Post by BeeAmaker on Apr 4, 2014 11:22:14 GMT -5
OK, I think I figured out what has been going on. I'm sure most of you have heard me talk about the fact that I must always adjust my end-stops, prints fine for a while then I have to adjust them again. Well today I realized what has been happening. Look at this picture, these two parts were printed about an hour apart from each other using the same gcode.
The one on the left has a nice first layer. Good extrusion bonding and no gaps and presed against the build plate nicely. The one on the right - not so good, It has gaps and you can see, not pressed against the build plate properly. What happen here is that my Z raised about 0.05 to 0.1 mm. Yesterday I printed two of these object and both printed just fine - just like the one on the left. So as you can see, my Z moved and my extrusion width is not so great. You can "claim" that the issue is in my arms - or it's because of my crappy build plate - yada yada and I would ALMOST agree - HOWEVER ... every time this happens (before my rebuild and after) I must always ALWAYS adjust my end stops counter-clockwise. This can only lead to one conclusion - My Rostock is GROWING!!
I figure that my extruder eats about 0.5% of my filament about once a week. This causes my extrusion width to narrow resulting in poor layer bonding and also makes my Rostock grow about 0.1mm per month. This coincides with the fact that about every 4 to 5 months I must re-adjust my Z height as my end stops screws get turned out to their max and everything must be reset. I agree that some of this can be contributed to bed warping, but the bed is only going to warp so far at any given temp. It also wouldn't warp consistently. If all of this was board warping then I should be adjusting my end stop screws in both directions, or only adjust one or two - not all three the exact same amount and always in the same direction. With that said it rules out belt slippage as well. If the pulley or belt was slipping It should only be on one tower or maybe two - I don't believe that all three belts slip at the same time and in the same direction and same amount (too many "ands" in there).
So until a more "scientific" explanation can be found I can only conclude one outcome and offer this warning - Don't feed your Rostock after Midnight.
The one on the left has a nice first layer. Good extrusion bonding and no gaps and presed against the build plate nicely. The one on the right - not so good, It has gaps and you can see, not pressed against the build plate properly. What happen here is that my Z raised about 0.05 to 0.1 mm. Yesterday I printed two of these object and both printed just fine - just like the one on the left. So as you can see, my Z moved and my extrusion width is not so great. You can "claim" that the issue is in my arms - or it's because of my crappy build plate - yada yada and I would ALMOST agree - HOWEVER ... every time this happens (before my rebuild and after) I must always ALWAYS adjust my end stops counter-clockwise. This can only lead to one conclusion - My Rostock is GROWING!!
I figure that my extruder eats about 0.5% of my filament about once a week. This causes my extrusion width to narrow resulting in poor layer bonding and also makes my Rostock grow about 0.1mm per month. This coincides with the fact that about every 4 to 5 months I must re-adjust my Z height as my end stops screws get turned out to their max and everything must be reset. I agree that some of this can be contributed to bed warping, but the bed is only going to warp so far at any given temp. It also wouldn't warp consistently. If all of this was board warping then I should be adjusting my end stop screws in both directions, or only adjust one or two - not all three the exact same amount and always in the same direction. With that said it rules out belt slippage as well. If the pulley or belt was slipping It should only be on one tower or maybe two - I don't believe that all three belts slip at the same time and in the same direction and same amount (too many "ands" in there).
So until a more "scientific" explanation can be found I can only conclude one outcome and offer this warning - Don't feed your Rostock after Midnight.
Maybe it will grow in to an all aluminum one like yours.