Ok so I’m having a problem with what appears to be leaning prints, whenever I print the base blocks for a Wallace the front and back sides seem to lean to one side. I’ll post a pic to show what I mean. I just realized that this is a problem with all parts roughly the same height, but the other prints have nowhere near as prominent a lean on them as the base.
is this a problem with my bed not being level or something akin to that?
Z-axis needs to be level then check print bed.
Belt tension okay?
What printer are you using?
Don’t try to build a Wallace until you have this solved. The current version has no tolerance for parts being printed out of square, and the same errors will be in all of the Wallace’s own prints. This is on my list of fixes for the next version.
Whatever printer you’re using, you need to learn to properly square its axes anyway.
Printed on a Prusa I2.
I had assumed (stupid me) that the z axis had stayed square since construction, if it had come out of alignmet over time then that would explain why the components I had printed earlier had less of a slope to them.
My first thought was belt tension but all of the drive belts are snug, also this would have to be attributed to backlash but only in one direction over time, which is a very unlikely problem.
Axis alignment is a bitch on Mendel derivatives. The highly loaded printed frame vertices are bound to creep over time, making for all sorts of misalignments.
@Thomas_Sanladerer tell me about it, I’ve had to readjust the triangles far too many times, I’m actually planning to invest in some nylock nuts so that I don’t have to worry about readjusting so much.
@Aaron_Leclair Nylock nuts will loosen up almost as much - it’s not the nuts that undo themselves, but the plastic vertex which can’t resist the high seating stress. It’s kinda like you’re trying to tighten down a piece of wax - while it might seem to stand up to the forces for the moment, it will start to (permanently) deform and give. Same reason why you shouldn’t use tinned leads in lustre terminals.
@Whosa_whatsis , I know. I love the simplicity of the design, but it depends a lot on the printer being setup properly. How do you plan on fixing it? Breaking it into smaller segments?
@John_Ridley I’ve had nuts fall off mid print before. My alignment was probably bad to begin with, I’ve realized that a plumb line only works if the surface you’re on is level. I should have used a square instead.
I plan on doing that in the future, or using calipers to measure the height of each x rod relative to the bed.
Yeah, the guide I used (wiki I think) for the construction said to use a plumb line, I was pretty new to printers at the time and it seemed to make sense at first glance.
Depending on your machine make-up, this can happen if your x-axis is not flat. If the points where your x-axis meet the z threaded rod are not at the same height, your x-axis will be tilted. Then, leveling the bed corners to the printer head will make your entire x-axis out of square with the z. Moving the print head straight up while printing on a slanted surface will result in non square corners and slanted holes in things.
@Aaron_Leclair Wallace 2 is a complete redesign. It will probably have a few more (smaller) parts, though I’m still hoping to keep the vitamin count really low. It will be designed to use things other than threaded rod for the structure, with unprecedented configurability WRT what those materials are, which is why it’s going to take some time to develop. I also have a plan for Wallace 3 to continue with that configurability and extend it to other styles of cartesian bots.
@Whosa_whatsis I look forward to seeing that design in the future, less vitamins is always a great improvement. The base block is an excellent aspect in the current Wallace design but it kind of bothers me how much time and material it takes to print.
Ref:plumber line. All guides also suggest to level the bed using a water level … Not very useful if you live in a old house where nothing is straight. (As I do)
What guides say to use a water level/spirit level? They need to be rewritten. No part of a printer should ever need to be leveled, they should be squared and trammed, but a level isn’t terribly useful for that.
I would suggest that you make sure that neither of the pulleys on your X and Y steppers are gradually slipping, or your belt is gently un-tensioning itself somehow!