51 (edited by Schieggster 2013-03-14 18:25:10)

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

iowajames wrote:
elmoret wrote:

If you can see wobbling, it will definitely affect your print. If they're not offering to replace it, that's gonna be bad PR for them. Keep blowing up their facebook page.

I was curt because it's been covered at least a dozen times. Click wiki at the top of this page. Scroll down to "calibration of the extrusion stepper". Follow the video.

If your drive gear has any dust in it, much less if there's so much you can't see the teeth, it will definitely slip.

All of the printed parts on your Solidoodle were printed by a Solidoodle. That's the quality that can be achieved, if you take time to handle all the troubleshooting. It looks like a new z-rod is in your future though...

Thanks, here is a link to my Z-rod video on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=56 … mp;theater

This probably isn't super helpful, but I noticed that they (Solidoodle) put 1/4" spacers under my Z motor. In your most recent video, that rod movement is insane... Maybe I just got lucky, sorry to see that your issues continue sad

52

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

iowajames wrote:

Video: http://smg.beta.photobucket.com/user/ja … 5.mp4.html

Edit:

The wood squawk noise you hear when the table is low happened at 60 away from home once, then at 80 once. And even lower until I moved past those points in a previous test. It is greased properly. I'm just concerned that I have bigger problems.

Interesting.  You may be right about the guides being out-of-parallel, but since your wobble is so bad, I think it likely that the motor may be sightly off-center.  I'd try loosening the motor mount screws and seeing if that helps.  If it does, you can re-tighten them with the bed at the bottom.  If not, you can remove the nut hugger assembly altogether and try moving the bed by hand on the fixed posts to see if they bind.

53

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

I replied to John at Solidoodle support (the original email spoken about in the first post) and haven't received a response back yet. I linked my comment at the bottom of page 2 (of this thread) with the video in it. They have gotten back to me within 12 hours before (on a Saturday no less) so I wonder what is going on.

No trees were harmed in the creation of this email, though some electrons were horribly inconvenienced.

54

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

Make sure you send the same email a couple times, they have problems with their gmail account.  Best to get them on skype I think.

55 (edited by iowajames 2013-03-15 22:33:43)

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

John emailed me back and said I was likely hitting the bottom with the bed, which my video shows otherwise and I explained it as well. Then he asked for a picture of how bad the banding is, which surprises me that he didn't look at it in my post, but he might be busy. I have a feeling that he doesn't want to be tech support on a Friday. (I wouldn't)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this email, though some electrons were horribly inconvenienced.

56

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

John has offered to send out a replacement Z-rod to see if that fixes the problem, he says the severe banding is an issue that they are addressing at Solidoodle to try to come up with a fix for.

No trees were harmed in the creation of this email, though some electrons were horribly inconvenienced.

57

Re: My prints suck... So I emailed tech support...

I wonder how seriously Solidoodle would take me if I told them to just get a CNC lathe & turn their own rods, ending the problem with cheap bent rods. I mean, a used 18" lathe can be found cheaply enough, add a control panel & motorized tool drive... Nice, straight stepper rods.

No trees were harmed in the creation of this email, though some electrons were horribly inconvenienced.