So in the interests of honesty and transparency,
A nice young lady from Ratrig contacted me just now, and explained that they had local holidays and a huge backlog of emails, and that my order was shipping today.
I'm not fussed about how long it takes, as long as they communicate it, so as far as I'm concerned my experience is still all good.
I am keen to see this kit!
Hi Ian, how you been old fella?
The cameras are for my rural property, which has no power. My home where I live (and print) not only has power, we also have internet and hot running water. It's amazing all the shit we're getting these days!
Just winding you up... We've just had a few issues on the farm recently with trespassers and thieving, and even a crazy bloody real estate agent coming on the place and leaving me notes. It's time to catch them in the act!
I share your fears about the border. This "covid thing" is like a blank check for pollies, and don't even get me started on the media coverage. It's like everyone caught Stockholm syndrome rather than covid.
I kind of put my thoughts in the other thread that Corexy posted but regarding accelerations, try something like diagonal infill on a 100mm x 100mm cube (or 50X50 - doesn't really matter) and just observe how it looks as the moves get shorter and shorter. I'd think that at 9,000 it'll try and shake itself to bits or at least look pretty alarming. If it does, reduce it down until the speed "looks right". I've found that 1200 acceleration works well for my CoreXY (but it has a seriously heavy hot end).
It's hard this…you get such wildly different answers.
I'll play it safer:
M566 X900 Y900 Z12 E800 ; Set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X12000 Y12000 Z1200 E8000 ; Set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X2000 Y2000 Z20 E500 ; Set accelerations (mm/s^2)
I've never had any problem with the stepper motors like skipping or any thing, they seem strong. I know the standard Zortrax extruder setting was 400mA, but they had trouble with it and some people including myself wound it up to 600mA. Over 600 it started to show wavy patterns in the prints.
There's also one speed I can't get to change, the Z axis when it homes at the start of a print. I can get it to move faster when I move it manually, but the homing speed is always the same, and it's too slow and makes an annoying resonating noise.
I just want to step it up 50%. Can anyone tell me where I find that?
Back on point,
I've spoken to the Rat Rig guy, and he's been right on it with the responses and advice.
I did mention the lead time, and he said they got behind a little at one stage, but they were right up on it now.
For me the decision is to go with their 400x400x400 V slot model with the 3rd Z screw option, just need the money which will likely push the order date out to June.
I've really had enough of Z screws I must admit...I'll look at the belt option harder in the meantime.
Bugger it, I bought all of them. They cost bugger all from Triangle Labs, so I grabbed an assortment of PT100's, 1000's and other bits for the bits box. Was no point getting their standard thermistor cartridges, as they only rated to 280degC and if I'm buying the ludicrously expensive Mosquito/BMG combo, I at least want the option to heat it right up, even if I never do.
Plus a nice member here sent me a spare Slice thermistor he had laying around (cheers Deckers!!), so I'm now spoilt for choices when the time comes.
Now if only it all gets here before the bombs start dropping or the next exotic disease....
@Dkos said in Print quality issue:
@deckingman Yes, that is what i figured as well. Currently I switched to bolts with an unthreaded section while i am waiting for the order of shoulder-bolts with 5mm shoulder diameter. Rookie mistake from my side when I first assembled my printer.
I've noticed the use of screws in bearings/pulleys/etc as a normal in 3D printers, when they are just not meant to be used that way. Any precision ID should be mounted on the correct size shaft or shoulder bolt with precision spacers to align them.
Obviously it'll work with screws, but I wonder how much finer a print can be had with precision mounting of the pulleys. I'll test the theory on my E3 soon enough.
Those little ally idlers are rubbish IMHO. I've got plenty of them here, and half the bearings are rough straight out of the bag.
Hi all.
Looks like my birthday's coming early, as I've squirreled away enough money to pull the trigger on a V-core kit.
I've been in touch with them with a million questions, and I must say the responses have been excellent, even including a call direct to my mobile in Australia from Portugal last night.
I was going to go with the 500x500x500 model, as it only costs a little more, but funnily enough the Keenovo mats almost double in price from 400 to 500mm, and it seems build surface options become much more limited as well.
They have offered that if I buy the 400mm model but pay the 500mm price (only about 20 euro more), they will extend the Z height to 600mm. I'm wondering if that will be worthwhile, or should I just go with the 400mm all round size?
I'm going with the triple Z axis leadscrew option, but without the motors as I plan to run a single belt/motor. I do wonder about their Z setup as they run 4 upright V slot channels with rollers, which may defeat the purpose of the triple leadscrews, but I'll look at that when the time comes. I'm still open to the possibility of a belt driven Z axis.
It comes with the 400mm build plate, but it's only 4mm thick. If it's flat that will be fine, if not I'll go with 10mm cast ally precision plate.
I've got a ton of gear here including a Duet wifi/paneldue, E3D V6, Meanwell supply, plus/wire...all sorts of goodies.
It'll probably take a long time until it's done, but I'm quite excited to get started. Also glad I didn't go the Tronxy route, as it seems they are a pile of junk for almost the same money. Cheers to those who advised against it.
As it goes, I'd gotten my wires crossed...literally.
It turns out that the 2 center wires need to be reversed in the stepper motor plug on the wiring loom for the Bondtech BMG extruder pancake stepper to work.
While I did pull the plug with the power on, it was after the print had finished so I'm assuming the stepper was powered down anyway.
On top of that, when I tried the original stepper again it didn't work due to the fact that the hot end had cooled down, therefore not allowing the extruder stepper to activate. It was late at night and I'd just plain forgot about heating the hot end.
The next day I checked the steppers with a multimeter and realized the difference in the 2 motors, swapped the wires and heated up the hot end, and now it's all good.
Very good in fact. My first try of the Bondtech, and I'm quite impressed with it.
M92 X1280.00 Y1280.00 Z400.00 E410 ; set steps per mm
M566 X600.00 Y600.00 Z60.00 E300.00 ; set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X6000.00 Y6000.00 Z6000.00 E1200.00 ; set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X200.00 Y200.00 Z100.00 E250.00 ; set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X700 Y700 Z760 E800 I30 ; set motor currents (mA) and motor idle factor in per cent
I'm wondering about the 410 steps/mm for an Ender 3... mine runs at 99-101, but I'm on an Ender 3 Pro with the plastic extruder. All the same it seems a LOT bigger feed rate.
Have you calibrated your extruder esteps? If not almost certainly that.
Some of your stepper motor currents seem a little odd too (to me, I could be wrong). I wonder about XYZ currents being lower than the extruder current. I don't think it's got anything to do with your skipping problem, but it doesn't seem to be right.
Mind you, when I have a look at mine, the extruder motor is much larger than the others, so it could be correct.
I'm tipping feed rate.
I'm certainly not worried about getting ripped off or anything like that. I don't even mind waiting a month or so. And yes, I did note it was a regular occurrence with them.
I guess in my opinion, saying a week or two then just stopping replying after the order is taken is just a little bit of a bad look. I actually asked him specifically about lead time and delays with other orders when he rang, and he said they'd had delays in the past but it would ship in about a week. I said 2 weeks lead time would be fine.
I am a particularly grumpy hater of FB and Google (I'm a parent of teenagers), so you will NEVER see me on there.
It's certainly not as bad as a fake tracking number from Banggood or Aliexpress, which never ever works lol.
Thank you all very much for your assistance.
Stumbled onto a funny trick that gave me perfect adhesion, found it in the Prusa forum.
I was really wondering what the hell was going on...I was heating my flexible magnetic mat so hot I couldn't remove the thin brims, yet the print was still lifting.
What really go me thinking was when I tried wiping some metho on the mat (because you can't use acetone with it) and the problem got way worse, almost un useable. I was noticing it dragging up the first couple of mm of a layer despite my level/height/retraction being checked and good.
Then I found a post that said that PETG hates being printed on a surface that has been used for PLA, as it leaves a sugary residue of some sort, and that dishwashing soap was the magic cure.
I took the plate into the kitchen, put some soap on it and swirled/foamed it around with a really soft brush rinsed in warm/hot water, then rinsed it off in the same water. It came up really clean. Patted it dry with kitchen paper and heated it up to 80 degC (I was up to 90 in the end). It was clean as, and a lot of residue was gone.
Perfect adhesion! I'll do this every time I swap to a different material.
Hope that helps someone.
@Chriss said in Microswiss settings?:
I really appreciate every input I can get. I understand that it is hard that not all of us have English as there native language and not everything is always communicated.
Back to the "mission":
What I did so far:
I confirmed this morning that the e-steps are OK.
I played a bit with the retraction and I'm at 1,5mm@30mm/s (not my current focus) Btw: The step skipping is gone since the PID auto-tuning.
I play with temperatures between 190 to 220 at the moment.I have some adhesion problems with the current setup right now. I'm more and more convinced that the change of the z-probe to a IR-Probe and the migration to a micro-swiss was not the best decision in my live.
I will fix the relation between the z-probe and be bed (again) before I take any further care of the hotend.
The learning curve drives me nuts.
Cheers, Chriss
I'm really wondering what the adhesion issue is all about...are you running the standard Creality thermistor and heater cartridge? Is this CR10 running the standard motherboard or a Duet board?
Unless I'm mistaken, the Z probe sets the first layer height, then the layer heights after that set by Z stepper esteps.
I am definitely NOT the one for programming, but it seems that your temps may be way off. Have you installed your thermistor and heater correctly and are the secured snugly in the heater block?
1.5mm retraction might be a little low for bowden, but 8mm certainly seemed way to high. If it hasn't made a big difference, it suggests the problem is elsewhere.
Also, to reduce stringing with PLA, don't use "Z hop" and set your free movement speed to 120mm/sec. Your machine should handle that easily if the rollers are adjusted correctly.
As PLA will print well at anything from 190-220 degC, I'm thinking there's a major problem with the heating/temp measurement. As you have been working on that area changing the hot end, it might pay to check all the components and connections there for correct installation.
If you've changed to a Duet board, it might pay to check you have entered the right values in your config file for the thermistor and heater cartridge. You'll need someone else to help with that, not my area of expertise sorry.
**And I am sorry, I didn't realize English wasn't your first language and I didn't mean to sound frustrated. I am happy to help if I can.
It can be hard to help sometimes if the person wanting help is jumping from one thing to another...in this hobby you really need to "start at one end" and go step by step. If you skip a step, the problem keeps coming back in one form or another.
I also saw in your other post that you got a v-core kit...mine just arrived yesterday, I haven't had a good look at it yet.
I'll bite...
IMHO, if you aren't worried about the cost (which really isn't that much), I'd go for S3D each time.
I tried Cura, and just didn't like dealing with the thing, it just wasn't as straightforward for me as S3D.
Having said that, S3D has some difficult/dumb things in there that just don't make sense, but each slicer has it's quirks I think.
@deckingman said in V-Core Pro lives again (-::
@Corexy Yes sh*t loads of problems - take a look at my blog. But I'm only using Mosquito heat breaks - everything else is home made (it's a 6 input, single nozzle) - and it's "everything else" that I've had problems with.
The heat breaks themselves are super efficient and tiny compared to anything else - (really important when you are trying to get six of them into hot block).
I did use the Boron Nitride paste but only because they supplied it to me F.O.C.. TBH, I use Loctite LB8065 on heaters and cartridges so I'd probably have used that instead if I hadn't been supplied Boron Nitride. Technically they are both release agents but they both work as high temperature thermal paste. Boron Nitride is better around heater and thermistor cartridges because (I'm told) it's a good thermal conductor but a very poor electrical conductor.
One handed nozzle change is doddle and makes life a hell of a lot easier if you are in the habit of changing nozzles.
We're hogging old mate's post here...I'll PM you
I think it's a mechanical issue relating to the Z axis.
You are certainly over extruding in most of these pics, but 0.93-0.95 has always been the right extrusion multiplier for PLA for me....IF the esteps are set correctly. I always set my esteps through a nozzle at the temp I intend to print at. Usually at 195-205 deg for PLA, maybe just try a round number of 200. Set your esteps using a full 100mm extrude @ 5mm/sec, not just 20mm.
I didn't read what slicer you used, but for direct drive in S3D I just use 1mm retraction @30mm/sec, 1mm coast and 5mm wipe. Nice and simple.
In the V-core, I'd loosen all the mounts for the backlash nuts, Z steppers and even the rails, then push the bed up and down by hand to align it all. Keep doing that as you nip things up tighter, a look for any binding at all. I'd level the bed mechanically using a 0.2mm feeler gauge under the nozzle, with the bed and nozzle at temp (200 noz/ 50 bed) and check the backlash nuts are very lightly/evenly tensioned, as well as lubricated.
If you can get the bed pretty level mechanically, maybe disable the bed leveling mesh map and just set a nozzle height/offset at the start of the print. If you're using the triple Z motors that might be giving you some sort of trouble.
In short, there are some extrusion rate/slicer setting issues there, but that Z banding looks mechanical to me.
Hope that helps.
@CorvoDewittV2 said in Issues with print quality, wall surface rough.:
@Corexy Thank you for the info, I will try that tonight after work. I really don't like the design of the Z axis on the V-Core, leaves a lot to be desired in my mind. Also not a huge fan of lead screws. Do you use wipe and coast with linear advance? I heard that they do not play well. My bed is a bit of a banana, but flat enough to do a 20x20 cube, so I could try no bed leveling. If you have any design suggestions for a better Z, please let me know! What do you think is causing the bulging right above and below the X and Y? Cooling? Or still Z related.
OH could it be bad idle pulleys? It's the only thing I haven't changed in the XY system.
I don't use linear advance, just the settings I've described above. I really focus on esteps, and set extrusion multiplier by watching actual prints I'm doing, not measuring thin walls etc.
I don't like the way they set up the z axis on the V-core's either, and have already taken steps to do mine differently, including a conversion to single Z motor with a belt driving all 3 screws.
My bed is a banana too, which is why I'll probably convert to a cast aluminium plate.
I think the bulging is from the issues I mentioned, best start there. If you can switch off the bed leveling and print this little model on a flat bit, you can try those old school setting first. You could have a look at the current setting for your extruder motor. Sometimes too high a current there can cause print issues, but it's usually a wavy looking pattern on the surface.
Don't buy new parts, it's most likely assembly and slicer settings. Try that first.
Hope that helps again
@CorvoDewittV2 said in Issues with print quality, wall surface rough.:
@Corexy I will check out the reprap forums too! Should have build a voron, or a railcore....
That might not be totally fair...there's a bunch of V cores out there (and here).
Just keep going over it, you'll get it. 3D printing is a total pain in the arse on its best day, they are fickle machines.
Use those settings and let's see some pics.. Those prints aren't that bad. I've seen plenty worse on here.
@CorvoDewittV2 said in Issues with print quality, wall surface rough.:
@Corexy Not yet I am still at work, ill be home in 2 hours. I just though spring ones were dumb, I changed them when I build the thing, IDK if I even printed much of anything with the stock couplings. Do you think the 0.9 deg motors would cause an issue on the XY?
0.9 deg motors are supposed to be the correct ones to use for X and Y, Z as well I am told.
You need to run all of your steppers at 75-85% of their rated current. That's the done thing apparently, and is better than guessing.
I haven't seen what your fan duct is doing, but it is definitely not good to have it blowing on the heater block.
Let's see how those prints work out, and take it from there.
Have you tried those settings yet? I'd do that before you work on it mechanically.
One trick I've found with PETG is that if you are getting blobs building up on the nozzle tip, drop the extrusion multiplier (not the esteps) until it stops happening. PETG prefers to be slightly under extruded.
I've got those same plum couplings on my other printers and haven't had any problems with them. Why did you change them from the standard ones anyway?
I've got nothing else I can tell you from the information you've given until you do the steps I listed on post some pics. Best you do the same cube an benchy for comparison. Definitely there's some Z wobble there, but lets see it without the over extrusion first.
Clearly that is better, so you've identified the major config error I alluded to earlier in the thermistor setting, which was identified by DIY.
I can't give you any more tips to dialing it in than I have already. Step by step is the key.
