I own the vertex now for around 2 months and have been printing everyday with it. The first 2 weeks where really difficult and I had a lot of X axis shifting in the beginning.
With your help and the wiki I got it all right with calibrating the X and Y axis better and adjusting the stepper driver voltages.
Now around 1 month later I have this issue again
Yesterday I removed the belts again and checked if the nozzle could move freely when tilting the printer, and yes it did it flawless. So that should be all right.
What I have to say is that you can actually really easy miss align the axis clamps, when you do this it of course doesn’t move anymore. (this if for both axis, and I’m not sure if I was able to do that at the beginning when I got the printer. Check this sketch to clearly show you what I mean.
As you can see the vertical rod is not straight, of course this is a huge difference to clear out what I mean. But this can be done on both axis when the belts are NOT installed. It could be that this is normal, but I’m not sure.
After this I reïnstalled the belts and used the alignment tool that I printed twice before to make sure the rods are perfectly straight.
I also oiled my rods really well again with sewing machine oil.
I also checked the stepper drivers but they where all fine because I already did this, and I don’t think they can really change now.
Does any of you have anymore ideas on what I could try, or what the issue could be? I mean, the head can move free without belts as it should so I don’t really know what the issue can be right now.
Its normal that it can warp like in your picture without belts. Thats why you need to align them
Have you witnessed the shifting? Ive had axis shifting when the print head bumps in to the print, if the latter is curling up too much and sticks well to the bed. Another cause might be that at least one of the pulley’s isnt properly tightened. Its really easy to damage the alu threading on them. You could try to see if you can force this to happen, by manually pulling on 2 belts of the same axis but in opposite directions, as to make the geometry warp. You shouldnt be able to do it.
Indeed I thought that as well P4man, but I wanted to be sure, that’s why I made the sketch.
And Yes I witnessed the shifting, it makes quite a bit more noise when it’s printing on the X axis then on the Y axis. And when the shifting happens it even makes more noise.
That’s why I checked the alignment again but it was all perfect and I rechecked the pulleys yesterday without a result
if you move the print head manually with the belts installed, is the force required consistent on X and Y axis ? And in the middle and at the extremes?
I’m not sure, I’m not at home at the moment. But I think it’s a bit different on some spots, that’s why I think it was a misalignment. but did this all over again and it did not help
Another thought, because it happened to me (my brother put it together): the plexi enclosure wasnt put together very well, with seams everywhere and the bolts too lose. Then of course, its difficult to align the rods, if the holders arent aligned to begin with.
But if yours travels freely without belt, that may not be it.
What I however do notice right now is that my outer rods where the pulleys are installed on have some free movement in between the frame and I have to say that I can see them move from left to right and so on when printing depending on which direction the printer is printing.
Thats normal and shouldnt have any real effect; except perhaps noise. Ive seen some people install a spring loaded ball plunger to alleviate that, but it shouldnt have any impact on the issue you’re having.
Yes those are screwed well.
Yesterday I went to raby his place and he did some checks on my printer, which I cannot thank him enough for! At the moment the printer seems to print small objects fine (haven’t tried larger prints yet) Small cubes also went good when I had this problem, but there is a lot less noise at the moment so I’m pretty convinced that the problem got resolved.
I will however know this for sure when I print a larger print again
@tommeysen : don’t forget to put the 2nd screw on the pulleys or they’ll get loose eventually.
@P4man : I slightly rectified the distance between the rods on one axis and the alignment of the belts and pulleys.
But layer occasional shifting can occur for other reasons :
Dirty rods : dust sticking to the oily rod can block rapid head movement (and even if the rod is clean when you start your print job it can be dirty after 20 hours) .
Moving lateral rod : the rods can move in their bearings. Usually they don’t but it can happen occasionally and then you’ll get a small layer shifting (1 mm or less usually).
