Newbie questions + Video

[int2str]

Got my ORION this morning and due to lack of time before work, I deviced to just try a test print... Yes, without ANY Z-calibration or any calibration of any kind. Just plug the printer in and hit "print" .

I'm very impressed that it actually seems to be working:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEnaR1BmU_E

Kudos to SeeMeCNC for making a truly "PNP" printer, that's still open source and tinker friendly at the same time!

Alsight, here come the newbie questions:

1. How do I clean the glass plate? Do you take it off for cleaning or just wipe it down in place?

2. There seems to be no fan/shroud on the extruder? Am I just not seeing it or is it simply not required for mostly ABS prints?

3. I'll do the Z-level calibration tonight. Anything else I need to calibrate?

4. Do I need to remove the filament from the extruder after printing or simply leave it in there primed for the next print?

5. How do you stop a print in progress? I found "pause print" in the SD card menu, but it doesn't seem to be a hard "stop"?

6. The printer seems to make a knocking sound. I think when it moves all three axis to raise up a layer. Is this normal (see video)?

7. Anything else I should know, start reading up on?

Thanks!

[geneb]

1. You can pop the document clips off and clean the glass with soap & water. Make sure that you don't touch it after it's clean. Finger oils can cause part adhesion problems.

2. There is a PEEK fan installed on your Orion. Look with a flashight and you should spot it.

3. Unless the poor thing got mugged by UPS, setting your desired Z height is the only thing that needs to be adjusted.

4. You can leave the filament as it is when the print job finishes. You really only need to unload it when changing filament.

5. Pause is the same as "kill" from this standpoint. When you want to kill a job, just follow up the pause with a Home Axes command.

6. Run the print again and watch the gear that's attached to the extruder. Does it jump in reverse for a tiny bit when you hear that sound? If so, the extruder is skipping and you might need to bump up the hot end temperature a degree or 2.

7. I'm working on the Orion user manual right now. It's 52 pages so far as covers both printing from the SD card and using Repetier-Host.

g.

[int2str]

Thank you so much for the quick & informative reply!!!
Very helpful!

I'll calibrate tonight and check for filament skippage.

[Nylocke]

Gene, I just wanna say how great you are for putting together these guides on John and Steve's behalf. I don't know if you were asked to put them together or you just volunteered, but thank you and great job at doing so

[int2str]

Day 1 with my new ORION is coming to a close.

After the little packaging snafu was fixed I setup the printer, printed one file straight from the SD card, performed the Z calibration and then went on to try a few prints from the Internet. As I type this, my first FreeCAD design is in the making (2 hours to go ).

Today I printed:
1. "Vase" straight from the SD card
2. 2.5cm test cube
3. Whistle (Soccer referee kind with ball inside)

All prints came out great! The quality is truly astonishing. The whistle printed great, despite huge overhangs in the top cover. The "pea" inside was easily detached and the whistle is quite loud. The 2.5cm test cube measured in at, drum roll.... 2.5cm . The first layer seems slightly bigger, but overall the cube is really great, so is everything else.

Long story short, THANK YOU SeeMeCNC, Gene and others who provided advice to me today!
The ORION is truly a quality printer and the setup is impeccable right out of the box.

What a great entry into the world of 3D printing!

[geneb]

Gene, I just wanna say how great you are for putting together these guides on John and Steve's behalf. I don't know if you were asked to put them together or you just volunteered, but thank you and great job at doing so

The first manual happened because I got mad at the distinct lack of documentation for the machine back in December '12. I wrote it to save others the hours of hair pulling, glasses throwing and creative profanity. ;D

That got me sucked into a rabbit hole that I haven't quite managed to climb out of yet. *laughs*

g.