Need Help with Setup

[harley573]

Is there anyone in the Fort Worth, TX area that has a Rostock Max and would be willing to help me sort my machine out? I have had this printer for over a year and a half and have yet to get what I would call a "good" print off of it. I played with it for 4 or 5 months when I first got it and had it printing "okay" but never got it to a point I thought was good and then I burned out fooling with it and just started messing with it again recently. This time, I have been fooling with it and going back and forth with tech support during the day, then trying to come home and implement their suggestions at night and a month later I am still having problems and am starting to get very frustrated with it. I didn't want something I had to screw with constantly. I wanted a 3D printer I could use to make things. If someone lives in my area and would be willing to take a look at it, I'd be more than happy to negotiate a payment for your time.

[teoman]

Would you mind sharing what your problems are? With pictures if possible. Unfortunately i live very very far away so i cannot come to you. But like me most here will be willing to help you if you can state your problems in a way that we can understand on this forum.

[harley573]

I have the V1 Max which didn't originally come with the LCD screen included, although it was offered as an add on. I bought it originally, but after building the machine, the LCD looked like a bigger pain in the butt than I wanted to deal with at the time. Now they have an easy, pre-soldered board that plugs right in to the RAMBO which they didn't have before. I ordered it and got it plugged in. I immediately had functionality, so I felt like I have it connected properly. However;

When USB is unplugged, LCD goes dead.

Log in RH says:
SD Card Inserted
SD Init Fail
Begin File List
End File List

And repeats that endlessly.

RH removes Hot Bed from list of controls under manual tab. Hot bed is functional because I can turn it on via LCD

I unplugged the LCD from the Rambo board and everything is normal again with RH.

And in an unrelated issue, RH imports everything with all dimensions squared. So a 25.4mm x 25.4mm x 25.4mm cube is bigger than the machine. I have to scale everything to .03937 to get it right.

[harley573]

And to top it off, my hot end is acting sporadically. I've just run 4 or 5 prints with no problems temperature wise. Then, in the time it took me to write that last response, it started fluctuating hot end temperature wildly and shot up to 270 and melted the PEEK insert. Again. That's my 2nd one in two weeks. So now I get to take it all back apart and try to clean it out before I can even go back to working on the other stuff. Anyone want to buy a Rostock Max? This one may be for sale soon. (sigh.)

[Eaglezsoar]

I have the V1 Max which didn't originally come with the LCD screen included, although it was offered as an add on. I bought it originally, but after building the machine, the LCD looked like a bigger pain in the butt than I wanted to deal with at the time. Now they have an easy, pre-soldered board that plugs right in to the RAMBO which they didn't have before. I ordered it and got it plugged in. I immediately had functionality, so I felt like I have it connected properly. However;

When USB is unplugged, LCD goes dead.

Log in RH says:
SD Card Inserted
SD Init Fail
Begin File List
End File List

And repeats that endlessly.

RH removes Hot Bed from list of controls under manual tab. Hot bed is functional because I can turn it on via LCD


I unplugged the LCD from the Rambo board and everything is normal again with RH.

And in an unrelated issue, RH imports everything with all dimensions squared. So a 25.4mm x 25.4mm x 25.4mm cube is bigger than the machine. I have to scale everything to .03937 to get it right.

There is a jumper near the usb port on the Rambo in one position the USB is powered from the USB from the computer, the other position supplies USB power via the Rambo. You want to set the jumper to have
the Rambo supply the power which would be the opposite of the way it is now.

[Eaglezsoar]

And to top it off, my hot end is acting sporadically. I've just run 4 or 5 prints with no problems temperature wise. Then, in the time it took me to write that last response, it started fluctuating hot end temperature wildly and shot up to 270 and melted the PEEK insert. Again. That's my 2nd one in two weeks. So now I get to take it all back apart and try to clean it out before I can even go back to working on the other stuff. Anyone want to buy a Rostock Max? This one may be for sale soon. (sigh.)

This sounds like a wiring problem with the thermistor. Inspect the wires carefully.

[ThatOneGuy]

I have a similar issue at the moment. The thermistor is responsible for Temperature feedback and control correct? My Max melted the chamber section of the nozzle once because it cannot regulate the temperature very well, if at all. I have to re-download the correct GUI software again, but while at the lab using the software there, I would set the default temp to 200 deg C and then enable the heat. It would climb to 200 and then keep right on going. I have been shutting it down prior to it hitting the 270 mark for fear of melting yet another nozzle/melt chamber assembly. I am going to run the auto tune PID routine to see if that may help.

I was thinking about heading up to radio shack and locating another thermistor or possibly even trying to upgrade to an RTD or Thermocouple. Any thoughts or opinions? I cant really dump a ton of money into this project due to the holidays coming up, but still would like to get this beast of a printer running.

[Polygonhell]

If the reading on the display is exceeding the set temperature, it's not the thermister. I'd try resetting the eeprom, and re-downloading the firmware, the only thing I can think that would cause that would be some sort of corrupt PID values.

If you are verifying the temperature externally, what does the display show?

[ThatOneGuy]

If the reading on the display is exceeding the set temperature, it's not the thermister. I'd try resetting the eeprom, and re-downloading the firmware, the only thing I can think that would cause that would be some sort of corrupt PID values.

If you are verifying the temperature externally, what does the display show?

On mine, the displayed temp would match the temp i was getting via a Fluke IR camera, give or take about 5 degree's.

[Eaglezsoar]

If the reading on the display is exceeding the set temperature, it's not the thermister. I'd try resetting the eeprom, and re-downloading the firmware, the only thing I can think that would cause that would be some sort of corrupt PID values.

If you are verifying the temperature externally, what does the display show?

On mine, the displayed temp would match the temp i was getting via a Fluke IR camera, give or take about 5 degree's.

A fluke IR camera! Most of us can only dream of having such a tool.
Congrats on having one.

[ThatOneGuy]

If the reading on the display is exceeding the set temperature, it's not the thermister. I'd try resetting the eeprom, and re-downloading the firmware, the only thing I can think that would cause that would be some sort of corrupt PID values.

If you are verifying the temperature externally, what does the display show?

On mine, the displayed temp would match the temp i was getting via a Fluke IR camera, give or take about 5 degree's.

A fluke IR camera! Most of us can only dream of having such a tool.
Congrats on having one.

It is a very nice toy! My job requires me to have such things for trouble shooting.