First Prints... YAY! I'm printing!

[neurascenic]

Ok... here they are.

Goofed on some of the settings, but did not notice until after the 4th attempt.

200ºC Nozzle
0ºC Bed (though it was reading at 22º)
PEEK Fan on
No Layer fan yet

Here is the 4th print that is a quasi success ( I am happy it looks this good)
[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... ib0007.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... ib0008.jpg[/img]

First 3 of 4 prints ( print 3 had a brown out while it was printing the border, not worth showing)

1. Printing on Paper... not so good for me. Paper kept moving, farther up it got, the worse it got, until it broke free
2. Printing on Paper with tape closer to build and all the way around the paper.
3. Same as above
4. Quasi Success!!!!

[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... 3of4-2.jpg[/img]

A few of issues. Bridging infill doesn't work so hot. Too, Halfway up, there is a slight shift to the whole object, then it shifts back where the towers end and it prints the bridged portion. Don't like how the top looks either. Very last thing, it spit out a glob before it homed.

But I am thrilled!!!! Sadly, I have to ignore it until tomorrow night, have to go out of town.
[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... 3of4-4.jpg[/img]
Any suggestions?
Thanks for the help everybody! thanks Gene for the build manual! Print on!


Chris

[DavidF]

very good first prints...now the fun can begin!

[Eaglezsoar]

I agree with DavidF, very good first prints. A little more tweaking and you'll be printing with the best of them.

[neurascenic]

Getting there! This one isn't all that troubling, YET, as to start, most of my stuff will be smaller, and utility type stuff... but it is coming that I will want larger and finer prints.

I printed the calibration Cylinder. The bottom came out outstanding for the resolution I am printing at (.2)
but, at beyond 3 to 4" hight, it progressively got more shaky. Most of the little warbles point towards the X Tower.


[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... bTube0.jpg[/img]

Whole print
[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... bTube1.jpg[/img]

1st warble
[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... bTube2.jpg[/img]

near top
[img]http://www.neurascenic.com/show/Rostock ... bTube3.jpg[/img]


Pretty sure this isn't a software or setting issue, but probably some kind of play or resistance.
I do plan on changing the arms to mag arms kinda soon, so I can eliminate anything there.
but, if I am deducing this correctly, if it were in the arms, would I not see it all the way up?

So, this kind of implies that it is in the towers, or skates. Or, could the bowden system kind of interfere as it gets squished from going up?


again, thank you for any considerations. it all helps!

[Eaglezsoar]

Sounds like you are going to have to do a complete calibration checking for sticking parts as you go.

[DavidF]

Sounds like you are going to have to do a complete calibration checking for sticking parts as you go.

Could it be just a cooling issue?? or maybe the pint itself is moving?? Ive never tried this test print.....maybe I should.....

[bubbasnow]

i think its physical wobble, i bet if you did a fill instead of a hollow or slowed down the prints these would go away

[neurascenic]

I will obsess over all of that...

I did a couple of prints tonight, non have been satisfactory. But, then again, I changed things.

I did bump up the speed on all of them, including the tube. I will run that again at a lower speed tomorrow night (over night) to see.

I did notice one of my skates was a little loose. tightened it up, and slightly loosened another. Now I am printing one of the things I printed earlier again to see if I like it better (slowed it back down)

Will report back tomorrow night... Sheesh, having a job sure gets in the way of things.

[DavidF]

im printing the cylinder now, man talk about boring..... Im printing at what ever the default speed is (30mm/sec?) Im at about 4" now and it looks fine.
By any chance did your print start looking funny once you upped the speed??

[neurascenic]

Yes, it was after that. but it was not immediate. I sped it up around 3" and around 6 is where I start seeing the first. then progressively got worse.

I don't have it on me, but I will look closer to see if there is any more subtle differences.

Yes, boring. I will reprint it tonight, just before I head to bed. First, Slow, if that doesn't do it, I will try with some infill.

[DavidF]

Ok I stopped the print, I am seeing the same thing when it gets higher up, but not twards any one tower that I can tell...
single shell, .2 mm height, printed slow. my camera sucks! I cant get a good picture of it
going to have to think about this one some.....
[img]http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g446/davidflowers1/Mobile%20Uploads/utf-8BSU1BRzA1ODUuanBn.jpg[/img]

[neurascenic]

Very interesting.

I think I am going to try some dry run scripts just to test the motion of everything.

See if I can pinpoint any unwanted movement; binding, slop, or tower movement.

if it is physical wobble as BubbaSnow suggests, the only thing I can think of that would create that is drag created by the extruder.
Something I definitely saw when I was printing without the extruder calibration. Does make sense that this would have a greater effect on something tall and thin like this. Question is, how to eliminate it.... Run a hotter temperature, so that the extrusion isn't quite so viscus?

[DavidF]

im thinking of printing a tall single wall square and getting a look at it.....or maybe a triangle with each face pointed at a column, then print the triangle again with each corner pointing at a column.......or I just may say the heck with it It prints just fine LOL

[DavidF]

im going to try some rubber bands on the arms by the effector, i seem to have picked up some play there since I first built the machine....

[neurascenic]

How high did you manage to get with before you saw it? did it start suddenly, or as a progression?

[neurascenic]

im going to try some rubber bands on the arms by the effector, i seem to have picked up some play there since I first built the machine....

So that is what that mod is for?


I do have one of my u-joints that is loose, I did shim it thought. Sanding, flick, sanding, flick sand, flick ... oh damn, there is goo on my u-joint that is preventing it from flicking clean... too late, over sanded.

[DavidF]

looks like it started at about 3.75" then got a little worse higher up. the rubber bands will take some of the slop out of the arms...theres something on the forum here about it, but where to find it? Heading to work now...

[neurascenic]

Sounds like you are going to have to do a complete calibration checking for sticking parts as you go.

is there any kind of writeup on this process? or you talking about the Printer Radius Calib?

thanks!

[DavidF]

I put the bands on my arms and tried printing it again with the same results, for me it doesnt seem to be a problem with anything mechanical with the printer (that I can see) so I will try printing it again but in pla to see if it some sore of weird shrinkage or something...or it could just be the part is moving while printing?? If I see it happening while printing in pla ill slap a dti on it and see if its moving....probable wont be today though, I have snow to shovel

[neurascenic]

I did not get to mine as I thought I would, Should get to it tonight. I think I will just go ahead and infill it.

[Generic Default]

Are the waves in the prints oriented toward one of the towers?

I used to get similar patterns in nylon all of the time, and it turned out that my temperature wasn't constant. If your hotend temperature wobbles more than +- 1 degree C, you might get wavy patterns vertically on your print. Temperature needs to be kept extremely stable during the print; any oscillation will show corresponding changes in size of the part.

Check your temperature graph while printing with repetier host. If you see a sine wave in the graph, you will see a sine wave on the sides of your part.

[neurascenic]

Yes, mostly towards the X. Until the last inch,then it is all around. I haven't run a thermal check yet, I can do that this weekend. With Gene's update, I am going to recalibrate, the print this again.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Generic Default]

I just checked your pictures again. If the waves on the side of the print are only facing one of the towers and they're not consistent from the bottom to the top of your print, it might be that the tube is flexing from viscous drag as the nozzle moves over it. I see this mostly with tall, small diameter parts. Eyeball it while it's printing and see if the part flexes.

Any backlash in your stock arms (clicking sounds when you shake them) will translate mostly to vertical movement during prints, so the nozzle won't stay at a consistent layer height depending on where your arms are over the print bed. You might also want to check the black nylon piece that holds the arms to the cheapskate. If you tightened the screws too much on it, it might be bending off of the cheapskate a tiny bit.

[DavidF]

I switched to pla and am printing now, ill let you know....

[DavidF]

Does not happen when printing in pla.....could it just be a tempature and shrinkage thing ?? Im not going to chase ghosts here, main thing is that it wasnt a mechanical issue....
[img]http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g446/davidflowers1/Mobile%20Uploads/utf-8BSU1BRzA1ODguanBn.jpg[/img]