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Messages - Dan

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61
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: November 12, 2014, 07:42:56 am »
Thank you Dan for detailed info.   Although I am not sure a about the melting point being different with various colors.  I don't  think the chip makes a difference. I really think cube 3d 2nd gen.  Is using a bit of a thinner filament  than standard 1.75. I will try your suggestion and get the filament that you are using. I also agree the alignment  of the filament is important so the stepping motor and pulley has an easier time feeding it in.   Storm,  i agree with Dan do not remove anything  especially  the fan. For PLA printing i actually add an extra small fan the cool the print bed...  Just remove the cover,  and adjust the pulley.  (i did end up getting a better 7mm wrench but you could use the one it came with).  It's  the first bolt in the front. You alse have a clogged extruder/ head it sounds....   That is easy to fix.  Just use to supplied tool to unclog  the head with.

The chip definitely makes a difference to temperature with material, but yeah likely not colours. Thinner filament will REALLY be an issue - it will slip easily and not feed quick enough to fill the hotend.
For the record, I've never needed to adjust the pulley, But certainly have noticed there is quite some play in the way the motor fits to the carrier - adjusting this and that tube fixed all my issues. 

Again I just stick with run of the mill 1.75mm.  If you're having issues with this size, I PROMISE your problem is with the mechanics of the printer - all of which is fixable. 

62
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: November 12, 2014, 07:33:37 am »
Just thought id post another picture of my setup.  One thing I did was remove the chip all together from the cartridge, solder 2 wires to each contact of the chip and connect it to a momentary push button. (see the black button to the right of the filament platform.  THe makes it easy to "Insert" and "remove" the cartridges and has made this hack an absolute pleasure.  Actually this was born out of necessity.  All the pushing in and pulling out of cartridges eventually screwed the chip contacts in the filament bay.  Im glad it did though. Its sooo much easier this way.   

63
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: November 12, 2014, 07:13:52 am »
do i have to remove the fan or anything? or can i just use the flat wrench things that came with it? and im using technologyoutlet premium filament

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I8MRPDM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00)

I heard a clicking sound yes.

Now I have another problem. When I try to load the filament, nothing comes out, i think there may be a jam somewhere. I tried using that thin rod to see if anything comes out but i have no luck.

Any ideas?

That Clicking sound you're hearing is the stepper motor which feeds the filament being overdriven - most likely by something either becoming jammed or the amperage of the stepper not being set correctly.   I have opened this device up and screwed with it quite a bit and can confirm, that if one needs to add a few milliamps of juice to the stepper, there is a number of POTs (4), which if adjusted will increase the amps.  Not sure exactly which one to adjust as I've never had to before, but if you test them by rotating no more that 270 degrees, you should see either a drop or increase in amps.  The POTs may or may not have an end point, meaning if you rotate too far, you might go back to the start (or end as the case may be).    One thing to note, 4 POTs - 1 for each axis +one for the extruder, if you're testing to figure out which one's which be sure that if you evidently adjust the wrong one, that you set it back. 

Honestly I doubt its the AMPS though.  My experience with this hotend has been less than perfect.  The pulley which helps pressurise the filament has lines on it.  If it skips too much, the light sensor sees the lines arent moving and cancels the print.  My best suggestion would be to stick with 1.75mm (as I have done). Ensure you clean out the hotend with the metal stick these come provided with regularly.  If that fails, yes you'll have to remove the fan with the hex tool and adjust whatever you can to ensure filament moves through with just the right amount pressure.  Too much it will jam before it feeds, too little and it will slip.  Further - DO NOT TEST THE HOTEND WITH THE FAN REMOVED!!!!!  There is a thermal fuse which will overheat if you do.  If like me yours blows - just remove the fuse and short the wires.  IMO the thermal fuse is overkill anyway. 

Another thing. If too much filament is present in the hotend at any one time, the hotend will fill and heat will begin to travel back up the feeder, making the filament soft in the funnel just before the hotend.  THis makes a big blob which is a pain in the arse to remove.  THese units have very precisely calculated feed speeds based on the filament width.  Using 2mm filament will likely give you issues.  Its way too thick for the nozzle size and extrusion speed.  Go back to 1.75mm!

Another thing I've found to cause issues is the metal feeder tube just before the pulleys needs to be aligned so the filament feeds straight between the drive gear and pulley.  If the filament is allowed to bend in the space between the metal tube and and pulleys, it wont feed correctly.

Oh, just realized, the stuff I got from Cultivate 3D is 1.70mm - Oh well everything else has been 1.75 so I can safely say anything in that range should be hunky dory.


Hope this helps.
Regards
Dan


64
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: November 12, 2014, 06:45:35 am »
Sf563 suggested Afine Premium. He has had good luck with it. I ll be testing that next...   I have been using MatterHacker (but not premium, premium is thicker) and i have only had pulley issues that i could adjust for.  Melting point is very similar to cube proprietary filament. Other blogs all suggested  MatterHacker Regular.  Also pretty cheap....  1 kilo for $ 33

Hmm not sure what PLA you guys are using, but I can use whatever filament I feel like.  One thing that is likely is that the chip you remove must be from a like filament, that is, if you remove the chip from a PLA cartridge, use PLA.  The chip seems to affect the temperature of the hotend among other things. 

I have tried numerous el cheapos from ebay, they all seem fine.  Im in Australia so providing an exact like is probably a waste of time for most.  Currently using this stuff though - works just fine. http://www.cultivate3d.com/   Shipping nice and fast too.  Here the following day.

As per the issues everyone seems to be having, my guess is there's something else crap about these printers which is producing the varied results.

65
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Level Printpad Hell
« on: August 29, 2014, 05:22:10 am »
Its a pretty tedious task.  The traditional way is to use a piece of paper and gradually adjust each screw so that all four corners allow the 80gsm paper to *just* slide under the printhead with *some* but not much resistance.  Honestly its a pain in the rear end.  I recommend using my way of doing it.  After spending hours on the old way, the new way is extremely accurate and take much less time / effort.  see here: http://cube3d.createaforum.com/general-discussion/easiest-and-most-accurate-way-to-level-the-cube-3d-printer-printpad/

Welcome to the forum BTW. 

Dan

66
Just thought quickly share some experience with printing small parts on the Cube.  Part of this involves my "trick" from "Crap hack -Bulk Filament" in an earlier post.  The theory is, you want to prevent the cube from recognizing what I would call a minor filament flow fail.  Ill keep it in point form :

First off, prepare your cube file.  Make sure you use repetition - that is if you only need one small object, print 3 or 4 at the same time by importing copies of the same STL file.  The reason is the Cube is terrible at slowing itself down with small objects.  The unit goes too fast and doesn't always pause between layers.  This results in the printhead smearing off the previous layer and or melting the soft previous layer and distorting your print.  Printing multiples will extend the time the cube takes between each layer.

Then:

1) Set your print gap tighter (smaller) than what you normally would.  This would usually result in a Filament flow fail, -Ill explain more in the next step.
2) Start your print, then immediately press the stop button BUT do not confirm the stop.  This seems to prevent the printer from recognizing when the filament has stopped flowing properly. 

Basically setting the gap small really squashes the first layer to the platform.  Usually this results in a a FFF, but if you disable the checking of this (in step 2), small FF issues will not cause the print to fail.  Once the cube starts on layer 2 and 3, the filament should start to flow again providing the filament is not too hashed up.  Basically you want to set the print gap just right so the extruder motor misses "steps" sometimes, but not all the time while it is laying down the first layer.  This means that filament IS moving through the hotend, just not as freely as it would if the gap was set "perfectly".

It may take a few attempts to get the gap set right, but the result is worth it - Small parts, printed as perfectly as one could expect.

Dan

67
Cube 3D printer discussion / Cube 2 Not heating - Fan not working
« on: August 05, 2014, 06:22:31 am »
After getting the mother of all Filament flow failures, I was forced to dismantle the printhead to remove the filament from the unit.  After removing the fan and letting it hang while running a few load cycles to try to free the jammed PLA, i noticed the printhead fan had stopped spinning.  After invetisgating further, I was very suprised to find the hotend had also stopped heating.  Further after restarting the system (as suggested by various others) I resorted to dismantling the rest of the system to identify the fault.  Turns out these units have a "no resetting" thermal cuttooff just above the hotend.  You'll find it attached with a cable tie. with a thick white wire coming from one end, the other wrapping around the hotend and eventually coiling around the nozzel.  Basically by removing the fan, I had caused the 77 degree thermal cutoff to blow.  Replacing this fixed my problem. 

I ended up removing this thermal cuttoff all together and just shorting the wires which led from either side.  The reason is that Im not confident I wont need to manually remove jammed filament again, and can see no easier way than removing the fan while doing so.  - Perhaps no a smart idea - I could potentially damage something or start a fire if the main fan fails while im out - but ill take that risk.  I may attach an easier to access resettable thermal cuttoff in the future just in case.

FYI - Before I figured this out, I contacted 3D systems for help with a detailed description of the problem and my diagnosis and test results with a Multimeter.  The response was basically "Oh no.  So sad.  please buy a new Printhead for $250USD".   Thanks heaps for all the (lack of) support 3D Systems   :o

68
Nice to meet you Harold.  The only problem I can see with anything related to cube is 3D Systems themselves.  Is such a pain trying to get any community information on anything they do.  Fingers crossed this forum with flourish in time and give the printer the community discussion it clearly needs. 

I cant say im unhappy with the cube.  Im very glad I managed to find work arounds for the most frustrating issues ive found with this printer as mentioned in other posts.  None the less, Im using my cube to try my hand at building my own 3D printer the Rostock - Gulp :http://reprap.org/wiki/Rostock

Good luck with your Cube and welcome to the forum.

Regards
Dan

69
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: July 20, 2014, 06:27:11 am »
No, the dummy can be full, almost empty - whatever - as long as its not completely empty. 

Regards
dan-

70
Nice one!  I've had that problem before and been forced to dismantle the entire extruder.  I'll be sure to try this next time.   I've moved this to a new topic.  Not sure why you cant create a new one though.  Just created a test user and it worked fine for me. 

dan

71
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: April 15, 2014, 05:31:32 pm »
Thanks for the info. I have some questions though, appreciate if you can help.
What kind of generic PLA filament is necessary? I guess its diameter should be 1,75mm but should I care about melting point, do they differ by brand or is it common for all PLAs?
In between step 5 and 6 in your trick, when we remove the dummy cartridge do we press anything to continue printing, or does it continue itself after sometime.?
What is your firmware version? Is this applicable to new versions as well?
Thanks

My firmware version is 2.07.  Basically the latest version.  The only difference between the various PLAs you need to worry about is spool size.  I use repraper 1kg spools.  (The short fat ones). I too am realatively new to using 3rd party spools.  One thing I have noticed with the repraper stuff I'm using is that it appears to extrude with bubbles in the extruded filament.  Also, I notice its not as smooth as the 3d systems filament.  It shouldn't be a problem though as long as you regularly clean your extruded nozzle with a long pin.  If anyone finds a close alternative to the 3d systems stuff, or has comments on the quality of any other brands, please let us know.

When you remove the dummy cartridge, the unit will start and continue to print, regardless of the absence of the cartridge and the fact you have initiated the first stage of the print cancelation.

I hope this helps.

Dan

72
Hi Folks,

Anyone who's ever tried to level their printpad on the cube 3D printer, knows what a pain in the arse the process can be.  The cube 3D printer consists of a poorly thought, difficult to adjust tripod leveling system.  Follow my instructions below to get your printpad more level than it's ever been. 

1) Download this part  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:286387
2) Use the "Set Gap" function on your Cube 3D printer and set the gap to roughly the width of an 80GSM piece of paper.  For this exercise, make sure it's a tight fit but one that you can still move the paper between the extrude nozzle and printpad.  You really want the cube to squash the first print layer onto the printpad. 
3) Apply a very thin and very even layer of glue to the print pad.  Use your finger to smooth out any streaks.  This is important to maintain the accuracy.   
4) Start to print the part.  Allow the print head to heat up.  As it does, if any filament oozes out of the nozzle, pass a piece of paper under the nozzle to clean this before the extruder begins laying down the part.  This is VERY important.  Excess filament before the print starts may corrupt the auto leveler your are printing.
5) Let the print start.  IMPORTANT.  - Do NOT let the print finish.  Press the "STOP" button as soon as the print has started to bring up menu asking if you to confirm the abort but DONT confirm just yet.  You basically want to confirm the abort exactly once the first layer ONLY has finished printing and BEFORE the printer begins its second run on the outline.
6) Very carefully remove the single layer print and place it on top of the magnet which holds your printpad to the Cube. 
7) Your may need to repeat this process twice as did I.  Basically I have 2 autolevelers on top of each other. 
8 ) Check your work by returning to the "Level Printpad" menu.  Your gap should not change at all from corner to corner.  If not, repeat the above steps again.   
9) Once complete, go back and set your print gap as usual.  For me - I've never seen my printpad so accurate.  Before, it was out by about 2-3mm in from corner to corner. Now, after printing 2 of these auto levelers, it's perfect!  I hope this works for you too.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

TIP:  For me, I printed 2 of these wafers, each being printed without any other autolevelers under the printpad.  You could however try doing this once, placing the first autoleveler under the printpad then printing the second, third etc. with the stack of autoleveler(s) in place under the printpad before printing the next.  Play around with it. Im sure either method will work just fine, but realistically although not tested, the second method should be more accurate.

Dan

     

73
Cube 3D printer discussion / Re: Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: March 31, 2014, 09:51:58 am »
Just thought I'd post some picks showing how I've attacked this problem.  Basically I printed a platform to go in the place of the cubes filament cartridge, then I printed a spool holder and glued it to the platform.  On the underside of the platform (not pictured) there's a small cutout which holds a chip I emoved from an almost used cartridge.  When a print starts, I hit the stop button, then pull the platform back a few cm ( and hence spool holder too -as its glued to the platform) to remove the chip from the pins on the bottom of the cartridge bay.  This prevents the chip from being written to while the print is taking place.

74
Cube 3D printer discussion / Crap hack. Bulk filament
« on: March 30, 2014, 07:50:39 am »
While researching the Cube 3D printer, I became aware that 3D systems prevent users from using generic PLA filament by inserting a chip into their cartridges which allows the printer's internal computer to roughly gauge how much filament is left in the cartridge (preventing you from starting a print which there's not enough filament to print) . This hack however : http://hackaday.com/2013/04/26/cube-3d-printer-hack-lets-you-use-bulk-filament/ is "supposed" to be the answer.   In actual fact, all it does is waste time and filament, with zero net benefit... Here's why :

A little background.
The cube printer has an inbuilt chip in every single filament cartridge.  It, like many 2D printers provides feedback to the printer's interal computer to allow it know how much "ink" (filament in this case) is left in the cartridge.  It also prevents the user from using an empty cartridge, or reloading the cartridge with more filament once it becomes empty.  3D systems would like you to purchase more expensive filament instead of reloading your old cartridge. They even scare the user by issuing statements to the effect of "only use cube filament in your printer, using 3rd party filament may damage your printer and void your warranty".   

The hackaday article, provides reference to a seemingly useful part which you can print which allows the user to trick the system into using 3rd party filament, all one had to do is accept the Cube printers warning that it is running out of filament, and apparent problem solved.  Wrong.  Problem is, that even if you do use 3rd party filament with this technique, the printer will continue to reduce the "available filament" variable in the filament cartridge's chip.  When this figure reaches zero, the printer will prevent you from using even your third party filament as you are no longer given a warning of which you can accept or deny... You're simply prevented from printing all together. 

The solution. 
I argued with myself as to whether to make this public, as I'm pretty sure 3D systems will do an applesque fix for this in future firmware, but realized I have copys of firmware on my machine which I will make available should 3D systems patch their firmware to prevent this from working. 

Firstly, forget about printing the part in the hackaday article.  It's a waste of filament and electricity.  (Ill explain why in future articles).  Find and print a suitable spool holder for your generic PLA filament.  Make sure you continue to use the cube tube with your new spool holder though as this is actually a novel and useful idea which prevents your filament from malforming before it enters the Cube's extruder.

 To make things simpler, I keep the instructions in note form.  This also assumes you've figured out how to load generic filament into the extruder.

1) make sure you insert a cartridge which contains available filament into the cartridge slot.  This is to trick the printer into allowing you to select a file to print. 
2) start the print as normal.  If there "dummy" cartridge you used was nearly empty, you may be warned about insufficient remaining filament.  If so confirm your intention to proceed by selecting the "tick" icon. 
3) the cube will begin to old the file and heat the extruder.  At ANY TIME during this process, select the "stop" button.
4) you will be asked to confirm if you want to abort the print... DON'T select anything.
5) Now remove the "dummy" cartridge from the printer.
6) the cube printer will continue print the object despite the cartridge being removed and importantly, won't reduce the available filament variable on your dummy cartridge's chip while it is printing.  If you try and do this without pressing the stop button, the sneaky software will force you to replace the cartridge within 30 seconds before aborting the print.

A little messy, but this "hack" actually will allow you to print using bulk filament and provide you with a real net benefit ; cheaper printing. 

Any questions, feel free to ask.
Dan

75
Hi all.  Welcome to the new cube 3d printer forum. 

I've been a cube user for around 12 months.  The 2 most obvious things I noticed when I first purchased my cube 2 was a) only 3 month warranty and b) there's no online community supporting these devices except for some blogs created by Tom Meeks of which I've inspected thoroughly.   Im an Australian which means retailer support for these devices is a comprehensive as the lack of online support which is why after 12 months I've decided to create this forum.   

The first time I plugged in my cube 2, it didn't work.  For a "consumer" product, I must say, I was amazed by the complete crapness of my brand new $1200 printer.  Nothing would print, I couldn't even load a cartridge.  I spent hours trying to insert the filament into the printer.  Without knowing what to expect, the clicking noise my printer made as I was trying to load the filament didn't raise any alarm bells.  My girlfriend at the time (very soon to be wife) was sighing at me constantly, arguing with me as to why I shouldn't send the unit back.  After a few hours and with little to no support, I took a sneaky deep breath and decided to pull the unit apart to see if I could figure out why the unit wasn't printing.  I removed the extruded cover, pulled out a few hex screws and eventually found the reason I couldn't even load a filament cartridge was because there was the remanence of some filament already jammed I the printer.  My first thought was that the unit had already been used.  However after manually removing the jammed filament and finally loading the cartridge, the amazement of printing my first 3D object made me and the missus forget the hours of screwing around I had just endured.   

That was the first problem I would have loved to have some community support with and wasn't the last.  This forum a means of sharing my experiences with this printer to the online community with the hope to create a better system for all to use.  I sincerely hope 3D Systems (the manufacturer of the Cube 3D printers) keep as close an eye on this forum as I know many users eventually will and take heed of the feedback, successes and at times rage this printer gives us. 

Happy...er Cube 3D printing.

Dan

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