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Post by wilmanric on Apr 10, 2016 0:17:38 GMT
I don't know what to do. I developed a serious (either x- or y-axis) skew (front to back) earlier this week. I researched the problem and I discovered it was likely one of these things -- - The belt is loose -- doesn't seem to be
- The axis rod is sticky -- I added some oil (a little) just in case
- The build plate isn't level -- it is.
None of that worked. I discovered that the front-to-back rods were loose. I tightened them and re-leveled the build plate. That didn't help. Still skewed about 40° I discovered that the switch that stops the front-to-back movement was loose, I tightened it. Now, each successive layer is skewed forward by about 1/2". Here's a pic! This is supposed to be a sphinx. Ideas anyone?
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Post by jennifer on Apr 10, 2016 1:00:00 GMT
You ought to share this photo in the RepRap group on thingiverse. I'm sure people can help. There are folks there that know every single printer inside out.
With a little elbow grease, and their help this printer ought to last you forever.. should be able to correct any problem. All the parts are pretty standard parts. And even the controller can be replaced if that ever breaks with a $25 ramps 1.4 / reprap one. (if that ever happened).
I didn't know about this group back when my other printer died the first 30 days, otherwise I probably would have gotten my problem fixed, instead of having to return it. (But I am really pleased with my new one so it's okay -- but that one you and curufin have is a relatively fast printing machine.. mine can't print as fast. And it's highly detailed/accurate. Good lil machine.)
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Post by jennifer on Apr 10, 2016 1:09:13 GMT
A video of it printing might be good as well to help troubleshoot the problem.
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Post by jennifer on Apr 10, 2016 1:13:14 GMT
If you level the bed, that positions the head to all four corners then the middle. The paper slid with the same amount of friction at all 5 points? Weird.. why would it do that?
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Post by wilmanric on Apr 10, 2016 2:14:49 GMT
If you level the bed, that positions the head to all four corners then the middle. The paper slid with the same amount of friction at all 5 points? Weird.. why would it do that? Very close to the same amount of friction. No difference from the way I've leveled it before.
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Post by jennifer on Apr 10, 2016 2:29:32 GMT
If you level the bed, that positions the head to all four corners then the middle. The paper slid with the same amount of friction at all 5 points? Weird.. why would it do that? Very close to the same amount of friction. No difference from the way I've leveled it before. What do the first layers of the raft look like? normal? EDIT: wait I just looked at the photo again.. looks like it has problems starting with the first layer even. Do you watch the print head as it lays down the first layers? is there a big gap that narrows and opens up is it moves back and forth?
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Post by curufin on Apr 10, 2016 15:34:27 GMT
Is this what is happening? layer shiftingIf it is, it could also be caused by low voltage or under current. I had an x-axis jamming problem in one of the stepper motors. After taking the printer apart, I couldn't find any problems after I put a volt meter on it. My best guess is that the wires that plug into the stepper motor became a little loose as the motor zips back a forth, causing a momentary break in the power driving the motor. Once I unplugged everything and then plugged it back in, the problem went away. Perhaps you have a loose connection somewhere too? Just thoughts.
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Post by wilmanric on Apr 10, 2016 16:35:19 GMT
Is this what is happening? layer shiftingIf it is, it could also be caused by low voltage or under current. I had an x-axis jamming problem in one of the stepper motors. After taking the printer apart, I couldn't find any problems after I put a volt meter on it. My best guess is that the wires that plug into the stepper motor became a little loose as the motor zips back a forth, causing a momentary break in the power driving the motor. Once I unplugged everything and then plugged it back in, the problem went away. Perhaps you have a loose connection somewhere too? Just thoughts. jennifer and curufin -- at jennifer's suggestion, I posted on the RepRap group on Thingiverse and got some great advice. The last thing I tried, and what seemed to fix it, was tightening all the little screws on the gears that connect with the belts. A few of them tightened just-the-tiniest-bit. This seems to have fixed the issue. The axis (front to back -- x or y?) was slipping I guess. Here's a vid of a test box after the tightening. Much, much, much better...
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Post by curufin on Apr 10, 2016 16:44:45 GMT
Excellent, my friend! What speed are you printing at? It looks like its whipping around pretty fast.
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Post by jennifer on Apr 10, 2016 17:06:33 GMT
The default settings in Makerbot Desktop have that printer traveling at 150mm/s. And then 90mm/s for infills if I recall. Your guy's printer is really capable of insanely fast speeds compared to my Prusa I3 design of the Maker Select. Are you using Makerbot wil? Anyways, I now know why those machines are noisier than my Maker Select -- they're moving like twice as fast
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Post by wilmanric on Apr 11, 2016 3:27:26 GMT
Excellent, my friend! What speed are you printing at? It looks like its whipping around pretty fast. 150mm/s? Whatever the default is. 120mm/s? I'm printing so I'm not able to look at the setting. What about you? Did you slow down?
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Post by wilmanric on Apr 11, 2016 3:29:36 GMT
The default settings in Makerbot Desktop have that printer traveling at 150mm/s. And then 90mm/s for infills if I recall. Your guy's printer is really capable of insanely fast speeds compared to my Prusa I3 design of the Maker Select. Are you using Makerbot wil? Anyways, I now know why those machines are noisier than my Maker Select -- they're moving like twice as fast Yep. I am using MakerBot desktop. I have my printer on a cart that isn't super solid. I think that is actually an advantage. The cart wiggles a little and I think that absorbs some of the momentum of the printer. The printer itself -- the wooden box -- up until now has been super solid. I'm just going to have to initiate some pre-flight checks...
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Post by curufin on Apr 11, 2016 11:59:34 GMT
Excellent, my friend! What speed are you printing at? It looks like its whipping around pretty fast. 150mm/s? Whatever the default is. 120mm/s? I'm printing so I'm not able to look at the setting. What about you? Did you slow down? Im running at about 80mm/sec. I noticed that when it ran at 150mm/sec, the momentum from the whizzing gantries was really rocking the printer. There is quite a bit on inertia generated that the motors need to stop, and my guess is that is what caused your the loosing of the gear screws. Running at 150mm/sec gave me a real 'burning the candle at both ends vibe', like the machine would eventually shake itself to pieces. Id like to keep mine going for a while, so I slowed it down.
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Post by wilmanric on Apr 11, 2016 13:50:04 GMT
150mm/s? Whatever the default is. 120mm/s? I'm printing so I'm not able to look at the setting. What about you? Did you slow down? Im running at about 80mm/sec. I noticed that when it ran at 150mm/sec, the momentum from the whizzing gantries was really rocking the printer. There is quite a bit on inertia generated that the motors need to stop, and my guess is that is what caused your the loosing of the gear screws. Running at 150mm/sec gave me a real 'burning the candle at both ends vibe', like the machine would eventually shake itself to pieces. Id like to keep mine going for a while, so I slowed it down. I may give this a try and see what happens. The distances are so short, it shouldn't make a huge difference in print speed, or does it?
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Post by curufin on Apr 11, 2016 14:06:50 GMT
I may give this a try and see what happens. The distances are so short, it shouldn't make a huge difference in print speed, or does it? For me, as far as printer shaking was concerned, it was the difference between night and day. The down side is it takes a little longer to print things. But that is a sacrifice I will happily accept if it extends the overall life of the printer.
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Post by jennifer on Apr 12, 2016 18:21:21 GMT
I print at about 40-50mm/sec on my Monoprice Maker Select V2 (aka Wanhao Duplicator I3 V2). I think after I am done with all the tweaking, the max I'd go is about 60mm/sec.
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Post by teazia on Apr 13, 2016 1:33:30 GMT
That is some fast printing!
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Post by wilmanric on Apr 13, 2016 14:07:23 GMT
I print at about 40-50mm/sec on my Monoprice Maker Select V2 (aka Wanhao Duplicator I3 V2). I think after I am done with all the tweaking, the max I'd go is about 60mm/sec. I'm at 90mm/s right now. Seems much smoother. I'll keep experimenting.
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