Hi everyone, I'm new to the 3D printing world and am loving it so

3D Printing
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Hi everyone,

I’m new to the 3D printing world and am loving it so far!
I have built my P3Steel out of a kit from Kitprinter3D and am very pleased with it so far - even without having actually printed anything yet. I’m hoping someone can help me with that!

I had a few issues which were resolved by replacing all electronics (my fault entirely) and replacing a printed part.

I am now at a stage where i feel i should be able to print.

I’m using the RAMPS 1.4 arduino setup with marlin firmware. DV8825 drivers with ED3 v6 hotend. Everything seems absolutely fine.

I can now extrude plastic perfectly everytime without issues - which is awesome!

Now, the issue is - when i start to print it usually starts perfectly even nearly finishing a first layer. It then seems to spontaneously cut out (or at least stop printing) but looking at the screen i’m assuming it thinks it is still printing as all the coordinates keep changing. As soon as it cuts out there is a funny noise coming from (i believe) the stepper motors ( High pitch sounds rolling down in tone ) quite beautiful - but not what i want when printing. I have a feeling it could be there is not enough current going to the stepper motors, or too much - but was wondering if anyone has had this issue and solved it - or potentially knows what the solution is.

I change the potentiometers on each driver so they were perfect ( according to the reprap wiki ) by lowering until it cant move and then increasing it a bit until it moves again.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Here is a link to a video of it happening - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGP-zswJE4c - excuse my excitement and then disappointment! grinning smiley

Cheers,
George

2

Just an update on background -

I’m using Printrun Feb 15 version as my interface ( i’ve also tried the older version ) and i’m using Slic3r with it ( and have also tried two version )

When i’m connected to the interface everything runs perfectly - X Y and Z are moving fine, homing is working fine and extruding is working fine - this is why i’m so shocked when it randomly cuts out.

Am i right in thinking if it runs perfectly in the interface - that it must be a problem with the Gcode that Slic3r is creating?

Cheers,
G

3

Sounds like a problem with the stepper drivers. They could get too hot and shut down. Did you attach a heat sink? Active cooling with a fan might also help. Or just reduce the current, but not too low. If the current is too low you can loose steps when the nozzle travels over the printed area.

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thanks for posts guys.

I do have heat sinks on each driver - the motors don’t seem to get as hot as they did before I replaced the electronics. I have already reduced the current to what should be perfect. the motors run perfectly using the interface - its just when it prints that they stop. is it a good idea to cool the ramps board?

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When bed and extruder reached set temperature, X Y and Z motors move perfectly - I can also extrude plastic perfectly

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standing the machine upright might be a good start ; )

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Thanks will, I’ve taking that into account, but I like doing things differently

8

have you tried updating firmware? have you tried to print without heat bed?

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I’ve been using a pre configured firmware that I got from my printers vendor. - should I maybe get the latest and then copy some of the setting over?

And regarding bed - do you mean just not heat it while printing?

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before i try the firmware update. maybe try printing without using heating bed. if you believe it’s drawing too much current.

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i forgot to hit “read more” yes don’t heat to bed so it wont draw power. it’s worth a shot… a buddy of mine had a problem like that

12

What is the printing feedrate that you’re printing at? I presume you’re running full 1/32 micro stepping with the DRV8825s?

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I recently tuned up my DRV8825’s: I had tried the ‘by hand’ method you mention above, but it just felt to sloppy for me. So I went to compute the ‘reference voltage’ route instead: Once I set them to the computed voltage, zero hand-tuning has been needed since. There’s multiple posts online about doing this, like this one:
http://reprap.org/wiki/Pololu_stepper_driver_board#DRV8825
But I blogged the specifics here as well:
http://www.akeric.com/blog/?p=3232

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@Ishaan_Gov - I’m not entirely sure - is the feedrate the mm/s setting in Slic3r? also - if i change setting in Printrun will the Gcode always overide these settings? And - what feedrate do you recomend?

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@Eric_Pavey Hi Eric, thanks for your reply. I will be attempting this tonight. I have a feeling this is the problem. I hope so anyway!

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@George_Duller , yep, feedrate is the mm/s setting that you enter in your slicer; the ones in pronterface are just for jogging control speeds. A good place to start is ~50mm/s, potentially higher, depending on the quality that you want for your prints and the rigidity of your machine

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@Eric_Pavey Nice one dude! Set my Vref to what it should be and printer sounding quieter than ever! Even managed a first print! :smiley: Cant wait to properly calibrate everything tonight!

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@George_Duller Awesome, glad to hear it. Maths FTW :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hi George, this sounds as a fuse problem from RAMPS 1.4, once they are triggered they lose their efficacy and behave like this. Your should replace them or replace RAMPS 1.4. Hope this helps.