Prusa i3 Complete Kit

It could be the filament. Have you tried with different filament? Check the diameter and see if it's under 3mm. And are the teeth on the hobbed bolt clean before the print starts?

Also, the 3Dimensionshop is generally more prone to getting clogged.

Anyone got any ideas about endstops?

I'm having a bit of trouble with my endstops, I have installed the switches according to the recommended guides:
normally open microswitches wired to Xmin and gnd, Ymin and gnd, etc...

I'm using a GColbourn hardware kit with the Marlin build recommended in this thread,
with the latest config.h, along with pronterface.

Using the manual controls I can get the motors to move in one direction,
but get no movement and endstop hit warnings when I try in the other direction.

I've tried running the setup eithout the endstops connected, still the same probs,
so I think the problem is with the firmware.

Thanks for any tips!

So I found the problem.
After spending tons of time on Printer (starting to get feeling of things ) turned out that major source of all problems is the HotEnd. Sorry to say that, but 3DimShop hotend is piece of sh....t. There are several reasons to that statement, first of all it is very bulky (lot of brass) creating really huge heating area, that should not be a major problem alone, but combining with another 'feature', it creates lot of inconsistencies in printing. That feature is that, there is a silikon tube inside PTFE nozzle which enters the brass hot end section, this silikon is actually very soft. I have tried to manualy push the fillament (which is actually perfekt, I measured like two meters long piece 30 times in different angles and it is really, really gut, I bought it on Amazon) and everything goes well, at start, than its starting to get more and more difficult, more pressure is needed to push the fillament out. In that very point i have tooked the fillament it out and what I saw suppriesed me. At the and of the fillament is big chunk of half/melted fillament more than 4mm in diameter and 2cm long, and its slightly off the axis. That also causes big problems when I try to remove the fillament, this big chunk is always stuck in extruder body. I think that while pressure rises this soft silicon tube allows to fillament (due to off-axis) grow bigger in diameter thus creating some sort of turbulent flow and big counter pressure. It also causes chain of problems - fillament removal, printing inconsistencies, solid layers are not beeing solid, an extensive pressure in hot end is creating a blobs while moving from perimetr to perimetr (retract does not help), printing of overhangs is not possible at all and so one and so one. And since no one can tall ho much material and for how long is already melted in hot-end leads to degrading of PLA and clogging the HE completely.
If i keep my printing below 30mm/s its bearable, but that is not the way i would like to follow.
A have to say that 3DS hot and is very poorly designed and I am ordering a J-head instead or E3D i am not sure yet. If you want to see how does it look like i can upload some pictures. If that is possible.

Hey Culfy,
I have one printer that has a similar hot end to you, Here are my personal observations:
I don't know if this applies to your hotend - If it has a PEEK section, some hotends need a small fan aimed at the peek section to stop the heat creeping up the PEEK barell causing blockages. these type of hotends work best when the filament is melting only near the nozzle. "heat creep" causes jams. You can look up how to make a peek fan mount on the net...

Also - I have never got good filament from amazon! If you have loads of money, Haberdashery are amazing. I like Formfutura, as they are not much more expensive than the dodgy Amazon filament, and have a very good reputation.

prusauser - are the endstops wired as in this diagram?: [www.emakershop.com]

culfy - yes the 3dimensionshop PFTE hot end isn't that good. I have managed to get half-decent prints with it using a fan though (can also increase retraction length to 1-1.5 mm to reduce oozing).

Hi Greg,
Thanks, I had followed a guide that suggested "normaly open".
I think the guide you linked to is "normally closed"
I have resolderd the wires and now it's working.

Note, for the LCD, you want to set:

//LCD and SD support
//#define ULTRA_LCD //general lcd support, also 16x2
//#define DOGLCD // Support for SPI LCD 128x64 (Controller ST7565R graphic Display Family)
#define SDSUPPORT // Enable SD Card Support in Hardware Console
//#define SDSLOW // Use slower SD transfer mode (not normally needed - uncomment if you're getting volume init error)
//#define ENCODER_PULSES_PER_STEP 1 // Increase if you have a high resolution encoder
//#define ENCODER_STEPS_PER_MENU_ITEM 5 // Set according to ENCODER_PULSES_PER_STEP or your liking
#define ULTIMAKERCONTROLLER //as available from the ultimaker online store.
//#define ULTIPANEL //the ultipanel as on thingiverse

Hi

I bought the I3 Kit with the E3D hot end and LCD. The mechanical job is done, now I have questions for the electric commissioning.

I try to connect with repetier-host. With 250000 Baud setting, a connection ist not possible. Repetier connects only with 230400, that's strange.

(The setting in config.h should be 250000 ?!)

But while the connection is made (with 230400), there is no communication nor manual control of the printer.

Google said, that this could be a problem with the Baudrade settings/Eeprom storage?

What can I do to solve the problem?

LCD: The LCD doesn't show anything. Must I activate the LCD in the Firmware?

Would this then be the right setting:
#define ULTIMAKERCONTROLLER //as available from the ultimaker online store.

Temperatur sensor: Is the E3D sensortype (Sensor 1) defined in the firmware?

(I think, I must compile/load a new firmware, -> further questions will come


Edit:
We have compiled a new firmware, with the 230400 speed the communication works. Not with 250000
Also the LCD display works fine now, and we made the right settings for the Sensor, optimized settings for PID. The work goes on...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2014 08:29AM by yannik.

Hi yannik,

You need the firmware for the LCD as in the message above yours "#define ULTIMAKERCONTROLLER //as available from the ultimaker online store" is correct.

Both temperature sensors should be set to 1 (they should be like this by default).

I've not used Repetier host, but Pronterface has no problems connecting at 250000 baud rate.

What PID settings did you use?

Cheers,
Greg

The electric commissioning is done, now we start with calibrating.

For this I have a question to position the endstops.
The X and Y endstops are no problem, but I do not understand how I can move the z axis endstop holder for 0.2mm or less.

You wrote:
"- z adjustor built into x motor piece (put M3 bolt through it for easy adjusting of z height with an alan key (0.4 mm per full turn). "

The endstop holder with the switch is mounted at the 8mm stick. There is no possibility to move the holder with a bolt.
Nor is there a linkage to the X-motor.

I can only loosen the bolt and move the holder, but not in 0.2mm steps.


We take the pid values from greenalien
// E3D v6
#define DEFAULT_Kp 12.6
#define DEFAULT_Ki 0.66
#define DEFAULT_Kd 60.6

Oh, I found the mistake, we made: We build the prusa mirror-inverted, so the z-axis thread is on the top. -> Go to start.

One question for the next try:

Here on step 1 is described: thread two M10 nuts in the middle


But the nuts are according to pictures not in the middle of the rods, they are closer at the stepper motor end.

Do you have dimensons, where the nuts have to be placed?
Edit: We have measured it and shift the frame about 8cm away from the middle of the rods

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2014 12:02PM by yannik.

See attached picture for z endstop (the holder stays fixed, and the z home position is adjusted by turning the bolt above).

Thanks for PID settings, have updated our config file (also attached, version correct for E3D hot end & LCD)

The m10 nuts should be towards the stepper end to get the full y travel (there should be about 8-10cm between the frame and the back y legs). This can always be adjusted once you know the position of the hot end though.

E3D-V6 NTC Type:

Is this the type of temp. sensor which you delivered with the E3D hotend : B57560G1104F ?

Edit:
I think this is the right type: B57540G1104F. It is smaller, I'am right?

What type of insulation do you use?

PS: the mounting of the sensor in the E3D Hot-End is a very bad solution. The Hot End was jammed and the first demounting has boken the thermistor.
Also it is nearly impossible, to mount the sensor without contacting the wires to the housing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2014 06:52AM by yannik.

Hi I have just completed building this kit. I have had great fun thanks. great sense of satisfaction so far. I have managed to wire every thing and communicate with pronterface. homing and movement of motors all ok so far. Heating - bed and extruder all good.. I have the E3D v6 extruder What I'm not clear about is where on the ramps board do I power the fans. the extruder and stepper driver fan ?

great kit GColbourn

thanks

I learned this weekend: The E3D fan must run always with 100%. Also connect this fan to the 12V power.
Pherhaps there is a connection on the board which enables the fan when the printing starts?

I had connected the fan to the controlled output, ant this caused the E3d to jam.

Quote
yannik
I learned this weekend: The E3D fan must run always with 100%. Also connect this fan to the 12V power.
Pherhaps there is a connection on the board which enables the fan when the printing starts?

I had connected the fan to the controlled output, ant this caused the E3d to jam.

Thanks for the info. That sucks shame that information was not obvious.

I really like this kit and i expected to do a large amount of research to build. I am finding that within rep-rap there are huge amount of variations of one style of printer and that is what i like about open source you get what you want. but it does tend to breed errors and mishaps. having this forum dedicated to this kit is excellent.

Yes, the E3D needs to have a fan on it even when heating up. If you set in gcode (e.g. Cooling in Filament Settings in Slic3r), even if you set "Keep fan always on" it only goes on when the print starts (i.e. after the hot end heats up, and potentially jams!). So, it's best to plug the E3D fan directly into the pair of 12V pins near the yellow fuses on the RAMPS board (marked “D2 12V-AUX”). This means the fan is on 100% whenever the power is on. The fan for the stepper drivers can be put into the D9 screw terminals, and set to be "always on" in gcode, or wired in parallel with the hot end fan.

Quote
craftcadet

Quote
yannik
I learned this weekend: The E3D fan must run always with 100%. Also connect this fan to the 12V power.
Pherhaps there is a connection on the board which enables the fan when the printing starts?

I had connected the fan to the controlled output, ant this caused the E3d to jam.

Thanks for the info. That sucks shame that information was not obvious.

I really like this kit and i expected to do a large amount of research to build. I am finding that within rep-rap there are huge amount of variations of one style of printer and that is what i like about open source you get what you want. but it does tend to breed errors and mishaps. having this forum dedicated to this kit is excellent.

Yes, the advantage of open source: many people will help you. All parts are open and reprintable,

But with the 12V for the E3D Hotend: RTFM, it is described in the E3D assembling manual. I 've read it after jamming the nozzle.

yannik - the temp sensor is EPCOS 100k from Gadgets 3D. Note that we only get the metal parts of the hot end from E3D, we source the rest of the parts elsewhere. For insulation, you can use the black heat-shrink tube, or just the clear tubes that come with the thermistors (this has heat-resistance up to 230C). I can send you another thermistor (or 2) if you want - let me know by email.

Dear Greg

I bought your kit a couple of months ago, but only now I am putting it together.
I have a question about the assembling of the endstops. You provide a single J support, which is for the z-axis endstop. I can see it in a picture in the forum.
My question is: how do I assemble the x- and y-axis ones? Is there any part in the kit for this purpose?
Thank you very much for your attention

Adrián

Hi Adrián, we use cable ties to attach the x and y endstops directly to the smooth rods. Note that I've updated the listing text since you bought your kit to include this and other tips :-)

Hi Greg,

I bought a kit a couple of weeks ago from you and have been slowly assembling it over the weeks.
The kit has been overall excellent however i have a few small issues with it that some of the people posing here may heve already metioned.

1. There is no Z axis tensioner
2. The E3D hot end thermistor is a bit too large

Also the RAMPS 11A fuse seems to have been damaged in transit since the 2 fuses were bent (touching each other) and and even after straightening it and putting a fan on top of it i can't get the hot plate to heat up.

It reached 40⁰C a few times and then it just shut off.

I have ordered some replacement fuses and a few mosfets just in case to see if that fixes my issues.

Edit: Oh and before you blame the hot plate I checked its resistange is between 1Ω - 1.2Ω and when i hooked it up directly to the PSU it was drawing about 11A so it should be fine.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2014 07:55AM by Fuxy.

Hi Fuxy,

1. Do you mean x axis tensioner? We took that out as we don't use it. But I've got a prototype x idler piece with a built in tensioner. As it is, it's straight forward to cut the cable tie and tighten it up again (although you can do with an extra hand, or a strong clip to clamp the belt when you cable tie).
2. Yes, this is down to us having hundreds of a different type of thermistor spare (we only get the metal parts and fan holder from E3D). You can try drilling out the hole if it doesn't quite fit, or I can send on a couple more and hope they fit (sometimes they do without any trouble).

If you're still having trouble with the heated bed after fixing fuses and mosfets, let me know and I can send a replacement board.

Cheers,
Greg

1. Yes i did mean X axis (mistyped), I know it can be done other ways it's just that a tensioner is the most elegant solution to the problem and a pet peeve of mine when the best solution is not used.

It's all good i can print it myself when i get the printer to work.

2. As far as the E3D hot end thermistor is concerned I allready got one from them that fits perfectly ,they are definitely overpriced and I understand why you don't use them I'm just saying that you should consider sending smaller ones for the hot end if you can in the future.

I'll get back to you regarding the board once my parts come in.

Regards,
Fuxy

Hi Greg
I had purchased the complete kit from you through eMAKERshop a while ago, I have been building it for awhile on and off due to studies, work and children, I had It up and running after having it for 6 months and the only problem I had encountered was the rapid movements, my steppers where losing steps before I could print and while printing. I had read somewhere in these posts about changing the firmware and after downloading the latest one and changing the EV3D hotend setting for the 3Dimensionshop hotend setting and loading the firmware back on I found the motors don't respond and the Repetier software does not send info to the board, I am a complete novice when it comes to arduino and would appreciate if you could maybe give me some advice.
Cheers
Luke

Hey Luke,

I had same issue, turns out you really need that fan on the electronics to keep it running smooth! Since then no missed steps, although I did need to make sure my belts were tight (but not too tight) and all works fine now.


Greg, have the printer working brilliantly now, moved it back up to full/default speed and I have no idea how it moves so fast and keeps printing. still some work on calibrating the thing especially with overhangs.
Attached a picture of some prints from this past weekend!

Hi Luke, did the firmware load on without any errors? I've not used Repetier. Have you tried Printrun/Pronterface? There's a possibility that the motors are now the "wrong" way round in the firmware. You can change the orientation either by plugging the leads into the board the other way (make sure everything is off, inc. USB unplugged), or reversing in firmware by changing "true" <-> false in the following lines in configuration.h

#define INVERT_X_DIR true // for Mendel set to false, for Orca set to true
#define INVERT_Y_DIR true // for Mendel set to true, for Orca set to false
#define INVERT_Z_DIR true // for Mendel set to false, for Orca set to true
#define INVERT_E0_DIR false // for direct drive extruder v9 set to true, for geared extruder set to false

Hi peirce, nice prints! :-) What speed settings are you using? We've yet to experiment much with speed-printing (once we go reliable printing, we kind of stopped there).

Also, it would be awesome if you (or anyone else reading) could upload a video to YouTube - it would be nice to pass the reddit youtube test at some point - [www.reddit.com] :-)

Hi Greg
I had changed the wires around on the stepper motors to get it to work and I had it printing with Repetier with no problems during printing, was running nice and smooth but during homing procedures and rapid the z axis stalled. Now that I have uploaded the new firmware Repetier does not send commands through to the ramps and says 'n' commands waiting, I could try using ponterface but I think it is the config file I have loaded that is not working properly.
When I loaded the config file onto the board I had sent it from arduino to the board with the ramps still attached and all power on but I was not connected to the Repetier software, does this sound correct or have I done something wrong?
Please can anyone help as I am back to late night studies for 9 months before I can have a proper look at it again??
Thanks for your replies so far Greg and Pierce.

Quote
When I loaded the config file onto the board I had sent it from arduino to the board with the ramps still attached and all power on but I was not connected to the Repetier software, does this sound correct or have I done something wrong?

It sounds correct. Sometimes if I have the printer connected in Pronterface it will time-out during the upload. But if it gets through the upload ok (i.e. says "Done Uploading" without any error messages) it should be ok. I suggest trying Pronterface to check it's not a compatibility issue with Repetier (although I know someone who's using Repetier ok with one of my printers).

With regard to the z stalling, this might be due to the cooling/fan issue. Also, the voltage on the z stepper may just have needed turning up a bit (it's unlikely it was a firmware issue).