The Official 3d Printing thread

[Ericpwp]

I switched out my extruder to a bowden setup on my a8. It seems like it's under extruding. I think the nozzle may be under the marked .4.

 

[1911ly]

Hey JJ, Robby and all. I have been playing a lot with cad. Designing cases for my Pi projects. I am having fun with it. My printers are all working fine. I have had to deal with a few health issues. And I have been helping a sick family member with their bills since around June. So money has been a little tight. Put a dent in the savings but I think we have the money issue mostly resolved so hopefully I will have a few extra bucks to use for hobby's. Supporting 2 households was an adventure but you do what you can do for family that truly need and appreciate it.

I had hoped to work on the SLA with the boy over spring break but I was short one rather large UV LED. I found them from a source that is about 1/3 the price of them normally. And they are pricey. I bought what they had in stock. They came back in stock earlier this week. I will get on track with that when the parts show up. Once I have all the parts in front of me I can get a better I deal of how to lat things out.

I also have been printing a few 10-22 receivers to tinker with. I think I mention that up thread. I am tired of looking and gray and orange so I printed black lol. I will destroy the old ones so I don't have to keep track of them. It is only a waste of a few dollars of media. It is really cool to just be able to print another receiver when I am board. I still haven't populated a trigger pack yet. The print looks great. We will see how it goes when I do. The black receiver, trigger pack and poly stock look cool. I will paint or blue on of my barrels so I have a all black 10-22. I think it will look sharp.

I am really wanting to make it to MRRF this year. We will see how things are going. And if several of use go we will have to do a meet and greet there!

 

[1911ly]

I switched out my extruder to a bowden setup on my a8. It seems like it's under extruding. I think the nozzle may be under the marked .4.

Did you change the extruder motor to a different one? The Esteps might be different if the gearing is not the same. It's worth checking.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Did you change the extruder motor to a different one? The Esteps might be different if the gearing is not the same. It's worth checking.

^this. verify esteps and adjust accordingly.
One on extruder upgrade I noticed a change in the gear. Heck with one firmware upgrade, they had the default filament diam at 2.8 instead of 1.75... that was some serious under extrusion.

 

[Ericpwp]

It's all the same as it was, good thought though. It is just running through the tube now. I'm beginning to think it was a bad idea. It is much more finicky now.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

It's all the same as it was, good thought though. It is just running through the tube now. I'm beginning to think it was a bad idea. It is much more finicky now.

The dark blue capricorn tube is really tight tolerance (1.9) vs standard ptfe tubing. Not sure if you're using captube, but if so try a quality filament that's within spec

 

[1911ly]

A lot of the inexpensive will have strings of teflon in it. I had this issue with the first couple types of tubing I bought. It will plug a nozzle and is hard to unplug. Now I always push a piece of media threw the tube several times before I use it. I ponied up and bought a chunk from WW Grainger and I haven't had any more issues.

Swap nozzles as see if that helps.

 

[Ericpwp]

Yeah, I am so over this bowden setup. I never knew why everyone mentioned jams and clogs. I do now.

 

[1911ly]

Yeah, I am so over this bowden setup. I never knew why everyone mentioned jams and clogs. I do now.

My bowden has been running nearly 2 years. I am not sure where you are at (far from South Bend? ) I would be glad to help you get it running.

 

[Ericpwp]

I'm just going back to how it was setup. There are too many variations of the parts that don't work with each other.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Jams or clogs are usually due to not cutting the ptfe tubing square AND/or seating it against the nozzle...
the video below illustrates it cleanly...
Direct drive is great if the x carriage can handle the weight...
[video=youtube;-vH_spN5wyw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vH_spN5wyw[/video]

 

[1911ly]

Jams or clogs are usually due to not cutting the ptfe tubing square AND/or seating it against the nozzle...
the video below illustrates it cleanly...
Direct drive is great if the x carriage can handle the weight...
[video=youtube;-vH_spN5wyw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vH_spN5wyw[/video]

I have bought cheap heat breaks that are not flat on the bottom were the tubing bottoms out. They were dished. The media pushes out in to the space sort of like those in the pics Robby shows. It took a while to figure out what was going on, then I had a Ah moment. I buy my heat break from E3d directly now.

I have been running a Bowden on the big printer for about a year and a half. It took a while to tweak the settings to get rid of blobs and stringing. I have no plans to go back to a carriage mounted extruder that machine.

 

[Ericpwp]

It was an experiment. I just wish I spent the time printing, not troubleshooting. Now I have a bunch of parts that don't work together. I have the carriage extruder back up and running.

 

[russc2542]

Nice Eric!
Petg is like abs without all the heat or smell or enclosing

And without the ability to work it after the fact with acetone. Also doesn't stick to glass + hairspray as well as ABS. Sticks great to lightly scuffed PEI sheets though (If you switch back to ABS, drop the bed heat A LOT or it'll become one with the PEI)

Someone mentioned changing nozzles every 2-3 spools... I have a stack of 9 empties I know of. got a pack of new nozzles: wow yea that makes a difference.

Then found the bearings for the hobbled shaft/gear in the extruder are shot (actually, they're beyond shot: they're disintegrating) so now those are in the mail.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

And without the ability to work it after the fact with acetone. Also doesn't stick to glass + hairspray as well as ABS. Sticks great to lightly scuffed PEI sheets though (If you switch back to ABS, drop the bed heat A LOT or it'll become one with the PEI)

Someone mentioned changing nozzles every 2-3 spools... I have a stack of 9 empties I know of. got a pack of new nozzles: wow yea that makes a difference.

Then found the bearings for the hobbled shaft/gear in the extruder are shot (actually, they're beyond shot: they're disintegrating) so now those are in the mail.

Odd, I've heard if the bed is too close that petg will still too well. To the point where it will bust shards/layers of glass off the build plate and stick to the bottom of the petg.
To date, i've only printed it once... using pla settings because i didnt read the label to see it was petg. ran great for the first 10 layers or so and then began underextruding horribly and made a spaghetti monster. Having had that experience, I am more likely to try it again with proper settings this time!

 

[russc2542]

Odd, I've heard if the bed is too close that petg will still too well. To the point where it will bust shards/layers of glass off the build plate and stick to the bottom of the petg.
To date, i've only printed it once... using pla settings because i didnt read the label to see it was petg. ran great for the first 10 layers or so and then began underextruding horribly and made a spaghetti monster. Having had that experience, I am more likely to try it again with proper settings this time!

haha yup PETG prints pretty close to ABS settings.

Never had PETG stick TOO well but it does stick very well to PEI at about 80c. I guess if I cranked up the bed temp even more it'd stick too well.

Got into the PEI bed 'cause way back upthread someone said try the PEI bed, my first attempt at non-glass build plate was with ABS at ABS-on-glass temp settings (110ish) and the ABS became one with the plastic build plate. Then I switched to PETG on glass and that didn't stick for jack at any temp. So I got a new bit of PEI and worked up to temp rather than down.

 

[1911ly]

I try to remember how many rolls I have printed. But I usually forget. And when I change the nozzle it is always amazing how much better the prints look. Usually the first thing I notice is gaps between the print lines. It looks like under extruding, and basicly it is. I think I am around 5 rolls on the nozzle on the homebrew. I am noticing it now. I need to replace it.

I have been working on some RPi case designs. I think I have used 3 rolls of media in the last few weeks playing around. This is case is from scratch using Tinkercad.













It's a RPi 3 B+ set up to boot from a usb device. The USB device is a Msata 256meg drive on a USB to Msata converter. It works great. The LCD is a 5 inch HDMI touch screen. the boards are cooled with a couple of 30x7mm 5 volt fans.

I am going to post the STL's for the project on Thingiverse. I will post two different face plates one will not have the cutout for the display.

 

[Jaredjosh]

I'm glad to see some activity in this thread.


Just finished printing some light switch locks https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:69806 as I have some switches I like to keep on all the time due to some home automation I have set up.

 

[Jaredjosh]

Speaking of nozzles.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ficial-3d-printing-thread-78.html#post7052813

 

[1911ly]

I'm glad to see some activity in this thread.


Just finished printing some light switch locks https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:69806 as I have some switches I like to keep on all the time due to some home automation I have set up.

I need to put these on the switches, but upside down. So the boy can;t turn the lights on easily. He never leaves a room without leaving a light on. Oh well, he's a good kid other wise.

I also see that we are now the "Official" 3d print thread! lol

I have sure had a lot of fun with the printers. This thread started out 4 years ago. It took me 2 years to finally buy one. Now I have 3 and parts for a few more build. What a fun hobby!