Edit: Do you know how to glue TPU to ABS?
Printed a part of segmented enclosure in TPU last night. Came out well except for stringing on the inside. My retraction was 0.2mm. Will bump it to .6mm and see how it performs. Printed at 228C.
Love the surface finish.
For my longer TPU prints, I turn retraction off and slow down the print speed to manage the stringing. I’m also printing at 220. I still have stringing of course, but I’m happy to sand that off a complete print, but think I’ll slowly add retraction back and see if it improves the results or not worth it.
I feel like there should be a setting so that it doesn’t make large travel moves. What printing speed do you print at? I have been doing 60mm/sec and it’s been fine except the stringing because of the big travel moves.
60mm/sec print but I kick travel up to 150. Do you use z hop?
i think this would be more reliable
Oh my lord. Why did you have to show me that? That’s amazing.
Yeah I think this is best solution for large enclosures.
Ender 3 already has 220mm bed width which is as wide as most boards. This mod can make the bed long enough to print most enclosures as a single part.
The best thing is that it only requires a long extrusion and a long belt. Maybe a longer heated bed if that’s important.
I’m defenatly planning on extending my bed up to 400mm length when I start printing battery boxes.
There is a good Ender 3 XL builders Facebook page of people who extend their Ender 3 printers. 400mm x 400mm seems a common size as you can easily buy that size heated bed for other printers.
Agreed, my slicer does not have an option to minimize large travel movement. The battery enclosure print pictured above was done at 30mm/s with 0 retraction. I’ve been running longer prints with smaller contact points slow to prevent waking up or coming home from work to a hot mess.
Yes, that is awesome. I love my TPU enclosure except for having to print it in multiple pieces. The print bed size is the only drawback to printing my own battery enclosures.
Nope, no z hop.
I am still struggling with warping of PETG when printing 2s4P NESE modules and am looking for some ideas. I am printing on an ender3 with all metal hot end. Until recently, I have been using the stock Ender3 bed (some sort of plastic mat, not sure what it is) and my adhesion has been almost too good. No issues for about a year, but I have not printed long narrow parts like this before. What I am seeing is best case a little lifting at the corners to worst case coming home and finder that the print has been knocked off of the bed at some point. Here is what I have tried so far:
Nozzle temp 240C --> 250C
Bed temp 60C --> 70C
Glass build plate with hairspray
Bed level so that a single sheet of paper barely fits between the nozzle and bed
New PETG spool (I don’t store in dry box while printing, but first print failed similar to the spool that had been out in the air for a week. It is low humidity where I am printing)
The only thing that has helped is reducing the space between the nozzle and the bed, but the first couple of layers print pretty bad with oozing/stringing making a bit of a mess. The only ofther thing that has changed recently is the temperature of the room. With the fall season, it is probably 5F cooler and I do not have an enclosure. So far, my troubleshooting has been pretty shotgun because I have been able to get some working prints out and just need 5 of them, but I would like to do something more systematic to fix this. One thought is to find or design a long skinny test part that prints faster than the 15 hours it takes for these modules. The warping seems to happen later in the print when the part is 1/2" or so tall. I am printing the lid and the base at the same time and the lid usually turns out fine (it is 1/3-1/2 the thickness of the base). Any help is much appreciated.
i have never had any luck with hairspray. I guess brands makes a big difference
I mainly use glue stick on nylon stuff but again brands makes a massive difference.
mainly I use cheap PLA for prototyping. seems like brand makes a very little difference.
and then I use either PETG for non structural parts. have used lots of junk and stuff that’s works and Das filament is my go to when it comes to petg.
But my main material is Taulman 910 that stuff is just wonders. it is nearly as rigid as PLA when it has been ut in the air for a while but tough like nothing else. ease of printing nylon and water absorption is crucial with nylon and quality/brands matters, that’s why I like taulman and nylon blends. and after you have it dialed in and only use it for actual parts and not fuckery you dont eat that much material. that’s why I like to stay with the same material brands for the most part. lots of nylons are too flexible for most of my use cases but not the 910 that’s why I like it so much. And in general strait after printing nylon might seem like a semi rigid material but after a week or two of absorbing the moisture in the air most of the nylon stuff turns into soft noodles.
all my filament is stored in a large nearly airtight container that I print directly, I have the the bottom filled with uncooked rice and a cheap humidity gauge. then I throw the filament and the rice in the oven every 6 moths or so for like 8-12 hours at 50-60C. I throw all new filament in the oven as well specially the nylon and petg). I have a system where I dont have to open the lid to swap filament.
910 is pricy though. I might look into taulman bridge for a cheaper alternative. im interested in polymakers CoPa as well. (anyone with experience there?)
Not saying I have the best method but I normally print on:
A magnetic flexplate with a PEI sheet ontop. 60-70c heated bed
A sheet of garolite. (for nylon and junk glue stick) 30C heated bed
now I have used a fair share of glue brands. as im from Sweden we dont have very good access to Elmers glue.
But the best stuff hands down is this:
Elmer’s CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Stick
(can print 910 on a normal pei sheet with that zero warping)
semi junk but cheap in Europe:
UHU Glue Stick
haven’t tried but heard good stuff regarding: (its cheaper than the other extra strength one)
ELMER’S - Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks
Now the application of glue stick matters a whole lot more than you think. multiple layers of glue stick let dry for a minute or so between coats to build up a thick layer can make even the junkiest of glue work wonders. for some reason if the glue stick dries tooo much (like for a day or two) it’s not effective after a while, especially if it is a thin layer. so a super thin spritz of water (with a good spray bottle) once in a while sort of re activates the glue.
some glue stick transfers to the printed part a lot more than others while some seems to nearly only sticks to the bed. you can rinse the glue of the printed part with water to get the glue off (careful with nylon though it might get soft and warp if it is warm water and a thin part)
but over all mess around with thickness and dryness of the glue stick. and to some degree the temperature of the bed. and ofc the nozzle height. (you should not have to squash it down super hard)
Btw fuckery is only required for nylon and warpy stuff.
Petg and pla sticks to PEI without much fuckery at all. maybe a single layer of glue every 5 prints when printing PETG. rinse off glue with warm water once in a while. have heard petg can fuse to PEI if it is squeaky clean. so I have always had a gunk layer of glue in between.
I should write a book.
You just did!
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good talk
Anyone with stringing issues worth checking out https://manual.slic3r.org/expert-mode/fighting-ooze
Particularly avoid crossing perimeters.
I recently switched versions of cura and it had issues importing my old profiles so I tried to remake them exactly the same. Now, I’m noticing this weird infill gapping on the top layer of my prints. I can’t find any settings differences between profiles. Bed side prints fine.
Can anyone recommend a setting to check for this?
check these two settings:
filter small gaps
print lines thinner than nozzle
