Still having some issues, so looking for help.....

[Hdale85]

So been talking on #reprap trying to work through some issues. I've replaced my hot end with a genuine j-head with a .4 nozzle. Currently I'm trying to print with ABS running my hot end at 230c and the bed at 100c. I'm having issues with infill it never seems to work quite right when it's at a lower infill setting. At like 60%+ it looks good, at 10% it looks terrible, lots of gaps and such. I've gone through the fine tuning e-steps process but I can't seem to get it down. Also there is a weird pattern in the top/bottom layers that's sort of in the shape of a cross that goes across the piece, in the corners where the cross aren't it's less smooth, and in the cross areas it's more smooth? I was told to print a hex tower to verify I was printing correctly and it seems that I am. Also there is a bit of wiggle on my effector that some of the guys seem to think isn't normal? I took a picture of it, they told me to ask here if this is normal.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeM9JPzIZCY[/youtube]

Excuse my wife yelling at the kids in the background lol.

[bot]

Yeah, fairly normal. Put some zip ties around the arms right where they meet the acetal joint, to clamp the prongs down onto the acetal. Not too hard, but just enough that they can't bend away from the joint. Helps tremendously with this.

[Hdale85]

Got a pic of what you mean?

[Tincho85]

I did what he said. My effector is not wiggle free but it's better than before.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/748/2123 ... c5f6_o.jpg
[img]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/748/2123 ... 3498b8.jpg[/img]

[Hdale85]

I'll try that. Apparently with the older traxxas ball joint type connectors there wasn't this much play. Which imo kind of sucks considering I'm sure they went injection molded for cost.

[bot]

Actually, I meant more like this:

but either/both work to varying degrees.

[geneb]

You're better off with it like Tincho85 did it, but use rubber bands instead. Wire ties are too static and too easily over-tightened.

None of the Rostock MAX printers have used ball joint arms out of the box. The ball joint arms are produced by Trick Laser and are very good. I've got them on two of my machines.

I strongly suspect your issue is a slicing problem and not a hardware problem. My oldest machine (See my avatar) is configured just like yours - stock arms and a Reifsnyder Precision Works .4 J-Head (if you didn't get it from RPW, it's a cheap-ass Chinese clone and those f*ckers are killing his business, literally.) and I've been running that poor machine ragged for the past two weeks. Performs flawlessly. Just like yours. the effector will jiggle like an epileptic fat kid in an earthquake, but that doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on the printed output.

If you've got the old style carriages, make sure they're properly adjusted - better yet, just get a set of the new injection molded carriages - they're light years ahead of the old design and don't have to be adjusted.

g.

[Hdale85]

Hi Geneb, I was told to talk to you about my machine lol. I purchased it from hotends.com it's part of the reason I bought one

I forgot the older models didn't use the ball-ends. But they used the carbon tubes I think? Anyways TrickLasers arms are pretty expensive. But I am considering replacing the stock arms and carriages. I do have the plastic carriages but I just didn't like how they went together, and also I don't like how the endstop screw is just threaded into plastic. It feels like it's going to strip out really easy? But so far it's been ok I guess for now.

I'm using Slic3r and parts come out pretty well, I upped the extrusion multiplier some and it seems like the infill got better but the top and bottom layers have a pattern and it looks like at parts it's tilting the nozzle and dragging it through the extrusions. This is why they started asking me about wiggle and such. I was talking to Thews on #reprap and he said his custom built delta doesn't wiggle like that at all really. So I was thinking about getting the trick laser carriages, and carbon arms with ball ends or something else. Thews was telling me to use the opencnc 80mm plates but I told him those would be gigantic on this machine and he told me to talk to you about what you thought lol.

I think I worked out the slicing issues though, and like I said there is a very clear pattern in the top and bottom layers so I really think something is going on with the nozzle tilt. The bottom layer has like a + pattern, and inside the + pattern it is perfectly smooth and lined up together, in the corners where the pattern isn't it has grooves in it.

[geneb]

Post pics if you can - that'll show right off what's going on.

The TL arms are a great upgrade. It does lock down the platform a lot better. However, if you want to see how Orange Menace does with the stock bits, check out the video I posted in the "What are you making?" sub-forum. pics here as well: http://www.f15sim.com.

g.

[Hdale85]

I'm guessing you mean pics of printed parts?

[img]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/Dougie085/CNC/IMG_20150906_0146081_zpsuk4wpnr5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/Dougie085/CNC/IMG_20150908_2043541_zpsoojwyirh.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/Dougie085/CNC/IMG_20150908_2043431_zpswppshljx.jpg[/img]

This hex cube is the latest part I printed. It's hard to see any patterns as right now all I have is the camera on my Galaxy Tab S tablet.

[Hdale85]

Also here you can kind of see the pattern and ridges in the top layer of the bottom here

[img]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/Dougie085/CNC/IMG_20150906_1601591_zpsviyjpoys.jpg[/img]