Can I just clarify something with regards to how the printing works…
A layer is created, ideally, should this layer be cooled as much as possible before the next layer is printed on top? If I went and bought 5 desk fans and aimed them all at the printer, would that do anything? what about putting the printer outside? it’s 1c currently…
Okay, so basically the printer simply will not work unless I find some way of printing the thingiverse ctc printer fan duct and install an additional 24v fan?
The problem here is that I cannot print the fan modification duct as the printer doesn’t work well enough. You need cooling to print the cooling! Catch 22!
Unfortunately there’s no magic answer here. This will all depend on the type of plastic being used. You will find there is a sweet spot. 5 house fans might be a little overkill, you will need some heat to get good inter later bonding, but then it must cool before the next layer. The print head is also a source of heat that will deform the lower layers. For your particular situation, a fan blowing across the printer, as well as a 20mm cube as tall as your model. This second model will pull the print head away for a bit of time.
The fan pointed at the motherboard is a good source for that fan. It was put there by makerbot to address a voltage regulator problem that our bots don’t suffer from. Generally you print a second duct with your first poorly printed duct, with much better results.
Have you calibrated the nozzle like I mentioned? Holes are usually under extrusion. How’s your extrusion multiplier?
again I suggest proftweak. Many people will be able to help you tune the printer. If you don’t have the y pillow blocks I suggest you download and print them as well. Will improve printing substantially. Your problem sound like tuning, the printer out of the box is decent enough with proper tuning. I did not have decent prints until I calibrated the nozzle, mine was over extruding.
Do not point fans at it, that will cool the extruded and your print will fail due to clogging or the firmware will stop the print for the inconsistent heating
The fact of the situation here, is a rookie user is attempting to print an advanced model on a bottom of the barrel knock off of a clone. I am not saying that this is impossible, but this is not a good start print. Overhangs, unsupported hat brims, facial features, this is a very complex model being printed. Redirecting to Google Groups This is the Google group, that I manage, you might find some good information here. In a much easier to read format.
Hi Adam, agreed, I certainly am a rookie user!
I didn’t know that the model i was attempting to print was an advanced model, I thought it didn’t matter what it was you just load the model and print it. and if the temperatures are correct and bed is levelled, everything should pretty much work out of the box. But since learning that the model I am trying to print is a bit more of an advanced model it makes me feel a bit better that I cant get it to work after 8 attempts!
I’ll do as I’ve been told as well and calibrate the nozzle, download proftweak, and make some pillow blocks. I’ll get on over to your group on Google as i presume i’m not the only person struggling to get good results with this printer.
I have to argue the point about this printer being a bottom of the barrel knock off. I thought this printer was rated the second best printer on 3d hubs? That was the basis on which I bought it. 
Ah haa - I get you. I’ll get all the nuts and bolts mentioned on the Google link above and do that mod as well.
That is the next thing on my list. I figured i’d get the basics done right, like levelling the bed and getting the temps right. but yes this is important. I’m not sure what the extrusion multiplier is?
I have downloaded, installed and run prof tweak. I have duplicated a profile (the Makerbot PLA Standard) and saved it. and opened my new custom profile in Proftweak, and can see all the different settings.
I’ll get on with calibrating the nozzles and i’ll also download and print pillow blocks (i’m not sure what these are yet!)
With regards to Nozzle calibration. from my Googling it seems like the Nozzle calibration is to calibrate the distance between the two extruders. I found a post on thingiverse about nozzle calibration. But it doesnt say how do do it, or what model to print. Is there a guide anywhere on how to calibrate the nozzle?
Thanks for your patience!
Search Ctc nozzle calibration
I will disagree with this being a bottom of the barrel knock off. This printer is the best for its price you can get. Mine prints just as good or better than a maker not and I have used a maker it before. Needless to say I did some mods that make the printer substantially better but it was all printed with the same printer so to me that is a win win. I printed a better extruded block, y pillow block, glass bed, filament guide and sailfish no nozzle calibration with s3d. With those mods I can set it and forget it with confidence that it will print. So again, this is. Great printer that just needs minor mods that you can print yourself and make it better it just as good as a maker bot. At the end of the day calibration and tuning for every model is essential for good prints. The more you print the more you know what works and what does not. Also according to how the models print you can tell what needs to be tuned to make the model better. This comes with experience though. We are all happy to help and I think you made a good choice in printer.
Hi Eduardo, when I search that it comes up with a small round model … And instructions for prof tweaks.
nowhere on the page is it clear what you actually need to do, what do you do? Print the model? In the link? Measure what? It doesn’t make any sense to me, the chap who made the model in the link said he followed the instructions, what instructions is he on about. I really don’t understand. And I can’t seem to find percentage multipliers in prof tweaks either!
am I missing something here?
OK, lets all just take a step back and get to be friends again. CTC is an copy of an open source design, they took from flashforge. CTC as a company does not have the best reputation, in my opinion ( i don’t want to be threatened by another employee of CTC with litigation ). If you look at the 3dhubs results, from past years, you will see people being very happy with the output of the printer but lacking quality control from the factory. My printer came from the factory with un-insulated wiring to the heater cores, blowing up my motherboard. As to being the bottom of the barrel in the rep 1 clone world, well there is the monoprice version that has no heated bed, but this printer has not kept up with the advances of either flashforge or Wanhao. The current crop of clones now come with all metal Z stages, improved filament pusher drives, more durable 4x2 ptfe liners, not to mention mighty-boards equipped with 2560 processor, led drivers, extra cooling fan mosfet installed. You even said yourself that you had to do all these “mods” to get it to work. With all that being said, its a fine printer that once you really get to know it, and how it works you will be very happy with it. After owning mine for about 2 years it is the plug and play machine that I anticipated buying, but it was definitely a frustrating journey.
What are you slicing with? makerbot has become more and more hostile to the clones and burying settings deep inside makerware. I don’t personally use it, I use S3d, so I can give you and advice there. I have read reports of needed up open python eggs and recompile them to change some things. If you would like a copy of makerware 2.4, the last version to contain an update pertinent to our machines email me at adamcooksatgmaildotcom and I will send you a link, its a free dropbox account so i wont post that link publicly.
http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/tuning-slicer-calibration.html#x27-670005.1
This is essentially the 3d printing bible. Please follow the calibration steps there. the 20mm 100% infill cube is the proper way to calibrate these machines.
A good rule of thumb for setting filament temps, hotter prints will come glossy, cooler prints will be matte. for high detail PLA printing you will want less of a sheen then appears in your pictures.
That’s mine. I made the model and instructions. If you go under instructions it says what to do and what to set in proftweAk. I’ll try and take some images later
I am not arguing. I am not a Ctc employee. I am just happy with what I bought and think it’s a decent machine for what I paid. I agree with all your statement but the price for a flash forge or a wanhoo in comparison to a Ctc is almost double. So again yea the printer lacks many things and Ctc could have a much better product out of the box if they applied quality control and some slight design changes. I am just a happy customer that after having my machine for a year I can print anything I want in any material and not have to baby sit. I burned my mb too. My fault since I shorted the heater cartridge by mistake. But you live and learn. It’s a frustrating journey, I agree but once you get to know the printer it works rather well. S3d makes a huge difference as well. Cuts set up time and prints so much better. No one is arguing here Adam.
Hi Eduardo, the link to the page on Sailfish was very helpful and I was able to follow the instructions…
My filament was 1.80mm not 1.75mm as it should be.
I have printed the box at standard speed (90mm/s extrude, 150mm/s travel). And the box seems to miss some of the top lines. so I reduced the Feedstock multiplier by 0.05 to 1.0.
the roof is nice and flat - the box is 19.69mm x 19.38mm - I guess its nearly impossible to get it to print at 20mm to match the size on the computer.
At least all the lines on the roof are present. but there are gaps in between them. It seems that it is not over or under extruding as the roof is flat. - see IMG_0508. - temp was 200c
I then chose to increase the temperature from 200 to 205, but leave everything else the same. the print has come out a little better than the 200c print. - See IMG_0510.
After calibrating the nozzles, i’ll try the pilot again and see what happens
That’s good progress. Keep
working at it and learn from it.
Will do! I guess as this is all new to me I’m not sure how good a block can be. Currently trying to print the pilot again, but forgot to turn off 100% infill! So it’s taking a while!
