I finished building my printer without any larger problem.
First when moving the printhead rear-left on the y-axis I heared a “brrr” noise, however after re-assembling the y-stepper motor with the pulleys and the belts, it went away.
However I am not sure whether my y-axis moves fully smooth tough. But I do not have an idea what to check. Lubricating the rods with the pulleys does not seem to be a good idea, right? The pulleys could loose their grip.
My first prints look like the following:
The first 4 layers surrounding the actual objects always look very fine. They also stick perfectly. However the Vertex-Logo itself is fully distorted.
Any ideas why? I do not think that the y-axis is (the sole) problem?
I also tried to slow the print speed done, but no real change happened.
Maybe it would be better to start with a different (more simpler) object in the beginning?
Most often, the clamps are to close from each other on one of the axis (the values in the manual are not correct). Try gently hammering away one of them (! fraction of a millimeter !!) and look if it’s better.
No problem for the pulleys but normally it’s not necessary. Only the X/Y rods need lubricating.
The link to your image is not correct you should use the direct link (i.imgur.com/d1oBeLU.jpg) instead of the image link.
Like this :
The Vertex logo is perfect to test the printer.
Your print is distorted from the first layer. Your axis must not slide freely. Check if they are perfectly // to the external rods and if the clamps are not too close. Check if the belts are running straight on the pulleys.
The extruder carriage is the tricky part of the printer. If your build is not perfect you wont get good results.
So I checked again that the rods are as parallel as I can get them, I tried to push the carriage clamps a little bit further apart, I lubricated the x/y rods again, and I made sure that the pulleys have good grip/are aligned with the belts.
Furthermore I loosened the end caps a little bit, as the panels were a (very) little bit deformed at that some points.
I made a further test print, this time with the logo scaled by two (I was hoping to better see what is going wrong).
So the (half) first layer was this:
Quite obvious that the triangles are not as they should
After one layer completed, I must confirm that x/y moving stuff must be the problem. Notice how he printed (partly) outside the bounding box, and that the connections between the individual parts are not very good.
So after all, I had the impression that it might be better now than yesterday, but still far from perfect? @raby: Do you share this opinion, i.e. do you think I should just try further with pushing the clamps apart, and so on?
Any further ideas?
@biscuitlad
I know, but after the first trials, I noticed that it really sticks to the buildtak and I barely could get it off (already a small scratch). So I decided to use tape for the moment (printing a few layers only anyway). And as far as I see, stickiness is not my problem ;-). But thanks for the note.
@raby
Also thanks for the image-trick, I didn’t know it before
Look at the pulleys as they are fastened, mark with a permanent marker a line from the pulley to the rod so you can
see if there is a movement between the pulley-rod this must be fixed and stay fixed for all X-Y axis pulleys,
there are some troubles with the pulleys as you can overtighten them very quick.
Maybe not very clear included a picture
Note a spare threaded bore in the pulley if the original thread fails so I don’t have to disassemble the rods.
@raby: Why do you think the filament is not stuck to the bed? When I watch the extrusion during printing it likes quite good w.r.t. sticking. It is definitely the extruder carriage that does not work perfectly.
@blokart: Thanks for the good tip to check whether the pulleys are fastened. After re-printing three illformed layers I noticed that none of the pulley was shifted in any way.
How flexible should the belts on the carriage be? I think I fixed them almost maximum with the belt clamps.
I checked also again the parellel rods with the calliper, any other tip for checking whether they are perpendicular (without printing an alignment tool ;-))?
Because the filament must be squeezed to the bed. Yours doesn’t seem to be spread enough on the bed like it should but more like deposited so I had the feeling it didn’t stick.
Don’t tighten them too much. When you push on the center of the belt it must sag a bit (2-3 mm).
I did it with a ruler and the pulleys unfastened.
Last thing to check : are the X/Y axis moving freely until the sides of the printer. The distance between the clamps as stated in the manual is not accurate (too short). You often have to knock them a bit apart.
As already said my belt clamps are quite fastened, but there is much more flexibility than just 2-3mm when pushing. It is at least twice or even more!
I also unfastened the belt clamps, and tested that the printhead moves without resistance and there is really quite little resistance also to the ends.
After re-fastening them again, I noticed that the problem might arise at the point the printer head changes direction either on the x or the y axis. After a change in direction it first goes a smaller amount and then goes normal as before. So it might have problems especially when switching direction.
Also after a further test print, it looks that object are squeezed in y-direction.
So, maybe, as a last resort, I have to completely disassemble the x/y carriage construction and try it again?
Hi everyone,
I am a step further.
As many of you suggested, a part of the problem was that the carriage distance was not exactly correct. As it was impossible for me to adjust the carriages by pushing or pulling, I decided to disassemble the x-y-printhead-construction.
Next I used a calliper with the rods inserted into the chassis to determine the distance between the rods. Then I put the rods into the carriages and adjusted the carriages until I got the same distance. After all, I used the following distance (end-to-end carriage): 32,9cm instead of 32,8cm and 33,7cm instead of 33,6cm.
Then the printhead moved much smoother.
However, this was only the first part. The logo still looked very ugly. When moving the head manualy via the LCD, I saw that when changing the direction (either in x or y), I lost some milimeters until the printhead started to move. So I suspected the pulleys on the motor shafts. And really, they have loosened a little bit, and maybe there were not perfectly aligned with the shaft. So I redid it, and now it is “much” better.
However, after my first print, I still got a shifted-layer problem, but at least it is not that ill-formed anymore.
Thanks you all again for the suggestions.
