1 Topic by psuter (edited by psuter 2014-07-15 15:47:58)

  • psuter
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Topic: da vinci not calibrated

Hi all

i just recently got my da vinci and be warned, it is my first ever 3d printer smile .. the printer arrived a bit shaken down, as the Y axis slider on the left side was hanging on the belt rather than being firmly attached to the rails.. but i could mend it by simply clipping it back onto the sliding bearrings.

i then noticed that the print bed was totally disaligned. when i tried to print a sample object, the extruder nozzle was pressing hard against the glass of the heater plate. i immediately stopped the printing process and did some calibration cycles until i finally had it calibrated. the bed now sits about 10mm lower than where it was when it arrived here (all three screws where almost entirely screwd out, so that the springs where without any tension).

i then printed some other stuff rom thingiverse and noticed that the printer seems to have issues with round objects as they where not round but rather oval and at a certain position they where even straight for a moment. but i did not bother much as my first project would be entirely rectangular anyway..

so i designed my first part, created an stl file and imported that into xyz ware. sent it to the printer with everything set to the highest quality / slowest speed and the result was a mess! some perimeters where not connected to the fill, there was a 1mm gap in between and the parts came out about 0.5mm too thick even though i did not print a float.

i then created a simple cube, 10x10x10mm with 2.5mm thick walls and three closed sides. the result was a "cube" 10x9.5x10.5mm with about 3mm thick walls and again a perimeter line that was completely disconnected from the fill.

i then tried to use slic3r and succeded in that it printed.. however the resulting object had the same offsets as the xyzware sliced one. it did however no longer have the gap between the fill and the perimeter, in contrary, the fill was done with way too much filament, so taht the cube now looks a bit bold, like it had been inflated smile .. the edges are still the above mentioned 10x9.5x10.5

so my only conclusion from all this is, that my printer was not at all calibrated before it left the factory.

did anybody experience similar issues with their da vinci? any ideas on how to solve that.. is there a way to calibrate also the y and z axis?

attached is a picture of the part i've pritned that shows the gaps i was referring to very clearly

regards
Pascal

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2 Reply by Weekend Avenger

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Re: da vinci not calibrated

I'm sure someone else will have better answers to give you, but the "oval" rather than round issue is discussed here http://voltivo.com/forum/davinci-hwmods … s-56k-warn.

In your case since it's a new printer, I doubt it's from wear but I'd guess the belt was never properly tensioned. As to factory calibration, mine came with a sensor knocked out and someone botched the placement of the plastic clips designed to hold the print head during shipping, but I was lucky and nothing was damaged due to that. Even then my factory bed alignment was no better than "close" and as I'm sure you'll find out, it needs to be as good as you can get to prevent ABS warping and pulling off the glass on tall prints.

3 Reply by psuter

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Re: da vinci not calibrated

thanks for your reply. the belt tensioning sounded like it could be the reason in my case, because as i told the printer arrived with the X-Axis dangling on the belt of the Y-Axis which is the inaccurate one in my case.. and indeed the belt on the left side (where the slide came off the rails) had a lot less tension than the belt on the right side. so i immediately adjusted it to get about the same tension as on the other side. unfortunately, this did not help in improving the Y-Axis accuracy. my "cube" is still 10x9.5x10.5mm in size... XYZ proposed i should install the latest hotfix of their software and re-calbirate the bed, i dd both but could not notice any changes.

i also checked all wheels and belts involved in the Y-Axis movement for play but to the best of my knowledge all seems okay. also when i try to move the X-Axis forth and back, it doesn't show any sign of play in the Y-Axis direction, so that seems really be firmly connected with the stepper motor.

any other ideas are greatly appreciated

cheers
Pascal

4 Reply by psuter

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Re: da vinci not calibrated

I think i found the problem. After noticing that the Da Vinci is fairly similar in design with the Solidoodle printer, i checked out the Solidoodle Belt-Adjustment instructions (which i can't post a link to as i am obviously not allowed to post a link). While noticing that none of these steps are possible because there are no possibilities to adjust anything ont he Da Vinci i noticed, that the Rod for the Y Axis on the right side is actually bent! So i guess that's why my circles aren't round and my cube doesn't have equal sides.

below is a picture of the rod.

i asked XYZ for a new printer, as this was a clear DOA.

hope they agree and send the new printer asap

cheers
Pascal

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5 Reply by Downeasta

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Re: da vinci not calibrated

I would just straighten it and not bother with trying to get a replacement.

I am an open book, write on my pages that I may learn the wisdom that you posses.

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6 Reply by psuter

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Re: da vinci not calibrated

just a little heads-up .. i got my replacement without much discussion. i simply reported the bent rod to the manufacturer and they told me to get in touch with the reseller and ask for a replacement. I did so and received the replacement printer shortly after.

on the new printer the print had was also torn loose from the tapes holding it in a safe position for shipment but there wasn't much damage to the unit. i just had to calibrate the bed, tension the X-axis Belt and adjust the hight of the cleaning station so it actually cleand the head. after that i finally had round circles smile

i then noticed that the printer was using too much filament when printing. there was some overflow on the fil and a cussioning could be noticed on solid parts. i also noticed that holes in printed objects where always too small.

i then swiched to using slic3r to slice the stl files rather then xyzware. this allowed me to adjust the feed rate of the filament which in return solved the overflow issue. however, holes where still too small, even though the outer dimensions of the part was perfectly fine.

i then read in several forums, that this was a know issue with slic3r, so i switched to KISSlicer which solved that issue. Now i can finally print accurate parts with my printer wherhe both the outer and inner dimensions are very close to what i designed in FreeCAD. I usually apply a scale factor of 1.007 to compensate for the abs shrinkage during the cool down process. this produces very good results. Still not the same as an Ultimaker, but given the low cost of the da vinci it is absolutely great quality for the price.

cheers
Pascal

7 Reply by skywiselh

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Re: da vinci not calibrated

Weekend Avenger wrote:

I'm sure someone else will have better answers to give you, but the "oval" rather than round issue is discussed here http://voltivo.com/forum/davinci-hwmods … s-56k-warn.

In your case since it's a new printer, I doubt it's from wear but I'd guess the belt was never properly tensioned. As to factory calibration, mine came with a sensor knocked out and someone botched the placement of the plastic clips designed to hold the print head during shipping, but I was lucky and nothing was damaged due to that. Even then my factory bed alignment was no better than "close" and as I'm sure you'll find out, it needs to be as good as you can get to prevent ABS warping and pulling off the glass on tall prints.

Just to add to this - my pulley started squeaking last night and I took it out to lubricate it. I have less then 20 hours print time on the unit, so this can happen at any time apparently.