26 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Print quality now and before

You keep mentioning that you set your extrusion width to 4.8.  Is that just a simple typo and you actually mean .48?

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SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
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27 Reply by roli

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Re: Print quality now and before

Whoops. Yes. It is just a typo.

28 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Print quality now and before

Is it possible you are dealing with a wobbly hotend?

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

29 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Print quality now and before

If you grab the nozzle (while cool) can you jiggle it? The ptfe block that holds the back of the X carriage to the rod may be too loose, and also the Y idler pulley mounts at the front of the printer may have become more flexible over time allowing some slop in Y.  See if the hotend can wiggle in its mount, if the X carriage can twist forward and back, and if you can get any push front/back while the Y motor is engaged, without trying too hard.

30 Reply by roli (edited by roli 2014-12-06 20:33:27)

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Re: Print quality now and before

wardjr wrote:

Is it possible you are dealing with a wobbly hotend?

I will say no. I used a jigsaw replacement that has a hot end mount with screws. And it feels firm if I try to move it with my hand as well.

31 Reply by jagowilson

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Re: Print quality now and before

Can you post a picture of a calibration cube, its sides, a top and bottom view? That rough first layer seems like the sort of thing that happens to me when my bed is not level or my z stop is too low.

I don't know if these pictures will give us any more insight, but it's worth a try.

32 Reply by roli (edited by roli 2014-12-06 23:20:42)

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Re: Print quality now and before

IanJohnson wrote:

If you grab the nozzle (while cool) can you jiggle it?

No. It is firmly attached to the hot end and does not move a bit.

IanJohnson wrote:

The ptfe block that holds the back of the X carriage to the rod may be too loose, and also the Y idler pulley mounts at the front of the printer may have become more flexible over time allowing some slop in Y.

Possibly. But I am not exactly sure how to check that.

IanJohnson wrote:

See if the hotend can wiggle in its mount, if the X carriage can twist forward and back, and if you can get any push front/back while the Y motor is engaged, without trying too hard.

Hot end does not wiggle at all. X carriage does twist forward and back a bit but not much because it is attached to the ptfe block with a zip-tie. And I can't move the thing at all while the motors are on.

I did notice something else though:
When the motors are off it is very hard to push the thing forward/back in the X axis. You can move the thing in the Y axis very easily but the X is much harder.

jagowilson wrote:

Can you post a picture of a calibration cube, its sides, a top and bottom view? That rough first layer seems like the sort of thing that happens to me when my bed is not level or my z stop is too low.

I don't know if these pictures will give us any more insight, but it's worth a try.

I will. But I will need to print the things again because the older ones are in the garbage. Any specific calibration cube that you want me to use?

----

EDIT: Another thing that may be worth mentioning. The E3D fan is ridiculously loud because of vibrations it causes. Well it causes the whole assembly to vibrate and produce really loud noise. It probably has nothing to do with it but I'll just mention it to be safe.

33 Reply by jagowilson (edited by jagowilson 2014-12-07 00:11:45)

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Re: Print quality now and before

The e3d fan shouldn't be causing significant vibration. Any movement beyond what the motors ask for is a bad thing. Did you tighten down the screws and get the shroud all the way around the heatsink? If you don't have room to get it all the way around you can flip it upside down.

Edit: Looking at your pictures you can tighten those screws some more. They can be a tight fit so take the shroud off so you can tighten the screws on a desk.

34 Reply by roli (edited by roli 2014-12-07 13:11:58)

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Re: Print quality now and before

No. Those screws cannot be tightened a single bit. The mount was printed a bit iffy (stock extruder had major issues back then) so that's the reason why that thing doesn't fit all that nicely. But nothing there moves at all.

As for the fan. It is loud. But it isn't causing the problem. I printed a small thing without it and it still has the same print quality issues.

Also what do you mean by shroud? that blue thing that clips onto the heat sink and holds the fan? It clips on nicely as it should. I do have it mounted upside down though. Well depending on what you think is top and bottom. It doesn't fit as nicely the other way around. That whole thing vibrates violently even in my hands. I probably need some rubber fan mounts.

I am more concerned with the fact that X axis is hard to move by hand.

35 Reply by Quintox303

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Re: Print quality now and before

Is it still hard to move after you press the stop motors button in RH?

36 Reply by Quintox303

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Re: Print quality now and before

Although even if the x axis was binding, I dont think it would cause the effects seen in your pictures.

37 Reply by roli

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Re: Print quality now and before

Quintox303 wrote:

Is it still hard to move after you press the stop motors button in RH?

Yes. I can't move it at all if the motors are on.

Sorry I didn't post the calibration cube pictures. I ran out of time to play with my printer. Ah well. There is always next week.

38 Reply by Claghorn

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Re: Print quality now and before

It is normal to not be able to move stepper motors when they have power. They try just as hard to keep things still when you stop moving as they do to move them when you tell them to move.

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39 Reply by roli (edited by roli 2014-12-12 21:51:54)

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Re: Print quality now and before

The weekend is here and I have access to my printer again.

I just noticed something else. If I have two separate objects and I want to print them at the same time then the print will fail. Almost always. Usually in the early layers. When crossing from one object to the other the extruder will scrape on top of the already printed layers and eventually (especially if the object is quite small) just pull it off from the build surface.

40 Reply by roli

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Re: Print quality now and before

I am seriously getting annoyed by this.

A few weeks ago my heater suddenly stopped working. And it took me a while to buy a new one and replace it. Nothing major really - but a pain in the ass.

As for print quality - I've tried readjusting the belts and I greased up all the rods again. No difference. To be honest I am not sure what to do anymore.

I am seriously considering getting rid of it and buying a cheap 350€ Reprap Prusa i3 kit. And I would really like the added build surface. I am not sure if it is worth taking the risk though. Because there is still every chance that my assembly would result in a badly calibrated printer. And I would be back where I started minus 350€.

41 Reply by roli

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Re: Print quality now and before

I managed to partially solve the problem. Basically - I had to lover the print temperature. I used 220°C before to print ABS. Lowering the temperature to 195°C has greatly improved the final look of the print. Still not as good as that original print though. You can still see some small "sine waves" on the actual surface but it isn't as bad as before.

I am thinking that the problem is still there. And the actual higher temperature was just exaggerating it. Because 195°C is a bit low for ABS (gives me adhesion problems without a brim).