What the heck is this? (Photo)

MakerWorld
1

I used a BL file for a little box for holding a nozzle. It’s a really cool little box if you ask me. But, in addition to printing the box and the lid, it also printed this little thing. It looks like some kind of a tuning print but there was no explanation for it on Maker’s World.

IMG_4820
IMG_48201920×2560 400 KB

2

That’s the prime tower… (filler for the 25 characacter limit)

3

The prime tower is used for multi material prints. It improves the quality of the print after a color / material change by stabilizing the pressure in the nozzle.

4

How fascinating! Are you saying that if I printed another instance of the file without changing filament that it would not print a prime tower?

5

It is an optional setting in the slicer which activates by default when a model or part of it uses more than one material. So yes, if you print it with one color, it should be disabled. But you can turn it on or off manually, regardless of how many materials you print with.

6

The prime tower is only added if…

  • Your current plate has two or more colours of the same filament
  • Your current plate has two or more different types of compatible filament
  • Your current plate has two incompatible filaments, with one or more used as a support interface
  • You have NOT disabled the prime tower

As mentioned above, it is used to clean any previous material from the print process, including the hot end, so it does not bleed into areas it should not.

I recommend looking in the Wiki to learn how and why the Prime Tower is used.

Things you should be aware of:

  • The prime tower isn’t required if you only have a single material/colour combination on the same plate it should not appear even if you have the option enabled.
  • The size of the Prime Tower can be configured.
  • How you configure the size of the Prime Tower comes with experience.
  • You can choose where to place the Prime Tower on the build plate. It is usually best to have it in the top left, but, if you wish, move it. Keep it close to the ejection point if possible.
  • Look at flushing volumes as those come into play on how big the Prime Tower should be.

If you are comfortable with this, a bit of reading goes a long way, as does some practice.

It does not get enabled because your previous print used red and the next print uses white, the first purge on the second job handles that.

7

You also get a prime tower with the smooth video option enabled.