Unanswered Right Threaded Z Rod warped on new R1 Plus

Good morning all!

While disassembling my R1 Plus (purchased December 2015) in order to add the recommended extra fans and such, I couldn't help but notice that the right threaded rod appeared to be bent very slightly. How I know this is because once I took the cover off, I used MatterControl to move the extruder up the Z-axis and saw the rod moving back and forth, say about 0.25 to 0.5 inches from center (if that makes sense). That told me that the rod must have been bent before or during manufacture.

Do you think that this might affect my prints enough to warrant contacting Robo 3D for a replacement? I'm thinking that the rod is no longer replaceable by itself and would require swapping out the motor as well. I haven't really noticed any banding issues at height, but then most of my prints haven't really exceeded 100mm tall. I guess I should just contact Robo 3D and let them know since it's under warranty, but I've noticed that it can be difficult to get replacement parts.

Thoughts or opinions?

 

Here's short video of it. It's not as bad when the x carriage is mounted, but still noticeable.



I'm uploading the video with the x-carriage on now for comparison.

 

Just called it in - thanks!

 

Submit a replacement part request using the form to save some time

 

Yes sir, I hear you. I submitted it yesterday and they confirmed it. Just found another issue last night from manufacturing with the heated build plate and Y axis. The cork on bottom of the heated build plate sagged for some reason and caught on the hex bolts that hold the bearing in. That pulled the aluminum tape and tore it in some places, while killing a four hour print that was almost complete, lol. There is also a magnet that was jammed into the metal Y axis bracket at an angle and it pulled off of the glass. It's now jammed in the hole it rests in and it's enough of an angle that it's affecting the X axis leveling just a tad. I already sent that one in as well.

I love the printer and have every intention of buying an R2 when it hits the shelves, but I wish they would put a little more time into testing each unit or other QA methodology. On the very positive side, they are very cool about replacing parts.

 

Yeah I hope they learned some things for design for reliability from the R1 and the R2 is less failure prone. Though I think they're more design for low cost