Today I finished my building of the K8400, the instructions where really well written and didn’t had that many problems when building the printer.
When I started my test print today my print got messed up, every layer moved around 5mm’s to the right on the x axis.
I checked my measurements which where all fine.
I also oiled all the bears.
Eveything is screwed fine, I really can not find the issue.
However I have to say I hear a sort of clicking noise when printing, if you move to the left on the x asis it makes a clicking noice every 7cm orso. If you move it to the right however it doesn’t.
Anybody any idea how to resolve this, I looked all over the internet for an solution but all writen solutions didn’t work for me
Shifting layers almost always means incorrectly aligned axis (even if they look correct). Check the procedure in the Wiki. And you often need to fine tune things a second time as it’s hard to get the perfect alignment right away.
I tried the wiki, measured everything with an electronic precision meter.
One thing I also have is that I cannot get the bed higher as described in the manual by screwing the one screw at the back on turn to the right. (to get the bed higher to the nozzle when using the auto home command.
Any known fixes for this?
Thanks for the hulp and sorry for 2 posts but I’m really displeased with the results at the moment.
When I first started up my printer and did auto home it indeed went around 3mm from the nozzle, so I was very happy that was good.
Then I tried the next step: “On the bottom-right of the Z STAGE you can access the M3 x 20mm BOLT that sits in the Z HEIGHT CALIBRATION piece. This bolt is used to fine tune the home position of the build platform. If you turn this bolt to the right (or in other words tighten the screw) then the Z HEIGHT CALIBRATION piece will move deeper into the Z stage and the build platform will stop a bit higher when you perform an AUTO HOME command, If you turn it to the left (or in other words loosen the screw) then the Z HEIGHT CALIBRATION piece will move out the Z stage and the buildplatform will stop a bit lower when you perform an AUTO HOME command. Be careful when adjusting the Z height as it is possible to damage the printhead.”
But when I give that bolt 1 screw to the right it didn’t move, in the end I even moved the screw many, many times until I couldn’t screw it anymore and it still didn’t made a 1mm difference.
Couldn’t find any issues about this yet so I hope you got a good solution for this.
Yes I did that, I played with the screws under the bed to get the nozzle around 2 A4 pages tick from the bed.
I’m gonna do a lot of testing when I’m back at home from work and try some other stuff to resolve my issues.
If you suddenly think about any possible solutions, please let me know
At the moment it is a little better, however I still have some issues.
1: At the beginning of the print, the printer feeds little/no filament. it starts feeding filament when the line around your print is finished, but the problem therefor is that the printquality of the botom is pretty bad.
2: In stead of printing to the right, it now prints 1mm to the left every 5-10 layers orso, so it is better at least…
I’m still trying a lot to resolve the issues, but at the moment not that much luck at all, I hope somebody can help me with this.
[quote=“tommeysen”] it now prints 1mm to the left every 5-10 layers orso, so it is better at least… [/quote]Still meaning the alignment is not perfect. The Vertex is hard to tame. But once you get it right it stays that way.
Follow the Wiki and don’t try to skip a step it it won’t work. The part about the axis sliding easily when tilting the printer is very important : if you don’t get this step right the rest won’t work.
[quote=“raby”][quote=“tommeysen”] it now prints 1mm to the left every 5-10 layers orso, so it is better at least… [/quote]Still meaning the alignment is not perfect. The Vertex is hard to tame. But once you get it right it stays that way.
Follow the Wiki and don’t try to skip a step it it won’t work. The part about the axis sliding easily when tilting the printer is very important : if you don’t get this step right the rest won’t work.[/quote]
Do you know what the extrusion problem could be at the beginning of the print?
I tried printing between 185 and 210°
[quote=“tommeysen”]Do you know what the extrusion problem could be at the beginning of the print?[/quote]Do you get this issue every time you’re starting a print? your nozzle can be partially clogged (if I understood well the printed part is not so good either).
I resolved my issue with the shifting layers, well at least for this print…
It is actually a perfect print for me, my previous ones where also good afther i resolved the shifting layers issue.
But this is what still is happening: Very late extrusion, when the border line is about to finish the prints start extruding. I removed the fillament 3 times and loaded it again, don’t think a clogged nozzle can be an issue then.
It can happen that a thin layer of burned filament is coating the inside of the nozzle, lowering the flow. When you load the filament, do you get about 20-30 cm of extruded filament. Is the diameter of the extruded filament exactly 0.35 mm?
Yes it is exactly 0.35mm, and I indeed get around 20-30 cm filament when loading.
What is the ideal flow rate?
Do you recommend using a brim so your first rows can get the extrusion right and therefor I have an ideal first layer + less to no chance on warping?
What is the Ideal temperature for your nozzle when printing PLA, at one place they are saying 210° and on other places like on the wiki they say 185° for the White PLA of velleman.
What I’m having at the moment aswell is that my Z Axis is making a lot of noice at the top when moving downwards, when moving up it doesnt make that much noice. Any known issues for this?
[quote=“tommeysen”]What is the ideal flow rate?[/quote]75%.
[quote=“tommeysen”]Do you recommend using a brim so your first rows can get the extrusion right and therefor I have an ideal first layer + less to no chance on warping?[/quote]The brim can help is you’re printing with ABS. I don’t use it anymore since I’m printing ABS with Dimafix.
[quote=“tommeysen”]What is the Ideal temperature for your nozzle when printing PLA, at one place they are saying 210° and on other places like on the wiki they say 185° for the White PLA of velleman.[/quote]As the measured temperature can vary with the tolerance, the position of the sensor etc there’s no absolute temperature. I’m using 185-190° for PLA and 210-220° for ABS. To know the best temperature you can print a test tower changing the temperature every 10 layers or so and see what temperature gives the best result (and you can do that for each brand and color as it can also vary).
[quote=“tommeysen”]What I’m having at the moment aswell is that my Z Axis is making a lot of noice at the top when moving downwards, when moving up it doesnt make that much noice. Any known issues for this?[/quote]I had that too. This little contraption solved the issue.
Well why I asked for using brim is because my print was warping yesterday when printing the Vertex logo or the X-Y cariage alignment helper.
I printed at 185° on Buildtek. I find it really strange that the print started warping because I didn’t had any warping issues before.
You recommend higher temperature on the first layers? or overall higher temperature?
The bed should be aligned properly, around 2 A4 papers thick, I read somewhere that 1 paper thick is better. True or not?
Dimafix is a nice tip, didn’t know about it yet. I saw that 1 spray bottle (400ml) is around €10, any average idea how many prints you can use it for?
[quote=“tommeysen”]my print was warping yesterday when printing the Vertex logo[/quote]PLA shouldn’t warp. Your nozzle-bed distance must be 0.2 mm or lower. The filament must be squeezed on the bed or it won’t stick. Best way to measure this is using a feeler gauge. It’s an average as the bed is often bulging in the center.
Dimafix is very efficient but you can use it only with a heated bed. When cold it doesn’t stick at all. A bottle can last up to 400 prints (no need to spray after every print if you’re waiting for the object to pop up from the bed).
As I said before, the right temperature is found on a trial and error basis. Every printer and every filament is different. 190° is just a working average.
When I was using the Buildtak I’ve never had a PLA print that didn’t stick to the bed. Make sure the surface is perfectly clean. Even the slightest traces of oil will prevent anything from sticking to the bed.
For your skirt issue : is the nozzle priming correctly at the beginning of the print?
[quote=“raby”][quote=“tommeysen”]my print was warping yesterday when printing the Vertex logo[/quote]PLA shouldn’t warp. Your nozzle-bed distance must be 0.2 mm or lower. The filament must be squeezed on the bed or it won’t stick. Best way to measure this is using a feeler gauge. It’s an average as the bed is often bulging in the center.
Dimafix is very efficient but you can use it only with a heated bed. When cold it doesn’t stick at all. A bottle can last up to 400 prints (no need to spray after every print if you’re waiting for the object to pop up from the bed).
As I said before, the right temperature is found on a trial and error basis. Every printer and every filament is different. 190° is just a working average.
When I was using the Buildtak I’ve never had a PLA print that didn’t stick to the bed. Make sure the surface is perfectly clean. Even the slightest traces of oil will prevent anything from sticking to the bed.
For your skirt issue : is the nozzle priming correctly at the beginning of the print?[/quote]
No the nozzle is not priming correctly at the beginning I think. When the skirt is finished the priming is already much better however.
I’ll try to find a shop in the neighborhood selling a feeler gauge, this will be much more precise then using a paper. If using it, the nozzle have to be tight on the gauge, or should the gauge still be able to move freely?
[quote=“tommeysen”]the nozzle have to be tight on the gauge, or should the gauge still be able to move freely?[/quote]What I’m doing is laying the gauge under the nozzle and then lift the bed until it’s pinched between both. Then I lower the bed a tenth of a mm to free the gauge.
The printer is really well calibrated now, i printed today the Vertex logo which was perfect.
Then I tried to print the Z axis stabiliser, tried 2 times in total.
First time it went good for around 30 mins, then it went to the right again.
2nd time I changed infill from 10% to 20% and it crashed after 15 mins orso.
I’m 100% sure that the printhead can move freely without belts now, so I’m not sure anymore what to do.
However I have to say, something I had from the beginning already is that when I start Auto Home it goes to the right top but it makes a lot of noice at the end, because it tries to go further. The printer thinks it’s not yet at his homespot. (only if i manually put the print head to the left bottom the auto home works. My guess is that this could be also the reason why my prints sometimes still crash.
