Need a little help with a few issues on an Ao-100

Hello all,
I have a Lulzbot AO-100 that needs a little help to get print quality where it should be. I'll try to give all the information necessary here for you to tell me what needs to be done.

I have several issues
1. bumpy prints (oozing, but also just wiggly)
2. Fillament stops feeding with smaller nozzles
3. print shifts off to one side randomly
4. vertical axis doesn't always go perfectly vertical... seems like things get wider on one axis.

My AO-100 is basically stock I believe. I tried replacing the z-axis motor connectors with tubing at some point but went back to the brackets. I honestly don't remember why.
(printer picture coming soon)

1. Bumpy prints.
I tried printing with smaller nozzles to get a little more detail, but as you can see, my print is very bumpy. There is obvious ooze (I have it set to do a 1.6 retraction), but also just general bumpiness evident in picture number 2 below.
bumpy ooze pic
general bumpy pic

2. fillament stops feeding.
When printing with anything smaller than .50 nozzle the fillament stripped and it stopped feeding. I had this happen twice and went back to the bigger nozzle because I really needed to finish the print. It may have just been a stroke of bad luck, I'll need to test and see if it keeps happening.

3. Random sideways shift.
this is just weird. Everythign shifted over to one side, then kept going vertically without issue.
Vertical shift image
I mentioned this to Prusa a couple times and he though it could possibly be a software issue? (slic3r and pronterface)

4. vertical axis gets "wider"
see how the top is wider than the bottom on the 100 mm cross?

There is a new carriage uploaded to the lulzbot forum that makes some parts print cleaner. You have some things there that I have never seen before though. Looks like way too much material or something.

For #4, are you using hairspray, perchance? It can shrink the lower layers.

Thanks Jebba! I actually just printed and installed the new carriage yesterday and it did help a bit. Now I'm just trying to figure out some of these last annoyances. I posted here in the reprap forums since I didn't think this was an issue with the Ao-100 so much as a general settings issue most likely.

I have pointed a fan at the printer and that has made a huge difference. I haven't tested the print that shifted sideways again, but Prusa says it is likely slic3r's fault.

calebkraft Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Bumpy prints.
> I tried printing with smaller nozzles to get a
> little more detail, but as you can see, my print
> is very bumpy. There is obvious ooze (I have it
> set to do a 1.6 retraction), but also just general
> bumpiness evident in picture number 2 below.
> bu
> mpy ooze pic
> ge
> neral bumpy pic

Would you mind posting the Slic3r profile you are using and/or the resulting g-code file?

> 2. fillament stops feeding.
> When printing with anything smaller than .50
> nozzle the fillament stripped and it stopped
> feeding. I had this happen twice and went back to
> the bigger nozzle because I really needed to
> finish the print. It may have just been a stroke
> of bad luck, I'll need to test and see if it keeps
> happening.

Do you remember what part of the model/printing process it started to have trouble extruding? Was it struggling during solid infills/normal infills/after retractions/etc...? How tight is the extruder gearing? Is there any play between the meshing/movement of the two extruder gears?

> 3. Random sideways shift.
> this is just weird. Everythign shifted over to one
> side, then kept going vertically without issue.
> Vertical shift
> image
> I mentioned this to Prusa a couple times and he
> though it could possibly be a software issue?
> (slic3r and pronterface)

I would suggest keeping an eye on this, if it happens again, note the direction of the shift. If it occurs again on that same axis, a stepper driver may need to be adjusted, or the speed limited on that axis, or more cooling may be needed on the RAMPS board.

> 4. vertical axis gets "wider"
> see how the top is
> wider than the bottom on the 100 mm cross?

What are you using for bed surface treatments? ABS juice or hairspray? Hairspray has been reported to cause some layer shrinkage. What temperature is the bed set to?

calebkraft,
I assume you have done an initial calibration procedure?
The stepping or skipping has many possible causes see PTPG .

calebkraft Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>I haven't tested the print
> that shifted sideways again, but Prusa says it is
> likely slic3r's fault.

Prusa blaming poor little Slic3r! It's your use of hairspray on the bed. Really. Strange as it sounds. (For #4 above).

-Jeff

every 3D printer purchased, kit or from scratch printer requires calibration by somwone before use. see reprap links to calibration procedures.

Hello,

I had the same exact problem of bottom layers being shorter that the upper layers, and yes the hairspray was the problem. As soon as I ditched it prints turned fine, I'm using Lulzjuice now (ABS+acetone slurry) and it works great.

Caleb, why don't you join the Lulzbot forum, and have a look at the Development/Hardware forum, there are quite a few posts about AO-100 upgrades. One of them being a Z increase to 160mm from 100mm, with only new printed parts required.