1 Topic by jooshs

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Topic: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

I think this may have been suggested already, but it would be helpful to have a closed thread that just gives links to the most important first troubleshooting tips... It seems that some of the pages are being diluted with repeat questions... Maybe one thread that has a link to the wiki, Ian's blog, solidoodle's wiki, and whatever else.  It could tell them to read through all of these first before asking for more help... These cover most of the basics and would help people getting their printer going more thoroughly and quickly.  You could even sticky this post...

http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/

http://wiki.solidoodle.com/

http://www.soliwiki.com/Main_Page

http://www.solidoodle.com/how-to-2/troubleshooting/

2 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jooshs wrote:

I think this may have been suggested already, but it would be helpful to have a closed thread that just gives links to the most important first troubleshooting tips... It seems that some of the pages are being diluted with repeat questions... Maybe one thread that has a link to the wiki, Ian's blog, solidoodle's wiki, and whatever else.  It could tell them to read through all of these first before asking for more help... These cover most of the basics and would help people getting their printer going more thoroughly and quickly.  You could even sticky this post...

http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/

http://wiki.solidoodle.com/

http://www.soliwiki.com/Main_Page

http://www.solidoodle.com/how-to-2/troubleshooting/


Something like this needs to exist on this forum.  Maybe a "Getting Started"/ "general problems" or something similar.  Either way it would eliminate a lot of the same topics/posts repeating and coming up in the Solidoodle Discussion section.

Only an Admin or Mod should be able to post the topics in that section.

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

3 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

I agree that this should exist if nothing else for me to link to one place when helping someone with a first time question.  From experience these kinds of posts don't eliminate the repeat questions though.  People find the site, register, go to general discussion and ask their questions.  It's still going to happen but if it stops some of the repeats and helps us all point to the same place when helping it would still be worth it.

4 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

cmetzel wrote:

I agree that this should exist if nothing else for me to link to one place when helping someone with a first time question.


Spot on!!

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

5 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

Bump.  Where is brad when I need him?

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

6 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

The absolute best thing would be to put final problem solutions into the SoliWiki.  There is a lot of wonderful stuff on this forum, but it can be difficult to locate with the Search.  Why not add content to the Getting Started With Your Solidoodle topic?

7 Reply by solijohn

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jon_bondy wrote:

The absolute best thing would be to put final problem solutions into the SoliWiki.  There is a lot of wonderful stuff on this forum, but it can be difficult to locate with the Search.  Why not add content to the Getting Started With Your Solidoodle topic?


We can work on this.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

8 Reply by jcotton (edited by jcotton 2013-03-28 18:29:07)

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

Please create something for the new user. We got a Solidoodle 2 for my program at school and I'm tired of fighting non sticking problems, hour into a print and it gets totally jacked up. A comprehensive How Too would be GREAT!!! This is how much filament and failed prints since Saturday... straight out of the box.

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9 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

Please create something for the new user. We got a Solidoodle 2 for my program at school and I'm tired of fighting non sticking problems, hour into a print and it gets totally jacked up. A comprehensive How Too would be GREAT!!! This is how much filament and failed prints since Saturday... straight out of the box.

You're going to want an enclosure (http://www.soliforum.com/topic/1306/cus … osure-mod/), that combined with the Glass and hairspray bed (http://www.soliforum.com/topic/160/glass-bed/) is pretty much a guaranteed way to keep your prints down.

Feel free to look around and ask any questions you have, I'm positive that the community is full of people that can help you out.

10 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

Please create something for the new user. We got a Solidoodle 2 for my program at school and I'm tired of fighting non sticking problems, hour into a print and it gets totally jacked up. A comprehensive How Too would be GREAT!!! This is how much filament and failed prints since Saturday... straight out of the box.


I have wanted a new user guide put on here for awhile now.  I wonder if they ever got one put into the wiki....guess not

SD needs to do some work on this.  http://wiki.solidoodle.com/troubleshooting

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

11 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

DePartedPrinter wrote:
jcotton wrote:

Please create something for the new user. We got a Solidoodle 2 for my program at school and I'm tired of fighting non sticking problems, hour into a print and it gets totally jacked up. A comprehensive How Too would be GREAT!!! This is how much filament and failed prints since Saturday... straight out of the box.


I have wanted a new user guide put on here for awhile now.  I wonder if they ever got one put into the wiki....guess not

SD needs to do some work on this.  http://wiki.solidoodle.com/troubleshooting

We could always set one up on the soliwiki... I'd help where I can.

12 Reply by jcotton

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

After 2 hours print job is trash...

13 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

After 2 hours print job is trash...

Got any pics.. we might be able to help point you towards a fix...

14 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

After 2 hours print job is trash...

Yup, it'll happen to the best of us. But again, The glass/hairspray and enclosure will fix it.

Now windows restarting on the other hand... (I had a 7 hour print stop at 93% because windows decided to restart, I was not a happy camper).

15 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

Schieggster wrote:
jcotton wrote:

After 2 hours print job is trash...

Yup, it'll happen to the best of us. But again, The glass/hairspray and enclosure will fix it.

Now windows restarting on the other hand... (I had a 7 hour print stop at 93% because windows decided to restart, I was not a happy camper).


And also windows putting machine to sleep for power saving, for got I had mine set to sleep after 4 hours...needless to say that 15 hour print didn't get too far sad

16 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

ronsii wrote:

And also windows putting machine to sleep for power saving, for got I had mine set to sleep after 4 hours...needless to say that 15 hour print didn't get too far sad

My settings are pretty much "Turn off: Never", lol.

17 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

Schieggster wrote:
ronsii wrote:

And also windows putting machine to sleep for power saving, for got I had mine set to sleep after 4 hours...needless to say that 15 hour print didn't get too far sad

My settings are pretty much "Turn off: Never", lol.



Yeah, right after that incident mine went to never...

18 Reply by jcotton (edited by jcotton 2013-03-28 21:27:26)

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

Trial 3 just bit the dust after an hour. No photos yet but the ends are turning up. I did get glass cut the other day. 1/16th of an inch. Haven't tried hairspray yet. Have cleaned the glass regularly. It gets to a point the extruder just bumps the object until it comes loose. Going to very frustrating when we go back to school and we can't print designs.

Hair spray... I'm single and bald... how do I explain that purchase and which brand works best.  smile

19 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

Trial 3 just bit the dust after an hour. No photos yet but the ends are turning up. I did get glass cut the other day. 1/16th of an inch. Haven't tried hairspray yet. Have cleaned the glass regularly. It gets to a point the extruder just bumps the object until it comes loose. Going to very frustrating when we go back to school and we can't print designs.

I recommend Aquanet Hairspray (or the crappiest hairspray you can find) I think the hairspray is a must. I'm assuming you have adjusted your Z offset to accommodate for the glass?

As for an enclosure, I used Plexi from Home Depot, and velcro squares, something is better than nothing (you can even cut up your SD box) it helps keep the temps consistent, and does wonders for sticking.

Also, what do you mean by bump? or does the piece just become so poorly secured that it slides with the print head?

Here's my Crappy enclosure

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

20 Reply by jcotton

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

I have plexiglass on the sides already using velcro. I had to something to keep students from hudelling behind my desk. I adjusted the Z axis for the glass and even had a gapping tool in my tool box for .300mm. As far as bumping the bottom is loose the extruder just slides the object when laying another layer.

21 Reply by ronsii (edited by ronsii 2013-03-28 22:21:42)

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

Trial 3 just bit the dust after an hour. No photos yet but the ends are turning up. I did get glass cut the other day. 1/16th of an inch. Haven't tried hairspray yet. Have cleaned the glass regularly. It gets to a point the extruder just bumps the object until it comes loose. Going to very frustrating when we go back to school and we can't print designs.

Hair spray... I'm single and bald... how do I explain that purchase and which brand works best.  smile

LOL ^^

If you use glass the hair spray is a must... the plastic won't stick good enough to plain glass. I still use just the stock aluminum bed with kapton tape on it.. works great as long as it is cleaned with acetone once in a while.

The edges curling is caused by the previous layers retaining their heat too much/too soon next layer, it all depends on the object being printed and temps used and how soon the next layer goes over the same spot. You can have the slicing software slow it down or put delays between layers... also you might have the slicer lower the temp after the first layer or install a fan aimed below the extruder tip.

22 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

jcotton wrote:

I have plexiglass on the sides already using velcro. I had to something to keep students from hudelling behind my desk. I adjusted the Z axis for the glass and even had a gapping tool in my tool box for .300mm. As far as bumping the bottom is loose the extruder just slides the object when laying another layer.

Ahh, I've had many a print ruined by that movement, but the spray does wonders. What is your print bed temp at, and how long do you let it heat for?

Personally, I let my bed get to 104c and let it sit there for 10min to heat the environment. I know it's a bit warmer than others beds, but it seems to be working.

23 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

ronsii wrote:
jcotton wrote:

Trial 3 just bit the dust after an hour. No photos yet but the ends are turning up. I did get glass cut the other day. 1/16th of an inch. Haven't tried hairspray yet. Have cleaned the glass regularly. It gets to a point the extruder just bumps the object until it comes loose. Going to very frustrating when we go back to school and we can't print designs.

Hair spray... I'm single and bald... how do I explain that purchase and which brand works best.  smile

LOL ^^

If you use glass the hair spray is a must... the plastic won't stick good enough to plain glass. I still use just the stock aluminum bed with kapton tape on it.. works great as long as it is cleaned with acetone once in a while.

The edges curling is caused by the previous layers retaining their heat too much/too soon next layer, it all depends on the object being printed and temps used and how soon the next layer goes over the same spot. You can have the slicing software slow it down or put delays between layers... also you might lower the temp after the first layer or install a fan aimed below the extruder tip.

Lol, just saw that because of the quote, anyhow.

The cheapest hairspray is usually the crappiest I.E. Aquanet,

24 Reply by jcotton

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

My late mother used Aquanet her entire life I think. The ex left me some Aussie Mega Styling Spray. I have been involved in drafting and design for 19 years now. This past fall I was told to drop architectural and teach only 3D (Inventor). Not a problem as long as they bought me a 3D printer for the class. I brought the printer home for spring break and instead of doing those odd jobs around the house I have been jacking with this thing. One of my neighbors mowed my yard yesterday.

25 Reply by jcotton

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Re: Beginners First Steps... First steps in troubleshooting

Which software seems to be the best?