Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

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Busby
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3D Printer(s): Hictop 3dp-11

Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Busby »

Well good news I have the printer working thanks to you and it is the best I have ever seen it print out. I just need to learn how to dial it in a bit better so that the 20x20x20 calibration cube is closer to those dimensions.

I also did a longer print and it was just as nice. Just a bit of blobbing that I need to resolve and the prints will be perfect.
Handle
Handle
Handle infill
Handle infill
Cube
Cube
I still need to do some of the other upgrades to complete the rebuild but now it is working I can print them out once I can tune it.

Thank you so much for all of your help in getting g it this far I cannot tell you how much it is appreciated.
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Roberts_Clif
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Roberts_Clif »

On the Hictop the Z-Axis Couplers.
If you wrap a single layer of Electricians Tape around the bottom Lead-Screw before inserting it into the Coupler it will not make Z waves.

You can test this by moving the Z-Axis up and down 100mm at a time it the Coupler wobbles then you will have Z-Waves.
Believe me this can be a one of the hardest mechanical adjustments a 3D Printer has to get correct to eliminating the Z-Waves.
Busby
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Busby »

I did try to do that but then I couldn't get the z axis threaded rods back into the coupling even with the grub screws backed all the way out.

I was just printing another handle out and it started layer stepping again :(
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Roberts_Clif
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Roberts_Clif »

Busby wrote: February 11th, 2019, 6:36 pm Checked all the voltages which were
X 0.88 - Y 0.88 - E0 0.86 - E1 0.89

I have set the voltages to what they were meant to be and set the Z to 1.07 as the video said 1 - 1.1

I also re-tensioned the Y - Axis belt just to be double sure that it was tight enough and checked all the drive cogs were definitely tight which they were.
Post image of layer shifting.
Is it layer shifting on more than one Axis.

I would slide the Y-Axis with power off is should be smooth and easily moved.Slowly move the Bed too both extremes.
If you are feeling any change of tension you may need to adjust your Y smooth rod holders.

Random height layer shifting can be caused my V-Ref.
Check your Steppers and Driver chips to see if they are getting hot as over heated components can cause layer shifting
You may have a little too much V-Ref back it off closer to the suggested .800 on your X, Y, and E how about .780
Busby
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Busby »

The layer shifting is on the Y Axis I have tried to get the linear rods as smooth as possible. I wouldn't mind but it will print beautifully for a whole 3 hour print then it starts to play about. I might just have to suck it up and buy new rods as they were the original ones.
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Roberts_Clif
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Roberts_Clif »

I know what you are going through. I am having layer shifting because I believe I bent one of the rods or maybe both.

My 3D Printer came with the really cheap bed carriage made out of thin sheet metal and bent at 90 degree angles for strength.
Any pressure on the carriage causes it to deform making the carriage warped, causing the front, back, right, or left to be off level.

Any way I was pressing on the carriage to re-level it when, I believe I bent the smooth rods. Tried to make them true again I do not know.
If the bed is not level the leveling screws will hit the smooth rod holders, causing them to stop instantly make quite a horrible sound..
I will need to purchase two Aluminum carriages and two 410mm smooth rods. This is half the price of another 3D Pinter.

The First image was because I was told that my stepper motor V-Ref was too high so I lowered it.
The Molded Right lead-screw mount broke was 3D Printing a replacement below.
Layer Shift.jpg
The second image is caused by tension of the Y-carriage bearings, And this is crazy it has a smoother travel than Printer without layer shifting.
Wobbly lines.jpg
And it only layer shifts on rectangular of square side of the model being printed. Rounded Models have no layer shifting.
Again this sounds like V-Ref Current settings or Jerk settings ect....
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Roberts_Clif
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Roberts_Clif »

And a Side by side of my Best adjustment since layer shifting began

Black is 3D Printer with layer shifting
Blue is its Twin Printer without layer shifting.

Right Lead-Screw comparison.jpg

You can see the layer shifting on the Black model though it is very minimal.
Will try Marlin 2.0.x Junction Deviation from low though high settings to see if it can be further corrected by configuration alone.
There has always been line on the model they are caused by internal changes of the model themselves,
like cavities leaves a darker shade line during the transition between solid and hollow will figure this out one day.
Busby
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Busby »

I know that you are not meant to use lubricant on the rods if using drylin solid linear bearings bust as a test I wiped some WD40 over the rods and slowed the print down to 90% speed using the control panel and it printed the test cube almost perfect, which leads me to now believe that the linear rods are probably slightly bent.
When I measured the calibration cube the results were
Y - 19.89
X - 19.90
Z - 20.13
Base
Base
X
X
Y
Y
Z
Z
I would like to try and get these values to be as close to 20 as possible but I have never done the tuning before so I have no idea on how to do it.

I did read something about it but the way it was explained has me confused to say the least, i do remember reading something else that made more sense on how to do it but for the life of me i can't find it again.

I think it was a wiki page but I cannot find it. It explained that if a value was lower then you had to either increase or decrease the steps or something like that.

Is this something that you could either help me do if you dont mind or point me in the right direction.
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Roberts_Clif
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Roberts_Clif »

Busby
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Busby »

Thanks for the information I will give this a go tomorrow when I am more awake.
Busby
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Busby »

PETG calibration
PETG calibration
Z - 19.99
X - 20.03
Y - 20.08

Pretty happy with that result, still waiting to do the upgrades as the parts haven't arrived from the slow boat yet but I will do them once they arrive. 😁
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Roberts_Clif
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Re: Need a bit of help deciding on upgrade or new

Post by Roberts_Clif »

Sometimes the Slow boat is faster it depends on several things.

I purchased several items from china. Via ("SpeedPak")

1st Items were fast went from China to Los Angeles to Washington State in record time. I mean faster than packages purchased in country.

2nd Items were slow went from China to NY State Via SpeedPak AIr then to Washington State Via USPS Ground Post threw the largest Blizzard
we have seen in the U.S.A in years, though this was still faster than Items purchased from Florida on the same day...
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