The Carver's MP3DP

Mostly Printed 3D Printer - MP3DP Your Builds
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The parts came from my pusher ; )

You know that saying “I can’t get a job because I don’t have experience. I can’t get experience because I can’t get a job.”? Well, my dilemma was “I can’t print the 3d parts because I don’t have a 3d printer. I can’t get a 3D printer because I can’t print the parts.” Hahaha…so I jumped in with both feet (and the blind confidence one can get after successfully getting the hang of an MPCNC) and ordered the printed parts from V1.

Ryan gave fair warning in the description - “If you just want to open a box and have a ready 3D printer there are a few solid options out there. The MP3DP V2 is a printer for those of you that want to build one, get your hands dirty, and learn a thing or two!”

I’ve learned a thing or two.

Or two hundred and seventy two!

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Oh - and the direct “why” I built it…I need to build up (Fusion) and print a tool mount for my Makitas so I can get the drop table MPCNC cutting ice for me. I was going to convert the MPCNC to 3DP as some have but once I got into it I realized all I was really missing between conversion and a standalone were a few more stepper motors, a couple lead screws and another miniRambo.

(And another LCD, and a power supply, and a bunch of screws and bolts and nuts and oddball Molex connectors and, and, and…hahaha)

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Aha. Well, you’re doing great for a first timer. By the time you get your first print, you’ll know more than most people who have owned an ultimaker for a year :D.

So, you’re about to hit the biggest hurdle, which is the first layer. The 3D printer will almost always do fine if you get the first layer down right. You need adhesion, so it will stay put, and you also need it to not warp. Warping is caused by the plastic being layed down hot, and then cooling. Layers that are thin in some places and thick in others will cause warp. This is why the first layer, which is only 0.2mm or so thick, is so important. An error of 0.1mm is 50% difference…

For starting, try something not too tall, and pretty wide (20mmx20mm is about right), so you can spend lots of time watching the first layer print. You’re going to spend a lot of time watching the first layer print. If it’s very very low, then the layer will be almost translucent, totally smooshed. Very very high and it won’t stick, it will just curl behind the nozzle. When you get closer than that, a little smooshed is OK when you’re learning, and it will have an “elephant’s foot” effect, of the first layer being wider than the next. After some experience, you can tune that out. You’re going to really work on tuning the screws of the print bed to have a good level surface as wide as possible. Then you can start printing up, and working on fine tuned extrusion or temperature issues.

Here is another good resource with a ton of things that can go wrong: https://reprap.org/wiki/Print_Troubleshooting_Pictorial_Guide

Posting pictures here of print failures will give us a good laugh, err… I mean, will help us point you in the right direction. Ryan has printed more than anyone, probably, so he will know right away from a pic.

I would use slic3r, the prusa edition to get started, but the print speeds they have as defaults are very high. I think Ryan has his slic3r settings posted here somewhere…

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Always happy to inspire…I hope I don’t disappoint everyone with flawless results right for the first go! ; )

Downloaded and configured to match Ryan’s screen shots. The software seems pretty easy to work with thus far. I sliced a few STLs I had on the PC to play with it. I guess the trick is getting the printer to mimic the previews…

In the guide you originally posted it went on and on about rates and speeds etc in particular with the federate of the extruder. Do I need to go through all of that or can I just trust the preset numbers Ryan posted? I’d really love to not pull the hot end off. I think of all the things that made me nervous the seating of the nozzle to the hot end was perhaps the biggie for me. Or should I just get over it and face the reality that that thing will be on an off like the kids’ bedroom lights when they are supposed to be going to sleep

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Haha.

You don’t have to take the extruder it nozzle off. I would tune the extruder steps/mm, but you don’t have to worry about rates. Every extruder seems a little different. For now, just make sure the amount of filament going in is what you asked for. You can make a mark at 25mm, extruded 20mm and make sure there are 5mm left. There are a ton of guides and videos about it. It is a little dependent on the temps. If you’re a little too cold, it will extrude a little less.

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You two have the best attitudes…and make me laugh.

I would say focus on getting it printing good first there are many ways we can tweak those lights, some are baked into the firmware and can do fancy things.

I’m guessing the Zrods are good now?

Lets see a first layer…we can get you going from there…how exciting a first time printer! I can suggest using 0.32mm as a first layer thickness and 50% as your first layer speed. The rest of my guide stands…until you get printing.

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A little more of that automagic stuff, yes. I pulled the extruder off the slider so I could get a tape measure in close for a mm precise measurement. Once I had the extruder off I gave the right side a bit of a squeeze/tug and heard something shift. I measured and voila - had on. Put it all back together and things ran smooth. Reminded me of disassembling and reassembling the middle section of the MPCNC…not sure what did what but it worked in that case too ; )

My new paranoia is cracking the seal on the filament rolls and what sounds like everyone’s arch nemesis “humidity” getting in and making all of your 3d prints explode the moment you say “Hey honey, look at what I just made!”. I may slip out to the MPCNC first and build a temporary spool toilet roll holder.

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Nahhhh, PLA is good for a long time, mine easily sit out for two weeks before any subtle signs show. Other materials are a nightmare, seriously nylon is crazy sensitive.

I have a good sealing tupperwear tub that I just keep long term open spools in and always drop in the little desiccant packs they come with.

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I think a few weeks is being conservative. It easily takes me more than a month to print a spool most of the time. I live in a desert though (Denver).

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I have to say…I really love watching these machines (MPCNC.MP3DP) move around and stuff. As a kid I used to LOVE the trips Sesame Street would take to factories where manufacturing was underway. To know that I built these contraptions that are doing that kind of stuff is pretty cool.

Now for the fun stuff. A friend of mine always says “The Lord hates a coward” which, to avoid the philosophical discussion we’ll just take as “go for it”. So I just went for it. Enjoy ; )

And then I remembered I should wipe down the bed before I start. But I hadn’t. Nozzle set to 205, bed to 60.

https://youtu.be/KQs6_bQlMcU

So then I cleaned the bed and tried again. Success…until…(same temps).

https://youtu.be/uyLm3_LSIKA

So then I switched back to Slic3r, changed the first level speed to 50% from 35% and spit out some code for flat tests (searched “first layer tests” on Thingiverse). Looked good until…

https://youtu.be/nCYgcWSVRwA

So what’s looking bad other than the obvious (to me) bit there?

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It looks like there’s way too much filament there (side note, is that PLA?). The width of the nozzle opening is 0.4mm, and the width of your extrusion looks closer to 1mm. It looks like there’s maybe a factor of 2x or so extra extrusion. You can also hear, when it’s printing the skirt, some click-click-clicking. That’s either the extruder motor slipping, or the extruder gear slipping, and the extruded filament looks a little start-stoppy after that. I’m not sure what’s causing that (the temperature might be dropping because it’s melting so much filament), but you want to listen for that sound. It’s not a good sound.

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It might be something wrong with the slicer too, like the filament width is set wrong, or the nozzle diameter is set wrong.

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The first lines actually look like a good height to width ratio, but then the next line comes right in on top of it… That is a really good camera view. Makes me wonder if I should put a camera on my printer, just to see it this clearly :).

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Ha! Camera angle sponsored by handheld iPhone6. Catching selfies since 2016!

This particular roll is Hatchbox 1.75mm PLA. I had thought the click-click-clicking was part of the program - it seemed so regular to me. There shouldn’t be any tension on the filament as far as I know (in case that’s a potential cause). Where else should I be looking to troubleshoot that?

I checked in with Slic3r fearing I’d entered 4mm for the dia instead of .4 but it appears it’s in there as .4mm. The filament width was correct as well. That is unless there are few places it’s specified. Are there any settings that need to be made on the LCD?

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Probably the resistance is coming from the nozzle, and my guess is it’s because you’re trying to melt a lot of plastic, so it’s getting too cold, which decreases the flow, which causes the skipping. It’s probably just a symptom of the over extrusion.

Can you post your gcode? What are your extruder steps/mm set to? Is it possible they are off by an enormous amount?

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Here’s that last one as well as the Calicat which I’m sure you’seen the code for a million times in case it’s easier to spot there.

I never did continue down the gcode learning path. I had signed up with some gcode wizard thing but as I got into it it seemed like it was just trying to convince me to spend more money to eventually learn what I thought is was going to be teaching me. Did you learn gcode just through slowly getting bits here and there or do you know of a good gcode learning resource? I’m all for teaching a man how to fish.

Are the comments at the top in the gcode correct? It seems like that’s the overabundance right there…but it’s greek to me to a degree.

calicat.gcode (422 KB)

First_Layer_Square_0.2.gcode (31.6 KB)

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That’s definitely over extrusion. You can see it squirting out beside the nozzle. If you have the nozzle diameter right, and the filament diameter right, (you actually checked with a micrometer right?) then it’s a steps issue with the extruder. It’s pushing too much out. Which causes a crap ton of back pressure causing the clicks you hear. It’s the extruder bolt grinding filament.

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Sounds like I am going to need to buy a new tool to have around ; )

I didn’t check the filament - just trusted the 1.75 ± .03…apparently not a good idea?

I really feel like the first run wizard for Slic3r asked me the nozzle diameter and I typed in 4 instead of .4 but I don’t see it incorrect anywhere in the settings. And I guess if it was trying to squash out 4mm worth of filament it’d be way worse than that, no?

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I looked at your gcode, and that looks fine to me. I checked the layer height, the comments about the extrusion width, and I even did some quick math on one of the long lengths. It’s extruding about 0.033mm/mm in XY, which is about right.

So it’s something in the firmware. Probably your steps/mm.

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Don’t tell Barry, but I don’t use micrometers on my filament. When I get it close enough, I let the prints tell me if I’m over or under extruding, but maybe I’m wasting filament by doing it that way?