Makerfarm Calibration Thread of Grand Proportions

[jtice]

I am having an issue when trying to do the EEPROM setting in Ardriuno.
It only lists COM3, and when I try it I get an error saying it cant communicate with device.
Also, in device manager, its listed as RUMBA ATmega 2560 co
But is also has an explanation point next to it.
Is there some place I can download the drivers for it? I assume thats the problem?

EDIT
Nevermind, found the driver here, installed it and it now shows correctly in device manager.
After restarting Ardruino a couple times it then saw COM4, and that worked.

[jtice]

OK,,,,, on to my next issue. haha

Trying to use Pronterface, when i tell it to connect it says....
Connecting...
ánP<n³VBa8&HjF±JOn6«ˆ3ˆHˆHq5ˆj%O~|Y.~D1ˆx)€áF ~«ˆˆHÈxñJsCð^èk6ó-³7—è%)| kmJo·æ
gZƒfÃø

I need to play around more before posting lol
It was baud rate, I had to use 250000

Hope my dumbness helps others at least.

[gmay3]

Haha no problem, glad you got everything working! I'm sure it will help others, it's very helpful to have a log of steps when things go wrong!

[Zulfe]

XCopter, I think the first step to bridging would be setting up a print cooling fan. Clough42 has done a 200mm bridging in one of his YouTube videos, which included a print cooling fan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X20j_wKg6A). In my own experiences printing this fan mount, I recommend lowering the z-height on the mounting portion if you have a J-Head hot end. This way, the mouth on the funnel-like part that the fan mounts to is actually blowing on the plastic. I also recommend getting a high CFM, high quality fan, like a Noctua one (even though I think the color of plastic it's made of is absolutely ugly) (http://www.amazon.com/40x10mm-A-Seri...words=40mm+fan). If you're having really bad issues with the print not cooling, you'd probably want to find a way to mount multiple fans to cool your print. I'm by no means an 3D printing engineer, this is just information based on what I've analyzed.

[AbuMaia]

Any advice for getting the belts to the "correct" tension? I've been struggling with it lately, and circular objects I've printed are coming out not-so-circular. I keep hearing how belts shouldn't be "too loose" or "too tight", but I have never found any more detailed description. Do I just pull on the motors until I get the belts as tight as I can get them, or what?

[old man emu]

Any advice for getting the belts to the "correct" tension? I've been struggling with it lately, and circular objects I've printed are coming out not-so-circular. I keep hearing how belts shouldn't be "too loose" or "too tight", but I have never found any more detailed description. Do I just pull on the motors until I get the belts as tight as I can get them, or what?

I'm in the same boat! I'm about to pull my i3 down for a major service which will include belt tensioning. I have noticed that when I assembled my printer, I ended up with the X-axis motor screws at the distant left hand end of the adjustment slots in the holder. This means I can't adjust tension by moving the motor more to the left.

I saw some designs for belt tensioners on Thingiverse but it think this is the best first step, since we are having problems printing nicely because he belt tension is wrong. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:298142

I'm going to grab a couple of them from the from the wife's laundry-peg bag.

Old Man Emu

[AbuMaia]

Don't. I got a couple of these http://e3d-online.com/Mechanical/GT2...sioning-Spring, and as far as I could tell, they didn't improve prints. Rather, they, being springs and bouncy, ended up leaving bad X and Y bounce ripples on my parts wherever the nozzle changed direction.

[gmay3]

Any advice for getting the belts to the "correct" tension? I've been struggling with it lately, and circular objects I've printed are coming out not-so-circular. I keep hearing how belts shouldn't be "too loose" or "too tight", but I have never found any more detailed description. Do I just pull on the motors until I get the belts as tight as I can get them, or what?

Yeah I can understand the frustration, there isn't a good way I know of to numerically communicate how tight the belts should be.

This probably will sound as dumb as any other description but I hope it communicates the tension a little bit better. Use the maximum strength of one hand to pull the motor to tension the belt and the other hand to tighten the screws down. Don't use two hands to tighten it or any tools to get the belt tight. I don't think you need to worry about breaking the belt by just using one hand.

As long as you aren't one of these guys you should be fine.
MV5BMTI3MDc4NzUyMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTQyMTc5MQ@@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg11170764_800.jpg

[AbuMaia]

I used a spring clamp like this

clamp.jpg to pull the Y motor back to tighten the Y belt, but I can't do the same for the X motor.

I jokingly thought up a way to communicate exactly how tight the belts should be. But it requires the use of a guitar tuner or something similar. Just pluck the belt and find out what note it plays.

[gmay3]

I jokingly thought up a way to communicate exactly how tight the belts should be. But it requires the use of a guitar tuner or something similar. Just pluck the belt and find out what note it plays.

Haha that's a good idea. If you can play any note on your belts, they are probably tight enough.