Well, seeing some pretty great results on the printer after many trial and error rounds with Repetier. I attached two images of the Dimensional Accuracy test from Make Magazine as a reference for current print quality. Some discoveries that I have made: I'm printing blue PLA (DeltaMaker filament purchased from a local 3D printer shop) on Kapton tape sheets at temps of 200/70 for nozzle and bed,by cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Hey all, can someone spare a quick moment to check something for me? I've experienced countless problems with the electronics, and want to make sure i'm triple checking everything before powering on this time. If someone is willing to do a quick check- How many ohms of resistance do you measure through the extruder heater coil with the printer off? Mine is extremely low, almost as if it's shorteby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Update.. Folgertech offered to send me 4 new drivers and a new Mega. I re-ordered the RAMPS board as well. Complete electronics replacement. My new tactic will be to run a small bead of hot glue starting from the VDD pin on the drivers to the end of the driver PCB on the bottom side. That way, only the ground pin used for tuning will be exposed. Kicking myself for not doing this in the first plaby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Hey all, really need some advice here. Pretty discouraged. I shorted my stepper driver in the initial build out and severely damaged the Arduino Mega. I ordered a new Mega, which I then installed and instantly smoked as well. Two Megas down. I then ordered an all new RAMPS/Mega combo, went to install today, checked EVERYTHING with a multimeter before powering on, even assembled with an ESD bracby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Well, looks like I'm dead in the water for "6-8 business days" as I wait for a new RAMPS board, a *third* new Arduino, and a couple new drivers. Fun stuff. In the meantime, I took advantage of the downtime today to purchase 2 8x8 glass panes from JoAnn's Craft (of all places!) as well as 8x8 Kapton sheets. I liked the idea of the sheet due to the mitigation of overlaps. I applied the Kapton sheetby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quoteanimoose Sorry to hear about the blown electronics - it's really frustrating to be so close. One of my steppers didn't work, and I think it was the one that I was adjusting when I blew the board. However, it didn't seem to harm the replacement RAMPS or Mega. Once I found it wasn't working (because the extruder motor didn't run), I replaced it with the spare one in the kit and life was good.by cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Well, it's been an interesting 24 hours. My new Arduino Mega came in today, after blowing the original board while tuning the stepper drivers. I hesitantly popped it in after downloading Marlin and powered up the unit. Limit switches displayed LED when depressed, but couldn't get ANY communication from repetier. Checked the board- the new voltage regulator was incredibly hot. Unplugged everythinby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quoteanimoose I have that bounce as well. I assume it's deliberate (hypothesis: it does a fast move for the homing, then the bounce is to get a slower or shorter one with greater accuracy) and I decided not to worry about it. I work with CNC tools daily, and our large ShopBot CNC routers perform "the bounce" while homing in the X and Y. As animoose stated, this is indeed to combine fast travel tby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quoteanimoose Quotecvanclev Huh. Might try just the Arduino as the budget is tight and the RAMPS board appears okay. Is there a better way to tune the drivers? Considering putting a dab of hot glue on the pins right next to it if they're that crazy close to a short. I was just really, really careful the second time, and didn't obsess about getting the voltages exactly right, just in the ballparkby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Huh. Might try just the Arduino as the budget is tight and the RAMPS board appears okay. Is there a better way to tune the drivers? Considering putting a dab of hot glue on the pins right next to it if they're that crazy close to a short.by cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quoteanimoose Quotecvanclev Well, got all the hardware assembled and just finished configuration. Officially up and running! Well, sort of. Did the first manual tests in Repetier, and was able to move the X,Y, and extruder steppers. However, there is absolutely no response from the Z axis motors. I've noticed that the manual communication is glitchy at best, but I'm hesitant to start a full printby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Well, got all the hardware assembled and just finished configuration. Officially up and running! Well, sort of. Did the first manual tests in Repetier, and was able to move the X,Y, and extruder steppers. However, there is absolutely no response from the Z axis motors. I've noticed that the manual communication is glitchy at best, but I'm hesitant to start a full print without at least getting thby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quotejfitch I received my printer kit yesterday. Looks like everything is there except the threaded rod. I'm sure they'll ship me the missing rod. I have already sent them a message. My question is does the type or size of the threaded rod matter for this printer. I have some threaded rod around the shop that I could probably cut down if needed. What is the recommended size rod and length? I thoby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quotemel0n QuoteRedneckGeek The longer M3 bolts that hold the extruder assembly together were too long. These are the bottom two that go through the fan, heatsink, and extruder and into the motor. The fan and everything was loose. No big deal though, just took about .7mm off the tips of the threaded ends and bolted it all back up. I also epoxied the M5 nuts into the Z/X brackets and while I wby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Quotetmiller74 Yes, I got the same brackets in my kit yesterday. They work with an oversized M4 washer but it isn't ideal. My first showstopper was the very next step where you mount the smooth rod blocks to the M5 T nuts using the M5x8 bolts. The blocks I got are 6mm thick at the base, there's roughly a 1mm gap below the base to the top of the T nut even when you hold the dang thing upside downby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
I was provided with five of the brackets in my first photo, and zero of the ones pictured here. The M4 bolt head falls right through the brackets I have now. Could use a washer and make it work, but wondering if I would run into height problems on the Y axis idler. Can't tell yet as I'm not far enough into the build to know how much clearance I need for the bed.by cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Well, got my kit! Literally stalled out on the FIRST step of the build. The corner brackets that they shipped me look nothing like the build guide photo, and nothing like the one on 691175002's model. Anyone else get these? They definitely don't work with the M4x8mm panheads.by cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Thanks animoose! You've been such a great resource on this forum and in your blog. I'll provide whatever tips and assistance I can when I begin the build later this week. I think you are correct regarding the STLs and unit specification. As a corollary, did you have to manually scale in Reptier/Slic3r?by cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Decided to reprint some of the included black PLA parts to fix the quality issue, as I have access to a Dimension Elite ABS printer. Upon opening the STL's in Solidworks 2014, I was getting measurements of 50+ *meters* in length on some small parts like the carriage mounts. Anyone else attempt to work with the STLs on the drive and have this issue? Massively scaled up. Could just be Solidworks? Iby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants
Hey all- Ordered my 2020 kit on Friday and am anxiously awaiting delivery this Monday! I've been reading through this thread trying to learn what I can before the build starts. My biggest concern was the quality of the RAMPS board, but decided not to order an extra from Amazon as of now, due to Dan mentioning that they switched suppliers. Can any report as to the quality of the RAMPS board thatby cvanclev - Prusa i3 and variants