Calibration issues

[Redqueen]

Greetings all,

Just unboxed the printer yesterday and am impressed, however one or two nagging issues are creeping in. The first prints were great, but the extruder nozzle was dragging on the build platform and the prints were short a layer or two as it scraped the nozzle on the glass.

So I figure there must be a calibration process that I am missing here. The "getting started" guide is fairly devoid of things to do when it doesn't pop out of the box perfect, so I went to look for rostock calibration information. It seems like the info (or the folks giving it) are just similar enough to seem reasonable, but different enough to make things go very badly.

So far, everything I've tried has had interesting effects... interesting, but totally useless for fixing my issues. Some of the tutorials had me using feeler gauges while manually lowing the nozzle and then altering EEPROM settings in the firmware for "Z max length". Now it seems like I've gone from "nearly working" to "far from working".

So with that being said, I throw myself on the mercy of all of you experienced gurus to help this noob to stop making stupid mistakes lol.

So here's the main issues:

• For the first two or three layers, the nozzle is in contact with the glass build plate. How do you adjust the print height?
• On larger prints, it seems as if one side of the build plate is higher than the other. I get a good bead of ABS on one side of the plate and it touches and scrapes the other side. How do I adjust or level the plate?

I gotta say, I love the printer... and I am amazed at how well it worked out of the box, but there needs to be a manual that gets into the details on what a lay person would need to know to safely operate and maintain the printer. The slideshow is nice, but is in no way sufficient.

Thanks in advance

_mike

UPDATE: There was apparently an issue with Repetier not updating the EEPROM properly, or maybe a glitch or something. Once I disconnected and reconnected, the changes I made to the Z max length seem to now be working. I'll chalk it up to a case of the "user". Now on to working on the leveling issue.

[Eaglezsoar]

Do you have the guide for the Rostock Max? It is available here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=987

The chapters on calibration should benefit you.

[Redqueen]

Super helpful, thanks!!

[geneb]

Redqueen, for the Orion the simplest way to tweak the Z height is to take thin sheet of paper and lower the nozzle till it just starts to snag on the paper. Issue an "M251 S2" and it will reset the Z height and store it in EEPROM. Open the EEPROM editor and make sure that the Y and X heights match the Z. Some versions of the host software only set the Z axis instead of all three as it should.
g.

[Redqueen]

Thanks Gene! All these g-codes are like learning a new language. I actually hand jammed them into the eeprom through the config and they seemed to take but I've written that one down in my list of important commands.

Learned more in two days that in the previous 6 months tuning... what fun!

[brbubba]

Thanks geneb! Out of the box mine was was too close to the plate causing the extruder motor to skip. Recalibrated the Z height using the command and it seems ok now.

[brbubba]

I would also include an individual arm calibration height guide. My plate calibration was off, probably due to UPS beating the crap out of the box. I followed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmP9JQP ... knPHMpeh2Q and made scripts for each position, adjusted the screws then did the center point and did geneb's command. Printing out a solidworks tutorial part, very nice so far.

Other things I noticed, the Slic3r ini file didn't take fully for some reason. So some of the parameters were in there but others were stock, like 3 mm filament, which was screwing up my sliced prints obviously. I would just note to make sure the Slic3r config settings actually make sense.

[TFMike]

So i put a level on my bed, one way it shows it is level but when I place the level lengthwise down the center of the bed it shows it be way off, this could be a large part of the reason for my fails thusfar, only problem is that I have no idea how to solve this problem, any help is appreciated, thanks.


EDIT: Gonna go ahead and drop a pic of my piece curling up, it eventually fell off the bed platform altogether. That was at 90-100° C WITH AQUA NET, my question, do I need to simply calibrate the nozzle to make up for the bed being unlevel or physically do something to the bed in order to level it?

[TFMike]

pics of the level on the bed,

LEVEL:

NOT LEVEL AT ALL:

[geneb]

My apologies - I didn't realize what forum you were posting this in - I thought you were referring to a Rostock MAX.

I'd check to make sure that there's nothing under the support plate for the heated bed as that kind of tilt really isn't possible any other way.

g.

[TFMike]

Thanks for the reply, how exactly do I check that?

[geneb]

Um, you look under the build plate to see if there's anything under there that shouldn't be.

g.

[TFMike]

Think it could be something under that though, like actually inside the mdf housing? It took some nasy bumps from ups, the front blue translucent plastic around the lcd is cracked, one of the carriage screws was twisted beyond all recognition, the black nylon thumbscrews were sheared off and the boro glass plate came with a big chip that turned into a huge crack....

[Eaglezsoar]

You measured the levelness of the glass which is directly related to the levelness of whatever you have the RMAX sitting on.
Is the desk, table or whatever the RMAX is setting on perfectly level?

[TFMike]

You measured the levelness of the glass which is directly related to the levelness of whatever you have the RMAX sitting on.
Is the desk, table or whatever the RMAX is setting on perfectly level?

yup

EDIT: Orion, not Max, though that looks awesome too

[Eaglezsoar]

You measured the levelness of the glass which is directly related to the levelness of whatever you have the RMAX sitting on.
Is the desk, table or whatever the RMAX is setting on perfectly level?

yup

EDIT: Orion, not Max, though that looks awesome too

Perhaps the hit it took from UPS pushed out some of the tnuts that the screws that support the heating bed.
I would open whatever doors you have and inspect with a flashlight and see if you see any nuts with a screw
attached that have pushed out of the bed. There should be no nuts hanging down. There are like 6 of these
screws that hold your Oynx to the bed. If enough pressure was applied to the Onyx to push the nuts out of the
bottom of the bed you would think that there would be a dent in the Onyx. If you measure the height of your Onyx
to the top of the bed, the measurements should be the same all around the Onyx.

[TFMike]

Alright, gonna measure it now, ill throw in the pic of what they did to the carriage screw, absolutely incredible:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/6bUixNn.jpg[/img]

EDIT: Eagle, there are some smushed up parts of the mdf on my orion, I ignored them until now but am starting to think somethin inside of it is off....

[Eaglezsoar]

After seeing that bent endstop screw, that would be enough for me. Have you contacted [email protected] and informed them on the state or your
Orion and what UPS did to it. I would give them the link to the beginning of this thread also. They will take care of you, if at all possible. They are a great
bunch of guys. Edit - Take a picture of the damaged areas including the box if you still have it. You can upload the pictures to this thread so that they are
in a central place for the seemecnc guys to look at.

[TFMike]

Talked with john about it yesterday, no one seems to want to believe me when I say I think it's the bed height, gonna try to screw it down to level it out but I also saw this to avoid edge curl on another site:

"I spray a light coat of adhesive spray onto the build platform and put a sheet of 100% Cotton, 32 lb resume paper ( Southworth ) on the platform. The first layer tends to soak into the cotton which is held down by the adhesive spray ( the desired amount of adhesion can be adjusted by the amount of spray used ). The entire print is then easily removed from the build platform. The paper layer can usually be removed with sandpaper or it can be soaked in water to remove. The adhesive spray typically lasts for about a dozen or so changes of paper. I use small amounts of mineral spirits to remove the adhesive coating when it builds up. Some other things that appear to reduce curling: - Increasing the temperature ( 5 degree increments ) - Turning off the filament fan - A large clear plastic trash bag over the printer kills any drafts while still giving the print head freedom to move."

Do you think the collision from ups could have caused the machine to miscalibrate so much that this would occur as well:

?

I'm literally at my wits end here.....

[PartDaddy]

Hi TFMike,

First, your issues are not machine calibration issues. All of that is done here at the plant. Next, the shipping companies are rough on everything. Leveling adjustment is performed by adjusting the three carriage screws. Adjusting the three leveling screws changes the bed height (z height) when all three screws are adjusted the same amount up and down. For a non-level Z (knocked our during shipping), adjust the limit screw next to the tower(s) where the first layer filament is too close or too high off the bed. We set the z and tram in the X and Y axis perfect. Adjusting the three leveling screws might be needed when you receive the machine because they are usually handled rough by the shipping companies.

Bent screw anomaly:
Baffles me. This had to happen during shipping somehow. The glass filled nylon is not capable of causing this during assembly. I asked questions out in production and screwed another flat head into a production part. We can mail a replacement, just email support.

The Glue Stick:
Getting off to a good start is important. Wash your glass build plate clean in your kitchen sink using some dish soap. A few drops will do. Use warm water to rinse thoroughly. Dry the glass build plate using clean paper towels, do not touch it with your bare fingers. The oils from your skin will cause your parts to come loose. Holding by the very edge of the plate, clip it back on your heated bed. Apply a single layer of glue stick to the COLD GLASS SURFACE. One thin layer. Wait about 60 seconds, and apply a second layer 90 degrees (make a two layer cross hatch pattern). Do not cake-on the glue stick. A thinner layer works best.

Heat the bed:
The heated bed for ABS should be 90C to 100C. This helps prevent warping. If you have a PART cooling fan or blower (different from your hot end cooling fan on all machines), make sure cooling is turned OFF for ABS prints.

Your Sample Part:
I understand you've got some help from us. I heard that your first layer looks good and even on the build surface. So it sounds like your bed is level.
Next, your CAD file might have problems. Also, your extruder temp might be low. Look up http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... it=owl+2.4 ; with the exception that it's PLA, make your filament temp 225. You might copy these Slic3r settings and try again. I've had bad STL files step shifted like your photo before. After a cloud.netfabb dotcom fix, the file sliced good. Also, don't copy your file to the SD card over the USB cable. Don't even plug your machine into the USB cable. Copy your .gcode file directly to the SD card, then plug back into the printer and print from the SD card.

Try slicing something else:
Does your STL model import into Repetier without errors? Slicing another part file might help.

Steve

[TFMike]

Hi TFMike,

................
Also, don't copy your file to the SD card over the USB cable. Don't even plug your machine into the USB cable. Copy your .gcode file directly to the SD card, then plug back into the printer and print from the SD card.

Try slicing something else:
Does your STL model import into Repetier without errors? Slicing another part file might help.

Steve

Ok, I thought I needed to at least have the USB connection for tinkering with the printer from repetier? Also, why is bad to export from the cpu to the sd card by way of the usb and then unplug the usb cable to let it print stand alone? And yes the files imported with no problems

[Eaglezsoar]

The reason not to copy a file to the SD card via the USB cable is that it takes forever for the file to copy.
I think PartDaddy didn't want you to plug the USB into the printer while you were printing with the SD.
Obviously to use Repetier Host to "tinker" as you put it, you will need the USB plugged in. Just be
careful, too much tinkering can get you into trouble. If you're not sure you should do something ask
before doing it. We are always here to help.

[TFMike]

Yeah Eagle, I may have messed something up, I'm gonna need to set up a call with John or Gene or you or somebody in the near future :/

[Eaglezsoar]

Yeah Eagle, I may have messed something up, I'm gonna need to set up a call with John or Gene or you or somebody in the near future :/

Let us know what you think you messed up, someone will help you out.

[brbubba]

*DELETE*

Started my own thread on the topic.