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 endtransmission wrote:
Ah useful link, thanks! At some point you will need to disassemble and regrease the z axis of the Mars as the factory grease tends to harden a little over time and gunks up the threads. This can cause prints to shift a bit, causing parts of the model to vanish.

I'm doing this today, after cleaning everything out last night. I'm tired of ~3 parts per print missing, hoping this helps get that down to 0 so I can do some longer prints and trust they'll completely print. Also during my last print the z-axis was making a grunt/grind sound that google tells me is a tell for the Mars needing lube :|

 Boss Salvage wrote:

 endtransmission wrote:
Ah useful link, thanks! At some point you will need to disassemble and regrease the z axis of the Mars as the factory grease tends to harden a little over time and gunks up the threads. This can cause prints to shift a bit, causing parts of the model to vanish.

I'm doing this today, after cleaning everything out last night. I'm tired of ~3 parts per print missing, hoping this helps get that down to 0 so I can do some longer prints and trust they'll completely print. Also during my last print the z-axis was making a grunt/grind sound that google tells me is a tell for the Mars needing lube :|

How long have you had your Mars and many runs do you think you have done so far? I have been printing multiple game pieces for about 9 months, so probably have ~400-500 runs on it so far and have not seen the need to lube it, but I think I will now!!

Ta for the info, I will contact the creator and see if there are unsupported files as well... though regardless, true-scale hobbits on an FDM is probably not the smartest call...

Which brings me to my next question, anyone got opinions or experience on the Photon Zero? I've seen a few reviews that say it's budget even by budget standards and that for 60 quid difference a Mars is a better shout, but equally, sub-£200 for getting one is that little bit more doable right now.

 MDSW wrote:
How long have you had your Mars and many runs do you think you have done so far? I have been printing multiple game pieces for about 9 months, so probably have ~400-500 runs on it so far and have not seen the need to lube it, but I think I will now!!

Just one week Probably a dozen runs on it. While the z-axis isn't necessarily the culprit, the weird sound and the way failures look (like the z-axis didn't lift during a certain layer) has convinced me it's worth addressing at the least. Could well have shipped under greased or something.

I think the big difference in the budget Photon is a lower resolution LCD screen and a lower wattage (30W vs. 40W) - this means a little less clarity in prints and probably having to run each layer a few seconds longer, so would result in longer print times. I also think the build plate is just a tiny bit smaller

However, at the way below $200 mark, it might be a good one to jump in and get acclimated. I am already looking to spring to the Elegoo Saturn in a few months.

Here was a snip I see from a review: While the resolution on the Zero is quite low — 480x854 pixels instead of the normal 1440x2560 pixels because the print bed is relatively small and has 16 times antialiasing — the prints still look good.

If you use the anti-aliasing, it is a double edged sword - it adds to the size of the file considerably the higher you have this setting and it is designed to smooth edges from layers, so you can actually start to blur some of the crisp details that are supposed to be there, so you might need to experiment with that. On my Mars, I found when running at .03-.04 layers i go with a setting of 2 or 4. If I am in the thicker range, maybe .08 or so, I will go to 8. In other words having the software capable of doing more anti-aliasing layers does NOT compare to the printer having better resolution, but does make the print smooth.

Sorry, the back to work routine is really hampering my online presence.

I think a better computer really does make a difference. I have been running new prints off of my old desktop which still has more processing power than my chromebook and its a night and day difference. I copied all my settings from the current 3.6.2 over to cura 4.6.2 and the prints are so much crisper. The supports are mixed, some are snapping right off, but others are causing a bit of damage when removed. Not much more than before, but it’s where I need to focus to improve overall parts now.

The only other thing I’ve done different is reformated the SD card that I’m using. I thought maybe there was some minor corruption causing poorer prints and the fails.

So an update, I leveled the printer out as exactly as I can and cleaned the vat and build plate real nice, and things seem to be going ok. There's still a clicking sound for the first several layers of a build, but once the plate gets higher that goes away as well. I just finished up a bunch of Cyber Forge stuff, I'll share it here when I get some assembled tonight.

Question time: I'd really like to slice a part out of a sculpt I've got (a shoulder joint for a dreadnought, essentially), and I've got Blender and have successfully used the slice (?) tool to edit simpler sculpts before, but I'm having no luck with this more complex CF sculpt. Is there a simpler program I can use? Or is somebody a Blender expert and wants to take a stab at it for me? I was just going to print the entire arm and saw the joint out, but that seems dumb if there's a way for me / others to do it in digital.

 Boss Salvage wrote:

Question time: I'd really like to slice a part out of a sculpt I've got (a shoulder joint for a dreadnought, essentially), and I've got Blender and have successfully used the slice (?) tool to edit simpler sculpts before, but I'm having no luck with this more complex CF sculpt. Is there a simpler program I can use? Or is somebody a Blender expert and wants to take a stab at it for me? I was just going to print the entire arm and saw the joint out, but that seems dumb if there's a way for me / others to do it in digital.

I would personally use ZBrush, but unless you already have it that is an expensive addition to your software. I haven't learned enough about Blender to help you on that side.

I have seen where others have used Meshmixer for things like this though.

 Theophony wrote:
Sorry, the back to work routine is really hampering my online presence.

I think a better computer really does make a difference. I have been running new prints off of my old desktop which still has more processing power than my chromebook and its a night and day difference. I copied all my settings from the current 3.6.2 over to cura 4.6.2 and the prints are so much crisper. The supports are mixed, some are snapping right off, but others are causing a bit of damage when removed. Not much more than before, but it’s where I need to focus to improve overall parts now.

The only other thing I’ve done different is reformated the SD card that I’m using. I thought maybe there was some minor corruption causing poorer prints and the fails.

Interesting. Just downloaded Cura onto a family member's new computer and set up a slice profile, will try some prints from that tomorrow.

Had a very odd fail today, printing a Terrorgheist type bat zombie thing, and along one of the wings it seemed to completely mis-align and at one point, suddenly start printing abput 5mm behind where it was/should have continued.From there, it kept printing almost on thin air... what's odd is that this only happened on one part of the model, the rest on that layer was perfectly aligned and straight. Will throw up a pic tomorrow, but in the mean time, anyone got any idea what caused this?

 Paradigm wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
Sorry, the back to work routine is really hampering my online presence.

I think a better computer really does make a difference. I have been running new prints off of my old desktop which still has more processing power than my chromebook and its a night and day difference. I copied all my settings from the current 3.6.2 over to cura 4.6.2 and the prints are so much crisper. The supports are mixed, some are snapping right off, but others are causing a bit of damage when removed. Not much more than before, but it’s where I need to focus to improve overall parts now.

The only other thing I’ve done different is reformated the SD card that I’m using. I thought maybe there was some minor corruption causing poorer prints and the fails.

Interesting. Just downloaded Cura onto a family member's new computer and set up a slice profile, will try some prints from that tomorrow.

Had a very odd fail today, printing a Terrorgheist type bat zombie thing, and along one of the wings it seemed to completely mis-align and at one point, suddenly start printing abput 5mm behind where it was/should have continued.From there, it kept printing almost on thin air... what's odd is that this only happened on one part of the model, the rest on that layer was perfectly aligned and straight. Will throw up a pic tomorrow, but in the mean time, anyone got any idea what caused this?

Could that wing have been bumped or slightly cracked? If it got moved out of alignment while the rest of the model stayed put that would explain why the rest printed fine. The only other idea I would have is because that part got cooled more somehow?ive seen some of my prints get slightly warped because the AC kicked on and cooled one layer faster than another and caused it to pulloff the build plate or away from another layer. Besides that all i could think would be bad filament, the material somehow got messed up in production and one layer was not like the other so they cooled at different speeds causing them to warp/split.

Hmm. Not sure it was knocked, as it was still perfectly attached to the buildplate, not bent or loose. Could be a cooling issue, but it wasn't any hotter or cooler than the day befpre where I got a fine print out.

Pic attached below, the points where it separated are highlighted (but also just really obvious! ) Printing it again today from Cura, hopefully this doesn't happen again. It's an Artisan Guild file, so I don't imagine it's an issue with the STL itself.

To me, it looks like the front claw at the bottom separated from the build plate and bent forward, from my zoom at the very bottom it looks like the print is partially separated from the support skin and you can see some change in the spacing of the conical rafting. it may have been the nozzle slightly dragging on the print which was slowly pulling the claw out of alignment. it looks like it could have started at the level of separation because of the stringing over on the leftmost side of the supports. I think the bed may have been the slightest bit off level combined with a little bit of material not retracting enough. The tiny bit of extra sticking out cools enough in the travel that it bumps the print ever so slightly loosening it on the supportwhich pulls it out of alignment to a greater extent the next time you make a pass through. eventually it pops free and you get the big separation. it "recovers" when the material catches again and starts making new layers, but then happened and again on you.

so I think one tweak you may want to consider is reducing the degree of overhang for supports on this model. That will mean more supports, but that arm sticking out there by itself will allow more wobble in printing it. I believe thats where I'm having troubles right now printing this Oni weapon of mine. The original print had some issues, but when I switched machines and now I'm doing a mirrored image of it i may have reduced the supports by switching from zig-zag supports to straight line supports. The base of the kanabo doesn't have enough grip to hold to the raft and isn't getting a foundation to build on. (Talking through your issue just helped me solve mine, so Thank You )

I've had this same issue with my other prints before and it gets real frustrating especially on larger pieces when you watch to make sure it gets a good start and then walk away to let it do all the work only to come back to a disaster.

Last thing. When you are printing are you hearing a clickingevery now and again? It would be up at that level where the problem is. That would be the extra material dragging across the lower level of the print. Kind of like the click noise of when you stick a baseball card in a bike tire spoke. Its the material clicking until it is past the obstruction which is the under layer, which is putting the force on the under layer and causing the shifts.

Now I must get caffeine and head to work as I don't know if what i just rambled made sense.

The good news I don't think you have a clog, as your print is still coming out really nice looking with no signs of under extrusion. A clog could also cause the same issue as material will still push out while traversing the gaps due to back pressure.

Edit: got a response from Ender on my machine stopping mid prints. They want me to reset to factory settings (I'll do that later), I never changed any of the printers internal settings though . They also told me to make sure and limit the file name sizes to no more than 16 characters . i mean that could be a thing I guess, I'm not a computer person by any stretch, just sounds like a ridiculous thing to me.

I would have imagined that a file name length thing would have stopped the file printing at all. For example, the Mars won't print anything that begins with an underscore as it thinks it is a folder.

For the factory reset, sometimes a system will get some corruption from somewhere (possibly files that don't print properly?). It is like the old IT joke of "have you tried turning it off and on again?" As half the time it works. Fingers crossed the reset works for you

 endtransmission wrote:
I would have imagined that a file name length thing would have stopped the file printing at all. For example, the Mars won't print anything that begins with an underscore as it thinks it is a folder.

For the factory reset, sometimes a system will get some corruption from somewhere (possibly files that don't print properly?). It is like the old IT joke of "have you tried turning it off and on again?" As half the time it works. Fingers crossed the reset works for you

It sure seems more like they are treating me with the old I-D 10 T customer answer . I was having card read errors on both my chromebook and on the Ender, so maybe some sort of corruption was involved , I was trying to slice some not 30K chaos models while I was bored. GW screwing me again . Chaos scrap code.

Definitely scrap code. Nurgle is coming for your printer!

I've got to come here to vent.
I've been trying to print my space hulk corridors and I've now had three prints that got hours in only for the end to jam. The clicking noise of the extruder grinding down the stuck filament was driving me nuts - I'm thinking my filament is bust, my end is full of crap, my nozzle Z axis os off.

No. Turns out the problem is Prusa's BS design, which is supposed to help with multi-material prints but causes jams when a print has a lot of retractions. I've now got to up my temp by 10 degrees just to stop it from jamming.

Thanks Prusa. W**k**s!

Wow , sorry to hear that. I know we all have had issues with our machines at some point, but that just sucks. I have no experience with that type of printer, hopefully you can get it sorted. My biggest problem with clogs I think was due to crap filament. That led into nozzle issues and then my Bowden line failure. Once I switched to a better filament and changed the Bowden line to a Capricorn tubing and connectors ($16) it just came down to learning my new filament and getting it keyed in. I’ve had very few problems since then, and all have been pretty basic fixes so far.

Good luck.

If anyone has a Prussia that can give him some advice that would be awesome.

Oh, there is a fix - change the heating block to one that is a single size all the way through instead of the stepped one the Prusa. It's just annoying that something like this (which has apparently be known about for years) is allowed to happen because they're catering for a niche of people who print multi-material.

Anyway, rant over.

Which MMU is it? I have the MMU1 on the MK2 printer, but I've hardly used the MMU.

Took almost 10 hours, but now my wife has a friend to remind her it’s time for coffee.

Will print one for the pastor too, he’s a big Star Wars fan and Coffee Drinker as well.

It was a free design on Thingiverse, either in parts or all one piece like this. I would do the one with a mug, but it cost money .

I've been looking at getting a resin printer for minis for a while and one of the ones I was considering is the Anycubic Photon.

They're currently doing a sale where its down to $169US.

https://www.anycubic.com/collections/sales

At that price it seemed rude not to, so I went for the photon and also the wash and cure machine. Once it arrives I'll be sure to post some of my prints.

Nice , just FYI, Titan forge does drawings for free resin for the anycubic with contests. This most recent one was based off of terrain of theirs I believe.

 Boss Salvage wrote:
So an update, I leveled the printer out as exactly as I can and cleaned the vat and build plate real nice, and things seem to be going ok. There's still a clicking sound for the first several layers of a build, but once the plate gets higher that goes away as well. I just finished up a bunch of Cyber Forge stuff, I'll share it here when I get some assembled tonight.

Question time: I'd really like to slice a part out of a sculpt I've got (a shoulder joint for a dreadnought, essentially), and I've got Blender and have successfully used the slice (?) tool to edit simpler sculpts before, but I'm having no luck with this more complex CF sculpt. Is there a simpler program I can use? Or is somebody a Blender expert and wants to take a stab at it for me? I was just going to print the entire arm and saw the joint out, but that seems dumb if there's a way for me / others to do it in digital.

I use the 3D Builder tool that came standard on my Windows 10 machine. It is a really great tool to slice apart stl files, resize, blend them together, etc. I use it almost exclusively to edit most files and only when I need to actually change or blend down a part will I transfer it into Blender or the like.

 MDSW wrote:
I use the 3D Builder tool that came standard on my Windows 10 machine. It is a really great tool to slice apart stl files, resize, blend them together, etc. I use it almost exclusively to edit most files and only when I need to actually change or blend down a part will I transfer it into Blender or the like.

Unexpected utility! I'll check it out, tho currently endtrasmission is giving my hack job a punt

 Boss Salvage wrote:

 MDSW wrote:
I use the 3D Builder tool that came standard on my Windows 10 machine. It is a really great tool to slice apart stl files, resize, blend them together, etc. I use it almost exclusively to edit most files and only when I need to actually change or blend down a part will I transfer it into Blender or the like.

Unexpected utility! I'll check it out, tho currently endtrasmission is giving my hack job a punt

If that don't work, sent it to us and I can give it a punt.

Well, I've had a fun time. My printer got a clog last week. It's been out of service for a few days now. I had to attempt to disassemble the extruder to find the problem. Despite multiple people and tutorials showing that the stepper motor is held in with two screws and will easily come put once they're removed, I cannot remove it. The thing seems to be fixed to the frame holding the fan in place, which at this point has one tiny screw hidden under the motor holding it in place. It's so frustrating that I couldn't get the motor out.

Last night I managed to break through the clog. Multiple nights of heating the thing up and just letting it run so as to melt the blockage actually worked. I was able to clear the block with brute force yesterday and now filament appears to flow smoothly again. Problem is, I have no clue if the blockage is actually clear. I'm going to try running it hot again tonight. See if anything further drips out.

What fun it's going to be, trying to figure out where all of those screws went.

 Barzam wrote:
Well, I've had a fun time. My printer got a clog last week. It's been out of service for a few days now. I had to attempt to disassemble the extruder to find the problem. Despite multiple people and tutorials showing that the stepper motor is held in with two screws and will easily come put once they're removed, I cannot remove it. The thing seems to be fixed to the frame holding the fan in place, which at this point has one tiny screw hidden under the motor holding it in place. It's so frustrating that I couldn't get the motor out.

Last night I managed to break through the clog. Multiple nights of heating the thing up and just letting it run so as to melt the blockage actually worked. I was able to clear the block with brute force yesterday and now filament appears to flow smoothly again. Problem is, I have no clue if the blockage is actually clear. I'm going to try running it hot again tonight. See if anything further drips out.

What fun it's going to be, trying to figure out where all of those screws went.

What type of printer is it again? I know with the Ender 3 I had 4 screws to get the fan shroud and extruded off, then about 8 more to disconnect the covers all the way back to the circuit board to replace my extruded head. It was scary and then I found hot glue used to connect the wires to the motherboard . Sound s like you got it cleared though, hopefully.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another day, another bunch of miniatures to show off.


A chariot for the Dragon Empire army. The wheels have ornate spokes, but the supports didn’t do them any favors. I might try them again printing them at an angle where the supports would be on the inside facing the chariot. I’m glad the Komainu didn’t have integrated harnesses, I can make actual temple guardians out of them. Plus I think changing them out for a pair of Oni pulling with an Oni rider will actually be possible.

And suffering a bit of burn out on the Asian theme I looked at the Sons of KV(forget the spelling), also by Titan Forge. I found a Minotaur that I think will fit Bloodbowl just fine.

I couldn’t find my newer Bloodbowl figs, but he is on a 32mm base and next to Old Lord Borak and a newer Shadespire Orruc for size comparison. He has an Axe wielding brother who I’ll print while I’m at work today.

One thing I don’t thing I have mentioned, or not recently that needs repeating, is probably the best upgrade I made on the Ender 3. It I started a noise squelcher. Just a plastic cap that gets attached by pushing it over the beeper on control board. It deadens the noise and no more beeps. Makes sitting in the room so much more pleasant and I can’t hear the machine running from upstairs. Definitely worth the maybe hour of printing. Make sure to print with 100% infill. It’s small and thin, so really won’t take up much filament and it’s a huge benefit.

Anyone ever had trouble with the Ender 3 operating in hot weather? In the last couple of days I've gone from prints coming out fine to no end of trouble with leveling the bed and getting the first layer to stick, even on files that have worked fine half a dozen times before. Only real change I can put my finger on is that it's been a very warm and stuffy few days here, could that have affected the leveling or anything?

Only other thing I can find is the tiniest bump in my build plate right in the middle, so I guess I'm going to need to replace that... but I can't see how it's be causing the leveling elsewhere to be so wonky.

Seems it was only temporary. Whatever opening I made in the blockage filled back in and I wasn't able to reopen it.

My printer is a Flashforge Finder Lite.

I'm contemplating removing the fan and running it again. I just kind of fear the wear and tear that puts on the parts. Since I can't actually open it up to get at the clog, it seems my only option is to try and melt out whatever is in there.

Paradigm wrote:Anyone ever had trouble with the Ender 3 operating in hot weather? In the last couple of days I've gone from prints coming out fine to no end of trouble with leveling the bed and getting the first layer to stick, even on files that have worked fine half a dozen times before. Only real change I can put my finger on is that it's been a very warm and stuffy few days here, could that have affected the leveling or anything?

Only other thing I can find is the tiniest bump in my build plate right in the middle, so I guess I'm going to need to replace that... but I can't see how it's be causing the leveling elsewhere to be so wonky.

Humidity has been a pain for me, I have a household dehumidifier in the basement a few feet from my ender. When I had issues like you mention it was because the dehumidifier was off. Also make sure you bring the deck up to heat (I do 50C) before you level it as heat will adjust the bed height. I also do a raft now, but like they were sticking beforehand.

They make dehumidifier containers for spools as the filament will absorb ambient humidity which causes problems with sticking.

Barzam wrote:Seems it was only temporary. Whatever opening I made in the blockage filled back in and I wasn't able to reopen it.

My printer is a Flashforge Finder Lite.

I'm contemplating removing the fan and running it again. I just kind of fear the wear and tear that puts on the parts. Since I can't actually open it up to get at the clog, it seems my only option is to try and melt out whatever is in there.

Does the flash forge have a Bowden tube? If so the clog is probably up in the extruded and the Bowden has backed out just enough to keep causing the clog to reappear. It was happening with my ender so I changed the Bowden over to Capricorn tubing (better heat resistance) and the connectors come with it are better and won’t allow it to back out. Haven’t had any issues since switching.

On lunch break, so I’ll check back later to see if that sorts anything out.