We’ve been having huge issues with layer shifting on the Y-axis with our Vertex that we have at our company. We first suspected that there was a problem with the Y-axis stepper motor, or it’s pulley. We got a new, but the issue persisted.
The problems usually ocurred when we were printing closer to the front of the printer. Generally, anything that crossed the center would fail as there is more friction that you can tell by manually moving the head. However, since yesterday, each print has failed, even with huge distance between the bed and nozzle.
As we’ve had this issue since we first got the printer, we’ve been adjusting both belts and reassembling the rods and pulleys which of none has worked. This is really frustrating and we would appreciate some help.
P.S. The rods don’t look bent, but they must be off. We would assume this is because of the bearing holes on the frame aren’t parallel.
P.S.S. We have reduced the travel speed from 200 mm/s to 50 mm/s pretty much since the beginning. It worked for a while.
You’ve probably over tightened the belts. Take the belts off, check there is zero resistance in all directions for the head movement. Then replace belts as loosely as possible and check again. If any increasing resistance is felt towards one end of the rods then you’re over-tightening or the rods aren’t parallel or your pulley wheels are badly positioned.
Takes a bit of detective work to uncover it, but it will be one of those.
[quote=“biscuitlad”]You’ve probably over tightened the belts. Take the belts off, check there is zero resistance in all directions for the head movement. Then replace belts as loosely as possible and check again. If any increasing resistance is felt towards one end of the rods then you’re over-tightening or the rods aren’t parallel or your pulley wheels are badly positioned.
Takes a bit of detective work to uncover it, but it will be one of those.[/quote]
Hi biscuitlad,
We’ve been adjusting the belts and pulleys already, but I guess we could try that again.
Hi all,
I tried to align the rods the way described, but found another method to align the rods.
It is a little mechanical but it worked perfect for me.
I opened the bearing caps so all bearings are in the housing but free to use. No end caps on them.
I took the rods out of the bearings on one site, just that much that they are out of the bearings.
The prindthead is close to that site of the rods, where I took the rods out of the bearings.
Now you can see how much the rods a off the centre of the bearings, because you cannot push the bearings back in.
Then I aligned the rods accordingly, until they fit automatically into the bearings.
That worked for me, since I have direct control how much the rods are spread.
It took about 5 minutes and it was done… smooth moving across the rods at all times.
[quote=“Elefanten”]
We’ve been adjusting the belts and pulleys already, but I guess we could try that again.
[/quote] The cause is nearly always mechanical. For the stepper motors to skip steps, the head has to encounter resistance as it moves. Find and remove the source of resistance.
