Started printing this filament shrinkage test and had to leave the house. When I came back, the whole upper half of the part had shifted after the first few layers, and it left two solid blobs attached and one ball of spaghetti. The magnetic bed doesn't appear to have moved. Part is still solidly adhered to the print bed. How did this happen, and how can I keep it from happening again?

I am looking for stl. Anyone have this stl? It is not on website anymore.

I recently replaced my aging but well dialled in FLSun Q5 with an Elegoo CC2.

I am very pleased at being able to print much larger things, but I get this effect at height. This is an egregious example but even cleaner prints still have obvious layer shifts.

I have spent parts of the last 2 days trying to finish calibrating a hardened stainless steel .60mm nozzle with Sunlu PLA+ 2.0 filament.

I have been trying to print a test cube and I couldn't get the first layer to stick period. I washed plates, I swapped plates, I removed the nozzle and reinstalled it.

I swapped different filament brands, and they all printed flawlessly. Try that Sunlu white PLA and instant failure again. I was about ready to admit defeat and dry my first spool of PLA ever because I could think of nothing else to do.

But I took one last look at my settings for this filament. And I finally noticed my flow ratio was set at .096 rather than .96. I didn't even know the slicer would allow a number that small.

Once again the error was found to be located between the chair and the screen.........

Normally you'd post a FixMyPrint issue where the OP asks for a solution. Here instead I post an issue and the cause/solution immediately as well, hoping that it helps others.

This issue looks this way in a CoreXY printer, on a Cartesian printer you probably have only one axis looking weird.

The top part of the image has two printed objects in it, they're corner blocks for an enclosure I'm making. The right one has a bend in it. The toolhead would consistently move 1mm to the right or left at the exact same location. Normally a layer shift occurs due to warping or loose belts or hitting the infill somehow.

The left block is what it's supposed to look like.

Upon closer inspection of my belts it appears that one of them was stretched a small amount. These are cheap generic belts from Aliexpress that did last quite a while but were probably not the highest quality. At some point the filling material breaks and the belt stretches by a small amount. When that part of the belt goes over the stepper motor you get a layer shift.

Now I got Gates belts and hope that they last longer.

Because of course it now does. Welcome to Bambu.

(Subscription-based after 14 days, they don't mention it to catch people)

Source: https://connectified.com/@masukomi/116736929422875166

I've been thinking about print-in-place joints, and playing with my new multi-head printer.

Has anyone been playing around with making one half of a joint from PLA and the other from PETG to get snugger PIP joints? Seems like that would be a good way to get real right tolerances without bonding.

I did a casual search and I couldn't find anyone talking about it.

$10 for a single model... or $20 a month for four models? For some flexi toy with 20 separate variations that only have tiny changes?

I recognize this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things. There are plenty of alternatives - both free and paid. It's just a frustrating trend I've been noticing. I'm all for supporting artists and recognizing the time and effort it takes to create the model. I have a handful of Pateron subscriptions/donations.

I don't sell anything. I print for myself and for gifts. Not everyone wants to sell prints at flea markets, but it feels like that's the assumption now.

Side rant: It's annoying how the first thing EVERYONE says when seeing your prints is that "you could sell these!!" I know they mean well, like it's a compliment, but it's annoying when it's insisted on as if they were the first people make such a profound thought.

I used to be able to print things. Now for the past 6 months or so I've wasted spools upon spools trying to print anything and this always happens. I'm just about ready to sell this machine and give up on the whole thing.

Is there anything glaringly obvious that springs to any of your expert minds?

This is an article from 10 years ago but so far I have not seen any 3D printers actually use this.

Currently I'm designing a new toolhead for my 3D printer and I want to make the footprint as small as possible to maximize the usable print area. I'm redesigning an Ender 5 so that the bed of an Ender5Plus fits into the frame of the Ender5 and that most of the area is accessible by the nozzle. The toolhead is one obstacle.

My current toolhead has two 5015 blower fans, one on each side, and they add a significant amount of bulk to the toolhead. The fan ducts are also quite bulky.

Have any of you tried a small aquarium pump with a length of Bowden tubing and perhaps a blunt syringe tip at the end? This way you can precisely direct airflow to the plastic flow and not cool the nozzle down too much, which is unavoidable with blower fans.

I'm thinking towards those cheap 5v USB aquarium fans that you can buy for a few euros from China.

I'm doing a large print, and about 1/4 of the way through, I started hearing this horrible, intermittent noise. Sounds very close to nails on a chalkboard. Naturally I assume something is starting to wear out (belt, roller, motor, etc) or there's some parts rubbing together that shouldn't.

The print seems to be going along fine, though, so I let it be until I couldn't stand it anymore.

Finally sat down and watched it, and the culprit is the extruder fan blowing into the large, hollow tree support bases which was acting like a whistle. lol.

I've only been 3D printing for a little over a year, and this is the largest print I've ever done so far, so if this is normal, it caught me totally off guard.

https://youtu.be/7sAm3RtWh4M

Investigation discovers the surprising result that slicers introduce more error into prints than the printer itself.

I have my A1 plugged into a soecial surge protector that provides power to the rest of the outlets if the one trigger outlet draws enough power. So the printer is always on so that I can send stuff to it but doesn't draw a lot of power. When it's heating up and printing the power draw increases enough to trigger the rest of the outlets and a desk lamp turns on so I can see what's being printed better. This is especially helpful at night when the desk lamp is the only light in the small office my printer is in. It's been set up like this for 2 years and it's been great.

This morning I was not actively printing anything and I went into the office and the desk lamp was on. I looked at the printer and it wanted to update the firmware, so I did so. Afterward the lamp stayed on. I rebooted the printer multiple times and while it's rebooting obviously the lamp is off and when it boots back up the lamp stays on.

What is causing this increased power draw? Any ideas or insights?

For now I'm leaving it fully off but I'll have to manually go in and turn it on before sending something to print which is less convenient.

I've printed hundreds of prints over a few years. Now I haven't printed in a few weeks but this is the first time I've had a problem like this. This is supposed to be flat. What's happening?

Bonus video: https://drive.proton.me/urls/74XZH4FVSM#1QqSvXK3MJCF

The audio might be a clue for you to help me troubleshoot

I recently printed a vermicomposter in PETG. It consists of a bottom reservoir which is supposed to catch leachate from the above compartments. I'm not sure the rate at which this will fill up, but the leachate is supposed to be diluted with water and used as nutrients from plants.

However, the reservoir leaks from the plug and from the front leg slots, at least when the reservoir is filled completely up with water. The leak from the plug I seem to have fixed with a combination of an o-ring and some PTFE-tape, but for the other leak I've been thinking of coating it with epoxy resin.

My challenge is actually finding such a resin, where the finished, cured product is food safe (since it will eventually find its way into the plants I intend to eat). Locally, I've not been able to find anything that is certified food safe, only various epoxy fillers and primers for boats.

The local 3D-print shop recommended this product which I could get through them: https://siraya.tech/products/siraya-tech-aegis-coating-systerm-for-resin-filament-prints But I've found some less than favorable reviews for that one in particular.

Anyone with experience water-tightening containers like this?

It's something that I often wondered. Acetone, even diluted as nail polish remover, does a great job of cleaning prints and, unlike IPA, doesn't leave the piece with an awful smell.

Is it mainly price, or are there other reasons?

I'm designing a new toolhead for my heavily modified Ender 5. At the moment it uses a MicroSwiss all metal hotend with dual blower fans, a tiny 404010 fan on the heatbreak (barely enough) and on top of it an Orbiter 1.5 extruder.

It has been working quite well but I want to get something with higher flow capabilities to push print speeds. Perhaps even dual Orbiter extruders and two hotends.

After I'm done modifying the Ender5 it will have a 314x314 bed which should allow for dual hotends without losing too much space.

Ideally I end up with a new toolhead so that the old one may be kept as backup.

I have been eyeing the Orbiter V2 with the Phaetus Rapido UHF but I'm open to suggestions. What have you been using and do you have any advice? There are a ton of options.