Ender 3 3D Printing Specialist Needed

bobster316

I am relatively new to 3D printing, i have an Ender 3 v2 which print 3d objects normally without too many issues. However i am having issues with Octolapse which is causing stringing at the point where the extruder moves away and comes back to the 3d object being printed. I have tried seacrhing for a fix online but not getting anywhere.
Need some help from a specialist/expert. I am based in west london, appreciate if anyone can help.

sk2402005

I cant help, but there are some really good groups on facebook that will be able to help you

forgotmyname

What slicer are you using?  

Isnt Octolapse a camera/monitor system for the printer? Creating a timelapse of your print. How can that affect
the print quality?

What filament material are you using and what settings?

Some of those little bobbles on the flat face looks like the filament is not 100% dry.

matelodave

The problem with octolapse is that it moves the print head away from the model, takes the piccie and then puts the printhead back to where it was.As the ender 3 has a bowden extruder then theres a bit more flex and slop in the bowden tube which can affect the extruder pressure as it pulls back from the model) 

This may mean that you have to tweak your slicer retraction settings (possibly both speed and distance) to ensure the filament doesn't ooze during the "away period" but is ready and primed for when printing restarts - your piccies look like it could do with either an extra mm or so of retraction or pulling it back a bit quicker

Try increasing either the retraction speed or distance - only by a small amount and only one parameter at a time so you can see what happens.Make sure you take notes of what you've done and what happens so you can get back to the original settings if is all goes worng.

TBH although it's a nice to have and presents a nice effect I'd rather just take a timelapse as it doesn't increase the print time like octolapse does.

3D printing isn't an exact science and there's a lot of trial and error in getting the settings sorted out so make sure you keep records of any tweaks or adjustments and only do one thing at a time

forgotmyname

I didn't know octolapse moved the print head away, seems like a poor idea. Why does it not detect when the print head is in
the optimal position and than take a snapshot?

Amazing what you can achieve with a little tweaking of the settings. But it can take time before you get the machine setup properly.

Had my 3D printer since 2012 and now also use a Elegoo Mars which is great quality for smaller items.

matelodave

If you look at an Octolapse video you can see that the printhead is parked away from the model - have a look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjOIxKxb3h8

There are other Youtube videos that will help tweak and set up the printer and octolapse

My bro managed to set it up on his much modded Prusa Mk3 and says its was a bit of a faff and it was a bit of a novelty but now doesn't use it anymore as it slows the printer down quite a bit for the print head to be shifted out and back between layers.

I just use the timelapse function on Octoprint (on z shift) as I'm only really interested in monitoring for when stuff goes wrong.

forgotmyname

Octolapse need to go back to the design stage.  Its not like its waiting 2 minutes for a film to develop.

Just needs to know where the camera is situated and then take snapshots when the nozzle is furthest away.

Quick scan of the gcode to see when the print head is moving the slowest could help stabilise the
images also.

There done some of the development for them.