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Tyler's printer

Discussion in 'Show and Tell' started by TylerJones4292, Dec 20, 2013.

  1. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    Hi everyone, my printer arrived today and I got a couple of small prints done. I'm using the basic recommended PLA settings (190/180 degrees F, 0.3mm layer height, 0.4 rectilinear infill) and have only had very minor troubles with filament not sticking at the end of the print.

    Here are my first two prints: a cube and a greeting card. The cube's first layer was orange gunk from the hotend that had to be peeled off. The rest was okay, but the last corner of the top layer didn't stick apparently. The greeting card looked okay, but upon peeling it off of the bed it lost a lot if its integrity.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  2. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    I printed this neat GameBoy cartridge holder yesterday. This morning I decided to print successively finer prints of the Accuracy Master, but my second one wouldn't stick to the bed so I'm off to pick up some blue painter's tape and try again later.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    I have the tape on but I'm getting some problems where the filament is just globbing on the tip of the hotend. Gonna clean it out and try again.
     
  4. Matthias

    Matthias Member

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    Maybe a bit more temperature? I use 200 for PLA. You can try to heat the bed for the first layer to 45-55°C as well.
     
  5. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    I and found out my z-axis screw was reversed so after fixing that I did some more leveling and managed to print this. There was still some globbing on the early layers but it mostly sorted itself out. The lower layer also looks wider, like maybe the nozzle was pressing too hard against the bed? Not sure.

    [​IMG]

    When I was taking it apart earlier to fix the z screw I noticed that one of the smooth z rods is kinda wobbly though the other one is pretty secure. Should I worry about this?
     
  6. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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  7. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    Thanks, I'll try and print one of those now.
     
  8. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    One of the issues I've been having is filament not being pulled through the extruder. Sometimes I'll open up the filament feed and see that the hobbed bolt has chewed up my filament in one place. I seem to have fixed it by tightening the springy bolts (technical term), but since it's often the skirt and first layers that I see this problem I thought I also might have the wrong z-height. I'm waiting on a dial indicator in the mail so I can do a proper bed leveling, but for the time being it seems I can get some prints done despite shaky first layers.
     
  9. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    After days and days of putting it off I extracted the PTFE tube and it has some small cracks in it. I'm tired of dealing with this hotend and plan on buying an E3D immediately.
     
  10. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    E3D is the best thing you can do for your printer. It'll feel like a totally different machine once you get it installed
     
  11. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    That's really good to know, and softens the blow of the $70 purchase. My old hotend would ooze when heated and not extruding, but wouldn't extrude enough when it was extruding, so the replacement will be more than welcome.
     
  12. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    If you're looking for something to do in the mean time you can reflash your firmware to update the max temp on the extruder to 275 or so.

    Also read the install instructions: http://files.e3d-online.com/Drawings/E3Dv5_Assembly_Manual.pdf

    One thing I would recommend is NOT installing the supplied E3D thermistor and instead use the thermistor in your hot end already. The Pro's of this is you don't have to deal with the complex process of taping the thermistor leads and potentially breaking one off. If you do happen to damage the stock one in the process then at least you have the E3D supplied one in case.

    My stock end also had the cracked PTFE tube and was oozing all over the place. I'd get random blobs of plastic on my print and it eventually got so bad it couldn't extrude enough for consistent prints. That's when I took it apart, found the crack, and promptly ordered the E3D.

    Another thing that's good to have is either Fire Cement or high temperature silicone ( I got This one
     
  13. TylerJones4292

    TylerJones4292 New Member

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    Would it be worth re-flashing if I'm currently just using PLA? I don't even have a heated bed, and I don't know much about other materials.

    What is the cement/silicone for?
     
  14. Melody Bliss

    Melody Bliss New Member

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    The cement/silicone is a replacement for the kapton tape used to adhere the thermistor to the heater block. Normally you would use sections of kapton tape to keep the thermistor inside the little hole designed for the thermistor. You want to use kapton tape specifically since it is heat resistant to the temperatures the heat block can reach.

    The cement/silicone designed specifically for high automotive temperatures can be used instead as the sealant for the thermistor to the heat block. You want to make sure you use a high temperature version otherwise it can burn. For example, this one that Amazon sells:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002UEN1A/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
     
  15. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Yes it will be worth reflashing. It's a very painless process to be honest and will offer a few benefits beyond filament options.

    Presently the stock nozzle has a critically damped controller meaning it will reach the setpoint temperature with very little if any overshoot. This is intentional to prevent the ptfe tube to get too hot.

    The E3D with a stainless block and higher draw heater will ramp up much faster and actually overshoot. I've been trying to find better PID values for it but it's honestly not a big deal. Here's why you should do it.

    Say you have a clog and you want to try and remove it. You heat up your printer to 230C to get it, but then the heater overshoots, your nozzle hits 250 and your printer says "DANGER OUT OF RANGE" and shuts off. Now you have to reconnect and try again. Very frustrating when you're already annoyed that you have a clog.

    Reflashing is more about defining the characteristics of the nozzle than the materials you'll use. You can also run some autotune functions to dampen the PID a bit more though I've still seen overshoot after a few autotunes.

    Hope this all makes sense.

    Also to expand on what melody said, when I did my thermistor I put a dab of high temp silicone into the thermistor hole, put the thermocouple in, then plugged it with more silicone. I used kapton tape to wrap around a few times to secure the thermistor in place during drying, but only because I'd had issues prior getting the damn thing to stay in there.
     
  16. William

    William New Member

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    If I reuse the existing thermistor or use the new one supplied with E3D, how does that affect things? I haven't gotten into reflashing yet, but is there a value I need to set somewhere based on the particular thermistor?

    Also the instructions for E3D say to use a dedicated 12v supply. I could probably use the existing fan wires and just keep the fan on all the time, right?

    Thanks!
     
  17. 1d1

    1d1 Active Member

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    A dedicated 12v supply is better and easy to get to at the RAMPS power feed. There is a different config.h code designation for the e3d thermistor, but the new Marlin software update has it already installed.
     
  18. SteveC

    SteveC Well-Known Member

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    William,
    No, the Marlin software does not necessarily have the correct one. 1d1 please double check me on this but I think it is correct.

    Make sure you read this E3D blog post if you use their themistor: http://e3d-online.com/index.php?route=extras/blog/getblog&blog_id=19 . You will need to change the configuration.h file if you use the newer thermistor as described in the blog. I suspect most of the E3Ds are this one. I got mine in November and it is the smaller Semitec one. This should be the change for it:

    #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5​

    If you use the original Robo3D one or the older E3D Epcos one no change is needed. This is the default:

    #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 1​
     
  19. 1d1

    1d1 Active Member

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    I will look again, but when I checked it before uploading it had the 05 commented. I think....
     
  20. William

    William New Member

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    Thanks SteveC and everyone else!
     

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