Creality Ender 3 pen mount

thingiverse

I created a simple add-on for my printer, which allows me to temporarily convert it into a plotter without removing any components from the print head. I spent more time discovering the capabilities of my 3D printer than on optimizing the part, so feel free to remix and improve. The big advantage of this approach is that the flexibility in the bands allows for unevenness of the print surface as well as prevents the whole thing snapping while homing. This also leaves the Z-probe working, which enables printing on thicker materials such as wood, leather, a book or the back of your laptop. I started with fixating it with painter's tape but that proved not to be required. Also make sure you empty the extruder **BEFORE** starting. The printer firmware should prevent cold-extruding, but better safe than sorry. On Creality printers (at least the Ender 3), the cooling fan in the electronics is coupled with the part-cooling fan, so make sure to turn that on (M106 S255) to avoid overheating your printer electronics while plotting. You may or may not include bed-leveling to compensate for your object (G29 code). But include this in your G-code header just before printing to adjust the pen just before you start plotting: > G1 Z26 F1000; Safe pen install height > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 10 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 9 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 8 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 7 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 6 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 5 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 4 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 3 > G4 P1000 > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 2 > G4 P1000 > M106 S255; Turn on the part cooling fan to cool the printer electronics > M117 Deploy Pen NOW! 1 > G4 P1000 Tip: If you use Inkscape to convert your image/graphic to g-code, use the KM-laser plugin from knoxmakers.org with the "generate hatch fill" option to generate the hashing of filled surfaces. Remove the fill before starting and combine objects for a proper effect. Use J-tech photonics laser plugin to generate your g-code with the following commands: > G1 Z6.5 F800; (or whatever your plotting height may be) > G1 Z9 F800; (or whatever your travel height may be to avoid touching the surface) **Caveat:** The G2/G3 gcode commands require ARC_SUPPORT enabled in Marlin. If you don't want to load custom firmware, you can use 3D builder included in Windows10 or Makerbot's Ultimaker Cura to import an image (preferably Black/white) and interpret black as higher. In both programs turn down the smoothing. Slic3r PE gave me the best plotting results for a simple greyscale image; import the 3MF file that you exported from Cura (or 3D builder) and find layer at the height you want to plot. Cut the bottom and cut just above the layer, leaving a 0.2mm slice and plot with 0 top and bottom layers. You can play around with infill patterns to get a pleasing result.