Hi to everyone - this is my first post in the forum and I'm hoping someone may be able to offer an insight into a problem I'm getting.
Printer: delta printer, Kossel Mini
Electronics: Ramps 1.4
Firmware: Marlin for delta printers
Host computer: iMac with OSX 10.9
Gcode streaming: Pronterface
Slicer: Kisslicer for Mac, last stable release
Attached is an image showing the defect in the print. The first few layers are all inline, there is then a small shift in the layer alignment along the Y axis of the print. The next few layers are then all perfectly lined up until another small shift back to the original alignment happens and the print then continues without any other defect.
It always seems to happen on the larger prints and always seems to be within the first 3mm to 10mm of the build height.
Things I have tried....
Checked for any slop in the delta arms – a fractional amount but this would have more of a randomising element rather then the clearly defined issue I'm getting
Checked the belts are all tensioned correctly
Checked, reset and tightened all the pulleys to make sure there was no slight slip on the D-flat of the stepper spindle
Changes made in the slicing....
Tried running at a lower speed - same problem
Tried running at a higher speed - same problem and there's no difference in the offset
Changed the layer start point from fixed to spread of 180º and this got rid of the problem, but now have lots of small blobs on outside of print
Conclusion...
Seem like this maybe a software issue, but not 100% convinced this is not a hardware problem. I'll try a different slicing programme and see what happens to try and isolate is this is Kisslicer or my build.
Has anyone else experienced this behaviour?
I'd appreciate any feedback!