MakerGear Forum

Has anyone seen this issue? I was printing a BirdHouse and while printing about 1.25" up the printer shifted along the X axis and then shifted back. However another 1.25" and it shifted again and this time it did not correct it self. I have looked at the model and there are no deviations, it should be a straight wall.

common issue and can be cause by a few things. most commonly over-extrusion or your part warping then the nozzle knocks into the print causing missed steps. other causes can be loose belts, pulleys or even belts that are too tight as well.

I have checked the belts and pulleys they are okay. How is over extrusion a possible problem? I have nozzle dia .35, multiplier .93 extrusion width auto,primary layer height 0.15.

Well it generally has to be on the extreme side. When you overextrude the extra plastic has to go somewhere and since the perimeter walls are printed first then the plastic usually goes up which the nozzle will drag on. This is mire noticable on solid infill areas or thick walls, etc. slow down your x y movement speed as well. Standard setting in s3d is 18000mm/min. I dropped that to 9000. Acceleration can be lowered as well. Stick setiing is 3000. I move that diwn to 1000

Thanks Jim will try tomorrow

Also, X axis shifts are commonly caused by mechanical failures. Does your hot end shift at all when you try to rotate it around the motor axis? (Check for a motor mount crack.) If you dismount the filament drive and fiddle with the extruder gear, does it have any play? (Tighten set screw, use Loctite.) There are also set screws on the pulleys for both X and Y motors, see if those are tight as well.

1. X axis shifts are commonly caused by mechanical failures. Does your hot end shift at all when you try to rotate it around the motor axis?
I have Checked and all set screws are tight(Check for a motor mount crack.)
2. If you dismount the filament drive and fiddle with the extruder gear, does it have any play? (Tighten set screw, use Loctite.)
It is tight and no play
3. There are also set screws on the pulleys for both X and Y motors, see if those are tight as well.
Pulleys set screws are tight. How do you check the tension on the belts and how tight should they be?

Sorry for not closing this out, what I did find was that my nozzle was hitting, not all the time and only when i am printing a large product this coupled with the part lifting off the bed at a corner is what was causing my issue. I added .25 retract vertical lift and the nozzle cleared and did not hit the walls. As for lifting on the corners i have gone to the Mic6 aluminum plate and it has helped a lot. I have also started using the 8x10 polyimide sheets (applied glue once heated to 70c) when i print with PLA, once cooled down part just pops off. I have not run ABS on it yet currently into a long project with PLA but will try once I am done.

How can I reduce the acceleration rate in S3D? I'm having a similar problem and have seen that suggested here, but don't see that setting. Also, I've got several areas that I can configure a retraction. Where is the best place in the settings for changing retraction between layers?

Katwitch wrote:How can I reduce the acceleration rate in S3D? I'm having a similar problem and have seen that suggested here, but don't see that setting. Also, I've got several areas that I can configure a retraction. Where is the best place in the settings for changing retraction between layers?

Show Advanced > Other > Speeds (on the left)

For the retraction:
Show Advanced > Extruder > Ooze Control