The Everything 3D Printer Thread

[Old tool guy]

I use a glue stick but i think it goes on a little thick in places.

 

[fourjeepin]

We forgot about a caliper, preferably digital. I have been using a cheap slide one from Empire but an upgrade is in my immediate future.

 

[moto_ridah]

I use a glue stick but i think it goes on a little thick in places.

Wipe some glue stick on then rub it in like wax with a damp paper towel. You end up with a nice even coat and no excess buildup in a particular area.

 

[Old tool guy]

I’ll try that. I have been using my finger to smear it around, like when applying wood glue to a board. Don’t need a fancy glue spreader, i have 10.

 

[jayz66ragtop]

Not really 3D printer related but close enough. Anyone else having issues using Fusion 360 in the last month or so on a Windows box?

Beyond simple things like importing a mesh or creating sketches it causes my computer to freak out and eventually become unusable and have to reboot. Did a search and AI says the recent Windows and Fusion updates contain a lot of bugs that cause even minimally complex operations to consume mega bytes of memory and eventually crash. As a test, I imported a mesh, converted it and then tried to split the converted body multiple times. Each time, same result, screen would randomly go black, mouse/keyboard/ or both become unresponsive, and eventually black screen with no return but the num lock and caps lock lights respond forcing a reboot. On the last try I opened task manager hoping to get a peek at resources prior to the black screen and sure enough Fusion ran using ~1.4 GB of RAM and eventually spiked to ~22GB consuming ALL ( 32 GB ) the available RAM causing Windows to panic and freak out.

This was before and after the latest updates for both application and OS so I don't think it's related to THE LATEST update for either but this *****, cannot even use the application now on my desktop, the most powerful machine I have without switching to my MEGA Windows 11 VM (16 core, 128GB RAM), going to try it just to see what happens on it.



On Edit a little while later: Must be some weirdness on my main desktop, although I don't have the latest update on my MEGA VM but did a bunch of things including what I was dong on my desktop and it never went above 4GB of RAM usage. Don't know why I didn't think to use this MEGA VM for Fusion before now, things that took 3-4 minutes are almost instant on this thing. Wish RAM wasn't so exp$$ive or I'd bump my desktop up the max the MB would support. Although I do have a couple 32GB DDR4's sitting here but they may be questionable reliability wise.

At any rate, it's either the Windows update on the desktop or something installed on it that the MEGA VM doesn't have.

 

[Old tool guy]

Bambu a1 and TPU 95a. Why are there so many spider webs? Everything else looks good.
.

 

[loganb]

Bambu a1 and TPU 95a. Why are there so many spider webs? Everything else looks good.
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Likely wet material. I have the best luck printing TPU after at least 12 hrs in a dryer and try and print it from the dryer

 

[jayz66ragtop]

Likely wet material. I have the best luck printing TPU after at least 12 hrs in a dryer and try and print it from the dryer

I concur, had the same issue with TPU until I dried it 15+ hours and it was down to like 10% humidity.

 

[KwikFab]

Thanks for sharing, I'm ordering a X2D in the near future and having no experience was wondering what else I should get when I order it.

To piggyback on what @Pinne shared, you can opt for a few AMS HT's.

I use those specifically for certain filaments that require higher dry temps. Just keep in mind that it still counts as 1 AMS "slot" in case you need tons of different color options loaded up.

 

[Old tool guy]

How do you get one of the 4 ams tubes out of the top of the extruder? I have been putting the single arm on top of the a1 gantry frame for the spool, and pulling a tube out of the ams. Works well but i want to use a dedicated tube from the extruder to the drier. Tried depressing the black ring and pulling on the tube … doesn’t work. I have heard people talk about a 5th hole but i don’t see that.

 

[jayz66ragtop]

How do you get one of the 4 ams tubes out of the top of the extruder? I have been putting the single arm on top of the a1 gantry frame for the spool, and pulling a tube out of the ams. Works well but i want to use a dedicated tube from the extruder to the drier. Tried depressing the black ring and pulling on the tube … doesn’t work. I have heard people talk about a 5th hole but i don’t see that.

Assuming you are talking about the left and right PTFE tubes in the picture below, it can be a little tough getting it to disconnect using a finger. You don't just press it down and then let go, have to keep pressing down to keep the connector released until the tube is all the way out. They make it look easy on this link but it takes a little practice. I'd suggest printing one of the PTFE tube disconnect tools form MakerWorld, just search for that term on there. An example: https://makerworld.com/en/models/16505-bambu-ams-disconnect-tool-remix-no-text-no-holes?from=search

You may find it easier to just order some PTFE tubing from either Bambu or Amazon. Then you have one dedicated for each task, that's how I was able to connect up both AMS 2 Pros and the AMS HT in my setup picture. I printer a Y, bought connectors and built a little harness on the back side and have enough slack to be able to tilt out the AMS2's.

 

[Old tool guy]

I have an A1 so only one head. Last night i was able to get one tube pulled out of the head and pushed the dedicated tube in. Due to the comments about damp tpu, i put the spool into the sunlu drier and fed the tube through the hole, now i am drawing filament directly from the hot drier into the extruder.
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Everything seemed to be going well, started a 12 hr print job and went to be about midnight. Watched it for about the first 5-6 layers. Big storm (got over 5” rain) and sometime during the night the power went off for 2 hrs. Dang. Fortunately the print was only about 10 mm thick so didn’t loose much. The printer asked if i wanted to continue from there but being that cold i was worried about adhesion.

 

[jayz66ragtop]

I have an A1 so only one head. Last night i was able to get one tube pulled out of the head and pushed the dedicated tube in. Due to the comments about damp tpu, i put the spool into the sunlu drier and fed the tube through the hole, now i am drawing filament directly from the hot drier into the extruder.
.
Everything seemed to be going well, started a 12 hr print job and went to be about midnight. Watched it for about the first 5-6 layers. Big storm (got over 5” rain) and sometime during the night the power went off for 2 hrs. Dang. Fortunately the print was only about 10 mm thick so didn’t loose much. The printer asked if i wanted to continue from there but being that cold i was worried about adhesion.

Apologies, for some reason I thought you had an H2D but the disconnect tool still should work.

 

[pcrov]

Bambu a1 and TPU 95a. Why are there so many spider webs? Everything else looks good.

Easy clean up is to hit 'em real quick with a lighter or heat gun.

 

[Old tool guy]

Second run, feeding from the active sunlu drier, the print came out perfect. The hairs on the first one won’t show when assembled so i’m not going to mess with them.

 

[niget2002]

Ordered one of the Bondtech INDX dev kits this morning. Not sure when it will arrive, but looking forward to figuring out how to retro it into my CoreXY.

On another note, in prep for the upcoming addition, I picked up one of the Creality X4 filament driers. This thing is pretty nice. I'll need to rebuild part of my printer stand to make it fit/work under it. I might work on that this weekend.

 

[Old tool guy]

One of the feed motors on my bambu ams lite is not working well. It kinda feeds but doesn‘t quite make it. I have tried different filaments, and swapped tubes … no good. Can i take it apart and clean the insides?

 

[jayz66ragtop]

My own fault but had to take apart the H2C's extruder tonight

I wanted to print something in ABS and use PETG for the support material since they don't play nice together and should separate easily. The slicer has a warning not to print high temp (ABS) filaments with lower temp (PLA and PETG) but there is a way to override the warning and let it do it anyway. I did that before with my X1C with zero issues but the H1C is a totally different beast I get it but figured it would be ok. Nope, my first clue something was wrong was the print went for a couple of minutes and noticed that the PETG filament wasn't coming out of the nozzle. Nothing at all coming out so I stopped the print and switch to just using ABS for both the print and support material and the printer would not retract filament nor switch print heads from the left (where the PETG was) over to the right (where the ABS was).

So, looked up how to unclog the extruder and didn't seem that bad so I dived in. Got it apart and there was a big knob of filament on the end of the PETG that would not fit forward or backward so I cut it out and put things back together. Didn't catch that the part that switches print heads has a small shaft that goes into a bearing on the cover so I snugged down the hold down screws and of course the ear of the cover on the left side snapped off!!! ****.... Looked it over and I think it's ok since there is the right screw/ear still attached and three screws through the bottom. I ordered a new extruder ( I like having a spare after the fun I had with my X1C and bad filament ) as well as a replacement cover.
Got the printer back together and did a test Benchy print and it is working flawlessly so I went on with printing other things but leery to print the original part that caused this whole issue. I'm sure it'll be fine and not something I need right away so it'll probably get printed next week.
Holly cow, part for the H2C are expensive!!!! I know part of it is inflation and the H2C is much more complicated that my X1C but damn. IIRC an full extruder assembly for the X1C was like $79, full extruder assembly for an H2C..... $180 To be fair not only is it much more complicated that the X1C but it's really two extruders in one but damn!!!!

 

[jeepxj]

its fabbbuuuulousssss

 

[kaymccampbell]

its fabbbuuuulousssss

I had a roll or two of that filament. It came free with a box of cheap PLA.

 

[Old tool guy]

Far right, what is the whitish stuff on the purple wing tip?

 

[jeepxj]

Far right, what is the whitish stuff on the purple wing tip?

super glue bleed out

 

[jeepxj]

if anyone is going we will be there

 

[Jehannum]

Used the Schoolhouse Spools' Pearl Gold PETG that @jeepxj seems perennially out of now to make a medal rack for my lovely wife's running medals:

 

[jeepxj]

Used the Schoolhouse Spools' Pearl Gold PETG that @jeepxj seems perennially out of now to make a medal rack for my lovely wife's running medals:

didnt realize how popular that one would be.




i have 360kg on order



full list of next order:

 

[Jehannum]

didnt realize how popular that one would be.




i have 360kg on order



full list of next order:

that's awesome. It's a great color, especially for award and award-adjacent stuff.

 

[jeepxj]

 

[Old tool guy]

What happened here? TPU printing out of a sunlu drier, 0.4 nozzle. All of the strings are on the underside of overhangs. I’m reprinting with the layer height reduced to 0.16.
.

 

[kaymccampbell]

What happened here? TPU printing out of a sunlu drier, 0.4 nozzle. All of the strings are on the underside of overhangs. I’m reprinting with the layer height reduced to 0.16.
.

Maybe it needs a little support?

 

[niget2002]

I've been collecting parts for the bondtech indx install... I should really stop until after I actually get the bondtech indx kit in the shop.

Currently working on a RP2040 board so I can plug 4 Bigtreetech SFS V2.0 filament sensors into the one rp2040 to switch between sensors when the toolheads swap.

 

[Old tool guy]

Maybe it needs a little support?

How do you support tpu … without it sticking permanently?

 

[draco_1967]

Do some test/calibration prints to determine the optimal support z-distance for your machine/filament. Unless you have a dual-head printer that can switch between filaments (or an AMS with AMS-friendly TPU...). Then you can use another filament as the support interface.

I have done a couple TPU prints that needed supports. I removed the print ASAP from the plate and the supports came off without too much trouble. The supports were as minimal as I could make them, but all TPU.

 

[Old tool guy]

Tried reprinting the blue dealie in post 6908. It was going well when i went to bed. Found this in the morning. Got about 2/3 of the way and apparently fell off.
.

 

[jayz66ragtop]

Not trying to **** on any specific person/purchase, just sharing what I found with the EXTENSIVE research I did prior to buying my X1C and again before buying an H2C.

IF you are going to print anything other than PLA or PETG it is HIGHLY recommended to get a printer with an enclosure OR build/buy an enclosure for it. PLA and PETG even benefit from the enclosure but other filaments are susceptible to temperature fluctuations that can cause adhesion, warping, irregular printing, etc issues. An enclosure doesn't make it bullet proof but greatly increases the chance your print will succeed. Also note that filaments like ABS and ASA off gas toxic fumes that if not filtered or vented out of the living space can cause health issues.

On Edit: I forgot to mention, DRY your FILAMENT. A majority (~80%) of my print issues have been because I didn't clean the print bed OR filament that was not dry.

 

[draco_1967]

Tried reprinting the blue dealie in post 6908. It was going well when i went to bed. Found this in the morning. Got about 2/3 of the way and apparently fell off.
.

That is the loveliest pile of angel hair pasta I have ever seen! ***** waking up to a failed print.

 

[Old tool guy]

That is the loveliest pile of angel hair pasta I have ever seen! ***** waking up to a failed print.

It was indeed a very soft pile. Fortunately i caught it when it showed 2 more hours of printing so it could have been worse.

 

[Old tool guy]

Need help … desperately. Bambu A1 petg. This is the second time this has happened, two different parts. One problem is the split and the warped edge. The split lines up with the top layer of pla supports, same on the other one. Also curious about the color shift and sheen change. There were 2 parts printing at the same time, the other part had supports at a higher level … and that aligns with the color shift.
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I hate losing the filament, but even more i hate losing the time. This was about 20 hrs.
.

 

[Citation]

Need help … desperately. Bambu A1 petg. This is the second time this has happened, two different parts. One problem is the split and the warped edge. The split lines up with the top layer of pla supports, same on the other one. Also curious about the color shift and sheen change. There were 2 parts printing at the same time, the other part had supports at a higher level … and that aligns with the color shift.
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I hate losing the filament, but even more i hate losing the time. This was about 20 hrs.
.

Long parts like that are going to be an issue. What is the internal structure like? The problem is the long runs along the outside. As they cool they shrink. That causes tension as the build plate doesn't shrink. After an inch or so the tension is enough to curl the part.

I had issue when I printed a long, skinny, wall like part. It was printed at 45*to the bed. I was using a grid style fill that was oriented 45*to the bed. So some layers had only the long wall runs in tension. Others had the wall and infill. That was enough to get lift.


I fixed the problem by changing my infill type and using a raft.

If your design allows, add a few wave or ripple features to the long surface. They will break up the long, straight passes that make up the walls. Instead of the cooling fiber tensioning the whole structure like a guitar string, the wave gives the tension something to stretch.

Also check your infill. Use gyroid of possible.

 

[Old tool guy]

Can’t change the design, only options are number of walls and fill. This one had honeycomb, you think gyroid would be better? Would it help to be in an enclosure?

 

[pcrov]

The split lines up with the top layer of pla supports, same on the other one.

Increase your purge volume substantially when changing from pla to petg. I use 800. You might be able to go lower but I like to be sure as I'm usually using petg for functional stuff. Any pla left in nozzle will contaminate the petg and you'll lose layer adhesion.