Solved So far, Not so good.

So I have to say so far I am a little disappointed with the out of the box condition of my printer. There were scuffs on the case (I can get over that) and seemingly residue on the nozzle which when asked about on the phone was told they wouldn't sell a refurbished as new and that they were not assembled at the same facility as the call center which I can buy for the moment.

But the first print (first ten) were just a bunch of shredded wheat. I can accept a fail but without a trouble shooting guide and a way to figure anything out except for intuition was a frustrating first day.

So after the nozzle dragging for the first couple of layers I switched from Matter Control on OSX to Cura and got a print to start right, but Matter Control on OSX just seems like an elusive dream. Called Tech support and was told to reinstall the printer and/or Firmware did both got a little better but still failed. It just seemed to give up on keeping a Z height anywhere close to where it should be, and would then just dig into the print after about 15 to 20 layers.

I switched over to Matter on XP and finally got it to print a test cube correctly (not perfect but it finished) Then the Matter slicer tried printing the wrong way in the z height and would lower with each pass. Switched to CuraEngine and got the beginning of a good print but the Z would click with each quarter turn and then after 15 or so layers the Y axis gave up and shifted 1" north.

After checking the Y pulley I decided to check the board under the case, when I turned it sideways I heard something rattling around and figured I had to open it up, a little nut was loose in the case, and when I had it on its side I could see a small matching screw stuck in the fan on the bottom, I pulled the nut and screw looked at all the connections and buttoned it back up.

Now trying again and so far no Z clicks and about 20% done.

Could the fan being stalled cause a resistance and power problem/overheating problem and cause all of those problems? I guess I'll know in an hour or two.

The other problem is the first layer has gone back to the nozzle against the glass, is there a software setting for this, or should I or can I add a .2 +z into the Start G-Code?

 

And yes the fan not working will cause the ramps board to overheat. When it overheats it will miss steps which is why the z is digging in and the y shifted. I had z digging in as well but had my fan unplugged. As soon as I plugged it back in I have yet to have the issue.

 

Print feet for it so it raises it and gets more airflow

 

So the part last night actually worked and worked well. I have since printed a couple of other objects with great results. So now it's just the quality control that isn't that great from the Company. I had to tighten the x belt a little and not only dig out, but find on accident the loose screw stuck in the only cooling fan underneath the machine. I think the company is lucky to have so many tinker consumers that is apt to troubleshooting on their own. There will come a time when every printer will have to work flawlessly or they're all getting returned. It seems like inkjet printers didn't have this long of a development phase and this Beta testing phase of technology.

Either way I'm glad to have it working now and that I wont have any more of this initial frustration. I'm sure that will come with ABS.

1) I did the Firmware
2) was about to trash Matter Control, but some part wanted to see the standard tools first before searching for what's better.
3) is there a way to set it in Matter Control or can I just add a line to the Start G-Code to raise the Z by .2?

It's so strange how a seemingly unrelated issue can cause so much strange problems for printing.

Feet are literally next in my Queue.

 

What have you tried and I'm assuming from your earlier message Repetier Host is a favorite. I like the all in one idea of MatterControl to be able to slice and then print from the same software, I do too much software switching as it is to want it in a hobby.

 

Awesome, thanks for the recommendations, I can't wait to dig deeper into this.


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So it's up and running and working well, I've done a number of prints that have worked well for upgrades like the feet and spool holders, did a duct for the fan, now I'm having fun.