1 Topic by titanium (edited by titanium 2012-12-24 07:43:33)

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Topic: Y-axis adjustment / circle calibration

I've been printing up tons of the gyroscopic snowflake http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36922.  They've been a huge hit with friends and family.

I noticed that the snowflake outer perimeter isn't fully circular. The outer perimeter is thicker at the upper left and the lower right.  Also, the left and right "leaf" on each branch are not symmetrical with each other in that one is always wider than the other.

I tried the method of Y-axis adjustment / circle calibration as shown in Solidoodles Vimeo video http://vimeo.com/55031028, and I think there was a slight improvement after I did the procedure.  I must admit that I don't see how the procedure shown in the video is supposed to properly align the Y-axis with the X-axis.

Titanium

2 Reply by jefferysanders

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Re: Y-axis adjustment / circle calibration

I think the 2 main things to be mindful of are:
1.  Proper tension for proper movements.
2.  Aligning the motor and rod gear properly.


If it moves evenly, easily and still has enough tension to keep things from skipping I would say that is perfect.  The alignment really makes up most of the circle alignment issues.  Just make sure they are straight so there is zero horizontal movement when it twist. (if your rod is sliding back and forth in the bushings your alignment is obviously off.)

3 Reply by caswal

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Re: Y-axis adjustment / circle calibration

I thought the process was more to keep both of the carriages on the Y rails more parallel, as they move back and forwards.

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4 Reply by devilman2075

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Re: Y-axis adjustment / circle calibration

caswal wrote:

I thought the process was more to keep both of the carriages on the Y rails more parallel, as they move back and forwards.

This is essentially what hes saying. You want both y rods to be parallel so that movements on y aren't causing movements elsewhere.  You square up the rear rod and pulleys to what you feel is a parallel alignment and go from there.  If you manually movie the carriage front and back you shouldn't see the rear rod moving left/right in the bushings.

I actually just tackled this alignment yesterday.  Haven't had a chance to run a calibration piece yet to check but hopefully all is well now. My circles were much better since adjusting belt tension but I was getting some gaps between perimeter layers and infill and that's what I'm hoping to fix

5 Reply by MeshMoth

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Re: Y-axis adjustment / circle calibration

So I just saw on thingiverse that our local Solidoodle guru has made a nice tool to help with the belt tension.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38952