Have you ever had an issue with filament dust on the metal extruder?
I printed something with silk filament and where the filament fed into the bowden tube, past the extruder gear, some how the filament was getting, I guess the best way to describe it, is “shaved”.
After some research I figured out that the main issue was I wasn’t using a high enough temp for the nozzle (this silk filament needs a higher temp) and there was a pretty major clogging problem. After I got it all cleaned out I put some different filament in and I noticed that where there had been shavings, now there is a fine, filament dust. Is this normal? (Yesterday was the first time using the metal extruder.)
@lisaviolet what temp are you printing at? I’ll get a little dust, but not much. It’s usually if you are printing too cold. You can also hear the extruder skipping if it’s so cold it can’t push it out.
@RiotDemon I usually print at 200°. I guess that wasn’t hot enough for the silk filament, but it works fine for regular, at least I’ve never had a problem with it before.
This is from a piece of the Silk PLA filament. You can see the marks from the gear pressed into the filament, as well as the little piece that was shaved.
I’m redoing the piece in plain black PLA filament at 200°, it’s been going for over ten minutes with no dust at this point (I also have two guides, one at the top and one next to the entrance to the extruder).
Last night I was getting a little black dust in the circled area, but not this morning.
I was just wondering if you’d ever encountered this.
@RiotDemon Okay, I’ll look for the Inland PLA+. They don’t usually have any helpful people working there but I’ll poke around and see what parts might look useful, too.
Not printer specific, but this was probably my favourite project downloaded from Thingiverse. It’s a silly little scarab beetle box. It’s got several components which come together into a fun little gewgaw.
This pic is jacked from the maker page on Thingiverse, not the box I actually printed:
Thank you for this thread. It will be a good resource.
My printer arrives sometimes Saturday. Since I stay close to home due to the Covid-19 thing, I’ll be busy getting it set up!
@transplant definitely suggest watching the build video while building. I used fat dragon’s, but the chep one is probably updated a little bit for the newer Enders. I did not use the instructions they sent except to look and make sure nothing major changed. They have changed some minor things, even my machine from last year was slightly updated from the fat Dragon, but the build was mostly the same.
I suggest subscribing to their channels, because they do have a lot of information to help you get started.
@RiotDemon@transplant seconding the fat dragon video. Used it when building my Ender 3 Pro a few weeks ago. There are def some differences between that vid and the pro, but they were minor enough and it still really helped in doing the first tuning and setup.
One of my most recent prints. These are printed in Inland PLA+ white and purple. They will be painted soon and turned into mounts for lanterns. I’ll have to find the print file later.
Makeup organizers. I did the small one first and decided it was way too small. The bigger one took up the entire width of my bed and took more than a day to print. This was the most annoying print because it had what sounded like a million retractions. I don’t have a silent board upgrade and at the time my printer was in my living room, lol.
After the shaving problem with one roll of silk pla, I tried another color, same seller, and the shaving problem was much better.
Anyway, this happened on the back wall (pics 1 and 2), not on any of the other sides (pics 3 and 4), of the print and I’m wondering why and how to prevent it from happening again.
@lisaviolet@Mehrocco_Mole not always. I follow several different printing groups on reddit and usually the print will be covered with little blobs and most likely it’s the seam set to random… Of course if you calibrate retraction perfectly then the seam is less noticeable anyway.
@RiotDemon micro center was very disappointing. Everything was all over the place and the few accessories they had did not make sense at this stage. I did buy a roll of pla+ in black for learning. From what i gleaned from internet, one’s filament should be kept clean and dry. It is very humid here right now so I’m thinking I should wait until summer is over.
@lisaviolet@RiotDemon Unfortunately, I do not have a junk room. Its either going in the living room or the guest room. I might actually temporarily repurpose the old microwave cart that I was going to throw away for a stand. Everything is still disrupted by the renovation.
Mine is built and printing. (I know, I know, it didn’t happen unless there’s a photo…but soon.)
I took my time building it (2 days), but I have arthritis in my hands and sometimes the frustration factor is high, so I paced myself. I watched the suggested videos before and during the build and didn’t really look at the instructions while building. (I did read over them before I started.)
Leveling the bed is key.
I’m learning how to use Cura and Tinkercad. My brain is getting a workout!
Thanks for the pros posting the tips-I’ve bookmarked all of them.
So, any recommendations for accessories? I’m thinking about a glass printing bed…
@transplant I have a glass bed. Came with my printer so I never even used the regular build mat. Upgraded the springs because mine were super sloppy and couldn’t get leveled. Changed to a metal extruder.
If you haven’t printed a filament guide yet, I highly suggest it. I also printed a fan cover for the motherboard case to keep little bits of filament out of it.
@transplant I ended up printing a Y tensioner because I added a drawer to the front of my printer and I could never get the belt tensioned properly after that. I literally quit printing for months because I was so frustrated. I was surprised that I could even get it to print decent enough to work. I suppose I could of bought a metal one, but I persevered.
For the x axis I printed a tool to help hold the tensioner while I tightened it. That helped as well.
I can’t find the exact one, but this is similar and I see it has a tool for the Y axis as well. Maybe that would of kept me from printing a whole tensioner, lol.
What is the easiest way to swap filament? The Bowden tube is so long, the first swap I did, I cut it at the gear and then fed the next filament through but it took forever to push by out the old filament
Mine is now built. The instructions were not super useful. I think I need to redo part of it as I think it looks messy and crummy. The instructions do not show or mention any of the cabling so it ended up with them sort of all over.
@lisaviolet@RiotDemon I was too tired to run down to the pool to re-watch the videos so I figured I’d wing it. Bad words were said. I only stabbed myself with the stabby sharp thing once, though, so I was patting myself on the back. Today, however, I feel as though an elephant stomped all over me. Sitting hunched on the floor is not good.
I’ll have to investigate these clips and drawers. I also think I now know what the rubber tube was for. And the zip ties.
@cf1@RiotDemon I tried the videos but I’d have to stop them, follow the steps, start the video, stop the video, rewind the video…I had a difficult time understanding what was happening.
@RiotDemon It was late-ish when I finished. I sat there waving that dumb tube around going “what is this and what am i supposed to do with it!?” I probably should’ve waited until the weekend. Next time.
I guess I can’t complain about free videos but they don’t seem to make close-in clear shots of what they are actually doing a priority. And them telling me what they are doing is not very helpful, especially when they are using terms and names that I am unfamiliar with. (I guess I was just complaining.)
@RiotDemon No, its really just me. I just suddenly decided last night that I couldn’t wait any longer and had to get it assembled right then. I’m going to watch a couple of videos today which will help me understand what all those parts were and what I need to do next.
@RiotDemon Thanks! I have a couple of things to fix tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be ready for learning how to actually use it. I might even attach the power cord.
Kinda getting the hang of this!
Received my glass bed today, next thing I’ll print is the fan cover.
This 3D printing thing is a rabbit hole I may not escape from…
I ordered and installed a glass bed as I had problems getting prints off the may that came with the printer. It made a world of difference. I’m having fun.
I’ve been printing stacking holders for my stamp pads. The file I got (from thingiverse) can be resized, so that’s pretty fun, since not all stamp pads are the same size.
The one I’m working on now is 4.5" high. It takes about 19 hours to print. Saturday night, in the middle of a print, the power went out (helium filled mylar balloons hit power lines). I turned the power button off on the printer, and when I started it up yesterday morning, it said “would you like to resume the print?” Yay! There’s a weird line around, but I don’t care.
And I knew the filament was going to run out before the print was finished and I learned how to change that out during a print.
Lovin’ the necropost. So I thought I’d dredge up this long forgotten Creatlity superthread to post a deal on a Creality Ender 3 Pro:
Tomtop is offering the Creality Ender 3 Pro for $160 with free shipping. No sales tax in my state, but YMMV.
1.Click on this linky to go to the product listing at Tomtop
2.Select “United States Warehouse” in the Ship From field. Price will appear as $189.
3.Add the printer to your cart, then clicky on “View cart and check out” button
4.Apply promo code CEPRO in your cart (enter discount codes just below the price summary in your cart). Price will drop to $159.99 and free shipping, no sales tax.
I have some black filament that is binding up in the roll. Twice now it quit feeding (because it was stuck) and the machine kept going. Two of the same thing ruined.
How do I stop this from happening? This is the first roll it’s happened with.
@lisaviolet not sure of the brand you are using but there are some cheaper filaments out there that don’t have a good winding. If that’s the case I’m not sure there is anything you can do
@lisaviolet I e never had any issues with Hatchbox but there are a handful of reviews with people getting poorly wound spools. Sorry I can’t help with fixing the issue. If it’s just the one tangle it would be simple but without unrolling the whole spool then trying to tightly wind it back up I’m not sure how you’d do it.
If you can snap a pic of the tangle and send it to Hatchbox maybe they’ll replace it.
I figure I can just unspool it as needed and use for small projects. Like the sample filaments that come in the boxes. You know. I have all the time in the world and I’m cheap.
Have you ever had an issue with filament dust on the metal extruder?
I printed something with silk filament and where the filament fed into the bowden tube, past the extruder gear, some how the filament was getting, I guess the best way to describe it, is “shaved”.
After some research I figured out that the main issue was I wasn’t using a high enough temp for the nozzle (this silk filament needs a higher temp) and there was a pretty major clogging problem. After I got it all cleaned out I put some different filament in and I noticed that where there had been shavings, now there is a fine, filament dust. Is this normal? (Yesterday was the first time using the metal extruder.)
@lisaviolet what temp are you printing at? I’ll get a little dust, but not much. It’s usually if you are printing too cold. You can also hear the extruder skipping if it’s so cold it can’t push it out.
Sometimes clogs can cause this too.
@RiotDemon I usually print at 200°. I guess that wasn’t hot enough for the silk filament, but it works fine for regular, at least I’ve never had a problem with it before.
This is from a piece of the Silk PLA filament. You can see the marks from the gear pressed into the filament, as well as the little piece that was shaved.
I’m redoing the piece in plain black PLA filament at 200°, it’s been going for over ten minutes with no dust at this point (I also have two guides, one at the top and one next to the entrance to the extruder).
Last night I was getting a little black dust in the circled area, but not this morning.
I was just wondering if you’d ever encountered this.
I spoke too soon. It’s doing it again.
@lisaviolet maybe you need to loosen the hex head screw on the extruder a smidge.
@lisaviolet mine leaves grooves, but it doesn’t shave off pieces like that.
Well, using a different color silk filament from the same company and the amount of shaving is almost zero.
So, I guess it’s just that particular reel of filament that’s the problem.
@cf1 if you are going to microcenter, I highly recommend the Inland PLA+. It’s $1-2 more than regular PLA but it’s better rated.
They also have parts there for the Ender that are super cheap. I can’t order them online and I don’t have a microcenter close by.
@RiotDemon Okay, I’ll look for the Inland PLA+. They don’t usually have any helpful people working there but I’ll poke around and see what parts might look useful, too.
@cf1 if it’s close by, I wouldn’t necessarily grab anything. Maybe just some thermistors.
@RiotDemon They are like two miles or so. Next to the Trader Joe’s.
@cf1 lucky!
Not printer specific, but this was probably my favourite project downloaded from Thingiverse. It’s a silly little scarab beetle box. It’s got several components which come together into a fun little gewgaw.
This pic is jacked from the maker page on Thingiverse, not the box I actually printed:
@ruouttaurmind I love this little box.
Reposting my lame gallery from the other thread.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rxgx9niANRuiooGJ9
@ACraigL Flexi-Rexi is my favorite!
Thank you for this thread. It will be a good resource.
My printer arrives sometimes Saturday. Since I stay close to home due to the Covid-19 thing, I’ll be busy getting it set up!
@transplant
/youtube fat Dragon games Ender 3 build
Alternatively,
/youtube chep ender 3 build
@transplant also:
/youtube chep how to level Ender 3
@RiotDemon Thanks. I need visual aids!
@transplant definitely suggest watching the build video while building. I used fat dragon’s, but the chep one is probably updated a little bit for the newer Enders. I did not use the instructions they sent except to look and make sure nothing major changed. They have changed some minor things, even my machine from last year was slightly updated from the fat Dragon, but the build was mostly the same.
I suggest subscribing to their channels, because they do have a lot of information to help you get started.
@RiotDemon @transplant seconding the fat dragon video. Used it when building my Ender 3 Pro a few weeks ago. There are def some differences between that vid and the pro, but they were minor enough and it still really helped in doing the first tuning and setup.
One of my most recent prints. These are printed in Inland PLA+ white and purple. They will be painted soon and turned into mounts for lanterns. I’ll have to find the print file later.
A chamber flag for my shotgun.
Makeup organizers. I did the small one first and decided it was way too small. The bigger one took up the entire width of my bed and took more than a day to print. This was the most annoying print because it had what sounded like a million retractions. I don’t have a silent board upgrade and at the time my printer was in my living room, lol.
This is part of an IT book nook I’m working on. I got distracted and didn’t finish. It went on the back burner.
Dang, bummed I missed out on this one. We’ve been talking about picking up a 3D printer for little while now.
I found it for $167 but this site seems a bit sketchy. Has anyone purchased anything here?
https://www.creality3d.shop/collections/3d-printer/products/creality-ender-3-3d-printer-economic-ender-diy-kits-with-resume-printing-function-v-slot-prusa-i3-220x220x250mm
@stardate820926 that’s one of creality’s official stores.
@RiotDemon Thanks! I’m usually pretty good a spotting a fake but I couldn’t tell if it was official or just using their logos. It’s very tempting.
Oh, mighty, 3D gurus, what causes this to happen?
After the shaving problem with one roll of silk pla, I tried another color, same seller, and the shaving problem was much better.
Anyway, this happened on the back wall (pics 1 and 2), not on any of the other sides (pics 3 and 4), of the print and I’m wondering why and how to prevent it from happening again.
@lisaviolet you probably have the Z seam set to random. I set mine to sharpest corner. That means where it starts a new line.
/youtube teaching tech how to calibrate
This guy has broken calibration down into all the separate steps. I highly recommend going through what he says.
@RiotDemon I have the what set to what? lol
Okay, I’ll check it out. Thanks.
@lisaviolet every time it starts a new layer, it has to go somewhere. That’s the seam.
@RiotDemon Ah…gotcha.
@lisaviolet @RiotDemon I was under the impression that a random setting promoted a cleaner print, i.e. no Z scarring.
Not an Ender3 owner but a QidiTech owner
@lisaviolet @Mehrocco_Mole not always. I follow several different printing groups on reddit and usually the print will be covered with little blobs and most likely it’s the seam set to random… Of course if you calibrate retraction perfectly then the seam is less noticeable anyway.
Maybe the ender is more prone to the issue.
Mine has arrived. In keeping with tradition, I opened it up, took a look at it, and closed it back up.
@cf1 time to get building!
@RiotDemon micro center was very disappointing. Everything was all over the place and the few accessories they had did not make sense at this stage. I did buy a roll of pla+ in black for learning. From what i gleaned from internet, one’s filament should be kept clean and dry. It is very humid here right now so I’m thinking I should wait until summer is over.
@cf1 pla doesn’t care much about humidity. When you aren’t printing, you can put it back in the bag with the desiccant packet.
Nylon or some of the other specialty filaments, definitely.
@RiotDemon Okay, then I guess I have no excuse. Now I just have to find a place to put it…
@cf1 dining room table should suffice.
@cf1 @RiotDemon That’s why I ended up spending a week cleaning our junk room (you ever see an episode of a hoarder show? That was our junk room).
No other place to put it to be safe from the whiskered critters.
And when I ended my Meh button clicking streak.
@lisaviolet @RiotDemon Unfortunately, I do not have a junk room.
Its either going in the living room or the guest room. I might actually temporarily repurpose the old microwave cart that I was going to throw away for a stand. Everything is still disrupted by the renovation.
Mine is built and printing. (I know, I know, it didn’t happen unless there’s a photo…but soon.)
I took my time building it (2 days), but I have arthritis in my hands and sometimes the frustration factor is high, so I paced myself. I watched the suggested videos before and during the build and didn’t really look at the instructions while building. (I did read over them before I started.)
Leveling the bed is key.
I’m learning how to use Cura and Tinkercad. My brain is getting a workout!
Thanks for the pros posting the tips-I’ve bookmarked all of them.
So, any recommendations for accessories? I’m thinking about a glass printing bed…
@transplant I have a glass bed. Came with my printer so I never even used the regular build mat. Upgraded the springs because mine were super sloppy and couldn’t get leveled. Changed to a metal extruder.
If you haven’t printed a filament guide yet, I highly suggest it. I also printed a fan cover for the motherboard case to keep little bits of filament out of it.
@transplant I ended up printing a Y tensioner because I added a drawer to the front of my printer and I could never get the belt tensioned properly after that. I literally quit printing for months because I was so frustrated. I was surprised that I could even get it to print decent enough to work. I suppose I could of bought a metal one, but I persevered.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3657622/comments
For the x axis I printed a tool to help hold the tensioner while I tightened it. That helped as well.
I can’t find the exact one, but this is similar and I see it has a tool for the Y axis as well. Maybe that would of kept me from printing a whole tensioner, lol.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4377485
What is the easiest way to swap filament? The Bowden tube is so long, the first swap I did, I cut it at the gear and then fed the next filament through but it took forever to push by out the old filament
@canuk there’s a setting in the menu to swap filament. It will back it out.
However, I just heat up the nozzle and wait a bit. Squeeze the extruder arm and pull out the filament.
If you barely let the nozzle heat up, it’s usually referred to as a cold pull. Helps clean out the nozzle.
Mine is now built. The instructions were not super useful. I think I need to redo part of it as I think it looks messy and crummy. The instructions do not show or mention any of the cabling so it ended up with them sort of all over.
@cf1 when I put mine together, there was a website with step by step instructions and pictures and I used that as well as the book that came with it.
Fortunately, it’s only my husband and myself that live here, so no one heard words they hadn’t heard before.
@cf1 @lisaviolet that’s why I used the video.
Some people print cable chains to contain everything. I printed some but never installed them.
The rainbow cable for the LCD is held back with a drawer I installed. You can print some clips for that as well.
@lisaviolet @RiotDemon I was too tired to run down to the pool to re-watch the videos so I figured I’d wing it. Bad words were said. I only stabbed myself with the stabby sharp thing once, though, so I was patting myself on the back. Today, however, I feel as though an elephant stomped all over me. Sitting hunched on the floor is not good.
I’ll have to investigate these clips and drawers. I also think I now know what the rubber tube was for. And the zip ties.
@cf1 @RiotDemon I tried the videos but I’d have to stop them, follow the steps, start the video, stop the video, rewind the video…I had a difficult time understanding what was happening.
@cf1 @lisaviolet I did the pause and rewind thing. Worked for me.
@cf1 ah, yeah. The tube contains the wires and the zip ties tie it to the Bowden tube.
@RiotDemon It was late-ish when I finished. I sat there waving that dumb tube around going “what is this and what am i supposed to do with it!?” I probably should’ve waited until the weekend. Next time.
I guess I can’t complain about free videos but they don’t seem to make close-in clear shots of what they are actually doing a priority. And them telling me what they are doing is not very helpful, especially when they are using terms and names that I am unfamiliar with. (I guess I was just complaining.)
@cf1 sorry it didn’t work for you. They were super helpful for me.
I suppose it helped that I watched a few videos about printing before getting started so I was familiar with a lot of the terms.
@RiotDemon No, its really just me. I just suddenly decided last night that I couldn’t wait any longer and had to get it assembled right then. I’m going to watch a couple of videos today which will help me understand what all those parts were and what I need to do next.
@cf1
/youtube Thomas basics 3d printing
@RiotDemon Thanks! I have a couple of things to fix tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be ready for learning how to actually use it. I might even attach the power cord.
Kinda getting the hang of this!
Received my glass bed today, next thing I’ll print is the fan cover.
This 3D printing thing is a rabbit hole I may not escape from…
@transplant Ooo – looking good! Next you’ll need to install the LED lights I saw someone do today. : )
@cf1
@transplant No, no! Come back! I was kidding. (sort of)
I ordered and installed a glass bed as I had problems getting prints off the may that came with the printer. It made a world of difference. I’m having fun.
I’ve been printing stacking holders for my stamp pads. The file I got (from thingiverse) can be resized, so that’s pretty fun, since not all stamp pads are the same size.
The one I’m working on now is 4.5" high. It takes about 19 hours to print. Saturday night, in the middle of a print, the power went out (helium filled mylar balloons hit power lines). I turned the power button off on the printer, and when I started it up yesterday morning, it said “would you like to resume the print?” Yay! There’s a weird line around, but I don’t care.
And I knew the filament was going to run out before the print was finished and I learned how to change that out during a print.
I’m excited.
Look at how neat my stamp pads are now!
I did a weblog entry for it after someone asked about keeping my inks neat.
This was my latest print. Using my CR-10 and print files from user Box and Loop on thingiverse.
@Ignorant looks great!
Lovin’ the necropost. So I thought I’d dredge up this long forgotten Creatlity superthread to post a deal on a Creality Ender 3 Pro:
Tomtop is offering the Creality Ender 3 Pro for $160 with free shipping. No sales tax in my state, but YMMV.
1.Click on this linky to go to the product listing at Tomtop
2.Select “United States Warehouse” in the Ship From field. Price will appear as $189.
3.Add the printer to your cart, then clicky on “View cart and check out” button
4.Apply promo code CEPRO in your cart (enter discount codes just below the price summary in your cart). Price will drop to $159.99 and free shipping, no sales tax.
I have some black filament that is binding up in the roll. Twice now it quit feeding (because it was stuck) and the machine kept going. Two of the same thing ruined.
How do I stop this from happening? This is the first roll it’s happened with.
@lisaviolet not sure of the brand you are using but there are some cheaper filaments out there that don’t have a good winding. If that’s the case I’m not sure there is anything you can do
@Ignorant It’s Hatchbox. I’ve never had a problem with it in the past.
There are videos on how to untangle it, but they aren’t working for me.
@lisaviolet I e never had any issues with Hatchbox but there are a handful of reviews with people getting poorly wound spools. Sorry I can’t help with fixing the issue. If it’s just the one tangle it would be simple but without unrolling the whole spool then trying to tightly wind it back up I’m not sure how you’d do it.
If you can snap a pic of the tangle and send it to Hatchbox maybe they’ll replace it.
@Ignorant Just damn.
I figure I can just unspool it as needed and use for small projects. Like the sample filaments that come in the boxes. You know. I have all the time in the world and I’m cheap.
I just ordered a new spool.
Thanks.