Hello.
I’m Nenad and I am from Croatia!
New user of k8400 printer. I assembled hardware but having problem with calibration.
My configuration is WIN 7 - 64bit.
I cannot calibrate my printer. I followed steps for calibrating…calibrated first point (rear-right point) but when instructions says that I move my X-AXIS from +200 value to 0 value (in 10mm mode) my head moves about 5 cm to left instead all the way to rear-right point. In short…I cannot move head to the left corner of printing glass, only 5cm to the left. Here is sample picture of head positions of 0 and +200 of X-AXIS:
Does anyone have suggestions how do I move head to all four corners for Z AXIS calibration? As for now I can move head only in 5cm x 5cm square in rear-right corner (with X-AXIS and Y-AXIS movement options in printer menu).
Edited: Motors are rattling violently on random basis when moving. When they start to rattle head does not move, thats why I cannot move my head in all directions all the way. Something is stopping motors to function normaly and fluently…
If head starting position is far away from rear-right corner, when I click auto-home…head will start to move towards rear-right corner and motors are buzzing normally when moving.
Last 2-3 centimeters from rear-righ destination, motors start to rattle violently and move real slowly. I mean they rattle loudly like they gonna explode.
I upload youtube video of problem (below link). Please tell me if this rattling sound is normal (I belive its not normal that violent rattling sound) and what should I do.
It’s like motors have some kind of resistance and skipping… I don’t know what is wrong?
After playing with priter I manage to figure out that rattling is produced by motors when applied by resistance. They are rattling due to heavy resistance…and for safety measures they are skipping (that rattle sound).
If I try to move head in one direction with X AXIS option slider and apply counter force with my fingers to other side on head itself, motors start to rattle. (rattling is safety skipping by motors itself if he bump on something sometimes)
Printer head does not slide easily on steel rods and due to that heavy resistance force motors are skipping (rattling sound).
Does someone know what should I do? How should I ease sliding of printer head and stop motors from rattling/skipping?
[quote=“Nenad”]How should I ease sliding of printer head and stop motors from rattling/skipping?[/quote]You need to align the X and Y axis. Follow the procedure described in the [color=#40BF40]Wiki[/color].
I’ve been tuning printer all day allready and all evening (it’s saturday night and my girlfriend is lying on couch and really angry
It crossed my mind that maybe x and y axis has wrong lengths and because of that, they are really tight and under pressure…and maybe because of that they are creating friction resistance on that steel rods and motors rattle due to that friction resistance.
I unloosen all bolts on x and y axis…and start auto alligment and rattling sound was gone, everything slide and glide perfectly. (only my nuts started to falling off of because all bolts was loose
I guess I need to dissassemble my printer and recheck those lengths 33,6cm and 32,8cm on x and y axis rods, like its written in building instructions.
[quote=“Nenad”]recheck those lengths 33,6cm and 32,8cm on x and y axis rods, like its written in building instructions.[/quote]Actually those length are not correct causing all the trouble with the axis.
It says that if you tilt your printer 45 degrees, head must glide freely under force of gravity (when all belts are removed).
I removed all belts, unscrew and loosen all bolts on X AXIS ROD and Y AXIS ROD plastic heads…and my head STILL DOES NOT glide under force of gravity when I tilt my printer 45 degrees.
If I screw and tighten bolts, then even pushing with hand is hard to move head across x axis and y axis (without belts on pulleys)
There is someting very wrong here…I mean…it is so hard to move head along x-axis and y-axis…like rods are made from sandpaper and not smooth oily steel.
My printer is totaly useless because of that…if printer head has movement friction resistance when all bolts are unscrewed, how am I gonna make it glide when bolts are tight and screwed.
Usually you have to widen a bit the distance between clamps. Use the procedure that says “remove the end cap of one of the lateral axis and slide the axis to release if from the ball bearing on the opposite side”. It’s an easy way to check if the distance is correct.
If you still can’t get it running freely remove the whole X/Y assembly and check if the head is gliding freely all along the rod. Perhaps the rod isn’t cylindrical. Also check if you didn’t reverse the X and Y rod (with almost 1 cm difference it seems unlikely though).
Thx everyone for help, you directed me to right path. I managed to unstuck head gliding by adjusting that 32.8cm predefined length of rods.
I tucked out tip of one of gliding rods from ball bearing and rod shifted 2mm to the left. So it was heavily under pressure when in ball bearing.
Here is pic:
I adjusted x and y axis to lenghts that aim directly in ball bearings and after that, head started to glide easily and motors were not rattling and skipping anymore.
Printer started to work perfectly now.
Again thanks for help. You directed me to right path in locating the problem.
[quote=“raby”]Indeed if this simple procedure was described in the manual it would spare a lot of trouble as the alignment is almost never correct.
And you’re welcome ;).[/quote]
Yes. This is very very very simple and fast procedure for finding out if your rods are under pressure…but not described in manual. It should have been described, especially for first timers.
Haha…I didnt want to drop off. 3D printing is future and I’m started to get into it more and more.
I managed to handle technical problems, printer is up and running…now I tweaking software options on test prints to figure out why is something happening when it’s happening. (first layer deformed ----> set fill for first layer to 130%…and that sort of stuff
And girlfriend is also interested in this toy I bought. (but was not happy when I bought it and tell her the money I spent
Hello, first of all congratulations on getting your printer to work ^^
I seem to have the same or a very similar problem to you, everything was fine till I tried to do the z callibration for all four corners. For some reason it got stuck on the x axis and made a very loud sound at around half the length of the building board.
So all my problems are the same as Nenads’. I undid all the belts axis and all but it works even worse when i put them back together. Also the carriage doesn t slide when tilted at 45 degrees when there are no pulleys or belt. I want to try what Nenad did but i have a hard time understanding exactly what you did for example how do you know which length to make between the clamps if the manual lengths are wrong. And could you explain that technique you did to adjust x and y axis lengths. And how to know which bearings are under pressure.
I am so sorry for asking this I know it s a lot to ask but I am a total noob at this. Can t wait for your response thank you in advance. cheers
Hello
Thank you so much for your quick response yes that wiki page is really informative thank you however I had already tried this but I am unable to make the distance between the clamps any smaller than the length in the manual. I did this because the wiki says to make the length smaller if the rods are bent outwards but it doesn t work hmmm. And if i make them any wider they will probably scratch the walls of the printer but I will try to make them bigger and see what happens. Quite a pickle. Have a nice day ^^
Use this procedure from the Wiki to check if they’re to close or to far from each other :
[quote]remove the end cap of one of the lateral axis and slide the axis to release it from the ball bearing on the opposite side - try sliding the rod back in the bearing - if its not dead in the center of the bearing check where the rod is hitting the bearing : on the outer border of the hole --> the clamps are too far away from each other ; on the inner border means the clamps are too close from each other.[/quote] You can do it pushing the rod by hand one way or another to get it centered in the bearing.
