The Official 3d Printing thread

[Jtgarner]

So my printer is a stock e3v2. I had to replace the hotend after a huge blob formed when I thought I could get one more print before leveling
I recalibrated e steps, did auto PID tuning, flipped the glass bed and releveled the bed. Now my prints are coming out with more stringing, more “zits” or blobs, and more layers that have little ridges that stick out a little further than the rest of the print.
Anyone have ideas on what I need to do to fix it?

 

[BroodXI]

So my printer is a stock e3v2. I had to replace the hotend after a huge blob formed when I thought I could get one more print before leveling
I recalibrated e steps, did auto PID tuning, flipped the glass bed and releveled the bed. Now my prints are coming out with more stringing, more “zits” or blobs, and more layers that have little ridges that stick out a little further than the rest of the print.
Anyone have ideas on what I need to do to fix it?

replaced the hotend completely? if i remember correctly, the ptfe tube goes all the way down to the hotend. did you replace that as well? was it a stock hotend replacement?

 

[hoosierdoc]

Assuming you tried a new nozzle also?

 

[Jtgarner]

replaced the hotend completely? if i remember correctly, the ptfe tube goes all the way down to the hotend. did you replace that as well? was it a stock hotend replacement?

Yep bought a whole new hotend with heating element and thermister. Replaced the Bowden tube with Capricorn (did the hotend fix with a seperate piece in the heat break, between the nozzle and fitting), new nozzle, everything. It looks like my temps are fluctuating a lot as I print (+/- 2 degrees), but I did the PID auto tune that my updated firmware has built in. Humidity in the shop is in the 30s, and temp is probably in the low 60s. I’ll try to post some pictures of how it used to print vs how it prints now.
Wish I would have kept a benchy or cali cube from before.
Problem is I am also printing with a different color filament , so I know there is some variance there too.

 

[BroodXI]

Different color, same brand? thinking it's the filament at this point, i can print great with one roll, the next, total crap. you'll need to find the sweet spot.

 

[Jtgarner]

Different color, same brand? thinking it's the filament at this point, i can print great with one roll, the next, total crap. you'll need to find the sweet spot.

Yes and no. This neon yellow prints different than the first spools of black, white, or grey that I printed with (before the blob that destroyed the old hotend). But also different now than it did a few weeks ago (after the hotend swap). Maybe I’ll try drying the filament and see what happens.

 

[HoughMade]

Every time I see this topic I think it's "third" printing because "3d" is how lawyers write "third"....omit the "r", pocket the savings.

 

[russc2542]

Yes and no. This neon yellow prints different than the first spools of black, white, or grey that I printed with (before the blob that destroyed the old hotend). But also different now than it did a few weeks ago (after the hotend swap). Maybe I’ll try drying the filament and see what happens.

pix of the hot-end destroying blob? I've had a few blobs and always just warmed it up and pulled off the goop.


My thing right now is figuring out why PLA is getting jammed up. I've always printed ABS or PETG (never jammed like this) and recently tried PLA (I see why people say start there now lol) but seemingly randomly, it'll just lock up. tried 2 different filaments (first I chalked up to age and deterioration, current one is unknown age but only a day out of the vacuum bag). Prints great but occasionally just stops dead and the extruder gear grinds away the filament. It's not a plugged nozzle (new nozzle and when I manually remove and reinsert, I can measure it's catching just above in the heat break, it's catching on something before the nozzle). I can heat it up, pull the filament out, jam it back in and it'll run fine for X hours. Sat through eternity watching some videos because nobody wants to type on a forum anymore which led to reducing retraction and replacing the PTFE tube but it stuck again on the next print. Printer's originally a Makerfarm Pegasus 12 with a titan extruder and E3DV6 hot end. hot end's all original 3-5 years years old except the nozzle. recently moved from Slic3r to Cura for slicing thinking easier switching between my several very different printers. Ideas?

 

[Jtgarner]

pix of the hot-end destroying blob? I've had a few blobs and always just warmed it up and pulled off the goop.

I didn’t take pictures. It really just destroyed the thermister, but there was melted plastic down in the hole for the heating element and thermister so it was easier to just replace the whole thing. I didn’t like the burning plastic smell every time I turned it on.

On your issue, I have no clue. I don’t know where it would be getting stuck.

 

[hoosierdoc]

We made it to Breckenridge!

 

[hoosierdoc]

He got stripped off my head at the first ski lift. When i pulled the bar down over my head it was knocked off. Right at the base of the lift.

Next time we came to the lift, it was sitting on a control box. Next time down I asked if i could get it back. They asked for the story and what he was called. I said he had no name.

They told me they named him, Todd. So from now on, he is Todd

 

[hoosierdoc]

Made some tooth flowers and a vase for my wife's dental office

 

[hoosierdoc]

Anyone print a Lithophane before? I am doing my first one and it looks incredible.

 

[AndreusMaximus]

How have I missed this thread until now? I even searched for 3d printing threads...

Anyways, Yes! I've done several lithophanes. I just got into 3d printing last August, and they were one of the first things I tried making. They're pretty darn cool. For Christmas I made a present for my wife's parents by printing out a box with a lithophane of their wedding photo on the front, wired some LED's inside, and made a pretty neat looking night light that shows their wedding picture when turned on.

 

[BroodXI]

Anyone print a Lithophane before? I am doing my first one and it looks incredible.

have you seen the star ware lampshade? https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5350296

 

[hoosierdoc]

We had a power surge and checked everything in the house, and killed my print

I was making a Lithophane of my book cover

 

[hoosierdoc]

have you seen the star ware lampshade? https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5350296

That is really cool. I did see it but didn't think i could do it. Now I think i could but it would take for freaking ever to print it.

Would love to make a custom light box of these showing a series of images. Maybe a circular one that you can spin and have it act like an old film strip. One single beam of light

 

[AndreusMaximus]

We had a power surge and checked everything in the house, and killed my print

I was making a Lithophane of my book cover

Oh man, that's rotten. And it was looking really good so far! Guess it's time to get a UPS for the 3c printer (yeah, I don't have one either, lol. I've gotten lucky so far, though, and never had a power outage, though I've done multiple prints that took over 24 hours.)

 

[hoosierdoc]

Success! 98% done with a full size one. Surely nothing can go wrong now...

 

[AndreusMaximus]

Success! 98% done with a full size one. Surely nothing can go wrong now...

Looking good! Did the last 2% finish the time?