Need help with new 3D Printer

1,158 Views | 15 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Duncan Idaho
cgh1999
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AG
My son just bought an Ender 3 printer which we put together last night. I'm trying to help him, but I am way out of my league with technology.

He said the filament is not sticking to the bed. Any trouble shooting suggestions?
dtkprowler
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AG
What kind of bed does it have? Glass, tacmat? Usually if it isn't sticking to a stock ender bed, you don't have the bed levelled correctly. If filament is coming out and just not staying down, could be the nozzle is too far from bed. Also, is your bed heating up?

What type of filament and what temp are you printing at?

For my ender3, I replaced the magnetic mat with a glass bed and I use glue stick to keep prints down.
HossAg
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AG
In college, the most common issue with it not sticking to the bed for me was the bed not being hot enough. Gotta let it heat up a decent amount before you start the print.
cgh1999
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AG
Thanks- we messed with it based on these suggestions and it appears to be working.
Not a Bot
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AG
Half the fun in 3-D printing is problem-solving for stuff like this. So many variables.

Best thing to do is play around with temperatures and keep good records. Just find a good small test project and print it using different variables to see which works the best. Even for the same material, different brands will work better at different temperatures. Different types of materials will stick differently. A lot of trial and error to get things right.

First thing to do is to definitely make sure the bed is level and nozzle height is correct.
JTA1029
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AG
And make sure there is adequate tension on the pulleys. This wouldnt cause bed adhesion issues but it's another thing to keep in mind down the road.
dtkprowler
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AG
JTA1029 said:

And make sure there is adequate tension on the pulleys. This wouldnt cause bed adhesion issues but it's another thing to keep in mind down the road.
I hear this over and over and over so I consider myself lucky and to have a unicorn machine on belt tension. I tensioned once and haven't touched it since. Had every other problem in the book lol but not this one........ yet......
Courtesy Flush
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AG
My son also has an Ender 3. It is the Ender 3 Pro if that matters. He has printed the stock items that came with the printer and now he is trying to download other designs from the internet, transfer them onto an SD drive and then print them.

Is there a website that is recommended to download designs for free? What is the file type that we should download to print from? He was on a site called Thingiversee and downloaded an .stl file but when he transferred the SD card to the printer, the printer did not recognize the file.

I would gladly pay someone in the Houston area to come to our home and give me and my son a tutorial on how to use this printer. My son is really eager to learn how to use this printer and I want to take advantage of his interest before he switches to something else.
boy09
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AG
You'll need slicer software to turn your .stl files into gcode that will run on the printer. Cura is probably one of the most popular ones.



Teaching Tech has a TON of great videos that'll help you out along the way.
dtkprowler
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AG
Like boy09 said, you need a program called a "slicer" to get a file in a format your printer can understand. A "stl" file is simply a 3d model. Your printer does not inherently know the best way to convert that into the single layer lines used in 3d printing. So, you have to run a stl through a slicer (I use cura as well with my ender3Pro) to create the gcode file, which is the actual instructions on how to achieve the full print. Tells your printer when to move each of its motors, where to move them, and how much.

I would recommend browsing this guy's youtube. He is basically the godfather of ender3 printers. Knows everything about them and great tips to get the most out of them.

https://www.youtube.com/user/beginnerelectronics

His Ender 3 specific playlist

It can be a tough and frustrating hobby to learn. I've rage quit several times due to failed prints. But it can be super rewarding if you keep at it.

Hope this helps out, but if you have any specific questions, I'll monitor this thread! Good luck!
Quad Dog
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AG
My son's 3D printer doesn't have a heated bed. When we do more complicated prints that we are worried won't stick to the bed, we just use a glue stick to make the bed stickier.
Duncan Idaho
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One thing tk keep in mind is that the enders are hobbyist devices. They require care and feeding and constant tinkering. But that is half the fun.

The teaching tech videos are fantastic and he is a website that will walk you through the process of tuning your printer.

The CHEP guy on YouTube has good shorter videos and really focused on the ender type machines and great insight into using cura.

The worst thing about the YouTube guys is that you will find yourself thinking "he's right. I absolutely need to upgrade to a new main board and flash a customer firmware. ".

To do a print the process is pretty simple.
1) download and configure cura for your printer
2)Get the STL file. - either download a model from thingiverse or make your own with tinkercad.
3)import the STL into cura
4) slice the file to get the gcode file.
5) copy the gcode to your sd card and use that to print the file.

UmustBKidding
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Glue stick, hair spray, blue painters tape, Kapton can all help adhesion. But also the type of filament matters. Good level bed without warps is important. Also using a brim will be useful. A PEI sheet for the bed might be worth it.
Heated bed not absolutely necessary, but forgives lots of sins.
UmustBKidding
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All FDM 3d printers are fiddly, and there are lots of people that are not wired to work with devices that are. Know people that have bought multi thousand dollar thinking they would be set and forget devices, they are not. You will have to figure out your workflow for the device, filament, slicer even the environment the printer lives in. Lots of good videos, the Chuck Hellebuyck (CHEP) channel has downloadable configs for cura on ender and test objects. I personally recommend start by printing objects to enhance your device to tune your work flow. For ender3 things like z axis support and know, filament guides are good simple things to learn with.
Don't let things like failed prints kill the fun they are part of learning to be successful.
boy09
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AG
UmustBKidding said:

All FDM 3d printers are fiddly, and there are lots of people that are not wired to work with devices that are. Know people that have bought multi thousand dollar thinking they would be set and forget devices, they are not. You will have to figure out your workflow for the device, filament, slicer even the environment the printer lives in.
I bought a Prusa Mini+ about 6 months ago. It's about as close to set it and forget it as you're going to get i think, and it still requires a bit of tinkering.

I'm curious how easy a Prusa would be to use for a true beginner. My perspective may be a little skewed after already having experience with a cheap-o Chinese i3 clone and an Ender 3. Now the Prusa feels like a Cadillac compared to those 2.
UmustBKidding
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Ender 3 is light years ahead of my thingOmatic and my flashforge original creator. Ender3 is dialed in better then Ender 3V2 and Ender3 Max here. But have no problem printing 92 shore hardness TPU, PLA, ABS, or PTEG on any of them.
Have found none that novice has been successful on first try. Pre baked flow with prusa for sure shortens learning curve but still not zero.

Duncan Idaho
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I agree the enders are great machines and that all FDM printers require fiddling.


I just wanted to make sure the poster asking for help understood that and wasn't expecting something closer to a traditional paper printer.
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