CraftWare: Installation issue with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 – 23/3/17

As a happy owner of CraftBot 3D printer (since Dec 2014) from CraftUnique, we get the opportunity to regular update the CraftWare “… a FREE, fast, easy-to-use slicer software that converts your digital 3D object into a .gcode toolpath format understood by most 3D printers.”

I am using a HP laptop running Windows 10.

On 25th February 2017, I downloaded CW 1.14, CP 1.04 || 2016.05.09

Everything seems to be downloaded properly, but when I clicked the CraftWare application to commence installation the error window popped up:

*It was psanyi, my fellow CraftBoter who commented on the situation and advised the solution to me:
“That MSVCP120.DLL is part of the “Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013” package from Microsoft. I would try to download the latest version from Microsoft directly and update. You have to select your language and processor type.”

I tried what psanyi advised > downloaded & installed “vcredist_x86.exe” & WOW! It works!

Grateful to psanyi for helping me and it has been a valuable learning experience for me.

Unclogged a Clogged Extruder – 30/12/16

It has been a gruelling journey for the last few months of my 3D printing journey.

From 1) fixing a broken Heater cartridge (this part is inserted into the heater block of a 3D printer, which in turn, heats up the nozzle) to arranging the 2) Heater cartridge wire and the Thermistor wire (this item is also inserted into the Heater block, it measures the temperature of the Nozzle and also the Heated print bed [assuming your printer’s print bed is heatable]), ensuring the Carriage (consisting of the extruder assembly, including NEMA 17 stepper motor) moves smoothly in the Y-axis direction, without any wires entanglement and finally, 3) unclogged my CraftBot 3D printer’s clogged extruder.

First off:

CraftBot Hot end.

*Holding the purple PLA filament in position, indicates the maximum distance that the filament could be inserted through the Thermal barrier, before gear clicking occurs. This signals the start of the clogged filament.
Detailed description of the components making up the Hot end, please continue to read this pictorial blog.

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There are 2 different wires dangling at the centre; 1 in front (red dangling wires), 1 at the back (short black wire).

Front: Heater cartridge that goes to the Heater block. This heats up the nozzle to the set temperature, required to print the material filaments, e.g. most common material, PLA (usually between 195 to 220 Deg. C.) while ABS requires upwards of 230 Deg. C.

BEFORE removing the heater cartridge from the Heater block, REMEMBER to loosen the small allen screw from the side of the heater block (see next picture). Else, if you attempt to pull out the Heater cartridge from the Heater block, you risk pulling out the wires from the Heater cartridge and damaging it.

Back: Not so visible in this picture. This black wire, near the opening at the back is connected to the Thermistor and inserted into the Heater block. It reads the temperature that is set for the nozzle and heated bed (if any, as not all 3D printers’ bed have heating feature).

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Read this together with the previous picture. Before removing the Heater cartridge, loosen the allen screw. If you try to pluck out the Heater cartridge from the Heater block, without loosening the allen screw, you will pull off the wires from the Heater cartridge and damage it. NOTICE: the small metal item (allen screw) on the LEFT side of the pink silicone cap. It appears flushed with the pink silicone cap.

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Loosening the PEEK barrel (where my thumb touches it) with Thermal barrier (the black rod sticking out), from the Heater block. See the tools required, 4 pictures down.

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L: PEEK barrel with Thermal barrier
R: Heater block

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Looking through the PEEK barrel end.

Looking through the other end.

Both ends of the PEEK barrel and Thermal barrier are clogged big time. If there were no clog, both ends can been seen through.

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The faithful tools.

Not in pciture: 1) Mr “Pincer” says “Hey, I helped out too”. So yes, pincer should be in the picture too. 2) “Singer brand lubricant” shouts out “I was used to lubricate the insides of the Thermal barrier, just like a Soldier oils his weapon. 3) “cif Kitchen Cleaner” acted as the cleaning “agent”.

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Top: Silicone cap that encapsulates the Heater block.
Bottom: PEEK barrel with Thermal barrier and Heater block.
All the above 3 items are part of a 3D printer’s extruder. The complete extruder assembly includes the cold end, hot end, stepper motors, gears, bearings, etc.

*The specks of dirt on the lower section of the photo are the burnt filament.

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Initially, I wanted to heat the Thermal barrier over the stove’s naked flame, to remove the filament that was stucked inside. But eventually I just grabbed a right size allen screw that I could just barrel through and with some force, some “thing” inside fell out.

See that bluish “thing”that fell out? It is the stucked filament that accounted for the clogged extruder.

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Looking through both ends of the Heater block, there is no clog.

Conclusion: clogged extruder occurred Only at the “cold end” of the extruder.

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There are lots of dirt (due to are on the metal threaded rod on the Heater block and also inside the PEEK barrel which the metal threaded rod on the Heater block screws on to. This is due to the Leaky PEEK syndrome.

I spent almost 1 hour clearing the dirt away, using the cif Kitchen Cleaner and pincer to scrap away the dirt on the thread. Due to lack of appropriate cleaning liquid for the task at hand, I could only use the available ones.

After an hour of “scrubbing”, the metal threaded rod on the Heater block and the inside of the PEEK barrel (no pictures available) are much cleaner now.

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See the circular stuff inside the PEEK barrel/Thermal barrier?
That is the PTFE (Teflon) tube and here are 2 links in CraftBot forum, containing insightful information sharing, on:

Glasslike substance on hotend
Disassembling a Complete Clogged Extruder

*CraftBot 3D printer: – Behind the scene: Unclogging clogged extruder & more

*Victory video. CraftBot prints again!

Oh Ares Ares!

Never expected that I would write about my Ares 4-in-1 3D printer from Easy Arts from Wuhan, China, in this fashion. Here is where it all began.

Ares and all its entourage.

Much earlier in August 2014, I backed my 1st 3D printer: CraftBot from CraftUnique, Hungary. It was through some of my fellow CraftBoters, that I got to know about the Ares and subsequently backed it.

Partly inspired by some dramas and movies, where the opening scene does not start right at the beginning of the story timeline, instead viewers are shown the scene in the middle of the story timeline or sometimes even at the end, then the scene gets “rewinded” till you are returned to the opening scene.
Now, before we build up the plot, here are the main casts:
1. Ares: The 4-in-1 3D printer, consisting of: I) 3D printing, II) 3D scanning, III) CNC engraving, IV) Laser engraving.
2. OctoPrint.
3. RaspberryPi 2 Model B (a credit card size computing board, origin: UK)
4. HP Pavilion 15 Notebook.
5. Asus, Dual-Band Wireless-N600 Gigabit RouterRT-N56U.

The Ares is a machine with lots of power-pack features, as introduced above. Now, join me in unveiling the Ares. You will do well to bear in mind that the beginning is not the beginning…..

YouTube video of Ares 4-in-1 3D printer: playing Reversi on the Raspberry Pi 2B and beating it by 18 points – 6/6/16
Like I said, this is not a typical unboxing write up or video. I wrote this so that I could remember the memories of my experiences with Ares. Some planning was in store for writing this, but the bulk of it just flowed as I listen to these 2 awesome songs (copyrights of the respective Artistes, which I do not own) in :

Shout to The Lord & Agnus Dei (Darlene Zschech – Revealing Jesus)

Never expected that I would be playing the Reversi game against the computer which in this case is the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B board, which sits inside my Ares, much less beat the computer by 18 points!
Big shout thank you to Mr Yuan Liu, the “valleyman” for his advise in Use router to simplify network connection. I tried it (connected my Ares directly to the router, 1 of the steps involved in getting the Dynamic IP address (DIP)) and succeeded in getting this DIP:

*You can also check out our Ares 3D community in Google+.

* The laptop or desktop computer (I got to mention the good ol’ desktop as not everyone uses a laptop) communicates wirelessly through the OctoPrint with the RPi 2 Model B board inside the Ares. Amazing how everything all fits together and from a remote location, you can get your 3D printer to print, once it is all set up properly. But, hmmm,,,, I still am unable to visualise myself 3D printing wirelessly, Not now, maybe later.
To hook up to the RPi 2 Model B board wirelessly via OctoPrint, a DIP is needed for Remote Desktop Connection. Looking carefully and taking lots of time to read through manual by Ares, didn’t help in the beginning, when I wanted to get the DIP (though the Ares manual did help at a later stage, after I finally managed to get the DIP through valleyman’s help).

Hopefully you guys are not confused after reading the past few lines.

*PS: I may later also post this write up in another blog of mine.

Please drop me a note and tell me what you think about this article. Much appreciation and thanks.

 

The 7th attempt

This is a story of the 7 attempts I made just to get one print right.

To be honest, it can get discouraging. However the lesson that I had learned was invaluable, and being able to share my experience with others greatly encourages me on my 3D printing adventure!

Do not worry as it does not often take that many attempts to get a print right. This is in fact one of the most frustrating times I did a print.

My inclinations towards 3D printing are geared towards making household items for practical use. After my recent move, I found myself in need of a toothbrush holder. Thanks to Daniel John and his free-to-download design, I found my new toothbrush holder at http://www.thingiverse.com/make:134541

When I opened the downloaded .stl file in CURA, the size of the print was too small, so I scaled it up from the original design and began the printing, not knowing it would take 7 tries to succeed!

Here is the detailed record of my CURA settings for each attempt:

1st try – print speed: 70mm/s, print flopped 3mins later

2nd try – print speed: 70mm/s, print flopped 3mins later

3rd try – brim added, b) print speed lowered to 50mm/s. Print flopped 10mins later

4th try – brim added, b) print speed lowered to 40mm/s. Print flopped 3mins later

5th try – brim added, b) print speed lowered to 50mm/s. Print flopped 3mins later

6th try – print speed: 50mm/s. Print flopped 3mins later

7th try – print speed lowered to 30mm/s, b) head temp increased from 200 deg. C to 210 deg. C.

Print completed after 70mins.

However, the hole on the completed print was too small. To correct this, I used a BOSCH electric drill to enlarge the hole, filed the holes to enlarge it just enough, to allow the shaver and toothbrush to slot into the holes.

Some Lessons from the journey

1. It would have been better to change one variable on the slicer setting and then observe the change in print result. This way, you can tell which setting variable directly affects even though sometimes, you will need a combination of factors to get the print right.

2. When printing narrow width parts, and you want to orientate the printed item on the print bed (to reduce the support material or to avoid overhangs), remember to:

a) Go slow on the print speed

b) if possible, increase the extrusion width for the 1st few layers (to allow more filament to be laid down on the print bed).

Hope you have learnt something new or have your memory refreshed after reading this blog.

Your comments are highly treasured.

The things I would like to print

Hei Peeps,

Shalom : ) Thank you for visiting me (da?) and my blog : )

The things I would like to print once my Orange color CraftBot 3D printer arrives:

1) My friend and fellow CraftBoter, Pedro’s blue stationery holder
2) Lucus’ Tiki: http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=tiki&sa
3) Home lamp shade from Kwambio and my own design (I hope): http://www.facebook.com/kwambio/photos/pcb.791673274226087/791653387561409/?type=1&theater

While all of you are enjoying looking at my 5 beautiful photos, know that actually I had wanted to buy LED lights (my profession) for the 5 areas in my New home. I live in the 14th floor of a HDB (housing and development board flat – a type of Singapore government flat [ see Bomb shelter photo below ] ) flat. 5 and 14 are my favorite numbers. 14th May is my birthday. Some people know the significance of this day.

But ever since I pledged my “allegiance” to CraftUnique and CraftBot 3D printer (who knows maybe 1 day, I could be CU’s channel partner, an idea which does not seem too far fetch and could materialize in 1 year or less, I hope), it came to me (I did not think too hard nor brain storm, as my IQ is low and I never believed in that in the first place), that designing and use CraftBot 3D printer to 3D print my Lamp shades, is something I hope would be a beautiful and success story for me and many people.
But now, there are 5 black holes (these are easier to understand, compared to the black hole in the galaxies).

There is a strong belief that with CraftBot 3D printer and modeling software [I am learning 123D Design taught by a nice guy, Lionel represents Saturday Kids http://saturdaykids.sg. Lionel is a fantastic Designer, known as Ariel Lemon in http://www.shapeways.com/shops/arielscustoms. This 8 hours workshop “Shape Your Imagination – 3D Printing Design Workshop” is organized by Library @ Orchard. Some fellow CraftBoters, Michael, etc already know about this in my blog. Thank you peeps : ) ]

So here you are, announcing the :

Toilet

Living room

Bomb shelter (though i doubt its effectiveness in times of war)

Kitchen

Bedroom

Hope that these 5 holes will be replaced by beautiful lamp shades (that people would like to buy from me) that I will print with my Orange CraftBot 3D printer by CraftUnique.

Letting the dragon out of the cave, my favorite color is Orange and Blue (the clue for Blue color is found in 2 photos above). I chose Orange because I wanted Bright, Energetic, Fun, Creative, Joy. Blue always has a special position in my heart.

Let’s check back in 1.5 months.

The 1st time

The 1st time.

The 1st time

In a postal office, situated inside a shopping complex in Singapore. 31st October 2014, Friday. A memorable day. It was the 1st time in my life, I saw and touched a 3D printer. The black “gorilla” was a MakerBot Replicator (MBR) 5th Generation [MakerBot is part of the Stratasys Inc. group].
Like a little boy, I was so happy and energized as I walked around the black “gorilla”, touching it, caressing it, looking at it from many different angles and heights and asking the 2 helpful staff, questions about the MBR 5th Generation. This machine extrudes heated filament onto the print bed, layer by layer, building up the 3D model, via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology (a technology trademarked by Stratasys Inc).

The MBR 5th Generation was meant to be a display unit, there was no opportunity to see it actually strut its 3D printing magic. Sorry, I didn’t snap any photos of it. It would have been better to see some photos here.

One thing which I recalled clearly was that I asked the guy working there “what is the thing near the hot end (you got to bend down over and see, as it’s not visibly seen)?
Is it a camera that captures print and feedbacks to some kind of software to monitor and regulate the printing process?”
After I left the place, then I thought maybe it is a “z probe sensor” for auto-levelling of the print bed.

P/s: It’s not my intention to provide details about the MBR here. To find out more about the MBR 5th Generation, please google it. As always, it’s always good to have a balance perspective about what you search, discover and find out on the web.

3D printing & the manifestation of my liking for Orange color

 

Shalom! Thank you for visiting my 3D printing blog. 3D printing and what it brings, is an adventure for me. I am very excited to see where it leads me to. In days to come, there will be more blogs and the posts will be categorized nicely.

As for now, enjoy the photo of my Orange colour 3D printer. We call her CraftBot.