Author Topic: Ender 3 - General discussion  (Read 17965 times)

Offline Brass_Machine

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Ender 3 - General discussion
« on: January 13, 2020, 12:51:10 AM »
Since there are quite a few of us with Ender 3/Ender 3 Pros, I thought I would start a thread with a general discussion of the printer. I figure anything and everything can go here...

I will start it of by listing out the mods I have done so far to the printer.

Printed Mods:

Filament guide. Located at Thingiverse

Fan cover. Located at Thingiverse

Cable protector. Located at Thingiverse

Tray. Located at Thingiverse

Cable/Ribbon clips. Located at Thingiverse

Physical mods

All metal extruder from Here

New stiffer bed springs - Can't find the link

Capricorn Bowden tube - Capricorn. These things are awesome. Slippery tube. Helps with print quality by eliminating some snagging. Can't recommend it enough.

All metal hot end from gulfcoast robotics. For the hotter PETG filaments.

Micro SD to SD convertor cable - A generic item. Saves wear and tear on that tiny socket.

SKR Mini E3 V1.2 32 bit systemboard from BigTree. Running Vanilla Marlin. Faster processing. Able to do more to the printer.

FT35 V3.0 Upgrade Touch Screen Controller Display with WiFi Port for SKR Mini E3 from BigTree

BLtouch auto leveler BLtouch


I had been using the treated glass that came with the printer with a lot of luck... but recently, it seems to have stopped working as well as I want.

So... I ordered on of the magnetic flexible build plates and that seems to be working pretty good. I do have on order though, a PEI build plate from Gizmo Dorks


I have some other mods in the wings to happen. need to finishing printing some stuff first.


All in all, I would say this is a fantastic little printer. I am able to print a lot of highly detailed things. And enjoying it while I do so.

Any questions about my mods?

What have you done to yours?
What do you plan to do?
How is the Ender 3 working for you?
What issues are you running into?
What are you planning to print on it?

Eric

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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2020, 10:52:42 AM »
Gave upon the flexible bed as it started to curl up a few thou at the corners, made levelling a pita

Go to local glass shop and order two bits of 4 mmmirror plate glass. Remember to move the protective sticky back plastic!!
Glass needs help so tried Pritt - useless. Hair spray (4 liberl coats and every thing seem to stick well and release easily when cold

Ordered the BL Touch auto leveller and also a lighting kit.

0.4 stainless nozzles for when I need them.

First test cube (25 mm) came oout about 25 microns oversize in X & Y but 250 out in Z due to shrinkage. Increased Z scale to 101% and within 25 microns.

Happy bunny here.  :ddb:

More to come I'm sure
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2020, 11:11:12 AM »
Then there are filaments.

At moment obvious choice is PLA, I ordered extra kg of white and blue as part of the printer bundle.

But for real world printing what about the colour?

Obviously the crazzy bright and glow in dark and black and white no problem.

But what if I want to print some trees for my mates war gaming table:

Green grass, brown trunk and leaves (Conifer, deciduous, Autum in Canada)? You wouldn't by paint online from a computer screen!!

Why can't they use the RAL system? I have emailed at least one manufacturer to see if they have accurate colour charts (like paint shops) or real 10cm samples or better the RAL number)

Any way my extruder Knob is nearly finished (I think I got those 2 words the right way round)
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2020, 04:07:24 PM »
Hi Will_D

You will like the auto leveler. It does make the prints take longer as it has to map the build plate. I went a bit extreme and do 49 mesh points before the print....

What lighting kit did you order?

Eric
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Offline AdeV

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2020, 05:53:59 PM »
How hard is the BL Autoleveller to fit - and will it work with the boggo mainboard, or do I need to get the Octaprint board to really use it?

The inner lazy b*stard in me really wants it to automatically level to perfection every time, instead of me having to do it...

Oh, and how well does the BL Touch do once you've added a layer of glue/hairspray to the bed? It doesn't stick itself down does it?  :lol:
Cheers!
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Offline Pete.

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2020, 06:43:13 PM »
I've only levelled mine twice.


Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2020, 07:41:12 PM »
How hard is the BL Autoleveller to fit - and will it work with the boggo mainboard, or do I need to get the Octaprint board to really use it?

The inner lazy b*stard in me really wants it to automatically level to perfection every time, instead of me having to do it...

Oh, and how well does the BL Touch do once you've added a layer of glue/hairspray to the bed? It doesn't stick itself down does it?  :lol:

It is easy to fit to the stock board. A few things you need to do to the firmware though... I believe I had to use an Arduino to facilitate the first flash.

I think most people are using a RaspberryPi for Octoprint.

A butt ton easier to put it on the mainboard I am using.
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2020, 06:12:26 AM »
Changing filaments was driving me crazy: Trying to feed the filament (cut to 45 as recomended) into the little black hole while pinching to relieve was a massive pita!

Cause: Brass feed roller impedes onto the axis of the filament feed black hole[tlbh]  (as it needs to)
Result: the brass wheel pushes the filament away from tlbh!

Fix: Remove roller pressure roller arm (beware of spring and the little black bush!)
       Remove the brass feed roller.
       Use a counter sink with a 2mm pilot to lightly countersink tlbh.
       Re-assemble and counter sink the bowden cable where it pushes into extruder as well.

Result: Easy Peazy feeding of even square cut filament!   :nrocks:
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2020, 05:53:45 PM »
The PEI build plate arrived yesterday. Got it mounted on my glass plate. It has a sticky side...

Running the first test now to see how it does.

I ordered it from Amazon. They supply one precut for the Ender 3 build table

Link HERE

Hopefully this works well.

Eric
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2020, 11:25:54 AM »
I have a couple of prints now on the PEI. Once I got the initial build layer dialed in, it works pretty good. No tape. No hairspray. Seems to hold tighter than the treated glass plate.

Eric
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2020, 03:58:57 AM »
I have Ender3 Pro, which has magnetic print surface. It is excelent with PLA. Never had any problem with PLA adhesion on table and peels off really clean and easy.

But then I started printing with PETG and that stuck to it way too well. Prints were hard to remove and when print skirt, that was nearly impossible remove. I tried everything, starting mild and then ended up using the supplied sraper. That spoild the surface where I removed the PETG.

I ordered new magnetic surface.....shop indicated that it would be shipped from europe, but then I got chinese tracking number and I am wondering where it has dropped.

Looking for a possbiility to use original type magnetic plate for PLA AND something else for PETG.

My printer does not hold leveling that great. Bed temperature setting seems to have something to do with it, but it is hard to believe 20C difference in bed temperature is going to change level more than 0,1 mm. Well, these are not precision tools.

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2020, 07:22:03 AM »
My printer does not hold leveling that great. Bed temperature setting seems to have something to do with it, but it is hard to believe 20C difference in bed temperature is going to change level more than 0,1 mm. Well, these are not precision tools.

Have you tried getting a set of stiffer bed leveling springs? Worked wonders on mine.
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2020, 07:43:32 AM »
Thank you for the hint. I haven't changed anything. I'm trying to see if it is any good before investing time/money/thought to it. I have to have look on springs, I might have somewhere appropriate springs.

Offline philf

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2020, 09:40:26 AM »
I'm not familiar with the Ender 3 - mine is a Balco Touch from Aldi. The sub table on mine was much more flexible than the print table so levelling was a big problem. I replaced the sub table with something much stiffer, made cups to locate the springs https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1374667 (I turned the feet using PEEK) and printed knurled setting wheels which had pockets to take NyLoc nuts. I don't have to level the bed very often now. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:874155

Phil.
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2020, 05:49:37 PM »
Two very large lessons learned today:

1: How to change a nozzle.
1a:    Heat to 210C or so and remove filament. Remove nozzle carefully coz its bloody hot! Don't ask how I know!
1b:    Allow extruder to cool to about 40C so you can fit new nozzle without burning fingers, finger tighten.
1c:    Heat back up to 210C or so and tighten nozzle.
1d:    Manually extrude some filament.
1e:    Re-level the bed.


2: How to really F**K up the above:
2c:  Forget to do this
2d:  Run a print: May or not work.
2c:  After a grotty print rememember to do step 1c but fiorget step 1e.
2d:  Run a print with the nozzle WAY too high!

3: Turn the Eff'ing thing off, hope that in the morning you can undo all the damage done (as in not doing step 1C has extruded pla all over the hot end and the nozzle (via the slack threads).

4:  Pour large stiff relaxer from Ireland or Scotland or even France and watch TV!

HTH

Will

PS: Damage reports in morning
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2020, 06:29:07 AM »
Will, I had pretty close same experience with a flexible filament (NinjaTek Cheetah). I noticed it in after maybe 10 seconds, but to clean up that TPU was nearly inpossible. I ordered set of replacement nozzles.

What build plates do you use for PETG and how? I got new magnetic standard plate and for time being I am going to use it only for PET. I gues glass is not the answer.

Pekka

Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2020, 11:15:28 AM »
Got new metallic extruder to replace the stock plastic one.


It is original item, but it had one extra insert nut that does not show anywhere and really can't figure use, unless it is undocumented arbor inside the spring to hold it in place (in addittion of the screw).

I am not sure if it is improvement, possibly just just ore bling. Suposedly the original tension arm wears where the filament runs, but the eriginal arm I had has an brass insert, which probably is just fine. I have noticed that very many problems are being gradually adressed and often uppgrades address the problen tha does not excist.

I was hoping that this uppgrade would have adressed the enty point problem of the filament, now it runs pretty close to Z-axis trapezoidal screw. Luckily there are mods too.


Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2020, 11:21:02 AM »
Well glad to say I cleaned up the mess fromm the loose nozzle.

Tried some more prints and couldn't even get the brim to look right.

So 2 more lessons learned today:

1. After about 24 hours or so re-adjust the belt tensions in X and Y!  The belt is "bedding in" and so will stretch a bit at first

2. Do NOT do this when the machine is running as any pressure on the x axis will loose any levelling (and will even knock the plate of the bed.
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2020, 05:06:16 PM »
Now we come to the WTF?!? question:

Ran an overnight print after checking the usual things like good brim and bottom layer adhesion. After about 5 mm all looking good so - off to bed.

Came down to this mess:

Looks like the Y axis skipped about 5 mm at a layer change!

How on earth would this happen??
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Offline Peter Cordell

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2020, 06:49:52 PM »
How on earth would this happen??

Could it be auto leveller is lower then the nozzle?

Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2020, 05:11:18 AM »
No Ben,  I don't have an auto leveler. This was not a low nozzle contact as they knock the piece of the bed (how do I know!!). 

All 8 pieces showed the same Y axis shift even the ones that are "solid" at that Z height

Cheers

Will
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #22 on: January 21, 2020, 07:08:57 AM »
Would that skip be in some relation to Y-axis tooth belt pitch? Maybe the belt is a bit loose or pulley/belt got debris in? :scratch:

Offline Peter Cordell

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #23 on: January 21, 2020, 07:37:51 AM »
The only time i have seen movment like that is when the printhead has made contact with the bed or something fixed to it
Seen bulldog clips on glass do it

Offline AdeV

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #24 on: January 22, 2020, 04:27:15 AM »
What slicer are you using? Whilst it seems unlikely it'd suddenly introduce a Y-axis shift, it's the only thing other than a hardware glitch that could explain it.

As regards hardware glitching; it would have to be one of two things: Either the belt jumped some teeth on the motor (too loose), or it's wound up so tight a bit of binding happened which stalled the stepper motor.

With the machine switched off (or with the steppers disengaged), can you easily push the bed backwards and forwards through its entire travel? Are there any stiff spots? Is the belt nice and tight (but not murder tight)?
Cheers!
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Offline Peter Cordell

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #25 on: January 22, 2020, 08:51:34 AM »
Second pic bottom right looks like a bulldog clip to me, as the nozzle sits back on the printhead i still feel its very likely the printer head has struck one or more of these clips working so closely to the bed edge

don't give up these are brilliant little machines when you have cracked it

ps the bed should not be touched by human hand if the prints are to stick to it, my prints for today
how i remove them
hoping these are correct tumbler gears for south bend L10 (downloaed from Thingiverse) if they are correct i will print some solid ones later



Offline spuddevans

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #26 on: January 22, 2020, 09:04:35 AM »
One similar problem (mine was with the X-axis) that I had that got my scratching my head for a good while turned out to be caused by the cabling getting snagged and causing the stepper motor to skip several steps. It was cured by providing a cable-support which kept the cables away from anything that they could snag on.

Might be worth checking that there are no hanging cables that can catch on anything.

Tim
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Offline Jonfb64

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #27 on: January 23, 2020, 09:08:56 AM »
I've had my Ender 3 for a year now but only just started using it; still on my first roll of Filament.

A couple of problems I've had is the factory supplied build plate had a warp in the "fibreglass" backing which made levelling a PITA.
I fixed it by rotating by 90 degrees until i found the spot whereby the bulldog clip would hold it flat to the heat bed.
The other is the settings in Cura having the bed as 220 x 220mm this caused to nozzle to crash the front bulldog clips on some larger prints. Corrected the settings to 235 x 235mm an not had a problem since.
Currently learning Fusion 360 which is the reason I didn't use for a year as I hit the wall! I can recommend Paul McWhorter on youtube (
) this has really helped me past the wall. It's called Learn fusion 360 or die trying!

Having fun learning

Jon

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #28 on: January 23, 2020, 02:35:54 PM »
Will_D:

I don't have an Ender 3, but my I3 clone would do the same thing periodically.  If you haven't done it yet, try re-slicing the part.  Every once in a while something would glitch when the part was being sliced and the g-code got a little scrambled.  I always figured that there's gotta be a lot of 1's and 0's flying around when the part is being sliced, and that somebody just got lost.  I've switched slicing software since then and the issue hasn't reoccurred.

Don
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Offline tom osselton

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #29 on: January 23, 2020, 05:29:12 PM »

Currently learning Fusion 360 which is the reason I didn't use for a year as I hit the wall! I can recommend Paul McWhorter on youtube  this has really helped me past the wall. It's called Learn fusion 360 or die trying!

Thanks for the link there’s lots of Arduino there too! I had to google him as the link didn’t work.

Offline Jonfb64

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #30 on: January 24, 2020, 04:19:38 AM »
Sorry the link didn't work. Try this one.



Jon

Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #31 on: January 24, 2020, 04:59:22 AM »
What slicer are you using? Whilst it seems unlikely it'd suddenly introduce a Y-axis shift, it's the only thing other than a hardware glitch that could explain it.
With the machine switched off (or with the steppers disengaged), can you easily push the bed backwards and forwards through its entire travel? Are there any stiff spots? Is the belt nice and tight (but not murder tight)?

Hi AdeV,
Thanks for the reply.

I use Cura 4.4.0 and not sure if I am staying with it as recently its started doing weird things which even show up in thre preview.

Both axes move nice a smoothly. In a previous post[#18] I mentioned how I realised the belts had stretch a bit (like 0.1mm) and that I had adjusted them
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #32 on: January 24, 2020, 05:05:11 AM »
Second pic bottom right looks like a bulldog clip to me, as the nozzle sits back on the printhead i still feel its very likely the printer head has struck one or more of these clips working so closely to the bed edge

Hi Ben,
Thanks for the reply. The bed clips will pass under the print head even at Z = 0. This "SHIFT" in Y happened at about Z = 6mm

No way am I giving up. I will mod it to the end of the earth if necessary!
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Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #33 on: January 24, 2020, 03:27:58 PM »
Will_D:

Did you try re-slicing the part?  Did you try printing a different part?  And if you did - did it make any difference?  If it didn't make any difference, then look at your machine for problems.  Otherwise look at the slicing software.

Like I said in my post on the 23rd, this would periodically happen to me when I was using Slic3r, or the Prusa version of Slic3r.  The first time it happened I was also wondering WTF happened to this piece of crap now?  When I couldn't find anything wrong with my printer, I tried re-slicing the part - printed with no problems.  After that, when a part started screwing up the first thing I did was re-slice the part.  If that didn't fix the problem, THEN I started looking at the printer.

I don't remember now which axis was shifted on my machine, and that's not just a "Senior Moment" type of thing, I haven't used Slic3r for close to 2 years.  Don't get me wrong, Slic3r and Cura are both good slicing packages.  But until something better comes along though, I'm going to stick with using Simplify3D.

Don
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #34 on: January 25, 2020, 04:22:36 AM »
Did you try re-slicing the part?  Did you try printing a different part?  And if you did - did it make any difference?  If it didn't make any difference, then look at your machine for problems.  Otherwise look at the slicing software.

I went back to Cura where the 8 models were. Removed all but two (the coolling towers and the big dome).

Moved them to a more frontal position on the bed and re-sliced.

Result:
Perfect Prints.

Latest with Cura is that it managed to put 2, 1 mm support structures ie very skinny thin lattice, across the middle of a Panda bear that certainly didn't need

Re-sliced and no problem!!

See attached photo:

Thanks for every ones help.

Now I know why people say" Buy a simple printer and learn!!, 3d printing at our level is a hobby and not a production tool"

Back to school via Parcel Motel to pick up latest upgrades and filaments!

Cheers

Will
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Offline AdeV

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #35 on: January 25, 2020, 06:48:20 AM »
I've found Cura putting odd scaffolding in sometimes; usually one can fix that by tweaking the overhang angle setting. Then again, there's about 5000 settings in Cura that I haven't even looked at, beyond spotting that they're there!

I did try Slic3r, but I'm currently preferring the GUI on Cura, even if it's a bit more simplistic (or, perhaps, because it's a bit more simplistic).

So far, touch wood, no weird slicing errors. Main problem I've had is bed adhesion, and so far the glue stick approach has completely fixed that. I mainly print PLA, and have done a couple of PETG prints. Not tried ABS or any of those squishy plastics yet.
Cheers!
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #36 on: January 26, 2020, 10:27:45 AM »
More lessons leatned and to be!!

Was having trouble with initial start up. Set the bed to 70 and the nozzle to 210. Waited for bed to come up (nozzle gets there very quickly) then find it will not extrude. Display shows Set and actual to be bang on 210. Wait a bit longer, no extrusion.

So decide to strip down the hot end following this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BniN-EdTNww&t=1298s

Found a major mistake: when changing a nozzle I had not adjusted the bowden tube to but-up against the nozzle so that the heat break tube got a plug of pla in it. Followed the guide and took it apart a cleaned out the heat break tube. Also removed the 2 long bolts that are not needed.

Lesson learned: always adjust the bowden tube when changing nozzles.

Can any one else point a i/r thermometer at their nozzles (which should be say 210) as mine says its about 80C. And yes I know about emissivity error when using i/r on shinny things

One final question:
Why is it considered a major upgrade to fit a "Swiss all metal hot end" for 70£ or so when the one supplied is all metal (ok aluminium as against titanium)

Answers on the back of a twenty pound note please!!

Cheers

Will
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #37 on: January 26, 2020, 02:05:53 PM »
Wonder if aftermarket hot end has better thermal insulation between hot and cold sections?

I printted some bed leveling wheels and put there nylock nuts as sggested several places. It does not work. The screw braks free from the bed.

Offline philf

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #38 on: January 26, 2020, 02:47:35 PM »
I printted some bed leveling wheels and put there nylock nuts as sggested several places. It does not work. The screw braks free from the bed.

Pekka,

What do you mean when you say that screw breaks free from the bed?

This modification made a huge difference to my printer.

Phil.
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #39 on: January 26, 2020, 04:31:28 PM »
I turns free withe the nut. To amke anything usefull, I need to imobilize the screw with a needle nose pliers and then I turn the adjustment wheel (and nylock), not that practical.

Offline philf

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #40 on: January 27, 2020, 04:25:20 AM »
Pekka, is there room for a lock nut?
Phil Fern
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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #41 on: January 27, 2020, 05:31:18 AM »
Next to heat plate? I need to check how it is build. They all are pretty loose. I noticed that when I mounted all the the parts. I assumed that the plate screws were held there pretty much by friction only. The screws were somewhat "loose", I though that it was a design feature to allow larger tolerances on heat plate screw location and mount plate hole location.

Offline philf

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #42 on: January 27, 2020, 05:58:53 AM »
I made a new mount plate with one tight location hole, one slotted hole and two clearance holes to allow for expansion whilst stopping the heated plate randomly moving about. The screws through the heated plate are tight and don't turn when I adjust the level.
Phil Fern
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #43 on: January 28, 2020, 07:06:04 PM »
I am still having periodical problems with starting a print!

Manually set bed and extruder to 210 and 75.

Manually try to feed filament - no go
Try the move axis/extrude several mm or more and no the extruder just pushes and then filament springs back with a click.

Switch off, switch on, reset bed and extruder and guess what filaments flows no problem!
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #44 on: January 28, 2020, 09:43:27 PM »
....
One final question:
Why is it considered a major upgrade to fit a "Swiss all metal hot end" for 70£ or so when the one supplied is all metal (ok aluminium as against titanium)
...

As I understand it... An all metal hotend allows you to print in more than just PLA & ABS. I know the stock one can handle PETG as well.

The reasoning... the Bowden tube butts against the hotend and can only handle so much heat before it deforms and melts. With an all metal hot end, the bowden tube butts against the cold side and not the hot.

I have an all metal hotend in my Ender3 and it works very well.

Eric
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Offline WeldingRod

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #45 on: January 28, 2020, 10:06:11 PM »
In some bowden/hot end chains there is a ledge.  If the filament gets hung up on it you get thy he behaviour described.  Pulling back and re-stabbing can fix it.  Pulling all the way out, cutting at and angle, and trying again is another good tactic!

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Offline AdeV

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #46 on: January 29, 2020, 08:12:32 AM »
...
Try the move axis/extrude several mm or more and no the extruder just pushes and then filament springs back with a click.

Switch off, switch on, reset bed and extruder and guess what filaments flows no problem!

First, have you put on those little clips which hold the "push fit" mechanism solid on the bowden tube? They look exactly like the clips you put on push-fit plumbing to make sure any accidental pipe movement doesn't trigger the release. I'll find a picture tonight, I'm on a train right now and it's enough of an effort just to type...

The other thing I wonder - was your extruder actually up to temperature, or was it just lying about it?

One way to check is to release the extruder drive with the lever, then try to push the filament yourself. It should be possible, with relatively little effort, to extrude a string of plastic. If that isn't happening, you've got a mechanical cloggage somewhere.
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #47 on: January 29, 2020, 08:45:04 AM »
You can print bowden tube clips

Bowden tube clips

Eric
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #48 on: January 29, 2020, 02:53:23 PM »
Pretty happy with how the PEI is holding prints...
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #49 on: February 02, 2020, 07:06:10 AM »
First, have you put on those little clips which hold the "push fit" mechanism solid on the bowden tube?

Thanks AdeV, yes I had the little clips in place. However, recently things have been working much better.

Its a great teacher is the 3D lark!
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #50 on: February 02, 2020, 07:13:17 AM »
Tip of the day:

You may know that there is a menu button to manually command  a filament change.
So if you want to change colour you have to watch it like a hawk!

However; If you edit the g-code, go to the layer where you want the filament change just insert:

;
;Filament Change
M600
;

and this will do it all for you.

PS: Layers in the g-code start at layer 0 so that  is at your layer height

So with a 0.2mm layer height, you want to change layers at 2mm you insert just before Layer 10 like this

G0 F9000 X48.853 Y17.354
G1 F1200 X50.399 Y15.808 E53.05569
;MESH:NONMESH
G0 F300 X50.399 Y15.808 Z2.2
G0 F9000 X52.435 Y21.308
;TIME_ELAPSED:155.534818

;Filament Change
M600

;LAYER:10
;TYPE:WALL-INNER
;MESH:Test_Pin.stl
G1 F600 X51.51 Y21.454 E53.08684
G1 X50.585 Y21.308 E53.11798
G1 X49.754 Y20.884 E53.14901
G1 X49.093 Y20.223 E53.1801


Hope this helps

Will
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Offline AdeV

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #51 on: February 02, 2020, 07:26:39 AM »
Tip of the day:

You may know that there is a menu button to manually command  a filament change.
So if you want to change colour you have to watch it like a hawk!


It took me ages to find that the second time, after once accidentally finding it...

...turns out it's only there when you're actually printing something! Which seems crazy to me - I'd like to be able to pre-heat the extruder, change filament, THEN start printing....

I guess if you replace the stock mainboard with an Octaprint, such options might become available, I don't know - I've not dared go down that route yet
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline russ57

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #52 on: February 08, 2020, 04:51:30 AM »
You lot, stop it.

My son came to me and said, how about we go halves on an ender 3.
So it seems I have joined the club.
Next step, fusion 360..

Next question, what software to avoid?

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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #53 on: February 10, 2020, 06:51:41 AM »
I'd like to be able to pre-heat the extruder, change filament, THEN start printing....

Just rename this file back to .gcode, stick it on a stick, stick in the stick etc

HTH

Will
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #54 on: February 10, 2020, 08:45:02 AM »
...
Next question, what software to avoid?

...

I really can't think of any software to avoid. Cura does a fine job...
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Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #55 on: February 10, 2020, 08:47:05 AM »
Time for a question:

I want to manually command (in g-code) a filament extrusion.

So I use G01 Fnnn Ennn with a 1mm diameter nozzle and 1.75 filament

My question is "What is the relationship between E (I believe this is the length of filament to extrude, not the length that is extruded) and the feed-rate given a certain nozzle diameter"?

Thanks in advance

Will
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Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #56 on: February 10, 2020, 04:12:28 PM »
Will:

I'm going to go out on a limb here, I'm not a slicing software programmer so this is just a guess - but this is how I'd do it.  To make this easier on me were gonna make a whole bunch of assumptions:
1) We going to print a line 60mm long, 1 filament wide by .5mm tall.
2) We're going to fix the filament width in the slicer at 1mm.  (Your nozzle width, which seems huge by the way.)
3) We're going to ignore acceleration and deceleration.  (We've got those new reactionless drives and can go from 0-60 in nuthin' flat.  We  could figure in accel and decel, but it makes my head hurt thinking about it right now.)
4) We going to assume that we print nice rectangular sides on our line.  They won't be, but straight sides make the math SOOO much simpler.

OK, enuff' funnin' around let's get down to the nuts and bolts.  We need to print our line but before we can print it we've got to tell the printer how many mm of 1.75mm diameter filament needs to be extruded (E), and how fast to extrude it (F). 

We know the volume of material that needs to be extruded, we know the length of the move, we know the layer thickness and we know the fixed filament width.  For our line, this extruded volume works out to 30 cubic mm.  I love nice round numbers.

We know the extruded volume, now we need to calculate the number of mm of 1/75mm diameter filament we need to get that volume.  When I worked through the calculations for the volume of a cylinder 1.75mm in diameter by 1mm tall, I got 2.405 cubic mm.   So our 1.75mm filament contains 2.405 cubic mm of extrudable material per mm of filament.  30 divided by 2.405 equals 12.474mm, we now know that our extrusion length (E) is 12.474mm.

We also know that we need to extrude that 12.474mm in the time it takes for the printer to get from point A to point B.  With our reactionless drives on our printer we're ignoring accel and decal times, so the time it takes to get from one end to the other is just the length of the line divided by the print speed.  This travel time is 60mm/(60mm/sec), or 1 second.  Did I already say I LIKE nice round numbers?  The feedrate (F) is the extrusion length (E) divided by travel time.  Our extruder feedrate (F) works out to be 12.474mm/sec.

This may, or may not, be a very simplified version of the actual calculation.  It's going to start getting hairy when you vary the filament width based on layer height like I think Slic3r does, and then add in the accel and decal times.  That's just more number crunching which is what the high-speed morons that we call computers are good at.

But I'm pretty sure that it's all based on the extruded volume required by the move, and the travel time required by the move.  Is that what you wanted to know?

Don


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Offline russ57

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #57 on: February 10, 2020, 04:22:54 PM »
Which seems a far more comprehensive answer than I was thinking - the area of the nozzle  / the area of the filament = 3 approx, so 1mm of filament extrudes to 3mm, but that doesn't allow for any ' stretching' as a result of the head pulling.

-Russ


Offline Will_D

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #58 on: February 11, 2020, 05:54:00 PM »
Don,

Many thanks for the detailed reply. I will work up a spread sheet based on your inputs.

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Offline beeshed

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #59 on: March 14, 2020, 05:18:40 PM »
On the ME forum there is a thread about the Ender and printing gears which coincided with us getting an Ultimaker and I managed to get them to print a 1 Module 30 tooth changewheel for me. Then I found it difficult to get access to the printer so I just got my own.
Picture shows original injection moulded Hobbymat change wheel plain colour, Ultimaker print in grey, Ender print in red. The 20mm holes came out about 4 thou undersize easily adjusted with sandpaper to a perfect fit. Tooth form is fine and meshes nicely so to sandpaper the hole I held it on a bar wrapped with sandpaper and held it against a changewheel while the lathe was running (HSE pedants faint).

Bed levelling - as mentioned by Pekka I had loose bed levelling screws so had to apply epoxy + washer + nut.

Offline beeshed

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #60 on: March 14, 2020, 05:27:11 PM »
Wrong picture got in there. However it shows 3 outer layers requested on the grey one and a little void because the 3rd one 'wouldn't fit'.

Offline beeshed

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #61 on: March 15, 2020, 06:55:55 PM »
So the Hobbymat wheels have a 20mm hole to go on a bush to join two gears or on the spindle but the 20 tooth gear is smaller than the bush and has its own reduced size special bush. I printed a 20 with integral bush and even included the key. A touch with a file made the key fit nicely into an original gear. Feels strong enough so I will try printing a 19 joined to a 91 to use for slow feed using primes to spread the wear.
Next I went up a factor and printed a 14DP test part for a 63 tooth with the top not printed to see the fill pattern and wondered if an epoxy fill would add strength but probably it is better to have the top layer and programme more % fill. 3 outer layers filled the tooth nicely. I put  holes in it to mount it for a strength test not to make it Lego compatible.

Offline mc

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #62 on: March 15, 2020, 07:54:22 PM »
Beeshed, what material are you using for printing?

Offline beeshed

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #63 on: March 17, 2020, 06:43:34 PM »
Just PLA. The red was the cheapest. The grey in the first picture is also PLA but more expensive 'cos the Company bought it. The brownish gear is the injection moulded original.
Must get another colour or two for variety.

Offline tom osselton

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #64 on: March 17, 2020, 08:36:14 PM »
Well I guess with this virus I’ll have to start playing with my Makerbot Replicator 2 I’ve got some water soluble fillement to try out it will be interesting to see how it works for support. Hopefully I will make some patterns for casting season.

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #65 on: April 15, 2020, 11:17:00 AM »
Well, digging myself down the modding hole with this printer, I found a couple of cools things.

The first one is this:

BLV Ender 3 Pro - Upgrade

Quote the guy himself:

Quote
Hi, my name is Ben Levi and This is: "BLV Ender 3 Pro - upgrade" open-source project.
I am very excited to introduce to you my new Upgrade project designed for the Ender 3 Pro - 3D printer. The project's goal is to take your beloved Ender 3 Pro printer to the next level.
By using only aluminum parts, mgn12 linear rails, BMG dual drive extruder and more - you will gain maximum accuracy, efficiency, and high print quality.

He has designed a kit that looks like it can seriously upgrade the Ender 3 Pro... You can either make it all yourself or buy a pre-made kit.

I like the looks of it, but his kit isn't fully compatible with Ender 3. Apparently it has a different setup for the bed than the Pro. If I had the Pro, I would be all over this.

With a bit of more research, now I am curious, I found another company making linear rail upgrades for all 3 axes not matter the model of Ender 3.

Y Axis

X & Z Axis

I also found some places that make the adapters etc... to do this yourself.

As I don't have enough time to do the things I want right now, I am thinking of just ordering the kits from 3DFused.

Eric
 
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Offline russ57

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #66 on: September 04, 2020, 06:44:16 AM »
I've just installed an ender 5 plus.

Only used it  a few times so far, but I am really happy with the prints.

I understand the next thing I need to do is find and print a set of enhancements, then start the upgrade cycle....

I opted for the larger version as the second thing I designed would only just fit my sons ender 3 even after I cut it in half...



-russ


Offline AdeV

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Re: Ender 3 - General discussion
« Reply #67 on: September 04, 2020, 12:37:26 PM »
I'd like to be able to pre-heat the extruder, change filament, THEN start printing....

Just rename this file back to .gcode, stick it on a stick, stick in the stick etc

HTH

Will

Cool, thanks Will! Only took me 7 months to notice you'd replied....!  :Doh:

I dug the printer out a few weeks ago, it having sat idle for a few months.... didn't realise that the filament between the extruder and the spool had gone rock hard. Tried a print & got nothing.... figured the extruder wasn't working right, tried to push the filament through and SNAP! OK, no problem, got it all retracted & only then discovered that the original plastic filament drive head had snapped, so it wasn't putting any pressure on the filament. Gah!

Ended up replacing it with one of those all-aluminium replacements, which worked perfectly. At the same time I bought a BL-Touch auto-bed-levelling system; but I haven't used it yet, as it seems to need a Windows PC to complete the firmware upgrade, and I don't have one of those at home. Might have a couple of free hours on Sunday to take a look at it, if I can burn the new firmware from Linux, then I'll do it.
Cheers!
Ade.
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