Unresolved just unboxed my printer

I received my printer in March 2014, and after having welcoming my baby girl / getting house renos completed and letting life settle down I was finally able to un-box my printer this weekend (sep 27)

the printer was well packaged and nothing was broken .. whoo hooo
I got my laptop setup and the first issue I had was unable to connect (went and downloaded arduino drivers) and then on to next step.
Then to software.. well things have changed a lot from march to now, my book talk about reptier and the software download is all about matter control.

I found reptier downloaded the latest and started talking to my printer
Manual control was neat to see it move around, however home button made the printer try to over reach on the x axis.. so it would shudder after it got to end as it would try to travel some more.
I heated the extruder and had no luck getting filament through and that is where I am now stuck.

I saw video on robo 3d website with spool holder and lights, filament on spool and I don't have the first 2, got loose filament just taped with blue painter tape. I have glass bed but how do I double check if it is heated? I cannot remember what I ordered and I cannot tell which one people are talking about on forums and which version comes with which parts. There is no model number on it so no quick easy way to identify which features it has or should have.

I hope to spend some more time thsi weekend to figure out what is what and actually get it to print,, wish me luck

 

If you have a glass bed, then it's heated. You can tell because there will be a heater pad on the bottom

What temp did you heat your extruder to?

 

I did 190 for PLA and even tried 230.. but I still cannot manually push the filament through.

I read on the forum that there is slight lip that I have to squeeze past..but I can not really see anything. I will try to stick and E wire through as another user suggested.

 

Also make sure your filament has a slight point to it and that it doesn't expand out.

 

There is like a ledge you need to get past when feeding filament. Cut your filament on an angle so it has a point. Then heat the extruder to say 200 before feeding it into the hole. If you move it around, you will feel a give point and it will drop further down into the hole. Watch for it to come out and start oozing.

I print at 190, but if you have the new all metal hot end, you might try 210.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk in Canada

 

Thank you Peter your notes helped me get the filament loaded. I started printing and the first 2 loops around the model stick well and then when it starts on the inside it all just bunches up and becomes a big mess. any tips or advice.

 

Did you mean 2 loops around the bed?

If it's a mess, you're still too high and it's not sticking well. Your line needs to have a flat look to it not a rounded one. Also it shouldn't have a trench in the middle of the line, which indicates you're too low.



I use hairspray on a 60 degree bed.

I also print a raft, which keeps the part attached to the raft instead of the bed and will help keep it stuck. That's the raft in pic2

Print at 190-195 and the raft will come off nicely. Your mileage may vary.

 

yes 2 loops around the bed.. and yes my 2 loops are individual strands … I can see my loops as figure 3 ... I will recalibrate my z axis with more resistance. When I went through the calibration process I used a piece of paper and stopped the moment I felt any resistance.. that measurement technique is using a term that is vague.. (resistance).. maybe I should use a feeler gauge.

 

I actually do it like this:
Set the z height manually so that you can see light underneath the extruder head between the head and the bed. Adjust the z rods so that as you manually move the extruder on the x axis across the bed, making sure it doesn't touch the bed. Turning one z rod while holding the other still.

Once you see it's pretty close to the bed, start a print and watch the skirt line so that it is like the 4th type of filament style. Squished at the top.

I adjust it as it prints and when I see a good line, I adjust the z axis stop screw till I hear a click. This assures me that the next print will start at the same height.

I've gotten so good at it, I can now do it by eye.

Tesseract suggested using a business card instead of paper since you'll be able to adjust it down easier from that extra height of the business card. It worked for me to also understand the process better. Paper is too thin, thus it can be squished and then the head is too close to the bed and will most likely drag the print.

Try a business card.

 

I have tried with a business card.. and I still not getting good results.. it starts out fine when printing the skirt.. but when it start to print the actual model.. it starts dragging the model around and then i just end up with a mess.

 

other thing i notice is my filament is not coming out evenly... i get thick and thin lines.. what causes that?

 

Have you try with (2) Business cards? If not give that a shot, I know I tried it before to get prints working correctly.

 

Pictures help. I also suggest opening the terminal window and watching the autolevel response values to see if any come out very weird.

 

If it's dragging its too low or it's not sticking. Here is some pics oft height during printing. Notice the gap between the bed and extruder head. Also notice the flat looking filament.

 

Success.. I did the manual tune of turning the threaded rod and disabled auto level inside matter control. I also turned the the PLA temp to 230 and I was able to get my first print.. on to try my second to see if I can repeat my success.. fingers crossed

 

so my second try failed just becasue my laptop fell asleep and teh printer stopped.
so my third try
I reduce infill to 0.15 and it took 3 hrs to complete with med setting.
http://imgur.com/a/1dYEb/all

enjoy
now I need to improve upon the flaws I see in this print.

Jerry sent me link to DIY Y-axis upgrade but where you do buy smooth rods and other parts.. (looking for a one stop shop).. i found online retailers selling some components but not all.

 

The bed upgrade by tonycstech.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:439036
For modifying your bed cables.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:595308
I got my rods from a local stainless steel supplier, socket head bolts from a local bolt supplier, and bearings via eBay. Fire the bed rewiring my Thingiverse link contains all the links apart from Kapton tape which came via eBay.

 

ok been trying to do few more prints in between family life.. my daughter seem to enjoy watching it work (7 month old)

I printed this object twice, cubicle name badge, it work great the first time buts second time it did this. i let it run and it finished but why did it to this. see link
https://plus.google.com/101038052012927587477/posts/fpUrxzwd1hj

my second video is on printing concentric circle.. when it start teh skirt great, then in teh circular object it start crappy but as it completes and goes back it is good.

i increased the scale and as you can see in photo the skirt is a circle but the object is not.

using matterslice
and setting as much as possible as per http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/mattercontrol-stabilization-on-win7-and-win8.2954/

some values listed cannot be found inside matter control

 

What are you using for adhesion?

The first video is kinda weird, it's like the bed isn't quite level.

 

I am using heated bed at 60 for all print jobs using PLA
I printed the name badge first layer stuck.. middle layer did that wierd thing in the middle at far reaches of Y axis.
then i tried to print circles.. skirt sticks well but the actual object does not.

for leveling I home the head check Z height.. move X axis to other end check Z height, make sure paper tug feels same on both ends of X axis and then use the Z stop screw to get fine adjustement and have made four rectangular prints with success and (3 normal with green PLA and the video linked with red PLA is weird in the in between layers)
Can my bed be out of level on th Y axis other end.

Why does the skirt stick in circle but not the actual circle?