I have recently rebuilt my printer and at the moment it feels like the worse thing ever todo. I printer a few items in PLA to make sure everything was working ok and then I switched over to PETG and start calibrating etc. Got a few things printing and was happy with my cura settings. Yesterday I noticed that the lines on each layer started showing gaps. I added something like .2 mm to the Z offset and stll no joy. I put a spirit level on the X axis and noticed it was not level, so I adjusted one of the Z-axis motors and turned it until it was level. Back to printing and now the PETG was squishing so I dialed the zaxis offset back to where it was. Started a print off and the first 3/4 lines of the brim was looking perfect. I went away for about 40 mins and came back to this (minus the print as I removed it). How can this happen? Haven't changed any settings in my printing. Firmware is Marlin and I print with Octopi. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830382#msg-830382 Tue, 15 Sep 2026 23:34:02 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830450#msg-830450 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830450#msg-830450 o_lampe Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 15:40:33 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830434#msg-830434 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830434#msg-830434 Gaz83 Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:54:09 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830433#msg-830433 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830433#msg-830433 DaGameFace Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:48:34 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830431#msg-830431 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830431#msg-830431 Gaz83 Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:23:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830428#msg-830428 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830428#msg-830428 the_digital_dentist Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 10:55:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830424#msg-830424 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830424#msg-830424
In regards to the nozzle, I can only assume it wasn't. 1) because I had printed about 10 prints over a few days before and it had a nice first layer on all. 2) When I left it, it was printing the brim nicely, as I mentioned. If this was scraping I would have imagined I would have seen a squished lines or even no lines at all.]]> Gaz83 Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 10:45:58 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830411#msg-830411 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830411#msg-830411
The kapton tape sold for 3D printing is too thin (usually 0.001") and fragile. I used to use 5 mil thick tape and one application would last for 6 months of daily printing. I switched to PEI a few years ago and would never go back to putting tape on a bed. On a printer at the makerspace, we have a 0.06" (about 0.7mm) thick piece of PEI and it has been on the machine and working fine for about 3 years of daily abuse by rank amateur printers.

Dual motors in the Z axis will get out of sync which tilts the X axis. Prusa machines solve the problem by running the X axis up to the top of the Z axis and beyond, which forces the X axis to be perpendicular to Z, the motors stall, and when you lower the X axis again, it comes down level with the motors in sync. It's a pretty simple piece of gcode (G1 Zxxx F600 where xxx is the machines Z axis length t+ about 5 mm) you can use to drive the Z axis beyond the maximum and then just use the homing operation to bring it back down.]]> the_digital_dentist Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 07:54:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830382#msg-830382 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,830382,830382#msg-830382
I printer a few items in PLA to make sure everything was working ok and then I switched over to PETG and start calibrating etc.

Got a few things printing and was happy with my cura settings. Yesterday I noticed that the lines on each layer started showing gaps. I added something like .2 mm to the Z offset and stll no joy.
I put a spirit level on the X axis and noticed it was not level, so I adjusted one of the Z-axis motors and turned it until it was level.

Back to printing and now the PETG was squishing so I dialed the zaxis offset back to where it was. Started a print off and the first 3/4 lines of the brim was looking perfect.

I went away for about 40 mins and came back to this (minus the print as I removed it).



How can this happen? Haven't changed any settings in my printing.
Firmware is Marlin and I print with Octopi.]]> Gaz83 Printing Mon, 06 Aug 2018 03:33:53 -0400