Delta Foxtrot Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Trevor,I finished the build tonight and tried a quick power up. The LCD powers up and tells me the printer needs calibrating and if I press the knob I get to the main menu, so far so good. When i turn the knob to move around the menus I just get more and more black squares across the screen. I think the ribbon cables must be plugged into the rambo incorrectly. I have them with the red cable at the top, like the manual shows, but the connectors are reversed vs the photos. I wonder if the red cable should be at the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 Hi Dave That's odd; its not helped by the orientation of the photos but I installed mine per the photo - my connectors were not reversed. Have you got the single and double lined ribbons in the right sockets? the red tapes should be facing toward the usb port, the single lined cable is nearest the edge of the board Mine is printing at the moment so I can't check it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Thanks Trevor.I have the red lines uppermost on both and the double lined one to the left of the single lined connector as i look at the board with printer in its normal orientation.I will check again in the cold light of a new day.CheersDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 I just had a quick look and the double marked ribbon was upside down, clearly fatigue setting in leading to a mistake. I will fix and retest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 David hmm, that sounds correct, have you got them the correct way round at the lcd? Fun and games! Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 Ah, just seen your second post - I hope that that is the answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 That was the problem. I turned it over and the LCD works. Self test ran ok. On with the calibration tomorrow.CheersDavidEdited By Delta Foxtrot on 28/02/2017 22:59:03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Any good Dave? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 I set out to run the calibrations tonight hoping it would be plain sailing, it wasn't. The z axis cal worked first time, but it failed during the x-y cal. I managed fo fix it at the expense of a sore back.I will crack on with the setup tomorrow and hopefully get round to the frog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 Dave I hope that it goes well today. I am very happy with print quality so far. I am finding that a bit of Pritt is preferable on the bed despite the heating so I will be interested to see how you get on; perhaps I need to adjust the z a fraction more. The printed filament is so small I don't know how you can see the shape of it and compare it with the profiles in the pictures. At present, and if Pritt works its not a hardship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Trevor, I ran the calibration g code late on last night. I agree with you about the difficulty in using the filament shape as a guide for z-adjustment, you need a microscope to do what the manual suggests. I just tweaked it down until I the corners to stick and then a bit more. I suspect this will need further tweaks. I will try the Prusa logo tonight.CheersDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Trevor,I managed to print out the Prussa logo test piece tonight and the tree frog is currently printing and around 60% complete. I had the same issues as you in getting the first layers to stick, I tried the z-adjust but this did not solve my issue so I used the pritt stick like you. I suspect with a bit more experimentation this can be resolved, some forum posts suggest increasing the bed temperature to fix. There is much to learn, but that is part of the challenge.I stuggled to get the logo off the bed, I let it cool but not fully and then got it off with a scraper. I will leave the frog to cool overnight, before trying. I suspect I have too much z-adjust as the initial layer of filament used to purge the nozzle, before printing the logo, is very flat and will clean off so far. Could be the combination of z-adjust plus pritt stick has made the first layer too sticky.CheersDavidEdited By Delta Foxtrot on 02/03/2017 22:32:45Edited By Delta Foxtrot on 02/03/2017 22:33:19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 Dear David Jolly good; I am not too fussed about the Pritt, but I had a similar problem removing my print from the bed. The boss lent me a thin blade that she had bought from Metal Clay Limited (pro cutting blades) - there are three blades in the pack but the thin one worked really well - see here Instrument panel for my Avia coming up next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 Sorry, I should have said that the thin blade can be worked under the print; the stiff one was too thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Trevor, The frog printed, I left it on the bed overnight to let it cool and it came away fine this morning, I just held it by the body and pulled it off without too much force. I think I backed off a little on the z-adjust after the logo print which may have helped as perhaps letting the bed cool probably did. A bit more experimenting here to be done. Like you, I am impressed by the detail and quality of the tree frog test piece. The smoothness of the print is amazing. All in all a satisfying experience. I did enjoy the build and on the whole it went smoothly with just a few minor issues, these have generally been good learning points anyway. I am glad I bought the machine, the quality is very good. Thanks for the info David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaL Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Now your printer is working and zoned in perhaps you might like to print something a bit more interesting than a frog…. http://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:1?q=radial+engine&sa= Edited By MaL on 03/03/2017 13:14:10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Funny you should suggest that Mal. I parked my build of a Druine Turbulent to build the Prusa, one of the first items I want to design is a dummy engine for that project. I plan to start designing on in CAD unless I can find something suitable already available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I just had to print Adalinda and I am blow away by the quality of the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 Dave, glad it is meeting expectation. I tried the bottle opener today and was very satisfied with that; slide a penny in as the blade and it works fine. However, a few issues today - tried printing my Avia Instrument panel and had a couple of aborted attempts; the first one I tried without the printed brim; it curled and so I abandoned it and spent a lot of time cleaning the bed - stupidly managed to gouge a small fingernail sized chunk out of the smooth surface. Moral of that is take great care with a scraper. I think I can smooth it off with a filling of epoxy resin. After a couple further attempts and some more tweaking of the z axis I managed to get the zig zag pattern to work without Pritt. 2 hours into the print and the house power tripped out - grrr! back to the start again! I made up a small set of switches for the instrument panel - a bank of 3 on a base plate. In retrospect they were a bit too small and did not print very well, They were about 3 mm high and 1mm in diameter - I think it was a bit ambitious but might do better if they were part of a larger print. That's the problem with Cad - you cant resist drawing something in fine detail - dome headed panel screws circa 0.5mm dia was a bit silly! Managed to break one of the spool support arms as well - so all in all not a very successful day. However, its all down to operator error and lack of experience. I will draw up a replacement spool arm - any excuse for printing things! The latest iteration of the instrument panel has 2 hours to go but is looking good thus far. One lesson taken the hard way - if you do calibrate the z axis do take it right to the top; I cheated (because I had just done it a few moments previously) and only ran it up half way. Not a good plan - it wants to go past the bed when it travels down again so I ended up having to recalibrate the whole thing again. No damage done but it was pressing down quite hard on the board. I like the look of that radial engine Mal - I could do with something like that on my RBC Havard. Edited By Trevor Rushton on 05/03/2017 20:27:37 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Trevor,Sorry to hear you had a frustrating day, but you learn from these experiences.I too had the foot on the spool holder break off. I glued it back on and adjusted the fit with a file, works fine but there are better solutions on thingiverse I am sure.I am working backwards up the design chain by getting used to slic3r prior to getting back to Freecad and starting some designs. Goal for the week is to join up all of these bits of the process.Hope you get more joy soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I had taken careful note about the need to fully raise the z-axis before calibration, it is good that the software tells you to confirm this has been done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaL Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I did come across a couple of horizontally opposed dummy engines, one for a cub and I think the other was a VW car engine...any good?.. **LINK** **LINK** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Thanks Mal!I also spotted the first one on TV. I have downloaded it and will scale and print it to see how it comes out. It is a good oportunity to learn about printing with support and to undetstand the slic3r settings. This should be a useful exercise even if I wind up designing my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Foxtrot Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 I had a go at printing the model in the first file, scaled down to 40% to suit my model. It was printed with the cylinders vertical with a mass of support material which took a while to remove. The resulting print is not bad, certainly useable, but I think that there must be a better way of printing this, perhaps a better print orientation to minimise supports and better support print settings to aid removal. Being new to this, and this being the first print I have done requiring support material, I am sure I am missing some tricks. If I design a dummy engine similar to this flat four I would be tempted to split the cylinders in half, to remove the need for supports, and glue the parts together. Any advice on this would be welcome. regards David Edited By Delta Foxtrot on 08/03/2017 12:22:13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Rushton Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 David Not sure I can give any advice but how about slicing it through the middle to that the cut face can lay flat - print 2 sides and join them? Split some of the other parts to make them easier to fit rather than trying to print them in one.? I printed some large parts in "normal" mode today; still took 5.5 hours each but still pleased with the result; more grainy but for these parts (feet for a display board) it does not matter. Not having to use Pritt at all now, but I am printing with a brim to help adhesion. Trevor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.