So ... 3d Printers....

[nitrogen_widget]

I ordered a returned aquila x2 from allie express.
they sent me an ender 3 pro.
the carriage was bent.
the extruder was missing
the spool holder was missing.
one of the limit switches was shot.
someone had also trapped the fan wires between the housing and the carriage and cut them/shorted them out.
so the main board cooling fan and part cooling fan were dead because of on board fuse.

I complained and they sent me what i actually ordered free.

sooo i bought an upgraded ender 3 board for $35 and the spool holder for $11.
i had extra steppers and metal extruders.
i  also ordered a cheap 3d touch for $12 and printed up a new hot end cover with dual blower fans for cooling and 3dtouch holder and added a magnetic sheet and switched to a .6 nozzle.
it prints pretty good.
i also added silicon bushings in place of the bed springs.
i haven't tried to assemble the X2.

i just added a pei sheet and z braces to my sidewinder.

i'm working on designing mounting brackets for the skr pico and the rock64 to mount inside the longer.
and when i say working on it i have someone else's bracket models and planning to just merge them and add tabs so it can mount in the case.
I also have the stuff to build and input shaper though i'm not trying to go crazy on the speed. i'd settle for 100 or so mm/s perimeter speed with no ghosting.
i'll probably need better part cooling also.

[nitrogen_widget]

the stepper from my parts bin i used for the extruder on my ender 3 pro stopped working.
new one is coming.
also the cooler i printed up never really fit properly and the fans were flexed a little and now after a few weeks straight of printing are going bad.
so i printed up what i hope is a better cooling bracket.

[eds1275]

I've been using mine non stop for like 6 months, maybe more now. I print a lot of stupid crap but also lots of practical things, a lens hood for my canon 100-400L, a handle for my table saw fence, boobs for my lego. Working on my he-man halloween costume and my daughter's she-ra. Some arcade parts, specifically a mount for the sensor bar for my ultimarc guns.

[nitrogen_widget]

I've been using mine non stop for like 6 months, maybe more now. I print a lot of stupid crap but also lots of practical things, a lens hood for my canon 100-400L, a handle for my table saw fence, boobs for my lego. Working on my he-man halloween costume and my daughter's she-ra. Some arcade parts, specifically a mount for the sensor bar for my ultimarc guns.

nice.
i've probably burned through 20 rolls of filament on some of my printers since last fall.
eventually they do end up needing maint.

[JudgeRob]

Dang Badmouth, that dual extruder looks very ambitious!  That will be awesome when you get it working. 

So I have been lightly rocking the Anet A8 for a few years now and am looking at some of the high speed units to upgrade to.  Any thought on these two?

Creatlity K1:
https://store.creality.com/products/k1-speedy-3d-printer?sscid=81k7_aolwq&

Bambu P1S:
https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/p1s?variant=41211805696136&sscid=81k7_aof80

Kind of pricey but with those speeds and enclosure, it seems like they could be a good deal.  I am trying to find out more about the K1...

[BadMouth]

Dang Badmouth, that dual extruder looks very ambitious!  That will be awesome when you get it working. 

So I have been lightly rocking the Anet A8 for a few years now and am looking at some of the high speed units to upgrade to.  Any thought on these two?

Creatlity K1:
https://store.creality.com/products/k1-speedy-3d-printer?sscid=81k7_aolwq&

Bambu P1S:
https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/p1s?variant=41211805696136&sscid=81k7_aof80

Kind of pricey but with those speeds and enclosure, it seems like they could be a good deal.  I am trying to find out more about the K1...

I'd lean toward the Bambu.  It just seems more plug and play with less fiddling.  The question is will parts be available when everything wears out in two years?  Probably yes. 
Just in case..... are you going to get your money's worth if it only lasts two years?  If so then it's a no brainer.
Belts, print surfaces, wiring, bearings, sometimes heaters all start giving out after a couple years if you enclose them and run them a lot.  It doesn't matter which brand.
Personally I'd get the P1P and slap some ugly polyiso sheet insulation on the sides and clear acrylic on the front.

It's getting harder to justify building my own.  I threw extrusion offcuts and spare parts into a "Tiny-M" which is basically a Voron V0 with bigger extrusions.  It was going well until it came time to order the rails, some extra hardware, & bed/bed heater.  I'm going to end up with $200 in a junk build when a brand new V0 kit can be had for as little as $400 and a Bambu P1P for as little as $530.

All the issues on my IDEX got worked through and it is both fast and reliable. After I updated it from a Voron 1.8 to a Trident, progress started being made on the more official "Tridex" and a good number of people are building those now.  It works well and is reliable, but the 250mm bed keeps coming up short for the things I want to print so I'll be transplanting it into a bigger frame soon.
The size of the bed is an even bigger issue now that copy and mirror modes have been added to Klipper firmware.

I did some beta testing for it:

[JudgeRob]

Thanks for your thoughts.  I am going to take a closer look at the Bambu.  IDK why but it seems to have a larger backing behind it.  I just saw a video showing the "poop chute" on the backside of it.     It's pretty incredible how it self cleans the nozzle and takes care of so much of the prep stuff I thought would always be part of setting up a print.  So cool to watch the evolution of these things. 

Your video is pretty sweet with the dual extruders.  It looks like they are racing each other.  I think you said one might be used for dissolvable supports?  That would be a dream man.  I hate removing those ---smurfing--- supports!

[JudgeRob]

I think I am going with the Bambu P1S.  It looks incredible.  Now I have to decide on the AMS add on.  I was hoping it would be more like $150 instead of $250, but it looks like it would be really convenient. 

[nitrogen_widget]

I have everything i need to rebuild 2 dead printers into klipper machines.
except time.
longer lk5 that i don't even want to go faster than 100.
a dead vyper where the strain guage died and i decided i was done with that nonsense.
printed up the stealth burner head.
have a new print head board to accept bltouch.
have an orange pi with klipper installed.

just need time to do it.

but now there is the 7" touch screen with klipper installed that can just replace the SBC.
not the creality one, the other one that is opensource.

but i still have two perfectly runing printers, one that needs a new thermister and one that i'm assembling so i don't feel pressed for time.

[pbj]

Which one of you beautiful men can print the ones for megadrive / genesis 2?

[PL1]

Which one of you beautiful men can print the ones for megadrive / genesis 2?

FIFY.   

1. Plain, accented, or both?

2. What color(s)?  Black, red, green, yellow, gray, blue (PLA) or white (PETG)


Scott

[pbj]

Accented black, kthx.


(Maybe one of both?)

[PL1]

Accented black, kthx.

(Maybe one of both?)

Accented and plain in black PLA.

Might take a few days to print and prep them for shipment.

I'll PM you the tracking data once they're on the way.   


Scott

[eds1275]

I have a big exciting win for myself, courtesy of 3d printing.

Value Village! $7.99, a Sears Craftsman router table missing all accessories. I printed a plate that I can slide my small router (Milwaukee Fuel cordless) into, making it tool-less to add and remove. I printed a vacuum splitter so that my mini vacuum can attach to both the router dust port and the dust collector up top I printed, and some feet so that when I mount this to a board it will lock into my Packout tool boxes.

[Fursphere]

I think I am going with the Bambu P1S.  It looks incredible.  Now I have to decide on the AMS add on.  I was hoping it would be more like $150 instead of $250, but it looks like it would be really convenient.

After this:  https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/16/23064592/bambu-print-asleep-cloud-outage 

I wouldn't touch a Bambu.   Always connected, forced cloud service usage?   Nope.  Count me out. 

I started with a generic Chinese printer (Tevo Tornado), and then after I learned my lesson I bought a Prusa MK3s.  Should have started with the Prusa. 

it.just.works

[BadMouth]

I have a big exciting win for myself, courtesy of 3d printing.

Value Village! $7.99, a Sears Craftsman router table missing all accessories. I printed a plate that I can slide my small router (Milwaukee Fuel cordless) into, making it tool-less to add and remove. I printed a vacuum splitter so that my mini vacuum can attach to both the router dust port and the dust collector up top I printed, and some feet so that when I mount this to a board it will lock into my Packout tool boxes.

Nice.

[RandyT]

I wouldn't touch a Bambu.   Always connected, forced cloud service usage?

I always imagine that 3D printer cloud servers are located at Chinese injection molding companies, where their motto is "Your prototype is our new product!"  But that might just be paranoia talking.

If something needs an unnecessary network connection for it to even work....No way, no how.  That's not paranoia, just good sense.

[lilshawn]

just throwing my hat in the ring... just bought an Ender 3 pro... it went on pretty cheap so I got it.

after printing a few things to make it better/more reliable and adding a sheet of 1mm glass under the magnetic bed... it's pretty good and reliable to print with.

gonna update the firmware so i can use mesh leveling, then i might be able to ditch the glass sheet.

[lanman31337]

just throwing my hat in the ring... just bought an Ender 3 pro... it went on pretty cheap so I got it.

after printing a few things to make it better/more reliable and adding a sheet of 1mm glass under the magnetic bed... it's pretty good and reliable to print with.

gonna update the firmware so i can use mesh leveling, then i might be able to ditch the glass sheet.

Get a BLTouch or CRtouch if you don't have one already.

[lilshawn]

Get a BLTouch or CRtouch if you don't have one already.

Yeah i'm going to get a CRtouch for it as well as a dual Z drive. i haven't decided on a dual z motor kit, or the kits that transfer the Z from the one side to the other with a belt. both seem to have their own advantages and disadvantages.

updating the firmware to have mesh bed leveling really improved things. I also hard mounted the bed instead of using the adjustable spring mounts... since i was using a better leveling method than the original one point level there was no need for it.

just as a side note, why is getting marlin firmware such a pain in the absolute ass? people talking about building their own firmware and having to download like 3 programs and modifying cfg files and editing code and removing remarks and adding remarks to take stuff out.... crap, like, I'm not new to computers and microcontrollers and stuff, but this is another level of ridiculous. is it so hard to have a bunch of the mainline 3d printer firmware just available for download? yeah if you roll your own 3d printer and need a custom deal then sure... download the main marlin package and modify all the stuff and build your own... that is expected... but crealty, elgoo, prusa? the bigger names out there? all have to deal with this? man. i can see how people brick their stuff if they aren't careful.

[BadMouth]

This is why people make such a big deal about Klipper.  Everything is in a plain text printer.cfg file.  Want to change something? Just change the cfg file in the web UI (mainsail or fluidd) and click "save and restart".  All it does is stop and restart the klipper program running on the pi.  No other programs or devices need to be restarted.  It it usually ready to go again in about 8 seconds and if you screwed something up it tells you where the problem is.  Sending the file to print via the webui spoils you as well. 

If you have any unused raspberry pies or spare PCs laying around, check out a tutorial on  installing the mainsailOS image.

I just built another printer out of spare parts and it is being run by a pi zero v1.3.  Couldn't get any wifi dongles to work with it, so using a usb hub with ethernet adapter built in.   I could spend $15 on a pi zero 2w, but meh.   It prints fine, but the zero isn't powerful enough for a webcam or input shaping.

[BadMouth]

Did a quick search & the first tutorials to come up look outdated.
This one looks good, at least the first few minutes I watched.
https://youtu.be/N41JY1Gukuk?si=KWiJxOzJbPbMA2hD

[lilshawn]

I have heard of klipper, but i know nothing about it. kinda seems like it just plugs in via usb and sends gcode directly through to the controller... then you just send your slices to the pi instead?

i do have a pi zero w kicking around... but apparently according to klipper there isn't enough processing power there to do it (well anyways)... i may just try it anyway and see if it ends up being an issue.

i do have some actual real mini ITX computers i could maybe use one of those. something to look into i guess... maybe a project for next weekend if i don't end up busy anywhere else.

[RandyT]

You may want to look into Octoprint.  There's also a 3rd party fork for Android.  I bought a number of LG G6 "retail demo" phones and flashed new firmware on them.  For about 30$ per printer, it adds WiFi, a web interface, a touch screen and a webcam.  Not sure if it will solve firmware issues, but if the printer works properly with G-CODE, you should be able to post-process your files to do whatever you need to.

[gamepimp]

I have heard of klipper, but i know nothing about it. kinda seems like it just plugs in via usb and sends gcode directly through to the controller... then you just send your slices to the pi instead?

i do have a pi zero w kicking around... but apparently according to klipper there isn't enough processing power there to do it (well anyways)... i may just try it anyway and see if it ends up being an issue.

i do have some actual real mini ITX computers i could maybe use one of those. something to look into i guess... maybe a project for next weekend if i don't end up busy anywhere else.

I just picked up a Creality K1 that uses Klipper firmware. You can use a web interface like Fluidd or Mainsail to access the firmware configuration file. You basically open it up like a text document, make whatever change you want, save, and restart the printer. It can't get much easier to tweak things. A lot of folks will use a Sonic Pad or Big Tree Tech Pad to add Klipper to a machine currently running Marlin. The pad does the processing and tells the controller board how to move the printer. Plus you get a nice big screen for your printer. Win-win. Klipper gives you the ability to adjust pressure advance and input shaping with an accelerometer. There are also lots of other calibrations that can be done through macros. It certainly has made fine tuning my printer a much easier process.

[lilshawn]

You may want to look into Octoprint.  There's also a 3rd party fork for Android.  I bought a number of LG G6 "retail demo" phones and flashed new firmware on them.  For about 30$ per printer, it adds WiFi, a web interface, a touch screen and a webcam.  Not sure if it will solve firmware issues, but if the printer works properly with G-CODE, you should be able to post-process your files to do whatever you need to.

I just picked up a Creality K1 that uses Klipper firmware. You can use a web interface like Fluidd or Mainsail to access the firmware configuration file. You basically open it up like a text document, make whatever change you want, save, and restart the printer. It can't get much easier to tweak things. A lot of folks will use a Sonic Pad or Big Tree Tech Pad to add Klipper to a machine currently running Marlin. The pad does the processing and tells the controller board how to move the printer. Plus you get a nice big screen for your printer. Win-win. Klipper gives you the ability to adjust pressure advance and input shaping with an accelerometer. There are also lots of other calibrations that can be done through macros. It certainly has made fine tuning my printer a much easier process.

I got lots of android phones and pads and stuff kicking around... i'll have to look into this.  thanks <3

[BadMouth]

kinda seems like it just plugs in via usb and sends gcode directly through to the controller... then you just send your slices to the pi instead?

i do have a pi zero w kicking around... but apparently according to klipper there isn't enough processing power there to do it (well anyways)... i may just try it anyway and see if it ends up being an issue.

Yep, the pi handles the heavy lifting and sends basic commands to the control board.  Only downside is that the commands are sent in small batches, so aside from hitting the kill switch (which is instant) a command won't be processed until the last batch has finished.  It's only noticeable if you know to look for it.

The pi also runs a web ui which can be accessed through any device on the home network with a web browser.

A pi zero will work, it just won't have enough power to send a webcam stream or use the input shaper function.
The input shaper function allows the printer to run faster by avoiding resonant frequencies that cause artifacts at higher speeds.  The more aggressive settings will round corners a bit, but the settings are up to you.

There is a plugin called Klipperscreen that will allow you to use the old android phones as screens, but I haven't used it.
I am happy with the web interface and have started building printers without screens.

Just install mainsailOS on the pi zero w via Raspberry Pi imager and poke around the web ui.  That will give you a feel for it without committing much time.
I did it on an original Pi zero and it worked.

[lanman31337]

Those of you with an ender printer - I use this site here for my firmware - https://marlin.crc.id.au/

Also, I use Octoprint on of all things, a 30ish dollar android tv box. https://www.amazon.com/T95-Mini-TUREWELL-cortex-A53-Streaming/dp/B07SM8WTBT/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1KAW4SK9EUEJN&keywords=android+tv+box+t95+mini&qid=1697737466&sprefix=android+tv+box+t95+mini%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

You can load armbian onto it, latest firmware here - https://forum.inovato.com/post/where-can-i-get-the-quadra-firmware-12449387

[lilshawn]

Those of you with an ender printer - I use this site here for my firmware - https://marlin.crc.id.au/

yeah, that's who i got mine from.

[lilshawn]

does this look like it's just under-extruding? or something else?

freshly opened new filament, it says 210 =/- 15 degrees so i'm printing at 200 (like all my other stuff). 100% infill so it's not hollow.

[PL1]

does this look like it's just under-extruding? or something else?

Hard to tell on a print like that.  Could be the extrusion rate.  Could be the slicer trying to deal with the varying widths/angles of the model.  Could be the angle.  Could be the nozzle size is too large/small.   

Try printing one of these with the settings mentioned in the "Thing Details" tab.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3695183



There are also a number of temperature/bridging/stringing test prints on Thingiverse so you can find if that 200 degree setting + extrusion rate + retraction setting is ideal for your printer/filament or not. (not sure which print to recommend)


Scott

[lilshawn]

i tried a couple different flow tests and it seems to be set properly (IE the best looking one is the 100% setting my printer currently has as default)

normal flat areas with the diagonal fill look fine with this filament... could just be how the printer/slicer is doing the last layer in this particular item since they are thin?
maybe applying a perimeters overlap might help...

so much learning curve to this 3d printing. 

[PL1]

i tried a couple different flow tests and it seems to be set properly (IE the best looking one is the 100% setting my printer currently has as default)

OK.  That eliminates that variable.   

normal flat areas with the diagonal fill look fine with this filament... could just be how the printer/slicer is doing the last layer in this particular item since they are thin?

Is this an .STL that you downloaded from somewhere or are you generating the .STL from a font or .PNG using a program like OpenSCAD?

Does Meshmixer report any errors/flaws in the .STL?

Do you see the gaps in the slicer's layers/path preview or are they nice and even like the diagonal green lines in this pic?



You could also try slightly scaling the overall size of the print up/down, if size isn't a critical parameter.
- It looks like the slicer doesn't have enough room to fit another vertical pass into the vertical strokes of the "P" and "E".
- If you're using a 0.4mm nozzle and the width on those vertical strokes is aroud 2.6mm, there's more than enough room for 6 passes (2.4mm), but not enough for 7 passes. (2.8mm)
- If you up-scale the print by ~7.7% (2.8/2.6), you add half a nozzle-width to those vertical strokes which might make enough room for a seventh pass.
- If you down-scale the print by ~7.7% (2.4/2.6), you remove half a nozzle-width from those vertical strokes which might take away the excess room between the six passes.

If size is a critical parameter, you could try slightly repositioning or slightly rotating the model along the Z-axis and reslicing.

Of course, you could also try some spray paint after using either high-build primer or print smoothing epoxy to fill in the gaps on the print.


Scott

[lilshawn]

- It looks like the slicer doesn't have enough room to fit another vertical pass into the vertical strokes of the "P" and "E".

I have a feeling you are right on this one. The slicer probably just couldn't fit another pass in the space given and just filled it the best it could.

Size and font isn't a real concern here... There is a bunch of parents chipping in stuff and putting together some swag bags for the cheer team my daughter is on. They have a big competition coming up, so I figured I'd make some tags with the cheer gym logo and their team name on them. so really, it could be any size.

I just threw it together in Tinkercad just randomly picking sizes figuring this and that was about right size... exported the STL and sliced it in Cura, hit print, and didn't think much of it.

I'll take a look at the sliced preview in Cura later today and see if I see a gap like you mentioned. I hadn't really considered a line width multiplier being an issue I'd have to look out for, but in a smallish area, I guess it would be... but I'll first just size it up a little bit like you say and see how it looks.

Thanks for the insight!
I'll let ya know how it turns out 

[PL1]

I hadn't really considered a line width multiplier being an issue I'd have to look out for, but in a smallish area, I guess it would be...

I ran into that and another somewhat-related problem with the Ikari Warriors themed dust washer.

In this Cura layers view you can see the gaps in the numbers and missing lines compared to the regular view.
- Tried fine line widths of 0.41 and 0.45 with a 0.4 nozzle, but the slicer dropped some of the lines.
- Had to bump the fine line width up to 0.6 to get them all to slice/print reliably.



I used a Sharpie to make the lines and numbers stand out, and soaked the inside of the gaps to "fix" them on later prints.   


Scott

[lilshawn]

i don't see any gaps, but the difference between this preview and reality is likely not actually accurate width wise.

FYI, the width of the straight part of the P and E is 2.5mm.

i've seen mention of turning on "ironing". basically a 2nd pass on the last layer at the same z height with a tiny bit of filament extrusion to help fill in gaps and smash down any lumps that might be sticking out... i might give that a try too.

that's the fun part about 3d printers is it's basically free to try again...and again...and again...

[PL1]

Try downscaling 4% (2.4/2.5) or upscaling 12%. (2.8/2.5)

Two other variables that might make a difference:

Speed - If the speed is a bit high on the straight vertical passes, it might stretch the filament as it deposits it.
- If it loses contact between each vertical pass and the one before it, the deposited filament could cool and contract leaving the gaps.
- Notice that there is a little contact between the passes at the top and bottom, but gaps in the middle.



Temperature - If you bring the temperature up to 208 or 210, the filament should flow and spread a bit easier than it does at 200.  That could help maintain contact during these vertical passes.
- How well does the heater maintain temperature while printing?


Scott

[lilshawn]

- How well does the heater maintain temperature while printing?

it's spot on all the time. I've modded the hotend to remove the screws they put to attach the heatblock to the heatsink. of course if i crash it into the bed, it'll probably snap off at the heat break... but there was no real sense in having hot metal screws sucking heat from the heatblock into the heatsink.

Speed - If the speed is a bit high on the straight vertical passes, it might stretch the filament as it deposits it.
- If it loses contact between each vertical pass and the one before it, the deposited filament could cool and contract leaving the gaps.
- Notice that there is a little contact between the passes at the top and bottom, but gaps in the middle.

the 2 lines in the middle are actually deposited slightly lower than the outside perimeter. (according to cura) also according to cura the flow is consistent across the entire thing, so in theory.. it should be building up on the 2 lines due to the slightly slower speed. (unless it's being overcompensated for.)

i may also try bumping up the temp a little and see what it does as well. the filament is stickered saying it's good up to 235 (not that i'd go that high.)

i did print extrusion test parts with this green filament and had zero issues at 200, even bridges and stuff with no issues. i think it has to be the slicer and that weird size thing.

[BadMouth]

Your issue looks too bad to be caused by this, but worth a try:

Set extra infill wall count and extra skin wall count to zero.

I had issues with gaps at the edges of the infill and cura seemed to ignore whatever overlap percentage I called for.
The problem was that it considered that extra wall as infill, not a wall, so it did not add any extra overlap between it and the other infill/skin.

If you want to export as a 3mf file and upload, I will take a look.

[lilshawn]

sorry for the lack of update. i delayed this project... and then tend to forget things often these days. getting old sucks. but, here i am with an doozy update

i took the advice to embiggen the tags slightly and it did VASTLY improve the infill spacing. in my various tests, i did play around with increasing extrusion slightly (to 104%) which also helped close up some gaps but resulted in a bit of stringing and slight over extrusion in some really specific encounters... so i ended up dialing it back. i did increase overlap a tiny bit and it seemed to help as well. just a matter of playing around and seeing what combination works best.

i ended up settling on setting my extrusion up 2%, increasing overlap 10% and increasing the print size 12% and increased the printing speed (apparently this printer seems to perform better at higher speed (infill 100mm/s, internal perimeters 60mm/s, 2500mm acceleration) Turning jerk up to 20mm/s and AND printing external perimeters at the same speed as jerk...effectively turning it off. WEW! this also eliminated some of the weird bulging corners I was getting at right angles.

Apparently it's a nozzle pressure timing thing with the variable speeds they are seem to be trying to use when rounding a corner causes a sight overextrusion as it hits the corner and the molten extrude sort of rolls out the side of the nozzle kinda like a wobbly jello mould when you drive around the corner to grandmas house for christmas dinner. my theory about this is that keeping the speed linear when changing directions around the corner seems to keep the hotend pressure constant instead of spiking up when the nozzle slows down for the last few steps of the corner. but, i digress...

overall the project worked out fairly well. i ended up delaying starting this project because i wanted to upgrade some parts first. (which is also why i haven't updated till now)

I upgraded my Ender 3 pro with a CRtouch bed probe and an additional Z drive motor and lead screw so now it's dual Z drive instead of cantilevered and all setup for auto mesh bed leveling... so...basically an Ender 3 Max Neo (but with a slightly smaller print size and no touch screen)

dual z drive will help if i want to direct drive filament extrusion later.

after a firmware update, and a couple slicer config changes... I can't believe how much these 2 things have changed the quality of the first layers and how much messing around with leveling it eliminates... and the likelihood of success of those attempts to print.

where before i would have to restart about 90% of the prints 3 or 4 times to get good/proper bed adhesion... with these upgrades... I have since printed over 88 projects on the printer (i have a cat container on my desk that i peel off and put the purge lines from the successful prints in) and have maybe only had an issue 3 or 4 times and 1 of them was simply because an error in the configuration.  I had changed some parameters then forgot to save them and powered off, thus not having the proper parameters on power up again.

so with this new setup, I started the tag project. I ended up pumping out 28 of the tags in 7 batches of 4 in just a couple days (~8 hours per print), with one big session to finish off. the tags required a filament change part way through so i figure it had to be babysat, but i guess in the firmware update (thanks to marlin) they fixed the filament change gcode.

Before, it would move up away from the build... beep like 4 times... them move back down and continue printing. when it beeped i would menu over and select pause print, and change the filament by opening the extruder drive and ripping out the  filament and loading the new one, manually pushing it through to purge, then resume. it was kinda hit or miss and required some timing.

Now, it properly supports M600 command so it pauses and moves out of the way, unloads the filament and waits for you to load new filament. Then it loads and purges the nozzle... giving you the option to purge more, or continue...the whole shebang is basically automagic. so it made it super easy... just wait for the beeping and follow the on screen instructions.

all in all, it's been super fun learning the in's and outs of 3d printing. it's a steep AF learning curve to it, but it's awesome how many people there are that have the same issues, and finding so many people to help. it also helps that this model was so popular that literally 100's of thousands of them are out there.

also thank you guys!

merry christmas/xmas/holidays/etc/etc/etc
and happy new year!