Z wobble pictures (Page 1 of 2)

1. that looks like .3mm. and black filament which makes it much less noticeable.

2. The bottom is banded...sorry...I am sure it will be banded again at some point past where you stopped printing....keep printing 80) at least 100mm of your z-axis, that box if not very big and only shows a small sample of your entire z...stretch out that test cube vertically to use up some more z.

3. Several other's including myself have had prints that look exactly that good, but for me the quality.

4.  Are you still using Pronterface?  I still think there is something w/ the speed settings in RH that exaggerates banding.  Because if I print at 100 mm/s - 80 the banding is way more noticeable vs moving the feedrate to the bottom and printing like pronterface does..

5. Do you have any type and Anti-Backlash solution on the printer?  I use retract setting w/ lift so I have to have a AB solution.

- It's been noticed that the coupling was better...I might get a piece of pvc tube and add it 2 mine today...

Ok, but a 300$ easily self-built Prusa i3 still beats this once you have it calibrated....and btw in the FAQ (http://www.solidoodle.com/faq/) they claim .10 so that's advertised imo...and I doubt they are doing .10mm prints with PH and Skein, so that implies RH support. (I guess you could use those to do .10mm prints, (it seems to slice faster last time I used it so I'm not sure about officially supported software part) btw - I print a ton of long pipe adapters (cat tower branches) so consistent z with no random weak areas (de-laminated) is preferred.

So at 300 for the prusa I3 I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to find someone that could easily self build it for you for another 100...or so...... then you would only have 400-500 into a pre-built ready to print .10 layer calibrated machine!!! Hmmm, maybe I should have held off on my last SD purchase??? Shoot!!! that's what I get for not doing my research

But then again my SD2 gives me the same quality as a prebuilt 1600 dollar printer I purchased last year...and I didn't have to do more than a couple hours of calibrating and setup....wait a minute I had to do basically the same thing on the other printer I bought also.....

Not a troll, he just developed a sore spot with regards to Z wobble.

The $300 self built Prusa isn't entirely apples to apples.  Someone at RepRap estimated the Solidoodle's BOM at something like $150, but you would only get there with volume.  Parts isn't the whole picture, there is labor and overhead.  You can pay money for materials and pay time and effort for assembly, or you can pay money for the whole thing.  Getting to $600 -$700 for parts, labor, overhead, margin etc requires some tradeoffs. 

One was dropping the gearbox extruder motor, which I can live with.  You can cut costs in other places without sacrificing quality like smart sourcing, manufacturing practices, etc.  Unfortunately using cheaper parts in the Z axis has turned out not to be the case.  It is possible, because banding was not a big issue with the earlier printers.  Even with the ABS couplers which could get installed a little crooked, banding was generally not noticeable at .3.  The problem isn't that you can't get a quality Z axis with cheap threaded rod. It is that a lot of things have to go just right, from consistency from the supplier (I suspect they changed sources) to perfect alignment of the rod, motor, and nut during assembly.

The various hardware fixes out there (flexible couplings, skinny Z rods) are designed to keep different  kinds of misalignment from showing up in the print.  Maybe SD will adopt some of them.  However they can't shut down production while they test solutions, or the company won't survive to release an improved Z axis when they are done.   There may be several causes for Z wobble, and it won't go away for everyone, since not everyone has the same problems.  The cheap rods and nuts are a big part of it however, and upgrading those should be something they should be able to do in the short term while they work on solutions to the other causes.  It might eat into an already thin margin, but not doing it could cost them more in the long term by allowing the Solidoodle to get the reputation that while you can use it to get into 3D printing with a cheap accessible printer, you have to give up some quality to get there.

My comment about having a bug up your ass was referring not only to this post but the one where you told sdsupport to go f*&^ himself in another thread.  You clearly have had a bad experience and are misdirecting your rage.   My name is Chris Metzel which is listed on my profile page along with my location, so I'm not sure if you were talking about me hiding behind my username or someone else. 

So my post saying I'm happy with my purchase set you off to the extent you had to systematically pick apart my pictures and nitpick to the point of being near insulting and I'm just expected to roll over and let you whine and bitch through everything.  It's funny how you start your message with saying let's not be derogatory and end by swearing at me. 

At the end of the day, your opinion won't change mine.  I'm thrilled with my purchase, I've made back 4 fold what I've spent by selling prints to various clients, and I'm on the brink of filing my first patent using this machine to prototype what would have taken so much more time and money than I would have been willing to spend on it.  I am a very proud fanboy, but I am sympathetic to those that haven't had as much luck.   

There are only a handful of people here that do as much as I do to help people that are getting started.  I fall well short of many many people here on knowledge and expertise, but I do have a great memory, and I have a knack for searching for previous topics.  I try to help people out as much as I can to give back to the members of a great community that has given me a second income and hopefully second career as a product developer.

your point is...I don't see anything savage about my response in light of the dangers this company puts people in...at this point they are lucky they have not killed someone with their shoddy wiring jobs...The only people who still think cussing makes you sound stupid are poor Christians who have noting better to do than read the bible...people make millions of dollars off the phrases and songs containing the word "Fuck".  I've also personally gone to trial for saying "Fuck" in public in front of a police officer and won the case...so it's perfectly legal to use...especially when someone is treating you like a novice to attempt to downplay you statements...knowing your skill set is obviously much greater.  Like I said before...if you want to be a bend-over and take it kind of person...that's your mentally ill prerogative, but your not going to force your figurative dick inside me anytime buddy...I'm not not buying your pictures or your SD love...I do hope this is entertaining at least to someone...I'm surely having a joyous time...this forum is not ran by SD for this exact reason.

Cmetzel,

I think you block is decent quality. When my printer was printing (looks like I need a new hotend according to support) I was achieving similar results with minimal banding. I printed a 5" tall Yoda that had no noticable banding in the print.

Apparently Jeffery has his panties in a bunch with his Solidoodle. Although if he had done his research in these forums, he could have determined that while this machine prints nice, it is not the cadillac of 3D printers. That is obvious by the price. He reminds me of the type of person that purchases a red car, then bitches about the color. You just can't make some people happy no matter what you do. I've read his other posts on the forum and it appears all he is trying to do is destroy SD's credibility for some of their future customers.

I for one, am extremely happy with my printer and can't wait to get it back on line. They are blaming my current issue on the fact that I disassembled my barrel from the peek. They claim this is not recommended. Unfortunatley, there is no way to clear some clogs without removing the barrel.

I agree with Gordym, your block does look great for a printer that had no calibration. Take a look at my prints, the matte one was printed, had no real banding, then, I messed up the printing process, cancelled it, then reprinted it. The glossy one has very bad banding. Don't know why it went from good to bad after just restarting. Then after that was done, 3.5 hours later, it went back to being good again.

Wow!!, that is a pretty noticeable change and I can't say if I have seen any prints as bandy as the glossy print on my SD but I can tell you I have seen it change noticeably with different rolls of filament and also with extruder temp swings . Anymore I spot check the filament OD every now and then when it's printing and I'll se a 1.59 to 1.74 in a matter of inches and it does affect how the print looks depending on how you are finishing it.

My prints have always looked great from day one, I only recently had to do a recalibration after I smacked a print off the bed with a hammer one too many times

Guys, enough with the troll business.  True trolls have no interest in the topic and are purely out to cause strife.  Jeff has his reasons and while I may not agree with his methodology for outputting his viewpoint, he's come to appreciate the machine he has, as have most of the rest of us.  Let just get this thread back on track.

I've had issues with Z-wobble/banding since I got the machine.  My wobble looked like someone had taken the screw to the edges of the print.   I ended up getting a new lead screw as mine was hopelessly bajanxed, a fact I didn't know until I really looked at the operation as a whole.  The top of my screw looked like a flagpole on a really windy day when I moved the platform down and up 30mm at a time.  When I replaced the screw, the banding all but disappeared.  I say "all but disappeared" but it's still present a little.  I'm looking at a few of the solutions to remove it.  I'm going to start with the backlash (as it's the easiest to implement with limited software knowledge), then try the firmware solution if I get brave enough.

Check the other faces, I can see a bit of something on the right-most side...can't tell if it extends through into the print face...the left also looks like it has banding.  Print something way taller and you will notice it more...I did not notice it the first time, only after I printed over a 100mm tall object.  That face does look ok and won't de-laminate easily at least.