My printing problems, help!

Vertex 3D Printer Vertex - Issues while printing
1

I’m here again. Maybe I have allot of stupid questions, but yeah, I’m 15 years old and this is my first printer, I’m proud I can print already.

I liked the build, I have the printer OK now, but I have a few things I don’t know or where I’m unsure of. I hope to get some good input, and maybe it can help other people tho?

I didn’t know, and actually still don’t know how thight I have to set the belts. I see people changing the belt tensioners, but also people that don’t do it. I’m not sure if I have to much or to less tension.

My printer itself makes allot of noise, when doing infills, the printer vibrates and makes a loud noise, like there is play on the rods and the bearings and it’s going to shake lose or something. This causes all other things to shake to, like the bed. I don’t know if that is bad or something?

After a week, I also heard a ticking noise from the fan, the big one on top of the printhead. Don’t know why, but it is irritating… all those sounds get me worried…

I printed the Z-axis stabelizer, because I could see the axis wasn’t turning straight, but now the printer makes more noise from the Z axis then it was doing before. How can this be? Also got the rod and motor shaft out of the coupler a bit more.

I also found some other problems, but more software related I think. It looks like the extruder doesn’t stop extruding when travelling. Tried 3mm retraction at 150mm/s, but it got even worse. It looks that sometimes when he travels he lays some lines over the object (picture).

I did a very small part at 0,1mm layer height, and the part paused a few seconds between every layer. What is that for? How do I turn it off?

Last, I also found that my Y axis that goes thro the printhead, has some black stripes on it, while I ALWAYS worn gloves while touching them, the X axis has nothing!

Getting a bit unsure. I hope you can help me with all my problems, or with some of them. Tips that I don’t mention that I should have or do are welcome to!

Some pictures, if you need more, or some video’s, I can always make them. Printing settings tips are welcome to. Thanks allot in advance!

Here I think he still has some Z axis wobble? While I’m using the stabilizer? and the shaft and rod are more out of the coupler? Or is it due the vibrating of the bed?

IMG_20150520_2257451_zpswmcjitxs.jpg768×1024

Here you can see the printer made a line, while he was travelling

IMG_20150520_2258121_zps3cqo5whf.jpg768×1024

Little video to, it looks like the pulleys are not perfectly aligned with the rods, you can also hear that the moving sound is different in certain spots, I think where the belts get more tension due to the not aligned pulleys…

youtube.com/watch?v=nYuCMjg … e=youtu.be

2

That was a lot of questions, but no stupid ones. I’m still learning and adjusting too but I am probably some weeks ahead of you.

Unless you produce the separate belt tighteners available on Thingeverse, the only belt tension you can set is on the small belts from the X/Y motors. When the motors are moving there is one pull side and on “released” side. When the motor is shifting from left rotation to right rotation you should not see a lot of slack on the released side. It should be quite firm at either rotation.

All noise is bad noise but some is worse.
If you hear a laud D-D-D-D-D-D that is because the motor does not have enough torque to pull the belts most likely depending on the rods going through the printer head are not parallel to the rods with the pulleys. How to fix this is described in a lot of threads. Search for it.

The “whining” noise on your youtube clip I have never heard but I think it is possibly from the sides of the belts rubbing against the sides of the pulleys ?

I also has a sound from the top fan sometimes. It usually goes away if you put a finger on it to stop it and then release it again. Maybe the fan is not the best quality ?

That’s weird, It should be quite with the bearing in place. Mine is.

I had the same, mine was fixed by lowering the temperature to 190-200°C. When its too hot the extruder leaks.

I don’t think you want to turn it off. I had the same when I made a small statue and when it was making the legs (very small) it took a break every layer. I think this is to let the material cool down a little between layers.

Could it be oil/grease ? Did you try to wipe it off ?

The Z axis only moves 0,1 or 0,2 mm per layer depending on your setting. I don’t think there can be a wobble at that speed. The only time my wobbled was when homing after I manually lowered the table and it was going up with great speed.

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All you said is what I tried already. First i had to much tension on the motor belts i think.

Also. The sound it makes when infilling is not from missing steps. But justthz printerhead moving back and forth.

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Here some more pictures, hope to get some more input? Thanks for the reply btw Monza, but most of what you said is what I checked, done already. Printing on 190oC now, I got them parallel, I know he is not missing steps. The sound of the fan doesn’t just go away when I put my finger on it, unfortunaly. I tried wiping it off, but is isn’t grease.

This line should’nt have to be here I guess? It looks like it is always extruding

IMG_20150521_1729011_zpsxgnjepmg.jpg768×1024

Here some more bad retraction between and on the prints, how to fix this?

IMG_20150521_2015531_zpstcc1ckmi.jpg768×1024

Here it looks like the print is fading out, but it makes the print less nice, is this due to vibration? Or incorrect settings in Cura?

IMG_20150521_2342331_zpsjhbsmscc.jpg768×1024

Images of what looks to be corrode rods? :frowning: I always worn gloves, and still do !!!

IMG_20150522_0001361_zpsibd3zzyh.jpg768×1024

Also a video while printing, does those sound sound quite normal? It’s a loud beast…
youtube.com/watch?v=GZw_OJcgTPY

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[quote=“Andreas15”]This line should’nt have to be here I guess? It looks like it is always extruding[/quote]Well it’s called oozing. It’s due to the fact that the printer primes the nozzle before starting the print. To avoid this, you can add a retract code after the prime code in the Start g-code.

[quote=“Andreas15”]Here some more bad retraction between and on the prints, how to fix this?[/quote]Modify the retraction amount and speed in the Cura extrusion tab : short and fast retractions are better 2-3 mm at 100-150 mm/s.

[quote=“Andreas15”]Here it looks like the print is fading out, but it makes the print less nice, is this due to vibration? Or incorrect settings in Cura?[/quote]That wavy pattern is hard to get rid of. It’s due to vibration and slight inaccuracy with rapid movements. Lower speeds always give better results. You can also lower the acceleration values in the EEROM settings.

[quote=“Andreas15”]Images of what looks to be corrode rods? :frowning: I always worn gloves, and still do !!![/quote]Indeed. You can sand them with 1000 grit sandpaper (after removing the grease with a solvent). But it will come back (no stainless steel rods) and it doesn’t really matter if the rods are correctly oiled.

[quote=“Andreas15”]Also a video while printing, does those sound sound quite normal? It’s a loud beast…[/quote]When making short movements (like when printing infill pattern) the printer is very noisy. Again, lower speeds means less noise.

And the fan shouldn’t be noisy. The fan blades are probably rattling against the housing. If you can’t get rid of the noise, ask for a replacement.

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And if you didn’t do it yet, lower the temperatures : 195-200° is enough for PLA and 220 for ABS.

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Im printing at 190 degrees. Is that OK? I tried those retraction settings, but it was worse. I will ask for a fan replacment.

For the rest it sounds and looks good?

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Ok, I think I got used to the printer a bit. And now I have some printing questions.

I tried printing a Marvin from 3D hubs. I noticed that the edges of the print, not on the bed, but like 20 layers high already, tend to curl up. The printerhead touches them, not giving an accurate layer. I tried getting the Flow down from 72 to 65 :o But that didn’t help much, also tried lowering the temperature from 190 to 180, wich helped a bit, but did not solve it. What is causing this? Only thing I could find on the internet is bad Z steps/mm calibration… The edges are always higher than the infill in center, letting the printerhead touchh the outer lines.

Another issue I have, still, is that he extrudes when not suposed to. Now you see it veeery clear. When doing this little keychain hook, it takes pauses (because it’s so small) but the printerhead keeps extruding next to the object, and then pasting this little line on my print, as you can see in the picture. I did 150mm/s and 3mm already, also tried 5 and 7 mm, but nothing solved it. What is causing this?

Thanks

Picture:

IMG_20150522_2306481_zpsi1qelus9.jpg768×1024

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[quote=“Andreas15”]Another issue I have, still, is that he extrudes when not suposed to. Now you see it veeery clear. When doing this little keychain hook, it takes pauses (because it’s so small) but the printerhead keeps extruding next to the object, and then pasting this little line on my print, as you can see in the picture. I did 150mm/s and 3mm already, also tried 5 and 7 mm, but nothing solved it. What is causing this?[/quote]It’s very hard to avoid this. The filament is retracted but during the pause, as the print head is still hot, the filament keeps melting and is oozing.

For your curling edges, try reducing the fan speed in the Filament settings of Cura.

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Ok thanks, and the stringing? Is there a way to avoid that? Printing at 3mm 150mm/s retraction, but that didn’t help :frowning:

I’m going to try your suggestions now! Thanks!

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Less fan speed made it worse. I’m frustrated :frowning:

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[quote=“Andreas15”]Less fan speed made it worse. I’m frustrated :([/quote]OK I don’t have that issue and my fan is horizontal. You could try to use a fan duct then. Like this one : http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:618656.

Do you use low or high speed? What is your filament brand?

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you can try too reduce the flow % (to 75%) in the filament settings.

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Tried with all my filaments now, some velleman, some from Chralie3D, all have the curling.

I’m running on 72% flow right now, and it seems he is still over extruding, and touching the print while printing. It isn’t “laying” layers, more like pushing them on. Tried 180oC, 190, 200, 65% flow, 72% flow, different fan speeds, different printing speeds to. Nothing helped :frowning:

Thanks for the help already

15

I uploaded the reworked Firmare from h60, with less extruder steps, and that is working fine now. Pfiuuuw.

No I still have to figure out the curling problem. Anybody some more tips?

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I think you need better cooling, basically more fan not less. Given our printer is almost an Ultimaker clone, there’s quite a bit of useful information that can be gleaned from their forums. Have a look at this topic:

ultimaker.com/en/community/view … ised-edges

It describes exactly the issue you have and the solution they came to (basically more fan speed + less print speed = more time cooling the last layer).

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Yeeeess ! Put a big fan blowing on it and it’s gone. I ordered an other 25x25 fan an made a fan duct, gonna place that soon.

Anyone came across the to small inner diameter of holes? The outside of the object is ok. But the inner hole size is always way to small, almost 1mm :o

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I print a lot of Marvins to give friends, and I can agree that the curling which starts when the legs meet the body is the same phenomenon that can cause the print to peel away from the bed. It’s also an area of severe overhangs (the first few “body” layers are literally printed out into open air with no support), so that particular spot on Marvin loves to have problems. It always makes me hungry for spaghetti.

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[quote=“Andreas15”]I uploaded the reworked Firmare from h60, with less extruder steps, and that is working fine now. Pfiuuuw.

No I still have to figure out the curling problem. Anybody some more tips?[/quote]

Where did you found the reworked Firmware from H60? Im starting Printing now too. I finished assembling this morning any tips for my first print?

Greetings from Switzerland

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[quote=“Recoon”]Where did you found the reworked Firmware from H60? Im starting Printing now too. I finished assembling this morning any tips for my first print?
[/quote]
You can find it [color=#408040]here[/color].