Micromake Kossel Kit - Problem and Solution

Hi,

I recently completed a Micromake delta 3d printer kit, and I encountered a problem that had me completely stumped until I accidently found the issue. My version included injection molded parts, which make for a more professional appearance than the typical 3d printed parts. The assembly of the printer was relatively uneventful - I found the English instructions to be very helpful even though they had some translation issues. The Chinese youtube videos were also helpful if I turned down the audio so I wasn't distracted by the Chinese narration.

On startup, I was able to do the suggested bed leveling procedure and begin printing. However, every time I attempted a print, it would complete the raft and the first one or two layers of the object, then just halt. The Cura interface still indicated lines of GCode were executing, but the printer was dead until a reset. Different objects reacted in exactly the same way - stopping in the middle of the first couple of layers. The problem occurred both when printing from the computer over USB, as well as the same GCode on the SD card.

After sleeping on it, I thought that the problem seemed to be occurring at the about time that the cooling fan was configured to turn on via the software. My version includes two fans, one blowing across the fins of the extruder (which runs continuously), and a second that is ducted to direct the airflow to the completed part. I watched that fan, and never saw it turn on. I began to think that perhaps the fan might be defective, and the attempt to turn on the cooling fan might cause a disturbance in the power supply and reset the controller.

Luckily, my kit included a spare fan (no doubt a mistake), so it was easily replaced. After that, I was able to successfully print a number of objects without issue. This was completely non-obvious, with no error messages that helped to guide me to the ultimate solution. So I thought I would post it here in case anyone else encounters a similar problem.

Overall I am happy with this kit. It is offered in several variations with linear slides, the rolling pulleys, and a version using linear bearings on dual parallel rods. Inexplicably, the documentation calls the linear slides the "wire guage" version, and the dual rod with linear bearings the "optical" version. There are other translation funnies, such as adjusting the end stops until they make a "kaboom sound". But with a little diligence, a surprisingly capable delta printer can be had for less than $300 shipped. I am looking forward to learning more about delta printing (which seemed much like magic to me), and encourage anyone to explore this good value of a printer kit.

Dave

Hi Dave
I got one of these Micromake Mini Kossel pulley version kit.
A few reasons why I got this was the plastic injection molded parts,price,compact and a 12v system.
Went through the same process as you with the videos in chinese and a few pdf's in english.
They show how to put the thing together rather well always coming out with new videos but the videos I want to see in english
are about the Cura software they use.
Interesting that I wanted to get the latest Marlin source code so I could see how they configure the machine and after email them
there not to keen on releasing it.
So what they do is customize the Cura software with Micromake debugger and a Firmware configurator so no need for Marlin.
But with this setup there could be a problem if I were to connect a different model lcd interface not sure about those settings.

The controller board as far as I can tell is a MKS Mini v1.2 with Micromake branding on it. I keep a fan on the power supply it gets rather warm.
They seem to be useing this board with all their Kossel kits.
I wonder if they will upgrade to Mks base or something in the future.
For a 12 volt system and printing with PLA I am rather impressed with the results.

I seem to be running out of 10 " paper plates often I cut out about a 7" circular dia then scuff the center of the wax side with scotch brite
use some of that purple skool glue flip it over and it sticks to my crystal black onyx plate press down on the center and it sticks like crazy
providing a nice flat surface to print on with some masking tape around the perimeter.
I am able to do the bed leveling with this method and am within the tolerance so it's working out good.

I got the kit on Amazon and not to many people are writing reviews on mine or the other models.
I would like to hear what other people think of Micromake and what they have to offer.
As far as I can tell Micromake seems to be a very innovative group maybe more slanted to the chinese market but making inroads to the U.S. market.

At Thingverse there is a Micromake group join and I would be glad to share info about this with you or anyone else that has one of these machines.

Regards
frank

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i'm using this machine....new in 3d printing