Exchange is obviously the main consumer of this feature and has a <a href="https://worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/9710/can-we-extend-mhchem-support-in-mathjax-to-include-physical-units?cb=1">nice FAQ on its use</a>. The chemists get two things that we don't:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>\require{mhchem}</code> is implicit... you get support automatically without having to require it explicitly.</li>
<li>They get physical unit formatting via <code>$\pu{273.15 K}$</code>, which currently renders as a grumpy error on WB.SE and WB meta that looks [with only mhchem enabled] like this <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/NyXoU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/NyXoU.png" alt="mathjax markup error" /></a></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Can we have that too? Pretty please?</strong> I am tired of having to type <code>$273.15\ \text{K}$</code> and such, especially if it is complex things in the unit!</p>
|
<p>The deed is done. Behold! In all its glory:</p>
<p><span class="math-container">$$\pu{273.15 K}$$</span></p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I use <a href="http://rogercortesi.com/eqn/index.php" rel="noreferrer">Roger's Online Equation Editor</a>.</p>
<p>PNG, colors, transparent background and anti-aliasing are all included.</p>
|
<p>Can you just use a fixed-width font, e.g. <code>\texttt{}</code>? If you require something more sophisticated, try the <a href="http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/moreverb/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">moreverb</a>, <a href="http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/listings/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">listings</a>, or <a href="http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/algorithmicx/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">algorithmicx</a> packages.</p>
|
<p>They're using meta-LaTeX on you: that is a superscript "b" ($ indicates a short math expression and the caret is the superscript).</p>
<p>What they're indicating is that there is a footnote. It is shown in the "Binary Operation Symbols" section.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>$^b$ Not predefined in a format based
on {\tt basefont.tex}.
Use one of the style options
{\tt oldlfont}, {\tt newlfont}, {\tt amsfonts} or {\tt amssymb}.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, if you are seeing an error, that would indicate to me that you are using a basefont format. Try one of the style options listed in the footnote and see if you have more luck. As explained below,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>\usepackage{newlfont}</p>
</blockquote>
<p>is worth a try. That should enable symbols such as <code>\Join</code>.</p>
|
<p>Do you have the pzdr font installed? If you're on Debian or Ubuntu, try installing the texlive-fonts-recommended package.</p>
|
<p>Using \textrm{-} does not work ?</p>
|
<p><a href="http://www.ctan.org/pkg/lgrind" rel="noreferrer">LGrind</a> does this. It's a mature LaTeX package that's been around since adam was a cowboy and has support for many programming languages.</p>
|
<p>This post, <a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/197/3d-printing-se-beta-status">3D Printing SE Beta Status</a>, by tbm0115 highlights the <em>three main</em> sticking points (IMHO clearer than the Area 51 page):</p>
<ul>
<li>Questions per day</li>
<li><strike>Users vs Reputation</strike></li>
<li><strike>Visits per day</strike></li>
</ul>
<p>Once those reach the required levels then that should be it. So, there is quite a way to go...</p>
<p>The stats can be seen here, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82438/3d-printing">3D Printing Area51 site</a>:</p>
<h3>Stats progress</h3>
<p>Note: Only <em>changes</em> are shown (no date information)</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strike><strong>2.1</strong></strike> -> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike> 2.4</li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strike><strong>96 %</strong></strike> -> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike> 87 %</li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>56/150</strong></strike> -> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike> 359/150</li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>4/10</strong></strike> -> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup> 27/10</li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strike><strong>3/5</strong></strike> -> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup> 14/5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strike><strong>2.0</strong></strike> -> 1.9</li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strike><strong>753</strong></strike> -> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike> 5469</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>*</sup> This change in the number of users with <em>X</em> reputation is, in part, due to the move from +5 to +10 reputation for upvoted questions on <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/">13 Nov 2019</a> (see also <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/391250/4424636">Upvotes on questions will now be worth the same as upvotes on answers</a>).</p>
<hr />
<h3>Alternative Stats presentation</h3>
<p>Latest statistic shown in bold -> chronological history shown thereafter</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Questions per day</em> <strong>2.4</strong> -> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>1.6</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>1.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>2.4</strike> <strike>3.0</strike> <strike>2.5</strike> <strike>3.9</strike> <strike>2.8</strike> <strike>3.3</strike> <strike>3</strike> <strike>2.7</strike> <strike>2</strike> <strike>1.9</strike> <strike>2.1</strike> <strike>2.2</strike></li>
<li><em>Answer rate</em> <strong>87 %</strong> -> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>93 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>97 %</strike> <strike>98 %</strike> <strike>96 %</strike> <strike>95 %</strike> <strike>94 %</strike> <strike>88 %</strike></li>
<li><em>Users</em>
<ul>
<li><em>200+ reputation</em> <strong>359/150</strong> -> <strike>56/150</strike> <strike>103/150</strike> <strike>113/150</strike> <strike>139/150</strike> <strike>144/150</strike> <strike>151/150</strike> <strike>161/150</strike> <strike>164/150</strike> <strike>179/150</strike> <strike>194/150</strike> <strike>282/150</strike><sup>*</sup> <strike>351/150</strike> <strike>358/150</strike></li>
<li><em>2,000+ reputation</em> <strong>27/10</strong> -> <strike>4/10</strike> <strike>8/10</strike> <strike>9/10</strike> <strike>10/10</strike> <strike>11/10</strike> <strike>12/10</strike> <strike>14/10</strike> <strike>17/10</strike> <strike>19/10</strike> <strike>22/10</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
<li><em>3,000+ reputation</em> <strong>14/5</strong> -> <strike>3/5</strike> <strike>4/5</strike> <strike>6/5</strike> <strike>7/5</strike> <strike>8/5</strike> <strike>9/5</strike> <strike>11/5</strike> <strike>12/5</strike><sup>*</sup></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><em>Answers per question</em> ratio is <strong>1.9</strong> -> <strike>2.0</strike></li>
<li><em>Visits per day</em> <strong>5469</strong> -> <strike>753</strike> <strike>4</strike> <strike>2324</strike> <strike>2648</strike> <strike>2675</strike> <strike>2774</strike> <strike>2844</strike> <strike>3041</strike> <strike>3707</strike> <strike>2934</strike> <strike>3290</strike> <strike>8756</strike> <strike>7146</strike> <strike>6773</strike> <strike>6718</strike> <strike>6682</strike> <strike>6627</strike> <strike>6582</strike> <strike>6247</strike> <strike>6207</strike> <strike>6081</strike> <strike>5929</strike> <strike>5541</strike></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>Additional points of note</h3>
<p>The stats above aren't really the be all to end all... there are a few other considerations that I came across here, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community/1355#1355">in this answer</a>, to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">“Graduation” of this Community</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A number of 10k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 3 ) are required to access mod tools</li>
<li>A number of 3k+ users ( <em>n</em> > 10 ) are required to be able to fully vote</li>
</ol>
<h3>The final hurdle</h3>
<p>The main sticking point, according to this meta post on Ethereum, <a href="https://ethereum.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/474/congratulations-ethereum-is-graduating">Congratulations! Ethereum is graduating!</a>, is 10 questions per day, which we are a long way from, and seems to be the last remaining issue. A link (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>) from the Ethereum meta post to Meta.SE states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a site starts to consistently receive 10 questions/day, we’ll consider it for graduation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>No graduation, but losing the Beta label...</h3>
<p>Apart from graduation, SE management has recognised that small sites (with an active community) struggle to reach the 10 questions/day consistently. For sites that have been waiting to get out of Beta by graduation for 7-8 years, SE has decided to drop the Beta label. Please see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331708/congratulations-to-our-29-oldest-beta-sites-theyre-now-no-longer-beta?cb=1">Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>CSV Format</h3>
<ul>
<li>Format: <code>heading,data,date,data,date,...,data,date</code></li>
<li>Date format: <code>YYYYMMDD</code></li>
</ul>
<pre><code>*Questions per day*,2.1,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.6,20180705,2.1,20180707,2.7,20180815,2.1,20180903,1.7,20181015,2,20181106,2.4,20190327,3.0,20190905,2.5,20191119,3.9,20210121,2.8,20210411,3.3,20210423,3.3,20210424,3,20210425,3,20210426,2.7,20210427,2,20210506,2,20210508,1.9,20210511,2.1,20210514,2.2,20210525,2.4,20210526
*Answer rate*,96,20170317,93,20180525,95,20180705,96,20180707,96,20180815,97,20180903,98,20181015,98,20181106,96,20190327,95,20190905,94,20191119,88,20210121,88,20210411,88,20210423,88,20210424,88,20210425,88,20210426,88,20210427,88,20210506,88,20210508,87,20210511,87,20210514,87,20210525,87,20210526
*200+ reputation*,56,20170317,103,20180525,113,20180705,139,20180707,144,20180815,151,20180903,161,20181015,164,20181106,179,20190327,194,20190905,282,20191119,351,20210121,358,20210411,358,20210423,358,20210424,358,20210425,358,20210426,358,20210427,358,20210506,358,20210508,358,20210511,358,20210514,359,20210525,359,20210526
*2,000+ reputation*,4,20170317,8,20180525,9,20180705,10,20180707,11,20180815,12,20180903,14,20181015,14,20181106,17,20190327,19,20190905,22,20191119,27,20210121,27,20210411,27,20210423,27,20210424,27,20210425,27,20210426,27,20210427,27,20210506,27,20210508,27,20210511,27,20210514,27,20210525,27,20210526
*3,000+ reputation*,3,20170317,4,20180525,6,20180705,7,20180707,7,20180815,7,20180903,7,20181015,8,20181106,9,20190327,11,20190905,12,20191119,14,20210121,14,20210411,14,20210423,14,20210424,14,20210425,14,20210426,14,20210427,14,20210506,14,20210508,14,20210511,14,20210514,14,20210525,14,20210526
*Answers per question*,2.0,20170317,1.9,20180525,1.9,20180705,1.9,20180707,1.9,20180815,1.9,20180903,1.9,20181015,1.9,20181106,1.9,20190327,1.9,20190905,1.9,20191119,1.9,20210121,1.9,20210411,1.9,20210423,1.9,20210424,1.9,20210425,1.9,20210426,1.9,20210427,1.9,20210506,1.9,20210508,1.9,20210511,1.9,20210514,1.9,20210525,1.9,20210526
*Visits per day*,753,20170317,4,20180525,2324,20180705,2648,20180707,2675,20180815,2774,20180903,2844,20181015,3041,20181106,3707,20190327,2934,20190905,3290,20191119,8756,20210121,7146,20210411,6773,20210423,6718,20210424,6682,20210425,6627,20210426,6582,20210427,6247,20210506,6207,20210508,6081,20210511,5929,20210514,5541,20210525,5469,20210526
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-generate markdown lists and CSV: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/Area51Scraper.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Area51Scraper.py</a></p>
<hr />
<h3>Graphical representation</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Graph of stats"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MYOoT.png" alt="Graph of stats" title="Graph of stats" /></a></p>
<p>Graph script: <a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GitLab: SE3DP_PlotterScraper</a>/<a href="https://gitlab.com/testkins/se3dp_plotterscraper/-/blob/master/StackExchange3DP_6.py" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StackExchange3DP_6.py</a></p>
|
<p>When I've printed an object I've had to choose between high resolution and quick prints. What techniques or technologies can I use or deploy to speed up my high resolution prints?</p>
|
<p>You could experiment with slicing. For example, you might not need high resolution all over the object, but you can speed up some straight parts by using greater layer high there. See a <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/variable-layer-height">part of Slic3r manual</a> about such thing.</p>
<p>It is also possible to print thicker infill every Nth layer, see <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/infill-optimization">Infill optimization</a> in Slic3r.</p>
<p>Other slicers might have those features as well.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>In the video, there is this still from <a href="https://youtu.be/bKsGNrEKx9M?t=32" rel="nofollow noreferrer">0:32</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/bKsGNrEKx9M?t=32" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jf2F8.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>The labeling is iPro 8000, which is a <a href="http://infocenter.3dsystems.com/product-library/sla/ipro-8000-9000" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3dSystems resin printer using SLA technology.</a></p>
|
<p>A lot of slicers will have a Wipe option. Here are some examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>See <a href="https://jinschoi.github.io/simplify3d-docs/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Unofficial Simplify3D Documentation</a>. Go to the section talking about <em>Wipe Nozzle</em>, under the heading <strong>Extruder Tab</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Two more ooze-fighting options are Coast at end and Wipe nozzle. Coast turns off the extruder the specified distance before it normally would, to drain what would have oozed as the end of a line. This can help with ooze-induced blobs at the end of lines, but if turned up too high will lead to gaps in your print walls. Changes to this setting will be visible as gaps in the g-code preview.</p>
<p>Wipe has the nozzle retrace over the start of a perimeter line at the
end of a perimeter for the specified distance with the extruder off,
to leave any ooze behind before proceeding. It is similar to Coast in
that it moves the extruder without extruding, but wipe occurs after
the end of the line while coast occurs before.</p>
</blockquote></li>
<li><p>Slic3r has some sort of coasting. But I think in their docs the option is there: <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/fighting-ooze" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r Manual - Fighting Ooze</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Wipe before retract - Moves the nozzle whilst retracting so as to reduce the chances of a blob forming.</p>
</blockquote></li>
</ul>
<p>As you asked for G-Code here you go:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?4,620368" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Reprap Forum - Wipe nozzle via GCODE</a></p>
<p>Example</p>
<pre><code>;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density}
;Print time: {print_time}
;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g
;Filament cost: {filament_cost}
;M190 S{print_bed_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own bed temperature line
;M109 S{print_temperature} ;Uncomment to add your own temperature line
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops
G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops
M117 Auto-level...
G29 ;auto-level
;G92 Z-.01 ; Lower = Z Pos, Lift = Z Neg
M117 Preparing...
G1 Z10.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
G1 F100 E30 ;extrude 10mm of feed stock
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again
G1 F{travel_speed}
;Put printing message on LCD screen
M300 S900 P160 ;start beep
M300 S1000 P160
M300 S2000 P160
M0 ;Wait for the user
M117 Printing...
</code></pre></li>
<li><p><a href="https://forum.lulzbot.com/viewtopic.php?t=2921" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lulzbot forum - Start GCODE Script for Wipe</a>, in particular <a href="https://forum.lulzbot.com/viewtopic.php?t=2921#p17782" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this post</a>:</p>
<p>Example</p>
<pre><code>G91 ; switch to relative positioning
G1 Z10 ; safe raise of z axis to ensure probe doesn't hit bed clamp
G90 ; switch back to absolute positioning
G28 ; home all axes
G29 ; level print bed
G1 X298 Y137 Z2 F5000 ; move to wait position right hand side of the table
G1 Z0.4 ; position nozzle
G1 E25 F300 ; purge nozzle
M400 ; wait for purge to complete
G1 X285 F1200 ; slow wipe
G1 Z0.5 F1200 ; lift
</code></pre></li>
</ul>
<p>That should get you started.</p>
|
<p>Some things I've tried that have helped:</p>
<p>Lay down a layer of masking tape. Most people who do this use blue painter's tape. The plastic should stick nicely during printing, yet release reasonably easily when you remove the print from the heated bed.</p>
<p>Lay down a later of Kapton tape. The principle is the same as masking tape, but Kapton tape has a smooth surface and is more durable than masking tape. The down side is Kapton tape is far more expensive, and applying it correctly is a LOT more work, since you have to use water and you have to keep bubbles from getting underneath it.</p>
<p>Put some ABS scraps into a bottle of Acetone, and allow the acetone to break down the ABS til you have a slurry. Spread this slurry as evenly as possible across the build plate, and allow the acetone to evaporate away. This leaves a thin film of ABS on the plate, and will release much better than if you print directly onto the build plate. I recommend using clear ABS if you can, since some of it will stick to your print and clear will be the least visible. You'll need to re-apply it regularly, since it will come off with your print where it touches the build plate. <strong>WARNING</strong>: Use proper ventilation and avoid contact with acetone. That stuff's not good for you. Also it's flammable, so keep a fire extinguisher nearby.</p>
<p>I prefer the ABS/acetone slurry method, but it requires good ventilation and a handy fire extinguisher. Also note that you don't have to print in ABS to use an ABS/acetone slurry; I print primarily in PLA and it makes no difference.</p>
<p>I've also heard of others using a glue stick or some other surface treatments that allow for good adhesion during printing while still allowing for easy removal.</p>
|
<p>There are several things you could try without spending much but even PLA will warp on an unheated bed. I had a Legacy Kossel that I switched to an acrylic bed and had many issues with warping and prints pulling off the bed. </p>
<p>Some cheap things to try would be...</p>
<ol>
<li>Adding a brim to the print.</li>
<li>Blue painters tape on the acrylic, remove the other material if doing this.</li>
<li>Place cheap piece of glass/mirror on bed and use hairspray/gluestick.</li>
<li>Use hairspray/gluestick directly on acrylic. You must be careful here because first layer height is very critical to prevent damage to the acrylic from the plastic welding. A layer of hairspray or glue should prevent it but dial in your height before printing.</li>
<li>If you aren't currently using a fan, you could try sealing the sides to prevent drafts. I doubt this would change much since you are using PLA but it's an option.</li>
<li>If these are your designs, there are steps you can take to reduce warping as seen <a href="http://hackaday.com/2011/11/15/a-technique-to-avoid-warping-on-large-3d-prints/">here.</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Also many other suggestions <a href="http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2011/06/23/12-ways-to-fight-warping-and-curling">here.</a></p>
|
<p>I agree with @FernandoBaltazar. You have several things going on. If the problem is recent, you may have loose belts, but you may also need to perform acceleration and jerk tuning. Reducing your print speeds may also help.</p>
|
<p>What you describe is usually the result of using a too high of a part cooling fan rotational speed. Like ABS, PETG doesn't require much cooling (if needed at all that is). If you do cool too much, layers and perimeters do not bond optimally (you can get string cheese like printed parts on failure). </p>
<p><strong>Why should you use cooling for PETG?</strong>
Cooling helps cool the deposited filament on small cross sectional parts. If un-cooled, the printed part picks up too much heat and will deform or sag out.</p>
<p>In such cases, reduce cooling to 40 % to start with (another option is to print more parts or increase minimal layer time). Note that there are so many print cooling fan constructions, some more effective than others, so you need to tune the print cooling fan speed to your setup. E.g. for an Ultimaker 3E I get good results at 50 % fan speed, for other self-build printers with effective part cooling solutions, 40 % works best (printed several kilometers of 2.85 mm PETG). First few layers don't need any cooling at all.</p>
|
<p>Almost all of the FDM materials outgas even at normal atmospheric pressure, and, in fact, most plastics outgas. Further, FDM and many other printing processes do not guarantee no internal voids - meaning that putting a 3D printed object into a vacuum may result in breakage, cracking, and possible explosion hazards.</p>
<p>For this reason I would focus only on SLA, as the model is printed within the liquid resin pool and should have a reduced possibility of internal voids.</p>
<p>Finding a resin that has a low out-gas rate after curing, though, is still going to be difficult. </p>
<p>For this to be answered more completely, you need to specify your tolerable outgassing rate, and the processes used inside the vacuum chamber. For instance the answer would be completely different if you are discussing an electron microscope vs a sputtering chamber. As a start you might consider companies that specialize in <a href="http://www.boedeker.com/outgas.htm">engineered materials intended for vacuum use</a>. They may be able to provide guidance as to which of their materials might be 3D printed and usable in your setup.</p>
|
<p>I would like to buy a 3D printer, but I'm concerned about the health risks that are associated with its operation. Some groups of scientists say it can be <a href="http://www.techworld.com/news/personal-tech/scientists-warn-of-3d-printing-health-effects-as-tech-hits-high-street-3460992/">harmful</a> for humans.</p>
<p>What do I need to consider before buying a 3D printer if I care about my health? Are there any safe printers?</p>
|
<p>Almost all 3D printers have issues that could cause health problems.</p>
<p>FDM/FFF printers heat plastic to a temperature that may cause it to off-gas, and these byproducts may not be healthy.</p>
<p>SLA printers often use epoxies that may off-gas, or may be somewhat toxic prior to being cured.</p>
<p>Powder based printers can also off-gas, in addition to the powder itself presenting a possible hazard.</p>
<p>Many hobbyist and small companies dance around the problem, and suggest that the machines always be used in well ventillated areas. Professional machines often have filters and ventillation systems built in.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to find a "perfectly safe" 3D printer, spend some time deciding what you want to use one for, find printers suitable for your use, and expect that you'll need to provide reasonable ventilation for almost any printer. Plan your installation for that, and you should be able to make any printer safe for your required use.</p>
<p>If, however, you plan on setting up a printer farm with many printers, and plan to have yourself or others spend significant time operating them, I suggest you work with a health and safety professional and have them identify possible hazards and plan mitigation.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I stumbled across this forum/group, <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/english-forum-original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Original Prusa i3 MMU2S & MMU2</a>, amongst all of the other <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa printers forums</a> on the <a href="https://blog.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusaprinters blog</a>, which seems fairly active. </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2-user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles-.../" rel="nofollow noreferrer">User mods - OctoPrint, enclosures, nozzles, ...</a> page seems like it might be what you are looking for.</p>
|
<h1>It depends</h1>
<p>If it is worth to invest in a print made for you compared to getting a printer depends on the needs you have. Thee can be informed by the type of material you want to print and the requirements that has on you. Let me give you some examples when it is simply worth it to pay:</p>
<ul>
<li>A metal printer costs in the thousands: upper five-digit for the most baseline and <a href="https://all3dp.com/2/how-much-does-a-metal-3d-printer-cost/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">averaging in the low to mid-6-digit</a>. Ordering a single or few printed pieces will be economical, and even ordering <strong>many</strong> parts will still be well below break-even, considering that the material sets you back by up to 600 \$ per kilo!</li>
<li>A nylon powder printer <a href="https://all3dp.com/1/best-sls-3d-printer-desktop-industrial/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">starts in the middle 4-digits but easily goes up to upper 5-digits and even middle 6 digits</a>. Ordering for a small-scale production this way still will be economical.</li>
<li>Some specialty plastics need printers with very high-temperature chambers and hotends with extreme wear resistance. Such machinery can easily cost five digits, especially in large dimensions where it goes to six. Compared to purchasing price of the machine, ordering the part will be cheaper.</li>
</ul>
<p>On the other hand, getting a printer gets cheaper once you:</p>
<ul>
<li>use it sufficiently, for example, to iteratively modify a designed part or produce a medium variety of parts.</li>
<li>have the time and money to spare to learn and tweak your machine to do what you want.</li>
<li>the amount of parts you want to make would cost you more to have ordered than a new printer, or a substantial portion thereof. For an FDM machine, the first useful machines can be priced as low as 150 \$, while 300 \$ gets you a somewhat capable Ender 3 v2 - which has developed into some kind of <em>standard unit</em> for printers.</li>
</ul>
<p>Also note, that some printing services have limits on what they will produce. Commonly they will not provide services to manufacture tools or items that might violate local law or make it trivially to do so, for example copying keys or even manufacturing Keyblanks.</p>
|
<h2>First; find a model!</h2>
<p>To print something you require a <strong>model</strong> (usually this is in STL format, look into websites called <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a> and <a href="https://www.myminifactory.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MyMiniFactory</a> for examples). Once you have a model file, you need to make it readable for the printer firmware.</p>
<p>If you can't find suitable model, then you need to design a model yourself (or ask someone to do it for you) or adjust an existing model to suit your needs. "<a href="/q/740/">Good (preferably free) Beginner Software for Part Creation?</a>" is a good place to start.</p>
<h2>Second; use slicer software</h2>
<p>For a printer to be able to print the model, the model needs to be sliced into layers. These layers need to be printed at specific speeds, temperatures, etc. Search online and look at the filament packaging (usually the ideal temperatures are on the packaging) to find the ideal temperature for your filament. If you are not using the right temperatures, your print will most likely fail. Programs that are able to slice models are called <strong>slicers</strong>. The most popular free (and Windows compatible) slicers are <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Cura</a> and <a href="https://slic3r.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a> (or its <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/slic3r-prusa-edition/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa distribution</a>).</p>
<p>The slicer produces a printer readable file called a G-code file (file filled with printer instructions for e.g. movement and heating). This G-code file can be sent to the printer using specific printer software (e.g. OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, etc.) but more common or simple is to put the G-code file on an SD card and print the file using the print menu on the printer LCD.</p>
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<p>Most 3D printers that use non-proprietary filament <em>can</em> print exotic filaments, such as the ones you mention. One thing to be aware of, though, is that some of these filaments <a href="http://makezine.com/2015/09/11/carbon-fiber-filament-ruins-nozzles/" rel="noreferrer">wear down the nozzle</a> far more quickly than ordinary PLA, and therefore should be used with <a href="http://e3d-online.com/V6-nozzle-hardened-steel-3mmx0.4mm" rel="noreferrer">reinforced nozzles</a> (unless you have extra nozzles to spare). Carbon fibre and metallic filaments are generally known to increase nozzle wear, while softer alloys such as wood and bamboo generally are less abrasive.</p>
<p>A quick google search reveals that many people have used non-proprietary filament on the M3D Micro successfully, but be aware that using such filaments is not covered by your <a href="https://printm3d.com/terms-of-use" rel="noreferrer">warranty</a>. If you are going to use abrasive filaments with your Micro, I would check that M3D allows you to replace the nozzle first.</p>
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<p>It might seem that common 3D printer materials such as PLA and ABS should be capable of being autoclaved—unfortunately. However, although their melting temperatures are higher than autoclave temperature (typically 121ºC), their glass transition temperatures are below that limit so they can warp or undergo creep deformation.</p>
<p>Sterilization of numerous plastics is described <a href="https://www.industrialspec.com/resources/plastics-sterilization-compatibility/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>, with PLA, ABS, and PET all being described as "poor" for autoclaving. For each "good" material on that list, I looked for filament by Googling and consulting material guides from <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/material-guides/" rel="noreferrer">Prusa</a> and <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare" rel="noreferrer">Matter Hackers</a>.</p>
<p>Polypropylene (PP) or acetal (POM, also known as Delrin) are the best choices. Filament is available for PEEK, PEI (ULTEM), FEP, PPSU, and PPS but these filaments are expensive (>$100/kg) and require high extruder temperatures (>300ºC).</p>
<p>In contrast, PP is about $50/kg and uses an extruder temperature of 254ºC; POM is similarly priced and uses an extruder temperature of 210ºC. Nylon (depending on the exact type) and HT-PLA may also be worth considering.</p>
<p>"High temperature" filaments are not worthwhile for this application. Again, they're expensive and, more significantly, do not work well with consumer-grade 3D printers. For example, the upper limit for a Prusa i3 MK3s is about 280ºC—the thermistor only is good up to that temperature. Higher temperatures would require swapping out sensors and modifying firmware and building an enclosure. <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk2.5s-mk2.5-how-do-i-print-this-printing-help/can-i-use-pps-filament-on-my-printer/" rel="noreferrer">It's been done</a>. Printers designed for high-temperature filaments easily cost <a href="https://www.aniwaa.com/best-peek-3d-printer-pei-ultem/" rel="noreferrer">thousands of dollars</a>.</p>
<p>This question was previously asked on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/9l8gao/what_filament_would_hold_up_to_regular/" rel="noreferrer">Reddit</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/3caivh/question_about_autoclavable_plastic_for_3d/" rel="noreferrer">a few times</a> but this analysis is more comprehensive.</p>
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<p>Getting this data is not easy. Many companies that make 3D printers are either private companies that do not report results or are larger companies where 3D printers are one of many products they manufacture. Some companies study this information through mining public sources and surveying users for their opinions and experience. The result of some of these studies are available for a fee.</p>
<p>Occasionally, a trade publication will survey data sources and produce an article. In other cases, a trade pub will publish an article generously offered by a commercial contributor.</p>
<p>It is always difficult to know what is true when abstracting information from obscured, noisy, and biased information sources.</p>
<p>Your question itself includes a bias. You use a words that include a value judgement: "but that likely doesn't translate to sales, at least for the more overpriced ones."</p>
<p>The article you reference is not a deeply researched investigative piece. It is simply some product details for the five printers in 2016 which sold the most on Amazon.com. It doesn't include printers which were not sold on Amazon, so it leaves out any printers which use a different distribution channel. Also, the article include an link, probably which generate revenue back to the magazine, to each of the five printers sold through Amazon.</p>
<p>To summarize, it is very difficult to aggregate this kind of information. Those who try to do so like to be compensated. A list of the top five devices on Amazon is a biased list.</p>
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<p>There are a few main safety precautions you should consider.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="http://sinkhacks.com/building-acetone-vapor-bath-smoothing-3d-printed-parts/" rel="nofollow">Make sure the area is well-ventilated.</a></strong> Acetone is flammable. A buildup of acetone gas could quickly get concentrated, meaning that a single spark could lead to disaster. Using a fan is good; angle it towards an open window. This is also to prevent exposure to acetone because of its toxicity.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927062" rel="nofollow">Be prepared to fight a fire.</a></strong> Should vapor ignite, you may need to fight the fire. If it is large enough, then you should clearly evacuate the area. If it appears to be small, use dry chemical powder to snuff out the fire. Alcohol foam, water spray, and/or fog may be used on slightly larger fires. Acetone is not likely to cause a large inferno to rip through the building. But there's always the chance of a small fire. Be careful.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://rivercitylabs.org/acetone-smoothing-chamber-3d-printing/" rel="nofollow">Create a vapor chamber.</a></strong> This is another way to stop a potential fire from spreading. It can also reduce contamination.</li>
<li><strong>Wear gloves.</strong> This can minimize any potential transfer toxic effects. However, skin exposure is unlikely to cause major issues.</li>
</ul>
<p>Acetone is toxic, as I mentioned before, but it is not highly toxic. Exposure via <a href="http://ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/acetone.html" rel="nofollow">the eyes and nose/mouth</a> is the main risk. Skin effects may occur (e.g. mild irritation), but they are minor and generally arise only after long-term exposure (hence the recommendation of gloves in some cases).</p>
<p>Acetone exposure is only a serious problem when a person is repeatedly exposed to levels <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/67641.html" rel="nofollow">greater than 1,000 ppm</a> (severe effects only arise at much higher levels). It seems unlikely, given a proper ventilation system, that this will be an issue</p>
<p>In addition to all this, basic safety precautions such as wearing a ventilator mask and goggles should definitely be taken. When working with any such chemicals with the potential for bodily harm, these should absolutely be used.</p>
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<p>I know the minimum layer height will effect how detailed of an item you can print and the amount of time it takes to print something, but is it necessary to have an extremely low minimum layer height if you plan to print only larger objects?</p>
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<p>As with any manufacturing process, you'll need to learn to "use the right tool for the job". It depends on the requirements of the part. To answer your question, I would suggest using a larger layer height for the sheer fact of reducing print time on larger objects.</p>
<p>However, it depends on the part and how small the details are on the part. If your part has sharp edges that are required for the proper functionality of the part, then you'll want to use a smaller layer height. Or if your part fits into another part, you'll probably want to use a smaller layer height.</p>
<p>Another variable might be whether or not post-processing is necessary. Is this part going to be purposefully printed larger/rougher with the idea to use a Dremel later to smooth everything out? If yes, then use a larger layer height.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>I've found that a double-walled base seems to give better results than trying to make the base very thick. Any imperfections in the print, or cracking caused by removing the print can lead to leaks - but if there is layer/infill/layer, the result seems to turn out better for me.</p>
<p>Vase mode can be effective (although won't be easy to combine with the above unless you slice your model in several parts), and I've had success whilst using 100% vase mode for vases to hold water. This demonstrates that a single wall thickness is sufficient to achieve a watertight print.</p>
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<p>The root cause was a badly worn nozzle.</p>
<p>The problem described in this question gradually became more and more severe and began affecting PLA and PET prints with thin layers too. Eventually I traced it to the CHT nozzle, by swapping in a 50¢ plain brass nozzle, and found someone with otherwise very similar extrusion system to test on their CHT and confirm that the prints giving me problems came out fine for them. Replacing my CHT with a new one has now made it all better. My old one was roughly 0.16 mm shorter (by difference in Z offset) presumably from wear, and to look at the orifice, it was probably nearly 0.8 mm wide. If so, it was like trying to print 0.4 mm lines with an 0.8 mm nozzle, which is expected to fail moderately to badly, especially on overhangs. And this explains why increasing flow (or, as I later tried and had success with, using wider line widths) partly succeeded.</p>
<p>I did still have a minor variant of the problem with TPU after switching to the new nozzle, before recalibrating pressure advance, which I'd calibrated down somewhat before (due to less pressure with an excessively wide orifice). After recalibrating, the problem seems to be entirely gone.</p>
<p>I still don't want to discount the factors I found before. It seems very plausible that this could come back whenever TPU is being printed without a firm surface to extrude against. In my case, the primary mechanism of that seems to have been a nozzle whose opening was excessively wide from wear, but the same should still happen if the wall is wobbling from lack of reinforcement.</p>
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<p>A close inspection of what happened when printing the first layer resulted in this:</p>
<ul>
<li>The missing steps on the new print came from the nozzle scraping too close to the print surface, which lead to no first layer</li>
<li>Readjusting the Z-axis end stop, which had moved down, resulted in no more lost steps, but the print not sticking for the first test.</li>
<li><p>Releveling the bed and making sure the bar was parallel to the bed resulted in a perfect first layer.</p></li>
<li><p>Lost steps and under-extrusion could not be replicated after 48 hours of <em>rest</em> for the printer.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I have no idea why the print had failed due to under-extrusion <em>during</em> the print, but apparently, my immediate tests were flawed enough to not detect the first layer height resulting in getting almost no extrusion. This I mistook for massive under-extrusion, making me believe something else was at fault.</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>Do anyone have any ideas? What this can be? How can I fix this?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At least judging from the pictures, that <em>does</em> seem like under-extrusion. Some ideas for further investigating the issue.</p>
<p><strong>The problem may be due to the gcode being wrong</strong>. In this case, your printer is merely executing correctly... the wrong commands. To check if this is the case:</p>
<ul>
<li>The easiest, but inconclusive way, would be to re-slice a model that fails <em>consistently</em>, with a different slicer. If the second print came out good, than you would know that the problem is with the slicer. This method is <em>inconclusive</em> because you wouldn't not if the gcode is bad or if it simply happens that your printer cannot print well that specific sequence of commands (which may still be emitted by the other slicer under different conditions).</li>
<li>The more conclusive analysis would be to look at the gcode of a failed print where the fail happens between two geometrical identical layers. This seem to be the case for the print in the picture, btw. You should then compare the gcode of the layer that printed good with that of the layer that printed poorly. If the gcode differs... then you positively know the slicer doesn't work as it should.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The problem may be due to a mechanical fault with the printer</strong>. Here the only idea I have to offer is overheating of the steppers and/or their controllers. This may in turn make the extruder servo skip some steps and therefore extrude less filament. If you perform the conclusive test above, you will know if this is the case.</p>
<p><strong>The problem may be due to a firmware bug</strong>. This is difficult to investigate, my only suggestion would be: upgrade to the latest and greatest, if you haven't done it already.</p>
<p><strong>The problem may be filament-related</strong>. This could be a number of things, but since the problem seems to happen at towards the end of the print, and your are printing at relatively high temp, an idea could be that too much heat reaches the cold end of the extruder, interfering with its extrusion. The easiest test here would simply be to re-print a failed print with a different filament. In your case I would suggest some PLA, just to decrease the temperature and change the chemical composition too.</p>
<p>These are more or less all shots in the dark, but - together with asking here - it would be what I would do to debug, had I the same problem. Keep up posted! :)</p>
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<p>It could be that cheap filament has inconsistent diameter, or your calibration is over extruding, or you have something loose that needs to be tight. It's hard for me to tell precisely from just these images. In your shoes, I would print 20mm x 20mm x 10mm, 100% infill boxes until I got it dialed in so that it is square, fully filled in, but nice and flat.</p>
<p>If they're coming out square and staying stuck to the build plate properly, but are bumpy and overfilled, then you're over extruding and you'll want to either recalibrate e-steps or if they're correct, adjust your flow rate in the slicer (down).</p>
<p>If they aren't square then you need to square up your frame and tighten it and the belts.</p>
<p>Etc.</p>
<p>But my first guess is that you're extruding too much plastic since I'll bet they were flatter when they were still on the build plate, yes?</p>
<p>On the question of ooze: you'll always get some ooze. Molten plastic and gravity means some will ooze out pretty much no matter what. What you need to worry about is when this results in stringing or unwanted lines on the surface of the print. These things you address with retraction (which reduces the pressure on the nozzle during travel moves, but can't stop gravity) and for the surface problem various travel, z-hop and combing strategies depending on your slicer.</p>
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<p>I'm adding this answer to somewhat challenge the findings of my original answer, and the premise of the question: PETG does not need lower print speeds, and can even be printed at higher speeds than PLA under some conditions due to reduced need for cooling. You can see this from some of the "#speedboatrace" entries printed with PETG. So what was really going on with the original claim and my agreement with it?</p>
<p>I think my original answer is still somewhat true: it's likely that it takes more hotend power to melt PETG at a rate that can be successfully extruded <em>and bonded</em> than to do the same for PLA. But there are other factors at play in the perception that "PETG has to be printed slow".</p>
<p>FarO did not specify details of the printer(s) in question, but I found the big limiting factor for my Ender 3 printing PETG was the stock extruder, which presumably was skipping bad to begin with, and even worse with Linear Advance, trying to keep the filament under high pressure to compensate for its compressibility. Since replacing the extruder with a direct drive one, I've had no problem printing PETG at the same speed as PLA, and both can print much faster than I ever could with the stock bowden extruder.</p>
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<p>TL;DR: Don't do that.</p>
<p>Detailed answer: You need motion limit parameters that actually make physical sense, and firmware capable of executing a motion plan according to them. Your jerk and acceleration settings absolutely don't. Marlin's whole implementation of jerk is wacky (note: modern Marlin versions don't even use it but an alternative they call "junction deviation" instead) and likely to cause problems above very low values; I never was able to take it above 25 or so on Marlin without layer shifts. Acceleration is dependent on the stepper motor torque and the mass you'll be accelerating. For the Y axis, that's the bed, and it has enough mass you won't accelerate it above 12000 mm/s² or so, much less the requested 1 km/s² plus near-infinite acceleration from the extreme near-instantaneous 400 mm/s velocity change ("jerk").</p>
<p>The speed of 400 mm/s is achievable if you don't do it instantaneously. Stepper motors begin to rapidly lose torque beyond a certain speed due to limits on how fast the magnetic field can build up and be reversed, which has to happen for each step. <a href="https://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/Stepper-Motor-Calculator.phtml" rel="noreferrer">This calculator</a> can compute the limits if you know the properties of your motor. For the Ender 3 Y axis motor, the limit is around 425 mm/s or so if I'm remembering right.</p>
<p>For actual print speed, though, the hotend and extruder cannot keep up with anything nearly that high. 150 mm/s is about the limit with that hotend, and it might even be lower with a stock extruder. Fortunately, Benchy is mostly acceleration-bound, not top-speed-bound, so if you can get your acceleration profile right, you can still print quite fast.</p>
<p>Now the next limit you'll hit is Marlin. Marlin is... not good at high speeds and accelerations. Often the layer shifts you hit with Marlin aren't even physical limits but Marlin bugs. If you want to go fast, you need Klipper, not only because it lacks these step timing bugs, but because you need its Input Shaper feature to keep the high acceleration from tearing your printer apart (literally, vibrating all the screws out!).</p>
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<p>Plastic is used in 3D FDM/FFF printing partly because it had a wide temperature range for its glass state - where it can be flowed with some force, but won't flow due only to gravity.</p>
<p>Most metals have a very narrow, or non-existant, glass state. They transition from solid to liquid with almost no flowable-but-not-liquid state.</p>
<p>Are there any metals or alloys that display a glass transition state?</p>
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<p>I"m no expert on this, but the article at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_metal" rel="noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_metal</a> may be relevant for you.</p>
<p>There are some special alloys, such as gold/silicon and various titanium-based ones, that become "bulk metal glasses" if cooled extremely quickly (for example, by sputtering onto a spinning cold surface). The speed of cooling prevents crystal formation. Early BMGs were quite strong but brittle; improvements have reduced brittleness and required cooling speed.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>It might seem that common 3D printer materials such as PLA and ABS should be capable of being autoclaved—unfortunately. However, although their melting temperatures are higher than autoclave temperature (typically 121ºC), their glass transition temperatures are below that limit so they can warp or undergo creep deformation.</p>
<p>Sterilization of numerous plastics is described <a href="https://www.industrialspec.com/resources/plastics-sterilization-compatibility/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>, with PLA, ABS, and PET all being described as "poor" for autoclaving. For each "good" material on that list, I looked for filament by Googling and consulting material guides from <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/material-guides/" rel="noreferrer">Prusa</a> and <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare" rel="noreferrer">Matter Hackers</a>.</p>
<p>Polypropylene (PP) or acetal (POM, also known as Delrin) are the best choices. Filament is available for PEEK, PEI (ULTEM), FEP, PPSU, and PPS but these filaments are expensive (>$100/kg) and require high extruder temperatures (>300ºC).</p>
<p>In contrast, PP is about $50/kg and uses an extruder temperature of 254ºC; POM is similarly priced and uses an extruder temperature of 210ºC. Nylon (depending on the exact type) and HT-PLA may also be worth considering.</p>
<p>"High temperature" filaments are not worthwhile for this application. Again, they're expensive and, more significantly, do not work well with consumer-grade 3D printers. For example, the upper limit for a Prusa i3 MK3s is about 280ºC—the thermistor only is good up to that temperature. Higher temperatures would require swapping out sensors and modifying firmware and building an enclosure. <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk2.5s-mk2.5-how-do-i-print-this-printing-help/can-i-use-pps-filament-on-my-printer/" rel="noreferrer">It's been done</a>. Printers designed for high-temperature filaments easily cost <a href="https://www.aniwaa.com/best-peek-3d-printer-pei-ultem/" rel="noreferrer">thousands of dollars</a>.</p>
<p>This question was previously asked on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/9l8gao/what_filament_would_hold_up_to_regular/" rel="noreferrer">Reddit</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/3caivh/question_about_autoclavable_plastic_for_3d/" rel="noreferrer">a few times</a> but this analysis is more comprehensive.</p>
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<ul>
<li><p>Polycarbonate is <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/why-3d-print-with-polycarbonate-how-to-get-best-results" rel="noreferrer">heat-resistant up to ~120C</a>. Above this temperature it will gradually become flexible and may irreversibly bend. It will not generate any toxic fumes all the way up to ignition temperature (630C), because <a href="http://www.noxtat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/MSDS-SheetPC_TEC_2000_TEC_FUSION_2004.pdf" rel="noreferrer">it's fumes are not considered harmful</a>. Note though, that with your temperature limit you may not be able to print with polycarbonate, or only do so at a very low speed.</p></li>
<li><p>According to the <a href="https://filaments.ca/pages/temperature-guide" rel="noreferrer">sheets of commercially available printable plastics</a>, PC has the highest printing temperature and heat resistance among them, seconded by nylon. This refers to the FDM printers only. SLS printers may be able to use other materials, even metals like aluminum or titanium, so if you really wish to get temperature-resistant prints, you may look for workshops that have SLS printers and ask them.</p></li>
</ul>
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<p>Picture frame glass (generally float glass) will work well enough, but count on it eventually cracking/getting chipped. It's always very flat (due to the way the production process works).</p>
<p>Taking it up to 100-110C for printing ABS should not be a problem, but you'll want to avoid sharp changes in temperature, and should be careful that your prints don't adhere too well: I've had PLA/PETG prints take out pieces of glass with them due to the force required to remove them from the build plate. You might want to try without any (or very little) adhesive first, and make sure your nozzle isn't too close to the build plate.</p>
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<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/4488/5740">EvilTeach's</a> answer is correct, ABS is a more reliable plastic for any kind of work which may get above what feels "hot to the touch." </p>
<p>Just to elaborate on the why: the property you're looking for in the thermoplastic (which will determine the continuous operating temperature) is <strong>glass transition temperature</strong>. This is the point at which the plastic begins to flow, and becomes deformable as EvilTeach described. PLA reaches this state at around <strong>60 °C</strong>, whereas ABS is around <strong>105 °C</strong>, just suiting your specifications. To go a bit further, polycarbonate offers a glass transition temperature of around 150 °C, and Ultem at 217 °C. So there's a thermoplastic for everyone, you just need to know what you're looking for!</p>
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<p>You ask some very interesting questions! Firstly, when researching topics such as this, you will have far more luck using 'additive manufacturing' as a search term rather than '3D printing'. In the professional industrial environment, '3D printing' is not a term that is really used to describe the manufacturing you are talking about.</p>
<p>Selective laser melting is the additive manufacturing process most suited to metallic aerospace parts. Inconel alloys can be processed (e.g. IN718 being one of the easiest) along with titanium (almost exclusively Ti6Al4V). As for manufacturing turbine blades and similar parts, you might find this interesting: <a href="https://www.siemens.com/innovation/en/home/pictures-of-the-future/industry-and-automation/additive-manufacturing-3d-printed-gas-turbine-blades.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Additive Manufacturing - Breakthrough with 3D printed Gas Turbine Blades</a>.</p>
<p>Titanium is not typically used in high-temperature sections of gas turbines, but will be used in larger, cooler components such as fan blades, where it's strength to weigh ratio is a benefit (less mass to rotate = better fuel efficiency).</p>
<p>Coating of high-temperature nickel superalloy components is usually performed with electron beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) or thermal spray such as high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF); each process has certain characteristics that dictate when/where is it used. </p>
<p>This is only really a surface depth answer to your questions, but it would be impossible to answer fully here!</p>
<p>(My experience: PhD student using selective laser melting with aerospace alloys)</p>
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<p>PLA is just about the only common material that prints <em>well</em> on the stock Ender 3. The extruder lacks proper grip and/or torque at the hob for printing PETG well, and printing TPU with a bowden tube is very slow and error-prone. All of these should work if you're willing to go very slow (20-30 mm/s top) though. ABS and ASA are probably doable, at least with a simple enclosure, but I don't have any experience with them. Most other common materials need significantly higher temperatures than the hotend's safe limit of 250 ˚C.</p>
<p>However there are a couple uncommon materials that should print well:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>PVB (polyvinyl butyral, probably best known as Polymaker Polysmooth). It prints at temperatures similar to PLA, but is soluble (and therefore smoothable) in isopropyl alcohol (IPA).</p>
</li>
<li><p>PLC (polycaprolactone) is a very-low-temperature material most commonly used in "3D pens". In fact the temperatures for it are so low (70-140 ˚C) that you'll likely need to send special gcode commands to disable the "minimum extrude temperature" in the printer's firmware or flash firmware without that limitation.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, I guess I should mention that POM (Acetal/Delrin) is within the range of the stock hotend and extruder's capabilities, but is utter hell to print. It doesn't adhere to anything but itself, and warps badly as it cools.</p>
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<p>All filament used in 3D printing is thermoplastic filament, so plastic-filament and thermoplastic-filament are redundant.</p>
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<p>What are the main differences when using ABS over PLA and vice versa?</p>
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<p>Paraphrasing <a href="http://www.protoparadigm.com/news-updates/the-difference-between-abs-and-pla-for-3d-printing/">this</a> site. Feel free to add suggestions in the form of comments and I will try to incorporate them.</p>
<p>Summary</p>
<ul>
<li>ABS: Stronger, machinable, more flexible, and more temperature
resistant than PLA. Typically printed on a heated bed. Warping is a common problem when printing ABS.</li>
<li>PLA: Wider range of filaments available, easier and in some cases faster to print. Not as strong as ABS and the fact that its biodegradable could be seen as both a benefit and a drawback.</li>
</ul>
<p>Material Properties:</p>
<ul>
<li>ABS: Strong plastic with mild flexibility. Naturally beige in color. Can be filled and sanded. Higher temperature. Easy to recycle.</li>
<li>PLA: Not as strong as ABS but more rigid. Naturally transparent. More difficult to fill and sand. Can sag in hot temperatures. Sourced from organic matter so it can be broken down in commercial compost facilities.</li>
</ul>
<p>Part Accuracy:</p>
<ul>
<li>ABS: Part warping is a significant issue. Sharp corners will often be rounded.</li>
<li>PLA: Less heat required contributes to less warping. Becomes more liquid at common extruder temperatures so finer details can be printed.</li>
</ul>
<p>Safety and Handling:</p>
<ul>
<li>ABS: Strong burning/melting plastic smell is present when printing ABS. Health concerns have been raised regarding airborne ultrafine particles generated while printing with ABS (<a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.atmosenv.2013.06.050">ref</a>). ABS will absorb moisture causing popping when the moisture enters the hot end. This leads to discontinuities in the print job.</li>
<li>PLA: Doesn't smell as strongly when printing due to its organic nature. Moisture can also be absorbed into PLA and can irreversibly damage it.</li>
</ul>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>In my experience, polyurethane sticks to PLA like super glue, not good. But silicone and alginate doesn't stick at all.</p>
<p>What I do is print the model of the mold with PLA or ABS, no matter. Then, cast a mold of the PLA model of the mold with alginate, then you have the negative of your mold.</p>
<p>Now with this alginate mold of the mold cast your actual mold with silicone. And then you can cast your part on polyurethane in the silicone mold.</p>
|
<p>In general, metal extruder without PTFE feeding is useful when printing with materials that require high temperature to melt: 300<sup>o</sup>C and above.
<a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Polycarbonate" rel="noreferrer">Polycarbonate</a> with recommended printing temperature at up to 310<sup>o</sup>C is a good example.</p>
<p>PTFE melting point is around 320<sup>o</sup>C, but it may become soft at much lower temperatures, according to RepRap wiki: <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/PTFE" rel="noreferrer">http://reprap.org/wiki/PTFE</a></p>
<p>From the other hand, all-metal extruder lacks advantages that PTFE ones can provide, the most important of them is the ability to have longer retracts without risk of clogging the filament tract.
This is mostly important for users with Bowden-type extruders as well as for printing with soft or stringy filaments.</p>
|
<p>If you haven't been to their site before, you should check out the forums on 3DHubs. There's a lot of how-to's. A quick Google search yields <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/accelerated-nozzle-wear" rel="noreferrer">this</a> link to a similar question.</p>
<p>The key thing to note is that in all technicalities, any material you run through the nozzle is going to cause <em>some</em> sort of wear on your nozzle. <strong>How quickly</strong> depends on the material or composition.</p>
<p>The answer to the question linked above relates it spot on to sandpaper. If you have sandpaper made out of metal (ie stainless pla), it will scratch your skin fairly easily. If you have sandpaper made out of tree bark (ie laywood pla), it probably won't scratch your skin as bad, but it'll still scratch. And just for poops and giggles, lets say you have sandpaper made out of pla; it'll take a while, but you could eventually make your skin raw if you rub the plastic against your arm long enough.</p>
<p>It is typically recommended to use one nozzle for each material type as to avoid cross-contamination of materials in your printing. With this idea in mind, if you are using many types of materials, you can also minimize failed prints due to clogging and other "damaged nozzle" type troubles.</p>
|
<p>Here is the mental framework that I use to reason about PETG: In a nutshell you want to <strong>avoid nozzle contact</strong>.</p>
<p>Unlike most other plastics, PETG sticks to hot brass really well and every time the nozzle moves through material it will pick up some of it. Material around the the nozzle then sticks to a random place creating a blob. It can also cook, turn transparent brown and drop into the print. Investing in a plated nozzle or silicone socks helps but doesn't eliminate the problem completely.</p>
<p>Now to the questions.</p>
<h3>1) Nozzle Distance</h3>
<p>Distance to the plate has to be such that the plastic is laid down precisely without the nozzle dragging through the material (remember, avoid nozzle contact). Precise lines require the build plate to be level and the flow perfectly calibrated. If nozzle is too low and/or the layer is over-extruded then PETG will stick to the nozzle and rip the lines off the plate again. Inspecting the first layer is required for best results. I like to print a layer test pattern <strong>after</strong> the flow has been calibrated and tweak Z offset in 0.02mm increments until it's perfect.</p>
<p>With many other plastics it's ok to have a large amount of "squish" in the first layer as it helps to work around minor leveling issues. This is where the cookie-cutter recommendation to raise the nozzle when printing with PETG is coming from.</p>
<h3>2) Extrusion percentage</h3>
<p>Flow has to be near <strong>perfect</strong>. Down to one percent perfect. Even a slightest over extrusion and some of the excess material will end up on the nozzle when it makes the next pass. Under extrusion isn't great either as this can lead to holes and affect overhangs where thinner strands of a previous pass may not be enough for the next line to stick to.</p>
<p>There are two critical parameters: diameter of the filament and extrusion multiplier. This is how to determine the settings:</p>
<ol>
<li>Measure filament diameter. I use an average of ten measurements over about a meter (yard) of filament taken in multiple orientations.</li>
<li>Calibrate the extrusion multiplier using a <a href="https://help.prusa3d.com/article/d9j1xdg7vj-extrusion-multiplier-calibration" rel="nofollow noreferrer">method described in Prusa
manual</a>:
I print a 40x40x40 cube in vase mode with extrusion multiplier set
to 1 and fixed extrusion width (e.g. 0.45mm), measure the wall
thickness in three spots on every side, average the results and
compute the correction factor.</li>
</ol>
<p>I perform flow calibration for every new roll of filament.</p>
|
<p>The second placement is a better choice from an overall standpoint. In the vertical placement, adhesion is going to be more critical, although Prusa printers have good bonding for PLA and ABS, from my direct experience.</p>
<p>The other aspect of more importance is that the holes are going to be distorted in the vertical arrangement. The cut-outs in the smaller portion will also "droop" unless otherwise supported. If supported, you'll have greater post-processing labor and unsightly surfaces.</p>
<p>The design is quite well done, as the corners have radii which allows for smoother carriage travel, rather than abrupt stops with direction changes at each end.</p>
<p>Importing the model and having the result appear as in the first image means that the designing software swaps the z-axis and the y-axis, which is relatively common.</p>
|
<p>The paper <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326697946_Chemical_Compatibility_of_Fused_Filament_Fabrication-based_3-D_Printed_Components_with_Solutions_Commonly_Used_in_Semiconductor_Wet_Processing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chemical Compatibility of Fused Filament Fabrication-based 3-D Printed Components with Solutions Commonly Used in Semiconductor Wet Processing</a>, found by user R Kiselev in the comments on <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13897/how-to-get-a-quality-print-of-a-thin-single-walled-shell">another question</a>, has results for this, and finds (this is summarized; details in paper) that PLA has fairly good resistance to HCl at 37%. It did not fare as well against other acids or solvents except IPA.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>One thought I had, does PETG need a different clearance between the nozzle and the bed than PLA?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Short answer: "Yes, for some it does".</p>
<hr>
<p>The results from your image are typically seen when the initial layer height for PETG is too small. PETG likes an additional gap on top of the usual that is used to print e.g. PLA.</p>
<p>For me personally I don't experience this general consensus (I've printed kilometers of PETG filament at 0.2 mm initial layer height at a glass bed with 3DLAC spray without any problems), but it is well known that if you print PETG (and if you experience problems) you need to increase the gap between the nozzle and the bed. From <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/175700615-petg-filament-heres-what-you-need-to-know" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"PETG Filament - Overview, Step-by-Step Settings & Problems Resolved"</a> posted on rigid.ink, you see that they (usually) advise an additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm gap:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" alt="Additional PETG gap" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"></a></p>
<p>Bottom line, if the normal gap doesn't work for you, increase the gap to see if that works better. Note that in some slicers you can add an offset in the slicer so that you do not have to do the releveling with a thicker paper (or if you are using auto-levelling). E.g. in Ultimaker Cura you can download a plugin (for recent Cura versions from the marketplace) from user <a href="https://github.com/fieldOfView/Cura-ZOffsetPlugin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fieldOfView</a> called "Z Offset Setting" to get the <code>Z Offset</code> setting in the <code>Build Plate Adhesion</code> section. You can also do a little trick in the G-code by redefining the height so that you can put this in a PETG start G-code or something.</p>
|
<p>My MakerBot printer supports only two filaments at the same time.</p>
<p>What are techniques to print objects with more than two colors for one object?</p>
|
<p>The most obvious solution is to pause the print and swap filament for another color.</p>
<p>Another option is to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdlqGR5n9Zk">splice pieces of filament</a> together, though this does not allow very precise control of when the switch happens. There is also a device that can automatically slice filament this way.</p>
<p>Finally, another option that uses very little external equipment is to <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Coloring_filament">use (permanent) markers to colorize light-colored filament</a>.</p>
<p>Other options include upgrading to a printer with more hotends, or installing a hotend with multiple filament inputs and one outputs, but these options would involve significantly changing your printer setup.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>You can also bring the model and a big box into slic3r, align and orient them (enclose the model in the box), and do a subtract modifier, leaving a hollow where the two intersected. You probably want to do this twice, for a top mould and a botom mould. I've done this, but I don't see any instructions online for it. :(</p>
<p>EDIT: Unfortunately, this would be very tedious. It's much easier to use meshmixer or another publicly available program to subtract one stl from another.</p>
<p>In Slic3r, using another stl as a modifier has no effect unless you are also printing that second stl (normally from another head). So you would have to manually remove all the gcode for the second head. Sorry for the bad advice.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>Why is this so rare?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such kind of printers usually harder to assembles, calibrate, and maintain because 3 axes machine is a bit more complex than 2 axes. For instance, it's can be tricky to move an entire extruder among all 3 axis and some of such printer's designs may require even dedicated exruder's design like Bowden Extruders.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are there flaws in this design?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The key disadvantage of such kind designs is complexity with moving of an extruder among all 3 axes. Moving platform by at least one axis simplifies that.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Will print quality be affected by using this approach?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It depends on the exact printer's design, so, potentially you can have issues with ease of assembling and maintenance due to more complicated construction and as a consequence higher risk of low printing quality due design, assembly or configuration mistakes.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you already have some device with precise enough 3 axis machine, like CNC milling machine, you can upgrade it to 3D printer by installing an extruder, however, it would also require update of software and, probably, electronics.</p>
|
<p>There is absolutely no reason to use different nozzles, <em>not even if filaments do require different temperatures</em>.</p>
<p>The only exception is when printing abrasive filaments (such as glow-in-the-dark and carbon-fiber) in which case you should use an abrasion-resistant, stainless steel nozzle. This nozzle can also be used to to print "regular" filaments but a regular brass nozzle has slightly more favorable properties if you do not require abrasion resistance.</p>
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<p>My problem was 2 things. The <strong>heatbreak</strong>, which was switched out for the MK2 version(Explantation below). And the <strong>Teflon Tube</strong> that runs down the heatsink.</p>
<h2>Heatbreak</h2>
<p>Change the heat-break to a generic E3D one. You can order the heatbreak for the <strong>MK2</strong> from prusa, or any generic heat break for the E3D hot-end assembly.</p>
<p>On the Prusa i3 MK3(s), this component has been given a 45° taper in the middle, between 2.2 and 2 mm. This is done to ease filament retraction for the MMU, and will be nothing but problematic if you are not using the multi-material upgrade. Especially with higher nozzle pressures(eq. with lower layer lines), the filament may be squeezed into this taper, clogging the hot-end.</p>
<p>You may not experience full clogs, but partial ones that will show themselves as streaks in certain layers on the print.</p>
<h2>Heatsink Teflon Tube</h2>
<p>There is a teflon tube that runs down the heatsink. It's crucial that this is mounted correctly and it is not entirely intuative how.</p>
<p>First, press the teflon tube into the heatsink all the way to the bottom. Then, try to pull it out slightly. You'll notice that the small plastic ring at the top of the heatsink will pull out slightly along with it. Now, hold this black plastic part at it's current position with your fingernail, and push the teflon tube in the extra amount. When done, there should be no play in the tube.</p>
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<p>As you suggest yourself, ordering test prints of some model is one way to do it. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.3dhubs.com">3D Hubs</a> and <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/">MakeXYZ</a> allows you to get your model printed by hobbyists and small businesses for a fair price. Both sites also allow you to order prints based on printer type, which I believe is what you may be looking for.</p>
<p>On 3D Hubs, visit on of the <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/trends">trend reports</a>, and select the printer you want a sample from. Similarly, on MakeXYZ, <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/3dprinters/">search local makers</a> for your desired printer.</p>
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<p>Try printing with the heated printbed off. Heat makes the pla stick more to buildtak</p>
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<p>After two weeks of working on different settings in different slicers, I finally have a profile which has improved the quality of my printings. It still has some overhangs, which I'm sure will improve by increasing the cooling flow like 0scar already mentioned.</p>
<p>Here is the profile bundle (for Prusa Slicer): <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nvSK950zlEQtIUIpFnCav5-t5cN3E4HE/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Link</a> or see <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/16297/4762">this answer</a> below.</p>
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<p>I'd like to print modifications for my bird feeder, both to patch over the hail damage from last summer and to try to deter the neighborhood squirrels. I have an FDM printer (and experience with nylon, ABS, and PLA, though don't restrict answers to those if there's something else that's better), what kind of filament would stand up best to daily exposure to sun, rain, snow, etc?</p>
|
<p>PET(G) is a strong contender. It is very strong and water-resistant, and as such is often used to make pop bottles.</p>
<p>PLA has a reputation for being "biodegradable" and therefore it is often discouraged to use PLA outside and/or in contact with water. However, PLA only biodegrades under very specific conditions which it won't generally be exposed to so it can be used (though, as a harder and less flexible material it is more likely to be damaged by hail).</p>
<p>ABS and Nylon are good choices as well. Basically, any plastic you have on hand will last for years, even in an outside application.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I use kapton tape to fixate the glass plates to the heated beds on two of my printers, one a Prusa i3 clone, the other a CoreXY. The tape is able to withstand higher temperatures, and is very thin, so it doesn't have the drawbacks of limiting the print area or high chance the nozzle hitting the clips.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Mjuj.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Mjuj.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
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<p>There are many things you'll need to check and/or confirm to ensure that you will have a good bond to the bed. The first is to confirm that you are using a genuine Prusa printer as it appears in the photo. Having built one recently makes it easier for me to guess that is the case.</p>
<p>Have you performed the bed calibration sequence? The manual provides a series of steps which results in a zig-zag pattern of filament being placed on the bed, while the z-height is adjusted from the panel. You want to have a filament trace that is only slightly squished onto the bed, not flattened so much that it's cutting into the PEI and not so high that it's nearly cylindrical.</p>
<p>The bed must be of the correct temperature for the filament selected. If in doubt, raise it five to ten degrees C. I recently assisted with the aforementioned printer that had a peeling problem and the bed temperature had to be raised to 70°C from the "standard" 55°C generated by Slic3r.</p>
<p>It is critical that the bed be clean as well. Denatured alcohol is recommended, with application of a clean cloth.</p>
<p>Your photo is somewhat out of focus, making it difficult to determine if the brim is being created at an excessively high z-level, which will cause peeling. The main body of the print, also out of focus appears to be heavily flattened, but that could be an artifact of the photo.</p>
<p>The reflections on the bed appear to indicate that some gouges in the surface exist. If your PEI is damaged, you will have the problem you described. I've seen videos in which the bed is not quite as gouged and was refreshed with very light sandpaper or very light steel wool or both. Of course, after using such material, clean the surface thoroughly.</p>
<p>I understand the PEI that is applied by the manufacturer is quite thin and can be further damaged if too much pressure is applied while refreshing. It is far better to apply too little pressure if you plan to perform this task.</p>
<p>Consider to read through the manual and address all of the calibration aspects of the printer to establish a base point for the problem you are experiencing.</p>
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<h1>That's a hell of a print!</h1>
<p>You are printing a model that has a highly complex structure there, with about 650ish holes, assuming there is space for about 2 perimeters between each hole.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gcrSm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gcrSm.png" alt="imitated design of a cylinder with ca 650 thin holes" /></a></p>
<p>Taking my standard 0.3 mm layer height and 0.4 mm nozzle using a 0.45 mm wide line, I sliced a 10mm high slice of the model for a first estimate of the expected print time - and came out with 2:21 hours. That means the expected print time with 0.3 mm layer height is in the area of 47 hours - or just about 2 days.</p>
<p>As a result, 5 days and 5 hours are in the order I'd expect from a 0.1 mm layer height print for the same nozzle, in fact, your settings seem to have a faster print speed than I do work with.</p>
<p>In general, don't think this model is good for FDM Printing at all, due to many non-fully formed lines inside the model (yellow) and the red perimeters being a very dense pattern.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/l0oH6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/l0oH6.png" alt="Sliced crossection: in yellow: many extra thin lines!" /></a></p>
<h2>Solutions?</h2>
<h3>print faster</h3>
<p>You might get a faster speed with a high flow solution, for example, using a long melt zone (volcano-style) or an even higher flow core-heating 3DSolex nozzle. The latter originally only comes in 0.6 mm and up, also mandating fewer holes, but in late 2021 CHT Nozles in 0.4 mm came to the market. This could drop print time some, but it'd still be a several days print job.</p>
<h3>reduced pattern</h3>
<p>Besides increasing layer height to drop printing time by the same factor, reducing the number of holes and as a result, spacing them further apart not only can increase the print speed but also make the print form more reliable.</p>
<p>Another alternative would be to alter the pattern from a circle to a hexagonal pattern: by using hexagons, the resulting pattern does not contain thin walls and might print much faster - depending on hole size, you might experience a drop by a factor of 2!</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bk583.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bk583.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jjr3P.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jjr3P.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<h3>Printed differently</h3>
<p>Going from FDM printing to a system such as SLS might be faster and more reliable while SLA/DLP would make this print not only fast and reliable but also trivial - if one can get a 200 mm high SLA/DLP printer, all three models should be able to be printed in one go at the same time!</p>
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<p>Yes Super Glue is best choice.
I personally use it in many PLA projects.
I even apply Super Glue layer to ABS prints to avoid layer separation.</p>
<p>It works well with both ABS and PLA, but exercise some caution whilst using Super Glue because it produces very bad tear gas. Use it in a well ventilated area.</p>
|
<p>Almost all 3D printers have issues that could cause health problems.</p>
<p>FDM/FFF printers heat plastic to a temperature that may cause it to off-gas, and these byproducts may not be healthy.</p>
<p>SLA printers often use epoxies that may off-gas, or may be somewhat toxic prior to being cured.</p>
<p>Powder based printers can also off-gas, in addition to the powder itself presenting a possible hazard.</p>
<p>Many hobbyist and small companies dance around the problem, and suggest that the machines always be used in well ventillated areas. Professional machines often have filters and ventillation systems built in.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to find a "perfectly safe" 3D printer, spend some time deciding what you want to use one for, find printers suitable for your use, and expect that you'll need to provide reasonable ventilation for almost any printer. Plan your installation for that, and you should be able to make any printer safe for your required use.</p>
<p>If, however, you plan on setting up a printer farm with many printers, and plan to have yourself or others spend significant time operating them, I suggest you work with a health and safety professional and have them identify possible hazards and plan mitigation.</p>
|
<h1><strong>Wear Gloves.</strong></h1>
<h3>Returning is impossible</h3>
<p>Resin does not just <em>harden</em>, <a href="https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/138945/polymerisation-of-a-uv-curing-resin">it <strong>polymerizes</strong> into shape from monomers in a chemical reaction.</a> That means to break it down, you need to destroy the whole chemistry. There is no solvent that can simply reverse it.</p>
<h3>Wiping is easy</h3>
<p>As long as the rein is still liquid, you can wipe it off. Then clean the parts with Isopropylic alcohol.</p>
<h3>Manual work</h3>
<p>Destroying Resin-Polymers is incredibly hard for most solvents. The most simple solution is usually oddly enough to use physical force. Resins are super brittle and chip off, but might damage the paint coat in the worst case.</p>
<h3>Thermal shock</h3>
<p>If you can, you might put your printer in a cold environment and see the resin gaining cracks, as it shrinks slower and less than the metal. Then, putting it back into the heat adds more.</p>
|
<p>You could use a piece of glass, that's what most people using 3D printers have as a build surface. An easy source of glass for pen use would be a picture frame but the edges are likely sharp so be careful. Acrylic would also work and is easily obtained in small pieces from places like Lowes/Home Depot, I used Acrylic for some time on my Kossel. The plastic can stick to Acrylic very well but I had no issues using it with my printer, just test it out and see what process works if you go that route.</p>
|
<p>The surfaces of my printed parts using PLA plastic look rough and uneven.</p>
<p>Would changing filament to a better one make any difference?</p>
<p>If not, what kind of methods can I use to achieve a smoother finish for my for 3D-printed objects?</p>
|
<p>Your two easiest options are dipping your print in acetone or giving it an acetone vapor bath. Note this process generally only works with <strong>ABS</strong> not <strong>PLA</strong>, with the exception of some brands. There are <a href="http://fabsterdam.com/3dprinting/smoothing-pla/" rel="noreferrer">many</a> <a href="http://fabsterdam.com/3dprinting/smooooooth/" rel="noreferrer">articles</a> <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/community/10412-acetone-finishing-on-pla" rel="noreferrer">online</a> where you can learn more about the process.</p>
<p>Aside from finishing, you will generally get a smoother looking end result by <strong>lowering the layer thickness</strong>, and <strong>removing any hysteresis/wobble</strong> in your print head making sure it's well calibrated.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p><strong>Don't use grease</strong>, it is better to use a <strong>light oil</strong> to lubricate the rods. A light oil will help flush out any dust and filament debris, grease will trap it.</p>
<p>I've used both light machine oil (like used for sewing machines) and PTFE based spray (Teflon). Grease is thick and will collect and trap dust and particles more easily than light machine oil.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Even high-end consumer printers use light machine oil, e.g. the Ultimaker 3 Extended I got came with a bottle of light machine oil for the linear guide rails. Their advice is to regularly add a drop of oil on each shaft once in a while (how frequent depends on how much your printer prints).</em></p>
|
<p>The first indication for print speed and temperature should be taken from the box the filament comes in. Generally it specifies temperature ranges for the hotend and the heated bed. Sometime, mostly online, more parameters can be found amongst which is the printing speed. </p>
<p>Do note that temperature and printing speed are linked, if you want to print faster you should increase the temperature. But, if you are printing small or thin things you should print slower so that the part cools enough for the next layer. Basically, part cooling is then also important, but not all filament types (e.g. the ones with a high melt temperature like ABS or PETG) like being cooled too much. So you have another parameter to consider.</p>
<p>It is difficult to instruct you to print at a certain speed and certain temperatures as it is highly depending on the filament (e.g. also the filament diameter), the machine type/make and model, extruder setup (direct or Bowden), the print, enclosure, etc.</p>
<p>Because of the many parameters affecting printing, it is usually suggested to calibrate the printer by printing a <a href="/a/7346/">temperature tower</a> or performing <a href="/q/8194/">retraction tests</a> to find the print window for your specific setup.</p>
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<p>One aspect of having this level of control with 3d printing of a model is the removal of the need for supports and the attendant post-processing. In the case of the model shown in the video, some effects are created by printing the continents in a conformal manner that would otherwise be impossible with conventional 3d printing. Cosmetically, the results of the "5d" printer are superior in this example.</p>
<p>There would also be some structural benefit for models with high organic content, that is curves and bulges, as opposed to orthogonal designs. Even with orthogonal designs, one can achieve stronger parts with cross-layered plastic in all directions, rather than being limited by x and y filament layers.</p>
<p>I see on the web site that one can exchange tool heads as well. One could print a 3d model, layering the filament on all the surfaces, then use a tool head change to a milling bit and smooth the surface under CAD control. Alternatively, one could use foam or wood and mill a model shape to be covered with a 3d printed material.</p>
<p>Considering the relative novelty of this product, it's likely that many aspects of the creative utility have yet to be discovered!</p>
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<p>I do not know the Qidi slicer, but if you look closely, you will see this line is thinner than the normal support infill lines. You could try to visualize the G-code in a viewer, usually this can be done in the slicer itself, but <a href="http://gcode.ws/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">online viewers</a> are available. The viewer will not only show the printed lines, but also show moves by the print head (usually in a different color). You can check whether this extra line is actually printed or a move. If it is a move, this extra line is caused by your hotend which is leaking when it moves. You need to properly tune the hotend with respect to the retraction settings and temperature. There are numerous retraction test print objects to find on the internet.</p>
<p>Depending on your slicer settings, some slicers are able to define where each layer starts printing (e.g. random, or start at sharp corner). The fact you see a support structure "printed the full height of the object" tells you that each layer starts at the same position. It is not uncommon in uniform simple parts where each layer starts at the same position (X/Y) as this is instructed by the slicer setting. In Ultimaker Cura such an option is called <code>Z Seam Alignment</code>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Bottom line, all slicers will do this when your printer is improperly tuned (incorrect settings for e.g. print temperature, retraction, coasting, travel speed). It is up to you to find the correct settings, test print objects help you with that.</p>
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<p>I've had great success printing with HIPS (high-impact polystyrene) as a support for both PLA and ABS. Most sites recommend it for use with ABS because the materials melt at similar temperatures and work best with heated beds, but I've had good luck using it as a support material with PLA on a bed at 60°C. It doesn't stick as well to PLA as it does to ABS, so supports tend to peel away very readily. The downside is that, if you need the support to anchor your print at all, it doesn’t really stick well enough to accomplish this task. For that, you must pair HIPS with ABS. </p>
<p>When you print with ABS or have complicated interwoven support structures, HIPS can be dissolved with D-limonene, a citrus based cleaner sold under various names like Citrisolv (others exist), or with dipentene (a mixture of L and D-limonene that doesn't smell as pleasant). </p>
<p>Regarding cost: I've found HIPS to be slightly more expensive than PLA/ABS, but only 1.5x the cost, not 4x like PVA. Additionally, it isn't hydroscopic in the same way as PVA so it lasts longer out of the package. Since you're using it as support, you also tend to use far less filament than you do for the main print (sparse support structures as opposed to solid print structures). </p>
<p>Water-soluble alternatives: There are a few proprietary blends of polymers sold by the big commercial printer manufacturers (3DSystems, Stratasys) that only work in their machines… these are generally soluble in basic solutions (water + sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate). These are usually very expensive and you'd have to rewind the filament on a spool, as they come in cartridges made for specific printers. You'd also have to experiment with the right build conditions and solution blends to remove the material afterward. Airwolf has a support material called <a href="https://airwolf3d.com/shop/water-soluble-support-3d-print/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hydrofill</a> that purports to be soluble in plain water… I'm not sure how this is different from standard PVA, though I assume it <em>is</em> different. Hopefully more companies will work on developing water-soluble options to help us keep the 3D printing world full of renewable, less-environmentally-harmful options for filaments (both print and support). </p>
<h2>Update:</h2>
<p>Ultimaker now has a material called <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/materials/breakaway" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Breakaway</a>. After using it for a few models, it works remarkably well, allowing me, for the first time, to print <strong>nice</strong> rounded surfaces on the bases of my prints. It really does just break away from the surface, much like HIPS but without the lack of adhesion problems between HIPS and PLA. </p>
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<p>Cool environmental conditions are the single biggest contributor to ABS delamination. Delamination or edge/corner cracking is caused by warping stresses when the first layer adhesion is stronger than the interlayer bonding. Or it happens when the heated build plate allows a strong non-warping foundation to be built until the print is too tall to be adequately warmed by the plate. In either case, the corners of the first layer can't lift, so the print cracks elsewhere to relieve the stress. </p>
<p>All ABS warping stress, in turn, is caused by the repeated thermal contraction of the fresh plastic layer at the top of the print. The FDM process sticks hot, expanded plastic onto cool, contracted plastic. When the new layer cools, it tries to contract, but it's stuck to a layer that is already fully cooled/contracted. This generates a large shear stress between the two layers. The accumulation of those shear stresses over many consecutive layers generates a large-scale bending force on the entire print. That's what causes both warping and delamination. </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HZZam.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HZZam.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>The less the previous layer cools below the glass point of the plastic, the less thermal contraction it experiences before the next layer goes down, and therefore the less warping stress will accumulate as the <em>next</em> layer cools.</p>
<p>Environment temp is the biggest thing you can control:</p>
<ul>
<li>If your printer's environment is below 35C, you probably shouldn't even bother printing ABS. </li>
<li>A 50C environment is significantly better and will have minimal problems with warping and delamination. This is within the ambient temp ratings of most motors and electronics. Air-cooled extruders can typically extrude ABS reliably up to about 60C ambient, at which point they may be prone to clogging. And don't forget about plastic structural parts in your printer.</li>
<li>Industrial ABS printers with heated build chambers print ABS in a 75-85C environment, with lots of airflow. In terms of cooling regimes, ABS in an 80C chamber acts very similar to PLA in a room-temp environment. No warping, but lots of airflow required for good detail. </li>
</ul>
<p>Printing ABS at a higher nozzle temperature (say 240-250C) will also improve layer adhesion so delamination is less likely to occur. The same warping stresses will be there, but the layer bonding may be stronger than the internal stresses in the part so it survives printing.</p>
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<p>Delta printers are considered to be able to be accurate printers cause of the limited weight in the head (using Bowden extruder setup). The positioning can be very accurate (limited weight, limited overshooting) and because of the limited amount of weight, the print speed can be increased.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.scielo.br/pdf/mr/v20s2/1516-1439-mr-1980-5373-MR-2016-1039.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">interesting paper</a> has been written on a comparative study between a Cartesian and a Delta machine. The paper concludes that the Delta style printer produces "a better surface finish". However, I'm a bit skeptical as the images of the Cartesian printed part they have printed are of far less quality I can produce with 2 of my printers. Fact is that Delta machines have no Z-wobble (also called <a href="http://www.soliwiki.com/Banding" rel="nofollow noreferrer">banding</a>) that is a common problem with Prusa i3 style printers for instance.</p>
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<p>With an ABS or PLA extrusion 3D printer, are there any potentially negative quality differences that could occur if I try to print at a higher resolution?</p>
<p>I am not concerned about print time as the equipment is not under high demand. I am, however, worried the device may be more prone to fracture, likely to have defects, or have other issues I cannot currently imagine.</p>
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<p>The biggest effect I've see on resolution is due to plastic stress due to thermal gradients.</p>
<p>The higher resolution prints build up more layers of material, and each layer has a cumulative effect on thermal stress. The upper layers pulling up more as they cool, and the lower layers curling up more strongly as the layer count is increased.</p>
<p>To counteract this, a heated (or even just a draft free) enclosure makes a big difference. Having a heated print bed helps significantly, as long as the bed itself resists deformation (a sheet metal or PCB bed will bend more than glass under the same tension, for instance).</p>
<p>The actual plastic strength, however, appears increased. Laying down thinner layers of material appears to increase the bond strength between layers.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>Direct Drive v.s. Bowden has no relation to the maximum print temperature. What determines the maximum print temperature is the design of the hotend itself. There are "all-metal" designs, where the PTFE tube (Bowden or not) stops in the cold zone and the heatbreak and all other components that get hot are fully made of metal. Other hotend designs have the PTFE tube run all the way down into the hot zone and this limits the maximum printing temperature. It has nothing to do with whether the hotend is Bowden or not.</p>
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<p>Much like your car, the number of miles, or the number of prints that you can get out of it is entirely up to how well <strong>you</strong> can maintain it.</p>
<p>A 3D Printer is a machine, and a machine needs general maintenance; if you see something starting to break - or get worn out - or anything abnormal, fix it.</p>
<p>I am sure that if you had something like a MakerBot, it would require less maintenance then a fully home built machine, but if you are building it from scratch, I am sure you don't mind.</p>
<p>I am still rocking a 3 year old home built MendalMax, and have both made some improvements, and had to make some repairs along the way - but it is still in damn good condition.</p>
<p>For a $600 investment, I can say you will get a few years out of it if you take proper care of it. By the time the end of its life comes (5+ years), I am sure there will be much better printers available for cheaper, and you will never look back :)</p>
<ul>
<li>Tighten all your nuts and bolts</li>
<li>Keep it calibrated</li>
<li>Keep belts properly tensioned</li>
<li>Oil X, Y, and Z rods</li>
<li>Clean of any dust and scrap plastic (compressed air can?)</li>
<li>Clean hobbed bolt</li>
<li>Clean extruder</li>
<li>Ensure all electronic connections are secure</li>
<li>Check wires at points of movement for wear</li>
</ul>
<p>!remindme 5years</p>
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<p>After a lot of experimenting and trying several different things I finally discovered the <strong>'vase mode'</strong>. In this mode the 3D printer makes a hollow object with a single-layer outer shell.</p>
<p>The corresponding setting is called <strong>'spiralize outer contour'</strong> in Cura 4.6.1. In this mode the printer does not make distinct layers and prints the whole shell in one continuous motion (<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/oxoW32fq4dEGyx7Y7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">video</a>), exactly as I need it. The print is done faster, and the quality is dramatically better!</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aihpq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aihpq.jpg" alt="improved print" /></a></p>
<p>The downside is that only one model can be built in this mode. If you place several models on the build plate, they will get connected by a wall. However, there is a workaround in Cura: under 'Special modes' set 'Print sequence' to 'One at a time'. Ultimaker will print several model one after another provided they are not tall and you leave enough space between them (dark area in the picture below). I could print up to 12 models at once, which is enough for me.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sY731.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sY731.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
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<p>The <strong>first problem</strong> is solved by removing the tick mark at <code>Origin at center</code>. Most printers have their origin at a corner (not Delta's, their origin is in the top center).</p>
<p>The <strong>second problem</strong> is a little more difficult to solve. Please note that a kit should be loaded with preset values that should be fair enough to print, your picture does not appear to print the calibration cube correctly, so you should try to <strong>eliminate each possibility one at a time</strong>. As said, your picture is not very clear, but it does not appear to be a cube, it looks more rectangular (also note that a raft is only interesting when printing difficult, read prone to warping, filaments like ABS). </p>
<p>What you could do is print simple squares (no raft, but use a brim or skirt), e.g. 50 x 50 mm (only 1 or 2 walls in width and a few layers high), and measure the printed size. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>If these squares do not stick to the heated bed, calibrate the Z height to nozzle distance and re-level the bed or increase the heated bed temperature;</p></li>
<li><p>If the X and Y sizes are different, you should calibrate the steps per mm for the direction that differs (<a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M92:_Set_axis_steps_per_unit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M92</a> is the G-code to set the steps per mm; <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M500:_Store_parameters_in_non-volatile_storage" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M500</a> to store the value to memory; these codes can be given over USB using specific programs that interface through a command line interface e.g. Pronterface, Repetier-Host or OctoPrintor alternatively in a <code>.gcode</code> file and loaded through the printer user interface);</p></li>
<li><p>If extrusion does look weird, measure the filament width at various sections of the filament with a vernier caliper and calibrate the extruder stepper and set the correct amount of steps per mm;</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, print the 20 x 20 x 20 mm cube and measure the height and adjust the steps per mm for the Z direction.</p></li>
</ul>
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<p>Default settings for first layer height in Slic3r Prusa Edition print profiles regardless layer height is 0.2 mm.</p>
<p>If you need to improve bed adhesion then try tips from this video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShFaJ027pFs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3D Prints not sticking anymore? Watch this! 3DP101</a> by Maker's Muse. It's about using glue stick and spreading it using paper towel and isopropyl alcohol. </p>
<p>There are other possibilities how to improve bed adhesion, e.g. <a href="https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printer-parts/146-replacement-pei-sheet-for-mk2s-ultem.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultem sheet</a> or other printing surface like <a href="https://www.buildtak.eu/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BuildTak</a>.</p>
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<p>Heating the bed helps me, even with PLA. I print with a 60 °C bed. The bed is 3/8" 6061 alloy aluminum, sanded with 600 grit sandpaper, coated with Elmer's purple glue stick, and dried.</p>
<p>The brim will help. You might make the brim thicker than one layer (like 2-3 layers).</p>
<p>If you look at the bottom of your print, are there large gaps where the PLA doesn't touch the bed? If so, you could zero the head closer to the bed, or increase the flow for the first layer.</p>
<p>I haven't set up a cooling fan, although many praise the results. It is an experiment for a future day.</p>
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<p>Your trouble lies within the presliced G-code: the temperatures are rather low for PLA and upping both by 10 degrees would be advisable:</p>
<ul>
<li>200 °C for the Hotend</li>
<li>60 °C for the Bed</li>
</ul>
<p>Atop that, printing a raft for PLA is usually not advisable.</p>
<p>Get yourself a slicer (the most common free ones I am comfortable with using are Cura, Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa Edition) and either import a fitting profile and create your own profile, then slice the <code>.stl</code>-model yoruself.</p>
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<p>I would like to print parts (e.g. jewellery) for use which I don't want to look or feel like a plastic, but metal-like, so briefly people won't see much difference.</p>
<p>Are there any specific type of home-printers that can achieve that? Or it's rather kind of filament that you should use?</p>
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<p>If you'd like to print on RepRap like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FDM printers</a>, you cannot print from metal, but you can use some filament that tries to look like metal. I have good experience with <a href="http://colorfabb.com/bronzefill" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bronzefill</a>, but there are plenty of others, just Google for <em>metal filament 3d printing</em>. Note that sometimes the parts need to be post-processed with a <em>rock tumbler</em>. There are <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/tag:rock_tumbler" rel="nofollow noreferrer">several open source DIY tumblers</a> you can build and use.</p>
<p>If you actually want to print from metal, you would need SLS (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Selective laser sintering</a>) printer, which is much more expensive.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p><strong>What bed material cools faster?</strong></p>
<p>I found an <a href="http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html">extensive list</a> which relates various materials to their <em>thermal conductivity</em>, k [W/mK]; the lower thermal conductivity, the better the material insulates, and the slower the print bed will resist changes in temperature - both heating up, and cooling down. </p>
<p>Here are the thermal conductivity for some common materials for 3d printer beds:</p>
<pre><code>Aluminum 205
Glass 1.05
Acrylic 0.2
Air 0.024 (for reference)
</code></pre>
<p>There is also the matter of thermal capacity, but I will not go into that right now (need to do some research myself first!).</p>
<p><strong>Will bed material affect cooling time?</strong></p>
<p>Bed material, I believe, is not necessarily related to print cooldown time: it depends on the situation, such as whether we are discussing cooldown during or after printing, and if the bed is heated or not. </p>
<ol>
<li>If you are <em>not</em> using a heated bed, I believe the bed material doesn't matter at all.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>while printing</em>, only the first dozen layers or so are probably affected by the rising heat sufficiently that it affects the printing process.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>after printing</em>, the thermal characteristics of the bed will determine how quickly the print cools (and thus can be removed).</li>
</ol>
<p>Also remember that other physical properties, such as flatness (both cold and during heating) of the bed material is vital for successful prints, and that not all materials can tolerate heating equally well! </p>
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<p>How to catch <em>and</em> fix these on the fly? That would be difficult..</p>
<p>But this is an issue you really should not have.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/84/47">Could it be an issue with filament storage?</a></p>
<p>Or is it coming from the manufacturer with these bulges? If so, I would try contacting ( you may have gotten a bad batch? ), or finding a new retailer if this happens often.</p>
<p>I have gone through a lot of pounds of both ABS and PLA and never come across this. </p>
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<p>I have no experience with your printer model nor with protopasta conductive PLA but since your problem is "too much adhesion" I would simply suggest to <strong>follow in reverse all the usual advices on how to make the first layer adhere better</strong> (a far more common problem). The list of suggestion could be:</p>
<ul>
<li>Print fast</li>
<li>Do no squash the first layer (see @fred_dot_u answer)</li>
<li>Make sure the part fan is on</li>
<li>Reduce the temperature slightly</li>
<li>...</li>
</ul>
<p>The problem could also be due to the chemical interaction between the surface of your plate and the specific material (for example: it is known that glass - a relatively difficult surface to use with PLA - bonds so well to PETG that sometimes it chips off the bed when you remove the print). If this is the case you could for example <strong>cover your bed in painter's tape</strong> and see if the protopasta conductive PLA adhere worse to it than to the bare bed. Worst case scenario, you could remove the tape with the print and scrub it off from it afterwards with a metal brush or a bit of sandpaper.</p>
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<p>Dimensional accuracy is not as important as dimensional uniformity. I can print with undersized (or oversized) filament, adjusting the flow appropriately, provided the filament has a consistent diameter. When creating filament in-house, without expensive equipment, it is difficult to maintain the same diameter throughout the entire extrusion. It is likely this extrusion diameter (when creating filament, rather than the output of the actual print head) to which Barafu is referring when he mentions his tolerances: +/- 0.05 mm <em>in diameter</em>. Which is reasonable.</p>
<p>The "miniature printing" comment likely refers to printing miniature models for tabletop gaming.</p>
<p>If the source filament becomes wider than expected, the output will have overflow, or more material than desired will be deposited, and this will certainly affect the quality of the piece.</p>
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<p>There are a few options.</p>
<ol>
<li>Machines are available which grind the used plastic into fine pieces, melt it down, and extrude it as filament to be reused. <a href="http://www.filabot.com/">Filabot</a> is perhaps the most well known.</li>
<li>Depending on where you live the local recycling programs may accept PLA or ABS. They will then shred it and melt it down for reuse.</li>
<li>PLA is bio-degradable so you can put it in the compost.</li>
<li>I put scrap ABS in acetone which results in a slurry which can be used as a glue to attach ABS parts, fix cracks, and hold parts to the bed.</li>
</ol>
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<p>I don't believe that slicing engines create any sort of solid model that would be useful for CAD simulation. When a slicing engine slices a 3D model, it's goal is to spit out the preferred machine paths in G-Code (of some kind). However, I've read a few articles, done some tests, and heard through the grape vine that anywhere between 10%-35% is good enough for most applications. I once watched a webinar for understanding the new MakerWare interface that explained how they chose such settings. Although I can't find the clip directly, <a href="http://www.makerbot.com/resources/webinars" rel="nofollow">here</a> is the page for all of MakerBot's webinars. I think <a href="http://pages.makerbot.com/intro-makerbot-desktop-software-webinar.html?utm_source=leadgen&utm_medium=resource-center&utm_content=webinar&utm_campaign=rc-intro-makerbot-desktop-webinar" rel="nofollow">this</a> webinar was the one I watched explaining a little bit about preferred infill percentages.</p>
<p>From experience, anything over 35% doesn't yield much more strength from infill side of things. Beyond 35% and you're going to want to reconsider how you're orienting the print when you print it and what you're printing to utilize the grain structure for proper strength.</p>
<p>However, infill percentage/patterns are not the only variable for creating strong parts. Infill is really just a way to save time and material. Here are some other ways to potentially increase strength:</p>
<ul>
<li>Increase your shell. Shell is the number of profile patterns per layer. Typically (in FDM/FFF), each shell is <strong>about</strong> the diameter of your extruder nozzle.</li>
<li>Increase your floor/roof. Similar to shell, floor/roof refers to the number of layers that make up the "bottom" and "top" of the part with regard to the build plate.</li>
<li>Print orientation. Pay attention to which areas of the part are susceptible to strain along the "grain" of the layers. Try to rotate your part on the build plate in a way that minimizes potential failure both in print and post-print use.</li>
<li>Post process. Don't be afraid to do some post-processing to increase the strength. There are <a href="https://markforged.com/" rel="nofollow">some 3D printers on the market</a> that go as far as including Kevlar strands in the printing process to beef up their prints. However, it may be as simple as just coating the part in an epoxy with some basic finishing techniques. It's a bit more work, but it turns weak 3D printed parts into full production quality prints.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Update:</strong>
Based on some of the comments, it sounds like your best bet might be to find a custom application that can either convert the g-code file into a solid model (try CAM software?), or create a plugin for your CAD software (I know Unigraphics NX and Solidworks allow for this) and essentially recreate your own slicing engine that takes your solid model and generates the same infill pattern dynamically inside.</p>
<p>Perhaps look into the works of <a href="http://www.simlab-soft.com/index.aspx" rel="nofollow">Simlab</a> or similar which has a lot of 3D software plugins. I'm not promoting them and I don't work for them, this is just a reference of what to look for.</p>
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<p>Assuming your filament dimension settings are correct and your extruder is correctly calibrated...</p>
<p><strong>Your extruder temperature may be too low.</strong> While 184C can be hot enough, it is very near the bottom of the range for PLA and it appears your filament isn't melting quickly enough to keep up with your other settings. Your extruder may even be running slightly cooler than you think so your 184C setting may actually be printing at 180C or less.</p>
<p><strong>To solve this:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Raise your extruder temperature.</strong> I suggest raising your print temperature to 220 degrees and then gradually lower it until other aspects of your print quality are acceptable (bridging, oozing, etc).</li>
<li><strong>Slow down your print.</strong> Slowing down reduces the volume of melted plastic your extruder has to deliver in a given amount of time. This allows more time for the plastic to melt and allows you to use a lower print temperature</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Your filament feed mechanism may be slipping.</strong> Even if you have adequate temperature and perfectly calibrated firmware and print settings, if your filament feed mechanism (the thing that pushes filament into your extruder) is slipping, you will have under-extruded parts.</p>
<p><strong>To solve this:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Make sure you have adequate tension on your filament feed mechanism.</strong> If your feed mechanism is too loose, filament may slip and cause under extrusion. The part to check is the part the pushes the filament into the rotating hobbed bolt or friction wheel...make sure it applies adequate pressure. "Adequate pressure" or "adequate tension" will vary depending you your printer's design, but it should be enough to provide a firm grip on the filament.</li>
<li><strong>Verify your feed mechanism is clean.</strong> A hobbed bolt or similar filament drive mechanism that has become clogged or otherwise contaminated may cause filament to slip and under-extrude.</li>
<li><strong>Ensure the end of your filament is not damaged from slipping.</strong> Once your filament has slipped, it may be damaged with a worn spot, a bulge, or some other defect that can prevent proper feeding even after you fix the root cause of your problem. So, as tbm0115 pointed out, be sure to clip off the damaged end to make sure you have good filament feeding into your extruder.</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>
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<p>I am aware of several "clear" filaments for a ABS or PLA printer. They, however, have a cloudy or frosted glass appearance. I do not believe this is possible to eliminate but I believe it can be reduced.</p>
<p>Are there effective ways to make a print have a more transparent appearance?</p>
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<p>Use Taulman t-glase and after a light sanding with really fine paper (optional really, but go for it if you can), spray it with polyurethane varnish or something similar. Check out the article <a href="http://3dprint.com/29292/taulman-hacks-clear-t-glase-3d-printing-material/">here</a>.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I am still somewhat of a noob, but I have heard that your problem may be because the extruder is not getting the filament out fast enough. You are trying to extrude filament before it is sufficiently fluid. Try increasing your hotend temperature by 5 degrees.</p>
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<p>I have made some learning on mechanical setup and discovered some issues on my printer, there are few:</p>
<ol>
<li>Bed warped, even with glass (thin thickness), making BAL confused with Z-movement over the bed.</li>
<li>Overextrusion making layer oversized in terms of thickness.</li>
<li>Some of missing mechanical fine adjustments.</li>
</ol>
<p>The main reason for this symptom was the overextrusion (that made my X and Y axis jump some steps when hotend collapses in the already-printed materials on their movements).</p>
<p>I hope this helps some of those who have this similar problem!</p>
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<p>PLA is a forgiving filament, you can even print such filament without a heated bed. Although there are differences in quality between brands, PLA shouldn't need a raft to be printed. Hatchbox filament is not considered as a low quality type of filament; it is economical and has been around since 2013. A raft is a structured platform that is specifically used for high temperature and or high shrinkage types of filament, PLA is not such a filament and shouldn't need a raft. This implies that something is wrong with getting the filament sticking to the plate. Good adhesion requires a levelled bed, a correct initial nozzle to build plate distance (e.g. paper thickness) and possibly an adhesive like a glue stick, special adhesion spray, a textured bed or blue tape, etc.</p>
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<p>You need <strong>WAY</strong> more infill or make it solid. Normal props like this are 100% solid for a reason.</p>
<p>To add to that, in my experience with 3D printing the the infill percent is only part of the story for part strength. In many cases adding perimeter loops and not infill is a better solution for part strength.</p>
<p>With a solid part I suspect PETG will come out ahead over PLA as PLA can be more brittle and just snap under shock or vibration.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>I am curious, what is the purpose of printing a single-height outline around the objects to be printed?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The (equidistant) lines at distance from the print object is called the "skirt", the skirt is an option found under the "Build Plate Adhesion" options in your slicer. The primary function of the skirt is to get the flow going, but there are more benefits you can get from the skirt:</p>
<ul>
<li>You can find out whether the bed is correctly levelled, or if the bed has concave or convex areas (the skirt should be a line, I prefer at least 2 lines, of consistent thickness, if not, this may hint to incorrect levelling;</li>
<li>You can find out if there is enough or a sufficient amount of adhesive (e.g. glue stick, hair spray, specific print adhesion sprays like 3DLAC or DimaFix, etc), if not the bed might be greasy or lacking the adhesion product;</li>
<li>You can configure the skirt height to use the skirt as a shield for draft or ooze and distance to product);</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Also, how would it affect the outline if the object to be printed extends to (very near) the very edge of the print area?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Do note that a skirt limits the useable build area by the distance and width of the skirt.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Basically this has been answered (see <a href="/a/11303">this answer</a> and <a href="/a/11304">this answer</a>) in a different question (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/11300/random-lines-are-being-printed">"Random lines are being printed?"</a>), but it might be beneficial to answer this question rather than closing this for a dupe. This question is focussed on the skirt, the equidistant lines around the print object, while the other question focuses on the priming line.</em></p>
<hr>
|
<p>It is definitively possible to do what you want, but your questions are samewhat problematic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So, I need to know if it's possible to print that cylinder hard enough to work as an axis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>"hard enough" is a mysterious quantity. What is the intended application? The load of the axis, the rotation speed, the medium in which the part will be in, its operating temperature... they all affect the answer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And what should be the gap size between the cylinder and the counter part's hole to rotate properly?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reading at the question and the comments, I think you may have the wrong representation model in your mind. There are four different concepts at work here:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Accuracy</em> is the maximum dimensional variation between parts. </li>
<li><em>Tolerance</em> is the amount of random deviation or variation permitted for a given dimension.</li>
<li><em>Allowance</em> is a planned difference between a nominal or reference value and an exact value.</li>
<li><em>Clearance</em> is the intentional space between two parts.</li>
</ul>
<p>So: what you want to achieve for the object to rotate is to have at least some <em>clearance</em> once you have the parts printed. Therefore, you want to design your part with an <em>allowance</em> which is at least as much as the <em>accuracy</em>.</p>
<p>Note that a machine cannot produce parts with a tighter tolerance than its accuracy. So you must design your part with a <em>tolerance</em> equal or greater than your printer <em>accuracy</em>.</p>
<p>The correct number will therefore be entirely dependant from the specific printer you will be using. You can find out the specific <em>accuracy</em> of a printer by printing a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=Tolerance%20test&sa=&dwh=815ab32c4d0733c" rel="noreferrer">tolerance test</a> (I know, I know... why isn't it called "accuracy test"?)</p>
<p>See this <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/5187/9134">unrelated answer</a> - from wich I took the above definitions - for learning more about the above and a concrete example.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If it's is like 0.05mm, can I print that level of detail with a 3D printer too?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I hope it is now clear why this question makes no sense: <em>clearance</em> is a variable which depends from <em>accuracy</em> (and the application), not the other way around.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can't add so much gap because I have really limited space</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This comment too is incorrect: the "gap" (clearance) can be very very small. You have to have the correct <em>allowance</em> in your design, and allowance will <em>not</em> intrinsically make a part larger.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What hardware and material should I use to do this?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again: this is entirely dependent from your application (load, operating temperature, orientation, speed...)</p>
<p>A consumer-grade FDM printer (easy accessible, cheap and cheap to operate) will allow you to print a rotating part, a SLA/DLP printer (less common, toxic resins, more expensive to operate) will allow to print the same part with different materials and tighter tolerances...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don't worry about breaking, but it cannot be flexible</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again: without an explanaton of the intended use (or the numbers associated to it) it's impossible to answer this comment conclusively. Resins tend to harden to more rigid solids, but you have thrown around tolerances as small as 0.05mm in your writing, and over 12mm of axis, that is a deviation of less than 0.5% from "perfectly straight". I'm hard pressed to think you will find a printable material with such a rigidity.</p>
|
<p>If it's on each corner, and not the layer change corner, it's a combination of overshoot and the short "pause" of the printer when it changes direction. </p>
<p>You can minimize it, but it won't go away 100% (due to overshoot from direction changes), usually models with a slight rounded corners work great. If you, say, increase the jerk as an experiment and they get sharper (but you obviously have to deal with potential ringing artifacts) then it's due to that pause and acceleration after a direction change.</p>
<p>I would try lowering the temperature a bit to slow the flow/oozing of the nozzle and calibrate extrusion - just to keep the settings tight as possible to keep dimensional accuracy, but not under extrude obviously. </p>
<p>If it's where a layer change occurs, tweak and play with retraction settings - such as coasting and extra distance on restart (you can put negative values here). Once those are set, as an advanced tweak, try to max the z speed... Obviously this involves motor current, testing for skipped steps etc... but this would make the layer change a bit quicker, to further reduce oozing, due to the delay in layer changes if retraction settings don't fix it. </p>
<p>Usually, you can fix the corners with retraction settings but then it can mess up other parts of a model, since those settings are global... I wish slicers were more intelligent. </p>
|
<p>My printed parts consist rafts, supports and other extraneous filament when printing with ABS or PLA.</p>
<p>What are efficient general techniques of removing them?</p>
|
<p>The best way to get rid of them is to change the design of the printed object to make them unnecessary.</p>
<p>Instead of printing the one part with support material, the piece can be split into two or more parts which can be printed without support material and assembled after the printing.</p>
<hr>
<p>Given that this is not always fully possible, a convenient way to get rid of additional structures is to use a different fillament for them that can be removed easily. <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare">This list of printing materials</a> includes Polyvinyl Acetate (<strong>PVA</strong>), which is water soluble. You can wash the support material away given that your actual printign material is not water soluble. Here's a quote from the website (emphasize mine):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) filament prints translucent with a slightly yellow tint and is <strong>primarily used as a 3D printing support material</strong> because it is water-soluble, meaning that <strong>it will dissolve when exposed to water</strong> (and so MUST be kept dry prior to use). PVA is most often used with 3D printers capable of dual extrusion: one extruder printing a primary material (such as ABS or PLA) and the other printing this dissolvable filament to provide support for overhanging features. PVA 3D printer filament is available in 1.75mm and 3mm.</p>
</blockquote>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Turns out it had to do with the nature of the small holes that I was printing. I had to slow the speed of the initial layer down from 25mm/s to 15mm/s and also set Cura to 'optimize wall printing order' so that it didn't jump back and forth between holes constantly. </p>
<p>I also sped up the travel speed to 50mm/s on the initial layer to minimize oozing (although I'm not sure this actually did anything). Print came out beautifully.</p>
<p>Didn't even need the raft.</p>
|
<p>The symptoms you describe hint to heat creep. Heat creep is the gradual increase in temperature of the cold end assembly (cooling fins and heat break). This gradual temperature increase leads to too high filament temperatures and as such premature filament softening. In combination with (large) retraction settings, this can lead to clogging of the nozzle. All-metal hotend assemblies are more prone experiencing these problems; lined hotends have a PTFE lining that also insulates the filament so that it does not soften prematurely like in all-metal hotends can happen. Heat creep is best remedied by properly cooling the hotend (good quality fan, no obstructions or large ducts) and reducing the retraction length (and possibly lowering the print temperature, but you already tried that). You could also contact the manufacturer for advice.</p>
|
<p>When printing at small layer heights (high resolution), you probably need to do some test prints first to see if your normal settings work for the lower layer height. You are most probably experiencing an increased pressure build-up in the nozzle due to the nozzle being closer to the bed. A test that might be useful for you is spacing several objects at different distances to see if the retraction, which you already suspect, may be not working optimally or that the nozzle leaks/oozes an excess amount of filament due to pressure build-up. This shows an example of such a test where the nozzle shows oozing.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xsmW1.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xsmW1.jpg" alt="Effect of object distance"></a></p>
<p>Tuning the extruder to alleviate the pressure could be:</p>
<ul>
<li>an increased retraction length, and/or </li>
<li>retraction speed, or </li>
<li>looking into the option called coasting where you stop extruding before the printer reaches the end of the deposition path while it still prints material caused by the pressure build-up.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/E1GOE.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/E1GOE.jpg" alt="Tuned extruder"></a></p>
<hr>
<p><sub><em>When printing at 0.05 mm on my home-build CoreXY I experience much smoother prints opposed to printing in higher layer heights (less resolution), but I also get some very fine stringing, noticeable when printing multiple objects or objects with voids.</em> </sub></p>
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<p>The solution was a combination of several items. The primary one was slowing down the top layer of the print significantly. I was using 3200 mm/min for the print and used the option 'solid fill underspeed' to slow down the top layers to 40%. I increased the top layers to 7. I also increased the infill, to ensure there was support in the tiny top pieces. I also decreased the minimum infill length to 0 to ensure the infill went in tiny places. Finally, I used the 'Concentric' external fill pattern.</p>
<p>At some rotations of the model, I had slight gaps in the corners of the model, increasing the number of outline layers fixed it.</p>
<p>I also decreased the temp to 160 compared to the initial print above.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ApjNq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ApjNq.jpg" alt="Castle piece"></a></p>
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<p><em>Waves in printed surfaces with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_filament_fabrication" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FFF</a> are observed at either the bottom layer (common) or the top layer (less common).</em></p>
<h2>Waves in bottom layer</h2>
<p>Rippling/wave generation/wrinkling is a common problem for first layer to occur and has a direct relation to the print nozzle to bed distance; a too short of a distance or over-extrusion can lead to this effect. However, this effect is less commonly observed in top layer finishes. Bottom layer waves are described in more detail in <a href="/a/7232">this answer</a>.</p>
<h2>Waves in top layer</h2>
<p>I have seen this defect before. It is caused by a <em>combination of incorrect <strong>hotend temperature</strong> and <strong>print cooling fan</strong> settings</em>. Please reduce the hotend temperature and reduce the fan cooling. The image below clearly shows the differences of such measures.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/10XmG.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/10XmG.jpg" alt="Solving waves in top layer of print" /></a></p>
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<p>Warping is caused by the plastic shrinking as it cools and inadequate bed adhesion is usually the what lets it warp. Either cleaning your print surface very thoroughly with rubbing alcohol or using something like a glue stick on your print bed will mitigate that warping enough that you won't suffer problems with your print. Printing too hot can also be a problem because the plastic will need to even cool more after it is extruded and could possibly lead to more stresses buildup in the plastic.</p>
<p>The dimensional stability of PLA really depends on the quality of the plastic. Storage conditions come into play as well, but it is mostly the quality of the material you need to worry about; I have some cheaper PLA that has gotten brittle due to having absorbed moisture despite being in a (albeit somewhat loosely closed) package with desiccants, and I also have a different brand of PLA that is of much higher quality that I just leave out in the open; this PLA doesn't exibit signs of moisture damage. Higher quality filaments are designed to resist moisture better and be more stable in terms of dimensions. With the cheaper brand of PLA, I have also experienced warping, but that is not due to moisture in the filament; that was actually from a new roll.</p>
<p>When a filament absorbs too much moisture, it can become brittle but still print. Excessive moisture will cause any water in the filament to vaporize when passing through the hotend and form bubbles that will ruin the finish quality of a print. You'll know if filament is excessively wet because you will hear quiet and sharp snapping sounds as the result of the bubbles that are formed in the plastic popping. You will also be able to see steam if you examine your hotend with a bright light as it is extruding.</p>
<p>I'd suggest trying a different brand of filament if possible, cleaning the print surface / adding glue, or at the very least, a new roll of filament.</p>
<p><em>(When using a glue stick to increase first layer adhesion, it could be worth noting something unusual I found; adding glue to the build plate of a Prusa i3 MK3S actually reduces bed adhesion in my experience. It might be worth playing around to see if super clean works for you, or if super sticky does. The build plate is coated in a very finely textured PEI if that is some information that could help your case.)</em> </p>
|
<p>While I tried a lot of things to solve this, including tuning temperature, fan, speed, etc., ultimately the single biggest factor that causes or prevents it is the state of Cura's <em>Outer Before Inner Walls</em> (<code>outer_inset_first</code>) option. With outer walls first, I don't have the problem at all. With the default (inner walls first), I have it to varying degrees depending on geometry and a lot of other factors.</p>
<p>I don't have a good explanation for why this happens so I'm asking a new question about it.</p>
|
<p>I would like to understand the differences between rafts, skirts and brims. They appear in the software which I'm using to edit my 3D objects.</p>
<p>Can anybody elaborate what are these and what are the main differences between them?</p>
|
<p>All three of these features are used to improve the quality and success rate of prints, especially those failing due to issues on the first few layers, or due to the small size of the first layer.</p>
<h1>Raft</h1>
<p>A raft is a horizontal feature made as the first few layers of a print, and is used to help with bed adhesion issues, primarily used with ABS. The first few layers printed are the brim (typically prismatic), with the part itself on top of it (with a small separation distance to aid in separation, to allow the part to be removed from the raft). This separation distance needs to be adjusted to allow the first layer of the actual part to adhere, but also for the raft to be removed easily.</p>
<h1>Skirt</h1>
<p>A skirt is a single-layer feature designed to help extruder priming and to establish a stable filament flow for an optimal first layer. They are generally a few passes around the first layer "footprint" in the rough shape of the first layer, but they do not touch the part itself or help adhesion directly (although having a primed and ready extruder helps extrusion on its own).</p>
<h1>Brim</h1>
<p>A brim can be considered a skirt touching the first layer shape. It is used to help adhesion, and increases the first layer surface area (thus having more area to adhere to the bed). Brims are best used for parts with small first layers that fail to adhere properly. They are generally done as perimeters (as opposed to the crosshatching of infill) to be easily removable without damaging the part.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>In Ultimaker Cura you can select only one of the the build plate adhesion options skirt, brim or raft. You cannot select multiple options. </p>
<p>There is no option available in Ultimaker Cura to increase the outline count of the raft bed adhesion structure. Basically the raft exists of a line support structure as can be seen in the figure below.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/33dg0.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/33dg0.png" alt="Ultimaker raft support structure layout"></a>
The line around the lines should be considered "the skirt", so if the nozzle is not properly primed (not sufficient molten filament available), you need to properly prime the nozzle prior to printing.</p>
<p>To prime the nozzle, you need to add some extrusion of filament in your start G-code.</p>
<p>Personally, I like the style of Ultimaker where prior to printing, a puddle of filament is deposited priming the nozzle adequately. Basically you need to move to a position where you like to deposit filament:</p>
<pre><code> G1 X10 Y10 Z2
</code></pre>
<p>Then you need to extrude material</p>
<pre><code> G1 F125
G1 E10
G1 Z3 E5
</code></pre>
<p>After that you can even <a href="/a/6356/5740">wipe</a> the nozzle.</p>
<p>Another option (that requires some copy/pasting from your side and would not be a recommended practice) that is possible is slicing the model with a skirt (with a sufficient distance to stay away from the raft position) instead of a raft and look at the generated G-code and copy the skirt deposition codes into the raft G-code file. You do need to take care of the proper length of the extruder when the skirt followed by the raft, so you need to use <code>G92 Exx.xx</code> where xx.xx is the actual length of the filament start for the raft. </p>
|
<p>3D files differ greatly in size and what they contain:</p>
<h1>STL</h1>
<p>STL Stereolithography files were invented by 3D Systems to store surfaces. Originally it used ASCII text to store information by naming triplets of vertex positions for each triangle (facet). Since that got too large, newer STL are Binary, which is quite smaller.</p>
<p>Many programs can export them, their size is dependant on the number of surfaces. You can reduce the size of an STL by lowering the number of surfaces at the cost of detail.</p>
<h1>OBJ</h1>
<p>OBJ was invented by Wavefront as a means of storing 3D information. It stores the data as plain text by storing vertices, to which they connect and what texture is on surfaces spun up by the vertices.</p>
<p>In comparison to STL, they can be bigger if they include surface information. Programs that can't do STL usually support OBJ. Slicers take either. You can reduce the size of the file by reducing complexity.</p>
<h1>STEP</h1>
<p>STEP files don't save 3D items per se, they store instructions for CAD programs to generate a 3D item. This makes them extremely information-dense and can create highly complex items with a somewhat minimum of file size. They also allow us to easily modify the file.</p>
<p>However, STEP files can't be sliced directly and need to be opened by a CAD program.</p>
<h1>Comparison</h1>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iGcpT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Simple hollow cube from two C-clamps"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iGcpT.png" alt=""simple" hollow cube from 2 C-clamps" title="Simple hollow cube from two C-clamps" /></a></p>
<p>This is a simple object generated by a mere extrusion, rounding corners, extruding again and a sweep, then copying the item and moving it into position.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EDOM6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Tools sequence"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EDOM6.png" alt="Tools sequence" title="Tools sequence" /></a></p>
<p>But how does that compare as STL and OBJ? Well, the results of this item are rather small in either case, but you get a rough gist of their general comparability.</p>
<p>The STL is 74.3 kB, STEP is 90 kB, OBJ is 95.4 kB.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tJLsx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="STL"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tJLsx.png" alt="STL" title="STL" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LvJyp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="STEP"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LvJyp.png" alt="STEP" title="STEP" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/DncAn.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="OBJ"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/DncAn.png" alt="OBJ" title="OBJ" /></a></p>
<p>However, in a maximum compressed <code>.zip</code> archive, things change a lot:</p>
<ul>
<li>STEP shrinks by 86 % to 13 kB</li>
<li>OBJ by 84 % to 16 kB</li>
<li>STL by a mere 73 % to 21 kB.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BWSUk.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Compressed"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BWSUk.png" alt="Compressed" title="Compressed" /></a></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>STEP is the best to give out in a zip archive if you want others to edit it. OBJ is a tad smaller in a zip archive than STL, but also can contain additional data.</p>
|
<p>In slic3r preview, salmon (pink) represents infill, yellow represents perimeters, and green represents support material, including skirt and brim.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>I am curious, what is the purpose of printing a single-height outline around the objects to be printed?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The (equidistant) lines at distance from the print object is called the "skirt", the skirt is an option found under the "Build Plate Adhesion" options in your slicer. The primary function of the skirt is to get the flow going, but there are more benefits you can get from the skirt:</p>
<ul>
<li>You can find out whether the bed is correctly levelled, or if the bed has concave or convex areas (the skirt should be a line, I prefer at least 2 lines, of consistent thickness, if not, this may hint to incorrect levelling;</li>
<li>You can find out if there is enough or a sufficient amount of adhesive (e.g. glue stick, hair spray, specific print adhesion sprays like 3DLAC or DimaFix, etc), if not the bed might be greasy or lacking the adhesion product;</li>
<li>You can configure the skirt height to use the skirt as a shield for draft or ooze and distance to product);</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Also, how would it affect the outline if the object to be printed extends to (very near) the very edge of the print area?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Do note that a skirt limits the useable build area by the distance and width of the skirt.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Basically this has been answered (see <a href="/a/11303">this answer</a> and <a href="/a/11304">this answer</a>) in a different question (<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/11300/random-lines-are-being-printed">"Random lines are being printed?"</a>), but it might be beneficial to answer this question rather than closing this for a dupe. This question is focussed on the skirt, the equidistant lines around the print object, while the other question focuses on the priming line.</em></p>
<hr>
|
<p>The answer to your question is yes, there are tutorials to help you create better models. Unfortunately, the back-story to the answer is beyond the scope of StackExchange.</p>
<p>Don't limit yourself to Blender, especially if you are attempting to create non-organic (engineering-type) models. Blender is great for curves and bulges and bumps (and animation, and so much else) but not so great for parametric modeling. Meshmixer is a useful program, but more organic than engineering.</p>
<p>Consider to search for OpenSCAD, Fusion 360, TinkerCAD, but also use terms such as "parametric 3d modeling software" to find a wider range of solutions to your quest. The above programs are free, there are too many paid programs to list even a small number.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, stay away from SketchUp for any 3d print modeling. So many failure modes result from models created with that program.</p>
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<p>A point cloud is often derived by sampling. Each point represents an observation. Sometimes, a point cloud is turned into a surface by fitting triangles to the points in the form of an STL file.</p>
<p>A raster is a 2D grid of pixels. It divides the area of an image into constant-sized little squares. Each of these squares has a value.</p>
<p>A 3D raster is made of voxels. It divides 3-space into constant-sized little cubes. Each of these cubes has a value.</p>
<p>Pixels and voxels are rendering techniques. A point cloud is a sampling technique.</p>
<p>The Wikipedia article, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voxel" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voxel</a>, is helpful.</p>
<p>In a real system the pixels may not be square or the voxels not strictly cubic, but in every system I've worked with, they do form a regular tiling of the plane for pixels, and fill 3d space for voxels.</p>
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<p>The shading command is your friend:</p>
<p>shading flat - gives you the surface without mesh lines</p>
<p>shading interp - interpolates colours between patches to give a smooth finish </p>
<p>shading faceted - gives you the surface with black mesh lines (similar to flat) </p>
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<p>I've acquired all the parts to build a Reprap Prusa i3 rework, the only missing part is the frame. </p>
<p>I'm in doubt between a MDF cut (cheaper) or acrylic (more expensive), of course a cheaper one is my preferred option until I see any disadvantage on making it of wood. </p>
<p>I thought about variables like heat and humidity and the possibility of expansion/contraction of the frame, is this a valid concern? Will I have more precision buying the acrylic one or is it irrelevant?</p>
|
<p>Generally speaking, MDF will weather OK. In areas of high humidity you might experience warpage, but you can mitigate that by sealing the surface with paint or varnish. However you will probably find that of the two materials, acrylic will be more stable over a few years.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I'm not sure I am reading your post correctly, but if you are doing a batch of small prints, I would recommend to <strong>space them enough so as each of them has its own mini-raft, rather than all of them sharing the same large one</strong>.</p>
<p>If you are using cura, you can tweak how much the raft goes past the footprint of the part. Unless you are printing <em>very</em> small parts, you don't need that to be a lot.</p>
<p>In general, <strong>you should think to a raft as a print in and by itself: the larger it is, the more prone to warping,</strong> although the way filament is layered with gaps makes the raft bend and warp a lot less than a regular print of the same size.</p>
|
<p>I had the same problem with ABS, but printing different test objects I found out that the distance between the wavy structures depends on the cross sectional area of the object. Printing the testcube in 70.1% (1/sqrt(2) times of the original size) takes half the time per layer and the distance between two grooves doubles. I was printing ABS with 0.1 mm layer height and the simple bang-bang heat bed controller. The temperature is clearly wandering for 4° with a period of aproximately 2.5 minutes, which corresponds to the groove distances. After changing to a PID controller for the heated bed the temperature stayed within 0.1°C and the problem was gone. Several hundredths of a millimeter thermal expansion of the heated bed can have substantial impact at 0.1 mm layer height!</p>
<p>You can enable the PID controller for the heated bed in Marlin or Skynet firmware by enabling (removing the <code>//</code>) here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>//#define PIDTEMPBED</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>and disabling (putting <code>//</code> at the beginning of the line) here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>#define BED_LIMIT_SWITCHING</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>in Configuration.h. Calibration of the PID controller can then be done with the GCODE Command: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>M303 E-1 S90 C8</p>
</blockquote>
<p>for 90°C. I had to preheat the heated bed before, otherwise the calibration would run into a timeout. The command will return parameters for the PID algorithm. The values can then be applied by the </p>
<blockquote>
<p>M304 P579.01 I100.87 D586.0</p>
</blockquote>
<p>GCODE command (here for example values). Everything can then be saved to the EEPROM with </p>
<blockquote>
<p>M500</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bang-Bang controller:
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rQbWH.jpg" alt="Bang-Bang controller"></p>
<p>PID controller:
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ka0AA.jpg" alt="PID controller"></p>
|
<p>My3dmatter.com performed a <a href="http://my3dmatter.com/influence-infill-layer-height-pattern//influence-infill-layer-height-pattern/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">series of tests</a> with PLA, using "a universal testing machine". They conclude:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Layer height influences the strength of a printed part when it becomes
thin. A printed part at 0.1mm shows a max stress of only 29MPa, as
opposed to 35MPa for 0.2mm (21% increase).</p>
<p>Past 0.2mm, the max stress remains fairly constant around 36 MPa (we
confirmed this conclusion with an extra test at 0.4mm, not shown here
because it was not part of the same batch).</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2fXm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2fXm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Note: It is recommended to read the full article to comprehend the complexity of the subject matter.</p>
|
<p>Mick's suggestion is a good one. PLA may shed some color in acetone, but ABS will dissolve completely in a suitable amount of time. If you have dark filament, you can test by flexing the filament until it breaks. ABS will sometimes/often/usually fatigue with a white break line, while PLA does not exhibit this tendency as much.</p>
<p>PLA has a somewhat sweet smell, which may be the corn sugars burning off, while ABS has a much more chemical-like odor.</p>
<p>Not doing heat testing does limit your options.</p>
|
<p>PLA absorbs moisture, so keeping the filament dry is a key factor. Aside from that, PLA is naturally more brittle than other plastics like ABS and Nylon Sorry, tried to find a graph to prove it, but couldn't find one.</p>
<p>There's a good <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/makerbot/Rdx2ZnJeQzs">Google Group discussion</a> and many other resources that go over good storage habits, but as for fixing the existing filament.</p>
<p>Try the following: </p>
<ul>
<li>Place PLA in an enclosure (plastic bin, Zip-loc bag, etc.)</li>
<li>If you have some, add some moisture absorber(s)</li>
<li>Place the tub in a warm environment (naturally or artificially) and make sure the area is dry as possible (not in the shed in the back, by the woods...). Possibly next to a heater vent or space heater in your house?</li>
</ul>
<p>Essentially, you're trying to treat the material. When the material goes through a heat treatment (aka the heat block in the extruder), the mechanical properties are beginning to change. The brittleness can be set by how quickly the material cools. I'm speculating that the moisture does any of the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Keeps the filament from heating up to the desired extrusion temperature.</li>
<li>Burns the filament.</li>
<li>The moisture is evaporated, leaving gaps in the extruded filament (under microscope).</li>
</ol>
<p>I looked into this a few years ago and have forgotten most of what I found out, but I'll keep looking and update my answer here.</p>
|
<p>Yes, this is very broad. That said...</p>
<p>For high detail you want SLA. i.e. jewelry. If you just want a prototype of a mold, you can do a standard FDM style printer (95% of printers are FDM, and that number is a guess)</p>
<p>Really, you should be asking what material you need for your mold, but you can open a second question for that.</p>
<p>Do more research on injection molding. There is a great deal of information on how molds are made, i.e. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZqq1qxW30" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How It's Made Plastic injection molds</a>.</p>
<p>You will see there is a vast difference between a plastic, or silicon, mold and an injection molding machine. You are thinking that injection molding as a single mold, when it is really it is a system composing of several pieces of heavy duty machinery that can pump out hundreds of items a day automatically. However, it usually starts at 20k USD for the tooling for injection molding. Your costs could be a fraction of that or could be several times that. This is just a generality. So, if you are making 100 units you won't want to go down that route. For 10,000 units, on the other hand, it would be acceptable. </p>
|
<p>I must admit, I've never printed a key...but I think I can help anyway:</p>
<p><strong>Print method:</strong>
Consider printing on side, solid concentric infill. Or, if you can't manipulate your infill pattern, just increase the perimeter so you get the same effect, several continuous perimeter layers around the outline of the key.</p>
<p><strong>Print material:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Elongation before break is important here in addition to tensile strength...you need it to be stiff enough, but not brittle. </li>
<li><strong>ABS, PLA, or HIPS:</strong> Not likely to be successful...but maybe.</li>
<li><strong>PETG and PETG based filaments like T-Glase, N-Vent, nGen, INOVA-1800:</strong> A little better, but still likely to deform and/or break.
<ul>
<li><strong>Polycarbonate:</strong> Great for this, but is a fairly advanced material which tends to require pre-drying, enclosures, and PVA for hold down as well as a hot end that can handle at least 290C.</li>
<li><strong>Nylons:</strong> Good, but most Nylons may be more "bendy" than you want for this.</li>
<li><strong>Taulman's Alloy 910:</strong> Bingo. This should work nicely if you'd rather not struggle with printing polycarbonate. Alloy 910 prints near ABS settings, sticks well on a PVA-treated heated bed. (I use 85C for bed)</li>
<li>I would not suggest a CF filled filament for this because they tend to be brittle. <strong>Matter Hacker's NylonX</strong> with CF is a possible exception since it's nylon based, but I haven't tested it...yet. </li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
|
<p>There is a 3D desktop printer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RepRap_project">RepRap</a> which can print most of its own components.</p>
<p>Assuming each printed printer will print the next one and so on. Are there any limitation how many times this can be achieved?</p>
<p>For example somebody printed for me printer and I do the same for my friends and they do the same for theirs. Can this go forever (since 3D model stays the same), or there are any serious side-effects/disadvantages of doing that continuously?</p>
|
<p>The files used to print these objects are digital, and do not degrade in any way after each printing. There are no side effects or degradation that occurs over time due simply to printing them multiple times.</p>
<p>This is the RepRap philosophy, and the machines are actually designed with enough tolerance for printing and building mistakes that even if the print isn't perfect, it will not only work fine, but it can print a printer better than it was printed, with some care and attention to calibration.</p>
<p>The process still takes a lot of human intervention, in the way of building the new printer and properly calibrating it. If there are errors in the printer or the prints it produces, they can almost always be attributed to the builder/calibrator/user, and not to the design or the fact it's the Nth generation of printer.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>This question is unfortunately, not a good fit for this site, as it stands, for as you say it is opinion based. However, it is great to see that you are getting kids into a relatively new technology (yes, I know it has been around for years, but it is still seen as new to <em>big media</em> and the general public). </p>
<p><strike>My answer doesn't provide you with any actual designs, as you asked for.</strike> However, just to add an idea or two that I have been thinking about recently, in order to engage kids:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Have you thought about using 3D printing pens (as side projects to the main feature of the printer)? Although I'm not so sure that the fumes at such close proximity would be that great, unless using PLA. That really would show close up the additive process.</p></li>
<li><p>Also, there is a lot of useful sites to be found on <a href="https://www.google.co.th/search?q=T3d%20printing%20for%20kids" rel="nofollow noreferrer">google</a> (which you have probably seen), such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.kidscodecs.com/what-is-3d-printing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">kidscodecs - What is 3D printing?</a></li>
<li>All3DP has <a href="https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printed-toys-kids-3d-printing-toys/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3D Printed Toys – 11 Ideas for Children of all Ages</a>, but these <em>seem</em> to need to be purchased.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Alternative applications for kids, from <a href="https://3dprint.com/159445/best-cad-for-kids/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Best CAD Software for Kid Creators</a>, that might be worth considering if Fusion 360 doesn't float their <strike>Benchy</strike> boat: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://appsforkids.solidworks.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Solidworks Apps for Kids</a>,</li>
<li>SketchUp </li>
<li>123D Design</li>
<li>Tinkercad; </li>
<li>LeoCAD</li>
<li>Leopoly</li>
<li>BlocksCAD</li>
<li>3D Slash</li>
<li>Some other ideas from <a href="https://3dprint.com/tag/3d-design-app-for-kids/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3dPrint.com - 3d design app for kids</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Maybe, as all kids seem to have iPhones, or what have you, these days, how about an App for kids upon which they can play with a design, and then print it later? Such an app would probably provide examples for them to get started with. One such app is the <a href="https://toymaker.astroprint.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Toy Maker by AstroPrint</a> - although that may require a commercial printer, I'm not sure. However, other such apps for smart phones probably are out there. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>As for examples, there are <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/tag:kids_toy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">42 kids</a> toys tagged on Thingiverse, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2238123" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Save the last Unicorn [Game]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2855568" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cartoon Weiner Dog</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2124806" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lily Bobtail (Peter Rabbit Series)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:368229" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Grand Hillar</a></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/El7xY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Grand Hillar"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/El7xY.png" alt="Grand Hillar" title="Grand Hillar"></a></p>
<p>Also to take from IronEagle's idea, some fidget spinners:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2313626" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fidget Spinner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2285700" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kid Sized Generic Spinner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2245460" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10mm Nut Fidget Spinner</a></li>
</ul>
|
<p>Yes, this is very broad. That said...</p>
<p>For high detail you want SLA. i.e. jewelry. If you just want a prototype of a mold, you can do a standard FDM style printer (95% of printers are FDM, and that number is a guess)</p>
<p>Really, you should be asking what material you need for your mold, but you can open a second question for that.</p>
<p>Do more research on injection molding. There is a great deal of information on how molds are made, i.e. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZqq1qxW30" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How It's Made Plastic injection molds</a>.</p>
<p>You will see there is a vast difference between a plastic, or silicon, mold and an injection molding machine. You are thinking that injection molding as a single mold, when it is really it is a system composing of several pieces of heavy duty machinery that can pump out hundreds of items a day automatically. However, it usually starts at 20k USD for the tooling for injection molding. Your costs could be a fraction of that or could be several times that. This is just a generality. So, if you are making 100 units you won't want to go down that route. For 10,000 units, on the other hand, it would be acceptable. </p>
|
<h1>Short answer</h1>
<p>Yes</p>
<h1>Long answer</h1>
<h2>Heater bocks</h2>
<p>A heater block is destroyed if one of the following happens</p>
<ul>
<li>Threads stripped</li>
<li>Bent or otherwise deformed</li>
<li>stripped grub screw</li>
</ul>
<p>All of these can happen by handling the block with too much force when securing nozzles, thermosensors or heater cartridges.</p>
<h2>Throats</h2>
<p>Throats can be destroyed, especially e3D v6 throats with their neck down on the center can be simply turned and broken in two. Lined throats can be heated too much and the liner destroyed, which not always can be replaced, mandating a spare part. And you can strip the threads.</p>
<p>Another chance to damage the throat is by using very hard material nozzles - stainless steel comes to mind. Such a nozzle would not deform itself like brass when tightened against the throat and might lead to damage to the end of the throat if exchanged several times.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>If you run several printers or change nozzles regularly for whatever reason, it is a very good idea to have at least a complete set of spare parts on hand to fix problems that might occur during work on the printer. I have a fully assembled spare hotend waiting for its day to shine in case my current one breaks...</p>
|
<p>As you suggest yourself, ordering test prints of some model is one way to do it. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.3dhubs.com">3D Hubs</a> and <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/">MakeXYZ</a> allows you to get your model printed by hobbyists and small businesses for a fair price. Both sites also allow you to order prints based on printer type, which I believe is what you may be looking for.</p>
<p>On 3D Hubs, visit on of the <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/trends">trend reports</a>, and select the printer you want a sample from. Similarly, on MakeXYZ, <a href="https://www.makexyz.com/3dprinters/">search local makers</a> for your desired printer.</p>
|
<p>TL;DR: Don't do that.</p>
<p>Detailed answer: You need motion limit parameters that actually make physical sense, and firmware capable of executing a motion plan according to them. Your jerk and acceleration settings absolutely don't. Marlin's whole implementation of jerk is wacky (note: modern Marlin versions don't even use it but an alternative they call "junction deviation" instead) and likely to cause problems above very low values; I never was able to take it above 25 or so on Marlin without layer shifts. Acceleration is dependent on the stepper motor torque and the mass you'll be accelerating. For the Y axis, that's the bed, and it has enough mass you won't accelerate it above 12000 mm/s² or so, much less the requested 1 km/s² plus near-infinite acceleration from the extreme near-instantaneous 400 mm/s velocity change ("jerk").</p>
<p>The speed of 400 mm/s is achievable if you don't do it instantaneously. Stepper motors begin to rapidly lose torque beyond a certain speed due to limits on how fast the magnetic field can build up and be reversed, which has to happen for each step. <a href="https://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/Stepper-Motor-Calculator.phtml" rel="noreferrer">This calculator</a> can compute the limits if you know the properties of your motor. For the Ender 3 Y axis motor, the limit is around 425 mm/s or so if I'm remembering right.</p>
<p>For actual print speed, though, the hotend and extruder cannot keep up with anything nearly that high. 150 mm/s is about the limit with that hotend, and it might even be lower with a stock extruder. Fortunately, Benchy is mostly acceleration-bound, not top-speed-bound, so if you can get your acceleration profile right, you can still print quite fast.</p>
<p>Now the next limit you'll hit is Marlin. Marlin is... not good at high speeds and accelerations. Often the layer shifts you hit with Marlin aren't even physical limits but Marlin bugs. If you want to go fast, you need Klipper, not only because it lacks these step timing bugs, but because you need its Input Shaper feature to keep the high acceleration from tearing your printer apart (literally, vibrating all the screws out!).</p>
|
<p>"Real overhang limits" are hard to define. If you want <em>accurate extrusion</em>, such that precision parts fit together correctly or angled geometric surfaces that are supposed to be flat come out flat, each extrusion line must have at least some minimal portion of itself (probably including its center line) printed on top of and against existing material underneath that already has sufficient rigidity (both geometrically and in terms of cooling) not to deflect when printing against it. In this sense, the overhang angle is <code>arctan(lw * (1-k) / lh)</code> where <code>lh</code> is layer height, <code>lw</code> is line width (normally nozzle width), and <code>k</code> is the portion of overlap you demand. For example at 0.4 line width, 0.2 layer height, and 50% overlap, you get out exactly 45°.</p>
<p>If you just want the printed part to have basic structural integrity, things get a lot more fuzzy, and dependent on the geometry - particularly, the convexity/cocavity of any overhanging extrusions. Concave overhangs, like the inside of a spherical dome, will <em>quickly fail</em> as soon as you lose most or all of the overlap - expect them to hard-fail at <code>arctan(lw/lh)</code> (63° in 0.4/0.2 case) since the material will just be dragged inward around the curve with nothing to stick to. You might get a little bit more overhang if there's already a horizontally adjacent extrusion in the new layer for the material to stick to, but in my experience it will be unreliable.</p>
<p>Convex overhangs, on the other hand, can work out even when they're extreme. This is because the curvature of the toolhead path pulls the new material towards/against a region where it has existing material to bond to.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that layer height is a free parameter you can tune, that greatly increases the overhang available to you. Some slicers also have "adaptive layer height" settings to use thinner layers precisely in the layers that have severe overhangs. Line width is also a parameter you can tune, and increasing it works in your favor up to a point. But once you get to a point where the "wider than nozzle" line is attempted over thin air, it will fail badly, sagging down rather than expanding to the desired width, and not bonding to adjacent lines. So if you use wider lines to get better overhangs, you need to be very attentive not to go over angles that would place their centers off of the previous layer.</p>
|
<p>For this specific application, it may be better to think in terms of a <strong>Lot Number</strong> for each batch instead of individual serial numbers. This will still let you trace back an item for where it was originally allocated, and greatly simplify your processing.</p>
<p>Under this plan, you create the STL file for the basic part and before each printing batch open the base file in even a simple tool like MS 3D Builder or TinkerCAD to emboss your number and the date, re-slice, and print.</p>
<p>I actually recommend a <strong>deboss</strong> here, where the text is recessed into the piece instead of extended outward. In this way it will be more difficult to file away without damaging the part, and again, even the basic modelling tools can quickly customize an STL file in this way.</p>
<p>If you really need individual serial numbers, design the part with a basic recessed rectangular cutout and print these in bulk. Then print individual plates the exact size (very slightly smaller) than the cutout with the serial number and date debossed, and superglue the plates down.</p>
<p>Finally, be aware there's a limit to how small the text can be, based on the size of the nozzle and the capabilities of the printer, and you may find it difficult to print very small text.</p>
|
<p>On a number of occasions I've broken small plastic parts that are nearly impossible to replace but could easily be 3-D printed. The latest such mishap is the volume knob on the factory-installed radio on my car. </p>
<p>I have little experience in 3D printing, and would like to be able to replace these parts with something very close to the original. Spending hours measuring and designing a replacement part that should be $5 isn't really an option. I need something to scan the broken pieces in 3D and somehow just seal up the seam where it's broken.</p>
<p>Is there a scanning/printing/software system to do this that doesn't require a lot of 3D design experience?</p>
|
<p>The easiest way is as you currently do: model the pieces by hand, using (digital) calipers to measure them.</p>
<p>Scanning technology isn't very good, and the models are not of printable quality. Usually, fixing a scan is more work than modeling an item from scratch.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>All printers are designed with an idea of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG" rel="nofollow">WYSIWYG</a> for sure. Depending on:</p>
<ul>
<li>printer - type/quality/settings/configuration/assembly precission</li>
<li>filament - type/quality/shrinkage</li>
<li>user skills - manual/using app proficiency</li>
<li>model complexity</li>
<li>environment conditions and so on</li>
</ul>
<p>you can get different results.</p>
<p>I venture to say users know their printers (after some time and by trials and errors) so they know how to manage dimensions to compensate all above so you will get this knowledge too.</p>
<p>Mathematical formula can describe shrinkage of the material, all other elements are very hard to describe (mathematically) in a general way.</p>
<p>Of course someone can simplify it and say: more money you spend better effects you'll get. It's sometimes true ;)</p>
<p>So all your modular things will be better and better if you will increase (what is to be increased) in above points especially "user skills".</p>
<p>Is engineering paramount? It depends of whay you gonna create. If your modular things have to lock itself, have to have threads, screws and such stuff then this is engineering. Is it the most important part of the design? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>I would say 3D printing moved engineering to next level. I'm talking about <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:258201" rel="nofollow">this</a> or <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:249341" rel="nofollow">this</a>. Is it still art or engineering? :)</p>
<p>This is my receipt:</p>
<p><em>think > imagine > design > rethink > redesign > give it a try > get back to thinking</em></p>
<p>good luck</p>
|
<p>The dividing line of "tangentially off topic" is typically when the <em>actual</em> subject of the question being asked is only <strong><em>coincidentally</em></strong> adjacent to 3D printing. </p>
<p>Here is a <em>clear</em> example illustrating the "tangential issue:"</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I printed a crane mechanism in 3D. How much voltage must I apply to the motor to lift 150 grams?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I see this type of thing all the time. Users will go to the mat arguing that they are printing in 3D, so their question is on topic. It is not. The actual <em>expertise</em> needed to answer this question is in electronics. With a question like this, the premise that the user <em>happens</em> to be printing in 3D is entirely coincidental to the actual issue. </p>
<p>The examples you cited above are a bit more iffy. I might argue some of them could (potentially) be on topic… if the issue of the material being printed in 3D is somehow germane to the problem. I actually don't know enough about the subject to say, so I'm only considering the possibility that it <em>is</em> relevant to this subject space.</p>
<p>Let's not be too quick to start barring questions that aren't explicitly about the physical process of 3D printing literally. There are a lot of <em>industry issues</em> that could be interesting to include here. It's probably better to <strong><em>wait for actual examples before trying to create a general rule around this issue.</em></strong></p>
<p>As a general rule for building this site, it is often better to wait for a preponderance of problems that occur <em>in actual practice</em> before we start seeking to create a lot of rules around hypothetical situations. Words to live by.</p>
|
<p>Most commercial blow-molded fuel tanks for model airplane fuel (methanol or ethanol, nitromethane or nitroethane, and some combination of castor, mineral, or synthetic lubricating oil) are made from HDPE. This material isn't commonly seen as filament, in my limited experience, but it ought to be possible to arrive at settings that will give a liquid tight tank without further sealing if you can find some. As you note, limonene might be used to smooth/seal HDPE prints, but likely won't be necessary if your settings are right.</p>
<p>You might want to test PETG filament for its resistance to your fuel mix(es) -- this material <em>is</em> available as filament, prints with settings little different from generic PLA (in my experience, higher nozzle and bed temperature, and a little more bed clearance for the first layer), with good layer adhesion and, with a good print, is liquid-tight as printed. It's not particularly flexible (as is the case with HDPE), but since you can customize the shape of your fuel tank, it may work for you -- or it may be more flexible in vase mode, as PLA is.</p>
<p>Sealing PETG may be as simple as baking it (similar to "heat treating" PLA to increase print strength, albeit again at a higher temperature) -- this partial remelting will ensure that layers are adhered throughout the print, which (presuming you have avoided under-extruded areas) should be all that's needed to make a printed tank liquid tight.</p>
|
<p>Anzalone and friends published <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6678531/" rel="noreferrer">A Low-Cost Open-Source Metal 3-D Printer</a> in <em>IEEE Access</em>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This paper reports on the development of a open-source metal 3-D printer. The metal 3-D printer is controlled with an open-source micro-controller and is a combination of a low-cost commercial gas-metal arc welder and a derivative of the Rostock, a deltabot RepRap. The bill of materials, electrical and mechanical design schematics, and basic construction and operating procedures are provided.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>It <em>can</em> be done cheaply, as two different users have proven, see </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,538786" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A practical 10 Cents Ceramic tube hotend</a>, and;</li>
<li><a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?70,172916" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hotend with ceramic parts</a>. </li>
</ul>
<p>However, as Paulster2 states in his answer, there are some technical issues with using it, which make it rather problematic. Apparently, in comparison with PTFE, the thermal conductivity of the ceramic in spark plugs is too high, to use (according to <code>nophead</code> - a user on the reprap forums), and there are friction/clogging issues, unless the inner diameter is very well polished.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Synopsis of reference</h3>
<p>The RepRap user, <code>hp_</code>, encountered the issues above when attempting a design - from <a href="https://3dobjectifying.blogspot.com/2012/12/ceramic-hotend-part-1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ceramic Hotend - Part 1</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Research</strong></p>
<p>As far as I know there are no ceramic hotends out there, I know
nophead has tried some spark-plugs for nozzle holders but found them
not suitable(thermal conductivity is pretty high). I wanted to give it
a go, confident enough (I hoped), that it would work :)</p>
<p>So in my case, a hotend exists out of 2 main parts, a nozzle holder
and a nozzle.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The nozzle is the easy part it would stay brass.</p></li>
<li><p>The nozzle holder is the interesting part, here is what I've come-up with</p></li>
</ul>
<p>total length should be in the range of 35-40mm, see my first sketch
below:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bWtva.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bWtva.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>here are many types of ceramic out there, ie. 95% AI2O3, 99% AI2O3,
Zirconia (see material properties sheet Link)</p>
<p>95% AI2O3 is easy to buy but after a few tests the conclusion was its
to brittle for my taste, second material to try is Zirconia. </p>
<p>I've found a few Chinese ceramic manufactures. Only draw back I had to
order 10 pieces for the first batch.. on something that has never been
tested, well I'd give it a shot.... and ordered the parts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>but the clogging issue mentioned above was encountered:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>...after the first layer, it just stopped extruding.. ugh!!! what could
be wrong????</p>
<p>Possible root causes
- Friction coefficient? Meaning after awhile the friction between PLA and the Ceramic became so high it would just jam the nozzle holder.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Stickiness? Could it be that after awhile PLA would just stick to the Ceramic and would jam because of this?</p></li>
<li><p>PLA thermal expansion( nozzle holder barrel is to small?) so the inner diameter of this nozzle holder is 3.2mm, could it be that the
3.0mm filament would expand so much because of the heat, that it would start to jam the nozzle holder?</p></li>
<li><p>Connection between nozzle and nozzle holder is insufficient cause the Jam??</p></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>The user was forced to return to using PTFE.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://3dobjectifying.blogspot.com/2013/03/ceramic-hotend-part-2.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ceramic hotend part-2</a>, after some rework done by the Chinese manufacturer, the new hotends worked correctly:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Awhile ago i stared working on the ceramic hotend and found out the
first version wouldn't work for 3.0mm fillament,</p>
<p>after some discussion with my chinese counterpart :) i got a new
version of the ceramic piece.</p>
<p>They polished the inside very deep and precise. and i gave it another
go.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and </p>
<blockquote>
<p>some more tinkering with the hotend and a new nozzle design, with a smaller Inner diameter, and its longer </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Apart from that the details are a little sparse.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Additional information</h3>
<p>From <a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295259" rel="nofollow noreferrer">J-head with ceramic body instead of PEEK</a>, specifically <a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295259,301258#msg-301258" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this post</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Just to be clear, it's Ceramic Zirconium.</p>
<p>My concern was that Zirconium becomes brittle when it is exposed to heat for consecutive long periods of time. I would stay with PEEK.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>MgO or Yttria stabilized grades of Zirconium are very stable.</p>
<p>Pure ZrO2 is known to crack, so additives are used to stabilize it.</p>
<p><strong>Key Properties of Zirconium Oxide</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em>Use temperatures up to 2400°C</em></li>
<li>High density</li>
<li>Low thermal conductivity (20% that of alumina)</li>
<li>Chemical inertness</li>
<li>Resistance to molten metals</li>
<li>Ionic electrical conduction</li>
<li>Wear resistance</li>
<li><em>High fracture toughness</em></li>
<li>High hardness</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Typical Uses of ZrO2</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Precision ball valve balls and seats</li>
<li>High density ball and pebble mill grinding media</li>
<li>Rollers and guides for metal tube forming</li>
<li>Thread and wire guides</li>
<li><em>Hot metal extrusion dies</em></li>
<li>Deep well down-hole valves and seats -Powder compacting dies</li>
<li>Marine pump seals and shaft guides</li>
<li>Oxygen sensors</li>
<li>High temperature induction furnace susceptors</li>
<li>Fuel cell membranes</li>
<li><em>Electric furnace heaters over 2000°C in oxidizing atmospheres</em></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Zirconium oxide</strong></p>
<p>Zirconium oxide is used due to its polymorphism. It exists in three
phases: monoclinic, tetragonal, and cubic. Cooling to the monoclinic
phase after sintering causes a large volume change, which often causes
stress fractures in pure zirconia. <em>Additives such as magnesium,
calcium and yttrium are utilized in the manufacture of the knife
material to stabilize the high-temperature phases and minimize this
volume change</em>. The highest strength and toughness is produced by the
addition of 3 mol% yttrium oxide yielding partially stabilized
zirconia. This material consists of a mixture of tetragonal and cubic
phases with a bending strength of nearly 1200 MPa. Small cracks allow
phase transformations to occur, which essentially close the cracks and
prevent catastrophic failure, resulting in a relatively tough ceramic
material, sometimes known as TTZ (transformation toughened zirconia). </p>
<p>Zirconium dioxide is one of the most studied ceramic materials. <em>Pure
ZrO2</em> has a monoclinic crystal structure at room temperature and
transitions to tetragonal and cubic at increasing temperatures. The
volume expansion caused by the cubic to tetragonal to monoclinic
transformation induces very large stresses, and will cause pure ZrO2
to crack upon cooling from high temperatures. Several different oxides
are added to zirconia to stabilize the tetragonal and/or cubic phases:
magnesium oxide (MgO), yttrium oxide, (Y2O3), calcium oxide (CaO), and
cerium(III) oxide (Ce2O3), amongst others.</p>
<p>In the late 1980s, ceramic engineers learned to stabilize the
tetragonal form at room temperature by adding small amounts (3–8
mass%) of calcium and later yttrium or cerium. Although stabilized at
room temperature, the tetragonal form is “metastable,” meaning that
trapped energy exists within the material to drive it back to the
monoclinic state. The highly localized stress ahead of a propagating
crack is sufficient to trigger grains of ceramic to transform in the
vicinity of that crack tip. In this case, the 4.4% volume increase
becomes beneficial, essentially squeezing the crack closed (i.e.,
transformation decreases the local stress intensity).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and the <a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295259,301259#msg-301259" rel="nofollow noreferrer">following post</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Thermal conductivity:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Diamond thermal conductivity: 1000 W/(m·K).</li>
<li>Copper thermal conductivity: 385 to 401 W/(m·K).</li>
<li>Aluminum: 205 W/(m·K).</li>
<li><p>Stainless steel 16 W/(m·K).</p></li>
<li><p>Granite: 1.7 to 4 W/(m·K).</p></li>
<li>Zirconia has a typical thermal conductivity of 1.7 to 2.2 W/(m·K).</li>
<li>Porcelain has a typical thermal conductivity of 1.5 to 5 W/(m·K).</li>
<li>Glass thermal conductivity: 1.05 W/(m·K).</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<h3>Rulon</h3>
<p>As an aside, again from <a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295259" rel="nofollow noreferrer">J-head with ceramic body instead of PEEK</a>, specifically <a href="https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295259,301193#msg-301193" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this post</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rulon was one material we used. I think it is a glass filled ptfe. The mechanical strength is far better than solid ptfe and it is easy to machine. There are many grades but Rulon AR for example will withstand 288 deg C.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>but there are inconsistencies in quality</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rulon i looked at a while ago, there are plenty of options with it, however the cost of some of these materials can be incredibly high, and in some cases availability is a serious problem, and the difference country to country is borderline criminal in some cases</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>Wash-away filament used for support in PLA printing is typically PVA, which is completely water soluble and may serve your purpose. It is easily 3D printed as the primary filament and attaches well to the build plate.</p>
<p>Many 3D printer filament suppliers will carry this type of support material. It is important to keep it in a sealed bag with desiccant as it will absorb moisture from the air, rendering it useless for printing.</p>
<p>One such resource is <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/store/l/175mm-pva-filament-half-kg/sk/M4MJTECR" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MatterHackers</a> which prices a half-kilogram at US$45. The link provides suitably appropriate information:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) is a water-soluble material that is often used
as a support material, but can also be used to print independently.
PVA supports are useful for complex designs where removing support
material manually is difficult or impossible, but leaving the part in
a water bath overnight will completely dissolve this material.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ytSy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ytSy.png" alt="PVA filament"></a></p>
|
<p><strong>Depends on your definition of "available" and your definition of "suitable for general use."</strong> </p>
<p>The cheapest 3D printers are mostly Kickstarter promises that take a year or more to ship, if they ever do. For example, the Peachy 3D printer Kickstarter just imploded and failed. There have been many other failed low-cost 3D printer crowdfunding campaigns. Another low cost Kickstarter printer, the 101Hero, is ongoing now (May 2016), but most competent observers I've talked to don't believe it will succeed at delivering working printers to all backers at that price point. If they do deliver, it will be painfully low-cost components and the printer will not perform well or last long. <strong>Stay away from crowdfunding campaigns for your first printer.</strong> At best, you get a beta product with lots of kinks to work out. At worst, you get nothing and lose your money. </p>
<p>For actual products you can purchase today, there's a wide spectrum of quality/cost tradeoffs.</p>
<ul>
<li>Under \$200 there's nothing credible. The Tiko (\$179) might deliver, but post-Kickstarter units are widely expected to cost more.</li>
<li>Around \$200-300 you get into low-quality Prusa i3 kits from China. These aren't a great value -- most people end up spending another few hundred dollars on upgrades to get them working reliably and with high quality.</li>
<li>Around \$300-400 you can get an <em>ok</em> 3D printer, often with "chipped" proprietary filament so the vendor can make high profits on locked-in consumables. ("Razors and blades" model.) For example, the XYZPrinting Da Vinci Jr is \$350 but locks you into high-cost chipped filament. The Wanhao Duplicator i3 is currently a community favorite for value-for-money at \$399. The Printrbot Play is much higher quality/reliability but much smaller at the same price. </li>
<li>If you get up around \$600, a big range of decent printers opens up. But this is no longer the "least expensive" option, so I won't get into it. </li>
</ul>
<p>If you want to tinker, the Duplicator i3 is a good choice. If you want a machine that just prints, the Play is a good choice. There are other printers and cheaper printers, but most of what you'll find below $400 is going to end up causing pain unless your goal is simply to tinker with printer troubleshooting and upgrades. </p>
|
<p>I have a few kg of 3 mm filament when I only have use for 1.75 mm.</p>
<p>How can I make 1.75 mm from 3 mm filament?</p>
|
<p>The best option is to find somebody in need of 3 mm filament and trade them for it (either in exchange for 1.75 mm filament or in exchange for legal tender with which to buy said filament).</p>
<p>The next best option would be to cut it into small pieces, and feed those into a filament extrusion system such as the <a href="http://www.filastruder.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">filastruder</a>.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I fear I'm going to deny your question. The infil percentage and the infil pattern are two orthogonal properties, both of which contribute to the strength, density, mass, and print time of an object. Since there's no way for an algo to "know" what your desired outcome is, this can't be done.</p>
<p>Note - I used 'orthogonal' in the Hilbert sense, meaning neither property is a function of the other. </p>
|
<p>Very interesting idea!
There may be a way to do this semi-automatically, but I believe it's not yet a part of any slicer.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be:</p>
<ul>
<li>Export file as .stl (Fusion 360)</li>
<li>Use a DLP slicer to create images of the layers (CHITUBox)</li>
<li>Calculate the area of each of the images (Matlab - I think?)</li>
<li>Calculate the required infill percentages for having the same mass on each layer (Excel)</li>
<li>Open the model in PrusaSlicer, create a single "height range modifier" (PrusaSlicer)</li>
<li>Save the project as .3mf (PrusaSlicer)</li>
<li>Extract the .3mf file (7 Zip)</li>
<li>Create the neccessary "layer config ranges" texts for PrusaSlicer (Excel)</li>
<li>Inject that text into an extrated .3mf file (Notepad++)</li>
<li>Pack the .3mf file again (7 Zip)</li>
<li>Slice the resulting file (PrusaSlicer)</li>
</ul>
|
<p>This answer explains that you can have different infill within the same part. Firstly the implementation in <strong>Ultimaker Cura</strong> is described, secondly how you can do this in <strong>Slic3r</strong>.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Ultimaker Cura</h2>
<p>I've used a feature in <strong>Ultimaker Cura</strong> that can be used to alter the infill density locally. What you need to do is load your model into Cura, then load other objects (models) at the size of the area/volume you want your infill differently and position those at the position you want a different infill. Alternatively, you can add support blocker cubes that can be used as well. So basically, you use other models to intersect with your primary model to create intersections that can take a different infill percentage (please note that you can alter even more options, as long as you add these to the intersecting volume). This is extremely useful for lugs and brackets where you need some extra infill (e.g. extra stiffness for compression stresses) at the fastener holes. Note that this is an advanced feature which is not easy to use, but quite handy if you master it.</p>
<p>I could not find the video (<em>on second thoughts, I think it was animated GIF</em>) posted by Team Ultimaker, so I quote a section of one of their forum topics.</p>
<p><a href="https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/20470-infill-density-for-smaller-parts/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A short how-to:</a> (italic font is not in the reference, but added to reflect recent version of Cura)</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Unselect "keep models apart" <em>(now called: "Ensure models are kept apart")</em> and "drop models to build plate" <em>(now called: "Automatically drop models to the build plate")</em> in Cura preferences</li>
<li>Import a second object (for example a simple cube)</li>
<li>Put Cura in "custom mode"</li>
<li>Select the cube, and use the button "per object settings" on the left side</li>
<li>Select "Infill Mesh" <em>(now called: "Modify settings for infill of other models")</em> and enable that setting</li>
<li>The cube now turns transparent gray.</li>
<li>Position the cube to overlap part of your model. It should overlap with the section that you want to change the infill for.</li>
<li>Also with "per object settings" <em>(now called: "Per model settings")</em> select the option "infill density"</li>
<li>Set it to the desired value. All is more or less illustrated in the screenshot below</li>
<li>The picture shows a cube on the buildplate with infill 20 %. Locally, with a rotated 2nd cube, the infill % is raised to 100 %.</li>
<li>What happens is that the volume where the cube intersects with your object is locally sliced with different infill.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/oIjIj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/oIjIj.png" alt="Example of a cube with different infill settings" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Please find below another example of a simple bracket that has extra cylindrical objects loaded to create the intersections with the bracket at the fastener holes. In the <a href="https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/20470-infill-density-for-smaller-parts/?do=findComment&comment=193146" rel="nofollow noreferrer">example</a>, the infill at the fastener holes is set to 99 %.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MqSpA.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MqSpA.png" alt="Example of local 99 % infill at bracket fastener holes" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>After slicing, you will see that the infill at the intersections is adjusted accordingly.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v9guy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v9guy.png" alt="Detail of sliced bracket showing local infill percentage" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> I've tested this in Ultimaker Cura 3.4.1, and confirm it works. I sliced a part with the inserts for fasteners and it actually is not very difficult, it just requires a little more work. You will have to make some STL's of cylinders and position them correctly. If you make your own 3D models it will be a very easy task to add extra components while you design, positioning will be a lot more easy then (as they align with your model). An example is the following linear <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4441751/files" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Z rod bracket of a Hypercube Evolution CoreXY printer</a>, this bracket requires local reinforcements for the bolts clamping the bracket onto the aluminum extrusion profile:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zVlF1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Hypercube Evolution Z rod bracket"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/zVlF1.png" alt="enter image description here" title="Hypercube Evolution Z rod bracket" /></a></p>
<p>Inserts are modeled together with the development of the bracket:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/w8XlM.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Hypercube Evolution Z rod bracket insert"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/w8XlM.png" alt="enter image description here" title="Hypercube Evolution Z rod bracket insert" /></a></p>
<p>When combined, it looks like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qJszQ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Hypercube Evolution Z rod bracket and bracket insert"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qJszQ.png" alt="enter image description here" title="Hypercube Evolution Z rod bracket and bracket insert" /></a></p>
<p>Now the infill can be modified locally to 100 % to increase compression strength.</p>
<p>Note that this will also work if you want a different infill percentage at the first X layers, just use a large cube (larger than the model) and position it correctly. Note that Cura already has an option called "Gradual Infill Steps" to adjust the density at the top layers.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Slic3r</h2>
<p><a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/modifier-mesh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This reference</a> describes how to do this for <strong>Slic3r</strong> in detail.</p>
<p>The blog describes the use of a simple volume (the green volume loaded from an STL file). After loading:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Right-clicking on the main part brought up the object settings menu.
From there, clicking "Load Modifier" and selecting the previously
saved model adds it to the part as a modifier.</p>
<p>The green "+" was selected and "Fill Density" was added to modifier
list and set to 100 %.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/llvIG.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/llvIG.jpg" alt="Part with box for alternative mesh infill" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EslBH.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EslBH.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
This shows that the functionality in Slic3r is very similar to the functionality in Ultimaker Cura.</p>
|
<p>If I understand your question correctly, it sounds like you're looking somewhere within the <a href="http://reprap.org/" rel="noreferrer">RepRap</a> realm. The RepRap community is mostly responsible for the boom in consumer 3D printing in the past 10 years, and that's most likely because it's <strong>open source</strong>. RepRap designs are mostly dynamic (and most parts can be 3D printed), so you could theoretically build a larger frame for your machine and use a slicing engine that allows you to set the build volume. I believe <a href="http://slic3r.org/" rel="noreferrer">Slic3r</a> allows you to customize the build space, I'm not sure though.</p>
|
<p>How to catch <em>and</em> fix these on the fly? That would be difficult..</p>
<p>But this is an issue you really should not have.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/84/47">Could it be an issue with filament storage?</a></p>
<p>Or is it coming from the manufacturer with these bulges? If so, I would try contacting ( you may have gotten a bad batch? ), or finding a new retailer if this happens often.</p>
<p>I have gone through a lot of pounds of both ABS and PLA and never come across this. </p>
|
<p>Let's look at various methods:</p>
<h2>Multiple Hotends</h2>
<p>The oldest version and one of the best to print materials at vastly different print temperatures (like printing a cheaper PLA infill into a Polycarbonate shell - the print temperature difference is 60-100 °C) is to have 2 or more hotends. This way also avoids the need for purging towers. It does, however, limit the maximum size of the used printbed and few 2-printhead machines are cheap.</p>
<h2>Y-Coupler</h2>
<p>Using a bowden setup, a Y-coupler could be used to feed the filament from 2 extruders into one hotend. On the switching tool command, E0 would pull the filament back some couple millimeters beyond the coupler and then E1 would push forward back into the meltzone. One will need a purging tower/object.</p>
<h2>Special, multi-entry hotend</h2>
<p>Some Hotends had been concieved that have 2 or more ways into the meltzone and the multiple extruders push along them. They generally are quite complex and hard to clean, but they allow to seamlessly blend between two filaments of the same material and create pretty much a controlled fade by precisely directing how much of either side is used on any layer. For clean cuts, a purging tower is necessary.</p>
<h2>Splicing filament</h2>
<p>This is what the <a href="https://www.mosaicmfg.com/products/palette-2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Palette 2</a> and the Prusa MMU do: they push pieces of filament into a feeder tube that then are consumed by the printer via its own extruder. If they melt the filaments together like in the PAlette, it's proper splicing, if they just line up the next filament piece without merging into a spliced filament it's more like instant color switching.</p>
<p>This method is good for multi-color prints or using materials that have the same or similar<sup>1</sup> melting temperatures. It might or might not need a purge tower/object to get rid of the residue in the zones between the filaments.</p>
<p>This could btw also be done manually but should be avoided.</p>
<p><sup>1 - or rather not too dissimilar, if the slicer is set up to do it right. By setting up the slicer cleverly, one can have the extruder retract the filament, then adjust the heat over the purge tower and then resume extruding in the purge object at the changed temperature. PLA/PVA from a Prusa MMU is known and advertised to be doable, PLA/ABS might be possible this way. For extreme dissimilarities like PLA/PC (60-100 °C) I have my doubts though. </sup></p>
<h2>Usability</h2>
<p>All of these variants are basically viable, but some have benefits over others. Service is in this comparison meant as <em>repairing</em> a broken extruder, <em>maintaining</em> as the operations needed to keep it in printing order.</p>
<ul>
<li>multiple <em>fully independent</em> hotends is among the easiest to services. It could be direct drive (good for flexible filaments) or bowden. It is however heavy and usually not an option for delta printers. It has a downside that you have to perfectly level two hotend nozzles to be exactly on the same height, putting it in the hard to maintain category.
<ul>
<li><em>multiple hotends on the same carrier</em> is harder to service and maintain in comparison to multiple <em>independent</em> hotends as the components are very close together. Especially nozzle height adjustments can be more finicky.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Y-Coupler needs to be a bowden and has problem with materials that are very stringy. That makes it especially bad for flexible materials. Maintaining is like a normal hotend and servicing is almost the same.</li>
<li>Special hotends are hard to come by but could be available for direct drive, making them possible for flexible filaments. They are, as already noticed, very hard to service.</li>
<li>Splicing filament can be done with either direct drive or bowden setups. It is probaby the most convenient to use after setup and has the maintenance and serviceability of a single hotend and a fully separate machine. Their biggest downside is price and setup time needed.</li>
</ul>
|
<p>The world of 3D Printers usually uses the metric system, especially in nozzle sizes. 0.2 inches are therefore better referred to as 5 mm, which is a considerable amount: that's 11 to 13 perimeters from a 0.4 mm nozzle, depending on extrusion width (0.46 and 0.4 mm respectively). Furthermore, the bore of the item isn't supported either, it is bridging.</p>
<p>To print overhangs and bridging without sagging, one should activate the generation of support material in the slicer.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, PLA (judging from the print temperature) doesn't need to be printed with a raft and would be better served with a <code>brim</code> for bed adhesion, unless you have a perforated bed. If you have to print in the shown orientation, then you should activate support generation in your slicer.</p>
<p>For this part, however, there is a better solution: it is of very simple geometry and it doesn't have to be printed as shown but equally could be printed "upside-down" by being rotated around the X-Axis by 180° in the slicer. This has two benefits: it removes all unsupported overhangs an avoids support structure, making the wasted material pretty much nonexistent.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend taking a look at my <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6726/what-special-considerations-must-be-taken-when-designing-parts-for-3d-printing/6830#6830">3D Design Primer</a> and the excellent question on <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/10636/how-to-decide-print-orientation">How to decide print orientation?</a> and then delve into further reading: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/250/how-to-print-an-overhanging-arc">How to print an overhanging arc</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/686/how-can-i-improve-the-overhang-angles-my-printer-can-successfully-print">How can I improve the overhang angles my printer can successfully print?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/5529/is-there-any-setting-that-could-allow-me-to-print-this-overhang-without-support">Is there any setting that could allow me to print this overhang without support?</a></li>
</ul>
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<p>I am printing a print using PLA on a Prusa i3 printer and an MK8 extruder, at 210 degrees celsius, 60 mm/sec, sliced with slic3r. The print consists of a base, with 4 tower-like projections that then join with a near-vertical overhang slope that isn't posing a problem for my printer.</p>
<p>However, even before the overhang begins, I am getting large amounts of strings as the extruder head jumps between the four towers in the print, leading to a "spiderweb" effect between them. How can I deal with these strings, and are they a warning that there might be something amiss with my printer, or possible other failures in other parts of the print?</p>
|
<p>Stringing is often a result of too-high a temperature, or insufficient retraction. When there is highly liquid filament in the nozzle tip, it can adhere to the remainder of the print while dripping as the nozzle moves, leading to a thin string of the filament forming. As further travel moves are performed in each layer, this turns to a web.</p>
<p>The high temperature causes filament to be very liquid, causing it to move downward in the nozzle chamber easily, as opposed to having to be extruded forcefully due to viscosity. The temperature setpoint of 210 was high enough to cause this to happen.</p>
<p>A second possible cause, insufficient retraction, can also be blamed for this issue. Retraction is a process in which the extruder reverses its movement to pull filament back up the hotend, preventing it from dripping at the tip, and forming a string. Most slicers will allow specifying a numeric value in millimeters of filament to be retracted. Remember that printers with Bowden tubes between nozzle/hotend and extruder motor will require increased retraction and priming (extrusion when starting to print after a retract-and-move). Note that too much retraction can cause other problems, such as insufficient plastic in the hotend chamber at the start of the next printing move, which can cause gaps and other issues.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>So it turns out there are elements from each of the previous answers that make sense here, but its not a clear picture. I've spent a whole lot of time trying to make sense of this. I also upgraded my firmware to <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:32084" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sailfish.</a> </p>
<p>For the MakerBot Replicator (or FastForge Creator) family of 3d printers, the origin of the build plate is NOT at any of the corners, its right in the center of the build plate. Reference <a href="https://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/parameters-home-offsets.html#x20-630004.1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here.</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>4.1 Home Offsets:<br>
By convention, <strong>the center of the build platform</strong> is assumed to be the point (0,0,0) in XYZ space. The X, Y, and Z <strong>home offsets</strong> tell the printer the location of the X, Y, and Z <strong>endstops</strong> in relation to the build platform’s center.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Looks like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/c2YlJ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/c2YlJ.png" alt="Center of build plate is origin"></a></p>
<p>And it would appear that most other 3D printers are not using this convention. Sigh. From my testing, the main control of print location is within the G-Code generated by the slicer. The tool I was using, Slic3r does give one a chance to correct that
adjustment. You have to go to top menu <code>Settings --> Printer Settings --> Size and Coordinates (Bed Shape) --> Set</code> to get a nice popup visual tool. See below.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the default setting is accurate for the overall bed size, but is a fail for the origin location on the bed. The default origin is set at 0,0, in the corner. Ouch. Big ouch. The origin needs to be located right in the center of the build plate (to be consistent with the firmware controlling the print for this family of printers). It <strong>should</strong> look like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iXV61.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iXV61.png" alt="print bed origin setup"></a></p>
<p>Note, when you tell the printer to go to 'home' it doesn't go to origin (0,0,0) it goes to the endstops. </p>
<pre><code> G68 X0 Y0 F500 ; Perform Homing Routine
</code></pre>
<p>So as long as you understand the quirks of these printers things will work out. You have to ensure offsets are set accurately in firmware config files. (Replicator / Sailfish) And you have to indicate the correct center location to the slicer program. I will say the advice given here was of some help in understanding this. Many thanks. I'm posting here in case others using the Replicator or FastForge Creator series of printers is having troubles centering their prints on the build plate. </p>
<p>Additional info for anybody using a MakerBot Replicator or Flashforge Creator series printer with Slic3r. I wanted to add my custom G-code stuff. The default Slic3r stuff definitely did not work. </p>
<p>Printer Settings --> Custom G-Code --> Start G-Code</p>
<pre><code>M103 ; Turn all extruders off, Extruder Retraction
G21 ; set units to mm
G90 ; Use absolute coordinates
(**** begin homing ****)
G162 X Y F2500 ; home XY axes to maximum stops
G161 Z F1100 ; home Z axis to minimum stop
G92 Z-5 ; Set Position Z =-5mm
G1 Z0.0 ; move Z to "0"
G161 Z F100 ; home Z axis to minimum stop slowly
M132 X Y Z A B ; Recall stored home offsets for XYZAB axis
; Loads the axis offset of the current home position from the EEPROM and waits for the buffer to empty.
G90 ; Use absolute coordinates
G1 X0 Y0 Z50 F3300.0 ; move to waiting position near center of build plate
</code></pre>
<p>Printer Settings --> Custom G-Code --> End G-Code</p>
<pre><code>M109 S0 T0 ; Cool down the build platform
M104 S0 T0 ; Cool down the Right Extruder
M104 S0 T1 ; Cool down the Left Extruder
M73 P100 ; End build progress
G0 Z150 ; Send Z axis to bottom of machine
M18 ; Disable steppers
G162 X Y F2500 ; Home XY endstops
M18 ; Disable stepper motors
M70 P30 ; We <3 Making Things! Yipee, you made it...
; display message above for 30 seconds
M72 P1 ; Play Ta-Da song
</code></pre>
<p>One other thing I do with Slic3r. I print a single loop of print on the periphery of a phantom skirt. I do this as a printer head clean extrude exercise. </p>
<p>Print Settings --> Skirt and Brim --> Skirt --> Loops (minimum): 1, Distance from object: 6mm, Skirt height: 1 This works well. I do this in lieu of the G-code startup used in ReplicatorG software (which went to the lower left hand corner, and did this odd 4mm extrude exercise, with odd timing...) The skirt thing works just fine. </p>
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<p>Are you using the stock firmware of your printer? Sounds like to me that you have 16 tooth pulleys and your firmware is set to 20 tooth i.e. 80 steps per mm</p>
<p>The calculation behind the steps per mm is <span class="math-container">$\frac{\text{Steps per Revolution} \times Microsteps}{Teeth \times Pitch}$</span>. The reason for this is that one revolution of the pulley will move the belt the number of teeth times the pitch of the belt. Now take the total number of steps, Steps per Revolution times microsteps, and divide by the distance moved giving the steps per mm.</p>
<p>In <span class="math-container">$\underline{most}$</span> hobby 3D printers you have:</p>
<ul>
<li>1.8 degrees steppers which equals <span class="math-container">$\frac{360}{1.8}=200$</span> steps per revolution , Less common is 0.9 degrees steppers <span class="math-container">$\frac{360}{0.9}=400$</span></li>
<li>GT2 is the most common belts now which have a pitch of 2mm</li>
<li>The two most common pulleys are 16 tooth and 20 tooth, </li>
<li>Depending on what stepper drivers and or configuration you have
<ul>
<li>A4988 <span class="math-container">$\to$</span> 16 microsteps</li>
<li>DRV8825 <span class="math-container">$\to$</span> 32 microsteps</li>
<li>Trinamic <span class="math-container">$\to$</span> 16-256 mircosteps</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>In your situation I believe you have a 1.8 degree stepper with 16 microsteps, a gt2 belt, and a 16 tooth pulley. Which means your XY steps per mm should be <span class="math-container">$\frac{200 \times 16}{16 \times 2} = 100$</span>. While your firmware is expecting 20 tooth pulleys, yielding <span class="math-container">$\frac{200 \times 16}{20 \times 2} = 80$</span>. This would result in your prints being <span class="math-container">$\frac{100-80}{100} = 20\%$</span> smaller, which explains your results with the circles.</p>
<p>Generalizing, the steppers, microsteps, and pitch don't matter. To go between 16 tooth pulleys to 20 tooth, multiply by <span class="math-container">$0.8=\frac{16}{20}$</span>. From 20 tooth to 16 tooth, multiply by <span class="math-container">$1.25=\frac{20}{16}$</span>.</p>
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<p>No, that's not (entirely) true. There might be some loss of quality if you print multiple objects at once, because when the printhead "hops" from one object to another it might leave a mark or ooze out some material. Also, a large number of retractions in a short period of time might lead to inconsistent extrusion.</p>
<p>However, none of this is particular to "filling out the board" as it happens even if you print only two objects at a time (or even when you're printing only one object with multiple islands).</p>
<p>It all depends on your printer (and in particular how well it handles retractions). If you're willing to do a small amount of cleanup afterwards (to remove the strings and blobs) then printing multiple objects at a time is completely viable.</p>
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<p>Cura does correctly account for line extrusion widths wheen positioning the lines, and attempting to fix this with negative <code>xy_offset</code> was a mistake that led to lots of problems: in some cases, it completely eliminated tiny components of the model and left gaps in layers. At some point after asking this question, I did a new test with 8mm peg and hole, and I was actually able to force the 8mm peg into the hole (but not remove it) using tools, without cracking the parts, so I think past tiny sizes where dimensional accuracy is very difficult to achieve, everything is just about right.</p>
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<p>TL;DR: Don't do that.</p>
<p>Detailed answer: You need motion limit parameters that actually make physical sense, and firmware capable of executing a motion plan according to them. Your jerk and acceleration settings absolutely don't. Marlin's whole implementation of jerk is wacky (note: modern Marlin versions don't even use it but an alternative they call "junction deviation" instead) and likely to cause problems above very low values; I never was able to take it above 25 or so on Marlin without layer shifts. Acceleration is dependent on the stepper motor torque and the mass you'll be accelerating. For the Y axis, that's the bed, and it has enough mass you won't accelerate it above 12000 mm/s² or so, much less the requested 1 km/s² plus near-infinite acceleration from the extreme near-instantaneous 400 mm/s velocity change ("jerk").</p>
<p>The speed of 400 mm/s is achievable if you don't do it instantaneously. Stepper motors begin to rapidly lose torque beyond a certain speed due to limits on how fast the magnetic field can build up and be reversed, which has to happen for each step. <a href="https://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/Stepper-Motor-Calculator.phtml" rel="noreferrer">This calculator</a> can compute the limits if you know the properties of your motor. For the Ender 3 Y axis motor, the limit is around 425 mm/s or so if I'm remembering right.</p>
<p>For actual print speed, though, the hotend and extruder cannot keep up with anything nearly that high. 150 mm/s is about the limit with that hotend, and it might even be lower with a stock extruder. Fortunately, Benchy is mostly acceleration-bound, not top-speed-bound, so if you can get your acceleration profile right, you can still print quite fast.</p>
<p>Now the next limit you'll hit is Marlin. Marlin is... not good at high speeds and accelerations. Often the layer shifts you hit with Marlin aren't even physical limits but Marlin bugs. If you want to go fast, you need Klipper, not only because it lacks these step timing bugs, but because you need its Input Shaper feature to keep the high acceleration from tearing your printer apart (literally, vibrating all the screws out!).</p>
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<p>Embarassingly, I discovered that the cable to the heatbed was sometimes caught between the on/off switch and the adjacent power plug. So, for high Y values the cable was very tight and the bed could not be moved. Presumably the "knocking" came from the Y-axis motor. The problem was fixed by attaching this cable to the adjacent hotend/X axis motor cable.</p>
<p>Hopefully this will be helpful to others who have a similar problem. Please add a comment if you experienced this.</p>
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<p>I'm not familiar with the Anet A6 specifically, but as many other things in a 3D printer, the minimum layer height is co-determined by a number of factors. For the Z-axis the factors I am aware of are:</p>
<ul>
<li>The number of steps in the stepper motor</li>
<li>The geometry of the lead screw</li>
<li>The tolerance with which the lead screw has been machined</li>
<li>The microstep settings</li>
<li>The quality of the stepper drivers</li>
<li>The amount of play and flexibility of the X-axis gantry</li>
<li>The ration between filament and nozzle diameter</li>
<li>The precision of the extruder's stepper motor</li>
<li>...</li>
</ul>
<p>Many printers that claim to have ridiculously low minimum Z-layer height do so by relying on the mathematical model only. It goes something like this: the lead screw has an offset of 1mm per revolution, the stepper motor makes 200 steps and is set for 32 microsteps per step so the minimum resolution should be...</p>
<pre><code>1mm / (200 * 32) = 0.0002mm
</code></pre>
<p>The reality is however different. For example: the lead screw may have been machined with a tolerance of 0.002mm, so to make sure a layer has a thickness >0mm its heigh should be >0.004mm (20 times the theoretical limit computed with the microsteps). But to make sure layers have the same height ±10% you would need to increase the minimum layer heigh of an order of magnitude, bringing it to 0.04mm. A similar reasoning applies for the amount of play in the gantry, while the ratio between filament and nozzle influences the minimum volume of plastic that can be extruded per step (for very thin layers you want to be able to extrude a minimal amount of it).</p>
<p>At the end of the day <strong>this is a typical case of "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link"</strong>: the minimum layer height of a printer is affected much more dramatically by the limitations of the most imprecise component in the printer than by the performance of its best one.</p>
<p>As for your question about breaking the printer by issuing g-code with very thin layers: should you issue gcode that requires layers below that limit, the firmware will simply print at the same z-height (see comments, credits to Tom).</p>
<p>I'm unaware of people having permanently damaged their machines by issuing code with too thin Z-layers. But given how the firmware operates, I'd expect the quality of the print to be negatively affected, the filament to be possibly chewed by the cobbed wheel and in extreme cases cloggig of the printer head.</p>
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<p>I want to print a model of an animal cell.</p>
<p>What I have so far: I managed to use different colors to print out the different parts of the cell.<br>
My question is: what is the best way to connect plastic 3d printed parts?<br>
Glue? Melted plastic? I need it to have a strong connection and not very visible when used well, and preferable dries fast.</p>
|
<p>For ABS print, I recommend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone" rel="nofollow">acetone</a>. It is not a glue, but it will dissolve the plastic a bit and if you apply it to both connecting parts and push them together, they will stay connected after the acetone dries. However, it does not dry very fast and you have to be careful not to destroy the object.</p>
<p>For PLA I usually use regular super glue (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate" rel="nofollow">Cyanoacrylate</a>).</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>There are several things you could try without spending much but even PLA will warp on an unheated bed. I had a Legacy Kossel that I switched to an acrylic bed and had many issues with warping and prints pulling off the bed. </p>
<p>Some cheap things to try would be...</p>
<ol>
<li>Adding a brim to the print.</li>
<li>Blue painters tape on the acrylic, remove the other material if doing this.</li>
<li>Place cheap piece of glass/mirror on bed and use hairspray/gluestick.</li>
<li>Use hairspray/gluestick directly on acrylic. You must be careful here because first layer height is very critical to prevent damage to the acrylic from the plastic welding. A layer of hairspray or glue should prevent it but dial in your height before printing.</li>
<li>If you aren't currently using a fan, you could try sealing the sides to prevent drafts. I doubt this would change much since you are using PLA but it's an option.</li>
<li>If these are your designs, there are steps you can take to reduce warping as seen <a href="http://hackaday.com/2011/11/15/a-technique-to-avoid-warping-on-large-3d-prints/">here.</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Also many other suggestions <a href="http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2011/06/23/12-ways-to-fight-warping-and-curling">here.</a></p>
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<p>It should not be about merging of tags, rather we should come up with a proper terminology to identify the correct parts of the "build platform".</p>
<p>Basically, every printer consists of a frame with some sort of guide rails<sup>1</sup> moving a carriage. On this carriage a build surface is attached where the printer prints the print on; it is always the top of the stack. Note that this can be e.g. a moving Y-axis<sup>2</sup> or moving Z-axis carriage<sup>3</sup>. In some cases the carriage is missing and there is just a static mounting, then it's a platform instead<sup>4</sup>. It is basically irrelevant if the build surface is glued to the stack or removeable in some way or another.</p>
<p>Between the carriage and the build surface you can have have a stack of multiple elements: a structure or structures, a plate, plates or matts, insulation, etc. This <strong>whole</strong> assembly of elements make up the build platform, an example is shown below.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M3xCs.png" alt="Proposed build platform terminology" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the linear support can be mounted in Y or Z direction. To tag the elements that make up the <em>build platform assembly</em>, a proposed solution can consist of the following terms for subassemblies:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/z-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'z-axis'" rel="tag">z-axis</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/y-axis" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'y-axis'" rel="tag">y-axis</a> in combination with <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/carriage" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'carriage'" rel="tag">carriage</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/platform" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'platform'" rel="tag">platform</a> (to support printers that have a solid platform, e.g. Hyrel/Delta)</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heated-bed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'heated-bed'" rel="tag">heated-bed</a> (aluminium bed or a silicone matt), which can have a</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glass-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'glass-print-surface'" rel="tag">glass-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pei-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pei-print-surface'" rel="tag">pei-print-surface</a>, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/buildtak-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'buildtak-print-surface'" rel="tag">buildtak-print-surface</a>, etc. possibly augmented with the additional tag of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removeable-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'removeable-print-surface'" rel="tag">removeable-print-surface</a> or <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/magnetic-print-surface" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'magnetic-print-surface'" rel="tag">magnetic-print-surface</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Annotations</h2>
<ol>
<li>The rails often take the shape of rods and bearings, linear rails
of V-slot profile.</li>
<li>Carthesian Portal or Cantilever printers</li>
<li>CoreXY like the Hypercube</li>
<li>Delta Printers</li>
</ol>
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<p>Food safety is a property of both the process and the material. You can't stick food-safe material in a printer that has previously been used to print something food-dangerous and expect the result to be food safe.</p>
<p>The only way to know if a given material is food-safe is to ask your supplier, but a lot depends on how you then process it. For instance, FDM printers often have brass nozzles, which contain lead. To print food-safe materials, you need to use a stainless steel nozzle.</p>
<p>Food safe materials can be identified by mean of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safe_symbol">an universal symbol</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, to ensure food-safety of a 3D printed model you may need to further process it (for instance, by vapor smoothing or coating with a food-safe lacquer). Some claims circulate on the internet that 3D printed models may have surface porosity in which bacteria can grow, but I've not been able to find a reliable source for this claim. Still, you need to be cautious.</p>
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<p>For an illustration of how to employ the Kapton tape, that is mentioned in the answers from Harvey Lim and Howler, watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EIFIAWiPdU&t=1290" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How to build a RepRap Prusa i3 (Assembly 7)</a> at 21:30:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IEr3y.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IEr3y.png" alt="Kapton tape on hotend"></a></p>
<p>From <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EIFIAWiPdU&t=910" rel="nofollow noreferrer">15:10</a> the heater and thermistor is connected up, you may find this also useful. Note that, at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EIFIAWiPdU&t=1245" rel="nofollow noreferrer">20:45</a>, the heatshrink is only used over the soldered connection, and <em>not</em> all the way up to the heatblock:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2k2W.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2k2W.png" alt="Heatshrink on thermistor"></a> </p>
<p>Also, more pertinent to your printer, from <a href="https://pevly.com/anet-a8-3d-printer-review/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Anet A8 Review – Best cheap 3D Printer?</a>, see that the thermistor wires are also wrapped in Kapton tape in this photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mjVNQ.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mjVNQ.jpg" alt="Thermistor wires are also wrapped in Kapton tape"></a></p>
<p>Note that the Kapton tape is wrapped around the wires, almost right up to the thermistor, and will be touching the heating block, when the thermistor is inserted into the hole - there is no problem of it melting, due to its high melting point.</p>
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<p>You got a few things happening. First that temp seems low. I am printing PLA at 215.. but there are a lot of factors. Start with a simple calibration thin wall test. Which is just a wall, no body. </p>
<p>From there your bed could be closer. Maybe. I don't think that's really the issue. Slower speed and heat will make more of a difference. That said. I take a piece of paper and calibrate it so there just a little, but not too much, friction. </p>
<p>Make sure you are printing at 30% speed for first layer.</p>
<p>Last use a glue stick.</p>
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<p>Update: I found a nice article about chocolate printing: <a href="https://all3dp.com/2/chocolate-3d-printer-all-you-need-to-know/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://all3dp.com/2/chocolate-3d-printer-all-you-need-to-know/</a></p>
<hr>
<p>You are searching for chocolate extruder. I did not find one, which would fulfill all your requirements. You have to adapt each solution.</p>
<h2>Zmorph3d Liquid paste extruder</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://zmorph3d.com/cake-and-chocolate-extruder/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://zmorph3d.com/cake-and-chocolate-extruder/</a></li>
</ul>
<p>According video on the page you insert chocolate in liquid form. That could be solved with heated chocolate container. </p>
<h2>Syringe based extruders</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.open-electronics.org/3drag-is-now-printing-with-chocolate/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.open-electronics.org/3drag-is-now-printing-with-chocolate/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://richrap.blogspot.de/2012/04/universal-paste-extruder-ceramic-food.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://richrap.blogspot.de/2012/04/universal-paste-extruder-ceramic-food.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Chocolate-Extruder-for-Ultimaker/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.instructables.com/id/Chocolate-Extruder-for-Ultimaker/</a></li>
</ul>
<p>You can use a <a href="http://esyringe.com/2l-jumbo-syringe.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2 liters syringe</a>. And if this is not enough then you can refill during print.</p>
<h2>Convert pellet extruder</h2>
<p>Printing from chocolate pellets is simpler then printing from plastic pellets. Therefore if you use foodsave parts to build such a extruder then this is useable for you. </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youmagine.com/designs/universal-pellet-extruder-reprap-3d-printing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youmagine.com/designs/universal-pellet-extruder-reprap-3d-printing</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Cooling</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.open-electronics.org/the-3drag-choco-chocolate-3d-printer-cooling-system-explained/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3DRAG CHOCO (Chocolate 3d printer) Cooling system explained</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Shop</h2>
<p>by Open-Electronics</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://store.open-electronics.org/index.php?_route_=3DCHOCO" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Extrude for chocolate</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.open-electronics.org/syringe-heater-for-3drag-chocolate-printer/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Syringe Heater for 3Drag chocolate printer</a></li>
</ul>
|
<p>In principle, ABS is safe for contact with (cold or room-temperature) food. The two main concerns specific to 3D printing are, assuming you start with a filament that is not itself contaminated:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Pores and holes in the printed part which may harbor bacteria</p></li>
<li><p>Impurities introduced into the plastic during the printing process</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I doubt that the silicone mold will capture the pores and holes with sufficient detail to be of any concern (it certainly won't capture the internal structure, only the surface).</p>
<p>That leaves us with 2. It has been noted that brass nozzles contain trace amounts of lead. This lead can contaminate the printed part, which may in turn contaminate your mold, which may in turn contaminate your food. I don't think this is of realistic concern, since we're looking at trace amounts of trace amounts of lead. The nozzle might also have burnt plastic stuck to it (which might be carcinogenic) so you should make sure to do the print with a very clean nozzle and at a temperature that is not too high.</p>
<p>ABS is food safe for contact with cold or room-temperature food. It is however not food safe for contact with hot food, because at higher temperatures the food may leach certain chemicals out of the plastic. Your application is one of low temperature, but silicone is not food and might perhaps leach some contaminants out of the plastic, regardless of temperature. However, this concern is not specific to 3D printing, as it applies to the method of making moulds out of Lego bricks as well. Therefore, making moulds from 3D printed positives does not appear to be different in a food safety perspective from making them out of LEGO blocks.</p>
|
<p>Is it possible to re-use ABS or PLA filament material from printed parts?</p>
<p>If so, what is the techniques to reform it?</p>
|
<p>There are a few options.</p>
<ol>
<li>Machines are available which grind the used plastic into fine pieces, melt it down, and extrude it as filament to be reused. <a href="http://www.filabot.com/">Filabot</a> is perhaps the most well known.</li>
<li>Depending on where you live the local recycling programs may accept PLA or ABS. They will then shred it and melt it down for reuse.</li>
<li>PLA is bio-degradable so you can put it in the compost.</li>
<li>I put scrap ABS in acetone which results in a slurry which can be used as a glue to attach ABS parts, fix cracks, and hold parts to the bed.</li>
</ol>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>There are a lot of factors to 3D printing parts that work and fit together. </p>
<p>A lot of it will be discovered by trial and error, but let's try to put you on the right path. </p>
<p>First your material is what matters the most. Specifically their coefficient of thermal expansion, i.e. how much can the plastic change when heat is applied. PLA's coefficient is low compared to ABS, for example. Which is why the MakerBot can print without a heated bed, but it cannot print ABS with any success.</p>
<p>Here is a <a href="http://omnexus.specialchem.com/polymer-properties/properties/coefficient-of-linear-thermal-expansion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">list of coefficient of thermal expansions</a> by material.</p>
<p>What you want to do next is to print out a few test items and see for yourself. Below is an example of reality vs. expectation. As you can see the circle shrinks. It will never expand. So you will always make it bigger than you need. It is also good to note in this example below that the block itself is Larger than expected. The best solution is to not expect high tolerances and build a lot of flex into your designs.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v0e4Q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/v0e4Q.png" alt="Example of thermal expansion"></a></p>
<p>Generally you want the hole size larger. If I wanted a 4 mm minimum hole, then I would likely make it 5+ mm.</p>
<p>The best thing you can do is print out a tray and document how different the sizes are. Also, do the same with a print of various peg sizes. Below is an example of such a tray.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1jmQn.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1jmQn.png" alt="Example of a print of various holes"></a></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Also, you might want to look into other materials such as Nylon and Carbon fiber.</p></li>
<li><p>A great source of more tips. Here is a great tutorial, <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/designing_mechanical_parts_3d_printing_the_whoosh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Designing Mechanical Parts - The Whoosh Machine by shapeways</a>, on designing parts.</p></li>
<li><p>A <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Lubrication" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RepRap Wiki article</a> on different lubricants in regards to 3D printers. Most people use silicon lube for parts to my knowledge. Again, it depends on your material. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Images taken from this link, <a href="https://innovationstation.utexas.edu/tip-design/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Innovation Station - Tips for Designing 3D Printed Parts</a>.</p>
|
<p>For ABS it will warp unless you build a heat chamber. </p>
<p>That said the tricks to reduce warping come down to: </p>
<ol>
<li>Material, i.e. PLA is less likely to warp; </li>
<li>Use a fan, it helps so much; </li>
<li>Make sure you have temps calibrated well - Too hot is more warp; </li>
<li>Use a raft. The Makerbot uses a raft and no heated bed; </li>
<li>Make sure the room is not drafty. Having it by the window will result in warping; </li>
<li>Adding a large brim also helps;</li>
<li>I find good ol' glue sticks work the best at keeping the print to the bed;</li>
<li>SMASH the first layer. This one is controversial. I personally do first layer at 130% and print speed of 30%. You get elephants foot sure, but it's on the bed real good.</li>
</ol>
<p>Tom is right. It is very very hard to print that big of a piece without warping. That said I have done very large pieces on my Ultimaker, using a fan, glue stick, MatterHackers PRO PLA and no raft. But again that's on an Ultimaker. </p>
<p>Note you can build a heat chamber pretty easily. Specifically a passive heat chamber. </p>
|
<p>After some trial and error I found that the issue was stringing due to excess moisture in the filament from being stored outside of a sealed low-humidity container for long periods.</p>
<p>After placing it in a heated dehydrator for 2 days, my next print had low stringing and did not bond interlaced parts together significantly.</p>
|
<p>You need to figure out what is not working</p>
<ul>
<li>Is the hotend getting hot? If not, melted filament won't come out.</li>
<li>Is the nozzle clogged? In your toolkit was a bit of thin wire for poking into the nozzle - try that and see what happens.<br> You may need to heat the hotend, extract the filament, wait for it to cool, remove the bowden tube and push the wire up from below, if the obstruction is too big to come through the 0.4mm nozzle.</li>
<li>Is the extruder pushing/feeding filament? Undo the bowden tube at the top, tell the control panel to extrude and observe if plastic moves. An Ender3 V2 has the round handle on top, you should see it slowly revolving.<br>
If you can see the gears turning and the filament is not coming through, try snipping that piece off and inserting a fresh end. Also clean inside the pushing gears of the extruder, could be simple plastic detris laying about.</li>
<li>Are you having reel problems? Can you tug on the filament and have the reel turn? If not, it might be binding on the roll, or knotted/tangled.</li>
</ul>
|
<p>I am not an expert but I think you will find that because 3D printers use a layer by layer construction method, and the boundary between the layers creates grooves along the surface or leaves a rough texture on the surface. That the textured surface left by 3D printer construction would trap microbes and make 3D printed objects not suitable for medical applications where you need the product to be sterile. </p>
<p>It might be possible to treat the printed object or post process it. By vapor smoothing or painting/coating, but I doing think this would work for flexible materials. </p>
<p>If you are considering 3D printing because of the ability to customize the design, then I would suggest considering combining 3D printing with molding or casting. You could then use a cheap 3D printer to create the mold and use a flexible resin to create the object you want. </p>
<p>I have heard of SLA 3D printing being used to create molds for casting fake teeth. There 3D printing is used to create a custom shape and the print is used to make a mold and the final product is cast using the mold to get the quality and finish needed.</p>
<p>And I have head of FDM printing being used in used in remote areas to print clamps for umbilical cords. But I believe this was because not no other option was available. </p>
|
<p>As the filament in the melt chamber heats up, it's going to inevitably ooze a little bit. Make sure you watch for this and clean it off as the hot-end heats up, and setup you slicing software to print a skirt, which will print a few loops around the outside of your print, separated by a few mm, to deal with ooze and get filament flowing properly.</p>
<p>If it oozes a lot, try reducing your print temperature a bit.</p>
|
<p>I see that you've already tried <a href="http://www.meshmixer.com/download.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Meshmixer - Free Download">Meshmixer</a> and didn't find it helpful, but I wanted to call out <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/how-to-create-custom-overhang-supports-in-meshmixer/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="How to Create Custom Overhang Supports in Meshmixer - Prusa Blog">an article and accompanying video</a> that I recently found which helped me understand Meshmixer's support generation feature a bit better. It isn't magic, but it is pretty flexible and you can customize them. Plus, you can export them either as a separate file (to be imported via Slic3r's Load Part for example), or as part of the primary object STL file (though you loose the ability to set different print settings for the supports). Much of my printer's time is also devoted to 28mm figurines and I've had varied success with them. There are some models whose detail is too fine and which require too much support to be worth it considering the cleanup - I have a bucket-of-shame that's full of them. I just ordered an upgrade for my printer to allow me to print with multiple filament and I'll be seeing if <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/printing-soluble-interface-supports-prusa-i3-mk2-multi-material/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Printing Soluble Interface Supports with Prusa i3 MK2 Multi Material - Prusa Blog">soluble support material</a> is helpful for those small details. Barring that, I've found that some prints do better with Meshmixer's supports while others do better with simplify3d supports, while others still do better with slic3r supports. </p>
<p>Summarizing the <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/how-to-create-custom-overhang-supports-in-meshmixer/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="How to Create Custom Overhang Supports in Meshmixer - Prusa Blog">article</a> on custom Meshmixer supports:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Open your model in Meshmixer</li>
<li>From the top menu select View – Show Printer Bed</li>
<li>Select Edit – Transform and move the model to the middle of the print bed
<ul>
<li>This step is important because Meshmixer won’t generate any supports outside of the print area</li>
</ul></li>
<li>If you want to print the model on a different scale, scale the model now, again by using the Edit – Transform. It’s better to scale
the model now, because an additional change of scale later in slicer
would also affect the generated supports, resulting in either too thin
and weak supports or too thick and hard to remove supports.
<ul>
<li>Change the Scale X (Scale Y and Scale Z) to the desired value (1 = 100%, 1.5 = 150% etc.)</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Select Analysis – Overhangs
<ul>
<li>You can now adjust the Angle Thresh and see a live preview of areas of the model that should be supported</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Click on Generate Support to see a preview of the support structure
<ul>
<li>Every time you make changes to the support settings you’ll have to click on Remove Support and Generate Support to refresh the view</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>(The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXFKVmMwXCQ&feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="How to create custom supports in Meshmixer - YouTube">video</a> in the article goes into greater detail on the settings available in step 6.)</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="7">
<li>Adding and removing supports manually
<ul>
<li>You can create a new support by left-clicking and dragging from an overhang to the ground or from an existing support to the ground</li>
<li>Hold down the Shift key to ignore intersections of the support strut or any other warning and force Meshmixer to generate the new
support (use wisely)</li>
<li>You can also click on an existing support to generate a new strut going down to the build plate</li>
<li>CTRL + Left click on an existing support to remove it</li>
</ul></li>
<li>When you’re happy with the support structure you can export the model and the support structure together as STL by simply clicking
Done and clicking on the Export button in the left menu</li>
<li>Alternatively, you can select Convert to Solid to create a separate mesh from the support structure. This will let you set different
settings in Slic3r for the supports and for the model itself
<ol>
<li>After choosing Convert to Solid choose Edit – Separate shells</li>
<li>Export both the model and the supports as individual STL files</li>
<li>In Slic3r first load the STL with the model</li>
<li>Double-click on the model and choose Load part…, select the supports STL file</li>
<li>When the STL loads, you can overwrite some of the settings by clicking on the green plus icon</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
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<p>I print ABS on a LulzBot Taz 5 and frequently have issues with the corners of objects lifting off the bed.</p>
<p>My extruder is at 230 °C and the bed is at 90 °C for the first layer and 100 °C for the rest of the layers.</p>
<p>I have experimented with using ABS slurry (ABS + acetone) on the bed for increased adhesion, building a foam enclosure for the printer, and varying the fan speed. I have noticed the problem is more common the taller the parts are and the sharper the corner is.</p>
<p>Adding ABS slurry helped for smaller parts (less than an inch tall) but with my more recent larger parts the adhesion to the bed was so good that the corners of the part lifting actually peeled the PEI tape off of the bed.</p>
<p>I have tried using both a skirt and a brim with no change. The skirt stays on the bed, the brim gets pulled up with the corner.</p>
|
<p>The solution I prefer to prevent ABS withdrawal is using <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/BlueTape" rel="noreferrer">Blue tape</a> on the bed, and then spread a thin layer of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_acetate" rel="noreferrer">Polyvinyl acetate</a> (Vinavil glue). </p>
<p>If your printer allows it, you can also print with the bed at 110°C.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>There are at least 2 options to address the problem that you have:</p>
<ol>
<li>Adjust end-stops so that in 0,0 position Z-sensor would still hang above the printing table. This would reduce printing surface but allow perfect calibration</li>
<li>Mount extra metal plate at the table mount where it would not bump into printer parts and remain reachable for the sensor (perhaps with sensor relocation) when positioned at 0,0. This option requires extra space within table movement boundaries but saves printing surface.</li>
</ol>
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<h1>1 PID Tune</h1>
<p>Changing the thermosensor or the heater cartridge is a big change in the system: each of these items has internal errors differing them from each other item. If your thermosensor has a different standard resistance by a small way than the one before, if the resistance of the cartridge is different, then the chip gets readings it does not expect. This is why a change of either of these components (or to a different heater block size/material for the matter) one should run a PID tune, teaching the chip how the new sensor/cartridge behave.</p>
<p>To do this, connect to your Printer via an USB Cable and run a software that can send raw gcode. I prefer Repetier Host, but other software also works. I like to follow the instructions of the <a href="https://e3d-online.dozuki.com/Guide/V6+Assembly/6?lang=en#s87" rel="nofollow noreferrer">e3D v6 assembly manual</a>, but the video by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APzJfYAgFkQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tom (Thomas Sanladererer)</a> and the <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/PID_Tuning" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RepRap Wiki</a> have excellent explanations too.</p>
<ul>
<li>Send <code>M303 E0 S200 C8</code></li>
<li>wait for finishing</li>
<li>send <code>M301</code> with the values you just got returned. One example might read <code>M301 P17.28 I0.63 D118.87</code></li>
<li>sent <code>M500</code> to update your EEPROM</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>If this doesn't help, we might have a bigger problem, so let's go troubleshooting! Hardware first, then Firmware.</p>
<p>A few useful hints that Thomas Sanladerer found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQ9UWlmdVA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">when he was checking his printers for fire hazards</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>A shorted out thermosensor (closed loop, 0-Resistance) triggers Maxtemp</li>
<li>A burnt out thermosensor (open loop) triggers Mintemp</li>
<li>A non-connected or burnt out (open loop) Cartridge triggers thermal runaway, as does any other error with the cartridge that leads to abnormal heating.</li>
</ul>
<h1>2 Check the Hardware</h1>
<p>Hardware can fail, we all know that. But luckily there are only 5 items involved that could fail:</p>
<h2>2.1 Check all connections</h2>
<p>If the heater cartridge is not connected properly, that will result in a Thermal Runaway Error, as the thermosensor does not detect any change.</p>
<p>A non connected thermosensor will trigger a mintemp error, a shorted thermosensor will trigger maxtemp error.</p>
<h2>2.2 Check the resistance of the heater cartridge</h2>
<p>A broken heater cartridge can have two results: either it conducts no electricity at all (for example if a lead is broken), or it acts as a jumper and has no resistance at all. To check this, use a multimeter and measure the resistance in Ohm by connecting it to the leads of the cartridge while it is dismounted. A broken circuit in the cartridge triggers Thermal Runaway, a shorted out cartridge can break the board in worst case. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/o4CXxCT" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A pictoral guide for analogue Multimeters.</a></p>
<p>My e3D light6 in my 12 V TronXY has a resistance of about 5.2 Ω. The Value you will get depends on what kind of heater cartridge you use. For reference: e3D Heater Cartridges are <a href="https://e3d-online.dozuki.com/Guide/V6+Assembly/6?lang=en#s87" rel="nofollow noreferrer">documented</a> to be around 4.8 Ω for 12 V & 30 W, 3.6 Ω for 12 V & 40 W, 19.2 Ω for 24 V 30 W and 14.4 Ω for 24 V 40 W.</p>
<p>If your Value is given as infinite or near 0 Ω, your heater cartridge is broken - Though having 3 defect heater cartridges seems unlikely on first glance, unless something shortens their lifespan considerably.</p>
<h2>2.3 Check your supply voltage</h2>
<p>Now comes a thing that can be <strong>dangerous</strong> for you will measure a live circuit. Be aware that you are working with <strong>live current</strong> when you do this. Do <strong>NOT</strong> bring your fingers into contact with unshielded wires!</p>
<p>Set your Multimeter to check the Voltage. Connect the test probes to the output of the power supply that runs into the board. Power up the voltage supply. It should read close to 12 or 24V, depending on your machine.</p>
<h2>2.4 Check the voltage given by the board</h2>
<p>Again, this is measuring <strong>live current</strong> and can be <strong>dangerous</strong>. Use maximum care not to fry yourself!</p>
<p>If your Power supply is working, then it might be the board that is not allowing the current to get the heater cartridge. So we need to measure if it gets power. Since I=U/R, and we have established that R is not 0 or infinity (see above), we can establish if there is I by simply measuring U, which is the voltage.</p>
<p>Mount the tips of your multimeter into the clamps that should take the leads for the heater cartridge and set it to measure the Voltage. Make sure they have contact. Connect the machine to power and start it up. Order it to heat up the cartridge. It should show a voltage that is similar to your supply voltage (12/24V).</p>
<h2>2.5 Thermosensor</h2>
<p>The Thermosensor <em>might</em> trigger an error if it is faulty but not entirely broken. A broken thermosensor should trigger <code>MINTEMP</code> for a broken open and <code>MAXTEMP</code> for a shorted out sensor. The only way to test this would be to measure it against items of known temperature, for example using the bed sensor as Benchmark.</p>
<h1>3 Check the Firmware</h1>
<h2>3.1 Thermosensor settings</h2>
<p>In some cases, the temperature tables of the thermosensors are not compatible and one has to change the settings for that in the firmware. One of the best rundowns I know is in the e3D <a href="https://e3d-online.dozuki.com/Guide/Lite6+Marlin+Configuration/27?lang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">light6</a>/<a href="https://e3d-online.dozuki.com/Guide/V6+Marlin+Configuration/5?lang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">v6</a> firmware manual, if you need more help than this.</p>
<p>In the Marlin 1.9 you do this in <code>Configuation.h</code>, under the header Thermal Settings. In my Ender 3 this is done in line 289:</p>
<pre><code>#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5
</code></pre>
<p>That means, that my temperature sensor 0 (the one in the hotend) is of type 5, where type 5 is defined in the block above. The relevant line 256 of my file reads:</p>
<pre><code> * 5 : 100K thermistor - ATC Semitec 104GT-2 (Used in ParCan & J-Head) (4.7k pullup)
</code></pre>
<p>The most common choice in Chinese hotends to use this very 4.7-kiloohm pullup thermistor table, and the actual specific table for most of these is reasonably close to the 5. Other thermosensors can be reasonably overlapping, but in case you change the style of thermosensor, it is generally advised to change this value accordingly<sup>1</sup>. <strong>Always</strong> run a PID tuning after changing the thermosensor table!</p>
<h2>3.2 Thermal Runaway Protection</h2>
<p>The settings for the Thermal Runaway Protection might be worth a look. Maybe it is a little trigger happy? <code>Configuration_adv.h</code> contains a block titled Thermal Settings, containing when to trigger the emergency shutdown. For my Ender3 it reads like this:</p>
<pre><code>#if ENABLED(THERMAL_PROTECTION_HOTENDS)
#define THERMAL_PROTECTION_PERIOD 40 // Seconds
#define THERMAL_PROTECTION_HYSTERESIS 4 // Degrees Celsius
</code></pre>
<p>From your error log, I guess that your printer has the second line as 30 seconds. It would be technically safe to increase this time to up to 120 seconds, but I strongly suggest not to go over 60 seconds.</p>
<p><sup>1 - I had switched the whole hotend on my TronXY X1 for an e3D light6, and it only needed a PID tune, but in <em>theory</em> I should have also swapped the Firmware to reflect that - but, as said, luckily many Chinese printers use the table 5 even if they are not using the sensor. Table 5 was <em>made</em> for the thermosensors used by e3D.</sup></p>
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<p>If you enable the option "Coasting", the extruder will follow the extrusion path at the end of switching to the next layer or the next section, but will not deposit any material as it uses the build up pressure in the nozzle to deposit the final bits. This shows up in your G-code representation by empty (non-depositing) gaps (in reality, when fine-tuned correctly, will be filled).</p>
<p><em>E.g. sliced without "Coasting" enabled:</em>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1YJCg.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1YJCg.png" alt="Print without enabling the coasting option"></a></p>
<p><em>E.g. sliced with "Coasting" enabled:</em>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SAtyB.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SAtyB.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
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<p>In principle, ABS is safe for contact with (cold or room-temperature) food. The two main concerns specific to 3D printing are, assuming you start with a filament that is not itself contaminated:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Pores and holes in the printed part which may harbor bacteria</p></li>
<li><p>Impurities introduced into the plastic during the printing process</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I doubt that the silicone mold will capture the pores and holes with sufficient detail to be of any concern (it certainly won't capture the internal structure, only the surface).</p>
<p>That leaves us with 2. It has been noted that brass nozzles contain trace amounts of lead. This lead can contaminate the printed part, which may in turn contaminate your mold, which may in turn contaminate your food. I don't think this is of realistic concern, since we're looking at trace amounts of trace amounts of lead. The nozzle might also have burnt plastic stuck to it (which might be carcinogenic) so you should make sure to do the print with a very clean nozzle and at a temperature that is not too high.</p>
<p>ABS is food safe for contact with cold or room-temperature food. It is however not food safe for contact with hot food, because at higher temperatures the food may leach certain chemicals out of the plastic. Your application is one of low temperature, but silicone is not food and might perhaps leach some contaminants out of the plastic, regardless of temperature. However, this concern is not specific to 3D printing, as it applies to the method of making moulds out of Lego bricks as well. Therefore, making moulds from 3D printed positives does not appear to be different in a food safety perspective from making them out of LEGO blocks.</p>
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<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
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<h1>Let me clean up a little nomenclature</h1>
<p>The PTFE tube is either a Bowden Style Setup delivering the filament from the extruder down through the cool-end and to the heatbreak or just a liner in the cool-end and heatbreak for direct drive. In both cases they are to prevent clogs. In most setups it is <em>not</em> pushed into the nozzle which is in the heater block (they exist, see below).</p>
<p>The liner/Bowden tube guides the filament through the heatsink and into the proper Hotend/Meltzone. In the better designs intended for higher temperature like ABS (see left half), it ends in the heatbreak. This also has the added benefit of having less chance to leak if the tube slips a little bit.</p>
<p>Simple setups (see right half) butt it against the nozzle and thus limit the temperature range. This kind of butted setup can lead to leakage if the tube slips up. In either case, it is no problem to reuse the PTFE tube when changing nozzles, it is even advisable in the case of a Bowden setup as it might change the length of the path.</p>
<p>The nozzle is usually screwed into the heater block from below, and for best use, one screws it against the heatbreak in a heated state - this is called hot-tightening.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/A1IvJ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/A1IvJ.png" alt="2 comon types of hotend assembly in cut view" /></a></p>
<p>If you somehow end up destroying your PTFE Tube, you can get them under the keyword PTFE tube, Bowden tube or Pneumatic PTFE tube on the internet.</p>
<h1>PTFE inside the nozzle?</h1>
<p>Yes, these exist, OP has them, they look like this, and are not what has become the industry standard. <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNkrw.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNkrw.jpg" alt="Nozzle with PTFE liner" /></a></p>
<p>I can think of no good reason to put an PTFE Sleeve <em>into</em> the nozzle, but someone did it, and it sis a valid approach. However, I see several problems with it:</p>
<ul>
<li>the PTFE tube degrades if pushed deep into the melt zone and can lead to clogs.</li>
<li>the added PTFE is not a very good at transmitting heat, thus reducing the effectiveness of the melt zone. This can lead to needing either much lower printing speeds or a much higher printing temperature to achieve good prints</li>
</ul>
<p>It should be of no issue to convert from this style into the butted-style (right) just by using a short length of PTFE in the heatbreak. I would prefer though to combine it with a heatbreak where the PTFE ends and making this what is commonly referred to as an "all metal hotend" (left).</p>
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<p>Axis should definitely be at proper position. Otherwise you will get at least 2 issues.</p>
<ol>
<li>Carriage will be pulled up which will cause stresses on rollers or slides and it will stress your belt</li>
<li>The way the carriage will go will change but because carriage itself is fixed then it will change the speed</li>
</ol>
<p>3D printing is a precise process. Both issues will have impact on printouts and all your printouts will have broken dimension in the axis in which carriage moves.</p>
<p>Have a look on the picture (it is big to show details)</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/maQ3j.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/maQ3j.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><strong>fig A</strong> shows a situation where carriage is far from the axis</p>
<p>In such situation the distance between vertical line of black cross and pink circle is almost unnoticable so both - the force and the distance (so speed) change are very small.</p>
<p><strong>fig B</strong> shows a situation where carriage is relatively close to the axis</p>
<p>Then both - the force and the distance change is noticable </p>
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<p>Taken from the <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/60/47">answer provided by @EricJohnson</a>,</p>
<p>When should I use a raft, and when should I use a brim? What advantages does each have over the other?</p>
<p>Raft
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOghM.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rOghM.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Brim
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MnlZ.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9MnlZ.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
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<p>A raft helps when the part has few points of contact with the print bed, and doesn't therefore adhere well at points within and without the part.</p>
<p>A brim helps when the part doesn't adhere well around the perimeter of the part.</p>
<p>There are very rare situations where you'll need both, but typically you'll only use one or the other.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>If anything, combing and coasting allow to <strong>mitigate problems that are printer and filament specific</strong>, rather than dependent on particular STL models.</p>
<p><strong>Combing helps</strong> - as you imply in your question - <strong>with materials prone to oozing</strong> (e.g. PETG)</p>
<p><strong>Coasting is particularly good for printers with a bowden extruders and low jerk/retraction speeds</strong>. This is because in bowden extruders there is a lot of filament compressed between the teeth of the extruder servo and the nozzle, and that pressure doesn't instantly disappears when the printer stop "pushing" (i.e.: turning the extruder servo).</p>
<p>I believe there are <strong>firmware implementations where coasting is also used when approaching sharp corners</strong>. This is to mitigate the problem of "blobs" forming there. The mechanics of this are similar to those explained above: the pressure within the extruder cannot be instantly relieved and coasting accounts for that. The only difference being that - because of the micro-scale of the problem - even non-bowden printers are prone to corner blobs.</p>
<p>In my experience (I look forward to other answers to "compare notes") there are <strong>very few reasons not to use combing</strong>. The only risk with it is that it increases the risk of the nozzle crashing into the print and destroying it. It sound dramatic, but it is in practice it requires everything to work against you: a big blob on the previous layer, the nozzle passing exactly there, poor bed adhesion... for me that has proved problematic only when printing miniatures with a 0.2 mm nozzle and 0.05 mm layer height (on a cheap printer).</p>
<p><strong>There is of course a</strong> (usually very small) <strong>time penalty in combing</strong>, as it typically requires the nozzle to travel longer paths.</p>
<p>In my experience (again: YMMV, I look forward to more answers!) <strong>the limitations of coasting are related to the way it is implemented</strong>. For example, a given coasting setting may work great for getting rid of oozing, but will create under-extrusion in other parts of the print, as the calculations performed within the firmware may be spot-on for linear motion but inaccurate for corners, or vice-versa.</p>
<p>I believe this is the reason while some popular slicers (like cura) have this setting hidden under "experimental".</p>
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<p>If I understand correctly, your question is specifically for <strong>overhangs at 90°</strong> (so an horizontal plane that has no support under it.</p>
<p>The first to notice is that <strong>you can only pull this off if the extrusion happens perpendicular to the surface from which the overhang is coming off</strong> (the closest to 90° the better) as effectively what is happening is that you are building a cantilever structure as you extrude.</p>
<p>If you think about it in terms of a <em>cantilever structure</em> you will quickly realise that the stiffer the structure, the furthest you can go without it drooping. The main parameters you can tweak to increase the stiffness are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Cooling</strong>. The cooler the plastic, the stiffer it is, so crank the cooling part fan up to 100%!</li>
<li><strong>Speed</strong>. Plastic need time to cool off, so the slower you print (within reasonable limits), the more time you will allow for plastic to cool under the fan. On my rig I seem to get the best result between 15 and 20mm/s, but your mileage may vary, obviously.</li>
<li><strong>Layer height</strong>. The thicker the layer, the more weight it will bear before drooping, so higher layers work best. A slicer that is very convenient to use for prints that have a couple of overhangs like these is <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/slic3r-prusa-edition/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">slic3r PE</a>, as you can vary the height of the layers at specific points in the print.</li>
<li><strong>Material</strong>. Some materials are more rigid than others. PLA is probably the one that works best for overhangs. PETG and Nylon are somewhat more problematic, and flexible filaments are the ones being more difficult to use.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>For bridges</strong> (unsupported filament extruded between two supported structures) the considerations are identical but for speed: in my experience having the <strong>speed not too low</strong> helps the nozzle keep tension in the extruded filament by "pulling" it and keeping it horizontal. But again: each printer, firmware and slicer is different, and you should experiment yourself to see what works for you.</p>
<p>To sum this up: <strong>"how far you can go before needing support" is a question that cannot be answered with a fixed number</strong> as the answer depends from a lot of factors that vary from printer to printer and material to material. Without mentioning: how many defects you are happy to tolerate before calling the print a failure.</p>
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<p>Your bed is too low - raise it by turning the knobs underneath.</p>
<p>The first layer should not look like strings sitting on the bed as per your photo. Instead it should be a wider strip that looks somewhat like an electronic circuit trace, or like someone has pushed wet paint out of a tube that is being wiped across the surface.</p>
<p>My method is to head the bed with "preheat" in the menu, and let it sit at printing temp for at least 5 minutes. This avoids the heater being at temp but the top of the glass bed being cool.</p>
<p>Then start your job. As the brim or skirt is printed, actively watch it in person and twiddle the height knobs a quarter turn at a time. You want the "end view" or cross sectional view of the printed filament to be like this:</p>
<pre><code> _____<==>_____
</code></pre>
<p>and not like this</p>
<pre><code> ______0______
</code></pre>
<p>and definitely not like this</p>
<pre><code> 0
_______________
</code></pre>
<p>If the head starts scratching the bed, you've gone too far so lower the bed back down again (effectively raising the print head a little)</p>
<hr />
<p>Here's a print in progress trying to show a better brim. Notice eachgstrand is ovalised and mushed down. That brim will come off in one piece afterward.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vis5Z.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vis5Z.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
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<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
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<p>There's no appreciable difference. Just use the filament that fits your particular printer.</p>
<p>If you don't yet have a printer, then I'd get one that uses 1.75 mm filament:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>1.75 mm is increasingly becoming the "standard", thus being easier to get. Some filaments are not available as 3 mm.</p></li>
<li><p>1.75 mm filament allows for finer control, because feeding in 1 mm of filament corresponds to less plastic extruded.</p></li>
<li><p>1.75 mm filament requires less force to extrude. Compressing 1.75 mm down to 0.3 mm takes less force than doing the same to 3 mm filament.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, the advantages are fairly minor. I don't see any reason to replace a functioning 3 mm extruder with a 1.75 mm one (yet).</p>
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<p>First of all, the bed should be at 100-110 °C and fan 0 %.</p>
<p>I had <em>incredibly</em> good results by using a (sacrificial) "draft shield" as shown below together with a large brim (10 mm). It creates a warmer micro-climate which keeps the print a bit warmer, with much less warping. My printer bed back then was 130x130 mm, therefore drafts were strong. You will get even better results, you have about 200x200 mm.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M0l3m.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/M0l3m.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OCcwXF5Z40A?start=47"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
<p>If you were able to add something like this, it would be even better:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qnwfl.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qnwfl.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>You can get it by designing in Fusion 360 or anything else a "U" shaped part, which you will add twice to each print and scale accordingly.</p>
<p>The reason is that the normal draft shield will deform a lot and detach from the print bed at least in part, resulting in an opening at the bottom and a chimney effect which reduces the effectiveness of the shield. With the two U parts, it won't happen as easy.</p>
<p>The draft shield is the first thing to try.</p>
<p>You can also add a "shield" out of cardboard around the printer. You don't need to close the top, it will work quite good.</p>
<p>You can also get 2-4 20-40 W halogen lamps (from a car, for example, they run already at 12 V, but don't connect them to the same power supply as the printer!) and point them at the part. If you have two, mount them at the two sides of the horizontal gantry: they don't need to move horizontally, only vertically. They will keep the part quite warm without the need of an enclosure (but it would help).
If you have 4 mount them maybe at the corners of the bed, hoping the shaking won't kill them too quickly.</p>
<p>The solutions I listed so far result in better prints, but also in <strong>stronger</strong> prints because they reduce the causes for warping. The halogen lamps, in particular, keep the printed part quite hot and do wonders.</p>
<p>Another solution which is the easiest and which works extremely well but which weakens the print because it only hides the warping is to use Dimafix on the bed. The print will stick like there is no tomorrow (bed temperature above 90 °C) but the stresses are still there and the print may split in the middle between layers, if it's tall.</p>
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<p>I managed to do it in the end using AutoDesk 123D.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/izeeR.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/izeeR.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Did it by making two coils of differing radius, then subtracting the smaller from the larger. I made each coil using the instructions found here:</p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KfXV0mfy7XY?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
<p>So there we go...</p>
<p>Printed it out just now without supports - in the orientation shown - and it came out fine. Used a brim, though (don't want it rolling away!) </p>
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<p>I made a test print for a small gear (~ 1.5 inches in diameter) a few months ago, with a hole through the center. On the first try, the filament (ABS) fused to the print bed, meaning that I had to spend ten minutes scraping off material to loosen it. One solution to this is to use painter's tape spread across the print bed.</p>
<p>This yielded a good print during the next run. The problem with this method was that some of the tape subsequently fused to the backside of the gear; it was so tight that I had to discard the prototype. Multiple varieties of tape made no difference.</p>
<p>Is there a way to continue using this tape without having it fuse to the filament?</p>
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<p>This can highly depend on the slicer you are using. Some software such as Makerware and Slic3r allow you to adjust the settings for the first raft/part layers. I might suggest adjusting this "Z0" point to about 1/4-1/2 of your layer height. Essentially the first layer (or two) will not adhere as well.</p>
<p>This is just one suggestion of many solutions. Here are some other variables I could think of off-hand:</p>
<ul>
<li>Type of build plate tape (ie masking, painters, kapton, etc.)</li>
<li>Type of material. I've noticed that PLA is very stubborn if you let the part completely cool after printing and that it's much easier to remove the part from the build plate/raft right after it's complete.</li>
<li>Type of build plate. Are you applying too much heat (if you have a heated bp) for the material such as PLA?</li>
<li>Try lowering your layer height. This will ensure that each strand does not have too much surface area and therefore less chance that it will create a vacuum affect with the build plate. This can, however, result in a worse surface finish.</li>
</ul>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>It's really more about calibration than resolution -- a poorly calibrated printer will have dimension errors that prevent mating with true LEGO bricks or other printed bricks. </p>
<p>Also, "resolution" is an incredibly loaded term for 3d printers, because it can mean a lot of different things. But we don't need to get into that right now. There are really two big things to worry about: layer height and extrusion width.</p>
<p>Layer heights of 0.1mm or 0.2mm should be fine. Coarser layers may run into surface finish issues that make the bricks difficult to put together or take apart. There probably isn't much reason to go finer than 0.1mm for this application. Almost all FFF printers can do 0.1mm layer heights as long as it is reasonably well-tuned.</p>
<p><strong>Any typical household FFF printer with a "normal" nozzle size can print fine enough for the bricks to work. It just needs to be tuned well.</strong> The smallest "must have" feature in a standard lego brick is the 1.6mm thick wall around the sides. The typical minimum printable feature size for an FFF printer is 2x the extrusion width, because the slicer will place a path on the inside edge of the shape and the outside edge of the shape. (Some slicers will allow single-extrusion features, but this is not generally recommended because it makes weak parts.) </p>
<p>So, how wide is the extrusion width? It's adjustable, and different slicers auto-recommend different values, but as a safe rule of thumb it needs to be between 1x and 2x your nozzle size. There are some volume calculation quirks in different slicers that may encourage larger or smaller sizes, so sometimes people recommend [extrusion width = nozzle size + layer height] particularly with Slic3r. This is very system-specific. </p>
<p>Assuming you have the most common stock nozzle with a 0.4mm orifice, and also set the extrusion width to 0.4mm, the slicer should put four strands in the walls of the LEGO brick. That's good. </p>
<p>Where it gets tricky is if you have an extrusion width that does not evenly divide into 1.6mm. Say you are printing with an extrusion width of 0.6mm. There is enough room in the wall of the part to place two full 0.6mm perimeter strands... but then a gap 0.4mm wide will be left in the center. You can't put another 0.6mm strand into that 0.4mm gap. Different slicers handle this different ways. Some will leave an empty space between the walls, and you get a very weak print. Some will mash an excessive amount of plastic into the gap, causing poor print quality as excess material builds up more and more on each layer. Some will push a smaller-than-commanded strand to try to properly fill the volume. </p>
<p>So, the general advice with small features is to make sure your extrusion width goes into the part's minimum thickness a reasonable number of times.</p>
<ul>
<li>[Feature size / extrusion width < 2] is BAD </li>
<li>[Feature size / extrusion width = 2] is GOOD </li>
<li>[2 < Feature size / extrusion width < 3] is BAD </li>
<li>[Feature size / extrusion width > 3] is GOOD</li>
</ul>
<p>Although these will vary somewhat by slicer -- older slicers like Skeinforge tend to have more issues with this than newer slicers. What you should do in practice is check your slicer's print previewer to see whether it is leaving a gap between the strands. Then adjust extrusion width and perimeter/shell count to try to get an intelligent output. There's some trial and error involved.</p>
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<p>The question was migrated because the specific question of "<em>How do I tell if my Thermistors are 10k or 100k?</em>" is going to be best answered by users of Electrical Engineering SE. This also provides the SE network with more appropriate traffic based on the question at hand.</p>
<p>However, if the question of "<em>How can I change the thermistors settings in Marlin firmware?</em>" were to arise, then the question would be best suited here on 3D Printing. It might help both SE sites by providing links to each other's relevant questions for future users to reference.</p>
<p>If the question was something like "<em>How can I wire a hotend?</em>", this would be more appropriate here on 3D Printing SE as users in Electrical Engineering SE may not know as much about the topic compared to users in 3D Printing. This may be a poor example, but the idea is that there is strict correlation between <em>hotends</em> and 3D printing, whereas identifying thermistors is not a specific topic to just 3D printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>After reading a few posts on SE meta, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10249/what-is-migration-and-how-does-it-work">this one</a> leads me to agree with you that this particular question may not have needed to be migrated. However, it exposes an important question of how we want to proceed with questions like this in the future? How far down the rabbit hole do we want to allow this site to go in this topic? I'd recommend others pitch in recommendations in answers here on what would be the appropriate topic in this case that can be applied to our <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">On-Topic</a> page so that it may be amended.</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>I have 12 parts for a model I want to print but I would like to know if I can put all of them in a single G-code file and print that on its own.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You certainly can. The printer doesn't care how many parts there are. Many single parts, like those with holes, will have layers that have areas that aren't contiguous. To the printer, multiple parts look just like a single part that happens not to be connected.</p>
<p>That said, printing multiple parts at once means that the job will be larger and take longer, and a problem printing any of those parts can force you to stop the whole job. Because small parts have less area in contact with the bed, small parts are more likely to come loose from the bed during the print, so running a job with many small parts can be risky -- if any one part comes loose, you might lose all the time and material you put into the whole job.</p>
<p>One tool that can help mitigate that risk is the <a href="https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/cancelobject/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cancel Objects plugin</a> for <a href="https://octoprint.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OctoPrint</a>. If you use OctoPrint to manage your printer, you can use the plugin to stop further work on any objects that have problems during the print and continue with the rest. <a href="https://youtu.be/ANfOr2F79LQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here's a video</a> about using Cancel Objects.</p>
<p>Also, when printing multiple parts, be sure to check that you have enough material (filament, resin, etc) available to complete the whole job.</p>
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<p>Alright so I asked in my facebook group and a friendly fellow game me the tip to use Meshmixer from AutoCAD and then check a video on Plane cut. I only needed 3 simple cuts and the piece I needed was all ready to print. :) 40 Minutes to print and only 3g of PLA to spend :)</p>
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<p>Unless you are using a calibrated temperature sensor, it is a question what the temperature will be. </p>
<p>Actually it doesn't really matter what the temperature exactly is, you just need to find the sweet spot for your filaments on your machine. With respect to reported temperatures by others, your settings may differ a little, but that does not matter. </p>
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<p>Take a look at this post: <a href="https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/15588-cura-23-not-using-full-print-area/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/15588-cura-23-not-using-full-print-area/</a>. As the raft/skirt/brim will fall outside of the build volume, Cura is not able to slice it. Look at the the answer by @ahouben. He suggests that if you want to use the maximum build volume : </p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><p>adhesion type = brim</p></li>
<li><p>brim line count = 0</p></li>
<li><p>travel avoid distance = 0</p></li>
<li><p>horizontal expansion = 0</p></li>
<li><p>support horizontal expansion = 0 (if support is enabled)</p></li>
<li><p>draft shield disabled</p></li>
<li><p>ooze shield disabled</p></li>
<li><p>infill wipe distance = 0</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Note that in most cases brim with brim line count=0 will get you most of the way there</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Try this and see if it makes a difference.</p>
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<p>Your best option may be to seek out a silicone rubber heating mat, using those terms for your web search. A quick search on my part shows many resources, some of which are known to the 3d printing manufacturing world, while others are equally suited for that purpose.</p>
<p>Don't bond the heater to the glass. You'll need to replace it when it breaks. Consider to use borosilicate glass for better heat tolerance and smaller chance of breakage. A quick search for such a large size pane comes up empty, invalidating that suggestion.</p>
<p>I've read of some people using water bed heaters for large area coverage, but they may heat the area unevenly.</p>
<p>It could be to your advantage to use multiple heater panels with temperature controls for each one. This would provide more uniform heating although more complex temperature management.</p>
<p>I would post links, but there are so many from which to choose.</p>
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<p>Acetone can be used to smooth ABS prints. What safety precautions should be taken during its use?</p>
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<p>There are a few main safety precautions you should consider.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="http://sinkhacks.com/building-acetone-vapor-bath-smoothing-3d-printed-parts/" rel="nofollow">Make sure the area is well-ventilated.</a></strong> Acetone is flammable. A buildup of acetone gas could quickly get concentrated, meaning that a single spark could lead to disaster. Using a fan is good; angle it towards an open window. This is also to prevent exposure to acetone because of its toxicity.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927062" rel="nofollow">Be prepared to fight a fire.</a></strong> Should vapor ignite, you may need to fight the fire. If it is large enough, then you should clearly evacuate the area. If it appears to be small, use dry chemical powder to snuff out the fire. Alcohol foam, water spray, and/or fog may be used on slightly larger fires. Acetone is not likely to cause a large inferno to rip through the building. But there's always the chance of a small fire. Be careful.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://rivercitylabs.org/acetone-smoothing-chamber-3d-printing/" rel="nofollow">Create a vapor chamber.</a></strong> This is another way to stop a potential fire from spreading. It can also reduce contamination.</li>
<li><strong>Wear gloves.</strong> This can minimize any potential transfer toxic effects. However, skin exposure is unlikely to cause major issues.</li>
</ul>
<p>Acetone is toxic, as I mentioned before, but it is not highly toxic. Exposure via <a href="http://ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/acetone.html" rel="nofollow">the eyes and nose/mouth</a> is the main risk. Skin effects may occur (e.g. mild irritation), but they are minor and generally arise only after long-term exposure (hence the recommendation of gloves in some cases).</p>
<p>Acetone exposure is only a serious problem when a person is repeatedly exposed to levels <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/67641.html" rel="nofollow">greater than 1,000 ppm</a> (severe effects only arise at much higher levels). It seems unlikely, given a proper ventilation system, that this will be an issue</p>
<p>In addition to all this, basic safety precautions such as wearing a ventilator mask and goggles should definitely be taken. When working with any such chemicals with the potential for bodily harm, these should absolutely be used.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>A few thoughts that might help...</p>
<p><strong>Material:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>ABS can be vapor smoothed with Acetone which results in the layers sort of "melting" together to form a smoother, and less porous surface.</li>
<li>Other plastics can be smoothed with compatible solvents, but I've not tried solvent smoothing with anything other than ABS. Be careful if you try.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Print Method:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Consider slightly higher print temps to increase layer adhesion. You'll likely have to compensate with extra retraction to avoid excessive stringing.</li>
<li>Consider more perimeter layers and more top/bottom layers.</li>
<li>The CF materials are stiffened with chopped CF strands...I think it's a stretch to call them "reinforced" unless you happen to have a Markforged printer or similar.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Sealants:</strong> This is probably your best bet.</p>
<ul>
<li>Epoxy: Generally considered effective for producing hermetically sealed containers. Dip or brush on. Mind your VOC's and pay attention to working time.</li>
<li>Plasti-dip or similar sealants: These may be good enough for your application and result in a rubbery coating over your part. Good for water sealing, and may be close enough to hermetically sealed for your needs.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Design:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>To mechanically seal the opening, there are many options depending on your requirements. O-rings, gaskets, etc. If you use a rubberized dip, you may be able to skip the gasket. You could install a few threaded inserts around the perimeter of the opening, put in the screws, then dip. After drying, you slice around the screw and remove it (this just keeps the coating out of your threads) Dip the cover as well. Then when you screw on the cover, it will provide a water-tight seal. To help make a good seal, apply a silicone grease to the mating surface.</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope this helps. :-)</p>
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<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
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<p>If you haven't been to their site before, you should check out the forums on 3DHubs. There's a lot of how-to's. A quick Google search yields <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/accelerated-nozzle-wear" rel="noreferrer">this</a> link to a similar question.</p>
<p>The key thing to note is that in all technicalities, any material you run through the nozzle is going to cause <em>some</em> sort of wear on your nozzle. <strong>How quickly</strong> depends on the material or composition.</p>
<p>The answer to the question linked above relates it spot on to sandpaper. If you have sandpaper made out of metal (ie stainless pla), it will scratch your skin fairly easily. If you have sandpaper made out of tree bark (ie laywood pla), it probably won't scratch your skin as bad, but it'll still scratch. And just for poops and giggles, lets say you have sandpaper made out of pla; it'll take a while, but you could eventually make your skin raw if you rub the plastic against your arm long enough.</p>
<p>It is typically recommended to use one nozzle for each material type as to avoid cross-contamination of materials in your printing. With this idea in mind, if you are using many types of materials, you can also minimize failed prints due to clogging and other "damaged nozzle" type troubles.</p>
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<p>I have been using a sort of a very strong hairspray called 3DLAC for about 2 years directly onto the aluminium heat bed of the Anet A8 printer I have.</p>
<p>Basically, all those sprays contain copolymer constituents, PVA (PolyVinyl Alcohol), Vinyl or Acetate. These are also found in certain glue sticks or wood glues. For me this spray works perfectly! On day one I assembled the printer, the paper tape tore and I was too anxious to wait for new tape to arrive. This worked so well that I have not changed it for that printer.</p>
<p>Cleaning is very easy as PVA or any of those constituents are solvable in water, so a moist cloth or paper towel over the plate is all to clean it. Furthermore, you do not require to spray before every print. </p>
<p>To answer your question if you <strong>should</strong> use a PVA based spray like hairspray directly onto the metal build plate is a matter of preference, but you definitely <strong>could</strong> use it as I have been doing it for about 2 years.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>To address the comments</strong>:<br>
I spray the heat bed platform whilst it is attached to the printer. I do pull it forward and gently spray the bed or just the location where the print is going to be build. Note that you do not need to do that for every print. I recently did notice very little spray on the X guide rods (maybe I have been careless once or twice), but that has not been a problem for my Chinesium iGus ripoff plastic bearings. It is very easy to clean with a damp cloth. It also works great on the glass bed of my Ultimaker 3E, but I usually (unless when I'm lazy ;) ) remove the slate of glass before printing. You could consider shielding the rods with a piece of paper, but it has not been necessary for 2 years.</p>
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<p>Almost all 3D printers have issues that could cause health problems.</p>
<p>FDM/FFF printers heat plastic to a temperature that may cause it to off-gas, and these byproducts may not be healthy.</p>
<p>SLA printers often use epoxies that may off-gas, or may be somewhat toxic prior to being cured.</p>
<p>Powder based printers can also off-gas, in addition to the powder itself presenting a possible hazard.</p>
<p>Many hobbyist and small companies dance around the problem, and suggest that the machines always be used in well ventillated areas. Professional machines often have filters and ventillation systems built in.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to find a "perfectly safe" 3D printer, spend some time deciding what you want to use one for, find printers suitable for your use, and expect that you'll need to provide reasonable ventilation for almost any printer. Plan your installation for that, and you should be able to make any printer safe for your required use.</p>
<p>If, however, you plan on setting up a printer farm with many printers, and plan to have yourself or others spend significant time operating them, I suggest you work with a health and safety professional and have them identify possible hazards and plan mitigation.</p>
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<p>Yes, it is actually pretty hard to find that information. First thing is that the resin never stops curing. Additional exposure to UV will continue to degrade the material over time. This is true of even plastics (and human flesh), however, in the case of UV resins we're talking about years not weeks. Each manufacturer of resin, even from different batches, will exhibit different performance characteristics with their formulation. As a general rule of thumb resin prints should not be used as an end product. They are used to either create a mould for the final object or used as a fitness test where the dimensions and tolerances are tight. The cured resin is typically not 100% safe to handle, and as such should not be used on bare skin or inside the human body or as any form of eating or cooking utensil. Colour degradation of resins (they become cloudy) will also occur for resins that were once colourless.</p>
<p>EDIT: (Didn't want to expand this but it seems I have to) Companies that release 3d printed with branded resins have custom formulas to match their printers. This is perhaps to ensure that the customer keeps coming back for the consumables. These custom formulations are most undoubtedly patented, however, it seems that they are keeping the formula a secret (until you reproduce it and they claim you've breached their patent). Due to the fact that the formula is unknown to the end-user no one can certify that the cured resin is 100% non-toxic and safe for contact with skin; either on the outside of the body or the inside ;) Speciality dental adhesives have different formulas (and are perhaps more expensive than) 3d printing resins.</p>
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<p>Taken in order your questions:</p>
<p>Maintenance for a resin printer means keeping the vat or tray clean, using appropriate methods to remove the unused resin (or leaving it in the vat per manufacturer's directions). Cleaning the tray should be done also per manufacturer's spec, although each printer's user forum may provide better or more effective options.</p>
<p>The Pegasus Touch has a caution regarding dripping resin on the mirrors, so there's operational care considerations for these types of printers.</p>
<p>There is a build platform for these printers. The flatness and level are as critical or more so for resin printers, as the resolution can be astonishingly high. If any portion of a print does not bond to the platform, that entire print will have a failed section, creating an entirely failed print. Gravity is not particularly helpful in that respect, at least with the Pegasus Touch.</p>
<p>The release medium varies from device to device. The Pegasus Touch originally used PDMS (silicon release compound) and now uses what's called a SuperVat. The plastic material in the SuperVat is purported to provide better release and fewer failures, along with increased lifespan. PDMS becomes cloudy from repeated printing in the same location and can be torn away from the vat if the print does not properly release.</p>
<p>I've become aware of a product from Australia that has had good reports from use in a B9 Creator resin printer. The report indicates that it releases the model quite easily and barely turns cloudy. I have an order pending for this material, as I am hopeful it will perform as described.</p>
<p>The mechanics are also varied. One expects a system to raise and lower the build platform and to direct the laser or illumination system (DLP), but generally, this type of printer is somewhat simpler mechanically.</p>
<p>Because I live in a hot humid climate, my Pegasus Touch remains in the box, and my brain is about to explode with what I've learned of using it. Environmental conditions are likely to vary with different machines. I've seen references that 70 degrees F is too cold, others that say 70-75 degrees F is just fine, anything higher is too hot. Another user says that 65 degrees is good. The type of resin also becomes an important factor for environmental conditions.</p>
<p>The laser will create heat in the resin, so I'm inclined to believe that cooler is better. Different colors require different durations of laser light, somewhat akin to various plastics having different temperatures.</p>
<p>supports and overhangs are important considerations in an SLA or DLP printer, just as they are in FDM.</p>
<p>Expect also that many of the resin printers require that the user purchase only the product provided by the manufacturer. This isn't necessarily a negative as most of the resin sources are priced similarly.</p>
<p>If I've missed any part of your question, let me know.</p>
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<p>I would like to print multiple parts continuously (non-interactively), so
I can leave the printer alone for a longer time. So after finish, parts could be moved somehow out from the printing area, so the next can start.</p>
<p>Are there any methods of achieving that with standard desktop printers without having to use multiple printers?</p>
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<p>The only thing I can think of off hand is an old mod for the early MakerBot machines. It first was released for the Thing-O'-Matic I believe, but is compatible with Replicator 1 machines (and its knock-offs). Here's the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4056" rel="noreferrer">Thingiverse page</a>, but look up Automatic Build Plate.</p>
<p>Essentially, you can use the Replicator G slicing program and there is a setting for "ABP" or Automatic Build Plate. This will basically tell the ABP to run its routine after the controller receives the response that the printing program is done and roll the finished part off the edge of the build plate, then start the same program over again.</p>
<p>Drawbacks:</p>
<ul>
<li>I don't think it's easily compatible with newer machines/slicers. But, it's open source</li>
<li>Pretty sure you have to use Replicator G, which is outdated now and may make your machine sound like it's going to fall apart (I know from experience)</li>
</ul>
<p>Going off of @Pete's answer about solenoids. It reminded me that someone integrated a <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:872617" rel="noreferrer">solenoid "ejector"</a> (aka Boxing Glove) for their machine.</p>
<p>Update (06/08/2016):</p>
<p>Forgot to mention that if you choose to create your own "Boxing Glove" or conveyor belt, some software such as Octo-Pi and Repetier-Host allow plugins. So, you could interface with your hardware via customized code and integrate the functionality directly into the slicing application for the full closed loop operation.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>This sounds like you have an adhesion problem if it catches laid down filament, you might want to address that first. E.g. use a PVA based glue or spray to get better adhesion. This will result in not dragging laid down filament. </p>
<p>To my knowledge, Ultimaker Cura has no option to choose how you print the squares (direction and start point). However, <strong><em>you could use Z-hop</em></strong> so that it will lift your nozzle (or lower your build plate in your case) prior to moving to the next rectangle.</p>
<p>It looks as though you are using an older version of Ultimaker Cura as it only prints one line of each of the small rectangular holes (or are you actually using a single wall/shell), in later versions of Ultimaker Cura this is fixed (e.g. the image below is created with Ultimaker Cura 3.4.1), it will print all walls/shells before commencing to the next small rectangular hole. This way you have more lines deposited which have a possible better adhesion to the increase of laid down material:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4uW0h.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4uW0h.png" alt="Ultimaker Cura showing all laid down perimeters of small holes in a print"></a></p>
<p>Further investigation of your image shows that you are using a very fine grating (< 1 mm?) resulting in very limited amount of walls. In your case the version is not that important, but the latter information is just left as a possibility for people that use an older version of Ultimaker Cura.</p>
<p>Also note that there is an option to put the brim on the inside of your models (option called <code>Brim Only on Outside</code>), when disabled, this would also increase the surface area for better adhesion.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>There are also option available to start with the outer or inner wall (option <code>Outer Before Inner Walls</code>), but in this case that would not help you as there is only 1 wall at each side of the rectangular hole.</em></p>
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<p>On my Kossel Mini I programmed it to go to the edge of the bed and purge a small amount of filament which creates a dot. I purge enough to get the dot to stick to the bed and then go on with printing, when the head moves the dot stays attached and usually pulls excess material off the nozzle. This can be added to the "Starting G-Code" section of your slicer.</p>
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<p><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/" rel="noreferrer">PDFCreator</a> has a COM component, callable from .NET or VBScript (samples included in the download). </p>
<p>But, it seems to me that a printer is just what you need - just mix that with <a href="http://www.codeproject.com/KB/office/WordPrint.aspx" rel="noreferrer">Word's automation</a>, and you should be good to go.</p>
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<p>open a TCP socket to the LPR port on the target printer.</p>
<p>send your data; as long as the printer comprehends it, you're cool.</p>
<p>don't forget a Line feed when you're done.</p>
<p>(then close the port.)</p>
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<p>You can print to dot matrix "graphically", which is built-in in Windows, albeit slower. </p>
<p>But if you only want to print pure text with simple formattings, you need to send escape commands to your dot matrix printer, which is faster than graphical printing. Different printers has different escape commands.</p>
<p>Here are typical escape commands(for epson): <a href="http://www.printfil.com/manualen/c5.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.printfil.com/manualen/c5.htm</a></p>
<p>This might help: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20051212193242/http://sacpcug.org:80/archives/0306/prc0603.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://web.archive.org/web/20051212193242/http://sacpcug.org:80/archives/0306/prc0603.html</a></p>
<p>What I do in VB6 then was to print to <strong>Generic / Text Only</strong> printer, you open the PRN or LPT1 as a file handle, then print escape commands on the file handle, all escape commands will be redirected to whatever printer is attached to LPT1 or PRN. You can do the same thing with C#, just open the PRN or LPT1 as a file, then print to it.</p>
<p>To add <strong>Generic / Text Only</strong> printer, Control Panel > Printers > Add Printer. On manufacturer, select Generic, then on printers, select Generic / Text only.</p>
<p>You can do the same (printing on <strong>Generic / Text Only</strong>) for Zebra printers which have their own escape commands for printing bar codes, which is faster than letting Windows print to it graphically.</p>
|
<p>The answer is that <strong><em>it depends on the type of firmware</em></strong> you are using.</p>
<p>Let us look at the documentation of <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#G4:_Dwell" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>G4</code></a> to find that <code>G4</code> is valid for all the listed firmware types:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tt7wT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tt7wT.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pause the machine for a period of time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Furthermore it states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Parameters</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Pnnn Time to wait, in milliseconds (In Teacup, P0, wait until all previous moves are finished)</li>
<li>Snnn Time to wait, in seconds (Only on Repetier, Marlin, Smoothieware, and RepRapFirmware 1.16 and later)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It clearly shows that the <code>S</code> parameter (which defines the pause in seconds) is only supported by a few firmware types. Do note that this documentation may not be up-to-date, so it is best to look into the source code or the users manual of the particular firmware you are using.</p>
<hr>
<p>E.g. if you are using Marlin Firmware, <code>G4 S20</code> will pause the machine for 20 seconds while <code>G4 P2000</code> will pause the machine for 2000 milliseconds which is 2 seconds. This means that a different time is requested, to have 20 seconds waiting time you could use <code>G4 P20000</code></p>
<p>To answer your question what the <strong><em>actual difference</em></strong> between the 2 commands is:</p>
<ul>
<li>it is <strong>either</strong> 18 seconds of extra waiting time if your firmware supports the <code>S</code> parameter, <strong>or</strong> </li>
<li>a firmware that skips or chokes on the command because it is not supported (that also probably depends on your firmware).</li>
</ul>
|
<p>If you keep the head hot during the pause, and over the print, you will melt the material already deposited.</p>
<p>If you move to X0 Y0 (like on a layer change) and pause there, you can cool off the head (or not), but will want to prime (advance) some material before resuming your print - or risk an initial void, as the heated material will expand and drip to some extent.</p>
<p>If you move to X0 Y0, retract, and cool off for your pause, you should be able to heat up, advance, and resume with few issues. You will probably still need to some manual cleaning where the resume was, as there is likely to be some buildup.</p>
<p>Also, if you let the bed cool during your pause, your print may become unstuck from the bed.</p>
|
<p>For standard ABS and PLA filament, most distributors recommend storing the filament in an airtight bag. Does not doing this actually make print quality worse? I have left mine in the open for a year and have had no noticeable problems.</p>
|
<p><strong>Humidity may be the problem.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://3dprint.com/68083/airtight-filament-delivery/" rel="nofollow">Humidity tends to degrade filament, making it weaker.</a> If you leave a coil of filament out, over time it will be exposed to humidity. I have yet to hear of this happening over a short period of time - the real threat comes if you leave it out for weeks or months - but it can happen nonetheless.</p>
<p>Contamination with other materials is possible but unlikely. The odds of some sort of impurity developing from nearby particles is extremely low unless the filament is actively exposed to some other material.</p>
<p>In most cases, though, things should be just fine.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I decided to collect the dust and treat both PLA and ABS with chemicals to completely break them down. That solves the issue and I won't rely on false hopes that somehow it does not end up in the environment.</p>
|
<p>Here is the mental framework that I use to reason about PETG: In a nutshell you want to <strong>avoid nozzle contact</strong>.</p>
<p>Unlike most other plastics, PETG sticks to hot brass really well and every time the nozzle moves through material it will pick up some of it. Material around the the nozzle then sticks to a random place creating a blob. It can also cook, turn transparent brown and drop into the print. Investing in a plated nozzle or silicone socks helps but doesn't eliminate the problem completely.</p>
<p>Now to the questions.</p>
<h3>1) Nozzle Distance</h3>
<p>Distance to the plate has to be such that the plastic is laid down precisely without the nozzle dragging through the material (remember, avoid nozzle contact). Precise lines require the build plate to be level and the flow perfectly calibrated. If nozzle is too low and/or the layer is over-extruded then PETG will stick to the nozzle and rip the lines off the plate again. Inspecting the first layer is required for best results. I like to print a layer test pattern <strong>after</strong> the flow has been calibrated and tweak Z offset in 0.02mm increments until it's perfect.</p>
<p>With many other plastics it's ok to have a large amount of "squish" in the first layer as it helps to work around minor leveling issues. This is where the cookie-cutter recommendation to raise the nozzle when printing with PETG is coming from.</p>
<h3>2) Extrusion percentage</h3>
<p>Flow has to be near <strong>perfect</strong>. Down to one percent perfect. Even a slightest over extrusion and some of the excess material will end up on the nozzle when it makes the next pass. Under extrusion isn't great either as this can lead to holes and affect overhangs where thinner strands of a previous pass may not be enough for the next line to stick to.</p>
<p>There are two critical parameters: diameter of the filament and extrusion multiplier. This is how to determine the settings:</p>
<ol>
<li>Measure filament diameter. I use an average of ten measurements over about a meter (yard) of filament taken in multiple orientations.</li>
<li>Calibrate the extrusion multiplier using a <a href="https://help.prusa3d.com/article/d9j1xdg7vj-extrusion-multiplier-calibration" rel="nofollow noreferrer">method described in Prusa
manual</a>:
I print a 40x40x40 cube in vase mode with extrusion multiplier set
to 1 and fixed extrusion width (e.g. 0.45mm), measure the wall
thickness in three spots on every side, average the results and
compute the correction factor.</li>
</ol>
<p>I perform flow calibration for every new roll of filament.</p>
|
<p>Reading your question it's not clear to me if you are referring to <em>filament retraction</em> (which is a configurable setting) or <em>surface recesses</em> which seems what you are referring to when writing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the nature of the print surface, with lots of retracts</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If it is the latter, then the answer is "no". The amount of complexity of the surface of the model does not correlate <em>directly</em> to the possibility of the printer head clogging.</p>
<p>If it is the former, then the answer is "possibly". <strong>It is in fact not so much the amount of retracts that affects the likelihood of a clog but rather their speed and lenght</strong>. If you retract <em>too quickly</em> and <em>too much</em> filament, you risk to have molten plastic being "sucked" into the cold end, solidify, and act as a glue, blocking the filament in place.</p>
<p><strong>This is especially true for all-metal print heads</strong> like titan aero, as plastic sticks a lot better to metal than to PTFE.</p>
<p>However, <strong>with a <em>properly calibrated</em> retraction, you shouldn't experience problems</strong> regardless of how many times / how often you retract the filament.</p>
<p>In general, it is a common misconception that retraction should work as a plunger, actively sucking in plastic that would otherwise ooze out of the nozzle. However <strong>all you need is to just release the pressure within the melting chamber, and in a direct drive (i.e.: non-bowden) extruder, this requires a very minimal retraction</strong>.</p>
<p>Finally: what material are you printing in? The picture shows a lot of oozing for being PLA. If you are using a flexible material like nylon or ninjaflex, you should probably just let retraction alone: the hysteresis in such materials is very high, and retraction often does not work predictably. If it is PLA, I would try to increase the movement and retraction speed, and probably lower the temperature 10 or 15 degrees. As for the retraction lenght, I don't own a titan, but I would expect the correct amount to be somewhere between 0.5mm and 2mm.</p>
|
<p>The up-curling of overhangs is frequently seen when printing PLA or PETG when the just deposited layer hasn't been cooled enough. The residual heat will allow the curling as the plastic has not been fully set (above the so called glass temperature) because of insufficient part cooling.</p>
<p>Knowing that ABS doesn't need much cooling (to improve the inter-layer bonding), you most probably will not require full power of the fan (depending on the cooling power of the fan). You do need a little cooling though, but not for the first (few) layer(s), so keep the fan off at the first layer. Be sure it is up to speed at the layer you require the cooling as the first few percentage of the fan is generally not enough to rotate the fan. E.g. my fans start spinning at about 20-25 %.</p>
|
<p>As the filament in the melt chamber heats up, it's going to inevitably ooze a little bit. Make sure you watch for this and clean it off as the hot-end heats up, and setup you slicing software to print a skirt, which will print a few loops around the outside of your print, separated by a few mm, to deal with ooze and get filament flowing properly.</p>
<p>If it oozes a lot, try reducing your print temperature a bit.</p>
|
<p>Some things I've tried that have helped:</p>
<p>Lay down a layer of masking tape. Most people who do this use blue painter's tape. The plastic should stick nicely during printing, yet release reasonably easily when you remove the print from the heated bed.</p>
<p>Lay down a later of Kapton tape. The principle is the same as masking tape, but Kapton tape has a smooth surface and is more durable than masking tape. The down side is Kapton tape is far more expensive, and applying it correctly is a LOT more work, since you have to use water and you have to keep bubbles from getting underneath it.</p>
<p>Put some ABS scraps into a bottle of Acetone, and allow the acetone to break down the ABS til you have a slurry. Spread this slurry as evenly as possible across the build plate, and allow the acetone to evaporate away. This leaves a thin film of ABS on the plate, and will release much better than if you print directly onto the build plate. I recommend using clear ABS if you can, since some of it will stick to your print and clear will be the least visible. You'll need to re-apply it regularly, since it will come off with your print where it touches the build plate. <strong>WARNING</strong>: Use proper ventilation and avoid contact with acetone. That stuff's not good for you. Also it's flammable, so keep a fire extinguisher nearby.</p>
<p>I prefer the ABS/acetone slurry method, but it requires good ventilation and a handy fire extinguisher. Also note that you don't have to print in ABS to use an ABS/acetone slurry; I print primarily in PLA and it makes no difference.</p>
<p>I've also heard of others using a glue stick or some other surface treatments that allow for good adhesion during printing while still allowing for easy removal.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>What is this called</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is called <strong>warping</strong>.</p>
<p>Warping of prints occurs frequently when you use a filament that shrinks. If the model would shrink uniformly, it will become smaller, like in a scaled version (unfortunately, the print is attached somewhere, which causes stresses in the first layers). But, if (due to the geometry of the print) some part of the model shrinks more, the model warps. It could then bend upwards from the build plate, deform at higher layers or sometimes even crack (e.g. in between layers).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>and how do I avoid it?</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>A high(er) build plate temperature</li>
<li>Not use a filament that is prone to shrink, e.g. ABS is frequently replaced by PETG/NGEN/some other Co-polymer nowadays</li>
<li>Decent adhesion by using everything you can image to get the filament to stick to the build platform:
<ul>
<li>A rough build plate surface, like e.g. BuildTak or equivalent</li>
<li>An adhesive like glue stick or specific sprays like Dimafix or equivalent</li>
<li>A slurry of ABS and acetone</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Use an enclosure to raise the temperature of the build volume</li>
<li>If an enclosure is impossible, use a draft shied (basically a multi layer skirt which creates a sort of a mini enclosure)</li>
<li>Use a raft</li>
<li>Don't use part fan cooling</li>
</ul>
|
<p>I want to fabricate a sample holder and shadow masks to use in vacuum chambers. The type of printing material is not important to me PLA/ABS/PC-ABS/nylon).</p>
<p>I'm worried that 3d printed objects (FDM) would degas under high vacuum. Is that an actual concern?</p>
|
<p>Almost all of the FDM materials outgas even at normal atmospheric pressure, and, in fact, most plastics outgas. Further, FDM and many other printing processes do not guarantee no internal voids - meaning that putting a 3D printed object into a vacuum may result in breakage, cracking, and possible explosion hazards.</p>
<p>For this reason I would focus only on SLA, as the model is printed within the liquid resin pool and should have a reduced possibility of internal voids.</p>
<p>Finding a resin that has a low out-gas rate after curing, though, is still going to be difficult. </p>
<p>For this to be answered more completely, you need to specify your tolerable outgassing rate, and the processes used inside the vacuum chamber. For instance the answer would be completely different if you are discussing an electron microscope vs a sputtering chamber. As a start you might consider companies that specialize in <a href="http://www.boedeker.com/outgas.htm">engineered materials intended for vacuum use</a>. They may be able to provide guidance as to which of their materials might be 3D printed and usable in your setup.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>As long as there is no more information about the printer itself (I searched a bit and around half of buyers were severely unhappy with the result), I'd advise you to make a full check of all of the important parts that make up a 3D printer making ok prints:</p>
<ul>
<li>Are motors moving as they should?</li>
<li>Is the extruder actually extrude filament when told so (do the check "2cm" = 2cm extruded)?</li>
<li>Is the Z calibration ok (<- VERY important, will make tons of weird problems if extruder is too close to the bed, believe me, don't skip out on this one. A blue tape or not a blue tape makes a world of difference).</li>
</ul>
<p>Also of course check your filament (no variations too big of the diameter).</p>
<p>For the temperature, IMO go for the higher for starters (maybe no, see "heat creep" below), you won't be able to bridge / less good quality etc. but you'll get pieces done.</p>
<p>NOW, the image you posted shows a twisted (I don't know how to handle that) or a grinded filament.</p>
<p>When I say 'grinded' I mean that the filament got stuck somewhere (see below) and the (cogged) wheel pushing the filament is so strong that is grinds off plastic from it, forming waves on the filament. Eating away parts so it looks like your photo.</p>
<p>If that's the case, then you should check out "heat creep", it's basically the heat in the lowest part of the extruder (the thing you call a bowden extruder) will heat up the filament and make it melt Above the heat block, making a blob of half melt plastic stopping the forward movement of the filament.
This is usually mitigated by two things, that lacks more or less in cheap chinese knock offs:
* The fan and it's cooling efficiency (the fan must blow when the heat block is hot, even if there is no printing going on. Even if the heat block is no longer heating. I shut the fan off at around 60°C).
* The Heat break: if it's heavy it will conduct too much heat, if it's thin it might work but will break easily.</p>
<p>3D Printing is not obvious or easy, but spend some time and it'll start to work well!</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
|
<p><em>Posted as a wiki answer from a comment from the OP to a different <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/16584">answer</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>The <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/16584"><code>Zig Zag</code> vs <code>Lines</code> patterns</a> was only a part of the problem. The 2<sup>nd</sup> part was that this layer rested on supports only, so the fill, whatever its pattern, didn't have enough surface to "grab on" near the perimeters. If I had switched from <code>Zig Zag</code> to <code>Lines</code>, the air gap would've diminished a bit, but I would've gotten drooping. I solved it with wider, underlying perimeters.</p>
|
<p>PETG works as support material for PLA, see video</p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3lZlyzYJd-I?start=12"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
<p>In theory, PLA printed on top of PETG will be fine because PETG softens and gets sticky at higher temperatures.</p>
<p>Printing PETG support on top of PLA may cause remelting of PLA, but if PETG is kept quite cold (220 °C) the issue will likely be minor. As shown in the video, it works.</p>
<p>PLA/PETG may still be better than using PLA/PLA because of this difference in extrusion temperatures that, for example in bridges where PLA is printed on top of PETG support, should result in very easily removable supports.</p>
<p>The type of supports used should be tested: tree supports could minimize the contact surface between the two and thus minimize marring by the hotter PETG being deposited onto the PLA at the expense of more PETG and normal supports could be used on a limited surface, so they can be removed easily. If the two materials really don't adhere much to each other, you may even be able to fake dissolvable supports, which increase the contact surface but provide a far better finish for bridges and bottom surfaces.</p>
<p>Using a single nozzle may require experimentation. In my experience, I print PLA at 230 °C so it wouldn't be an issue, and 220 °C would also work, but if PLA is printed cold, below 215 °C, you may need to heat/cool the nozzle. In any case, switching filament (especially PETG -> PLA) requires quite some filament to be discarded, so there is time for the heating. It is however to be kept in mind that cleaning of the nozzle between PLA and PETG (or in fact after any material swap) is difficult: some residue can remain in small gaps or low flow areas of the hotend and will be blended into the stream for quite some time after the swap, resulting in hybrid materials of unknown properties.<sup>1</sup></p>
<p>As I said, experimentation is needed for this kind of task: my experience, with a 2012-era hot end, may not even be representative of the behaviour of modern hot ends.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup>1</sup> - this effect is easily noticeable even with similar materials if switching from dark to light color filament, especially if not doing a cold pull to remove most of the material from the melt zone.</p>
|
<p>I have printed kilometers of PETG and found the sweet-spot for my brand to be 240 °C for the hotend and 70 °C for the build plate (for my Ultimaker 3 that is, the extruder temp is 5 °C higher for my home build HyperCube Evolution). The reason for the 70 °C is that the glass temperature of PETG is around 70 °C. The PETG is flexible at that temperature such that there are no stresses because of shrinkage causing the PETG to keep attached to the heat bed surface (aluminium, glass, Buildtak, etc.). A little PVA based glue (stick) or spray (hair or specific print sprays) can even further improve the adhesion. A slow first layer also helps adhering better.</p>
<p>Note that the hotend temperature should be calibrated to the speed you are printing. If you print faster, a higher hotend tempearture is required. To determine the sweet spot for your filament you can print typical calibration towers that can be found on e.g. <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=temperature%20tower&dwh=125bba06b7b88c7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a>. Note that you need to manually change the G-code file after slicing of the tower or use plugins of your slicer to change the temperature at a certain level.</p>
<p>Furthermore, PETG does not like to be cooled by the print fan, so keep cooling fan rpm low to prevent layers not to bond (else you get a sort of string cheese print).</p>
<hr>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>I use parametric stair case style calibration prints that include the slicer print settings that are to determine the best settings for temperature, print cooling, layer size and print speed.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ERWy6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ERWy6.png" alt="Heat tower front view"></a><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wYWOC.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wYWOC.png" alt="Heat tower backside view"></a></p>
|
<p>Advice from another source suggested thoroughly cleaning the feed gear on the bowden extruder. When I looked closely there were plastic flakes all over the mechanism. I used compressed air and a brush to clean it.
I also discovered expert mode in the FlashPrint software, which enabled me to slow down the speed at which fill is laid down.
Now I have good printing results with any filament.</p>
<p>EDIT AND UPDATE::
I have continued to have problems with PLA. For most of the last year I printed using ABS with no similar problems. I guess that PLA is simply rougher, scratchier than ABS and catches in the tube. I found a comment that putting olive oil on the filament fixes it. I used Vaseline. Things were fine for a while, but a retailer said this would lead to other problems.</p>
<p>So far, no permanent answer to this question.</p>
|
<p>I had the same problem printing a miniature just recently. As always, settings are somewhat dependent from the object you want to print, but here are some suggestions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Increase the support density: 15% (8% is very low!)</li>
<li>Support pattern: zig-zag with "connect zig-zag" option enabled (add stiffness to the "column" of support)</li>
<li>Enable support interface (increase adhesion to the plate, and provide a more "beefy" base for the support material)</li>
</ul>
<p>For reference, here's a screenshot of my settings as I tweaked them for that miniature (printed a 0.1mm layer height).</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WNjki.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WNjki.png" alt="complete support settings"></a></p>
<p>("Support line distance 1mm" is the same as "Support density 15%", or at least it is the same with my nozzle size)</p>
<p>If your problem was not only with the "flakiness" of the material, but also with it adhesion to the bed, then prepping your printing bed somehow (with a bit of painter tape, glue, etc... can help. Alternatively using a brim or a raft (as also suggested by another responder) could also help.</p>
<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: all the above still standing true, it turns out the OP had a hardware problem as well, his timing belt being loose (see comments).</p>
|
<p>Most likely, the 3D-printers used on ISS does not incorporate some fundamental difference that allow them to print in zero gravity.</p>
<p>Some people over at <a href="http://3dprint.com/62797/3d-printing-upside-down/" rel="noreferrer">3Dprint.com</a> raised a very similar question, and figured that when turning their 3D-printer upside down and on it's side:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there’s not really much difference at all. It’s quite interesting to see how the orientation has little effect on the quality.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the early 3D-printer models - the <a href="http://bukito3d.com/" rel="noreferrer">Bukito</a> printer - demonstrated that their printer was so portable it even could print on the move, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePU4EEM3JEI" rel="noreferrer">upside down</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, some consumer 3D printers already print upside down, and so they would probably print in zero gravity as well!</p>
<p><em>(That's the short story anyway. Have a look at Ryan's post, who gives a great description of the more intricate parts of space printing!)</em> </p>
|
<p>I have a 3d printer that uses ABS filament. The software I use will generate vertical supports for my objects before printing that can be easily broken off after they have been used during print to hold sharp angles up that would normally fall.</p>
<p>After breaking off the stints, the print is far from smooth. Is there a material that is best suited for "sanding" down prints without damaging the print?</p>
|
<p>I use normal wet/dry sandpaper and it works just fine. If I remember correctly, I usually start with 220 and then work my way up to 400, 600, and 800.</p>
<p>There are also foam or rubber sanding pads available that work really well when you're sanding something organically shaped.</p>
<p>The grits you start and finish with will depend on how rough your surface is.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Yes, with the proper equipment.</p>
<p>Printing wax filament (at 51 seconds): <a href="https://youtu.be/tibkVZB_n9c?t=51s" rel="noreferrer">https://youtu.be/tibkVZB_n9c?t=51s</a></p>
<p>There are also options for melting wax, filling a heated reservoir head, and printing with that. I recommend doing this with a cold ambient temperature, so that the wax solidifies quickly. There's no point in just printing a puddle. :)</p>
|
<p>Mine is more of an educated guess than a definitive diagnosis, but <strong>it looks to me like if your printer may be overextruding</strong> (it's difficult to say with certainty with this particular picture, but your top layers too do not look as good as they should).</p>
<p><strong>I wonder if you have <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/how-to-calibrate-your-extruder" rel="noreferrer">calibrated your extrusion</a> for this particular spool of filament</strong>? This is something that you should do for each and every new spool of filament, regardless of whether you have already used the same brand and material, as different batches and colours may differ slightly in diameter or hardness, and both factors can lead to a different overall flow out of your nozzle (I just checked eSun website, and they state "Accuracy:1.7-1.8mm", and 6% variance is quite a lot).</p>
<p>Possibly unrelated, but <strong>211+°C is also quite on the high end of the correct temperature for printing PLA</strong> (if that is what you are using). Still in the range recommended by the manufacturer - so it should be ok - but you may wish to try bringing it down a notch (205°C perhaps?).</p>
|
<p>First layer rippling is usually caused by a too low of a first layer height (for the amount of extruded filament).</p>
<p>Are you sure that:</p>
<ol>
<li>Your bed is leveled as good as possible, and</li>
<li>the initial height between the nozzle and the bed is correct when Z=0 (A4 paper thickness, when moved should be giving some drag), and</li>
<li>the bed is flat. <em>(This is most probably your actual problem!)</em></li>
</ol>
<p>To minimize the effects, you could try to:</p>
<ul>
<li>increase the first layer height, or</li>
<li>set an additional Z offset in the slicer, or </li>
<li>reduce the filament flow for the first layer, or</li>
<li>install an automatic bed leveling sensor, or</li>
<li>perform a manual bed levelling mesh procedure (if you have Marlin Firmware).</li>
</ul>
<p>This usually helps fighting these ripples.</p>
|
<h1>Printing temperature basics</h1>
<p>Manufacturers generally specify a somewhat wide range of printing temperatures, and what temperature you should actually need can only be determined by trial and error:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The thermistor in your hotend is not 100 % accurate and may have an offset of a few degrees compared to its actual temperature.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Your hotend has a small temperature gradient, the place where the plastic is melted may have a higher/lower temperature compared to the temperature of your thermistor.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>2 is further exacerbated by</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><p>As you print faster, you need more heat. The cold filament rapidly moving through your hotend will cool it down locally, meaning that the temperature will be cooler than what the thermistor measures. Faster prints equal bumps in the temperature up to 10 °C, and for a really slow print you might turn it down 10 °C from where you normally are.</p>
</li>
<li><p>This is a minor issue, but different colors of the same brand and material might work better at different temperatures. The pigments used can affect the melting point somewhat. Different brands also might have different temperatures.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Some symptoms may give you a guide as to how to adjust your temperature:</p>
<h1>Printing too hot</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Small/slow prints may not solidify quickly enough, leaving you with an ugly blob.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Stringing/bad bridging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Plastic in the heatbreak may soften, leading to clogging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>You might burn/degrade the material (but for this you would really need to go outside of the temperature range).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Printing too cool</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Too much force required to extrude, leading so skipping/grinding of the filament drive.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Layer delamination: the plastic needs to be hot enough to partially melt the layer below it and stick to it. Objects printed at a colder temperature tend to be weaker at the layer boundaries.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Furthermore, hot prints can sometimes have a more glossy finish than colder prints.</p>
|
<p>I'm not sure how similar the two systems are, but I use a Stratasys uPrint SE Plus and I've run into a similar problem. </p>
<p>There are two rollers in the head that pull the filament through to the extruder nozzle, and in one instance they appeared to have heated up, melted the filament enough to create two "indentions" on either side of the filament, making it such that the rollers had no purchase on the filament itself. There was never any clog, no material feed error, but it was still failing to print. Wound up having to replace the head altogether.</p>
<p>Again, not sure how similar the extrusion mechanics are in the M3D, but suggest checking the components that actually advance the filament, and the filament itself.</p>
|
<p>Assuming your filament dimension settings are correct and your extruder is correctly calibrated...</p>
<p><strong>Your extruder temperature may be too low.</strong> While 184C can be hot enough, it is very near the bottom of the range for PLA and it appears your filament isn't melting quickly enough to keep up with your other settings. Your extruder may even be running slightly cooler than you think so your 184C setting may actually be printing at 180C or less.</p>
<p><strong>To solve this:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Raise your extruder temperature.</strong> I suggest raising your print temperature to 220 degrees and then gradually lower it until other aspects of your print quality are acceptable (bridging, oozing, etc).</li>
<li><strong>Slow down your print.</strong> Slowing down reduces the volume of melted plastic your extruder has to deliver in a given amount of time. This allows more time for the plastic to melt and allows you to use a lower print temperature</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Your filament feed mechanism may be slipping.</strong> Even if you have adequate temperature and perfectly calibrated firmware and print settings, if your filament feed mechanism (the thing that pushes filament into your extruder) is slipping, you will have under-extruded parts.</p>
<p><strong>To solve this:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Make sure you have adequate tension on your filament feed mechanism.</strong> If your feed mechanism is too loose, filament may slip and cause under extrusion. The part to check is the part the pushes the filament into the rotating hobbed bolt or friction wheel...make sure it applies adequate pressure. "Adequate pressure" or "adequate tension" will vary depending you your printer's design, but it should be enough to provide a firm grip on the filament.</li>
<li><strong>Verify your feed mechanism is clean.</strong> A hobbed bolt or similar filament drive mechanism that has become clogged or otherwise contaminated may cause filament to slip and under-extrude.</li>
<li><strong>Ensure the end of your filament is not damaged from slipping.</strong> Once your filament has slipped, it may be damaged with a worn spot, a bulge, or some other defect that can prevent proper feeding even after you fix the root cause of your problem. So, as tbm0115 pointed out, be sure to clip off the damaged end to make sure you have good filament feeding into your extruder.</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>
|
<h2>Safety first</h2>
<p>I suggest the following handling of resins, some basic stuff first:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>ALWAYS</strong> wear disposable, one-use gloves when handling resin.</li>
<li>Respirators are highly advised to be worn.</li>
<li>Work in a well-ventilated area.</li>
<li>Tools dedicated to resin handling are for resin only to prevent contamination of other tools.</li>
<li>Try to minimize the amount added to the vat, so you have as little rests as possible.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Re-cycling</h2>
<p>Now, what to do to get the used resin back to the cycle? Any resin that has been exosed to air and light, such as having been in the vat is best considered to be B-Quality. You can use it to cast greeblies or bits (aka disposal by curing), as one would do with leftover casting (2-component) resin, but that is a waste.</p>
<h3>Step 1: Re-botteling</h3>
<p>So, let's look at some better ways: first of all re-botteling the resin. We need to take in mind, that the quality of our resin will further degrade the longer it stays exposed to light (and to a lesser degree: air), so we need to handle the resin in a way that allows us to eliminate exposition to either. For this, it would be best to keep an empty resin bottle at hand and label it as the leftover bottle. To fill this bottle, you should use a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=resin%20vat&type=things&sort=relevant" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Jig</a> to keep the vat in a position that it pours into the bottle. You might want to use a funnel in some cases!</p>
<h2>Step 2: Re-conditioning</h2>
<p>Now, we know how to get the stuff back into the (B-quality) bottle. But how to make sure it has the best quality we can? As you notice, many of the jigs involve a funnel. This funnel is used in conjunction with a filter to remove larger particles. The finer the filter, the better. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_filter#Paper_filter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Coffee filters</a> manage to snatch particles down to about 10 to 15 micrometers. It is equivalent to about Grade 4 laboratory filter paper. However, laboratory filter paper of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_paper#Qualitative_filter_paper" rel="nofollow noreferrer">grades 1,2,3 or 602h</a> would allow to catch particles of even lower size, as the mesh gets even smaller, but might clog faster. Tea filters on the other hand have worse filtration ability and should be avoided.</p>
<p>To get the best out of it, use a filtration stack, that starts with a metal mesh filter before going through a rough and a fine filter to get out any chunks and large particles that would clog the fine filter.</p>
<p>It would be best to have this process run in the dark, so mounting the dripping and filtration stack in a box might first sound like overkill, but if you go through a large amount of resin (for example by running several printers) it might be an investment that can save a considerable amount of resin in the long run. However, if you run so many printers, you also might run them continually with the same resin colors and just refill them as needed and only filter if there had been a print failure.</p>
<h2>Step 3: Storage</h2>
<p>Store your bottles in a closed cupboard. It would be best if this cupboard is ventilated through a filtration unit and then outside. It should also keep a steady temperature above about 10 °C to prevent clumping. Just follow the storage manual for the normal resin actually.</p>
<h2>Step 4: Re-use</h2>
<p>Now comes the tricky part: re-using the resin. While technically the filtered and re-bottled resin should be almost as good as new, it would be best to make sure that we mix it with some virgin resin to make sure we have enough photoinitiator in the resin. For this, I would suggest mixing the recycled resin with between a sixth and half of the fresh stuff. Mix the two well to make sure you get the best possible. Make sure it's the same type and color of the used resin, best even from the same original batch.</p>
<p>Use up the re-cycled resin first, as you should consider it's best before date much shorter than on the virgin bottle.</p>
|
<p>I'm going to 3D print a part that needs to meet certain strength requirements, due to its usages. I know how strong a particular plastic (eg. comrpessive/tensile/shear strength) is when dealt with in a solid chunk, but not when it is 3D printed. What is a good way to estimate the change?</p>
|
<p>I use normal wet/dry sandpaper and it works just fine. If I remember correctly, I usually start with 220 and then work my way up to 400, 600, and 800.</p>
<p>There are also foam or rubber sanding pads available that work really well when you're sanding something organically shaped.</p>
<p>The grits you start and finish with will depend on how rough your surface is.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Looking at the infill pattern visible through the tears in the top layer, it looks as if you have unreliable extrusion on the infill layers also.</p>
<p>The solid fill layer is lifted and torn, so it is unlikely that one or two more layers of solid fill will make the result better. In my experience, bumps lead to taller bumps and print failure.</p>
<p>These diagnostic steps have helped me:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Print a 3 layer solid fill version, the top surface should be smooth and free of bumps;</p></li>
<li><p>Print a single layer version, it should be smooth, well attached to the print bed, of even thickness, and a good surface for the next layer.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Given your results, I am suspicious that you may have one of these problems, which I've listed in the order of likelihood:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Partially blocked nozzle</p></li>
<li><p>Excessive drag from the filament supply, such as a spool with crossed filament which jams itself, preventing unwrapping;</p></li>
<li><p>Extruder feed roller slipping (perhaps full of dust), often a side effect of 1 and 2;</p></li>
<li><p>G-code error dropping the temperature;</p></li>
<li><p>Bad heater or thermistor, perhaps intermittent short of the thermistor, causing under heating even though the "average" indicated temperature is correct.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Printing gliders is a cool application. It shows off the weight advantage extrusion 3-D printing can deliver. Nice.</p>
|
<p>The best thing you can do for a large ABS print is to have an enclosure heated to 50C or better. For example, see <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/enclosed-vs-open-printers" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/2ynb78/heated_build_enclosure_temperatures/?st=j6dk32oh&sh=2a550305" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>, <a href="http://www.shapingbits.com/3d-printing-guide/abs-3d-printing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>, and other search results.</p>
|
<p>A tool that you might find useful for experimenting with acceleration is <a href="http://prusaprinters.org/calculator/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RepRap Centrals Acceleration Calculator</a> (at the bottom).</p>
<p>By setting an <em>acceleration</em>, <em>length of travel</em> and <em>target speed</em>, you can see:</p>
<ol>
<li>The theoretical speed that can be achieved during the travel with your set acceleration (yellow line).</li>
<li>The distance required to reach your target speed, and for how long it will hold that speed before slowing down (blue line).</li>
</ol>
<p>For instance, setting <code>acceleration = 3000, length = 30 and speed = 150</code> means it will travel 4 mm before reaching its desired speed of 150 mm/s, while that same acceleration theoretically could give a speed of 300 mm/s for the given distance: </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g13l3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g13l3.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><strong>Calculating speed, acceleration and jerk:</strong></p>
<p>In many cases your printer will have some limitation in maximum speed or settings given by your provider that can be used as a starting point. If not, trial and error is the most straightforward way of doing it. </p>
<p>I would separate speed calibration into three task:</p>
<ol>
<li>First find the <em>maximum speed</em> your printer can tolerate. One way of doing this is to print an object with long travel distances, and vary the maximum travel speed.</li>
<li>Using the calculator above, increase the <em>acceleration</em> for various traveling distances until you get suitably smooth acceleration curves for your desired speed for medium to long traveling distances.</li>
<li>Adjust your <em>jerk</em> setting to allow for quick speedup on short traveling distances. Jerk speed is the speed that the printer will immediately jump to before taking acceleration into account. With a jerk of 20mm/s, the printer will make an immediate jump from 0 to 20 mm/s, and thereafter speed up to the desired speed by following the acceleration profile.</li>
</ol>
<p>As a rule of thumb, it might be smart to then set the actual speed, jerk and acceleration approximately 20% below the the maximum found as a safeguard when printing. </p>
<p>Also, bear in mind that <a href="https://www.google.no/search?q=stepper%20motor%20strength%20curve%20NEMA%2017&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=985&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi74aLL46fKAhVIdCwKHdJbDa4QsAQIGg&dpr=1#imgrc=NbUjFTxiWehyKM%3A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the strength of stepper motors lowers for higher speeds</a>, so that the nozzle will not hold its path very well if obstructed. If this becomes a problem, consider lowering the speed. </p>
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<p>For casings I use a combination of TPU and PETG or PLA. PETG shell gives it rigidity and TPU gives it a bit of impact protection. So corners and inside layers of TPU within a hard PETG or PLA shell (shell has no corners).</p>
<p>I haven't had a problem with either but obviously PLA won't withstand heat very well, so it depends on environment.</p>
<p>For a laptop case you'd maybe want to do it the other way around with the outside shell of TPU and inside layers of PETG for rigidity.</p>
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<p>You will certainly find that the print functionality of a 3d printer is a bit more complex than you suggest. The mechanical portions include a means to push the filament into a heated nozzle as well as the software portion to regulate the speed of the filament movement. You haven't referenced the heater cartridge and temperature sensor, but you will discover that aspect soon enough.</p>
<p>The "air tube" you think you've seen is likely called a bowden tube. Such designs permit lighter weight print heads, which is beneficial for speed, acceleration and precision, but has complications with respect to compression of the filament as well as retraction considerations. Non-bowden print heads will have the extruder motor as part of the moving assembly, with the drive wheels very close to the nozzle opening. This allows for flexible filament and more precise control of the filament feed. </p>
<p>Either design has compromises, so one must determine priorities for the design.</p>
<p>Cooling is also a factor. The heater cartridge is designed to heat the nozzle to a specific temperature for the type of filament used, but also requires a means to keep the heat from traveling to the portion of filament not in the nozzle. You'll discover terms such as heat break, referring to narrow threaded portion connecting the nozzle assembly to the heat sink. There will also be a cooling fan to blow air over the heat sink and very often a cooling fan to cool the filament as it exits the nozzle and attaches to the model being printed.</p>
<p>You suggest to ignore the mechanics and software, but it's important to be aware of both when considering the principles of the print head assembly.</p>
<p>Simplified, filament enters bowden tube then into heat sink, pushed by extruder motor (or) filament is pushed into heat sink by extruder motor. Filament travels through heat break, gets melted in heater block and exits nozzle. Sheesh, that's way too simple.</p>
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<p>Generally speaking, the typical algorithm takes into account the slicer's speed settings for specific features of the build, such as infill, perimeters, top/bottom layers, etc. The distance traveled by the nozzle at a specific speed for each feature is also part of the equations involved. There are some rather vague portions of the nozzle movement based on acceleration and other factors which makes the calculations less accurate.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How accurate is it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not too accurate. My experience with three different slicers is that it's never been within better than ten percent. I believe the various combinations of features of a build are not going to be identical from one model to the next, preventing even a ballpark figure to be created from previous builds.</p>
|
<p>I suggest Blender. It's not the simplest of tools but it is free and learning it will improve your 3D printing skills. :-) (I write this answer also for future viewers of this question so I start basic).</p>
<p>Another answer can be found here, <a href="https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/19772/14005">How do I measure a distance between two points?</a></p>
<ol>
<li>Import your STL file.</li>
<li>Press the Home key to view everything.</li>
<li>Select the model by clicking on it with your left mouse button. (Blender changed to left-click-select as of version 2.80)</li>
<li>Hit tab to enter edit-mode.</li>
<li>Press N (or use View | Properties) until the Properties panel shows up.</li>
<li>Select the "Length" checkbox in the "Edge Info" section of the Properties panel (see image below).</li>
<li>Select "Edge Select" mode (see image below)</li>
<li>Select the edge to measure by clicking on it with your right mouse button.</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9Oi1c.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Edge length"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9Oi1c.png" alt="Edge length" title="Edge length" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ouw0q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Screenshot of toolbar"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ouw0q.png" alt="Screenshot of toolbar" title="Screenshot of toolbar" /></a></p>
<p>If you need to measure the distance between to vertices with no edge. Create the edge by selecting them and pressing <kbd>F</kbd>.
If you need to measure the distance between a vertex and any other point, select it and press <kbd>E</kbd> to extrude.</p>
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<p>When you add a raft in Slic3r, the first layer of the raft prints at the first layer speed. After the raft is finished, the first layer of the print prints at the standard speed. How can I make the first layer of the actual print slow down to the first layer speed?</p>
|
<p>This is still work in progress, and here is what I have so far, but first:</p>
<p><strong>A useful alternative for similar problems:</strong></p>
<p>A problem very similar to this would be to use different settings for different parts of a model in Slic3r. For most settings, this can be achieved through <a href="http://slic3r.org/blog/modifier-meshes" rel="nofollow">modifier meshes</a>.</p>
<h1>Post processing scripts:</h1>
<p>As far as I know, Slic3r does not give you the option of setting the speed of the first layer after a raft directly, but they do allow you to run <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/post-processing" rel="nofollow">post processing scripts</a>; that is, to automatically run a set of operations - programmed by you - on the g-code output.</p>
<p>Although far from trivial, you can in theory make a program that runs through the output g-code, adjusts the settings to your preference, and then saves it again at the target destination.</p>
<h3>Tuning overall printer speed through g-code:</h3>
<p>As it turns out, there is a <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M220:_Set_speed_factor_override_percentage" rel="nofollow">simple g-code command</a> that sets the overall speed of your printer's operation:</p>
<pre><code>M220 S[some number] ; see the link above for compatible firmware
</code></pre>
<p>A <a href="http://reprapworld.com/newletters/newsletter_4_201438.pdf" rel="nofollow">newsletter</a> from Reprapwold explains that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For example M220 S50 will reduce the speed to 50%
of the original sliced G-code. If you want to hurry your print to the finish in time
for dinner, use M220 S200, to print twice as fast (200%)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, just like some printers allow you the change speed mid-print, you can use the M220 command to override the current speed used, either through a user interface such as PrintRun, or by fiddling with the original g-code itself.</p>
<h3>Manipulating the g-code output to adjust speed settings:</h3>
<p>The easiest way to achieve our goal would be to manually manipulate the output g-code file through a text editor, and insert our M220 command in appropriate places:</p>
<ul>
<li>Set M220 S50 just before the first <em>perimeter</em> layer (after the raft's <em>interface layer</em>), to slow down the first layer of the actual model.</li>
<li>Set M220 S100 sometime after the first perimeter layer, to resume the normal speed settings.</li>
</ul>
<p>In order to do this, though, we need to be able to distinguish these two points in the g-code output.</p>
<h3>Distinguishing insertion points:</h3>
<p>Slic3r offers a setting under <code>Print Settings -> Output options -> Verbose G-code</code> that - when enabled - inserts written comments all throughout the g-code files generated. </p>
<p>If one inspects a g-code file outputted for a model with raft, one will find the comment:</p>
<pre><code>; move to first perimeter point <- lets call this A
</code></pre>
<p>and </p>
<pre><code>; move to next layer (x) <- lets call this B
</code></pre>
<p>littered several places throughout the gcode. </p>
<p>It is under my <em>impression</em> that the <em>first</em> occurrence of comment <strong>A</strong> happens right after the raft is finished, and before the actual model is being printed, while the first occurrence of comment <strong>B</strong> succeeding comment <strong>A</strong> can be used to set the speed back to normal.</p>
<p>It should be noted, however, that <strong>the comments in the output g-code does not seem fully consistent</strong>, and I would therefore not recommend anyone to automate this logic into a script without possibly finding other, more reliable breakpoints, and thoroughly verify these through several different models. </p>
<p>I have not looked into the details of writing an automatic script for this task as of yet.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>It is not too rare to create a new machine in Ultimaker Cura to be set to 2.85 mm as this is the default. Also some bugs in the past did reset or assume this diameter unless you manually set it, and unless we know your exact version we can't confirm it is really this.</p>
<h2>Underextrusion why?</h2>
<p>The 0.55 mm more radius result in an underextrusion due to the pressed through volume, and since <span class="math-container">$V=A\times l$</span>, we need to see the area to see how severe the underextrusion is for one given extruded length. <span class="math-container">$A_{1.75}=2.405\text{ mm²}$</span> and <span class="math-container">$A_{2.85}=6.379\text{ mm²}$</span> are rather obvious, so <span class="math-container">$\frac {\text{real extrusion diameter}} {\text{calculated extrusion diameter}}=\frac{A_{1.75}}{A_{2.85}}=37.7\ \%$</span>, so only about 40 % of the needed filament is pressed through the nozzle as the slicer thinks it is almost twice the diameter. This matches well with the 130% still being very spotty, as that'd need a much higher factor to compensate for the underextrusion. A compensating extrusion multiplier would be <span class="math-container">$\frac 1 {0.377}=265.25\ \%$</span>.</p>
<h2>Fixing</h2>
<p>To fix this, check under filament and set it to 1.75 mm so you force the correct diameter. Remember that filament diameter is <strong>not</strong> saved in the <em>printer profile</em> but in the <em>material database</em>.</p>
<p>You might need to restart Ultimaker Cura to activate these new settings.</p>
|
<p>Our local library has a genuine Prusa i3 Mk2.5 that recently had this problem. Because of the number of fingers engaging such a system, it was not immediately discovered that a different profile had been selected in which the Z-hop was turned off.</p>
<p>Z-hop is a feature in which the nozzle lifts slightly (and is height-adjustable) as it moves from one portion of the print to another.</p>
<p>According to my brief research, Cura supports z-hop in the settings. Either it has to be activated or perhaps slightly increased. The aforementioned Prusa works great with 0.5 mm lift.</p>
|
<p>Last first: use of a raft has nothing to do with bed levelling. It depends only on the features/shape/etc of the object being printed.</p>
<p>Now, as to what the auto-levelling does: the answer is, sadly "it depends." A simple algorithm will just find the Z-height of the four corners and apply a bilinear correction to Z as a function of {x,y} coordinates. A really good algorithm would map the entire build plate to some designated precision (perhaps 5 mm) and create a 2-dimensional lookup table to adjust Z over a curved build plate. What your printer's levelling software does is more likely the former. </p>
<p>Why? because if you try to correct over curves & bumps, then you will end up distorting your entire printed object (basically forcing every layer to follow those distorted axes). Far better to have some flattened or "fat" spots in the first layer printed, and then print proper planar layers after that. </p>
<p>Example: I know my bed (AnetA8 aluminum) is slightly bowed, peak in the center; so after levelling the overall bed I try to set the Z-zero so the outer extremes of my object have good adhesion, even if the center region of the first couple layers ends up non-extruding because the nozzle touches the bed. </p>
|
<p>All three of these features are used to improve the quality and success rate of prints, especially those failing due to issues on the first few layers, or due to the small size of the first layer.</p>
<h1>Raft</h1>
<p>A raft is a horizontal feature made as the first few layers of a print, and is used to help with bed adhesion issues, primarily used with ABS. The first few layers printed are the brim (typically prismatic), with the part itself on top of it (with a small separation distance to aid in separation, to allow the part to be removed from the raft). This separation distance needs to be adjusted to allow the first layer of the actual part to adhere, but also for the raft to be removed easily.</p>
<h1>Skirt</h1>
<p>A skirt is a single-layer feature designed to help extruder priming and to establish a stable filament flow for an optimal first layer. They are generally a few passes around the first layer "footprint" in the rough shape of the first layer, but they do not touch the part itself or help adhesion directly (although having a primed and ready extruder helps extrusion on its own).</p>
<h1>Brim</h1>
<p>A brim can be considered a skirt touching the first layer shape. It is used to help adhesion, and increases the first layer surface area (thus having more area to adhere to the bed). Brims are best used for parts with small first layers that fail to adhere properly. They are generally done as perimeters (as opposed to the crosshatching of infill) to be easily removable without damaging the part.</p>
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<p>The Micro Swiss hotend uses an all metal hotend. These type of hotends are more difficult to operate considering they do not have a Teflon liner that shields the filament from heat exchange from the cold end (the Teflon/PTFE tube acts as an insulator). From <a href="https://www.proto-pasta.com/blogs/how-to/avoid-clogs-with-pla-composites-and-all-metal-hotends" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jams and clogs are often from a combination of excessive heat and
non-optimal material flow. This effect is worsened by poorly cooled
<strong>all-metal hot ends, high torque extruder gears</strong>, small nozzles/layers,
slow printing speeds, too thin first layer, and excessive retraction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The bold faced text in the quote sums up what is causing this. A smaller gear requires more force/torque as the arm i.e. the radius is smaller.</p>
<p>The article describes what steps you could do to alleviate the problem. Of all the suggestions, <em>"<strong>Minimize retraction</strong>"</em>, seems a possible candidate for you to look into considering the posted print settings. As this is a heat related problem it is advised to also <em><strong>increase your printing speeds</strong></em>, these are pretty low (30 mm/s for slow and 60 mm/s for normal printing) and also <em><strong>check the cooling of the "cold end"</strong></em> (the fan that cools the radiator fins). Also <em><strong>reduce the printing temperature</strong></em>, 210 °C is pretty high for PLA filament, personally I don't go over 200 °C (note that this depends on your filament, but most PLA brands can be printed in the 185 - 195 °C range).</p>
<p>You have a pretty large retraction specified. The Ultimaker default is 6.5 mm is considered to be large, but works perfectly for Ultimaker machines (read Bowden tube setup). In my Ultimaker 3E which uses all metal hotends, or, in my custom HyperCube Evolution, also Bowden, but with a lined hotend, 6.5 mm retraction works perfectly.</p>
<p>Please look into <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/2632/5740">this answer</a> and <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/2622/5740">this answer</a>. Both describe that the retraction performance is worse with all metal hotends. My experiences are exactly the same with metal hotends, at least the cheaper production ones (I tested cheap all metal hotends, but also ran into problems because of production and design errors, I have not tried the better quality heat breaks/throats yet).</p>
<p>Please lower the retraction setting considerably to see if it has an effect. The Monoprice Maker Select uses a direct drive. Direct drive extruders do not need a large retraction length setting. If the filament is hot in the throat (as there is no PTFE lining that in fact acts as an insulator), too large of a retraction may not be reversed when the filament cooles during the retraction.</p>
<hr />
<p>I think you might be experiencing what is described in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/5968/5740">this question</a>: "<em>Extruder prints fine up until further down the print</em>". <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6469/5740">This answer</a> describes issues of the metal heat breaks.</p>
<p>To comment on your statement in comments above, I am not suggesting you should use a liner in your current extruder. I'm pointing out the differences. Metal hotends are just more tricky to operate regarding retraction and heat management.</p>
|
<p>Note that <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#G28:_Move_to_Origin_.28Home.29" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this reference</a> states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Because the behavior of <code>G28</code> is unspecified, it is recommended <strong>not</strong> to automatically include <code>G28</code> in your <strong>ending GCode</strong>. On a Cartesian this will result in damaging the printed object. If you need to move the carriage at the completion of a print, use <code>G0</code> or <code>G1</code>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So you need to use a <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#G0_.26_G1:_Move" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>G0</code> or <code>G1</code></a> move.</p>
<p>When using Ultimaker Cura (like many other slicers), there is built in functionality known as <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/1131" rel="nofollow noreferrer">keywords</a> with a complete list found <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/blob/master/resources/definitions/fdmprinter.def.json" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<p>The keyword <code>machine_depth</code> is the one that is of use to you, embed this in your end G-code in between curly brackets and it will expand to the bed size of your machine (replacing <code>G28 X0 Y0</code>):</p>
<p><code>G1 X0 Y{machine_depth}</code></p>
<p>For me this compiles to (e.g. for my coreXY printer):</p>
<p><code>G1 X0 Y300</code></p>
<p>To set the speed, just add the following command prior to the one above:</p>
<p><code>G1 F2500</code></p>
<p>Adding this line before the actual move ensures that the speed is constant, if <code>F2500</code> would have been included in the move command (like <code>G1 X0 Y{machine_depth} F2500</code>), this defines the end speed, it would start moving at the last speed value prior to the move.</p>
<p>This results in adding the following lines in your endscript:</p>
<pre>
G1 F2500
G1 X0 Y{machine_depth}
</pre>
|
<p>There are a few probable causes I can think of based on your description. That it only starts happening after the printer has been running for a bit makes me think it's a heat issue.</p>
<p>The first problem I'd check out is that extruder motor getting that hot. It should be warm, but not so hot it's uncomfortable to hold. Either the stepper is defective, or you have the current to it set too high. There is a small screw on the motherboard beside each motor driver that allows you to adjust the current to each stepper. Find a guide for your printer to adjust it properly. You'll likely need a multimeter to do it right.</p>
<p>The current being too high on the extruder could also cause the stepper driver (a chip on the mainboard) to overheat. When those overheat they go into thermal shutdown and will stop driving the extruder for a moment until they cool off enough to resume. If your printer has a fan for the mainboard, make sure that is functioning properly as well. Those chips <em>do</em> normally get hot enough they are uncomfortable to touch, so to check if that's the problem you'd need a thermometer and to check what model they are to see what their maximum operating temperature is.</p>
<p>If fixing that doesn't solve it, it could be the heatsink on your hotend is getting hot enough that filament starts melting there, you can get a clog that stops the extruder from pushing filament out properly, but still feels like it can be extruded by hand. Make sure the heatsink on the hotend has sufficient cooling. After a bit of printing try touching the top of the heatsink - if it's uncomfortable to touch, you have a problem there.</p>
<p>-</p>
|
<p>Assuming you have a high quality printer with a fast processor, will you see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from 16X/32X microstepping drivers to 64X/128X microstepping drivers? (e.g. smoother surface finish). In what ways do they perform differently from the more common 16X or 32X stepper drivers. I'm thinking the RAPS128, Silencioso, and Trinamic drivers vs the DRV8825, A4988 and A4988.</p>
|
<p>You will likely not see a noticeable improvement by upgrading from a 16x or 32x to a 64x or 128x microstepping driver. Depending on the motors you're driving and the size of the load you could actually see a decrease in quality.</p>
<p>Although microstepping increases theoretical resolution it does not necessarily increase accuracy. The reason is that microstepping significantly limits the incremental torque of the motor. This means that you may ask for a step but not get one because the torque of the step won't be enough to actually turn the shaft.</p>
<p>As an example: a motor running in full steps will have 100% of its rated holding torque. Moving to 16 microsteps/full steps drops this to ~10%, 128 drops it to ~1%.</p>
<p>The practical effect of this is that in high torque situations (such as printing at fast speeds) the motor may end up skipping some of the steps. In this way the increase in resolution can actually lead to a decrease in accuracy (smaller steps but they may not actually be taken).</p>
<p>A relevant calculation to do would be to work out what the different number of microsteps to full steps works out to in terms of horizontal, vertical, or whatever movement the motor drives. You can do this by measuring how far the stepper moves said surface in one revolution provided you know the number of steps it takes per revolution.</p>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> </p>
<p>With no microstepping: 1 turn/inch * 200 steps/turn = 200 steps/inch or .005 inch/step (127 micron resolution)</p>
<p>With 16x microstepping: 16 * 200 steps/inch or .0003 inch / step (8 micron resolution)</p>
<p>In this example 128x microstepping would be absolutely foolish. Every situation is different and you should use this information to make a decision based on your setup. Many manufacturers have recommendations on how far their motors can be microstepped.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>A number of options exist, but keep in mind that cost will be a limiting factor.</p>
<p><em>(Small sidenote: cost depends on persective, financial cost does not equal mental cost. The tradeoff between buy or make depends also on your willingness to persist when things don't work right away.)</em></p>
<p><strong>Before you start:</strong> make sure that your printer has enough space to accomodate bigger motors.</p>
<p><strong>So, what options are there?</strong> </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Change your current configuration. If you are losing steps, it could very well be that it can be fixed in firmware.</p>
<ul>
<li>Pro: No budget and nothing to lose.</li>
<li>Con: No shiny closed loop system. (Is that bad though?) Possibly need to configure and compile your own firmware.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>MacGyver / DIY solution based on low lever components</p>
<ul>
<li>Pro: Probably as cheap as you'll get depending on how you choose your components. Might be an interesting learning experience, not to mention the satisfaction afterwards. This could be the smallest build size you'll see in all the options.</li>
<li>Con: You'll need a decent amount of engineering and debugging. Might be tricky to mount the encoders. </li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Same as 1, but now consider using of the shelf stepper motors <a href="https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/stepper-motor-w-encoder?mfp=161-motor-nema-size[Nema%2017]" rel="nofollow noreferrer">with integrated encoders</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>Pro: Most robust option on a budget in my opinion due to the single mechanical piece (motor + encoder).</li>
<li>Con: Integrated encoders have a considerable cost and are large compared to their vanila versions.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Go for <a href="https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/closed-loop-stepper-kit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">off the shelf motor+encoder and drivers</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>Pro: No need to worry about driver configurations too much. Just plug in the numbers or set the dip switches. Very conveinient solution. Pretty much plug and play.</li>
<li>Con: This will already be challenging on a budget. Making a wrong mix and match might lead to unpredictable results such as drives going in overcurrent. (Which, believe me, is very frustrating for your application!)</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>If we are allowed to consider servo motors: <a href="https://www.teknic.com/products/clearpath-brushless-dc-servo-motors/clearpath-sd-stepper-replacement/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ClearPath-SD series</a> (Or any alternative for that matter!) <em>I'm just including this for completeness.</em></p>
<ul>
<li>Pro: Performance wise a clear winner on pretty much any relevant level.</li>
<li>Con: You'll need a big budget!</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Bottomline</strong>: You'll probably want to give the first option a go before spending money. Next stop, you might want to take the second option (you already did research on different specific low level components), and if you have time to spare I'd go with that as well. If you are also on a budget timewise, I'd definively suggest to take the third option with existing driver boards.</p>
<p>The other options are more cost heavy and become real options in produciton environments, where downtime is also costsing money.</p>
<p>As to the microcontroller, take whatever you have available. Just know that more computational power will allow you to output steps faster and will allow for smoother movements. Lot's to talk about there as well!</p>
|
<p>After two weeks of working on different settings in different slicers, I finally have a profile which has improved the quality of my printings. It still has some overhangs, which I'm sure will improve by increasing the cooling flow like 0scar already mentioned.</p>
<p>Here is the profile bundle (for Prusa Slicer): <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nvSK950zlEQtIUIpFnCav5-t5cN3E4HE/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Link</a> or see <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/16297/4762">this answer</a> below.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>One of the things I was told about was that many printers don't necessarily have that crazy precision of 0.05 mm (50 micron). Another person told me something different - he said most of those printers actually were capable of putting out 50 micron layer height. How is it really?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both things you've read are completely correct.</p>
<p>Most printers are capable of 50 micron layer heights. However, layer height does not equal "accuracy" or "precision". The layer height specification is a useless marketing term that you should ignore; layer height is to 3D printers what dynamic contrast is to monitors.</p>
<p>All FDM printers are inherently quite bad at producing parts with tight tolerances. The filament extrusion process introduces lots of variables that are hard to control: the diameter of the filament may vary, there is a delay between feeding filament into to the extruder and it coming out, and the gooey filament that comes out of the extruder behaves in unpredictable ways.</p>
<p>Nobody has figured out how to quantify "accuracy" for 3D printers in a way that correlates with the quality of the finished parts. It is impossible to tell which printer produces "better" or more accurate parts from the specification sheet of a printer.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>that the NEMA17 motor would be using 400 Steps per mm in Z. <code>configuration_adv.h</code> tells that the microsteps on the Z-axis motor are 16.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Easy. There are 400 microsteps in a millimeter, and 16 microsteps in a full step. So, there are 400/16=25 full steps in a millimeter. So a full step is 1/25<sup>th</sup> of a millimeter, or 0.04 mm. Your layer height should be a multiple of this.</p>
<p>As your leadscrew has a lead of 8 mm (i.e., a full rotation will move the Z-axis by 8 mm), a full step is either 8/200=0.04 mm (for a 1.8 degree stepper) or 8/400=0.02 mm (for a 0.9 degree stepper). So, apparently, you have a 1.8 degree stepper (and this is the most common type of stepper).</p>
|
<p>The biggest effect I've see on resolution is due to plastic stress due to thermal gradients.</p>
<p>The higher resolution prints build up more layers of material, and each layer has a cumulative effect on thermal stress. The upper layers pulling up more as they cool, and the lower layers curling up more strongly as the layer count is increased.</p>
<p>To counteract this, a heated (or even just a draft free) enclosure makes a big difference. Having a heated print bed helps significantly, as long as the bed itself resists deformation (a sheet metal or PCB bed will bend more than glass under the same tension, for instance).</p>
<p>The actual plastic strength, however, appears increased. Laying down thinner layers of material appears to increase the bond strength between layers.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>The second motor is hot. And the third is very hot. I can not even touch it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is to some degree, completely normal and expected. From the <a href="https://www.oyostepper.com/images/upload/File/17HS19-1684S1.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">datasheet for a typical NEMA 17 stepper</a>, the rated temperature rise is 80 °C above ambient and the maximum operating temperature is 130 °C (implying an ambient temperature of 50 °C). It is normal that stepper motors (in general) get a bit hot.</p>
<p>"Too hot to touch" is still relatively cold. 60 °C is already too hot to touch, and that's only a 40 °C rise above a 20 °C ambient temperature.</p>
<p>You can reduce the temperature rise of the motors by reducing the current they receive. The stepper driver has a small potentiometer that can be turned to adjust the current, but keep in mind that doing so will also reduce the torque of the motors and thus they might skip steps if you reduce the current too much.</p>
<p><em>Technical details:</em> Note that stepper motor drivers used in 3D printers are <em>constant current</em> drivers, and the little potentiometer controls the current. If you had not paid much attention to this potentiometer, the drivers might all have been set for the same constant current of <span class="math-container">$1.0\ \text A$</span>. The stepper driver would (to achieve the same constant current) send a higher voltage to the higher resistance motors. This would imply a power dissipation of <span class="math-container">$2.4\ \text W$</span> in the Nema 17, and a power dissipation of <span class="math-container">$10.5\ \text W$</span> in the small stepper. <span class="math-container">$2.4\ \text W$</span> in the Nema 17 would only heat it up by about <span class="math-container">$20\ °\text C$</span> above ambient. A dissipation of <span class="math-container">$10\ \text W$</span> in the small stepper, which also has much less surface area to dissipate the power, would heat it up by a lot (and probably, given that you didn't fry it, the current was set lower -- or a technical peculiarity limited the current given that the motor likely also has very low inductance).</p>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
|
<p>I've had my printer for almost a year now.</p>
<p>Is there something I should be doing to maintain the motors?</p>
|
<p>No, stepper motors do not require maintenance. They are a brushless kind of motor, so they do not have brushes that need to be replaced.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p><strong>Humidity may be the problem.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://3dprint.com/68083/airtight-filament-delivery/" rel="nofollow">Humidity tends to degrade filament, making it weaker.</a> If you leave a coil of filament out, over time it will be exposed to humidity. I have yet to hear of this happening over a short period of time - the real threat comes if you leave it out for weeks or months - but it can happen nonetheless.</p>
<p>Contamination with other materials is possible but unlikely. The odds of some sort of impurity developing from nearby particles is extremely low unless the filament is actively exposed to some other material.</p>
<p>In most cases, though, things should be just fine.</p>
|
<p>For the overheating, you may need to turn the juice down a little on your Power Supply. Typically, there is a potentiometer inside that trims the voltage level coming from there. Some things can heat up if it's over-volting and needing to drop more voltage for the board.</p>
<p>For the temperature reading stuff, make sure the thermistor is plugged in all way and not possibly dangling near the hot-end block. I have had that happen before and it will report improper temperatures as it goes along, and often results in the hot-end getting too hot and messing with the filament. If it's properly secured it might be just crappy or broken in some other way and you would need to replace it. It's reasonable practice to have a few extra thermistors lying around as having them go out at lousy times will bum you out.</p>
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<p>Whether you should use a thermal fuse or not depends on what other safety measures you've taken. You can't look at the safety features of a printer in isolation, you need to look at what other measures are in place.</p>
<p>The main fire hazard in printers is unfortunately (still) the fact that some manufacturers use underrated connectors on their boards, and that some users put bare wires in screw terminals or use inadequate torque when tightening terminals. As the wire works itself loose, it starts arcing and burning the connector. A thermal fuse does not help in this situation (unless you place thermal fuses near all of the connectors, which is impractical). Instead:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Properly tighten screw terminals, check them, and consider using proper wire termination (crimp lugs).</p></li>
<li><p>Use strain relief on wires. Make sure wires don't rub against anything, and guide them so they do not bend in a tight radius. Since the extruder (or print bed) is constantly moving, those wires are subject to fatigue.</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure connectors (especially those for the heated bed) are rated for the current running through them, and solder wires directly to the board if necessary.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Using a regular fuse may protect against wires shorting against each other should their insulation be damaged. Fuses are usually already integrated into the main board.</p>
<p>Most firmwares include some variant of <em>thermal runaway protection</em>, a feature that monitors the heaters and shuts the printer down if it notices something gone wrong. This protects against:</p>
<ul>
<li>The thermistor coming loose/reading incorrect values/etc...</li>
</ul>
<p>but not against:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Bugs in the firmware itself</p></li>
<li><p>Failure of the MOSFET</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Most printers use MOSFETs to switch power to the heating element. Unfortunately, when MOSFETs fail, they usually fail <em>closed</em> (i.e. conducting). This means that, even if the firmware detects something has gone wrong, it won't be able to do anything about it. Solid State Relays (TRIACs) can fail in the same way.</p>
<p>To protect against this, mounting a thermal fuse (or resettable bimetallic switch*) on the heated bed may be a good idea. However, thermal fuses with ratings up to the operating temperature of a hotend do not appear to be available so this is not an option.</p>
<p>Attaching the fuse physically to the part it is monitoring is the most reliable, but for instance with the hotend (if you wanted to protect it all) this might not be feasible to the high temperatures involved so you'd have to settle with monitoring the air temperature close by.</p>
<p>Also consider <em>thermal balancing</em>. A thermal fuse is unnecessary if the component can not overheat to begin with. For instance, most MK2 heated beds struggle getting up to even 100C, so even with a shorted MOSFET they present no danger. However, if you have a powerful high wattage (mains-powered) heated bed, you should <em>definitely</em> install thermal protection.</p>
<p>E3D supplies their hot ends with 25W, 30W and 40W heaters. The 25W heater is the safer choice, since it limits the maximum temperature the hot end can get to, while with the 40W heater you can reach higher temperatures (and reach them faster). Barring a very unlikely scenario in which simultaneously (1) the power supply fails and starts supplying excessive voltage and (2) the MOSFET and/or firmware fails, a heater that is sized appropriately to the load it is driving can never pose any danger.</p>
<p>I don't think it's common to install thermal fuses on steppers, stepper drives or the power supply (which should have its own protection). For every possible location to place a thermal fuse, you can probably think up a failure mode in which that fuse would save the day, but at a certain point it just becomes overkill. The stepper drivers would likely burn out well before the steppers would get hot enough to pose a threat, and overheating of the stepper driver would probably (violently) destroy it but afterwards it should not pose any threat.</p>
<p>Axial v.s. radial does not matter, just use whatever is convenient for your situation.</p>
<p><sup>* Note that some bimetallic switches short one of the leads to the (metal)
case when tripped, which poses a danger, especially with mains-powered heaters.</sup></p>
|
<p>A mid-weight PTFE grease like the popular Superlube will work in all the cases you mention (bearings, screws, and sintered bushings). 3D printer service conditions are quite light-duty as far as lubricants are concerned. You really just need to keep everything a little bit "wet" with oil or grease and performance will be adequate. </p>
<p>The main downside to using grease with sintered bushings is that they will likely stop being "self-lubricating" after the first exposure. The grease tends to clog the pores that allow the sintered bushings' factory oil impregnation to maintain a nice oil film on the sliding surfaces. So the bushings will forever-after require regular re-greasing, just like the ball bearings and threaded rod. </p>
<p>In comparison, a light machine oil like 3-in-one will maintain the sintered bushings' self-lubricating properties, but if used in ball bearings and screws will require very frequent replenishment. And that is certainly an option -- oil DOES work on bearings and screws -- but odds are good that you'll eventually over-oil the bearings, get drips on the build plate, and bang your head against a wall trying to figure out why your prints won't stick all of a sudden. Grease doesn't need to be applied as often, and it tends to stay where you put it rather than dripping. So grease is generally preferred to oil if you have to pick just one lubricant.</p>
<p>Again, the most important thing is to keep sliding and rolling surfaces wet with <em>something</em>. You'll just have various maintenance trade-offs with different options. </p>
|
<p>A good option would be to have several reference questions, such as "What to look for when comparing printers?" or "How to select a 3D printer?" to which we could redirect these users.</p>
|
<p>The build surface on the Ender3 is a BuildTak clone. The picture is a bit unclear, but given my experience with BuildTak (clones) this certainly damage because of heat. You can, as suggested before, replace the bed surface, but I do not think it is necessary at this stage. </p>
<p>Normally these surfaces do not get damaged that easily but to prolong the life try to keep the following points in mind:</p>
<ul>
<li>Correct height between nozzle and bed.</li>
<li>Don't let the nozzle heat up/cool down close to the bed (for example after a failed first layer).</li>
<li>When using sharp tools to remove prints be careful nut to dig into the surface.</li>
<li>Don't use too high of a bed temperature (my BuildTak clone once had bubbles forming because the layers separated)</li>
<li>Clean/degrease the bed, although this is more to ensure proper bed adhesion.</li>
<li>I found out that if the bed stops sticking you can revive it by sanding it a bit.</li>
</ul>
|
<p>user77232's points are valid but I have done several things to mitigate these issues on my Anycubic Deltas. </p>
<p>First, both of my deltas have linear slide bearings. If your's has the bearing trucks that run in the extrusion slots this will lead to less precise operation and also is a source of wear over time. </p>
<p>Second, be sure that the end stop micro switches are positioned precisely and that their fasteners are tight. You may also want to use a mild strength Loctite on their fasteners. When operated at high extrusion rates all components are subject to significant vibration.</p>
<p>Third, I found that the universal joints are also a significant source of play. I remedied this to some degree by placing rubber bands across the arms at both ends so that the play was minimized. The rubber bands should be wrapped fairly tightly to perform this function. </p>
<p>Forth, I try to tune the belt tension so that all of the belts have the same note when plucked. There are smart phone apps that will help do this. I believe that one that I use is from Gates, a premium manufacturer of drive belts. Also, over time belts stretch so you will need to retension them periodically.</p>
<p>Fifth, run through the firmware calibration process regularly for both positional accuracy and for filament extrusion and retraction variables.</p>
<p>I don't use my deltas much any more since purchasing a popular XYZ type printer but it cost me three times what they did and it still has issues from time to time.</p>
|
<p>What materials which are <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/materials/">commonly used in 3D printing</a>, are food-safe?</p>
<p>Are there any certifications/grading process for such materials, which can help me with my cross-checking and selection?</p>
<hr>
<p>I have been using an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling">FDM printer</a>.</p>
|
<p>Food safety is a property of both the process and the material. You can't stick food-safe material in a printer that has previously been used to print something food-dangerous and expect the result to be food safe.</p>
<p>The only way to know if a given material is food-safe is to ask your supplier, but a lot depends on how you then process it. For instance, FDM printers often have brass nozzles, which contain lead. To print food-safe materials, you need to use a stainless steel nozzle.</p>
<p>Food safe materials can be identified by mean of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safe_symbol">an universal symbol</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, to ensure food-safety of a 3D printed model you may need to further process it (for instance, by vapor smoothing or coating with a food-safe lacquer). Some claims circulate on the internet that 3D printed models may have surface porosity in which bacteria can grow, but I've not been able to find a reliable source for this claim. Still, you need to be cautious.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Wash-away filament used for support in PLA printing is typically PVA, which is completely water soluble and may serve your purpose. It is easily 3D printed as the primary filament and attaches well to the build plate.</p>
<p>Many 3D printer filament suppliers will carry this type of support material. It is important to keep it in a sealed bag with desiccant as it will absorb moisture from the air, rendering it useless for printing.</p>
<p>One such resource is <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/store/l/175mm-pva-filament-half-kg/sk/M4MJTECR" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MatterHackers</a> which prices a half-kilogram at US$45. The link provides suitably appropriate information:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) is a water-soluble material that is often used
as a support material, but can also be used to print independently.
PVA supports are useful for complex designs where removing support
material manually is difficult or impossible, but leaving the part in
a water bath overnight will completely dissolve this material.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ytSy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2ytSy.png" alt="PVA filament"></a></p>
|
<p>and welcome to 3D Printing Stack Exchange.</p>
<p>No. Not all 3D printers can print flexible material.</p>
<p>The first place you will have trouble is in the extruder itself. Flexible filament will find any way to escape from the confines of the rollers and the guide tube. Any opening will allow the filament to buckle and find a new path. It is common to find that the filament has filled any gaps inside the extruder, and wrapped itself tightly around the drive roller.</p>
<p>@0scar describes this in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6761/5740">his answer</a>. If the extruder does not have tight tolerances, with 1/4mm or less clearance between the drive roller on all sides, AND if there isn't a tube mated right up into the place where the filament is pressed between the drive roller and the idler, your extruder will fail to print Ninjaflex (a very flexible filament).</p>
<p>Oscar also mentions that Bowden feed doesn't work well. It is fundamentally the same buckling problem. There is always a gap around the filament inside the Bowden tube. A still filament will rub at some points, but a soft filament will compress and ripple, filling the entire lumen inside the tube, and greatly increasing the friction. Higher friction means more extruder pressure, so more buckling, more friction, and more failure.</p>
<p>Even if you are lucky and don't experience the run-away friction problem, the flexible filament is more compressible. With a Bowden feed system, that compression must be preloaded at the beginning of each extrusion movement and relieved for each retraction. With direct drive, the filament also compresses, but the amount of filament is much less, so the compression is less, and the problems are less.</p>
|
<p>Here is a great article on the subject, <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/how-make-your-own-filament-recycling-old-3d-prints-part-1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How to make your own filament by recycling old 3D prints | Part 1</a>.</p>
<p>At $20/kg for new material, it is going to be hard for recycling to break even; but, if the cost is not your concern, there are some options.</p>
<p>Here is another creative option that I just saw... Cue amazing electric guitar riff:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ur4H.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ur4H.jpg" alt="Angus Young - ACDC"></a></p>
<ul>
<li>Guitar Picks (and jewelry)</li>
</ul>
<p>Here is the video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42c8go9A7HQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Failed Print Recycling Revisited // Guitar Picks, Earrings, and More</a>.</p>
|
<p><strong>What bed material cools faster?</strong></p>
<p>I found an <a href="http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html">extensive list</a> which relates various materials to their <em>thermal conductivity</em>, k [W/mK]; the lower thermal conductivity, the better the material insulates, and the slower the print bed will resist changes in temperature - both heating up, and cooling down. </p>
<p>Here are the thermal conductivity for some common materials for 3d printer beds:</p>
<pre><code>Aluminum 205
Glass 1.05
Acrylic 0.2
Air 0.024 (for reference)
</code></pre>
<p>There is also the matter of thermal capacity, but I will not go into that right now (need to do some research myself first!).</p>
<p><strong>Will bed material affect cooling time?</strong></p>
<p>Bed material, I believe, is not necessarily related to print cooldown time: it depends on the situation, such as whether we are discussing cooldown during or after printing, and if the bed is heated or not. </p>
<ol>
<li>If you are <em>not</em> using a heated bed, I believe the bed material doesn't matter at all.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>while printing</em>, only the first dozen layers or so are probably affected by the rising heat sufficiently that it affects the printing process.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>after printing</em>, the thermal characteristics of the bed will determine how quickly the print cools (and thus can be removed).</li>
</ol>
<p>Also remember that other physical properties, such as flatness (both cold and during heating) of the bed material is vital for successful prints, and that not all materials can tolerate heating equally well! </p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>One of the things I was told about was that many printers don't necessarily have that crazy precision of 0.05 mm (50 micron). Another person told me something different - he said most of those printers actually were capable of putting out 50 micron layer height. How is it really?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both things you've read are completely correct.</p>
<p>Most printers are capable of 50 micron layer heights. However, layer height does not equal "accuracy" or "precision". The layer height specification is a useless marketing term that you should ignore; layer height is to 3D printers what dynamic contrast is to monitors.</p>
<p>All FDM printers are inherently quite bad at producing parts with tight tolerances. The filament extrusion process introduces lots of variables that are hard to control: the diameter of the filament may vary, there is a delay between feeding filament into to the extruder and it coming out, and the gooey filament that comes out of the extruder behaves in unpredictable ways.</p>
<p>Nobody has figured out how to quantify "accuracy" for 3D printers in a way that correlates with the quality of the finished parts. It is impossible to tell which printer produces "better" or more accurate parts from the specification sheet of a printer.</p>
|
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/4488/5740">EvilTeach's</a> answer is correct, ABS is a more reliable plastic for any kind of work which may get above what feels "hot to the touch." </p>
<p>Just to elaborate on the why: the property you're looking for in the thermoplastic (which will determine the continuous operating temperature) is <strong>glass transition temperature</strong>. This is the point at which the plastic begins to flow, and becomes deformable as EvilTeach described. PLA reaches this state at around <strong>60 °C</strong>, whereas ABS is around <strong>105 °C</strong>, just suiting your specifications. To go a bit further, polycarbonate offers a glass transition temperature of around 150 °C, and Ultem at 217 °C. So there's a thermoplastic for everyone, you just need to know what you're looking for!</p>
|
<p>ABS dissolves in acetone, you could try clipping a small section and leave it in some acetone for a few minutes and if it begins to dissolve it's safe to assume that it's ABS, if not then you'll know that it's not.</p>
<p>This won't confirm that it is PLA, only whether it's ABS or not.</p>
|
<p>Suddenly, my printer has started producing prints that have a very pronounced layering. Normally, the alignment between layers is very good, and the prints look very smooth. Suddenly, the prints have become much worse and the layers are misaligned with respect to each other.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MgWVx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/MgWVx.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>The part on the left is my "normal" quality, while the part on the right show the deterioration. Here is another picture (in which the good part is on the right):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/c1I5Q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/c1I5Q.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>The parts are both printed with 0.1mm layer height, and identical slicer settings/filament. I am printing on a custom-built FDM printer; the mechanism is roughly similar to that of an Ultimaker.</p>
|
<p>It appears the heatbreak of my E3D nozzle had worked itself loose from the heatsink, allowing the nozzle to wobble around a bit. Because the nozzle was still tight against the heatbreak I didn't experience any issues with my hotend, but because the heatbreak was slightly loose the nozzle wasn't properly constrained and moving around a bit.</p>
<p>A quick turn to tighten the heatsink back into the heatbreak was enough to fully resolve the issue. My prints are as smooth as ever now.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Use Taulman t-glase and after a light sanding with really fine paper (optional really, but go for it if you can), spray it with polyurethane varnish or something similar. Check out the article <a href="http://3dprint.com/29292/taulman-hacks-clear-t-glase-3d-printing-material/">here</a>.</p>
|
<p>The properties of the maternal are not what changes after you print. It is how you use the material. PLA and ABS prints aren't usually subject to +100 °C after printing.</p>
<p>When PLA absorbs moisture it becomes brittle. PLA filament will break when trying to print. Your PLA print may be thick enough so that brittle doesn't cause a problem. However, this can be a problem if you intend your PLA print to be flexible.</p>
<p>The main issue with PETG absorbing moisture is the water changing to steam in the extruder. PETG becomes soft and will distort with force applied at +100 °C; so generally moisture isn't a issue with PETG prints, due to application.</p>
<p>PLA and PETG absorb moisture, but do not dissolve in water. Usually what a person means by waterproofing is water won't seep through the layers of the material and leak out of a container. Note: most glass will absorb small amounts of moisture, but are still waterproof.</p>
<p>If one wants a hermetic seal this is a similar issue. One person printing hermetic prints said thicker layers make it easier to be hermetic. Thicker layers also tend to make the printer stronger, but can also give less detail in the print.</p>
|
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbn1ckR86Z8" rel="nofollow">See here</a> for why you <em>shouldn't</em> calibrate your X/Y-steps. The value of 100 is probably better and will give more accurate prints overall than the value you came up with.</p>
<p>When uploading new firmware you generally do not have to press any button. Pressing reset manually is only necessary when your upload method does not provide a reset pulse, but if you upload with USB this is not necessary.</p>
<p>What is probably causing your problem is that the E-steps are stored in EEPROM, and uploading new firmware does not override the EEPROM settings.</p>
<p>You should run a <code>M502</code> to restore the default settings from the firmware you uploaded, then <code>M500</code> to save them to the EEPROM.</p>
|
<p>As a user of an UM3E, which uses Bowden tubes and has TPU as an available material, I can tell you that the kinking issues can be alleviated or downright avoided. </p>
<p>I've printed quite a few things with the Ultimaker-brand TPU 95, and never had problems with kinking in the tube. </p>
<p>Ultimaker uses 2.85 mm filament, with Bowden tubes adapted for those and a rear motor, i.e. the motor is on the back on the printer and not right on top of the print head.</p>
<p>I personally wouldn't consider Nylon as one of the really flexible material, but that's my opinion. Never had kinking in the Bowden tube with Nylon either in my UM3E.</p>
|
<p>Thingieverse does respect the orientation an item was designed in, just like most slicers will. Designers will often choose any one of the three planes (XY, YZ, ZX) as their first by preference, then work out the other parts in relation to the first. This does often not take into account the actual print orientation it should be printed in.</p>
<p>In the case of this box, you'd have to turn all items around the Y-axis (the front-left to back-right one) by 90°, first to the <em>front</em>, then the <em>back</em> then to the <em>front</em> again, getting almost 0 overhangs.</p>
|
<p>Embarassingly, I discovered that the cable to the heatbed was sometimes caught between the on/off switch and the adjacent power plug. So, for high Y values the cable was very tight and the bed could not be moved. Presumably the "knocking" came from the Y-axis motor. The problem was fixed by attaching this cable to the adjacent hotend/X axis motor cable.</p>
<p>Hopefully this will be helpful to others who have a similar problem. Please add a comment if you experienced this.</p>
|
<p>I just discovered that OctoPrint only reads .gcode files for printing (apparently, unless you have a slicing software embedded in it), so I installed <a href="http://slic3r.org/download" rel="nofollow">Slic3r</a> separately, and ran</p>
<pre><code>./slic3r mystlfile.stl
</code></pre>
<p>to generate a .gcode file (in the executable directory).</p>
<p>Then I uploaded the .gcode file to OctoPrint and things got moving.</p>
|
<p>I am working on a robotics project and need to print some gears. These will probably by under a LOT of pressure. Which material/filament should I choose so that the gears don't wear off easily?</p>
<p>PS: Newbie here...</p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong>
According to my instuctor, it has to be some sort of plastic (not metal).
It also has to be lightweight...</p>
|
<p>So, as you say you want to materials for printing robotics parts. And as you have not given any budget constraint, I would give you a list of materials which would help you achieve the task, and you can choose amongst them accordingly.</p>
<ol>
<li>Plastics: Basically used for building prototypes. Nylon Polyamide should be a choice for you.</li>
</ol>
<blockquote>
<p>Polyamide 3D printing is achieved through SLS 3D printing. It offers
strong and flexible prints. The upside of this material is that the
printing technology requires minimum preparation of the 3D file before
printing. There is no need for support. And it also offers the
possibility to create intricate shapes and moving part in just one go.
After the print the polyamide can be polished and dyed.</p>
</blockquote>
<ol start="2">
<li>Metals: Metals like Brass, Alumunium and Steel should be a good choice.</li>
</ol>
<p>But, if I were to achieve your task, I would select carbon fiber. some details about it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Carbon fiber consists of 90% carbon atoms, each fiber is 10 times
thinner than a human hair. Carbon is especially prized for its lack of
combustibility and infusability but also by its incredible strength
(stronger than steel) and ability to create flexible structure, light
weight and corrosion resistance. Its melting temperature is 1500, this
heat there are only carbon.</p>
</blockquote>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>The first indication for print speed and temperature should be taken from the box the filament comes in. Generally it specifies temperature ranges for the hotend and the heated bed. Sometime, mostly online, more parameters can be found amongst which is the printing speed. </p>
<p>Do note that temperature and printing speed are linked, if you want to print faster you should increase the temperature. But, if you are printing small or thin things you should print slower so that the part cools enough for the next layer. Basically, part cooling is then also important, but not all filament types (e.g. the ones with a high melt temperature like ABS or PETG) like being cooled too much. So you have another parameter to consider.</p>
<p>It is difficult to instruct you to print at a certain speed and certain temperatures as it is highly depending on the filament (e.g. also the filament diameter), the machine type/make and model, extruder setup (direct or Bowden), the print, enclosure, etc.</p>
<p>Because of the many parameters affecting printing, it is usually suggested to calibrate the printer by printing a <a href="/a/7346/">temperature tower</a> or performing <a href="/q/8194/">retraction tests</a> to find the print window for your specific setup.</p>
|
<p>extruder clicking means you're getting backed up, grinding.</p>
<ul>
<li>Make the hotend hotter so you can melt filament 3X faster than expected; most materials have quite a range; aim high.</li>
<li>Slow down the cooling fan; a lot of them can cool the hotend.</li>
<li>You have a silicone boot on the nozzle? that will help some.</li>
<li>Use a larger diameter nozzle to reduce backpressure and allow thicker layers.</li>
<li>Try cranking the feed rate</li>
</ul>
<p>Lastly, consider that you simply might not get acceptable results pushing speed THAT much.</p>
|
<p>A couple things to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ensure that your build plate is flat and level. An un-parallel HBP could result in the object "welding" to the raft.</li>
<li>Turn down your nozzle temperature. It is likely that the material is hotter than it needs as it is extruding. This results in a slower "cool-down rate". So, if it takes longer for the filament to cool between the raft and the first layers of the object. Therefore, cooling together in a manner that somewhat binds them.</li>
<li>Personally, 266C seems VERY high to me. I've primarily only used ABS on my MakerBot and have successfully printed with 225C +-5C nozzle temperature and 110C +-2C HBP temperature.</li>
<li>Typically you want to extrude slightly above the melting point. You don't want to liquefy the material, but make it pliable enough to bond it to other layers of material (or a BP).</li>
</ul>
|
<p>I'm adding this answer to somewhat challenge the findings of my original answer, and the premise of the question: PETG does not need lower print speeds, and can even be printed at higher speeds than PLA under some conditions due to reduced need for cooling. You can see this from some of the "#speedboatrace" entries printed with PETG. So what was really going on with the original claim and my agreement with it?</p>
<p>I think my original answer is still somewhat true: it's likely that it takes more hotend power to melt PETG at a rate that can be successfully extruded <em>and bonded</em> than to do the same for PLA. But there are other factors at play in the perception that "PETG has to be printed slow".</p>
<p>FarO did not specify details of the printer(s) in question, but I found the big limiting factor for my Ender 3 printing PETG was the stock extruder, which presumably was skipping bad to begin with, and even worse with Linear Advance, trying to keep the filament under high pressure to compensate for its compressibility. Since replacing the extruder with a direct drive one, I've had no problem printing PETG at the same speed as PLA, and both can print much faster than I ever could with the stock bowden extruder.</p>
|
<p>When dealing with lubrication of plastics, any solvent or reactive substance is to be avoided. Petroleum is risky and Vaseline™ is a brand name for petroleum jelly.</p>
<p>I've had quite good results using inert lubrication such as PTFE and silicone based lubes. PTFE is the generic term for <a href="http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/teflon/teflonv.htm" rel="noreferrer">Teflon™</a> and is quite a good lubricant. There are both silicone and PTFE greases for higher viscosity applications.</p>
<p>From the Teflon™ link:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Teflon's amazing properties are down to its structure. Like most
polymers, Teflon has a carbon-based chain. However, instead of
reactive C-H bonds which occur in most polymers, Teflon has all its
hydrogens replaced by fluorines. These strong C-F bonds are extremely
resistant to attack by any other reagents, making Teflon very inert.
This means that no other molecules will react with or stick to Teflon.
The exception is Teflon itself, which will stick to itself quite
readily, forming thick layers or solid blocks. With a friction
coefficient of <0.1, Teflon has the second lowest friction coefficient
(surpassed only by diamond-like carbon), which makes it perfect for
non-stick items e.g. pans. DuPont invented the non-stick pan coated
with Teflon in 1956 and have manufactured it ever since. Teflon
coatings are so slippery that they are the only material that a gecko
cannot stick to.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Who knew that gecko testing was a thing?</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone_grease" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> for silicone grease:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although silicones are normally assumed to be chemically inert,
several historically significant compounds have resulted from
unintended reactions with silicones.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Powdered graphite is also a good lubricant if one can tolerate loose powder in some constructions.</p>
<p>I've read of others using lithium grease, but not for plastic lubrication.</p>
|
<p>The small filaments you remove that hold the parts up are called supports. The one model I located on Thingiverse clearly requires a number of supports, as the model is not easily designed for 3d printing with FDM printers. It would be better printed with SLS, but that's not the focus of your question.</p>
<p>You don't specify how large you printed the model, but certainly a scaled-up version will be stronger at the weak points. You will want to use sharp non-shearing cutters to clear away as much of the supports as possible, without torquing on the model.</p>
<p>Another option which also reduces the forces on the model body is to use a soldering iron to smooth and clear/cut the supports. If you are able to use cutters and not damage the model, the soldering iron can remove and flatten the remnants of those supports.</p>
<p>Please note that if your careful work has resulted in a model that snaps to pieces, your little brother will soon destroy the successfully cleaned up model just as easily.</p>
<p>If you have skill with 3d modeling software (Meshmixer and Blender come to mind for such organic models), you can add insignificant items to the model to provide functional support. Would the Rayquaza look fiercer if you 3d printed a cage as an integrated part of the model, using the bars of the cage to provide support?</p>
<p>I successfully printed a model that was created by an artist unfamiliar with 3d printing restrictions. The support material was wash-away PVA. I provided the model to the "owner" who washed away the support material and snapped the legs in two. It's sometimes impossible to solve poor designs. You have a good chance if you build a cage for this one.</p>
|
<p>The site is not well-suited to crowd-sourced invention, but the drawbacks to your suggestion are (I think) on topic.</p>
<p>The hotend has two main tasks. Accurate control of extrusion, and maintaining the desired volumetric melt rate. One factor which influences extrusion quality is the size of the melt-zone - generally, you want this to be as small as possible because rigid filament is easier to extrude/retract without ooze/stringing. Equally, the melt zone needs to be provided with a thermal mass (physical or virtual) to stabilize its temperature under extrusion.</p>
<p>Whilst it might be feasible to prototype your concept quite easily, it is likely to be expensive in volume - and there is no great direct advantage. So this is a concept which might enable an area of research but it doesn't look like a development objective with its own intrinsic value.</p>
|
<p>I would like to print edible cookies or ornamentation for a cake.</p>
<p>Is printing with edible materials achievable by standard thermoplastic-like 3D desktop printer? Or you need to buy a special printer to do that?</p>
|
<p>You can, but that doesn't mean it's very easy.</p>
<p>You don't have to buy a special printer, but you need a special extruder (such as <a href="http://www.structur3d.io/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.structur3d.io/</a>). Most of these systems can print anything with the consistency of Nutella. However, many parts of the printer may not be food safe.</p>
<p>Another option (if you simply want 2d designs) is something like the <a href="http://www.pancakebot.com/" rel="noreferrer">PancakeBot</a>. It can probably also "print" with anything that has the same consistency of pancake batter.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Sort of related, see the answers to:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3771/commercially-available-3d-printer-fume-and-ufp-extractor">Commercially available 3D printer fume and UFP extractor</a>, and;</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/513/what-are-the-best-air-filtration-options-for-enclosures">What are the best air filtration options for enclosures?</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Addressing your points in turn:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Ventilation</strong> - Probably not, as you want to keep the print warm. However, when printing with filaments where well ventilated conditions are recommended<sup>1</sup>, to prevent the build up of noxious fumes, from ABS for example, you would need (active) filtration, see <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3771/commercially-available-3d-printer-fume-and-ufp-extractor/4125#4125">this answer</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Filament Placement</strong> - I have seen printers fully enclosed, including the filament. However, there is the potential issue, especially if using PLA, that if the temperature inside the enclosure reaches temperatures approaching those of a closed car, on a hot day, then the PLA filament could become damaged/melt, and not roll of the spool correctly. In that case, you could place the reel on to of the enclosure and feed it through a (small) hole in the top. Feeding it through the side, <em>could</em> add additional resistance to it being pulled from the reel, depending upon placement.</li>
<li><strong>Noise cancellation</strong> - Line the enclosure with <em>non-flammable</em> foam, or some other <em>non-flammable</em> noise cancelling lining</li>
<li><strong>Material</strong> - As Mark states in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4220/enclosure-things-to-pay-attention-to#answer-4222">his answer</a>, be extra careful of thermal runaway, as 3D printers run hot, and an enclosed printer, even hotter. Wood is the sort of material you probably <em>want to avoid</em>. Whilst it is cheap, and would probably work fine in most situations, in the case of an emergency (read, <em>fire</em>), then you are merely providing additional combustable material. It would be advisable to stick with an aluminium frame (non-combustable) and glass (non-combustable and insulating).</li>
</ul>
<p>Additonal Points:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Electronics</strong> - You may want to consider placing the electronics (i.e. controller board) outside the enclosure, as the RAMPS board generally likes to be kept as cool as possible (especially the stepper drivers).</li>
<li><strong>Display/Control</strong> - Along with the electronics, it could be a good idea to also place the LCD display, and conjoint control panel, outside the enclosure, so as to provide ease of access. You don't really want to have to keep removing/opening the enclosure to change a minor setting.</li>
<li><strong>Access</strong> - Do you want a <em>lift-off</em> type enclosure, or have an access door? The latter is certainly more user friendly, or convenient.</li>
<li><strong>Sturdiness</strong> - Do you want a light weight (flimsy?) enclosure, or a heavier, more robust, enclosure?</li>
<li><strong>Safety</strong> - An air-tight fire box could be worth considering.</li>
</ul>
<p>Note: After having stated that wood is not the best idea, it seems that IKEA tables are sometimes used, by stacking two on top of each other: <a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150726-new-ikea-hack-lets-you-create-a-3d-printer-enclosure-for-cheap.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">New IKEA hack lets you create a 3D printer enclosure for cheap</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WYd4q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WYd4q.png" alt="IKEA table"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lBkWI.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lBkWI.jpg" alt="Enclosed Prusa i3 printer"></a></p>
<p>A safer bet is this delta printer enclosure, which is, essentially, a larger delta frame, made from aluminium extrusion and acrylic, enclosing a smaller delta printer:
<a href="https://pinshape.com/blog/build-your-own-3d-printer-enclosure/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">4 Simple Steps to Build Your Own 3D Printer Enclosure</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0g4gg.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0g4gg.jpg" alt="Enclosed delta printer"></a></p>
<p>For an example of a cheap, yet extremely flammable enclosure, made from plastic sheeting and piping, see <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/news/how-to-build-a-3d-printer-enclosure" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How to build an enclosure for your 3D printer</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/o87Je.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/o87Je.png" alt="Plastic printer enclosure"></a></p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> See Davo's <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4220/enclosure-things-to-pay-attention-to/4223#comment5920_4221">comment</a>.</p>
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<p>Yes and No at the same time:</p>
<h1>3D Printing is a subset of Additive Manufacturing</h1>
<h3>but treated as a synonym at this time</h3>
<p>3D printing is a process that takes some material, in a fluid state that fuses with the model to shape an object from it. The material could be plastics, ceramic paste or even metal. The fluid state could be the normal state, or just be present for the fusing process (think powder and resin based systems), or be a transitional phase (as in filament based systems).</p>
<p>Additive manufacturing is just a slight bit bigger: at the moment most, if not all, AM processes are some sort of 3D printing. But AM could include other processes that don't fit 3D printing. For example, an automatic bricklaying machine could, under some view, be Additive Manufacturing, but it is not 3D printing in the traditional sense.</p>
<p>So: All 3D Printing is Additive Manufacturing, but not all Additive Manufacturing is necessarily 3D Printing.</p>
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<p>I've looked into doing something similar to this before and love the idea, never had the chance to follow through on it yet. This is sort of a hybrid method between cast molding and 3D printing. </p>
<p>The accepted answer to a question I had a while back had some very good points by fred_dot_u</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3720/post-processing-fdm-for-strengrh">Post processing FDM for strengrh</a></p>
<p>Short version, Epoxy is a good option but you may have to consider heat generated from it. Urethane is another really good option (cast urethane is a pretty standard process). Chem-Eng isn't my area of expertise but there is a huge range of material options out there that can be mixed as two parts. I think there are enough options out there right now that you can choose your material properties you need and then select the material from there.</p>
<p>You could also consider going the chopped-fiber composite route. (carbon, glass, etc) and then combine with whatever the appropriate resin is for those materials. </p>
<p>I see the most difficult part of this is getting the shells to print properly. When I had looked into doing this, I considered modeling my part then hollowing it out completely. Then going back into the hollow part and designing in minimal internal structures for the purpose of supporting the thin-walled shell model. Printing that, and then drilling and filling the part after the fact. This approach I see as being a good option however the location of the drill points would be critical otherwise you could get voids as your fill material is injected in. And, the additional modeling time wouldn't be insignificant, however the saving I expected would come from having a ridiculously strong part, with complex geometry and be significantly cheaper than even a cast-urethane part.</p>
<p>If you get some good results, please post a link to them! This is a huge interest of mine!</p>
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<p>Sure there is. As you use Cura, you can grab any G-code file (you already have) and use it to set hotend temperature (delete the actual printing part from the file) to get something like this:</p>
<pre><code>;FLAVOR:Marlin
;TIME:102
;Filament used: 0.0573674m
;Layer height: 0.2
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 3.3.1
; M190 S60 ;-> this sets the bed temperature so we can comment it out
; the next line sets the hotend to 200 degrees Celsius
M104 S200
</code></pre>
<p>As every line that starts with a semi-colon is a comment and is ignored by the printer, <code>M104 S200</code>, would be the only line you need in the printout file.</p>
<p>If you're interested in knowing more - look here: <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code" rel="nofollow noreferrer">G-codes on reprap wiki</a></p>
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<p>If I understand your question correctly, it sounds like you're looking somewhere within the <a href="http://reprap.org/" rel="noreferrer">RepRap</a> realm. The RepRap community is mostly responsible for the boom in consumer 3D printing in the past 10 years, and that's most likely because it's <strong>open source</strong>. RepRap designs are mostly dynamic (and most parts can be 3D printed), so you could theoretically build a larger frame for your machine and use a slicing engine that allows you to set the build volume. I believe <a href="http://slic3r.org/" rel="noreferrer">Slic3r</a> allows you to customize the build space, I'm not sure though.</p>
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<h1>Printing temperature basics</h1>
<p>Manufacturers generally specify a somewhat wide range of printing temperatures, and what temperature you should actually need can only be determined by trial and error:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The thermistor in your hotend is not 100 % accurate and may have an offset of a few degrees compared to its actual temperature.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Your hotend has a small temperature gradient, the place where the plastic is melted may have a higher/lower temperature compared to the temperature of your thermistor.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>2 is further exacerbated by</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><p>As you print faster, you need more heat. The cold filament rapidly moving through your hotend will cool it down locally, meaning that the temperature will be cooler than what the thermistor measures. Faster prints equal bumps in the temperature up to 10 °C, and for a really slow print you might turn it down 10 °C from where you normally are.</p>
</li>
<li><p>This is a minor issue, but different colors of the same brand and material might work better at different temperatures. The pigments used can affect the melting point somewhat. Different brands also might have different temperatures.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Some symptoms may give you a guide as to how to adjust your temperature:</p>
<h1>Printing too hot</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Small/slow prints may not solidify quickly enough, leaving you with an ugly blob.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Stringing/bad bridging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Plastic in the heatbreak may soften, leading to clogging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>You might burn/degrade the material (but for this you would really need to go outside of the temperature range).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Printing too cool</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Too much force required to extrude, leading so skipping/grinding of the filament drive.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Layer delamination: the plastic needs to be hot enough to partially melt the layer below it and stick to it. Objects printed at a colder temperature tend to be weaker at the layer boundaries.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Furthermore, hot prints can sometimes have a more glossy finish than colder prints.</p>
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<p>One aspect of having this level of control with 3d printing of a model is the removal of the need for supports and the attendant post-processing. In the case of the model shown in the video, some effects are created by printing the continents in a conformal manner that would otherwise be impossible with conventional 3d printing. Cosmetically, the results of the "5d" printer are superior in this example.</p>
<p>There would also be some structural benefit for models with high organic content, that is curves and bulges, as opposed to orthogonal designs. Even with orthogonal designs, one can achieve stronger parts with cross-layered plastic in all directions, rather than being limited by x and y filament layers.</p>
<p>I see on the web site that one can exchange tool heads as well. One could print a 3d model, layering the filament on all the surfaces, then use a tool head change to a milling bit and smooth the surface under CAD control. Alternatively, one could use foam or wood and mill a model shape to be covered with a 3d printed material.</p>
<p>Considering the relative novelty of this product, it's likely that many aspects of the creative utility have yet to be discovered!</p>
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<p>I would like to print fancy plastic cutlery sets or plastic glasses.</p>
<p>Is it safe to do it? Or bad for your health, if so, why?</p>
|
<p>As others have pointed out, PLA isn't specifically not food safe, but materials that have been printed previously can contaminate the PLA.</p>
<p>Additionally, anything 3D printed is extremely porous. Once a part is used for food, moisture and bacteria will accumulate in the pores, and can never be completely cleaned out, contaminating any food that contacts it. It can't be sterilized either, because the temperatures needed for sterilization would deform or melt the plastic.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Obviously being in a rush can limit your options, but here are a few thoughts:</p>
<p><strong>Quick solutions:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Blue painters tape</strong> (as Carl mentioned) will work directly on your heated bed...assuming it's a flat piece of aluminum with the heating element under it. Your surface does need to be flat.</li>
<li><strong>Acrylic plate</strong> will work but is best with no heat, or low heat. PLA sticks to it. It's easy to cut and easy to find at local hardware stores.</li>
<li><strong>Scrap glass</strong> is fairly easy to find for free and it's <a href="https://youtu.be/cfdrgrOH50Y" rel="noreferrer">not that hard</a> to cut...or buy some at your local hardware store and have them cut it. Just be careful, it's sharp. You can sand the sharp edges (wet sandpaper) to make it safer. <strong>No, it doesn't have to cover the whole plate, but obviously covering the whole plate would normally be preferred.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Better (but not as fast) solutions:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Buy some custom tempered glass.</strong> I like <a href="https://www.onedayglass.com/" rel="noreferrer">One Day Glass</a> because they're fast and very capable. Like Tom says, many many people print on glass because it's nice and flat and stiff. It's also easy to clean and holds up well. You can print on the bare glass with many materials or use various preparations like PVA (glue stick or white glue diluted with water are popular), hairspray, or others.</li>
<li><strong>Touch Screen Glass:</strong> Some people like replacement glass for tablets or touch screens because it has a hardened scratch-resistant surface. I've not tried it, but if you can find one that is the right size, it might be worth a shot.</li>
<li><strong>Specialty products:</strong> There are many many print bed products out there that promise an easier/better printing experience. I've used a few that are okay...definitely better than blue painters tape, but I much prefer my current favorite...</li>
<li><strong>My current favorite is PEI.</strong> Use a 3M 468MP adhesive sheet (it handles the heat well) to stick a thin sheet PEI (also sold under brand name Ultem) on top of your glass plate. I got this idea from Lulzbot and it's what they use on all of their printers. It works beautifully. Common filaments stick to it while it's hot and release easily while it's cool. For other filaments I just use PVA like I would over glass. For material printing tips and settings that work well on PEI beds, check out Lulzbot's site. When it starts wearing out or getting scuffed up, I just sand it with fine sandpaper and I'm good to go for another hundred prints or so.</li>
</ul>
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<p>Ethyl acetate (sold as a MEK substitute) is supposed to work for vapor smoothing PET. It doesn't seem very toxic (it's used to decaffinate cofee and tea, and as a nail polish remover), but you might want to look more into it. There's a post on Printed Solid's blog where he vapor smoothed colorFabb XT and MadeSolid PET+ along with a few other filaments and got some good results.</p>
<p><a href="http://printedsolid.com/blogs/news/37035395-vapor-smoothing-3d-printed-parts-pla-colorfabb-xt-t-glase-pet" rel="nofollow">http://printedsolid.com/blogs/news/37035395-vapor-smoothing-3d-printed-parts-pla-colorfabb-xt-t-glase-pet</a></p>
<p>The links in the blog don't work for me, but google was able to find slightly larger versions:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-20-18.38.04-1024x613.jpg?16147388421280943481" rel="nofollow">https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-20-18.38.04-1024x613.jpg?16147388421280943481</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-21-18.16.28-1024x612.jpg?9543779874607042697" rel="nofollow">https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0887/0138/files/blog_2014-03-21-18.16.28-1024x612.jpg?9543779874607042697</a></p>
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<p>ABS dissolves in acetone, you could try clipping a small section and leave it in some acetone for a few minutes and if it begins to dissolve it's safe to assume that it's ABS, if not then you'll know that it's not.</p>
<p>This won't confirm that it is PLA, only whether it's ABS or not.</p>
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<p>Some things I've tried that have helped:</p>
<p>Lay down a layer of masking tape. Most people who do this use blue painter's tape. The plastic should stick nicely during printing, yet release reasonably easily when you remove the print from the heated bed.</p>
<p>Lay down a later of Kapton tape. The principle is the same as masking tape, but Kapton tape has a smooth surface and is more durable than masking tape. The down side is Kapton tape is far more expensive, and applying it correctly is a LOT more work, since you have to use water and you have to keep bubbles from getting underneath it.</p>
<p>Put some ABS scraps into a bottle of Acetone, and allow the acetone to break down the ABS til you have a slurry. Spread this slurry as evenly as possible across the build plate, and allow the acetone to evaporate away. This leaves a thin film of ABS on the plate, and will release much better than if you print directly onto the build plate. I recommend using clear ABS if you can, since some of it will stick to your print and clear will be the least visible. You'll need to re-apply it regularly, since it will come off with your print where it touches the build plate. <strong>WARNING</strong>: Use proper ventilation and avoid contact with acetone. That stuff's not good for you. Also it's flammable, so keep a fire extinguisher nearby.</p>
<p>I prefer the ABS/acetone slurry method, but it requires good ventilation and a handy fire extinguisher. Also note that you don't have to print in ABS to use an ABS/acetone slurry; I print primarily in PLA and it makes no difference.</p>
<p>I've also heard of others using a glue stick or some other surface treatments that allow for good adhesion during printing while still allowing for easy removal.</p>
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<h2>First; find a model!</h2>
<p>To print something you require a <strong>model</strong> (usually this is in STL format, look into websites called <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a> and <a href="https://www.myminifactory.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MyMiniFactory</a> for examples). Once you have a model file, you need to make it readable for the printer firmware.</p>
<p>If you can't find suitable model, then you need to design a model yourself (or ask someone to do it for you) or adjust an existing model to suit your needs. "<a href="/q/740/">Good (preferably free) Beginner Software for Part Creation?</a>" is a good place to start.</p>
<h2>Second; use slicer software</h2>
<p>For a printer to be able to print the model, the model needs to be sliced into layers. These layers need to be printed at specific speeds, temperatures, etc. Search online and look at the filament packaging (usually the ideal temperatures are on the packaging) to find the ideal temperature for your filament. If you are not using the right temperatures, your print will most likely fail. Programs that are able to slice models are called <strong>slicers</strong>. The most popular free (and Windows compatible) slicers are <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Cura</a> and <a href="https://slic3r.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a> (or its <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/slic3r-prusa-edition/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa distribution</a>).</p>
<p>The slicer produces a printer readable file called a G-code file (file filled with printer instructions for e.g. movement and heating). This G-code file can be sent to the printer using specific printer software (e.g. OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, etc.) but more common or simple is to put the G-code file on an SD card and print the file using the print menu on the printer LCD.</p>
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<p>Neither your thermistor nor your heater cartridge should ever be capable of becoming loose from your hotend, let alone the fact it's capable of reaching 800 °C before your printer even notices (This is a massive issue in itself!!!)</p>
<p>Silicone socks are safe, unless you're printing materials with extremely high melting points, which is <em>usually</em> never.</p>
<p>If you're concerned it's going to autoignite mid-print, you have much bigger issues surrounding your hotend than a silicone sock.</p>
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<p>There are a few options.</p>
<ol>
<li>Machines are available which grind the used plastic into fine pieces, melt it down, and extrude it as filament to be reused. <a href="http://www.filabot.com/">Filabot</a> is perhaps the most well known.</li>
<li>Depending on where you live the local recycling programs may accept PLA or ABS. They will then shred it and melt it down for reuse.</li>
<li>PLA is bio-degradable so you can put it in the compost.</li>
<li>I put scrap ABS in acetone which results in a slurry which can be used as a glue to attach ABS parts, fix cracks, and hold parts to the bed.</li>
</ol>
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<p>In my slicing software (Slic3r) some of the vertices/walls of my model seem to have disappeared, so that the inside of the model - which should be solid - is visible, while the surface appears as a thin shell.</p>
<p>Why does this happen? Is it still safe to export the model for printing?</p>
|
<p>My understanding is that this occurs when the object is not a true solid. Since an STL holds the triangulation of each face and spline, the slicing engine is not "smart" enough to determine if there is a gap in the model and therefore if it should be filled in and how. When the slicer encounters a gap, it will either treat the endpoint as the end of the feature or navigate to the next point on the layer, resulting in either gaps in the print or extra inclusions that don't make sense.</p>
<p>I've noticed that my models will fail as a true solid when I use complex solid tools such as Union, Subtract, and Trim. A lot of times there will be a rounding error in how these tools interact with the solid model that will result in a small (sometimes not very small) gap in the outer shell of the solid model. When exported to an STL, the gap is retained.</p>
<p>@kareem mentioned it in their answer, but Microsoft does provide online tool(s) for 3D Printing including a solid repair tool. Use <a href="https://tools3d.azurewebsites.net/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Microsoft 3D Tools</a> to upload your STL and try to automatically detect and fix issues with your file(s).</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Depending on what kind of printer you have, the build table origin and slicer origin (0,0) are usually either the front left corner, or the center of the build plate. This can be changed by the end-user in most open-source printers. There is no standard or requirement for a particular origin location. The important thing is merely that the slicer and printer coordinate systems match, so parts actually come out where your slicer thinks they should. </p>
<p>In practice, it's usually quite easy to tell what's "front" in your slicer's build volume. When you open the program, the bed usually appears as it does when you stand in front of your printer. It is rarely an issue. </p>
<p>In terms of difficulty removing prints from the bed, a removable build plate is an excellent solution. Plastic has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than most build plate materials (like glass), so throwing the print+plate in your freezer will generate large separation forces and help remove the part for you. Non-removable build surfaces are a deal-breaker for most serious 3D printer users I know. Either don't buy such a printer, or add a removable plate yourself. </p>
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<p>People like PLA for dimensional accuracy. It's disadvantage is it becomes brittle, which can be an issue especially with thin prints if the application tends to bend it (applying force). Working with settings and with a 0.4 mm nozzle, typical for most printers using PLA, you can print walls as thin as 1 mm, but strength may be an issue.</p>
<p>To prevent warping, you need the PLA to stick to the build surface; something like a PEI tape surface. glue stick, or hair spray. Slowing down the print speed decreases warping. With a heated bed, you can print you first layer hotter (e.g. 75 °C) so that the PLA sticks well to the build surface, then use a lower temperature for subsequent layers (e.g. 60-65 °C) so that the PLA is stiffer. A level bed is also important to prevent warping. Using a brim also helps prevent warping.</p>
<p>Your print orientation is good for the print accuracy of your curved ends, but not as good for keeping a perfect circular shape of your holes. However, the smaller the holes the better the circular shape as long as they are large enough to print with your printer.</p>
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<p>Answer was moved to this question: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/147/which-are-the-food-safe-materials-and-how-do-i-recognize-them">Which are the food-safe materials and how do I recognize them?</a></p>
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<p>OK, after going via all the options I found that CURA has a combing mode which reduces retraction and offers another option which is <code>Avoid Printed Parts When Traveling</code>.</p>
<p>That solves my problem.</p>
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<p>A close inspection of what happened when printing the first layer resulted in this:</p>
<ul>
<li>The missing steps on the new print came from the nozzle scraping too close to the print surface, which lead to no first layer</li>
<li>Readjusting the Z-axis end stop, which had moved down, resulted in no more lost steps, but the print not sticking for the first test.</li>
<li><p>Releveling the bed and making sure the bar was parallel to the bed resulted in a perfect first layer.</p></li>
<li><p>Lost steps and under-extrusion could not be replicated after 48 hours of <em>rest</em> for the printer.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I have no idea why the print had failed due to under-extrusion <em>during</em> the print, but apparently, my immediate tests were flawed enough to not detect the first layer height resulting in getting almost no extrusion. This I mistook for massive under-extrusion, making me believe something else was at fault.</p>
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<p>As Oscar commented, check the tail end of your gcode files. Most slicing software includes commands to move the head to x=0,y=0 at the very least. I am a bit surprised that your files don't appear to have this, since Cura does apply said code. </p>
<p>Possiblly there's something lacking in your printer's firmware and it doesn't recognize some of the gcode commands.</p>
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<p>So you are printing at 80 mm/s speed * 0.3 mm layer height * something about 0.5 mm line width, which is about 12 mm<sup>3</sup>/s which is likely too much for many printers.</p>
<p>Try keeping linear speed at 60 mm/s and, if you have a 0.4 mm nozzle, never go above 0.24 mm layer thickness if you care about strength.</p>
<p>That will likely solve your problem.</p>
<p>If you want to go further, try to print <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:35088" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this test piece</a> at 210-220-230 °C (if you notice the walls are not nice anymore, increase cooling). Change ONLY the temperature.</p>
<p>Try then to break them and see which one is the strongest. PLA can be quite strong but not at 210 °C, it's too low. I can tell you that you will likely need 220-225 °C to squeeze every possible strength from PLA.</p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mwS_2R2mIvo?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M3bwJx8ZkMA?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div></p>
|
<p>I'm interested in designing & 3D printing as a hobby (e.g. printing chess sets, small toys for family etc.)</p>
<p>Conducting a Google search has brought up a range of small, cheap printers, but beyond that I don't know how to differentiate them.</p>
<p>E.g. selling points include:</p>
<ul>
<li>"liquid light-sensitive resin"</li>
<li>"partially assembled" with "very few parts and minor configuration"</li>
<li>"Wi-Fi enabled"</li>
</ul>
<p>My question is, <strong>which features are going to benefit a small-scale, new enthusiast to 3D printing?</strong></p>
<p>PS. The software I intend to use is Windows 10 3D design</p>
<p>PPS. I'm not a graphic designer by any means, just a new enthusiast.</p>
|
<p>Here are few things to consider from my point of view</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing technology</strong></p>
<p>The first thing that you need to take into account is printing technology. The most common[citation needed] right now is Fused Filament Fabrication. "Liquid light-sensitive resin" is being used in Stereolitography and Digital Light Processing - the SLA printers I found are less common and more expensive than FFF ones.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Price</strong></p>
<p>Need to decide on budget. You can buy printer for 60k USD and 400 USD. Quality is somehow linked to price but that's not a rule. You can buy a shitty printer for a lot of money.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing area</strong></p>
<p>Bigger allows you to print bigger things. You need to ask yourself how big things you really want to print. Remember that 3d printing is quite slow process - how often you will want to print big things that will take 60hrs+ to finish?</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Printing materials</strong></p>
<p>What kind of materials you want to print with? Some materials will need higher temperatures so check the max hot-end temperature, some will require heated bed.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Assembled or DIY kit</strong></p>
<p>You can usually get kits for self-assembly cheaper than Ready-To-Print machines. However, it will require additional skills (i.e. soldering), tools and time to assemble. I am not sure if I would buy DIY kit for commercial use, but as an enthusiast I immensely enjoyed putting my Rostock Max together.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Reviews and reputation</strong></p>
<p>It is generally safe to buy printer that already has some users. Beware of new magical Kickstarter printers which will "change the 3d printing forever".
Reddit /r/3dprinting suggests that your new printer should meet 3 criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>Printer passes the youtube test - has lots of youtube evidence that this particular printer is working.</li>
<li>Printer is out of the pre-order phase. This means that all pre-orders have been delivered.</li>
<li>Printer has a reputation of working well among current users.</li>
</ul>
<p>I found it to be a very good set of rules.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Upgrade capabilities</strong></p>
<p>That's very user-dependent, but this point is very important to me. I want to be able to change and improve certain parts of my printer. Check if you can switch the extruder, replace the hot-end etc. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Support</strong></p>
<p>I think one of the most important points. See if you can find a forum for your printer and how active community is. It will be immensely helpful if something goes wrong (and it will).
Also, company support is very important. What will happen if you need a replacement part or your printer will stop working altogether?</p>
<hr>
<p>This list is definitely not complete.
There are many more things that might be taken into account like configuration (delta or XY), multiple extruders, closed cases etc.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p><strong>GCode flavor</strong>: the firmware your machine uses. Google tells me CR-10 uses Marlin, so you should select that. Volumetric Marlin is not very common.</p>
<p>Print Head Settings
<strong>X/Y min/max</strong> define the bounding box of the area your print head takes up. Measure the distance from the centre of the nozzle to the left-most point of the print head and do the same for the right-most, front-most and back-most.</p>
<p><strong>Gantry Height</strong> is the distance from the tip of the nozzle to the lowest point of the gantry, which is the axle on which the print head is mounted.</p>
<p>These print head settings are only used for one-at-a-time printing.</p>
|
<p>All commonly used slicers (e.g., Cura, Slic3r, Simplify3D,...) give an estimation of the print time.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cPaM6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cPaM6.png" alt="Example of print time estimation in Cura"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2D5tZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2D5tZ.png" alt="Example of print time estimation in Simplify3D"></a></p>
|
<p>As I learned after <a href="https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/138945/polymerisation-of-a-uv-curing-resin">asking about the chemistry of a 3D printing Resin</a>, the material uses radical polymerisation to get a well connected, branched copolymer. It is comparable to resin cast material but more brittle. So let's look, <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6723/what-glues-for-pla">akin to the PLA-gluing question</a>, what we can do!</p>
<h2>Step 0: Safety First!</h2>
<p>Some of these methods are working with chemicals that can irritate the skin (resins, cyanoacrylate) or have irritating or flamagle fumes (heated cyanoacrylate).</p>
<p><strong>Use proper protection</strong> when working with these! Eye protection and respiratory protection, as well as gloves, are to be used when necessary. Read the manual of the products you are working with!</p>
<h2>Preparations</h2>
<p>For most glues, it is advisable to prepare the surface: very lightly sand it to increase the surface area, don't touch the prints with bare hands to prevent fingerprints etc. Follow the manual!</p>
<h2>Glues</h2>
<p>As a result of the chemistry I would suggest the following glues:</p>
<ul>
<li>The resin itself! Carefully applying a thin layer of the printing resin onto the cured parts and then pressing the parts together before letting it cure again will get you a good bond that might not even be visible as you have exactly the same material. Note though, that you might be able to assemble the part between washing and curing for absolute minimal visibility of the gluing surface and maximum bonding. Also note, that for a non-transparent resin (fully opaque to 400 nm light) you'd better look for a different gluing system, as the bond will be much weaker if it can harden only at the edge.</li>
<li>Cyanoacrylate, aka Superglue. This glue is pretty much a one-serves-all, though it might cloud your surface. Also, not all superglues are the same, and some might work better than others or store differently.
<ul>
<li>Together with talcum powder, CA glue can fill gaps easily.</li>
<li>CA is not stable under heating and when heated too much, if breaks apart into a rather noxious fume!</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>2-phase epoxy or <a href="http://www.adhesives.org/adhesives-sealants/adhesives-sealants-overview/adhesive-technologies/chemically-curing/two-component-(2-c)/urethane-adhesives" rel="nofollow noreferrer">polyurethane</a>. Another <em>glues everything</em> category, that should work rather well. The epoxy bonds are harder, the polyurethane ones are a little more flexible, but both bond very well with cured resin. As resin prints don't really deform under heat, you might take even faster-curing types.</li>
<li>2-phase Putty - in a similar vein come 2-phase putties like <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/en-FI/Green-Stuff" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Green Stuff</a> or <a href="https://www.milliput.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Miliputt</a>, which harden after mixing. Their heat generation isn't too big and they allow to fill gaps easily. My favorite stuff though is not the expensive modeling putty but the stuff from the home depot: stuff like <a href="http://www.pattex.de/do-it-yourself-mit-pattex-klebstoffe-produkte-new/pattex-klebstoffe/reparaturkleber/repair-express.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pattex Repair</a><sup>sorry, no English site for this</sup> or <a href="http://www.uhu.com/en/products/epoxy-adhesives-2-component/detail/uhu-repair-all-powerkitt-1.html?cHash=e0f929a3ec974e591e89c5e1987a30ab&step=70" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UHU Repair All Powerkitt</a> harden within an hour, are surprisingly cheap and get a smooth surface.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Other methods?</h2>
<p>Unlike PLA, we can <strong>not</strong> use thermic methods to add inserts, friction-weld or weld/solder two parts together as <strong>Resin prints are generally not thermoplastic.</strong></p>
|
<p>I must admit, I've never printed a key...but I think I can help anyway:</p>
<p><strong>Print method:</strong>
Consider printing on side, solid concentric infill. Or, if you can't manipulate your infill pattern, just increase the perimeter so you get the same effect, several continuous perimeter layers around the outline of the key.</p>
<p><strong>Print material:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Elongation before break is important here in addition to tensile strength...you need it to be stiff enough, but not brittle. </li>
<li><strong>ABS, PLA, or HIPS:</strong> Not likely to be successful...but maybe.</li>
<li><strong>PETG and PETG based filaments like T-Glase, N-Vent, nGen, INOVA-1800:</strong> A little better, but still likely to deform and/or break.
<ul>
<li><strong>Polycarbonate:</strong> Great for this, but is a fairly advanced material which tends to require pre-drying, enclosures, and PVA for hold down as well as a hot end that can handle at least 290C.</li>
<li><strong>Nylons:</strong> Good, but most Nylons may be more "bendy" than you want for this.</li>
<li><strong>Taulman's Alloy 910:</strong> Bingo. This should work nicely if you'd rather not struggle with printing polycarbonate. Alloy 910 prints near ABS settings, sticks well on a PVA-treated heated bed. (I use 85C for bed)</li>
<li>I would not suggest a CF filled filament for this because they tend to be brittle. <strong>Matter Hacker's NylonX</strong> with CF is a possible exception since it's nylon based, but I haven't tested it...yet. </li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
|
<p>Your choice of firmware depends on a lot of factors, but to name a few important ones: features, your driver board (RAMPS vs Sanguinololu vs Gen..etc), and G-code support.</p>
<p>Smooth/quiet operation is dependent on the motors and the driver chip's micro-stepping capabilities. The way the firmware interfaces with the driver chip plays a very minor factor in that.</p>
<p>Check this page for a list of firmware, their capabilities and compatible electronics (driver board):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.reprap.org/wiki/List_of_Firmware" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.reprap.org/wiki/List_of_Firmware</a></p>
<p>Would be useful to check G-code support of various firmwares also:</p>
<p><a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code</a></p>
<p>Also, as a note, a lot of the community uses Marlin, but for a lot of the commercial printers, the code has been modified slightly to fit their needs. </p>
<p>There is no perfect answer to this. Check the links and compare against your needs. Marlin is the safest bet since it has the most support, though you may need to modify or reconfigure it slightly for your custom board.</p>
|
<p>Yes, you can print most of the parts (electronics, linear guide rails, ball bearings and nuts and bolts, etc cannot be printed). Actually this was exactly the purpose of <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap" rel="noreferrer">RepRap.org</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>RepRap is humanity's first general-purpose self-replicating
manufacturing machine.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Since many parts of RepRap are made from plastic and RepRap prints
those parts, RepRap self-replicates by making a kit of itself - a kit
that anyone can assemble given time and materials.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There have been attempts in the past to even replicate the frames of printers (e.g. <a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/dollo-3d-printer-kickstarter/amp/" rel="noreferrer">Dollo 3D</a> or <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=2ahUKEwiDrK3Ew8nfAhWBEVAKHcT8CKYQwqsBMAN6BAgLEAU&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov" rel="noreferrer">Snappy</a>, but such designs are not very successful, printed frames are more flexible than metal frames.</p>
<hr>
<p><sub><em>I have built 2 custom printers myself using other printers to print parts and printed all printer parts for several others. It is possible to print <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2476782" rel="noreferrer">your own linear bearings from POM</a>, I prefer these over the noisy metal bearings.</em>
</sub></p>
|
<p>The short answer is, you use the temps and speeds that give you good results. It's trial and error. </p>
<p>The temperature number your printer reports really doesn't matter. That's just a process control variable: it needs to be consistent and repeatable, but it doesn't need to be accurate against an independent reference. What you should care about is your print results. </p>
<p>Some signs your printing temp is too cold:</p>
<ul>
<li>PLA printed parts have a dull, matte surface</li>
<li>Poor layer adhesion</li>
<li>Extruder stalls or strips the filament at fairly low printing speeds for your extruder and nozzle size</li>
</ul>
<p>Some signs your printing temp is too hot:</p>
<ul>
<li>PLA printed parts have a very shiny surface</li>
<li>PLA has a very strong sugary/waffle smell, or any material smells burnt</li>
<li>Stringiness during travel moves that you can't eliminate by tuning retraction</li>
<li>Excessive oozing while the nozzle is stationary off the print</li>
<li>Bubbles or cloudiness in extruded strands in extruded strands even with dry filament</li>
</ul>
<p>You will also calibrate speeds via trial and error. There are two main speed limits for a printer: how fast the motion mechanism can move the nozzle without running into issues or unacceptable print quality degradation (which is also a function of acceleration settings), and how fast the hot end can heat up and melt filament. </p>
<p>The mechanism speed limits you have to find via trial and error. Pick a test print you like (such as Benchy) and repeat it with different tuning until you find your preferred limits.</p>
<p>Melt flow restrictions are slightly more complex, because they are a function of VOLUME flow rate, not commanded speeds. Make a large boxy test print (with long straight lines) and multiply extrusion width times layer height times feedrate. That will give you your approximate flow rate in mm<sup>3</sup>/sec. Generally speaking, every extruder + hot end + material combo will have a maximum feasible flow rate. For example, most "average" hobbyist printers with 0.4 mm nozzles and good extruders can extrude about 4-8 mm<sup>3</sup>/sec with PLA. PTFE-lined hot ends are at the lower end, all-metal hot ends are at the higher end. The value will depend on your hardware. But you can do a few quick benchmarking tests to find the limit, and then use that to determine peak feedrates to avoid exceeding the melt capacity of your system. </p>
|
<p>I'm reading about wiring up the electronic components to my Prusa i3 using an Arduino Mega 2650 and Ramps 1.4.</p>
<p>I have step sticks, a heated bed, and a <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B007KG0ZYI" rel="noreferrer">Switching Power Supply 12v Dc 30a 360w</a> (more details on that later when I can add which ones to the post).</p>
<p>I've heard that if you wire it wrong and plug it in, you can do anything from starting a fire to burning out your boards.</p>
<p>What are some tips of things to check before plugging it in? Are there any common mistakes that I can avoid?</p>
|
<ul>
<li><p>Polarity matters, sometimes. Be especially mindful of the wires from your power supply to the board, as getting those the wrong way around will definitely cause damage. Heated beds and extruders are not polarity sensitive, and can go in either way. Fans are polarized, but will probably survive if you get them backwards - they just won't run. Stepper motors don't care about polarity, flipping the connector around just makes them run backwards.</p></li>
<li><p>Take special care with endstops. The endstop connectors have 3 pins (VCC, 5V and signal), endstops with 2 pins are usually connect to GND and signal. Putting a 2-pin endstop across 5V and GND will destroy the 5V regulator.</p></li>
<li><p>A common cause of damage is wires not being clamped in their respective terminals properly. The offending wire will arc, melting and destroying the connector. Tighten down screw terminals properly, use proper crimps if you have them. Soldering the ends of wires going into screw terminals is not encouraged, but if you do solder the ends then make sure to check after a while and tighten the screws again.</p></li>
<li><p>Put the stepper drivers in the right way around.</p></li>
<li><p>For things like the heated bed and wires going to your power supply, use sufficiently thick wires. Especially with the heated bed, a lot of current flows through the wires and flimsy wires will heat up and melt.</p></li>
</ul>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>My problem was 2 things. The <strong>heatbreak</strong>, which was switched out for the MK2 version(Explantation below). And the <strong>Teflon Tube</strong> that runs down the heatsink.</p>
<h2>Heatbreak</h2>
<p>Change the heat-break to a generic E3D one. You can order the heatbreak for the <strong>MK2</strong> from prusa, or any generic heat break for the E3D hot-end assembly.</p>
<p>On the Prusa i3 MK3(s), this component has been given a 45° taper in the middle, between 2.2 and 2 mm. This is done to ease filament retraction for the MMU, and will be nothing but problematic if you are not using the multi-material upgrade. Especially with higher nozzle pressures(eq. with lower layer lines), the filament may be squeezed into this taper, clogging the hot-end.</p>
<p>You may not experience full clogs, but partial ones that will show themselves as streaks in certain layers on the print.</p>
<h2>Heatsink Teflon Tube</h2>
<p>There is a teflon tube that runs down the heatsink. It's crucial that this is mounted correctly and it is not entirely intuative how.</p>
<p>First, press the teflon tube into the heatsink all the way to the bottom. Then, try to pull it out slightly. You'll notice that the small plastic ring at the top of the heatsink will pull out slightly along with it. Now, hold this black plastic part at it's current position with your fingernail, and push the teflon tube in the extra amount. When done, there should be no play in the tube.</p>
|
<p>The maximum operating temperature can be found in the specifications of your steppers. Usually the ambient temperature operating conditions are limited to 50 °C with a maximum operating temperature in the range of 70 - 100 °C. For instance, the steppers I use are limited to a temperature of 80 °C. It is however advised to keep this temperature lower, e.g. to max. 60 °C to prolong the life. Do note that very high temperatures could be a problem for "self-printed" stepper mounts of the wrong material (materials with a low glass transition temperature).</p>
<p>To answer your question: "Yes, steppers may get hot, but if you want them to get too hot is up to the mounting system and how long you want to use them."</p>
|
<p>Embarassingly, I discovered that the cable to the heatbed was sometimes caught between the on/off switch and the adjacent power plug. So, for high Y values the cable was very tight and the bed could not be moved. Presumably the "knocking" came from the Y-axis motor. The problem was fixed by attaching this cable to the adjacent hotend/X axis motor cable.</p>
<p>Hopefully this will be helpful to others who have a similar problem. Please add a comment if you experienced this.</p>
|
<p><strong>No</strong>, this is not common behavior, and <strong>yes</strong> this can cause your prints to warp or detach from the build plate.</p>
<p>The question is whether you instructed this (by accident) or not (e.g. it can be a result from slicing or some economy mode of the printer). This should be clear if you look into the G-code file that you print. The typical commands that concern bed heating are <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M140:_Set_Bed_Temperature_.28Fast.29" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M140</code></a> and <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M190:_Wait_for_bed_temperature_to_reach_target_temp" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M190</code></a>.</p>
<p>Please note that this a generic answer to find bed heating operation in your G-code file. Other answers, e.g <a href="/a/8425/">this one</a> and <a href="/a/8285/">this one</a> hint to a specific ability of the printer that shuts off the heating of the bed when it is working in an economic mode. Note that this is printer specific.</p>
|
<p>A couple of points:</p>
<p>Asking for a machine to solve a specific problem, or software which can do something 'specific' is not really a shopping question, so long as the question is asked in the right way. We do need to avoid subjective questions, but sometimes this can be the result of a misunderstanding (i.e. find me a non-CN supplier of this budget Chinese printer {which also seems to be a decent product}).</p>
<p>Topics which bridge into something like Electronics can be useful because the field is very large, and EE.SE makes an assumption of near degree level expertise. Useful answers here could be more 'off the shelf' routes to achieving what could potentially be fairly 'textbook' to someone with the right background.</p>
<p>Same with making trivial changes to firmware, using a complex software tool for a trivial task, etc. If the task is common, relevant and bounded then a 'hand-holding' answer here will be much more valuable/findable than pushing questioners to a more specific site. Once people move from trivial use of these tools they may well end up needing to self-educate before they reach a point that EE.SE, or SO will accept their questions.</p>
<p>We're at a difficult point between a mass market consumer product, and emerging tech. The IoT site has similar challenges.</p>
|
<p>I think that you should first verify that you have the latest firmware and a newer version of MakerWare. I experienced similar issues around that version of MakerWare and remember a lot of print errors came with it.</p>
<p>I believe the MakerBot Dual firmware is somewhere around 7.? and is no longer in development.</p>
<p>MakerWare is also no longer in development as a standalone application and seems to have been ported over to the MakerBot Desktop. However I've personally found v2.4.1 to be substantially more stable than v2.2.</p>
<p>I have not tested it, but supposedly the new MakerBot Desktop (v3.10) is compatible with the Replicator Dual "Original". I had tried an earlier version of MakerBot Desktop and reverted back to MakerWare 2.4 because I ran into issues with connectivity. However, I'm not certain it was an issue with software so much as the exploding voltage regulator...</p>
<p>It might be best to give the new software a shot and/or try v2.4 of MakerWare, if you can find it.</p>
<p>Here's the link to the latest <a href="https://www.makerbot.com/download-desktop/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MakerBot Desktop</a></p>
<p>Here's the release notes for <a href="https://support.makerbot.com/learn/makerbot-desktop-software/release-notes/makerbot-desktop-release-notes_13520" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MakerWare/MakerBot Desktop</a> v1.0-latest (v3.10+)</p>
|
<p>Check your slicer settings. Some slicers allow the temperature to change at a specified layer. You may have programmed the slic3r to turn off the bed after the first (or maybe zeroth) layer.</p>
<p>You call also examine the G-code for M140, M144, and M190 commands.</p>
<p>Of course, the usual intermittent electric connections, power supply failures, etc. should be checked, but don't overlook the possibility that it is working exactly as you are asking it to work. </p>
|
<p>Printer: FDM printer (FDM == Fusion Deposition Modelling).</p>
<p>Raw Material: Thermoplastics.</p>
<p>How do I do multicolor printing? What changes should I make to the printing process/to the raw material used?</p>
<p>(Answer in the context of printing a basic 3X3 Rubix cube)</p>
<hr>
<p>Bonus: What are the best practises while doing multi-colour printing? (<-- This is opinion based and/or broad, so pl add an answer to this point as an extra to your answers if you can. It would greatly help people getting started/practising with multi-colour printing) </p>
|
<p>There are a few different approaches I've seen which you could look into.</p>
<p>The easiest and most common is multiple extruders, each with a different color of thermoplastic. Tools like Pronterface and Slic3r have built-in support for multiple extruders. With multiple extruders you can get one color per extruder; there's no clear way to mix colors and get a color between the input materials' colors.</p>
<p>Another, more complicated approach is to use a single extruder with three inputs, like <a href="http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Diamond-hotend-Prusa-i3-Extruder-Full-kit-E3D-V6-Brass-Multi-Color-Nozzle-3-IN-1/32516521911.html">this one</a>, where thermoplastic from the three inputs can be mixed in varying amounts to get color gradients between the input colors. With red, yellow, and blue filament, you could get a rainbow of colors...albeit without any control over value (white to black) or saturation (bright vs dull color).</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Filament made of Polylactic acid (<a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/PLA" rel="nofollow">PLA</a>) is usually made of biological materials (such as corn), and can therefore be considered bio-degradable in most cases.</p>
<p>Whether the filament is 100% bio-degradable (and non-toxic for the surroundings) will depend on the specific formula used by each individual filament manufacturer. (Many manufacturers include various additives to achieve particular effects, such as <a href="http://3dprintingforbeginners.com/glow-in-the-dark-filament-review/" rel="nofollow">glow-in-the-dark</a>, <a href="http://colorfabb.com/bronzefill" rel="nofollow">metallic</a> finish or extra strengh.)</p>
<p><a href="http://colorfabb.com/woodfill-fine" rel="nofollow">Woodfill PLA</a>-like filament might be of extra interest to you, not only because it typically is bio-degradable, but also because it will give you the <em>look and feel</em> of being bio-degradable. </p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p><em>PS: there are multiple other filament types that are either recyclable, bio-degradable, or both, although PLA might be the most commonly available of them all.</em></p>
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<p>I see two problems with your printer: your filament seems to overheat in some areas, and you overextrude a little. My suspicion is, that your heating behavior is not well tuned and it overshoots the target temperature, leading to an overcooked filament, then the temperature drops below the temperature you need, leading to a wavy pattern and brown lines.</p>
<h2>fixing</h2>
<p>I suggest running a PID-tune cycle to get better heating behavior and then recalibrating the printer's extruder.</p>
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<h1><strong>Wear Gloves.</strong></h1>
<h3>Returning is impossible</h3>
<p>Resin does not just <em>harden</em>, <a href="https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/138945/polymerisation-of-a-uv-curing-resin">it <strong>polymerizes</strong> into shape from monomers in a chemical reaction.</a> That means to break it down, you need to destroy the whole chemistry. There is no solvent that can simply reverse it.</p>
<h3>Wiping is easy</h3>
<p>As long as the rein is still liquid, you can wipe it off. Then clean the parts with Isopropylic alcohol.</p>
<h3>Manual work</h3>
<p>Destroying Resin-Polymers is incredibly hard for most solvents. The most simple solution is usually oddly enough to use physical force. Resins are super brittle and chip off, but might damage the paint coat in the worst case.</p>
<h3>Thermal shock</h3>
<p>If you can, you might put your printer in a cold environment and see the resin gaining cracks, as it shrinks slower and less than the metal. Then, putting it back into the heat adds more.</p>
|
<p>4.5 mm is a low retraction distance. Cura's default is 6.5 mm, and the Ender 3 profile provided with Cura sets it to 6 mm. The first thing you should try is increasing the retraction amount up to at least 6 mm. Also, make sure you actually enabled retraction. I saw one question here where a Cura user had enabled "Retract at layer change", which <strong>does not</strong> enable retraction (but of course it shows the options like retraction amount since you need to be able to select it for this too).</p>
<p>Your low nozzle temperature of 185 °C is also a problem. You'll have very low flow at that temperature, resulting in under-extrusion and pressure building up in the nozzle instead of extruding the material. That in turn will make it so, even after retracting, there's still material (and pressure) at the nozzle and it will keep oozing, unless you set a <strong>really</strong> high retraction amount (and even then problems will build up over time during the print, but you might get lucky and not see them). The only way to print PLA at 185 °C is really, <strong>really</strong> slowly.</p>
<p>In general, some people would also recommend trying a different filament, based on reports that some vendors' PLA oozes and strings badly, but I don't think that's an issue for you. I use Hatchbox filament on my Ender 3 all the time and never have a problem with stringing from it. And even if the filament is prone to stringing, you can almost surely avoid it with proper settings. Even very soft flex filaments can be printed on this printer without stringing as long as your retraction, temperature, and speed are tuned to avoid having pressure at the nozzle during travel moves.</p>
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<p>Anzalone and friends published <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6678531/" rel="noreferrer">A Low-Cost Open-Source Metal 3-D Printer</a> in <em>IEEE Access</em>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This paper reports on the development of a open-source metal 3-D printer. The metal 3-D printer is controlled with an open-source micro-controller and is a combination of a low-cost commercial gas-metal arc welder and a derivative of the Rostock, a deltabot RepRap. The bill of materials, electrical and mechanical design schematics, and basic construction and operating procedures are provided.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>The print area settings would be in the Preferences > Printers. Select the particular printer on the left side pane, then click the "Machine Settings" button.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/86dAH.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/86dAH.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>You will need to set a printing offset <a href="https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M206.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">(<code>M206</code>)</a> in Marlin: via <strong>Start G-code</strong> in Cura, or any other suitable way (LCD configuration, configuration files, etc.).</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>Any ideas what to do to prevent this from happening?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You cannot prevent it entirely, but <strong>you can probably mitigate the problem by depressing the lever that squashes the filament against the hobbed gear of the extruder</strong> before starting to heat the nozzle.</p>
<p>In bowden extruders, the long portion of filament between the stepper motor and the nozzle is subject to compression during the print. Because of the hysteresis in the filament, and of the slack between filament and PTFE tube, this filament acts like a slow-releasing compression spring. When the nozzle cools down, the potential energy stored in the filament is "frozen" in place.</p>
<p>By depressing the lever, you allow the spring to extend "backward" towards the spool, rather than "forward" through the nozzle.</p>
<p>Some oozing is still bound to happen because of gravity and - as highlighted by others - thermal expansion, but it should be significantly less.</p>
<p><strong>If you adopt the lever trick, remember to print with a skirt</strong>, as you will want the printer to recreate that "compression" in the filament before the model proper begins.</p>
<p><strong>Another way to address the issue would be to add a little bit of retraction</strong> in the closing stanza of your GCODE (the part where you also tell the printer to unpower the steppers and stop heating). This will prevent any "compression" to be "frozen" in the first place.</p>
<p>This anwer is based on the assumption that the stepper motor is not actively spinning (i.e.: yours is not a hardware/firmware issue).</p>
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<p>I have noticed that <a href="http://slic3r.org/" rel="noreferrer">Slic3r</a> offers a speed setting called "<a href="http://slic3r.org/blog/new-stable-1.2.9" rel="noreferrer">auto speed</a>" meant to give a constant filament pressure at the extruder, which I believe could eliminate filament grinding issues at higher printing speeds. </p>
<p>According to the tooltip in Slic3r, auto speed is calculated from two parameters:</p>
<ul>
<li>Maximum speed</li>
<li>Maximum volumetric speed</li>
</ul>
<p>Maximum speed speaks for itself, but how can I calculate the maximum volumetric speed of my print?</p>
|
<p>Auto speed is calculated from maximum volumetric speed in mm<sup>3</sup> per second. If you normally print at 80 mm/s, your extrusion width is 0.5 mm and you are printing 0.2mm high layers, your volumetric speed would be 80 * 0.5 * 0.2 = 8 mm<sup>3</sup>/s, which is the volume of plastic extruded by your printer every second when printing at that speed (not accounting for any die swell).</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I believe the little experiment made by E3D - the same link you provide - answers your question very well. Several points about wear can be found in this article. After printing only 250 grams of ColorFabb XT-CF20 (carbon fiber filament):</p>
<ul>
<li>The nozzle diameter had increased markedly</li>
<li>The inner walls of the orifice (opening) showed deep sharp ridges and grooves</li>
<li>The tip of the nozzle had become critically rounded, and shortened</li>
</ul>
<p>All of these symptoms were found repeatedly for standard brass nozzles.</p>
<p>In particular, I believe the last of these symptoms may be the one most easily identifiable without accurate measuring equipment (and without observing print quality).</p>
<p>With regards to reduction in print quality, these symptoms could be simulated by:</p>
<ul>
<li>Setting the nozzle diameter too big in your slicer</li>
<li>Leveling your bed too high (the rounded tip will also reduce the length of the tip)</li>
<li>Printing with a partial clog that interruptus normal filament flow (due to the grooves and ridges)</li>
</ul>
<p>Exactly what this will look like on your printed part is hard to predict, but I would assume you could see blobs, under-extrusion, poor layer adhesion, as well as an irregular surface finish of your top layers.</p>
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<p>I redid the print in order to reply to some questions posed in the answer of @kdtop. The print started but the output was not consistent and sometimes stopped. The temperature is 195°C and sometimes 'drop' to 194°C. First I pushed the new real so that the extruder did not need to pull so much. When this did not solve the problem I changed the temperature to 200°C. Now the output became consistent and my print finished. It was not as good as the one that I did with my previous filament. The top was not as neatly closed. Only the last 2 layers covered more or less for 100% the surface (perhaps 200°C is too high for this?).</p>
<p>For me the solution is to higher the temperature to 200°C (or perhaps 205°C).</p>
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<p>It might seem that common 3D printer materials such as PLA and ABS should be capable of being autoclaved—unfortunately. However, although their melting temperatures are higher than autoclave temperature (typically 121ºC), their glass transition temperatures are below that limit so they can warp or undergo creep deformation.</p>
<p>Sterilization of numerous plastics is described <a href="https://www.industrialspec.com/resources/plastics-sterilization-compatibility/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>, with PLA, ABS, and PET all being described as "poor" for autoclaving. For each "good" material on that list, I looked for filament by Googling and consulting material guides from <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/material-guides/" rel="noreferrer">Prusa</a> and <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare" rel="noreferrer">Matter Hackers</a>.</p>
<p>Polypropylene (PP) or acetal (POM, also known as Delrin) are the best choices. Filament is available for PEEK, PEI (ULTEM), FEP, PPSU, and PPS but these filaments are expensive (>$100/kg) and require high extruder temperatures (>300ºC).</p>
<p>In contrast, PP is about $50/kg and uses an extruder temperature of 254ºC; POM is similarly priced and uses an extruder temperature of 210ºC. Nylon (depending on the exact type) and HT-PLA may also be worth considering.</p>
<p>"High temperature" filaments are not worthwhile for this application. Again, they're expensive and, more significantly, do not work well with consumer-grade 3D printers. For example, the upper limit for a Prusa i3 MK3s is about 280ºC—the thermistor only is good up to that temperature. Higher temperatures would require swapping out sensors and modifying firmware and building an enclosure. <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk2.5s-mk2.5-how-do-i-print-this-printing-help/can-i-use-pps-filament-on-my-printer/" rel="noreferrer">It's been done</a>. Printers designed for high-temperature filaments easily cost <a href="https://www.aniwaa.com/best-peek-3d-printer-pei-ultem/" rel="noreferrer">thousands of dollars</a>.</p>
<p>This question was previously asked on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/9l8gao/what_filament_would_hold_up_to_regular/" rel="noreferrer">Reddit</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/3caivh/question_about_autoclavable_plastic_for_3d/" rel="noreferrer">a few times</a> but this analysis is more comprehensive.</p>
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<p>I see that you've already tried <a href="http://www.meshmixer.com/download.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Meshmixer - Free Download">Meshmixer</a> and didn't find it helpful, but I wanted to call out <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/how-to-create-custom-overhang-supports-in-meshmixer/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="How to Create Custom Overhang Supports in Meshmixer - Prusa Blog">an article and accompanying video</a> that I recently found which helped me understand Meshmixer's support generation feature a bit better. It isn't magic, but it is pretty flexible and you can customize them. Plus, you can export them either as a separate file (to be imported via Slic3r's Load Part for example), or as part of the primary object STL file (though you loose the ability to set different print settings for the supports). Much of my printer's time is also devoted to 28mm figurines and I've had varied success with them. There are some models whose detail is too fine and which require too much support to be worth it considering the cleanup - I have a bucket-of-shame that's full of them. I just ordered an upgrade for my printer to allow me to print with multiple filament and I'll be seeing if <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/printing-soluble-interface-supports-prusa-i3-mk2-multi-material/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Printing Soluble Interface Supports with Prusa i3 MK2 Multi Material - Prusa Blog">soluble support material</a> is helpful for those small details. Barring that, I've found that some prints do better with Meshmixer's supports while others do better with simplify3d supports, while others still do better with slic3r supports. </p>
<p>Summarizing the <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/how-to-create-custom-overhang-supports-in-meshmixer/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="How to Create Custom Overhang Supports in Meshmixer - Prusa Blog">article</a> on custom Meshmixer supports:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Open your model in Meshmixer</li>
<li>From the top menu select View – Show Printer Bed</li>
<li>Select Edit – Transform and move the model to the middle of the print bed
<ul>
<li>This step is important because Meshmixer won’t generate any supports outside of the print area</li>
</ul></li>
<li>If you want to print the model on a different scale, scale the model now, again by using the Edit – Transform. It’s better to scale
the model now, because an additional change of scale later in slicer
would also affect the generated supports, resulting in either too thin
and weak supports or too thick and hard to remove supports.
<ul>
<li>Change the Scale X (Scale Y and Scale Z) to the desired value (1 = 100%, 1.5 = 150% etc.)</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Select Analysis – Overhangs
<ul>
<li>You can now adjust the Angle Thresh and see a live preview of areas of the model that should be supported</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Click on Generate Support to see a preview of the support structure
<ul>
<li>Every time you make changes to the support settings you’ll have to click on Remove Support and Generate Support to refresh the view</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>(The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXFKVmMwXCQ&feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="How to create custom supports in Meshmixer - YouTube">video</a> in the article goes into greater detail on the settings available in step 6.)</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="7">
<li>Adding and removing supports manually
<ul>
<li>You can create a new support by left-clicking and dragging from an overhang to the ground or from an existing support to the ground</li>
<li>Hold down the Shift key to ignore intersections of the support strut or any other warning and force Meshmixer to generate the new
support (use wisely)</li>
<li>You can also click on an existing support to generate a new strut going down to the build plate</li>
<li>CTRL + Left click on an existing support to remove it</li>
</ul></li>
<li>When you’re happy with the support structure you can export the model and the support structure together as STL by simply clicking
Done and clicking on the Export button in the left menu</li>
<li>Alternatively, you can select Convert to Solid to create a separate mesh from the support structure. This will let you set different
settings in Slic3r for the supports and for the model itself
<ol>
<li>After choosing Convert to Solid choose Edit – Separate shells</li>
<li>Export both the model and the supports as individual STL files</li>
<li>In Slic3r first load the STL with the model</li>
<li>Double-click on the model and choose Load part…, select the supports STL file</li>
<li>When the STL loads, you can overwrite some of the settings by clicking on the green plus icon</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
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<p>It definitely looks like the temperature is too high</p>
<p>but it can also mean that </p>
<ul>
<li>the speed is too low and/or</li>
<li>the cooling fan is not driven correctly and/or</li>
<li>over extrusion could play a role here</li>
</ul>
<p>this is the scenario with all these issues together</p>
<p>too high temperature melts too much filament which is put by too slow movements</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>check the printing when your object changes from well printed to this ugly state</p>
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<h2>Print/material specific settings</h2>
<p>If you are printing <em><strong>too hot with too less distance</strong></em>, <em><strong>the support just fuses to the print object</strong></em>. Extra cooling, lower print temperature and support distance should be in balance to create easy to remove support structures with respect to an acceptable print object surface. If temperature and cooling cannot be balanced to prevent fused support structures (e.g. for high temperature filament materials that cannot take too much cooling as that would result in less structural solid prints), there is an option in Cura to override the fan speed for the first layer above the support (<code>Fan Speed Override</code>). If this fails to produce easy removable supports, you can resort to changing the support distance between the support and the print object.</p>
<h2>Support settings</h2>
<p>Most of the used slicers have an option to determine how much distance (in terms of layers) you want between your support and your product, you could add an extra layer as space to try out if that works better for you. E.g. the default Cura setting for <code>Support Bottom Distance</code> (which is a sub-setting of <code>Support Z Distance</code>) is the layer thickness specified in <code>Layer Height</code>. If you have a layer height of 0.2 mm, the <code>Support Bottom Distance</code> is also 0.2 mm. For the top, option <code>Support Top Distance</code> this is two layer heights, so 0.4 mm in this example. These options are visible in the expert mode, you can search for them in the search box, see image below.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Why should you want air in between your part and the support?</strong></p>
<p>You'll soon find out when you want to <strong>remove supports</strong>, if no gap is used, the support will fuse to the print part. This is only interesting (no gap between print part and support structure) when you use a different filament for support like PVA or break-away filament; e.g. PVA dissolves in water in a dual nozzle printer setup (not that you can make the biggest part of the support except the top and bottom layer from the print object material, e.g. PLA for the main part of the support and PVA for the bottom and top layer: settings <code>First Layer Support Extruder</code>, <code>Support Interface Extruder</code>, <code>Support Roof Extruder</code> and <code>Support Floor Extruder</code>).</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vnlrY.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vnlrY.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
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<p>Owning the Ultimaker 3 Extended and having printed kilometers of filament on this printer I can tell you that printing with PVA, apart from the slicing problems you mention, is not easy as it looks. PVA clogs up very fast and is very hygroscopic. Moist PVA will make popping sounds on extrusion and is prone to failing. PVA is not my preferred solution. An alternative solution is to use break-away filament, my colleagues have some reasonable good experience with that.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why didn't the slicing algorithm place PVA support structures inside the overhang, in the same way as it placed the PLA support structures?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The difference you report could be caused by the slicer settings. I get exactly the same results if you set the slicing parameter <code>Support Placement</code> to <code>Touching Buildplate</code> (first image), or <code>Everywhere</code> (second image).</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AWlKOm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="`Support Placement` option `Touching Buildplate`"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AWlKOm.png" alt="<code>Support Placement</code> option <code>Touching Buildplate</code>" title="`Support Placement` option `Touching Buildplate`"></a>vs.<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHc76m.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="`Support Placement` option `Everywhere`"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHc76m.png" alt="<code>Support Placement</code> option <code>Everywhere</code>" title="`Support Placement` option `Everywhere`"></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>What is the reason for the external scaffolding, and how does it help support the internal overhang, which now has no internal support at all?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To answer the scaffolding part of your question, that can only be explained by being the decision of the developers. There must be very good reasons for doing it like this as a similar support structure is generated in other slicers, e.g. Slic3r (actually this is caused by a slicer setting, see <a href="/a/11006/">this answer</a> explaining why the scaffolding is caused). Some slicers do have options to change the support type, e.g. Slic3r has the option <code>pillars</code>, which creates pillars without external scaffolding:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gpzssm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Slic3r pillars support option"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gpzssm.png" alt="Slic3r pillars support option" title="Slic3r pillars support option"></a>vs.<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pllIVm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Slic3r rectangular support option"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pllIVm.png" alt="Slic3r rectangular support option" title="Slic3r rectangular support option"></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is the behaviour I expected possible, advisable or configurable in Cura? If so, what options should I be looking at, if not is there other software that does support this?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Playing with the settings to reduce the amount of PVA as suggested in the comments by enabling the type of extruder for specific parts of the extruder I was able to create a solution without scaffolding. This solution only uses PVA for the bottom and top layer of the support structure.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/edr4b.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Cura additional support extruder settings"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/edr4b.png" alt="Cura additional support extruder settings" title="Cura additional support extruder settings"></a></p>
<p>The shown settings<sup>1)</sup> produce a support structure with PVA top and bottom layers:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1ysAhm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Non scaffolding support structure"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1ysAhm.png" alt="Non scaffolding support structure" title="Non scaffolding support structure"></a>or<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zk35Cm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Non scaffolding support structure in material color"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zk35Cm.png" alt="Non scaffolding support structure in material color" title="Non scaffolding support structure in material color"></a></p>
<p>Where the latter image is in material color; black PLA and natural colored PVA</p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1)</sup> <em>It might be worth mentioning that by default, the Support section doesn't show the Support interface extruder options and you have to go into Preferences and check the Setting Visibility option for those to appear.</em></p>
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<p>I upgraded to an Mk9 dual extruder, and it came with thermocouples installed instead of the thermistors I had before. </p>
<p>No matter what I did with the thermocouples, the indicated temperature jumped around by as much as 30C or more. In short, after several weeks of fiddling I never got the thermocouples to work well, and replaced them with thermistors, which have been fine.</p>
<p>So my question is: what is required to get thermocouples to give reliable, consistent, accurate readings? Are they just incredibly touchy?</p>
<p>Some things I tried include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Of course, one must add circuitry (typically a thermocouple amplifier board such as <a href="http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Thermocouple_Sensor_Board_v1">http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Thermocouple_Sensor_Board_v1</a>), to convert the tiny voltage differences to larger differences usable with Arduino or similar analog inputs.</p></li>
<li><p>Place those boards close to the thermocouples, but far enough that they are at pretty stable temperature themselves.</p></li>
<li><p>Have absolutely no wire extensions of splices, changes of wire types (material), etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Avoid doing repeated measurements too fast.</p></li>
<li><p>I replaced a thermocouple board with 5V through a potentiometer to the analog input pin, to rule out problems in the Arduino, pin configurations, or software, and got stable readings.</p></li>
<li><p>I checked for shorts-to-ground from the heater block, both sides of the thermocouples, the heater itself, etc. None found.</p></li>
<li><p>The thermocouple wires are surrounded by a braided shield (not common or shorted to either thermocouple wire); I tried grounding that at either end and at both ends, to the heat block, the printer frame, the power-supply ground, and the RAMPS board ground. These had various effects (sometimes large), but I couldn't find any configuration that made the readings stable (much less accurate!).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Anything I'm missing?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Steve</p>
|
<p>Thermocouples work by passively generating VERY small voltages via the Seebeck effect -- usually a few tens of millivolts. They're literally just a pair of wires made from two different special alloys, electrically connected together at the "hot" end. That wire junction can be mounted inside whatever kind of attachment tip or lug is desired.</p>
<p>The fact that they're very simple and passive devices makes them extremely precise and consistent between TCs of the same type, MUCH more so than thermistors. Any type-K thermocouple in the world will give you the same accurate output +/-1-2C or so. You can even cut a thermocouple in half, re-twist the ends of the wires together, and it'll still work! </p>
<p>However, the very small (millivolts) signal they generate is quite susceptible to electrical noise and circuit design. The signal voltage has to be greatly amplified to be useful. So it doesn't take much EMR from your heater or stepper wires to interfere with the TC reading. A frequent problem with TC circuits in 3d printers is the dreaded GROUND LOOP -- if the "hot" tip is electrically connected to the hot block, voltage and current on the heater and motor wires can induce small currents through the TC wires that totally screw up the millivolt signal. The amplifier picks up these stray voltages and it throws off the temp read. So, there are some important guidelines for keeping noise out of the TC wires:</p>
<ul>
<li>The TC wires must be electrically insulated from the mounting hardware (eye lug, thermowell, whatever your extruder has). You can check this with a multimeter -- you want infinite / out of range resistance from the TC leads to the mounting tip and hot block. While you're at it, make sure your heater cartridge wires aren't shorting to the hot block -- that's unsafe and can also cause problems with TCs.</li>
<li>Keep the two TC wires close together, and not immediately parallel to noise sources like PWM-controlled heaters or stepper wiring. If you must run the TC in a bundle with the other wires, TWIST the heater/stepper wiring pairs. (For steppers, twist each coil pair to a different pitch if possible. You don't need to twist the separate coil pairs to each other.) </li>
</ul>
<p>Another common issue with TC circuits is the COLD JUNCTION COMPENSATION. A thermocouple doesn't measure tip temperature, it measures the DIFFERENCE in temperature between the hot tip and the cold junction where the TC is connected to either the amp or copper wiring. The TC amp has an onboard thermistor that it uses to add the temp at the cold junction to the measured signal from the thermocouple. There are a few things you need to do to make sure the cold-junction compensation works properly:</p>
<ul>
<li>You should run TC wire all the way from the "hot" tip to the TC amp. You CAN splice it and install plugs, but only with more type-K TC wire and proper type-K thermocouple plugs. These use the same metal as the TC wire so they don't generate undesired junction voltages that interfere with the TC signal. If you splice copper wire between the TC and the amp, any temp differences along the copper will not be measured! This is a particularly big problem if you splice to copper inside a warm enclosure and then run copper to an amp outside the enclosure.</li>
<li>The amp should not be super hot. The onboard thermistor is designed to accurately measure temperatures reasonably close to room temp, not hot-block temps. </li>
<li>There should not be large temperature gradients near the amp or between the TC wire termination and the actual amp chip. Place the amp far enough away from the hot end and other heat sources (like stepper motors) that it isn't experiencing weird temp profiles.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you do the above, the TC will output a good signal, and the amp will read it properly. But there's one more hitch. The mainboard has to know how to understand the amp's output. 3D printer control boards that are designed exclusively for TCs, like Mightyboards, usually use digital communication between the amp and the main control chip (MCU). This is high-reliability and does not require any special firmware configuration -- support is baked in. But if you're strapping an external TC amp onto a board that is expecting thermistors, <strong>you will have to tell the firmware how to read the signal from the amp.</strong> The most common technique is for the amp to output a linear voltage signal to the MCU's normal thermistor input (ADC). Then you configure the firmware to use the appropriate "thermistor table" (really a voltage lookup table) for that particular amp. Depending on your controller board, you also may need to make sure the regular thermistor pull-up/pull-down resistors aren't affecting the amp's output.</p>
<p>So you need to make sure:</p>
<ul>
<li>You don't have electrical noise issues</li>
<li>The cold-junction compensation is working as intended</li>
<li>The firmware and controller board is configured correctly for your amp chip's output</li>
</ul>
<p>If you do all that, a TC should give superior accuracy and reliability over a thermistor. </p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>While I tried a lot of things to solve this, including tuning temperature, fan, speed, etc., ultimately the single biggest factor that causes or prevents it is the state of Cura's <em>Outer Before Inner Walls</em> (<code>outer_inset_first</code>) option. With outer walls first, I don't have the problem at all. With the default (inner walls first), I have it to varying degrees depending on geometry and a lot of other factors.</p>
<p>I don't have a good explanation for why this happens so I'm asking a new question about it.</p>
|
<p>You can clearly print but there are also some problems it seems.</p>
<p>To see if you're about okay when it comes to leveling, I recommend to activate the 'skirt' in your slicer soft. Slic3r has it and I think most others too, it just makes the printer do a big one-layer all-around 'perimeter' around what is going to be printed before starting. You'll see quickly if there is not enough or too much space between the bed and the nozzle. You might catch other problems too (I love it because when the hotend drips a bit when leveling it get's smeared out far away from where the print is going to happen). </p>
<p>Your print looks like it is not optimal (overextrusion? no print-cooling? ...) so start with slowing down, first layer 20-25mm/s (Look at it when it's printed, it's very telling!). Then for the following ones, don't go over 40-50mm/s for starters.</p>
<p>Last but not least, you are printing ABS (but you said you had the problem with PLA too, hence my post), I have never printed ABS but for what I have read, you'll need a heatbed and a heated chamber(enclosed printer) to not have this kind of problems.</p>
<p>But for PLA especially; If you have a heat bed, don't put on too much heat when printing, I went from 60°C to 50°C, first layer, 30° then, and my prints now stick like they are melded onto my plate instead of skidding around.</p>
|
<h1>Short answer</h1>
<p>Yes</p>
<h1>Long answer</h1>
<h2>Heater bocks</h2>
<p>A heater block is destroyed if one of the following happens</p>
<ul>
<li>Threads stripped</li>
<li>Bent or otherwise deformed</li>
<li>stripped grub screw</li>
</ul>
<p>All of these can happen by handling the block with too much force when securing nozzles, thermosensors or heater cartridges.</p>
<h2>Throats</h2>
<p>Throats can be destroyed, especially e3D v6 throats with their neck down on the center can be simply turned and broken in two. Lined throats can be heated too much and the liner destroyed, which not always can be replaced, mandating a spare part. And you can strip the threads.</p>
<p>Another chance to damage the throat is by using very hard material nozzles - stainless steel comes to mind. Such a nozzle would not deform itself like brass when tightened against the throat and might lead to damage to the end of the throat if exchanged several times.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>If you run several printers or change nozzles regularly for whatever reason, it is a very good idea to have at least a complete set of spare parts on hand to fix problems that might occur during work on the printer. I have a fully assembled spare hotend waiting for its day to shine in case my current one breaks...</p>
|
<p>Given that the capacitor near the input is quite clearly marked 35 V, a 36 V rating seems questionable.</p>
<p>The (buck) regulator used on the (genuine version of the) board is the <a href="http://www.aosmd.com/res/data_sheets/AOZ1282CI.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">AOZ1282CI</a> which supports up to 36 V input. This is probably where they got the 36 V rating from, but obviously the 35 V-rated capacitors drop the input voltage down below this.</p>
<p><a href="https://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/f/fa/Re_ARM_Schematic.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Schematics for the board are available on the RepRap wiki</a> and show that the input voltage only feeds into the regulator. I see no reason why this board couldn't handle 24 V input, as this is well within the rating of both the regulator and the capacitors.</p>
|
<p>A tool that you might find useful for experimenting with acceleration is <a href="http://prusaprinters.org/calculator/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RepRap Centrals Acceleration Calculator</a> (at the bottom).</p>
<p>By setting an <em>acceleration</em>, <em>length of travel</em> and <em>target speed</em>, you can see:</p>
<ol>
<li>The theoretical speed that can be achieved during the travel with your set acceleration (yellow line).</li>
<li>The distance required to reach your target speed, and for how long it will hold that speed before slowing down (blue line).</li>
</ol>
<p>For instance, setting <code>acceleration = 3000, length = 30 and speed = 150</code> means it will travel 4 mm before reaching its desired speed of 150 mm/s, while that same acceleration theoretically could give a speed of 300 mm/s for the given distance: </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g13l3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g13l3.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><strong>Calculating speed, acceleration and jerk:</strong></p>
<p>In many cases your printer will have some limitation in maximum speed or settings given by your provider that can be used as a starting point. If not, trial and error is the most straightforward way of doing it. </p>
<p>I would separate speed calibration into three task:</p>
<ol>
<li>First find the <em>maximum speed</em> your printer can tolerate. One way of doing this is to print an object with long travel distances, and vary the maximum travel speed.</li>
<li>Using the calculator above, increase the <em>acceleration</em> for various traveling distances until you get suitably smooth acceleration curves for your desired speed for medium to long traveling distances.</li>
<li>Adjust your <em>jerk</em> setting to allow for quick speedup on short traveling distances. Jerk speed is the speed that the printer will immediately jump to before taking acceleration into account. With a jerk of 20mm/s, the printer will make an immediate jump from 0 to 20 mm/s, and thereafter speed up to the desired speed by following the acceleration profile.</li>
</ol>
<p>As a rule of thumb, it might be smart to then set the actual speed, jerk and acceleration approximately 20% below the the maximum found as a safeguard when printing. </p>
<p>Also, bear in mind that <a href="https://www.google.no/search?q=stepper%20motor%20strength%20curve%20NEMA%2017&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=985&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi74aLL46fKAhVIdCwKHdJbDa4QsAQIGg&dpr=1#imgrc=NbUjFTxiWehyKM%3A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the strength of stepper motors lowers for higher speeds</a>, so that the nozzle will not hold its path very well if obstructed. If this becomes a problem, consider lowering the speed. </p>
|
<p>It appears the heatbreak of my E3D nozzle had worked itself loose from the heatsink, allowing the nozzle to wobble around a bit. Because the nozzle was still tight against the heatbreak I didn't experience any issues with my hotend, but because the heatbreak was slightly loose the nozzle wasn't properly constrained and moving around a bit.</p>
<p>A quick turn to tighten the heatsink back into the heatbreak was enough to fully resolve the issue. My prints are as smooth as ever now.</p>
|
<p>I've not done much miniatures printing, but I have the same printer and I happen to have the exact same filament loaded. Also, I've been doing a lot of tuning lately, including <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:921948" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this z-brace mod</a> which has improved my overall print quality, so I thought I'd take a pass at printing the Knight from your photos and sharing my findings.</p>
<p>First, <a href="https://imgur.com/a/YQV23" rel="nofollow noreferrer">I've posted a series of pictures</a> to show my findings. Overall, I'd say my print quality was better than what you showed in your photos, but still isn't good enough. I sliced with Cura 15.04.6, and printed from SD card. Here are my (Full) settings:</p>
<pre><code>Layer height (mm) : 0.1
Shell thickness (mm) : 0.5
Enable retraction : Yes
Bottom/Top thickness (mm) : 0.3
Fill Density (%) : 20
Print Speed (mm/s) : 20
Printing Temperature (C) : 210
Bed Temperature (C) : 67
Support Type : Everywhere
Platform Adhesion : None
Skirts : 3
Filament Diameter (mm) : 1.75
Filament Flow (%) : 100.0
Nozzle size (mm) : 0.5
Retract Speed (mm/s) : 40.0
Retract Distance (mm) : 7
Initial Layer Thick (mm) : 0.2
Initial Later width (%) : 100
Cut off object bottom (mm): 0.0
Travel Speed (mm/s) : 100
Bottom Layer Speed (mm/s) : 20
Infill speed (mm/s) : 50
Top/bottom speed (mm/s) : 20
Outer Shell speed (mm/s) : 20
Inner Shell speed (mm/s) : 20
Min. Layer Time (sec) : 10
Enable cooling fan : Yes
</code></pre>
<p>I do most of my printing with a later height of 0.2mm, but for a detailed mini, 0.1mm is probably the largest that will look good (and probably the smallest possible on this printer. I normally set most of my speeds to 50 mm/s, with first layer at 20 mm/s; for this I slowed it all to 20 mm/s due to the fine details, and I think it helped.</p>
<p>Temps of 67˚C bed and 210˚C extruder are what I've found to work best on my machine for PLA, after much experimentation, but your machine may vary; I'm not sure how accurate the temperature measurements are on these machines. 67˚C gives me an observed bed temp of 60˚C, but that's at the top surface - I have PEI atop Borosilicate glass, adhered to the bare aluminum bed with silicone-based heat transfer pad.</p>
<p>I think I miscalculated the top/bottom heights and infill. I'm not used to printing at 0.1mm layer height, but 3 top layers over 20% infill is clearly not enough - see the closeup of the mini's base in my linked gallery. Next print, I'll either try 0.6mm top/bottom, or much higher infill.</p>
<p>The supports came off easily; I used <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00FZPDG1K" rel="nofollow noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a pair of sidecutters from my electronics bench</a>. A little more cleanup with a sharp hobby knife, combined with a better base top layer would probably produce an acceptable result.</p>
<p>There were two major flaws. The first are the little blobs on many layers; see for example the inseam area on the picture of the knight's back. <a href="https://softsolder.com/2012/01/26/reversal-zits-speed-acceleration-and-a-bestiary/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ed Nisley at Softsolder.com calls these "Reveral Zits"</a>, and I think the name is apt. These happen when the print head needs to quickly reverse direction or stop-move-print, but filament continues to extrude. I use fairly aggressive retraction settings, and I think my print shows smaller zits than yours, but still far too many. Ed has explored this topic in some depth; it's possible my extruder stepper isn't keeping up with my settings due to mechanical limits. This is an area I want to pursue, but I don't have time at the moment. I plan to read Ed's work and try some experiments on my machine to see if I can get better results; I will update this answer if/when I do. As it stands, most of them are quite small, and could probably be cleaned up with a knife; the worst are those around unsupported areas, such as the back of the shoulder guard.</p>
<p>The second major flaw is the helmet. It's just... bad. I'm not sure the printer has much hope of nailing those horns, but overall the head is just bad. I'm not sure what can be done there.</p>
<p>To summarize: @disc0ninja's advice on Bed Level and Print speed are certainly the right place to start; You might want to try my Cura settings to see if you get similar results. Also, the Z-brace mod I linked to above has made a big difference for me; I rarely have to adjust my leveling anymore. I also plan to try slicing with Slic3r, which I haven't used previously, but have been looking into. You mentioned you couldn't print with Slic3r, was that USB or SD Card? I'd suggest trying via SD if it failed during USB printing.</p>
<p><strong>Update 30 Jan 2017:</strong> It took a little doing, but I managed to slice and print this model via slic3r. <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3482/slicer-reports-1000s-of-errors-not-seen-in-cura-render-is-missing-big-chunks">I had some issues with the original STL in slic3er</a>, which I ended up fixing with a free trial at makeprintable.com. I spent a lot of time fiddling with slic3r; it has a lot more knobs to turn than Cura, and I make no claims of having the best settings for this print. There are so many settings that rather than transcribe them here, I've captured them in my <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/Nw0Gv" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pictures of the slic3er print</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SdOHm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Layers and perimeters"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/SdOHm.png" alt="Layers and perimeters" title="Layers and perimeters" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sIM3D.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Infill"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/sIM3D.png" alt="Infill" title="Infill" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pvXlJ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Skirt and Brim"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pvXlJ.png" alt="Skirt and Brim" title="Skirt and Brim" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cHSzp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Support material"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cHSzp.png" alt="Support material" title="Support material" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vT0pN.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Speed"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vT0pN.png" alt="Speed" title="Speed" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7QK3c.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Multiple extruders"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/7QK3c.png" alt="Multiple extruders" title="Multiple extruders" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0AITv.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Advanced"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0AITv.png" alt="Advanced" title="Advanced" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/13mnS.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Cooling"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/13mnS.png" alt="Cooling" title="Cooling" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/60F2W.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Filament"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/60F2W.png" alt="Filament" title="Filament" /></a></p>
<p>Overall, I feel like the quality is higher. The "reversal zits" are hardly noticeable; but the big remaining problem is one I didn't fully diagnose in the original Cura print - lack of support for areas such as the shoulders. Slic3r added more support than Cura, but it's also harder to separate from the base. The head isn't great, but much better than the Cura print; I don't think my photos show it as well as it looks. <strong>This print has convinced me that there's plenty of quality still to be wrung from this printer</strong>; I hope to make time to do some more slic3r prints of this model while tweaking the params to see what's possible. If I make any big leaps in quality I will update this answer.</p>
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<p>I'm considering buying <a href="http://reprapworld.com/?products_details&products_id/783/cPath/1680">this package</a>, the Kossel, as my first 3D printer. </p>
<p>It's not the cheapest model, but apparently a high resolution and stable, which is what I'm after.</p>
<p>The question is, what is the life expectancy of this printer, given the component list?
Assuming the printer is constructed properly and properly taken care of, but used once or twice a week for several hours.</p>
<p>Is it possible to make an estimate of how many years this particular printer could be used before it starts showing signs of wear? </p>
<p><strong>Parts list:</strong></p>
<p>1x Complete set of platics for Kossel Mini (PLA)<br>
1x Kossel mini Extrusion set<br>
1x traxxas (set of 12)<br>
1x Carbon Tube (kossel printing arms) Set of 6<br>
3x Square slider (40cm)<br>
1x Megatronics v3.0 - Kossel kit<br>
1x Heated Bed glass round 17cm diameter (Borosilicate)<br>
1x Kapton heater mat round 16cm diameter<br>
1x Power supply 12V (240/115V / 20A MAX)<br>
3x Aluminum Pulley GT2<br>
5x Timing belt 1m x 6mm (GT2)<br>
1x E3D v6 - HotEnd Full Kit - 1.75mm<br>
1x Hobbed bolt v1.1<br>
1x Brass drive gear (Wade's compatible)<br>
6x Bearing 623ZZ<br>
125x (1 pcs) Screw M3X8 Philips<br>
125x (1 pcs) Washer M3 normal<br>
125x (1 pcs) Nut M3 normal<br>
6x (1 pcs) Screw M3X16 Philips<br>
12x (1 pcs) Screw M3X25 Philips<br>
6x (1 pcs) Screw M3X20 Philips<br>
10x PTFE tubing, 2inner/4outer diameter (10cm)<br>
1x Bowden setup - J head comp. plug set (1.75mm)<br>
1x E3D v6 - Threaded Bowden Coupling - 1.75mm<br>
2x (1 pcs) Screw M3X40 Philips<br>
6x (1 pcs) Screw M2X16 Philips<br>
1x Power cable 1.8m<br>
6x M4 Threaded rod - Custom length </p>
|
<p>Much like your car, the number of miles, or the number of prints that you can get out of it is entirely up to how well <strong>you</strong> can maintain it.</p>
<p>A 3D Printer is a machine, and a machine needs general maintenance; if you see something starting to break - or get worn out - or anything abnormal, fix it.</p>
<p>I am sure that if you had something like a MakerBot, it would require less maintenance then a fully home built machine, but if you are building it from scratch, I am sure you don't mind.</p>
<p>I am still rocking a 3 year old home built MendalMax, and have both made some improvements, and had to make some repairs along the way - but it is still in damn good condition.</p>
<p>For a $600 investment, I can say you will get a few years out of it if you take proper care of it. By the time the end of its life comes (5+ years), I am sure there will be much better printers available for cheaper, and you will never look back :)</p>
<ul>
<li>Tighten all your nuts and bolts</li>
<li>Keep it calibrated</li>
<li>Keep belts properly tensioned</li>
<li>Oil X, Y, and Z rods</li>
<li>Clean of any dust and scrap plastic (compressed air can?)</li>
<li>Clean hobbed bolt</li>
<li>Clean extruder</li>
<li>Ensure all electronic connections are secure</li>
<li>Check wires at points of movement for wear</li>
</ul>
<p>!remindme 5years</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<h1><a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/materials/pva" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PVA</a></h1>
<p>From experience I can tell that PVA filaments need to be stored with silica beads in a plastic bag or in a specific dry-box. PVA is soluble in water and is very hygroscopic. With moisture it gets soft and swells. My Ultimaker came with an open spool of PVA which popped when heated (steam bubbles popping) resulting in very poor quality supports and clogging of the nozzle. A newly bought spool which was properly packed did not have these issues.</p>
<h1>Nylon</h1>
<p>Some Nylon filament brands require to be stored dry or need to be dried before printing. I have a spool of Nylon that has taken up some moisture although carefully packed, the only time it was out is when it was being printed. This experience applies to Ultimaker Nylon; I've learned now that not all Nylon filaments are behaving the same, it is suggested to look-up the specifics from the manufacturer or from reviews prior to buying.</p>
|
<p>I had the same problem printing a miniature just recently. As always, settings are somewhat dependent from the object you want to print, but here are some suggestions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Increase the support density: 15% (8% is very low!)</li>
<li>Support pattern: zig-zag with "connect zig-zag" option enabled (add stiffness to the "column" of support)</li>
<li>Enable support interface (increase adhesion to the plate, and provide a more "beefy" base for the support material)</li>
</ul>
<p>For reference, here's a screenshot of my settings as I tweaked them for that miniature (printed a 0.1mm layer height).</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WNjki.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WNjki.png" alt="complete support settings"></a></p>
<p>("Support line distance 1mm" is the same as "Support density 15%", or at least it is the same with my nozzle size)</p>
<p>If your problem was not only with the "flakiness" of the material, but also with it adhesion to the bed, then prepping your printing bed somehow (with a bit of painter tape, glue, etc... can help. Alternatively using a brim or a raft (as also suggested by another responder) could also help.</p>
<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: all the above still standing true, it turns out the OP had a hardware problem as well, his timing belt being loose (see comments).</p>
|
<p>It's really more about calibration than resolution -- a poorly calibrated printer will have dimension errors that prevent mating with true LEGO bricks or other printed bricks. </p>
<p>Also, "resolution" is an incredibly loaded term for 3d printers, because it can mean a lot of different things. But we don't need to get into that right now. There are really two big things to worry about: layer height and extrusion width.</p>
<p>Layer heights of 0.1mm or 0.2mm should be fine. Coarser layers may run into surface finish issues that make the bricks difficult to put together or take apart. There probably isn't much reason to go finer than 0.1mm for this application. Almost all FFF printers can do 0.1mm layer heights as long as it is reasonably well-tuned.</p>
<p><strong>Any typical household FFF printer with a "normal" nozzle size can print fine enough for the bricks to work. It just needs to be tuned well.</strong> The smallest "must have" feature in a standard lego brick is the 1.6mm thick wall around the sides. The typical minimum printable feature size for an FFF printer is 2x the extrusion width, because the slicer will place a path on the inside edge of the shape and the outside edge of the shape. (Some slicers will allow single-extrusion features, but this is not generally recommended because it makes weak parts.) </p>
<p>So, how wide is the extrusion width? It's adjustable, and different slicers auto-recommend different values, but as a safe rule of thumb it needs to be between 1x and 2x your nozzle size. There are some volume calculation quirks in different slicers that may encourage larger or smaller sizes, so sometimes people recommend [extrusion width = nozzle size + layer height] particularly with Slic3r. This is very system-specific. </p>
<p>Assuming you have the most common stock nozzle with a 0.4mm orifice, and also set the extrusion width to 0.4mm, the slicer should put four strands in the walls of the LEGO brick. That's good. </p>
<p>Where it gets tricky is if you have an extrusion width that does not evenly divide into 1.6mm. Say you are printing with an extrusion width of 0.6mm. There is enough room in the wall of the part to place two full 0.6mm perimeter strands... but then a gap 0.4mm wide will be left in the center. You can't put another 0.6mm strand into that 0.4mm gap. Different slicers handle this different ways. Some will leave an empty space between the walls, and you get a very weak print. Some will mash an excessive amount of plastic into the gap, causing poor print quality as excess material builds up more and more on each layer. Some will push a smaller-than-commanded strand to try to properly fill the volume. </p>
<p>So, the general advice with small features is to make sure your extrusion width goes into the part's minimum thickness a reasonable number of times.</p>
<ul>
<li>[Feature size / extrusion width < 2] is BAD </li>
<li>[Feature size / extrusion width = 2] is GOOD </li>
<li>[2 < Feature size / extrusion width < 3] is BAD </li>
<li>[Feature size / extrusion width > 3] is GOOD</li>
</ul>
<p>Although these will vary somewhat by slicer -- older slicers like Skeinforge tend to have more issues with this than newer slicers. What you should do in practice is check your slicer's print previewer to see whether it is leaving a gap between the strands. Then adjust extrusion width and perimeter/shell count to try to get an intelligent output. There's some trial and error involved.</p>
|
<p>Overall, it is unlikely that the problem is temp sensing accuracy. There are only a few things that will throw off the thermocouple's reading:</p>
<ul>
<li>Poor thermal coupling between the tip and the hot block, such as if the tip has partially pulled free of the brass thermowell crimp (this will make the hot block hotter than the reported temp)</li>
<li>Loss of electrical insulation between the tip and the hot block, plus some ground loop noise or stray voltage on the hot block (this will typically add noise to the reported temp)</li>
</ul>
<p>You should be able to visually check for the first, and test for the second with a multimeter. The resistance between the board end of the thermocouple leads and the brass thermowell at the tip should be infinite / out of range. </p>
<p>To actually check the thermocouple calibration, you have a few options:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Easy:</strong> Look at the behavior of the printed plastic. PLA that is too hot will smell of pancakes/waffles much stronger than normal, or even smell burnt. The printed material may be more shiny than usual. It will string and ooze more as you print.</li>
<li><strong>Moderate:</strong> Secure another reference thermocouple (such as might come with a digital multimeter) tightly to the hot block with some Kapton tape, somewhere the aluminum block is exposed. The external TC should read within a few degrees of the printer's TC. (Assuming you get it attached well enough.)</li>
<li><strong>Hard:</strong> Place the tip of the TC in boiling water to check if it reads 100C (or slightly lower if you live at a high altitude). Repeat with well-mixed ice water to check if it reads 0C. Both measurements should be within a couple degrees. You will probably need to dismantle much of the extruder to detach the thermocouple for this test. </li>
</ul>
<p>But, again, the problem probably isn't the TC. It's more likely either a bed tramming issue (eg too much gap between nozzle and surface) or the BuildTak is degraded and not adhering. This can happen if you do a large number of prints in the exact same place, or get the surface oily, such as with fingerprints. Try a fresh sheet of buildtak or cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and moving the print to a different location. </p>
<p>In some rare cases, low-quality filament or filament stored in very high humidity may not stick well. This is pretty rare though. For the most part, if your nozzle gap is right, any extruded plastic will stick to Buildtak. </p>
|
<p>The great pics really help with the answerability of this question. From how catastrophic the failure is, and how it's clearly independent of any specialty needs for the particular print such as tiny bed-adhesion contacts, sharp overhangs, bridges, etc. this is definitely not a problem with temperature. Different people recommend different temperatures for PLA, but I find that 210°C works well for me, and if you go much lower you'll hit problems getting the needed extrusion rate for anything but slow print speeds.</p>
<p>I've seen nearly this exact phenomenon before, so I knew it was probably a matter of the bed being too high, blocking extrusion of the first layer and forcing what little material can escape out to the sides of the nozzle, then tearing into it when the next adjacent line is laid out.</p>
<p>If I didn't know that, though, I'd still start looking for a source of the problem that's related to extrusion rate. Something was clearly wrong with getting the right amount of material in the right space, which indicates to me that there's either too much material (overextrusion/wrong filament diameter selected) or too little space (bed to high).</p>
|
<p>I stumbled across this forum/group, <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/english-forum-original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Original Prusa i3 MMU2S & MMU2</a>, amongst all of the other <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa printers forums</a> on the <a href="https://blog.prusaprinters.org/prusa-i3/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusaprinters blog</a>, which seems fairly active. </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="https://forum.prusaprinters.org/forum/original-prusa-i3-mmu2s-mmu2-user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles-.../" rel="nofollow noreferrer">User mods - OctoPrint, enclosures, nozzles, ...</a> page seems like it might be what you are looking for.</p>
|
<p>For such a small item and the small load it will carry, even 50 percent is substantial. Keep in mind that one hundred percent infill is not necessarily stronger. If you need to know why, consider a 'net search for "why not use 100% infill" for more detailed information. The primary foundation for not using 100% infill is that the stress is better distributed over the structure of a non-100% part, while the completely filled part has more intra-layer stress failure. Another link suggests that there's a possibility of increased warping with full infill.</p>
<p>Because the load is small, it matters very little if you select PLA over ABS. PLA is more brittle compared to ABS and will crack or fracture or break under loads that might otherwise cause the same part in ABS to bend.</p>
<p>If you need yet more strength, select PETG or nylon, although I suspect either one would be more expensive from a service.</p>
<p>If you select ABS, you can use acetone smoothing later to make a shiny surface, but that's cosmetic, not structural. </p>
|
<p>How do I determine how much an individual print costs?</p>
<p>I'd like an answer including support material, failed prints, and (ideally) wear and tear / printer maintenance costs.</p>
<p>To clarify, I'm not asking how to <em>predict</em> the cost before printing, but rather how to calculate the actual cost after printing. Though predicting the cost beforehand is useful as well.</p>
|
<p>For <a href="http://3dprintingfromscratch.com/common/types-of-3d-printers-or-3d-printing-technologies-overview/#fdm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FDM</a> printing: </p>
<p>Both Cura and Makerbot Desktop (and perhaps others I'm not as familiar with) will give you a preview of both the length and weight of your print, including supports/rafts. Once the print is done you can weigh it on a kitchen scale.</p>
<p>PLA Filament currently runs about \$23/kg on Amazon, which works out to \$0.023/g. Multiplication can then give you a good estimate of materials costs for a print.</p>
<p>Only experience with your specific printer will give you an idea of how often you're going to hit a failed print, and how often you're going to need to replace parts. For wear and tear you could try using a depreciation model of 2-3 years, but that's only an estimate.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Yes, this is very broad. That said...</p>
<p>For high detail you want SLA. i.e. jewelry. If you just want a prototype of a mold, you can do a standard FDM style printer (95% of printers are FDM, and that number is a guess)</p>
<p>Really, you should be asking what material you need for your mold, but you can open a second question for that.</p>
<p>Do more research on injection molding. There is a great deal of information on how molds are made, i.e. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZqq1qxW30" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How It's Made Plastic injection molds</a>.</p>
<p>You will see there is a vast difference between a plastic, or silicon, mold and an injection molding machine. You are thinking that injection molding as a single mold, when it is really it is a system composing of several pieces of heavy duty machinery that can pump out hundreds of items a day automatically. However, it usually starts at 20k USD for the tooling for injection molding. Your costs could be a fraction of that or could be several times that. This is just a generality. So, if you are making 100 units you won't want to go down that route. For 10,000 units, on the other hand, it would be acceptable. </p>
|
<p>This tag has been removed from the system and made intrinsic. </p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/untagged">Please cleanup the questions that now have no tags...</a></p>
|
<p>Here is a great article on the subject, <a href="https://www.3dhubs.com/talk/thread/how-make-your-own-filament-recycling-old-3d-prints-part-1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How to make your own filament by recycling old 3D prints | Part 1</a>.</p>
<p>At $20/kg for new material, it is going to be hard for recycling to break even; but, if the cost is not your concern, there are some options.</p>
<p>Here is another creative option that I just saw... Cue amazing electric guitar riff:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ur4H.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ur4H.jpg" alt="Angus Young - ACDC"></a></p>
<ul>
<li>Guitar Picks (and jewelry)</li>
</ul>
<p>Here is the video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42c8go9A7HQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Failed Print Recycling Revisited // Guitar Picks, Earrings, and More</a>.</p>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/438">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/436">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/434">Filled PLA</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/431">Anet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/435">Flashforge</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/432">Ultimaker</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/437">Ultimaker 1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/433">Cura</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/445">Monoprice</a></li>
</ul>
|
<h1>Comments</h1>
<blockquote>
<h2>Question in a comment</h2>
<p>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ask Question</a> link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi and welcome to SE.3DP! Please do not ask new questions in comments. Without wishing to sound harsh, StackExchange is a Q&A site, and not a forum of threaded messages. The reason for this is to aid the search for answers to issues, and provide it in a structured Q&A way. I know that this might seem a pain, but can you repost your question using the [Ask Question](/questions/ask) link at the top of the page? When you repost your new question, please feel free to refer back to this original question using the URL, seeing as it is the reason why you posted in the first place.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Answer in a comment</h2>
<p>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)</a>. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Comments are not recommended for any of the following: [Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one)](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment);. Feel free to post an answer instead. Thanks.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2>Limit Comments</h2>
<p>It is better to <a href="https://x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">edit</a> your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>It is better to [edit] your question to add information requested in comments, rather than adding more comments. Comments are for helping to improve questions and answers, and are distracting, so we try to keep them to a minimum. All of this information can be edited into your question to make it easier for people to answer your question. If all of the information is contained in one block then people don't have to read all of the comments to discover all of the information. Once all of the information needed to answer the question is contained within it, the comments can be tidied & deleted.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Initial request</h2>
<p>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Did any of the posted answers solve your issue? If so, please mark it as the accepted answer. If not, then either refine your question or please post your comment above (which appears to contain the solution) as an answer, and then mark it as accepted in 48 hours, in order to remove your question from the unanswered queue. Answers are not allowed in comments, and may be deleted. If your answer is posted as an answer then it becomes searchable and may help others with the same issue.
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Second request (citing comment - obviously replacing the <code>blah blah blah</code>!)</h2>
<p>Hi, could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (maybe expanding upon it as well, if possible) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<h2><em>Self</em>-answered in a comment - Final Reminder (also citing the comment)</h2>
<p>Hi, <em><strong>please</strong></em> could you post your comment <code>blah blah blah</code> as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we <em>really</em> need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>C&P ⎘</strong></p>
<pre><code>Hi, ***please*** could you post your comment `blah blah blah` as an answer (and expanding upon it as well, if possible and a photo as <username2> says) and mark it as accepted. That way your question will no longer be in the unanswered list. Thanks. (1) Comments do not show up in searches, (2) Your answer may help someone else (3) As we are a beta site we *really* need to keep the number of unanswered questions to a minimum, if we are to continue as a site (4) You will earn more reputation from votes and accepting your answer. Thanks in advance
</code></pre>
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<p>Here's a brief outline I threw out in chat once. I'm marking this as a "community Wiki" answer so feel free to edit.</p>
<p>It is not a full Primer, so should date better than a Word6.0 manual.</p>
<hr />
<p>Start by reading the instructions that came with your printer. There's a high chance that some assembly is required, and if you get something wrong then things may nor work right later. Some brands come complete, some are better than others in this regard. Take your time.</p>
<p>For most people, they spend the first couple of weeks failing prints for multiple reasons. For me it was bed levelling and getting the first layer-adhesion, and filament tension.</p>
<p>So work on getting the bed levelled, work out how much gluestick or tape your filament needs to work, and what temperatures work in your environment.</p>
<p>I use 210 °C on the hotend for PLA+ and 60 °C bed temp, though others get away with 190 °C on the hotend and 50 °C on the bed. My printer is in a garage though.</p>
<p>Try and print a 20 mm cube or a benchy.</p>
<p>After that, explore <a href="http://thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://thingiverse.com</a> or <a href="http://thangs.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://thangs.com</a> looking for pre-made stuff that you would benefit from. Start small.</p>
<p>The Grab Toy Infinite is a great starter - it's very forgiving about tolerances, and kids like it. Expect rough handling to break it.</p>
<p>When you're happy printing other people's things, identify some needs of your own. In fact, make up a document / draught email / notepad of ideas of things to print. I add stuff to mine all the time.</p>
<p>When you've got a need that no one else can fill, you can start designing your own item and do the whole</p>
<pre><code>idea --> ||: (re)design --> implement --> test --> curse :|| success!! loop.
</code></pre>
<p>Many people bang on about expensive fancy software, but you can make a perfectly adequate part using <a href="http://tinkercad.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://tinkercad.com/</a> as a grounding.</p>
<p>For example, I had too many spare hacksaw blades and none of the "holders" I could buy were perfect, nor even close. Here's my output:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9yQMmxRv4Lz-spare-hacksaw-blade-holder" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9yQMmxRv4Lz-spare-hacksaw-blade-holder</a></p>
<p>Like many things in making, expect to fail and learn and do it again.</p>
<p>Sometimes it looks like we buy printers to print things for the printers for printing things for the printers...repeat.</p>
<p>Look for needs in your life and design something to fill them. It's most satisfying.</p>
<p>There's a huge gap between Functional prints, which do a job, and pretty prints which are just to look nice.</p>
<p>Functional things are great - you can therefore justify the cost of more printer upgrades. LOOK AT ALL THE MONEY WE SAVED!</p>
<p>But overall enjoy yourself and the time you spend making things.</p>
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<p>My assumptions about PEEK filament price are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Raw material is more expensive. Compare price of <a href="https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/abs-pellet.html" rel="noreferrer">ABS</a> with <a href="https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/peek-pellet.html" rel="noreferrer">PEEK</a> pellets.</li>
<li>Demand is much lower. There are not many printers able to print peek. If you manufacture PEEK filament you have to store a filament batch for longer time. Manufacturer has to calculate into price storage space, material degradation, ...</li>
<li>Filament machine tuning. You have to tune filament extrude machine for PEEK, which takes time because it's a totally different plastic. Maybe there is a cleanup needed after finishing a batch and switching to another material.</li>
<li>Working conditions. PEEK is quite smelly and I am not sure if you have to improve work conditions like better ventilation. </li>
<li>Research costs. You have to distribute research costs to a filament production where demand is low. </li>
</ul>
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<p>I would like to make custom cake molds. </p>
<p>I've asked about this in a few stores that specialize in cooking equipment, they said this wasn't possible. </p>
<p>I wonder if 3D printing makes it possible. It would require a material that is food-safe, as per <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/147/which-are-the-food-safe-materials-and-how-do-i-recognize-them">Which are the food-safe materials and how do I recognize them?</a></p>
<p>However, there are two extra conditions:</p>
<ul>
<li>The material must be able to withstand the heat of an oven or microwave, and not mix with the dough.</li>
<li>It should not be too difficult to remove the cake from the mold after it is ready.</li>
</ul>
<p>The first condition is where this question is a little different from <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/181/can-you-use-pla-material-with-food-and-drinks">Can you use PLA material with food and drinks?</a> - that question is about cutlery and glasses, not about things that go into the oven or microwave.</p>
<p>Is there a material that can be used for this purpose?</p>
|
<p>For <a href="http://3dprintingfromscratch.com/common/types-of-3d-printers-or-3d-printing-technologies-overview/#fdm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FDM</a> printing: </p>
<p>Both Cura and Makerbot Desktop (and perhaps others I'm not as familiar with) will give you a preview of both the length and weight of your print, including supports/rafts. Once the print is done you can weigh it on a kitchen scale.</p>
<p>PLA Filament currently runs about \$23/kg on Amazon, which works out to \$0.023/g. Multiplication can then give you a good estimate of materials costs for a print.</p>
<p>Only experience with your specific printer will give you an idea of how often you're going to hit a failed print, and how often you're going to need to replace parts. For wear and tear you could try using a depreciation model of 2-3 years, but that's only an estimate.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>The primary issue with long-term exposure of filament to the environment is that it will absorb water moisture from the air. When a filament that has absorbed water is passing though the hot end of a printer, the water will turn to steam and cause problems with extrusion:</p>
<ul>
<li>Small bubbles of steam can form, causing extrusion to sputter - you might hear a sizzling noise and have poor consistency.</li>
<li>Large steam bubbles can cause significant oozing followed by no extrusion.</li>
<li>Extreme cases can cause mysterious jams that seem to clear themselves (the extruder cannot overcome the steam pressure).</li>
</ul>
<p>In short, this will cause terrible print quality and failed prints. As the effects are not consistent, there is nothing that can be done by slicer settings to "recalibrate" for filament that has absorbed water.</p>
<p>This can be avoided by storing filament in an air-tight container with desiccant to ensure low humidity. Some people use "dry boxes" that allow the spool to be mounted inside while filament can be passed to the printer, so there is minimal exposure even while the spool is in use.</p>
<p>If you do suspect that your filament has absorbed moisture, you can dry it out, by placing the spool in a warm oven or in a food dehydrator for a few hours. If you weight it before and after, you should find that it weighs several grams less afterwards. <strong>WARNING:</strong> It is important that the temperature does not soften the plastic at all, or it can become distorted or bind on the spool. Most ovens will peak well above the set temperature as the thermostat cycles. Of course, fully melting a roll of filament could destroy your oven or cause a fire.</p>
<p>It's hard to say how much environmental exposure is too much, as every filament and environment is different. When I started out, I had several spools of PLA that I stored in the open for months. I didn't think I was having any problems, but I was also learning much and improving my printer settings at the same time. After getting PETG, it became unusable with oozing and jams after about two weeks but a few hours in my oven was a miracle cure! I then dried some PLA as well, and I found that print quality did improve, but not amazingly so. I have not used ABS, but in theory it is less hygroscopic than PLA, so it is probably not very sensitive to exposure.</p>
<p>I set up a dry storage box, and I am careful to always store PETG or my "good" PLA when I'm not actively using it. I have a couple rolls of PLA that I don't like as much anyway and generally just use for draft prints, and I don't really worry about it that much.</p>
<p>Note: An object that has been printed will also absorb moisture, but in general this isn't a problem.</p>
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<p>For designing your part, especially considering the repetitive mathematics involved, I would consider to learn to use OpenSCAD. I've learned the program and it fits your modeling requirement quite well. I feel it's easy to learn and is somewhat easier for folks who have a programming background. I don't have one, but it's still a logical progression to learn this program.</p>
<p>Regarding the SLS aspect, that also jumped out at me as a suitable answer. Solid shapes require to have "drain holes" to reduce the amount of powder consumed by the process.</p>
<p>I am assembling a Sintratec SLS printer and your model is the sort of thing I would enjoy to create with the printer. I've not yet listed my Sintratec printer on 3dhubs to solicit business, simply because it's not yet a fully assembled printer!</p>
<p>I did a quick Google search for "openscad tetrahedral honeycomb" and found this link:</p>
<p><a href="http://forum.openscad.org/Beginner-Honeycomb-advice-needed-td4556.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://forum.openscad.org/Beginner-Honeycomb-advice-needed-td4556.html</a></p>
<p>The result is more a polygonal honeycomb, not a true 3d tetrahedron, but it's a start. The file that created it is fewer than a few dozen lines of code.</p>
<p>The post is old enough that the internal links no longer work but the OP posted his module code and that does work:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rO5Je.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rO5Je.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>I'm not sure how personal contact works in stackexchange, but I'd be willing to work with you regarding creating your code and if the printer ever gets assembled, printing out your part.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hohRb.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hohRb.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Adding a picture again, to show the latest revision, based on the updated information:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gna6W.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Gna6W.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
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<p>I moved to a plain glass heated bed with a brush applied acetone and ABS mixture. Using an old emptied nail polish bottle with brush, I added some acetone and then threw in ABS pieces until it reached a brush-able consistency. I then brush it on the glass build plate where I believe the print will occur, and it works very well. On removal of the part the coating comes with it.</p>
<p>I just found previously that ABS would adhere to my kapton taped heated bed too strongly to use, and so while this involves a little work before each print, it's overall better than kapton for me.</p>
<p>I did experiment with sheet metal beds coated with kapton, but they curl during printing due to the ABS thermal stress, allowing my parts to be concave on the bottom side. Easy to remove from the plate, though, since it flexed. There may be a good middle ground material but I didn't experiment further.</p>
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<p>Because you will be printing on unheated glass, you will be using some form of adhesive material. If you use an off-the-shelf glue stick, you will likely find it is water soluble. If the bed is removable, immersing it in warm water for a relaxing soak will provide easier model removal. </p>
<p>I don't have experience with various tapes, so will avoid recommendations regarding masking tapes or similar material.</p>
<p>Thermal cycling will also provide release. Not a heat gun, as that will break the glass, but a hair dryer applied to the underside near the model, then cooling. Repeat until it releases.</p>
<p>I have used the Fleks3D print plate on my Flux Delta printer in the past, and it releases "like magic" but I don't think they make monster sheets of your printer size. I had also purchased a pair of 20" square Fleks3D plates for a similarly sized printer that never materialized. I'd be happy to sell you the pair, but I think they are too small for your full plate.</p>
<p>It has been said that one can use sand-blasted acrylic, which I believe is the construction of the aforementioned Fleks3D plates. If you have access to 1/8" or 3mm acrylic and can apply a uniform blast of abrasive, you may be able to construct your own easy-release build plate.</p>
<p>It is practical to consider to use a raft for your large builds. Rafts are useful for small items, to provide a greater bonding surface and avoid release, but it also provides a "wedging" location for your release tool. You can more easily slice away the middle of the raft and deal with a thinner layer after the model is completely freed.</p>
<p>EDIT ADD: If the bed is not removable, one can build a dam around the model with clay to hold the water for dissolving the glue.</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>Under what circumstances</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When your part has internal geometry that would be difficult and expensive to reproduce using other methods. For example fishing lures which need internal water channels. Fittings or covers that would normally require several parts to be sealed together could be simplified to a single part and gasket.</p>
<p>When your part is a complex shape but has no need to be particularly robust because it doesn't come under stress.</p>
<p>When you need a part that you can design with a specific weight and shape you can control the weight with the infill percentage and other factors.</p>
<p>When your part is a niche one that goes with 3d printing strengths. Such as short term or single use items like name plates for conferences, key ring giveaways. Items of novelty value etc,.</p>
<p>When the part is not just functional, you may want a simple functionality in an ornate part for promotional, branding, or other reasons. I was tasked to create a container of certain dimensions. I could have done this a number of ways. But they also wanted their logo and a bunch of designs along a particular theme incorporated into it. Only with 3d printing was this able to be accomplished.</p>
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<p>Let's look at various methods:</p>
<h2>Multiple Hotends</h2>
<p>The oldest version and one of the best to print materials at vastly different print temperatures (like printing a cheaper PLA infill into a Polycarbonate shell - the print temperature difference is 60-100 °C) is to have 2 or more hotends. This way also avoids the need for purging towers. It does, however, limit the maximum size of the used printbed and few 2-printhead machines are cheap.</p>
<h2>Y-Coupler</h2>
<p>Using a bowden setup, a Y-coupler could be used to feed the filament from 2 extruders into one hotend. On the switching tool command, E0 would pull the filament back some couple millimeters beyond the coupler and then E1 would push forward back into the meltzone. One will need a purging tower/object.</p>
<h2>Special, multi-entry hotend</h2>
<p>Some Hotends had been concieved that have 2 or more ways into the meltzone and the multiple extruders push along them. They generally are quite complex and hard to clean, but they allow to seamlessly blend between two filaments of the same material and create pretty much a controlled fade by precisely directing how much of either side is used on any layer. For clean cuts, a purging tower is necessary.</p>
<h2>Splicing filament</h2>
<p>This is what the <a href="https://www.mosaicmfg.com/products/palette-2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Palette 2</a> and the Prusa MMU do: they push pieces of filament into a feeder tube that then are consumed by the printer via its own extruder. If they melt the filaments together like in the PAlette, it's proper splicing, if they just line up the next filament piece without merging into a spliced filament it's more like instant color switching.</p>
<p>This method is good for multi-color prints or using materials that have the same or similar<sup>1</sup> melting temperatures. It might or might not need a purge tower/object to get rid of the residue in the zones between the filaments.</p>
<p>This could btw also be done manually but should be avoided.</p>
<p><sup>1 - or rather not too dissimilar, if the slicer is set up to do it right. By setting up the slicer cleverly, one can have the extruder retract the filament, then adjust the heat over the purge tower and then resume extruding in the purge object at the changed temperature. PLA/PVA from a Prusa MMU is known and advertised to be doable, PLA/ABS might be possible this way. For extreme dissimilarities like PLA/PC (60-100 °C) I have my doubts though. </sup></p>
<h2>Usability</h2>
<p>All of these variants are basically viable, but some have benefits over others. Service is in this comparison meant as <em>repairing</em> a broken extruder, <em>maintaining</em> as the operations needed to keep it in printing order.</p>
<ul>
<li>multiple <em>fully independent</em> hotends is among the easiest to services. It could be direct drive (good for flexible filaments) or bowden. It is however heavy and usually not an option for delta printers. It has a downside that you have to perfectly level two hotend nozzles to be exactly on the same height, putting it in the hard to maintain category.
<ul>
<li><em>multiple hotends on the same carrier</em> is harder to service and maintain in comparison to multiple <em>independent</em> hotends as the components are very close together. Especially nozzle height adjustments can be more finicky.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Y-Coupler needs to be a bowden and has problem with materials that are very stringy. That makes it especially bad for flexible materials. Maintaining is like a normal hotend and servicing is almost the same.</li>
<li>Special hotends are hard to come by but could be available for direct drive, making them possible for flexible filaments. They are, as already noticed, very hard to service.</li>
<li>Splicing filament can be done with either direct drive or bowden setups. It is probaby the most convenient to use after setup and has the maintenance and serviceability of a single hotend and a fully separate machine. Their biggest downside is price and setup time needed.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><p>If you are printing with ABS (or PLA), acetone will dissolve it. Simply pour
some on the bed and wipe it off (beware, acetone can damage beds that have a coating or a plastic sheet over them, be sure to test this first).</p>
</li>
<li><p>Heating the bed back up may make the plastic softer and easier to
remove.</p>
</li>
<li><p>If you are using tape on the bed, you could remove the tape to remove
the plastic stuck to the tape.</p>
</li>
</ul>
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<p>When the print head changes direction, the printer must accelerate and decelerate the print head. When calibrated correctly, the printer is able to do this quickly and without causing the printer to shake too much, without drastically slowing down the print process.</p>
<p>If I set it too high, my printer shakes violently, especially during infill. If I set it too low, print times are doubled or tripled.</p>
<p>What process can I follow to determine (or how can I calculate) the fastest acceleration value my printer can use without causing problems in my print?</p>
<p>I'd prefer a process I can follow over a formula I can plug values into, especially if the formula includes magic numbers.</p>
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<p>A tool that you might find useful for experimenting with acceleration is <a href="http://prusaprinters.org/calculator/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RepRap Centrals Acceleration Calculator</a> (at the bottom).</p>
<p>By setting an <em>acceleration</em>, <em>length of travel</em> and <em>target speed</em>, you can see:</p>
<ol>
<li>The theoretical speed that can be achieved during the travel with your set acceleration (yellow line).</li>
<li>The distance required to reach your target speed, and for how long it will hold that speed before slowing down (blue line).</li>
</ol>
<p>For instance, setting <code>acceleration = 3000, length = 30 and speed = 150</code> means it will travel 4 mm before reaching its desired speed of 150 mm/s, while that same acceleration theoretically could give a speed of 300 mm/s for the given distance: </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g13l3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g13l3.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p><strong>Calculating speed, acceleration and jerk:</strong></p>
<p>In many cases your printer will have some limitation in maximum speed or settings given by your provider that can be used as a starting point. If not, trial and error is the most straightforward way of doing it. </p>
<p>I would separate speed calibration into three task:</p>
<ol>
<li>First find the <em>maximum speed</em> your printer can tolerate. One way of doing this is to print an object with long travel distances, and vary the maximum travel speed.</li>
<li>Using the calculator above, increase the <em>acceleration</em> for various traveling distances until you get suitably smooth acceleration curves for your desired speed for medium to long traveling distances.</li>
<li>Adjust your <em>jerk</em> setting to allow for quick speedup on short traveling distances. Jerk speed is the speed that the printer will immediately jump to before taking acceleration into account. With a jerk of 20mm/s, the printer will make an immediate jump from 0 to 20 mm/s, and thereafter speed up to the desired speed by following the acceleration profile.</li>
</ol>
<p>As a rule of thumb, it might be smart to then set the actual speed, jerk and acceleration approximately 20% below the the maximum found as a safeguard when printing. </p>
<p>Also, bear in mind that <a href="https://www.google.no/search?q=stepper%20motor%20strength%20curve%20NEMA%2017&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=985&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi74aLL46fKAhVIdCwKHdJbDa4QsAQIGg&dpr=1#imgrc=NbUjFTxiWehyKM%3A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the strength of stepper motors lowers for higher speeds</a>, so that the nozzle will not hold its path very well if obstructed. If this becomes a problem, consider lowering the speed. </p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>Automatic bed levelling is not magic; it still requires you to level the bed properly (as level as possible). The upside of automatic bed levelling is that it compensates for small deviations like a slightly slanted surface or a (somewhat large) dent in the surface (as long it is probed and can be digitized by the firmware). It will keep the nozzle at a distance to the bed that it maintains proper distance to the bed for the filament to adhere properly (first layer adherence is key for successful prints). The slight imperfections are smeared out over about 10 mm (set in the firmware), this way you do not need transformations for the whole print (so if you deliberately make the bed very skew, the print will follow the Z axis, not the direction perpendicular to the bed).</p>
<p>While systems to level or align the bed exist, it is not very practical and expensive as it requires more parts, that is why it is not commonly used. Apart from the suggested printer in <a href="/a/10408">this answer</a>, printers with e.g. 4 ball screw Z movement lead screws exist (mostly printers for companies, not for use at home); ball screws are way more expensive, but also way more accurate than trapezoidal lead screws. A low accuracy is preferable as such systems generally have no guiding linear rods (as that would mean that you fix the plane/alignment of the build platform!).</p>
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<p>You instruct the printer to move from a certain X-Y position instructed by the previous move, to X=50 and Y=50. While moving at a feedrate of 100 mm/min, it will also retract 10 mm of filament (if the previous extruder distance was 0) during that move. If the movement distance is large, the retraction is slow. If you started from X,Y = 49.99,49.99 it would be very fast.</p>
<p>If you want a fast retraction, first move to a position, and than retract fast, so in separate commands. Do note that we usually do it the other way around: first retract fast and then move, this way there is less oozing of the nozzle.</p>
<p>To sum up, in your G-code command, the speed of retraction depends on the path of travel (the length and speed defined by the feed rate <code>F</code>). If it is fast retraction you are after, you should split the command into two separate commands.</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>One of the things I was told about was that many printers don't necessarily have that crazy precision of 0.05 mm (50 micron). Another person told me something different - he said most of those printers actually were capable of putting out 50 micron layer height. How is it really?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both things you've read are completely correct.</p>
<p>Most printers are capable of 50 micron layer heights. However, layer height does not equal "accuracy" or "precision". The layer height specification is a useless marketing term that you should ignore; layer height is to 3D printers what dynamic contrast is to monitors.</p>
<p>All FDM printers are inherently quite bad at producing parts with tight tolerances. The filament extrusion process introduces lots of variables that are hard to control: the diameter of the filament may vary, there is a delay between feeding filament into to the extruder and it coming out, and the gooey filament that comes out of the extruder behaves in unpredictable ways.</p>
<p>Nobody has figured out how to quantify "accuracy" for 3D printers in a way that correlates with the quality of the finished parts. It is impossible to tell which printer produces "better" or more accurate parts from the specification sheet of a printer.</p>
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<p>So I discovered that the fade height must have been set to something really off.</p>
<p>I didn't know this at the time so I thought I should set the fade height to the default 10 mm just to make sure nothing was wrong and tested it. The printer now levels and compensates perfectly!</p>
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<p>I'll try my hand at it and try to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBJNE.png" alt="Been here?"></a></p>
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<p>This tag has been removed from the system and made intrinsic. </p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/untagged">Please cleanup the questions that now have no tags...</a></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbn1ckR86Z8" rel="nofollow">See here</a> for why you <em>shouldn't</em> calibrate your X/Y-steps. The value of 100 is probably better and will give more accurate prints overall than the value you came up with.</p>
<p>When uploading new firmware you generally do not have to press any button. Pressing reset manually is only necessary when your upload method does not provide a reset pulse, but if you upload with USB this is not necessary.</p>
<p>What is probably causing your problem is that the E-steps are stored in EEPROM, and uploading new firmware does not override the EEPROM settings.</p>
<p>You should run a <code>M502</code> to restore the default settings from the firmware you uploaded, then <code>M500</code> to save them to the EEPROM.</p>
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<p>Using a thermoplastic MDF printer with a 0.4mm extruder nozzle, I frequently have trouble with the nozzle getting clogged.</p>
<p>I am not sure what's causing the clog, but my guesses are dust and/or burnt filament (from leaving the hot end on without extruding).</p>
<p>What can I do to prevent, or at least minimize, the extruder nozzle getting clogged?</p>
<p>Bonus question: What other common causes of clogs are there? (ie what should I watch out for besides dust and leaving the hot end on?)</p>
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<p>Lubricating the filament is the most common solution I've heard of to stop filament jams and clogs. Lubricating makes for a smoother ride through the print head. While you're at it, make sure that the filament is clean. The best way to stop jams from dust is to get rid of the dust in the first place.</p>
<p>Some people recommend <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:103729" rel="noreferrer">canola oil</a>, which I've heard works reasonably well for both ABS and PLA (though especially for PLA). You can even <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:52203" rel="noreferrer">3D-print dust filters/lubricators</a>, if you think this could be a serious issue.</p>
<p>I personally try to clean the print head regularly, after every couple prints or even after each print, if I have time. Something sharp, like tweezers, can pick off bits of filament near the tip of the nozzle. I haven't tried other utensils yet, but there are certainly other tools that would work. I've also heard of people regulating temperature with a fan, in order to prevent partially melted bits of filament clogging up the inside of the nozzle, but I don't know if that's effective.</p>
<p>In some cases, the problem could even be as mundane as a support issue. I once set up a spool of filament, only to have a jam when the support for the spool failed, leaving the line of filament tugging at the nozzle and clogging it. Taking steps to prevent this from happening can be simply and effective. Whatever the cause, preventative measures are always my choice.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>You can test different print settings. Trying to visualize, but I believe you can increase the <strong>perimeter lines</strong>, since there is a hole, this will increase the resistance in that area. Or try to change the <strong>orientation</strong> with which the part will be printed</p>
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<p>The short answer is: <strong>yes, it is always a good idea to print in a well-ventilated area</strong>. The longer answer can be articulated as follows:</p>
<h3>Definition of "fumes"</h3>
<p>"Fumes" is a fuzzy word that from a chemical/physical perspective includes at least three different things:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Vapour</strong> - the gas phase of a substance</li>
<li><strong>Aerosol</strong> - a airborne suspension of tiny particles of liquid, solid, or both</li>
<li><strong>Smoke</strong> - particles and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis (so really: a smoke is a combination of <em>vapours</em> and <em>aerosols</em> too... but the combustion/pyrolysis will have changed the very nature of the material, so it will be "vapours and aerosols of <em>a different substance</em>"</li>
</ul>
<h3>Interactions with the human body</h3>
<p>Each of the above has a different way of interacting with the human body. The list of possible interactions is huge, and out-of-scope for this answer, but just to mention a few obvious ones:</p>
<ul>
<li>Vapours tend to enter cells by osmotic pressure and can have carcinogenic effects by either attacking the genome of the cell or by disrupting its metabolic processes (think: benzene in car fuel)</li>
<li>Aerosols can trigger the immune system, and in return have the body develop allergies or autoimmune reactions.</li>
<li>Aerosols can deposit their particles on the cellular membrane, making it impossible for it to operate correctly and eventually fail (like neurons failing to transmit electrical impulses, for example)</li>
<li>...</li>
</ul>
<h3>Composition of filaments</h3>
<p>Modern filaments are a combination of different substances: the basic plastic (PLA, ABS, PETG...) that gives the name to the filament is almost always mixed with <em>other plastics</em> and additives that change its physical characteristics.</p>
<p>In some cases, the filament is host to <em>particles of other materials</em> (like wood, metals or phosphorescent compounds).</p>
<p>Each of the different materials have different transition and critical and flash points (the temperatures at which they will become vapour and ignite respectively), and different physical properties which in turn will affect differently the size of the particles in the aerosol coming out of the printer.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>The bottom-line is that it is close to impossible to have a <em>complete</em> understanding of how a given "fume" affects human health.</p>
<p>Typically the safety of a substance is tested in a lab by directly observing its effect on cells, or by performing epidemiological studies in a population, if the exposure data to a given substance is known.</p>
<p>When people comment on PLA being "safe" for example, they typically refer to studies that tested inert, cold, chemically pure PLA. But the <em>fumes</em> of a PLA filament will probably not be inert, nor cold, nor be exclusively PLA.</p>
<p>Additionally, it has to be observed that it is much easier to rule a filament harmful than safe: for it to be considered harmful it is sufficient to know that one of its components is harmful (for ABS that is typically studies showing the adverse affect of ABS aerosols on health). For it to be deemed safe, one must know that <em>all</em> if its components are safe, but most filament do not go through the rigorous testing required to ascertain that.</p>
<p>In conclusion, <strong>it is always a good idea to get rid of the fumes from 3D printing regardless of the type filament being used</strong>. The ideal solution is a printing enclosure maintaining negative pressure, but an enclosure with air filtering or a well ventilated room are also good options (ventilation can have adverse effects on printing quality though, due to drafts and their cooling effect).</p>
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<p>In Cura (and Slic3r), you can 100% customize what the printer does before printing your actual model through custom <strong>start/end g-code</strong>.</p>
<p>If you navigate to the <code>Start/End-GCode tab in Cura</code>, then select <code>start.gcode</code>, you can see what operations are run before each print begins. Lines prefixed with <code>;</code> are comments, and does not affect the printing in any way. </p>
<p>Basically, we want to manually tell the printer to do the auto leveling <em>before</em> heating up the nozzle by editing the g-code in <code>start.gcode</code>.</p>
<h3>G-Code generated with the default start.gcode:</h3>
<p>If you try to slice some model with the default code found in <code>start.gcode</code>, you will get something like the following (depending on your printer):</p>
<pre><code>; CURA AUTOMATICALLY INSERTS THESE TEMPERATURE CODES
M190 S70.000000 ; Set bed temperature to 70 degrees
M109 S210.000000 ; Set nozzle temperature to 210 degrees
; THESE ARE THE CODES FROM START.GCODE (for a ROBO 3D R1)
G28 ;move printer to endstops (the home position)
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded filament length
M565 Z-1 ;set z-probe offset
G1 Z5 F5000 ;move the printer 5mm above the bed
G29 ;run auto-leveling
; THE ACTUAL MODEL BEGINS HERE
;Layer count: 168
;LAYER:0
.
.
</code></pre>
<h3>Analyzing the g-code output</h3>
<p>At the top of this code snippet, we can see that Cura automatically inserts g-code for heating up the bed and nozzle to their respective temperatures with the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M190:_Wait_for_bed_temperature_to_reach_target_temp" rel="noreferrer">M190</a> and <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M109:_Set_Extruder_Temperature_and_Wait" rel="noreferrer">M109</a> g-codes. This means the printer always will heat up the nozzle before reading the <code>start.gcode</code>s that we set. However, if we manually override <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M109:_Set_Extruder_Temperature_and_Wait" rel="noreferrer">M109</a> code in <code>start.gcode</code>, the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M109:_Set_Extruder_Temperature_and_Wait" rel="noreferrer">M109</a> at the top will automagically disappear from the generated g-code output! (Thanks, @TomvanderZanden!)</p>
<p>We could therefore use the auto-leveling command <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#G29:_Detailed_Z-Probe" rel="noreferrer">G29</a> before manually setting the nozzle temperature with <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M109:_Set_Extruder_Temperature_and_Wait" rel="noreferrer">M109</a>; specifically, we want to add <code>M109 S{print_temperature}</code>, which reads the <code>Basic -> Print Temperature</code>-setting in Cura, and replace <code>{print_temperature}</code> with it automatically.</p>
<h3>Manipulating start.gcode:</h3>
<p>In order to postpone heating the hotend till after probing, <code>start.gcode</code> could be something like: </p>
<pre><code>G28 ;move printer to endstops (the home position)
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded filament length
M565 Z-1 ;set z-probe offset <----- ( YOU HAVE TO ADJUST THIS, READ BELOW)
G1 Z5 F5000 ;move the printer 5mm above the bed
G29 ;run auto-leveling
M109 S{print_temperature} ;set nozzle temperature, and wait for it heat up
</code></pre>
<p>And that's about it! You can then use these codes in your <code>start.gcode</code>. However, you probably will have to recalibrate your z-prove offset. </p>
<h3>Adjust z-probe offset:</h3>
<p>Normally, auto-leveling is done with the nozzle heated for a reason: when the nozzle is warm, it expands slightly, moving closer to the bed. You might therefore have to adjust your Z-probe offset with the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M565:_Set_Z_probe_offset" rel="noreferrer">M565</a> command (as demonstrated in the snippet) to account for the increase in nozzle length when warm.</p>
<h3>Remember:</h3>
<p>Remember that when editing g-code in this manner, you will take full control of how the printer operates. You could therefore very well do something unintended, so keep the power switch close! </p>
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<p>The properties of the maternal are not what changes after you print. It is how you use the material. PLA and ABS prints aren't usually subject to +100 °C after printing.</p>
<p>When PLA absorbs moisture it becomes brittle. PLA filament will break when trying to print. Your PLA print may be thick enough so that brittle doesn't cause a problem. However, this can be a problem if you intend your PLA print to be flexible.</p>
<p>The main issue with PETG absorbing moisture is the water changing to steam in the extruder. PETG becomes soft and will distort with force applied at +100 °C; so generally moisture isn't a issue with PETG prints, due to application.</p>
<p>PLA and PETG absorb moisture, but do not dissolve in water. Usually what a person means by waterproofing is water won't seep through the layers of the material and leak out of a container. Note: most glass will absorb small amounts of moisture, but are still waterproof.</p>
<p>If one wants a hermetic seal this is a similar issue. One person printing hermetic prints said thicker layers make it easier to be hermetic. Thicker layers also tend to make the printer stronger, but can also give less detail in the print.</p>
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<p>There are a number of things to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Wire Gauge: a typical 40W, 12V heater draws around 3A. 24 AWG or lower would be appropriate (copper wire, CCA will require thicker gauge).</p></li>
<li><p>Insulation: the part of the wire close to the resistor leads might get too hot for conventional PVC installation. Consider using silicone, teflon or glass fiber insulation instead, especially near the heating element. If the resistor's leads are long enough they might stay cool enough for regular PVC insulation, but make sure you insulate the part of the leads closer to the resistor appropriately.</p></li>
<li><p>Solder: if close to the heater itself, the solder might melt. Consider using silver solder, or using a mechanical connection (ferrule/crimp) instead. Again, this might not be a concern if the leads of the resistor are long enough.</p></li>
<li><p>Flexibility: given that the extruder (probably) moves a lot, use flexible wire (stranded, not solid core) and provide strain relief (especially near the connections, and avoid creating too sharp bends).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, resistors have fallen out of favor compared to ceramic heating elements. Since they are inexpensive and solve all of the above problems (the leads are already attached and appropriately insulated) consider using a ceramic heater instead.</p>
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<p>I've had great success printing with HIPS (high-impact polystyrene) as a support for both PLA and ABS. Most sites recommend it for use with ABS because the materials melt at similar temperatures and work best with heated beds, but I've had good luck using it as a support material with PLA on a bed at 60°C. It doesn't stick as well to PLA as it does to ABS, so supports tend to peel away very readily. The downside is that, if you need the support to anchor your print at all, it doesn’t really stick well enough to accomplish this task. For that, you must pair HIPS with ABS. </p>
<p>When you print with ABS or have complicated interwoven support structures, HIPS can be dissolved with D-limonene, a citrus based cleaner sold under various names like Citrisolv (others exist), or with dipentene (a mixture of L and D-limonene that doesn't smell as pleasant). </p>
<p>Regarding cost: I've found HIPS to be slightly more expensive than PLA/ABS, but only 1.5x the cost, not 4x like PVA. Additionally, it isn't hydroscopic in the same way as PVA so it lasts longer out of the package. Since you're using it as support, you also tend to use far less filament than you do for the main print (sparse support structures as opposed to solid print structures). </p>
<p>Water-soluble alternatives: There are a few proprietary blends of polymers sold by the big commercial printer manufacturers (3DSystems, Stratasys) that only work in their machines… these are generally soluble in basic solutions (water + sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate). These are usually very expensive and you'd have to rewind the filament on a spool, as they come in cartridges made for specific printers. You'd also have to experiment with the right build conditions and solution blends to remove the material afterward. Airwolf has a support material called <a href="https://airwolf3d.com/shop/water-soluble-support-3d-print/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hydrofill</a> that purports to be soluble in plain water… I'm not sure how this is different from standard PVA, though I assume it <em>is</em> different. Hopefully more companies will work on developing water-soluble options to help us keep the 3D printing world full of renewable, less-environmentally-harmful options for filaments (both print and support). </p>
<h2>Update:</h2>
<p>Ultimaker now has a material called <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/materials/breakaway" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Breakaway</a>. After using it for a few models, it works remarkably well, allowing me, for the first time, to print <strong>nice</strong> rounded surfaces on the bases of my prints. It really does just break away from the surface, much like HIPS but without the lack of adhesion problems between HIPS and PLA. </p>
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<p>Changing the <strong>flow rate</strong> during a print can <strong>not</strong> be saved. There simply is no way. It is usually meant to be a fix with filament inconsistencies or to look for the right extrusion factor for a new filament batch.</p>
<h2>Slicer</h2>
<p>The only way to consistently increase the flow rate would be to alter the <code>flow rate</code> in your slicer to what you have found to work best for each machine, probably using separate profiles. This will up the rate for every subsequently sliced print. Note though that this 108 % increased extrusion is converted extrusion factors that are simply numerical and 1.08 times the normal in the g-code. These numerical values will be taken as 100 % by the printer - and since it requires extra work to slice the gode for different profiles it is not the optimal solution.</p>
<p>As you elaborated though, this is not a doable thing, so let's look further.</p>
<h2>Source hunt & Workaround</h2>
<p>Since only one printer is showing underextrusion while the others do not, it is time to check the hard- and firmware:</p>
<ul>
<li>underextrusion can be caused by a defective extruder assembly or a damaged or blocked nozzle.</li>
<li>if a machine has consistent underextrusion, its steps/mm in the firmware might be off. This could be altered and stored in the EEPROM. Since this could be a machine unique setting, here would be your point of attack to increase the extrusion of just one machine while using the identical G-code to all other machines.</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that the standard firmware of the Ender-3 in 2019 did not contain Thermal Runaway Protection (<a href="/q/8466/">What is Thermal Runaway Protection?</a>) and should be upgraded because of this anyway. You have to flash a bootloader too, so in the process of doing the upgradeability and safety-upgrade to all the machines, you could store the altered steps/mm to each machine individually so they get consistent output.</p>
|
<p>I've occasionally had issues with excess filament residue getting stuck to the print bed. <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/78/how-can-i-stop-my-print-bed-tape-from-sticking-to-the-filament">There are ways to prevent this</a>, but sometimes even these precautions aren't enough. Over time, residue can build up. I've observed this in some printers, though not others.</p>
<p>Are there any techniques to best clean print beds? In the past, I've used various typical cleaning supplies, with different degrees of success. However, I don't know if this will lead to damage to the printer over time.</p>
<p>The printer I'm using has a glass print bed, which I occasionally partially cover with blue painter's tape during printing.</p>
|
<ul>
<li><p>If you are printing with ABS (or PLA), acetone will dissolve it. Simply pour
some on the bed and wipe it off (beware, acetone can damage beds that have a coating or a plastic sheet over them, be sure to test this first).</p>
</li>
<li><p>Heating the bed back up may make the plastic softer and easier to
remove.</p>
</li>
<li><p>If you are using tape on the bed, you could remove the tape to remove
the plastic stuck to the tape.</p>
</li>
</ul>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Here's a brief outline I threw out in chat once. I'm marking this as a "community Wiki" answer so feel free to edit.</p>
<p>It is not a full Primer, so should date better than a Word6.0 manual.</p>
<hr />
<p>Start by reading the instructions that came with your printer. There's a high chance that some assembly is required, and if you get something wrong then things may nor work right later. Some brands come complete, some are better than others in this regard. Take your time.</p>
<p>For most people, they spend the first couple of weeks failing prints for multiple reasons. For me it was bed levelling and getting the first layer-adhesion, and filament tension.</p>
<p>So work on getting the bed levelled, work out how much gluestick or tape your filament needs to work, and what temperatures work in your environment.</p>
<p>I use 210 °C on the hotend for PLA+ and 60 °C bed temp, though others get away with 190 °C on the hotend and 50 °C on the bed. My printer is in a garage though.</p>
<p>Try and print a 20 mm cube or a benchy.</p>
<p>After that, explore <a href="http://thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://thingiverse.com</a> or <a href="http://thangs.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://thangs.com</a> looking for pre-made stuff that you would benefit from. Start small.</p>
<p>The Grab Toy Infinite is a great starter - it's very forgiving about tolerances, and kids like it. Expect rough handling to break it.</p>
<p>When you're happy printing other people's things, identify some needs of your own. In fact, make up a document / draught email / notepad of ideas of things to print. I add stuff to mine all the time.</p>
<p>When you've got a need that no one else can fill, you can start designing your own item and do the whole</p>
<pre><code>idea --> ||: (re)design --> implement --> test --> curse :|| success!! loop.
</code></pre>
<p>Many people bang on about expensive fancy software, but you can make a perfectly adequate part using <a href="http://tinkercad.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://tinkercad.com/</a> as a grounding.</p>
<p>For example, I had too many spare hacksaw blades and none of the "holders" I could buy were perfect, nor even close. Here's my output:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9yQMmxRv4Lz-spare-hacksaw-blade-holder" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9yQMmxRv4Lz-spare-hacksaw-blade-holder</a></p>
<p>Like many things in making, expect to fail and learn and do it again.</p>
<p>Sometimes it looks like we buy printers to print things for the printers for printing things for the printers...repeat.</p>
<p>Look for needs in your life and design something to fill them. It's most satisfying.</p>
<p>There's a huge gap between Functional prints, which do a job, and pretty prints which are just to look nice.</p>
<p>Functional things are great - you can therefore justify the cost of more printer upgrades. LOOK AT ALL THE MONEY WE SAVED!</p>
<p>But overall enjoy yourself and the time you spend making things.</p>
|
<p><strong>The first thing to understand is what causes warping</strong>. Warping is caused by the thermal contraction of the plastic when it cools down.</p>
<p>Simplifying things a fair bit, you can visualise the process like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>hot, expanded plastic gets deposited on cooler, shrunk layers,</li>
<li>when the hot plastic cools down, it shrinks and pulls the upper part of the layer below inwards</li>
<li>at this point, the layer below has a differential in the compression between its upper and lower parts, and curls up</li>
<li>the problem is exacerbated at the very first layer (the one touching the bed) as this is "locked" to a rigid body (the bed) and cannot shrink, while subsequent layers are only attached to the somewhat flexible plastic beneath, and thus can contract.</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/knXcU.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/knXcU.png" alt="diagram of curling plastic"></a></p>
<p>Also notice that the larger the part being printed, the stronger is the force trying to curl-up your print.</p>
<p>Once one understands all of this, then it is possible to appreciate the many ways the problem can be mitigated.</p>
<p>Here are the common ones:</p>
<p><strong>USING A MATERIAL WITH LOW SHRINKAGE COEFFICIENT</strong></p>
<p>This translates in smaller tensions and thus less force "pulling up" the corners of your print. Historically, 3D printing started with ABS because this material was one of the very few, relatively safe ones to source. Nowadays there are materials like PETG which have similar mechanical properties to ABS but are much easier and forgiving to print with, so - unless you need ABS for some very specific reason (e.g.: acetone smoothing) consider never printing with it.</p>
<p><strong>DECREASING THE THERMAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOLTEN AND SOLID STATE</strong></p>
<p>Concretely, this means lowering the "gap" between the ~200°C of the nozzle and the ~20°C of room temperature by using a heated bed and - possibly - an enclosure.</p>
<p>The heated bed not only drastically diminish the shrinkage of the first layer, but because heat radiates, and hot air goes upwards, the entire bottom of the print has shrinkage mitigated.</p>
<p>An enclosure just increase the benefit of the heating bed, by reflecting IR radiation back towards the print and preventing hot air to escape. A heated enclosure just improve things even further.</p>
<p>Some slicers offer a "shroud" option, that encloses the entire print in an enclosed, sacrificial structure, that tries to emulate the benefits of a proper printer enclosure.</p>
<p><strong>INCREASING ADHESION WITH THE PRINTING BED</strong></p>
<p>That is the "brutal force" approach: if you face a strong "curl up" force, oppose it with a strong "anchor down" one.</p>
<p>The increase in adhesion can be achieved in a number of ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lower print speed (more time for the molten plastic to "bond")</li>
<li>Overextrusion (more pressure, more material)</li>
<li>Disabling cooling fan (more progressive cooling, more time to "bond")</li>
<li>Using a brim (more contact surface between print and bed)</li>
<li>Using "ad hoc" material on the bed (PVA glue for PLA, ABS sludge for ABS, kapton tape, hair spray, blue tape, etc...)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>REDUCING THE CURL-UP FORCE</strong></p>
<p>This is typically achieved during design. Designing is a vast field and it would be impossible to cover all the possible mitigating strategies one could use, but here are some of the most common ones:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Prefer assembling smaller parts over printing huge ones. This is self explanatory really, as the curling force increases with the amount of material "pulling", the least material one has, the less force one gets.</p></li>
<li><p>Make relief holes above the first layers in long structures. This will essentially "break" the build-up of tension in the layer, creating many points with a little "curling up force" rather than two with a huge one. Something along the lines of this, for example:</p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nKSuL.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/nKSuL.jpg" alt="I beam with relief holes"></a></p>
<ul>
<li>Avoid extensive overhangs close to the bottom of the print (this is because otherwise you will have considerably more material "pulling up" than you will have "anchoring down". Here is an example of what <em>not</em> to do (to be fair: this was specifically taken from a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1504207" rel="noreferrer">bed adhesion/warping test</a>).</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/t7IDh.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/t7IDh.png" alt="warping test"></a></p>
<p>Of course all of the above strategies can/should be combined, when possible. Even if not warped, a part with a lot of internal tension will perform less predictably and possibly worse than a part where such tensions are lower.</p>
|
<p>The oozing is due to hot-end getting hot before the bed leveling procedure: if you move the hot-end warm up command <strong>after</strong> the <code>G29</code> line you avoid that oozing</p>
<pre><code>; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Extruder temperature
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Set Heat Bed temperature
G28 ; Home all axes
G29 ; BLTOUCH Mesh Generation
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Heat Bed temperature
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ; Wait for Extruder temperature
G1 F1800 E-3 ; Retract filament 3 mm to prevent oozing
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z5.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
</code></pre>
<p>The above code will activate the heating elements but starts homing and leveling procedure without waiting for the elements to get up to temperature. Only after the bed leveling is finished the printer will pause and wait for the heating elements reach the desired temperature.</p>
<p>This will prevent oozing on a cold start, but you will still be affected if you start a print right after another print, when the hot-end is still close to melting temperature.</p>
<p>If you prefer to avoid that condition you might want to also move the <code>M104</code> and <code>M140</code> commands after the <code>G29</code> bed leveling command.</p>
|
<p>A few thoughts that might help...</p>
<p><strong>Material:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>ABS can be vapor smoothed with Acetone which results in the layers sort of "melting" together to form a smoother, and less porous surface.</li>
<li>Other plastics can be smoothed with compatible solvents, but I've not tried solvent smoothing with anything other than ABS. Be careful if you try.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Print Method:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Consider slightly higher print temps to increase layer adhesion. You'll likely have to compensate with extra retraction to avoid excessive stringing.</li>
<li>Consider more perimeter layers and more top/bottom layers.</li>
<li>The CF materials are stiffened with chopped CF strands...I think it's a stretch to call them "reinforced" unless you happen to have a Markforged printer or similar.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Sealants:</strong> This is probably your best bet.</p>
<ul>
<li>Epoxy: Generally considered effective for producing hermetically sealed containers. Dip or brush on. Mind your VOC's and pay attention to working time.</li>
<li>Plasti-dip or similar sealants: These may be good enough for your application and result in a rubbery coating over your part. Good for water sealing, and may be close enough to hermetically sealed for your needs.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Design:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>To mechanically seal the opening, there are many options depending on your requirements. O-rings, gaskets, etc. If you use a rubberized dip, you may be able to skip the gasket. You could install a few threaded inserts around the perimeter of the opening, put in the screws, then dip. After drying, you slice around the screw and remove it (this just keeps the coating out of your threads) Dip the cover as well. Then when you screw on the cover, it will provide a water-tight seal. To help make a good seal, apply a silicone grease to the mating surface.</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope this helps. :-)</p>
|
<p><em><strong>Short version:</strong> basically, this depends on your printer, make, model, type, state of maintenance, extruder, slicer settings, belt tension, play, friction, etc.</em></p>
<hr />
<p><em><strong>Long version:</strong></em> Basically your printer determines how accurate it prints; you can influence the accuracy a little by calibrating and fine tuning the printer. What regularly is done is to print <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278865" rel="nofollow noreferrer">calibration cubes</a> of fixed size. Before you do that, you should read "<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6483/how-do-i-calibrate-the-extruder-of-my-printer">How do I calibrate the extruder of my printer?</a>"; this explains to calibrate the extruder. With a fine tuned extruder you could print those XYZ calibration cubes, or in your case create a box of e.g. 50 x 50 x 15 mm. When you measure the length and the width with a caliper, you will know how much the tolerances are for this print size. Eventually, you could change this by re-adjusting the steps per mm in the firmware of the printer, but this is not always a recommendation (as your steps per mm should be related to the mechanical layout of the used mechanism, e.g. the belt size and pitch in combination with the pulley and the stepper resolution).</p>
<p>Please also look into the answer of "<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6570/5740">How to make moving parts not stick together?</a>"; this answer hints to printing a tolerance calibration model that uses diabolic shapes set apart from the outer object by several values for the offset between the pieces. When you print this you can find out what sort of tolerance works for you. Please do note that the tolerances on smaller parts may be different than the tolerances on larger parts.</p>
<p>The answer on your question thus depends on your 3D printing machine, but usually the tolerance values range in the few tenths of a millimeter. To enable a lid on top of a box like in your example, you need to keep the tolerance in mind when designing the lid. Usually an extra few tenths of a millimeter will do the trick, but if you make some test prints first you will know exactly.</p>
<p>To answer the question what the influence is of layer height on tolerance, I <a href="https://mattshub.com/2017/04/19/extruder-calibration/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">quote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Load a 25 mm cube into your slicer and set the infill to 0%,
perimeters to 1, and top solid layers to 0. You’ll also want to print
it at a fine resolution – I chose 0.15 mm and it actualy did make a
small (0.02 mm) difference in the wall thickness as opposed to 0.3 mm.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So yes the layer height has an effect, it is very little though.</p>
<p>An interesting read is "<a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/a-guide-to-understanding-the-tolerances-of-your-3d-printer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A Guide to Understanding the Tolerances of Your 3D Printer</a>" from "<a href="https://www.matterhackers.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">matterhackers</a>".</p>
<p>Furthermore, when you have calibrated the printer but still run into small deviations, is that most slicers will allow you to compensate for X and Y dimensions.</p>
|
<p>(Love the question and here is my 2 cents).</p>
<p>Firstly, you want to minimize supports. Even if you have dissolvable supports, you would still want to minimize the usage.</p>
<p>For Example:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LoQCE.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LoQCE.jpg" alt="Smartphone and tablet Stand by bq3D"></a></p>
<p>At first glance of the finished object, it is not obvious at what angle it was printed. Upon close inspection the overhang in the part is designed such that it can be printed without supports. This brings me to my first point:</p>
<p><strong>Design with fabrication in mind</strong></p>
<p>I've often designed myself into a corner with parts that are complex and are impossible to print properly; or they use up too much filament in the supports. To this end I try to <em>think about the shadow</em> that the part will cast on the bed if there was a light source directly over head. I often orient the part so that it will </p>
<p><strong>Cast the smallest possible shadow.</strong></p>
<p>Then there are the features. Does the hole need to be round? Does this flange need to be strong? If so then I try to ensure that the feature is oriented in the XY plane as much as possible, because the Z axis is the weakest. Therefore if you have a hole, and it needs to be strong, then it should be printed perpendicular to the Z axis.</p>
|
<p>Most commercial blow-molded fuel tanks for model airplane fuel (methanol or ethanol, nitromethane or nitroethane, and some combination of castor, mineral, or synthetic lubricating oil) are made from HDPE. This material isn't commonly seen as filament, in my limited experience, but it ought to be possible to arrive at settings that will give a liquid tight tank without further sealing if you can find some. As you note, limonene might be used to smooth/seal HDPE prints, but likely won't be necessary if your settings are right.</p>
<p>You might want to test PETG filament for its resistance to your fuel mix(es) -- this material <em>is</em> available as filament, prints with settings little different from generic PLA (in my experience, higher nozzle and bed temperature, and a little more bed clearance for the first layer), with good layer adhesion and, with a good print, is liquid-tight as printed. It's not particularly flexible (as is the case with HDPE), but since you can customize the shape of your fuel tank, it may work for you -- or it may be more flexible in vase mode, as PLA is.</p>
<p>Sealing PETG may be as simple as baking it (similar to "heat treating" PLA to increase print strength, albeit again at a higher temperature) -- this partial remelting will ensure that layers are adhered throughout the print, which (presuming you have avoided under-extruded areas) should be all that's needed to make a printed tank liquid tight.</p>
|
<p>My thermoplastic FDM printer has a heated bed and uses glass as the printing surface. Sometimes the glass will chip or break entirely when I'm removing my print. This happens most often when the print has a large area in contact with the glass.</p>
<p>What can I do to keep this from happening?</p>
|
<p>Some things I've tried that have helped:</p>
<p>Lay down a layer of masking tape. Most people who do this use blue painter's tape. The plastic should stick nicely during printing, yet release reasonably easily when you remove the print from the heated bed.</p>
<p>Lay down a later of Kapton tape. The principle is the same as masking tape, but Kapton tape has a smooth surface and is more durable than masking tape. The down side is Kapton tape is far more expensive, and applying it correctly is a LOT more work, since you have to use water and you have to keep bubbles from getting underneath it.</p>
<p>Put some ABS scraps into a bottle of Acetone, and allow the acetone to break down the ABS til you have a slurry. Spread this slurry as evenly as possible across the build plate, and allow the acetone to evaporate away. This leaves a thin film of ABS on the plate, and will release much better than if you print directly onto the build plate. I recommend using clear ABS if you can, since some of it will stick to your print and clear will be the least visible. You'll need to re-apply it regularly, since it will come off with your print where it touches the build plate. <strong>WARNING</strong>: Use proper ventilation and avoid contact with acetone. That stuff's not good for you. Also it's flammable, so keep a fire extinguisher nearby.</p>
<p>I prefer the ABS/acetone slurry method, but it requires good ventilation and a handy fire extinguisher. Also note that you don't have to print in ABS to use an ABS/acetone slurry; I print primarily in PLA and it makes no difference.</p>
<p>I've also heard of others using a glue stick or some other surface treatments that allow for good adhesion during printing while still allowing for easy removal.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>No, <strong><em>your problem is not related to slicing</em></strong>, <strong><em>this is a hardware problem</em></strong>. Your complete print has shifted, this is called <a href="https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/#layer-shifting-or-misalignment" rel="nofollow noreferrer">layer shift</a>. </p>
<p>This could happen when the nozzle hits an obstruction while printing while the Y stepper continues. This could lead to skipping teeth on the belts, slipping of the pulley or missing steps. This results in printing over air as the print progresses. This manifests itself as stringing, but in fact is unsupported printing (in the air). In this case it is unrecoverable as the printer has lost the reference frame, it just continues to print with the new reference frame caused by the layer shift. </p>
<p>A Prusa MK3, or any printerboard using trinamic stepper drivers would be able to recover (if the belt and pulley are correctly attached, and steps are missed) as the skipping of steps is detected, in case of a Prusa MK3 the machine will re-home when it detects skipped steps and continue printing. See also <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6880/5740">this answer</a> for more details.</p>
<p>Possible solutions are increasing the belt tension, increase the stepper torque by increasing the current through the stepper drivers or re-tighten the pulley on the stepper of the Y belt.</p>
|
<p>You won't need specialized nozzles, you understand the material wrong:</p>
<p>The benefit the properties of this material grant is not super fine prints (which you can get with small nozzles like 0.1 mm already), it is that you can print at super low temperatures. Printing it at standard 200°C will mean, that it won't solidify in the time the printer needs it to, and your walls will all melt down - in worst case it boils off and degrades into useless goop!</p>
<p>You might print PCL onto an already completed print made from a different material with higher printing temperature (if your slicer lets you do that...), like to make a form-shaped piece.</p>
<p>It's low melting point also means you could print parts with it that you <em>want</em> to deform under low heat, like a standard shaped flat shin and then just dunk it into 60°C water or put onto a (towel shielded) pocket heater before molding it around the patient, making perfect fits from easy transportable (flat) parts. Or you print "rivets", which you heat, put through the holes in other prints and then flatten with a pair of pliers.</p>
<p>Also, it is one of the cheaper conductive filaments. You might find <a href="http://www.fabbaloo.com/blog/2016/6/24/the-unusual-properties-of-pcl-3d-printer-filament" rel="noreferrer">this article</a> or the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Polycaprolactone" rel="noreferrer">RepRap Wiki</a> enlightening.</p>
<p>Beware though: Many printers have a MinTemp set! For example the Ultimaker at 175°C, and you have to force the machine to ignore this with M302.</p>
|
<p>Let's look at the elements and what they do:</p>
<p>The <em>Heater Cartridge</em> (blue) is the device that converts electric to thermal energy to melt the plastic. 30 and 40 W are common.</p>
<p>The <em>Thermosensor</em> (red) is there to give feedback to the mainboard.</p>
<p>The <em>Filament Path</em> (gold) in this area is made up of the <em>nozzle</em> and the <em>heatbreak</em>, it contains the <em>meltzone</em>.</p>
<p>The <em>Heater Block</em> (transparent green) is the mounting for all parts. It also acts as the medium to transfer the thermal energy from the <em>Heater Cartidge</em> to the <em>Thermo Sensor</em> and the <em>Filament Path</em>. It also acts as a dampener for the control circuit.</p>
<p>Now, let's put things together and omit the wires and cold end (and internal geometry of the filament path, cause I am lazy):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/b0nE1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/b0nE1.png" alt="Mock up of a hotend assembly" /></a></p>
<p>Now, the construction gives us several reasons for the shape of the heater block:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ease of construction. Taking a simple block and adding a couple of holes and one cut allows very fast production.</li>
<li>Maximum contact surface. To get the maximum contact surface to the heater cartrige, the heater block has to make contact along its whole length, dictating a minimum size in 2 direction. The same is true for the thermosensor.</li>
<li>The heater block transmits temperature pretty much radially from the heater cartridge. Because it is metal, the gradient between areas is very low, but it is measureable. These would be the thermal equivalent lines on heating up:</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LL01Q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LL01Q.png" alt="Heating lines around the Heater Cartridge" /></a></p>
<p>You may easily notice that the temperature lines appear more straight as they come closer to the filament path and thermosensor. This helps to give the filament in the heatbreak and nozzle more even heating and better printing.</p>
<p>The mockup I made has a deliberate flaw though: a change in temperature first affects the filament and then shows up on the sensor, making the temperature in the filament path wobble to the extreme. The Heater Block acts pretty much as a transmitter just as much as a time dilation between the heating command and the pickup.</p>
<p>Because this arrangement is not very good, let's swap sensor and filament path around and look at the same lines.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cTqqo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cTqqo.png" alt="Arrangement 2 of a Hotend assembly" /></a></p>
<p>Now we have a much shorter feedback loop, allowing our printer to react quicker to temperature changes and the filament path also gets heated more evenly. The temperature inside the filament path does change less around the target temperature. The whole block now acts mostly as a distribution medium but also as a storage for heat energy:</p>
<p>Up to this point, we did not take into account a very simple fact: the hotend drains thermal energy via two areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>The outer surface of the heater block emits heat to the air.</li>
<li>Filament gets molten and extruded.</li>
</ul>
<p>Factor 1 is simple and here a bigger heater block actually is positive: The thermal 'storage' capacity is dependant on the volume, so goes with <span class="math-container">$xyz \approx a^3$</span>. The surface to emit heat from goes with <span class="math-container">$2\times(xy+xz+yz)\approx 6\times a^2$</span>. Plotting a graph of that shows us the square-cube law: the capacity increase for one unit does increase the surface just by a fraction of that, so the storage gets better the larger the heater block is.</p>
<p>Factor 2 is why we need to have a storage of thermal energy in the first place: the flow of filament is not exactly the same all the time. Of course, we have moments of even flow, but we also have moments of low or no flow when the printer moves between parts of the print. This alteration of the drain of thermal energy from the heater block means that if we would go down to a bare minimum size, we'd heat up the block fast whenever we are on a move action and cool as the extrusion starts till equilibrium is achieved again. The more thermal capacity is there to store energy, the less the lack of extrusion will immediately affect the print and the more even the temperature will be in the filament path.</p>
<h2>Fast printing?!</h2>
<p>How is faster printing achieved with a special hotend? Well, 4 factors are used in hotends meant for very fast or very hot printing:</p>
<ul>
<li>Longer, more powerful heater cartridge.</li>
<li>Longer filament path.</li>
<li>Extra large Heater Block to even out the temperature changes under extrusion more.</li>
<li>Insulating the Heater Block to the air.</li>
</ul>
<p>One of the prime examples would be an e3D-Volcano.</p>
|
<p>The first indication for print speed and temperature should be taken from the box the filament comes in. Generally it specifies temperature ranges for the hotend and the heated bed. Sometime, mostly online, more parameters can be found amongst which is the printing speed. </p>
<p>Do note that temperature and printing speed are linked, if you want to print faster you should increase the temperature. But, if you are printing small or thin things you should print slower so that the part cools enough for the next layer. Basically, part cooling is then also important, but not all filament types (e.g. the ones with a high melt temperature like ABS or PETG) like being cooled too much. So you have another parameter to consider.</p>
<p>It is difficult to instruct you to print at a certain speed and certain temperatures as it is highly depending on the filament (e.g. also the filament diameter), the machine type/make and model, extruder setup (direct or Bowden), the print, enclosure, etc.</p>
<p>Because of the many parameters affecting printing, it is usually suggested to calibrate the printer by printing a <a href="/a/7346/">temperature tower</a> or performing <a href="/q/8194/">retraction tests</a> to find the print window for your specific setup.</p>
|
<p>My3dmatter.com performed a <a href="http://my3dmatter.com/influence-infill-layer-height-pattern//influence-infill-layer-height-pattern/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">series of tests</a> with PLA, using "a universal testing machine". They conclude:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Layer height influences the strength of a printed part when it becomes
thin. A printed part at 0.1mm shows a max stress of only 29MPa, as
opposed to 35MPa for 0.2mm (21% increase).</p>
<p>Past 0.2mm, the max stress remains fairly constant around 36 MPa (we
confirmed this conclusion with an extra test at 0.4mm, not shown here
because it was not part of the same batch).</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2fXm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2fXm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>Note: It is recommended to read the full article to comprehend the complexity of the subject matter.</p>
|
<p>For an easy test, try manually pulling the filament through the U-loop of guide tube. How hard is it to pull through? It should only take 1-2 lbs of tension at most. </p>
<p>Then do a "tug test" on the extruder. Start it loading and grab the filament by hand to try to stop it from extruding. The Replicator 1/2/2x extruder style can typically pull ~8-10 lbs of tension and it should be fairly difficult to stop the filament. When you do stop the filament, you should hear clicking/thumping from the stepper stalling, NOT quiet grinding as the drive gear chews through the filament. If the grip slips rather than stalls, your extruder hardware needs to be tuned or replaced. </p>
<p>There are three common causes of excessive feed tube drag:</p>
<ul>
<li>Use of polyethylene tubing instead of PTFE -- this makes a shockingly large difference in drag friction. You can use a heat gun or torch (outside!!) to tell the difference between PE and PTFE. PE will soften quickly and then melt fairly easily, whereas PTFE will simply go clear and eventually char without melting. Nylon is also sometimes used for feed tubes with acceptable results, but if you have any suspicion about the tube material, just buy new PTFE tubes from a reputable vendor like McMaster. </li>
<li>Too many loops/curves in the tube. Total drag friction is an exponential function of the total amount of curvature in the tube. You should have one good U-loop, no spirals or floppy zig-zags. </li>
<li>Excessive friction on the spool rotation. Any spool back-tension gets greatly magnified through the feed tube per the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capstan_equation" rel="nofollow">capstan equation</a>. This can be caused by a bad spool holder, or if the filament is knotted on the spool due to letting the end of the spool loose during handling. </li>
</ul>
|
<p>All filament used in 3D printing is thermoplastic filament, so plastic-filament and thermoplastic-filament are redundant.</p>
|
<p>For a science project, I'm 3D-printing some custom pipes and tubes to regulate the flow of gas (a combination of ethyl alcohol and water vapor) through an apparatus. They need to be pretty small, as the entire experiment is designed on a small scale. I'd also like the use a little filament as possible.</p>
<p>How thin can I make the walls of these pipes and tubes before either they collapse or gas leaks out? I know that's possibly an engineering issue, but I'd also need to take resolution into consideration. Ideally, the pipes would be about two centimeters in diameter, possibly a little larger or a little smaller in some parts. I'd most likely use ABS, but PLA is my backup in case there's some unforeseen reaction between the gas and the pipes.</p>
<p>The printer I'm using is an FDM printer, a version of the MakerBot Replicator.</p>
|
<p>The thinnest wall your printer can print is determined by its nozzle size, and will be a little thicker than that nozzle size.</p>
<p>A great challenge when dealing with thin, hollow cylinders is that the cross-section has very little surface area and it can delaminate easily, especially if the tube is long.</p>
<p>You could try printing the tube with a very thick extrusion with, and using only a single perimeter. That would give better gas-tightness and layer adhesion than two, thinner perimeters, but it may turn out too fragile for your application. In that case, you'll need to print additional perimeters. Sticking to thicker extrusion widths would still be beneficial.</p>
<p>At a two centimeter diameter I'd say the single perimeter has a decent chance of working if you handle them gingerly.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Lack of a heated bed does not necessarily limit you to using PLA. I would say (among those I've used) the material that's least sensitive to whether you have a heated bed is probably TPU. Depending on your model, it can even be hard to print PLA without a heated bed, unless perhaps you're willing to use a brim or raft. Printing ABS or ASA without a heated bed is almost certainly out of the question, and PETG <em>might</em> be possible, but I'd expect it to be difficult.</p>
<p>Mechanically, the Anycubic Mega Zero looks very similar to the Ender 3. The claimed bed size on the Mega Zero is slightly smaller (220 mm vs 235 mm) but they might just be counting the usable part.</p>
<p>The only possible objective advantage to the Mega Zero I could find is the double gear extruder, which may help with printing faster or flexible filaments.</p>
<p>Presumably you could add a heating element to the bed if you want.</p>
|
<p>First, convert the given measurements into a sketch...</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ivxIW.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ivxIW.png" alt="Sketched out dimensions" /></a></p>
<h2>G-code shenanigans</h2>
<p>we actually have the printer do circles.. let's plot that out...</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hGFSc.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hGFSc.png" alt="Plotted all start-ends and centers" /></a></p>
<p>Using that, it's easy to write the G-code using the Documentation for <a href="http://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/G000-G001.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">G1</a> and <a href="http://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/G002-G003.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">G2</a>. You'll have to add the E values to extrude something along the paths, but your sketch would turn into this path:</p>
<pre><code>G92 X0 Y0 ; the current position is now (0,0) on the XY
G90 ;Abolute mode for everything...
M83 ;...but for the E-argument, so you can just put the length into the extrusions that are to be done
G0 X10.66 Y2
G2 R5 X6.33 Y9.5 ; Alternate: G3 I0 J5 X6.33 Y9.5
G1 X45.66 Y77.638
G2 R5 X54.33 Y77.638 ; Alternate: G3 I4.33 Y-2.5 X54.33 Y77.638
G1 93.67 Y9.5
G2 R5 X89.33 Y2 ; Alternate: G3 I-4.33 Y-2.5 X89.33 Y2
G1 X10.66 Y2
G0 X0 Y0
G91 ; return to relative coordinates
</code></pre>
<p><strong>This code has to be prefixed by a move to where you want to start the pattern</strong> and will <strong>not</strong> know if you move it off the build plate, so keep 100 mm X and 87 mm in Y of the allowable build plate. It will end exactly where you started it.</p>
<h2>Iterative approach</h2>
<p>In many uses of g-code, <em>rounded</em> corners are actually n-gons with a very high number n. then we only need <code>G1</code> and can easily calculate the length of the stretches and fill in the G1. We need to iterate down to somewhat circular...</p>
<p>Let's start iterating with n=3 aka a triangle, which gives a direct line over the corner gives this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ANEnx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ANEnx.png" alt="Iteration 1" /></a></p>
<p>going to n=6 (hexagon) follows the curve a lot better...</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRSMV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRSMV.png" alt="Iteration 2" /></a></p>
<p>going to n=12 looks almost round on a larger scale...</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/STTXL.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/STTXL.png" alt="Iteration 3" /></a></p>
<p>and when we reach n=24, we are pretty close to the circle..</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rO7dr.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rO7dr.png" alt="iteration 4" /></a></p>
<p>And as we go above n=6, we also get easier math for the corners, as we always get the same lengths of movement along X and Y just swapped around due to symmetry.</p>
<p>With all these stretches defined, we could start to work in <em>relative</em> coordinates easily, again without E, and only for the bottom left corner:</p>
<pre><code>G0 X10.66 Y2
G1 X-1.294 Y0.17
G1 X-1.206 Y0.5
G1 X-1.036 Y0.795
G1 X-0.795 X1.036
G1 X-0.5 Y1.206
G1 X-0.17 Y1.294
G1 X0.17 Y1.294
G1 X0.5 Y1.036
...
</code></pre>
|
<p>What you encounter there is a combination of Adhesion, Cohesion, and Capillary Force.</p>
<p>Cohesion is what holds the water together. Adhesion is the force to retain water against a wall or hanging from a pen's end, it is proportional to the surface wetted. Capillary Force is the resulting effect where water moves up through a thin tube, it is anti-proportional to the diameter and in the opposite direction of the weight (force). Their relation can be shown in this picture, where a droplet hangs on the end of a glass rod, which has a capillary in it:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q9iYq.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q9iYq.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>How to reduce the water sticking in the cup then?</p>
<ul>
<li>Make the straight part of the bore as short as possible. This can be done by having a thin cup. The shorter the hole, the less surface there is the water can adhere to vertically, and you might overcome capillary force.</li>
<li>Smooth the hole. Maybe print it 3.5 mm and drill it up to your 4 mm diameter. This reduces adhesion.</li>
<li>Smooth the inside surface. Reducing the adhesion to the inside by having less steps.</li>
<li>Chamfer the inside of the holes. This alters the whole geometry and flow setup in the very low water level case, especially when the surface separates into several areas, above each hole. Then the larger volume belonging to each hole on the inner side means there is a little more pressure and you can get out some more water - and it also shortens the distance the hole has to bridge.</li>
<li>make sure there is some slope everywhere inside so that the water will collect in one of the holes.</li>
</ul>
<p>An example for a (non measured) design which relies heavily on chamfering to guide the water to the already chamfered holes and then keeps the straight section as short as possible could look like this: the central hole has a very wide chamfer, the whole plate directs water to the center and each of the other holes has a chamfer to guide out water.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wMaIe.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wMaIe.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>However, there is a lower limit to where just tweaking the design will workd, which is based on cohesion. Cohesion is what results in surface tension and viscosity. You can only shift those limiting factors by altering the properties of the liquid, for example by adding an agent that lowers the surface tension and viscosity (soap).</p>
|
<p>The latest version of Ultimaker Cura can do that (version 3.6).</p>
<p>I have built models made of different material in the same model.</p>
<p>How to do this is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Select your CUBE and select the icon "Per Model Setting" in left side menu.</li>
<li>choice "Normal model", select the following settings: Top/bottom thickness, wall thickness and infill percentage</li>
<li>Very Important: all above settings must be set to 0!</li>
<li>Select the model you desire to print and select the icon "Per Model Setting" in left side menu</li>
<li>choice "Modify settings for overlap with other model" and select the following settings: Top/bottom thickness, wall thickness and infill percentage</li>
<li>Select the desired infill percentage and the wall top/bottom thickness for the portion you want print</li>
<li>slice the model</li>
</ol>
<p>Note: If you need to print supports, then in step 2 select "Modify settings for infill of other models" (instead of "Normal Model"), and in step 6 also select "Add Support" and any other support related parameters you may need. However, Cura needs at least one "Normal Model" to slice, so to fool it you need to also another Cube as "Normal Model" with the parameters of step 4 somewhere else in your build plate (it won't really print).</p>
|
<p>I've tried to reduce the "Extrusion multiplier" from 1 to 0.95, but that caused gaps. Now I've minimized the clicking by setting the Slic3r option "Infill before perimeters" on the "Print Settings > Infill" page.</p>
|
<p>The best way to get rid of them is to change the design of the printed object to make them unnecessary.</p>
<p>Instead of printing the one part with support material, the piece can be split into two or more parts which can be printed without support material and assembled after the printing.</p>
<hr>
<p>Given that this is not always fully possible, a convenient way to get rid of additional structures is to use a different fillament for them that can be removed easily. <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare">This list of printing materials</a> includes Polyvinyl Acetate (<strong>PVA</strong>), which is water soluble. You can wash the support material away given that your actual printign material is not water soluble. Here's a quote from the website (emphasize mine):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) filament prints translucent with a slightly yellow tint and is <strong>primarily used as a 3D printing support material</strong> because it is water-soluble, meaning that <strong>it will dissolve when exposed to water</strong> (and so MUST be kept dry prior to use). PVA is most often used with 3D printers capable of dual extrusion: one extruder printing a primary material (such as ABS or PLA) and the other printing this dissolvable filament to provide support for overhanging features. PVA 3D printer filament is available in 1.75mm and 3mm.</p>
</blockquote>
|
<p>3D printers cannot print in the air without a prior layer or a support structure supporting the new printed layer. For the picture showing the bottom of the fruit, the red area is the calculated area that requires support for printing, so please enable that in the slicer application.</p>
<p>For the top picture please post a detail or a zoomed in part. It is currently difficult to see what is the matter. It looks as though the STL model is incorrect and Ultimaker Cura thinks that the seeds are upside down, hence the red coloring also. This means that you need to fix the normals of the faces in the STL model. Please look into <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/2785/5740">this answer</a> and <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/3298/5740">this answer</a> for some hints.</p>
|
<p>I often switch my print material, i.e. ABS / PLA / Wood / Flex,</p>
<p>How can I best clean out my extruder between them to ensure I don't contaminate my next print?</p>
|
<p>In most cases, removing the old filament from the printer, inserting the new filament in, and running the new filament through the printer for a short period of time will clean the nozzle. The skirt of the print can also be a time during the actual print for the old filament to be flushed. Assuming the skirt is long enough, all that needs to be done is the new filament inserted and the print started.</p>
<p>Assuming that extruding new filament does not fix the problem, there is a more serious problem such as a clogged extrusion head that needs to be fixed with other methods.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Everybody's combination of fan hardware and print settings is different. Unless someone else has the exact same printer and slicer profiles as you, there's no way to really say anything like "use X% for PLA" or whatever. For practical purposes, you just empirically figure it out with test prints based on a few simple rules of thumb:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Use lots of cooling for PLA, moderate cooling for PETG, and minimal cooling for ABS.</strong> (Note that sometimes ABS does benefit from gentle airflow, and PLA shouldn't necessarily always just be blasted at max power.)</li>
<li><strong>Use less cooling on big prints where each layer takes a long time, more cooling on small prints where each layer is very quick.</strong></li>
<li>Axial / box fan? You'll probably want to run it at full power. Radial / squirrel cage blower? You may want to run lower power. </li>
<li><strong>Overhangs curling up or sagging? More airflow may be needed.</strong> (Lower layer heights also help enormously.)</li>
<li><strong>Hot end temp sagging when the fan kicks on? Try less airflow.</strong> (Or insulate your hot block better.)</li>
<li><strong>Weak layer bonding? Try less airflow.</strong> (Or raise your hot end temp.)</li>
<li><strong>Small, fast prints getting mushy or corners "pulling in"? You need more airflow.</strong> (Or lower heatbed temps.)</li>
<li><strong>Print warping / corners lifting off the bed? Try less airflow, particularly on the lowest few layers.</strong> (Or higher heatbed temps, or a better adhesion layer, or less nozzle/bed gap for the first layer, or any other approach.)</li>
<li><strong>Fan too noisy? Try less airflow.</strong> (Or get a better fan.)</li>
<li><strong>Filament stringing during travel moves? Try less airflow pointed directly at the nozzle.</strong> (Or tune your retraction settings better, or get the moisture out of your filament, or lower hot end temp.)</li>
</ul>
|
<p>I have printed kilometers of PETG and found the sweet-spot for my brand to be 240 °C for the hotend and 70 °C for the build plate (for my Ultimaker 3 that is, the extruder temp is 5 °C higher for my home build HyperCube Evolution). The reason for the 70 °C is that the glass temperature of PETG is around 70 °C. The PETG is flexible at that temperature such that there are no stresses because of shrinkage causing the PETG to keep attached to the heat bed surface (aluminium, glass, Buildtak, etc.). A little PVA based glue (stick) or spray (hair or specific print sprays) can even further improve the adhesion. A slow first layer also helps adhering better.</p>
<p>Note that the hotend temperature should be calibrated to the speed you are printing. If you print faster, a higher hotend tempearture is required. To determine the sweet spot for your filament you can print typical calibration towers that can be found on e.g. <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=temperature%20tower&dwh=125bba06b7b88c7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a>. Note that you need to manually change the G-code file after slicing of the tower or use plugins of your slicer to change the temperature at a certain level.</p>
<p>Furthermore, PETG does not like to be cooled by the print fan, so keep cooling fan rpm low to prevent layers not to bond (else you get a sort of string cheese print).</p>
<hr>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>I use parametric stair case style calibration prints that include the slicer print settings that are to determine the best settings for temperature, print cooling, layer size and print speed.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ERWy6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ERWy6.png" alt="Heat tower front view"></a><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wYWOC.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wYWOC.png" alt="Heat tower backside view"></a></p>
|
<p>There are several things you could try without spending much but even PLA will warp on an unheated bed. I had a Legacy Kossel that I switched to an acrylic bed and had many issues with warping and prints pulling off the bed. </p>
<p>Some cheap things to try would be...</p>
<ol>
<li>Adding a brim to the print.</li>
<li>Blue painters tape on the acrylic, remove the other material if doing this.</li>
<li>Place cheap piece of glass/mirror on bed and use hairspray/gluestick.</li>
<li>Use hairspray/gluestick directly on acrylic. You must be careful here because first layer height is very critical to prevent damage to the acrylic from the plastic welding. A layer of hairspray or glue should prevent it but dial in your height before printing.</li>
<li>If you aren't currently using a fan, you could try sealing the sides to prevent drafts. I doubt this would change much since you are using PLA but it's an option.</li>
<li>If these are your designs, there are steps you can take to reduce warping as seen <a href="http://hackaday.com/2011/11/15/a-technique-to-avoid-warping-on-large-3d-prints/">here.</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Also many other suggestions <a href="http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2011/06/23/12-ways-to-fight-warping-and-curling">here.</a></p>
|
<p>You can Z-hop what you like, but if it is oozing it is oozing, you will always see the effects of that as it just drops down.</p>
<p>Basically you have <strong>multiple issues</strong>, <strong>first the oozing</strong>, <strong>second the line markings on the top</strong>.</p>
<h1><strong>First</strong></h1>
<p>Oozing is fought by applying correct settings for e.g. print temperature, retraction, coasting, travel speed, as is explained in an <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/6940/5740">answer</a> on <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6938/what-is-this-weird-support-line-doing-in-this-print">one of your own questions</a>. Note that you have not explorer the coasting option as far as I understand from your question. Coasting means that you stop extruding filament prior to a move when the head is still printing. This is explained by the pressure build-up in the hotend; ideally you set the coasting length as such that all the material that is pressed out as a result of the pressure build-up is extruded just before the head moves/travels to another location. Specific calibration prints can be found to tune this for your printer.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/x08w4.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/x08w4.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<h1><strong>Second</strong></h1>
<p>The markings on the top can be removed by setting the correct combing setting. Combing does not use retraction and uses straight moves, this saves a lot of time in printing, but it makes those ugly scars on bottom and top faces. You can set the option to not comb on those surfaces, and frankly, what happens on the inside stays in the inside, I would not worry about that. A good read with additional info on combing is <a href="https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/4850-hum-whats-combing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this post</a>.</p>
|
<p>Playing around with the nozzle height will help: back it off until just before you have first layer adhesion issues. Don't jam the filament into the bed as you might for ABS. This helps with small prints. However, my experience has been that if you have a large enough continuous contact area (i.e. more than a few square inches) with the print bed, there will be problems getting the print off. So I still use painters tape (in case I have to rip the print off with force) and glue sticks (so that I don't often need to) on my aluminum print bed as I've found that makes it much easier to deal with without damaging either the bed or the print.</p>
<p>You can also try dialing back the heated bed temperature a bit (I think I've got mine set to 70-75c for PETG) but that also doesn't eliminate the issue with larger prints. Also, if I lowered it too much I had problems with first layer adhesion on any size print.</p>
<p>I also have a glass plate that I use for ABS, which I don't use with PETG. I've read too many accounts of it sticking too well to glass as well (to the point of the plate being destroyed) and didn't want to try using the amount of force on it that I sometimes have to when removing a PETG print. I also considered trying BuildTak but read accounts of similar issues with it and PETG. So I stayed with what's been working for me: tape and glue sticks.</p>
|
<p>Referring to the table provided in 0scar's answer, the key challenge with high temperature materials is the gap between the glass transition temperature (bed temperature) and the extruder temperature.</p>
<p>Polycarbonate for example is listed as usable up to 121°C, printing on a bed at 80-120°C, but requiring an extruder temperature of 260-310°C. This extruder temperature is potentially going to challenge the mechanical, thermal and measurement properties of a printer.</p>
<p>In this application, you don't strictly require 100°C operation, so Nylon (80-95°C) and ABS (98°C) might be worth trying. Even if one side of the part is at this temperature, immersed in steam, the opposite side is exposed to air and convection cooling. Providing there is sufficient thermal insulation and internal rigidity, the upper shell of the part is likely to support it. However, if the inner face does start to flow it may take some time before a problem is apparent.</p>
<p>So long as the material is not <em>soluble</em>, absorbing moisture may not be a major issue.</p>
<p>When it comes to being food-safe, this is a huge can of worms, and you're really looking to investigate 'how much of a risk' rather than get a go/no-go answer.</p>
|
<p>There is absolutely no reason to use different nozzles, <em>not even if filaments do require different temperatures</em>.</p>
<p>The only exception is when printing abrasive filaments (such as glow-in-the-dark and carbon-fiber) in which case you should use an abrasion-resistant, stainless steel nozzle. This nozzle can also be used to to print "regular" filaments but a regular brass nozzle has slightly more favorable properties if you do not require abrasion resistance.</p>
|
<p>After multiple jams from bulging filaments on two spools I'm getting frustrated. One, right before a job was done.</p>
<p>Is there something I can do to prevent these bulges in filaments from ruining jobs?</p>
<p>What can I do to prevent this from happening in the future before it's a disaster?</p>
<p>He's a picture of one I found using google.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6UvLW.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6UvLW.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
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<p>How to catch <em>and</em> fix these on the fly? That would be difficult..</p>
<p>But this is an issue you really should not have.</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/84/47">Could it be an issue with filament storage?</a></p>
<p>Or is it coming from the manufacturer with these bulges? If so, I would try contacting ( you may have gotten a bad batch? ), or finding a new retailer if this happens often.</p>
<p>I have gone through a lot of pounds of both ABS and PLA and never come across this. </p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>A masterspool is the practice of printing your own spool out of filament, which will then be used to support your filament you purchase without a spool attached. The main idea is to create a reusable spool and create less waste. </p>
<p>(<em>NOTE: I'm in no way affiliated with MatterHackers.com, nor am I an endorser of their products.</em> There is also a version which <a href="https://www.villageplastics.com/the-filament-koil/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Village Plastics</a> has created.)</p>
<p>On <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/tech-breakdown-the-master-spool" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MatterHackers.com</a> website, they state:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Filament without a spool? Why are we making this? The short answer: because the community wants it. We had enough questions, comments and plenty of tweets asking if we had plans to pick up the Master Spool concept. Seeing the response and interest within the community made it clear to us: we needed to bring this idea to the States. With a joint effort between MatterHackers and Village Plastics, you can now purchase Master Spool refills from within the US.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They are tying to apply the <em>Reduce, Reuse, Recycle</em> mantra to create a cleaner environment for the rest of the world. While they are not the first to create or use a printable spool, they are pretty happy to be pressing forward with the idea of having a reusable spool and selling filament without a spool attached.</p>
<p>MatterHackers go on to state:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What are the benefits of the Master Spool? Not only is there the benefit of reducing plastic waste, using a Master Spool will also reduces shipping costs for new spools, and limits the clutter from amassing of a huge collection of used or empty spools. Rather than throwing away, trying to recycle dozens of spools, or trying to come up with a way to reuse them in some (like the Spool Tool), using the Master Spool means you can use all those filament scraps you have laying around on something useful and have one spool for all of your filament.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As far as where it started, it appears to have originated with <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1738730" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this print on Thiniverse</a> created by <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/Dingoboy71/about" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dingoboy71</a>. A well known 3D printer named <em>RichRap</em> created the reusable spool which MatterHacker promotes, though they say there are several which will work with their product (Village Plastic says pretty much the same). </p>
<p>If you get excited about saving the planet, then you should be excited about this. If you are a robust printer, going through tons (hopefully not literally) of filament per year, this method will save a lot of waste in the long run.</p>
<p>Realize there are (as of this writ) only limited suppliers of spool-less filament, though I think the trend for this type of product will increase in the future as the idea catches on. I guess time will tell. </p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>One thought I had, does PETG need a different clearance between the nozzle and the bed than PLA?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Short answer: "Yes, for some it does".</p>
<hr>
<p>The results from your image are typically seen when the initial layer height for PETG is too small. PETG likes an additional gap on top of the usual that is used to print e.g. PLA.</p>
<p>For me personally I don't experience this general consensus (I've printed kilometers of PETG filament at 0.2 mm initial layer height at a glass bed with 3DLAC spray without any problems), but it is well known that if you print PETG (and if you experience problems) you need to increase the gap between the nozzle and the bed. From <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/175700615-petg-filament-heres-what-you-need-to-know" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"PETG Filament - Overview, Step-by-Step Settings & Problems Resolved"</a> posted on rigid.ink, you see that they (usually) advise an additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm gap:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" alt="Additional PETG gap" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"></a></p>
<p>Bottom line, if the normal gap doesn't work for you, increase the gap to see if that works better. Note that in some slicers you can add an offset in the slicer so that you do not have to do the releveling with a thicker paper (or if you are using auto-levelling). E.g. in Ultimaker Cura you can download a plugin (for recent Cura versions from the marketplace) from user <a href="https://github.com/fieldOfView/Cura-ZOffsetPlugin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fieldOfView</a> called "Z Offset Setting" to get the <code>Z Offset</code> setting in the <code>Build Plate Adhesion</code> section. You can also do a little trick in the G-code by redefining the height so that you can put this in a PETG start G-code or something.</p>
|
<p>Here are some things to look out for when switching to a smaller nozzle size:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Curling</strong> (out of the nozzle): Make sure the nozzle is clear of any debris to avoid the extruded filament from catching and therefore curling around the nozzle.</li>
<li><strong>Warping</strong>: You might experience more warping on the build plate and delamination between layers as a result of the smaller surface area of the layers.</li>
<li><strong>Reduce speeds</strong>: You should reduce your print speeds anyways when printing fine-detail objects. However, the smaller nozzle size will need a bit more time to adhere to other objects (see above).</li>
<li><strong>Standoff distance</strong>: The distance between the nozzle and build plate, a.k.a standoff, should be a bit smaller with the nozzle size. Typically people use the paper reference (using a piece of paper to "calibrate" the standoff), which is about 0.004".</li>
<li><strong>Make sure your slicing engine knows the change!</strong> Most slicing software will allow you to adjust the nozzle size. This can also be used to fine-tune your machine.</li>
<li><strong>Beware of clogging</strong>: Clogging is usually a result of poor cooling between your heater block and your drive gear, poor filament quality, and/or incorrect extrusion rates. You might want to perform a benchmark print with the new nozzle to "rediscover" which temperatures work best with the new "basin" volume in the nozzle.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm sure there are many others, but this should help get you started.</p>
|
<ul>
<li><p>Polarity matters, sometimes. Be especially mindful of the wires from your power supply to the board, as getting those the wrong way around will definitely cause damage. Heated beds and extruders are not polarity sensitive, and can go in either way. Fans are polarized, but will probably survive if you get them backwards - they just won't run. Stepper motors don't care about polarity, flipping the connector around just makes them run backwards.</p></li>
<li><p>Take special care with endstops. The endstop connectors have 3 pins (VCC, 5V and signal), endstops with 2 pins are usually connect to GND and signal. Putting a 2-pin endstop across 5V and GND will destroy the 5V regulator.</p></li>
<li><p>A common cause of damage is wires not being clamped in their respective terminals properly. The offending wire will arc, melting and destroying the connector. Tighten down screw terminals properly, use proper crimps if you have them. Soldering the ends of wires going into screw terminals is not encouraged, but if you do solder the ends then make sure to check after a while and tighten the screws again.</p></li>
<li><p>Put the stepper drivers in the right way around.</p></li>
<li><p>For things like the heated bed and wires going to your power supply, use sufficiently thick wires. Especially with the heated bed, a lot of current flows through the wires and flimsy wires will heat up and melt.</p></li>
</ul>
|
<p>You can to print a brim, a thin layer on the bottom connected to the model. This will help hold it in place. Since it is thin (one or two layers) it will not warp itself.</p>
<p>The brim is not the same thing as a raft. A raft is under the model. The brim is on the same layer as the models bottom layer but outside the model. It looks something like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0PvWl.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0PvWl.png" alt="brim"></a></p>
<p>I assume that you use a heated bed if you have one?</p>
<p>Also, it is imperative that you get a good first layer. Calibrate your machine carefully.</p>
|
<p>I think the best way to go about this would be to calibrate your printer and slicer as best you can. One of my pet peeves is when people upload STLs that have been adjusted to fit their printer/material. There are many suppliers of material that vary in quality as well as many materials and different printers that the tolerances shouldn't be built into the part because in the end it usually just makes it harder for others attempting to print the model.</p>
<p>If you aren't sharing models then all I can say is you are still better off to calibrate your printer and tune your slicer to your material. You'll have more luck with models from other people and have an easier time designing your own. </p>
<p>If you still have trouble then modifying the model is probably the last option. I don't know of any CAD programs that can work with problems 3D printers have so experience is going to be your only help. I know in Inventor you can go around and Thicken/Offset individual surfaces of the model to compensate or if you had a percentage for your shrinkage you could get creative with formulas in the sketches.</p>
|
<p>The solution was a combination of several items. The primary one was slowing down the top layer of the print significantly. I was using 3200 mm/min for the print and used the option 'solid fill underspeed' to slow down the top layers to 40%. I increased the top layers to 7. I also increased the infill, to ensure there was support in the tiny top pieces. I also decreased the minimum infill length to 0 to ensure the infill went in tiny places. Finally, I used the 'Concentric' external fill pattern.</p>
<p>At some rotations of the model, I had slight gaps in the corners of the model, increasing the number of outline layers fixed it.</p>
<p>I also decreased the temp to 160 compared to the initial print above.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ApjNq.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ApjNq.jpg" alt="Castle piece"></a></p>
|
<p>I am designing a part that has to clamp around a 11mm bushing, and due to other design constraints, it has to be printed with a semicircle-shaped overhang:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcLSm.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LcLSm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
<p>This is proving very challenging to print. Two copies of this part have to clamp tightly around the bushing in all directions. Support material is rather hard to remove from the very top of the arc (where the overhang angle is the highest) and I often end up removing just too little of the support material (so the part doesn't fit around the bushing) or too much (and the bushing can wobble around).</p>
<p>Is there any way I can modify the design of this part (bearing in mind that it absolutely has to be printed in this orientation) to make it more tolerant of my inaccuracy when removing supports, or is there perhaps some way to manually design supports that are easier to remove (Simplify3D and Cura both don't quite cut it)?</p>
|
<p>If your printer is printing support material that is too strongly attached, you can increase the space between the support and the part in some slicing softwares. On Cura it is located in the "expert settings" menu (you can open it by pressing Ctrl + E), under the "Support" text. Try fiddling with the "Z distance" setting until you find the right setting. You can also change the type of support and support infill amount and see if it have any positive or negative effect.</p>
<p>Edit : I think you should also redesign your part : it seems that it cannot lock the bushing on. The semicircle should be a bit smaller to have a bit of space between your two parts. This way the bushing will be secured firmly by the tightening force of the screws and precision should be less of an issue.</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Turns out it had to do with the nature of the small holes that I was printing. I had to slow the speed of the initial layer down from 25mm/s to 15mm/s and also set Cura to 'optimize wall printing order' so that it didn't jump back and forth between holes constantly. </p>
<p>I also sped up the travel speed to 50mm/s on the initial layer to minimize oozing (although I'm not sure this actually did anything). Print came out beautifully.</p>
<p>Didn't even need the raft.</p>
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<p><strong>I think this is just an overcomplicated lost-PLA (investment) casting.</strong></p>
<p>What you're asking for is to create an object, create a mold around it, and then burn out the object and replace it with metal. Traditionally this is done with wax, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting" rel="nofollow noreferrer">and called lost-wax casting</a>, but the same can be done with anything that melts/burns away, including PLA.</p>
<p>Rather than worrying about burning hairs and pressure and compaction of metal powder, print a model, and use the correct kind of plaster (a search for "investment casting plaster" will get you going down the right path) to make your mold. Heat the metal powder in a crucible, instead of the mold itself, and pour it through the expansion/extra material tube you were talking about.</p>
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<p>If an axis doesn't print the sizes you command it there are basically 2 options causing this.</p>
<ol>
<li>The printer is incorrectly configured,</li>
<li>The printer has an hardware issue.</li>
</ol>
<p>To find out which of the 2 is applicable, you need to look into your setup and into the firmware settings. E.g. from the printers display you can read the amount of steps the stepper needs to make to move the axis 1 mm. Alternatively, send <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M92:_Set_axis_steps_per_unit" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M92</code></a> through a <a href="/q/10573">terminal</a> and look at the steps per mm. If X and Y are the same, the firmware is correctly configured and you are facing a hardware issue. Note that for the stock Ender 3 the value for X and Y needs to be 80 steps/mm. <strong>Do not alter these values!!!</strong> These values are based on the mechanical layout and the micro-stepping used by the stepper drivers.</p>
<p>Since you have flashed a stock hex firmware file it is highly improbable that the firmware contains the incorrect steps per mm value for the Y axis (unless you accidentally changed this through the interface/display). This leaves you with a hardware issue. Common reasons that could identify the source of the problem are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Loose grub screw of the pulley on the stepper,</li>
<li>Missing steps, e.g. due to too much friction (if dimensions are smaller, in your case this is not the problem, it is added for completeness),</li>
<li>Loose, under tensioned belts,</li>
<li>Stretched belts as a result of over tensioning the belts.</li>
</ul>
<p>Considering the stretched Y dimensions, the most logical explanation would be that your belts are stretched, you cannot fix this by changing the steps/mm value, it requires mechanical attention; i.e. replacing for new belts.</p>
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<p>I have a dual extruder Replicator 1 and having the nozzles at the same height is a must and albeit a bit of a struggle otherwise. At one point, I had to disassemble my extruder head and the nozzles didn't line up quite right. There after, printing with the lower one obviously didn't have any troubles, however, printing with the high extruder made it so the lower extruder would scrape the molten plastic layer. This made my surface finish horrible and almost impossible for support structures to be printed.</p>
<p>Instead of fighting with my stock nozzle assembly to get everything perfectly lined up, I just shimmed the one side with some stacks of paper cutouts. This brought my extruders very close to even.</p>
<p>Also, you'll want to make sure excess plastic is cleaned off of <strong>BOTH</strong> nozzles when printing with either nozzle. I found that some prints would fail because of a small discharge from a previous print on the other nozzle.</p>
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<p>Finally, I solved all faillures today.</p>
<p>-When the bed is too close from the hotend:</p>
<p>I cheat the machine with a cutter patterns board over the bed at the first extruder calibration; the distance increases several times and then You can do it shorter.
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YiAKm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/YiAKm.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>-The another half part of bad quality [low maintenance of the hotend]:</p>
<p>As a good newbie, I didn't know the periods of maintenance and the hotend had much plastic waste the PTFE tube welded and burned at internal, so the only option was to replace it for another same or to upgrade to "All Metal"; I chosen to upgrade with the replacement and I'll more maintenance to this zone.
<div class="youtube-embed"><div>
<iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G04dj9DcJUI?start=0"></iframe>
</div></div>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JWcPn.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JWcPn.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>First attempt of trial piece:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WbPfY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WbPfY.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
...PANIC!</p>
<p>But then and FINALLY!
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8ri1.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8ri1.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
Almost all correct, I can continue with my printings.</p>
<p>THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL, for your apportations and patience.</p>
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<p>I don't know that this can be definitively answered for a specific printer and all arbitrary designs.</p>
<p>The refinement level basically determines how smooth a curved surface will turn out. The STL file format can only express an object in terms of triangular-shaped surfaces, so Fusion 360 will need to approximate a curved surface by breaking it up into triangles. Flat surfaces and straight edges can be represented perfectly, so they won't be affected. Low refinement will use a small number of relatively large triangles. On a part like your example, the cylindrical shaft will have noticeable facets. Higher refinement means a larger number of smaller triangles.</p>
<p>If you have "Preview Mesh" checked as shown, you will be able to see the triangle wireframe, and you can use your own judgment if it's "good enough".</p>
<p>Ultimately, higher refinement means longer processing times and larger file sizes. The final print time won't be affected much if any.</p>
<p>Personally, I always use high refinement. Even on my modest system, it only takes a few more seconds to prepare a multi-hour print, and maybe a few hundred kilobytes or a couple megabytes on my hard drive that I will barely notice. This is a small tradeoff to ensure the best possible STL definition.</p>
|
<p>Here are some things to look out for when switching to a smaller nozzle size:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Curling</strong> (out of the nozzle): Make sure the nozzle is clear of any debris to avoid the extruded filament from catching and therefore curling around the nozzle.</li>
<li><strong>Warping</strong>: You might experience more warping on the build plate and delamination between layers as a result of the smaller surface area of the layers.</li>
<li><strong>Reduce speeds</strong>: You should reduce your print speeds anyways when printing fine-detail objects. However, the smaller nozzle size will need a bit more time to adhere to other objects (see above).</li>
<li><strong>Standoff distance</strong>: The distance between the nozzle and build plate, a.k.a standoff, should be a bit smaller with the nozzle size. Typically people use the paper reference (using a piece of paper to "calibrate" the standoff), which is about 0.004".</li>
<li><strong>Make sure your slicing engine knows the change!</strong> Most slicing software will allow you to adjust the nozzle size. This can also be used to fine-tune your machine.</li>
<li><strong>Beware of clogging</strong>: Clogging is usually a result of poor cooling between your heater block and your drive gear, poor filament quality, and/or incorrect extrusion rates. You might want to perform a benchmark print with the new nozzle to "rediscover" which temperatures work best with the new "basin" volume in the nozzle.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm sure there are many others, but this should help get you started.</p>
|
<p>I'm thinking of recycling some filament from a couple of recently failed prints. I can reuse them in the future for basic prototypes, so I'm not concerned with whatever weird mixture of colors come out (they are of a few different colors).</p>
<p>The thing is, I have both PLA and ABS, in small quantities. I originally intended to simply use each one separately, but it occurred to me that they could be mixed.</p>
<p>If I recycle PLA and ABS together into one strand of filament, will there be any negative side effects (e.g. reduced strength)?</p>
|
<p>This is not a good idea. Both filaments have different melting points, that of ABS being much higher than that of PLA. To melt the ABS you have to heat the plastic to the point where the PLA starts to degrade.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>Sort of related, see the answers to:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3771/commercially-available-3d-printer-fume-and-ufp-extractor">Commercially available 3D printer fume and UFP extractor</a>, and;</li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/513/what-are-the-best-air-filtration-options-for-enclosures">What are the best air filtration options for enclosures?</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Addressing your points in turn:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Ventilation</strong> - Probably not, as you want to keep the print warm. However, when printing with filaments where well ventilated conditions are recommended<sup>1</sup>, to prevent the build up of noxious fumes, from ABS for example, you would need (active) filtration, see <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3771/commercially-available-3d-printer-fume-and-ufp-extractor/4125#4125">this answer</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Filament Placement</strong> - I have seen printers fully enclosed, including the filament. However, there is the potential issue, especially if using PLA, that if the temperature inside the enclosure reaches temperatures approaching those of a closed car, on a hot day, then the PLA filament could become damaged/melt, and not roll of the spool correctly. In that case, you could place the reel on to of the enclosure and feed it through a (small) hole in the top. Feeding it through the side, <em>could</em> add additional resistance to it being pulled from the reel, depending upon placement.</li>
<li><strong>Noise cancellation</strong> - Line the enclosure with <em>non-flammable</em> foam, or some other <em>non-flammable</em> noise cancelling lining</li>
<li><strong>Material</strong> - As Mark states in <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4220/enclosure-things-to-pay-attention-to#answer-4222">his answer</a>, be extra careful of thermal runaway, as 3D printers run hot, and an enclosed printer, even hotter. Wood is the sort of material you probably <em>want to avoid</em>. Whilst it is cheap, and would probably work fine in most situations, in the case of an emergency (read, <em>fire</em>), then you are merely providing additional combustable material. It would be advisable to stick with an aluminium frame (non-combustable) and glass (non-combustable and insulating).</li>
</ul>
<p>Additonal Points:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Electronics</strong> - You may want to consider placing the electronics (i.e. controller board) outside the enclosure, as the RAMPS board generally likes to be kept as cool as possible (especially the stepper drivers).</li>
<li><strong>Display/Control</strong> - Along with the electronics, it could be a good idea to also place the LCD display, and conjoint control panel, outside the enclosure, so as to provide ease of access. You don't really want to have to keep removing/opening the enclosure to change a minor setting.</li>
<li><strong>Access</strong> - Do you want a <em>lift-off</em> type enclosure, or have an access door? The latter is certainly more user friendly, or convenient.</li>
<li><strong>Sturdiness</strong> - Do you want a light weight (flimsy?) enclosure, or a heavier, more robust, enclosure?</li>
<li><strong>Safety</strong> - An air-tight fire box could be worth considering.</li>
</ul>
<p>Note: After having stated that wood is not the best idea, it seems that IKEA tables are sometimes used, by stacking two on top of each other: <a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150726-new-ikea-hack-lets-you-create-a-3d-printer-enclosure-for-cheap.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">New IKEA hack lets you create a 3D printer enclosure for cheap</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WYd4q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/WYd4q.png" alt="IKEA table"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lBkWI.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lBkWI.jpg" alt="Enclosed Prusa i3 printer"></a></p>
<p>A safer bet is this delta printer enclosure, which is, essentially, a larger delta frame, made from aluminium extrusion and acrylic, enclosing a smaller delta printer:
<a href="https://pinshape.com/blog/build-your-own-3d-printer-enclosure/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">4 Simple Steps to Build Your Own 3D Printer Enclosure</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0g4gg.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0g4gg.jpg" alt="Enclosed delta printer"></a></p>
<p>For an example of a cheap, yet extremely flammable enclosure, made from plastic sheeting and piping, see <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/news/how-to-build-a-3d-printer-enclosure" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How to build an enclosure for your 3D printer</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/o87Je.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/o87Je.png" alt="Plastic printer enclosure"></a></p>
<hr>
<p><sup>1</sup> See Davo's <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4220/enclosure-things-to-pay-attention-to/4223#comment5920_4221">comment</a>.</p>
|
<h2>Yes you can!</h2>
<p>To have stronger prints you would have to choose the correct direction of filament deposition paths/traces. This answer demonstrates changing the direction of the filament path in Ultimaker Cura slicer.</p>
<p>To do this, it requires some tinkering of your model and choosing the correct slicer parameters (decimals aren't allowed in changing the direction in Cura, only integer or round-off degrees).</p>
<p>To recreate the experiment I have created a similar model in <a href="https://openscad.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OpenSCAD</a>:</p>
<pre><code>union(){
difference(){
cube([100, 50, 1],center = true); // outer contour
cube([90, 40, 1.1],center = true); // inner contour
}
// add 2 cross beams
for (i=[-1:2:1]) {
// Note:
// 26.565051177078 would have been exactly corner to corner, but
// decimals aren't allowed in Cura, hence the choice for 26 degrees
rotate([0,0,i*26]){
cube([100, 5, 1],center = true);
}
}
}
</code></pre>
<p>Which gives you:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/F527k.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Rectangle with cross beams"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/F527k.png" alt="Rectangle with cross beams" title="Rectangle with cross beams" /></a></p>
<p>Create an STL from the code and load this into Ultimaker Cura slicer.</p>
<p>The trick is to direct the deposition of the top/bottom pattern [<code>lines</code>] and the infill [<code>lines</code>] in the direction you need (and for infill a high infill percentage). Remember the 26° angle of the cross beams, the definition of Cura line direction is different, so the angle of deposition needs to be ±(90 - 26) = ±64° which is denoted as [64, -64] in the slicer. Note the top and bottom contain 2 layers, the rest is infill. You can also have no infill by selecting very large top/bottom thickness, or, no top/bottom layers and only infill (this answer demonstrates <strong>both options</strong>, but you could choose just one).</p>
<p>Look at the bottom layer (see slicer settings on the right):
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/72Gbu.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Bottom layer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/72Gbu.png" alt="Bottom layer" title="Bottom layer" /></a></p>
<p>The second layer looks like:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XfdHA.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Second layer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XfdHA.png" alt="Second layer" title="Second layer" /></a></p>
<p>First infill layer:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yY10h.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="First infill layer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yY10h.png" alt="First infill layer" title="First infill layer" /></a></p>
<p>Second infill layer (needed to lower the top layer to a single layer to be able to display this):
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbtzN.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Second infill layer (needed to lower the top layer to a single layer to be able to display this)"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbtzN.png" alt="Second infill layer" title="Second infill layer (needed to lower the top layer to a single layer to be able to display this)" /></a></p>
<p>As seen by the sliced layers, you can have an alternating pattern where the filament path is continuous for each cross-beam every other layer. This should increase the load (tension) the beam is able to support opposed to the given pattern in the question body.</p>
|
<p>PLA would be a non-starter for outdoor use as it's biodegradable and can breakdown in sunlight. Albeit slowly, but won't be useful for long term project. </p>
<p>ABS would be a good choice for longevity, as it can last in outdoor situations for quite a while. Its glass transition temperature is above 100 degrees celsius so it'll last in most climates. As for strength ABS is one of the better choices out there, also it's slightly softer than PLA meaning it will flex before breaking, PLA is much more likely to shatter. ABS is well known for warping while printing though. Not a huge problem though, if you're used to printing with it. </p>
<p>PETG not a bad choice either. It has a glass transition temperature around 80-90°C. So if you're building in a hot place with direct sunlight with some reflection, you could have deformation issues, though not that likely. It is stronger than ABS and it's also easier to print (less warping issues). PETG is also supposedly 'food safe' meaning if the outdoor animals start pecking at it, it'll probably not kill them... I wouldn't recommend trying to taste it though. Finally PETG is a bit closer to PLA in terms of brittleness so it may shatter before flexing. ABS is less brittle than PETG.</p>
<p>If it were me I'd go with ABS despite its issues with warping while printing. If you're newer to printing, then probably better to go with PETG.</p>
|
<blockquote>
<p>One thought I had, does PETG need a different clearance between the nozzle and the bed than PLA?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Short answer: "Yes, for some it does".</p>
<hr>
<p>The results from your image are typically seen when the initial layer height for PETG is too small. PETG likes an additional gap on top of the usual that is used to print e.g. PLA.</p>
<p>For me personally I don't experience this general consensus (I've printed kilometers of PETG filament at 0.2 mm initial layer height at a glass bed with 3DLAC spray without any problems), but it is well known that if you print PETG (and if you experience problems) you need to increase the gap between the nozzle and the bed. From <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/175700615-petg-filament-heres-what-you-need-to-know" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"PETG Filament - Overview, Step-by-Step Settings & Problems Resolved"</a> posted on rigid.ink, you see that they (usually) advise an additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm gap:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kvcx.png" alt="Additional PETG gap" title="Additional 0.02 - 0.05 mm PETG gap"></a></p>
<p>Bottom line, if the normal gap doesn't work for you, increase the gap to see if that works better. Note that in some slicers you can add an offset in the slicer so that you do not have to do the releveling with a thicker paper (or if you are using auto-levelling). E.g. in Ultimaker Cura you can download a plugin (for recent Cura versions from the marketplace) from user <a href="https://github.com/fieldOfView/Cura-ZOffsetPlugin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fieldOfView</a> called "Z Offset Setting" to get the <code>Z Offset</code> setting in the <code>Build Plate Adhesion</code> section. You can also do a little trick in the G-code by redefining the height so that you can put this in a PETG start G-code or something.</p>
|
<p>Only certain plastics are safe enough to be used to contain or manipulate food. ABS and PET-G are such materials. The 3d printing process however is not food safe because, it creates crevices in the printed part into which bacteria and other contaminants can cling to. A printed part would need to be coated in a silicone rubber to render the surface both inert (can't grow anything) and smooth (no crevices). Further, the type of plastic you use must be able to be sterilized in boiling water. PLA softens in boiling water. PET-G variants can as well (think clear plastic bottles). This is why most food handing utensils are either glass or stainless steel.</p>
<p>If you are going to use a 3d printing process to produce parts that are to be used for food, you also have to consider containment from the machine itself. The brass nozzle, the teflon tube, the extruder gears etc. The filament itself may not have come from the factory as clean as it would need to be to be used around food. </p>
<p>If you are able to coat the heat resistant part in silicone and you only use it a few times (ensuring that it is properly washed and sterile) then it can be used for food prep purposes.</p>
<p>There is a difference between food grade and safe for contact with food.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene copolymer identified in this section may be safely used as an article or component of articles intended for use with all foods, except those containing alcohol, under conditions of use E, F, and G described in table 2 of 176.170(c) of this chapter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=177.1020" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Abstract from: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=177.1020</a></p>
|
<p>Many manufactures list their filaments as being food safe, but I would not treat this as "gospel truth". Apparently, the FDA considers PETG to be safe for food contact, but they are probably thinking about injection-moulded and vacuum-formed parts. Unfortunately, an initial search of the FDA's website did not yield any definitive information.</p>
<p>Even if a particular filament is genuinely food safe, that does not mean that a 3D-printed part made from it will be food safe, since there will be an abundance of nooks and crannies where bacteria can lodge and reproduce. You would have to sterilise a utensil before and after every use to be absolutely safe.</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck with making a water-tight mug with an FDM printer. You will probably have to seal it to make it water-tight, and then it will be the food-safety of the sealant that you will need to worry about. I would give it a miss, if I were you (at least, for other people's use). Items intended for one-time use would be OK, I suppose.</p>
|
<p>Depending on the exact mechanical load and material used to print, you might get away with 100 °C.</p>
<p>Next to the melting temperature required to print the material (which will always be substantially higher than the maximum useable temperature!), you probably also want to have a look at the glass temperature of your specific material. Around that temperature your material becomes soft (rubber like) and can deform permanently when cooling down again. Chances exist that under a considerable mechanical load, the part will deform at even lower temperatures.</p>
<p>Maybe it would help to post a picture or describe the exact component you're trying to replicate. It might help in finding an alternative solution. (E.g. carving out of say PEEK to say anything.)</p>
|
<p>I am operating a laser sintering machine, using polyamide 2200 powder (with a grain size of approximately 50 micrometers). During a print, a lot of powder goes unsintered and can theoretically be reused. However, using purely recycled powder degrades print quality to an unacceptable level.</p>
<p>Mixing a little used powder into a larger amount of fresh powder seems to work well though. What is the greatest ratio of used to fresh powder that still gives good results, and is there anything I can do (pre- postprocessing) to allow more powder to be reused?</p>
|
<p>You'll find generally that mixing 40% new polyamide with 60% recycled polyamide will result in a reasonable finish and part. You will obviously want to use all new for parts requiring the best possible finish and mechanical properties, but this mixture will be very difficult to tell apart from a fully new mixture part:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.paramountind.com/pdfs/eos_pa2200_mds.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.paramountind.com/pdfs/eos_pa2200_mds.pdf</a></p>
<p>This is more detailed research showing how used powder changes and how that affects print quality here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13552540910960299" rel="nofollow">http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13552540910960299</a></p>
<p>Searching for the research paper title may find a free source, but the linked resource does require a subscription or payment to that service.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>You could experiment with slicing. For example, you might not need high resolution all over the object, but you can speed up some straight parts by using greater layer high there. See a <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/variable-layer-height">part of Slic3r manual</a> about such thing.</p>
<p>It is also possible to print thicker infill every Nth layer, see <a href="http://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/infill-optimization">Infill optimization</a> in Slic3r.</p>
<p>Other slicers might have those features as well.</p>
|
<p>A nozzle with a nozzle <strong>width</strong> of 0.3 mm cannot print a 0.3 mm layer <strong>height</strong>. You <em>could</em> do that but you <em>should</em> not as you ultimately pay the price in the form of a less aesthetic finish. The general rule of thumb is to maximize the layer height at 75 % of the nozzle width, so a 0.3 mm nozzle would allow for a maximum of 0.225 mm. The rationale is that the filament leaves the nozzle as a tube and needs to be flattened to make it flat and adhere to the previous layer, too high layer heights increase the pressure in the nozzle (more filament is needed) causing a less than ideal extrusion and cause the extruder to skip; this is identified by observing a distinct <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=extruder%20click">clicking</a> noise.</p>
<p>Please lower your layer height (try 0.2 mm) and decrease the printing speed to see if this works better.</p>
<p>Furthermore, for PLA, temperatures for the hotend (unless you have some sort of a special PLA filament) and the bed temperature are too high. Please aim to print PLA at about 200 °C with a bed temperature of 50 - 60 °C.</p>
|
<p>The dividing line of "tangentially off topic" is typically when the <em>actual</em> subject of the question being asked is only <strong><em>coincidentally</em></strong> adjacent to 3D printing. </p>
<p>Here is a <em>clear</em> example illustrating the "tangential issue:"</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I printed a crane mechanism in 3D. How much voltage must I apply to the motor to lift 150 grams?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I see this type of thing all the time. Users will go to the mat arguing that they are printing in 3D, so their question is on topic. It is not. The actual <em>expertise</em> needed to answer this question is in electronics. With a question like this, the premise that the user <em>happens</em> to be printing in 3D is entirely coincidental to the actual issue. </p>
<p>The examples you cited above are a bit more iffy. I might argue some of them could (potentially) be on topic… if the issue of the material being printed in 3D is somehow germane to the problem. I actually don't know enough about the subject to say, so I'm only considering the possibility that it <em>is</em> relevant to this subject space.</p>
<p>Let's not be too quick to start barring questions that aren't explicitly about the physical process of 3D printing literally. There are a lot of <em>industry issues</em> that could be interesting to include here. It's probably better to <strong><em>wait for actual examples before trying to create a general rule around this issue.</em></strong></p>
<p>As a general rule for building this site, it is often better to wait for a preponderance of problems that occur <em>in actual practice</em> before we start seeking to create a lot of rules around hypothetical situations. Words to live by.</p>
|
<p>Obviously, your extrusion process is troubled by a lot of pressure. This can be seen from the extensive experiment you conducted with PLA extrusion at different temperatures. Please do note that 230 °C is considered pretty high for PLA! Usually it should be in the range of <a href="https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/3d-printing-basics-how-to-get-the-best-results-with-pla-filament" rel="nofollow noreferrer">185 - 205 °C</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In general, PLA filament settings have an optimal printing PLA
temperature range from about 185C to about 205C. If you’re using
1.75mm as opposed to thicker 2.85mm (or 3.00mm) your optimal print will be closer to the lower end of this PLA filament temperature
range.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The temperature dependency of filament diameter is explained that small diameter filament warms up way faster in the heating zone of the hotend than large diameter filament as the heat travels less far to the filament core. Basically, with 1.75 mm filament you should be able to print at 195 °C. The pressure that the filament exerts on the hotend and extruder is clearly too much and leads to skipped steps.</p>
<p>It is <strong><em>strongly discouraged</em></strong> to create a function of steps per millimeter (or an over-extrusion by specifying a more than 100% flow modifier). This is a mechanical issue that needs to be fixed by addressing the hardware problem. Usually this is done by:</p>
<ul>
<li>fixing the extruder;
<ul>
<li>is it skipping steps? </li>
<li>does the filament tension get too high that it skips back pass the extruder gear?</li>
<li>does increase the stepper current work?</li>
</ul></li>
<li>fixing the Bowden tube;
<ul>
<li>is it clean?</li>
<li>is there too much friction?</li>
<li>are there kinks?</li>
</ul></li>
<li>fixing the hotend;
<ul>
<li>is the temperature that is reported the correct one? (thermistor problem?)</li>
<li>is the heat conducting properly to the nozzle?</li>
<li>is there a tolerance issue in the hotend/heatbreak?</li>
<li>is the coldend properly cooled?</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>A few of these you already explored, others you have not. Unfortunately, you have to do a little more troubleshooting the get to the bottom of the actual problem that is causing this pressure preventing the extruder to extrude the proper commanded length.</p>
|
<p>(Love the question and here is my 2 cents).</p>
<p>Firstly, you want to minimize supports. Even if you have dissolvable supports, you would still want to minimize the usage.</p>
<p>For Example:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LoQCE.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LoQCE.jpg" alt="Smartphone and tablet Stand by bq3D"></a></p>
<p>At first glance of the finished object, it is not obvious at what angle it was printed. Upon close inspection the overhang in the part is designed such that it can be printed without supports. This brings me to my first point:</p>
<p><strong>Design with fabrication in mind</strong></p>
<p>I've often designed myself into a corner with parts that are complex and are impossible to print properly; or they use up too much filament in the supports. To this end I try to <em>think about the shadow</em> that the part will cast on the bed if there was a light source directly over head. I often orient the part so that it will </p>
<p><strong>Cast the smallest possible shadow.</strong></p>
<p>Then there are the features. Does the hole need to be round? Does this flange need to be strong? If so then I try to ensure that the feature is oriented in the XY plane as much as possible, because the Z axis is the weakest. Therefore if you have a hole, and it needs to be strong, then it should be printed perpendicular to the Z axis.</p>
|
<p>Ultem 9085, the most common ultem resin used for AM, is a blend of PEI-PC, as seen here <a href="https://www.sabic-ip.com/gepapp/Plastics/servlet/ProductsAndServices/Product/series?sltPrdline=ULTEM&sltPrdseries=Aerospace%20and%20Transportation&search=Search#searchresults" rel="nofollow">https://www.sabic-ip.com/gepapp/Plastics/servlet/ProductsAndServices/Product/series?sltPrdline=ULTEM&sltPrdseries=Aerospace%20and%20Transportation&search=Search#searchresults</a>.</p>
<p>Ultem is a trade name for PEI alloys made by Sabic and 9085, used in filaments made by both Stratasys and 3dXtech as the two most visible suppliers are both made with this same alloy. It is used for high temperature resistance and strength and needs to be printed at upwards of 300C in a contained environment.</p>
<p>Source-Intern at Made in Space.</p>
|
<h1>Printing temperature basics</h1>
<p>Manufacturers generally specify a somewhat wide range of printing temperatures, and what temperature you should actually need can only be determined by trial and error:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The thermistor in your hotend is not 100 % accurate and may have an offset of a few degrees compared to its actual temperature.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Your hotend has a small temperature gradient, the place where the plastic is melted may have a higher/lower temperature compared to the temperature of your thermistor.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>2 is further exacerbated by</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><p>As you print faster, you need more heat. The cold filament rapidly moving through your hotend will cool it down locally, meaning that the temperature will be cooler than what the thermistor measures. Faster prints equal bumps in the temperature up to 10 °C, and for a really slow print you might turn it down 10 °C from where you normally are.</p>
</li>
<li><p>This is a minor issue, but different colors of the same brand and material might work better at different temperatures. The pigments used can affect the melting point somewhat. Different brands also might have different temperatures.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Some symptoms may give you a guide as to how to adjust your temperature:</p>
<h1>Printing too hot</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Small/slow prints may not solidify quickly enough, leaving you with an ugly blob.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Stringing/bad bridging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Plastic in the heatbreak may soften, leading to clogging.</p>
</li>
<li><p>You might burn/degrade the material (but for this you would really need to go outside of the temperature range).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Printing too cool</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Too much force required to extrude, leading so skipping/grinding of the filament drive.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Layer delamination: the plastic needs to be hot enough to partially melt the layer below it and stick to it. Objects printed at a colder temperature tend to be weaker at the layer boundaries.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Furthermore, hot prints can sometimes have a more glossy finish than colder prints.</p>
|
<p>Usually it will either will rip the tape, or break the print somehow. Currently using ABS on a taped glass bed with a layer of hairspray for adhesion.</p>
|
<p>I moved to a plain glass heated bed with a brush applied acetone and ABS mixture. Using an old emptied nail polish bottle with brush, I added some acetone and then threw in ABS pieces until it reached a brush-able consistency. I then brush it on the glass build plate where I believe the print will occur, and it works very well. On removal of the part the coating comes with it.</p>
<p>I just found previously that ABS would adhere to my kapton taped heated bed too strongly to use, and so while this involves a little work before each print, it's overall better than kapton for me.</p>
<p>I did experiment with sheet metal beds coated with kapton, but they curl during printing due to the ABS thermal stress, allowing my parts to be concave on the bottom side. Easy to remove from the plate, though, since it flexed. There may be a good middle ground material but I didn't experiment further.</p>
|
Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
|
<p>I found the problem. This model of printer Monoprice Select v2 has bed warping issues so when the bed heated up it would warp severely. I bought a glass bed and all my problems were solved. </p>
|
<p>If your printer is printing support material that is too strongly attached, you can increase the space between the support and the part in some slicing softwares. On Cura it is located in the "expert settings" menu (you can open it by pressing Ctrl + E), under the "Support" text. Try fiddling with the "Z distance" setting until you find the right setting. You can also change the type of support and support infill amount and see if it have any positive or negative effect.</p>
<p>Edit : I think you should also redesign your part : it seems that it cannot lock the bushing on. The semicircle should be a bit smaller to have a bit of space between your two parts. This way the bushing will be secured firmly by the tightening force of the screws and precision should be less of an issue.</p>
|
<p>The two most important things you can do are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Provide adequate cooling to solidify the plastic quickly</li>
<li>Minimize layer height</li>
</ul>
<p>Cooling is really obvious. You need the plastic to solidify before it has a chance to sag. PLA in particular has to shed a lot of heat before it is fully solid. A fan and air guide setup using a "squirrel-cage" radial blower around the nozzle is optimal. A little 30mm or 40mm axial fan will not provide optimal performance. </p>
<p>Low layer height when slicing is less obvious, but is extremely effective. When you use thinner layers, two things happen:</p>
<ul>
<li>There is less melted plastic per pass and a higher surface area to volume ratio, so the fresh material cools faster. </li>
<li>A larger percentage of each strand in the overhang is supported by the previous strand. If you do 0.2mm thick by 0.4mm wide, half of each strand is unsupported. But if you do 0.1mm thick by 0.4mm wide, only a quarter of each strand is unsupported. </li>
</ul>
<p>When you combine these two effects, it is possible to exceed 70 degree overhangs with good surface quality. </p>
<p>Another lesser factor is printing shells/perimeters inside-out rather than outside-in. This helps anchor the outermost strand a little better as the overhang is built. This is pretty minor though. </p>
|
<p>I have made some learning on mechanical setup and discovered some issues on my printer, there are few:</p>
<ol>
<li>Bed warped, even with glass (thin thickness), making BAL confused with Z-movement over the bed.</li>
<li>Overextrusion making layer oversized in terms of thickness.</li>
<li>Some of missing mechanical fine adjustments.</li>
</ol>
<p>The main reason for this symptom was the overextrusion (that made my X and Y axis jump some steps when hotend collapses in the already-printed materials on their movements).</p>
<p>I hope this helps some of those who have this similar problem!</p>
|
<p>Lubricating the filament is the most common solution I've heard of to stop filament jams and clogs. Lubricating makes for a smoother ride through the print head. While you're at it, make sure that the filament is clean. The best way to stop jams from dust is to get rid of the dust in the first place.</p>
<p>Some people recommend <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:103729" rel="noreferrer">canola oil</a>, which I've heard works reasonably well for both ABS and PLA (though especially for PLA). You can even <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:52203" rel="noreferrer">3D-print dust filters/lubricators</a>, if you think this could be a serious issue.</p>
<p>I personally try to clean the print head regularly, after every couple prints or even after each print, if I have time. Something sharp, like tweezers, can pick off bits of filament near the tip of the nozzle. I haven't tried other utensils yet, but there are certainly other tools that would work. I've also heard of people regulating temperature with a fan, in order to prevent partially melted bits of filament clogging up the inside of the nozzle, but I don't know if that's effective.</p>
<p>In some cases, the problem could even be as mundane as a support issue. I once set up a spool of filament, only to have a jam when the support for the spool failed, leaving the line of filament tugging at the nozzle and clogging it. Taking steps to prevent this from happening can be simply and effective. Whatever the cause, preventative measures are always my choice.</p>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/458/8884">Filled PLA</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/459/8884">Repair vs. Maintenance</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/456/8884">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/455/8884">Monoprice</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/457/8884">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/460/8884">Prusa</a></li>
</ul>
|
<h1>Laundry list:</h1>
<h2>Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/438">e3d</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/436">Creality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/434">Filled PLA</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Done</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/431">Anet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/435">Flashforge</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/432">Ultimaker</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/437">Ultimaker 1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/433">Cura</a></li>
<li><a href="https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/445">Monoprice</a></li>
</ul>
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<p>Let's say I print a part out of ABS and wait for it to cool. I could theoretically do this with several copies of the same printer, modified to use print beds of different compositions.</p>
<p>Will the material a bed is made out of affect how long it takes a part to cool?</p>
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<p><strong>What bed material cools faster?</strong></p>
<p>I found an <a href="http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html">extensive list</a> which relates various materials to their <em>thermal conductivity</em>, k [W/mK]; the lower thermal conductivity, the better the material insulates, and the slower the print bed will resist changes in temperature - both heating up, and cooling down. </p>
<p>Here are the thermal conductivity for some common materials for 3d printer beds:</p>
<pre><code>Aluminum 205
Glass 1.05
Acrylic 0.2
Air 0.024 (for reference)
</code></pre>
<p>There is also the matter of thermal capacity, but I will not go into that right now (need to do some research myself first!).</p>
<p><strong>Will bed material affect cooling time?</strong></p>
<p>Bed material, I believe, is not necessarily related to print cooldown time: it depends on the situation, such as whether we are discussing cooldown during or after printing, and if the bed is heated or not. </p>
<ol>
<li>If you are <em>not</em> using a heated bed, I believe the bed material doesn't matter at all.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>while printing</em>, only the first dozen layers or so are probably affected by the rising heat sufficiently that it affects the printing process.</li>
<li>With a heated bed <em>after printing</em>, the thermal characteristics of the bed will determine how quickly the print cools (and thus can be removed).</li>
</ol>
<p>Also remember that other physical properties, such as flatness (both cold and during heating) of the bed material is vital for successful prints, and that not all materials can tolerate heating equally well! </p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>I've looked into doing something similar to this before and love the idea, never had the chance to follow through on it yet. This is sort of a hybrid method between cast molding and 3D printing. </p>
<p>The accepted answer to a question I had a while back had some very good points by fred_dot_u</p>
<p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3720/post-processing-fdm-for-strengrh">Post processing FDM for strengrh</a></p>
<p>Short version, Epoxy is a good option but you may have to consider heat generated from it. Urethane is another really good option (cast urethane is a pretty standard process). Chem-Eng isn't my area of expertise but there is a huge range of material options out there that can be mixed as two parts. I think there are enough options out there right now that you can choose your material properties you need and then select the material from there.</p>
<p>You could also consider going the chopped-fiber composite route. (carbon, glass, etc) and then combine with whatever the appropriate resin is for those materials. </p>
<p>I see the most difficult part of this is getting the shells to print properly. When I had looked into doing this, I considered modeling my part then hollowing it out completely. Then going back into the hollow part and designing in minimal internal structures for the purpose of supporting the thin-walled shell model. Printing that, and then drilling and filling the part after the fact. This approach I see as being a good option however the location of the drill points would be critical otherwise you could get voids as your fill material is injected in. And, the additional modeling time wouldn't be insignificant, however the saving I expected would come from having a ridiculously strong part, with complex geometry and be significantly cheaper than even a cast-urethane part.</p>
<p>If you get some good results, please post a link to them! This is a huge interest of mine!</p>
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<p>Let's look at the elements and what they do:</p>
<p>The <em>Heater Cartridge</em> (blue) is the device that converts electric to thermal energy to melt the plastic. 30 and 40 W are common.</p>
<p>The <em>Thermosensor</em> (red) is there to give feedback to the mainboard.</p>
<p>The <em>Filament Path</em> (gold) in this area is made up of the <em>nozzle</em> and the <em>heatbreak</em>, it contains the <em>meltzone</em>.</p>
<p>The <em>Heater Block</em> (transparent green) is the mounting for all parts. It also acts as the medium to transfer the thermal energy from the <em>Heater Cartidge</em> to the <em>Thermo Sensor</em> and the <em>Filament Path</em>. It also acts as a dampener for the control circuit.</p>
<p>Now, let's put things together and omit the wires and cold end (and internal geometry of the filament path, cause I am lazy):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/b0nE1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/b0nE1.png" alt="Mock up of a hotend assembly" /></a></p>
<p>Now, the construction gives us several reasons for the shape of the heater block:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ease of construction. Taking a simple block and adding a couple of holes and one cut allows very fast production.</li>
<li>Maximum contact surface. To get the maximum contact surface to the heater cartrige, the heater block has to make contact along its whole length, dictating a minimum size in 2 direction. The same is true for the thermosensor.</li>
<li>The heater block transmits temperature pretty much radially from the heater cartridge. Because it is metal, the gradient between areas is very low, but it is measureable. These would be the thermal equivalent lines on heating up:</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LL01Q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/LL01Q.png" alt="Heating lines around the Heater Cartridge" /></a></p>
<p>You may easily notice that the temperature lines appear more straight as they come closer to the filament path and thermosensor. This helps to give the filament in the heatbreak and nozzle more even heating and better printing.</p>
<p>The mockup I made has a deliberate flaw though: a change in temperature first affects the filament and then shows up on the sensor, making the temperature in the filament path wobble to the extreme. The Heater Block acts pretty much as a transmitter just as much as a time dilation between the heating command and the pickup.</p>
<p>Because this arrangement is not very good, let's swap sensor and filament path around and look at the same lines.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cTqqo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/cTqqo.png" alt="Arrangement 2 of a Hotend assembly" /></a></p>
<p>Now we have a much shorter feedback loop, allowing our printer to react quicker to temperature changes and the filament path also gets heated more evenly. The temperature inside the filament path does change less around the target temperature. The whole block now acts mostly as a distribution medium but also as a storage for heat energy:</p>
<p>Up to this point, we did not take into account a very simple fact: the hotend drains thermal energy via two areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>The outer surface of the heater block emits heat to the air.</li>
<li>Filament gets molten and extruded.</li>
</ul>
<p>Factor 1 is simple and here a bigger heater block actually is positive: The thermal 'storage' capacity is dependant on the volume, so goes with <span class="math-container">$xyz \approx a^3$</span>. The surface to emit heat from goes with <span class="math-container">$2\times(xy+xz+yz)\approx 6\times a^2$</span>. Plotting a graph of that shows us the square-cube law: the capacity increase for one unit does increase the surface just by a fraction of that, so the storage gets better the larger the heater block is.</p>
<p>Factor 2 is why we need to have a storage of thermal energy in the first place: the flow of filament is not exactly the same all the time. Of course, we have moments of even flow, but we also have moments of low or no flow when the printer moves between parts of the print. This alteration of the drain of thermal energy from the heater block means that if we would go down to a bare minimum size, we'd heat up the block fast whenever we are on a move action and cool as the extrusion starts till equilibrium is achieved again. The more thermal capacity is there to store energy, the less the lack of extrusion will immediately affect the print and the more even the temperature will be in the filament path.</p>
<h2>Fast printing?!</h2>
<p>How is faster printing achieved with a special hotend? Well, 4 factors are used in hotends meant for very fast or very hot printing:</p>
<ul>
<li>Longer, more powerful heater cartridge.</li>
<li>Longer filament path.</li>
<li>Extra large Heater Block to even out the temperature changes under extrusion more.</li>
<li>Insulating the Heater Block to the air.</li>
</ul>
<p>One of the prime examples would be an e3D-Volcano.</p>
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<h2>First; find a model!</h2>
<p>To print something you require a <strong>model</strong> (usually this is in STL format, look into websites called <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thingiverse</a> and <a href="https://www.myminifactory.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MyMiniFactory</a> for examples). Once you have a model file, you need to make it readable for the printer firmware.</p>
<p>If you can't find suitable model, then you need to design a model yourself (or ask someone to do it for you) or adjust an existing model to suit your needs. "<a href="/q/740/">Good (preferably free) Beginner Software for Part Creation?</a>" is a good place to start.</p>
<h2>Second; use slicer software</h2>
<p>For a printer to be able to print the model, the model needs to be sliced into layers. These layers need to be printed at specific speeds, temperatures, etc. Search online and look at the filament packaging (usually the ideal temperatures are on the packaging) to find the ideal temperature for your filament. If you are not using the right temperatures, your print will most likely fail. Programs that are able to slice models are called <strong>slicers</strong>. The most popular free (and Windows compatible) slicers are <a href="https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ultimaker Cura</a> and <a href="https://slic3r.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slic3r</a> (or its <a href="https://www.prusa3d.com/slic3r-prusa-edition/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prusa distribution</a>).</p>
<p>The slicer produces a printer readable file called a G-code file (file filled with printer instructions for e.g. movement and heating). This G-code file can be sent to the printer using specific printer software (e.g. OctoPrint, Repetier-Host, etc.) but more common or simple is to put the G-code file on an SD card and print the file using the print menu on the printer LCD.</p>
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<p>The travel speed of 160 mm/s is a big red flag. PETG is not tolerant of a hot nozzle moving over it at high speeds, especially unretracted (combing). The nozzle will drag material in a stuttering pattern, every so often, marring the surface and pulling what it dug up into strings.</p>
<p>Lower the travel speed to the same as the print speed, and then experiment with whether you can increase it without problems. I would not try going over 80 mm/s and probably not even over 60.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, this <em>sounds like</em> softened/molten PETG is a non-newtonian fluid, where at low stress (slow moving nozzle pushing/pulling) it deforms gracefully, but at high stress (fast moving nozzle) it strongly resists deformation and has a discontinuous breaking point. A quick Googling turned up this article, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10924-019-01544-6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thermal, Rheological and Mechanical Properties of PETG/rPETG Blends</a>, which might explain what's happening.</p>
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<p>The demo files are gcode files generated for use with the sample PLA that comes with the printer. If you want to print it with ABS select the file and set the temperature manually afterwards. </p>
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<p>Run some cleaning filament through the extruder at the printing temperature of your PVA or ABS filament, whichever is greater, until the old stuff has been completely displaced. Then load the new filament until the cleaning filament has been completely displaced.</p>
<p>This should be done every time you are switching materials, unless you don't mind disassembling the extruder and/or hotend and clean it out manually.</p>
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<p>ABS dissolves in acetone, you could try clipping a small section and leave it in some acetone for a few minutes and if it begins to dissolve it's safe to assume that it's ABS, if not then you'll know that it's not.</p>
<p>This won't confirm that it is PLA, only whether it's ABS or not.</p>
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<p>Why do we have two standard filament sizes, 1.75 mm and 3 mm? Does it really make a difference when printing? Or is the 1.75 mm just for smaller printers?</p>
<p>In what situations should I be using 1.75 mm?</p>
<p>When should I be using 3 mm?</p>
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<p>There's no appreciable difference. Just use the filament that fits your particular printer.</p>
<p>If you don't yet have a printer, then I'd get one that uses 1.75 mm filament:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>1.75 mm is increasingly becoming the "standard", thus being easier to get. Some filaments are not available as 3 mm.</p></li>
<li><p>1.75 mm filament allows for finer control, because feeding in 1 mm of filament corresponds to less plastic extruded.</p></li>
<li><p>1.75 mm filament requires less force to extrude. Compressing 1.75 mm down to 0.3 mm takes less force than doing the same to 3 mm filament.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, the advantages are fairly minor. I don't see any reason to replace a functioning 3 mm extruder with a 1.75 mm one (yet).</p>
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Given a question paragraph at StackExchange, retrieve a question duplicated paragraph
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<p>It is definitively possible to do what you want, but your questions are samewhat problematic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So, I need to know if it's possible to print that cylinder hard enough to work as an axis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>"hard enough" is a mysterious quantity. What is the intended application? The load of the axis, the rotation speed, the medium in which the part will be in, its operating temperature... they all affect the answer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And what should be the gap size between the cylinder and the counter part's hole to rotate properly?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reading at the question and the comments, I think you may have the wrong representation model in your mind. There are four different concepts at work here:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Accuracy</em> is the maximum dimensional variation between parts. </li>
<li><em>Tolerance</em> is the amount of random deviation or variation permitted for a given dimension.</li>
<li><em>Allowance</em> is a planned difference between a nominal or reference value and an exact value.</li>
<li><em>Clearance</em> is the intentional space between two parts.</li>
</ul>
<p>So: what you want to achieve for the object to rotate is to have at least some <em>clearance</em> once you have the parts printed. Therefore, you want to design your part with an <em>allowance</em> which is at least as much as the <em>accuracy</em>.</p>
<p>Note that a machine cannot produce parts with a tighter tolerance than its accuracy. So you must design your part with a <em>tolerance</em> equal or greater than your printer <em>accuracy</em>.</p>
<p>The correct number will therefore be entirely dependant from the specific printer you will be using. You can find out the specific <em>accuracy</em> of a printer by printing a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=Tolerance%20test&sa=&dwh=815ab32c4d0733c" rel="noreferrer">tolerance test</a> (I know, I know... why isn't it called "accuracy test"?)</p>
<p>See this <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/5187/9134">unrelated answer</a> - from wich I took the above definitions - for learning more about the above and a concrete example.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If it's is like 0.05mm, can I print that level of detail with a 3D printer too?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I hope it is now clear why this question makes no sense: <em>clearance</em> is a variable which depends from <em>accuracy</em> (and the application), not the other way around.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can't add so much gap because I have really limited space</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This comment too is incorrect: the "gap" (clearance) can be very very small. You have to have the correct <em>allowance</em> in your design, and allowance will <em>not</em> intrinsically make a part larger.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What hardware and material should I use to do this?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again: this is entirely dependent from your application (load, operating temperature, orientation, speed...)</p>
<p>A consumer-grade FDM printer (easy accessible, cheap and cheap to operate) will allow you to print a rotating part, a SLA/DLP printer (less common, toxic resins, more expensive to operate) will allow to print the same part with different materials and tighter tolerances...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don't worry about breaking, but it cannot be flexible</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again: without an explanaton of the intended use (or the numbers associated to it) it's impossible to answer this comment conclusively. Resins tend to harden to more rigid solids, but you have thrown around tolerances as small as 0.05mm in your writing, and over 12mm of axis, that is a deviation of less than 0.5% from "perfectly straight". I'm hard pressed to think you will find a printable material with such a rigidity.</p>
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<p>This depends on the nozzle diameter, the layer thickness, and the material. </p>
<p>I've made very good M8 and acceptable M6 threads (nut and bolt) at 0.2mm layers with a 0.5mm nozzle, out of ABS, and also out of PETG. </p>
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<p>What is happening here is that Cura is struggling with the quantised extrusion width. This behaviour can be improved in the slicer, they have a issue tracked here <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/1303" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/1303</a> and 2.4 beta has improved it.</p>
<p>There are some pictures in this <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/3581/4927">answer</a> which show how Cura 2.3 slices a rectangle of increasing width. I got nothing at the nozzle width, then a pair of overlapping lines up to twice the width (which I assume will be over-extruded due to the overlap). For anything wider than simply two sides, the result depends on the number of walls requested.</p>
<ul>
<li>One wall results in 100% infill for small regions (regardless of the infill setting). This is good, but maybe 1 wall is not apropriate for the whole model.</li>
<li>Multiple walls seem to prevent the infill untill there is space for pairs of walls. So width of 3x nozzle has a gap. Small tweeks to the nozzle size can maybe push this quantisation point about, if 1 wall is not a good workaround.</li>
</ul>
<p>For rectangular geometry, it's worth trying to quantize small parts in 0.8mm increments. For curves, setting 1 wall shell might be better.</p>
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<p>It could be that cheap filament has inconsistent diameter, or your calibration is over extruding, or you have something loose that needs to be tight. It's hard for me to tell precisely from just these images. In your shoes, I would print 20mm x 20mm x 10mm, 100% infill boxes until I got it dialed in so that it is square, fully filled in, but nice and flat.</p>
<p>If they're coming out square and staying stuck to the build plate properly, but are bumpy and overfilled, then you're over extruding and you'll want to either recalibrate e-steps or if they're correct, adjust your flow rate in the slicer (down).</p>
<p>If they aren't square then you need to square up your frame and tighten it and the belts.</p>
<p>Etc.</p>
<p>But my first guess is that you're extruding too much plastic since I'll bet they were flatter when they were still on the build plate, yes?</p>
<p>On the question of ooze: you'll always get some ooze. Molten plastic and gravity means some will ooze out pretty much no matter what. What you need to worry about is when this results in stringing or unwanted lines on the surface of the print. These things you address with retraction (which reduces the pressure on the nozzle during travel moves, but can't stop gravity) and for the surface problem various travel, z-hop and combing strategies depending on your slicer.</p>
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<p>As I understand it, there's really no good reason for this except "momentum". At some point in the not too distant past, a Bowden extruder was seen as an "upgrade" over direct drive, which required a bulky toolhead that was seen as limiting speeds.</p>
<p>(This perception was at best accurate only for delta and CoreXY machines at the time even, I think. As it turned out, Bowden doesn't let you print faster, at least not at any quality, because the nonlinear/hysteresis effects of the Bowden tube on the actual amount of material extruded can't fully be compensated with linear advance/pressure advance once you reach moderately high speeds. You can overcome this with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF33iXlFqVs" rel="noreferrer">Nitram Bowden</a> but good luck finding a cheap 3D printer manufacturer willing to put in that kind of custom part!)</p>
<p>Anyway, all the cheap printer manufacturers jumped on Bowden as a feature, and they're slow to develop any new designs rather than just making incremental improvements and production cost optimizations to existing ones.</p>
<p>Since then, direct drive designs have improved greatly, and the mass of the good ones has gotten so low that it's hardly a consideration anymore except on the most extreme agility-seeking printers (designs attempting 50k-300k acceleration). Everything should be direct drive, especially since it makes things so much easier for beginners (no difficult-to-load tube, broken filament in tube, loose fittings messing up retraction, etc.)</p>
<p>Teaching Tech has a video, oddly named <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybTbuUBy2-s" rel="noreferrer">Why direct drive is not automatically better than bowden tube</a>, where he basically concludes that it is actually better, and goes over some of the history I've touched on.</p>
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<p>The biggest effect I've see on resolution is due to plastic stress due to thermal gradients.</p>
<p>The higher resolution prints build up more layers of material, and each layer has a cumulative effect on thermal stress. The upper layers pulling up more as they cool, and the lower layers curling up more strongly as the layer count is increased.</p>
<p>To counteract this, a heated (or even just a draft free) enclosure makes a big difference. Having a heated print bed helps significantly, as long as the bed itself resists deformation (a sheet metal or PCB bed will bend more than glass under the same tension, for instance).</p>
<p>The actual plastic strength, however, appears increased. Laying down thinner layers of material appears to increase the bond strength between layers.</p>
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<p>I'm not sure I am reading your post correctly, but if you are doing a batch of small prints, I would recommend to <strong>space them enough so as each of them has its own mini-raft, rather than all of them sharing the same large one</strong>.</p>
<p>If you are using cura, you can tweak how much the raft goes past the footprint of the part. Unless you are printing <em>very</em> small parts, you don't need that to be a lot.</p>
<p>In general, <strong>you should think to a raft as a print in and by itself: the larger it is, the more prone to warping,</strong> although the way filament is layered with gaps makes the raft bend and warp a lot less than a regular print of the same size.</p>
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