Will pay for help to fix our botmill axis!

Hi,

We're trying to start a small company and we need to spend our time on cad and not on trying to fix our print issues. We were able to print a sample stl file converted to gcode and printed with repsnapper, but although it printed the perimeter of the part, the infill layers were very thin and the result was not a solid part. Results were even worse with Botmill's configuration for Skeinforge,with blobs and no coherent pattern extruded. We used relicatorg with similiar results. The printer has gen6 electronics and marlin firmware.

We have a good video setup that can remotely pan and zoom to our workspace and we can pay $50/hr for 2 hours but we can't pay unless the problems are fixed within that time. so if you have built and printed with an axis printer and are interested to remote in and help us fix the problems please let me know.

-Thank you

It may well take a lot longer than 2 hours of remote help to get it working well. Either take it along to a hacker group / Reprap group meeting or start reading some of the extensive blogs and print guides on this forum and out on the net.

More than just getting it working ok, you need to know what changes to settings and speeds / materials / etc. will do to your prints to be able to print things reliably time after time, so it's worth learning yourself.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

I bought a used Botmill ?Glider?, that had a wades extruder added to it. I rebuilt the mechanicals from nearly the ground up (make sure everything moves freely, but snuggly against the rods). Before you go paying someone to fix yours, maybe these settings files will get you going. Here are my marlin configuration.h file (I don't use configuration.adv.h file) and my slic3r config file. I just got the machine working satisfactorily last night with to wonderful help from this forum.

Just to be sure the machines are the same, my machine ;
BotMill with;
Gen6 electronics (1/8 steppers),
opto endstops,
T5 belts, 8 tooth gears on X,Y,Z motors, 21 tooth gear on the Z axis rods.
Wades extruder (added by previous owner, but not from BotMill) with 39:11 gear ratio
.35 dia nozzle, that I had to add a heatsink to stop the filament melting inside the teflon insulator
My nozzle tip sits about two sheets of paper off the bed at Z0.
non-heated bed, but I use blue painter's tape, and it's been working wonderfully with the PLA.

I use Slic3r 9.1 to create the gcode. Version 9.2 seems to still have some bugs, according to the forum. I've tried Kisslicer, but haven't been able to make it work yet.
The slic3r settings, especially for temp and extrusion multiplier, are for a gold PLA. When I started with black PLA, the temps were a bit lower, and the multiplier was 1.0. The speed settings will seem slow, compared to what you often see on the forum, but because most users have 1/6th steppers, and Gen6 has 1/8 steppers, everything is half.

I use Pronterface to control the machine. I tried redsnapper, but I fell more comfortable with pronterface.

I use arduino .0022 to compile the marlin and upload. Getting arduino to upload is often painful, but I have finally figured out a routine that works reliably.

It takes time to calibrate the machine by tweeking the marlin steps. No way around that.

hope some of this helps....good luck...

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in beautiful southern, Maryland...

Just had a similar problem.

Check the gears on your extruder, make sure there is NO (as in zero) slack in between them. If there is you need to reajust it. Also check the trap door on your extruder and make sure the hinge is not damanged. Mine was, which affected the pressure being put on the filament/hobbed bolt.

Check every part of your extruder for damange/missalignedment/slack, same thing for all your axis, smooth rods, pulleys, gears, etc...

If there is ANY slack, anywhere, your printer wont be able to print reliably. Check everything and let us know what you find.

Thank you very much for the great responses!

Sorry for the slow response on my part, we've run into a couple of problems;
Had to drill out the 0.35 so that its now ..um.. 1.8 mm, and our attempt at cleaning
the extruder also broke a thermister wire. All is back together now though we may
have to use the nozzle as is for a while.

richrap- you're right its a challenge to fix the printer in 2 hours and I do know a
local techshop in town, we probably will take it to them in the end.

ToneyG, thecrazy - thanks for the files. I do notice one issue with the Z axis, It
makes a click at the base end about once every secound as its moving either
direction, and the althread wobbles just slightly.

final note: If I've missed anyone the last few days, the offer still stands.