I’m completing my printer and I noticed that after mounting and calibrating of x and y that y axis is moving with great tension at the home end.
X is ok, moving quite easy + belt tension but y is on the front ok but on the back of the printer is very hard to move.
Where to look for solution?
I’m afraid that when I start it that pulleys are going to slide because of this and won’t have a grip on rod.
Tnx
[quote=“kulla”]I’m completing my printer and I noticed that after mounting and calibrating of x and y that y axis is moving with great tension at the home end.
X is ok, moving quite easy + belt tension but y is on the front ok but on the back of the printer is very hard to move.
Where to look for solution?
I’m afraid that when I start it that pulleys are going to slide because of this and won’t have a grip on rod.
Tnx[/quote]
Hello Kulla;
i used to much force for assembling Vertex case walls. Then i wanted to start my Vertex 3d Printer but it was not functioning right. I tought maybe the alu pulleys is reason for this behaviour. But then i got the idea to untighten all the screws (Counter ClockWise 2 full turn). After doing this my Vertex 3d Printer started to work like a charm…Only for your information…
Regards
Niyazi
Interesting Nyazi, will try that.
What screws exactly have you untighten?
Tnx
[quote=“kulla”]Interesting Nyazi, will try that.
What screws exactly have you untighten?
Tnx[/quote]
Hello Kulla,
all 128 (1/2 Hour) screws touching outside rightside, leftside, topside, backside, bottom, edges on the Vertex3D plexiglass walls and also where all four rods mounted with ball bearings (black plastic lids/covers). Then I started using Vertex3d printer, two weeks later,I turned all the screws only 1turn clockside. And I lubricate rods every two weeks with fine machine oil (Singer stitching machine oil).
Regards
Niyazi
there are a few problems;
-there is slop between the panel, so the case can be assembled with a fair wide tolerance.
-when tightening the belt-clamps the X and Y shafts will bend, due to the fact that the distance between the belts and the bearings in the case have a too large distance.
I assembled the box making the panels sit flush on the outside. Due to the angle on the panels for releasing it from its mould, the panels outer edges are not 90degrees. when this is done though. The case measures ~349mm, while the 8mm shafts are 350mm in length. The Y belts are a tighter fit, which causes the X to bind more easy. The printer will always have a bit more resistance in the center than on the edges. Though with the relative large tolerances in the Iglur slides, this will be pretty neglectable.
My problem is that I have resistance on the endstop part of rods, not the middle or end.
I have tried to untighten all screws but it didn’t helped so I will disassemble it and assemble it again.
You should check the cariages of each axis… The distance between the two carriages aren’t always the same as in the manual.
A small tick is sometimes enough (on your own risk!!!), in the middle the rods can move and that’s why you won’t have resistance in the middle while on the end the rods are tighten.
Cheers,
Dylan
I can relate somewhat, though on the X axis. I aligned and calibrated the axes (for hours on end) within several hundreds of a millimeter, but the machine kept making those awful noises, especially near the ends. I’m lucky (I guess) that I didn’t strip any threads on the pulley screws. My first print came out with layers all over the (X axis) place, like this:
I undid the belt clamps entirely (not just loosened them), and found the problem persisted. There still was hardly any movement possible near the ends. From this, I believe a lot of the problems mentioned on this forum concerning X or Y axis problems have more to do with warping of the casing and require more than loosening pulleys and caliper calibrating of the rods. I found the manual very well written, very well illustrated, but I think it was lacking in this department - at the end of the manual I think I was only three quarters finished with the build, the rest was figuring out the movement problem.
Only after I undid the other belt clamps, removed the end caps, and shoved the rods back and forth some, it was that I found I could move the print head freely across all axes. I concluded that tightening the screws on the end caps must have warped the casing or misaligned the rod bearings in the casing, in which case aligning the rods with the digital caliper makes little difference. If this is correct, I would put more faith in checking that the printhead moves freely by hand, and I would say the use of the caliper is overemphasized, I found it very difficult to get a consistent measurement any way, due to the confined space to move the caliper around. In the end I forgot to tighten one pulley before making a second, more successful print, and the screw fell out of the pulley. The printer had no trouble delivering a good print nonetheless.
Rein
Yes, that was the same thing that I did in the end and got it working.
Had some layer shifting in X but I oiled all rods and it disappeared completely for now.
Last night I did 4h print without any problems, but now I have to tighten all bolts to get rid of high resonance sound from the case when printer is doing infill.
So far I didn’t had problem with pulleys, as you said, tension of the belts is keeping them in place event when you don’t tighten screws in them.
[quote=“Rein”]Only after I undid the other belt clamps, removed the end caps, and shoved the rods back and forth some, it was that I found I could move the print head freely across all axes. I concluded that tightening the screws on the end caps must have warped the casing or misaligned the rod bearings in the casing, in which case aligning the rods with the digital caliper makes little difference. If this is correct, I would put more faith in checking that the printhead moves freely by hand, and I would say the use of the caliper is overemphasized, I found it very difficult to get a consistent measurement any way, due to the confined space to move the caliper around. In the end I forgot to tighten one pulley before making a second, more successful print, and the screw fell out of the pulley. The printer had no trouble delivering a good print nonetheless.Rein[/quote]I couldn’t agree more. The rods need to be parallel; the pulleys need to be positioned so that the belts don’t rub either against the sides of the pulleys or each other. That’s it. Even if there was unrestricted access to guarantee good measurements, the calipers won’t help you to fine tune free and easy head movement.
Even now, after many prints, I still occasionally suffer belts tightening up over a long print. Very frustrating after 7 hours to have the final few layers X shifted. There is lateral movement in one of my rods and I’ve no idea why - I’ve taken it apart several times. None of the others move, and I’m convinced this tiny movement is what eventually causes a tightening of the belts or greater friction on where the belts touch. It’s not exactly a robust, foolproof design from this perspective.
It’s hard to detect, hard to fix, easy to get wrong. Hence dozens of posts about people suffering layer shifting on the forum!
[quote=“kulla”]I’m completing my printer and I noticed that after mounting and calibrating of x and y that y axis is moving with great tension at the home end.
X is ok, moving quite easy + belt tension but y is on the front ok but on the back of the printer is very hard to move.
Where to look for solution?
I’m afraid that when I start it that pulleys are going to slide because of this and won’t have a grip on rod.
Tnx[/quote]
Dear Kulla, I’m having exactly the same problem as you. only resistance on the Y-axis at the home end, not middle or front.
I’m going to check the suggestion that endcaps could make the rods warp…
But so far I dodn’t find a solution.
Some problem here,
The Vertex Printer is great and have done already a lot of smaller parts now.
but when im moving towards home on y- axis, great tension builds up. This is very anoing when printing bigger objects.
It’s only at 2 cm before its end; towards the back of the machine. I’ve laser maseared al the paralell rods; this thing is almost completely paralell and runs good in all directions instead of getting to end at Y.
Im getting stuc in what to do next…
Same problem here.
Just finished the K8400, and at the Y-Homing end, it looses steps due to high friction.
The rod alignement is accurate to half a tenth of a mm.
For me, there is a general and ugly flaw in the basic construction principle, more,
it’s opposite to all I know as an automation specialist:
If the horizontal distance of the ball bearings and hence of the guiding rods is so crucial for a smooth move,
why are the end caps (belt tighteners) not moveable forth and back easily two or three mm on the rods which keep the print head in place? This would allow to compensate for case and / or alignment tolerances without loosing positionning precision.
[color=#BF0000]Loosing steps due to the high friction at the homing end of the y-axis is a no-go.[/color]
And this obviously occurs, if you didn’t - by hazard - pressed the belt tighteners exactly into the right distance of each other, when mounting the print head guiding rods into the print head.
The manual says 33.6 cm distance for the belt fasteners at the y-guiding rod. Roughly measured with a measuring tape around the printhead… 
But +0.5 mm or -0.5 mm at that construction step will forcely yield the problem discussed in this thread. Without having the possibility of an adjusting correction, when everything else is mounted. 
Definitely: I expected a better construction for the price of this device.
Edit: Now I precise measured the distance of the Y-rods at the back plate and the front plate with belts removed:
The inner distance of the y rods at the back plate is 1.2 mm wider than at the front plate!!!
The y-rods are not parallel, they form a triangle.
That reason or the Y-homing blocking simply is unprecise hausing manufacturing! (Greets from china)
Sorry for answering my own post, but the manual should definitely be changed at the step, where the belt fasteners are mounted on the end of the print head guiding rods.
Definitely, you do have to insert the follwing steps:
THEN: ADJUSTMENT OF THE distance of the Y-guiding belt fasteners:
4. slide the printhead with its belt fasteners from the OUTSIDE on the y-rods sticking out of the back plate.
5. move the print head as close to the housing as possible.
6. adjust the distance of the belt fasteners, so that the y-rods are parallel, when the print head is slided very close to the back of the device. It should be not more than 1 mm more or less distance between the rods at both ends of them.
This step is definitely lacking which causes lots of frustration.
After I did the above, homing procedure is ok - without step loss.
With the belts removed, the printhead could be move freely and without resistance over the entire area.
The parallel alignment of the printhead guidance rods itself, when fixing the position of the wheels on the rods, is of minor importance.
