Issue While Printing? Rostock Blues

[Pizzapie500]

Hi! So I've had the Rostock built for a while now, but I can't seem to calibrate it correctly. I've tried playing with all the values, but there are so many, i'm not sure which one is making the issue. I attached a video of it printing as well as a comparison of the print to a coin. I tried printing the nickel calibration test, but the print is too small and also the top seems to be very jagged. Can you please tell me what I need to fix in order for the prints to come out nicer? I'm pretty sure it's software (Repetier or Slic3r) settings. I replaced the hotend with a JHead, and the extruder with a Wades. The video is sped up so it won't bore you. Also the first ten seconds of the video is a bit shaky.

Image: http://i.imgur.com/YELD5mB.jpg

Video: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZT6HebP6Ww[/youtube]

[Nylocke]

Did you follow Gene's manual to build and calibrate your printer? If I remember correctly it should cover if its printing under or oversized. The "jagged" issue is probably because your printer isn't properly calibrated/leveled. At least on of your endstop screws needs to be adjusted.

[Jimustanguitar]

What speed are you printing at? I'd turn it down to 30 or so until you get things dialed in. Calibrate first, speed will come later.

Speed will also magnify mechanical problems and lash. What generation arms do you have? Did you have to sand and tolerance them yourself, or did you get one of the new sets that come pre-machined?

[Lochemage]

When you say the print is too small, how small do you mean? Is it like half the size of a nickel, or does the nickel just barely not fit? It also looks like your very first layer is smashed more than it should be.

If it's the first case, then most likely the E-steps of your axes are off.

If it's the second case, it's likely to be your slicer. Some settings I would take a look at and make sure are correct: Filament thickness, extrusion width, and nozzle diameter.

[geneb]

Replacing the extruder and the hot end before you've got a working, calibrated printer wasn't the best choice.

g.

[Pizzapie500]

Nylocke: Is this the guide you are referring to: http://www.geneb.org/rostock-max/Rostoc ... -Guide.pdf? If so, then yeah I used his guide but I could not find the part where it mentioned how to correct undersized prints. How should I adjust the endstop screws? I adjusted it like how the guide said I should send a "G0 Z0 X77.94 Y-45 F3500" command scripts until the head almost touches the platform.

Jimustanguitar: Actually it is running quite slow. I sped up the video so that you would just get the gist of it and so Youtube would upload it faster. I'm not quite sure what version of the arms I have, but I'm pretty sure they are the first generation. My brother bought this printer fully assembled from tricklaser.com for around $2000. However, out of the box it still required a ton of calibration and we still haven't gotten this to print.

Lochemage: I attached a picture (here: http://i.imgur.com/YELD5mB.jpg) of the comparison between the print and the nickel. As you can see, it's a lot smaller. I guess my "E-steps" are off? To fix that should I just use this guide http://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter%2 ... tion_Guide?

Geneb: Well the original hotend kept on getting clogged, and I didn't like the design of Seemecnc (the original one;not the ezstruder). To be honest, when my brother bought this from tricklaser.com fully assembled, we thought it would run out of the box. However, it's not their fault, since "fully assembled and tested" actually means it used to work but the shipping is going to throw off the calibration.

[Eaglezsoar]

Go to the Rostock Max subforum and do a search for undersized, it will pull up numerous threads about that subject
and what was done to correct it.

[Lochemage]

By default, if you are using the stock belt and pulleys that came with the kit, the E-steps of each axis is 80. I found that to be pretty accurate so I didn't change it.