MakerFarm Prusa i3v 10" - And So It Begins!

[tfast500]

After a a quick scare thinking my rumba board was shot. For whatever reason after first power on 10 seconds in, my whole board and display turned off. Checked everything with multimeter and everything looked fine. So after freaking out I decided to see what happens after completly unplugging everything. Thankfully this did the trick and the board powered up again... Something must have shorted it or plugged in incorrectly? Maybe just a fluke I am not sure but luckily everything is working now. My next issue was the hot end was reading 739 degrees... I took off hot end and moved the thermo wires and I gotto read properly at 24degrees. It must have been shortening out. Ran the sample gcode then printed my first knob for the display took two attempts first time the filament didn't start extracting right away so I restarted it. After the knob I made the maker robot... I have some quality issues I want to get your guys opinions on. I'll post pics tomorrow and see what you guys think.

Overall very happy with how and what it printed considering being its very first prints. It is only going to get easier and perfected from here once I get more experience.

[tfast500]

I have pictures of my first prints please let me know what you guys think. Where should I begin on tweaking things?

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My knobs to try out for the display. Overall these turned out fine.

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The base of the prints seem off. The bottom of the knobs and the feet of the robot have gaps not sure why this is or what is causing it.

Maker Robot - elbows drooping and feet bottoms are not good

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Have you guys experienced these issues? I assume some supports under the elbows will fix the drooping, but let me know if you think it could be a temperature or speed or any other issue as I do not know what things can help at this point.

Currently its printing a vase and I see alot of spud on the edges any ideas on this?

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Yes I know I am currently print happy right now! Lol I just cant stop printing stuff this is too cool!

[printbus]

Not bad for first prints. Are these with Simplify3D or some other slicer? What are you using for the source of your settings?

First, I assume you're printing with a skirt. Does the skirt always have the zig zag shown in the vase picture? If so, that's a problem. One similar case was due to the x-carriage wheel mounting bolts rubbing on the large gear. The last picture in this post of my build thread highlights what to look for. If the zig zag is unique to the vase, it's just a replication of the bottom layer outer edge of the vase.

After that, I'd suggest posting a picture of how your first layer looks before paying much attention to the rest of the prints. Without seeing the bottom of a print, it looks like there are issues to work through regarding either the amount of nozzle-to-bed clearance or nozzle temperature.

Have you calibrated your extruder? That's just another thing you want to do before spending much time scrutinizing print results.

The rough sides on the vase could be any combination of slightly high on extrusion, not enough retraction, or too high of a hot end temperature.

The small robot can be tough as an initial print. The "underarms" are especially tough since the design leaves them supported. At some point you can add a print cooling system that'll help, but expecting unsupported loops like that to remain perpendicular is always going to be tough without adding support. I personally don't like trying to add support under the arms since it will have to rest on the feet in order to be where the support needs to be. When I'm printing the robot as a test or as a giveaway, I try to be nearby when the underarm starts to print, and slip a putty knife under loose strands to simultaneously prop them up and harden the soft filament.

[tfast500]

Not bad for first prints. Are these with Simplify3D or some other slicer? What are you using for the source of your settings?

I used simplify3d and as for the settings go I left everything default except the build area.

First, I assume you're printing with a skirt. Does the skirt always have the zig zag shown in the vase picture? If so, that's a problem. One similar case was due to the x-carriage wheel mounting bolts rubbing on the large gear. The last picture in this post of my build thread highlights what to look for. If the zig zag is unique to the vase, it's just a replication of the bottom layer outer edge of the vase.

I will check this maybe that's what is going on. Ill report back

Edit: checked my bolts face the opposite direction they are clear.

After that, I'd suggest posting a picture of how your first layer looks before paying much attention to the rest of the prints. Without seeing the bottom of a print, it looks like there are issues to work through regarding either the amount of nozzle-to-bed clearance or nozzle temperature.

I will post a picture during my next print for the first layers. I also need to find out what the proper distance is. I am using the default temperatures so this may very well need to be adjusted.

Have you calibrated your extruder? That's just another thing you want to do before spending much time scrutinizing print results.

No I have not is there a good guide to this somewhere?

Thanks for the feedback Ill look into these!

[printbus]

I used simplify3d and as for the settings go I left everything default except the build area.

That's pretty gutsy. You probably have a variation of version 3. I'm still on version 2 for lack of time and motivation to get around to the upgrade. I seem to remember that the default settings on my install were really high on retraction speed. MakerFarm gurus have generally recommended limiting that to 10mm/sec or 15mm/sec. Any higher and the extruder motor skips during retractions.

I will post a picture during my next print for the first layers. I also need to find out what the proper distance is. I am using the default temperatures so this may very well need to be adjusted.

To clarify, what I meant by showing the first layer is to photograph the bottom of the print after it is completed and removed from the print bed. That will show how much the first layer is being "squished", which in turn suggests whether the nozzle to bed spacing is right. With hot end and bed at printing temperature, I adjust the gap to the thickness of an adhesive label/sticker that measures 0.20mm thick.

No I have not is there a good guide to this somewhere?

Check for the calibration thread in the MakerFarm stickies.[/QUOTE]

[tfast500]

Currently I am jammed up I cant get any filament to come out of the hot end and even if I push it by hand nothing budges. I have the hot end turned to 230 to get it to melt but nothing :/

[Chadd]

Currently I am jammed up I cant get any filament to come out of the hot end and even if I push it by hand nothing budges. I have the hot end turned to 230 to get it to melt but nothing :/

Can you pull the filament out by hand when you have it heated up? One thing you need to make sure of is that your hotend cooling fan is running all the time when the hotend is up to temp. Otherwise you will melt your extruder base and your hotend will become plugged up because the filament melts way to far up in the heat break area.

[tfast500]

This was exactly my issue between not powering down properly and not running the cooling fan constantly. I ended up wiring the fan directly to the 12v coming straight from the power supply instead of my Rumba board. I had to disassemble the whole hot end to unclog it and drilled it out of the heat break to free it all out. :/ pain in the arse

Also I am having issues with my prints now that I "actually" am running directly off simplify 3d.

I misinformed you, printbus. I was using the gcode from slic3r that I created awhile back not the gcode from simplify3d like I had said.
I am not sure why but It was using high temps of 230 / 70 and working alot better then what its set now to by default for the pla when printing from simplify3d
Now that I am actually using simplify3d my prints wont even stick to the board its acting weird and cloging... also its set by default to 190 / 60 which sounds correct for pla, but like i said not working at all for my prints

[Chadd]

I run PLA at 225° nozzle and 70° bed temps and I use purple glue sick on the glass. I have a Hexagon hotend but I am sure the temps would be similar.

One of the biggest battles I fought early on with my 12" printer was inconsistent Z axis homing, I would have to mess with it sometimes 4 or 5 times before I could get a good first layer on a print. Looking back on it now the Z homing issues I experienced were due to the print bed physically moving during the heat cycle. This was caused by the wooden Y bed itself warping and by the heat bed surface warping up and down as the heat relay turned on and off.

As has been mentioned your first layer needs to be flat and stuck down well, without that good first layer the rest of your print will suffer.

[tfast500]

I run PLA at 225° nozzle and 70° bed temps and I use purple glue sick on the glass. I have a Hexagon hotend but I am sure the temps would be similar.

One of the biggest battles I fought early on with my 12" printer was inconsistent Z axis homing, I would have to mess with it sometimes 4 or 5 times before I could get a good first layer on a print. Looking back on it now the Z homing issues I experienced were due to the print bed physically moving during the heat cycle. This was caused by the wooden Y bed itself warping and by the heat bed surface warping up and down as the heat relay turned on and off.

As has been mentioned your first layer needs to be flat and stuck down well, without that good first layer the rest of your print will suffer.

Been awhile since I posted. I have printed so many cool things. I love this thing, however I am fighting a few issues but the main one is the z axis homing as mentioned above. It's driving me nuts every time I go to print its at a different hight. I would like to upgrade to an automatic leveling or figure a way to fix. I am pretty sure its a number of things. The end stop probably the main issue being it has some play in it. I need to put a new zip tie or redesign it altogether.