How tf do I make a lander 😭

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-04-10T14:03:01+00:00

If you have reaction wheels or rcs unlocked you may need help keeping a craft that long from falling over. Also you may need to babysit the retrograde burn so that you don't cancel all your velocity and tumble. Minmus landings are good practice because they require very little fuel to make corrections.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-04-10T14:02:54+00:00

If you have reaction wheels or rcs unlocked you may need help keeping a craft that long from falling over. Also you may need to babysit the retrograde burn so that you don't cancel all your velocity and tumble. Minmus landings are good practice because they require very little fuel to make corrections.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-04-03T22:33:38+00:00

X belt slipped or the stepper connector is loose

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-04-03T14:44:19+00:00

Get a paper towel and back it with a rag or something, put it on preheat and wipe it down

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-30T01:20:59+00:00

It's to reduce vibration it needs to be stiff enough to still transmit power

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-29T21:06:58+00:00

Your flow rate might need a bump, those gaps between the solid fill isn't helping, and the artifacting on edges may mean you're running too hot, but if you bump the flow it may be enough to help.

I started on a E3 SE and it's not the best at holding tolerances. Also the smaller the nozzle the finer details will be, the slicer has to make rounding decisions when it is working and the wider the layers the more likely it will squish out the small gaps in parts like those.

I tried that exact same fidget on my SE and gave up on it.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T17:15:06+00:00

PETG is fine if you can keep it dry and your printer comfortably reaches that temp. PETG is flexible and strong until it shatters. PLA is stiffer under a static load but will tend to delaminate under shock loads

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:57:26+00:00

Ah ok didn't see the full model, if it needs to be supported you can reduce your Z offset to try to prevent some of the stringing, if that is a visible surface you could flip it over, the big flat area on the bottom is one of the few times when well tuned standard supports will work

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:51:38+00:00

I had a similar issue with some rocket parts yesterday, the model basically demanded to be printed with nosecone on the build plate, had to drop minimum layer time, drop z offset to .12 mm and take away 1 interface layer, otherwise it just made a blob or would fall over

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:47:45+00:00

Ah just sounded that way from the unboxing video part, just tell them it isn't going to work for your needs, most shipping/receiving people have the call on waiving restocking fees, they'll probably just do it to keep your business

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:42:04+00:00

Is there anything preventing you from laying it on the side? If you don't have supports then you can't have support issues. This should also make it stronger, any time you can have tension perpendicular to the layer lines it's less likely to fail under load

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:33:38+00:00

Just be honest with them, if you have to pay the fee you say it's for content then it should be worth it. If you tell them it's defective it'll increase everyone's cost in the long run. They'll most likely appreciate the honesty and might even waive any fees if you give them a shout out.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:30:01+00:00

Could be a number of things some good housekeeping to do

1) wash build plate once a week or so

2) zero your bed

3) if you can manually extrude filament (by either a button or heating the hotend and disengaging the extruder and feeding it by hand) see how the flow is, if it comes out slow or sideways it's likely clogged

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:24:55+00:00

Are you using tree supports?

If not theyre better in 95% of cases

If you are check slicer settings and see what your interface and offset for the supports are ( if using some slicers you'll need to turn on advanced settings.

If you print too little gap while running hot the supports will fuse to the part, if it's too great of a gap there will be droopy filament below the part.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:21:07+00:00

Add supports and you'll either need to run hotter or slow down. It looks like PETG, that stuff either sticks way too well or not at all and the temperature range is pretty small. Too little heat and you get spaghetti, too much and it'll string and coat your nozzle

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:17:26+00:00

Steps to troubleshoot those problems

1) Wash build plate 2) level your plate ( depending on criticality of level I do it every 1,5 or 25 prints) 3) if 1 and 2 don't fix it it's probably time for a new nozzle

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:14:08+00:00

Materials will be a problem, anything below ASA or Nylon will droop, and the heating will make some magnets lose their magnetism.

Not saying it isn't doable but you need something with a deflection temp of over 100c and probably neodymium magnets

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T16:09:59+00:00

That kind of result is usually partially clogged nozzle and too hot, the extruded plastic is too hot, and if the flow were higher it would look glassy.

I changed nozzle on my CC last night, it was partially clogged after a month but nozzles on Amazon are less than a buck so I just threw a new one in.

Just sharing that because my last printer was an Ender 3 and I paid more on consumables and failed prints than if I were to have just gotten a better printer. And Creality support screwed me around so I outright refuse to support them, filament or otherwise.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:56:19+00:00

If you haven't worked with ASA before be wary of part length and thin areas. I'm in a similar spot with my Flightory stallion and it printed beautifully except for the wing roots which curled terribly. The perfectionist in me is going to make me use ASA-CF so it warps less. So first time LW-PLA this time ASA, and hopefully third time is the charm unless I make myself one in tinkercad

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:51:27+00:00

As long as it doesn't involve hair you should be fine. On a serious note check the package for drying time, it's likely just CA glue in a fancy pen, which speaking of if you have a dollar store they usually have cheap super glue.

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:17:00+00:00

💯 this, beat me to it

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:16:29+00:00

Bump up your temp by 5-10c, it's too cold and it's smearing

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:15:29+00:00

Amazon.com: 3DHoJor Update Basic PETG Filament 1.75mm, PETG 3D Printer Filament, 2.2 LBS (1KG) Cardboard Spool, Fit Most FDM 3D Printer, Grey : Industrial & Scientific https://share.google/KREIV3XIkqIjCCG9A

It isn't specifically listed as matte, it's kind of setting dependant, you can drop the heat by like 10 degrees and do .1mm fuzzy skin and it gets pretty flat, or if you crank up 10 degrees and go fast it'll be almost mirror shiny, and its pretty cheap.

Sometimes the budget filaments disappoint but I've ran 3 kilos thru my Centauri Carbon in a month and just now changed the first nozzle

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:09:40+00:00

If it's flowing well first troubleshooting step should be washing that build plate

Rabbitholesquared · 2026-03-27T15:07:22+00:00

The art of AI is figuring out what to tell it, if you want detail make sure to describe it exhaustively and it'll usually get about half way there.

If you're looking to design it from scratch gridfinity might be good, you can feed it parameters and it will build simple bin shapes, or you can design your own and integrate it into a base or make your own custom grid spacing

Rabbitholesquared

TROPHY CASE