3d printer troubleshooting/tweaking/building

if ur worried about temp and sag just print petg

 

I think I may chuck the pieces in the oven ill try a test to start, they say that can help tollerance massively.
PETG is only 75 - 85 tollerance printed.
ABS is 100.

 

yea and the warping doesn't matter either i printed many car parts that have naturally annealed inside of the car on their own lol

 

The enclosure I'm building the main screws are listed as these and they day to get a extra screw kit but I'm a dummy at times especially with this stuff so can use help converting them to metric.

#14 x 2
#12 x 3/4

 

https://www.bsstainless.com/american-screw-sizes

1 Inch = 25.4mm so for the length just multiply that out.

 

For printed PLA etc what do you do to fix defects like wall separation?
I printed a test of my arcade box in PLA and noticed some wall splitting.

I'll be printing out again later in ABS I think, but for now I'm using it as a working piece.

I read super glue and types of epoxy can work.

Just wondering what you all use to fix up these types of defects for different printed materials.

 

printing too fast or too cold but u shouldent print over 210c with a non-allmetal hotend so might want to print extra slow LOL just to ensure no layer splitting

 

I'd be trying to put more work into getting it to print correctly in the first place. Have you calibrated your esteps?

 

Esteps?
Yea doing settings I'll need to learn Butcher9_9 helped with the config.
Am thinking also on the longer prints if you get a small defect so one wouldn't reprint the whole thing.
Though I do need to calibrate things better.
Was PLA 190'c and the upper layers that printed.

For PLA super glue, 2 part epoxy and XTC-3D a 3D finisher and bonding agent work.
I'll look up for other materials ABS and PETG what is used for gluing etc.

 

ok... been running the new skr board for a few days now since install and the difference is huge... well noise wise anyway. so quiet. the hotend fan is the loudest now. i can compare it to a cpu cooler running at 100%. will look to get the quieter noctua 40mm fans to quieten it down (1 at the hotend and 2 in the custom rear case ive printed). i find myself checking it now and then to see if its still working (its right next to me in the study) as the x, y and z movements are that quiet.

complicated prints also dont pause anymore which is good. i could notice some slight pausing on complicated polys and curves on the original board. all gone now.

i ran through the whole calibration again with regards to esteps, accel, temps, retraction, etc and prints are now flawless. i've gotten rid of the problems i used to have, which i could never eliminate 100%, which was first layer squish and zits. layer lines all line up and not a problem anymore. my pla hotend and bed temp is 210 and 50. my plaflex is 215 and 40.

another improvement was speed. a bit more fiddling with some settings have me finishing the benchy boat in just under an hour.

the biggest part that made the difference i reckon would have to be the bltouch. not that my glass bed was waay out of whack, but it made a noticeable difference in layer thickness and repeatability.

im still tweaking the marlin firmware here and there, mainly to do with bltouch calibration speed and tmc2209 current. i'm 100% on slicer. no more cura and s3d.

ive got some petg and abs coming, so ill look to start experimenting with that, now that ive sorted my machine. i wonder if i can avoid an enclosure... now that summer is around the corner

 

PLA is normally 180-210c range so you have room to move up if you have layer separation, you could also try increasing the layer width but I think I did that for you already. If by wall splitting you mean between lines rather than layers then I would say the flow rate is too low.

An estep is a increment (step) of the stepper motor , you have to tell the printer how much filament is extruded per step. Its possible that the current value you have set is incorrect so you might be under extruding. Teaching Tech has a good video or 2 about calculating it (an Old one and one he released about calibrating a printer in the past month) Just look that up on youtube. Its pretty important to calculate the esteps if you change a control board (One would assume the stock one has configured for the stock stepper).

 

calibrating esteps is kinda silly to do because it often over compensates for slippage - calibrating e-steps should be done by measuring the diameter of the feeder gear and fine tuning with the 98% infill test

ive simply seen toomany users calibrate e-steps while their feeder gear is eating up the filament or the motor is skipping steps or even microsteps and so its not really true to real world esteps - when the actual solution is a better spool holder or smoother bowden tube or semi blocked nozzle cleaning

 

I tried skirts up to 10mm but it still lifted. I will give it one last shot going way bigger with the skirt and see what happens. I've tried glue and hairspray and they don't work. I haven't received the 3dlac yet. I've resigned myself to PLA prints with this printer and they are coming out really good. In regards to

I printed an oldham coupler and sanded it down super smooth and oiled it up, put it on the z rod and it's improved the banding 100%. The screw rod must have been moving the z just a little bit.

 

IMO its overpriced, if you want quiet just get bigger fans 60x10mm,
plenty of 60mm mods on thingiverse,save the money on some more filament

 

Easiest way to quiten a FDM printer is simply slide a large piece of foam under it. I buy large cushion foam from spotlight and just put my printer on top of it. Can barely hear the printer now. It's pretty amazing how much quieter it gets with such a simple change.

 

CacTuar and anyone else reading, I would recommend a PEI sheet for adhesion.
I've been doing reading online and everywhere says they are the holy grail to keep stuff stuck to the bed.
I'm getting one myself to try they are cheap on AliExpress a few dollars.
That are basically a sticker sheet you put on the glass.
Some people say you can lightly sand every 10 prints or so to keep it in good condition and replace as needed.
Also keep your bed temps up to keep stuff stuck.

Something I noticed the first prints in PLA I did don't seem to match one in colour I did today despite it being I think the same PLA.
The first ones were the sample white and I got the printers Ender brand white PLA.
The first prints the cat and dog look dull white compared to the one pig I printed today.
As I printed the other sample compiled gcode that came with the printer.

So wondering does PLA lose its colour like that over a few weeks just indoors?

Not the best due to shadowing especially on the dog but the pig is a much brighter white colour.
Could be the sample PLA is a slightly different PLA composition not sure.

 

thanks for the tip. looks like there's a lot more options for 60mm. i wasnt 100% convinced that a noctua fan of the same size would make a big difference noise wise.

i started off with this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3316671 printed in pla and it made a big difference while my ender was still stock. i printed these in plaFlex and are just as good: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3558080... i needed the slimmer feet as i had a deeper rear electronics case.

 

New parts from BigTreeTech arrived today! Mini E3 V2.0, Touch screen LCD and a filament run-out detector. I received the new Meanwell power supply last week. UPgrade is just the thing to do on a cold, wet day.

I have some quiet fans to replace the stock fans but they are 12V so I need to add a DC-DC converter to power them. I'll also add a 5V DC-DC converter to power the Pi running Octoprint. First need to design/print a bracket for the DC-DCconverters.

 

I would really appreciate finding out how you go with this sheet, I still haven't really had permanent success with ABS despite the suggestions and ideas. I really think it comes down to bed and even the rooms ambient temperature if you don't have a hood. The first layer is a bastard to get to hold firmly, and after a print gets about 10mm high, forget about keeping it all straight.

 

After a few hours work, the new power supply is in, the controller and tocuh screen installed, firmware updated to ender5 - all axes are homing in the wrong direction and the endstops don't work!
I've double checked all connections and they are OK so next stop is checking out the default configuration of the BTT supplied firmware.

The power supply is a pain to remove on the Ender 5 as the mounting screws are undeneath a stuckon, printed plastic cover. Had to use a Dremel to cut the plastic over the screw heads. Big difference in sound with just that done as the fan is not running all the time.