Reprap i3 a602 kit z axis not lifting during print?

The title says it all I can provide settings of whatever, but my z axis does move manually it does not seem to move up when the print is happening it just over runs the base layer. Using splic3r btw. Any help would be appreciated.

After watching the printer the Z moves in repetier it starts at about .35mm and then it wont move past that until at least 7.8mm I'm at a total loss.

Thank you

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 08:58PM by julslol.

Could you provide your setting? The "steps per mm" part

Also could you specify the size of your threaded rod?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 10:10PM by sarf2k4.

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {100,100,405.4591,95} // default steps per unit for Ultimaker
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {500, 500, 5, 25} // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {500,500,20,5000} // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for Skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.

#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 500 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 500 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for retracts


Is this what you mean?

Quote
julslol
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {100,100,405.4591,95} // default steps per unit for Ultimaker
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {500, 500, 5, 25} // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {500,500,20,5000} // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for Skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.

#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 500 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 500 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for retracts


Is this what you mean?

As expected, I had same problem as well, your problem is in the default axis steps per unit, mine is x y = 80, z = 2560 and e = around 103 (calibrated for mk8 extruder)

Yours might be different setups especially your threaded rod diameter, belt pitch and pulley teeth, use this [prusaprinters.org] to calculate the steps then change according to the results. as for the extruded, you need to do it manually and I recommend using pronterface

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 11:18PM by sarf2k4.

I'm just a little confused on how to get those values I can't find any documentation on what my threaded rod diameter, belt pitch and pulley teeth are. The company I bought it from is pretty useless in terms of understanding what I need to find out.

As an example, my MakerFarm I3V uses M5*0.8 threaded rods for the z-axis movement. An M5 rod is 0.5 millimeters in width and the 0.8 means that the movement/pitch is 0.8 millimeters / turn.

A 200 step/rev encoder at 1/16 stepping does 3200 steps per rev. Now take 3200 steps per rev and divide by .8 mm / rev. 3200 / .8 = 4000 steps / millimeter. Depending on the steps/rev and pitch of the z-axis, YMMV.

Just use a normal ruler to measure rough estimation of your threaded rod from above and your belt pitch referenced here [solsylva.com]

As for pulley teeth, use some kind of whiteboard marker or put some mark and start count all of the teeth till you reach the mark again.

Alternatively you can go for the hard way like calibrating the extruder in getting the steps/mm but this is not a very good practice and not recommended at all

So I calibrated the DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT, but it still doesn't seem to lift at all during the print.

Quote
julslol
So I calibrated the DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT, but it still doesn't seem to lift at all during the print.

Could you give us your calibration procedure? Whenever you used the eeprom command you need to save it before turning it off with m500 because the changes are only for temporary, followed by m501 to confirm the setting again

edit:
Connect using pronterface and send m501 to see the parameters, if the eeprom is enabled and has a set value there, the one from uploaded firmware won't be used.

To me, I always match firmware config.h with the eeprom setting so that when I'm switching electronics later on I still have the same config, only that the thing not stored is the home offset in the config.h (correct me this one).

From your last reply, you changed the config.h but still the same. I suspect the eeprom value are still the same, change the eeprom later too =)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2015 10:58PM by sarf2k4.