I'm happy to report that I have resolved my issues before seeing any of the replies. I spent 2 hours last night really getting into the nitty-gritty and taking my time to ensure everything was working properly. I was surprised at what needed adjustment/tuning. I woke up this morning to a 10.5 hour print job that turned out beautifully with no waves or issues. If you have the time, here's a list of what I did to get my A10 running smoothly..
(These particular parts are for a model RC plane, and are only a single line 0.4mm wall, no infill, no supports. I've found printing thin, tall walls is one of the most challenging to achieve good results and I'm very happy my little A10 is up to the task. Else I was about to drop more unnecessary $$ on an Ender3 Pro today.
What I was dealing with...
This is what I woke up to find today
This is a comparison of the previously failed parts compared to the one from today. (The failed part is shorter because i ended the print, no need to waste filament)
- 2 Corners on the frame were out of square. I used a 1/1000 precision machinist square to check and make adjustments
- The Z axis guide at the top of the leadscrew did have a little resistance after traveling around 1/2 way up (checked X,Y, and Z by hand with no power for better felt resistance when checking). I loosened the 2 bolts that held the guide, then moved the carriage by hand up and down a few times coming to a rest 3/4 the way up and re tightening the screws. It's working smoothly now.
- The spur gear on the filament feeder stepper motor had a good bit of filament in the grooves of the gear and it was causing some under extrusion at times. That was an issue I corrected earlier, but i never cleaned out the filament shavings from the gear itself. I grabbed a spare toothbrush and it worked great. After printing a few tests last night with a LOT of retraction movements, there were no shavings from the filament.
- Belt Tension... I learned a lot about this and I was completely misinformed about belt tension. Your belts do not need to be guitar string tight. My belts were not overly tight, but the would produce a bass guitar like sound when plucked, but they were causing strain on the stepper motors. after loosening them go be "loose, but not slip on the drive sprockets" My machine is running smoother and quieter. I was even able to increase my movement speed (not printing speed) to 130mm/s with no issues. Prior, I couldn't go faster than 80mm/s or I'd hear awful noises from the Y stepper.
Listen to him, he knows what he's talking about...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7A-nBHtSOY
- Eccentric bearings on Y and X: The build plate had some slight deflection (I'd say about 2mm) of movement when wiggled. Rotating the nuts on the eccentric guide bearings to where they were so tight I felt resistance when moving the Y axis by hand, then backing off until it felt smooth and the fit was snug enough to not allow the heatbed to wiggle. I repeated this for the X axis guide bearing on the bottom of the extruder carriage.
- CCTREE 0.4mm nozzle for CR10. I love these nozzles and just for good measure I replaced the other one to ensure there were no issues. These are great nozzles for the A10, and I couldn't be happier with how they perform over the stock ones.
https://www.amazon.com/CCTREE-Extruder- ... 0.4mm+cr10
- My clipon filament cleaner that clips onto the filament right before the filament feeder was binding against the Z leadscrew. I didn't previously use the filament runout sensor, but I am now using it as a a simple guide and bump stop for the filament cleaner. *I do use a drop of canola oil on each of the 2 pieces of foam in the holder. It sounds crazy but it makes a difference, just don't use more than a drop or 2.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2440593
- Last.... The cable wrap for the heating element of the print bed was snagging on an addon heatsinc on the bottom of the filament feed stepper motor. Before i added heatsink to the feeder motor, it would get very hot. Now it only gets about 100F/38C at most. I used additional zip ties and arrange the cables to move clear of any obstructions that may bind or snag. I discovered this by turning the printer around backwards and manually moving it. I downloaded the e-chain files from thingiverse to even better manage the cables which I'll tackle this weekend.
https://www.amazon.com/BNTECHGO-Aluminu ... r+heatsink
