Out of the Box 3D Printing (Page 1 of 2)

That would be a big help. I can't recall an electronic device that a I purchased that didn't have at least  the tech specs listed and at least a getting started section.

My printers from solidoodle have all came with 'getting started' pages that basically tell you the documentation is online... which is the same as several others I have got printer from, heck quite a bit of hardware you get these days is like this also... the last couple of usb network dongles I got came with a 1 inch by 4 inch piece of paper with a picture on one side and a web address on the opposite... that's all that was in the carton...not even a mini cd but then again I do buy the cheapest things I can find... Hmmmm, maybe there is some correlation there You get what you pay for...

trew=tree... took a bit to figure out what a trew was

Although a friend of mine works as a logger and he is always happy to cut trees down as they are 100 percent renewable.

Crap.  I was hoping to avoid having to modify the Marlin code directly.  I guess that'll be my project for tomorrow.  I haven't noticed any significant banding, but I'd like to have this thing as calibrated as possible.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon.  They used those round nuts on everything.  There are even two sets of two nuts welded on the front frame along the left side.  It looks like hinge mounting points for a door, but they don't offer one on the SD3.

I don't think that anti-backlash device will work on my printer because the connection between the bed and z-screw is different on mine (see top picture).

Top of the aluminum bed:

Bottom of the bed:

Round nuts on leveling screws:

To be honest, I haven't felt the need to re-level my bed since I started using glass plates.  I just leveled it, then adjusted the Z-stop screw to accommodate the glass plate.  That shouldn't change the level, should it?

If you screw a nut tight to the aluminum bed, will it move up and down with the bed?  Also, if you just use a big spring, would that be enough to cause the nut to turn?  I'm having trouble visualizing how this works when the Z-screw turns.  I understand the concept, though.

Yes thats what I meant to add to my previous post - you use that part to secure the top nut and use any old spring of a reasonable tension to wedge against the top of the aluminium platform. And it does fit an SD3 as I've printed it and tested it on mine in the past.

The actual spring isn't important, its more just finding one that fits over the threaded rod but is still able to be trapped between the nut and the top of the platform. so something just a bit bigger than 5/16" would work. you dont want it to be bed spring tight, but you dont want one that is able to be compressed without some effort - since the whole point is to create a downward force to preload the aluminium platform against the lower faces of the threaded rod.

And as for relevlling - its not an everyday occurence, but I find I need to tweak it about once or twice a fortnight.. perhaps the screws walk a little more in the wooden platforms than the aluminium ones, but the thumb screws are more a convinence for allowing you to make changes with the glass bed installed on top which would ordinarily prevent access to the screw tops. If you are happy to adjust them from the top every fortnight or so, by all means, don't bother with them
TheRealTonyStark has a good post on his blog at http://therealtonystark.blogspot.com.au … grade.html that should help you visualise what you are trying to achieve (although the picture used to describe it is horizontal, it remains the same principle when vertically orientated )

I'm running my SD2 on an Acer Aspire One (ZG5) w/ Win7, but I had repetier running on an old Compaq HP tower with XP as a dev box for model slicing.  No problems with it.

It does.

I tend to disagree with the OP. I am new to Solidoodle but am fairly comfortable on a makerbot. I have done my research, and knew what was wrong with a solidoodle prior to ordering it. When I took it out of the box mine was dead on arrival due to a cheap power supply (I can understand this, 12v 12.5A is not a cheap switching power supply, and the price for a solidoodle is very good, but the parts that matter are cheap). After replacing the PSU, I started it up, calibrated it, and could not get a decent print. Without covering the bed, and putting plexiglass/cardboard over the openings the heated bed doesnt go above 80C.

That means prints don't stick, which means it doesn't work out of the box.

I am not trying to say anything negative about Solidoodle. I was going to build a reprap, and for relatively close to the same price as the kit the SD3 comes assembled with a better frame, and great print envelope. It has a great community, lots of mods, and the community has solutions to all of its short comings. Additionally the support has been really good.

It didn't print out of the box for me, and still doesn't print for that matter. After enough tuning I know that it will produce quality prints.

Fair enough, if by out of the box you meant you had to buy things and attach it then I completely agree
: )

Again, no disrespect to you or the good people at SD. I have a printer that has an extruder and x/y/z. That was my goal, thats what I got, and any minute now I will have some usable prints.