1 Topic by morty (edited by morty 2015-01-23 03:04:38)

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Topic: The quest for a better print

My printer has been running more reliably than ever. Unfortunately, my quest for the perfect print has gotten the better of me and I would like to correct the last few lingering problems. I was hoping someone might be able to take a look at my latest print and diagnose why the X axis is more not as clean as the Y axis. I have done every single calibration listed in the Wiki rather recently (VREF, PID, extrusion....etc.), but I'm sure one has affected the other and I may need to do it again in a certain order. Any help diagnosing this last issue (and anything else you see) would be greatly appreciated. My printer is an SD3 with all 1/32 steppers, glass bed, E3D v5 with upgraded power supply on a Mac. I've printed both ABS and PLA, but now basically print 100% PLA. I don't think it's the filament though. Since it's worse on the X, maybe a belt tension issue or the X Stepper needs to be tweaked again? Could it be that the X motor is running hotter than the Y? I don't think it's too hard to fix, but I feel like I've been chasing my tail for a while on this and an fresh eye would help tremendously. Thanks in advance.

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2 Reply by Claghorn

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Re: The quest for a better print

Looks like backlash in Y leaving variations in the hot end position as it starts moving in X (maybe :-).

I got rid of most of my problems by modifying my SD2 almost beyond recognition. You can check this list here:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomhorsley/har … -mods.html

The biggest single improvement came from the direct drive conversion for the Y rod. (Still haven't installed my E3D yet, so there is more to come).

Claghorn's Website

3 Reply by morty

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Re: The quest for a better print

Wow, that's a lot of great mods! Thanks for that link. I'm currently in the middle of a project so I can't be taking apart everything at the moment, but I will definitely be doing some of these in the future. I'm just wondering if some calibration needs to be done too. It seems to be getting worse over time so that leads me to believe I can reverse it with my current configuration. Again, thanks for your reply Claghorn.

4 Reply by jagowilson (edited by jagowilson 2015-01-23 16:49:47)

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Re: The quest for a better print

Checking the alignment of everything (belts, rods and pulleys) is a great help for fixing lash. One of the biggest things that improved this for me was the linear bearings/lawsy carriage mod. The stock carriages are incredibly sloppy unfortunately. Also make sure your hotend has absolutely no wiggle. If you put your finger on the tip of the nozzle (with the nozzle cold and motors on), you should witness absolutely zero movement no matter how much you try to jiggle it. If you can move it by hand, it definitely moves during prints.

This is most definitely a Y axis issue just to be clear. Your X axis is working just fine.

5 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: The quest for a better print

Check on the printed brackets for the Y idler pulleys in the front.  They might have developed some flex.  There are some beefed up versions on Thingiverse that you can use to replace them.

6 Reply by morty

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Re: The quest for a better print

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It's just a bit strange. If you take a look at these pics, as the hot end travels from left to right on the X (if you're standing in front of the printer), it looks very uneven. However, when it is traveling from right to left, it seems a lot more accurate. Is this still a carriage issue? Thanks in advance.

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7 Reply by morty

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Re: The quest for a better print

Well the first thing I just noticed after I took off the fan shroud for PLA printing was that the grub screw on the heat block of the E3D had fallen out, causing the heating cylinder to be sliding all around. Does anyone know what the measurements of that screw are? Does it have to be made of something specific to withstand the heat? I have an email in to Filastruder, but haven't heard back yet.

8 Reply by jagowilson

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Re: The quest for a better print

Pretty sure it's just an M3. 245c isn't hot enough for any screws to be concerned.