Ender 3 Pro - an unclogging story

 

For many years I did prints without any problem, then recently, while trying some new filaments, I started to experience clogging events, one really bad.

Hopefully these notes can help to know what to do in a clog event.

Ender 3 Pro - PID tuning

Normally the printer is coming with already stored some calibration information.

One of them is the Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller for the temperature of the hot end and the bed.

It is necessary to execute the PID in case sensors are changed or just to be sure everything is OK.  

Updating the Ender 3 Pro - the controller

 

After 1 year of playing with the 3D printer Ender 3 Pro I decided to do some upgrades.

Changing the controller to improve accuracy, speed and noise, changing the display to better locally control some options and add the BLTouch, to simplify the leveling.

This article is about changing the controller and the TFT display

A family size UV sterilizer - intro

In this time of COVID is necessary to sterilize often things, like masks and objects.

To do so I decided to build an UV-C Box Sterilizer.
UV lights are used to sterilize object since ... forever :). On the market exists UV sterilizer for phones and small objects but this is the point, is not easy to fit in it many objects.

Thus the idea to build a bigger box capable to easily sterilize everyday objects, including facial masks and small PPE.
I will update this article every time I will add more information/details about the construction/test.

3D Printing - repairing a Jlab headphone

For many years I did buy a headphone from a company called Jlab.
They are cheap (< 30$) and very good sound quality and comfort.

I think I did buy so far 4 or 5 headsets and the reason is because after a while they broke down.

Finally I was able to repair one !

3D Printing - knob replacement

I was asked if it was possible to print a replacement knob for a diagnostic machine.
This article describes what I did and the results.

The knob is for a laboratory machine, a thermal cycler S1000, from Bio-rad.
The knob is in plastic and is quite big.

3D Printing - Covid mask #2

Crazy time !  Another 3D print of a mask that claim to protect from the virus.

I am kind of skeptical about the feasibility and functionality of such solution, then I did find some people pointing out to a project.




At this time I'm NOT endorsing in any way to use this mask as real solution since too many questions are unanswered !

3D Printing - Covid mask #1

Crazy time !
I was asked if it was feasible to print a facial mask to protect from virus, to be used by normal people or also for medical teams.

So I decided to run some tests and see first hand some feasibility and if these can somehow works.

I am kind of skeptical about the feasibility and functionality of such solution, then I did find some people pointing out to a project.

At this time I'm NOT endorsing in any way to use this mask as real solution since too many questions are unanswered and potential CO2 accumulation is possible !

3D Printing - OctoPrint camera support

Another article related to OctoPrint.

OctoPrint supports to have a camera to monitor the print area, so that remotely is possible to see how a print is going on and eventually stop it if something wrong is going on.

I had around a nice Logitech Webcam C270 and it works perfectly with OctoPrint on Raspberry Pi.

So it was only matter to find a way to attach it permanently to the printer.

3D Printing - Updates and Problems

After some initial success prints, I started to have problems.

Basically the printer had big problems to start successfully to print the first layer, no adhesion to the plate and thus prints totally ruined.

Also, it ended up one time scratching the plate with the nozzle, sign that the leveling went berserk !

3D Printing - Adding Emergency Stop Button

Another article related to OctoPrint.

Sometime things can go wrong during a print.

If using OctoPrint to start/control a print, not always you can quickly go from the printer to the website in order to cancel the print and stop the printer.
Also using the printer console require some time to go on the stop.
Would be nice to have a Stop button.

IMPORTANT !  It is assumed OctoPrint is running on a Raspberry Pi connected to the printer !!

3D Printing - Tests

After tests, finally found a decent slicer running on Linux and Mac : Ultimaker Cura, but I found the version 3.6.0 working much much better than the latest one (4.4.1)

Let see some print finally, after changing the bed calibration springs, re-calibrate the printer and cleaning up the printing area.

3D Printing - OctoPrint

Many 3D printers, including the one I choose, the Ender 3 Pro, can be autonomous, meaning you simply save the file you want to print on a SD card, insert it in the printer and start the print.

However is much better to be able to monitor remotely what the printer is doing and even load remotely the file to be printed.

OctoPrint allows to do so.

3D Printing - Ender 3 Pro USB powering problem

The  problem arise when the Ender 3 Pro is connected to a computer via USB.

The connection between the two is via USB and the connection bring also the power (+5V).

In my case the computer is a Raspberry Pi 4 running OctoPrint.

3D Printing - The beginning

Time to buy, install and use a 3D printer.

What exactly should be done before to buy a 3D printer ? What is necessary to know ?
How to choose a printer ? 

My experience.