𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑥𝑖

The 2 is a purge line, meant to clear any pressure in the nozzle and wipe it off before a print. It can be edited in your Start G-code on the printer settings tab > custom g-code on prusaslicer.

The 1 is a skirt, meant to get rid of any last few hanging bits of filament and start a clean print (sometimes the purge line doesn’t get everything off the nozzle). It can also be used to gauge any last minute adjustments to your z offset. If the nozzle is too close or too far, you’ll know before the print actually starts. I find that the skirt can be disabled if you’re using a brim, since it’s redundant at that point. Some who have fine tuned printers may opt not to use one at all without much issue. It isn’t meant as any kind of draft shield as another person said - that’s a separate setting. It’s just a failsafe for the cleanest prints possible, avoiding hanging bits of filament, blobs from built up pressure, and incorrect z height. The first layer is the most important so everything that helps the first layer helps the rest.

Not as fast as I’ve been spending 😇

Doubtful. The main reason I could see a 3D printer starting a fire is either thermal runaway, often caused by bad software (on cheap printers) or electrical issues. You can check your wiring and make sure that nothing looks loose and all of your cables are in good condition. You can also make sure that your printer firmware is up to date. It’s a Prusa right? I think you should be safe from software failure in that case, as they’re quality.

If you’re really concerned about it, you can also move your power supply, and even your mainboard, outside of the enclosure by using longer cables. This would keep the majority of the electrical components away from the foam and heated box. From my position I don’t see an issue, but that’s my personal opinion – not legally accountable information. I will say that Stefan on CNC Kitchen uses foam as well, to get rid of ringing in prints. If you decide to go through with it, just use common sense and check to see if anything is hot. You might also get some benefit out of looking into silent stepper motors/drivers and trying to make the printer itself quieter.

I think you’re right to complain, but at the same time, aren’t single use plastics much lower on the pollution scale than, say, the fishing industry or other industrial plastic pollution? It makes sense to reduce and reuse, I try - but also find it beyond helpful to have a bunch of (unorganized) baggies strewn about for things like loose screws, storing filament spools, organizing USB cables, etc. I could definitely use something like this instead of a black hole under my sink. I know it’s easy to judge – esp without the whole picture – and hopefully people aren’t polluting willy nilly, but curiosity is a better approach than judgment or shaming when it comes to changing minds, wouldn’t you agree?

One thing that I’ll add in is that I started with a similar setup, but I’ve heard it isn’t ideal to be turning your pi on and off all the time without a proper shutdown sequence. I have my printer psu and filament dryer both plugged into smart plugs. Klipper is connected to home assistant wirelessly so I can turn them both off when prints finish, at idle, etc. My printer is in an enclosure, and the psu, pi, and mainboard both sit outside to keep them from getting hot. Pi has its own charger. I don’t find it to be a burden to have the pi and psu both plugged into outlets rather than only having one plug. I find it to be a lot more stable for troubleshooting and any power issues that have come up.

Just so you know, I also started off with the teaching tech all in one electronics box. I spent a ton of hours modifying it for my particular sbc and printer. I guess I ran into issues when I would have to take out one of the boards to work on it, lol. The tolerances were really tight and it was just a pain to get it out from behind. I still have the pi+mainboard both in a box, but it’s a new one I designed later on that just sits on a shelf below the printer (wires come through a hole). I find it to be really useful for printing ABS and other hot filaments and keeping a clean and tidy enclosure.

Changing the nozzle isn’t hard, you just have to be careful. All you have to do is heat up the hotend, hold the heater block with a wrench, and use another wrench to unscrew the nozzle (you might’ve gotten one with your printer for this). Holding the heater block is mostly just important imo so that the torque doesn’t misalign other parts in your hotend. Remember that if you’re facing down, then screwing directions are reversed. So you would unscrew the nozzle clockwise (righty loosey).

After you get the nozzle off, I would push some filament through the top to get your clog out. Then you can put the same nozzle back on. The main time you would need to replace it is if you’re consistently having issues even after that or you’ve been using it for a while (the hole gets worn through bigger over time). You can also look into doing a ‘cold pull’ to get out clogs.

Of course your extruder would still work fine if you didn’t have anything in it because it’s only jamming due to trying to push something through a clog :p You have 2 zones in a hotend: the cold end (radiator) and hot end (heater block). Sometimes a clog can happen because of heat creep, where a bit of hot melted filament gets retracted up into the cold zone and resolidifies there, blocking the passage.

To add on to the other response you got, what you’re experiencing is called warping (corners lifting up). Slow down your first layer, I usually do mine around 20mm/s. And yeah, clean your build plate if you are getting curling and you might’ve touched the plate. Hand oils transfer easily. You can take off the removable metal sheet and wash it with soapy water. You can also spray or drip rubbing alcohol and wipe with a paper towel between prints. Use a brim and make sure your first layer height is perfect (too far can cause it to not stick well enough, and too close can cause a clog or messy layers). The first layer is the most important for a perfect print.

When you get a new filament, do be sure to check the temperature recommendation on the side of the spool. Sometimes different brands print at different temps. Different types, like PLA and PETG, print at different temps too.

If you got clippers with your printer, they can be used for a lot of things. You can cut stuff off of your prints. Typically what I use mine for is cutting the end of the filament into a point before I insert it into the printer so that it goes in more easily. If you pull used filament out, it will typically be melted and blobby on the end and harder to reinsert.

People will probably give me flak for this but I use the metal wire brush that came with my printer and brush it on the nozzle while it’s hot. You can buy extras online. It does wear the nozzle down ‘sooner’ since it’s abrasive, and it makes a bit of a mess, but it’s way more effective than trying to wipe it off imo. Cleaning the nozzle isn’t super necessary, but it will keep bits of charred filament from getting into your print and will help the nozzle last longer until you change it.

As for the question about putting your printer away, you don’t have to do that. I would be more worried about the people sticking their fingers in or near the printer than about the printer itself, lol. 3D printers have really strong frames and motors. They are really easy to take apart and replace things as needed, unlike something like a computer which is a bit more delicate with more electronics. I typically pick mine up by the top bar if I need to carry it anywhere. Just make sure that the printer is somewhere where it won’t hit anything if the bed is sliding out, and that as it’s homing or moving, the head and the bed aren’t going to catch on any wires. Do be careful with the motors if you’re ever interacting with the printing while it’s moving, they don’t care if there’s something in the way. :p

Like I said on your last post, I’m happy to help if you have any other questions 👍 I’m happy you’ve been enjoying your experience so much! 3D printing is the best hobby!

Siiiick 🤘

Hey sounds great! You’ve made a good choice. If/when you have any issues pop up that you need a quick solution to, I’ll be around :)

So you can get an Ender or similar printer for $100-200 and it would mostly work out of the box, but there is often a huge amount of troubleshooting that follows. I got a 3D printer originally to try to earn extra revenue but never ended up selling anything because the hobby took over for me. I spent hours learning how it works and hundreds replacing parts (trying to perfect my machine, not at all necessary). It’s a bit of an investment of time and money but you may find that you end up enjoying it and using it beyond the scope of your current project. It’s definitely something that takes a lot of commitment to learn unless you have a lot of money you’re willing to invest towards a more no-issue printer like a Prusa.

It looks like there are a ton of makerspaces in Seattle. If you have the time, you can actually often volunteer to use the machines for free. And it would give you the ability to use other machines there, like laser cutters. I actually also volunteer about a couple hours north of you at the bham makerspace. If you happen to be in the area and want help printing stuff – or you decide to get a printer and you want help learning how to do it, you should hit me up! I’m super passionate about it and I would be happy to give you advice or help out. :)

Nice design!! Also love to see the interactions you’re doling out. Keeps the community alive. You seem like a nice person!

What seems to be the issue? If you got those mesh numbers using a probe, it just indicates that your bed is unlevel. You can home it, then disable the steppers to move the hotend around, and do the paper test. If you haven’t leveled your bed before then you can google the paper bed-leveling test.

I say this because it seems like your bed is slanted downwards on the bottom-left corner (and/or slanted upwards on the front right corner). No offense if you do know how to level your bed though, if it’s some other sort of issue do let me know.

Glass is really hard to stick to. You’ve gotta get the z axis just right. I know it was working before but it happens. Don’t give up but definitely take a break if you need. Highly recommend putting down some purple gluestick, it helps a ton. It isn’t your fault if you’ve cleaned the bed, it’s gonna take some patience. Maybe look into getting a PEI sheet if you don’t have one? There happens to be a limited time deal on one your size (235x235mm, ender 3 v2 and aquila are the same) on amazon for $10: https://a.co/d/emfbtnc

Not a referral link or anything, but I really recommend one. They’re usually around $15-20. I haven’t touched my glass bed since I got one. Other than that honestly dude just go back when you’ve got more patience and download a bed leveling test print, and keep tweaking.

You can try a few things. Add a brim to the part in your slicer. Look at your first layer to make sure the nozzle isn’t too far (you can find pics online for this).

And mostly importantly!! You might not believe this, but even if all of your settings are the same, you can get finger oils on the bed over time from grabbing prints. Wash the surface with soapy water and spray/wipe with rubbing alcohol between prints. Use a glue stick or hairspray if you’re still having adhesion issues. Make sure that the bed is 60-70 and that the first layer of first few layers are slow. You want a good base, that will keep the part from detaching from the bed.

Check out the Positron! It’s the most portable one I’ve seen. The guy behind it, Kralyn, been providing the plans to the community so you can make it yourself.

https://youtu.be/ZAPaOevoeX0

https://github.com/KRALYN/PositronV3

Since he’s released it to the public, it’s possible that you might be able to find someone else selling them commercially rather than having to build it. The latest version is V3. It’s so small it can fit into a filament box!

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