Printing

[Trey Roudebush]

I just got my printrbot plus( no longer calling it that cause it isn't that with everything I had to do to it) to print can anybody tell me what is wrong with the cube I printed and how to fix it.  This is also what my printer looks like know.

[Bill Schwanitz]

Trey,

There are a number of variables to look at for this. The best recommendation I can give you without knowing the settings used is to refer you to Triffid's calibration guide - http://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter%27s_Calibration_Guide

The key things:

1) Extruder steps. You need to get at least close to the right value for the extruder setup based on your specific configuration. ( this will make sense when you read the guide )

    - you will need to know the bolt diameter size, stepper microsteps per mm and then take an approximate diameter of the deepest part of the teeth and plug those numbers into an equation

2) Temperate for the material you are extruding

3) The speed you are trying to print at

4) The speed you are trying to move at ( non print moves )

5) The slicer configuration you are using.

   - filament diameter needs to be correct

   - nozzle orifice needs to be correct

It looks like you have a wades extruder setup. Depending on the positioning of the drive gear and the ingress/egress of the filament path and being centered on the teeth, the amount of force on the filament via the idler/springs you should be able to get a decent amount of torque on your filament. You want the filament path to be as close to center on the drive gear teeth as possible and you want the tension to be fairly tight - you should be able to see marks on the filament if you back it out a bit before extruding.

Depending on the controller you also have the potentiometers to play with. Some controllers are digital, some are analog - you may or may not need to tune this. Some defaults will work but you will have to play with this as you get finer control ( do this last unless you stall out the stepper )

I'll have my printer with me for the next meetup. I'm happy to help you/others work through the guide. It takes some time but the results should prove worth-while! I've gone through the process multiple times with different configurations - that guide really does work well.

Bill