3D Printers

[Tom]

Been trying to set up octoprint's video stream, but i'm not sure what format it wants. tried http and rtp stream from vlc... blah. Not finding any particularly relevant information on how to set it up on something that's not an octopi or beaglebone.

It isn't clear to me, are you trying to get video INTO octoprint our OUT? The stream / webcam function mostly assume a locally connected USB camera, and octoprint does three things with it, 1 displays it on the control screen, 2 exposes it as an image or live steam URL via FFMPEG or 3 records a time-lapse.. I am not sure it is really meant to ACCEPT streams in anyway way.

It seemed to be asking for a url to stream from. Octopi has all this stuff set up, so the default /live exists already I think. But since i'm just running it as a test on my desktop, there is nothing set up automatically.

It says "Webcam stream not loaded; It might not be correctly configured. You can change the url of the stream under... If you don't have a webcam just set the url to be an empty value". Which makes me think it needs a url to stream the video from.

It depends on FFMPEG to generate the stream. So if you did a raw install I would assume you would need to configure that part or at least have the needed FFMPEG dependancies installed

Theres no place to set up ffmpeg for the stream or to select a device to stream from. The "path to ffmpeg" setting is under the snapshots section, so it seems its only used for snapshots. Theres some mjpg_streamer thing that its supposed to use, but also no place to set that up as well, and I can't currently install one of the necessary compile dependencies.

[Tom]

It is SO easy to jam this janky print head. And any time I have to take it apart, I have to re level the bed. so annoying.

Probably least convenient thing. As well as there isn't a dedicated height adjustment on the bed. the levelling screws are the only bed adjustment, so height changes necessitate levelling.

[Lazybones]

It is SO easy to jam this janky print head. And any time I have to take it apart, I have to re level the bed. so annoying.

Probably least convenient thing. As well as there isn't a dedicated height adjustment on the bed. the levelling screws are the only bed adjustment, so height changes necessitate levelling.

Well it might be worth changing then

[Lazybones]

Well my first roll of PETG (better for functional prints, more heat resistant less brittle.) arrived, I also have a role of TPU (flexible)on order.

Both of these filaments have are risk of SUPER bonding with PEI beds so it will be interesting to see how they print.

[Tom]

Darn thing cant seem to keep its temperature up when ambient is "low" (thermometer in the kitchen says 21c). Its probably a bit cooler than that in here.

[Tom]

Hm, my build plate may be warped a bit. Not sure if its because its a thin piece of aluminium and heat can warp them pretty good, or its just the retention/mounting method somehow warps it... It seems the corners like to be higher than the center. Hrm.

I was having some serious issues getting any kind of adhesion for a while, but i think I fixed it.. maybe.

[Lazybones]

Darn thing cant seem to keep its temperature up when ambient is "low" (thermometer in the kitchen says 21c). Its probably a bit cooler than that in here.

Check if there is PID tuning guide / option for that printer. This helps them maintain temp and normally something you need to do if you change hot ends.

Also check if the part cooling fan is blowing on the part or aimed the heater / tip. It might be cooling the wrong thing if misaligned / badly designed.

[Tom]

Good idea. I'll look at the pid tuning.

I also royally jammed up my nozzle. Not sure If I'll go with the solvent approach or the torch approach. We'll see. I might be able to use the nozzle from the new hotend temporarily.

[Lazybones]

Sorry to hear you are having so many challenges. That printer comes fairly well recommended at the entry level.

[Tom]

Sorry to hear you are having so many challenges. That printer comes fairly well recommended at the entry level.

Oh, its actually been pretty good. Nozzle clogs are a pretty common occurrence in 3d printer land from what I've heard.

Some of the issues are definitely PEBKAC. Some are that its an inexpensive printer, and doesn't have the /best/ design. But over all I'm pretty happy with it for $260~cad. It's pretty sturdy, and just has a few minor niggles which can be remedied

[Lazybones]

Clogging do happen but should not be frequent unless the cause is not identified.

Sounds like you are researching on forums specific to your printer so hopefully you sort it out.

So you can move on to more fun things

[Tom]

Clogging do happen but should not be frequent unless the cause is not identified.

Sounds like you are researching on forums specific to your printer so hopefully you sort it out.

So you can move on to more fun things

Yeah, I'm learning as I go.

[Tom]

Yay, it wasn't the nozzle after all. Just the usual jam in the print head.

once I get a decent set of settings, I'll be printing the adapter for the E3D hotend and swapping. The stock one jams when I look at it funny. course not everyone has that issue. I just tend to be hard on my stuff.

[Tom]

Once I took a look at the bowden tube fitting, i noticed it had a lip or burr on the inside, that may have caused the increased amount of jamming. we'll see. I drilled it out a bit.

[Tom]

I have been messing with this thing so much the past few days. Oy. I have had clogs in that separator tube SO many times. So annoying. But, it may have been partially PEBKAC. I had turned the fan down at some point, as its loud AF and rattles like mad. But it may not have been enough cooling, and was causing heat creep making the pla soft /outside/ of the actual extruder, which let it coil up inside the ptfe tube and bowden tube fitting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M6e9e-NzOA

Got it all fixed. The tip was also clogged after all that. After a bit of playing with heat and filament, and a drill, its all clean

It's running a stringing test and working well again so far. It took some time to get the bed levelled this time for some reason. Good thing I found this neat little model for helping with bed levelling. Still got some slight adhesion issues around left and right, but it could just be the bed being warped.

The next real print I do is the adaptor for the E3D extruder.