Robo up and running - prints fall apart - need some help

hey everyone,

im an enthusiastic new 3D printer owner. so far so good, setup was a breeze and got it printing easily.

I am starting by printing this calibration cube:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24238

The first couple layers look fine, but them it looks like the PLA is not adhering to the level below it. When the print is done, i can pull it apart to basically extruded filament.

Settings:
-PLA that came with the printer
-settings as described in the manual (190/0)
-room ambient temp 65F

Let me know some things i can try to dial it in (or point me to another thread). Im a FDM 3d printing noob, so dont make any assumptions

Mike

 

hey mark, thanks for the reply.

sorry the pic isn't good. the extruded filament is indeed going down onto each layer round and not flattening. first layer is OK, subsequent layers are not. it's almost as if the z axis increments too much on each pass, resulting in too much area between layers and not forcing the extruded plastic down flat.

any settings to check for this?

 

.3mm and 100% - same as the recommended default settings in the manual.

i'll check the bed leveling per your suggestion. i was in the later kickstarter fully assembled batch and there doesnt seem to very consistent bed leveling out of the box.

i really need a newbie 'if this happens then try this' type guide. im new to it so i dont know what the common knobs are to turn to fix issues. all a part of the learning curve.

 

i looked around a bit with no luck - can you pass me on a link to the spring mount setup?

im going to do some more messing around tonight with the printer.

 

After many frustrating weeks of experiencing the same issues as you, using the new Matter (I forget the complete name) software which has an autoleveling calibration showed me the screw for the zstop was too low and was stopping the extruder from getting low enough to print a correct first layer. I couldn't gage the look of a correct layer from the many pictures on the forums. Tesserac was adamant about getting it flat, and he was right, but adjusting the thread rods apparently won't work when the zstop switch is stopping the assembly from lowering to the proper height off the table. Now my layers are flat, it sticks like a magnet to the table (no tape, hairspray instead), and no more loose strings. After no successful prints, after calibrating the machine last night, I printed out 4 perfect objects. Also, though I'm using PLA, the software heats the bed up to 70 degrees. Braydon at Robo said to use 60, so I lowered it to that. I don't have the link to the new software handy. If you need it, I can post it later tonight after work unless someone else has it.

 

Here are the links to the Mattercontrol software:

https://mattercontrol.appspot.com/downloads/mattercontrol-robo3d-windows/pre-release
https://mattercontrol.appspot.com/downloads/mattercontrol-robo3d-mac-os-x/pre-release

 

some updates...

1. the main issue was my own operator error with slic3r. i did not realize you needed to pull down your new printer settings (see attached pic with area circled in red).



2. my z-axis stop switch is installed backwards. i need to switch this out, but i actually have been getting good results as is. adjusting the z axis is tricky at first - but once you realize it is completely set by the z stop (there is no memory of the position other than the z-stop), things get much easier.

TIP: when setting the z axis height, use your business card as a 'feeler gauge'. that is, slide it under the print head bent - **without** your hand touching the print bed. ill post a pic of this.

3. was able to get really crisp prints of tesseract's 15mm calibration cube using black PLA down to the 0.1mm level of detail. i tried a 5mm calibration cube as well on Thingiverse with good results, but still some tweaking to do to get it perfect.

Thank you for the Mattercontrol links - I will give them a try and report back.

Is there a good guide yet for newbies? I could begin compiling one as I am documenting my trials and tribulations.

Overall very happy still with the Robo. This is going to be a very useful tool.

Mike

 

I don't think there's a guide yet for newbies, at least for the Robo 3D, but we're building an FAQ.

The redirect for it:
http://melodybliss.org/robo3d/