Printer Stopping During Long Prints

Hello All,

I’ve had my K8200 up and running for about a month now with no problems at all. I wanted to try doing a large print for the first time (around 10-12 hours or so) and have encountered a problem that I don’t know how to resolve. This has happened twice while trying to print a vase. The first time the printer stopped at around 10 hours and the second time it stopped around 5 hours.

This is the message that showed up in K8200 Repetier Host V0.95F:

15:01:58.539 : Printing layer 286 of 763
15:02:19.938 : start
15:02:19.938 : echo: Brown out Reset
15:02:19.938 : Marlin 1.0.0
15:02:19.938 : echo: Last Updated: Dec 26 2013 09:30:30 | Author: (Boris Landoni)
15:02:19.938 : Compiled: Dec 26 2013
15:02:19.938 : echo: Free Memory: 4300 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
15:02:19.938 : echo:Hardcoded Default Settings Loaded
15:02:22.317 : echo:SD init fail
15:02:22.362 : Error:Line Number is not Last Line Number+1, Last Line: 1
15:02:22.362 : Resend: 2
15:02:22.372 : Error:Line Number is not Last Line Number+1, Last Line: 1
15:02:22.372 : Resend: 2
15:02:22.393 : FIRMWARE_NAME:Marlin V1; Sprinter/grbl mashup for gen6 FIRMWARE_URL:http://www.k8200.com/ PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:K8200 EXTRUDER_COUNT:1

Did the printer just shut down and reconnect mid print? Is this a power supply issue, or maybe electrical interference? What is the first step I should take to try and resolve this problem? Is there any other information that I can provide that would make a diagnosis easier?

Thanks for the help!

The brown out reset implies there was a power loss.
There are serveral possible causes for that.

Are you using the heated bed? If so, the power supply may have shut down for over temp protection.
The stock power supply can barely handle Hotend and heated bed load at once, which may lead to overheat during long prints.

cheers,

Christian

Thanks for the response Christian.

I am using the heated bed. It was set at 60 but Iv’e noticed the power supply can’t handle that and usually drops to around 48-50 during the print.

It looks like I may need to upgrade the power supply. Has Velleman addressed the power supply problem since it seems to be such a common issue? Iv’e seen posts about people adding an additional power supply just for the heated bed. Is there an option just to replace the original one for a more powerful one so I don’t have to have two power supplies? I’m not too familiar with the principles of electricity so I’m not sure what can be done or the best approach to take.

Thanks for the help.

I have been using the stock power supply for over a year.
What I have found is the room needs to be fairly warm also no draft blowing on the bed.
You may want to go to thingiverse.com and search on the K8200.
There are some very good nozzles that you can print for the fan that will help.

Well, as Wrong Way said, normally the power supply is working good.
Anyway, i upgraded my heatbed to a 24V supply to get higher temps, for printing abs.
This leaves the stock 15V supply only running the motors and hotend, so way less load.

If you think about getting a different power supply, then go for a 24V one for the bed.
With 15v the sock heatbed only reaches about 70°C and that after a very long time.

cheers,

Christian

I have observed two kind of stops up to now. One of the is temporarily and seems to be related to bad communication between pc and printer board. After a while the printer continues, leaving bubble af plastic. Since the voltage drops less than 1 V (the voltage is continous displayed) during printing I do not believe that it is related to the power supply. The other stop needs human action and is related to spikes causing a permanent lost of control. Sometimes the usb has to be disconnected in order to rectify the communication between printer and driver software. Can be cause by external equipment e.g. tl tubes. Re-arangement of cables can also be effective. I have also connected my printer to earth.