1 (edited by Goshdarnit 2015-03-21 16:01:53)

Topic: All My Press Problems Solved!

I have been having unending difficulties, as anyone who has read my previous posts will know. But I fixed them, and it was all pretty simple in the end.

1: Print with the lid open.
2: Turn the fan around on the extruder so it blows air into the extruder instead of drawing it out.
3: Removed the plastic panel that runs vertically up the back of the printer (covering the rods for the z-axis). This stopped my bed from catching on the extruder fan mount as it goes up and down.
4: Printed a few small plastic shims which I push between the glass bad and the metal retainers on each side. This stops the bed from moving around.
5: Set the extruder temp to 250 and the bed temp to 100
6: Download "Cura" slicer and use it with Repetier Host. Slic3r is awful! It doesn't produce support material correctly, struggles with top and bottom surfaces, and takes ages to slice complex items. Cura does it all better. Support is perfect (and easy to remove), slicing is faster, and there is a lot of control over the print from the main interface too, so you don't have to go into the configuration page for small changes. I can't stress enough how much better my prints are with Cura.
7: Always clean the bed and coat it with glue stick.

Edit: I forgot to include the following items in the above list:-
8: Calibrate the extruder.
9: Adjust the trimpots using a multimeter.
10: Remove the clear plastic cover on the front of the extruder heat sink.

I'm getting good results even with the ABS which shipped with the Press now. I'll post some comparison pics to show the difference when I get a chance.

2

Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

Switching to Cura, I ran into pillowing on top surfaces and a few other issues, so went back to Slic3r. Didn't put much time into it. Glad it's working well for you. Have you conquered PLA yet?

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

My Press is singing and dancing now (well, actually just printing well) after doing a similar set of steps.

Be careful with printing with the lid entirely open. As you use up your filament and make the spool lighter, it becomes much more likely for the lid to slam shut. You can still rest the lid on top of the printer's front door to get a good amount of extra airflow, but without the risk of the lid falling. My lid stayed open initially but now it slams shut for every print if I forget to put it down.

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

trayracing wrote:

Switching to Cura, I ran into pillowing on top surfaces and a few other issues, so went back to Slic3r. Didn't put much time into it. Glad it's working well for you. Have you conquered PLA yet?

Haven't even attempted PLA yet. To be honest, I'm not that fussed. My understanding is that it starts to break down after a few months. I don't want that. In addition, I just don't think I want to have to go through this amount of pain again!

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

pshcims wrote:

My Press is singing and dancing now (well, actually just printing well) after doing a similar set of steps.

Be careful with printing with the lid entirely open. As you use up your filament and make the spool lighter, it becomes much more likely for the lid to slam shut. You can still rest the lid on top of the printer's front door to get a good amount of extra airflow, but without the risk of the lid falling. My lid stayed open initially but now it slams shut for every print if I forget to put it down.

Thanks for that warning. I haven't had that happen to me yet, but I'm going to look at coming up with a solution, hopefully before it does start to happen.

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

Goshdarnit wrote:

Thanks for that warning. I haven't had that happen to me yet, but I'm going to look at coming up with a solution, hopefully before it does start to happen.

You could probably print some kind of clamp to keep the top open.

But in practice, heat build up wasn't an issue with the lid partially open and resting on the front door. I did several 1 hour prints back to back with no issues caused by head.

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

any chance you could post your cura profile? also is there anyway to still use the auto leveling without soliprint?

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

http://www.soliforum.com/post/80461/#p80461

Just edit the slicing app's start/end gcode with the info in the link above to enable z-offset ('auto-leveling') in 3rd party slicers.

SD Press - v1 (Pre-order) / RAMPs /w DRV8825's / Cyclops (25w) / Dual Bowden / Mk8 Gear / MK2b PCB Heat bed /w custom replacement Z / PEI Bed
SD2 / E3D v6 / Direct Drive / Mk8 Gear / RAMBo v1.3 / PEI Bed / Anti Z backlash mod / Ikea Expedite enclosure.
Both Driven by Octoprint (devel) via a RPi B+ / Neopixel status alerts / GPIO Controlled SSR / (SD2) 450 Watt PSU for remote power-up/shutdown.

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

awesome! Ill try later tonight.

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

dylantep991 wrote:

any chance you could post your cura profile? also is there anyway to still use the auto leveling without soliprint?

I didn't change much in the Cura settings, except to completely remove the G-code startup code it inserts.

The Repetier Host settings I use are from this forum, which I reproduced on my blog:
http://paulsaulnier.com/2015/03/16/gett … dle-press/

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

2: Turn the fan around on the extruder so it blows air into the extruder instead of drawing it out.

What does turning the fan around accomplish?

Frustration is part of the process.

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

MacGyverX wrote:

http://www.soliforum.com/post/80461/#p80461

Just edit the slicing app's start/end gcode with the info in the link above to enable z-offset ('auto-leveling') in 3rd party slicers.


When I entered your code in Repetier Host from Solidoodle it started printing with both extruder and bed cold.

Fat kids are harder to kidnap!

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

If you're using Cura, go to the filament tab in the configuration and make sure there's a bed and print temp set. Or insert the following G-Code to your start code:-

M190 S100; wait for bed temp of 100 before printing
M109 S240; wait for extruder temp of 240 before printing

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

H_Alex wrote:

2: Turn the fan around on the extruder so it blows air into the extruder instead of drawing it out.

What does turning the fan around accomplish?

This has solved the issue of heated/softened filament that would cause jamming.

Solidoodle Press
SolidWorks 2014

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

Codum wrote:
H_Alex wrote:

2: Turn the fan around on the extruder so it blows air into the extruder instead of drawing it out.

What does turning the fan around accomplish?

This has solved the issue of heated/softened filament that would cause jamming.

Holy cow. This made all of the difference. I'm currently  3 hours + into a print with no jams. Yesterday I had 2 jams in a 2ish hour print. Thank you!

:-D

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Re: All My Press Problems Solved!

lecreate wrote:
Codum wrote:
H_Alex wrote:

What does turning the fan around accomplish?

This has solved the issue of heated/softened filament that would cause jamming.

Holy cow. This made all of the difference. I'm currently  3 hours + into a print with no jams. Yesterday I had 2 jams in a 2ish hour print. Thank you!

:-D

I know. It's hard to believe that can make such a difference until you see it yourself!