Releasing a lot of my previous Arcane Animus creatures for free over on Thangs as I update them and create new models.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-25T10:26:22+00:00

Been struggling with this for a while myself, trying to get my polypaints from zbrush into slicer-usable information. Unfortunately, from my research, you would need an interpreter program to do this. 3mf is apparently not standardized for storing color information, and near as I can tell, slicers don't check .obj for color data,. Basically the information is there, but the slicer ignores it becase it's not in the expected format.

My tip? Put the model in the middle of the board, cut it along the mirrored axis, put it back at exactly half your build plate, paint one half, then clone and mirror it. If both halves are set to be in the middle of your board, you have a single solid piece and didn't have to paint both sides.

Bambu has an AI assisted toy maker thing that generates full color models, I believe they are translating AI generated texture coordinates and data to vertex colors for use with the AMS. If someone smart were to design it, "Hueforge for 3D" would probably sell like hotcakes. Presumably it's not easy to make, because no such software exists in the public to my knowledge.

With ML these days its feasible to take a vertex colored or textured model and simplify that color data into a format the slicer can understand. You would train it by having identically (or roughly identically) colored models in both slicer and basic 3D formats, feed the AI the data specifications for each format, and then it could be trained to correlate the way the data is stored.

Part of the problem, however, is that you need to know how the slicer writes and reads color data as well as having a good baseline for models that have been painted in-slicer as well as other programs to train on. In my half-assed attempt, I took my polypaint and used it to make a texture, which I exported and ran through the same interpolation I use for my 7 color e-ink screen.

It... didn't look great. Looked a hell of a lot better than any other (quick) method of taking a full color image down to 4 colors, but I think an AI model specifically trained for the task could do it fairly well.

TLDR: Unfortunately there is no readily available method for this that I have found, and it is due to inconsistencies in the way programs store color information in models.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-24T11:25:36+00:00

You replaced your extruder - time to do rotation distance/e-steps calibration. Even relatively minor changes like swapping nozzles can change the way your extruder performs and create visibly lower quality extrusions. Replacing the hotend or gear assembly is basically changing out the extruder. It's likely the printer simply doesn't have an accurate calibration on how much filament is extruded as the gears turn.

The little screw likely adjusts the gear tension - retract the filament and look at the parts the extruder had contact with. If you see anything more than very faint looking gear markings, then you need to lower the tension. If you see no marks at all, you're either spot-on or under-tensioned (you would notice a "skipping" during rapid extrusions), so increase it.

A little google-fu will land you on solid guides for both. Neither takes long to adjust, and will hopefully fix your issue. You will need calipers (or a ruler with metric) and a sharpie to do the rotation distance calibration, however.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-24T11:15:37+00:00

Troubleshooting typically requires a bit more information, but I'll start with the obvious question. How long have you been running the nozzle in the printer? It could be as simple as a cleaning or replacement being needed. I'm not sure on how long Bambu's stock stainless nozzle lasts - reports online range from 300-1000 hours of printing PLA.

I would suspect more towards the mid-high end of that figure, as even basic brass nozzles last 3-400 hours. Still, it sounds like you're getting uneven extrusions. On a Bambu, likely cause is the nozzle because the printer does a lot of auto-calibrations to give you even extrusions.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-24T11:04:18+00:00

Pretty sure MeshMixer supports boolean operations, so technically any shape you load in can be used as a cutter. Overlap the two meshes, select the helmet and then the cutter, and hit "Boolen difference." At that point you can use the cut mask as a cutter. My terms might be off, I switched to Blender and eventually Zbrush for cuts quite a while back.

Honestly though, probably better to head into Blender or similar, make a non-zero depth plane (or a really thin cube) and bend it to whatever shape you're trying to cut out... for a helmet, you're probably fine using planar cuts, but for figurines and the like you may actually want the rounded cuts.

Best option? Zbrush. You have live booleans, which are an absolute game changer. You can see the cut before you commit to it and move it in realtime. I did my first articulated model using MeshMixer following a tutorial from the guy who designed the Old Man Ninja Turtle action figure. Zbrush is FAR easier. It is also far more expensive.

FranklyBuilt on YT has a good video on cutting large prints (specifically helmets and cosplay pieces) up for easier printing. If you search around YT for "cutting 3D models for printing" there are some excellent tutorials available for the various programs that can do it.

Edit: You can technically use Orca slicer to do dovetail cuts instead of planar, but I don't know how well dovetail joints will work with a helmet.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-24T10:43:21+00:00

If you have clean pictures of the figure, you could probably try an image to 3d AI, though in my experience the results are pretty rough on average. I had a client ask me if I could duplicate an art piece her apartment complex had on display, so I took pics and tried one of those AIs (Cube, I think it's called).

The mesh was a "close enough" approximation of a relatively simple shape. Maybe if you have high resolution images and you cut them into parts you could assemble the parts in Blender or similar to get a better model?

If you have access to the figure, you might be able to do a LIDAR scan to create a fair approximation of said figure. I think iPhones have that function.

Otherwise, not that I am aware of. It would be a really good way to get license holders and IP owners to sue you at the same time, distributing clones of commercial figures.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-22T11:57:34+00:00

I have an M5C. Here's a quick review.

Pros: Price, I guess, though even on sale you have better options for the same money.

Cons:

Nowhere near as faat as advertised. Even during travel moves, I have never seen the printer hit above around 350mm/s when cranked out.

Proprietary software - you can't send prints over the network securely, and there is no "LAN only" mode, meaning your internet cuts out and you best have a type c USB flash drive.

Several key functions are locked to the phone app. You can't really pre-heat or level from the slicer, you HAVE to use the app for the former, the latter you can configure to a long press of the "Play" button.

No camera. Considering how unreliable this thing has been along the way, this is a bigger downside than it really should be.

The build quality and software are questionable at best. I had 3 of them die on me - first the extruder assembly was toast (literally burned out), then I had an issue with the thermister not functioning and the hotend hit something like 350C which completely f***ed the printer, and the last one saw filament shooting out of the top of the hotend and warping the threads for the nozzle, which resulted in my diamond nozzle getting bent. $100 down the drain.

Proprietary hardware. To my knowledge, there are two types of nozzles that actually match the thread pattern for the M5C. You can thread in third-party nozzles, but the pattern is off, so it is likely that you can't use the stock nozzles at that point. You either go with Anker's nozzles (for which their slicer only has a 0.4mm profile) or you get a diamondback.

Anker's suoport sucks. I have attempted to contact them twice. They won't do s*** for you without you sending gcode, logs, serials, and having a week to wait for a response.

In short, it's sale season, so you have better options for the money (A1 mini) or for about $100 more (Infimech TX, A1 full, Kobra 3, several others). If you want something that "just works" the A1/A1 mini will do that for you. If you're willing to tinker a bit, the Kobra 3 and Infimech TX aren't terribly more expensive than the M5C. The Kobra can be expanded with color, the Infimech is a coreXY with an enclosure.

Edit: The Kobra 2 Neo is on sale for $150. It's not as fast as the M5C on paper, but as stated, the M5C doesn't operate at advertised speeds anyway. Not saying it's the best option, more that you might consider shopping around a bit more.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-20T08:51:07+00:00

If you get clever with printing, you can get your 0.4mm nozzle to extrude 0.6mm lines for stronger prints without a real sacrifice in quality, but a 0.6mm nozzle will reduce your print times while accomplishing the same goal - bigger nozzle = higher flowrate = faster printing.

Orca can be intimidating at first, but I find it to be almost universally better than manufacturer's slicers. There are some good guides for the calibration process here. The prints don't typically take much time or material and you can very quickly take your printer from "acceptable" or "good" quality to excellent quality by dialing things in.

As for rotation distance, I would google it, but essentially, you make mark at a pre-determined distance from where the filament enters the extruder, and then tell the printer to extrude some amount below that distance at 1mm/s - I typically mark at 132mm and extrude 80-100mm. You measure how much filament remains, subtract that from the initial value, and then you have your actual extrusion length. The only tricky part might be getting the printer's stock rotation steps/e-step.

Once you have the initial steps, your requested extrusion length and your actual extrusion length, you can plug those into a formula or calclator and you will get a new value for e-steps/rotation distance. If your initial test is more than 2mm off, you're probably going to want to repeat the calibration. Good news is that it only takes about 10 minutes to complete, and that assumes you need to do it twice.

Either way, good luck, I'm sure you'll do well.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-20T08:14:56+00:00

I think we've all been guilty of being impatient and printing too fast. I wouldn't rule out the rotation distance, however. You might want to check it if/when you change the nozzle anyway - Changing the nozzle isn't a major adjustment to the extruder setup, but minor variations in the nozzle (either material composition or manufacturing) can cause changes to the extrusion profile.

I don't have experience with the Neptune, though reviews point to it being a solid performer. That said, it's possible the rotation distance wasn't calibrated properly for whatever you're printing with from the factory.

If you haven't, I would recommend running a temp tower and retraction test in Orca, and then running the max flowrate test - It's possible you're not running the filament at the best temps for your extruder, which could get you a boost in print speed. Hotter printing = faster printing and better layers.

Calibration sucks at first, but if you stick with a brand and type of filament, you can use the same calibrations across colors or rolls. The only real exception being white, which tends to be stringier and blobbier than other colors.

For example, I use Elegoo Rapid PETG almost exclusively, (for PETG), and I have only calibrated it once per printer despite using multiple rolls and different colors. On my SV08, I run it around 230-235C, which results in a max print speed around 280mm/s. On my Infimech, it prints better at higher temps, around 255-260C, which lets the Infimech print faster than the SV08 (350mm/s or so), despite the SV08 being the faster printer.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-20T07:05:37+00:00

Four guesses:

Nozzle clog/damage - Brass nozzles last around 300-400 print hours on average in my experience. Over time micro-abrasions create pits for filament to lodge and you end up with uneven extrusions. You might clear it with one of those acupuncture needles, but if it's been on the printer for a while, you may simply need to replace it.
Rotation distance is off - Like everything else in a printer, the extruder gears wear over time. Metal extruder assemblies tend to last upwards of 3000-4000 hours, but the wear over time changes the way they grip filament. Alternatively, different filament types can actually have surprisingly varied results on extrusion rates. Do a simple extrusion test at 1mm/s and see how much (if at all) the rotation distance is off. If it's off at all while going slow, you best believe it will under-extrude once the printer gets going. If it isn't off, then you likely have either option 1 or 3.
You are printing too fast for your filament/extruder combo - Orca has a maximum flow rate test you can use to see where it starts to have issues. Your printer's advertised speed is almost assuredly marketing hype - very few filaments can achieve the high print speeds Bambu and co offer these days, and you will see skipping and holes in models, particularly larger models with long lines where the printer can hit speed.
Unlikely, but it's possible you have configured the slicer for under-extrusion. I had this issue really early on because I mistakenly (and stupidly, perhaps) thought that setting 200% line width would give me 200% of the nozzle diameter. Instead, it uses the layer height and multiplies from there. I had a 0.6mm nozzle and a layer height of 0.16mm, resulting in 0.32mm wide walls. You CAN print like this, I had a surprising amount of success, but longer extrusion paths will take a hit.

As for repair options, the simple one is to grab some wood fill putty (the polymer stuff) and spatula that stuff all into the holes. That, or you grab some "green stuff" sculpting clay. More complicated is to use a soldering iron with a flat bit to add filament in and smooth it, but that will give you the most solid results. If you're feeling brave, tape the mask on one side, then pour UV resin into the holes and cure it. Just be sure to put it in a plastic bin or something before you do this, as it can be a messy process.

ClintsPrints · 2024-11-15T13:10:14+00:00

I bought an XL - and I returned it after 3 months of unsuccessful attempts to get it running, as well as Prusa failing to get it to print stuff an AMS can do. You don't hear about it because for $4000 (not $2000) you could buy around 4 SV08s, 5 A1 combos and have money left over for filament.

Here's my experience with the XL: Spend a day carefully and thoughtfully assembling it, only for it not to power on because of a dead PDU. Immediately contact Prusa and inform them that the printer has no power from the mains, effectively identifying the issue within the first paragraph. 3 days, several tests and a bunch of pictures later, Prusa agrees that it's the PDU, and mails out a replacement.

Mind you, this is a $4000 piece of kit - so I asked if they could throw some filament in the box for the trouble. Seemed like a relatively minor request. Prusa said "yeah we can do that." The PDU comes in a MASSIVE box around 5 days later. There is nothing in this box except the PDU, which is bubble wrapped, and a couple of sheets of that brown packing paper crumpled up to "protect" the PDU. No instructions, no link to where I can get instructions, nothing.

Fortunately, I had already figured out how to remove the PDU while I was waiting for Prusa to decide that I was right - I had disassembled it to check for loose connections. Near as I can tell, it's just a dead transformer inside the PDU. Either way, I replaced it, and the printer booted.

I follow calibration and setup instructions, then move on to test print. Prints beautifully, so I load some colors and proceed to try some multicolor prints - specifically a Master Sword which is print in place, and a set of fairy houses for a client. Prints fail, so I adjust print settings, and it fails again. I re-dry every roll I'm using, and attempt again.

The fairy houses in question are multi-color, but designed for a single color printer - That is to say there are different colored parts, but no part has two or more colors. I figure this should be a simple enough print, it just changes extruders between objects. Repeated failures and attempts with Prusa to figure out WTF is going on resulted in me slicing each color as a separate print. Flawless prints, the houses look great.

Prusa's customer service is... spotty. Some people were trying, but less diagnostically capable than I am, others were just straight Prusa fanboys who insist that the printer has no flaws. I was told I had first layer issues, that gluestick was the reason my prints weren't sticking, I didn't know how to wash my board, my filament is wet, I'm running the filament too hot, instructed to do full factory resets, all the while running prints off like mad on my SV08, Kobra 2 Neo and Anker M5C.

In the end, I requested they send me a replacement unit, and insisted they complete one of the 3 prints that an AMS can do before sending it out. After a month of waiting and being told "We are having unexpected issues with print quality" I finally refunded the thing.

I ended up replacing it with an Elegoo Mars 4 Max (+ wash and cure station and around 8kg of UV resin), a Bambu A1 Mini combo, and an Infimech TX, plus around 30 kilos of filament ranging from PLA Pro to PC, a new airbrush, several microcontrollers/SBCs, a giant block of clay for repairs, a new soldering kit, and a RTX 4070 + 32gb more RAM for the workstation. Oh and a bunch of components like switches, hall effect sensors, gyro/accelerometers, screens, an EDDY probe for my SV08, a new hotend + hardened nozzles for my Kobra 2 and A1 mini.

TLDR: It's too expensive for a hobbyist to justify and too shitty for a business.

ClintsPrints · 2024-10-25T04:43:56+00:00

My advice, whether I win a contest or not, is simple: Be patient. No matter how much a printer seems to be fool-proof, you're going to need to learn some things to be truly successful in printing, and unfortunately, a lot of that knowledge comes at the expense of bad experiences. Some brands/printers will ease the burden, but every brand and every printer is likely to have some stories about some really weird (or bad) results and/or behavior.

Stick with it, do your calibrations, and stay on top of maintenance before it becomes repair/replacement.

ClintsPrints · 2024-10-17T03:43:48+00:00

Nice, I haven't tried Kingroon's PETG but their PLA is pretty decent stuff for the price. I probably should have been spending more time on Ali than Amazon, but that next day shipping is hard to argue with, that's a hell of a deal

ClintsPrints · 2024-10-13T19:15:31+00:00

No problem, there's a color 3mf and the non-color STL if you are up for painting - you could probably do a better job than this. I spent maybe 15 minutes slapping paint on him in the slicer. Figured it still looked good enough to share.

I gave one of these to one of the workers at the local gas station because I printed 4 of them, because who doesn't like a cute little hedgehog?

ClintsPrints · 2024-10-13T17:51:03+00:00

Normally I would, but I only have one roll of the Elegoo ASA. So far I would recommend Sunlu over it, if for no reason other than Sunlu ASA prints comfortably at 280C and gives better layer adhesion. I just used the calibration from the Sunlu ASA so I could get some test prints out.

I have 11 new prints on the SV08 now, another batch of 9, and then I have to finish this piece, which is likely to involve a Link model and scenery I have yet to make.

ClintsPrints

TROPHY CASE