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Solved Heater foil tape

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Captain McGillacutty, Feb 17, 2016.

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  1. Captain McGillacutty

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    My adhesive gets warm and allows the tape to droop enough to catch the belt bolts. Anyone have a tested fix for this issue?
     
  2. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Some people have used aluminum insulation tape to cover the whole bottom of the cork to keep it from drooping

    @daniel871 may have a picture somewhere of his
     
  3. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    There were some pictures in my R1 show and tell thread, but that seems to have gone mysteriously missing since my last post about how it was dead.

    EDIT: But yes, you can put HVAC tape across the cork to minimize the "drooping".
     
  4. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    When I got my Robo, it didn't even have a cork board over the bed heater. Called Robo and they sent me one right away with some HVAC tape. It was an easy install, but the supplied tape only covered the edges. I then took it one step further and I went to the hardware store and got a roll of similar tape and covered the whole thing. Hope the pics help. I did notice quicker heat up times after this. I'm sure doing a full tape job will help your droop issue. Good luck and happy printing.

    20150815_062940.jpg 20150815_064233.jpg 20160218_190104.jpg 20160218_190231.jpg
     
  5. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    That's pretty much what I did, except I had the tape already from some work I helped my dad do to the air ducts in his house.
     
  6. Captain McGillacutty

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    Thanks, I was hoping I could replace it with a standard tape.
     
  7. Jeff Lastofka

    Jeff Lastofka Member

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    I have a new R1+ (about a week) and it's been working great, but just developed this same heater foil tape sagging and snagging problem. I was going to have them replace it, but I think I'll try the HVAC tape idea after I buy some and see that it's apparently the same stuff. I see the cork is bubbling or lifting a little here and there. I assume that goes along with this issue and I hope the full coverage tape idea will prevent that from being a problem, too. I've only done PLA, so it hasn't been pushed real hot yet.

    While doing this I found a loose screw in the machine and a cable bracket about to fall off, so I can address that, too. And one of my LED strips was never glued down right, and now I can fix that. I suppose I should poke around in there. It seems to have a 'put together in a hurry' feel to it. I know they want to keep costs down, but things shouldn't be coming loose and unglued the first week....

    It's been printing great except for this, though.

    Heater tape.jpg
     
  8. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    For yours to look like that in just a week makes me shake my head at QC. The extra tape should help. If not, they should be able to do a replacement for you.

    I think it is always a great idea to go over these printers when you first get them and make sure everything is snug. All screws and bolts. I had several loose ones. Some have even added a bit of blue lock tite to them to keep them from getting loose with use. Also make sure the set screws on the gears are tight. Lube the rods and the leadscrews as well. Finally, as you have already found, make sure all the connections are secure. Things jiggle free in shipping at times. You might even want to pull the cover off of the bottom of the printer and make sure everything is secured to the RAMPS board. CAUTION: the cable for the RAMPS cooling fan is short and you will unplug it when taking the cover off. So remove slowly and check for placement and orientation as you open the cover. I often open from the opposite end of where the USB plugs in. That way I can see the cable for the fan easily while it is still attached. I had an LED that wouldn't stick either. There is a couple small holes near them that one could make a small clip to secure them down with. I ended up putting full LED strips up into my printer cover for better lighting, but that is another project down the road you can look into. Good luck and happy printing. Welcome to the forum.
     
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  9. Jeff Lastofka

    Jeff Lastofka Member

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    Lowe's had this and it's rated to 121C. That oughta do it.

    New metal tape.jpg Jeff
     
  10. Captain McGillacutty

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    That was mine first day... I did the same thing as Jeff.
     
  11. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    I ran mine for a few weeks with just the cork board and edge tape that robo sent for me to install myself without any issues. I later got the tape for some HVAC work and then added it to the bottom of mine as a precaution. So for it to be installed from the factory and be an issue the first day or two of delivery, makes me wonder how well they installed it. That tape is pretty sticky for it to not adhere to the cork board. Glad to see the extra tape is at least fixing the issue with you guys.
     
  12. Doug Meek

    Doug Meek Member

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    I know this is an old thread but I just thought I would add mine to the list. The tape started catching the first week I had the printer. I kept reaching under there and sticking it back down or pieces that were ripped beyond sticking I would remove. That was about 6 weeks ago, this weekend I started noticing the Y axis printed parts were about 5% longer than they should be. I opened it up, removed the glass to see if if anything was loose. I pulled the Y stepper motor and looking at the pulley it looked like it was chewed up....looking closer it was a piece of the aluminum tape that had worked its way between the pulley and the belt, wrapping around and sticking to the pulley. Removed the tape cleaned any glue residue off of all of the parts. Works perfectly again.

    This really should have a shield of some kind to put some tension against the cork so it doesn't droop while heated. I will be covering the whole bottom of the heater tonight!
     
  13. Jeff Lastofka

    Jeff Lastofka Member

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    Yup, mine's still working great after the initial issues and the full tape covering I added back in message #9. I've still only done PLA. It's been working for my projects so I haven't bothered trying ABS.
    I also replaced a couple of the fans with some quiet ones I learned about in another thread here. HUGE improvement!
    The only other issue I've had with Robo3D is a spool of red filament that must've been dropped at the factory and then partially rewound by hand. It had a whole mess of cross overs and tangles that caused me a bunch of trouble until I unspooled the whole thing and redid it. I can't imagine how it got so knotted up. Maybe sabotage by a disgruntled employee:)
     
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