Ezra Harris

Author: ezradharris

  • Customizing my 3D Printer Boot Screen

    When working on my printer yesterday, I had to change the firmware to accommodate the new bl touch, and I wanted to update my Marlin version to a newer one. Marlin is the flavor of code that a lot of 3d printer firmware runs on. So I used firmware from TH3D Studio for my specific printer (the cr-10 s5.). They gave straightforward and clear instructions on how to flash it onto the motherboard.

    For flashing it, I use a program called Visual Studio Code combined with a plugin called PlatformIO, which uses the USB port to flash onto another machine like the Arduino or, in my case, the 3d printer board.

    When configuring the settings in the code, I noticed a file called “bootscreen.h,” so I was curious and clicked on it. Commented out were instructions if I wanted to set up my own custom boot screen. Naturally, I clicked on the link for the guide and fell down an exciting rabbit hole of people customizing their own boot screen. You grab the image you want (about 128×64 pixels) and change it to black and white, then use marlin’s official converter to convert the image into code. Which then you can copy and paste into the bootscreen.h configuration file. When following the steps, I tried to think up what photo or logo I wanted to put on my bootscreen. I then got a very random notification of something I was following, which at this time was the Elon Musk buying Twitter, and I thought I might as well put an image of Elon musk on my boot screen for no reason at all other than to be humorous. This was the image I chose since it was black and white and easier to tell when less detailed on the cheap 3D printer screen:

    Elon musk (not mine)

    Here is what the final result looks like on my printer: (taken from my Instagram)

  • PEI Sheet Arrived! CR-10 S5 Printer

    When working on my new printer (CR-10 S5), I ordered a PEI sheet since I heard that was the best sheet for 3d printing since it had the smoothness of glass and the grip for 3d prints. I had found one on Amazon for about $90, which was the right size for my printer, which was 20×20 inches. I also got a cut piece of glass from lowes which cost about $14, including the cost for cutting in-store.

    When it arrived, I had two options: mount it on top of the glass, put clips to clip it under pressure, or buy transfer tape to apply it to the glass. Since I didn’t have the suitable tape for the glass bed, I used clips, but unfortunately, I only had one clip that was big enough to hold the sheet and glass together. I looked it up and found a similar question on Reddit from someone wondering what kind of alternatives could you replace instead of using clips for the hotbed. A user recommended that you use blue painter’s tape since it is heat resistant, which made sense since many people used painter’s tape before using bed surfaces was popular since it was heat resistant. The material was textured to grip the filament. Most other tapes have a softening point when heated up and don’t stick.

    I ended up using painter’s tape for holding the PEI sheet to the glass bed, and so far, it’s working great, which is an excellent alternative for not having to go out and buy more clips.

  • (Short Read) How I fixed the X-Axis Stabilization Issue

    I had an issue when installing a DDX (Direct Drive Extruder) to my ender 3. It was not stable. The extruder kept wobbling, and I could quickly move it up and down, which was not normal. I tried tightening most of the bolts holding the mainframe of the extruder mount to the belt, but none of it worked. I googled it and found out that there is a bolt underneath the bottom wheel. It was slightly hidden. When tightened enough, there was no wobbling on the extruder. Be careful. Don’t tighten it too much. It can cause extra strain on the belts.

    This helpful video helped me to find out the issue:

  • Troubleshooting 3D Printer Issues

    In my last blog post, I wrote about getting a new 3D Printer, the CR-10 S5. As of this moment, I am awaiting the arrival of the Pei sheet coming in the mail. So I thought I’d take this time to work on my smaller printer (the Ender 3), which I had upgraded to a DDX (direct drive extruder.) Since I installed it, I hadn’t actually started a print and wanted to see how well it worked. It didn’t work at all. It was not extruding enough filament. At first, I thought it must be the nozzle, probably clogged. So I swapped out the nozzle and tried another print. Still, it wasn’t extruding enough filament on the layers. Then I thought maybe it was clogged, but just higher up in another part of the hotend, so I got a couple of super-thin needles that fit into the nozzle and forced out a bunch of filament. Since so much extra filament came out, I thought for sure that was the issue.

    After reassembling the DDX mechanism, I tried another print, but still, it continued to print in an almost dotted fashion. So I went to the Reddit forum: R/3DPrinting and posted about my printer and my issues. also, I tagged this photo with the post:

    the first layer of the 3d benchy print fail

    (click here to view the post I made) and after about ten minutes of my post being up, I got a reply:

    user comments

    The helpful user recommended that I change my E steps to 415, which I had not done. E Steps, to put it simply, are the amount of movements the motor makes to move the filament into the extruder. Different motors produced by various manufacturers need to be tuned to the right amount of E steps. For example, my issue was that my printer was under extruding. Which meant that the motor was not pushing the right amount of filament into the nozzle. The ender 3 had the wrong amount of e steps set to extrude it. So every time I set to extrude 100 mm of filament, it extruded 33 mm of filament, which is way off (this article explains it way better than I could, I recommend reading it for more info). So I set the E steps on the screen to 415 as he suggested, and I started another print. It worked flawlessly, and I successfully got a finished 3d benchy.

    Overall the reason I took so long to figure out the issue was that I didn’t do my research and look up documentation on how to set this up. The prints need to be tweaked a little more to look better, but im still satisfied with the results.

    As I try to figure out how to work my new machines and fix issues, I often post Instagram stories on my Instagram page.

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