Starting with a main board would be a better suggestion I suspect.
- Thread starter Screwdriver
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What brand of PEtG did you end up buying?
Screwdriver
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This one. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3D-Printer-Filament-PETG-Printing-1-75mm-1KG-Various-Colours-Available-UK/383636796132?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=652046184527&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
no name but uk stock and the cheapest one I could find anywhere in stock in black.
turns out I did actually have the filament crossed over all the time I have been using it. I was careful not to let the end slip under any other but either I did or it came that way. All good now.
having said that, I just bought a couple of reels off PRUSA. Well, they had some on special offer so....
tflnemesis
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I tend to go for whatever is the cheapest for the colour I want, most of the time it is Amazon basic. Never had a batch I couldn't print with although I am struggling with my oldest filaments that I just store in a box. I really ought to sort myself a dry tub out but most of the filaments I buy stay on the machine till its gone.
Screwdriver
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Still grates having to pay £20/kg for plastic. 
You know damned well this stuff costs pennies. But hey, that’s supply and demand I suppose
You know damned well this stuff costs pennies. But hey, that’s supply and demand I suppose
DAPPH
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@daedalusminos
Sat here in a bit of injury disability discomfort as I can't sleep so I'm thinking things over using the key board to trigger things to think through no matter how silly they might sound ........... the fault is erratic but as the printer is printing the machine itself sounds viable so I'm trying to think of other variables .
Question 1 .... have you tried up loading the Cura sliced data to a different memory card? Could there be problems with the card ?
Q 2
Did you use the dedicated latest updated Cura from Joes downloads ? I seem to recall there can be a conflict when other sites versions of cura versions are used as it seemed his site had a Prusa tweak or three for upgraded models that has been proven time & time again .
Q2a
Have you dedicated the Cura to the genuine Prusa model you have ? Until I down loaded the Prusa proven Cura version I had all sorts of problems . Joes team were excellent , I used his live chat quite a lot . , like you they initially just pointed me to their known common faults & solutions .
Q3
Have you sent your data on a different card to anyone else with the latest model to see if they too have print problems ( experienced volunteers step forward right now please ? ) That would prove your data is good or bad & also indicate your machines effectiveness
Q4
Is your memory card new , old or had been reused many times & not fully wiped ? ie does it have odd unwanted bits & bytes of data in it or is the card starting to decay ?
Where is your memory card stored ....Well away from strong magnetic fields in a faraday's cage or purse? Incase there is a variable corruption of data when it is being read .
Q5
Have you fully rechecked all the wiring connections & plug ins with their sockets and made sure they are sufficiently tight /secure? including the wall socket you ae getting the power from ? So no poor wiped contacts in the plugs & pins or intermittent high resistance connections ?
Old saying :- " Questions are the answers , if you don't get the answer you want ...... ask better questions. " 
Sat here in a bit of injury disability discomfort as I can't sleep so I'm thinking things over using the key board to trigger things to think through no matter how silly they might sound ........... the fault is erratic but as the printer is printing the machine itself sounds viable so I'm trying to think of other variables .
Question 1 .... have you tried up loading the Cura sliced data to a different memory card? Could there be problems with the card ?
Q 2
Did you use the dedicated latest updated Cura from Joes downloads ? I seem to recall there can be a conflict when other sites versions of cura versions are used as it seemed his site had a Prusa tweak or three for upgraded models that has been proven time & time again .
Q2a
Have you dedicated the Cura to the genuine Prusa model you have ? Until I down loaded the Prusa proven Cura version I had all sorts of problems . Joes team were excellent , I used his live chat quite a lot . , like you they initially just pointed me to their known common faults & solutions .
Q3
Have you sent your data on a different card to anyone else with the latest model to see if they too have print problems ( experienced volunteers step forward right now please ? ) That would prove your data is good or bad & also indicate your machines effectiveness
Q4
Is your memory card new , old or had been reused many times & not fully wiped ? ie does it have odd unwanted bits & bytes of data in it or is the card starting to decay ?
Where is your memory card stored ....Well away from strong magnetic fields in a faraday's cage or purse? Incase there is a variable corruption of data when it is being read .
Q5
Have you fully rechecked all the wiring connections & plug ins with their sockets and made sure they are sufficiently tight /secure? including the wall socket you ae getting the power from ? So no poor wiped contacts in the plugs & pins or intermittent high resistance connections ?
Old saying :- " Questions are the answers , if you don't get the answer you want ...... ask better questions. "
DAPPH
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Still grates having to pay £20/kg for plastic.
You know damned well this stuff costs pennies. But hey, that’s supply and demand I suppose
Development costs for defining the true diameter & quality control must have cost them a bomb to design , make & implement .. take a peek as some of Prusa's videos of his production plant that make the filaments.
AndersK
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daedalusminos
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I'm using a clean install of the latest PrusaSlicer set up for the MK3s on a dedicated laptop for this printer. I've tried printing several of the supplied models from the supplied SD card, my own model from my own SD card and streamed the GCode over USB all with the same problematic results so pretty much ruled out currupt data as being the cause.@daedalusminos
I've removed the EinsyRambo, thus reseating the connectors, and wiggled all wires whilst printing but that does not trigger the fault.
I just tried printing the bat logo from the card and stood by. Just as it was doing the first layer of the top surface (about 15mins in), for no reason the extruder moved up by 20mm and the printer then reset.
Screwdriver
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I have seen that and yes it is a fascinating, well designed process but this filament is still a raw material. I still think it's more about supply and demand than actual cost (or value). During the height of the lockdown, many of the popular filaments (@ £15/kg) were sold out, you could still get them for £20/kg.
It is the same or similar scenario to the bad old days of inkjet printing. Sell the printer for peanuts and charge an arm+a leg for the consumables. It is definitely "worth" £20/kg to me or I wouldn't buy it but I have little doubt this stuff could be £5/kg and still return a profit but if you can easily sell it for £20/kg, why wouldn't you?
Screwdriver
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That's not a bad way to look at it.
You're probably right but plastic is a lot less energy intensive, nor is it necessarily from scrap.How much is plain steel wire by the kilogram compared to its scrap value?
Bladevane
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I get your point. I am happy paying £20/kg for filament if it works, ie flows well, doesn't clump or block the nozzle and produces good looking prints. I bought some Sunlu SPLA and it's a dog to print with. On the other hand Ziro PLA prints like a dream. Sadly we don't know what we are getting until we've got it and possibly spent hours trying to resolve why the print doesn't come out perfectly first time.
DAPPH
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@daedalusminos Ok I'll go back to sleep and think up some better questions whilst I'm a sleep then see if I can recall them once I'm awake again.
Dave
Ok I'll go back to sleep and think up some better questions whilst I'm a sleep then see if I can recall them once I'm awake again. Dave
DAPPH
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That's not a bad way to look at it.
How much is plain steel wire by the kilogram compared to its scrap value?
The chemical formulation he uses will like as not be the result of thousands & thousands of experiments with his machines as they too developed for he does his own mixing in house IIRC .
daedalusminos
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On a related point...I recently bought 2 reels of Ninjaflex from a UK supplier, and as I always do, measured the diameter - 1.74mm not bad so loaded it up a tried printing with it. Ninjaflex is not the nicest stuff to print with and I was having problems.
Another measure revealed that the diameter was varying from 1.58mm to 1.71mm over approx 20cm. The second reel was the same, OK at the start of reel but varying widely a few winds in.
Fenner drives did eventually replace the reels stating I must have received a couple of bad ones. What I think had happened is that it had been wound too tight and thus had stretched/deformed it. A good few hours wasted determining that!
Another measure revealed that the diameter was varying from 1.58mm to 1.71mm over approx 20cm. The second reel was the same, OK at the start of reel but varying widely a few winds in.
Fenner drives did eventually replace the reels stating I must have received a couple of bad ones. What I think had happened is that it had been wound too tight and thus had stretched/deformed it. A good few hours wasted determining that!
brewdexta
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I've just upgraded the main board on the ender 3 pro to the SKR mini E3 v2.0 board. Only a couple of issues around using Octoprint but quickly fixed with a bit of searching. With a pi4 you need to add "over_voltage=1" to /boot/config.txt of the pi as the USB behaviour as changed and without it you don't get serial comms. The other fix was to put a sliver of polyamide tape on the USB cable 5v connection so the pi is not trying to power the printer main board.
The difference with the new UARTs is amazing, the stepper motors are almost silent, whereas before I had complaints when I was on a conference call about the noise, not good when on a call with my boss and the youngest is printing cookie cutters
I now need quieter fans......
Last upgrade is the auto bed leveller. All the cabling is in, just needs connecting and then upgrade the Marlin firmware to use it. The BLtouch sensor I have has different cable colour coding than on the various howto videos and docs so will check that out first. Once I've added that and stopped up-ending the printer, I'll go back and recalibrate and check everything then move on to learning CAD so I can print some bits for the workshop.
Cheers
Andy
The difference with the new UARTs is amazing, the stepper motors are almost silent, whereas before I had complaints when I was on a conference call about the noise, not good when on a call with my boss and the youngest is printing cookie cutters
I now need quieter fans......Last upgrade is the auto bed leveller. All the cabling is in, just needs connecting and then upgrade the Marlin firmware to use it. The BLtouch sensor I have has different cable colour coding than on the various howto videos and docs so will check that out first. Once I've added that and stopped up-ending the printer, I'll go back and recalibrate and check everything then move on to learning CAD so I can print some bits for the workshop.
Cheers
Andy
Screwdriver
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I propped mine up on foam feet. Four little circles of pipe insulation about an inch thick. Most of the stepper motor noise is being re-radiated by the table, with the foam feet it is almost silent...
brewdexta
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I used some spare rubber flooring on top of plywood to make a table top for mine as before it was directly on the top of a filing cabinet which amplified the sound. I put some foam rubber between the filing cabinet and the table top, that helped but the UARTs took it to a different level, the predominant noise now are the hot-end fans which aren't too bad, a bit of a drone.
