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Nico teWinkel's Blog Learning to 3D Print
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  • Author Author: ntewinkel
  • Date Created: 29 Oct 2022 1:05 AM Date Created
  • Views 1924 views
  • Likes 11 likes
  • Comments 14 comments
  • 3d printer
  • Creality
  • Ender 3-Pro
  • filament
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Learning to 3D Print

ntewinkel
ntewinkel
29 Oct 2022

I've had my 3D printer, a Creality Ender 3-Pro (from element14/Newark here), for a while, and I've printed random things like project cases, coins, and fun things with it.

The prints usually came out alright. especially when printing with the Creality PLA for which the Creality slicer has its own special settings.

When I first got the printer, I also picked up some ABS filament locally, second hand but still in air-tight wrap, but I was never able to get great prints with them. Usually they were ok, but never great. The Creality slicer has a "Generic ABS" setting I was using for it.
Fun side note: the ABS settings are hot enough to melt the magnetic mat that comes with the Ender 3-Pro! Let it cool down before trying to remove the print. So I have a new mat now Smile oops.

Then recently I was able to add a few extra colours to my filament collection, through a shopping cart prize here at element14. Those are all Multicomp brand PLA.

However; when I went to print with them I was unable to get anything even close to decent on my printer! That's when I realized that, even though they are all PLA, the temperature ratings are very different than the Creality version. Where my Creality filament is rated for 180-215, the Multicomp black is rated for 205-225 degrees C. No wonder it didn't work well!

So I realized that I need to take a step back and figure out what settings will work for me for each of these new filaments, before I try to print anything else with them. I watched a lot of videos on the subject too, and it seems that this is a highly recommended step anytime we get a new roll of filament, regardless of experience! Good to know.

Last night I posted a question in the 3D printing section (thank you for the help!).  Gough Lui and rsjawale24 shared some excellent knowledge and gave me some extra pointers on how to proceed.

I decided to blog my ongoing experimenting here, in case my journey might be helpful for others in the future. And also maybe something I might need to refer back to Slight smile

Re-Starting my 3D Printing Journey

I thought I'd start with the very first step again: printing the lucky cat that came pre-installed (in g-code format) on the SD card that came with the printer. When I first got the printer, I recall that cat printed out amazingly well - very clean, very detailed.

I printed it with the white Creality PLA (Print temp is marked as 180-215).
During printing the display says it's printing at 200 degrees, with bed at 45 degrees C, and FR (feed rate, I assume?) at 100%.

Ender 3Pro display for cat print

Room temperature by the printer is about 20 degrees.

And the print came out perfect! All the fine details too.
I don't know what kind of magic they are using, but I've never had any of my prints come out like that, even with the same material while specifically choosing "Creality PLA" on the Creality Slicer.

Creality Ender 3 Pro Lucky Cat 3D print

It did take almost 6 hours to print, and it's only 7cm tall.

ps, that PLA has always just been stored in a drawer - not in any airtight bag with desiccant. The art studio does tend to have generally nice dry humidity levels though.

Next Steps...

I'll try printing some little calibration cubes next, to see how that goes. Starting with Creality white as above, and then I'll try the new Multicomp black PLA.

Edit: turns out my problems were due to a cracked plastic extruder lever on my Creality Ender 3 Pro.

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Top Comments

  • ntewinkel
    ntewinkel over 2 years ago in reply to rsjawale24 +1
    I'll give the Ultimaker one a try, thanks for the suggestion It looks like the MacOS Creality Slicer is Cura based (the old Windows one is very different) for the UI and g-code generator, but hopefully…
  • ntewinkel
    ntewinkel over 2 years ago in reply to robogary

    Might be worth checking the same. I see others mentioned that same issue for your printer: https://www.thingiverse.com/groups/monoprice-select-mini-owners/forums/general/topic:18724  (as well as some other things to check).

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  • robogary
    robogary over 2 years ago in reply to ntewinkel

    Monoprice Maker Select 3D Printer v2 

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  • ntewinkel
    ntewinkel over 2 years ago in reply to robogary

    robogary , what kind of printer do you have?
    My issue on my Ender 3 turned out to be due to the plastic extruder arm being cracked! the crack is hidden under the filament feed wheel.

    I blogged about it in more detail...

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  • ntewinkel
    ntewinkel over 2 years ago

    The cat came out mostly ok with the Multicomp black PLA. I used the same g-code but with higher temperatures.

    I think the thin layers were actually due to the filament on the spool jamming up a bit - it was definitely tight a few times I came in.
    The spool uncoiled a fair bit on me recently, which I think caused it. I unrolled it far enough that I'm pretty sure it cleared the cross overs.

    In any case, the rest of it printed well, with nice solid results.

    creality lucky cat with Multicomp PLA

    I think those little test cubes were probably not the best for proper testing, other than for dimensional accuracy. I'll try the heat towers next.

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  • ntewinkel
    ntewinkel over 2 years ago in reply to robogary

    >I wonder how to evaluate when a nozzle is worn out
    I don't think I've printed enough that it could already be worn out, but I decided to buy a new set of nozzles just to be able to rule that out. Some places recommend replacing them regularly, so it's worth a shot.

    I also bought an all-metal upgrade for the filament feeder thingie, just in case that plastic one is slipping (apparently they can crack and weaken).

    It wasn't too expensive, about $20 USD for all of it.

    I tried a nozzle clean too - warmed it up, pushed some white filament in, cooled down somewhat, and JOINK! out comes the mucky bits... I was surprised how dirty it was, but it may have been leftover black filament making it look worse. I did a repeat and it came out super clean looking. The next print was no better though Shrug

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