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3D printed SSE parts and another DH SSE

w5jag,

I use a 1 mil (.001 inch) thick stainless shim to set the nozzle to bed height on all my printers. I would recommend using a business card first and cold everything. Once that is done so that the card is just starting to drag between, bring bed and nozzle to operating temperature, then use the 1 mil shim to get the height dialed in. Be careful to not put any force on the bed, as the plastic v groove rollers have compliance.

From there, you can use cura to set the first layer height independent of the layer to layer slicing resolution.

I run without brim or raft, and you eventually get used to how the first plant feels. You can definitely see when the bed is higher the line is flatter, and when the bed is too low, it won't adhere. Run your finger over the first line side to side, if the line is loose, you're too low. No line, too high. (bed height, not nozzle height..)

If you hear a pop or snap and notice the extrusion motor is skipping, you are either way too low and it can't extrude, or your bowden has become jammed with PLA.

On occasion, from cold, bring nozzle up to 90C and pull the PLA out of the bowden. If it doesn't budge, go to 100. The idea is to pull back any clogged portion. If that doesn't work, you may have to disassemble. The tubing must be able to go through the hot end with the nozzle removed. (be very careful if you remove the nozzle, the hot end thin shaft will not take torque, you have to use a wrench on the heater block and the other on the nozzle, while hot). If you do, get yourself some capricorn tubing, or even a direct drive conversion kit. I've done both, usually amazon has it.

If your 10s is like mine, quick, buy one of those adapters that have a micro SD male ribbon cable end and a regular SD receptacle end plus a micro to regular SD adapter. The micro SD jack on the creality mainboard tends to fail, then your sunk. Before I bought spare jacks I used masking tape to hold the card in the reader, a major PITA especially if it loosened up 23 hours into a 24 hour print. I at least had a binocular microscope I could use to solder a new jack on, but trust me, it was not fun. I have 14 spare micro SD receptacles to ward off further failures.

On thingiverse you can find test prints to optimize your parameters, temperature, bridging, stringing, and some good instructions.

jn
 
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I've been meaning to get a shim; there is an auto parts store a few blocks from my office so I don't have a lot of excuses here.

On the 10S5, I have been bringing everything up to temp - lately I have been using 50C for the bed - and let it heat soak for a few hours, then I go through the bed levelling routine. I have been using a sheet of typing paper to set the nozzle height, Once the levelling is done and the printing starts, I eyeball the brim and can tell pretty easily whether or not the bed is level at that point.

The corner lifting on the 10S5 - if it occurs - is always hours into the print and I think it occurs because the heat differences across the bed are causing the plastic to contract at different rates The last two "large" prints I have made with it I have not had a lifting problem. One was a breadboard for a radio project, the other was this power supply chassis. This is after using the shroud to hold the heat in, and physically taping the brim to the build plate to hold the brim down. Why the plastic did not fuse in that one spot between the two octal sockets I have no idea. It should have.

I may try using higher bed temps and see if that makes any difference.

I don't get any of these issues with the box of parts. I use it the most since I spend most of my time since the pandemic began up at the lake where that printer lives. it's big issue is a very slight difference between the length specified, and actually printed, between the three axes, which is usually not of any consequence, unless I need parts that are concentric with a very tight tolerance. Example would be a shaft in a hollow tube or bushing. I cant fix that until I figure out how to get into the firmware. I have to do those parts on the Creality for now and it actually does those very well.

After having a plastic in the tube jam, I always heat and remove the filament when I am done printing, and keep spare nozzles, tubing, and those pnuematic connectors in stock at both locations. If you can get the tubing free even with the filament jammed in it, putting the whole mess in boiling water will free the filament and maybe save the tube.

I hadn't thought about the card connector breaking loose. On my CR-10 the big issue is missing the slot, and having the card drop into the box. After taking the thing apart a couple of times, I just keep spare micro sd cards on hand ...
 
exactly. But I bought 5 of the cheaper ones that need a regular SD card format at the far end, so just need an adapter for that. Bought five of those as well. Amazon, way too easy..

That way you only insert to the creality once, and if the other fails after several hundred inserts, just replace the cable. You can find various holders in thingiverse made to hold the adapter on the top of the control unit.

Waaaay less headache.

How much error are you talking about dimensionally? These machines should be down into the 50 micron range for repeatability. The only issue I have is the slicing will make a 50 mm square box 50 plus 1 extrusion width. With a 400 micron nozzle, the part will be .4mm oversized. But cura also has software handles in the menu to compensate for that.


I've had random issues of splitting as well. If the process is close to failing, the AC turning on can ruin a part. So can a bad section of PLA, or even if the PLA is binding over itself on the spool. I made a nice bearing supported spool holder, but the spool can get some inertia when it unretracts, giving an impulse to the spool, it will unwrap a bit, the turns get loose, and it can make the filament cross over itself and bind. With my direct drive, a fast move from the bed center to a corner will pull out some filament quite fast, and the spool will go half a turn uncontrolled. So I actually like a little friction to prevent that.

Corner lifting is because the PLA shrinks between the melt/freeze temperature and the piece part temperature. So long walls are trying to pull the corner up. A controlled enviro at bed temperature would be nice, I don't have that.

jn
 
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... How much error are you talking about dimensionally? These machines should be down into the 50 micron range for repeatability. ... But cura also has software handles in the menu to compensate for that.

I'm not sure I can accurately measure the error. But I can show a couple of examples.

The washers were printed on the $100 box of parts printer - the hole is not round, but the outer circumference is better. These were made before I went through it with a micrometer, so when I run out of these and print more, the next batch will be better, but that hole will still not be perfect round.

The second picture is some concentric parts to control two pots or encoders from a single panel opening to save front panel space on a radio. If I print the shafts and bushing on the box of parts printer, they will slide together, but not independently rotate, because of lack of round. These shafts and knobs pictured were printed on the 10S5 and fit / rotate perfectly. The box of parts printer can print the concentric knobs accurately enough, but not the smaller shafts and bushings.

Can the cura software adjust the x and y print lengths to compensate if I can measure the error?

... Corner lifting is because the PLA shrinks between the melt/freeze temperature and the piece part temperature. So long walls are trying to pull the corner up. A controlled enviro at bed temperature would be nice, I don't have that.

So I need to crank the heat on the bed way up instead of down, even though I am actually only heating the inner 300 x 300mm part of the bed? I haven't done that since I feared I would have a smoking hot spot in the middle, and then a lot cooler out at the far edges of the build plate. My heat containment shroud is nothing fancy - it's the very smallest fitted sheet I could find. About the size for a baby crib mattress. It keeps circulating air currents away from the print, if nothing else.
 

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The washers, x-y seems proper, you appear to be running into the width of the extrusion. Look for a cura option that doesn't put the jumps in the same location, I'll look there as well.
Also check that the print head is not sloppy by the belts and rollers.

Be back in a moment...
Looks like you have about 6 turns, that would be about 2.5mm in to out. Try the option to change z seam alignment, and maybe the line width under "quality". I'm looking in cura.

Your pic is a little fuzzy, but it looks like the inner bump is close to extruded line width, so I'm guessing Z seam. Remember, you won't get any better than the line width, and a .4mm nozzle sets the lower limit on accuracy.

Seems to me I recall an option for continuously going in a circle, but that may not be in cura.
Ah, other question. Yes cura can independently set x, y, and z. Click on the object, and a menu shows up on the left side. Top is translation on or above bed. next is scale, click uniform scaling off, and you can independently adjust all three axis. Third is rotation, fourth fifth and sixth, I've no clue.
jn
 
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If it helps any, this is the box of parts printer:

Tronxy P802M 3D Printer-Shenzhen Tronxy Technology Co., LTD.

A bunch of these showed up on eBay late last Spring for $98.85 USD including shipping from New Jersey. Amazingly, it was not a scam.

It's more rigid than it looks, but not like a Creality.

edit: they do have a normal extruder, mounted off on the right side arm. Not sure why they picture it here with just a piece of filament going from the spool to the hot end ...
 
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The picture depicts a direct drive. Bowden drive has the extruder motor mounted on the side with the tube going to the hot end.
The advantage of a direct drive is, there is no "give" between the filament and the tube. Capricorn bowden tubing is a tighter ID to the filament, so has less give. It is also supposed to be less friction.
Direct drive is more useful for the flexible filament like TPU, as it won't distort side to side like it does in a 12 to 15 inch tube. The direct drive tube from extruder motor to hotend is about 1.5 inches max.

I don't like how they pictured it, as when the build is 8 inches high, the filament has to go around a sharp bend, which is not good.
The pic that showed for me has the drive for the head positioning on the left, can't really see the direct drive. I do note they do mention .2 and .3mm nozzles as options. If you are really intent on making those small parts accurately, you may want to try .2 mm nozzles. I recall cura allows for different nozzle options, it's at the top on the left side where you have the material option. Lower selection has nozzles from .2 to 1mm.


I actually have a bowden tube feeding my direct drive, I just have it clamped at the top of the printer, the filament drops in air to the head, on the other end it is just clamped over the spool of filament. Better and simpler than a bunch of pulleys. Right now, I'm using 1 inch clamps and tie wraps to find the best tube bend/path for all build heights.

Oh, just remembered, someone said the melt point for PLA was about 190C. That was very accurate, but you must keep the built parts below 90C. The reason is that the PLA has a glass transition temperature around 90C, that is why I recommended that temp for pulling back the filament to clear the nozzle. In reality, I would probably try to keep built parts below 70C, and maybe even 60C. Otherwise, you need to go ABS. And those process temps are quite higher, bed at 105 and nozzle at 260. Heated enclosure would be preferable, as well as some means of keeping the motors a tad cooler. I've run ABS on my Ender3, but it was trickier. I made some grids for a friend's dishwasher utensil basket, so it had to be abs.

jn
 
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So, All Y'all Are Responsible for My Favorite Warning Label

(For PTO Shafts)

I myself leaped out of a 1952 Oldsmobile Fordoor at age 3-1/2
Fortunately, right in front of the Newton Lower Falls Fire Department.

Got a big Tonka truck out of the deal.

I figure I'm responsible for child safety locks. Well, me and a bunch of other Kamikaze 3 year-olds.
 

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I didn't know that having the extruder on the hot end was called direct drive. I was imagining direct drive would be using threaded rods or something to replace the belt drive on the x and y axis.

Regardless, my box of parts has the usual arrangement with the extruder out on one end, and the filament fed through a PTFE tube to the hot parts.

I have a bunch of nozzles, both smaller and quite a bit larger than the stock 0.4 mm. I didn't know what I really needed when I got started, so I bought a bunch of stuff like that, and spare parts for stuff that might break like the limit switches.

My local plastic supplier has a product called high heat PLA - prints like PLA, but after printing you heat treat it in an oven, and it is supposed to take on many of the qualities of ABS, particularly heat resistance. I have some, but have not tried it yet. Same cost as regular PLA, but the color selection is not as good. I don't like dull colors.

The vertical height of the 10S5 is enough that I just put my small fitted sheet over the top, and it makes a tent over the printer for all practical purposes. The wide angle lens on my cell phone leaves a lot to be desired.
 

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Yes, when the motor that feeds the filament is mounted right above the nozzle, it is called direct drive.

You should try the smaller more precision needed parts with a .2mm nozzle, with adjustment in cura of course. Expect four times as long for a print.

I would be wary of a sheet. Somewhere in the raspberry pi "put an internet camera up to watch the print remotely", they mention something about a broken thermocouple on the bed (or maybe the hot end?) causing a fire. The Pi can be setup to crash AC power apparently. Maybe a smoke alarm feeding the Pi or a crash string? Then of course, a spider will climb in and kill the print.

A sheet isn't good fireproofing.

Me, I'd go either clear cement backerboard, or transparent aluminum.;)

jn
 
It's 100% cotton, and the label makes no mention of any flame retardant qualities, so it will probably go poof really fast if / when everything goes south on me. There is another concern besides combustion - moving parts snagging it and getting caught in it, mayhem everywhere as machine goes berserk trying to drag the sheet and everything caught in it around ...

That would be some real entertainment on a remote cam.

This comes at a bad time. My list of things that I'm actively fretting about right now is full. What with 5G, TBHQ ( thanks, Clark Griswold ), polar bears, roundup, the heartbreak of psoriasis, it just goes on and on. I don't think I can possibly squeeze any new worries - no matter how catastrophic - in before summer.
 
....

4. I've tended to 220C nozzle temp/70 C bed temp for the build plate I'm using. Tape will not work that high, it pulls right up. Ender 3 build plates are more delicate, those temps can cause adhesion to be too high for the stock ender3 build plate. I migrated to these temps to keep the corners of the build adhered well, without the walls curving the surface of f the plate.....

Hi Jneutron,

I had to print a few pieces to get to a pause point in another project and tried the higher temps you suggested, and it does appear to have significantly improved the outcome.

On the box of parts printer, I used 70C for the bed temps, and about 216C for the extruder ( does not seem to want to go any higher ), and this does appear to have improved the print quality; I have not had any more corner lifting problems, and the prints just look better.

Still haven't tried the higher temps on the big 500 x 500 Creality - It's at my office and I hardly go there any more unless I have a reason to be there.

Thanks for the tips!