1 Topic by dave.lantz

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Topic: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

First off I would like to thank everyone who help me with my "out of the box" issues. My machine is level and calibrated and running great. I just finished the first object of my own design (Google Sketch Up to MeshLab to Skeinworks to Solidoodle - yes it's a dance but not all that bad.)

Three things I ran into:

1) The filament feeder seems to be grinding or shredding the filament as it feeds. Tiny specs of filament all over the plate and between the feed rollers. Sucked most of them out with a vac. Can the rollers be adjusted to prevent or reduce this?

2) Machine lays down the first layer with good overflow to create a good solid base but as it gets into upper layers the bead gets thinner and it looks like more of a fine mesh rather than a solid. As it criss-crosses layers they hold together but would prefer less "meshiness". It holds together pretty good but I was hoping for something more solid throughout.

3) SlicR - Slicer took my STL file and came up with no layers. Jumped to Skeinworks and it did fine. It was an 1/8" plate so at .3mm per layer it took 10 layers. Why didn't Slicer work?

Any suggestions?

Thanks for all your help!
Dave

2 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

dave.lantz wrote:

First off I would like to thank everyone who help me with my "out of the box" issues. My machine is level and calibrated and running great. I just finished the first object of my own design (Google Sketch Up to MeshLab to Skeinworks to Solidoodle - yes it's a dance but not all that bad.)

Three things I ran into:

1) The filament feeder seems to be grinding or shredding the filament as it feeds. Tiny specs of filament all over the plate and between the feed rollers. Sucked most of them out with a vac. Can the rollers be adjusted to prevent or reduce this?

2) Machine lays down the first layer with good overflow to create a good solid base but as it gets into upper layers the bead gets thinner and it looks like more of a fine mesh rather than a solid. As it criss-crosses layers they hold together but would prefer less "meshiness". It holds together pretty good but I was hoping for something more solid throughout.

3) SlicR - Slicer took my STL file and came up with no layers. Jumped to Skeinworks and it did fine. It was an 1/8" plate so at .3mm per layer it took 10 layers. Why didn't Slicer work?

Any suggestions?

Thanks for all your help!
Dave

Hey Dave,
Shoot me the file and I'll take a look.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

3 Reply by grob

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

Some suggestions while you wait for ward to work out what's wrong with your file:

(1) On the acrylic extruders you can wind the thumbscrew at the top of the extruder to adjust the amount of force between the roller and the drivewheel. Once you've fiddled with it, it's a good idea to go back and recalibrate the steps-per-mm again.

Also, make sure your hot end temperature is always high enough - if it's too cold (even 10C or so), this can make it hard to push filament through and lead to the filament stripping. You may even consider increasing the hot end temp by 5C and see if this helps in your situation.

(2) If it's not a blockage, then it's likely fixable with your slic3r wall-thickness settings (under 'advanced'). Post what you've got at the moment and we might be able to make some suggestions!

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

4 Reply by dave.lantz

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

Wasn't sure how else to send them so attaching here.

wardjr wrote:
dave.lantz wrote:

First off I would like to thank everyone who help me with my "out of the box" issues. My machine is level and calibrated and running great. I just finished the first object of my own design (Google Sketch Up to MeshLab to Skeinworks to Solidoodle - yes it's a dance but not all that bad.)

Three things I ran into:

1) The filament feeder seems to be grinding or shredding the filament as it feeds. Tiny specs of filament all over the plate and between the feed rollers. Sucked most of them out with a vac. Can the rollers be adjusted to prevent or reduce this?

2) Machine lays down the first layer with good overflow to create a good solid base but as it gets into upper layers the bead gets thinner and it looks like more of a fine mesh rather than a solid. As it criss-crosses layers they hold together but would prefer less "meshiness". It holds together pretty good but I was hoping for something more solid throughout.

3) SlicR - Slicer took my STL file and came up with no layers. Jumped to Skeinworks and it did fine. It was an 1/8" plate so at .3mm per layer it took 10 layers. Why didn't Slicer work?

Any suggestions?

Thanks for all your help!
Dave

Hey Dave,
Shoot me the file and I'll take a look.

Post's attachments

MS Punchout R2 Upper.stl 69.22 kb, 7 downloads since 2014-04-08 

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5 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

Got it... and I have some questions.
So is this supposed to be 5mm about?
Are you using Sketch-up?
The reason Slic3r isn't working is it isn't manifold.  Even running it through netfabb doesn't fix it.
Here is what I propose you do.
That is a simple part to design but part of your problems is it is so small.
Start by drawing it in 2D then just push/pull it up to the  desired height.  There is some geometry that just doesn't make sense to me.  I know how easy it is to run into those issues with Sketch-up.  The biggest problem is the relief holes you have in the corners.  Your printer will never be able to print those anyway so why not just leave them square? 
Any chance you can send the .skp file?
I am going to crash in a bit so I will take a look at it in the morning.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

6 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

If I am wrong about the size (I suspect I am) then that is also part of your problem.  The file you sent me shows about 5mm across.  Above statement is still true.  Those relief holes in the corners of the rectangle holes is where your having manifold issues.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

7 Reply by dave.lantz

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

Sorry I should have Mentioned that!

It was generated in inches in Sketch Up and I couldn't find a way to convert it to mm in SketchUp so when I brought it in to Solidoodle I did Scale Up of 25.4 in all directions.

When I finally printed it the dimensions were darn close so that wasn't an issue. I guess that generates two questions:

1) Can I use inches in Solidoodle?

2) If I import it in inches and scale it by 25.4 can I then use Slicer and get a viable g-code?

Thanks for all your help wardjr!

wardjr wrote:

Got it... and I have some questions.
So is this supposed to be 5mm about?
Are you using Sketch-up?
The reason Slic3r isn't working is it isn't manifold.  Even running it through netfabb doesn't fix it.
Here is what I propose you do.
That is a simple part to design but part of your problems is it is so small.
Start by drawing it in 2D then just push/pull it up to the  desired height.  There is some geometry that just doesn't make sense to me.  I know how easy it is to run into those issues with Sketch-up.  The biggest problem is the relief holes you have in the corners.  Your printer will never be able to print those anyway so why not just leave them square? 
Any chance you can send the .skp file?
I am going to crash in a bit so I will take a look at it in the morning.

8 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

You can do it that way with varying results.  I have had better luck drawing in mm's though.  The thing is your SD doesn't really know anything other than units and those units just happen to be mm's.  Everything to do with 3D printing is based on the metric system so it is just easier to learn to draw with that in mind.  I had this problem when I first started designing my own prints also.  Once I started using mm's most of my problems went away.  Do you know how to switch Sketch-up to mm's?
I have to head to a meeting or I would get a screenshot.  Back in about an hour.

dave.lantz wrote:

Sorry I should have Mentioned that!

It was generated in inches in Sketch Up and I couldn't find a way to convert it to mm in SketchUp so when I brought it in to Solidoodle I did Scale Up of 25.4 in all directions.

When I finally printed it the dimensions were darn close so that wasn't an issue. I guess that generates two questions:

1) Can I use inches in Solidoodle?

2) If I import it in inches and scale it by 25.4 can I then use Slicer and get a viable g-code?

Thanks for all your help wardjr!

wardjr wrote:

Got it... and I have some questions.
So is this supposed to be 5mm about?
Are you using Sketch-up?
The reason Slic3r isn't working is it isn't manifold.  Even running it through netfabb doesn't fix it.
Here is what I propose you do.
That is a simple part to design but part of your problems is it is so small.
Start by drawing it in 2D then just push/pull it up to the  desired height.  There is some geometry that just doesn't make sense to me.  I know how easy it is to run into those issues with Sketch-up.  The biggest problem is the relief holes you have in the corners.  Your printer will never be able to print those anyway so why not just leave them square? 
Any chance you can send the .skp file?
I am going to crash in a bit so I will take a look at it in the morning.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

9 Reply by grob

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

+1 for using mm

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

10 Reply by Antron007

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Re: Gaps in Layer Fills and Filament Shavings

in regards to OP's 3)
i was having issues with slic3r making single walls for calibration boxes and I had to leave Detect Thin Walls checked or else i would only get 1 layer. you'd figure since im trying to print a layer thin wall that this would need to be unchecked but, nope. I had to turn it back on to get my parts to slice. Part came out as it was supposed to so, you may want to try that out on a small hollow cube (just because it will onky take a minute or so to slice.)