First Print, what can I improve?

I have finally been able to make my first print on my recently assembled Prusa Mendel. It was supposed to be a cube. It was a good start, I guess, since I have seen worse. Maybe it need calibration. My heatbed is at 35c, and it can't go higher (i don't know why).

I have done no calibration at all, ais there a way to calibrate for this to improve?(bed and endstops are "calibrated")
Thanks,
TN

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2013 12:56AM by tuficneme.

hi,
where O where,, the heat bed a major concern you got the correct settings in firmware??
tighten the grub screws on the pulleys seems reasonable, then check the current on the stepper drivers.

You are losing steps along one of the axes. Could be a number of things. Just a few that I can think of off the top of my head:
-Insufficient current to the stepper motor (increase current slightly)
-Too much current to the stepper motor causing the drivers to overheat and cut out (motor will be hot, decrease current)
-Pulley slipping on the shaft (tighten the set screws)
-Belt slipping on the pulley (tighten the belt)

As for the bed, make sure your power supply can put out the necessary amps and make sure you have the correct thermistor selected in your firmware. That temp is far too low.

Thanks aloot!
I fixed a belt that was kind of loose, now it printed of better. Any other tips to improve this?

My heatbed went up to 40c, but it took 30 minutes to get their. What could be wrong?

tuficneme Wrote:
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>
> My heatbed went up to 40c, but it took 30 minutes
> to get their. What could be wrong?

I had the same problem with my Durbie Prusa. The resistance of the heated bed I received is about 6 ohms, which means that with a 12V supply, it's only being heated with 24W. I'm now using a separate 24V transformer to power the heated bed, using a solid state relay to have the board control it, and it heats up in good time, about 10 - 15 minutes to reach 100C.

Regards;
Rick

really? My HB also measures around 6Ω, I'm using RAMPS 1.4 with the recommended Mosfet and an ATX PSU providing 12V. My heatbed reaches 105C in about 2-3 minutes, 10 mins is a ridiculously long time to wait in my opinion

isonoob Wrote:
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> really? My HB also measures around 6Ω, I'm using
> RAMPS 1.4 with the recommended Mosfet and an ATX
> PSU providing 12V. My heatbed reaches 105C in
> about 2-3 minutes, 10 mins is a ridiculously long
> time to wait in my opinion

Interesting... Do you have insulation under the bed? I put a piece of cardboard on top while it's heating, but I don't have anything underneath. I'm planning to put some insulation underneath now, because I just had to take the bed off to replace the tape.

rick55 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> isonoob Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > really? My HB also measures around 6Ω, I'm
> using
> > RAMPS 1.4 with the recommended Mosfet and an
> ATX
> > PSU providing 12V. My heatbed reaches 105C in
> > about 2-3 minutes, 10 mins is a ridiculously
> long
> > time to wait in my opinion
>
> Interesting... Do you have insulation under the
> bed? I put a piece of cardboard on top while it's
> heating, but I don't have anything underneath.
> I'm planning to put some insulation underneath
> now, because I just had to take the bed off to
> replace the tape.


No I don't have any insulation, I have an aluminum build platform with a silicon heat bed that is kind of like a giant sticker, I just stick it to the underside of the build platform. So aluminum bed with a heat bed sticker (kind of looks like the one's on trinity labs' website) and nothing under the "sticker"

isonoob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> > > really? My HB also measures around 6Ω, I'm
> > using
> > > RAMPS 1.4 with the recommended Mosfet and an
> > ATX
> > > PSU providing 12V. My heatbed reaches 105C in
> > > about 2-3 minutes, 10 mins is a ridiculously
> > long
> > > time to wait in my opinion
> > ....
> [ snip ]
>
>
> No I don't have any insulation, I have an aluminum
> build platform with a silicon heat bed that is
> kind of like a giant sticker, I just stick it to
> the underside of the build platform. So aluminum
> bed with a heat bed sticker (kind of looks like
> the one's on trinity labs' website) and nothing
> under the "sticker"

Wow - that's obviously more efficient that PCB, if it heats in a couple of minutes on 24W. I'll have to look at it.