@bulb66 Do you mean the part about a geared direct extruder? Are you saying that the problem is that my extruder isn't able to push hard enough to get it through the nozzle?
My extruder is single drive (one toothed, one idler) and ungeared. I've definitely had it fail to push the filament when there were too many retractions and it chewed up the filament enough to make it too hard to get down the tube.
@deuse I think you're right but the immediate issue is that it won't extrude. Have to get over that hurdle before the bed level makes any difference at all. I suspect there is some sort of Z offset where the nozzle is lifted away from the bed after homing and before printing. I'm not sure if this is in firmware or in slicer (first layer height or other) though. I know my bed isn't flat and I suspect the 4mm glass bed I've got either also isn't flat or is dipping where the bed dips. I also think I need to look at bed stabilisers since it's quite springy on the side away from the rail and that makes it hard to level. I may have to mount a dial test indiacator on the head and see if I can do any better.
Ah, sorry I missed the last sentence some how. Ender 5 Pro, using Fusion 360 as a slicer currently since it's convenient if I'm working on models to directly slice them to gcode. I've stuck a 4mm borosilicate glass bed on top of the existing bed but I'm not sure it's entirely flat still.
Lost notifications and missed pages of posts. Good to see everyone's doing well. @Vince "New" printer looks like it's coming on well!
I went and bought myself an E3D Hemera to address my extuder issues and hopefully drive a 0.2mm nozzle. Yeah, I thought it was largely going to be drop-in with perhaps some bracketry to rustle up. I got about three levels deep in the to do A, you first need to do B. To do B you first need to do C.....and lost the will to live. I've got issues with cooling on the Ender board anyway - specifically how it drives the part cooling fan with some weird ground-switched pseudo PWM that causes a fan to make a hideous noise. Also, I'm not sure why but my steppers were pretty silent before but now play tunes. The board is 8-bit, needs a mod to program and add a boot loader and then ...and then...and then.
So, long story short, I'm thinking of buying a replacement board and getting that up and running with the new extruder. I'm thinking it might as well handle BLTouch out the box, have better fan control and the possibility of a second Z stepper. No point buying one that's already maxed out, right?! There are a few like the Duet that look good but should be for the price! What are people's thoughts on a BTT SKR ? I was thinking the E3 Turbo that seems to be essentially a 1.4 Turbo with the stepper drivers mounted onboard. I'll have to check, but I suspect the mounting holes on that might be the same as my Ender 5 board which would save some work and also some height in the case that I don't really have. Is there a downside to the drivers being onboard? Are there any notable feature differences I'd be missing? I can't see any but I won't have a clue what I'm doing until I've already gone the wrong way....hence asking
I'll swap you @ChrisLX200 I've been trying to print a fairly large threaded duct for dust extraction from my bench grinder. First one let go the bed a couple of hours in. Second one went great until the extruder jammed and wrecked it. Finally got one fully printed, looked great. Started taking the support off and it split right down a layer line. Back to the drawing board!
Might try ordering some PETG but ) after I check it works properly!) I'll round off some square inside corners that line up with the layer lines (where the split started) and see if it's possible to print horizontal pipe without internal support. The vertical part works fine so I'm hoping the horizontal part will because getting the support out isn't going to be easy otherwise!
So you guys would recommend a BTT board then?
Is there any particular disadvantage to the board with onboard 2209 drivers vs the similar board with drivers as add-ons? I'm mainly thinking the onboard is lower profile so would be easier to get in the existing case.
I've got an Ender 5 but my ports already don't line up - I shoehorned a Pi in there, an ethernet header, some buck convertors and a 92mm fan - for the peace and quiet
Any idea how tall a board is with a driver and heatsink mounted? Just wondering if it's a total no-go for the separate drivers....not sure I have the spare sanity to do a complete new enclosure!
Thanks @bulb66@Vince I've got a whole 32mm between the top of the standoffs and the top of the case so that ought to work. The generic board is acutally a better fit for the space too I think - longer but not as wide.
So would you recommend the 2209's for it? I can see the 2209's are a power upgrade over the 2208's but then there's the option of 2130, 2225, 2226, 5160 and I'm not really sure what the differences are. Probably over--thinking it and would be fine with the 2209's but just want to make sure I'm not getting the wrong thing.
Excellent, thanks guys. I shall go see if the credit card can take the heat! Wonder if they can deliver to the back door in a box marked "Nothing to see here wife!"
I think they've gone up a bit since then - or at least via convenient shopping channels they have. Difference between 2208's and 2209's was a tenner - it's probably worth than for the lower temps
Will be nice to have better fan control (once I get as far as it all working!) and lose the tunes of the current "silent" drivers. I swear they didn't use to....but maybe I'm just driving them faster than before as I've tweaked Fusion's slicer settings closer (coincidentally) to what Cura suggests.
It's the part cooling fan I have issues with. The hotend fan I just ran a 12V always-on Noctua 40x20. The part cooling fan needs to be controllable but the Creality board does oddball things with a lower frequency ground-switched control. It makes the sound very rough even on a Noctua - which I'm not convinced has enough flow down a duct for part cooling. I have an old Cisco (probably Delta) in there at the moment with a resistor and it's a lot better but far too loud with the roughness. Might be ok if not running on a lumpy signal!
Electronics cooling is handled by a 92mm Noctua...as that was the only one thin enough. Tis nice and quiet though
Thanks for the PWM controller link. Saves me wondering just how silly it would be to put an Aquaero in!
Here's a quick question for you. PETG. New spool and the bag's got a hole in it meaning the air's got in. Given that I don't have a dryer, should I be sending it back as it'll be trashed or should it be ok?
@Vince Nice. You seem to be getting a lot farther a lot quicker than I am. I now have an SKR 1.4 Turbo and 2209 drivers and a queue of Marlin vids to watch! I'll get there eventually.
I also got the replacement roll of PETG and printed a part I'd printed lots of in PLA. Ran it at 240 end, 70 bed, 100% fan. I thought it would be nice to have a stronger version of the item and a good test. Looked lovely. Seemed more flexible though....which I was surprised at. Gave it a twist and it mostly delaminated - all the infill did totally but the perimiters held. I've since run a temp tower and I'm going to try again at 235 end, 80 bed and no fan. Well, I was going to but Fusion threw all its toys out the pram and wouldn't run (crashed on start) on my account on any PC. I've managed to get that sorted out but absolutely everything I try to do lately is just a cascade of failures and I'm running I've run out of sanity!
Thanks Vince. Appreciate the offer. I may well take you up on it if I get stuck but I'd like to figure out most of it myself - not because of masochistic tendencies you understand, just that if I've worked it out, I'll understand it and be able to fix issues rather than just hassling you when the slightest thing doesn't work That's partly why I went with a new board rather than trying to bully the 8-bit Creality one into running my new extruder. It's currently this big black box of unknown stuff that I don't fully understand and that bothers me.....but not as much as being oblivious of how much there is that I don't yet understand! I'm getting there....slowly. I figure I'll run it on a 12V PSU to start as I have one spare and see how the stepper in the extruder behaves with the firmware I cobble together. Then I can start adding in extra steppers and make sure they run in the direction I'm expecting.
Sensorless homing was a big gotcha for a while (do I cut the pin or leave it) but I think it may end up being a non-issue as I think the endstop sensors still work, just not the Xdet pin so I think I can work round it. Stupid design requiring an irreversible (or at least tricky) pin cut.
Ah, you mean that once you understand it all, it's perfectly comprehensible!
And, while I'm at it, I was wrong. The "separate" stop headers I had in my brain share the pin with the diag pin for stallguard so you do have to chop or do nasty things with reassigning unused pins from elsewhere.....which I suspect is just asking for future trouble. I'm leaning towards chopping the pin and killing stallguard since I already have limit switches for homing and they're supposed to be significantly more accurate. Definitely up for opinions before chopping though!
Dual extruders would let you print soluable support filament too. May not be necessary for a lot of the prints you do but it would sure come in handy for the custom ducting I'm trying to print!
How did you multi-part the shroom? Is it close enough tolerance to be press-fit or was there no attempt to size-match the parts and just super-glued together? Just thinking that if printing this duct with no internal support doesn't work, it may work if printed in two parts and slotted together somehow - given it needs to be air-tight (ish) I wasn't keen to make that the starting point though.
Having grief with PETG still. My infill layers aren't actually touching each other and it looks like it's either under-extruded, hasn't stuck to the previous layer or both. Found that my extruder esteps/mm were too low (93 previously vs 99 now). If only you guys had suggested I calibrate that before now!.....several times
Now printing some squares across the bed to check level. Have also slowed it down a lot since people say the first layer needs to be around 10mm/s for good adhesion. Cleaned the hairspray off the glass and it does seem to be sticking so fingers crossed!
It's looking better. Still a bit too fast on the infill so started again. There does seem to be some cohesion between the infill layers already so I'm hoping that slowing it down a bit more will sort that. Only one way of finding out though
There's some resistance to twisting the aborted piece that just wasn't there before.
After printing the squares for bed level testing, hey, the lines join up now! There's some variation still and some were really good - proper shiny. I might have to finish off those bed braces I started and then lost - spoiler, I'd bolted them onto the bottom of the bed! *facepalm* And I think there may have to be a bed probe in the SKR's future!
@ScoobyDoo It's a massive improvement not having to transfer everything by micro SD card too - not that I'm implying full-size SD would be any better!
Which Pi did you go for and have you had any issues with it failing to enable the network card or WiFi?
@Vince Fully intend to get one as all my test squares came out ok but some were notably better on the underside finish and even the top. Just the merest fraction of Z difference.
Print finished and it looks lovely. Full horizontal tube about 40mm diameter and 3mm wall thickness (15 - 20% infill - which seems denser in Fusion than Cura) printed with no supports. Just a tiny bit rough (some looping that ought to clean up) at the very top of the inside. Alright, "no" support is a bit of a lie as I modelled in the odd bit to help stick a round surface to a flat bed and for an unsupported overhang. The main thing I needed was none inside the tube as it's really hard to get out and none in the printed thread as it just trashes it. Tried support blocking for the threads in Cura and it printed in PLA but the threads didn't fit. I suspect it changed dimensions slightly in the export to STL and then import to slicer.
Right now, it looks glossy and a thing of beauty. Haven't cleaned it up or tested the threads yet. It's a Schroedinger's cat: right now, it COULD be perfect. I'll open the box tomorrow
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