1 Topic by Dream-Cypher

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Topic: Press Problems and successes

I received my Press today.  This is my first 3d printer.

Upon setting it up, there was a piece of filament already broken in the hot end.  Removing that took some time, but after that I was able to feed filament. 

Problem 1: Cable Guard: The cables to the print head make the printer completely unusable when the lid is closed.  The constantly get jammed between the printhead and the side of the printer.  This is a MAJOR design flaw for a "plug and play" printer.  Printing with the lid open resolves this, if I keep an eye on it.

Problem 2: I found a spare washer in the printer.  No idea where it's from.

Problem 3: Could not print calibration because nothing sticks to the bed.  Another Solidoodle fail.  Luckily I had read that I might need hairspray or a glue stick.

Problem 4: sometimes the calibration fails to lower the probe and rams the printhead into the bed.

Eventually, I was able to calibrate and print some test prints.  I found I needed to raise the extruder and bed temps though.  I'm not sure what to do about the printhead cable causing jams.  I guess I'll give solidoodle support a try.  Not really sure what they'll be able to do to fix an obviously bad design at this point though.

Compared to the experiences some have had, it sounds like i was lucky.

2 Reply by Dream-Cypher

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Re: Press Problems and successes

Problem 5: The connection to the bed heater seems VERY tight.  When the bed is raised to the uppermost position, the cable is pulled taught, and actually appears to be pulling the heater from the bottom of the build plate. (photo attached).  Has anyone else seen this?  I'm tempted to try to remove the back panel to see if the cable is pinched somewhere.

Has anyone gained access to the system board, or removed panels, that could provide some guidance?

Thanks,
Dave

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3 Reply by cptskippy

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Re: Press Problems and successes

Dream-Cypher wrote:

Problem 5: The connection to the bed heater seems VERY tight.  When the bed is raised to the uppermost position, the cable is pulled taught, and actually appears to be pulling the heater from the bottom of the build plate. (photo attached).  Has anyone else seen this?  I'm tempted to try to remove the back panel to see if the cable is pinched somewhere.

Has anyone gained access to the system board, or removed panels, that could provide some guidance?

Thanks,
Dave

I recall there been an excess of wire under my plate, I'll take a look tonight and see how mine compares to yours.

4 Reply by Dream-Cypher

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Re: Press Problems and successes

Thanks!

Just thought I'd post a couple other pictures..

1. The washer I found in the printer:
http://i.imgur.com/6uMvAHN.jpg


2: a successful print of a solid cube.  It's a little spread at the bottom, which caused the height to be a bit short, but at least it was a successful print!

http://i.imgur.com/lr1sU32.jpg


3. Lastly, the pic of the tight cable (on imgur this time, in case that is easier for people):
http://i.imgur.com/UTZ8LFp.jpg

Dave

5 Reply by selkess

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Re: Press Problems and successes

i think sam needs to go back to china now again.

6 Reply by bot719

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Re: Press Problems and successes

Same exact problem with the heater bed.
On the underside are 2 screws holding an access door with all electronics.
Plenty of extra wire there. I just added a few wire ties to the four black wires to the heater bed (like they did) and pushed an extra inch or 2 through. Pressed the heat "mat" back in place. This fixed it.

7 Reply by Dream-Cypher

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Re: Press Problems and successes

bot719 wrote:

Same exact problem with the heater bed.
On the underside are 2 screws holding an access door with all electronics.
Plenty of extra wire there. I just added a few wire ties to the four black wires to the heater bed (like they did) and pushed an extra inch or 2 through. Pressed the heat "mat" back in place. This fixed it.


Thanks!  I'll try that tonight. smile

8 Reply by TumbleRumblerz

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Re: Press Problems and successes

Dream-Cypher wrote:

Problem 5: The connection to the bed heater seems VERY tight.  When the bed is raised to the uppermost position, the cable is pulled taught, and actually appears to be pulling the heater from the bottom of the build plate. (photo attached).  Has anyone else seen this?  I'm tempted to try to remove the back panel to see if the cable is pinched somewhere.

Has anyone gained access to the system board, or removed panels, that could provide some guidance?

Thanks,
Dave


Yes, if you unscrew the access panel on the bottom of the printer, you can see those black wires coming in. I had the same problem. There is a LOT of extra wire crammed into the board cavity so it just needs to get pushed through its hole.

To be more clear, if you flip over the Press, there's two sets of visible screws. You want to unscrew the smaller of the two sets. Easy access.

9 Reply by Dream-Cypher

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Re: Press Problems and successes

I found more cable, and the messiest wiring job I've ever seen under the bottom plate.  It's no wonder it was tight... rat's nest doesn't begin to be an accurate description

In any case... problem solved!

Thanks.

10 Reply by Dream-Cypher

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Re: Press Problems and successes

Problem 6: After some semi-successful prints (they printed to completion over several hours... though they didn't look the best, I think I need to play some more with speed and temperature settings in RH.), I found my printer was no longer printing the correct size on the Y axis.  Circular objects had large flat spots on them.

As you can see, the first layer prints ok, but all subsequent layers are off by about 3 mm.  And there is build up on two of the corners.

http://i.imgur.com/6aGZFLN.jpg

It turns out there was a loose set-screw on the Y-axis shaft (there is a small belt from the stepper to the shaft. ).  Tightening that set-screw has removed the "play" that was in that belt.  I haven't done another test print, but I'm pretty sure this will fix the problem.