Another rostock max build

[cambo3d]

will do, I didn't think about doing it that way. I'll try that and see if I get better brass readings. With the thermocouple in the brass nozzle, I should be able to get better measurements.
and i'll check my thermocouple as mhackney suggested.

edit: checked the thermocouple calibration against boiling water. It was just slightly off. 98.9 degrees Celsius so I adjusted it to 100. then rechecked.
will redo the test and post report.

[cambo3d]

So I redid the bed temperature test after some changes here is the result. Will redo the hotend temperature test. later tonight.
Edit: got side tracked and didn't get to the hotend test, will pick up again tomorrow.

temperature graph, waited for the bed to reach room temp. rep host temp 24, thermocouple temp 24.5
Total actual time shown from room temperature to 115 degrees. Note: I am using a dedicated 24v 750watt 31amp Meanwell power supply with ssr to control power to my onyx. rambo board is run off stock 12v power supply and using marlin firmware. (stock firmware with no changes)

I did another test with repetier firmware installed. Heat up to 115 took about the same amount of time. One thing different about repetier firmware (stock firmware with no changes) is that it did a better job of keeping the temperature steady. less temperature flux. graph shown below.

[foshon]

WOW!! 110 degrees in just over what 4 or 5 minutes?!?! Awesome, looks like that one is dead on.

[cambo3d]

I read another post that repetier firmware has faster heat up times. Although 4 minutes to 110 is pretty good for me, I might try it just to see the difference.

when i was troubleshooting my lcd issue, swapping firmwares around, I'd forgotten that marlin firmware was reinstalled.

this gives me a good baseline reading to determine what temperatures i need to set in the host software to get my bed to required temperatures.
for example: if I wanted a bed temp of 110, i would need to set the temp in host to 115 or so because actual bed temp of aluminum is a little lower.(with marlin firmware)

[Eaglezsoar]

It is interestint to note that as I read through the various parts of the forum, I see that about three people are experiencing the same white boxes on the
LCD display as Cambo3D is seeing. What the relevance is I don't know but why are 3 people all seeing the same thing on their displays? I guess we will
know once someone who is experiencing the problem gets it working.
Carl

[cambo3d]

It is interestint to note that as I read through the various parts of the forum, I see that about three people are experiencing the same white boxes on the
LCD display as Cambo3D is seeing. What the relevance is I don't know but why are 3 people all seeing the same thing on their displays? I guess we will
know once someone who is experiencing the problem gets it working.
Carl

those that have the new adapter board seem to have this problem or just could be a bad batch of lcds or something else. I wish i had a known good lcd to try out.
I've checked all the pins on the adapter board they match up with the pinout, i've checked the ribbon cables, swapped firmwares.,

[cambo3d]

Alright i finished up the second test for the hotend measurements according to forum suggestions. This time using repetier firmware because it just seems to hold temperatures better.

Something to note from the measurements is that the temperature inside the brass nozzle starts to drop off at higher temperatures, Maybe because the aluminum is doing its job and acting like a heatsink to take away heat?? or some other factor is at play here.

[Polygonhell]

FWIW the AL heater on my hotend is wrapped with silicon tape and I find it seems to perform better.
I didn't really wrap it to improve performance, I did that because the rather large fan I had blowing across the print was preventing the hot end reaching temperature.

[foshon]

That looks a lot more "normal" to me, changes to the Therm table or just altering the expectations should get you there.

[cambo3d]

That looks a lot more "normal" to me, changes to the Therm table or just altering the expectations should get you there.

I just complete the pid autotune for both hotend and heatbed. now the temperature stays more linear. nice

[cambo3d]

Just completed my calibration and pid autotune settings. I think i'm bout ready to print.

other things to mention is that the bed leveling idea was removed, after tweaking the frame to get it more flat that seems to be the best bet.
the onyx has bow in the middle, bed leveling wont help so instead i just calibrated as is, per instructions in genebs manual for calibration.

I'm understanding the rostock will print in the same plane, once you calibrate it to that plane. does this sound right?

on another note: I accidentally crashed my print head into the bed, trying to do calibration because I forgot the set the heights in eeprom for repetier firmware.
Hopefully i didn't hurt the belts doesn't seem like it affected it. I guess I'll see. Need to double check the belts to be sure.

now all i need is my lcd to work..

[Polygonhell]

I'm understanding the rostock will print in the same plane, once you calibrate it to that plane. does this sound right?

Yes that's correct, assuming the surface is flat, it need not be entirely horizontal, once you have calibrated the 3 towers X and Y will be relative to the calibration plane.

[ApacheXMD]

If the print bed is not horizontal, then won't your prints be skewed if the towers arent orthogonal to the print surface? Seems to me that getting the towers equidistant and parallel to each other, and orthogonal to the print surface is pretty important. Am i wrong?

[Bill Havins]

....now all i need is my lcd to work..

Cambo3d,

So you've checked your connectors soldered to the RAMBo to SmartController Adapter and they showed continuity. And you're getting text in the upper leftmost corner of the LCD but "the dreaded white boxes" everywhere else?

You might try removing your adapter from the RAMBo board. Then, look carefully at each connector on the Adapter to ensure that a pin/socket is not bent or deformed. Then, look carefully at the headers on the RAMBo board to ensure a pin is not bent or "pushed" down through the board such that it might not contact its mating socket on the Adapter.

I work with LCDs frequently; I have not looked closely at the ones we have on our Rostock MAXes. But the fact that yours is "trying to work" suggests an incomplete connection/circuit.

You might also look at your solder joints with a magnifier. A "cold" solder joint may demonstrate continuity but might not work in a live circuit. A solder-starved joint can behave similarly. Touch-up each solder joint with a "pencil tip" on your soldering iron just to ensure the solder "flows" into each connection.

Just a couple of thoughts. Good luck!

Bill

[cambo3d]

ive done all of this..

[cambo3d]

just did my first print, the calibration cube following geneb's manual. This is where all the 2 weeks of assembly time start paying off. While the print isn't perfect. I'm excited that it printed something.
for some reason i had to add in a z offset, otherwise it would get to close to the print bed, I put in 1 mm as a guess it seems to print it. probably need to adjust that.


Please critique this print and recommend suggestions on how to get a better print. THIS IS MY FIRST PRINT EVER!!! WOOHOOOOO

[cambo3d]

started to print another cal. cube today but it started off worse than before.

so after spending some time troubleshooting I found that the screws for the heatbed were loosening up. probably due to the heating of the bed.

darn.. now I have to recalibrate the bed height again...wtf. this time i'll throw some lock tight on it.

[cambo3d]

Good news though I GOT another LCD to try out, from a local 3d printer dealer here in florida, before I sent the seemecnc lcd back.

The new lcd works. SO YES I DID HAVE A BAD LCD! http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... &start=130 SEEMECNC YOU HAVE A RETURN ON THE WAY.

[Eaglezsoar]

Glad you got it working! Had to be quite frustrating.
Good job!

[Eaglezsoar]

started to print another cal. cube today but it started off worse than before.

so after spending some time troubleshooting I found that the screws for the heatbed were loosening up. probably due to the heating of the bed.

darn.. now I have to recalibrate the bed height again...wtf. this time i'll throw some lock tight on it.

You have those hex threaded spacers to allow you to adjust the bed and then lock the adjustable screw to the spacer with a jam nut.
Which part of these components loosened up? I ask because I wanted to model my bed the same way you did. If you use loktite won't you
lose the adjustability?
Carl

[cambo3d]

carl, I removed the bed leveling. I didnt need it anymore. i tweaked the frame enough to get it flat.

Now i just have have the screw tightening HBP all the way down level to the frame. Using the hex nuts just for spacers.

when i tighten the screws down i left out the locktite so when it heated up everything loosened up.

The bed sits perfectly flat now at room temp, but changes because the onyx warps when heated, puts a bow in the middle. I may try to use some adhesive to help hold the onyx to the star spacer as another forum member suggested.

[Eaglezsoar]

carl, I removed the bed leveling. I didnt need it anymore. i tweaked the frame enough to get it flat.

Now i just have have the screw tightening HBP all the way down level to the frame. Using the hex nuts just for spacers.

when i tighten the screws down i left out the locktite so when it heated up everything loosened up.

The bed sits perfectly flat now at room temp, but changes because the onyx warps when heated, puts a bow in the middle. I may try to use some adhesive to help hold the onyx to the star spacer as another forum member suggested.

I have the acrylic version and ended up with the same bow in the center of the top. I am thing about mounting the hotbed on springs and making it adjustable by passing the screw through the spring and a jam nut at the bottom
to hold whatever position I place it in. I figure that way the bow in the center of the base would not effect the flatness of the heatbed. Do you have any opinions on this? I don't recall McHackney mentioning his plate bowing as
it heated, or did he.
Carl

[mhackney]

Without the aluminum plate my Onyx definitely bows when heated. With the aluminum plate I have not observed this (but as I just wrote in a post a few minutes ago, I realized that I do use the glass plate on top too and that might be hiding any bowing. But, I did make a number of prints directly on the aluminum and did not observe bowing).

cheers,
Michael

[cambo3d]

micheal even with the aluminum plate it does bow when heated. not the fault of your aluminum plate, there's just no where else for the onyx to go, since the aluminum is some what flexible it bows up.

maybe using something more heavy like mic6 aluminum may be better. http://shop.thefutureis3d.com/heated-platforms.html, but then again something has to give, using stronger aluminum might cause other problems.

The loctite that I put on today helped but it didn't take the bow away it still bows up when heated. rather than try to fix what the onyx is doing, i'm looking at other alternatives. I've been trying to locate some 24v kapton heaters and i haven't been able to find one in the size i'm looking for yet.

This machine is just poorly constructed, a redesign for easier assembly and minimal parts, not to mention squareness is really needed. Squareness being the up-most importance, which is what everything else is based on. Sorry for my rant. After building it, this just confirms my original thoughts on the machine. http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1131 however I will still continue to work with the machine till I get some descent prints

[cambo3d]

something I printed for just to see how it would turn out. =P