KAS,
Everything fails. I cannot get anything to consistently repeat or work at all. I am really tempted to sledgehammer this entire thing. At this point, it has been the worst investment I have ever made. I have had this thing for ~38 days now, in which I have spent about 20 days of actively working on it.
Initially, I had all kinds of issues with the bowden tube and failed prints, due to the fact that the tube continued to come out of the hot-end. It would occur at random times and destroy a print without warning. After multiple discussions with various people, I spent another $80 with Eric @ DTA and he sent me a new collet that holds the bowden tube in place. Come to find out, I had a faulty part out of the box.
After replacing that part, I felt like I was back at ground zero. Yet, deja vu is kicking in again. I am having complete random failures. This time though, I don't have an obvious fault (like a tube popping out) to point the problem at. Lets see if this summarizes it:
- I can print a cube perfectly.
- I cannot print a cube at all, as the base layer won't stick.
- I can print a cube, and it has warped corners on the rear (Z axis).
- I can print a cube, and it has no warped Z corner, but a warped X corner.
- I can print a cube, have it fail 1/2 way through and throw spaghetti everywhere (imagine the nozzle not touching anything, just spewing out filament).
- I can print a cube, in the middle of the print, the cube pops off MID-LAYER.
- I can print a cube, in the middle of the print, the cube pops off at the bed adhesion.
- I can print a cube, after the print, I cannot remove the part unless I put the glass in the freezer
Each of these things above can occur if I were to attempt to print 10 times, without changing a single setting in Matter Control. No exaggeration.
On a personal note, I am getting emotionally vested here. I am ill. Very ill (terminal). I take a lot of meds and I am losing the ability to have patience here. I have a lot of money invested in this (not just the 3D printer, but a lot of things after this as well that I have wanted to do from a bucket list perspective; I wanted to do some lost-pla casting and metal pouring.); I have purchased a kiln, vacuum pump and equipment, home foundry, etc. etc. etc. I am just at the point of being ready to give up, which is the worst thing I can possibly do.
I am just at a complete loss.
Hell.. I just tried to print another cube, and it failed out of the gate this time:
[img]
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5777/217 ... a30c_b.jpg[/img]
I have never seen it do that. I did make two changes though: lowered the bed temperature (to 62c), and lowered the nozzle temperature (to 190c). I did this because I was so far outside of the boundaries in the previous settings, causing other issues (previously I have had the bed temp at 73c, and 210c nozzle). The issues I had there were cobwebs like none other (stringing),
ruining a part that FINALLY printed (lower jaw of the TREX - got to the teeth and with all of the cobwebs, it basically became a solid between all of the teeth and inbetween the left/right of the jaw!).
When I look at the last failed attempt (picture above), here is what I notice:
1) Poor adhesion to the bed.
-- Looks like I should increase temp from 62c
2) Large gap in filament between left/right swipes.
-- ???
In regards to pictures of the hot-end:
[img]
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/619/2195 ... 425e_b.jpg[/img]
[img]
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/726/2196 ... b066_b.jpg[/img]
[img]
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5817/211 ... 689b_b.jpg[/img]
...
I have also sent out emails to the local 3D printer groups and such, without response. I was hoping I could get a reliable set of parameters from someone here, that has had 100% success with them. I know there could be some mechanical issues, but the simple g-code calibration setup seems to be spot on. I don't understand how to use the Delta Automatic Calibration tool - so that is a NOGO unless someone can walk me step by step through it. I DID read the thread, but I cannot get my brain to understand. Frustration is getting in the way.
If the settings from a few people do not work, I guess my next step would be to buy a plane ticket and put someone up for a day or two that could work on this thing?
Thanks,
Mike
