3D Printer yet?

[HobGoblyn]

Found the problem, very very loose. Obviously too paranoid about tightening it too much when I built it, due to plastic bracket. Will do it a lot tighter and put thread lock on it

[xrunner]

Found the problem, very very loose. Obviously too paranoid about tightening it too much when I built it, due to plastic bracket. Will do it a lot tighter and put thread lock on it

Yea man it's got to be a loose part or something like that. I've never had the leveling issues you've been having.

[HobGoblyn]

Motor fixed, frame now as square as I can get it, 10 times better than it was.

[Mr. Scram]

Found the problem, very very loose. Obviously too paranoid about tightening it too much when I built it, due to plastic bracket. Will do it a lot tighter and put thread lock on it

I'm sure I've seen this in "how to improve your Ender 3" videos. I think some modifications could fix the problem. I'll try to find a link later.

[HobGoblyn]

Spent about 8 hours on it, rebuilt/adjusted  everything (even most things that came assembled).

I did extrusion tests using octoprint and found it to be too far out to be probable, so I read up on it, someone had the same, spring not strong enough, I retried the test putting slight pressure on the  spring, this time it was spot on.   In the end, I put the original cog and the new spring on the aluminium extruder did a test and it's perfect.  (yes I know I changed it all before when the spring was too strong lol).

Anyway, everything adjusted as perfect as possible, Installed the original SKR mini firmware (as that has INIT EEPROM option) , then flashed my firmware, did the mesh leveling, and tried a test print.



As you can see it's come out perfectly yay. Should have done all this a couple of weeks ago

Many thanks for all your help and patience

[mnementh]

Found the problem, very very loose. Obviously too paranoid about tightening it too much when I built it, due to plastic bracket. Will do it a lot tighter and put thread lock on it

Urrgh. If my CR-6SE comes with plastic brackets, I'm gonna definitely find/fab some metal replacements. Plastic flows under compression.

mnem
 

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Found the problem, very very loose. Obviously too paranoid about tightening it too much when I built it, due to plastic bracket. Will do it a lot tighter and put thread lock on it

Yeah that's not good, LOL. In a CR10S I bought recently, the screws of the "nuts" in the brackets at both ends of the X axis, where the Z threaded rod screws on to, weren't tight. Have you also checked those?

[Brumby]

So .... the problem was that someone had a screw loose....

...

...

 

[mnementh]

Found the problem, very very loose. Obviously too paranoid about tightening it too much when I built it, due to plastic bracket. Will do it a lot tighter and put thread lock on it

Yeah that's not good, LOL. In a CR10S I bought recently, the screws of the "nuts" in the brackets at both ends of the X axis, where the Z threaded rod screws on to, weren't tight. Have you also checked those?

That's why anti-backlash leadscrew nuts and a 5/16" ball as thrust-bearing inside the Z-coupler (or replace it with one of the rigid ones like CReality uses) are two of the first mods I do on any cheap printer; usually while assembling it. They're cheap as chips and it makes a huge difference in the Z-axis accuracy/repeatability.

Also, NEVER mount your Z-stepper so the weight HANGS FROM the coupler. 

mnem
 

[HobGoblyn]

So I decide to print some addons but my wife interrupted me and says as I have blue filament, I have to print a smurf

So I printed out the blue bits, 8 hrs later they came out fine



However, I'm not sure I did the support right in Cura, and now I'm struggling to get it off. I've tried on an arm and as you can see it's left a lot behind



and the base of the head is a lot thicker



Is there a knack to this? hairdryer etc?

thanks

[CatalinaWOW]

I have found that a sharp knife inserted at the part line between the support and the object results in a clean peel.  I do usually use zig-zag support with connected option.  Once you get the first support line separated it peels the rest off like a zipper.  You seem to have used a grid (or maybe cross) pattern.

[mnementh]

Grid pattern helps reduce stringing on the part on large areas. I use it for that reason sometimes. It is a bit of a pain in the tuchus compared to the zigzag tho; I usually avoid it where the ugly surface it leaves can be a cosmetic problem. Otherwise, time to get the sandpaper and paint out.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[HobGoblyn]

I have found that a sharp knife inserted at the part line between the support and the object results in a clean peel.  I do usually use zig-zag support with connected option.  Once you get the first support line separated it peels the rest off like a zipper.  You seem to have used a grid (or maybe cross) pattern.

I didn't have the option to show the support pattern. When I enabled the option, it shows as zig zag.  Might reprint one arm to see if there's any difference.

I also don't think I placed them correctly in cura, the head had about 4mm (5/32) under the entire thing.

[mnementh]

What slicer are you using, HG? I use the E3 profile in Cura pretty much all the time since I modded it to eliminate the "non-permissible areas"; I can choose support type and density.

Click Settings; at the bottom of the drop-down you'll see "Configure Settings Visibility". From there you should be able to enable any setting you can imagine... Cura has, if anything, too many settings.  They had to do this because, I imagine, a lot of noobs were looking at the list of settings and just having brain-freezure at all the wall-of-text and terms which they had no idea what they meant.   

It is a bit confusing; what I've learned so far about Cura has been from reading here:   https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/sections/360003548619-Print-settings and then enabling settings I think might be helpful. From there, you can get a lot of info about each setting by hovering over it with the cursor.



Good luck, and welcome to the "free-fall" part of "Down the Rabbit-Hole"... 

mnem
 

[HobGoblyn]

I had a play earlier.

I tried reprinting one of the arms, I altered the position slightly, got it to lay flat on the back of the arm, used tree support, and while the support came off easily, as you can see from the photo, the back of the arm looks pretty awful (OK tiny bits of support to remove here and there).  Is there something I should have done to make it better?  (will watch your vid Mnementh)



thanks

[mnementh]

That stringing is a problem I'm having myself on this 4-part project box. In all honesty, I've been thinking about remixing it to get rid of the channels on the bottom and just live with the results.

No, I'm NOT interested in printing it on its side, no matter how much easier that would make it.

mnem
 

[HobGoblyn]

I tried reprinting the arm vertically.

First attempt was sliced like this




Ended up with a ball of string on the table, so I tried again the other way up, sliced like this




This came out fine




And as you can see from the following two pics, looks a lot better (this ones on left, old ones on right)

[mnementh]

See? Just goes to prove that there's more than one way to skin a cat... err, Smurf. 

mnem
Murphy's a bitch, and she has puppies.

[mnementh]

   

The backer survey with add-ons/spares has been sent out; I got a few extras. Per the latest updates here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1001939425/creality-cr-6-se-leveling-free-diy-3d-printer-kit/posts/2864062

all Kickstarter orders will include the 32-bit MB w/TMC2209 drivers, 10x 0.4mm nozzle, & 0.4m spare PTFE Bowden tube (NOT Capricorn).

I ordered 2 of the Autoleveling Strain gauge (it's a flexplate with embedded piezo sensor) because a) cheap, b) it is one of the few moving parts that cannot easily be duplicated, so spares and 3) so I could tinker with alternate hotends without having to dismantle the printer. Same reasoning behind the hotend, tho cost made me decide against getting two.

I got a spare build plate & extruder mostly because they'll never be cheaper than $5 & $10 with free shipping.



The only thing I REALLY wish they offered that wasn't in the list was the sub-board that the piezo sensor plugs into; I see that as a potential printer-killer point of failure. It carries the signal from the piezo sensor plus the temp, fan & power for the hotend, and that ribbon cable plugs into a socket which appears to be entirely supported by the solder joints.



Some form of strain relief right there is going to be one of my first priorities when it arrives, ferr sherr; just like I did when I first got the Diggro: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/3d-printer-yet/msg2974438/#msg2974438

But for now, the hard part will be the waiting...

mnem

[HobGoblyn]

And I'm back

My extruder has gone back to juddering/skipping, even tried putting original plastic one back.

I can get it so the cog  doesn't judder by just having the spring, but then when it's extruding, it doesn't always move the filament (I can hold the filament with next to zero pressure and stop it going through, hence it's under-extruding loads).

Or I make it so there's more pressure on the spring and I can't stop it moving with slight pressure,. but then the motors juddering like mad.

Going to take nozzle and tube holder off and check nothings blocking in there, but it seems to be coming out fine. If I take the tube off the head, there's no juddering at all, so it's as though it's when it's forcing the plastic through the nozzle that is  causing the cog to slip.

Very odd

[Monkeh]

You may have an open winding (ie. a bad cable).

[mnementh]

Sounds to me like your filament may be soft enough that the roller is compressing it (usually a sign of too much spring pressure) and it can't advance once stuck in the divot...

Filament after pull will look sortof like this pic of grinding filament, but the teethmarks from the pinion will be present in the divot as well and there will not be any filament powder/flakes from grinding. Roller side of the filament may also exhibit some deformation and appear extra-shiny.

Also, you may not have stepper current set correctly. Have you done that yet? One of the most common errors found on kits is all the steppers preset to the same VREF; the extruder VREF is usually set to a fair bit higher on direct-drive models.

The original E3 controller used 4988 drivers; they max out at 1.0A so CReality tended to drive them conservatively at ~0.73A for X/Y/Z and 0.90A for E (They  derated to 75%/90%). The TMC2208s on your SKR Mini will drive up to 1.2A continuous, so you do not need to be so conservative; most of the stepper motors on these cheap printers can handle 1.5A drive current continuous duty, so your limit is still the driver, NOT the stepper motor.

Using the calculator on their website, this means the V1.0 (standalone mode) TMC2208s can be set to as high a VREF as 1.69V for 1.2A. https://wiki.fysetc.com/TMC2208/

If your mainboard supports the V1.2 2208 or 2209 drivers, this can be set in the firmware using post-codes; I haven't gotten into that process myself yet except theoretically. I'm pretty sure your MB instructions (or Monkeh, since he's back ) can explain it better than I can.

Good luck!

mnem
 

[mnementh]

   

Mundane everyday useful item print number 75: 26mm bead-pull for the height adjuster ratchet on my son's newly-refurbished basketball goal. *yawwwwnnnn*

You may recognize this part from Mundane everyday useful item print number 73; it is the same model I made for the monkey-drum beads, only blown up 200% and .20mm LH in Cura for a quick print.

*SWISHHH!!!* was just a lucky click...

mnem
 

[HobGoblyn]

I'm hoping I've worked out where the problem is.  When I took the  nozzle and pneumatic connector off, the release on the connector wouldn't move at all, even with it at 200, it took a lot of force before the release mechanism finally moved allowing me to pull tube out.  That tells me there must have been a lot of pla gunge in there, even though hole looks clean once nozzle and connector removed.

I've found a guide to fix this, will give it a try later. 

On a separate note: things like fan housings for the printer, can they be made in PLA?

Thanks

[xrunner]

On a separate note: things like fan housings for the printer, can they be made in PLA?

Yep. Mine is. There are lots of fan housings and cooling ducts available on Thingiverse.