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Partially Solved Layer separation issue

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Element18592, Nov 28, 2018.

  1. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    I have a Robo R1 and it's worked flawlessly for me for the years I've owned it. These last couple of prints I've done have all had the exact same issue. Using simplify 3D I exported the gcode to a small model and got layer separation a quarter of the way through the print. I shrugged it off as a bad slice, or possibly bad model and imported a different model and it printed just fine. So here we are today, I go to my Robo to print a file from my sd card that's been there for over a year. This same file that's been sitting my my sd card has been printed about twice a week since I've had it on there with no issues at all. All of a sudden it starts getting layer separation at what appears to be exact same layer. Printed it a few more times and same thing. I'm not sure what's going on here, nothing has changed on my end so no idea why this is randomly happening now.

    First the video:

    The print is sped up to avoid waiting so long to recreate the problem.

    This first picture is how the print is supposed to look:
    [​IMG]

    This image is from a print I did earlier that also failed at the same point:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    This image is of the print from the video:
    [​IMG]

    If anybody has any idea on what might be going on here, I would certainly appreciate the advice.
     
  2. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    is it PLA? Could be microclogging and you need to season or change the nozzle.
     
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  3. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    That was one of the first thing that crossed my mind, however the issue happens at the same layer across multiple models.
     
  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    I would still try that and a brand new "fresh" spool of material. Once thats been done can move on to the mechanical bits as using an older "working" gcode eliminates slicing software as well.
     
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  5. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    Brand new spool of Robo brand filament. Issue occurred again at right about the same layer.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    have you seasoned when you added the new material? its an important step in troubleshooting.
     
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  7. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    I don't do it often as I've never had a jam since installing the E3D hot end years back. I did take note of your previous post though and slipped the filament through a small sponge with canola oil.
     
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  8. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Is the printer making any odd noises? I'd clean all the rods and threaded rods and put some fresh lubricant on them. Then when thats done run the axis around by hand. Anything feel wierd? If its always at the same spot I'd suspect something is sticking.
     
  9. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    No strange noises. I've jogged the printer up and down around the height of the constant failure and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I also cleaned the rods and and threaded rods with IPA yesterday and applied some lithium grease to them.

    I'm actually just remembering that my LCD controller went blank and stopped mid print a few months back causing me to restart the printer. It completely slipped my mind as i've had no issues out of the printer since then up until these last few days. That might be failing now that I think about it. I'm going to disconnect it and try a print via the USB cable.
     
    #9 Element18592, Nov 29, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2018
  10. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    Okay so while running the printer wired with the LCD controller disconnected, luckily I was prompted with an error dialog telling me exactly what the problem is.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    So I run my PLA prints at 195 on the extruder and 65 on the bed. As you can see my printer dropped 11 degrees, at least by the time I noticed the error. Again this happened at the exact same layer height as the previous prints. Any idea on what could be causing this? I'm guessing either the heater core is going out or the thermistor, however what could prompt this error to be replicated at the same layer of each print?

    Side note: I'm letting the print continue this round as the separation was nowhere near as bad as it was when running untethered. So far no issues past that point.

    Update #1
    Current print progress
    [​IMG]

    Update #2
    Finished the rest of the print without any issues
    [​IMG]
     
    #10 Element18592, Nov 29, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2018
  11. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    that is likely when your cooling fan kicks on and its overrunning the heater for a bit. can you verify those settings in your slicer?
     
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Some of the firmware had the minimium extrusion temperature too high.
    IIRC one version had that set at .... <drum roll> around 195c

    So verify which version of the firmware you have installed or check the CONFIGURATION.H if you have customized or reloaded yours at any point. To see if that IS the issue, as a test bum the temp to 200c and try again. The fan is likely kicking on as @Geof mentions and it causes the error.

    FWIW: all of mine have the min temp set a lot lower (i.e. 170c or 175c)
     
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  13. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    My parts fan kicks on after the 2nd layer is finished. Still a good while before the failure ever occurs.

    I'm running the Robo3DR1V3 firmware. After checking the configuration file it looks the minimum temp is set to 185.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    185c
    OK, should be fine.
    I have one that runs best at 180c for PLA :) So it is set even lower than that.
     
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  15. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    so if the fan is already on then either you are printing faster than the heater can keep up with (doubt it) or you have possibly a failing heater or thermistor. What I'd do is heat up the extruder and start wiggling the wires to see if you can make the temp fall again. Do them seperately (wiggle thermistor and watch the temp, wiggle the heater and watch the temp). something is making the heater drop, we just need to narrow down which part.
     
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  16. Element18592

    Element18592 New Member

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    I wrapped the E3Ds heater block with Kapton tape with the intention of retaining heat and preventing possible interference from the parts fan. In doing so I compressed and moved the wires a bit for the heater core and thermistor. Could just be a fluke but I've had one print that didn't fail, and another now that's currently printing fine past the previous point of failure. If anything changes I'll post an update here in this thread. Thanks for the advice thus far!
     
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  17. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    My printer had a similar issue a couple of months ago. The power supply was out of spec, and the voltage was too low. This caused the heating element to suddenly drop in temperature every time the parts fan turned on. I adjusted the set screw on the power supply to increase the voltage. The heating element in the hotend & hotbed heat up faster plus the heating element isn't affected by drafts. It was very sensitive before I made the adjustment. I could blow on the hotend then the temperature would drop, and I would get the same error message.
     
  18. Raymond Ramirez

    Raymond Ramirez New Member

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    My print came out stretched, can somebody help me figure this out, This is what it came out, it was too long, thought the length and width was just right, the height is out of proportion,
     

    Attached Files:

  19. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    The model looks uniform so I'd suggest checking your slicer and make sure it didn't get scaled. Other than that the top half looks hot or under extruded (hard to tell). If you attach the model your trying to print and tell us what your part measures that would help.
     
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    As I mentioned in the other thread we need to know what you have done. Don't scatter the questions to non-related threads :) Start new ones specific to your questions.
     
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