I'm going to have to read through this thread and likely will be asking many questions soon.
I'm going to have to read through this thread and likely will be asking many questions soon.
Finally seems like I've got the printer and slicer set up to handle the .2mm nozzle, and was able to print off my first couple of bricks that actually fit with other LEGO parts using the shiny silver filament. The good: the smaller nozzle works much better for this. The bad: It seems no matter what I do, the little pips on the bottom of 1-stud wide bricks/plates do not want to adhere to the bed properly. I've got about a 50% or so success rate in printing them- which means I have to print them one part at a time since if I have 2 or 3 in a print, one of them is guaranteed to have a pip not adhere properly on the first layer and ruin the whole print.
Other issues: the smaller nozzle means things take about twice as long to print, and to do what I want to (keeping the layers oriented in specific directions so when I use the parts on the LEGO DMC it looks like the brushed stainless with the lines in the same direction) is going to mean some creative orientation when I print things- including some really odd ones (printing some long parts on their end so the layers build up properly.
I have an Ender 3 that I bought a while back, but have not yet run parts through. I "think" I had it moving and homing, but I can't guarantee that at the moment. Currently, any attempt at motion (single axis or homing) will have all three motors hold position, but nothing ever moves and the system errors out. All three axis can be moved easily by spinning the motor shaft with a finger.
I have not read through all 22 pages, yet. Does my motor problem sound familiar to anyone?
Thanks
In reply to matthewmcl :
First thing I think I'd do would be to check that everything is plugged in properly and no wires are loose or disconnected. I'm assuming that you've rebooted it in the process so I wouldn't think that would be it. Homing doesn't work- I'm assuming that trying to move the bed/print head using the menus (at least on my Ender 3 S1 there was a way through the menus to move in each direction, I'd assume that the base 3 is the same) also doesn't work? Unfortunately, I've not encountered anything like that with mine to know what it could be exactly. I have found that searching online for answers has helped find answers for some of what I've encountered so far.
So since I got the 3D printer, I've been wanting/trying to print out LEGO parts so I can make some in colors they don't normally come in. It's been hit or miss, but has gotten closer to a consistent reality since switching to the 0.2mm nozzle. Yes, it takes longer to print anything larger- but if I can print out the parts that I need then I can switch back to the normal larger nozzle. The biggest problem by a mile has been the little pins that go between the studs on 1-stud-wide parts- they're under 3mm in diameter, and on like 75% of the attempts at printing a 1xN part at least one of them will not stick stay properly adhered to the print bed and come off, usually ruining the whole part print. I've tried printing them on both my PEI spring steel bed and the tempered glass one, and have the same problem.
Well, I finally may have the solution to the problem- though admittedly it comes with its own challenges. Someone a ways back had posted an OpenSCAD file that parametrically generates LEGO parts of a number of types (bricks,tiles,plates,wings,and basic slopes). Since I can modify the parameters in the file, I've found printing the basic parts using it has been better than the downloaded .STLs from PrintableBricks.com. This morning I sat down and figured out the coding necessary to add a small rib tying the pins to the sides of the parts for any 1x wide parts so they're connected to the rest of the part for the entire print instead of just when it gets to the height of closing up the top of the plate/brick- and the first part I printed with that mod printed really well.
This isn't a perfect solution though- there are a lot of parts that the parametric file isn't set up to generate, and a good number of them just aren't going to be possible (like the fender-like parts the DMC uses for the wheel wells) to have it generate due to their complexity, and I'm going to have to do some more coding for some of the parts that should be possible but it's not set up for (like the 2/3 slops 1x2's that it uses a whole lot of). Another challenge is going to be printing some of the parts in the orientation that I want- the big 6x5 panel that forms most of the hood for example I want to print on its side so that the layer lines will run the right way for the brushed stainless of the hood on a DMC. But- it's a start...
Here's the new design (1x4) alongside a real LEGO 1x6:
(as a note, real LEGO has reinforcements every other pin on longer parts, but they don't go all the way down like mine do- having them start a bit up would not be as beneficial in keeping the lower layers from coming off the bed).
We got word Friday that the unicorn horn that I had printed out and went on The Dancer's non-profit's Horsemania foal (yes, that's kind of a word salad if you're not a local... sorry...) had disappeared, which we're both surprised took this long and that it coming off apparently didn't damage the head of the foal (I had epoxied it on pretty solidly). So, I have to pull the 0.2mm nozzle and swap back to a 0.4mm one (since the horn was printed with glitter-infused PLA and I wasn't certain that it wouldn't clog the smaller nozzle). Since I was going to have to swap back anyway, I decided to put one of the hardened steel nozzles on instead of another brass one. I upped the temperature of the print head by 5 degrees initially, and it seems to be working pretty well- I was able to print the horn back out without any real problems and am currently printing a second one off (figure it would be smart since it could happen again and it would be nice to be able to not have to scramble to print one out again).
I figure I'll keep the .4mm nozzle on for a bit so I can print out some larger things I wanted to before swapping back to the .2mm one to try and get printing LEGO pieces figured out. I realized that I should probably finish my rebuild of the LEGO DMC-12 so I know exactly what pieces I will need in a stainless steel-looking filament before I worry too much about actually printing them.
OK- so I ordered a spool of filament that was on sale as part of Amazon's Early Access sale yesterday and since we live so close to a warehouse it arrived today... and it has to be the (for lack of a better word) sexiest looking filament I've yet to print anything with. It's like an iridescent dark blue/purple and looks really good. It's still on sale, and apparently in stock still, today: https://a.co/d/4Jb6Xjy
Haven't posted for a while, but learned something important/useful today.
I've been having a lot of problems with very find stringing on prints lately, and nothing that I've tried in the way of settings has seemed to help any. I had been printing out a number of hexagonal minifigure display parts to give to one of my nephews for Christmas, and found that I was definitely going to run out of matte black filament, so I got a new spool of eSun ePLA Matte Black in. I put it directly from opening up the vacuum-sealed bag into my dryer/heater box and while I did a few things with the last of the old matte black spool on the printer's spool holder had it up to temperature for a good while before I finally used it and have had it there (at temperature) since. And the print I'm doing now- using essentially the same settings as what I've been using- is easily one of the best looking ones I've had in a LONG time.
Despite it being something with essentially three cylinders a ways apart (it's a human-scale LEGO flower base...) there is NO stringing and it looks really good and smooth. So, I'm guessing that all of the stringing problems I've been having has been because of moisture in the filaments. Which I kind of knew about the PETG (which I've not been using for a while now), but didn't expect as much from the PLA/PLA+. I've had the next spool I'm going to be using (my glow-in-the-dark PLA) soaking in another dryer box for most of the day- I'm hoping that it will help as well, and if so I know that I need to be planning my prints more ahead and having the next spool sitting in the dryer for a while before using it.
Yesterday I kicked off the first BIG print I've tried on the new printer (now heavily modified Ender 5 Plus)- and now after a day of printing (with like 5 more to go...) the print is looking dead sexy. I got a lot of grief from one of the 3D printing groups for how slow of a speed I was printing it at, but the filament manufacturer recommends the slower speed for the better metallic finish and so far it looks great. Here's hoping that nothing happens to mess it up in the next week...
5 days of printing? Is this a whole car?
DrMikeCSI said:5 days of printing? Is this a whole car?
This thread reminds me that I need to get my Ender3 running; I put it together before starting the built-in software up and it's just been sitting ever since.
Two questions- should I even bother with the stock software, or should I do what seemingly everyone else does with a Raspberri Pi and something like Octoprint? And should I have the printer in my office, or should I move it to my workroom? The second because I have concerns about fumes.
Office, no. Ender 3 has noisy steppers that will be distracting when working especially if you have zoom calls or the like.
I still haven't bothered with Octoprint. It seems useful, but not enough that I would delay any actual printing projects.
Octoprint? No. Klipper with an accelerometer? Yes. The ability to have klipper do it's thing to deal with acceleration to damp printer oscillations I think is my next big step after I finish building an enclosure for mine.
My CR-10V2 has the later quiet stepper drivers, the biggest noise source is the stock fans. I've replaced them all with quieter/bigger units except for the part cooling squirrel cage fan.
Octoprint is amazing. Super easy to setup, and great for monitoring prints. You should absolutely add it if you are using an ender 3. If you put the printer in your work room, you can add a webcam and check on the print from wherever.
DrMikeCSI said:5 days of printing? Is this a whole car?
Nope.
If I do it again I'll try doing a few things differently, like testing to see how the filament looks at higher print speeds and printing the additional parts upright instead of on flat (or do a lot of tuning with how the top of things is printed with that filament). And it may be possible to get rid of a lot of the supports I had on this one- at slower speeds it may do better without them (looking at you, corners of the visor cutout...).
I have an Ender3 (something v2 pro?)
Im getting an issue where the filament is melting inside of the tube at the hot end and clogging up.
What could be causing this?
It'll start printing and then just stop feeding due to the clog, I have to use pliers and pull the filament out and it's just nicely formed, tubular piece that comes out at the end of it
hybridmomentspass said:I have an Ender3 (something v2 pro?)
Im getting an issue where the filament is melting inside of the tube at the hot end and clogging up.
What could be causing this?
It'll start printing and then just stop feeding due to the clog, I have to use pliers and pull the filament out and it's just nicely formed, tubular piece that comes out at the end of it
Make sure the tube end is cut absolutely flush and pushed all the way into the hot end. Any gap between the end of the tube and the nozzle will do this. It gave me no end of trouble until I figured that out.
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