Solved Bent Table Bed

I got the Robo C2 this week and finally got to try it this weekend. I went with the idea to try and plug the USB stick to load a model. I figure just go right off the printer before I attempted to get it on the computer. It loaded up and began, but the X and Y grinding the gears. I stopped it and looked for the problem. I discovered what was said about the rods being shifted during shipping, so I pushed them over and that solved the grinding problem.

Back to printing, I forgot to mention, I already had set the Z gap on the bed, so what came next had me puzzled. The extruded plastic looked like it had bubbles. This is generally due to the nozzle being too close. Then it was digging into the tape in areas and no plastic coming out at all. So I canceled and manually set the bed so that the nozzle was at the position it should be in the back left corner. When I moved it forward to the left front corner, the nozzle was a good inch and a half away fro m the bed. I moved it to the right and it was the same. I then noticed the roller that is suppose to be in the top of the center rod was laying in the bottom of the printer. So I'm going to guess my printer had some rough treatment.

I tried contacting Robo and of course it's the weekend so no luck... I figured do what I have done before when this situation happened. I bent the bed to the position it should be manually. I moved the print head back and forth checking the gap and got it reasonably set. The back right corner is still about .2MM off, but I can get it to bend any further without fear of messing something up. So I rest the Z axis gap and tried decided to get it connected to the computer.

That was a task. Cura just refused to see it. I had it connected with a USB cable and had it set on the WiFi connection. I looked up more stuff then saw the information about OctoPrint. I don't know Cura and this printer was being pushed as plug and play basically. So far it's far from that. So I set up everything according to the info I found and Cura finally saw the printer.

Now that I had it loaded and could run something from the computer, I figure try one of my own files to test. I don't know if it's suppose to touch the bed to do the auto leveling, or if it even did anything, but it moved to all the coordinates and then began printing. So far so good, it was laying a nice first layer, then it said filament had run out. It hadn't so I resumed. 30 seconds more and again same thing. It did this over and over so... back to looking up info. Apparently my filament detection is backwards and I switch sides out on the filament then hit resume. Finally it printed and finished the print.

After all of that, it gave a really nice print. And that's with the settings on low (200 micron). It looks very near 100 micron actually. Pretty smooth and won't really require too much to clean it up. So over all it's running. Seems to be finally at a point where I expected it to be. It would have been nice not to have gone through all of that, but I wanted to catalog it here for anyone else that might run into it. I still need to speak with Robo and get any other issues worked out. I guess wait until the weekend is over then try. But hopefully this helps anyone else who might get into trouble and not know what's going on.

 

I'm trying out a larger print now to see how it does. The small print was fine. I figure I'll push a 5 hour print on it to really test it all out. See how the layers look and just over all how well it handles the whole thing. Also I'm making it hollow to see how it handles that I believe in hitting all the hard marks with over hangs, and all. Yeah I could have done a benchy, but this print is something I can use if it works.

 

Yeah I was just assuming on the connection. I have the Robo R1 Plus+ and it's the simplest printer to connect and run. Aside from the computer deciding to get an update and rebooting, it's a workhorse. So yeah, I just assumed it would be the same situation to hook up to the C2. It's not of course...

Now knowing this, I wonder if that's why I haven't been able to get Cura to connect to my Wanhao Duplicator 4S. I'm trying to avoid Simplify 3D for now and need a better interface than the Makerbot Desktop for the Wanhao. But that's another forum!

For the record I have a UP! Mini, Wanhao Duplicator 4S, Flux, Robo R1 Plus+,this Robo C2, and I actually am one who got their Tiko. The Tiko is very poor quality though and I haven't really done anything with it. Just watching the boards there and seeing if someone comes up with a way to connect it to Cura, or any other software. People are testing it.

 

Thanks, yeah I'm probably pretty content with these printers. If I get any others, it'll be a resin printer. I can pretty well manufacture now the small stuff I do. I was doing ok with just 2 and the Flux helped add more ability. Now the both Robos, it seems like an easier time.the R1's bed size alone has been a huge help. I've been running a large item that's 8 hours back to back with not too many problems.

 

I'm making a base for an Eagle Force Kickstarter that ran. That was one of the big reasons to load up on printers. The image attached, you can see the 8 hour print. It's steps that goes on the front. The other piles are various other parts. I do gliders with 3D printed engines and guns. Various other things for use with 4" GIJOE type action figures. The resin printer would probably get used to make figure parts since the FDM printers don't handle that so well. You can get away with PLA or ABS when it's accessories.

 

Well it's mostly about the smoothness of the print. I don't know how familiar you might be with GIJoe figures, but the Cobra BAT has interchangeable arms. To make new arm attachments, most would be an inch long or less. About a pencil diameter. It's doable on the FDM, but hard to sand smooth. With ABS you can acetone vapor it, but of course there's the issue of lost detail. That would mostly be where the resin printer would come in. Beyond that, I don't think I would have too many other uses.

 

Well it's like my figure here. I used a base figure that's made by Boss Fight Studio. I used the Robo R1 Plus+ to create the sheild, sword, helmet, knee pads, and belt. It took a lot of sanding to smooth it all out. The goal is to get it as close to factory as possible.

 

This shield is another example. Most people buying will complain if there's layer lines showing too much. For the most part, pain hides it well. If it can be made and sold without too much painting, that's all the better!

 

Yeah, that'll be my hope. C2 of course being new will take some playing around with. I'very got a bunch of stuff to test!

 

5 hour print went relatively well. The print was fine. The filament fell off the spool holder though. There was some slight shifting of a few layers toward the top and I'm betting that probably is where the spool fell. I had left it unattended since it was doing well. Still it's not bad and probably doesn't even need to be sanded. Now though, I see something that really needs to be fixed. The filament holder won't be any good as is. It'll need a new redesign.

The print is completely hollow. Everything worked out and the top is nice. Over hangs did well. Only 1 area had a bit of an issue needing sanding, but nothing major.