Better support setting

When doing overhang printing, support material is very important. I found out a setting which is very good support setting for my TOM, so I just record it down for my own reference.

Interface infill density (ratio): 0.4 (0.3-0.7)’
Interface Layer Thickness over Layer Thickness: 1.2 ( also 0.7)
Support Cross Hatch: No.
Support Flow Rate over Operating Flow Rate (ratio): 0.7 (0.4-0.7)
Support Gap over Perimeter Extrusion Width (ratio): 0.005
Support Material Choice: Everywhere Support Minimum Angle (degrees): 35.0



you can go to the site to see the original post.

http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2011/06/27/makerbot-microtip-using-the-support-features-in-skeinforges-raft-tool/

ABS glue

As my makerbot print area is kind of small so most of my model need to split into a few parts to fit the print size of the machine, therefore I'll need some glue to stick those parts together.

I found some tutorial teaching people how to make their own ABS cement. And it looks very easy to make one.

I find that kind of hard to buy Acetone in Singapore, I found that many people asking around where to buy Acetone in Singapore. I can't fine the Acetone like what you see in the image below, but you can buy a 80ml one in pharmacy like Guardian, please note that not all Guardian sell Acetone, you got to try your luck and ask around.

I tried to ask at some paint shop, some of them don't sell Acetone, some got but not sure whether it's the pure Acetone. Maybe you can try and share the result.



you can visit the site below for details:
http://www.protoparadigm.com/2011/12/abs-glue-weld-cast-texture-and-more/




Below are what I copied from the blog for my own records.

Looking for an easy way to permanently fuse printed parts? Want to smooth, texture or paint printed walls? Need a way to cast ABS at room temperature? All this and more awaits you with this handy concoction.

Here’s a handy concoction to have on hand when working with ABS regardless of whether or not you use a 3d printer. We’re calling it ABS Glue (thingiverse ‘thing‘), and it’s pretty awesome. So far we’ve used it to…

• Fuse printed beams and assemblies
• Fix broken parts
• Smooth & Texture ABS surfaces
• Cold Cast ABS in printed PLA Molds
• and More! (spoiler: Glow-in-the-Dark ABS Rocks)

MAKE IT!

Warning! : This mixture is a basic ABS Cement and as such all the same precautions should be taken as when using store-bought ABS Cement, especially providing adequate ventilation during use. At no time should anything be dumped down the sink. Acetone and skin aren’t friends, try not to let them spend much time together. If this mixture gets on your hands, there is the possibility of absorption through your skin from the defatting caused by the Acetone. This isn’t finger paint.

From which you make ABS Glue

Gather Materials:

• Nail Enamel/Polish Container (or other solvent resistant container, preferably with a brush set in the cap)
• Acetone
• ABS Filament of choice
• Something with which to clip above filament
• Rags are handy for messes

Assemble:

1. Empty and Clean Nail Polish Container

Acetone is the active ingredient in nail polish so a good rinse at full concentration should do an effective job of cleaning it out. Once clean, fill container approximately half full and seal the cap. (Acetone is highly volatile and will quickly evaporate away if the cap is left off for too long)

2. Fill container approximately half full with Acetone and seal.

Acetone is highly volatile and will quickly evaporate away if the cap is left off very long

3. Snip filament into pieces

4. Drop into Acetone until container is about 3/4 full

5. Swirl and wait

If your impatient like me you’ll go back and check it EVERY 5 MINUTES to see if it’s done…it won’t be. Light concentrations can be ready to use in under an hour, heavy mixtures can take as long as day to be fully suspended.

6. The mixture should be ready when it is relatively free from lumps and of the desired consistency. Add more Acetone or filament to get needed thickness (if you filled it only 3/4 full there should still be room).

“Say, how thick do I want this stuff anyways?”

Basic welding needs less filament, casting and painting does well with more, smoothing and texturing is anywhere in-between depending on the degree to which you wish to modify the surface. If your bottle is left open too long the Acetone will quickly evaporate leaving a pudding-skin like texture; simply add more Acetone and mix.

I keep a bottle of each filament that I commonly use so I am able to match it to the job. Natural is always a handy one to have around as it contains no added pigments.

Black - Natural - Neon Green - Glow

Wait; Glow? Yes, this process works with Glow in the Dark ABS (Don’t have any? We have half pound coils in both 3mm and 1.75mm).

FUSE AND WELD

We originally started using this to create beams longer than the build envelopes of our printers. Fusing separate pieces together is as simple as brushing some of the glue along the interface and gently pushing them together. Depending on the type of joint and the amount of glue used it can take a few minutes to fully set. Once set, the joint is often the strongest part of a print. This beam of Plastic T-Slot is made from 4 pieces and has a total length of over 400mm.

There it is, a clean good looking seem. Fusing multi-part prints and repairing broken pieces is now quick, easy and looks good. I love it.

Speaking of fusing. If you’re having trouble with prints sticking to the build platform, painting a bit of this on the bed before hand can go a long way towards keeping that part flat on the print surface, just be careful when you try to pry it off.

SHINE AND TEXTURE 

A use that definitely has potential and one we have had reasonable success with is using the brush to smooth, shine or texture a surface. A smooth glossy surface is difficult and would take a bit of experimenting with different concentrations and brush textures. Sanding before helps though is not necessary. On the beam below you can see how different amounts of ABS Glue produce a different effect. The top right side produced a very smooth surface using less than the face below it but more than the quick brushes done on the left, it all comes down to experimenting.

Placing wax paper or Polyimide Tape covered aluminum over the surface until it sets is another option to try. Want a bumpy surface or porous look, try pressing heavy grit sandpaper onto the surface. Scales; a mesh screen. Similar methods are used with Sugru. Here. However unlike Sugru, which cures, you have the opportunity to repeat the process as many times as you like.

COLD CAST ABS

The suspended ABS mixture can also be poured into casts to create, well, anything…To show this we printed the ProtoParadigm Logo set .5mm into a block of PLA.

The PLA isn’t affected by the Acetone and will evaporate away leaving the ABS Behind. Multiple applications will completely fill the mold with ABS. To create a smoother surface, I found it helps to pour a little straight Acetone or a light mixture of Acetone and filament on the top. I don’t think this would work where large amounts of ABS need to be deposited but for small things it works quite well.

MORE!

Paint Glow-in-the-Dark ABS on a mirror or glass and send a friendly message to your house-mates.

A Shining Example

Lower your life expectancy by bonding a glowing thermoplastic to your nail. (Please don’t though)

A Probably-Bad-Idea Idea

If you make some of this stuff and find it helpful or come up with other cool uses. Tell us about it. Or better yet, take a picture and send it to us at pics@protoparadigm.com.

Update: It has correctly been observed that MEK (also available at hardware stores) can be used instead of Acetone. MEK will provide a longer working time which may or may not be beneficial for your application. It is in general a more active solvent, better at dissolving ABS, but also a bit more nasty a chemical.

Safety switch red light on - Solution

You can refer back to Safety switch red light on

I've search through internet and found nobody have the same problem as mine, and I write to Makerbot support they can't gave any solution to this issue either.

But I manage to get this problem solved, guess what did I do? I just do a few tabs in the thermostat and this magical tabs just solve the problem.

Don't ask me how come it work in this wat like some ritual or black magic act. At least now I'm using it like normal and whenever the issue come again I just do a few tabs on the termostat.

Safety switch red light on

The safety switch tripped only when the thermal core is over heat. My problem is the red light was on ever since I first turn on the TOM.

When the first time I encounter this issue, I found a solution here saying that tighten the thermostat connection will help and it solve the problem, but I when I turn the TOM on at the following day, the red light on again, and I couldn't solve it by tighten the thermostat connection.

I'm still looking for solution at the moment, and found out some other possibility cause of this issue.
I made a copy of the info for my own record:


EC output voltage fail (and safety cut-off) in the middle of print when ABP temp above 100/105 -- Power Supply (Cooler Master) Problem?

I have a problem with my prints failing due to the safety board tripping in the middle of a print.   The temp of the ABP is not really that hight as I have monitored it closely during prints.  The issue only occurs when I have the ABP temperature above 100/105 (e.g. 110, 115, 120).  The red light comes on, but the machine keeps trying to print (but no longer extruding due to temperature of the extruder being too low)

Measuring the input voltage from the extruder input into the safety volt is less than a volt after the failure (which leads me to think it is the power supply and not the safety cut-off relay).   Further, if I switch the system off, I am unable to switch it back on for about 10 minutes (indicating the power-supply is in 'safety' mode or whatever).   I  In the middle of a build the safety board trips and seems to kill power to the extruder. 

I think that the power-supply is tripping and  causing the safety shutoff to trip (because the temperature is no longer at the built-temperature...too low or due to input voltage dropping).  

Does this happen for anyone else?  Does the Cooler Master 460W just suck?  Or do I have more serious things going on? (EC board failure of some kind).  

Any ideas on how to diagnose this?   I will check the input voltage to the EC and post results.  

Off printing cause by the loosen belt

Print 29 shows that the X axis idler belt must be loosen. As sometime screws can be loosen up due to the vibration during printing.

So I just tighten the belt, and come back on the following day to test but still it happened again, so I dissembled the cover and found out the both screws of the idler pulley drop out. Maybe I didn't tight the screw enough at the first place.

No choice I have to dissembled the Y-stage, took out the motor and assemble them back.
It solve the problem.

Challenge the sphere again

So far I haven't finished any sphere printing yet, therefore I tried to print again this time. 

Test print 19, fail agian. The side of the sphere warp and cause the nozzle ran into it.

Test print 20, the bottom of the sphere shrank, I'm not sure what's the problem. Could it because of the over hang problem? Temperature of the plastic no even? Size of the sphere too small? But at least I got a sphere looking object, although it looks more like a mushroom.

Test print 21, again the nozzle ran into it. Failed.

Test print 22, the size of the sphere is bigger than Test print 19, I give it a wall to keep the temperature the same I hope i works, and also drive away the nozzle by printing the wall instead of keep moving on top of the sphere, so that it have some time to cool down.

Compare of 2 spheres. I know it can't be compared as they are different size. Just for a record so far what I've tested.

Filament not feeding

Currently I'm still using the filament that came with the Makerbot TOM. It have no spool, so I just lied the entire row of filament beside the machine, it'll get hair wired once in a while and I need to untied them.

there was one time they really too hard to fix with no choice I just cut the filament and feed it again, and then there was where I face another problem, the filament was not feeding, it just stuck there and I can hear the clicked jamming sound from the driver pulley.

I found some possibility problem from Makerbot Wiki on When Things Go Wrong

I dissembled the stepstruder clean the driver pulley teeth in case some plastic clogged in between them.
Removed the crooked filament that block the entrence of the thermal barrier.
After making sure there wasn't anything clogged in the plastruder, then I put them back and test. It still jam.

I repeated a few times on the above action and I decided to try press and push the filament into it, and it actually can come out from the stepstruder but when I stop pushing it stop. I have to keep pushing and let it run for some time and then it solve the problem, but after this incidence it'll still jam a little bit whenever the beginning of new print.




Below are what I copied from the site:

Damaged Plastic Filament 

Rarely, the toothed drive pulley manages to etch an indentation into the plastic filament. As a consequence, there is nothing for the drive pulley to push against, and the filament doesn't advance.
One way to fix this condition is to apply some physical pressure, pushing the filament into the Plastruder. Eventually, the filament will advance past the damaged section, and the drive pulley will start grabbing the filament again.
Alternatively, you can put the Plastruder into reverse, and gently pull the filament back up and out of the plastruder. You should be able to physically inspect the filament to confirm the problem. Then, use a pair of scissors to snip off the damaged section of filament, and feed it back into the Plastruder.
This can also be a symptom of the idler wheel being too loose to adequately grip the filament. If the teeth of the pulley do not sufficiently indent the filament, the teeth created will have insufficient strength and be striped away, creating a 'flat spot' where it will be unable to advance. Try adjusting the idler wheel slightly tighter than the 2mm guide rod, or even as tight as possible as it will not adversely affect its operation.


Misadjusted Idler Wheel Tension

It's easy to get the tension in the Idler Wheel wrong. If the Idler Wheel is too loose, the drive pulley won't grab and push the filament. We had difficulty with our Idler Wheel tension because we tried to adjust the tension after fully assembling our Plastruder, with the Plastruder electronics in place. It turns out that it's hard to get a wrench in the right place if the Plastruder is fully assembled. Instead, it was useful to adjust the Idler Wheel tension with the Plastruder on a benchtop, with the electronics off to the side. Initially, our team was concerned that making the Idler Wheel too tight might be problematic. We found that we were able to fix the Idler Wheel at its closes position to the drive pulley, and everything worked great. The plastic filament was crushed between the pulley and idler wheel, but this turned out to be a good thing. The pulley applied good, constant pressure to the filament. One word to the wise: do be careful when tightening down the nuts holding the Idler Wheel in place: acrylic cracks easily under pressure. Using washers to properly fill the space along the Idler Wheel bearing is crucial to having a snug fit without breaking the acrylic.


Filament Slipping Off Idler Wheel


On one Plastruder, we observed the plastic filament slipping to the side of the Idler Wheel. The filament would then be pushed against the wall of the Plastruder, where it would jam. Some customers were able to adjust the position of the Idler Wheel by moving washers from one side of the wheel to the other. However, my team resolved this problem by taking two Idler Wheels and super-gluing them together, creating a two-panel-thick Idler Wheel. This Idler Wheel was easier to position and worked perfectly the first time. Note: we don't recommend using this technique on mk4 or later extruders! See a more detailed discussion of this technique here: DoubleIdlerWheelDiscussion


Filament not going through the nozzle

If you find that your filament is blocked somewhere inside the white thermal barrier, it may well be that it got blocked at the entrance of the heater barrel: the thermal barrier hole may be larger than the heater barrel hole, creating a thing edge around. First, make sure that you have heated the plastruder well (a good 2 minutes at working temperature) before inserting the filament. That should help soften it to negotiate the opening. Second, if you still are having problems, before inserting the filament take some sanding paper and sand the edge of the filament into a point. That should make the filament properly align itself in the hole.


Flossing the teeth 

If you get repeated jams that seem to go away if you push on the filament from the top or if you back the filament out and cut off the stripped piece and put it back in, then you probably have clogged driver pulley teeth. The only effective way to fix this is to take apart the plastruder and pick the plastic out. If you find yourself doing this frequently, it might be helpful to leave out the first screw on the motor (the inside one) so you can easily remove the motor by taking out the other three instead of disassembling the whole plastruder. If, however, pressing down on the filament only helps a little and it just gets more stuck and stops, then you probably have a clog in your nozzle (possibly caused by Burning Plastic).