SD3 w/ new e3d upgrade, issues with prints collapsing in (Page 2 of 2)

just for grins, leave them slightly cock-eyed but moving smoothly and see what you get

Hey guys sorry to keep you hanging. My kid has been keeping me busy. Haha

So I ended up making the carriages cockeyed again, it didn't fix the circles. So I decided to straighten them out again. This time I moved my machine to the island in my kitchen. I wanted more space to work and be able to see how everything moves from dead front. I usually access my printer from the side/ front when It's in its usual spot. Anyway, I noticed the front pulleys didn't look right. I decided to flip them over, the belts lined up better with the carriages. I re-tensioned everything, this time I went tighter than I usually do. It prints a looked better. :-)

I went through the entire spool calibration, extrusion width, extrusion multiplier process. I got my extrusion width pretty close to perfect. I'll work in this a little more. But the print quality got even better.

Below is what I'm getting. My 90 degree angles aren't perfect, but they are better.  Also the Circles got better, but not perfect yet. I will keep tweaking the carriages. 

I'm having issues with tall and smaller objects melting a little once they get over an inch or so. The rear corner of this 90 degree angle is curving up. Minimum layer times should fix the small er objects. I'm not sure about the rear of the right angle.

I have some messy first layers. The inner parameters look really nice and the outer one is wavy and doesn't stick that well.

ok, stop trying to calibrate with such small items.. you are doing yourself, and your printer a disservice.

for filament calibration (flow rate), use the testbox i have added here.. and set up a calibration profile in Slic3r to do:
2 bottom layers,
no top layers,
no infill and
1 perimeter.
this is the proper way to calibrate for flow. do NOT use a model made with what is called a "single wall" - that is not helping you to calibrate properly.
You do not need to print the entire height of this piece, just 5-10mm is plenty - enough to give you good measurements.

And again, your single wall thickness should be 0.48 - get this correct BEFORE trying to move on to accuracy! If this is not correct, your dimensional accuracy will not be correct.

next, for dimensional accuracy testing - AFTER you get the flow rate set correctly - try the other file - the one labeled "accuracy test"
It has multiple dimensions that can be checked for accuracy.

print it, and mark it with X & Y directions BEFORE removing from the print bed. Then measure the outside the inner cut out, and the steps in Z

outer dimension = 75mm x 75mm
mid level dimension = 50 x 50
inner cutout = 25 x 25
each step should be 5mm tall, with total being 10mm (measured at the inner cutout)

this will you give you a MUCH more accurate picture of what your printer is doing than little things will.

Heartless, Thank you for the files. I will use them then and post my progress!

Are you downloading and saving on your computer?
or trying to load directly from here?
you need to save them on your computer for them to load correctly in RH

these are crazy simple files with very few triangles, so not sure why they wont load.

So I printed the test print, It looks good. It's a little out of spec. So looking straight at the printer the X axis printed the square at 75.16mm, Y axis is 75.54mm. The mid level measured 50.24mm for X, 50.28mm on the Y axis. The Inner cutout 25mm Y axis, 25.06mm for the X axis. Whats the best method to calibrate the accuracy?

Sure here are a few. I tried some bridging, it comes out horrible. My settings are 75mm/s and the flow rate is turned down to .7. Any advice to improve bridging? Possibly more settings I'm missing? I can take some pics of my current results if you want.

you are still trying to go way too fast - turn it down to about 40mm/s print speeds. Solidoodles do better at slower speeds.
i also see some Z wobble in that print.. that can throw your measurements off.

Calibration is done in a series of specific steps. try skipping one and you are wasting your time, and mine.

step 1. have you properly calibrated the feed rate?
ie: when you ask it to feed 100mms in, it feeds exactly 100mms? not 97, not 102 - but 100 on the dot.
be aware that temperature will affect this! make sure your temps are appropriate for the material being used.

step 2. Filament calibration - average diameter to start with.
7-9 measurements over 8-10 feet of the material. average the diameters and enter into your slicing program.
Save the settings! (this is an important part of the process)

step 3. Initial flow rate calibration.
multiplier needs to be set to 1 for the first test box and saved.

print the single wall box as discussed earlier - via slicer settings, NOT a pre-made model - to about 5mms tall.
carefully measure each wall of the box and average that. be careful not to cut into/squash the printed wall with the caliper blades.
for a first run i would expect the dimensions to be in the 0.50 to 0.52 range.

do the math to get the correct multiplier for that filament.
     expected dimension / (actual dimension x current multiplier) = new multiplier value
            0.48 / ( 0.52 x 1 ) = 0.92
or the shorthand version - 0.48 / 0.52 = 0.92

enter the new multiplier and save settings - reslice the box and print again to verify the setting is correct. you must slice again every time you make a change and save the setting.
You may need to make a small adjustment up or down to get it come out to 0.48 (for a 0.4 nozzle) - and by "small" i mean 0.01 or 0.015 either way, depending on the results.

it will be very rare that you should see something below a 0.88 for a multiplier..
that you are using 0.7 tells me you are trying to shortcut things & it does not work.

"Anything worth doing, is worth doing right." - Hunter S. Thompson, Journalist

I have my print speeds set to 35mm/s. The only speed I have turned up was bridging (75mm/s). I got that speed setting from a thread Lawsy created a while ago. I know his machine is different from mine but I figured It was a starting point. I can't remember off hand what the setting is called but it's basically the flow rate while bridging. I currently have set to .7 and have been playing around with it to see if it makes any improvements. I wanted to see if reducing the amount of material coming out would clean up bridging.

I followed your steps exactly the first time you posted them. I didn't skip anything, I'm not trying to waist anyone's time here.

I can't remember my exact extrusion multiplier but it's not .7. My test box walls come out .48mm on all 4 walls. Using Slic3r settings, not the model being single walled. After following your steps I got my extrusion multiplier dialed in.

So now I'm at the point of measuring the test print box and It's not coming out exactly the size it should be. Also I'm pretty sure my carriages aren't perfectly square because when I measure square prints diagonally both ways they come out to different measurements. 

As for the Z wobble, the sheet metal frame is tight, the springs allow the bed to sway a little bit. I didn't think it was effecting my prints. You have a better eye for this sort of thing than I do. I'll try tightening the thumb screws, re-level and see if the print bed is more stable. If not I'll try swapping the springs for stiffer ones. The top of my build plate sits 7mm higher than the factory build plate.

I appreciate all the help you've given me. I learned a lot and made sure not to skip any steps along the way.

No worries man, we all have those days.

I think we have the same bed stabilizer setup. It was one of the first mods I did back in 2014. Originally I wanted to go with the silicone heat pad on the ABS printed bed. That didn't go well. So my new and improved build plate setup is an Amazon special. haha I bought a 220 x 220 x 2mm thick build plate for a reprap, I drilled the 3 holes for the Solidoodle bed leveling screws. Then i bought a heated bed for a reprap which is 220 x 220 x 3mm thick and actually flat, then a 3mm thick piece of borosilicate. The only one I could find was 200 x 200. My plan is to print spacers to hold the glass centered. For now binder clips will have to do, just like they always have. lol

I'll definitely crank them down then. I never thought to use hair spray to hold the glass down. I'll read up on it. I like the idea of sandwiching the beds together with a layer of cork. I'll be acquiring a piece soon!

I had fitment issue with the Z wobble support when I printed it off a long time ago. So I mounted them the way I have it. I've been wanting to revamp the stabilizer for a while now. I saw a design somewhere using an LMUU8 bearing and an old 8mm rod mounted vertically. It was an intriguing idea so I started designing a mount for the 8mm rod but, didn't get very far with it. lol I'm also making a Y rod stabilizer with a bearing. Mine isn't perfectly straight.