SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — X-axis lost steps.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-26T20:29:18Z

Well I installed the new Z-rods and now I only have tapering at the bottom where the layers squish out a little. need to lower my bed temp i think.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-26T09:29:32Z

Yes, it is definitely z-rods. I have turned both rods by 180 degress and problem is gone now.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-25T04:42:28Z

It is possible ronsii, I can really tell the rods are bent by rolling them on a flat table. they make kind of a thumping noise from being out of round in total cross section.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-25T03:15:18Z

I wonder if Solidoodle doesn't have a problem with the supplier that is providing them with the z rods and maybe even the x and y rods... whoever is cutting them to length if they use a ironworker/shear there is a high probability of bending the ends if not done 100 percent right 100 percent of the time and even then minute bends can occur that would be hard to notice by eye.

I also do a lot of fabricating and one off machine work and I can usually expect at least a couple pieces of drill rod to be bent in a shipment of around 50 pieces... so hopefully SD has put someone in charge of checking rods for straightness before they get ok'd for install because I really find it hard to believe that the bent rods are from shipper impacts it would take a very large drop to bend the z rods given the weight and moment of the bed...and that kind of impact would do more damage than just the rods... anyways just my thoughts on the issue of bent rods

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-25T02:45:38Z

the z-axis rods on my machine are bent. If you look thru this thread it says everything I tried to get my prints to be perfect. After eliminating all other issues the only other thing it could be was the rods. So I rotated one of them 180 degrees and bam, went from a shifting of the bed in the x-axis to a rotation around the z-axis movement. ergo Bent rods.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-24T17:32:01Z

Which of the rods are bended? How did you find them bent?

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-23T21:37:33Z

pshz sounds like you have bent rods like mine.

I was able to tweak my rods around in such away that the bends are apposed to eachother, getting pretty straight prints now. But also now have some binding in the z-axis movement. Waiting on replacement rods from Solidoodle.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-23T21:21:42Z

Is your belt too tight? maybe clean rods and grease em.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-23T20:38:25Z

Have same trouble. X-axis shift on the 10mm item is around 0.5-1mm to the right (along all the model height). Y-axis is good. Voltages are checked. And I have tried with different filament multiplication factor to avoid too much filament problem. I have also tried different location on printbed. It is SD3. What can be wrong?

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-15T22:54:30Z

I have read through this entire thread and can say that I am having pretty much the same exact problem as you nlancaster. First few layers of my models all seem to be shifted slightly on the X axis. To reiterate your own observations, these are mine: first few layers seem to be affected the most. Only the x-axis is affected and as the layers rise the shift is to the right (as viewed from the front of the printer). After the first dozen or so layers, the shift seems less (or perhaps even none). The y-axis is actually really good and straight. It doesn't matter where on the bed I start my print. Shift is always to the same side. I've also tried different temperatures for the bed with little difference. I'd like to try recalibrating my machine as well, but don't know how to. If you know how, please let me know. But it seems that from your own efforts, calibration isn't the problem.

Keep in touch and let's see if we can solve this. I will check my z-axis rod tonight and see if there is any bend to it.

I just got mine last week. And have done a few dozen prints late last week and over the weekend.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-12T16:44:28Z

So only response from solidoodle support was "Do you have pictures of the bent rods? We want to get this sorted our immediately."

So I send the pictures and no response.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-11T21:53:40Z

Jumping thru all the hoops and had to somehow picture the bent rods of the machine. So I pulled one out and took a picture.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-10T19:14:00Z

So this is getting a little rediculous. No response from Solidoodle on my problems sent to the normal tech support email.

Please look at this solidoodle.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-07T23:04:29Z

Rotated 1 Z-axis rod 180 and look what happens.

At he back of the printer closest to the rods. Still a little movement at the begining of the print.

And at the front of the printer furthest from the rods. And alot of movement out here at the begining of the print.

I will am certain now the printer got dropped and the rods are bent. I am emailing support for a replacement rods.

Re: X-axis lost steps.

2013-04-07T06:08:58Z

I think I have the problem. And why adjusting the X and Y axis did no good at all.

The below images show a print down the long Y-axis at the center of the bed. You can see the x-axis angle in the back of the bed seems to be smaller then the angle in the front of the bed. I believe this is what has been causing the issues for me. I think the printer may have been dropped in shipping, and the z-axis rods are bent. I know that when I unpacked the printer the bed was not supported in the x-axis direciton. It was supported above and below but not side to side.

This was just a fast and dirty print to check if I was right. Tomarrow I will do a larger/wider print to make sure it doesn't split, or lean because of distortion.