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TrueUp LZ

Discussion in '3D printers' started by Keith Davis, Oct 6, 2017.

  1. JustinSB

    JustinSB New
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    I originally ordered an Acrylic I3 from Geeetech. 1/3 of the way through the build, I realised that every single bit of Acrylic had been cut out slightly off true. All the 90° angles were actually around 87° instead - so nothing would fit properly or line up. They replaced that pile with a Pro W instead (because I asked them nicely). Every single rod in the Pro W was off true. Every single one! Plus, the threaded rods were also bent, just to add to the fun - & the "tolerances" on the wooden frame were horrifyingly bad. I managed to nearly stabilise the Z-axis through replacing the threaded rods with lead screws (dirt cheap Chinese eBay ones, which were sooo much better than the stock Geeetech junk) & using lots of collars. The X & Y are currently a work in progress (my new X-axis rods should arrive on Friday), although with every month that passes, it's getting better. It cost me £150 originally, & I've now spent between an extra £150 & £200 on top getting it working (my genuine E3D hotend & extruder weren't cheap, but I put them on & they worked perfectly, first time, & they instantly fixed all of my extruder & hotend problems, so they were worth every penny). On the plus side, I have been working on a very detailed Amazon review of what they sold me, with timelines & in-depth descriptions of just how crap it was, plus all the extra costs that I have incurred. It was the least that I could do...

    In my opinion, if you buy really long lengths of really cheap stainless steel rod, ie 5 or 6m, then pick them up in the middle rather carelessly with a crane. Manhandle them a little bit more, drop them on an uneven concrete floor, then cut them up into 400mm & 600mm lengths, you should get exactly this effect...

    I really regret ever having bought anything from Geeetech. Thankfully, now I know (just about) enough to build my own - which I can then slap my E3D hotend & extruder on & I'll be laughing.
     
  2. Rick 2.0

    Rick 2.0 OpenBuilds Team
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    Keith Davis and JustinSB like this.
  3. JustinSB

    JustinSB New
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    Thanks @Rick 2.0 - this site looks really interesting.
     
    Amateur Maker and Keith Davis like this.
  4. Poprocketx86

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    This Broken Bed Spring Link may have been reported:
    http://www.centuryspring.com/Store/item_detail.php?StockNumber=3712
    I just purchased one of your A6 kits. (User name here is not the same as paypal email) from Moore, OK. I think your kit will work much better as long as the disconnected motor doesn't act like a spring.
     
  5. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    The disconnected motor has no power, so it is freewheeling and acts only as a pillowblock holding bearings. The coupling "spring" is under no stress.

    Thanks for the purchase Roy. I'm shipping that this morning.
     
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  6. Poprocketx86

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    Wow Keith, that was fast. USPS reported they were in possession of my kit. Thanks
     
  7. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    Yeah, I forgot to add the USPS tracking number earlier [ **removed by moderator** ]
     
    #37 Keith Davis, Feb 2, 2019
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 2, 2019
  8. Poprocketx86

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    I received my A6 upgrade kit today. I must say your prints are really top notch. Caliper says no differences side to side or piece to piece.
    Very impressed.
    Just in time for tear down as my A6 Mboard gave up the ghost yesterday. Not sure what to replace it with as another ANet Mboard seems like it will
    happen again.
     
  9. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    The real problem with using a different Mboard is the mounting holes in the board will have to match at least two of the printer's mount holes. And the USB wills need to be in a usable location when mounted.

    But, first, determine what burned out on the current Mboard. If the heatbed is not working, there is a way to avoid that with a new board. To do that you buy a MOSFET. The power from the power supply runs through the MOSFET to the bed. The board's power outlet for the bed then is connected to a switch on the MOSFET to toggle it on and off. That is the most common board failure. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XY5HBFX If you buy a 2-pack you can do the same for the hotend.
     
  10. Poprocketx86

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    Well looks like the Mboard problem turned out to be a PS problem. For some reason it will only output 2.9v. Strange, but easier to replace.
     
  11. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    The PSU failure is a common Anet problem. They use the cheapest they can find.
     
  12. Marcelo Lafarciola

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    Do you already have the parts list?
     
  13. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    Parts list for?
     
  14. Marcelo Lafarciola

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    I want to build this one
     
  15. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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  16. Marcelo Lafarciola

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    Do you know what is the final price?
     
  17. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    My cost-of-goods for a TrueUP LZ is about $450. But I buy a lot of the parts in bulk, so it may be $50 more for the each.
     
  18. Joe Saindon

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    Well I got this printer assembled over the weekend. There were enough instructions to complete the task, and some improvising along the way to customize some things. I am glad I am an electrical engineer for when it came time for the electronics. I can see how someone with less knowledge in this area could get stuck on this build and have to scour the reprap guides to debug and wire everything.

    Here are some things I noticed during the build and questions if you have the time Keith. Any advice/help is much appreciated.

    My part cooling bellow doesn't align below the nozzle, but at the heat block. I attached an image. Is that normal? I thought it should be pointing down toward the nozzle area. I can make a custom spacer to lower that some. It looks like mine is too high compared to your pics.

    I also noticed at least one discrepancy from some other postings about the stepper motor config. I thought you were using 16th steps for the X and Y; and 8th steps for Z and Extruder. X and Y were moving properly during setup, but I was getting double long moves on Z, so I changed the jumpers to 16th steps and its now accurate there. I ran out of time before work and haven't verified the extruder step size yet.
    Is the LZ firmware on your site configured for 8th or 16th steps on the Z axis? I'll remove the nozzle and extract 10mm from the edge of the heat block when I get home to see what I get for length.
    Did you decide to use 16th steps across the board? Any reason why?

    I couldn't find any assembly steps for the Z end stop adjustment screw. It looks like you have a long threaded rod, but that isn't in the BOM or any assembly steps. It just says to install the Z stop adjuster, with no details. It looks like an M3 or M4 sized hole that would need to cover 3 or so inches. So my Z stop isn't the most reliable right now as its just a self tapping screw in that hole. I fiddled with the end stop height to get the correct Z0 point.

    What screw/hardware are you using for the Z end stop adjuster? All I have are the plastic pieces.
    Do you set the origin on the corner of the bed or off the bed?

    So far I have about 20 hours of fabrication/assembly, and 6-8 hours of routing and figuring out wiring connections, hahaha. I customized some things, and fabricating the mounting plates to mount the electronics platform (acetal sheet) to the power supply via brackets took a while. The MOSFETs are great, they didn't even get warm when I tested one by powering up the bed for 10 minutes, so that will take some heat stress away from the MKS-GEN board.

    I should have my first print sometime tonight, getting excited. Thanks for posting 90% accurate instructions Keith, this was a fun and rewarding project so far.
     

    Attached Files:

  19. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    Hi Joe

    Lookin good!

    Your part cooling fan hanger bracket is not going down on it's slide tang as far as it should. The slot should go down so the tang is sticking just out above the top of the slot. You might have to relieve the slot size with a 6" ******* file to get it to go all the way down. If you do not get that properly seated down, your bellow may wiggle when printing at high speed. You can also print a shim piece mirrored to the top of the bellow and place it under the fan to adjust for height.

    For the extruder I prefer 1/8 step simply because the motor and driver runs cooler and delivers slightly more torque with lower steps. Microstepping was not developed for accuracy but to reduce sound and give smoother movement. You may find you want to use 1/16 just to cut that motor's sound output. My printers run in a separate room so sound is not an issue, but you can hear a difference if you are in the same room. You can change the firmware settings through Repetier Host's Config>Firmware EEPROM Configuration.

    When setting the steps for the extruder, remember, you are measuring the length of filament above the extruder, not the amount extruded. It makes no difference whether you have a nozzle attached or not, it's the amount of filament passing through the drive gear teeth that you're measuring. Ideally, measure 50mm up from top of motor and mark the filament at that point. Then extrude 50mm with Repetier manual, that mark should move down to the top of the motor. I use a snippet of marking tape to mark the filament. Do not be tempted to use a felt tip marker for that if you are using a light colored filament. The ink will carbonize in the nozzle and get stuck in there. You can tinker all day with E-steps to get exact extrusion length, only to find your next roll might be slightly different diameter and that setting would not be exact anymore. (Remember, you're not printing a part that will go to the International Space Station (unless of course you are).

    For the Z axis height adjuster I tap a m3 thread down through the bracket and use a m3x60mm screw.

    I use an 8" x 8" x 1/8" mirror to print onto. That should fit on the heatbed barely between the corner screws. Then I home the extruder to just barely touch onto the mirror corner with the endstop positions.
     
  20. Joe Saindon

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    Thanks Keith. That info helps. I do have the extruder at 8th steps and it measures correctly after marking the filament, then feeding 50mm.

    I only had 1 semi-successful print, and the rest haven't completed due to filament not feeding. Its as if its getting cool up above the melt zone, and I've tried upping the temp from 185 to 215 with no help, so I don't see how that is causing this. I tried offsetting my Z home position by 0.1 and 0.2 mm which helped a little, but I keep getting a filament jam at 10-15 layers in. Any ideas or common rookie mistakes I am making? I do notice the nozzle running over areas in prior layers, as if they are not flat. Would that cause this plug up? After I kill the job and let it sit for a bit, it seems to start flowing again though.
     
    #50 Joe Saindon, Oct 21, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2019
  21. Joe Saindon

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    I was having temp issues. Im in the basement so I guess I didn't realize how hot I needed it to get good flow. Now onto cleaning up the print settings. The calibration cube was slightly over 20mm, so I will tweak the steps per unit in firmware.
     

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    #51 Joe Saindon, Oct 22, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2019
  22. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    If you are running the part cooling fan, move it's Repetier slider bar left to slow that fan down. It sounds like you are getting too much cooling in that cold room. Also, you might turn your bed heat up a ways to build a heat wall around the printer. I had to do that last winter. Also, after you are printing good, stop and reverse the extruder motor and check the filament to make sure the drive gear marks look like they were cut by a milling machine. They should be uniform and be a fairly crisp cut into the filament. Since you have had a plug up, you may have ground debris into the teeth that needs cleaning. THe lever spring tension may also need tightening to keep the gear teeth from slipping on the filament. Since this is happening pretty regularly into the print you may have a roll that has regular sections of slightly smaller diameter filament. Tightening spring tension should adjust for that.

    Once you think you have X & Y dialed in the same distance, the positive test is to print a circle. If the circle is round, you got it. I print a hole in a square then fit a round something in the hole to see if it's round.
     
  23. Joe Saindon

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    Thanks for the tips Keith. After many hours of playing with settings and test prints I think I am getting there.

    Big Problem 1: LEARN HOW TO ASSEMBLE A HOT END. Haha, I wasn't paying attention when I assembled it, so the heat break barrel wasn't threaded to the correct depth and was getting hot on the cool end. I didn't realize at first you need to screw in the nozzle, leaving several threads left. Then screw the heat break barrel flush with the nozzle. Then use the wrenches to get it snug to avoid leaking. This keeps the skinny part of the heat break barrel right between the cold and hot ends. Once I reassembled it the correct way I didn't have any more filament plug up near my cold end. I get a ton of debris on my knurled gear from the wood filament and there are nice indentations from the gear in the filament also. I did have to up my spring tension, so that may have played into it. I wasn't sure how tight it needed to be and didn't want to over-work the motor if I didn't need to.

    Big Problem 2: Ensure the bed is level. I spent several hours of levelling and re-levelling due to sticking issues. This was mainly my own lack of experience getting the better of me, but eventually you get the hang of it. I can run the nozzle all around the bed at 0 and not see a gap or scrape the bed. When I thought I had it level, I ran the nozzle in a grid-like pattern on X,Y in 50mm increments and verified the gap distance with the Z axis set to 0.1mm. I used a feeler paper which was 0.1mm thick to gauge. I was able to feel light scraping against the nozzle. If I couldn't fit the paper between the nozzle and bed, I adjusted the nearest screw a fraction of a turn until I felt the light scraping as it slid under the nozzle. I had an issue where the bed springs would cause a screw to bind slightly, so whenever I make an adjustment, I jiggle that corners spring and screw to ensure that corner is up at its intended height. I had to do some customization around the bed spacers to get my setup to where I wanted it.

    Other than those 2 major issues that took some time to learn about and overcome, I am now printing directly on my Ultrabase 220x220mm glass bed and prints ae sticking down the first time. I used a thin thermal pad between the heat bed and glass plate. I get uniform heating at 2-3 degrees under the temp reported in firmware. I modified the leveling screw system some to be able to use this glass plate. Once level, I haven't had to touch it yet after a couple dozen prints. I learned a ton in the process about slic3r settings and adjustments and found a few test prints for heat/speed testing on new filaments.
    I shouldn't have started printing with PLA+, its not as good of a starter filament, unless I got a finicky batch. When I switched to some wood PLA I wanted to try, it laid down so smooth and perfect, I almost cried, it made me so happy. I thought I was the problem the whole time, haha. The PLA+ wanted to keep sticking to the nozzle but I finally figured out a good temp and speed for first layer to get 90%+ stick rate on first try.
    I'm afraid to go up to 100mm/s on infill. 60 seems like its almost too fast, haha. I've been using 40mm/s perimeters, 60mm/s infill-bridges-supports, and 30mm/s first layer. Maybe after I get more comfortable I will go faster. I am trying to print some details at .1 mm layer heights so the lower speeds are better for that.
    I attached the doll crib I printed out of wood PLA overnight. I just have a little stringing I will try to correct with more retraction, and some details are a little fuzzy, but overall a nice print.
    Do you know what would case the wavy appearance on the vertical faces? I get that on every print, like there is slop somewhere, but it isn't a lot. Its on all faces of the Z axis. My extruder feels a little wobbly and not very rigid if I wiggle it up/down gently, other than that all axes seem snug with no play.

    Update (11/4/2019) - My odd surface finish was from vibrations caused by loose extruder carriage mini-V wheels. I didn't have the non-concentric spacer rotated enough and there was some up/down slop at the extruder carriage wheels. This makes sense. Since the issue was on all vertical faces of the prints I figured it was an extruder vibration or table vibration. The table is solid so that left me to tighten up the carriage. Now I am printing in good detail at 0.15mm layer heights using the stock 0.4mm nozzle.

    I am more than happy I went with this build. It prints so smooth now that the kinks are ironed out.
     

    Attached Files:

    #53 Joe Saindon, Nov 3, 2019
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2019
  24. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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    Something to look at concerning "extruder wobble". Most of the heat in the extruder exits as hot filament. If you have a plug up and filament quits extruding, that heat instead works it's way up the extruder body fins.The 30x30 fin cooling fan is not big enough to dissipate that heat. If the extruder remains heated while not extruding filament, enough heat rises to the top of extruder body to make the printed body soft enough for the fin body top groove to wobble in it's printed body cavity. Even the slightest play in that socket is exaggerated down at the nozzle end. That socket fitting must be rigid tight. If tightening the set screw(s) does not clamp the fin body socket in the groove enough, you may need to reprint the extruder body to get a tight enough fit.
     
  25. Joe Saindon

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    Good tips. I will check into that. I had the parts printed by a friend and I already reprinted a couple with this printer that seem to fit better than his. Maybe I will reprint the whole extruder set with this printer. I did find some play in the extruder carriage V-Wheels also. I tightened up the wheels by adjusting the lower wheel's spacer. The nut wasn't too tight so maybe I forgot to tighten it after installation. Its printing better now, and dead accurate, but all parts just wind up with this wavy surface finish on all smooth walls or textures. It doesn't show up on rounds though. I printed a couple succulent planters and it wasn't as noticeable. I'll figure it out. I'm already way better than when I started. Its fairly addicting and I think I need another printer already :p
     
  26. Keith Davis

    Keith Davis Veteran
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