What's New In The 3D Printer World

3D Printer Terms and Definitions

Ok Scott here again This time I'm going to start with another basics the parts and terms commonly used in 3D printers. I plan on adding images to most ares but until then I figured this will be a help for some of you. If you have more to add feel free to send me a message or email. I have not added printer layout types and not done delta terms yet but I will get there.

  1. Frame – Holds the full printer together. This can be metal, acrylic or even wood.
  2. X axis motion – movement on the printer from left to right.
  3. Y axis motion – movement on the printer from front to back.
  4. Z axis Motion – movement on the printer up and down.
  5. Extruder – Takes filament from the spool and pushes it to the hotend.
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Brandon Stadthagen
Awesome read!! Keep it up, this should help clarify the parts for better troubleshooting!
Tuesday, 12 March 2019 22:46
Scott Worthington
Thanks just trying to help feel free to help me add more... already added a few more terms love seeing things like this increase b... Read More
Tuesday, 12 March 2019 22:50
Scott Worthington
I can add smoothers just need to figure out the best way to describe them because they are a mixed feedback item some swear by the... Read More
Wednesday, 13 March 2019 17:35
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Tuning and Speeding up Prints

     OK so Scott here again  and while I have been busy working on getting my new office / lab around I figured I would take a little time to put together a new short article based a few of my facebook post as a way to help the community tune their printers and speed up their prints. 

    one thing to remember is even if you have 2 printers brand new out of the box exact same make model everything both will need their own tune because of the variance in each part or piece in the printer. 

When it comes to tuning it should be the exact same steps to tune the X5S as an I3. 

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Chris Whynot
Thanks Scott for your help.
Friday, 09 November 2018 20:42
Justin Drake
I hope you can find time to show pictures of this print and point out what settings in S3D to adjust any mishaps. Ie. bridging,und... Read More
Saturday, 01 June 2019 05:59
Scott Worthington
I dont plan on doing images or anything for this as the s3d site already has that stuff covered and the link is already in the art... Read More
Saturday, 01 June 2019 13:26
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Rundown on printers

      OK Scott here again like normal. A lot of people have asked me to do reviews or feedback on different printer or ask me what I think of a new printer out and while I can give my overall view of the new printers as to what I can see being good or bad about them I can not and will not do any true rundown on any printer or product I have not used. With that said I have offered my thoughts on several printers that I do not own but please always keep in mind it's only based on what I see....  while I have other printers I’m not going to include them here as one is no longer on the market and the other is custom built by me (still in process).

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High Resolution Printing in Shorter Time

    Here at C3D we haveve been experimenting with how we can get the best quality prints in the least amount of print time. One idea that has been explored before is to combine infill for a certain number of layers. While similar features had been implemented in most slicers (Cura, Slic3r, Simplify3D) here is our take on it.

 

Minimum requirements1. Cura 3.2.1 or later2. Internet connection

Installation

1. Download the BoostedGcode.py python script from:https://goo.gl/6CGQQR2. Copy the file to Cura’s PostProcessingPlugin Script directory.    How to find the folder:    a) Mac: In the Menu click Help->Show configuration folder    b) Windows: In the Menu click Help->Show configuration folder3. Restart Cura

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Scott's Printable Printer Upgrades List

    OK Scott Here again. I keep getting asked what parts I use on my printers so I figured I would build a list. starting with general parts. Now this list is just for the printers I have. I’ll also add notes about each as I build the list. Now this is by no means all the parts I have on my printers as some of them I don’t have links to some are prototypes of my own design and some I just didn’t think of it’s also not the only options for these designs as I’m sure most of them have copies or versions out that might work better for each person. I will try to update this as I find or design other parts. Or if you know of something worth adding to the list let me know.

Misc printer related items

Bowden tube cutter

I designed this after seeing a bunch of issues caused by Bowden tube not being cut straight

Bowden tube cutter

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Steve Czerepak
Scott: I am having a problem with my X5S... I can run my X axis left and right with no problem.. ...... when I run my Y axis away... Read More
Wednesday, 13 November 2019 02:35
Scott Worthington
Sounds like I binding or rubbing issue
Wednesday, 13 November 2019 13:08
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Chitu G code Explained

        Once again Scott Here to see if I can’t help you understand the something else I have seen questions about in the 3D printing community.  This Time around I’ll go over the G-code used By Chitu on their F mini control board and other custom made control boards used by Tronxy and several other companies now. This control board comes on the Tronxy X5SA, X5ST, X5S-E2, XY-3 and XY-2 to name a few.
 
PLEASE NOTE CHANGING THESE SETTING WILL change your printers behavior. Therefore I do not recommend changing settings yourself without understanding what each setting your adjusting does.

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Scott Worthington
What you need to do to turn on heated bed is open notepad then type m8027 t1 M8500 Then save file to SD card. Then go to file ri... Read More
Friday, 27 April 2018 14:16
John Shummy
So unlike marlin you can upload seperate commands instead of the whole file?
Friday, 27 April 2018 20:22
Scott Worthington
Yes your uploading g code to change setting not complete firmware
Friday, 27 April 2018 20:23
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Tronxy X5S to X5SA Upgrade kit installation

          OK Scott Here again like normal. This time I had a little help from Norman Gilman with some pictures and a few of the steps, helping to get my mind in gear to write this. Now please note Neither Norman Or I installed these setup with the auto bed leveling because we use glass beds to thick for the factory blue sensor to see the bed through the glass.

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Tony Nutt
great guide! how do you like the E3d mount you have in the picture? I am debating which one to do before I do my upgrade
Wednesday, 06 June 2018 14:41
Tony Nutt
So I completed the Upgrade last night I turned on the power had the touch screen was working well. turned it off and now i turn it... Read More
Sunday, 10 June 2018 17:14
Mike Bentley
ive only just installed this kit having putting it off for 6 months excellent no problems and its far better than the original dri... Read More
Wednesday, 13 March 2019 02:12
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How to Install a Post Processing Scripts in Cura 3.2.1

A PostProcessingPlugin Script is an easy way to modify gcode before it gets written onto disk.
A Python script is executed and handed over the full gcode.
The script is expected to return a gcode as a list of lines.
Here is how you do it.

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Csaba Garay
Unfortunately Cura 3.2.1 indeed has amnesia about post processing script settings and currently there's no way to save them at all... Read More
Wednesday, 18 April 2018 02:49
Csaba Garay
My understanding was that this feature (saving state of post processing plugins) is missing from 3.2.1. Great to hear it is suppos... Read More
Wednesday, 18 April 2018 15:42
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Flashing Tronxy X5S Factory Control board USB Cable only

Ok so Scott here again, this time I decided to go ahead and take things to a simple level based off a write up done by Syed Muhammad Shaheryar. I have seen so many comments and issues with people flashing firmware to their factory TronXY X5S control board, now this should work for flashing the firmware on the X3S as well but the firmware I included will need some edit work unlike for the X5S. This Version of Arduino IDE will work just like any other but it can be installed on a thumb drive or SD card  and moved from one computer to the next without having to install anything on that computer. it should also work on other boards but I have not tested it.

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Scott Worthington
By doing it this way You can copy the same file onto a thumb drive and run off ant windows computer. and use to flash other boards... Read More
Saturday, 24 February 2018 01:52
Scott Worthington
If you do not fallow it step by step this might happen. If you had arduino installed before you must remove it first as this versi... Read More
Tuesday, 06 March 2018 19:23
Scott Worthington
While I have seen this work on Windows 10 I have also seen it be an issue if you have another Windows 7 computer I would try that.... Read More
Tuesday, 06 March 2018 19:32
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Power Supply Fan Replacement

           Ok So Scott here again recently I started to hear a noise coming from my power supply unit (PSU), so I decided to replace the fan with a quiet one. I choose to use a mini kaze (60mm) fan to keep it quiet as well as work well to keep the PSU cool. Normally I start by showing you tools needed but in this case all I needed was a screw driver so I’ll skip that step and add in a the normal caution to make sure the PSU is turned off and unplugged.

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Scott Worthington
No the fan listed barely fits anything thicker would more than likely need added to the outside of the case.
Monday, 27 April 2020 13:40
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Mk7 / Mk8 HOTEND ASSEMBELY REBUILD

      Ok so Scott here again lately I have been seeing a lot of post and comments about the factory Tronxy hotend so I figured I would go ahead and write up a quick tech article. While this is not the only way to rebuild or assemble the hotend assembly this is the way I do it. This also works on the E3D hotends I have but the throat is different on them. So let’s start with a few tools.

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Scott Worthington
this part of the site does not have a upload options. the forum does.
Thursday, 15 February 2018 22:53
Scott Worthington
Normally I start out tightening it before it's cold then heat it up and check make sure it did not change.
Wednesday, 23 January 2019 20:01
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G Codes and M Codes for 3D printing

          You can customize the beginning and ending code that your slicer adds to the gcode files it produces to automate certain tasks or produce a more desired behavior. Below are suggestions for these codes.

For a list of gcode commands and their usage continue to the bottom of the post.

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Dan Gould
How about printers that have dual extruder heads? Are there codes for those? Thanks Dan
Friday, 09 February 2018 13:49
Dan Gould
I think it would need to recognise T# as a Tool selection. More investigation needed by me I think. I'd like to modify my Tronxy X... Read More
Friday, 09 February 2018 13:53
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Flashing firmware on to stock TronXY X5S control board

          This tutorial will help you flash some real firmware on to your stock TronXY X5S control board, using a separate Arduino Uno board as the programmer. It’s not meant for any other board, period. Just the stock one specifically. No others. If you try it on a different board and it doesn’t work, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

It is also written under the assumption that you're running Windows. If you're on a different operating system you'll need to take the appropriate equivalent steps. If you don't know how to do that you'll need to find a different set of instructions. :)

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Scott Worthington
I posted a copy of my full firmware in the downloads area of the forum. so no need to edit the files or anything.
Wednesday, 17 January 2018 22:46
Norman Gilman
What advantages does this have over the stock 1.1.7 firmware currently on my new X5S?
Thursday, 18 January 2018 17:33
Scott Worthington
factory firmware is not a true 1.1.7. 1.1.8 has assisted manual bed leveling lot faster responce from the controls and reads the s... Read More
Thursday, 18 January 2018 17:38
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Tronxy X5S Build

What’s in the box?

 

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How to calculate power requirements of 3D Printer & safeguard Controller

          Most new users to 3D Printing buy a kit due to the low cost in owning one, however
most do not have any engineering background. This in it's self is not an issue as we
want to encourage new users to this fascinating hobby,
but can cause problems when users decide to modify or upgrade, repair their printer.
The power supply that come's with you printer has some marking on it regarding to the power "WATTS", however most will not show the most important factor the
number of "AMPS" the Power Supply will actually deliver......

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Stepper Driver Current Adjustment

           Well Seeing as How I’m new to writing articles like this and this is the first one I have had published anywhere I am going to take a second to introduce myself a little.

          My Name is Scott; I’m 38 married with four kids, and an Air Force Veteran, I have my associates and bachelor degrees. I also have an electrical and computer numeric controlled (CNC) background. I have two CNC mills as well as a CNC lathe and two 3D printers, which is what brought me here.

          Over the past few months I have started to see more and more questions about setting up and also tuning various 3D printers and their options. These articles will not be published in any order. They will cover whatever comes to mind at the time that I sit down to write. I tend to write the way I think and speak in my everyday life I am straight forward and NONE of that “you must do things this way”……. I will simply be writing how I do things right or wrong, it works for me and I hope it will work for you as well. 

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Norman Gilman
Very comprehensive article. Skimmed some as its getting very late here, but should certainly be useful. Keep 'em coming.
Tuesday, 12 December 2017 23:47
Scott Worthington
Thank you... That was the first of many hopefully I just have to get my head around the next one... but we will take articles writ... Read More
Tuesday, 12 December 2017 23:50
Jorge Andrade
Hi Scott, here is the translation on Spanish of your article. I tried to respect your style, and on the pictures i put a text box ... Read More
Saturday, 23 December 2017 21:10
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