Wow! You are one of only a few people in the world who would have figured that out. I salute you! I struggled for a long time to find a solution to the extruder cable/connector problem. I think there are three ways to solve it. First, route the cable so it doesn't bend much as the machine operates. This is usually an ugly solution because the cable has to be fed from above in a large, graceby the_digital_dentist - Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, DC Motors
Temperature drops during printing usually indicate a power supply problem. If the power supply that supplies the motors and heaters is working too hard it will produce lower voltage which will quickly cause the temperature of any heaters to drop. Check the power supply voltage with the machine idling and as it operates. If the voltage drops by much, you may need a new, higher current rated supby the_digital_dentist - Printing
I just installed the GLCD panel and haven't used it to run a print yet. I have been using the USB connection and running Pronterface (hating every minute of it) to run it. I have yet to try "playing" from the uSD card on the smoothieboard, either under USB or networked control. I don't have a network drop in my work room- a situation I need to fix real soon. I have inserted an SD card into thby the_digital_dentist - Controllers
I've seen this statement before and have no idea where it originated. Maybe it depends on how rigid the frame is. I would say that if putting a bearing at the end of the screw causes more print quality problems than it solves, your printer is in need of a redesign. Almost every industrial linear positioner has bearings at both ends of the screw. If it was such a problem they wouldn't do that.by the_digital_dentist - Printing
This all sounds like an argument to have the CAD machine next to the printer, not for an external controller that allows remote start/stop. As you say, you have to clean the bed off before you can restart the print. QuoteRickRap My issue with the SD card is that it's a pain if you are making a lot of changes to a design. More than once I've had to stop a print after realizing a design flaw (orby the_digital_dentist - Controllers
If the CPU chip is getting hot the thing is dead. You will need a new board.by the_digital_dentist - Controllers
Here's the underside of my bed: The plate is 1/4" cast aluminum tooling plate, milled flat. You can see 3 holes- top, bottom, and right edge. The top and bottom holes are in line with the Y axis. One is used for the fixed reference. The other adjusts "pitch" in the Y axis. The hole at the right edge adjusts "roll" around the Y axis. These are the only two adjustments needed to level the bby the_digital_dentist - Mechanics
Do a search for "Z axis wobble". You'll find all sorts of info on the causes and cures.by the_digital_dentist - Printing
I vote for sneaker-netting SD cards to the printer. I know it's a PITA - my CAD machine and printer are on different floors in my house - but printing from a local SD card is the most reliable way to print, and as you already know, 3D printing can be a pretty unreliable process. Adding an external controller increases the unreliability. Besides the usual computer reliability issues (though mby the_digital_dentist - Controllers
A clock is only as accurate as the reference. Are you using a crystal to drive the clock in the uC? Or an internal oscillator? Or is it tied to the power line for reference? If the uC clock is off, the errors will accumulate and your clock won't keep correct time. If the uC clock frequency drifts with temperature changes you won't be able to keep accurate time. The power line 50 or 60 Hz isby the_digital_dentist - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Flatness can easily be checked the old-school way- use the edge of a steel ruler. If the surface is wavy and you can get a piece of paper between the ruler and the surface anywhere, the surface isn't flat enough, though with such a large bed you're probably planning on printing with thicker layers so more deviation from flat can be tolerated. If the surface flexes depending on temperature and aby the_digital_dentist - General
If you build a solid design/rigid frame you won't need auto-leveling. Get some 8020 at your local scrap yard/metal recycler for the frame and while you're there keep your eyes open for linear motion components. The frame for my machine is all scrap 8020 type stuff (3 different makers/sizes, all about 1.5" square) and cost a total of about $80 ($2 per lb from the scrap yard). The pieces are allby the_digital_dentist - General
Use a single motor and 3 or 4 screws all belted together. Using multiple motors is asking for endless hours of bed releveling. If you can live without a glossy smooth bottom surface on your prints, you can skip the bed heater and power supply and cabling and most of the leveling/releveling nonsense and just print on PIR foam. You'll be printing on rafts and for the first layer just bury theby the_digital_dentist - General
Adding pumps, hoses, reservoirs, heat exchangers, etc., adds a lot of cost/complication that would have to justify itself in terms of performance. What advantage does water cooling offer over air cooling?by the_digital_dentist - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Are the axes orthogonal? If not you'll never print a round circle or a square square. Print a rectangular solid and measure the diagonals in each plane. If the axes of that plane are orthogonal the diagonals will have the same length. If they aren't, you need to tweak the position of the end of one or the other axis. You can download a spreadsheet here: It will tell you the error based onby the_digital_dentist - Printing
Work through one issue at a time. When a stepper makes no noise and doesn't move, you're either not sending it any signals or you've got it wired incorrectly. If it makes noise but doesn't move (like your Z axis motor), you probably have connections to one of the motor's coils reversed. Start with the X axis. First, push the extruder carriage to the middle of the X axis. If the motor doesn't tby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Bad solder connections will do this sort of thing. The ground pins in particular can be a problem because they connect to a ground plane on the PCB and it sucks heat away from the soldering iron/solder, making it difficult to get a good connection. Check the soldering at the of the thermistor input pins on the controller board. You need a very hot soldering iron with a relatively large tip toby the_digital_dentist - Printing
Measure the diameters of the guide rails- I've heard stories of 8mm guide rails from China being not quite 8mm. That may be why the Igus bearings were sloppy and may be why the teflon bearings will be also.by the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
You save them to EEPROM and they will override whatever is in config.h. I prefer to modify config.h with the final values because that way the machine behaves according to the config.h file and you won't run into mysterious behavior 6 months from now when you forget that you stored constants in EEPROM.by the_digital_dentist - Printing
Make sure the rails are smooth as glass. If there's any surface irregularity on the guide rails it will chew up the teflon.by the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
The the phase change that occurs when the filament melts takes heat out of the block, so what is needed is a higher powered heater that can put heat back into the block faster. The reason the temperature drops is that even though the PID controller is trying its best to regulate the temperature, it has already turned the under powered heater on full blast and still can't keep up. A higher powerby the_digital_dentist - General
Here's another one I worked on and may yet revisit. It produced a LOT of down force but was geared so far down that it would probably limit printing speed: and here: It did not retract well. I have some ideas to fix that, so may go back to it soon...by the_digital_dentist - General
It might be OK in Bowden setup. I think the key to getting a lot of down force from the extruder is very heavy tension on the pinch wheel springs and having a gear reduced motor for increased torque helps, too. I am currently using a BullDog XL extruder and it seems very strong. I haven't had any extruder jams in the couple months I've used it. If you put the motors so they face each other yoby the_digital_dentist - General
Turn the pot to mid position and try again. You may think it is at min current but maybe it's actually set to max. If it is truly at minimum current position and the driver is overheating, and you haven't shorted the motor leads, the driver is probably dead.by the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Here's a dual drive extruder I played with about a year ago: here's an earlier version: Both worked OK, but the second motor adds to the moving mass. I don't think it was any more reliable than a single motor extruder so I abandoned both designs.by the_digital_dentist - General
If you are using Marlin, in config.h, the default_max_feedrate limits the maximum speed in all axes. homing_feedrate sets speed in all axes when sending the extruder home (which should probably be set below the default_max_feedrate settings).by the_digital_dentist - Printing
The problem is the small area of the layers. They don't have time to cool before the nozzle comes around and lays down the next layer of plastic on the still soft previous layer. You need to give it time to cool before printing the next layer. In Cura you can tell the slicer the minimum time per layer and if the layer finishes faster, it will move the nozzle away and wait, then resume the nextby the_digital_dentist - Printing
Check speed, acceleration, and jerk settings- set all low to start. Set the current control pot about mid turn to start- if the thing is overheating you probably have the current set to max, not min. Check wires and make sure you haven't shorted any of the motor leads. Make sure the jumper settings on the board match the steps/mm setting in the firmware.by the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Since the motor is making noises, you have at least got the pairs of wires identified correctly (it would not make any noise or do anything else, otherwise). Try increasing current a little, and check that your acceleration, jerk, and speed settings aren't too high. If none of those get it moving, try reversing the connections of one pair only. The picture I previously linked says Red, Brown,Yby the_digital_dentist - Printing
Oops, it's 5.18:1 Here's the page:by the_digital_dentist - Printing