Hi im pretty much new to 3d printing, i bought a prusa i3 copy of amazon and have enjoyed the build of the machine and also had fun experimenting with little things of thingyverse. But anytime i try printing something large or of a long print i get a jump out of alignment which sometimes isnt very far but sometimes quite big in terms of the size of the object which then ends in disaster.
Could this be the control board overheating? im not sure where to start
Yep, big jumps like that are usually one of the drivers overheating. You should look at how to properly vref your drivers. Being a knockoff, it’s really no telling what kind of motors they selected – so it’s going to be a matter of adjusting the drivers until they’re right. I’d start by turning them down a touch. If you have a multimeter it would be handy.
I would think it is skipping steps like Thanik says and needs adjustment
Check everything is running silky smooth and that all belts have the right tension, not too tight, but not too loose
Also, another by product of too much current @ThantiK is the motors overheating, touch the motors during the long print and see if they get really hot, sometimes to keep costs down they get smaller motors and drive them harder. There are 40mm fan shrouds on Thingiverse that go on the back of the motors and keep them cool.
@PrintinAddiction , the stepper motors would not get hot enough to lose magnetism. Some places run steppers so hot they could nearly burn you without much ill effect. Hot motors is more of a symptom of a problem (current too high) than an actual cause.
Also as youre a newby its worth mentioning that when you adjust the stepper drivers to use a plastic or non conductive screw driver or you can blow your controller. Adjusment will be miniscule if you have a multimeter use that alternatively turn them down a bit 1/8 to 1/4 turn is all the way down. Then slowly bring them 1/32nd of a turn at a time till the motors move well. They should be cool to the touch, watch out they can get hot enough to give you a nasty burn🔥
OK thanks guys I’m gonna get on this this weekend as I got to build an enclosure as well as suffering from lifting at the corners, should I try to keep the driver board outside the enclosure so to help with cooling of it?
