Refund time I think....

I've had enough, when I bought this from RS it was not made clear that I would essentially be a beta tester. In fact it was sold as a 3d printer.

I have been doing my damndest to get this thing working and frankly I've been more than patient.

I've now discovered that for some reason that I can not fathom the hot end assembly is at one angle when at X180 then changes to another angle when at X20 or so .... The result is that every time I make a print either the vent pipes are lifting the print at around X20 or the Sensor drags on the bed at X180.

I have tried to adjust the hot end tip only to find that you can't really extend it, I thought of filing down the sensor but that will only do so much....

I've had enough now, I have done everything I can possibly think of but between the bed design and the hot end the axis never stays in the right place ... the design is flawed and should never have been released at this stage.

If someone has a solution that does not quite literally have me pulling my hair out and on the verge of being thrown out by my wife (now I'm not kidding) I'd love to hear it.

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gregstah
I've now discovered that for some reason that I can not fathom the hot end assembly is at one angle when at X180 then changes to another angle when at X20 or so .... The result is that every time I make a print either the vent pipes are lifting the print at around X20 or the Sensor drags on the bed at X180.

I found a similar problem with mine, and found the x axis arm was twisted along it's length. I just slackened off the end bar support and twisted it clockwise as you look at it end on, then retightened everything up when it looked more straight.

Hope this helps.

Hi gregstah

The main reason that the X axis can twist along it's length is if the screws through the x-motor-mount (check all 8) and the x-idler-end are loose. There will be always a chance this can twist, as while the parts are a close fit, the plastic is trying to hold a round rod; however, tightening the bolts will considerably tighten the rotation. The load on the x axis shouldn't cause it to twist in normal printing. I've just tried it on mine, found that the screws were a bit loose (at least a whole turn), and it's tightened it up considerably.

Another possible cause is if the x-rib and x-axis-plate did not mesh together well - they should slot easily together. Usually, if this was the case, customers have broken x-rib or x-axis-plate (which we are happy to replace under warranty), but it's possible to put them together bowed, which may also cause a twist that can't be straightened.

I'll reply to your bed problems in that thread.

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

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reprappro
...There will be always a chance this can twist, as while the parts are a close fit, the plastic is trying to hold a round rod; however, tightening the bolts will considerably tighten the rotation...
Ian
RepRapPro tech support

It is of cause important to line those parts up, assenbly documentation do not make that quite clear

from x-axis assembly: " Ensure you have the parts lined up before applying too much pressure"
maybe should ad : " Ensure you have the parts lined up and not twisted before applying too much pressure

.and btw, the Laser cut acryl parts I received was a very very close fit, it litually gave of a small scream whilst sliding together
Erik

Quote
gregstah
I've had enough, when I bought this from RS it was not made clear that I would essentially be a beta tester. In fact it was sold as a 3d printer.

I have been doing my damndest to get this thing working and frankly I've been more than patient.

.

I agree with you i'm not a beta tester
I've bought this printer thinking it was a professionnal released product because it is sold by RS

I've discovered so many bugs and design error that I'm wondering how people can launch such a bad product
The low price can't explain everything


I'm a professional mechanical design engineer and I need a 3D printer for my job and the time I spent to try to debug I'm not working for my clients and I loose money

I've spent a lot a time on my holiday to try to make it work correctly but now I'm fed up
tomorrow, I send it back to RS France

The Ormerod just seems to me to be a bit of a delicate instrument, and I guess if you want a plug and play 3d printer for work its not the right choice , but then I dont want it for work, but for fun and to experiment with..

Just did my first print on mine .. I love it

regards
Andy

---

Ormerod #318
www.zoomworks.org - Free and Open Source Stuff

While still waiting for mine to arrive, I look at those problems in this forums for the past 2 weeks and I wonder if I can make it print successfully. Now I started to lost interest in Ormerod already........

Hi All,
I have RS#343 Ormerod.
I think the big problem is RS sales!
Their blurb implies that just a few solder connections are needed and 'bingo' away you go.
THIS IS NOT SO - as we all have found out
The reprap site says a record time to assemble is 17 hours, I have taken far more, but less than the year maximum they have got.
They are not trying to delude you - but RS are.

Had I known at the time of purchase then my professional attitude would have been different - I would not have purchased it.
That said, if it was advertised as a 750 piece technical puzzele for technophiles then I would have spent the money with eyes wide open.

RepRap are trying their best to support this project, and we certainly are a beta test crew. That is reality.
In terms of cost then scale this with the cost of filling a family car with fuel, I would not run on such thin profit margins (what is your hourly rate??).
So far I have been solving hardware problems and have not printed a thing.
Like you I am pissed - but only with RS.

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DennisCowdery
Hi All,
They are not trying to delude you - but RS are...RepRap are trying their best to support this project, and we certainly are a beta test crew. That is reality...Like you I am pissed - but only with RS.

Could not agree more, when I received the marketing email from RS I did not know anything about RepRap or had any knowledge about 3D printing whatsoever, yes they wrote it was a kit, a limited edition, but I did not expect a beta version, and I sure did not expect to receive something I could better mecanically

..and yes I see the RepRap crew are doing all they can to make the best of it, and a big thank you for that

Erik

I quite agree that the Ormerod was sold as a fully functional 3D printer kit rather than a "work in progress" that purchasers were expected to fault-find and make design changes in order to get working. As a development engineer, I purchased it for my company as a tool to make prototypes and "proof of concept" parts. RS should really make it clear that this is essentially an experimental hobbyist device.

Having said that however, I have had an enormous amount of fun getting it running, and will probably have even more fun making a few design changes to it. Fortunately the company purchased it just before the Christmas close, and so I took it home over the holiday period to play with. I have spent far more time on it than I could have justified spending at work, but have finally got it running well enough to do the jobs the company bought it to do.

Had it not been something that was of personal interest and enjoyable for me to get running, it would however have been returned for a refund PDQ. I would not spend 30 minutes trying to get a brand new drill-press working, for example.

I suspect that the RepRap support team have had quite a few abusive calls about this product from people who were similarly misled!

One man's frustrating problem is another man's interesting challenge.

Tricky one. I agree we are beta testers, the product is basically complete (there will always be a few mods/improvements in this type of kit), but the software/firmware is still 'work in progress', but this should be something that steadily improves. I have absolutely no regrets regarding this purchase and have learnt a lot about 3D printing design and assembly techniques which I would have missed if I had bought an off the shelf finished device.

I bought #007 so dived in very early and when I placed my order with RS Components I was well aware it was a kit and would have many parts. I was misled by how long it would take to assemble, but having watched a video by Arian at RepRapPro, I think the time was based on his experienced 'team' building one, not an individual new to the product. That said for me the issue was mainly due to the (lack of) instructions at release. The instructions now are very good and this is down to us early adopters raising the questions and making the suggestions, but primarily due to the exceptional support by Ian at RepRapPro who must have been working a 20hour day!

The software has been my sticking point with the network interface not functional (but it took me a while to realise it wasn't essential) and I could use PronterFace for everything.
Pronterface was good but I had an early version not configured for the Ormerod which confused me.
The firmware had a few revisions, some quite critical, but there was no fanfare to announce this!

For a company purchase I think it is wrong for a company to purchase unproven items. Never purchase the first release/issue of anything, whether software (be one revision behind) or hardware wait for the bugs to be ironed out unless your product base is reliant upon it.

There were some unfortunate manufacturing errors on the electronic related to the power supply (Easy work around use USB power), some soldering issues, the SD card problem (mine worked, but I replaced it anyway!) , but these were addressed by RepRapPro very promptly.
I did not have any issues with any of parts supplied. The 3D parts worked, the laser cut parts also were good, bearings were good and I got everything aligned quite easily. There will be room for improvements, but that's what this low cost open source market is all about. It develops, improves, evolves.....

We are currently at the stage where everyone who purchases now will have a kit that they can assemble, probably over a day (or two, depending on experience) with good instructions and software which will function (and will improve). There purchase through RS Components (global base) or RepRapPro will be professionally supported.

At the end of the day you will have a good compact instrument to explore the world of 3D printing with (which is another learning curve).