1. Why does mixed color printing produce stringing or oozing?

We can go to the Cura official website to report similar slicing problems. Some reasons may not be a problem with the machine. Issues related to stringing: 1. Different manufacturers and types of consumables 2. Slicing setting temperature 3. Slicing retraction length. It may also be the difference between the structure of the mixer cavity of the A30T print head and single-head printing. Please confirm the usage age of the 3d printer. If you want to replace accessories, you can search our Geeetech official website to purchase new accessories.

2. Why do those colors mix on the printing results?

We collected the real experience of fans. One of them shared as follows:

A30T prints fine in pla with 4mm retraction while pla+ always strings no matter what settings are used. If you want it to print better, you can try to replace the Boden tubes with a direct drive extruder. The only reason for these usages and this style extruder is so it can print faster without the extra weight at the hot end. But anytime it slows down in the print movements without extruding filament will keep expanding and will leave blobs or thick strings. So his fix was extra retraction and speed up the whole printer he used 5500.0mm/min and raised the allowed minimum speed reductions to 30% instead of 20% the slicer. He has used every printer he owned Simplify3D through USB.

3. How to correctly print mixed-color or color-separated models？

Here are some solutions that we offer to you.

A. For multi-extrusion printers to print mixed color or gradient models, you can operate in the following three ways:

1. Just slice the monochrome model through the slicing software, and operate the start color mixing ratio, end color mixing ratio, and color mixing height on the printer. This method is simple and direct.

2. Geeetech official provides EasyPrint slicing software, which can meet the user’s color mixing requirements through visual interactive operations. This method is more flexible and interesting.

3. Using Marlin Gcode instructions M163/M164/M166, you can print models with any color mixing requirements. For details, please refer to Marlin’s official website instruction usage format https://marlinfw.org/meta/gcode/. This method requires users to be familiar with the Usage of Marlin code.

B. For multi-extrusion printers printing color separation models, a wiper tower needs to be set up to ensure that the residual filament inside the nozzle is fully extruded onto the wiper tower after the filament is withdrawn. To achieve the best cleaning effect, you can try the size and volume of the wiper tower.

DEBUT OF GEEETECH TG-21 PRINTING PEN

In pursuing the greatest performance of the printing pen effect, we have officially launched our latest 3D printing pen– TG-21. Sleek, dynamic, and user-friendly, the newly released Geeetech 3D pen is an advanced printing pen that is compatible with various filaments such as ABS, PLA, and PCL. It will surely offer you every possibility with the flexibility to get an approach to the easy-to-use technology. A highly recommended and perfectly go-to 3D printing solution for your every creative thought with just a pen IN HAND.

Eager for more details? Let’s just take a precise look at it.

• Designed With Comfort | ART OF MINIMALIST

In this newly launched 3D printing pen, we adopt a far more concise and delicate appearance. From its outermost shell, we design it with a frosted material to pursue the best touching experience of its gripping feelings. From its colors, three hues of minimalist are included in this series, namely White, Grey, and Black.

• LCD Display | REAL-TIME MONITORING

Equipped with an LCD screen for displaying printing information, this latest 3D printing pen allows you to intuitively observe the current working status of the printing pen, updating every single detail of the working status. Meantime, the visual digital statistics deliver the feedback in time revealing real-time monitoring.

• Eight Speed Modes | ADJUSTABLE LOADING SPEED

As every 3D printing lover knows, the loading speed of the filament will directly influence the thickness and the even heat of the extruded filaments. Because printing speed is one of the most crucial factors in the 3D printing process, an adjustable speed gear should be a must-have function in a 3D printing pen design. This new Geeetech 3D printing pen possesses 8-speed modes, which allows you to adjust and control the whole printing process in real-time without pausing. In this function, you can select a suitable speed mode for your models of variant shapes and complex structures.

• Adjustable Temperature | OPTIMAL FINE-TUNING

For SMOOTH PRINTING Experience. As another one of the most crucial factors in 3D printing, the temperature adjustment function will always be an essential part of most 3D printing machines, and, of course, 3D printing pens require it as well. With this Geeetech TG-21 printing pen, you can adjust the printing temperature and speed without pausing your drawing process. And it will surely bring you fluent and smooth operation, while never bothering and impeding your time for any DIY ideas.

• Smart Sleep Mode | AUTO-PROTECTION MECHANISM

Adopting an automatic protection mechanism, the product will automatically turn into its sleep mode if it hasn’t been working for 1 minute, or, if it has continuously been working for 8 minutes. In this mechanism, it will protect the pen to the largest extent, ensuring the service life of itself. So if your Geeetech 3D printing pen is going to shut down, don’t worry, it is not going on strike but just wants to take a break.

• Excellent Ergonomic Design | SLEEK AND SMOOTH CURVE

This Geeetech 3D printing pen adopts an excellent ergonomic design with a sleek and smooth curve, which, as we promise, will offer you the most comfortable touch feelings when you are applying it. With a superb outfit of delicate craftsmanship, it gives you a smoother usage, and in the meantime, allows you to enjoy the creating time as well as the delight the technology brings to you. In addition, it is equipped with an easily detachable pen tip with a ceramic nozzle, and is quite easy for the users to exchange the partial components.

Geeetech TG-21 will be sold at ONLY $42.9 on our official website and can be shipped to worldwide countries. It will be displayed in 3 different colors: grey, black, and white. To know more about our newly released 3D printing pen, please check out our website for further details.

You must be disappointed when seeing blobs marring our 3D prints.,which is commonly called“zits” ,can occur due to the frequent start and stop of extruder as it moves around.These blobs on your model represent the position where the extruder began to print a part of the outer shell and then returned to the same position after printing the perimeter.Without leaving a mark, it’s hard to connect two pieces of plastic , but here we figure out two tips to keep the blobs from occuring on the surface of your print.

Tip 1:add a negative extra restart distance

Finding out where they are occurring is vital to reduce blobs.You should make sure if blobs happen at the beginning of the perimeter,or as the perimeter finishes printing.If it is the former, the extruder is most likely priming too much plastic.To solve this problem,you can attempt to adjust your retraction settings,add a negative extra restart distance. For example, if your retraction distance is 2.0mm, the extra restart distance decreases by 0.4mm, and each time the extruder stops, the filament will be retracted 2.0mm .But when it starts again, 1.6mm of the filament will be pushed back into the nozzle.You ought to keep tweaking this number until there are no blobs.

Tip 2:turn the “coasting” setting off 

If you find that the blob is happening as the extruder finishes printing a perimeter,it is posssible that the built-up pressure inside the extruder nozzle pushes out more plastic than expected. In this instance, the best solution is to turn off a setting called “coasting” just before the end of the perimeter ,which can relief some of the built-up pressure within the extruder.Try turning this feature on and increasing the value until the blobs stop appearing.

So that’s the solution to the blobs. Now I am printing a larger Pokemon toy.I can’t go wrong this time, for the sake of my beloved girl.

Source:　https://www.simplify3d.com/preventing-blobs-on-3d-print/

Now, 3D printers that come with a dual or triple extrusion setup have been avaiable for a good number of years. On top of that, there are other options in the Geeetech “A” family that allow for multi-color/material 3D printing, such as the A20M/T, A30M/T, which are more advanced than the A10M. With that said, the A10M, aside from being user-friendly, is the most affordable dual extrusion system in the “A” series. Not to mention the fact that the new version features an upgraded mother board, LCD screen and new gantry. It is therefore safe to say the upgraded A10M is one of the most competitive multi-material 3D printer for beginners and the frugal-minded who are looking to enrich their 3D printing experience.

But before we move on, let’s first debunk the following myths around dual extruder 3D printers.

Myth #1 –Dual extruder 3D printers print twice as fast as their single extrusion counterparts.

If you are a novice in 3D printing, you are probably wondering why this is not the case. More often than not, a dual extruder 3D system is faster than a single extrusion setup, but it almost certainly does not double the speed, and definitly not for the reason you may think.

The real reason is that, with a dual extruder printer, you can avoid the lengthy process of swapping out one filament for another.

Having more than one extruder allows you to have different filaments piped in from the very start.Changing filaments, whether for a different colour or material, is labour-intensive.With a dual or multiple extrusion design, you no longer have to pause a print, empty out the extruder, feed in the next filament, and resume the print every time you need a different material or color. This is where the saved time comes from. As a matter of fact, the two extruders share the same print head and can’t move independently.

Myth #2–dual extruder 3D printers are only useful for multi-color objects.

The Geeetech A10M features a 2 in 1 out design. It enables you to print with numerous combinations of colors using the Color Mixer software developed by Geeetech. But its another, more common use is to seperate the filament used for printing your object from the support material, which is often less expensive, of lower grade, and soluble in water, and will eventually be removed.

A single extruder 3D printer is actually capable of printing multi-color objects and support structures. But the whole process is tedious, as pointed out above.

The Geeetech A10M comes half assembled , and is easy to set up. Check out the unboxing video here by Hoffman Engineering on Youtube.

This blog post will be updated when full review video is out. Stay tuned!

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Before reading this article, please make sure you have already read the setup guide of the version of the 13B single extruder and that you are able to use it to print 3D models. If not, please learn how to operate the single extruder. Of course, you can take this one as the single extruder version to get started.

Step 1

Open Repetier Host, and click Config/Printer Settings to set up the connection.

1. Name your printer.

2. Select the corresponding COM port and baud rate. The baud rate is generally 115200 or 250000.

3. If you are not sure about the COM port, you can check it in your device manager.

Step 2

Set up your extruder

1. Choose the number of extruders, here we choose
2. Select the diameter and color of the filament
3. Offset X/Y refers to the distance between the two extruders, which can be adjusted based on real situations. You can leave it alone now.

Step 3

Set up the shape of the printer

Choose Classic printer as the printer type.

Home X: min Home Y: min Home Z: min

Print height: 150

Now you can click the Connection button on the left corner to check whether it can connect with your printer. If it fails, please recheck the COM port and Baud rate.

Step 4

Manual control

1. X home

Click X home to home the X axis, or you can click the right/left arrow to move the axis to check whether the direction and distance are correct or not；

2. Check Y axis and Z axis respectively in the same way

3. Click the icon of the heated bed on RH to heat the bed. observe whether the temperature is rising to a pre-set value

4. Click the icon of the heated bed and extruder, observe whether it is heating up to the pre-set temperature, and keep it at that value

5. When the temperature for the extruder surpasses 170 °C , choose extruder1 and extruder2 respectively, you can move them and check their directions

Step 5

Leveling the two extruders.

Leveling the two extruders is very important if you want to print with two extruders at the same time.

First, you can adjust one extruder to make it parallel with the surface of the heated bed (the same way you level for a single extruder setup), click the button of Z home to adjust the distance between the nozzle and the heated bed, make sure the vertical distances of the nozzle to the four corners of the bed are the same.

After that, tweak the distance between the second extruder and the heated bed by adjusting the screws, as shown in the following picture: Loose the screws, and then you can move on to get the right distance between the two extruders and the heated bed.

you may need to repeat this step to get it all right.

But it’s worth it. Once you get it done correctly, you won’t need to do it again.

The settings mentioned above are on Repetier Host, which only involves the control of the 3D printer and the preview of the model.

All the settings do not concern the print result but the slicing. So we will continue with the slicing setting. The slicer is independent of Repetier Host. So, should we set up the slicer now? Take it easy. Let’s see whether our printer can run normally.

Step 6

If the printer goes well. We can go on with the slicing. First, let’s get a quick view of the slicer.

RepetierHost supports many slicers, with Slic3r and CuraEngine being the most popular; Slic3r is more powerful in terms of functionality, but CuraEngine comes with more optimized slice velocity.

You can choose a slicer here. Upon selecting the slicer, please click Configuration.RepetierHost will bring up a wizard of the corresponding slicer that will walk you through the configuration.

Here we take Slic3r as a demonstration. As to the configuration in CuraEngine, we will pick it up in the follow-up study in our forum www.geeetech.com/forum/, so, please stay tuned. If you are experienced in CuraEngine, we would appreciate it if you could.ld share your insights with us.

Next, download the file:two_color_cube.zip, unzip the file, and save it somewhere. You will need it later.

Step 7

Click Configuration， open Slic3r

Step 8

We have prepared a set of parameters for I3B_2E dual extruder, that is, I3B_2E_config_bundle.ini. You will need to import those parameters to slic3r from here.

In Slic3r, under file> Load Config Bundle.. navigate to the folder we just downloaded and unzipped, open I3B_2E_config_bundle.ini,

Step 9

After loading, you can find the option of Geeetech_I3B_2E in the drop-down menu.

In my case, I use the Geeetech pro-C model,(I refer to the I3B_2E in this article)， the extruder is MK8(1.75cm-0.4mm)， PLA filament, so we choose Geee_I3B_2E, PLA 1.75mm, and Geeetech_I3B_2E respectively.

All the parameters you set can be saved in RepetierHost for future reference.

Step 10

Unzip two_color_cube.zip， click Load to import the .stl files，choose two_color_cube_1.stl and two_color_cube_2.stl respectively.

Actually, two_color_cube is composed of two .stl files. each printed by one nozzle.

After loading, you can preview it. The two files are separated. Now you need to adjust the locations to combine them together.

Select Object Group 2 and click center, then Object Group 1 and center. Now the two models are combined as one.

Assign printing tasks for both extruders respectively.

Step 11: Slice

If this warning pops up, choose NO

G-code is generated successfully

Step 12: you can print directly via serial port (USB connector）or save the G-code to an SD card, and print stand-alone.

Step 13′: The end

This post was originally published on the Geeetech wiki page and is edited in this blog.

Please be noted this article was last modified on 11 August 2015, and hence is subject to changes, due to software updates and hardware upgrades over the years.

If you already have a dual extrusion system, we would like to hear from you. Share your story/experience with us by joining our forum or Facebook user club. You are also welcome to write on our blog to reach a larger audience.

3D Printer Test Models

3D Benchy

The 3D Benchy model is probably the most popular and recognized print in the 3D printing community to compare and benchmark 3D printers. It is specifically designed to “challenge the capabilities and reveal the limitations of 3D printers”, according to the official site, it has been the most downloaded and printed 3D model. Indeed, its many features, such as the perfect symmetrical design and the large hull, will show any deviations from your machine.

The 3D model is printed at a 1:1 scale without any support materials. Now let’s compare it against its benchmark equivalent.

The Hull

Its hull–a large, smooth overhanging curved surface, shows any deviations. Our make shows no signs of sagging despite its relatively huge angle. Keep in mind this is printed without any support.

Symmetry

3D Benchy is symmetrical, which makes any skewness and warping easy to find.

Overhang Surfaces

The inner side of the bridge reveals how well the 3D printer deals with overhang issues.

Settings:

Layer height: 0.1mm
Print temperature: 190℃
Print speed: 40%
Retraction distance: 6mm
Retraction speed: 30mm/s

The PolyPearl Tower

If the 3D Benchy model serves as an entry-level test, the Polypearl Tower Torture Model tests your 3D printer and filaments to its limits.

The main features of the PolyPearl Tower are as follows:-

 45° Overhangs

Usually, 45° is referred to as the critical angle that printers can handle without using support material on a given model. The three supporting legs of the PolyPearl Tower are all printed at 45°. Check the underside of these pillars after printing, they should be smooth and uniform, if you find the pillars are messy and non-linear, try increasing cooling and decreasing temperature.

Acute Slopes

Featuring an acute slope of 9° this feature will test your printer’s ability to extrude uniformly. This is also a good test of the filament, as variations in diameter and consistency will result in gaps or non-circular rings. Tweak your extrusion multiplier to perfect the acute slope, this feature can also be affected by your infill percentage. A low infill percentage will not provide the necessary support for the rings to form neatly. Still, having trouble with acute slopes? Try increasing the number of top solid layers on your print.

Fine Details

Fine details are a challenge for any printer. The lower ball of the PolyPearl Tower features tiny circular indents around the center. Check the form and roundness of these holes, they should be round on both sides of the center band. You can compare the top indents against the bottom to see if the layer compression has affected their roundness. On all our test models we never found a perfect set.

The tiny pillars on the front of the pavilion are one of the most challenging aspects of this model. Being very thin, angled, and able to support the bridge of the pavilion roof is surely a tough test for any 3D printer. This is a good place to test your retraction settings, aim for clean pillars with no strings in between. The bridge on top should be well formed and also curved. This aspect of the print is almost impossible to perfect so good luck trying!

Overhangs

On both of the ball sections of the PolyPearl tower, you will find a small overhang section. Inspect the form of these details and compare the top against the bottom. The bottom should be well-formed, circular, and flat. The top overhang is much trickier to perfect, check the sharpness compared to the bottom. This feature is affected by the number of shells/perimeters you choose and how you choose to print them. We suggest inside-out to get the best edge on the overhang. The underside of the balls themselves ranges from 90° to 0°, the top ball, in particular, has less support so keep an eye out for the roundness near the base of the top ball.

Extrusion

To achieve the perfect extrusion settings there should be no indication of where the layer has started and stopped. In this picture, we have used PolyWood to demonstrate a perfect extrusion. Play with your extrusion and retraction settings to achieve the perfect extrusion. Using a matte finish material like PolyWood helps blend the layers also!

Roundness

Check the roundness of the balls on the PolyPearl Tower model. These balls should be consistent and spherical. Play with your speed settings to optimize roundness, most PLAs will print happily at 60mm/s.

Fine Bridging and Smooth Curves

While the distance of this bridge is not that impressive, the triple helix design of the PolyPearl Tower will test your printer’s bridging capabilities on 4 different orientations in one print. We found this change in orientation resulted in some messy bridging on one or two of the sections. Play with your cooling and bridging settings to optimize the fine bridging. You should also notice a smooth curve up the sides of the triple helix. Key an eye out for layer shifts where the bridges meet the helix.

Top Layer Fill

The Top Layer Fill on the Polymaker Logo should be completely filled in. This is affected by the number of Top Solid Layers you choose and also by the amount of shells/perimeters you choose. Too many shells/perimeters and you will be left with a gap in the top surface.

Reference：https://polymaker.com/polypearl-tower-torture-test-model/

All-in-One 3D printer test

 This test includes a support test, scale test, overhang test, hole test, diameter test, and bridging test. It is printed with 100% Infill without supports.

45 degrees is said to be the critical angle for overhangs without any support, but here we have an 80-degree overhang with no support. The overhang and bridges are printed with no signs of sagging or drooping.

The clear and sharp corners show no signs of stringing or deviations.

If you also would like to perform the tests on your 3D printer, you can download the test 3D model on the internet or feel free to contact us for the files. Don’t forget to share with us the results in our Facebook User Group

By the way, the new A10 3D printer comes with an upgraded motherboard/LCD/Frame, and is now available for $219, 8% off its original price!

Assembly & Set Up

Set up your 3D printer as per the instructions. No matter how experienced you are, your vendor supposedly knows the products better than you do. It is recommended that you use parts, software, and materials from the same brand wherever you can to get the best experience. Remember, every 3D printer has its characteristics. Be open to some trial and error down the road.  

Software Update

Keep your system up to date. Manufacturers and slicer companies are constantly experimenting with their software and firmware to fix bugs and improve performance. If your machine features an automatic update, enable it.

Maintenance

Perform regular maintenance and calibration on your 3D printer: Form and maintain a routine of checks; keep your filaments from moisture and dust; calibrate the bed.

Supports

Bear in mind the 45-degree rule and 5mm rule. Any overhangs of above 45 degrees(or 60 degrees depending on your printer) may require supports. Just like overhangs, not all bridges require support. Consider supports only when the bridge is more than 5mm long. “Rafts”, and “brims” are great support tools to increase adhesion. Add support structures to your design for any steep overhanging features or models that have a small base.

While supports are great for some cases, you may want to avoid them, for the following reasons: first, they consume extra filament; second, the print takes longer time; and finally, removing the support structure of the print can be a pain. If you are still not sure whether you need support, run a test print to find out. You can also use your creativity to make the support structures part of your design, in case you think them necessary. Ways to circumvent supports: reorient your model; reduce the overhang angles; and split your model into smaller parts.

The first layer

Your first layer is the foremost important layer of your print. Make sure it sticks well to the bed. Again, support structures, a heated bed, and glue all are great tools to help with adhesion.

Details

Examine the details of your model. Are there any tiny projections or parts that are too small to print on a desktop 3D printer? In your printer, there is a very important but often overlooked variable, that is the line width, which is determined by the diameter of the printer nozzle. Most printers come with a nozzle of 0.4 mm or 0.5 mm in diameter.

Nozzle setting

(1) The 3D printer nozzle is moving too fast.

To save time, some people are inclined to set the speed of the print job higher than what the driver motor is capable of, causing the tool head to fail to reach the desired position.

Solution: In your slicer software, set the speed at 40 to 60mm/s. Alternatively, you may adjust your speed by turning the knob, if you do not wish to stop your print.

(2) Nozzle deviates from the desired position

This happens when the extruder is traveling from one point to another of the print without the Z axis elevating the tool head. The nozzle then hits the object and is pushed away from its intended position. Because the system is unable to detect the deviation, it will continue with the print job, resulting in layer shifting.

Solution: In the settings, readjust the Z- offset to 0.3mm

Mechanical disorder

Most 3d printers use belts to let the motor control the position of the nozzle. Over time, the belt may stretch, which can impact the tension used to control the nozzle. If the tension becomes too loose, the belt may slip on the pulley, which means the pulley is rotating, but the belt is not moving. If the belt is too tight, this can also cause problems. Tightened belts can create excess friction in the bearings that will prevent the motor from spinning. Ideally, the belt is installed tight enough to prevent slipping, but not too tight to stop the system from rotating.

Solution: manually adjust the belt for proper tension. Regularly check and maintain your 3D printers.

Layer shifting could also occur when the motors fail to spin as a result of not getting enough electrical current; or when the model exceeds the size of the print bed, which causes the nozzle to lose its position at the edges. Finally, make sure there is no external force imposed on your printer, for any level of external force could interfere with the moving of the belts.

Any questions or ideas? Leave us a comment in the comments section or email us. We would love to hear from you.

In this article we are going to take a closer look at both materials, comparing them in terms of their merits and drawbacks, so that you can make better-informed choices and better quality prints.

ABS

Pros: great availability;cheap;sleek finishing with acetone.

Cons: difficult to work with ;smelly.

Optimal Temp: 235-240°Celsius.

Editor’s comment: Prints made of ABS is resistant to high temperatures and of great durability; but the filament’s high printing temperature and tendency to warp mean it is hard to print with. And you may want to find a well ventilated place whilst printing with the consumable due to the pungent smell it gives off while being heated.

PLA

Pros:renewable;environmentally-friendly;less likely to warp;well affordable;odorless.

Cons: less durable and flexible;not soluble in esters or ketones

Optimal Temp.: 200°Celsius

Specifications: diameter: 1.75mm/2.85mm

Editor’s comment: made from sugar cane and corn starch, PLA is easily the most environmentally friendly and affordable material available on the market. Objects created from PLA is of great strength, medium durability and low flexibility. Same as ABS, it is not soluble in esters or ketones. However, unlike ABS,it renders a heated bed redundant(note: having a heated bed still helps). A case in point would be the Geeetech E180,which is specifically designed for educational settings and comes without a heated bed since it uses PLA. Textured paper is used on the build platform to improve adhesion.  

Conclusion: ABS and PLA are of about the same cost. If you are just getting started in 3D printing, PLA is probablly the material to start with. ABS is the one to go for if you are aiming to create more durable objects on your 3D printer.

Wanna share your printing expertise and creative prints with other DIY professionals, hobbyists ? Join our forum today : http://www.geeetech.com/forum/