1 Topic by TangentDelta

  • TangentDelta
  • TangentDelta
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2015-11-05
  • Posts: 6

Topic: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Hello everybody.

I ordered my Solidoodle 4 about eight months ago and it finally arrived the other day. I fired it up, made sure the bed was level, and printed out the spool mount that Solidoodle recommends as a test. Unfortunately the round pieces on the part turned out somewhat lop-sided. I then printed a filament dust filter and again the round areas came out wrong.

As a test I printed out a single-layer circle test and found that the tops and bottoms of the circles were rather flat. Of course, one of the first things I tried doing was adjusting the belt alignment which fixed absolutely nothing. The right belt does feel looser than the left belt and when plucked, makes a lower frequency sound than the left belt.

All of the sources online describe a tension screw on the back of the carriage. Instead of the belt being cut and screwed directly to the adjustment mechanism, my carriage is clamped directly to the belt without any way to adjust it. The only other place I can think of looking is on the idlers which don't seem to have any sort of tension adjustment other than two screws that control the pitch of the idler.


Thanks!

2 Reply by wardjr

  • wardjr
  • wardjr
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • From: Minnesota
  • Registered: 2013-06-10
  • Posts: 5,624

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Those two "pitch" screws on the front idler are also your tension adjustment.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

3 Reply by heartless

  • heartless
  • heartless
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Northcentral Wisconsin
  • Registered: 2015-04-08
  • Posts: 2,152

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

wardjr wrote:

Those two "pitch" screws on the front idler are also your tension adjustment.

^^ yup.

both belts need to be reasonably the same tension as well.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

4 Reply by TangentDelta

  • TangentDelta
  • TangentDelta
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2015-11-05
  • Posts: 6

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Well, as I was tightening the right belt using those two screws the bracket cracked. It seems to be holding at the the moment so I could attempt to print a new one. All of the 3D printed parts that make up the printer are pretty poor quality so I'm worried that another part is going to break. Luckily the replacement part stl files appear to be available on Thingiverse.

5 Reply by wardjr

  • wardjr
  • wardjr
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • From: Minnesota
  • Registered: 2013-06-10
  • Posts: 5,624

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Those are ABS parts so you could always brush on some Acetone and hold the crack together.  The bond will be stronger than the original printed layers.  Then print good solid replacements.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

6 Reply by TangentDelta (edited by TangentDelta 2015-11-05 17:52:36)

  • TangentDelta
  • TangentDelta
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2015-11-05
  • Posts: 6

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Awesome. I'll give that a shot when I get a chance.

Kind of off-topic, but the fan attached to the heatsink on the extruder motor was dead on arrival. I already emailed solidoodle support but haven't gotten a response yet. Am I fine operating the printer without that? I'm assuming it's to keep the print head from cooking the motor.

7 Reply by wardjr

  • wardjr
  • wardjr
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • From: Minnesota
  • Registered: 2013-06-10
  • Posts: 5,624

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

It was fairly common for that fan to have the polarity reversed.  You might try reversing the plug.
I would get it working at least for longer prints.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

8 Reply by heartless (edited by heartless 2015-11-05 18:16:21)

  • heartless
  • heartless
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Northcentral Wisconsin
  • Registered: 2015-04-08
  • Posts: 2,152

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

hate to say it, but getting a response out of SD right now may be iffy.

the fan is needed on the stock set up to keep the motor cool - if it gets too hot it will start skipping steps causing problems during prints.

Make sure all wiring connections are tight and making good contact & verify that it is getting power.

If the fan is indeed dead, find a replacement for it asap - any 12v 40mm fan will work. in a pinch, if you have the fan on the back of the case (upper right corner), you can use that one as it is not a necessity. fan on the motor is.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

9 Reply by TangentDelta (edited by TangentDelta 2015-11-06 01:02:02)

  • TangentDelta
  • TangentDelta
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2015-11-05
  • Posts: 6

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

heartless wrote:

hate to say it, but getting a response out of SD right now may be iffy.

the fan is needed on the stock set up to keep the motor cool - if it gets too hot it will start skipping steps causing problems during prints.

Make sure all wiring connections are tight and making good contact & verify that it is getting power.

If the fan is indeed dead, find a replacement for it asap - any 12v 40mm fan will work. in a pinch, if you have the fan on the back of the case (upper right corner), you can use that one as it is not a necessity. fan on the motor is.

Yeah, checking the connections was one of the first things I tried. Unfortunately the fan is well and truly dead, so I'll have to see if I have a random 40mm fan laying around or not. Worse case scenario, I have to buy a fan.

Edit: Just pulled out the fan. One of the leads soldered to the fan's motor had fallen off, taking the pad underneath with it. I was able to replace it with a random fan I had laying around and it works perfectly!

10 Reply by heartless

  • heartless
  • heartless
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Northcentral Wisconsin
  • Registered: 2015-04-08
  • Posts: 2,152

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

TangentDelta wrote:
heartless wrote:

hate to say it, but getting a response out of SD right now may be iffy.

the fan is needed on the stock set up to keep the motor cool - if it gets too hot it will start skipping steps causing problems during prints.

Make sure all wiring connections are tight and making good contact & verify that it is getting power.

If the fan is indeed dead, find a replacement for it asap - any 12v 40mm fan will work. in a pinch, if you have the fan on the back of the case (upper right corner), you can use that one as it is not a necessity. fan on the motor is.

Yeah, checking the connections was one of the first things I tried. Unfortunately the fan is well and truly dead, so I'll have to see if I have a random 40mm fan laying around or not. Worse case scenario, I have to buy a fan.

Edit: Just pulled out the fan. One of the leads soldered to the fan's motor had fallen off, taking the pad underneath with it. I was able to replace it with a random fan I had laying around and it works perfectly!

Good job! smile
Now go print some better parts for your printer! LOL
(stock printed parts are notoriously weak)

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

11 Reply by TangentDelta

  • TangentDelta
  • TangentDelta
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2015-11-05
  • Posts: 6

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

heartless wrote:
TangentDelta wrote:
heartless wrote:

hate to say it, but getting a response out of SD right now may be iffy.

the fan is needed on the stock set up to keep the motor cool - if it gets too hot it will start skipping steps causing problems during prints.

Make sure all wiring connections are tight and making good contact & verify that it is getting power.

If the fan is indeed dead, find a replacement for it asap - any 12v 40mm fan will work. in a pinch, if you have the fan on the back of the case (upper right corner), you can use that one as it is not a necessity. fan on the motor is.

Yeah, checking the connections was one of the first things I tried. Unfortunately the fan is well and truly dead, so I'll have to see if I have a random 40mm fan laying around or not. Worse case scenario, I have to buy a fan.

Edit: Just pulled out the fan. One of the leads soldered to the fan's motor had fallen off, taking the pad underneath with it. I was able to replace it with a random fan I had laying around and it works perfectly!

Good job! smile
Now go print some better parts for your printer! LOL
(stock printed parts are notoriously weak)

Well, I still need to get the belts adjusted (something I'm having a hard time doing) before I can start printing. There seems to be a very fine line between the belt slipping and the motor grinding. Also, how impotent is it that the idler are straight?

12 Reply by TangentDelta

  • TangentDelta
  • TangentDelta
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2015-11-05
  • Posts: 6

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Hey, just got home and finally got the printer adjusted! The Y axis axel seemed to have quite a bit of friction, preventing me from setting the Y tension too high. I wiggled the axel back and forth a bit to let the grease get into the sleeves and the friction decreased. I wouldn't have minded paying a little extra for the printer to have actual bearings.

13 Reply by jagowilson

  • jagowilson
  • PRINTiT
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-09-14
  • Posts: 1,701

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

You can upgrade to bearings. Look at the printable XY carriages thread in Hacks/Mods.

14 Reply by heartless

  • heartless
  • heartless
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Northcentral Wisconsin
  • Registered: 2015-04-08
  • Posts: 2,152

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

jago - i think he is referring to the 6mm drive rod in the back...

and yes, those bushings can be upgraded to bearings, but may require a little sanding of the rod to fit correctly

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

15 Reply by Tin Falcon

  • Tin Falcon
  • Tin Falcon
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: New Jersey, USA
  • Registered: 2014-08-01
  • Posts: 2,424

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

A little lubrication is  also in order
A drop of light oil on the axle bearings  way oil or a light coat of grease on the guide rods. .
There has been lot of discussion on what lube is best.
Lubricate early and often keep the rods clean and lube application light.
Tin

Soliddoodle 4 stock w glass bed------Folger Tech Prusa 2020 upgraded to and titan /aero extruder mirror bed
FT5 with titan/ E3D Aero------MP mini select w glass bed
MP Utimate maker pro-W bondtech extruder
Marlin/Repetier Host/ Slic3r and Cura

16 Reply by heartless

  • heartless
  • heartless
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Northcentral Wisconsin
  • Registered: 2015-04-08
  • Posts: 2,152

Re: Solidoodle 4 Y-Axis Belt Tension

Tin Falcon wrote:

A little lubrication is  also in order
A drop of light oil on the axle bearings  way oil or a light coat of grease on the guide rods. .
There has been lot of discussion on what lube is best.
Lubricate early and often keep the rods clean and lube application light.
Tin

this!

and if you are in a "dusty" environment (i live on a dirt road - the dust is terrible!) clean and re-lube very often! pretty much a weekly exercise for me in the summer, not quite as bad in colder weather when windows are closed.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1