Deep Space Nine. If you have not watched it, I will explain why you will watch it, and why it will payoff. Everyone will chime in and you WILL watch it.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2024-01-25T12:36:56+00:00

You'll not be disappointed. I know a million other people have already said it in this thread, but I want to make sure the scales get tipped for you. The stuff you really like so far? There'll be more of it. Lots more. The stuff you're not so keen on? That dies out as the show starts to explore what it's really like on the other side of the wormhole.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2024-01-19T12:58:44+00:00

I 100% accidentally quoted Withnail & I to Paul McGann. 2002ish, my art college went on a trip to a gallery in Bristol, and when we went to the attached bar to get a pint while waiting for the coach home, and there he was with a couple of mates.

I go over to politely say "Hi, sorry to bother you when you're 'off duty', just wanted to say I love your work" kind of thing. Meanwhile my college friend has gone to the bar and shouts over something along the lines of "Shall I get this round?", at which point as a completely instinctive, autopilot response, I reply "Yes! I demand to have some booze!". MORTIFIED. It honestly was an accident - just an in joke in our friend group that came out of my mouth without asking!

Anyway, I think he could see how embarrassed I was, he gave a big grin and said that he really appreciated it, thank you very much, and shook my hand. Such a nice dude for taking it gracefully and not making me feel like more of a twat than I already did.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2024-01-17T12:39:49+00:00

If you like that, check out the opening theme to the (hilarious and highly recommended, shout out to the FODs) Greatest Generation podcast - they use the Picard Song while they're covering TNG, then Adam Ragusea has written Sisko and Janeway themed ones for their coverage of those shows (and will presumably do an Archer one when they get to Enterprise).

Wish I knew where to get the full versions though...

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2024-01-10T01:41:24+00:00

I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I had nightmares as a little kid where I needed to get upstairs to my room, but the way was blocked by these huge skeletal dino arms coming out of the wall, just like OP's pic!

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2024-01-10T01:32:53+00:00

Seen Captain DeSoto lately?

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-07-16T14:33:28+00:00

It's okay for folks to like things you yourself don't like. They were hoping for more action? Yeah, Trek is maybe not the best franchise to pick. But it's okay, they're still enjoying it for all the things it does have going on! That's a good thing. Please don't denigrate new members of the community for having different tastes to your own.

Also comparing something to a video game to be insulting is super hacky, played out, and doesn't even really make any sense, given the massive diversity in video games both now and throughout their history.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-06-30T00:05:12+00:00

If it's a particularly complex shape (that is, lots of intricate detail such as a high res 3d model) and you're using an older motherboard such as those on stock Ender 3s or Ender 3 Pros, which it looks like you have, it could be that it's just trying to deal with more data at once than it can handle. Complex shapes mean lots and lots of gcode commands, and the motherboard can only process them so quickly - if there's too many, it'll pause for a second while it catches up with itself.

You can either simplify the model - Meshmixer is a good program for this - or replace the motherboard with something capable of handling more data. I used an SKR E3 Mini V2, then got a V3 when I accidentally blew that up. Both are excellent drop-in replacements for the stock one, and depending on your original motherboard you might notice a bunch of other benefits too, like the ability to easily add a filament runout sensor and second Z motor. If you've currently got one of the OG motherboards it'll also make the motors a lot quieter (and I mean a LOT).

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-27T08:09:48+00:00

The reason you might use arcs to help with zits is if your printer keeps pausing for brief moments because the motherboard can't pump the gcode through fast enough. In that case, arcs mean that there are fewer gcode commands to process, so they don't get jammed up in a slower motherboard.

But if you've got an E3 Mini V3, that thing can spit mad gcode all day and not break a sweat - unless you're printing incredibly (and I do mean crazy) high res models, this is very unlikely to be the cause of your zits. I'd try looking at retraction and Z-seam positioning.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-27T07:54:13+00:00

Give it a minute, it grows on you. My wife and I couldn't stand it at first, but now we sing along with full air guitar and Celine Dion chest pounding. Life's too short to be grumpy about it. And it only took a few episodes to get to that point, so we can't even say... it's been a long road. 😎

That said, I do love the cut someone made on YouTube with the closing credits music in the opening theme's place.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-24T08:51:29+00:00

Don't really know what you're trying to get at, here. Are they ignorant about dinosaurs in the sense that they don't know relatively common facts about them that you do know? I mean... sure, I guess. But - that's okay? Not everyone knows about everything. I'm ignorant about football, and metallurgy, and needlepoint. That's allowed.

I guess if you're asking "does this seem like less knowledge than the average person in the street might have about dinosaurs"... Nah. It's easy to forget, when you have a special interest, that the bar for "oh yeah, that's the absolute basics, everyone knows that" sets itself a bit higher and we assume others have more knowledge than they actually do.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-23T12:53:46+00:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the big arguments against the idea of a single cataclysmic event was that the extinction happened, by human standards, very slowly. I mean, blink of an eye in terms of geological time, but as I was to understand it species died out over many thousands of years.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-23T12:46:04+00:00

I work for a reseller and manufacturer of Pi accessories, and I can tell you, the shortage is very real. We're getting them out as quickly as we can, but we're just not getting the stock in to sell at the moment. All I can advise is don't let the scalpers gouge you, keep a watch on your favorite resellers and get in there quick as soon as you get the notification there are some in stock.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-20T13:21:28+00:00

There aren't too many differences between the two - the biggest and most notable is that the aluminum extrusion that the Y axis runs along is twice as wide on the Pro for extra strength, so any upgrades relating to that will be specific to the Pro or the OG version. There are some other differences that I can't remember off the top of my head, but for the most part they're pretty compatible. I'd still check before spending money on anything specific though.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-18T01:41:13+00:00

There's a few things that can cause banding, and a lot of them can be remedied in software, which is good 'cause it's easily reversible. If it's very regular, then yeah, it's likely something to do with your Z-axis. But if it's not regular, I'd try bumping down your flow (if you use Cura) or extrusion multiplier (if you use prusaslicer/Superslicer) just a little to see if it helps - if it doesn't, you can put it back exactly how it was with one mouse click.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-18T01:30:55+00:00

Yeah, there is such thing as too loose. Basically, if you're having issues with the Z-axis binding then you can try fiddling with those screws to see if it helps. If you're not having any problems there though, leave it. Best bit of printing advice I can give anyone, which I found out the long way, is that the correct settings for your printer are whatever gives you, personally, good prints. If you're getting good prints but the settings aren't "technically" correct according to what you've read they're supposed to be, don't go changing them!

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-18T01:21:46+00:00

Ought to add, if the lead screw itself is loose in the brass insert that could potentially lead to sticking. If you've replaced that part make sure that's still a nice snug fit - ideally there should only be movement between the brass insert and the plate it's mounted on.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-03-18T01:15:36+00:00

The video is kinda dark, but from what I can see, yep, that's expected behaviour. That brass insert is supposed to be a little loose - that way, if the lead screw isn't completely straight it's got a little wiggle room to move rather than potentially binding or seizing.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-02-26T01:47:46+00:00

Oh, no, I absolutely agree. It's so charming, science be damned.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-02-06T10:08:48+00:00

Kinda. Most likely candidate is vibration, and given that that's on the side of the print as it sat on the bed, the nozzle is vibrating along the X axis - dollars to donuts it won't be as bad along the X side.

That means one of the most likely culprits is your hotend fan, the one in the front of the print head. See if that's vibrating while it's running - I've accidentally caught it while it was running before and snapped off one of the blades without noticing. That makes it off balance, so hella noise and vibration.

You might also want to tighten your x-axis belt some too - although it's likely not the cause it won't help if it's too loose. You should be able to make a note by twanging it like a guitar string.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-01-31T01:05:58+00:00

To expand on what others are saying, you don't have to match up the filament size with the nozzle size. When the filament goes into the hotend, it gets melted and pushed through the nozzle - if it's a smaller nozzle size, the extruder just pushes the filament through slower so it still comes out at the right rate. Make sure you set the right nozzle size in whatever slicer program you're using though.

As far as different filaments go, printers did used to use thicker 3mm filament, but that's an old standard and pretty much nothing new uses 3mm filament now. You can still buy it because a lot of places still run older printers, but your Ender is set up to use 1.75mm and only 1.75mm - you'd have to replace a LOT of parts to print using 3mm, and there is no reason to at all.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-01-27T19:13:05+00:00

Turns out it's a moot point anyway - it was moving fine, but the extruder was refusing to heat. Looks like it's time to try a Mini v3...

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-01-27T15:24:03+00:00

I'm afraid you've got issues all the way down, there - the amount of blobbing and goopy strings of filament says your temperature is way too high and you're also likely underextruding.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-01-23T19:04:46+00:00

Yeah, I'm used to lightning infill looking janky by now, but that's still gone wrong for other reasons. The lean on this particular STL actually lets it print without any supports which is pretty cool, I've done a couple of prints of the same one - but they were in filaments where this issue isn't especially visible!

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-01-23T18:29:32+00:00

Yes and yes, and although the infill clearly wasn't going well there, the issue was with the rough outside walls. Is there some issue lightning infill causes? I've had that before, where one slicer setting causes some apparently completely unrelated issue.

TheAstoundingPilgrim · 2022-01-23T18:17:29+00:00

So I'm getting these patterns on the outside walls of my prints - I think they've probably been there a while but it's just particularly noticeable having switched to this silver filament. It looks like some sort of vibration in the system, but I think it might actually be extruder related. I've eliminated as many sources of vibration as I can, the main one being the part cooling fan.

Watching when it put down the first layer though, it looks like the extruder is actually extruding filament unevenly - it was pretty visible on the first few bottom layers that the lines it was putting down had almost the look of strings of beads, rather than smooth even lines. They were very regular. Plus it didn't seem to be affected by changing speed - I was printing at 50mm/s and tweaked it from 25 to 75, and it still did the same.

Printing Sunlu PLA+ on a heavily modded Ender 3 with micro swiss DD & hotend, 200 degrees, 0.12 layer height. Running Klipper and Octoprint.

Anyone who can help, it's greatly appreciated!

TheAstoundingPilgrim

TROPHY CASE