10
The thinnest wall your printer can print is determined by its nozzle size, and will be a little thicker than that nozzle size.
A great challenge when dealing with thin, hollow cylinders is that the cross-section has very little surface area and it can delaminate easily, especially if the tube is long.
You could try printing the tube with a very thick ...
9
The most obvious solution is to pause the print and swap filament for another color.
Another option is to splice pieces of filament together, though this does not allow very precise control of when the switch happens. There is also a device that can automatically slice filament this way.
Finally, another option that uses very little external equipment is ...
9
Makerbot claims the problems are fixed. I have heard from a number of resellers that the problems are fixed. Unfortunately, both of those are somewhat biased sources. It's surprisingly hard to get good info on the subject -- very few credible people are talking about recent experiences with the product line.
Issue #1: The main surviving user forum (https://...
8
You can put pretty much any controller in pretty much any printer, with a few noteworthy details you need to keep in mind for a Replicator 1.
Makerbots use thermocouples. Most RepRap style 3d printers use thermistors. So you would need to replace the extruder temp sensors, or choose a new controller with thermocouple support.
Makerbots use 24v heaters and ...
8
Cool environmental conditions are the single biggest contributor to ABS delamination. Delamination or edge/corner cracking is caused by warping stresses when the first layer adhesion is stronger than the interlayer bonding. Or it happens when the heated build plate allows a strong non-warping foundation to be built until the print is too tall to be ...
8
Your print isn't cooling fast enough. With small, thin prints like this, PLA needs a fair bit of airflow to solidify before the next layer goes down. Your printer doesn't appear to have a proper print-cooling fan, so I have two suggestions:
Print two or even three of the part at the same time, spaced a fair distance apart on the build plate. This will give ...
7
It really doesn't quite have enough power to heat everything at once. Initially bringing the bed up to temp takes a lot of current and so Makerbot's start sequences decrease stepper current and hold off on heating the extruder(s) until the bed is preheated. Once preheated, the bed's power draw decreases to a lower "holding" level and there is available ...
7
I've seen where certain slicers and/or firmware installations will allow you to set pauses mid-print so you can insert a different filament and resume. Such firmware that I'm aware of is Sailfish. I haven't personally used this, but I've heard many great things for people who enjoy tinkering with their machine(s). Alternatively, there are 3D-printable ...
7
Oh yeah, that's simple. You are printing too hot and are literally boiling the plastic. Else you have water. However if it was water you would hear Crackling as it printed. If it is too hot you will not hear nearly as much. I am 87.341% sure you are printing too hot.
Looking at your printing temps you are without a doubt printing too hot.
From this link on ...
6
The thinnest possible will be a single outline, so the best you can possibly do is slightly larger than your nozzle size.
The biggest issues I see in terms of making a thin airtight tubes are:
Complex geometry: anywhere you have overhangs you may need to increase the wall thickness to ensure a sealed overlap. Bridging will need extra layers to ensure good ...
6
In my experience, bubbles like this are caused by the filament absorbing moisture, which then cooks out at the high printing temperatures.
See: http://reprap.org/wiki/Print_Troubleshooting_Pictorial_Guide#Material_Handling.2C_Material_Contamination_01
6
Hex grids are used for different reasons than triangular grids (such as you often see on bridges and roof systems). Triangles are especially good at being rigid, while hex grids are very material-efficient for a given strength. The second reason ($) is typically more important for 3D printing.
Triangles do have fewer vertices than squares, but it's not ...
5
To change your displayed name (as opposed to username) in Thingiverse:
Go to your profile page
Click "Edit Profile" on the info column on the left
At the top, next to "Thingiverse Settings" is another link/tab called "Makerbot Settings". Click that.
Change the First Name and Last Name fields, and save.
Note that neither First nor Last Name is required; if ...
5
The Monoprice Architect is is a bare-bones FlashForge Creator that has been re-badged for Monoprice. The Creator line is a very popular set of printers, so there is lots of good advice out there. The FlashForge Google Group is a good community to join: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/flashforge
The entire FF Creator line, in turn, is cloned from the ...
5
Another approach is Mosaic Manufacturing's Palette – it appears to a single extruder 3D printer as a filament reel, but it is creating a custom filament on-the-fly by
pulling information from a multi-extruder .gcode file to determine the length, and the order, each color segment needs to be.
The device was a successful Kickstarter campaign and as far as ...
5
Oh interesting. By slips, I take it you mean that the raw filament slips, not the print slips.
This will happen for a few reasons. First the tooth gear that grabs the plastic is either:
Worn out
Out of place
Not the correct distance from the guide wheel.
This is all part of the mechanism that the Smart Extruder attaches TO. Not the Smart Extruder itself. ...
5
There are some software tools that let you manually design support structures so you can target the areas that need them, and avoid others.
For example, Meshmixer can be used to add supports into your STL. I believe you still use a separate slicer.
Some slicers also have the ability to manually add support. I have found that CraftWare and Simplify3D have ...
5
As the comment section doesn't allow to use too many characters, I've converted the comment into a proper answer.
In the question is stated that:
... results of testing the Experimental Extruder with a larger nozzle
often required a lower extrusion temperature...
This is in contradiction with expectations. When the filament feed rate or volume ...
5
Good morning, and welcome to 3D Printing SE.
You said: "I can see information from the printer via USB in RepG and through OctoPrint, but can't send any prints, commands or upgrade firmware (I wanted to flash Sailfish 7.7 eventually)." This means that the USB communication is working fine. It isn't a question of drivers or the FTDI interface chip. That ...
4
Answering this question fully depends on the type of printer you have. Some printers have a pause capability, while others do not. Some have multiple extruders, while most do not. Some have a tube leading to the extruder and others do not. You specifically are asking about dealing with more than two colors when you have a dual-extruder, but the question ...
4
What's the part number of the regulator you're putting in? The pin assignments vary from one part to another, but you can probably find them from the part number online. Some parts have the ground pin also connected to a metal part of their case. The green wire from the board should be ground (no promises!)
Assuming you've got a voltmeter, you can use it to ...
4
You can put whatever name you want in when you make an account - You decide what your name is, people go by pseudonyms in 'real life' all the time, this is perfectly acceptable. There are actually very few places where you have a legal obligation to provide your name as it appears on your birth certificate. Opening a Thingiverse account is not one of them.
...
4
Here is what I suggest you try. If you have a file that you can view/edit in blender I would export it as both STL and OBJ formats. Then take those files and upload them to Netfabb (https://netfabb.azurewebsites.net/) and get a "repaired" file. Have the library try again with the repaired STL and OBJ files. If this doesn't work try to get the exact error ...
4
I know some could not fit your question but maybe someone will look for all possibilities.
Delamination can be caused by:
filament
humidity
diameter
extruder
pressure (holdfast) - soft filament can be crumpled caused by extensive retraction)
dirty jagger teeth (knurls)
thermistor/wire failure - when it reports temp under ie 170C then extruder doesn't ...
4
It's difficult to determine if the buckets are fully enclosed, but I suspect that they are. The enclosure into which the inserts are placed will provide some structural support.
3D printed objects have relatively low torsion strength, but a reasonable compression strength, especially with high infill levels. One could consider that the item placed into the ...
4
You've not offered the source of the model, nor the software from which it was created, but I suspect that you'll find the "invisible" faces have reversed normals. This is a characteristic of modeling software that believes the outside is the inside and vice versa. If you are comfortable with using another program, you can check/confirm those problematic ...
3
Makerbot will accept obj files also.
Is there an error while importing the obj file?
Also you can see errors of your imported file in your makerbot
It will be marked in black.
Please make sure your object is a watertight mesh. As I have seen its easy to make a surface model in sketchup. A 3D Printer cannot print something in surface.
You can also try ...
3
For an easy test, try manually pulling the filament through the U-loop of guide tube. How hard is it to pull through? It should only take 1-2 lbs of tension at most.
Then do a "tug test" on the extruder. Start it loading and grab the filament by hand to try to stop it from extruding. The Replicator 1/2/2x extruder style can typically pull ~8-10 lbs of ...
3
Realizing this question is somewhat old, I'd like to add an update from the perspective of an owner.
I've used/tested the Smart Extruder+ on my Replicator+ for about a year now and have had great success!
I jumped from a Replicator Dual (balsa wood version) to the Replicator+, so I don't know first hand what the issues were with the original Smart Extruder....
3
TL;DR - Save your money and look elsewhere.
We purchased two Replicator 5th generation for use on two different campuses. They were purchased at the same time.
One of the units was defective out of the box and was sent back and replaced. Then the extruders became clogged again and again - on both campuses - through lighter than average use, I would say. ...
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