I also have one of these and it is quite useful. I had mine for about 3 years before it finally got dropped, which has really messed up the readings. Oh well, worth it for the price just be careful about not dropping it or banging other tools into it. Precision tools cannot take much abuse, no matter how much or how little you spend on them.by germanicus - General
Thank you jcabrer, those were my thoughts almost exactly. I was just being lazy.by germanicus - General
Please lurk more.by germanicus - General
When I first put my makergear extruder together I installed the idler piece on backwards- the idler block was flush with the rest of the extruder housing and therefore the springs weren't able to apply force to the filament. It's odd that the motor is retracting if you have those settings turned off in skeinforge, can you give us some more information about your setup? I've got a makergear 1.75by germanicus - General
I would expect that the static friction of the z threaded rods against the x-carriage nuts would keep the axis exactly where it stops between moves. There is no appreciable force being exerted on it to make the z rods rotate and change the height of the print. It is my understanding that the default for RAMPS is to allow the Z motors to go idle between moves because of the way the z axis is desby germanicus - General
Is it possible that you have the potentiometer set too high on the stepper motor driver? It might be overheating if this is the case. Try turning the pot down (counterclockwise) a little bit and attempt to extrude again.by germanicus - General
MrJohn Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Been picking up and organizing a bit...Still need > the Peg board and storage cabinets. I like your kludge for mounting a filament spool! I may have to steal that idea...by germanicus - General
I had to up my esteps_per_unit to about 1400 to extrude the right amount of plastic. How much filament is pulled into the extruder when you send it a command of E10? it should pull in 10mm. If its lower, like 6mm, then you need to raise the esteps. For example, if you are pulling in 6mm with your esteps set to 750, then 6/10 = 750/x. therefore your esteps should be around x = 1250. recompile yourby germanicus - General
owism8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > awesome. > > So Im assuming that this two motor thing has a > reason to it right? I currently have 1 motor on > the huxley using the gear cog system to lift the > Z's > What led to this two motor on top deal? > > Thanks for any more input. Keep it coming. Getting everything aligned is hard enoby germanicus - General
Looks like you are going through the same growing pains most of us hit while getting our machines to print well! Getting the firmware steps per mm set correctly is the first thing you want to do. I tried tuning skeinforge first but ended up repeating most of it because I hadn't calibrated my firmware first. I would also recommend going to the latest version of skeinforge - it'll probably help yby germanicus - General
brnrd: You are absolutely right that the Repsnapper settings don't do anything when I use skeinforge to create my gcode. I slowed down my perimeter settings over operating rates to 0.5 for feed and 0.393 for flowrate. It now slows way down for nice looking perimeters with no excess plastic, and then speeds up for the infill for quick printing.by germanicus - Skeinforge
Andrew Diehl Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > nophead Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > It spaces them further apart but the volumetric > > version of SF is supposed to calculate the > correct > > volume of plastic from the height and the width > of > > the print roads, so it shouldn't affby germanicus - Skeinforge
I usually stop the print before it is finished so I can measure the filament. I'm going to try a W.O.T. test soon to see if skeinforge is adjusting the extruder output based on it or not. I have a feeling that it is not adjusting it, or maybe there is an optimal W.O.T. for my 0.35mm extruder nozzle.by germanicus - Skeinforge
After reading up on this a bit, here is my plan of action for getting the amount of plastic extruded to a good point, with skeinforge 41 and using repsnapper to run the machine: 1. Set my e_steps in firmware so 100 mm of plastic goes into the extruder when given a command of E100. Never change it again once set. 2. Set feedrate and flowrate equal in the speed tab. This way when you want to speedby germanicus - Skeinforge
Skeinforge has 2 places to change the width over layer height: in Care and in Fill. Repsnapper also has a setting for width over thickness - it is in the edit bar at the top next to File. When You click edit-printer settings there is a menu with a lot of options. The three that are affected according to Rick from makergear are extruded material width ( effective width ), extruder multiplier, andby germanicus - Skeinforge
That's what I thought too, but changing those settings in repsnapper to match skeinforge resulted in excellent prints with no other changes being madeby germanicus - Skeinforge
Are your width over thickness ratios set in repsnapper as well as skeinforge? That was my problem. Look in the edit bar - printer settings in repsnapper.by germanicus - Skeinforge
See my signature for further pictures - Everything seems copacetic now. I just had to make the repsnapper settings match what I used for skeinforge and everything started printing beautifully. Changing Skeinforge width over heaight requires also changing it in repsnapper, but by only changing those variables I was able to go from 1.3 to 1.5 W.OT. with no other changes. Feed and flowrate have remaby germanicus - Skeinforge
How exactly did you connect the power to D8? Mine has the ground wire of the bed connected to D8 ground, and the positive of the bed connected directly to the PSU, not D8. I did it like this from reading this forum topic: Heated Bed and RAMPS 1.2by germanicus - RAMPS Electronics
Thanks for all of the input! I went on makergearv2 IRC channel yesterday and got some advice from Rick. He suggested that I look at the repsnapper printer settings - buried in the edit menu at the top. Lo and behold there are further settings in there for filament width and an extrusion multiplier. He suggested I start up a print and then change those values on the fly while it worked. @richraby germanicus - Skeinforge
0.001 mm resolution? So you need something that can squirt molten plastic to a resolution of 0.000039 inches?? May I ask why it has to build so quickly in the z axis? These printers work mainly in the x-y plane, with short moves in the z axis just to move to a new printing plane. I'm currently running my x-y axes at about 1 inch/sec, I've heard of people reaching about 3 inches/sec (see madkitesby germanicus - General Mendel Topics
I've been trying to dial my settings in without a whole lot of success. Using SF41 I have heard that feedrate and flowrate should be set equal, and I've also heard that you should set your e_steps in firmware so that your extruder pulls in exactly 1mm of filament when sent a command to extrude 1mm. OK, so that makes my esteps about 1406 for my makergear plastruder. When I try to print at these seby germanicus - Skeinforge
Shouldn't there be a way to use the gcode E function? since it adds for each line it extrudes you "should" be able to look at the last line of your gcode to see how much filament has been extruded in total for your part. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. Edit: I looked at my calibration gcode and it shows E366 for just the first line so I guess I am mistaken. Oh well, I'm still learning this stby germanicus - Skeinforge
Keep in mind that when you use Kapton tape, especially 3M brand, that the adhesive cures with heat and time. I have years of experience working with it and find that if I let it sit on an object for an extended period of time(weeks to months) the film will peel off when you try to remove it, leaving the adhesive stuck securely to the original surface (i.e. your heated bed). Also, Kapton is an insby germanicus - General
I just pulled the glass out of a small picture frame I wasn't using. You can get glass for picture frames at most craft stores for less than $10 (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc.)by germanicus - General
I'm not sure what material you're printing with, but I have been using a piece of glass with good results with PLA. I just taped the glass to my bed and have been off and running. It's a good thing the print bed has springs on it though or I would have shattered the glass on my second test run when the tip slammed into it.by germanicus - General
I have a nichrome heater that has been working brilliantly so far. I think one of the advantages of the heater block design is that the thermistor is well buried in the block, as opposed to just being taped on like most of the nichrome designs I have seen. If the thermistor comes loose you will definitely destroy your hot end.by germanicus - General
makergear Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Germanicus - if you have questions or want to > discuss your build with others who are actively > building MakerGear Prusas, stop by the MakerGear > IRC channel. > > Rick Thanks Rick! I got some useful advice today in IRC and have now made two successful test prints! Next thing is to design a shotglaby germanicus - General
After following Reprap for about a year I finally decided to take the plunge with a Makergear kit. I've been reading through these forums for about the last month gleaning as much info as I could, and wow has it helped me during my build! Massive props to everyone here for all their contributions. I still have a long way to go but have gotten the main chassis built, electronics soldered and workiby germanicus - General
I have looked into running my own ground. That will involve crawling under the building to attach the wire to a suitable ground source, and given that the building suffered a catastrophic failure of the sewage line (also in the crawlspace) I'd rather find another solution before crawling around in that muck. The new sewage lines are PVC, which means my likelihood of finding a suitable ground connby germanicus - General