printing issues

I just finished building a Hictop kit. I tried printing a model designed in 123D and sliced in Cura. It starts out looking ok but then goes off on tangents and prints everywhere even leaving large blobs which becomes bumps. I end up canceling the print. I even downloaded a model to print. It started out ok then just stopped and never resumed. im at a loss to whats going on.

it is supposed to be a circle 5mm thick with a hole in the middle.

What program did you print the object with - Cura? If so, did you check the layers view to see how the layers look. I had an object I made and tried to print, but the walls were thinner than the nozzle diameter so cura moved up and tried to keep printing in thin air. Since then I always check the layers view no matter what I'm printing.

Yes Cura

I think the layers issue was part of the problem. When I looked at the layers there was no support anywhere in the model. All I had was the top and bottom layer and the perimeter walls. So I made a new model and checked the layers and it looked like everything was there. When I printed (from SD card) it was looking good through about 3/4 of the first layer then it went haywire again laying down blobs and so forth. Then i noticed it was printing up off the model. The filament had fallen out of the tip. I tried to insert it but the extruder started clicking and grinding. Another failed print.

So I tried printing a gear model that came with 123D. The first layer seemed to be ok, then it started printing all over the place. Failed again.

I am very frustrated now.

One thing you need to consider when slicing is that the model need ot be a solid and watertight.
But apart from that you should start with with lower speeds and a proper calibration of the machine.
You can only get decent prints if the hardware is working correct and the firmware does not mess with you either.
So far I neither saw a calibration mentioned, nor any of the relevant print settings used....

I'm new to 3d printing to start with. I understand the idea behind calibrating an instrument. But I couldn't tell if what I did actually calibrated anything. I followed the instructions given with the machine (on the disk) but it was written mostly pictorially and reminded me of someone who didn't really know what they were doing (probably because they didn't know English). I tried finding something online that might help but came up short there as well (there is a lot of info out there, I just don't know how to use it properly).

I used the print settings as supplied. I couldn't tell you if they are the right ones or not. I have decided at this point that the nozzle heat settings are probably wrong.

With that being said, I have the following:

HICTOP 3D11 printer (kit)

I have set and changed all these settings more than once.

nozzle heat - between 180° and 210°
bed heat - between 50° and 70°
speed - 100
flow - 100
fan speed - 0

the bed is leveled to the x axies front and back just as instructed. the nozzle is like a hair off the bed. I can send it home and all the axies work like they should and stop where they should (as far I know). I did notice that the fan on the heat sink has never come on that I've seen. The turbo fan does come on if I tell it to and will go from at least 0 to 255 rpm (I haven't tried anything higher than that).

I know there are tons of other settings, but I would just be experimenting with those more so than I have with the ones I understand (albeit just a little).

For any other information just let me know. I've been really excited about this 3D printer. If you can help me get a print out of it, I just don't know how excited I'll be.

Speed is way to high. Try 50mm/sec or less. Also, it looks like your first layer is to high. Assuming you have a .4 nozzle, try .2 first layer height. Use a piece of printer paper as a gauge to set Z height after homing Z. Check gap at all four corners. If PLA, then set extruder temp to 180c and bed temp to 70c. If printing on blue tape you can lower that temp. You may want to try Slic3r. It's a little more user friendly. You'll have to add it to the directory in Repetier in order to have it as a slicer option along with Cura. You can speed up things after you get it dialed in.

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For any other information just let me know. I've been really excited about this 3D printer. If you can help me get a print out of it, I just don't know how excited I'll be.

Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get you going, and yes, it's way exciting once you start getting useful prints

Is there any chance you could post the .stl file of the model you are printing, and maybe the gcode as well - that way it will be clearer what we want the printer to do. Then I suspect a video of the printer doing it's thing may be a useful way to get a handle on what's happening.

OK

I checked the nozzle height on each corner using a sheet of paper. I was a bit off especially at the back. I changed the speed to 50 and the nozzle height to .2 and tried printing a new model. It basically was the same model, I just created it anew. I tried to make is a solid. The print started out OK but was different from before. Eventually it, too, failed. I made a video of it but it is nearly 20 minutes long so I don't know if I can post it here. I also tried a gear model using the new settings but it was all wrong from the beginning.

I am unable to attach any of the files as they are too big.

Can you put them on youtube or vimeo and post a link? But post the stl and gcode files here.

[www.dropbox.com]

[www.dropbox.com]

Those are dropbox links to the videos

[www.dropbox.com]

[www.dropbox.com]

Those are links to the gcode since they would not attach to this message.

and here are the stl files.

The first link is a photo (looks like a nice build), the second is the video of the start of the gear. It doesn't look like things are too far off.

Obviously you need to sort out the tape so that it doesn't catch the nozzle. What's under the tape? If it's glass you might find glue-stick is less hassle than tape.

The speed that you show on the lcd is a mutliplier, so that is 50% of whatever is in the g-code. I put your gear 2.gcode file into [gcode.ws] and it shows that the first layer is sliced for 20mm/s and the other layers for 50mm/s - those are the speeds set in the slicer. The 50% multiplier set on the printer means it's doing the first layer at 10mm/s and the others at 25mm/s. There's no harm in printing slow to start, but if you are using pla you'll likely be able to go faster once everything is working properly.

What size nozzle are you using? The first layer is using a 0.3mm height (but this will be very sensitive to the Z=0 position of the print head), and the other layers are 0.2mm. These are pretty good starting values as long as you have a nozzle of 0.4mm or bigger.

It's a bit difficult to tell from the video, but it looks like the extrusion is a bit too much. The movement of the head seems to fit what's in the g-code.

I think the place to start is the calibration guide: [reprap.org]

It's worth working through (most) all of it, but I think the sections "E steps" and "E Steps Fine Tuning" are probably going to be the most useful to you.

Let us know how you get on, and keep asking questions whenever you need to. You're nearly there

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2016 07:14PM by JamesK.

yes the nozzle is .4

i will check out the calibration guide as you suggest. I'm getting excited again. Thanks for the help!

Sorry if this is a bit basic but I reread the posts and just thought we may be a few steps ahead of ourselves.

In order to get a good print you load the STL file in to a slicing program (Slic3r etc). These are separate programs but for convenience can be run directly from your host program (Repetier etc). You have to configure the settings in the slicer specifically for your machine and to suit what you want to print. The slicer software is often downloaded and installed with the host software but all the settings will be to suit someone else's machine. The output from the slicing is the GCODE you either send to the printer or run from the SD card. You can't really run someone else's GCODE.
Most of your comments relate to the options selectable on the printer via the LCD however these are trivial compared to getting the GCODE correct.
I bring this up as there seemed a few obvious question to ask as I couldn't see a skirt, it wasn't clear how many perimeters you were printing or what infill pattern.
It may also follow that you are not necessarily getting the temperatures correct.
You seem to be printing from the SD so it would be good to know you have connected it to computer and run some basic calibration checks.
I hope you wont be offended by this.

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I hope you wont be offended by this.

Since I am a newby and learning I have no business being offended. Plenty of time for that later. Ha Ha

The software (Cura) did ask me for the machine.I created the model in 123D and the resulting file (stl) i brought into Cura. From there the GCODE was made and saved on a flash card which I can insert on the machine. There are plenty of settings in the software much of which has been covered in this post, at least as far as I know. I haven't been using anyone's GCODE only their stl file (the gear).

The papers that came in the kit told me which machine to use so I went in and selected that machine (Prusa Mendel 13). BTW my machine is not in the list. I don't have a problem trying a different machine. I wouldn't know the difference anyway.

If you ave anything more to suggest me to do, by all means suggest away. The more I learn the better I get. Better is good.

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The first link is a photo (looks like a nice build), the second is the video of the start of the gear.

BTW JamesK the first link was supposed to be a video but it never uploaded (it is 20 minutes long). I'm trying to upload to YouTube as "print fail" by heauxmbru. I'll let you know if it ever gets there.

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Can you put them on youtube or vimeo and post a link? But post the stl and gcode files here.

OK
My video is uploaded to YouTube. It is called "print failure" by heauxmbru. You can actually see it start printing all over the place. Close to the end of 20 minutes.

[www.youtube.com]

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I think the place to start is the calibration guide: [reprap.org] It's worth working through (most) all of it, but I think the sections "E steps" and "E Steps Fine Tuning" are probably going to be the most useful to you.

I checked out this calibration guide. I think it will get me calibrated to do quality prints. Problem is I don't really know how to do some of it. For example flashing the firmware. I could probably figure out how to flash it, but I don't what to flash it with. I mean, I saw several files online for flashing the firmware, but I don't which is the right one to use. Plus I am not connected to a computer, so can I flash from the card?

I have 20 tooth pulleys with 2mm GT2 belt (I'm assuming 2mm pitch) on motors with 1.8° step angle. The gear for the extruder has 27 teeth. I think I can run the feed to find out how much is feeding (I only have a ruler, maybe that will do), but again I have to flash it.

I had no idea this was going to be this technical, but no matter, I'll muddle through it.

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Obviously you need to sort out the tape so that it doesn't catch the nozzle. What's under the tape? If it's glass you might find glue-stick is less hassle than tape.

I forgot to mention about the bed. I have been putting masking tape on the bed. There is an acrylic panel about 1mm thick with a multitude of holes (approx. 1mm dia.) in it. That is what I'm covering with masking tape. I am clamping that on the hot bed. The nozzle clears it fine. But that one time I must not have pressed it down good.

OK, we have some weirdness going on there for sure. No need to worry about the calibration until we get to the bottom of this. There seems to be a gap in the video where the big blob appears at the back left - what was happening then?

I went to download the g-code for the spool and it doesn't seem to be there any more. Can you upload it here if you still have it?

Do you have a digital thermometer? I'm wondering if your stepper drivers are over-heating and cutting out. If you have a thermometer we can get some measurements.

Hmm, ok watched a bit more of the video and I have absolutely no idea what's going on there. Need to see the gcode to know what it should have been doing, but it's hard to imagine any reasonable scenario for those movements. It almost looks like the file is corrupt on the sd-card and you have half of a different model embedded in the original one. Perhaps try a different, new SD card?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2016 07:36PM by JamesK.

I decided to try that slic3r program to see if I liked it. I put the GCODE file in to print and I couldn't believe it, it started printing. Only setting I changed was the speed. I slowed it down to 70 and it just kept on printing. Then, I decided to change the speed to 80 at the beginning of the 3rd layer. Then it started to make blobs once in a while till one of the blobs just got so big that there was no way that it wouldn't affect the rest of the print. So I paused the print and tried to cut out the cancer. But when I resumed the print, I had moved things around so it did not resume at its last position. I had to quit the print at that point. It was exciting while it lasted. I printed about 10 or 12 layers (well maybe not that much). WooHoo

I put a link to drop box for the photos I took. No videos this time. I going to try it again.

dropbox

Well that's looking a lot better for sure! If it keeps printing without the wild moves we can go back to the calibration stuff.

It's certainly useful to be able to recompile and flash the firmware, but you can probably work around it if you don't want to do that yet. We'd need to know what firmware is on there and whether or not it has eeprom support enabled.

How do I determine what firmware is on there and so on?

Hopefully when you switch the printer on it puts a start-up message on the lcd identifying the firmware. I expect it probably also writes something useful to the console at startup but I don't remember for sure. If the eeprom is enabled there should be a menu entry for saving the settings. Repetier host has a useful editor page for updating eeprom settings, but any host software should allow you to send g-code commands to do the same thing.

M92 is the command for setting the steps per mm for all the axes (including the extruders), m500 saves the current settings to eeprom, m503 lists the eeprom. This mostly works the same for all the common firmwares, but if something doesn't work as expected it's good to know which firmware we are working with.

Page for g-code reference: [reprap.org]

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Hopefully when you switch the printer on it puts a start-up message on the lcd identifying the firmware.

There is no startup message on the LCD nor is there a menu selection for saving anything.

The board has "MK S Base V1.2" on it. Does that help any?

I have included a startup video.

Startup Video

Can you connect to the printer with host software like Repetier? When I connect to my printer I get some info in the console log that includes the firmware version:

12:00:15.972 : Printer reset detected - initalizing
12:00:15.988 : ??????Istart
12:00:15.991 : Info:External Reset
12:00:15.991 : Transformation matrix: 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
12:00:15.991 : Minimum Speed:3.54
12:00:15.991 : Minimum Speed Z:0.35
12:00:18.657 : Minimum Speed:3.54
12:00:18.657 : Minimum Speed Z:0.35
12:00:18.659 : Free RAM:1798
12:00:18.660 : SelectExtruder:0
12:00:19.094 : FIRMWARE_NAME:Repetier_0.92.8 FIRMWARE_URL:[github.com] PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:Mendel EXTRUDER_COUNT:2 REPETIER_PROTOCOL:3

You can get the same information by sending M115 to the printer.

It is Mega / Ramps clone so either Repetier or Marlin will run on it.
Since it is no problem getting these in current version, including config tools it might be easier to flash a clean firmware and set up from scratch.
With these clones you never know how old their firmware is anyway.

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Can you connect to the printer with host software like Repetier?

I moved the printer to the computer, downloaded and installed Repetier Host and connected the USB on the printer and computer. The LCD immediately came on but the power supply did not. So I connected the power cord and the power supply came on.

I tried to connect from the software but I keeps getting COM1 errors and cannot connect.

Device Manager tells me that COM1 is working properly. I see a device hooked up that is using COM1 called FT23R USB UART. It has, under properties/hardware, two devise functions:

USB serial converter
USB serial port (COM1)

Both of these say they are working properly. I think this is the 3D printer.

Repetier tries to force connection but it doesn't work.

I use Linux, so I'm not too familiar with how things work on Windows. You might need to try different speed settings, I think the default is a non-standard 250000. I reduced mine to 115200 as I couldn't get 250000 working.

OK

had to connect the USB cable last then it connected.

NAME: Marlin VI;Sprinter/gfbl mashup for gen6 FIRMWARE_URL:http//www.mendel-parts.com PROTOCOL_VERSION: 1.0 MACHINE_TYPE: Mendel EXTRUDER_COUNT: 1

So, now that we know what firmware it is, how do we flash it?