Here's the picture of my hobbed bolts: As you can see I have 2 different bolts. The black one is from Aliexpress (China) and it is worse than the other one. It practically has no teeth. The white one is the original hobbed bold which came with my machine. I can definitely stop the filament manually (and quite easily). When I leave it, it continues to run, so I assume the bolt doesn't tear anyby drmaestro - Printing
My e-step problem has not been solved yet. Whenever I do the calibration test by measuring 120 mm filament and extruding 100 mm, I always get a different result. Mostly there is underextrusion (8-9 mm), so I increase e-steps, but I then can get overextrusion. I suspect there might be problems with the extruder (Wade's geared extruder), the motor or the hobbed bolt. I am able to prevent the filaby drmaestro - Printing
Hi, I've recently made the transition to silent stepstick drivers and also the BLtouch for autobed leveling. The silent stepsticks tend to be hotter, especially on the Z axis, as it is constantly moving now due to bed leveling. I have encountred some erratic movements like shifting layers or missed steps in X , E and Z axis and I can't touch some of the steppers. I have tried lowering stepper voby drmaestro - Reprappers
I've found the problem. I used a 7805 to generate 5 volts for BLTouch but I connected the 12 volt line to a thin cable used for a fan and an LCD. Probably, the cable couldn't provide enough power to BLTouch, so the pin had difficulties in retracting, giving errors and also triggering the Z min status. The constant triggered status probably prevented the Z elevator form moving downwards and it movby drmaestro - Reprappers
Hi, Today I have installed the BLTouch sensor and also made changes to Marlin configuration to allow it to work.However I now have an interesting issue: I can't auto-home in Z direction because when I give the order, it goes upwards, instead of going downwards. If I use manual controls on the LCD, the Z direction moves as it should move (if the number increases, the Z elevator goes upwards, if iby drmaestro - Reprappers
Thank you very much digital_dentist.I have bought it recently and was looking for the model to make changes to my X carriage.by drmaestro - Look what I made!
It could also be possible that the Z motors are missing steps due to low stepper voltage or they get desynchronized. That's a known problem with dual Z motor printers.by drmaestro - Reprappers
Hi, I have tried 2 different Chinese sources for GT2 belts for my printer. One seems to have uneven width and the other one seems to be too elastic and thinner. I am not sure if they have those fiberglass components inside (or if they are thick enough for their intended purpose). Do you know a link where I can buy some GT2 belts which are better quality and more rigid? Thanks.by drmaestro - Reprappers
I've ordered this extruder. I am actually using a Wade's extruder, so I was wondering if I can use this extruder directly or if I need to print an adapter. Thanksby drmaestro - General
Hi, Today I removed the fan to change it and that's when I remembered a modification I had made a while ago: I had soldered an electrolytic capacitor to the fan to enable rotation at lower PWM values. It had no effect at all on the PWM performance but explains why I had the explosion when I switched polarities. Also, that small rod like structure was in fact the capacitor's metal enclosureby drmaestro - Reprappers
Hi, I've recently uploaded RC6. It has been more than a year since I've made an update to the firmware so there are a few changes that I can't correct. Any help would be appreciated. 1) In the LCD menu, I had the option to "Home Z". I only have "Auto Home" now. How can I add back the "Home Z" option. 2) The rotatory encoder is behaving strangely. In the old firmware turning it clockwise increaby drmaestro - Firmware - Marlin
Hi, I had ordered Silent Stepstick clones from eBay. They have arrived today. Their headers were already soldered. Theoretically, I was supposed to remove the header for CFG2, remove all of the pins on ramps, the I'd be on spredCycle mode in 1/256 microstepping. However, I wanted to see how they would perform if I didn't remove the third header (I was afraid that I could damage the stepper driveby drmaestro - Reprappers
Quoteepicepee I can't in good conscience read this thread and not recommend some good linear guides as an alternative to unsupported rods. That's exactly why I have posted this. I am trying to choose the right size of linear guides to replace my unsupported rods.by drmaestro - Reprappers
Hi, I am trying to calculate the minimum linear rail sizes that can carry my Y axis and Z axis cars. .The Z axis carries the X axis, so it has two 8 mm rods, a Wade's extruder, a Nema 17 stepper, a plastic X car with four 8 mm bearings, 3 fans and also 2 Z elevators but the weight is practically on the leadscrews, so I don't think a very large rail would be needed (maybe a LM9?). I am not so surby drmaestro - Reprappers
Exciting development. I hope we can use it soon on our printers.by drmaestro - General
Thanks for the reply. I understand where to connect the 3rd pin on the 7805 (the 5V connector) but I am not very sure about the first 2 pins (positive and ground). Where is the location of the 12 volts and ground on the RAMPS? (I know, that is a very basic question but my understanding of the board is limited).by drmaestro - Reprappers
Hi, I bought the BLTouch from eBay.Anybody using it with RAMPS? I've read about voltage issues, telling that I needed to add external power for it to perform as expected, otherwise RAMPS could get damaged. How and where do you add the external 5 Volts required? Thanks.by drmaestro - Reprappers
It is hard to decide how much is enough. Some people suggest that it should be as tight as a guitar string. I find this hard to achieve. Also, the level of tightness seems to be asymmetrical on both sides of the belt.by drmaestro - Reprappers
This is an excellent post on the mysterious subject of acceleration and jerk. Thank you very much. I'd like to ask a question about the lower end of the spectrum. What if I am not after the speed? I want to print slow but get the best possible print quality. There is a trade-off between speed and quality so lowering acceleration and jerk should help. How low can I get? Would getting too low creaby drmaestro - Printing
I'll add some photos as requested by NikosK: 1) The first step was about the smooth rods. Here is a picture of my previous setup: As you can see, the rods are held by plastic holders, attached to the vertical extrusions. In theory, using the vertical extrusion should help with parallelity, but the plastic parts didn't fit in a firm manner and also they could tilt a little bit up or down, so thby drmaestro - Printing
Hi, I wanted to post a follow-up on my problem. I've taken into consideration many of the advices provided and made some changes to my printer and settings. First, let me show you the final result: The left one is the original, and the right one is printed after the modifications. As you can see, most of my problems are gone I'll list the steps I've followed, so that other people with similaby drmaestro - Printing
Hi, I am using dual fans to cool PLA parts while printing. The fans are controlled by RAMPS. A single cable is plugged to RAMPS and I splitted it to two close to the fans. As you know some fans cannot be used on lower PWM values and my fans used to start rotating at 50-60%. Last week I was checking the wiring of one of the fans and somehow I flipped the connector and put it in wrong direction. Iby drmaestro - Reprappers
Hi, I use a MK2 PCB heated bed. While it can reach low temperatures (75-80 degrees) relatively fast (5-6 minutes), it has problems for reaching ABS values. It takes nearly 25 minutes to reach 100 degrees and I can't reach 110.It also doesn't have a completely flat surface, which creates some gaps between the aluminium plate and the MK2. I was looking for a solution and I saw silicone heat pads.by drmaestro - Reprappers
They come pre-soldered I think but heating with soldering iron should allow me to remove them.by drmaestro - Printing
I was wondering if it could act synergistically with the autospeed option, which tries to keep a constant pressure at the nozzle. Retractions prevent this to some degree, so maybe the firmware would compansate for it by setting its own retraction movements (but I don't know if they interact at all).by drmaestro - Printing
QuoteKev0 Its totally easy to wire the config, just one wire across the cfg1 pin to GND . Just search for the documentation of the silentstepstick. You may use 24V since then the drivers will run smother and with less noise. I had ordered the ones on the link . In the explanation, they only tell you to remove microstepping jumpers and install the driver. Would that work or should I remove the cfby drmaestro - Printing
QuoteKev0 Just use the Silentstepstick and they will be gone. Btw with these the noise is although gone. Can you use the SilentStepStick directly on the RAMPS board? I've read that you need to solder a few wires to enable the spreadCycle mode. Would there be any commercial units with the required modifications?by drmaestro - Printing
Quotethe_digital_dentist Pretty useless post here and at Thingiverse. There's no description of what it is or how or why it works. Can you explain it? I also would like to know what this is.......by drmaestro - General
Hi, I have seen the firmware retraction option in Slicer. My firmware version of Marlin doesn't support it so I haven't been able to test it. Does it have an advantage over using a fixed retraction distance and speed? Is it similar to autospeed, in the sense that the firmware decides on the speed and amount of retraction depending on the situation, so they are not constant? Could it be used in cby drmaestro - Printing