I think this can be classified as solved. Ultimately it boiled down to a couple of factors. Both pretty simple and high on the list of try this first! First, I do believe that my build platform was a little loose. Fixing that got rid of some of the larger abnormalities that I was seeing in test prints. The rest of my problem went away when I slowed things down. Printing the case at 60mm/sby Wisar - Printing
Well then. I think we may have found an issue. My problem prints have been at 60. Am now trying one at 50. Does explain why smaller pieces, ones slowed down by layer print times, look so nice! Doop. Willby Wisar - Printing
ggherbaz: Question for you or anyone that has a Makerbot Clone: What speed are you printing at (and on what clone and slicer)? Thanks, Willby Wisar - Printing
Ridging and whiskers have improved..at least to a large extent. It seems that something was loose, namely my build platform. I did replace the hotend and PTFE tubing but only on one side and the other side is operating the same as the side where the replacement was done. In any case the PTFE does not look to bad, to me anyways! What is interesting, and that only just occurred to me, is whaby Wisar - Printing
Two hours into five hour print and the whiskers are back. If anything worse after cleaning the nozzle, tightening the bolts holding on the extruders, and cleaning the extruder. The first sign of a problem happened around layer 47 (.2mm layers). I am still wondering about stepper drivers heating up and will try changing them out as I do have some spares. The other variable that seems in playby Wisar - Printing
Yeh, I think the state of the nozzle may have been an issue. It was hidden by my directed cooling duct and it was a mess. It is clean now! I checked the extruder gear and it did not look bad but I tried to give it a clean anyway. That and tightening the extruder assembly and I hope my issue will be resolved. I am redoing the problem print now so will know in the next several hours! Can yby Wisar - Printing
That was my first idea as well and I did check for something loose and did not find anything that was...though I had not checked the two bolts that hold in the extruder assembly...which I had out some weeks ago to do some leveling for two color prints...and while it was not very loose...it was not super tight. The other thing I noticed when I went to tighten these bolts was that the nozzle wasby Wisar - Printing
I have a Wanhao D4S that has been printing well...until just recently when whiskers have started to appear even from solid walls. In addition the walls are much more ridged than what the printer used to accomplish. I use Simplify3D as my slicer and am using the same profiles from what I had been using. I don't think anything else has changed...? Thanks in advance for any advice of whatby Wisar - Printing
I have been printing PLA on glass for the past year on my Prusa I3. I was using hair spray for adhesion but ran out and used ABS Goop instead. Surprised that it worked on PLA but it did so I kept on using it. Bought a new machine this year, a Wanhao Duplicator 4S (Makerbot Clone), and have been printing both ABS and PLA starting on glass. I want and need to print on a smooth, unlined surfacby Wisar - General
Gordon, good point on the thicker first layer. I am not used to printing at .1mm, or with ABS for that matter, and have not had to use a thicker 1st layer when printing with PLA and layers of .2mm or higher. BTW, I wonder why more people don't use a feeler guage? A piece of paper seems a little primitive. I had not thought about it until your post but have ordered one. Cheers, Wisarby Wisar - Printing
I flipped the glass and was able to get pretty uniform squares printed. I was hoping this would be the case as I really did not like the idea of the warping rods on a brand new printer...though obviously I can see the potential for that happening. Not related to warped glass but I wonder if mechanical end stops are really good enough for the z-axis when trying to get a good 1st layer down onby Wisar - Printing
Thanks MadMike, that is the Cats Meow. Have it in the printer now accepting files. I knew there was a reason that I bought that card. My Eye-Fi is a better camera card by a long shot but this will be great for the printer. Cheers, Wisarby Wisar - Reprappers
The attached photo shows a calibration print of one .1mm layer on my glass build platform. As you can see the four corners seem to be laid down well AND level with each other but the center looks as if the glass is actually higher there? Am I interpreting this picture correctly? Regards, Wisarby Wisar - Printing
It works a little different than the Eye-Fi card in that it actually creates it's own network. You can then connect to it and download files from it. I have not been able to go in the other direction though I do believe it is possible. Obviously this is what is needed for a printing scenario. Hence my question...! Willby Wisar - Reprappers
MadMike: I have a FlashAir card but can't figure out how to enable two way transfer. Can you point me to any documentation? I have the W-02 card. Thanks, Wisarby Wisar - Reprappers
Have tried a second hot end (though of same J-Head type) and am getting the same result. Watching the print closely it seems that the outside threads are being laid perfectly. Attached nicely at both ends and tight across the void. Then the printer starts laying the interior threads and it all goes sideways as the end of one of the new threads will get picked up by the head and the whole thby Wisar - Printing
It is important to be able to print bridges without supports. An example is a case where there are ports or windows cut through the case walls and the walls are thin. I have a number of models like this and supports become a hassle. Bridges are (IMHO) one of the hardest things for a printer to do.by Wisar - Printing
Any change that you could try to print this? Bridges Torture Test It is causing my printer fits! I would be interested to see how the CTC handles it out of the box! Wisarby Wisar - Printing
Further experiments with fast as opposed to slower speeds for my bridges yielded some inconsistant results ... though in a couple of cases the fast speed DID deliver a better bridge? But not in all and certainly not the quality that I have seen from other folks test prints. I changed filament colors and for some reason bridges in black are printing better than bridges in white? The other facby Wisar - Printing
It will be interesting to hear your experience with the CTC printer. It is an amazing, though expected statement about the evolution of the technology that you can now get an assembled dual extruder reasonable print volume printer for less than 500 dollars (or 400 pounds here in the UK).by Wisar - Printing
Probably a good decision to go with an off the shelf enclosed printer. You have to be wiling and interested in a certain amount of rolled-up sleeves pain to own a RepRap printer. I have mine working largely fine and still have days when I wish for a Replicator II!by Wisar - Printing
Anyone with a RepRap printer should probably have a Volt Ohm meter. You can get them cheap: Cheap Meter A Thermistor is basically a heat sensitive resistor and has no polarity. But it could be defective or you could have a short. Hence the meter. Wisarby Wisar - Printing
Measure the resistance of the thermistor across the leads connecting it to the controller. I think it should be around 100K but you should check your thermistor documentation. If it is not what it is supposed to be then find out why!by Wisar - Printing
I am trying to improve bridging on my Prusa I3 and printing in PLA. My slicer is slic3r, firmware is Marlin, and Pronterface on a Mac is doing the streaming. I have been following the general advice that if your strings droop, lower the flow rate, if they snap, increase flow rate, if they don't stick to the towers, reduce speed. After quite a few iterations I have landed at the following setby Wisar - Printing
Resistance seems on the heated bed and extruder seem to be ok. I have also not been able to find a short (thinking that maybe one of the feeder wires that moves a lot may have gotten frayed). There is a pretty significant voltage drop when the heated bed kicks on (12 to 11.2) but I am not sure if this is more than is tolerable or not based on other posts here. The printer is back workingby Wisar - Reprappers
alvinhochun: The ATX is rated at 500w though I am not sure how what the 12v rails are specifically. The LED Strip Driver is 240W on the 12V rails. I can certainly get another power supply but I would like to understand why these two power supplies are suddenly problematic? I have printed 10 reels of filament without an issue and suddenly the printer decided to call a labor action!?!? Wisby Wisar - Reprappers
My Prusa I3 printer has been working without issue for some months when a couple days ago it started to throw tantrums: The first couple failures had the printer simply stopping. No error messages, just stopped. The next couple of failures had the printer skipping on both the x and y axis's When the printer was just stopping I thought that the issue might be the USB connection from the OSX hoby Wisar - Reprappers
This is a problem with a solution in case some one else has the same issue. I just upgraded my iMac to OSX 10.9 and everytime Pronterface went into the background (via a screen saver or another app full screen) it would stop! It turns out that Mavericks has a feature called "App Nap" which is intended to save battery on a laptop. Why this is a default and why on my computer which is not a lby Wisar - Reprappers
Thanks. In the clarity of hind sight I knew that BOM was there as I had seen it before. My board uses two position blocks but obviously I was able to get the info I needed and have ordered some from China. As long as there is no hurry you can't beat five for 2 quid with shipping included. Cheers, Wisarby Wisar - Reprappers
I have managed to destroy one of the power terminals on my RAMPS board. I have a spare board and so was able to use a connector from it as a spare but I am hoping there is a cheaper alternative. Does anyone know where these terminals can be purchased and as what part number? Thanks Wisarby Wisar - Reprappers