1 Topic by stewarrh

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Topic: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

Sad test cubes from my Solidoodle 3 (pics attached).

1st Print is straight out of the box

2nd print is my attempt at leveling the bed and adjusting the Z-stop.

As always any help appreciated.  It is going to be a long night.....

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2 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

Are those skips on the Y axis?  Try turning off the motors and running it back and forth on the Y axis by hand a few times.  Sometimes it gets a little jammed up during shipping.  If that doesn't help, try this video - http://vimeo.com/55031028

3 Reply by fredhag (edited by fredhag 2013-05-16 00:18:48)

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

I like the vimeo instructions, too, but before I went ahead to do that recently, I lightly lubed the y-axis rods to make sure that was the problem (this is because I had a problem with my SD2 a long time ago when it was doing the same thing and it seemed to be a communication problem that stopped after power cycling the printer and reseating all the cables). The problem went away with the lube so I followed the video instructions.

Cheers,
Fred
Fredrick C. Hagemeister
http://blog.richmond.edu/ti3d

fredhag's Website

4 Reply by op7ical (edited by op7ical 2013-05-16 01:31:30)

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

stewarrh wrote:

Sad test cubes from my Solidoodle 3 (pics attached).

1st Print is straight out of the box

2nd print is my attempt at leveling the bed and adjusting the Z-stop.

As always any help appreciated.  It is going to be a long night.....


There's a good chance your electronics board is overheating, since this looks exactly like mine did when I had that issue.  Hook up a small fan or point one at the board in the back of the Solidoodle where the stepper drivers are so that they cool down a bit.

5 Reply by cain666

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

yeap its heat i could not get a good print till i had a fan on the board.. a major boo bo by solidoodle there, they should have heat sinks on all the stepper controllers

6 Reply by hcsceo

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

Appears to be loosing steps in both directions on that one axis.  I'd double check belt tension and make sure the belt isn't loose skipping on direction changes.  Also the board is sensitive to heat and will cause it to seem to "skip" steps in both directions.  I had this exact issue when I tried to run my entire S3 in a cabinet.

7 Reply by stewarrh

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

Thanks so much for all of the great suggestions and troubleshooting techniques.

I checked the belt tension, got a fan for the back and successfully printed a test cube!

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to print the parts for the plexiglass enclosure.  Thanks again, this group is the best.

8 Reply by Briggs

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

I recommend getting nlancaster's 40mm fan housing for your x axis motor too. You may also want to confirm your trim pot voltages. Go to solidoodle for how to do this.

9 Reply by stewarrh

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Re: Sad test cubes.. see pic..

Briggs,

Thanks for the 40mm fan recommendation.  After my first successful test cube, everything else is starting to go out of alignment on the X axis.

I was hoping to have my SD3 tuned and ready to objects today, but it is starting to look bleak again.  Frustration is setting in, but I am going to give it my best shot.