1 Topic by jon_bondy

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Topic: too many things going wrong

I'm using Repetier with the latest stock Solidoodle firmware (which is some flavor of Marlin).  I can get the extruder to extrude thin hair-like strands (0.016"). I am not sure whether this is right, but it is pretty close to the 0.35 mm nozzle diameter (0.41mm).

When I Home the thing, the X and Z positions appear to be OK, but the Y position is perhaps 1/4" to the right of the bed.  The X position is all the way to the right.   It is hard to believe that the Y end stop could be moved 1/4".

When I start a job, the bed moves up and down a bit, and then the extruder heads to the near left, at which point the Solidoodle computer dies: it becomes unresponsive.  I can get the Solidoodle to work again if I press the reset button on the Arduino, and Disconnect/Connect in Repetier, but when I start the job again, the same thing happens.

The gCodes that are executed are:

M104 S200 ; set temperature
G21; set mm units
G28 ;home all axis
M190 S0 ; set and wait for bed temp to be reached
M104 S195,195,195 ; set extruder temp and start heating
G90; set absolute coordinates
G1 Z5 F300 ;move platform down 5mm
G1 X10 Y10 F3000 ;move to front left corner
M109 S195,195,195; wait for extruder temp to be reached
G1 Z.3 F200 ;move platform close to nozzle
G92 E0; reset extrusion distance

The next command, which may or not be causing the problem, would be

G1 E7 ;extrude anchor

I have no idea what to do next.

I know that there were some issues with where the origin was, but I'm not sure how to handle that.  I am unable to re-load the firmware, if that is what is required.

2 Reply by Stoney

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Re: too many things going wrong

G1 E7 just extrudes 7mm of filament, that will not be the problem.

http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code

waiting till the bed gets to zero degrees is not going to work well.

is yours a heated bed ? get rid of the M190.. at least until it has a logical value.

3 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: too many things going wrong

When I first start using Slic3r .91 I was having the same problem.  It wouldn't print, and I had to restart before I could do anything else.  It turned out to be the M190.  Slic3r had a default bed temp of 80 or something.  It would wait for the temp to be reached, and then continue waiting forever.  I had to set it to 0, which in Slic3r means manual control.

So it doesn't matter what value you have for M190, I think you will have trouble so long as that code is in there.

4 Reply by lawsy

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Re: too many things going wrong

jon_bondy wrote:

M104 S195,195,195 ; set extruder temp and start heating
*snip*
M109 S195,195,195; wait for extruder temp to be reached

This is the problem. The software is trying to set the temp for three extruders. You are using my new g-code, but Repetier-Host  0.84 breaks it.

Where the code asks for [first_layer_temp], substitute in your 195.

Watch the video in my thread to see what the extrude anchor does.

lawsy's Website

5 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

All comments were very helpful!

I finally gave up on all of the extruder temperature commands and commented them out.  I ensured that the bed and extruder were up to temperature, manually, and then started the job.  It seemed to go OK (some strings, but after all, it was the first print).

Is there any way to set the custom GCode up so that it starts heating the bed, waits for the bed, starts heating the extruder, waits for the extruder, and then goes?  It takes 15 minutes for the bed to heat, but only 3 minutes for the extruder to heat.  I don't want the extruder sitting there hot for 12 minutes if I can avoid it.

Is everyone managing the bed temperature manually (heating it up before you start printing)?

What custom GCode are you using presently?

Thanks!

6 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: too many things going wrong

I heat the bed manually, second thing after turning on the lights when I enter the room.   I'll turn on the extruder manually as well, maybe just before I load up the gcode after the bed is up to temp.  The gcode for the print already has wait for temperature commands, so I don't see the need for it in start gcode. 

I try to have it with 5C of the print temperature when I start.  I usually extrude a little first to get it primed, and don't want it waiting above the bed, oozing more plastic while it reaches temp.

7 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

I did no bed leveling nor any significant calibration (I did measure the diameter of the filament).  The first part was printed at 0.1 mm layer height and was a cylinder 20 mm tall and 20 mm in diameter (one of a series of calibration parts that I created in Sketchup). Measured height ranges between 19.98 and 20.15 mm; measured diameter varies between 19.03 and 20.07; I may need to fiddle with the X and Y proportionality, or with the belts.  The part stayed on the original kapton surface throughout the print, and popped right off after the bed cooled. All in all, I'm quite pleased.

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8 Reply by Stoney

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Re: too many things going wrong

jon_bondy wrote:

Is there any way to set the custom GCode up so that it starts heating the bed, waits for the bed, starts heating the extruder, waits for the extruder, and then goes?  It takes 15 minutes for the bed to heat, but only 3 minutes for the extruder to heat.  I don't want the extruder sitting there hot for 12 minutes if I can avoid it.

I modded a part of the start gcode to ..

M190 S95 ; set and wait for bed temp of 95 to be reached
M140 S100     ;then set bed to 100
M104 S200 ; set extruder temp and start heating
G90; set absolute coordinates
G1 Z5 F300 ;move platform down 5mm
G1 X10 Y10 F3000 ;move to front left corner
M109 S200; wait for extruder temp to be reached


so it waits till 95 is reached, it gets there every time but will only get to 100 if the case is on, so I then set it for 100 but do not wait for it, turn on the extruder to 200 but do not wait, home all the axis, with the Z right down the bottom it takes a little while to lift up so the extruder temp can get a start on the heating before this .. then it does the shift to front left and waits there over the bed till full heat is obtained.
So since the bed has still been heating that last bit while the extruder heats its closer to the 98 mark by the time it starts printing. The trick is to get the extruder on just a little before the bed is up to temp, then there is no waste of time waiting for bed and then extruder and the extruder is not sitting there cooking, it goes as soon as the extruder is up to temp even if the bed is still a little low.

see the modified start gcode thread for the rest of it.

9 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

This is exactly what I was looking for - Thank you!

My second printing attempt was the filament bushing, which printed perfectly.  My third attempt was a pair of the bed adjustment knobs, but all I ended up with was a ball of plastic string.  I tried again, and noticed that while the central disks printed correctly, there were a few stray lines along each side that were not sticking to the bed.  Assuming that this might be support structures, I removed support, but the problem persisted.  Any idea what is wrong here? The bed is set to 100, but probably is closer to 95

I would attach the images in line, but I am not sure how that is done

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10 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

I'm looking at Repetier, and it seems that Slicer is creating support material, even with the check box disabled

11 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: too many things going wrong

When you changed the profile in slic3r, did you give it a different name?  Is the profile without support selected in Repetier?

Many times I would make a new profile in Slic3r and hit slice, without having selected the new profile in Repetier which would just give me the same thing I had before.

12 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

Wow.  You edit something, change it, and it does not automatically select your most recent settings?  Amazing.   Yes.  I made the exact same "mistake" as you did.  Not the most useful or intuitive program behavior.  I expect I will be making this mistake again.

Thanks!

13 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

I tried to print the two knobs without support, and got part of the way there before one of the pieces separated from the bed.  The bed was at 100.  What is next?  Hairspray?

14 Reply by Rondavouz

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Re: too many things going wrong

Clean the bed with aceton, or switch out the Kapton tape. My kapton tape that came with the printer had some major sticking problems. The new one is almost the other way, sticks like crazy...

15 Reply by lawsy

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Re: too many things going wrong

I've updated the start g-code thread to address the original problem from this thread:

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/231/impr … end-gcode/

As for the sticking, level the bed, fix the z-offset, and perhaps use some hairspray.

lawsy's Website

16 Reply by solijohn

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Re: too many things going wrong

lawsy wrote:

I've updated the start g-code thread to address the original problem from this thread:

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/231/impr … end-gcode/

As for the sticking, level the bed, fix the z-offset, and perhaps use some hairspray.

Comprehensive!

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

17 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: too many things going wrong

Thanks, everyone, for all of your suggestions.  What really helped was running the 1st layer at 25% of the normal speed. With that, even with the bed not PERFECTLY level, everything is sticking just fine.  Despite other's comments, my kapton is working perfectly (although I have only done a dozen prints, or so).  I'm now running the bed at 85 and the extruder at 185

18 Reply by solijohn

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Re: too many things going wrong

jon_bondy wrote:

Thanks, everyone, for all of your suggestions.  What really helped was running the 1st layer at 25% of the normal speed. With that, even with the bed not PERFECTLY level, everything is sticking just fine.  Despite other's comments, my kapton is working perfectly (although I have only done a dozen prints, or so).  I'm now running the bed at 85 and the extruder at 185

Very glad to hear things are up and running.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.