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Topic: Nothing but trouble so far.

Iv been email customer service for assistance, but I figure I'd switch to the forum so others can benefit from my fail.

Out of the box the vertical axis needed adjusted, at least it got adjusted and the issue i was having went away.

Next one of the motors stopped moving. I took the belt off / on and its working again.

So far I have had 1 'good' print.

In the video is an attempt at the thing (a bracket) that is what I got the 1 good print of.

youtube.com/watch?v=Gxds-q4Vu

Layer 1 seems to be fine, but by about 1:50 you can see its starting to go wrong.

Is it a belt issue? Is the motor still not right? Calibrate it?

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

The motor shaft was slipping inside the gear collar, whatever that thing is called.

Once I found the right size metric hex wrench I added thread lock and tightened it back down.

Hopefully tomorrow it will work.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

Your video link didn't work, this one does--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxds-q4V … aut-DojFQQ

I take it the Y axis(stepper on the back of printer) was the one with the shaft slipping?

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

Y was slipping

I put LockTight on the shaft and set screw, hopefully that will work.

idk whats up w/ that link, I need to re upload it.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

youtube.com/watch?v=Gxds-q4VuNA

ah ha, you have to have the whole thing for it to work...

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

Start with this.

http://vimeo.com/55031028

Also, do you have any other filament? The solidoodle black tends to give people trouble when they first get going. It really needs a well tuned machine to get good results. Not that it will solve your y-axis shifts. You can find a ton of info on your issues by searching "motor skips" and "layer shifts" on the forums.

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

I have not done the true circle realignment.

I have a print running atm, seems to be going good so far.

Tightening down the set screw seems to have solved that issue.

Next on the list, the edges of the print want to lift off the bed. So far its not been a big problem because so many other things have gone wrong.

And it sorta gives that side a rounded look that I could not otherwise replicate smile

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

But if you need a flat edge for joining, this is not such a good thing.  Try using a 4mm brim on the parts.  This will keep the true edges from pulling up and let the brim lift instead.

At least you seem to have the machine printing, and that's a start....

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

The belt tensioning isn't just for getting true circles. If you belts are off then your carriage can bind causing layer shifts. Glad to hear your working okay though. :-)

Everything gets easier by the way. Once you learn how to make your machine print well, you will be able to do it again easily. I now wonder why I ever had problems with my prints. It seems too easy now that I know the key ingredients.

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

This first print since adjusting the set screw is not done yet, but other than the edge lift seems to be going fine.

I still need to get my spooler under control. The filament wants to knot up outside the spool. I had thought I had it taken care of, but it looks like I was wrong.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

If you're using the Solidoodle stock roll holder, try feeding the roll from the underside and see if that helps.  It did for me.  Then you can explore other options for holding the spool.  There's plenty to choose from and a lot of opinions on what works.  Use your best judgement to find what works for you.

12 (edited by altpersona 2013-07-15 17:12:57)

Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

I am using an ammo can at the moment with zip ties as a filament guide.

Next print Im going to try turning it around...

The original mount broke under the weight of the spool.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

Wow, haven't heard that happening before... how much filament you put on that thing?

The only problem with not using a rolling spool feeder is that you will get tangles.  I have some loose filament that I sometimes feed in and when I leave it off a spool, I have to watch it and monitor it or I get knotting and sometimes it breaks because the tangles get too tight.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

I got some smaller spools from one supplier and the filament was filled completely to the top. I found that when it tried to print, the filament would fall off the spool and fall between the spool and wiring. It would then tangle around the stock mount. to eliminate the problem, I cut one of my larger spools in half and put that on the shaft closest to the back of the printer. The smaller inside hub of the spool is about 3/4" long and is closest to the printer. It spaces the spool out far enough so it doesn't come in contact with the electronics or the wiring and the larger diameter of the spool is treated as a guide for the smaller spool. I put a rubber ring around the shaft on the outside of the smaller spool to keep it snug against the spacer but free enough that it can spin. I haven't had an issue with the filament getting tangled since the change.

SD2
E3D V6
MK5 V6

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

My spools are 1kg, pretty much standard, I thought.

They are full to the top.

I'd be interested in seeing pics of working setups.

The bottom corner split out of my original mount. I'll take some pics tomorrow.

Mine is using the pvc provided sitting on a smallish ammo can with a zip tie mount and tie at the back and another mount and tie on top of the doodle to guide the filament. (i love zip tie mounts)

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

If you can print you can try this:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:62312

looks decent.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

I suspect if todays changes to my spooler do not fix it, that I am gonna mount the spool over top of the doodle.

Or mount it horizontally on a spinning plate.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

My current successful print total is 4. This is 3 more than it was Sunday.

This is two hits and a miss.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff41/altpersona/20130716_123627-1_zps72b2d281.jpg

The angular thing was supposed to be a cell phone stand. It failed to bridge the gap and reconnect the sections. It just made a tangle.

This is what it was supposed to look like.
http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/5a/16/0e/89/d9/2013-07-12_23.16.48_preview_featured.jpg

Is reconnecting across open spaces doable?

Here is my broken spool mount.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff41/altpersona/20130716_102452-1_zpsc83024cd.jpg

Here is my spool setup
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff41/altpersona/20130716_102941-1_zps0ba6c00d.jpg

The axle and filament guide had been very loose. I restrained the axle and threaded the filament in the tie mount instead of running it through a tie.

The tie mount keeps a light grip on the filament and prevents (hopefully) extruder movement from transferring to the spool. This revised spooler setup worked perfectly for my 3 prints today, total run time of a bit over an hour. 


Here is a close up of the first good print of the day.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff41/altpersona/20130716_111549_zps6b339d9a.jpg

After that I raised the extruder temperature to 200 and readjusted the Z stop. The second one filled the base layer more smoothly, less grinding/dragging the nozzle across the surface.  Not sure why but the grind/drag on happens on the first few layers. The adjustments seem to have that taken care of.

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Re: Nothing but trouble so far.

I designed these and they seem to work pretty well.
The filament guide can move up and down and the eyelet even changes angle to suit the natural feed angle of the filament. I found the previous version I was using was great for a full spool, not so much for a half full spool.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:112237
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:98893

My black filament also is a bit temperamental, adding a retraction in Z helped with the dragging across the surface. . .surprising thing is with acetone finishing (brush application), the parts change to grey in sections almost as if black paint was mixed with the feedstock. This might explain the reduced quality prints from this material (and sometimes poor layer adhesion), however it does allow for an interesting steam punk effect.

As for knots, they are a pain and unless you are watching regularly they can sneak up from within the spool (I've only had one so far) and kill the print. Sli3er does show how much length of filament is required, therefore you could roll out and check roughly this amount for knots prior to running your print. Or if it's really common issue, unroll the spool and re-roll.