Hello,
I'm having some problems with my Mini Kossel.
Specs:
- I have the infamous Makergeeks kit (2015 edition)
- Attempting to print with 3mm PLA with target temperature of 185C
- Nozzle seems to be about 0.3mm or 0.35 mm, judging by the plastic strands coming out
- Mainly using Pronterface and Slic3r as software
Problem 1: Maintaining Z-height during horizontal motion. I have the firmware values manually calibrated so that I can go from home to any position on the print surface and arrive at the correct height. However, when I start doing horizontal movements the print head tends to drop and touch the bed. What causes this? Do I need to tighten my belts? They don't seem to be slipping, but they're not exactly guitar-string tight either.
Problem 2: Severe under-extrusion while printing. I've confirmed that when I manually tell the extruder to advance, say, 5mm, the filament does move 5mm. I've checked this both with the Bowden tube detached and then with just the print nozzle removed. With the nozzle on and the hot-end at temperature, I can usually perform manual extrusions that produce reasonable amounts of plastic (though the thing seems to get stuck/clogged very easily). The problem is when I slice a model and run a print job, the extruder gear barely seems to be turning and almost no plastic comes out. I've tried increasing the flow rate and decreasing the feed/print rate, but I'm still barely getting any plastic laid down. I've tried just about every setting in Slic3r related to the print head but it just doesn't seem to ever push even close to enough plastic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
