3D printer help

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Yeah honestly after taking down to basics it came out with a very nice print. I'm only in pla bc that's what I had sitting around. The spool is basically out now and I'm gonna look at PETG moving forward. I think I got too excited with upgrades and the more stuff I added the more room for error there was inherent in the software. I am also using a glass plate. Tell me more about those "silicone bushings". I haven't heard of those but the springs honestly make me nervous and idk how well they hold.
 
. Tell me more about those "silicone bushings". I haven't heard of those but the springs honestly make me nervous and idk how well they hold.

The problem with springs is they are steel. Well... Steel when heated and allowed to cool slowly loose their temper. Isn't that exactly what happens every time you print? They pull heat from the bed, heat up to around 60°c... the job completes... And they cool off slowly. Over time they will loose their "springyness".
Silicone mounts won't do that but still provide compression and push back. I put them on all dozen of my FDM printers and swear by them. Once leveled I just never need to adjust them again... like never adjust them after 3 years... Ranging from Ender3pro at 220mm to Hictop printers at 300mm to my CR10s-5 units at 500mm beds.
 
Definitely need to get some of those bushings, my bed has been unleveling a lot recently. Besides that things have been printing super well. Loving the PETG! It prints nicely, I have finally gotten my stringing settings dialed in so things are really turning out well. That being said, I have noticed a fair amount of thermal variation in my nozzle. This filament likes to print at 230, so I set it there and while its printing it will continuously bounce between 226 and 235. This doesn't create failure-level issues and is mainly cosmetic (since Im not printing anything that needs to be structurally sound). It does make for some less than beautiful looking prints tho. Everything I'm currently working on is going to need to be cleaned up anyway, but it would still be nice to figure out how to get my nozzle to maintain a more constant temperature. I feel like it didn't used to do this- even a week ago.

I reseated the thermistor a couple days ago and it didn't seem to help.
 
This filament likes to print at 230, so I set it there and while its printing it will continuously bounce between 226 and 235.
Eh... That's definitely not right.

  • Its PETG, so the cooling fan is off. Right?
  • Is your cooling fan pointing at the nozzle, or UNDER the nozzle? Its supposed to be aimed below the nozzle to cool the filament, not the nozzle itself.
  • PiD tuning. Lots of YouTubes on it. Most machines out of the factory are tuned for the 180-190 range for PLA.
  • Is the nozzle getting cool every time the bed heater comes on? maybe the power supply is insufficient to run both.
  • Any chance the grub screw that holds the heater cartridge in place has dropped out and the cartridge is just kinda staying put only because of the stiffness of the wires?
> I feel like it didn't used to do this- even a week ago.
Go back to Cura version 4 instead of that new Version 5 that came out.
 
Eh... That's definitely not right.

  • Its PETG, so the cooling fan is off. Right?
  • Is your cooling fan pointing at the nozzle, or UNDER the nozzle? Its supposed to be aimed below the nozzle to cool the filament, not the nozzle itself.
  • PiD tuning. Lots of YouTubes on it. Most machines out of the factory are tuned for the 180-190 range for PLA.
  • Is the nozzle getting cool every time the bed heater comes on? maybe the power supply is insufficient to run both.
  • Any chance the grub screw that holds the heater cartridge in place has dropped out and the cartridge is just kinda staying put only because of the stiffness of the wires?
> I feel like it didn't used to do this- even a week ago.
Go back to Cura version 4 instead of that new Version 5 that came out.
Cooling fan is off. I have also seen some places that recommend keeping the fan on at like 30% but mine is usually off. I will check to see where it's pointing but I'm pretty sure it's off so...

I haven't done any pid tuning bc it feels like a lot of work and I'm lazy. But I'm guessing that's in my future.

It doesn't seem to be related to the bed. It more feels like when the nozzle hits the desired temp it turns off but it has pushed enough energy to the nozzle that it continues to heat for a couple degrees. Then starts cooling. Similarly as it falls below 230 it kicks back on but takes a couple seconds to catch up to the rate of temp decrease so the temp falls a couple more degrees before it starts heating again. It just never really stabilizes.

I checked the screw the other day and it was tight. Im going to check again tonight before I start my next print however..

Finally, I never got cura to work so I'm using the creality slicer that came with the printer software. It's crappy but good enough for what I'm doing.
 
SgtSaint I got my silicone bushings in the mail today and am going to install them tonight. They replace the springs right? So remove springs, insert silicone things? They came with no instructions I just want to make sure I am doing this right.
 
Oof. Apparently this thread has been dead for 5 months ...

Good news is printing PETG is going pretty well. Had a long break bc I ran out of money and time but got back at it. I did notice, however, that my print is doing a weird thing with the brim. As you can see below the brim is fine until it gets to a certain point and then it gets all wiggly... The rest of it looks totally normal but that section is weird.
Anyone know why that would be happening?

PXL_20230120_030727616.jpgPXL_20230120_030705603.jpg

Also sorry for the bad pics there's not great light in the room and it's currently printing. But I think you can still see the thing.
 
Oof. Apparently this thread has been dead for 5 months ...

Good news is printing PETG is going pretty well. Had a long break bc I ran out of money and time but got back at it. I did notice, however, that my print is doing a weird thing with the brim. As you can see below the brim is fine until it gets to a certain point and then it gets all wiggly... The rest of it looks totally normal but that section is weird.
Anyone know why that would be happening?

View attachment 327163View attachment 327164

Also sorry for the bad pics there's not great light in the room and it's currently printing. But I think you can still see the thing.
Looks like you're using masking tape on the build plate - is there a lot of irregularity in the surface of the tape that might cause those bumps? Do you see/hear the printer going crazily back and forth tracing that brim or is it a smooth motion?
 
It looked like a pretty smooth motion. I just put the tape on and it's real flat. The plate is almost perfectly flat and smooth. I found with a previous roll of petg that I needed the tape for adhesion. Not sure sure why. I might have messed up the coating on the glass.
 
Ya know, I miss installed a direct drive extruder and I wonder if it's having trouble pulling the filament. Cause now the filament travels a seemingly tortuous path to the extruder. And it's only on the far side of the print. Would it be better if I just ran the filament from the roll straight to the extruder?

It also might make more sense in my head than the way I'm explaining it...
 
Except I can't bypass the stepper gears. Cause then it won't extrude at all. I realized that this morning. The print turned out great so I'm not ultimately that worried about it- it seems to just be an issue with the brim.
 
Stuff like this is retraction issues right?
PXL_20230126_121641609.jpg

Generally things are going fine just dialing in settings for the new extruder but I can't seem to get these things to go away...
 
Stuff like this is retraction issues right?
View attachment 327437

Generally things are going fine just dialing in settings for the new extruder but I can't seem to get these things to go away...
Yes usually retraction is the problem when it comes to stringing. However, stringing can also happen more if you fans are not on. I would double check both
 
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